When The Last Days Came

We start this article titled “When the Last Days Came” by attempting to communicate the fact that even though we, as Christians today, know things revealed through the Apostle Paul and from scripture, not everyone in the Bible knew those things even though it’s the same God operating throughout scripture.

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WhenDidTheLastDaysCome

When The Last Days Came – Transcript

God’s always extended mercy and grace to people, and there’s always been a message from God for people to believe.
What changes is who those people are and what messages God’s revealed to them.
In the age we live in today, the dispensation of grace, the way grace is applied to us today has also changed.
We have abundant grace today, whereas in times past, God extended grace and mercy in different ways to different people. So, while we thank God for what He’s doing today, we need to also recognise these differences revealed in scripture.

This article is entitled “When the last days came”, and many may think that phrase is off track because most believe the last days aren’t here yet.

But what does the Bible actually say about the last days and are the “last days” always exclusively in the future.

 

Looking at human history from our current perspective, it’s clear that times have changed.

Human history itself revolves around the event of Christ’s cross. History is divided into times before Christ (BC) and after Christ, Anno Domini (AD), meaning “Year of Our Lord.”.

This is despite human efforts to wipe Jesus Christ and God from our history.

“Before Common Era” (BCE) is now replacing “Before Christ.” (BC)

“Common Era” (CE) is replacing “Anno Domini” (AD) (In the Year of Our Lord).

Same numbers. Different meaning entirely.

Although that point in time is unchanged, The Name of Jesus, the Christ, is removed.

For two thousand years, every document signed, every birth recorded, every monument built carried an invisible watermark that states “This exists in relation to Christ’s birth”.

Even those who rejected Jesus aligned their lives by His arrival. Even those who denied Him measured their days by his birth.

Until now.

The God rejecters aren’t burning Bibles in the street or tearing down churches with tanks or martyring believers in coliseums anymore.

They’ve learned that this approach only creates stronger faith so instead they’ve opted for a gradual step by step changing of history that erases Christ from it.

But their efforts can’t remove truth, important and powerful truth that firmly remains.

No matter what name they invent they can’t change that point in time where God took on flesh and dwelt among His creation and it can’t stop what’s coming.

 

The way God operated before Christ’s arrival and since then has changed.

So, where are we in biblical history?

Look at Matthew 24:3.

Now as He sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to Him privately, saying, “Tell us, when will these things be? And what will be the sign of Your coming, and of the end of the age?”

 

At this point in Jesus’ ministry, He’d taught His disciples that although He was present, He’d soon leave, and they wanted to understand when He’ll return and when the end of the world’ll come.

We place the end of the world at the far side of the history timeline, as our chart below shows, because it seems to mark the final stage and nothing comes after it.

Jesus’ Response to the disciple’s question is seen in Matthew 24:4-6

And Jesus answered and said to them: “Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in My name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and will deceive many.

And you will hear of wars and rumours of wars. See that you are not troubled; for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. 

 

This passage clarifies that false messiahs, wars, and global turmoil will occur before the end, but they’re not signs of the final days and we’re obviously not living in an eternal state of glory right now.

We’re not living in the time when God said He’d bring peace to the earth and reign in righteousness.

Many Christians and bible teachers assume that worsening circumstances in the world indicate the soon to come end but, Jesus directly proves this to be wrong when He states that those events don’t signal the end.

 

So, what must happen before the end?

Matthew 24:7-8 states:

For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. 

All these are the beginning of sorrows. 

 

Some attempt to track earthquakes or worldwide political conflict as “signs of the times,” but Jesus clarifies that these events are not the end—just the beginning.

Persecution and affliction will come, but they don’t indicate the final days.

This isn’t a personal interpretation, this is Jesus, the Son of God, God Himself clearly stating this. To not listen to Him here is simply willful blindness.

 

In the first century, Christians were burned as torches in Roman stadiums and suffered more than we today can imagine. We complain about restrictions on quote “religious expression” but these challenges pale in comparison to the severe persecutions of early believers.

In explaining the final tribulation Jesus says in Matthew 24:29,

Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 

 

Immediately after the tribulation of those days, there’ll be great distress like never before.”

Jesus Himself clearly confirms that an unprecedented tribulation must take place before the true end arrives.

In further explaining the Tribulation and the last days in Matthew 24:24-27, Jesus says:

For false christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 

See, I have told you beforehand. 

Therefore if they say to you, ‘Look, He is in the desert!’ do not go out; or ‘Look, He is in the inner rooms!’ do not believe it. 

For as the lightning comes from the east and flashes to the west, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

 

When Jesus returns, it’ll be unmistakable, like lightning flashing across the sky. It’ll be clearly visible to everyone.

This event follows tribulation, but not just any tribulation, the great tribulation, a time of unprecedented distress. Some think that worsening events around them signal the end times, but the true sign will be what appears in the heavens when Christ returns.

 

So, are we now living in the last days?

Many Christians claim that we are.

Some argue that the last days began 2,000 years ago and that all prophecies concerning Jesus’ return were fulfilled when He first came. Even before Paul’s writings, Jesus was already speaking of the last days, leading some to believe that they happened in the past.

However, after more than 2,000 years, this world is as far away from the prophesied glorious kingdom as it could be.

 

Christianity’s long been divided on how to interpret the end times. A common view throughout history has been that we’re already living in the Kingdom of God, that everything necessary for prophecy was fulfilled long ago, and that nothing more needs to be accomplished.

This view is known as Amillennialism.

So, are the last days really behind us? Are they happening now? Or are they still to come?

 

Many people who focus on the last days either overlook when they began, or fail to explain why they’ve not yet come.

To get to the bottom of this, we need to ask, “What does the Bible actually mean by “last days”? And we need to properly understand the current era or the age we’re living in now.

 

Huge changes have happened since Christ such as:

  1. Before Christ, there were Israel’s sacrifices, temples, and literal kingdoms.
  2. Christ introduced new teachings to Israel.
  3. Christ then revealed new doctrines to Paul, forming the basis of the dispensation of grace and the church, the Body of Christ, as it is today.

 

Whenever new revelations occur, people naturally assume that everything before them ended.

They see God’s covenants with Israel replaced by something new. While it’s true that Christ brought a new dispensation, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everything before that was permanently abolished.

 

For example Paul says this in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 

 

Many interpret this verse as proof that all past promises are finished, and they reject the idea of a future earthly kingdom for Israel.

They argue that there’re new things now, and that’s what Paul’s teaching us here!

He was sent to the Gentiles and in Romans 11:13 he says,

For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 

 

Many very rightly say that through Paul’s conversion and his ministry as an apostle we’re now living in the dispensation of grace, with a rich message of salvation for the whole world and the church has operated under this teaching for 2,000 years up till today.

However many also claim that the church is “spiritual Israel,” that it’s replaced Israel, and that Judaism transformed into Christianity, but nowhere does Paul ever make this claim.

 

Things have changed from B.C. to A.D. We have a new gospel.

Although the Messiah’s death was prophesied, no one preached the cross as salvation in the Old Testament. Back then, people lived under the law, offering sacrifices.

Now, we preach Christ crucified and His resurrection and these changes have massively altered faith traditions.

Yet, despite these changes Paul, our apostle in this dispensation, still speaks of Israel’s future restoration.

Romans 11 strongly and plainly declares that Israel will return as a nation and that judgment, wrath, resurrection, and the coming kingdom remain ahead in the future.

Simply because new things have come doesn’t mean past promises made by God won’t be fulfilled.

If God promised blessings to individuals and nations, He absolutely must keep them, or His word is false.

 

Romans 11:11-12 argues this point:

I say then, have they (Israel) stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 

Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 

 

See, just because what’s happening now is the latest development in history doesn’t mean there’s nothing left to come.

 

So, what are the last days in the bible?

The bible frequently uses the phrase “it shall come to pass in the last days,” and thank God for that! If today were how things would always be, eternity wouldn’t be pleasant at all.

For Israel, God specifically foretold certain events.

In Isaiah 2:2, which speaks about the last days we read this:

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the LORD’s house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all nations shall flow to it.

 

Now, mountains and hills in the Old Testament often symbolise kingdoms, nations, or government and can be either righteous or rebellious.

For example, in Daniel 2:35, after Nebuchadnezzar’s dream of the great statue, the stone that was “cut out without hands” becomes a great mountain, filling the whole earth.

This mountain represents God’s everlasting kingdom that’ll surpass all human rule.

This has never happened since Isaiah’s time. Some might argue that Solomon’s reign reflected this, but that was before Isaiah.

Isaiah’s clearly describing a future kingdom, where God’s rule is established on a mountain, Zion, the heart of Israel, with the Lord reigning from there.

 

The passage continues in Isaiah 2:3:

Many people shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. 

 

This is a global kingdom under Christ.

Today, world summits happen in New York and Europe, not in Jerusalem, but that’ll change.

We should note that this passage doesn’t say that grace will go forth, even though grace is certainly a part of God’s plan. Instead, it speaks of the law, meaning Christ will rule and govern nations.

Isaiah 2:4 continues,

He shall judge between the nations, And rebuke many people; They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. 

 

This is the true United Nations that centres around Christ. Without Him, true unity’s impossible.

Isaiah 2:5

O house of Jacob, come and let us walk In the light of the LORD. 

 

After painting the picture of the glory of the Messiah’s reign, Isaiah then challenges Judah (the house of Jacob) to live in the Messiah’s reign right now.

 

Another key event in the last days is found in Isaiah 59:20:

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the LORD. In Jacob! In Israel!

 

Since the Garden of Eden God promised a Redeemer. He reaffirmed this to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the nation of Israel, promising a Saviour, a great prophet, a Messiah, and a King.

For centuries, this remained a prophecy, a promise yet to be fulfilled.

At various times, God sent temporary deliverers, such as Samson, Joshua, Moses, and others and these leaders rescued Israel, but their salvation was limited to their generation.

However God promised a greater Saviour, one greater than Moses, Solomon, Samson, or Joshua, a Redeemer who’d bring eternal salvation.

 

Isaiah 59:20 that we’ve just read describes this Redeemer:

“The Redeemer will come to Zion, And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” Says the LORD. 

And the next verse, Isaiah 59:21, goes on to say,

“As for Me,” says the LORD, “this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,” says the LORD, “from this time and forevermore.” 

 

This passage confirms that when the Redeemer comes, He’ll not only forgive Israel but establish His everlasting covenant.

 

So, the last days in Scripture refer to a future kingdom where:

 

  • The Redeemer comes to Zion to rule, fulfilling God’s eternal promises.
  • Nations seek the Lord’s guidance through Israel.
  • Weapons of war are transformed into tools of peace and nations won’t learn war anymore.

 

These events are obviously not happening yet. They’re still to come.

In the last days, there’ll be a kingdom and a Redeemer who’ll come to teach the people so that they, in turn, can teach others.

Throughout history, all the prophets spoke of this coming kingdom and the arrival of this Redeemer, who’d reveal eternal truths.

 

Job, who suffered great loss, placed his hope in the last days and he states in Job 19:25:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 

 

This confirms what Isaiah prophesied that the Redeemer will come to earth in the last days.

Job continues in Job 19:26:

And after my skin is destroyed, this I know, That in my flesh I shall see God,

 

Wait, if his flesh is destroyed, how can he stand before God in the flesh?

The answer is resurrection.

Job anticipates that even after his body decays, he’ll be raised again.

 

Abraham also believed in resurrection. When he prepared to offer his son, Issac, he was trusting that God could restore his life because of the promises God had made to make him a great nation. That had to come through Issac.

The promise of resurrection has been a central hope since the earliest days of faith.

 

Jesus also spoke of the last days.

In John 6:54, He declares:

Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. 

 

Although He wasn’t referring to literally eating His flesh, He emphasised belief in Him as the way to eternal life.

John 11 tells the story of Lazarus, Jesus’ friend who died.

When Jesus arrived after Lazarus had passed, He assured Martha in John 11:23:

“Your brother will rise again.” 

 

Martha, understanding the promise of resurrection from the scriptures, responds in John 11:24:

“I know that he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 

Clearly, she knew and understood the resurrection in the last days.

Then Jesus makes a powerful statement in John 11:25:

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. 

 

Was Jesus correcting her understanding or revealing more truth?

That same day, Lazarus was raised showing a glimpse of the resurrection that will occur in the last days.

The book of Joel describes another aspect of the last days, judgment upon the wicked.

 

In Joel 2:10, he prophesies:

The earth quakes before them (the people), The heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, And the stars diminish their brightness. 

 

Joel also describes the Lord’s army, which’ll bring devastation to the earth.

This moment is known as the Day of the Lord, a time of great judgment.

 

Joel 2:12 urges people to repent:

“Now, therefore,” says the LORD, “Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.” 

 

This passage emphasises that in the last days; Christ will execute judgment upon the earth while offering mercy to those who turn to Him This is what we know as the second coming of Christ.

These last days will bring:

 

  • The Redeemer to Zion
  • Resurrection for believers
  • A worldwide kingdom centred in Jerusalem
  • The execution of judgment upon the wicked
  • Salvation for those who repent

 

These events are still to come.

The Bible makes it clear that the last days are not just a general period of decline, or of tribulation, but a specific prophetic era with extraordinary events occurring that are frankly terrible beyond our imagination.

 

In the last days, there’ll be a kingdom and a Redeemer, who’ll come to teach His ways so that people may follow and share His truth.

All the prophets since the beginning have spoken of this coming kingdom, the Redeemer, and the resurrection. These truths were never lost.

Jesus taught extensively about the kingdom, the Redeemer, resurrection, and judgment. He spoke of hell more than any other New Testament figure, not as a punishment but as a consequence for rejecting mercy and grace.

 

In Matthew 13, Jesus tells the parable of the wheat and the tares. He explains that the good seed represents the children of the kingdom, while the tares represent the children of the wicked one.

The harvest represents the end of the world, when the tares will be separated from the wheat.

 

Jesus declares in Matthew 13:41-43:

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear! 

 

By the way, gnashing of teeth is associated with intense emotions like anger, sorrow, or despair.

This judgment at the end of the world will distinguish between the wicked and the righteous, ensuring that evil is removed so that the kingdom can flourish.

James echoes Jesus’ teachings on judgment.

In James 5:1-3, he warns the rich who’ve become corrupt:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 

Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days.

 

James describes the corruption of wicked people in the last days, stating that they’re storing up judgment for themselves.

The last days are not the end of all things. They mark the completion of this world, but more days will follow.

People often ask, “When will the end of the world come?”

However, the last days will usher in a new era, not complete destruction of the world.

We can see this in Mark 1:15, where Jesus begins His ministry, preaching,

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 

 

Why did He say, “the kingdom was at hand”?

Some argue that Jesus’ words contradict the idea of a future kingdom. They say that if the kingdom is yet to come, why did Jesus say it was near?”

But the truth’s clear. Christ came in the last days, preaching about the kingdom and its arrival.

 

One of the defining features of the last days is that the Redeemer would come.

Did He come? Yes.

Jesus arrived, preached about the kingdom, and declared it was near.

He also revealed mysteries about the kingdom, mostly in parables, that had not been fully understood by the prophets.

 

In Matthew 13:11, Jesus says to His disciples in answer to their question about why He spoke in parables:

He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 

 

Jesus began teaching new truths about the kingdom, revealing aspects that hadn’t been known to the prophets and even to His own disciples.

Though Jesus declared the kingdom was near, certain prophecies remain unfulfilled, indicating that the last days will continue until all is completed.

 

One of the key teachings in Jesus’ earthly ministry was that His coming would not be His last appearance. He repeatedly taught that He would go away and return.

 

Matthew 13:36-43 records Jesus explaining to the disciples His teaching in the parable of the tares in the field which we’ve already looked at.

In Matthew 13:37,

He answered and said to them: “He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

 

The parable describes a Sower who plants seed in a field. Tares (a type of weed) grows among the wheat.

How do you separate them? Jesus explains the parable.

The Son of Man (Jesus) sows the seed, and the field represents the world. The good seed are the children of the kingdom, and the tares are the children of the wicked one (Satan).

So, both children of the kingdom and children of the wicked one exist together.

 

Matthew 13:39 continues

The enemy who sowed them is the devil, the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are the angels. 

When is the harvest? The end of the age. The King James bible says the end of the world.

Jesus explicitly states this.

 

Then, Matthew 13:40 explains what happens:

Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of this age. 

At the end of the age/the world, the tares (the wicked) will be burned in fire.

 

Matthew 13:41-42,

The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 

Then, Matthew 13:43 declares,

Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!

 

When does this happen? Jesus just told us. At the end of the world.

What’s happening? Judgment. Separating the wicked from the righteous.

Why?

So that the wheat (the righteous) can flourish. Where? In the kingdom.

What’s removed?  All things that offend.

That’s the last day’s judgment.

 

The book of James is a small book, but it repeats almost everything Jesus taught in His earthly ministry.  The first verse in James, James 1:1 reads,

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

 

If we want to understand Jesus’ teachings to Israel, we read James.

James 5:1 states:

Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries that are coming upon you! 

That’s Judgment.

James 5:2-3 continues,

Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten. 

Your gold and silver are corroded, and their corrosion will be a witness against you and will eat your flesh like fire. You have heaped up treasure in the last days. 

 

The last days.

What’s happening here?

Wicked people are heaping treasure to themselves against the last days when judgment will come.

The last days entail judgment.

People were looking forward to the last days because God had promised that they’d come.

 

During the last days, there’d be a kingdom of salvation, peace, and justice, and a Redeemer to teach God’s ways and resurrection of those who believed and judgment upon those who offend.

That’s when God cleans up the earth.

 

One important realisation about the last days is that they’re not the end of days.

The last days refer to when these events happen which means, after the last days, there’ll still be more days.

 

Have we seen the resurrection of all men to stand before God in judgment yet?

No.

Have we seen God separating the wicked from the righteous?

No. We’re still very much living among the wicked.

Have we seen His kingdom on earth, executing justice and issuing sentences?

Of course not.

So, how does that relate to Jesus’ teachings?

 

Mark 1:15 describes Jesus’ message at the beginning of His ministry, His first sermon was:

“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” 

Jesus preached the gospel of the kingdom of God is at hand.

What does “at hand” mean?

It means close. It was near.

Jesus taught this message 2,000 years ago, long before today.

So, what was He referring to?

Many argue that If the kingdom is yet to come, why did Jesus say it was at hand? Was He wrong? Was He lying?

Didn’t He know what was happening?

Of course, He knew what was happening.

 

The prophets did not teach that when Jesus came, it would be the last time He would come.

This was a core teaching during Jesus’ earthly ministry. He came, but He taught that He’d go away and then come back.

He taught in parables, and those parables as we see when Jesus explained them to the disciples were about the kingdom of heaven as we see in Matthew 13:11-17. Jesus always explains the parables by saying “The Kingdom of Heaven is like…”

 

In this chapter, Matthew 13, Jesus told the parable of the Sower.

This is where He was asked by the disciples, “Why do You speak to them in parables?”

In Matthew 13:11,

He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 

 

He then explained the parable of the Sower:

Matthew 13:18-19

“Therefore hear the parable of the Sower: 

When anyone hears the word of the kingdom, and does not understand it, then the wicked one comes and snatches away what was sown in his heart. This is he who received seed by the wayside. 

 

Matthew 13:20-21

But he who received the seed on stony places, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; yet he has no root in himself but endures only for a while. For when tribulation or persecution arises because of the word, immediately he stumbles. 

 

Matthew 13:22-23

Now he who received seed among the thorns is he who hears the word, and the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and he becomes unfruitful. 

But he who received seed on the good ground is he who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces: some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.” 

 

Remember, this is a parable about the kingdom of Heaven. Finally, in the last days, there would be good ground where people would receive the truth. Even in speaking these parables Jesus is fulfilling prophecy from Isaiah 6:9-10.

 

Jesus emphasised:

“It’s given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom.”

He was preaching the kingdom.

Why didn’t He establish that kingdom back then?

Because other things were needed.  He had to die, and He had to rise from the dead or salvation was impossible either in the kingdom or in the dispensation of grace.

 

The disciples didn’t understand this.

That’s why they kept asking:  “When are You coming back? What’s the sign of Your coming?”

Jesus then started teaching that the kingdom’s fulfillment would be prolonged, postponed.

For ages and generations, God promised and prophesied the last days.

Then, the Messiah came, preaching the kingdom.

It’s easy to see why people expected the last days, it seemed like they were happening.

And in fact, scripture states that they were coming.

 

Luke 16:16 Jesus speaking,

“The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. 

 

Before Jesus preached, John the Baptist was preparing the way.

Jesus calls John the Baptist the greatest of the prophets.

Why?

Because he was proclaiming everything the prophets had spoken about since the beginning of the world.

Job, in the oldest book in the bible, talked about them.  Isaiah spoke about them.  Genesis 3 prophesied about them.

Then, John the Baptist came in Matthew 3:1-3:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” For this is he who was spoken of by the prophet Isaiah, saying: “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.’ ”

 

What came next?  Jesus, preaching he kingdom.

It’s so important to understand Jesus’ Message because it’s the key for us today.

Jesus was teaching the gospel of the kingdom.

The kingdom had not yet come, but Jesus was preaching it.

He was saying:  “The time is at hand! The last days have come!”

 

Most argue that the last days are still future.

But let’s look at Acts 2.

Is Acts 2 at Pentecost, when the Holy Spirit was poured out, a past event or future event?

It happened in the past. It’s history.

 

After the Holy Spirit was poured out at Pentecost, 50 days after Jesus’ resurrection, Peter began speaking in other tongues.

Acts 2:8-11

And how is it that we hear, each in our own language in which we were born? (these are Peter’s audience of diverse nationalities who heard in their own languages) 

Parthians and Medes and Elamites, those dwelling in Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya adjoining Cyrene, visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them speaking in our own tongues the wonderful works of God.”

 

Peter explains what this is in Acts 2:16–17. He said,

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:  ‘AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS IN THE LAST DAYS, SAYS GOD, THAT I WILL POUR OUT OF MY SPIRIT ON ALL FLESH; YOUR SONS AND YOUR DAUGHTERS SHALL PROPHESY, YOUR YOUNG MEN SHALL SEE VISIONS, YOUR OLD MEN SHALL DREAM DREAMS. 

 

Peter said, “This is it. This is that time, right here and now, which was spoken of by the prophet Joel.”

Joel, a prophet, way back in history, said the last days would include God pouring out His Spirit.

And Peter, standing right there, says, “This’s what Joel prophesied—it’s happening NOW.”

So, according to Acts, according to the bible, when were the last days?

Right there in Acts 2.

Acts 2:17 states:

“In the last days, God will pour out His Spirit upon all flesh.”

Peter says:

“This is that! This’s what Joel prophesied.”

So, in Acts 2:17, on that incredible day of Pentecost, the last days began!

 

What else happened in the last days?

Peter teaches:

Jesus, the Redeemer, has come. The kingdom is preached. Christ has risen. Resurrection is fulfilled.

And what did Jesus say in John 14:26, John 15:26 and John16:7?

He would send the Holy Spirit and in John 16:8 He said,

And when He (The Holy Spirit) has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment.

 

Peter says:

“This is that which was spoken by Joel, In the last days, I will pour out My Spirit.”

Then in Acts 2:17 he states:

“Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams.”

Acts 2:19  adds,

I WILL SHOW WONDERS IN HEAVEN ABOVE AND SIGNS IN THE EARTH BENEATH: BLOOD AND FIRE AND VAPOR OF SMOKE. 

 

So, the last days began when Jesus, the Redeemer, came, when He preached the kingdom, when He died and rose from the dead, when The Holy Spirit was poured out and when prophecy was fulfilled.

 

The last days were not just future. They started in Acts 2, even though we still wait for their full completion and the manifestation of God’s full promises.  According to God’s Word there’s a great and terrible day of the Lord that’s yet to come, but before all of that, the Holy Spirit was poured out in the last days.

The last days that started here.

 

Well, that was a long time ago for sure, but not compared to the thousands of years people had been waiting for this to happen.

Pentecost was the beginning of the end.

 

Jesus came, saying that it was at hand. It’s going to happen soon.

And then it began.

The confusion and objections people have today is that they exist here, in the present, and it’s been 2,000 years since Pentecost.

So there’s a real question to be asked. What’s happening now? Are we in the last days?

If the last days started there at Pentecost as Peter preached, where are we now?

What does Peter call those days in his epistle written to the remnant of Israel scattered outside of Jerusalem?  The last times.

 

1 Peter 1:18-20,

He (Jesus) indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you 

 

Now here we are, 2,000 years later, questioning whether Peter got it wrong.

But he got it right!

The Holy Spirit told him exactly what to write.

So, Peter calls those the “last times.”  But last compared to what?

Scripture speaks of the last days of what had been prophesied since the world began.

The last days were fulfilled because Christ came, He preached the kingdom, He preached judgement, He died and rose from the dead.

Peter and those at Pentecost received the Holy Spirit, which was to precede the last days and then Peter himself stated that These are the last days.

Christ was promised and prophesied but now, the last times had come.

 

Now, let’s look at 1 John 2:18. John’s even more straightforward than Peter.

He addresses little children, new believers, who may struggle to understand deeper teachings.

Little children, it is the last hour; and as you have heard that the Antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come, by which we know that it is the last hour. 

 

But that was 2,000 years ago.

Yes, and John talks about the Antichrist coming, that future figure people always speculate about.

Antichrist has been expected throughout history.

People have for so long speculated as to who the Antichrist might be. In my early years as a Christian many people in the church were convinced Henry Kissinger was the Antichrist.

 

Here John says, “Even now are there many Antichrists.”

Most people look for one future Antichrist, but John writing 2,000 years ago, says there were already many Antichrists!

 

This’s another reason why many people get the idea that prophecy was fulfilled 2,000 years ago, from scripture itself.

See, the Redeemer had come, the Kingdom was being preached, the Last Days were identified and there were many antichrists.

 

What else is left?  Well there are still things left.

We’ve been referring to Hebrew writers who were apostles of Jesus, the Messiah, writing about the times in which they lived and the times they were looking for.

 

Hebrews 1:1-2 states,

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds. 

 

Remember, this verse was also written 2000 years ago.  That single verse covers thousands of years of biblical history and many prophets and its content that many people skip over when reading the Bible.

Why?

Because it’s the Old Testament and those were the first days and the middle days and then came the last days.

Hebrews calls the time of Jesus’ ministry the last days.

 

 

Hebrews gives further insight in Hebrews 9:26,

He then would have had to suffer often since the foundation of the world; but now, once at the end of the ages, He has appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 

 

Wait, so when did Jesus the Redeemer appear? The end of the ages. When did Jesus appear to put away sin?  On the cross.  But that was 2,000 years ago!

 

Hebrews is confirming that Jesus’ first coming was at the end of the world’s prophetic timeline when the fulfillment of long-awaited events would happen.

The last days began, but as is obvious, they’re not yet fully complete.

I hope we can all see the issue.

Here, Hebrews calls this the end of the world, when Jesus appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself.

 

If you and I were Abraham, Jeremiah, or Ezekiel, looking at the last days in our prophetic visions, what would we see?

We’d see that the end of the world is future, yet to come.

During Jesus’ earthly ministry, what were they expecting?

The end of days, The kingdom at hand.

 

But here we are, 2000 years on! So when is the end of the world?

This is the confusion that exists within the church and why Christians have different opinions about the end of the world because people see different pieces of the timeline.

So, where exactly are we now?

Well, when we see and understand the dispensation given to Paul, things begin to make sense.

 

Hebrews 9:27-28 states,

And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment, so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many.

 

So, there it is, the cross of Christ.

But what does the rest of verse 28 say?

To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.

 

OK, so He appeared once here, which was necessary for the last days.  But Hebrews 9:28 says He’ll come again bringing salvation, in other words salvation will come when He returns the second time.

Jesus taught the same thing, “I am going away, and I’ll come back.”

Here’s where the Last Days needs to be rightly divided.

They don’t all happen at once.

From the beginning of the world, the last days all seemed like one big event.

But now, 2000 years on and with the entire, complete Word of God at our disposal, something nobody had 2000 years ago, we must rightly divide what has already happened from what will happen in the future.

 

Before the New Testament, long before Jesus came, Job stated in Job 19:25:

For I know that my Redeemer lives, And He shall stand at last on the earth; 

 

But Jesus stood on the earth and even though He rose from the dead, everyone else remained dead.

Job didn’t see all the events that would unfold.

 

But you and me, standing here in history, see much more than Job did but if we fail to rightly divide the Word of God, as 2 Timothy 2:15 instructs us to do, we’ll misunderstand what God’s doing today.  We can easily start believing that we’re living at the end of the world just like every other generation has claimed, “These are the last days! Look at the signs!” After all, that’s what the Bible says, and it seems like that’s the case.

 

Many people have predicted and calculated biblical numbers and come up with the conclusion that this must be the end. But those countless calculations have obviously failed every single time because we’re still here today.

So, how do we explain this big gap of time?

How can we call them last days if those days have lasted over 2,000 years?

Well first we should notice that the phrase “Last days.” is plural not singular.

The prophets never said that’ll it’ll all come to pass in ONE day.”

 

Instead, they say: “In that day,” or  “In the last days.” Even “The Day of the Lord” isn’t one single day. While it may sound like a single day, scripture presents it as a broader period encompassing judgment, restoration, and divine rule.

We might assume that the last days must mean just a few days.”

But many things happen within the period known as the last days. For example, after Jesus returns what happens?

A thousand-year millennium!

Then what happens after that?  Judgment, then eternity.

See?  There’re days after the last days.

 

Let’s look at 2 Peter 3 where Peter already said he was living in the last times. Christ had come, died on the cross, and the last times were declared.

But now, in 2 Peter 3:3 he says,

knowing this first: that scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, 

 

Were there scoffers 2,000 years ago, when Peter wrote this?

Yes.

That’s why Peter wrote it because people were mocking him.

Is that true today as well? Very much so, Yes.

There’s never been a time when this statement wasn’t true.

 

These scoffers argue today just as in Peter’s day when he writes in 2 Peter 3:4,

and saying, “Where is the promise of His coming? For since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation., 

 

Which fathers is Peter talking about?  The fathers of Israel.

That’s the attitude of scoffers throughout history, same as today.

 

When Israel says, “Where is the promise of His coming?” When were they saying that?  Israel wasn’t even in their land for a long time.

They’re saying it when Jesus came and they began asking, “Where’s the kingdom you’re preaching?”

When Jesus died the scoffers attacked His apostles jeering and mocking saying, “Where is this kingdom you’re talking about?”

 

Peter then preached his Pentecost sermon, saying, “You need to repent of your sins first.” But they responded with, “Not till we see the kingdom.”

Peter warned them that that they’d be too late at that point.

So, the argument of the scoffers arose and continues to this day, “Where is the promise of His coming?”

 

But didn’t He already come?

Yes.

So, what’s the obvious problem with that?

He didn’t bring the kingdom He promised. He didn’t actually redeem Zion. He didn’t bring the resurrection.

See how this can be confusing?

 

In 2 Thessalonians 2:2–3, Paul writes to address this confusion and comfort the Thessalonians, who were concerned about whether they were living in the last days and yet some of them had already died.

Paul reassures them, saying:

Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, 

 

2 Thessalonians 2 has long been a problem for those who make “That Day,” the Day of Christ, the rapture of the church which is not.

The passage clearly says that the Day of Christ will not come until after the Antichrist is revealed and performs blasphemies that occur within Daniel’s 70th week in Jerusalem.

The gathering of the church to the Lord is imminent, the Day of Christ is not. Making the Day of Christ the rapture leads to mistakes.

He explains that the day of Christ will not come until certain events occur first.

 

Now, we remember Matthew 24, where Jesus lists the signs of His coming.

But Paul interrupts that list and says that those things haven’t happened yet.

Paul takes Jesus’ teaching, cuts it in half, and says, “That part happened, but this part didn’t happen.”

 

The Thessalonians were worried about these events in Matthew 24.

They saw some of these things happen and assumed that it must be the end!

But Paul corrects them by saying No, the other half of His message hasn’t happened yet.

 

In 1 Peter 1:5, the same Peter who said that Christ came in the last times and sacrificed Himself, also states here:

who are kept by the power of God through faith for salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 

 

Peter previously said that Christ came and fulfilled prophecy, and it was the last times.

Then, he says salvation is still to be revealed in the last time.

Is Peter confused? Did the Holy Spirit who spoke through Peter get it wrong?

No. Peter recognises that something’s already started but isn’t yet finished.

Whenever we see “last days” in scripture, we should keep this in mind.

If we only think about a future Antichrist or Christ’s return, we miss what’s already happened and we won’t see why the last days haven’t stopped yet.

 

Are the last days really 2,000 years long?

No!

Something else has happened during this time.

If the last days had simply been prophecy unfolding then 2,000 years would be an incredibly long “last days” period.

But that’s not what’s been happening for 2,000 years.

 

Look at 2 Timothy 3 where Paul says,

But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: 

 

Most people think that this proves that when things get perilous, it’s a sign of the last days

But Paul’s not giving a sign of the last days here.

He’s simply saying that perilous times’ll come. They came in the former days, and they’ll come in the latter days just as they’ve always come.

Perilous times are a reality of the world.

 

When Paul describes those perilous times, he lists:

  • Men shall be lovers of their own selves.
  • They shall be without natural affection.
  • They shall have a form of godliness but deny the power thereof.
  • They shall creep into houses, leading captive silly women laden with sins.

Paul’s not making predictions about some distant future time.

He’s not having a vision, saying that someday, in the last days, it will be terrible with disobedient children, liars and corruption everywhere.

Paul lived in perilous times himself. He was persecuted by those who didn’t believe and today there are still perilous times, and they’ll continue until Christ appears with His kingdom.

 

Paul talks about the ages to come in Ephesians 2:7,

that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 

 

Paul states this even though Jesus spoke of the last days, John said that these are the last times, and Peter said that these are the last days.

So here’s the dilemma. If there are ages to come, then what are these last days being referred to so long ago?

Last days refer to the fulfillment of prophecy. The last days of sin. The last days of this world system and the last days of the times of the Gentiles.

 

Paul says that in the ages to come, God’s going to show forth His kindness to us in heavenly places.

In 1 Thessalonians 1:10  Paul assures his audience then and us now,

and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come. 

 

Hebrews explains that:

Jesus came and made Himself a sacrifice. He died for sins to bring all things under subjection. That’s why He came, but He didn’t finish everything He promised to Israel.

Hebrews 2:5,

For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels. 

A future world! One that hasn’t yet come.

 

Hebrews 2:8 continues,

YOU HAVE PUT ALL THINGS IN SUBJECTION UNDER HIS FEET.” For in that He put all in subjection under him, He left nothing that is not put under him. But now we do not yet see all things put under him. 

 

Every word in that sentence is important.

But now we do not yet see all things put under him.

 

When will all things put under Christ?

When He comes down to earth, sits on Mount Zion, and teaches all the nations who are subject to Him.

But what about today? Where is Christ today?

Heaven.

 

Is there anything not subject to Christ?

You and I as believers are complete in Christ aren’t we?  He’s the head of all principality and power. There’s nothing He’s not the head of.

But can we see it?

No.

By faith we recognise that He’s above all things today.

However, at His return all people will see it with their own eyes, they won’t need faith anymore.

Ephesians 2:6  says

and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 

 

And Ephesians 1:21 tells us

that He’s far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. 

 

That’s what you know today, but until He comes back, the earth won’t be fully under subjection to Him.

 

So, do we live in the last days or not?

The last days of prophecy began 2,000 years ago.

The last days prophesied that Christ would come, and He came.

The last days prophesied that the kingdom would come. Christ preached the kingdom at hand.

Did He rise from the dead? Yes.

Did He speak about judgment and that He’d be the Judge? Yes.

 

So, the last days began 2,000 years ago, as the Bible states, but they’ve not yet been fulfilled.

The last days were interrupted and never completed.

 

In 1 Corinthians 15:8 Paul says,

Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time. 

 

Apostles were individuals specifically chosen and sent by Jesus personally to spread His teachings and Acts 1:21-22 states that to replace Judas Iscariot, the new apostle had to be someone who had been with Jesus from the beginning and had personally seen Him after His resurrection.

Paul, though not among the original twelve, also saw the risen Christ on the road to Damascus in Acts 9:3-6 and he emphasised Galatians 1:1, that his calling was not from men, but directly from Jesus Christ.

 

After Paul, there weren’t a succession of apostles, he was the last.

He was the last to see Jesus.

You and I haven’t seen Jesus in the flesh physically. Paul was the last to see Him.

 

Today we live in a day that separates the last days of prophecy from the future days of prophecy.

Paul describes this current time as a secret day, a mystery, a revelation about Christ.

This mystery information revealed through Paul’s epistles by Jesus Christ describes something previously unknown.

The kingdom’s not here, yet salvation is preached.

 

Here’s why some people mistakenly believe that Paul’s revelation is the New Covenant, and it replaces Israel. They get that idea because Paul’s new information seems to replace their old expectations.

But that’s not reading Paul’s letters properly.

We live in a day that divides the last days of prophecy, and the future last days.

There’s a gap that’s this mystery revealed by Christ.

 

Jesus Himself said that those days would be prolonged and that He would have to go away and then return.

Then He left during the last days, and revealed a mystery, a revelation about Himself.

 

That’s what He’s been doing for 2000 years.

He hasn’t been operating according to the prophetic last days but according to this mystery operation.

However, that mystery required Christ’s resurrection and judgment of sins and it required Him to be above all principality and power.

We live in a day of salvation, which is what the last days promised.

But it’s salvation without sight.  2 Corinthians 5:7,

For we walk by faith, not by sight. 

 

In 1 Corinthians 15:12 Paul faced the same objections people raise today, and we read,

Now if Christ is preached that He has been raised from the dead, how do some among you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? 

 

If the resurrection of the last days is true and Christ came bringing resurrection, then why is my brother, who believed in Christ, still in the grave? The haven’t been raised yet. Paul says, that the resurrection of Christ and the resurrection of all men are separated by this period of time, this intermission to prophecy.

Paul further explains in 1 Corinthians 15:13-14,

But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then Christ is not risen.

And if Christ is not risen, then our preaching is empty and your faith is also empty.

Then 1 Corinthians 15:17,

And if Christ is not risen, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins! 

 

We must believe in resurrection even though we don’t see it yet.

Then what about those who’ve died?

1 Corinthians 15:18,

Then also those who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. 

 

Paul’s saying, if there’s no resurrection, then those who believed are gone forever.

Paul teaches the truth about resurrection, that it will happen, but not yet.

We look at Christ’s resurrection against future resurrection.

 

1 Co 15:22-23,

For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ’s at His coming.

 

This’s His coming to meet the church in the clouds, not His second coming.

Paul’s explaining that there’s a period of time between Christ’s resurrection and when believers are raised from the dead.

Then comes the end, when everyone gets resurrected and judged by Christ.  We’re living in a day of resurrection, but it’s a spiritual resurrection, a promise of resurrection, but last days’ resurrection of all people hasn’t yet occurred.

 

Today we’re not living in the earthly Davidic kingdom of Israel.

But Paul says in 2 Timothy 4:18,

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 

 

Then in Colossians 1:13,

He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, 

Where is that kingdom?

 

That kingdom is His dominion which we’re under as members of His body.

This is not the kingdom that God prophesied for the earth and Israel.

This is a much greater thing, a bigger dominion.

When Paul states in Acts 28:31 that he’s preaching the kingdom of God, he’s not contradicting himself.

Some teach rightly that we’re living in an invisible spiritual kingdom. But they’re wrong if they miss the key point of who we are in Christ and that we’re members of the body of Christ. Sadly many teach that this’s a spiritual kingdom that you get into by your works and that’s the problem.

We enter the kingdom of His dear Son by the grace of God. Through the mystery of Christ.

 

Every person has been judged a sinner. Then Christ came.

Israel should have received Him, but they didn’t, they rejected Him.

Now, all are judged sinners both Jew and Gentile, everyone.

God’s not evaluating us anymore, He’s already declared judgment.

The judgment of sin is death, eternal death, God’s wrath.

But He’s not yet delivered the sentence.

Christ executes that judgment in the days of the Lord, His second coming.

This period when He came the first time, these last days spoken so extensively about back when He lived on earth, died, rose again and ascended to heaven, is where God condemns the whole world because that’s when Israel rejected Him, their own prophesied Messiah.

 

But after this intermission to the prophecy timeline, when He returns, He delivers the execution of the sentence.  You might say we’re on death row.

Today we’re living between judgment and execution and it’s a period of grace.

If we trust Christ, we’ll be saved from death row by His finished work and we’re already living eternal life now.

If we don’t we’ll never be released from death row and we’ll face our inevitable, eternal second death.

 

We don’t preach Christ as King over earthly kingdoms today.

We preach Christ as head of all principality and power, Christ dwelling in us.

Colossians1:27,

To them God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

We’re in Christ through His body and He’s in us.

 

Colossians 3:4 says,

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 

Is that a contradiction?

Is Christ in us or are we waiting for Him to appear?

Both.

Christ is in us because He’s omnipresent, everywhere.

But we’re also waiting for Him to appear, because He hasn’t visibly manifested yet.

 

So, are we living in the last days?

We’re living in the day of the revelation of the mystery of Christ.

The last days began but they’ve not yet been completed.

God revealed a mystery that rightly divides the beginning from the end of the last days.

When We Die

In this article, “When We Die” we talk about what happens when we die and after we die.

Some might say that this’s pretty basic, we’ve learned this in kids’ Sunday school and that’s true.

But we often forget the implications of believing what happens after we die.

This might be a new perspective that you may not have considered before.

“Speed Slider”

When We Die – Transcript

Everyone faces the issue of life and death.

We’re living, and death’s coming.

But as Christians, knowing the truth about death and what happens affects our thinking and our walk through this life.

Death is certainly coming for everybody, and everyone knows that.

Skeptics, even the most severe of them, refuse to believe in any sort of resurrection or life after death.

But the real question is: how do we live until death?

Everyone has to face this issue.

Even though death’s coming, people respond to that knowledge differently.

Does that mean I just live my life as long as possible in hopelessness?

Does that mean I should end it now?

Does that mean I should live however I want, pursuing whatever pleasures I desire?

How should we live until death?

And what is life after death?

These are important questions.

The world has its answers that people often just accept without question.

But these answers are mostly not based on the Bible.

The so-called “wise” men of the world, who claim wisdom but make themselves fools, say, “No one knows.” And that’s a very common answer.

But in Romans 1:19-21, God, through Paul, says that He has made Himself known since the creation of the world.

Romans 1:19 states:

because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. 

Romans 1:20 continues:

For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen,

How are they seen?

By the creation itself—by God’s handiwork in the entire universe.

Creation by God is debated about a lot today but this is relatively new in history’s timeline.

For most of history people saw it, knew it, and recognised that it was created. The fact that many don’t today is not a testament to better science or greater discoveries but rather to willing rejection of God.

Romans 1:20 goes on:

being understood by the things that are made,

Previous generations understood this.

They knew that creation itself testified to God’s power.

Romans 1:20 continues with,

even His eternal power and Godhead,

What did they know?

They didn’t know the gospel of Jesus Christ or the revelation of the mystery.

They didn’t know Christ needed to die.

What they did know was that God has eternal power and that He’s a Godhead—a personal God.

He’s powerful and personal.

Any human can know just by looking at creation.

To create such a world, God must be powerful enough to put, and keep, everything in place and to fill the world with personal beings, He Himself must be personal.

Romans 1:20 completes with:

so that they are without excuse, 

All mankind has no excuse for denying God.

Now, you might have an excuse for not knowing other things for example if all the bibles in the world were burned.

But that’s never been the case since the Bible existed.

There is no excuse for not recognising that a personal, powerful God exists.

Romans 1:21-22 states:

because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 

Professing to be wise, they became fools, 

Someone speaks the, quote, “wise” statement that no one can know if there’s a God or life after death.

That is spoken out of willful ignorance.

And so, they become fools.

Now, the natural man, the man who looks only at the material and refuses to believe in the spiritual, will confidently state, that there’s nothing after death.

We’ve got no evidence of invisible things.

So, what about, logic, laws, love, hate, excitement, fear, emotion thought, inventiveness etc., etc.

Can you put those in a test tube? You can’t!

The natural man says there’s nothing after death, but God shows otherwise.

1 Corinthians 2:14 says:

But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 

Natural man cannot know them.

As long as a person’s locked into the mindset that only the material world exists, they will never recognise the spiritual things of God—because they refuse to believe they exist.

The natural mind says that there’s nothing after death.

We all die, our bodies go to dust, and that’s it.

Of course they’re partly right.

Our bodies do go to dust—and that’s the end for our bodies.

But what about you?  Are you just your body?  Of course not!

The Bible emphatically teaches otherwise.

The natural man says: “Why think about death so much? Why think about it happening someday or tomorrow when we can just live for today?”

“Just focus on life today. Live the best you can. Death will come, and we can’t change that—so just enjoy the next few decades.”

For children especially, this topic is avoided, just live for today.

Now, the believer says:  There is life after death.

We believe in God. We believe in the gospel. We believe in salvation. And we believe in life after death.

Yet even the believer struggles to fully grasp the reality of life after death.

We know something about life on this side of death. We need to eat, we need to sleep, we need to interact with others. We understand this about life, even though many still struggle to live it well.  Yet it seems, as believers, we know little or nothing about life after death.

It’s as if we’re waiting until death to figure it out.

Many Christians think, “We’ll just wait and learn about it when it happens.”

This’s because people see their life as beginning when they’re born and continuing until they reach the point of death which is the end of their life.

Even if they believe in life after death, most struggle to understand it.

The mindset for most people, Christians and non-Christians alike is let’s just live life to the fullest!

Earn as much as we can, do as much as we can, enjoy as much as we can, and live as much as we can!  Whether or not we believe in life after death, we’ll find out then.

For now, let’s all earn as much, do as much, and have as much fun as we can.

Society teaches that the person who doesn’t earn as much, do as much, live as much, or seek as much pleasure as possible, according to society’s unwritten script, is wasting their life.

This happens because, even among Christians, people don’t understand the life they claim exists after death.

In Romans 6 Paul, after teaching what salvation is, explains eternal life. We must know the gospel of salvation:  That Christ died for our sins.

The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life, that’s life forever, not life that ends in death.

If we trust in Christ’s death for our sins and His resurrection from the dead, the gospel promises forgiveness of sins and eternal life, freely, by His grace.

The believer trusts that gospel and believes in eternal life.  Yet, we struggle to understand it.

In Romans 6:13, Paul begins teaching something about life now, as a believer.

He says:

And do not present your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin,

but present yourselves to God

Every believer in Christ agrees. Yes, we need to yield to God! Present ourselves to God, but look at what the verse says next:

as being alive from the dead,

That is how we yield or present ourselves to God.

That is how you and I, as believers on this side of death, ought to live.

We need to live as one who is alive from the dead.

Paul’s teaching something that many Christians miss.

If Christians believe in life after death but don’t understand what that life is, how can they live alive from the dead now as Paul instructs?

He tells believers to live as though we’re risen from the dead.

But if we don’t know what that looks like, how can we do it?

See the problem?

Most Christians think we’ll learn how to live that way after we die.

But Paul says to do it now.

How can I do that? I’m going to die!

Actually, as a believing Christian we’re already dead in Christ.

Let’s deal first with life after death.

Let’s start with the most obvious question: Where do we go when we die?

Sometimes, this simple question misses the true point of salvation.

When salvation is reduced to simply a change of location, it doesn’t communicate the true message of salvation.

So, where do we go when we die?

Many say they don’t know while others say that the Bible tells us we go to heaven or hell.

The message then becomes: We need to be in heaven because hell is bad.

WE need to decide now, before death, to be saved—so we go to heaven instead of hell.

But this reduces salvation to simply changing our destination.

But is salvation really just about location?

Is salvation simply walking through life saying that I’m going to heaven but not yet because I’m still here.

That view reduces salvation to just waiting to die so that we can move to heaven.

It skips right over Paul’s instruction to live as though we’re alive from the dead.

But first, where do we really go when we die—at least physically?

The Bible teaches this in Genesis 3:19. After sin entered the world through one man, God told that man:

“In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return.” 

Our body returns to the dust from which we came. Natural man gets this bit right and it’s observably true scientifically.

But there’s something most don’t see.

Sure, our bodies return to the dust. They don‘t float up to heaven like Jesus did after His resurrection.

Before our body fully decomposes, it falls down dead.  Then, there’s a funeral or some sort of ceremony of remembrance.

This event is for the people who remain not for the deceased.

The person who has passed away doesn’t experience it.

There’s no life in that ceremony for the one who died.

To them if death is truly the end, they no longer exist anywhere.

That’s the natural man’s view of death and it’s a hopeless view.

But what about the spirit?

Even Solomon, writing with human wisdom in Ecclesiastes, knew that man has a spirit.

As Romans 1 teaches, men are without excuse.  We ought to know that there is a personal, powerful God whose not made of matter, but spiritual and there’s a spiritual, invisible, non-material component to us.

We should recognize this from our ability to speak, our conscience, and the life within us, life that disappears when our body dies.

Where is the invisible part of us? Where is our soul? Where is our spirit?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 says:

Then the dust will return to the earth as it was, And the spirit will return to God who gave it. 

Solomon’s talking about what happens after death.

Read verse 6, which describes how “the silver cord is loosed,” referring to passing away—whether buried, cremated, or however it happens.

And the spirit will return to God who gave it.

So, our body is put into a box or in the ground, where it decomposes, and our spirit returns to God. That’s where we go.

And we can’t control that.

We don’t get to drive our spirit around like we do our body.

In the same way, our spirit, the real us, doesn’t know how to navigate where it needs to go after death.

It simply returns to God who gave it.

Does the Bible talk about where people go when they die?

Most would say that of course it does!

Well, you may be surprised, because most of the Bible does not talk about going to heaven.

Most of the Bible talks about resurrection on the earth.

Paul talks about going to heaven.

So, this entire argument of heaven versus hell might actually be too simplistic.

What happens when we die?

Luke 16 gives us an example given by the Lord Himself.

I call it an example because it is not **just** an imaginary story.

Even if the events Jesus describes didn’t actually happen and were simply an illustration, which is hard to believe, the truths He’s teaching are real.

Jesus never invented imaginary concepts to explain reality.

He always taught what was real.

Luke 16:19-21, Jesus speaking:

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. 

But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 

Then the story continues in Luke 16:22,

So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom.

Notice this is not exactly heaven.

But he was carried somewhere. His location changed but the beggar’s body remained on the street while the spirit, the soul, went to Abraham’s bosom.

The rich man also died and was buried.

So, again—the body dropped to the ground.

But where did the spirit go?

Luke 16:23 tells us,

And being in torments in Hades,

So, when we die, our location changes, the location of the real “us”.

Our body goes back to the earth, where it belongs.

But our spirit our soul goes to one of two places.

Here, Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom—the place where those who trusted in Abraham’s covenant went.

The rich man went to hell or Hades.

Luke 16:23 continues:

he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 

We can study hell and Hades and what the Bible says about it but here, it’s described as a place of torment.

Meanwhile, Lazarus was not in torment.

So, Abraham’s bosom was a place of comfort, not a place of suffering.

And of course, heaven is also spoken of in the Bible.

Do people go to different places when they die? Yes.

That raises an important question. On what basis do people go to one place or the other?

Look at 2 Corinthians 5:8,

We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. 

As believers, we trust in the gospel that saves us and we understand that when we’re absent from our body, like Lazarus was, we go to a place of blessing.   We go to be with the Lord.

This disproves the idea of soul sleep where some say that when we die we’re just unconscious for a while—until the end, when we wake up again.

But the Bible does not teach this.

Luke 16 refutes it.

2 Corinthians 5 refutes it.

Philippians 1 refutes it.

1 Thessalonians 4 refutes it.

Paul clearly says that when we die—that is, when we’re absent from our body, we’re immediately present with the Lord.

Of course that means we’re not just our body.

Our body is part of us.  It’s used by us.  But when it dies, we go somewhere else.

That also confirms that there is a soul and a spirit and those go to be with the Lord, because we’re in the Lord, according to the gospel.

Going to heaven or going to hell is not the full picture of what happens after death.

Some think they want to go to heaven because that’s where God is and they don’t want to go to hell because that’s where the devil is.

But that’s a cartoon version of the truth.

Psalm 139:7-8 states that God is also in hell! What? No! Yes! Let’s read, King David writing,

Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 

If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 

See, it’s really not about God’s location.  He’s everywhere, always. He’s omnipotent. There’s nowhere in existence that He’s not.

It’s not even about our location.

Wherever God places me God places me.

That should affect how we live here and now.

Instead of just saying, “I’m going to heaven! I’m going to heaven!” I’m here now.

How do I live now, or do I simply wait until heaven?

When we get to heaven it won’t just be continuing the life we’re living now, minus the frustrations.

Many imagine heaven as life as it is now, without difficulties.  Smooth sailing.

But heaven’s not eternal retirement!

Some think that down here, I have to work and work—but when I get to heaven, no more work for me!

It’ll just be lattes on the heavenly clouds! But that’s not what heaven is.

If we tell someone that they’ll work in heaven they’ll start reconsidering where they want to go!

But Psalm 139 reminds us that going somewhere different when we die is a fact, but it’s not the entire picture of salvation.  It’s not just about location.

There is a place in hell where your soul can be destroyed, something way beyond physical suffering.

That’s a torment you and I cannot even imagine while in our mortal body.

And God wants to save all men from that end, which is the whole point of scripture.

He desires to save all men from the destruction of their soul by offering a share in His life and His glory, which is eternal glory.

Matthew 10:28 talks about the second death and Revelation 20:6 gives more details about that second death.

Of course, the second death doesn’t happen immediately after a person dies, but it does happen after people die.

The more we understand this, the better prepared we are to communicate why salvation is so essential.

Salvation is not about a better life now it’s about a better life to come.

We don’t need to only know that life exists after death, but what that life or death is like so that we can explain it to others and ignorance about life after death can obstruct that.

When Christians don’t understand what life after death is, they can’t fully communicate it to others.

This’s why many fall back to simply saying that God’ll make your life better now, because they don’t know much else.

Revelation 20 describes future events, after Christ’s return, when He establishes His kingdom on earth.  It’s all future.

It’ll happen after we die, or if we’re changed in the twinkling of an eye as 1 Corinthians 15:52 describes.

Revelation 20:6 states:

Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection

Many people don’t even believe in resurrection—and here, resurrection is being counted!

There is a first resurrection.  Revelation 20:6 continues,

Over such the second death has no power,

So, the second death will affect those who’re not part of this first resurrection.

but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Now, Revelation 20:14 comes after the second resurrection—where people are raised to stand before God’s judgment throne. It says:

Then Death and Hades (or Hell) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 

Wait, so you mean hell doesn’t last forever?

People often assume that hell is eternal.

But while torment is for another discussion, hell itself doesn’t last forever.

The verse states that it’s cast into the lake of fire which is the second death.

So, the real problem is this:

At the judgment seat, those who are already dead, separated from their body, decomposed in the dirt long ago, will stand before God as themselves, judged for their works. These will all fail judgement and will be thrown into hell.

Then, hell itself will be thrown into the second death.

For every person, there’s judgment, whether it be this second death, or another judgment.

Hebrews 9:27 states:

And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: 

 

This is important information.  Many people still debate whether life exists after death.

But not only is there life after death, every person will face judgment before the righteous Creator of their soul.

So, it’s wise to learn how we should stand before Him correctly.

Romans 14:12 says,

So then each of us shall give account of himself to God. 

Some people assume that because they’re saved they won’t face judgment.

However, Romans 14:10 states:

But why do you judge your brother? Or why do you show contempt for your brother? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ.

These are believers like you and me, and we’ll all stand before Christ in judgment.

Judgment doesn’t always mean punishment.  It’s also a determination or a decision made.

For example when we graduate from school, or finish an apprenticeship, a determination or a judgment is made about whether we pass or fail.

So, judgment can result in a good outcome.

If we’re saved by God’s grace we’ll still stand before our Lord at this judgment.

But what will He judge them for?

The second death does not concern those who’re saved, so what judgment does concern believers?

2 Corinthians 5:10 points out:

For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad. 

So, at the judgment seat, a person receives based on what we’ve done whether good or bad.

Paul continues:  2 Corinthians 5:11,

Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;

We persuade men, because judgment will happen to all men.

Do we know what the “terror of the Lord” looks like?

It’s that second death and knowing that is why we persuade men.

But we’re also held accountable to God.

The judgment seat of Christ. What is that?

1 Corinthians 3:12-14,

Now if anyone builds on this foundation, what foundation? The grace of God and Jesus Christ.

Now if anyone builds on this foundation, with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each one’s work will become clear; for the Day will declare it, because it will be revealed by fire; and the fire will test each one’s work, of what sort it is. If anyone’s work which he has built on it endures, he will receive a reward.

Notice how it’s not the person being tried—it is his work.

The work being judged is the work already done in life and if it survives the trial it receives a reward.

That work is what’ll be tested at this judgment.

Again, we’re thinking about what happens after death, but it’s affecting how we live now.

If a person doesn’t care about what happens to them after death, then it won’t much affect the choices they make now.

But if we recognise that we’ll stand before the Lord and could receive a reward for the kind of work we do here, it can affect our life.

When Paul says Romans 6:13 to present ourselves to God as being alive from the dead, he’s saying: “Imagine we’re alive from the dead.” How can we possibly imagine that?

We live as if we’re raised from the dead and as someone who’ll stand at judgment to receive a reward.

Live now as someone experiencing eternal life now.

That is what Paul teaches in Colossians 2:18

Let no man beguile you (or cheat you) out of your reward in a voluntary humility and worshiping of angels. 

There’re many religious works that people claim appease God, but don’t.

That’s why studying scripture is essential.

Many religious works assume that If I do this, God will be pleased with me.

But Paul says:  No—many religious practices and supposed good works won’t pass judgment. They’re not worthy of reward.

We need to know what those things are.

Paul writes in Colossians 3:23-24,

And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ. 

The Lord’s  going to give the reward of the inheritance.

So, what we do here should be done as to the one we know we’ll serve there.

Life and death and our knowledge of it matters for the choices we make now.

Paul prays for the Ephesians in Ephesians 1:18 that:

the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling,

What is the hope of His calling?  Eternal life.

Paul continues

what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, 

What are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints?

The riches?

Earlier, we saw reward, now we see riches.

Rewards are for specific kinds of work while riches are the blessings God bestows upon all who’re saved.

Paul wants us to know what the riches of the glory of His inheritance are.

Look at the great and beautiful passage of Ephesians 2:4-9

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, 

What’s the location here? In heaven!

This’s where we find the teaching of going to heaven.

and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus

It’s very important to realise that we would not be in heaven without Him.

Verse 7 states: that in the ages to come

That’s future, future from or after our death.

that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

This is an amazing verse!

What’ll happen after we die? This!

God will show us the exceeding riches of His grace and His kindness toward us.

It’s the ultimate welcome-home party, abounding in kindness, love, and richness toward us.

That’s what’ll happen after a Christian’s death.

Verse 8 continues:

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;

It’s not something we earn here in this life.

In Ephesians 3:16 Paul prays again.

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man,

These are riches we’ll receive here and now, riches that God’s provided for us.

So, again we see how knowing what happens after death can affect our life now.

Philippians 4:19 states:

And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. 

This doesn’t mean every material need will be met as many preach today.

Remember that our body, once we hit death, goes into the ground.

But in glory, the riches do affect what we need spiritually.

Things that change our soul, that help us grow in Christ.

After death, glory is no longer a hope it’s a reality.

Colossians 1:27 states:

…God willed to make known what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

What is glory?

God’s Divine Presence and Majesty. It describe the radiance, splendour, and magnificence of God.

There’s a glory among men like where an athlete wins a championship and in their victory they get their trophy and receive praise, in the praise.

But that glory is temporary, whereas God’s glory is forever.

It’ll be seen and celebrated forever because who He is and what He does is worthy of eternal praise.

That’s our hope, the blessed hope.

But after death, it’s no longer a hope.  It’s reality.

Colossians 3:4 states:

When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. 

Christ doesn’t appear during this present time.

Christ will appear either after either our death or for those who are changed in the twinkling of an eye in the great catching away of the Body of Christ. And that’s when we’ll appear in glory.

So, for a believer, what happens after death? Glory!

Romans 8:18 states:

For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

That’s an amazing verse to reflect on about what shall be after we die.

Sufferings in this world are in our face, in our body, in our daily struggles, in constant conversations.

Suffering, frustration and pain especially as we get older.

And yet, Paul says that those sufferings are not even worth comparing not our coming glory. Do we have a bunch of sufferings? God’s glory is millions of times bigger than every sufferings we could list.

That should change how we think about suffering differently. At least, it’s temporary.

This should change our minds about life here and now.

When people don’t believe in life after death or don’t know what happens after they die, this life seems like forever.

But if we know something about the size of eternity, the glory, the judgment and the reward of forever in Christ, that should put this life into perspective.

Romans 8:30 tells us,

Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified. 

If we believe Christ is alive today, sitting in glory, then we’re in Him and we’ll be in glory too.

That is the hope we have.

Romans 8:31 has this,

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 

Christians declare that now, in this life.

But how can we be so joyful, so confident about glory before we actually receive it?

That’s the power of hope and of faith and, there’re things happening in that eternal life that we can live now.

That is why Paul says in Romans 16:

Yield yourselves or present yourselves as being alive from the dead.

God’s glory and God’s life are not confined to life after death.

Many think that when I die then it all begins. But No.

It’s already begun.  We just don’t fully see it yet, even though it’s already operating in us.

We need to change the way we think to live that life now.

So, glory happens. It’s no longer a hope. Rewards and riches happen, and judgment happens.

And then there’s something else. God renews the heaven and the earth.

We tend to forget how incredible that’ll be.

We tend to think that sin and corruption are everywhere, and I just want to leave and it’s an understandable sentiment.

But when God restores everything to its intended glory and beyond we might be in heaven, longing for earth, because God’s renewal will be so amazing.

Listen to Revelation 11:15 and the words spoken by people in heaven.

Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!” 

See that?  Loud voices in heaven, saying:

The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord.

Is that true today?  No!

Has it ever been true? No!

But at this time it will be true, and it’ll happen without an election!

What a day that’ll be, and it’ll never end.  And it happens on the earth.

Revelation 19:5 and this is before Revelation 11. Many event in Revelation don’t follow in chapter and verse sequence.

Then a voice came from the throne, saying, “Praise our God, all you His servants and those who fear Him, both small and great!” 

This is when Christ actually, physically  returns to the earth through the clouds in glory and He comes to fight and to judge the world in righteousness.

But look at what they say in Revelation 19:6:

And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude, as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, “Alleluia! For the Lord God Omnipotent reigns! 

We can sing that in a stadium, all we want but nothing presently here on earth will be like that moment.

Revelation 21:1-2 happens after death:

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. 

And I, John, saw the holy city—New Jerusalem—coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

That’s the bride of Jesus a city.

Revelation 21:3

And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. 

God will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, this is Israel.

God will finally fulfill Israel’s covenant.

That is why we see the bride, it’s a wedding.

God covenanted with Israel to be this nation of blessing on the earth and eventually, the whole earth will be full of His glory, not just Israel all nations.

Revelation 21:4 states:

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

This’s where people get the painless existence from and yes, that day will come after death.

So, what should we expect here, now? Pain. Death. Tears. Sorrow.

But there will be a day when we’ll never grow old and with no more pain, no more tears, no more sorrow.

A lot of things happen after we die.

How will we live after we die?

This really is the heart of the issue.

If Paul tells us to yield or present ourselves now as those who are alive from the dead (Romans 6:13), we need to know what it means to be alive from the dead.

Over there people will be living without pain but how do I live like that now?

Well, maybe I can live as if there’s something greater than my pain.

Over there there’s no death but how do I live like that now?

Maybe I can live as if there is life after death, eternal life, right now and forever.

That changes how we view things.

People live in hope of retirement.

But who decided that all of us working toward retirement was a good thing?

People live hoping for retirement, a life of ease.

And why not live an easier life rather than a harder life?

People struggle to appreciate what life really is?

They often live for entertainment, fun, amusement, distraction.

Everyone knows they’ll die, so—they try to get the most out of this life that they can.

Often this is to try and dull a sense of hopelessness with constant distraction and a bit of distraction is great.

But a life of distraction to cover up thinking about the truth of life and death is living in false reality, a fantasy.

Many are consumed, addicted to news cycles and politics, always looking to the next headline, trapped in an endless cycle a never ending drama.

People think that the way they live now, how they’ve set life up, is the best way to live and they often think of heaven like that.

It will be what I want—forever because I just don’t get to do everything now.

In heaven, I want to travel and see all the places I missed and do everything I couldn’t do, and God will let me—because He loves me, and He’ll give me what I want!

But what if we’re looking ahead and what if the way we live now determines what’s ahead?

When if for those in heaven today, and for you and I soon enough, the day-to-day news in heaven is not about frustration, drama, or controversy, what our favourite news channel or social media channel said!

What if instead every day was seeing God work in that saint, in this saint, even that saint still on earth, witnessing every day the news of someone getting saved.

In Luke 15:7 and Luke 15:10 Jesus talks about in heaven; they rejoice over the salvation of a soul.

What is happening now is that we’re already living in God’s eternal life and glory and we’re grateful every day for the blessings God is giving us.

We’re living in gratitude and living life of purpose, a life of completion, where we feel whole, instead of constantly searching for something to fill the emptiness.

What an amazing way to live? And we can live like that now.  We just need to know the truth that we’re complete in Christ and we know God’s will in all things, and we can give thanks, and we can learn to live that way now.

We can focus on the things that are glorious, the spiritual things we can’t see with our eyes, but we know them in our mind and in our heart.

We’re living eternally in Christ Jesus—today.

How will we live when we die?

Well, instead of seeking constant distraction, we could live a full life.

However, we  can never reach a full life without God and without His truth.  We’ll never live it while our material “thing” collection and our striving for fun and the pursuit of happiness is the most important part of our life. We live a  full life by understanding and growing in the knowledge of Christ Jesus.

That’s what’ll fill our life for eternity, so why not let it fill our life now?

This is the solution to your soul’s struggles and it’s what strengthens our inner man. It produces love.

We can live in joy, peace, longsuffering by walking after the Spirit, producing the fruit of the Spirit.

Paul teaches us to do this.

By the way—all of this was not known before God revealed it to Paul.

Before, it was simply: “Do this, and live.” But now everything’s changed.

How we think about who we are, how life comes from God, what life in Christ looks like.

Now, we actually can walk in a world full of suffering and evil and still be as Paul says in 2 Corinthians 4:7-10

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us. 

We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed— always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body. 

That’s living eternal life now, while we’re still alive in our mortal flesh.

We don’t have to wait.

In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul says:

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 

It’s often really hard to see suffering that way. It feels like the most important thing facing me right now.

But Paul’s putting things into perspective when he carries on in the next verse, 2 Corinthians 4:17,

while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal. 

Can we know those eternal unseen things? Yes!

Paul’s epistles are full of teachings about spiritual, eternal realities, even though we don’t see them with our natural senses yet, we’ve been given all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus in heavenly places. Ephesians 2:7.

Those spiritual blessings can change the way we think now, if we let them.

Or we can choose to live the way everyone else lives in our natural flesh as if death is the end.

But we have eternal life which began the moment we got saved.

We might say that we’re waiting for that and it’s going to be a great day!

But let the Word change us.  Let God transform us now. Because He already has.

What keeps us from believing that’s true?

Our mortal flesh which is very much still here.

The good news is that Jesus Christ and the gospel that saves is not just about a change of location.  It’s about God’s life and living His life now, on earth, before heaven.

We’re alive to His truth, to who He is, and to what His glory looks like and alive to read and understand spiritual things.

To know the manifold wisdom of God and  the depth and the lengths of His love To live in His love in the life of God.

We’re risen with Christ and Christ is seated in heaven, so where’s our seat?

In heaven, right now.

Paul says in Colossians 3:1

If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God.  

We ask, “How? I can’t get up there, how do I seek them?”

Because we’re not talking about our physical location.

We’re not talking about the things that’re yet to happen like judgment, rewards, and riches.

We’re talking about the things that’re already given to us, things we can know now.

Where are we seated right now, even though we’re an ambassador on earth? We’re seated with Christ in heavenly places.

We’re simply an ambassador still here.

Colossians 3:2,

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 

So, seek them, desire them.

“But how do I develop a desire for things I can’t even see?”

We change our mind with the Word and read about what they are as Romans 12:2 tells us,

And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. 

You might even start to realise how useless the things we love and pursue really are.

Colossians 3:2-3 again,

Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 

For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. 

We should learn that, understand that, repeat that, remind ourself of it and live according to it.

So, what happens when we die?  Our body will be left behind.  Sin will be left behind, so we mortify our members now and live like that now Colossians 3:5.

Paul continues in Colossians 3:8

Put off all these things—anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. 

Why?

Because we’ll put them off over there, so put them off here.

Colossians 3:9

Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, 

Why?  Because there’s no lying over there, so don’t do it here.

When we begin to think of ourselves as living this eternal life here and now, it changes everything.

We start asking how we should live.

Well, how we’ll live in glory.

But what happens when I fail?

God’s grace and mercy is always there but as a Christian we should at least how to live as one risen from the dead.

Colossians 3:10 says

and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, 

We’ve got to know certain things to live as the new man.

Galatians 2:20 says:

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. 

If we’re living with this in our mind, in our affections, and letting it affect how we live here, we’ll be living the life of God.

That’s where we begin.

We say that we can’t let the things of God affect our practical responsibilities, but do we really think we’ll be irresponsible in glory?

Some people think that when they get to heaven there’ll finally be no more responsibilities!

Wrong!

We will have responsibility in heaven and if we dislike responsibility what in the world do we think we’re doing serving God? That’s a responsibility.

Salvation’s not our removal from responsibility; it’s our entrance into service to God!

Some people think that having no responsibility would be joy!

But what would that really be?

Not accomplishing anything? Not doing anything?  Not helping in any way.

All that having no responsibility does is make us act as one who’s dead.

Some might say: “No, that’s wrong, I get treated well. I get served.” Yes but only if you worked hard enough to pay for it!

Also, if a person thinks they themselves are the object of worship and service, that changes what they think good is.

Serving others is a blessing.

Paul says in Act 20:35, quoting Jesus,

‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’   

If we live as if receiving is the greater blessing, we’ll miss out on what is truly greater.

You and I can only be served to the level of your imagination. But what about God’s imagination?

Ephesian 3:20 tells us,

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think (imagine), according to the power that works in us, 

We’ve been promised that.

If a person can’t see that serving God is a good thing, then they’re misunderstanding salvation.

Walking in truth and in God’s life isn’t a burden. It’s not misery.

Some say that all this is hard!

Yes, if they’re walking in the power of their flesh, they can’t do it.

But, with the life of God and the strength of Christ Jesus we can.

Thru The Bible In One Hour

In this episode we take a walk through the entire Bible and we’re going to use a very simple timeline which appears below this audio. Tap on the image to open an enlarged version.

When we study the Bible that God gave to us and we learn how to rightly divide its ages, or dispensations or what God has dispensed, understanding comes, and we see the Bible with the clarity that God intended.

“Speed Slider”

Thru The Bible In One Hour – Transcript

When we study the Bible that God gave to us and we learn how to rightly divide its ages, or dispensations or what God has dispensed, understanding comes, and we see the Bible with the clarity that God intended.

In Ephesians 3:4 the apostle Paul says that “when we read, we may understand my (Paul’s) knowledge in the mystery of Christ.” So, we need to read the Scriptures to understand the things of God.

We can go through the whole Bible in an hour. Not every verse but a bird’s eye view and in so doing we can remove much of the confusion that’s been handed to us by tradition, and culture, rather than an honest search of the scriptures. We need to verify what we’ve been taught ourselves, like the Bereans that Paul preached to in Acts 17:11,

These were more fair-minded (or noble) than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so. 

Then, in 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says,

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. 

This is what we’re trying to do, to stop relying on hearsay and the traditions of our own particular denomination.

We’re so used to people preaching from one or two cherry picked verses followed by a 20 minute story or life improvement message that we’ve forgotten this is a real book that God’s given us to instruct us about the world, humanity, salvation, sin, and everything else, and we need to understand that what God says to man changes over different ages. God’s book to mankind didn’t materialise like light did at creation where God said in Gen 1:3

Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. 

It was given to us in bite size pieces of information in 66 different books over 1,500 years by 40 different writers who were directly inspired what to write by God. It was a progressive work through the ages and what God said to man over those ages changed. God Himself never changes but what He instructed man to do did change.

Now this doesn’t mean that because the way God deals with mankind changes over the ages, He just up and decides on the spur of the moment to do things differently. Every revelation that He’s given to us is part of an unchangeable, plan and purpose that’s been in place for an eternity.

So, we need to understand not only what the Bible says but to whom it’s addressed to and why it was said at that time.

If we just randomly pick a place in the Bible to start reading and try to apply it to our life we may well be trying to apply something that God never intended for us today.

We should never assume that if it’s in the Bible, it must be true for today. That’s just not so. Many things in the Bible were true before or will be true in the future, but they’re not true for today.

Is it important for us to know about every time? Very definitely YES because every word is a vital part of the entire message even though the things that God instructed man to do then is not what He’s instructing today.

Also, throughout the majority of the Bible, both past and future, God’s dealings with mankind were, and will be in the future, through a single nation, a chosen nation, Israel. Even when Jesus Christ, God in human form, came into the world He created, He came through and to the nation of Israel, and we see that in many places like Matthew 15:24

But He answered and said, “I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”

Jesus’ mission was to Israel, fulfilling age old prophecy, but later, through Paul’s 13 epistles to the church, the body of Christ today, we see God’s greater purpose where, for a time, His message is to all people Jew and gentile.

So then, is the knowledge of Jesus’ earthly ministry of any value to the Body of Christ today? Very definitely! In fact, it’s crucial to our salvation and our eternity.

Hebrews 1:1 tells us that

God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 

We need every line of scripture to gain the full picture of God’s dealings with mankind, but we also want to know what God’s will is today so that we can operate according to it and be involved in what He wants for us today. To do that we need to know not only the messages He revealed, but to whom He revealed them, what they said, and which ones are for our learning and which ones are for our instruction.

One major misunderstanding in the Body of Christ today is God’s will and our purpose. So much heartbreak and frustration occur when we think God’s speaking to us verbally or through the circumstances of our lives. But if we know 1 Timothy 2:1-4 we know God’s will for the age we live in now,

Therefore, I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men, for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

God’s desire, His will is for “all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.”

And what is “saved”?

To be saved from the wages for sin which is eternal death.

Romans 6:23,

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 

What is the method God gives to get this salvation?

Romans 1:16,

For I (the apostle Paul) am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. 

The Gospel is God’s power to salvation. Something in that Gospel contains all the power of God to save a sin saturated human.

What is the Gospel?

1 Corinthians 15 1-4,

Moreover, brethren, I (Paul) declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,

That is the pure unadulterated Gospel that is God’s power to salvation, folks.

How do we partake of this power of the Gospel?

In the beautiful and wonderful scripture found in Ephesians 2:8-9,

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. 

So, now let’s try to learn how this Gospel of Salvation came into being and what the Scripture actually says.

To start at the beginning we look at the first and most profound revelation God gave to man in Genesis 1:1

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

This is revelation given to every man across every age and it tells us very clearly that there was a beginning to the entire universe as we know it.

It also tells clearly that before that beginning God existed. He must have else how could He have begun after He created?

God is outside of His entire creation including its time, energy, matter and space.

Psalm 90:2 says

Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever You had formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God. 

The human mind naturally thinks in terms of beginnings and endings because we live in a universe governed by time. But God is beyond time and space, and He exists in a way that doesn’t require a beginning or an end.

Eternity is beyond the human mind to comprehend. The only way we can handle it is to accept it by faith, believing what God has said.

In the first part of the earth’s early history, we see the first instruction given to man in Genesis 1:28,

Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Then, in Genesis 2:16-17 God speaks directly, verbally, to the first man,

And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Of course, the man was not obedient to that one simple command and as a result he fell into a state of sin and took the now cursed earth with him.

If we never read past chapter 1, we won’t recognise that we live in a fallen creation, a cursed world, that’s full of sin.

By the time we get to Genesis 9:1, God’s now speaking to Noah. A few chapters earlier, He told Noah to build an ark—an instruction He didn’t give to Adam, but to Noah and we see humanity wiped out, all but 8 souls on the ark,

Then God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill, or replenish, the earth.”

Then, in verses 9-11, He says to Noah again:

Thus, I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

This is the first time in the Bible that the word covenant is used. In Genesis 1, God simply blessed Adam and gave him dominion. Now, a thousand years later, after judging sin by flooding the world, God introduces something new—the way He operates has changed, you see. Flooding the entire world is very different from the paradise He provided for Adam.

So now, along with the command to have dominion over the earth—just as He told Adam—God’s also making a covenant with Noah. In verse 10, God extends this covenant:

“With every living creature that is with you, of the fowl, of the cattle, and of every beast of the earth with you; from all that go out of the ark, to every beast of the earth.”

Then, in Genesis 9:11, God promises:

Thus, I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

Gods remained faithful to this covenant ever since. There’ve been local floods, and people have drowned in water, but never again has He flooded the entire world.

So, we see that from the very first chapters of the Bible, God changes the way He operates, and we must be careful to recognise the places in scripture where God dispenses new information.

Later in Genesis 12:1, we see yet another way God communicates with humanity. The earth had been replenished but humanity remained in sin even building a tower and a false religion until God confounds their language and they’re scattered throughout the earth. From Adam to Abram, we see that mankind simply could not do what God required.

Then the Lord again speaks directly to a single man, Abram.:

Now the LORD had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, From your family And from your father’s house, To a land that I will show you.

It would be wrong to apply this verse to every son or daughter who gets married, thinking it is an instruction to them. This was a specific command to Abram.

Yet here, God’s doing something new. He dispenses new information to one man—Abram (later named Abraham) and to his descendants Isaac and Jacob who would later be called Israel. God makes a promise to Abram in Genesis 12:2-3,

I will make you a great nation; I will bless you And make your name great; And you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This is new. God chooses one man out of all the people on the earth and says, “You are going to be special to Me.” I’m going to make from you a great nation.

If anyone blesses you, I’ll bless them. If anyone curses you, I’ll curse them.

  • He’ll give Abraham a land.
  • He’ll make Abraham’s descendants a great nation.
  • And through Abraham, all the families of the earth’ll be blessed.

We can see these promises to this nation have not changed throughout the entire bible right to the end of the book of Revelation.

God spoke, He dispensed, He revealed, and He changed the way He operated.

See the pattern developing?

Not every verse in the Bible is speaking about us, and not every verse carries the same message. Yet, in just the first twelve chapters of the Bible, we already see three dispensations, three steps in God’s revelation, building upon the message.

Now, let’s move to Genesis 15:18 to confirm that God did promise Abraham physical land,

On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying: “To your descendants I have given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the River Euphrates

The boundary lines of the land that God promised to Abraham can still be identified today. They’re right there clearly marked.

Now, if we thought this was what God was still doing today, we might consider moving over there believing this is what God wants us to do. But, has God changed anything from Genesis 15 to today?

In Genesis 17:14 we find another covenant made with Abraham, circumcision,

And the uncircumcised male child, who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin, that person shall be cut off from his people; he has broken My covenant.”

God tells Abraham that he must circumcise all his male children—or else he’ll be cut off from God’s covenant.

This is new. Circumcision even further separates Abraham’s descendants from the gentile nations, which Abraham had been called out of. He was sanctified, which simply means separated for God’s purpose. Abraham had never been circumcised before but now it’s required.

Many people today believe this is still necessary, that circumcision is the entrance into God’s covenant dealings with humanity. But has God changed anything since then?

Let’s move on to Exodus 19.

By this point, we see that God fulfilled His promise to Abraham. His seed had multiplied into a great people. However, they were in bondage in Egypt. So, God sends a saviour to get them out of their bondage in Egypt. The saviour was Moses.

The book of Exodus tells the story of God delivering Abraham’s descendants (Isaac and Jacob’s) children out of Egypt.

In fact, in Exodus 4:22-23, God tells Moses to approach Pharaoh,

Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Israel is My son, My firstborn. So I say to you, let My son go that he may serve Me. But if you refuse to let him go, indeed I will kill your son, your firstborn.” ‘ ”

Now, many of us may have thought God’s firstborn son was Jesus. But Exodus 4:22 calls Israel His firstborn son.

Of course, Jesus is the only begotten Son of God—God in human form. But Israel was the nation that God created.

After delivering Israel from Egypt, God makes a new covenant with them.

Through Moses He gives them the law and tells them if they obey they’ll be blessed and if they don’t they’ll be cursed. God’s revealed even more information. Moses is given the Law. That’s the Ten Commandments and 613 other laws. And a priesthood is established for Israel.

See, how God reveals things progressively? Abraham didn’t have the law; he was dead long before the law was given. Neither were the gentiles given the law. God has new things to teach and this time it’s about His righteousness, which the law showed, and Israel should have realised that there was no way they could keep all 613 points of that law and to fail once was to be cursed. That’s why provision was made within the law for sacrifices to be made when they broke it.

God says, “Here’s the law and what you’ve got to do when you break it.” It tells us that God always knew they couldn’t keep the law. It was to teach them something.

We should also realise here that these were instructions were for Israel not for gentiles. Israel was separated out of the gentiles so we, as gentiles, need to see what’s for our learning and what’s for our instruction.

The bible is not God’s love letter to us. It’s his revelation of His dealing with humanity.

In Exodus 19:5-6, He says:

Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people; for all the earth is Mine. And you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

What do priests do?

They act as mediators between God and men. God had already promised Abraham that his nation would be a blessing to others. Now, in Exodus 19, He reveals more detail: Israel will be a nation of priests.

Here, God offers Israel a new covenant. But what happens next?

When God lays out His covenant, Israel responds in Exodus 19:8 with this,

Then all the people answered together and said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do.” So Moses brought back the words of the people to the LORD.

It wasn’t a bad response, except that they couldn’t do it. They continually broke God’s law.

We’re moving quickly through the Bible, trying to understand what God’s saying, to whom He’s saying it, and where you and I fit into it all.

So now we’ll move to Leviticus 8:6,

Then Moses brought Aaron and his sons and washed them with water.

This verse is part of the Law. The book of Leviticus lays out the laws for the Levites—the priestly tribe of Israel and the first step was washing them with water.

Then, in Leviticus 8:9 says:

And he put the turban (or the mitre) on his head. Also, on the turban (mitre), on its front, he put the golden plate, the holy crown, as the LORD had commanded Moses.

Then in Leviticus 8:10, Moses anoints them with oil and later, in verse 14 and beyond, they’re sprinkled with blood.

Now, all this may seem dry and liturgical, but it’s something God commanded Israel to do for His priests. Again, we see messages that God has revealed—so far, and we’re only up to Moses.

So, the question is, Is this what I should do? Are these instructions for me? Who in Christianity today does this?

Now let’s go to Leviticus 18:5,

You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.

Here in Leviticus 18:5, we see a religion set up by God Himself. It says:

“If a man does these things, he shall live.”

Some people actually do follow this. Seventh-day Adventists for example are adamant about keeping God’s law from this part of Scripture.

So, by this time:

  • Israel had received the Law.
  • They had entered and conquered the Promised Land.
  • They had established their kingdom.

Eventually, Israel set up a king, king Saul. David was the second and the most famous and beloved king of Israel. David, of course, was the shepherd boy who took on Goliath and killed him.

Now, we’ll skip ahead hundreds of years into Israel’s future to 2 Samuel 7:12-13 and see another new promise God makes, this time to David.

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.

God’s now saying that a king will come through David’s lineage and His kingdom will last forever. That’s some promise! And 2 Samuel 7:16 He adds.

And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

This is entirely new information, but it’s built upon the previous information.

So far, God’s revealed promises relating to Dominion on earth through covenants.

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are promised land, seed, and blessing.

The Law is given for the people to obey.

A priesthood is set up to serve God.

A King and a throne are promised that will last forever through David’s lineage.

God has revealed a lot progressively and we’re only in 2 Samuel 7.

Hopefully we can all see that:

  • This promise of an everlasting kingdom had not been revealed before.
  • Before Leviticus, the Law had not been given.
  • Before Abraham, the covenant of the land had not been made.

God’s revelations build upon each other. This is dispensational Bible study or understanding when something was dispensed by God and to whom.

Now, let’s turn to Psalm 89:18 realising that many of the Psalms were written by David but not all of them. I’m going to quote this verse from the King James Version:

For the LORD is our defence; and the Holy One of Israel is our king.

God is the defence of His chosen nation, Israel. The Holy One of Israel is their King—the promised Holy One who would come from David’s throne.

Now down to Psalm 89:26-28 and back to the New King James:

He shall cry to Me, ‘You are my Father, My God, and the rock of my salvation.’ Also I will make him My firstborn, The highest of the kings of the earth. My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him.

God’s talking here about the promise He made to David and about this seed of David who would rule an eternal kingdom. We go on to Psalm 89:28-34:

My mercy I will keep for him forever, And My covenant shall stand firm with him. His seed also I will make to endure forever, And his throne as the days of heaven. “If his sons forsake My law And do not walk in My judgments, If they break My statutes And do not keep My commandments, Then I will punish their transgression with the rod, And their iniquity with stripes. Nevertheless My lovingkindness I will not utterly take from him, Nor allow My faithfulness to fail. My covenant I will not break, Nor alter the word that has gone out of My lips.

Then He says in Psalm 89:35-37,

Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, And his throne as the sun before Me; It shall be established forever like the moon, Even like the faithful witness in the sky.”

Now, for quite a while in human history, Israel wasn’t in their land, and even today, they’re still trying to determine the boundaries. There’s no King David over there, so where’s the fulfillment? These are valid questions.

Now, let’s move into the prophets just to highlight some key points.

We see that God revealed messages to the prophets—words that were inspired, written down, and preserved for us today. We can read them, and there’s lot of reminders about the promises, the law, and the covenants made to David—but there’s also new information.

Most of the time, the prophets messages warned Israel:

“You’re breaking God’s law, and you need to repent.”

The prophets came with words from the Lord, saying:

“Send this message to Israel: If you don’t repent, if you don’t stop sinning, I will curse you.” Just as He had said that he would in the law.

Now, in Ezekiel 18:29, we read:

Yet the house of Israel says, ‘The way of the Lord is not fair.’ O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair?

That’s what rebellious Israel said. But God responds in Ezekiel 18:30,

“Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways,” says the Lord GOD. “Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin.

God’s saying, “I’m doing this right; you’re the ones who are wrong.”

That’s what the law said. If a man does the commandments, he’ll live, if he does not, he’ll die. The word repent means a change of mind.

Gods warning, through the prophets, that people must repent—change their minds—and stop doing wrong. That’s the message God gave the prophets to deliver to Israel. Some of the prophets also spoke to Gentile nations, telling them the same thing:

Now let’s look at Micah 6:7

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams, Ten thousand rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, The fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

Does God want you to kill animals? Is that His ultimate purpose for you?

Micah 6:8

He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

Three things God requires:

  1. To do justly,
  2. To love mercy, and
  3. To walk humbly with God

These were requirements given through the prophet Micah to Israel and, by extension, to the world. So far, the message has been very consistent.

Now we move to Isaiah 13:9, another prophet, who declares this:

Behold, the day of the LORD comes, Cruel, with both wrath and fierce anger, To lay the land desolate; And He will destroy its sinners from it.

The prophets now spoke about a future day—a day of tribulation. The prophets warned people of the coming wrath and told them to repent and get right with God.

They were also told about a new covenant that God would make with Israel, and we read that in Jeremiah 31:31 -35. This new covenant wasn’t made with the gentiles as we see when we read.

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah— not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD.

But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.

No more shall every man teach his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they all shall know Me, from the least of them to the greatest of them, says the LORD. For I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more.”

This new covenant would be later ratified by the death of Jesus Christ Himself.

Now, let’s move forward to The Gospel of Matthew were we read about the genealogy of Jesus Christ which proves He is indeed of Abraham and David’s seed as God had promised all those centuries ago.

We’re also introduced to the greatest of the prophets, John the Baptist.

This is all within what’s popularly called the New Testament which is the division we have in our bibles between the Old Testament and the New. It’s not a division inspired by God but by bible publishers. They wanted to separate the Greek writings, in the so called New Testament from the Hebrew writings in the so called Old Testament. It’s the same with the division of chapters and verses. They’re not inspired by God either, they’re the publishes way of making it easy to find particular places in scripture, and it works, but it’s not inspired.

The problem is that Matthew, Mark, Luke, John and half of the Book of Acts are a continuation and a fulfilment of the Hebrew writings and the prophecies that came before.

In Matthew 3:1-2, we read:

In those days John the Baptist came preaching in the wilderness of Judea, and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

We’ve already seen that message before. The prophets also preached repentance, but the second half of the sentence is new information:

“The kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

John the Baptist comes preaching repentance and the coming kingdom.

This kingdom is the dominion promised to Israel. A kingdom with a temple and a nation and a King that will rule over the earth forever. This was God’s promise to Moses, Abraham, Issac, Jacob and David.

Now look at John 1:31-32, which says, (and John the Baptist is speaking):

I (John the Baptist) did not know Him (The Christ); but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.” And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He (The Holy Spirit) remained upon Him (Jesus).

Matthew 3:16-17, also says that when Jesus was baptised, The Spirit descended like a dove and God spoke from heaven, saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’

This was a sign to Israel that Jesus was The promised Messiah, the One who would sit on David’s throne and the One who’d lead them into the promised land and reign over the earth.

See God’s revelation progressively unfolding through history?

John the Baptist’s ministry and Jesus’ earthly ministry to Israel are the fulfillment of what God previously foretold. The long promised Kingdom was now at hand.

Mark 1:1-3 says:

The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: “BEHOLD, I SEND MY MESSENGER BEFORE YOUR FACE, WHO WILL PREPARE YOUR WAY BEFORE YOU.” “THE VOICE OF ONE CRYING IN THE WILDERNESS: ‘PREPARE THE WAY OF THE LORD; MAKE HIS PATHS STRAIGHT.'”

Here again, we see the call to prepare for this coming Kingdom. This is confirmation of what the prophets had already said especially Malachi 3:1:

“Behold, I send My messenger, And he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, Even the Messenger of the covenant, In whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,” Says the LORD of hosts.

Mark 1:4, says:

John came baptising in the wilderness and preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins.

This connects back to the law program where, under the Law, sins were forgiven through animal sacrifices and Priests were cleansed with water. You see Israel was to be a nation of priests. They had to follow what the law required.

Now, John the Baptist comes preaching to prepare the way for Jesus and the establishment of God’s Kingdom on earth.

Just as in Exodus 30:17-21 where God instructs Moses to make a bronze basin for washing and place it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar. Aaron and his sons, the priests, were to wash their hands and feet with water from the basin before entering the tabernacle or approaching the altar, so that they wouldn’t die.

This ritual cleansing was a vital part of their duties and symbolised purity and holiness.

Now, let’s drop down to Mark 1:14. By this time, John the Baptist has been put in prison, and now Jesus comes onto the scene, and we read:

Mark 1:14-15 says:

Now after John was put in prison, Jesus came to Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

The same message John preached! “The kingdom of God is at hand!” What did Jesus mean by “The time is fulfilled”?

To understand that we need to know what God’s been doing since the world began.

  • The time He promised to David—that his throne would last forever.
  • The time He promised in the Law—that Israel would be a kingdom of priests.
  • The time He promised to Abraham—that his seed would inherit the land and have dominion.
  • The time the New Covenant was promised to Israel

That’s the time Jesus is talking about!

He says, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe the gospel!”

Now what gospel? Gospel means “The Good News” or “The Good Message”. What Good News? Well, the good news that the promise God made from the beginning of the world is now about to come to pass!

He’s progressively revealed His plan throughout human history.

  • He used the prophets to call for repentance and foretell of a coming kingdom.
  • He used John the Baptist who preached repentance and announced the kingdom was at hand.
  • Then God Himself in human form, Jesus Christ, confirmed it, declaring, “The time is fulfilled!”

A lot of Jesus’ earthly ministry wasn’t new information, it was a confirmation and fulfillment of what had already been revealed progressively since the world began.

In Romans 15:8, Paul says that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision, The Jewish nation. He came to fulfill what had already been spoken about.

So far in this episode we’ve skipped thousands of years with each step but now, as things are being fulfilled, we’re dealing with days and years in which God’s speaking and giving out new things.

A new thing is announced in John 3:17-18,

For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

See, John the Baptist said, “The kingdom’s coming, the Messiah’s coming, repent, and be water baptised.”

Jesus says, “The kingdom is coming, and I am the King. You must believe in me.”

Jesus is adding to the message, saying that He’s the promised Messiah and to believe on the name—His authority. That’s what “name” means. A police officer comes in the name of the law. A minister marries people in the authority invested in them by the state. It’s the name of Jesus, meaning He is the promised Messiah.

Matthew 1:1 says He’s the Son of Abraham, the Son of David, and under the authority of the covenant God gave to David. This is the Son of God. Now that was good news because they’d been waiting for Him for a long time.

We’re looking at a time where John the Baptist and Jesus were close to each other timewise. Before that, in biblical history, it was a long time between the pieces of God’s revealed information. There was one prophet for one era, another prophet for another era. Moses was gone before someone else came along.

In John 3:25-26 we learn something else:

Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.  And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified—behold, He is baptizing, and all are coming to Him!”

John the Baptist’s disciples confront John saying, “Hey, that Jesus, the one you pointed to, he’s also baptizing, and now people are following him instead of you.”

John answers them in John 3:27-28 saying,

“A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’

Then, in John 3:30-31 he adds,

He must increase, but I must decrease. He who comes from above is above all; he who is of the earth is earthly and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all.

When two things happen at the same time, but only one can continue, you transition from one to the other. And why shouldn’t Jesus increase? After all, he’s the Messiah, the King, God manifest in the flesh, the one promised to David and Abraham.

Then in John 14:12 Jesus says,

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.

Jesus says, “I’m leaving and where I’m going, you can’t follow me.” He came preaching a message, and then he left. And he left his disciples with something else. He said, “You’re going to do something greater because I’m going to give you the power to do it.”

Jesus also promised the Holy Spirit. John 14:16-17 says:

And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever— 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.

So, Jesus was leaving, but something new was coming, the Holy Spirit.

This would fulfil the promise of the New Covenant where, through the Holy Spirit, Israel would not only have a comforter to enable them to survive through the coming time of God’s wrath on unbelievers but have God’s laws placed in their hearts and in their minds.

See the law that God delivered to the nation through Moses would not cease, even though no man could keep it, it would be fulfilled another way by installing it into their hearts and minds. We also remember that Jesus said in Matthew 5:17

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill.

After Jesus’ earthly ministry, Peter and the other apostles, who’d been preaching with Jesus, received the Holy Spirit just as He’d promised. This led to greater works than what Jesus did during His earthly ministry.

Acts 2:14-15 describes the scene:

But Peter, standing up with the eleven, raised his voice and said to them, “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and heed my words. For these are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 

The Holy Spirit had come, allowing them to speak in various languages so that all could understand. Peter explained in verse 16,

But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel:

He’s saying this was the fulfillment of prophecy.

Then in Acts 2:32 Peter preaches the resurrection:

This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Peter told them, “You killed the Messiah!” But he also stated that God had raised Him from the dead.

In Acts 2:36 Peter goes on and says:

“Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

Peter’s message included:

  • Repentance (as the prophets taught)
  • Belief in the name of Jesus (as Jesus taught)
  • The Holy Spirit (as Jesus promised)

Then, in Act 2:38 we see,

Then Peter said to them, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

Many churches today focus on different parts of the Bible—Abraham, the Law, the prophets, or the apostles. But we need to understand the whole picture as Paul would later state in Acts 20:27,

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God.

So where are we?

John the Baptist preached that, “The kingdom is near.” Then Peter said in Acts 2:16, “These are the last days.” But that was all 2,000 years ago! What’s happened since?

Well, there’s more scripture after Acts 2 so let’s keep reading.

In Acts 3:19 Peter’s urging,

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,

If Peter preached that the last days were coming 2,000 years ago, why aren’t we seeing the miracles they saw? Why can’t we heal the sick, raise the dead, or perform signs like they did?

We even see in Acts 5:15 that even Peter’s shadow healed people. The woman in Jesus’ ministry was healed just by touching His garment and the Roman centurion’s servant who was healed without even Jesus’ presence, just His word. But today, we don’t see those miracles, despite what some churches and ministries would try and have us believe.

Why?

Because God has revealed even more truth since Acts 2. There’s been a further unfolding of His plan, and to understand what He’s doing today, we must continue studying His Word beyond Acts 2.

So, we have Peter, looking at all the messages God revealed, saying, “We’re close to it. We need to repent because when the kingdom comes, the time of refreshing will arrive, and your sins will be blotted out.”

In Acts 3:18-21, Peter says:

But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.

Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before, whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.

Peter ‘s proclaiming that Jesus not only has fulfilled all that the prophets spoke of but that He’ll come back, judge and make war, destroy all sinners, and then set up His kingdom. At that point, the end will come—no more death, no more pain, no more tears.

This aligns with everything we’ve studied so far. From Genesis onward, we see Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and David—all these figures pointing to a dominion on the earth through Israel, which will bless the other nations. The Gentile nations looking up to Israel, being blessed through them, with Jesus Christ as the Messiah and King, sitting on the throne of David, fulfilling what the prophets spoke since the world began. The kingdom was coming, and miracles were happening.

Stephen, one of the apostles with Peter, who was anointed with the Holy Spirit was captured and brought before the rulers of Israel.

We read about him in Acts 6:15:

And all who sat in the council, looking steadfastly at him, saw his face as the face of an angel.

His face was glowing, evidence that the Holy Spirit had anointed him. Just by looking at him, they could see God’s power.

In Acts 7, Stephen delivers the longest recorded sermon in the Bible, recounting Israel’s history from Adam to Peter, pretty much as we’ve done here. He emphasizes how Israel continually rejected God’s revelations, even as He kept fulfilling His promises.

But in Acts 7:58, the people didn’t like what he was saying and we read,

and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul.

Now, why does it matter whose feet they laid Stephen’s garments at? Because that young man, Saul, is very important.

In the next chapter, Acts 8:1, we read:

Now Saul was consenting to his death. At that time a great persecution arose against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered throughout the regions of Judea and Samaria, except the apostles.

The apostles had been instructed by Jesus to stay in Jerusalem because that’s where the kingdom would come. So, they remained there despite the persecution.

This is why we have the epistles of Hebrews through to Revelation.

Let’s look at James 1:1

James, a bondservant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To (who?) the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad: Greetings.

Every book from Hebrews to Revelation was written by one of the twelve apostles—Peter, James, John, Jude, and John again in Revelation.

Now, we just read in Acts 8:1 how the believers were scattered due to persecution, but the apostles stayed in Jerusalem. That’s why they wrote letters. They were scattered. The apostles wrote to those scattered believers, instructing them on how to continue in the faith.

When we read James, it closely resembles Jesus’ and Peter’s teachings. The same applies to 1 John, 2 John, and Revelation—they all continue the message of God’s purpose with Israel since the world began. Nothing new is added.

Now, if we go back to Acts 9, we see a portion of the Bible we haven’t covered yet—the epistles of Paul.

In Acts 9:1-2, we see Saul (later called Paul) still persecuting believers:

Then Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord, went to the high priest and asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.

He wanted to go to Damascus to arrest more believers and bring them back to Jerusalem.

But in verse 3, something happens which would prove to be one of the most important events of the bible, especially for us today:

Acts 9:3-5,

As he journeyed he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven.  Then he fell to the ground, and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” And he said, “Who are You, Lord?” Then the Lord said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the goads.”

The response in Acts 9:6 changed everything:

So he, trembling and astonished, said, “Lord, what do You want me to do?” Then the Lord said to him, “Arise and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do.”

This moment in time is a major turning point in the Bible. Saul, the great persecutor, would become Paul, the apostle of grace, receiving a new revelation from Jesus Christ Himself.

Paul is blinded yet he sees the Lord Jesus Christ after His resurrection—after everything that had happened, and after Peter’s ministry.

Paul was the one persecuting these believers, the ones preaching the message that had been revealed since the world began, yet Jesus appears to him. Sort of like the song, “Why me Lord?” Why? Apparently, by His grace, because there’s no other reason Jesus would reveal Himself to Paul.

Then, in Acts 9:15-16, God says to Ananias, who questioned The Lord about the wisdom of choosing this man Saul:

Go, for he is a chosen vessel of Mine to bear My name before Gentiles, kings, and the children of Israel. For I will show him how many things he must suffer for My name’s sake.”

Later, in Paul’s epistles, we read that he received a direct revelation from the Lord Jesus Christ. So, here’s where we need to add something new to our study. But there’s a problem.

Up until now, everything God revealed had been building upon itself. Each new revelation confirmed what came before. But with Paul, as we read in Romans 16:25, starts preaching a message different from everything else in Scripture.

Now to Him who is able to establish you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ,

Up to this point in the verse there’s nothing new. We’ve seen gospels, we’ve seen Jesus Christ being preached before Paul. But then Paul adds something unique in the rest of this verse:

according to the revelation of the mystery kept secret since the world began

Now hold on! Paul is talking here about a message concerning Jesus Christ that had not been spoken about since Genesis 1:1!

What’s this mystery Paul’s referring to?

Look at 1 Corinthians 9:17 and the context of the whole passage is Paul refusing payment for preaching, which was his right, and his conviction that he had no choice but to preach the gospel. He says:

For if I do this thing willingly, I have a reward: but if against my will, a stewardship (or a dispensation) of the gospel is committed unto me.

This mystery, this thing kept secret, has to do with a gospel—a message of good news—that God revealed to Paul.

Let’s look at Galatians 1:1,

Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)

Paul was not made an apostle by Peter or by any human authority. Jesus Christ Himself made him one. Paul emphasises this again in Galatians 1:11-12:

But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

Paul is making it clear that he didn’t receive this message from men. It was directly given to him by Jesus Christ.

So, what exactly is this message?

We see in Ephesians 3 that his is truly something new. Unlike everything before it, this revelation doesn’t just confirm the old that had been given since the world began, it introduces something that had been kept a secret since the world began.

Ephesians 3:1-6:

For this reason I, Paul, the prisoner of Christ Jesus for you Gentiles—

Now, wait a minute! Gentiles? Since Noah, God had never gone directly to the Gentiles. His purpose had always been to work through Israel. But here, Paul is speaking directly to Gentiles.

We carry on in verse 2,

if indeed you have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which was given to me for you,

Paul’s revealing something unique here, a dispensation of God’s grace, given specifically to him.

Verses 3 to 5,

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets:

See, this wasn’t made known in other ages.

Verses 6 to 7,

that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, of the same body, and partakers of His promise in Christ through the gospel, of which I became a minister according to the gift of the grace of God given to me by the effective working of His power. 

I hope we can all see how groundbreaking this is. The Gentiles, who were always supposed to be blessed through Israel, are now included in something directly—without going through Israel.

Why is this change happening and why was no mention ever made by God of this new dispensation?

Because of Israel’s rejection of their Messiah!

The Messiah had come, clearly demonstrating that He was the Messiah, The Christ. What was supposed to happen was that that the Holy Spirit would be given, the New Covenant activated, and a period of tribulation and judgement would come to the earth before Jesus would return to set up the Kingdom and establish His rule from David’s throne in Zion, Jerusalem, and Israel would finally be the separated, special nation that God intended all along.

But Israel rejected the Messiah, rejected God’s Word and rejected the Holy Spirit by stoning the Holy Spirit filled Stephen. It was the final straw!

God knew this would happen but, as per usual, He gave Israel every chance to claim their glorious destiny.

But at that final rejection when they stoned Stephen God stopped His timeline to the kingdom and replaced it with a new dispensation, given through Paul, which had never before been spoken of by God to man.

That dispensation has so far existed for 2000 years. It is the dispensation of Grace where man can be saved freely, without works, purely by God’s Grace through believing His word, nothing else.

Eventually this interlude to the prophetic timeline will end and prophecy leading to the establishment of the kingdom will resume, beginning with the removal of the Church, The body of Christ, from the world and the beginning of a terrible judgement of the earth and it’s people by God.

Now, look at Galatians 2:7 and how the apostles to the circumcision agreed with Paul,

But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter.

This is huge. There were two gospels being preached:

  1. The Gospel of the Circumcision—preached by Peter to Israel.
  2. The Gospel of the Uncircumcision—preached by Paul to the Gentiles.

Galatians 2:9

and when James, Cephas (Peter), and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.

Peter, James, and John recognised Paul’s calling, and they acknowledged that he’d been given a different message for a different audience.

Now, turn back to Ephesians 2:6.

Eph 2:6

and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

Since the beginning, God told Adam to have dominion on the earth. He promised Israel dominion on the earth. Instead of focusing on the earth, Paul here speaks of heavenly places.

When God made His covenant with Abraham in Genesis 12:2-3, He said, “I will make of you a great nation,” and “And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” That was Israel’s role—to be a light to the nations.

But Colossians 3:11 tells us that in Christ, there is:

neither Greek nor Jew, circumcised nor uncircumcised, barbarian, Scythian, slave nor free, but Christ is all and in all.

Can you see how much of a radical shift this is? Under Paul’s message, there are no racial or national differences. All believers—Jew or Gentile—are one in Christ.

Paul received a revelation of God’s purpose directly from God, that had been kept secret since the world began. Unlike the message given to Peter and the apostles, which had been building on God’s promises to Israel, Paul’s message revealed a new dispensation of grace where Gentiles are included without Israel.

Instead of the focus being on the earthly kingdom promised to Israel, Paul speaks of a heavenly calling. His gospel—the Gospel of the Uncircumcision—is distinct from Peter’s Gospel of the Circumcision.

This is why Paul’s letters (Romans-Philemon) contain doctrines that differ from those found in the rest of Scripture. Paul says, “There is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision; Christ is all and in all.”

We’re now just covering Paul’s epistles, which, people say are the most doctrinal of any book in our Bible. There’s no storytelling in them. Why is that? Paul says it’s because God revealed His manifold wisdom—the things that He had purposed and kept secret—He revealed to Paul.

He says in 2 Timothy 2:7,

Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things.

Romans 6:14 says,

For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace.

What’s Paul talking about?

All the prophets since Moses said we’re under the law. Then Paul comes along and says, “You’re not under the law; you’re under grace.” He’s changing things—he’s changing everything that’d been revealed since the world began based on the authority of the revelation of Jesus Christ according to the mystery.

In 2 Timothy 2, Paul writes to Timothy, who is rather ashamed that Paul is preaching things that are so opposite to the history of Israel. Paul says, “Don’t be ashamed. I know whom I believe.” Paul says, “I know who gave me this message—Jesus Christ Himself.”

In 2 Timothy 2:8 Paul says to Timothy,

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David…

Remember God’s promise to David that there would be a king on the throne forever from his seed.

He goes on in 2 Timothy 2:8 with,

Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel,

He’s saying that God promised David that there’d be a king on the throne from his seed. But there’s another purpose. He says, “According to my gospel, there was a purpose that Jesus Christ needed to be raised from the dead.” He was resurrected not just to be the King of Israel but for the salvation of all men who would put their trust in His death and resurrection.

Throughout history the prophets had been preaching, warning of coming wrath, and the repentance needed for Israel. “If you don’t repent, you’re going to be punished for your iniquities.”

Then, in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Paul says,

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

A new creature?

Now, if you were part of Israel, you’d be part of a creation of God. They were the firstborn of God as we see in Exodus 4:22. If you became part of Israel, you became part of something very old, something God created long ago.

And yet, here in 2 Corinthians 5:17, Paul says, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

Again, this is huge because Paul’s saying that all these things, all this history, is not going on anymore today!

“Old things are passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

What “all things”?

We’ve seen a new dominion. We’ve seen a new creation. We’ve seen that there’s no Jew or Greek. We’ve seen that we’re not under the law but under grace. We’ve seen that David was raised according to Paul’s gospel.

See, things are becoming new—there’s new information, a new understanding.

Carrying on in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19 we see,

Now all things are of God, who has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ, and has given us the ministry of reconciliation, that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.

What does that word reconciliation mean?

It’s the act of coming to an understanding and putting an end to hostility, as when former enemies agree to a harmonious truce.

Why were the prophets sent to Israel?

Every time they were sent, it was because Israel was doing wrong, and God was threatening them, saying, “If you don’t stop this, I’m going to become your enemy.”

Now, Paul’s saying in 2 Corinthians 5:19, God’s not your enemy anymore.

Why?

Because Christ died for the sins of the world, and He is not imputing trespasses to the world so that they might be saved.

If He were imputing trespasses, He’d be judging. He’d be doing what some people claim causing disasters as judgment. But 2 Corinthians 5:19 says He’s not doing that.

Romans 5:1 says we are at peace with God by faith in the gospel. God is offering salvation freely to all men today. He is offering peace between man and Himself.

He will come back in the future and wage war with a sinful creation, but until then, we are in the dispensation of God’s grace, in which He has provided salvation for all.

What Is God’s Will For Me?

What is God’s will for my life?

There’s many of us Christians, redeemed by Christ’s blood, and who love and trust in God, who haven’t yet discovered God’s will for their life.

Christian bookstores are full of how to guides and lifestyle improvement books that supposedly tell us how to find God’s will, and lots of churches run self-help, self-improvement programmes to find the will of God, but the fact is that most of them fail to explain the will of God.

“Speed Slider”

 

What is God’s Will for Me? – Transcript

What is God’s will for my life?
There’s many of us Christians, redeemed by Christ’s blood, and who love and trust in God, who haven’t yet discovered God’s will for their life.

Christian bookstores are full of how to guides and lifestyle improvement books that supposedly tell us how to find God’s will, and lots of churches run self-help, self-improvement programmes to find the will of God, but the fact is that most of them fail to explain the will of God.
If God has something he wants us to do, don’t you think he’d let us know?
After the incredible price that He’s paid for our redemption, which displayed His love for us, would He just leave us to figure out that purpose ourselves with no input from Him?

Christians, who haven’t discovered God’s will for their life would make us think this.

It seems that everyone’s asking for God’s will for their life.

To know God’s will for us and, as a result doubt less, have more confidence, and have a clear picture of what God wants from us, is right in front of us if we would read the scripture.

For example, Ephesians 1:9,

“Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which He has purposed in himself:”

The trouble is that’s not what most people want to hear!

When Christians ask to know God’s will what they’re often really asking is for God’s opinion about their circumstances, as if he were a personal career counsellor.

“Dear God, I feel like I am not going anywhere in life, and I would really like to do something I enjoy. Can you give me a great opportunity?”

We pray for God’s will and the quote “perfect plan for my life”. When we don’t get a clear sign in the mail, we do what we think’s best anyway.

In spite of all the how to guides, lifestyle improvement books, and churches that repeatedly preach on how to find God’s will, but many of us fail to learn what God’s will is for us. and there’s a reason.

If we add to this an almost never-ending procession of advice from the pews of the organised church, particularly the Charismatic churches, where people always seem ready to advise you to look for signs, dreams, omens, or coincidences and circumstance that point us to God’s will for us or to verify that what we’ve already decided to do is God’s purpose.

They say if God wants us to do something He’ll open doors. Be careful! That door may be a prison door. The apostle Paul spent a great part of his ministry behind bars, and he was perhaps the most certain of all Cristians about God’s purpose for his life.

Many people go and ask some sort of spiritual advisor, pastor, or some other mentor, but it’s a fact that other people love to tell us what to do. After all, the closer that person is to God the better chance we have of getting the proper message relayed from God, right?

If you’re a Calvinist, which is one who thinks that God forces his will upon every step of your life, then there’s no point in reading any further, it’s all been pre organised for you outside of you free will. So, your confusion about God’s will is God’s will.

If you’re like most people, what you end up doing is praying fervently about what you should do, where you should go or even what you should say. Some even pray about what clothing to wear and think that in doing so they’re “trusting and loving” God more.

Unfortunately, God never responds about those plans for becoming a millionaire, or that career move that you’ve all but committed yourself to.

Many people will say this doesn’t necessarily mean anything since it could be that God is testing your patience. Wait, you mean indefinitely?

Most people we ask will tell us that knowing God’s will is difficult.

However, we’re not like most people!

God’s will for our life is not difficult to understand, but sometimes it can be difficult to accept, especially if we want God’s will to line up with ours.

The fact is though, God’s will has nothing to do with personality tests, circumstances, opened doors, or prophetic utterances by self-proclaimed modern day “prophets”.

As we mature as Christians, and we mature only by knowing God’s Word, we come to know God’s will and as a result we doubt much less, and have more confidence, and a clearer picture of what God wants from us.

But the great realisation is this, Not my will But God’s Will.

We learn through the Word that God’s will is right in front of us as we read and meditate on scripture, but it is not the response that most people want. For most, it’s saying, “I haven’t got the time to learn the Word, I just need God to direct me to this career.”

Learning to discern God’s will is centred on an understanding of God’s Word, the Bible, but it must be an understanding that comes from rightly dividing that Word as 2nd Timothy 2:15 says,

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 

Paul also realised the importance of understanding the whole Bible. In Acts 20:27, Paul speaking to the elders of the Ephesian church says,

For I have not shunned to declare to you the whole counsel of God. 

Without rightly dividing the whole Word of God the Bible is beyond understanding, it’s confusing and so we look to our heart’s desires and life’s circumstances and to other so-called “Godly people” for clues as to what God’s will is for us.

We tell ourselves that the unknown outcome of our lives is in God’s hands, and then we take blind steps towards our own ends while being ignorant of His will. And when those blind steps fail, we make excuses as to why they failed, but deep down we know that it wasn’t God’s will after all.

The greatest deception we can experience is that we do our own will and call it God’s will.

It’s a lie that God’s will is beyond understanding. It’s a greater lie that we can do God’s will without knowing what it is.

If we don’t know God’s will, then we’re not doing God’s will. To do God’s will is to first know it.

If we don’t know God’s will, we can’t live a life in Christ in the peace that He promises in Philippians 4:7,

and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Ignorance of God’s will condemns us to a life lacking in purpose and peace and as we continue to pretend that we’re living our life according to the Lord’s purpose, we’re only deceiving ourselves.

The truth is we’re doing our own will and calling it God’s.

But there’s a giant arrow pointing us to God’s will, plainly revealed in the Bible, if we’re prepared to first look and then accept it.

It would be good to introduce something at this point that many Christians seem to trip over. It’s a state that’s called “Waiting on the Lord”.

Many Christians go about their lives hoping that one day God’ll make it clear what His purpose for them is.

They love him and want to do his will, but they don’t know what He has in mind, so until God speaks to them in some way, all they can do is wait.

Isaiah, a prophet under the Old Testament, states the condition of these people exactly in Isaiah 64:4,

For since the beginning of the world Men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, Nor has the eye seen any God besides You, Who acts for the one who WAITS for Him.

In Psalm 25:3 to 5 King David reaches out to God,

Indeed, let no one who waits on You be ashamed; Let those be ashamed who deal treacherously without cause. Show me Your ways, O LORD; Teach me Your paths. 

Lead me in Your truth and teach me, For You are the God of my salvation; On You I wait all the day.

This passage describes something different to what many Christians understand “Waiting on the Lord” to be.

This describes a person who waits on another so attentively that a mere look at the eye indicates the will of that person. It’s like a dedicated butler or some other servant who’s completely dedicated to their master. A good illustration is that servant waiting on his master at dinner where the servant knows the master so well that the master only needs to look at the saltshaker and the butler understands that he wants it.

We should notice that King David’s prayer here is for those who deal treacherously without cause to be ashamed and then he pleads for God to teach him His ways and His paths and His truth.

God promised that for those who diligently seek and focus on God, through faith, there’ll be reward.

Hebrews 11:6,

But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. 

And so, Christians “wait on the Lord” for Him to reveal what he has “prepared for those that love him” as 1 Corinthians 2:9 says,

But as it is written: “EYE HAS NOT SEEN, NOR EAR HEARD, NOR HAVE ENTERED INTO THE HEART OF MAN THE THINGS WHICH GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.” 

But what if God had already revealed his will, and it’s simply been ignored?

Wouldn’t it be a tremendous relief to know just WHAT God has prepared for His people?

Of course it would, and it has already been revealed!

God has declared his will for all in the revelation of the mystery given to the apostle Paul by Christ Himself, and Paul’s passed it on to us in his epistles written to the Body of Christ today.

Unfortunately, very few Christians are aware of this revelation.

Paul explains that from the beginning of the world men like Isaiah have waited on the Lord as we just saw Paul reminding us of in 1st Corinthians 2:9 where he quotes Isaiah 64 verse 4:

“eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which god has prepared for those who love him.”

But then Paul drops a bomb shell on those people that are sitting with Isaiah waiting on the Lord in the next verse, 1st Corinthians 2 verse 10.

But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. 

What has the Spirit, The Holy Spirit, revealed?

The things God has prepared for those that love him! There’s now no more need for waiting! God’s spoken his will.

Ephesians 1:9 and 10,

(God), having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 

God’s will is in Jesus Christ, and people being in him (Col 1:27-28).

Often, when Christians ask to know God’s will what we’re really asking is for God’s opinion about our circumstances. We’re trying to get some sort of sign or a word of prophecy that we can know that God has confirmed our plans for our day to day lives here in this world. It’s like He’s a personal career counsellor.

“Dear God, I feel like I’m not going anywhere in life, and I’d really like to do something I enjoy. Can you give me a great opportunity?”

However, God already has a purpose: His own purpose.

God’s will changes in the Bible as his operations with humans’ changes.

When the Lord revealed to Paul that He has counted the whole world in unbelief His will boiled down to two things:

1 Timothy 2:4,

[God] will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth.”

If you’ve believed the gospel, you’ve already done half of God’s will. The other half includes a lifelong process of coming to a knowledge of the truth. This requires study that’s study of the Bible, prayer, and fellowship as 2nd Timothy 2 verse 15 says,

Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

When the word of truth becomes part of our inner man we gain wisdom. We learn skills to pass on to other people. We’re equipped to live according to God’s purpose in a time when the days are evil.

But it’s easier said than done, of course, like 1st Thessalonians 5:18,

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

It’s hard to do God’s will sometimes, but at least we can understand it.

True thanksgiving comes from a grateful heart for what God has accomplished on our behalf. We owe him our life. That’s the bottom line. Whatever direction we take in our natural lives, the underlying foundation we live by is that we have eternal life because of God’s grace. He paid an astronomical price to redeem us and wipe away the death penalty for sin. When this knowledge becomes the basis of our life what else can we do but give thanks continually to God.

We can’t give Him thanks if we don’t understand that foundation.

2 Corinthians 5:15,

and He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again. 

The Bible says we should not live unto ourselves. Yet, this seems to be the motive behind why people continually ask for God’s will.

The expectation is to receive a personal life assessment or a road map to earthly success and happiness from God’s divine job bank.

The complaint really, is that God’s word doesn’t give us specific enough answers about our circumstances. It doesn’t address the way we see ourselves going.

Well, perhaps God is telling us something about the way we seek His will like in Philippians 2:21,

For all seek their own, not the things which are of Christ Jesus. 

We can know God’s will, but now for the hard part, doing it.

The revelation of God’s will for the church today is called the mystery of Christ.

1 Corinthians 2:7 to 8, Paul speaking,

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

This mystery is not something we receive in dreams and visions, or through the mouths of self-proclaimed modern prophets, or from people who long to show others they’ve ” got a special gift from God” by quote “speaking a word from God to us”.

No, it’s been written by Paul in the Bible through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for us to understand.

Ephesians 3:3 to 5,

how that by revelation He made known to me the mystery (as I have briefly written already, by which, when you read, you may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ), which in other ages was not made known to the sons of men, as it has now been revealed by the Spirit to His holy apostles and prophets: 

There’s now no need to wait on God because God’s already revealed his will that the manifold wisdom of God might be known by the church. (Ephesians 3:10.)

Before the mystery was revealed, Isaiah said in Isaiah 40 verse 13 (and Paul repeats it in 1 Corinthians 2:16),

For “WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD THAT HE MAY INSTRUCT HIM? (or tell the Lord what He should do)“

But now, you and I, if we’re Christians, have the mind of Christ as Paul says in the rest of that verse in 1 Corinthians 2:16,

“But we have the mind of Christ!”

It’s no longer us who should be waiting on the Lord to reveal His mind, but it’s God waiting on us to study what He’s already revealed in Ephesians 3 verse 9,

and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ.

We see God’s overriding will plainly given to us in Ephesians 1 verses 7 to 10,

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace which He made to abound toward us in all wisdom and prudence, (wait for it) having made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He purposed in Himself, that in the dispensation of the fullness of the times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven and which are on earth—in Him. 

Furthermore, Paul says in Ephesians 5:17 we’re unwise if we don’t know God’s will, and we read,

Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

So, what is God’s will? Here it is:

  1. Salvation is God’s will for you and me and all other people. 1 Timothy 2″3 and 4,

For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved…

  1. Coming to a knowledge of the truth. 1st Timothy 2 and the remainder of verse 4,

…and to come to the knowledge of the truth. 

  1. Giving thanks to God. 1st Thessalonians 5 verse 18,

in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Notice that it’s God’s will that we give thanks IN everything, not FOR everything.

God’s not going to tell you to be a doctor or a bus driver. He won’t tell you who to marry. He’s not going to give you insider information on which stocks to trade or which investments to make.

What He’s done is give you His Son and the source of all truth in the Bible.

We make our own decisions, but those decisions should be based on these biblical truths and it’s within the dedication to these truths that our way in this world is outworked.

Don’t steal.

Ephesians 4:28,

Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labour, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need. 

Don’t marry someone who doesn’t love God as much as you do.

Ephesians 5:21,

…submitting to one another in the fear of God. 

In everything give thanks.

Thessalonians 5:18,

…in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Ephesians 6:10 to 20 further reveals God’s will for us,

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 

Put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 

Therefore, take up the whole armour of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 

Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace, above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 

And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints— 

and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak.

Paul’s been in glory for 2000 years but there are still multitudes today that sacrifice their own lives and quote “open their mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, for which they are ambassadors in chains, and we pray that they may speak boldly, as they, and we, ought to speak”.

Now at this point many of us may ask, “Well doesn’t God guide us at all in our everyday lives here on earth?”

In Psalm 32:8 we have King David speaking a prophecy from God to the nation of Israel,

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will guide you with My eye. 

Here God’s prophetically promising the nation, through David, that He’ll guide them with His eye upon them.

But look at the next two verses, Psalm 32 verse 9 and 10,

Do not be like the horse or like the mule, Which have no understanding, Which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, Else they will not come near you. 

Many sorrows shall be to the wicked; But he who trusts in the LORD, mercy shall surround him.

What’s happening here is that God’s using the horse and mule to demonstrate something. The horse and the mule are not easy to guide. They need the bit and bridle, along with hard and constant training, before they’re useful to the master.

God’s saying don’t be like them, don’t make Him constantly use afflictions, trials, and testings, to keep us on the right path.

Proverbs 3:5 and 6 give us the conditions under which God will direct us,

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.

Many people are scared to have God direct their paths. They’d much rather direct themselves! However, this is the heart that doesn’t trust in the Lord. The heart that delights in God’s Word is the one that receives direction in God’s paths.

“How can I know the will of God?”

King Solomon’s answer is when we:

  • Decide to put our trust in the Lord.
  • Decide to not trust in our own understanding but give attention and priority to God’s revealed word.
  • Decide to acknowledge and honour God in all that we do.

Psalm 119:105,

Your Word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path. 

In summary you and I can know God’s will. It’s revealed to us clearly and plainly in His Word that’s freely and easily available to all today.

God’s not going to speak audibly to us or send a dream or an angel to tell us whether we should take this job or wear these clothes or buy this or that thing. These things will all come to us naturally as we live in His counsel, His Word.\

We mustn’t to fall into the trap of looking to circumstances, events, or other people’s so-called prophecies as signs from God telling us to do this or not to do that.

To know and trust in God is to know and trust His revealed Word.

What is the Trinity?

In our studies so far we’ve continually seen three persons referred to as God. We’ve seen God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Because of these mentions of these three persons we thought that now would be a good time to take a break to define each of these persons which in Christianity are known as the Godhead.

“Speed Slider”

The Trinity Explained

What Is The Trinity? – Transcript

Now we have to start with a stipulation.

God is Beyond the ability of a human to fully comprehend.

Therefore, all man’s attempts to explain the three persons of the Godhead, what’s known as the Trinity, are limited, incomplete and imperfect.

God is beyond the ability of a human to fully comprehend.

Therefore, all man’s attempts to explain the three persons of the Godhead, what’s known as the Trinity, are limited, incomplete and imperfect.

God simply cannot be explained in human terms. How could he possibly be?

He’s outside of all that exists. He’s eternal which means He never began, and He’ll never end. The mind of man is incapable of rationalising that.

The only way we can truly know Him is through faith.

Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, that’s Hebrews 11:1.

The hardest part of explaining the Trinity is man’s inability to grasp that there could be a being far beyond man’s own intelligence and capabilities. It just won’t compute to most people. In other words, If something can’t be explained it must not exist.

Despite this we live in a world where we’re surrounded by the unexplainable and the existence of a great many of those unexplainable things is beyond dispute, yet where God’s concerned, man’ll do almost anything to deny His existence and there’s a very good reason for that and the answer lies throughout our bible study.

Now, we don’t find the word “Trinity” in the Bible, yet the doctrine of the Trinity is there in many places, in fact throughout the whole book.

The Trinity means there is one God who is revealed in three distinct Persons, all of the same Substance, co-equal, co-existent, and co-eternal, and known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. However, The Father is God, Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is God.

The Trinity is explained in diagram form.

Note: No crudely created diagram can ever go close to explaining our unexplainable God! It’s simply a way of challenging our human logic and thought patterns.

Look at this Syllogism. A syllogism is an argument, a logical conclusion, a deduction, or a reasoning.

If it can be shown that:

There are three persons mentioned in the Bible,

And, that these three persons are all called “God”,

And that there is only one God,

Then the three persons must be the one God whether we understand it or not.

Can this be shown in the Bible? Yes, it can!

First, there is only one God.

James 2:19 – You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!

1 Corinthians 8:4 – …there is no other God but one.

Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

Second, The Hebrew word for “God” (Elohim) is plural but is used with a singular verb.

Genesis 1:26 – Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image…”

Genesis 1:27 – So, God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.

Genesis 11:7 – Come, let Us go down and there confuse their language…

Genesis 11:9 – …there the LORD confused the language of all the earth; and from there the LORD scattered them abroad over the face of all the earth.

Third, the Hebrew word for “one” (Deut. 6:4) is not yachad, which means “absolute mathematical oneness,” but echad meaning “composite unity” or “united one.”

Genesis 1:5 – So the evening and the morning were the first day. One (echad) day.”

Genesis 2:24 – Therefore, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one (echad, the same as One God) flesh.

Numbers 13:23 – …and there cut down a branch with one (echad, the same as One God) cluster of grapes.

Deuteronomy 6:4 – Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!

Fourth, Jesus revealed God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Matthew 28:19 – …baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…

Fifth, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are all called “God.”

The Father is God.

1 Peter 1:2 – …according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…

2 Peter 1:17 – For He received from God the Father honour and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

The Son is God.

Hebrews 1:8 – But to the Son He says: “YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER; A SCEPTER OF RIGHTEOUSNESS IS THE SCEPTER OF YOUR KINGDOM.

Titus 2:13 – …looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, …

Romans 9:5 – …of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

The Holy Spirit is God.

Acts 5:3 – But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? then to the next verse, verse 4, You have not lied to men but to God.”

1 Corinthians 6:19 – 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?

2 Corinthians 6:16 – As God has said: “I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.” We are indwelled by the Holy Spirit after we believe!

Sixth, The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit exist as three eternal and distinct persons.

John 14:16 – “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever…” This also disproves the teaching that the Father becomes the Son, who becomes the Holy Spirit.

The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. Jesus is sent by the Father, and He and the Father send the Spirit (John 14:26, 15:26, 16:7, 17:8, 20:21).

Therefore, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are three persons of the one God, not three manifestations of God, which was the belief and heresy of the third-century priest and theologian Sabellius.

This proves that God (Elohim–plural) is one (echad–composite unity) and is three separate persons–Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Verses that tell us of the Trinity.

The following verses all contain each member of the Godhead.

Matthew 28:19 — Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, …

Notice Jesus said to baptize in the “name” (singular), not “names” (plural). Then 3 separate persons are listed: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The Greek uses “and the” between each person, clearly distinguishing them as separate from each other.

2 Corinthians 13:14 — The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all. Amen.

1 Peter 1:2 — …according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, in sanctification of the Spirit, for obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ…

Matthew 3:16-17 — The Father speaks, the Son is baptized, and the Holy Spirit descends.

John 15:26 — “But when the Helper (The Holy Spirit) comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.

Other verses — Acts 7:55, Luke 1:35, 3:21-22, Eph. 2:18-20, 4:4-6, 5:18-20, 1 Cor. 12:4-6, Isa. 48:16, Zech. 12:10, John 14:16-17, 26, 1 Thess. 1:2-5, 2 Thess. 2:13-14, Titus 3:4-6 1 John 5:6-9

Who Indwells the True Believer?

God the Father

2 Corinthians 6:16 – …I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM. I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

Philippians 2:13 – …for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

Jesus Christ

2 Corinthians 13:5 – …Do you not know yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?…

Galatians 2:20 –  I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me…

Colossians 1:27 – …what are the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles: which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

The Holy Spirit

1 Corinthians 6:19 – 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?

John 14:17 – 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.

2 Timothy 1:14 – That good thing which was committed to you, keep by the Holy Spirit who dwells in us.

Romans 8:9 – But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.

Who Raised Jesus From the Dead?

God the Father.

Acts 3:15 – …and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.

Acts 3:26 – To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.

1 Thessalonians 1:10 – …and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, even Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

Acts 2:32 – This Jesus God has raised up, of which we are all witnesses.

Acts 17:31 – …because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.

Jesus raised Himself.

John 2:19-22 – Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.

The Holy Spirit

Romans 8:11 – 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.

1 Peter 3:18 – For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit…

Who Will Raise the True Believer from the Dead?

God the Father

1 Corinthians 6:14 – And God both raised up the Lord and will also raise us up by His power.

Jesus Christ

John 5:25-29 – Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live. For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself, and has given Him authority to execute judgment also, because He is the Son of Man. Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.

John 6:40, 44 – And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.” The Jews then complained about Him, because He said, “I am the bread which came down from heaven.” And they said, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He says, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus therefore answered and said to them, “Do not murmur among yourselves. No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Philippians 3:20-21 – For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

The Holy Spirit

Romans 8:11 – 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.

God Is…

God is Sovereign.

He is absolute.

Psalm 8:4 – What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?

Romans 9:19-21 – You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honour and another for dishonour?

Everything that comes into being is a result of the sovereign choice and creation of God. Consequently, we should never question God, “Why did you make me as I am?” You are God’s unique creation. We live and move under a Sovereign God.

God is Grace and Love.

God’s attitude toward even the worst of sinners is that He wants to save him.

Romans 5:8-11 – But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life. And not only that, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation.

Romans 5:20-21 – Moreover the law entered that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace abounded much more, so that as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is Infinite.

He is without end – without limit. Scientists tell us that the universe is expanding outward at a tremendous speed, but God is always beyond it. The universe will never go beyond our infinite God.

God is Omnipresent.

He is everywhere, always present.

Psalm 139:7 – 17 – here can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence?

If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me.

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.

For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother’s womb.

I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well.

My frame was not hidden from You, When I was made in secret, And skilfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. And in Your book they all were written, The days fashioned for me, When as yet there were none of them.

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God! How great is the sum of them!

God is Omniscient.

He is all-knowing. There is not, or was not, or will never be a time when God had to seek advice or to consult someone or some source outside Himself, or study something out. Certainly, within the Godhead there was counsel, but it was immediate, there was no debate among the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

God is self-existent.

He has no beginning; He has no end.

In Genesis 1:1, “God” refers to the Trinity – God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

This Triune God is Spirit, invisible, intangible.

He is unable to be comprehended with the senses of man. But in

Colossians 1:15, speaking of Jesus, it says, “Who is the image of the invisible God, …”

John 1:1 to 3, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was in the beginning with God.

All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.

 

God became visible in the flesh; He became touchable.

In summary, there is absolutely no doubt that the Bible clearly portrays The Trinity.

As individuals we have the God given right of free will to believe what the Bible says or to reject what the Bible says, however there’s one thing we cannot say!

We cannot say that the Bible doesn’t teach the Trinity, the Triune nature of God.

How Can I Be Saved?

What is Salvation and why do I need it? What happens to me if I’m not saved and what happens to me if I am saved? How can a person be saved and know it for certain?

Salvation is the basic foundation on which Christianity is built an in fact all of life is built, whether we know it or not or whether we believe it or not.

In this episode we uncover these questions and show the way to salvation from the Bible.

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How Can I Be Saved? – Transcript

Many of the things that most people are searching for in life are given in the Bible.
For example, it tells us how we and the universe we live in came into existence.
It explains the cause of the evil that’s in the world; and it gives us our ultimate purpose for existence.

The Bible also speaks about the cause of death.
It says in Romans 5:12,
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.
The Bible tells the story of how the first man, Adam, was disobedient towards God and even though he lived physically for a very long time, he died that very day spiritually. It’s called the fall of man. His fall from relationship with his Creator, God.
When he fell and died spiritually this fallen nature that he now had, this nature that was alienated from God, introduced sin and death into the world that was until then perfect.
The Bible shows us how that nature, that sin nature, of the first man was passed on right through the entire line of humans that would ever be born from Adam, right down to you and me today.

Because of that fall of man, there’re two things we can be sure of in this life, and we find them in Hebrews 9:27,
…it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
Every person will die because of their sin, both physically and spiritually, and then every word they ever spoke, every deed they ever did, and every thought they ever had will be judged by God’s righteous standard.
How will the judgment turn out?
In Romans 2:6-9 we see that.
God “will render to each one according to their deeds”:
eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honour, and immortality; …but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness—indignation and wrath, tribulation, and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil…
Evil will be punished for eternity with anguish and wrath, but the righteous will be rewarded with eternal life.
But here. of course, is a huge problem: There is none that are righteous.
Romans 3:10-12 tells us that,
There is none righteous no not one;
There is none that understands; There is none that seeks after God.
The have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable (meaning rendered useless to God, spoiled); There is none who does good no, not one.”

We, each and every one of us, are headed for eternal damnation in hell!
You’re probably shocked at that. How can we talk about such an awful thing in this day and age? I thought God was love.
How can we make such a harsh statement that’s so all-encompassing and final and how can we know that we’re not good enough to get into heaven?
Well, through the Bible we can answer these questions.
We can know what our fate is on Judgment Day by using God’s standard of judgment. We can also see that although God is Love He’s also a God of perfect Justice.

In Deuteronomy 32:4 we read about the nature of God,
He is the Rock, His work is perfect; For all His ways are justice, A God of truth and without injustice; Righteous and upright is He.

But, I’m a good person, you say! I don’t go out of my way to harm anyone and I’m not a criminal. I don’t see how God can refuse me entry into heaven and eternal life when there’re many much worse than me!

In the Books of Exodus and Leviticus we see a set of laws that God gave to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people. There were 10 specific commandments and 613 amendments.

How can we do a check to see if we are actually eligible for eternal life on that day that we leave this physical body and depart this natural world?
Thankfully the Bible clearly explains that right throughout, from beginning to end.
It explains that since were all descendants of the first man Adam, we’re all cursed with sin, death, and we all fall way short when it comes to righteousness as we just saw in Romans 3.
We see it again in Romans 5:12,
Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned.

As a result, God in his perfect justice can’t let any person tainted with unrighteousness into his perfect and eternal home.
All unrighteousness is worthy of eternal condemnation in what The Book of Revelation calls the lake of fire in Revelation 21:8,
But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

The best way to discover whether we’re good enough to go to heaven is to examine how we compare to God’s standard of righteousness – the divine law, not to other humans either the ones we associate with every day or the people of history.
You see, if we compare ourselves to any other human, living or dead, such as the world’s mass murderers, a rapist, a murderer, or a thief, we may come up looking pretty good. But sadly, we’d be using the absolute wrong standard to judge ourselves by.
Used properly, the Bible says that the law we just saw will reveal any sin found in our nature and will indicate if we’re qualified for heaven. See only by the law can we see our true selves.

Let’s find out how we measure up to that law.
Exodus 20:16,
You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
Have we ever told a lie? Even a small one a long time ago? Then that makes us a liar and in danger of the lake of fire as Revelation 21:8 says as we’ve just looked at.
One of the things God hates is a lying tongue in Proverbs 6:16-17, and you can look that up.
Exodus 20:15 says,
You shall not steal.
Ever stolen anything? Even something small a long time ago like something from an employer maybe? Then that makes us a thief and puts us out of the running for entering the Kingdom of God. You can confirm this in 1 Corinthians 6:10.
Exodus 20:14 says,
You shall not commit adultery.
Now just in case you think you’re doing ok on that one Jesus expanded the meaning of this and other laws in the Gospel of Matthew. In Matthew 5:28 Jesus said,
But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
Have you ever looked upon a person of the opposite sex with lust? If so, even a fleeting thought, then Jesus says you have committed adultery in your heart.
The only difference between the internal desire and the outward action is a given opportunity.
Then in Exodus 20:17 the law says,
You shall not covet…
Have we ever desired someone else’s possessions? If we have, then this shows the real condition of our heart and our desire to follow after its lusts and desires. Ephesians 2:1-3 expands on this.

These are just a few of God’s laws that are written on the conscious of man, but which we continually break. The Bible says in James 2:10,
For whoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all.
Just one minor point, one minor failure at keeping any of these laws and we’re guilty of breaking them all!

In Romans 1 verses 18 and 19 we read,
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them.
See this verse says that in the Bible’s revelation of the wrath of God, which will come against all ungodliness and unrighteousness, we see what God has revealed to us about Himself. He, being perfectly righteous, simply cannot turn a blind eye to sin.
Romans 3:20 tells us how the law is what makes us realise just who and what we really are,
Therefore, by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.

Breaking God’s law means facing an eternal life sentence which will be spent in anguish and torment in the place the Bible describes as hell.
Through these laws, God has not only revealed the standard by which we’ll be judged but also that not a single person who has ever lived on earth from the line of Adam has been able to keep these laws and since we’ve all broken those laws, we’re condemned automatically.

There’s not one of us that measure up to God’s standard of righteousness, not one. As a result, we’re all condemned because of our sin, and we must accept the consequences whether we like it or not or whether we agree with God or not.
Romans 6:23 we read,
For the wages of sin is death…
And then in 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 9,
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power…
Where will this take place? Mark 9 verse 44 tells us,
where ‘THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.’

It’s first and foremost through realising and coming to the understanding of man’s (and each of us’) depraved condition before God, that we see our need for salvation from this judgment.
We don’t need salvation from cyclones, thieves, murderers, or poverty as much as we need salvation from a more permanent and eternal condition – sin, and the judgment of God against that sin which is the death of the spirit, eternal separation from God and His presence.

Let’s look at Micah 6:8,
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?

The law was given to teach what the Lord requires. Meditation on the law taught judgment, the severe punishments of the law demanded mercy, and through the sacrifices and prayers of the Old Testament humility was openly displayed as thousands of animals bled as sacrifices for sins.
Judgment, mercy, and humility were divinely revealed to humanity so that even today the world’s religions hold them up as the most noble religious pursuits.
Of course, the entire law is summed up in just two of those laws that Jesus identified: love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
Matt 22:40 Jesus says,
On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

However, after thousands of years of living under the law one thing is evident: no one is righteous, that’s Romans 3 verse 10 to 12 again as we’ve just seen. No man can give God what he requires. It’s simply impossible to do all that God requires. The purest requirements of judgment, mercy, love, and humility remain only dreams to a cursed world.
The apostle Paul after receiving revelation directly from Jesus Christ Himself wrote in Galatians 3:24,
Therefore, the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
Christ accomplished all that God required.
Jesus Christ fulfilled the righteous judgment of God against sin through his death on the cross as we see Paul explain in Romans 3 verse 25, speaking of Christ,
whom God set forth as a propitiation (which means an atonement or an appeasing) by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed.
The richness of God’s mercy was shown through Jesus, Who was God in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us, and Who provided life, eternal life, to sinners.
See, it was Christ who humbled himself being made in the likeness of men so that He could do what no one else could:
We see this in Philippians 2:8,
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Also in Romans 5:8,
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
And in the great passage of Ephesians 2:4-10,
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 exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. (That’s our own works, our own goodness, our own attempts to keep the law)
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.

Today, God does not require anything from us because Christ has done everything required to provide free justification to all who believe.
How incredible is the realisation of Romans 4:5,
But to him who does not work (that’s those who do not attempt to be righteous by keeping God’s law) but believes on Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is accounted for righteousness.

If we think the Bible is simply a book telling us what God requires, then we’re still living under the law, and, as we’ve clearly seen, that path can’t possible lead us to salvation, only death.
We would’ve missed the gospel of God’s grace detailing what God has given us in Christ’s finished work.
Are you struggling to meet God’s perfect requirements?
Stop struggling!
You can never succeed no matter how hard or how long you try.
You might begin to produce good works after you have salvation but it’s so important to understand that these works would be as a result of salvation not in order to earn it!
Put your faith in Christ’s fulfillment of God’s requirements and receive the spiritual benefits of God’s righteousness freely as Romans 3:24 says,
being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus!
Salvation comes by believing what’s written here in God’s Word.
We are saved from sin and death when we trust in the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross and his bodily resurrection. His sinless blood pays for our sins, earns forgiveness, and gives us eternal life.

Salvation is the gift of God by grace as God’s Word clearly explains. It’s not a product of:
– Prayer
– Popes
– Baptism
– Confession
– Good works
– Turning from sin
– Commandments
– Church membership
– Mass or the Lord’s Supper.
We receive that gift through faith and faith is the only way we can please God as Hebrews 11:6 tells us,
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Faith plus nothing! This is the gospel of the grace of God.
Only Believe!
One thing we must not do is think that being saved or being spiritual has anything to do with a feeling.
That lady that always cries during the songs at church does not feel salvation or spirituality any more than anyone else, as emotional as she may be.
We learn from the Bible that being saved and walking through life spiritually is by faith not feelings.
Hebrews 11:1,
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Our natural flesh produces a lot of feelings, but the spirit is that by which we can know the things of God.
1 Corinthians 2:12,
Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.
It has nothing to do with an emotion, a feeling.

Now, we can speak directly to God and tell Him that by our free choice that He’s given us we accept what His Word says about us, that we are sinners and can’t save ourselves and that we turn to Him and accept the salvation He provided for us. It’s not a ritual prayer that must be said to somehow seal salvation, it’s just the start of a relationship with God where we can talk to Him in prayer, knowing that He always hears us.
It’s the start of a journey that will open up truth and reality and the purpose that God has for us. That truth, reality and purpose will come as God’s Word, the Bible, becomes the central foundation on which everything else in life is built.
God bless you on your incredible journey.

The Real Church

To most people the word church is associated with a building, usually with a steeple and stained-glass windows.

A newer perception may be more along the lines of a concert hall or even an office block. Along with the building is a hierarchy of board members, a preacher, a congregation, and, overseeing it all, an organisation. It could be Baptist, Catholic, Anglican, Uniting, Assemblies of God or one of many thousands of others.

Church is generally perceived to be a place that you go to.

But is this the church that’s described in the bible?

No!

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The Real Church – Transcript

The biblical meaning of church is not that of a building, but of people.

The church is the body of Christ, of which He is the head.

Ephesians 1:22–23 says, “And God placed all things under his feet (Jesus’ feet) and appointed him to be head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way.”

The body of Christ is made up of all believers in Jesus Christ from the day of Pentecost (Acts 2) until the day the whole true church will be snatched from the earth at the end of the church age.

The church is in two forms, the universal church and the local church.

The universal church consists of everyone, everywhere, who has a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. “For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink” (1 Corinthians 12:13). This verse says that anyone who believes is part of the body of Christ and has received the Spirit of Christ as evidence.

The Bible presents the church as an entity made up of redeemed followers of Christ from every nation and era (Matthew 16:18; Hebrews 12:23). When the Bible speaks of a “church,” it means believers in Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27; Romans 12:5).

So, all those who have received salvation through faith in Jesus Christ comprise the universal church. The universal church is built on nothing else but Jesus Christ – The Rock. Matthew 16:17-18 and 1 Corinthians 10:4.

The local church is described in Galatians 1:1–2: “Paul, an apostle . . . and all the brothers with me, to the churches in Galatia.” Here we see that in the province of Galatia there were many churches. These churches were gatherings of groups of believers.  The early Christians did not have designated buildings for their meetings. They met in private homes (Colossians 4:15; Philemon 1:2).

For the first 300 years after the day of Pentecost, when the Church (the body of Christ) was born, it suffered hideous persecution from a succession of Roman emperors. Execution and diabolical torture of Christians was commonplace and a constant threat to everyone who professed Jesus Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Yet, in spite of this ever present threat, the church grew at a rapid pace, spreading throughout the known world.

It’s hard for us today, who still enjoy a freedom to choose our beliefs, to imagine the depth of conviction it must have taken to be a believer in Jesus Christ, knowing that at any time you and your family could be tortured and executed.

It should, however, never be forgotten that millions of Christians around the world still face this persecution today.

How did the concept of church as a building become common?

The change occurred in the year AD 313 with the emperor Constantine.

Constantine claimed to have had a vision one night before a battle. In this dream he supposedly saw the Chi-Rho symbol, the first two letters of the Greek word for Christ, which some believed was a symbol of Christ, shining above the sun.

Constantine remained a pagan who worshipped the gods of Rome, including the sun god. It wasn’t until much later, just before his death, that he supposedly converted to Christianity. However, his Christianity was very different from the Christianity of the early New Testament Church.

In one of his first major decisions as emperor, Constantine issued an edict that ended persecutions of Christians. Soon after, Christianity became the official religion of the Roman. The Roman Catholic church was born.

In this new “legal” Christianity, the organised, institutionalised church grew with its many pagan rituals becoming commonplace such as the replacement of Passover feast with easter, the worship of the sun on Sunday and countless others.

Opportunities for amassing great wealth and power were quickly spotted by every shyster and hustler with access to the power base. The organised church began to dictate what and how people were to believe and bought down harsh punishment for those who dissented.

Anti-Semitism grew with its hatred for and persecution of God’s chosen people, the Jews.

Cruel manmade rituals and traditions were given root.

The Bible was only printed in Latin, and not in the local language. And printing was controlled by the church by a system of censorship. Catholic Mass, the Church’s chief religious service, was also in Latin. This meant the people could not check whether what the priest said was actually correct.

The church sold tickets of indulgences (forgiveness) from sins for money. This suggested that the rich could buy their way into Heaven while the poor could not – quite the opposite of what the Bible says. (See Gospel of Matthew 19:24)

Purgatory was invented to make the people believe that their loved ones who had died were in a place between heaven and hell and by paying indulgences to the church those loved ones could be released from purgatory and make their way to heaven.  This almost inconceivable evil is still practiced today in many places.

Religious posts were often sold to whoever was willing to pay the most money for them, see Simony. This meant many priests did not know anything about Christianity. What they taught had very little to do with what was written in the Bible.

The organised church continually grew more corrupt and crueller with its inquisitions, tortures and executions.

In the 16th century, the Protestant Reformation took place. This was a series of events that happened because of corruption in the Catholic Church, some people saw that the way it worked needed to change. People like Erasmus, Martin Luther and John Calvin saw the corruption and tried to stop it. This led to a split in the church, into Catholics and various Protestant churches.

The invention of the printing press at around this time helped spread awareness of the Church’s abuses. The Bible began to be translated into various local languages. For example, John Wycliffe and William Tyndale worked on translating it into the English language. Much of Tyndale’s translation was used in the King James version of the Bible. Luther translated the Bible into German.

The common people were starting to understand the Word of God again.

People began to read the Bible in their own language, and many could see for themselves how the Catholic Church had let the Christian faith become corrupted. The Pope re-established the Inquisition to combat heresy and many thousands of common people were tortured and murdered.

Jump to the mid 1800s and we see the rise of powerful preachers and teachers such as DL Moody, Charles Spurgeon. There was a huge revival amongst Christians who flocked to hear the Word of God preached in local churches, tents and halls.

This era gave birth to a new freedom in the worship of God and the study of His Word.

Many great bible schools and seminaries sprang up and the influence of God’s Word spread near and far.

However, since then this great period of bible literacy has dramatically disappeared.

Once packed local church buildings made to hold the large local congregations are abandoned or almost empty. An aged remnant of that heyday struggle to keep these organisations viable.

In contrast there has been a rise in the “mega church”.

The organisations are largely tailored for the young and the age-old message of the Gospel, that every man is a sinner and needs the redemption made available to by Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection, has been significantly watered down.

Songs with words that make a person drop to their knees have been replaced by a Sunday concert where it is almost impossible for the congregation to raise their voices in unity and praise.

Methods and life lessons on how to succeed have replaced the teaching of the powerful, everlasting words of God.

Increasing attendance numbers through “Christian entertainment” and positive lifestyle messages has become a priority. High pressure messages to give are hammered out to raise cash to pay for the large mortgages and expenses of the buildings and human infrastructure.

The “falseness” of the church seems to be returning to the world in spades. It’s now very difficult to find a true bible believing local church.

Many people are turning away from the simple faith and belief in the Lord Jesus Christ and his redemption.

Of course, this is fully prophesied in the bible.

2 Timothy 4:3-4 (KJV) says, For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;

And they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned unto fables.

While the new politically correct and popular style of church is attractive to immature Christians and even the outside world, it seldom addresses the one overriding message the world desperately needs to hear today. That is that man is hopelessly lost in sin, but God has made a way where he can be redeemed and bought back into full relationship with Him.

Many churchgoers believe that the act of regular church attendance is a requirement for a Christian. Some even believe it’s the ONLY requirement.

They can go sit in the pew and half hear the message of the day. They can sing a couple of songs and bow their heads in prayer for a moment. They can even give of their bounty, help when required. and support other members. These are all good things to do but we must never, ever believe that they count in any way to earning God’s favour. The only way to eternal life and relationship with God is through Jesus Christ. There is NO other way by which man can be saved.

Jesus is the only way to heaven and eternal life. Such an exclusive statement may confuse, surprise, or even offend, but it is true, nonetheless. The Bible (the ONLY authority of the church) teaches that there is no other way to salvation than through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is not a way, as in one of many; He is the way, as in the one and only. No one, regardless of reputation, achievement, special knowledge, or personal holiness, can come to God the Father except through Jesus. The righteousness of man is as filthy rags to the Lord according to Isaiah 64:6.

In summary, the local church, and the church organisation you belong to may be good.

It is a very rewarding thing to be able to fellowship with other believers, sing praises to God together and hear the unwatered down, pure Word of God preached in a local church. However, Jesus Christ and the Word of God are the only authority and source of truth for the Body of Christ. If the preacher, the board, the organisation that your local church belongs to are representing themselves as the authority for the doctrine they preach and are teaching anything at all other than the whole Word of God, you are in trouble. If your church does not use the bible as its sole source of doctrine it is a waste of your time at best and an eternal life-threatening deception at worst.

A church building can be important, but whether a church uses a building, a tent, a private house, or a grand stadium, it should teach biblical doctrine, proclaim the gospel of salvation, and glorify Christ.

There is only one way to eternal life, and it is not through church attendance or being a good person. No human is good, not one! We have ALL fallen short of the glory of God. We are each of us a sinner and we are in desperate need of a saviour. We have One. His name is Jesus Christ. Call on His name and believe on Him before it’s too late.

The 7 Mile Bible Study

During the first forty days of the fifty-day journey to Pentecost, the resurrected Lord appeared in person to many people. Can we imagine the intense range of emotions that would have affected virtually every person living in Jerusalem during this period? The place would have been a hotbed of activity and there wouldn’t be a person who wasn’t affected by events.
Here we have a man claiming to be the promised Messiah, performing unprecedented miracles and speaking words that caused anger, hostility, hatred, fascination, excitement, expectation and love. Virtually no human emotion would have been excluded.

 

“Speed Slider”

We’re currently in the 50 day period between the resurrection of the Lord, Jesus Christ, and Pentecost which is the birthday of the Church, the day the promised comforter, the Holy Spirit was given in Acts chapter 2.

Five minutes before the Holy Spirit came there was no such thing as the Church. Five minutes after, the Church was born. The Holy Spirit indwells each and every believer making us all part of one body, the Church of which Christ Jesus is the head.

Last week we tried to lay out the events surrounding the resurrection so that even the honest but natural mind can see that it’s actually harder to come up with alternatives than to believe the resurrection story as the Bible tells it.

Of course, this “evidence” appeals only to the natural mind. However, we simply can’t see the miracle of the resurrection through the natural mind, only through the eyes of faith. Human knowledge must be understood to be believed while Divine knowledge must be believed to be understood.

During the first forty days of the fifty-day journey to Pentecost, the resurrected Lord appeared in person to many people. Can we imagine the intense range of emotions that would have affected virtually every person living in Jerusalem during this period? The place would have been a hotbed of activity and there wouldn’t be a person who wasn’t affected by events.

Here we have a man claiming to be the promised Messiah, performing unprecedented miracles and speaking words that caused anger, hostility, hatred, fascination, excitement, expectation and love. Virtually no human emotion would have been excluded.

This man called Jesus of Nazareth has hundreds of dedicated followers along with many bitter enemies.

There must have been intense discussion around this Man who virtually turned the daily life of Jerusalem upside down. We can imagine that within the circles of family and friends there would have been those who were fierce defenders of Jesus and who accepted what He said and those who rejected His words and saw Him as a madman.

I caught a glimpse of this the other day when a friend was talking about his wife’s upcoming birthday. His main challenge was to take aside some particular relatives who were going to attend the party. These relatives were on opposite sides politically and were so opposed to each other’s positions that their hostility would spill over to the whole gathering whenever they got together as a family. We’ve all experienced a little of this during the last couple of years, haven’t we?

Because of the closeness and the intimate interaction of society in general in those days, this would have been much worse at this time.

Our music video last week gave some feeling about the range of emotions possibly experienced by the Apostle Peter. Like many others, Peter knew the prophecies foretelling the Messiah. How exciting it must have been to understand that finally after almost 3000 years, God’s Messiah was finally here, in our time, to overthrow once and for all the oppressors of the nation and set up the earthly Kingdom of God?

That excitement must have mixed with the hatred of those that saw the greatest blasphemy in history, a man claiming to be Almighty God in the flesh.

At the crucifixion of Christ, those emotions would have been reversed for both camps. The followers of Jesus would have seen all their hopes for the promised earthly Kingdom of God dashed to nothing, while the opposition would have rejoiced at their imagined victory over the blasphemer. There would have been great sorrow and despair at the dashed hopes and raucous delight and celebration that a madman was exterminated.

At the resurrection, these emotions would once again be reversed. The agonising despair of Jesus’ supporters would again be replaced with hope and excitement. The delight and celebration of His enemies would’ve turned to anger at the perceived grave robbery but with a good portion of doubt as to whether just maybe they had been wrong about this God-man. These emotions would have been heightened greatly by the constant reports that the resurrected Jesus was appearing to hundreds of people. He was talking with them, eating with them and teaching them.

This would have all climaxed 40 days after the resurrection, when, as we see in Luke 24:50-53, in sight of eyewitnesses the Lord ascended into heaven ending His earthy post-resurrection inhabitance of the earth until the yet future great event of His second coming.

This is the background to which the events around the trial, the death, burial and resurrection of Christ took place.

Talk about anxiety!

Now, let’s stand back a moment from the flurry and the intensity surrounding the Lord’s death, burial and resurrection.

Underneath everything that was happening and indeed everything that will happen in the future is an immovable foundation on which all these this rest.

It is the Word of God!

Every moment of Jesus’ earthly ministry, including His death, burial and resurrection was a fulfilment of ancient prophecies in God’s Word.

It is the Word that reveals that Jesus is Who He says He is.

Even Jesus’ chief accusers, the religious leaders of the day, knew the Word of God. They just didn’t recognise that it was being fulfilled in their time and they were participants exactly as prophecied.

One of the most fascinating occurrences after Christ’s resurrection was the bible study that Jesus Himself gave to two disciples on the seven mile walk on the road to Emmaus in Luke 24: 13-35.

In verses 25 to 27 we read, ”Then he said unto them (Jesus speaking), O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken: Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into his glory? And beginning at Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.“

Jesus showed them from the entire Old Testament the prophecies concerning Himself!

Now it’s unlikely that Jesus carried the many scrolls and books on His person but He didn’t need to. These disciples already knew the scriptures. However, just like Jesus’ enemies, these two disciples didn’t put it all together until the Lord Himself revealed it to them. And, that’s the only way you and I can have the Word made real to us, when the Lord Himself reveals it to us.

In Acts 1:15 the Apostle Peter announced to the one hundred and twenty or so disciples how scripture had been fulfilled. He obviously already knew the scripture as did those he was speaking to, but it was only now in light of the current events that it was starting to make sense to him.

So what were these scriptures that spoke so powerfully of all these things that happened in Jerusalem 2000 years ago? If we see their accuracy of them we can be sure that we can place our full faith and trust in the same scriptures that speak of the times that are yet to come. Times in fact that are unfolding right now.

Let’s go back to the good old Apostle Peter again. In 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse 16 Peter says, “We have not followed cunningly devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ but were eyewitness of his majesty.”

What Peter is saying is, “We’re telling you what we saw! We were eyewitnesses”.  A few verses later,  in verse 19 he says, “We have also a more sure word of prophecy whereunto you do well that you take heed as unto a light that shines in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” What did he mean?

Well, Peter is saying that even though he was an eyewitness to all these events there’s something even more certain! What could be more certain than an eyewitness? It’s the “more sure word of prophecy”! The “more sure word of prophecy” is the Word of God, the bible.

The Word of Prophecy is much more than a prediction of what may happen next week or in a year or two. The Word of Prophecy is the source through which we know Jesus really is Who He said He is, God with us.

What Jesus enlighted the disciples on the Emmaus road about and what underpinned the entire earthy ministry of Jesus Christ was The Old Testament of the Bible or the Tanakh as the Jews call it.

The Hebrew Scriptures that we call the Old Testament, the Tanakh, were translated into Greek by 270 BC. That’s important because it’s a matter of history and we have copies of that work that were around three centuries before the gospel period. So, all of the Old Testament was available in black and white and intangible form three centuries before Jesus was preaching.

Now, these Old Testament scriptures contain over 300 prophecies detailing the coming Messiah. Over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled during and immediately after Jesus’ earthly ministry. We don’t know exactly which scriptures Jesus showed the two disciples but since He showed them “all the scriptures the things concerning himself.“ He almost definitely showed them the ones that are quoted in the New Testament as being fulfilled. Let’s look at some of these.

  • Jesus was to be born of David’s family you’ll find that in 2nd Samuel 7: 12-16, Psalms 89:3-4, Psalms 110:1 Psalms 132:11, Isaiah 9:6-7, Isaiah 11:1
  • He would be born of a virgin that was hinted at in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:15 referring to the woman’s seed which would have to be planted supernaturally unlike the man’s seed as with every other human. It’s also confirmed in Isaiah 7:14
  • He would be born in Bethlehem in Micah 5:2 Interestingly Micah 5:2 tells us not just that he’s born in Bethlehem but that he pre-existed from eternity past
  • He would sojourn in Egypt in Hosea 11:1
  • He would live in Galilee in Isaiah 9:1-2
  • He would be announced in advance by an Elijah type Herald and Isaiah 40: 3-5, Malachi 3:1, Malachi 4:5
  • He would be the reason for a massacre of Bethlehem’s children that are mentioned in Genesis 35:19-20 and Jeremiah 31:15
  • He would proclaim a Jubilee to the world where slaves and prisoners would be freed, debts would be forgiven, and the mercies of God would be shown Isaiah 58:6, Isaiah 61:1
  • His mission would include the Gentiles Isaiah 42:1-4
  • His ministry would be one of healing Isaiah 53:4
  • He would teach through the use of parables Isaiah 6:9-10, Psalms 78:2
  • He would be disbelieved and rejected by the religious rulers of that period Psalms 69:4, Psalms 118:22, Isaiah 6:10, Isaiah 29:13, Isaiah 53:1
  • He would make a triumphal entry into Jerusalem Zechariah 9:9, Psalms 118:26
  • He’d be betrayed for 30 pieces of silver Zechariah 11:12-13, Psalms 41:9
  • and He would be smitten like a shepherd as his sheep would be scattered Zechariah 13:7
  • He would be given vinegar and gall Psalms 69:21
  • They would cast lots for his garments Psalms 22:18
  • His body would be pierced Zechariah 12:10, Psalms 22:16
  • Yet not a bone would be broken. That was specified in the requirements for the Passover in Exodus 12:46, Numbers 9:12, Psalm 34:20
  • He would die among the criminals Isaiah 53:9 and 12
  • His dying words were foretold in Psalm 22:1, and Psalm 31:5. By the way, as we noticed in the article “View from the Cross” Psalm 22 reads as if it was dictated directly by Jesus as He hung on the cross even though it was written 800 years earlier. He says, “For the dogs have compassed me and the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet”. What’s remarkable is that this was written by King David 700 years before crucifixion was invented. In Israel, the form of capital punishment was stoning. The crucifixion was invented by the Persians in about 90 BC before being used heavily by the Romans.
  • He would be buried by a rich man Isaiah 53:9
  • He would rise from the dead on the third day that’s in Genesis 22:4, Psalms 16:10-11, Jonah 1:17 Hosea 6:2, and elsewhere
  • His resurrection would be followed by the destruction of Jerusalem Daniel 9:26, Daniel 11:31, Daniel; 12:1 and 11. Jerusalem was indeed leveled and over 1,000,000 people were killed when the Roman army sacked Jerusalem in 70 AD.

As you can see these are just a few of the more than 300 prophecies regarding Jesus’ earthly ministry. Ask yourself what are the possibilities of these being fulfilled by chance? The chances of even one or two of them being fulfilled by chance is pretty remote but as each condition is added the possibility of chance is expanded way beyond any possibility.

This should display to any reasonable person that this message we know as the Bible comes from outside our time domain. God has placed this as His signature on the Word so that all who are honestly searching can be sure that God Himself has given us the message.

We can be sure that what 2nd Corinthians 5:21 says is absolutely true, “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.

In other words, God made Jesus sin! What do we mean by He made Jesus sin? He treated him as if he had committed every sin ever committed by every person who would ever believe, even though he committed none of them!

Hanging on the cross he was Holy, harmless and undefiled. Hanging on the cross he was a spotless lamb. He was never for a split second a sinner. He is the Holy Son of God on the cross but God is treating him as if he lived my life.

God punished Jesus for my sin then turns around and treats me as if I lived his life!

That’s the great doctrine of the church that was made possible by the cross. It’s the heart of the gospel.  What you and I get is complete forgiveness covered by the righteousness of Jesus Christ.  When God looks at the cross he sees you and when he looks at you he sees Christ.

View From The Cross

Some passages of Scripture are so remarkable it’s almost impossible for a human to deal with them. Psalm 22 is one of these passages.
Psalm 22 is called the “Psalm of the Cross,” because it describes more accurately and minutely the crucifixion of Christ than does any other portion of the Word of God.

“Speed Slider”

The View from The Cross – Transcript

Some passages of Scripture are so remarkable it’s almost impossible for a human to deal with them. Psalm 22 is one of these passages.
Psalm 22 is called the “Psalm of the Cross,” because it describes more accurately and minutely the crucifixion of Christ than does any other portion of the Word of God.

We know from 2 Timothy 3:16 that All Scripture is inspired by God and beneficial for teaching, for rebuke, for correction, for training in righteousness, and that includes Psalm 22. And yet, it’s difficult to fully comprehend the enormity of it.

This passage is an emotional rollercoaster ride, like receiving a phone call informing you that you have inherited 20 million dollars and then 10 minutes later receiving another call from your doctor advising that you have only 2 weeks to live.

On the one hand, we see the cross’s glorious consequences for each one of us who believes, while on the other hand, we see the enormous cost and the horror of it.

Psalm 22 is like an x-ray penetrating Our Lord’s thoughts and inner life as He hangs on that terrifying instrument of torture. In it we see the distress of His passion, His very soul is laid bare.

The Gospels record the historical fact of His death and some of the events associated with His crucifixion, but only Psalm 22 reveals His thoughts and His inner cry.

It is a view of the crucifixion of Christ from Christ himself!

We see those beneath His cross and see what went on in His heart and His mind as He hung there.

We look into His soul as He became the sacrifice for the sins of the world.
As He was suspended there between heaven and earth, He became the ladder let down from heaven to this earth so all men and women might have a way to God.

Psalm 22 takes us there onto that cross as He was made sin for us; He who knew no sin … that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Or, as the Apostle Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2:24, “Who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed. We are healed from sin because the Son of God died for us!
There’s no doubt that while in Psalm 22 we are on holy ground!

MY GOD, MY GOD, WHY HAVE YOU FORSAKEN ME?

Psalm 22 opens with the heart-ripping and desperate cry of a man alone and forsaken of God.

Attempts have been made to play down the stark reality and bitter truth that Jesus was forsaken of God. But all the languages the bible was originally written in the Hebrew, the Greek, and the Aramaic are all very clear. In each language, the cry means Jesus was forsaken of God!
Now, this is important. Psalm 22 is a record of His human suffering.

He is hanging there on the cross as a man, or as John 1:29 says, “The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”.
We can look to Hebrews 2:9 to get a greater understanding of this: But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels…

He was made a man. But why?
… for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honour, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone.

He left heaven’s glory and became a man. He became a man to reveal God to man, but most of all to redeem man and to destroy the one who had the power of death, the devil, Satan. That’s Hebrews 2:14.
Jesus could not save anyone from eternal death by His life. His teachings while He walked on this earth cannot save. It was His sacrificial death that saves. The death that was foretold all through God’s Word for hundreds of years.
Christ Jesus on the cross is the perfect man.

He had learned to rest upon God, to trust Him in all He did. He said, “I always do the things that please Him” (see John 8:29). But in that desperate hour, He was abandoned of God. There was no place to turn, either on the human plane or on the divine. He had no place to go. The man Christ Jesus was forsaken.
No other person has ever had to experience that. No one. Only He alone.

Why did God forsake Him? Let’s go back to Psalm 22 and verse 3; But You are holy, enthroned in the praises of Israel.
On the cross in those last three hours, in the impenetrable supernatural darkness that enveloped the world, the Son of God was made sin.
He was forsaken for a brief moment, but in that very moment “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself”. 2 Corinthians 5:19.
The Lord Jesus Himself said, “Indeed the hour is coming, yes, has now come, that you will be scattered, each to his own, and will leave Me alone. And yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.” John 16:32.

The Father was with Him when He was in prison. The Father was with Him when He was being beaten. The Father was with Him when they nailed Him to the cross. But on the cross, He made His soul an offering for sin, and it pleased the Father to bruise Him.

He was Forsaken!

Friends, you and I simply don’t know what it is to be forsaken of God. The vilest human on this earth today is not forsaken of God—anyone can turn to Him. But when Christ took my sin upon Himself, He was forsaken of God!
When Jesus asks, “why you have forsaken me?” it’s not the “why” of impatience, puzzlement, despair or doubt. No, it is the human cry of intense suffering, aggravated by the anguish of His innocent and holy life.

That awful and agonizing cry of His loneliness! He was alone with the sins of the world upon Him. And remember that the pictures and images we associate with Christ on the cross today bear no resemblance to reality. Isaiah 52:14 gives us the true picture.

His visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men, friends, they barely recognised him as a human he was so badly disfigured! Isaiah 50:6 says, “I gave my back to those who strike, and my cheeks to those who pull out the beard; I hid not my face from disgrace and spitting.” They ripped His beard from His precious face!

Why are You so far from helping Me, and from the words of My groaning? Says Psalm 22:1.
The word is actually “roaring.”
At His trial He was silent, “As a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth” that’s Isaiah 53:7. When they beat Him, He said nothing; when they nailed Him to the cross, He didn’t whimper But when God forsook Him, He roared like a lion. It was a roar of pain. Many times on the farm I’ve been out hunting pigs. When the dogs attack a pig, there’s nothing quite like the shriek of that animal.

I think the shriek of our Lord from the cross resounded through the universe that He created. Now the Creator Himself was suffering! On that cross He cried like a wounded animal, not sounding like a human cry but like a wild, roaring lion.

It was the shriek, the wail of uncomparable despair as our sins were pressed down upon Him.
First He roared like a lion, but then He says, “I am a worm” (Psalm 22:6). What does He mean? Well, He has reached the very lowest place.
He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. – Isaiah 53:3
The word used here for “worm” is “tôlāʿ” the coccus worm, which was used by the Hebrews in dyeing all the curtains of the tabernacle scarlet red. When He said, “I am a worm,”

He meant more than that He had reached the lowest level. It was He who had said, “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow” (Isaiah 1:18).
There is only one thing that will take the spot of sin out of our life, and that is the blood of Christ. Only the blood of the Lord Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses from all sin. Only His blood!

FATHER, FORGIVE THEM (LUKE 23:34)

Jesus’ suffering on the cross was intensified by that brutal mob of hardened spectators beneath Him. Looking through His eyes we see what He saw.
All those who see Me ridicule Me; they shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, “He trusted in the Lord, let Him rescue Him; let Him deliver Him, since He delights in Him!” – Psalm 22:7-8

Is it so hard to imagine the depravity of the human heart when we see the crowd, including the religious leaders of the day, “Sitting down, they kept watch over Him there” (Matthew 27:36)?

The venom and vileness of the human heart were being poured out like an open sewer as they remained there and ridiculed Him in His death.

Even a poisonous snake, after it has put its fangs into its victim and emitted its poison will slither away in the grass. But not this crowd, and not the human heart in rebellion against God.
Here is where Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”
He asked forgiveness for their sin!
We know that the centurion in charge of the execution was saved, along with a whole company of Pharisees. Saul of Tarsus, who would be the great Apostle Paul, was probably in that crowd.

WOMAN, BEHOLD YOUR SON! (JOHN 19:26)

As Jesus looks over the crowd, He sees eyes of pure hatred looking up at Him, but He also sees eyes of love.

He sees His mother with the Apostle John down there. “Now there stood by the cross of Jesus His mother,” according to John’s Gospel.

As Jesus looks at her, He is back in Bethlehem at the time He was born. He says to the Father, But You are He who took Me out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother’s breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother’s womb, You have been My God. – Psalm 22:9-10.

To His mother, He says, “Woman, behold your son!” The reason for His coming into the world is now being accomplished. This is the most important hour in the history of the world.

Then His attention moves back to those who are doing the crucifying.
Many bulls have surrounded Me; strong bulls of Bashan have encircled Me. – Psalm 22:12

Of the soldiers that were crucifying Him, He says they are like the bulls of Bashan, but He doesn’t stop with that. He is being devoured by wild animals. That’s what His tormentors had become:
They gaped upon me with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion – Psalm 22:13.
He is talking about Rome now, comparing them to a roaring lion, for the lion was the picture of Rome. Rome crucified Him.

Notice His condition: I am poured out like water, and all My bones are out of joint; My heart is like wax; it has melted within Me. – Psalm 22:14
This accurate description is remarkable when you consider that crucifixion was unknown when this psalm was written. The Roman Empire was not even in existence, and it was Rome that instituted execution by crucifixion. Yet here is a vivid picture of a man dying by crucifixion.
“I am poured out like water”—the excessive perspiration of a dying man out in that sun.
“All My bones are out of joint”—the horrible thing about crucifixion was that when a man began to lose blood, his strength ebbed from him, and all his bones slipped out of joint. It was terrible, unbelievable suffering.
Then He says something strange, “My heart is like wax.”
Many doctors have said a ruptured heart would have produced what John meticulously recorded: “One of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out” (John 19:34). It seems that Jesus died of a broken heart.

I THIRST! (JOHN 19:28)

As He is hanging there ready to expire, with excessive perspiration pouring from Him, He suffers the agony of thirst.
My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue clings to My jaws; you have brought Me to the dust of death. –Psalm 22:15.

Down beneath the cross, they hear Him say, “I thirst.”

For dogs have surrounded Me; the congregation of the wicked has enclosed Me. They pierced My hands and My feet – Psalm 22:16.
“Dog” was the name for Gentiles. The piercing of His hands and feet is another accurate description of a crucifixion.

I can count all My bones. They look and stare at Me. They divide My garments among them, and for My clothing, they cast lots – Psalm 22:17-18.

He was crucified naked. It’s difficult for us, in this age of nudity and pornography, to comprehend the great humiliation He suffered by hanging nude on that cross. They had taken His garments and gambled for ownership.

Friends, He went through it all, crucified naked, that you might be clothed with the righteousness of Christ and stand before God throughout the endless ages of eternity.

FATHER, INTO YOUR HANDS I COMMIT MY SPIRIT (LUKE 23:46)

But You, O Lord, do not be far from Me; O My Strength, hasten to help Me! Deliver Me from the sword, My precious life from the power of the dog. – Psalm 22:19-20.

The word “precious” or “darling” is better translated as “my beloved Son …” (Matthew 3:17).
Jesus is saying, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Save Me from the lion’s mouth and from the horns of the wild oxen. – Psalm 22:21

The King James Version translates “wild oxen” as “unicorns.” Or a vicious and wild bull that had one horn—uni means one. The thought is one horn.
This is quite amazing because the cross on which the Lord Jesus Christ was crucified was probably not the shaped cross we see today.

There is ample evidence that the cross was a single piece of wood, a tree as is meant by the Greek words used for cross, Stauros and Xulon.

It’s a technicality and the symbol of the cross has bought many millions into eternal life for centuries, however, amazingly, this word, Xulon is mentioned in Revelation 22 as the tree of life.
Could it be that the tree on which Jesus died will be there, alive, throughout the endless ages of eternity, to let you and me know what it cost to redeem us? This may be a discussion for another time.

We’ve witnessed the sufferings of Christ, but now there’s a radical shift that turns our focus to the glory that should follow: I will declare Your name to My brethren; in the midst of the assembly, I will praise You. – Psalm 22:22

Jesus probably spoke this entire psalm while He was on the cross.
He did not die defeated. When He reached the very end, He said this is the gospel that will be witnessed to. “I will declare Your name to My brethren.” As a result, we see the apostle Peter among the religious leaders, saying to them, “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12

TODAY YOU WILL BE WITH ME IN PARADISE (LUKE 23:43)

My praise shall be of You in the great assembly; I will pay My vows before those who fear Him. The poor shall eat and be satisfied; those who seek Him will praise the Lord. Let your heart live forever! –Psalm 22:25, 26

The thief on the cross said, “Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.” Christ responds, “Today you will be with Me in paradise.”

The redeemed will be there to praise, and that includes the thief He took with Him that very same day. Although he was a man unfit to even live down here, according to Rome’s standard, the Lord Jesus makes him fit for heaven by His death on the cross.

IT IS FINISHED! (JOHN 19:30)

There is a seventh word; it is His last. They will come and declare His righteousness to a people who will be born, that He has done this. – Psalm 22:31
“To a people who will be born …” includes you and me, friends.
They shall declare His righteousness—not your righteousness, for God says your righteousness is as filthy rags in His sight. How will they declare His righteousness? “That He has done this.”

Many translate that as, “It is finished,” the last word Jesus spoke on the cross. When He said it, it was but one word—Tetelestai! Finished!

Your redemption is a completed package, and He presents it to you wrapped up with everything in it.

He doesn’t want you to bring your package of goodness along. He doesn’t need that. When He died on the cross, He provided a righteousness that would satisfy a holy God.

All He asks of you is to receive this package, this gift of God, which is eternal life in Christ Jesus.

If you reject it, God must treat you as He treated His Son when He cried, “My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?” It will be hell for any man to be forsaken of God. Jesus Christ went through it Himself so you might never have to utter that cry.

Psalm 22 reveals the heart of our Savior as He was made a sin offering on our behalf.

He completed the transaction in triumph.

He offers to us a finished redemption.

We will never be worthy of it, we can’t earn it, we can’t buy it—we must receive it as a gift.

The Lord Jesus Christ did all that was needed to save us.

It is finished!

In The Beginning

The evidence that all humanity sees every day in the heavens and the earth screams of an Almighty Creator and that evidence is so loud that it takes an enormous amount of willful blindness to believe that random chance could have designed and created it.

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In The Beginning – Transcript

I’ve never believed that all life evolved from nothing!
To me, the unimaginable complexity of every life form could never have been the result of random chance.
For many years I would debate those who believed that in the beginning there was absolutely nothing, then it exploded and all life as we know it evolved from that chaotic explosion.

In my later years, I avoid those debates as they are largely futile. I came to realise that most people in the “civilized” world today CHOOSE to be blind to the existence of God. No matter what logic, competent analysis, self-evident truth, or scientific argument you put forward to the willfully blind, they will not see.

All Evidence

An honest seeker of the truth will look at ALL evidence, not just that which seems to fit their belief. But honest searchers are more and more rare in today’s world.

The evidence that all humanity sees every day in the heavens and the earth screams of an Almighty Creator and that evidence is so loud that it takes an enormous amount of willful blindness to believe that random chance could have designed and created it. The best that random chance can ever do is form shapes, such as the side of a cliff carved from the weather, but never a design. It is even less likely to create a highly complex life system that needs every part to pop into existence fully completed and working at the same time for that system to work at all. Add to that the countless other systems required to support that one system such as night and day, tides, sunlight, rain, oxygen, CO2, cell regeneration, food and waste systems and the whole idea of a gradual evolution becomes insanely absurd.

Even the honest searcher of truth will encounter what seems like an impossible idea, that there is a God who created everything in the universe, including the universe itself. I believe there are reasons for this.

Traps We Fall Into

Firstly, we fall into an error that will prevent us ever really understanding God.

The error is that we see God as we see ourselves. We compare Him and His qualities to a human. When we relate this comparison to creation, we tend to think of a being that is like a very intelligent man. He’s very old and wise and has spent many hours in his laboratory designing each life system. When we look at God from this perspective, the belief that He created all life is clearly a ridiculous impossibility. I am convinced that many evolution leaning people, along with many professing Christians, see God in this way, even though unconsciously. The reality is much different. God explains Himself to us in His Word, the Bible, as being so far above man and all the rest of His creation that even through the eons of eternity we will never fully grasp His power, His might, His wisdom, and His love for us.

Secondly, we have become victims of our education and the all-powerful information media of today.

These institutions have been highly successful in convincing us that evolution and the gradual appearance of all life from nothing is a scientifically proven fact. Moreover, if a person dares to think outside these boundaries they are alienated and cast into the realm of the deranged. How could anyone argue with the SCIENCE? However, the greatest scandal of the modern world is that the evolution of life from nothing is NOT a scientifically proven fact, not by any means. Just because almost all schools educate our children in this belief and just because David Attenborough says it’s so while commenting on in his remarkable photographic images does NOT make it fact.

For a renowned scientist to believe that there is no God and that the universe itself is responsible for its own creation from nothing, he must hold a deep-seated religious belief. His science has never revealed even a spark of how matter and energy emerged from nothing and then became so intelligent that it formed itself into the impossibly complex system we see everywhere. He will interpret what he sees through his microscope and through his calculations from his foundational belief like anybody else. For a scientist to be totally impartial when analysing what he sees is just as hard as for anyone else. Most scientists, teachers and media workers are as much chained to their foundational belief, and those of their employers, as the rest of society.

There is also a fact that is very much hidden from the majority today; that is that there is a huge, and growing, number of scientists who do not accept the popular beliefs of this world. For a great many scientists what they see in their research is the evidence of the works of a mighty Creator.

Thirdly, for most humans the idea of being accountable to God is an abominable idea. The very thought that we are not in complete control of our destiny is unacceptable.  To be answerable to someone or something who will judge us one day is very difficult for man and his free will.

Belief Is A Choice

Each one of us must consciously choose to accept and trust in either the confusing lie of evolution or the plainly visible evidence that points to Almighty God who created all things by the power of His Word.

To really trust in someone or something, we need to know that our trust is not in vain, that we are not trusting in something that will fail and bring us down with it.

The foundation that our faith is built on must be solid rock not shifting sand.

So, how we be sure that the One in whom we have placed our faith is worthy of that trust?

How can we KNOW beyond a doubt that God is both willing and able to fulfill that which He has promised?

One of the greatest testimonies to the solidness of our God is His signature in nature. Everything in nature has God’s signature on it.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Ps. 19:1). It is impossible to live on earth without recognising God, as all of nature testifies to His existence.

The Voice of Heaven

The earth and the heavens have a voice.

“Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard” (Ps. 19:1-3).

That voice screams out to every person in a language that is universal so everyone can clearly hear and understand it. We cannot understand life by human wisdom, or from books, education, or worldly knowledge or even science. However, we can see God’s unique and beautiful signature in our lives and in the world in which we live by hearing that voice of His creation.

In Romans 1 :18 – 20 We have a very stern message; God’s anger is revealed from heaven against all the sin and evil of the people whose evil ways prevent the truth from being known.

God punishes them, because what can be known about God is plain to them, for God himself made it plain.

Ever since God created the world, his invisible qualities, both his eternal power and his divine nature, have been clearly seen; they are perceived in the things that God has made. So those people have no excuse at all!

In Colossians 1:15 – 17 We see Jesus Christ as God the Creator. Christ is the visible likeness of the invisible God. He is the first-born Son, superior to all created things.

For through him God created everything in heaven and on earth, the seen and the unseen things, including spiritual powers, lords, rulers, and authorities. God created the whole universe through him and for him.

Christ existed before all things, and in union with him all things have their proper place.

Isaiah 40:26 tells us to look up to the skies. Who created all those stars? Who created all those “armies” in the sky? Who knows every star by name? He is very strong and powerful, so not one of these stars is lost.

I urge you to set aside all your preconceptions and watch the amazing video below. Then ask yourself in complete honesty, “Can there be any other explanation than GOD!”