Three Blind Nights

I find it interesting that Paul was blind for three days and nights after he had a vision of Jesus. He was blinded by a light so bright that even at noon the light of the sun paled by comparison. Though all those with Paul were cast to the ground at the flash of the light, only Paul seems to have been blinded thereby. An equally interesting event occurred in the life of Jonah, the prophet. He was told by the Lord to go to Nineveh, a gentile city, and preach repentance toward God to those gentiles, but instead Jonah fled to Tarshish (or Tarsus), the city where Saul, the Apostle to the gentiles, was born. Jonah, too, spent three days and nights of deathly blindness but in the belly of the great fish.

 

The Conclusion of the First Pentecost

As a result of Peter’s first sermon on the Feast of Weeks or Pentecost, as it is called in the Greek, three thousand souls came to believe in Jesus and came under his authority. They repented of their rebellion against God (an inward expression) and submitted to baptism (an outward expression or testimony) to the new life they were given by Jesus through the Holy Spirit. Peter concluded that the promise of new life was offered first to the Jews, but also to those who are afar off (Acts 2:39). That is, the new life of the Spirit was to include both Jew and Gentile. How this would be brought about was probably not understood at this point in time, but in a few years it would come clear.

 

Jesus’ Life is the Light of Men!

John tells us that in the Word was life and this life was the light of men (John 1:4). The Psalmist says: “With thee is the fountain of life; in thy light we shall see light” (Psalm 36:9). If I were to ask what the opposite of light is, probably everyone would say darkness. Isn’t that so? If I were to ask what is the opposite of life, most people would conclude non-existence or death. Isn’t this so? Here John makes light a synonym for life or perhaps consciousness. In a way this seems appropriate; doesn’t it? We do that ourselves; don’t we? We’ve heard people say, “I’ll knock his lights out;” or “The lights are on, but nobody’s home!” Light is often used even today as a synonym for life or consciousness. If someone is unconscious, he is not aware; it is like being in the dark.

 

Is it True that Enoch Never Died?

Image via Wikipedia

When many read Genesis 5:21-24, they often believe that Enoch did not die, yet the plain teaching of Scripture is that all the days of Enoch were 365 years (Genesis 5:23). In all other places where a similar phrase is used it means the one in question lived that many years. If Enoch did not die, this phrase is meaningless and misleading.

 

Saved by Grace

Image via Wikipedia

Quite awhile ago I learned how to use Romans 6:23 as an evangelistic tool to express how we receive Salvation. What we do is simply use the nouns and describe what they mean. “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord!”

 

The Millennium and the Bottomless Pit

Image via Wikipedia

Satan has been cast into a bottomless pit according to Revelation 20:1-3, but what does this mean? In Revelation 9:1 we find a fallen angel has the keys to the bottomless pit and opened it up. This angel’s name is Abaddon in Hebrew according to verse-11 and means destruction. In the Greek tongue his name is Apollyon meaning a destroyer. We may also take note that the beast came out of this pit to make war with the Lamb (Revelation 17:8-14).

 

How Can ALL Things Work Together for Good?

Paul tells us in Romans 8:28 that “all things work together for good…” but how can they? How can death, accidents, personal failures and other unwanted predicaments work for my good? Fritz Rindenour uses an entire chapter in his book “How to be a Christian Without Being Religious” to respond to this very question. In it he claims that Christians love to quote this verse to other people, but how many of us are really willing to consider it or believe it works for us? Few of us really put this verse to a personal test, or better, allow ourselves to be tested by it.

 

Whose Slave are You?

Now there’s a question that modern man balks at. Most Christians find it difficult to deal with as well. “What? Slave? I’m not a slave to anyone—my faith sets me free!” Well, this is true in a sense. As a Christian I am free from the penalty of sin and from its guilt, but what about the power of sin? I probably have more trouble with sin, now that I am a Christian than before I received Jesus. Why? Because before I knew Christ, I wasn’t concerned with sin at all. Nevertheless, afterward sinning became a very prominent problem, or perhaps a better word would be focus, because, before Christ, I simply wasn’t aware of the problem—or didn’t care.

 

If I Could Only Choose…

Romans 5:12 and following has everything to do with responsibility. Who is responsible for death? Who is responsible for life? Paul tells us that death entered our race through Adam our first parent, i.e. the father of our race. He rebelled against God and took with him all that would come after him. You may wonder if this is fair, but we never wonder about the fairness of where we were born, what school we attended or even that we were born at all. These decisions were made for us by our parents, but who among us would accuse them of wrongdoing, simply because they brought us into the world and in a certain city and had us attend a particular school? Even the choice of religion or lack thereof was made for us. We may be able to express our choices now, but not when we were very young or before we were born. Yet, even the choices we make today are affected by the choices that were made for us a long time ago.

 

Salvation Even for Me!

After opening their minds, Jesus did three things. First he explained the Scriptures showing why it was necessary for him to die and rise again (Luke 24:46). Secondly, he commissioned the apostles to preach this Gospel of the death and resurrection of Jesus (Luke 24:46), which made him the Messiah (Acts 2:32-36), and to call the whole world to repentance and reconcile themselves to God (Luke 24:47-48; Acts 2:37-38; 2Corinthians 5:14-21). Finally, he empowered them for the work of God, telling them to wait at Jerusalem for the promise of the Holy Spirit (Luke 24:49). They had no idea what to expect. They just trusted Jesus and obeyed.

 

Unbelief and Half-truths!

Two disciples were traveling to Emmaus from Jerusalem and they spoke of the cross and were sad (Luke 24:13-24). Jesus drew near them and questioned them about their conversation. Yet because they knew him only in his death and not in the power of his resurrection, they could not recognize him as their Savior (Luke 24:16, 21; cp. John 21:1-12).

Paul explains that we have no Savior, if the dead are not raised (1Corinthians 15:13-18). These two knew Christ as a Prophet, who was mighty both before God and man in word and in deed (Luke 24:19). Nevertheless, to them Jesus was no more than a dead hero, whom they had hoped to be their Savior (Luke 24:20-21). The problem these two disciples had was they thought they knew what their Messiah would do, but they were wrong.

 

Why Seek the Living One among the Dead?

The women who waited on Christ during his lifetime (Luke 8:2-3) came to clean his body, to anoint him and to dress his corpse for burial. All the burial preparations on the day of his death were done quickly. Even the tomb where he had been laid was used because it was close by (John 19:41-42). When they arrived at the grave site, the appearance of the tomb was not what they had expected. The stone had been removed from the opening of the tomb, and when they looked into the sepulcher the body of Christ was no longer there (Luke 24:3)! As the women wondered over these things, two angels stood with them and asked, “Why do you seek the Living among the dead” (Luke 24:4-5)? They reminded the women of what Christ spoke to them earlier in Galilee concerning his death and resurrection (Luke 24:6-8). Then they remembered his words and ran to tell the disciples and everyone else!

 

And Herod Killed James with the Sword!

Acts 12 is a pivotal chapter. It is the last time Luke speaks of Peter except for mentioning him in chapter 15 where he defended Paul. After this, the book of Acts is all about Paul and his Gospel to the gentiles.

Chapter 12 begins with the slaying of James the brother of John. For years this had puzzled me. Why was James killed; after all, wasn’t the persecution of the church over (Acts 9:31)? It has been only since I understood Stephen’s message and the reason for his death that James’ death makes sense. Indeed there was an uneasy “peace” between the Jewish religious authorities and the believers in Jerusalem. The hated Hellenistic believers had been driven out of Jerusalem during the persecution, but the believers who had always lived in Palestine had not been driven out, nor were their lives sought as prey, until now. What happened?

 

What Is the Lake of Fire

It can be argued that the wrath of God is the Lake of Fire (Revelation 14:10; Revelation 21:8). However, is the Lake of Fire an ever-burning place of punishment that has been reserved by God to punish the wicked, or does it represent a time of temporary punishment whereby the wicked will be separated from their sins and embrace God, whom they have rejected all their lives? Remembering that Revelation is apocalyptic (symbolic) literature, let’s look at it now to see how God plans to use the Lake of Fire. There isn’t much of a description of it in Revelation. We know that the beast and false prophet were cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 19:20); the devil will be cast into it (Revelation 20:10); death and hell (the grave) are cast into it, and it is called the second death in Revelation 20:14. Finally, after the resurrection of the just and unjust (Matthew 25) or the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11-13) all who are not written in the Lamb’s book of life will be cast into the Lake of Fire (Revelation 20:15). That’s it! If we wish to know more about this mysterious Lake of Fire in which God can cast death and the grave, which are not things one could actually look upon and take up in one’s hands, one must look elsewhere in God’s word, comparing Scripture with Scripture to find additional truth.

 

Lazarus and the Rich Man

The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus bears certain elements that seem to indicate at least part of the story did not come from Jesus. I do not mean to say that Jesus never spoke this story. I believe he spoke every word and every word is true. Nevertheless, if we take Luke 16:18-31 to indicate what happens after our physical death, the story would contradict what we find in the rest of the word of God concerning death. I have read several teachings that testify Jesus was quoting from or derived much of the content of this story from rabbinical literature [Notes from the Companion Bible, The Bullinger Publications Trust; The Bible Background Commentary by Craig Keener, Intervarsity Press; The New Jerome Bible Commentary, page 708, paragraph 151, Prentice Hall.] and formed the story in the manner the rabbis formed theirs. For example, this is the only story that Jesus names one of the characters. The rabbis often named one or more characters in their stories, but they named the more noble men. Jesus did the opposite by naming the poor man. While I cannot endorse every teaching in rabbinical literature, I do believe Jesus was using parts of rabbinic teaching to silence his enemies. Jesus changed enough in the rabbinical story to bring out a great spiritual truth that cannot be understood without appreciating the cross. The truth of what Jesus says here is very much misunderstood today. This will become clearer as we go along, but let me say that Jesus is not speaking of literal death or the literal punishment of the wicked after their lives on this earth is over.