Jesus—The Fullness of God!

From time to time I need to recall that it is not God’s intention to bless me specifically. In all actuality God, the Father doesn’t give me anything. Don’t misunderstand; I don’t mean to imply God doesn’t love us or intend to provide for us, but he doesn’t do anything specifically to or for anyone. He so loved the world—all of us in general—that he gave his only begotten Son, and there in lay all that we shall ever need from God!

 

Saved by Grace

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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!”

 

Eve’s Messianic Expectations!

The ancient Jewish Targums are interesting literature and useful in helping us understand Jewish thought about God during the times of Jesus. The Targums are ancient Aramaic translations of the Hebrew text of the Scriptures. One of those really interesting sections involves the Targumist’s understanding of Genesis 4:1-2. Immediately after the rebellion in the Garden of Eden, God promised a Redeemer before expelling Adam and Eve from the Garden (Genesis 3:15). In chapter 4 Adam and Eve began to populate the earth. According to the Targum, Pseudo-Jonathan, Eve seems to believe that her first child, Cain, is the Messiah:

 

And I, if I be lifted up…

So much of Christianity today seems to be either contending with sin or counting the days before Christ’s return. As an audience, our eyes become fixed either upon ourselves and our shortcomings or upon what some teacher supposes the future holds. Where are Jesus and the cross in any of this?

 

The Prayer!

Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and also for the sins of the whole world according to 1John 2:2. It was for this reason that he came into the world, (John 3:16-17; 18:11).

Jesus is the express image of the Father (Colossians 1:15). If I want to know what the Father is like I am told to get to know Jesus (John 14:7-9). It would seem that Jesus loves us and mourns over our condition (John 11:35; Luke 13:34). It is evident that it is God’s will that all men should be saved (1Timothy 2:4), and he works out all things out according to his will (Ephesians 1:11). Knowing these things, therefore, it can hardly be said that universal salvation is not our Father’s will. Anything asked according to the will of God is a request that is heard (1John 5:14-15), and the one praying has the confidence that his desire is granted.

 

Who is God Able to Save?

Now I must ask a question that is at the heart of the controversy that comes out of the cross. This question has bothered me, since I was a little boy, when my parents first told me about God, heaven and hell. If God loves everyone, and if God is all powerful, how can he, who loves all and is able to do all things, allow anyone to get to the point where God will forever condemn him in his sins?

 

Is Destruction Everlasting?

The love of God never seems darker or more absent than when we consider God destroying his enemies who are the unrepentant sinners of this world. The fact of the matter is, this doctrine teaches God fails in the end to save some people. In other words, some will defy him so much that God is finally unable to save them. The popular teaching is, it is not God who fails, but man fails to respond to the salvation that is freely given him by God. At the end of the day, however, God is unable to do that which he had always wanted to do (2Peter 2:9; 1Timothy 2:4). Some men’s evil is simply too great and prevents God from finally reaching all the hearts he sent his Son to save. Is this true? Does this teaching accurately portray what God says in his word?

 

Can Unrepentance Be Forgiven?

Is it possible that God forgives unrepentance? In Numbers chapter thirteen, ten of the twelve spies, which Moses sent into the Promised Land, returned with an evil report. They told all Israel that though the land was a good land, it was unattainable for them. The inhabitants were too strong.

 

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.

 

When Will the Wrath of God Appear?

It is Christ who executes the wrath of God (Revelation 6:16-17; 19:15), and when he does, something occurs in the hearts of the gentile governments that causes them to be angry when the rule of the whole world is turned over to our Lord (Revelation 11:18; 19:15). This is a spiritual matter, and the anger of the nations becomes focused upon God’s people (Luke 21:23; cp. Revelation 12:14-17). This could mean Christians or Jews or both. John the Baptist claimed God’s wrath was about to come at that time in the 1st century CE (Matthew 3:7; Luke 3:7), and that men should not trust in their own righteousness or the flesh to save them from it. Absolutely no one is able to stand before Christ (Revelation 6:17). Jesus warned about the wrath that was coming upon the Jews (Luke 21:23). The parable of the vineyard concerned Jerusalem being given over to the gentiles (Matthew 21:33-46; Mark 12:1-12; Luke 20:9-19). The vine was cast into the winepress of the wrath of Almighty God (Revelation 14:19). Jerusalem, who is that great city and is spiritually called Babylon the Great (Revelation 16:19; 17:16; Revelation 11:8; cp. 2Thessalonians 1:8-9), received the fierceness of the wrath of God in 70 C.E. Josephus shows how their entire society broke down in that the lawful institutions intended for the protection of the innocent were no longer in use. Anarchy ruled the day. Nevertheless, the instruments of God’s judgment (wrath) upon the Jews shall be judged in their own time (Revelation 6:10; 19:15; Romans 3:5-6).

 

Everlasting Punishment

Is everlasting punishment never ending? In Matthew 25:31 and following one will find the Judgment of the Just and the Unjust. When I consider those who have not come to Christ in repentance and never received him as Savior, I must ask: “If their reward is everlasting punishment, does this really mean never ending punishment?”

…’Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. (Matthew 25:41 NIV)

Matthew 25:41 says: “…depart you cursed from me into everlasting fire…” The word translated ‘eternal’ is aionios (G166) and fire is pur (G4442). Both are used in Jude 1:7 for ‘eternal fire’ which was the judgment of Sodom and Gomorra (KJV). The question is this: Is this fire still burning in Sodom? Of course not, and since it is not burning yet today, then the term aionios fire cannot mean eternal in the same sense that we understand the word to mean in English. If this is so with this Scripture, how can we so certain that those who are to be punished with eternal fire in Matthew 25:41 are punished eternally?

 

The Grace of God

When Jesus heard Lazarus, his friend, had become seriously ill (John 11:1-3) and was near death he waited in Bethabara, beyond Jordan (John 10:40; cp. John 1:28) until Lazarus had died. He had retreated there to avoid the leaders at Jerusalem who sought his life (John 10:31, 39). Then, after Lazarus had died, he made his journey toward Jerusalem and Bethany.

 

It is Christ, Only, and Him Crucified!

I hear a great deal about the Christ of Contention today. Christ contends with me for sinning. He contends with me for having the wrong political viewpoint. He contends with the leaders of our nation and our churches for leading his people astray. He contends with our nation and our churches for not falling on our faces before him in worshipful repentance and submission. He contends with me for being sick, when I don’t have the faith to be healed. He contends with me, because I drink, dance or smoke, and curses me with cancer or AIDS, because I have not stopped these evil habits. Most of all he contends with me because I am gay. Today, homosexuality is more contentious than any other matter with the possible exception of slaying a child in the womb. Christ of Contention has become the Messiah of much of media-Christianity! Salvation is something that happens to those of us who hate all these things, have the correct political viewpoint and receive Christ as our personal Savior. It sounds moral, but it really is legalistic. It is called the good news but it is definitely not the Gospel.

 

Striving to Enter the Strait Gate

As Jesus was teaching about the Kingdom of God through parables, he was asked: “Are there few to be saved?” Jesus’ reply was not as direct as the question, rather he told his listeners what they should do. He said:

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able. (Luke 13:24 KJV)

I like the way Weymouth’s translation puts it:

“Strain every nerve to force your way in through the narrow gate,” He answered; “for multitudes, I tell you, will endeavour to find a way in and will not succeed. (Luke 13:24 WNT)

To strive is agonizomai (G75) in the Greek. We get our word agonize from this word. I am to agonize over entering this narrow or strait gate (Luke 13:24). Jesus was in agonia (G74) or agony in Gethsemane (Luke 22:44). We get these words from the root word agon (G73), which is translated in the New Testament as “fight, continue, conflict or race.” The word relationships are interesting and reveal a picture of our spiritual struggle as we enter the strait gate.

 

The Three Tenses of Salvation

The Scriptures reveal there are three phases of our salvation. Our salvation has a past, a present, and a future. Ephesians 2:5 says Christ saved me in the past. I had nothing to do with this area of my salvation, because I was dead in my sins. In other words, I was spiritually dead, and a dead person cannot do anything, think anything or say anything. I was helpless and hopeless, until Christ died for me on the cross, reconciling me to God (2Corinthians 5:14-19). This is the past tense of salvation. I have been saved period. I did nothing to accomplish it, and I can do nothing to destroy it. In the past I have been saved from the penalty due my sins (Romans 6:23), once and for all time, by the death of Christ.