God Speaks to Men

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David expressed it well when he asked God in prayer: “What is man that you are mindful of him or the son of man that you consider him?” (Psalm 144:3). He went on to say that man’s life is but a vapor, like a shadow that vanishes away (verse-4), so why should God take such a great interest in mankind? He speaks to us, demands correct behavior and punishes us, when we become too violent or when we drift too far from him. He doesn’t act this way toward other life forms. Rather, his word claims they praise him, always doing what he has intended them to do. Only mankind is in rebellion, and yet God takes an interest in us. Why?

 

Does ‘This Generation’ Mean Race?

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In Matthew 24:34 of the Olivet Prophecy Jesus told his disciples “This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled” (KJV). “All these things” include the Second Coming of Jesus and the judgment that his coming would bring (Matthew 24:30), and resurrection (Matthew 24:31; cf. Matthew 13:30, 38-43). Consequently, many dispensational scholars conclude that “this generation” refers to the Jewish race. That is, the Jewish race “shall not pass away until all these things be fulfilled.” Is this true? Can the Greek word genea (G1074) mean race? The natural reading of Matthew 24:34 is that this generation refers to the group of people who lived at the same time as Jesus and his apostles. It would have been a generation of about forty years.

 

Eternal Inheritance

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When we come to Matthew 25:31-46, many scholars believe Jesus was speaking of the end of the world, the end of time—some say even of the universe. Many conclude it is not only the time of the coming of Christ (Matthew 25:31), but also of the time of the Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15). Yet, no writer of the New Testament nor any prophet of the Old, ever taught about or even mentioned “the end of time.” Why would anyone even imagine the end of time at this point in the Olivet Discourse? While I would agree that Matthew 25:31 and following is, indeed, the time of Jesus coming, and that it is also the time of the resurrection and of the Great White Throne Judgment, Jesus did not prophesy of people and events 2000 years removed from the first century AD. After all, he came as the Servant of the Jews for the sake of the truth, in order that God could fulfill the promises made to the fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (Romans 15:8).

 

Looking for a Better Resurrection

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Arguably, one of the most difficult barriers to accepting an AD 70 Second Coming of the Lord would be there wasn’t a visible resurrection. If the resurrection did occur, what should it have looked like? Should we have looked for the physical graves to open and the bodies of the dead to rise to life—physically? If the dead ones were raised to a physical life, shouldn’t they be living on earth today or, if not, shouldn’t they have died a second time long ago? If the dead ones were raised to a spiritual, eternal life, what would that have looked like, physically speaking? Was the resurrection of Jesus actually witnessed by anyone? Certainly we have the scriptures telling us that an angel of the Lord descended and took away the stone, and for fear of **him** the keepers shook (Matthew 28:2-4), but did the keepers of the grave actually **see** Jesus rise out of the tomb? If they did, why does scripture tell us that Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene (Mark 16:9).

 

How Evil a Man Was Zacchaeus?

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I believe Zacchaeus’ testimony reveals that he was not the great sinner he was considered to be. For example, if Zacchaeus cheated everyone, how could he have given half of his goods to the poor and still make restitution according to his own interpretation of the Law? Logic demands that, if Zacchaeus had to give away all his money to make restitution, his goods, minus what he had already given to the poor, could be only 20 % of the total wealth he had left. He would then return what he had stolen, plus four times what he had already returned. Such a thing would amount to the other half of his goods. Therefore, if Zacchaeus was a thief, and I don’t believe he was, he couldn’t have been stealing from everyone. Most of his wealth, he had to have accumulated honestly.

 

Is Abraham in Hades?

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According to Old Testament theology, there was no consciousness in the grave (sheol – H7585). David claimed there is no remembrance of God there (Psalm 6:5), neither were the dead able to praise God or hope in his truth (Isaiah 18:38). The fact is: “there is neither work nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave” (Ecclesiastes 9:5-6, 10), according to the word of God. Nevertheless, during and after the Babylonian captivity the idea of consciousness and activity in the grave crept into Jewish theology.

 

The End of All Things Is at Hand

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When we speak of the end of the world, according to what we see in 2Peter 3, what do we mean? What did Peter mean? If Peter meant something different from what we see in the text, which point of view should we retain—ours or Peter’s? Lots of folks seem to believe Peter was wrong to believe the end of the time/space continuum was about to arrive in the first century AD. I could go along with that, with this qualifier—Peter really wasn’t speaking of the end of time or the universe. This came to be a later assumption of the text, and such a thing is not found anywhere in the Bible. In other words, belief that time would come to an end and the universe would be destroyed is a modern assumption not supported in the scriptures.

 

Fighting Jesus for the Kingdom

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In Luke 14:15 we are told that a man spoke out claiming they who dine in God’s Kingdom are truly blessed. This man was probably a rabbi, or at least another Pharisee, and  what probably prompted him to speak of eating bread in the Kingdom of God was that Jesus implied wrongdoing on their parts as guests in the home of the chief Pharisee. Moreover, Jesus implied that even their host acted inappropriately and wouldn’t be blessed in the Kingdom. It was in this context that the man spoke out (Luke 14:7). No doubt, he considered his place in the Kingdom of God was a given, simply because he was a Jew (cf. Luke 3:8; Ezekiel 33:24).

 

The Eschatology of Luke 13

It is interesting that Jesus mentions Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in Luke 13:28. Notice that Jesus also places all of the prophets with them, and all, that is, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob with all of the prophets of the Old Testament would sit down in the Kingdom of God. But, when would this occur? Was Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all of the prophets already in the Kingdom of God at the time when Jesus preached to the Jews in Luke 13? It would not appear so, because Daniel was a prophet, and he was told to go his way, and he would rest (i.e. lay dead) until the end of days (age). At that time, i.e. at the end of days (or the end of the age), he would arise (Daniel 12:13).

 

Jesus Rejoices

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The rejoicing of Jesus is to be found in the words he spoke to his disciples and in his prayer to the Father. They were spoken in the Spirit, just as his commands in Matthew 28:18-20 (cf. Acts 1:1-2) were done in the Spirit. Jesus’ rejoicing arose out of his hearing that the demons were subject to his disciples (Luke 10:20). The disciples were warned not to rejoice in this thing, probably because it was an occasion for God alone to rejoice in. Rather, the disciples were to rejoice in the fact that their names were written in heaven, i.e. they were citizens of the Kingdom of God. Nevertheless, Jesus rejoiced, taking his pleasure in the news of Satan’s defeat.

 

A Scoffer’s Myth

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Peter spoke of the myths of the false teacher (2Peter 1:16) or scoffers (cf. 2Peter 3:1-3). It may surprise some believers that some of these myths that were used by the Biblical critics of the first century AD have been preserved in the New Testament. One is quite obvious and is found in Luke 20:27-33 where the Sadducees sought to test Jesus in an effort to refute the doctrine of the resurrection. These men were scoffers or Biblical critics, the forerunners of our modern critics who labor to show the untrustworthiness of Scripture by pointing to seemingly unreasonable sayings or contradictions in the text. Nevertheless, just as the Lord used Scripture to show the error of the Sadducees, we can do the same today, if we trust God to help us understand what the Scriptures say. Another, not so obvious myth is found in Luke 16.

 

Peter… Regarding Wives and Husbands

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Peter spent considerably more time writing about the expected behavior of wives (1Peter 3:1-6) than he did for husbands (1Peter 3:7). Why would he do that? It was probably because women were in a more vulnerable position than men. In Roman life it was expected that women adopt the religion of their husbands. If a believing wife’s husband was an unbeliever, it would be quite a peculiarity in their society, if she didn’t embrace his religion. Even pagan wives were expected to adopt the Christian faith, if her husband was Christian (cf. Acts 16:30-33), because that was the custom. Therefore, the believing wife in an unbelieving household needed more care in Peter’s epistle. She needed to be encouraged in a manner that gave her peace over what she had done, versus what she was expected to do.[1]

 

Contending with John

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It might be significant that immediately before the Jewish authorities’ argument with John’s disciples in John 3:25 that we are told John was not yet cast into prison (John 3:24). Personally, I believe that it is very significant. In fact, I believe the Jewish authorities, in this case probably the Pharisees (John 1:24) are directly responsible for John’ imprisonment. They may have brought along the Herodians (cf. Mark 3:6; 12:16) and got John (or his disciples) to speak against the adulterous marriage of Herod Antipas and Herodias. Once John could be accused of speaking out against Herod, that he was in an adulterous affair, the Herodians could have gone to Herodias to tell her, and she would have gotten Antipas to arrest John.

 

Jesus’ Circumcision

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When he was eight days old, Jesus underwent the ceremony of circumcision (Luke 2:21). The ritual was first instituted in the days of Abraham (Genesis 17:9-14) and was commanded by God (Genesis 17:10). Its purpose was to define who was related to God as far as the promises were concerned. Those who were circumcised were called the people of God, while those who were not were cut off from God’s people and rejected. That is, the promises wouldn’t apply to them.

 

God Remembers His Covenant

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Luke’s infancy narratives are peculiar to Luke’s Gospel. One would find it difficult to connect Luke to Matthew, for example, if all one had were the infancy narratives. Moreover, most of the commentary that concerns itself with the birth of John seems to center around John and his family, rather than pointing toward the coming of Jesus. This is odd, if one considers the fact that John comes to reveal or prepare the way for the coming of the Messiah. It was so in John’s ministry, and it should be no less so in his birth. John came as a witness to bear witness to the coming of the Lord. His mission was to prepare for God a people who would be ready for Jesus’ preaching.