Category Archives: Apologetics

SHOULD WE PRAY FOR REVIVAL?

Apologetics, ,

SHOULD WE PRAY FOR REVIVAL?

“The word “revival” is from the Hebrew word chayah and means “to bring back to life,” to “restore to consciousness,” or to “restore to a previous condition.” As stated in the Bible, it means a restoration, rejuvenation, or renewal of interest after spiritual neglect, oblivion, or obscurity.” 09 Jan 2018

There are many references to and prayers for revival in the Psalms and Prophets, eg,

“Won’t you revive us again, so your people can rejoice in you?”

Psalms 85:6 NLT

‘Zion will be restored by justice; those who repent will be revived by righteousness.”

Isaiah 1:27 NLT

but we must remember 2 things:

1. The Israelites in the Old Testament were still dead in their sins and under the Law. Revival relates particularly to what is dead or dying. The Israelites, in the main, were still spiritually dead and it was then, therefore, legitimate to pray that God would revive them.

However, Isaiah’s prophecy above relates to new birth in the New Covenant.

We live under the New Covenant and must therefore be guided by the writings in the New Testament Scriptures.

2. God’s people are spiritually alive if they have been born again by God’s Spirit. We cannot ask God to make them alive if they are already alive.

“But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) For he raised us from the dead along with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ Jesus.”

Ephesians 2:4-6 NLT

Let’s look at the writings of the Apostles in the New Testament. How did they pray for the church?

Paul based his prayers for the churches on who God is and what He has done for us in Jesus.

1. There is not a single prayer for revival in the New Testament.

The Apostle Paul in particular, often wrote about his prayers for the churches.

2. Paul prayed for God’s people, that they would have spiritual wisdom and insight, enlightenment and understanding about what God had done for them in Jesus.

“Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for God’s people everywhere, I have not stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and insight so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance. I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him… “

Ephesians 1:15-19a NLT

3. Paul prayed that God’s people would know God’s love in all its dimensions.

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth.  I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”

Ephesians 3:14-19 NLT.

3.Paul prayed and encouraged God’s people to grow in love for one another.

“We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly. As we pray to our God and Father about you, we think of your faithful work, your loving deeds, and the enduring hope you have because of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

1 Thessalonians 1:2-3 NLT

4. Paul exhorted the people to continue to grow in their walk with the Lord.

“And now, just as you accepted Christ Jesus as your Lord, you must continue to follow him. Let your roots grow down into him, and let your lives be built on him. Then your faith will grow strong in the truth you were taught, and you will overflow with thankfulness.”

Colossians 2:6-7 NLT

5. Paul encouraged the people to move on to maturity through the gifts and ministries of teaching, training and equipping.

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ. This will continue until we all come to such unity in our faith and knowledge of God’s Son that we will be mature in the Lord, measuring up to the full and complete standard of Christ.”

Ephesians 4:11-13 NLT

A mature church is a group of people who are …

A. Secure in the knowledge and understanding of who Jesus is and who they are in Him so that they can fully trust Him in every circumstance no matter what life throws at them.

B. Doing life together, caring for and serving one another out of, and expressing their love for Jesus by being givers and not takers.

We are mature, then, to the extent that we know God through Jesus and live out in our everyday lives the love and trust that we have in Him.

We express that love and trust by the way that we relate to one another through humility and mutual submission, honouring one another and meeting each other’s needs at our own expense.

Therefore, we all need teaching, correction, encouragement and fellowship to become a fully mature body in the body of Christ. According to Jesus, this is the greatest demonstration to the world of His life in us.” (Taken from my notes on   “Fully Mature”)

7. The Book of Hebrews is full of warnings about turning back to Jewish legalism or falling away through neglect or unbelief.

“So, we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished. So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak?”

Hebrews 2:1-3 NLT

“Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God. You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ.”

Hebrews 3:12-14 NLT

“For it is impossible to bring back to repentance those who were once enlightened—those who have experienced the good things of heaven and shared in the Holy Spirit, who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the power of the age to come— and who then turn away from God. It is impossible to bring such people back to repentance; by rejecting the Son of God, they themselves are nailing him to the cross once again and holding him up to public shame.”

Hebrews 6:4-6 NLT

7. Jesus (and Jude, His brother) taught His disciples how to live our Christian lives so that we never fall away.

“Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me… When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love.”

John 15:4, 10 NLT

“But you, dear friends, must build each other up in your most holy faith, pray in the power of the Holy Spirit, and await the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ, who will bring you eternal life. In this way, you will keep yourselves safe in God’s love. Jude 1:20-21 NLT

This short note should help you to understand that God’s people who have been made alive by the Holy Spirit when they believed in Jesus, do not need revival. We need to grow in faith and obedience through prayer, exhortation, encouragement, warning, teaching, training, and equipping.

We are in a partnership with the Holy Spirit who teaches us about Jesus, leads us into all truth, enlightens us through the Word, strengthens us to obey and matures us in our faith and love.

Therefore, true prayer in the New Covenant is not about praying for revival but praying that God’s people will grow in their understanding of who the Father is, what He has done for us through the Son, who the Holy Spirit is and what He does in us through our faith in Jesus so that, we can become mature in faith and love.

What about the great revivals of the past?

They happened and effected great blessing on their generation and beyond.

Individuals, who were prominent in revivals, had and perhaps still have influence in the Christian world.

Some revivals have led to excesses and deviations from the truth.

Revivals can never replace the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit who transforms us into the image of Jesus as we reflect on and contemplate His glory.

“18 So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image.”

2 Corinthians 3:18 NLT

Jesus does not need dying people who continually need “reviving”.

He, as head of His church, needs His body to be people who live in daily union with Him, walking in the truth of His Word, obeying Him as Lord, loving one another, and revealing Him in their ordinary lives to the world around by word and deed.

NAOS – THAT PART OF THE TEMPLE WHERE GOD HIMSELF RESIDES

Apologetics, ,

NAOS – THAT PART OF THE TEMPLE WHERE GOD HIMSELF RESIDES

Right from the beginning of His public ministry, Jesus made His mission known. To the religious leaders, who challenged Him, He responded….

… “Destroy this temple (naos), and in three days I will raise it up.”

John 2:18-19 NLT

Jesus specifically used the Greek word, “naos” for “temple” which John interpreted to mean His body as the “naos” which, according to Strong’s concordance, means ‘the shrine… that part of the temple where God Himself resides.’

What an awesome thought! From the moment of His conception, Jesus, the Second Person of the Trinity, took on a body which became the temple in which God resided. He took on a human name, Jesus, as well. Now both His body and His name are part of His human identity forever.

When Jesus ascended into heaven in His resurrected body, He did not shed that body and become pure spirit again. Paul tells us that it is “the man, Christ (His official title and office) Jesus (His human name which means  ‘Saviour’),” who is the Mediator between God and man.

His full name is “the Lord Jesus Christ”, signifying everything that He is now, in His glorified person – the Lord (Supreme Authority), Jesus (the Man) Christ (Messiah, the Anointed One).

Who Jesus is now, the God/man in a resurrection body, acting for us as mediator and high priest, has huge implications for us as believers.

Firstly, according to Paul, we are now the “naos” in which God resides in the person of the Holy Spirit. Just as the Holy Spirit lived in Jesus here in earth, so now He lives in us.

“19 Don’t you realize that your body is the temple (naos) of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, 20 for God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

Secondly, Paul made it clear {to the Corinthian Church} that Jesus rose from the dead as the first fruits of the resurrection, guaranteeing the full harvest of all who believe in Him when He returns. His resurrection is the victory over the last enemy, death, and spells the final judgment and punishment of Satan and his demons in the lake of fire.

Not only does Jesus’ resurrection guarantee ours but His resurrection body is also the blueprint for our resurrection bodies. John tells us…

“Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is.”

1 John 3:2 NLT

How do we know that our resurrection bodies will be exactly like Jesus’ body?

“35 But someone may ask, “How will the dead be raised? What kind of bodies will they have?” … 49 Just as we are now like the earthly man (Adam) , we will someday be like the heavenly man, (Jesus) …

51 But let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed! 52 It will happen in a moment, in the blink of an eye, when the last trumpet is blown. For when the trumpet sounds, those who have died will be raised to live forever. And we who are living will also be transformed. 53 For our dying bodies must be transformed into bodies that will never die; our mortal bodies must be transformed into immortal bodies.”

1 Corinthians 15:35, 49, 51-53 NLT

The writer to the Hebrews assures us that God’s plan is to restore the family likeness to Jesus, the Son in all God’s children…

“10 In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through what he suffered. 11 Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters.”

Heb. 2:10-11 NIV

During  the time of the Old Covenant, no one was able to see God’s face and live. God shielded Moses from the sight of His glory by hiding him in the cleft of a rock.

“20 But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.”

Exodus 33:20 NIV

However, in the New Covenant, we shall see Jesus face to face, we shall see and hear with heightened awareness all the sights and sounds of God’s realm. It will be quite a noisy place according to John’s visions in Revelation!!

Look at what Paul has to say about “now” and “then”.

“12 For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”

1 Cor. 13:12 NIV

There are also implications for us in this life because we have this hope of resurrection bodies and perfected minds and senses and the likeness to Jesus as perfect sons. Our time on earth and the lives we live now are an  “apprenticeship” for the life to come.

1. We are to honour God with our bodies.

… “God bought you with a high price. So you must honour God with your body.”

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 NLT

2. We are to purify ourselves

“2 Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 3 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.”

1 John 3:2-3 NIV

“Therefore, since we have these promises, dear friends, let us purify ourselves from everything that contaminates body and spirit, perfecting holiness out of reverence for God.”

2 Cor. 7:1 NIV

3. We are to persevere…

“23 Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful…”

4. And we are to encourage and build one another up…

“… 24 And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, 25 not giving up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but encouraging one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.”

Heb. 10:23-25 NIV

Not even our wildest imagination will be able to conjures up what God has in store for us.

“9 However, as it is written: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived”— the things God has prepared for those who love him— 10 these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God.”

1 Cor. 2:9-10 NIV

In response to all the glorious promises God has given us and the changes that await us, through Jesus’ death and resurrection, Paul burst out…

“33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! 34 “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor?” 35 “Who has ever given to God, that God should repay them?”

36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.

Romans 11:33-36 NIV

And with David, we respond…

“17 How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! 18 Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.”

Psalm 139:17-18 NIV

“20 Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, 21 to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

Ephesians 3:20-21 NIV

MY THOUGHTS ON THE MARK OF THE BEAST

Apologetics, ,

MY THOUGHTS ON THE MARK OF THE BEAST

The second beast was given power to give breath to the image of the first beast, so that the image could speak and cause all who refused to worship the image to be killed. 16 It also forced all people, great and small, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hands or on their foreheads, 17 so that they could not buy or sell unless they had the mark, which is the name of the beast or the number of its name. 18 This calls for wisdom. Let the person who has insight calculate the number of the beast, for it is the number of a man. That number is 666. Revelation 13:15-18

There are so many interpretations of this strange “mark” that believers are told to avoid at all costs that believers have no idea what we are to refuse in the “end times”.

Before we try to understand what this mark is, let’s look at something the Scriptures tell us about the mark or “seal” that God has put on His own children.

There is nothing to confuse us about God’s mark because Paul tells us quite clearly…

“And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit…”

Ephesians 1:13 NIV

When we believed in Jesus as Lord, God came to live inside us through His Spirit, taking ownership of us, body, soul, and spirit. However, the Holy Spirit isn’t just a “family crest” to identify who we are. His presence in us has a very practical outcome. He is at work in us, transforming us into the likeness of Jesus. So, Paul could say, “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy peace…” Fruit is the evidence of the nature of the tree.

The evidence of God’s presence within us is an ever-increasing likeness to Jesus. We have become “participants in the divine nature” (2 Peter 1:4).

So, God’s mark on every believer is His nature being formed in us as we respond to the work of the Holy Spirit in us.

Would it not be possible, then, that the “mark of the beast” is the counterpart of the mark of the Holy Spirit? Since the Spirit is reproducing the nature of Jesus in us, what is the beast and what does the “beast” do in those who refuse to believe that Jesus is Lord?

The beast is a kingdom ruled over by the God of this world. He reproduces his image in those who unwittingly follow him as Lord by living according to their fallen nature which is otherwise called “the flesh”.

The mark of the beast, according to John in Rev. 13:18, is the number of man (also translated “humanity” or “one of the human race”), which is 666, the number of incompleteness. God made man in His image. God is three in one; man is also three in one, body, soul and spirit, but without God, he is incomplete.

God’s number is 7, which is the number of completeness. Since God is three in one, His number would be 777. The Holy Spirit in Revelation is called “the sevenfold Spirit of God.”

Therefore, man without God has the nature of the one who influences his life through his fallen nature. He bears the fruit of that nature in his rebellion, disobedience, and refusal to obey the gospel and come under the authority of Jesus as Lord.

All mankind without God is eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, living in the kingdom which this tree represents by making their own rules and producing the chaos and destruction which are the hallmarks of Satan’s dominion of darkness.

In the Book of Revelation, John was writing to encourage believers in the first century after Jesus, who were suffering severe persecution for their faith in Jesus as Lord. Therefore, to interpret “the beast” and the “mark” of the beast as anything outside of the understanding and experience of those first-century believers is to defeat the purpose for which John wrote.

Perhaps, in John’s day, persecution reached its zenith by ungodly authority, whoever they were,  preventing those who confessed faith in Jesus from buying and selling in the local market, subjecting them to intense suffering by cutting off their food supply.

Very simply, all who believe in Jesus as Lord are marked by the nature of God being formed in them by the indwelling Holy Spirit. All who reject Jesus have Satan’s mark in them, the nature of man without God (666) produced by following the unrestrained appetites of the flesh.

JESUS DID NOT SAY…

Apologetics, , ,

JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT WE WOULD BE JUDGED BECAUSE OF THE SINS WE HAVE COMMITTED

How often we hear these words from the mouth of a preacher, “When you stand before God, He will condemn you because you murdered someone by your anger… you lied… you stole… you committed adultery…!

Not so, my friend, according to Jesus, there is only one standard by which you will be judged.

“Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

John 3:18 NIV

You see, both unbelief and faith produce fruit, the first of rejection of Jesus, the second belief in Him as Lord.

All the sins we commit are the fruit of unbelief in Jesus. All our good works are the fruit of lives transformed by the power of the gospel.

“Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.”

John 3:20-21 NIV

Paul confirmed the truth that God will judge the world by this one standard.

“God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.”

2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 NIV

There are only two kingdoms that people live in, the kingdom of God or the dominion of darkness. We are citizens of one or other of these two realms, depending on our allegiance and obedience to its ruler.

Everyone is born into the dominion of darkness and lives under the influence of Satan, its ruler. Everyone is born with a nature that is pulled towards sin. Everyone is an enemy of God, rebels against His instructions and is destined for the same punishment as its ruler, eternal separation from God in hell.

God’s grace, through faith in Jesus, rescues us from wrath and give us a place in His eternal kingdom.

DID JESUS SWEAT BLOOD?

Apologetics, ,

DID JESUS SWEAT BLOOD?

Amazing how people can build a superstructure of belief on a faulty foundation.

Take, for example the words of Jesus in John 10. Not once in His discourse on the good shepherd does He mention the devil. He was teaching the people the difference between the shepherd who loves and cares for his sheep and the hireling who does the job for money, a veiled comparison between Himself and the religious leaders.

When the life of the shepherd is threatened, he willingly gives himself for the sheep. The hireling, on the other hand, deserts the sheep when his life is at risk.

Jesus was clearly comparing Himself with the religious leaders who opposed Him. While He was committed to the care and safety of His sheep, they were in it only for gain. Hence, the hireling, in the end, was not beneficial but destructive, killing, stealing, and destroying for his own benefit. Where, in this story, is the devil involved?

Now let’s look at Luke’s record of Jesus’ agony in the Garden of Gethsemane. Each Gospel writer puts a slightly different slant on his recording of this traumatic time.

Matthew seems to focus on Jesus’ agitation… He prays the same prayer three times, interspersed with going to His disciples to rebuke them for their indifference at this crucial time. Back and forth He went between prayer and checking on them.

Mark, similarly, comments on Jesus’ agitation but also reveals Jesus’ submission to the Father’s will in His prayer.

Luke, in keeping with the theme of his gospel focusing on Jesus, the Son of Man, zeroes in on Jesus’ emotional and physical agony. Let’s look at Luke’s exact words.

“He prayed more fervently, and he was in such agony of spirit that his sweat fell to the ground like great drops of blood.”

Luke 22:44 NLT

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.”

Luke 22:44 NIV

“And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly: and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Luke 22:44 KJV

“And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.”

Luke 22:44 NKJV

Now let’s examine the Greek word “like” in the original text. The Greek word “hosei”, according to Strong’s Concordance, means “like” or “as if”. There is a difference between “like” and “was”. Luke implies a comparison between Jesus’ sweat and blood flowing from a wound.

Medical science has even been drawn in to provide examples of this phenomenon. Possible as it may be in extreme circumstances, Luke’s specific choice of the Greek word “hosei” excludes the fact that Jesus sweated blood.

My point is…? We cannot inject meaning into original words in the Greek text and build a superstructure on a meaning that simply isn’t there. We are, always, required to be absolute faithful to the original text.

Does this change any of the intensity of Jesus’ suffering? Not at all! If anything, it enhances Luke’s description of His agony, perspiration pouring from Him like a river of blood!