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4 BY THE WAY…STAY IN YOUR LANE

Christian Life, ,

In the Christian life, there are two things that are not in our job description…judging and controlling others. How often we hear, in the many discussions about the goings-on in our country…the investigations about political interference…that police and politicians must “stay in their lane”…that is…they must only operate within their legitimate structures. 

This is also true of our lives as God’s children. 

At the beginning of creation, God gave humans the mandate to rule over the earth as His authorised representatives…to manage the earth and its creatures but…never to rule over one another. He gave the woman to the man as an equal partner. Together, they would populate the earth…fill it with people who would work together to organise a functional planet. 

What went wrong?

The pair changed allegiance…from God’s rule to self-rule…and, under Satanic influence, and with the change, came chaos. One of the first changes was a shift in the original authority structure…from equal partnership to unequal dominance. This shift was not God’s plan. It was a consequence. 

Why? Was it because Eve did something “outside of her lane”? She took the initiative to mislead her husband. The instruction not to eat from the “tree of good and evil” was given to Adam. The temptation to defy God’s instruction came to Eve. 

Eve did not refer the serpent’s alluring offer to her husband as her partner. She acted independently. Did God change the chain of command… enforce Adam’s authority over Eve by placing her under him instead beside him because she stepped outside of her lane?

“To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭3‬:‭16‬ ‭NIV‬‬

However we view this consequence, God changed the architecture of this relationship in the context of marriage as a result of their defection. From the Hebrew words, it seems that God purposefully put the woman under the thumb of her husband. However, it was not God’s deliberate purpose but sin’s consequence that caused this rupture in the marriage relationship. 

“In Genesis 3:16, the phrase “your desire shall be for your husband, and he shall rule over you” describes a fractured relational dynamic resulting from the human fall into sin. The Hebrew word for desire (teshuqa) and the word for rule (mashal) point to an internal power struggle and an adversarial dynamic within marriage.” (Source: Google AI)

God’s blueprint for marriage was clearly stated when He made Eve out of Adam. He took the woman out of the man physically and gave her back to him emotionally, psychologically, and sexually to become one…a new one, “echad”…as God is “echad”…one. 

“The man said, “This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” That is why a man leaves his father and mother and is united to his wife, and they become one flesh.”

‭‭Genesis‬ ‭2‬:‭23‬-‭24‬ ‭NIV‬‬

The Hebrew word “basar”, translated “flesh”, has the idea of a fresh kind or species.  Adam was one…single, alone. Then God took Eve out of Adam, gave her back to him, and made them “one…echad” a “fresh kind”. Their inseparable, unified life together was a picture of God.

What sin broke, Jesus restored. With renewed hearts and spirits, He calls us back to what God made this partnership to be in the beginning. 

“Wives, submit yourselves to your own husbands as you do to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything. Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. “For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.” This is a profound mystery—but I am talking about Christ and the church. However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭5‬:‭22‬-‭28‬, ‭31‬-‭33‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God also introduced a new dynamic into this marriage partnership…The oneness in marriage has a new foundation…a new motivation…a new model… and a new meaning… the relationship between Jesus Christ and His church. 

In this interaction, the “lanes” are very clear. The wife is both an equal partner under the headship of her husband but only as the second-in-command.  She honours (gives him weight), and respects his person and his role…

“In the Bible, respect means giving honor, high value, and deep recognition to the worth of God and other people. It is tied to love and humility. The Bible commands believers to respect all humans because God made everyone in His image.”

In turn, the husband sacrificially serves his wife as Jesus served and gave His life for His church. 

Within the boundaries of the New Covenant, the lanes are clearly defined and…when they are honoured and adhered to…order in the home and in society are restored. 

Giving weight to, that is, honour and respect, to one another’s person and role in the marriage relationship has spinoffs in the home and in society. “Staying in one’s lane” also means giving one another the right to make choices and decisions without intrusion, coercion, or manipulation. 

Control is a leftover from the brokenness of Eden. Jesus removed that impulse to control by giving us back our place and privilege in His kingdom. Each of us is a free agent living under God’s authority and accountable to Him, not primarily to one another. 

“For none of us lives for ourselves alone, and none of us dies for ourselves alone. If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭14‬:‭7‬-‭8‬ ‭NIV‬‬

If these “lanes” were truly and faithfully honoured (given “weight”) in our relationships, we would be going a long way towards a more peaceful and harmonious society. 

Let’s begin in our homes and in our church family. 

3 BY THE WAY…WHERE WILL IT END?

Christian life, ,

This is one of those “by the way” posts in which I try to set the record straight. You see, many Christians simplify their understanding of salvation to mean “accepting Jesus so that I can go to heaven when I die,” …like faith in Jesus is their passport to heaven, however they live now and wherever heaven might be then. 

Nothing could be further from the truth.   

There are many hints and many passages of Scripture that tell a very different story.  First, where is heaven? You may say, in reply, “Heaven is where God is,” as though God lives far away, in some place from where He reigns and to where we will go when we die. What does the Bible say?

Solomon said, in his dedication prayer…

“But will God really live on earth? Why, even the highest heavens cannot contain you. How much less this Temple I have built!”

‭‭1 Kings‬ ‭8‬:‭27‬ ‭NLT‬‬

David realised…

“I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven, you are there; if I go down to the grave, you are there. If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans, even there your hand will guide me, and your strength will support me.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭139‬:‭7‬-‭10‬ ‭NLT‬‬

So, where is God? God is everywhere. He cannot be contained or limited to a space. 

Second, God chose Israel to be His people and…He chose to live with them. His dwelling place would be a tent pitched in the centre of the camp where His visible presence would be with them in the wilderness, and later, in the temple in Jerusalem. 

“Have the people of Israel build me a holy sanctuary so I can live among them.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭25‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This was the beginning of where God was going, not His presence in a geographical place but in the hearts of His people. 

“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.” Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”

‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭6‬:‭16‬-‭18‬ ‭NIV‬‬

God’s goal is to live in intimate union with His holy people forever. 

Where will this be? In heaven?

Amazingly enough, not “heaven” as some place far away but on the earth where God began the processes and…where He plans to complete it in a union between heaven and earth. 

The earth was corrupted by sin when Adam chose to go it alone. Jesus came to redeem…not only broken humanity but the broken earth on which humanity lives. 

“I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭8‬:‭18‬-‭22‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Creation shares the pain of our brokenness and awaits the restoration of all things when Jesus returns. God made a perfect earth for human habitation. Therefore, a restored and renewed earth will be the place where God lives with His people forever but…and this is the marvel of His redemption plan…heaven and earth…the unseen realm of God’s dwelling right now…and the earth in its restored perfection…will be united into one. 

John saw the final result in his vision of the new Jerusalem…

“Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.” One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God…I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal… The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭21‬:‭1‬-‭3‬, ‭9‬-‭11‬, ‭23‬-‭26‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Paul said that God’s people will reign with Jesus on the earth…

“if we endure, we will also reign with him…

‭‭2 Timothy‬ ‭2‬:‭12‬a NIV‬‬

“Blessed and holy are those who share in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over them, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with him for a thousand years.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭20‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

“You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth.”

‭‭Revelation‬ ‭5‬:‭10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

It was always God’s desire to live among and in His people. He is moving His redemption plan, slowly, meticulously, towards His goal…a perfect people…a perfect earth…a reunited heaven and earth…under His management…His people ruling with Him…order and harmony… forever! The circle of creation and history will be complete when Jesus returns to see up His kingdom on a perfect earth. 

INTOLERANT BUT TRUE!

Bible Study, ,

INTOLERANT BUT TRUE!

“The one who comes from above is above all; the one who is from the earth belongs to the earth, and speaks as one from the earth. The one who comes from heaven is above all. He testifies to what He has seen and heard, but no one accepts His testimony. Whoever has accepted it has certified that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for God gives the Spirit without limit. The Father loves the Son and has placed everything in His hands.

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” John 3:31-36.

Whose words are these? Jesus’ words? John the Baptist’s words? The Apostle John’s words? My guess is that they are a little aside that John wrote to interpret John the Baptist’s defence of his lesser position as the friend of the bridegroom, not the Messiah. Sounds like Jesus, doesn’t it? Again, my guess is that, during  the author John’s years as an intimate friend of Jesus, first as His disciple during His earthly ministry and then as an apostle to the world, he began to think like Jesus.

Over the years of his walk with the Lord, John saw in Him a man, but much more than a mere man. Jesus had spoken about heavenly things with such knowledge and authority that He must have been there before His sojourn on earth. Unlike other humans who only came into being at their conception, Jesus existed long before His time on earth.

We cannot conceive of anything we have not actually experienced. How can we? No matter how lively an imagination we might have, whatever we conjure up is only fanciful. It has no foundation in fact. Science fiction is only that and only useful for entertainment. Jesus was not into sci-fi; He spoke about reality based on truth. This is the difference between Him and those who have created religious beliefs out of their imagination.

Why is it that people refuse to accept His testimony? The religious leaders clung tenaciously to their ideas and interpretations of the Torah because they believed that they were right. Underneath that was the need to impress the people and to hold onto the power they had over them by setting up and policing the rules they had made around the Torah. Underneath that, however, was something far more sinister and closer to the bone – they were greedy and wicked at heart.

Jesus diagnosed their problem, and the problem of everyone who refuses to believe in Him:

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed.” John 3:19, 20.

John uncovered another amazing truth about the man, Jesus. It was His anointing with the Holy Spirit that made Him the man He was. Contrary to what we may think, Jesus set aside His deity when He came into the world, and lived and acted only as a man. He steadfastly chose to live in submission to the Father and not use His divine power to do anything.

At His baptism, He was affirmed by the Father and anointed by the Holy Spirit for His role as Messiah. Satan hounded Him to act independently of God but, to His dying breath, He chose to be a true Son by trusting and obeying the Father, not doing His own thing. The Father, in turn, entrusted to Him the role of atoning sacrifice, and gave Him the highest name and authority in heaven and on earth.

Unfortunately for those who reject Jesus and declare that Christians are intolerant by insisting that He is the only way to the Father, they will discover in the end that they were wrong. The Bible could not have stated it more clearly:

“Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.” Intolerant according to us, maybe, but nevertheless true.

Acknowledgement

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE – A GLORIOUS WELCOME

Bible Study, , , ,

A GLORIOUS WELCOME

“‘It will seem like all hell has broken loose — sun, moon, stars, earth, sea in an uproar and everyone all over the world in a panic, the wind knocked out of them by the threat of doom, the powers-that-be quaking.

“And then – then! – they’ll see the Son of Man welcomed in grand style – a glorious welcome. When all this starts to happen, up on your feet. Stand tall with your heads high. Help is on the way!'” Luke 21:25-28.

What a glorious, terrifying moment! It will be glorious for those who have taken Jesus’ words seriously and terrifying for cynics, sceptics, agnostics, atheists and everyone who chose to believe and follow the counterfeit rather than the truth. So cataclysmic will Jesus’ return be that even the natural world will reel with the enormity of it.

Earth’s population, past and present, will be split right down the middle; those who love Him will welcome Him with overwhelming joy and relief; those who rejected Him will cringe in horror when they discover to their loss that He was telling the truth all the time.

The Apostle Paul wrote to encourage the Thessalonian believers who were suffering at the hands of the Roman emperor (probably Nero) because they refused to acknowledge that Caesar was Lord.

“God is just. He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you and give relief to you who are troubled…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 majesty of His power on the day He comes to be glorified in His holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed.” 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10a (NIV).

Jesus made enormous predictions. How do we know they are true? Many people have prophesied over the centuries. What are the credentials for believing what they say? In order to verify their trustworthiness, we have to examine their authority, their character and their accuracy.

On what authority did Jesus say these things? He claimed that His authority came from the Father. “‘For as the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. And He has given Him authority to judge because He is the Son of Man.'” John 5:26-27 (NIV).

When we examine the character of Jesus, we must find that He was a liar, a lunatic or flawless. He asked His opponents a question that they could not answer: ‘Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?’ John 8:46 (NIV).

As for the accuracy of His predictions, if He foretold His death and resurrection in uncanny detail and then fulfilled every detail to the letter, is there any reason to doubt any of His other words, prophecies and promises?

In every way Jesus fulfilled the qualifications of an authentic prophet. He foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and it happened. He even told Peter that he would suffer a violent death and Peter died by crucifixion. Accurate fulfilment of His prophetic words gives us reason to take everything else He said seriously, including what He had to say about His return and the consequences of rejecting Him and disregarding His words.

For those who believe in Him, it will be a moment of celebration and vindication. We will experience delirious joy for our union with our Master, release from the obstacles and hindrances of our sinful nature, and vindication that our faith in Him and perseverance in spite of opposition was not in vain.

Jesus Did Not Say That We Will Live With Him In Heaven Forever

Apologetics, , , ,

JESUS DID NOT SAY THAT WE WILL LIVE WITH HIM IN HEAVEN FOREVER

As much as we like this idea, the assumption that we are going to be in heaven for eternity is just not true. God created the earth to be a perfect home for man. It was His intention from the beginning that the human race, perfected in holiness and righteousness as His sons and daughters, will live in union with God and rule over the earth in partnership with Him.

Then God said, ‘Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over all livestock and wild animals and over all the creatures that move along the ground.’ (Gen. 1: 26)

Adam’s rebellion did not change God’s plan. It was a part of His plan since God was not taken by surprise. How else would He reveal His mercy and grace to the entire universe including the fallen angels, if He did not have a plan to redeem and rescue mankind from the consequences of sin?

The erroneous idea that Jesus will take His church to heaven and then destroy the earth and all its ungodly inhabitants, flies in the face of the entire drift of Scripture. Both the Old and the New Testaments bear witness to a God who does not destroy but renews and restores everything that was broken by the Fall. He did not destroy the entire human race and begin again when Adam fell. His plan of redemption through Jesus was already in place before the beginning of time.

All the inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast – all whose names have not been written in the Lamb’s book of life, the Lamb who was slain from the creation of the world. (Rev. 13: 8)

God has always preserved a remnant for Himself – people who are faithful to Him in the midst of apostasy and ungodliness. It was through the remnant of faithful Jews that Messiah came; Zechariah and Elizabeth bore John the Baptist, the forerunner of the Messiah; Mary and Joseph – Mary chosen to be the mother of Jesus and Joseph, a godly man, together with Mary, chosen to raise Him in a godly home; His disciples who believed in Him were groomed to continue His mission on earth after He left.

Throughout the Scriptures God’s intention is clear. Using the picture of a geographical kingdom, God taught His people that they were to rule over their territory in righteousness under His protection and guidance as a witness to the surrounding nations that He alone is God and that His nature is love expressed in mercy and compassion to all. That they did not get it and fell into idolatry over and over again did not cancel out His plan.

Both Paul and John clearly understood that Jesus’ death accomplished much more than forgiveness of sins. Just as the disobedience of Adam had cosmic repercussions, so the death of Jesus, the last Adam, brought about the reversal of the devastating effects of Adam’s sin.

I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. (Rom. 8: 18-22)

John was privileged to have glimpses into the future when Satan will be vanquished forever and Jesus will be established as God’s rightful king over all creation. John witnessed the end result of redemption – a renewed heaven and earth which came together under the rule of God. In picture language he described heaven coming down to earth, symbolising the final union of heaven and earth with God taken His place among His redeemed and perfected people.

Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ (Rev. 21: 1-4)

What did John mean by the words ‘a new heaven and a new earth’? Did he mean that God will utterly destroy the earth and start all over again? This interpretation is not consistent with Scripture. Peter gives us a glimpse into the meaning of a ‘new heaven and a new earth.’

But they deliberately forget that long ago by God’s word the heavens came into being and the earth was formed out of and by water. By these waters also the world of that time was deluged and destroyed. By the same word the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire, being kept for the day of judgment and the destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter: 3: 5-7)

To be consistent, we must interpret the destruction of the earth by fire in the same way as the “destruction” of the earth by water. Destruction did not mean annihilation by water in Noah’s day, and therefore it cannot mean annihilation by fire when Jesus comes. “Destruction” in Scripture is often used in the sense of purging, i.e, the removal of everything corrupt and evil. Take John’s testimony about the Messiah, for example.

I baptise you with water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fork is in His hand, and He will clear His threshing floor, gathering His wheat into the barn and burning up the chaff with unquenchable fire. (Matt. 3: 11-12)

What is God’s intention, then? Just as He created (i.e., reshaped and filled a formless and empty earth) the heavens and the earth by His word through the Word – Jesus – so He will purge His creation from evil by His word through the Word so that it will be His dwelling place with His people forever.

We shall continue this study tomorrow.

Scripture taken from THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

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