What the Future Holds (2)

This is part 2 of chapter 10 of my book, Biblical Glasses.

Many Christians feel obligated to side with Israel on account of God choosing it for a special purpose. God did say to Abraham: “I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). Some believe God will use Israel in a magnificent way in the end times; others think God has already accomplished what He intended to work through the nation in His Word, Jesus Christ. Again we come back to an idea that leaves many people feeling bitter toward God: He chooses some for blessing and others for punishment. Keep in mind that …

The legacy of the chosen people included a heavy burden. They were chosen not only to showcase the love of God for all nations (see Isaiah 9:6; Genesis 12:1-3), but also to show all the people of the earth what happens to those who wander from the wisdom of their Creator (see Deuteronomy 28-30).

Even if God’s hand can be seen in Israel’s presence in the land, we need to remember her
spiritual condition. Israel today mirrors what the prophet Ezekiel foresaw in his vision of the dry bones. Hundreds of years before Christ, God predicted that in the last days Israel would come together physically before being reborn spiritually (see Ezekiel 37:1-14). [We will see tomorrow how this is coming to fruition.]

Israel’s present efforts to secure her borders by military strength and international support provide a striking parallel to Abram’s and Sarah’s attempts to have a son by Hagar. Attempts to solve their own problem of barrenness resulted in unintended consequences for themselves and
their descendants.

Yes, God has chosen Israel through whom to reveal Himself to the world. But we need to make that affirmation with discernment and impartiality. There is a difference between what God is doing through Israel, and what Israel is trying to do with or without Him. Let’s not get tangled in
the political and military arguments. Let’s instead try to help everyone see that the problems in the Middle East are a reminder of how much we all need the grace and peace of the Messiah born to this nation.

The Da Vinci Code

A friend asked me today what I would say in a brief response to the claim that "Since the canonical Gospels don't say anything about Jesus from age 12 to 30 (roughly), He conceivably could have gotten married around age 18, had two or three children, worked as a carpenter, and still gone into His ministry at age 30."

Here are my thoughts:

Luke 16:8 - "The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light." Evil is clever! Satan is trying everything he can think of to overcome the predetermined outcome; Dan Brown is just his latest pawn. And it is sad that so many nominal Christians, that is, those not committed to consistent study of the Word, are reeled-in by the excitement that is to be found in this Jesus / Mary Magdalene conspiracy theory.

And that, too, is where sin comes in. There is a very real sense in which we'd like to disprove the Bible. As sin-natured humans, we want to avoid being accountable for our sin, and we'll do whatever it takes to avoid judgment. We'll be seen in the last days crying for rocks to fall on us to avoid the wrath of God, so it's no surprise when we find a gap in Scripture's account of Jesus' life, and we try to fill it with anything to keep Him from being Who He is.

As you can imagine, a 12-second answer is impossible, namely because an attention span of 12 hours is really required to adequately and permanently debunk Brown's assertions. That's what makes Brown's work so clever: He's done enough research and mixed enough fact with fiction to keep the layman and casual Christian from going to the effort to disprove him. And that's another reason why Christian leaders, as Shepherds, need to feed their flock - the visible church - the truth. If the flock is fed the truth, then no wolves in sheep's clothing will be able to steel them away.

Nonetheless, you asked for a 12-second answer, so here's my response, though slightly longer than 12 seconds when read aloud, to her assertion:

Regarding your thoughts that Jesus was married, you might find it interesting that the Bible does speak, quite often actually, about Jesus being married. In fact, Jesus refers to Himself as the Bridegroom (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35). John the Baptist referred to Jesus as the Bridegroom (John 3:28-30). Paul explained to the Corinthian believers that he promised them "to one husband, to Christ, so that [he] might present [them] as a pure virgin to Him" (2 Corinthians 11:2). And it's quite certain that Mary Magdalene will be among the Bride. She believed, by grace (Acts 18:27), that Jesus was the forgiver of her sins (Luke 8:2), the Messiah. She did not recognize His resurrected body, but upon hearing Him call her by name, Mary turned to Jesus and called Him teacher (John 20:16). You see, those who believe that Jesus died for their sins and was raised from the dead for their justification, as Romans 4:25 says, are counted as the Bride of Christ. In Revelation 19:6-8, all praise is given to the Bridegroom, for He has prepared His bride and she is ready for Him to come to her. In Revelation 21, an angel shows John "the bride, the wife of the Lamb," and she is the new Jerusalem filled with none "who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life."

There it is. Here are some resources for further study.

The best book out there for the layman on the truth about The Da Vinci Code is:
The Da Vinci Deception by Erwin Lutzer. Check it out for $ 5.94, here:
http://www.wtsbooks.com/product-exec/product_id/4412

And there's an excellent DVD resource (so popular that it's currently out-of-stock) for the non-reader as well:
http://www.monergismbooks.com/davincidvd.html

Here is a bank of articles written by New Testament scholars and cultural commentators on the subjects addressed in The Da Vinci Code:

http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/topic/davinci.html

All of them are good; James White's series is extremely in-depth and quite fabulous, but it takes lots of time invested in reading through it.

Here is an entertaining, but otherwise just okay sight explaining the truth about The Da Vinci Code:

http://www.thetruthaboutdavinci.com

What the Future Holds (1)

This is part 1 of chapter 10 of my book, Biblical Glasses.

About a third of the Bible is prophecy, some of which refers to the Messiah, Who came in the Person of Jesus Christ 2000 years ago. Some also relates to various events regarding nations and people of the Old Testament. A majority of Bible prophecy concerns the end times, when Jesus will come to earth a second time as judge of the world.

Many unbelievers mock God, because He has not yet come in judgment, as He said He would. They maintain that if God was all-loving, He would have already rid the world of evil, pain, and suffering. We saw God’s victory over evil in the resurrection of Christ, but we must be patient for the complete results of that victory to be realized at the second coming of Christ. Remember, God is patient, “not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).

If God destroyed all evil right now, including potential evil, then potential Christians—potential followers of God—would forever be lost. Because God knows who will choose Him as Savior, He is waiting patiently and mercifully for that last person to repent from sin and come to Jesus Christ for forgiveness. It is out of perfect mercy that God has yet to eliminate evil, but we know from the fulfillment of several key Bible prophecies that the end times are growing near. Judgment is coming!

In this chapter we will note several Biblical references to the end times and mention specific prophecies coming true in our day. We will look at the varying positions of theologians on end times events. We will also contemplate the glories awaiting believers in heaven. But first, we need to address one current events issue that arises in nearly everyone’s ponderings of what the future holds. It is critical to acknowledge the significance of the modern day, tiny nation of mostly-Jewish Israel and its relationship with its larger, neighboring nations made up of mostly-Muslim Arabs.

The Arab/Israeli conflict is not solely based on a property issue as many people think. Nor is it only a religious feud; rather, it is a family feud. It is the oldest ongoing family feud in the world. Arabs, a majority of which are Muslim, do not hate the Jews only for their faith; they do not hate the Jews only for their land—although it is “a land flowing with milk and honey” (Exodus 3:8, among others). They hate the Jews, because it is in their nature to “live in hostility toward all their brothers” (Genesis 25:18, emphasis added).

Recall that Abraham had a legitimate son, Isaac, by his wife, Sarah, after committing adultery and producing a bastard child, Ishmael, by his wife’s handmaid, Hagar. This family feud between the Jews and Arabs has been in the works ever since. Abraham’s wife and her handmaid fought for his affection, and his wife won. Sarah and Isaac stayed with Abraham, and the nation of Israel was formed. Hagar and Ishmael were sent out into the wilderness, and the angel of the Lord prophesied that Ishmael would “be a wild donkey of a man; his hand will be against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers” (Genesis 16:12).

Thus the Arab nation was born. Its people would forever feel scorned; they would be hostile toward their brothers, the Jews. The Bible “seemed to anticipate a common result of human rejection: Hurt people tend to hurt people.” It foretold both Isaac (the legitimate son) and Ishmael (the illegitimate son) fathering great nations; indeed this happened. Both nations have tremendous impact on the world, even in today’s society some 4000 years after their conception.

The Bible prophesied that the Arabs would covet the land of the Jews in the end times. Well, the Arabs actually took it by force in the 600s A.D.; then the Crusaders took it back; then the Arabs had the land from the time of the Ottoman Empire until World War I, when it was ceded to Britain. Even before Britain gained control, the beginning of the twentieth century saw Arabs selling what appeared to be worthless land to poor Jewish settlers at outrageous prices. The land had become desolate while controlled by the Arabs, so they took advantage of the Jews, who just wanted their homeland back.

The Jews planted millions of trees and provided proper irrigation; the land has since become beautiful again, just as the Bible prophesied. In 1922, Britain decided to use the land to create an Arab and a Jewish state. Britain gave two-thirds to the Arabs, calling the territory Trans-Jordan (the present day nation of Jordan), and one-third to the Jews. This did not satisfy the Arabs—they want the Jews wiped out! In 1948, after World War II, the United Nations approved the designated Jewish state, and Israel was reborn. The surrounding Arab nations immediately attacked this newly created state, but Israel miraculously defeated its invaders and gained more territory, which has since been returned to the Arabs. The Arab nations have ever since been aggressively fighting against the existence of Israel.

The P.L.O. (Palestinian Liberation Organization) was founded in 1964; its primary purpose was—and still is—to eliminate Israel. In 1967, the Six Day War saw the Arab nations fail again in their objective to destroy Israel. After the war, Israel offered to return the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, and the West Bank in return for peace, but Yasser Arafat, allied with Sadaam Hussein and extremely anti-Semitic Communist nations (such as the former Soviet Union), refused to accept the offer. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1978, and those neighboring nations are on slightly better terms.

Israel has survived and thrived by allowing people of all religions and nationalities to live within its boundaries. The same is not true for the Arab nations. Interesting ….

The World Today (4)

This is the fourth and final part of chapter 9 of my book, Biblical Glasses.

Next, from Biblical history we see God’s desire for His chosen nations to do His will. And God is patient! But when His nations in their apostasy become prideful and do not conform to His will, He disciplines them by lowering His hedge of protection around them, making them more vulnerable to outside attacks.

We saw this in Old Testament Israel repeatedly, as many nations were allowed to invade to draw repentance. Read the Book of Judges! We have seen this with America as well. Recall again the 9/11 tragedy; perhaps the attacks relate to what has been happening in America since the 1960s. To paraphrase and quote David Reagan, since America is in rebellion against God—in the process of jettisoning our Christian heritage, converting into a secular society, embracing a hedonistic lifestyle, and morally polluting the entire world—perhaps God permitted the attacks as a judgment on our nation.

Think about it for a moment—God allowed the symbols of American pride to be destroyed, the symbols of both wealth and power: The Trade Towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

We must face up to the unpleasant reality that we are a nation in rebellion against God. … As we began turning our back on God during the 20th century, God started placing judgments upon us to call us to repentance. The Vietnam War was a judgment. Additional judgments included the drug epidemic, the homosexual scourge, the AIDS plague, the glut of pornography, and the rebellion of young people.

The first chapter of Romans teaches that God pours out His wrath on a rebellious nation by stepping back, lowering His hedge of protection, and allowing evil to multiply. It’s as if He were saying, ‘If you really want to live in a fouled nest, then I will let you.’ According to Romans 1, when He first steps back, a sexual revolution occurs (see Romans 1:24-25). That happened in the United States in the 1960s. If the society persists in its rebellion, then God will take another step back and lower His hedge of protection even more. The result will be a plague of homosexuality (see Romans 1:26-27). The United States has been experiencing this judgment since the 1970s. If the society continues its rebellion, God will take a third step back and deliver the nation to a ‘depraved mind’ (see Romans 1:28-31). This is the point at which the Lord moves the nation from judgment to destruction. We are at that point.

We have dug in our heels and set our jaw against God. We have been shaking our fist at Him, saying, ‘Who are You to try to tell us what to do?’ We have thumbed our nose at the very One Who has blessed us beyond anything we have ever deserved.

So, I believe that God allowed the attacks of September 11, 2001 in order to get our attention—to call our nation to repentance before He is forced by His character to deliver us from judgment to destruction.

If this is not the case, if post-modernism, which calls for extreme tolerance and says that no absolute truth exists, is correct, then when Osama bin Laden, truly convicted that his belief was right, that he was on God’s side to terrorize America, directed the attacks on America, he was right! It was true and justifiable, simply because he believed it! The same goes for Hitler during World War II. Extermination of the Jews during the Holocaust can be justified, simply because Hitler believed it to be so. The same goes for anyone who believes anything! What an outrage!

Ultimately, if no repentance comes from the nation, it will fall as God allows. Israel fell, because it failed to repent and turn to God; Judah fell because of its stubborn refusal to remain committed to God with a penitent heart. It is difficult to imagine how mighty America could be felled by another nation, but keep in mind the power of a nuclear or chemical weapon. America could be destroyed in seconds! America as a nation must repent and turn to God!

Finally, we see from Biblical history that God expects His Church—not the physical building, but the body of believers—to serve the people of the world during their time on earth. This is done by four primary means.
First and foremost is evangelism. Believers are called by the Great Commission to preach the Gospel to the entire world. In other words, Christians are called to evangelize the lost.

Second, the Church is called to edify the saved. This includes teaching, encouraging, and building up believers so they grow in Christ and become more useful to God in spreading the Gospel. Believers begin making wise and discerning decisions, often based on the idea of “What Would Jesus Do?”, because they actually learn to know what Jesus would do!

These first two measures are fulfilled through the preaching of the Word of Truth. The Church, in preaching the Gospel, must be neither concerned with political correctness nor overly liberal in its interpretation of Scripture. It must not teach what the Bible forbids, which is unfortunately the case in many liberal churches throughout our increasingly liberal society. Rather, the Church “must hold firmly to the trustworthy message as it has been taught, so that [it] can encourage others by sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it” (Titus 1:9); it “must teach what is in accord with sound doctrine” (Titus 2:1).

Third, the Church must minister to the needy, with the full support of its members, who, being edified, understand why they should be generous. Although I do not have space for a discussion of the topic of welfare in America, I feel it is important to mention, because the Church should be ministering to the needy, there should be no government welfare programs! The Bible says: “If a man will not work, he shall not eat” (2 Thessalonians 3:10).

Finally, the Church is called to be a conscience in the community. The Bible says: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). Think about the impact of an entire church living for Christ every day of their lives! Although this may be only a dream, Christians must still maintain a healthy skepticism about modern American society. We should be discerning when it comes to educational, economic, and civic structures; we should support what is good and healthy but continue to stand against sin.

Christians should be in the world, but not of the world. Because we know that this world is temporary—it is not our eternal home—we should show the world the glory of God, rather than separate ourselves from the world.
In the Bible, the great prophet Elijah asked the nation of Israel, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him; but if Baal is God, follow him” (1 Kings 18:21). Israel had a choice to follow God or to follow Baal. They chose Baal and were destroyed. America likewise can choose its worldview.
Each American has a choice regarding the worldview to which he or she subscribes. Choose what the evidence supports: Creation, absolute truth, and a patient, loving, infinitely merciful, infinitely just God. Or choose what the evidence does not support: Evolution, relativism, no eternal consequences, and no God.

If we choose a Biblical worldview, we must remember that Jesus wants more than mere acknowledgement; He wants more than admiration. He wants our adoration; He wants praise and worship through our lives, through an individual, intimate relationship with Him. He wants us to enjoy the gifts He has given to us, especially in America! But we must be careful not to become so infatuated with the gifts that we forget about God. Sinclair Ferguson said, “How foolish to seek the gift, when it is possible to seek the Giver.” In choosing to see the world through “Biblical Glasses,” with a godly worldview, you can “seek the Giver.” What do you have to lose? Seventeenth century French mathematician and philosopher Blaise Pascal described the logic in choosing God; he said, “If you win, you win everything; if you lose, you lose nothing.” The Bible says: “If serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve. … As for me and my household, we will serve the Lord” (Joshua 24:15).