“When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, he groaned in the spirit, and was troubled, and said, ‘Where have ye laid him?’ They said unto Him, Lord, come and see. Jesus wept. Then said the Jews, ‘Behold how He loved him!’ And some of them said, ‘Could not this man, which opened the eyes of the blind, have caused that even this man should not have died?’ Jesus therefore again groaning in Himself cometh to the grave. It was a cave, and a stone lay upon it. Jesus said, ‘Take ye away the stone.’ Martha, the sister of him that was dead, saith unto Him, ‘Lord, by this time he stinketh: for he hath been dead four days.’ Jesus saith unto her, ‘Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?’ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, ‘Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard Me. And I knew that thou hearest Me always: but because of the people which stand by I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent Me.’ And when He thus had spoken, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth.’ And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, ‘Loose him, and let him go.’” John 11:33-44
Resurrection
Believe Jesus, and Never Die
“Then when Jesus came, He found that he had lain in the grave four days already. Now Bethany was nigh unto Jerusalem, about fifteen furlongs off: and many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met Him: but Mary sat still in the house. Then said Martha unto Jesus, ‘Lord, if Thou hadst been here, my brother had not died. But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee.’ Jesus saith unto her, ‘Thy brother shall rise again.’ Martha saith unto Him, I know that he shall rise again in the resurrection at the last day.’ Jesus said unto her, ‘I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall never die. Believest thou this?’ She saith unto him, ‘Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art the Christ, the Son of God, which should come into the world.’ And when she had so said, she went her way, and called Mary her sister secretly, saying, ‘The Master is come, and calleth for thee.’ As soon as she heard that, she arose quickly, and came unto Him. Now Jesus was not yet come into the town, but was in that place where Martha met Him. The Jews then which were with her in the house, and comforted her, when they saw Mary, that she rose up hastily and went out, followed her, saying, ‘She goeth unto the grave to weep there.’ Then when Mary was come where Jesus was, and saw Him, she fell down at His feet, saying unto Him, ‘Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.'” John 11:17-32
The Preacher and His Preaching
I am thankful for the pastors/preachers who faithfully stand in their places of preaching and deliver the word of God to the people God has placed in their charge. Elijah felt he was all alone, that there was no one else who was faithful in all of Israel. Man of God never feel that way. You are not alone.
However, there are pastors who want to leave their people feeling good, encouraged, and entertained. Most of the “feeling good” is about themselves; and the preacher neglects to preach for the glory of the Lord, the correction of sin. We must preach the word of the LORD. There is nothing else to preach.
Jeremiah was evidently called as a young man, and from a family of priests. When God came to him he was uncertain, calls himself a child, and unable to speak. However, notice what GOD says to him…
“Then said I, Ah, Lord GOD! Behold, I cannot speak: for I am a child.’ But the LORD said unto me, ‘Say not, I am a child: for thou shalt go to all that I shall send thee, and whatsoever I command thee thou shalt speak. Be not afraid of their faces: for I am with thee to deliver thee,’ saith the LORD. Then the LORD put forth His hand, and touched my mouth. And the LORD said unto me, ‘Behold, I have put My words in thy mouth. See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.” Jeremiah 1:6-10 (KJV)
The preacher must be faithful to preach the word. Rightly divide or interpret the word, and according to the whole of the word of God. No verse of Scripture stands alone; it must me interpreted in the light of all other Scripture. We cannot interpret Scripture according culture; culture must be understood and interpreted by Scripture. When culture, society, government, human law, or science contradict Scripture; Scripture is right and true. If the preacher does not believe that or practice that then repent, or get out of the pulpit, and quit deceiving the people with your lies.
The prophet/preacher is a messenger of God. Called by God we must speak what God says. We must preach it without fear or favor of men or women. We must preach it if it means our lives, our homes, friends, our employment or acceptance of other people.
The main message of the Word of God is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Christ died for ours sins, was buried, and He bodily arose from the grave three days later. He took the wrath of sin that was deserved by us, suffered the judgment of our sin from His Father, becoming sin for us (2 Corinthians 5:21) that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The Righteous Son of God was made unrighteous; that the unrighteous might be made Righteous. In His resurrection Jesus overcame the power of sin, death (which is the penalty for sin) and hell (eternal condemnation). When you preach Jesus and the cross, the burial and bodily resurrection you preach the word of God.
Where is the prophet to preach? Where ever God opens the door of opportunity. If that means a church with small number of people to the sidewalk in front of the White House, or the steps of the United Nations building on the U.S. Supreme Court; or front of an idol in a foreign land. God gives the words when the man of God is faithful to His Word. Preach the Word (2 Timothy 4:1-4).
W4CL – Crucified
As Christians we too often forget that the life we live in Christ is due to the crucifixion of Christ and His bodily resurrection. It is imperative that we also see that we are “Crucified with Christ” (v. 20); and because we are crucified with Him we will also, one day reign with Him (Romans 8:17), because we are also, “Risen with Christ” (Colossians 3:1).
As a Christian we do not enjoy sin; we are dead to it – “Crucified with Christ”, and have been raised again by His resurrection. Because of His resurrection we grow in love with Christ; closer to Him and His likeness, and grow further from sin and its destruction.
I am crucified with Christ.
Words for Christian Living – Resurrection
“For there is hope of a tree, if it be cut down, that it will sprout again, and that the tender branch thereof will not cease. Though the root thereof wax old in the earth, and the stock thereof die in the ground; yet through the scent of water it will bud, and bring forth boughs like a plant. But man dieth, and wasteth away: yea, man giveth up the ghost, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the flood decayeth and drieth up: so man lieth down, and riseth not: till the heavens be no more, they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep. O that Thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that Thou wouldest keep me secret, until Thy wrath be past, that Thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me! If a man die, shall he live again? All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come. Thou shalt call, and I will answer Thee: Thou wilt have a desire to the work of Thine hands.” Job 14:7-15 (KJV)
Suffering Job was expectant of a resurrection. He saw it in trees which might be cut down, and they sprouting back to life. He saw in the oceans never drying up; nor the major rivers of the Middle Eastern areas. The above is where the question is asked; yet he already knows the answer – “If a man die, shall he live again?” and his answer is “All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.”
And all those who believe in our Lord Jesus Christ says, “AMEN!” Amen! (See 1 Corinthians 15).
-Tim A. Blankenship
The Redeeming Love of God – Hosea 9:1 – 10:15
NOW Is the Time to Seek the LORD</>
Hosea 9:1 – 10:15
Herschel Ford has told a story of a man who committed suicide. He was rising higher and higher in a hot-air balloon. He took a knife and began to cut the three ropes holding the gondola to the fabric of the air-ship. A crowd below was watching. They shouted warning after warning. “Don’t cut it”, until he came to the third, and still they were shouting, “Don’t cut it”. He did not listen, and fell to his death.
When people persist in cutting off the strands that keep them in the way of God we commit spiritual suicide. Cutting the cords of God’s love ends in destruction. God continues to warn His people, giving us ample opportunity to turn from our sin and walk in His paths. This period of grace does not last forever. He does and will cut it off, and bring evil to an end.
“Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people: for thou hast gone a whoring from thy God, thou hast loved a reward upon every cornfloor. The floor and the winepress shall not feed them, and the new wine shall fail in her. They shall not dwell in the LORD’S land; but Ephraim shall return to Egypt, and they shall eat unclean things in Assyria. They shall not offer wine offerings to the LORD, neither shall they be pleasing unto Him: their sacrifices shall be unto them as the bread of mourners; all that eat thereof shall be polluted: for their bread for their soul shall not come into the house of the LORD. What will ye do in the solemn day, and in the day of the feast of the LORD? For, lo, they are gone because of destruction: Egypt shall gather them up, Memphis shall bury them: the pleasant places for their silver, nettles shall possess them: thorns shall be in their tabernacles.
The days of visitation are come, the days of recompence are come; Israel shall know it: the prophet is a fool, the spiritual man is mad, for the multitude of thine iniquity, and the great hatred. The watchman of Ephraim was with my God: but the prophet is a snare of a fowler in all his ways, and hatred in the house of his God. They have deeply corrupted themselves, as in the days of Gibeah: therefore He will remember their iniquity, He will visit their sins.” Hosea 9:1-9 (KJV)
How blind the children of the LORD tend to be when the LORD’S judgment and justice has come upon us. When the Bible speaks of judgment it often puts it in the present tense – as being here. Now!
There was no reason for joy in Israel due to the fact they had left God to walk in the harlotries of other nations. The “other people” were rejoicing in their idol worship – the licentious sexual behavior of Ashtoreth. God’s people were never called on to worship anything but God. To do so was “Whoredom” and wickedness in God’s sight.
The very idea of them actually worshipping Baal was proof of their unfaithfulness to God.
There are seven features of God’s judgment upon Israel listed in verses two through six:
- God would attack the heart of fertility worship by taking away the bountiful harvest (v. 2);
- He would remove them from His land (v. 3);
- He would place them in Assyria in Egyptian-like captivity (v. 3);
- God would bring an end to their wicked worship (v. 4);
- God would cut them off from their appointed feast days (vv. 5-6a);
- They would die in captivity (v. 6);
- God would desolate Israel’s fertility idols and shrines (v. 6).
In verse six “Memphis” is a place in Egypt where the dead are buried. They would die.
“What will ye do?” Hosea asked. How one responds to God’s warning determines one’s eternal destiny.
There is a story told of two brothers who lived in a sheep herding area of Europe. These two brothers were caught stealing sheep. The sentence the community gave them in judgment was that they be branded on their foreheads with the letters S T and understood to mean “Sheep Thieves”. These young men in later years met Jesus as their Saviour and their lives were radically changed. They became a credit to their community; giving help to people in need; aiding struggling city coffers when they possibly could. All the time bearing the marks on their foreheads “ST”. As the years went by one day a young boy with his mother saw these two godly men with “ST” branded on their foreheads; “What does that “ST” mean?” The mother answered her son and said, “I don’t know; but I suppose it means Saint.” There is hope and change for all who will believe God, trust His Saviour and His Word.
The people of Israel were guilty of rejecting God’s prophet, and accepting the foolish jibberish of the paid off cult and court prophets. Calling God’s man a fool. Hosea remained faithful to God, because he was certain of God’s calling and confident of God’s message. The sin and iniquity of the people causes them to hate the message of God and His messenger.
“I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your fathers as the firstripe in the fig tree at her first time: but they went to Baalpeor, and separated themselves unto that shame; and their abominations were according as they loved.
As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the birth, and from the womb, and from the conception. Though they bring up their children, yet will I bereave them, that there shall not be a man left: yea, woe also to them when I depart from them! Ephraim, as I saw Tyrus, is planted in a pleasant place: but Ephraim shall bring forth his children to the murderer. Give them, O LORD: what wilt Thou give? Give them a miscarrying womb and dry breasts. All their wickedness is in Gilgal: for there I hated them: for the wickedness of their doings I will drive them out of Mine house, I will love them no more: all their princes are revolters. Ephraim is smitten, their root is dried up, they shall bear no fruit: yea, though they bring forth, yet will I slay even the beloved fruit of their womb. My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto Him: and they shall be wanderers among the nations.” Hosea 9:10-17
From the preceding verses we find Israel in persistent rebellion, and judgment will sweep them away.
In verse 10 Israel is likened to a fruitful vine found in the wilderness- and what a magnificent find that would be to a weary and thirsty traveler. They are also likened to a first ripened fig – the best. Made this way by God in His bountiful grace they have chosen to leave this condition in God to serve idols, and destroy their land, their homes, their kingdom, and their relationship with God, who placed them in His glorious position.
They bring shame and their glory flies away as a bird. Their children shall die. The wombs of the women will be fruitless, those who do conceive will never hold a live child in their arms (v. 14). The greatest tragedy of sin is found in verse 12 “…Woe also to them when I depart from them!” For God to depart, to hold back His mercy and grace is catastrophic to His people. They get what they deserve. The blessings they had before was God’s mercy on display.
Verse 15 makes a bold statement of God’s hatred for sin and evil. Israel had given themselves to evil, were bound to evil, and could not get free. The “Wickedness of Gilgal” is a reference to Saul’s rebellion in 1 Samuel 13. King Saul determined to not wait for Samuel, and to offer sacrifice himself. In this he showed much pride, impatience, and rebellion toward the laws of God. He also tried to sacrifice to justify his disobedience (1 Samuel 15), which is also seen of Israel in Hosea’s day.
God would cast them out to be strangers and foreigners in other countries. God loves His people so much He will not allow us to live in unrepented sin.
“Israel is an empty vine, he bringeth forth fruit unto himself: according to the multitude of his fruit he hath increased the altars; according to the goodness of his land they have made goodly images. Their heart is divided; now shall they be found faulty: He shall break down their altars, He shall spoil their images. For now they shall say, ‘We have no king, because we feared not the LORD; what then should a king do to us?’ They have spoken words, swearing falsely in making a covenant: thus judgment springeth up as hemlock in the furrows of the field. The inhabitants of Samaria shall fear because of the calves of Bethaven: for the people thereof shall mourn over it, and the priests thereof that rejoiced on it, for the glory thereof, because it is departed from it. It shall be also carried unto Assyria for a present to king Jareb: Ephraim shall receive shame, and Israel shall be ashamed of his own counsel. As for Samaria, her king is cut off as the foam upon the water. The high places also of Aven, the sin of Israel, shall be destroyed: the thorn and the thistle shall come up on their altars; and they shall say to the mountains, ‘Cover us;’ and to the hills, ‘Fall on us.’
O Israel, thou hast sinned from the days of Gibeah: there they stood: the battle in Gibeah against the children of iniquity did not overtake them. It is in My desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows. And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.” Hosea 10:1-11
Now, God says, that, they are an “Empty vine”. This is a drastic contrast to what we found in verse 10 of chapter 9.
Israel had a heart condition. No electrocardiogram would be able to detect the problem. Nevertheless, they had a bad heart. Their heart was divided. God cannot use divided hearts. This compares with the “Double-minded man” of James 1:8 – unstable and unfit for service to God.
The people of Israel had two institutions which were highly esteemed by them; their kings (politics, military, and democracy for us), and their religion. Their kings were unjust and greedy, and their religion was empty and separated them from God, because they were more concerned with ritual sacrifice and offerings rather than a personal relationship with God.
Kings make promises, but do not fulfill them (v. 4). The graven images which they have worshipped will lose their glory – no one will be able to protect them. Who needs a god that needs protection anyway? God is having their idols carried away shows the futility of trusting in them (Isaiah 46:1-5).
“Aven”, mentioned in 10:8 means deception. It has been a place of deception because the people were deceived by their own desires and they strayed from God’s paths. God says, that, He will destroy their sin. The power of sin has been ultimately destroyed by the blood of Jesus shed on the cross, and overcoming sins power by His resurrection from the dead. All who refuse God’s way suffers eternal judgment.
Instead of crying out to God for mercy they cry out for the rocks and mountains, “Fall on us” (v. 8; Revelation 6:16).
Because of their stubborn and rebellious hearts they would be as a heifer yoked to hard labor whereas, before their labor had been light and blessed.
“Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till He come and rain righteousness upon you. Ye have plowed wickedness, ye have reaped iniquity; ye have eaten the fruit of lies: because thou didst trust in thy way, in the multitude of thy mighty men. Therefore shall a tumult arise among thy people, and all thy fortresses shall be spoiled, as Shalman spoiled Betharbel in the day of battle: the mother was dashed in pieces upon her children. So shall Bethel do unto you because of your great wickedness: in a morning shall the king of Israel utterly be cut off.” Hosea 10:12-15 (KJV)
The “Fallow ground” of verse twelve is land that had previously been plowed, but now left unused. God’s Word and His Spirit is the plow that is needed to break up the soil of a hard heart (See Matthew 13:3-9, 18-23). Hard hearts cannot yield crops of righteousness and mercy.
It is a prominent theme in Hosea that the children of Israel will reap exactly what they have sown. It is a law of God’s created order to reap what we have sown – and that, no matter the timeline, culture or society which we may live.
Hosea gives us three steps to heal the land:
- Break up your fallow ground (v. 12);
- Put God’s Word in your heart – “sow with a view of righteousness” (NAS v. 12);
- “Reap in accordance with kindness (NAS) referring to the breaking of their hard hearts through repentance and sowing the seed of God’s Word in their lives.
God gives Israel every opportunity to repent. It is God’s desire then to cleanse them, and make them a vessel of His grace. Judgment would come.
“Hosea 9 – 10 reinforces the basic lesson that persistent sin eventually leads to destruction.” Traylor. This is also true for people of the 21st century as well. God’s people (Christians) need to open their eyes and know that the Lord, though He has provided a way into His presence, still calls for His people to repent.
We need to keep this thought in mind; “God loves us the way we are; but He loves us too much to leave us the way we are.” He will do whatever it takes to make us holy.
There is only hope for all through the shed blood of Jesus on the cross of calvary – the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ; Son of the Living God.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Through the Bible in a Year – 021713
THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
The Greatest Act of Service
Mark 12 – 16
1. Loving God and loving your neighbor (12:28-34);
2. Preparing others for what will come (13:5-13);
3. Receives the blessing of others who recognize who He is (14:1-11);
4. Gives the ultimate gift – His life for others (15:15-21);
5. Rises victorious over sin, death, hell, the grave; and justifies all who will believe (16:1-8).
-Tim A. Blankenship
Evil; After the Flood
We live “After the flood”. Was that news to you? 🙂 We all know that. The flood did not eradicate evil; is what I am saying. It did however stop the progressive flow of evil that was going on and continuing in the days before. God would continue to have a people, a nation and a Deliverer and Saviour for His people and the world.
As we look at Scripture from my reading for today I read;
“And the whole earth was of one language, and of one speech. And it came to pass, as they journeyed from the east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar; and they dwelt there. And they said one to another, ‘Go to, let us make brick, and burn them throughly.’ And they had brick for stone, and slime had they for morter. And they said, ‘Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.’ And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded. And the LORD said, ‘Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do. Go to, let us go down, and there confound their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.’ So the LORD scattered them abroad from thence upon the face of all the earth: and they left off to build the city. Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth: and from thence did the LORD scatter them abroad upon the face of all the earth.” Genesis 11:1-9 (KJV)
In this passage of Scripture, and several years following the flood we see the people gathered together in one place; contrary to God’s command of “Multiplying and filling the earth”. This in effect was a rebellious act against the Creator; and if the people were not going to cover the earth, then God would do it by confusing their languages.
There is only one way for the people of earth to be one in God, Peace and Unity; and that is through Jesus Christ. It is not through building monuments of human effort such as statues, churches, mosque, temples, or skyscrapers, etc. Nor, is religion equal to the task. It is the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus that will bring us together, keep us together for eternity.
Pray for peace. Yes! First pray for what God has given us guidance and command to pray for; and that is “the peace of Jerusalem” (Psalm 122:6).
-Tim A. Blankenship
The Work of Thy Hands
As I was reading the Psalms this morning Psalm 143 verse 5 caught my attention in a particular and special way.
“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands.”
The title above is the thought I will endeavor to dwell on in this post.
Do you ever stop to “Think” on the work of God’s hands? It would do us all great good if we spent more time meditating and thinking on the works of His hands. We are more often than not “Amused” with things, and people. We are more often than not, even “Amused” by God and His works.
For those who do not know, “A” on the word means “No” or “Non”. For those who already knew that I do not mean to be condescending or rude to you. I pray you see the point I am making. The word “Muse” means “Think”; and I fear that I sometimes put too little thought into the works of God’s hands; but instead I am amused by them.
There are so many things that could be mentioned that are the work of His hands. It would include everything, except evil, yet even in evil He still works. Do you have a problem with that? It is your problem; not mine.
Let us think [muse] on a couple of things that are the work of His hands. First, think about the ground upon which you walk or move about. He created it. He keeps it. He keeps everything in its created order. Secondly, think about you. You are the crown of His creation. You are fallen, indeed, and out of fellowship with Him; yet He loves you. You are fallen, but can be restored through the crucifixion, burial and resurrection of His only begotten Son Jesus Christ.
Now, there is something to think [muse] about.
-t.a.
For Lack of Knowledge
It seems there are many who are desirous for much knowledge in the world of 2012. We are more knowledgeable today than at any time in the history of mankind. We have learned the chemical makeup of water and salt; and a whole lot of other things too. Some of which are or have been destructive. We have even gained the knowledge to split the invisible atom, and make nuclear weapons and power plants.
The knowledge of these things; good or bad; has made us appear to be up and coming onto being gods of our own lives. Many are; in their own eyes “In control” and “In charge” of their own destiny. They assume these things because of “Lack of Knowledge”. It is the knowledge of God; knowing God, and being known by Him which really counts for eternity. Hear what the prophet Hosea has written,
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to Me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.” Hosea 4:6 (KJV)
You may have gained the knowledge of God and His love at an early age, but you have gone your own way. God is calling you to return to Him. You may have the knowledge of great things which man has made, but do you know the One who has made man, and holds us in His hands? He loves you, and sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross for you, was buried and He rose again. One day He is returning. Call on His name. He will hear. He will save.
-T.A.
Who Jesus says He Is
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8 (KJV)
In Matthew 16 Jesus asked His disciples, “Who do men say that I am?” The disciples gave many various answers, including Elijah, or one of the prophets, then Jesus asked them, “Who do you say that I am?” Peter jumped in with, “You are the Christ, Son of the living God.” Jesus told him, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father which is in Heaven.” He was applauding Peter for his answer, for it was the correct one.
Some say that Jesus never said that He is the Son of God. He has, He did, and He is.
Yet, He is much more than the Son of God. He too is eternal; from Alpha [Beginning] and Omega [Ending]. That is not the beginning and/or ending of God, but of all that He has made. Who did Jesus say that He is?
Alpha and Omega. See Jesus for who He says he is; for who the Father says He is; for who His works say that He is. He is the Incarnate God; crucified, buried, and bodily resurrected, and returning King. He is the Saviour and King of the universe.
-T.A.
Who Is The Image…
Who Is The Image…
Colossians 1:15-18
I. JESUS IS THE VISIBLE OF THE INVISIBLE (v. 15a).
A. God, the Father desired to reveal Himself to the only part of creation which He made in His image and likeness, and lost it.
1. He wanted to do more than reveal Himself.
2. He also desired to have sweet fellowship with us, but there was something which had to be done first – RECONCILIATION.
3. The Father loved us, and sent His Son to pay our sin debt. When we see Jesus Christ we are looking at the Father.
B. Is anything too hard for the LORD?
1. Jesus said, “I and my Father are one.“ John 10:30 (KJV), and “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one” John 17:22 (KJV).
2. Jesus also said, “He that has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
C. He [Jesus] is the ‘exact representation’ (Heb. 1:3; NIV) of the Father.
II. JESUS IS THE IMAGE, THE ‘FIRSTBORN’, THE HEIR OF ALL THINGS (v. 15b).
A. As the ‘Firstborn’ in preeminence He receives all that is the Father’s.
1. He is heir of all things, because the Father has placed all things under His feet.
2. It is because He was completely obedient unto the Father as He walked in human flesh that He was accounted worthy.
B. As the heir of all things, by His death, burial and resurrection; by faith in Him we become joint heirs with Him;
1. “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17 KJV).
III. JESUS, OUR LORD, ALSO THE IMAGE OF THE CREATOR (v. 16).
A. Paul writes, “For by Him were all things created…”.
1. The very one who took on Himself the body of a created being was in fact the Creator Himself.
2. This should blow the mind of the Gnostic “Know-It-Alls”.
B. When we read back in Genesis 1, “In the beginning God created…” it does not appear quite clear that Jesus was there in the creation.
1. However, when we read the gospel of John and verses one through three,
2. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made.” we have confirmation that this same Word which is spoken of here is the same Word which went forth in the work of creation, creating, and is the same Word which John tells us ‘became flesh’; “And, the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14); it becomes very clear, to one’s who have sight to see.
C. All things were not only created ‘by Him’, but also, ‘for Him’.
1. We must understand that the Godhead is in need of nothing.
2. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are Self-sufficient, Self-sustaining, and Self-existent.
3. God does desire to be glorified in all that He has created.
D. You will notice that in this verse (16) that even kings and kingdoms, all authorities were created by Him.
IV. JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF THE ETERNAL (v. 17).
A. He is before all things.
B. Jesus is the One who holds all things together, “By Him all things consist”.
Here are the words of John Gill on this portion of the verse, “…and by him all things consist; he upholds all things by the word of his power; the heavens have their stability and continuance from him; the pillars of the earth are bore up by him, otherwise that and the inhabitants of it would be dissolved; the angels in heaven are confirmed in their estate by him, and have their standing and security in him; the elector God are in his hands, and are his peculiar care and charge, and therefore shall never perish; yea, all mankind live and move, and have their being in him; the whole frame of nature would burst asunder and break in pieces, was it not held together by him; every created being has its support from him, and its consistence in him; and all the affairs of Providence relating to all creatures are governed, directed, and managed by him, in conjunction with the Father and the blessed Spirit.”
V. JESUS IS THE IMAGE, THE HEAD, OF THE CHURCH (v. 18a).
A. When we say we are Christian and a member of a church; we are telling the world that we know its Head.
1. What does the Head of the Church look like.
2. To those outside the Church it will resemble the one we are supposed to be following.
B. We as followers of Jesus should be the light in this dark, condemned, crazy, lost, decaying, world of evil societies, and their rulers whose main goal in life is exalting themselves.
C. Exalt the image of Christ as the head of the Church, the body of Christ in the world.
VI. JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF ETERNAL LIFE (v. 18b).
John MacArthur writes concerning the word ‘Beginning’ in this present verse, “Arche (beginning) is used here in the twofold sense of source and primacy. The church has its origins in Jesus. God ‘chose us in Him before the foundation of the world’ (Eph. 1:4). It is He who gives life to His church. His sacrificial death and resurrection on our behalf provided our new life. As head of the Body, Jesus holds the chief position, or highest rank in the church. As the beginning, He is its originator.” pg. 51 of THE MACARTHUR NEW TESTAMENT COMMENTARY on Colossians and Philemon.
A. Jesus said to John the revelator, “ I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending” (Rev. 1:8; KJV).
B. As the ‘firstborn from the dead’ we see Him as having conquered death, hell, and the grave.
1. Since the resurrection proves the divinity, power, and victory on the cross of our Lord and Savior; He most definitely is the image of eternal life.
2. Eternal life is not just something you may or may not gain later; it is what you can have [present tense] now.
3. In Jesus’s own words of John 3:16 it is quite clear. “…Shall not perish, but have everlasting life”.
4. On that day we will be “Like Him”; “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” 1 John 3:2-3 (KJV).
VII. JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF FIRSTNESS (v. 18c).
A. Remember He is ‘firstborn’ in the promise of inheritance, and because of His work on the cross we become ‘joint heirs’ with Him.
B. The word ‘preeminence’ is used here, meaning, ‘first in rank’ and certainly Jesus fits this category.
1. There are no gods of men, if they could, even become like the creature of their creation.
2. There is no one; god or other wise, who would die for their created being.
3. There is no god or being anywhere that has risen from death and the grave after giving themselves for their created beings.
C. If you want to see an image of ‘Firstness’ you have to look no further than, to the living Son of God – Jesus Christ.
1. Firstborn in creation.
2. Firstborn in life
3. Firstborn in death.
4. Firstborn in eternal life.
D. He is the preeminent One.
1. All things rest on Him.
2. In Him alone is there consistency in life, death, and eternal life. He holds it all together.
SUMMARY –
I. WHEN YOU LOOK AT JESUS YOU SEE THE FATHER.
II. BEING PREEMINENT IN ALL THINGS, JESUS IS HEIR OF ALL THINGS.
III. JESUS, GOD INCARNATE, IS THE CREATOR OF ALL THAT IS.
IV. BEING BEFORE ALL THINGS JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF THE ETERNAL.
V. JESUS, AS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH, IS THE IMAGE FOR OTHERS TO SEE.
VI. JESUS IS THE PHYSICAL IMAGE OF ETERNAL LIFE.
VII. JESUS, AS THE IMAGE OF FIRSTNESS, IS PREEMINENT IN ALL THINGS.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Elijah; Man of God
Those of us who have been involved in church and Christianity; and even some other religions know the term “Man of God”. The basic idea behind the phrase is that a man is faithful to believing God, His Word and living it in His life.
We have seen where the “Man of God” confronted the king Ahab and told him of an absence of rainfall until he [Elijah] calls for it. We know from the book of James that it was 3.5 years. That is a drought. We have read also where God provided for the prophet, the man of God, by sending him to a brook off the Jordon River, and God supplied him bread and meat until the brook dried up; and then he sent him to a widow woman with a young son; and he asked her to give him her last portion of food. Because of the woman’s faith, she fed Elijah, and her barrel of meal never ran out; as the King James says, “Wasted not”, neither did her container of oil run dry.
While the man of God is present in the home of the widow and her son; the son dies; and the woman is very distraught. She is like many of us. Since the man of God is in the house and home, then, “How can such an evil and bad thing happen to us?” Now before someone goes off on a tangent fit let me first explain that it does seem implied by the reading of 17:18;
“And she said unto Elijah, ‘What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? art thou come unto me to call my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son?'” (KJV)
Remember in John 11 Lazarus a close friend of Jesus was on his death bed; Mary and Martha (Lazarus’s sisters) sent for Jesus, but he lingered where he was. Jesus said,
“This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby.” John 11:4
To read the rest of the event we find that Lazarus died, was buried, and had been dead four days; and Jesus calls his name and Lazarus comes out of that tomb alive. God receives the greater glory by the resurrection of Lazarus, then by healing him of a sickness.
The resurrection of the widows son, helped the woman see more clearly that Elijah was the man of God. She announces in the final verse of chapter 17,
“Now by this I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of the LORD in thy mouth is truth.” 1Kings 17:24 (KJV)
The man of God in today’s world may not raise anyone to life after being dead; at least in the physical sense. However, the man of God will be able to clearly present the way to knowing God, having fellowship with Him, and how God declares one to be righteous. That is by way of the cross of Jesus Christ; His death, burial and bodily resurrection. Believe the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will experience resurrection.
-Tim A. Blankenship
The Living LORD
I am looking at Psalm 18 this morning. It is a Psalm which David wrote while fleeing from Saul the anointed king of Israel for the time. Time after time God delivered David from the hands of his enemies, and Saul the king. David never thought of king Saul as an enemy; even though the man sought many times to kill David himself.
In David we find the faith of a child. The kind of faith our Lord Jesus speaks of,
“Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoso shall receive one such little child in My name receiveth Me. But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in Me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.” Matthew 18:3-6 (KJV)
In the eighteenth Psalm David speaks much about the LORD, His way, His word, trusting Him, and in the verse for which the title comes he has written for all time and eternity;
“The LORD liveth; and blessed be my rock; and let the God of my salvation be exalted.” Psalm 18:46
One of the things that strengthens faith is knowing that God is the living GOD. All others are dead, buried, on display, and the imaginations of wicked hearts. Our God lives, even though He was crucified, died, was buried; He rose again bodily from the grave, and is alive forevermore.
He is the Rock of Ages. He is to be exalted. He is to be worshipped. He is the Living LORD.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Day 88 – The Christian and Discernment
It has been said that the best way to identify a counterfeit is to really know the real thing. It has been told to me by one who has experience as a teller that banks train them to get the feel for the real paper money, and when a counterfeit passes through their fingers it is almost immediately identified. Do they study the counterfeit? Not at all. They get to know the genuine article.
There is a great illustration, even parable of sorts to that thought for the Christian. I used to spend a lot of time studying different religions; and I find no fault in doing so; but to use great caution, and know the true God and His Son Jesus personally.
My reading today began in the First Epistle of John the apostle; and ended with Revelation chapter 2. The Epistles of John have been called “Love Letters” to the Christians; if they have not been, maybe they should be; because the First one is all about Christian love; first for God and His Son Jesus, and second the Christian’s love one for another.
In the First Epistle John covers much about love, loving one another, and he also deals with discernment in chapter four.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: and every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.” 1 John 4:1-3 (KJV)
To hear some professing Christian leaders speak today you would think that any belief is alright, and get you to heaven; as long as you have “faith”. John nails it down to what one believes about Jesus Christ. There is strong implication in the above text that John is viewing Jesus as Deity “come in the flesh”. God came down to man in the form of a man. John says anyone teaches that is of God; if not they are not of God. It is sad to say there are some religions, Christian cults who believe that Jesus came in the flesh and is deity; but they add to that by teaching that all of us can become Christ, and be gods. That is a distortion of the truth.
My friends do you know Jesus, the one and only Son of God, who became flesh, dwelt among us, died for our sins, was buried, and bodily rose from the grave; and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father? God has no other sons, but those who are born again through the blood of Jesus Christ.
In Second John he writes of the “doctrine of Jesus Christ”, and most likely is referring to His being God in flesh; warning,
“Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, he hath both the Father and the Son. If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: for he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.” 2 John 9-11
In Third John he writes of a man in the church who loves dominating others, even prohibiting John even from speaking in said church;
“I wrote unto the church: but Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them, receiveth us not. Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he doeth, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither doth he himself receive the brethren, and forbiddeth them that would, and casteth them out of the church. Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God.” 3 John 9-11
A man name of Diotrephes is the guilty party. Sometimes it is sad to admit but there are folks who call themselves Christian and pastor, bishop or elder who endeavor to dominate other people in the church. Diotrephes was an evil man, keeping even the apostles of Jesus Christ out of the church, and excommunicating all who favored them.
I also read Jude. Jude is believed to have been the half brother of Jesus, though he calls himself, “The servant/slave of Jesus Christ”. In verse 11 he writes,
“Woe unto them! for they have gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the error of Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Core.” Jude 11
If you would like to read more study on the book of Jude follow this link.
Mentioning three Old Testament personalities in this one verse; Cain the brother of Abel whom he killed and rejecting the way of God; Balaam who led the enemy of Israel to cause them to sin; and Korah who was a rebel along with Dathan and Abiram, against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness journey (Numbers 16). Still we see the need for discernment in the Body of Christ.
In the Revelation of Jesus Christ chapters one and two we see Jesus revealing Himself to John the apostle while he is being held prisoner on the isle of Patmos for his faith in Christ and preaching the gospel of Christ. Oh, if there is ever a truer presentation of who Jesus is it is here. Jesus says to John,
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,’ saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.” Revelation 1:8
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, 11 Saying, ‘I am Alpha and Omega, the first and the last: and, What thou seest, write in a book, and send it unto the seven churches which are in Asia; unto Ephesus, and unto Smyrna, and unto Pergamos, and unto Thyatira, and unto Sardis, and unto Philadelphia, and unto Laodicea.'” Revelation 1:10-11 (KJV)
And in verse 17 He says again, “Fear not; I am the first and the last”. No one can honestly say that except they be the incarnate Son of God, God in flesh. Know Jesus and you will be able to discern the true from the false. Know the Word of God and you will know the Living Word of God. Remember what John wrote in John 1;
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” John 1:1
“And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” John 1:14
God has given us the ability, and power to be discerning; practice it for your life’s sake, for the Church’s sake; mostly for the sake of Jesus Christ Himself, and His glory.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Day 69 – Discourse Unto Death
Christians the world wide celebrated the resurrection of Jesus Christ yesterday. We often fail to remember that Jesus was more than a martyr though. He was more than a man dying for a cause. He was the Man sent to fulfill all the law and the prophets. He was the God/Man sent and set to fulfill the Scriptures.
There is many a time in Matthew’s account of the life of Jesus where we read something like, “That the Scriptures might be fulfilled”, even up to His death on the cross and His resurrection.
Matthew records several discourses which Jesus spoke. The first one was the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7). The second was in chapter 13 and was short messages dealing with the kingdom. One had to do with Him sending forth His disciples with the message of the kingdom (chapter 18). The final one is called the Olivet Discourse, and deals with the last days, and His return following His death.
My reading this morning took me from Matthew 15 through 28. Today’s reading took me a little more than an hour, and I struggled with the length, and time spent; however, I was blessed in reading the Scriptures; especially since they were spoken by my Saviour and Lord.
In chapter 17 of Matthew we have an event that is also recorded in Mark 9 and Luke 9; and that is the event of Jesus’s Transfiguration. It is a meeting that takes place between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. We read,
“And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and His face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with Him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, ‘Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.’ While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, ‘This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.’ And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, ‘Arise, and be not afraid.’ And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.” Matthew 17:1-8 (KJV)
In the appearance of Moses we have the representative of the Law. In the appearance of Elijah we have the representative of the Prophets. Jesus Himself is the fulfillment of the Law and the Prophets, thus the voice out of the cloud which spoke was that of the Father, declaring that His Son holds all authority of the Law and the Prophets. He says, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.”
At this transfiguration the three disciples; Peter, James and John saw Jesus in His glorified state. This event of itself, then with the testimony of His Father gives the disciples assurance, that this truly is the God/Man, Son of God and King of kings. They would need to learn to trust that now was not the time for His reign, but the time of His sacrifice.
With these several discourses of Jesus He went to the cross, presenting Himself as a sacrifice for the sins of the people; laying His own life down on the cross, forsaken by the Father, buried in a borrowed tomb, rising again victoriously from that grave. After His resurrection He gives another short discourse,
“All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world.” Matthew 28:18-20
The life of Jesus the King of kings was to give His life. In His life we have many teachings on how to live, have faith, trust, and pray. He did not come at this time to rule, but to serve us and to die for our sins. He did, and He rose again. He is coming again.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Day 61 – Vision of the Glory of God
In the reading of the Bible one thing that stands out to me is that God is about His own glory. Now for a man or woman to be about themselves we call that arrogance, pride, no good even. Yet, for the Creator who has made all things, and seeing how He also loves the people He has made; and also seeing Him as holy, righteous, and just; we can see that He has every right, even right or power, to promote Himself. There is no other like Him.
In my reading this morning I only read 11 chapters rather than the usual 14. I finished the prophecy of Ezekiel. The judgment which God brought upon Israel/Judah is due to their rebellion, worshipping false gods, erecting idols along side the only God, and the people being downright unholy, unjust, and unrighteous with God and other people; even their own people.
In chapters 38 – 39 we read five more times, and a sixth which is not worded quite the same;
“Thus will I magnify Myself, and sanctify Myself; and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the LORD.” Ezekiel 38:23 (KJV)
“And I will send a fire on Magog, and among them that dwell carelessly in the isles: and they shall know that I am the LORD. So will I make My holy name known in the midst of My people Israel; and I will not let them pollute My holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.” 39:6-7
“So the house of Israel shall know that I am the LORD their God from that day and forward.” 39:22
“Then shall they know that I am the LORD their God, which caused them to be led into captivity among the heathen: but I have gathered them unto their own land, and have left none of them any more there.” 39:28
“And thou shalt come up against My people of Israel, as a cloud to cover the land; it shall be in the latter days, and I will bring thee against My land, that the heathen may know Me, when I shall be sanctified in thee, O Gog, before their eyes.” 38:16
Ezekiel is taken by the LORD in a vision to the city of Jerusalem and to the temple. There he meets a man with measuring rod, and measures the city and the temple. One of the things we can see about this is that in the worship of the LORD our worship is to be patterned after His design not of our own making. It is measured out to give God glory, honor, power and blessing. He will receive no worship which is not after His fashion, in Spirit and in truth (John 4:24).
In the vision the LORD also gives Ezekiel the land allotments for the twelve tribes, for the city, and for the temple.
The final verse of Ezekiel tells us –
“It was round about eighteen thousand measures: and the name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there.” 48:35
“The LORD is there”. What a wonderful name for the place where people of all tribes, tongues and nations will be able to gather to worship the Creator of all that is; both the seen and the unseen. He has made a way for you to be there by way of the cross of Jesus Christ. Only through the death, burial and bodily resurrection of Christ will you be able to attend and receive blessing, and rest in His glory.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Powerful and Great
People love their heroes. We call our soldiers heroes, and maybe they are well deserving of that title; however they are doing what they have been called and trained to do. That is essentially risking and at times giving their lives. I will admit that is heroic. The same could be said of firefighters, policemen, and others. We need them to be heroes. They are, however, only men and women who love their country, their cities, and/or the people they serve, and will risk it all for us.
Heroes for many people have been fictional characters, and maybe Biblical characters. As a kid growing up in Southwest Missouri I saw Roy Rogers as a hero, and maybe Wyatt Earp. Later on Superman became my hero, until I realized he was not real, and even now, I still enjoy the story. Our heroes can lose their zest for us; because they can fail, and fall from their perch. I think every father wants to be their son’s hero; even that hero can fall; the first time Dad cannot attend that sports event, due to something he cannot prevent.
We need more than a hero; we need the GOD who has created us and all things. We need His grace, His mercy, His strength, and power. We need Him. Hear what the Psalmist said of Him,
“Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.” Psalm 147:5 (KJV)
He is great, distinguished, awesome, glorious, and the pinnacle of greatness; meaning their is no one or nothing greater. He is the master and Lord over everything He has made. He made the universe and everything in it. Our world, the earth, and everything upon it, within it and all around it. One day every thing will be just as He desires it to be.
There are many things you and I do not understand about God, creation and even us as part of His creation. To know Him, however, is to know that we have an eternal future with Him.
The understanding of God is never ending, as the Psalmist has written, “His understanding is infinite”. It is without limits.
You can know the Creator by believing, trusting in His Son Jesus who is the one who holds it all together (Colossians 1:16-17), and by Him we have a way to God. It is because of the cross of Christ Jesus that our sin debt has been paid, by His burial the guilt and condemnation of our sin has been put away, and by His resurrection we have been justified – made righteous by God’s own decree.
Believe on Him, and be justified today.
“Great is our Lord, and of great power: His understanding is infinite.”
-Tim A. Blankenship
Marks of Iniquity
Our sins can many times be very grievous to our minds and hearts. Our iniquities are many; at least mine are. It gives me great peace, strength and courage to read in the Psalms such verses at this,
“If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with Thee, that Thou mayest be feared.” Psalm 130:3-4 (KJV)
We are a wretched lot. We carry our sin around as a weight, even after we have sought forgiveness, received forgiveness, and we never forget it. It is baggage that burdens us down. Who do we think we are? When we have asked God’s forgiveness; and that is the One whom sin really and truly offends. He is the only one who can forgive.
If God “marked” or counted our sins and iniquities; there is not a one who could stand before Him. We would all be doomed, condemned, and done for. When we sin, and we ask for His forgiveness in repentance; the sin, the iniquity is gone for ever. There is only forgiveness because of the gift of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross, His burial and resurrection. Jesus paid the price for our sin debt.
The following are the comments of Charles H. Spurgeon on verse 3,
“If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?” If Jah, the all-seeing, should in strict justice call every man to account for every want of conformity to righteousness, where would any one of us be? Truly, he does record all our transgressions; but as yet he does not act upon the record, but lays it aside till another day. If men were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer for himself at the Lord’s bar, and hope to stand clear and accepted? This verse shows that the Psalmist was under a sense of sin, and felt it imperative upon him not only to cry as a suppliant but to confess as a sinner. Here he owns that he cannot stand before the great King in his own righteousness, and he is so struck with a sense of the holiness of God, and the rectitude of the law, that he is convinced that no man of mortal race can answer for himself before a Judge so perfect, concerning a law so divine. Well does he cry, “O Lord, who shall stand?” None can do so: there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Iniquities are matters which are not according to equity, what a multitude we have of these! Jehovah, who sees all, and is also our Adonai, or Lord, will assuredly bring us into judgment concerning those thoughts, and words, and works which are not in exact conformity to his law. Were it not for the Lord Jesus, could we hope to stand? Dare we meet him in the dread day of account on the footing of law and equity? What a mercy it is that we need not do so, for Psa_130:4 sets forth another way of acceptance to which we flee.
Once Jesus has forgiven our sin, the only marks of iniquity are in our own head. The only one who desires to remember, and wants to condemn us is the accuser- the enemy of Christ and Christians.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Jesus: In The Beginning
Jesus: In the Beginning
John 1:1-5
There are a lot of voices today saying things concerning Jesus; and many of them don’t know the real Jesus. To many Jesus was only a good teacher, a prophet, a good man, or a good example to follow. To others he never really existed; he is kind of like the legend of king Arthur; leaving a question or questions of like, “Did he really exist, or is he just folklore and legend?”
According to many scholars, historians, archeologists and others there is more evidence for the existence of Jesus Christ, His life, death, burial, and resurrection; than there is for the existence of George Washington, the first President of the United States of America. The purpose of this message is not to present these evidences, but to just take what John the apostle wrote as fact, and present it as truth, the truth of God; and let God speak for Himself.
INTRODUCTION –
The writer of the notes in the PILGRIM STUDY BIBLE says, “Words reveal thoughts and character; and just so the Lord Jesus expressed God’s thought and showed us what God is like.”
Jesus is introduced to us in the beginning of John’s Gospel as the Word. We are told by John that “the Word became flesh and dwelt amon us…” In chapter 12:20-21 there were some Greeks who had come to a feast of Israel. They came to Phillip and said, “Sir, we would see Jesus.” That is what I pray we get from this message from the Gospel of John.
If the world could get a clear picture of Jesus, and follow Him, it would help us all. The following story gives us the wisdom of a child;
“One day a father was sitting in his easy chair enjoying reading the daily paper. His young daughter came up to him saying, ‘Daddy will you play house with me?’ He would say, ‘Not now sweetheart. I am reading the paper rightenow. Please go a play without me.’ His daughter was persistent, though and kept coming back. Finally, after seveal approaches by the girl the father took a page of the peaper with a picture of the world on it, tore it into several pieces and gave it to her saying, ‘Here, see how long it takes you to put the pieces of the world together like a puzzle.’ She took that page and was gone a very short time, and returned to her father, and said, ‘Daddy, I got it all put together.’ He looked at the page, and asked her, ‘You finished so quickly. How did you do that?’ Her response was one that really should have an influence on us all. ‘Daddy’, she said, ‘There is a picture of Jesus on the back of the page, and when I got Jesus together the world came together too.”
John has some favorite words – “Life”, “love”, “witness”, “believe”, “truth, “know”, “light”, “darkness”, “world”, and “flesh”. you will notice these words in the reading of the gospel and his other writings.
“Jesus Christ as the Eternal Word is a revelation of God to man.” KJV BIBLE COMMENTARY
None of the Gospels are more clear on the Deity of Jesus Christ than is John’s Gospel.
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.” John 1:1-5 (KJV)
OUTLINE:
I. JESUS IS THE IMAGE AND REPRESENTATION OF GOD (v. 1; Hebrews 1:3).
II. JESUS IS THE FULNESS OF THE GODHEAD (v. 2; Colossians 2:9).
III. JESUS IS THE LIFE AND LIGHT OF THE WORLD (v. 3-4, 3:19; Colossians 1:16; Genesis 1:1-3).
IV. JESUS IS THAT LIGHT WHICH DISPELLS THE DARKNESS (v. 5; 8:12; 12:46; Ephesians 5:8)
JESUS IS THE IMAGE OF AND REPRESENTATION OF GOD.
“Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;” Hebrews 1:3 (KJV)
He as the Living Word was creating from the beginning of all things (Genesis 1:1). A person’s words reveal their character, their hearts, their thoughts. You can trust God’s Word. In God’s case His Word is His character.
Jesus as the Living Word is revealed seven times in the first chapter of Genesis. In verses 3, 6, 9, 14, 20, 24, and 26 it reads, “And God said…”. What God said was His Word was going forth creating. All things that are were made by His Word – the Word who “was made flesh”.
Let’s hear what Jesus said of Himself;
“Then said they unto him, Where is thy Father? Jesus answered, Ye neither know me, nor my Father: if ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also.” John 8:19 (KJV)
“Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.” John 8:57-58 (KJV),
and who is “I Am”?
“And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.” Exodus 3:13-14 (KJV)
JESUS IS THE FULNESS OF ALL THE GODHEAD – SO HE WAS WITH HIM AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN WITH HIM.
“For in Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.” (Colossians 2:9).
The Scriptures tell us that “God is Spirit” meaning, basically, that we cannot see God. “God is Spirit, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” (John 4:24)
God in His love revealed Himself to us through His Son Jesus who is the Living Word. When we see Jesus we see the Father. When we hear the words of Jesus we hear the words of the Father. When we trust Jesus we trust the Father.
JESUS IS THE LIFE AND LIGHT TO THE WORLD. The implication is that the world is in darkness and in need of light. In the beginning God gave light for the earth. Where did the light come from? God is the light of the world. Jesus later said, “I am the Light of the world” (John 8:12; 9:5) The light was divided from darkness. One thing we must realize is, that, where there is light is no darkness at all.
Darkness is a way of hiding all that is evil and evil evidently does not realize that nothing is hid from God.
“And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.” John 3:19 (KJV)
Jesus is the light that shines in darkness, and darkness cannot overcome His light. The world and the devil may think He is defeated. We hear reports of Christianity slipping in growth, yet those who genuinely trust Jesus Christ are growing and the Body of Christ is still strong, and growing in faith; knowing that the return of Jesus Christ is soon.
The devil, that ole serpent, knows he has been defeated; but has many convinced that the battle has not yet been decided. Anyone believing that is a fool, and pawn of evil. The cross of Christ and His resurrection is the sure sign that the battle for the souls of men, has been won, and Jesus Christ is the Victor. Light has overcome the darkness.
JESUS IS THAT LIGHT WHICH DISPELLS DARKNESS – HE DRIVES IT AWAY. Who ever follows Jesus will not walk in darkness, but in the light.
“I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12 (KJV)
People who walk with Jesus will not abide in darkness – we are of the light, because He is the Light.
“I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.” John 12:46 (KJV)
When you are trusting Jesus, walking with Him, He drives all the darkness away; or will walk with you through it (Psalm 23:4). If you are having a dark moment in your life, just look to Jesus, the One who endured the darkness of the cross for all our sin. Paul tells us to walk as children of the light.
“For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light…” Ephesians 5:8 (KJV)
SUMMARY –
i. To see God just look upon Jesus.
ii. Everything God is; Jesus is: Everything Jesus is God is.
iii. Where Jesus is there is no darkness at all.
iv. In the presence of Jesus there is no need for fear, unless you are on the wrong end of his judgment.
-T.A.
This is a sermon outline preached by Tim A. Blankenship at Carr Lane Baptist Church on October 02, 2011
B F & M – Cooperation
We as Baptists are many times a quarrelling people. We have even been known to have fights over certain matters, and that is a truth we do not try to hide. Is it right? Sometimes, but most of the time we fight over trivial things. Things that will not matter in eternity.
For the most part we as Baptists are also a forgiving people. When we have our fights the heart of Christ in the truly regenerate will forgive the wrongs done to us, and/or to one another. Most of all we believe in the forgivness of Christ.
The truth of Jesus Christ, and His death, burial and resurrection is what binds us together as Baptists, and what gives us the desire to cooperate with all Christians no matter what denomination they are of; as long as their actions and beliefs do not cause us to compromise our Bible doctrine, and beliefs in Christ.
Our Statement of Faith states:
“XIV. Cooperation
Christ’s people should, as occasion requires, organize such associations and conventions as may best secure cooperation for the great objects of the Kingdom of God. Such organizations have no authority over one another or over the churches. They are voluntary and advisory bodies designed to elicit, combine, and direct the energies of our people in the most effective manner. Members of New Testament churches should cooperate with one another in carrying forward the missionary, educational, and benevolent ministries for the extension of Christ’s Kingdom. Christian unity in the New Testament sense is spiritual harmony and voluntary cooperation for common ends by various groups of Christ’s people. Cooperation is desirable between the various Christian denominations, when the end to be attained is itself justified, and when such cooperation involves no violation of conscience or compromise of loyalty to Christ and His Word as revealed in the New Testament.
Exodus 17:12; 18:17ff.; Judges 7:21; Ezra 1:3-4; 2:68-69; 5:14-15; Nehemiah 4; 8:1-5; Matthew 10:5-15; 20:1-16; 22:1-10; 28:19-20; Mark 2:3; Luke 10:1ff.; Acts 1:13-14; 2:1ff.; 4:31-37; 13:2-3; 15:1-35; 1 Corinthians 1:10-17; 3:5-15; 12; 2 Corinthians 8-9; Galatians 1:6-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Philippians 1:15-18.”
Though sometimes we have difficulty getting along with one another we also know the Biblical mandate to love our brothers and sisters in Christ. We know the strength of being united with others who are strong in the Lord, and the support we can give and receive by being united in Christ.
There are times we may be slow at joining in with another group of Christians, but that is not without merit. Those who are doctrinally sound will be diligent to discern the situation, to pray and seek God’s guidance. We should not desire to end up with a similar situation as Joshua when he was deceived by the Gibeonites (Joshua 9).
We pray for our brethren of other churches. We will join with them when we see the need, and it does not compromise our faith. We know that our Lord has other flocks, than Baptists alone. We just happen to believe that Baptists are closer to Biblical doctrine than the others. That is partly why we are Baptists.
-T.A.
B F & M – The Lord’s Day
In the Old Testament the people of Israel were to worship God, and rest on the seventh day of the week. It is called the sabbath day. It was on the seventh day that God ceased in His work of creating.
As Baptists we do not see the First day of the week as the sabbath, but as the day of remembering the resurrection of our Lord. It is the beginning of a new week. It represents a New Life, and particularly New Life in Jesus Christ. We are living resurrected lives, no longer condemned under the law lives.
The following is our Statement of Faith:
“VIII. The Lord’s Day
The first day of the week is the Lord’s Day. It is a Christian institution for regular observance. It commemorates the resurrection of Christ from the dead and should include exercises of worship and spiritual devotion, both public and private. Activities on the Lord’s Day should be commensurate with the Christian’s conscience under the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
Exodus 20:8-11; Matthew 12:1-12; 28:1ff.; Mark 2:27-28; 16:1-7; Luke 24:1-3,33-36; John 4:21-24; 20:1,19-28; Acts 20:7; Romans 14:5-10; I Corinthians 16:1-2; Colossians 2:16; 3:16; Revelation 1:10.”
Though this day is not the sabbath day of the Old Testament, nor one of the other sabbath days the Israelites were required to honor, we must still respect a day of rest.
The Lord’s Day has always been a day of rest in my family. We have attended worship services on Sunday morning and evening. It is a wonderful day for remembering the wonder of our Lord Jesus Christ.
It is surely a sign of our departure from the Lord, that everything in the business world is doing business on this day. One day there will be the Day of the Lord where there will be judgment and that day will not be pleasant.
-T.A.
B F & M – Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
As Baptists we do not consider Baptism or the Lord’s Supper as sacraments – or as being necessary for one’s salvation – that would be an addition to grace. Baptism is a command of Scripture, but if it is not obeyed from a heart of love for Christ, then it would be without meaning and purpose. The following is the Statement of Faith concerning these ordinances:
“VII. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper
Christian baptism is the immersion of a believer in water in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It is an act of obedience symbolizing the believer’s faith in a crucified, buried, and risen Saviour, the believer’s death to sin, the burial of the old life, and the resurrection to walk in newness of life in Christ Jesus. It is a testimony to his faith in the final resurrection of the dead. Being a church ordinance, it is prerequisite to the privileges of church membership and to the Lord’s Supper.
The Lord’s Supper is a symbolic act of obedience whereby members of the church, through partaking of the bread and the fruit of the vine, memorialize the death of the Redeemer and anticipate His second coming.Matthew 3:13-17; 26:26-30; 28:19-20; Mark 1:9-11; 14:22-26; Luke 3:21-22; 22:19-20; John 3:23; Acts 2:41-42; 8:35-39; 16:30-33; 20:7; Romans 6:3-5; 1 Corinthians 10:16,21; 11:23-29; Colossians 2:12.”
Baptism is also the confession of our faith in Christ, His death, burial and resurrection. It is symbolized by the putting under the water – the death and burial, and the resurrection by coming up from the water. The celebration of Baptism should be just that a Celebration of one’s faith in Christ. When you are baptised invite your saved and lost friends to declare unto them your faith in Jesus Christ, and proclaim it by the baptism into Christ Jesus and the local church.
The Lord’s Supper can only legitimately be received by those who have followed the Lord faithfully into the baptismal waters. Jesus Himself, commanded us to partake of the Lord’s Supper in remembrance of Him until He comes again. Every time we take the bread which reminds us of his body, bruised from the beatings, broken, and bleeding we are to do it with the expectation of His soon return. We take the cup of the ‘fruit of the vine’, we are reminded of that precious blood that was shed for our salvation. “The life of the flesh is in the blood”, and “it is the blood that maketh atonement for the soul” (Leviticul 17:11).
The blood of Jesus Christ sufficient to save the whole world, but only efficient enough to save those who will believe.
-T.A.
Power On Their Lives – Mark 16:15-20
“And He said unto them, ‘Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. 16 He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned. 17 And these signs shall follow them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 They shall take up serpents; and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.’
19 So then after the Lord had spoken unto them, He was received up into heaven, and sat on the right hand of God. 20 And they went forth, and preached every where, the Lord working with them, and confirming the word with signs following. Amen.” Mark 16:15-20
Jesus gives us the Great Commission in Matthew 28 and it is longer and more detailed in its application there. Here, however, we have a simple “Go and preach the gospel to every creature”, and then, what follows are signs, evidence that they are servants of God. Because of the newness of this message of grace, that Christ died for our sins, was buried and rose again, there must of necessity have been proofs of their words being true. The gospel is true and powerful to save, but the Scriptures [New Testament] had not yet even started to be written. Today, we have the completed Scriptures [Old and New Testaments], and we no longer need evidence of the power of the gospel to save.
“He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved…” seems like a salvation of works, but any one who comes believing in Jesus will in obedience follow the Lord in water baptism. It is the “Public confession” of one’s faith in Jesus. When a person comes to faith in Jesus they have a desire to obey Him in all things. The first step of obedience, and the believer’s first call is a public testimony, and that is shown in baptism. Baptism is the testimony of Jesus’s death, burial and resurrection, and by baptism you tell the world of your faith in Jesus and that you have died to the old life, been buried putting it all away, and have risen to new life in Him.
According to the apostle John in the gospel he wrote, “He that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God” (John 3:18). You could ask the question, a fearful question, “What does one have to do to go to Hell? The answer to that is absolutely nothing. You can be saved by grace through faith in Jesus, His finished work on the cross and the resurrection, and enjoy the glory of Jesus for all eternity. You can do absolutely nothing and spend eternity in Hell. The truth of the matter is we are all condemned, dying, hellbound sinners. We are born in that condition – separated from God, hating God, loving ourselves, and seeking our own way, and not God’s way. There are some who believe that once this life is over that is it. There are even some professing Christians who believe only the saved will have an “Eternal life” while those who do not know God through His Son Jesus will simply go back to the dust, and their “spirits” will cease to exist. Part of the way that God created us in His image is that He gave us an eternal soul and spirit. Not “Eternal” in the sense that He is; like “Eternal past”, but an eternal future, and our eternity with Christ actually begins with our faith in Him. The condemned person’s eternity without Christ begins at the death of the physical body, and it will be an eternity without light, without friends, without satisfaction of desires. It will be an eternity of torment, or flames, heat, no water, nothing to quench your thirst. It will be a place without God’s love, only wrath.
These were signs of authentication. They were evidence of the power of God to save those who believe, and the resurrection of Jesus from the grave. The first sign Jesus gives is the power to “…Cast out devils [demons]”. There is evidence of this in Acts with a young girl who is “demon possessed”, and brings great profit to her owner, because she can “Foretell” the future. Paul was bitten by a poisonous serpent, and without harm (Acts 28). The apostles Peter and John, on their way to the temple, meet a man who is lame, and by their words, “Rise up and walk” he gets up and walks (Acts 3). Paul raises a young man named Eutychus from death (Acts 20). There are many accounts in the book of Acts of the work of the Spirit of God in the lives of the apostles, doing miracles, signs and wonders, to confirm the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is the Gospel which is being promoted not the miracles, and we must always remember that.
The changed lives of millions through the years is evidence of the power of the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Men and women who have had hate filled, murderous hearts are changed into loving, compassionate, caring individuals who reach out to others with the truth of Christ. Men and women who have selfishly stolen from others through greed, lust, and larceny are changed into giving, unselfish individuals who love Christ and have given their all for Him.
One sign of the resurrection of Jesus is His ascension into Heaven to His Father’s right hand. The apostles all witnessed it. Peter, James and John, Matthew, and all the rest, except Paul for he had not yet come to faith in Jesus. Jesus fulfilled all the Scriptures concerning the things concerning Himself and His first coming, and He will fulfill all the things concerning His Second coming.
The disciples/apostles were the ones who are responsible, by the power of the Holy Spirit, for the beginning of the Church – the Body of Christ. Without the Holy Spirit confirming their word, there would be no church.
Can we go out in the same power of the Spirit that they did? Most certainly, and now we have something much better than miracles, signs and wonders. We have God’s Spirit confirming His written Word. It is finished. There is no more being added to it, and anyone that does add to it or take away from it will find the curses of His Word in their lives (Rev. 22:18-19).
There is nothing impossible to those who walk in the Spirit of God. Praying for the power of the Spirit on Christian lives.
-Tim A. Blankenship
Friday Baptist 061711
The following message is by Alexander MacLaren who lived from 1826-1910. This message is taken from his messages from the book of Ezekiel.
THE DRY BONES AND THE SPIRIT OF LIFE
1. The hand of the Lord was upon me, and carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones, 2. And caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry. 3. And He said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, Thou knowest. 4. Again He said unto me, Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. 5. Thus saith the Lord God unto these bones; Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live: 6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am the Lord. 7. So I prophesied as I was commanded; and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his bone. 8. And when I beheld, lo, the sinews and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered them above: but there was no breath in them. 9. Then said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. 10. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army. 11. Then He said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts. 12. Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Behold, O My people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. 13. And ye shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O My people, and brought you up out of your graves. 14. And shall put My spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord.’—EZEKIEL xxxvii. 1-14.
This great vision apparently took its form from a despairing saying, which had become a proverb among the exiles, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost: we are clean cut off’ (v. 11). Ezekiel lays hold of the metaphor, which had been taken to express the hopeless destruction of Israel’s national existence, and even from it wrings a message of hope. Faith has the prerogative of seeing possibilities of life in what looks to sense hopeless death. We may look at the vision from three points of view, considering its bearing on Israel, on the world, and on the resurrection of the body.
I. The saying, already referred to, puts the hopelessness of the mass of the exiles in a forcible fashion. The only sense in which living men could say that their bones were dried up, and they cut off, is a figurative one, and obviously it is the national existence which they regarded as irretrievably ended. The saying gives us a glimpse into the despair which had settled down on the exiles, and against which Ezekiel had to contend, as he had also to contend against its apparently opposite and yet kindred feeling of presumptuous, misplaced hope. We observe that he begins by accepting fully the facts which bred despair, and even accentuating them. The true prophet never makes light of the miseries of which he knows the cure, and does not try to comfort by minimising the gravity of the evil. The bones are very many, and they are very dry. As far as outward resources are concerned, despair was rational, and hope as absurd as it would have been to expect that men, dead so long that their bones had been bleached by years of exposure to the weather, should live again.
But while Ezekiel saw the facts of Israel’s powerlessness as plainly as the most despondent, he did not therefore despair. The question which rose in his mind was God’s question, and the very raising it let a gleam of hope in. So he answered with that noble utterance of faith and submission, ‘O Lord God, Thou knowest.’ ‘With God all things are possible.’ Presumption would have said ‘Yes’; Unbelief would have said ‘No’; Faith says, ‘Thou knowest.’
The grand description of the process of resurrection follows the analogy of the order in the creation of man, giving, first, the shaping of the body, and afterwards the breathing into it of the breath which is life. Both stages are wholly God’s work. The prophet’s part was to prophesy to the bones first; and his word, in a sense, brought about the effect which it foretold, since his ministry was the most potent means of rekindling dying hopes, and bringing the disjecta membra of the nation together again. The vivid and gigantic imagination of the prophet gives a picture of the rushing together of the bones, which has no superior in any literature. He hears a noise, and sees a ‘shaking’ (by which is meant the motion of the bones to each other, rather than an ‘earthquake,’ as the Revised Version has it, which inserts a quite irrelevant detail), and the result of all is that the skeletons are complete. Then follows the gradual clothing with flesh. There they lie, a host of corpses.
The second stage is the quickening of these bodies with life, and here again Ezekiel, as God’s messenger, has power to bring about what he announces; for, at his command, the breath, or wind, or spirit, comes, and the stiff corpses spring to their feet, a mighty army. The explanation in the last verses of the text somewhat departs from the tenor of the vision by speaking of Israel as buried, but keeps to its substance, and point the despairing exiles to God as the source of national resurrection. But we must not force deeper meaning on Ezekiel’s words than they properly bear. The spirit promised in them is simply the source of life,—literally, of physical life; metaphorically, of national life. However that national restoration was connected with holiness, that does not enter into the prophet’s vision. Israel’s restoration to its land is all that Ezekiel meant by it. True, that restoration was to lead to clearer recognition by Israel of the name of Jehovah, and of all that it implied in him and demanded from them. But the proper scope of the vision is to assure despairing Israelites that God would quicken the apparently slain national life, and replace them in the land.
II. We may extend the application of the vision to the condition of humanity and the divine intervention which communicates life to a dead world, but must remember that no such meaning was in Ezekiel’s thoughts. The valley full of dry bones is but too correct a description of the aspect which a world ‘dead in trespasses and sins’ bears, when seen from the mountain-top by pure and heavenly eyes. The activities of godless lives mask the real spiritual death, which is the condition of every soul that is separate from God. Galvanised corpses may have muscular movements, but they are dead, notwithstanding their twitching. They that live without God are dead while they live.
Again, we may learn from the vision the preparation needful for the prophet, who is to be the instrument of imparting divine life to a dead world. The sorrowful sense of the widespread deadness must enter into a man’s spirit, and be ever present to him, in order to fit him for his work. A dead world is not to be quickened on easy terms. We must see mankind in some measure as God sees them if we are to do God’s work among them. So-called Christian teachers, who do not believe that the race is dead in sin, or who, believing it, do not feel the tragedy of the fact, and the power lodged in their hands to bring the true life, may prophesy to the dry bones for ever, and there will be no shaking among them.
The great work of the gospel is to communicate divine life. The details of the process in the vision are not applicable in this respect. As we have pointed out, they are shaped after the pattern of the creation of Adam, but the essential point is that what the world needs is the impartation from God of His Spirit. We know more than Ezekiel did as to the way by which that Spirit is given to men, and as to the kind of life which it imparts, and as to the connection between that life and holiness. It is a diviner voice than Ezekiel’s which speaks to us in the name of God, and says to us with deeper meaning than the prophet of the Exile dreamed of, ‘I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live.’
But we may note that it is possible to have the outward form of a living body, and yet to have no life. Churches and individuals may be perfectly organised and perfectly dead. Creeds may be articulated most correctly, every bone in its place, and yet have no vitality in them. Forms of worship may be punctiliously proper, and have no breath of life in them. Religion must have a body, but often the body is not so much the organ as the sepulchre of the spirit. We have to take heed that the externals do not kill the inward life.
Again, we note that this great act of life-giving is God’s revelation of His name,—that is, of His character so far as men can know it. ‘Ye shall know that I am the Lord’ (vs. 13, 14). God makes Himself known in His divinest glory when He quickens dead souls. The world may learn what He is therefrom, but they who have experienced the change, and have, as it were, been raised from the grave to new life, have personal experience of His power and faithfulness so sure and sweet that henceforward they cannot doubt Him nor forget His grace.
III. As to the bearing of the vision on the doctrine of the resurrection little need be said. It does not necessarily presuppose the people’s acquaintance with that doctrine, for it would be quite conceivable that the vision had revealed to the prophet the thought of a resurrection, which had not been in his beliefs before. The vision is so entirely figurative, that it cannot be employed as evidence that the idea of the resurrection of the dead was part of the Jewish beliefs at this date. It does, however, seem most natural to suppose that the exiles were familiar with the idea, though the vision cannot be taken as a revelation of a literal resurrection of dead men. For clear expectations of such a resurrection we must turn to such scriptures as Daniel xii. 2, 13.
You may find more by Alexander MacLaren at Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
-T.A.
The Fire and Hammer 