No 1
(Mystery of the Trinity)
As you know, God is composed of three
distinct persons: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit and the three are as
one; this is a mystery and can only be understood by faith. The Bible speaks of this mystery very early
in Genesis chapter 1 verse 26 where it says: "Let us make man in OUR image". Also, the fourth word in Genesis is God and
in Hebrew the word used is "Elohim"
which means God
in plural (the "im" ending denotes plural in Hebrew)
No 2
(Trinity by faith)
As we saw last time, we understand the Trinity by
faith. Now you're going to say, what?; we just believe, without really understanding?? Not at all, the Bible is very careful to
explain how faith comes into the picture so we can better understand. In Rom
We are made in the image of God in these
three areas.
No 3
(Trinity in Creation)
The three persons of the God-head
actively participated in the creation process.
In John 1:1, 2 the Bible says:
"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". This passage speaks,
of course, of Jesus Christ. In Genesis
1:2 the Bible says: "And the earth was without form, and void; and
darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the
face of the waters". God the
Father, of course, allowed it all to happen.
This triumvir is also displayed in the
finished product of creation.
Let's look at Gen 1:1 : "In the beginning (TIME), God created the heavens (SPACE) and the earth (MATTER)". Science has, through it's
ungodly processes, come to the same conclusions as the Bible. The only difference is that the Bible has
said this for 5000 years and science must now simply bow to its truths and
remain in awe at the Bible's veracity.
Now let's look at 1 Thessalonians 5:23: "And the very God of peace sanctify you
wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ". Man, who is God's masterpiece, was created
with a SOUL, a SPIRIT and a BODY; no other creature has this tri-unity.
Lastly, we were created in the image of
God and as we have said before, we resemble Him in our intelligence, our
emotions and our will. (Gen 1:26,
27)
No 4
(Inter-Trinitarian Promises)
It is difficult for anyone to imagine
what goes on in the Trinity. Even the
best Biblical scolars cannot fully understand it. The Bible, however, gives us some
indication. Someone asked me this
question the other day in Sunday School class:
"What did the Trinity do
before the world was created"?
The verses of scripture that immediately came to my mind were: Titus 1 : 1, 2 : "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according
to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after
godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before
the world began". God made a
promise before the world began?! To whom
did He make this promise? We weren't
there; the angels? Maybe; but they don't need eternal life, they already have
it. God had to have made this promise to
Jesus Christ. So what actually does this
promise involve? God the Father promised
God the Son that He would give Him a redeemed humanity who would love, obey and
serve Him for eternity. God even foreknew who this redeemed humanity would be
because He wrote their names in the Lamb's book of life. What a promise!! Was it fulfilled? I believe so; and, as a
matter of fact, it is still being fulfilled today.
Furthermore, Jesus Christ will, one day,
return this promise to His Father when the elect, who were saved throughout all
the centuries, will be presented to God the Father by God the Son. The Bible
says in 1 Corinthians 15:28 "And when all things shall be subdued
unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all
things under him, that God may be all in all". The love gift that God gave to His Son will
be reciprocated by the Son to the Father.
These promises are sacred and cannot be taken lightly. Why? Because they become our reason to
fulfill the mandate that is described in Matt 28:20 where the Bible says we
must evangelize the world. Pretty
important stuff, don't you agree?? We
have a loving heavenly Father who cares for us and wants us to participate in
these inter-Trinitarian promises.
No 5
(The Attributes of God)
An attribute is something that belongs
to someone either by nature or by right.
In other words, something that is intrinsic. God's attributes are many and our
comprehesion of them is limited to our finite understanding of an infinite
Being. For example, when say that God is
GOOD, we understand good only from our perspective; therefore, good in God's
eyes could be perceived differently by us and we might even say that it is bad;
but God knows what is best for us. The
Bible Says in Romans 8:28: "And we know that all things work
together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose". We must
trust God in all areas of our lives.
Another attribute of God is that He is
JUST and everything He does is just. It
is not that something is just, therefore, God does it; God does it, therefore
it is just.
Also, His attributes work in harmony
with one another. What God's holiness
does not embrace (our sin), His love cannot embrace either. This is why only God could've provided a way
for us to be holy in His sight; He sees is through Jesus Christ; therefore we
are holy.
God is merciful, long-suffering, loving,
kind, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent and many, many others.
The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; the
God that created the heavens and the earth and the God that provided us a way to
be with Him for eternity is the God who has all these attributes.
No 6
(The love and grace of God)
The dictionary defines grace as a favor,
something that is not due but is given to someone freely. Of course the dictionary is quite limited
when it comes to the grace of God because who else but the Lord would want to
show grace to a humanity who, from its beginning, has disobeyed and has been
rebellious to His laws. Even early on in
the garden of Eden, God wanted to show grace when He said to Adam : « Where art thou? » Gen 3 :9. He knew exactly where he was and what he had
done; God wanted to show him grace but, no Adam starts talking about his nudity
and blaming God for the « woman whom Thou gavest to be with me » Gen
3 :12. Talk about impudence and
rebellion; but, believe me, we are not any different from Adam.
Until God’s grace got a hold of us and His Spirit convicted us
of our impudence and rebellion; we were just like Adam, lost in our own
garden of sin. God not only gives us His
grace and shows us our sin, but He also gives us the opportunity to
repent.
The Bible says in 2 Timothy 2 :25 : « if God peradventure will give them
repentance ». Granted, this
verse speaks about our meekness toward those who oppose us, but the words « will give them » just
further show us and the opposition we may come up against in the world, that
the God of the Bible is truly a God of grace who provides every opportunity to
come to Him. Peter in his first letter
states in chapter 3 verse 15 : «be
ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the
hope that is in us with meekness and fear ». God’s grace is not something to be kept
secret but, as Christians, we ought to cry out loud on the rooftops that the
grace of God is available to all who come to Him; « and to him that cometh to Me. I will in no wise cast out ». (John 6 :37)
No 7
(A personal relationship with God)
The relationship that we have with our heavenly Father is, by
far, the most important in our lives.
All other relationships that we may have are important (our family, our
church, our job, etc..), of course, but our vertical one should be our
priority. We all ought to be like Joshua
who penned the following words : « but
as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord » (Joshua
24 :5); Or be like Abraham who was
willing to sacrifice his beloved son, Isaac because God had asked him to do so
(Genesis 22). Or how about Daniel who prayed to God in a foreign land and
through severe adversity (Daniel 6 – the den of lions). Isn’t wonderful that we
have these examples in the Bible to model our lives on? In this day and age, we are faced with
difficult decisions as to what our priorities should be in our life. The best list of priorities is as follows, in
order : 1) God; 2) Our spouse; 3) Our children; 4) Our job; 5) Our church (activities). Some may disagree with this list but here is
how I see it work out; in reverse order a) We can always find a church but we
can’t always find a job; b) We can
always find a job, but we can’t always find a family; c) We can always find a
family but if we don’t have God in out lives and are not saved, we are nothing
but a ball of flesh romping around in the world waiting to die. Some have asked themselves who am I, what am
I doing here on earth and what are the rules?
As Christians, these three questions are answered fully in the Bible and
when Jesus came to this earth, He gave them a prostitute. In John 4 :20-24, Jesus said to this sinful woman : « But the hour
cometh and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit
and in truth : for the father seeketh such to worship Him. »
(Verse 23). Yes, the relationship that
we have with our heavenly Father is the most important because Jesus said so.
No 8
(The Role of the Holy Spirit in the Bible)
The role of the Holy Spirit of God is different in the Old
Testament than in the New Testament.
God’s Spirit was at work from the very beginning (Gen 1 :2) and
continued to be active in all of the undertakings of His people in the Old
Testament, but not in an individual and
indwelling sense but more on a corporate “amongst” sense (Isa
63 :11). There were several
occasions in the Old Testament where the Holy Spirit indwelt people but it
always was for a specific task or undertaking : The
Seventy Elders – Num 11 : 25; Balaam – Num 24 :2; Othniel
– Jud 3 :10; Gideon – Jud
6 :34; Samson- Jud 14 :6; Saul 1 Sam 10 :10; David
1 Sam 16 :13; Saul’s messengers – 1 Sam
19 :20. David, when he penned Psalm 51, he wrote in verse 11 : “Cast me not away from Thy presence; and
take not Thy Holy Spirit from me”. In the Old Testament, there was a sense in
which the Holy Spirit could be removed from someone and there is no verse to
indicate that a believer was permanently indwelt by the Holy Spirit. This is much different in the New Testament
when a person turns his or her life over to Jesus Christ, is immediately
empowered by the Holy Spirit : “Now
the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that ye may
abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost” (Rom 15 :13. The Bible commands believers to be filled
with the Spirit – Eph 5 :18 “And be
not drunk with wine, but be filled with the Spirit”. The verb“filled”
is in the aorist form in the Greek and really means “to continue to be filled”.
In other words, we must continue to be filled with the Holy Spirit. You
ask how does that work? If a believer
says to the Lord ;“Lord fill me with your
Spirit”, the Lord will fill him.
But, then you ask : how long does the filling last? It lasts just as long as we let the Word
control us, just as long as we confess known sin, just as long as we die to
ourselves and just as long as we surrender to God’s will. This has nothing to do with the indwelling or
the baptising of the Spirit; that occurs at the time of salvation and the
Spirit comes once and for all and is never lost. The Bible says in Romans 8 : 9 – “But ye are not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not
the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his”.
No 9
(Holy Spirit promised by Jesus)
We are all familiar with the passages in the gospel of John
where Jesus tells us that He will send us a Comforter, the Holy Spirit who : “..shall
teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I
have said unto you” (14 : 26). Jesus
said that the role of the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life is to “testify of
Me” (15 : 26) and to “..guide you into all truth” (16 : 13). To the rest of humanity “He will reprove
the world of sin, of righteousness and of judgment” (16 : 8) and, by doing
so, will convict sinners and draw them to repentance. When the Spirit does this work of conviction,
the person is faced with two choices : to repent and ask forgiveness for his or
her sins or to resist the promptings of the Holy Spirit and remain in darkness;
whatever the person chooses, we can be sure of one thing : God did His
part. When a person does repent and
accepts Jesus Christ as personal Saviour, the Holy Spirit indwells the new
believer: “..shall also quicken your mortal bodies by His Spirit that
dwelleth in you” (Rom 8 : 11b) and seals him for eternity “..whereby ye
are sealed unto to day of redemption” (Eph 4 : 30b). As a member of the Trinity, the Holy Spirit
ministers divine power to the Body of Christ that enables it to do God’s work
here on earth and to stand up to persecution such as we have seen recently in
Afghanistan where some aid workers were imprisoned because they were
Christians. “And I gave them eternal life; and they shall never perish;
neither shall any man pluck them out of My hand. My Father, which gave them Me,
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of My hand” (John
10 : 28, 29).
No 10
(The Holy Spirit at Pentecost)
When Jesus was on earth, He promised that God would “give you
another Comforter, that He may abide with you forever” (John 14 : 16); the
Comforter is, of course, the Holy Spirit.
After Jesus’ death and resurrection, the Apostles were gathered together
in a room and had just drawn straws to see who would be the 12th
apostle to replace Judas. They were
celebrating the Jewish feast of Pentecost to commemorate the the offering of
“first fruits” that was ordered by God in Leviticus 23 : 16. The word Pentecost means “fifty days” and
fifty days had transpired since Jesus ascended to heaven. The Holy Spirit descended upon them in the
form of tongues of fire and they were filled with divine power (Acts 2 : 1 –
4). They began speaking languages they had never spoken before (Acts 2 : 6 – 8)
and boldly preached the Gospel to whoever was listening. They healed the infirm and gave God all the
glory. In the Old Testament, the Holy
Spirit did not indwell believers – He was upon them but not in them. We, as believers today, have the same Holy
Spirit as the Apostles had and what a wonderful privilege it is to know that we
have divine power within our grasp. The
Holy Spirit not only empowers believers but convicts sinners to repentance. The Bible says in John 16 : 8: “And when
He is come, he will reprove the world of sin and of righteousness and of
judgement”. His work still goes on
today but there will come a time when He will be removed and lawlessness will
take over. In one of our past studies on
eschatology we saw that the Holy Spirit will be removed at the Rapture of the
Church and antichrist will take over. We
all know that Satan is alive and well on this earth today - “..the mystery of lawlessness is already
at work only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way” (2
Thess 2 : 7). The only thing that holds
back Satan from completely taking over the world is the Spirit of God in
believers.
No 11
(The life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ)
These three events are probably the most well known facts of
history and are probably the best documented, as well. Has anyone not heard of Jesus Christ? There are some. Possibly in Third World countries or in the
deepest jungles of Africa or South America, Jesus’ name has never been
pronounced. However, there is an interesting fact about Africa in that the
percentage of born-again Christians there is 26 % of the population whereas,
here in Quebec, it is only .05%.
Notwithstanding, in the civilized world everyone knows about Jesus; they
don’t necessarily know Him personally but they know about Him. I won’t give a whole bunch of Bible verses to
show you that Jesus was foretold by God long ago, that’s for other studies. The point I want to make is that the youth in
the generation in which we are living, hardly knows Him at all. Why?
Because the schools have stopped talking about Him and laws are being
passed to forbid praying and reading the Bible in schools. In Matthew 28 : 19, 20 Jesus gave us a standing
order“Go ye therefore and teach all nations baptizing them in the name of
the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost; teaching them to observe all things
whatsoever I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always even unto the end
of the world”. Up to now, I think
the Church has done its job but how will it be ten years from now? When defending the Christian faith with
Jehovah Witnesses or others or doing evangelism, it is imperative that we stay
on the topic of “Who is Jesus and what did He come here to do”. Anything else is just spinning our wheels
because His life, death and resurrection are the foundations of
Christianity. We must tell the whole
world!!!
No 12
(Jesus on the Cross)
In one of our past studies (Prof Zebulon Oct 4 00), we saw that
God had made a promise to His Son Jesus “before the world began” (Titus
1:1) that He would give Him a redeemed humanity who would love, obey and serve
Him for eternity. However, Jesus had to
come to earth and die for that and, as we know, humbly did just that therefore
giving the opportunity: “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord
shall be saved” (Rom 10:8). Jesus
did it, we came to know about it and we are henceforth assured of our place in
heaven. Jesus has the power to save us
and He also has the power to keep us: “Who are kept by the power of God
through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1
Peter 1:5). On the cross, Jesus bore all
the sins of humanity and God poured all His wrath upon Him; it was so
unbearable that Jesus said: “My God My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me”?
(Matt 27:46) Jesus knew that there
would be a temporary separation from His Father because of our sins. Now, let us consider an absolutely amazing
reality. Jesus also knew that during
that separation, He would not have been able to keep us as He had done, so He
entrusted the keeping of us to His Father for a while, until He rose again. “I
pray for them: I pray not for the world but for them which Thou hast given Me,
for they are Thine…Holy Father, keep through Thine own name those whom Thou
hast given Me, that they may be one as We are” (John 17: 9 - 11b). You see, our salvation is so precious that
Jesus wanted to be sure that we were to be “kept” because He knew that without
Him, we would have been easy prey for Satan and his angels. We are so fragile, that even for a few
moments, we could have been out from under the protection of God and subsequent
death.
No 13
(Jesus – prophet, priest & king)
In the Bible, there are 3 official
positions that God created to work out His divine plan for humanity. These 3 offices are : prophet, priest and king. As we saw in another study (Vol 1 No 62),
some people in the Bible had more than one of these offices. Such as David – king and prophet; Ezekiel
– prophet and priest; Melchizedek – king and priest (the only person in
the Bible outside the Trinity to have these 2 titles). We also saw in that study that we are
as Melchizedek, kings and priests :“ And hath made us kings and priests unto
God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen”
(Rev 1:6). But there is one person in
the Bible who has all three of these offices – need I say who? Jesus Christ, of course.
As a prophet – Deuternomy 18 : 15, 18 “The LORD thy God will
raise up unto thee a Prophet from the midst of thee, of thy brethren, like unto
me; unto him ye shall hearken; I will
raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put
my words in his mouth; and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command
him”.
As a priest – Hebrews 5 : 4, 5 “And no man taketh this honour
unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron. So also Christ
glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him,
Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee.
As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the
order of Melchisedek”.
As a king – 1 Timothy 1: 16, 17
“Howbeit for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus
Christ might shew forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should
hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal,
immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever.
Amen”. In Matthew chapter 4, Jesus was
tempted by Satan in these 3 very same
offices : as prophet – the miracle of stones to bread; as
priest – on the pinnacle of the temple; as king – on the exceeding
high mountain. So much can be said of
Jesus Christ; this is just another example of His Divinity.
No 14
(Jesus Christ, the Mediator)
The Bible says that Jesus Christ is our
mediator “For there is one God, and
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;” (1 Tim 2:5). The word mediator in the World Book
Dictionary is defined as follows: “a
person who acts in order to bring about an agreement between persons or sides;
a go-between”. This exactly what Jesus
does on our behalf; He intercedes for us.
He is our lawyer “My little
children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin,
we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” (1 John
2:2) and pleads our case. We are guilty
of the sins that we commit so its not so much that He proves that we are
innocent but more to the fact that He paid the penalty for our sins. God, who
is a Holy God, cannot tolerate even the smallest sin; all sin must be
punished “ For he hath made him to be
sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in
him.” (2 Cor 5:21). On the cross of
Calvary, God treated Jesus just as if He had committed every sin that every
Christian had ever committed or will commit.
The physical pain of the cross was one thing, but to be separated from
God, even if it was only for an instant was so difficult for Jesus to bear that
He echoed David’s plea in Psalm 22:1 - “My God, My God, why hast thou
forsaken Me? (Matt 27:46b). And God
treats us as if we had never committed any sin whatsoever. Paul penned these
words in the epistle to the Romans “There
is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk
not after the flesh, but after the Spirit” (Rom 8:1).
No 15
(The Departing of the Holy Spirit)
In the Upper Room in Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost, the Holy
Spirit came down in the form of tongues of fire upon the 120 or so disciples
who were gathered there. The Bible says
in Acts 2:4 that “And they were all
filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the
Spirit gave them utterance.” As all
Christians know, this was the beginning of the Spiritual Church of Jesus Christ
or, as the book of Ephesians says, the Body of Christ (Ephesians 4). However,
at some point in time, God will remove His Holy Spirit from the earth and let
antichrist completely take over; he will reign for 42 months according to Daniel
7:25 “And he shall speak great words against the most High, and shall
wear out the saints of the most High, and think to change times and laws: and
they shall be given into his hand until a time and times and the dividing of
time” and according to Revelation 13:5 “And there was given unto
him a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies; and power was given unto him
to continue forty and two months.”
In 2 Thessalonians 2:7, the Bible says:
“For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now
letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.” The “mystery of iniquity” is the
spirit of lawlessness that operates in society today. It is a mystery because it has not been fully
revealed as it will be when antichrist, who opposes God so strongly, sits in
the place of Jesus Christ in the temple of God (2 Thess 2:4). The words “until he be taken out of the
way” convey a stepping aside rather than a complete removal. God will give Satan a free hand in the world
but will be soundly defeated by the King of kings and the Lord of lords when He
returns to set up the Millennium kingdom.
No 16
(The Compassion of Jesus)
The World Book Dictionary defines
compassion as follows: “…the feeling for another’s sorrow or
hardship that leads to help”.
Compassion is required when there is somebody who needs to be rescued
from circumstances that have brought them into a state of grief or sadness;
otherwise, compassion is not needed. In
our society today, compassion is a rare commodity. Why?
Because people have become so self-reliant and independent, that it is
hardly ever required; except, of course when a person truly faces his or her
sin – then all the compassion in the world will not help. Jesus is the only one who can be truly
compassionate to this person. In the
Bible, we read that whenever Jesus encountered a need in individuals or multitudes,
His emotional reaction of intense concern motivated immediate action. Jesus fed crowds, He healed the sick, He
taught the ungodly, He calmed turbulent seas, He cast out demons; He even
raised the dead. His compassion was
boundless; His greatest act of compassion was, of course, His sacrificial death
on the cross. During His short stay here
on earth, Jesus was able to pass on the torch of compassion to His Disciples.
Peter says the following words in his first epistle “ For even hereunto were ye
called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should
follow his steps:” (Ch 2:21). Those who have received compassion from Jesus
are compelled to be compassionate to others; it is the mark of a true
Christian. Compassion can be learned and
invariably, it is by having a difficult experience ourselves that helps us to
be compassionate to others. The next
time we see someone who is in distress, may we be as compassionate as Jesus
was.
No 17
(The I am’s of the New Testament)
The Second Person of the Trinity, the Lord Jesus Christ, used
the phrase “I am” eight times in the
gospel of John to describe Himself in an understandable way to His
followers. Here are 7 of the 8:
-
John 6:35 I
am the bread of life: he that cometh
to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst
-
John 8:12 I
am the light of the world: he that
followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.
-
John 10:9 I
am the door: by me if any man enter
in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.
-
John 10:14 I
am the good shepherd, and know my
sheep, and am known of mine.
-
John 11:25 I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were
dead, yet shall he live:
-
John 14:6 I
am the way, the truth, and the life:
no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
-
John 15:5 I
am the vine, ye are the branches: He
that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for
without me ye can do nothing.
None of these“I am’s”
bothered the Jewish leaders too much but the eighth one really made them
furious; it is found in John 8:58 : Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say
unto you, Before Abraham was, I am.”
This was the name of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob; this was the
name that God gave Moses when time came to bring His people out of Egypt : “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 3:14). Jesus was confirming to the Jewish leadership
that He was equal with Yahweh; this was just too much for their feeble and
self-righteous minds.
No 18
(God in the Psalms)
God loves us and wants us to love Him in a real and meaningful
way; His desire is that we worship and obey Him. Is that such a difficult request when we
realize what He did for us? God gave us
the Bible for us to know and love Him; without His Word, we would never be able
to understand just what kind of God He really is. The Psalms were written to praise the Lord
and they are full of references which emphasize His glory; here are some
examples: (There are many, many more)
46:1 – God is our refuge and strength
47:2 – How awesome is the LORD Most High
48:1 – Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise
75:7 – God is the Judge
84:11 – The LORD God is a sun and shield
90:2 – Even from everlasting to everlasting, Thou art
God.
93:5 – Thy testimonies are very sure:
100:5 – For the LORD is good; his mercy is
everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.
111:4 – The LORD is gracious and full of compassion
119:75 – O LORD, that thy judgments are right
The book of Psalms contains prophesies, historical facts,
pleadings and confessions but, most of all, it contains God’s intrinsic
perfections and characteristics. In the
Psalms, we learn that God is holy, just, omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent,
loving, merciful, kind, and compassionate; just as the verses above
indicate. The Psalms are to be read and
meditated upon. They are a very good
resource for our quiet meditation with the Lord; as a matter of fact, we can
read the whole book of Psalms in a month by using the following plan: on day one in the month, we read Psalm 1, 31,
61, 91,121; on day two, we read Psalm 2, 32, 62, 92, 122 and so on; on day 31,
we read Psalm 119. The Psalms speak to
weary and peaceful hearts alike.
No 19
(City of Refuge)
After fighting many successful conquests
in the land of Canaan and after dividing the land among the tribes of Israel,
the Lord instructed Joshua to appoint 6 cities of refuge where a person who had
unwillingly committed a murder or who had committed a murder of the hand but
not of the heart could seek asylum. There were three cities west of the Jordan
River – Kedesh, Shechem and Kirjatharba and three cities east of the Jordan
River – Bezer, Ramoth and Golan (Joshua 20:7-9); interestingly, all these
cities were of the tribe of Levi. It was
said that these 6 cities were arranged in such a way that anyone of them could
be reached within half a day’s journey from anywhere in the land of Canaan. It
was also said that the roads leading to these cities were always kept clear –
rivers were bridged and every obstruction removed so that a man could easily
find passage to the city. What a
wonderful Old-Testament type of the Gospel of Jesus Christ! How graciously do the promises of the Gospel
remove stumbling blocks from the way! It
is no round about road where one has to do this, that and the other thing; it is a straight road – believe and live! It is a road so hard that no self-righteous
person may find his or her way and yet this road is so easy, that every sinner
who admits his sin can find his way to heaven.
Just as the woman who, by faith, just touched the hem of Jesus’ robe
(Matt 9:20), anyone may travel this road because “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name
under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Act 4:12) and
also “For whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved.”
(Rom 10:13). God made it very
easy for sinners to come to Him but the sinner’s release from bondage was paid
at a high price – “But God commendeth his
love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (Rom 5:8)
No 20
(His solitariness)
God is solitary in His excellency. “Who is like unto Thee, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like Thee,
glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing wonders?” (Ex. 15:11) “In
the beginning, God” (Gen. 1:1). There was a time, if we can call it time, when God, in the unity
of His nature (though equally in three Divine Persons), was all alone. There was no heaven, where His glory is now
particularly manifested and there was no earth to engage His attention. During a past eternity, God was alone:
self-contained, self-sufficient, self-satisfied; in need of nothing. When God created the universe and every
thing that is in it, this did not add anything to His glory. He does not change “For I am the LORD, I change not”
(Mal 3:6a). God was under no
obligation or necessity to create; His choice to do so was purely a sovereign
act on His part, caused by nothing outside Himself, determined by nothing but
His own mere good pleasure; for He “worketh
all things after the counsel of His own will” (Eph. 1:11). So, What was it that moved Him to predestinate
His elect to the praise of the glory of His grace? It was, as Eph. 1:5 tells
us, “according to the good pleasure of
His will.”? For the answer, we must
turn to the Bible. At the end of Romans
11, where Paul brings to a close his long argument on salvation by pure and
sovereign grace, he asks, “For who hath
known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been His counsellor? Or who hath first
given to Him, and it shall be recompensed to him again?” (vv. 34, 35). In other words, it is impossible to bring God
under our obligation; God gains nothing from us; He is totally
self-sufficient. The book of Job says “If thou be righteous, what givest thou Him? Or what receiveth He of
thine hand? (Job 35:7, 8). If it had
pleased God He could have continued alone for all eternity, without making
known His glory unto us. Whether He should do so or not was determined solely
by His own will. He was perfectly blessed in Himself before the first creature
was called into being. Such a God cannot be found out by searching. He can be
known only as He is revealed to the heart by the Holy Spirit through the Word. It is
true that creation demonstrates a Creator so plainly that men are “without excuse”; yet, we still have to
say with Job, “Lo, these are parts of His
ways: But how
little a portion is heard of Him? but the thunder of His power who can
understand?” (Job 26:14) . So why did He create us?? Out of pure love!!
No 21
B) The Trinity (Intercession)
How encouraging is the thought of the Redeemer’s never- ceasing
intercession for us. “I
have prayed for thee…..” Luke 22:32a
When we pray, He pleads for us; and when we are not praying, He is our
advocate “And if any man sin, we have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:” 1 John 2:1 and He
shields us from unseen dangers. Notice the word of comfort addressed to
Peter “Simon, Simon, Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift you as
wheat; but” (Luke 22:31) what? “But
go and pray for yourself.” That would be good advice, but that is not what
is written. Neither does he say, “But I
will keep you watchful, and so you shall be preserved.” That would be a
great blessing. No it is “But I have
prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not.” We know very little of what we
owe to our Saviour’s prayers. When we reach heaven and look back upon all the
ways that the Lord our God has led us, how we shall praise him who undid the
mischief that Satan did on earth? How
shall we thank Him because he never held his peace, but day and night pointed
to the wounds upon His hands and carried our names upon His breastplate! Even before Satan had begun to tempt us,
Jesus has anticipated him and entered a plea on our behalf in heaven. He checks
Satan even in his very desire and nips it in the bud. He does not say, “But I have desired to pray for you.”
No, but “I have prayed for you”. He has done it already; He went to court and
enters a plea even before an accusation is made. What a comfort it is that He
has pleaded our cause against our unseen enemies and unmasked their ambushes.
Here is a matter for joy, gratitude, hope, and confidence.
No 22
B) The Trinity (The Effects of Nearness to Jesus)
“And will manifest myself to him.” (John 14:21b)
The Lord Jesus gives special revelations of Himself to His
people. Even if Scripture did not declare this, there are many of the children
of God who could testify the truth of it from their own experience. They have
had manifestations of their Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ in a peculiar manner,
such as no reading or hearing could bring. In the biographies of many saints,
you will find instances recorded in which Jesus has been pleased, in a very
special manner, to speak to their souls and to unfold the wonders of His
person. When Jesus manifests Himself to His people, it is heaven on earth. Some
saints have been influenced by other saints; such as in the case of John Piper,
author of the book Don’t Waste Your Life.
Mr Piper was deeply influenced by the wirings of CS Lewis (1898 –
1963).
Special manifestations of Christ exercise a holy influence on
the believer’s heart. One effect will be humility.
If a man says, “I have had such and such spiritual communications and I am a
great man”, he has never had any
communion with Jesus at all; for “God hath
respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.” (Psa
138:6). He does not need to come near
the proud, and will never give them any visits of special communication.
Another effect will be happiness;
for in God’s presence there are pleasures for evermore. Holiness will also be an effect when we search out Jesus
Christ ; those who have no holiness have never had this manifestation. Many
people say great things but we must not believe anyone unless his or her deeds
answer to what they say. God will not bestow His favours upon the wicked: for
while He will never cast away a humble soul and neither will He respect an evil
doer. Thus there will be three effects of nearness to Jesus – humility, happiness, and holiness. May
God give them to all who search Him diligently.
No 23
(The Precious Blood of Christ)
“But with the precious blood of Christ,
as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:” 1 Peter 1:19.
Standing at the foot of the cross, we
see hands and feet and side spilling streams of precious blood. It is “precious” because of its redeeming and
atoning efficacy. By it the sins of Christ’s people are atoned for; they are
redeemed from under the law; they are reconciled to God and made one with him.
Christ’s blood is also “precious” in
its cleansing power; “Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
be as white as snow.” (Isaiah 1:18).
Through Jesus’ blood there is not a spot left upon any believer, no
wrinkle nor any such thing remains. O precious blood, which makes us clean,
removing the stains of our iniquity, and permitting us to stand justified,
notwithstanding the many ways in which we have rebelled against our God. The
blood of Christ is likewise “precious”
in its preserving power. We are safe from Satan under the sprinkled blood. When
God sees the blood on us, that is the true reason for our being spared. Here is
comfort for us when our faith is dim because God’s eye is always the same. The
blood of Christ is “precious” also in
its sanctifying influence. The same blood which justifies by taking away sin
quickens the new nature and leads it onward to subdue sin and to follow out the
commands of God. There is no motive for holiness as great as that which streams
from the veins of Jesus. And “precious”
unspeakably precious, is this blood, because it has an overcoming power. The
Bible says “And they overcame him by the
blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their
lives unto the death.” (Rev 12:11)
How could they do otherwise? He who fights with the precious blood of
Jesus fights with a weapon which cannot know defeat. The blood of Jesus! Sin dies at its presence, death ceases to be
death and heaven’s gates are opened. The blood of Jesus! We shall march on conquering and to conquer
because of the “precious” blood of
Jesus!
No 24
(The Second Coming of Jesus Christ)
The Second Coming of Jesus Christ is an
eschatological event in God’s calendar but it is also a fulfillment of many
other Biblical promises as well. The Old
Testament has approximately 330 Messianic prophesies and many of them were
literally fulfilled at His First Coming; we will look at some of those that
apply to His Second Coming.
In The Old Testament:
1) In Isaiah 9:6, 7 we read “6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is
given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The
Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his
government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon
his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice
from henceforth even for ever.” In
these verses, we see the first coming and the second coming.
2) When Jesus went to the synagogue in
Nazareth and was asked to read the Scriptures in Luke 4:18, 19, He read another
passage from the book of Isaiah, chapter 61 verses 1 & 2a. He then closed the book and said the
following words, “…this day is this
scripture fulfilled in your ears”. The part that He read referred to His
First Coming and He stopped at the verses referring to His Second Coming – they
read “and the day of vengeance of our
God…” The rest of the chapter goes
on to explain the blessings of the millennial kingdom on earth.
3) In Jeremiah 23:5 we read “Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that
I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper,
and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.” He must return to establish that kingdom on
earth.
4) Zechariah 14: 4-9 graphically describes
Jesus’ second Coming: “And his feet shall stand in that day upon
the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of
Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west….” Nothing of these events occurred at His
first coming; it still awaits fulfillment.
In the New Testament:
1) Jesus Himself spoke of it when He said
in Matthew 24: 30,31 “And then shall
appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great
sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four
winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”
2) In the Olivet Discourse, there are
three parables that Jesus gave regarding His Second Coming – a) The 2 servants
(Matt 24:45-51); b) The ten virgins
(Matt 25:1-13); The talents (Matt
25:14-30).
3) On the night of His betrayal, John wrote
the monumental passage in chapter 14: 2 “And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be
also”. Jesus said He will come back.
4) When on trial for His life he uttered
the following words to the high priest “And
Jesus said, I am: and ye shall see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of
power, and coming in the clouds of heaven”
(Marc 14:62)
5) In the book of Revelation, Jesus said
the following words twice “..the things which will take place after
this..” (1:19 and 4:1) referring to His Second Coming as described in
chapter 19.
There is no doubt that the Bible
promises Christ’s return and His very credibility depends on it.
No 25
B) The Trinity (The Last 7 Sayings of Christ)
Even though Christ was dying on the
cross, He was still in control. His
humanness offered Him little strength but He was able to pronounce seven
phrases that cover the whole reason for His being there.
1) “Father,
forgive them; for they know not what they do” Luke 23:34. This was a plea
for forgiveness of those who tormented Him on that fateful day. Instead of condemning them, He prayed to God
on their behalf.
2) “Verily I say
unto thee, To day shalt thou be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43. Here was a promise of salvation to one of the
convicted criminals who were crucified with Jesus. This incident is one of the greatest
illustrations of justification by faith.
This man had done nothing to merit
salvation and had not made amends for the crimes he had committed.
3) “…He saith
unto his mother, Woman, behold thy son!
Then saith he to the disciple, Behold thy mother!“ John 19:26,27. Jesus’ loved ones must have felt much pain
that day but not more than His earthly mother.
The use of the word “woman”
does not express disrespect but does call attention to the fact that Jesus was
more than a Son to Mary, He was her Saviour.
4) “Eli, Eli,
lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Matthew 27:46. It might seem at first glance that Jesus is
reciting verse 1 of Psalm 22 but since Psalm 22 is an extended prophecy about
the crucifixion, it might be better to see the psalm as a prophecy of Jesus’
heart cry to His Father. Some may say
that it is unthinkable that God would abandon His Son in His most difficult
human experience. But let’s not forget
what Jesus was doing here – He was paying the price of the sins of all
believers just as if He had committed them Himself. God was punishing His own Son in our place.
The Bible is very explicit about this “For
he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him” 2
Corinthians 5:21
5) “I thirst” John 19:28. This was a final plea for physical relief and
what did He get? “…they filled a spunge with vinegar, and put it upon hyssop, and put it
to his mouth” John 19:29. Thus fulfilled a
prophecy in Psalm 69:21.
6) “It is
finished” John 19:30 Here was a victory cry only Jesus could
proclaim which is why nothing can be added to the work of Christ for
salvation. No rituals, no human works,
no contribution on the part of the sinner can add anything to this “lest any man should boast” Ephesians
2:9
7) “Father, into
thy hands I commend my spirit” Luke 23:46 Christ died as no other man had ever
died. On one hand, He was betrayed and
murdered. In another sense, His Father
sent Him there to atone for our sins. And still yet in another way, He
willingly gave His life so that we may have life.
“But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.” John 20:31
No 26
(Miracles of
This is the first of several studies on the miracles that
occurred while Jesus was on the cross.
The first one that we will be looking at is the Miraculous Darkness;
the gospel of Luc records the following “And
it was about the sixth hour, and there was a darkness
over all the earth until the ninth hour.” (ch
23:44). Jesus had been on the cross for
three hours and at
During the three hours of darkness, the Bible is silent on what
transpired in and around the cross. The
natural order was not disturbed in any way because the Creator God would not
have allowed any disharmony. The reason for the darkness was to draw attention
to what was happening – God confirmed the awesome significance of the
inconceivable suffering and death of Jesus Christ. It was at the end of the darkness that Jesus
cried out as if His sufferings had come to a climax. The gospel of Matthew says “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a
loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that
is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (27:46). The darkness of