Being Resurrection Minded

Posted on April 25, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by MohammadHosein Mohebbi on Unsplash

1 Corinthians 15:1-4 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; 2 by which also ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless ye have believed in vain. 3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Are you resurrection minded?

Most people – even professing Christians – are not. We live our lives daily thinking rarely of our own deaths. Some of us dread death. Others ignore death. Yet death is a part of life. Death seems unnatural to us, because God did not make us to die. When Adam did what God told him not to do, “the day that he ate thereof he surely died” (Genesis 2:17). God made everything perfect, but man made death. “By one man sin entered the world, and death by sin, for all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). God manufactures life and peace. Man manufactures death and sin.

We must all die, unless, like Elijah of old, God takes us up into Heaven “by a whirlwind” (2 Kings 2:11).

Death Should Not Frighten We Who Are Saved

Death should frighten the lost person, but it should not frighten the saved. In the Old Testament King Hezekiah (his name means “God has strengthened me”), the King of Judah was 25 years old when he began to reign. His father, Ahaz, was one of the worst kings Judah ever saw. When Hezekiah took over the kingdom he honored God, and removed idolatry from among the people. Hezekiah loved the Lord, and proved it by his works. One day God came to Hezekiah and said:

2 Kings 20:1 Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.

Hezekiah “turned his face to the wall” and “wept sore” (2 Kings 20:2, 3). Because of his grieving the Lord said, “I will add unto thy days 15 years” (2 Kings 20:6). What happened during those added years? Hezekiah had the worst 15 years of his life. When Babylonian emissaries visited the kingdom, Hezekiah in pride showed off the national treasury. God told Hezekiah that his foolishness would cause all in his house, all his kingdom’s treasures, would be carried off to Babylon (2 Kings 20:14-18). Hezekiah also sired the most evil king, his son Manasseh. Manasseh would have Isaiah the Prophet killed. Hezekiah would be responsible for Judah as a nation falling into idolatry and sexual immorality.

It would have been better had Hezekiah left this earth when the Lord had him scheduled to go. We should not fear death, dear Christian, for

Romans 8:28 … all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

God called Hezekiah for a purpose. He called you for a purpose. While we have the gift of physical life, we should live in the purpose of God. But when God calls us home we should not fear. We know something that Hezekiah did not know. We know and have heard the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

I Should Not Fear Death Because
Jesus Has Conquered Both Sin & Death

1 Corinthians 15:3 … For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and

The GOSPEL (Greek εὐαγγέλιον euangélion, {pronounced yoo-ang-ghel’-ee-on} or “good tidings” or “good news” that God has given us is in two parts. The first part is “Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures”.

The Old Testament prophecies repeated sets God forth as a “Physical Savior of His people”.

King David often praised God for saving him from death:

2 Samuel 22:2-7 The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; 3 the God of my rock; in him will I trust: he is my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my high tower, and my refuge, my savior; thou savest me from violence. 4 I will call on the Lord, who is worthy to be praised: so shall I be saved from mine enemies. 5 When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of ungodly men made me afraid; 6 the sorrows of hell compassed me about; the snares of death prevented me; 7 in my distress I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God: and he did hear my voice out of his temple, and my cry did enter into his ears.

The Old Testament Saints saw God as Someone who “savest me from violence”. David praised God because the Lord “saved {Me} from mine enemies”. God is seen as a Savior from earthly enemies. God is seen as a Savior from harm, from loss of life. There are many passages that speak of great deliverance, where:

Psalm 106:21-22 … God their savior, which had done great things in Egypt; 22 wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea.

The idea of “God as Savior” under the Old Covenant is that of God saving from the things that sting, that bite, that harm, that oppress the joy of life on this earth. God is more of a PHYSICAL Savior. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 19:20 … they shall cry unto the Lord because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a savior, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.

When God presented Himself as “Savior”, it was often as a PHYSICAL Savior. God told Israel,

Isaiah 43:3 … I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Savior: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.

God foretold of the time when He would send forth His Messiah, His Son Jesus. God foretold of salvation from sin in:

Isaiah 45:21-22 … there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Savior; there is none beside me. 22 Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.

And a clear presentation of Jesus Christ in Isaiah 53:3-6 He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not. 4 Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. 5 But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed. 6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

Though there are numerous passages that foretell the coming of Jesus Christ, the fact that:

Matthew 1:21 … JESUS .. shall SAVE HIS PEOPLE FROM THEIR SINS…

The Old Testament saints were more concerned with God SAVING THEM FROM PHYSICAL HARM than they were of God SAVING THEM FROM SIN. Even Isaiah the Prophet, when he looked into Heaven, cried out in dismay:

Isaiah 6:5 … Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts.

Sin under the Old Covenant was seen as something that you could take care of with an animal sacrifice.

The “Gospel” under the Old Covenant is that God could protect you PHYSICALLY, but SPIRITUAL safety was not first and foremost.

The Gospel under the New Covenant is that God has defeated BOTH sin and death. God saves us physically, AND God saves us spiritually. The GOOD NEWS that Paul delivers is:

1 Corinthians 15:3-4 … For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; 4 and

Do you see the “and”? The Gospel teaches that Jesus …

Galatians 1:4 … gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world …

1 Corinthians 15:4 … and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:

Jesus did not just die for our sins. He saved us from sin. But Jesus also CONQUERED DEATH. The Bible says “he was buried”. He was done. There was no life left in him whatsoever. And yet “he rose again the third day according to the scriptures”. Jesus Christ died on Calvary “being the covering for our sins, and not for ours only, but for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:2). The Bible says:

Luke 24:46-47 Thus it is written, and thus it {was right for} Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day: 47 and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

Jesus Christ died, and rose again.
In His death He conquered sin.
In His resurrection He conquered death.

Many who profess to be New Covenant Christians are – sadly – Old Covenant Believers. Their fear of death proves this.

Prior to Jesus, there were SEVERAL who
were brought BACK FROM DEATH …
but NONE who were RESURRECTED.

The Prophet Elijah brought life back to a young boy (1 Kings 17:17-24).
The Prophet Elisha raises the son of a Gentile woman (2 Kings 4:32-37).
A dead man tossed into Elisha’s tomb comes to life (2 Kings 13:21).

Our Lord Jesus raised:

The widow of Nain’s son (Luke 7:11-17).
Jairus’ daughter (Luke 8:49-56).
His friend Lazarus (John 11).

These were all raised from the dead – but eventually died again. They were resuscitated, NOT resurrected. But the Apostle tells us:

1 Corinthians 15:20-23 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

The Old Testament saint understood resuscitation of the dead. There were examples where people died, and were brought back to life. There were examples where people SHOULD have died, but God extended their lives. BUT NEVER HAD THE OLD TESTAMENT SAINT SEEN RESURRECTION. God spoke of an awakening from sleep in passages like:

Daniel 12:2 … many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

But the Old Covenant believer had no concept of resurrection. This is because Jesus Christ is the “first fruits of them that slept”. The “first fruits” was, to the Jew, the “first harvest of the field”. Jesus Christ is the prototype of the resurrection. We have the promise of God that “in Christ shall all be made alive”. You will NOT be RESUSCITATED. You will be “made alive”, just like Jesus is alive. There is coming a day when you will die. Yet beloved, this is but a bee sting. Why? Because “every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming”. When Jesus returns, you shall be made fully Heaven worthy. You shall be made like Jesus.

1 Corinthians 15:5-8 {Jesus} was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: 6 after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. 7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles. 8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

Jesus Christ rose from the grave. He is the first fruit of resurrection. He was seen of many, touched and spoken to in His resurrection body. And as the first fruit, you who believe in Him will one day be as He is.

This Present Body Is Not Heaven Worthy

I received a gift from the United States Government the other day. They sent me a “intestinal lavage”. It’s for an upcoming procedure that the V.A. is going to do. Yippee!!!

We must all die, or be changed, if we are going to go to Heaven. You may, like an Old Testament Saint, pray that God extend your earthly life, and God may do so. God loves us enough to extend our lives. But Beloved, you cannot enter Heaven in your current bodies. Your souls can enter Heaven, because Jesus Christ paid for your sins. If you have believed in Him the Bible says:

John 3:16-18 … God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

If you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior you are “not condemned”. The Bible says because we are BORN AGAIN of God’s Spirit (John 3:3, 5, 7), that …

Romans 7:6 … NOW WE ARE delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit …

1 John 3:2 … 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.

Our SOULS are made Heaven worthy … but our BODIES are not. The Apostle describes this in detail:

1 Corinthians 15:35-44 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come? 36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: 37 and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: 38 but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body. 39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds. 40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another. 41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in glory. 42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption: 43 it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power: 44 it is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body.

The Apostle likens our bodies to the seed of a tree or a fruit. That which is sown, is sown into the soil a dead thing, but is raised through the power of God into something else. Our bodies are corrupted by an old sin nature. Sin is in our flesh. The Apostle said:

Romans 7:18 … I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me.

This present body must be exchanged for another. This present body is not Heaven worthy. This is why,

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

The Apostle did not see physical death as a thing to be feared. He viewed his walk with God under the New Covenant, not under the Old Covenant. He knew that his current body – as is all our bodies – is not Heaven worthy. Our bodies must undergo change before they are allowed in Heaven.

1 Corinthians 15:44 … There is a NATURAL body, and there is a SPIRITUAL body …

The first body you were given (you neither earned nor deserved that body) by God’s Grace. It is an EARTHLY body. The next body you will be given, dear Christian, will be HEAVENLY. We read:

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit. 46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. 47 The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven. 48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. 49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.

In Adam we have physical life, but in Adam that life is corrupted by sin. But in Christ we have right now spiritual life, and the promise of a Heavenly body in God’s own timing. Physical death for the believer is not a curse, but a blessing. When we physically die, we spiritually go to be with Jesus.

The Promise Of God Should Remove
Our Fear Of Death

Let us end with more of this precious text. The Apostle says:

1 Corinthians 15:50-58 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 55 O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? 56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

In a 1972 Radio Message Billy Graham said:

“The death of a Christian is unlike the tragic passing of the unrighteous. Though the Christian has no immunity from death and no claim to perpetual life on this planet, death is to him a friend rather than a foe, the beginning rather than the end. … It is as if the Lord of the harvest says to every weary laborer, ‘You’ve been faithful in your task. Come and sit in the sheltered porch of my palace and rest from your labors. Enter now into the joy of your Lord.’ … Death to the Christian is the exchanging of a tent for a permanent palace. Here we are as pilgrims or gypsies living in a frail, flimsy home subject to disease, pain and peril. But at death we exchange this crumbling, disintegrating tent for a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”

“Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift” (2 Corinthians 9:15). Let us not fear what is to come, dear Christian. Let us be New Covenant believers. If you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, run to His embrace today. He loves you, and has promised to give you eternal life both now, and forever. Amen and Amen!

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The Great Meeting In The Air

Posted on April 19, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by William Sinclair on Unsplash

1 Thessalonians 4:13-18 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. 14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. 16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. 18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.

The Bible Is Filled With Wonderful Meetings That
We Can Read Of, But Could Not Be At

I wish I could have been at that camp meeting when Israel passed through the Red Sea as if on dry land. I wish I could have been there when Miriam, Moses’ sister, led Israel in song:

Exodus 15:21 Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath {God} thrown into the sea.

That must have been magnificent! I would have loved to have been at the meeting when Moses received the Law, or when Jericho fell as God’s people marched around it. There are so many wonderful meetings in the Old Testament I would have loved to have been at.

Wouldn’t you have loved to be at that meeting at the empty tomb when the Angel told the women:

Matthew 28:6-8 He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. 7 And go quickly, and tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. 8 And they departed quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his disciples word.

Wouldn’t you have loved to have been at that meeting when the disciples huddled together, fearful, in a locked room? I would have loved to be there. I can imagine the conversation, the sadness, as we spoke of Jesus’ crucifixion. Jesus had told His disciples that “after three days He will rise” (Mark 9:30-32; Matthew 17:22-23). Jesus told them (Matthew 26:32) “after I am risen again, I will go before you into Galilee”. They heard His words, but the words didn’t register. In that locked room 11 defeated men gathered – oh, how I wish I could have been there – when suddenly and miraculously Jesus appeared. Can you imagine it? It would have made me shout. Jesus has conquered death. He passed through a locked door to see us, saying:

Luke 24:39-43 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have. 40 And when he had thus spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet. 41 And while they yet believed not for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here any meat? 42 And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish, and of an honeycomb. 43 And he took it, and did eat before them.

What a wonderful meeting that must have been! Then Jesus “shewed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God” (Acts 1:3). What a wonderful series of meetings this must have been. The Sermon on the Mount was well attended, and a great blessing – but just imagine the meetings with the resurrected Jesus! Praise God!

On the fortieth day following His resurrection from the tomb, Jesus commissioned His Apostles. He told them – and us – to carry the Gospel message into the world. How it must have moved their hearts when they saw Jesus – defeating gravity – ascend to glory:

Mark 16:19-20 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.

What a powerful meeting that was! Neither you nor I could be at any of those wonderful meetings. I read of them, and believe that they happened just as they said. But I can only read of them, and imagine the joy of seeing Jesus – the resurrected Jesus – face to face. I was born in the wrong time to see those wonderful meetings. But there is a meeting that will be greater than that first meeting with Jesus was. This meeting is a meeting that every Christian will attend. The old time Evangelist Billy Sunday said of this coming meeting:

… “no meeting has ever been held anywhere or in any time that could begin to compare in importance with the greatest of all meetins that is to be held in the air, when our Lord comes to make up His jewels. That meeting is the one for which all others have been preparing the way. It will be the crowning meeting of all history. The purpose of all that has been done in this world up to the present times has been prepared for that great meeting in the air.”

Jesus is Coming! Jesus said He would be crucified. He said that He would lay His life down for us. He said that He would die, and rise again on the third day. But Jesus also said that He is coming again. Jesus said that His coming would be like lightening, quick and unpredictable. He said:

Matthew 24:27 as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.

Jesus told His disciples that the day of His Second Coming is known only to the Father. He said:

Matthew 24:36 But of that day and hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels of heaven, but my Father only.

Matthew 24:42-44 Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 43 But know this, that if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up. 44 Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.

The Second Coming of Christ is referred to over 350 times in the New Testament.

Water Baptism is an important Biblical truth. The Apostle Paul refers to Water Baptism about 13 times. But the Apostle refers to the Second Coming of Jesus 50 times. Our Jesus is coming again. He is coming to save, and He is coming to judge and rule. If you are a child of God by faith in Christ (Galatians 3:26) then you WILL be at this great meeting, one way or the other.

All Christians Will Be At That “Meeting In The Air”

Word Study In 1 Thessalonians, we see the Apostle Paul use the word “sleep” in two different technical ways.


1. The Apostle uses the word “ASLEEP” {Greek κοιμάω koimáō, [pronounced koy-mah’-o], meaning “to be in a state of rest or sleep”} in chapter four to describe the saved Child of God who is physically dead.
2. The Apostle uses the word “SLEEP” {Greek καθεύδω katheúdō, [pronounced kath-yoo’-do], meaning “to fall asleep”} in chapter five to describe the lost child of Adam who is spiritually dead.

This morning we are going to talk of the “Meeting In The Air”, the first phase of our Lord’s Second Coming. Let’s begin.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

When an unbeliever in Jesus physically dies, it is called “die” or “death”. But when a believer in Christ physically dies, the Bible refers to this as “sleep” or “asleep in Jesus”. Why is this? Because our Lord Jesus said:

John 11:25-26 …. I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: 26 and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.

Again, “whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die”. The Christian does not DIE. The Christian SLEEPS. The body of the believer RESTS in repose. The body of the Christian in that casket looks like it is sleeping. Death is but a sleep for the genuine believer in Christ. When the Evangelist Stephen was being stoned to death by the Pharisees the Bible says:

Acts 7:60 {Stephen} kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen did not drift off into normal sleep while his body was being beaten with stones. His body died – but to him it was like drifting off into sleep. “He fell asleep”. When Jesus’ friend Lazarus died, our Lord told His disciples:

John 11:11 … Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep.

The disciples did not understand. They said:

John 11:12-15 … Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 13 Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 14 Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe; nevertheless let us go unto him.

For the Christian, death is but a sleep.

When the Apostle Paul wrote of the some 500 brethren who saw the resurrected Jesus, he wrote:

1 Corinthians 15:6 … {Jesus} was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

The Apostle was speaking of the believers who had physically died. They were “fallen asleep”. Death for the Christian is indeed much like sleep. Both death and sleep are inevitable. Everyone must die, and everyone must sleep. When you as a Christian die, you do not cease to exist, no more than you cease to exist when you sleep. When you sleep, you awaken to a different time. When you as a Christian die, you awaken in glory, in a different time. Both death and sleep sneak up on us. When I lay in bed at night thinking about going to sleep, I cannot sleep. But when I think on other things, sleep sneaks up on me. It is a surprise, albeit a pleasant one. Death and sleep for the Christian are the same.

When the Bible refers to the Christian sleeping, this sleep refers to the body, not the soul. When the Christian experiences physical death, the believer’s soul goes to be with the Lord. The Bible says:

2 Corinthians 5:6-8 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord: 7 (for we walk by faith, not by sight:) 8 we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.

When we are “absent from the body”, that is, my soul departs this vessel, then we are “present with the Lord”. Believers go to be with Jesus, where Jesus is. When John the Revelator looked into Heaven, he said:

Revelation 6:9 … I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:

He did not see their bodies. He saw their SOULS. He said the same thing in Revelation 20:4, “I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the Word of God …”. When the believer in Christ dies, their BODY sleeps “in the dust of the earth” (Daniel 12:2). The Apostle, writing to the Church at Philippi, said:

Philippians 1:21-24 … For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain. 22 But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labour: yet what I shall choose I wot not. 23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better: 24 nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you.

Physical death for the Apostle was GAIN, not loss. Why? He said “I have a desire to depart, and to be with Christ”. Paul rightly saw that physical death for the believer was when our bodies sleep, but our souls go to be with Jesus, to see Him face to face.

Christians Sleep And Have Hope.
Unbelievers Die Without Hope.

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.

The Apostle did not want the Thessalonians to “sorrow as others which have no hope”. When unbelievers die, their souls go to a place of TORMENT (Luke 16:22-23). “The rich man lifted up his EYES IN HELL, BEING IN TORMENTS”. Lazarus, on the other hand, was “being comforted”.

1 Thessalonians 4:14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

Here then is the great news of salvation. The Christian who “sleeps” or physically dies prior to the return of Jesus Christ, then “them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him”. Those loved ones who have gone on ahead – who have “fallen asleep in Jesus” – when Jesus comes back God will bring them – their souls – WITH HIM. Our loved ones – my grandma and grandpa, my momma and daddy, the loved ones who were “in Christ”, and who “fell asleep in Christ”, or have physically died, these precious souls will come back with Jesus when He returns.

1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.

Word Study Those Christians who are alive when Jesus returns in the air “shall not prevent them which are asleep”. The word translated “prevent” is the Greek φθάνω phthánō, [pronounced fthan’-o], which means “to come before or precede”. When Jesus returns, He brings the souls of those who have believed in Him with Him, like a mighty cloud of witnesses.

1 Thessalonians 4:16 For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

At this wonderful meeting in the air that some call “The Rapture”, the souls of those who departed this life, “asleep in Jesus”, will be given resurrected bodies FIRST. Those who go the sleep first receive resurrected bodies first. What a blessing this is!

1 Thessalonians 4:17 … Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Word Study The words “caught up together” is the Greek ἁρπάζω harpázō, [pronounced har-pad’-zo]. This is a very interesting word, as it means “to seize, to carry off or be claimed eagerly for one’s self”. After Jesus unites the believers who have previously “fallen asleep” with glorified bodies, He takes those Christians who are alive and remain off of this earth. What great news! “And so shall we ever be with the Lord”. Christ’s Church, the believers of every age, will forever be with Jesus. The Apostle of love said:

1 John 3:2 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.

“when he shall appear, we shall be like him”. What a glorious truth this is, dear Christian. As you have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, one day – and we do not know when that day will be – Jesus will come back to receive you to Himself. If you “fall asleep in Christ” prior to His second coming, then He will bring you back with Him when He returns “in the air”. Jesus is coming – we do not know when. The Moody Bible Institute notes:

“Before He establishes His kingdom on earth, Jesus will come for His Church, an event commonly referred to as the “Rapture.” At that time the dead in Christ will be raised and living Christians will be caught up to meet the Lord in the air and be with Him forever. In this resurrection, those who have died in Christ will have their redeemed souls and spirits united with a body similar to Christ’s glorified body. Christians living at the time of this event will not die, but will be changed to be like Christ. This expectation is a motivation for holy living, as well as a source of comfort.”

If You Plan On Meeting Jesus In The Air
You Will Live For Jesus On The Ground

Knowing that the Lord shall return at any moment – and we do not know when that moment will be – we as Christians are to live expectantly and in a holy manner every moment of every day. When we started this message we read:

1 Thessalonians 4:13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep

We skipped over that little word “But”, but that word is important, too. Preceding this teaching on the Second Coming of Christ the Apostle said:

1 Thessalonians 4:1-4 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. 2 For ye know what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus. 3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that ye should abstain from fornication: 4 that every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor…

If you are a Christian, and are expecting to one day to “fall asleep in Jesus” and not to die, then you should “know how to possess {your} vessel in sanctification and honor”. The lives that God has given you are stewardships. “You are not your own, but are bought with a price, the Blood of Jesus Christ. Glorify God in your BODY, and in your SPIRIT, which are God’s!” (1 Corinthians 6:20). You are to be living your lives as if Christ might come at any moment. You are to live your lives to please Jesus.

Understanding the Second Coming of Christ should spur us into actively serving Jesus. We do not know when Jesus will return. If you are saved, and looking forward to SLEEP and not death, then:

1 Thessalonians 4:7 … God hath not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.

We are to be a holy people. God tells His Children:

1 Peter 1:15-16 as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of {your way of life}; 16 because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

We are called as believers to holiness, to living our lives so as to please our Lord. Knowing that Christ is returning without warning, the Apostle exhorts us:

1 Thessalonians 4:9-12 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another. 10 And indeed ye do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that ye increase more and more; 11 and that ye study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you; 12 that ye may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that ye may have lack of nothing.

The Second Coming of Christ is in two phases. In phase 1, Jesus saves His Church from the Great Tribulation. The Church goes with Jesus to glory for seven years, while the judgment of God and the rule of the Antichrist grips the earth. At the end of that seven year period Jesus returns to the earth with His Church to save Israel, and to judge sin. Jude wrote of this in:

Jude 14-15 And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, 15 to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.

There is a Second Coming “In the Air” and a Second Coming “On the Ground”. The first is to save the Church from Tribulation. The second is to save Israel, and establish the Kingdom of Christ on the earth. What wonderful truths!

Will you be at this meeting? Will you be at the Second Coming of Christ? You will be, but only if you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You will be, but only if you have been born again of the Spirit, and are Children of God by spiritual adoption. You will be, only if you love Jesus, and follow Him. Jesus will not return for a stranger. He is returning for those He loves. Will you be at that great Meeting in the Air? May God the Holy Spirit draw you to call upon Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. The Bible says:

John 3:15-18 … whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Amen and Amen!

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The Day Of The Lord

Posted on April 19, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Michael & Diane Weidner on Unsplash

Please turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Thessalonians 5. As you are turning, I will give you an introduction to Chapter Five.

Rapture (Second Coming Phase 1) &
Great Tribulation (Time of Jacob’s Trouble)

This morning we studied the Second Coming of Christ when we “meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:17). Jesus will return from Heaven to take His Church from this earth. We saw this morning that:

1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 … the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 17 then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

The Church has historically referred to this text as “The Rapture”, or what I call “The Second Coming Phase 1”

Jesus is coming again. In His Second Coming in the Air the Bible says:

1 Thessalonians 4:14 … if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.

You cannot be saved unless you believe that “Jesus died and rose again”. Dr Charles Stanley notes:

“Believing that the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the dead is essential for Christians. Merely recognizing that He died for our sins is not enough; we must accept His resurrection in order to receive eternal life. Christ paid our debt, but His sacrifice on the cross means nothing if He possesses no power over the grave. In vanquishing evil and death, the Lord made our salvation possible.”

The Bible says in Romans 10:8-11, “what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 9 that if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.”

You must “believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead” if you would be saved. Period! If Jesus did not die on the Cross, then our sins were never paid for. If Jesus died and did not resurrect, then His promise and performance were all lies. The Bible says in

1 Corinthians 15:13-17 … if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen: 14 and if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins.

The resurrection of Christ shows us that it is God’s intent not only to forgive our sins, but to give us resurrected bodies in the future. The souls that have gone on to be with Jesus before the Rapture, Jesus will bring them back with Him, and they shall be given glorified bodies first. Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them, to meet the Lord in the air. Why does Jesus do this? Because God never does things halfway. The salvation we have in Jesus is a complete salvation. What did the Apostle say?

Colossians 2:9-10 For in {Jesus} dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. 10 And ye are complete in {Jesus} …

Jesus returns to save His Church from the coming Great Tribulation in Phase 1 of His Second Coming (the Rapture).

I believe that the Scripture teaches while the Great Tribulation unfolds, during that 7 year period the Church will be with Jesus in Heaven. Jesus warned of this Great Tribulation in:

Matthew 24:15-22 When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 16 then let them which be in Judæa flee into the mountains: 17 let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 18 neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 19 And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 20 But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: 21 for then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. 22 And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.

As Jesus addressed this warning He was talking to Israel, not to His Church. The Great Tribulation is known as “The Time Of Jacob’s Trouble”. This is from the Prophet:

Jeremiah 30:7-9 Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob’s trouble; but he shall be saved out of it. 8 For it shall come to pass in that day, saith the Lord of hosts, that I will break his yoke from off thy neck, and will burst thy bonds, and strangers shall no more serve themselves of him: 9 but they shall serve the Lord their God, and David their king, whom I will raise up unto them.

The Great Tribulation is “the time of Jacob’s trouble”. The name “Jacob” is the name of the lost man who would one day be named “Israel”. Out of “Israel” would come twelve sons that would be the twelve tribes of Israel, God’s Chosen nation. The Great Tribulation will be a seven year period where Israel (who is now acting like Jacob) will look for and receive the Lord Jesus Christ. Dr Adrian Rogers said of the Great Tribulation:

“It is the last seven years of God’s dealing with the nation of Israel before they are brought to a final crisis—and prepared for receiving their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. We know this because of many Scriptures connecting the Great Tribulation to the nation of Israel.” (Deuteronomy 4:39; Jeremiah 30; Daniel 12:1; Matthew 24:22) … “Another purpose of the Tribulation is to punish the Gentiles for their arrogance, rebellion and godlessness. Isaiah 24 and Jeremiah 25 beginning with verse 30 describe the Great Tribulation coming upon the Gentiles. God will pour out His wrath upon a world that has spurned Him, that has laughed at and ridiculed His precepts and principles and said, “We don’t want any God to rule over us” (Psalm 2:3). ”

The Great Tribulation is a time for Israel to be tried, so that God’s people might return to Him and be saved. The Bible says in:

Romans 11:26 … so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

The “Day Of The Lord” Is When Jesus Saves Israel, And Establishes His Kingdom On The Earth

1 Thessalonians 5:1-2 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. 2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night.

The “day of the Lord” is when God the Son returns to this earth – not “in the air” but ON THE GROUND. Jesus Christ returns to the earth with His Church. Jesus overthrows the world powers, and sets up His Throne in Jerusalem. Jesus will come “as a thief in the night”. No thief ever phones ahead, texts, or emails you to say “I’m going to come to your home at such and such a time”. That wouldn’t make sense. When Jesus comes again with His Church it will be a surprise to the lost world. It will not be a happy event. The Apostle writes:

2 Peter 3:9-11 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. 10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,

The Second Coming of Jesus for Israel will be a cataclysmic event! God our Savior will be judging sin on the earth. Can you imagine it? I was watching a somewhat comical show the other day called Third Rock From The Son. In that show they had an office party for Christmas. In that party, the song “O Little Town of Bethlehem” was playing, while they drunkenly did a conga line in mockery to it. Jesus is coming again! He is coming with His Church.

The first time Jesus came, He rode a donkey into Jerusalem (Zechariah 9:9; Matthew 21:1-11). During His Second Coming (Phase 2) John writes:

Revelation 19:11-16 And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 12 His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 15 And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.

The “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS ” will come and take back His world. The entertainment industry which, through movies, internet, radio and television has gotten rich selling sin – Jesus will crush it. The colleges, filled with professors who teach Marxism and godlessness to our children, will be destroyed. The Bible says “sudden destruction cometh upon them”. God will directly intervene in human history. The world at present ignores the Lord, and His Word. But Jesus will come, and change all things.

1 Thessalonians 5:3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.

The “Day of the Lord” is when God will righteously judge those who have rejected Gods our Savior. The Prophet writes of the Second Coming:

Isaiah 2:11-12 The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. 12 For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low:

God will send His Son Jesus to reclaim the earth, which belongs to Him, from those who have used it in godlessness. Those who have rejected the Lord are told:

Isaiah 13:6-9 Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand;it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty.7 Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: 8 and they shall be afraid:pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them;they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. 9 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate:and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.

Jesus came to this earth the first time to save sinners. As He returns to earth with His Church He comes not to save, but destroy, to rid the earth of those who will not hear His Word, to rid the world of those who have hardened their hearts to the Gospel. The Prophet said:

Joel 2:10-11 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining: 11 and the Lord shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executeth his word: for the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?

Is there any hope for salvation during the Day of the Lord? Yes, according to Peter there is. He preached on the Day of Pentecost:

Acts 2:17-21 it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams: 18 and on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy: 19 and I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke: 20 the sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come: 21 and it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

If people would repent, God would yet save them. Yet few will be saved because of the hardness of their hearts. During the Great Tribulation some will take the Mark of the Beast upon themselves (Revelation 13:1-2, 11-18). Those who are so marked will be under the wrath of God forever (Revelation 14:9-12). Salvation is possible, but in order to be saved those who are saved during the Great Tribulation must suffer for their faith.

Those Who Are Believers Prior To The Second Coming (Phase 2) Will Not Be Overtaken By God’s Judgment

1 Thessalonians 5:4-5 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.

Those who will be “overtake you as a thief” by the Day of the Lord are those who are “in darkness”. The Second Coming of Christ (the Day of the Lord) will be a direct judgment of God on the lost people of earth. It is not for us to go through. We have

John 12:36 … believe(d) in the Light, that (we) may be the Children of Light…

We “were at other times darkness, but NOW are Light in the Lord. We are to WALK as CHILDREN OF LIGHT” (Ephesians 5:8). As we are told, “Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness”. We are not under the wrath of God, for we have received Jesus Christ as both Lord and Savior. Jesus said:

John 3:16-18 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. 17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. 18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

The lost person is in a state of CONDEMNATION right now. If Jesus returned for His Church, the lost would go through seven years of hell on earth, culminating with the Judgment of the Son of God. “Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.” (Revelation 1:7). Jesus will come and conquer the sinful, who hold His creation in slavery. Knowing this, the Apostle says:

1 Thessalonians 5:6-8 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. 7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. 8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

Word Study This morning we saw the word “sleep” used by Paul to describe the physical death of the Christ follower. In the Greek text Paul uses the word κοιμάω koimáō, [pronounced koy-mah’-o] in Chapter Four. But in our text above the Apostle uses the Greek καθεύδω katheúdō, [pronounced kath-yoo’-do], which means “to fall asleep”. Unbelievers have “fallen asleep” from the presence of God, being lulled by Satan’s song and being comforted by the night. The Apostle charges us who are believers to “be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation”. The words “be sober” is the Greek word νήφω nḗphō, [pronounced nay’-fo] which means “WATCH”. We as believers in Christ are to daily put on “faith and love”, faith in God and love for our Lord and those around us. We are to make sure we slip on – every day – the head covering, “the hope of salvation”. We know that any day now our Lord Jesus Christ could come back and take us in Rapture. He will take us from this earth, for …

1 Thessalonians 5:9-10 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, 10 who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.

The future hell of the Great Tribulation is not to be mine. The Lord saved me so that I can be with Him every day of my life. As Christians, “whether we wake”, that is, live our lives in Him, or whether we “sleep” (καθεύδω katheudō), that is, physically meet death, “we should live together with him”. I am a living creature that can never die BECAUSE OF JESUS. So I want to live my life in the light, in Jesus, living for Him.

The Apostle closes with:

1 Thessalonians 5:11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

If you are saved by faith in Christ, you should be living your lives, looking for Jesus to come and Rapture you at any moment. You are under the promise Christ made to the Church of Philadelphia:

Revelation 3:10-13 Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, today would be a great day to receive Him. If you are merely religious, a “Church going” person, you fall under the promise Jesus gave to the Church at Sardis:

Revelation 3:2-3 Be watchful, and strengthen the things which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found thy works perfect before God. 3 Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast, and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee.

Do not wait for Jesus to “come on you as a thief”. Give yourselves to Jesus, and be saved by faith in Him. Now is the time. Now is the day of salvation. May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen.

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The Church Is Not Like The World

Posted on April 16, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Light of the world - the Church
Photo by NASA on Unsplash

Colossians 2:1-3 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh; {2} That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; {3} In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I remember my Grandma Elma telling me that she was a little girl when the unsinkable ship called The Titanic sunk. She couldn’t remember a lot of the details as she was in her late 90s at that time. She did remember the adults being so upset because so many people died. What caused the deaths of more than 1500 people? No one is certain of any one cause, but all the causes related to human error. The ship was traveling at high speed – 22 knots – in waters known to harbor icebergs. The wireless radio operator received a warning an hour before the accident. Another ship close by named The Californian radioed to say it had been stopped by dense ice. The operator did not pass the information on to the Captain of the ship. There is also the possibility that the builders of the Titanic cut costs by using lower quality rivets than they should have when constructing the ship. When the accident occurred, the Titanic only had the bare minimum of lifeboats, and in the panic many of these lifeboats were launched at less than their capacity.

Human error. Though it was claimed that the Titanic’s Captain Edward John Smith said, “Even God Himself couldn’t sink this ship”, I don’t believe God did it. I believe human error did it. Human error brought sin into this world. Human error is responsible for much of the evil found in the world today.

As the Apostle addresses the Churches of Colossae and Laodicea, he says:

Colossians 2:1 For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh;

Word Study The words “great conflict” are very interesting. The Apostle uses the word ἀγών agṓn, {pronounced ag-one’}, which was often used to describe the Greek Olympic games. You could say that Paul is saying “there are forces within me, emotions, competing with one another because of my love for you”. He knows that the Churches at Colossae and Laodicea are located in areas where they can be overcome with human error. As he writes this letter to the Colossians, he directs that this letter be read in the Church of Laodicea:

Colossians 4:15-16 Salute the brethren which are in Laodicea, and Nymphas, and the church which is in his house. {16} And when this epistle is read among you, cause that it be read also in the church of the Laodiceans; and that ye likewise read the epistle from Laodicea.

Both Colossae and Laodicea were in danger of shipwreck. Many local Churches today are shipwrecked because of these factors.

Biblical Love Binds The Church Together

Colossians 2:2-3 That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ; {3} In whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

The Church can get off course “in love”. Jesus made love one of the great focuses of our faith. Jesus was asked, “What is the Great Commandment in the Law”? Jesus promptly answered:

Matthew 22:37-38 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.

God is to be loved ABOVE all others and ABOVE all else. God is to occupy FIRST PLACE in our hearts. Not our spouses, not our children, nor even ourselves. God.
God is to be first.

Our Lord was quoting the Law of God. The Second giving of the Law states:

Deuteronomy 6:5 thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.

What God has said takes precedent over what others have said. What God has recorded in Scripture is what we are to give preeminence to. Those who are saved by the Blood of the Lamb are to love the God Who demands the Lamb. We are to hear what our God says and obey it. The Scripture says:

1 John 5:2-5 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous. 4 For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5 Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?

I am told that there are preachers who have backed away from the truth of the Scripture because one of their children or one of their relatives has “come out”. What has God told us?

1 John 2:15-17 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. 17 And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

God must be loved first. He must have our hearts above all others. Jesus said:

Luke 14:26-27 If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple. 27 And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple.

The believer in Christ must “hate”, the Greek μισέω miséō, {pronounced mis-eh’-o} their loved ones! That word miséō literally means “to hate, detest, by extension, to love much less”. Now did Jesus mean for us to literally HATE our offspring and those closest to us? No, absolutely not. We will see in a few moments that we are to love even our enemies, and do good to those who do bad to us. What was Jesus saying? He was saying that, when we compare the love we have for Him and His commandments with the love we have for others, that our love for Christ will be much, much greater in scope and drive than our love for other humans. God must occupy and rule our hearts.

Our love for God must be greater – much greater – than any love we have for those who are NOT God.

As much as I love my wife and children, I love my God more. This is natural. This is for what I was created. The Christian faith is a supernatural faith. When a person receives Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, God the Holy Spirit comes to that person and causes them to be “born again of the Spirit” (John 3:3, 7; 1 Peter 1:23). God then causes a change of that person’s heart. The Bible says:

Hebrews 10:12-17 but this man {Jesus}, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; 13 from henceforth expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. 14 For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified. 15 Whereof the Holy Ghost also is a witness to us: for after that he had said before, 16 This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their hearts, and in their minds will I write them; 17 and their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.

Salvation from sin is always accompanied with a great l.ove for God and His Word. Jesus asked His disciples:

John 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 15:10 If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.

God must be premier in our hearts and minds. We must love Him IF we are saved. The Apostle said:

Romans 8:5-9 For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit the things of the Spirit. 6 For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7 Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8 So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 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.

Right after Jesus said:

Matthew 22:37-38 Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment.

He continued with Matthew 22:39-40 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

Love for God must be premier. Following love for God, we are to love people made in the image of God. We are to treat others the way that we want to be treated. This even applies to our enemies. We are told in another place:

Romans 12:17-21 Recompense to no man evil for evil. Provide things honest in the sight of all men. 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men. 19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. 20 Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head. 21 Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good.

Love is the driving force of God’s Church. Believers in Christ are follow Jesus’ command:

John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

The sacrificial love that Jesus showed to us, by which we are saved, is the same sacrificial love that we are to show to one another as His Church. It is this love that causes “their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love” (Colossians 2:2).

Passion For God’s Truth Empowers The Church

Colossians 2:2-6 … to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ 3 in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. 5 For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the steadfastness of your faith in Christ.

The wisdom and knowledge that we find in Biblical truth is called a “treasure”. The Apostle said in another place:

Romans 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

What God has said is true, and has established is true, is true even today. God is infinite in wisdom and knowledge. The Church must always be careful to cherish and feed from the Word of God, and to never accept the lesser word of man in it’s place. The Apostle says:

Colossians 2:8-9 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. {9} For in him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily

When “philosophy and vain deceit” from the world enter into the congregational thought, it is not long before the traditions of men rather than the Word of God reign. Jesus excoriated the Pharisees – the religious conservatives of His day – for departing from the Word of God in favor of the word of man, or the traditions of the elders. He said:

Mark 7:6-13 … Well hath {Isaiah} prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. 7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do. 9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition. 10 For Moses said, Honor thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death: 11 But ye say, If a man shall say to his father or mother, It is Corban, that is to say, a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; he shall be free. 12 And ye suffer him no more to do ought for his father or his mother; 13 making the word of God of none effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered: and many such like things do ye.

I have seen this first hand in churches I have pastored. In one Church, two deacons – who should have been filled with the Spirit – were filled with hatred for one another. Their constant battling caused the Church to divide, and eventually collapse. Though I spoke to these men frequently on the subject of love and forgiveness, they rejected God’s Word, to the damage of their own souls and the life of the church. The Bible warns us:

Galatians 6:6-10 Let him that is taught in the Word communicate unto him that teacheth in all good things. 7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. 10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

God’s Word is Truth (John 17:17). The word of man may or may not be valid truth, but what God has said will stand forever. When we allow the Word of God and our love for it to be replaced with worldliness, it will not be long before Christ leaves the Church. In the Book of Revelation Jesus warned the Church at Laodicea (as well as the Church at Colossae):

Revelation 3:14-20 And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; {15} I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. {16} So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spew thee out of my mouth. {17} Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: {18} I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see. {19} As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. {20} Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

The Church at Laodicea had so rejected the Word of Christ for the word of the Lord that our Lord was literally locked outside of the church. Sadly, this is true in much of the Church in the world today. Jesus rebuked them, and called them to return to Him. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see”. The Church must get back to the Word of God.

The Church of Christ is to be IN the world, but not OF the world. We are to cling to the Scripture, the Holy Bible. God saved us through the sacrifice of His Only Begotten Son so that He might bring us into HIS Kingdom. We are His, and He is ours.

Galatians 4:3-7 Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world: {4}But when the fullness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, {5} To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons. {6} And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father. {7}Wherefore thou art no more a servant, but a son; and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ.

Dear Church, we do not belong to the world, but to God our Savior. We are adopted Children of the Most High. Let us not act like children of Adam, nor children of the devil, but like Children of God. Let us “follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness … laying hold on eternal life (1 Timothy 6:11-12)”.

Colossians 2:6 As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him ..

Have you “received Christ Jesus the Lord”? If you have, walk “in him”. Jesus said:

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.

We were at one time darkness. But having received the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior, we are LIGHT IN THE LORD (Ephesians 5:8). We do not belong to this world. We belong to Christ. We belong to God. If we say we have fellowship with God and yet walk in the darkness of this world, then we are liars, and the truth is not in us (1 John 1:6). We are children of God, children of the light.

May God draw you close to His side as you walk before Him in love. Amen and Amen!

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Elijah and Prayer

Posted on April 11, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Tehzeeb Kazmi on Unsplash

Turn with me in your Bibles to James chapter 5.

I came across the works of a Puritan Preacher named John Bunyan. One of his most famous works was a book called Pilgrim’s Progress. What impressed me most about Bunyan is that, when God called him to preach, he was warned not to preach because his preaching was not authorized by the state. Wikipedia notes:

“Bunyan was arrested under the Conventicle Act of 1593, which made it an offense to attend a religious gathering other than at the parish church with more than five people outside their family. The offense was punishable by 3 months imprisonment followed by banishment or execution if the person then failed to promise not to re-offend.”

Imprisoned for 3 months, Bunyan refused to stop preaching the Gospel, and eventually ended up imprisoned for 12 years. Though his imprisonment caused a great hardship to his family, Bunyan continued to share the Gospel, and wrote 60 titles until his death 31 August 1688 at the age of 59. Bunyan said of prayer:

“Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God, through Christ, in the strength and assistance of the Holy Spirit, for such things as God has promised, or according to the Word of God, for the good of the Church, with submission in faith to the will of God.”

If the Church will stand as America goes through the shaking of satanic darkness, then God’s people must be a praying people. Solomon once noted “there is no new thing under the sun” (Ecclesiastes 1:9). The darkness that grips America today is the same darkness that gripped England during John Bunyan’s day, the same darkness that gripped Israel during Elijah’s time. The forces that are pushing so called sexual freedom and gender fluidity are the same dark forces that have always been, from the time that Adam listened to a serpent and unto today. When John Bunyan was afflicted, he immersed himself in God’s Word and prayer.

James 5:13-18 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms. 14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: 15 and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much. 17 Elias {Elijah} was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Word Study James encourages us to “effectual fervent prayer”. The words “effectual fervent” is the Greek verb ἐνεργέω energéō, {pronounced en-erg-eh’-o}, a word that means just like it sounds. Doesn’t this sound like energetic? That’s what it means. “Energetic, active, not complacent, to be mighty in, to work hard at”. For prayer to be effective, you need to lose yourself in it. Prayer must be a daily, moment by moment, focus on the God Who loves you. The word translated “prayer” is the Greek δέησις déēsis, {pronounced deh’-ay-sis}, which means a “seeking type of prayer. Before the Holy Spirit came to the early Church, that small congregation of 120 were in an upper room:

Acts 1:14 … with one accord in PRAYER {déēsis} and supplication …

Prayer is to be energetic. Prayer is to seek God. What does the Scripture say? We read:

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please {God}: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Prayer that is infrequent, half hearted, or double minded will not be blessed of God. The Bible says:

James 1:5-7 If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6 But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7 For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord.

The energetic prayer pursues God, seeking His blessing, and will not cease until an answer is found. God will not bless the half hearted prayer!

Effective prayer is energetic, seeking God. But further, the prayer God answers must come from a righteous person.

James 5:16 … The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

When Jesus healed the man born blind, the Pharisees claimed that our Lord was a sinner. The healed man told them:

John 9:31 Now we know that God heareth not sinners: but if any man be a worshiper of God, and doeth his will, him he heareth.

This is a clear principle in the Scripture. Listen:

Proverbs 15:29 The Lord is far from the wicked: but he heareth the prayer of the righteous.

The only prayer that God will hear of the son of Adam is the prayer seeking salvation. Sin corrupts our ability to communicate with God. The Psalmist said “The eyes of the Lord are toward the righteous and his ears toward their cry. The face of the Lord is against those who do evil, to cut off the memory of them from the earth” (Psalm 34:15-16). Sin must be confessed to God. God has promised “ If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Only the prayers of the RIGHTEOUS, that is, those in a right standing with God, shall be heard. This is “the prayer of faith”. The Scripture says:

James 5:15-16 … the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. 16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.

An Example Of A Righteous, Praying Man Is Elijah

James 5:17-18 Elias {Elijah} was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months. 18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

Though James was not acquainted with John Bunyan, he knew of Elijah. Every Jew knew about Elijah. During the Passover meals the Orthodox Jew would pour a cup and set a place for Elijah at the table. Elijah was a powerful Prophet. Why? Elijah was a praying Prophet.

Word Study The King James says “Elias {Elijah} was a man”. The more modern versions replace the word “Elias” with “Elijah”, and that is perfectly appropriate. The King James translator did not translate, but rather transliterated the Greek word for Elijah (which is Ἡλίας Hēlías, {pronounced hay-lee’-as}). Hēlías is the Greek equivalent for the Hebrew nameאֵלִיָּה ʼÊlîyâh, {pronounced ay-lee-yaw’}, or the English Elijah. Elijah’s name means “My God is Yahweh”.

Elijah was no superman. The Bible says that Elijah was “subject to like passions as we are”. This is the Greek ὁμοιοπαθής homoiopathḗs, {pronounced hom-oy-op-ath-ace’}, which means “to suffer like others, to have like feelings and affections as others have”. Elijah was not a special person, like the Nazarite Samson, whose power was in his hair; or like the Nazarite John the Baptist, filled with the Spirit from birth.

Elijah was just like us.

Turn with me in your Bibles to 1 Kings 17

1 Kings 17:1 Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead

Elijah was not famous. He was not born in a mansion. He was an unknown country boy!

Elijah was from Tishbe, a place that no one really knows where it is today. It would be like Sawdust or Glendale, Tennessee, or Climax, Georgia. Elijah was just one of the inhabitants of Gilead – a plain man. But Elijah was a believer in God. He lived his life trusting in God’s provision.

Background: Elijah lived in the time when Israel was divided by civil war. King Solomon’s son Rehoboam raised taxes on the ten northern tribes of Israel, and these tribes broke away from Judah, setting up their own king and their own religion. Jeroboam was the first king of these ten tribes. To keep the people of the ten tribes from going to Jerusalem to worship, Jeroboam set up two golden calves and a priesthood to serve them. By the time Elijah began to prophesy, Ahab was the seventh king to rule Northern Israel.

1 Kings 16:30-33 Ahab the son of Omri did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. 31 And it came to pass, as if it had been a light thing for him to walk in the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshiped him. 32 And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. 33 And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him.

It was during this terrible time when Israel was divided, and the nation was far from God, that the Lord called Elijah. Beloved, America is in a similar state today.
Oh, how we need prayer warriors!

1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word.

Notice Elijah’s statement. “As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand”. He didn’t say, “I came FROM God”, now did he say “I was talking to God YESTERDAY”. Elijah said “I am standing before God right now”. Beloved, if you are standing BEFORE God right now, then GOD IS BEHIND YOU AS YOU SPEAK. Elijah stood BEFORE God. He represented God. He didn’t even say “I’m standing BEFORE you, Ahab”. Ahab was inconsequential. Ahab was a nobody, a nothing. God was everything!

James 5:17 Elias {Elijah} … prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.

Word Study“{Elijah} prayed earnestly”. These are two Greek words, προσεύχομαι προσευχή proseuchomai proseuchē, which literally means “He offered prayers with prayer”.

Elijah prayed as John Bunyan said, “Prayer is a sincere, sensible, affectionate pouring out of the heart or soul to God”. Elijah’s prayer was not a selfish prayer, but a prayer that God be glorified and man be afflicted. This is Elijah’s recorded prayer:

As the Lord God of Israel liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word

Elijah represented God, and prayed in accordance with God’s will. Elijah put his entire trust in God his Savior. If Elijah’s prayer was to be answered as he prayed it, then not only would King Ahab and Northern Israel experience a terrible drought, but Elijah himself would suffer along with the people. Elijah did not pray that God stop all rain and dew everywhere but where he was. His prayer glorified God, and showed his trust in the Lord.

When you do God’s business, God takes care of you!

1 Kings 17:2-4 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 3 Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 4 And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there.

Word Study Elijah did as God told him. He went to the brook Cherith. Cherith is an interesting word, because in the Hebrew it means “cutting, piercing, or slaying”. That is certainly a scary name for a place of rest. And yet, Elijah did as God directed. Prayer is not one sided, but COMMUNICATION with God our Savior.

1 Kings 17:5-7 So he went and did according unto the word of the Lord: for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before Jordan. 6 And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. 7 And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there had been no rain in the land.

Elijah had a perfect place to hide from Ahab. Who would expect him to go to such a terrible named place? As it got dryer in Northern Israel, the brook Cherith dried up. And yet, God looks after His children.

1 Kings 17:8 And the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, 9 Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Zidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow woman there to sustain thee.

To Pray is not just to talk with God,
but to LISTEN to God.

Beloved, “the word of the Lord came unto Elijah” because he was seeking God’s direction through prayer. God said in His Word:

Proverbs 8:17 I love those who love me; And those who diligently seek me will find me.

How does one “diligently seek” God? This is done by prayer. Prayer is communication with the Lord Who loves us, and has given Himself for us. We seek God by being available to Him, by heeding His Word. Elijah lived his life available to the Lord. He was receptive to the Word of God. He loved God above all else, and God loved him. As the Brook Slaying dried up, God told Elijah “Go to the widow of Zarephath … I have commanded her to sustain you”. Elijah does as God says. He came to Zarephath and, seeing the widow gathering sticks for a fire, asked her to do two things:

1 Kings 17:10-11 Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink. 11 … Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thine hand.

God told Elijah that this widow was supposed to “sustain” him. He took God at His Word. He asked her for water, then food. The widow tells Elijah:

1 Kings 17:12 As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die.

But Elijah was not deterred. He told the widow:

1 Kings 17:13-14 Fear not; go and do as thou hast said: but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it unto me, and after make for thee and for thy son. 14 For thus saith the Lord God of Israel, The barrel of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that the Lord sendeth rain upon the earth.

The widow went on to do as Elijah said, giving water and bread to him as God so commanded. The Bible tells us:

1 Kings 17:16 … the barrel of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord, which he spake by Elijah.

The story doesn’t stop here. Elijah’s prayer stopped the rain and dew for 3 years and 6 months. Elijah’s prayer led him to Cherith and the ravens, and then to the widow of Zarephath. But God will test both Elijah and the widow of Zarephath.

Prayer warriors do not WORRY, but
WORK AT PRAYER when afflicted.

1 Kings 17:17-19 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 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? 19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into a loft, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed.

Why did God allow this sickness to come into Elijah and the widow’s life? To test and strengthen Elijah’s faith. It won’t be long before Elijah will stand on Mount Carmel, facing a multitude of false prophets in the name of God. Faith must be exercised, and trials come our way to exercise and grow our faith. God is able to defeat anything – even death. The Bible says:

Psalm 68:20 He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto God the Lord belong the issues from death.

Elijah had been staying in an upper loft at the widow’s house. Note that Elijah did not take the boy to his own room, but to Elijah’s room. God had been faithfully looking after Elijah throughout this drought. Elijah put the dead child in Elijah’s place of rest – then Elijah himself rested in prayer.

1 Kings 17:20-21 {Elijah} cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, hast thou ALSO brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?

Elijah’s prayer is simple, and in two parts. He first asks God a question. “O Lord my God, hast thou ALSO brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son”. Note the use of the word “ALSO”. What Elijah is asking is, “Lord, you have brought a bad drought on Israel – did you ALSO bring death to this child?” Elijah is seeking clarification. If it is the will of God that the child be dead, Elijah was not going to pray outside of the will of God. Elijah is not accusing God, but seeking clarification. “Lord, is it your will that this child remain dead?” Receiving an answer from God, Elijah

1 Kings 17:21 … stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto the Lord, and said, O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again.

Elijah laid hands on the child “three times”, and prayed simply “O Lord my God, I pray thee, let this child’s soul come into him again”. In the Bible only nine named individuals are ever raised back to life after death1. This is the very first time anyone was ever raised from the dead, so there was no precedent for this. Elijah just trusted God. We “walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Elijah’s prayer was very simple. When we pray, we do not need to make long, rambling prayers. We are to pray simply, sincerely, and within the will of God to glorify God.

1 Kings 17:22-23 And the Lord heard the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother: and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth.

Before rain would come on the earth, God would use Elijah to destroy the 400 prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, demonstrating once more the wondrous power of God. Once the false prophets were destroyed the Bible says:

1 Kings 18:41-45 Elijah said unto Ahab, Get thee up, eat and drink; for there is a sound of abundance of rain. 42 So Ahab went up to eat and to drink. And Elijah went up to the top of Carmel; and he cast himself down upon the earth, and put his face between his knees, 43 and said to his servant, Go up now, look toward the sea. And he went up, and looked, and said, There is nothing. And he said, Go again seven times. 44 And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man’s hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. 45 And it came to pass in the mean while, that the heaven was black with clouds and wind, and there was a great rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel.

Though Elijah’s prayer is not recorded, we know that he prayed because of what James tells us:

James 5:18 And {Elijah} prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.

It is God Who brings the rain, and God Who blesses us with fruit. God used a man named Elijah to get it done. The Lord blesses us by allowing us, through prayer, to do great things for Him on this earth. God expects us to pray. Let us follow Elijah’s pattern, and diligently seek God in prayer. And dear one, if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, please seek Him in prayer today. Those who are in Him will survive the coming days. May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit. Amen and Amen.

______________ Footnotes ________________

1 Elijah raised the son of the widow of Zarephath from the dead (1 Kings 17:17-22). Elisha raised the son of the Shunammite woman from the dead (2 Kings 4:32-35). A man was raised from the dead when his body touched Elisha’s bones (2 Kings 13:20, 21). Jesus raised the son of the widow of Nain from the dead (Luke 7:11-15), the daughter of Jairus from the dead (Luke 8:41, 42, 49-55), and Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-44). Jesus Himself rose from the grave (Matthew 28:5-8; Mark 16:6; Luke 24:5, 6). Peter raised Dorcas from the dead (Acts 9:36-41). Paul raised Eutychus from the dead (Acts 20:9, 10).

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The Cure For Very Dry Bones

Posted on April 11, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Dry bones
Photo by Trollinho on Unsplash

Ezekiel 37:1-3 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.

Before I was called of God to pastor, as a young Christian I sat under several preachers who loved to preach from this text. I have heard this text preached from different perspectives.
1. Some speak of these dry bones, and tell us that it speaks of the Resurrection of the Christian. The bodies that we have are but “earthen vessels” that will one day pass away (2 Corinthians 4:7). When the Christian dies, the body goes into the ground, but the soul goes to be with the Lord. Our Lord Jesus said:

John 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.

For the believer in God, death is but a momentary veil. When we are absent from the body, we who have Christ are present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:6-8). Jesus said,

John 11:26 … whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Though one day we will all pass through physical death if the Lord tarries (for I believe that some, like Elijah and Enoch, will pass into glory apart from death), that those dead bones shall live, for God shall make them live. What a wonderful truth our faith has in the resurrection of Christ. However, this text does not actually deal with the glorification and resurrection of God’s children.


2. I have heard this text preached to revive dead and Laodicean churches. One pastor, the late Frank O’Brien, often used this approach when challenging Loch Laurel Baptist to stir itself, and reach out to a lost and dying world. Though there are many local churches that are filled with “dry bones” today, this text is not addressing the Church of Christ when it asks “Can these bones live?”. It is certain that the Church in America is lethargic, entertainment driven, and in many cases indistinguishable from the darkness. But there are better passages that would rebuke the spirit of Laodicea. In particular, I think of the words of our Lord Jesus:

Revelation 3:15-18 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. 16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. 17 Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: 18 I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eye salve, that thou mayest see.

No, our text today doesn’t speak of the wayward Church in America. There are other texts that address this sad truth in a direct way.


3. I have heard this text used to encourage those who are discouraged, who have lost the zeal for life because of dark days and trials. I must admit that there are days in my life when it is hard for me to get up and go – that I feel like a bunch of dried up bones! It seems as if God is miles away, though I know that He is not, for He has promised

Hebrews 13:5 … I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

No, rather than preach this text on depression, there are better and more appropriate texts that address this. Texts like:

Psalm 80:19 Turn us again, O Lord God of hosts, cause thy face to shine; and we shall be saved.

Or Isaiah 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

What is this text specifically about? When you are reading your Bible, always read the context. The context will often answer the questions you have much better than the best commentary will. God tells us what these bones are. He says:

Ezekiel 37:11 Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel:

This valley of dry bones is a picture of Israel, which has departed from following the Living God. God gives this vision to Ezekiel, whose name means “The Strength of God”. Ezekiel was a pastor in Israel, a Levite Priest, the son of Buzi (Ezekiel 1:3). We know little about “Buzi” except that his name means “My Contempt” or “Condemned of Jehovah”. Ezekiel is a picture of the Grace of God. Born in sin, of a father called “Condemned of Jehovah”, grace made him “Ezekiel, the Strength of God”. Chuck Swindoll tells us:

“Ezekiel lived among the Jewish exiles in Babylon at a settlement along the river Chebar called Tel-abib (Ezekiel 3:15), less than one hundred miles south of Babylon. The invading Babylonians brought about ten thousand Jews to the village in 597 BC, including Ezekiel and the last king of Judah, Jehoiachin (2 Kings 24:8–14).”.

This text is addressed specifically to Israel, an Israel that had wandered away from God. Though addressed to Israel, there are many truths in the text that apply to us.

Israel Was Started From Dry Bones

Ezekiel is given a vision from God. Notice the first few verses:

Ezekiel 37:1-2 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.

Ezekiel is not given the vision because he is better or worse than anyone else. Ezekiel is given the vision entirely by Grace. Notice how Ezekiel opens the vision: “the hand of the Lord was upon me”. God grabbed hold of Ezekiel. He lifted Ezekiel’s spirit up. God “carried me out in the spirit of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which was full of bones”. God did not ask Ezekiel “Where would you like to go today?” No, there was no free will involved in this. God grabbed his soul. God moved him to a valley. God “caused me to pass by them round about”.

Our God is the Sovereign God. He has a right to do with what He created as He wishes. God is not apologetic or politically correct when He says:

Isaiah 45:7-9 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things. 8 Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the Lord have created it. 9 Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

Our God is sovereign! I am glad our God is sovereign, because Ezekiel saw:

Ezekiel 37:2 … there were VERY MANY {bones} in the open valley; and, lo, they were VERY DRY.

These are not fresh bones, nor bones with a little flesh on them. These bones were VERY MANY: more than Ezekiel could number. These bones were VERY DRY: absolutely dead – there was nothing of life in them. As Ezekiel views these bones, God asks Ezekiel a very simple question:

Ezekiel 37:3 … Son of man, can these bones live?

These bones are VERY MANY and VERY DRY. It is an overwhelming darkness, a place where there was absolutely no light. What can we do? Can we form a committee and look into this thing? Can we hire some specialists who know about reconstitution? What can we do? Ezekiel gives the only sane reply that anyone can give. He tells the Lord:

Ezekiel 37:3 … O Lord GOD, Thou knowest

Ezekiel addresses God as אֲדֹנָי יְהֹוָה or Adonai Yahweh. Only the Creator God can take the “dust of the ground” and make a person (Genesis 2:7). Only God can take dry bones, very dry bones, and bring life to them.

Israel the nation came from dry bones, very dry bones. An old man named Abram was childless (Genesis 11:30), and at the age of 75 years old (Genesis 12:4) was well past child bearing years. Abram was a “very dry bone” when God reached out to him, saying:

Genesis 12:1-2 … Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 and I will make of thee a great nation…

God was going to do something fantastic with Abram – one day to be Abraham. God would take a man who could not bear children, and bring life out of him. God offered this by Grace. God in essence told Abraham:

“Follow Me, and I will make you live, and bring forth life
where there is no possibility of life”

When Abraham was 100 years old Isaac was born to him (Genesis 21:5). This is Grace. God brings life out of death. Thank God for His unspeakable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15).

But Abraham and Isaac are only the beginning of God’s Grace. God would allow a child of Abraham named Joseph to be sold into slavery by his jealous brothers. Joseph was 17 years old (Genesis 37:2) when his brothers betrayed him.

Genesis 41:46 Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt.

Joseph – the apple of his father Jacob’s eye – was made a very dry bone. Imprisoned for 13 years, first as a slave, then as a prisoner, God gave life where there was death. Joseph rose up to be the right hand man to Pharaoh. God used Joseph to make

Israel the family become Israel the nation. It was God Who grew the very dry bones into Israel.

Over time, Israel the nation, like Joseph before her, became slaves, a nation of very dry bones. The Bible says:

Exodus 12:40-41 Now the sojourning of the children of Israel, who dwelt in Egypt, was four hundred and thirty years. 41 And it came to pass at the end of the four hundred and thirty years, even the selfsame day it came to pass, that all the hosts of the Lord went out from the land of Egypt.

Over 430 years Israel the family became Israel the nation. God took that very dry bony nation called Israel out of Egypt. Again, we see the Grace of God. Israel was in an impossible place, but as our Jesus said:

Matthew 19:26 … With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.

It is by Grace that very dry bones are brought to life. It is by Grace that life comes out of death. Only God can bring forth this Grace. “Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord God, thou knowest”.

God offered free Grace to Abraham, offered to bring life out of death to Israel. God did not choose Israel because she was a great nation. She was nothing before God called her in an old, wore out Chaldean. God reminded His people:

Deuteronomy 7:7-8 The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: 8 but because the Lord loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Israel was Israel because of God’s Grace. She did not earn it, nor deserve it, but was brought from a state of very dry bones because she responded to the offer of God’s Grace.

The Word Of God Brings Life Out Of Death

Ezekiel 37:4-6 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.

How does life come into very dry bones? It comes only by the Word of God. The Lord GOD – Adonai Yahweh – told Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:4 Prophesy upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of the Lord

In order for life to come into these very dry bones Ezekiel had to so something that looked foolish! He was to PROPHESY (Hebrew נָבָא nâbâʼ, {pronounced naw-baw’}) – to speak the Word that God says. Ezekiel was to say to the very dry bones, “HEAR” (שָׁמַע shâmaʻ, {pronounced shaw-mah’}), which means “listen to and OBEY”. This is an impossible thing that Ezekiel is to do. He speaks to dry bones, to very dry bones. But not his word, but HIS WORD, God’s Word. It is the Word of God that gives life. Ezekiel cannot give life, but he can do what God says, and God will cause life.

We see this amazing thing frequently in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus told the man who had been crippled for 38 years – THIRTY EIGHT YEARS –

How can one who was crippled 38 years do this? Is this not cruelty? No, it is the Word of the Lord. “Immediately the man was made whole, and took up his bed, and walked” (John 5:9). The God Who commanded creation into existence can certainly cause dry bones to live. The God Who told Moses, “Stretch out thy hand over the sea, and divide it” (Exodus 14:16) is the same God Who told the man with the withered hand:

Mark 3:5 … Stretch forth thy hand. And he stretched it out: and his hand was restored whole as the other ..

John 5:8 … Rise, take up thy bed, and walk!

Israel is now a alley of very dry bones, but if she will hear the Word of God, the Lord will restore her to power. Salvation comes by Grace.

Life comes by the Word of God.
Death comes as the wage of sin.

To be reconstituted, to be made more than a valley of very dry bones, Israel must remember and return to the Word of God. God told His people:

Deuteronomy 7:9-11 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; 10 and repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face. 11 Thou shalt therefore keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command thee this day, to do them.

Salvation is by Grace, but blessing by obedience to God.

Israel must return to the Word of God if they will be blessed. The Psalmist said

Psalm 119:25 My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me {give me life} according to Thy Word.

It is God’s Word that can make these very dry bones live. Only God’s Word can do this. Ezekiel can do nothing but

Hebrews 10:23 … HOLD FAST the profession of our faith without waivering (for He is faithful that promised)

It is the Word of God that gives life. Though the world itself considers the Word of God to be foolish – it is the Word of God that will bring life to death. God said:

Ezekiel 37:5-6 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.

So what did Ezekiel do? He did as God said. And as he did what God said, miraculous things occurred:

Ezekiel 37:7-8 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.

Ezekiel spoke the Word of God, and the dry bones came together. The skeleton assembled, and the sinews, the flesh and muscle, along with the skin came on the bones. But there was a problem. “there was no breath in them”. The Word of God alone did not bring life. There must be a connection with God. God tells Ezekiel:

It Is The Word of God AND The Holy Spirit
That Brings Life

Ezekiel 37:9-10 Then said {the Lord GOD} 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.

Ezekiel was to prophesy or speak the Word of God to the dry bones. But he was also to prophesy or speak “to the wind”. The word translated “WIND” is the Hebrew רוּחַ rûwach, {pronounced roo’-akh}, which indeed means “WIND” but can also be translated “SPIRIT”. The Blue Letter Bible notes that rûwach can refer to “{the} Spirit of God, the third person of the Triune God, the Holy Spirit, coequal, co-eternal with the Father and the Son”. It is not just the Word of God that brings life, but THE SPIRIT OF GOD MUST BE INVITED INTO THE PROCESS.

Many followed after Jesus when He walked this earth. But one day as He preached a hard truth the Bible says:

John 6:60-65 Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it? 61 When Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, Doth this offend you? 62 What and if ye shall see the Son of man ascend up where he was before? 63 It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life. 64 But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him. 65 And he said, Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father.

God the Holy Spirit must be involved in the salvation of very dry bones. The Apostle Paul told the Church at Corinth:

2 Corinthians 3:3-6 … ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart. 4 And such trust have we through Christ to God-ward: 5 not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God; 6 who also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; not of the letter, but of the Spirit: for the letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life.

It is “the spirit {that} giveth life”. Life comes when the Word of God is spoken in the power of God. Paul warned in another place:

Galatians 6:7-9 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. 8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. 9 And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

Israel sowed to the flesh, and reaped corruption as a nation. But God promised to bring life back to the very dry bones of that nation. How would He do this? Only by Ezekiel doing as he was told. Ezekiel must speak the Word of God, partnered with the Spirit of God – and those very dry bones can live. The power of salvation is totally in God! God told Ezekiel:

Ezekiel 37:11-14 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.

Is There An Application For Us In Today’s Text?

Absolutely! I hear so many Christians bemoan the fact that America has fallen far from God, and it seems as if only darkness reigns. America is in no worst a state than Israel was in under Babylonian captivity. We are captured today by cancel culture, political correctness, extreme leftism, and our culture as well as our children are being taught that God’s design in gender is totally optional, based upon the desire of a person. What is the solution to our country’s woes? It is to share the Word of God in partnership with the Spirit of God.

When Christ ascended into Heaven He told His little Church of 120 souls:

Acts 1:4, 8 … that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but WAIT FOR THE PROMISE OF THE FATHER, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me .. 8 But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy {Spirit} is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judæa, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.

Our God is able to bring America – and the Church in America – back from the brink of destruction. But we must adhere to and share His Word in the power of His Holy Spirit. The true Christian, like the true Jew:

Romans 2:29 … is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the Spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Do you know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? If so, you have the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9, 11). The Holy Spirit is in you. The only way we will reverse the fall of America is to, as Ezekiels, speak to the very dry bones the Word of God in the power of God the Holy Spirit. We need to be a Bible believing, Bible living, Spirit empowered Church to be the light of the world. This begins by each one of us committing to love God with all that we are, and to love our neighbor – even our enemies – the way that we want to be loved. We can no more rely upon someone else – we must be someone else. Our God is able! Let us not despair, but rise up, and share Christ in the power of God’s Spirit with those around us. May God give us the strength and faith as His Church to do this – for Christ’s glory! Amen and Amen!

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The Marks Of The Christian

Posted on April 9, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Child walking in lion's prints
Photo by Hugues de BUYER-MIMEURE on Unsplash

Turn with me in your Bibles to

Colossians 1:21-23 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: (23) If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled,and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel,which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister;

What marks a Christian, a Christian? What are the signs or evidences in the life that stand as proofs that you are sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus? It is not the man made denomination that makes a Christian, but God does this when we receive Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. The Apostle of Love wrote:

John 1:12-13 But as many as received {Jesus}, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name: 13 which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

The Position Of The Christian Is Different To
The Position Of The Lost

A Christian is distinctly different to a non-Christian. A Christian is a “Son of God”. Someone once asked, “But doesn’t God have any daughters?”. Well yes, He does. But “Son of God” is a technical term for the genuine Christian.

When Jesus Christ was incarnate, He became the Son of Man. But Jesus is eternally THE Son of God. Satan acknowledged this.

Matthew 4:3 And when the Tempter came to {Jesus}, he said, if Thou be THE Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.

Satan addressed Jesus two times in the wilderness as THE Son of God (Matthew 4:6). When Jesus walked on water to His disciples, the Bible says:

Matthew 14:33 … they that were in the ship came and worshiped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.

When on trial before the Sanhedrin, the High Priest Caiaphas asked Jesus,

Matthew 26:63 … I adjure thee by the living God, that thou tell us whether thou be THE Christ, THE Son of God.

The Messiah, the High Priest knew, was prophesied to be THE Son of God. When Jesus affirmed that He is indeed the Son of God, the High Priest pronounced Jesus guilty of blasphemy, “He is guilty of death” (Matthew 26:66).

Jesus Christ is THE Son of God. We who believe on Him are born again of the Spirit of God, and are ourselves sons of God, different from the lost world.

Colossians 1:21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works..

Let’s see how the Apostle develops this. “And you, that were sometime”. The word rendered “SOMETIME” is the Greek particle ποτέ poté, {pronounced pot-eh’}, which means “in past time” or “at one time”. There WAS a time that the Christian was “alienated”. This is the Greek παλλοτριοω, apallotrioo, {pronounced ap-al-lot-ree-o’-o}, which means “to be permanently separated from [God]”. You were far from God because you did not view sin as God did.

To the world, the son of Adam, sin is anything that we do not like. But to the son of God sin is anything that God does not like.

Sin takes us positionally far from God. The Prophet said:

Isaiah 59:1-3 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: 2 BUT your iniquities have separated between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will not hear. 3 For your hands are defiled with blood, and your fingers with iniquity; your lips have spoken lies, your tongue hath muttered perverseness.

The lost person does not have the same frame of reference that God has. What God considers “sin”, the lost consider “free choice” and “human rights”. The sons of Adam are apart from God “in [their] minds by wicked works”. When God corrects them, they will not heed God, because they put themselves and their desires above God. A good example of this is found in the life of Cain and Abel. Both Cain and Abel brought an offering to God.

Genesis 4:3-5 … in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the Lord. 4 And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the Lord had respect unto Abel and to his offering: 5 but unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect.

What was the difference between Cain’s offering, and Abel’s offering? Cain was a farmer, so he brought the “fruit of the ground” to God as an offering. Abel was a stockman, so he brought “the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof”, or an animal sacrifice. They both brought a tithe of their increase to God. But God only received Abel’s offering. Why? At this point I can go into detail and tell you that God taught Adam and Eve that only an offering of blood would cover or atone for sin (see Genesis 3:21). This shedding of blood taught Adam and Eve the severity of sin, and how only an innocent outside of the sinner could make payment for sin. God would later tell Israel:

Leviticus 17:11 … the life of the flesh is in the blood: and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.

The offering of blood in the Old Testament was symbolic, and looked forward to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the New Testament we are told:

Hebrews 9:11-12 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us.

Under the old Covenant until Christ was crucified, God demanded that there be shedding of blood. The Bible says:

Hebrews 9:22 … almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission {of sins}.

That is why God received Abel’s offering, and not Cain’s offering. Abel was a son of God by faith, and brought the blood offering that God showed his parents in Eden. Cain, however, brought what he thought was best. When God rejected his offer, Cain’s response was just like every son of Adam’s response:

Genesis 4:5 Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.

Rather than repent, and do what God said, Cain got angry.

If he had a social media account, Cain would have unfriended God, and blocked Abel.

God encouraged Cain to do the right. God said:

Genesis 4:6-7 … Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

Cain was “alienated and enemies in [his] mind by wicked works”. The word translated “enemies” is the Greek εχθρος, echthros, {pronounced ekh-thros’}, which comes from a word εχθωechtho which means “to hate, to be hateful or actively hostile to”. When God corrected Cain, Cain did not repent, but his hatred of God spilled over onto Abel, so much so that he murdered his own brother. The son of Adam is mentally and positionally far apart from where the mind of God is. The Bible says that:

Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

The lost person or the son of Adam not only sins, but comes “short of the glory of God”. The lost person has no desire to bring glory to God, but wants to bring glory to themselves. When corrected by God, the lost respond with negative emotion, being hateful toward God and toward the sons of God. They do not love God, especially when God rejects their standard of living. They reject the Law of God, preferring instead to be a law unto themselves. The Christian is in a different position:

Colossians 1:21-22 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in [your] mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled (22) In the body of his flesh through death,

The Christian is no longer a son of Adam, but is reconciled to God. The word translated “reconciled” is the Greek ἀποκαταλλάσσω apokatallássō, {pronounced ap-ok-at-al-las’-so}, which means “to bring into harmony with God”. Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary to provide a permanent covering for our sin, thereby making us at peace with God. When we receive Christ as Lord and Savior the Bible says:

Ephesians 2:14-16 For {Jesus} is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between {us and God}; 15 having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16 and that he might reconcile both {us and God} unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby:

The Christian is reconciled or at harmony with God. We are no longer in the position of enemies, but are NOW sons of God. We were permanently separated from God and enemies in our wicked works. This was a permanent and total separation, and we could do absolutely nothing about this. Then God made a way.

God the Father sent Christ to give His life for us, and once we receive Christ as Savior, God the Father sends God the Holy Spirit to bring us new birth and a new position in God. We are positionally reconciled!

Because Of Our Positional Change,
We Now Pursue What Pleases God

Colossians 1:21b-22 …yet now hath He reconciled, {22} In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight:

Because the Christian is no longer a son of Adam, but a son of God because of THE Son of God, our outward expression changes. The Apostle said in another place:

2 Corinthians 5:21 {The Father} hath made {Jesus} [to be] sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

The Christian is no longer HATEFUL to God in works, but is HOLY unto God. When God called the ancient Israelite out of Egypt, He told them:

Leviticus 20:7-8 Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be ye holy: for I [am] the LORD your God. (8) And ye shall keep my statutes, and do them: I [am] the LORD which sanctify you.

The Israelite position was changed from that of a slave to Egypt, to that of a servant of God. They were called into a new position and a new relationship with God. God fed them in the wilderness, loved them, cared for them. They were a people reserved unto Himself – therefore God required that they remember this and follow Him.

In like manner you are holy, dear believer. You are holy because the Blood of God was shed for you. You are holy, set apart for God’s own use. You are His purchased possession –and you are therefore to serve Him with all your hearts. The devil will – just as he did with Jesus – tempt the believer to wander away from God our Father. The devil will do with us as he did with Jesus, saying:

Matthew 4:9 … all these things {the kingdoms of the world} will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me …

Our answer must be like the Master’s answer:

Matthew 4:10 … Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

As sons of God, we are to live our lives to please and glorify our Father. We do not belong to the sons of Adam. We are God’s cherished possession. The Scripture says we are not to follow in the pathway of sexual sin as the sons of Adam do:

1 Corinthians 6:17-20 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit. 18 Flee fornication. Every sin that a man doeth is without the body; but he that committeth fornication sinneth against his own body. 19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.

Dear Christian, we belong to God. Let us “Flee fornication”, πορνεία porneia, that is “sexual sin”. Many Churches today encourage sexual sin by minimizing it or normalizing it. It is certain that the lost will visit our local Churches. However, we are to stand firm in what God has said is true, and not accept into the membership of the Church those engaged in open sexual sin. The Apostle said in another place:

1 Corinthians 5:9-13 I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators: 10 yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world. 11 But now I have written unto you not to keep company, if any man that is called a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a railer, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such an one no not to eat. 12 For what have I to do to judge them also that are without? do not ye judge them that are within? 13 But them that are without God judgeth. Therefore put away from among yourselves that wicked person.

Sexual sin is incompatible with holiness. Son of Adam freely engage in sexual sin, but sons of God do not. We live as those who belong to God. The Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 7:22-23 … he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant. 23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.

Because of the Blood of Jesus and because of the indwelling Holy Spirit, every believer lives so as to please God, and not man. We are, in God’s sight:

Colossians 1:22 … holy and unblameable and unreproveable

Jesus took the blame for my sin on the Cross. I am unblameable, the Greek ἄμωμος ámōmos, {pronounced am’-o-mos}, which means “without spot or blemish”. Because Jesus was:

1 Peter 1:19 … a Lamb without blemish and without spot

and I have received Him as Lord and Savior, I am “without blemish and without spot”. The blood of animals only provided a temporary covering for sin. But Jesus Christ came, being a permanent solution for our wayward position.

Hebrews 9:14 … How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

The Christian is not a Pharisee, outwardly righteous but inwardly dead (Matthew 23:27-28). The Christian is a good tree that brings forth good fruit (Matthew 7:17-18).

Time Will Tell Your Position

Now we come to one of the Ifs of Scripture:

Colossians 1:23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel …

The proof of the Christian is that the Christian abides in Christ. The Bible makes it very clear that you become a Christian by the operation of the Spirit of God, by “new birth” or “being born again” (John 3:3; John 3:7; 1 Peter 1:23). The Christian has encountered “the adoption of children by Jesus Christ to Himself” (Ephesians 1:5). The Christian has received the Spirit of adoption (Romans 8:15), the adoption of sons (Galatians 4:5). We are internally and positionally changed from sons of Adam to sons of God.

The faith that saves cannot help but endure, for God is in it. False faith falls away. Genuine faith “overcomes”.

The Apostle warns:

1 John 2:18-20 Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time. (19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would [no doubt] have continued with us: but [they went out], that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. (20) BUT ye have an UNCTION from the Holy One, and ye know all things.

The child of God has an UNCTION, a χρῖσμα chrîsma, {pronounced khris’-mah} or ANOINTING from God. The Holy Spirit has touched the genuine son of God, and in that touch has permanently changed us. Genuine faith endures. The Christian is HOLY and UNBLAMABLE and UNREPROVABLE in God’s sight. We live our lives pleasing our Lord and Savior. When we err and sin, we confess our sins to God, knowing that He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9).

Dear Christian, we live our lives as sons of God. We live our lives to please God. If you do not know Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I plead with you, call upon Him today. He can change you, and make you into one of God’s sons. Blessed be the Name of the Lord. Amen and Amen.

Posted in Colossians, Sermons Preached | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Jesus Unclothed So We Can Be Clothed

Posted on April 4, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by Pisit Heng on Unsplash

Turn with me in your Bibles to John 19.

Last week we looked at the crucifixion of Jesus. Darkness was over all the earth from the sixth to the ninth hour.

Luke 23:45 And the sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst.

In the midst of the darkness the veil of the Temple was torn into from the top to the bottom. The Evangelist Mark tells us:

Mark 15:37-39 And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost. 38 And the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom. 39 And when the centurion, which stood over against him, saw that he so cried out, and gave up the ghost, he said, Truly this man was the Son of God.

The Centurion in charge of executing our Lord had seen many men and women executed by crucifixion in his lifetime. Most died begging for mercy. Some begged that their lives be ended quicker, for the agony of crucifixion is horrid. This Centurion heard Jesus as He quietly hung on that Cross. He heard Jesus tell the thief to His right, “Today shalt thou be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). He heard Jesus, caring for His mother Mary, put her in John’s care (John 19:25-27). This hardened soldier heard Jesus say “It is finished” (John 19:30). But what moved that soldier’s battle hardened heart was our Lord’s final words:

Luke 23:46 … Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said thus, he gave up the ghost.

Jesus’ last words were not the words of a defeated Man. They were those of a soldier Who had fought and died on a battlefield for His nation. The Centurion said:

“Truly this Man WAS the Son of God” (Mark 15:39)

Jesus Christ, Clothed In Humanity
Became An Unclothed WAS For Us

The Bible tells us that God made man:

Hebrews 2:7 … a little lower than the angels; thou crownedst him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

Humanity was made in God’s image, and in God’s likeness (Genesis 1:26). Humanity was placed in a perfect Garden, in a perfect world, to follow a perfect and loving God. But Adam sinned, and caused humanity to fall. But God was not satisfied to leave us alone and undone. Jesus Christ, Himself infinite God (John 1:1-3), was made like us. Jesus “was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death … that He, by the Grace of God, should taste death for every man” (Hebrews 2:9).

Jesus WAS born of a Virgin. Jesus WAS a man, a Perfect Man, Who died for our sins. The crowd looks on the body of Jesus. To them, Jesus WAS.

John 19:37 … And again another Scripture saith, They shall look on Him Whom they have pierced ..

The crowd which earlier called for Jesus’ crucifixion now are awakened by God. God prophesied:

Zechariah 12:10 … I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

Jesus has become a “WAS”. The Centurion speaks again, glorifying God,

Luke 23:47 … saying, Certainly, this WAS a righteous Man …

Satan’s fever had passed from the people. God opened their eyes. Here was Jesus, a Man Who only did good to others. Because of Jesus …

Luke 7:22 … the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached.

The ones who drove the nails into Jesus now are awakened. He was innocent, righteous. Jesus is now a “WAS” because of them. And the people? The Bible says:

Luke 23:48-49 …. all the people that came together to that sight, beholding the things which were done, smote their breasts, and returned. 49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed him from Galilee, stood afar off, beholding these things.

Preach It! It amazes me that today some so called scholars believe that Jesus did not die on that Cross. He was pierced, and blood and water ran from His side (John 19:34), a clear sign of death. The Centurion had killed many – was he now stupid, uneducated on the nature of death? He did not achieve his rank by being sloppy. Jesus “WAS”. He is no longer. He is dead. All that is left is the cleanup.

What do you do with a naked Someone Who WAS?
You bury Him.

John 19:38-40 And after this Joseph of Arimathæa, being a disciple of Jesus, but secretly for fear of the Jews, besought Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus: and Pilate gave him leave. He came therefore, and took the body of Jesus. 39 And there came also Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, and brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight.

As God moved in the hearts of the people, He changed the heart of Joseph of Arimathæa, a wealthy man who was secretly a disciple of Jesus. A naked, bloodied Jesus who WAS hangs on the Cross. Joseph’s fear is gone. He goes to Pilate that he might take away the body of Jesus. Jesus WAS. There’s only a broken, empty shell of the Messiah. Another man, Nicodemus, which at the first came to Jesus by night, comes out of hiding. Jesus’ body is unclothed. Look to John 19:23-24!

John 19:23 … when they crucified Jesus, took His garments … and also His coat … that the Scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted My raiment among them, and for My vesture they did cast lots …

Jesus’ body is naked. He was unclothed for our sins. He, the Son of God, became a WAS so that we could become Sons and Daughters of God.

1 Peter 3:18 … For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh…

Jesus WAS. His body is naked. He must be clothed for burial. Nicodemus comes, bringing with him a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about an hundred pound weight. What is this myrrh and aloes for? The Jews used this paste on a person who WAS to wrap the body for burial. As Mary His Mother helped wash and wrap her Son’s body, I imagine her tears mingled with the wash water. Mary would remember her little baby boy, Jesus, on the day that the Wise Men came bearing gifts (Matthew 2:11), ONE OF THOSE GIFTS BEING MYRRH. As Mary His mother helped wrap the Jesus Who WAS, she would be reminded how, the night when He entered this earth, she …

Luke 2:7 … wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger …

The body washed, John 19:40 … Then took they the body of Jesus, and wound it in linen clothes with the spices, as the manner of the Jews is to bury.

Word Study The phrase “in linen clothes” is the Greek ὀθόνιον othónion, {pronounced oth-on’-ee-on}, which means “strips of linen cloth used for swathing the dead”. As the body was wrapped with strips of linen, the paste of myrrh and aloe was used on those strips to bind them to the body. The Free Bible Commentary states, “This was according to Jewish customs described in the Talmud (i.e., Betsah 6a).”

Jesus’ body, now clothed for burial, is laid to rest …

John 19:41 … in the garden a new sepulcher, wherein was never man yet laid.

Jesus rode into Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey, “Whereon never a man set” (Mark 11:2). Jesus’ body was carried to a tomb, “Wherein was never man yet laid” (John 20:41)!

The stone of the tomb was put in place, sealing the Jesus who WAS into that place. That should have ended things. But the Pharisees and Chief Priests were not done with Jesus. Matthew, a Levite, tells us:

Matthew 27:62-66 Now the next day, that followed the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came together unto Pilate, 63 saying, Sir, we remember that that deceiver said, while he was yet alive, After three days I will rise again. 64 Command therefore that the sepulcher be made sure until the third day, lest his disciples come by night, and steal him away, and say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: so the last error shall be worse than the first. 65 Pilate said unto them, Ye have a watch: go your way, make it as sure as ye can..

The Jewish Leaders who sought Jesus’ execution wanted to make sure that the Jesus Who WAS would be kept in the Tomb. Jesus had told them that He would stay in that Grave “for three days and three nights, just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights” (Matthew 12:40; Jonah 1:17). They wanted to make sure that this Jesus Who WAS stayed in the WAS state. They wanted to ensure that His disciples would not come along and steal the body and say that He had risen. Jesus must remain a WAS. Armed guards were placed on the Tomb.

Matthew 27:66 So they went, and made the sepulcher SURE, sealing the stone, and setting a watch.

Jesus WAS. He was going to stay WAS. But He didn’t.

Three days and three nights have passed, and the women go back to the Tomb of Jesus. The Evangelist tells us:

Mark 16:1-4 … when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him. 2 And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulcher at the rising of the sun. 3 And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulcher? 4 And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.

This was not what the women expected. They expected to get to the sealed Tomb, and hoped that they could get someone to roll the stone from the doorway so they could further anoint the Jesus Who WAS. Mary Magdalene was most heartbroken over the discovery. We read:

John 20:1-2 The first day of the week cometh Mary Magdalene early, when it was yet dark, unto the sepulcher, and seeth the stone taken away from the sepulcher. 2 Then she runneth, and cometh to Simon Peter, and to the other disciple, whom Jesus loved, and saith unto them, They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.

Mary believed that “They have taken away the Lord”, supposing a final act of cruelty by the Jewish Pharisees and Priests. While the Disciples of Jesus were in the Levitical Sabbath (that Sabbath day was A HIGH DAY1) Mary assumed that the enemies of Christ had come and taken Him away.

John 20:3-4 Peter therefore went forth, and that other disciple, and came to the sepulcher. 4 So they ran both together …

The commentaries note “that other disciple” is traditionally believed to be John. Peter and John had a foot race to the tomb, and John got there first.

John 20:4-5 and the other disciple did outrun Peter, and came first to the sepulcher. 5 And he stooping down, and looking in, saw the linen clothes lying; yet went he not in.

This part of the Scripture is very important. Jesus’ body had been wrapped with strips of linen, secured with about 100 pounds of a myrrh and aloe paste. When John looked into the tomb he saw the linen strips “lying” there. Had Jesus’ body been stolen, as Mary supposed, then they would have taken the body with the strips, as the myrrh and aloe paste acted as a glue.

John 20:6-7 Then cometh Simon Peter following him, and went into the sepulcher, and seeth the linen clothes lie, 7 and the napkin, that was about his head, not lying with the linen clothes, but wrapped together in a place by itself.

Though John was the first to the tomb, he waited until Peter went in. It was well known that Peter was the Chief Apostle, and I believe John was deferring to him. Peter saw the linen strips, and saw the head covering rolled up neatly, and in another place in the tomb.

Jesus was wrapped, as a baby, in swaddling clothes. When He ceased to be a baby, these wrappings were removed. Jesus’ body was wrapped with strips of linen and a hundred pounds of embalming paste. Had grave robbers taken Him, the head covering would not be rolled up, nor the linen strips present. The Soniclight Commentary notes:

“That Person who had “rolled up … the face-cloth” had apparently been the resurrected Jesus. A grave robber would not have taken the time to fold the head covering neatly, but would have left it lying in a heap. Neither would friends who might have removed the body done this; they would have hurried away from the tomb as quickly as possible to avoid being apprehended. It is not clear whether the head covering lay where Jesus’ head had lain. What is clear is that someone had folded (“rolled”) it up carefully.

Why did the grave clothes lie as they had been before the body of Jesus exited them, and why had the face-cloth been carefully folded and laid aside? One explanation is that these were deliberately given as two different witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection.”

John 20:8 Then went in also that other disciple, which came first to the sepulcher, and he saw, and believed. 9 For as yet they knew not the scripture, that he must rise again from the dead.

The Apostles knew that Jesus said He was going to rise from the grave, but knowing a thing and actually believing are two different things. John saw the two mute witnesses – the burial clothes and the face covering – and believed that Jesus rose from the Grave. Jesus passed through the grave clothes and through the rocky tomb. An angel rolled back the stone so the disciples could see that Jesus had risen (Matthew 28:2), not to let Jesus out!

Over the next 40 days Jesus will appear again and again to His disciples. Jesus has defeated death, and the devil. Beloved, in order to be saved you must believe in the resurrection of Christ from the dead. Jesus Christ “bore the sins of many, and made intercession for the transgressors” (Isaiah 53:12). He died on Calvary making payment for our sins. But Jesus went farther than this. The Bible says:

Romans 8:34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

Jesus died on Calvary to save a wretch like me. But He rose from the grave, and is at the right hand of God the Father, making intercession for those who are His people. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is absolutely integral to the salvation of the believer. The Apostle said:

1 Corinthians 15:14-23 … if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain. 15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not. 16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised: 17 and if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; ye are yet in your sins. 18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished. 19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first fruits of them that slept. 21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

The empty tomb of Christ tells us as believers that:

  • Jesus Is Who He Says He Is:The Bible says in Romans 1:4, “Jesus Christ … {was} declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, BY THE RESURRECTION FROM THE DEAD. Death cannot hold Jesus. Since He has defeated death, and told us “whosoever liveth and believeth in Me shall NEVER DIE” (John 11:26), I know His guarantee is true. Jesus is the fulfillment of Isaiah 25:8, saying “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of His people shall He take away from off all the earth: for the lord hath spoken it.”
  • The Afterlife Is What Jesus Says It Is: There is indeed a Heaven and a Hell, and Jesus alone leads the way to God. Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; No One cometh to the Father but by Me”. Jesus is the Door to Heaven. He said in John 10:7-9, “Verily, verily, I say unto you, I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and robbers: but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.”
  • Proper Life Is What Jesus Says It Should Be: No person is sinless but Jesus (John 8:7; Hebrews 4:15; Hebrews 9:28). No Christian is sinless. But once we are saved by faith in the resurrected Christ, we are “born again of God” (John 3:3,7; 1 Peter 1:23), “not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever”. We who are saved are resurrected creatures, heading toward a future resurrection. 2 Corinthians 5:17-18 tells us “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ”. The “born again” believer views sin differently from the lost son of Adam. It is sin that killed our Master. It is sin that Jesus paid for, very painfully, on the Cross. When a “born again” believer sins, he or she are convicted of sin by the Holy Spirit, and will repent, confessing that sin unto God for Christ’s sake. The Apostle was quite adamant on this. He said in 1 John 2:4, “He that saith, I know {Jesus}, and keepeth not His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him”. Our Lord Jesus said in 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”. Jesus Christ was unclothed on Calvary so that we could be clothed in the light and righteousness of God. We used to be children of darkness – now we are to “walk as children of light” (Ephesians 5:8). “Our old man is crucified with Jesus, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin (Romans 6:6).

Do you know Him? Do you know my Jesus? He gave His life for you and I, so that we can begin to live life the way the Lord intended. If you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I beg you, receive Him today. We who are Christians now serve an amazing Savior, and are headed toward a wonderful eternity, filled with “joy unspeakable”. May God the Holy Spirit use His Word to move your hearts to Christ. Amen and Amen!

___________________Note On The “Sabbath”_____________________

1 “High Days” are annual holy days or annual Sabbaths as defined in Leviticus 23:7, 8, 21, 25, 28, 31, 32, 35, 36 & 39. These are special Sabbaths not to be confused with the weekly Sabbath. There were seven annual Sabbaths in addition to the weekly Saturday Sabbath:

  • The first and seventh days of Unleavened Bread
  • Pentecost
  • Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah in Hebrew)
  • Atonement (Yom Kippur)
  • The first day of Tabernacles (Succoth)
  • The Last Great Day.

The “High Day” of John 19:31 is the first day of Unleavened Bread, which falls the day after the Passover (Nisan 15).

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Touch Me Not

Posted on April 4, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Sunrise
Photo by Lefty Kasdaglis on Unsplash

In our 8:30 service today we’re going to be looking at the empty tomb of our Lord. We’ll be in John 19:38-20:10. For our Sunrise Service I wanted to look at the verses that come after this. Having seen the burial clothes of Jesus in the empty tomb, Peter and John go back home:

John 20:10-13 Then the disciples went away again unto their own home. 11 But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping: and as she wept, she stooped down, and looked into the sepulcher, 12 and seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain. 13 And they say unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? She saith unto them, Because they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him.

Invasion Of The Body Snatchers!

“But Mary stood without at the sepulcher weeping”. Peter and John saw the empty tomb and the clothes left behind, but Mary lingered. When she first found the tomb opened she ran back to the disciples, telling them:

John 20:2 … They have taken away the Lord out of the sepulcher, and we know not where they have laid him.

Mary had not found Jesus’ body, so she was not satisfied. Someone must have taken Jesus’ body!

Mary was often found sitting at the feet of Jesus, hearing Him teach (Luke 10:38-39). When Mary’s brother Lazarus died she told Jesus, while weeping,

John 11:32 … Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died.

Her weeping and hurt caused Jesus Himself to weep, though He would raise Lazarus from that grave in short order. Mary wanted Jesus. Peter and John looked in the tomb and saw Jesus’ grave clothes, but Mary looked in the tomb and saw “seeth two angels in white sitting, the one at the head, and the other at the feet, where the body of Jesus had lain”. They ask her “Woman, why weepest thou?”, to which she replies “they have taken away my Lord, and I know not where they have laid him”.

God has promised in His Word:

Jeremiah 29:13 … ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.

Mary sought Jesus with all her heart. Peter and John were happy with empty grave clothes, but Mary wanted Jesus. So Jesus came! We read:

John 20:14-15 And when she had thus said, she turned herself back, and saw Jesus standing, and knew not that it was Jesus. 15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

There is Jesus! Mary is being driven by FEELINGS right now, and she does not recognize that this is Jesus speaking to her. How is that possible? It is very early in the morning, and waning darkness is difficult on the eyes. I also believe it is because the resurrection body is so glorious, so different than the earthly bodies that we now have, that it will amaze us when the Lord gives them to us. The last time Mary saw Jesus He was beaten so badly that the Prophet said:

Isaiah 52:14 As many were {astonished} at thee; his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men:

Isaiah 50:6 I gave my back to the smiters, and my cheeks to them that plucked off the hair: I hid not my face from shame and spitting.

The Jesus that stood before Mary now was in His glorified eternal state. She supposed He was the gardener. But then, Jesus called her name:

John 20:16 … Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

When God the Son called her name, the tears were chased from Mary’s eyes. Mary knew this was Jesus. It is such a blessing when God calls your name – that is, when you are seeking him. In the Garden of Eden …

Genesis 3:9 … the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?

On that day Adam and his wife hid from the Lord, knowing that they had sinned against His command. On that day Jesus told the serpent, that old Devil, also called Satan (Revelation 12:9):

Genesis 3:15 … I will put enmity between thee {you old Serpent} and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.

This was the very first prophecy that a Messiah would come, being born of the woman. This Messiah would be bruised by the devil – and oh, how our Savior was bruised! But this Messiah would also crush the head of the serpent. “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel”, but only His heel would be hurt. Jesus is alive.

Jesus appears to Mary early on so that we can see that God always keeps His promises! What God said in Genesis is fulfilled in John. Our God is faithful!

Touch Me Not, For I Have Not Ascended

John 20:17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Why did Jesus tell Mary “Touch me not”? One of the stupidest explanations I ever heard was that “Jesus’ wounds were still sore, and He didn’t want to be touched”. Let’s look to the text rather than to fantasy.

Word Study The word TOUCH is the Greek ἅπτομαι háptomai, {pronounced hap’-tom-ahee}, which means “to fasten one’s self to, adhere to, cling to”. Mary wasn’t just touching Jesus – she grabbed Him and held on! In Matthew 28:9 we are told “they came and held him by the feet, and worshiped him”. Mary grabbed hold of Jesus and didn’t want to let go. But Jesus had to go. His mission was not fully completed. Jesus said “I am not yet ascended to my Father”. The Resurrected Christ must ascend to the Father. For what? The Book tells us:

Hebrews 9:11-14 But Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building; 12 neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. 13 For if the blood of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying of the flesh: 14 how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?

Our Jesus, a High Priest after the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4; Hebrews 5:6; Hebrews 6:20-7:3; Hebrews 7:17, 21), entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies “by his own blood”. It is His Blood that and His Blood alone that was accepted by the Father God as payment for our sins (Ephesians 1:7; 1 John 1:7; Galatians 3:13; Ephesians 2:13). The Lamb of God paid our sin debt in full. The Scripture says:

Romans 4:20-24 {Abraham} staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 but for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our justification.

Jesus Christ was delivered to the Cross “for our offenses”.
Jesus Christ was delivered from the tomb “for our justification”.

Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15). The grave could not hold Jesus, so Mary must not hold Him now. But He will return many times over the next 40 days showing us that death and the grave are defeated, along with sin, for all who have received Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

May God touch your hearts with His Word and His Spirit this wondrous Resurrection Sunday. Amen and Amen!

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The Praying Christian

Posted on April 2, 2021 by bibleteacherorg
Photo by David Beale on Unsplash

A little boy went to Church with his mamma and daddy. He promised his parents he would behave if he could sit in the “big” service, rather than go to the Children’s Church he usually attended. As the little boy watched the service unfold, the preacher began to pray. As the preacher ended the prayer, he said “We ask this in Jesus’ Name”, and sat down. Without thinking, the little boy blurted out:

“You didn’t say AMEN”!

Does Your Prayer Hang On An “Amen”?

There’s really nothing in the Bible that says “you must say ‘Amen’” for your prayer to be acceptable to God. The word “amen” comes from both Greek and Hebrew. In Greek it is ἀμήν amēn (pronounced am-ane’), and the Greek itself came from the Hebrew אָמֵן ʼâmên, (pronounced aw-mane’). The word means “this word is true, this is sure, so be it, of a truth”. The Greek Lexicon states:

“At the beginning of a discourse – surely, truly, of a truth. At the end of a discourse – so it is, so be it, may it be fulfilled. It was a custom, which passed over from the Synagogues to the Christian assemblies, that when he who had read or discoursed, had offered up solemn prayer to God, the others responded Amen, and thus made the substance of what was uttered their own.”

Jesus often used a double amen in His sermons, quite apart from prayer. The King James often quotes Jesus’ amens as “verily”, as in:

John 1:51 … verily, verily (amen, amen) I say unto you …
John 3:3 … verily, verily (amen, amen) I say unto thee …

Jesus uses “amen, amen” some 25 times in the Book of John alone. The doubled “amen” makes what Jesus says emphatically strong. So “amen” does not have to be in a prayer, but is a statement of affirmation. What DOES have to be in prayer?

Healthy Christians Frequently Pray

Prayer should not be something you do just every now and then, or only during special times (like before a meal or prior to bed). Prayer should be frequent. In fact, the Bible says in 1 Thessalonians 5:17,

“Pray Without Ceasing”

The Christian’s lifestyle should be thoroughly interlaced with prayer. We live in a rough, fallen world. Beloved, if we would pray more, we would worry less. Prayer reminds us that not only is God in control, it tells us that we are weak, and desperately need His presence in our lives.

When Peter was imprisoned for preaching the Gospel, the Bible says that:

Acts 12:5 … prayer was made without ceasing of the Church unto God for him …

The Church prayed together, remembering that Jesus promised “where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them” (Matthew 18:20). When God’s people come together and pray, the power of God comes to earth. The Church prayed for Peter, and called an angel from Heaven to let him out of prison.

Prayer moves mountains.
Prayer calls angels.
Prayer stirs the heart of God.

The Apostle Paul had power with God because he prayed. He told the Church at Rome:

Romans 1:9-10 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers; 10 making request, if by any means now at length I might have a prosperous journey by the will of God to come unto you

Paul also prayed for his disciple Timothy, telling him:

2 Timothy 1:3-4 … without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day; 4 greatly desiring to see thee

Defining The Concept: When the Bible tells us to “pray without ceasing”, I do not think that it means we should never stop praying. There are times when we must interact with other people, at the store, at work, and in our homes. Though Paul said he “prayed without ceasing”, we know that God used him to write scripture, and to preach the Gospel. So it is certain there were times when Paul was not praying. I think the intent of “pray without ceasing” is that we should never be far from our God, and never be lacking in addressing Him. The praying Christian is the joyful Christian.

When we pray, we are not doing so for show, or to be seen of men. We are praying to our Heavenly Father. Jesus said:

Matthew 6:5-6 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.

“When thou prayest”. Jesus doesn’t say IF you pray,
but WHEN you pray.

Prayer is something that every Christian should do. Jesus tells us that when we pray, we are not to be praying so as to impress a fallen world. Prayer is communication with the Almighty God. Do not pray just so that others can hear you.

Some have taken Jesus’ statement, “when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door”, to mean that no one should ever hear us pray. This is not the Lord’s emphasis. He doesn’t mean that we should never pray publicly, but that we should never pray to be seen of others. Prayer is not a stage performance.

However, there are times when public prayer is perfectly acceptable. Herbert Lockyer’s “All The Prayers Of The Bible” notes there are 650 prayers listed in the Bible, and that Jesus Himself prayed 25 different times during His earthly ministry. One of Jesus most well known prayers is recorded in John 17, often called “Jesus’ Priestly Prayer for the Church”. Jesus obviously prayed publicly, else the prayer would have not been recorded in the Bible. We may pray publicly, but only if we can do so and keep our mind focused on God and not on those who might be around us.

Prayer speaks to God.
Good prayer always has a purpose.

Jesus tells us:

Matthew 6:7-8 But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.

What Jesus calls “vain repetitions” is a reference to just mouthing words, over and over, thinking that this serves some purpose. God knows what our needs are, and yet wants us, as His children, to ask Him for things. James said:

James 4:2 Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

We who pray are not to use words with no purpose, but are to always remember we are speaking to a Person in prayer. God is Almighty, but He nonetheless is a Person. He does not want us to say just a mouthful of words without purpose. Let us “ask in faith, nothing waivering” (James 1:6).

Pray Specifically and Purposefully

When we pray, let us pray specifically and purposefully until we get a definite answer from God. Jesus illustrated this in:

Luke 18:1-8 {Jesus} spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; 2 saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

There are times when we pray that God does not answer our prayers immediately. What should we do? We should keep approaching the Throne of Grace. We should pursue God in prayer just as this widow pursued the unjust judge. God will answer our prayers, but we must seek His face until we get an answer. In the Garden of Gethsemane our Lord Jesus prayed three times:

Matthew 26:39 … O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

Jesus knew that the Cup of Divine Judgment would be poured out on Him at Calvary. Jesus prayed three times that this cup pass, if it were possible. It was not possible. After the third prayer (Matthew 26:44) Jesus got up, and with purpose told His disciples:

Matthew 26:46 Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.

Once the prayer is answered, Jesus goes on to do the Father’s will. We should do like Jesus. We are to pray, knocking on the door of Heaven, until we get an answer. Once we get an answer, let us move forward, crossing the Jordan into the Promised Land. Let us live for God!

Jesus’ Model Of Prayer

It was after a session of prayer that:

Luke 11:1-4 … one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. 2 And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

Matthew records the more familiar format of the Lord’s Prayer we are acquainted with:

Matthew 6:9-13 After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.

Proper prayer always honors God first. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus started by emphasizing that “Our Father God is in Heaven – and we want to hallow or glorify His Name”. Many times when we pray, we immediately turn to our needs. Jesus tells us that before we address our needs, we are to address God’s glory. We pray that “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”. We acknowledge that we will receive God’s answer to prayer and rest in that answer, whether it is according to what WE think it should be. God is ultimately in control – that is His nature. If it is God’s will that we suffer, then it is for the best that we suffer, for God always knows best.

The Apostle Paul recounts this time in his life:

2 Corinthians 12:7-10 … lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure. 8 For this thing I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10 Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.

We do not truly know what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me” was. We know that Paul sought God three times that this thorn be removed. God’s response? “My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness”. God told Paul that he would have to live within this valley. Paul, rather than being bitter, recognized truly that what God was doing was for his own good. The Apostle then began to praise God for the thorn in the flesh, as well as for other “infirmities, reproaches, necessities, persecutions, {and} distresses for Christ’s sake”. Paul truly believed the Scripture that:

Romans 8:28 … we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

After seeking the glory of God in prayer, the believer is supposed to pray for his needs. Jesus simply said:

Matthew 6:11 Give us this day our daily bread.

This part of the prayer focuses on our present needs. Notice that this part of the prayer is very short, and to the point. We pray directly to God our Father, asking Him for our needs for that day. But we also pray for our yesterdays.

Matthew 6:12-13 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil …

We pray for our failures before God. We all fall short of His glory, of His desires for our lives. So we ask our Lord to forgive us, in Jesus’ name.

Prayer Demands A Forgiving Spirit

But our forgiveness is conditional on how we ourselves have forgiven others. Jesus said:

Matthew 6:14-15 For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15 but if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

If we are carrying grudges or hardness in our hearts toward others, then we will not be forgiven. God wants us to forgive as we have been forgiven. Though we fail daily, our God never fails. We are to forgive even our enemies. Jesus said:

Matthew 5:44-45 … But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

If we want our prayers answered, we must be sure to forgive those who have wronged us. This includes – but is not limited to – our spouses. The Apostle said:

1 Peter 3:7 Likewise, ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge, giving honor unto the wife, as unto the weaker vessel, and as being heirs together of the grace of life; that your prayers be not hindered.

Carrying grudges against anyone, especially toward a spouse, definitely hinders our prayers before God. The marital relationship is supposed to reflect the same love that Jesus Christ has for His Church, and the Church has for Jesus Christ (Ephesians 5:25-28). The Bible says:

Colossians 3:17-19 whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. 18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord. 19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.

After praying that God will forgive our sins against Himself just as we have forgiven sins against ourselves, we close our prayers by acknowledging our desperate need of the Lord’s guiding hand (13) “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil”. Some versions read “Deliver us from the Evil One”. As believers we need God’s daily intervention in our lives. I am so frail and subject to failure that I feel like that old song said:

Oh Lord, I can’t even walk without you holding my hand
The mountains too high and the valleys too wide
Down on my knees that’s where I learned to stand
Oh Lord, I can’t even walk without you holding my hand

Christian, Pray With Confidence, For God Is Faithful

Our God is faithful to His promises. He tells us:

1 John 1:5-9 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth: 7 but if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

God is faithful to forgive sin, but only when we confess sin in Jesus’ name. God is faithful to bless His children, but only when we pray in Jesus’ name. Jesus said:

John 14:14 If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

Some people believe that this means to just tack a “in Jesus’ name we pray, Amen” at the end of a prayer. It means much more than that. To pray in Jesus’ name is to love and believe what Jesus has said about Himself. Jesus told the Pharisees,

John 8:42 If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.

God the Father sent Jesus to be the payment for our sins. He also sent Jesus to be our King and Lord. Jesus said, “If ye love Me, keep My commandments” (John 14:15). When you hear the Word of Jesus and do not do it, you are not living in Jesus’ name. Jesus said:

John 14:21, 23 He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him. … 23 … If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

You are praying “in Jesus’ name” when you are living according to His Word and His directives. Jesus said, “he that loveth Me NOT keepeth NOT My sayings” (John 14:24). When we as believers live in obedience to the Lord Jesus Christ, then our prayers will be heard of God. When you, dear Christian, depart from the Way of Truth, repent! Confess your sins to your Father above, and ask forgiveness for Jesus’ sake. Live your lives walking the path of righteousness, doing as Jesus has told us. Practice praying as you go through your day – “{constant} in prayer” (Romans 12:12). If you keep God close to you as you move through the day, He will be close to you when you pray.

God honors the one who prays while sitting (2 Samuel 7:18), standing (Mark 11:25), kneeling (Daniel 6:10; Luke 22:41), laying prostrate (Matthew 26:39; Mark 14:35), or with uplifted hands (1 Timothy 2:8). God honors the humble prayer that honors the name of Jesus Christ. God honors the prayer that is submissive to His glory. But God cannot honor the prayer from a sinful son, nor from a procrastinator who will not take the time to pray. Christian, we desperately need to be people of prayer. Let’s make a commitment to seek our God’s Face daily, “without ceasing”, for the glory of the Father and the honor of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen and Amen!

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