While Hosea may have been a contemporary of Amos, he was unique in one respect.  God made him live the tragedy of Israel’s unfaithfulness by marrying a harlot.  While most Christians would never dream of marrying a pimp or a prostitute, they may quickly allow themselves to fall for an attractive unbeliever.  But in God’s eyes, everyone who forsakes the lord is a whore or a harlot.  There are no religious singles in God’s eyes.  Everyone is either faithfully married to God or is a prostitute.  God made you (not only Israel) for himself.  If you get your thrills from somewhere else, you commit great harlotry against God.  And so, before God gives Israel his bride, a message of judgment and grace, he provides this illustration through His prophet Hosea of what it’s like to be married to an unfaithful wife (Isa. 62:5; 61:10; cf. Rev. 21:2). 

God had established His covenant with Israel and in keeping with that covenant Israel was to worship Yahweh alone (Exod. 20:1-6, Deut. 4:15-31).  According to Hill and Walton, “God’s controversy with Israel was rooted in the conflicting religious ideologies of Canaanite Baalism and Hebrew Yahwism” (Hos. 4:4) (Hill & Walton 589).  Israel was to be wholly chaste and singularly committed to God in a monotheistic relationship.  Yet, “inevitably Hebrew coexistence with the Canaanites led to intermarriage and eventually to the worship of the Canaanite gods” (Judg. 2:11-15; cf. Deut. 7:1-5).  Further noted by Hill and Walton is the remarkable parallel existent between God’s command to Hosea to marry a harlot and the physical and spiritual harlotry and adultery of Israel.  “The people of Canaan engaged in sacred sexual intercourse with the cult prostitutes as part of Baal worship… Hosea’s experience with the faithless prostitute Gomer directly parallel Yahweh’s relationship with a people who left their God to play the “harlot” with Baal” (4:10, 12, 15, 17, 5:3-4) (Hill & Walton 590-91).  So there is the remarkable corollary of Israel’s physical and spiritual harlotry to that of Hosea’s wife which is illustrated through Hosea’s marriage.   

Another purpose of the book of Hosea and the prophet’s message to the people is to testify of God’s steadfast love (Hill & Walton 581).  In chapter 3 of Hosea, after Gomer has been unfaithful to her husband Hosea, we read “Go again, love her.”  And not just to go and get her and love her, but to even be willing to pay this “other husband or companion” for her!  Not only was that an emotional impossibility, but Hosea couldn’t afford it financially.  If he could have, he probably would have paid cash.  But he couldn’t. So he paid half in cash and half in barley.  Truly, Hosea’s life is a portrayal of God’s own relationship with His bride, Israel, in that, God through Christ, gave all that He had to the point of death to purchase a bride for Himself.  As Paul S. Fiddes comments in his article published in the Review and Expositor, “Hosea is being called to take the path of the cross in imitation of God’s own journey, in order to make God’s tragedy visible to Israel” (Fiddes/RevExp 90:2 p. 177).  Hosea was commanded to do this not only through the pain of reconciliation (ch. 2) but in the earlier agony of taking an unfaithful wife.  This being further parallel as God knowingly takes an unfaithful Israel as a bride as “God’s own suffering pre-dates the human tragedy” (RevExp 177). 

The reason God justly commanded Hosea to enter into this painful marriage relationship with a harlot is that he has done the same with his wayward Israel, and he had shown this to Hosea in verses 2:14-23.  John Piper notes that the story of Hosea “looks beyond the Assyrian captivity to a literal fulfillment for ethnic Israel.  [And] this fulfillment, is not only for Israel, but it will also include the church today who are the children of Abraham by faith” (Romans 4:16; Gal. 3:7, 29) (Piper, par. 11).  It is important for Christians today to realize that the promises contained in Hosea 2:14-23 to the nation of Israel are for them today, for this interpretation is confirmed in the New Testament by the fact that Paul, in Romans 9:24, and Peter, in 1 Peter 2:10, apply Hosea 2:23 to the church.  So God’s steadfast love, as demonstrated through the life of the prophet Hosea, is a word of God for us today.

 REFERENCES

Andrew E. Hill and John H. Walton, A SURVEY OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (Zondervan, Grand Rapids, MI., 2009).

Paul S. Fiddes, The Cross of Hosea Revisited:  The Meaning of Suffering in the Book of Hosea.  Review and Expositor, Volume 90, 2 (Louisville, KY:  Review and Expositor, 1993).

John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1980 – 1989) (Minneapolis, MN:  Desiring God, 2007).

I love to study the Bible and I especially love to get together with my friends to talk through the pages of Scripture.  If interested, we will be joining together with friends this Saturday morning for a short devotional time in God’s Word at “It’s a Grind” Coffee Shop on Scott Rd. near the 215 freeway in Menifee.  We will meet at 9 am and will be discussing the second chapter of Philippians.  So read ahead if you like and join us for a great time of fellowship and encouragement from God’s Word.

 Hope to see you there!

Twenty-five years ago Francis Schaeffer published his short but illuminating book entitled A Christian Manifesto.  The basic problem he saw with the evangelical view of culture and government is that it viewed things “in bits and pieces”—pornography, breakdown of the family, abortion, etc—“instead of totals.”  Schaeffer labored to help us understand that it is a massive worldview change that has happened, and he sought to re-lay the foundation for truth, morality, freedom, and civic engagement.  As Schaeffer once said: “Biblical Christianity is Truth concerning total reality—and the intellectual holding of that total Truth and then living in the light of that Truth.”^[1]

In our current era we are in the middle of a profound paradigm shift, brought about by the emergence and now dominance of electronic forms of social communication and their supporting ideological and economic structures.  What does this shifting paradigm mean, not only for the individual Christian, but for the Church corporately?  How does the Church corporately respond or interact with this shifting paradigm of media culture? 

It is interesting to note that the emergence of Reformed theology concurred with the emergence of mass print in Europe.  The printing press gave Martin Luther an alternative base of power and influence against the organizational power of the Roman Catholic church.  Luther’s theology was a re-appropriation of the earlier manuscript theology of Augustine – one could speculate it was a practical appropriation of manuscript theology into the new paradigm of print.[2]  Reformed theology has been a strongly literate-based, clerical theology, most of it developing and being disseminated within academies/seminaries, the centers of book-learning.  One of the practical theological tensions within reformed churches has been between the literate-based academic theology of the clergy and the largely oral practical theology of the people.

As it seems, the Church has come to another fork in the road – a new doorway of which it must make the choice to walk through.  Will the Church maintain its literary base – or will it adapt to emerging audio/visual technologies.  One thing’s for sure, if we as Christians are to remain “in the world but not of it,” we must have in the forefront of our minds the inherent desire to navigate responsibly with a God-honoring, Christ exalting motivation for the glory of God in today’s media culture.

[2] Philip Schaff and David Schley Schaff, History of the Christian Church (Oak Harbor, WA: Logos Research Systems, Inc., 1997).

Although welcomed by some, the New Age Movement has come under criticism; on the one had, from intellectuals, who oppose its flight from social and political responsibility and its abandonment of the gains of the Enlightenment, and on the other hand, from the churches, which note its highly individualistic approach and anti-institutionalism, and which see in its spirituality a pseudo-religion with a vague, pantheistic view of God.  Pantheism is the belief that god is all and all is god.  This viewpoint makes no distinction between the creator God and creation itself.

The conception of God in view of the pantheist is incoherent.  To say that God is infinite and yet somehow shares its being (ex Deo) with creation is to raise the question of how the finite can be infinite.  Yet this is what absolute pantheists believe.[3]  The Bible teaches that Adam is a creation of God, not an extension of him.  Creator and creation are distinct.  That is the clear understanding of the Judeo-Christian worldview.  In contrast to Eastern religions, where God is seen as everything (pantheism), or in everything (panentheism), the biblical teaching is that there is an eternal, personal and infinite God who is not to be confused with his creation.

For millennia the West was based on the monotheistic religions which viewed creation as the finite result of an infinite God, while the East has been shaped by monism (the belief that all is one) and pantheism.[4]  But recently these two opposing worldviews have experienced a massive crossover.  Part of the reason why the new Age appeals so much to Westerners is that it offers the Eastern religious system without its more demanding religious and ethical emphases.  People are free to choose in the New Age spirituality what they like, and little or no demands are made on them.  It is all very Western really, fitting our consumerist lifestyle.  Thus Eastern thought and concepts have very much become a part of Western life.  Instead of a creator God who stands outside of us, and places expectations and demands upon us, in the new Easternised spiritualities of the West, people are free to call the shots and determine what is right and wrong, true and false.  Indeed, they get to be God.

That is the real attraction of the New Age worldview.  Instead of a transcendent God with whom we must do business, and bow to, we in fact are all a part of the divine already.  We just need to realize that we are already God, that we are already divine.  And sadly, many Christians have bought into this explicitly non-Christian worldview as well.  Many Christians seem to think they can simultaneously hold to Christianity while dabbling in New Age beliefs and practices.  New Age ideas are so pervasive in Western culture that they have become a very real threat to the moral basis of Western culture and society and Christians are not immune to this influence.  When a ‘nominal’ Christian fails to appropriate the promises of God in their life and does not “love the Lord thy God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength” (Dt. 6:5; Lk. 10:27),  and seek the Lord and “meditate on His word day and night” (Js. 1:8), and thereby does not receive the satisfaction from the Lord which God has intended for his children, they remain dissatisfied and begin to search for other means of obtaining satisfaction.  Often in the search for greater satisfaction, rather than deny their Christian beliefs altogether, Christians attempt to meld there Christian beliefs with New Age concepts.

Evidence of the pervasive merging and intermingling of Christian thought and New Age pantheism are the number of books which have been written and published by Christian authors and publishers on the topic of “Finding God.”  Books such as, “Your Best Life Now”, “Becoming a Better You”, “The Secret” and “The Shack” have become best-sellers in both Christian and secular bookstores.  The common story line is that we are sufficiently powerful to create reality.  If we visualize our succeeding at whatever goal we set, it will happen.  We are in charge of providence.  We can rearrange the universe — Jesus is a force waiting to be activated — by you, knowing what you want.  Implicit in this philosophy is the New Age pantheistic concept that god is in you and you are in god; therefore, call on your inner divinity to make things happen and live your best life now.

The Bible says that if you are a forgiven child of God, this is not your best life now.  It has some pleasures, sure.  But it also has a lot of pain.  Our best life is what is to come; the Bible makes this point clear from cover to cover.  For children of God, this is the worst we will ever experience.  We look for that which is to come.  In First Peter chapter one, Peter is writing to some scattered believers.  These are the elect that are scattered. The theme of being called to suffer for righteousness sake pervades First Peter.  Peter calls on these troubled believers, who are living their worst life now, to wait patiently for the inheritance that Christ has purchased for them.  This is a call for exuberant joy.  In this, our worst life, we live in hope for the possession of the inheritance to be received.  In Second Corinthians chapters 3 – 4, Paul tells the believers in Corinth that they should not place their hope in the things that are temporary.  Rather, they, like we, are to look forward to the glorious salvation to be revealed.

[2] Steve Wilkens and Mark L. Sanford, HIDDEN WORLDVIEWS:  Eight Cultural Stories that Shape Our Lives.  (Downers Grove, IL:  InterVarsity Press, 2009), 121

[3] Norman L. Geisler and William D. Watkins, Worlds Apart: A Handbook on World Views, 2^nd ed.  (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House, 1989), 101-06.

[4] Norman L. Geisler, Christian Apologetics,  176.

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead… (Heb 11:17-19).

In this passage, we have the picture of Abraham offering up his son Isaac as a sacrifice to God. It says in verse 17; By faith, Abraham, when he was tested offered up Isaac …

Now the reason this is so amazing is not only because Isaac is Abraham’s only son, and not only because the 10 Commandments are going to say don’t murder, but mainly because God has promised to Abraham “someday, you’re going to have more sons and daughters than the sand on the seashore.”

In other words, God says, “they’re going to come through Isaac. I promise you, I’m God and I promise you they’re coming through Isaac – now kill him.”

Now, here’s the application to you’re life and mine; I’ve been talking with a couple who are breaking up and aching inside and I’ve been doing my best to talk them out of breaking up. And I sent them an email yesterday, with this very message in mind, and I said, “You know, what you’re facing right now in your choice of whether to stay married or not, is an Abraham dilemma – it’s whether to kill Isaac or not.” It feels that impossible.

I’ve seen dozens of couples who are moving towards divorce and I know that some marriages become impossible to work out. I know that, especially in cases of violence and abuse. But 90% of the time it’s because at least one of them will not trust God. They won’t believe Him, they say, “If I stay – I will be miserable, and God doesn’t want me to be miserable for the rest of my life; therefore, I don’t think He wants me to stay.” That’s the scenario over and over and over again.

And, I picture Abraham saying, “God, I want children – I want heirs – you told me that they’re all going to come through Isaac, and now you ask me to give up that dream of a happy life. Just give it up – I don’t believe you and I don’t trust you.”

Now, Abraham did not say that – that’s why he’s in the Book! Abraham took his son, Isaac, on the mountain, he lifted the knife, and God to keep His own law and to bless this obedient man, provided a substitute.

And that’s the lesson from this passage of scripture; that we can trust Him!

• The issue for some right now is; will you stay married. 
•  The issue for many of you is; will you stay Single? 
•  The issue for others is; Will you leave the job your in? 
•  The issue for others; Will you stay in your job – for me [God]? 
•  The issue for many is will you speak up at work for me – finally, speak up! Speak out for me, open your mouth for me – lift up the knife over your own reputation. 
•  For others it’s; will you confront that person about their sin, and risk that friendship for me? 
• For another; will you be a missionary; will you yield to that call?

And in every case, more or less, we feel like the step of obedience, or the step of yielding to the call of God, will make us miserable – it’s just not gonna work.

You protest, “I don’t care what you say Tim, it’s just not gonna work!” 

But what else could Abraham say, “The promise will not be fulfilled if I kill my son!” Everything human says so!

And that’s the life of faith folks. Those are the kind of things that we gotta do – will we not only desire God more, but now, will we trust a God who as it were CAN RAISE THE DEAD?

May it be so -

But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. (Hebrews 11:16)

Although the writing was speaking of the patriarchs and not pilgrims, I want very much for God to say to me what he said about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, “I am not ashamed to be called your God.”

Now consider the reason he gives: “They desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God.” The reason is their desire. They desire a better country—that is, a better country than the earthly one they live in, namely a heavenly one. This is the same as saying they desire heaven, or they desire the city God has made for them.

So two things make God unashamed to be called our God: he has prepared something great for us, and we desire it above all that is on the earth. So why is he proud to be the God of people who desire his city more than all the world? Because their desire calls attention to the superior worth of what God offers over what the world offers.

This was the strong desire and motivation of the Puritan Separatists – those pilgrims who traveled from England in search of a better place where they may worship their God. The Reformation was an age of unprecedented religious violence and martyrdom. Many who resisted the King and the established Catholic Church would face certain persecution and martyrdom by fire.

But Daniel 11:32 says, “And such as do wickedly against the covenant shall he corrupt by flatteries: but the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

And great were the exploits of the Puritan Separatists. William Brewster, was a founder of the Plymouth Colony in New England. He helped lead the Separatist movement in England, 1606, allowing the nonconformists to meet for worship at his home in Scrooby, England. He escaped religious persecution by fleeing with the Separatists to Holland, 1608.

William Bradford, was a Pilgrim leader who helped establish the Plymouth Colony. Sailing in the Mayflower, he was chosen as governor of the colony in 1621, and was reelected 30 times until his death. In 1650, William Bradford wrote a history Of Plymouth Plantation. In it, he traced the events which led to the Pilgrims’ departure from England, and from it is where we derive most or our information about the early pilgrims and the Plymouth Colonies:

Governor William Bradford stated: They shook off this yoke of antichristian bondage, and as the Lord’s free people, joined themselves by a covenant of the Lord into a church estate in the fellowship of the gospel, to walk in all His ways, made known unto them, according to their best endeavors, whatsoever it should cost them, the Lord assisting them.¹⁹⁶

In 1607, as a result of religious persecution upon their persons, reputations, families, and livelihood, the “Separatists,” or Pilgrims, departed from England for Holland. Governor Bradford recorded:

Being thus constrained to leave their native soyle and countrie, their lands and livings, and all their friends and famillier acquantance. … to goe into a countrie they knew not (but by hearsay) where they must learne a new language, and get their livings they knew not how, it being a dear place, and subject to the miseries of war, it was by many thought an adventure almost desperate, a case intolerable, and a miserie worse than death. …

But these things did not dismay them (though they did sometimes trouble them) for their desires were sett on ye ways of God and to enjoye His ordinances; but they rested in His providence, and knew whom they had believed.¹⁹⁵

They lived in Holland 12 years, but little did they realize that out of the 103 Pilgrims who departed, 51 would die in the first winter in the New World. On September 6, 1620, after two attempts which were canceled due to the ship, the Speedwell, developing a leak, the Pilgrims finally set out for America in the Mayflower, just as the stormy season began in the North Atlantic. On November 11, 1620, having been blown off course by violent winds from their intended destination of Virginia, the Pilgrims landed at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. They found the area deserted, as the Patuxet tribe which lived there, one of the fiercest Indian tribes on the New England coast, had been destroyed by a great plague just two years prior. Had the Pilgrims landed there earlier, they would most likely have been massacred as the survivors of a French vessel were in 1617, as recounted by Bradford:

About three years before, a French ship was wrecked at Cape Cod, but the men got ashore and saved their lives and a large part of their provisions. When the Indians heard of it, they surrounded them and never left watching and dogging them till they got the advantage and killed them, all but three or four, whom they kept, and sent from one Sachem to another, making sport with them and using them worse than slaves.²⁰⁰

On November 12, 1620, the first full day in the New World, Bradford described the Pilgrims’ thankfulness: Being thus arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element.²⁰²

Later he would write; what could now sustain them but the spirit of God and His grace? May not and ought not the children of these fathers rightly say: Our fathers were Englishmen which came over this great ocean, and were ready to perish in this wilderness; (Deuteronomy 26:5, 7) but they cried unto the Lord, and He heard their voice, and looked on their adversity. Let them therefore praise ye Lord, because He is good, and His mercies endure for ever. (107 Psalm: v. 1, 2, 4, 5, 8) Yea let them which have been redeemed of the Lord, show how He has delivered them from the hand of the oppressor. When they wandered in the desert wilderness out of ye way, and found no city to dwell in, both hungry, and thirsty, their soul was overwhelmed in them. Let them confess before the Lord His loving kindness, and His wonderful works before the sons of men.²⁰³

Three years after the Pilgrims’ arrival and two years after the first Thanksgiving, Governor William Bradford made an official proclamation for a Day of Thanksgiving, to all the Pilgrims he said: Last and not least, they cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advance of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.²¹¹

Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are (Romans 4:17); and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole na[i]tion; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.²¹²

The great and rich spiritual heritage of those who would dare go against the powers of this world and do exploits by the grace of God because of the future hope of a promised possession – a city made by God, eternal in the heavens. And for this, the same future possession, the Lord has called you and me to as well, as the apostle Peter tells us, “To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fades not away, reserved in heaven for you, (1 Peter 1:4).

¹⁹⁵ Bradford, William. 1607, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988). Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 186.Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 32.

¹⁹⁶ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 4 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 185. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 62.

²⁰⁰ Bradford, William. 1617, describing the fate of a French ship wrecked off Cape Cod. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, from the original manuscript; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 82.

²⁰² Bradford, William. November 12, 1620, in recounting the Pilgrims’ first full day in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), ch. 9, p. 64. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265.

²⁰³ Bradford, William. November 11, 1620, in his record of the Pilgrims’ landing at Cape Cod, Massachusetts. William Bradford (Governor of Plymouth Colony), 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 66. Sacvan Bercovitch, ed., Typology and Early American Literature (Cambridge: University of Massachusetts Press, 1972), p. 104. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.28. (note: reference to these first settlers as “pilgrims” is owed to this passage.)

²¹¹ Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 6 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 21. Jordan D. Fiore, ed., Mourt’s Relation: A Journal of the Pilgrims of Plymouth (Plymouth, MA: Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1841, 1865, 1985), pp. 10-11. William T. Davis, ed., History of Plymouth Plantation (NY: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1908), p. 46. The Annals of America  20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 1, p. 66. Verna M. Hall, comp., Christian History of the Constitution of the United States of America (San Francisco: Foundation for American Christian Education, 1976), p. 193. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant—The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 11. Gary DeMar, America’s Christian History: The Untold Story (Atlanta, GA: American Vision Publishers, Inc., 1993), pp. 34-35.,

²¹² Bradford, William. 1650, in his work entitled, 2 (Boston, Massachusetts: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1856; Boston, Massachusetts: Wright and Potter Printing Company, 1898, 1901, from the Original Manuscript, Library of Congress Rare Book Collection, Washington, D.C.; rendered in Modern English, Harold Paget, 1909; NY: Russell and Russell, 1968; NY: Random House, Inc., Modern Library College edition, 1981; San Antonio, TX: American Heritage Classics, Mantle Ministries, 228 Still Ridge, Bulverde, Texas, 1988), p. 236. John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations (Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1855, 1980), p. 265. Fleming, One Small Candle: The Pilgrim’s First Year in America, p. 218. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg’s Heart’N Home, Inc., 1991), 11.25. D.P. Diffine, Ph.D., One Nation Under God—How Close a Separation? (Searcy, Arkansas: Harding University, Belden Center for Private Enterprise Education, 6th edition, 1992), p. 4.

[i]

It has always been the emphasis of the apostles and early church fathers to have the expectancy and anticipation of the coming of our Lord before them. They always lived life as if he were to come at any time.

There are many people and pastors who claim an ignorance of the Rapture or say that they are not certain whether it will precede the Tribulation. They say they don’t really know where they stand on this issue. I don’t believe there is any excuse for not having a position on this issue and I believe it’s of the utmost important that we be resolved to a pretribulation rapture belief.

I believe that your view of the Rapture will have a significant impact on the success of your walk with the Lord and ministry.

THE PROMISE OF HIS COMING

First of all, we know that Jesus promised He would come again. In John 14 we read, “Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John 14:1-3).

The Lord promises to come again and to receive His disciples unto Himself, that where He is we might be also.

Paul, in writing to the Corinthians declared, “Behold, I show you a mystery.” (I Corinthians 15:51). A mystery in the New Testament means something that has not yet been revealed by God in His progressive revelation of Himself, His purposes, and plans to man.

Paul, for instance, spoke to the Colossians about, “What is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.” (Colossians 1:27).

OLD TESTAMENT MISUNDERSTANDING

The Old Testament prophets did not comprehend what it meant that Christ would be in us. Even the angels desire to fully grasp these things. (I Peter 1:12).

NEW CONCEPT

In the I Corinthians 15:51 passage we are introduced to another never before revealed truth, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump.”

When the Bible declares that we will “all be changed,” it means there will be a metamorphosis. “For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (l Corinthians 15:53). All believers will go through a glorious change at the coming of Jesus Christ for His church.

The Thessalonians were having a problem with this issue. Paul only ministered there for a couple of weeks, but in that short time he taught them many things. One of the things he taught them was concerned the Rapture of the church. The Thessalonians were looking for the coming Kingdom.

ANTICIPATION OF HIS COMING

I believe it is God’s intention that every church age be convinced they are the last generation. I also believe that God’s divine design is for the church to live in constant expectancy of the Lord’s return.

The apostle Paul, while writing to his young protégé Timothy writes, “looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13). 

Jesus, talking about His return, said, “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” (Matthew 24:46).

The early church believed that Jesus would set up the Kingdom immediately. In the first chapter of Acts, the disciples asked, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6). “Are we just a few days away?” They were excited because they were expecting the Lord to set up the Kingdom at any time.

Jesus responded by saying, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power. But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.” (Acts 1:7-8).

There was a rumor in the early church that the Lord would come back before John died. Every time John got a cold or sore throat the whole church would get excited. So John wrote in the Gospel to clarify what Jesus had said. Jesus was telling Peter how He would die, and then Peter, in his typical manner, said, “But, Lord, what about him?” Jesus responded, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Follow thou Me.” (John 21:22).

John took note of the point that Jesus didn’t say that He was going to, He said, “If I will.” So John sought to correct the mistaken notion that Jesus would come before he died.

The Thessalonians were looking for the Lord to come, but some of their dear brethren in the church at Thessalonica had died, and still Jesus had not returned. They believed that because they had died before Jesus came back, they would miss out on the glorious Kingdom.

In I Thessalonians chapter 4, Paul corrected this mistaken idea that if a person died before Jesus came back, they would miss out on the Kingdom. So he said, “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.” (I Thessalonians 4:13).

Paul went on to say, “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.” (I Thessalonians 4:14-15)

Paul believed that he would probably be alive and remain until the coming of the Lord. He emphasized that we would not precede those who sleep. “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: 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. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.” (I Thessalonians 4:16-18).

DISBELIEF & DEFINITION

I Thessalonians 4:17 we read that, “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.”

Some people would ridicule the idea or concept of the Rapture of the Church. They declare that the word “rapture” isn’t even found in the Bible. It all depends on which Bible you’re reading. The phrase “caught up” in I Thessalonians 4:17 is the Greek word harpazo, which actually means “to be snatched away violently.”

The Latin equivalent of harpazo is the verb rapio, “to take away by force.” In the Latin Vulgate, one of the oldest Bibles in existence, the appropriate tense of rapio appears in verse 17. Raptus is the past participle of rapio. Our English words “rapt” and “rapture” stem from this past participle. Although “rapture” isn’t in the King James Bible, the basic word does appear in the Latin Vulgate. [1]

The Rapture refers to that time when Jesus is going to come, without warning, and take away His church from this earth. It’s a military term frequently used when a commander gives order to pull their troops out, when they go in after hostages, or when those who are the ambassadors or dignitaries – representatives of a nation, would be called home prior to an invasion or war.

Jesus will return to rapture His church. That’s the first event. After the Rapture, the Lord will pour out His wrath upon this sinful world.

The second event is the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, when He comes again with His church to establish His Kingdom upon the earth.

The Rapture then is distinct from the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

We’re told, “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).

And, “When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4).

The Second Coming of Jesus will be to establish God’s Kingdom upon the earth.

But prior to that Second Coming there will be an event when the church will be caught up to be with the Lord. The thing I love most about this event is that, “so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (I Thessalonians 4:17).

THE “FOR” HIS CHURCH & “WITH” HIS CHURCH CONFUSION

There is a distinct difference between Jesus coming for His church and Jesus coming with His church.

Those who are skeptical and critical of a pretribulation rapture belief frequently use their confusion over Jesus coming for his church and Jesus coming with His church as a devise to cause confusion in the hearts of those who would believe.

He will be coming for His church at the Rapture. But at the Second Coming of Jesus, He’ll be coming with His church.

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear,” (at His Second Coming) “then shall ye also appear with him in glory.” (Colossians 3:4).

Jude 14 speaks of the Second Coming when it states, “Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints.”

Zechariah also spoke of this when he wrote, “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” (Zechariah 14:4-5).

We should notice a few things about this verse;

• One, it’s talking about the Second Coming of Christ to this earth,
• and Two, all the Saints return with Him.
• This would mean that we’re already with Him at His return to earth – we’ve already been raptured to be with Him.

 IT CAN HAPPEN ANY TIME

The Rapture can take place at any time. There are no prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled before the Rapture occurs. It could happen before we’re through here tonight!

 There are some prophecies that are yet to be fulfilled before Jesus comes again and His Second Coming to earth.

The Antichrist must be revealed, and the earth must go through a time of great tribulation and judgment. These prophecies relate specifically to the Second Coming of Jesus.

SIGNS OF HIS COMING

Jesus spoke about the signs of His coming in Luke 21:28, “And when these things begin to come to pass, (the signs of His Second Coming) then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.”

Each year, when it comes close to Harvest Festival and Halloween, I know that it won’t be long before the Holidays are upon us; Thanksgiving, then Christmas and it’s always exiting to me and something I usually look forward to with great anticipation. And, in the same way, when we see the signs of the Second Coming, we know that the Rapture’s getting close.

Jesus had given His disciples the signs of His coming in response to their question, “Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).

Jesus had just walked through the temple with His disciples and they were remarking on how huge the stones were. Jesus said, “There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.” (Matthew 24:2).

When they got over to the Mount of Olives, they asked Jesus, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3). So they weren’t asking for just one set of signs. They were asking for signs of the destruction of the temple, and they were also asking about the signs of the end of this current age of human government and the coming of the Kingdom of God.

They didn’t ask about, nor did they probably even understand, the Rapture of the church. But Jesus proceeded to give them the signs of the destruction of the temple and the signs of His coming again. When He speaks about the signs of His Second Coming, He naturally speaks about the Great Tribulation. “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.” (Matthew 24:21).

Jesus also warns them, “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:)” (Matthew 24:15). When you see that abomination standing in the holy place, you’ll know it’s time for you to get out of Jerusalem and flee to the wilderness.

And then, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.” (Matthew 24:29-30).

Prior to the Second Coming, there are a few prophecies left that must be fulfilled. There must be the revelation of the Antichrist and the establishing of Satan’s kingdom in full power during the Great Tribulation. These events must occur before the Second Coming of Jesus.

But there is nothing that must occur before the Rapture of the church.

That is why we are told to watch and be ready, “for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.” Therefore, “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” (Matthew 24:44,46).

PARABLES

Jesus then began to tell them a series of parables. The point of each parable in the series is to watch and be ready for His return at any time. Each parable focuses on the key point that the Rapture is imminent, that is, it can happen at any time.

In the Parable of the Ten Virgins we read, “And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.” (Matthew 25:2). Those “that were ready went in with him to the marriage: and the door was shut. Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh.” (Matthew 25:10-13).

The emphasis throughout is to watch and be ready, because you don’t know when the Lord is coming for His servants.

In Matthew 24:42-44 we read, “Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come. 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. Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh.”

THE CHURCH WILL NOT GO THROUGH THE TRIBULATION

I firmly believe that the church will not go through the Great Tribulation.

Talking about the Tribulation in Luke 21, Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36).

Now if Jesus tells me to pray for something, believe me, I will do it!

I pray, “Lord, I want to be accounted worthy to escape these things that will come to pass upon the earth.” This is in the context of the Great Tribulation.

REVELATION: PAST , PRESENT & FUTURE

We’re told in Revelation 1:19 that the book is divided into three sections. “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter.”

In chapter one, John was told to, “Write the things which thou hast seen”, and he wrote about the vision he saw of Christ walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, holding the seven stars in His right hand. He wrote about the glorious description of Jesus in His glorified state.

In chapters two and three, he writes about the “things that are.”

This refers to messages of Jesus to the seven churches of Asia. I believe that these were seven actual churches of that day, but I also believe that they refer to seven periods of church history.

I also believe they are representative of churches that you can find today.

There are churches today that have left their first love.

There are churches today that have embraced the doctrine of the Nicolaitans. There’s a suffering church of Smryna in the world today such as those suffering persecution in China, Sudan, and other places.

I believe that there’s the church of Thyratira that has embodied the doctrine of “Mariology.” We can see the church of Sardis portrayed in dead Protestantism,

“thou hast a name that thou livest, and art dead.” (Revelation 3:1).

I believe that there is the Philadelphian church, that church which is staying true to the Word.

It may not have much power, but thank God that He has “set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name.” (Revelation 3:8). We may not be big or earth shaking, but thank God we are making a little impression!

But there is also the Laodicean church, the one that has put Jesus outside. He’s standing at the door and knocking, and saying, “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.” (Revelation 3:20).

So I believe that you have a three-fold application for the messages to the seven churches.

In chapter four, verse one, when He’s finished with the messages to the churches, He introduces a new section with the Greek word, ‘metatauta’ (after these things), that He also used in 1:19.

We need to ask, “After what things?” After the things of chapters two and three.

“AFTER” THE SCENE IN HEAVEN

The things of chapters two and three are the things of the church.

So after the things that pertain to the church we read, “After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.” (Revelation 4:1).

After this command, John said, “Immediately I was in the spirit: and, behold, a throne was set in heaven, and One sat on the throne.” (Revelation 4:2).

He then describes the throne of God with its emerald rainbow round about and the cherubim as they are worshiping. He sees the twenty four lesser thrones with the elders sitting on them and watches and observes the heavenly worship as the cherubim are declaring the eternal character, nature, and holiness of God.

“They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8).

As they are declaring the holiness of God, the twenty four elders fall on their faces, take their golden crowns, cast them on the glassy sea, and declare, “Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Revelation 4: 11).

THE SCROLL – “TITLE DEED” JEWISH LAW OF REDEMPTION

Then John’s attention is drawn to a sealed scroll with seven seals, with writing on the inside and the outside. An angel proclaims with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof?” (Revelation 5:2). And John writes, “And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.” (Revelation 5:4).

It is my belief that this scroll is the title deed to the earth, according to the Jewish Law of Redemption.

There was an established time when you could redeem forfeited or lost property provided you fulfilled the requirements within the deed, represented by the scroll.

We see this illustrated in the story of Ruth when Boaz redeemed the field that belonged to Elimelech in order that he might obtain the bride. We also see this illustrated in Jesus who purchased and paid the price to redeem the world in order that He might have His bride, the church.

Back in heaven, we find John weeping because, under Jewish law, if you don’t redeem property at that appointed time, it goes to the new owner perpetually.

You have one opportunity, after that it permanently belongs to the new owner.

The thought of the world being forever under Satan’s power and control was more than John could handle, and he begins to sob convulsively, until an elder says, “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.” (Revelation 5:5).

And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of saints. And they sang a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:7-10).

As you look carefully at the lyrics, we realize that only the church can sing those words.

When the Lord is in heaven receiving the title deed to the earth, we will be in heaven watching Him as He takes the scroll out of the right hand of Him who is sitting on the throne.

We will join in a glorious chorus singing, “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof. for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” (Revelation 5:9).

SIGNS PRECEDING THE SECOND COMING

In Luke 21, Jesus told His disciples about the signs of His Second Coining and the Great Tribulation that would precede the end of the age.

He said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36).

When the Great Tribulation occurs on earth, I expect to be in heaven standing before the Son of Man and singing of the worthiness of the Lamb.

Only the church can sing this song of redemption.

If we follow the timing, we see that the church singing the song of redemption occurs in chapter five, before the opening of the scroll in chapter six, and that precedes the Great Tribulation on the earth.

Again we read that He has “redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Revelation 5:9-10).

We see the church standing before the Son of Man and Jesus, talking about the Great Tribulation, saying, “Pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.“ (Luke 21:36). Believe me, I want to be in that company up there!

Revelation chapter six begins the description of the Great Tribulation.

As the Lord opens each seal of the scroll, a corresponding judgment is released upon the earth.

As the first seal is opened, John writes, “And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” (Revelation 6:2).

I believe this is the revelation of the Antichrist.

Some believe this rider on the white horse is Jesus Christ! But, as we examine the passage, we see that it’s followed by war, famine, bloodshed, and a fourth of the people being killed. That doesn’t sound like the Kingdom of God and the glorious coming of the Lord! I believe it is the Antichrist.

THE PRESENCE AND POWER OF THE CHURCH

I do believe that the forces and the power of the Antichrist are in the world today and that the only thing keeping them from taking over is the presence of the church.

We have a little strength, not much, but enough to keep back the powers of darkness from taking complete control. I don’t believe that the Antichrist can take over until the church is removed.

Paul tells us in II Thessalonians chapter 2, “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” (II Thessalonians 2:7-8).

This lines up with the Revelation chapter six passages where the church is in heaven as Jesus takes the scroll.

As He begins to loose the scroll, the corresponding judgments are released upon the earth. It is the time of the pouring out of God’s wrath.

NOT APPOINTED TO WRATH

In Romans 5:9, Paul tells us that, “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” He repeats this in I Thessalonians 5:9, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We, the church, are not “appointed unto wrath.”

In Romans 1, Paul writes, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” (Romans 1:18).

It simply isn’t consistent with the nature of God to judge the righteous with the wicked.

Now it is true that in the world we Christians will have tribulation.

The world hates us, so we shouldn’t be surprised at persecution.

Jesus said, “If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you” (John 15:18), and “In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33). So, in this world you will have tribulation.

But what is the source of the tribulation against the church?

It’s not God! Satan is the source of the tribulation.

When Satan is the source of tribulation, you can expect the children of God to be those who will be persecuted. But when God is the source of the judgment, it’s a different story.

God has already judged our sins on the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus bore the judgment of God for all of our guilt.

SODOM 

Remember when the angels were on their way to destroy Sodom?

They stopped by and visited Abraham. They said, “Should we tell Abraham what we’re about to do?” And they decided, “Well, why not?” So they told him that the sin of Sodom had ascended up into heaven and that they were on their way to check out the reports and destroy the city.

Abraham asked them to wait because his nephew Lot was living there. He said, “Would You also destroy the righteous with the wicked? Suppose there were fifty righteous within the city; would You also destroy the place and not spare it for the fifty righteous that were in it?’ So the LORD said, ‘If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare all the place for their sake.’ Then Abraham answered and said, ‘Suppose there were five less than the fifty righteous; would You destroy all of the city for lack of five?’ So He said, ‘If I find there forty-five, I will not destroy it.’ ‘Suppose there should be forty found there?’ So He said, ‘I will not do it for the sake of forty.’ ‘Suppose thirty should be found there?’ So He said, ‘I will not do it if I find thirty there.’ ‘Suppose twenty should be found there?’ So He said, ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of twenty.’ ‘Suppose ten should be found there?’ And He said, ‘I will not destroy it for the sake of ten.’ (Genesis 18:23-33).

And what happened? When the angels came to the city of Sodom, they found one righteous man, Lot, sitting at the gate. Lot knew what the Sodomites were like. We’re told by Peter that his righteous spirit had been vexed by the way the people were living. Lot, not knowing these individuals were angels, invited them into his home. That night the men of Sodom came and began to beat on the door, saying, “Where are the men which came in to thee this night? bring them out unto us, that we may know them.” (Genesis 19:5). They literally wanted to rape them. Lot replied, “I pray you, brethren, do not so wickedly.” (Genesis 19:7).

The angels pulled Lot back as the crowd began to beat down the door. Then the angels smote the men with blindness. We’re told that they continued all night trying to find the door. In the morning, the angels had to actually carry Lot out of Sodom because they couldn’t destroy it until he was gone.

Lot was a type of the church that is to be delivered.

Peter tells us that the Lord “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;). The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:” (II Peter 2:7-9).

God will deliver the righteous, and He’ll also reserve the ungodly for the day of judgment.

The basic principle is that the Lord of the Earth is righteous.

He’s fair and He won’t destroy the righteous with the wicked.

When God is the source of the judgment, then God will deliver the righteous out of judgment.

NOAH – TYPE OF ISRAEL (144,000)

Earlier, God judged the world because of its wickedness with the Flood.

“And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.” (Genesis 6:5).

But among all of the unrighteous of the world there was one righteous man, Noah. And God protected and sheltered Noah as His judgment was unleashed.

Noah was sealed by God and safely taken through the Flood, just as the One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand in Revelation chapter seven were sealed by God so they would not be harmed by the Tribulation judgments.

Noah is a type of the One Hundred and Forty Four Thousand that are sealed and taken through the judgment.

ENOCH – TYPE OF CHURCH (RAPTURED)

During this same period, there was also one other righteous man, Enoch.

 ”And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.” (Genesis 5:24).

Enoch is an interesting picture of the church. He was translated, or raptured.

I do not believe that the church will go through the Great Tribulation.

But there are certain Scriptures that people use to try to show that the church will be there.

One argument is based on the interpretation of the ‘last trump.‘

LAST TRUMP

In I Corinthians 15, Paul speaks about the Rapture and says, “Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 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.” (I Corinthians 15:51-52).

Some try to link this with the seven trumpet judgments of Revelation and say that the seventh trumpet is the last trump.

They see this as proof that the Rapture will not take place until the last trump occurs, which is the final judgment.

I see a couple of problems with this.

First, the seven trumpet judgments in Revelation are given to the seven angels to sound and to bring in the corresponding judgments upon the earth. When we examine who is blowing each of these trumpets we see that they are all angels.

In I Thessalonians 4:16, Paul is speaking of the Rapture, “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:” (I Thessalonians 4:16).

The trumpet of the Rapture is not that of an angel.

It’s the trump of God!

After the fourth angel sounds his trump, there’s a voice that shouts, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” (Revelation 8:13).

After the fifth trumpet sounds, again the voice says, “One woe is past; and, behold, there come two woes more hereafter.” (Revelation 9:12).

It’s clear that it’s a woe that is pronounced to those on the earth. But our being caught up isn’t a woe. It’s glory!

Another argument that is often given is presented in Revelation chapter 20, as John views the various groups in heaven.

ANOTHER ARGUMENT

Beginning with verse four we read, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.” (Revelation 20:4-5).

The point they make is that at the first resurrection John sees those who were beheaded for their witness of Jesus, who didn’t worship the beast or take the image and receive the mark.

They lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

Some believe this is solid proof that the church will go through the tribulation and be martyred.

But we need to go back and read it again. In verse four we see thrones, and that to those who sat upon them judgment was given. Let’s look back at who these overcomers are.

In the message to the overcomers to the church we read, “To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 3:21).

John sees the church as a part of the first resurrection. Then he sees those who will be martyred during the Great Tribulation period for their refusal to take the mark of the beast.

This is the great number that you find in chapter seven where the elder said, “What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” (Revelation 7:13-14).

But notice they stand in His holy temple and serve Him day and night continually.

The church is the bride of Christ. Jesus said, “Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.” (John 15:15).

So, we have this second group comprised of the martyred saints during the Great Tribulation period.

They will become a part of the kingdom, but the church will have already been raptured. And that’s a far better way to go than through martyrdom in the Great Tribulation period!

In other words, these martyrs are servants, whereas those who go up in the rapture will be worshipers who will rule and reign with Christ – a much better position in the kingdom!

THE 7^TH TRUMP

In Revelation 10:7 we read more about the seventh trumpet. It says, “But in the days of the voice of the seventh angel, when he shall begin to sound, the mystery of God should be finished, as he hath declared to his servants the prophets.” (Revelation 10:7).

‘Days’ is plural, but the Rapture will take place in a moment, in the ‘twinkling of an eye.’ Therefore, we really can’t relate the last trump with the seventh trumpet of Revelation.

The seventh trumpet of Revelation will take place over the ‘days’ of the sounding of the seventh trumpet. In contrast, when the trump of God sounds, we will be changed in a moment.

In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus said, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.” (Matthew 24:29-31).

AFTER THE TRIBULATION

We see here that immediately after the tribulation of those days, Jesus appears to the whole world.

Then He gathers together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

But some say, “Isn’t the church the elect?” Yes.

The church is the elect, but Israel is also the elect. This is a reference to Israel, and you can cross reference it with several passages of the Old Testament where the same thing is declared.

God will gather together the Jews from all over the world.

In this passage, Jesus is speaking about His elect, the Jewish nation, not the church.

Isaiah said, “And he shall set up an ensign for the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.” (Isaiah 11:12). Israel will be regathered.

What about the Scriptures that speak about the Antichrist making war against the saints?

Daniel tells us in 7:21, “I beheld, and the same horn (the Antichrist) made war with the saints, and prevailed against them.” In Revelation 13:7 we read, “And it was given unto him (the Antichrist) to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.”

Who are the saints? They can’t be the church because Jesus said to Peter, “Upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:18). The fact that he makes war on the saints and prevails against them means that they are the Jewish saints, not the church.

I do not believe that the church will see the Antichrist empowered upon the earth.

I would not be surprised if the Antichrist is already one of the main figures on the world scene. But I do not believe the church will see the Antichrist display his full power on the earth.

THE CHURCH WITHHOLDS THE ANTICHRIST

In 2 Thessalonians 2, as Paul is talking about this man of sin, the son of perdition, he declares, “And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:” (II Thessalonians 2:6-8).

I do not believe that the Antichrist can take over the rule and authority of the earth while the church is still here. I believe that the Holy Spirit within the church is the restraining force that is holding back the powers of darkness from completely engulfing and overwhelming the world right now.

But the moment the church is removed, there will be nothing to hinder or hold back the powers of darkness from taking total control.

That which restrains shall restrain until he is taken out of the way. Then shall the man of sin, the son of perdition, be revealed.

This is the reason why I’m not looking for the Antichrist. This is just another subtle and deceitful device of Satan, that leads people to be looking for the Antichrist rather than looking for Jesus Christ.

THE CHURCH MISTAKEN FOR ISRAEL – JEWS

The reason some people get their prophetic scenarios confused is because they spiritualize and make the church Israel.

They say, “God is through with the nation of Israel because they rejected the Messiah.” They believe that God has discarded Israel and replaced it with the church, and the church is now “the Israel of God.”

This is “Replacement Theology” and the root to this is the same evil spirit that empowered Hitler.

They take those prophecies that refer to Israel as a nation and make them apply to the church. When you do that, it confuses the whole prophetic picture!

If the sun came up this morning, then God’s covenant with Israel still stands. He said, “As long as the sun comes up, My covenant with Israel shall stand.”

God is not through with Israel.

In the book of Hosea, God says,

“Go back and get her again. Wash her off, clean her up, and take her back.”

Daniel chapter 9 says that God still has a seven-year pact to fulfill with Israel, during which He will deal with them again in a direct way.

You do find the Rapture in type in the Old Testament.

Enoch is a type of the church who was translated before the judgment of the flood.

Daniel, I believe, is also a type of the church.

Remember when Nebuchadnezzar built his great image and demanded that everybody bow down. I believe that this is a type of the image that the Antichrist will build, set in the temple, and demand that everyone worship. Nebuchadnezzar required everyone to bow down to the great image at the sound of the music. So when the music sounded, they all bowed down, with the exception of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. The Chaldeans reported to Nebuchadnezzar, “Hey there are three Hebrew boys over here who didn’t bow. The music sounded, and they’re just standing there!”

So he called in the three Hebrew boys, and said, “What’s this I hear? You didn’t bow? We’ll give you another chance, but if you don’t bow you’ll be thrown into the burning, fiery furnace!”

They said, “King, we’re not even careful how we answer you in this matter, because the God that we serve is able to deliver us out of your burning, fiery furnace, and even if He doesn’t, we still won’t bow!” I love that kind of grit! You don’t stop men like that!

Nebuchadnezzar was so angry that he had the furnace heated seven times hotter than it had ever been heated before. The three Hebrews were thrown in and the men that threw them in were burned to death, just because they got close to the fire! But the only thing that burned with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego were the ropes by which the Chaldeans bound them. Nebuchadnezzar looked into the furnace and asked, “How many did we throw in there?” They answered, “Three, O king.” “But how come I see four? They’re walking around in the middle of the fire! And the fourth one looks like the Son of God. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, come out of there!”

When they came out, not a hair was singed. There wasn’t even the smell of smoke! Everybody was amazed, and Nebuchadnezzar, great at making proclamations, said,

“I proclaim there’s no God in all the earth like the God of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego who was able to deliver from the burning, fiery furnace!”

But where was Daniel when this was happening?

Do you think Daniel bowed before the image?

If you do, you know a different Daniel than I know!

Remember back in the first chapter, Daniel had purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself, even with the king’s meat.

I don’t believe that the man who had such purpose of heart would ever bow.

Daniel becomes a type of the church which will have been removed when the Antichrist sets up his image and demands everybody to worship. We, the church, will be taking care of business elsewhere, in the heavenly scene!

When you realize that the source of the tribulation is God, it automatically precludes God’s people being involved. It wouldn’t be just, or consistent, for God to judge the righteous with the wicked.

Peter said that God “spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;” (II Peter 2:5).

God spared the righteous but brought the flood upon the world of the ungodly. That’s what the judgment is about. It’s targeted at the world of the ungodly.

“And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those that after should live ungodly;” (II Peter 2:6).

But He “delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked: (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;) The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:” (II Peter 2:7-9).

This declares the clear purposes of God.

I believe that through the Old Testament types, such as Lot, Noah, Enoch and Daniel, we see the truth that the church will not be here during the Great Tribulation.

Scripture plainly states, “For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,” (I Thessalonians 5:9). “Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.” (Romans 5:9). And “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;” (Romans 1:18) - but this doesn’t describe the child of God.

REASONS FOR A PRE-TRIB PERSPECTIVE

I believe that God wanted every church age to believe that it was the last. Believing this has a three-fold effect.

First, it gives us an urgency for the work that we are doing, to get the Gospel out.

We don’t have much time, so we should “lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us.” We need to “run with patience the race that is set before us,” (Hebrews 12:1).

What we’re called to do we need to do quickly. There’s an urgency to our work. We need to get the message out because we don’t have much time. The Lord is returning soon!

Second, it gives us a correct perspective of material things.

The material world is going to burn. We put all of our investments in the things of this material world, but they will all be lost.

Jesus said, “But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven.” (Matthew 6:20). He said, “Use the unrighteousness of mammon for eternal purposes.”

If God does bless you financially, that’s great. But we need to use it for eternal purposes. Jesus’ imminent return gives us the correct balance between the things of the Spirit and the material things of the world.

We recognize that the material world is rapidly passing away and only those things that are eternal will last. Knowing that we have only one life which will soon be past, we recognize that only what we do for Christ will last. This gives us the proper perspective.

PURITY

The third reason why I’m convinced that Jesus wants every generation to believe it will be the last is that it maintains a purity in our lives.

Jesus said, “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” (Matthew 24:46).

I don’t want the Lord to come and find me watching an X-rated movie or cruising pornographic sites on the Internet. Imagine! Believing that Jesus will return at any time keeps a purity in our lives.

The Lord could come today! “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing.” John said, “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.” (I John 3:23).

It gives us a purifying hope. That’s why I believe it’s important that we keep this distinctive of believing in the imminent return of Jesus Christ and not compromise it.

I am looking for the Lord of heaven to come and snatch me away that I might be with Him.

As He said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:36).

That is my prayer, and it is my expectation to be there, and the exciting thing is that it could happen at any time! I do believe that the Lord intended us to live in this anticipation in every age of the church.

And I believe that the hope of the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ is the spark that God has used to bring revival throughout the church. This is what is sparking revival today, the fact that we don’t have much time.

The Lord is coming soon. We are living at the very edge, and it is as Paul said, “And, that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed.” (Romans 13:11).

I want to be watching and I want to be ready to meet Him when He comes. I don’t want to be doing anything that would be dragging me down or holding me back. I want to be ready for my Lord!

I believe it is so important that we proclaim this teaching of the Rapture and keep the people watching and hoping because, without that, what hope do we have in the world today?

We need to keep people focused on the truth that a better day is coming very soon. Be ready! The Lord is coming for His people, and He is going to take us to be with Him.

 Nicodemus, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, an elite 70 member counsel who ruled all Jewish people, came to Jesus at night (John 3). Nicodemus was a successful man. ^[2] He was successful in his chosen field and had become wealthy in it, yet in all of his prosperity and notoriety, God was not present in his life. This man, although sitting right in the midst of the Assembly of God’s own chosen people, recognized that God was missing in his life, and so, he sets out to find God and for this reason he comes to Jesus.

After attending church on Sunday morning, a little boy knelt at his bedside that night and prayed, “Dear God, we had a good time at church today – but I wish you had been there!”

I don’t know about you, but I’ve been to a few church services that after leaving, I could have said the same thing as that boy, and this was probably the way Nicodemus was feeling at that time. He had heard and seen some of the miracles of Jesus and recognized that God was there. Finally, God has come to my town and now at last I have a chance to meet with Him.

Nicodemus comes to Jesus and opens his conversation professing to know Jesus is of God and Jesus replies cutting right to the point, “… I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.”

By this, Nicodemus is not only surprised but surely taken aback. After all, “I’m a religious leader in this town”, he could have said. “I’m religious and successful, are you implying I don’t know God?’. ‘I pastor a large church – the temple in Jerusalem, what do you mean ‘I must be born again?’” Wanting to draw an explanation of this tremendous statement from Jesus he replies, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” In other words, “do I have to go back and start all over”, as if physically living life all over again?

But then, Jesus, while responding to Nicodemus’ question, again makes another remarkable statement regarding new birth; 

“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up” (John 3:14).

This takes us back to around 1600 BC, when after leaving Egypt, the people of Israel traveled from Mount Hor along the route to the Red Sea, to go around Edom. But the people grew impatient on the way; they spoke against God and against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the desert? There is no bread! There is no water! And we detest this miserable food!” Then the Lord sent venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died. ^[3]

The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the Lord and against you. Pray that the Lord will take the snakes away from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.” So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived. (Numbers 21:4–9)

Now, you may ask, why a snake? It was the snake who deceived Eve in the garden where sin began. Also, the Bible tells us that “He made him who knew no sin, to become sin for us, so that we may become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

When the people repented and asked Moses to pray that the Lord would remove the fiery snakes, God told him to make a snake and fasten it to a pole. The Hebrew word translated “pole” is nes. In the ot, nēs generally means a rallying point or standard which drew people together for some common action or for the communication of important information.^[4] According to The Exegetical Dictionary of the NT, the word Jesus used for “lift up” in Greek was, hypsoō, which means to raise up or to make great.

This applies to us in a radical way!

Later, according to the apostle John, Jesus said, “And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to Myself.” (John 12:32).

On a personal level – as a matter of the heart, unless we see the Lord magnified in and through our lives; unless he is made great in our sight, we will not have the faith, the heart to experience Him working in our lives to the degree we would if He were high and lifted up in our minds eye and heart.

Joshua 3:6 says, “Joshua was magnified in the sight of Israel the day he crossed the Jordan.” I refer to Joshua for a couple of reasons; one, the crossing of the Jordan was a huge and formidable task to the people, but not only that, it was also a pivotal moment in their lives. For at that time, they were moving forward to an uncertain future, yet promised to their fathers, it remained unrecognized to the people so far. But now, by faith, they moved forward to lay hold of those promises.

The second reason I refer to Joshua and the crossing of the Jordan is that when the people crossed the Jordan, they set up stones as a memorial and it says these stones were so that all people will remember. This is key to me and to you, for it is that when Jesus is lifted up, “He will draw all people to himself” and there is in fact a tie-in between the two. Israel’s crossing of the Jordan is a good example to us, for many are the promises we have to us from God, and we’re to move forward in faith and lay hold of the reality of them for us personally in our lives. And for us to move forward and experience forgiveness, healing and the filling we’re to receive from God, our greater than Joshua – Jesus is to be magnified in our minds eye and hearts if we’re to be Born Again and if we’re to be healed of the sin or whatever else has bitten us so we come to know the reality of God working in and through our lives.

Jesus said, “If I’m lifted up” I will draw all people to myself. Unless He’s lifted up in my life, unless He’s magnified and made big – a priority in my life and heart, I will remain as lost, as beaten down and discouraged as ever. But as I lift Him up, He faithfully draws me to Himself and heals me of whatever plagues me. But that’s not all, for He said He would draw all people to Himself if He’s lifted up, and as I lift Him up, everyone else I come in contact with, they’re healed too as they come to Him. It’s a wonderful miracle, the miracle of New Birth.

Now, there were no doubt those who said, “You’re telling me all I have to do to be healed is look at a pole and see a brass snake? What good will that do? I need some anti-venom.” Or, “If I can get the right prescription, I can get over this infection.”

There are people today who will not look to the One who hung on the pole of the Cross. There are those “Christians” who will not lift up, magnify or exalt the Lord in their own eyes, but rather choose to struggle and wrestle with things instead of moving forward toward the promises God has given them. “All I need is some Prozac,” they say, “or a beer,” or “a hot fudge sundae. All I need is something to fill up the hole in my soul.”

Nicodemus recognized this. Although he, as a highly religious man, was sitting right in the middle of the church, he knew God was not working and present in his life. But knowing this, he looked to Jesus and came to Him for his souls longing.

Jesus said, “If I be lifted up” – as Moses raised the bronze snake on the pole, the people were healed. God’s Word is true. If I’m to experience healing in my life – if you’re going to experience the healing and filling you desire in your life, you first must look to Jesus. Lift Him up in your eyes and see Him as your healer redeemer – the God of your life. God said the only thing we must do is to realize we’ve been bitten and look to the Serpent on the Cross. The one who does so will be made whole. It’s just that simple.

Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.     Isaiah 45:22

O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together    Psalm 34:3

^[2]Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Baker encyclopedia of the Bible. Map on lining papers. (382). Grand Rapids, Mich.: Baker Book House.

^[3]Freedman, D. N. (1996, c1992). The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (1:475). New York: Doubleday.

^[4]Harris, R. L., Harris, R. L., Archer, G. L., & Waltke, B. K. (1999, c1980). Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed.) (583). Chicago: Moody Press.

Oh, how many of us would cry “do over” as the banner over our lives. We all have regrets, passions and failures, yet although it may be our hearts longing to change our past, it’s beyond our own ability to “do over” any part of our lives. This was the hearts cry of Nicodemus, yet unspoken, this was the desire of the Jewish leader who came to Jesus by night to find God and be saved. The Bible says;

“There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, ‘Rabbi, we know that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with him.’ Jesus answered and said to him, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.’” (John 3:1 – 3)

Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t answer the words of Nicodemus, but the thoughts of Nicodemus. The answers of Jesus often look rather to the thoughts of the questioner rather than to the form of the question. Nicodemus came seeking to know something about the kingdom of God, and Jesus went right to the topic. Jesus replies with an idiom, gennaō anōthen palingenesia; literally” to experience a complete change in one’s way of life to what it should be, to experience new birth or rebirth; “to be born again.”

I like what Martin Luther, theologian of the Great Reformation, had to say about being born again, “My doctrine is not of doing, and of leaving undone, but of being and becoming … but the being new created—not the living otherwise, but the being new-born.”

Many commentaries paint Nicodemus as a theological dummy. But Jesus would not have confronted a dummy with this high thought. Nicodemus knew exactly what was going on when Jesus said he needed to be “born again.” The rabbis had a saying: “A proselyte who embraces Judaism is like a newborn child.” All things were thought to be completely new, and old connections destroyed. When Nicodemus heard Jesus’ words, he knew what Jesus was saying. Paul the apostle, a former Pharisee and rabbi picks up this same thought when he writes to the believers in Corinth;

“if any man is in Christ, he is a new creation, old things pass away, behold, all things become new” (2 Cor. 5:17).

“All things become new” what a grand concept and a huge reality in the life of the believer who chooses to truly believe and grab hold of this promise. I’m confident much of the victory I experienced early on in my own Christian walk and life can be accounted to the teaching that re-creation and a new life is possible and available to anyone who comes to Christ in faith.

Nicodemus says to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (John 3:4).

Interestingly, Nicodemus did not ask, “Why a man should be born again?” He asked, “How can a man be born again?” Nicodemus already knew his life needed an “extreme makeover” or “do over” but the how is the question.

So far as he could grasp the meaning of Jesus, Nicodemus saw himself barred forever from the kingdom by an impossible requirement. For although he was religious, as a Jew, a Pharisee and member of the Sanhedrin, Nicodemus knew that he was in fact a sinner, and no matter how many hills he climbed, no matter how many bulls or calves he slaughtered and offered up as sacrifice, he would remain a sinner unacceptable not attaining the righteous requirement of God. However, God has a plan and like many, Nicodemus needed to learn that God asks of us nothing that is impossible; that, on the contrary, the yoke is easy and the burden is light and when Jesus says “you must be born again” he will provide the means to do so.

I wonder how many nights Nicodemus had fallen asleep with the unspoken desire in his heart to begin life all over again; to do things differently—to love God more fervently, to serve his family more humbly, to treat people more gently. Oh, for a fresh start! And here was this Rabbi, offering him just that chance. Truly, I believe his inquiry was not the challenge of a hardened skeptic, but the question of a wide-eyed seeker.

It was with wistful yearning that Nicodemus said, “You talk about being ‘born again,’ you talk about that radical, fundamental change that is so necessary. I know it is necessary, but what I question is how. There’s nothing I would like more. But you might as well tell me that as a full-grown man I need to go back inside my mother’s womb and be born all over again.

Oh, how I long for the new birth! Oh, how I desire that.” Tennyson caught the idea when he wrote:

Oh, for a man to rise in me, that the man that I am might cease to be.

That is the heart-cry of mankind. We desire to change. We want to be different. We want new minds and new personalities. We want to be born again, but it is as difficult as going back into our mother’s womb.

Are you like Nicodemus in need of a “do over?” Do you want to change? Do you want your life renewed? Do you want to know what it means to be born again, to understand how it can really happen? For us to find this out, we need to earnestly seek him through His Word.

The apostle Peter refers to being “born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever” (1 Peter 1:23).

If you’re life’s in need of a “do over” and you need a fresh start. Come to the one who can give you new life. Open His Word and come to Him today!

Although we look into the Word of God – a mirror as Paul calls it, we don’t see all spiritual matters; our life, heaven and other matters of the spirit all that clear, but as we’re transformed and in that last day we will know all.

The concept of looking into a mirror, which reflects back to us the heart of God as he speaks to us of His Godly attributes and our lives held in contrast to His Holiness.

This Word of God should, when approached with an open and soft heart, show us the beauty of the Lord and what he has wrought in our lives. But also, if approached correctly, show us those things which need modified and corrected as we are transformed into the image of Christ – reflecting His glory in us.

The apostle James writes, “That we are to receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.” (James 1:23)

How many of us would go to our bathroom mirror in the morning, getting ready to go out into public or an important meeting or date, and when noticing our hair is a mess, choose not to comb it? You, simply after noticing that your hair is all over the place, walk away from the mirror and take no action to correct your misplaced hair. No way! Most of us would immediately, before ever leaving the mirror, would have the gel out, the curling or straight iron and would go to work to put that hair where it needs to be. If by all means gluing it down so it doesn’t look out of place.

Listen up! It’s oh so important that we give our spiritual life a greater priority than our physical appearance, because our spirit is eternal and our bodies are temporal.  Even more importantly, there is a work God has began in each of us, but if we choose to not deal with those things he shows us through the mirror of His Word, we will remain in an arrested state of development.

The apostle John in chapter 6 of his gospel tells us, Jesus said to His disciples, “The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life,” and many of his disciples found this truth to be particularly hard to understand and accept, and Jesus condemned the disciples, for he said that they didn’t get it because of their unbelief (John 6:64). John then tells us, “As a result of this many of his disciples were going away to the things they left behind, and were no longer walking with him”

This of course, is a sad commentary. It also says, that “Jesus knew who they were who would not believe and who would betray him.”

These disciples apparently were following Jesus because he was an exciting new miracle-worker and teacher and Jesus recognized the deficiency of their belief.

They had made some kind of a belief or commitment to Jesus, but when his teaching did not conform to their expectations, they left him.^[1]

This is of personal interest to me, and should be to you too – For this is where we should take personal inventory of our own hearts.  What are we looking for? Why do we seek Jesus or follow Him?

It also strikes me as interesting that we can do the same thing as the “festival crowd” who were looking for something from him. Just like them, if we don’t like what the speaker of Pastor is saying, we choose not to listen and at times, not to return to the church. Now, it may be that that speaker is wrong or Biblically incorrect, but if that’s not the case, we’re acting just like the festival followers and we do ourselves harm by not dealing with that conviction correctly.

Sometimes it’s a hard truth to hear – sometimes we don’t like being confronted with what we see in the mirror, yet we do ourselves harm when we reject the Word of God and don’t come to the mirror ready to receive – ready to comb our hair.

If we leave and excuse ourselves from the Bible Study or Fellowship, we only prolong the amount of time it will take for God to speak this same truth into our life and we’re only allowing ourselves to stay stuck in the same arrested state of development instead of moving forward into the blessings the Lord has for us.

We must come to the Word of God with resolve, and more intensity than we do our hair or our physical appearance if we are to be spiritually healthy and pleasing to our Heavenly Father. Like Jacob, we must wrestle with the Lord all night, get into His Word and don’t leave until we receive something of Him, whether is be of conviction or comfort, we must seek Him with our whole heart for who He is and the work He has began in our life.