“And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.” Exodus 24:30
In a world of conflicting presentations of religion, it would appear that each seeks to convince everyone else that his bulb is brightest. Some are bent on extinguishing all other bulbs around them to emphasize the brightness of their own. They forget that blowing out the candle of another does not make their own burn any brighter. But such is the state of spiritual affairs as the age rushes to its climax and subsequent close.
It is interesting to note that the brightest bulb is that which burns with the light from the Father of Lights. Such was the radiance of Moses. Although personally unaware of the brightness of the skin of his face as he descended Mt. Sinai, he was soon to learn that his brethren could not steadfastly behold him. That brightness radiating from his skin after meeting with the Great Creator, Redeemer God was blinding. That brightness was symbolic of the ultimate truth they received from God through Moses, and foreshadowed the tremendous light of Christ Jesus, and the New Testament faith once delivered to the saints.
To be sure, the modern-day, Christian world is a world of light bulb leaders. The problem is that too many of them burn with a self-generated brightness destined to fade into obscurity when exposed to that light which is from heaven. Nothing quite rectifies the charade of self-generated lights like the readiness of God’s people to “let their little light shine!” Jesus said, “I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” John 8:12. His is a light that shall not be extinguished, nor driven into obscurity by the self-generated lights of designing men. His assurance of this is summarized in a simple, but profound verse of scripture, Matt. 5:14, “Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hil cannot be hid.” In a world of self-generated light bulb leaders, it is this non-extinguishable light the whole world needs to see! Is your light brightly burning in the candlestick, or is it hidden under a basket?
FOR THOUGHT: Great crowds may be attracted to self-burning lights, but what have they learned about the contents of the unified, symmetrical, non-contradictory Bible? Do you have a vision of the plan of God with man or do you see the Bible as a library of mixed up teachings?
LOOKING FOR ANTICHRIST (In The Wrong Direction)
From the days of the Great Depression in the 1930s to the late 1940s following WWII, life changed very little in the tiny village of my birth. Most folks did well to eek out a living from truck patch gardening, and harvesting the products of milk cows, hogs, and chickens. Many worked in local strip coal mining that abounded in Sebastian County, Arkansas. Consequently, the Bible was largely held in high esteem, and a fearful looking for Antichrist was widespread.
One major problem with that was they were looking for Antichrist in all the wrong directions.
The war caused rationing of goods, and services needed for its support. Then, it was not uncommon to hear about rationing stamps for sugar, gasoline, and auto parts to be the
“Mark of the Beast,” produced by Antichrist. The next cry was over social security numbers.
Also, in those days, and especially in that place, there was no comprehension of Biblical heresy beyond the sawdust and tent meetings of holiness type folks with their emotional melt down, speaking in tongues. The inroads of universalism, and ecumenism were unknown. So, was the vast importance of the Lord’s New Testament Church, and the role it must play in the heat of the last days. With cornfield plowing preachers filling the pulpit every first or fourth Sunday, and focus largely restricted to getting folks saved, the religious comfort zone of the times was largely undisturbed. Of course, this is the recall of a child growing up during those days.
The term “Antichrist” is found several times in the epistles of John. He emphasized that
“. . . even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.” I John 2:18.
To John in his day, it was the denial that Jesus was the Christ, and that He had come.
That and kindred denials have grown exponential y. It is enlightening to consider that “Christ” is a Greek work transliterated rather than translated into English. It means “Anointed.” In the New Testament, two entities have been anointed: the Head of the body, and the body of the Head.
That is: Jesus, the head of His body, the church, was anointed by the Holy Spirit at His baptism.
It was appropriate then that His body which He put together in His earthly ministry should also be anointed if it is to carry on, and represent Him throughout the age. That anointing of the body occurred at Pentecost, Act 2.
Therefore, counterfeit churches that oppose the teachings of the faith once delivered to the saints are in fact antichrist meaning those that are against the teachings and work of the anointed body. Folks of a generation ago were right to look for the work of Antichrist, but most of them were looking in the wrong direction. If the apostle John were to return to the 21st Century, I wonder how he would describe the myriad of anti-anointed ones or antichrists, abound presently. They abound as prophesied!
FOR THOUGHT: The Lord’s churches are to learn, believe, and propagate the faith once delivered to the saints. How will those churches fare when they stand before the Lord and give account? Did you know that “Christ” and “Messiah” mean the same thing: “Anointed”? If the Lord’s church was anointed on Pentecost, Acts 2, then the term “Christ” applies to it. (Not in the same way it applies to the Head, Jesus), but its teachings must remain true to the teachings of Jesus. Therefore to be against that faith is to be “antichrist” as John repeatedly mentions in his epistles. Does this make sense to you? Why? Why not?
LOVING: A HIGH PRIORITY BIBLE “BE”
It is without controversy due to millenniums of experience and Holy Spirit inspired declaration: the greatest spiritual gift of God to man is love! I Cor. 13:13. As an unbroken pattern woven into the tapestry of history, it shines as the crowned virtue: the ultimate overcomer. In Matt. 5:44-46. Jesus said, “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?” It is of little wonder then that love is exalted in Holy Writ as the prime motivation, and winning strategy in the conflict of the ages. Please review this. and rejoice as you think with me!
It is love that motivates God to engage in the great conflict to bring about the ultimate defeat of sin, death, and hell. Nothing could be clearer as stated in John 3:16. It is pure love, beyond the comprehension of mankind that led the Creator-God to become one of us and to affix his eternal destiny in the victory He would procure for members of the repenting race.
Additionally, it is love that led God in human form to shed His Holy blood not only in redemption of fallen man, but in the purchase of His newly formed and established holy body: the church, Acts 20:28. Moreover, it is love through which proper evangelistic and missionary efforts are launched, and by which stormy seas of life are successfully sailed to the predestined harbor of victorious rest. Is it any wonder then that to love God with all of one’s being, and that supremely is the first commandment, and to love thy neighbor as thyself, the second one? Matt.
22:37-39
Furthermore, it is love that identifies the true disciples of Christ to the world at large as Jesus said, “Hereby shal all men know that you are my disciples if you have love one for another.” John 13:35. The apostle John wrote in exclamatory words in his first epistle 3:1,
“Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…”
Truly, it is a good thing for all of God’s people to pray for increased love, then submerge themselves in the Word of Love to realize the answer to that prayer. Should one wonder at this most exalted of all spiritual gifts, far superior to charisma gifts of early New Testament times, the answer to such wonder will be settled forever in the biblical explanation so adamantly penned in I John 4:7,8,10: “. . . GOD IS LOVE . . . “ Successful Christians are loving people. They know it is an important Bible “Be!”
LUNA TUNE OF AN INFERRING OBSERVER
“The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun,” Psalm 19:1-4
The handiwork of the Creator is still the most mesmerizing of wonders of the universe. I refer specifically to a full moon on a clear night. On the 17th day of October, I awakened early and donned shoes for a usual early morning walk long before dawn (I sleep in warmups). The approximate mile and a half walk yielded beautiful patterns of silhouettes highlighted by golden moonbeams from the cosmic center stage. It is hard to look away.
The moon is known in scientific circles as the lunar satellite of our terrestrial ball. One may speak of a lunar day, a lunar cycle, a lunar eclipse, but those who gaze at it or study it are sometimes referred to as Lunatics. Although more base connotations have been associated with that word, it still claims a higher sense in those who appreciate its arresting presence in nighttime domination. I confess to being one in the latter sense.
Blessed to live in Central Arkansas, there is no shortage of large trees of abundant foliage. In the early morning walk, they create a variety of darkened frames to enhance the fascinating picture that is as brilliant as it was on the morning of its creation.
Walking on, as the ornate, golden disk sunk lower in the western sky, from somewhere a couple of fluffy clouds found a place beneath it. It is as though they were making a soft bed for the giant luminary at the end of its nightly patrol. Soon, the gold began to change into silver as the ever broadening eastern sky grew brighter, and brighter, announcing the king of the solar system, and the source of lunar light moving in cosmic precision to soon appear over the horizon. The gladness of daylight permeated the valleys and hills; shadows fled away. It was a new day of glorious morning beauty that God had made. Flora and Fauna alike stirred to their tasks in the new measure of time.
One can but wonder, if prone to animate the heavenly neighbor, just how many meteorites have pocketed its surface in the millenniums of its patrol; does it ever tire of its repeated mission of blessing creation and glorifying the Creator. And what is the number of the hosts of earth who have stood at least momentarily spellbound by it in its never-ending testimony of both.
Adam saw this glorious owner of the night and marveled. Abraham looked to it often.
Aaron knew the sight; Adonijah, Amos, and Andrew (just to keep things parallel) beheld its beauty and testimony. But for that night, that moment, that view was mine. It was mine to revel in its beauty; to be humbled by its presence; to be thankful for its Creator, and to know that in the cosmic arrangement of things we both have a purpose to fulfill that came from the same Creator. I can only wish I were as faithful to mine as it is to its own.
FOR THOUGHT: Creation speaks (Psalm 19) but do you have a hearing ear to its voice? If so, what is the message it is telling you? If you hear it, what are you doing about it?
MAN OF SORROWS, ACQUAINTED WITH GRIEF
(A Christmas Observation)
“He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” Isaiah 53:3.
Thus is the description of Jesus recorded by the prophet Isaiah, hundreds of years before He was born. How miserably do the words fail to convey the depth of anguish, sorrow, suffering, pain, and shame that was to characterize the life of our Creator/Savior. Consider it.
Within the first two years of his life on earth, He was taken to Egypt to escape the mortal wrath of Herod. From Bethlehem went up a cry of pain and anguish unparalleled from that city as all the little boys were ripped from mothers’ arms, and slain by Roman soldiers due to the evil ego of Herod, who wanted Him dead. Sorrow and grief!
Early in His ministry, the good, religious folks of Nazareth sought to cast Him off a cliff, but he eluded them. Sorrow and Grief!
He came unto His own, but His own received Him not. Sorrow and Grief!
He reached out to His countrymen with goodness never before seen: healing the sick, restoring the blind; raising the dead; presenting to them the good news of the Kingdom of Heaven being at hand, but to no avail: Sorrow and Grief!
He pressed the terms of righteousness against the forces of sin and evil which led to an impossible situation: that one without sin should die. Sorrow and Grief!
In prayer, He sweat as, it were, great drops of blood as He obediently surrendered to “Not my will, but thine be done.” Sorrow and Grief!
He, without sin, took the sins of the world upon Himself, thus enabling Him to be subject to cruel punishment and death: Sorrow and grief!
His crown was of thorns; His flesh flayed to reveal His bones; His beard was ripped from his face: Sorrow and Grief!
He was left by heavenly powers, and in His own surrendered will, to die alone on the most hideous instrument of death: a Roman cross: Sorrow and Grief!
For the joy set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame: Sorrow and grief!
Now, how do you see the Babe of Bethlehem’s manger? “ For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.” 2 Cor. 8:9. Hallelujah! This is the real meaning of Christmas!
FOR THOUGHT: Do you believe that Jesus suffered more than any man? Do you realize that he bore your sins in His own body on the cross? Have you accepted what He did for you by receiving Him as your personal Savior?
Does Jesus have the focal prominence due Him in your celebration of Christmas?
MATTHEW 5:22 AND THE IDEA OF APOSTASY!
Apostasy simply means abandoning the faith, the doctrines of Christ. In some denominations of churches it is understood as losing one’s spiritual salvation. That possibility is rejected as being biblically impossible, but is here dealt with in that definition for teaching purposes. It is the multiple-emphasized declaration of the Holy Word that salvation is everlasting. Still some have trouble with such passages as Matthew 5:22, “But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shal say, Thou fool, shal be in danger of hel fire.”
The context of the verse is set in verse one of the chapter. It is the inaugural message of Jesus to His newly called out church. The burden of the message is the difference between the Old Covenant and the New one. As He spoke about personal relationships, this verse that is problematic to some is spoken. The idea of judgment is not a problem; the idea of the council is not a problem, but to be put in danger of hell fire for using the label “fool” to a brother is a problem largely left alone for want of understanding. The exposition of its meaning is herewith offered as true and harmonious with the non-contradictory nature of the Holy Word.
The problematic terminology is “in danger of hel fire.” A survey of the original language of the scriptures shows this “hel fire” to be an English translation of the Greek word “Gehenna.”
The hell fire to which unbelievers, the devil, and his minions will be assigned is “Hades,” “Hell” in the Koine Greek of the New Testament. It is a place that born again people can never experience because theirs is the merits of the Lord Jesus Christ.
On the other hand, “Gehenna” is the name of the city dump of Jerusalem. In it were discarded all things of no intrinsic value to be consumed by fire.
If one can say to his brother (spiritual brother in Christ; remember the context) you are a fool; a moron for living as you do in/for Him, then it is open proof that the value system of life of the one so saying is so far afield from God, and the teachings of Holy Writ that such life will be lost in the judgment fires of God when ALL His people stand before Him, 2 Cor. 5:10. The apostle Paul taught in I Cor. 3:9-16 that all the works and deeds of life would be as one of six categories: wood, hay stubble, gold, silver, precious stones. All will be tried in judgment fire. Of course, wood, hay, and stubble are consumed. And, there are some who will be saved, yet so as by fire. They will be without the reward of life lived on earth. The judgment of a fellow brother in Christ as a moron is herewith underscored as wood, hay, stubble, and not the life that will be rewarded. That in itself is a catastrophe no believer should have. It is apostasy in the strictest sense, but a far cry from the idea of the impossible falling from grace..
FOR THOUGHT: How precise do you think Jesus will be when He reviews the works of all of His people at the Judgment Seat of Christ? Are you creating gold, silver, and precious stones by the way you follow His directions? Will you begin to do that today? List some of the things you
may
do
to
accumulate
reward.