SNOW OFF THE BEN

DOVES, PIGEONS, & GOD

2012-01-30T19:41:00.002+10:00

Scripture says, ‘Since the beginning of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead’ Romans 1: 20.

Doves and pigeons are fascinating examples of God’s creative ingenuity. For example, pigeons may be taken thousands of miles from their homes only to return. If that weren’t enough, they can do this even when blindfolded! How? They’ve tried strapping magnets to their backs to try to disrupt their uncanny homing ability. However, it has been noted that they tend to fly not ‘as the crow flies’, but by navigating along major railway lines and motorways, even turning left or right at intersections!

They’re mentioned early on in the Bible. I believe the first was the dove sent out from the ark: ‘[Noah] sent out from himself a dove … But the dove found no resting place for the sole of her foot, and she returned into the ark to him, for the waters were on the face of the whole earth. So he put out his hand and took her, and drew her into the ark to himself’ Genesis 8:9. And, doves and pigeons are mentioned when God cut a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15:9. They were numbered among the ‘clean’ animals (Lev. 5) that were included along with cattle, sheep and goats as part of the Old Testament sacrificial system. Every Christian knows that the Old Testament Ceremonial Law with its sacrificial system pointed to THE sacrifice – Jesus Christ and the shedding of His atoning blood on the cross. He’s the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world. He’s our sacrificial lamb as well as our scapegoat.

Along with other ‘clean’ animals Noah, post-Flood, included doves and pigeons in his offering to God (Gen. 8:20). Jesus was baptized with water and with the Holy Spirit. Being baptised with water ‘He saw the heavens parting and the Sprit descending upon Him like a dove’ Mark 1:10b. Peter connects the rain that fell on Noah’s ark with baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21). Thus Noah and his ark are types or pictures of Jesus: ‘The windows of heaven were opened’ and God baptized the ark with the people in it as the earth became flooded. Afterward, after flying to and fro ‘the dove came to him.’ Those in the baptised ark were saved from God’s judgment, as are those in the baptised Christ Jesus. Thus Noah’s ark is typical of Jesus, especially at His baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21; cf., Matthew 3:16).

John baptized with water, but Jesus baptizes with the Holy Spirit who, like a dove, comes upon us too. The antitype of Noah has (with the Father) ‘sent out a dove’, i.e., the Holy Spirit (John 15:26) to ‘land on’ those God saves. Have no fear, ‘The Lord knows who are His’ (2 Tim. 2:19). Therefore, reminiscent of the pigeon returning home from thousands of miles away, reminiscent of the dove returning to the ark, or the Spirit alighting upon Christ, no matter how far away from God you are, if you are His, the Holy Spirit will find you! In the comforting words of the psalmist, ‘Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there’ Psalm 139:1a.

We can learn much about God through the study of doves and pigeons! If you’ve been reconciled to God through Jesus Christ, ‘He shall cover you with His feathers, and under His wings you shall take refuge’ Psalm 91:4a.

A STICK IN TIME

2012-01-22T11:55:00.005+10:00

A STICK IN TIME is a book in which Saint Patrick's Staff accompanies twins from 1600s Ireland to contemporary Australian Outback. The occupants of Springsure (including the beautiful Erin) seem to age rather slowly. There is interaction with angels. Could this be the beginning of the Golden Age, the Millennium spoken of in the Bible?

$3.99 at US Kindle:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B006Y4Z0F6/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?pf_rd_p=1278548962&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0982707479&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=1Y7Z1MRME020TZ577CB0

For the UK Kindle version for 3 pounds 64 pence (includes VAT), click the following:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-STICK-IN-TIME-ebook/dp/B006Y4Z0F6/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1327196996&sr=1-2

THE NEXUS: The True Nature of Nature

2012-01-13T14:10:00.001+10:00

A Kindle edition of my book The Nexus: The True Nature of Nature and some of my other books is now available. See:

http://www.amazon.com/Neil-Cullan-McKinlay/e/B006NTVAWY/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1/180-7862815-3527839

The Ghost Writer

2012-01-12T08:17:00.003+10:00

I wrote the following after undergoing a brief medical procedure in hospital. This report inspired me to write a short story which goes under two names, Postman's Knock or Sweetwater Sweetheart. The short story in turn gave me an idea for a novel called A Stick In Time. Perhaps I'll post a portion of my novel on my website soon, however, if you wish to read Postman's Knock, or any of my other short stories, go to my website: http://web.mac.com/macfhionn/More_Snow_on_the_Ben/Creative_Prose.html

The Ghost Writer

Old Tom, a Mohican, and an ‘Italian’ Gentleman

Nearly eighty, old Tom struck up a conversation with the two men who sat in the same hospital room with him waiting to be discharged. I was one and a young man with a bright purple Mohawk haircut was the other. Tom had the floor and therefore did most of the talking. The three of us were drinking tea and eating sandwiches as we each re-collected our wits after being put under for an intrusive and somewhat degrading colonoscopy examination.

As Tom spoke, an elderly Italian gentleman was wheeled in – at least I think he had what I detected to be an Italian accent though he didn’t contribute much to the conversation, seeming content with the rest of us just to listen to Tom spruik. Tom’s full head of hair with his matching grey beard and the twinkle in his blues eyes set in his still handsome face made him a pleasant enough object upon which to fix one’s unsteady gaze. As the ghost gum tree smells of resin so Tom exuded bush-wisdom.

What tales did Tom enthral us with? He spoke of horses, ghostly apparitions, and a lost love. His ‘lost love’ came in the form of a beautiful blond woman. I got the impression that Tom’s lost love story was set in the 60’s on account of the beautiful woman’s blonde hair being in a giant bun. Mind you, Tom said that the woman never had her hair that way when he knew her. Let me explain.

Tom had fallen in love with a blond woman in the small bush town where they both had lived in the 1950’s. Somehow (as men sometimes do), Tom had got the impression that the woman was not interested in any of his advances. Anyway, Tom had moved on. But, as Tom began to weave his tale, the Mohican, the ‘Italian’ and I were to learn that Tom began to see apparitions of a blond lady. He knew they were apparitions, and though he noted that the appearance in the manifestations resembled his lost love, he didn’t think that it was because of the different hairdo.

Some years later Tom met a man from his old town. As you would, Tom enquired after his old flame. ‘She was really devastated when you left town. She never really got over you, Tom,’ was the reply. ‘Did she marry?’ Tom asked. ‘No, she died broken hearted.’ And what do you know, strange as it may seem, the man was able to show Tom some photographs of Tom’s lost love. You’ve guessed it. There she was with her hair in a beehive. As the Mohican and I shot a glance each other I was sure I could hear the theme music for the Twilight Zone playing in the background.

Old Tom knew he had us spellbound. The old ‘bushy’ knew how to tell a story. Next he told us about the time he saw an apparition of his dead father walking down the hallway of his old house. His ‘dad’ turned and looked at him. Tom wasn’t frightened in the least. He kept his ‘vision’ to himself. A few months later his wife said to him, ‘I didn’t want to say anything in case I upset you, but I saw your dad walking down the hallway a couple of months or so ago.’ Tom enquired, ‘Did he turn and look at you?’ ‘No,’ replied Tom’s wife, ‘He just kept walking until he disappeared at the end of the hallway.’ Again the Mohican and I looked askance at each other.

On a roll Tom introduced us to an old horse. This particular horse had the task of pulling Tom and his mate in a cart. Apparently the horse was getting ready for the ‘knacker’s yard.’ Tom said he was ‘old school’ and thought nothing of shooting animals that were done. By this I took it that Tom had grown up on a farm. Anyway, as the old horse struggled somewhat to haul the cart with Tom and his mate in it, Tom began to plan the time when he was going to shoot the elderly equine. Just as he began to think about it the horse ‘defying what horses are normally capable of,’ said Tom, turned its whole head around and glared down its rear at Tom. His mate said, ‘Tom, did you see the way that that horse looked at you?’ ‘Yeah,’ replied Tom, ‘He knows exactly what I’m thinking.’

I wanted to interject at this point with an anecdote about a mate of mine’s father who, while sitting having his lunch, looked at his fat old dog sleeping on the kitchen floor. He said he just thought to himself as he looked at the sleeping dog, ‘We’re going to have to have you put down soon.’ He had no sooner thought that thought than the dog turned round as if startled and looked directly at him!

Tom said he believed that there is more to reality than what we can see. He said there must be some ‘spiritual dimension.’ He had seen too many things he couldn’t explain – things that were confirmed to him by others seeing the same things he saw. The room became silent as we pondered these things. Tom seemed to be finished talking.

Thinking that I had deferred to Tom’s ‘age’ for the amount of time required to satisfy politeness I now felt that I was now in a safe position to contribute to the conversation. ‘Yes Tom, I too believe that there is another realm, a realm invisible to us – a spirit realm. I used to play at séances as a boy – “spirit-in-the-glass” and all of that. Too many weird things would happen, inexplicable things. In fact, it was through “playing” with Ouija boards that I came to believe that there truly was a spirit realm. This in turn led me to believe in the existence of God. If spirit beings exist then why wouldn’t God exist?’

Seeing I had now been given the floor I went on, ‘I started reading the Bible, and now I am positive that God exists, but you will need to have to make up your own minds. But, I also learned from the Bible that just as angels really exist, so also do fallen angels. The Bible calls these fallen angels “demons.” Therefore, I would be very careful – in fact I would recommend that you don’t try to contact dead people –as these demons are able to impersonate departed loved ones for their own evil ends.’

After the obligatory polite pause of silence the young man with the purple-crested cockatoo hairdo prefaced his speech with, ‘I am an Agnostic, but – but I believe in a spirit world.’ At that we all turned to look at the ‘Italian’ man, who with mouth full appeared to be trying to contribute something to our deep conversation. From what I could gather he was saying how much he was enjoying the tea and sandwiches! Ah well, we were all in that room recovering from our anaesthetically induced sleep.

At that the nurse came to discharge me to my awaiting (beautiful blonde) wife. Turning my head to look at Tom, as I began my walk along the hallway (still nursing my anaesthetic hangover) I said my goodbyes to him, the Mohican, and the ‘Italian’ gentleman.

JESUS THE GOD-MAN

2011-12-24T14:58:00.003+10:00

Excerpted from "Holding Fast Our Confession"
http://www.amazon.com/HOLDING-FAST-OUR-CONFESSION-ebook/dp/B006ZSV90Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327388023&sr=8-1

(See Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 8, paras 6-8)

Introduction

The redemption promised to the Old Testament believers came to pass through the life, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is the Word who became flesh and dwelt among His people. He is the One who lived the perfect life by keeping God’s Law for His elect people. He is the One who laid down His life to pay for the sins of His elect people. All who trust in Him alone for salvation are His elect people. Therefore, whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life. And at the heart of the Gospel message is the requirement for people to believe in Him.

But what about His people in the Old Testament? What about those who lived before the incarnation of the Word? What about those who lived before the 2^nd Person in the Trinity took to Himself human flesh? How were the Old Testament saints saved? Well, the Old Testament saints were saved the same way the New Testament saints, i.e., you and I are saved. We all are saved – whether Old or New Testament – by Christ’s perfect life and atoning death.

This is the grace of God toward us. Which is to say that the God-man Jesus Christ kept the Covenant of Works perfectly, and also paid the price owed for the breaking of it. This is what we mean when we say that we believe in Him. We believe that He is the perfect Man who kept God’s covenant Law perfectly. And we believe that He paid the price we owe for not keeping God’s Law perfectly. And we believe that everything Jesus did was as our substitute or representative. Which is to say that we believe that He stood in for us. He represented us, and continues forevermore, to represent us, before God.

We believe, therefore, that God has accepted the perfect work of His Son. The resurrection of Jesus Christ is testimony enough that God’s justice has been fully satisfied by the life and death of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament saints were saved through believing that the Promised One was coming to satisfy God’s justice. And the New Testament saints, (including you and me) are saved through believing that the Promised One has come and has satisfied God’s justice.

Therefore, Jesus Christ is the Saviour of all the saints of God whether Old or New Testament. He is the Saviour of all who believe.

The Person of the God-man

If you were asked what you think is the most valuable thing in the world, how would you answer? Would you say your spouse? Or your children? Or your family? We would answer that question about the most valuable thing in the world by stating what was most valuable to us personally. Maybe it’s your car, or your house, or your combine-harvester!

But what is it that gives a thing value in the first place? Is it your love for it? Or is it your need of it? Or perhaps both? Well, surely you can see that Jesus Christ is the most valuable thing in the world? For isn’t He what the world needs and is He not what we love most? But, someone might say that Jesus Christ is not in the world. And if He is not in the world how can He be the most valuable thing in the world? But of course He’s in the world! He’s been in the world from the very beginning!

Genesis 3:8, “And they heard the sound of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.” So, if the LORD God was walking in the Garden of Eden way back in the beginning, then Christ has been in the world from the beginning!

We need to be careful here, don’t we? We’re not saying that Christ in human flesh was in the Garden. But we are saying that the One who took to Himself human flesh and became Jesus at His incarnation was in the Garden. So, we’re saying that the One who, in the fullness of the time, became Jesus was in the world at a time prior to becoming Jesus. He was in the world at a previous time because He is God, and as God, He is not bound by time as we are.

But the point I make, is that when the Word became flesh, i.e., when Jesus was conceived in the womb of the virgin Mary, He didn’t become another person, or a different person. He remained the same Person He always was, always is, and always will be. His incarnation didn’t change the fact that He is God the Son, the 2^nd Person in the Trinity. The God-man Jesus Christ has two distinct natures – the Divine and the human. But His divine nature is not changed or altered by His human nature. Nor is His human nature changed or altered in any way by His divine nature. As the Scripture says, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever” Hebrews 13:8. Therefore, if we are going to talk about the most valuable thing in the world, we need to talk about Jesus Christ, don’t we?

Jesus Christ is God in the world. He is our Immanuel, which means, God with us. Therefore, because His human nature is united to His divine nature, He is the most valuable thing in the world. How so? Well, God is infinite in being and perfection. And if Christ is infinite in His being and perfection He must give infinite worth to His humanity. And if He gives infinite worth to His humanity, He also must give infinite worth to the perfect deeds done in His human body.

Are you still with me? Think about it this way: Jesus Christ has saved us from our sins. What do our sins deserve? According to Scripture, we deserve to suffer the wrath of God forever in Hell for our sins. Hell is the place of everlasting torment. Jesus speaks about Hell being the place of “…fire that shall never be quenched— ‘where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched’” Mark 9:43&44. He says in Matthew 25:46, “These [i.e., the wicked] shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

So the question then is this? If it’s everlasting punishment we deserve for our sins, how could Christ pay that debt of everlasting punishment we owe to God? The answer is that He, on account of being Divine, is of infinite value. Therefore any work that He does, has done, or will do, is of infinite value. If He were not a Divine Person His life and death would not be of infinite worth. And if His life and death are not of infinite worth, then how can He pay the penalty of everlasting punishment?

Everlasting is a long time, isn’t it? In fact everlasting is forever and ever! Well, that’s what Christ has paid for a numberless multitude! All of humanity is deserving of everlasting death, i.e., conscious torment in the fires of Hell forever. But Jesus Christ, on account of His Person, has paid that price in full! His perfect life and atoning death is infinitely more than enough to pay for the sins of the whole world. 1 John 2:2, “And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.” His work of redemption is enough to cover all the sins of everyone in the world who will believe in Him for salvation. Therefore, the work of the Mediator is enough to cover the sins of those believers who were in the world before His incarnation.

The value, effect and benefit of this redemption have been communicated to God’s chosen people since the beginning of the world. The Old Testament people saw the Seed of the Woman who would crush the Serpent’s head in the promises, types, and animal sacrifices. Immediately after man sinned in the Garden God promised that in time the Seed of the Woman would crush the Serpent’s head. The Old Testament people saw a type of this, e.g., in Abraham, Moses, Joshua, and also king David; all crushed their enemies. The victories these men accomplished under God were typical of – or were pictures of – the ultimate victory of Christ over the Devil.

Circumcision and Passover were, of course, types of Christ and what He was coming to do. And with the Old Testament sacrifices they revealed that the Promised One was going to take away their sins. John says in Revelation 13:8b that Jesus Christ is “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Therefore, it is on account of His Divinity He has been in the world since it’s beginning. And He has been successfully communicating to His elect in all ages progressively, what He was going to do, and now what He has done.

He was and is able to do this because of who He is as a Person. Jesus Christ is the God-man. Which is to say that He is One Divine Person with two distinct natures forever.

The Perseverance of the God-man

The God-man will persevere forever with and for His people because he is One Divine Person with two distinct natures forever. And He will persevere by interceding for them forever. And He will continue with them by revealing to them the revealed truths of salvation in and by the Word. And He will persist in effectively persuading them to believe and obey by His Spirit and His Word. And He will carry on ruling in their hearts by His Word and Spirit. And He will persevere in defeating all His people’s enemies by His almighty power and His wisdom. And He will do so in such manner and ways as are most agreeable to His wonderful and unsearchable administration of all things. So, in a word, the God-man will persevere with us and for us!

He intercedes for us before God on the strength and value of the perfect life He lived, and His infinite sacrifice at Calvary. Mark 10:45, “For the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” 1 Timothy 2:5&6, “For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave His life a ransom for all, to be testified in due time.”

So, His life of infinite worth was given to ransom us, to redeem us, to buy us back from Hell. He kept the Covenant of Works perfectly for all who believe in Him and His works. And His infinite sacrifice, i.e., the sacrifice of Himself, was to fully satisfy God’s Divine justice for us. Therefore all the sins of all the saints, past, present, and future have been paid for in full. For, “…while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” Romans 5:8b.

This perfect life and infinite sacrifice is communicated to all who will believe. The God-man makes absolutely, positively certain that they will hear and believe. Therefore He effectively applies and communicates to them the redemption He has purchased for them. Jesus says in John 10:14-16 says, “I am the good shepherd; and I know My sheep, and am known by My own. As the Father knows Me, even so I know the Father; and I lay down My life for the sheep. And other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they will hear My voice; and there will be one flock and one shepherd.” So, His sheep hear His voice. His voice is heard when the Word and the Spirit work together in the elect person.

He brings His flock into the fold through the proclamation of His Gospel. His Gospel is preached, and will be preached, every Sunday in every faithful congregation until He comes again. Where a person keeps on repenting and keeps on believing in the Gospel, there is the God-man applying and communicating to that person His purchased redemption. For the Spirit works with the Word effectively persuading that person to believe and obey the Gospel.

And Jesus says in John 6:37-39, “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out. For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me. This is the will of the Father who sent Me, that of all He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day.”

So, the God-man is going to persevere with all the Father has given Him and raise us up at the last day. And He will continue to rule in our hearts until that last day, and then forevermore. He rules in our hearts by His Spirit and His Word. As even the Old Testament psalmist says, “Your word have I hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You” Psalm 119:11. And the following is written in Psalm 110:1&2, “‘The LORD said to my Lord, sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.’ The LORD shall send the rod of Your strength out of Zion. Rule in the midst of Your enemies!”

So, the God-man rules in our hearts by His Word and His Spirit. And His enemies are being made His footstool – even now! The Apostle Paul speaking of Christ says, “For He must reign till He has put all enemies under His feet” 1 Corinthians 15:25. (This, of course, is not suggesting that His reign will come to an end when all enemies are put under His feet. For that would mean that His enemies will – albeit inadvertently – conquer Him!)

So we see then that He will persevere till all enemies are under His feet. And since all Christ’s enemies are our enemies we are more than conquerors in Him! And since it is God who is making His enemies into His footstool His kingdom cannot fail! For God is almighty in power and in wisdom. And Jesus Christ is the incarnate omnipotent and all-wise God. In this we see that the God-man does His work of Mediator according to both His natures.

In fact, because of the unity of His Person, Scripture Itself sometimes attributes what is proper to one nature to the person named according to the other nature. Luke records the Apostle Paul saying to the Ephesian elders in Acts 20:28, “Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” And John 3:13, where Jesus says, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.”

One perhaps wouldn’t ordinarily speak of God shedding His blood because God is Spirit and therefore has no blood to shed. And neither perhaps would one ordinarily speak of the Son of Man as having come down from heaven, since the name “Son of Man” suggests a human person, i.e., a man. But we may and do say these things because Jesus Christ is the God-man. Which is to say, that because He is One Divine Person with two distinct natures, anything that pertains to either nature is rightfully ascribed to His Person. Did God shed His own blood? Some prefer to translate that verse to say that God shed the blood of His own: “His own”, as in His own Son. But regardless, any blood that was shed was shed only by the Person who is Jesus Christ. Which is to say that the God-man shed His blood.

We need to be very careful, therefore, not to be guilty of transferring or ascribing His Divine attributes to His humanity, or His human attributes to His Divinity. To be sure, Christ’s Divinity gives infinite value to His humanity. But this is not going a millimetre towards alleging that His humanity has any attributes that belong to His divinity.

An example of this error would be the very popular teaching that the resurrected Jesus is able to walk through solid doors. In John 20:19 we are told only that when the disciples were in a room and when the doors were shut Jesus came and stood in the midst. Is this verse teaching that Jesus de-materialized in one place and re-materialized at will in another, like Mr Spock in Star Trek? I put it to you that you are confusing the two natures of Christ if you think this. You are mixing His Divinity with His humanity. Therefore be very careful not to go beyond what the Scripture is actually stating. How Jesus came to be in that locked room is not stated. But I would think long and hard about the fact that Jesus is One Divine Person with two distinct natures, human and Divine forever, before I would draw any conclusions!

But alas! Rome with their doctrine of Transubstantiation teaches that Jesus Christ can be in more than one place bodily at their Mass. And, arguably, so do the Lutherans with their doctrine of Consubstantiation. Both these doctrines, if you don’t know, have to do with the physical i.e., the bodily presence of Christ at the Lord’s Supper, i.e., the ubiquity of Christ’s humanity. But we believe that Jesus Christ after His bodily resurrection was raised bodily into Heaven where He remains bodily till He returns bodily after all His enemies have been made His footstool. Therefore the God-man is in Heaven bodily right now, and He is interceding on our behalf. For as John says in 1 John 2:1, “…we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

What does an advocate do? He pleads the cause of others. Therefore Jesus Christ is in Heaven pleading the cause of His elect seed before His Father. And He is doing this as our Representative. He is advocating for us on the strength or value of the perfect human life He lived, and His atoning human death. But if He is presently no longer one of us, (i.e., if His Adamic nature has changed and is no longer Adamic) He would be doing a poor job of representing us human beings! An angel might as well represent us! But Scripture says that Jesus remains like us in every way apart from sin.

Hebrews 4:14&15, “Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has Passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” So, we see then that our High Priest sympathizes with us because He is, and remains as, one of us even in Heaven. As Hebrews 2:14 testifies, “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same…”

I put it to you, that if Christ’s human nature has taken on attributes belonging to His divinity then He no longer is fully and truly Man; and therefore cannot be called the second Man or last Adam. And if He is no longer fully and truly Man, then we don’t have a true man, i.e., a true representative interceding for us in Heaven! If we don’t have a true man in Heaven interceding for us, then we are doomed to perish (as He must have done – if indeed He no longer has a human nature!) But the work of Christ in His role as our Mediator is not over and never will be! Yes, His High Priestly work of offering up Himself as the sacrificial Lamb on the cross is finished (John 19:30). But His High Priestly work as our intercessor is not finished and never can be finished. For a priest, as you know, was one who was appointed and anointed by God to offer up sacrifices to God for the sins of his people AND also to intercede for them.

His work as intercessor will never end, because that is what the Scriptures say! Hebrews 7:24&25, “But He, because He continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood. Therefore He is able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them.” How much plainer could it be? He, i.e., the God-man Jesus Christ, continues forever. But if either of His two natures changes, even for a moment, He no longer continues as the same Godman for that moment. But we are told here that He continues forever in His role as Mediator between God and men. For He saves to the uttermost, i.e., He saves forever, those who come to God through Him. How is it possible for Him to save to the uttermost, even forever? Well, it’s because He always lives to make intercession for them. Which is to say that His role as Mediator is forevermore!

Therefore He will be making intercession for us as the God-man forever. This is good news to all saints in all ages!

Conclusion

Who is the God-man? He is Jesus Christ, who is one Divine Person with two distinct natures, which natures will never be changed, combined, or confused. Hebrews 10:12&13, “But this Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of God, from that time waiting till His enemies are made His footstool.”

Notice that these verses are saying that this Man sat down at the right hand of God. And notice what this Man is waiting for, and for how long He will be sitting there. He is waiting till such time as His enemies are made His footstool. Therefore He is going to persevere for as long as it takes to make His enemies His footstool. And once His enemies have been subdued they will remain subdued as His footstool forever.

He is the Promised Seed of the Woman who has crushed the Serpent’s head. He crushed the Serpent’s head by becoming the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. He is the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world who was slain in the fullness of the time. Therefore He conquered His enemies in principle at Calvary’s cross. Now He is waiting till God has fully put that principle into practice.

If Christ crushed the Serpent’s head in principle as the God-man, then as the God-man He will persevere till He has overcome all His enemies in practice. It is a Man who is sitting on the throne till God makes His enemies His footstool. Therefore His human nature must remain united to His Divine nature. Otherwise, we who were once His enemies, but have now been conquered, (i.e., converted by His grace), have no Mediator, no High Priest, no Advocate interceding for us in heaven! For if either of Christ’s two natures changes, or become combined, or confused at anytime with the other (e.g., in order to pass through a solid door!), then that’s the time we are without a proper Mediator! But let’s be thankful that the perseverance of the God-man is forever, because the Person of the God-man is forever.

Therefore we will never be without our Mediator – not even for a moment.

Taken from my e-book "Holding Fast Our Confession" http://web.mac.com/macfhionn/More_Snow_on_the_Ben/Holding_Fast_Our_Confession.html

ONE COVENANT

2011-12-19T06:45:00.005+10:00

Excerpted from "Holding Fast Our Confession"

http://www.amazon.com/HOLDING-FAST-OUR-CONFESSION-ebook/dp/B006ZSV90Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327388023&sr=8-1

(See Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 7, paras 4-6)

Introduction

All Biblical covenants are one. All Biblical covenants are one covenant because the Triune God is One God. The triune God is in eternal covenant relationship with Himself. Therefore it is little wonder then that the Triune God should reveal and express Himself to man by way of covenant. Thus when the Triune God created man in His own image He entered into a covenant arrangement with man.

The first covenant arrangement is commonly known as the Covenant of Works. In the Covenant of Works God put man (Adam) on probation. In that arrangement God promised man life upon condition of perfect and personal obedience. The penalty for disobedience in that covenant arrangement was death. Death was to be the penalty man received for breaking the Moral Law of God, which Law God had written in the heart of man at his creation. God also gave man an outward test, forbidding man to eat of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

The first covenant, i.e., the Covenant of Works was sovereignly administered by God to man. Man was to be obedient to God by expressing the covenantal nature of the eternal God in creation. As each Person in the Godhead loves the other Persons, so man was to love God and his neighbour as himself in all his undertakings at the creaturely level.

So we see then that the Covenant of Works is the revelation and expression of God – of His covenantal nature – to man in his unfallen state. God, therefore, revealed and expressed Himself to man by way of the Covenant of Works. In other words, the Covenant of Works was the pre-Fall in time administration of God’s eternal covenant. And since God’s covenant is an eternal covenant, it, like God, has no beginning and no end. And as Heaven overarches Earth, and Eternity overarches Time, so God’s everlasting covenant overarches all temporal Biblical covenants.
In a word, all Biblical covenants are simply earthly expressions of, and administrations of, the one eternal covenant in the Godhead. In human terms, God has His eternal covenant written in His heart – of which His Moral Law (of love for God and neighbour) is its eternal expression. And, in real terms man has the everlasting covenant of God written in his heart. Love for God and neighbour is its temporal or earthly expression. Therefore, since God is progressively bringing to pass in time all things that He has decreed in eternity, the administrations of His covenant on earth is progressive. Which is to say that there have in time been different administrations of the one eternal covenant.

The Old Testament Administration

We’ve already mentioned that the first or pre-fall administration of the one covenant is the Covenant of Works. It’s ancient history that Adam, man’s covenant or federal representative, broke that first covenant arrangement. We know this because God’s covenant revelation, the Bible – the very Word of God – tells us. Therefore, the Bible is revelation of the History of the one covenant. Hence the revelation of God’s covenant is progressive – progressive revelation.

The next administration in time of God’s eternal covenant was the Covenant of Grace. The Covenant of Grace began to be administered immediately upon man’s breaking of the first covenant, (i.e., the way the eternal covenant was set up pre-Fall in the Covenant of Works). Hence this second covenant is most commonly referred to as the Covenant of Grace.

In the Covenant of Grace salvation is promised to man through the One who would crush the Serpent’s head, but would Himself be wounded for our transgressions. Genesis 3:15b, “…He [i.e., the Promised One] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” And Isaiah 53:5, “But He was wounded for our transgressions, and was bruised for our iniquities; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.”
For the Old Testament saints this, of course, referred to the promised Christ who was to come. And for the New Testament saints it refers to the promised Christ who has come. Therefore, for both Old Testament and New Testament saints it refers to Christ – the Anointed One. Therefore, the Covenant of Grace refers to the Person and the works of the One God promised to send into the world to salvage or save those condemned by the broken Covenant of Works. And it is on account of this salvation that this administration of the one covenant is called the Covenant of Grace.

To be sure, the Covenant of Works was full of grace, but the Covenant of Grace is even more so on account of man’s sin. This covenant of Grace was differently administered in the Old Testament or before Christ, than it is in the New Testament after Christ has come.

There are various administrations of the Covenant of Grace in the Old Testament. From Adam to Noah the administration of the Covenant of Grace was very broad and general. From Noah to Abraham the administration became more particular. And it became even more particular again from Abraham to Moses. And from Moses to the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ it was very, very particular. But in all these administrations of the one covenant, the revelation of God and the expression of His gracious covenant was historically progressive. In other words, it was all leading to, or going somewhere. All history has a goal or purpose. That goal or purpose is revealed and expressed by God to us by way of covenant – His covenant.

If it is God’s covenant, then that covenant is eternal because it is the expression of the triune God who is eternal. But this doesn’t mean that any particular administration in time of the eternal covenant will be the final administration. However, it does mean that there are certain principles pertaining to the covenant that are to be administered for eternity. In other words, God’s grace will be administered to His elect for evermore. The grace never changes, but the period of administration does.

After making the promise to send One to destroy the Devil and his works, the LORD confirmed His covenantal promise to Adam and Eve by clothing them: “Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them” Genesis 3:21. Don’t miss the covenant significance of this. The tunics of skin speak of the shedding of blood. And the tunics or coats or garments of skin are literally “coverings”. Therefore the LORD God confirmed or established His covenant with Adam and Eve by covering them with a sign or token of that promise, even the skin of animals.

The Hebrew word for “skin” in Genesis 3:21 has to do with nakedness. Therefore the LORD made an animal or animals naked to cover the nakedness of Adam and Eve. Literally, the LORD God covered their nakedness with skin. And don’t forget to think about this in terms of the covenant promise of the shed blood of the Seed of the Woman who was going to be bruised temporarily while bruising the Serpent’s head.

We see the continuity of this covenantal promise with Noah. In Genesis 9:11, God speaking to Noah says, “Thus I establish My covenant with you…” Notice that God calls the covenant “My covenant.” “Thus I establish My covenant with you: Never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

So, God has made a covenant promise. And in Genesis 9:16 we see the heart of that covenant promise: “The rainbow shall be in the cloud, and I will look on it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth.” Therefore, when we look at a rainbow we are reminded with God of God’s everlasting covenant. It is the sign or token-reminder that God is overarching or covering our sins. However, the rainbow doesn’t detail to us the particulars of God everlasting covenant. However, Noah’s ark was a type of the Christ to come, as the Apostle Peter says in 1 Peter 4. For He speaks there of the Flood in terms of a baptism which points to the Christ who saves us from God’s judgment.

After the flood when Noah came out of the ark he planted a vineyard. Genesis 9:21-23, “Then he drank of the wine and was drunk, and became uncovered in his tent. And Ham, the father of Canaan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his two brothers outside. But Shem and Japheth took a garment, laid it on both their shoulders, and went backward and covered the nakedness of their father. Their faces were turned away, and they did not see their father’s nakedness.”

Just as the LORD God Himself covered the nakedness of Adam and Eve, so the offspring of Noah covered his nakedness. And according to the covenant promise, One was coming to cover the sins (i.e., the spiritual nakedness) of all His people. And He would do so by being nailed naked to a tree while shedding His blood unto death. But His death would bring with it the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it, everything that was promised to Adam in the Covenant of Works.

The revelation of the everlasting covenant becomes progressively clearer by the time you get to Abraham. God revealed His everlasting covenant to Abraham in more detailed terms. In fact, in Genesis 12ff. we see that God makes covenant promises to Abraham. The LORD promised Abraham offspring as numerous as the stars. And we see the LORD also promise Abraham a place for his descendants to live in.

But most remarkably we see the LORD cut a covenant with Abraham in Genesis 15. That’s when the LORD God temporarily incarnated Himself in the form of a smoking fire pot – a Theophany. The smoking oven and burning torch passed between the animals Abraham had cut down the middle and had laid out as per the LORD’s instruction. “On the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram…” Genesis 15:18. Literally the Lord God “cut” a covenant with Abram, for that’s what the word means.

So we should note that the shed blood of animals figures prominently in the Covenant of Grace. As it has since God clothed Adam and Eve after the Fall in the Garden, so the sacrificial shedding of the blood of animals represents God covering the nakedness of His people. It all was pointing to the promised Seed of the Woman who would destroy sin and its workers.

His shed blood would cover all the sins of all His people, i.e., the people for whom He died. As David, the sweet psalmist of Israel says, “Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered” Psalm 32:1. As Paul the Apostle while quoting him says, “Blessed are those whose lawless deeds are covered” Romans 4:7.

To be covered is to be clothed spiritually by the Covenant of Grace. To be spiritually naked is to be still dead in your sins. As Noah’s offspring clothed him when he was naked, so the Offspring or Seed promised to Adam and Eve, and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob will clothe the Old Testament Fathers. But not only will He clothe the Old Testament Fathers, He will also clothe all true descendants of Abraham.

This promise was confirmed or established with Abraham by the administration of circumcision. Genesis 17:10&11, “This is My covenant which you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child among you shall be circumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you.” Circumcision was to make the male member naked – to reveal his nakedness. And as the male member needs skin for a covering, so man needs the LORD God to cover his nakedness (just as the LORD God covered Adam and Eve with skin after the Fall). In a word, circumcision was the LORD God cutting a covenant with His people. It spoke of the promised Seed of the Woman – the One who would cover our sin by being “cut off”.

By the time we get to Moses we see all these administrations of the Covenant of Grace become something spectacular. The priesthood clothed in the fancy priestly garb ministered daily in the glorious Temple. There even were annual feasts, including Passover, for the people to attend at Jerusalem.

But in short, the Covenant of Grace was administered in the Old Testament by promises, prophesies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover Lamb, and other types and ceremonies entrusted to Old Testament Israel. These all fore-signified the Christ to come, and for that time were sufficient and effective; which, through the operation of the Spirit, instructed and built up the elect in faith in the promised Messiah, by whom they had complete forgiveness of sins and eternal salvation, by whom they had their sins covered.

The New Testament Administration

I hope you can see that just as the covenant is one, so the New Testament church is one with the Old Testament church – same church! There only ever has been one covenant people of God because there has only ever been one covenant. To be sure, we’ve seen that in the Old Testament the Covenant of Grace was differently administered at different times. But surely we can all see that it was always one and the same covenant that was being administered.

So, in light of what we’ve looked at thus far, what is the main crux of the covenant? It’s about having your sins covered, isn’t it? It’s about having your spiritual nakedness covered by Christ. In a word, it’s about putting on, or being clothed in and by Christ. E.g., Galatians 3:27, “For as many of you as were baptised into Christ have put on Christ.” So, that means that the Old Testament promises, prophesies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover Lamb, and other types and ceremonies, were simply calls to put on Christ, doesn’t it? In a word, all Old Testament calls to put on Christ are simply the Gospel in the Old Testament. For Christ could be seen in Old Testament promises, prophesies, sacrifices, circumcision, the Passover Lamb, and other types and ceremonies.

But why don’t we in the New Testament need the Temple with all its elaborate symbolism with the Ark of the Covenant, and the Seat of Atonement in the Holy of Holies, etc.? Why don’t we need all these painted signposts that met Old Testament Israel’s eyes at every turn? Well, just as you don’t need blatant reminders to go to the doctor when the doctor has come to you, so you don’t need the same reminders that the Messiah is coming when He is come.

We no longer need all the outward glory of the Old Testament administration now that Christ the substance has come. In the New Testament the Covenant of Grace is now dispensed or administered by: 1. The preaching of the Word. 2. The administration of the sacraments of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. These, of course, have less outward glory than that of the Old Testament, but in them is communicated greater fullness, clarity, and spiritual power. And most importantly, this greater fullness, clarity, and spiritual power is held forth to all nations, Jew and Gentile alike, whereas the Old Testament administration of the Covenant of Grace, especially from Moses onward, was mainly restricted to Old Testament Israel. So, in a word, we New Testament saints have the Gospel in its simplicity.

The church today is to preach the word and administer the two sacraments. We don’t need glorious temples or men clothed in fancy priestly garb. All we need are the Bible, water, bread and wine. The Bible records the covenant history with its promises. And the water and the bread and the wine confirm or establish those promises in Jesus’ name.

To preach from the Book of the Covenant, i.e., to preach the whole Word of God, is to uncover and expose people’s spiritual nakedness. While at the same time it is to point people to the place to go for covering for our sins, i.e., Christ. It‘s the proclamation of the shed blood of Christ who was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, Genesis 3:15; Isaiah 53:5. But more than that, it’s the proclamation that the One who was bruised by the Serpent (while He was bruising the Serpent), has been raised to life again. He is the One who says, “I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.” And because He was dead, the everlasting inheritance, with all things belonging to it can now be bequeathed to the elect covenant people of God.

Good Reformed men have differed on how Hebrews 9:15-17 ought to be translated into English. The following is a common translation: “And for this reason He is the Mediator of the new covenant, by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions under the first covenant, that those who are called may receive the promise of the eternal inheritance. For where there is a testament, there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is in force after men are dead, since it has no power at all while the testator lives.”

The first covenant being referred to there is not the Covenant of Works, but rather the Covenant of Grace (as it was administered immediately prior to Christ’s arrival). The writer to the Hebrews says of that previous administration, “Therefore not even the first covenant was dedicated without blood” Hebrews 9:18.

The blood has always spoken of the death of the testator. The Testator is Jesus Christ. A testator is the maker of a will. And when he dies the testator is the one leaving the will. Therefore Jesus Christ by the shedding of His own blood, i.e., by dying, has bequeathed to His people the covering for their sins. And not only that, by His death He has bequeathed to His people every spiritual blessing.

God declared Jesus Christ dead by raising Him from the dead! If Jesus was not dead before He was raised, then Christianity is a farce! But the Scriptures make it very plain that He was dead before He was buried. Therefore when He was dead and buried His will was executed. But are those covenanted blessing to be revoked now that He has been raised again? Does God ever renege on His promise? Jesus Christ fulfilled all the conditions of the everlasting covenant. He lived a perfect life for His people and He laid down His perfect life for His people. Because He was perfect, i.e., without sin of His own, this means that death could not hold Him. Therefore, God according to His covenant promise had to raise Him.

And since all God’s promises are yes and amen in Jesus Christ, preaching the resurrected Christ is the proclamation of God’s promise to all nations. Therefore the whole world is sharing in the covenanted blessings in Jesus Christ. The covenant is proclaimed to the nations by the preaching of the Word. The covenant is confirmed to the nations by Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. New Testament Baptism means the same as Old Testament Circumcision. And the Lord’s Supper means the same as the Passover. However, now that Christ literally has shed His blood we no longer need the literal shedding of blood in Circumcision and the Passover Lamb. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are bloodless, but both still speak of the blood of Christ that covers our nakedness, even the nakedness of our sins.

I hope you can see the Gospel in this. Adam and Eve with all other Old Testament saints certainly could!

Conclusion

When Adam and Eve sinned God covered their nakedness with animal skin. The animal skin was the reminder to them both of their nakedness and also their need of the promised Messiah.

God used sacrificed animals all through the Old Testament to show His people the One who would cover us, i.e., Christ, the Lamb who takes away the sins of the world. And since Scripture says in Revelation 13:8b, that Jesus is “…the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”, then He was slain in principle before any animal. But now that the Lamb has been slain in time and space, i.e., 2,000 years ago at Calvary’s cross, a new era or new administration of the Covenant of Grace has arrived.

But it’s my hope you can see that there only ever has been one covenant differently administered. The Old Testament pictured the death of the Testator, Jesus Christ, in all animal sacrifices. Therefore the everlasting inheritance, and all things belonging to it, had to wait until the death of the Testator pictured in the Old Testament sacrifices – right from the Fall onward. But now that the reality revealed and expressed in those Old Testament administrations has come, we can proclaim the blessings of the Covenant of Grace to all nations, including Australia!

Therefore, repent and believe in the Good News of Jesus Christ to have the nakedness of your sins covered by His shed blood, and receive His blood-bought blessings.

See full exposition of Westminster Confession of Faith: http://web.mac.com/macfhionn/More_Snow_on_the_Ben/Holding_Fast_Our_Confession.html

BY WAY OF COVENANT

2011-12-14T09:12:00.002+10:00

Excerpted from "Holding Fast Our Confession"

http://www.amazon.com/HOLDING-FAST-OUR-CONFESSION-ebook/dp/B006ZSV90Q/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1327388023&sr=8-

(See Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 7, paras 1-3)

Introduction

There’s a Proverb addressed to the lazy person in particular that says, “Go to the ant, you sluggard! Consider her ways and be wise…” Proverbs 6:6. If you’re going to consider an ant it’s best to take a magnifying glass with you! Ants tend to be wee things! I remember cutting my toenails outdoors in Queensland and being amazed to see a team of ants move in and quickly carry off the clippings. They reminded me of pygmies carrying ivory tusks in some old Tarzan movie or other! What on earth would a bunch of ants want with a bunch of toenail clippings? Who knows! But the point I make is that you have to stoop down in order to consider the ant.

Now, if the distance between a man and an ant is great, the distance between God and man even must be greater. Ants and men have something in common – both are creatures. But what does God the Creator have in common with man the creature? Well, man, unlike the ant, has been made in the image and likeness of God. If God were a creature (which He is not), He would look like man.

Ants might enjoy the odd toenail clipping from man, but unlike ants, men are able to enjoy God Himself as their blessing and reward. But when you think about it, God has to stoop down. He has to condescend. He has to lower Himself. He has to humble Himself, in order for man to be able to enjoy any blessing and reward from Him.

The way God expresses the blessing and reward of enjoying Him is by way of covenant. What’s a covenant? Well, that’s what we’ll be looking into. For a start there are two covenants in the Bible. These two covenants are commonly known as the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace. They are distinct but very much related.

In the following we’ll be looking at these two covenants. And as we do so, it will become clear that they are really just two aspects or two administrations of the one everlasting Covenant. In other words, whether it is the Adamic, Noahic, Abrahamic, Davidic, or New Covenant etc., all are simply administrations of the one overarching covenant. The overarching covenant is the covenant of eternity between the Father and the Son as witnessed by the Holy Spirit.

The First Covenant

The Bible opens with God creating the heavens, the earth, the sea and all that is in them. Then in Genesis 1:26 we read these words, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’” We know from this verse and the rest of the Bible that it was the Triune God, i.e., Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who made man in His image and likeness. And we know from this verse and the rest of the Bible that when God created man He wrote His Law in man’s heart. For God’s Moral Law is the expression of God’s nature and character, and is a major aspect of man as the image of God. Under inspiration of the Holy Spirit the Apostle Paul testifies to this where he writes in Romans 2:14&15 that “…when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law in their hearts…”

So then, with the knowledge that man was created with God’s Law in their hearts, let’s now look again to Genesis 1:26f. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’” The passage then goes on to speak of the abundance of fruit and vegetation God has also blessed mankind with for food.

So, we see then that God is gracious. He has condescended to make mankind in His own image. He has blessed man with rulership over all creation – which includes creeping things such as ants! But the point that needs to be made at this point is that man was to have dominion or rule over creation for God in accordance with the Law of God – which Law He had written in their hearts.

All mankind’s subduing the earth and domineering its creatures was to be done in accordance with the Ten Commandments, i.e., the Moral Law of God written in their hearts. This, therefore, is what we mean by the Covenant of Works. All the works of man were to be done in accordance with God’s Moral Law. In other words, man would enjoy the blessing and reward of God by keeping God’s Law. That was God’s first covenant with man – the Covenant of Works.

But notice the gracious nature of the Covenant of Works. God gave Adam authority over all the earth and dominion over all its creatures. But wait, there’s more! Genesis 2:8&9, “The LORD God planted a Garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man He had formed. And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.”

So, it just gets better and better for man! Not only does God condescend to make man in His own image, and not only does He give man authority over all the earth and all its creatures, but God treats man like royalty by placing them in His own private and beautiful garden! Genesis 2:15: “Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden to tend and keep it.” So we see then that the man was to tend or cultivate God’s garden according to the Law written on his heart. And, that he was to keep or guard God’s garden according to the Law written in his heart.

So, let’s see what we know thus far: a) Man is to bear fruit in accordance with God’s Law. b) He is to multiply himself in step with God’s Law. c) He is to fill the earth in line with God’s Law. d) He is to hold dominion over all the earth, sea, and sky’s creatures without contravening God’s Law. e) He is to be a gardener tending God’s garden with God’s Law at heart. And, f) he is to keep or police or patrol God’s garden, thus enforcing God’s Moral Law. Thus God’s Moral Law governed everything that Adam was commissioned by God to do.

Adam would continue to enjoy these blessings and rewards from God for as long as he continued in loving obedience to God’s Law in all his works. But, as you know, there is more to the Covenant of Works than general obedience to God’s Law in all endeavours. When the LORD God planted Adam in His garden to tend and keep it He spoke to Adam. Genesis 2:16&17, “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, ‘Of every tree in the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” So we see then that the LORD God gave Adam an outward test. In other words God placed Adam on probation for an unspecified period of time to test his character.

Think about it, how hard would it be to really enjoy the delights of life with the sword of Damocles always hanging by a single horsehair over your head? Well, so it was for mankind working for God beneath or under the Covenant of Works. Therefore Adam’s probation was only for a time – the length of which Scripture doesn’t say.

To break the least of God’s Commandments is to break them all, which is to break the horsehair, as it were, and have the sword of death fall upon you. Therefore God was gracious in setting an outward commandment and test for Adam in the garden for an unspecified period of time.

But notice four things about the first covenant, i.e., the Covenant of Works: 1. That there are parties involved in the covenant – God, and man as represented by Adam. 2. That there is a promise of life. 3. That there is a condition for receiving this life. 4. That there is a penalty for breaking this condition. Parties, Promise, Condition, Penalty – that’s what makes a covenant. A covenant then, even the Covenant of Works, is a conditional promise. In the Covenant of Works life was promised to Adam, and his descendants in him, on condition of perfect and personal obedience. Failure to keep the condition meant death.

Now, all Christians know that Adam broke the Covenant of Works by eating the forbidden fruit. Thereby, on account of his breaking God’s Moral Law, i.e., the Ten Commandments, he forfeited for himself, and all his descendants, the life that was promised. And since man by his fall had made themselves incapable of life by that covenant, it pleased the Lord to make a second, commonly known as the Covenant of Grace.

The Second Covenant

To properly understand the second covenant, i.e., the Covenant of Grace, an intimate knowledge of the first covenant, i.e., the Covenant of Works, is crucial. This is because, what is seen as the Covenant of Grace by us, is actually the Covenant of Works for the replacement Adam, Jesus Christ.

When Adam and Eve broke the Covenant of Works in the Garden, God immediately condescended to reveal a second covenant. The initial revelation of the Covenant of Grace is found in the promise of Genesis 3:15, where the LORD God said to Satan the serpent, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

We know that Jesus Christ is the “Seed of the Woman” because Paul tells us so in Galatians 3:16. “Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, ‘And to seeds,’ as of many, but as of one, ‘And to your Seed,’ who is Christ.” So we see then that the promise of the Seed who would break the serpent’s head continued on from Adam through Abraham all the way down to Christ.

Jesus Christ is the One who God was sending to destroy the Devil and his works by bruising his head. And as you know, it was the Devil who deceived Eve who gave the forbidden fruit to her husband, Adam, to eat. But where the first man under the first covenant broke God’s Moral Law, the second Man under the same first covenant (but which was the second covenant to us) kept God’s Moral Law perfectly and personally.

Jesus Christ as the Last Adam did what the first Adam failed to do. Jesus kept the Covenant of Works perfectly and personally. Like the first man the second Man lived with a sword dangling above His head by a horsehair, even a thread from a spider’s web! Jesus knew that His earthly probation would end the same way Adam’s probation ended – with death!

However, Jesus knew that where Adam’s breaking of the covenant brought judgment and death to all men, so His keeping of the covenant would bring righteousness and justification to God’s elect. In other words, Jesus’ death on the cross was to pay the penalty owed for the broken Covenant of Works. And just as the penalty for disobedience was death, so, conversely, the promise for obedience was life. Philippians 2:8: “And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”

So we see then that Jesus Christ is the true image of the God who condescends to bring grace to fallen men. There was grace in the first covenant – the Covenant of Works. And there is even more grace in the second covenant – the Covenant of Grace. And in the Covenant of Grace God freely offers to all sinners, i.e., fallen humanity, life and salvation by Jesus Christ.

The old way of receiving life was by Adam perfectly and personally keeping the Covenant of Works. But the new way of receiving life and salvation is by Jesus Christ – the second Adam – who alone perfectly and personally kept the Covenant of Works. Therefore to receive the life that was promised in the Covenant of Works we need to be trusting in our representative or federal head Jesus Christ as revealed in the Covenant of Grace.

As you know, the Gospel is the Covenant of Grace, because the Gospel tells us about the salvation that was purchased by the perfect works of Jesus Christ. Jesus kept the Covenant of Works perfectly from the moment of His conception to His death on the cross. His Law-keeping as Man representing men is imputed to those who will, through the condescending grace of God, trust in Him. And to make sure that all those who have been chosen by God to receive life and salvation will trust in Jesus and His righteousness He has promised to give them His Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is given to those who are appointed to life to make them willing and able to believe. So, in the Covenant of Grace God freely offers sinners life and salvation by Jesus Christ. But those who don’t believe in the Gospel will not receive life and salvation by Jesus Christ. And the wrath of God will abide on them because they have broken the Covenant of Works in Adam and by their own sins (John 3:36).

God deals with all rational or reasonable creatures such as angels and men by way of covenant. In the beginning God dealt with unfallen man by way of the first covenant – the Covenant of Works. And after the Fall of Man, God immediately introduced the second covenant – the Covenant of Grace

We noted that Adam represented himself and all his posterity before God in the Covenant of Works. And Jesus Christ in the Covenant of Grace represents elect mankind before God. In other words, Jesus Christ represents all who will repent of their sins, i.e., repent of their covenant breaking, and believe in Him as revealed in the Gospel. So, we see then that it all boils down to this: either Adam is your representative in the Covenant of Works, or Jesus Christ is your representative in the Covenant of Grace.

If Adam is your representative in the Covenant of Works, you are condemned in Adam by the broken Covenant of Works and your own sins. And therefore you will receive the penalty of the broken covenant which is death leading to eternal death. But if Jesus Christ is your representative in the Covenant of Grace, then you are justified along with Jesus by His perfect and personal keeping of the Covenant of Works. That’s what the Covenant of Grace is – it’s the revelation of the One God sent to do what the first Adam failed to do, i.e., keep the Covenant of Works perfectly.

How do you know whether Adam or Jesus is your representative in the Covenant of Works? John 3:36: “He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.” So, we thank God for His grace in giving the Holy Spirit to those He has appointed to life in order to make them willing and able to believe.

We see then, that the Gospel is the proclamation of Christ’s perfect Law-keeping unto death. And it is the promise of salvation and everlasting life to all who believe. Therefore, the condition for receiving this salvation and everlasting life promised in the Gospel is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ and His righteous works (which faith is included in God’s grace). And the penalty for those who do not trust in the finished work of Christ is death – everlasting death in Hell on account of their sins. It is the broken Covenant of Works and their own sins that will condemn them. They will be condemned because they have failed to keep the perfect requirements of God.

To be sure, God’s promise of life for personal and perfect law keeping still stood even after the Fall of Man. I’ll give you a few examples: Leviticus 18:5: “You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the LORD.” Nehemiah 9:29: “Yet they acted proudly, and did not heed Your commandments, but sinned against Your judgments, ‘Which if a man does, he shall live by them.’” Galatians 3:12: “Yet the law is not of faith, but ‘the man who does them shall live by them.’” Romans 10:5: “For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ‘The man who does those things shall live by them.’”

The trouble is that no one is able to keep the Ten Commandments of God perfectly and personally because Adam broke the first Covenant. Therefore the whole army of mankind got started off on the wrong foot by and with Adam. Subsequently and consequently man is out of step with God!

Isaiah reminds us of the result of breaking the first covenant: “The earth mourns and fades away, the world languishes and fades away; the haughty people of the earth languish. The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant” Isaiah 24:4&5. The Covenant of Works was the pre-Fall administration of the everlasting covenant.

Speaking of Old Testament Israel (in the preferred reading of Hosea 6:7) the LORD says, “But like Adam they transgressed the covenant…” Which covenant did Adam transgress? The Covenant of Works. But, what about Jesus Christ? Did He transgress the everlasting covenant as it was administered in the Covenant of Works? No! Is Jesus Christ able to do all the things God would have a man do to receive the promised life? Of course! For unlike us, Jesus Christ was sinless from the moment of His conception (Luke 1:35).

And if we keep in mind that God only and always deals with man by way of covenant we won’t go wrong in our understanding of who Jesus Christ is. God has given us His only begotten Son Jesus Christ as His Covenant of Grace: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (with Isaiah 42:6; 49:9).

Why would we perish? Well, we don’t perish for not believing in God’s only begotten Son. There are people who have never even heard of Jesus Christ who perish! Therefore, we perish because we have broken the everlasting covenant as it was administered in the Covenant of Works! Which is to say that we perish because of our own sins. To be sure we wouldn’t want to add unbelief in the only begotten Son of God to our list of covenant breaking sins! But men perish because they have broken the Covenant of Works, which was the first administration of the everlasting covenant of God. And likewise men receive salvation and life only because Jesus Christ has perfectly kept the Covenant of Works for them – He has kept, and will forever keep, the everlasting covenant.

This is the grace of God – the Covenant of Grace!

Conclusion

God always, and only, deals with mankind by way of covenant. With which covenant do you wish Him to deal with you personally? Do you wish for Him to deal with you by way of the first covenant or by way of the second? Surely your desire is that God will deal with you in accordance with His grace, even His Covenant of Grace. Give glory to God for the salvation and life His only begotten Son has purchased for us by His perfect and personal obedience to God – even unto the death of the cross!

And does the grace of God as revealed to us in His Covenant of Grace, i.e., the Gospel, not stir up in us the desire to show our gratitude to God for the salvation and life He has given us in Jesus Christ? And how do we show our thankfulness to God for saving us? Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.”

See my full exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith at: http://web.mac.com/macfhionn/Holding_Fast/CONTENTS.html

CHRISTIANITY & FREEMASONRY

2011-12-05T16:58:00.001+10:00

It says in the blurb describing my From Mason To Minister book on the Nordskog Publishing website http://www.nordskogpublishing.com/book-through-the-lattice.shtml "Neither an apologetic nor a polemic, he corrects much misinterpretation and misunderstanding of Freemasonry."

As one who was converted to Christianity after becoming a Freemason I was immediately assailed by some zealous Christians who, because they perceived some connection of Freemasonry with the occult, urged me to leave the Lodge. As a new Christian I was eventually swayed by these well-meaning people, and cut my ties with Masonry, but was left wondering what all the fuss was about.

Yes, I had read many of those scarey books written by Christians depicting their perceived evils of Freemasonry. However, it seemed to me at the time that, as a Mason who was a Christian, I was missing most of what they were trying to get at. Their writings tended toward different degrees of innacuracy about Masonry.

I am not here trying to defend Freemasonry, I am only trying to be fair to the Craft. I have found an article written by a Church of Scotland minister and practicing Freemason who seeks to set the record straight regarding the compatability of Freemasonry and Christianity. It may or may not surprise you. But in the interest of honesty and truth I think it is worth the time to read. The article is called "Minister First, Then Freemason".

http://www.stbryde.co.uk/articles-and-contributions/152-minister-first-then-a-freemason

I belong to the Presbyterian Church of Queensland which is part of the Presbyterian Church of Australia. So is the Presbyterian Church of Victoria which has produced a paper called "Christianity and Freemasonry". It can be found at:

http://www.pcq.org.au/docs/PCV%20Freemasonry.pdf

Cara Coffey's Review - From Mason To Minister

2011-11-22T17:20:00.003+10:00

Neil McKinlay wrote a very poignant testimony of his life story growing up in Scotland in his book, From Mason to Minister, Through the Lattice. I learned a lot about that wonderful land as well as Canada and Australia because of his testimony. I appreciated yet again the drawing power of our Lord Jesus Christ as Mr. McKinlay shared his life with us. He also interspersed his book with his own poetry, and this lent a romantic air to this volume.

In the preface of From Mason to Minister, Through the Lattice, Mr. McKinlay explains how he did not write “the ordinary” of what is generally offered concerning freemasonry. He doesn’t make a case against it or for it, but he tells instead his testimony and how he was drawn to becoming a Mason but then how he left it in 1990 as a result of his soul searching for God and the Savior, Jesus Christ.

I appreciated the gentle approach this author has taken with freemasonry because it shows the confusion which is rampant about the belief systems of that organization and the mixture of Christianity with it. I also learned that there are some differences in other countries concerning freemasonry and it was refreshing to get a glimpse of someone else’s life in this regard. Although, I did not consider this book well organized; there was not continuity. It seemed to jump from one topic to another.

Mr. McKinlay’s publisher also wrote a note assuring us this was a helpful book because it does not attack freemasonry but instead gives us assertion that this book is, “…a reasonable explanation for how apparently godly men might have associated themselves with an organization now so widely associated with the occult.” (Gerald Christian Nordskog, p188). I trust the Lord can speak through this gentle testimony to some within the ranks of freemasonry, and my hope is that these men will turn to the Lord and forsake it as wholeheartedly and completely as Mr. McKinlay testifies to us that he did.

See on Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/Mason-Minister-Through-Lattice/dp/0982707479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1322079421&sr=1-1
See review at Good Reads
http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/236223017

KILLING LINCOLN

2011-11-21T19:37:00.004+10:00

A quick two-minute review of KILLING LINCOLN – The Shocking Assassination That Changed America Forever.

Here is a real edge-of-the-seat page-turner from a collaboration between Fox New’s The O’Reilly Factor’s Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.

This is history taught by two men who know how to keep your attention. I couldn’t put this book down. It’s short but pithy chapters had me wanting to read just a little more before I had to dash off to attend to things more pressing. It reads like an action diary with the clock ticking ever faster and ever closer to each historical event. I felt my heart rate speed as I read about the final moments before Lincoln’s death. Bang!

The details of battles in the Civil War had me on the battlefields smelling the gunpowder and hearing the gallop of hooves, gunfire and bursts of shrapnel. The surrender of General Robert E. Lee (a hero of mine!) to Grant is painted in considerable detail.

The shooting of Lincoln at Ford’s Theatre by J. Wilkes Booth and the slow-death aftermath as the doctor tried his best to save him had me weeping.

Thanks Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugan for enlightening me with the details of this great man’s last days on earth.

DEMONIC

2011-11-21T17:55:00.011+10:00

The following is simply a quick five-minute-review of the book…

Just finished reading Ann Coulter’s Demonic - How the Liberal Mob is Endangering America. In it she deals with the mob mentality of America’s left by contrasting it with the thinking of America’s right. She sees this as the difference between the actions of the purveyors of the atheistic French Revolution and those of the Christian American Revolution respectively.

I particularly loved the way she historically detailed the gory atrocities of the French Revolution with a great deal of insight into what evil incited and drove the unruly mob. Contrast this with the Biblically sound principles that undergirded the American Revolution. Coulter shows how the leftist mob (because it follows the mentality of the leftist mob!) sees the French and American Revolutions as one and the same!

Coulter begins her book by quoting Mark 5:2-9. This portion of Scripture records Jesus dealing with a demoniac. Jesus asked the demoniac, “What is your name?” To which the demoniac replied, “My name is Legion, for we are many.” Herein lies the thesis for Demonic. Says Coulter, “The demon is a mob, and the mob is demonic.”

As I read her book I was reminded of a time I was home visiting Scotland. Whenever I mentioned the name of John Knox it would be met by a negative response. Though people knew virtually nothing about Knox, they knew only that they hated him! The party line is that Knox is to be demonized. Ask why, and you are likely to be demonized by the mob too! By way of example, try discussing with a group of people the concept that man-made global-warming is probably wrong or that the Theory of Evolution (goo to you) is fantasy and you’ll see what Ann Coulter is getting at in her book. The lynch-mob will gnash its teeth before it strings you up without a trial!

This book is liberally sprinkled (I use the word “liberal” here in the good sense of the word!) with witty gems of Coulter humour. She had me quietly sniggering and at times laughing out loud. I had to keep looking over my shoulder just in case some lefty would see me actually enjoying this book and report me to the thought police!

I suppose the only downside to Demonic is that a good grasp of American politics and the names of American politicians, news associations, news reporters etc. is needed to receive full benefit.

Well done Ann Coulter!

POLES APART

2011-11-21T14:38:00.000+10:00

‘When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child.’ Weren’t the North and South Poles called such because each had a wooden or a metal pole sticking out of them? Men would search for these poles so that they could attach a flag to them – men such as Scott, Amundsen or the controversial Peary. And, due to a motion of the earth called ‘Chandler’s Wobble’ it was hard for them to find the exact spot! The North and South Poles are just that, poles apart, and so is my thinking as an adult to what it was as a child! ‘But when I became a man, I put away childish things’ 1 Corinthians 13:11.

The Bible teaches that God and man are poles apart. ‘“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts”’ Isaiah 55:8-9. ‘The earth is the LORD’s, and all its fullness’ Psalm 24:1. However, instead of subduing it to the glory of God, man has set about planting his own flag on it. Therefore, according to God’s Word, ‘All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, every one, to his own way’ Isaiah 53:6a. To go your own way is to go the wrong way!

I once asked an elderly lady (with one foot in the grave) if she was right with God. She replied that she had been good all her life! Her way and God’s way of getting right with God are poles apart. If the elderly lady had meant that she was trying to be good as her grateful response to God for already having declared her right with Himself (on account of the righteousness of Jesus Christ), then I would have rejoiced. But the lady’s view of salvation was the wrong way round. Her way of salvation was by trying to get right with God by trying to be good. But, as Scripture says, ‘There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death’ Proverbs 14:12. Though elderly, the lady was thinking of God as a child might think of Santa Claus! There is nothing wrong with trying to be good for goodness sake, but trying to be good as a way of salvation is poles apart from what God says in His Word.

When I was a non-Christian I thought as a non-Christian, but now by grace alone I am a Christian, I think as a Christian. Non-Christian thought is poles apart from Christian thought. See an example in the following: ‘We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ’ 2 Corinthians 10:5. All sixty six books of the Bible, every jot and tittle thereof, were breathed out by God (Matt. 5:17-17; 2 Tim. 3:16). Yet some would argue against this knowledge of God! Others allege that they believe that some, but not all, of the Bible is inspired. Thus these, along with those who reject all of Scripture, are exalting themselves against the knowledge of God. Sadly, like the elderly lady I mentioned above, they follow their own way, which is not God’s way. Their thoughts and God’s thoughts are poles apart.

Our years on this earth are but few: ‘For what is your life? It is even a vapour that appears for a little time and then vanishes away’ James 4:14b. Morning mist melts as the sun rises. ‘Our God is a consuming fire’ Hebrews 12:29, but He speaks good news to those with ears to hear: ‘The LORD is your keeper; the LORD is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night’ Psalm 121:5-6. As the Word of the LORD said to Abraham, ‘Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward’ Genesis 15:1. As vanishing vapour each of us needs God to cover us and to preserve us. You need to: ‘Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and you perish in the way, when His wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are those who put their trust in Him’ Psalm 2:12. As far as Heaven is from Hell, so are those who trust in the Son of God alone for salvation from those who do not. Poles apart!

The elephant in the room is death. It came in through our front door. The death angel slew Adam, mankind’s ‘firstborn’ for breaking the covenant. Head of humanity’s household, he had declared our independence from God by eating the forbidden fruit. Thus all mankind entered a state of misery and death. But God is gracious. He clothed Adam and Eve with skin before ejecting them from the garden. The same salvation was pictured when the blood of the Passover lamb was sprinkled on the doorposts and lintel. God clothes, ie, covers us with His Son. He is the Lamb that shed His own blood to sprinkle us and protect us. He rose again from the dead, bodily. God invites, nay, He commands us to trust only in Christ and His righteousness to receive His pardon and everlasting life, now and in our future resurrection.

‘This is the way, walk in it’ Isaiah 30:21. Don’t be poles apart from God!

ANGELS & DEMONS

2011-11-14T19:29:00.000+10:00

I read Dan Brown’s novel ‘Angels & Demons’ hoping to learn two things: How to write a bestselling novel and what he had to say about angels and demons. I may have learned a little about the former from him but very little about the latter! Mind you, Brown is out to entertain not educate. Angels and demons: what are they? Well, Materialists tell us not to bother looking because they don’t exist. But according to the Bible they are very much in existence. So what should I believe? Books that tell me nothing about these things or the Book that tells me everything I need to know? The Word of God is proof enough to me for the existence of angels and demons. If you want more proof than that then you’ll have to take it up with the triune God!

Angels are spirit-beings mentioned early in the Bible. When God ejected Adam and Eve from the Garden ‘He placed cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life’ Genesis 3:24. Cherubim are a type of angel. The ejection from the Garden was the result of Eve being deceived by a talking serpent and Adam covenanting with him, i.e., Satan. Satan is a fallen angel.

Notice that God is able to cast out Satan. The Lord, speaking of the exalted position of the King of Tyre, likens that king to Satan, ‘You were in Eden, the garden of God … you were the anointed cherub who covers … you sinned … therefore I cast you as a profane thing out of the mountain of God’ Ezekiel 28:13-16. Again, ‘So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to earth, and his angels were cast out with him’ Revelation 12:9. And notice the authority that God has over Satan and his demons, ‘And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day’ Jude 1:6.

Demons are angels who were cast out of heaven along with Satan. All were created good, but some, perhaps a third, like Adam in the Garden joined Satan in his rebellion against God. And just as they were ejected from Heaven, so Adam was ejected from the Garden. Heaven and the Garden are intimately connected. Adam was to tend and keep (or guard) the Garden. Therefore Adam, like Satan the covering cherub, was supposed to cover the Garden against intruders (such as Satan!)

The new Adam, the God-man Jesus Christ, demonstrated His divinity by casting out demons. A legion of them asked His permission to enter a herd of pigs! Demons indwelling a herd of swine helps us to understand how Satan was able to speak through a serpent.

The good news is that Jesus is the Seed of the woman that was coming to crush the serpent’s head as promised in Genesis 3:15. By His cross and resurrection He has tied up the strongman and is now plundering his house, i.e., He is setting the captives free by the proclamation of His Gospel.

Angels? ‘Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?’ Hebrews 1:14. Dear reader, may you be an inheritor of salvation and have angels as friends

BOOK BARGAINS REVIEW

2011-10-14T07:20:00.000+10:00

This was an amazing autobiography of man who came to Christ through his involvement with Freemasonry. While his intent is not to influence the reader in anyway for or against freemasonry, you can't help but think about your thoughts on the topic and the judgments you've made, even without doing a lot of your own research. At least that was my perspective. The book was well-written and interesting. It chronicles one man's journey of faith, which always makes for an interesting read. I enjoyed it.

~Reviewed by Dave H.

http://www.bookbargainsandpreviews.com/OctoberReviews/mason.htm

CHOOSE THE RIGHT WORD

2011-10-10T07:13:00.000+10:00

Words are important. It’s not untrue to say that words are cameos of God! Even the letters used to form words, like the encoded letters of our DNA, are important. As damaged strands of DNA can lead to deformity, so garbled spelling or choosing the wrong word can lead to misunderstanding.

Which of all the so called ‘holy books’ is the true or right Word of God? Jesus calls the Christian Bible ‘the truth’ (John 17:17). Therein God is revealed as the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit (John 1:1-3, 14; Acts 5:3-4; 1 John 5:7 KJV). Therefore God is three distinct Persons, but only one God (Genesis 1:1-3, 26; Deuteronomy 6:4).

By saying to His Father, ‘Sanctify them by Your truth, Your word is truth’ Jesus (the Word) was asking God to set apart His people (i.e., Christians from non-Christians), by use of the Bible which is the written Word of God. Thus there are those who believe that all (sixty-six books) of the Bible is truth and there are those who choose to believe only portions or even none at all. But true Christians are people of the Book.

Since it was God who wrote the Bible using men we can be sure that His Spirit ensured that every word chosen is pure (2 Timothy 3:16). We see an example of choosing the right word in Scripture, ‘The Teacher searched to find just the right words, and what he wrote was upright and true’ Ecclesiastes 12:10. I love the Bible (to quote the Westminster Confession of Faith) for ‘the majesty of the style, the consent of all the parts, the scope of the whole (which is, to give all glory to God).’

As a calm lake reflects a mountain, so truth mirrors God. Therefore, God can be seen in the right use of words. How so? Because when used properly as God intended they convey truth! What God has written is upright and true. We see God revealed in His Word. Jesus says of the Scriptures, ‘These are the Scriptures that testify about Me’ John 5:39b. He is the eternal Word, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God … And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us” John 1:1 &14a.

He is God’s final or last word to mankind, “In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times in various ways, but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son” Hebrews 1:1-2a.

God has chosen His Word carefully, and, like our DNA Jesus, the Word, is the building block of life, ‘See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who puts his trust in Him will never be put to shame’ 1 Peter 2:6. Indeed, Jesus is the alphabet of life. He says, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the beginning and the end’ Revelation 22:13.

Before any collection of strung-together words finds its way to being published it must go through the editor. Before anyone finds his or her way to God they must go through the Alpha and the Omega, the Word, who is Jesus. For He says, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me’ John 14:6.

We ought to choose our words carefully because Jesus says, “But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned” Matthew 12:36-37.

I’m thankful that Jesus makes all my careless thoughts, words, and deeds letter perfect! I encourage everyone to choose the right Word: Jesus.

THE GOD DELUSION

2011-09-27T18:44:00.011+10:00

Introduction

God has gifted Dawkins as a good writer – writing in a flowing and easy-to-read fashion that serves to keep the reader’s eye on the page. Though The God Delusion is a serious book which Dawkins’ wry sense of humour permeates, it’s not always easy to know when he is being tongue-in-cheek. As one would expect The God Delusion contains its fair share of “heavy material”, but Dawkins manages to spice each page with a peppering of interesting witty turns of phrase and salty anecdotage.

Premise & Content

The premise of Dawkins’ book is that Darwinian Evolution (as understood, explained, and applied by Dawkins) does away with any need for God. Thus, by way of extension, Dawkins is trying to do away with God.

The contents of the book are packaged in ten well-designed evenly-sized chapters prefaced with a loud but tuneful bugle call in an attempt to rally to his cause all readers who are even “vaguely yearning to leave their parent’s religion”. These are being coaxed to run away with Dawkins and sign up in his growing army of militant Atheists: “If you are one of them,” says Dawkins, “this book is for you. It is intended to raise consciousness – raise consciousness to the fact that to be an atheist is a realistic aspiration, and a brave and splendid one.”

And, just to show that his contempt for religion is as well meaning as it is practical there is an Appendix at the end of the book with “A partial list of friendly addresses, for individuals needing support in escaping from religion.” Such devoted compassion from a man who believes in the survival of the fittest!

The book therefore is a call for “religious people” to turn to a Dawkinsian-style Atheism. With all the world’s religions rolled up as one in a carpet to be dumped Dawkins drops his bundle to throw mud. One would expect The God Delusion to be a systematic dismantling of God and of Christian thought rather than a rant against religion. There is much gnashing of teeth on Dawkins’ part. But teeth grinding betrays a nervous disorder!

Yet, to convince the masses to join him in his cause against God Dawkins first has to prove that God is a mere delusion of the mind. And frankly, this is where the Darwinian worldview he promotes in his book really begins to unravel like a cheap imitation Arran-knit sweater. For he would have us believe with him that the pattern of design we plainly see throughout creation is not real but fake! Thus it is Dawkins himself who is promoting the real delusion of illusion!

The Ugly Heart of Unsuccess

Dawkins believes that his form of the Theory of Evolution (as explained in his The God Delusion) does away with any need for God. But, in order to win over the wavering “religious people” to his Atheistic cause Dawkins predictably seeks to make a detailed collage of the worst of religious aberrations. Here he succeeds somewhat in that he has the reader agree with him that all extreme religious fanaticism is a bad thing, and that lots of weird people believe and do lots of weird things. However, the section on his fellow Evolutionist Adolf Hitler surely needs a lot more work!

The reader is left wondering how Dawkins managed to paper-over the rigorously applied Evolutionism of Dawkins’ fellow Evolutionists Hitler and Stalin. Evolutionism is a theory. Hitler and Stalin (and others) put that theory into practice big time. But all Dawkins does is try to demonstrate that Hitler may or may not have been a fellow Atheist while Stalin probably was!

This is a very real Achilles heel for Dawkins and his Evolutionary Atheism. For the intelligent reader knows that people (even Hitlers, Stalins, and suicide bombers, etc.) live their lives in accordance with what they believe in their hearts. Hitler wanted a world without Jews and their religion, and, though he abhors Hitler and Stalin’s applied Evolutionism, even so, like Hitler and Stalin, Dawkins too wants a world without religion. The world knows all too well of the very evil men who have wanted a world without religion. Here Dawkins needs to be very, very careful. For anti-religion is the really thin ice on the surface of his primordial pond.

Hitler’s Master Race, Nazi eugenics, American eugenics,[1] Stalin’s Gulag, Pol Pot’s Killing Fields, and contemporary abortionism are not some of the finer moments or achievements of the Militant Evolutionist Movement to which Richard Dawkins has hitched his wagon while calling us to follow his lead.

Fundamental Flaws

There is an even greater fundamental flaw that runs through the bedrock(?!) of Dawkins’ Atheistic premise. It has to do with reality and Dawkins’ view of it. He makes a candid admission, which – even if meant tongue-in-cheek – betrays an epistemological equivocation. It’s mined from the book’s section dealing with “Little Green Men” and the search for intelligent life (SETI).

Lest we be accused of quoting Dawkins out of context we need to lift the quote we wish along with a whole load of its surrounding text. Dawkins says,

In what sense, then, would the most advanced SETI aliens not be gods? In what sense would they be superhuman but not super-natural? In a very important sense, which goes to the heart of this book. The crucial difference between gods and god-like extraterrestrials lies not in their properties but in their provenance. Entities that are complex enough to be intelligent are products of an evolutionary process. No matter how god-like they may seem when we encounter them, they didn’t start that way. Science-fiction authors, such as Daniel F. Galouye in Counterfeit World, have even suggested (and I cannot think how to disprove it) that we live in a computer simulation, set up by some vastly superior civilization. But the simulators themselves would have to come from somewhere. The laws of probability forbid all notions of their spontaneously appearing without simpler antecedents. They probably owe their existence to a (perhaps unfamiliar) version of Darwinian evolution: some sort of cumulatively ratcheting ‘crane’ as opposed to ‘skyhook’, to use Daniel Dennett’s terminology. Skyhooks — including all gods — are magic spells. They do no bona fide explanatory work and demand more explanation than they provide. Cranes are explanatory devices that actually do explain. Natural selection is the champion crane of all time. It has lifted life from primeval simplicity to the dizzy heights of complexity, beauty and apparent design that dazzle us today. Page 73 (Emphasis and underlining mine).

Dawkins is calling on people to unite with him in his battle against God. But Dawkins cannot even prove that he himself exists – never mind disprove the existence of God! To be sure the subtlety is that Dawkins is not saying here that he does not know if he himself exists, but rather that he does not know whether he exists in a computer simulation or not. However, the point is that simulations are just that, they are simulations, not reality.

Reality Check

Dawkins does seem to need to do his own “reality check”. For as we look at him in his simulator we see that he has left himself dangling from a “skyhook” of his own! He can call that Darwinian skyhook “some sort of cumulatively ratcheting ‘crane’” if he wants, but that doesn’t change the fact that, as he admits, he cannot prove reality.[2]

This means that Dawkins has not got a solid piece of rock left to stand on from which to hurl his Evolutionistic abuse at his true Maker. For, if he cannot even prove that he himself is real (and not some hologram or other), then how, we ask again, is he possibly going to disprove the reality of God? Yet Dawkins goes on to speak of the “real world” when attempting, from his lofty crane, to swing the demolition ball in order to demolish “The Ontological Argument and Other A Priori Arguments” for the existence of God.

Commenting on a quote from Bertrand Russell, while disagreeing with him, Dawkins says, “My own feeling, to the contrary, would have been an automatic, deep suspicion of any line of reasoning that reached such a significant conclusion without feeding in a single piece of data from the real world. Perhaps that indicates no more than that I am a scientist rather than a philosopher.” Page 82. (Emphasis and underlining mine)

When, for Dawkins is the “real world” really the real world? Is it when he can prove whether he is in a computer simulation or not? Or when he can disprove the existence of God? Clearly Dawkins lives in a world of his own imagination (or perhaps someone else’s!) and wants the rest of us to join him in his world full of cranes and skyhooks! But let’s be nice! It’s arguments that set themselves up against God that we wish to tear down, not men!

Delusion by Design

The title of his book might be The God Delusion but it could very well have been called The Apparent Design Illusion! For Dawkins goes on to say, “We live on a planet where we are surrounded by perhaps ten million species, each one of which independently displays a powerful illusion of apparent design.” Page 139.

Dawkins clearly takes less than seriously the implications of his concession that he lacks a mechanism to verify that he himself is no illusion. He nonetheless is deadly serious that, by use of his Darwinian “cumulatively ratcheting crane”, he has found a way to tear down any illusion of design in creation. But why on God’s good green earth would he wish to do away with design? It’s so that he can do away with the Designer (not to mention combat the Intelligent Design Movement that is threatening Dawkins’ Evolutionism). Brilliant!

But how is Dawkins himself able to design anything, such as write a book, if, as he alleges, the human species is simply part of the “…perhaps ten million species, each one of which independently displays a powerful illusion of apparent design.”? For, in this worldview isn’t Dawkins himself part of the powerful illusion of apparent design?

If a book implies a book-writer, and “Designer Babies” (eugenics) also imply a designer, then don’t original human beings (even ones who write books!) imply a Designer? Of course! Otherwise we are all deluded. Surely mathematics, arithmetic, physics, chemistry, biology etc. all reveal evidence of true design. But Dawkins’ would have us all adopt his version of Darwinian Evolution and believe that up till now we have been deluded in that all these disciplines simply display a powerful illusion of apparent design!

“Craneology”

In the following Dawkins’ quote we shall see that Dawkins then goes on to try to kill two birds with one presuppositional stone. He says, “The evolution of life is a completely different case from the origin of life because, to repeat, the origin of life was (or could have been) a unique event which had to happen only once. The adaptive fit of species to their separate environments, on the other hand, is millionfold and ongoing.” Page 139.

Origin of life: one event. Evolution of life: manifold ongoing events. Here we see Dawkins equivocate again. By the use of his words “the origin of life was (or could have been)” we see that he’s not exactly sure what took place at the beginning, (ie, when life originated). Frank admission! But he is sure of what is taking place now, ie, that that life (however it originated) is evolving.

However, it’s here that Dawkins himself is using an a priori argument that he has already dismissed when used of God. Arguing back in time from what he perceives to be happening now, Dawkins is wheeling his Darwinian crane into position to originate life. Remember, what he has already said about God and the origin of life, “My own feeling… would have been an automatic, deep suspicion of any line of reasoning that reached such a significant conclusion without feeding in a single piece of data from the real world.”

Therefore, to Dawkins’ mind, if Darwinian Evolution (ie, evolution of life) is true, then that which brought it about (ie, the origin of life) must also be true. But, by his own frank admission, Dawkins doesn’t know who or what originated life. Yet he wants us to believe that it couldn’t possibly be the God who has revealed Himself as Creator in the Christian Bible – God being merely a “skyhook” in Dawkins’ estimation.

On this crucial question of God’s existence – for it is the heart and soul of his book – he wants his cake and to eat it too. For, without explicitly stating it, he surely wants us to believe that something like Darwin’s powerful crane could have originated life – even though (by his own admission) the origin of life is beyond the reach of Darwin’s crane! Dawkins needs to do a lot more work in this area. Another well-designed book perhaps?

Hoisted by a Skyhook!

The whole premise of Dawkins’ book is that Darwinian Evolution does away with the need for God. But read the following Dawkins quote to see yet again that Darwin’s “powerful crane” is not powerful enough to reach the origin of life:

The anthropic principle is impotent to explain the multifarious details of living creatures. We really need Darwin’s powerful crane to account for the diversity of life on Earth, and especially the persuasive illusion of design. The origin of life, by contrast, lies outside the reach of that crane, because natural selection cannot proceed without it.” Page 140.

Thus Dawkins explicitly confirms that the origin of life lies outside the reach of Darwin’s crane. Thank God for that! This is really good to know! But it does mean that by Dawkins’ own admission Darwin’s Theory of Evolution cannot touch the Creator. So how then does Dawkins expect to rally the troops round his Atheistic flag with an unclear trumpet call? If the origin of life lies outside the reach of Darwin’s powerful crane then how has the Theory of Evolution done away with God and the need for God? For the whole premise of Dawkins’ book could be summarized in headline form as: Darwin Deals Deity Death Blow! Story by Richard Dawkins.

Conclusion

As a Christian I found nothing in The God Delusion very challenging. Yes, Dawkins did ruffle my feathers here in there, especially with his Christian caricatures and misrepresentations, such as his portrayal of Christianity as being anti-science! Yes, we are with Dawkins where he points out the folly of religious extremes and all aberrations of Christianity including other religions and philosophies. But no, we depart from him where he denies the Creator and Designer of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. Creation itself, with its very real order and design running throughout, is revelation of its Maker. The God Delusion does not even come close to demonstrating scientifically (or in any other way, shape, or form) that God is a delusion.

Books Refuting The God Delusion

Many books have been published specifically to refute The God Delusion. However, I personally can vouch for at least three excellent refutations: The Dawkins Delusion, Deluded By Dawkins, and The Dawkins Letters – Challenging Atheist Myths. The first is a SPCK publication written by Alister McGrath, a professor of Historical Theology at Oxford University. The second is a Kingsway Publication by Andrew Wilson, a Pentecostal Minister. And the third is published by Christian Focus, and written by David Robertson, who is a columnist, author, and minister in the Free Church of Scotland. Dawkins Delusion is the most scholarly of the three, but Deluded By Dawkins is intelligently well written. However, I found the Dawkins Letters to be the most engaging, interesting, and exciting!

[1] Following are a couple of the remarks Mr. Platt made to the California senate judiciary committee, June 24, 2003, regarding senate resolution no. 20 - relative to eugenics”

...that California not only led the nation in forced sterilizations, but also in providing scientific and educational support for Hitler’s regime. In 1935, Sacramento’s Charles M. Goethe praised the Human Betterment Foundation for effectively “shaping the opinions of the group of intellectuals who are behind Hitler…” In 1936, Goethe acknowledged the United States and Germany as leaders in eugenics (“two stupendous forward movements”), but complained that “even California's quarter century record has, in two years, been outdistanced by Germany.” In 1936, California eugenicist Paul Popenoe was asking one of his Nazi counterparts for information about sterilization policies in Germany in order to make sure that “conditions in Germany are not misunderstood or misrepresented.”

...that California’s eugenicists could not claim ignorance that Germany’s sterilization program was motivated primarily by racial politics. For example, in 1935, the Los Angeles Times published a long defense of Germany’s sterilization policies, in which the author noted that the Nazis “had to resort to the teachings of eugenic science” because Germany had been “deprived of her colonies, blessed with many hundreds of defective racial hybrids as a lasting memory of the colored army of occupation, and dismembered all around.” Not only did California eugenicists know about Nazi efforts to use sterilization as a method of “race hygiene” -- targeted primarily at Jews -- they also approved efforts to stop “race-mixing” and increase the birth rate of the “Northern European type of family.” The chilling words of Progressive reformer John Randolph Haynes anticipated the Nazi regime’s murder of 100,000 mentally ill patients: “There are thousands of hopelessly insane in California, the condition of those minds is such that death would be a merciful release. How long will it be before society will see the criminality of using its efforts to keep alive these idiots, hopelessly insane, and murderous degenerates. … Of course the passing of these people should be painless and without warning. They should go to sleep at night without any intimation of what was coming and never awake.”

http://www.hnn.us/articles/1551.html

[2] Summary from Wikipedia:

“Skyhook” Dennett used the term “skyhook” to describe a source of design complexity that did not build on lower, simpler layers - in simple terms, a miracle. In philosophical arguments concerning the reducibility (or otherwise) of the human mind, Dennett's concept pokes fun at the idea of intelligent design emanating from on high, either originating from God, or providing its own grounds in an absurd, Münchausen-like bootstrapping manner. Dennett also accuses various competing neo-Darwinian ideas of making use of such supposedly unscientific skyhooks in explaining evolution, coming down particularly hard on the ideas of Stephen Jay Gould.

“Crane” Dennett contrasts theories of complexity which require such miracles with those based on “cranes”, structures which permit the construction of entities of greater complexity but which are themselves founded solidly “on the ground” of physical science. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin's_Dangerous_Idea

Caustic Comment on Calvin’s Commentaries

2011-09-10T14:19:00.014+10:00

I found the following interesting but inflammatory disclaimer at the front of the “Associated Authors and Publishers Inc.” edition of Calvin’s Commentaries:

“Let us detain you but another moment on the porch, before you enter this house full of rich treasure, while we give you a warning … Publishers being responsible to print the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, we who are Baptists on the publishing staff must warn readers that we consider the views of Calvin on baptism, and on church polity, to be at variance with the Scriptures.”

Let’s see if we’ve got it right: Whatever Calvin (in his Bible Commentaries and elsewhere) says he thinks the Scriptures say about Baptism and Church Polity are untrue – “at variance with the Scriptures”!

This kind of sectarian nonsense has been dividing the Lord’s Church on earth for centuries now! Calvin wrote prolifically against such (Ana)baptistic divisiveness! It is one thing to say that we disagree with another’s understanding of Scripture. But for Baptists to be involved in publishing a document (such as Calvin’s Commentaries), which they obviously consider to be full of lies, ie, not “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”, is bizarre to say the least!

As condescending as it sounds, it is such a pity that baptistic Christians (Brethren, Churches of Christ, Pentecostals, Baptists – they are legion) allow their baptistic presuppositions to blind them to certain truths when they read the Scriptures!

I remember the whole new vista that was opened up to me when the Lord allowed me to catch a glimpse of things through the eyes of Calvin and Calvinists as opposed to the baptistic take on things I formally had. Eg, all the baptistic denominations have a Dispensational view on the Sacrament of Baptism. In other words, regarding Baptism and Church Polity they fail to see that the Lord’s Church is one Church, always has been, and always will be.

All believers are children of Abraham (which includes Adam, Noah, as well as Moses, David etc. and ourselves today). Christ does not have two brides, ie, an Old Testament bride and now a New Testament bride. He has one bride, the Church, made up of all His elect from all ages. We are one people, one in Christ. Therefore we have not been Dispensationally or Baptistically “cut off” from our father Abraham (Gen. 17:14).

Abraham’s household (including infants) had the sign and seal (Rom. 4:11) of God’s Covenant of Grace (ie, the Gospel Promise) affixed to them in the Old Testament Sacrament of Circumcision. Like the Passover it promised Christ, in whom all the promises of God are yes and amen. With the coming of Christ the Passover became the Lord’s Supper and Circumcision became (water) Baptism as Paul illustrates in Colossians 2:11f.

Circumcision and Baptism mean the same thing, ie, the former was a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace or Gospel Promise centred in Christ, and the latter is the sign and seal. Yes two different administrations of the sign and seal of the Covenant Promise, but administered to one people, ie, God’s people. Thus the Church in our father Abraham’s day had Circumcision and the Church today has Baptism. One Church! One Bride of Christ! That is what Calvin believed the Scriptures to teach when it comes to Church Polity and Baptism.

The Covenant Community or Church is made up of many churches scattered throughout the earth, and comprises of all believers and their children. Baptists, of course, unlike Calvin, deny that the children of believers are part of the Church and therefore withhold the sign and seal of Baptism from them. To be consistent the Baptist living at the time of Abraham would have withheld circumcision from infants. But not so with Calvin and true Calvinists. Inflammatory? If you wish to see inflammatory then reread the Baptist statement at the beginning of this blog!

So, the Promise, the Covenant or Gospel Promise? Baptistic presupposition causes them to miss it throughout the Old Testament and therefore not only is Baptist Church Polity found wanting, but so is their Doctrine of the Holy Spirit, ie, the Promise of the Father!

How did John Baptize Jesus? Think a for a moment about the mode here. Then, think about how Jesus baptized His Church. What’s the connection between water baptism and Spirit baptism? Well, you might miss it if you are thinking like a Baptist and not like Calvin! The former is a sign and seal of the latter. The latter is promised in the former. The water signifies the outpouring of the “Promise of the Father”.

In other words, “the promise is to you and to your children” just as it was to Abraham and his children. “Therefore [Jesus] being exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He poured out this which you see and hear … Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” Acts 2:33; 38-39.

How did Jesus (and the Father) baptize His Church? By pouring the Spirit on His Church! How did John baptize Jesus? By pouring water on Him! How is the Church baptized? By the pouring of water and the Spirit! The former signifies the latter. As John the Baptizer said, "I indeed baptize you with water, but He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit" Mark 1:8. Jesus did not dunk His Church in the Holy Spirit, neither did John therefore dunk Jesus!

Who is the Father’s Promise of the Spirit given to? In other words, Who is/are the Church? Believers and their children! (1 Cor. 7:14)! Why? Because this is the Covenant Community, ie, the Church. Are all elect? Are all regenerate? Only God can tell that for sure. But do believers and their children qualify to receive the sign and seal of God’s Covenant or Gospel Promise? Yes! But you'll see this only if, instead of donning Baptist blinkers, you follow the Scriptures as does Calvin!

I know a blog of this size has no hope of changing the mind of the dyed-in-the-wool baptistic Christian. Only God the Holy Spirit can do that. However, He works with the Word when He does this. Therefore, may Calvin’s Commentaries help us to understand Church Polity and Baptism (not to mention the work of the Holy Spirit).

Therefore my dear Baptists brethren please stop the needless sectarianism. Be humble! Instead of trying to put people off Calvin and thus divide the Church, learn from this man who was faithful to the Scriptures.

MICHAEL THE ARCHANGEL

2011-08-28T16:07:00.019+10:00

Introduction

The Bible is not a book about angels. The Bible is a Book about God and the redemption He has wrought for man in Jesus Christ. But throughout the Bible angels are mentioned. Now, angels belong to the invisible realm, which is to say that angels are spirit beings. Therefore everything true we know about angels is on account of the revelation of God. If God hadn’t told us about angels in His Word we wouldn’t know what angels are and what they do.

The Bible teaches us that angels are God’s messengers. To be sure, as Jude mentions in verse 6, there are angels “who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode.” These, we believe, are what the Bible refers to as demons. The head or prince of the demons is Satan who is the Devil mention in Jude verse 9.

Satan means “accuser” or “adversary” or “traducer.” The word “devil” means the same. Therefore Satan, the Devil is the accuser, the defamer, the slanderer. The Apostle John under inspiration of the Holy Spirit calls Satan “…the accuser of our brethren…” Revelation 12:10.

Jude in verse 8 says that men have crept in unnoticed and speak evil of dignitaries. This is to say that they emulate the devil in that they slander those in offices of power. It’s the same in verse 10 of the Epistle of Jude. They speak evil, ie, “…these slander whatever they do not know.” But Satan is the chief of all slanderers. In fact Satan, the Devil is the prince of the slanderers. In Ephesians 2:2 he is referred to as “…the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience…”

The word “prince” there, as in prince of the power of the air, means that Satan is “first,” number one, ruler of the power of the air, ie, the demons. The same word “prince” is used to describe Jesus in Revelation 1:5 where it says that Jesus is “…the ruler [or prince KJV] over the kings of the earth.”

Now, here’s what all of this has to do with Michael. The word for ruler or prince comes from the same word that speaks of Michael. Michael is the archangel – NT Greek = archangelos. From two words – archo = to be first, reign or rule over. And – angelos = messenger or angel. As Jesus is the archon, ie, first or ruler over the kings of the earth, and as Satan is the archon, first or ruler of the power of the air, so Michael is the archon, first or ruler over the angels.

Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

From this verse (Jude 9) we’ll be looking at the Archangel Michael in His role as Messenger and Contender.

Messenger

The chief or first meaning of angel in the Bible is messenger. An angel is one who bears a message from God. A messenger or angel may refer to a human as well as an angelic being. On account of this, in Malachi we see that the word “angel” is sometimes better translated as messenger. For the Lord says in Malachi 3:1, “‘Behold, I send My messenger, and he will prepare the way before Me. And the Lord, whom you seek, will suddenly come to His temple, even the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight. Behold, He is coming,’ says the LORD of hosts.”

Now, it will help us, as we try to gather some more information about Michael, if we would take note of what Malachi is saying here. The Spirit through His prophet Malachi is prophesying about Jesus Christ some four hundred odd years before He was to be born.

The messenger who was to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord was, of course, John the Baptist. For we read these words in Mark 1:1-3, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. As it is written in the Prophets: ‘Behold, I send My messenger before Your face, who will prepare Your way before You. The voice of one crying in the wilderness: “Prepare the way of the LORD, make His paths straight.”’”

So there’s no doubt about it that John the Baptiser was the messenger who prepared the way of the Lord. But whom did he prepare the way for, according to the LORD in Malachi? Notice that the LORD through His prophet Malachi says that John the Baptiser will prepare the way of the Messenger of the covenant. And notice that this Messenger of the covenant is the One in whom the people of God Malachi’s day delight. Literally the Messenger of the covenant is the One in whom they are delighting, not “will” delight. Therefore the people of God in Malachi’s day were delighting themselves in the Messenger of the covenant.

The Messenger or Angel of the Covenant is the Angel of the LORD who is made known throughout Scripture. There are far too many places where He is mentioned in Scripture than we have space to look at. But keep in mind that the Angel of the LORD appeared with two other angels to Abraham in Genesis 18. He appeared with a message regarding the covenant promise of a son for Abraham in his old age.

We know that one of these angels was the LORD, ie, the Angel of the LORD, the Messenger of the Covenant, because of what we read in Genesis 18:22: “Then the men turned away from there and went toward Sodom, but Abraham stood before the LORD.” The passage makes it clear that the Angel of the Lord is the LORD Himself. And then we read what Abraham’s grandson Isaac says in Genesis 48:15&16, “God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life to this day, the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads…” So, Isaac wants the Angel, ie, God, to bless his sons. Therefore Isaac was delighting in the same Messenger or Angel Malachi was delighting in.

Moses met the same Angel of the LORD in the burning bush. Exodus 3:2, “And the Angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of the bush. So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed.” And then in Exodus 3:4&5 we read, “So when the LORD saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ Then He said, ‘Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.’”

Moses trusted in the Angel of the LORD to lead them through the Wilderness. The LORD Himself was the Angel in the pillar of fire and the pillar of cloud. And then Joshua, who was Moses successor, also had a very personal encounter with the Angel of the LORD.

Joshua 5:13f., “And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, a Man stood opposite to him with His sword drawn in His hand. And Joshua went to Him and said to Him, ‘Are you for us or for our adversaries?’ So He said, ‘No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.’ And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshipped, and said to Him, ‘What does my Lord say to His servant?’ Then the Commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take the sandal off your foot, for the place where you stand is holy.’ And Joshua did so.” Joshua 5:13-15.

So, like Moses before the burning bush, before the Angel of the Lord, Joshua had to remove his sandals from his feet because he was in the presence of holiness. But notice how the Angel of the LORD identified Himself. He said He was “Commander of the army of the LORD.

Calvin is excellent on this verse, so I quote him at some length: “[Joshua] puts his question as if addressing a man, because it is only from the answer he learns that it is an angel. This doubt gives more credibility to the vision, while he is gradually led from the view of the man whom he addresses to the recognition of an angel. The words, at the same time, imply that it was not an ordinary angel, but one of special excellence. For he calls himself captain of the Lord’s host, a term which may be understood to comprehend not merely his chosen people, but angels also.”

What does all this have to do with Michael the archangel? Well, if you were to turn to Daniel 12:1 you would see there that the archangel Michael is not only the prince of angels but also is the great prince of God’s chosen people. For there Daniel by the Holy Spirit says, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince of the people…” The KJV renders it, “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the chldren of thy people…” The RSV renders it, “At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people…” And let’s not forget the NIV which renders it, “At that time Michael, the great prince who protects your people, will arise…”

So, we see then, that Michael is the same Angel who looked after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is the same Angel who looked after Moses and his successor Joshua. For who else is the great prince of the chosen people of God if not Christ? Does not the Apostle Paul under inspiration of the Holy Spirit in 1 Corinthians 10:4 say that the Rock who was with God’s chosen people in the wilderness was Christ?

And notice that Michael the Archangel is not just the prince who looks after the people of God. He is the “great” prince. The Hebrew word for prince here is the word sar. The Hebrew word means the same as as Csar or Caesar or Kaiser etc. The word “prince” as used of Michael the Archangel therefore means head person, captain, ruler. Therefore Michael is the great Captain of God’s elect people and His elect angels. And, as you know, there is only one Head of the Church, ie, Jesus Christ. Therefore how can Michael be called the great prince of God’s people if He is not also Christ?

And not only that, look what was said to Daniel regarding Michael the archangel in Daniel 10:21b: “No one upholds me against these, except Michael your prince.” Michael is identified as Daniel’s prince.

How can any created angel be Daniel’s prince when angels are ministering spirits? For the writer to the Hebrews says of created angels, “Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for those who will inherit salvation?” Hebrews 1:14.

Now, you might say that Jesus came to minister, ie, to serve and not be served. But that doesn’t prevent Jesus from being Prince. Indeed Jesus is referred to as Prince in Acts 3:15, “…and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead…” And in Acts 5:31, “Him God has exalted to His right hand to be Prince and Saviour…” Isaiah in Isaiah 9:6b calls Jesus the Prince of Peace, “And His name will be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.” And Daniel speak of Messiah the Prince in Daniel 9:25, “Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the command to restore and build Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince, there shall be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks…”

So, will the real Prince please stand up? And that’s exactly what you have in Daniel 12:1, “At that time Michael shall stand up, the great prince of the people…”

We agree then with the writer to the Hebrews that Michael the Archangel cannot be a created angel but must be the Word who permanently became flesh. For the writer to the Hebrews says, “For He has not put the world to come, of which we speak, in subjection to angels.” Hebrews 2:5. Therefore how can the Captain of the LORD’s army be anything other than the uncreated eternal second Person in the Trinity, the Word become flesh?

And we must mention that though Michael appeared as a Man at times, such as to Joshua, and also when He wrestled with Jacob, these were just temporary manifestations. They are what theologians call Theophanies or better, Christophanies. They are temporary appearances of the pre-incarnate Christ.

Now, just before we have a brief look at Michael the Archangel as Contender, let’s clear up a couple of things. Some people point to Daniel 10:13 and say, How can Michael be God when it says there, “Michael, one of the chief princes…” Well, it’s very easy because the word “one” may also be translated as “first.” Thus: “Michael, first of the chief princes…” Some English translations have this as the rendering in their margins. But this is how, eg, Matthew Henry renders it. But, even if you leave it as is, how does this suggest that Michael is not the uncreated 2^nd Person in the Trinity? For the Angel of the LORD can still be one of the chief princes listed in the Book of Daniel, can’t He?

In Daniel 10:13 the prince of the kingdom of Persia is also mentioned. Up ahead in Daniel 10:21 the prince of Greece is mentioned. Therefore what’s wrong with saying that Michael is not the Prince of Persia, nor is He the Prince of Greece, nor is He the Prince of the power of the air? With these princes in mind, there is nothing wrong therefore with saying, “Michael, one of the chief princes…” Surely nothing is wrong with saying that Michael is one of the chief princes. He is one of the chief princes! That’s what Daniel 10:13 is saying. But this doesn’t mean that Michael the Archangel is not the pre-incarnate Word.
Commenting on the Book of Daniel Matthew Henry says, "Here is Michael our prince, the great protector of the church: The first of the chief princes." Says John Calvin commenting on the same Book, “Some think the word Michael represents Christ, and I do not object to this opinion … Michael may mean an angel; but I embrace the opinion of those who refer this to the person of Christ.”
Now, there’s another verse people use to discount the view that Michael is Jesus. And that verse in found in Paul’s Epistle to the Thessalonians that speaks of Christ’s future or as it is usually referred to, the Second Coming. 1 Thessalonians 4:16&17, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord.”

Now, the KJV and the NIV both have with the voice of THE archangel. I of course prefer THE archangel rather than AN archangel. For then if you say AN archangel are you not suggesting that there might be another archangel? Yet how can you possibly have two arch angels if arch means to be first, to reign, to rule over?

We’ve seen that Michael is the prince of the people of God. Therefore is there another prince who reigns or rules over the people of God? It’s far less confusing and much more in line with Scripture to refer to Michael as THE archangel. For you can search long and hard and you will not find any other archangel mentioned in the Bible. Michael is the only archangel ever mentioned therein!

Sometimes on a Christmas card you might find the created angel Gabriel referred to as the archangel Gabriel. But nowhere in Scripture is Gabriel called the archangel. It’s Michael who has been given that designation. And it is Michael who has the power and authority that goes along with it.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16 we are told that the Lord will descend with a shout. That shout is a command. In John 5:28&29 we read Jesus say, “Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth—those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation.” Whose voice are those in the graves, those who are dead, going to hear? Is it the voice of Jesus or the voice of Michael the archangel? Well, John under inspiration of the Holy Spirit says they are going to hear Jesus’ voice. Therefore we would conclude that the voice of Jesus and the voice of the archangel are the same. Because Michael is Jesus and Jesus is Michael.

And what about the sound of the trumpet of God that accompanies this? Matthew 24:30b&31, “And they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.”

So, who commands the angels? Who sends them with a great sound of a trumpet to gather His elect. Is it Michael or is it Jesus? Well, if we understand that Michael the Archangel is Jesus we don’t have any problem, do we?

Contender

Now, some people look at Jude verse 9 and conclude that Michael cannot possibly be Jesus on account of what it says there. “Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke.’”

If Michael were the Lord then how can the Lord say to the devil, ‘The Lord rebuke you’? Wouldn’t the Lord just say to the devil, “I rebuke you”? Well, we see this kind of thing going on in Zechariah 3:1&2, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at His right hand to oppose Him. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, Satan. The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?’”

We don’t believe this is same contending with Satan that Jude is referring to. But we do believe that it sheds a great deal of light on Jude 9. For notice that the LORD Himself said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan!” So, we can get rid of any notion that says that if Michael were the Lord then He would have said, “I rebuke you, Satan!”

But as it was for Joshua the high priest, so it was for Moses, and so it is for all God’s people.

Michael the archangel, ie, the Angel of the LORD is standing up in defence of His people. He is standing against the Satan, the Devil, the accuser of the brethren. Satan is the accuser and Christ is our Advocate who intercedes on our behalf. As the Apostle John under inspiration of the Holy Spirit says, “And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ.” 1 John 2:1b.

Jesus contends for us against Satan and his demons. He is Michael, the great prince who stands watch over us, who protects us. As Jesus says in John 10:27&28, “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them and they follow Me. And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.”

The voice of Jesus Christ is the voice of the archangel Michael, the great prince who stands watch over us.
We’ve noted that when the Lord returns He will return with the voice of the archangel. And when He does so He will wake the dead and they shall join those who are alive to meet the Lord in the air. And related to this we’ve noted that Jesus will send His angels to gather His elect from the four winds.

We’ve noted also that Satan is the prince of the power of the air. But we see that Christ in His Second coming has control of the air, that invisible realm. Therefore Michael the Archangel has won His dispute with the devil!

The Book of Revelation gives us a ring-side seat of what is happening before the physical return of Jesus Christ.

Revelation 12:7-10, “And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels fought with the dragon; and the dragon and his angels fought, but they did not prevail, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer. So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the Devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, ‘Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to death.”

Conclusion
No longer is Satan able to stand before the throne of God and accuse us. Our Advocate has interceded on our behalf. Michael has fought the dragon and has won. He has cast Satan and his angels out, cast them down to earth. It’s as Jude says in verse 6, “He has reserved [them] in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day.”

And let me again remind you that the words “angel” and “messenger” are interchangeable. And that in the Bible the word “angel” can refer to a man as well as to an angel. Michael the Archangel who is also the Man Jesus will testify to this.

And not only that, Jesus is the Word, the Logos, the Word of God. Jesus is the Messenger of God who has come into the world with the greatest Message ever told! We did He come? “For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil.” 1 John 3:8. I believe that the Angel of the LORD has done just that!

THE UNDERGROUND

2011-08-20T07:36:00.002+10:00

Read original article:
Author writes book about his conversion from Freemasonry to Christianity

A former Freemason who is now a Presbyterian minister wrote recently a book about his spiritual journey and his conversion to Christianity.

Neil Cullan McKinlay, author of From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice documents his travels to Scotland, Australia and Canada, and also detailed his spiritual journey from having no faith to joining the Freemasons, and then converting to Christianity, BlogCritics.org said.

McKinlay has been an ordained Presbyterian minister since 1998. He lives in Brisbane, where he works part time as an army chaplain. He writes as much as he can. His book, From Mason to Minister, is described as “Neither an apologetic nor a polemic,” Nordskog Pulbishing said on its website.

The book tries to correct a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Freemasonry, including its alleged relationship with mysticism and the occult. WordJourney Magazine said the book shows how Freemasonry is actually a “fraternal organization” that follows a moral code and uses symbols that are derived from the bible to contain its beliefs.

“Godly values are taught, but God is missing from the equation,” WordJourney Magazine said. In its review of the book, WordJourney notes that McKinlay comes to see that more than a moral code, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the “more excellent way.”

In an interview that was featured in BlogCritic.org McKinlay said his first bible was actually given to him by the Freemasons. It was “an expression of thanks for the Masonic research papers I had been writing and presenting. These papers came as a result of my reading of dusty tomes in Masonic libraries in my search for God. I then searched the pages of Scripture by and with which God revealed Himself to me in Jesus Christ.”

McKinlay told BlogCritic.org that his book talks of “Christ Moments,” where “Christ and His Kingdom is flashed before us in even the mundane activities of our daily lives.” Even, he said, while doing rituals in the Masonic Lodge. He adds, “After meeting Christ I left the Lodge and went on to study for and became a Christian Minister.”

McKinley also told BlogCritics.org that his book has subplots regarding “Solomon and his Temple, two predominant themes in Masonry. I posit the idea that, in the Bible, Solomon’s Temple, the Garden of Eden, though historical and real, pose as pictures of Christ’s Kingdom which is to come.”

The subtitle, “Through the Lattice” in McKinlay’s book is taken from the Song of Solomon 2:9, WordJourney Magazine said. The verse says, ““My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice.”

McKinlay likens his own spiritual journey in this way, believing that at every stage of his life, God was always watching him, WordJourney Magazine said. The book is deemed highly inspiring. It is considered a useful piece for pastors, and is lauded for being very informative about the inner workings of Freemasonry.

http://www.amazon.com/Mason-Minister-Through-Lattice/dp/0982707479/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1313790214&sr=1-1

THE VALE OF LEVEN

2011-08-15T11:52:00.007+10:00

I grew up in the 60s and 70s in a place called the Vale of Leven. The Leven is a fast-flowing river that meanders through the valley emptying Loch Lomond at Balloch into the River Clyde at Dumbarton. I learned to swim in the Leven at the “Pan Lade” down from Napierston Terrace where we lived in the 60s. I remember as a lad fishing just up river from the Lade and being told by the Water Bailiff that there was no fishing on Sundays. I was thankful that he told me this from the tow-path on the opposite side of the river, otherwise I might have been clapped in irons or something!

I remember walking along that tow-path to become the biggest catch ever for a fly fisherman. I had to go up to the Vale hospital to have his fancy fly-hook surgically removed from my right earlobe. He almost tugged me into the river (I’m sure he wished he had, having destroyed a good fly!) In my teen years the old tow-path along the Leven was good for a romantic stroll with a girlfriend – not that I was much of a romantic!

It was great growing up in the Vale. We didn’t know what low-socio-economic meant. We just got on with it. If you needed a bicycle you went to the dump and raked around for an old frame and some wheels, and before too long, you’d be able to put together a bike. Mind you, I used to hate those “fixed-wheel” bikes that would send you over the handle bars a few times till you got the hang of it! I suppose having “fixed-wheels” was better than having no brakes as this would put a great strain on your plimsoles which would wear out with great rapidity as you applied your sandshoe to the rubber tyre as a primary stopping method. The object was to not put your toes in the moving wheel spokes!

Swimming in the Leven or up the Loch was brilliant! It was great when the paddle-steamer “The Maid of the Loch” was away sailing, for then we could show off by diving off the tin shed. My favourite party piece was the swallow dive off the shed and returning to the surface with a dinner plate that they chucked off the Maid instead of washing! Mind you, I still bear a scar where I badly cut my finger on a broken plate or a glass on the loch bottom! A couple of times the loch froze solid enough for us to skate on it in winter.

When we lived up the back of Tullichewan we’d build wooden sledges when it snowed. An old piece of copper pipe would be flattened and nailed on the sledge as runners. Death traps? Well, I remember we were up the “Half Mile” and someone gave me a shot of their fancy “bought” sledge. I lay on my belly and shot down the hill like ninety and was stopped at the bottom when my head hit the farmer's wire fence! I think I inspired Led Zeppelin to write “Dazed and Confused”.

What we called the “Half Mile” (now the Stoney Mollen Roundabout) was a wide open sloped field just up from the “Huddies”, a small wooded spot where we used play Cowboys and Indians. I used to shovel out the horse’s stables at the Glendale Boarding Kennels next to the “Half Mile”. I don’t know if I ever received any money for this, maybe I did, but I do remember the reward was getting to ride on the horses. Most of the time I was on “Billy” – a piebald pony with an angry attitude. I think I fell off Billy as many times as I fell off that fixed-wheeled bike I was telling you about. I guess I was always falling off of things when I was young.

I remember climbing up a rope-swing hanging from a tree. I was all alone at the time and as I reached the bough to which the rope was tied I noticed that its strands were snapping. I landed on my back. This was when I learned firsthand the meaning of the term “winded”. Try with all my might I could not draw a breath. I thought I was going to die alone, but my spirit or breath returned to me.

I did get a bike one Christmas. It was really hard to try it out in the snow! I remember flying over its handlebars too. Someone kicked an underinflated ball in front of me and I managed to run over it. The first point of contact with the road when I landed was my right knee. I had a bandage on for weeks after this. Mind you, it was about then that I noticed that females were attracted to boys with bandages, at least the lassies I went to Levenvale Primary with…

Och, I could go on reminiscing all day about the place where I grew up.

Check out the Vale of Leven website at: http://www.valeofleven.org.uk/

“Killers for Christ” or Bricks for Brains?

2011-08-06T19:55:00.005+10:00

Killers for Christ is the title of an article written by the leftist zealot Phillip Adams in The Weekend Australian Magazine (August 6-7, 2011). http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/opinion/killers-for-christ/story-e6frg7fx-1226108967230

In this article Adams tries to convince the reader that Anders Behring Breivik (the nutcase that killed all those people in Norway) is a Christian! Sure, we understand that sensationalism sells newspapers, but what about the moral responsibility that goes with it? Shouldn't the Australian magazine's editors have advised Adams not to publish such a hate article?

Adams in the article says, “But to deny Anders Behring Breivik’s links to historic or contemporary Christian fundamentalism is as ludicrous as atheists ignoring the vast brutalities of Mao and Stalin.”

Adams is an atheist, but Breivik is no Christian! To my knowledge Breivik nowhere claims to be a Christian in any of his written ramblings – and he has written much! See e.g., http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/186020/20110725/anders-breivik-manifesto-shooter-bomber-downplayed-religion-secular-influence-key.htm

Indeed, like some in the West, Breivik prefers “Christianity” without Christ! By anyone's reckoning Christianity without Christ is not Christianity. And neither is anyone without Christ (such as are Breivik and Adams) a Christian!

Clearly Breivik does not want Christ. So what is Adams on about? Again, I think Adams is only being intentionally provocative to sell newspapers. But again, what about moral responsibility? Or doesn’t the atheist fundamentalist Adams believe in morals? Hasn’t the news media learned anything from the News of the World debacle in England?

A free press can only operate freely when it obeys the West's moral (i.e., Christian) code. Otherwise the people of these nations cannot trust anything their press writes.

Like the leftist zealot he is Adams tries very hard to draw associations between the loony Breivik and Christianity when Adams condescendingly says, “Yet when it turned out that the Norwegian assassin wasn't a Moslem fanatic but a Christian zealot Christians around the world, and particularly among the religious right in the US, would have none of it. Forget the cross on the cover of the killer's manifesto and the mystical nonsense about Christian Crusaders. He couldn't possibly be a real Christian. As pious patriot Bill O’Reilly put it on Fox News, Christians don't kill people.”

As with a cross on grave's headstone, a “cross on the cover” of a book of rants or a reference to “Christian Crusaders ” does not make a man a Christian. Only God can make a man a Christian, even Christ-hating men such as Adams!

Jesus says, “He that is not with Me is against Me” Matthew 12:30a.

In reference to the evil Breivik’s sinful act, Adams says, “Christians must speak out against such madness. Jesus would want it.”

It beats me how Adams thinks he knows what Jesus wants since he doesn't even know Jesus! But what all decent people must speak out against is the madness espoused by the loony leftist fundamentalists such as Adams. Christians appreciate the freedom of the press. It was Christianity that brought it to the West. But please, stop the hatemongering!

AUTHONOMY

2011-07-31T18:24:00.002+10:00

I’ve spent the last three or four months playing around on a web site called Authonomy:

http://www.authonomy.com/ It is a “slush pile” for Harper Collins whereby budding authors get to post their “masterpieces” with the hope of rising to the top of the heap through means fair or foul and landing on the publisher’s desk.

Though I’ve since removed three, I had posted five unpublished manuscripts and received mainly spam comments which, rather than say anything useful about any of my books, solicited support for their work – if you scratch my back I’ll scratch yours. Backscratching is one way to climb to the top of the reams of posted manuscripts. I can’t say this appealed to my Christian sensibilities. I was happy merely to post my efforts and await unsolicited comment. These comments are supposed to help you hone your work. I received hardly any comments among which only one or two were helpful.

I found myself doing far more reading than writing as I sailed the ocean of potential books. Some material was clearly rubbish by anyone’s method of reckoning. Other samples took a bit more work before I was able to determine that I had wasted good time. I read various genres, but eventually found myself on a mission to back good Christian material regardless of genre. Invariably what seemed to me to have potential left me in a dilemma: should I back a book that had good solid Biblical material somewhere in it or should I reject it outright because it is tainted with pessimistic any-minute end-of-the=world Dispensationalism? Then there are the Theistic Evolutionist crowd with their attendant Theological Liberalism. They sometimes have some good things to say, but they pick and choose from the Bible as if it is they themselves that are infallible and not the Bible!

I think I’m over Authonomy and will pull the plug on it soon. I’ve still got a library full of good solidly Reformed books at home to read, not to mention some novels and other works. Why should I get square eyes from reading stuff on a computer screen? Away with Authonomy I say! Mind you, it is kind of addictive – I may yet have another look…

CHRIST'S GOVERNMENT

2011-07-15T17:40:00.000+10:00

Swords beaten into ploughshares, spears into pruning hooks the nations study war no more. In their preappointed times and within the boundaries of their dwellings the nations are many yet one under the doting eye of the Triune God – the original One and Many. In solemn league and covenant with each other and God, the Bible (applied to their diverse situations), is their constitution and unity. God’s law is their delight, meditated on day and night. On each nation’s flag the words, ‘Love God and your neighbour as yourself.’ Says Jehovah, ‘Now it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established on the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow to it.’ Isaiah 2:2. As was the red cord of Rahab, so their nation’s flag will be draped from a window of their own homes. Each person under their own fig tree meditates on things noble, just, pure, lovely, and virtuous – praiseworthy things, things of good report. Each season their vineyards and fruit trees give forth in abundance.

While receiving his sight a blind man once said, ‘I see men like trees, walking.’ The LORD says, ‘For as the days of a tree, so shall be the days of my people, and My elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands.’ Isaiah 65:22b. Like trees planted by rivers of waters, each brings forth fruit in its season. And written on each renewed heart is the Law of Love, the Ten Commandments. Age-wrinkles all but ironed out, the centenarian dies a young man! And, ‘the nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.’ Isaiah 11:8-9.

Christ’s government began as a seed, the Seed of the Woman. The LORD said to the serpent Satan, ‘And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.’ Genesis 3:15. As the woman Jael swung the workman’s hammer to pound a tent peg into the ground through Sisera’s head, as ‘a certain woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull,’ so the Woman’s Seed crushed the serpent’s head by the nails of His cross and the stone that rolled away.

Jehovah-Jesus says of Himself, ‘And whoever falls on this stone will be broken; but on whomever it falls, it will grind him to powder.’ Matthew 21:44. Christ is the Rock from which streams of living water flow. His kingdom is the stone that was cut out without hands crushing the image of all that exalts itself against the knowledge of God. ‘The stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.’ Daniel 2:35b. Like the covering cherub cast out of Eden – the mountain of God – so will be all who oppose the spread of Christ’s Gospel kingdom. ‘For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called, Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this.’ Isaiah 9:6-7. ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel, which is translated, “God with us.”’ Matthew 1:23. At the birth of the Prince of Peace the angels said, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!’ Luke 2:14. The thief on the cross said to Jesus, ‘Lord, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.’ Luke 23:42.

After His resurrection and coming into His kingdom Jehovah-Jesus met with His trained disciples on an appointed mountain, saying to them, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Matthew 28:18-20. Daniel takes up the story, ‘I was watching in the night visions, and behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him. Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages, should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom the one which shall not be destroyed.’ Daniel 7:13-14.

Vote for Christ’s government today!

SUMMARY OF FROM MASON TO MINISTER

2011-07-03T16:58:00.002+10:00

http://theundergroundsite.com/index.php/2011/06/author-writes-book-about-his-conversion-from-freemasonry-to-christianity-16224/
A former Freemason who is now a Presbyterian minister wrote recently a book about his spiritual journey and his conversion to Christianity.
Neil Cullan McKinlay, author of From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice documents his travels to Scotland, Australia and Canada, and also detailed his spiritual journey from having no faith to joining the Freemasons, and then converting to Christianity, BlogCritics.org said.
McKinlay has been an ordained Presbyterian minister since 1998. He lives in Brisbane, where he works part time as an army chaplain. He writes as much as he can. His book, From Mason to Minister, is described as “Neither an apologetic nor a polemic,” Nordskog Pulbishing said on its website. http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-through-the-lattice.shtml
The book tries to correct a lot of misunderstanding and misinterpretation of Freemasonry, including its alleged relationship with mysticism and the occult. WordJourney Magazine said the book shows how Freemasonry is actually a “fraternal organization” that follows a moral code and uses symbols that are derived from the bible to contain its beliefs.
“Godly values are taught, but God is missing from the equation,” WordJourney Magazine said. In its review of the book, WordJourney notes that McKinlay comes to see that more than a moral code, a personal relationship with Jesus Christ is the “more excellent way.”
In an interview that was featured in BlogCritic.org McKinlay said his first bible was actually given to him by the Freemasons. It was “an expression of thanks for the Masonic research papers I had been writing and presenting. These papers came as a result of my reading of dusty tomes in Masonic libraries in my search for God. I then searched the pages of Scripture by and with which God revealed Himself to me in Jesus Christ.”
McKinlay told BlogCritic.org that his book talks of “Christ Moments,” where “Christ and His Kingdom is flashed before us in even the mundane activities of our daily lives.” Even, he said, while doing rituals in the Masonic Lodge. He adds, “After meeting Christ I left the Lodge and went on to study for and became a Christian Minister.”
McKinley also told BlogCritics.org that his book has subplots regarding “Solomon and his Temple, two predominant themes in Masonry. I posit the idea that, in the Bible, Solomon’s Temple, the Garden of Eden, though historical and real, pose as pictures of Christ’s Kingdom which is to come.”
The subtitle, “Through the Lattice” in McKinlay’s book is taken from the Song of Solomon 2:9, WordJourney Magazine said. The verse says, ““My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice.”
McKinlay likens his own spiritual journey in this way, believing that at every stage of his life, God was always watching him, WordJourney Magazine said. The book is deemed highly inspiring. It is considered a useful piece for pastors, and is lauded for being very informative about the inner workings of Freemasonry.

CLIMATE & COMMON SENSE

2011-07-01T14:34:00.000+10:00

I believe it is simply Common Sense for everyone to have a Common Sense approach to the issue of Climate Change. Does this make sense to you?

Let’s apply Common Sense to the Climate and the current issue raised by the Climate Change Alarmists.

Climate Change Alarmists are trying to cause panic.
Climate Change Alarmists allege that the globe is getting warmer.
Climate Change Alarmists also allege that the globe is getting warmer on account of Australians’ use of fossil fuels.
(Based on the previous three dot points): Climate Change Alarmists wish to punish Australians with a Carbon Tax to solve their perceived problem.

Let’s apply Common Sense to Climate Change Alarmists themselves.

Climate Change Alarmists tried to panic the public back in the 70s with their “Global Cooling” mantra!
Climate Change Alarmists are trying to panic the public today with their “Global Warming” hypothesis!
Climate Change Alarmists today disagree with their fellow Climate Change Alarmists of the 70s.
(Based on the previous three dot points): Climate Change Alarmists today debunk the hypothesis of the Climate Change Alarmists of the 70s as being Climate Change Cuckoos!

Let’s apply Common Sense to these two extremist views!

The 70s Climate Change Alarmists who (based on scientific study) alleged

Global Cooling

VERSUS

The contemporary Climate Change Alarmists who (based on scientific study) allege Global Warming.

The Common Sense approach towards these two EXTREMES alleged by these EXTREMISTS leaves us with the following:

NO CLIMATE CHANGE PER SE!
NO CLIMATE CHANGE BECAUSE OF USE OF FOSSIL FUELS!
THEREFORE NO CARBON TAX!

REVIEWS OF FROM MASON TO MINISTER

2011-06-25T14:42:00.005+10:00

http://nordskogpublishing.com/book-through-the-lattice.shtmlBuy book at:

Martha's Bookshelf
s Bookshelf: http://marthasbookshelf.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-review-and-giveaway-from-mason-to.html

This is a smooth and uplifting memoir with lots of gems of poetry and scripture to enjoy. My Rating: 4.25 of 5.0

Product Description
An adventurous, captivating and poetic memoir of the author's courageous and spiritual journey from Scotland to Canada to Australia in his quest to "find the Truth and know the living God." Neither an apologetic nor a polemic, he corrects much misinterpretation and misunderstanding of Freemasonry. We learn how inspiration from Masonic teachings about Solomon's Temple, the arch, and keystone led him to a deep study of the revelation from the Bible of "the stone the builders rejected"; which is Christ. Readers will be uplifted, inspired, and delighted as they follow along with him in the discovery of his calling to become a minister.

Review:

I don’t read lots of memoirs but this ‘life-story’ caught my interest. Masonry is shrouded in secrecy and not looked upon favorably by fundamental Christian organizations. I thought that reading this book might give me insight to the nature of the Masons. The book goes beyond the nature of Masonry and the real story is the author’s spiritual journey through the Mason's shortcomings.

The book starts with personal background as the author relates how he initially sought fellowship in the Masons. As I understand from the book, the purpose of the Masons is to encourage men to be good workers and workers of good and this goal was originally founded on Biblical teachings and centered on the building of Solomon's temple. However in the 1800s a directive was made which diluted or stifled the Christian aspects in order to encompass a broader membership of men from all faiths. Although the teachings encourage a relationship with God, it would seem that members are not to push religion nor to even discuss Christ in their lives.

This dichotomy presented a puzzle that gave Mr. McKinlay the impetus to study deeper into scripture. Mr. McKinlay studied first to understand how the scriptures related to the teachings of Masonry and later how they related to the ‘practices’ or living walk of the Masons. Each level or degree he achieved brought more disenchantment with the practices of the organizations and a more in depth study of God.

As McKinlay studied the Bible he began to see the creator God everywhere in the world around him. For a time he felt lost, as a spaceman floating without a tether, until he recognized Christ as the only way to God the Father and thereby he found the missing “cornerstone” - the stone that was rejected - Jesus Christ.

I really enjoyed the easy flow and phrasing McKinlay uses. The early chapters at first seemed disjointed but then I realized that there was a meandering path that moved the journey along, with some side trips in memory. The 'Ministry' section is more direct, perhaps because it is the most recent in time and the author no longer has to tread the fine line of discussing his Masonry experiences. The author does not seem to disclose any real secrets but rather presents revelations of basic tenets and their impact on him with some philosophical insights as well. He also gives a cogent discussion of the trilogy which is a very difficult concept for many to grasp. I view the book as a grouping of revelations, recollections, and reflections on the spiritual awakening in the author’s life.

I admit that sometimes I fold the corners on a page (I know an awful habit) to mark a particularly poignant phrase or point. The problem I found with this book is I was apt to fold every couple of pages as comments repeatedly struck my own spirit. This is an easy read and an enjoyable, as well as informative book.

Three word description: Personal, lyrical, uplifting.

Next Review by: adayriddle "Abbie"

Dispell the Darkness and secrecy, May 13, 2011

This review is from: From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice (Hardcover)

Written by a once high level mason this book chronicles his journey to discover the Living God. The hot and often debated topic of whether the Masonic Lodges are a cult or not is openly discussed in light of the scriptures. I was very interested in this book as I have a Great Grandfather that was a high level Mason and Shriner. On his death bed he accepted Christ and renounced the Lodges.

I found this book to be excellent as a resource for Pastors and others to show those wondering about the workings and truth of the Lodges. In these pages the reader follows the journey of Neil Cullan McKinlay as he wades the vague fog of the Lodges into the true and redeeming light of true Christianity.

McKinlay does a sound job at showing in an unbiased way the difference between what the Lodge proclaims and what it actually practice and how these very things contradict the teaching of the bible.

An intriguing journey into the shadowy secrets of the Lodges this book guides readers through the secret rites and teachings of a closed cult. I found it rather ironic that the bible presented to McKinlay upon his entrance into the Lodges was the very book that led to his acceptence of Christ.

A great easy read. Very informative and very biblically sound. If you are interested in understanding just how far off this lodge is from true christianity this book will clearly answer your questions.

Next Review by

Jennifer Chatham "Mad Moose Mama"

Secret cults are for fools and the dead~!!, June 10, 2011

This review is from: From Mason to Minister: Through the Lattice (Hardcover)

From Mason To Minister: Through The Lattice is a poetic memoir of author, Neil Cullan McKinlay's quest to find the truth while knowing God.

Neil Cullan McKinlay was born in Canada, raised in Scotland and now lives in Australia. As a child, his family never mentioned anything about Jesus Christ, his childhood home was such that they didn't worship or live by the laws of God. He was disappointed to learn that his father was not a Freemason and Neil wondered and worked towards becoming one himself.

After moving back to Canada in his young adulthood, Neil finds his way to the Mason meetings and the tenets that are required to climb through the degrees of masonry! With great detail given to the performance one is required to climb the ranks, such as, writing essays, performing plays and taking oaths of secrecy etc. Neil was sure he was at the top of his game, belonging to a prestigious club for men, he could reach his dreams and goals, however, he was left disheartened.

With all the pageantry and analogies that make up Freemasonry, Neil feels like there is something missing from his life. The Masons explained religion in a textbook style with much hypocrisy, very few of the men who took the vows, actually lived by them. It was all pomp and circumstance and Neil's time with the Masons was short-lived when he came to truly know Jesus Christ and the Living God.

Turning back on the dogma of the Masons, Neil becomes an ordained minister and preaches to the people the real truth. The decision to reveal all he knows about the Masons, came with much consternation and thought, and putting his faith in God, he choose to share all the secrets that the Free Masons hold so dear.

I find the subject material fascinating, however, the prose itself is dry, with a lot of rehashing of thoughts from the author. I enjoyed watching the migration of Neil's religious patterns, his questions are solid and the answers he finds hold true to his self. I loved how he listened to the messages from God that he was receiving that his life could be better fulfilled, preaching, instead of being a lackey to a mega organization whose secrets run deeper than time itself.

I really enjoyed all the historical references shared, as well as, the courage it took to write this book. After reading Neil's account of Free Mason initiations to the next degree or level, I have to wonder how grown men could behave in such a childish manner, then I shuddered thinking these same men hold many powerful positions in our society.

Frankly, many of the situations the Free Masons practice are dangerously close to homosexual acts, in my honest opinion. Men getting together to dress up and act out plays is a very strange custom to have read about and lets not forget, it appears very "cultish" . I have never read some of the rites that Neil has shared with the reader and was most appalled to learn what I did. REALLY?? Men behave in such a manner, well, its no wonder our world is in such a desolate situation. I commend Neil Cullan McKinlay for stepping away from such barbaric and childish behaviour and walking the true path to enlightment!

The book clearly emphasizes the differences between the God of the Freemasons and the True Living God. It explains the lip service of Freemasons with great depth and detail and supports the truth with passages from the bible and other historical references. If your looking to break from the lies and walk into the truth, this is a great read, or if your looking for help to turn someone off the wrong path (Freemasonry) and onto the goodly path of God, then this book will give you some ideas to help keep you focused and proof to back your claims.

In all honesty, my dude was recently invited to become a Freemason, my moral tenets screamed..."NOOOO!!"...He was intrigued with how everyone is successful, while he struggles to put food on our table, the "golden" charm snaked around him and we fought. He believed me to be jealous because I was a woman and excluded, already the evil of the "cult" was changing who he was. I have since put this book in his hands and told him to read it. I don't think he is as willing to walk that path as he once was, thank you Neil for your gift, without this book our lives may have taken a path I would not have wished to travel!

Next review by: Wordjourney magazine:

http://www.wordjourney.com/reviews/book-reviews/book-review-from-mason-to-minister/

Book Review: From Mason to Minister

One man’s journey to faith in Jesus Christ
Neil Cullan McKinlay is a lot like most any Christian you’ve ever met, perhaps he is much like you. McKinlay has a three-part life story that begins where he describes his life as an unchurched youth in Scotland, followed by his conversion to Christ while living in Canada as a married man and father of three daughters. Today, McKinlay is walking with the Lord, is living in Australia and is seeking to “finish the race” to the glory of God.
What’s different about McKinlay is what each one of us can say about ourselves: he has a very specific testimony, one peculiar to him and something no one can deny.
McKinlay began his pursuit of God by taking an unlikely path — by studying Freemasonry, a much misunderstood and often derided fraternal organization with its roots dating as far back as the late medieval times in Scotland.

Exploring Freemasonry

Yes, Freemasonry has been criticized for its supposed relationship with occultism, mysticism and as some would say, satanism. In reality, this fraternal organization is based upon following a moral code, using biblically-derived symbols and allegories to frame its beliefs. Godly values are taught, but God is missing from the equation.
For McKinlay, his brief stint as a Mason revealed to him that there was something more than a moral code to live by and that what was obscured could only be revealed by having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Later, McKinlay abandons freemasonry for what he and the Bible calls, “…a still more excellent way.”
“From Mason to Minister” is McKinlay’s book (Nordskog Publishing | 2011), a story which carries the subtitle “Through the Lattice.” The subtitle is from Song of Solomon 2:9 which reads, “My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice.” That’s how McKinlay understood his journey to faith in Christ — God has always been watching him.

Scottish Narrative

McKinlay’s narrative is one-part personal testimony and another part Scottish anecdote. We learn so much about his personal likes and desires including his love of nature, his poetic gifting as well as his desire to follow Christ, and eventually his ordination as a minister in the Presbyterian Church of Australia.
What is most important about McKinlay’s chronology is that he shows that God is so very much interested in the person and that our “life story” is the means by which God draws us to Him no matter where we’re at. The seeking heart will always find God and there isn’t a place we can go or be where He won’t come searching for us.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. (Psalm 139:7-10)
This should encourage each of us — God knows those who are His and will provide a way for us to find Him. McKinlay, a Calvanist, may also believe that he could not resist the call of salvation. In his book, he made no mention of TULIP, the five points of Calvinism, particularly the fourth point — Irresistible Grace. What is apparent is that McKinlay was being prepared for many years to have an encounter with Jesus Christ and when God fully revealed Himself to him, he surrendered all.

Golden Age

One area of personal belief espoused by McKinlay may surprise the reader, and that is a belief held by some in the body of Christ: that before Jesus returns, there will be worldwide peace. In his “Reconciliation” section (pp. 170-173), Mc Kinlay says, “I believe in a future Golden Age before the Lord’s return — an age of peace and harmony among the nations.”
McKinlay doesn’t believe that this Golden Age will mean that everyone on earth will be a follower of Jesus Christ, but he does believe that the earth will one day be fully Christianized and that this period will take place before Jesus sets up His kingdom.
I have two problems with this thinking and they are:
1. Such a belief dismisses the possibility that Jesus can and will return at any time. With this thinking, the supposed “Golden Age” would have to take place first, and then the Lord will appear. Personally, I believe that the Lord will come at any time, although I believe that any delay is for the benefit of those who still don’t know Him. The age of peace will come, but only during a one thousand year reign of Christ following His return.
2. The Bible clearly says that in the last days that some will depart from the faith and “…follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons.” (1 Timothy 4:11) This verse seems to indicate a general falling away, not some age of peace.
No, I’m NOT suggesting that McKinlay is deceived and I won’t insist that he is wrong, especially when it pertains to his relationship with Jesus Christ. Every one of us sees through the mirror dimly (1 Corinthians 13:12) and beyond the essentials of our faith (doctrine), some of our beliefs may diverge. I can accept that and believe that McKinlay’s narrative is interesting and can be of benefit to the reader regardless of my personal thinking or understanding.

Next review by: http://jdellis.blogspot.com/2011/06/book-review-mason-to-minister.html?spref=fb

I enjoyed reading this Autobiography of how Neil Cullan McKinlay travelled through the religious world and finally came to the conclusion that religion is religion and a true relationship with Christ is the only thing that will completely satisfy an aching soul.

The book is broken different parts focusing on his life growing up, his life as a Free Mason and then his life as a Minister. Each part has a specific focus on him struggling with the desire to find God. As Free Mason he believes he has found all the answers until he hears a preacher in a Presbyterian church in Australia who preaches the word of God as the Word of God. He was so impressed with this man that he had to find out more about how he could do this. God got a hold of his life and changed his life forever!

LOST IN TRANSLATION

2011-06-18T16:56:00.000+10:00

There’s a notion that complex human language developed from an earlier system of grunting. One can only marvel at any attempt to verify this theory! What we do know for certain is that when God created man in His own image He verbally communicated with him in a language sophisticated enough for God to promise blessings for obedience and to hold the man accountable for his disobedience. And when Adam subsequently disobeyed God he didn’t plead ignorance of God’s intention. Therefore there had been no breakdown in communication between God and him, which is to say that Adam had fully understood the intent of the words God had spoken to him.

Indeed, verbal communication begins with the Triune God. From eternity the Father and the Son have spoken to each other by Their Spirit, who also speaks with equal power and authority (Genesis 1:1-3; John 1:1-3; Acts 1:16; Hebrews 1:1-2). The Son, the middle Person in the eternal Godhead, is identified as the Word who became flesh and dwelt among us. He refers to Himself as the Alpha and the Omega (Revelation 1:11; 22:13), which, among other things, means that He is the beginning and the end of the alphabet. Therefore every word, and every letter of every word, including every jot and tittle, i.e., every dot above every ‘i’ or every stroke across every ‘t’, regardless of the language or dialect, speaks of Him. He is speech incarnate. The Lord of lords is also the Word of words. Words have their ultimate meaning in the Word.

The written Word of God consists of the Hebrew (with a small portion of Aramaic) and the Greek Scriptures. These make up one Book, the Bible. These original languages have been translated into the English. A plethora of English versions abound. Some take a literal approach and may be slightly wooden in their translation, while others opt for the dynamic equivalent and may be of a more ‘general gist’ version. However, all try to capture original intent. Many people favour the King James’ Version only, but its wide use of archaisms can act as a stumbling block to the modern English speaker.

In Christian evangelism, though the accuracy of translation is important, it is the substance or message of Scripture that is emphasised; such as the overarching Everlasting Covenant, which includes Creation, Fall of Man, Redemption, Resurrection and Judgment Day, the New Heavens and the New Earth and Hell. It is the special work of the Holy Spirit to take the things of the Son and communicate them to those God is saving from His judgment. Thus the Spirit works with the Word convicting and convincing people of their sins and lost-ness, and the salvation from the judgment upon them for their sins, found only in the Saviour of sinners. This brings us back to Jesus, whose name, in a word, means ‘Jehovah saves.’

Regarding redemption, the theme of the whole Bible is that salvation is of the LORD (‘LORD’ being an English version of ‘YHWH’ or ‘Jehovah.). Thus Jehovah-Jesus is Saviour of all who believe (John 3:16). Redemption is an aspect of the Triune God’s covenant plan to buy back an innumerable multitude from His justice. Thus fallen human beings hear the Gospel or good news message, and by the power of the Holy Spirit working within them, in His good time, repent of their sins and believe it. However, those who do not receive God’s gift of salvation are those who remain deaf to God’s Word, which is to say that they remain in their lost condition with the wrath of God abiding on them (John 3:36).

Only an unbeliever would ignore or deny the wonderful message of salvation by grace. Attempting to justify their unbelief some aver that the Bible is the end result of a chain of ‘Chinese whispers’, that Its message has been ‘lost in translation.’ However, the Bible says that, pre-conversion, all human beings ‘suppress the truth in unrighteousness’ Romans 1:18. That’s why, ‘he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him’ Hebrews 11:6b.

When it comes to the message of salvation, nothing is lost in translation. Rather, those who don’t understand simply don’t wish to understand. Otherwise they would diligently seek God and be rewarded by Him. We are thankful that ‘the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost’ Luke 19:10. Otherwise the whole human race would die in its sins. We are thankful that by His Spirit the Word incarnate comes to us with words we can understand, words that bring us back to life. He that used words to bring creation and everything therein into being, with a word, can bring your dead soul back to life and on the last day, bring also your dead body back to life, merely ‘with a shout, with the voice of an archangel’ 1 Thessalonians 4:16b.

THE BAPTISMAL SEAL

2011-06-12T17:35:00.002+10:00

Part 2

(See Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 28 paras 4-6)

Introduction

God made a wonderful promise to Abraham the “father of the faithful.” The Apostle Paul in Galatians 3 speaks of the blessings attached to this great promise. For he says, “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.’” Galatians 3:8. Thus the heart of the Gospel message Abraham heard, i.e., the Good News preached to Abraham, was that in him all the nations shall be blessed. As Abraham believed the promise of the LORD and was justified (i.e., declared righteous, Gen. 15:6), so would all who have the faith of faithful Abraham be justified.

Thus the Gospel-promise of the Father is received through faith. This same Good News-promise of righteousness was sealed or confirmed to Abraham as recorded in Genesis 17. The Apostle Paul puts it like this, “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised…” Romans 4:11a.

Let’s note three things we have seen thus far: a) God made a promise to Abraham. b) Abraham believed the promise. And, c) God signified and sealed that promise to Abraham through Circumcision.

Circumcision then is the Older Testament sign and seal of the righteousness promised by God to believers and to their children. This promise of righteousness (i.e., rightness with God) is the Covenant of Grace. This sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace was to be applied to all males in Abraham’s household: “He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised, every male in your generations, he who is born in your house or bought with money from any foreigner who is not your descendant” Genesis 17:12.

Notice then the scope of the application of the covenant sign and seal of circumcision. Elderly males through to male infants alike were to receive the token or seal of God’s promise on the regenerative member of their body. This also included those who were not physically descended from Abraham – i.e., foreigners, even people from other nations; all these were included in the promise. Thus, we see that Abraham, those belonging to his household, and even foreigners and slaves entering his household, were essentially treated by God in the same way as New Testament or Covenant people: “The promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call” Acts 2:39. Note then that Abraham, his children, and those who were once afar off, but subsequently had entered into his household, received Circumcision, i.e., the sign and seal of the promise of God.

Now, when we get to the Newer Testament we may search long and hard, but we will not find anywhere that this promise God made to Abraham has been revoked. Indeed we find that the promise God made to Abraham has begun to come to fruition, which is to say that the blessings of the Covenant of Grace are coming upon all the nations. We discover in the Newer Testament that these promised Gospel blessings are poured upon all the nations through the life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ.

The Apostle Paul, the preacher sent to the Gentiles, puts it like this, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse [offering] for us (for it is written, ‘Cursed is everyone who hangs upon a tree’), that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith” Galatians 3:13&14.

So, we see then that the promise God made to Abraham, which was sealed or confirmed through circumcision, has been brought to pass by Jesus Christ. And that promise is that we, the Gentiles (ethnoi), indeed all the nations, Jew and Gentile, would receive the promise of the Spirit, i.e., the promised Spirit, through faith. For the Apostle has already said to the Galatians (who were beginning to turn away from the clear teaching of the Gospel): “Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Galatians 3:2.

So then, the promise of the Spirit still stands. The Covenant of Grace has not been revoked. The righteousness revealed in the Gospel is still promised to all who believe. The thing that has changed regarding the promise is that which signifies and seals it. Bloody Older Testament Circumcision, (as Colossians 2:11-13 teaches), has been replaced by bloodless Newer Testament Baptism. And since infants were included in Older Testament Circumcision, so infants, including female infants, are included in that which has replaced it, i.e., Baptism with water.

The Seal Applied

Baptism with water in the name of the Triune God is the Newer Testament continuation of Older Testament Circumcision. For the Apostle Paul says that Christians are circumcised in Christ through water baptism. For he says, “In Him you were circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead” Colossians 2:11&12. Thus Baptism, as did its predecessor Circumcision, speaks of the removal of the sins of the flesh.

And also, the Apostle Paul in his Epistle to the Romans teaches us that, as removal of the foreskin in Older Testament circumcision pointed to the removal of our sin through being united to Christ, so our water baptism speaks of our being united to Christ’s death, His funeralization, and His resurrection. For the Apostle says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin” Romans 6:4-7.

Notice that Christ did not die in His burial, but rather in His crucifixion! “Our old man was crucified with Him.” Thus our body of sin (as before depicted in bloody foreskin-removal) dies with Christ in His death (by crucifixion), is buried with Him in His burial (i.e., in His being placed in a hollowed-out tomb, not lowered into a grave!), and is raised anew from the state of death.

Thus, as did bloody Circumcision before it, unbloody water baptism seals (or confirms) to us: a) The removal of our sin. b) Our having been cut off by being entombed with Christ. And, c) Our regeneration in His resurrection.

To be buried (i.e., entombed) with Christ is to be cut off from this world. Thus water baptism signifies and seals God’s covenant promise to believers and to their children that He will put off their old man whilst putting on the new, i.e., spiritually renew, e.g., Ezekiel 36:24-28. This is accomplished in time when the Holy Spirit applies Christ and His benefits to the believer, whether Jew or Gentile: “But the meek shall inherit the earth, and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace” Psalm 37:11 with Matthew 5:4.

That this promise of the meek inheriting the earth was indeed a Gospel-promise which includes the inheriting the whole world or cosmos, is attested to by father Abraham’s inclusion in it: “For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith” Romans 4:13. The “righteousness of faith,” or “the righteousness that comes by faith” (NIV) is the same as that which was promised to Abraham.

Christ’s “Great Commission” command of Matthew 28:19 to baptize “the nations” is the implementation of His promise to Abraham that, “In you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” Genesis 12:3b. Thus water baptism signifies and seals to believers and to their children this same great Gospel-promise that God made to Abraham. Therefore the Newer Testament sign and seal replacing the Older Testament sign and seal of Circumcision is water Baptism. It’s the same Covenant of Grace (or Gospel) only with different administrations.

There is no command given in the Newer Testament to now withhold the sign and seal of the covenant-promise given to believers and to their children in the Older Testament. Therefore, Not only those who profess faith in and obedience unto Christ, but also the infants of one or both believing parents are to be baptised. Thus the Westminster Confession of Faith.

The Promise of God has been given to believers and to their children. Therefore believers and their children qualify to receive the sign and seal of that promise. Again, as it says in Acts 2:38&39, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off.’” Thus believers and their children qualify to receive the sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace. This includes also all believers and their children of those who are “afar off,” i.e., the Gentile nations (the ethnoi) to whom the Gospel is being proclaimed. The Apostle Paul informs us in the Epistle to the Ephesians that the partition between the Hebrews and the Gentiles has been removed by the shed blood of Christ: “But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ” Ephesians 2:13.

When the Lord’s Church, i.e., the covenant community, started becoming international after the Day of Pentecost, Gentile converts began to wonder about the status of their unbelieving spouses and their children. The Apostle Paul answers these questions thus, “For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband; otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” 1 Corinthians 7:14.

A quote from John Calvin on this verse is worth considering at this point, “The passage, then, is a remarkable one, drawn from the depths of theology; for it teaches, that the children of the pious are set apart from others by a sort of exclusive privilege, so as to be reckoned holy in the church….

As to the Apostle’s assigning here a peculiar privilege to the children of believers, this flows from the blessing of the covenant, by the intervention of which the curse of nature is removed; and those who were by nature unholy are consecrated to God by grace. Hence Paul argues, in his Epistle to the Romans, (11:16,) that the whole of Abraham’s posterity are holy, because God has made a covenant of life with him – “If the root be holy,” says he, “then the branches are holy also.” And God calls all that were descended from Israel His sons: now that the partition is broken down, the same covenant that was entered into with the seed of Abraham is communicated to us. But if the children of believers are exempted from the common lot of mankind, so as to be set apart to the Lord, why should we keep them back from the sign? If the Lord admits them into the Church by His Word, why should we refuse them the sign? In what respects the offspring of the pious are holy, while many of them become degenerate, you will find explained in the tenth chapter of the Epistle to the Romans; and I have handled this point there.”

So, under the Newer Testament holy children qualify to receive the baptismal seal of the Covenant of Grace just as holy children in Older Testament times received the circumcisional seal of the same covenant. So then, we see that the baptismal seal is to be applied to all believers and to their children. But how serious is it to despise or neglect this ordinance either by neglecting your own baptism as a believer or the baptism of your infant children? Well, in the Gospel according to Luke we read, “But the Pharisees and lawyers rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptised by him [i.e., by John]” Luke 7:30.

These men despised the counsel or will of God that they repent and be baptised by John in preparation to receive the Messiah. Thus we see that it is a very great sin to despise and neglect the baptismal sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace.

And, Moses neglected to place the sign and seal on one of his infants: “And it came to pass on the way, at the encampment, that the LORD met him and sought to kill him. Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses’ feet, and said, ‘Surely you are a husband of blood to me.’ So He let him go. Then she said, ‘You are a husband of blood’ – because of the circumcision” Exodus 4:24-26.

To be sure this circumcision was done most irregularly, for Moses, not his wife, ought to have performed it. But we do see that the LORD accepted it, for He let Moses go when the child was sealed. Therefore let all believers then be ever so diligent not to delay their own or their little children’s baptism! For the Baptismal seal is to be applied to all who qualify.

The Seal Analysed

Grace and salvation are not so inseparably annexed to Baptism, as that no person can be regenerated or saved without it, or that all that are baptized are undoubtedly regenerated. Like Older Testament Circumcision before it, water baptism does not regenerate or save. Rather water baptism signifies and seals to the recipient and to the congregation God’s promise to regenerate and save. Thus, Christian Baptism is not, in the first instance, about the recipient making his/her profession of faith.

To be sure, adults are to make profession of their faith BEFORE they are baptised. We see this illustrated in the passage about Philip and the eunuch from the nation of Ethiopia. Philip explained the Gospel to the eunuch from the Book of Isaiah, chapter 53:7-8 in particular, which follow shortly after the verse which declares, “So shall He sprinkle many nations…” Isaiah 52:15a.

Be that as it may, “Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning at this Scripture [i.e., Isaiah 53:7-8], he preached Jesus to him. Now as he went down the road, they came to some water. And the eunuch said, ‘See, here is water. What hinders me from being baptized?’ Then Philip said, ‘If you believe with all your heart, you may.’ And he answered and said, ‘I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.’ So he commanded the chariot to stand still. And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and he baptized him” Acts 8:35-38.

So we see then that in the case of adults a clear profession of faith is to be made before baptism. And keep in mind that this is a Gentile, an Ethiopian, who was being brought into the covenant community of God through water baptism. And to be sure, being a eunuch he wouldn’t have had any children of his own! But what about those infants of believers, those who on account of immaturity, are unable to make a credible profession of faith? Should the water of baptism be withheld from them? Well, let’s have a right good think about this, because, as we’ve already seen, it’s a great sin to despise or neglect this ordinance.

God does not bar infants from His Son’s kingdom because they are too young to make a profession of faith – neither should we! Indeed God does not save anyone young or old because they exercise faith. Rather He saves them because of His grace. “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” Ephesians 2:8&9. Thus, the grace of God is received through the instrument of faith in God. Which is another way of saying that the righteousness of Christ is imputed not earned.

That God imputes righteousness, i.e., that He gives saving grace, is signified and confirmed or sealed to the recipient by water Baptism. That the water of baptism does not regenerate and save is attested to by the repentant thief on the cross. He was regenerated and saved without water baptism. And neither was he condemned to Hell because he had not received water baptism.

On the cross he went from hurling abuse at the Lord, to seeking His forgiveness. Therefore we have no reason to believe he had been baptized beforehand, perhaps by John. For John the Baptizer had already pointed people to Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God – the One upon whom the Holy Spirit would descend and remain. No, the thief on the cross had not been baptised. Hence baptism doesn’t regenerate and save.

Also, we read these words of Jesus in Mark’s Gospel, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptised will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned” Mark 16:15-16. Two things to note: a) Every creature means Jew, Gentile, young and elderly alike of every nation. And, b) Unbelievers are condemned because of their unbelief, not because they are unbaptized.

There are those believers who neglect to have their infants baptized, but if any of their infants die they do not doubt that they go to be with the Lord. Therefore even those believers who refuse to baptize their children (which children are holy) believe in regeneration and salvation before baptism! However, contradictorily they withhold the baptismal seal from their infants simply because an infant is unable to make a credible profession of faith! But this lack of a credible profession of faith is only because of immaturity, NOT unbelief! Thus by withholding the Baptismal seal they call “unclean” that which the Lord calls holy! (See again 1 Corinthians 7:14).

Yet the Lord says in Luke’s Gospel, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven. Assuredly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom as a little child will by no means enter it” Luke 18:16&17. Also, in Matthew 18 Jesus says, “Whoever receives one little child in My name receives Me. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to sin, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were drowned in the depths of the sea” Matthew 18:4-6. Thus we see that the kingdom of heaven belongs to Newer Testament little ones every bit as much as to little ones in the Older Testament. Therefore the Newer Testament sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace also belongs to them.

Also, we see that little ones are able to believe in Jesus Christ, although not able to express and profess their faith before baptism (as did the eunuch). Again, water baptism must not be reduced to a mere profession of faith. For that would be to transform into a man-centred individual religious act that which signifies and seals Christ’s catholic or universal covenantal blessings. In other words, it would empty the Sacrament of God’s declaratory promise to bless all the nations. And instead would fill it with the declarations of men. Thus the ordinance of God would be changed from a God-centred to a man-centred ordinance.

In covenant baptism the focus is on God and His promise, and not on man and his faith. That the focus in water baptism ought to be on the blessings of God and not the professions of men is in the fact that Christ baptizes by pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh. Therefore those who insist on adult only baptism by immersion as a profession of faith would do well to humbly admit that they have magnified man’s profession of faith at the expense of the clear depiction of God’s Gospel/covenant promise to bless all the nations.

To be sure, adult profession of faith prior to water baptism is important. But since God promises to give His Spirit to believers and to their children (in all nations), and actually does, we would do well to baptize with water those whom Christ promises to baptise with His Spirit. Therefore even in water baptism we must ever be “looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith” Hebrews 12:2a.

Infants of at least one believing parent are holy. “For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy, and if the root is holy, so are the branches” Romans 11:16. “otherwise your children would be unclean, but now they are holy” 1 Corinthians 7:14b. Abraham’s son Isaac was holy before he received the seal of God’s Covenant of Grace, so were Jacob and Esau. The effectiveness of baptism, like its Older Testament predecessor, is not tied to the moment when it is administered. Like Esau, some may never become regenerate and be saved by the grace of God.

A Newer Testament example of a person receiving the seal but not being, or becoming, regenerate is found in Acts 8: “Then Simon himself also believed; and when he was baptized he continued with Philip, and was amazed, seeing the miracles and signs which were done” Acts 8:13.

Simon offered money to the Apostles for the power of the Holy Spirit: “But Peter said to him, ‘Your money perish with you, because you thought that the gift of God could be purchased with money! You have neither part nor portion in this matter, for your heart is not right with God. Repent therefore of this your wickedness, and pray God if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you. For I see that you are poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity’” Acts 8:20-23.

So, again we see that water baptism does not regenerate. For Simon was still bound by iniquity even after having been baptized by the Apostles. Therefore there was nothing left for Simon to do but to improve on his baptism, by repenting of his sins and believing in everything his baptism points him to. Whether he eventually did or not, we’re not told.

So, the thief on the cross and covenant infants dying before and during birth demonstrate that regeneration and salvation can take place without baptism. And Simon the Sorcerer proves that baptism doesn’t regenerate. However, through the right use of this ordinance, the grace promised is not only offered, but really exhibited and conferred by the Holy Ghost, to such (whether of age or infants) as that grace belongs to, according to the counsel of God’s own will, in His appointed time. In other words, like the wind, the Holy Spirit blows where and when He wills. He can apply that which water-baptism pictures at any point in a person’s life.

Isaac received God’s saving grace from the womb. Jacob was converted later in life. And the Holy Spirit chose to by-pass Esau. And Scripture says of John the Baptizer, “He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb” Luke 1:15b. Therefore, water baptism as with circumcision before it, simply points us to Christ and His benefits. Our responsibility is to believe in Christ and His benefits, i.e., His Gospel of righteousness. And our responsibility is to bring up our children in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. In other words, we keep on pointing our children to the Lord and His benefits. This is exactly what water baptism (which is received only once) is designed by the Lord to do.

To say that the child is too young to see the Lord and His benefits in baptism is as ludicrous as saying that young Isaac could not see the Lord and His benefits in circumcision. In fact it borders on the blasphemous!

God instituted the Older Testament seal of Circumcision. He replaced it with water Baptism in the Newer Testament, Colossians 2:11-13. He has never withdrawn His command to place the sign and seal on believers and on their children. And just as there can only ever be one Circumcision, so there can only ever be one Baptism. Therefore the Sacrament of Baptism is but once to be administered to any person. And those who despise and neglect the baptism of the infants of believers and thereby reject their baptism, by rebaptizing them when older have the whole weight of both Testaments against them!

Think about it, God in the Lord Jesus Christ has only one bride. He is not a bigamist, having an Older Testament bride and a Newer Testament bride. There is only one Covenant of Grace. That covenant was revealed to Abraham and was signified and sealed to him and his offspring by circumcision. Now that the bride’s Husband has come, He has, poured out the blessings (like confetti!) promised in Older Testament times, hence the change in the administration to water Baptism. But the marriage to His bride, i.e., the covenantal union, remains unchanged.

There is one olive tree and we believing Gentiles and our children have been ingrafted into that one tree. “There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and in you all” Ephesians 4:4-6.

Conclusion

Water baptism points to Christ and His benefits. These benefits or blessings are summed up in the gift of the Holy Spirit. Water baptism points to the Holy Spirit, the Promise of the Father to all nations. Water baptism seals believers and their children with the poured-out blood of Christ. The Holy Spirit, as depicted in baptism, also seals us. “Now He who established us with you in Christ and has anointed us is God, who has also sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee” 1 Corinthians 1:22.

Anointing is consistent with wetting the forehead in covenant baptism. For, as already mentioned, the sealing of the Holy Spirit is also depicted in covenant baptism. A guarantee is a promise, which promise is also signified and sealed in Covenant baptism.

Paul also speaks of the promise and seal of the Holy Spirit in Ephesians, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of our purchased possession, to the praise of His glory” Ephesians 1:13&14. Also, this exhortation in Ephesians 4:30, “Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

The Book of Revelation speaks of the time of the sealing of the Holy Spirit. In Revelation 7:3 we read these words spoken by God to four angels, “Do not harm the earth, the sea, or the trees till we have sealed the servants of God on their foreheads” Revelation 7:3. Covenant Baptism therefore also is designed to depict this sealing of the Holy Spirit of God.

The passage in Revelation goes on to declare the sealing of twelve thousand from each of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And then in Revelation 7:9-10 we see who else has been sealed, “After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!’”

That’s the fulfilment of God’s Gospel/covenant promise to Abraham. That’s the same promise God has made to believers and to their children. Water Baptism signifies and seals this promise.

BAPTISM

2011-06-12T16:46:00.001+10:00

Part 1

(See Westminster Confession of Faith chapter 28 paras 1-3)

Introduction

The Day of Pentecost was spoken of throughout the Older Testament Scriptures. Indeed in Acts 2 where the events of the outpouring of the Holy Spirit from Heaven are recorded in the Newer Testament Peter quotes the Older Testament prophet Joel. Says Peter in reference to what was then happening, “But this is what was spoken by the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your young men shall see visions, your old men shall dream dreams. And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days; and they shall prophesy…’” Acts 2:17&18.

Now, for the purposes of what we’re looking at in the following I’d like you simply to notice that God had promised to “pour out” His Spirit: “ And on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days…”

Notice also what Jesus said to His disciples after His resurrection just before His ascension into Heaven: “And being assembled together with them, He commanded them not to depart from Jerusalem, but to wait for the Promise of the Father, ‘which,’ He said, ‘you have heard from Me; for John truly baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days from now.’” Acts 1:4&5.

This then, this baptism or outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost is the fulfilment of the great promise made throughout Older Testament times. The Holy Spirit is the Promise of the Father and the Son, Luke 24:49; Acts 1:5.

Now, to whom has God has made His promise of the Holy Spirit? Peter in Acts 2:17&18 says the God has given His Promise to their sons and their daughters, young men and old men, menservants and maid servants. Therefore the promise to young and old alike, to male and female alike.

Indeed Peter goes on to say that the promise is not just to young and old male and female Hebrews, but also to Gentiles, i.e., all nations. Acts 2:38&39 says, “Then Peter said to them, ‘Repent, and let every one of you be baptised in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins; and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off, as many as the Lord our God will call.’”

So we see then that young and old, male and female, Hebrew and Gentile are to repent and be baptised for the remission of their sins. And we also see that this repentance and baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is connected to receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Therefore water baptism is the sign and seal of God’s promise, which is the Promise of the Father, i.e., the Holy Spirit. In other words, water baptism points to Spirit baptism. Or to put it another way, water baptism signifies and confirms the Promise of the Father. This promise of God the Father and God the Son is found throughout the Older Testament.

The Meaning of Baptism

Baptism is one of the two Newer Testament signs and seals of the Covenant of Grace. The other Newer Testament sign and seal is the Lord’s Supper. These are the only Sacraments ordained by Jesus Christ in the Newer Testament. These two signs and seals have replaced the two Older Testament signs and seals of Circumcision and Passover respectively. Water baptism has the same meaning therefore as its Older Testament predecessor because it is simply a different administration of the same covenant.

Water baptism is for the receiving of the baptised person into the visible church. And it is for a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace. And as such it signifies and confirms that person’s engrafting into Christ. And as such it symbolises the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit with the Word. And water baptism also speaks of the remission of the baptisee’s sins. Not to forget that it is a presenting of the baptisee to God through Jesus to walk in newness of life. So we see then that baptism teaches us many things. Indeed, as all the promises of God are ‘Yes’ and ‘Amen’ in Jesus Christ, baptism like Circumcision before it, points us to Jesus Christ and all the benefits of His cross.

We see Jesus institute Baptism in the ‘Great Commission’ passage of Matthew 28. In Matthew 28:19, in line with the Joel verses recorded in Acts 2, we see the catholicity or the universality of ‘the Promise of the Father.’ For in Matthew 28:19 Jesus says, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”

So, Hebrews, Gentiles, young men, old men, their sons and their daughters are to be baptised into the name of the Triune God. Therefore all nations and all classes of people are to be baptised, “For the promise is to you and to your children, and to all who are afar off , as many as the Lord our God will call.” Acts 2:39.

Now, that people are not to be baptised indiscriminately has already been noted. Baptism is a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace. Therefore only those who are in the covenant receive the sign and seal of the covenant. As Abraham’s Older Testament Circumcision was the sign and seal that he belonged to the covenant of grace, so is Newer Testament Baptism. For we read these words regarding Abraham in Romans 4:11, “And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while still uncircumcised, that he might be the father of all those who believe, though they are uncircumcised, that righteousness might be imputed to them also…”

So, Abraham’s circumcision was a visible confirmation of God’s righteousness, i.e., the righteousness that was imputed to Abraham – which righteousness is promised to all who believe. This is nothing less than the promise of the Gospel, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed…” Romans 1:17a. Abraham’s circumcision therefore signified and sealed or confirmed to him the Promise of the Father. And since the promise is to Abraham and his children Abraham had every male in his household circumcised including children.

This command of God to place the sign and seal of His covenant on believers and their children has not been revoked in or by the Newer Testament. For rather than narrowing this covenantal promise, it has actually been broadened by including females and indeed young and old of all the nations. This is not to say that females could not be saved in the Older Testament because they were excluded from Circumcision by being female. For that would be to suggest that the Sacramental sign and seal itself saves. But rather it simply helps demonstrate the catholicity or universality of the promised blessings of God in Newer Testament times. For God said to Abraham, “I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curse you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” Genesis 12:2&3.

Older Testament circumcision began with Abraham (Genesis 17). God’s promise that in Abraham all the families of the earth shall be blessed was pictured and confirmed in his circumcision. For Older Testament Circumcision pointed to Christ and all His benefits or blessings. This is why Paul shows the Colossians that Older Testament Circumcision is synonymous with Newer Testament Baptism. He shows that like Abraham we (Newer Testament Christians) are also circumcised in Christ. “In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses…” Colossians 2:11-13.

Older Testament Circumcision therefore speaks of the same blessings as Newer Testament Baptism. It speaks of a spiritual working of God who raised Jesus from the dead, i.e., the work of the Holy Spirit. It speaks of putting off the body of the sins of the flesh. It speaks of faith in God who raises the dead. It speaks of those who are dead in their trespasses being made alive in Christ. In a word, Older Testament Circumcision like Newer Testament Baptism speaks of the need of cleansing or purification and spiritual renewal by the Holy Spirit.

This purification and spiritual renewal comes when the Holy Spirit applies the shed blood of Christ’s cross to those who believe. That is what is depicted in Baptism; Covenant Baptism. That is what the Holy Spirit does in reality. The Church on earth is to continue depicting the Promise of the Father, i.e., the outpouring of the Holy Spirit even to the end of the age, Matthew 28:20.

The Mode of Baptism

We believe we are standing on solid (and dry!) ground, Scriptural ground, when we insist that the element used in the Newer Testament be water. For under inspiration of the Holy Spirit Matthew records the following infallible words uttered by John the Baptiser under influence of the Holy Spirit: “I indeed baptise you with water unto repentance, but He who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Matthew 3:11.

Notice that John baptised with water. Therefore the element used in the Newer Testament Sacrament is to be water. But what does the water in Baptism represent? Again, if we look at Matthew 3:11 we see that what John did with water Jesus Christ was going to do with the Holy Spirit. “I indeed baptise you with water… but… He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit…” It’s very important – it’s crucial – that you see the analogy here. What we do in water baptism is a visible depiction of what Christ does invisibly with the Holy Spirit.

We’ve seen already that the ‘Promise of the Father’ is the Older Testament Promise of God to pour out the Holy Spirit on the young and old, male and female of all nations – ‘on all flesh.’. This is what we mean when we say that water Baptism is a sign and seal of the Covenant of Grace.

God’s Covenant of Grace began to be revealed immediately after the Fall of man in the Garden. Immediately after the Fall we see in Genesis 3:15 the promise that the devil, i.e., the serpent’s head, will be crushed by One who would have His heel crushed in the process. In other words, Jesus Christ is the Promised One (Galatians 3:16). And His cross at Calvary was the arena in which He crushed the devil’s head (who is now writhing in the throes of death).

When Jesus arose bodily from the tomb He subsequently ascended into Heaven from where He poured out the Spirit as witnessed on the Day of Pentecost. Thus the outpouring of the Spirit on the people on the day of Pentecost is a direct fulfilment of the words of John the Baptiser in Matthew 3:11, “I indeed baptise you with water … but… He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit …” Thus, does it not stand to reason, i.e., to Biblical presupposition, that because Christ baptised by pouring, the Church on earth should baptise by pouring?

Why would anyone wish to change the picture of the baptism of the Holy Spirit as it is depicted throughout all the Scriptures? They are too numerous to cite, but here are some samples: Proverbs 1:23, “…Surely I will pour out My Spirit upon you…” Isaiah 44;3, “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground; and pour My Spirit on your descendants, and My blessing on your offspring.” Isaiah 53:15, “So shall He sprinkle many nations…” Ezekiel 36:25; 27a, “Then I shall sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols… I will put My Spirit within you…” Joel 2:28&29, “And it shall come to pass afterward that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions. And also on My menservants and on My maidservants I will pour out My Spirit in those days.”

How can anyone miss the picture of what happened on the Day of Pentecost? As John the Baptiser predicted, just as he did with water, so Jesus Christ did with the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost. Could it be any clearer? Therefore we can see clearly from Scripture how Jesus Christ baptises from on High, (which is to pour or sprinkle the nations with the Holy Spirit).

We see this promise to baptise the Gentiles or the nations begin to come to fruition in the Book of Acts. In Acts 10 the Apostle Peter was talking to some Gentiles while in the company of some circumcised and subsequently baptised Hebrews. We read these words in Acts 10:44-48, “While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit fell upon all those who heard the word. And those of the circumcision who believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles also. For they heard them speak with tongues and magnify God. Then Peter answered, ‘Can anyone forbid water, that these should not be baptised, who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?’” And he commanded them to be baptised in the name of the Lord.”

Then up ahead in Acts 11 when Peter began to relate what had happened he said, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Spirit fell upon them, as upon us at the beginning. Then I remembered the word of the Lord, how He said, ‘John indeed baptised with water, but you shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit.’” Acts 11:15&16.

The Holy Spirit fell upon the Gentiles just as He fell upon the Hebrews on the Day of Pentecost because that is how Jesus baptises His Church on earth with the Holy Spirit.

So we see then that the mode of Spirit-baptism is that of pouring or sprinkling. Therefore, because the Scriptures always picture the Spirit as shed forth which is depicted by pouring, or sprinkling water, we can guarantee that in water baptism sprinkling is Scriptural. Thus in the words of the Westminster Confession of Faith 28:3, Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary; but baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person.

The grace in this Confessional statement is that it does not deny the validity of the baptism of any who have been submerged into the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. However, the Confession does deny that Christian baptism may only be administered by dipping the person into the water. However, it does state that baptism is rightly administered by pouring or sprinkling water upon the person.

Why then do some insist that any mode other than submersion is invalid? Well, it all has to do with the meaning of the actual Newer Testament Greek word for baptise. Indeed, our English Bibles usually leave the Greek word for baptise untranslated. But there are some who believe that every time the word ‘baptise’ appears in the Newer Testament it should be translated as ‘immerse.’ They believe that baptism is immersion – period! To be sure one of the meanings of the Newer Testament Greek word is ‘to dip’. And no true Presbyterian would deny that the Greek word also includes the idea of dipping. But, as our Confession says, ‘Dipping of the person into the water is not necessary…’

Why isn’t it necessary to dip or immerse the person into the water? It’s because the word baptizo, as AA Hodge says, as well as ‘to dip’ means also ‘to moisten, to wet, to purify, to wash.” (The Confession of Faith, p. 341) Yet there is always ‘dipping’ involved in water baptism. For the minister has to dip his fingers into the water in order to sprinkle the baptizee!

Admittedly, our view of the mode of baptism is swayed by the clear teaching of Scripture regarding Christ’s baptizing His Church with His Spirit. But to be fair and to illustrate that by itself the word baptise may also include dipping we shall mention a couple of verses that illustrate this.

In the story of the rich man and Lazarus we read of the rich man being in torments in Hades. Luke 16:24 says, “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in the flame.’” Not a nice picture! but the word dip there has to do with the word for baptism. The rich man wanted Lazarus to dip his finger in water. Note: The minister dips his fingers in water to baptise the member of the covenant.

Also, in John’s Gospel Jesus’ disciples were wondering which one of them was going to betray Him. John 13:26, “Jesus answered, ‘It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.’ And having dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”

Note: Dipping the bread does not mean putting the whole piece of bread below the surface. Thus we have to wonder about the view put forth by some that ‘dip’ or ‘immerse’ means total submersion of the person in water.

The inverted image of baptism put forth by submersionists looks especially strange when viewed in the light of Mark 7:2-4, “Now when they [the Pharisees and scribes] saw some of His disciples eat bread with defiled, that is, with unwashed hands they found fault. For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands in a special way, holding the tradition of the elders. When they [the Pharisees and scribes] come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash [i.e., baptise]. And there are many things which they have received and hold, like the washing [i.e., the baptizing] of cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches.”

The Newer Testament word for baptism cannot always and only mean full immersion, (i.e. total submersion of the whole body under water). For unbaptised hands in this passage do not the whole body make! Also dipping the hands in water would not be the way to purify or wash ceremonially unclean hands according to the traditions of the Pharisees and scribes. Indeed, one has to wonder as to the wisdom of the practice of submersing couches! We believe sprinkling is what is meant by the words for baptism in this passage.

It is interesting to note the Laws of Purification recorded in Numbers 19. E.g., “And for an unclean person they shall take some of the ashes of the heifer burnt for purification from sin, and running water shall be put on them in a vessel. A clean person shall take hyssop and dip it in the water, sprinkle it on the tent, on all the vessels, on the persons who were there… But the man who is unclean and does not purify himself, that person shall be cut off from among the assembly, because he has defiled the sanctuary of the LORD. The water of purification has not been sprinkled on him; he is unclean. It shall be a perpetual statute for them. He who sprinkles the water of purification shall wash his clothes; and he who touches the water of purification shall be unclean until evening. Whatever the unclean person touches shall be unclean; and the person who touches it shall be unclean until evening.” Numbers 19:17&18a; 20-22.

Note: To submerse an (ceremonially) unclean person (or vessel) in water is to contaminate the whole body of water. Thus living or running water, either sprinkled or poured protects against contaminating the whole body of water. The Pharisees and scribes therefore would have baptised their hands, cups, pitchers, copper vessels, and couches by pouring or sprinkling so as not to make the whole store of water unclean and therefore unusable.

Indeed, the writer to the Hebrews talks of Older Testament purification rites in Hebrews 9. Speaking of things which symbolized things to come, the writer speaks of “…various washings [i.e., various baptisms], and fleshly ordinances imposed until the time of the reformation.” Hebrews 9:10. The writer then goes on to demonstrate how some of these various baptisms were performed. Hebrews 9:19 f. “For when Moses had spoken every precept to all the people according to the law, he took the blood of calves and goats, with water, scarlet wool, and hyssop, and sprinkled both the book itself and all the people, saying, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which God has commanded you.’ Then likewise he sprinkled with blood both the tabernacle and all the vessels of the ministry. And according to the law almost all things are purified [cleansed] with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no remission.”

Baptism is about blood, the blood of purification, the blood that cleanses, the blood of the Covenant, Christ’s blood. For the writer to the Hebrews says in Hebrews 9:13&14, “For if the blood of bulls and goats and the ashes of a heifer, sprinkling the unclean, sanctifies for the purifying of the flesh, how much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot to God cleanse your conscience from dead works to serve the living God?”

The Apostle John speaking of Jesus says in Revelation 1:5, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood…” And Paul says to Titus that “…according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour…” Titus 3:5b&6.

And so we are back to the Biblical picture of Christian Baptism. It pictures the Holy Spirit being poured out on Christ’s Church with the cleansing power of Christ’s shed blood. Indeed, the Jews sent priests and Levites to investigate the authority under which John the Baptiser was baptising (John 1:19). “Then there arose a dispute between some of John’s disciples and the Jews about purification.” John 3:25. Had John been doing anything other than pouring or sprinkling water on the people the Jews would not have said to John: “Why then do you baptise if you are not the Christ, nor Elijah, nor the Prophet?” John 1:25. Rather they would have asked John what he was doing. Thus they saw baptism as synonymous with the Older Testament purification rites (which were administered by pouring or sprinkling). However, the bad news is that “…they rejected the will of God for themselves, not having been baptised by him [i.e., John]” Luke 7:30.

The Apostle Peter tells us that the eight souls saved from the flood in Noah’s ark is a picture of baptism, 1 Peter 3:20&21. We shouldn’t need to mention that those who were sprinkled upon in the ark were saved, while those who were fully immersed perished! Also, the fully immersed pursuing Egyptians also perished (Exodus 14:28; Psalm 78:53), while the people of God who crossed the Red Sea “…were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptised into Moses in the cloud and in the sea…” 1 Corinthians 10:1&2. Thus God’s covenant people, infants and elderly alike, were baptised by being sprinkled upon in the cloud whilst on dry ground: “But the children of Israel had walked on dry land in the midst of the sea…” Exodus 14:29a; Psalm 66:6a.The Bible is replete with sprinkling imagery – sprinkling that purifies – that’s what Christian Baptism pictures!

It has been alleged by some that Romans 6:4 teaches a mode of baptism where it says, “Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we should walk in the newness of life.”

That this is not speaking of the mode of baptism, but rather the meaning of baptism is seen by the fact that it’s really speaking of those who are already dead in their trespasses and sins being regenerated. For “…our old man was crucified with Him…” Romans 6:6. Therefore it’s not picture or symbol of us dying in the grave with Christ and being raised to newness of life, for who ever has died in the grave? Rather it is teaching that through water baptism we are being identified with and united with Christ’s death and resurrection.

Therefore this passage (like its parallel Colossians 2:12) is not teaching a mode of baptism. It is teaching the means by which we are united to Christ, i.e., through our baptism. Anyway, Jesus wasn’t lowered into a grave, a six-foot hole in the ground, as in Western burials. Rather His body was placed in a new tomb, which was a cave hewn out of rock, Matthew 27:60

Also it’s extremely difficult to imagine what the water in baptism pictures in Christ’s burial if the water does not represent Christ Spirit and blood. Thus we believe that the pouring or sprinkling of water in baptism clearly depicts Christ’s poured out Spirit and covenant blood.

Conclusion

It is alleged by some that the Gospels teach that when Jesus was baptised by John He was submerged. There is no reason to hold this view. For we read the following words when Philip baptised the eunuch, “And both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water , and he baptised him. Now when they came up out of the water , the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away…” Acts 8:38&39. Since both Philip and the eunuch went down into and came up out of the water we are simply left to wonder as to the specific mode of baptism – we’re not told in this passage.

It’s the same with Jesus when it says, “And immediately, coming up from the water, He saw the heavens parting and the Spirit descending upon Him like a dove. Then a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” Mark 1:10&11.

All we’re told is, like Philip and the eunuch, Jesus came up from (KJV), or out of (NIV) the water. We’re not told exactly how Jesus was baptised by John. But we do note the presence of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit at Christ’s baptism. And we particularly note that the Father poured out the Holy Spirit upon His Son at His Son’s baptism.

Water baptism therefore always pictures Spirit baptism!

JESUS RECEIVES A KINGDOM

2011-06-05T07:53:00.003+10:00

The following is excerpted from my Kindle book "Demystifying the Gospel"
http://www.amazon.com/DEMYSTIFYING-THE-GOSPEL-ebook/dp/B006X51ZGY/ref=ntt_at_ep_dpt_5

Introduction

In our own generation there has been a proliferation of “End Times” books. Walk into any everyday Christian bookstore and these kinds of books are just about yelling out at you to buy them! Now, each book of course, needs to be taken upon its own merits – even “Last Days” books. In other words, everything the author says ought to be measured against the clear teaching of Scripture.

Of course, as a rule we tend not to read these kinds of books. But, our understanding of them is that they promote and propagate the view that everything in this world is going to go from bad to worse before Christ returns. They hold forth the thesis that because things (in their eyes) are getting worse and worse – therefore the immanent or any-minute return of Christ is sure.

If you take this type of belief to its logical conclusion then it will be your hope as a Christian that things in this world will continue to go from bad to worse. But isn’t that against the clear teaching of Scripture? Shouldn’t we be believing and praying for the exact opposite of this? Even in the Lord’s Prayer we are taught to pray to God: “Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Why would you bother yourself praying words like that if you think the world is supposed to spin more and more on a downward spiral? Why would you bother teaching people to be obedient to God by doing all things to His glory if you thought the Lord was going to return any second? Wouldn’t you just spend your time handing out little “How To Get Saved” Bible tracts? Wouldn’t you be thinking of the Lord’s Church as a lifeboat plucking drowning people from the raging sea?

But aren’t Christians supposed to be salt and light? Aren’t we supposed to be disseminating the salt and light and influencing the world with the Good News of Jesus Christ? Is the Church not supposed to be the leaven that leavens the whole batch – even the whole world? Therefore, like Noah exiting the ark, we need to dock the lifeboat, come ashore, and start subduing the earth as we’re supposed to.

In the title of a little book, Francis Nigel Lee asks: Will Christ or Satan Win This World? What do you think? In the following we’ll look at a couple of verses that might help you answer that question.

Christ’s Return

“And behold, One like the Son of Man, coming with the clouds of heaven!” So says Daniel in Daniel 7:13. Daniel says he saw this wondrous sight in “the night visions.” Daniel, as you know, was one of God’s Old Testament prophets. God would give revelation of Himself and what He was doing, and even what He was going to do, through His designated prophets. Daniel in this particular vision is seeing something that would take place well over five hundred years into the future – something that actually took place some two thousand years ago.

What Daniel is seeing in this vision, without a doubt, is Jesus Christ ascending into heaven. Notice the words “…He came TO the Ancient of Days, and they brought Him near before Him.” These verses therefore are not speaking of Christ’s 2nd Coming to earth (though that’s a common view). Rather they are speaking of His return to Heaven after His birth, death, and resurrection on earth. Jesus told His disciples in John 16:28, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world and go to the Father.”

Now, notice that Daniel says that he saw “One like the Son of Man.” Why does he use the word “like” – One LIKE the Son of Man? Why doesn’t he just say he saw the Son of Man, i.e., Jesus? Well, let’s first off note that this title “Son of Man” was a title that Jesus used to describe Himself. The examples from the Gospels are far too numerous to list. But, e.g., in Luke 9:22 Jesus is recorded as saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed, and raised the third day.”

And in John 6 when some of His disciples were complaining about His hard teaching He said, “What then if you should see the Son of Man ascend where He was before?” John 6:62. Daniel, in Daniel 7:13 is seeing the Son of Man ascend where He was before. However, this is not to say that the Son of Man had a human body before the time He was conceived and born of the Virgin. John in John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us…” If Christ had always existed in human form he would not have said “the Word became flesh.” But he does say the Word BECAME flesh.

How did He become flesh? Luke 1:30&31, “Then the angel said to her, ‘Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favour with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a Son, and shall call His name JESUS.’” Mary wondered how this could be seeing as she didn’t know a man that she could conceive. Luke 1:35, “And the angel answered and said to her [i.e., Mary], ‘The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Highest will overshadow you; therefore, also, that Holy One who is to be born will be called the Son of God.’”

The Apostle Paul refers to the birth of Jesus in Galatians 4:4: “But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born OF a woman…” Therefore clearly God the Son became also a Man only when He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of Mary, a virgin. Therefore Daniel is seeing a vision of the return to Heaven the One who clothed Himself in the robes of humanity – the same One who went to Calvary and offered up Himself to God as a sweet-smelling sacrifice for our sins – the same One who was buried in a tomb and rose again on the third day – the same One who was witnessed in His resurrected state by over five hundred people at once.

Luke records what happened before Jesus ascended into Heaven. Luke 24:45f, “And He [i.e., Jesus] opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, ‘Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. Behold, I send the Promise of My Father upon you; but tarry in the city of Jerusalem until you are endued with power from on high.’ And He led them out as far as Bethany, and He lifted up His hands and blessed them. Now it came to pass, while He blessed them, that He was parted from them and carried up into heaven.”

Luke also wrote the Book of Acts where he tells us a little more about Jesus ascending to Heaven. Acts 1:9, “Now when He had spoken these things, while they watched, He was taken up, and a cloud received Him out of their sight. And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as He went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel, who also said, ‘Men of Galilee, why do you stand gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will so come in like manner as you saw him go into heaven.’”

Notice the words, “This same Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven” in Acts 1:11. So, it’s not a different Jesus to the One who was taken up into heaven who is going to return to the earth at some future point in time. But rather it’s the same Jesus who was seen by over five hundred people at once in His resurrected state, 1 Corinthians 15:6. This is the same Jesus who laboured hard to teach Thomas, a.k.a. known as “Doubting Thomas,” that He had been raised with the self-same body that had been nailed to the cross. Jesus invited Thomas to closely examine the wounds He’d received on the cross, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side.” John 20:27. He said to His disciples in Luke 24:39, “Behold, My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have.’”

So, we see then that the Son of Man didn’t have a human body that He brought with Him from heaven where He was before. For the Word became flesh, in that He was conceived of the Holy Spirit and born of a woman. John 1:14 and Galatians 4:4. And we see also that Jesus didn’t discard His body on His way to Heaven. Nor did He have His Divine nature absorb His human nature – body included. For the same Jesus who was taken up into heaven will come back in like manner.

Therefore it wasn’t the human spirit of Jesus that Daniel saw in the night visions coming to the Ancient of Days to receive His reward for a job well done. No, Daniel saw the eternal Son of God who had condescended to take upon Himself human flesh and suffer at the hands of wicked men. He saw the One who is the Son of God become also the Son of Man forever. And, in the Person of Jesus Christ the Son of God is going to remain united to His human nature forever, and vice versa.

We’re labouring the point here with good reason. You need to see with Daniel who it is who is receiving dominion, glory and a kingdom from the Ancient of Days, i.e., from God. It is the Man Christ Jesus, the Mediator between God and men, who is receiving the reward. If you don’t see that it is the Divine Person Jesus Christ the God-Man who is receiving these things, you’ll have a faulty view of the “Cultural” or “Dominion Mandate” given to man in Genesis. And you’ll have a faulty view of the “Great Commission” of Matthew 28. In short you’ll have a pietistic view of the Gospel. Which means in turn that you’ll have a faulty view of the world in which we live. And by pietistic view of the Gospel we mean that you’ll have a view of the Gospel that may be so narrow that you’ll think that Christianity is only about saving individual souls.

But look at what the Divine Person – the Son of Man – received from God, the Ancient of Days.

Christ’s Reward

His work on earth finished, Jesus ascended into Heaven. The Men of Galilee witnessed Jesus being taken up and a cloud received Him out of their sight. Daniel in his night visions had witnessed the Son of Man coming with the clouds of Heaven. He saw Jesus coming TO the Ancient of Days, not coming to (i.e., returning to) the earth.

Then Daniel got to witness what happened next: “Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed.” Daniel 7:14.

Notice at least three obvious things: 1. Dominion, Glory, and a Kingdom are given to Jesus. 2. All peoples, Nations, and Languages belong to that Kingdom – for the express purpose of serving Him. 3. His Dominion will not pass away – for His Kingdom will not be destroyed.

We’ve already noted that it was the Man Christ Jesus who received these things. God being God already has these things on account of His being Almighty God. It would be a redundant thing were God to give Himself what He already has! Therefore it most certainly is the Man Christ Jesus who is receiving these things.

Now let’s talk for a moment about the Cultural Mandate a.k.a. as the Dominion Mandate. Genesis 1:26-28, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every thing that creeps on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.’”

When Noah and His sons exited the ark, the Lord reiterated the Cultural Mandate to them. (Genesis 9). Therefore God never changed His mind about the Cultural Mandate. It still stands. Man was given dominion or authority over all the earth. Man was commissioned by God to “culturize” or “culturalize” the earth, i.e., to cultivate it.

And so we see men become farmers as they cultivate the ground. They become keepers of sheep, goats and cattle as they cultivate the animals. They begin to make musical instruments, and develop metallurgy etc., etc., etc. They begin to develop and make things – which is a cultural activity. We see these things being cultivated even as early as Genesis 4:20-22, and indeed earlier.

God gave man dominion over the all earth to cultivate it to God’s glory. And the Cultural Mandate still stands today. For instance, the Apostle Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink, WHATEVER YOU DO, do ALL to the glory of God.” So, we’ve to build fences to the glory of God. We’ve to bake cakes to the glory of God. We’ve to clean toilets to the glory of God. We’ve to develop the sciences to the glory of God. We’ve to develop the arts, languages, politics, education – whatever you do – to the glory of God! We work for Christ, i.e., we serve Him in all we do. Therefore we ought to try to do the best job we can.

What do we know? We know that God gave the Cultural Mandate to man. And we know that Jesus is a man. Therefore the Cultural Mandate was given also to Jesus.

Now, we know that the first man Adam sinned and therefore he and all his offspring are tainted by sin. Therefore we know that everything we do, i.e., every cultural activity we participate in, is tainted by sin. But what about the Man Christ Jesus? Is He tainted by sin? No! Are the things He does tainted by sin? No! So, do you think He will be able to keep the Cultural Mandate as a man, and, in the end, finally have cultivated and subdued all creation to the glory of God? Of course! 1 Corinthians 15:25-28.

What were those three obvious things we noted from Daniel 7:14? 1. Jesus was given Dominion, Glory, and a Kingdom. 2. He was given all peoples, Nations, and Languages – that they should serve Him. And, 3. His Dominion will not pass away – for His Kingdom will not be destroyed. So, in terms of the Cultural Mandate Jesus has received – for cultural development – an everlasting Dominion and a Kingdom that will never be destroyed.

We hear echoes of the Divine decree recorded in Psalm 2:7-9: “I will declare the decree: The LORD has said to Me, You are My Son, today I have begotten You. Ask of Me, and I will give You the nations for Your inheritance, and the ends of the earth for Your possession. You shall break them with a rod of iron; You shall dash them to pieces like a potter’s vessel.”

So, in the night visions Daniel witnesses the fact that the Man Christ Jesus was indeed given all peoples, nations, and languages. He will break them with a rod of iron, and dash them to pieces. This, of course, doesn’t necessarily mean that He will destroy them from the face of the earth, though that is the way of it for some nations, peoples and languages. But it does mean that Jesus has been given dominion or authority over them. Therefore they should to serve Him.

And isn’t that exactly what Jesus said just as He was about to ascend to Heaven bodily and receive His reward? Matthew 28:16f., the ‘Great Commission’: “Then the eleven disciples went away into Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had appointed for them. When they saw Him, they worshipped Him; but some doubted. And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’ Amen.”

It was a foregone conclusion that Jesus, when He ascended to heaven, would be given the nations for His inheritance and the ends of the earth for His possession. Daniel testified to that some five hundred years before it happened.

But how do we tie all of this together? How should we view all of this in our own day? Well, we hope you can see the connection between the “Cultural Mandate” and the “Great Commission” as it applies to Jesus in the light of the Daniel 7:13&14 passage. Can you see that our being obedient to His Gospel is far, far more than you and me handing out little Gospel tracts to people? Can you see that, not only is the Gospel about the redemption of individual souls, but rather is much larger in scope than that?

The Gospel is also about the redemption of all peoples, nations, and languages. It’s about the redemption of the ends of the earth! It is the MAN Christ Jesus who has been given all authority in heaven and on earth. It’s as a man that He has overcome the world. It’s as a man that He crushed the serpent’s head on Calvary’s cross. It’s as a man that He has destroyed the works of the Devil. Satan will have no victory! The cosmos belongs to the Man Christ Jesus. His is the dominion. His is the glory. His is the kingdom. His are all peoples. His are all nations. His are all languages. All peoples, nations, and languages will serve Him – not Satan! Satan is a usurper. He has no dominion. He has no authority. Satan’s dominion came crashing down when the Man Christ Jesus rose from the dead.

So what’s this nonsense being taught in the churches today? – The nonsense that Satan is going to destroy Christ’s kingdom before He comes back? – The nonsense that Satan is going to possess the ends of the earth before Jesus returns?

Look at Daniel 7:14 once more, and believe it: “Then to Him was [not, ‘will be’] given dominion and glory and a kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed.”

Conclusion

Is the dominion that God gave to Jesus upon His ascension an everlasting dominion? Or is it a dominion that the Devil is somehow going to wrest from Jesus, even though Jesus has defeated him by His cross? And is the kingdom that the Father has given to the Man Christ Jesus going to be a kingdom that will be destroyed?

We’re sure you can see clearly that the dominion and kingdom of Jesus Christ is forever. So, what is all this pessimistic and pietistic nonsense being spread around nowadays? What’s all this nonsense that the world will get worse and worse before Christ returns? Of course it will get worse and worse right up until the point where Christians wake up and start living their whole lives to the glory of God in the world instead of wanting to be “Raptured” out of it! For, as that great Christian leader Abraham Kuyper said in effect: “There’s not one inch of all creation that Jesus cannot point to and say, ‘Give it to Me, it’s mine!’”

So, let’s be done with all pietism and pessimism. Rather, let’s be obedient to the Cultural Mandate. Let’s be obedient to the Great Commission. Let’s even eat and drink to the glory of God. Let’s do all things to the glory of God in the service of Jesus Christ. Let’s hammer every nail in every plank to the glory of God. Let’s mow our lawns to the glory of God. Let’s raise our children to the glory of God. Let’s repair our cars to the glory of God. Let’s plant our gardens to the glory of God. Let’s change our tap-washers to the glory of God. Let’s make our beds to the glory of God. Let’s play football and tennis etc., to the glory of God.

Why should we do all things to the glory of God? Because this is how the Gospel is spread among the nations, even to the ends of the earth. Because this is how Jesus breaks the nations with His rod of iron – so that they will serve Him. This is how He dashes them to pieces – so that they will work for Him. And this is how we, as Paul says to the Romans, crush Satan under our feet. Romans 16:20.

The Man Christ Jesus has returned to Heaven victorious. The Man Christ Jesus has received His reward. Praise Him! Praise Him! Praise Him! Therefore serve Him! Serve Him! Serve Him!

What do you think now in light of Daniel’s night visions? Will Christ or Satan Win This World? For Thine is the Kingdom, and the Power, and the Glory, for ever and ever. Amen.

THIS OLD HOUSE

2011-05-28T09:53:00.000+10:00

Introduction

In Glasgow Scotland there once were rows and rows of old tenement buildings. These old brick buildings used to house the workers in the hay-day of Clydeside shipbuilding. As the shipbuilding industry died a death in Scotland so did these buildings. They became slums – good only for the wrecking ball! And so whole communities were disrupted as the demolition crews moved in.

Whole communities such as the Gorbals were demolished! The displaced people became known as the “Glasgow overspill.” There was social upheaval – social unrest. Then someone had a brainwave. Instead of destroying the community why don’t we renovate? And so rows and rows of old tenement buildings were spared. After renovation people flocked to these buildings wanting to live in these communities. It’s amazing what can be done with an old house.

If you were an old house, what do you think could be done with you? Do you think you should be condemned as unsafe? Or do you think you could be renovated to become a home fit for royalty? Well, in terms of the Bible, all mankind is standing like rows of condemned houses. We are like derelict and dilapidated buildings with broken windows and leaky roofs. We stand covered in grime and soot awaiting the wrecker’s ball. But God has decided to spare some of us. He has decided to renovate us! He has purchased us and He is forming a new community. So let’s consider some of the work the Lord is doing as He renovates us.

Walls Removed

There has been a solid brick wall built up between you and God. Of course this wall was demolished when you were converted. For when God began His renovation in you, He removed that wall. How did that wall get there? Well, sin built a wall between you and God. You inherited your house from your great, great… grandfather Adam. Adam was the master plan for every house that was to come after him. And he was the one that built the wall that separates each of us from God. His design was passed down from generation to generation. Therefore you live in a house with a wall separating you from God.

However, when God moved into you (ie, the Christian’s) house, the wall of the carnal mind which is enmity against God was torn down. Romans 8;7 says, “The carnal mind is enmity against God...” “Enmity” is something that separates. Enmity is a barrier, a wall. And as the walls of Jericho came a tumbling down, God levels that wall in you first off. Then He begins to patiently clear away the dust and rubble of that wall.

There’s another wall that needs to be torn down. The wall between you and your brother and sister in Christ. Scripture says, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” Galatians 3:28. There may be racism, social distinction, sexism in the world outside, but there is to be none of it in Christ’s church. Each of us has our different roles to play in the church and in society, but we are not to despise others because of their station in life.

In New Testament times, the Jews despised the Gentiles and called them dogs! But when a Jew and a Gentile were converted they became as one. “For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of partition...” Ephesians 2:14. However, the wall between you and your non-Christian neighbor stays in place. If you’ve ever renovated a house, you’ll know about “supporting” walls. A supporting wall cannot be removed unless you want the house to fall down. It’s kind of like our spine – we need it to keep us upright.

It was Adam who erected the wall between you and God. This wall is taken away by Jesus Christ. But it was God who put the wall in place between the Christian and the non-Christian. The Lord said to the serpent in the Garden after Adam fell, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15.

The “Seed” of the women is of course Christ, Galatians 3:16. And since the “seed of the serpent” are all the non-elect, it means that there is a barrier between those who are of Christ and those who are of the world. Jesus says, “If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of this world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” John 15:18, 19.

Therefore, the wall between the Christian and the world has to remain or Christianity crumbles. Christians need to be aware that it’s not a flimsy plasterboard partition. It is a load-bearing wall. The Apostle Paul emphasizes this where he says, “Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what accord has Christ with Belial? Or what part has a believer with an unbeliever? And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: ‘I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.” 2 Corinthians 6:14-16.

So we’ve then seen a couple of walls removed in the “old house” which is the Christian’s body.

Wires Replaced

What we’re talking about here is the rewiring of the mind. You wouldn’t renovate an old house without rewiring it. If you’re going to think the thoughts God wants you to, you’ll need a new electrical system. Scripture says, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Romans 12:2.

You used to be wired according to the system of this world. But now you’ve been rewired to accommodate a power way stronger than the power in the world. You can now do things that you couldn’t before. You now have the power to glorify God. Before your regeneration and subsequent conversion you didn’t have the power to do any spiritual good. Sin had tripped the breaker, blown the fuse. Sin had broken the connection with God. But now God has come into your house and is busy rewiring.

Now you have the ability, not only to understand the will of God, but to obey and do it. Where before, you were at best like a Pharisee able only to keep God’s Commandments outwardly. Now you can say with Paul, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Philippians 4:13. This means that sin has no power over you. It doesn’t mean that you’ll never sin again. It does mean that sin has lost its dominion over you. Your sin used to rule in your old house like a tyrant. But now that the Lord has begun His renovations you are back in control.

Your mind that was once controlled by sinful impulses is now capable of resistance. Those sinful cravings can now be resisted by the power of God in you. If you were a glutton, for instance, the Lord has given you back control of your appetite. If you were a drunkard the Lord has empowered you to control your drinking. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you.” 1 Corinthians 6:10 & 11.

The Gospel is the power of God unto salvation. The Lord is able to save even the vilest of sinners from their sins. He does so through regeneration and conversion whereby the power of Christ and His cross is, by the Holy Spirit, transferred to the Christian’s old house.

But this old house needs to be rewired to accommodate that power. You need to be converted from Alternating Current to Direct Current. The difference between AC and DC is this: Alternating Current means just that, that the current alternates back and forth, whereas Direct Current flows constantly in one direction only.

So then, before your conversion from AC to DC you would flip flop back and forward over things. You were like the children mentioned by Paul, who were “Tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men...” Ephesians 4:14. But the Holy Spirit has rewired the old house in which you live.

Conversion from AC to DC was complete when you were hooked up to the new power generator. The living, active and powerful Word of God is hidden in your heart like a battery in a watch. The Holy Spirit has flicked the switch and enabled you to welcome Christ into your home.

While running on this new power source you heard a knock at your door. You recognized the voice of the Lord and He came into your home to dine with you (Revelation 3:20). Things are still a bit of a mess in your house – what, with a couple of walls removed.

And when there are wires being replaced it can look like spaghetti for a while. In fact you’re embarrassed the Lord has come to visit and the place in such a mess. But don’t ever forget the reason why the Lord has come to your house. He has come to renovate and He will clean up the mess. And the Lord will keep on renovating and cleaning up the mess until the job is completed. “He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” Philippians 1.

But what about all those grime covered and broken windows?

Windows Repaired

An old building wouldn’t be an old building without its grime-covered windows smashed. The world has been throwing mud and stones at you all your life. But the Lord is repairing your windows.

What are windows for? Windows are for letting in air and light, and seeing out of. However, they also let out light, don’t they? When the Lord turns on the power in the Christian’s house the lights come on. If Christ the Light of the world comes, by His Spirit, to live in your home it stands to reason that the lights will come on. A Christian house with all the lights on is warm and inviting on a cold dark night.

Now, Australia is a strange place at Christmas time. The sun is splitting the concrete in the streets. Even though it’s the middle of summer the Christmas cards are covered in snow! Therefore no matter where you love you’ve all seen the little house with the warm glow emanating from it. The one with the snow-covered roof that looks all warm and cozy inside. It would be a lie to tell you that the Christian’s heart is always like the house in that picture. However, there is a peace that transcends all understanding in the Christian’s heart. And that peace comes across to those who are on the outside looking in.

Where there were once panes of glass that couldn’t be seen through, there is now a welcoming warmth emanating out into the surrounding world. It’s a place of rest and refreshment for weary travelers. Why? It’s because Jesus, the Light of the world, lives in that house by His Spirit. He is the One who is breaking down the walls. He is the One who is rewiring your home. He is the One who doesn’t want you hiding your light under a basket. He is the One who says, “Come unto Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28.

If someone came to you with a heavy problem would you try to hide Jesus in the closet? Would you say, “Quick Jesus, in here! There’s someone at my door!”? No! It might very well be that the person has seen the light on in your home on a cold and dark night, when everyone else in the street had gone to bed so to speak.

And when the Lord repairs our windows we begin to see the world through different eyes. We begin to see the enmity between the world and the kingdom of God. We begin to see the forces of darkness at work. We begin to see the battle between light and darkness.

We see it in the political arena. We see it in the state schools. We see it in the streets. We see it on the TV – on the radio – and in the newspapers. We see clearer and clearer the enmity between the seed of the serpent and the Seed of the woman.

The world wants to engulf the light of the Lord in its darkness. So we see the abortionist demanding the right to murder little babies. We see the homosexual demand the right to practice sodomy. We see the homosexuals pushing to lower the age of consent as they eye up our children. And what are some Pedophiles? Simply homosexual men who also prey on little children!

But never forget that the Lord is more than able to save even the vilest of sinners. However, when the Lord repairs your windows you are able to see the vileness of sin in the world outside – the sin that at one time had overcome your heart. But thank the Lord that you are able also to see the kingdom of God. Jesus says, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” John 3:3. To have the Lord renovating your old house is to be born again which is to be converted. And when, by the grace of God, you are converted you see the world in a different light.

I began by talking about the old derelict tenement buildings in Glasgow being renovated. And we used that as a picture of the individual Christian being renovated by God. But let’s not miss an important point – as we begin to tie things together.

Christians tend to be a bit too individualistically minded. In other words we tend to act as single people. But in Glasgow whole communities were renovated, not just individual houses. And so it is with us – we are part of a renovated community – a Christian community. We are a community within a hostile community. The world with all its false religions and philosophies setting themselves up against God.

Now, Jesus says that we are to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every nation. It seems to me that the local churches have been doing this in their communities. However, I believe a strange thing has been happening. Because the churches have been so busy out there campaigning, they’ve been neglecting the upkeep of their houses, even their own Christian community.

It’s good and Scriptural that we reach out to the lost and dying in the world. But what about the Christian home? Scripture says, “Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.” Galatians 6:10. So it’s right that we seek to do good to our non-Christian neighbour, but it is clearly wrong to neglect our own household. In fact it makes you worse than an unbeliever if you neglect your local church. Scripture says, “But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8.

A neglected house becomes dilapidated. A row of neglected houses becomes a slum. And a slum becomes ready for the wrecking ball.

At present the Presbyterian Church of Australia, along with many other churches, is obsessed with outreach in the community. On the surface this looks good. It’s good to care about winning the lost – but what’s really happening? Well, like any army on a campaign overseas, the home front becomes weak and prone to attack. The enemy has been busy on the Home Front – busy swinging the wrecking ball. Whole Christian communities are being demolished rather than renovated.

And how does the enemy swing the wrecking ball? He does it by talking Christians into removing supporting walls. Do you remember that the Lord has put a wall between us and the world? Well, the enemy wants that load-bearing wall to come down. Remove that one and the building is liable to collapse and destroy everyone in it!

The enemy swings the ball by filling churches with people desiring to have their ears tickled. The Devil is filling the Lord’s Church with people who have no interest in sound Biblical preaching – as more and more churches become like the world to attract the world. Then the Christian community becomes a slum.

However, the Lord is in the business of renovating. He can even rebuilt run down Christian communities. He can remove walls. He can renew wires. He can replace windows.

Conclusion

I don’t want to live in a slum – do you? So let’s encourage our brothers and sisters in the faith. God has renovated you the individual along with others. He has renovated our whole church community. Your number one priority is to build up your brother and sister in the faith to the glory of God. Therefore live as God wants you to live at peace with your Christian neighbor in a God-glorifying community. The Lord will draw others into your community as He spares other houses from the wrecker’s ball.

If all the old houses the Lord has renovated were gathered into one place, what a picture that would be. Think of it, all those little lights making up one greater light – the church. Now picture this on the top of a hill on a cold and dark night. What a sight this would be to a traveler wearied by this world.

Look around, people are sick to the back teeth with crime in the community. They’re sick of people spray-painting slogans on their walls. They’re sick of break and enters. They’re sick and tired of criminals getting away with murder. They don’t want their neighbourhood to become a slum. The whole nation is becoming weary of it all.

We have the answers! Can’t you see? The harvest is white so shine the light. But make sure there are walls where there should be walls. But also make sure there are no walls where they shouldn’t be. Make sure the wires are able to handle the power of the Lord. And finally, make sure the windows are clean. Make sure you can see the world outside. But make sure that the world can see the lights on in your home.

Isn’t it amazing what the Lord can do with an old house?

WEDDINGS FIRST & LAST

2011-05-16T07:09:00.003+10:00

Excerpted from my e-book "Disembark the Ark"

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B006WTDLRC/ref=rdr_kindle_ext_tmb

I've now had the privilege of walking my three daughters down the aisle and presenting them to their husbands to be. I also had the privilege of marrying each of them to their respective husbands. I don’t know which wedding number the final one was on the long list of weddings that have taken place since the beginning. The very first wedding took place on day six of ‘Creation Week.’ Of course, like every other wedding, this wedding was special. But unlike every other wedding since then, this wedding was even more special. For God had first to build the woman He was going to give to the man!

It was no problem for the eternal God to bring into being the whole of creation out of nothing. He simply spoke and things that were not became things that are. He formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and showed Adam all the birds and animals. Adam named them all. Thus Adam could see that not even a chimpanzee was comparable to him. As Scripture says, ‘But for Adam there was not found a helper comparable to him.’ Genesis 2:20b. Chimps, cats, dogs, and budgies might be good company, but who wants to marry one? Each according to its kind! The very first wedding is prefaced with the following: ‘And the LORD God said, “It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a helper comparable to him.”’ Genesis 2:18. Marriage is very good because God instituted it because it was ‘not good that man should be alone,’ and also because at the end of that very first wedding-day we read these words, ‘Then God saw everything He had made, and indeed it was very good. So the evening and the morning were the sixth day.’ Genesis 1:31.

‘And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall on Adam, and he slept; and He took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh in its place.’ Genesis 2:21. Back in the 60s and 70s cloning was the stuff of science fiction. Then in the 90s some son of Adam named a Scottish sheep ‘Dolly.’ This sheep was special. It was the first cloned animal to survive – for a wee while. Why then should anyone think it strange that the first woman was ‘built’ from a man’s rib? ‘Then the rib which the LORD God had taken from man He made [lit. built] into a woman, and He brought her to the man.’ Genesis 2:22. Then the LORD God - as her heavenly Father - walked Eve down the aisle and presented her to Adam. Then He married the two. And just as there are wedding speeches today, so the very first wedding speech was uttered by Adam who waxed poetic and said, ‘This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’ Genesis 2:24. Adam knew exactly what the woman was. And they both knew that they could now lawfully also reproduce themselves, for Scripture says, ‘Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and they shall become one flesh.’ Genesis 2:24. ‘Leave and cleave’ is how we put it nowadays. And so we see that marriage was instituted in the beginning by the LORD God Himself.

It is interesting to note that Jesus performed His very first miracle – attesting to the fact that He was the Son of God in the flesh – at a wedding. As the LORD God transformed the dust of the ground into a man, and the rib of the man into a woman, so Jesus transformed into wine the water in six large water-pots (of over twenty gallons each) filled to the brim (John 2:6-10). Why so much wine, especially since the wedding guests had polished off whatever wine there was till that point? That great Reformer, John Calvin, offers the following answer: ‘But it is wonderful that a large quantity of wine, and of the very best wine, is supplied by Christ, who is a teacher of sobriety. I reply, when God daily gives us a large supply of wine, it is our own fault if His kindness is an excitement to luxury; but, on the other hand, it is an undoubted trial of our sobriety, if we are sparing and moderate in the midst of abundance; as Paul boasts that he had learned to know both how to be full and to be hungry, Philippians 4:12.’

Nothing to everything, the dust of the ground to man, a man’s rib to a woman, and water wine, nothing is too hard for God. He can even transform a multitude innumerable, dead in its trespasses and sins, into the living Bride of Christ ‘that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.’ Ephesians 5:27. O to have our heavenly Father walk us down that aisle on the last day and present us to His Son! I love weddings! Such joyous occasions!

POLITICS & RELIGION

2011-05-06T15:51:00.003+10:00

As in Scotland and Canada, so in Australia: a general rule of thumb is that politics and religion should be avoided in general conversation lest an argument ensue! What is a minister (whether political or religious) supposed to do? These are two of my favourite subjects! In the Christian-influenced West politics focuses mainly on State affairs and religion focuses mainly on Church affairs. Some refer to this as the ‘separation of Church and State’ by which term is meant that Church and State are sovereign spheres and operate as such.

Church and State are but two aspects of any one nation, i.e., one nation under God. These apply both tables of God’s Moral Law, but each in their respective sphere. The first four of the Ten Commandments focus on love for God and the last six deal with love for neighbour. Thus the summary of God’s Law is: Love God and your neighbour as yourself.

The nation that works best is one in which the Church and State are kept distinct but not separate. A nation is a family. It is also a political and a religious entity. It is one as the Triune God is one and it is many as God, the Triune God, is many. As Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are distinct (not separate), so the spheres of Family, Church, and State are distinct (not separate). As in the Trinity, each sphere compliments and penetrates the others.

There are aspects of God’s Law that specifically apply to each of these three spheres, e.g., in the sphere of the Family it can be seen that the 5th, Honour thy father and thy mother, and the 7th, Thou shalt not commit adultery, have special application. In the sphere of the Church, e.g., the 2nd, Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, the 3rd, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain, and the 4th, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, have particular application. And in the sphere of the State, e.g., the 6th, Thou shalt not kill, the 8th, Thou shalt not steal, and the 9th, Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour, have direct application. However, if a nation is to remain united (i.e., one as God is one), then it would do well in each sphere to encourage the keeping of the 1st, Thou shalt have no other gods before me, and the 10th, Thou shalt not covet.

To be sure, no one is saved by their keeping God’s Moral Law. Jesus Christ is our only Saviour. However, about nations Scripture says, ‘The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God’ Psalm 9:17; ‘Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people’ Proverbs 14:34. It is the role of the State to reward good (righteousness) and punish evil (sin/crime). Whereas the Church holds keys, the State bears the sword. The former opens and closes Heaven to the nation’s citizens by the proclamation of the Gospel and the latter rewards good and punishes evil by upholding and enforcing the law.

Consider the 4th Commandment as an example of where the Commandments overlap at a national level. The State could ensure that its citizens are given opportunity to have quality family time as well as time to gather as the Church to worship God, simply by applying and enforcing Sunday as the national day of rest. Of course, essential services would need to remain open, fire, police, ambulance, hospitals, not to mention the cows needing to be milked and the chickens fed etc. Duties of necessity and mercy still need to be performed.

The 10th Commandment clearly demonstrates the need for the distinction between Church and State under God. The mere thought of the State trying to enforce this Commandment conjures up images of ‘thought police’ as illustrated by the present ‘Political Correctness’ movement’s stifling ‘free speech.’ This happens when a State forgets or rejects its Christian mandate. The Reformation, to lesser and greater extents, set the law-abiding citizens of Western nations free from interference from Church and State. Citizens of nations that turn their back on God’s Law and Gospel are destined to return to the type bondage the pre-Reformation people experienced.

A nation has many aspects, three of which are Family, Church, and State. The Church has many aspects, three of which are the governing bodies of the board of elders (or Session), Presbytery, and Assembly. The State has many aspects, three of which are local government, state government, federal government. The more these spheres, Family, Church, and State, work in harmony with God’s Law as their basis, the greater the freedom for that nation’s citizens. For then everyone learns and knows the difference between good and evil, because each sphere is operating from the same manual. And when everyone knows the difference between good and evil, then the Church can do its job more effectively, pointing sinners to the only Saviour of sinners, Jesus Christ. By far the most obedient citizens in any God-honouring nation are those that have been reconciled to God in Christ.

If we are to honour God at a national as well as an individual level we will need to think nationally and talk more about politics and religion, not less! ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’ Matthew 28:19-20.

ANZAC DAY

2011-04-25T13:35:00.003+10:00

Another ANZAC Day is upon us where we honour and remember those Australians and New Zealanders that fought and died for our freedom, those who gave their precious lives in war and in conflict for the cause of peace. Today we are particularly inspired by those who fought and died at what many call “the birth of our nation” at faraway ANZAC Cove.

These brave young men when children would have learned and would have grown up singing the following popular words:

To help the weak against the strong,

To guard the right against wrong,

And bear the flag of Truth along.

Helping the weak against the strong takes physical strength mixed with spiritual fortitude. One writer, speaking of our heroes who were at ANZAC Cove, says, “Mental strain and physical illness reduced the bodies of our finest youth to gaunt skeletons held together only by determination.”

Yes, it was shear determination that held these brave men together. They were fighting to help the weak against the strong because it was, it is, and will ever remain the honourable thing to do! In doing so they were bearing “good fruit.” For it is just to guard the right against the wrong. It is right to bear the flag, the banner of truth along!

In this one is reminded of that verse of Scripture that says,

“So shall they fear the name of the LORD from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him.” (Isaiah 59:9)

March proudly on ANZAC Day with your flags and your banners unfurled, waving in the breeze, as you breathe in the air of freedom, as you march to the beat of liberty, with the Australian sun glinting off of the “Rising Sun” badge on your slouch hats! We are here today because the LORD has lifted up standard against the enemy, the enemy of truth, the enemy of justice and of freedom.

The people who line the streets as you march on ANZAC Day will cry out to you, saying, “Thank you!” They are thanking you for your determination to help the weak against the strong, to guard the right against the wrong, and bear the flag of truth along – just like your forefathers, just like all those brave men and women who died in all the wars and conflicts which have been and are being fought in the defence of our great nation.

It was a Padre, the Reverend Arthur White, who began our “Dawn Service” tradition. He had conducted a service at 0400h on the morning of the departure of the earliest ANZACs to leave Australia. After the Great War, at dawn on 25th April in 1923 he and twenty others watched a wreath they had thrown into the water. As it floated out to sea, White recited these words, “As the sun rises and goeth down we will remember them.”

How can we forget them? How can we ever forget our fallen? They have made the supreme sacrifice!

In Laurence Binyon’s 1914 poem “For the Fallen” from which our “Ode of Remembrance” is taken, we find the following words:

They went with songs to the battle, they were young.
Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.

Yes, they fell with their faces to the foe. They were brave!

In Scripture we read of the Saviour who set His face against the foe as He went to the cross to defeat death itself! Yes, death killed Him, but death has no victory, for He slew death by rising again on the third day.

The enemy may come in like a flood, but the LORD has lifted up a standard. Like the rising of the sun, the Sun of Righteousness has risen with healing in His wings. It is to Jesus Christ we look for ultimate justice and absolute truth. He fought the good fight. He conquered the last enemy which is death. In Him alone is there victory! In Him alone is there forgiveness and reconciliation with God, everlasting life, for He is the resurrection and the life.

Keep this in mind as we remember those who have laid down their lives while defending our nation. In their sacrificial bravery they have shed their blood for Australia – that we may live in freedom!

THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS CHRIST THE SON OF GOD

2011-04-24T06:47:00.001+10:00

Introduction
As we’ve looked at the ministry of Jesus Christ we’ve seen that Jesus ministered on earth with the authority of God. Jesus had God’s authority as a teacher. And He had authority over sickness, nature, and evil spirits. Jesus also had the authority of God to forgive sins, as well as having authority over people, even you and me.

One of the things we’ll be elaborating on a bit more in the following is Jesus’ authority over death. We already considered what happened in the case Jesus Christ’s own death. We thought about what was taking place during the three hours of darkness that descended and ended when Jesus was on the cross.

We saw that the darkness was supernatural, and that it lifted at the same time the veil or curtain in the Temple was supernaturally torn from top to bottom. Both the darkness and the veil were torn in two the very moment the last breath left Jesus.

We noted that God had transferred our sin (i.e., that which separates us from Him) to Jesus. And when God had done this Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” We saw in these words that Jesus was receiving the punishment that our sins deserve.

When Jesus died the veil that represented our separation from God was torn in two. At that point Jesus, by the Spirit, entered into the very presence of God with His own shed blood. And because of His perfect substitutionary life and death we too may enter into the very presence of God through Him.

So, keep in mind then from before when we looked at Christ’s authority, that Jesus has authority over death. And why should it surprise us that Jesus has authority over death. He raised others from the dead. We shouldn’t be surprised then that He raised Himself from the dead. That’s what we’re looking at in particular in the following.

The Resurrection Anticipated
For the moment I would like us to consider some Old Testament verses that speak of resurrection in general. And by resurrection we mean the actual physical raising of a physically dead person. We’re talking about the resurrection of the body from the grave.

In the Old Testament the grave is usually referred to by the Hebrew word Sheol – the place of the dead. In the New Testament it is called Hades. Both Sheol and Hades therefore refer to the place of the dead. Now, the place of the dead may be under the ground or under the sea. And I suppose in today’s terms we need to include the moon, Mars, anywhere in outer space!

But take note that when we speak of the resurrection we are speaking of dead bodies being reconstituted and brought back to physical life – wherever that body happens to be. Whether you’re in a tomb, whether you’ve been torn apart and devoured by wild animals; or eaten by little worms in the ground; or whether you’ve been eaten by little fishes in the sea; or cremated to powder and scattered to the four winds; or whether you’ve been sprinkled on the ocean or blowing around in outer space – Sheol or Hades is simply the abode or the place of the dead bodies, wherever that place happens to be.

So, with all of this in mind, when the Bible speaks of resurrection it is speaking of what is going to happen on the Last Day; which is the Day of Judgment. We shall see a little later that there is going to be a Day of Judgment because Jesus Christ has been resurrected from the dead. But before we go there we need to consider a few verses in the Old Testament that anticipate the resurrection

The first verse I would like to bring to your attention is Genesis 3:15 – the Gospel Promise. The LORD God in this verse is addressing the Serpent, and the Lord says, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel.”

We’ve already seen the Serpent’s head take a bruising at Christ’s crucifixion, haven’t we? Jesus crushed Satan’s head when He redeemed from God’s justice that which Satan had stolen! The Devil had taken the whole world captive, but Jesus on the cross tied up Satan-the-strongman and is now in the process of plundering the tied-up strongman’s house! But we also witnessed that Jesus, the Seed of the Woman, took also a bit of a bruising Himself. Whereas the Serpent’s head was bruised, which is a mortal and everlasting blow, the Seed of the Woman’s heel got it, which was fatal only for a moment. The crushing defeat for Satan was in the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The resurrection of Jesus Christ means that God’s justice has been satisfied. Which means that no matter how much the Devil tried to get Jesus to sin, he failed miserably. Had Jesus sinned in deed, word, or even thought, Satan would have been victorious over Christ! And if Satan had been victorious over Christ we all would perish: meaning that we’d all stew in the juices of our own sins in the fiery kitchen of Hell for all eternity!

So, here’s the picture: as a snake or serpent bites the heel of a man, so Satan bit the heel of our Saviour. And as the venom of a serpent can be deadly, so the Viper’s vitriol was aimed at Jesus. But when a serpent strikes at a man’s heel, it leaves its head prone to being crushed by that same heel!

Christ’s resurrection proves that Satan has failed in his war against Christ. Therefore Christ’s resurrection was the Serpent’s crushing defeat! And, as Paul says to the Romans, “And the God of peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” Rom. 16:20. We crush Satan under our feet because he no longer has any power over us. We no longer fear death because Jesus Christ has been raised. Satan used to have power or control over us because we used to fear death. As Paul, referring to the Old Testament, says to the Corinthians, “‘Death is swallowed up in victory. ’‘O Death, where is your sting? O Hades, where is your victory?’” 1Corinthians 15:54b&55. We believe Paul here has in mind Isaiah 25:8, and Hosea 13:14. Isaiah 25:8a says, “He will swallow up death forever, and the LORD God will wipe away tears from all faces…”

So we see then that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ was God dealing death an everlastingly fatal blow. Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection was the beginning of God’s swallowing up death forever. Therefore when God began destroying death, He was at the same time extracting the teeth or fangs from the Serpent. The Devil, therefore, has no real weapon to use against Christians.

Speaking of His people, the LORD God in Hosea 13:14 says, “I will ransom them from the power of the grave; I will redeem them from death. O Death, I will be your plagues! O Grave, I will be your destruction! Pity is hidden from My eyes.” Death is the wages of sin. Jesus received our wages for us. Jesus was our ransom. Thus He redeemed us from death. The just wrath of God upon our sins is death. Thus death is the wages of sin. But the LORD God is gracious to His people. For He has cursed death and has (in principle) destroyed the abode or the place of the dead, Sheol or Hades, which is the grave.

Therefore the dead do not rest in their graves forever. No, as Daniel says in Daniel 12:2, “And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, some to shame and everlasting contempt.” The prophet Isaiah sounds out the good news to all believers where he says, “Your dead body shall live; together with my dead body they shall arise. Awake and sing, you who dwell in dust; for your dew is like the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead.” Isaiah 26:19.

And I don’t think we should overlook the general principle of resurrection taught in Ezekiel 37 regarding the Valley of Dry Bones. The LORD God asked Ezekiel the question: “Can these dry bones live?’ Ezekiel 37:12&13, “Therefore prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD God: “Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. Then you shall know that I am the LORD, when I have opened up your graves, O My people, and brought you up from your graves.”’”

And who can forget the words of Job? Job 19:25-27, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth; and after my skin is destroyed, this I know, that in my flesh I shall see God, whom I shall see for myself, and my eyes shall behold, and not another. How my heart yearns within me.” We see that Job believed that he was going to be redeemed from death, even ransomed from the power of the grave.

So, we see from these few verses that the resurrection was not some new teaching that Jesus brought with Him. But rather that it is the teaching throughout the Scriptures.

And just before we move on, here’s an Old Testament verse that applies to Christ’s resurrection. David, the psalmist says in Psalm 16:9&10, “Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices; my flesh also will rest in hope. For You will not leave my soul in Sheol, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption.” Jesus Christ is, of course, the “Holy One” whose body will not undergo any decay in the abode of the dead. Peter, in Acts 2:27 shows that this refers to Jesus, and not king David.

So, we’ve seen that ours’ and Christ’s resurrection is not something that is foreign to the Old Testament. The fact of the resurrection therefore is anticipated in the Old Testament. So let’s now consider how the resurrection applies to us in the New Testament.

The Resurrection Applied
Jesus in Mark 10:32-34 told His twelve Disciples about His anticipated death and resurrection. He told them that He was going up to Jerusalem. That He was going to be betrayed to the chief priest and scribes of the Jews. And that He was going to be condemned to death by them and delivered by them to the Gentiles. The Gentiles are of course the Romans who were occupying Jerusalem at that time. These Gentiles were going to mock Him, whip Him, spit on Him, and kill Him. And then Jesus says of Himself in Mark 10:34b, “And the third day He will rise again.”

So we see then in these verses that Jesus is applying the resurrection to Himself. He is anticipating that He will rise again from the abode of the dead after the Jews and Gentiles are through killing Him. Therefore, at least the Twelve Disciples should have been anticipating Christ’s resurrection.

Now then, we see according to Mark 16:7 that three women were told by an angel at the empty tomb to tell the Disciples and Peter that they would see Jesus in Galilee “as He said to you.” Yet we learn that the Twelve Disciples were taken completely by surprise by Christ’s resurrection. We all know about “Doubting Thomas”, don’t we? He said, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand in His side, I will not believe.” John 20:25.

Why is it so hard for people to believe in the resurrection? To put the same question another way, why do people believe that death is so final? Do you think it’s because we sense inherently that death is the judgment of God? Well, that’s what Paul means when he says in Romans 1:18, “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men…” In other words, we know instinctively that the wages of sin is death. We know that death is the wrath of God against our ungodliness and our unrighteousness. Therefore we see death as God’s judgment upon our sin.

And if death is God’s judgment upon our sin, then we wouldn’t expect to see anyone resurrected, because this would seem to mean that they’ve somehow escaped God’s wrath. But we’ve seen already that Jesus suffered the wrath of God on the cross. And we discovered that Jesus on the cross was receiving God’s judgment upon sin. However, we saw that God had given to Jesus the sin of the world. As we know, Jesus had no sin of His own, for that’s the point of the resurrection.

God, being just, could not let Jesus undergo any corruption or decay in the grave, because Jesus was without any sin of His own. It would be scandalous for God to leave Jesus in the tomb! Therefore God’s Divine justice being satisfied with the life and death of Jesus Christ, He raised Him. God had nothing to pin on sinless and perfect Jesus. Jesus owed God nothing. He had no debt. Therefore God had to let Him out of the abode of the dead – the grave.

So, we see even more clearly how Christ’s resurrection applies to us by looking at Acts 10:39-43. Look at Acts 10:42&43 in particular, “And He commanded us to preach to the people, and to testify that it is He who was ordained by God to be Judge of the living and the dead. To Him all the prophets witness that, through His name, whoever believes in Him will receive remission of sins.”

We see in these verses that all people, i.e., everyone will be raised whether living now or dead. We see this in the words “the living and the dead” mentioned at the end of v. 42. Therefore no one living or dead is going to miss out on the general resurrection. And we also see in v. 42 that all people will be judged, because the Judge is judge of the living and the dead. And we see that the resurrected Jesus is the Judge, because God has ordained or appointed Him Judge. And we also see that there will be two groups of people – those who believe in Him will receive remission or forgiveness of their sins. Therefore those who do not believe will not have remission of their sins.

But, let’s consider the fact of the resurrection of all people who have ever lived. You might think that it’s a great thing to be resurrected, until you consider more deeply what’s going on here. John in Revelation 20:11-15 gives us a picture of what happens on Judgment Day. He says in Rev. 20:13, “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged each one according to their works.”

So we see then that there is no escape from the resurrection. And if there is no escape from the resurrection, then there is no escape from Judgment Day. We’ll all be there – every last one of us! But there is good news for those who believe in Jesus Christ. They receive remission of sins. Therefore if your works have been done in Jesus Christ you can look forward to Judgment Day. Which is to say that if you are presently believing in the Gospel for salvation you will be saved on Judgment Day. But we should know that all people will be judged. Therefore we shall all give account to God on Judgment Day for what we have done while alive. And since God has ordained or appointed the resurrected Jesus as our Judge, we need to make sure that we are right with Him now, don’t we?

We should also note that Christ’s resurrection means our resurrection. In other words, because Jesus has been raised from the dead, we will be resurrected. And by the same token, because Jesus has been resurrected, our Judgment by Him is definite. Jesus therefore has been resurrected as our Judge. So, this is where it gets really personal. How is Jesus going to Judge you? As believer, or unbeliever? Remember, the believer is the one who receives remission or forgiveness for their sins now, i.e., before they die, and is acquitted on Judgment Day.

How does the believer receive the forgiveness of his sins? Well, he receives forgiveness for his sins through believing in Jesus and what He has done. Jesus went to the cross as the Saviour of sinners. Therefore the believer believes himself to be a sinner and desires Jesus to be his Saviour.

But what about those who don’t have, or don’t want, Jesus to be their personal Saviour? Well, Jesus says in Mark 8:38, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels.” Do you see what Jesus is saying here? He’s saying that those who reject Him now, will be rejected by Him when He comes as Judge. Receive Him now and He will receive you then. It’s all sheep and goats, isn’t it? Wheat and weeds! Heaven and Hell!

Conclusion
As the question is sometimes put: Where will you spend eternity? If you’ve been paying attention you should be anticipating the resurrection. And you should now know how the resurrection applies to you personally. We’ve seen that Christ’s resurrection means our resurrection. And we’ve seen that Christ’s resurrection means our judgment.

In the words of Paul the Apostle in Acts 17:31, “He [i.e., God] has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Therefore, to have Jesus now, is to have Jesus the Judge acquit you on Judgment Day. But to die rejecting Jesus is to have Him condemn you on Judgment Day.

Therefore if you haven’t already, by the grace of God, choose life and follow Jesus.

(Excerpted from my book "Demystifying the Gospel" which can be seen at my "Snow On the Ben" website: http://homepage.mac.com/macfhionn/FREUMH/Sneachd/DMG/PART_1.html

Or on "Athonomy": http://www.authonomy.com/books/32872/demystifying-the-gospel/