II Peter 3:10-13
But the Day of the Lord will come like a thief in which the Heavens will pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and the Earth and its works will be burned up.
Since all things are to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the Day of God,
On account of which the Heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat!
But according to His promise we are looking for new Heavens and a new Earth, in which righteousness dwells.
Peter is telling us here about the end of this order of creation (see Revelation 20:11) and the beginning of a new order of creation (see Revelation 21:1) that is not under any curse, but where the right always happens and nothing wears out or winds down, but will last forever.
And we believers can hasten the coming of this Day of God.
So how do we hasten the coming of the End of the World, and why would we want to?
Matthew 24:14 Jesus tells us that, This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in the whole World for a witness to all Nations, and then the end shall come.
So we hasten the conclusion to God's Plan of the Ages by preaching the Gospel to every creature, in every Nation. And when everyone has clearly heard the message of what Jesus has accomplished on their behalf, and made their decision to accept or reject this generous Gift, then the End will come.
We will only be able to do this as we live our own personal lives in holy conduct and godliness while looking for the coming of the Lord.
And we want to do this, because this World we live in now is filled with injustice, suffering, grief and evil, which is getting worse and worse. And the New Heaven and Earth will be created as a perfect environment that will last forever, where no curse will cause things to wear out or wind down, there will be nothing that will hurt or harm or hamper any more, because all these negative and fatal things have passed away.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Monday, July 4, 2016
Sunday, July 3, 2016
Authority Over Death And Life
John 10:17-18
For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father. --
This is amazing! God the Father gave to Christ Jesus the authority to lay down His life as the Sacrifice. We do not have this authority, we don't have the right to take our own or others' lives, as we are created and made by Him and we belong to Him as His property. But Jesus is the Creator; and the Father and the Son and the Spirit decided in their Heavenly Council their whole Plan of the Ages, before anything was created. And part of this plan, the hinge, the lynch pin upon which all history hangs, is that the Son came to live among us, to be one of us, and to lay down His life as the Atoning Sacrifice, that not only covered over our sins temporarily, but paid in full the whole principle of our debt. And He also exercised His right to take up His life again after death; this no one has ever done before, because all who came before were creatures--He is the Creator.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it again. No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father. --
This is amazing! God the Father gave to Christ Jesus the authority to lay down His life as the Sacrifice. We do not have this authority, we don't have the right to take our own or others' lives, as we are created and made by Him and we belong to Him as His property. But Jesus is the Creator; and the Father and the Son and the Spirit decided in their Heavenly Council their whole Plan of the Ages, before anything was created. And part of this plan, the hinge, the lynch pin upon which all history hangs, is that the Son came to live among us, to be one of us, and to lay down His life as the Atoning Sacrifice, that not only covered over our sins temporarily, but paid in full the whole principle of our debt. And He also exercised His right to take up His life again after death; this no one has ever done before, because all who came before were creatures--He is the Creator.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Saturday, July 2, 2016
Our New Way Of Life
Ephesians 2:10
For we are His workmanship --
We are God's masterpiece, His work of art.
created in Christ Jesus --
Because of what Jesus accomplished for us, we are now reborn spiritually, created new, having His Holy Spirit living in us, causing our dead spirits to come alive with His life: God's miracle in each of us.
for good works --
God did this this in us and left us here instead of taking us directly to Heaven, so that we will do His good work of promoting His kingdom by proclaiming and publishing what He has done for us.
which God prepared beforehand, --
The Plan God devised and planned out in detail before He created anything.
that we should walk in them. --
This is our new lifestyle, changed from the way we lived before; a completely different and better and righteous way of life.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
For we are His workmanship --
We are God's masterpiece, His work of art.
created in Christ Jesus --
Because of what Jesus accomplished for us, we are now reborn spiritually, created new, having His Holy Spirit living in us, causing our dead spirits to come alive with His life: God's miracle in each of us.
for good works --
God did this this in us and left us here instead of taking us directly to Heaven, so that we will do His good work of promoting His kingdom by proclaiming and publishing what He has done for us.
which God prepared beforehand, --
The Plan God devised and planned out in detail before He created anything.
that we should walk in them. --
This is our new lifestyle, changed from the way we lived before; a completely different and better and righteous way of life.
Even so, come Lord Jesus!
Friday, July 1, 2016
Just As We Are
II Chronicles 30:9, 18-20
The Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.
Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God--the Lord, the God of their ancestors--even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
When Hezekiah became king in Judah, he immediately set out to clean out the Temple so they could worship God again, and he began the worship by celebrating the Passover, and he invited all the Israelites to come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord and worship Him (vs. 6-9). So there were people from all Israel joining with Judah and Benjamin to celebrate this feast.
But some who had come a long way, had not had opportunity to follow the "letter of the law" to be ceremonially clean, and they participated anyway. When King Hezekiah learned this, he prayed for them, and God heard his prayer and accepted them.
So even in the Old Testament times, God is wanting to accept us just as we are, if we turn to Him in repentance to seek His face.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
The Lord your God is gracious and compassionate. He will not turn His face from you if you return to Him.
Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written. But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets their heart on seeking God--the Lord, the God of their ancestors--even if they are not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary." And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.
When Hezekiah became king in Judah, he immediately set out to clean out the Temple so they could worship God again, and he began the worship by celebrating the Passover, and he invited all the Israelites to come to Jerusalem to seek the Lord and worship Him (vs. 6-9). So there were people from all Israel joining with Judah and Benjamin to celebrate this feast.
But some who had come a long way, had not had opportunity to follow the "letter of the law" to be ceremonially clean, and they participated anyway. When King Hezekiah learned this, he prayed for them, and God heard his prayer and accepted them.
So even in the Old Testament times, God is wanting to accept us just as we are, if we turn to Him in repentance to seek His face.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Thursday, June 30, 2016
Pay Much Closer Attention
Hebrews 1:14- 2:4
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? --
The answer, of course, is yes. These are God's holy angels in Heaven who refused to follow Lucifer in his rebellion, but stayed faithful to God.
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. --
We are told so often throughout all of the Old and New Testaments to "pay attention." Here, we are encouraged to pay much closer attention, the reason is that One much greater than angels has accomplished a much greater work. If we don't pay much closer attention to focus on these things, we are vulnerable to easily slip off of that Rock of Truth.
For if the word spoken through angels (the Law) proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, --
This says that the Old Testament Law was not ever to be changed in any way, neither added to nor reduced to ignore parts, and everyone who didn't obey it was accountable.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken by the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, --
How could we ever talk our way out of being held accountable for ignoring what Christ Jesus our Lord did for us. Jesus, Himself, taught His disciples what He was doing and what it would accomplish for us, and the writer of Hebrews says that God made it real to them that heard it.
God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. --
This says that God had the disciples perform miracles and supernatural signs and wonders to let the hearers know that what was being preached was His Truth. And then God gave His Holy Spirit to live in those who believed and put their trust into what Jesus finished on the Cross and His Resurrection, and were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit so they could also teach others this Truth, and be believed by their hearers. These gifts were according to His own will; He gave different gifts to different people, so that they could work together helping one another to get everything done.
So the Law was given, and had to be obeyed; then Jesus was born, lived, taught, was Crucified, and rose from the dead. This is much greater than the Law, because He fulfilled all of that Law that dealt with the sacrificial system, so it never needs to be acted out again. Now we are responsible to pay much closer attention to respond to Jesus, Who is so much greater than the angels, to take to heart what He finished for us, in our place; and to not drift away little by little back into the world's ways.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Are they not all ministering spirits, sent out to render service for the sake of those who will inherit salvation? --
The answer, of course, is yes. These are God's holy angels in Heaven who refused to follow Lucifer in his rebellion, but stayed faithful to God.
For this reason we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it. --
We are told so often throughout all of the Old and New Testaments to "pay attention." Here, we are encouraged to pay much closer attention, the reason is that One much greater than angels has accomplished a much greater work. If we don't pay much closer attention to focus on these things, we are vulnerable to easily slip off of that Rock of Truth.
For if the word spoken through angels (the Law) proved unalterable, and every transgression and disobedience received a just recompense, --
This says that the Old Testament Law was not ever to be changed in any way, neither added to nor reduced to ignore parts, and everyone who didn't obey it was accountable.
How shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? After it was at the first spoken by the Lord, it was confirmed to us by those who heard, --
How could we ever talk our way out of being held accountable for ignoring what Christ Jesus our Lord did for us. Jesus, Himself, taught His disciples what He was doing and what it would accomplish for us, and the writer of Hebrews says that God made it real to them that heard it.
God also bearing witness with them, both by signs and wonders and by various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit according to His own will. --
This says that God had the disciples perform miracles and supernatural signs and wonders to let the hearers know that what was being preached was His Truth. And then God gave His Holy Spirit to live in those who believed and put their trust into what Jesus finished on the Cross and His Resurrection, and were given the gifts of the Holy Spirit so they could also teach others this Truth, and be believed by their hearers. These gifts were according to His own will; He gave different gifts to different people, so that they could work together helping one another to get everything done.
So the Law was given, and had to be obeyed; then Jesus was born, lived, taught, was Crucified, and rose from the dead. This is much greater than the Law, because He fulfilled all of that Law that dealt with the sacrificial system, so it never needs to be acted out again. Now we are responsible to pay much closer attention to respond to Jesus, Who is so much greater than the angels, to take to heart what He finished for us, in our place; and to not drift away little by little back into the world's ways.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Wednesday, June 29, 2016
Why God Destroys Nations
Leviticus 18:22-30
(22) Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination.
(24) Defile not yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the Nations are defiled which I cast out from before you;
(25) And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomits out her inhabitants. (Continue reading to v.30 to get the whole story.)
Romans 1:22-32
(22) Professing to be wise, they became fools.
(26) For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural (lesbians), and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts (homosexuality) and receiving in their own persons (physical health) the due penalty of their error (the unhealthy consequences of this lifestyle).
(32) And, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same (openly), but also give hearty approval to those who practice them (they promote it).
This is an abomination, it turns God's stomach sick. And it pollutes the land so that it vomits out the people there who are doing this. This is something that causes God to destroy the peoples and nations who accept it as normal: Look at Sodom and Gomorrah, Greece was once a world power, Rome was once a super-power, all the great empires of the past that are no more.
And God will also destroy America's influence in the world. If we as God's people work together to bring God's righteous ways back into our national life, He may relent, as Nineveh repented and turned from their wicked ways at the preaching of Jonah, and God relented and didn't destroy them until the next generation.
Wake up, Church, see what is happening in our own Nation, get up off your duff and do what you can, each one of us, to promote what is right in our national life, from the grassroots up through the levels of local, state and federal government. "If My people, who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land."
When each of us does what we can, then we will be a greater movement than all the deceived masses who are promoting unrighteous wickedness.
Let's get to it!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(22) Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is abomination.
(24) Defile not yourselves in any of these things: for in all these the Nations are defiled which I cast out from before you;
(25) And the land is defiled: therefore I do visit the iniquity thereof upon it, and the land vomits out her inhabitants. (Continue reading to v.30 to get the whole story.)
Romans 1:22-32
(22) Professing to be wise, they became fools.
(26) For this reason God gave them over to degrading passions, for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural (lesbians), and in the same way also the men abandoned the natural function of the woman and burned in their desire toward one another, men with men committing indecent acts (homosexuality) and receiving in their own persons (physical health) the due penalty of their error (the unhealthy consequences of this lifestyle).
(32) And, although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same (openly), but also give hearty approval to those who practice them (they promote it).
This is an abomination, it turns God's stomach sick. And it pollutes the land so that it vomits out the people there who are doing this. This is something that causes God to destroy the peoples and nations who accept it as normal: Look at Sodom and Gomorrah, Greece was once a world power, Rome was once a super-power, all the great empires of the past that are no more.
And God will also destroy America's influence in the world. If we as God's people work together to bring God's righteous ways back into our national life, He may relent, as Nineveh repented and turned from their wicked ways at the preaching of Jonah, and God relented and didn't destroy them until the next generation.
Wake up, Church, see what is happening in our own Nation, get up off your duff and do what you can, each one of us, to promote what is right in our national life, from the grassroots up through the levels of local, state and federal government. "If My people, who are called by My Name, shall humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins, and I will heal their land."
When each of us does what we can, then we will be a greater movement than all the deceived masses who are promoting unrighteous wickedness.
Let's get to it!
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
Tuesday, June 28, 2016
Life Is In The Blood
Leviticus 17:11-12
(11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.
This is a general principle that holds true in every age. Physical life is in the blood circulating through the body giving life to all its parts. If the blood flow is cut off from any body part, that part dies. God had His people offer to God the blood of the sacrifices to show that the animal was giving its life instead of the person dying to pay the debt of the sin.
That's why Jesus shed His Blood at Calvary, as the Perfect Lamb of God, the Perfect Sacrifice, that not only covered a sin (like the animal sacrifice), but paid in full the whole debt of sinfulness that we all, each of us, owed to God.
(12) Therefore I said to the children of Israel, "No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourns among you eat blood."
So they were not to take any blood as food for themselves; nor anyone else who lived among them.
And the New Testament Church was also to still obey this principle according to the letter the Church Leaders sent to the Gentile believers:
Acts 15:29
That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols (nothing placed before God, or beside God) and from blood (here it is, no eating any blood as food) and from things strangled (not healthy to eat) and from fornication (general word for any sexual activity outside of the marital relationship): if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.
So if we, God's New Testament Church, stay away from these four things in particular, then our lives will go well, will succeed: but if we ignore or twist any of these principles, then we will not do well; we will be sick, we will have relationship problems, things just will not go very well for us in any area. When we take seriously the life principles God teaches us in His Manufacturer's Instructions, our lives will go well, we will be successful in what we do. But if we think we know better, and that times have changed and things that were destructive before aren't any more, then we will face the consequences of our choices, we will suffer the failures that come with acting against the way God designed this World and this Earth and this Universe to run.
It's our choice.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
(11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it to you upon the altar to make atonement for your souls: for it is the blood that makes atonement by reason of the life.
This is a general principle that holds true in every age. Physical life is in the blood circulating through the body giving life to all its parts. If the blood flow is cut off from any body part, that part dies. God had His people offer to God the blood of the sacrifices to show that the animal was giving its life instead of the person dying to pay the debt of the sin.
That's why Jesus shed His Blood at Calvary, as the Perfect Lamb of God, the Perfect Sacrifice, that not only covered a sin (like the animal sacrifice), but paid in full the whole debt of sinfulness that we all, each of us, owed to God.
(12) Therefore I said to the children of Israel, "No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourns among you eat blood."
So they were not to take any blood as food for themselves; nor anyone else who lived among them.
And the New Testament Church was also to still obey this principle according to the letter the Church Leaders sent to the Gentile believers:
Acts 15:29
That you abstain from things sacrificed to idols (nothing placed before God, or beside God) and from blood (here it is, no eating any blood as food) and from things strangled (not healthy to eat) and from fornication (general word for any sexual activity outside of the marital relationship): if you keep yourselves free from such things, you will do well. Farewell.
So if we, God's New Testament Church, stay away from these four things in particular, then our lives will go well, will succeed: but if we ignore or twist any of these principles, then we will not do well; we will be sick, we will have relationship problems, things just will not go very well for us in any area. When we take seriously the life principles God teaches us in His Manufacturer's Instructions, our lives will go well, we will be successful in what we do. But if we think we know better, and that times have changed and things that were destructive before aren't any more, then we will face the consequences of our choices, we will suffer the failures that come with acting against the way God designed this World and this Earth and this Universe to run.
It's our choice.
Even so, come, Lord Jesus!
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