Romans 2: 1-11
Therefore
What is therefore there for? It's to look back at what was just said. Paul was just talking about the ungodly lifestyles of the general Roman society. Now he's talking to people who came out of that society who are in the church in Rome.
you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.
Human nature is quick to see it's own weaknesses in others, so we tend to notice our own faults when other people display them. We are more sensitive to what we're personally intimate with.
Those in the church are not to condemn others who are still practicing this lifestyle, and they may even still be living this way secretly, even if just in their thinking.
And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things.
God is the One who will judge, it's not for us to usurp His place to judge.
But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God?
When we see in someone else that attitude that we are ashamed of having ourselves, and point it out in them to accuse them or criticize them in judgment, do you think that God won't call you to account for it also, as well as the uncharitable attitude toward the other person?
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Do you remember how God called you into faith? Did He browbeat you into submission, or come down hard on you for your wrongs?
No, He was kind and gentle, wooing you to Himself, breaking your heart for Loving you in spite of all your rebellion and efforts to push Him away.
His pull, His arms, are stronger than every evil addiction or habit or attitude. And His kindness leads us to let our hearts break and break away those stony parts, realizing His compassion and pity upon us, as victims of our own choices.
We also, when we live in the World with these unrighteous people, we need to be like our Father and our Lord Jesus, and love them into the Kingdom.
But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the Day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who
will render to each person according to his deeds (Matthew 16: 27, Jesus' words):
Those who stubbornly refuse to seek Him with all their hearts, and hold out from God Loving them, instead following their own ideas and desires, as though they are their own gods; will in that Day be forced to bow before Him, giving account to Him, facing His judgment.
to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life;
Those who have submitted to God's authority over them to call them into His righteous family, doing good things in obedience to His ways, will receive their Resurrection bodies, and live forever with God.
but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the Truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation.
But those who just give lip service to the Lord, and harbor desires for self-promotion, only wanting "fire insurance" will be facing righteous anger and the wrath of God on that Day of judgment.
Paul is talking to those who consider themselves Christians, who are in the church in Rome. We also need to take this to heart, if we consider ourselves to be Christians, but still harbor these evil and twisted attitudes of heart.
There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek,
Every person who will not turn to the Lord, will face what we all deserve; God always dealt with the Jews first, then the rest of us. Even as we live now, the consequences of our attitudes and actions will follow us.
but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
But all the rewards He wants to give will go to His own children, to those who have followed Him in letting His Son wash them in His Blood, who have become co-heirs with Him of all the riches and glory and peace of His Kingdom.
God chose Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob to bless the Nation Israel with His Law, so they had every advantage over all the rest of the nations. But all the people of the other Nations could also come to Israel to enjoy all the benefits of citizenship, even as it remains today in Modern Israel.
See Exodus 12: 48-49, where those "strangers" who worshiped the Lord, obeying His Law, even being circumcised, were proselytes, considered as citizens with full rights and responsibilities of citizenship with the Israelites.
See also other verses, like Joshua 8: 30-35 where Joshua read the Law to all the congregation of Israel which included the women and the little ones and the strangers that walked among them, who became "naturalized citizens" of Israel. And Joshua 20:9 that declares that the Cities of Refuge were as available to the Strangers who lived among them as they were for the Israelites, who had inadvertently killed someone without premeditation. And other verses like these.
So even in the Old Testament times, God did not prevent anyone from any Nation who wanted to worship Him, from being a follower, and having the rights and responsibilities of citizenship in His Kingdom.
For there is no partiality with God.
God chose to deal with the Jews first, but no person, even a Jew, is worth more to God than any other person. We are all of one Race of Mankind, who God created to be His children. All those who seek Him with all their hearts, will find Him (Jeremiah 29: 13).
And all who refuse to acknowledge Him are choosing to be deceived, and will end up facing the judgment we all deserve, by their own choice.
O my Father, You are so gracious, to have made us for such a high purpose! To be Your own children!
Father, help us to grow in our knowledge of who You are, and how You want us to be, respecting Your authority to judge, and seeing others through Your eyes of compassion for the suffering and misery people suffer as the consequences of their own choices. Teach us how to love them into Your Kingdom, as You Loved us into Your Kingdom.
O Father God, show Yourself to all those who want to come to You, who think that they are Christians when they only have a religion, instead of that relationship with You that You want with them. Father, call each one into Your gentle arms, embracing them with Your compassion and strength to hold them against their squirming, as I held my toddlers in their temper tantrums.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Christ Jesus is our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Romans 1: 25-32
They exchanged the Truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
For this reason
This is why God did what He did, He gave them what they wanted.
God gave them over to degrading passions (vile affections);
for their women exchanged the natural function for that which is unnatural,
We have a name for this aberration of women with women.
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
And he goes into more detail in what the men are doing in the same vein. We also have a term for this in our society today.
and receiving in their own persons the due penalty of their error.
The consequences of this kind of behavior results in sicknesses in their own bodies, because this is a very unhealthy way to treat the body.
And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer,
This is their own choice and decision.
God gave them over to a depraved (reprobate, [void of understanding]) mind, to do those things which are not proper,
How we decide to think in our minds will determine our attitudes, from which flow our actions. God allows them to experience the consequences of their own choices. If they don't want to understand God's Truth, then they've chosen to be deceived. Which leads them to do the things they do.
being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips,
slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents,
without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful;
None of these results need explanation. This is the consequence of deliberately choosing against God.
and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death,
So they are without excuse.
they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.
Not only do they live like this, but today they've come out of the closet and live openly. And not only do they want to be accepted, but they want their unhealthy, deviant lifestyle to be considered "normal;" and spout the lie that anyone who disapproves of what they do hates them, turning love into hatred, twisting God's Truth into a disgusting lie.
God loves these people, just as He loves all the rest of people; we are all sinners, enemies of God. And God sent His own Son to die for us while we were still His enemies. The ground is level at the foot of the Cross.
This kind of lifestyle was very common in the Rome of Paul's day, that's why he deals with it here. But, just like other people who sin in other ways, when these people are saved and receive God's Spirit in their spirits, then they realize that they need to change, and today there are Christian ministries dedicated to helping these people to leave this tangled lifestyle.
The very next chapter begins by saying not to judge these people, or anyone. We are to love people into the Kingdom.
O my Father, please help us to understand Your righteousness, and how Your Love works out Your righteousness among those who refuse to turn to You. Because You Love us all, You will not inflict Your full Presence on any of us without first equipping us to be able to stand it, to not be destroyed by Your Devouring Fire.
Father, even the Ark of the Covenant could not be approached without elaborate measures taken to protect the people, the High Priest, after You appeared there on the Mercy Seat. You changed the very substance of that box with Your presence on it, so that it became dangerous.
How much more are You to us, in our present bodies, which are so frail and fragile, subject to death. And we all deserve Your wrath.
But you Love us all! And are not willing for any to perish! That's why Jesus was born, and grew up to fulfill all those laws and prophesies to be our Redeemer, our Savior from sin and from the power sin has over us; and to cleanse us with His own Blood, and send His Holy Spirit to live in our spirits, causing us to be born into God's own family.
But Your wrath will still pour out on all those who refuse to turn to You.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, the King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Romans 1: 18-25
For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men
All of Mankind, every one of us, deserves God's wrath, because we have all been born with the damaged DNA of our forefather Adam, and we have all thought and said and done things that are not up to God's standard of perfection.
But there are those who go beyond just personal turning away from God.
who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
They actively push down God's Truth to keep it from being known by others.
because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.
God has not hidden Himself from any of us, but has revealed Himself to every one of us, making it obvious who He is. Here's how:
For since the creation of the World His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made,
When we just look around at the World, this Earth and how it works, and the Universe it resides in; reasonable people have always understood that Someone intelligent has made it all. It can't have made itself.
so that they are without excuse.
Since they obviously saw the same World and Earth and Universe, then they had to have deliberately decided to deny the evidence and make up some other, twisted reason for it all. So they'll have no excuse when they face their Judge and give account.
For even though they knew God, they did not honor Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their speculations, and their foolish heart was darkened.
Since they refused to acknowledge God, they became vain in their imaginations, or futile in their speculations; they made up stories that had no basis in fact and were empty and useless.
This was very foolish, to deny what is real and make up fiction instead.
So God allowed them to replace the light He had given them with darkness. Jesus said that, if the light in you is darkness, how great is that darkness! (Matthew 6:23). We discussed this in this blog entry of that portion of the Sermon on the Mount.
Professing to be wise, they became fools,
The wisdom of this World is foolishness to God, because it's not how He designed this World to function.
and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures (reptiles).
The Second Commandment forbids the making of any statues like these, and also of anything in Heaven, too. So we are not to make any kind of image or statue or picture of anything or anybody anywhere to bow down to or pray to or light a candle to or sacrifice to or in any way give it the honor that belongs to God.
Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them.
The ancient Pagan religion required sexual acts in worship of their demon deities. These included every deviation that could be devised in the imagination of Mankind, as inspired by the demons.
This has never changed. As Mankind has progressed in his societies to become more civilized, he has never let go of these deviations, which have been revived in in some way in every people group of every time in every place, where God is not worshiped.
For they exchanged the Truth of God for a lie,
Anything that is not of God is not true, because God is Truth.
and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.
Since it is programmed into Mankind to need to worship, when people turned away from God, they worshiped what they could see, what was created by the Creator. And it is the Creator who will be blessed forever.
Tomorrow we will continue in this chapter, to see how the Roman society was infected with the results of this turning away from God.
O my Father, You are the only One to be praised and honored and glorified forever! You are Creator who made everything that is.
The basis of all our Science is Thermodyamics, and its first law is Constancy--Whatever is, is. Nothing can be increased or added to it, and none of it can be destroyed to cease to exist, only to change form.
This is Your creation, Father. You alone are Creator, and You finished it, resting from creating on the seventh day. No one else can create, only change the form of what is.
And one Day, Father, You have decided that this Universe will be finished, and You will destroy it all, and make a whole New Heaven and Earth. Different from this one.
You are God, not us.
Just as my son could take his Legos and build a castle, or a town, or a forest; then, since he was god over his "creation," he could break it all down and build another castle, or town, or forest, whatever way he wanted; so You, God Almighty have authority over what You have made.
Father, Your Love for us is totally amazing! Even though we all deserve Your wrath, You sent Your own Son to take it upon Himself for us! Your justice demanded that it be poured out, but Your Love had You let our Lord suffer that wrath in our place, so that we could live with You! You Loved me that much!
You Love each of us that much! O Father, please strengthen Your children, teach us how to share Your Love with everyone, and help each one of us to reach those people that only we can reach, so that every person alive, everywhere in the World, in every Nation, in every people group, to understand Your gracious gift enough to make an informed decision whether to accept or reject Your unimaginable offer!
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Lord God Almighty, the sovereign King of the Universe, to the glory of Almighty God the Father, for ever and ever, Amen!
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Romans 1: 8-17
First,
After the greeting that we covered Thursday and yesterday, this is the first thing Paul wants to say to these Roman Christians.
I thank my God through Jesus Christ for you all, because your faith is being proclaimed throughout the whole World.
Paul says that people all over the whole known World are talking about the faith of these believers in Rome! They're famous!
For God, whom I serve in my spirit in the preaching of the Gospel of His Son, is my witness as to how unceasingly I make mention of you,
And Paul is also bragging on them, as he goes about proclaiming the Good News everywhere he goes.
always in my prayers making request, if perhaps now at last by the will of God I may succeed in coming to you.
And he is also constantly praying for them, as he is trying to arrange his schedule to permit him to go to Rome, too.
For I long to see you so that I may impart some spiritual gift to you, that you may be established;
Paul has heard so much about these wonderful brothers and sisters, that he's really wanting to go meet them and be a blessing to them in some way.
that is, that I may be encouraged together with you while among you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.
He is anticipating a very joyful and encouraging visit with them, that they both would benefit from, hearing each others' stories of how good God has been to them all.
I do not want you to be unaware, brethren, that often I have planned to come to you (and have been prevented so far)
He wants to be sure that they know that he's been trying to get to them, every time he plans out the next trip he tries to put them on his itinerary, but it just hasn't worked out yet.
so that I may obtain some fruit among you also, even as among the rest of the Gentiles.
Paul wants to help these brothers and sisters in their spiritual growth, as he has been able to do among other churches; growing produces fruit, and he loves these family members and wants to be God's hands and feet to them, too.
I am under obligation both to Greeks and to barbarians, both to the wise and to the foolish.
He feels that he has a debt to pay, to all the Gentiles, no matter their education or position in their society.
So for my part, I am eager to preach the Gospel to you also who are at Rome.
The debt he owes them is to share God's Love with them all, and let them know who He is and what He's done for them already, in sending His Son to be their Savior.
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
Paul was never shy or afraid to speak up, at every opportunity to say something, to let people everywhere know Jesus as Redeemer; whether they lived near or far, whether they were rich or poor, urban or rural; whether they claimed descent from Abraham or Noah; Jew, Greek, or barbarian, or even savage in the jungle; God Loves every human member of Mankind, and wants all to hear and repent and be rescued.
Historically it was to the Jews that the Gospel was first preached in Jerusalem, and it was Paul's routine to go to the synagogue in whatever town he came to, and preach there first, until he was thrown out, then he turned to the Gentiles.
God had chosen the Hebrews to give His Law to, so they would first know how to live their lives, to draw the other peoples also to worship God.
So it was to the Jews first, then also to the Greeks and other Gentiles.
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written.
But the righteous man shall live by faith (Habakkuk 2: 4).
When Jesus fulfilled the sacrifices from Leviticus in dying as the Lamb of God, He demonstrated what each of us deserves because of our sinfulness. This is God's justice, in meting out the consequences equal to the offenses, perfectly fair. But what is not fair, is that He poured out these consequences upon One who did not deserve it, so that He could pay our debt for us.
It's like if I would offer to pay off the mortgage on the house you bought, that you can't afford, just so you wouldn't have to be evicted. It'd your house, not mine, and you live there, I don't. But I have the finances to carry it off and you don't.
Jesus has the "finances" to pay off our spiritual debt in full for us, and God the Father allowed Him to come and do it. This is right. This is God's righteousness.
This is what is revealed when we believe it. We must have the faith to trust God to be righteous, and just, and compassionate, and gracious.
This faith itself is a gift from God (Ephesians 2: 8), since we are not capable of finding out even that God exists without His revealing Himself to us. So He has.
And people who want to know Him, who seek Him with all their heart, will find Him, because He wants us to know Him. That person will be given the gift of faith to believe who God is and what He has accomplished in His Son for them.
This is the Gospel, that is now our job to teach everyone who wants to know it. Because how can they believe if they've never heard? We'll get into this in Chapter 10. But, know this, brothers and sisters, it's up to us who know the Truth to tell them.
So the faith to believe will grow into the faith to live the Christian life, because when God makes us just, then we will live by that faith that has justified us. In His power and strength we will make the right choices to do the righteous works that God prepared beforehand for us to accomplish (Ephesians 2: 10).
O my Father, You are magnificent! You are awesome! You alone are God!
You have planned and plotted out all of history, which is Your Story that You authored about this whole Era of Time. Our Universe, and our Earth with a Sun to make the perfect environment for us to live and have everything we need here. In order for us to learn how to be Your children, sons and daughters of the great King, in whose hand You have placed the authority and ownership to rule and manage, everything You made. And for us to become Your kings and queens to help Him govern it all.
This is incredible! This blows my mind! I could never imagine such a future, as You have set before me!
Open my eyes to see, open my mind to understand, open my heart to love as You have Loved me, and to live my life totally sold out to You, Father! I belong to You, I am Your property. Help me remember this, every moment of every day I live. Use me Father, as Your feet, Your hands, Your voice speaking and writing Your Truth only. Keep me from putting my own ideas or thoughts into any of it.
Send me, Lord of the Harvest, out into Your fields, ready to be harvested. Send me out to scatter and sow Your precious seed into all the prepared soils ready to receive it; and cause the sprouting and growth to budding and blooming and fruiting and producing to 30 and 60 and 100-fold.
Fill Your great House, Father; let every place at Your great banqueting Table be filled! May the increase and expansion of Your Kingdom have no end, throughout all Eternity Future! (Isaiah 9: 7.)
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Christ Jesus is Lord God Almighty, sovereign King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
Romans 1: 5-7
Through whom (Jesus Christ our Lord) we have received grace and apostleship
We have all received His grace, and Paul has also received the apostleship to lay the foundation of the church, which is Jesus Christ.
to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles for His Name's sake,
Paul's "job" was to share the Good News to all the non-Jews, that all who would listen and receive faith would become part of God's church; all those who would obey God's calling to believe.
among whom you also are the called of Jesus Christ;
Paul is writing to the Christians who have already been called to have faith in Jesus as Savior.
to all who are the beloved of God in Rome, called as saints:
This letter is to the church in Rome, where Paul has yet to travel, but he is planning to go there, and this letter is preceding him.
Those who have become Christians there are greatly loved of God, and He calls them "saints," "holy ones."
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
This concludes Paul's introductory greeting, which we are discussing yesterday and today.
Paul was to lay the church's foundation among the Gentiles, as Peter was to lay it among Jewish, Israelite people (Galatians 2:7). God had made them both Apostles, foundation-layers, so that all people everywhere could hear the wonderful Good News and come to faith, all over the World, both Jews and Gentiles.
God is not willing for any to perish, any people anywhere, because He made Mankind to be His family. Even in ancient Israel, God blessed the Nation when they followed His Law, and peoples in other Nations could see how good God was, and want to worship Him, too.
But whenever God prospered Israel, instead of being thankful, they just got proud and figured that they'd got it for themselves, and forgot God. So He had to take it away from them, so that they would turn to Him again. We see this repeated over and over again in the book of Judges.
Now, today, the task is ours, the members of God's Universal Church, His children, to build on the foundation the Apostles laid, sharing with everyone how good our God is to Love us so much as to send His own Son to take our death, so we can live forever with Him.
It's up to us, Christians, brothers and sisters in the Lord!
Jesus said that,
This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached in all the World for a witness unto all Nations; and then the end shall come (Matthew 24: 14).
That means we need to get off our duffs and get moving, to preach this wonderful Good News to everyone! Let everybody know, so they can each make their own decision whether to let God Love them or not.
Then when everyone who is alive has considered and made their choice, then the Last Trumpet will sound and the Lord will descend, and this Era of Mankind will be over! (See I Corinthians 15: 51-53 and I Thessalonians 4: 13-18.)
Tomorrow we will begin to peruse all that Paul had to say to these Roman Christians.
Until then, my dears, Grow in the Grace and Knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (II Peter 3: 18), and look for God's blessings every day!
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
Romans 1: 1-4
Paul,
He always identified himself as the writer of his letters, so there would be no doubt as to the authority the letter held.
a bond-servant of Christ Jesus,
He knows that humanly he is nothing but just a slave, owned by Jesus Christ.
called as an apostle,
God called him, it was not his choice, he just obeyed God's calling.
set apart for the Gospel of God,
He was put aside from the rest of the brothers to be sent out into the World to share God's Good News to everyone he could. He had to leave home.
which He promised beforehand through His prophets in the Holy Scriptures,
The Old Testament prophets wrote centuries beforehand what Messiah would do, so we could recognize Him.
concerning His Son,
This is the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who volunteered before anything was created, to take responsibility for this Mankind that they would make.
who was born a descendant of David according to the flesh,
Both Matthew and Luke record genealogies for Jesus, but they don't match. Why? Because Matthew is announcing that the King has been born, so he gives the genealogy of the royal line of kings of Israel, that would give this child the right and authority to claim David's throne. This is through His legal father, Joseph.
However, Luke presented Him as the genuine, human Man, so he gives us Jesus' actual human genealogy, through His mother Mary.
Both Joseph and Mary came through the line of David the king, Joseph through the Royal line through Solomon and Rehoboam and the rest of the kings of Israel, and Mary came through the line of David the king through Solomon's brother Nathan, still a royal line, but not claiming the throne.
God had cursed the last sitting king of Judah, Jehoiakim: Jeremiah pronounced,
Thus saith the Lord, of Jehoiakim king of Judah: he shall have none to sit upon the throne of David: ... I shall punish him and his seed ... (Jeremiah 36:30, 31).
So, since Joseph was of the royal seed coming through Jehoiakim, the curse prevented him from being able to claim David's throne, but since he was the legal but not physical father of Jesus, Jesus does have the right and authority to ascend to the royal throne of David, His ancestor, through both His mother and his legal father.
who was declared the Son of God with power by the Resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord.
When Jesus was Resurrected from the dead, having died and been buried for three days; this proved that His Father really is God the Father, and that He really is the Lord God of the Universe. God the Father has made His Son Lord over all. He has put all of creation in His hand to rule.
I can imagine: Here is Father, Son, and Spirit, enjoying each others' fellowship and discussing, What shall we do now? Create? Okay, what shall we make? How will it work? What if we make sentient beings like Us and give them a choice? So what if they choose not to be reasonable and decide to harm themselves? Well, we can make them to live forever if they choose Life, but if they choose death, then they would need a Redeemer to rescue them. And the Son speaks up, and volunteers to take responsibility for this "Project" they are planning, and they go ahead and call into existence everything that is. And the Boss, the Lord in charge of it all, is the Son, who made good His determination to rescue us!
And He is our Lord God Almighty, who breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life, and Mankind became a living soul (Genesis 2:7). And the Lord God has directed all of our human history (His-story) calling and speaking and inspiring and giving Law and prophesies and blessing Mankind with the abundance He has placed in this Earth for us to enjoy, and allowing us to experience the consequences of our actions, whether good or bad.
He has been our Lord, our Boss, and we belong to Him by creation, because He made us. We belong to Him by purchase, because He fulfilled that sacrifice that He gave for the whole Nation (Leviticus 4: 13, 18), when His blood poured out at the foot of His Altar, the Cross, when the soldier pierced His side, to purchase all of us, all of creation, for judgment.
And those of us who have realized that we are the criminal who deserves execution, and Jesus took our place in death, belong to Him as His own family. He fulfilled the personal sacrifice (Leviticus 1: 2-13), that the individual person was to bring, when as the Lamb of God His precious Blood splattered the sides of His Altar, the Cross. This is the first sacrifice that the Levites were to teach the people. Jesus fulfilled this for each one of us individually to save us. That's why God saves people one by one.
And when every person in each Nation that wants to follow God has made the decision to let Jesus be his/her Savior, then God's wrath will fall on the rest of the whole Nation, all who have rejected His gracious offer.
God has chosen the Race of Man to be His own children, but He doesn't want robots or puppets. He gave us free choice, to choose to love Him back. He will not violate our will, so those who choose Him are His, and those who choose themselves or other than God, will exist forever without all that God is, because they chose it.
His wrath falls on only those whose punishment did not fall on Jesus, as their Savior. He is not willing that any would perish, but that all would come to repentance. God chooses no one for punishment or wrath, people choose it for themselves.
O my Father, thank You so much for Your wonderful Plan of the Ages, to choose us to be Your own family, and to work in each of us to grow us up into the very image of Your dear Son.
Thank You for who You are! For creating this Universe to be the environment for our Earth to dwell in, and for designing this Earth to be a perfect planet for Mankind to live on. Help us to take care of it.
Father, teach us how to love one another as You Love us! You know we are only dust, and frail and vulnerable. Strengthen us in Your Spirit to think Your thoughts, so we will have Your attitudes toward our surroundings, and so that we will respond to what happens around us as You would determine is best, for us and for those with us and around us in our World.
And You will receive all the glory, for You have done it all.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will proclaim that Jesus Christ is our Lord God Almighty, sovereign King of the Universe, to the glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever, Amen.
Even so, come soon, Lord Jesus!
II Corinthians 13: 1-14
This is the third time I am coming to you.
Every fact is to be confirmed by the testimony of two or three witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:15).
I have previously said when present the second time, and though now absent I say in advance to those who have sinned in the past and to all the rest as well, that if I come again I will not spare anyone,
Paul quoted the stipulation of two or three witnesses to confirm an accusation, with reminding them that this will be his third visit. The issue was brought up during the second visit, and this letter is the second time the issue is addressed. So the third witness will be his third visit. So if it isn't resolved by then, that means it's time to take action.
since you are seeking for proof of the Christ who speaks in me, and who is not weak toward you, but mighty in you.
If the Corinthians are looking for the power and strength of Christ in Paul, then his third visit should prove it is there.
For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God.
Jesus appeared weak when He didn't retaliate or fight against His being taken, but meekly submitted to the torture and execution. But that time is past, and He now lives in the Power of the Holy Spirit.
For we also are weak in Him yet we will live with Him because of the power of God directed toward you.
Paul also dealt with these brothers in meekness and gentleness, which appears to be weak to the World. But the power of God that worked in these very believers shows that God was working through Paul on their behalf.
Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you--unless indeed you fail the test?
He's telling them to look at themselves, instead of Paul. They need to get their own house in order, before they listen to these detractors of Paul.
Anytime we are consistently focused on other's faults and ignoring our own failings, we probably need to take a reality test to make sure we're really trusting that Jesus took our place in death to wash us clean, and start acting like it.
But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test.
They know Paul. He's spent time with them, and they've gotten to know his character and personality and personal moral standard.
Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved.
Even if our reputation is in tatters, you should still do what is right, for your own sake.
For we can do nothing against the Truth, but only for the Truth.
Paul is still focused on supporting God's Truth about how we are to live together as brothers and sisters in Christ.
For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong; this we also pray for, that you be made complete.
Paul doesn't care how he looks, as long as these beloved brothers and sisters can grow up and become mature in Christ.
For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.
So he's writing this letter so they can get their stuff together before he comes and he won't need to be the stern disciplinarian when he comes, because the authority the Lord gave him as an Apostle is to build up and encourage, not to criticize and make demands.
Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace;
He sums up the whole letter here, briefly.
and the God of Love and peace will be with you.
When they succeed in these things, then they will be rewarded with the consequence of God being able to deal favorably with them. It will tear down the walls.
Greet one another with a holy kiss.
This is the local custom of the day when recognizing union and fellowship within the family of God, and may also be a sign of mutual forgiveness and reconciliation.
All the saints greet you.
These would be the church members in Philippi, Thessalonica, and/or Berea, where Paul had recently been.
The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the Love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen.
Paul ends this epistle with the unity of Spirit of the Trinity, which leaves no room for any discord, self-assertiveness or self-seeking, or any quarreling or factions.
The order: Son, Father, Spirit, reflects our Christian experience: It is through the grace shown by Christ in living and dying for men that God the Father demonstrates His Love, and the Spirit creates fellowship among us, filling our spirits.
O my Father, I pray for Your Church Universal today. I pray that we, as Your children, would display Your grace unto one another, looking only to serve by helping one another. Let Your Love for each of us be given to each other, overlooking weaknesses and irritations, forgiving insults and offenses, making amends for wrongs done, and reconciling relationships.
Strengthen us to present a united front to the World, storming the gates of Hell to rescue the perishing, who have fallen prey to the enemy's lies and the World's deceptions.
Send out Your workers, Father, into Your fields, white to harvest. Lead us to find every lost lamb caught in some ravine or tangled up in briar, to carry them home to the safety and rest of Your One Fold with One Shepherd.
And every eye shall see, every knee will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus is our Christ, the Lord God Almighty, sovereign King of the Universe, to the eternal glory of Almighty God the Father, forever and ever. Amen.
Even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus!
