The "Gospel" simply means "good news." And the good news is that Jesus has arrived. And He not only arrived, but He had come to fulfill all of the prophecy of His coming that had been made over many centuries. But more than that, He had come to save people, people of that day and people of every generation to follow. We see this plan developed over the centuries as we look at the Old Testament and see how it all leads down to the coming of Jesus. Here are the words of Jesus regarding His central purpose:
Luke 19:10, "...the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Here Jesus has just been impressed with the change in the man Zacchaeus. Z. had been a rich tax collector and had defrauded the people in doing his job. But Jesus came into his life to effect a change...to "save that which was lost."
Matthew 18:11, "For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost." Jesus is speaking in this context of "little ones," followers of Jesus. He follows this statement by saying that if a man has a hundred sheep but one goes astray, he will leave the 99 and go find the one.
It was all important to Jesus that every single person have the opportunity to be saved. And of course, He is talking about the after-life, eternal life, real life. Our time on earth is just a fleeting thing, a short passing...and we must seek the Lord and His Way. A favorite verse is Hebrews 11:6,
"But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him."
We must seek Him in order to enjoy His salvation. But He wants us to do that, to seek Him, because He came to seek and save the lost. Praise God!
Thank you for reading. Have a great week.
Friday, October 23, 2015
Friday, October 16, 2015
Jews, Hebrews, Israelites
The three words, Jews, Hebrews and Israelites are very closely related and are used interchangeably by most people. They are not technically the same, but the distinction is minor. The Jewish faith and people all began with Abraham, as recorded in the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. And the Old Testament follows the history of the Jewish people down through time. The reason for the emphasis on these people is at least two-fold. These were God's chosen people to whom He gave a special law to follow. And these were the people of Jesus.
As the New Testament begins, we read of the genealogy from Abraham down to Jesus. So Jesus was born a Jew, of the tribe of Judah. Jesus kept the Jewish law all through His lifetime, as did His family and those around Him. Jesus had to die before the new religion of Christianity, following after Christ, was to come into effect. So during Jesus' life He only taught in preparation of the coming change. But a change was coming....and we read of this in the books of the NT.
The documenting of the change from the Jewish Law to the Law of Christ is shown in the book of Acts where we see the apostles going forth to teach the new way. They were doing what Jesus had taught them to do when He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved...."(Mark 16:15-16). The gospel was the good news that Jesus was the Son of God, that He died for all people, and that through following Him one could be saved eternally.
After the book of Acts we find that the other books, written to Christians to further help them in growing their faith, show clearly that the Jewish Law is no longer in effect. Colossians 2:14 says it was "nailed to the cross." Galatians 3:28 says that "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."
Anyone practicing the Jewish faith today is surely in error for several reasons. One is that Jesus and His followers as written in the NT made it clear that Judaism is over. And Jesus Himself pointed out that those trying to follow the Jewish Law were not keeping it fully, accurately; and no one trying to do that today would do so correctly. But it is interesting to go back and to study the religion and the history of the Jews. After all, this is the family of Jesus.
Thanks for reading. Keep the faith.
As the New Testament begins, we read of the genealogy from Abraham down to Jesus. So Jesus was born a Jew, of the tribe of Judah. Jesus kept the Jewish law all through His lifetime, as did His family and those around Him. Jesus had to die before the new religion of Christianity, following after Christ, was to come into effect. So during Jesus' life He only taught in preparation of the coming change. But a change was coming....and we read of this in the books of the NT.
The documenting of the change from the Jewish Law to the Law of Christ is shown in the book of Acts where we see the apostles going forth to teach the new way. They were doing what Jesus had taught them to do when He said, "Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved...."(Mark 16:15-16). The gospel was the good news that Jesus was the Son of God, that He died for all people, and that through following Him one could be saved eternally.
After the book of Acts we find that the other books, written to Christians to further help them in growing their faith, show clearly that the Jewish Law is no longer in effect. Colossians 2:14 says it was "nailed to the cross." Galatians 3:28 says that "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."
Anyone practicing the Jewish faith today is surely in error for several reasons. One is that Jesus and His followers as written in the NT made it clear that Judaism is over. And Jesus Himself pointed out that those trying to follow the Jewish Law were not keeping it fully, accurately; and no one trying to do that today would do so correctly. But it is interesting to go back and to study the religion and the history of the Jews. After all, this is the family of Jesus.
Thanks for reading. Keep the faith.
Saturday, October 10, 2015
The Church
The subject of "church" is an interesting study, and will be discussed here briefly. The word is thrown around rather lightly and often incorrectly in our society today. Many speak of it as a building, as in the question, "Where is your church?" And yet we know that it is spoken of differently in the Bible.
"Church" is a Biblical word. Jesus introduced the subject in Matthew 16:18. Peter had just make the declaration that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Jesus followed that by saying, "...on this rock I will build My church..." Jesus was not saying that a physical building would be built, but rather, that the institution "ecclesia" meaning gathering or "group" in Greek would be built on the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.
It is interesting to me that Jesus didn't try to form this group during his lifetime. I would think that anyone trying to start something like this would try to do it in their lifetime. Jesus chose simply to teach and prepare His followers to build the church after He left them. It is with this approach that Jesus taught His apostles to wait in Jerusalem after His leaving (Acts 1:8) and, "...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The apostles did just that and thus the church was born, beginning in Acts chapter 2.
To be clear, let me restate that the church of Jesus Christ began with the major event in Acts chapter 2 as we see the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles, just as Jesus had promised. The church was planned and discussed before this, but had not begun. At the end of Acts 2 we read that the new converts, numbering in the thousands there in Jerusalem, were "praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
Wow! What a beginning. We might note in passing that the word "church" is used in two senses in the Bible, one being the local group, and another the overall group of Christians everywhere. But they/we are just God's people who are trying to follow Jesus.
And they/we are taught to meet together and work together to accomplish the spreading of the Word of God to others....and to worship. The church was important enough for Jesus to die for it, and we must show our love for it, as well.
Thanks for reading. Have a great, God-filled week.
"Church" is a Biblical word. Jesus introduced the subject in Matthew 16:18. Peter had just make the declaration that Jesus was "the Christ, the Son of the living God." The Jesus followed that by saying, "...on this rock I will build My church..." Jesus was not saying that a physical building would be built, but rather, that the institution "ecclesia" meaning gathering or "group" in Greek would be built on the fact that Jesus was the Son of God.
It is interesting to me that Jesus didn't try to form this group during his lifetime. I would think that anyone trying to start something like this would try to do it in their lifetime. Jesus chose simply to teach and prepare His followers to build the church after He left them. It is with this approach that Jesus taught His apostles to wait in Jerusalem after His leaving (Acts 1:8) and, "...you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." The apostles did just that and thus the church was born, beginning in Acts chapter 2.
To be clear, let me restate that the church of Jesus Christ began with the major event in Acts chapter 2 as we see the Holy Spirit coming upon the apostles, just as Jesus had promised. The church was planned and discussed before this, but had not begun. At the end of Acts 2 we read that the new converts, numbering in the thousands there in Jerusalem, were "praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved."
Wow! What a beginning. We might note in passing that the word "church" is used in two senses in the Bible, one being the local group, and another the overall group of Christians everywhere. But they/we are just God's people who are trying to follow Jesus.
And they/we are taught to meet together and work together to accomplish the spreading of the Word of God to others....and to worship. The church was important enough for Jesus to die for it, and we must show our love for it, as well.
Thanks for reading. Have a great, God-filled week.
Saturday, October 3, 2015
Prophesies
The Old Testament is full of prophecies. God chose to speak to His people through the voice of other people. And this is true in the NT, as well. The NT is written by mere men with their own styles and their own way of writing and expressing themselves. Yet, God is directing the writing, inspiring ("God-breathed") the writers to say what He wants said. This, of course, is what is happening throughout the OT, too. In fact, we see that in the OT there are many cases where God is not only directing these writers as to what to say, He is telling of the future events to come. We will mention a few of these here as examples of future prophecy.
The book of Nahum, a book not familiar to most people, is written to warn the people of God that calamity was coming at the hands of the Assyrians. We might remind ourselves here that God is always in control. He is in control of the rise of nations and the fall of nations. And we might prefer that He always supports the good nation and brings down the bad. But what we see happening, as recorded in Nahum, for example, is that God will sometimes use a bad, evil nation to punish His people for their transgressions.
Another example of a book that prophesies doom on His people is the book of Habakkuk. Again, this is a book, often described as a Minor Prophet because of its short length, that is not so well known. But in this book of the OT, prophecy is being made of the coming power of Babylon. The term "Chaldeans" is used in some places, which is the same as the Babylonians. God is warning His people that they are about to face the terror of the Babylonians.
In both of these cases we see that the prophecies came true. The Assyrian Empire was huge and the captors vicious. Following that, the Babylonian Empire conquered much of the known world including God's people, the Israelites.
There are many things that we can learn from this. One is that when God speaks, even through His prophets, it always comes true. Another is that God is, in fact, in total control. And we can apply these warnings to ourselves; that is, we need to draw closer to God to avoid the punishments that can come....as individuals and as a nation. We learn that God will only put up with just so much rejection from His people. His is very patient....more than patient...but there are limits.
We need to pray that God will give our country, and our world, leaders that will help us get back closer to following Him and His ways. And we can approach Him for His help so that HE will be praised.....not for our benefit....but for HIS. He wants to be praised....and He deserves to be praised. Let us praise God!
Thanks for reading. May you receive all of God's blessings!
The book of Nahum, a book not familiar to most people, is written to warn the people of God that calamity was coming at the hands of the Assyrians. We might remind ourselves here that God is always in control. He is in control of the rise of nations and the fall of nations. And we might prefer that He always supports the good nation and brings down the bad. But what we see happening, as recorded in Nahum, for example, is that God will sometimes use a bad, evil nation to punish His people for their transgressions.
Another example of a book that prophesies doom on His people is the book of Habakkuk. Again, this is a book, often described as a Minor Prophet because of its short length, that is not so well known. But in this book of the OT, prophecy is being made of the coming power of Babylon. The term "Chaldeans" is used in some places, which is the same as the Babylonians. God is warning His people that they are about to face the terror of the Babylonians.
In both of these cases we see that the prophecies came true. The Assyrian Empire was huge and the captors vicious. Following that, the Babylonian Empire conquered much of the known world including God's people, the Israelites.
There are many things that we can learn from this. One is that when God speaks, even through His prophets, it always comes true. Another is that God is, in fact, in total control. And we can apply these warnings to ourselves; that is, we need to draw closer to God to avoid the punishments that can come....as individuals and as a nation. We learn that God will only put up with just so much rejection from His people. His is very patient....more than patient...but there are limits.
We need to pray that God will give our country, and our world, leaders that will help us get back closer to following Him and His ways. And we can approach Him for His help so that HE will be praised.....not for our benefit....but for HIS. He wants to be praised....and He deserves to be praised. Let us praise God!
Thanks for reading. May you receive all of God's blessings!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
