The Kingdom

"The Kingdom" is a major theme that runs throughout the Bible. The Bible begins with God being the leader of his people. But as time goes on, the people aren't satisfied and want to have a king like their neighbors have (I Samuel 8). This displeased God, but He allowed it, the first king being Saul, then David, then Solomon, David's son. Saul turned away from God; and while Solomon was a rich and wise king, David is portrayed as the greatest of all Old Testament kings.

As the Bible follows the history of God's people, the people are reminded, through prophets, that someday a Messiah will come who will establish a kingdom that will never end, never be destroyed (Isaiah 2, Daniel 2, Joel 2 and other places). The people of God, having been oppressed by the nations around, longed for this coming kingdom. They wanted a king again like David; powerful, dominant, and successful. They waited and they waited........

And then came Jesus, born in a stable of poor parents; grew up with no fanfare, giving no real sign that He was the projected king. He wasn't the kind of king that the people, the Jews, were looking for. As Jesus stood before Pilate in final judgment, Pilate said, " 'What have you done?' Jesus answered, 'My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight, so that I should not be delivered to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.' Pilate therefore said to Him, 'Are You a king then?' Jesus answered, 'You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born....' " Here was the king, the rejected king by the Jews, His own people.

Before this final trial, Jesus had said in Matthew 16:28, "Assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the Son of Man (Jesus) coming in His kingdom. This makes it clear that the kingdom will start as soon as Jesus leaves the earth. Some people are waiting on Jesus to come back and set up an earthly kingdom, powerful like David's. But Jesus said that His kingdom was not of this earth and that it would start during the lifetime of some of the people who were standing there hearing Him. And throughout His life, Jesus talked about the coming kingdom; it was of greatest importance. Now we get to be a part of that by following Him. Let's do that! Thanks for reading; see you next week. May God bless you.

Beginnings and Endings

I love beginnings and endings. Pardon me for starting with Peanuts, but Snoopy is a perfect example. He would sit on the top of his doghouse with his typewriter and begin a new novel: "It was a dark and stormy night..." Any book with a great beginning has great promise.

The Bible has lots of great beginnings and endings. Verse one of the Bible is, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.." That is such a powerful statement. It puts to end right there any debate over the creation. Then in Genesis 2:9, right at the beginning of the Bible, there is a reference to the tree of life: "The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden..." We read about it again at the end of the Bible in Revelation 22:2. Heaven is being described, "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits...." Among other things, this shows how the Bible relates, ties together, from beginning to end. It begins with the Garden of Eden, and the tree, and it ends with heaven, and the tree.

Then there is the beginning of the New Testament. It begins with the genealogy of the family of Jesus. It shows the development of Jesus' family through the Old Testament, beginning with Abraham, and comes right on down to Jesus himself. And because the NT begins this way, it hints at the importance of the OT, bringing us to the New.

And finally there is the end of the Bible. Note Revelation 22:19-21, the very last verses: "..and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part from the Book of Life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming quickly.' Amen. Even so, come, Lord Jesus! The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen." How is that for an ending?!

Thanks for being a reader. See you next week. May the Lord be with you.

World Kingdoms according to Daniel

It is interesting to see how the Bible in the Old Testament was able to see ahead to the coming Kingdoms. The book of Daniel is heavy in the forecasting of what was to come. Daniel lived during the Babylonian Empire and its most powerful king, Nebuchadnezzar. Nebuch. dreamed about a statue made of 4 different materials (Daniel 2). Daniel, with God's help, was able to interpret the dream, saying that the 4 parts represented the present kingdom of Babylon, and those to follow, Medo-Persians, Greeks, and Romans. Only with God's help could anyone discuss the future world kingdoms.

It should be mentioned here that the Bible is quite informative regarding the Babylonian, Medo-Persian, and Roman Empires. The Greek Empire falls during a 400 year period that lies between the OT and the NT. And it is noteworthy that the Bible is so accurate regarding world history. The dates, people and places recorded in the Bible fit perfectly with other written history as well as archaeological discoveries.

While the Greek Empire is not covered in real time in the Bible, it is clearly pre-described. As already said, it is done so in chapter 2. But it is predicted even more clearly in chapter 11. "Also in the first year of Darius the Mede, I, even I, stood up to confirm and strengthen him. And now I will tell you the truth: Behold, three more kings will arise in Persia, and the fourth shall be far richer than them all; by his strength, through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece. Then a mighty king shall arise, who shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will. And when he has arisen, his kingdom shall be broken up and divided toward the four winds of heaven...." The king referenced we know to be Alexander the Great. After his reign, history tells us that the kingdom was divided into 4 parts, exactly as God tells us through his Word, the Bible.

The more we study it, the more we realize that the Bible is accurate, truthful, and powerful. What we have to do is learn it and live by it. Thanks for reading! See you next week.

Jacob's Ladder

I am doing some remodeling in my foyer and have to climb a high ladder to reach a high ceiling area. Being so high, I am reminded of Jacob's dream in Genesis 28. Take the time to read this chapter; it is quite interesting.

"Jacob came to a certain place and stayed there all night, because the sun had set." He put a stone by his head, slept, and dreamed of a ladder set up to reach heaven. "The angels of God were ascending and descending on it." The Lord speaks to Jacob in a dream, "I am the Lord God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac..." Later He says, "I am with you and will keep you wherever you go........Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, 'Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.' "

This is a great story for a lot of reasons , but here are a few: While God isn't talking to us directly in today's times, He is involved directly in our lives, and He does care. Another thought is that He always wants us to know that "I am the Lord..." And Jacob says, "..the Lord is in this place and I did not know it." This is us; the Lord is at hand always and we do not know it. We must recognize that He is always with us, always on our side, always ready to carry us through every trial.

In all of this, the only requirement of us is that we have faith in Him (which means that we will do as He asks); note Hebrews 11:1-6. We must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Thus we must be seeking Him.

That is it for this week. Thanks for reading....and come back!

"Me" people

We are all, to some extent, "me" people. We see through our own eyes, hear with our own ears, think with the only brain we have to access. We have our own opinions, and generally believe that we are right. All of this seems only natural. And we want to serve God in the way that seems good to us, worship in the "church of our choice" and with a church that meets our needs, listening to preaching that we like. That is why there are hundreds of denominations instead of us all just being Christians and doing it His way, as it was in the earliest days of the church.

But there is a benefit in focusing differently. It really isn't about "me." The Bible asks (demands?) a different focus. I like the passage in Hebrews 12:1,2, "...let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith...." Our focus should be on Him, not on me.

The application of this principle is that when we need to know how we are to live, we can read that in the New Testament. What should the church be like, look like, be organized like; what should the church be doing, be spending money on? It seems that we only need to see what the Lord has given us as a pattern in His Bible.

And this principle carries into our relationship with others. Note Philippians 2:3, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than ourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others."

The Lord recognizes that we will naturally look out for ourselves. But He asks us to refocus; to be concerned as well for others. And in our relationship to Him, we are to do it His way, not ours.

Thanks for reading! Come back next week.

Forever

One of the most powerful words in the Bible is "forever." What God offers us is lasting, everlasting, durable, permanent, forever. Nothing in this life can offer us that; but God sees and endures far beyond this life.

The term "forever" concludes several of my favorite passages in the Bible:

The Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6 ends with "Yours is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever..."

Ephesians 3 ends with "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever.."

The 23rd Psalm ends with "And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever!"

And the end of the book of Jude, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.."

We could go on and on with passages that emphasize that God's promises are forever. But we need to live our lives here remembering the "forever" promises of God.

Thanks for reading. See you next week. May God bless you.

Avoiding Sin

Avoiding Sin is a really hard subject. Certainly for me it is because I have my struggles; but we all do. Paul, in writing Romans, discussed this challenge in the latter part of chapter 7. He says in verse 15, "For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do." And in verse 20 he says it is "sin that dwells in me." We all have that to wrestle with; but fortunately the Bible gives us some solutions, and it challenges us to overcome.

I especially like the last words of the book of Jude. It says, "Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy. To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen." Note the first part of this quote, "..to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling.." How is He going to do that? I have found that He will intervene if we want Him to, if we ask Him to. But He will not override our will; if we are absolutely determined to sin, He will let us.

Many times, however, I have asked for Him to deliver me from sin, especially when I saw a particular problem coming. And it worked; the problem just went away. I truly believe He gets directly involved in our lives.....if we let Him.

And the final solution to be mentioned here is that we need to solicit His help through prayer. Jude 20 says, "But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying...." When we see a problem coming, we should pray for deliverance.

Thanks for reading! Maybe you could pass this blog address on to a friend; let's spread the word.