From Death to Life

And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.  Ephesians 2:1-10  NKJV

As an adult, especially now as I am a grandfather, I often look back on the course of my life and remember not only the events, but in totality the distance I have come from the beginning to the present.  I obviously too, look at just how much my parents not only gave, but did for me that shaped what I became and what I am today.  As believers, do you not think it would be appropriate to do the same on occasion considering what our Father has done for us, especially as it would also appear that we are fast approaching that promise of eternity with Him that we all long for?

In this passage from the letter to the church at Ephesus, Paul describes this journey explaining in just ten verses just how far we have come once we made the decision to believe.  I want to share my thoughts on this passage today in the hope that it will encourage you, especially at this time when our hope seems ready to be fulfilled and discouragement or impatience can rob us of the joy that our Father wants us to have.  As I see it, Paul shares four stages of our development with us in these verses and I think we could best describe them as wandering, waking, watching, and working.

Wandering

“And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins,”

Did you ever consider that we all started in exactly the same place?  That’s right; dead.  In our sins, without the forgiveness He offers through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ, we were all dead.  Strange as it sounds, we could compare ourselves with zombies, or the walking dead.  We had a life, walking around going through the motions, but we were spiritually dead wandering with no purpose to our lives.

Waking to God.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved),”

All true believers have had what could best be described as a “waking” moment when they heard the gospel and responded to the call of God on their hearts and awakened from death to life.  In the Greek, the phrase “made alive” actually means “reanimation”, or literally making something which was dead to live.  I suppose you could compare this to the story of Frankenstein, in which a dead body was brought back to life.  Although we were dead in our sins, we awoke to a new life by the power of God through the blood of His Son Jesus Christ.

Watching for God.

“and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.”

This is where we find ourselves today.  You could say that “positionally”, we are with Christ, sitting with Him enjoying the guarantee of eternal life, but “in the ages to come” we will be with Him “literally”.  All who believe should be watching for His appearing, and waiting expectantly for His return when we will meet Him in the air and He will take us to our heavenly home to be with Him for all eternity.

Working with God.

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”

We are a result of God’s work, and nothing else.  We had no hand in what we have become, and we should never allow ourselves to think otherwise.  What we are is a gift from God Himself, and “His workmanship”.  That said, we must always remember that His plan was to save us in order to do His work.  We were saved from sin and saved for service.  God has prepared a life for us as believers which consists of what He calls “good works , which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.”  The question we should all be asking ourselves is, are we busy doing that which God has saved us for?

I and many others believe we are at the very threshold of going home to be with our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  I for one, want to enter knowing I have tried my best to do those works which He prepared for me long before I ever knew Him.  I can look back and see how long the road has been, and in all honesty truly believe I can see the finish line before me.  My question for you today is, are you busy doing whatever it is that God prepared for you to do?  I don’t believe we have much time left to do them.

If you are reading this today and have never made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and are wandering through life without the hope of eternal life with God, I urge you to do it right now. Simply admit to God that you need His forgiveness because you are a sinner, believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and invite Him to come in and control your life through the Holy Spirit by praying a simple prayer like this;

Father, I know I am a sinner in need of salvation. I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin, and I ask you now to forgive me of my sins. I want to receive your gift of salvation so please come into my heart and help me to live and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Keep watching.

The Killing Ground

“And as for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, ‘Speak to every sort of bird and to every beast of the field: “Assemble yourselves and come; Gather together from all sides to My sacrificial meal Which I am sacrificing for you, A great sacrificial meal on the mountains of Israel, That you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty, Drink the blood of the princes of the earth, Of rams and lambs, Of goats and bulls, All of them fatlings of Bashan.  Ezekiel 39:17-18  NKJV

If you have followed the news from the Middle East lately, I am sure you have seen that the focus of Israel’s eyes have turned to the Golan Heights and the presence of Syrian/Iranian troops there.  These troops have been the focus of discussions between the leaders of Israel and Russia since they first arrived, and even so this past week.  Despite assurances from Vladimir Putin, Israel is extremely wary of this situation and has taken appropriate steps to address any event where these troops might seek an excuse to venture into Israeli territory.  This article was written a couple of years ago, but the current situation prompted me to post it again as a reminder of what the Word of God tells us will happen in this part of Israel in the very near future.

I suppose it would be fair to say that the majority of those believers who choose to be watchmen are without a doubt watching closely for the prophesied war of Ezekiel 38-39 which is also known as the Gog Magog War.  While many may be familiar with what the Word has to say about it, I’m willing to bet that while most know it takes place in ”the mountains of Israel”, what they may not know is where those mountains are.  The key is found when God describes the bodies left over from the slaughter as a “sacrificial meal” and then as the “fatlings of Bashan”.  You see, the bodies’ litter the ground at Bashan, which today in Israel is known as the Golan Heights.

Rather than explain the importance of this piece of ground in Israel, I am going to let you read the words of Grant Jeffery from his book Armageddon concerning the Golan, and Russia’s coming day of destruction. 

The Strategic Importance of the West Bank and the Golan Heights

“If Israel's present government under Prime Minister Netanyahu continues the disastrous policies of former prime ministers Rabin and Peres and surrenders the vital strategic territory in the West Bank and the Golan Heights in its "Land for Peace" negotiations with the PLO and its Arab neighbours, Israel will face military disaster in the next war. The tragic four-thousand-year history of the Middle East indicates clearly that another Arab-Israeli war will occur. It is only a question of timing. Israel requires military control of the land on the Golan Heights, Gaza, and the West Bank in order to provide the strategic depth to defend itself against the overwhelming military force of twenty-one enemy Arab nations. The Arab nations possess territory that is five hundred times the size of tiny Israel. Why do the Arabs need the small strategic territory of the Golan Heights and the West Bank? The real reason that the Arabs need this territory is so they can destroy the Jewish state of Israel. Every single European or American military study in the last thirty years has concluded that Israel cannot be defended by conventional weapons if it surrenders military control over these vital strategic territories. The 1992 study by the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff confirmed that Israel can not surrender the Golan, Gaza, or the West Bank and expect to survive the next Arab invasion.

History shows that victorious nations have never returned land captured from their enemies following a defensive war in which they were forced to defend themselves against their attackers. The Golan Heights represents less than 1 percent of the territory of the large nation of Syria. The Golan Heights was only controlled by Syria for a few decades after World War I. They lost it to Israel in the Six-Day War in 1967. The only reason Syria needs this small territory is to use it to attack Israel. However, Israel desperately needs the Golan Heights to resist Syria's tanks. Moreover, 30 percent of Israel's water comes from the Golan Heights. If they surrender control of the West Bank territory, Israel will be less than nine miles wide at its center near Tel Aviv, where almost 80 percent of its population lives. In a future conflict Arab armies could easily cut Israel in two by attacking from the PLO-controlled high ground of Judea and Samaria (West Bank). The Jewish state could then be overrun in a matter of days. Unlike other conflicts in which defeat leads to a loss of territory and political freedom, an Arab conquest of Israel would lead to a massive slaughter of the Jewish population.

In a future war Israel may be quickly forced to resort to nuclear weapons when they find their small diminished territory about to be overcome by Arab armies. The Israeli army describes this desperate scenario as "the Samson Option" because it would lead to the destruction of the whole Middle East; Samson, too, brought down the temple on his enemies and on himself. Despite this grim reality, the Israeli government has agreed to relinquish much of the strategic area of the West Bank and all of Gaza while continuing negotiations with Syria about the Golan Heights. Military and intelligence sources have informed me that if this "Oslo II" peace process continues, for the first time since its creation in 1948, Israel's conventional army and air force will soon be unable to successfully defend its vital territory and population from an overwhelming Arab armed invasion.”

One of the more fascinating conclusions Grant Jeffery comes to concerns when he believes the Bible tells us this war will occur.  If he is right, then the current moves we see happening today in Syria above the Golan should be a warning sign no one should ignore.

“Although Scripture does not indicate the year in which this future invasion and defeat of Russia will occur, the prophet Haggai gives us a strong indication of what the actual day may be. Haggai reveals that on the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month (Chisleu) of the Jewish calendar, the day before Hanukkah, God will deliver Israel as He did twice before on this day: (1) the defeat of the Syrian army and recapture of the Temple in 165 b.c. and (2) the British capture of Jerusalem from the Turks in 1917 during the closing battles of WWI.

The prophet Haggai declares: "The Word of the Lord came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month [Chisleu], saying, Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth; and I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother" (Haggai 2:20­22).

This description by Haggai, and the exact language of his prophecy, is uncannily like the language of Ezekiel 38 and 39 that describes Russia's defeat. The interesting point is that Haggai names the exact day of the year on which this will occur. Since so many other prophecies have been so precisely fulfilled to the day, there is a strong probability that this prophetic event will also occur on its appointed anniversary date of the biblical calendar. "Behold, it is come, and it is done, saith the Lord God; this is the day whereof I have spoken" (Ezekiel 39:8). God's appointment with Russia is set; it will not be postponed.”

http://www.grantjeffrey.com/article/rusisrl.htm

If one might wonder if Israel considers this piece of ground to be that strategically important, we can listen to what the current leader of Israel has to say on the subject.

“Speaking at the first ever Cabinet meeting to be held in the territory, Netanyahu stated on April 17, 2016, that Israel will never give up the Golan Heights. “It’s time that the international community finally recognize that the Golan will remain forever under Israel's sovereignty,” said Netanyahu to a crowd of supporters gathered around the Israeli officials.”

http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/golan_hts.html

I can’t tell you how often I hear people ask questions concerning how to know just what is going on in the world today and how to make sense of it all.  My response, and yours as well should always be, read your Bible!

Keep Watching

Come Away

"For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth; The time of singing has come, And the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land. The fig tree puts forth her green figs, And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell. Rise up, my love, my fair one, And come away!"  Song of Solomon 2:11-13  NKJV

I wrote this article last year about this time and I somehow feel it may be even more appropriate to share it again with you now, especially as we have seen events occurring all over the world with increasing frequency which many see as definite signs of the end of this age approaching.  Considering that, and the arrival of Tu B' Av in a couple of weeks which many see as a possible time for the Church to be taken, I thought I would share these thoughts on the Song of Solomon with you. 

Did you look forward to your wedding?  Did you possibly get a little more impatient the closer you got to the actual date?  I think most of us have either participated in our own, or observed someone else in this position and understand the impatience and anticipation someone approaching their wedding day experiences.  This though, raises a question in my mind which I would like you to consider as well.  Since the Church is described as the bride of Christ, and the Word also tells us He is coming to take His bride home at a future date, do you think Jesus is experiencing those same feelings of anticipation and impatience that we do?

When is the last time you heard a sermon taught on the Songs of Solomon?  To be completely honest, I don't recall personally ever having heard one.  Which truthfully seems to be a shame because if you believe that all scripture is inspired by God, and all scripture is profitable for instruction, you are then left with the question as to why this book was included in the scripture and what is its message?  As Solomon wrote this song to a Shulamite woman who he had fallen in love with, it is in essence his love song to her as he is courting her with the intent of making her his bride.  You don't need to read very far at all to understand the depth of his love for her, and the anticipation he has for the day she will become his own.

Seen in this light, it appears to me that this song can easily be considered to be what Jesus is feeling as He looks forward to His wedding to His bride, the Church.  Although the Jews have always looked at this book as signifying God's love for the nation of Israel, and it easily could be, I can also certainly see Jesus' love for the Church and His anticipation for the coming wedding in it as well.  One of the many interesting things I found while reading this book was this description of his intended which Solomon gives us in chapter 4.

"You are all fair, my love, And there is no spot in you."  Song of Solomon 4:7  NKJV

The fact that he sees no spot in her immediately brought to mind the description of the Church Paul gives us in the book of Ephesians.

"Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish."   Ephesians 5:25-27  NKJV

For many reasons, I can read this book and picture Jesus writing these words in anticipation of His future wedding with the Church.  Yet as long as we are going to talk about a future wedding, it would also seem appropriate to consider the possible timing of it, and see if Solomon gives us any clue as to when that might take place.  Notice his description in the passage from the second chapter, and everything that he says there.  It is obvious that Solomon is talking about the season of Spring, and all of the things that occur in Israel during that particular time.

"For lo, the winter is past, The rain is over and gone."

Solomon tells us that the winter is past, as well as the early rains which normally fall in March and April.  It is these early rains which help start the growing season in Israel.

"The flowers appear on the earth;"
 
One of the things I, and many others appreciate most about spring is watching all of the flowers reappear after hiding under the snow for the winter.

"the voice of the turtledove Is heard in our land"
 
Did you know that the turtledove is a migratory bird?  It normally leaves in the fall and returns to Israel in the spring.  

"The fig tree puts forth her green figs"
 
The fig tree normally produces its first crop in the spring, usually harvested in early June. 

"And the vines with the tender grapes Give a good smell"
 
The grapes are on the vine ripening in preparation for the coming harvest which normally occurs in July. 

The late Ray Stedman had this to say about this passage from Song of Solomon;

There is the springtime of life. But it doesn't lie in the past. It lies in the future. One day this whole world will experience a springtime like that. The Lord Jesus Christ, returning at last to claim his waiting bride, will greet her in words very much like those. The springtime will come, the time of singing, the time when earth shall blossom again and the curse will be lifted and the flowers will appear on the earth. This is a picture of what can take place in the heart of one who falls in love with Jesus Christ and enters into springtime. The cold winter of loneliness, misery, and selfishness is past and the time of singing has come. 
 
All things considered, I think it is safe to say that Solomon was anticipating a wedding just like many others have.  Let’s not forget as well that the Jewish holiday of Tu B’ Av is just a couple of weeks away.  We have talked about this holiday before and its significance as not only the last holiday of the year in Israel, as well as the day in history that Jews were allowed to marry outside of their own tribes.  Many believe the Church is rapidly approaching its own wedding in Heaven, and a close look at the state of this world certainly seems to support that belief.  One day, very soon it would appear, the Church will hear the groom call out for it to "come away" just as Solomon wrote in this passage.  It is my prayer that you have made the decision to accept the gift of eternal life offered by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ for your sin, and that you are part of the body, the bride of Christ which will live with Him forever in the place He is preparing for us.

If you are reading this today and have never made the decision to accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, I urge you to do it right now. Simply admit to God that you need His forgiveness because you are a sinner,  be willing to turn away from your sins, believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins, and invite Him to come in and control  your life through the Holy Spirit by praying a simple prayer like this;

Father, I know I am a sinner in need of salvation. I believe you sent your Son Jesus to die on the cross for my sin, and I ask you now to forgive me of my sins. I want to receive your gift of salvation so please come into my heart and help me to live and follow you as my Lord and Savior. In Jesus' name, Amen.

 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:   John 1:12 NKJV

If you have prayed this prayer you are part of the body of Christ, a member of His Church, and like the rest of us are now waiting for the call to join Him in Heaven for the wedding soon to come. 

Keep watching.

Coming Soon

If you are like me, the divide in this country between political ideologies has reached a point where I can scarcely believe what I read in the news.  The positions held by many in this country are, at least in my opinion, not just radical but unbelievable. Yet as hard to believe as things have become, God foreknew this would happen and told us how He not only sees it, but describes it.  God tells us these days are a repeat of the days leading up to His judgment upon the entire world by the flood of Noah.  The following article is by Jack Kelley of “gracethrufaith.com”.  As I thought about what we are seeing today I could not help but be reminded of it, and thought I would share it with you today.

Just As in the Days of Noah

A Bible Study by Jack Kelley

As it was in the days of Noah, so will it be at the coming of the Son of Man (Matt 24:37). The time leading up to the Great Flood was a lot like our time today in that it was characterized by a deliberate and escalating disregard for the ways of God. Finally “the Lord saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time” (Gen. 6:5).

What Day Is This?

If you plot the lifespans of the patriarchs in Genesis 5 , you’ll discover it was 1656 years from Adam’s creation to the Great Flood.  During that time mankind had degenerated from human beings created in the very image of God who walked and talked with Him to a race whose thoughts and actions were totally depraved and bent only on evil (Gen. 6:5).  It’s been about 1977 years since man was first given the choice to be re-created by events at the Cross (2 Cor 5:17) but most of today’s world has declined.  As a result, a single look around us is all that’s needed to see that from a spiritual and moral perspective life today is becoming pretty much “as it was in the days of Noah.”

What Planet Are You From?

I’ve made mention in previous articles of the mysterious people in Genesis 6:4 called the Nephillim.   They were the offspring of marriages between angelic beings and earthlings. Would these beings with super natural strength (origin of the titans or demi-gods in mythology) be called aliens today? In many documented alien encounters there seems to be a great interest on their part in our reproductive system. Are aliens using humans to breed a super race again? In the King James rendering of Daniel 2:43 there’s a curious reference to someone “mingling themselves with the seed of men” in the last days. Is the anti-Christ part alien or in command of beings that are part alien and part human? As it was in the days of Noah?

Out Of The Way

But in all my years of study comparing the days of Noah with the end of the age one insight has recently made things much clearer to me. In Genesis 6:3 God warned of the removal of His Spirit from Earth before the coming judgment. Some see this passage as capping man’s life span at 120 years, but that can’t be its purpose.  In Psalm 90:10 we’re told that an average man’s life span is 70 years, and Isaiah 23:15 supports this conclusion.  Average life spans before the flood were much longer than 120 years, and after the flood soon became much shorter.  Looking at the Genesis lifespans again shows that Shem, probably the last pre-flood man, outlived 8 of the first 9 post flood generations of his descendants, including Abraham.

The fact is that 120 years was the time God gave man to prepare for the coming judgment. He said He was going to remove His Spirit from the earth prior to that judgment.   In 2 Thes 2:7 a similar warning is given concerning the end of the age (but without a deadline), and there is confusion over its interpretation just as with Gen. 6:3. The only truly literal interpretation of this passage is that sometime before the anti-Christ can be revealed in all his power beginning the Great Tribulation, the restraining force of the Holy Spirit must be taken out of the way (literally out of the midst, or from among).

Then as I was reading Genesis 6 again, the most remarkable thing happened. In my Bible Genesis 6:3 is in the right hand column about 1 inch down the page. I’ve had it highlighted for years.  In the left hand column directly across from Genesis 6:3 is another verse I highlighted some time ago. It’s Genesis 5:24 and reads; Enoch walked with God and then he was no more because God took him away. Seeing those two highlighted verses side by side like that caused the sequence of events to suddenly become so obvious to me, I don’t know why I hadn’t seen it before.  First Enoch was taken alive from earth and the Holy Spirit was withdrawn. Then in Gen. 6:5 man’s behavior is described as having become unbearably wicked and in Gen. 7 the judgment came, in that order.

Enoch’s name means teaching and according to Jude 14-15 he gave the first prophecy of the 2nd coming. Hebrew tradition holds that he was born on the 6th day of Sivan on the Hebrew calendar and was taken by God on his birthday. The 6th of Sivan is the day we know as Pentecost, the birthday of the Church. For these reasons Enoch is often seen as a model or type of the church, whose calling is also to teach the world the ways of the Lord and to talk about His coming.

You Promised You Wouldn’t Do That

The Bible declares that the Holy Spirit is sealed within believers as a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance (Ephes. 1:13-14). Paul wrote that the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn from earth sometime before the anti- Christ is allowed to trigger the judgment known as the Great Tribulation (2 Thes. 2:7).  Withdrawing the Holy Spirit without removing the Church would break God’s promise to us since it would require “unsealing” the Holy Spirit from within us. That’s something that God can’t do. “What I have said, that will I bring about,” He declares.  “What I have planned, that will I do.”  (Isaiah 46:11)

If Enoch is indeed a model of the church and if the Lord’s prophecy of Matt 24:37 is meant to describe the sequence of end times events, as seems likely, then one day soon we will be taken alive (raptured) from earth like Enoch was, and the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn. Man’s behavior will quickly become unbearably wicked and the judgment will come, all in that order.  As it was in the days of Noah. Selah 08-21-10.

As I contemplated where we see this world going, and the desires of many in this country for the type of changes they wish to see, it occurred to me that in truth, they are soon going to get exactly what they want.  Unfortunately for them, God has already foreseen what this world will look like when that happens and has chosen to describe it for them.  He calls it the Great Tribulation.

Keep watching.