Random Thoughts on the Really Good News

“Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, did God really say, you must not eat from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the serpent, we may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, you must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die. You will not certainly die, the serpent said to the woman. For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” (Genesis 3:1-5) Of course Eve was not talking to a snake, but Satan himself. The term “serpent” is a figure of speech. And here we see how Satan works and where he works. He puts doubt in the mind of those who claim to be familiar with the Word of God, like Eve and Adam (or Christians). He does not spend much, if any, time with so called wicked folks. His business is to deceive godly folks. Note his question of Eve with regard to what G...

“I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you." (Genesis 12:3) God was talking to Abraham. Few Christians seem to realize that Abraham was NOT a Jew nor was he a citizen of ISRAEL. He was from a region in modern day Southern Iraq known as Sumer and he was the Grandfather of Jacob who would become ISRAEL. God did not make the conditional covenant with Israel until they came out of Egypt in the time of Moses, more than 400 years after God pronounced the above curse on those who would curse Abraham. God’s promised to bless Abraham and His promise was unconditional. “I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.” (Genesis 12:2) Abraham was also the father of Ismael as well as six sons by his wife Keturah. All of them are descendants of Abraham. There is a place in Scripture where God says He will curse those who curse ISRAEL. It is foun...

FOLLOWING is a brief summary of my thoughts about what the Bible teaches with regard to Jesus and the Scripture to back it up… 1. Who he is : Jesus was the Son of God, the first born of all creation. He is the image of God and God created all things through him. At just the right time God sent his Son to be born of a Jewish virgin and he would live a life without sin. “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel which means God with us… the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world…the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature…” (Matthew 1:23; John 11:27; Colossians 1:15) 2. What he came to do : He would take away the sin of the world; demonstrate the love of God for sinners; become the propitiation for the sin of the whole world; ransom all mankind; judge the world in righteousness, not condemn it; reconcile all creation to God; and abolish death. All done as part of God’s plan to save all mankind and become All in A...

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.” (1 Peter 1:3) Mercy and Grace are essentially the same characteristic of our God. Mercy is withholding from us what we deserve – to die and stay dead. Grace is getting what we do not deserve – eternal life after we die. God gives us  "a living hope" (assurance) that because Jesus died and was resurrected, so shall we be resurrected also. In commenting on this verse a pastor once said… “He sent His Son to pay for our debt of sin…The Lord’s Mercy has provided a plan whereby He can righteously hold back the awful judgment that we rightly deserve.” Bob Hoekstra – Day by Day Grace. Did Jesus, the Son of God, PAY God for our sins? Does God hold back His judgment because he was paid? The answer is NO to both questions. The biblical language would have used the word PAID if that was what happen...

“My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.” (1 John 2:1-2) The death of Jesus was the “propitiation” for all of the sins of the world. Propitiation has the idea of a place where MERCY begins. It is the place where the mercy of God in resurrecting the dead is manifested – starting with Christ Jesus who promised to return and resurrect "all people" from death. The Bible says Jeus  “gave himself as a ransom for all people” (1 Timothy 2:6).  Ransom is payment to the captor for releasing the hostages. It is NOT the payment for the SINS of the hostages! Otherwise none of us would die. Mankind is held hostage by our captor, death. The cost to release the hostages was Christ Jesus identifying himself with us in death so that he could then lead tho...

“He who OVERCOMES will thus be clothed in white garments; and I WILL NOT erase his name from the book of life, and I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.” (Revelation 3:5) It seems to me that everyone must initially be listed in the “book of life” or they could not be “erased” . So who and how many are the OVERCOMERS who will not be erased? “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is the one who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” (1 John 5:4-5) Those born of God and everyone who has faith are overcomers. Paul tells the Athenians that we are ALL the children of God… “...hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation…we are the offspring of God…” (Acts 17:26-29) So how many of mankind have faith… “…God has allotted to each a meas...

“But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord." (1 Corinthians 15:57-58) It appears to me that the percentage of people in the world who profess Christ as the savior is no more, and maybe less, then the percentages at the close of the third century AD. We have more buildings, organizations, missionaries, ministries and raise more money than at any time in history yet very little impact on the percentage of people who follow Christ. So why? Well my opinion is simply that we have misunderstood passages like the above. We interpret the above passage as teaching that Christians are to DO the work of the Lord. But that is NOT what it says. The work of the Lord was done BY THE LORD and it was to “seek and to save those which are lost ”. The LORD was Victorious. He SAVED the world. The work “is fini...

While teaching in Ephesus Paul said this about his ministry to Asia… “…all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 19:10) But years later, at the end of his life, he wrote his final letter to Timothy concerning the condition of those who had heard in Asia… “T his thou know, that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me” (II Timothy 1:15). What had they turned away from, and to what? Paul tells those in Galatia plainly… “I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.” (Galatians 1:6-7) The message being DISTORTED was the good news of the free gift of salvation to ALL MANKIND by the GRACE of God, without the need for any works of the Law whatsoever. And in his final letter to Timothy Paul warned of his fear for the future condition of the church… “But evil men and seducers sha...

From God’s perspective we were saved before the foundation of the world… “…He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we would be holy and blameless before Him. In love He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will.” (Ephesians 1:3-5) From the perspective of Christ Jesus we were saved when he died on the cross to ransom all… “ For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…” (1 Timothy 2:5-6) From a believer’s perspective, we are saved when we are given faith to believe what God did through Christ Jesus… “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God.” (Ephesians 2:-8) From the institutional church’s perspective, however, none are saved until they believe the requirements of that particular institution which include, at a minimum, one or more of the following requirements: ...

"Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (Job 2:10). Job got a good portion of good and evil is his life.  He understood both were from God. And in the end  of his days he understood that all worked out for good. "We know that God works all things together for good" (Romans 8:28). We can only "know" it by experiencing it.  Some evil is necessary to highlight and appreciate the good.  

“And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith… if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost…But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” (1 Corinthians 15:14-20) The cross did not save us from death, it reconciled us to God and revealed the depth of what God would do to demonstrate His love for us. It is His resurrection to immortal LIFE that guarantees our salvation from death… “Christ died for the ungodly… God demonstrates his own love for us in this - while we were still sinners, Christ died for us…For since, while we were God’s enemies, we were reconciled to him through the death of his Son, how much more, having been reconciled, shall we be SAVED through HIS LIFE!” (Romans 5:6-10) The resurrection of Jesus is the good news that the early followers of Christ shared… “This Jesus God has raised up, of...

"You always resist the Holy Spirit…Do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God…Do not quench the Spirit." (Acts 7:51; Ephesians 4:30; and 1 Thessalonians 5:19) As I have said before, I look at the Holy Spirit as the POWER of God. It is the unseen means by which God’s plan is accomplished. It is like the wind which moves the tree branches but cannot be seen. It is futile to resist this unseen POWER of God. We often resist this unseen POWER which is working out God's plan. We quench the power of God only in the sense that we lose the joy and  peace it can bring when we believe what God will accomplish through this power, the reconciliation and salvation of all at our resurrection. “As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive…death is abolished…that God may be All in All” (1 Corinthians 5:22-28)

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth...the spirit of God was moving over the surface of the waters....” (Genesis 1:1, 3) “God is spirit…” (John 4:24) I think of POWER when I read the word “Spirit” in the Bible. And when I read the words “Holy Spirit” I think of God's omnipotent POWER. Power flows from the generator of that power, it is NOT the generator itself. Think of an electric generator. You turn it on and power flows out of it to provide the energy to turn on the lights. God is both the generator and the power flowing from it to create all things. In that sense only is the Holy Spirit God. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God...the Word became flesh...No one has seen God at any time; the ONLY BEGOTTEN GOD who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him...Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him...” (John 1:1-18; 1 John 4:15) Jesus is the Word of ...

Satan’s sphere of activities is in the religious sphere, and not the spheres of crime or immorality… We are not to look for Satan’s activities today in the newspaper press, or the police courts; but in the pulpit, and in professors’ chairs. E.W. Bullinger (1837-1913) the Companion Bible, Appendix 19. “Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness" (2 Corinthians 11:14-15) It is from pulpits and seminaries that creeds, statements of faith, and church dogma flows…and that which flows from those places do not always line up with the Word of God.  We should reject them when they do not.

"And I will pour on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the Spirit of grace and supplication." (Zechariah 12:10) Spirit is the POWER behind the action. Israel will see the power of GRACE and the power of SUPPLICATION in the future. Of that period of time Zechariah says… “And I will bring the third part (of Israel) through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” (Zechariah 13:9) One in three Jews will “call on” Jesus during that period and experience the power and grace of God’s deliverance. They will rule and reign with Christ Jesus for a 1000 years. “Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6)

“Trust unto Jehovah with all thy heart, and unto thine own understanding lean not. In all thy ways know thou Him, and He doth make straight thy paths.” (Proverbs 3:5 YLT) God can be trusted regardless of whether we trust Him or not…let that sink in a minute. God WILL make our paths straight.  That is His plan. The only thing we do is TRUST Him or not. This decision will not change the fact that He can be trusted but will give us Peace and Joy and Assurance that He is making mankind into the image of God! “And God saith, Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…I give thanks to my God…having been confident of this very thing, that He who did begin in you a good work, will perform until the day of Jesus Christ” (Genesis 1:26; Philippians 1:3-6) It is not IF I do something THEN the Lord will make straight my paths.  It will be  finished when  I am resurrected in newness of life. ”So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is p...

"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that it may be with you for the age; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see it or know it, but you know it because it abides with you and will be in you.” (John 14:16-17) Jesus asked the Father to give the Holy Spirit to those Jews who believed that Jesus is the Messiah. It would abide in them, and on Pentecost, 50 days after the resurrection, the gift of this power came and settled on those early Jewish believers… “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place…and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit (the power of God) and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.” (Acts 2:1-4) Those Jews then begin to speak to other Jews who had come from all over the world to celebrate the Jewish Festival of Weeks. By this POWER they spoke in the various languages and told them about Messiah Jesus, his resurrection an...

“Jesus said to them, who do you say that I am? Simon Peter answered; you are the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus said to him…I will build my church and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” (Matthew 16:15-18) Christ is the rock and the church is his body. Hades is where the body and soul dwell when members of the church die (which is the grave).  The church is not a building to attend or an organization to join. God Himself defined the Church as the “body" of Christ… “…gave him as head over all things to the church, which is His body...” (Ephesians 1:22-23) You do not join or go to church. If you are a part of it, it is only because God has placed you into it… “God has placed the members, each one of them, in the body, just as He desired.” (1 Corinthians 12:18) Modern church buildings were built and organized by men, God is not the contractor of such buildings.   Members of the  body of Christ (the church) are present anywhere that there a...

“Where sin abounds, grace much more abounds” (Romans 5:20) Before I became aware that the Bible taught the ultimate redemption, reconciliation and salvation of all mankind I spent many hours considering what I was being taught by the Church. It  forced me to turn to the Bible and study for myself the destiny of mankind.  The truth I would find is summarized by the Apostle Paul in his letter to Timothy…  “T his is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance. For to this end we both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe. These things command and teach.” (1 Timothy 4:9-11)

"God is working all things together for good" (Romans 8:28). M. R. DeHaan (1891-1965) once wrote about this verse as follows… “Before a thing can be made useful, something must be broken... the history of the world is but the breaking of governments, systems, ideals and programs. The history of every human life, too, is the history of breaking... every broken thing is but the assurance that God is making something useful." “Come now, let us reason together, says the Lord: though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they shall become like wool.” (Isaiah 1:18)

At the end of the ages I find that the Bible teaches that ALL are saved and justified... “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to ALL MEN, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to ALL MEN.” (Romans 5:18)  And I find that ALL are alive and reconciled to God... “For as in Adam ALL DIE, so also in Christ ALL WILL BE MADE ALIVE...and through Him to reconcile ALL THINGS to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in heaven.” (1 Corinthians 15:22; Colossians 1:20)  And I find that there is no more death or sin when ALL are immortal and God is ALL in ALL. “...our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel...at the consummation of the ages He has been manifested to put away sin...the last enemy that will be abolished is death. For He has put ALL in subjection under H...

God is the King of "the ages" and He made the ages through Christ Jesus His Son... “ Now to the King of the ages, the incorruptible, invisible, only, and wise God...in these last days did speak to us in a Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He did make the ages” (1 Timothy 1:17; Hebrews 1:1-2) And AGE is a long period of time with a beginning and an end. In Hebrew the word is “olam” and refers to a period of time so long that one cannot see beyond it. The phrase "olam va'ed” is usually translated in English Bibles as “forever and ever” but that is NOT what was meant. It means “as far as one can see and beyond”. The Greek word for Age is “aion” and clearly refers to a definite period of time with a beginning and an end even though it is translated “forever” into English sometimes in our Bible...in error. It seems to me that 5 ages  are reflected in the Bible with a beginning and an end of which two of them are past... Age 1...

“...but we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God predestined before the ages to our glory.” (1 Corinthians 2:7) God had a wise predestined plan BEFORE the ages began and it is good news... “...the good news according to the power of God, who did save us, and did call with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and GRACE, that was GIVEN to us in Christ Jesus, BEFORE the times of the ages.” (1 Timothy 1:8-9 YLT) The purpose of this good news plan was to save sinners, not by works or wise decisions they make, but by His "GRACE that was GIVEN to us" ... “...EXPECTATION of eternal life, which God, Who does not lie, promises BEFORE time began.” (Titus 1:2) Therefore we can EXPECT (be assured) that God will complete the plan as He promised "BEFORE time began" . The religious views of men will not change the predetermined plan of God. "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I ...