The Dangers of False Teaching Galatians 1:6-9
The Word of God is truth that's living and able to penetrate human souls (Heb. 4:12). Consider how powerful Scripture is: it can change hearts, save lives from eternal condemnation, and give hope to the hopeless.
Is it any wonder, then, that the Bible is a battlefield of Satan? The Devil will do his best to destroy its message and truth. In fact, this has been our Enemy's continuous goal since he chose to turn from God.
Our heavenly Father has graciously let us know in advance the outcome of this ongoing battle: Truth will prevail. But while the Lord has the ultimate victory, Satan can gain ground among individuals. His tactics are dangerous and deceptive to the unsuspecting. For this reason, we should carefully guard against his attacks, which are hard to recognize unless we are prepared.
False teaching is one of Satan's preferred tactics for leading us astray. At first glance, such instruction often seems to align with Scripture, but do not be misled by the deception. Two things are essential for standing firm against these slippery falsehoods: to be well grounded in the truth of God's Word and to listen to His Spirit. Only then can we recognize the error and avoid the pitfalls of Satan's lies.
The Enemy longs to mislead believers so they'll be ineffective for the kingdom. He also wants to keep all unsaved souls far from salvation through Jesus Christ. Friends, prepare for battle. Grow in the knowledge of truth, and lean on God's Spirit to guide you moment by moment.
God Is Always In Control
Isaiah 45:5-7
I admit that I often don't understand why bad things happen. Even so, I believe that God has a purpose for everythingHe does or permits. My
faith is rooted in the biblical principle that says the Lord is sovereign (Ps. 22:28). He is in absolute control of this universe, the natural and political climate of this earth, and my life and yours.
When we are in the midst of a trial, it is hard to resist crying out, "God, Why is this happening?" Sometimes we get the answer and sometimes we don't. What we can be sure of is that nothing happens by accident or coincidence. He has a purpose for even our most painful experiences. Moreover, we have His promise to "cause all things to work together for good to those who love God" (Rom. 8:28).
Seeing in advance how the Lord will work evil or hurt for our benefit is very difficult, if not impossible. My limited human perspective doesn't allow me to grasp His greater plan. However, I can confirm the truth of this biblical promise because the Father's good handiwork appears all through my pain, hardship, and loss. I have experienced Him turn mourning into gladness and have seen Him reap bountiful blessings and benefits from my darkest hours.
As believers, we must accept that God won't always make sense to us. Isaiah teaches that His ways and thoughts are higher than our own (Isa. 55:9). He sees the beautifully completed big picture. We can rely on the fact that God is in control, no matter how wildly off-kilter our world seems to spin.
When a Nation Turns Its Back on God
2 Chronicles 33
Hezekiah was a god-fearing king who brought about reformation among the Israelites. His son Manasseh, however, was an evil ruler. He had watched his father walk with God and live according to Scripture. Yet he chose to ignore the Lord.
Manasseh worshipped false gods, even to the point of sacrificing his sons by fire in order to praise Molech. He practiced much evil-including witchcraft and sorcery- and led Israel astray, thereby provoking God to anger. The king, along with the people, paid a high price for his rebellion.
This story illustrates the Lord's intolerance of a nation's disregard toward Him. Now consider our country. We, too, are a nation that pushes God aside-one that has turned away from the only true God and embraced idols. Perhaps these aren't statues of stone, but we worship money, sports ability, fame, and reputation, to name a few.
The United States of America was founded on biblical principles with the intent to guarantee freedom of worship. But over time, we have removed the Lord from many aspects of public life.
Prayer in schools, for instance, was deemed unconstitutional. What was once a "nation under God" has turned into a country that tolerates a growing number of sins and yet belittles absolute truth.
If a nation turns its back on the Lord, His judgment is inevitable unless the people repent and make Him Lord once again. As believers, our responsibility is to pray that God would draw the heart of our country back to Himself-and to help the gospel and truth spread through our land.
The Impact of Prayer
1 Thessalonians 5:17-18
Prayer is the lifeblood of an intimate relationship with the Father. But believers often have questions about its power and effectiveness. Don't hesitate to take your queries to the Lord, dig into Scripture for answers, and seek the counsel of a trusted spiritual mentor. Prayer is too important to neglect.
Will God's plans fail if I don't pray? God is not subservient to believers or dependent upon their prayers. The time we invest in speaking with Him involves us in the work that He is doing in our lives and in the world, but He will carry on without us.Laboring alongside the Lord is our privilege.
Does my prayer (or lack thereof) impact God's work? I believe that Scripture indicates the answer to this question is both yes and no, depending upon the situation. There are times when God's purpose is set. He is in control and has determined the best course. In the Old Testament, the Lord often prophesied what He would do and then brought those events to pass.
In other cases, "you do not have because you do not ask" (James 4:2). There are some good things that He holds back until we put out prayerful hands to receive them. But because God is a loving Father, He also pours our blessings that we wouldn't even think to request.
Believer's prayers have tremendous impact, particularly on their own
faith and life. Do you understand what an awesome privilege it is to kneel before the all-powerful Father and know that He listens and will respond? God loves to be good to His children and answer their prayers.
The Crucial Point"But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." (Galatians 6:14)
Whenever people speak of "the crucial point of the issue" or "the crux of the matter," they are inadvertently acknowledging the centrality of the cross of Christ, for these words are derived from the Latin
crux, meaning "a cross."
The cross of our Lord Jesus Christ is right at the very heart of Christianity and also at the very heart of the opposition to Christianity. "For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God" (
1 Corinthians 1:18).
It was at the cross, and on the cross, that Christ defeated Satan. "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (
Colossians 2:14-15).
And it is at the cross that we also must be crucified, spiritually, if Satan is to be defeated in our own lives. "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me" (
Galatians 2:20). "And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts" (
Galatians 5:24). "Our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin" (
Romans 6:6).
Crucifixion, of course, is exceedingly painful, and therefore there is a very real "offense of the cross" (
Galatians 5:11). Many Christians resist the demands on the life and the mind and the body that are entailed in such total identification with Christ. They would rather glory in earthly things. But how much better it is to glory, as Paul did, only in the cross, crucified unto the world. HMM
The Good Pastor"I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine." (John 10:14)
The Greek word used here for "shepherd" is the same as for "pastor." The Lord Jesus, therefore, was saying, in effect: "I am the good pastor: the good pastor giveth his life for the sheep [that is, 'for His flock']." A good pastor is, thus, one who leads his flock into good pasture, who knows his flock, and who is known by his flock. A good pastor would even give his life for his flock (vv. 1-16).
However, this is not merely a term for the leader of a church congregation. The term and the concept are sufficiently broad to include all those individuals (teachers, military officers, parents, etc.) who have leadership responsibilities.
In all such cases, our guide and example is our good shepherd, our good pastor, our good leader-the Lord Jesus Christ. With this in mind, consider some of the other biblical references to our good shepherd: "Feed the flock of God which is among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly; not for filthy lucre, but of a ready mind; Neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensamples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away" (
1 Peter 5:2-4).
Note also Hebrews 13:20-21: "Now the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work to do his will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever."
Most every Christian, at least on occasion, must assume the function of a spiritual shepherd, and
every Christian, always, is spiritually a sheep. The Lord Jesus is our good shepherd, and we do well to follow Him in all things. HMM
Nine Forty-Day Periods"To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs, being seen of them forty days, and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God." (Acts 1:3)
It is interesting how often the Scriptures refer to a forty-day period. There are nine different forty-day periods noted in Scripture (the phrase itself occurs seventeen times), and it may be noteworthy that forty days is one-ninth of the original (and prophetic) lunar/solar year of 360 days (note
Genesis 7:11; 8:3-4;
Revelation 11:2-3). Thus, the total of the nine forty-day periods equals the ideal year.
These nine forty-day periods are as follows: (1) The intense rainfall at the start of the Flood (
Genesis 7:12, 17); (2) The first giving of the law (
Exodus 24:18;
Deuteronomy 9:9, 11); (3) The second giving of the law (
Exodus 34:28;
Deuteronomy 9:18, 25); (4) The searching of Canaan by the fearful spies (
Numbers 13:25; 14:34); (5) The defiance of Israel by Goliath (
1 Samuel 17:16); (6) Elijah's journey to Horeb (
1 Kings 19:8); (7) Jonah's reluctant preaching in Nineveh (
Jonah 3:4); (8) Christ's temptation in the wilderness (
Matthew 4:2;
Mark 1:13;
Luke 4:2); (9) Christ's post-resurrection ministry (
Acts 1:3).
Each of these periods was a time of great stress and intense testing for one or more of God's people, except the last. Instead, the final forty-day period, encompassing Christ's ministry to His disciples after His resurrection, was a time of triumph and great blessing. He had come victoriously through the most intense time of stress and testing that anyone could ever experience, and now He could show Himself alive eternally to His disciples and promise them the same victory. Forty days of testing, then forty days of triumph! Even a lifetime of testing is more than balanced by an eternity of blessing. HMM
The Pillar and Ground
of the Truth"These things write I unto thee, hoping to come into thee shortly: But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth." (1 Timothy 3:14-15)
The church has been ordained by God to be the primary instrument through which His work on Earth is to be accomplished. Here Paul uses three phrases to describe three aspects of the church:
The house of God: The Christian family with husband, wife, and children performing their God-given roles, provides a beautiful picture of the relationship of the church (the "bride" of Christ) to the Lord. The household of God consists of a family of believers where love controls and where He is honored. "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual
house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (
1 Peter 2:5).
The church of the living God: The
ekklesia, or "called-out ones," serve the living God. "The blood of Christ [shall] . . . purge your conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (
Hebrews 9:14).
The pillar and ground of the truth: A facade pillar of a building is not used for support, but rather for display by elevating or calling attention to something else. The
ground provides the support. The church should function to support and display the whole truth in such a way that all men can see and believe it.
It should be a family of believers exhibiting brotherly love, individually and corporately serving the living God out of a pure conscience, defending the truth, and displaying it to the lost. May each of us as church members enjoy and support such a church. JDM
A Provoked Spirit"They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips." (Psalm 106:32-33)
This terse passage summarizes the tragic events described in Numbers 20:1-13. If ever a religious leader had a right to be provoked with an ungrateful and complaining flock, Moses did. Finally, after years of privation in the wilderness, the people complained once too often, and Moses could take it no longer (or so he thought). In anger, he rebuked the rebels and smote the rock, taking credit himself for God's miraculous provision of water. As a result, God rebuked him, and he was not allowed to enter the promised land.
It is all too easy, in times of pressure and inconsiderate selfishness all around us, to rise up in "righteous indignation" and, like Moses, "spake unadvisedly with [our] lips." This is surely one of Satan's most common devices. Such verbal assaults may be well deserved and may seem to give personal satisfaction for a time, but they are usually counterproductive in the long run and very hurtful to one's testimony for Christ to those so assaulted (imagine Peter trying to witness to Malchus after he had sliced off Malchus' ear in anger!). Unfortunately, "the tongue can no man tame; it is an unruly evil, full of deadly poison" (
James 3:8).
The Lord Jesus Himself is the ideal example in this difficult realm for "he was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth" (
Isaiah 53:7). He could have called ten legions of angels to destroy His tormentors, but instead He prayed: "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do" (
Luke 23:34).
Let us not be easily provoked to so-called righteous indignation. "Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps" (
1 Peter 2:21). HMM
Our Sins in His Body"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
When Christ suffered on the cross for our sins, His entire body suffered. A vicious crown of thorns was pressed into His brow and then "they smote him on the head" and "spit upon him" (
Mark 15:17, 19). He already was weak and battered from Pilate's dreaded scourging with the infamous Roman cat-o'-nine-tails (
John 19:1).
Cruel spikes were driven into His hands and nails into His feet, suspending His pain-racked body from the cross (
Psalm 22:16). The word "stripes" in our text actually appears in the singular. Christ on the cross was one big stripe, or wound. Finally, He died (v. 33) and "one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water" (
John 19:34).
Indeed, He was bearing our sins in every last part of His body on the tree! The enormity of the necessary payment provides a partial measure of the enormity of our sins in the sight of a holy God. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint. From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment" (
Isaiah 1:5-6). "Their throat is an open sepulchre; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips: . . . Their feet are swift to shed blood: . . . There is no fear of God before their eyes" (
Romans 3:13, 15, 18).
But He bore all the sins of our body, and therefore we, in God's sight, are dead to sins and alive to righteousness. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" (
Romans 11:33). HMM
The Righteous Man"Little children, let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous." (1 John 3:7)
There is an old spiritual song that has the phrase "ev'ry body talkin' 'bout heav'n ain't goin' there." That's a good summary statement of biblical truth-and worth repeating. As our text puts it, the righteous man does righteousness. But there is more to this principle.
A Righteous Man Knows He Is Righteous: As a young man, King David was very conscious of his righteousness. David knew that he had "clean hands," that he "kept the ways of the LORD," and that he had neither "done wickedly" nor "departed" from God. David was also careful to put the "judgments" and the "statutes" of God out in front of his thoughts. "Therefore," he said, "hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness" (
Psalm 18:20-24).
A Righteous Man Loves Righteousness: The opening stanza of the majestic Psalm 119 makes this statement: "Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart. They also do no iniquity: they walk in his ways" (
Psalm 119:2-3). The apostle John is even more succinct: "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous" (
1 John 5:3).
A Righteous Man Resolves to Live Righteously: "I will behave myself wisely in a perfect way . . . . I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set no wicked thing before mine eyes: I hate the work of them that turn aside; it shall not cleave to me. A froward heart shall depart from me: I will not know a wicked person" (
Psalm 101:2-4).
Those who long to be
with God long to be
like God. HMM III
Afraid to Understand"For he taught his disciples, and said unto them, The Son of man is delivered into the hands of men, and they shall kill him; and after that he is killed, he shall rise the third day. But they understood not that saying, and were afraid to ask him." (Mark 9:31-32)
When the Lord Jesus told His disciples about His coming death and resurrection, He could hardly have spoken more plainly, yet they "understood not." Not willing to believe that He meant what He said (with all its uncomfortable implications for their own futures), they were "afraid to ask Him" what He meant, lest He confirm that His words should be taken literally.
This was not the only time. Again and again He told them that He would be crucified and then rise again, but they could not (or would not) understand. On one such occasion, Peter even rebuked Him, and said: "Lord: this shall not be unto thee." But the Lord answered, "Get thee behind me, Satan" (
Matthew 16:22-23). A refusal to take God's Word literally, at least in this case, was said by Christ to be inspired by Satan!
Modern evangelical Christians no longer doubt the reality of His sacrificial death and bodily resurrection, for the evidence has become overwhelming, and these truths have become the glory and power of the gospel. Nevertheless, fearful reluctance to take God's Word literally is still a great problem among some "Bible believers." Whenever such a stand might become costly, many Christians eagerly accept non-literal ways of "interpreting" Scripture to fit their own preferences. This approach, of course, is especially widespread in modern accommodations of the creation/Flood record of Genesis to the philosophies of modern evolutionary humanism. We should remember always that, just as in Christ's predictions of His death and resurrection, God always means exactly what He says in His Word. HMM
A Righteous Heart"And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel." (1 Kings 11:9)
The Scriptures have an interesting commentary on Solomon's life: "When Solomon was old.his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God" (
1 Kings 11:4). How is it possible to start well and end sadly?
We Must Guard Our Heart: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life," Solomon admonished in
Proverbs 4:23. The Hebrew word for "keep" is
natsar and the main verb for "guard" or "set a watch."
Psalm 119 uses
natsar 10 times to demand our careful "watch" on our obedience and use of the Word of God. The promise is: "Blessed are they that
keep his testimonies, and that seek him with the whole heart" (
Psalm 119:2).
Store the Good Treasure: In one of his many confrontations with the Pharisees, Jesus gave several illustrations about the impact of the "heart" part of our nature. Jesus spoke of binding the "strong man," noting that a tree produces the fruit it was grown for, and that snakes are always snakes. Then Jesus makes this observation: "A good man out of the good treasure of the heart bringeth forth good things: and an evil man out of the evil treasure bringeth forth evil things" (
Matthew 12:35).
Others Will Try to Turn Your Heart: Jereboam (
1 Kings 11-12) led Israel in rebellion against Judah and against God. He "devised of his own heart" (
1 Kings 12:33) liturgical practices that "made Israel to sin" (
1 Kings 15:34). Peter warns: "Beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness" (
2 Peter 3:17).
We must guard our hearts, "for out of it are the issues of life" (
Proverbs 4:23). HMM III
The Witness of Creation"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." (Revelation 3:14)
This salutation in the last of the seven church epistles in Revelation contains the last of four occurrences of the distinctive phrase "the beginning of the creation." The glorified Christ here assumes this as one of His divine names. Even God's work of creation, long since completed (
Genesis 2:1-3), had a beginning, and that beginning was Christ. "In the beginning was the Word . . . and . . . all things were made by him" (
John 1:1-3).
The first two occurrences of this phrase also come from the lips of Christ. "From the beginning of the creation God made them male and female" (
Mark 10:6). This assertion by the Creator, Jesus Christ, quoting
Genesis 1:27, makes it unambiguously certain that Adam and Eve were created at the beginning of creation, not after the earth had already existed for 4.6 billion years. God also wrote this plainly on the tables of the law (
Exodus 20:8-11). Those evangelicals who accept the geological ages evidently reject this clear statement of the creation's Creator!
Then Christ also referred to the end-times in the context of the beginning-times. "In those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be" (
Mark 13:19).
The phrase is also used in Peter's very important prophecy concerning the scoffers of the end-times, who will argue (in willful ignorance) that "all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation" (
2 Peter 3:3-4), thereby denying that there ever was a real creation or real Creator and thus rejecting Christ Himself. But He is also the "true witness" and the "Amen," and such denials will only be "unto their own destruction" (
2 Peter 3:16). HMM
Undeserved Suffering"Why standest thou afar off, O LORD? why hidest thou thyself in times of trouble?" (Psalm 10:1)
This cry of the psalmist has been echoed times without number by those persecuted for their faith. "Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O LORD? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression?" (
Psalm 44:22-24). Consequently, one of the great mysteries of life is the suffering of the righteous. How can a God of love and power allow such undeserved suffering in His creation?
The fact is, however, that there is no such thing as undeserved suffering, "For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God" (
Romans 3:23). The reason there is suffering in the world is that there is sin in the world. Even though one's particular experience of suffering may or may not be directly related to his particular sin, all of us are sinners before God, and therefore deserving of nothing
but suffering and judgment in the sight of a holy God.
It is not suffering which is undeserved, but God's grace and mercy! "Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us" (
Titus 3:5). There has only been one person in all history whose suffering was undeserved, and He suffered for us, "the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God" (
1 Peter 3:18).
Our sufferings are not undeserved, but neither are they uncontrolled, for God "worketh all things after the counsel of his own will" (
Ephesians 1:11). There are many good reasons why God permits a faithful Christian to suffer, but even if one cannot discern the particular reason at the time, he can at least "rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy" (
1 Peter 4:13). HMM
A Righteous Desire"But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness." (Matthew 6:33)
The Pharisees of Jesus' day were quite "religious" in their behavior, but our Lord often took them to task because "all their works they do for to be seen of men" (
Matthew 23:5).
God's Kingdom Is First Priority: The Lord's admonition in our text was given to focus His followers beyond the "ordinary" desires and needs of their physical existence. We are expected to "look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (
2 Corinthians 4:18). As promised, when we are rightly focused, "all these other things shall be added unto you" (
Matthew 6:33).
Yielded to Righteousness: We become "servants" of those things that we "obey." We obey that which we have "yielded" ourselves to (
Romans 6:16). It is not possible to "serve two masters" (
Matthew 6:24). Our "members" (our physical bodies) can either become "instruments" (weapons) of ungodliness or of righteousness (
Romans 6:13). We either "walk" after the Spirit or after the flesh (
Romans 8:1).
Doggedly Pursue Godliness: "But thou, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness" (
1 Timothy 6:11). Even though our "new man" longs for righteousness, and we consciously yield ourselves to seek and serve God's kingdom, "with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin" (
Romans 7:25).
We must never become slack in our diligence. "Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (
1 Corinthians 10:12). HMM III
The Christian's Calling"I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called." (Ephesians 4:1)
The Christian's calling in Christ is a high calling. Since we are encouraged to walk in a manner worthy of this calling, it behooves us to make careful study of it, lest our lifestyle bring reproach to the One who has called us. Consider the following sampling of the uses of this important word:
First, the calling is "of God" and irrevocable (
Romans 11:29). We are called "by his grace" (
Galatians 1:15) and "into the grace of Christ" (
Galatians 1:6). We are called "out of darkness" and "into his marvellous light" (
1 Peter 2:9). Furthermore, we are "called to be saints" (
Romans 1:7). He has "called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace" (
2 Timothy 1:9). We are "partakers of the heavenly calling" (
Hebrews 3:1), and in response, we should "press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (
Philippians 3:14).
The New Testament writers as well mention many things to which we are called. We are "called un
to the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord" (
1 Corinthians 1:9). We are "called un
to liberty" (
Galatians 5:13) and are now free to "serve one another," even though it means accepting the call to suffering. "For even hereun
to were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps" (
1 Peter 2:21). The "eternal life, whereun
to thou art also called" may not come easily, for it involves the "good fight of faith" (
1 Timothy 6:12). We are called "
to glory and virtue" (
2 Peter 1:3), even "his eternal glory by Christ Jesus" (
1 Peter 5:10), for we are "called the sons of God" (
1 John 3:1). "Give diligence to make your calling and election sure" (
2 Peter 1:10). JDM
Father of Glory, Father of Lights"I saw also the LORD sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face. . . . And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the LORD of hosts." (Isaiah 6:1-3)
The concluding verse of the hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" recognizes the majesty of our great God. His splendor is so great that even the angels must hide their eyes from the brightness, as we see in our text, while they adoringly praise His purity.
Great Father of glory, pure Father of light,
Thine angels adore thee, all veiling their sight;
All praise we would render; O help us to see
'Tis only the splendor of light hideth thee!
All light and life, as well as all good things, come from God. "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning" (
James 1:17). He is not only the "Father of lights," dispelling each "shadow," He is the "Father of glory." Paul prayed for you and me: "That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened" (
Ephesians 1:17-18). As with the hymn writer, we need His help to fully see and praise Him.
Thus, in one hymn we are reminded that God is immortal, invisible, wise, light, blessed, glorious, the Ancient of Days, almighty, victorious, unresting, unhasting, unwanting, not wasteful, mighty, just, life, unchangeable, the Father of glory, the Father of light, and adored by angels. Furthermore, He dwells in splendor, deserves our praise, rules in might, provides goodness and love, gives life, and enlightens our understanding. JDM
Click here for the sheet music for this hymn.
Naught Changeth Thee"For all flesh is like grass, and the glory of men as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away: But the word of the Lord endureth for ever." (1 Peter 1:24-25)
What comparison can be made between the unchanging, eternal Creator of life and frail, temporal man? Verse three of the beautiful hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" makes such a comparison, or rather, such a contrast.
To all, life thou givest to both great and small;
In all life thou livest, the true life of all;
We blossom and flourish as leaves on a tree,
And wither and perish-but naught changeth thee.
As in nature today, life comes only from life, and in the beginning, the living Creator imparted life to otherwise inanimate chemicals. To the plants and non-conscious animals, He gave only biological life; but to the creatures, from the smallest to the greatest, He gave true life (i.e., breath, blood, and consciousness); and to men, His image. As Creator, He needs nothing from His creation: "Neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things" (
Acts 17:25). Furthermore, "in him we live, and move, and have our being" (v. 28).
But the creation was distorted by sin, and now death reigns over all life, "like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth, and groweth up; in the evening it is cut down, and withereth" (
Psalm 90:5-6). But God lasts forever. "Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God" (
Psalm 90:2). He doesn't change. "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever" (
Hebrews 13:8). And, as we see in our text, neither does His Word change. JDM
Click here for the sheet music for this hymn.
The Unresting God"Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding." (Isaiah 40:28)
The second verse of the mighty hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise" continues with a listing of some of His attributes. Of course, the full list of His attributes as recorded in Scripture would be very long, but many of them are pieced together here in this verse in a way which emphasizes God's mighty works on behalf of His creation and us, His children, and His utter self-sufficiency and power.
Unresting, unhasting, and silent as light,
Nor wanting, nor wasting, thou rulest in might;
Thy justice like mountains high soaring above,
Thy clouds which are fountains of goodness and love.
God's power is inexhaustible; He needs neither rest nor refreshment. He is not like the impotent Baal, "peradventure he sleepeth" (
1 Kings 18:27), unable to hear and unable to answer. God needs nothing from us. "Who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again? For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen" (
Romans 11:35-36).
He never wastes His energy nor His actions. "For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven" (
Psalm 119:89). Several thoughts in the hymn are echoed by David's praise to his Lord. "Thy mercy, O LORD, is in the heavens; and thy faithfulness reacheth unto the clouds. Thy righteousness is like the great mountains; thy judgments are a great deep: O LORD, thou preservest man and beast. How excellent is thy loving kindness, O God! therefore the children of men put their trust under the shadow of thy wings" (
Psalm 36:5-7). JDM
Click here for the sheet music for this hymn.
Immortal, Invisible, God Only"Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen." (1 Timothy 1:17)
Many of the grand old hymns of the faith consist of the actual words and phrases of Scripture, either repeated verbatim or paraphrased and collected around a doctrinal theme. Such is the case for the stately hymn "Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise," where we find, almost in list form, the attributes and character of God. In each of the next four days, we will focus our attention on one of its four verses, and through them on our great God and His nature.
Immortal, invisible God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious, thy great name we praise.
Obviously, much of the source for this first verse comes from the benediction in our text above. God is both eternal and immortal. "I AM THAT I AM" (Exodus 3:14) He called Himself. Later we read that the Immortal One died but rose from the dead and now "ever liveth to make intercession for [us]" (Hebrews 7:25).
Daniel called Him the "Ancient of Days" and described Him with great splendor and brilliance (Daniel 7:9-14). Paul called Him "the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords; Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen" (1 Timothy 6:15-16).
Note Daniel's testimony of praise: "Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever: for wisdom and might are his, and he changeth the times and the seasons: he removeth kings, and setteth up kings: . . . and the light dwelleth with him" (Daniel 2:20-22). JDM
Click here for the sheet music for this hymn.
The God of Heaven"And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land." (Jonah 1:9)
It was by these words that the prophet Jonah identified himself to the merchants of Tarshish as he was fleeing on their ship from the presence of the Lord. This special title, "the God of heaven," seems generally to have been used by the Jews when they were talking to men of other religions, stressing that their God was no mere tribal deity, but the true God who had created the very heavens.
The title was first used by Abraham, speaking to his servant: "And I will make thee swear by the LORD, the God of heaven, and the God of the earth" (
Genesis 24:3). At this time, the nation of Israel existed only in the promise of this "God of heaven."
It also appears frequently in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, first in the decree of Cyrus the Persian: "The LORD God of heaven . . . hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem" (
Ezra 1:2). Even though the Persians followed lesser gods, Cyrus knew that the one God of heaven was the Creator. The name then reappears several times in the book of Daniel, who was living in the palace of the heathen king of Babylon. Its final Old Testament occurrence is Daniel 2:44: "The God of heaven [shall] set up a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed."
In the New Testament it occurs only twice, both in Revelation. In one instance, John writes that the ungodly nations "blasphemed the God of heaven"; in the other, he says they "gave glory to the God of heaven" (
Revelation 16:11; 11:13). In our own witnessing today, especially to those who don't know or believe the Bible, it is also good to stress that our God is not just the God of Judeo-Christian tradition, but the Creator of all things. HMM
Habitation for God"Until I find out a place for the LORD, an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob. Lo, we heard of it at Ephratah: we found it in the fields of the wood. We will go into his tabernacles: we will worship at his footstool." (Psalm 132:5-7)
These fascinating verses may well have a double meaning. First, a retrospective reference to David's desire to build a temple for God and, second, a prophecy concerning a still future habitation for God. Ephratah was the same as Bethlehem, the birthplace of both David and his greater son, Jesus.
The writer of this psalm may have been King Hezekiah, a contemporary of the prophet Micah, who had written: "Thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, . . . out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting" (
Micah 5:2). He was also a contemporary of Isaiah, who had written concerning this same coming Son: "His name shall be called . . . The mighty God" (
Isaiah 9:6).
David had desired to build an earthly habitation for the mighty God of Israel; Isaiah had said this "mighty God" would be "a child born" and "a Son given"; and Micah said He would be born in Bethlehem Ephratah. Our psalmist must have been thinking about these truths when he saw, through the future eyes of those "in the fields of the wood," "at Ephratah," this "place for the LORD," who then would go to "worship at His footstool."
Some 800 years later, "there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the fields" at Bethlehem Ephratah, when a great host of angels told them the promised Savior had come, directing them to go to His "habitation" to worship Him. And that was where they did, indeed, find Him, "wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger" (
Luke 2:8, 12), and they were the very first to "worship at his footstool." HMM
To Be Like Him"But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy." (1 Peter 1:15-16)
Scripture admonishes us as Christians to be like our Lord and Savior in "all manner of conversation," or all manner of life. We are His earthly witnesses, and we must so order our lives that we are an adequate reflection of Him.
We are to be like Him in the purity of our lives. As our text points out, "Be ye holy; for I am holy." "Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure" (
1 John 3:3). "Follow . . . holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord" (
Hebrews 12:14).
Our daily walk and lives should be patterned after Him. "He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked" (
1 John 2:6). "If we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another" (
1 John 1:7).
Furthermore, we are to be like Him in love. "Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God . . . for God is love" (
1 John 4:7-8). We are to be willing to suffer unjustly without revenge, "because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (
1 Peter 2:21-22).
Being like Him involves a life of service, as well. "If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you" (
John 13:14-15).
Christ has forgiven each of us many times, even though our sins grieve Him deeply. He stands ready to forgive and restore fellowship, and so should we. With His help, we can emulate Him, even when we are wronged. "Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you" (
Ephesians 4:32). JDM
The Flesh and the Spirit"This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh." (Galatians 5:16)
The conflict between flesh and spirit is a frequent theme in Scripture, beginning way back in the antediluvian period: "And the Lord said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh" (Genesis 6:3). The "flesh," of course, refers to the physical body with all its feelings and appetites, while man's "spirit" refers especially to his spiritual nature with its ability to understand and communicate in terms of spiritual and moral values, along with its potential ability to have fellowship with God.
Because of sin, however, the natural man is spiritually "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1), and "they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). When the flesh dominates, even the apostle Paul would have to say, "I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing" (Romans 7:18). This aspect of human nature became so dominant in the antediluvian world that "all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth" (Genesis 6:12), and God had to wash the world clean with the Flood.
Now, however, the substitutionary death of Christ brings salvation and spiritual life to all who receive Him by the Holy Spirit. "If Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you" (Romans 8:10-11). By the Lord Jesus Christ, the human spirit is made alive right now, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and the body's resurrection is promised when Christ returns.
"They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh." The daily challenge to the believer is this: "If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit" (Galatians 5:24-25). HMM
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