The beauty of the history books of the Old Testament is that these sections of the inspired word of God give us a myriad of opportunities to see real men and women make godly or ungodly choices and so learn from them. I like to think of the history books as “narrative theology,” stories that implicitly teach the principles of living as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The historical book of 1 Kings begins with the rise of Solomon to the throne in Jerusalem and ends with the death of Ahab, one of the evilest kings of the northern kingdom of Israel. Almost in the middle, we find 1 Kings 13, which has the curious story of a man of God who declares the LORD’s message to Jeroboam and who then eats with another prophet of the LORD. Let’s take a look at the story.

After delivering his prophetic message from the LORD to King Jeroboam, the man of God refuses the king’s invitation to come to his home, because he has been “commanded by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘You shall neither eat bread nor drink water nor return by the way that you came (13:9).’” So far, so good. The man of God has both delivered the LORD’s message to the king and he has refused to do what the Word of the LORD forbid him to do. The man of God then meets an old prophet who also invites him to come home with him and to eat bread. At first the man of God refuses, telling the old prophet what the word of the LORD forbids him to do (13:17). Still okay. But then the old prophet deceives the man of God and tells him, “I also am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the LORD, saying, ‘Bring him back with you into your house that he may eat bread and drink water (13:18).’” The man of God carelessly believes this deception, goes to the home of the old prophet, eats and drinks with him, and then is killed by a lion as a consequence of his disobedience.

The dominant theme of this narrative is the serious nature of disobedience.
THE MAN OF GOD’S DISOBEDIENCE
The man of God had directly received the word of the LORD (13:9) and he had understood the word of the LORD, for twice he articulates the word of the LORD that he had received (13:9, 17). Therefore, he was not unclear on the command and he even obeyed the command twice. Unfortunately, the old prophet introduced a third test with a twist. The man of God is not diligent or vigilant with the lie from the old prophet. Perhaps he thinks his mission is over, so he lets his guard down. But he should instead be alert because the enemy is constantly prowling (1 Peter 5:8) and constantly seeking to deceive to bring about ruin.
Next, the man of God forsakes the clearly revealed word of the LORD for a lie that directly contradicts the revealed word. Consider the nature of the old prophet’s deception so that you, too, will not be ruined by a similar lie. The man of God had received the word of the LORD directly, but the old prophet claimed that he got the word of the LORD from an angel.

Here is the principle: The word of the LORD always comes directly, and messages from an angel are always suspect (Galatians 1:8; 2 Corinthians 11:14; Joseph Smith claimed to receive his Mormon message from an angel; Mohammed supposedly received the Koran from the angel Gabriel). We have, in the Bible, the directly revealed word of the LORD. Thus, any truth claim is always evaluated based on how well it agrees with the directly revealed word of God. If there is disagreement with the word of God, and especially if there is direct contradiction to the Word, the other truth claim is a deception. It is a lie coming from the father of lies (John 8:44) and it is to be accursed (Galatians 1:8-9). The man of God made this fundamental mistake: he forsook the clearly revealed word of the LORD for a lie (Romans 1:25). We must not make this mistake.
THE DANGER OF DISOBEDIENCE
Mark it down: The LORD takes disobedience to His word very seriously. We may forget this because we so often receive mercy and patience from the Lord. It may seem to us that the Lord always acts toward us with patience and forbearance (Romans 2:4), and we may forget that the only reason the Lord ever withholds His judgment from our disobedience is His grace. But while the LORD may be gracious toward us and show us patience when we are disobedient, He may also bring swift judgment and wrath. And this applies to unbelievers and to believers (Romans 13:5; Colossians 3:25). For this reason, the disciple is to fear the LORD and to tremble before His justice and is to be ever diligent to obey His Word. Consider these scriptural examples of how the LORD has dealt with disobedience in judgment:
• Saul thought he could obey the LORD on his own terms (1 Samuel 15, especially verses 22-23), so the LORD tore the kingdom from him.
• Uzzah just put his hand out to steady the teetering ark of the covenant and the LORD struck him dead (2 Samuel 6:6-7).
• Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, put strange fire in their censers and were consumed by fire before the LORD (Leviticus 10:1-2).
• David’s disobedience with Bathsheba and Uriah resulted in the death of four of his sons and having his kingdom taken away for a time by Absalom.
• Ananias and Sapphira both died (Acts 5) because they lied to the Lord, the Spirit.
• Moses was denied entrance into the Promised Land because of his one disobedience in striking the rock at Meribah (Numbers 20:11-13).
• Adam plunged the entire human race into sin because of his one act of disobedience (Genesis 2:17; 3:6; Romans 5:12-19).
In most of these cases, the LORD gave no warning of His sudden judgment, and the things that elicited His wrath often seemed minor. Nevertheless, God’s justice is perfect, and His judgments are just.
Just so, in the case of the man of God, it may seem that his offense was almost trivial, and that he was even tricked into his disobedience. But what may seem to us to be a small infraction is, in fact, open rebellion and disobedience to the word of the LORD. The LORD of the universe has spoken His word, and all mankind is obligated to hear and obey. The glory and the authority of the One who has issued His Word establishes the haughty defiance of any disobedience. When YHWH speaks, man is to listen and is to diligently obey, and anything less that diligent obedience is open rebellion.

APPLICATIONS
My conviction is that this narrative in 1 Kings 13 is in the word of God to again remind us of how seriously the Lord takes disobedience to His Word. Since the LORD has revealed His Word in the Bible, all men everywhere are accountable to obey the revealed Word. Therefore,
• We must know the Word, so that we are familiar with the commands and what the Lord expects from His disciples in obedience.
• We must strive to understand what obedience to the commands looks like. We must meditate on the Word (Psalm 1:2) so we can know what it means.
• We must be alert and diligent to obey the Word. This is said well in Psalm 119:11:

“I have stored up Your Word in my heart,
That I might not sin against You.”

• Realizing that the LORD takes obedience to His word very seriously, let us develop a hunger and a thirst for obedience.
• Rejoice in the fact that we, as disciples of Jesus, are now ABLE TO OBEY the Word.
• It glorifies the Lord when His adopted children are evidently obedient (John 14:21).
SDG         rmb         5/20/2020

Adversaries are not something that we like to encounter, because they are often dangerous, and they are always unpleasant. They seem to take a perverse delight in making our lives miserable. Thriving on conflict, they oppose us and contradict us. Since we have a low tolerance for these pests, our natural instinct is to run from them or to avoid them if at all possible.

Because we usually shrink back from adversaries, it is striking to read of the response of the apostle Paul. In 1 Corinthians 16:8-9 we read:

“But I will stay in Ephesus until Pentecost, for a wide door for effective work has opened to me, and there are many adversaries.”

Now, here is something we need to consider. Paul was appointed by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to be an apostle and to be an example to other disciples of how believers are supposed to live, and, as clearly shown in these verses, Paul does not automatically move away from adversaries. In fact, the verse says that Paul is staying in Ephesus because there are adversaries. So, what can we learn from Paul’s actions that will make us more steadfast and more effective in our service to Christ?

GENERAL THOUGHTS AND IDEAS ABOUT THE PASSAGE

It goes without saying that we are talking about adversaries in a gospel context. My purpose here is not to discuss how to deal with a belligerent neighbor, but rather how do we respond when we encounter adversaries in our proclamation of the gospel.

It is also apparent that we may be in for some reorientation of our thinking regarding adversaries to the gospel. The reason that is the case is that, in my opinion, the following observations are true of many believers in our American church context:

• We interpret an adversarial response as negative. We tend to think that, if our message is correct and clear, then we will win people over to our cause. In fact, if your gospel message is clear, it is certain that Satan, THE adversary, will not be happy.
• We generally fear conflict from anyone, even from an enemy or an adversary, not realizing that, when truth meets error, there is always conflict.
• We focus on the horizontal, human plane, rather than the vertical, heavenly direction.
• We forget large sections of our Bible which promise us adversaries when we preach Christ. (Matt. 10:16 “I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.” Also, John 15:18-20; etc.)

I think we need to develop a “gospel mindset.” We must begin to see things from the perspective of how this will spread the gospel and not how this will affect us. If I am inconvenienced or maligned or even abused and the gospel is advanced, the interchange has been positive. (“I will most gladly spend” 2 Cor. 12:15; “He must increase, and I must decrease.” John 3:30) We have the gospel, which is true and powerful (Romans 1:16), and when Christ’s messengers proclaim the gospel, there will be opposition. When an arrow finds its mark, the one thus marked will immediately become our adversary. So, it is with the gospel well-aimed. Also, realize that false preachers and false prophets have no adversaries. Be nervous when there is no opposition to your message. Having no adversaries is an identifier of a false prophet (Luke 6:26).

What is the purpose of adversaries? Why does the Lord allow them?

• Adversaries could reveal that we are about to make a breakthrough and the enemy is vigorously opposing our efforts.
• Adversaries test our perseverance and our zeal. “How much resistance will it take before this guy will give up?”
• Adversaries require us to be sure of our message, for we are not ready to face an adversary until we have full confidence in our message. When a pure gospel message rouses an adversary, then we can have a sense that our aim is true.

So, those are some general thoughts about these verses that get us going in the right direction.

APPLICATION

Let’s take a look at these two verses and imagine what Paul is saying to us. In the context of the whole letter of 1 Corinthians, Paul has been communicating his commitment to the proclamation of the gospel. He is telling the Corinthian believers that, as disciples of the Lord Jesus, they are to give themselves primarily to the gospel. As he writes and exhorts the Corinthians, so Paul exemplifies in his life. Without boasting or drawing attention to his efforts, Paul makes clear that the entire focus of his life is the proclamation of the gospel. We are not surprised, then, when he casually mentions another example of his complete commitment to being wherever the gospel is moving.

“He has decided to stay on in Ephesus.” We do not know what his previous plans were, but here he is communicating a change of plans. We can be certain that it is not for his own convenience or benefit. Probably his previous plans would have been more to his personal liking, but now something has changed and so his plans have changed.

What has changed? “A wide door for effective work has opened to me.” Paul has been laboring in Ephesus and now he has hit paydirt. His efforts have begun to show real fruit and now is the time to bring in the harvest. It is a wide door, so there must be many who are coming to Christ or who are asking questions about Christ or about salvation. Paul will stay on in Ephesus and labor with all his might so that he may please the one who enlisted him as a soldier (2 Timothy 2:4).

“And there are many adversaries.”

There was a story of a general who was in a battle (it may have been in the Civil War, but I am not sure), and one of his lieutenants came to him and said, “Sir, there are enemies troops to the north and enemy troops to the south! There are enemy troops to the east and to the west!” The general smiled and said, “Perfect. They won’t escape this time!”

That was the attitude of the apostle Paul. Having many adversaries means that we are causing damage to the kingdom of darkness. “They won’t escape this time!” If there are no adversaries, why would you need a bold disciple of Christ involved? If there were no adversaries, how would Jesus’ promises of opposition and persecution be fulfilled? If there were no adversaries, how would we know that our message had found its mark? A wide door for effective work almost guarantees that there will be adversaries.

From Paul’s example, then, what do we do? We must take the attitude that the proclamation of the gospel is primary and that we are secondary. We have already died (Colossians 3:3), so we can serve the Lord with abandon, and accept adversaries and opposition as part of the cost of following Christ, part of the fellowship of His sufferings (Phil. 3:10). When encountering adversaries, our default response becomes standing firm (Ephesians 6:10) and remaining steadfast (1 Corinthians 15:58) and resisting the adversaries until the harvest has been completed.

SDG                 rmb                 5/19/2020

Since there is negative noise constantly surrounding me and pounding upon me, and since I am beset with a melancholy personality, I find it necessary to have my go-to verses of Scripture waiting for me as I rise to begin my day. Today I am sharing two more passages from the Psalms that lift my spirit and orient me rightly before the Lord so that my light may shine and so that I can be useful to the Master in the coming day.

Psalm 23, verse 4.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME. . .

COMMENT: The LORD is the Shepherd and His people are the sheep.

As any shepherd knows, there are occasionally times when he must take the sheep through dark and scary valleys or threatening canyons in order to bring them to the other side where He knows there are greener pastures. The sheep follow the shepherd and are not afraid, because they trust the shepherd and know that he will protect them. It does not matter the threat; the sheep believes that the shepherd is superior to the threat and so, as long as the shepherd is WITH the sheep, the sheep is safe.

In the same way, there are occasionally times when the LORD must take His people through dark and scary valleys and threatening canyons. In this place, the surroundings are dark, and enemies can lurk in the shadows. What do we do? We look around us to make sure that the Shepherd is nearby. If the Shepherd is WITH us, all is well. And we as sheep know that the Lord is always WITH His people. He is ever ready to defend us against any possible attack or threat. It is the Lord who leads us into the dark valley, and it is the Lord who will lead us to green pastures. He is stronger than any possible enemy and He rules over all His creation. He is certainly leading us to heaven, regardless of the current condition of the path. We can indeed say, “I will fear no evil, FOR YOU ARE WITH ME.”

Psalm 66, verses 1-4

Shout for joy to God, all the earth;

sing the glory of His name; give to Him glorious praise!

Say to God, “How awesome are Your deeds! So great is Your power that Your enemies come cringing to You.

All the earth worships You and sings praises to You;

they sing praises to Your name.”

COMMENT: In this psalm we see that praise produces joy. The psalmist issues four commands to his hearers: Shout! Sing! Give! Say! All the verbs are directed toward God.

Shout to God. Sing of God’s glory. Give God glorious praise. Say to God.

“Shout for JOY to God, ALL THE EARTH.” These commands are issued to all the earth. All the earth is commanded to shout for joy to God. Therefore, if you draw breath on this earth, you are called to shout for joy to God. To be silent or not to shout for joy is simply disobedient.

The same applies to the other commands. “All the earth” is implicit in these commands.

Finally, what is all the earth commanded to say to God? “Your deeds are awesome! Your power is great! All the earth worships and praises You.” And so, I obey with all the earth.

SDG          rmb          5/19/2020

The prophets formed a vital bridge in God’s unfolding revelation, being the link between the giving of the Law and the coming of the Messiah. These men received direct words from the LORD and communicated those words to the people. Their calling was a lonely and a hard calling, because their message was often harsh. The prophet was a prosecutor of the people, declaring to them their sin and rebellion against the living God, and warning them to find refuge from the coming day of the LORD when God’s wrath would be poured out on all the earth.

But the prophets also foretold and foreshadowed the advents of the Messiah and told of the glorious kingdom of God that would come at the end of the age. For those who trusted in the Messiah and worshipped Him, there would be a reward beyond comprehension in heaven forever.

Hosea was one of the minor prophets and in the second chapter of his prophecy, he tells us of the day when all God’s people will be betrothed to the LORD and will know the LORD. My exposition of Hosea 2:19-20 follows below.

The blessings of this amazing prophecy (Hosea 2:16-20) reach their crescendo in verses 19-20 as the LORD’s promises to His people include His betrothal to them. The LORD declares that He “will betroth you (His people) to Me forever (2:19).” Note that, while in our modern American culture, betrothal is equivalent to engagement and nothing more, in the ancient Hebrew context, betrothal was synonymous with marriage. For the Hebrew, an offer of betrothal was a commitment of marriage that could only be nullified if there was gross immorality. Therefore, betrothal assumes marriage.

What we see, then, is that the LORD as the Bridegroom is making a commitment of marriage, of forever union, with His people that will fully come into effect “in that day.” The glorious Bridegroom has chosen His Bride and He desires to be with her forever. The wedding day is certain to occur, for the LORD is perfect in faithfulness and He has promised. We, as the Bride, can then have a sure hope that one day soon, “in that day,” the LORD will take us to His house to be with Him forever.

The LORD seals His offer of betrothal with five of His perfect attributes. He says, “I will betroth you to Me:

In righteousness (2:19)

In justice (2:19)

In steadfast love (hesed) (2:19)

In mercy (compassion) (2:19)

In faithfulness (2:20).”

The LORD is our perfect Husband (2:16). He always does what is right and morally pure. His decisions and judgments are always correct and are not tainted by any partiality. His love (hesed) for His bride is at once unchanging and unmerited. His love is given to those infinitely inferior to Him by His own sovereign grace. Our Husband deals with is with infinite mercy, fully knowing our misery and wretchedness and yet acting for us to deliver us and to save us. And He is always faithful. He always acts in perfect harmony with His Word. He always does what He says He will do. His promises are sure. His truth is steadfast. He never fails.

Do not miss the concluding sentence, for this is the most precious of all the blessings: “And you shall know the LORD.” To know the LORD, the great One, the Holy One, is almost beyond our ability to imagine. How can it be that a sinful worm, dead in sins, conceived in iniquity, with a deceitful heart and desperately wicked, a child of wrath, wallowing in the pigsty in the far country, lame in both feet and hiding out in Lo-debar; how can it be that such a one could be betrothed to the King of kings and could be brought to the wedding feast as the King’s cherished Bride so that I could know the Lord forever? Yet this is the promise we have in Christ, that “in that day” there will certainly be a marriage supper and we shall be with the LORD forever.

And so Hosea writes of that day that was for him more than two-and-a-half millennia in the future, and he writes down the word of the LORD revealed to him so that we believers can read of our future and can look forward with hope to the arrival of our soon-coming Bridegroom.

SDG                 rmb                 5/18/2020

For the exposition of the full passage of Hosea 2:16-20, you can follow the link below.

roysreflections.com/betrothed-to-the-lord-hosea-216-20/

Since there is negative noise constantly surrounding me and pounding upon me, and since I am influenced by a melancholy personality, I find it necessary to have my go-to verses of Scripture waiting for me as I rise to begin my day. Yesterday I shared a couple of passages and today I will share a couple more from the Psalms that lift my spirit and orient me rightly before the Lord so that my light may shine and so that I can be useful to the Master in the coming day.

Joshua 1, verse 9: “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

COMMENT: Joshua is in one of the most intimidating set of circumstances imaginable. There are a million Hebrews waiting on the plains of Moab. Their mission is to invade the land of Canaan, currently occupied by hostile people in walled cities. Moses, the leader for the last forty years, has died, and all the leadership responsibility now falls onto Joshua’s shoulders. But the command from the LORD is clear: “Be strong and courageous, for the LORD your God is WITH you wherever you go.” The follower of Jesus has exactly the same promise that Joshua received: The Lord is with us. Therefore, the same command applies: Be strong and courageous. We act with boldness and confidence because the Lord our God is WITH us.

Psalm 25, verse 12

Who is the man who fears the LORD? He will instruct him in the way that he should choose.

COMMENT: This is a promise to those who fear the LORD: The LORD will instruct them in the way that they should choose. There are times in life when we do not know how to proceed, and often in those times we need to know which way to go and what path to take, because (we feel) there are consequences if we make a mistake. How does the child of God handle those situations? The word of God assures us that the LORD will instruct us in the way that we should choose. So, we seek the LORD and we ask Him for direction. We listen for His voice as we pray or as we go through our day or as we evaluate options. At some point we believe we have received His answer and we make our decision and we move forward, trusting that the LORD has instructed us and that whatever occurs is in accord with His perfect plan. But the main lesson is that the LORD WILL instruct us in the way that we should choose.

SDG          rmb          5/15/2020

Since there is negative noise constantly surrounding me and pounding upon me, and since I am beset with a melancholy personality, I find it necessary to have my go-to verses of Scripture waiting for me as I rise to begin my day. Today I am sharing two of the passages from the Psalms that lift my spirit and orient me rightly before the Lord so that my light may shine and so that I can be useful to the Master in the coming day.

Psalm 9, verses 1-2

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all Your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High.

COMMENT: The LORD is worthy of all our thanks all the time, for He has delivered us from the pit of destruction and has lifted us up. He has filled our lives with good things and given us so many promises of blessing, now and forevermore. I also need to recount His wonderful deeds, all He has done for me, but also all He has done for all to see. Because He has done so much for me and has allowed me to know Him as my Lord and Savior and Friend, I will be glad in Him. I will rejoice and I will give Him praise with my whole life.

Psalm 18, verses 1-3 of David

I love You, O LORD, my strength.

The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, My God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.

COMMENT: David erupts in a fountain of praise for the LORD, because the LORD has again proven Himself faithful and has delivered David from his enemies. David has eight word-pictures of the LORD that he crams into this outpouring of praise, and all eight describe the power of the LORD and His willingness to save and deliver His children from their enemies. Let me remember that the LORD is ever ready to deliver me and that He is directing and ordaining all things so that I have the maximum opportunity to glorify Him.

The LORD is also MY rock and fortress and deliverer, and He is for me. Rejoice, for the LORD is with me.

SDG          rmb          5/14/2020

What would it be like to be suffering from an illness for thirty-eight years? Would you have a yearning to be made whole, to be made well? And what if, in the midst of the misery of your illness, the Lord Jesus Himself, God in human flesh, came to you and offered to make you well? How would you respond? And then, if Jesus miraculously healed your physical illness, what would be your reaction? This article is a study from the gospel of John in the New Testament of the Bible. In John 5:1-16, we meet a man who has been an invalid for thirty-eight years, lying day after day beside a pool in Jerusalem. We will consider what we can learn from this man’s encounter with Jesus and what it may say about our own response to Jesus.

After His encounter with the woman at the well (John 4), Jesus goes up to Jerusalem for one of the feasts of the Jews (John 5:1). There in Jerusalem, Jesus sees a man who had been an invalid for thirty-eight years lying by the pool called Bethesda. Jesus asks this man a simple question: “Do you want to be healed?”

One would think that this question would get an immediate and predictable answer. “Of course, I want to be healed! I have been an invalid for thirty-eight years and I long to be well.” But it is interesting that the invalid does not give that answer. In fact, the man does not answer Jesus’ question at all, but instead blames his sickness on his inability to get into the waters of the pool when they are stirred up. There seems to be some sort of legend about the pool’s healing powers, and this man claims that his hope is that he will eventually be the one that gets healed by the stirred waters.

That remedy seems like a longshot. To me, it really sounds like the man may not want to get healed. He has been an invalid thirty-eight years and he long ago accepted this as normal. And being an invalid is not such a bad life. You get to lie by the pool all day long asking people to give you money and trying to look pitiful. If anyone tries to make you work, you can just plead that you are a helpless invalid. Getting well would make you liable to work and to make something out of your life. Maybe he just prefers to stay where he is.

Despite the man’s lame (pun intended) answer, Jesus heals the man of his sickness and tells him to take up his bed and walk. The man does what Jesus asks and runs right into “the Jews.” These religious leaders remind him that he should not carry his bed on the Sabbath (10). They ask him, “Who told you to take up your bed and walk?” The man replies that he does not know. Later Jesus finds him again and tells him to sin no more (14). The man takes that opportunity to tell the Jews that Jesus is the one who made him break the Sabbath (15).

REFLECTION:

The purpose of Jesus’ healing miracles was not primarily to provide physical healing to people. The primary purpose of Jesus’ miracles was to provide evidence for who He was. He was the promised Messiah and His miracles and “signs” confirmed His identity.

Another spiritual benefit of reading these attesting miracles of Jesus is to see how the people who were healed responded to the Lord. These responses are examples to us to show us either how to respond or how not to respond to Jesus in our lives.

In this encounter, we see how not to respond to Jesus. This man was physically healed by Jesus, but his life was basically unchanged, and his heart remained as cold and dead as a stone. Notice the evidence of his spiritual condition. The man has been thirty-eight years by the pool but is still trusting in a legend or a myth, so there is no evidence of faith, either before or after his healing. He has two face-to-face encounters with Jesus the Son of God, and yet the man still does not even know Jesus’ name. The man is healed of his affliction, yet he does not even give Jesus thanks (Luke 17:15). Instead of giving Jesus thanks and praise, the man turns Jesus in to those who oppose Him. In this sense, the man seems almost like Judas, in that he betrays Jesus. Though physically healed, the man is unchanged. This man gives no evidence that Jesus has made a difference in his life.

Compare this to other healings in the gospels and you will see a dramatic difference. Consider, for example, the man born blind in John 9. After being healed by Jesus, he declares to the crowd that he is the one who was born blind and now sees (9:9). He knows Jesus’ name right away and testifies that it was Jesus who gave him sight (9:11). He identifies Jesus as a prophet (9:17) and, before a band of hostile religious leaders (“the Jews”), he boldly states that he was blind, but now he sees (9:25), and Jesus was the one that made that happen. He does not back down when these men threaten him and then is willing to get thrown out of the synagogue rather than deny Jesus (32-24). To cap it all off, when the man encounters Jesus again, he confesses Jesus as “Lord,” testifies to his faith in Jesus, and then worships Jesus (38). Now, that’s evidence! This man’s life and eternity were evidently changed by his encounter with Jesus.

Or think about the demoniac in Luke 8. His story begins as Jesus and His disciples cross the lake to go to the other (Gentile) side of the Sea of Galilee (8:26). When they meet the man, he is naked and running around in the tombs screaming in the night because he is possessed by a Legion of demons. In his free time, he hangs around with herds of pigs and breaks chains and shackles. He is as lost as could be imagined. Following a brief conversation, Jesus casts out the demons from the man by commanding them to go into the herd of pigs, which promptly runs into the lake and is drowned. We next see the man “sitting at the feet of Jesus, clothed and in his right mind (Luke 8:35).” He is a changed man! When Jesus was getting into the boat to return, the man “begged that he might be with Him (8:38),” but Jesus gives him a different assignment. “Return to your home and declare how much God has done for you (39). And he went away, proclaiming throughout the whole city how much Jesus had done for him.” In an afternoon, the man was changed from a demoniac to an evangelist, begging Jesus to let him accompany Him. Now that’s evidence!

There are many other examples of people who encountered Jesus and were dramatically changed. Consider Bartimaeus in Luke 18:35-43 or Zacchaeus in Luke 19:1-10. There is the healing of the leper in Mark 1:40-45 or the healed leper in Luke 17:11-16. Often when people encountered Jesus, their lives were forever changed and there was evidence that testified to that fact.

Often that is the case, but not always. Tragically, what we see in the gospel records is that some people encountered the incarnate Son of God and even received healing from Him, and yet went away fundamentally unchanged. This invalid by the pool of Bethesda is one of the tragic cases. Twice he is face-to-face with the Savior and yet goes away not knowing or caring about Jesus’ name. There is no evidence.

APPLICATION:

How does this reality that all who encounter Jesus are not changed bear upon our lives? There are two applications that occur to me, one in relation to my own testimony and my personal walk with the Lord Jesus, and another one that touches on my evangelism.

First, I want to be sure that I do not appear to others to be a man who is indifferent to Jesus. That is, I want to learn from the healed invalid that a person who has encountered Jesus should be changed and should give evidence of that change. I want to be a man who is known for having met and been changed by Jesus. After his encounter with Jesus, the invalid disappeared into the crowd and had no influence on anyone, but I want to be a person who “proclaims the excellencies of Him who called me out of darkness into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9).” I want “to know Him (Jesus), and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings (Philippians 3:10).” I want to never be accused of being lukewarm (Revelation 3:16) and thus being vomited out of Jesus’ mouth. So, one application is to be sure that the volume on my testimony about Jesus is on “high.”

But second, I think there is an application here regarding our expectations in evangelism. What I mean is that even the most faithful witness for the Lord Jesus will encounter many people like the invalid by the pool. In my experience, the vast majority of people are content to go through life on the path of least resistance. Having never tasted true life or true joy, they are satisfied with what life and joy they have. Thinking about your own sin and about a holy God who rules the universe and about eternal judgment is hard work, especially in our culture. Why not just lie by the pool and sip a latte and scroll through Twitter feeds on your cell phone? My point is that we cannot let the unbeliever’s indolence and indifference diminish our zeal for the gospel. We must continue to hold out the good news to all who will listen, while expecting that most will disappear into the crowd. Jesus is the most fascinating and captivating Person in all of human history. He is King of kings and Lord of lords, and He is coming back soon to judge the living and the dead. Let’s sow the seed whenever we can and pray that the Lord of the harvest will gather many souls through us.

SDG                 rmb                 5/8/2020

A QUESTION IS POSED:

During spiritual conversations about the gospel, one question that an unbeliever may ask goes something like this: “What about the person who has never heard the gospel? What happens to them?” We who proclaim the gospel need to be clear about the answer to this question. Are those who have never heard the gospel treated differently from those who have heard? The gospel declares that all people are sinners and are under God’s just wrath and condemnation for their sin. The Bible states that, “The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23),” meaning eternal spiritual death. If a person has never been told this, would it be fair for God to condemn them when they were ignorant of their sin and its consequences? Romans 2:12 conclusively answers this question. In fact, the verse is so clear that there is almost no need to interpret the verse and to explain its meaning. Just read it and the message is clear. But in the interest of clarity I want to explain the verse to see how it answers our question.

Romans 2:12

For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law.

BACKGROUND:

It will be helpful to have some background information before we plunge into the exegesis of the verse. At the time when Paul wrote Romans (~58 AD), the civilized world was divided into two groups of people: Jews and non-Jews, whom we call Gentiles. The Jews were an ethnic group, but they were much more than simply an ethnic group. The Jews were also religiously distinct since they were the people of God and had received the Law from the Lord on Mount Sinai. KEY IDEA: The Jews possessed (and venerated) the Law, and so the Jews were those “under the Law” in Romans 2:12. The Gentiles, on the other hand, did not have the Law and were, therefore, ignorant of what the Law taught. Thus, the Gentiles were “those without the Law” in Romans 2:12. Also note that the Gentiles would be “those who have never heard” in our question above.

EXEGESIS:

Since the purpose of this study is to help us answer the question about the destiny of those people who have never heard the gospel, we will focus our exegesis on the first half of Romans 2:12, because this passage sheds light directly on our question.

The first word Paul uses is “For.” (Greek word “gar.”) This small word is what Paul commonly uses throughout his writing when he is about to make a statement of fact. What follows “for” is doctrinal truth. Since we see the word “For,” we know that Paul is about to make a statement of doctrinal truth.

Next, we see the phrase, “without the Law,” and we can see from the verse that this describes a group of people. We know from the “Background” study that those “without the Law” are the Gentiles. Remember the Jews had been given the Law and had been the keepers of the Law, while the Gentiles did not have access to the Law and were ignorant of the Law of God. So those “without the Law” equals Gentiles.

To complete the first half of the verse, we need to identify “All who have sinned.” One of the major themes of the book of Romans is the universal sinfulness of man. Proving man’s sin from history and from observation and from Scripture is Paul’s primary purpose in this section of Romans (1:18-3:20). This prosecution of the sin of man reaches its climax in Romans 3:23, where the Apostle declares, “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” From this it is clear that “all who have sinned” can be shortened to “all.”

Putting this together, then, renders, “For all the Gentiles . . .”

Yes, we are plodding through this, but by doing it this way we can see the way Paul presents his argument, we can understand how we can carefully interpret verses, and we can correctly apply Paul’s teaching to our own context.

The next phrase will go more quickly. Remember, with this verse Paul is making a doctrinal statement of fact, and in this phrase, he is making a statement about those who do not have the Law. They “will also perish without the Law.” The Greek verb used here is rendered “perish” or “be destroyed” and speaks about those who go to hell. Now, if we finished our exegesis here, we could accurately render the phrase about the Gentiles this way: “For all the Gentiles will go to hell without the Law.”

THE ANSWER TO OUR QUESTION:

Now we have arrived at the answer to the question we asked at the beginning of our study, namely, “What about those who have never heard the gospel?” Based on the exegesis that we have just done, we can make a few substitutions in the sentence about the Gentiles and see that, “All those (who have sinned) without the gospel (or “All those who have never heard the gospel”) will go to hell without the gospel.” In other words, not hearing the gospel does not exempt you from condemnation, but rather guarantees your condemnation. This is because the gospel “is the power of God for salvation for all who believe (Romans 1:16).” The gospel is the good news that provides the sinner with the way of escape from God’s just judgment. If the sinner never hears the gospel, then there is no possibility of escaping the wrath of God, which is the judgment of God on their sin.

DON’T STOP THERE!

But now that we have answered our question about those who have never heard the gospel, we have arrived at a vastly more important question; namely, “Is there any hope for those who have not heard the gospel?” So, we can return to our key sentence and find out if there is a solution to this riddle. We paraphrased the first part of Romans 2:12 like this: “All those who have never heard the gospel will go to hell without the gospel.” The last three words of this sentence (“without the gospel”) are critically important, because they provide a glimmer of hope to an otherwise hopeless situation. These words imply that there is a condition that could reverse the judgment of hell. What am I saying?

The condition that ensures their condemnation is that these people have never heard the gospel. But just because they have never heard the gospel in the past, does not mean that they will never hear in the future. We might modify our sentence this way to emphasize this new hope: “All those who have never heard the gospel will go to hell if they remain without the gospel and they never hear the gospel.” But if someone preaches to them and they hear the word about Christ and believe in Christ and call on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:14-15), then they will be saved.

CONCLUSION:
            In this study of Romans 2:12, we have learned several things. First, those who have never heard the gospel are not exempted from the condemnation of God, because the problem is not our lack of knowledge about our sin, but our problem is the wrath of God that is poured out on us because of our sin. Second, we have reinforced the fact that the gospel is the only solution for God’s just condemnation of our sin. “The gospel is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Romans 1:16).” And finally, we have seen that those of us who have heard and received the gospel have been sent by the Lord Jesus Christ Himself to proclaim the good news to the ends of the earth so that there will be fewer and fewer who can say they have never heard.

SDG                 rmb                 5/5/2020

Reading through the book of Job can seem like an arduous task, but for those who will persevere through the book and who will carefully consider the dialog among the characters, it will be a richly rewarding experience.

In my annual reading through the Bible, I recently found myself in the middle section of the book of Job. Job is the story of a righteous man who is suddenly devastated and loses all his wealth and all his children. He is left destitute, sitting in ashes as he scrapes the scabs off his skin. His three friends come from afar to comfort him and thus ensues a debate about the nature of God and about how He metes out His rewards and punishments. And here in this middle section, the dialog between Job and his friends intensifies as Job continues to assert his innocence despite his wretched circumstances and his friends insist that his suffering is irrefutable proof of his wickedness. According to the theology of Job’s three friends, “Everyone knows that, in this life, God always rewards and prospers the righteous and punishes and casts down the wicked.” And so, this fascinating theological drama unfolds, and the heat of the debate steadily escalates.

In this escalation, then, we come to chapters 20, 21 and 23. I want to talk about each of these chapters separately and reveal some insights out of each chapter. This will be the third and final article in this series and will cover chapter 23.

As the chapter opens, Job has just endured another verbal pummeling from Eliphaz, in which his “friend” has accused him of gross sin and told him that the Lord would give him blessings if he would just confess his iniquities. Job is reaching a point of despair as he begins to see that his circumstances are not going to change, and his only “consolation” is going to come from these friends who accuse him of wickedness. He feels abandoned by the Lord and unfairly punished and, in the midst of his confusion and pain and loss, he pours out his emotional complaint.

“Oh, that I knew where I might find Him! I would lay my case before Him and fill my mouth with arguments. I would know what He would answer me and understand what He would say to me (23:3-5).” Job desires to have an audience with the LORD so that he can make his case before Him. Surely the LORD would remove His hand of judgment if He only understood more about Job’s case!

The LORD will, indeed, test Job with fire, “But He knows the way that I take; when He has tried me, I shall come out as gold (23:10).” The refiner’s fire is a painful place to be, both because of the burn of the flame but also because of the obvious need for refining. For it seems that no sooner has the dross been removed than the refining begins again. When will the refiner’s work be done? But Job is confident that the LORD’s refining fire will have its perfect result and that he will eventually emerge from the testing as pure gold.

After expressing his resolve to obey the LORD (23:11-12), Job confesses that he is terrified of the LORD. “Therefore, I am terrified at His presence; when I consider, I am in dread of Him. God has made my heart faint; the Almighty has terrified me; yet I am not silenced because of the darkness, nor because thick darkness covers my face (23:15-17).” Job lives in that place where he feels a ferocious love for the LORD and an attraction to Him, but at the same time is terrified by the LORD’s power and holiness and glory. Job longs to draw near to the LORD, but he fears that if he did, he would be consumed.

REFLECTION

There is some sense in which the disciple of Jesus Christ also lives in a state of reverential fear, trembling before the Lord as we contemplate His power and glory. Here is the One who sovereignly rules the universe and in whose presence the seraphim cry out, “Holy, Holy, Holy!” Who are we that we should approach His glory and come into His presence? Surely, we, too, should be terrified!

But there is an immense difference between Job’s understanding of the LORD’s grace and ours. According to Job’s understanding, the LORD was only a Judge who issued laws and meted out punishment for those who violated His laws. The LORD was holy, and man was not. Although he could not articulate why he believed it to be so, Job believed that a man could somehow be considered righteous before the LORD, even though he was not. And, strangest of all, Job believed that the LORD was merciful and was forgiving, although he could not tell you why he believed that. Much of this thinking was because Job lived long before the Incarnation and the Cross and the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Now that the Messiah has come for His First Advent and has accomplished His work on the cross and has been raised for our justification, this relationship between the disciple of Jesus and the Lord is radically different. Now we are invited to His throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16) to receive mercy. We call the Lord our “Abba, Father (Romans 8:15),” and we are seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5). We have been wrapped with a robe of Christ’s righteousness (Isaiah 61:10) so that we no longer appear before God in our filthy garments (Zechariah 3). While we were formerly enemies (Romans 5:10), Christ has now abolished the enmity that lay between us and God by His death on the cross (Ephesians 2:15), so that we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). The Lord delights in us (Psalm 147:10-11); He rejoices over us with singing (Zephaniah 3:17). Now we know that the Lord is certainly a Judge, but that He is not OUR Judge, for Christ has propitiated God’s wrath against us by His atoning death on the cross (Romans 3:25). For those who do not receive Christ as Lord and Savior, God is still their Judge and they  will be judged and condemned on the last day, but to those who have received the Lord Jesus, they are children of God (John 1:12) and will certainly be saved (Romans 10:9-10, 13).

Perhaps this will make the distinction clear: The LORD spoke to Job out of the whirlwind (Job 38:1; 40:6) and spoke to him out of darkness and turmoil. The LORD was far away and was not well understood and He had not demonstrated His mercy at this point in redemptive history. But for us, God has spoken to us in His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2-3) and has been pictured to us as a father welcoming back a prodigal son (Luke 15). He has demonstrated His love toward us by Christ’s death on the cross (Romans 5:8) and now He invites us into His throne room by extending the scepter of his grace (Esther 5:2) to us in the gospel. Now the Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (Revelation 22:17).

SDG                 rmb                 4/30/2020

Reading through the book of Job can seem like an arduous task, but for those who will persevere through the book and who will carefully consider the dialog among the characters, it will be a richly rewarding experience.

In my annual reading through the Bible, I recently found myself in the middle section of the book of Job. Job is the story of a righteous man who is suddenly devastated and loses all his wealth and all his children. He is left destitute, sitting in ashes as he scrapes the scabs off his skin. His three friends come from afar to comfort him and thus ensues a debate about the nature of God and about how He metes out His rewards and punishments. And here in this middle section, the dialog between Job and his friends intensifies as Job continues to assert his innocence despite his wretched circumstances and his friends insist that his suffering is irrefutable proof of his wickedness. According to the theology of Job’s three friends, “Everyone knows that, in this life, God always rewards and prospers the righteous and punishes and casts down the wicked.” And so, this fascinating theological drama unfolds, and the heat of the debate steadily escalates.

In this escalation, then, we come to chapters 20, 21 and 23. I want to talk about each of these chapters separately and reveal some insights out of each chapter. The last article was on chapter 20 as we examined “Zophar’s religion.” In this article we will read carefully through Job chapter 21 and see how Job responds to Zophar.

Job spends much of this chapter refuting Zophar’s claims about the earthly miseries of the wicked. As we saw in chapter 20, Zophar’s theology holds that God brings His judgment on the wicked while they live in this life. Job claims this is not so. On the contrary, in most cases the wicked live long and pleasant lives while they defy and even despise the living God. The wicked live brazenly lawless lives with apparent impunity. How do we make sense of this? Is life just arbitrary and random? How does this accord with God’s justice and His holiness?

In 21:7-13, Job describes the life of the wicked in this way: The wicked “live, reach old age, and grow mighty in power (21:7).” Their offspring prosper (8), and the houses of the wicked are safe (9). Their livestock never fail to breed (10), their children dance to the music of the lyre (11-12), and they spend their days in prosperity and die in peace (13). According to Job’s reckoning, Zophar’s prosecution collapses because his observations about the life of the wicked are flawed.

The truth is that, in this life, the wicked are seldom punished as their sins deserve (Psalm 103:10). Why is this? The wicked are not judged by God in this life, because, by God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, He may be leading these wicked people to repentance (Romans 2:4). Those who are now wicked may be among the Lord’s elect (2 Tim. 2:10) and may yet be shown God’s mercy (Romans 11:31) and be saved. So then, God delays His judgement: 1) to bring all His elect to salvation; and 2) to demonstrate His patience, even toward those who will eventually perish (Romans 9:22).

REFLECTIONS

First, it should be noted that, contrary to worldly wisdom, a person’s earthly circumstances in life do not reveal the person’s spiritual condition. The righteous may be in the ghetto or the dungeon, while the wicked basks in luxury and ease. This is the case because God, and God alone, sovereignly determines out circumstances according to His divine will. He gives and He takes away as He sees fit for His glory (Job 1:21).

The second point is that our circumstances are not entirely a matter of mystery. What do I mean? In Job 21:23-26, Job observes the unfairness and disparity of life. “One dies in full vigor (23),” while “another dies in bitterness of soul, never having tasted of prosperity (25).” But then Job observes, “They lie down alike in the dust, and the worms cover them (26).” One is exalted while another is abased, but they both die to be eaten by worms. This sounds like Qohelet in Ecclesiastes, when he says that the same death awaits every man alike. But here is the key to this very difficult concept: The Lord God sovereignly determines our EARTHLY CIRCUMSTANCES according to His SECRET WILL (Psalm 115:3), but He determines our ETERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES according to His REVEALED WILL. That is, the Lord gives us our EARTHLY CIRCUMSTANCES so that we will trust His goodness and pray for His blessing, but He determines our ETERNAL CIRCUMSTANCES based on our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

CONCLUSION

The conclusion of the matter, I think, comes down to this: Since our earthly circumstances are ordained by God and are given to us in His divine sovereignty, we who know the Lord should accept our circumstances and be content with them (Philippians 4:10ff), while we continually look to the Lord for His strength and wisdom, “making the most of the time, for the days are evil (Ephesians 5:15-16).” Those who know the Lord should also praise His name, that by His grace we have been delivered from the domain of darkness (Colossians 1:13-15) and have been seated with Christ in the heavenly places (Ephesians 2:5-6) and our eternal circumstances have been forever secured by the work of Christ and by our faith in Him.

SDG                 rmb                 4/30/2020