Unprecedented – no other word describes what is happening in the world through the Covid-19 virus. The world has faced pandemics before. The Spanish flu in 1918 infected an estimated 500 million people with about 50 million deaths worldwide and 675,000 deaths in the USA. But then, there were no efforts to contain the virus. What happened happened. In 1918, the world population was 1.5 billion. Today the population is about 7.8 billion. We as people and governments are not willing to let what happens just happen. Thus most countries are engaged in some containment effort.

What makes this pandemic so difficult it is that no one knows how it will end. How long will it go on? Will a successful treatment be found? Will a vaccine be found and mass-produced enough to vaccinate billions of people? While we live in this unprecedented time, everything we value seems to be at risk. The physical health of ourselves and our loved ones is under great threat. The economy has all but stopped as social isolation keeps all but people regarded as providing essential services from working. Our social health is threatened as we must isolate from one another. Churches turn to video streaming with no idea how effective it is as instrument of the Holy Spirit. Easter comes to the world with almost all churches closed. Unprecedented. One by one the sporting events that have defined life for many are canceled or postponed (March Madness, NBA, Baseball opening, Tour de France, Masters, Kentucky Derby, NHL, Wimbledon, British Open).

This unprecedented time brings us to perhaps its most important gift, a gift of checking our heart. What does our heart long for? The heart is everything to God, as we are to love His Son Jesus and Him with all our heart. Our heart is everything to God, as there is not room for two first loves. As we look at the threats of the virus what is at risk? Does the virus threaten everything you long for or does it bring gain to what you long for? Is all at risk or is all closer to gain? God uses times of risk to test our hearts. He said through Moses in Deuteronomy 8:2-3, as God led Israel through times of need for basics like food and water, “And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” God knows crisis,
adversity, danger, and need tests our hearts.

I don’t believe this crisis is the final judgment of God, but I believe it is a warning that the
judgment is coming, that it is breathlessly close. I believe the USA in prophecy is the economic Babylon of Revelation 18, Jeremiah 50-51. It will be destroyed in an hour during the second part of the seven years of the Great Tribulation. But there is a line that brings the issue of the heart to us. It says in Revelation 18:14, “The fruit for which your soul longed has gone from you…” What is the fruit of life for which the USA longed? It is described in Revelation 18:7, “As she glorified herself and lived in luxury, so give her a like measure of torment and mourning, since in her heart she says, ‘I sit as a queen, I am no widow, and mourning I shall never see.’’” In her heart she believes she should live a life of entitlement, wealth, security. It is a heart that views its country with a pride that believes it is better than others, ought to always be first before others, and have the entitled life as its right. It is a country that measures greatness by a life of prosperity, pleasure, and separation from the rest of the world and its problems.

We see this attitude of entitlement and wealth, health, and security as the longing of the heart in the church at Laodicea in the seven letters to the churches in Revelation. The Lord Jesus says of them in Revelation 3:17-18, “For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked.” The church was very content because in wealth, health, and security it had all it needed for life. Wealth, health, and security were the longings of their heart. But the spiritual results of this heart is that their love for Jesus was lukewarm. They did not hunger for Him, long to know Him, to be like Him, and to proclaim Him to the world. It is the lukewarm heart that Jesus most strongly turns from. The USA right now is praying, but are our prayers for anything more than that wealth and health be restored? Did we pray and care when other nations were gripped by the virus, like China, South Korea, and Italy, or is it only now as it threatens our health and wealth that we pray? Do we believe in our prayers that God should hear and answer us first, because the USA ought to always be first?

In contrast to the church in Laodicea are the churches that Peter wrote to in 1 and 2 Peter. In contrast to Laodicea, the Christians are living in the midst of fiery trials. But the gift of these fiery trials is that they revealed their heart. There are two qualities of the heart that Peter noted in 1 Peter 1:8-9, “Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” The desires of their heart were the love of Jesus and the inexpressible joy that they will be saved from judgment and be with Him for eternity. Nothing in their lives was at risk, because the true treasure in life is Jesus, and the true gold is the saving faith that makes a person His for now and eternity.

We see how that desire for Jesus worked out in their lives. In 1 Peter 1:18, it was to pursue the call to be holy in character and actions. It led to a hunger for the Word of God like newborn babies hunger for the milk that brings life and growth to their bodies (1 Peter 2:1-3). It led them to come to Jesus as He built them into a holy temple as part of His local church (1 Peter 2:4-6). It led to a life as a spiritual priest offering sacrifices acceptable to God (1 Peter 2:5). It led them to brotherly love, a tender heart, and a humble mind. It led them to a readiness and a passion to share the hope they found in Jesus with others (1 Peter 3:15).

When Jesus is your love, and being with Him for eternity your purpose, then nothing that life can bring threatens you. There is nothing in the threats to physical and economic health that can threaten, because they have never been the desire of the heart. The heart centered in Jesus has a contentment because He satisfies the soul and He is always enough. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:11-13 as he is in prison on trial for his life, “Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” The secret of contentment is that Jesus is always enough. He learned there is nothing in plenty that made him richer and there is nothing in want that made him poorer.

When I was in seminary, I met with a man who worked with the underground church in China. A well known pastor, Wang Mingdao, had just been released after 25 years in prison for preaching the Gospel. Though when first arrested he had weakened in his faith, he was soon strengthened. He had been in the worst of prison conditions, even forced to work in sewage. His wife was also arrested and had died in prison, never seeing him again after their arrest. I saw a picture of him and heard a tape him singing a hymn, Safe in the arms of Jesus, that he sang repeatedly in prison. All those years of prison had brought him not loss, but the treasure of life to be safe in the arms of Jesus.

May this unprecedented time in history lead you to a heart that is free, as the longing of the heart you have in Jesus. Don’t fear what life will bring, because all your desires in life are in Him.  It won’t be long until we are together with brothers and sisters in Christ like Pastor Wang Mingdao and his wife.

We live in unprecedented times. India today, with the second biggest population in the world, has ordered a three week stay at home lockdown. This follows the UK yesterday and the most populous states in the USA before that. International air travel has all but ceased. Many nations have closed their border to others. This is unprecedented, and no one knows how long it will last or how devastating it will be to both physical health and economic wealth. The Lt. Governor of Texas called for the economy to be opened and grandparents to be sacrificed for the sake of the economy.

In the Los Angeles area where I live there are three kinds of stores that have had lines waiting to enter. The three stores are groceries, guns, and cannabis. In some states cannabis stores are saying they should be left open because they offer an essential product for people handling the stress of the times. Somehow, guns and cannabis best express the places our neighbors look in their stress. Churches though are closed. Even online service productions are threatened by the current stay at home policies. This is unprecedented. We have never seen anything like this on a global scale.

In the midst of these times the Word of God has taken the form of living hope, which it should be. Some verses are now commonly shared. Psalm 91 brings the Lord as our
Refuge. Philippians 4:6-7, where God calls us to turn all our anxieties into prayers, and He will give us peace. There is one passage that seems directly written for us. It flows from Isaiah 24-26 as the promise is given in 26:3, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” The promise is that God gives perfect peace to those who put their trust in Him. This peace is one of the great words of the Bible. In Hebrew, the word is Shalom. Shalom peace is the result when you are in the center of God’s will, pleasure, protection, provision. It is the well being that flows when you know God is on the throne and you live in the center of His pleasure. It is the peace Jesus said comes from Him (John 14:27). It is a peace the world can’t give, and it is a peace the world can’t take.

While this promise of perfect peace has stood for all generations of those who walk by faith, the context of Isaiah 24-26 is written for those who live at one point in time. It is very direct in what it is saying to us who long for the coming of the Lord Jesus for His church and then to bring His kingdom to earth and bring peace. I urge you right now to read carefully through Isaiah 24-26 and then reflect on the rest of this blog.

Isaiah 24 is a prophecy of God bringing judgment to the earth. He will work to bring an end to the rebellious kingdom of man. He will desolate the earth as described in Revelation 4-19. Here is the prophecy from Isaiah 24:1,3-6, “Behold, the LORD will empty the earth and make it desolate, and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants … The earth shall be utterly empty and utterly plundered; for the LORD has spoken this word. The earth mourns and withers; the world languishes and withers; the highest people of the earth languish. The earth lies defiled under its inhabitants; for they have transgressed the laws, violated the statutes, broken the everlasting covenant. Therefore a curse devours the earth, and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt; therefore the inhabitants of the earth are scorched, and few men are left.”

The Covid-19 virus is just the latest of the evidences of God’s rising in judgment of the earth for its rejection of Jesus and God’s rule. We have observed waves of crises in Australia this past week. They have gone through the scorching heat of summer as fires ravaged the nation, killed about a billion animals, and changed the ecology of the land. They then had torrential rain in places that added to the damage. Now they are closed down because of the virus. A plague of locusts in Africa and the Mideast threaten crops and are likely to bring severe famine. An interconnected world economy finds its stability at risk with warnings of depression. Governments are flooding the markets with cash accumulating debt and decreasing the value of money in ways that threaten collapse.

As God is moving to desolate the earth, we see the utter futility of political leaders to solve the crisis. As the prophecy says in 24:4, “… the highest people of the earth languish.” One who is claimed by some as destined by God to make America great, now sees a stock market lower than when he started, and there are no answers. Calls to prayer are given but they are totally absent from cries of repentance and turning from our sinful ways. We are the generation of 2 Timothy 3 that finds ourselves compelled by three loves: the love of self, the love of pleasure, and the love of money. We have not cared about what happens in the rest of the world as long as we are living the good life we feel we are entitled to have. But now all of that is threatened.

The prophecy also says in 24:21, “On that day the LORD will punish the host of heaven, in heaven, and the kings of the earth, on the earth.” The judgment of God will not only be on the rulers of earth. It will come on Satan and the demonic legions with him. It seems likely that this time of crisis will bring about Satan’s plans to unite the world in rebellion against God and against His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. It is easy to see how the joining of nations to gather together in a new world order will happen when the health crisis passes. It is easy to see how there will be a need for a new world currency following the inevitable collapse of the weight of personal, corporate, and government debt. It is easy to see how a solution for peace with Israel and its neighbors will happen in a region decimated by the virus. It is easy to see how the world is ready for some world leader to emerge who will seem to have the answers needed.

As dark as Isaiah 24 is, the glory of the prophecy of Isaiah 25 that is so much greater, and promises the true new world order. Isaiah 25:8-9 describes what is just about to come. “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken. It will be said on that day, ‘Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us. This is the LORD; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.’”

We are just about to see the rapture of the church, the resurrection of our bodies, our going home to be with Jesus forever. He has already conquered death through the cross and His resurrection triumph. Now He will swallow up death, and it will never more be. He will wipe away all the tears we have had from the trials and adversities of life. He will rule the earth from the New Jerusalem, and the surviving nations of the world will come to the gates to bring Him honor. The prophecy describing Jerusalem as the mountain of the Lord as it says in 25:6, “On this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well refined.” We see the church there made up of people of all nations. We see Israel there joining. The last work of the Gospel is in Jerusalem among Israeli people, as the church has been raptured and the witness comes through two prophets sent by God.

We know the darkness the world is in now will be briefly lifted by a man of peace who will unite the nations together. He will be a magnetic personality. He will be supported by a false prophet of the church who will join the major religions together in support of what will become a new religion which worships the leader as a god. There will be a time of joy coming for the world, but it will lead to the desolation of the earth by the judgment of God.

It is with the soon coming of the desolation of the earth and God swallowing up death and the wiping away of all tears that the promise of Isaiah 26:3-4 comes, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.” This peace comes to those who put their trust in Him. These are people who do not fear what is coming because their future is secure in God’s plans. It is not a peace that comes not from some mental or meditation discipline – it is a peace that comes from God Himself. We don’t create it. We rest in it. We live in Shalom because our times are in His hands and His promise is gloriously bright.

It is interesting what the Word of God tells us as we shelter in our homes. It is almost as if the work of the church among the nations is all but done. Here is God’s invitation to stay at home resting in His Shalom in Jesus. He says in Isaiah 26:20-21, “Come, my people, enter your chambers, and shut your doors behind you; hide yourselves for a little while until the fury has passed by. For behold, the LORD is coming out from his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity, and the earth will disclose the blood shed on it, and will no more cover its slain.”

Shalom church. Keep your mind stayed on Him. Judgment is coming to the earth. Hold out the Good News of the Gospel to all. But Jesus is coming for us. As Isaiah 26:8-9 says, “In the path of your judgments, O LORD, we wait for you; your name and remembrance are the desire of our soul. My soul yearns for you in the night; my spirit within me earnestly seeks you. For when your judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world learn righteousness.” Jesus is the desire of our soul, and He is coming for us. Righteousness is the longing of our will, and He will perfect it in us and bring its perfection to the world. Just a little while more for us to endure the fury, but we do that in the shelter of our home in Him.

If you don’t know the Shalom of Jesus I encourage you to read the post, A Time to Be Sure. For those of you who do know Shalom of Jesus, may He fill you with His perfect peace. Shelter at home in His Shalom.

As the world has all but stopped in place as a result of the coronavirus, it is an important time for us all to stop in place; not before a virus, but before God. Where do you stand before God? Are you sure? The ultimate test of faith is death, but it is a test we only take once. The Bible says it is appointed to man to die once and after that comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27). There are no decisions points at death. Wherever we stood before God when death comes, there we will be forever. The world was struck by the suddenness of death with the helicopter accident that took the life of Kobe Bryant, his daughter, and others on the helicopter. We realize how suddenly and completely life on this earth can come to an end. The pause in place that coronavirus has brought is a gift for us to be sure we know what death will bring us.

The Bible is a very honest book. It tells us that we each need a Savior and that there is salvation in no one else but Jesus. Acts 4:12 states in words spoken by Peter, an Apostle, “And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” No other name, no other religion, no other way to salvation but the name of Jesus. But how does Jesus save us? How can we be sure? We know we can have certainty as 1 John 5:13 promises. However, Jesus warned us that many people will think they are Christians and call Jesus Lord, yet death will prove they are not (Matthew 7:21-23). It isn’t that these people had salvation and lost it, but that they were never saved. Here is the danger: they thought they were saved. So how do we resolve this tension: I can know I am saved, but I also could be self-deceived? It is for this reason that the Apostle Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” The purpose of the test is to realize that Jesus Christ is in you. That is what makes true Christians different from anyone else, that Jesus Christ has come to live in them as they live in Him. So what does that look like? What is the test? Let’s take our time and make sure we understand.

There are some analogies the Bible uses to describe salvation. Let’s start out with two that are most helpful. In doing this we will also use the Apostle Paul as he describes himself in Philippians 3 as a model for us of what it looks like for someone to be saved. What it looks like for someone to be in Jesus, and for Jesus to be in him or her.

It is marriage that helps us realize that salvation is not some static condition we are either in or not. Salvation is a dynamic relationship with Jesus, comparable to a man and woman in marriage. The Apostle Paul used that analogy of marriage in 2 Corinthians 11:2 when he wrote, “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” Someone who is betrothed has entered into a formal marriage covenant. What makes marriage real is not the status of being married. What makes marriage real is that you live in a vital, intimate relationship in which you share life together. If we are true to the spirit of marriage we aren’t getting married for the status. We are getting married for the relationship. We desire to be married to Jesus and live in a faithful, intimate relationship with Him from the
point of our betrothal. We turn from all other loves and live in devotion to Him. Our motivation for being Christian is so much more than escaping judgment and going to the presence of God at death. We want to give our lives to Jesus and live with Him in the intimacy of a relationship in which, from the point of betrothal, we live to know Him and to share life together with Him. So, does this describe you. Are you living in a vital committed relationship with Jesus in which you live to share life with Him? We will learn more about entering that relationship, but let’s capture the thought. The point of marriage is not the status. It is the relationship the status brings. The point of salvation is not the status of being saved. It is what the status brings: to be in a dynamic covenant relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Another way of describing being saved is being a worshiper. As created beings we have a likeness to God so that we might be in a relationship with Him. We were made to love and worship Him. The point of worship is to give God as the One worshipped the praise, honor, glory, love He deserves. When Jesus encountered a Samaritan woman as recorded in John 4, she was a woman with a failing history. She had been married five times and was living with a sixth man without being married. Yet Jesus said He wanted to give her the gift of living water (John 4:10). He told her she was someone God the Father was seeking. He said to her in John 4:21-24, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” As those who come to God through Jesus, we become worshipers. All of life has the purpose of making
great the name of God through His Son, Jesus. All of life — our heart, our time, our talents, our treasures, our relationships — become resources to use in worship of Jesus. Revelation 5:12 says of Jesus, “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Do you live to worship Jesus? Do you see all of life as opportunities to use in spirit and action to glorify Jesus? If what it means to be saved is to become a worshiper of Jesus, does that describe you?

To see what it looks like to be in a saving relationship with Jesus, we will use the Apostle Paul as he describes himself in Philippians 3. We will see four parts to his relationship with Jesus, but let us understand the Apostle Paul is not some exceptional Christian who is rare. The Apostle Paul describes himself in Philippians 3:15-17, “Let those of us who are mature think this way, and if in anything you think otherwise, God will reveal that also to you. Only let us hold true to what we have attained. Brothers, join in imitating me, and keep your eyes on those who walk according to the example you have in us.” So, let us examine the Apostle Paul carefully so that we can understand what it looks like to have a real and growing relationship with God through His Son the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Apostle describes his ambition in life as a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ in Philippians 3:7-11, “But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

Everything in Paul’s ambition before God is expressed in the desire and worth of knowing Christ Jesus as Lord. The word “know” describes knowledge gained through a relationship. He wanted to know Jesus in truth. But we often think of truth about Jesus as information gained through knowledge. But Paul wanted so much more. He wanted to know Jesus in relationship. Let’s think of the three names Paul used for Jesus. “Christ” means “anointed one.” In Hebrew language it is “Messiah.” The Bible promised that God would raise up from the Jewish people an “Anointed One” who would bring salvation and lead us to God (Psalm 2:2). He is Jesus. As promised by God, Jesus was born of a woman, conceived by the Holy Spirit. He is an historical figure whose life we can learn about through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John). He is Lord. Jesus is God to us, and we surrender the leadership of our life to Him. “Lord” becomes not a word we use as much as a life we live. As Jesus said in Luke 6:46, “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

Let’s do a basic description of God. The Bible in Genesis 1:1 and John 1:1-18 gives us some basic knowledge. It reveals that there is but one God who is eternal, and it is He who created all things. We learn that while God is one, He exists eternally as three distinct persons — one, yet each unique. One is not the other, and yet together they are one. The three are God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. John reveals that Jesus was one the who created all things on the Father’s behalf using His Word and the Holy Spirit. The Bible reveals that man was God’s last work of creation. We were made in His likeness as spiritual beings. We were made to know Him and to glorify Him. In making us for love and for worship, God gave us a will, so that our choices would be meaningful. But we used our freedom to rebel. Adam and Eve chose to eat the forbidden fruit, denying God loving obedience and worship. God, rather than destroying us in the judgment we deserved, gave us a promise. He promised that there would be one born of the seed of a woman who would make a way for our hearts to be changed, for our sins to be forgiven, and for us to be adopted as the children of God.

This passion to know Jesus is rooted in the confidence that Jesus is the promised one. That He became God in the flesh. No one before or since has ever seen God the Father, but Jesus as His Son is the full representation of Him. Jesus has come to call us back to relationship (the bride of Christ), to love and to worship. Faith is to welcome Him, to commit to Him, to trust Him, to live a life committed to obey Him as Lord. The one who puts their faith in Jesus is spiritually born again. John put it this way in John 1:11-13, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” There was a moment in time when the Apostle turned to Jesus. He put his faith in Him. He lived to love Him, to spend his life with him (bride of Christ), to worship Him through his praise in words and actions. He followed the simple command of Jesus who calls in
Matthew 16:24, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” The Apostle Paul made that change of direction in his life, and every day became a new opportunity with purpose to know and follow Jesus.

The Bible, by the work of its author the Holy Spirit, becomes the source for us to know Jesus. As we read the Old Testament, we learn of the promise of Him, and we see the need of Him. The New Testament is the fulfillment of the promise of Jesus. It gives us the practical knowledge of what it looks like to know Him and to seek to become like Him. It gives the promise of the everlasting kingdom He will bring. The great truth about Jesus is that He is unchanging. Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). The same Jesus revealed in the Bible is the One who is calling me to Himself. Jesus by the Holy Spirit makes the Bible real, alive, personal. This life of living to know Jesus is resourced with the third person of the triune God, the Holy Spirit, living in me and making it possible for me to know Jesus.

The second part of Paul’s life of faith, was a hunger to be righteous before God, knowing that only Jesus is able to make a person righteous before God. To be righteous is to be compared to the law of God and to be found innocent. The law of God in its essence is described in love. To be righteous is to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. To be righteous is to love our neighbor with a selfless love. Yet none of us has perfectly done this.

Before knowing Jesus, Paul sought to have righteousness by how perfectly he followed the law of God. This was a righteousness that came by works and performance. Once he knew Jesus, Paul says he saw all his works and performance was like garbage before God. Paul, like the rest of us, found he could not meet the standard. He fell short (Romans 3:23). He realized that his works, rather than being satisfying to God, had brought His judgment. His sin had separated him from God. It had earned him spiritual death, separation from God. It had brought him the warning of eternal death in judgment. The wages of his sin was death, and he could not pay the fine (Romans 6:23). The importance of being righteous, meeting the standard of God, is to be holy before God.
Holiness is vital, for without holiness no one will see God (Hebrews 12:14).

Paul realized the holiness before God that he desperately sought comes to those who put their trust in Jesus. A righteousness that comes by putting your full trust in Jesus, by faith. The law of God says the soul that sins must die in judgment for that sin (Ezekiel 18:20), but the law of God also allowed someone to take our place in judgment. The one who takes our place must be a man like us, and he must not be guilty of sin himself. The only person who has ever lived a sinless life is Jesus. Thus Jesus could take our place in judgment before God and the Law, and that is what He did. Jesus died taking the judicial wrath of God for our sin. As 2 Corinthians 5:21 puts it, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” Because Jesus fully satisfied the law and paid the full price for our sin, we can be declared righteous before God when we put our faith in Jesus. Paul stopped trying to be righteous by performance and found righteousness by resting in faith in Jesus.

Paul in his life in Jesus also wanted to live in the resurrection power of Jesus. Jesus rose from the dead by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit who made Him alive. That same power now belongs to those who live by faith in Jesus. That is important personally, as I cannot live a righteous life by my own power. I was made to live with the life of God flowing in me to empower me to live for Him. As Christians we have the spiritual desire to obey and trust Jesus. Our spirit is willing, but we still lack the strength on our own to live it. We are as Jesus told Peter: our spirit is willing but our flesh is weak (Matthew 26:41). Thus we consciously and continuously seek to be filled and empowered by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). We also know we need the resurrection power of Jesus to make our service and our witness effective. We seek to minister and serve others by the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit living in us and through us.

Fourthly, Paul wanted to share in fellowship with Jesus in suffering. The Bible says that all who live godly lives will suffer persecution. We know we have a spiritual enemy that seeks to overcome the work of Christ in us and through us. We know a true passion for Jesus will at times turn our family and others against us, but we know Jesus is with us in all of this. Paul understood that it is in suffering that he comes to best know Jesus. We know Him much better through suffering than we do in the flow of resurrection power.

The desire to know Jesus was a daily passion for Paul. He wanted to know Jesus and to become like Him. Paul knew that this passion to know and become like Jesus took daily focus. It was a relationship when, like a wife, he wanted to make his life in Jesus and share it with Him. He wanted to live a life of worship, and each day was new opportunity. He wanted to become more and more like Jesus in character, and that took a new day’s focus. He put it this way in Philippians 3:12-14: “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”

So does this describe you? If this is what it is like to meet the test of being a true Christian is this you? Do you want it to be? Every life of faith starts with a single step of faith. It doesn’t matter who you are or what your past has been, whoever calls on Jesus in genuine faith will be saved. In the Christian life it doesn’t matter so much where you are it is where you are going. Each day is the new day to follow Jesus.

You can start this new life with a simple prayer. “Dear God, I know I am a sinner. I am sorry for my sins and I want forgiveness and help to live in new direction. I believe that Jesus is the Son of God who became man to take my place in judgment for my sin. I believe that He died, paying that price. I believe on the third day He rose from the dead in resurrection triumph. I believe He has made it possible for salvation to be a gift if I come to faith. I want that gift. Forgive my sins. Come to live in my life. Jesus, I will live to follow you from this day on by the grace you give. Help me do it. Amen.”

A great way to start you life of following Jesus is to start daily with the Word of God and prayer. The Gospel of John is a great beginning place. Go through it slowly. Go with a prayer, “Lord Jesus, I want to know you, help me know you through this Gospel.” From there the book of 1 John is a practical book to help us in daily life.

Let’s encourage one another on this journey. If you are making new commitment share it. Help others to know the hope and help you are finding in Jesus. Live as the bride of Christ building your home and life in Him. Live in worship of Him with each day new opportunities to bring Him praise. God bless you as you do.

There is something new in the air in the world and in the USA.  It is the spirit of fear. The
coronavirus and the resulting economic consequences have created a spirit of fear. Nations have reacted in some cases by closing borders and shutting schools. Italy has shut down in isolation a whole nation. Investors who want an economic world without surprises have no way of knowing how this virus will impact us. They don’t know how severe it will be or how long the disruptions will last. Fear is that painful emotional reaction to the threat that someone or something will cause pain, a threat that has many sources right now.

The Bible calls fear a spirit in 2 Timothy 1:7, but it says fear is not a spirit from God. 2 Timothy 1:7 states, “for God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.” Fear in a healthy forms causes us to humble ourselves before God in a spirit of repentance, trust, and obedience as we put our faith and trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Fear of God leads to peace. But fear for anything else is debilitating.

We see in this verse all the negative reactions fear creates. Fear makes us feel powerless
against the things, people, circumstances that face us. Fear can make anything we do seem futile. Fear also robs us of the sense we are loved and cared for. Fear makes God seem distant and not interested in intervening in circumstances. Fear isolates us from others and the community of loving support God designed for us in Christ through the church. Fear makes us irrational, and we make poor choices. Fear makes us lose perspective beyond the moment. Fear often turns us to the worst case scenario as being the most likely outcome.

As we look at the current threats to us, there are two extremes we must avoid. One is the spirit of fear and panic that would have us wildly overreacting. One person I heard bought enough food so that he could live for a year on what he bought. Panic-buying is emptying store shelves. Of all the things most feared scarce is toilet paper. Open fights have broken out over the last rolls of toilet paper in stores. Fear can lead us to isolate ourselves from others. Fear in the financial world can lead us to panic-selling that makes the crisis only worse. Fear leads to anger and blame. We must stand against the panic and unwise reactions that fear creates.

The other extreme to avoid is denial. We see some seeking to minimize the threat as if it is a creation of a conspiracy. It’s being called “fake news,” a plot by the media to spread panic. It’s being called a conspiracy somehow forged to keep President Trump from being reelected. But it was not fake news that shut down China, that has led all schools to be closed in South Korea and Japan, has led an entire nation of 90 million, Italy, to shut itself totally down. It is no invented conspiracy that has already taken over 4,700 lives. It is no invented conspiracy that has taken lives in nursing homes in Washington and is rapidly spreading in parts of the USA beyond what we know as we are so late in making tests available. Some say more will die from the flu, but the reality is that this virus is ten times more deadly than the flu according to the Center for Disease Control Director in the USA. To deny this reality and to wink at the danger is not helpful. This is a virus that no one has antibodies to resist. It is highly contagious. Angela Merkel, the German government leader, expects 70% of Germans to have the virus. This is a genuine risk to public health and even life itself, and it requires we take the proper precautions
to limit the spread and treat those infected. What Italy is finding is that there are not enough medical beds and professionals to treat the massive numbers that come. We must not deny the reality and its danger.

As Christians we do not give in to a spirit of fear, but we do need a spirit of wisdom. The Bible tells us in Leviticus 13-15 how to deal with highly contagious diseases. In Leviticus it was skin diseases and mold in houses. People with symptoms were to self isolate and go to a priest to get tested. Priests were trained by the Word of God in how to recognize infectious diseases. People identified with contagious disease were to warn people by dress and words that they were unclean and people were to avoid contact with them. They were isolated from the rest of the camp until they were symptom free and certified by a priest. The Bible also recognized that viruses can be transferred to surfaces people touched. Their clothes were to be washed and if they showed evidence of continued contamination they were to be destroyed. Houses evidencing mold were to be cleaned, removing plaster and impacted stones. If after this houses still showed evidence of mold they were to be torn down and put in a place outside contact. Nowhere were Israelites told to minimize the danger or act as if they could not be infected. They were to act wisely and isolate those with infectious diseases until they were symptom free. The church should lead in supporting the necessary steps that need to be taken to protect as many people as possible from infectious diseases. There is a huge difference between faith and foolish denial of reality.

As Christians we do not give into fear, but do yield to wisdom and to restrict as many people as possible from exposure. We also meet the challenge with bold faith, full of the promise from 2 Timothy 1:7 that God gives us a spirit of power, love, and sound thinking. The Bible knows that faith and fear cannot coexist. The Bible also knows that times of fear in society are times for Christians to demonstrate faith, and to reach out to others with the peace and hope that are offered by God to all who call on Jesus in genuine faith.

Jesus specifically called on His disciples to not live in fear but to live in the peace He gives. In John 14:1-7, Christians are called to not let our hearts be troubled. Jesus begins with our ultimate hope of life in Jesus that is eternal. Jesus says He has gone ahead to prepare a place for us in the New Jerusalem. He has prepared a way to that place by faith in Him, and He is prepared to take us to that place as death comes or He comes for the church to take us all home. The reality is, apart from the return of Jesus for His church, we will all die from something. Every Christian before us has died. But we do not fear death, as we know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8). We know also we will have enabling grace when the moment of death comes, and that grace will be enough (2 Corinthians 12:9). I have been in death’s presence for Christians, and I have seen that triumphant witness. So we do not live in fear because the worst that can happen to our body is that we die, and we know that moment will bring us into the presence of the real treasure in life, the Lord Jesus Christ. For us to live is Christ and to die is gain (Philippians 1:21).

We also do not fear because we know nothing in life can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:37-39). Jesus promised we who are His disciples two kinds of peace. He said as recorded in John 14:26, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The first kind of peace that Jesus gives is the foundation for all else. The word “leave” is in a verb form that says it is one time peace established in the past. The peace Jesus leaves is peace with God because we have an everlasting righteousness before God through the sufficient sacrifice of Jesus to satisfy the righteous requirement of the law for those who have sinned. We have a righteousness before God that cannot be lost or taken. The blood of Jesus is enough to cleanse us for all time for our sin. In the books kept on each of us in heaven is written the word “righteous”. This peace of the cross is the peace that all other kinds of peace flow from.

Jesus then promises there is a peace He gives. The word “gives” is in the continual present. It is the shepherding care of Jesus for His disciples in this life. The Bible teaches that life is not random, nothing can come into a Christian’s life apart from the permission of God and for everything that comes into a Christian’s life there is a grace that will enable a Christian not only to make it but to do so triumphantly (Romans 8:37-39). Thus we do not fear what life might bring because we know Jesus is with us, and He will shepherd us through it with His life abundant.

While life for a Christian is not random, we know that God’s will for each of us is unique (John 21:22). We know that in other worldwide pandemics or plagues in the past, some Christians have caught the plague and died. Some Christians have caught the disease and recovered. Some were exposed and did not develop the disease. God has purpose in each life. We saw in the Early Church in Acts that when persecution came, God’s will for each was different. James, the brother of John, was the first Apostle martyred. Peter was miraculously delivered from prison at the same time. John, the brother of James, was the only Apostle to die a natural death which he did as an old man. The difference was not the faith of any one of them but that the will of God was unique for each, as it is for us.

We also know as Christians that God is at work in all things in the lives of those who love Him and called according to His purpose. It doesn’t say all things are good, because some terrible things will happen to Christians. We have to understand what God considers to be good. God has only one definition of good, and that is to know Him and His love in Jesus Christ. Since that is the only good, there can only be one thing that could happen that is evil, and that is if there is anything that could separate us from God and His love. The rest of Romans 8 declares that nothing in this life or in the life to come will separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.

We also know the good God is doing in all things. We know that God is at work bringing us more and more into intimacy in our relationship with Him (Romans 8:28). We know that God is at work making us more like Jesus (Romans 8:29). All the difficulties in life are part of His refining work on our character. We know that in all things God is at work in our lives to be a witness to others (Romans 8:36). Crisis becomes a great time for us to proclaim the reason for the hope we have in Jesus (1 Peter 3:15). We also know that going through times of crisis and finding the help of God in it equips us to share with others how they also can find that comfort (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). We have relevance not because God kept us from all the hard times, but because we have a witness of how God keeps us through all the hard times.

As Christians we also know that this worldwide disease and resulting economic crisis is a sign of the times and that God is bringing all things to their grand climax. Jesus warned us that in the last days there will be times of increasing crisis. Creation is like a woman in the last stages of birth: the closer to the end, the more frequent and intense are the birth pangs (Matthew 24:8). Absolutely everything the Bible described about the last generation are true right now. The key has been the focus on Jerusalem the capital of a reborn Israel. But all the other supporting signs are only increasing. We are not in the final seven years of the Great Tribulation, but we are so close you can feel its coming like thunder of an approaching storm that is getting closer and closer. We know from Revelation 6:7-8 that the fourth horseman of the Apocalypse will bring through sword, famine, pestilence, and wild beasts will bring death to a fourth of the world population. We are at 7.7 billion right now, which means we will see the death of close to 2 billion people. The world’s woe in their rebellion against Jesus are unfortunately just getting
started.

We also know the futility of any one nation to protect against the virus is leading the opportunity for a world super leader to come in with a plan to bring the nations together. We know the global economy is so interrelated that economies won’t prosper unless a world wide plan is embraced. I expect soon for a surprising world leader to be offered with support by other world leaders and the world’s religious leaders. This is a plan long ago developed just waiting for the right world crisis that will create the opportunity.

For Christians this is a time to stay calm. It is a time to be wise. It is a time to be bold with our hope in Christ. It is a time for compassion and help for those who are suffering. It is a time to be bold in the witness of the hope we have in the Gospel of our Lord Jesus. It is a time to pray. It is a time to look up, for the coming of Jesus is so soon.

I have been on many flights over the Pacific where I am 33,000 feet high and hours from landing. There are times when the engine pitch seems to change, turbulence bumps the plane around, and I wonder if I should be worried or not (not that worry would accomplish anything). I watch the flight attendants. If they treat it as routine, then I know that this is normal and nothing to worry about.

As I look at the extraordinary and cataclysmic events impacting our world right now the question arises: is this normal? We are in such a flood of extraordinary events we tend to not ask the deeper questions as to what it means and how we should respond. It is ironic but true that the closer the church gets to the coming of Jesus for His bride, the church, the less people there are who are interested in the Second Coming (2 Peter 3:1-7).

When Australia is plagued by fires that destroy millions of acres, kill an estimated billion animals, and significantly change the very ecology of the continent, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When a plague of locusts is devouring crops in the Horn of Africa as well as other countries in the Mideast; when China is considering sending 100,000 ducks to Pakistan to combat the locusts and their devastation, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When  Sweden, as an example of many countries, reports a 1,700% increase of girls 13-17 declaring gender dysphoria and seeking hormones and gender change surgery, we can say, “This is not normal!”

As the USA withdraws from the Syria conflict and cedes the region to the dominance of Russia, Iran, and an increasingly aggressive Turkey, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When 900,000 Syrians from the city of Idlib since December are forced into winter rains in flooded fields without clothing, food, or shelter; when they are bombed, children are dying from exposure, and it is called the largest humanitarian crisis in the 21^st Century; when no one responds as Syria, Iran, and Russian forces attack from one side, and Turkish forces push in from the other side, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When whole Christian villages are burned and people slaughtered by the Boko Horan in Nigeria, in an effort of genocide of Christians, and no one rises up to stop it, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When a virus from China shuts down cities of millions, shuts down major cities in South Korea, leads to Japanese children being withheld from school for a month, isolates twelve cities in Northern Italy, causes interruption of a vastly integrated global market, leads to a major stock market fall; when there are major of concerns as to what more is coming, and it is described by some as a ploy by Democrats to somehow defeat Trump, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When Great Britain has suffered unprecedented weather “bombs” that have led to major flooding, we can say, “This is not normal!”

When media-identified “evangelical leaders” gather around President Trump to declare him God’s anointed to make America great, and to stand against the forces of evil, and to pray protection for him; when he then goes to rallies and casually blasphemes in God’s name and reportedly likes it when media describes his rough language as if it defines his image, which it does, we can say, “This is not normal!”

All of this and more is exactly as Jesus prophesied it would be just before His coming for the church and the beginning of the seven years of the Great Tribulation.  He said it will be as if earth was in birth pangs, as the frequency and intensity of cataclysmic events increases (Matthew 24:7-8).  The rising persecution of the church in China, India, Nigeria, and many other places is as Jesus prophesied (Matthew 24:9-13).  The tremendous harvest of souls in the midst of all this is the moving of God to fulfill the promise that the Gospel of the Kingdom will be preached to all nations, and then the end comes (Matthew 24:14).  The tremendous apostasy of the Church in which many have rejected the authority of Scripture, changed the very meaning of the Atonement, and have all but given over to the LGBTQ movement as if that somehow is love.

The call of Jesus to His remnant church is simple.  Declare the Gospel to all nations in a massive harvest, for the night is coming in which the church’s work is done (Matthew 28:18-20, John 9:4-5). We must stand firm for the faith once for all delivered to the saints, unchanging and not to be redefined (Jude 3).  We are to pay attention and preach the Word of God as the only light we have in this dark world (2 Peter 1:19, 2 Timothy 4:1-5). We are to keep our love for Jesus at a fever pitch, even as the love of Jesus of others grows cold, as the love of sin increases (Matthew 24:13).  We are to be willing to stand for Jesus even as it means persecution, imprisonment, death (Revelation 12:11).  We are not to neglect our gathering for church, but are to encourage one another as we see His coming approach (Hebrews 10:23-25).  We are to watch and pray for our own souls and for others that we may be found faithful for Jesus when so many will fade away (Luke 21:36). We are not to give in to anxiety and fear, but are to look up, for the promised coming of Jesus is so soon (Luke 21:28).  We are to continue to love even those who would make us enemies, for our love is commanded and is the power of our witness for Jesus (John 13:34-35).  We are to join with creation, with the saints already in heaven, and with the saints on earth to pray passionately, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20).

In a country that is increasingly politically divided, there is a group among President Trump’s most loyal supporters who are called by the media ‘evangelicals’. According to this group President Trump has been ‘anointed’ by God to make America great. That he is like a Cyrus, King of Persia, who was raised up by God to allow a group of Jewish people to go from exile to build a Temple for the worship of God in Jerusalem and eventually to allow the walls of Jerusalem to be rebuilt. There was no claim that he was a godly man, just a man ‘anointed’ by God to be King. Similarly President Trump is not offered as a godly man as his moral and spiritual failures are too evident to all. But to this group he deserves our unquestioning support as the ‘anointed’ to make America great.

We know God wants America good by His standards for nations, as He does for all nations, but why would God want America great as opposed to any other nation? As we search the Bible and its prophecies of this age, where do we ever read that God’s purpose is to make one nation great as opposed to others? That answer is none. Even Israel won’t be great until they embrace the Lord Jesus as Messiah, Savior, Lord, and King. And what would a Biblically good nation look like? To the President, greatness is measured solely by wealth and an ability to live in isolation from the rest of the world and its problems. Wealth is the measure of greatness and other nations exist to have trade deals that add to our wealth and for us to have border policies that protect us from those who would come for our wealth.

In this current administration, money is the measure of everything. North Korea is invited to denuclearize because it would bring in an era of financial prosperity for them. The current offer to Israel and Palestinian is called “The Deal of the Century”, not a peace plan, because its offer is to bring financial prosperity to Palestinians. When did peace plans get be changed to deals? Even as some of you are reading this, you are wondering what’s wrong with that? If it pays off financially, isn’t that most important? Yet, if wealth is the measure of everything, why did Jesus say, “one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15)? If wealth is the measure of everything why does the Bible say the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil and its pursuit will lead people to ruin and destruction (1 Timothy 6:9-10)?

The Bible does talk about the pursuit of greatness in our world. The Bible says that the Lord Jesus Christ alone is great and worthy to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing (Revelation 5:12). The church of the Lord Jesus Christ lives to make His name great. No one else is worthy. No one else could ever come into a place to be called the ‘anointed’.

The Bible says the greatness of God is not displayed in any nation. The glory of God is displayed in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. We lift high no leader, no nation, only the cross of the Lord Jesus. As the Apostle Paul wrote by the Holy Spirit in Galatians 6:14, “But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” We also learn through the cross that God has a special love and desire for those who the world regards as low and despised, for they are the chosen of God. As the Bible states in 1 Corinthians 1:27-29, “But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are. God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God.” We
know that no governmental systems nor laws can make a people righteous. Only the Lord Jesus and the cross can change hearts and lead to changed lives. That is why our passion is to proclaim the Gospel and we say with Paul, “Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel!” (1 Corinthians 9:16).

The Bible says the reflection of God’s glory on earth is not any nation, but the church of the Lord Jesus Christ. The church is for the praise of His glory (Ephesians 1:12). The greatness of the church is that it is a spiritual body made up of people from every nation, tribe, people, and language. Jesus has come to tear down the walls of division by nationalism, tribalism, ethnic pride, or prejudice in order to make us one new person – through the Lord Jesus – one with God and one with one another with all the walls of division torn down (Ephesians 2:11-22). Jesus promised that in this world, He is building the church and all gates of hell will not prevail against it (Matthew 16:18).

We also know the Bible teaches us not to put our love on any nation because we are a people pursuing a better city, a better country. We are like Abraham willing to live in this world as sojourners who long for the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. It is said in Hebrews 11:14-16, “For people who speak thus make it clear they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of the land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.” We are patriots of the true Fatherland, the New Jerusalem.

It is true God’s hands directs the establishment of nations. He sets a nation’s boundaries, times, and seasons (Acts 17:26-27). It is true that leaders are established by God, and He causes Kings to rise and Kings to fall (Isaiah 40:22-24). It is true we are to honor our leaders as those who are put into place by God. When the Apostle Paul was writing to honor the King, it was Nero, one of the most evil of the Caesars in his treatment of Christians who was the ruler (Romans 13:1). It is true that those who take up arms as instruments of the State are servants of God. We are grateful for those who have and do put themselves in harm’s way to keep us safe. We are to pay taxes and follow the laws (Romans 13:5-7). We are to pray for rulers, leaders (1 Timothy 2:1-2). The purpose of good government is that we may live a peaceful and godly life, dignified in every way. As this is a representative government, we are to vote and seek God’s wisdom in using our vote. We know that those who uphold the right of the unborn and those who uphold the rights of Israel are important values to govern our choices, but they are not exclusive values.

We also know what would make a government that is good in God’s eyes is a government that upholds righteousness both in laws and in moral and spiritual character (Proverbs 14:34). We know that the Lord Jesus will judge nations in what they did for those who are strangers, hungry, thirsty, naked (Matthew 25:41-46). We know that God blesses those people and nations who use what God entrusts to them to bless others (Genesis 12:1-3).

The key founders of the USA were not seeking to make a great nation. They were seeking a place where the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could be freely preached. They were seeking a place where people could practice their worship of God free from government interference. They were seeking a place where the government would be representative and the taxes fair. But they were not seeking a King. They were not seeking an ‘anointed’ ruler. In fact, when England insisted that the King ruled by divine right and must be supported and taxes paid no matter how unjust or unfair, they rose in united voice to say, “We have no King but Jesus.” May we join our hearts with them. May the church be devoted to making the name of Jesus great. May the church be united in raising up the cross of Jesus to people of all nations. May the church be united in being the place were all the walls of division are torn down. May we with passion, purpose, time, wealth, abilities live to proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to all peoples. And may we make it our longing not for a nation to be great, but for Jesus to come, for only through Him will there be peace on earth and good will to men (Luke 2:11-14, Revelation 22:20).

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

January 20, 2020

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

January 13, 2020

Living When Prophecy Becomes Current Events

January 6, 2020

There was a man snowboarding recently who triggered an avalanche that took his own life. We live in a generation in full rebellion against God that has created a moral and spiritual avalanche that is sweeping many to the destruction of themselves, destruction for eternity in the judgment of God, and bringing destruction to our culture.

We have noted in the Democratic Presidential Debates the two issues that have most united and impassioned the candidates. One is the right of a mother to terminate the life of her unborn child. The other is the absolute embrace of the LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer) agenda. The growing acceptance – if not total embrace – of this sexual agenda goes far beyond the stance of political candidates. The cable Hallmark Channel showed an ad that featured two lesbians being married who embraced in a passionate kiss. When objections were raised, the ad was pulled. When even more objections were raised, the ad was reinstated. Chick-fil-A, which describes itself as a company with Christian values, stopped contributing to Christian organizations as these organizations stood for Christian sexual values and marriage reserved for a man and a woman. The actions of Chick-fil-A not only had significant financial impact to the ministries, but it also pushed them under the cultural avalanche that LGBTQ has created. Chick-fil-A like so many others is caught and is being swept along by the avalanche of the LGBTQ movement.

A Mother Goose nursery rhyme describes the challenge of standing up for the teaching of the Bible in our day. It goes like this:

“There was a crooked man, and he walked a crooked mile,
He found a crooked sixpence against a crooked stile;
He bought a crooked cat which caught a crooked mouse,
And they all lived together in a crooked little house.”

In the nursery rhyme crooked is normal, and of course anything that is straight would seem strange. In the avalanche of the LGBTQ agenda the use of the word queer is used for the direct purpose of making queer seem normal and straight abnormal. Its goal is to create a queer world.

In the Bible’s teaching on sexuality, it is clear what LGBTQ spells; it spells the open defiance of God’s plan and purpose for mankind and our sexuality. The Bible clearly states in Romans 1 that when the LGBTQ agenda is accepted as right the society is absolutely morally upside down and living in open defiance of God and His right to rule (Romans 1:32). What makes the LGBTQ agenda so defiant is that it directly rejects God’s purpose for our sexuality and the SEXUAL use of our bodies. A LGBTQ lifestyle is not normal. This is never the nature of a person. Romans 1:26 states that it is relations that are “contrary to nature.” The Bible calls the sexual acts shameless leading to God’s judgment.

Desires that are contrary to God’s purpose do not surprise us. We know that as mankind we are sinners, dead spiritually and living under the lies and power of sin and Satan. We know that we are all sinners falling short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23). We know that our sexuality is a gift of God to the covenant of marriage between a man and a woman. Sex is a powerful and important gift to marriage. Its purpose is to procreate us, but beyond that sex is a gift to marriage to both bring pleasure and to express and maintain intimacy. Our sexual desires once aroused are strong, which is why the Bible calls us to flee sexual desires and to put strong hedges of protection around them. It is sin and Satan that pervert those desires natural to a man and woman in marriage and distorts them in ways that makes sex an idol which must be served.

Since sin is rooted in the lies and pursuits of temporary pleasure, we should expect those lies and desires to pervert our sexuality. That the lies come even in our identity as male or female is an expected way that sin works. The Bible says we are tempted by the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life. All of those lusts and pride are at work in sexual rebellion. As the avalanche of LGBTQ grows it will capture more and more in the deceptions of sexual identity. We know there is not confusion in our DNA, we are either male or female. There is no fluidity or choice in identity. It is who we are. The absurdity of this was shown in an athletic competition in Wyoming this year as a transgender male running as a female was named “Woman Athlete of the Week.” Males and females are genetically different. Our sexual identity is part of our identity from conception. To pretend it is not is to create a crisis that will destroy us. To do this will damage far more than athletic competition.

What makes the sexual agenda of the LGBTQ proponents so serious is that sexual sin is unlike other sins in that sexual sin is against our very soul. When two or more are engaged in a sexual act it is not just physical. There is a spiritual joining together. The Bible’s teaching from 1 Corinthians 6:16-19 states, “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For, as it is written, ‘The two will become one flesh.’ But he who is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person sins against his own body. Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God?” Sexual acts bring a person to a joining of spirits. Sexual immorality is devastating to our souls. Sexual immorality has no life in it, as spiritual life is from God. It is one reason the suicide rate among those in the LBGTQ activity is higher than for others. The suicide rate among transgenders is astronomically high. In the end sex is just sex, it cannot bring life.

One of the Presidential candidates, Pete Buttigieg, is in a same sex marriage with another man, yet he calls himself a practicing Christian. This is just another form of the deception and self lies that are part of the LGBTQ world. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 says no one who continues in a homosexually active life, or other forms of sexual immorality, will be part of the kingdom of God. Jesus addressed this issue when He said in Matthew 15:19 that sexual immorality comes from our darkened hearts and that it spiritually defiles a person. All sexual engagements outside marriage, including homosexuality, are included in the meaning of that word. 1 John 1:6 says, “If we say we have fellowship with him (Jesus) while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.” I was recently walking in a city that is unfamiliar to me and I sincerely thought I was going in the right direction to the hotel, but in fact I was on the right road going the opposite direction –- every step took me further away. There is a blindness and self deception in the LGBTQ world that is leading many into an empty darkness and certain judgment.

Yet in the midst of all this, the Bible has an amazing promise and invitation. As to all sinners, Jesus stands with loving arms open calling people to repent, be forgiven, and find freedom in a new spiritual life. Of all the lies of the LGBTQ world, none is more powerful than the lie that says if I have sexual desires, that is who I am — that is the real me. Yet the Bible says the desires are contrary to our nature (Romans 1:26). It is not the real you. Sinful desires are lying to you. Our desires promise us pleasure if we satisfy them, yet they lie to us in ways that make us the slaves of the desires and passion of the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life. The pleasure of sin is temporary, illusive, and leads to deeper slavery to it. But Jesus stands with open arms and calls us to freedom, true freedom. Jesus offers us a new heart and the invitation to live in the new realm of the resurrection life and power of Jesus.

Jesus says the one who sins becomes a slave to sin. He said in John 8:34, “Truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who practices sin is a slave to sin.” Jesus also says those who sin are children of the Devil doing his will. He said in John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” But Jesus says He is truth, and in pursuing Him as truth He promises true freedom. Jesus said in John 8:31-32, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Jesus has come to save sinners and to lead them in a life of true freedom and joy. Jesus has come to break the power of sin over us and lead us to a holy, righteous life.

In this new life that Jesus gives for those who daily walk with Him there are still temptations to sin. As we walk with Jesus, the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life still tempt us and demand that their desires be satisfied. As one soft drink advertisement line said, “Obey your thirst.” Our appetites demand obedience. Thus Christians should not be surprised that sexual temptations still seek to mislead us. For some persons who come out of the LGBTQ world, Jesus will forever take away those desires. But for some they will be an everyday temptation. That is the weakness of the so-called conversion therapy. Not all will have their desires change. Each in Christ will have freedom, but for some it will be saying no to sexual desires and choosing to live a celibate life. In my own life there are still daily temptations that I have to turn from as I follow Jesus.

In the battle against temptations and desires the Bible has a great promise. It says in 1 Corinthians 10:13, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.” God through His Son the Lord Jesus and by the presence and power of the Holy Spirit will enable us to overcome the temptation. As Christians we know the temptation to sin is not itself sin. Sin still lives in us and in the world, and it still wants to control and destroy us. But in Jesus I always have enough to say no to sin and walk in Jesus’ paths of righteousness.

The church of Jesus is full of people who used to live in all the ways sin can lead us. Just as it says in 1 Corinthians 6:9-10 that those who live lives of sexual immorality, or who practice homosexuality, will not inherit the kingdom of God, it also says in 1 Corinthians 6:11, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” As Christians we face this issue with compassion, love, and hope.

As followers of Jesus we don’t condemn those in a LGBTQ lifestyle we love them and pray for the chance to share the Good News of Jesus and salvation. But they are being lied to about sexual issues, and we can’t love them and not expose the lie, share the truth, and call them to Jesus and true freedom. It is like loving someone in a different form of addiction. I can love and accept them as persons, but how can I truly love them and not call them to the freedom from the addiction. I can love someone who is an alcoholic but I would as lovingly as I can call them to Jesus, forgiveness, and power over the choice of alcohol.

We cannot let the cultural avalanche of the LGBTQ rebellion silence us. We are the loving truth tellers because in the truth of Jesus is true life and freedom. We can’t just be silent and watch as the LGBTQ avalanche sweeps others away to judgment. We cannot be silent. We must try.