ISRAEL’S TRILOGY

All eyes are on the Middle-east the powder keg of the World.    Yet, followers of Jesus know that our God is Sovereign in all things. In fact, as we have seen in this short series of blogs, He choose the Jews through whom His Son, Jesus Christ, would come into the world.    It is these very people who today occupy, according to His promise, the little nation of Israel around which the modern conflict revolves.

There are three things the Bible predicts will happen in and around Israel before the return of the Lord Jesus with great power and glory to establish His thousand year reign on this earth. In the last blog we looked at the first part of this Trilogy. 

• REBIRTH OF THE NATION

The Bible predicted that the Jews, having been dispersed would one day return to the land. This took place in 1946 when the United Nations carved out a piece of land for a Jewish nation.

• REPOSSESSION OF JERUSALEM

The Second part second part of Israel’s Trilogy as promised by God is the repossession of Jerusalem.    Much of the prophecy concerning the end times is to take place in and around Jerusalem. Jeremiah predicted an invasion of the city of Jerusalem, and the Battle of Armageddon is to be fought over Jerusalem.

For the first time in 2,000 Jerusalem came under Israeli control during the 6 Day war inJune 1967. As a result of a phenomenal Israeli Blitz, Moshe Dayan, commander of the Israeli forces marched into Jerusalem and to the wailing wall, the last remnant of the Old Temple. There he proclaimed "We have returned to our holiest of Holy places, never to leave her again...No force on earth shall ever remove us from this place."

There remains one final part of Israel’s trilogy to be fulfilled.

• REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE

Many Biblical scholars take the words of  Matthew 24:15 to refer to the new Temple in Jerusalem (to replace the one destroyed by the Romans in 70AD)
Therefore when you see the 'abomination of desolation,' spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing in thE holy place (Matt 24:15)    He goes on to describe the tribulation period. The rebuilding of the temple signals that the tribulation period is about to begin.

The only place the temple can be built is on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. Solomon’s temple was built there. Ezra’s temple which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD was built there.

The Temple of the End Times is to be built there.

However, there is one big problem with rebuilding the Temple on the temple mount. One of the most holy sites for Muslims, the Dome of The Rock, is built squarely on the temple sight. It is the second most holy sight of Islam.

The temple and the dome cannot occupy the same piece of real estate.    Man if you think there is trouble in the Middle East now, you can just imagine what would happen if Israel were to try and remove the Dome of the Rock in order to rebuild the temple.    But, somehow the Dome of the Rock must come down in order for the Temple to be rebuilt.    That destruction could come as a result of an earthquake or it could be destroyed in a war. You can imagine the hostilities that will erupt when these two nations, the Jews and the Arab’s, from the Sons of Abraham clash over Mount Moriah.

When this final piece of Israel’s trilogy is in place, the time is exceedingly short.    The bottom line is that we should not look for a lasting peace in the Middle-east.    That does not mean we should not work towards peace.     We should. However, we must realize that no matter how hard we try, there will be no lasting peace.     The Middle-east will continue to be the Hot Spot of the world.

　

Power Keg Of The World

God has so arranged it, that Jerusalem is the powder keg of the world.    The Bible says that the Final Battle will be fought over Jerusalem. Israel is in the land and the arabs want the land.    This continual struggle and conflict has been brought about by the Rebirth of the Nation of Israel and will continue to bring the world to the brink of war.   

So we see and will continue to see it unfolding on the nightly news in the cyber world.    This is extremely important to watch because many Bible Scholars believe that the Bible predicts that there is going to come on the stage someone who will seemingly have a solution to the mid-east crisis and the Palestinian issue.     Someone who will also bring peace to Israel for a season and this person is known as the Anti-Christ.

Are we to despair?    Absolutely not.    As scary as all this sounds, it actually sets up the culmination of God’s great plan to restore the rule His Kingdom on this earth.    Nothing that our politicians can do will bring peace to the middle-east.     As a matter of fact, when the entire world has been brought to the very brink as the armies of the world surround Jerusalem, King Jesus the true Prince of Peace will come in all His glory to establish the lasting peace the world has so long sought.     That will be the focus of the next and final blog in this series.

ISRAEL’S TRILOGY

At the moment, there is a cease fire between the Palestinians and Israel.    That’s good news for both the Palestinians and the Israelis.    Some Palestinian observers believe however that this is simply a time of re-arming for the next barrage of missiles.   It seems that at any given time in the Middle-east that when there is break in the open hostilities, there are hostilities below the surface just waiting for the opportunity to be expressed.    Peace is always hoped for but never truly realized.

So far in this little series of blogs we’ve seen the biblical and historical background in the Middle-east.

 

God’s Promise To Abraham
• A Land

• A Great Nation

• A Great Blessing

• A Blessing Or A Curse

The Problem
The problem is that if Israel was unfaithful to God they would be scattered throughout the world.    As a result of disobedience there were three great departures from the land.

• Captive In Egypt

• The Captivities in Babylon and Assyria

• World Wide Dispersion (70AD)

The Jews were scattered throughout the world for 2,000 years.    Yet, God’s prophecy and God’s promise to Israel is that they will not always be dispersed from the Promise Land. Many Bible scholars believe there are three things that will happen to Israel in accordance with God’s plan for them and in preparation for the second coming of Christ.

Watching your daily news,

you may be watching biblical prophecy being

fulfilled before your very eyes.

Today, let’s just look at the first prophecy in Israel’s Trilogy
REBIRTH OF THE NATION

Both the Old Testament and the New Testament indicate that the dispersion of the Jews in 70 AD would last a long time, but at the end of that time Israel would return to the land as a sovereign nation.
After many days you will be visited. In the latter years you will come into the land of those brought back from the sword and gathered from many people on the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate; they were brought out of the nations, and now all of them dwell safely. (Ezek 38:8)

It is this restoration that directly triggers the hostilities that lead to Armageddon and the Coming of our King, Jesus Christ. Israel in the land incites the wrath and displeasure of her enemies.

We see this in our daily news with calls from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinnejad and others for the destruction of Israel. For instance on Quds Day he stated, "The Quds Day is not merely a strategic solution for the Palestinian problem, as it is to be viewed as a key for solving the world problems; any freedom lover and justice seeker in the world must do its best for the annihilation of the Zionist regime in order to pave the path for the establishment of justice and freedom in the world." ¹
May 14,1948The United Nations carved out a small piece of land at the eastern edge of the Mediterranean Sea to be the homeland of modern Israel.    The new nation had a population of 650,000 but today its more like 7 million.

To Create  the nation, the Arabs living in Palestine either had to come under Israeli rule or become refugees to other Arab nations.    They became known as Palestinians.    Before that time there was not a Palestinian people.    Now you begin to see why there is such conflict.

The acts of terrorism committed around the world, including 9/11 are the result of the fulfilment of Biblical Prophecy or Israel returning to the land.    There is deep rooted hatred for Israel that festers in the Middle-east that has lead to many a conflict and war.    For much of the Arab and Muslim world, the goal is to destroy Israel.    We’ve seen this in countless conflicts and wars against the young nation. Let me just list a few.

War of 1948-49The Arab nations - Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, and Saudi Arabia immediately attacked the new nation. The Arab armies sought to destroy Israel but instead Israel extended its borders by another 3,000 square miles.

War Of 1956During this war Israel too the Gaza Strip. The major powers of the world had to convince Israel to stop or all of Egypt could have been taken.    Later Israel left the Gaza Strip.

1967 Six Day War - June 1967
President Nasser of Egypt believed it was time to destroy Israel. The Arab world announced its goal of total war and the total destruction of Israel and to reclaim the land for the Arabs.

The short war saw the armies and armaments of much of the Arab world almost completely destroyed.    Israel literally took the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt (later returned) and left over $ 3 billion dollars in Arab military hardware destroyed.    The Israeli advance was so quick and powerful they could have overrun the Arab capitals of Cairo, Amman, and Damascus. The Arab nations called for a cease fire but Israel would not agree until they recognized Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign state.    The Arab nations would not quit until Israel had taken Jerusalem and the Jews occupied the city for the first time since 70AD. Israel then swept over the Jordan River and took the West Bank and then the Golan Heights from Syria.

In 6 days the war was over. The military might of the Arab world was virtually destroyed.

Israel’s territory had increased from original 5,000 sq. miles to 34,000 sq. miles and Jerusalem was back in the hands of the Jews for the first time in 2,000 years.

1973 Yom Kippur - Oct. 1973Yom Kiippur is the Jewish day of Atonement.    Egypt attacked Sinai Peninsula and the Syrians attacked Golan Heights as they sought to regain territory to use in negotiations. Having rebuilt the military with oil money they were better prepared than in 1967.

In the early part of the war Israel sustained heavy casualties but they had a breakthrough at the Suez Canal which made it possible to isolate the Egyptian army and soon it looked like Israel would soon over run its Arab enemies again.    It was then that a Peace Treaty was negotiated with Egypt and Israel gave the Sinai Peninsula back to Egypt.

Gulf War - Aug. 1990
Iraq invaded Kuwait not only for the purpose of controlling the world’s oil supply but also to establish a front from which to attack Israel.

The attack on the World Trade Centre and the continual conflicts that you see in the Middle -East, the threat of Iran developing the nuclear bomb, the daily shelling of Israel from the Gaza Strip, are all rooted in the fact that Israel has returned to the land just as God promised.

Christ Our Ultimate Hope

Somehow the sovereignty of God and the choices of man and the nations work to fulfill God’s ultimate purpose for the world and for the coming of His Son in glory.    Yes, the reality is that we look at current events in the Middle-east and we fear, yet we know that all these things must take place in preparation for the coming of Christ who is our ultimate Hope.

 
1   Quds is the Arabic name for Jerusalem. Quds Day which began in 1979 by the Ayatollah Khomeini. It is promoted as a day of solidarity with the Palestinian people and opposition to Israel. In particular is opposes Israel’s control of Jerusalem. This possess a continual problem because Jerusalem is central to the religion of the Jews. Though started in Iran, Quds day is celebrated throughout the Arab and Muslim world.

On 17 August 2012, saw millions of Iranians waving Palestinian flags, chanting "Death to Israel." President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called to destroy Israel, which he termed an "insult to all humanity" and called to remove the "Zionist black stain." ... "The Zionist regime and the Zionists are a cancerous tumour. Even if one cell of them is left in one inch of (Palestinian) land, in the future this story (of Israel’s existence) will repeat. He further stated that "The nations of the region will soon finish off the usurper Zionists in the Palestinian land. A new Middle East will definitely be formed. With the grace of God and help of the nations, in the new Middle East there will be no trace of the Americans and Zionist."

The Nation Of Israel

And

The Promised Land

God is not slack when it comes to His promises.   When He declares will do something, He will fulfill His promise.    In the last post we saw how God raised up Abraham and promised a great nation would come for him and that God was giving to Abraham and his descendants the land that we often refer to as the Promised Land.

The Land Of Promise

Genesis 15:18-21
On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your offspring I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, 19 the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, 20 the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, 21 the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites

Genesis 17:7-8
And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.
The land promised by God to the Jewish people stretches from the Sinai Desert, north and east to the Euphrates River. It includes present day Israel, much of Lebanon, the West Bank of Jordan, plus large parts of Syria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Egypt.    If you think there’s trouble in the Middle-East now you haven’t seen anything yet.    The land God promised the Jews include all this territory which now sits in Arab hands.

This is the land promised to Abraham and his defendants.     His grandson Jacob inherits the promise.     As you may know, Jacob’s name is eventually changed to Israel, thus the name of the nation.    Jacob has twelve sons who form the twelve tribes of Israel.    They dwell in the land until famine forces them down into Egypt.    They are are in slavery in Egypt for 400 years until God raises up Moses to deliver them back to the Promised Land.


The Condition Of The Promise:
God doesn’t mess around with sin and disobedience,  so as they are preparing to enter the Promised Land once again, Moses reminds them that the condition for them remaining in the land is their obedience to Jehovah God.

Deuteronomy 4:25-30
When you father children and children's children, and have grown old in the land, if you act corruptly by making a carved image in the form of anything, and by doing what is evil in the sight of the Lord your God, so as to provoke him to anger,   26 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will soon utterly perish from the land that you are going over the Jordan to possess. You will not live long in it, but will be utterly destroyed.
27 And the Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where the Lord will drive you.   28 And there you will serve gods of wood and stone, the work of human hands, that neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.
29  But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
30 When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey his voice.
Disobedience would lead to the people being forced from the land for a period of time and this is where the problem comes in.

The Problem:
Israel wasn’t obedient and as a result there are three major departures from the Promised Land because of this disobedience.
Three Major Departures From the Promised Land
1. Departure For Egypt Under Joseph
The first departure as we just saw was during the regional famine that took the children of Israel out of the land and into slavery in Egypt for 400 years.
2. The Captivities

Under David and Solomon the nation obeyed God and prospered. But as disobedience and idol worship increased, the Prophets warned that the Jews would be driven from the land if they did not return to Jehovah.

 

•  In 712 BC the Assyrians took the Northern Kingdom. In 605 BC the Babylonians captured Jerusalem and the Israelites including the prophet Daniel were taken captive. In 586 BC Jerusalem was devastated. However, Jeremiah prophesied that the people would return to the land.

Jeremiah 29:10For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place.

 

• In 516 BC Ezra and the people returned to Rebuild the Temple and later, Nehemiah (445 BC) to rebuild the city.

Moses predicted a time when Israel would be scattered through out the world.

Deuteronomy 28:64-66And the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your fathers have known.
65 And among these nations you shall find no respite, and there shall be no resting place for the sole of your foot, but the Lord will give you there a trembling heart and failing eyes and a languishing soul.
66 Your life shall hang in doubt before you. Night and day you shall be in dread and have no assurance of your life.

3.  The World Wide Dispersion  - 70AD
　

Under Roman Rule extensive renovations were made to the Temple.    These renovations were underway when Jesus was born and were not completed until after He had gone to the cross.

Jesus predicted that this temple would be destroyed and the Jews scattered around the world.
And Jesus said to them, "Do you not see all these things? Assuredly, I say to you, not one stone shall be left here upon another, that shall not be thrown down. (Matthew 24:2)
 In 70 AD Jerusalem was surrounded by war.    Roman legions slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Jewish pilgrims who had returned for a feast.     The city was destroyed and the stones of the temple were pried apart one by one and cast into a valley southeast of Jerusalem where they were discovered by archaeologists.    Once again the Jews were driven from the Promised Land, but this time they were scattered to the four corners of the world just as had been prophesied.
And it shall be, that just as the Lord rejoiced over you to do you good and multiply you, so the Lord will rejoice over you to destroy you and bring you to nothing; and you shall be plucked from off the land which you go to possess. 64 "Then the Lord will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known — wood and stone. (Deuteronomy 28:63-64)


Since that time, the Jews have been scattered throughout the world. They have been hated and persecuted and have lived with insecurity among the nations of the world.

But God is not slack to fulfill His promises.    As I understand it, God will return His people to the Promise Land one more time, in the latter days in preparation for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.     For almost 2,000 years the Israelites, the Jews, have longed for a homeland, longed to return to God’s Promised Land where they could live in peace.

The stage is now set for one fo the most significant events in human history;  the return of the Jews to the Promised Land.    God is not slack concerning His promises. He doesn’t always work according to our time table.    In our life time, we are seeing amazing Biblical prophecy unfolding before our very eyes.

(Please Check back next week for the historic return of Israel to the Promise Land)

 

NO BIG SURPRISE

Israel, The Mid-East And The Coming World Peace (Part 1)

You hear about it every day. Conflict in the middle-east.   The terrorism of 9/11 was the fruit of the conflict that continues even today. As I write this we hear of rockets being reigned down on Israel by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.    We sit tense wondering if Israel will invade to take out the missile launchers and whether this might escalate into a more global conflict.     Or worse, that Iran may acquire an nuclear bomb and take us to the brink of destruction.

Biblical prophecy is not my forte but in the next couple of blog posts let me try to give you a bit of a historical context for what you see every day on newscasts and read about on Face Book, Twitter and your news feeds.    The fact that Jerusalem and the middle-east are constantly in the news shouldn’t come as a total surprise to those familiar with the Christian Scriptures.    To the secular news media these events have their roots in the past generation or two and are a cause for great concern for the peace of the world.    The mid-east, even in the secular world,  is seen as the powder keg of the world.    Yet, events happening there today are not a surprise to the Sovereign God of the universe.    As a matter of fact, God Himself has so arranged these events for His own purposes that they might ultimately bring Him glory.

Back To The Future
To understand the situation in and around Jerusalem today, and in the future, we have to go back to the very first book of the Bible, right back to the fall of Adam and Eve.    It was there at the very dawn of human history, when sin first entered the world that God began to unveil His loving and eternal plan of redemption.    Sin shattered the peace in the garden and brought Adam and Eve into conflict with each other and God.    After pronouncing the curse on sin, God gives the first incredible promise that He Himself would provide a way of forgiveness.    A way to redeem us out of the mess caused by sin.

Sin’s entrance into the world, and the conflict that comes with it was no surprise to God.   He was prepared and told Adam and Eve as He cursed the serpent, "An I will put enmity between you and the women, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise His heel." ¹

Biblical scholars consider this to be the first promise of a coming Messiah, a Savour who would come into the world to bruise the head of Satan, bring forgiveness and restore us to peace with God.

There is in scripture what theologians call "progressive revelation."   It simply means that God reveals Himself and His plans to us in Scripture a little bit at a time.    Adam probably didn’t understand the implications of this promise other than that God was making a promise to overcome the enemy.    Later in scripture, as we will see, God reveals his plan to establish the Nation of Israel through which Christ the Messiah, the incarnate Son of God would come into the world and overcome sin and Satan and restore God’s creation.

A Land And A Promise
Now let’s fast forward several thousand years².    Man has multiplied and spread through much of the world.    God has not forgotten His promise nor of fallen humanities need of a Redeemer.    He begins to prepare for the Messiah, Jesus Christ to come into the world.    In what is now modern Iraq there is a man named Abram.    Abram was likely an idol worshipper but God choose Him to be the founder of a great nation through which the Messiah would come.

About 400 years before the time of Moses and over 3,800 years ago God said to Abram, who would be later called Abraham, "Now the Lord said to Abram, ;Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonours you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed." ³


4 Promises That Impact Today’s News
There are four significant and specific promises God made to Abraham that directly impact what you see and read everyday in the news and especially in times like these where there are heightened hostilities between Israel, its Arab neighbours and groups like Hamas and Hezbollah.

　

1. A Land "to the land that I will show you"

God promises Abraham a land where he and his descendants would settle.    To make a long story short, that Land is basically present day Israel.⁴    And this is the powder keg of the modern conflict.    It is Israel’s claim on this land that is at the very centre of the conflict between Israel, the Arabs nations, and as we see this week, Hamas and the Palestinians.    It is this land, promised by God to the descendants of Abraham, the Jews, almost 4,000 years ago that is the world’s most dangerous powder keg in the 21^st century.

2. A Great Nation And I will make of you a great nation

God promised Abraham that his descendants would become a great nation.    And indeed, the Jews have become a great nations with millions of Jews around the world today.    God wasn’t just blessing Abraham, He was working out His eternal purpose.⁵

3. A Great Blessing make your name great, so that you will be a blessing

God’s plan was to bring redemption through the descendants of Abraham, the Jews.

God sovereignly chose that His Son, Jesus Christ, the Saviour of the world, would be born into the family of Abraham. Christ, the Saviour blesses all nations because all can be forgiven and reconciled to God through faith in Him and His atoning sacrifice of the Cross. This was God’s plan from the beginning.

4. A Blessing Or A Curse I will bless those who bless you, ..

Israel has a special place in God’s redemptive plan. He chose that the Messiah, the Saviour of the world would be born a Jew. Therefore, there is a blessing for those who bless Israel and a curse for those who do not.⁶     Because of it’s redemptive significance, Israel is the apple of God’s eye.


One Big Problem With The Promise
Don’t you just love a good mystery? because now the plot thickens.    Okay, we’ve got Abraham in the land that is now present day Israel along with parts of Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt.    God has promised this land to Abraham and promised Him that the Messiah will come through Him and all the nations of the earth will be blessed.    So far, so good.    Right?    Wrong!

The conflict you see unfolding before you daily in the mid-east stretches back and finds its roots in the days of Abraham himself.    Abraham’s wife Sarah was getting old and had no children.    Rather than wait for God’s timing, she and Abraham jumped the gun and took matters into their own hands.⁷    Genesis 16 tells us of a plan concocted by Sarah that her maid Hagar could be a surrogate mother and bare a child for Sarah.

Hagar has a son by Abraham and calls his name Ishmael.    This is where the story gets really interesting.    You see the descendants of Ishmael also become a great people.    They become the Arab people.⁸    Ah, now you see how deep the root of the conflict in the middle-east really is.

God’s promise had been that even though Sarah was way beyond child bearing years, she would bear a son through who would come this great nation.⁹    The promise of a great nation was to come through the offspring of Sarah not Hagar.¹⁰

True to God’s promise, Sarah does have son and calls him Isaac.     Later Isaac has a son named Jacob who becomes heir to the promise.    Interestingly, in time his name is changed to Israel who has twelve sons and thus the twelve tribes of Israel.    The Jewish nation.

There you have it.    One son of Abraham, Ishmael, from Hagar becomes the Arab peoples. The other son, Isaac, becomes the Jewish people.    The seeds of the mid-east conflict of today were planted over 3,800 years ago between these two sons of Abraham.


God’s Sovereign Rule
We’ll pick this real world drama up in the next post, but for now, let me assure you that none of this, and none of what you see happening in the mid-east today comes as a big surprise to our sovereign God.    This was all laid out and seen by God before Adam and Eve showed up in the garden.    Somehow in His sovereignty and the responsibility of fallen humanity, God is bringing together His great eternal plan of redemption.       

 There is no need to fear.    No need to question the final outcome.   God is sovereignly in charge not only of the middle-east, but in your life and in your circumstances.    Do not fear but trust in His sovereign goodness.

( Check back on Friday for Part 2 --  Israel's Trilogy)

---------
1.  Genesis 3:15
 
2.  If you follow an evolutionary theory (which I do not) then there’s no way you can reconcile the Biblical record between the time of Adam and the time of Abraham. This creates significant problems for Theistic Evolutionist who seek to reconcile Creation with Evolution and must account for millions of years of evolutionary time. Another one of those problems is significant in that it runs into conflict with historicity and inspiration of the Genesis record in Genesis 1-11. This blog isn’t about that debate so I’ll leave it up to you to consider on your own.

3. Genesis 12:1-3
 
4.  This promised land covers all of present day Israel, huge chunks of Lebanon including Damascus and Beirut, the Lebanon Mountains, all of the Gaza Strip, all of the West Bank and much of modern day Jordan etc. etc.

5.  There was nothing in and of Abraham himself that caused God to choose Him. This was a sovereign decision of God not based on Abraham’s merit but simply on God’s desire to have His Son incarnated into the world.

6.  Without being too political here, this does not mean that everything modern Israel does is right or that we should support it even if does wrong. Nonetheless, we recognize the Jews, descendants of Abraham, as God’s special people. They are the people to whom God Himself promised the Land that they now occupy and God has clearly said that He will bless those who bless Israel. Every person and every nation should seek to bless Israel.

7.  Trouble always follows when we don’t walk in trust and obedience to God.

8.  Genesis 16-8-12

9.  Through whom also would come the Messiah, the Saviour.

10. Genesis 17:1-8; 15-21

November 19, 2012

HOW FIRST CENTURY CHRISTIANS CHANGED THE WORLD
(Part 2)    - SIMPLY FOLLOW

First century Christians did not set out to transform their communities, be Missional or to change their world.    The fact is that they were simply followers of Jesus. They had come to know Him as the Saviour and King of their lives.    They believed, experienced and lived out the resurrection and it transformed them in spite of the opposition and persecution they faced. In the process, over time, it transformed the world around them.

In the last blog post I talked about how believers in the first part of the 21^st Century are being increasingly marginalised and how Christianity is no longer at the centre of our culture.    We find ourselves in a very similar situation as the 1^st century Christians.    I asked the question: "When the world misunderstands us, misrepresents us, resents us, wants to exclude us from the public form, and eventually even persecutes us, how are we to respond?    And even more, in such a climate how can we possibly make a difference?    How can we possibly transform our culture when our culture increasingly writes us off as odd balls, superstitious and unworthy of serious consideration."

The early followers of Jesus turned their world upside down.¹    They changed the world and are our examples of how to live and transform our so called post-Christian world in a way that makes the world stand up and take notice.    Modern Christian theories tell us our goal must be to transform ou neghbourhoods and communities through our social action.

It may surprise you that the early Christians did not set out to change the world.    Rather, the world was impacted as a by-product to their transformed lives.    They rejected the pagan gods and refused the immoral lifestyle of the Greco-Roman world.    They were followers of Jesus and they knew that He made no promise of an easy and pain free life.   In fact, He had told them that they would be hated and despised because of Him. ²    Yet they changed their world.    How?

They did it by living a new kind of life in light of their unmovable conviction in the risen Christ.    They themselves were transformed by Him.    They believed in Him.   They were ready to live for Him and they were ready to die for Him.    They were not afraid.    It didn’t matter what the unbelieving world around them thought or did.    They followed Jesus and lived in a way that made the world around them take notice.

A few examples may help us understand how they changed their world simply by living out their lives in obedience to Jesus.

• Sanctity Of Life

The Greco-Roman world had a low view of life and fostered a culture of death.    Infanticide was common.    Children were abandonment, aborted, and offered as human sacrifices.    It was uncommon for a family to have two daughters.    Unwanted female infants, the deformed and the unwanted were left in the streets to die.    The followers of Jesus, filled with the compassion of Christ went out into the streets, picked up the unwanted and rejected and cared for them and saved their lives.

• Moral Purity

The early followers of Jesus stood against the prevalent immorality and sexual perversity of the Roman world.    Committed to the risen Lord they took His words seriously when He said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments."³ T   hey lived out the will of God when they were told, "For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality." ⁴

Standing against the common practices of the day such as adultery, fornication, homosexuality, and child molestation, followers of Jesus elevated the world’s sexual morality.    Perhaps one of the reasons we don’t impact our world in the same way today is that instead of pulling the world to a higher sexual standard, we have scummed to the world’s standard.

• Compassion

It was not common in the Greco-Roman world to show care for the poor, the ailing and the dying.    Dionysius, a Christian bishop of the third century said of the pagans of his day, they ‘thrust aside anyone who began to be sick, and kept aloof even from their dearest friends, and cast the sufferers out upon the public roads half dead, and left them unburied, and treated them with utter contempt when they died.’⁵

Jesus said, "Truly, I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me," ⁶ and His followers lived it out regardless of what the world around them thought or did.    They didn’t say, "We need to be Missional", they just followed Jesus and lived out the resurrected life.

Following the compassion of Jesus early followers reached out to help those in need and modelled compassion.    Wherever they went they practised charity and the world took notice.    It was from these first faithful followers of Jesus that the first hospitals arose along with other charitable endeavours.

The point I am making is that the early followers of Jesus changed their world not by setting out to change the world or to be missional.    They simply followed the Risen Lord.    They lived Jesus in the world.    It was radical.    It was counter culture.    And where ever they went it was transforming.    They turned the world upside down.

"Early Christians knew little else but that they were followers.    There were no electric guitars or dazzling experiences.    Their Christian journey was just following – following that often cost them family, career, and even their lives.    Yet their impact was incredible, and it wasn’t because they were persons of power and influence.    In the early generations of the church, as it is today, most of the followers of Christ were just common folk, not the well-connected elite with access to the power brokers and shakers and movers.    Their power and influence would be wielded in a far more strategic venue: the hearts and minds of a watching world.  

As persecution mounted against them from the political and religious establishments, they were unintimidated and unmoved as followers of Christ. Some died in the arena as fodder for hungry lions; others were covered with pitch and were set on fire as human torches to light the streets of Rome.    The reality of a Christ worth living for – dying for if necessary – stirred the curiosity of the world.

The lifestyle of these followers was dramatically and productively different from the people around them.    They loved and cared for one another.    They cared for their enemies, even the worst of them.    They were selfless, sharing with each other and those in need.    Politically and economically disenfranchised, they had hope and trust in a transcendent reality that left them strong in the face of poverty and persecution."⁷

We 21^st century followers of Jesus would do well to learn the lessons from those 1^st century followers who changed their world through the simplicity of radically following and living for Jesus.


^{1   Acts 17:6}Luke 6:22 Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man!
^{3   John 14:15
4   1 Thessalonians 4:3
 5}    Works of Dionysus, Epistle 12.5
^{6   Matthew 25:45 7  Following Christ - Joseph Stowell - Zondervan - 1996  - Pg 20}

November 10, 2012

How First Century Christians Changed The World
(Part 1)

This blog post was started August 9, 2012 on my way back from Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada, after visiting my failing mother.   It had been a wild 6 weeks and during that time I had not posted any new blog posts.   I apologize for that but I’m sure you understand.   On September 18,  I was once again at my Mom’s bedside as she was in her final days .   As I looked out the window from her room I could see the scene mentioned below once again. (1)

I’m writing at about 35,000 feet on my way back to Toronto from visiting my mother who is in a palliative care facility in Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada ².    Bobby’s Hospice is a first rate facility located in a former Roman Catholic convent.     A hundred and fifty years ago as new waves of immigrants to Canada faced an epidemic of cholera, starvation and hardships, the Sisters of Charity founded the convent.    Across the street is a huge Roman Catholic Church and beside it the Manse³.   Looking out the window of my mother’s room you can see the homes and local store that surround the church and convent which formed the hub of the community.

The church, whether it be protestant or catholic, as the centre of the community, was a part of the European and North America culture for hundreds of years.    There was a general respect for the church.    Even if you didn’t go to church, you knew the church was important to our culture. No one questioned its relevance.    But I as I overlook the scene before me, I am reminded that this is no longer the case.    The church no longer holds a special place in our culture, as a matter of fact we are in days of not only increased marginalization but increased hostility.⁴    I’m reminded of a few lines from an old Bob Dylan song, "There’s a battle outside.    And it is ragin’. It’ll soon shake your windows and rattle your walls. For the times they are a-chagin’."

As I stood there looking out that window I wondered about the first century Christians.   They were not at the centre of their community.    As a matter of fact, they were marignalized, harassed, misunderstood and often persecuted.    How was it that in such an environment they were able to actually transform the entire Roman Empire until Christianity became the official religion of the empire?    I think the answer to that question has tremendous implications for North American believers who find themselves in an increasingly hostile culture.    I read all kinds of books about methods and plans and strategies to transform our culture and be more missional, but somehow I’m not convinced that all this strategy is the answer.⁵    How did the first century believers live in a hostile environment?

In 64 AD two thirds of Rome was burned to the ground by a huge fire.    Some accused Emperor Nero of igniting the fire for his own entertainment. In order to deflect the accusations Nero blamed the small group of Christians in Rome.    The first great persecution broke out which lasted until at least 68AD. It is believed that both the Apostles Paul and Peter died in this persecution.

The historian Tacitus Cornelius (54-120) claimed that although Nero unjustly attacked the Christians he was convinced that they merited the most severe punishment because of their superstitions.

"To cut short the public outcry, Nero had to find someone guilty, and blamed a race of men despised for the perversity of their rites and commonly called Christians. The name comes from Christus (Christ), who was put to death when Pontius Pilate was pro-Consul and Procurator of Judea. Now, this pernicious superstition has broken out anew, not only in Judea, the place of origin of this scourge, but even in Rome, where all that is shameful and abominable comes together and is accepted.
At first were arrested those who openly confessed their belief. Then, after their accusation, a great multitude were imprisoned not just accused of having caused the fire, but because they were regarded as being burning with hatred against the human race. They were put to death with refined cruelty, and Nero added scorn and derision to their sufferings. Some were clad in the skins of wild beasts and thrown to the dogs to be devoured; others were nailed to the cross, others burned alive, and still others covered with inflammable material which was then set on fire to serve as torches after sunset. Nero allowed his gardens (on the Vatican hill) to be used for this spectacle, which also included circus games. ....

Tacitus wrote that Christians were despicable people, capable of horrendous crimes.    They were accused of ritual infanticide (they spoke of the Lord's Supper, as the killing and eating of a child ) and incest (clearly a travesty of the kiss of peace "between brothers and sisters" which occurred in the celebration of the Lord’s Table).    Of course these accusations were based solely on popular gossip, but were used to gain imperial authority for the persecution.

As I read about how the early Christians were misunderstood and demonized by their tormentors, I realize that this is increasingly happening in our day.    The scriptures say that the things of God cannot be understood by the unbelieving world because they are spiritually discerned and unbelievers have no spiritual life.⁶    As our culture abandons its Judeo Christian roots, the unbelieving world does not understand believers and we are often at odds with the value system of the world.    We are increasingly misunderstood, misrepresented and increasingly marginalized by the culture around us.

I find it amazing that the world of imperial Rome drew erroneous and wild conclusions about believers and misrepresented their actions to the point of accusing them of being an evil and a menace to the Empire.    This is increasingly happening in our culture.    We see raging atheist like the late Christopher Hitchens and others insisting that religion, and in particular Christianity, is a danger to society.    The media shows gross misunderstanding of evangelical Christians and thus misrepresents our beliefs, or motives, and our actions.⁷ Because we do not share the value system of the culture around us we are accused of being hate mongers, bigots, and trouble makers and more.

The question is, how should we respond to all of this?    When the world misunderstands us, misrepresents us, resents us, wants to exclude us from the public form, and eventually even persecutes us, how are we to respond?    And even more, in such a climate how can we possibly make a difference?    How can we possibly transform our culture when our culture increasingly writes us off as odd balls, superstitious and unworthy of serious consideration.

I think the answer as demonstrated by the first century believers will surprise and encourage you.    They who turned their world upside down⁸ are our examples and provide a road map of how believers can live, and not just to survive, but to thrive in a post-Christian world in a way that makes the world stand up and take notice and even transforms our culture.

* I guess you could call this a serial blog because you’ve got to come back to get the rest of the story.    Watch for the next blog post when we’ll look at the how the first century believers faced and triumphed in a hostile environment.  The simplicity by which the first century believers changed their world will astound you.
----
(1 )  My Mom passed into the presence of the Lord on September 19, 2012 and this blog was not completed until today November 9,2012.

(2)  There are readers of Pastor Rick’s Study around the world including Canada, the United States, China, Russian, Africa, Asia etc. Some of you might have fun checking out Saint John on the Web. It’s a city of fascinating Canadian history.

(3)  House where the Priest lives.

(4)   Writing continued from this point on November 9,2012

(5)  Don’t misunderstand. I think its good to strategize and plan. The Apostle Paul planned his strategy for evangelizing the world. It’s just that there seems to be something missing in all these plans and the fact is that average believers don’t go around strategizing about their lives.

(6)  1 Corinthians 2:14

(7)  It doesn’t help that there are Christian crazies out there that sometimes have significant television air time on which they can make wild statements that put all believers in a bad light before the unbelieving world.

(8) Acts 17:6

5 QUESTIONS

EVERY CHRISTIAN SHOULD ASK

(Gleaned from godly J.I. Packer - almost 40 years ago)

Years ago when I was still a Bible College student I heard the then young and godly J.I. Packer speak about revival.    It had a powerful impact upon me and I have been seeking revival in my own life, my church and my country ever since.    I remember that he spoke one day on the common occurrences demonstrated in every Word centred revival throughout history. I can’t remember all he said but I did scribble down some rough notes on the back of an envelope and they have been guidepost for my life these past 40 years.    I look into my life and say "Lord, are these signs of revival found in my life?"

I do remember him saying that "revivedness is to be a constant experience" in the believer’s life.     It is so easy for us in our comfortable North American Christian culture to just cost, to walk through the motions without experiencing a rich spiritual life.    We can have a form of godliness but lack the power of the real thing.    That’s not what I want and I know that’s not what you want either.

Let me pose some of those common occurrences in revival in the form of questions that you and I can ask ourselves to see if indeed we are experiencing revival on a daily basis. These questions are not meant to discourage us or to make us so introspective that we are depressed but rather as a way of examining ourselves to see if we are in the faith and living in rich spiritual vitality. (1)

I find it helpful to once or twice a year take a morning and just get away by myself with God to honestly ask myself these questions.    Sometimes it leads to a time of confession and repentance and always to a time of thanksgiving and praise to God for His mercy and Grace and a cry that He might revive my heart.    Are you ready?   Here are 5 Questions Every Christian should ask.

1. Am I Keenly Aware Of God’s Manifest Presence?
Every great revival in history has been characterized by a dynamic manifestation of the presence of God.    In revival, you know when God shows up. I’m not talking about weird stuff (2)

Someone has said that if the Holy Spirit was removed from the North American church we’d hardly notice the difference. We can accomplish much with our planning and our money and our organization.
 
There is what we call the General Presence of God.    We know that God is everywhere and therefore we are never out of His presence.     However, we don’t always know or experience what is often called God’s Manifest Presence.    This is the special and very real presence of God available for all His people.  You know you are in God's presence.

Often we are not aware of His presence, not in our private lives and quite often, not even in church. When was the last time you were in church and you just knew God was there in a powerful way that moved your heart and exalted His name.

I ask myself,  am I keenly aware of God’s presence in my life?    Am I experiencing Him in a real and personal way?    Do I see His supernatural activity in my life?    When I don’t it’s probably a sign that something is not right in my life or that God needs to get my attention and I need to be on my knees and find out why.

2.  Am I Dliberately Responsive To God’s Word?
For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. 13 And no creature is hidden from his sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him to whom we must give account. (Heb 4:12-13)

Is it not possible for me to become so accustomed to reading and hearing the Word of God that I become tone deaf to it – to not allow it to pierce my soul and transform my life?    We have every kind of study bible and bible study helps but when was the last time you heard from God as He spoke deep into your heart through His word?    Are you sensitive to allow the Spirit to use it to convict and transform your life?  Is it not possible for me to become so accustomed to reading and hearing the Word of God and even preparing sermons and writings,  that I become tone deaf to it – to not allow it to pierce my soul and transform my life?    We have every kind of study bible and bible study helps but when was the last time you heard from God as He spoke deep into your heart through His word?    Are you sensitive to allow the Spirit to use it to convict and transform your life?

Every Great Revival In History Is Accompanied By A Deliberate Response To God’s Word.   I am convinced that if there is to be revival in our own hearts, in our church, and in our land then it is God’s people who must have this deliberate responsiveness to God’s Word.    I don’t know that it is something we can just work up within our hearts.    It may be that here too we’ve got to get down on our knees before God and cry out to Him to make our hearts sensitive to His Word that He might make the Word come alive for us.    The Bible is not just a religious book, it is God talking to you.

Sometimes my prayer is "Lord, is my heart sensitive to your Word. Do not let me grow cold and indifferent." 

3.  Am I Sensitive To Sin In My Life?
Does it not make sense that if we are walking hand in hand with a Holy God, if He resides in us by the person of His Holy Spirit, that we would have a sensitivity to sin in our lives.

Statistics tell and experience verifies that so many who claim the name of Christ seem to posses no sensitivity to sin and our lifestyle differs very little if at all from the unbelievers around us.    Rather than being salt and light in the world, and being in the world but not of the world, we seem so often to be pressed into the worlds mould.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, these things ought not be so.   In every Revival people become sensitive to the Holiness of God and therefore become Sensitive to Sin In Their Own Lives.   I am amazed that even in my own life I have allowed things to creep in that I wouldn’t have allowed years ago.   We’re not talking about legalism here, we’re talking about holiness. (3)

It is said that in the Welsh revivals - the bars had to close because they lost patrons who were being converted and the mules in the mines didn’t know how to respond to the new cleaned up language of the miners.

At least once a year I get alone for a day and pray through Psalm 51, David’s prayer of repentance.    I don’t cheat on my wife.    I have no temptation to steal money.   There’s no sin of flesh that shows up in my life but, crud builds up in my life.    I have to deal with the inner stuff, the attitude stuff the relational stuff, the pride stuff etc.    I reflect on every phrase of Psalm 51 and ask the Holy Spirit to deal with my sin.

Let me ask you?   Are you sensitive to sin in your life or have you allowed yourself to be desensitized by the culture around you?    Have you become slack in your holiness?    Does your heart need to be revived.


4.  Am I Demonstrating Genuine Holiness? The opposite of sin of course is Holiness.    Holiness is not a list of do’s and don’ts.   It is genuine separation of our lives for God.    The word "holy" means to be ‘separate’. Specifically to ‘separate’ for God’s use.    It’s the same idea as the articles in the temple that were set aside exclusively for God and service to God.

Did you know that when God saved you, He saved you and set you apart for His exclusive use.    You are not even your own.    Your life is not about your comfort and your fun.    It’s about God’s glory and anything you think say or do that is outside of the character of God and not for His glory is unholy.

An  even more accurate illustration of holiness would be the phrase ‘a cut above something.’
When we find a garment or another piece of merchandise that is outstanding, that has a superior excellence, we use the expression that it is ‘a cut above the rest.    One Who Is Holy Is Uniquely Holy, with No Rivals or Competition.

I ask myself, does God have any rivals, any competitors in my life?    Is there anything that is drawing me away from Him or from reflecting Him in the world?    What’s your consuming passion?  Is it the internet, video games, football or whatever? (4)     The real question is, is Jesus Christ your all consuming passion?


5.   Am I Bearing Fruit?

If the life of Christ is being allowed full expression in your life and you are filled with the Holy Spirit then there will be fruit.    No if ands or buts.    Oh sure, we are a work in progress and there is growth to be taking place, but, are we increasingly bearing the fruit of Christlikeness?    Are we becoming more godly.(5)

Let me ask you something,   Are you passionately seeking to be like Christ?    I don’t mean are you casually trying to live the good Christian lifestyle.    I mean are you passionate, fully committed, to become like Jesus.    Are you looking to be a radical follower of Jesus.(6)

When genuine revival happens in our lives the fruit of the Spirt will be powerfully demonstrated in our lives.(7)

Brothers and sisters, how is it with you?    How is it with me?    Is the fruit of the Spirit showing up increasingly in our lives?    Don’t assume that because you’ve been a Christ follower for a long time that you don’t need this anymore that you’re good.    There is for example always that new unlovable person who comes into your life that drives you back to your knees to ask God to fill and control you heart that you might love like Jesus loves.

I want to live in that "constant state of revivedness" because I believe that’s where God wants me to live, in the abundant life.(8)    But I don't, I want to, but I don't always, and so I ask myself these five questions that I believe every Christian should ask as we examine our lives before the face of God.    Not legalistically,  but out of a sincere heart that wants to follow Jesus as closely as humanly possible.

God bless you friends as you seek His face and experience abundant living every day.

Pastor Rick

(1)  2 Corinthians 13:5-6        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! 6 I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test.

(2)   It is true that whenever God does a genuine work, the evil one will have a counterfeit. In that sense even true word centre revival experiences some "weird stuff" as well as genuine expressions of God’s dynamic presence.  John and Charles Wesley had differing opinions on how to handle the unusual manifestations that took place in their meeting and whether or not these were of God.

(3)  One of the books I want to real soon is Kevin DeYoung’s new book "The Hole In Our Holiness."

(4) It’s not that these things are sin in and of themselves but what grip do they have on our lives. There are other things of course like lying, stealing, porn etc. that are sin.

(5)  Godliness = 'god like' - taking on and displaying the character of God

(6)  Two other books recently on the market I’d like to read are "Radical" by David Platt and "Not A Fan" by                  Kyle Idleman

(7)   Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

(8)  I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly (John 10:10)