Faithfulness

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.

Psalm 119:89-91
Forever, O LORD, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness continues throughout all generations; You established the earth, and it stands. They stand this day according to Your ordinances, for all things are Your servants.

God is always faithful to do as He promised. Even throughout the Old Testament, God’s faithfulness is extolled, even though He would not fulfill His promise of a Savior until many years later. Jesus is the fulfillment of that promise. Let us thank and praise our God for His faithfulness to His promise to the Israelites, for it is through the fulfillment of that promise that we can find salvation! Every promise that He has made and fulfilled should be a source of joy to us, because it reminds us that He will keep all His promises. Every time we see a rainbow, we can be reminded of this: it is a promise God made to Noah and all mankind that He would never destroy the earth with a flood again. This is just one example of a promise God has made and fulfilled.

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
--Thomas Chisolm

We already know that the fruits of the Spirit are reflections of God’s character: we are called to love because He first loved us (1 John 4:19); we are to reflect God’s goodness and kindness and patience, etc. So clearly, we are to be faithful because God Himself is faithful.

But there is a deeper relationship between God’s faithfulness and our faithfulness at work here, which is this: we are able to be faithful to the things which God has called us to do because He is faithful to do what He has promised. This connection is much more important than it would first appear.

We can and should trust a holy God who can no more break a promise than He can commit sin. He is all-powerful, so whatever He commands to happen will happen. The only way we can be faithful to the tasks that God has given us to do if we believe that He will be faithful to hold up His end of the bargain, so to speak. We can be faithful to preach the Gospel because He has promised to save the elect by that means. We can be faithful in our everyday tasks, in being a mother or father, in whatever we do, because we know that none of it goes to waste; it all glorifies God.

Whatever God has promised, He will do it, and we have to behave as though we believe He will. There is one area where most of us need to be assured of this: sin. I don’t know about you, but a lot of the time, I will find myself committing the same sins over and over again. Or a sin that I thought I had defeated a long time ago will creep back up on me. And if I focus on that sin, I will get discouraged and be less likely to fight against it, which leads to more sin, and it becomes a vicious cycle.

What we have to do is focus on God’s promise that we are no longer slaves to sin (Romans 8:1-4). He has set us free, by the blood of His Son! And He has promised us that He will progressively sanctify us and purify us from sin.

1 Thessalonians 5:23-24
Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.

If you look ahead to that great work of sanctification, and remember that because He has promised it, it will happen, you will be more likely to progress towards that goal by actively destroying sin. The same logic applies to weight loss (for example). If you concentrate on what your body is like now (with those ten extra pounds of turkey and holiday cookies sitting around your middle) you will probably get discouraged and fail before you even start. But if you focus on your future goal, you will be more likely to make the changes in diet and exercise necessary to achieve that goal, a little at a time. We are able to be faithful today by living in anticipation of the future, and what God promises will happen in the future.

If you need more convincing of the faithfulness of God, I highly recommend reading the stories of Moses, Abraham, Gideon, and David, as well as the promise of a Messiah (spoken of by the prophets), which was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. That will inspire you to believe God will do what He says, so that you can be faithful to serve Him wherever He has put you, even if it doesn’t feel like it is doing any good. I hope this reminder encourages you to be a dedicated and faithful husband, wife, mother, father, pastor, student, or whatever other role God has given to you!

Psalm 37:1-9
Do not fret because of evildoers, be not envious toward wrongdoers. For they will wither quickly like the grass and fade like the green herb. Trust in the LORD and do good; dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness. Delight yourself in the LORD; and He will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him; do not fret because of him who prospers in his way, because of the man who carries out wicked schemes. Cease from anger and forsake wrath; do not fret; it leads only to evildoing.
For evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the LORD, they will inherit the land.

Refutation of Argument Against God's Existence via Immutability

Introduction: Some atheists are using the following argument in an attempt to show that it is logically impossible for the Christian God to exist. I will present the argument with a refutation following it. It just goes to show that if you know Scripture and the basic systematic theology that flows from it, you can answer many unbelieving arguments. This argument is called the "argument from the impossibility of an immutable Creator". It goes like this:

1. According to historic Christian doctrine, God is immutable.
2. God created the universe.
3. An act of creation requires a change of state in the Creator (i.e., from not having exercised His will to create, to having exercised His will to do so).
4. An immutable being cannot undergo a change of state.
   
5. Therefore an immutable being cannot create the universe.
6. Therefore the Christian God does not exist.

Refutation:

1. God is immutable. We have to first define "immutability". It refers to God's "unchangeableness" only as it pertains to God's nature or essence (i.e., God cannot stop being God, cannot lose or add any of His divine attributes, etc.). The fact that God's nature is immutable does not mean that He cannot act in time.
2. God created the universe.
3. An act of creation requires a change of state in the Creator (i.e., from not having exercised His will to create, to having exercised His will to do so). This premise is false: An action that God brings about in time as part of His eternal decree is not a change of nature, but simply a playing out of His eternal plan to bring about the time-space-matter continuum. God's nature did not change (nor did His mind either) since His "decision" to create has existed eternally in His mind. It was eternally decided to "bring about" a particular event at a particular point for His own sovereign purposes.
4. An immutable being cannot undergo a change of state. This premise is misleading due to a misunderstanding between the unchanging nature of God and the varying ways that He has acted in history to accomplish His eternal plan: This premise fails to understand the distinction Christian theology makes between God's immutability as to His nature and His ability within that nature to have an eternal decree that plays itself out in historical time.
5. Therefore an immutable being cannot create the universe. This conclusion does not follow because premises three and four above are false as it pertains to the Christian God.
   
6. Therefore the Christian God does not exist. Again, this argument fails because the premises listed above are false.
   

HT: CARM

Measuring Oral Roberts' Influence by John MacArthur Jr.

Oral Roberts died this week and the obituaries have been abuzz with analyses of his life and legacy. The USA Today headline summed up his contributions this way: "Oral Roberts brought health-and-wealth Gospel mainstream." The Los Angeles Times gave a similar snapshot of the man: "Oral Roberts dies at 91; televangelist was pioneering preacher of the 'prosperity gospel'"

But Christianity Today's lead blogger, Ted Olsen, disagreed. He responded with a post titled "Why the Oral Roberts Obituaries Are Wrong." The long subtitle at the head of Olsen's post explained: "The 'faith-healer' (who hated the term) may have done much to mainstream Pentecostalism, but he was no architect of the Prosperity Gospel."

Olsen's argument, essentially, is that the real founder and mastermind of prosperity doctrine was not Oral Roberts but Kenneth Hagin, "who is far more widely recognized as the man who joined Pentecostalism with the Faith Movement (also called 'Word-Faith,' or derogatively, the Prosperity Gospel or 'Health and Wealth' gospel)."

Olsen, however, is wrong. He has evidently confused two categories. It is quite true that Kenneth Hagin is the main prosperity preacher who popularized word-faith doctrine--the notion that the words we speak determine the blessings we receive. Hagin borrowed that doctrine from an earlier, lesser-known preacher--E. W. Kenyon. (A mountain of evidence suggests that Hagin actually plagiarized large portions of his published works from Kenyon's writings.) Kenyon had been strongly influenced by the teachings of New Thought, a 19th-century metaphysical cult similar to Christian Science. So Hagin's word-faith doctrines had deeply cultic roots, but the idea fit perfectly with the prosperity doctrines that were already being taught by A. A. Allen, Oral Roberts, Jack Coe, and other faith-healers. The two ideas were natural complements to one another.

Still, word-faith doctrine and the prosperity gospel are not synonymous. (Even the current Wikipedia entry acknowledges this: "Although [the Word of Faith movement] shares teachings in common with Prosperity theology, they are not the same thing.") Prosperity doctrine is the notion that God's favor is expressed mainly through physical health and material prosperity, and that these blessings are available for the claiming by anyone who has sufficient faith.

Oral Roberts was certainly the 20th century's leading advocate of that idea. His prosperity doctrine laid the foundation for an enormous media-based religious system, and Oral Roberts was indeed its chief architect. It is preposterous that Christianity Today would try to whitewash that fact. Prosperity teaching was what Roberts himself wanted to be remembered for.

In Oral Roberts: An American Life, biographer David Edwin Harrell, Jr., describes how Roberts discovered the prosperity gospel and how it became the centerpiece of his message. One day he opened his Bible randomly and spotted 3 John 2: "Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth." He showed it to his wife, Evelyn, and "They talked excitedly about the verse's implications. Did it mean they could have a 'new car,' 'a new house,' a 'brand-new ministry?' In later years, Evelyn looked back on that morning as the point of embarkation: 'I really believe that that very morning was the beginning of this worldwide ministry that he has had, because it opened up his thinking" [(Bloomington, IN: Indiana University, 1985), p. 66]. Roberts testified that a shiny new Buick, acquired by unexpected means shortly after that experience, "became a symbol to me of what a man could do if he would believe God."

After he embraced prosperity doctrine, Oral Roberts' best-known and most far-reaching brainchild was the Seed-Faith message. Roberts taught that money and material things donated to his organization were the seeds of prosperity and material blessings from God, and that God promises to multiply in miraculous ways whatever is given--and give many times more back to the donor. It was a simple, quasi-spiritual get-rich-quick scheme that appealed mainly to poor, disadvantaged, and desperate people. It generated untold millions for Roberts' empire and was quickly adopted by a host of similarly-oriented Pentecostal and Charismatic media ministries. The Seed-Faith principle is the main cash-cow that built and has supported vast networks of televangelists who barter for their viewers' money with fervent promises of "miracles"--and the miracles are invariably described in terms of material blessings, mainly money. Elsewhere I have compared this doctrine to the mentality of the post-WWII cargo cults.

Tragically, the Seed-Faith message usurped and utterly replaced whatever gospel content there ever may have been in Oral Roberts' preaching. In all the many times I saw him on television I never once heard him preach the gospel. His message--every time--was about Seed-Faith. The reason for that is obvious: the message of the cross--an atoning sacrifice for sins wrought through Jesus' sufferings--frankly doesn't mesh very well with the notion that God guarantees health, wealth, and prosperity to the righteous. Our fellowship in Jesus' sufferings (Philippians 3:10), and our duty to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:20-23), are likewise antithetical to the core principles of prosperity doctrine. The prosperity message is a different gospel (cf. Galatians 1:8-9).

One leading charismatic figure this week stated that without Oral Roberts' influence, "the entire charismatic movement might not have occurred." That may well be true. For that very reason, Roberts' legacy needs to be evaluated soberly, honestly, and carefully, under the stark light of Scripture. Was the message he proclaimed the unadulterated gospel? Though he eschewed the label, Roberts made his main reputation on television in the 1950s as a faith-healer, and he even claimed to have raised multiple people from the dead. Were those "miracles" real and verifiable? Did his best-known and most staggering "prophecies" prove to be true? Was he himself a credible man?

The answer to all those questions is an unambiguous no. Oral Roberts' influence is not something Bible-believing Christians should celebrate. Virtually every abberant idea the Pentecostal and charismatic movements spawned after 1950 can be traced in one way or another to Oral Roberts' influence. (What the CT blog fails to mention is that Kenneth Hagin and Oral Roberts often ministered together and affirmed one another's ministries. Furthermore, the heir to Hagin's standing as chief of the word-faith preachers is Kenneth Copeland, who went into television ministry after working as chauffeur and pilot to Oral Roberts. So even though it would not be quite accurate to portray Oral Roberts as an aggressive proponent of word-faith doctrines, he acted as more of an ally than an opponent to the movement. We might say his relationship with that movement was reminiscent of a benign grandfather who refused to correct an out-of-control grandchild.)

One thing all the obituaries agree on is that Oral Roberts paved the way for all the charismatic televangelists and faith-healers who dominate religious television today. He did more than anyone in the early Pentecostal movement to influence mainstream evangelicalism. He parlayed his television ministry into a vast empire that has left a deep mark on the church worldwide. In many places today, including some of the world's most illiterate and poverty-stricken regions, Oral Roberts' Seed-Faith concept is actually better known than the doctrine of justification by faith. The message of prosperity is now the message multitudes think of when they hear the word "gospel." Countless confused people worldwide think of the gospel as a message about earthly, temporal, and material riches rather than the infinitely greater blessings of forgiveness from sin and the eternal blessing of the believer's spiritual union with Christ.

All of those are reasons to lament rather than celebrate Oral Roberts' fame and influence. My prayer is that future generations will see the folly of those doctrines, renounce and turn away from them, and cling tightly to the sure word of God and the glorious, eternal promises of the true gospel.

HT: Pulpit Live

Preaching Christ at Family Gatherings

For most nominally religious folk, it is good to be able to visit with family and friends during the advent season for several reasons. The reasons I am going to mention are what many people typically think of when they think of seeing "so-and-so" again at holiday family gatherings.

The first good reason is that there are members of our family we see at that time of the year that we know we will not see again until the same time next year. The only way we will see them otherwise is if somebody we both are close to in our family is married or buried. So, it is good to take the time to play catch up and see how they are doing and see how much their kids have grown up. Some people enjoy taking this time to gossip about the black sheep in the family and joke about how fat so-and-so has become or how bad so-and-so looks.

A second reason it is good to visit yearly with family is because we can meet with those family members that may have special gifts and talents that we can make good use of. Many of you have a house project that needs to be finished that you really don't have the skills to do, but maybe "uncle John" is a professional at it. So, sometime during the night, you make your way around to "uncle John" to tell him how much you need your roof repaired, hoping he'll offer to do it for next to nothing.

Then, there's the gifts. Sometimes you can get that fat iTunes gift card that enables you to get the latest and greatest for your iTunes library; or, you end up getting that really up to speed, brand name whatever that you have really wanted for the last six months (but didn't really need). Better yet, you might just get plain cash, that way you can spend it on whatever you want.

Then there's the food. Yep, Aunt Imogene makes a mean apple pie, and you just can't wait to dig into that! Your mouth is watering and your jaw muscles are hurting just thinking about it as you drive to the holiday get-together.

Finally there's the group conversations. You can talk, joke, play, and have a great time talking about anything and everyone such as when so-and-so did this and that stupid thing, and everyone laughs and says, "Yeah, and do you remember when she did ____ too?" The conversation ends up talking about everything and everyone for hours . . . everyone that is, except Jesus.

Dear Christian friend, how many times has that happened to you? (!)

My wife and I absolutely love celebrating the birth of Jesus and we see no harm whatsoever in finding joy in seeing family and friends again, checking up on them, joking with them, and even exchanging gifts and digging into Aunt so-and-so's tasty morsels. Nevertheless, we have become weary in our souls of going to Christmas gatherings year after year to experience all of these temporal joys, yet all the while the name of Jesus and His purpose for coming is never mentioned. That's a travesty, a travesty that we are tired of; and so we want to do our part to change it in some small but spiritually significant way.

These past few days we had the privilege of celebrating advent with both sides of the family. This year, my wife and I were dead set on keeping our minds fixed on Christ as much as is humanly possible, and I know that we can both testify that it has made us much more sensitive to the spiritual needs of our extended family. Thus, I want to offer a few suggestions on how you can make holiday family gatherings more focused on Jesus and His gospel.

1. Read the birth narrative of Jesus from either Matthew or Luke to the entire group before exchanging gifts (Matt. 1:18-25; Luke 2:1-20). If the family gathering is taking place at someone else's home, kindly ask the head of that household if you can read the birth narrative of Jesus from the Bible, explaining to them that you simply want to remind the family that the reason we have a tradition of exchanging gifts is so that we can commemorate God's greatest gift given to mankind, namely His Son, Jesus Christ. After reading the narrative, ask the group questions like this: "According to the Bible, why did Jesus have to come to earth?", What is sin?", "Why do we need to be saved from sin?", "How can sinners be reconciled to a Just and Holy God?" Be sure to provide simple and clear explanations that all can understand. Reading the birth narrative of Jesus and then asking questions like this will not only give you an opportunity to learn what your extended family believes about the Bible, Jesus, and the gospel, but it will also give you an platform to clearly and openly explain the gospel to your extended family. Also, some family members may come to you after asking questions, making prayer requests, or bringing other spiritual concerns to you after you have reminded them of the real meaning of Christmas.

2. Listen carefully to the conversations that are taking place all around you. When you are at the dinner table, hanging out on the couch, or standing in the corner with your family and friends, listen carefully to their conversations. See who is hiding away in a room somewhere watching TV or hiding behind their cell phone or iPod. Teenagers and the so-called "black sheep" of the family are notorious for this type of anti-social behavior. Try to lovingly enter into a conversation with these folks and see if you can find out what's going on with them. Listening carefully, attentively, and patiently to them will tell you what is going on in their lives and may give you an opportunity for evangelism or encouragement. Be sure to show genuineness in those you listen to; after all, people are interesting! Your show of genuine compassion by listening to them may go a long way towards developing a friendship with an estranged and lonely family member. After listening to them, asking well-thought out questions may give you a chance to learn how they are doing, what their struggles are, and what they love. The Lord just may be pleased to use a well thought out question to get them thinking seriously about the gospel.

3. Make gifts instead of buying them. This might sound flippant after the first two points, but there is a spiritual reason for this suggestion. Handmade gifts show that you have taken special care to think about that family member enough to custom-craft a gift for them. Such things take thought, attention to detail, and consideration of the person who is receiving the gift. There is nothing wrong with conventional store-bought gifts per se, but sometimes handmaking a gift for a downtrodden black sheep in the family shows that you don't view them as another name on a list that needs to be checked off in your holiday shopping, but that you care enough about them to make a gift especially for them. This can lead to opportunities to talk to them about the reason why you gave them the gift, because God gave His greatest gift through Christ Jesus, and that it is only through Him that men can find true spiritual peace and rest (Matt. 11:28-30).

Remember, there are some people in your extended family who will never darken the door of a church building, but they will listen to you read about Christ's birth and regardless of their spiritual beliefs, they will appreciate your handmade gifts combined with your eagerness to listen to them with concern and genuine compassion. The gospel of God's free grace knows no bounds, for it is powered by the Almighty and the Almighty is all powerful to save whoever He wishes. Nevertheless, we must be responsible to use our time to go and tell of what great things God has done for us in Christ Jesus (Matt. 28:19-20). What better time is there to speak of the great story of redemption than during the Christmas family gathering? This is really the only time each year when your entire family from ages 1-100 is gathered together to hear you proclaim Christ to that beloved uncle, that estranged aunt, and that pesky teenager. May you do so in the coming years with passion, conviction, courage, and authority; trusting God to do His work in the hearts of His elect sheep in His time.

Glory to God in the Highest!

After spending the entire morning with my immediate family, reading the birth narrative of Christ from Matthew 1:18-25, opening gifts in commemoration of God's greatest Gift to mankind, singing advent hymns with my family, and then enjoying brunch together, I am full of joy at what God has done in sending His Unique, One and Only Son into the world as the wrath appeasing sacrifice for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2).

Thank you Father God for giving Your Son, the Lord Jesus to save His chosen people from their sins!

Now in those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus, that a census be taken of all the inhabited earth. 2 This was the first census taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And everyone was on his way to register for the census, each to his own city. 4 Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the city of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, 5 in order to register along with Mary, who was engaged to him, and was with child. 6 While they were there, the days were completed for her to give birth. 7 And she gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. 8 In the same region there were some shepherds staying out in the fields and keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 And an angel of the Lord suddenly stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them; and they were terribly frightened. 10 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; 11 for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 13 And suddenly there appeared with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying, 14 "Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." 15 When the angels had gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds began saying to one another, "Let us go straight to Bethlehem then, and see this thing that has happened which the Lord has made known to us." 16 So they came in a hurry and found their way to Mary and Joseph, and the baby as He lay in the manger. 17 When they had seen this, they made known the statement which had been told them about this Child. 18 And all who heard it wondered at the things which were told them by the shepherds. 19 But Mary treasured all these things, pondering them in her heart. 20 The shepherds went back, glorifying and praising God for all that they had heard and seen, just as had been told them. (Luke 2:1-20)

Praying for Those Who Celebrate Christmas in Fear

Because I am deeply concerned about the persecuted church, I keep them before my face, regularly praying for them. Humanly speaking, they are my heroes. As much of the professing evangelical church in America trades in the pure, life-giving gospel of free grace for a mess of materialistic pottage, I was just reminded how much we take our freedom for granted when I read this article by the Associated Press.

In Pakistan, many Christians have been homeless for months, having been persecuted by Muslims for their faith. Speaking of the Old Testament saints, Scripture has this to say about these types of faithful people,

and others experienced mockings and scourgings, yes, also chains and imprisonment. 37 They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were tempted, they were put to death with the sword; they went about in sheepskins, in goatskins, being destitute, afflicted, ill-treated 38 (men of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts and mountains and caves and holes in the ground. (Hebrews 11:36-38)

These Pakistani Christians are people of whom the world was not worthy and they are only so by the unmerited grace of God. They are still being persecuted on Christmas Day 2009 as I sit here in my comfortable chair in my comfortable house, comfortably typing, and comfortably listening to a podcast coming from my super-snazzo iPhone 3Gs. Then, I have the blessed freedom to take a 15 minute break from writing this blog article to play with my children. I don't have to worry about getting sinister text messages on my iPhone warning me of a "special Christmas present," meaning that my house may be burnt down or my church building be bombed if I simply attempt to worship with my church to celebrate the birth of my Lord. O' how we need to give thanks to God for the religious freedom to proclaim the gospel of God while we still have such freedom!

I wonder how "comfortable" these Indian brothers and sisters are on Christmas day?



This is all so humbling. I'm not worthy to wash their feet. Jesus promised us and them,

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. 19 "If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. 20 "Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. 21 "But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me. 22 "If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin, but now they have no excuse for their sin. 23 "He who hates Me hates My Father also. (John 15:18-23)

The First Coming of Christ Through the Eyes of the Prophets

INTRODUCTION

After over four hundred years of prophetic silence between the closing of the Old Testament to the time of the New, the world scene was ripe for the first coming of Messiah Jesus. Galatians 4:4 says “But when the fullness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law . . .” So when the exact political, cultural, and religious conditions were in place, God’s Son left the eternal glory that He shared with God the Father (John 17:5) and came into the time-space-matter universe in the form of a baby to a dirt-poor Jewish couple in ancient Palestine over 2000 years ago. So many well meaning Christians don’t realize that Jesus’ birth and earthly ministry was predicted with precision in the Old Testament hundreds of years before Jesus was born. We often hear several Old Testament prophecies quoted each year in our advent celebrations, but we rarely hear the details about why these prophecies are so special and how specific and detailed they are in predicting not only Christ’s first coming in His earthly ministry but also how some of those prophecies point to details of His future earthly Kingdom. It is to some of those prophecies that we now turn our attention.

TEACHING & APPLICATION

Isaiah 7:14

The context of this prophecy is a political alliance that was threatening the idolatrous King Ahaz. God wanted to show King Ahaz that he could save him and the house of David from extinction (v. 9). King Ahaz was told by God to ask for any miracle that he wanted as a sign that the Lord would give him victory over his enemies (vv. 10-13). Ahaz refused to ask for a sign trying to pretend that he was humble when he really wasn’t (v. 12), and so God said that He would come up with His own sign to prove that David’s throne would indeed overcome its enemies and last forever. So, Isaiah, addressing the house of David (v.13), states that a God-given sign to them would be a virgin conceiving and giving birth to a child.[1] And so God says in verse 14,

Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

God would Himself give a sign that would be seen as a partial type in Isaiah’s son, but the fullness of this prophecy would be fulfilled way beyond the time of Ahaz, some 700 years later in the birth of Jesus. One of His names would be called “Immanuel”, which means “God with us” (Matthew 1:23).

This would be a literal virgin birth. Liberal critics of Scripture[2] and Orthodox Jews have said that the Hebrew word translated “virgin” in verse 14 (almah) doesn’t always mean virgin, but can also refer to a young, unmarried woman instead of a literal virgin. This is reflected in Bible translations such as the NEB, RSV, NRSV, and GNB. How the non-virginal conception of a young unmarried woman is supposed to be a miraculous sign from God is beyond me, for such things occur frequently and can only be a sign of one thing, sin! The Septuagint translates this Hebrew word as parthenos and the quotation of this verse in Matthew 1:23 should remove any doubt as to its meaning because the Greek word parthenos always refers to a literal virgin.[3] Later Jews, such as Trypho,[4] Justin Martyr's (c. 160) 2nd century Jewish opponent, and Rashi[5] (11th Cent.) have claimed that the Septuagint was wrong. Trypho claimed that 'almah should have been translated neanis (young girl) rather than parthenos.[6] However, even Rashi admitted that the word could mean “virgin” in Song of Sol. 1:3 and 6:8. In the KJV, the word is translated “virgin” in Gen. 24:43 (Rebekah before her marriage), “maid” in Ex. 2:8 (Miriam as a girl) and Prov. 30:19, and “damsels” in Ps. 68:25. These verses contain all the occurrences of almah in the OT, and in none can it be shown that a non-virgin is meant. In Hebrew and English, “maid” and “maiden” are often treated as synonyms for virgin (i.e., maiden voyage). Vine et al. notes that the other Hebrew word for virgin, betûlah, “emphasizes virility more than virginity (although it is used with both emphases, too).”[7] It is qualified by a statement “neither had any man known her” in Gen. 24:16, and is used of a widow in Joel 1:8. Further evidence comes from clay tablets found in 1929 in Ugarit in Syria. Here, in Aramaic, a word similar to `almah is used of an unmarried woman, while on certain Aramaic incantation bowls, the Aramaic counterpart of betûlah is used of a married woman.[8] The Encyclopedia Judaica, while criticizing the translation of almah in Is. 7:14 as “virgin”, also points out that btlt was used of the goddess Anath who had frenzied sex with Baal. [9]

Isaiah says that the God-given sign of a virgin’s conception will be a powerful, supernatural demonstration that He will use to confirm His promises. The child that comes from that virginal conception will be the Son of the Most High and will fulfill the Davidic covenant (cf. Luke 1:30-33).

Isaiah 9:6-7

This is truly one of the most amazing prophecies ever given, no doubt referring back to the promised virgin-born Immanuel of Isaiah 7:14.

For a child will be born to us, a son will be given to us; And the government will rest on His shoulders; and His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. 7 There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.

“a child will be born to us” – The child born is the human Jesus, born as a babe, while the Son “given to us” is the eternal Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, the only one of His kind that “became flesh and dwelt among us” (John 1:14).

“And the government will rest on His shoulders” – Christ will return one day to govern the nations in a literal, earthly Kingdom (Rev. 20:4). He will enforce His will through quick, immediate justice through His authoritative rule (Psalm 2:6-9; Rev. 2:27; 19:15). Revelation 19:15 says that “. . . He will rule them [the nations] with a rod of iron . . .”. This will occur to fulfill God’s ancient promise to King David that he would have a Descendant that would rule on His throne forever (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Psalm 2; Is. 11:6-12; 24:23; Hos. 3:4-5; Joel 3:9-21; Amos 9:8-15; Micah 4:1-8; Zeph. 3:14-20; Zech. 14:1-11; Matt. 24:29-31; 36-44).

“And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor” – This first of four names listed describes what Jesus’ ministry would be like; it tells us that He would use supernatural wisdom and guidance in His ministry (John 12:49; 14:10). The first time Jesus came, His wisdom and counsel was so amazing that when His enemies tried to make Him look silly, Jesus turned the argument back on them so that “No one was able to answer Him a word, nor did anyone dare from that day on to ask Him another question.” (Mat 22:46; Luke 20:40). Even some unbelieving officers said about Him, "Never has a man spoken the way this man speaks.” (John 7:46) Not only can Jesus stop the mouths of His enemies, but His wisdom and counsel is comforting and assuring to His people (Matt. 5:3-12; 11:28-30). Peter knew this and said that there was nowhere else to go for spiritual truth but to Jesus (John 6:68). Jesus also said that those who build their lives on the foundation of His wise teaching will be like those who build their houses on solid rocks; when the tough times come; they will be able to withstand them because their lives are built on Christ’s wisdom (Matt. 7:24-27).

“Mighty God” – Christ as the babe in the manger was God in the flesh, Immanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). Paul says that Jesus “. . . is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-- all things have been created through Him and for Him. 17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17) and “For in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form . . .” (Colossians 2:9). John says that “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” and He goes on to say “All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.” (John 1:1, 3) Thomas said to Him, “My Lord and My God” (John 20:28), and when you read and compare all the passages about Jesus in the book of Revelation, we read that Jesus is called “ . . . the Alpha and the Omega . . . the Lord God . . . the Almighty” (Rev. 1:8) and “. . . the first and the last, the beginning and the end” (Rev. 1:17; 22:13 cf. Isaiah 44:6; Messiah was and is the “Mighty God”![10]

“Eternal Father” – Jesus is called “Eternal Father” because as God, He will be the eternal protector of His people. The word “father” is used to show His compassion, care, and correction for them (Isa. 40:11; 63:16; 64:8; Psa. 68:5-6; 103:13; Pro. 3:12).

“Prince of Peace” – Jesus is called “Prince of Peace” to indicate that He is the only One that can bring true and lasting peace to His creation. The creation is now groaning to be delivered from the curse (Rom. 8:19-23), but when He returns, He will lift the curse from creation and rule the world with supreme authority, causing people to lay down their arms and learn war no longer thereby establishing and maintaining peace among the nations (Isaiah 2:1-4; 11:6-9; Micah 4:1-3). On a personal level, Jesus is the great peacemaker (Matt. 5:9) who not only urges us to be peacemakers in our relationships with others (Matt. 5:23-24), but He, through His death on the cross made peace between sinful men and the Holy God (Col. 1:20). This is why Luke records the angels as saying, “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14)

“. . . there will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace” – Christ Jesus will rule and reign eternally and His saints will reign with Him in His future earthly kingdom. In Luke 1:30-33, the angel Gabriel said, “Do not be afraid, Mary; for you have found favor with God. 31 And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall name Him Jesus. 32 He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David; 33 and He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and His kingdom will have no end.” (Luke 1:30-33; see also Acts 2:29-36; Rev. 20:4).

“. . . on the throne of David and over His Kingdom” – Just as Gabriel said to Mary, in fulfillment of God’s promise to King David, Jesus is to reign on the throne of David and over His Kingdom forever. (2 Sam. 7:12-16; Psalm 89:1-4, 19-37; Ezek. 37:25)

“The zeal of the Lord of hosts will accomplish this . . .” - This prophecy will not be fulfilled by man’s power, but God’s. It truly a blessing that God made unilateral covenants with man, for God’s zeal in accomplishing His own promises in those covenants are the only sure foundation upon which they will be accomplished.

Daniel 9:24-26

While the next prophecy is not typically referred to during Advent, it is considered to be one of the most amazing predictions in all of the Old Testament because of its precision,

Seventy weeks[11] have been decreed for your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy and to anoint the most holy place. 25 "So you are to know and discern that from the issuing of a decree to restore and rebuild Jerusalem until Messiah the Prince there will be seven weeks and sixty-two weeks; it will be built again, with plaza and moat, even in times of distress. 26 "Then after the sixty-two weeks the Messiah will be cut off and have nothing . . .(Daniel 9:24-26a)

Few Christians are aware that the prophet Daniel, writing before 530 B.C., said that the Messiah would come 476 years[12] after Jerusalem had been rebuilt. This prophecy started around 445 B.C. when the Persian Emperor Artaxerxes issued a decree that Jerusalem be rebuilt under the leadership of Nehemiah (cf. Nehemiah 2:1-8). Allowing for the fact that Jesus was born around 4/5 B.C., the terminal date for Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled in A.D. 30, the exact year that the triumphal entry [13] and crucifixion of Jesus occurred! (cf. Matt. 21:1-9) Henry Morris explains Daniel’s prediction this way,

This prophecy was given in about 536 B.C., well over half a millennium before its fulfillment. The probability that Daniel could guess the date of the manifestation and crucifixion of the Messiah is essentially zero. Only supernatural inspiration can account for fulfilled prophecies like this.[14]

Amen Dr. Morris! God’s word is accurate, dependable, and trustworthy, and this precise prophecy from Daniel proves such.

Micah 5:2

But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.

“Bethlehem Ephrathah” – The eternal ruler in this verse would come forth from the ancient town of Bethlehem. Even the unbelieving Pharisees knew that Christ, as the descendent of David would be born in David’s own home town (John 7:42).

“. . . From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.” – Again, we see the theme of the Messiah ruling His people which is the promise of the Davidic Covenant (Psalm 89:3-4).

“His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.” - Writing over 700 years before Jesus was born in Bethlehem, the word “eternal” is used in this OT prophecy to show that Jesus is truly divine.

CONCLUSION

These prophecies describing Christ’s first coming are only a small sample of hundreds in the Old Testament that speak of both His earthly ministry and future Kingdom. Let’s close by reflecting on the way Jesus dealt with some hurting and doubting disciples in Luke chapter 24. After His resurrection, the Lord Jesus approached two distraught disciples as they journeyed on the road to Emmaus (24:13-15). They were troubled because they hoped that Jesus was going to deliver Israel from its Roman oppression (v. 16), and then bring in His earthly Kingdom (15-24). After listening, Jesus gave them a gentle rebuke and said, “O foolish men and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken!” (Luke 24:25). Luke then goes on to tell us that Jesus didn’t give up on these disciples, but that “. . . beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, He explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:27) Aren’t you glad that Jesus doesn’t give up on you either despite your foolishness and your “slowness of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken”? Beloved, Jesus is the sum and substance of all the promises in the Old Testament. His person is the central character of all Scripture. As such, not only should we expect Him and His Kingdom to be the central theme in all of Scripture, but more importantly, His Person should be the central Theme that dominates all of our lives all of the time (Luke 9:23). May we be aware of our own hearts, and when they become calloused and cold against the brethren, may we not be slow to believe in all that God has spoken, but like trusting, little children may we receive with thankfulness and humility all of God’s pure words (Luke 18:17). Finally, may you continue to experience the joy of celebrating Christ’s first advent like a humble, trusting, and obedient little child, receiving the truth of God’s word with joy knowing that you have committed yourself to glorifying Him by enjoying Him forever (1 Cor. 10:31).
___________________________________________________________________
[1] To comfort Ahaz, Isaiah prophesied that before the boy (Isaiah's son, Shear-Jashub, v. 3) would reach the age of knowing right from wrong, the alliance would be destroyed (vv. 15-17). It is important to recognize that the passage contains a double reference, so there is a difference between the near prophecy directed to Ahaz alone (vv. 15-17) and the far prophecy directed to the house of David as a whole (v. 14).

[2] J.S. Spong, Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism: A Bishop Rethinks the Meaning of Scripture (San Francisco, CA: Harper, 1991).

[3] H.G. Liddell and R. Scott, A Greek-English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon, 1869); W.F. Arndt and F.W. Gingrich, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature (University of Chicago Press, 2nd ed. 1971) p. 627.

[4] Encyclopedia Judaica, article 'Disputations and Polemics', 6:79-103.

[5] A.G. Fruchtenbaum, Jesus was a Jew (Tustin, CA: Ariel Ministries, 1981), p. 32.

[6] Hilda Graef, Mary: A History of Doctrine and Devotion (NY: Sheed and Warde, 1963) Vol. 1, p. 37

[7] W.E. Vine, M. F. Unger and W. White, Jr., Vine's Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (NY: Thomas Nelson, 1985).

[8] C.H. Gordon, J. Bible & Religion 21:106, April, 1953; E.J. Young, 'The Old Testament', in C.F.H. Henry (ed.), Contemporary Evangelical Thought (NY: Channel Press, 1957); both cited in W. Jackson, Biblical Studies in the Light of Archaeology (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press, 1982).

[9] Encyclopedia Judaica (Jerusalem: Keter, 1971), article 'Virgin, Virginity', 16:159-160.

[10] See page 34 in the Shepherd’s Catechism under the section “God the Son” for further Scriptural proof of the deity of Christ.

[11] These are seventy weeks of years, (lit, “seventy-sevens”) i.e., a period totaling 490 years. Each year in this prophecy would have been a Jewish calendar year equal to 360 days, not 365 ¼ days like our modern calendar year (compare Gen. 7:11, 24; 8:3-4).

[12] These are 69 weeks of years.

[13] The triumphal entry would have occurred according to the Jewish calendar on Sunday 9 Nisan, A.D. 30. How ironic it is that Jesus was praised as King on the first day of that week only to be condemned by this same crowd and then delivered up for crucifixion the following Friday.

[14] Henry M. Morris, The Defender’s Study Bible, (Iowa Falls, Iowa: World Publishing, 1995), 923.

Goodness

First of all, I want to apologize for the extremely long hiatus since the last entry in the "Fruit of the Spirit" series of articles. I have really struggled with how to write about "goodness," the topic of this post. We all think we know what the word "good" means. It is the opposite of bad. It seems simple, on the surface. But it is heavily imbued with all kinds of associations, and in my attempt to get to the root of its meaning, I've gotten really confused. Here are some pertinent definitions selected from Dictionary.com, just to get us started.

1. morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; pious . . .
3. of high quality; excellent.
4. right; proper; fit
5. well-behaved
6. kind, beneficent, or friendly
7. honorable or worthy; in good standing . . .
11. sound or valid: good judgment
12. reliable; dependable; responsible . . .
25. competent or skillful; clever . . .
41. favorably regarded

We use the word "good" to describe almost anything that we consider positive in any way! It is so easy to label something good or bad, but how do we know what good even is?

Let's back up to our verse, 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.

Biblically, we are required to produce the fruit of goodness. Let's explore what that means using the definitions above as a kind of outline and Scripture as our base.

The Origin of Goodness
What (or Who) is the origin of goodness? Pretty much anyone who is familiar with the Bible and theology can give the answer to this question: God is the origin of goodness. But what does this mean?

Anyone who does not believe in God is hard-pressed to define what goodness is. An intellectually honest atheist does not see humans as capable of love or mercy or anything else good; he sees us as highly evolved mammals controlled by our survival instincts. And so the atheist's definition of "good" is: whatever the individual or society decides it is. There is no objective standard of goodness; it does not exist outside of our individual concepts of it. It may not even exist at all.

In the atheist's view, the world is a frighteningly cold and empty place. It truly terrified me the first time I thought about it, and I wasn't sure how to refute it, because I couldn't define goodness any better.

So I asked my mom, "How do you think we even know what good is?"

And she said, quite simply and profoundly, "It is whatever God says it is."

And with that, everything fell into place for me.

He is the essence of goodness, a veritable fountain of it. He is the source of it, meaning that all of our human and earthly definitions of goodness are but weak reflections of His goodness. Look at Genesis 1. God says His creation is "good." He, as the spiritual embodiment of that quality, gets to decide what is good and what is bad. I have heard it said that truth is that which corresponds to the mind of God. Similarly, goodness is that which corresponds to His nature.

He has revealed what goodness is in His Word; He hasn't left us to try and figure out on our own. And there are lots of things that He tells us are "good," and that is where we need to start when we are trying to define good and evil.

Our Example and Our Motivation
Because God is the essence and origin of goodness, and because He is the Creator and Sovereign of the Universe, He gets to decide what is good and bad. He accordingly laid down a lot of rules for how to be a good person in the Old Testament, under the old covenant with Israel. The rules we are most familiar with are the 10 Commandments given to Moses in Exodus 20:3-4, 7-8, 12-17:

You shall have no other gods before Me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth.

You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

These were just some of God's rules for how to be good. None of us fulfill them perfectly, but Jesus (who as the Son of God personifies God's essence of goodness) obeyed them all perfectly. He is our example of a good person, the only truly good person who ever lived. Mother Teresa and Abraham Lincoln (for example) may have been good people by the world's standards, but those aren't the standards that matter. They weren't good people by God's standards, because they were by nature sinners and haters of God, just like you and me.

Even the Pharisees, who rigidly obeyed the law, down to the most complicated sacrifice and hand-washing rituals, were not good according to God's standards. They judged themselves based on their own standards, and forgot that "man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart" (1 Samuel 16:7). Their hearts were not pure. God judges not only our actions but also our intentions. Many times, even if I am doing something good, I am often doing it for bad reasons as well as good ones. We all have impure motivations, at least to some extent. Jesus was the only person who was good by God's standards, outside and inside.

When the Holy Spirit regenerated us, meaning He brought us from spiritual death into spiritual life, we became capable of goodness for the first time in our lives. We are called to be like our Savior in behavior and character, outwardly and inwardly. The process of becoming more like Him is called sanctification. As we mature as Christians, the resemblance should become clearer and clearer. One of the differences between Christianity and other religions is that it doesn't emphasize outward obedience over inward motivation, or vice versa. Both are required, equally. And although in this life, we will never achieve perfection in either of these areas, it is our progress and our striving to attain them which matters.

Search the Scriptures

It can be hard to let go and trust God. It can be hard to remember that He is good, especially when circumstances in our lives seem to say otherwise. That is why we cannot trust in our circumstances, but we must trust in the sure foundation of the Word. This is what it says:

Psalm 145

1I will extol You, my God, O King,
And I will bless Your name forever and ever.
2Every day I will bless You,
And I will praise Your name forever and ever.
3Great is the LORD, and highly to be praised,
And His greatness is unsearchable.
4One generation shall praise Your works to another,
And shall declare Your mighty acts.
5On the glorious splendor of Your majesty
And on Your wonderful works, I will meditate.
6Men shall speak of the power of Your awesome acts,
And I will tell of Your greatness.
7They shall eagerly utter the memory of Your abundant goodness
And will shout joyfully of Your righteousness.
8The LORD is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in lovingkindness.
9The LORD is good to all,
And His mercies are over all His works.
10All Your works shall give thanks to You, O LORD,
And Your godly ones shall bless You.
11They shall speak of the glory of Your kingdom
And talk of Your power;
12To make known to the sons of men Your mighty acts
And the glory of the majesty of Your kingdom.
13Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom,
And Your dominion endures throughout all generations.
14The LORD sustains all who fall
And raises up all who are bowed down.
15The eyes of all look to You,
And You give them their food in due time.
16You open Your hand
And satisfy the desire of every living thing.
17The LORD is righteous in all His ways
And kind in all His deeds.
18The LORD is near to all who call upon Him,
To all who call upon Him in truth.
19He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him;
He will also hear their cry and will save them.
20The LORD keeps all who love Him,
But all the wicked He will destroy.
21My mouth will speak the praise of the LORD,
And all flesh will bless His holy name forever and ever.

The Psalms encourage us over and over again to meditate on God's law and His attributes. Let us all take that advice and seek to dwell on His richness, mercy and lovingkindness to us, all sinners.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. (Philippians 4:8)

From the First Adam to the Last Adam

INTRODUCTION: In reading the ancient narrative contained in Matthew chapter one, we are told why Jesus came the first time in verse 21, "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” Before we can fully understand why Mary bore a Son who was to be named Jesus, and why Jesus must save His people from their sins, it is important for us to remember what sin is, where it came from, why it is a problem, and what God has done about it. Many things that disturb and alarm Christians today do so because most Christians are unable to understand why these things are happening. It seems as if the glory of God is minimized at the expense of the glory of man in many modern churches and there also appears to be an increase in general lawlessness in society where what was once considered wrong and evil is now considered right, good, and wholesome.[1] Families do not function properly, a new generation of American children and teens are more ignorant about basic Bible doctrine than they ever have been before, there is little respect for authority, and cold, calloused hearts abound. The prophet Isaiah had something to say about this problem,

Woe to those who drag iniquity with the cords of falsehood, And sin as if with cart ropes; (Isaiah 5:18)

Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who substitute darkness for light and light for darkness; Who substitute bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! ²¹ Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and clever in their own sight! (Isaiah 5:20-21)

Things which were unheard of a generation ago have become commonplace today. The Church is not as effective as it once was, and with few exceptions, it is either just maintaining itself or, in many instances, apostatizing. People find it hard to evangelize because people are so hardened to Biblical truths and full-time evangelists don’t see the conviction of heart in unconverted people that they saw 50 years ago. Why not? It is because our culture, our professing Christians, and our children are being fed a steady diet of evolutionary humanism that runs is direct opposition to the fact that God created everything and He owns it and gets to determine what He wants to do with it. If the fall of man was not a literal, historical event involving a literal man, a literal snake, a literal garden, a literal tree and literal fruit, then sin can be easily dismissed. The humanists know this better than most Christians do and say so in their own writings,

“. . . . Christianity is, must be totally committed to the special creation as described in Genesis, and Christianity must fight with all its full might, fair or foul, against the theory of evolution … It becomes clear now that the whole justification of Jesus’ life and death is predicated on the existence of Adam and the forbidden fruit he and Eve ate. Without the original sin, who needs to be redeemed? Without Adam’s fall into a life of constant sin terminated by death, what purpose is there to Christianity? None.”[2]

Ultimately, all biblical doctrines of theology are founded in the creation account of Genesis 1–11. The bottom line is this: if Genesis is not accepted as literal history, then there is no foundation for any Christian doctrine to stand upon, especially the doctrine of Christ’s redemption from sin through His substitutionary atonement on the cross, and that is implicit in Matthew 1:21.

TEACHING & APPLICATION

She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.

Creation

To really understand why Jesus had to die for His people, you need to understand the event in history that necessitated His first coming. The only accurate historical account that tells us why Jesus had to come is found in the book of Genesis. The Bible, being the word of God answers all of the great philosophical questions: (1) who am I? (2) why am I here? (3) what is the meaning of life? (4) what is the difference between right and wrong? and (5) where am I going when I die? Genesis, being the very first book of the word of God, gives us the foundation for answering those questions and makes sense out of why Jesus had to die. Genesis tells us about the origin of the time, space, matter continuum, the earth, moon, sun, stars, planets, animals, humans, marriage, death, clothing, languages, people groups, nations, etc. In 1^st Corinthians 15:45, the Savior who was born in Bethlehem is called “the last Adam”, and to understand why He was called that you have to understand what happened with the first Adam.

The Bible tells us that God made man and woman on the sixth day as the pinnacle of His creative act; and after finishing everything that He had made He declared that it was “very good” (Gen. 1:27-31). Genesis 2 gives us more detail about how He created the first two people when it tells us that God took dirt, made a man (v.7), and then later God put Adam to sleep, performed a little surgery on him and created the woman from his side (2:21-23). We are told later that every single human being that would ever be born came from that first man and woman (Gen. 3:20; Acts 17:26) and because of this, we are related to each other through this first pair of people; both physically and spiritually.

Corruption

When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them the ability to made decisions and keep His commands. He commanded them in Genesis 2:15-17, “Then the LORD God took the man and put him into the garden of Eden to cultivate it and keep it. ¹⁶ The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; ¹⁷ but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.” The sad news is that the first pair of humans were deceived by the master deceiver, Satan himself, and disobeyed God by partaking of the forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6). They listened to the lie of Satan which told them that God was holding out on them (3:4-5) and they chose to listen to the liar rather than heed the command of God. They chose to do what was right in their own eyes instead of doing what was right in God’s eyes by following His command. They became a law unto themselves instead of submitting humbly to God’s law. The names have changed, but the situation is the same in our day. We think we know better than God. We think we need to tell Him what to do rather than submit ourselves to His word. So, why are we like this? We are like this because Adam was the federal head or representative of all humanity. When he sinned, we sinned in him. When he fell from perfection, his offspring were born fallen. When he disobeyed, we disobeyed in him and it is because of this that we are born with a bent toward sin (Psalm 51:3; 58:3). What Adam did in representing us affected all of humanity and it’s been a sorry slide toward Gomorrah ever since then. Not only did we inherit a natural inclination to be sinful, but we also get another consequence of the fall, death. Just as God warned Adam that in the day that he ate of the fruit he would die spiritually and eventually physically, so it is with us, for as Paul says in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death . . .” and in Romans 5:12,“Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned . . .” and in verses 18-19, “So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men . . . For as through the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners.”

So, we were “made” or constituted as sinners because Adam was our representative. He blew it, and because of that, we are now born with inherited sin that leads to disease, disaster, and decay both in our bodies and in nature, and our sin eventually culminates in physical death. After sinning, Adam and Eve were ashamed at their own nakedness and they tried to clothe themselves with fig leaves to hide their shame, but that would not work (Gen. 3:7). Their efforts to cover their own shame could never undo the disastrous effects of their sin. They lost the perfection and innocence that God gave them when they chose to do what was right in their own eyes, and now they were sinful and their own attempt to cover themselves only made it worse because they were still doing things apart from God by trying to fix their own sin problem. They were now corrupted in their mind and flesh and trying to fix their own sin problem only made things worse. Indeed they were shameful. This is exactly our dilemma today. We sin and try to hide our shame by “covering” or shielding ourselves from God and His holy law with false religion, false philosophies, and false saviors (such as drugs and alcohol). The problem is that all these actions will never save us any more than those fig leaves covered Adam and Eve’s shame. The Bible says that apart from Jesus Christ, our works are like “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isaiah 64:6). Our hearts are naturally bent to be deceitful and desperately wicked (Jer. 17:9). No ceremonies, religious rites, actions, philanthropic deeds, or worldly distractions can take away our sin and shame. My friends, only God can take away our sin and shame, and as a beautiful picture in the Garden of Eden, that is exactly what He did when He clothed Adam and Eve with animal skins (Gen. 3:21). How did God get animal skins? He killed an animal and took that animal’s skin and covered Adam and Eve with it to picture how we must also be covered by God by the very righteousness of Jesus Christ (Rom. 3:23-26; 4:3-5). That my friends, is the basis of the gospel of Jesus Christ, and while that is a dismal picture, there is a bright ray of hope that begins in Genesis chapter 3, verse 15.

The Glimmer of Hope

In Genesis 3:15, God gives a glimmer of hope in the midst of issuing the curse. God said to the Devil [3], “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel.” That verse sums up what the entire message of the gospel is all about. Genesis 22:18 helps us figure out who the promised “seed” of the woman is, the one who will crush the head of the serpent, "In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (Genesis 22:18) The apostle Paul then says in Galatians 3:16, “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. He does not say, "And to seeds," as referring to many, but rather to one, "And to your seed,” that is, Christ.” Paul shows that the “seed of the woman” is Christ Himself, the One who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the virgin Mary, the One prophesied about who was to be born in Bethlehem, whose goings forth will have been from old, from everlasting (Micah 5:2). This One, Jesus Christ, He was and is the Last Adam!

God Became Flesh

It is a beautiful and mysterious truth that God became a man to die as a sinless man in our place. John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” 2 Corinthians 5:21 says of the God-man Jesus that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” Do you remember that in Genesis 3:15 God says that the seed of the woman (Christ) would come and “bruise” Satan on the head and that Christ would be bruised on the heel? This “bruising” language has the idea of inflicting harm; harm being inflicted to Jesus and to Satan. For Satan to be bruised on the head means that he would suffer a fatal wound through Christ’s atoning work on the cross of Calvary in behalf of sinners. Satan’s authority over Christ’s people is mortally wounded. Those who have put their trust in Jesus’ sacrifice are freed from Satan’s clutches. Satan cannot have them, for they have been purchased by Christ, through His perfect atoning death. This is why Jesus said that if He sets you free, you are truly free (John 8:32)! Jesus came to take away Satan power to deceive and to save people from the eternally devastating effects of their own sin – God’s white-hot, holy wrath against sinners in Hell (1 John 2:2).

God Clothes His People

Do you remember how I told you that God’s clothing of Adam and Eve was a picture of what was to come in Jesus? He is aptly described in the New Testament as “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Remember, all your supposed good deeds, actions, and distractions are “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6). Only God Himself can clothe you (just like He did Adam and Eve), and make you acceptable in His sight. This is the only way that a good, just, and holy God can accept wicked sinners in His presence without contradicting Himself (Proverbs 17:15). He must credit the righteousness of the Perfect One to them. They are not and never will be actually perfect, but they are considered by God as if they are perfect; not because anything they have done, but because of what the truly Perfect Son of God did in their place. That perfect righteousness my friends, is the very righteousness of Jesus Christ, the seed of the woman, who was prophesied to bruise Satan’s head (Gen. 3:15). This is the very baby Jesus spoken of in Matthew 1:21, the One who came to save His people from their sins.

CONCLUSION: How I Can be Clothed.

And so the apostle says that “He will save His people from their sins”. But how does this happen? What does it look like? How can you be sure of this happy promise? You can be sure of it when you humbly acknowledge that you are a lawbreaker, that you have broken God’s laws, and that you repent of your sins (i.e., turn away from them) and you turn to God, trusting in what Jesus Christ did for you on the cross of Calvary. You recognize that He was counted as a sinner in your place, took the punishment that you deserve to pay in Hell and that He rose the third day after He was killed to show that God accepted His sacrifice. You trust that because of what He did in your place you can now have peace with God. The Scriptures promise you this:

If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; (Romans 10:9)

The first Adam gave spiritual and physical death to all His descendants because He disobeyed His Lord, the Second Adam gives brings love, eternal life, and spiritual light to all who receive Him as Lord and trust in what He has done for them in His sacrificial death and glorious resurrection (2 Tim. 1:10). The apostle John says, “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, ¹³ who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.” (John 1:12-13) The first Adam experienced God’s judgment and all His descendants will too because “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). The last Adam experienced the judgment of God too, but not for His own sins, for He never sinned, but for the sins of all humanity. He died on the cross to suffer the penalty due to sinners (Isaiah 53:3; 1 Peter 3:18; Hebrews 2:9) and He rose again three days after being murdered in the place of sinners as a sign that His heavenly Father was well-pleased with His atoning sacrifice. Through His death, burial, and resurrection, He defeated the power of sin, Satan, and death for all those who believe in Him (Hebrews 2:14), and His resurrection guarantees that they too will be resurrected one day to enjoy His glorious presence forever (1 Cor. 15:22-23). That my friend is what Jesus’ first coming is all about. He came to seek and save those who are spiritually lost. My plea to you during this advent season is this: if you have heard my words and have sensed a conviction and weariness in your heart because of your sins, you realize that you need to get right with God, come to Christ in humble repentance and with a child-like faith and He will give you rest, for He says, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. ²⁹ "Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. ³⁰ "For My yoke is easy and My burden is light." (Matthew 11:28-30)

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[1] I’m thinking of the noted increase and acceptance of homosexuality, lesbianism, and so-called “same-sex marriage” in the post-Christian Western world.

[2] G. Richard Bozarth, “The Meaning of Evolution”, The American Atheist, September 1978, 19.

[3] We know that the serpent in the Garden of Eden is Satan from 2 Corinthians 11:3, Revelation 12:9; and 20:2.

The Unholy Trinity

(By John MacArthur)

I don't watch much television, and when I do I generally avoid the Trinity Broadcasting Network (TBN). For many years TBN has been dominated by faith-healers, full-time fund-raisers, and self-proclaimed prophets spewing heresy. I wrote about the false gospel they proclaim and the phony miracles they pretend to do almost two decades ago in Charismatic Chaos (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1992. See especially chapter 12). I had my fill of charismatic televangelism while researching that book, and I can hardly bear to watch it any more.

Recently, however, while recovering from knee-replacement surgery, I decided to sample some of the current fare on TBN. From a therapeutic point of view it seemed a good choice: something more excruciating than the pain in my leg might distract me from the physical suffering of post-surgical trauma. And I suppose on that basis the strategy was effective.

But it left me outraged and frustrated—and eager to challenge the misperceptions in the minds of millions of unbelievers who see these false teachers masquerading as ministers of Christ on TBN.

I'm outraged at the brazen way so many false teachers twist the message of Scripture in Jesus' name. And I'm frustrated because I'm certain that if these charlatans were not receiving a large proportion of their financial support from sincere believers (and silent acquiescence from Christian leaders who surely know better), they would have no platform for their shenanigans. They would soon lose their core constituency and fade from the scene.

Instead, religious quacks are actually multiplying at a frightening pace. One thing I discovered to my immense displeasure is that TBN is by no means the only religious network broadcasting poisonous false doctrine around the clock. The channel lineup I receive includes at least seven other channels whose schedules are filled with false teachers and charlatans. There's The Church Channel, Daystar, GodTV, World Harvest Television (LeSEA), Total Christian Television, and several others. Some of them feature blocs of family television programing and a few fairly sound teachers who provide moments of escape from the prosperity preachers. But all of them give prominence to enormous amounts of heresy and religious claptrap—enough to make them positively dangerous. And TBN is singularly responsible for kicking that door open so wide.

The continued growth and influence of TBN is baffling for a number of reasons, not the least of which is the thick aura of lust, greed, and other kinds of moral impropriety that surrounds the whole enterprise. A long string of scandals involving notable charismatic televangelists between 1988 and 1992 should have been sufficient reason for even the most credulous viewers to scrutinize the entire industry with skepticism. First came the international spectacle of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker's moral, marital, and financial collapse. That was followed closely by the revelation of Jimmy Swaggart's repeated dalliances with prostitutes. Shortly afterward, an episode of ABC's Primetime Live exposed clear examples of deliberate fraud on the part of three more leading charismatic televangelists. Those incidents were punctuated by a score of lesser scandals over several years' time. It is clear (or should be)—based on empirical evidence alone—that preachers promising miracles in exchange for money are not to be trusted. And for anyone who simply bothers to compare Jesus' teaching with the health-and-wealth message, it is clear that the message that currently dominates religious television is "a different gospel; which is really not another" (Galatians 1:6-7), but a damnable lie.

TBN is by far the leading perpetrator of that lie worldwide. Virtually all the network's main celebrities tell listeners that God will give them healing, wealth, and other material blessings in return for their money. On program after program people are urged to "plant a seed" by sending "the largest bill you have or the biggest check you can write" with the promise that God will miraculously make them rich in return. That same message dominates all of TBN's major fundraising drives. It's known as the "seed faith" plan, so-called by Oral Roberts, who set the pattern for most of the charismatic televangelists who have followed the trail he blazed. Paul Crouch, founder, chairman, and commander-in-chief of TBN, is one of the doctrine's staunchest defenders.

The only people who actually get rich by this scheme, of course, are the televangelists. Their people who send money get little in return but phony promises—and as a result, many of them turn away from the truth completely.

If the scheme seems reminiscent of Tetzel, that's because it is precisely the same doctrine. (Tetzel was a medieval monk whose high-pressure selling of indulgences—phony promises of forgiveness—outraged Martin Luther and touched off the Protestant Reformation.)

Like Tetzel, TBN preys on the poor and plies them with false promises. Yet what is happening daily on TBN is many times worse than the abuses that Luther decried because it is more widespread and more flagrant. The medium is more high-tech and the amounts bilked out of viewers' pockets are astronomically higher. (By most estimates, TBN is worth more than a billion dollars and rakes in $200 million annually. Those are direct contributions to the network, not counting millions more in donations sent directly to TBN broadcasters.) Like Tetzel on steroids, the Crouches and virtually all the key broadcasters on TBN live in garish opulence, while constantly begging their needy viewers for more money. Elderly, poor, and working-class viewers constitute TBN's primary demographic. And TBN's fundraisers all know that. The most desperate people—"unemployed," "even though I'm in between jobs," "trying to make it; trying to survive," "broke"—are baited with false promises to give what they do not even have. Jan Crouch addresses viewers as "you little people," and suggests that they send their grocery money to TBN "to assure God's blessing."

Thus TBN devours the poor while making the charlatans rich. God cursed false prophets in the Old Testament for that very thing (Jeremiah 6:13-15). It's also one of the main reasons the Pharisees incurred Jesus' condemnation (Luke 20:46-47). It's hard to think of any sin more evil. It not only hurts people materially; it deludes them with groundless hope, deceives them with a false gospel, and thereby places their souls in eternal peril. And yet those who do it pretend they are doing the work of God.

That's not all. Almost no false prophecy, erroneous doctrine, rank superstition, or silly claim is too outlandish to receive airtime on TBN. Jan Crouch tearfully gives a fanciful account of how her pet chicken was miraculously raised from the dead. Benny Hinn trumps that claim with a bizarre prophecy that if TBN viewers will put their dead loved ones' caskets in front of television set and touch the dead person's hand to the screen, people will "be raised from the dead . . . by the thousands."

Ironically, one doesn't even need to be an orthodox Trinitarian in order to broadcast on the Trinity network. Bishop T. D. Jakes, well known for his rejection of the Nicene creed in favor of oneness Pentecostalism, is a staple on TBN. Benny Hinn has repeatedly attempted to revise the doctrine of the Trinity in novel ways, notoriously teaching at one point that there are nine persons in the godhead.

And yet evangelical church leaders typically show a kind of benign tolerance toward the whole enterprise. Most would never endorse it, of course. They may joke about the gaudiness of the big hair and tawdry set decorations on TBN. Ask them, and they will most likely acknowledge that the prosperity gospel is no gospel at all. Press the issue, and you will probably get them to admit that it is a dangerous form of false doctrine, totally unbiblical, and essentially anti-Christian.

Why, then, is there no large-scale effort among Bible-believing evangelicals to expose, denounce, refute, and silence these false teachers? After all, that is what Scripture commands church leaders to do when we encounter purveyors of soul-destroying substitutes for the true gospel:

The overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict. For there are many rebellious men, empty talkers and deceivers, especially those of the circumcision, who must be silenced because they are upsetting whole families, teaching things they should not teach for the sake of sordid gain (Titus 1:7-11).

Those who remain silent in the face of such grotesque lies may in fact be partly responsible for turning people away from the truth. Consider the testimony of William Lobdell, religion reporter for the Los Angeles Times, who once considered himself a devout evangelical Christian, but after doing a series of investigative reports on the moral and doctrinal cesspool at TBN; then "finding that his investigative stories about faith healer Benny Hinn and televangelists Jan and Paul Crouch appear to make no difference on the reach of these ministries or the lives of their followers, he [gave] up on the beat and on religion generally."

All those who truly love Christ and care about the truth have a solemn duty to defend the truth by exposing and opposing these lies that masquerade as truth. If we fail in that duty because of indifference, apathy, or a craving for the approval of men, we are no less guilty than those who actively spread the lies.

HT: Pulpit Magazine