Discipleship | A People for His Name

The King’s Words about Everlasting Fire

March 15, 2011

One day, Jesus will return in glory as the Son of Man (Matt. 25:31-46). He will be the King (25:34, 40) who will judge all nations. He will separate them into the sheep and the goats (25:32-33). His dealings with both groups provide us with significant information concerning the Bible’s teaching about the everlasting fire in which unrepentant sinners will ultimately suffer.

The King will command the sheep on His right hand to enter into glory: “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (25:34). This statement by the Judge is striking in what it teaches.

First, it says that the Father is the ultimate agent (perfect passive participle [εὐλογημένοι] with a genitive noun for the ultimate agent [τοῦ πατρός]) who has blessed the sheep so that they will inherit the kingdom (τότε ἐρεῖ ὁ βασιλεὺς τοῖς ἐκ δεξιῶν αὐτοῦ, Δεῦτε, οἱ εὐλογημένοι τοῦ πατρός μου, κληρονομήσατε τὴν ἡτοιμασμένην ὑμῖν βασιλείαν ἀπὸ καταβολῆς κόσμου). The King thus is the judicial agent of the Father who will authoritatively call the sheep and direct them to enter into the kingdom.

Second, the King will specify that the kingdom has been prepared for the sheep (dative of advantage) from the foundation of the world. Saying this, the King will testify to the eternal benevolent purpose of God for them.

The record of the King’s statements to the goats, however, differs, from His address to the sheep in important ways. To the goats, the Judge says, “Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels (25:41). Unlike His earlier statement concerning the sheep, the Judge does not say that the goats are cursed of the Father. Although the Father through His King will ultimately consign the goats to their terrible place of punishment, the King does not say that they were cursed by the Father.

The King also does not say who has prepared the everlasting fire. Of course, it is clear that God is the One who has prepared the fire, but the Judge chooses not to say so in this statement.

Moreover, instead of specifying that the fire was prepared for the goats, the Judge specifies that the fire was prepared for the devil and his angels. This facet of His end-time judicial pronouncements is worth pondering deeply. Why does the Judge not specify to the goats that the fire was prepared for them? Why does He make known, instead, that it was prepared for the evil spirit beings that rebelled against God?

These differences in the King’s dealings with the sheep and the goats suggest that even at that decisive moment when their eternal fates are finally made known, God will reveal something about His heart for mankind. His not saying that He cursed the goats and prepared the fire for them from the foundation of the world may be implicit final testimony to all who are present at that solemn occasion (as well to all who read or hear this teaching but may not be present at that occasion) of His essential eternal benevolence toward mankind.

Whether this interpretation of His final saying to the wicked is correct or not, for us who are alive now, the King desires that we repent toward the Father and believe that He has raised His Christ, the Lord Jesus, from the dead. Confessing that Christ as the Lord and calling upon Him now while there is yet time, we one day will be with Him in eternal glory in His Father’s kingdom!

In Biblical Greek, Interpretation Interpretation

Right Values in Tough Times

March 14, 2011

In spite of our time of great economic difficulty, God still calls us to show that we believe in the supreme value of His Word by devoting time to think deeply on what we read. Dr. Michael P.V. Barrett explains the importance of meditating on what we read from Scripture:

The amount of blessing we receive from the Bible and the degree to which we understand the Bible will be in proportion to how much time we meditate on what we have read. Very simply, meditating is thinking . . . Thinking takes time; thinking is work . . . Many Christians get nothing from the Bible not because they are ignorant but because they are thoughtless. . . Although our tendency when we read Scripture is to skip over the parts we don’t understand immediately, it is important just to pause and think and ask the Teacher, the Holy Spirit, to explain. Don’t give up too quickly. . . Take the time to pray and think over the open Bible. Time is like money in that we don’t have much of either to spend. But one way or another we seem to have money to spend on the things that we really want, and we seem to have time to spend on the things that are most important to us. If we truly agree with the Psalmist that God’s Word is more precious than gold, we will want to devote as much thinking time to it as we possibly can (Beginning at Moses: A Guide to Finding Christ in the Old Testament, 11).

To profit fully from our time in Scripture, we have to meditate on what we read. Doing so, we will show to God that our value system is what He wants it to be.

In Discipleship, Quotes

Spurgeon on Psalm 119:119

March 13, 2011

Psalm 119 is one of the richest chapters of the Bible. In that Psalm, the Psalmist makes a statement that is worthy of our contemplation because it concerns a basis for his love for God: “Thou puttest away all the wicked of the earth like dross: therefore I love thy testimonies” (119:119). Charles Spurgeon in Volume 3 of his Treasury of David comments on this verse:

Even the severities of the Lord excite the love of His people. If He allowed men to sin with impunity, He would not be so fully the object of our loving admiration; He is glorious in holiness because he thus rids his kingdom of rebels, and his temple of them that defile it. In these evil days, when God’s punishment of sinners has become the butt of proud sceptical contentions, we may regard as a mark of the true man of God that he loves the Lord none the less, but a great deal more, because of his condign [fitting] judgment of the ungodly (357-58).

Does your mindset about God include love for Him because of what this inspired statement (Ps. 119:119) says He does? If not, is your mindset what Scripture says it should be?

Do you believe that “a mark of the true man of God” is what Spurgeon in this statement says it is?

In Discipleship, Quotes

Interpreting the Word "Lord" in the NT

March 5, 2011

In the Greek version of the 39 books of the OT, 37* of them use the Greek word for Lord (kurios) to express the judicial actions or authority of God:

Gen. 6:5ff.; Exod. 9:3; Lev. 10:2; Num. 33:4; Deut. 32:36
Jos. 24:20; Judg. 11:27; Ruth 1:17
1 Sam. 2:10; 2 Sam. 3:39; 1 Ki. 2:32; 2 Ki. 15:5; 1 Chr. 2:3; 2 Chr. 7:21
Ezr. 9:15; Neh. 1:8; Est. 4:17* [the Hebrew does not have a word for Lord here or anywhere else in Esther]
Ps. 7:7; Prov. 3:32-33; Job 42:7
Isa. 1:24; Jer. 1:14; Lam. 1:5; Ezek. 5:8; Dan. 1:2
Hos. 1:4; Joel 1:15; Amos 1:2; Obad. 1:1-2; Jon. 1:14
Mic. 1:3; Nah. 1:2-3; Hab. 1:12; Zeph. 1:2-3; Hag. 1:9; Zech. 1:12; Mal. 1:4

Only Ecclesiastes and Song of Solomon do not have the word in them.

This Greek word for Lord is used profusely in the Greek Old Testament to communicate truth about God as the Judge. For example, the word is used more than 40 times just in Genesis alone in that way. Genesis also explicitly identifies the Lord (18:22-33) as the Judge of all the earth (18:25). Although I have not yet compiled the exact number of times kurios is used concerning the Lord in this sense, it is very likely well over 2500 times in the OT (In my dissertation research, I compiled more than 3700 verses in the OT concerning God as the Judge, and a high percentage of them use the word Lord for God.)

Based on this data, we should understand that any one who was familiar with the Old Testament in Greek would have had the profound sense that this word with great frequency communicates truth about God as the Judge. Almost every book they would read in their Bibles would testify to them about the Lord as the Judge. When such a person would hear apostolic evangelistic proclamation about Jesus that declared Him to be the One that God has made both Lord and Christ (Acts 2:36), what truth about Jesus would he very likely have understood the term to communicate (cf. the subsequent flow of thought in Acts 2:37ff.)?

Along that line, of the 27 books in the Greek NT, 21 of them use the word to express the judicial actions or authority of God or Jesus in some manner:

Matt. 7:22-23; Mk. 12:9 (human master; clear implicit significance for Christ); Lk. 13:25-28; John 8:11
Acts 2:20; Rom. 9:28; 1 Co. 4:4-5; 2 Co. 5:10-11
Eph. 6:9; Phil. 2:11 (those under the earth will not bow to Him willingly, but they will be forced to do so; cf. Rom 14:11); Col. 3:24
1 Thess. 4:6; 2 Thess. 2:8; 1 Tim. 6:13-14; 2 Tim. 1:16
Heb. 10:30; Jas. 5:7-8; 1 Pet. 3:12; 2 Pet. 2:9; Jude 1:5; Rev. 15:4

Galatians and Philemon do have the word, but they do not have any clear uses of it to convey someone who renders judgment. Four books (Titus and the Johannine Epistles) do not have any occurrences of the word.

The Greek word for Lord communicates truth about God as the Judge in 58 of the 66 books of the Bible in Greek. When key statements in the New Testament speak of Jesus as Lord, we must interpret them in light of this data.

In Biblical Greek, Interpretation Interpretation

Prove the Will of God!

February 25, 2011

Picture a cool fall day in a Midwestern farming community in the year1947. A faithful, young farmer heads out to his fields at the break of day. He notices a slight scratchy feeling in his throat. As he puts in a full day of work, he has a sinking feeling that he is coming down with something. By the middle of the week, he can hardly swallow. Hating to go to a doctor, he tries gargling with a mix of lemon juice, apple cider, vinegar, honey, and one “special” ingredient. His throat, however, keeps on getting worse.

Early the next week, he is barely able to swallow. Reluctantly, he agrees to go see his uncle, who is a doctor. Taking one look inside his mouth, his uncle’s face grows very serious. “Jake, you have a bad case of strep throat.” “I’m giving you a new medicine that I hope will take care of the problem; be sure to finish all the pills.” Jake takes the pills, thanks his uncle, and heads home.

After a few days on the medication, his throat feels so much better. Because the pills were so bitter, and he is feeling better by now, he decides to stop taking the pills. He says to himself, “I am over the problem, and I don’t want to overdo this medicine business.”

Two weeks after stopping the pills, Jake is flat on his back, hardly able to speak. Now, he has a fever and a rash. When his uncle comes and examines him, with tears he grimly informs him that he has rheumatic fever.

For the rest of his life, Jake is a crippled man who no longer can take care of his farm or even himself. The damage to his heart was just too severe for him to do much of anything. He is unable to live out the life that he might have lived had he followed the full prescription given to him.

God has given us His prescription for our sinful condition (Rom. 12). Although we must present ourselves to God, we must not stop with just making a decision to do so. We must go on and live out His will for our lives as He teaches us in Romans 12:1ff.

If we do not fully follow that prescription, we will be crippled and not fulfill His will. God wants us to prove His will for our lives.

In Discipleship, Parables Christian Living, Parable

O How He Loves Us!

February 21, 2011

The song, “Jesus Loves Me,” is a great song and a favorite of many people, especially many children. A few years ago, I wrote new words to be sung to the same tune. “O How He Loves Us!” still communicates that Jesus loves us, but it also communicates additional doctrinal truth. This song exposes people of all ages to key Scriptural ideas and stresses to them that God loved us, loves us, and will love us.

I designed this format for my guitar students so that they could learn the lyrics, the melody, and the chords.
The top line and time signature show how to count out each measure.
The capital letters are the basic guitar chords to play in the key of C when strumming or picking the song.
The numbers take the place of notes on a staff; they show the frets on which to play the melody on the second (B) string of a guitar. (Playing these same frets on either the first string or the sixth string transposes the melody to the key of F.)
William B. Bradbury produced the original tune from which I generated the numbers.
I wrote the words, except for the last part of the chorus, which I slightly modified from the original ending by Anna B. Warner.

In Discipleship, Music Music

Spiritual Warfare Parable

February 20, 2011

You are returning to your home out in the country from a weekend trip with your wife. Your cell phones are dead because you forgot your chargers at home. When you are a few miles away from your home, you see thick, black smoke coming from the direction of your home.

You rush home to find police cars and fire trucks on your property. The police prevent you from going to the house. From a safe distance, you watch what little is left of your home burn completely to the ground. Soon, you learn that the mutilated bodies of all your pets have been found in your swimming pool.

Shortly thereafter, the police inform you that they found the bodies of three security guards out in the woods behind your home. You inform them that you had four security guards. A few minutes later, they find the fourth one. Though he had been shot four times, he managed to survive by playing dead. Just before he finally dies, he informs the police that some gang members are responsible for what happened and that they have stolen your brand new Hummer and ransacked your home before setting it on fire.

Immediately, your thoughts turn to your three girls, whom you left for the weekend with your parents. You rush off to their home, a mile down the road. You pound on the door, but no one answers. Finally, in desperation, you break a window and get in the house. To your great horror, you find the lifeless bodies of your parents out back on their deck.

Frantically, you begin to search for your girls. You search everywhere, but you are unable to find your eight, ten, and twelve-year old daughters. In desperation, you head for the church that you pastor, which is three blocks down the road.

You arrive there and find the police at the church. You explain who you are and the chief with great sorrow explains that during a youth activity just a few hours ago, lightning struck during a storm that suddenly became violent and killed your three daughters as they were running toward the church to escape the storm.

As the pastor of a large, rural church in California that has taken a strong stand for Christ, how will you cope? Will you vow to spend the rest of your life to find those gang members and see that they get what they deserve? What will you make of the lightning? Will you abandon your faith in the midst of such horrific suffering?

Or, will you bow in worship: “Then Job arose and tore his robe and shaved his head, and he fell to the ground and worshiped. He said, ‘Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD’” (Job. 1:20-21).

And, will you think aright about what those gang members have done and about the lightning that killed your daughters? “Then the LORD said to Satan, ‘Behold, all that he has is in your power, only do not put forth your hand on him.’ So Satan departed from the presence of the LORD. . . . A messenger came to Job and said, ‘The oxen were plowing and the donkeys feeding beside them, and the Sabeans attacked and took them. They also slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘The fire of God fell from heaven and burned up the sheep and the servants and consumed them, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘The Chaldeans formed three bands and made a raid on the camels and took them and slew the servants with the edge of the sword, and I alone have escaped to tell you.’ While he was still speaking, another also came and said, ‘Your sons and your daughters were eating and drinking wine in their oldest brother’s house, and behold, a great wind came from across the wilderness and struck the four corners of the house, and it fell on the young people and they died, and I alone have escaped to tell you’” (Job. 1:14-19).

“For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph. 6:12).

In Discipleship, Parables Parable, Spiritual Warfare

Model Prayer Handout

February 18, 2011

When His disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, Jesus gave them the Model Prayer. He commanded them to pray in that manner continually. The Model Prayer played a role in my life even before my salvation. Several years before I was saved, I attended religious services with some friends on a fairly regular basis on Saturdays. In each service, the highlight for me was when we would sing a somewhat shortened version of the Model Prayer. Although I was not a believer, I always felt something drawing me when I would sing those words.

A few years later, because of my reading some books about the Bible, I was praying the Model Prayer on a regular basis for several weeks even though I was not saved yet. At some point while I was doing so, I was saved.

Since my salvation, I have prayed the Model Prayer in some form nearly every day. Jesus said to pray this way, and we should heed His command.

Several years ago, I produced a handout based on the Model Prayer that compiles many prayers from Scripture that I have used as I pray in that manner. This handout aligns those prayers with the corresponding statements in the Model Prayer.

In Discipleship Prayer

God's Mercy in His Judgment

February 16, 2011

God fiercely judged Saul for his disobedience. He rejected him from being king (1 Sam. 15:23), rent the kingdom of Israel from him, and gave it to David (15:28). “The Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord troubled” him (16:14).

Somehow, Saul’s servants knew that “an evil spirit from God” troubled Saul (16:14). They informed him of that fact and counseled him to seek out a skilled musician whose playing would relieve him of the affliction caused by the evil spirit (16:16). Responding to Saul’s request that his servants provide such a musician for him, one of his servants commended David to him (16:17-18).

The servant’s commendation informed Saul of much more than the fact that David was a skilled musician. The servant ended his six-fold commendation by saying, “The Lord is with him” (16:18). Saul sent for David (16:19-22), and David ministered effectively to him when he was troubled by the spirit: “Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him” (16:19-23).

This account is often referenced by Christian musicians in their discussions of the value of good music. Although such use is valid, what the passage teaches about God’s mercy in His judgment is sometimes not fully appreciated. God rightly and fiercely judged Saul for his sinfulness. But, God extended mercy to Saul in His judgment through providing a means for him to be relieved of some of the ill effects of part of that judgment. Had God chosen to do so, He could have prevented Saul from ever learning of an effective remedy for the trouble the evil spirit was causing him.

Furthermore, God did not just allow him to learn of an effective remedy (16:16); He also put a servant among Saul’s servants who informed him of someone who could provide that remedy (16:18-22). Then, God allowed Saul’s request for that one to come to minister to him to be granted, and He allowed the ministry of that person to be effective in relieving him of his trouble (16:23).

As He did for Saul, God extends mercy in His judgment today to many who are suffering directly for their sinfulness. For example, He often allows people who have health problems directly attributable to their own evil behavior to yet learn of and obtain effective treatments that relieve some or all of their suffering.

God’s providing David as a means of relieving Saul of some of his trouble should inspire great appreciation for His mercy in His judgment. Let us praise God that He is the Judge who delights in mercy (Micah 7:18)!

In Interpretation, Music Interpretation

Stress Management Truths from Scripture

February 14, 2011

Proper attention to these truths is essential to our managing stress effectively as Christians:

Proper confession of our own sin: Psalm 32:1 Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. 2 Blessed is the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile. 3 When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long. 4 For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer.

Proper response to others who trespass against us: Matthew 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: 33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? 34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him. 35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

Proper heart state: Proverbs 14:30 A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

Proper prayer life: Philippians 4:6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 7 And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Proper thought life: Isaiah 26:3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Proper ministry by leaders who properly discipline their bodies and bring them into subjection: Eccl. 10:17 Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for strength, and not for drunkenness!

Proper reception of the preaching of the Word of God: 1 Cor. 14:3 But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men to edification, and exhortation, and comfort.

Proper response to adversity: Acts 20:24 But none of these things move me, neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry, which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the gospel of the grace of God.

Proper counsel from friends: Proverbs 27:9 Ointment and perfume rejoice the heart: so doth the sweetness of a man’s friend by hearty counsel.

Proper response to godly counsel: Proverbs 13:10 Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom.

Proper observance of a regular day of rest: Mark 2:27 And he said unto them, The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath.

Proper laboring: Ecclesiastes 5:12 The sleep of a labouring man is sweet, whether he eat little or much: but the abundance of the rich will not suffer him to sleep.

Proper strength: Psalm 19:4 In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 5 Which . . . rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race.

Proper food & water consumption: Isaiah 44:12 The smith with the tongs both worketh in the coals, and fashioneth it with hammers, and worketh it with the strength of his arms: yea, he is hungry, and his strength faileth: he drinketh no water, and is faint.

In Discipleship, Health Health

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