Category Archives: Bible Study

Gleanings from The Letter to the Hebrews: The Final Days—Part 3

Posted on 18/12/2024 | Leave a comment

Recapping

These Jesus’ followers were new Christians though they still identified as Jewish. They were the true people of God but were suffering, opposed, persecuted by apostate Jews, who refused to accept Jesus. 

Remember, the letters in the New Testament were not written to us today but they can still be very important for us—audience relevance is important.  This letter is full of warnings and for today’s Christian this is just as relevant.  So let’s again plunge into some important passages.

Hebrews 10:1

The old system under the law of Moses was only a shadow, a dim preview of the good things to come, not the good things themselves. The sacrifices under that system were repeated again and again, year after year, but they were never able to provide perfect cleansing for those who came to worship. 

The whole Mosaic system was only a shadow, not reality. Now these “good things” had come for these first century believers by virtue of Jesus’ perfect self-sacrifice. Why would they ever go back to a dim preview having to repeat sacrifices every year, all utterly failing to cleanse worshippers?

Why then do many Christian believers today support the return of this system—focusing on modern Israel, on the rebuilding a new temple and re-introduction of the sacrificial system? This is NOT Christian. This is idolatry! Christ alone must be our focus. He alone is able to provide perfect cleansing for our sins. To bless “Israel” is to reject Christ—to turn our backs on him.

Hebrews 10:14

For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.

Think of it! His one offering forever made them and us today perfect! Forever perfect in his sight—past tense. This wondrous fact, despite our ever-present need to reject sin, as we “are being made holy”—our constant sanctification process. Amazing grace!

Hebrews 10:36-38

Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.  “For in just a little while, the Coming One will come and not delay. And my righteous ones will live by faith. But I will take no pleasure in anyone who turns away.”

Our author encourages his readers to have patience and endurance in doing the will of God. He reminds them (not us) it will only be a little while when the coming one will come and NOT delay and they will receive all that he has promised! Even though they have received so much in his atoning death and resurrection, there is more to come when Jesus returns!

Were these first century believers disappointed? I think not! They would have experienced their completed salvation, the assured finishing of the atonement (see last post, Hebrews 9:28). Jesus had come as promised (see Matthew 10:23, 16:17-18, 24:34).

Now, let’s imagine for a moment that he did not come. Imagine you were one of the first century believers and as the last few in your community passed away and Jesus had not returned as expected. You are horrified. Suddenly you realise Jesus was a false prophet. You feel the horror, the torment and the abandonment of all you had been taught. Your teachers had been deceived, had believed a lie. Your hope dashed to pieces. You realise the ‘gospel’ was a myth, a fairy tale. You abandon making any disciples. All over the Roman world heart-broken ‘believers’ stop meeting together and sharing good news. The way, the truth and the life comes to an end forever.

If Christ had not already come you and I would not be sharing in Jesus’ blessing would we? Get it?

So does this not demonstrate that Jesus has already returned a second time?

Hebrews 12:22-24

. . . .  you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to countless thousands of angels in a joyful gathering. You have come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God himself, who is the judge over all things. You have come to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who have now been made perfect. You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel.

Our author encourages his readers to realise that even before Jesus comes they have come to so much. What a list! This is for us today too. Let’s be encouraged. Note the past tense “have come”!

The way they have come is by faith (Hebrews 11). Not by a physical mountain, a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, as the Israelites had at Mount Sinai. This is nothing like a physical or bodily “catching-up” (a rapture) into the heavenly realm. It is a participation in Jesus by faith. Note the past tense “have come”!

They had come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. Contrast this with the Zionism we see today, focussed on an earthbound Jerusalem, the city of false gods.

They had come to the glorious company of thousands of angels. Angels are there for them and us. They are servants—“spirits sent to serve and care for people who will inherit salvation.” (Heb 1:14)

They had come to the assembly of God’s firstborn children, whose names are written in heaven. The word assembly (Greek ekklesia), a non-religious word, horribly translated ‘church’. They and we are called ‘God’s firstborn’ meaning the privileged ones who inherit God’s Kingdom.

They had come to God himself, who is the judge over all things, to the spirits of the righteous ones in heaven who are perfect, to Jesus our mediator and to the sprinkled blood—forgiveness instead of vengeance. 

So much fantastic blessing for them and for us!

Hebrews 12:27-29

When God spoke from Mount Sinai his voice shook the earth, but now he makes another promise: Once again I will shake not only the earth but the heavens also. This means that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain.  Since we are receiving a Kingdom that is unshakable, let us be thankful and please God by worshiping him with holy fear and awe. For our God is a devouring fire.

The expected shaking was in the future for these 1st century believers. Our author recalls Haggai 2:6. “For this is what the LORD of Heaven’s Armies says: In just a little while I will again shake the heavens and the earth, the oceans and the dry land.”Now that prophecy was about to be fulfilled for them “in just a little while”—not after 2000 years!

Hebrews 13:14.

For this world is not our permanent home; we are looking forward to a home yet to come.

Here again we have the phrase ‘to come’ translating the Greek word mello meaning “about to come”. These 1st century believers were expecting their permanent or lasting home soon!

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Gleanings from The Letter to the Hebrews: ‘The Final Days’—Part 2

Posted on 09/12/2024 | Leave a comment

Recapping

These Jesus’ followers were new Christians though still identified as Jewish. They were the true people of God as all “who remain confident in their hope in Christ. They were suffering, opposed, persecuted by apostate Jews, who refused to accept Jesus. 

Remember, the letters in the New Testament were not written to us today but they can be very important for us.  This letter is full of warnings and for today’s Christian this is just as relevant.  For “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). So let’s dive into some important passages.

Hebrews 6:2

You don’t need further instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

Our author tells his readers to move on from such “basic principles” as the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment. These are three elementary matters frequently ignored by believers today. I spent 3 years in a theological college without hearing anything about any of these three matters. Yet the New Testament has much emphasis on these. The “Hebrews” must move on from these to spiritual maturity. How many today ignore these basics let alone moving on to spiritual maturity! Why are so many today still “babes in Christ” (Hebrews 5:12)?

The practice of laying on of hands is generally confined to “charismatic” people, in healing the sick (James 5) or in the giving of the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 1:6). But God says it’s basic! It should be everyday practice!

The resurrection of the dead is something no one seems to talk about these days. Maybe people don’t like to talk about death. But this also something very basic—it’s milk for babies! Paul has a very long passage (1 Corinthians 15) and Jesus spoke about it as coming after death (Mat 22:30). “Christ was raised as the first of the harvest; then all who belong to Christ will be raised when he comes back” (1 Corinthians 15:23 NLT). Was Paul thinking that these first-century believers won’t be raised for another 2000 years? Of course not! That’s absurd. At the beginning of this letter he told them “Now you have every spiritual gift you need as you eagerly wait for the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.  He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns.” (1 Cor 1:7-8 NLT)

Rarely do we hear a sermon on eternal judgment. What happens after death and resurrection is important for all believers. Very often one of us will say that the idea of standing before the Lord and having Him evaluate our lives is a very sobering thought. No matter how confident a person may be in this world, it is hard to see how any of us could be confident on that day. But our author, Paul and other apostles said we can have confidence (1 John 2:28)!

Hebrews 6:13-15

 . . . . .  there was God’s promise to Abraham. Since there was no one greater to swear by, God took an oath in his own name, saying: “I will certainly bless you, and I will multiply your descendants beyond number. Then Abraham waited patiently, and he received what God had promised.

This is a reminder how that promise to Abraham came true for us down to this very day. For we who follow Jesus are the true people of God. We are Abraham’s descendants. Jesus said to unbelieving Jews “I tell you this that many Gentiles will come from all over the world –from east and west–and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob at the feast in the Kingdom of Heaven. But many Israelites–those for whom the Kingdom was prepared–will be thrown into outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11-12). And Paul wrote: “if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise”. (Galatians 3:29)

Hebrews 8:13

When God speaks of a “new” covenant, it means he has made the first one obsolete. It is now out of date and will soon disappear.

God made the Old Covenant already obsolete 2000 years ago. Out of date. Why then are so many believers today so focussed on the nation called Israel? There cannot be two Covenants. There can only be one. Only one people of God. We Jesus people are the Israel of God receiving the blessing of God, not today’s nation state called Israel (Galatians 6:16). Christians should not support this Israel state which is no more worthy than any other state.

Be aware that the today’s “Israel” was established with the backing of the atheistic, Ashkenazi-Jewish, Rothschild family that decided to create the country. In 1917, the Rothschild’s used their money, power, and influence to strike a secret deal with the British government for the establishment of the modern state with the name Israel.

The word ‘soon’ is the Greek engys which means imminent, soon to come to pass. For Christians in the first century what was coming soon was in the near future. But for us today we do not live in the Old Covenant. We enjoy the New.

Hebrews 9:26-28 

. . . . .  But now, once for all time, he has appeared at the end of the age to remove sin by his own death as a sacrifice.  And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him.

Jesus was born at “the end of the age.” This “end” was the end of the Jewish age, the Old Covenant age, not the end of the world! As Peter wrote “God chose him as your ransom long before the world began, but he has now revealed him to you in these last days.”(1 Peter 1:20). That age ended after the destruction of the Jerusalem temple in AD 70.

Jesus first appearing was but once to put away sin by his offering up of himself. Done! But there was more to do so he must come again—complete salvation to all (then) who were eagerly waiting for him”!

Under the Old Covenant when the Jews saw their high priest enter the sanctuary on their behalf, they waited expectedly for his reappearance. When they saw him emerge alive, that was a welcome sign that he and the sacrifice which he presented had been accepted by God.

In the same way, Jesus’ return was proof that his offering was accepted by God. If you believe that Jesus has not already come, then rejoice for you have received full salvation because he has already come! Now that’s Good News!

Suppose he didn’t come back in his own generation as he promised (Matthew 24:34). That’s what most evangelicals believe—still waiting after 2000 years. If that is so then salvation would not be complete for anyone! Right?

The term “salvation” here is meant Christ’s completed salvation, his finishing of the atonement, the great high-priest of our salvation having appeared victorious in the Heavenly places.  Salvation is a multifaceted concept, encompassing deliverance from sin, Satan, death, and God’s wrath, ultimately leading to union with God and glorification.

The Jews believed that the end of the age would be the end of the Jewish economy and the close of their civil and ecclesiastical state. According to Habakkuk 2:3 “For the vision is yet for a future time; It describes the end, and it will be fulfilled. If it seems slow in coming, wait patiently, for it will surely take place. It will not be delayed.” So the Jews were expecting their Messiah “for a future time, at the end” and it will not be delayed. The first believers just had to wait patiently—it would not be delayed. It is absurd to believe they are still waiting after 2000 years.

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Gleanings from The Letter to the Hebrews: The Final Days—Part 1

Posted on 28/11/2024 | Leave a comment

Recapping: the author was a Hebrew Jesus follower, a leader or apostle in the new Jesus movement created about AD 33. These Jesus’ followers were new Christians though still identified as Jewish. They were the true people of God as all “who remain confident in their hope in Christ”. It was written to suffering Jewish Hebrews, opposed, persecuted by those apostate Jews, Israelites, who refused to accept Jesus (see Hebrews 10:32-36 ). 

Remember, the letters in the New Testament  were not written to us today but they can be very important for us.  This letter is full of warnings and for today’s Christian this is just as relevant.  For “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8).

Looking at Hebrews 1:2-4.

And now in these final days, he has spoken to us through his Son. God promised everything to the Son as an inheritance, and through the Son he created the universe. 3. The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.

This letter was written in “these final days”, sometime around AD 62-66, when the recipients were new believers in Christ though still identifying as Jewish. They referred to this time in which they were living as the ‘final days’. For them this was the final days of national Israel—‘the end’ of the whole Mosaic period of law, temple worship and sacrifice because he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honour at the right hand of God.

The ‘final days’ was a period of transition from the Old Covenant to the New Covenant. John called it ‘the last hour’ (1 John 2:18). Another term for this period was ‘the end’ or ‘the end of the age.’ (see Matthew 24:3).

Then our author goes on to talk about the importance of these final days Hebrews 2:2-4: 

So we must listen very carefully to the truth we have heard, or we may drift away from it. For the message God delivered through angels has always stood firm, and every violation of the law and every act of disobedience was punished.  So what makes us think we can escape if we ignore this great salvation that was first announced by the Lord Jesus himself and then delivered to us by those who heard him speak? And God confirmed the message by giving signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit whenever he chose.

These readers were expecting Jesus’ soon, second-coming—the Kingdom of God. They saw God at work in their midst doing ‘signs and wonders and various miracles and gifts of the Holy Spirit’. It was a critical time, a most significant time, so the readers must pay close attention to the truth and not listen to the lies of the apostate Jews, and not ‘drift away’ from the truth of the Gospel.

Hebrews 2:16-18.

 We also know that the Son did not come to help angels; he came to help the descendants of Abraham. Therefore, it was necessary for him to be made in every respect like us, his brothers and sisters, so that he could be our merciful and faithful High Priest before God. Then he could offer a sacrifice that would take away the sins of the people. Since he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able to help us when we are being tested.

Notice ‘to help the descendants of Abraham.’ It does not say he came to help ‘the Jews.’ For the believing readers were all descendants of Abraham (see Galatians 4) just as we believers are today. How privileged we are that he should call us his brothers and sisters and he is able to help us when we are being tested. We are the true Israel, the chosen, the people of God.

Hebrews 3:6

But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ.

They are the people of God, not the apostate Israelites, as they maintain courage and remain confident in the Lord Jesus, and not in dead works. And as we also today! Courage is required and trust in the great hope of Jesus. Again let us remember this fact that today many are idolatoriosly focussing on fake Israel instead of Jesus. People living in today’s Palestine are not necessarily the chosen people of God.

Hebrews 3:18-19; 4:2-3

And to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest? Wasn’t it the people who disobeyed him? So we see that because of their unbelief they were not able to enter his rest.. . . . . .  God’s promise of entering his rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it. For this good news—that God has prepared this rest—has been announced to us just as it was to them. But it did them no good because they didn’t share the faith of those who listened to God. For only we who believe can enter his rest. As for the others, God said, “In my anger I took an oath: ‘They will never enter my place of rest,’”

It is always the glorious good news that brings rest and peace. So important is this that God takes an oath—no one will enter his rest with unbelief. Unbelief is disobedience. Do we tremble with fear that some of our friends and family might fail to experience it? Mere announcement of the gospel will not benefit them. They must experience the reality or they will not enter in.

Hebrews 4:10-13

So let us be diligent to enter that rest. But if we disobey God, as the people of Israel did, we will fall. . . . .. .For the word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. It exposes our innermost thoughts and desires. Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes, and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

They are told to do due diligence about entering their rest. That’s so critical. They are reminded of the word of God—it is alive, not dead. It is powerful and finely discerning. By His Word the worlds were created. There can be no hiding from God for them nor for us today. So Hebrews 3:7-8:

“Today when you hear his voice,
don’t harden your hearts.”

            

To be continued next time.

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They eagerly awaited! 

Posted on 26/11/2024 | Leave a comment

The first Christians were awaiting the imminent return of the Saviour with great eagerness and joy. We know this from many texts in the writings of Paul in the New Testament, that they expected this momentous event ‘soon’ and possibly in their lifetime.

Recently while having coffee with a young friend, she said she was eagerly waiting for Jesus’ return. She gushed “I can hardly wait for the Rapture to come!” So young with much of her life still ahead of her! A life she could be spending serving her King here. Instead she wanted ‘out of here’.

Are you like her, awaiting the ‘soon’ return of Jesus?

Let’s examine some of Paul’s words written about 51 AD to the Thessalonians (1:9 -10):

 . . . . you turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God, and to wait for His Son from heaven, whom He raised from the dead, that is, Jesus who rescues us from the wrath to come.

Paul, writing to believing Christians living in the Roman city of Thessalonica, expected with them, an imminent, soon return of the Lord. That is a fact.

Please read that passage again. Paul believed they (and Paul himself) were waiting for Jesus to come from heaven. Let the implications of that sink in.

Yair I know. That’s a challenge.

As we read this letter today, bear in mind we are reading mail written to believers living 2000 years ago. We must resist the temptation to think we are being addressed by Paul or by the Holy Spirit. Many people think it applies to us today. That is absurd.

This praise of the Thessalonians from Paul and Silvanus doesn’t make sense unless Jesus actually returned in their generation a long time ago. If he did not, nothing in that letter was of any benefit!

Paul knew and believed that Jesus was coming back before his generation had passed away. Of course, following Jesus’ words, Paul did not know “either the day nor the hour” of his return. But he and all the apostles knew it would occur while many would still be alive. Jesus had said it. (Mat 24:30-34)

Were they mistaken? Or more seriously, was Jesus mistaken?

If they were mistaken then their faith was in vain. For all Paul had taught these Thessalonians would have been a waste of time! That would mean the END of the Christian faith. Despair. Hopelessness. Eternal life gone. Resurrection gone. All gone. No one would be following Jesus today!

Please think logically about this.

Let me ask you who still await Jesus’ coming a very important question.

Do you really, seriously, logically imagine that those same real believers who eagerly read Paul’s words, were then terribly disappointed because if they continued to notice others of their community, one by one, passing away while Jesus still had not come, as Paul taught!

If Jesus still had not come then–which is what many modern believers seem to hold—and when the last one of those original Thessalonian believers would have passed away, can you imagine the consternation, the feelings of utter despair and loss of trust in God that would have followed?

Today, some 2000+ years have passed since those original Thessalonian believers were alive. So if you hold the view that Jesus is yet to appear a second time, it logically follows that the faith of Paul’s readers must have been totally in vain. Destroyed.

Then, no one would have ever heard the gospel! The Christian message would be dead in the water from that point.

Come on. Think about it for a minute: If Jesus’ coming was near for these believers, it cannot be near for us, can it? And if Jesus’ coming is still coming near for us today, you must conclude Paul was in gross error.

Do you see the problem? Your problem?

Ask yourself this question: if those Thessalonians were wrong by expecting Jesus to come within their lifetime, why didn’t Paul correct them? Why didn’t he write ‘no, you’ve got it wrong, Jesus won’t be coming for a long, long, time!’

But Paul did not correct them. Instead he continued to encourage them as he wrote this letter to encourage them and then followed it with another letter, which we call Second Thessalonians, with further encouragements about Jesus’ imminent return in judgment on His enemies, unbelieving Israel!

Can you see how illogical it is to expect Jesus to return a second time today if ithat event was promised for the Thessalonians? There wont be a third coming either.

If you trust Paul’s letters were and are the true Word of God, your belief is logically impossible.

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Israel today

Posted on 08/11/2024 | 2 comments

Teri Kempe wrote an article for the Daily Declaration Australia. see https://dailydeclaration.org.au/2024/11/05/why-do-people-hate-jews-and-israel/?utm_source=mailpoet&utm_medium=email&utm_source_platform=mailpoet&utm_campaign=your-daily-digest-newsletter-total-posts_2

Here are my comments.

There are too many criticisms I could make of this article. However I will limit these to just two or three.

The state known today as “Israel” is NOT God’s chosen instrument. Of course, under the Old Covenant through Israel all the nations would be blessed by the seed of Abraham. The promise was made to Abraham and because we believe in his seed Jesus (Mat 3:9, Rom 4:13-25, Gal 4:28-31), we enjoy living in the New Covenant inaugurated by the Lord Jesus. See Galatians 3:29 And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to promise.

In the New Covenant documents the people of God are those who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:4-10 , Titus 2:14, Heb 3:6, Heb 8:13). Jesus said to the people of Israel their end had come (Mat 21:43, 23:29-38).

From the time of Christ’s crucifixion in 30 AD to 70 AD, God gave the disobedient Hebrews 40 years to repent and accept Jesus as the Messiah. Paul explained why God patiently waited (Rom 11: 28-31). Then 40 years later all unbelieving Jews perished.

Yes, many Christians have accused Israel of genocide against the people of Gaza and Lebanon and for good reason. See e.g., https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/col-macgregor-the-top-priority-for-israel-is-to-make-gaza-unlivable-expel-all-survivors/

As Christians, we have a divine calling (Isaiah 62:6-7) . Under the New Covenant. Our divine calling is to follow Jesus, be filled with the Holy Spirit and make all his disciples, “teaching them to follow all that I commanded you.”

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Gleanings from Hebrews: Meeting Together

Posted on 04/11/2024 | Leave a comment

The author of the Letter to the Hebrews was a Hebrew Jesus follower, a leader or apostle in the new Jesus movement that was created in the Pentecostal outpouring of the Holy Spirit in about AD 33 (Acts 2).

The letter was written sometime around AD 62-66. Hebrews 1:2 calls it “the last days”, an expression meaning the End Times, that is the last days of Israel as the people of God. 

It was written when Jesus’ followers were new Christians though still identified as Jewish. They were the true people of God, people “who remain confident in their hope in Christ” (Hebrews 3:6). These believers were opposed and persecuted by those fake Israelites, who refused to accept Jesus (Hebrews 10:32-36) and as a consequence were under the judgment of God.

Please note, Hebrews was not written to us but it can be useful for us, it can be very important for us.  The letter is full of warnings not to fall away—important for us today.

Many passages in this letter affirm that the recipients were the real people of God who met together and not those who rejected Christ

But Christ, as the Son, is in charge of God’s entire house. And we are God’s house, if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ”. (Hebrews 3:4-6) Thus God says all who remain confident in our hope in Christ are the true people of God! This is true for us today despite those who hold the ridiculous myth that Israelites are “the people of God”.

See also Hebrews 3:13-14:  You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 

These readers were expecting his soon, second-coming Kingdom. See Hebrews 9:27-28: . . . . after Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many, he will appear a second time, not to bear sin but to bring salvation.

It’s important to see this letter was not written to us. Though not to us, it can be very important for us.  The letter is full of warnings not to fall away. For today’s Christian this is just as important.  For “Jesus is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Heb 13:8).

Now looking at Hebrews 3:13-14:  You must warn each other every day, while it is still “today,” so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God. For if we are faithful to the end, trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed, we will share in all that belongs to Christ. 

For those first believers, it was still “today” because “tomorrow” they expected Jesus’ return, and the age to come! But for us today, the Word of God still insists that we warn each other every day.

Now let’s look at Hebrews 10:24-25.

Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.

Our author here emphasizes the importance of community and mutual encouragement among those Century 1 believers, and especially because the Lord’s coming for them was imminent.

For us today, we may not be expecting the Lord’s soon coming as they did, yet what God says here is critical to be applied.

Ask yourself.

Do you, does anyone, today seriously consider ways to motivate fellow believers to such acts when gathered together? No, hardly ever. People leave that up to their pastor or minister. You may legalistically attend “church”. But the Lord wants us to meet together (Grk ekklesia) rather than attend a ‘service’ or organisation. In church services how can we possibly encourage one another, sitting in pews and relying on a minister? Satan has convinced today’s churchgoers to be inactive—many waiting for some mythical soon ‘rapture’ event.  Many churchgoers just sit, observe or go to sleep in church services. Whereas these first century believers were to be salt of the earth and the light of the world as Jesus taught and eagerly awaited his imminent return.

This is the main, if not the only, passage in scripture that clergy use to urge people to “come to church”. The sole one! And then what to pastors do? They do everything and the people do nothing.

Again see Hebrews 12:15. Here’s another ‘each other’ just one of about 100 :  Look after each other so that none of you fails to receive the grace of God.

God’s word commands us to act and make arrangements to care for one another in our believing community. How do we do that? Certainly not by relying on the gifting of some overworked pastor.

So how can we today obey God’s word and actually do as he says?

There is no better way than to meet together in an informal setting of fellowship and community and allow the gifts of the Holy Spirit to be present.

You can start meeting with one other believer and Jesus promises to be with the two or three! Matthew 18:20

You can start or join a home church—look up www.oikos.org.au, people who “see a movement of God where simple churches are started in houses, cafes, work places, clubs, parks, markets, schools – making Jesus accessible to every Aussie and impacting every corner of our nation”.

We can use the phone to exhort and pray. We also can use email posts and social media, ‘Zoom’ sessions as many believers do.

But let’s do it!

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Is the Rapture teaching Biblical?

Posted on 07/02/2024 | Leave a comment

The Rapture is a comparatively recent teaching. It did not gain momentum until proclaimed by John Nelson Darby, the founder of the Exclusive brethren in England just 200 years ago. It was picked up by an American lawyer called Cyrus Scofield who produced the Scofield Bible. This contains the text of the KJV, but it is full of Scofield’s own annotated commentary. More than any other factor, it is Scofield’s notes that have caused generations of Western evangelicals to accept that God demands their uncritical support for the modern State of Israel. Scofield also highlighted the concept of the Rapture, the bodily ascent to heaven by Christian believers, in his notes about Thessalonians 4:17.

I have researched this subject and found many reasons to reject this teaching and here they are.

First, the teaching of the rapture violates the expectation of the believers who eagerly awaited the return of Christ. It was the hope of believers in the first century that Jesus would return in their lifetime based on Jesus’ words in Matthew 24:30-34. They eagerly awaited this event to complete their salvation:

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. But when these things begin to take place, straighten up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:27-28 my emphasis)

Second, the parables of Jesus, the gospels and the whole NT is all about the coming Kingdom of God, coming to the believers here on earth, from heaven where it has always prevailed. The kingdom was coming down and not going up. The kingdom was already in Heaven! Such a great expectation!

 Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  (Mat 6:10)

 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev 21:2)

1 Thessalonians 4:17 is not about believers going up to heaven! The remaining believers affiliated with Christ would be seized (Grk harpazo) into a meeting in the air (Grk, aer), the word Paul used for the space just above the earth’s surface (see 1 Cor 14:9 and Eph 2:2). This ‘meeting’ (Grk., apartesis) is not merely any meeting. The word also occurs in Mat 25:1, 6 and Acts 28:15.  It’s about people going from their city or place to meet and welcome a dignitary and escorting that person back into their city or place. This meeting is in the ‘air’, not in Heaven. Christ comes out of heaven with the resurrected ones who had ‘slept’, to meet together with those who ‘remain alive’ who welcome Him to this planet, not upwards into Heaven !

Third, by teaching that saints would somehow float up to Heaven, it minimizes the expectations of millions, because only a very select few would experience it—those alive at His coming. On the contrary, Paul’s language in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 means that ‘we all will be with the Lord always!’ After His return, he abides in us! See John 14:

There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?  (John 14:2)

Jesus replied, “All who love me will do what I say. My Father will love them, and we will come and make our home with each of them. (John 14:23)

Fourth, it also violates the promises in both OT and NT—what all the faithful were expecting, from Abraham to the present (See Heb 11:1-38 and especially vs 39-40).

Fifth, it introduces a dispensation that Christ never taught—this is totally absent from His recorded teachings.

Sixth, it violates Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 15 on the nature of the resurrection of the dead.  When the physical body dies it decomposes and is no more. Our physical bodies are not fit for Heaven. We need a spiritual body to be in heaven. The Rapture teaching denies this in suggesting bodies floating up to Heaven. So Paul insisted:

it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. (15:43-44)

We shall all die. Even Jesus had to die! As it says in the Letter to the Hebrews:

And just as each person is destined to die once and after that comes judgment, so also Christ was offered once for all time as a sacrifice to take away the sins of many people. He will come again, not to deal with our sins, but to bring salvation to all who are eagerly waiting for him. (Heb 9:27-28, my emphasis)

Seventh, it interrupts the flow and spread of the kingdom of God on earth, leaving a wide gap in the people of God by taking them away which is clearly not what Jesus prayed for. See John 17:

I am not asking You to take them out of the world, but to keep them away from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. (John 17:15-16)

Jesus second coming restores us to that state before the Fall. Complete atonement! Rendered sinless for His presence. Further, He promised His disciples He would come within their lifetime:  

For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what they have done.  “Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matthew 16:27-28)

Until the return of Christ your redemption is incomplete! When our great high-priest has appeared for us out from the heavenly sanctuary having offered his own blood (as per Leviticus 16 and Hebrews 9), we are assured our salvation is complete (Heb 9:28). He came out long ago!

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Expecting Jesus?

Posted on 29/01/2024 | 2 comments

What do you expect –what do you imagine the Coming of Jesus to be like?

Did you know that there are over a hundred passages by New Testament authors that anticipated Jesus’ return? Were the apostles mistaken? Many sceptics think they were misled.

Here’s one: C.S.Lewis, the famed Christian apologist wrote: “the apocalyptic beliefs of the first Christians have been proved to be false. It is clear from the New Testament that they all expected the Second Coming in their own lifetime. And, worse still, they had a reason, and one which you will find very embarrassing. Their Master had told them so. He shared, and indeed created, their delusion. He said in so many words, ‘this generation shall not pass till all these things are done.’ And He was wrong. He clearly knew no more about the end of the world than anyone else.” From The World’s Last Night

So what were Lewis and other sceptics expecting? And what are you expecting?

Perhaps you, like countless others, expected the wrong thing and thus concluded that He has not come as promised after 2000 years?

Just like the Jews they expected Jesus to come in a physical body appearance. And He didn’t. Nor did He promise to come like that.

The Jews also thought He was literally coming to stand and physically rule on the earth, a deliverer from the Roman occupational forces. That’s why they rejected the teachings of the apostles. And He didn’t come like that nor did He promise to do so.

Perhaps you thought He should come with visible signs like “the sun will be darkened, the moon will give no light, the stars will fall from the sky, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken” (Mat 24:29).

Well the fact is that sort of terminology was understood by Jews who knew their scriptures to mean judgment upon a nation—the collapsing of cosmic entities is a common motif in judgment prophecies, e.g. Isa 13:10, 19:1,24:18-20, 34;8-15, Ezek 32:7–8; Joel 2:28 Acts 2:19-20.

Should we interpret the Bible “literally” in every instance? No. We must interpret each text as it was intended to be understood in its context and as understood by its original audience, the Jewish apostles.

The fact is most people fail to understand that His coming was a coming in judgment against the unbelieving Jewish generation who had perverted God’s word and rejected Jesus’ claims and teachings. This is clear from  passages like Mat 23:29-39, 1 Thes 2:19f.

But Jesus also taught many times that there would be much more to His Coming than merely the judgment upon Israel. His Second Coming in judgment would be the fulfilment of the eschatological promises to Israel.

The Old Covenant Age ended in AD 70 with the destruction of the temple. All the genealogical records were destroyed along with the temple. That day, the nation of Israel ended and the whole system of temple sacrifices for sin with it and forever. It was the end of the age—not the end of the world.

Today, many Christians expect the same sort of future return of Christ that the Jews expected for the second coming of Elijah—that is, a literal physical return in his previous body. This is a mistaken expectation.

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To Whom Do You Listen?

Posted on 23/10/2023 | Leave a comment

This article is by my good friend Jane Blakey

To whom then shall we listen?

We all remember this. 
Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and led them up to a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them, and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
And Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”.
For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

‘And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my beloved Son: hear Him“‘. (Mark 9:2-7)
Not to Moses AND Elijah AND Jesus.
But, listen to Jesus! Hear Him.

Over this weekend, I have been thinking very much of the New Jerusalem, the city that has foundations that Abraham looked forward to. That one whose designer and builder is God. That better country, a heavenly one where God has prepared a city. (Hebrews 11: 8-16)
I am thinking of the promises made to Abraham and his offspring – to one. To Jesus, the seed  of Abraham – and of those who are Christ’s and who thereby are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise. (Gal 3:16 & 27-29).

My thoughts are on the two Jerusalems: Mt Sinai in Arabia that corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem who is in slavery and of the one who is our mother – the Jerusalem above that is free (Gal 4.:22-31, especially 25 & 26).
THIS is the city and the better country that Abraham was looking for; the city of his seed Jesus and of Abraham’s descendants – those who are in Christ.
Here, ‘there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus’. (Gal.3:28)

When Jesus met the Samaritan woman at the well, HE said to her:
‘Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain NOR in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. But  the hour is coming and is NOW here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship Him. God is Spirit and those who worship must worship in spirit and truth.’ (John 6:21-24)

There is almost an obsession in some Christian circles with the earthly city of Jerusalem and the land. 
Yet, how can there be a mixture of that which is of the Old Covenant and that which is of the New Covenant? This was anathema for Jesus. His analogies were stark!

“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. If he does, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. Instead, new wine is poured into new wineskins.” (Mark 2:22)

And again; “No one sews a patch of unshrunk cloth on an old garment. For the patch will pull away from the garment, and a worse tear will result.” (Matthew 9:16)

Paul perhaps was even blunter.
For Paul, the earthly Jerusalem was represented by Hagar and the one who was born of the flesh who persecuted the one who was born of the Spirit. Paul exhorted the believers in Galatia to do this: ‘Cast out the the slave woman and her son, for the son of the slave woman shall not inherit with the son of the free woman. So, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave but of the free woman’.’

There seems to be confusion in the Christian church. A confusion of Covenants.
To whom do we belong and where is our city?
It is the city Abraham was seeking, the city of God, the HEAVENLY Jerusalem! The words of our Lord and God Jesus and the thoughts and writings of that great theologian Paul are profound truths.

Simple, Biblical Christianity.

Much love dear friend.
Jane.

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First Peter 2–More still

Posted on 26/09/2023 | Leave a comment

In Peter’s first letter and verse 18 we now come to what are sometimes called the “household codes” we find in some New Testament letters. These are typical of apostolic texts that are properly interpreted today only by understanding first centry Roman Empire contexts. These first-Christians lived within these social and domestic limits. They were urged to follow these codes within their overall commitments to following Christ.

18 Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 19 For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. 20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds  favor with God.

Today we Christians do not have to be subject to codes like these. As we saw in the last post, verse 16 we are to “live as free men . . .”. Yes, we have the laws of our country which we are to follow. The whole intent of Peter writing is for his hearers to present an excellent presence in their world. We should do and be the same! That’s the whole tenor of Peter’s letter. As we saw last time Peter reminds us that Jesus “is your example, and you must follow in his steps.”(1 Peter 2:21)

Although today we do not have any similar structures, we can be guided by the Christian values that Peter promoted. He (like Paul in his letters) was not requiring anything new but addressing an existing social system in the Roman world.

Peter’s aim was to strengthen the importance of imitating Christ in household relationships, in spite of Roman culture. These passages can point us to Jesus.

It is essential to read these household codes together and not individually. When Peter writes “Wives, in the same way submit yourselves to your own husbands” (3:1) we must notice the context to understand what Peter meant by “in the same way.” there’s zero in the the preceding paragraph about men and women—it’s about masters and slaves. Paul put it similarly in his letters.

We must not impose modern-day marital dynamics using ancient social constructs. Wives in the Roman world, under pater familias, were regarded as chatels of their husbands and could be disposed of by the head.

s Gordon Fee explains in his “The Cultural Context of Ephesians 5:18-6:9: 

“In this kind of household, the idea that men and women might be equal partners in marriage simply did not exist. Evidence for this can be seen in meals, which in all cultures serve as the great equalizer. In the Greek world, a woman scarcely ever joined her husband and his friends at meals; if she did, she did not recline at table (only the courtesans did that), but she sat on a bench at the end. And she was expected to leave after eating, when the conversation took a more public turn.”

In their day, we can see just how radical Peter and Paul must have sounded when they instructed husbands to love their wives as much as Christ loved the church and to be willing to give their lives for them!  Or to remember that they too are slaves to Christ and have a master in heaven. Or not to provoke their children, but to be patient with them.

How sad that words that would have sounded so liberating to those who first heard them are today so often used to oppress and silence. The teachings of Peter and Paul under the Gospel encouraged multitudes of women into Christian communities.

So once again, our central question: Is the point of the household codes to declare pater familias the only godly household structure for all of time, or is the point of the household codes to declare Jesus Christ as the example to be followed no matter the societal norms? 

Let’s talk more next time.

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