Monthly Archives: September 2016

What’s the Word?

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

“…if any man hear My words, and believe not, I judge him not; for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world.

“He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:47,48).

I’m sure that the unbelievers among the Lord’s hearers were relieved to hear Him say that He had not come to judge them. But some of them may have remembered hearing Him say that “the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son” (John 5:22). Well, if the Father committed all judgment to the Son, how could the Son say that He had not come to judge people?

The answer to this question is found in “rightly dividing the Word of truth” (II Tim. 2:15). You see, the Lord was making a dispensational statement. He had not come to judge the world in His first coming, but in His second coming, He will come to “judge and make war” (Rev. 19:11).

Then, after the fiery judgment of the Second Coming (II Thes. 1:7,8), “God…hath appointed a day, in the which He will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath ordained” (Acts 17:30,31). We know that Paul speaks here of the Lord Jesus Christ since he goes on to say of this man “that He hath raised from the dead.” In that day, the day that the Lord described as “the last day” (John 12:48), the unsaved of all ages will stand before the Great White Throne (Rev. 20:11), where they will be judged guilty and condemned to the lake of fire (vv. 12-15). It is concerning this judgment that the Lord said, “the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).

Did you ever wonder what word will judge men in the last day? Believe it or not, this question must also be answered dispensationally! The word by which the Lord will judge unbelievers among the Jews to whom He was sent under the kingdom program (Matt. 15:24) is different than the word by which unbelievers who lived in the dispensation of grace will be judged.

The word by which unbelievers in the kingdom program will be judged was, as the Lord said in our text, a word that He had “spoken” during His sojourn here on earth. He gives us a hint as to what word that might be when He went on to call this word “a commandment” that the Father had given Him (v. 49), adding: “And I know that His commandment is life everlasting” (v. 50). Thus we know that whatever word the Lord spoke that will judge unbelievers under the kingdom program, it is a word that gave everlasting life to those that did believe this word.

He was speaking, of course, of the word of the gospel. It is the gospel that saves men’s souls in any dispensation, and it is the gospel that will judge men guilty if they do not believe it. In the kingdom program, the gospel word that gave eternal life was Jesus is the Christ (John 6:67-69). This is the word that will someday judge unbelievers who lived under the kingdom program when they stand before the Great White Throne if they refused to believe the word of that gospel.

Of course today, in the dispensation of grace, it is not enough to have the kind of “faith in His name” (Acts 3:16) that constitutes believing that “Jesus is the Christ” (John 20:31; I John 5:1). Today you have to have “faith in His blood” (Rom. 3:25) to be saved; that is, you have to believe that “Christ died for our sins” and rose again (I Cor. 15:1-4). When unbelievers who lived in the dispensation of grace stand before the Lord’s Great White Throne, this is the word of the Lord by which they will be judged, the word He spoke through Paul.

How do we know that unbelievers from the dispensation of grace will be judged by the word of a different gospel? It is because our apostle Paul, the apostle of the Gentiles (Rom. 11:13; 15:16), describes the last day as “the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ according to my gospel” (Rom. 2:16), not according to the word that the Lord spoke when He ministered to the Jews. As you can see, even the very gospel of salvation has to be rightly divided!

We sometimes hear it said that rightly dividing the Word of truth is “an interesting doctrine, but not a very practical doctrine.” We couldn’t disagree more. What could possibly be more practical than knowing which words of Scripture have the power to give eternal life in the dispensation of grace, and which words will judge men guilty of their sins when they believe them not? Dispensationalism doesn’t just help us when it comes to figuring out things like why the Lord said He wasn’t sent to judge men after the Father committed all judgment to Him. Rightly dividing the Word ensures that we are able to make a clear presentation of the gospel that saves men’s souls to those who will suffer the flames of eternal torment without it.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.

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The Son of Perdition – 2 Thessalonians 2:4

Posted on by Pastor Ricky Kurth

Summary:

We know this verse describes the last three and a half years of Antichrist’s career because during the first half of Daniel’s 70th week he will not exalt himself above all that is called God, he will be a good Jew who will honor all that is called God. That’s why he’ll be honored by Israel. Midway through the 70th week he will exalt himself. During the first half of the 70th week he will be exalted by Israel and the world as a peacemaker (Dan.11:21,24) who brought peace to the Mideast. But after he dies and rises (Rev.13:1,2) he will exalt himself as God (IITh.2:4 cf. Is.14:13,14).

Daniel tells us he will exalt himself against “the prince of the host,” Christ (cf. Josh.5:14), by claiming that he is Israel’s Christ. He adds that the Beast will “exalt himself above every god” (Dan.11:36), similar to how Paul says he’ll exalt himself “above all that is called God.” So what kind of things are called God in the Bible? Several!

The nations called their idols gods (Ps. 96:5), and idolatry will be big in the Tribulation. The spiritual “fornication” the nations will engage in with the “whore” of Babylon (Rev.17:1-5) is the same kind of whoring that Israel did with idols (Deut.31:16). This makes people think the church of Antichrist will be Rome, but long before Rome messed with idols there was a pseudo-Judaism that worshipped God and idols (Judges 17:3). After God put Israel aside, Satan focused on infiltrating Christianity with idolatry, but when God returns His attention to Israel after the Rapture, Satan will infect Judaism with idols again. The whore of Babylon will be Jewish, not Catholic. Revelation 17:1-3 says that the whore will sit on the antichrist to symbolize how Antichrist will honor all that is involved with Judaism during the early part of his career. This is why he is called “the idol shepherd” (Zech.11:7).

However, Zechariah 11:7 goes on to describe his deadly wound that is healed (Rev.13:1,2) after he rises from the dead after his assassination. He will then exalt himself above the idols that are called gods by “showing himself that he is God” (IITh.2:4).

But how will he sit in the temple, as Paul says, when the temple had no chair? Since the people kept sinning, the priest had to keep sacrificing and so there was never time for him to sit, unlike Christ, who offered one sacrifice for sins for ever (Heb.10:11). Oh, there is one chair, but it is occupied. The mercy seat above the ark was a chair, it was the throne of God (Num.7:89). Antichrist “as God” will sit on that seat “shewing himself that he is God” (IITh.2:4).

Of course, the problem with sitting in God’s seat is that once a year a priest will sprinkle blood in your lap—unless you abolish animal sacrifices, as Antichrist will do (Dan.8: 11) claiming that he is the once-for-all offering for their sins.

The Jews themselves were said to be gods (Ps.82:6; John 10:34,35) since God’s Word came to the world through them (Rom.3:1,2), just as Moses was a god to Pharaoh for giving him God’s word (Ex.7:1) and just as the Jews will be gods to the Gentiles in the kingdom for giving them God’s word (Micah 4:1-5). Antichrist will exalt himself above the gods of the Jews by claiming to be the Jew that the Jews have been waiting for for thousands of years, the Messiah.

There are also gods “in heaven” (ICor.8:4,5) against whom Antichrist will exalt himself, the same “gods” that Eve envied (Gen.3:5), the fallen angels. Antichrist will “blaspheme…them that dwell in heaven” (Rev.13:6). He will call some of them down and stomp on them (Dan.8:9,10). You can’t destroy an angel, but you can rough one up! He will do this, and these gods will go along with this, to convince the world he is Christ! If you can call down the gods of heaven and stomp on them, that makes a compelling argument!

Lastly, Antichrist will exalt himself above the gods of the stars (Deut.17:2,3). All the seal judgments are from Anti-christ (Rev.6:1-11) including the removal of the stars of the second heaven (v.12). When he turns out the lights of the universe, many will believe he is Jehovah God, above all gods (Ps.135:5). But when he claims to be God, he will be brought down to the pit of hell (Ezekiel 28:2-10).

Only Going Through the Motions

Posted on by Pastor John Fredericksen

Throughout much of the Old Testament, God’s people, the nation of Israel, had a very shallow, distant walk with the Lord. Even though given the unique privilege of having God’s written Word available, the Lord told the prophet Amos, “they have despised the law of the Lord, and have not kept His commandments” (Amos 2:4). This did not mean they completely ignored the Scriptures. In some cases, they simply neglected the Word. Often they only went through the motions of having it read to them without internalizing the truths of God and allowing it to change their daily lives. In other cases, after time in a distant, meaningless walk with the Lord, they completely abandoned the sacred Scriptures to worship false gods made by the hands of men.

Israel still had priests, but when God’s true prophets came with a message too close to home, they responded with words such as, “prophesy not again any more” (Amos 7:13). Resistance, even anger and violence, was a frequent response. Yet, in many cases, they still worshipped the Lord, but only in a halfhearted way that the Lord would simply not accept. Therefore, God’s message to them was, “I hate, I despise your feast days, and I will not smell in your solemn assemblies. Though ye offer Me burnt offerings…I will not accept them…Take thou away from Me the noise of thy songs; for I will not hear the melody of thy viols” (Amos 5:21-23). Even worship toward the Lord can be meaningless, or worthless, to the Lord. This is so when worship is offered with a cold heart, only going through the motions, and without seeking to be continually transformed into the person God wants His child to become (Rom. 12:1-2).

Why would the Lord not accept their worship? It boils down to the explanation recorded in both Isaiah and Matthew: “This people draweth nigh unto Me with their mouth, and honoureth Me with their lips; but their heart is far from Me” (Matt. 15:8; Isa. 29:13). Simply going through the motions of worshipping the Lord is not enough. He desires that we come to Him in sincerity, with biblical truth being paramount, allowing His Word to transform our lives, and desiring a daily walk that knows Him in a real, close, and meaningful way.

Believer, don’t settle for just going through the motions of worship. Come to the Lord with a genuine desire to know Him intimately, be “conformed to the image of his Son” (Rom. 8:29), and do His will. Then, and only then, will your worship of the Lord be truly pleasing to the One who gave His life for you.

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.

Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.



Two Minutes with the Bible is now available on Alexa devices. Full instructions here.

Berean Searchlight – September 2016

Posted on by kevin

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