“When a prophet speaketh in the name of the Lord, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the Lord hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously. . . . that prophet shall die” (Deuteronomy 18:22,20).
“So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first” (Matthew 20:8).
Now, if God has a controversy with His own people, what of other nations? God will seek reconciliation with His own backslidden people, but the God-despising nations of the world face utter destruction. “A noise shall come even to the ends of the earth; for the LORD hath a controversy with the nations, He will plead with all flesh; He will give them that are wicked to the sword, saith the LORD. . . . And the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other” (Jeremiah 25:31,33).
This observation by Job contains a significant scientific insight, refuting the frequent charge by skeptics that the Bible says that the earth is flat, with four corners. The Bible teaches no such thing—quite the opposite, in fact. Columbus did not sail west to prove that the earth was round; he already knew that, and so did many others long before Columbus.
Whatever all of these promises may ultimately involve, they assure us of permanent status as the chosen, holy ones of God (Romans 8:29–39), “that in the ages to come He might shew the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:7).
Indeed, those promises involve “all things that pertain to life and godliness.” We see the results of the power of God in our lives when our characters reflect “all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness” (Colossians 1:11).
The Lord deserves praise for His protective and sustaining hand. It is He and He alone who is able to deliver. In his last recorded words, Paul, as he reflected on God’s faithful working throughout his life and ministry, exhorted us to give glory now and forever to Him. Soon, the executioner released him from his battered body to enjoy God’s everlasting preservation.
In chapter one of his first epistle to Timothy, Paul warned about false teachers and heresies in the church of his day, evidently particularly implicating the agnostics and their false skepticism and deviant moral standards. In our text for today and throughout chapter four, he warns of false teachers “in the later times,” i.e., in our day and in our churches.
As Christians, we have certain heavenly possessions, and this knowledge helps us put our earthly possessions and welfare in proper perspective. Evidently, some to whom this was written had been imprisoned, and others impoverished for their faith. “For ye . . .
August 21, 2009 - 10:01 pm
Tags: bible, books, Daniel, heavenly, John, judgment, lamb, malachi, remembrance, Revelation
Posted in Ba-manna-bread | 1 comment
This great vision of the coming Day of Judgment is apparently the same as that later seen by John: “And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: . . . and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works” (Revelation 20:12).
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