The days of Noah

 August 15/16, 2020 (Saturday/Sunday)

 

We don’t know when Jesus will return. However, Jesus left a clue. “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day.” [Matthew 24:37 NLT] Jesus went on to say, “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark.” [Matthew 24:38 NIV] Some have suggested life will go on as normal. However, I suspect something deeper in Jesus cryptic clue.

 

But what were the days of Noah like? Genesis 6:1 – 2 raise speculative questions. Genesis 6:3 show God limiting human life to 120 years. Genesis 6:4 mention the Nephilim, who were giants or “men of renown.” I’m going to skip these things because, they are not significant to the question.

 

Genesis 6:5 describes the state of humanity, “The Lord saw that humanity had become thoroughly evil on the earth and that every idea their minds thought up was always completely evil.” [CEB] Another translation says, “…everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil.” [Genesis 6:5b NLT]

 

Kind of sounds like an election year, eh? Wickedness was unchecked, even encouraged and celebrated. This is an image of a world without the moral restraint of a Creator and law giver. It is the natural process of the progressive, addictive, and aggressive nature of sin. Jeremiah tells us, “The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” [Jeremiah 17:9 NIV] The idea “beyond cure” is also translated “desperately wicked,” “desperately sick,” and “incurable.”

 

This is a world without God. As our society and culture attempts to eliminate God, silence God’s witness, and turn churches into museums and flea markets, we should not be surprised at the depth of evil we are capable of…

 

Riddle me this: why do we care about the plight of some people because of skin color or other factors, yet not care about the person in the mother’s womb? Seems we are being selective and reaping what we deserve.

 

God’s feelings toward humanity at this point are not charitable. “The Lord regretted making human beings on the earth, and he was heartbroken.” [Genesis 6:6 CEB] This is the heart of a parent whose child has strayed into destructive and dark behavior.

 

But God is not helpless against the tide of human evil. Despite the resolution to destroy what He created, will within His right, “But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.” [Genesis 6:8 ESV] In this muddled, mangled mess, God finds a glimmer of light. Someone to have favor upon.

 

“And God did not spare the ancient world—except for Noah and the seven others in his family. Noah warned the world of God’s righteous judgment. So God protected Noah when he destroyed the world of ungodly people with a vast flood.” [2 Peter 2:5 NLT] Someone to champion righteousness.

 

These are the days of Noah…

Revelation 1:1 - 8

April 26, 2020

Today is Sunday. We have lifted our service for six weeks now. While I miss my church family, we can still hear from God. Let’s dig into the book of Revelation.

Chapter one begins with a blessing (meaning happy or favored), “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear it and take to heart what is written in it, because the time is near” [Revelation 1:3 NIV]. John says there is something special about reading, hearing, and obeying the things found in the book. So consider yourself blessed as you stick with this study!

The reason for this blessing is the timing of the events. The word translated “near” carries the idea of "being in place" or "in position." One thought about the timing of events swirling around the end times it that it could happen in any generation, at any time (“imminent”).

John greets the seven churches of Asia mentioned in the book of Revelation with grace and peace. It seems what follows has little to do with grace and certainly will disturb peaceful thought. John uses the Trinitarian greeting in verses 4 and 5. The Father is described as “who is and who was and who is to come.” The Spirit is described as “the seven spirits.” Another way to translate this is “seven-fold Spirit,” an image from Isaiah. Jesus is identified as “the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of kings on earth… loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood.” [Revelation 1:4 – 5 NIV] 

So why do we think we are NOT free from sins, now? Notice this is PAST tense, not FUTURE tense. Effectively, Jesus is saying we are free from our sins, now. While the sin nature still stalks us, the downward spiraling of the world pulls us, and our own weaknesses blind us, we do not have to remain chained under the control of sinful impulses or the sinful nature. We have been bought, washed, and freed by the blood of Jesus Christ. 

John reassures the readers, “Look, he is coming with the clouds,” and “every eye will see him, even those who pierced him”; and all peoples on earth “will mourn because of him. So shall it be! Amen.” [Revelation 1:7 NIV]. A problem the church faces is the delay of Jesus’ return, while maintaining its confidence. The New Testament suggests that the first generation of believers had the confidence that Jesus would return in their lifetime. This declaration is the first prophetic declaration of the book of Revelation.

Verse 8 states, “’I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, ‘who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.’” [NIV] This is another statement concerning the divinity of Jesus. Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet, while Omega is the last. God is saying He is the beginning, everything in the middle, and the end of all things. The formula focuses attention on three perspectives of time; “is” refers to the present tense, “was” refers to the past tense, and “is to come” refers to the future tense. This is the second time this formula has been used.

In these short verses, we are urged to live victorious lives in a broken, decaying, and dying world. Jesus return and our resurrection is scheduled to happen. Everyone has an appointed time of judgement that will result in one of two possible outcomes. Do you want to hear, “well done” or “depart from me?” it’s your choice. 

If we are bought, washed, and freed by the blood of Jesus, why do we continue to go back to the "vomit" sin? (see Proverbs 26:11) We do it because we have never allowed Jesus to effectively wash and free us. At some point, we need to yield to God and allow God to sanctify (meaning to "set apart," "make holy") us.

Optimistically looking forward, the isolation will slowly be relaxed and we will be able to meet as a congregation soon. If you are reading this and are in need of a church family, please join us at Faith Alliance Church of Fuoss Mills. (Just search "Fuoss Mills" and you will find us.)

Introduction to Revelation #2

April 25, 2020

It’s Saturday! Tomorrow is the “Lord’s Day.” We call it that because we continually remember the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ while anticipating His return.

I promised to unpack a complicated web of differing views of how to interpret the book of Revelation. Let’s start with the three “millennial” (referring to the 1000 time period in Revelation 20) views. There is “pre-,” “a-,” and “post-,” What do they mean? I am so glad you asked!!!

Put your “thinking caps” on and lets dive in… deep. To make you think, and keep the minds open, I will attempt to refrain from passing judgment on the views. However, I strongly feel one of them is a lie from the pit of hell. (Hint: one of these positions denies the "atonement.")

Premillennialism is a view that Christ will come back BEFORE the millennial; and set up a literal physical 1000 year reign.  

In the category of premillennialism there are two different views.

1. Dispensationalism believes the Bible is separated into seven dispensations (periods of time) in which God dealt with humanity differently. This view claims it follows a strict literal interpretation of Scripture. It was popularized by Darby and Moody in the 1800’s, and Scofield (study Bible) starting around 1900. Keep in mind, this doctrine was never taught by any church before 1830.
2. Historical premillennialism believes that the Bible is a historical record of God dealing with humanity. Lessons can be applied and transferred to different dispensations. This was the belief of many prominent Christians in the first four centuries of church history.

A point of contention running through this subject is the "Great Tribulation" and the timing (or existence) of a "rapture."

1. Posts-tribulationists believe the church will go through the “great tribulation.” (Seven year period of time described in Daniel and Revelation.)
2. Mid-tribulationists believe the church will go through the first half of the tribulation and be raptured in the middle.
3. Pre-tribulationists believe that Christ could come at any moment. The church will be raptured before the tribulation.

Amillennialism holds to the idea that the millennium is now. Satan is now bound so that he cannot prevent the spread of the Gospel. This was the predominate belief of the church through the Middle Ages.

Postmillennialism has a positive view of the trajectory of the history of the world and the church. It believes the earth will get better through the spread of the Gospel. That all the world will convert to Christianity. This optimism died hard during the World Wars. 

There are essentially four hermeneutical views: preterits, idealist, historicist, futurist.

1. The Preterist view maintains that the events and symbols referred to events of John’s time/day. This view denies the prophetic element of the book of Revelation.
2. The Idealist view suggests an allegorical approach to Scripture spiritualizing the symbols of the book of Revelation. It claims no specific historical events or persons are literal.
3. The Historicist view says the symbolism outlines the course of church history from Pentecost to the return of Jesus.
4. The Futurist view claims the first three chapters deal with the apostolic period. The major portion of the book is future.

Concerning the book of Revelation John Wesley wrote, “The revelation was not written without tears; neither without tears will it be understood.” This book requires intellectual, spiritual, and emotional maturity to comprehend. The result should be a more tenacious and fearless witness in a hostile world.

Introduction to Revelation

April 24, 2020

Today is Friday. According to the Bible, this is the day Adam was created. Thus, the number 6 became the number of man.  Eventually this is reflected in Revelation to be “666.”

A lot of ideas swirl around the book of Revelation and it’s images. I know the book is a difficult nut to crack, or even scratch, but let’s take a look at it. I know these are uncertain times, and this study maybe opportunistic, but let’s set aside the strange things happening in our world and have some fun with the book of Revelation.

The book of Revelation was written by John while on the island of Patmos around the year 95 A.D. He had been banished by Emperor Domitian.

Other than its unique style several qualities of the book of Revelation distinguish it:

1. Only book to pronounce blessing for reading, hearing, and keeping its contents.
2. More references to the Old Testament than any other New Testament book [400].
3. Only New Testament book of prophecy.
4. Only book authored by Jesus.

The book of Revelation starts with these words, “A revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place. Christ made it known by sending it through his angel to his servant John” [Revelation 1:1 CEB]. Basically, we have the two-pronged gist of the book. The intention is to “reveal” Jesus Christ and to show what will take place on the stage of God’s eternal plan of redemption.

If we take the standard manner of how books are titled, Jesus is the author. For instance, “Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ” [1 Peter 1:1 CEB], “From Paul, a slave of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle and set apart for God’s good news.” [Romans 1:1 CEB].  In the Greek, it would be correct to also understand the first words as, “The revelation FROM Jesus.” [Revelation 1:1 NIV] John is the servant who receives the words, watches the events unfold, and worships Jesus. John watches it happen, making it a history. John writes, or doesn't write, as instructed.

The word translated “revelation” is the word “apocalypse” in the Greek. It means “disclosure: - appearing, coming, lighten, manifestation, be revealed, revelation” [Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionary]. It is used once in Luke. Paul uses the word 13 times. Peter uses it three times. Our concept of apocalypse is that of cataclysm and violent upheaval. When studying the book of Revelation, a tendency is to focus on the turbulence of events rather than on the Lord.

The interpretation of the Revelation depends on theological perspective (a framework or construct) and hermeneutics (the science of interpretation). Let’s start with theological views. There are three theological ways to understand the events of this book based on the key concept of the "millennium" (1,000 year time period) mentioned in Revelation chapter 20. The theological views surrounding this concept can determine much of our conclusions. The three main views of the millennium are 1.) Premillennialism, 2.) Amillennialism, and 3.) Postmillennialism. 

There are five flavors of the premillennial view and four hermeneutical views. I’ll briefly unpack them tomorrow. Hopefully this will trigger various reactions for you. I hope it makes your head spin and cause you to begin to rethink what you thought you knew. The interpretation of Revelation is not as simple as some would pretend. Consensus on meaning does not exist. 

I suspect we should consider new theological ideas and interpretations with extreme suspicion. The problem is, the interpretation of Revelation and future events comes from where you sit geographically, politically, and in time.  See you tomorrow.