Isaiah And The Naked Truth
There is a term used in Australia that was made popular years ago in the movie “Crocodile Dundee”. When Mick Dundee would wander around the Australian Outback, he said he was on a walkabout. Years ago, Jehovah God told the prophet Isaiah to go on a walk about, as recorded in chapter 20 of Isaiah.

“at that time the LORD spoke through Isaiah the son of Amoz, saying, “Go and loosen the sackcloth from your hips and take your shoes off your feet.” And he did so, going naked and barefoot. And the LORD said, “Even as My servant Isaiah has gone naked and barefoot three years as a sign and token against Egypt and Cush, so the king of Assyria will lead away the captives of Egypt and the exiles of Cush, young and old, naked and barefoot with buttocks uncovered, to the shame of Egypt. Then they will be dismayed and ashamed because of Cush their hope and Egypt their boast.” (Isaiah 20:2-5 NASB)

And before you conclude that the text could not mean actually nakedness, the word in Hebrew is the same one used to describe Adam and Eve in Eden!
So why would God tell his prophet to do something like this? To communicate the shameful way that Egypt and Cush would be led into captivity. But what lesson is here for us today? Why did God make sure this chapter was preserved for us today?

In our western culture, we are constantly bombarded by sensual imagery. Pornographic material is now piped into homes via the Internet with such privacy and ease that even those who once would never have frequented an adult store or movie house are trapped in its addictive snare. (Duh. Why do you think they call it the web?) We are witnessing a nation that was once characterized as a Christian nation being led into moral slavery. I believe that this flood of nakedness and fornication has gone largely unchecked and will be symbolic of the way this nation will fall.

“if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14 NKJV)

Just because a nation declares itself to be secular does not in any way exempt it from the judgment of God! Unless we as the church in America repents and turn from our wicked ways, God will not hear from heaven and heal our land. The call is not for the post to turn and change their behavior. The promise of God is contingent on those who are called by His name forsaking their wicked ways! Don’t believe for a second that there are not church members all over the country trapped in these sins. The time is now, and it needs to begin with each of us as individuals or it will never happen to us as a group!
Let’s start today to be the light in this dark time and lead the way by humbling ourselves (before the Lord does it for us) praying and seeking God, and turning from our sins so that our land will not go down in shames!

Community + Unity = Communion

I want to take a look at an essential aspect of partaking of the bread and fruit of the vine each week. That has to do with our unity as we partake together. Let’s begin with what Christ accomplished in this regard on the cross.

“Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh, called “the uncircumcision” by what is called the circumcision, which is made in the flesh by hands— remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made us both one and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself one new man in place of the two, so making peace, and might reconcile us both to God in one body through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.”(Ephesians 2:11-16 ESV)

Before we were baptized into Christ and He added us to His body, our lives were characterized by separation and alienation. But now, because of the blood that was shed for us on the cross, we have been spiritually united with each other in our covenant with God. This was just one more critical thing that Christ accomplished for us. We have fellowship with each other based on the shed blood of Christ. Preserving that unity is critical, since it was made possible for us at such a high cost!

That covenant bond of blood is what Paul was referring to in 1st Corinthians 10:16-17:

“The cup of blessing that we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ? The bread that we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ? Because there is one bread, we who are many are one body, for we all partake of the one bread.” (1 Corinthians 10:16, 17 ESV)

Do you see how special it is that we come together to participate in this feast each week? Without the unity we have through the our reconciliation to God through the blood of Jesus, we cease to have “communion” and have degenerated down to just having a ceremony.

Look how foundational this is in the next chapter (11)!
“For, in the first place, when you come together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you. And I believe it in part, for there must be factions among you in order that those who are genuine among you may be recognized. When you come together, it is not the Lord’s supper that you eat.”
Now with this disunity as the context of what was going on when they ate the Lords Supper, Paul concludes with these instructions:
“Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.” (1 Corinthians 11:18-20, 27-29 ESV)

Did you see that? In proper context, when Paul talks about not discerning the body, I think he was referring to failing to discerning that we do this together, in unity, as communion. That is also why we don’t just stay home and serve these emblems to ourselves.

So when we partake of the emblems, let’s remember to not only reflect on what Christ has done for us personally, but also on the reality that we are partaking of this as one family, one body, in an d with Christ. For He promised that whenever two or more are gathered in His name, He is there in our midst.

What A Shame!

“To You, O LORD, I lift up my soul. O my God, in You I trust,
Do not let me be ashamed;
Do not let my enemies exult over me. Indeed, none of those who wait for You be ashamed.” (Psalm 25:1-3a NASB)

It is a beautiful and wondrous thing to experience the forgiveness of sin that is found in Christ alone! Especially when we contemplate that price that was paid to make that forgiveness available to us! But often, even though we have been forgiven from the sin, we still carry around the shame of it with us.
Shame can be spiritually debilitating. Whenever we begin to step out in faith and do the work of the Lord, our adversary whispers in our ear saying, “who do you think you are, telling people about Jesus? If they only knew about your past, they would see what a hypocrite you are for trying to do something in Jesus’ name.”
It is shame that causes people to believe the lie that they are unworthy of God’s forgiveness and grace. As a result, many spend their lives addicted, defeated, and feeling like they have messed up their spiritual lives beyond repair and are no longer useful for God. That is why so many times we turn from a sin, especially an addictive sin, and eventually go back to it. We stop the behavior, but because we have not left the shame, we don’t feel any better than we did before, and it draws us back into the trap.
And all because they have believed a lie! I love a quote I heard today by Beth Moore. She said, “Shame is satan’s laughter morphed into a human emotion.”

But walking in shame over forgiven sin is not the way Christ would have his children to live! For on the cross, Jesus not only paid for our sin, but he also bore our shame!
“keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2 NET)

Isaiah prophesied about it this way (from the Amplified Bible):
“Surely He has borne our griefs (sicknesses, weaknesses, and distresses) and carried our sorrows and pains [of punishment], yet we [ignorantly] considered Him stricken, smitten, and afflicted by God [as if with leprosy]. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our guilt and iniquities; the chastisement [needful to obtain] peace and well-being for us was upon Him, and with the stripes [that wounded] Him we are healed and made whole.” (Isaiah 53:4, 5 AMP)

When we carry around guilt over sin that God has already been forgiven, we are in effect saying that either we don’t really believe what God has said about forgiveness, and/or that the blood of Christ was not sufficient to pay for their sin. We dare not go there!

I am not saying that we don’t try to make amends when we sin, or not to not remember how bad the guilt and shame felt before we were forgiven. But we must also remember to leave behind both the sin and its guilt at the foot of the cross and not go back for it!

There are some today who teach that keeping the Seventh-day Sabbath is binding upon Christians today. Are they correct? Should we be worshipping God on the seventh day instead of the first day of the week? Let’s see what the Bible teaches.
Let’s start at the beginning, in Genesis chapter 2.
“By the seventh day God completed His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Genesis 2:2, 3 NASB)
There is nothing, however, in the biblical record, that says that Jehovah directed Adam to keep the Sabbath himself. In fact, in Deuteronomy 5:15, Israel is told that the Sabbath was given, not to commemorate creation, but their deliverance from Egypt!
“You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to observe the sabbath day.” (Deuteronomy 5:15 NASB)

In spite of this, many will argue that the Mosaic Law was divided into “moral” and “ceremonial” sections, and that only the ceremonial law was done away. The contents is that the moral law, or Ten Commandments, are still in force and binding on us today. Let’s see if Jesus considered them separate or not in Matthew 5:21-38.
Verse 21: “You have heard that the ancients were told, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER’ and ‘Whoever commits murder shall be liable to the court.’ (Part of the Ten Commandments)
Verse 23: Therefore if you are presenting your offering at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, (Not part of the Ten Commandments)
Verse 27: “You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY’; (Part of the Ten Commandments)
Verse 31: “It was said, ‘WHOEVER SENDS HIS WIFE AWAY, LET HIM GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE’; (Not part of the Ten Commandments)
Verse 38: “You have heard that it was said, ‘AN EYE FOR AN EYE, AND A TOOTH FOR A TOOTH.’ (Not part of the Ten Commandments)
You see, Jesus mixed the two types of law freely, because in verse 17 he had stated that he came to fulfill the Law, not just a part of it.

So, if the Law is in one piece and not divided, are Christians bound to keep the Ten Commandments? What does Romans 7:6-7 say?
“But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter. What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? May it never be! On the contrary, I would not have come to know sin except through the Law; for I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, “YOU SHALL NOT COVET.” (Romans 7:6, 7 NASB)

Not only does it say that we are released from the Law, but it cites the Tenth Commandment as being part of that Law! And Paul, in 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 writes this:
“But if the ministry of death, written and engraved on stones, was glorious, so that the children of Israel could not look steadily at the face of Moses because of the glory of his countenance, which glory was passing away, how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness exceeds much more in glory. For even what was made glorious had no glory in this respect, because of the glory that excels. For if what is passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious.” (2 Corinthians 3:7-11 NKJV)
Did you catch that? He directly speaks of that which was written in stone (i.e. the Ten Commandments) as that which was “passing away”!

So, since Jesus came to fulfill the Law, how did He fulfill the Sabbath? Hebrews 4:4-11 puts it this way:
“For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: And God rested on the seventh day from all His works ; and again in this place: They shall not enter My rest. Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, again He designates a certain day, saying in David, Today, after such a long time, as it has been said: Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts. For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” (Hebrews 4:4-11 NKJV)

So what are we resting from now that we, as Christians, are the people of God? Our works! We have ceased trying to show ourselves righteous by our own works, and now have entered into that true sabbath rest by doing God’s work instead. We are created for good works in Christ, and we no longer have to work to somehow earn God’s approval!
And now that we are free from keeping ANY of the Old Law, we can walk in the reality of Christ. We are no longer obligated to keep yearly festivals, monthly new moons, or weekly sabbaths. We can walk in the reality instead of the shadow.
So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Christ. (Colossians 2:16, 17 NKJV)

The First Sin

The Bible is clear that the first human being to sin was Eve, followed closely by her husband Adam. (By the way husbands, if you see your wife having a conversation with a snake, put a stop to it. But that’s a topic for another post.) Anyway, I was always taught that Adam and Eve committed the first sin. But I would like to ask you to reconsider that statement. We’re they really the first ones to sin? No!

You see, over in Isaiah chapter 14, God gave us a glimpse of the fall of the real first sinner, Satan.
“How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations! For you have said in your heart:
I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north;
I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.
Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.” (Isaiah 14:12-15 NKJV)

Lucifer was an angel created in perfection by Jehovah. The book of Ezekiel describes his this way:
“You were the anointed cherub who covers; I established you; You were on the holy mountain of God; You walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, Till iniquity was found in you.” (Ezekiel 28:14, 15 NKJV)

So what was the iniquity, or sin, that lucifer allowed to enter into his heart? Pride! Notice back in the Isaiah 14 passage the “I will” statements that were in his now-corrupted heart. Lucifer was no longer content to be in the presence of God and worship Him forever. He suddenly determined to decide for himself, to make his own rules, and to take for himself worship that belongs only to God!
Thus he fell and went from being the light bearer to being the slanderer and opposer of God. He also became the “accuser of the brethren” (Rev 12:10)
Not content to have fallen and taken 1/3 of the angels with him, he went to Eden and tempted Adam and Eve to commit this same sin. In pride that took the prerogative for themselves to determine right and wrong. They listened and heeded the lies of Satan, who told them that Jehovah God was holding out on them and didn’t have their best interests at heart.

While all of this is bad, how does it apply to us? Glad you asked!
When decide that we, as humans, are qualified to decide what is right and wrong, rather than to believe what God says on the matter, it is pride. And pride is spiritual poison! It is pride that keeps us from submitting to the lordship of Christ. It is pride that keeps us looking for specks in the eyes of others, when we have a plank in our own eyes. It was pride in their positions that kept most of the Pharisees and Saducees from recognizing the Messiah.

Pride is the sin that made a perfect angel into the Devil! As such, we must run from this lethal sin whenever we recognize it in ourselves. Because sin will cause us to lose the ability to admit our sin and repent.

Pride is deception’s welcome mat!

So let’s endeavor, with God’s help, to steer clear of pride. And run after our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ.
“Instead of being motivated by selfish ambition or vanity, each of you should, in humility, be moved to treat one another as more important than yourself. Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. You should have the same attitude toward one another that Christ Jesus had, who though he existed in the form of God
did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature.
He humbled himself,by becoming obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross!
As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name,
so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow – in heaven and on earth and under the earth – and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord
to the glory of God the Father.” (Philippians 2:3-11 NET)

How Much Forgiveness Did I Need?

To begin, I want to start with an encounter that Jesus had with a Pharisee and a sinful woman in Luke 7.

Then one of the Pharisees asked Him to eat with him. And He went to the Pharisees house, and sat down to eat. And behold, a woman in the city who was a sinner, when she knew that Jesus sat at the table in the Pharisees house, brought an alabaster flask of fragrant oil, and stood at His feet behind Him weeping; and she began to wash His feet with her tears, and wiped them with the hair of her head; and she kissed His feet and anointed them with the fragrant oil. Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he spoke to himself, saying, This Man, if He were a prophet, would know who and what manner of woman this is who is touching Him, for she is a sinner. (Luke 7:36-39 NKJV)

There are some things in this story that stand out to me.
1. Despite of the reputation of the Pharisees of being holy men, this “sinner” was not hesitant to go right into this one’s home. There is no indication that the servants had tried to resist her entry. Why is that? Could it be that they were used to seeing her there?
2. Extravagant forgiveness provokes extravagant love in response. No one had to tell this woman that she was a sinner. The knowledge she had of her sinfulness and her desperate spiritual bankruptcy is what motivated her to seek out Jesus in the first place! Only a deep sense of gratitude for the magnitude of what has been blotted out of our account would cause such a spontaneous outpouring of worshipful adoration! Jesus had spoken about this in Matthew 5 when he said “Blessed are the poor in spirit, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:3 NKJV) Only when we comprehend our spiritual poverty will we run to Christ for rescue from our helpless estate.
3. Yes, Jesus knew EXACTLY what kind of woman this was, for she was just the type of person He came to seek and save.
“For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance.” (Matthew 9:13 NKJV)

But the narrative does not end here.
And Jesus answered and said to him, Simon, I have something to say to you. So he said, Teacher, say it. There was a certain creditor who had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. And when they had nothing with which to repay, he freely forgave them both. Tell Me, therefore, which of them will love him more? Simon answered and said, I suppose the one whom he forgave more. Then He turned to the woman and said to Simon, Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has washed My feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head. You gave Me no kiss, but this woman has not ceased to kiss My feet since the time I came in. You did not anoint My head with oil, but this woman has anointed My feet with fragrant oil. Therefore I say to you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much. But to whom little is forgiven, the same loves little. (Luke 7:40-47 NKJV)

When Jesus had arrived at Simon’s home as an invited guest, he had been treated with rude indifference. The woman, on the other hand, responded with such humility and love, that she had the attention of everyone present.

And she didn’t care who saw her or what others opinions were of her. Love makes us that way. And Jesus tells Simon that this s because she had been forgiven much and therefore loved much. Notice that Jesus did NOT say it was because “she had a lot worse sins than you did, Simon.”

You see Jesus didn’t link the love to the amount of sins, but to the amount of forgiveness granted. Jesus did’nt say it was because she sinned much, but because she had been forgiven much. That is a critical distinction, because Simon the Pharisee was in just as much need of forgiveness as the sinful woman!

Sin carries with it a death penalty. And since all have sinned, everyone is under that sentence of death (Romans 3:23). That is why John 3:17 says Jesus didn’t come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. It is because the world was already condemned!

And a death penalty is a death penalty, whether you were sentenced for a murder or 100 murders. When the condemned is pardoned, he is taken out from under that penalty and should be thoroughly grateful. The real problem in the story is not the woman’s lavish, unsolicited, and unauthorized response. The problem was Simon’s lack of any response other than indifference.

So with this story in mind, let us examine ourselves and ask who we are most like in this story; Simon, or the woman.

I conclude with words of ex-slave ship captain John Newton.
“My memory is nearly gone; but I remember two things; That I am a great sinner, and that Christ is a great Saviour.”

Soft Christianity

As Independence Day approaches, I am thankful to be living in a country that, at present, allows us to worship God. This freedom has enabled America for the last century or more to be a land where workers can be trained to preach the Gospel around the world, and where Bibles can be printed and then distributed to those who would receive them.

But there is no scriptural guarantee that this will always be the case. In fact, I almost wonder if this freedom has caused American Christians to take the church for granted. To look upon Christ and the Church as a nice addition to our lives that helps people behave, but that one shouldn’t get too radical about. Where selection of a “church home” is done on the basis of who has the most to offer rather than on the veracity of the message being preached.

And all the while, our brothers and sisters in Christ in other parts of the planet suffer and are killed for their faith on a daily basis. They worship God in secret gatherings, out of sight of government officials or the radical religionists who would think they are doing God a service by killing them. They continually live out the Words spoken by our Master:
“If the world hates you, you know that it has hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, because of this the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also.” (John 15:18-20 NASB)

On occasion, I have met brethren from lands like Pakistan, or who have fled Saudi Arabia because they had a sentence of death on them. They were not proud, but considered it an honor to be persecuted for their Lord. After such meetings, through no fault of theirs, I would walk away feeling so lukewarm and convicted. You see, where I am from, I am surrounded by those who encourage my faith and I can openly worship Jesus. But for those who are the persecuted, their faith costs them something. They truly have to count the cost before putting on Christ in baptism, because it may cost them everything they have held dear to themselves. Surely their heavenly rewards will be so much greater than my own, and rightly so.

But again, we in America must also remember that there is no guarantee that things will always be like they have been in our past. Persecution could come at any time, and who are we to say that it would not be a pruning and purifying process that the Lord would deem necessary to our spiritual development?
Did not Jesus himself say,
“Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” (Matthew 5:11, 12 NASB)?
And the Apostle Paul wrote that, “Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.” (2 Timothy 3:12 NASB)
Do we dare to contemplate what the Spirit meant when He had Paul use the word “all” in that verse?

Well, what are we to do in the mean time? First and foremost, pray for the persecuted church daily! As Hebrews 13:3 says, “Remember the prisoners as if chained with them, those who are mistreated since you yourselves are in the body also.” All of us who belong to Christ make up His body. And when one part is suffering, we all suffer with it (1 Corinth 12:26)

I would also encourage all of us to prayerfully examine the Scriptures and judge for ourselves the depth of our commitment to Jesus Christ and the Gospel. And after that, say with deeper conviction than ever before, “I have decided to follow Jesus. No turning back, no turning back!”

It It Time To Hide?
During Operation Desert Storm, I was in the Navy and stationed on board the ammunition ship USS Mount Hood. We were inside the Persian Gulf and had around 2500 tons of ammunition on board at any time. For us, there was one danger which was at the forefront of our thinking – mines. One particular evening, many of us gathered for prayer, as was our habit. While we were in prayer, in my mind I could see what looked like an angel on the bow of the ship moving a sword back and forth ahead of us in the water. I’m not saying I had a vision, but decided it was a comforting thought and moved on.
The next morning at 7:45 I went on watch in the Combat Information Center. Around 8:00, we received a message with the coordinates of where a mine had been found and destroyed, so I plotted it on the navigational chart. I even plotted it three times to make extra sure it was accurate. When I was finished, I stared at the chart and felt a sudden chill. The position of the mine was at the exact spot where our ship’s position was plotted from midnight just eight hours before! A quiet prayer of thanks was lifted to God for His protection, and I have never forgotten His care over me that night.

In scripture, David had similar feelings of praise and gratitude to God for preserving his life. Those thoughts were part of what the Holy Spirit used when inspiring David to write things like these:

You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble;
You surround me with songs of deliverance. (Psalm 32:7 NASB)

Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings, (Psalm 17:8 ESV)

For in the day of trouble He will conceal me in His tabernacle;
In the secret place of His tent He will hide me;
He will lift me up on a rock. (Psalm 27:5 NASB)

You are my hiding place and my shield;
I wait for Your word. (Psalm 119:114 NASB)

Of course, much is to be made of the will of God when it comes to our protection and preservation. But with the examples before us in the Bible of God’s promises of protection and safety, it should also be said that while there are times we are hurt, those times are the exception, not the rule. Of course we are not to presume upon divine protection by doing things purposely harmful and assuming that God has us covered. Such was the temptation in Matthew 4 when the devil tempted Jesus by telling him to cast himself down from the temple, because Psalm 91 says God would not allow him to “dash his foot against a stone.”

In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul makes spiritual application to divine protection. In the letter to the church at Colossae, he wrote, “For you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” (Colossians 3:3 NASB)
Sometimes, the Lord’s plan is for us to openly resist. At other times, we are commanded to refuse to engage in a battle, especially since our battle is not against flesh and blood. But at other strategic times, God chooses to simply hide us from the enemy so that we are spared physical and/or spiritual harm. I think these were things that Fanny Crosby may have been meditating on in 1929 when she wrote the following poem that would become another one of her beloved hymns.

Hide me, O my Savior, hide me
In Thy holy place;
Resting there beneath Thy glory,
O let me see Thy face.

Hide me, when the storm is raging
O’er life’s troubled sea;
Like a dove on ocean’s billows,
O let me fly to Thee.

Hide me, when my heart is breaking
With its weight of woe;
When in tears I seek the comfort
Thou canst alone bestow.

Hide me, hide me,
O blessed Savior, hide me;
O Savior, keep me
Safely, Oh Lord, with Thee!

We do well to remember in the turbulent days ahead, that those who “dwell in the secret place of the most high shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” (Psalm 91:1)

Are You Going To Eat That?
Today’s post starts with the inspired narrative telling about dire situation that ensued when Samaria was under siege by Syria and was totally cut off. No longer could they go to Jerusalem to worship at the temple and offer sacrifices to God. They were isolated and starving physically and spiritually.

“Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. There was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver. As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall a woman cried out to him, saying, “Help, my lord, O king!” He said, “If the LORD does not help you, from where shall I help you? From the threshing floor, or from the wine press?” And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’ So we boiled my son and ate him; and I said to her on the next day, ‘Give your son, that we may eat him’; but she has hidden her son.” When the king heard the words of the woman, he tore his clothes-now he was passing by on the wall-and the people looked, and behold, he had sackcloth beneath on his body. Then he said, “May God do so to me and more also, if the head of Elisha the son of Shaphat remains on him today.” (2 Kings 6:24-31 NASB)

This is such a heartbreaking scene, but it is typical of what happens when people are completely cut off and begin to despair of life. Desperation breeds panic, and people find themselves doing things that they would have once been unthinkable.
The Israelites had been reduced to eating dove dung and donkey heads. Can you imagine what it would be like to come home to Dove Dung Soup or Donkey Head Surprise? What type of hopelessness brings people down to that level? And during their fight to survive they keep seeing the prophet, Elisha, who had told them how to keep out of this danger by turning to God and forsaking their idols. Instead of heeding the Word of God, the wanted to kill the messenger.

In many ways, we are the same way personally. When we cut ourselves off from God, we inevitably, eventually will find ourselves doing things we never would have done before, accepting as normal things that were once an abomination, and wanting to close our ears to any who would show us the way back to God. Take a look at the things you watch and listen to. Look at the activities you see or even participate in that once would have been shocking. How desensitized have we become? How seared over are our hearts against being sensitive to what pleases God? It is like in our day, we have replaced the idols which brought judgment on the Northern Kingdom of Israel with full length mirrors. With great seriousness and piety we look into the mirror and say, “My kingdom come, my will be done” as we submit to our ideas instead do to the Word of God.

Our national conscience has also been deadened. We have a society that openly promotes that which God condemns. It stands in defiance to the commands of God, and declares that he has no place in government, as if somehow that means God will be able to leave our nation’s sin unjudged because we have declared ourselves “secular”. We are consuming toxic, filthy, garbage (i.e. dove dung soup and donkey head surprise) and calling it normal, and freedom. But in the end it will kill us as a nation! And just like in the narrative above, the children are the ones who suffer and are consumed.

We have to wake up and see our situation the way God sees it! We have to take another look and what we watch and listen to and laugh at, and measure it by the Word of God and decide one thing – if I am taking this in, is it pure food, or is this dove dung and donkey heads served on a silver platter. Because filth and garbage served in a fanciest restaurant by waiters in tuxedos, is still toxic and it will slowly kill you.

Our God loves us so much that, even while we are wallowing in the gift wrapped filth of the world, He demonstrated His love for us by sending His Son to die for us. (Romans 5:8) His desire is to give us the bread of life and living water. To fill us with things that bring life instead of corruption so we will never hunger and thirst again. God said it this way through the prophet Isaiah:
“Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost. “Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance. (Isaiah 55:1, 2 NASB)

All of this sustenance is to be found “in Christ”. How do we get into Christ? By hearing and understanding the Gospel, repenting of our sin, confessing faith in Him, being baptized into Christ.
“For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.” (Galatians 3:26, 27 NASB)

There it is. It’s simply beautiful and beautifully simple. Obey the Gospel and be added to the body of Christ. Then you can forsake the filth of the world (repentance) and follow after Christ.
Don’t delay.
The world will try to convince you that right is wrong and wrong is right.

Come to Jesus, on His terms, today!
(Acts 2:38)

What Happens In The Garden

My mom has always loved gardening. For as long as I can remember, she has had lush flower beds and a vegetable garden. While the eleven of us were growing up, mom and dad had a huge garden, along with goats and chickens. Most of what we ate came from our own pasture or gardens. In retrospect, it was an idyllic time, and a wonderful way to grow up.

In the span of salvation history, gardens are important places for God as well. When God created Adam and Eve, he placed them in a garden (Gen 2:8). It was a lush place, with everything that could be desired. It was also a place of intimate fellowship with the Creator, and he would physically manifest (preincarnate Jesus?) and walk with them in the cool of the day (Gen 3:8).

But the garden became defiled by sin, as Adam and Eve willfully said “no” to the command of God and they, their descendants, and the earth over which they were given dominion fell. From then on, sin reigned and through sin, came death. As a result, they were expelled from the garden that had been their only home.

Thousands of years later, another scene was taking place in a garden. This time it was the Garden of Gethsemane, where Jesus, who would be called the “second Adam” (1 Corinthians 15) The difference was that this Adam, who was a perfect man in an imperfect garden, was saying “yes” to God and would, through His obedience, bring eternal life to all who would receive it.

Someday, there will be another garden. One that is perfect, wherein righteousness dwells. With a river flowing out of the throne of God, and with the tree of life. We shall once again have perfect communion with our Lord, and spend eternity in his presence. John describes it this way:
“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and ever.” (Revelation 22:1-5 NASB)

My friends, that will be a garden worth seeing. And unlike the gardens of my youth, there will be no weeds to pull. Just the full enjoyment of paradise spent in His presence.

And THAT will be the most wonderful garden of all!