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In the Law of Moses God established the system of sacrificing animals to temporarily cover the sins committed by Israel. In this Old Testament covenant the sacrifices had to be repeated over and over each year.

Hebrews 10:4 – It is not possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sins.

To permanently remove the sins of men the sacrifice had to be a human being and that person had to be without blemish (i.e. without sin). The wages of sin is death according to Scripture. God cannot lie and God must always act justly. There was no living person who was without sin, not only because of their actions but also because everyone born after Adam had the sin nature of Adam by imputation.  God solved this dilemma by Himself becoming a man in order to qualify as the needed sacrifice. Of course God was already without sin. There was no other way to save man from eternity in hell while at the same time meeting the requirements of a just God.

Jesus, God in the flesh, died on the cross in our place to pay our sin debt which restored our fellowship with God and allowed us to have eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.  So this is the gospel of Christ. God sent His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, to earth to die a horrible death on the cross as payment for the sins of man. Jesus was buried and on the third day God raised Him from the dead and Jesus ascended back to heaven where He sits at the right hand of God. Jesus defeated death so that those who believe in Him will inherit eternal life with Him in heaven. God has given us everything. Now can you understand why I love Jesus so much?

Satan has already faced off against God with a frontal assault during the war in heaven and was soundly defeated. Satan now uses an indirect approach to oppose God. In war the weaker army often resorts to guerrilla tactics and Satan has done likewise with spiritual warfare.  Satan does not deny the existence of God. Instead, Satan has led mankind off on on tangents chasing after false Gods. All the world’s religions, except Judaism and Christianity, are attempts by Satan to keep man from the truth of God’s Word and the salvation available to them.  Always remember, Satan is the father of lies and the great deceiver.

The fact that Satan could convince a third of the angel of heaven to follow him is a testament to his cunning and powers of persuasion.  If Satan could fool angels who have stood in God’s presence what chance does man have on earth unless he is protected by God’s Word? We stand no chance in these end times against the coming false Christs, false prophets and churches falling away from sound doctrine outside of the strength of the Holy Spirit to protect us and guide us.  Read and study your Bible daily for instruction and understanding so you will know false teaching when you hear it. Pray that God will illuminate false teachings for you through the Holy Spirit.  Put on the full armor of God against the forces of evil in this world and stand.

Satan is the most powerful being ever created by God. He was once the lead angel in heaven and his name was Lucifer. Satan rebelled against God, taking a third of the angels with him. There was war in heaven. Satan and his fallen angels (demons) were kicked out of heaven and thrown to the earth which is why Satan is referred to as the god of this world.  God made all the angels at the same time in the distant past before creation. We don’t know how many angels there are but Scripture refers to their number as innumerable (too many to count) so we know there are many millions of angels.  If a third of the original angels are now here on earth we’re still talking about millions of demons, powerful evil beings, all around us in the spiritual realm, all bent on our destruction.

Demons have a hierarchy same as the angels.  They also have assigned areas of responsibility.  Remember the Bible story about the angel Gabriel being delayed from reaching the prophet Daniel by the demon known as the Prince of Persia.  While Satan seeks the destruction of all mankind, his main focus is going after God’s children, both the Jews and Christians, who by faith have accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. God has dispatched guardian angels to protect the elect from evil and He has also provided us with His Word, the Holy Bible, to make us aware of the wiles of the devil so we can resist him. God has provided us all we need to prevail in this struggle with the forces of evil.

We know when we die saved now our spirit is instantly in the presence of the Lord. It wasn’t always like that. Prior to Jesus, the righteous who died were sent to paradise within the earth. They couldn’t go to heaven yet because, even in death, they still had their sin nature inherited from Adam.  Sacrificing animals only covered sin temporarily, it didn’t remove sin. The sins of all men, past, present and future could only be forgiven permanently by the sacrificial death of a sinless human being.  There was no such thing on this earth. Only God met the qualifications of being sinless.  So  God came off His throne and became flesh on the earth in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

Jesus the man, while maintaining His deity, became that sacrifice that would remove the sins of every man, past, present and future.  When Jesus died on the cross all the sins of those then in Paradise were instantly removed which allowed Jesus to go down there and take those saints on to heaven before the resurrection.  We see an illustration of Paradise (and hell) in the parable about the rich man Lazarus and the beggar. The beggar died saved and went to Paradise within the earth, also known then as Abraham’s Bosom. Lazarus died and went to hell within the earth where he was in constant pain and torment.

The two sides could see each other but could not cross over. Think of these two areas in the earth as holding cells pending God’s final judgement. Paradise is no longer being used but the other side, often referred to as Sheol, Gehenna, hades, the pit or hell is still in use.  All the unsaved dead, then and now, go straight to the hell within the earth where they wait in torment for the end of the millennium when they will be resurrected bodily to appear before the Great White Throne judgement and be judged by Jesus.  Since they rejected God’s mercy and grace in life they will be sentenced to torment 24/7 for an eternity in the lake of fire along with Satan and his fallen angels.  An angel of the Lord will physically lay hands on them and throw them into the lake of fire.

When you study God’s Word, especially end time prophecy, you will understand all the bad things going on in the world around us. God predicted more wars and rumors of war and it is so. God predicted an increase in earthquakes, floods, and famines and it is so. God predicted an increase in plagues and diseases around the world and it is so.  Most important of all, Jesus along with His Apostles and prophets warned us that in the last days many false witnesses would appear to deceive and fool the people with false teachings in order to divert them from the truth of God’s work. So convincing will be their testimony that even the elect will be fooled.  The only way you can be absolutely sure you won’t fall for any of this nonsense is to study God’s Word yourself so you will know when any false teaching doesn’t conform to Scripture. False teachings will be noticed for what they are and from whence they came.

Matt. 24:4-5 – Take heed that no one deceives you. For many will come in my name, saying, I am the Christ, and will deceive many.

Matt. 24:11 – Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many.

Matt. 24:25 – False Christs and false prophets will rise and show great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. See, I have told you beforehand.

Knowing what is coming as foretold by a loving God should bring us peace, not angst. Knowing we are safely in God’s hands gives us eternal hope no matter what happens to us here on earth. Let us be watchers on the wall as these end times play out before our eyes.

I love Bible prophecy and can’t get enough of it. First, it confirms God is who He says He is. Prophecy is history written in advance and is only possible by the author of that history. Only the one true God knows the end from the beginning.  All other religions don’t have a single fulfilled prophecy between them because they are all fake religions and should be pointed out as such; political correctness be damned!  The men who started the other major religions of the world are all buried in a grave somewhere.  The tomb of Jesus is empty, for He has risen and is in heaven sitting at the right hand  of the Father.

Second, God in His Word gave us prophecy not only to prove He is God but also to instruct the saints and provide guidance on what they should do. There are 16 books on prophecy in the Old Testament and four book on prophecy in the New Testament. Twenty of the 66 books in the Bible are prophetic. That’s 28% of the Bible.  The Bible contains over 1,000 prophecies of which over 500 have been fulfilled. The remaining prophecies will be fulfilled at a later date in the fullness of time.

So far we have a 100% prophetic success rate so we can be assured all remaining prophecies contained in the Bible will be fulfilled.  Prophecy reveals our Lord as He really is. Matthew 24:30, says the Lord will return to the earth on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. At the second coming Revelation 19:16, reveals Jesus will return as “King of Kings and Lord of Lords”. That will be the greatest day in human history and we will all be there to see it with the Lord!

There is no such thing as a Christian who doesn’t sin. Critics deride Christians because they don’t live the saintly lives they expect. When people throw that in my face I tell them Christians aren’t perfect but we are forgiven.  Our salvation into the kingdom of God is by grace through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.  It is the starting point of our walk with God. During our earthly journey God expects us to grow and mature in our faith so we can do the good works He has planned for us to do. Our goal is to sin less over time by asking for God’s help in overcoming sin in our lives.  We should pray to God for the forgiveness for our sins on a daily basis. We need to tell our detractors being a Christian is a journey not a destination.

Eph 2:10 – For we are God’s masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus to do good works , which God prepared in advance for us to do.

We know from Scripture that a bird doesn’t fall to the ground unseen by God. We know God sees everything we do and knows what we’re thinking.  That doesn’t really bother us because we know we’re loved by our heavenly Father.   What I find unnerving is we are also under constant observation from the spiritual plane by other supernatural entities, be they angels, demons or Satan himself.  When I contemplate a secret sin before God I must also consider my “other” audience. Satan is a keen observer of our actions, always looking for a weakness. Satan can’t read your mind but he can hear your words so guard your tongue because what you say can and will be used against you. Being aware you’re on the “big stage” of life before an unknown audience should give you motivation to live a holier life.

In the parable of the talents (Matt 25:14-30) an absent master temporarily leaves valuables in the safekeeping of his three servants; each with five talents, two talent and one talent, respectively. In our story the absent master is Jesus who is temporarily away from the earth but will return at the second coming to recover what is His.  The servants in our parable refer to those who have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior, the saints of the kingdom of God.  The talents Jesus left in our care is the, “good news,”   of the gospel of Christ whereby all men are saved unto eternal life through faith in Jesus Christ as  Lord and Savior.  

As disciples of Jesus we are not to sit on our salvation.  We are to go forth and spread the gospel to the unbelievers in all nations according to our individual abilities.  This “Great Commission” is the number one command of God.  Notice in the original parable the two servants who obeyed the master and used their talents so that the “increase” went to the master were equally rewarded, not because of their results, but because they simply obeyed the master’s command to use the talents wisely.  The servant who did not obey lost his reward.

On the last day when the saints stand before the bema judgement seat of Jesus those who have simply obeyed the Great Commission and witnessed for Christ to the best of their ability will receive their reward.  Their reward for sharing the gospel will be more for their obedience and love of God than any quantitative results.  Men would judge results but God judges the hearts of men.  Our goal is to hear Jesus say “Well done good and faithful servant”.  A faithful servant is one who obeys his master.  

The book of Job was placed in the Old Testament after the book of Ester and before the book of Psalms. I say placed because the book of Job was actually the first book of the Bible ever written. Job was written somewhere between 2100 BC and 2600 BC. Moses wrote the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Bible, around 1400 BC so the book of Job is at least 700 years older than the Law of Moses and could be 1200 years older.

The question is what is so important about Job that God had to add it as part of His Word when the timeline is so out of sequence with the other books of the Old Testament?  I think the story of Job reminds us God is sovereign, He is righteous, and He is just.  That means God is sufficient for our needs and trustworthy in every situation to do the right thing for us. God tells us we will suffer here on earth and although we may not understand why we should still trust in God and bear up under our affliction while continuing to worship and praise God in all circumstances.

We note in Job some things that are important. Satan travels to the ends of the earth doing evil. Satan still has access to the throne room of God where he accuses us before God. We see that God limits the power of Satan to harm the saints and puts a protective hedge around His own.  The protective hedge mentioned in Job is an indirect reference to guardian angels dispatched by God to protect those who love Him. God’s comfort and strength are always available to those who will surrender everything to Him in faith.

God put us on this earth to seek Him out and bring Him glory by the way we lead our lives in fervent praise and worship through Jesus Christ. We are not to conform to the world. We are to be set apart and live to please God. We cannot serve two masters.  The world is evil and will persecute us.  God made us to live in heaven. Our citizenship is there. The earth is not our home, we’re only visiting. Jesus said the following:

John 17:14-17 – I have given them Your Word; and the world has hated them because they are not of the world; just as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should take them out of the world, but that You should keep them from evil. They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them by Your truth. Your Word is truth.

When God says something in the Bible more than once it’s important. When God repeats Himself in the same verse of group of verses it’s very important. God is telling us our home is in heaven. Since we have to be here to witness Jesus has prayed for our safety and continues to be our Champion in heaven.  Twice God tells us our best defense in this fallen world is His Word. Read it, study it, apply it so that we will be sanctified before the Lord and ready to meet whatever the world throws at us.