Studying God's Word

John 6:53 – Then Jesus said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you.”

The Hebrew idiom, “flesh and blood,” refers to the whole person. Jesus, the disciples and the writer of this gospel are all Jewish. Jesus meant for his words to be taken in neither a literal nor in a sacramental sense. Jesus was merely saying you must believe in him for eternal life. Any Jew would understand immediately this is a metaphorical statement. The Catholic church, on the other hand, took Jesus’ statement literally. Jesus made this statement at the Last Supper and would be shortly crucified and buried so what did the church decide to do? The church made the decision to substitute wine for Jesus’ blood and turn his flesh into a cookie so they could cannibalize Jesus at every mass and drink his blood like a vampire. Of course the Bible prohibits the drinking of blood because life is in the blood.

To make it all work the church gave the Pope the right to supersede the Word of God by establishing church sacraments and interpreting the mind of God. The Popes claim they can forgive sins, decide who goes to heaven or hell and they have the right to give priests the magical power to change wine and cookies to the actual flesh and blood of Christ so he can suffer crucifixion over and over again at every mass. This sacrament of the Catholic church diminishes the crucifixion of our Lord and Savior and turns Jesus into a cookie. It isn’t scriptural and offends Almighty God. Woe to anyone who steals God’s glory and usurps his power. You and I will be there on the last day when these false prophets stand before God for judgment. They will be shocked when the angel of God grabs them and throws them into the lake of fire.

John 8:44 – (Jesus speaking) – You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.

The first murder in human history was when Satan incited Cain to kill his brother Abel. Most, if not all, murders throughout history since then have been incited by Satan because he is evil and he hates our guts. Satan laughs in hell every time he convinces someone to take their own life and join him. When God says Satan doesn’t stand in the truth he is referring to Satan sinning in heaven and being expelled as a result because no sin is allowed in heaven. Satan is the father of lies because he spoke the first lie to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden causing their fall.

John 11:17 – So when Jesus came, He found that he (Lazarus) had already been in the tomb four days.

Jesus heard Lazarus was sick in plenty of time to get there but he waited until Lazarus was dead and buried for four days so he could raise him from the dead to the glory of God the Father and the Son. Old Testament Jews believed a person’s spirit could linger around the body for up to three days and reenter the body to bring them back to life. By the fourth day the human body starts to decay and the spirit cannot reenter it. After four days the Jews believed only God could raise someone from the dead therefore Jesus waited four days before raising Lazarus from the dead to prove he was God in the flesh.

Psalm 34:15 – The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and His ears open to their cry.

Psalm 145:19 – He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He also will hear their cry and save them.

God doesn’t listen to sinners. If you want God’s help with anything your requests are falling on deaf ears until you become a child of the Most High God by putting your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. God makes it very simple to enter heaven but you must believe and you must act of your own free will. The eternal destination of your soul hangs in the balance. Don’t blow it!

The gospel of John was written much later than the three synoptic gospels. Instead of focusing on the life of Jesus the book of John focuses on the deity of Jesus and the preexistence of Christ. John makes sure his gospel contains information about Jesus that the other writers failed to mention which may be why over 90% of the material in John is new and covered nowhere else. John contains many lengthy discourses where Jesus is teaching his disciples about the kingdom of God. The Apostle John is easily the most spiritually perceptive of the gospel writers, probably because the Holy Spirit was very active in John’s life from a teenager and John was an old man when he wrote his gospel.

John 1:30 -This is He of whom I said, after me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.

John 14:9 – (Jesus speaking) – He who has seen Me has seen the Father.

Job 9:8 – He alone spreads out the heavens, and treads on the waves of the sea.

John 6:19 – So when they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and drawing near the boat; and they were afraid.

Most people assume Genesis is the oldest book in the Bible because it comes first and because Moses wrote it in the Sinai wilderness around 1400 BC. The book of Job is actually the first book of the Bible to be written. Job was probably written around 2100 BC but it could have been written as early as 2600 BC, making Job at least 700 years older than Genesis. I’ve already mentioned that Old Testament Jews associated God with the one who could still the wind and calm the raging sea. There’s one other thing God does according to the Old Testament and that’s walk on the sea. Everything Jesus said during his ministry was for a reason. Every act of Jesus had a purpose and obviously stilling the wind, calming the sea and walking on water were all intended to prove to the Jews and everyone else that Jesus was God in the flesh. Jesus said he was God and did things only God could do and still the Jews rejected him as the promised Messiah, the King of Israel.

John 6:29 – (Jesus speaking) – This is the work of God, that you believe in Him (Jesus) whom He (God) sent.

John 11:25-26 – (Jesus speaking) – I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die.

On this earth believers are to witness for Christ and do good works because God commands us to do so. For this we receive treasure in heaven. The only “work” actually required by God for our salvation is faith in Jesus Christ. The only way to become a child of God is through faith in Jesus. Eternal life begins the moment a person puts their faith in Jesus. If we’ve done what God asks of us for our gift of salvation then we’re in the book of life and scripture tells us we cannot be taken out of God’s hands. We’re forever in God’s loving embrace. Trust in God and the truth of God’s Word and let the peace of God reign in your life.

Each gospel has its own set of Bible stories, some of which are also mentioned in other gospels. When this happens I like to compare the different versions to see if additional information is provided. That’s the case with the twelve year old girl Jesus raised from the dead. In Mark 5:35-40, we learn the girl’s father was the ruler of the local synagogue where Jesus was preaching and he came to Jesus to ask him to heal his sick daughter and before they reached his house he found out she had already died. Jesus told the man his daughter was not dead, but sleeping. When Jesus entered the girl’s room he took her by the hand and called, saying, “Little girl, arise.” The girl immediately arose and was well. In Luke’s version he gives us two extra bits of information that Mark left out. First, Luke names the ruler of the synagogue as Jairus. Second, Luke tells us how the twelve year old girl was brought back to life. The girl’s spirit returned to her and reentered her body.

Luke 8:55 – Then her spirit returned, and she arose immediately.

We know that God gives each person an eternal spirit at conception, a part of himself. We know that the Bible says a dead body is unclean. At the moment of death our spirit must come out of the corpse. It’s a spiritual law of the kingdom of God. Our spirit is literally expelled from our bodies and if we’re indwelt by the Holy Spirit he leaves as well. Ancient Jewish tradition holds that a person’s spirit remains close to the body for up to three days hoping to reenter the body and only leaves when it sees the body start to decay. God owns our spirit and it goes back to him for disposition. At death our spirit goes to one of two destinations, to hell or to paradise within the earth, in this instance, since it was before the death of Christ. After the death of Christ the spirit of all believers go straight to heaven. What we don’t know is the timeline for spirits to depart. How long can a spirit hang around the body it just came out of? Must the spirit leave immediately? We don’t know.

In Luke 8:55, we can surmise the girl had a spirit and it departed her body when she physically died. Since the girl’s spirit is eternal it therefore had no choice but to leave her body. The girl only came back to life because her spirit returned to her. Of course we know Jesus summoned the spirit with his, “voice of authority,” and had it reenter the girl which brought her back to life. No spirit, no life. No life, no spirit. If you’re alive your heart is still beating and your spirit is still in you. We don’t have any live zombies walking around with no spirit like the “walking dead” movies. This story is just more proof of what of what we already know. We all have an eternal spirit that belongs to God and one day it’ll return to God. We’ve all heard the stories of near death experiences where people briefly die and are brought back to life and they say they were temporarily out of the body watching everything go go on around them. I don’t know whether to believe that or not. It sounds reasonable. What I do believe is our spirit will never leave our bodies as long as there is any chance we might live. It’s all part of the same spiritual law God has established for our lives.

Luke 22:2-4 – And the chief priests and the scribes sought how they might kill Him (Jesus), for they feared the people. Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.

Luke and John both record the betrayal of Jesus at the hands of Judas by telling us that Judas was indwelt by Satan himself at the time of Jesus’ betrayal. The devil normally leaves the indwelling of human beings to his underlings but in this instance he wanted to personally be the one to betray Jesus and ensure his crucifixion. The only other instance in the Bible where we are told Satan indwells someone is the antichrist during the tribulation.

Luke was a Gentile writing his gospel for the Gentiles. Luke was not an eyewitness to the life of Jesus but he was a believer and disciple of the Apostle Paul. Luke accompanied Paul on some of his missionary trips and therefore knew what Paul knew about Jesus. Luke is the Sherlock Holmes of the New Testament. This spiritual detective knew and interviewed all the people closely associated with Jesus. Luke spoke with Mary, the mother of Jesus, along with Jesus’ brothers James and Jude. Luke spoke at length with all of the disciples of Jesus who were still living. There were many people alive during the first century who had witnessed the miracles and teachings of Jesus and Luke talked to many of them as he researched the facts of Jesus’ life. As a third party investigator Luke didn’t have a dog in the fight. Luke had no agenda other than to follow where the facts led him. For that reason, Luke’s gospel makes the most compelling case for the historical accuracy of the facts about the life and ministry of Jesus Christ. Based on the evidence found, Luke established with theological clarity that Jesus Christ is the Son of God who came into the world to save us from our sins.

Genesis 12:1-3 – Now the Lord had said to Abram: Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

When God says something more than once in a verse or approximate verses it’s important. The fact that God said the word “bless” five times in the three verses above means it’s extremely important for us to understand. God is blessing Abram (who God renamed Abraham) and the nation he will create (Israel). God is also blessing the rest of the world (Gentiles) through Abraham. God fulfills this prophecy through his Son, Jesus Christ, who is also a descendant of Abraham, through whom we have forgiveness of sins and eternal life in heaven. You need to understand the above verses are a covenant between Abraham and God. A covenant is an oath, a promise, between two parties. In this instance God is only holding himself responsible for keeping the covenant and God cannot lie. If God were to break his covenant he would not be God and God’s Word would not be the truth. If God ever broke his word Christianity itself would fall. That won’t happen because God is ever faithful.

I mention these verses to remind people we Gentiles owe our salvation to the Jews and therefore we should show our love and respect to the Jewish people because of this. Throughout history God has punished Israel for disobedience but he hasn’t abandoned her as some church leaders would have us believe. We are in the time of the Gentiles (church age) right now because Israel rejected Jesus as their Messiah. Israel is still the apple of God’s eye and under his protection. If you want proof look at history. No matter how much Jews are persecuted they continue to prosper. Israel has been attacked numerous times by vastly superior Arab armies and each time Israel prevailed because God fights for Israel.

Luke 1:68-75 – Blessed is the Lord God of Israel, for He has visited and redeemed His people, and raised up a horn of salvation for us in the house of His servant David, as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets. Who have been since the world began, that we should be saved from our enemies and from the hand of all who hate us, to perform the mercy promised to our fathers and to remember His holy covenant, the oath which He swore to our father Abraham:

To grant us that we , being delivered from the hand of our enemies , might serve Him without fear, in holiness and righteousness before him all the days of our life.

Church leaders must not be reading the same gospel I am. The above prophecy was made three months before the birth of Christ by the priest Zacharias, who was filled with the Holy Spirit. In the prophecy God makes it clear that Jesus is the horn of salvation and Israel will serve God during the millennium and in heaven forever. The book of Revelation says in the end times at the battle of Armageddon Jesus will set foot on the Mount of Olives to defeat the nations surrounding Jerusalem and he will save a remnant of Israel. The point is, we are to love Israel and the Jewish people. Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, is now and always will be a Jewish Rabbi. All the Jewish patriarchs and important disciples of Jesus will have prominent positions in heaven. If Jews are going to be prominent in heaven and running the show it’s a good idea to show our love and respect for Jews down here.

In eternity past we know God made an innumerable number of angels all at one time and God isn’t making any more. God created the angels to serve him in heaven. Why does God require so many? How many angels does it take to serve the throne of God? The Bible doesn’t tell us explicitly but God’s Word does make numerous references to believers having guardian angels. There are approximately 2.5 billion people in the world today who profess to be Christians. Let’s say 40% or one billion Christians have actually been saved unto eternal life. One billion is still a lot of guardian angels if every believer gets one.

Don’t forget, the top angel in heaven (Satan) once rebelled against God along with one third of the angels. There was war in heaven and after the fallen angels were defeated they were thrown to earth. These fallen angels are now referred to as demons and their sole purpose is the destruction of man. If it weren’t for the demons bent on our destruction we wouldn’t need angels to protect us. The point is, God is the author of history and he made the exact number of angels he would need, no more and no less. God knew how many angels would fall and how many saints would need protecting. Sometimes you have to take what you know to be true and work backwards to fill in the blanks where information is lacking.

Psalm 91:11 – For He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you in all your ways.

Psalm 34:7 – The angel of the Lord encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them.

Matthew 4:6 – He shall give His angels charge over you.

Luke 4:10 – For it is written: He shall give His angels charge over you, to keep you.

Matthew 18:10 – (Jesus speaking) – Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones (children), for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

Hebrews 12:22 – But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels.

God makes it clear in the above scriptures that he assigns guardian angels to all believers. God didn’t say he might. God said he “shall,” which is a promise God cannot break. When God says, “charge over you.” he means specific angels have been assigned to you for your protection. Think of it as a heavenly Secret Service detail. When we get to heaven we’ll be introduced to our guardian angel and he’ll be our special friend for eternity. When God says to, “keep you,” he means to protect you. In heaven we’ll be amazed at the number of times we were kept from harm by our guardian angel and didn’t even know it.

Jeremiah 29:11 – For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not evil, to give you a future and a hope.

Psalm 106:1 – Praise the Lord! Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Romans 11:33 – Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!

Psalm 31:15 – My times are in Your hand; deliver me from the hand of my enemies, and from those who persecute me.

I know bad things happen to good people and some Christians are tragically killed. Why weren’t they protected from harm? I don’t have the answer. God is unfathomable as scripture reminds us. We don’t know why God does the things he does so we just need to accept it as God’s will. Focus on what we know and accept everything else by faith. God has a plan for our lives and a reason for everything he does. God is good and he means us no harm. In fact, God works everything to our benefit as the Bible reminds us.

Psalm 18:30 – As for God, His way is perfect; the word of the Lord is proven; He is a shield to all who trust in Him.

Luke 16:22 – (Jesus speaking) – So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.

The above verse is from Jesus’ parable about the beggar and the rich man. The rich man died and went to hades (hell) within the earth where he was in constant pain and agony. The beggar died and went to paradise within the earth, also known as Abrahams’s bosom. This was where all the righteous saints went when they died before the time of Christ. If you remember, while Jesus was three days in the earth he went down to paradise and escorted the saints to heaven because he had paid for their sins on the cross. Any believer dying after the crucifixion of Jesus goes directly to heaven upon his or her death. My point is this, if angels were responsible for carrying the spirit of the beggar to paradise then that means angels will escort all souls to heaven. The beggar’s death wasn’t an exception or a special case. God doesn’t have multiple paths for a spirit to reach heaven; only one.

God always has a reason for any information he places in the Bible and I believe God wants us to know from this parable how we get to heaven so we’re comforted by that knowledge. Does our spirit know the way to heaven on its own? I doubt it. Is our spirit beamed up to heaven like on Star Trek? I don’t think so. This verse tells me our guardian angel, who is on duty protecting us anyway, will be the one who escorts us to heaven to meet Jesus. It wouldn’t make sense for any other angel to do it since our special angel may have been with us for many years protecting us and he’ll know us so well. To my simple mind this makes perfect sense to me. If that’s true could the opposite also be true? If someone dies in their sin who takes them to hell? If believers are escorted to heaven it makes sense nonbelievers are also escorted to hell. If angels escort believers to heaven then demons have to be the ones escorting the unsaved to hell. Who else is there?

Lost souls certainly wouldn’t go to hell voluntarily or on their own even if they knew the way. Could the millions of demons be here on earth, in part, to escort the eternal spirits of the unsaved dead directly to hell to meet Satan in person? Or do demons already in the pit come up to drag the spirits of the condemned back to hell like in the movie “Ghost?” We don’t know for sure. Those who don’t accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior will find out when they die. All of us are only a heartbeat away from our eternal destination either way. I’m at peace because I know where I’m going but are you sure? It’s a chilling thought to consider if you’re not saved because you must be right about this. Eternity is a very long time. Make sure your spirit is securely in God’s hands.

Isaiah 45:22 – Look to Me and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.

People ask me, “Is God really going to send the Jews, his chosen people, to hell?” My answer is, “absolutely.” Let me be clear. Any person, Jew or Gentile, living after the death of Jesus Christ who does not believe that Jesus is the Son of God who came down from heaven to die on the cross for our sins will not see eternal life. Anyone who doesn’t accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior then their sins still abide on them. Their sins haven’t been forgiven. One of the spiritual laws of the kingdom of God is the wages of sin is death. Jesus paid our sin debt when he died in our place so we wouldn’t have to die.

Our God is holy and just. For anyone who dies in their sin a just God will condemn them to eternal spiritual death in hell and the lake of fire. There are believing Jews who have salvation but the majority of Jews from then until now view Jesus as nothing more than a Jewish prophet and not the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. For the last 2000 years all these Jews who have died without believing in Jesus Christ have gone to hell. I know that may sound harsh but when it comes to salvation God doesn’t mince his words. God doesn’t bend the rules or play favorites. The good news is a Jewish remnant will be saved on the last day and those Jews will enter heaven as God’s chosen people to join all the righteous Jews who lived before Christ.

Matthew 8:11 – (Jesus speaking) – And I say to you that many will come from east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 8:12 – (Jesus speaking) – But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

You can see from Matthew 8:11, that Jew and Gentile get to heaven the same way and are treated equally in heaven. God loves Jews and Gentiles the same. God made both. By the same token, Matthew 8:12, makes it clear nonbelieving Jews are sent to hell when they die. “Sons of the kingdom,” is an Old Testament reference to Jews to whom the kingdom of God was originally promised but who will be excluded because they reject Jesus. “Outer darkness” is a metaphor for damnation in ancient Jewish texts. All Jews know that means going to hell. If there was ever any doubt, “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” is Old Testament Jewish terminology that denotes the anguish expressed by those unfortunate souls who suffer eternal torment in hell. God’s original plan was salvation for the Jew first, then the Gentile. The Jews were jealous of their God and thought he was for them alone.

Matthew 10:40-42 – (Jesus speaking) – He who receives you receives Me, and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me. He who receives a prophet in the name of a prophet shall receive a prophet’s reward. And he who receives a righteous man in the name of a righteous man shall receive a righteous man’s reward. And whoever gives one of these little ones only a cup of cold water in the name of a disciple, assuredly, I say to you, he shall by no means lose his reward.

I’m always on the lookout for heavenly rewards I can earn while on this earth. There’s no shame in that. The Apostle Paul said we should all strive for heavenly rewards. We don’t know what those rewards will be but God doesn’t give junk. Doing good works and especially witnessing for Christ are the primary ways to receive rewards in heaven. Note in Matthew 10:40-42, Jesus is saying anyone who helps a fellow persecuted Christian it will be like helping Jesus himself. I include helping Jews in that category. Jesus says we will be rewarded for our compassion as if the person were a prophet of God. We should always act justly because it’s the right thing to do and if we’re also rewarded for it so much the better.

Did you know God gives his blessing to every believer who reads or hears the words contained in the book of Revelation? Every time you read Revelation you get a blessing from God. How great is that! No other book in the Bible can make that claim. I think it’s a good idea to read Revelation regularly to keep those blessings coming. God wants us to know what’s coming in the end times, which are almost upon us, so we’ll be prepared and watch for the coming of Jesus.

Revelation 1:3 – Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written in it; for the time is near.

One of the things that stand out to me when I read the gospels is Jesus picking his disciples. The gospels record six of the disciples being recruited by Jesus with two words, “follow me.” I assume the rest of the twelve were chosen in like manner. I find it odd that they didn’t ask “why” or say, “give me more information.” The disciples didn’t say, “let me go tie up loose ends at home before I join you.” These were prosperous men who owned businesses; wealthy men with homes and families and they dropped everything immediately and went off following a stranger who said two words to them. The Bible doesn’t explain why but it’s not a natural reaction for one person let alone twelve. The fact that all twelve disciples immediately obeyed Jesus’ command is another proof Jesus is God. The disciples may not have even understood themselves why they immediately obeyed.

When Jesus speaks with his, “voice of authority,” all of creation obeys the commands of Almighty God. Some people don’t realize it was actually Jesus Christ who spoke creation into existence and not God the Father. Jesus is the Creator of all things and when he chooses to use his, “voice of authority,” all creation obeys. The heavens, nature, man, everything is subject to God’s authority. Things that are alive, dead or inanimate, it makes no difference. The Bible says nothing is impossible with God. If we had been alive in Jesus’ day and he called us to be disciples we would have obeyed the same way. We wouldn’t have a choice just like the disciples didn’t have a choice. The twelve were compelled to discipleship by God’s, “voice of authority.” The disciples were blessed by God because they were chosen to serve him.

Matthew 4:19 – Then He (Jesus) said to them (Simon and Andrew), “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.”

Matthew 4:21-22 – Going on from there, He (Jesus) saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He called them and immediately they left the boat and their father. and followed Him.

Matthew 9:9 – As Jesus passed on from there, He saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax office, and He said to him, “Follow Me.” So he arose and followed Him.

John 1:43 – The following day Jesus wanted to go to Galilee, and He found Phillip and said to him, “Follow Me.”

In Matthew we see Jesus rebuke the wind and it is stilled. We see Jesus calm the raging waters of the Sea of Galilee. Jesus condemns a fig tree and it withered before his eyes. This was all done to prove to the Jews that Jesus is God. The Israelites of the Old Testament associated God with the one who could control the wind and the sea and everything in nature so the actions of Jesus was proof to the Jews that Jesus is God.

Matthew 8:26 – Then He (Jesus) arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm.

Matthew 21:19 – And seeing a fig tree by the road, He (Jesus) came to it and found nothing on it but its leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.

On the last day, when Jesus comes from heaven with his angels and sets foot on the Mount of Olives he will destroy the armies of the world coming against Israel at the battle of Armageddon. In my wild imagination I expected Jesus to hurl lightning bolts at the enemy and rain down fire from heaven. I expected Jesus to cause earthquakes that would swallow up whole armies. The reality is Jesus will destroy the armies of the world arrayed against him by using his spoken word, the same way Jesus caused the creation of the universe. There is nothing more powerful in this world than God’s, “voice of authority.” We’ll be with Jesus and see all these events unfold.

Isaiah 43:13 – From eternity to eternity I am God. No one can oppose what I do.

Revelation 19:15 – Now out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations. And He Himself will rule them with a rod of iron. He Himself treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.

After Jesus was baptized the Holy Spirit took him into the desert for 40 days of purification before Jesus began his ministry. God has this thing about 40 days of spiritual purification and refining before serving him. We saw this with both Moses and Elijah. While in the wilderness Jesus was tempted three times by Satan. On each occasion Jesus defeated Satan by quoting scripture:

Matthew 4:4 – (Jesus speaking to Satan) – It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

Matthew 4:7 – (Jesus speaking to Satan) – It is written again, you shall not tempt the Lord your God.

Matthew 4:10 – (Jesus speaking to Satan) – Away with you, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only you shall serve.

Satan is no match for God so we knew this struggle was over before it started. So why did God include this story in his Word? God included this story in Matthew as an example to us on how we are to resist the mental onslaught of Satan and his demons who will oppress us all at some point. Demons are more powerful than we are so God has given us the Bible as a means of protecting ourselves. When we are under spiritual attack from the forces of darkness pray to God for strength and read God’s Word. Quote the Bible to Satan and he will leave you alone because the Bible says so and God cannot lie. According to Matthew 4:6, Satan has read the Bible and can quote scripture. If you are to successfully contend with Satan you need to know your Bible as well as he does. Your very soul could depend on it. Read the Bible daily, study it, meditate on it, and pray, to put on the shield of faith. Arm yourself with the Sword of the Spirit which is God’s Word.

James 4:7 – Therefore submit to God. Resist the devil and he will flee from you.

1 Peter 5:8-9 – Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.

Ephesians 6:12 – For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

Matthew 16:23 – (Jesus speaking to Peter) – Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.

God is real therefore so is Satan. Satan wants to convince us he doesn’t exist and even if he does exist he means us no harm. Satan uses stealth and secrecy to hide his identity. You can’t defend yourself if you don’t know who your enemies are. You can’t protect yourself against adversaries you aren’t even aware you have. Half the battle is knowing who Satan is and that his goal is our destruction. Satan doesn’t attack with a frontal assault. Satan is subtle and uses lies, deceit and half-truths to achieve his goals. When Satan mentally assaults someone he fills them with despair, tells them they are worthless and the only way out for them to escape the pain is to harm others or take their own life.

1 John 5:19 – We know that we are of God, and the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.

If anyone commits suicide without accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior then Satan has won. Satan has stolen another precious eternal soul away from God that will spend eternity in hell when it didn’t have to be that way. We have all probably known someone who has taken that route. If you know someone who is susceptible to Satan’s attacks and contemplating suicide be a true friend and guide them to the truth of God’s Word. If you don’t know how to witness for Christ learn how. Witnessing for Christ is a learned skill. This blogsite is about learning to witness for Christ by studying the Bible. In my earlier blogs I go over the witness process step by step. The basic sinner’s prayer to God is all you need and it’s available in my blog, on line, in the Bible, in Christian tracts and numerous other places.

Take a fellow Christian with you if you don’t feel up to the task of witnessing by yourself. Lead the person to this website where they can save themselves or copy some of my material to give them. Your intervention could be the only thing between them and utter destruction. God may have put you in this position just for that reason. It’s a heavy burden to put yourself out and try to save someone’s eternal soul but if we don’t do it who will? Someone loved you enough to lead you to Christ. Can you do less? Forever is very long time so you really have no other choice than to take action or regret it for eternity. Remember, you’re not alone, you’re just the helper. The Holy Spirit will be by your side and he’s the one actually responsible for saving a soul unto eternal life if that person’s heart is ready for the gospel message of Christ.

The most important event in human history was God coming to earth in the flesh in the incarnation of Jesus Christ. The pivotal moment was the death of Jesus on the cross because at that exact moment the sin debt was paid for all men, past, present and future. Jesus died a horrible death on the cross, in our place, so that we might live for eternity in heaven instead of forever in the lake of fire in never ending pain and agony, which is where we were all headed because of our sin. All God asks in return for this precious gift of salvation is that we believe he exists and that we accept his Son Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. That’s it! In his love, mercy and grace God is giving us everything; the greatest thing; eternal life in heaven with him simply for believing in him and having faith in Jesus. God is making this so easy for us it’s hard to believe but it’s the truth.

God wouldn’t allow so momentous an event to occur in his creation without making a public announcement to the world and he hasn’t. In the Old Testament God spoke to his people through the prophets so that’s where we find God’s announcement of his coming and the reason for it. The book of Isaiah, chapter 42 in its entirety, contains the words of God himself as he announces he’ll come to earth in person and what he’ll accomplish while he’s here.

Any study of the life, ministry and death of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ should start with a reading of Isiah chapter 42. That’ll get your mind focused on God and his mission as you start to read each gospel. In like manner, any study of Jesus’ life would be incomplete without reading all of Isaiah chapter 53 where God describes in great detail the suffering he will endure on our behalf. After you read each gospel read Isaiah chapter 53. Let it sink in exactly what Jesus went through for us and the pain and anguish it must have caused God the Father. I can’t read Isaiah chapter 53 without shedding a tear and praising God for his mercy.

In his gospel Matthew links the old and new testaments together. Matthew weaves Old Testament prophecy with New Testament fulfillment in such a way that both testaments mesh into one seamless Word of God with the same consistent message of God’s love for us even through there’s a 450 year gap between the last book of the Old Testament, Malachi, and Matthew, the second book written in the New Testament. When Matthew links Old Testament prophecy to his gospel he only references a few lines of that prophecy but his intent was for the reader to go back and read entire text of the Old Testament prophecy for greater understanding. Matthew was a Jew writing his gospel for a Jewish audience who would have been very familiar with the book of Isaiah. For us Gentiles who read the gospel of Matthew it’s critical we go back and read the entire text of any Old Testament scripture the author mentions if we really want to understand this gospel.

For example, in Matthew 12:18-21, the author repeats the first four verses of Isaiah chapter 42 but there are 21 more verses in that chapter that we should also go back and read because God adds so much more information that he wants us to understand. The same thing happens in Matthew 8:17, where the author paraphrases Isaiah chapter 53 and the suffering of Christ. In the entire chapter of Isaiah 53 it’s God himself who describes in much greater detail the suffering Jesus will endure for us. If we don’t go back and read the entire original text of Isaiah chapter 53 we don’t get a sense of the true suffering that Christ went through that we might have eternal life.

If reading Isaiah chapters 42 and 53 doesn’t bring tears to your eyes and make you love Jesus even more then I don’t know what else I can say. Whenever there’s an Old Testament reference in any of the gospels always stop right there and take the time to go back and read it; in addition to the the surrounding verses for better understanding. This is especially important with the gospel of Matthew since it contains so many references to the Old Testament. If you do this every time you read one of the four gospels it’ll greatly increase your understanding and enjoyment of the text. Before reading the Bible, and especially the gospels, it’s a good idea to pray to God for revelation through the Holy Spirit because God’s Word say we can have whatever we ask for in Jesus’ name. Don’t just take my word for it. Do it and find out for yourself that I speak the truth.

A thrill runs through me every time I start reading the gospel of Matthew because I can clearly see the hand of God at work. Matthew 1:1-16, records the genealogy of Jesus Christ going back two thousand years through King David to Abraham, the father of the Jewish people. That’s forty two generations of who begat whom. I don’t believe there’s anyone alive today who has traced their lineage back 42 generations. I don’t even think it’s possible even with current technology like as computers and the internet. Those who don’t believe the Bible is God’s Word have no explanation for how Matthew suddenly had a list of all the ancestors of Jesus other than he made up the names. I know the answer. The Holy Spirit of God gave this genealogy to Matthew who wrote it down for us in his gospel of the life and ministry of Jesus Christ.

God does it one better in the gospel of Luke where the genealogy of Jesus is recorded all the way back to Adam, the first man. We’re talking about four thousand years of recorded human history. These were ancient people with no books, no writing of any kind, no written language or even the ability to read if a written language did exist. These people had no paper, no pen and no way to record anything other than by scratching a few marks on a piece of bark. These were nomadic people living in tents and herding sheep. How in the world could people in that day keep track of who their ancestors were? The answer is they couldn’t and they didn’t. Fast forward to our time where I can only trace my genealogy back three generations and I had to peruse Ancestry.com for several hours to find that out. So going back 42 generations or twice that is only possible with divine intervention. The odds of anyone tracing their ancestry back to Adam are so great it’s virtually impossible. What we’re looking at with the genealogy of Jesus Christ is probably the greatest single proof in the entire Bible that God is who he says he is and that the Bible was written by the hand of God.

Isaiah 9:6-7 – For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder. And His name will be called Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government and peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and over His kingdom, to order it and establish it with judgment and justice from that time forward, even forever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this.

2 Samuel 7:16 – (God speaking to King David) – And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.

It’s clear from scripture that Jesus Christ, the Messiah, is a direct blood descendant of King David and Jesus will rule his kingdom forever. If Israel had not been overthrown as a nation the rightful king of Israel would have been Joseph the carpenter. Jesus was conceived in Mary by the Holy Spirit and Mary was of the bloodline of King David. Jesus, as the adopted son of Joseph, was heir to the throne of Israel both legally and by blood through his mother Mary. Matthew was a Jew writing his gospel for the Jews to prove to them that Jesus was the Messiah and the genealogy of Jesus was a key part of that proof. Another proof to the Jews was showing Old Testament prophecies being fulfilled in the life of Jesus. Over 60 prophecies about the coming Messiah, the Christ, were fulfilled in the life of Jesus and documented as a historical fact. Most important of all, Matthew wrote his gospel of the life and ministry of Jesus to preserve his eyewitness testimony that Jesus Christ is the long awaited King of Israel.

There’s another thing I’d like to point out in 2 Samuel 7:16, that some people miss. We all know at his second coming Jesus will set up his millennium kingdom on earth for 1000 years and Jesus will rule in heaven forever. In the above verse God twice says the throne of King David will be established forever and when God says something twice in the same verse it’s important for us to understand. We assume that King David’s throne will be accomplished through Jesus. While this is true, in the above verse God is speaking directly to King David when he adds the words, “before you,” at the end of his statement about the kingdom. We’re all going to live forever in God’s kingdom but for God to use the Old Testament terminology, “before you,” is telling me King David will be there in a ruling capacity. If God had used the words, “after you,” instead of, “before you,” then King David would probably have no part in ruling the kingdom to come. It’s clear to me that King David’s importance in the kingdom of God has been firmly established by scripture and he will be second only to Jesus himself. As Jesus’ deputy I fully expect King David to oversee day to day operations of the millennial kingdom.