What is love? Is it a feeling? Does the Greek help define love as many Bible teachers suggest, or is it more complex? If “Creator” is inadequate to describe God, then we must ask if love could ever be defined by one word or even one sentence. One thing is for certain, love should never be defined as a feeling. That false description has unfortunately made its way into Christian circles and should be rejected. Christ said the entire Mosaic Law hung on loving God and thy neighbor – are we really ready to accept that the Law hinged on a feeling?
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5)
A couple of verses earlier, the Lord Jesus Christ told the Pharisee, Nicodemus, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (3:3). The words “born again” literally mean born anew from above. Thus, Christ told Nicodemus that, in order to enter the kingdom of God, a person must receive a spiritual birth, a rebirth, a new life from above.
However, Nicodemus was taken aback and perplexed by Christ’s words about being born again, and he did not grasp their spiritual meaning. Understandably, he then asked the Lord absurd questions, expecting a negative answer, because surely Christ did not mean something as impossible as a second physical birth. Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” (3:4). The Lord answered that “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit” (3:5), he can’t enter the kingdom of God.
Answering Nicodemus’s protest about being born after being fully grown or entering the mother’s womb a second time, the Lord pointed out to Nicodemus that there are two kinds of birth, of water and of the Spirit, meaning the natural and the spiritual. I believe that being born of water speaks of being born of the flesh, or physical birth. The breaking of the water in natural birth is what makes sense of the expression “of water and of the Spirit.” Being born of the Spirit (vv. 5-6) refers to the Holy Spirit’s work of renewal and spiritual rebirth. Thus, the Lord is describing birth and rebirth, being born and born again. He was saying that, unless one is born of a woman (“of water”) and born from above (“of the Spirit”), he cannot enter the kingdom of God. Referring to the two births, the Lord said in the next verse, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit” (3:6).
The old Christian adage, attributed to Martin Luther, is true: “Born once, die twice [Rev. 20:14-15]; born twice, die once.”
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“Do the work of an evangelist.” Paul’s Spirit-inspired injunction in 2 Timothy 4:5 applies indirectly to every believer in Christ. Are not our pastors simply leaders in the work of the Lord? Shall the congregation sit idly by as the pastor alone does “the work of an evangelist?” God forbid! The pastor is rather to be an example to his flock to go and do likewise.
How well this writer recalls the days of the so-called Darby-Scofield movement when multitudes all over the country thronged to hear Bible teachers like Gaebelein, Gray, Gregg, Ottman, Chafer, and Newell. These able men of God expounded the Word as the “blessed hope” of the Lord’s return was being recovered. But these Bible teachers were evangelists too, in the truest sense of the word, and their evangelism was contagious.
In those days almost all premillenarians, including the young people, carried New Testaments in their pockets wherever they went. Why? They hoped and prayed for opportunities to testify to others about God’s plan of salvation through Christ, and they wanted to show them the way from Scripture. In those days, if a Christian failed to have a New Testament with him, he was apt to be reproved with the words: “What! a soldier without a sword?” By contrast, few believers carry New Testaments about with them today, and they certainly don’t carry Bibles!
Some are telling us today that this brand of fundamentalism is out of date and ineffective in these fast-changing times. We reply that all of us ought to get back to this brand of fundamentalism, this earnest effort to personally win souls to Christ by showing them God’s plan of salvation from the Scriptures.
God help his people in general and each spiritual leader in particular to “do the work of an evangelist.”
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Christ could return to catch away the Church, the Body of Christ, at the Rapture anytime, day or night. We are to be “looking” for Him always. We may somehow imagine that the Lord is going to come at noonday to catch us away to heaven. It may or may not be daytime in the United States when this great event takes place. It is going to be nighttime in a lot of places around the globe when the Lord returns. Thus, it may be in the evening, at midnight, or three o’clock in the morning in the United States when He comes.
As we are faithfully “looking for that blessed hope” and are always ready, we should remember when we go to bed that the Rapture could happen in the middle of the night when we are sound asleep. But what a great way to be awakened with “a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God” (1 Thes. 4:16)!
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.
John 17:1-26 is the longest recorded prayer of Christ in Scripture. During His earthly ministry, Christ frequently prayed to the Father (Matt. 11:25-26; 14:19,23; Mark 1:35; Luke 6:12; John 11:41-42), but very little of the content of those prayers is recorded. Thus, this prayer in John 17 reveals a deeper look at the precious content of the Son’s communion with His Father in heaven. Although Matthew 6:9-13 and Luke 11:2-4 have become known as “the Lord’s Prayer,” that prayer was taught to the disciples by Christ as a pattern for prayer during the Tribulation. However, the prayer recorded in John 17 can truly be called The Lord’s Prayer.
Communion with the Father (vv. 1-5)
“These words spake Jesus, and lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee” (John 17:1).
In verses 1-5 (see pages 8-9), the Lord Jesus Christ prayed concerning the glory and the glorification of the Father and the Son.
Our Lord prayed this prayer in the presence of His disciples on the night before He was crucified. Thus, in verse 1, when the Lord said, “Father, the hour is come,” it was the time of His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. The Cross was the very purpose for which Christ came to the world. The Lord had said earlier in John, “Now is My soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save Me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour” (John 12:27 cf. 13:1).
In John 17:1, Christ prayed for the Father to “glorify Thy Son,” or bring into full display the divine character, majesty, attributes, and identity of the Son via His passion. Unlike the gospel of grace (1 Cor. 15:3-4), faith in the identity of the Son is what gave one salvation from their sins under the terms of the gospel of the kingdom. That is the purpose of John’s Gospel (John 20:31 cf. 1:41,49; 4:29; 6:69). When the Lord prayed, “glorify Thy Son, that Thy Son also may glorify Thee,” it is the Son Who reveals the Father (1:18; 12:45), and by carrying out the plan of redemption, Christ brought glory to the Father by revealing all of His supremely divine attributes such as His love, mercy, justice, wisdom, power, and omniscience.
The Father gave the Son “power” or authority over all of heaven and earth (Matt. 28:18), and “over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as Thou [the Father] hast given Him” (John 17:2). Earlier in John, the Lord explained those that the Father gave Him more fully:
“No man can come to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto Me” (John 6:44-45).
God drew people to His Son through the Word, the written Word of the Old Testament, and/or through the living Word, Jesus Christ, as He walked the earth and ministered. As people are taught of God by the Word, and they hear and learn, the Father draws them to come unto His Son to find life. Christ taught and spoke the words of God throughout His earthly ministry. The people the Father had given Him were those who heard and responded in faith to Christ, and Christ gave them eternal life (John 10:27-30).
How one received life eternal under the kingdom gospel was as Christ prayed in John 17:3: “And this is life eternal, that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom Thou hast sent.” One knows God the Father by knowing and believing in the Son. And to those who knew the Son and believed in His identity as the Messiah, the Son of God granted eternal life under the gospel of the kingdom (5:24; 1 John 5:11-13,20).
The Lord prayed, “I have glorified Thee on the earth: I have finished the work which Thou gavest Me to do” (John 17:4). Christ glorified and made the Father known by doing His will and completing the work He gave Him. Finishing the Father’s work was imperative to the Lord during His earthly ministry. In John 4:34, Christ said, “My meat is to do the will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.”
Having finished His work, and knowing He came from God and was returning to God (13:3), Christ asked the Father to glorify Him with the glory which He had with Him before the world was (17:5). Christ prayed this because He is God, Who preexisted time and creation, and is eternal. Later in the prayer, the Lord stated that the Father loved Him “before the foundation of the world” (v. 24). From all eternity, the Father and the Son have enjoyed shared fellowship (1:1), glory (17:5), and perfect love (17:24).
Prayer for the Disciples (vv. 6-19)
“I have manifested Thy name unto the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world: Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me; and they have kept Thy word” (John 17:6).
In verses 6-19 (see pages 8-9), Christ prayed for “the men which Thou gavest Me out of the world,” referring to the disciples. Christ told His disciples in John 15:19, “I have chosen you out of the world.”
The disciples were chosen out of the world to be separate from it, for Christ to use in reaching it (Matt. 28:19-20) with the gospel of the kingdom.
In verse 7 of John 17, we see how the disciples were capable representatives of Christ because they knew that His mission (3:16-17) and His message were of the Father (12:49). They received and accepted Christ’s words as truth and life (6:68). And the Lord stated in John 17:8 that they knew and believed two truths: first, that Christ had come from God (16:27,30), and second, that God sent Him (1 John 4:14).
When the Lord stated, “I pray for them: I pray not for the world,” in John 17:9, this does not mean that Christ was unconcerned about the world, for we know that God loves the world and sent His Son “that the world through Him might be saved” (3:17). Rather, the Lord stated that He was not praying for the world because His prayer for protection, unity, joy, and sanctification did not apply to them; it only applied to those who belong to God. In love, the Lord did not pray for the world of unbelievers to be kept, united, and sanctified in their rebellion and unbelief. The world needs to be saved from this condition through Christ.
The Son prayed for the disciples, telling the Father in verses 9-10 of chapter 17 that “they are Thine. And all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine.” The Father and Son are equal, and what belongs to One belongs to the Other (10:30; 16:15). And Christ was “glorified in them” (17:10), in the disciples, because they believed in Him and Who He is.
In verse 11, when Christ said to the Father that “now I am no more in the world,” He anticipated His return to heaven, praying as if He had already left. “But these are in the world” reflected the Lord’s concern for His disciples whom He would leave behind. Thus, the Lord prayed, “Holy Father, keep through Thine own name.” “Keep” means to guard, take care of, preserve. The Lord prayed this because the disciples would have to face the world’s hatred (15:18-19) and trouble (16:33) without Christ’s immediate presence. In His absence from the world, Christ desired “that they may be one, as we are,” or patterned after the eternal, perfect unity of the Trinity (Psa. 133:1) so that they might endure the difficulties of ministry together.
In verse 12 of John 17, Christ prayed that He had guarded and protected the disciples when He was in the world and none of them was lost, except for Judas Iscariot, so “that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (v. 12 cf. Psa. 41:9). But Judas was never a believer; he was “the son of perdition.” Because of his unbelief and treachery, Judas Iscariot (John 6:70-71) is identified with His destiny: perdition (cf. 2 Thes. 2:3).
When the Lord said to the Father, “these things I speak in the world, that they might have My joy” (John 17:13), it meant that the Lord had prayed this prayer aloud (cf. v. 1) for the benefit of His disciples so they might have the full measure of His joy by hearing His words of comfort.
The disciples needed Christ’s joy and comfort. Since the disciples did not now conform to the world’s beliefs and values, they were hated (17:14; 15:19). The Lord, though, prayed not for the isolation of the disciples from the hostile world but for the Father to preserve them in the midst of it (17:15). And in the hostile world, he prayed that the disciples would be kept specifically “from the evil,” or the evil one, Satan, who “as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Pet. 5:8).
With both Christ and the disciples being “not of the world” (John 17:16), the Lord prayed for God’s truth to sanctify the disciples to do the Father’s will like the Lord did. “Sanctify” (v. 17) means to set apart; in the context of Scripture, it means to be set apart unto God. God does not delegate the sanctifying process. He does not command us to do it on our own. God does it Himself (1 Thes. 5:23) as we live by faith in Him.
As God sanctifies us and sets us apart unto Himself, He does so by the truth of His Word (John 17:17). The closer we are to the Lord, the further we find ourselves from ungodliness and worldliness. What God reveals to us changes our thinking, values, and our priorities, and it leads us to be set apart unto God and His purposes. That was Christ’s prayer for His disciples.
The Lord did not want the disciples “out of the world” (v. 15) or “of the world” (v. 16). As His representatives, they were to be in the world (v. 18) but not of it. When the Lord prayed, “And for their sakes I sanctify Myself” (v. 19), He referred to His being wholly separated to do God’s will and to go to the cross, and His prayer was that His example might stir the disciples to the same type of surrender and sacrifice.
Prayer for Future Kingdom Believers (vv. 20-26)
“Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on Me through their word” (John 17:20).
In verses 20-26 (see pages 8-9), Christ prayed “for them also which shall believe on Me through their word,” or for those who would believe through the witness of the disciples (v. 20). Christ sent His disciples into the world (v. 18) to share the gospel of the kingdom and many would believe as a result. As He prayed for the disciples (v. 11), Christ prayed that kingdom believers might be one and exhibit the character and unity of the Godhead (v. 21).
When Christ prayed “that the world may believe that Thou hast sent Me” (v. 21), this meant for the world to believe that Christ is the Son of God, a belief which was required for salvation under the gospel of the kingdom (6:40; 20:31).
In verse 22 of John 17, the Lord prayed, “And the glory which thou gavest Me I have given them.” “The glory” that the Father gave the Son is the glory of His words. As the Lord said earlier in His prayer, “For I have given unto them the words which Thou gavest Me…” (v. 8). These words were given “that they may be one,” as the unity that Christ desired for kingdom believers was to be based on truth, the truth of God’s words.
In verse 23, Christ prayed that the unity in the kingdom church would be so great and so complete that the world would know, take note, and realize that its faith was real, that Christ is God the Son, and that these believers were supremely, deeply, and eternally loved by God.
Christ then prayed for these kingdom believers to “be with Me where I am; that they may behold My glory” (v. 24), praying that they would be with Him when He reigns in glory in His kingdom on the earth (12:26; 14:2-3). They will behold His glory at that day.
The Son has known and been loved by the Father since before the foundation of the world (17:24). As Christ said in John 7:29, “But I know Him: for I am from Him, and He hath sent Me.” In contrast, the Lord prayed, “the world hath not known Thee” (17:25). The world does not know the Father because it rejects the Son Who reveals Him (1:10; 15:21). To know the Father, one must know the Son. The disciples and the kingdom believers, however, knew and believed that the Father sent the Son (17:25).
Christ had declared the name of the Father during His earthly ministry, and He stated that He “will declare it” (v. 26), which anticipated His resurrection. After Christ rose again, He would continue to give glory to the Father. Christ was hours from the cross, yet He declared “that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me may be in them, and I in them” (v. 26). Knowing the unjust treatment, suffering, and death that was ahead of Him, Christ affirmed and knew that the Father loved Him. And the Lord prayed that this divine, eternal love might be in the kingdom believers.
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“What is of predominant importance in your teachings, the gospel message or dispensational message? And which message brings salvation?”
This question is often asked of us by those who feel we are causing division through our teaching of doctrine. But we must ask, is causing division the correct test of right or wrong? Bad or good? Did Christ Himself not say, “Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division” (Luke 12:51 cf. Matt. 10:35)? And cause division He certainly did (cf. John 7:40-43; 9:16; 10:17-21). The fact is, truth divides; it always has and always will, and short of not sharing the truth, nothing can be done to prevent it.
It is the truth of the gospel that divides the non-believer from the believer, and the truth will also create division within the church, and rightfully so. However, the Scripture doesn’t cast the blame on those who speak the truth; instead, the responsibility lies squarely on those who reject it – “Now I beseech you brethren, mark them which cause divisions and offences contrary to the doctrine which ye have learned; and avoid them” (Rom. 16:17). Here we see that those “which cause divisions” are the ones who are not adhering to correct doctrine.
To be sure, the most vital message that any believer can share is the gospel, for it “is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth” (Rom. 1:16; 4:5). But members of the Body of Christ are called to do more than share the gospel with the unsaved. We are called to edify the church and share “all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). If a saved individual asks about God’s Word or counsel on baptism, tithing, sanctification, the Rapture, or any other vitally important doctrine, a believer should not be more concerned about any resulting division than sharing the truth, nor should we find it necessary to keep our conversations solely about the gospel.
God’s will is for all to be saved “and to come unto the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim. 2:4). This is why Paul said, “Till I come, give attendance to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine” (1 Tim. 4:13), desiring that we be “nourished up in the words of faith and of good doctrine” (v. 6), and warned us to “take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them” (v. 16). To do those things we must “preach the Word…reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine” (2 Tim. 4:2). We can and should speak the truth in love “that we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine” (Eph. 4:14-15).
To the Reader:
Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:
"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."
To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.
Two Minutes with the Bible lets you start your day with short but powerful Bible study articles from the Berean Bible Society. Sign up now to receive Two Minutes With the Bible every day in your email inbox. We will never share your personal information and you can unsubscribe at any time.
“Some years ago, an energetic young man began as a clerk in a hardware store. Like many old-time hardware stores, the inventory included thousands of dollars worth of items that were obsolete or seldom called for by customers. The young man was smart enough to know that no thriving business could carry such an inventory and still show a healthy profit. He proposed a sale to get rid of the stuff. The owner was reluctant but finally agreed to let him set up a table in the middle of the store and try to sell off a few of the oldest items. Every product was priced at ten cents. The sale was a success, and the young fellow got permission to run a second sale. It, too, went over just as well as the first. This gave the young clerk an idea. Why not open a store that would sell only nickel and dime items? He could run the store, and his boss could supply the capital.
“The young man’s boss was not enthusiastic. ‘The plan will never work,’ he said, ‘because you can’t find enough items to sell at a nickel and a dime.’ The young man was disappointed but eventually went ahead on his own and made a fortune out of the idea. His name was F.W. Woolworth.
“Years later, his old boss lamented, ‘As near as I can figure it, every word I used in turning Woolworth down has cost me about a million dollars!’ ”
Missed Opportunities
Most can relate to the regret felt from a missed opportunity. I can still vividly recall a situation when I was younger that I missed the opportunity to go on a float trip with my cousin and his family. I was not quite yet a teenager, and this was going to be my first adventure of this kind, and I was extremely excited to go. I counted the days, but unfortunately for me, I caught poison ivy just a few days before the trip. I caught it so bad that it was in my eye, which swelled shut entirely. No matter how much I regretted the situation I was in and pleaded with everyone, there was no chance of changing the situation—I was going to miss this opportunity!
For some, it may be an opportunity to invest in a company and make a lot of money, as in the original example. Or perhaps it was a missed opportunity to make an eternal difference in a person’s life because we were too preoccupied with something we now realize was of little importance. H. Jackson Brown Jr. said it well when he said, “Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.”
The Scriptures give us numerous examples of those who paid an enormous price for missing the opportunity God provided them to be saved from the looming consequences of their actions.
In Luke 16, Christ describes the chilling events of the rich man and Lazarus: The rich man was in hell [hades] and hoped to have Abraham send Lazarus back to warn his five brothers about the torment to come for those who ignored the warnings of God, but the rich man was told no: “Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them” (v. 29).
Abraham’s point was that God had provided the means for the rich man’s brothers to know the way of salvation, and the choice would be theirs to listen or not. Consequently, by being in hell, we know that the rich man himself did not heed the warnings of Moses and the prophets and thus missed his opportunity to be saved and was now paying the price for all eternity.
While Jesus hung on the cross, two men hanging beside Him took vastly different paths. One would seize his opportunity to get right with God through His Son, and the other refused and forever missed his opportunity to be saved from the judgment to come (cf. Lk. 23:39-43; Rev. 20:12-13).
As much as God wants all to be saved (cf. 1 Tim. 2:4), and as longsuffering and merciful as He is, there is still an end to man’s opportunities to be saved from God’s wrath and judgment. Eventually, the longsuffering of God will be replaced with the judgment of God. Thus, we read the Holy Spirit’s plea through the Apostle Paul to the unsaved:
“For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
Here, Paul is applying the words of Isaiah to the present situation. At some point, the promised Rapture of the Church will occur, leaving those who have to that point rejected God’s offer of peace and salvation to their fate—the Tribulation. The end of this day of grace is imminent; we are not promised tomorrow—none have the promise of another day of life on this earth or that God will extend His mercy another day.
Failing to heed Paul’s plea to “be ye reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20) leaves one on a cliff, at every moment on the brink of leaving the time of God’s grace and entering the time of His wrath and judgment—“the great and the terrible day of the Lord” (Joel 2:31). And that will be the worst missed opportunity they will have ever made.
No Excuses – God Said it was Coming
When it comes to the Tribulation, there is much misunderstanding, partly because it is a topic that interests people a great deal. Yet, with all the interest, the Tribulation will still catch many people off-guard, but God warned mankind. God warned that the Tribulation was coming, why it would happen, and mostimportantly, how to avoid it.
“I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not unto the seed of Jacob, Seek ye Me in vain: I the Lord speak righteousness, I declare things that are right. Assemble yourselves and come; draw near together, ye that are escaped of the nations: they have no knowledge that set up the wood of their graven image, and pray unto a god that cannot save.
“Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the Lord? and there is no God else beside Me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside Me. Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by Myself, the word is gone out of My mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto Me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear” (Isa. 45:19-23).
Isaiah 45 begins with God addressing Cyrus, a man who would not be born for another one-hundred and fifty years. God would raise him to power, and he would overthrow Babylon and allow those in exile to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. He says to Cyrus, “I have surnamed thee…That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside Me. I am the Lord, and there is none else” (vv. 4-5).
In other words, in giving Cyrus’ name in advance, He was demonstrating that He, the Lord God of Israel, is God, and there is no God besides Him. By saying that He has not spoken in secret or in a dark place, He reminds mankind that He has openly stated, “Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker” (v. 9), and that He has not hidden the fact that man has one option for salvation: Him.
When He says that He has sworn to Himself that “every knee shall bow, every tongue swear” (v. 23), He is openly declaring that one day or another, in this life or the next, all of mankind will acknowledge the fact that He alone is God, and they will at some point bend the knee to Him. The Tribulation is one of the means by which God will accomplish that.
“The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down, and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low” (Isa. 2:11-12).
Oh, how those who think they are mighty shall, through the Tribulation (Day of the Lord) and the Great White Throne judgment to follow, learn their lesson and finally fall to their knees and acknowledge the truth that “the Lord that created the heavens; God Himself that formed the earth and made it,” He is “the Lord; and there is none else” (Isa. 45:18).
It is by God’s mercy that He warned, “For the day is near, even the day of the Lord is near” (Ezek. 30:3), “Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come” (Joel 1:15), “…let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the Lord cometh, for it is nigh at hand” (Joel 2:1).
And at Pentecost, it was indeed “nigh at hand,” for Peter “standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them… be this known unto you, and hearken to my words…this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel; And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God…I will shew wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke: The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come” (Acts 2:14-20 cf. Joel 2:31-32).
By associating the time with the prophecies of Joel, Peter was at Pentecost, making it known that it was then “the last days” and that the Day of the Lord was about to begin. Though Peter and the other eleven apostles would offer the Kingdom to Israel if they would accept Christ as their Messiah, the nation rejected Christ once again.
The remedy for the situation and the next thing on the agenda, according to prophecy, was the coming Tribulation in which God would protect Israel from the Antichrist and certain destruction, thus wooing the nation to Himself. But first, God had a secret.
Grace Abounds
As the Twelve Apostles preached to Israel to repent, little did any of those unbelieving Jews realize that they were about to enter the worst time this earth would ever see. Indeed, those in Rome, Greece, and all across the world had no idea what was about to take place. As Stephen, in a judicial manner, convicts the nation for their repeated rejection of God, even Christ, their Messiah, and is physically attacked, the Lord stands up from His seated place next to God the Father and is now ready to judge His nation and bring His wrath upon the world (Acts 7:56 cf. 2:33; Heb. 10:12).
What Amos describes as a day of “darkness” (5:18,20), Joel “a destruction from the Almighty” (1:15), Isaiah the “day of the Lord’s vengeance” (34:8; 61:2) is ready to come. Isaiah goes on to describe the Tribulation, saying, “Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it… And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity” (13:9,11).
Most had no idea what was about to happen, and God was fully justified to make it happen. But God! Instead, God turned to His greatest earthly enemy and made him His example and tool of grace (cf. 1 Tim. 1:16)—“where sin abounded, grace did much more abound” (Rom. 5:20). He took Paul, who persecuted the name of Christ like none other and made him His greatest witness and an apostle of an entirely new program. Instead of the Tribulation, God would bring about a day of grace—A “Dispensation of Grace” given to the new apostle, Paul (Eph. 3:1-11; Col. 1:25-27). Instead of making war with man, God would offer man one more chance of peace before bringing His wrath.
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2).
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By Whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1-2).
As some might foolishly look around and believe mankind deserved another chance, even peace with God, let us not forget this peace was offered to the very ones who lied, falsely convicted, and killed the Son of God. The ones who nailed Him to the cross. Yes, another chance was given to Caiaphas, the high priest, and all those who took part and were still alive.
Those in the Tribulation will still have an opportunity for salvation; however, they must “endure until the end” (Matt. 24:13; Mk. 13:13). They must “overcometh” (Rev. 3:5) the worst time imaginable. It will not be as simple as believing that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again. That offer will be off the table; that gospel will be replaced by the gospel of the kingdom and the need to endure the torments of the Antichrist and the world who will hunt down and try to kill anyone who fails to worship the false christ.
But now, man has an opportunity to avoid all of that. God has told us precisely how to avoid this great and terrible day: “For God hath not appointed us [the Body of Christ] to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ, Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him” (1 Thes. 5:9-10).
There will be no excuses for anyone who enters the Tribulation, and the Dispensation of Grace is the reason for it. It should not escape our attention that it was just before God’s wrath was to begin that He ushered in something He kept secret since “the world began” (Rom. 16:25)—a time which allows all people to avoid it, even those who had just spent four years rejecting Christ.
The timing is indeed perfect and is certainly one more chance for man to escape God’s wrath. Some argue that God is unmerciful in bringing His wrath, regardless of when, but they fail to recognize that God has done all He could to help each and every one of us to avoid it; it is He who gave mankind the means to avoid it: He gave the world His Son so we could avoid His wrath, and He allowed man to kill Him so that we might live. All we must do today is believe the gospel.
Children will be raptured with the Church; thus, every single person who enters the Tribulation will be someone who has rejected the gospel: the good news of God’s grace offered freely to all who would believe that Christ died for their sins, was buried, and rose again.
“And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power” (2 Thes. 1:7-9).
God has warned everyone that His wrath is coming. He has told everyone why it is coming. And most importantly, He has told everyone how to avoid it. God is right now offering the world one more chance to avoid the great and terrible Day of the Lord. To miss the opportunity presented to us would be one of the worst missed opportunities ever given to man.
“Precisely because we cannot predict the moment, we must be ready at all moments” –C.S. Lewis.
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