Pen of Iron

This is the actual sermon that will be aired on Sunday, 07-12-2008, ON WCHP radio, 760 AM.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 4:07 AM | 2 comments    

Labels: audio

Hebrews 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

The word “faith” here stands for 3 things in the Bible.

1) Jesus is the author and finisher of the scriptures.

2) Jesus is the author and finisher of the hope.

3) Jesus is the author and finisher of the Christian race.

1. Jesus is the author and finisher of the scriptures

As a born-again Bible-believer, there is nothing for you to believe outside what the Lord Jesus Christ delivered in the scriptures. Christians have a common faith because they have common scriptures which were

1) authored,
2) finished,
3) delivered,
4) revealed,
5) taught,
6) preserved,
7) and magnified

by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible is Jesus’ articles of faith.
Our common faith is the Bible itself; not the catechism, not Vatican 1 or 2 or 3, or the council of Trent, or the canons of Dort or the Synod of Emden, or the Westminister confession of faith or any other defiled product of the human spirit.

I once offered a gospel tract to an older gentleman. He refused by saying "No thank you, I'm a Catholic".
I said "Sir, those are just Bible verses".
He then gave me as honest a confession as I've ever heard:
"It's ok, we a have a little more than that".


He not only authored the scriptures, he finished them. When Christians deny the fact that the Lord preserves his word down through the years and translations, they deny the fact that he is the finisher of our faith.
How could he be the finisher of our faith if he didn’t preserve it?


The Lord Jesus Christ spoke and some 40 Hebrew secretaries wrote. Sometimes he wrote himself.
Once he etched two tables of stone with his finger in the backside of a desert.
Another time he scribbled on the plaister of the wall of a king’s palace.
If you’re born-again, it’s because he’s written upon the table of your heart.

The Lord Jesus Christ wrote the prologue and the epilogue of the Bible and everything in between.
He’s there in the first verse of the Book:

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

He’s there in the last verse of the Book:

Revelation 22:21 The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all. Amen.

He’s there in the middle verse of the Book:

Psalm 103:1 Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Beware of getting carried away with the Red Letter editions of the Bible. All the words of the Bible are inspired by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, not just the red stuff.

The Lord Jesus Christ wrote the Law, the Prophets, the Psalms, the Gospels and the Epistles.

He is the only author to have written anything before his birth and after his death.

He is the best-selling, best-loved authored of all time.
He is the most-read, most-translated, most-quoted, most-plagiarized, most-immitated, most-criticized, most-praised author of all time.

In the Pentateuch, he’s a greater anthropolgist than Levi-strauss.
In Joshua, he’s a greater military strategist than Thucydides and Clausewitz.
In Judges he’s a greater tragedist than Sophocles, Euripides, and Aeschylus.
In Ruth he’s a greater short-story writer than Hemingway.
In 1 Samuel to Esther, he’s a greater historian than Herodotus.
In Job he’s a greater dramatist than Shakespear.
In the Psalms he’s a greater song-writer than Homer.
In Proverbs he’s a greater writer of wisdom than Confucius.
In Ecclesiastes he’s a greater philosopher than Plato.
In Song of songs he’s a greater poet than Wordsworth and Neruda.
In Isaiah to Malachi he’s a greater prophet than Nostradamus.
In the gospels he’s a greater autobiographist than Augustine.
In the epistles he’s a greater letter-writer than Horace.
In Hebrews he’s a greater theologian than Ruckman and Larkin and Scofield.
In Revelation he’s a greater horror-writer than Alfred Hitchcock and Stephen King.

Did you know that Stephen King is mentioned in the Bible?

Job 18:14 His confidence shall be rooted out of his tabernacle, and it shall bring him to the king of terrors.

That’s in the middle of a context dealing with the antichrist, who is to be brought to the king of terrors. Stephen King is dealing with a very dangerous spirit.

You look unto Jesus in prayer and also in reading the scriptures “looking unto Jesus the author”. How in the world can you do that unless you’re looking at what he authored?

The Holy Ghost in the verse writes “looking” and in the same breath mentions “faith”.

2Corinthians 5:7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight:)

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God.
How can you know the Word of God if you don’t read the word of God?
How can you consider yourself a Christian if you’ve never read the whole Bible? If you’ve never finished the scriptures, how can you know the one who finished them? How are you as a spiritual Christian, looking unto Jesus, if you’re not constantly in the book?


At the end of the day, you either believe the author of this book, or another author. You either have the faith of Jesus Christ, or the faith of another man.
At the end of the day it’s “thus saith the Lord” versus “Thus saith so and so”.
It’s author against author; book against book.


2. Jesus is the author and finisher of the hope.

More than once the Bible will speak about “the faith of the Son of God” or “the faith of Christ”. The faith you have is the faith of God. That doesn’t mean that the Lord has faith; it means he gives faith: the faith that is of God, that comes of God.

Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:9 Not of works, lest any man should boast.

The antecedent of “it” is faith. The faith that you have in Jesus Christ was not produced by you. It was given to you of God. How was the ability to believe in Jesus Christ given you? By the preaching of the word of God.

Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

According to the last half of the verse, you hadn’t heard anything until you heard the word of God. Hearing comes by the word of God. So until the word of God had come to you, you had been spiritually deaf. You hadn’t heard a spiritual sound in your life until you heard a verse being quoted. There are physical sounds detected by your flesh and there are spiritual sounds detected by your spirit. Your spirit had never heard anything until it heard the words of God because they are spirit (John 6:63) and spiritual sounds are spiritually discerned (1 Corinthians 2:14)
When you heard the word of God, at the moment God also gave you the ability to believe it. But you can stop your ears. You can shut down the sound. And then like the Pharisees, you will not understand the speech of the Lord Jesus Christ because you cannot hear it. Just like a radio station, when you don’t receive something you can’t hear it. If the word of God doesn’t speak to you it’s because you’ve hit the “mute” button.

I stand here today to preach the Lord Jesus Christ. I love and worship him. I have never seen him. I have never heard him. I have never touched him.

1Peter 1:8 Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

Not only do born-again Christians believe in Jesus Christ. They love him. Many people believe in Muhammad. Nobody loves him. Many people believe in Buddha. Nobody loves him. Christians are not a special breed of people who are able to produce dillusional faith. We exercise no effort in believing in the face of reality. Our God gave us the faith. We simply have it and we obtained that wonderful gift by receiving his words when we heard them. We simply didn’t turn off the radio station. Obtaining faith is as easy as hearing.
Saving faith is a gift. Do you want to become a believer? Then just listen. The Lord Jesus Christ will make a believer out of you. It is his gift.
It had to be that way because Hebrews 11:6 says “without faith it is impossible to please him”
Well faith is a fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5:22, not of man.
There are no great believers; just great hearers.
If you want to grow in faith, then simply do what you first did to obtain faith: hear the word of God. Spend time in the Bible and God will increase your faith.

Hebrews 12:2 has more to say.

This is a generation of quitters. They quit school, then they quit work. They quit the wife then they quit the children. They quit the ministry, then they quit the church.

Jesus Christ never quit a thing in his life.

He didn’t quit carpentry, he didn’t quit his ministry, he didn’t quit his own.
Though all quit on you, he won’t.

Philippians 1:6 Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:

Do you know why charity is greater than hope and faith in 1 Corinthians 13? It is because whereas “charity never faileth”, hope and faith do. Heaven is a hopeless, faithless place. Exactly what every atheist dreams of, and he can only get there by faith. Evidenly our God also has a taste for irony.

Jesus Christ walked up Golgotha, got on the cross and did not come down till he had cried “it is finished”. (John 19:30)
He is the author and finisher of our faith and when his blessed hand scribbles “the end” with its own blood, woe to that man that would presume to add a P.S.
If your faith does begin as well as end with Jesus, then your faith is not in Jesus. It’s not Jesus, Mary and Joseph. It’s Jesus, Jesus and Jesus.


3) Jesus is the author and finisher of the Christian race.

When Paul says in 2Timothy 4:7 “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:”
“ the faith” as Paul speaks of it, includes worshipping Jesus Christ as God, believing the scriptures, the resurrection, the rapture, separated living, the renewing of the mind, the two natures of the believer, a heavenly conversation, a right attitude, an honest testimony, a bold witness, an assurance of eternal life and the will of God.
The author and finisher of all these things is Jesus.


The reason we look unto Jesus is precisely because he is the author and finisher of our faith. The Spirit of Jesus Christ never bore witness unto Mary, or the Pope, or any “saint”.
All Christians recognize that. But sometimes, though Christians realize that their faith was authored by Jesus, they think it is finished by Ruckman, or Billy Sunday or the pastor or the deacon or some missionary. That’s why they get offended and quit. They weren’t looking unto Jesus. You didn’t leave because Jesus offended you. You left because someone else offended you. That proves you weren’t looking unto or coming for Jesus and no amount of arguing will ever change that.

In v.1 he said I’m compassed about with a great cloud of witnesses.
Have you read the list of witnesses in chapter 11. Those are men I would live and die to emulate; good men, just men, men who had the respect of God himself.
And though I am compassed about with so great a cloud, yet am I commanded to look unto Jesus. If you’re running the race looking unto the witnesses you’re liable to run into a cloud.
You can run in the right direction while looking at the people around you and you can run in the right direction while looking at yourself.

In swimming, you're taught a stop-jump. There's a technique whereby when you jump into the water you can avoid sinking your head below the water level so you can maintain visual contact with victim. Otherwise when your head comes back out of the water, you might lose the drowing victim in the horizon or the crowd.

That's how a Christian should run the race, never for a moment losing sight of Jesus.
Of course, he is the saviour but if he wouldn't lose sight of you, you shouldn't lose sight of him.

Jesus creates Adam, then he comes as the last Adam.
He writes the scriptures, then he says “it is written”.
He births you by water and he births you by the Spirit.
You’re crucified with Jesus you’re risen with Jesus.
You sleep in Jesus, you’re brought back with Jesus.
To live is Christ, to die is gain.
You’re present in the body you’re absent from the Lord, you’re absent from the body you’re present with the Lord.
Jesus goes outside the camp and Jesus bids you come along with him.
Jesus reconciles your alienated mind and gives you the mind of Christ.
He is your Saviour and he is your Judge.
The church began with his first coming, the church ends with his second coming.
We are his rib, he is our Head.

He is the cornerstone and the headstone.
He is the foundation and he is the crown.
He is Alpha and Omega.
He is the beginning and the ending.
He is the first and he is the last.
He is the root of David and the offspring of David.
He is the Son of God and he is the Son of Man.

He is the author and finisher of your faith.

Do you know why we do anything? It’s so we can give more pleasure to Jesus. We obey him so we can love him. We worship him so we can please him. We witness, not merely for the sake of saving a sinner’s soul from hell, but that Jesus might have one more person to love and worship him. You pray and read the Bible and listen to preaching so you can grow; not merely so you can get more blessings but that Jesus might get more glory out of you. We seek wisdom so we can serve him better.
We seek knowledge so we can know him better. The be all end all of anything a Christian strives for, is precisely so he can get into a position where he can better worship Jesus Christ.
That’s why prayer is so central to our faith. When you are praying, you are at the height of the Christian faith: the worship God in intimacy, which is greater than worshipping God in service. You’re up there spiritually beholding the face of the Father.

You look unto Jesus in prayer and you look unto him in reading the Bible. How else can you look at the author of your faith in this age?
When you’re reading and praying, you are at the height of the Christian faith. (Forsight insight) That’s why you can boil down 50% of all sermons preached to “read your Bible and pray everyday”.

Now how will he finish our faith?

2Corinthians 3:18 But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

This is how he authors your faith.

1Corinthians 13:12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.

This is how he finishes your faith: sight.
We were the joy that was set before him.
He is the joy that is set before us.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 3:16 AM | 43 comments    

Labels: sermons

Finally, our website is up. This is where Revelation.2.17, Consecrated, and Redeemed meet with the church to worship our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

Enjoy the tour, and if you're ever up around Montreal or Laval, please come by.

http://montrealbbc.com/

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 1:47 AM | 0 comments    

Leonard Ravenhill was a true man of God. Although he twice ducks out of answering the question concerning the Biblical truth that the church age must end in apostasy, not revival, he nevertheless has more fervor for the Lord Jesus Christ in his pinky than 75% percent of modern preachers have in their whole body.

Listen, consider, and pray.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:14 AM | 1 comments    

Labels: videos

The radio program will be airing on Sunday at 12:30 PM instead of 10 AM as previously thought.

We've faced spiritual opposition at every stage of getting the program going, but thanks be to God which giveth us the victory through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The WCHP administration was also very helpul and courteous. Thank you.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 5:03 PM | 0 comments    

Lord willing this first Sunday of October, the 5th of the month, Bible Baptist Church in Laval, Quebec, Canada, will be preaching the word of God on the Radio.
The program will be airing on Sunday mornings at 10 on Radio station WCHP 760 AM which airs out of Vermont.
Most of us involved are relatively new to the scene, but we are honoured and thankful for this opportunity to glorify our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. This is a sermon that might be airing soon. It is entitled "the weakness of God"

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 1:14 AM | 1 comments    

Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
Genesis 1:2 And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.

Genesis 1:2 is not a part of the creation process. The six days of creation following Genesis 1:2 are actually six days of recreation. During those days God restores the original creation of v.1 which had been destroyed in v.2.
So what you have is the following:

A) God creates the original heaven and earth in v.1. Everything is complete and we are not told how he did it or how long it took him.
The anointed Cherub is Lucipher who’s God’s right-hand over the universe.
According to 2 Peter 3:5 that earth was standing in the water and out of the water. So it was like a ball floating in the waters of space with probably half of it sticking out of the water like a dome.
I realize this looks like left-field to most readers but if you will read on you might find out that the whole thing is a lot more scriptural that you thought.

B) At some point, Lucipher rebels as described in Isaiah 14 and decides to overthrow God. The whole thing ends in a debacle, God floods the universe and turns off the lights.
Genesis 1:2 is a snapshot of that.

C) In Genesis 1:3 God turns back on the lights.

D) In Genesis 1:7 God restores the water-damage, revealing the universe.

E) In Genesis 1:9 God restores the water-damage, revealing the earth.

F) In Genesis 1:27 God replaces Lucipher with Adam, only smaller, because
the last free-willed son of God ruined the universe.

Amongst believers who deny the gap between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2, I personally have met very, very few who have actually taken the time to sit down and sketch out the creative process of Genesis 1 while satisfying all verses. That includes preachers and teachers. The careful reader will soon find himself in a Gordian knot that only the gap can untie. I attempted enumerating a few strings of that knot but found it so bewildering that I just thought it best to leave it to you, gentle reader, to make sense of the account without the gap.

I am thoroughly aware of all objections. I will not here concentrate on meeting them, but on proving positively that Genesis 1 is so written as to present an account of the recreation of the universe. Whatever objections you have left, or new ones that might arise, I will be willing to meet specifically.
Above all arguments, towers the inspired system of studying the word of God, which is comparing scripture with scripture as outlined in Isaiah 28:9-10 and 1 Corinthians 2:13. So if I want to know if “without form, and void” is a positive or negative expression, I search out those words as they appear in the rest of the Bible in order to understand the connotation.
And those are things which “cannot be spoken against.” (Acts 19:36)

Let it lastly be said that I do not believe in the gap because I’m looking for a way to reconcile what “science falsely so-called” presents as a ridiculously old earth. I believe it because that what the scriptures present.
After all, I do contend that there’s a gargantuan body of water North of deep space that separates the universe from the third heaven. I further believe that the earth is recreated before the sun. So with positions like these, I hope it will be obvious to the honest reader that I am not pandering to the scientific world.

Scripture With Scripture

Isaiah 55:11 So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void,

If God’s word does not return unto him void, how could the earth have been created void by his word?

Jeremiah 4:23 I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.

Three elements match Genesis 1:2; lack of form, void, and darkness.The words without form, and void; are used in the context of destruction, not creation.

Nahum 2:10 She is empty, and void, and waste:

The word void is used in the context of destruction. It is associated with waste, i.e. the destruction caused the void.

Isaiah 53:2 For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

It's not that Jesus Christ didn't have a shape, for in Isaiah 52:14 he is said to have a form.
But he had ¨¨no form¨¨ in the sense that he had no comeliness, no beauty.
Similarly, it's not that the earth had no shape at all, but it was without form in the sense that it was a jumbled up, beat up, unrecognizable mess; just like Jesus' face and body were after the beating he went through. (See Isaiah 52:14!). Yet again the context is judgment and the idea negative.

This is nobody's private interpretation but the Holy Spirit's own comments on the words.

The World That Then Was

2Peter 3:5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
2Peter 3:6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
2Peter 3:7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.

That he isn’t speaking of Noah’s flood is apparent from the following:

1. In the overflow Peter is referring to, the heavens also perished, implying that the heavens of today (v.7) are not the heavens that were there then, hence he calls them “old”.
The problem is that:

A) The heavens did not perish in Noah's flood, only the earth did.

B) The heavens is always a term that includes space. The atmosphere is called “heaven”, but never “heavens”.
Peter is saying that all of deep space perished in that particular overflow. That certainly did not happen in Noah’s flood.

2. Nor did the earth perish in Noah’s flood. We still have the same earth as Noah, as evidenced by the residual oceans. For earth to perish would mean for it to disintegrate. According to Peter in the same chapter, there will come a day when the heavens and the earth shall be so destroyed that God will have to make what is termed as new heavens and a new earth because the former will have perished.
That destruction is so complete that the earth is said to be dissolved (vss.10-11). It is in comparison to that kind of destruction that the next earth is termed ``new``. No such destruction befell Noah’s earth. It just got washed of its filth.
So today’s earth is a not a new earth compared to Noah’s in that sense, nor is it ever called "new".
Today's earth is the same earth that Noah walked on and cannot be termed "new" in comparison. But it can be termed new in comparison to the earth of Genesis 1:2 which was "without form, and void".


3. Peter is then drawing symmetry between the destruction of Genesis 1:2 and the destruction of 2 Peter 3:7,12.

We were fellowshipping at a brother's house a couple of months ago one Saturday night.

We do not take God's word or the preaching thereof irreverently.

We love our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the things of God and the fellowship of his saints.

We realize this kind of fun may strike you as crazy, but it sure beats getting drunk with fake friends, acting like a fool and waking up with a hangover to stare at the vanity of your life.

May this encourage some weary soul.

"He is able to deliver thee"

"Will your anchor hold?"

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 1:19 AM | 1 comments    

Labels: videos

Someone sent this to me a few years back..I don't know who wrote it but thought it was great.

A letter to the editor complained:

I've gone to church for 30yrs now. I've heard something like 3,000 sermons. But for the life of me, I can't remember a single one of them. So, I think that I am wasting my time, the pastors are wasting theirs by giving sermons at all.

This started a controversy that went on for weeks, to the delight of the Editor, until someone wrote this clincher.

I've been married for 30yrs now. In that time, my wife has cooked some 32,000 meals. But for the life of me, I cannot recall the entire menu for a single one of those meals.I do know this..They nourished me, and gave me the strength I needed to do my work. If my wife had not given me those meals, I would be physically dead today. Likewise, if I had not gone to church for nourrishment, I would be spiritually dead today!

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 2:17 PM | 0 comments    

C.I. Scofield's notes remain some of the best notes on the Bible ever published. It is remarkable that a man could have so little and relatively minor errors in such a large work. Scofield was an honest and courageous dispensationalist who never flinched on the doctrine of the 1000 years reign of the Lord Jesus Christ on this earth and never confused Israel with the church of God. The Lord gave him special insight into many other areas of scripture. This list is a work-in-progress seeking simply to alert people to some mistakes in his notes.Given the popularity of the Scofield Bible, and the fact that no list of errors exists on the internet that I could find (only the ramblings of poor students of the word who seek to destroy the man and his work) I thought it useful to write it.


2 Timothy 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Genesis 6:4

A) « Sons of God » is only used of angels in the Old Testament.

B) They are not spoken of in a sexless way; they are spoken of as males.
(See Scofield’s own note in Hebrews 1 :4)

C) They may not marry but they can still take on physical form and fornicate with human women.
Moreover Matthew 22 :30 refers specifically to angels « in heaven ».

D) Whether « the uniform Hebrew and Christian interpretation has been that verse 2 marks the breaking down of the separation between the godly line of Seth and the godless line of Cain » is for one thing questionable and for another, irrelevant in light of scripture.

· Exodus 29:33, Leviticus 16:6

The word « atonement » is the correct translation.

· Leviticus 11:2

The dietary regulations are primarily for the sake of teaching the people of God about the
holiness of God.

· Leviticus 11:6

The arnebeth and the hare are identical. To this day “Arneb” in Arabic means hare. The error is due to Scofield’s assumption that they’re different.

· Numbers 22:22

In v.12 God forbids Balaam to go with the messengers of Balak. In v.19 Balaam tries once more to get an O.K . In v.20 God tells him that if the men come to call him again, then he could go. The men never do and Balaam never waits for them to do so. He automatically packs up and leaves with them. That was not what God had told him to do, hence God’s anger.

· 2 Samuel 18:18

The second view is the correct one. Absalom is a type of the antichrist who
loses all his children.

· 1 Chronicles 11:5

The word Sion in Hebrews 12:22 is most certainly not used symbolically but quite literally, as in all other passages of the Bible.

· Job 32:2

Job 38:2 is not God’s judgment of Elihu’s words but of Job’s.

· Job 38:1

God answered Job, not « for Job ». The paraphrase is wrong and confusing.

· Psalm 2:12

(3) The titles of the Psalms are exactly where the Holy Spirit wants them.


· Psalm 8

(1) Again, the title is in its right place.

· Psalm 19:9

The « fear of the Lord » means the FEAR of the Lord, not « reverential trust, with hatred of evil ».

· Psalm 22:27

It wasn’t partial but complete nudity.

· Song of Solomon 2:14

Yet again, the A.V. text is correct. The way to God is not a process and hence the translation cannot be « the secret of the stairs ».

· Isaiah 2:2

A mountain, in Scripture symbolism, means a mountain.

· Isaiah 26:19

Eliminate Scofield’s correction to the A.V. text.

· Isaiah 63:16

No Old Testament believer was ever « born anew » in the scriptures.


· Ezekiel 8:3

It’s not « as if he were transported back to Jerusalem ». He was transported back to Jerusalem from the river Chebar, just like John was transported into heaven from the island of Patmos.

· Ezekiel 28:12

It’s the king of Tyre that’s being addressed indirectly, not Satan.

· Ezekiel 37:1

The resurrection of the dry bones is a literal resurrection, not merely a symbolic one.

· Daniel 7:2

The sea, in scripture imagery, stands for a sea.

· Daniel 7:17, 8 :1, Revelation 13:2

The vision of Nebuchadnezzar does not cover the same historic order as the vision of Daniel. Daniel identifies the head of gold as Nebuchadnezzar and therefore as the Babylonian kingdom. But concerning Daniel’s own vision of the beasts, he is told by the angel that these are four beasts « which shall arise ». The Babylonian kingdom was already there at the time of Daniel’s vision. It was present, not future. The four beasts are four kingdoms that come after Babylon. That makes the last beast, which is divers from the first ones, the kindgom of the antichrist, not the Roman kingdom, although the former derives from the latter.


· Daniel 7:26, 8:9-10

(2) The little horn of Daniel 7 is the little horn of Daniel 8, which is the antichrist. Antiochus Epiphanes was nothing more than a historical type, just like Hitler was a historical type of the antichrist and not the antichrist himself.
Daniel 8:10 is Revelation 12.

· Daniel 8 :13

The fulfillment of ``the transgression of desolation`` is only that of the beast’s. All others were mere historical types.

· Daniel 9 :24

V. 25 is a reference to Messiah`s crucifixion, not birth, for the 69 weeks terminate the very day Jesus Christ is crucified.
V.26 is fulfilled by the destruction of the city by the antichrist, not by Titus in 70 A.D. That was, yet again, a historical type.

· Daniel 9 :27

In Daniel 11 :31 the reference is the the act of the antichrist and is yet future. Once more, the act of Antiochus Epiphanes was a mere adumbration of the real thing.

· Daniel 11 :2

Just forget about Antiochus. The personage who here occupies the vision is the antichrist himself.


· Daniel 11 :35

It had always been the little horn, way before v.36.
The expression ``God of his fathers`` does point to a Jew and this does not conflict with Daniel 9 :26 because the antichrist will be a Roman Catholic Jew.

· Joel 2 :11

The army of his v.11 is the same army of verses 1 to 10.

· Micah 4 :1

In scripture, a mountain is the symbol for a mountain. See Isaiah 2:2.

· Micah 5 :1

Revelation 12 :2,5 is not a reference to Christ. See reference for note.

· Habakkuk 2 :5

Scripture reveals hell as a place of sorrow and fire.

· Zechariah 1 :20

They’re four carpenters and they’re literal ones too.

· Zechariah 8 :14

God doesn’t just seem to change his mind. He really does. That doesn’t contradict
James 1 :17. Where God binds himself to a position, he never changes his mind.
Where he doesn’t bind himself, he repents himself based on man’s free will which he gave him.

· Zechariah 10 :4

The past tense is correct. The scriptures wherein the past tense is used for a future event are too numerous to list.

· Zechariah 11 :11

The church, corporately, is in Old Testament prophecy. It just isn’t revealed until the New Testament. Like Bullinger, Scofield is confusing revelation with origin.

· Zechariah 12 :1

The ``latter rain`` is a literal expression. There’s a supernatural rainstorm associated with the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Under (d), where he says ``absolute equity will be enforced``, beware not to read
``equality``.

The majority of earth’s inhabitants will be lost, not saved. Revelation 20 :8.

· Zechariah 14 :4

The earthquake is caused by the foot of the Lord Jesus Christ coming into contact with the soil.

· Malachi 3 :6

Note (6) is utter rubbish. That which exists ``in the infinite being of God and answers to these things- eyes, a hand, feet``; happens to be actual eyes, and hands and and feet.

· Matthew 3 :2

Note (b) The fulfilment of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven takes place at the end of the tribulation and not at the end of the present church age.

· Matthew 4 :21

Not two but three persons are called James in the New Testament. James the Lord’s brother, was just that; the Lord’s brother by Mary, not his cousin. And he isn’t the author of the epistle of James. James Zebedee, brother of John, martyred in Acts 12 :2, is the author of the epistle of James.

· Matthew 5 :22

Hell and the lake of fire are not identical. Hell is the temporary holding cell before unforgiven sinners are locked up eternally in the lack of fire. You can never be saved from the second death once you’re in hell. You just go out of the fire and into the frying pan.

· Matthew 7 :22

The Bible doesn’t use the word ``demons`` but ``devils``, which reveals the fact that they are spawned by the devil. These are different than fallen angels. Some are human, like Judas Iscariot, while some are mere spirits which may have been disembodied. The locusts of Revelation 9 are not devils.

· Matthew 10 :2

Note (4) The keys to the kingdom of heaven are not just given to Peter but to all twelve disciples in Matthew 18 :18, including Judas.

· Matthew 13 :11

If Scofield wanted to name all things spoken of as a mystery in the Bible, he would have had to add a few more such as ``the mystery of the faith``(1 Timothy 3 :9) ; ``the mystery of his will``(Ephesians 1 :9) ; etc...

But the Bible presents 7 mysteries per se. As Scofield lists them these are :

(2) The mystery of Israel’s blindness (Romans 11 :25)
(3) The mystery of the translation of living and dead (not just living) saints of the church age ( 1 Corinthians 15 : 51-52, 1 Thessalonians 4 :13-18)
(4) and (5) are one and the same. That one body composed of Jew and Gentile is the body of Christ.
(6) The mystery of the inliving Christ (Colossians 1 :26-27)
(8) The mystery of Godliness ( 1 Timothy 3 :16)
(9) The mystery of iniquity ( 2 Thessalonians 2 :7)
(11) The mystery of Babylon (Revelation 17 :5,7)

· Matthew 13 :17

In wasn’t only ``what manner of time`` that the prophets searched to understand but also ``what`` the Spirit meant. 1 Peter 1 :11

· Matthew 17 :2

(2) The explanation of the types is good but should be applied to the tribulation saints who get raptured, living and dead; and not to the church, whose type is Enoch.

· Marc 16 :9

The Sinaiticus and Vaticanus are the two most corrupt manuscripts ever found. One of them was found in a garbage bin. The contain uncountable emmendations, internal and external contradictions. The case has often been made, even through books, for the last 12 verses of Marc.

· Marc 16 :14

It is rather ironic that one should deny the literal reading of a verse whose very authenticity one has just doubted. The Holy Ghost said eleven because he meant eleven. He is referring to the twelve disciples minus Judas, which makes eleven.

· Luke 11 :13

Many forget that Martha also, not just Peter, confessed Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. John 11 :27.

· Luke 16 :23

Hades always was a reference to the burning sector where the dead go and not an overall term designating both the abodes of the saved and lost.
``Hell`` is the Holy Ghost’s translation of ``Hades``and in every case refers to that part of the underworld where the lost go and are in torment in flames of fire.
Christ never adopted a single Talmudic designation a day in his earthly life.

· Luke 17 :21

The « within » is wrongly contested because it is assumed that saying that the kingdom of God is within a group of people is equivalent to saying that they’re saved and therefore how could a bunch of unregenerate Pharisees be saved?
For one thing, salvation is when someone enters the kingdom of God, not when the kingdom of God enters them.
The « within » of the A.V. 1611 is shown to be accurate if one simply remembers the english meaning of the word « kingdom ». A kingdom designates a particular area or sphere of dominion.
All that the Lord is saying here is that the sphere of the kingdom of God is on the inside and not on the outside as is the case with the kingdom of heaven. This is clear for Paul defines the kingdom of God as follows in Romans 14:17 “For the kingdom of God is not meat and drink; but righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.”
Those are all things whose sphere is “within”, not among. The Holy Ghost comes into believers, not among them or in their midst.

The Lord is taking the Pharisees for a ride, because they did not divide between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of heaven, just like most of modern Christian scholarship. They specifically asked “when the kingdom of GOD should come” not the kingdom of heaven. So the Lord takes the opportunity to teach them a lesson in rightly dividing the word of truth by pointing out, in his own unique way, that that kingdom is spiritual and hence its targeted area is within them: their spirit and soul. That’s why it can only be entered by a spiritual, inner birth, as the Lord taught Nicodemus.

· Luke 21 :20

Verses 20 to 24 in Luke are just as much a reference to the final tribulation siege of Jerusalem as Matthew’s are.

· John 1 :18

Not quite. Some men had seen the Son whom in the trinity, stands for the body, as the Holy Spirit stands for the spirit, and the Father for the soul. God’s soul no man has ever seen at any time.

· Acts 9 :20

Scofield is a way off here. For one thing, though the truth that Christ was God was plainly taught by Isaiah, it wasn’t believed, just like many other teachings of the prophets. Scofield’s note also creates the impression that everyone naturally believed that the Christ would be God the Son and that the only problem was identifying who’s the Christ.
Such an assumption is inexplicable given the gospel narrative. Contradicting the sense of the Authorized Version is a fundamentally spiritual problem rather than intellectual one. See Hebrews 5 :6 note.

· Acts 19 :2

The A.V. words are correct. The second part of the note is accurate.

· 1 Corinthians 1 :8

See also 2 Thessalonians 2 : 2 note.
The day of Christ does not relate exclusively ``to the reward and blessing of saints at His coming``. The expression covers the rapture of the church before the tribulation as well as the second advent of the Lord Jesus Christ at the end of the tribulation.

· 1 Corinthians 2 :13, Revelation 22 :19 (3 superscript)

Here Scofield ignores the scriptures’ own testimony concerning the matter and buckles under scholarly pressure. See Hebrews 5 :6 note.
Watch how the credit due the Holy Ghost is transferred unto men and observe the inherent contradictions :
``The writers of Scripture invariably affirm, where the subject is mentioned by them at all, that the words (emphasis in original) of their writings are divinely taught. This of necessity, refers to the original documents, not to translations and versions; but the labours of competent scholars (emphasis mine) have brought our English version to a degree of perfection so remarkable that we may confidently rest upon them as authoritative.``

A) Why it is of necessity is not explained, only assumed by natural reasoning, not taught by divine revelation.

B) In more than one instance the scriptures bear testimony that a translation and a copy can be as inspired as the original authographs. If that were not the case, than the inspiration of the original document would be futile. Why would God inspire something he wouldn’t preserve?!

C) What may be rested upon as authoritative according to Scofield are ``translations and versions``.
Yet ``the writers of Scripture affirm`` that their WORDS, not only the document as whole, are inspired, not simply ``authoritative``. There’s a huge difference between words and versions, and between inspired and authoritative. There’s a giant chasm between inspired words and authoritative versions, which chasm God would never allow to separate us from his words given his insistent emphasis that we need every word that proceeds out of his mouth to live!

D) Why God would go through the trouble of inspiring the writings of ``holy men of old`` that people may read his pure words but leave scholars to fend for themselves in extracting those very words, without guiding them by his Holy Ghost in the process, is a mystery no scholar dares discuss. Maybe because those scholars weren’t ``holy men``...
Christians believe that they can’t get to heaven despite their best efforts, that they can’t live the Christian life outside the grace of God, that they can’t survive without the sustenance of God, and that without Jesus Christ they can do nothing; and yet, marvel of marvels, when it comes to God’s words, the subject dearest to his heart, they believe that God gets the ball rolling, then forever abandons men to rely on their own intellects and education, and efforts in order to retrieve his words which he allowed to fall by the way side some hundreds of years. That is nothing short of spiritual madness.


· 1 Corinthians 10 :8

While there may be discrepancies in some Hebrew manuscripts, there aren’t any in the A.V. 1611. If there wasn’t a flawless Bible on earth today, the scripture would be broken (Psalm 12 :6-7, Matthew 24 :35, Mark 13 :31, Luke 21 :33)


· 1 Corinthians 15 :52

To understand Scofield’s note one must remember that the ``first resurrection`` of Revelation of 20 :5 is compared to a harvest which has three phases : one resurrection of the first fruits, which took place after Jesus’ resurrection (Matthew 27 :52-53). That was a resurrection of SOME of the O.T. saints. Then there’s the main harvest which is the resurrection of the church ONLY. Finally there are the gleanings, which is the resurrection of the tribulation saints plus the rest of the O.T. saints who weren’t resurrected in Matthew 27 :52-53.
So Scofield is wrong in saying that the O.T. saints are raised up with the church. See also 1 Thessalonians 4 :17 note

· Ephesians 1 :3

The note is completely arbitrary. Heaven is a literal, physical, geographical dimension, not an experience or a state. The born-again Christian is somehow literally represented in the third heaven, geographically (see Ephesians 2 :6) even while he lives bodily on the earth; similarly to Jesus Christ during his earthly life. See John 3 :13. The ``places`` is especially leading.

· Philippians 1 :1

Strictly speaking, it is not the local church that is the temple of God but the bodies of the believers.

· 1 Thessalonians 4 :17

Only church saints have a part in this resurrection. The first resurrection is not limited to the church’s resurrection. See 1 Corinthians 15 :52 note.


· 2 Thessalonians 2 :3

(3) The classic interpretation has been that v.7 refers to the Holy Spirit who’s refraining the manifestation of the antichrist until he is taken out of the way.
But there’s no reference to the Holy Spirit in the context. According to Ruckman, there’s a cog in the wheel that’s keeping the man of sin from showing up as the son of perdition.
(2) The apostasy is not that of the professing church, which is inconsequential and senseless, but of the true church, hence Laodicea. See 1 Timothy 3 :15 note; 2 Timothy 3 :1 note.

· 1 Timothy 3 :15

Apostasy is never restricted to nominal Christianity in the Bible. To restrict apostasy to unbelievers is unscriptural, smacks of the fear of man, and underestimates the deceitfulness of the old nature in true believers. In fact, apostasy is exclusively used of saved believers who knowingly reject revealed scriptural truth. See 2 Timothy 3 :1 note; 2 Thessalonians 2 :3 note.

· 2 Timothy 3 :1

In ``professed Christians``, cross out ``professed``. There’s no apostasy in the passage because Paul is talking about lost men. Scofield inserts his note on apostasy here because he limits apostasy to lost professing Christians, which is exactly the opposite view of the Bible. How apostates can ``depart from the faith``, which faith they never had to begin with, is not explained. Scofield simply has in mind lost people who once spoke as Christians and quit doing so. But revealing one’s true colours and apostasy are two widely different things.


The greatest apostasy within English-speaking Christianity today is the forsaking of the King James Bible and of the promises of God that he would preserve all his words through time and translations. See 1 Timothy 3 :15 note; 2 Thessalonians 2 :3 note.

· Titus 1 :5

(2) The bishop is the pastor. The elders are deacons. That one man was head is clear from the sheer fact that Paul charges one man, even Titus, to ordain the elders and does not leave their ordination to the elders themsevles. Moreover, Philippians 1 :1 mentions bishops and deacons. That the persons and their respective office is not meant but in fact two different offices, is obvious,. There are to be sure ``differences of administrations`` (1 Corinthians 12 :5) but Scofield’s Brethren affiliation is a little too evident.

· Hebrews 1 :4

Scofield is correct in drawing attention to the varied uses of the word ``angel`` in scripture. Another usage is that of appearance or representation.

· Hebrews 5 :6

Here we have a stupendous example of how the fleshly intellect of even a Christian of Scofield’s eminent stature can cause a man to disbelieve and over-rule the words of the living God. Scofield gives the interpretation of Melchizedek as being ``My king is righteous``. Yet the Holy Ghost himself defines it as first ``king of righteousness``, then ``king of peace`` in Hebrews 7 :2. The reason why Scofield gives ``my king is righteous`` is because he trusts secular etymology more than the revelation of the Holy Ghost. There can be no other explanation.
Arabic is this writer’s native tongue. In Arabic, a Shemitic language, as Hebrew, Melchizedek, as it stands, could mean ``my king is righteous`` but more so it could mean ``my reign is righteous``.
But Scofield might not have had access to that. The point is etymology which is not inspired is never completely authoritative because it is always controversial and shifting, so it is irrelevant when faced with the Bible’s own God-given definition.
The reference he gives, Isaiah 11 :5 is actually closer to Hebrews 7 :2 for the word there is ``righteousness``, not ``righteous``. But why Scofield gives Isaiah 11 :5 as a cross-reference instead of Hebrews 7 :2 is utterly bewildering. Truly, the problem is a spiritual and not an intellectual one.

· Hebrews 6 :4

Scofield fails here where most of Christianity does because of a lack of division.
Hebrews 6 :4-8 and Hebrews 10 :26-39 do indeed teach loss of salvation but not for the church age dispensation. Those passages deal with Jews who believe during the tribulation after the church has been raptured. The tribulation is a period wherein loss of salvation is possible because the law comes back just as it was in the Old Testament.
Failing to rightly divide the word of truth, Scofield had to explain away the passage since it clearly conflicted with the Pauline epistles and John’s gospel, which make it abundantly clear that a man cannot lose his salvation. But Paul is writing there to a church age believer, not a tribulation Jew as in Hebrews.

· Hebrews 10 :5

The note is essentially correct. The last sentence however is wrong. The variant form is simply adapted to the dispensation in question.
For instance : Isaiah 28 :16 says
``Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste. ``
Paul quotes that in Romans 9:33 as
``As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.``

There Paul, by inspiration of the Holy Ghost, applies Isaiah 28:16 to the salvation of Gentiles from hell by obtaining the free righteousness of God by faith.
However that is not ``the deeper meaning``of Isaiah 28:16. Isaiah is referring to the fact that Jews who believe the testimony of Jesus Christ during the tribulation won’t have to literally run away from ``the overflowing scourge`` of v.16 whereas those who covenanted with hell will.

· Introduction to James

James is not an epistle to Christians by any stretch. It was written before the Pauline epistles to ``the twelve tribes`` (James 1:1) of Israel. The context is Jewish and is doctrinally addressed to Jewish believers during the tribulation.
The author is James Zebedee, brother of John, who is martyred in Acts 12:2, not James the Lord’s brother.

· 1 Peter 1:2, 1 Peter 1:20

``But scripture nowhere declares what it is in the divine foreknowledge which determines the divine election and predestination.`` is another whopper. Scofield missed it because it was too simple. The criterion determined by God for election is faith in Jesus Christ. God decided before the foundation of the world that his criterion for choosing who gets saved would be faith in his Son. So those who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ get forgiven and get predestinated to escape hell, get adopted as sons, end up in New Jerusalem in a mansion with a new body with Jesus Christ. ( John 1 :12, Romans 10 :13, Ephesians 1 :13 etc...)
So Scofield unwittingly answers himself when he says that ``this election is certain to every believer by the mere fact that he believes``.

· 2 Peter 1 :19

It is not more sure because it is fulfilled in part. That interpretation doesn’t make sense of the passage. Peter is comparing words. He’s saying that the written word in your Bible is more sure than the word he heard with his ears on the mount of transfiguration.

· Jude 11

(Balaam) Scofield says that Balaam figured he could curse Israel because ``he was blind to the higher morality of the Cross.`` You can blame Balaam for a lot of things but that isn’t one of them. The cross wasn’t till 1500 years after Balaam. Scofield uncharacteristically here adopts that peculiar mindset of non-dispensational Christianity which makes salvation uniform throughout all the Bible. Nobody was ever saved by looking forward to the cross in the Old Testament. The disciples were missing the cross almost till they saw it, all the while being foretold by Christ.
If anyone was in effect so saved in the O.T. that would mean they differentiated between the first and second advent of Christ, which would contradict 1 Peter 1 :10-11 which states that they didn’t.
As far as God is concerned, when it comes to Israel’s enemies, Israel is sinless. Period. Yes all sins could only bee taken away by the blood of Christ 1500 years later, but many in Israel perished in that episode with Moab, and died lost because of their own sins. Knowing that would happen, God still refused to uphold Balaam’s curse against them.
Balaam was blind to the higher morality of God’s unconditional covenant with Abraham.

· Revelation 13 :2

Rome is the leopard. The three beasts preceed the kingdom of Antichrist which is Daniel’s 4th and divers beast and stems out of the Roman empire. See Daniel 7 :17 note.

· Revelation 13 :16

Scofield’s note is a bit confusing. The spirit of antichrist according to John denies that Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and denies the Father and the Son.

· Revelation 14 :6

(2) The gospel of the grace of God is defined in 1 Corinthians 15 :1-4. The reference is surprisingly missing from such a long paragraph.
III. In Colosse the human merit which is mingled is not fanaticism but asceticism.


· Revelation 18 :2

The note is questionable. Larkin also differentiates between political and ecclesiastical Babylon but Ruckman doesn’t. One thing is sure, Babylon is a literal principality in the heavens and has a literal counterpart on earth. Revelation 17 clearly teaches that Babylon is Rome.

. Revelation 19 :8

True, but here the verse is clearly referring to ``the righteousness of saints`` which is not saving righteousness but good works wrought by believers AFTER salvation. God’s righteousness clothes the inside, the righteousness of saints clothes the outside. (Psalm 45 :13-14)


. Revelation 19 :17

Armageddon is actually where the battle ends, not begins. The Lord lands first at Sinai and goes up fighting to Armageddon, which is the last and final clash before the millennial kingdom of Jesus Christ is established.

. Revelation 19 :19

``The day of the Lord`` has more than one application in the Bible depending on the context. It can refer to the great tribulation, the second advent, the end of the millennium, and sometimes even encompasses the rapture of the church before the tribulation.

. Revelation 20 :11

This is another such case as ``the day of the Lord``. ``The day of judgment`` can refer to the great tribulation, the second advent, or the great white throne judgment at the end of the millennium depending on the context. ``The day of destruction`` shows up once in Job 21 :30 and is a reference to the second advent.

. Revelation 22 :19 (4 superscript)

(3) The recipient is not a ``new creation`` but a ``new creature``. He isn’t recreated he’s reborn.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 1:46 PM | 1 comments    

Labels: bible studies

1Corinthians 1:25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.


2Corinthians 13:4 For though he was crucified through weakness, yet he liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but we shall live with him by the power of God toward you.

The weakness of God is stronger than men; one of the first and last things Paul ever tells the Corinthians.

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;
:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

I`m preaching the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ.
When I say “the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ” I’m not referring to the fact that he was crucified by men. I’m referring to the fact that the whole operation belonged to him and was under his control. It was HIS crucifixion.

Verses 14 and 15 of Colossians 2 burst with the glorious power of the crucified Son of God. There’s so much going in these few words it hurts to think about it. I do not claim to fully understand everything that’s going on here but I’d like to give you a sketch of the spiritual context before showing you a couple things that the Lord showed me in those verses.

Colossians chapter 2 attacks with the intent to destroy 2 things : philosophy and religion. Paul presents philosophy as primarily the sphere of men and religion as primarily the sphere of angelic beings. If you understood the implications of that it would send a shiver or two up your spine. The central part of Colossians 2 hinges on the crucifixion of the Lord of glory. Philosophy and Religion are both destroyed in the cross.

But tonight I want to preach on neither; both those things have gotten undeserved recognition. Look again at verses 14-15 and go back with me 2000 years in time. Or as far as God is concerned, 2 days ago.
I want to show you a couple of reasons why the Lamb is worthy of your worship.


Let me ask you a question.

Colossians 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

According to Paul, who’s doing the nailing?

He is. He was giving the Roman soldiers the breath to live and the strength to pound the nails. “…in him we live and move and have our being” right? He was controlling their blood pressure, their breathing, their articulations… He was a carpenter. He had pounded nails all his life. “Friend, that nail is loose. Make it fast; more deft in the motion. Don’t forget my feet now, men sin with their feet too…”
Now if you think four rusty Roman nails could keep the Lord of glory stuck on a piece of wood you’re gravely mistaken. You say ‘nobody believes that’. Well every crucifix testifies to that belief in people. It occurred to me that some people may be so bent on having a cross with Jesus on it because they wish he never got off.
You don’t know who Jesus Christ is if you think Roman nails could pin down the one who pinned up the earth in the void of space.
He was doing the nailing. And he was nailing the coffin on our sin. Those nails were meant to keep our sin up against the cross, under the sun, then covered by darkness, lest it should crawl off the tree for shame. He bare our sins in his own body then he drove the nails of judgment through his own flesh. That’s the reason why you can have the promise of the redemption of your body, and not only of your soul: body for body, soul for soul.

The Lord Jesus Christ is to be praised because the weakness of God is stronger than men.

He made it his own cross.
He didn’t nail the handwriting of ordinances to a cross, he nailed it to his cross. He made that piece of wood his own. He took ownership of it. And why shouldn’t he? He had given that tree life. It wasn’t a cross that the Romans imposed upon him and it wasn’t a cross that the Jews imposed upon him. It was a cross that he nourished, it was a cross that he chose and it was a cross that he carried up Calvary’s mountain.
Going up Golgotha was not any more imposed upon Jesus Christ than going up in the way to Bethel was imposed upon Elisha by the little children when they mocked him, saying : Go up, thou bald head.
Have you ever encountered such people? You’re on your way out of the door and they say `go out the door` and feel proud that they commanded and you obeyed. That’s how it was with Jesus Christ. He was doing the will of his Father, having his face set like a flint. All the counsels and all the devices of all the hosts of heaven and earth, whether principalities or powers or thrones or dominions, or kings or princes or nobles or rulers or priests, were as immaterial to the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ as the commandment of the little children was to Elisha’s going up the way that he had set his face to go up.
If the Roman soldiers had refused to lift up that cross that morning, the Lord of glory would have lifted himself up by his bootstraps and planted that piece of wood into the cursed ground.
It was his operation, his crucifixion, his arena. By virtue of the word of his power the soil was his, the tree was his, Jerusalem was his, the soldiers were his, the priests were his, the hammer and nails were his, the spear was his, the crown of thorns was his and the atonement was ours! He set up the whole thing.

He was completely, totally and utterly in control of the situation. That’s why he could afford so calmly to tell the daughters of Jerusalem to weep over themselves instead of him. Movies like “the Passion of the Christ” have the wrong emphasis. I’m waiting for the crucifixion movie that emphasizes the wretched sinfulness of man and the power of God to redeem.

The Lord Jesus Christ won the heart of the battle a few hours before the cross. It was over the moment he got up off his knees in the garden of Gethsemane.
It’s because he got on his knees that he could bare his feet crucified. It’s because his elbows bore into the sod that he could bare his hands crucified. It’s because he bowed his head that he could bear it crowned with thorns. It’s because he sweat great drops of blood that he could bare having it all shed from his side.
The moment the Lord Jesus Christ got off those powerful knees of his in the garden, it was game over for Satan. Sports analysts always look for the turning point of a game. The Lord walks over to the disciples and says « Rise, let us be going ». There’s your turning point.

Now when he said « I’m going to the cross » it wasn’t with any more trepidation than when he said « I’m going to my Father ».

The Lord Jesus Christ is to be praised because the weakness of God is stronger than men.

And one day, the Lord will tell us the same thing with the same voice of assurance « Rise, let us be going ». Meanwhile, as you’re waiting for him like the disciples did, you just find life so unbearable because you don’t bare serious prayer.


Colossians 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

Those principalities and powers are very much interested in keeping men under the bondage of religion. The Son of God delivered us from the fear of death and from the devil who had the power of death. Now Colossians 2:15 is a snapshot of a brutal spiritual battle that I don’t quite understand. It is a broad verse.

Boxers will sometimes offer to fight their opponent with one hand tied behind their back. The Son of God tied both his hands and feet and still made a publick spectacle of Satan’s heroes.

Everything I am about to list is attested by a verse of scripture:

They accused him of breaking the sabbath, he perfected atonement in the end of an high sabbath.
They conspired to cut off his name, he prayed to blot out theirs.
They said “this people who knoweth not the law are cursed”, he redeemed us from the curse of the law.
They judged him in the morning, he will judge them in the kingdom morning.
They asked “art thou the Son of the Blessed,” he said “he is my Father”.
They asked “what is truth?”, he said “I am the truth”.
They asked “art thou the king of the Jews?”, he said I am the King of Kings.
One asked “who is the LORD?”, he answered “what is man?”
They took him from prison, he preached delivrance to the captives.
They cried “Away with him”, he took out of the way the handwriting of ordinances.
They said his blood be upon us, he’ll rain blood upon them.
They gave him vinegar to drink, he’ll give them wormwood to drink.
They stripped him publickly, he made a shew of them openly.
They clothed him with a scarlet robe, he’ll clothe them with shame and dip his vesture in blood.
They crowned him with a crown of thorns, that same crown will flourish.
They handed him a reed, his rod will bud.
They beat him with the reed, he’ll break them in pieces with a rod of iron.
They bound him, he bound the strong man.
They led him away captive, he led captivity captive.
They made him bare the cross, he bore our sorrows and carried our griefs on top of it.
They hung him between two thieves, he will sit between Moses and Elijah.
They lift him up from the earth, he was taken up to heaven.
They tempted him to come down from the cross, he’s going to come down from heaven.
They nailed him, he nailed our sins.
They tore his flesh, he rent the veil.
They said we see, he covered the land with darkness.
They destroyed his temple, he rebuilt it in 3 days.
They spoiled him, he spoiled principalities and powers.
They gnashed upon him with their teeth and cast scorning in his, he’ll break the teeth of the ungodly and make his own white with milk.
They sealed his tomb, he sealed his saints.
They buried him, he resurrected.
They inclosed him in hell, he walked out with the keys.

Because the weakness of God is stronger than men.

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 8:17 PM | 2 comments    

Labels: sermons

Right after the flood, when Noah came forth out of the ark, he builded an altar unto the Lord; and took of every clean beast, and of every clean fowl, and offered burnt offerings on the altar.

And the Lord smelled a sweet saviour [BBQ lamb chops] and the Lord said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man's sake;
for the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

And God blessed Noah and spake to him saying behold I establish my covenant with you and your seed after you. This is the token of the covenant. I do set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me and the earth.

And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the cloud: And I will remember my covenant. And the bow shall be in the cloud; and I will look upon it, that I may remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is upon the earth.

The above are words compiled from the account of the Flood in Genesis Chapter 9. To me, it is quite clear that God put HIS bow in the cloud. He looks upon it and remembers a covenant He made towards ALL flesh (you and me included).

God spoke of an "everlasting covenant". Today, the rainbow (or what God called "my bow") is used to tell a very different story.

Can someone explain to me, please, how did we get from there to here. Or may be the Lord just knew what would happen, when close to five thousand years ago, he said the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth.

Posted by Consecrated at 11:41 AM | 3 comments    

The consistency of numerical patterns in the Bible is one of many infallible proofs of its inspiration. Remember the Bible is made up of 66 books written by 38 authors across 1800 years in 3 languages on 3 continents, by people of all walks of life writing against their own people and government. With this said, observe:

1. The 5 kings rebel against Chedorlaomer king of Elam in the 13th year. (Genesis 14:4)

2. 13 is Ishmael’s age when he was circumcised. Ishmael was “born after the flesh” (Galatians 4:29)

3. Haman’s commandment “to destroy, to kill, and to cause to perish, all Jews, both young and old, little children and women, […]and to take the spoil of them for a prey.” was written on the 13th day of the 1st month. The day for carrying out the commandment was to be year later to the day, on the 13th of the 1st month, according to (Esther 3 verse 13).

4. Nimrod, a type of the antichrist, is the 13th from Adam (1 Chronicles 1:10)

5. Manasseh, the most evil king of Judah, is the 13th king from the division of the kingdom.

6. It took Solomon 7 years to finish the house of God (1 Kings 6:38). He spends 13 years on his own house. ( 1 Kings 7:1)

8. Jesus lists 13 evil things that proceed out of a man’s heart in Mark 7:21-22

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 9:49 PM | 2 comments    

Labels: bible studies

Open
John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

The Lord Jesus Christ is no pusher. He doesn’t push eternal life on anybody.
Jesus Christ is a puller.

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

Hosea 11:3 I taught Ephraim also to go, taking them by their arms; but they knew not that I healed them.
:4 I drew them with cords of a man, with bands of love: and I was to them as they that take off the yoke on their jaws, and I laid meat unto them.

If you only knew who is that God that has kept you alive by his grace so far. If only your eyes were opened to know him. I want your eyes to be opened by God.

Romans 2:4 Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering; not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?

He hasn’t kept you alive that you might go on sinning. He told the woman taken in adultery “go and sin no more”.
He hasn’t healed you that you might sin the better, he told the old man by the pool “sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto thee. “

He hasn’t kept you alive because you’re such an intelligent swell guy. He’s kept you alive hoping that finally you’d wake up and realize who he is and what you are; that you might look upon thy maker, thy redeemer, and give him your heart; that he may obtain the reward of his suffering, even your soul, your love, your loyalty, your obedience, your praise.

A man may ask ``well about the hard times I’ve suffered``, where was God’s goodness there? Assuming you weren’t reaping what you sowed I’ll tell you this: you’ve all heard the expression

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink.

In days gone by, our forefathers knew that if a horse had been sick and is weak and in danger of going down, you could put a little salt in his oats and that salt would draw it to the watering trough and make it drink.

That’s how the Lord God deals with many people because they’re too drugged up to feel their thirst and that they`re are about to die of dehydration! So he’ll do anything he can to draw you to the water of life without denying the free will he gave you.

:13 Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:

The more you drink alcohol the more you thirst. It’s a cruel master. The more you serve it the less it feeds you.
The more you smoke the less you breathe.
The more you consume the less you’re filled.

Whosoever drinketh of this water SHALL thirst again.

That’s not some psychologist’s opinion. That’s a statement of fact uttered by the Creator of heaven and earth.

He’s saying, buddy if you ain’t got me, you’ll go back to it, every time, just as sure as a man goes for water when he’s thirsty.

Whosoever drinketh of this water SHALL thirst again.

Don’t get fooled now, it won’t be “just this once”, it won’t be “one last time”, it won’t be “one more binge then I’ll quit”.

Why? Because: Whosoever drinketh of this water SHALL thirst again.

:14 But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

That’s literal. Spiritual doesn’t mean not-literal.

Open

John 7:37 In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
:38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
:39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Here you have the Lord God of heaven and earth standing in the midst of a monstrous religious ceremony and as he looks around he perceives that his creation is dying of spiritual thirst! Smack dab in the middle of a national religious festival.
Everything in him wants to bring this madness to a screeching halt. STOP THAT STOP IT, ENOUGH.
Aghast at the madness of men, he rushes up, stands in a visible place and shouts with all the strength in his lungs:

IF ANY MAN THIRST, LET HIM COME UNTO ME, AND DRINK. HE THAT BELIEVETH ON ME, AS THE SCRIPTURE HATH SAID, OUT OF HIS BELLY SHALL FLOW RIVERS OF LIVING WATER.

The Lord Jesus Christ has been glorified. He has been received up into glory after his resurrection and is right now seated on the right hand of the Father in the third heaven.

And the offer is more valid today, it is more urgent today than ever it was. And that offer is not eternal.

Isaiah 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

Isaiah 55:1 Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
:2 Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.
:3 Incline your ear, and come unto me: hear, and your soul shall live; and I will make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of David.

For you it is free, but for the Lord it wasn’t. Your salvation from hell cost him his blood. He payed for your soul with his own lifeblood.
Christians sing an hymn which says “great price of my pardon his own precious Son”. I love that line.
Now you can simply walk up and buy those waters. The currency is the blood of the Lamb of God. It buys full and eternal forgiveness of sins. It never gets depreciated, just underappreciated.

That’s some expensive water, and unlike Evian, it’s worth it. You’ll never thirst again.

Jeremiah 2:12 Be astonished, O ye heavens, at this, and be horribly afraid, be ye very desolate, saith the LORD.
:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.

God doesn’t invoke the witness of the earth. The world, as usual, doesn’t care.

John 1 [10] He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

That woman had the glory of everlasting life staring her in the eyeballs through the eyes of a man, never suspecting that salvation could be as easy as meeting a man, who happened to be God.

[11] He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

Some knew who he was and rejected him. Do you know why men don’t like the idea of God becoming man. Because it brings God so near that his holiness is too close for comfort. It reveals God as a personal God, interested in your thoughts and actions. That’s too close for comfort for those who love darkness. So they reject the light of the world. They love filthiness, so they reject the water of life.

The Lord set up things so that all life depends on water that comes from above. If your land is thirsty then you’re scanning the heaven for clouds of hope. He made it that way to teach mankind a spiritual lesson: life depends on heaven for water. (Just like it does for light)

Remember the verse

John 12:32 And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.

He was lifted up from the earth by a tree: the cross.

John 19 :34 But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

The water which came from his side came from above.

The word of God calls Jesus Christ "the dayspring from on high" Luke 1:78

You know where some of you are stuck? You’re stuck at the well, like that woman. You’re looking down to quench your thirst, just like that woman.
Pick up that cigarette butt out of the garbage, pick up that coin on the street, pick up that needle on the ground…You shall thirst again.

You can’t make a horse drink and you can’t make a pig look up. Did you know that? Their skeletal structure is designed to look down and move sideways. They can only lift their heads to see 70 degrees from the ground.

What about you?

Jeremiah 2:13 they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters,

He was offering the living waters for free, yet they chose rather to work for them, breaking their backs to hew cisterns that could hold no water.

He said ``two evils``: ingratitude and folly.

Empty cisterns were used as prisons. So Joseph was cast into a "pit" (Genesis 37:22); Jeremiah into one miry at the bottom, and so deep that he was let down by cords (Jeremiah 38:6)

Cisterns yield only a limited supply of water, not an overflowing spring. The stonework of tanks often becomes broken, and the water leaks into the earth; and, at best, the water is not fresh long.
The cistern would hold you captive but let the water escape.
Joseph and Jeremiah cried their hearts out to be delivered.

What moldy, stagnant water are you drinking: Alcohol, drugs, sex, gambling?

What cistern are you building around you? Often the wells are more outwardly beautiful on the outside than drugs and alcohol but just as filthy on the inside. What’s your golden sewer?
Religion? Philosophy? Education? Science? Politics? Morality?
Congratulations, you’re choosing and building your own private prison.

The Lord’s heart is breaking. Crucified, his side poured out blood then water.

You don’t get to taste the water of life until you’ve been washed in the blood of its author.
Yet the Lord Jesus Christ is ignored, rejected, lightly esteemed, by men who are dying of thirst; men who would rather toil and drink their own sweat than confess their wretchedness.
What’s wrong with a man admitting the truth? “Lord, I’ve tried it all, and it’s a cruel mess that I’ve made of my life. I’m thirstier today then ever I was. I’m tired of trying to find satisfaction my way. Here am I, a sinful, rebellious fool. That book says you can satisfy my deep thirst and forgive all my sins. Lord Jesus, please give me of that water of yours, save me from the flames of hell and from my own wretchedness!”

What’s wrong with that?

But there are many who would rather drink sewage water than pray such a prayer from the heart to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well to you I say; don’t be surprised if the Lord treats you as a sewage rat on the day of the judgment.
Remember the rich man in hell, who begged to have Lazarus dip his finger in water and cross over to touch his tongue. If your tongue won’t ask for the living water that the Lord Jesus Christ offers you so freely today, rest assured that you will spend eternity panting for water.

You know what that woman ended up doing after meeting Jesus Christ in person? Look at verse

[28] The woman then left her waterpot,

She left her water pot. Some of you just can’t let go of that "pot". She just didn’t need it anymore; she wasn’t dependent on it anymore. She had drunk of the fountain of living waters.
Some of you here just can’t seem to let go of your sin, of your addiction.
You’re never going to lose your addiction; you’re going to have to leave it.

But you know what your problem is? You’ve never met Jesus Christ in person yet. You’ve never had a head-on collision with him. You still think he’s a great Jewish man who showed up 2000 years ago in dusty Israel. You still don’t get who he is and you still don’t know the gift of God.

So many folks say they ask for salvation everynight. Have you ever called on the Lord Jesus Christ to save you?

"Oh sure, everynight I do".

Buddy, YOU SHALL THIRST AGAIN.

Salvation is one-time deal. It is a single drink. Jesus Christ said that you "shall never thirst".
If you ask to be forgiven and saved from hell every night it's because you're still drinking the wrong water. You're still stuck at the well, having to go back and forth to draw out dead water.
Only once did water come out of the Lord's side. Only once do you need to drink. I had that drink back in the Spring of 1989. Praise God I'm still satisfied.
Your problem is that you're still depending on your self, on your ability to go out to the well and return, day in day out. You had better bring the fountain of living waters to you and get it in you because one day your body will give out and collapse. Receive Jesus Christ by faith into your heart; you'll never have to go to that well again.

Now to the believers here I’d like to say that Jesus Christ only ever asked for 2 things in his life. Both times it was for a drink of water. He never got either.
He never got it from that woman, and he never got it on the cross when he said "I thirst". Too many of you are concerned with what Jesus Christ can do for you and you never think of what you could do for him.

To the rest I’d like to say this:

John 4:10 Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.


Salvation is as easy as drinking a glass of water. Some of you philosophical types die of thirst while debating whether the glass is half-empty or half-full. The water won’t do you any good in the glass. You could even bathe in a fountain and still die of thirst. The water’s got to get in you.

(Drink)

You can stick 60 000 things in your mouth but you can’t drink a cup of the water of life?!

Romans10: 8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Some of you can smell a good deal a mile off. But the natural man is so spiritually deficient he can’t spot eternal life and satisfaction for free when it’s staring him in the eyeballs.

One hell-bound sinner, after having licked-up the barrel’s bottom, sat down in his misery and wrote:
“I can’t get no satisfaction”. And just to prove it to you he repeats the chorus a dozen times. Of course the devil does everything with style. He gives the guy a nice tune to go with the words and watches as millions of miserable pitiful wretches sing themselves to death.

What a loser. I got my satisfaction; my Lord Jesus.

Born-again Christians sing a hymn called "Satisfied".

Posted by Revelation 2:17 at 1:10 PM | 3 comments    

Labels: sermons