Monday, June 26, 2017

GodsView : It Will Happen!

GodsView : It Will Happen!: 14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will c...

It Will Happen!

14And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come. 15So when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in the holy place (let the reader understand), 16then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. —Matthew 24:14-16

In Matthew 24, Jesus gave us some clear connecting points between Daniel 9 and the Book of Revelation. If we are going to be diligent about Bible reading, we are going to have to learn how to read prophetic passages. God is very clear that a prophet speaking for Him must be exactly right or he should be killed! (see Deuteronomy 18:20-21) This means the “prophets” featured in the supermarket papers wouldn’t last long!
Some of the things that happen through church history to make the fulfillment of prophesy apparent to the people of God are what are called “touchdown fulfillments.” Not the ultimate fulfillment, but an intermediate fulfillment. Take, for example, the prophecy of Isaiah 7:14, “A virgin shall conceive and bear a son.” There was a fulfillment of that in Isaiah’s day; and then ultimately in Christ.
The prophesy of Joel 2 mentioned in Acts 2 about young men dreaming dreams and old men seeing visions. That was fulfilled in Joel’s day and again in the birth of the Church, and there will be an ultimate fulfillment of that prophecy in the time ahead.
So it is with the Matthew 24 passage and the “abomination of desolation” that Jesus mentioned. Interesting, in 175 B.C., Antiochus the IV, a Syrian king, took the name Theos Epiphanes which means God Manifested. He marched through the Holy Land, down to Egypt. But because he was turned back (in 170 B.C.), he had such anger that he took it out on the Nation of Israel. He went into the Holy of Holies in the Temple and offered a pig on the altar there. And then he forced Jewish people to eat that meat and to bow down to him.
Now Theos Epiphanes had a bit of an ego problem, right? “Just call me God Manifested.” Eighty thousand Jews refused to bow down to him and they were all murdered in the streets of Jerusalem. Daniel’s prophecy was fulfilled and will be fulfilled again in the end.
Biblical prophecy is not a fantasy movie script. These are realities. And God has given us times in history to see a touchdown fulfillment of it. So we’re like, “That could totally happen. I can see that happening. It has happened — It will happen!” Like that. The ultimate fulfillment of the abomination of desolation is yet future, as Matthew points out when he notes, “let the reader understand.” Let’s anticipate God’s promises every day!

Sunday, June 18, 2017

GodsView : Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?

GodsView : Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?: If you and your spouse really love each other, won't that hold you steady when the storms come? Not necessarily--and certainly no...

Is Love Enough to Make Marriage Succeed?

If you and your spouse really love each other, won't that hold you steady when the storms come?
Not necessarily--and certainly not if you are thinking of love as a romantic feeling. Feeling wonderful about one another does not make two people compatible over the long haul. Many couples assume that the excitement of their courtship will continue for the rest of their lives. That virtually never occurs! It is naive to expect two unique individuals to mesh together like a couple of machines and to remain exhilarated throughout life. Even gears have multiple cogs with rough edges to be honed before they will work in concert.
That honing process usually occurs in the first year or two of marriage. The foundation for all that is to follow is laid in those critical months. What often occurs at this time is a dramatic struggle for power in the relationship. Who will lead? Who will follow? Who will determine how the money is spent? Who will get his or her way in times of disagreement? Everything is up for grabs in the beginning, and the way these early decisions are made will set the stage for the future. The apostle Paul gave us the divine perspective on human relationships--not only in marriage, but in every dimension of life. He wrote, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves" (Philippians 2:3).
That one verse contains more wisdom than most marriage manuals combined. If heeded, it could virtually eliminate divorce from the catalog of human experience. It will give you stability when the storms begin to howl.

Sunday, June 11, 2017

GodsView : Abortion in Cases of Rape, Incest, Disability?

GodsView : Abortion in Cases of Rape, Incest, Disability?: There are those who think your position on abortion is extreme because you wouldn't even permit it in cases of incest, rape, or whe...

Abortion in Cases of Rape, Incest, Disability?

There are those who think your position on abortion is extreme because you wouldn't even permit it in cases of incest, rape, or when the child is defective. How do you justify such a position?
Only in rare instances when the life of the mother is literally at stake do I feel we have the moral authority to destroy a developing fetus. My reasoning is based on this simple question: Is there any fundamental difference between a baby who resides in his mother's uterus and one who has made an eight-inch journey down the birth canal? If so, what is that difference? At what point in the birth process does God's mantle of humanness fall upon an individual? Is there anything particularly mystical about the expulsion from the mother's body that could account for a transformation from mere protoplasm to a human being with an eternal soul? I think not. Surely the Lord does not look upon the baby inside the uterus with any less love and concern than one who enters the world a few minutes later. The only difference between them is that one can be seen and the other cannot.
If that premise can be accepted, then it is equally immoral to kill either those born or those yet to be born. Physical and intellectual health and the nature of conception are irrelevant to the issue. Even most pro-abortionists would not propose that we destroy children arriving in the delivery room with unexpected deficiencies. Indeed, the authorities would charge them with murder for killing a neonate who lacked adequate cognitive function or who had only a few weeks to live. We would be obligated morally and legally to let nature take its course, regardless of the severity of the baby's condition. Likewise, we would not kill a one-day-old infant who was conceived in a rape or an incident of incest.
Once born, the deliberate destruction of life is unthinkable. Why, then, is such a baby considered "fair game" when he resides within his mother's uterus? It is true that the law sometimes recognizes a different status for those born versus those unborn, but the law in those instances is wrong. There is no biological or moral basis for this distinction. Infanticide merely seems acceptable when we don't have to witness the death process of a tiny victim we have not yet met.
Therefore all the arguments in favor of terminating the defective or handicapped unborn child must be weighed against this understanding, including, "he's going to die anyway," "he'll only suffer if we let him live," "his life will only bring pain to his parents," "he has no chance of living a normal life," and "this is really the best way out for everyone concerned." When applied to the baby who has managed to limp into this world, the evil of these rationalizations becomes apparent. No justification will permit us to give a newborn a lethal injection of cyanide. But hours earlier, when the mother's contractions have not yet begun, some would feel righteously justified in tearing the same defective or ill-conceived infant to pieces. The proposition is categorically immoral in my view.
I am aware that these views are infinitely easier to articulate from a philosophical or theological perspective than they are for the mother or father who must face them personally. Of special concern is the woman who is carrying a baby conceived during a rape. Her pain and agony are beyond expression. I am convinced, however, that such a mother, if she carries the baby to term and either keeps her baby or places it up for adoption, will never regret her decision. What is right and moral for the unborn child is ultimately best for the mother and father, too. I know this statement will be inflammatory to some, but it is what I sincerely believe.

Monday, June 5, 2017

GodsView : Saved? From What?

GodsView : Saved? From What?: Whenever I have preached through the story of Jesus' birth, I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. ...

Saved? From What?

Whenever I have preached through the story of Jesus' birth, I am struck with the simplicity and profundity of the Christian gospel. You can see it from the very beginning. It's right there in what the angel said to Joseph, "You shall call His name Jesus, for it is He who will save His people from their sins" (Matt. 1:21).
When the Father gave the incarnate Son a name, He proclaimed His rescue mission in no uncertain terms. Jesus, the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name Joshua, means "Savior." Now, "there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men, by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Jesus is the Savior — that's been the joyful news from the start.
But you might ask: "A Savior? To save me from what?" That's certainly a fair question. The word savior implies that we need to be saved from something. Saved is a synonym for rescued or delivered. It implies there's some kind of threatening condition, a dangerous, desperate, or deadly condition from which we need to be rescued. The question is, from what?
If you listen to the way some preachers speak about the gospel, quite frankly, the condition of unbelief doesn't sound so grave. You get the idea that humanity mainly needs to be rescued from its lack of fulfillment. Maybe your marriage hasn't worked out according to plan; or your child isn't turning out to be tomorrow's Copernicus or Einstein; or your dream career has turned out to be a dead end. You understand. You look at the travel brochures; you really want a month in Europe, but you end up with a three-day trip to see the in-laws. Life just doesn't deliver.
According to the gospel some are preaching, Jesus will take care of all that. Jesus will fix your marriage; He'll help you raise confident kids, brimming with self-esteem; He'll help you climb that corporate ladder or breathe new life into your business. The only danger from which you need salvation is the shattering of all your dreams. Everything you've longed for has turned out to be a nightmare, and that's the way it's going to end. But Jesus will take care of it — He'll rescue you from your unfulfilled life.
I've also heard people presenting the gospel as if the great hope of salvation is relief from debilitating habits. Jesus has come to enable you to get control of your life. He's the step stool, the boost you need to get out of the hole you've fallen into. That salvation is especially attractive to a society like ours that is overcome by lust and passion. Many are enslaved by sinful habits: drinking, smoking, pornography, even overeating. Obesity is on the rise in many countries — in America it's almost epidemic. Angry outbursts and uncontrolled tempers destroy homes and relationships. Sexual sin, both homosexual and heterosexual, plagues the entire world — AIDS ravishes entire continents. But Jesus will come along and fix all that. He'll pluck you out of the flood of dissipation by saving you from your drives and desires so you won't destroy your life.
Will the gospel deliver you from an unfulfilled life? From enslavement to debilitating habits? Absolutely, but that needs to be qualified. There is a sense in which the gospel secondarily makes an application to those things. When you are genuinely converted, you belong to God and the Holy Spirit takes up residence in your heart. You do have a new reason to live; you have the hope of eternal life and the promise of heaven. That has a dramatic effect on the lack of fulfillment in life. And when you experience the power of the Holy Spirit to change you, you'll see victory over the debilitating habits and passions that your sinful nature generates. That's all true. But those are not the primary issues in salvation.
Finding fulfillment and overcoming bad habits cannot be the most important concerns of the gospel. Why not? Because not everybody in the world is unfulfilled. In fact, I think this idea of lacking fulfillment is a byproduct of our western culture. Throughout the world, there are many who live expecting very little out of life. They don't experience a lack of fulfillment — there's nothing to fulfill. On the other hand, many people are very content with their present condition. They've got all the wine, women, and song money can buy. And not everyone is driven to a point of desperation and disaster by their passions either. There are people who have a certain measure of self-control. So those things cannot be the universal problem.
The real problem is sin and guilt. That's the issue. God sent Jesus Christ to rescue us from the consequence of our sin, and everybody falls into the category of sinner. It doesn't matter whether you're among the haves or the have-nots, whether you have great expectations or none at all, whether you're consumed by your passions or exhibit a degree of self-control and discipline — you are still a sinner. You have broken the law of God and He's angry about it. Unless something happens to change your condition, you're on your way to eternal hell. You need to be rescued from the consequences of your sin. Those are the principal issues the gospel solves.
The truth is, even when you are delivered from the ultimate danger of God's wrath against sin, you might never realize your dreams. When you come to Christ, the Lord realigns your thinking so that all you ever wanted, all you used to strive for, you count as loss, waste, garbage (cf. Paul in Phil. 3:4-8). Coming to Christ means the end of you. Also, though you'll experience the power of the Holy Spirit to gain victory over sin, you may never attain total dominance over your drives and passions this side of heaven. Like Paul, you will strive with sin to your dying day (cf. Rom. 7:13-25). Issues of fulfillment and sinful passions will be dealt with, in the Lord's time and in the Lord's way. So if you've come to Christ primarily to find fulfillment or to escape from bad habits, Jesus may not be what you're looking for.
The church needs to get back to remembering that God sent His Son into the world to save His people from their sins. A proper presentation of the gospel should focus on that. The angel told Joseph: "He is the one who will save His people from their sins. That is why you must name Him Jesus." Humanity's real destroyer is sin, and the guilt for sin is a real guilt, a God-imposed guilt that damns to eternal hell. That is why people need to be saved, rescued, and delivered. That is what people must understand in the gospel, and that is what we must proclaim.