"The Childhood of Jesus" l CLASS OF DOLPHIN LIBRARY l Bible Teaching University l School of the Bible l Night School

The Childhood of Jesus

The birth of Jesus is covered well by three of the four gospels. After that, none of the gospels tell us about the childhood years of our Lord until he reached the age of 12. Luke tells us about an event in the life of Jesus in Jerusalem which resembled a modern day Jewish Bar Mitzvah.

It is likely that by the time of that event, Jesus had been made aware by his Father that He was the appointed Messiah. As He grew up, Jesus found that the Old Testament had already written much about Him, by way of telling the story of His life and death in advance.

“(Jesus’) parents went to Jerusalem every year at the Feast of the Passover. And when He was twelve years old, they went up to Jerusalem according to the custom of the feast. When they had finished the days, as they returned, the Boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in the company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking Him. Now so it was that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both listening to them and asking them questions. And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.” And He said to them, “Why did you seek Me? Did you not know that I must be about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Then He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was subject to them, but His mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men." (Luke 2:41-52)

We know little of Joseph after Jesus was born. The family fled to Egypt for a season to escape Herod’s wrath. Then they settled in Nazareth, a small village in Galilee, the traditional family home. Probably Joseph died there having fathered at least six children by Mary. The “public ministry of Jesus” started when Jesus was “about thirty.”  (Luke 3:23)

While he was growing up, Jesus probably had the entire responsibility of caring for his mother and the family in a modest house in Nazareth. (The family was poor). Joseph was a ”carpenter,”(Mt 13:55, Mark 6:3) and as far as we know, he died before Jesus left home to begin his 3-year public ministry.

Individual Jewish families did not own Bibles as we do today. The Bible (the Tanach, or Old Testament) was kept in the form of scrolls in local synagogues. Yet Jesus knew the Bible well and quoted from many books of the Bible from memory during His public ministry.

He also found time also to pray to that He could immediately respond to the Father's wishes. Ray Stedman mentions that there is no record in the gospels of Jesus ever laughing. His mission in life was not about enjoying social events, sightseeing, climbing a ladder to success, or marrying and raising a big family. He was "a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief."

When Jesus came back to Nazareth early in his public ministry, the townspeople were amazed, “Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” And they were offended at Him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house.” (Mark 6:1-4)
Mystic arts and Esoteric Religion book stores often carry books on “The Lost Years of Jesus.” None of these “lost years books” can be reconciled with the Bible.  However there is much information hidden away in the Old Testament telling us about the life of Jesus.

A particular group of Psalms known as the "Messianic Psalms" (referred to in the New Testament) give us information about the Messiah that we would not otherwise have.  (See Psalms 2, 8, 16, 22, 40, 41, 45, 68, 69, 89, 102, 110, and 118.)

I happened to be listening to Chuck Missler's commentary on the Psalms recently. Chuck mentioned something special about Psalm 69. Although I had to read that Psalm many times I had not seen in it what Chuck pointed out, though it should have been obvious.

 I remembered that Ray Stedman, my mentor, had suggested that Christians could enlist their "sanctified imagination" in discovering layers of truth in the Bible that were not immediately obvious to a purely rational mind.

This particular Psalm, as far as we know, was written by King David sometime around 1000 BC. Like all of Scripture the Bible is "God breathed," and the true author is God the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew and loved the Psalms and it's fairly obvious that David knew Jesus in the same personal way we Christians today can know Him.

Philippians 2 explains that the Second Person of the godhead, God the Son, chose to lay aside His powers as God and to become the man Jesus, primarily in order to undertake the enormous task of reconciling sinful man to God by means of His death on a cross, thus making it possible for a Holy God to forgive us sinners and to make us new creatures, when we assent to His Lordship over us.
During His sojourn on earth as a man, Jesus did everything in total dependence upon the indwelling Father. Jesus demonstrated how a normal man with no sin would live.

 To qualify as a suitable sacrifice for our sins Jesus had to be free from any and all inherited ("original") sin in his person--in body, soul and spirit. He also had to live a sinless life by every daily choice. He matured as a human being under tests and trials until He was fully grown. (The age of thirty was the age a priest began to serve under the Law of Moses).

The "Bar Mitzvah" of Jesus was different from any other. I believe that it was at the age that Jesus was made aware of His mission on earth and of the crucial importance of resisting all temptation. As the years progressed the magnitude and weight of His assignment would be something He never lost sight of for a moment. Furthermore, Jesus could not act on own natural power as a man—He had voluntarily set aside His right to act on his powers and resources as God the Son, before He came to earth. He had to depend on the Father for every daily action.

The Father empowered Him as well, for the power to carry out all responsibilities, large or small. (We, on the other hand, as forgiven sinners, regenerated and filled with the Holy Spirit, can and do fail repeatedly. We must go back to God for forgiveness and mercy every day.) Jesus did not have this freedom to make any wrong choices.  He had to live a "perfect" life.

Jesus was 100% righteous. As C.S. Lewis has said, He endured forces of temptation and testing far more severe than any of us ever has to endure. God's true Lamb had to be without spot or blemish all the way up to His crucifixion. Then instead of simply dying, all human sin from creation to Judgment Day was transferred to Him. Jesus bore the punishment for everyone sins. (SeeJesus' Death: Six Hours of Eternity on the Cross, http://ldolphin.org/sixhours.html). In the deep mystery of the cross, God suffers not only in time but also in eternity for our sins, yet the work of the cross is now finished completely and our complete cleansing of all sin and new-creation is guaranteed.

With these brief background notes, see if you can agree with me that Psalm 69 gives us clear allusions as to how Jesus felt and what He endured as a child growing up into mature manhood destined to be the one suitable human sacrifice for every sin ever committed on earth. Use your sanctified imagination and write me if you see things I have missed. Feel free to disagree if your "sanctified imagination" leads you to somewhat different conclusions.

Psalm 69
<<To the Chief Musician. Set to “The Lilies.” A Psalm of David.>>

1  Save me, O God! For the waters have come up to my neck.

2 I sink in deep mire, Where there is no standing; 
I have come into deep waters, Where the floods overflow me.
[Verses 1-2 suggest Jeremiah sinking in the mud of a cistern after being throw there because what He had written offended the king. Jonah quoted from the Psalms when he was trapped in the belly of a great fish, about to drown and be suffocated and possibly digested.]

3 I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God.
[Verse 3 fits many situation and many trials common to God's people down through all the ages, and to events in the life of Jesus such as His ordeal in the Garden of Gethsemane.]

4 Those who hate me without a cause Are more than the hairs of my head; 
[Many godly men and women have been hated, tortured and killed because of their faith. But Jesus remains the most hated of all men who have ever lived.]

They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; 
[Leaders in the world are often corrupt and turn from serving the people and God, imprisoning and killing the righteous. The enemies of Jesus had no cause to hate Him and oppose Him.]

Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it.
[Rather than referring to a specific incident, since Jesus never stole anything, could this not apply to an incident in His childhood when Jesus was falsely accused and perhaps wrongly punished on set-up charges?]

5 O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You.
[Ray Stedman notes in his study of Psalm 40 that Jesus was made to be sin for us.]

6 Let not those who wait for You, O Lord GOD of hosts, be ashamed because of me; 
[Perhaps: "...may I not be a cause of stumbling because of my failure to walk closely with you. Judge my private life as well as my public life."]

Let not those who seek You be confounded because of me, O God of Israel.
['Israel is Your chosen people, Lord, your gold standard for the behavior of people who know you.  Above all of my fellow country men I stand before you, Father, as "true Israel" as your servant Isaiah predicted.']

7 Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face.
[Being maligned, judged, penalized for the wrong doings of others awakens in us sinners a desire for revenge or a false sense of shame.]

8 I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children;
['Father,' Jesus may have felt, 'my half brothers and sisters treat me as an outsider, as a bastard son with no known father.' 'Around Nazareth I am considered illegitimate and my own mother is not well-thought of because of me.']

9 Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, 
And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me.
[Israel was in a very low state when Jesus lived among them. Knowing what they were supposed to be as a people surely angered Jesus. He, the fully innocent one, was constantly accused of wrongdoing by the townsfolk.]

10 When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, That became my reproach.
11 I also made sackcloth my garment; I became a byword to them.
[As a true believer in a nation of mostly unbelievers, Jesus was belittled and maligned when His life style made Him to appear "holier than thou." In fact He was only living the normal life of a "true" (righteous) Jew.]

[12 Those who sit in the gate speak against me, And I am the song of the drunkards.
[The town gate is where business and governmental affairs were conducted. Jesus was constantly "the talk of the town," in a derogatory way--all of His life. In the taverns, singers sang bawdy songs taunting Him.]

13  But as for me, my prayer is to You, O LORD, in the acceptable time; 
O God, in the multitude of Your mercy, Hear me in the truth of Your salvation.
[From boyhood until His resurrection, Jesus looked to His heavenly Father constantly for the strength to live a godly life, to endure pain and hatred from His own people, to please the Father. It is likely He had no close friends and companions. Even at the end of His life His disciples barely grasped what He wanted them to know.]

14 Deliver me out of the mire, And let me not sink; Let me be delivered from those who hate me, And out of the deep waters.

15 Let not the floodwater overflow me, Nor let the deep swallow me up; And let not the pit shut its mouth on me.

16 Hear me, O LORD, for Your lovingkindness is good; Turn to me according to the multitude of Your tender mercies.

17 And do not hide Your face from Your servant, For I am in trouble; Hear me speedily.

18 Draw near to my soul, and redeem it; Deliver me because of my enemies.

19 You know my reproach, my shame, and my dishonor; My adversaries are all before You.
20 Reproach has broken my heart, And I am full of heaviness; 

I looked for someone to take pity, but there was none; And for comforters, but I found none.
21 They also gave me gall for my food, And for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
[Verses 14-21 takes us through the entire life of Jesus up through His agonizing death on the cross. Jesus endured.]

22 ¶ Let their table become a snare before them, And their well-being a trap.

23 Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see; And make their loins shake continually.

24 Pour out Your indignation upon them, And let Your wrathful anger take hold of them.

25 Let their dwelling place be desolate; Let no one live in their tents.

26 For they persecute the ones You have struck, And talk of the grief of those You have wounded.

27 Add iniquity to their iniquity, And let them not come into Your righteousness.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, And not be written with the righteous.
29 But I am poor and sorrowful; Let Your salvation, O God, set me up on high.

[Verses 22-29 constitute an "imprecatory prayer."  This is a prayer asking God to bring justice to Jesus' enemies. This powerful prayer is about the real enemies of Jesus who opposed Him, tracked Him down and killed Him. They then went on to persecute all His followers. These hardened sinners, who know who Jesus was full well, had refused mercy and grace long term, thus passing "beyond the pale." They were guilty of the sin which could not be forgiven.]

30 ¶ I will praise the name of God with a song, And will magnify Him with thanksgiving.
31 This also shall please the LORD better than an ox or bull, Which has horns and hooves.
32 The humble shall see this and be glad; And you who seek God, your hearts shall live.
33 For the LORD hears the poor, And does not despise His prisoners.

[After enduring the full work on the cross atoning for the sins of all of us, Jesus "dismissed His spirit, saying, "It is finished." The resurrection brought great liberation for Him and all His followers which continues to work out down through all subsequent history.]

34 Let heaven and earth praise Him, The seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion And build the cities of Judah, That they may dwell there and possess it.

36 Also, the descendants of His servants shall inherit it, And those who love His name shall dwell in it.

[The full work of redemption for Israel by Jesus includes God honoring all of His promises to Israel, at long last. Isaiah 49:6 says that God will also bring us gentiles into the family God as an extra blessing (a Bride) rewarding the faithfulness of His Son.]

There is only one way to know and that is through the man Jesus Christ. In order for us to benefit from His work on the cross we must place our full trust in Jesus Christ as our Master. We are urged to go beyond a merely formal commitment to Jesus--we are to know Him intimately and personally, as a bride and bridegroom know one another after they take the solemn vows of a marriage covenant.

Usually we open our hearts and lives in a general way to "knowing Jesus" on Sundays at church. We may even renew our commitment to Jesus at Easter and Christmas, and when hard times roll in. This is not enough it turns out.

At what point did Jesus begin to devote all His time and energy to God the Father on our behalf? Was it on the cross? Psalm 69 and other similar Scriptures remind us that we can come to understand that Jesus is able to relate to us at any age. Jesus loves lonely boys and girls, mistreated children, the fatherless and motherless of this world.

 He knows how we all felt growing up. The life of Jesus as He was growing up was surely a lonely life. He lacked a balanced and healthy family to be part of. He was a social outcast from an early age--no one wants to hang out with the most religious kid in town whose life style puts us all to shame. Jesus was born and grew up at a time when the spiritual life of Israel was at a very low ebb. He had no living mentors to learn from, no trusted friends to pray with.

It is true that our sins were transferred to Jesus during his last 3 hours on the cross. But He began to identity, to pray and to serve His people from his boyhood until His death. "He came unto His own but His own received Him not..."

Therefore Jesus understands us whether we are very young or very old. "...they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them; but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. But when Jesus saw it, He was greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God." (Mark 10:13-14)

Psalm 40 is all about the resurrection of Jesus. Ray Stedman's excellent commentary is on my site at http://www.ldolphin.org/Psalm40.html.

"The Great Division Coming" l CLASS OF DOLPHIN LIBRARY l Bible Teaching University l School of the Bible l Night School

The Great Division Coming

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I believe I am among a sizeable subset of Christians in this country who believes that the United States is now on the fast track to judgment. Down through history the Bible shows that God periodically judges individual nations for their bad conduct. He chastens by lowering a nation's position, status, wealth and power among the other nations. He destroys by war, by famine, plague, or natural disasters.

God judges individuals, both those who believe and those who do not. "For if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world." (1 Corinthians 11:31, 32).

Many once-great nations are now completely extinct (see the series by Ray Stedman, "Behind History," http://www.raystedman.org/new-testament/matthew). There has never yet been a "Christian nation" on earth. It is the spiritual vitality of Christian churches within a nation that makes the difference.

Human beings are fallen and nations are fallen. "Fallen" speaks of a departure from righteousness, justice, and truth. Nations are often led by corrupt dictators--and the entire world system is ruled over by Satan. Nations with large numbers of professing Christians may not be more righteous than nations with a relatively few Christians who are mostly Philadelphian in their church leadership style (see http://ldolphin.org/cleanpages/rev02.html). This is the reality of the world we were born into.

“Blessed be the name of God forever and ever, For wisdom and might are His. And He changes the times and the seasons; He removes kings and raises up kings; He gives wisdom to the wise And knowledge to those who have understanding. He reveals deep and secret things; He knows what is in the darkness, And light dwells with Him." the Prophet Daniel, (Daniel 2:20-22)

Nations are made up of individuals and every individual born on earth accumulates a personal debt of accountability to God over a lifetime. God's final score with us is settled when we die. It is not enough for us Christians to watch the world around us headed for judgment, our escape and deliverance from that judgment means we must lay hold of the saving life of Jesus the Lord and cooperate with God instead of resisting Him.

There are actually only two churches on earth. One is being built by God and the other is not. (Ray Stedman, "Two Churches, God's and Man's," http://raystedman.org/thematic-studies/prophecy/two-churches-gods-and-mans). As one might suspect, the true church now being built by God, is quite small.

In his latest book, "Maximum Faith: Live Like Jesus," Researcher George Barna reports that his recently completed six-year survey and study shows that only about 1% of Americans are actually living genuine lives of belief and life-style that can pass New Testament muster. Please read this book and pass it along.

 "The numbers obtained in these three tables are not exactly the profile you'd expect for people whose life assignment is to imitate God, be holy, and serve as a light to the world.
Not surprisingly, this state of affairs has crippled the Christian Church in this country. The behavior of alleged Christians has darkened the image of the Christian faith and diminished the influence of Christianity's role in our culture. It has left tens of millions of spiritually-inclined people dissatisfied with their personal faith experience, the depth of their moral influence, and the value of their connection to the broader community of Christians and faith-based institutions. Things haven't worked out as expected.
An optimistic spin on these figures, though, is that the journey to wholeness remains available to everyone -- even those who have been utterly complacent to this point -- if they are simply willing to walk alongside Jesus. Imagine the difference it would make in individual lives, as well as in American society if all who considered themselves to be Christ followers accepted God's invitation to pursue a fuller and more fulfilling life with Him. The world would be turned upside down." (Maximum Faith... page 42).

God brought the people of Israel together at Mt. Sinai, there forming them into a nation (about 1500 BC). This was just after He delivered them from 430 years of enslavement in Egypt. The Lord God promised Israel that they would have a permanent place in history, eventually assuming leadership over all of the ~70 nations in the world. This covenant God made with Israel extends earlier unconditional promises with Israel given to Moses.

These promises have never been rescinded or altered. Some students of the Bible have failed to notice that the right of the Jews to live in the land given to Abraham and to them by God is conditional. Twice the Jews have been temporarily excluded from living in their own land because of very serious disobedience. A very key sign that the "Second Exile" is ending in our time is the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948.

 There remains a series of events, soon to unfold, called by the Jews "The Final Redemption," during which time Israel will undergo spiritual rebirth and her appointed Messiah will appear in person. Militarily, Israel will win a final great world war and be elevated to Chief among the nations. The terrible violence, suffering and death at the end of the age will greatly reduce he world population.

During his three-year teaching time on earth, ~2000 years ago, Jesus Christ announced that He would build "His church," thus completing the second half of covenantal promises to Abraham. God promised that Abraham would be the father of all true believers, divided them into an earthly people, the nation of Israel, and a people having a heavenly called, the church, or "Bride of Christ." (The New Testament provides us with a rich history of the "church age.")

Following the death and resurrection and ascension of Jesus, while Israel has scattered in exile around the world-- (their land desolate and unused), the God of Israel has seen to it that the message of God's love and redemption to the entire world was never silenced for long. The "gospel" began with Israel, but excludes no one. All signs point to the completion of the church any day now. Romans 9, 10, and 11 go over in detail the difference between Israel and the Church. Both entities have a permanent role in God's plans for mankind.

For I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery, lest you should be wise in your own opinion, that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion, And He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob; For this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins.” Concerning the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but concerning the election they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. For as you were once disobedient to God, yet have now obtained mercy through their disobedience, even so these also have now been disobedient, that through the mercy shown you they also may obtain mercy. For God has committed them all to disobedience, that He might have mercy on all. Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! “For who has known the mind of the LORD? Or who has become His counselor?” “Or who has first given to Him And it shall be repaid to him?” For of Him and through Him and to Him are all things, to whom be glory forever. Amen." (Romans 11:25-36)

The Bible teaches that true Christians will all be removed at the end of the age (an event called the rapture), leaving behind for a few years a counterfeit church which excludes Christ. Yet it was Jesus Christ who "invented" the church in the first place making His message easily available to more people than ever. The church has been the focus of God's dealings with mankind for 2000 years, but this time period is really just a "parenthesis" in the history of Israel. Both Israel and the church are branches of God's promises to Abraham. (This man Abraham, called the "father of all who believe," was born in what is Iraq, about 4200 years ago.

God has surely already begun to judge the U.S. It probably will get much worse. This will be primarily a national judgment -- is not the Lord's judgment of every individual, one by one, and not the "Last Judgment" ("The Judgment of the Great White Throne" -- when all the individuals who remain in the world will be judged at the very end of the age).

Repentance within a nation often causes the Lord to delay that nation's judgment. "Repentance" means that an individual or a group of individuals takes action to align themselves with God's stated purposes and methods. It is not a comfortable or popular word for us modern people, but the process of repenting towards God and with one another needs to begin now in earnest. (Notes on Repentance: http://ldolphin.org/repent.html)

I became a Christian back in 1962 and soon had learned that there are three stages to the "normal" Christian life, namely: justification, sanctification and glorification. I have been aware over 40+ years that the process of sanctification can be a bit rough at times, since our Lord is transforming us from very sinful selfish persons into Christ-like men and women, who are basically self-giving. I have also followed Bible prophecy as an area of special interest. I have had the wonderful opportunity of travelling to the Middle East more than two-dozen times.

When major changes in world economics, global politics and "the setting of the stage" for the end of the age began in 2008 I was alerted before many of my fellow Christian friends around town. One advantage of old age is seeing the acceleration of events as God maneuvers the whole world around into the "time of the end."

I have known what the Bible signs were that pointed to the time Jesus Christ was due back, but I expected these signs would be more subtle and less obvious to a person who is familiar with the Bible. I believe God is shouting at us now.

Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Jesus asked that He would show them a sign from heaven. He answered and said to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times. A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.” And He left them and departed." (Matthew 16:1-4)

From time to time friends and I have had discussions about the horrific violence associated with Christ's return as depicted in both the Old and New Testaments. Since our Lord had delayed His coming 2000 years what was the likelihood He'd be back during my lifetime? But, on the other hand, there were many signs that famine, plagues, famines and natural disasters were increasing much faster than linear rates, so should I not be ready?

I have been through a series of health issues during the past several years, at times out of close touch with the news, so when I looked through my past news letters (http://ldolphin.news/) I noted that my interest in the events of the end of this age jumped up and stayed there back in August 2007. As I asked myself about moving forward faster with my own Christian life and growth last Fall, it was immediately clear that I had been living in a personal comfort zone of safety and false security in Christ.

 I soon saw how little I actually cared about the ~99% of people who lived around me and yet were probably lost. It was obvious that the Jesus one reads about in the gospels, were He here now, would most likely be spending His time on the streets actively engaging these people I was largely ignoring. In view of the increasing apathy towards the calling He had entrusted to His church was something now out of order in our nation that I for one had been ignoring to a large degree?

When Jesus said, "I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against My church," He was speaking offensively, not defensively. "Who is this who looks forth like the dawn, fair as the moon, bright as the sun, terrible as any army with banners."  

"One of the most telling indicators that the rapture is near is the number of people who write fearing that because of their behavior they're going to be left behind. People didn't worry so much about that when they thought the rapture was off in the distant future.
I'm sure some of this is due to the normal conviction of the Holy Spirit and in that case it's not a rapture issue because as we'll see born again believers can't be excluded from the Rapture for any reason. 

No, I think most of the fear of missing the rapture comes from the false “partial-rapture” teaching.  There are several variations on this theme but they all claim that just being saved is either not enough to put you in the rapture, or it's not enough to get you into the Kingdom after you are raptured. They say you also have to be worthy in some additional way.  In my opinion none of this can be reconciled with Scripture.

I want to approach the subject the way the US Treasury department trains bank employees to recognize counterfeit money.  Instead of showing them all the fakes and pointing out what makes them fake, they focus on what legitimate bills look like.  That way when bank tellers spot a bill that doesn't look like what they have learned to recognize, they know it has to be a fake. 

Let's use that same principle to focus on what the Bible says about who qualifies for the rapture. Then we'll know whether what we hear matches that.  If it doesn't it's a false teaching." (Jack Kelley, http://gracethrufaith.com)

As I started to pray more and to engage my neighbors, I immediately remembered that God had given the prophet Ezekiel a personal visionary visit to Jerusalem just prior to the city was invaded and destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. Most of the people living in Jerusalem at the time died, a small remnant had found refuge ahead of time in Babylon. God was essentially wiping out his own chosen nation because they had failed so badly at the calling He had given them. But those who survived the Fall of Jerusalem had been tagged for special protection by recording angels. They did not lose their lives because they sighed and mourned the coming judgment from Yahweh. Please read http://ldolphin.org/ezekiel/ezekiel4.html.

Putting these pieces together last Fall could see that I was hardly fit for the rapture. I had no real, driving love for the lost. Was I qualified for heaven by my nominal life style, merely because I thought my doctrinal position was sound? A friend of mine happened to be discovering 2 Corinthians at the same time and he immediately saw that the normative life-styles of the Apostles were far, far different than the "church members" in the church at Corinth. Was the typical New Testament local church of our day any better than the church in Corinth built by Apostles?

"For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us--and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you! For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. We are> fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. Therefore I urge you, imitate me." (1 Corinthians 4:7-16, see also 2 Corinthians 11)

My friend Ben, a local college student, brings me regular reports of many conversions lately on his campus near where I live. This tells me many in the younger generation have not yet had time to learn (and to receive or reject) of the calling of the gospel. Most of their older generation has heard and has rejected the rule of Jesus in their lives. I have met some of Ben's friends who are new Christians and they are vital, enthusiastic young men and women. Many are of Asian descent. I think the older generation of a majority of parents has largely dropped out and lost the love they had at first. The message of Jesus has been heard, it's well known and has been rejected by the masses over ~30.

My prayers of late are, then, that God might grant widespread repentance in pagan America instead of the sudden judgment of God that could come upon us with no warning.

I have been thinking a lot about the rapture and the role of the Christian during the tribulation and the fantastic changes that will take place in the heavens and on earth when Messiah is ruling openly and actively here on earth. I apologize for too few newsletters lately. I have started and discarded this rant half a dozen times.
A friend and I recently decided to spend several hours a week going through the "clean pages" of our Bibles together with an emphasis on the prophetic passages. We are aware that the predictive passages of the Old and New Testament (eschatology) are not all found in one place but scattered through the entire Bible. Some prophetic passages in the Bible have already been completely fulfilled in history; some have not. Often a prophetic passage will have a near-term set of predictions and a second long-term fulfillment as well.

The student of prophecy will look at both and consider the setting and context of a passage. Twenty percent of the Bible deals with eschatology, and so on. As Chris and I began to think and to pray we quickly agreed about the possibility that our nation may well be wiped off of the face of the earth by a long-suffering God who is Holy and Just. Personal repentance is the door to repentance in small groups, in families and among close friends. (See "Let Us Pray," http://ldolphin.org/news/newsletter-91.html).
The church of Jesus Christ is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The Church has been led continuously from start to finish by Founder, Jesus. Great promises and wonderful spiritual endowments were given to the church so that one would suppose she would now be strong and mighty, transforming a pagan world wherever she planted roots.  Not so. It appears that the church age is now ending pretty much in miserable failure as Israel failed. Is there a common denominator between the Church and Israel causing both to fail so badly?

Israel is supposed to demonstrate what a righteous monarchy is like.  She is a nation demonstrating family integrity and community with all tribes in cooperation with another in peacetime or in war. A functioning priesthood makes forgiveness and cleansing of sin readily available. The priests could devote their lives to teaching the entire Bible and praying in the style of circuit preachers.
The church was given an entirely different set of promises.

Apparently we do not need to go to school of learn pagan idolatry. It is latent everywhere. We "learn" selfish, ungodly ways by watching our parents and our peers. Sin is doing what comes naturally. Living a live acceptable to God is a matter of simple, daily choices. This is true no matter were we live.

But the one life acceptable to God is the life of His Son lived through us. This is the key point we refuse to hear and will not agree to follow, by and large!
Man's natural life, the life we were born into is the life of our forefather Adam. That old life of Adam has been declared null and void by the one true God.

The fall of Adam some few thousand years ago cut the entire human race off from God. As a race, we no longer have any connection with God for our healing, repair, or restoration. Our inner spirits have been invaded by all the ancient pagan gods. Living a pagan life is what comes "natural" for us.
The solution to this terrible state of affairs is found in a man known as the Second Adam--Jesus Christ. Having fully reconciled us to God and solved the problem of human evil and selfishness, Jesus offers Himself as the answer to all of our problems and needs. While God expresses His good will upon the whole world every day, He can only take change in our hearts if we allow it. When we give Jesus our permission come in and take over, we each experience "the new birth" and that broken connection to God the Father is restored.

Lots of people go this far--or they say that they do. The evidence is otherwise. Just as you and I might not judge Israel so harshly in Egypt, the wilderness, in their own land, or in Babylon, God's standards are much stricter. The good works done in the world by Jesus though His people will last and endure. Everything we do in our own way will soon be burned up. That is, we can not give ourselves once to Jesus and then turn back to living what we imagine is a good life by drawing on the old natural life of Adam in us.

"Nothing Coming from Me, Everything Coming from Jesus" is the only was that real life can be successfully lived by us. It has often been said that the unexamined life is not worth living. Ask God to bring you up to speed and on course. The majority space-time discontinuity of the rapture could happen very soon.

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"A Personal God" CLASS OF DOLPHIN LIBRARY l Bible Teaching University l Night School

A Personal God

What doth it profit thee to enter into deep discussions concerning the Holy Trinity, if thou lack humility, and be thus displeasing to the Trinity? For verily it is not deep words that make a man holy and upright; it is a good life which maketh a man dear to God. I had rather feel contrition than be skillful in the definition thereof. If thou knewest the whole Bible, and the sayings of all the philosophers, what should this profit thee without the love and grace of God? --Thomas a Kempis (1380-1471), Of the Imitation of Christ

Occasionally an email reaches me from a Muslim who is seeking to persuade me that Allah is the one true god with no rivals. I often start a discussion by making a few comparisons between Allah the god of Islam, and Yahweh the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. There are major differences.

Yahweh is a personal God. He enters into personal relationships (covenants) with individuals and with groups of people. Allah is not a personal god. Muslims do not receive any assurance of forgiveness for their sins during their life-times, nor any inner confirmation that they are dealing with a living, personal, intelligent, responsive being.

Muslims are strict monotheists and have difficulty understanding that God could be One, yet possess an inner plurality of Persons. Many people today are polytheists (perhaps without realizing it). In religions where more than one god is supposed to exist, the gods are generally male and female and often sexually active among themselves and sometimes with mortals. They are frequently rivals of one another with a hierarchy, and with territorial boundaries or other limits to their power and rule. Some pagan gods are part human and part animal.

But consider a hypothetical universe where God was one person--one entity. Prior to creating anything, we can easily imagine that a one-person-god might eventually become, in time, a bit "lonely." In fact, when we think of "person" we always automatically think or more than one person(s). What would a one-personal god do with all his time if he had no companions? Surely he would be bored with no one to relate with? If that one-personal god then decided to created sentient beings--men and angels--how could he avoid creating robots and puppets who surely would soon also bore him? Without a consort this god one-personal deity would have no equal. But if god were to have a consort, we already would have a universe of two gods. i.e., living under some form of dualism.

If a one-person god were all-powerful, why would he ask his subjects to bow to his wishes and demand that they live in subservience in all matters? Surely that would be a dull and unimaginative arrangement for all parties?

One of the other Hebrew names for the God of Abraham is Elohim. This important name is used in Genesis One--and a total of 2750 times in the Old Testament. Elohim is a plural noun which takes singular verbs--implying more than one Person in the godhead, a Being who always acts self-consistently ("in concert" or "by divine counsel"). But it is only in the New Testament that we get a clear picture that the true God is Father, Son and Holy Spirit--three Persons yet one God. We only know this about God because He has chosen to reveal Himself to his creatures this way--it is not something we can discovery by reason or scientific investigation.

Now consider the situation where no universe has yet been created, but a Three-Personal living God exists (eternally). The three Persons, we suppose, are equal, but not identical. Since all "personal relationships" we know about involving giving and taking, initiating and responding, leading and following, it is easy to imagine that the Persons of the godhead are likely to be perpetually involved in some kind of totally fulfilling relationships among one another. They evidently do not ever become bored with one another. Nor does a three-personal God need a creation. This kind of God could exist with an inner dynamism which we can scarcely begin to even imagine. When we add into this picture the additional information--which He has also revealed to us--namely "God is Love," then it is not difficult to imagine that each Person of the godhead lives not for Himself but for the other Persons within the godhead. This God can apparently not act selfishly as we do -- His love is always "self-giving."

For this three-Personal God to decide to create a universe with men and angels in it now takes on a whole new dimension. What if this God has chosen to allow men and angels to know Him and to relate to Him personally? Suppose we are invited somehow to "share in His love?" If the real God has chosen to make men very much like himself in terms of free-will, creativity, imagination, diversity--and the capability of loving and being loved--then He has given us created beings the highest possible honor. [Richard Young, a colleague of mine and dear friend is responsible for provoking me to think a bit about the interpersonal relationships within the Godhead. See his notes on the Trinity in my article on the names of God, http://ldolphin.org/Names.html.]

Some non-Christian religion and cults imagine that man is already God, or somehow already a part of God. Other suppose they are capable of attaining "godhood" by some kind of path of trial and testing and good deeds. However, the Bible always makes a sharp boundary between the Creator and the created. God is separate from, and He transcends all that He has created. [Psalm 82 is sometimes used to argue that men are already gods. Ray Stedman addresses this in his commentary on John's gospel,http://pbc.org/dp/stedman/john/3859.html]

Though men are not real gods and can not become "God" the Apostle Peter says something amazing in this regard. Peter writes, "God's divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, that through these you may escape from the corruption that is in the world because of passion, and become partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:3-4)

The New Testament shows in clear terms that normal humanity was designed to be indwelt by God. We human are incomplete without a relationship with a personal God. This is how God decided to create us! Granting men free will and allowing to know their Creator by means of personal relationships (one at a time) now opens marvelous possibilities for life and liberty among men. "You are complete in Christ who is the head of all rule and authority," Paul writes in Colossians.

God uses mostly masculine pronouns when speaking to us in Biblical revelation. But believers understand right away that the Biblical God is not a sexual bring--as the heathen gods usually are. The image of God in man can not be expressed by a male alone, but must be imaged to us by male and female together.

"Then God [Elohim] said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth." So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. And God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over every living thing that moves upon the earth." (Genesis 1:26-28)

That is, the God of the Bible is as much "feminine" as He is "masculine"--(we must use these terms carefully when talking about the nature of God). Men and women are identical in spirit but different in soul and in body. The interactions of the two sexes are not the interactions of two identical clones with one another, but relationships of unique persons who are designed to balance and compliment one another. (See Made in the Image of God, http://ldolphin.org/Image.html). Furthermore, no two human beings are identical. Each one of us is a unique creation--a work of exquisite art. Therefore the personal relationship each of us has with God is one-of-a-kind. Every friendship, every marriage, every relationship we have with another person is also unique. God likes variety in His all creative handiwork--He did not make us a bunch of clones and we are far, far from being puppets or robots.

When we think of interpersonal relationships of any kind it is immediately evident that we are all constantly involved in both giving and receiving. One can not have the one without the other. There also exists in life a response to match a stimulus, a responder to answer to the initiator. God Himself is also a "community of three persons." Therefore the true God is also the God of community. The importance of community is very important. God Himself is a member of the community. This is also part of His design for mankind. God participates fully in all aspects of His creation.

If God being a member of the community was not a very evident fact of life before the birth of Jesus, it is certainly clear from the New Testament that in taking on the form of a man, the Son of God, the second Person of the Trinity, has indeed joined Himself to our humanity. God's purpose in doing this is not only to accomplish our salvation from sin, butto enable us to live together in community with Him forever more. God meets us through the man Jesus Christ as our Mediator, our Great High Priest, our Counselor, our Lover, our Friend. For instance, there are two Adams in the Bible: the first Adam, from whom we have all descended--and Jesus the Last Adam who heads a whole new race of humans. Christians can think of Jesus as their Elder Brother--among His many other attributes.

"Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross. Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Philippians 2:5-11)

About this "family" the Bible has much to say! Once one begins to speak of a personal God who want to know people personally and once we learn that this God has chosen to meet us through a fellow human being of our own race, Christian faith moves quickly and radically apart from all other religions. [Because of the Fall--man's rebellion against God--one becomes a true member of God's family by spiritual rebirth--but this does not release non-Christians from ultimate accountability to God as Creator, Lord and Judge of all.]

My friend Glenn Miller of the Christian Think Tank amazes me constantly with his erudite and thorough essays on every conceivable subject of theology imaginable. Glenn's more recent 25 page "short" treatise is "must reading." Why can't God just forgive sin, instead of demanding justice? He asks, (see http://www.christian-thinktank.com/whyjust.html). Glenn shows that our behavior as humans implies accountability to our Creator, but also so one another. We have major responsibilities to the community--and God is a member of the community. 

Our actions--public or private--affect our relationship with God--but also the entire community. There are no private deeds and actions we do that are innocuous--"we are all bound up together in the bundle of the living" to use an Old Testament metaphor.

The Law of Moses given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai tells us what God is like as a Person. He is moral, just, holy, but loving and compassionate. Since He can not change, any outside "persons" who wish to live in a harmonious relationship with Him must find a way to adjust to what He is like. Briefly put, the writer of Hebrews says, "Strive for peace with all men, and for the holiness without which no one will see the Lord." (Hebrews 14:14)

At first glance, it appears that the Old Covenant (the Law of Moses) is ordering us to try to change on our own, and to make every effort live up to the standards of Deity, by meritorious self-effort. Romans 3 sets us free from such a delusion--the Law was given to establish our deep need for grace and mercy. The Law also lets us know that we are to live daily in total dependence upon the Lord. We are quite incapable of any righteous deeds when running on our own steam.

The New Covenant, on the other hand, makes it possible for us to live in a harmonious personal relationship with God--because God changes us from the inside out, if we give Him permission to do so. This is a tall order! We all start out quite self-centered and self-seeking, and we must be changed into the likeness of a being who is self-giving.

But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God, then to wait until his enemies should be made a stool for his feet. For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are sanctified. And the Holy Spirit also bears witness to us; for after saying, "This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, says the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds," then he adds, "I will remember their sins and their misdeeds no more." Where there is forgiveness of these, there is no longer any offering for sin. Therefore, brethren, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way which he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near." (Hebrews 10:12-25)

Every one of us understands quite a bit about relationships among ourselves--with parents, siblings, spouse, friends and enemies--from experience. We all learn to relate to other people by trial and error, both positively and negatively. Instinctively we know and sense what an interpersonal relationship is all about.

But, it is strange to me that I do not tend to deal with God the way I deal with other "persons" whom I know. Yet God is much more of a living Person than any other "entity." God is the very Author of life. All of life, at every level, has its source in Him. Yet, I worry most about what other people think of me. Everything I think or say or do--my entire history--is known to God. But I can easily be indifferent to what he thinks about me! Often I remind myself of what the Lord said to Samuel about King Saul, "Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the LORD sees not as man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart." (1 Samuel 16:7)

I know intuitively than I can not expect to enjoy a more intimate relationship with another person which goes deeper than the degree of intimacy I have attained in my personal relationship with Jesus. But my time alone with God is easily set aside, compromised, crowded out by a thousand mundane matters, on a daily basis. (Seehttp://ldolphin.org/Intim.html, http://ldolphin.org/relationships.html)

If we think we understand something about how two persons can relate with one another, imagine the intensity and vitality of the relationships the Three Divine Persons share with one another! For us to know God is to be drawn into God Himself, into union with Them. From the closing chapter of C.S. Lewis' science fiction trilogy:

"For one moment she had a ridiculous and scorching vision of a world in which God Himself would never understand, never take her with full seriousness. Then, at one particular corner of the gooseberry patch, the change came. 

What awaited her there was serious to the degree of sorrow and beyond. There was no form nor sound. The mould under the bushes, the moss on the path, and the little brick border, were not visibly changed. But they were changed. A boundary had been crossed. She had come into a world, or into a Person, or into the presence of a Person. Something expectant, patient, inexorable, met her with no veil or protection between. In the closeness of that contact she perceived at once that the Director's words had been entirely misleading. This demand which now pressed upon her was not, even by analogy, like any other demand. It was the origin of all right demands and contained them. In its light you could understand them; but from them you could know nothing of it. There was nothing, and never had been anything, like this. And now there was nothing except this. Yet also, everything had been like this; only by being like this had anything existed. In this height and depth and breadth the little ideal of herself which she had hitherto called me dropped down , and vanished, unfluttering, into bottomless distance, like a bird in a space without air. The name me was the name of a being whose existence she had never suspected, a being that did not yet fully exist but which was demanded. It was a person (not the person she had thought), yet also a thing, a made thing, made to please Another and in Him to please all others, a thing being made at this very moment, without its choice, in a shape it had never dreamed of. And the making went on amidst a kind of splendour or sorrow or both, whereof she could not tell whether it was in the moulding hands or in the kneaded lump. 

Words take too long. To be aware of all this and to know that it had already gone made one single experience. It was revealed only in its departure. The largest thing that had ever happened to her had, apparently, found room for itself in a moment of time too short to be called time at all. Her hand closed on nothing but a memory. And as it closed, without an instant's pause, the voices of those who have not joy rose howling and chattering from every corner of her being.
"Take care. Draw back. Keep your head. Don't commit yourself," they said. And then more subtly, from another quarter, "You have had a religious experience. This is very interesting. Not everyone does. How much better you will now understand the Seventeenth-Century poets!" Or from a third direction, more sweetly, "Go on. Try to get it again. It will please the Director."
But her defences had been captured and these counter-attacks were unsuccessful." (C.S. Lewis, That Hideous Strength)

Solomon, by the way, says that contentment and happiness in life is a gift from God--and he gives these gives only to those who choose to serve Him.

"...for apart from him who can eat or who can have enjoyment? For to the man who pleases him God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy." (Ecclesiastes 2:25-26a)

Our society is crumbling rapidly. Families are falling apart. Close friendships are few and far between. Promises that are kept and commitments that are honored--are few and far between. People seem to have forgotten that God is a Personal God. What this means is that true community is almost gone as well. God, the Creator and Judge and Master of the community must inevitably move decisively to judge, to heal and to restore that community. In the real world that means that some will be excluded in the time of renewing, and all of us will be judged and evaluated in the process.

"Seek the LORD while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon." (Isaiah 55:6-7)

"The State of the World and the End of the Age" l CLASS OF DOLPHIN LIBRARY l Bible Teaching University l Night School

The State of the World and the End of the Age

Well over a year ago a series of crises in banks and lending institutions gave us reason to believe God was at last beginning to judge our nation for a century of decadence and moral decline. Soon it was clear that financial institutions and national economies all around the world were also drastically affected. Many of us now believe that God is doing exactly what he said He would do. He will shortly send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, back to this planet to forcefully set up a kingdom of justice, righteousness and peace on earth. Jesus is, after all, the Owner and Heir of planet earth. Sadly the vast majority of people on the earth today do not know Jesus and do not wish to know Him. His return will therefore involve a bloody invasion by force.

The New Testament tells us that the "church age," now drawing to a close, has been a 2000-year interval in which the message of God's love and forgiveness has gone out to the entire world, over and over again. The invitation has been a call for all peoples to know Jesus Christ as Lord and to become members of His family. The Bible says that when the "full number" of gentiles has come in (to the church), Israel would once again be placed at center stage as chief of the nations, with Jesus ruling all the earth from Jerusalem as His capital. Ancient promises made to the patriarchs of Israel will then at last be fulfilled. Then and only then will man's dream of world peace come to pass.

Although the historic land of Israel sat empty for most of the past two millennia, Jews began to return to their land exactly as the Old Testament foretold, until statehood was declared in 1948. About half of the Jews in the world now live in the nation which has always historically been called Israel -- but almost none of them know their God or God's messiah Jesus. The restoration of Israel among the nations of the world means that ultimately every one of the surviving Jews will live in Israel and everyone on earth will know Jesus as King.

Though the number of people who profess to be Christians in the world today adds up to a sizeable fraction (about 2 billion people out of a total of almost 7 billion) the number of true Christians who actually know Jesus and who follow Him is a tiny minority. One out of three Jews died in World War Two during the Nazi holocaust. The prophet Zechariah tells us that 2 out of 3 Jews in Israel will perish in the coming world war which will center around Jerusalem. Many more millions of people will become followers of Christ in the coming final years that mark the end of the age. The invitation to know the God of Israel will remain open until the very end, yet the majority will be lost.

The daily news from Europe and the Middle East this past year sounds as if it was written by the Old Testament prophet Daniel or by Jesus' Apostle John. Scores of Old Testament (and New Testament) prophecies are lining up to be quickly fulfilled as Jesus draws near and is about to set foot once more on the Mt. of Olives in Jerusalem.

There are many clear indicators in the Bible that give Christians sound reasons for believing the return of Christ is on the immediate horizon. A year ago while teaching through the Minor Prophets in the Old Testament I was struck by an earlier judgment on Israel when God quietly said He would remove truth from that nation's daily life. "Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord GOD, "That I will send a famine on the land, Not a famine of bread, Nor a thirst for water, But of hearing the words of the LORD. They shall wander from sea to sea, And from north to east; They shall run to and fro, seeking the word of the LORD, But shall not find it." (Amos 8:11-12)

The prophet Daniel has told us that an explosion of knowledge would be one indicator that the time of Messiah's coming was near. That prediction's reality should be abundantly clear to us today. Vast libraries of knowledge are at our disposal on the Internet, but God has evidently quietly been removing truth from our churches, from schools, from government, from our daily lives. Knowledge is of no use to us if we lack wisdom to apply what we know.  We are in big trouble now because the widespread rejection of God's rule over us has caused Him to begin to withdraw His protection from us.

The Bible not only insists that absolute truth does exist, but "true-truth" is to be found only in Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote that "in Christ are to be found all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col. 2:3), echoing what Solomon said 3000 years ago. "For God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight; but to the sinner He gives the work of gathering and collecting, that he may give to him who is good before God..." (Eccles. 2:26)

Throughout the Old Testament it can be seen that God does His greatest work through ordinary individuals or small groups. One example is that of Gideon who routed 135,000 Midianites with only 300 men. (God pruned Gideon's original army of 35,000 down to 300 to make it perfectly clear that it is He who fights our wars for us). The God of the Bible is the God of remnants. Billions of people drowned in the Flood of Noah after rejecting God's pleas to join Noah on board the Ark. At the end of a hundred years of ark-building on dry land, the rains came. But only eight people were onboard the Ark. In many of today's churches only a handful are living in daily fellowship with Jesus, yet God will continue to do great things when even a few of His people come together to make themselves available to Him.

It is one thing to imagine the coming time of glorious world peace which will prevail under the reign of Jesus in Jerusalem. Meanwhile it is heartbreaking for most of us when we see how sinful we are, how unworthy. The human condition is sad and tragic but no matter how long God pleads with mankind only a few have ever responded. Jesus Christ has already paid in full for the sins of all who have ever lived, His offer of forgiveness and new life is freely offered to everyone--but the majority are not to be persuaded. If we grieve, God's heart of love grieves more.

In his commentary on the book of the Revelation, Ray Stedman comments on how God's coming judgments will affect us.

"What we are seeing here in the judgments of the last days is really nothing new. It is simply commonly experienced penalties for evil increased in amount to an incredible degree. God has been sending judgments like this all through the history of mankind. There have been volcanic eruptions, meteors falling upon the earth, red rain from the skies, poisoned waters, etc. All these terrible disasters have struck before, but now they grow to a climax. Yet we must not misunderstand them, for they are for our own good.

I list for you five effects of judgment upon us since we are all being judged in some degree, more or less. Hardships, trials and difficulties are all a part of the judgment of God upon human evil, and we all experience it.

1. First of all, judgments frighten us. They are intended to. They are sent to arrest our attention. They chill our blood. They alarm us. They scare the living daylights out of us. Like children at a horror movie we are fascinated by them but we want to hide our eyes from them and not look fully at them. That is the first effect of judgment. It arouses fear.

2. Then, because it terrifies us, judgment also sobers us. How many people in the Bay Area immediately rearranged their priorities five minutes after the earthquake hit on October 17? We heard many testimonies during that time of people saying, "I'll never take life as lightly again. That taught me a lot. I began to see what is really important." That is also what judgments do. They help us reassess our lives. They change our priorities. C. S. Lewis well says that fear or pain or judgment is "God's megaphone to reach a deaf world."

3. And so judgments correct us. They force us to face unpleasant facts about ourselves. We do not like that. We do not like to be told that we are not perfect. We know we are not, but we do not like anyone else to say so. We are uneasy at having these things pointed out. But judgment strips away our illusions. It restores us to reality. We begin to think accurately, clearly, as God thinks. We plan more carefully. We live more thoughtfully. That is why God sends judgment.

4. And fourth, judgment humbles us. We begin to see that we are really not in control. We do not run everything about our lives. We are not autonomous creatures. We are not little gods, capable of making anything we want to of ourselves, as the media keeps trying to tell us. We are not in charge. We see how foolish we have been in the past, that we have made many mistakes when we thought we were right. We begin at last to welcome guidance, to listen to others, and especially, to seek out the wisdom of the Word of God.

5. Finally, judgment reassures us. It comforts us. It answers Habakkuk's great prayer, "In wrath, remember mercy," (Hab 3:2). We learn that God does not like judgment either. He calls it, in Isaiah 28:21, his "strange work." He keeps it as brief as possible. He gives ample warnings before it gets unbearable. He sends anticipations of it, forceful reminders, that this kind of thing can happen so that we might pay attention and act before it gets out of hand.

All this supports the view that the Bible gives everywhere of a loving God, "slow to anger and plenteous in mercy," (Psalm 103:8 KJV). Is it not strange that people who do not read the Bible very much almost invariably say, when you talk about judgment, "Well, the God I worship is a loving God; he would never do anything like that!" My friend, it is the very love of God that makes him judge! God must judge in order to eliminate evil once for all from his creation and bring about the world of universal blessing which men have longed for throughout all of human history. (From God's Final Word, http://www.raystedman.org/revelation/4200.html)

Take heart! Cling to the great promises of God. With eagerness, let us act in faith trusting the living God who can not fail.

Come, thou long expected Jesus,

born to set thy people free;

from our fears and sins release us,

let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation,

hope of all the earth thou art;

dear desire of every nation,

joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver,

born a child and yet a King,

born to reign in us forever,

now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal spirit

rule in all our hearts alone;

by thine all sufficient merit,

raise us to thy glorious throne.

(Charles Wesley, 1707-1788)

"Taking God Seriously" l CLASS OF DOLPHIN LIBRARY l Bible Teaching University l Night School

Let's Start Taking God Seriously

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This Spring a friend and I have been spending several hours at a stretch, several times a week, reading and discussing the Bible, especially the Old Testament. It did not take us very long to see that our popular ideas and notions about God were way out of bounds in many ways. For example, we Americans are not God's chosen people, the vast majority of us will not go to heaven when we die. God does not look down in favor on our much-touted, self-aggrandizing way of life. There really is a Day of Judgment coming soon and it won't be pretty for those who have failed to take God seriously. There is lots of good news in the Bible, great news in fact. God is a living, communicating Being. He asks us to know Him and to respond to Him. This is actually a tall order asking from us our whole selves. American "Christians" have been slipping and sliding downhill for a long time now--many years--and much-deserved judgment upon our nation has begun in earnest. 
Judgments against Israel in the Old Testament
The prophet Ezekiel, and some thousands of his countrymen, were taken captive from Jerusalem to a detainees' camp outside of Babylon in 597 BC. This was eleven years before Babylon's King Nebuchadnezzar completely destroyed the city of Jerusalem in 586. Meanwhile, the prophet Jeremiah remained behind in Jerusalem warning all those remaining there that Babylon was actually their safe refuge for the next 70 years. Israel was to be exiled by God for multiple failures of disobedience. God warned Ezekiel ahead of time that the people and their elders would not listen to their legitimate leaders.

"Then He [God] said to me: “Son of man, go to the house of Israel and speak with My words to them. For you are not sent to a people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, but to the house of Israel, not to many people of unfamiliar speech and of hard language, whose words you cannot understand. Surely, had I sent you to them, they would have listened to you. But the house of Israel will not listen to you, because they will not listen to Me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted." (Ezekiel 3:4-7)

The exiles in Jerusalem believed that Jerusalem could never be destroyed; that their refuge in Babylon would be only a short-term minor inconvenience. Eleven years later Jerusalem was destroyed with horrendous loss of life and horrific suffering. The majority of the Jews who heeded the Lord and did escape to Babylon, then adapted to luxury living in Babylon, continuing to ignore their prophets. After the Fall of Jerusalem Ezekiel and Jeremiah each wrote about ongoing history and the long-term place of Israel in God's plans. Each prophet was able to write amazing predictions describing the future of the remnant of Israel--prophecies that are now coming true in the Middle East, 2600 years after the fact.
In his day, Ezekiel was considered a popular "entertainer." He was treated in a cavalier fashion by his people as if he had been sent to entertain, not to save.

“As for you, son of man, the children of your people are talking about you beside the walls and in the doors of the houses; and they speak to one another, everyone saying to his brother, ‘Please come and hear what the word is that comes from the LORD.’' So they come to you as people do, they sit before you as My people, and they hear your words, but they do not do them; for with their mouth they show much love, but their hearts pursue their own gain. “Indeed you are to them as a very lovely song of one who has a pleasant voice and can play well on an instrument; for they hear your words, but they do not do them. And when this comes to pass--surely it will come--then they will know that a prophet has been among them.” (Ezekiel 33:30-33)

Ezekiel, and the abductees with him, stayed at a prison camp located along a canal that branched from the River Euphrates. On and off, over a dozen years, the elders of Israel dropped in for an occasional "elders' meeting" with Ezekiel at his "house" in Babylon. Ezekiel took notes of the third of these meetings; they are recorded in Chapter 20. This one paragraph, Ezekiel 20, raises all sorts of questions about Israel's long-lasting history with their God. It would seem from what is recorded that Israel was always in a "continuous failure" mode with their God. The nation as a whole apparently is never depicted as the loving, responding wife of Yahweh.
Yahweh begins by speaking through Ezekiel about Israel's history since they were slaves in Egypt, about 1500 BC.

It came to pass in the seventh year, in the fifth month, on the tenth day of the month, (591 BC) that certain of the elders of Israel came to inquire of the LORD, and sat before me (Ezekiel). Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, “Son of man, speak to the elders of Israel, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Have you come to inquire of Me? As I live,” says the Lord GOD, “I will not be inquired of by you.”’  “Will you judge them, son of man, will you judge them? Then make known to them the abominations of their fathers.   “Say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On the day when I chose Israel and raised My hand in an oath to the descendants of the house of Jacob, and made Myself known to them in the land of Egypt, I raised My hand in an oath to them, saying, ‘I am the LORD your God.’ “On that day I raised My hand in an oath to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt into a land that I had searched out for them, ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ the glory of all lands.  “Then I said to them, ‘Each of you, throw away the abominations which are before his eyes, and do not defile yourselves with the idols of Egypt. I am the LORD your God.'"
 “But they rebelled against Me and would not obey Me. They did not all cast away the abominations which were before their eyes, nor did they forsake the idols of Egypt.
Then I [God] said, ‘I will pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the midst of the land of Egypt.’  “But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles among whom they were, in whose sight I had made Myself known to them, to bring them out of the land of Egypt.  “Therefore I made them go out of the land of Egypt and brought them into the wilderness. And I gave them My statutes and showed them My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them.’ Moreover I also gave them My Sabbaths, to be a sign between them and Me, that they might know that I am the LORD who sanctifies them."
“Yet the house of Israel rebelled against Me in the wilderness; they did not walk in My statutes; they despised My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; and they greatly defiled My Sabbaths."
"Then I said I would pour out My fury on them in the wilderness, to consume them. But I acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned before the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out. So I also raised My hand in an oath to them in the wilderness, that I would not bring them into the land which I had given them, ‘flowing with milk and honey,’ the glory of all lands because they despised My judgments and did not walk in My statutes, but profaned My Sabbaths; for their heart went after their idols.  Nevertheless My eye spared them from destruction. I did not make an end of them in the wilderness. But I said to their children in the wilderness, ‘Do not walk in the statutes of your fathers, nor observe their judgments, nor defile yourselves with their idols. I am the LORD your God: Walk in My statutes, keep My judgments, and do them; hallow My Sabbaths, and they will be a sign between Me and you, that you may know that I am the LORD your God.’"
“Notwithstanding, the children rebelled against Me; they did not walk in My statutes, and were not careful to observe My judgments, ‘which, if a man does, he shall live by them’; but they profaned My Sabbaths. Then I said I would pour out My fury on them and fulfill My anger against them in the wilderness. Nevertheless I withdrew My hand and acted for My name’s sake, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the Gentiles, in whose sight I had brought them out.  Also I raised My hand in an oath to those in the wilderness, that I would scatter them among the Gentiles and disperse them throughout the countries, because they had not executed My judgments, but had despised My statutes, profaned My Sabbaths, and their eyes were fixed on their fathers’ idols.  Therefore I also gave them up to statutes that were not good, and judgments by which they could not live; and I pronounced them unclean because of their ritual gifts, in that they caused all their firstborn to pass through the fire (child-sacrifice), that I might make them desolate and that they might know that I am the LORD.”  
“Therefore, son of man, speak to the house of Israel, and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: In this too your fathers have blasphemed Me, by being unfaithful to Me.'"  “When I brought them into the land concerning which I had raised My hand in an oath to give them, and they saw all the high hills and all the thick trees, there they offered their sacrifices and provoked Me with their offerings. There they also sent up their sweet aroma and poured out their drink offerings. Then I said to them, ‘What is this high place to which you go?’ So its name is called Bamah to this day.” “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Are you defiling yourselves in the manner of your fathers, and committing harlotry according to their abominations? For when you offer your gifts and make your sons pass through the fire, you defile yourselves with all your idols, even to this day. So shall I be inquired of by you, O house of Israel?' As I live, says the Lord GOD, “I will not be inquired of by you. “What you have in your mind shall never be, when you say, ‘We will be like the Gentiles, like the families in other countries, serving wood and stone.'"

Over the span of Israel's history--which Ezekiel discussed with the elders that night (covering about 900 years) the Lord reminded the elders of Israel at Babylon that He had considereddestroying His people three times. Ironically, Ezekiel was just then speaking to the remnant in Babylon. A few hundred miles to the West, terrible judgment was ready to fall on Jerusalem from the armies of Nebuchadnezzar King of Babylon.  
Was God's saving help not efficacious at any point along their journey? The answer of course is that the nation of Israel did fail badly in realizing the high calling and purpose God had them for.
But, also a "remnant," a small number, were saved. This is the true history of God's people, whether Jew or Christian.
In summary, while in Egypt, where they were slaves for 400+ years, the people of Israel no longer benefitted from Joseph’s legacy and the good favor of Joseph's pharaoh. The new Pharaoh became harsh with the Israelites, forcing them into hard slavery as his work force and restricting their birth rate by murdering their sons as they were born. (Exodus 1:8-22)
As the pressure on Israel in Egypt increased, the Israelites resorted at last to prayer. Eighty years later, God's appointed deliverer, Moses, was ready to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt. Rather than destroying the nation of Israel as He had seriously considered, the Lord pitied Israel at least enough to bring them out from Egypt and into the wilderness. At the time, the nation of nearly 3 million people had enough faith that God was able to lead them under Moses out of bondage into the wilderness of Sinai. "All" of Israel following Moses crossed the Red Sea and headed East for the Promised Land searching for a better life. The Egyptians helped with generous gifts of gold and silver.
But not much later, at Mt Sinai, Moses was in a planning meeting with God atop Mt Sinai. Down below the people became bored and restless and persuaded their high priest, Aaron, the brother of Moses, to build them a golden calf to remind them of Egypt. It was not a major effort for them to host a lavish, pagan party modeled about the religious events they had witnessed in Egypt. It was surely not necessary to carry boxes of statues and amulets, ornaments and charms the Egyptians had given them as a farewell gift. These gifts from the Egyptians, the people of Israel melted down readily to be made in a Golden Calf.
Coming down from Mt. Sinai, where he had received the Law from the hand of God, Moses was horrified to see the gross idolatry the people of Israel had embraced, culminating in the adulation and worship of the Golden Calf. It was only the intercession of Moses at that time which caused God to spare Israel after such open denial of their Holy God (See Exodus 32). [On this solemn occasion Moses serves as a type of Christ as Intercessor. Intercession as the word is used in the Bible means that one righteous man chooses to stand alone pleading with his life to a Holy God on behalf of a sinful people].
This is now the second occasion God "changed his mind" and did not destroy Israel altogether after they had refused all of God's attempts to free them from their persistent idolatry.
Idolatry is about what we love in our hearts! False worship varies from one culture to another, from country to country, but always reflect our human preference for idols. Repeatedly we all choose to follow false gods rather than obeying our Creator who can then set us free to move into true fulfillment, wholeness of being, and everlasting life. Our idols can be actual objects such as cars, houses, yachts and summer cabins or they can be amplified hungers and cravings for the lusts and pleasures on this world. We can acquire idolatrous ways when we leave the truth we have been taught and follow the axioms and guidelines of the fallen world-system we live in. We are creatures of habit and easily adapt to the idolatries of the culture we live in. Idolatry is not merely a question of what we believe in our minds, but where we attach our emotions and affections at a deeper level--in the heart. Over and over again the God of the whole world speaks to all peoples and nations concerning our deep-seated rebellion against His rule and our fatal attraction towards the false and the counterfeit. The problem goes to the inner core of all of our lives.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?" (Jeremiah 17:9)
[Jesus said], “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written: ‘This people honors Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me, Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’ “For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do.” He said to them, “All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. “For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ “But you say, ‘If a man says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban”--’ (that is, a gift to God),“then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, “making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do.” When He had called all the multitude to Himself, He said to them,
“Hear Me, everyone, and understand: “There is nothing that enters a man from outside which can defile him; but the things which come out of him, those are the things that defile a man. “If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear!” When He had entered a house away from the crowd, His disciples asked Him concerning the parable. So He said to them, “Are you thus without understanding also? Do you not perceive that whatever enters a man from outside cannot defile him, “because it does not enter his heart but his stomach, and is eliminated, thus purifying all foods?” And He said, “What comes out of a man, that defiles a man. “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, “thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. “All these evil things come from within and defile a man.” (Mark 7:1-23)

The howling barren wilderness of the Sinai did not provide Israel with a whole new set of stone or wooden idols to be added to the old gods from Egypt, the real idolatry was in the heart the whole time and quite invisible. Later on when finally dwelling in the promised land, Israel would become exposed to the pagan gods of the other nations externally as well as internally. The wonderfully crafted tabernacle of Moses, the sacred vessels, the priesthood, the sacrifices and the yearly religious calendar were all in place throughout the 40 years of wilderness in the wilderness. There was ample opportunity for Israel to discover what God is like as a Person and then to follow Him into a life of liberty and freedom. The austerity enforced on God's people by the circumstances of living in the wilderness did not diminish the people's idolatry, it was ready to break forth repeatedly.
Lest anyone reading this claims that this situation with regard to Israel’s long-term national idolatry does not carry over for us to learn from, or to be relevant to the church, we have the Apostle Paul's words which speak otherwise:

"Moreover, brethren, I do not want you to be unaware that all our fathers were under the cloud, all passed through the sea, all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ. But with most of them God was not well pleased, for their bodies were scattered in the wilderness. Now these things became our examples, to the intent that we should not lust after evil things as they also lusted. And do not become idolaters as were some of them. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell; nor let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed by serpents; nor complain, as some of them also complained, and were destroyed by the destroyer. Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry." (1 Corinthians 10:1-14)

The Apostle Paul in Romans 1 puts together a picture of mankind as we are when we were born-- in Adam. Paul describes the downhill path of mankind over time regardless of national background, sex, genetic traits, education, or family upbringing. Thus, the failure of the church which Jesus started follows a downhill course similar to Israel's "continuous failure" to be what God intended us to be. The church has now failed, as Israel failed. The Apostle Paul was perfectly correct:

“There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.” “Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit”; “The poison of asps is under their lips”; “Whose mouth isfull of cursing and bitterness.” “Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.” “There is no fear of God before their eyes.” Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." (Romans 3:10-20)

After showing us that the creation itself, and our hearts (i.e., our innermost natures), have clearly reveal our Creator's existence, power and purpose, Paul shows that we were originally created to be ruled from within, from the heart -- by one God, the God who built the universe and who created each one of us. When running according to design, the human "machine" has a living spirit, an ego or "self"-- able to live in close partnership with God the Holy Spirit.
The "heart" -- as the word is used in the Bible -- describes the center of our identity and personhood. Our human spirit and God the Holy Spirit are supposed to be at all times ruling together within our hearts.  The Fall of Man severed our relationship with God and left us with most of our protection gone. The passage above, (Romans 3:10-20) is all about the collapse of the entire social order of man. This in turn has come about because of man's rejection of God's rule within our hearts. Usually idols are a person or thing, a doctrine or ideal, a love, a spouse, a friendship that has become most important to the individual than God. At this early stage of "falling" away from God, the individual has violated the first two commandments in the Law of Moses. Because idolatry never satisfies, we quickly add more love idols in our hearts and affections.
Yet, in spite of so much failure, one would think that 800 years of continuous history from Moses to Ezekiel would have drawn the people of Israel to change their ways eventually -- but this did not happen. A small remnant in each generation of Israel evidently accepted the Lord's terms to living in harmony with their God, but the majority ignored this extra generous, ultra-gracious Lord. Thankfully there has always been a godly remnant. No one of us needs to be lost, all sinners are welcome in the family of God. "...He is also able to save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to make intercession for them." (Hebrews 7:25)
Ezekiel's wife died on the day Jerusalem fell, and most of the remaining inhabitants in the City were slain by Nebuchadnezzar. When the news of the demise of Jerusalem reached the exiles in Babylon weeks later, the exiles were forced to give up all hope of returning to their beloved city.
When Jerusalem fell, Ezekiel was released from God's tight restrictions of his life-style. He was given the assignment of writing large sections about the future of Israel. (Ezekiel 25ff). The entire nation of Israel was to be raised from the dead according to the prophet's vision of the Valley of Dry Bones. Messiah would come to be their true Shepherd and King. The nations of the world would be all judged thoroughly. Messiah's return would provoke a terrible war which will draw all nations together against Jerusalem. Messiah will then Himself build a Fourth Temple, too large for the present Temple Site. At last mankind will enjoy justice and peace mediated from Jerusalem.
Ezekiel died in Babylon after many more years of faithful service to God in Babylon. While reading the scroll of Jeremiah, Daniel the prophet realized that God intended to leave His people in Babylon only 70 years. In a powerful moving prayer, Daniel asked that the Jews be allowed to return to Jerusalem. They came in small numbers, first rebuilding the Temple, then erecting walls around the city. They came with a legitimate king and priest. The return from the Exile was another sure sign of the God who keeps His promises.
Regarding events that are yet future for us, the God of Israel speaking said this:

 “And you, son of man, prophesy to the mountains of Israel, and say, ‘O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the LORD! ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because the enemy has said of you, ‘Aha! The ancient heights have become our possession,’”’ “therefore prophesy, and say, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because they made you desolate and swallowed you up on every side, so that you became the possession of the rest of the nations, and you are taken up by the lips of talkers and slandered by the people”-- ‘therefore, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord GOD! Thus says the Lord GOD to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, the valleys, the desolate wastes, and the cities that have been forsaken, which became plunder and mockery to the rest of the nations all around-- ‘therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “Surely I have spoken in My burning jealousy against the rest of the nations and against all Edom, who gave My land to themselves as a possession, with whole-hearted joy and spiteful minds, in order to plunder its open country.”’ “Therefore prophesy concerning the land of Israel, and say to the mountains, the hills, the rivers, and the valleys, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Behold, I have spoken in My jealousy and My fury, because you have borne the shame of the nations.” ‘Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: “I have raised My hand in an oath that surely the nations that are around you shall bear their own shame. “But you, O mountains of Israel, you shall shoot forth your branches and yield your fruit to My people Israel, for they are about to come. “For indeed I am for you, and I will turn to you, and you shall be tilled and sown. “I will multiply men upon you, all the house of Israel, all of it; and the cities shall be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. “I will multiply upon you man and beast; and they shall increase and bear young; I will make you inhabited as in former times, and do better for you than at your beginnings. Then you shall know that I am the LORD. “Yes, I will cause men to walk on you, My people Israel; they shall take possession of you, and you shall be their inheritance; no more shall you bereave them of children.”
 ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “Because they say to you, ‘You devour men and bereave your nation of children,’ “therefore you shall devour men no more, nor bereave your nation anymore,” says the Lord GOD. “Nor will I let you hear the taunts of the nations anymore, nor bear the reproach of the peoples anymore, nor shall you cause your nation to stumble anymore,” says the Lord GOD.’” Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying: “Son of man, when the house of Israel dwelt in their own land, they defiled it by their own ways and deeds; to Me their way was like the uncleanness of a woman in her customary impurity. “Therefore I poured out My fury on them for the blood they had shed on the land, and for their idols with which they had defiled it. “So I scattered them among the nations, and they were dispersed throughout the countries; I judged them according to their ways and their deeds. “When they came to the nations, wherever they went, they profaned My holy name--when they said of them, ‘These are the people of the LORD, and yet they have gone out of His land.’ “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations wherever they went. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I do not do this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for My holy name’s sake, which you have profaned among the nations wherever you went. “And I will sanctify My great name, which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst; and the nations shall know that I am the LORD,” says the Lord GOD, “when I am hallowed in you before their eyes. “For I will take you from among the nations, gather you out of all countries, and bring you into your own land.
 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. “Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people, and I will be your God. “I will deliver you from all your uncleannesses. I will call for the grain and multiply it, and bring no famine upon you. “And I will multiply the fruit of your trees and the increase of your fields, so that you need never again bear the reproach of famine among the nations. “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good; and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight, for your iniquities and your abominations.
“Not for your sake do I do this,” says the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel!” ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “On the day that I cleanse you from all your iniquities, I will also enable you to dwell in the cities, and the ruins shall be rebuilt. “The desolate land shall be tilled instead of lying desolate in the sight of all who pass by. “So they will say, ‘This land that was desolate has become like the garden of Eden; and the wasted, desolate, and ruined cities are now fortified and inhabited.’ “Then the nations which are left all around you shall know that I, the LORD, have rebuilt the ruined places and planted what was desolate. I, the LORD, have spoken it, and I will do it.” ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: “I will also let the house of Israel inquire of Me to do this for them: I will increase their men like a flock. “Like a flock offered as holy sacrifices, like the flock at Jerusalem on its feast days, so shall the ruined cities be filled with flocks of men. Then they shall know that I am the LORD.”’” (Ezekiel 36)

The message of the Bible has been mostly ignored or twisted down through the centuries. Today's church, after 2000 years, is in failure mode for the most part, as Israel was after 1500 years of living under the Old Covenant. As mentioned in a previous newsletter, the size of the Christian "remnant" in our nation today is perhaps only 1%.
Time is fast running out for all varieties of sinners and for all disobedient communities, churches, nations. Eventually God can only act in perfect justice. See Notes on Repentance,http://ldolphin.org/repent.html .
As we have seen, Ezekiel reminded of four specific times (one is yet future) in the national life of Israel, when Yahweh's anger was so exhausted that He tells us He felt like destroying the nation completely. His says that His restraint was to safeguard His own name and reputation.
First God hates hypocrisy (see, Paint or Get off the Ladder, Isaiah 58, http://ldolphin.org/isaiah58.html ).  Second, it is very dangerous for us to call ourselves "Christian" if we never enter into a personal relationship with the God of Israel, obeying and following Him you the rest of our lives. We misrepresent God when our life-styles do not match what we say we believe. Third, since only a tiny few professing Christians really are genuine, we should not follow the moral standards of the majority (even in the best of churches). We should associate with members of the remnant. (The remnant in our day are called "overcomers" in the letters of Jesus to the Seven Churches of the book of Revelation, see The Concept of the Remnant, http://ldolphin.org/Remn.html).
God is exceedingly patient. The Bible calls this God's long suffering love. He is very reluctant to judge anyone. He always prefers to heal, restore and save. In fact, before creating our world the Persons of the Godhead worked out all the details necessary so that a Holy God could save sinful men and still be just and fair. God has done all the work, His offer of love and restoration is still offered to us at this late hour.

"For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. So from now on we regard no-one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us. We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God." (2 Corinthians 5:14-21)