The Discipline of the Lord.

How did God hate Esau (Romans 9:13)? I recently watched a short video where Paul Washer addresses this question. In his response Paul states that although God definitely blessed Esau, He did not discipline him. God allowed Esau to walk after the natural inclinations of his heart. He let him go.

It was different with Jacob however. Jacob was no saint either. He was a deceiver, and we all know how he ultimately stole Esau's birthright and blessing. However, God would not let him go. Jacob experienced the disciplining hand of the Lord for the next twenty years, and when he finally returned to the land of Canaan, he entered it limping. He was no longer Jacob the "supplanter", but now he was known as Israel, "a prince with God."

Hebrews 12:1-13 is a passage that draws out this theme. Our lives as Christians is likened to a race that must be run with endurance. We must cast of everything that slows us down, if we are to make it to the end.

I think we can all identify with the idea of besetting sins. There is a struggle within each one of us, and we often find ourselves on the failing end of things. But it is often the things that are not wrong in and of themselves that slow us down. 

Sometimes God has to get our attention, and that can be painful. Like a parent who desires to protect a child from harm, who desires to train them to walk in the right path, God also uses discipline so that we might share in His holiness. Again, this is often painful, and we might not like it. However, this pasage assures us that God loves us, and disciplines us as His children. In fact, if we do not experience the hand of His discipline we are not His children!

Ultimately, if we yield to God's discipline in our lives we will bear the peaceable fruit of righteousness.

Jesus uses the illustration of a vinedresser pruning the branches so that they will bear more fruit. When the branches get to long, or there are useless ones, they need to be trimmed back or cut off. If they are left as they are, all the sap flowing through the vine is used up on these branches and there is little nutrition left for the formation of fruit. 

Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. God desires us to produce much fruit so He prunes us (John 15:1-2). All of the things in our lives that hinder need to go. Maybe it's a besetting sin that needs to go. Perhaps God needs to get are attention and we are not hearing Him. 

No discipline seems fun when we go through it, but remember God desires something better for us, and brings it for our good.

Bitter or Better?

These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be if good cheer; I have overcome the world (John 16:33 KJV).

We learn two things from this passage. First, we will experience trials and testings in this life as Christians. We are not promised our best lives now as some would have you believe. We face temptations, trials, persecution, ups and downs throughout our lives. 

Second, we can have peace because Jesus has overcome the world. Jesus has brought us the way to victory. We do not have to fall to temptation, we do not have to grow weary, discouraged, or bitter when life throws challenges our way. We have everything we need for life and godliness through our union with Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:2-3).

The Bible tells us that our faith will be tested through trials.

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing ( James 1:2-4 KJV).

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: that the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ (1Peter 1:6-7 KJV).

 None of us relish trials, and when they come we often pray that they would be removed. But we read in James that we must let the trial produce endurance. If we could avoid the trial we wouldn't grow in our faith, and when a difficult time comes we stand a good chance of falling. 

It is so easy to grow discouraged or bitter, but we need to submit to God's way, trusting Him to see us through, and ultimately bring our faith to maturity.

And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; and patience, experience; and experience, hope (Romans 5:3-4 KJV)

As we allow trials to stretch our faith we gain endurance, which grows into a way of life. Again, it is so easy to chafe under trials. We would much rather find an easier way to grow in our faith. However it is during the hard times of life that our faith gets stretched and is enabled to grow stronger. 

This leaves us with a choice. We can either grow bitter in the hard times, or get better. Our faith can falter and fail, or it can be proven,  although by the fires of testing, and result in praise when we stand before Christ.

The Spirit of Antichrist

Children, it is the last hour, and as you have heard that antichrist is coming, so now many antichrists have come (1 John 2:18 ESV).

Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son (2 John 8-9 ESV).

From the dawning days of the Church and continuing through the present day, attacks on the person and work of Jesus Christ have been rampant. 

In John's day gnosticism was prevalent, and his epistles to the early Church confront this error head on. The gnostic teachers held that spirit was good and flesh was evil. Therefore they taught that Jesus as divine, could not have taken on flesh in the incarnation. They twisted the truth as it relates to who Jesus is, fully God, yet fully man, and in effect preached a "different" Jesus (2 Cor 11:4 ).

Attacks on the deity of Christ have abounded in various forms throughout the centuries, and will persist until Christ returns. The teachings of the Jehovah's witnesses are one example of this, and the teachings of Muhammad or Islam is another. The latter is what I would like to look at in this post today.

Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son (1 John 2:22 ESV).

Two things are mentioned here, the denial of Jesus as Messiah, and the denial of the Father and the Sonship of Jesus.

Muslims believe in the existence of Jesus. He is mentioned in the Quran, they consider Him a prophet in a line of prophets ending with Muhammad. They believe He did miracles, and even look for Him to return to the earth in the last days. However their idea of what He does when He returns and what the Bible states stand in opposition to each other.

They will claim that Jesus (Muslims refer to him as Issa) is indeed the Messiah. Perhaps a messiah is a better way of putting it. They have a different concept of what is meant by the title Messiah. To a Muslim it means little more than Jesus was merely a prophet. They reject the Biblical description of Jesus as Israel's savior and king. They also reject the idea of Jesus as savior from sin and death. 

In the Hadith (the sayings of Muhammad) it is taught that preceding the day of judgement the Muslims will wage war against the Jews and exterminate them. In fact the rocks and trees will cry out "There is a Jew hiding behind me, come and kill him." At this time one whom Muslims call the Dajjal (their version of the antichrist) will come and the Jews will go to him for deliverance, yet prophet Issa will ultimately destroy him at the battle of Armageddon.

This scenario is backwards from what the scriptures actually teach. In the last days Satan mounts one final assault against the Israelites through the antichrist and his kingdom. Jesus as Israel's Messiah returns and delivers them from their enemies,  destroying this final Satanic empire, and setting up His universal reign. 

This is a denial of Jesus being the Christ, or Messiah. Instead of coming to deliver the Jews in the time of their tribulation and setting up His righteous kingdom, Islam teaches that Issa will destroy the Jews and Islam will rule the earth.

The other aspect of Christ's mission is the deliverance from sin and death. This He accomplished on Calvary when He was crucified and then arose from the grave three days later. However Islam teaches that Jesus was not crucified, in Quran 4:157 it states, That they said (in boast), "We killed Christ Jesus the son of Mary, the Apostle of God";-but they killed him not, nor crucified him, but it was made to appear to them, and those who differ therein are full of doubts, with no (certain) knowledge, but only conjecture to follow, for of a surety they killed him not. 

According to this, the crucifixion of Jesus was only an illusion. Some say that Judas was actually crucified, his face miraculously appearing as the face of Jesus. Anyone who believes otherwise is filled with doubts and has no knowledge. This Satanic lie has kept millions of people in spiritual darkness for some 14 centuries, a denial of the heart of the gospel, what Jesus ultimately accomplished for the salvation of mankind.

Islam also denies the Father and the Son. The god of Islam, Allah, is not a father, and has no son. Again quoting from the Quran, Yusuf Ali translation, we read, No Son did God beget, nor is there any God along with Him: (if there were many gods) behold, each god would have taken away what he had created, and some would have lorded it over others! Glory to God! (He is free) from the (sort of) things they attribute to Him! (23:91)

Quran 17:111 also states, Say, praise be to God, who begets no son, and has no partner in (his) dominion: nor (needs) He any to protect Him from humiliation.

So according to this Allah stands alone, free from all that Christians attribute to Him. Bear in mind that Muslims consider Allah to be the same God as the God revealed in the Bible. They teach that Christianity has corrupted the Bible. Therefore, God is not a Father, and has no Son. Notice how the deity of Christ is attacked in this verse. As Christians we understand when Jesus claimed to be the Son of God, He was referencing His deity. Yet we see that Islam teaches Jesus was not God's son, therefore He was not divine. The above Quranic verse makes sure we understand there was no other God along with Allah. No doubt a counter against the Christian concept of the triune God.

Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist , which you heard was coming and now is in the world already (1 John 4:1-3 ESV).

For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Such a one is a deceiver and the antichrist (2 John 7 ESV).

Here we see the spirit of antichrist. Did Jesus, the divine Messiah, come in the flesh? Islam says no. God would never stoop so low to take on flesh, becoming human to identify with us. That is beneath his dignity. They are repulsed by the concept of the incarnation. 

I would like to pause here and make a few things clear. I do not wish to insult Muslims. I personally know many Muslims, and love them as a people. They are lost in a false religion that keeps them from knowing the truth that can save their souls. As Christians we have a duty to reach the lost, and there are 1.8 billion Muslims in the world today. That is 24% of the world's population trapped in Islam. So first of all let's love them and seek to see them embrace Jesus as Lord and God.

Yet it is vital to us as Christians to be wise and understand the times. While many eyes are looking for some kind of European antichrist empire to arise, we must understand that the Bible points over and over again to Middle Eastern and North African nations who will rise up united against Israel in the last days leading up to the return of Christ. It is important to note that these nations are Muslim majority nations. These are the nations to watch as we approach the day of the Lord.

Who Is My Neighbor?

For if you love them which love you, what thank have ye? For sinners also love those that love them.

And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? For sinners also do even the same.

Luke 6:32-33 KJV

On one occasion while Jesus was teaching, an expert in the law asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life (see Luke 10:25-37). Jesus asked the man what the law said, to which the lawyer answered that one must love God with all of one's soul, strength, and mind and to love one's neighbor as himself. Jesus' reply probably surprised this man. He said, "Do this and you will live." 

Perhaps this individual loved his family and friends. He probably loved his fellow teachers of the law, so hoping to justify himself, he asked, "Who is my neighbor?"

What follows is commonly known as the parable of the good Samaritan. Jesus shows us that our neighbor can be anyone whom we run across with a need. Our love and care for others must cross ethnic and social lines. Love knows no distinctions between the rich or the poor. In fact we are to even love our enemies.

In a surprising twist we see the two religious men pass by the man who was beaten and left for dead. We might have expected them to have some compassion. The biggest surprise however was the Samaritan who did stop to help. The Samaritans were hated by the Jews, who looked down on them as a mixed race of people. This man stopped to render aid to someone who very likely might have despised him. 

The priest and levite who passed by were no better than the sinners who only loved those who would love them back. It's likely that the teacher of the law that Jesus was speaking with was no better. How about us? How about you? It is easy to love friends and family, but what about that homeless man on the corner, or that woman with a "reputation"? Your neighbor may be Muslim, or Hindu. Maybe the person who needs your help the most right now is an atheist. God calls us to show them love just the same.

Jesus finished this parable by asking the man who was the neighbor to the one who fell among thieves. The lawyer answered, "The one who showed mercy." Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."  That is the call for us as well.

Filthy Garments

I have sat through numerous Bible studies, Sunday school classes, and listened to sermons on the subject of our righteous deeds being like filthy rags. It goes something like this, "on our best day, all of our obedience, and our very best for God, is nothing but filthy rags in His sight." I have even read some theologians who go on to say all of our deeds, even what is done for God must be covered in the blood of Jesus because of their filthiness. Isaiah 64:6 is quoted as the proof text to back up this doctrine. 

However, no one ever takes the context into consideration, taking this one verse by itself to make a doctrine. Let's look at this in its context to see what Isaiah is saying here.

First of all, the audience, and subjects of this prophecy, in fact, the majority of the prophetic book of Isaiah, are the Israelites. To narrow it down further, the southern kingdom of Judah was whom Isaiah primarily ministered to. A common mistake people make when interpreting Old Testament passages is to assume that the passage is speaking to the Church. While we can apply principles and precepts found in these passages to us today, if we fail to understand that these prophecies and promises apply to Israel first and foremost, we muddy the waters, and have problems understanding the passage.

It is vital to us to understand the theme of Isaiah, and then what are the surrounding chapters, and surrounding verses telling us. This is what I intend to do in this post.

Isaiah confronts a nation who has turned from God. His message is one of indictment, judgement, and future redemption. (See Isaiah 1:1-31). Many of the prophecies deal with the near future Babylonian captivity, yet in the long term, the time of the great tribulation and the coming of the Messiah as Israel's deliverer are in view. Often these themes overlap each other.

As we look at the immediate chapters around chapter 64 we again read of indictment (Isaiah 59:1-8). In a passage very much like Isaiah 64:4-7, a confession of the nations utter wickedness is made (Isaiah 59:9-14). Salvation is far from them due to their sinfulness. This is a people who as a whole have abandoned the Lord and live totally in sinful rebellion. As we read these passages we see a nation under judgement. Their land lies desolate, the sanctuary destroyed. Again, the captivity in Babylon, and ultimately the desolation of the last days are in view.

This period of desolation is the backdrop for chapter 64 which is a plea for the Lord to come and deliver His people. But as one reads through this chapter it becomes painfully obvious that it is sin that has caused this nation to be in the situation it is in. Isaiah 64:5-7 is a confession of their continuance in sin, and an acknowledgement of the just anger of the Lord. The question is asked "How can we be saved?" They go on to acknowledge that their righteousness is like a filthy garment, their iniquities, like the wind, have carried them away.

Although they kept up the ritual aspects of the law, they had departed from the Lord, and He had withdrawn from them. They had no righteousness, even their fasts and sacrifices were an abomination to God, as they flowed out of hypocrisy.

This passage is not teaching us that as Christians our obedience, our good works that flow out of a heart that loves God and desires to please Him, are tainted. Righteous acts that flow from right motives are not filthy rags in God's sight, in fact the opposite is true. Revelation 19:8 states that fine linen robes, bright and clean represent the righteous deeds of the saints.

I would agree that deeds done out of selfish motives, or hypocrisy are not righteous at all. But one who is made right through Jesus Christ will live right. That is what righteousness is, and that individual is pleasing to God.

Again, this passage is speaking of God's people who have grievously departed from Him in their hearts and in their conduct. They are under His chastening hand, and in their cry for deliverance they confess their sinful state. That is what this passage means in its proper context.

The day will come when Israel is once again desolate, they cry out in repentance and find restoration, as they finally recognize their Messiah.

The Beast in Revelation

Revelation 13:1-3 describes the final "beast kingdom that will usher in the 42 month period known as the great tribulation.

 First of all compare this beast with the serpent (Satan) of Revelation 12:3.

They both have seven heads and ten horns. The crowns are on the heads on the serpent, and on the ten horns on the beast. The beast is made up of the various kingdoms Satan has used throughout history to prevent the coming of the one who would crush his head (see Gen 3:15). His strategy has been to persecute the line of Israel through whom the Messiah was to come, and to whom He will come again to set up His kingdom. The crowns on the seven heads represent seven particular nations that Satan has used in his war against God. We will look at them later.

The beast also has seven heads and ten horns. The seven heads represent the same nations Satan has used in his attempt to prevent the coming of the Messiah Jesus. The crowns however are on the ten horns. These horns represent the ten kingdoms who unite under the Antichrist in one final assault against the people of God, and in fact Jesus Christ Himself at His return. The crowns on the horns show that Satan's final tool is the beast.

I want to draw attention to Rev 13:2. This beast has a body like a leopard, feet like a bear, and a mouth like that of a lion. We see these beasts in Daniel 7:1-8. In my last post which you can read here I identify them as,

1. The lion is Iraq.

2. The bear is Iran.

3. The leopard is Turkey.

4. The terrible beast with ten horns is the final beast Satan will use, the revived Islamic caliphate. Again, as I stated in my previous post, we should be looking for the Antichrist to to come out of the middle east, as this final kingdom is middle eastern at its core.

In Revelation 17:3-13 we see this beast again. Here we find out who the seven heads represent. Verses ten and eleven give us a clue. These heads represent seven kingdoms, and seven kings. Five have fallen. Most commentators agree that those five are,

1. Egypt.

2. Assyria.

3. Babylon.

4. Medo-Persia.

5. The Greek Empire.

One now is. The kingdom that was in power when John received the Revelation was the Roman empire. So far we have accounted for six of the heads. 

The other has not yet come, but when he does he must remain for a little while. This kingdom is represented by the legs of iron in Daniel chapter two. It is this kingdom that extends to the ten toes on the statue that represent the final revived end time beast kingdom. It cannot be Rome as many believe, that kingdom is the sixth head, not the seventh. I identified the fourth kingdom in Nebuchadnezzar's vision as the Islamic caliphate. This corresponds with the seventh head on the beast.

And the eighth is the beast which once was, now is not, and is yet to come. This is the Antichrist, and the beast empire, the dreadful beast of Daniel 7, with ten horns. It is the revival of the Islamic caliphate which was broken up in 1923. The ten horns represent ten kings who give their authority to the beast. These kings and the kingdoms they represent will be made up of middle eastern and north African Muslim majority nations surrounding the nation of Israel. It will be through this empire that Satan makes his final assault against Israel, and ultimately makes war against the Lamb.

Outline of Daniel (Formation of the Beast Kingdom).

In this post I would like to make an outline of key passages in the book of Daniel pertaining to the rise of the Antichrist and his kingdom. There is a lot of information packed into these chapters concerning end time events, and it is vital for us to get a grasp on the things revealed here as they form a basis for many of the prophecies found in the book of Revelation.

Daniel chapter 2 contains the dream of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon. He dreams of a statue with a head of gold, chest of silver, belly and thighs of bronze, legs of iron, and toes made of a mixture of iron and clay. Finally he saw a stone strike the feet of iron and clay, then become a great mountain that filled the earth.

 Each segment of the statue represents a kingdom that succeeds the Babylonian kingdom of Nebuchadnezzar.

1. Head of Gold- Nebuchadnezzar (Babylon)

2. Chest and arms of siver- Medo-Persian empire

3. Belly and thighs of bronze-

Greek empire

4. Legs of Iron- Islamic caliphate

5. Toes of iron mixed with clay- revived Islamic caliphate.

6. The stone represents Jesus Christ who destroys the "beast" at His coming, and sets up His kingdom which shall have no end.

It may surprise many that I did not mention Rome as the legs of iron. Although Rome was a powerful empire by the time of Christ, and was responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and persecution of Christians throughout the empire, they did not succeed the kingdoms represented in Nebuchadnezzar's statue. History has proven that the next kingdom to rule the area that is represented in this dream was a united Islamic caliphate which ruled in various forms from 632 AD until the breaking up of the Ottoman empire in 1923.

In chapter 7 Daniel records a vision of four beasts rising from the sea. He also saw a "little horn" rise up and come to power until the fourth beast was destroyed. We also get a glimpse of the second coming of Christ to set up His kingdom. 

These beasts follow the order of the empires represented in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, however they are future versions of these empires.

1. Lion with eagles wings- Babylon (Iraq).

2. A bear with three ribs in it's mouth- Medo-Persia (Iran).

3. Leopard with four wings and four heads- Greek empire (Turkey)

4. Dreadful beast with ten horns- a revived Islamic caliphate.

5. The little horn- the Antichrist 

6. The ten horns- ten kings (kingdoms) who make up the final beast empire. They submit to the rule of the Antichrist ( see Rev 17:12-13).

7. The Son of Man and Ancient of days - here again we see the destruction of the Antichrist and his kingdom at the return of Christ to establish His kingdom.

Revelation 13:1-3 describes this beast as it rises out of the sea. It is a composite of the first three (lion, bear, and leopard) with seven heads and ten horns.  It would be wise to keep our eyes on this portion of the world as the end times beast kingdom will rise up out of the middle east, not Europe like so many teach. 

Daniel 8 records the vision of the ram and goat. Similar events to the ones foretold here have in a sense happened when the Greek empire under Alexander the great defeated the Medo-Persian empire. Yet we see that this vision is for the time of the end, so we see it is yet to come (Daniel 8:17, 26). Looking back at the Greek conquest of the Persian empire can give us an idea of what may happen as these events unfold. Let's identify the various symbols in this vision.

1. The ram with two horns- the kings of Media and Persia (Iran).

2. The goat with a prominent horn- the king of Greece. The actual word translated Greece here is Yavan, a country made up of what is now known as Turkey, and Greece. 

3. The prominent horn broken off- something happens to the leader of Yavan after his victory over Persia.

4. The four horns- the dividing up of the future "Greek empire".

5. The horn coming out of one of the four horns- this is the Antichrist as he rises to power. 

In this vision the ram (Iran) attacks its neighbors to the west, north, and south. They are defeated by Javan (Turkey) however. Soon after this victory something happens to the leader of Turkey and the newly enlarged kingdom is divided into four parts. Out of one these sections a small horn (the Antichrist) rises. As he gains power he unleashed it on the beautiful land (Israel), causing devastation and destruction of the holy people. Ultimately he will be destroyed but not by human power.

Again, one should look to the middle east, particularly Turkey, possibly Syria for the emergence of the Antichrist. A Roman empire led by the man of lawlessness does not fit the biblical narrative.

Chapters 10-12 give an account of the struggle between the kingdoms formed after the "prominent horn " of the goat in chapter 8 is broken off. In these passages we read of war between the king of the north (Seluicid empire, the Levant)and the king of the south (Ptolemaic, Egypt). To a degree this can be applied to the events leading up to the reign of Antiochus Epiphanes, the seluicid ruler who mercilessly persecuted the Jewish people. He is a foreshadowing of what is to come. Yet as we read on we see the prophecy telescope to the end when the Antichrist comes on the scene and the tribulation begins. Again, I would look to the middle east, as this is where we will see the wars and rumors of wars that will lead up to the return of Christ.

This was a brief outline of key facts concerning the end times as found in the book of Daniel. I would like to go into deeper details in future posts.