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People of The Living God |
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April 2024
WATCHMEN ON THE WALLS
PREPARE YE THE WAY OF THE LORD
James Sanderson
“The voice of him that crieth in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God. Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain: And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it” (Is. 40:3-5). In ancient times when a noted dignitary, such as a person of royalty, was scheduled to visit a region of the kingdom, an all-out preparation was undertaken in anticipation of his arrival. The roadways were repaired for safe and smooth travel. Stones were removed. Ruts were filled. The citizenry initiated a scrupulous preparation for the much-anticipated monarch.
The New Testament reveals that this portion of Scripture refers to John the Baptist, whom Jesus called the greatest of all the prophets because of his unique position as the forerunner, that is, herald of the coming Messiah. When the “angel of the Lord” appeared to Zacharias to reveal the impending birth of his son, John, the angel declared, “And he shall go before him [the Messiah] in the spirit and power of Elias to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord” (Luke 1:17, writer's emphasis). The ministry of John the Baptist underscored the importance that God placed on preparation for the coming of Christ, the Messiah. What was the message of the hour? The long-awaited Messiah is coming. The people must be prepared.
“Be Ye Also Ready”
As the world barrels inexorably toward the return of Christ and that final judgment, mankind enters uncharted waters, a time unlike any other in earth's history (Mark 13:19-20). The message of John the Baptist again echoes through the centuries to this final hour: “Prepare ye the way of the Lord. Make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” The evil and violence prevalent in today's society mirrors what prevailed in the days of Noah and in the days of Lot. “And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled with violence” (Gen. 6:5, 11). “And the Lord said, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous; I will go down now, and see whether they have done altogether according to the cry of it” (Gen. 18:20-21a). The Church must awaken to the gravity of the situation. Many are asleep, believing the lie: “all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation” (II Pet. 3:4). They fail to recognize the biblical signs being clearly fulfilled before their eyes, signs that will usher in the return of the Lord Jesus Christ. The truth is that Jesus Christ is coming again and every eye shall see Him (Rev. 1:7). The Prophet Malachi posed this all-important question, “But who may abide the day of his coming? And who shall stand when he appeareth?” (Mal.3:2). The answer is clear: those who have prepared.
Preparation must become the chief concern of God's people in these “perilous times” (2 Tim. 3:1). In His discourse with His disciples on the Mount of Olives, Jesus admonished His followers, “Therefore be ye also ready for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 24:44, writer's emphasis). According to God's Word believers are called to live in anticipation of Christ's return (2 Tim. 4:8). That anticipation includes a diligent appraisal of one's state of preparedness in light of the Word of God, the application of Christ's specific warnings that pertain to this hour, and the maintenance of a steadfast state of readiness to the end. Only those who remain faithful to Christ to the end will be saved (Mark 13:13).
God's judgments upon a lawless world will bring significant changes that will have a profound effect on every aspect of man's existence: political, economic, social, and religious, for the Lord has promised to shake everything that can be shaken (see Heb. 12:25-27). One unfortunate problem that occurs when dealing with spiritual preparation is that most people develop no concern until the overwhelming problem is upon them. It is in the time of relative peace that one should consider these issues. Other obstacles to timely preparation are the distractions of the world and the cares of this life. Nevertheless, only those who take advantage of the time that God has given them will be able to endure the upheavals and trials of these last days. Now is the time to reevaluate one's priorities. Now is the time to lay aside the pursuit of material things and seek a closer walk with the Lord. Now is the time to become serious with the Lord. Time is a precious commodity. The Apostle Paul declared,” And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light” (Rom 13:11-12).
Jesus, Who knows the hearts of all men, warned His disciples to take heed lest “that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth” (Luke21:34-35, writer's emphasis). A snare is a trap or anything designed to allure or entice the unwary. God's Word, also, issues this warning, “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! For the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time” (Rev. 12:12). Many will fall prey to the forces of darkness in these last days because they failed to utilize the present opportunity to prepare. Just as soldiers would be unable to face the demands of war without preparation and training, so also God's people will be unable to endure the demands of these last days without spiritual preparation as laid out in God's Word.
“They That Were Ready Went In”
One portion of Scripture that highlights the importance of preparation is the Parable of the Ten Virgins (Matt. 25:1-13). Ten virgins, all believers, took their lamps and set out on a journey to meet the bridegroom. Five of them wisely took enough oil in their vessels with their lamps. The other five foolishly took no oil with their lamps. While the bridegroom tarried, they all “slumbered and slept.” Suddenly at midnight a cry went forth, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.” They all arose, trimmed their lamps, and set out into the darkness of night to meet the bridegroom. Unfortunately, the foolish virgins discovered to their dismay that they didn't have enough oil for the journey and were, thus, compelled to purchase more. While they were procuring the necessary oil, “they that were ready went in with him [the bridegroom] to the marriage: and the door was shut” (Matt. 25:10, writer's emphasis). The keyword here is ready. Only those who “were ready went in with him.” The message conveyed by this parable is that preparation is not optional. It is vital to one's spiritual welfare in these last days.
Another important truth that one gains from this parable is found in verses 8-9: “And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are gone (Gr. going) out. But the wise answered, saying, Not so; lest there be not enough for us and you: but go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves.” Each individual must take responsibility for his own preparation. It is a personal endeavor between God and the believer. There may be coattails in politics, but not in the kingdom of God.
“Watch Ye Therefore”
“Watch ye therefore: for ye know not when the master of the house cometh, at even, or at midnight, or at the cockcrowing, or in the morning: Lest coming suddenly he find you sleeping. And what I say unto you I say unto all, Watch” (Mark 13:35-37). The one word related to preparation for these last days that Jesus emphasized more frequently than any other was the word, watch. It is quite noteworthy that when Jesus retreated to the Garden of Gethsemane with His disciples to pour out His heart to the Father in agonizing intercession, He commanded His disciples, “Tarry ye here, and watch with me” (Matt. 26:38b). At one point He interrupted His prayer to check on His disciples. Upon finding them sleeping, He said, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:40-41). Three times He checked on them, and three times He found them sleeping instead of watching. Three times they completely ignored the Master's instructions. Gethsemane was their opportunity to prepare for the ensuing crisis. “And they all forsook him, and fled” (Mark 14:50).
The command to watch is not merely a fleeting suggestion but an absolute necessity if one is to endure to the end. One's spiritual survival depends upon it. Jesus declared, “If therefore thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee” (Rev.3:3). “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame” (Rev. 16:15).
What does it mean to watch? Vine states that watch means to keep awake, to be spiritually alert (Vine's, page 1224). Strong adds to be vigilant, wake (Strong's). Thayer states to have been roused from sleep, to be awake, to give strict attention to, to take heed lest through remissness and indolence some destructive calamity overtake one, or lest one be led to forsake Christ, or lest one fall into sin (Thayer's Lexicon, page 122). Watch is the opposite of sleep. The Apostle Paul warns, “Therefore let us not sleep, as do others, but let us watch and be sober” (I Thess. 5:6).
Those who watch are discerning; that is, they have learned to recognize the deception of the enemy (Heb. 5:14). Their spiritual senses have become adept at distinguishing good from evil.
“His Wife Made Herself Ready”
“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints” (Rev. 19:7-8). Again, in this portion of Scripture, the Lord emphasizes the fact that preparation is indispensable if one plans to be in that company called the bride, the Lamb's wife. She made herself ready. The word ready is quite interesting. Strong states that this word “refers rather to internal fitness” (Strong's). The Lord presents a metaphorical portrait that emphasizes the inner beauty of the bride, the Church. Her adornment is the inner beauty of God's righteousness.
Preparation is a joint venture between the believer and the Lord. God has provided every means. The believer is now required to apply those means to his life under the divine influence of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord issues a special blessing to those who diligently prepare for this glorious event, “Blessed are those servants, whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily, I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them. And if he shall come in the second watch, or come in the third watch, and find them so, blessed are those servants” (Luke 12:37-38).
DECEPTION IN AMERICA
Alfred King
The recent State of the Union address given by President Biden has once again brought to light the critical division found in America today. While the speech was more a campaign speech than addressing the state of our Union, Biden made one statement that his own party immediately condemned: it was when the President called the murderer of Laken Riley an “illegal.” Riley was killed by Jose Ibarra, a twenty-six year old Venezuelan man, who was in America illegally.
President Biden was attacked by his own party for using the word “illegal” instead of the preferred “undocumented immigrants,” and two days later he made an apology for carelessly using an improper word. He confessed he should have said, “undocumented immigrant.”
Why did this statement cause such consternation among the leaders and elite of the Democratic Party? Is “illegal” not what Jose Ibarra is? This thought brings us to question why this slipup in Biden’s speech was such a big deal. It is because the words chosen by the promoters of evil are designed to deceive.
When we read Jesus’ warning in Matthew 24, Mark 13, and Luke 21 about the great deception that will exist in the latter days, we often think of it as referring to the doctrines and deceptions which will exist within the church; and it is true that we must be certain our Christian lives are lived in accordance with scripture. Yet, there is a deception outside the Christian arena of which Christians are also to be aware. On the website, “Patriot Watchdog,” Jesse Kelly made an astute observation; it was that communism uses two things to promote its philosophy. Those two things are fear and lies.
We can observe these tactics in politics today: fear is used to force people into subjection. Think of all the fears that are daily reported by our political leaders. One of the most recent events that brought people into subjection to our government was the COVID pandemic. People allowed the government to weaken our economy, run the national debt to unbelievable heights, force its citizens to cease their normal way of life by staying home, wearing masks and getting shots which were questionable at best, all at the demands of the government.
It almost seems as though the government was testing her citizens; how submissive would they be? Fear has tremendous power.
Returning to Jesse Kelly’s remarks regarding the two ways in which communism gains control of a nation we find these two elements working in America today. Fear: People are afraid of climate change and are following along with all the foolishness of the world’s governments in declaring that we’re all going to die because of climate change. The real question is: what is going to destroy us first, climate change or World War III? Now we have two fears to fret over. And it might be our diet that kills us first, so we need to quit eating meat and try Bill Gates’ “synthetic meat.” How many people today are falling for this nonsense? God controls the climate and man will never be able to control it no matter what they do. In fact, men are the ones who are dangerous when they think they can and attempt to do so. When I was a child, the fear created for us was that the earth was cooling and we were in for another ice age. Lesson: They don’t really know.
The second thing Kelly mentioned is “lies.” Lies are used to deceive. It is obvious that lies are used to instill fear. The communist dictators of the former Soviet Union used deception and lies to capture and enslave its people. Language is a big part of this deception. Referring back to President Biden’s “State of the Nation” speech and his use of the word “illegal”; this word is not appropriate for the narrative our present government is promoting because “illegal” means someone broke an existing law. The open border narrative is that those entering “illegally” are not illegals, they are “undocumented immigrants.” That sounds better because it does away with the term “illegal” which carries a bad connotation. Even the right has been taken in with this deception because they so often use the word “migrant.” However, neither “migrants” nor “undocumented immigrants” are necessarily illegal, they just haven’t received their paperwork yet. These terms are a slight deviation from the truth but nevertheless are somewhat deceptive.
Just as the words used to deceive the Soviet Union’s citizens, the words chosen by the Nazis during the nineteen thirties were chosen to deceive the German people. The same is true today with North Korea, China, the Islamic nations, and other communist nations, and it seems to be alive and well in America also. Deception abounds just as Jesus said it would in the latter days.
Consider just a few other terms used to deceive: Murder of the unborn is not murder, it’s “reproductive rights. It’s a woman’s body and she has the right to abort her baby.” Or “the baby is just a clump of cells, it’s just matter.” We can’t call it murder because that is offensive. Boys can become girls and girls can become boys in today’s society and to speak the truth marks one as having some form of phobia. It’s declared to be normal; hormones and transgender surgery are right, good and necessary. It does not matter what truth is. Truth is uncomfortable and therefore must be cast aside, and we who disagree must refer to these confused individuals by their preferred pronouns. They want us who still retain some sense of truth and reality to “lie” in order to affirm their delusional “identity.” Even pastors and some churches have succumbed to this stupidity. These lies prevail throughout America in every part of our society, and if one doesn’t conform they are threatened through fear. It has infiltrated our schools, universities, work environment, medical fields, sports, and media, and it seems impossible to find a place where truth is more important than someone’s delusional feelings.
All of these things are being promoted to destroy America and everything that is decent and true and more seriously, is an attack upon God’s Word. The deception Jesus warned of two thousand years ago has come upon the world and it has become a dangerous place, especially for Christians.
Americans are losing their freedoms and, sadly, many Christians are succumbing to the very things that destroyed the freedoms of citizens in the Soviet Union and Germany during the twentieth century. They are succumbing to the very same things that brought God’s judgment upon Israel and Judah in the past. But men foolishly blind themselves to truth in order to do as they please and immerse themselves ever deeper into their own depravity.
Hypocritical Inconsistencies
How can anyone kill a baby? The world watches in horror at the slaughter of civilians in Gaza by Israeli forces. The leaders of Hamas, the very ones who called for the massacre that took place on October 7, 2023 in southern Israel, have the audacity to accuse Israel of being barbaric for their attacks in Gaza where civilians are being killed. Yet they were the ones who barbarically initiated the attack in which twelve hundred innocents were slaughtered, tortured, raped, and killed, many of whom were children, and kidnapped 250 others. What warped mentality is this? What blindness has come upon mankind? God has turned this world over to a reprobate mind and God’s judgment is beginning to fall upon the world, just as Jesus prophesied.
One of the arguments for legalizing abortion is the question of when life begins. It actually begins at fertilization. Again, we have a problem with language and the words chosen to identify this. If we can move this time to six weeks or six months or even to nine months then murder can occur at any time as long as the baby is in the womb, “it is merely matter.” Everyone knows in his heart that this is foolish but evil has an agenda and it does not matter about truth, nor the life killed. They don’t really care about the mother either, although they claim differently.
If we call the embryo merely matter, then we don’t have to face the issue of murder. Therefore, the longer men can consider a baby in the womb as matter, the later it can be destroyed without conviction. Yet once the child is considered living that makes the abortion murder. What convoluted reasoning.
Consider the life of a tree or a stalk of corn. The seed is planted in the ground and lies dormant. If it does not receive warmth from the ground and water from above, it disintegrates. However, if the ground is warm and rain falls upon the earth, the seed while not seen is alive and begins to sprout and shoots upward. It is alive before it reaches the surface and no one questions this reality. Yet we want to destroy the life of a child because of deceptive wording by the powers that be. Millions are made through abortions every year. Ever wonder how much that has to play in the issue regarding abortion? Abortion is evil and is inspired by the powers of darkness and men and women are giving themselves to evil inspiration and acts that are hellish.
According to the “Declaration of Independence”, every person has the God-given right of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The US Constitution, in the 5th and 14th amendments, affirms this right declaring that states cannot deprive “any person of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law”. Yet, despite this, the Supreme Court of the United States left the decision of abortion to the states. According to the “Declaration of Independence”, the child in the womb has the right to LIFE. How is it that the Supreme Court could not uphold this basic constitutional right? How is it that we can condemn the slaughter of innocent children in Israel or Gaza and yet kill them in the womb? How two-faced can we be? How inconsistent are we?
God’s judgment is falling all around us and we are blind to see it. America has sinned a great sin and God’s justice cries out. God is a God of mercy but He is also a God of justice and judgment, and His judgment has already begun in America. America is in a very dire situation, a condition that only God can bring us out of. Trump is not the answer, God is and He alone can turn America back to her original roots.
Will America return? Will she repent of her sins and remember that God’s blessings fell upon her because she was a nation who acknowledged God and formed their Constitution based upon God’s Word? It is time for Christians throughout this land to repent of sins we find in our personal lives and then repent before a holy God for the sins of our nation, just as did Daniel, Nehemiah, David, and other men in scripture. These men sought God and repented for Israel’s sins when Israel turned from God. God heard those men and answered according to His mercy. Maybe the Lord will hear and turn away His judgment from us. Whatever the future holds for America, God has promised to protect His people. He will never leave them nor forsake them. He has promised to bring them through the tribulation that may soon come upon us. He is ever faithful.
CRUCIFIED WITH CHRIST
Charles Woodard
“I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ livethin me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of theson of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20).
The “born-again” experience, with redemption by faith, is the beginning of the Christian life. The believer is told to “grow:”
“But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ…” (II Peter 3:18).
A high plateau is reached when one can say with the apostle Paul, “I am crucified with Christ.” Crucifixion and death to “self” is the key to Christ living in the believer. It is one thing to be a member of the Body of Christ; it is another to have the living Christ in control of the believer. This is the complete salvation of Romans Chapter 6:
“Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body ofsin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin” (Romans 6:6).
Notice that “henceforth,” or in the future, sin is renounced as the “old man” (natural man) is replaced by the living Christ!
Romans 6:8 is a present participle: “Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him.”
Here is death to sin and self and dominion over sin and sinning: “For sin shall not have dominion over you; for ye are not under the law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).
It is possible to say with Paul that our old man is dead to sin and sinning as Christ lives in us in right standing with God: “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness” (Romans 6:18).
“Free from sin” is the mark of a Christian. We may be healthy, happy, and hilarious, but we must be free from sin and holy! “But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye haveyour fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life” (Romans 6:22).
Christianity today stresses deliverance, prophecy, health, wealth, and happiness. It needs to stress holiness of life! It is the “fruit of holiness” that results in “everlasting life” (Romans 6:22 above).
Believers in Christ move to a new concept of obedience and righteousness. It is the righteousness of Christ that leads to eternal life and calls forth holiness as its corollary. It is the Christian’s life that is to reflect the change of ownership (“servants to God above” - Romans 6:22). It is freedom from sin that reflects true discipleship and ends in everlasting life!
Summary of Galatians 2:20:
“I am crucified with Christ…” This is an individual concept, not a church or corporate state.
“nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me…” This is death to “self” and personal ownership of the living Christ.
“the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God…” This is not a relationship at death, but a present, living relationship of Christ living in the believer and His faith being appropriated by faith.
“who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Here is the reason for redemption. Salvation from sin is through the atonement of Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection from the dead. The total concept is found in complete salvation.
“When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer
“And ‘ah’ for a man to arise in me, that the man I am may cease to be.” Tennyson
RESPONSIBILITY
Curtis Dickinson
One of the most serious problems we face in today’s world is the absence of personal responsibility. Many of us grew up among people who believed that goals were to be obtained through diligence and hard work and that every person was accountable for his own mistakes and sins.
Over the past six or seven decades there has been a paradigm shift in values to the extent that the common attitude is: “I am not responsible for my actions.” When a crime is committed there is a mad rush to check out every possible influence upon the criminal and to shift the responsibility—to the parents, to the environment, or to some other segment of society. Whenever something goes wrong the first thing many of us think of is that someone must be sued to pay for the damages. For example, tobacco companies are held responsible for people smoking themselves to death.
It appears that our culture is dedicated to destroying any such thing as the individual conscience. All must be equal—equally guilty or equally innocent. The result is that millions submit to the herd instinct. During the 1992 Los Angeles riots, Damian Williams was filmed crushing an innocent man’s skull with a brick, while Henry Watson held the victim down, after which Williams did a victory dance. Their lawyers defended them on the premise that people cannot be held accountable for getting caught up in mob violence. When they were acquitted on most counts, there was hardly any objection from across the country.
In our demoralized society there is an effort to homogenize humanity and abolish independent thought. For decades the public schools have insisted that there are no absolute truths and no absolute moral standards, and have taught “values clarification” which leaves each one to create his own moral standard by observing his or her peers. “Everyone else is doing it” is the basis upon which actions are determined.
This has developed what Albert Jay Nock (1870-1945) called “The mass-man.” He wrote, “The mass-man is one who has neither the force of intellect to apprehend the principles issuing in what we know as the humane life, nor the force of character to adhere to those principles steadily and strictly as laws of conduct…”
The mass-people have no desire to become true individuals, persons completely and solely responsible for their own thoughts and actions. They feel accountable to the masses, rather than to God. Their fear is not the fear of God, but the fear of being stigmatized as religious fanatics. They may attend a religious gathering to lose themselves in a kind of mass hysteria, to feel stimulated without the effort of clear and precise thought, and to be carried by a storm of emotion to an intense feeling of well-being. “It was awesome,” they may say, although they hardly knew what was said or done. “It was exciting.” But the mind was never seriously engaged.
As soon as the surge of emotion has subsided, nothing is left but a void, to be filled with restlessness, or even depression.
God has made us all different, with different personalities, different abilities, and different responsibilities. We do not all have the same capacities, in spite of all the twaddle we hear about equality. So far as can be determined, God has never created any two things exactly alike. But He has set a standard by which we all will be judged, so that we do not measure our lives and our actions by the consensus of the multitude, by His own words.
We are created in the image of God to the extent that each of us can conscientiously think the thoughts of God which He has revealed. That which is produced is a mind-to-mind relationship between man and God. It cannot be produced vicariously. No one can do another’s thinking and no one is brought into this relationship on a mass basis. Each mind must deal with its own individual relationship to the Creator.
We will never get America to believe the gospel and repent, as so many are saying it must do. Repentance requires a personal conscience and only takes place in the minds and hearts of individuals one by one.
When the prophet, Nathan, got King David to see himself in the terrible sins he committed with regard to Bathsheba and her husband Uriah, his acceptance of personal responsibility for what he had done was a turning point in his life. Sin became a reality to him, as he sang out, “Against thee, thee only have I sinned…My sin is ever before me” (Psalm 51:3,4). His prayer was not a general plea for the nation, but he prayed, “cleanse me from my sin…create in me a clean heart, O God” (vs. 2,10).
The principle is expressed in an old Negro Spiritual: “Not my brother, not my sister, but it’s me, O Lord, standing in the need of prayer…Not my mother, not my father, but it’s me O Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” I am the one who sinned and stand guilty before my Maker. All the sin committed by others does nothing to mitigate my own guilt. I cannot shift the blame to society, however corrupt that society may be. Before God one stands stripped of all else but his own character. For that reason, our society avoids the subject. It is afraid of character, as character is not what one is portrayed to be by the media, but what a person actually is in the eyes of God.
Only God and I know the secrets of my life, and I alone can receive the forgiveness He offers through His son, Christ Jesus. Such forgiveness requires personal belief, repentance, and confession. Merely joining a crowd which holds to certain doctrines does not qualify as belief. Many people can recite their church’s creed by memory each Sunday morning, but cannot tell you what it all means to them personally. Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do men say that the Son of man is?” They told him what others were saying. He then said, “But who do you say that I am?” Not what the polls say, and not what any of the councils of men say, but Peter, what do you say? Peter, a common fisherman and a man with common faults, was called upon to give a personal answer to the greatest question ever asked. The personal answer he gave became known as the good confession, the basis of faith: “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:13-16).
The path to personal responsibility is a two-way street. Just as I am the one who sinned, so I am the one for whom Jesus died. It is the individual that counts. Jesus said that the angels in heaven rejoice when one sinner comes to repentance. However firmly the majority may deny and reject the Savior, His power is never diminished, but it is available to each one who has the willingness to exercise his own mind and arrive at personal faith. Then all the great promises belong to that one.
For personal responsibility, there are also personal rewards. Besides the forgiveness of sin, which is reward enough, each penitent believer is the recipient of God’s own presence through the power of His spirit. Jesus said, “If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him” (John 14:23). David expressed it: “In thy presence is fullness of joy” (Psalm 16:11). This is not the joy of the church picnic, but a personal joy one has in his own private communion with the Lord.
What men fail to see in this age of worldly wisdom is that God works in those who believe Him. While governments seek more ways to control the citizens, God’s intent is that each person exercise self-control in love to God and his neighbor. The news headlines do not reflect the real work of God. It is going on in the minds and hearts of people who trust Him and responsibly submit to Him.
Saving faith requires that one think and act as an individual, but that is not to say that he has no concern for others. Quite the contrary. To have God as Father means that we have brothers in all His sons. It is the individual who has denied self and left the masses who feels genuine compassion for others and will personally bear their burdens, minister to the fatherless and widows, visit the sick and impoverished and share with them his bread.
The personal fellowship between a believer and God is a tie that cannot be broken by an outside influence or circumstance. It is a relationship that can never be taken away from you against your will because you are the one responsible to maintain that relationship through faith and by God’s marvelous grace.
“For it is written, As I live, says the Lord, to me every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess to God…”
“So then each one of us shall give account of himself to God” (Rom. 14:11-12).
THE SIGN OF JONAH
Randall Walton
“An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:40).
We are constantly amazed at the number of people who vociferously defend the tradition of Jesus’ death on Friday afternoon and His resurrection early Sunday morning as if you can somehow squeeze 3 days and 3 nights into that short time frame. At the very most you would have only one and a quarter days and one and a half nights, or about 33 hours. If Jesus’ body was not in the tomb for a full 72 hours, then neither was Jonah in the whale for 72 hours.
That being the case, we are free to juggle time around any way we wish: a day doesn’t mean a day and a night doesn’t mean a night. Those terms can be used to mean whatever a person chooses for them to mean!
But we are simple enough to believe that Jesus meant what He said: three days and nights, or 72 hours!
We received a pamphlet from a person who claimed that part of a day was counted as a full day, thus a part of Friday, all day Saturday and a part of Sunday would be counted as three days (He didn’t mention the nights). Our reply to such reasoning as this is NONSENSE! Of course, tradition must be upheld at any cost even if it means corrupting the truth.
Based upon Jesus’ prophecy and Jonah’s sign, it is simple enough to determine that Jesus did not rise from the grave during the night or early morning. Were that the case, His words are meaningless.
The Time Of His Death
According to Mark 15:25, Jesus was crucified at the third hour of the day which corresponds to our 9:00 a.m. But He remained on the cross until “about the ninth hour” (3:00 p.m.) when He “yielded up the ghost (spirit)” (Matt. 27:46-50). Sometime between 3:00 p.m. and sundown of that day (“when the even was come,” Matt. 27:57), He was removed from the cross and was placed in a tomb which was owned by one Joseph, of Arimathaea.
Irrespective of which day of the week this occurred, He rose exactly 3 days and 3 nights later, or a time period of no less than 72 hours, which of course places the time of His resurrection some time between 3:00 p.m. and sundown (72 hours from the time of His death and burial).
The Day Of His Death
Luke tells us that “that day was the preparation, and the sabbath drew on” (Luke 23”54). From this verse, scholars and others have assumed that this “preparation day” was Friday and that this Sabbath was the seventh day, or Saturday. But such is not the case at all!
John informs us that “it was the preparation of the passover” (John 19:14). The Sabbath referred to was the PASSOVER, not the seventh day Sabbath. He further enlightens us in John 19:31 with these words: “The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the sabbath day, (for that sabbath day was an high day,) besought Pilate that their legs might be broken…”
Nowhere in Scripture is the sixth day of the week (Friday) called the preparation day for the Sabbath. However, the day preceding Passover was a day for making ready the feast which was eaten after sundown to commence the Passover Sabbath (“a high day”) (Matt. 26:17-19; Mark 14:12-16; Luke 22:7-13).
We are not told which day of the week that Passover Sabbath fell upon. We only know that it was not Friday, for if it had been, then He would have risen late Monday afternoon (or 72 hours after His death). It remains then, that if we can determine the day of His resurrection, we can count back 3 days and 3 nights, or 72 hours, and thus discover the day of His crucifixion and the day of the Passover Sabbath.
The Day Of His Resurrection
As we have already pointed out, the time of His resurrection must correspond to the time of His death and burial which was sometime between 3:00 p.m. and sundown on the preparation day for the Passover.
Matthew tells us that before sundown on SABBATH Jesus was risen from the tomb. The first visitors to the tomb were two Marys who were met by “the angel of the Lord” who told them that “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said” (Matt. 28:1-6).
The time of the day was “In the end of the Sabbath, as it began to dawn toward the first of the week” (The word “day” has been supplied) (Matt. 28:1).
It is amazing that most of the modern versions of the Bible have translated “In the end of the Sabbath” to read “After the Sabbath.” Tradition means more to them than truth, evidently. The Greek words used here are OPSE DE SABBATON.
Joseph Thayer in his Greek-English Lexicon has this to say regarding the word OPSE: “an adverb of time, long after, late; a. esp. late in the day, i.e. at evening.” He also states that the word is used by some translators to indicate after, or long after, but “they fail to sustain the rendering AFTER; OPSE followed by a genitive seems always to be partitive, denoting LATE IN the period specified by the genitive (and consequently still belonging to it. Hence, “late on the Sabbath.” The word SABBATON is the genitive case which means that the OPSE belongs to the Sabbath, and not after the Sabbath (Thank you, Mr. Thayer).
Indeed, the Greek Scholar, Dr. George Berry states Matt. 28:1 as follows: “Now late on Sabbath, as it was getting dusk toward the first of the week, came Mary…”
The word “dawn” as used in this text has confused many because of their usage of dawn to mean the “break of day.” The word is used also to denote the “beginning of something (the dawn of the Space Age)” (Webster). Thus, the time of the women’s first visit was very near sunset, or “as it was getting dusk.”
The same Greek word for “began to dawn” in Matt. 28:1 is used in Luke 23:54 as “the Sabbath drew on.” The Sabbath had not yet begun but was very near. So also with the resurrection of Jesus. It occurred somewhere between 3:00 p.m. and sunset on Sabbath, and the two Marys made their first visit very near sunset on Sabbath at which time the angel announced that He had “risen as he said.”
And What Had He said?
“Three days and three nights” (Matt. 12:40)
“the third day” (Matt. 17:23; 20:19)
“After three days” (Mark 8:31)
Does “late on the Sabbath” meet these three requirements? Absolutely-right on the nose. Does Friday afternoon to Sunday morning meet those requirements? Absolutely NOT.
Which Day Was He Crucified?
This is, of course, elementary arithmetic. The D.D.s and P.H.D.s may have a struggle with it, but the little child has no trouble counting backward from “late on the Sabbath” three days and three nights. The day we call Wednesday, the fourth day of the week, was the day our Lord was nailed to that old rugged cross, which corresponds, by the way, to Daniel’s prophecy that “in the midst (middle) of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and oblation to cease” (Dan. 9:27).
We fully understand the consternation of those who stoutly defend their tradition of Sunday resurrection, Sunday worship services, and Easter celebrations. “Good Friday” is an invention of the Roman Catholic Church. Easter is nothing other than the annual pagan observation of the sex goddess Ishtar (Ashtarte) with its symbols of the rabbit and multi-colored eggs (fertility signs). The entire celebration is an abomination and a stench in the nostrils of the Almighty.
But the greatest blow this truth presents to the promoters of Sundayism is that it takes away their supposed proof that Sunday is the Lord’s day. Jesus told us very plainly which day the Lord’s day is: “The sabbath was made for man, (not the Jew) and not man for the sabbath: Therefore the Son of man is Lord also of the sabbath” (Mark 2:27,28).
We reiterate our earlier statements that there exists not one iota of substantiation for the observance of Sunday as a day to be set aside for worship. Some people claim that by the time of the second century many Christians were gathering on Sunday. Perhaps some of them did, but that gives no credence whatever to their behavior. It only proves that they had departed from “the faith once delivered unto the saints” (Jude 3).
Sunday, the first day of the week, is an ordinary work day. It is not, nor has it ever been a holy or sacred day. No matter how much men attempt to sanctify it and set it apart as a special day-or the Lord’s day-it cannot ever be, for God created it to be a work day. To attempt to transfer the blessing and sacredness of the Sabbath to the first day is a vain and empty gesture on man’s part. It just cannot be. It’s strange how tradition becomes engrained in men’s souls.
We know that most of the above goes against the teachings of some of our good Adventist friends who accept the Friday – Sunday tradition as purported by Mrs. E.G. White, founder of the Adventist church. In her book, The Desire of Ages, page 686, she makes the following statement:
“The night of the first day of the week had worn slowly away. The darkest hour, just before daybreak, had come. Christ was still a prisoner in His narrow tomb. The great stone was in its place; the Roman seal was unbroken; the Roman guards were keeping their watch.” This, of course, flies in the face of Matt. 28:1, for He was already risen before the night of the first day of the week had begun!
But tradition has a strong hold upon many of the saints of God. Having heard the same idea expressed over and over, the person becomes somewhat mesmerized until he finally accepts as fact what had been before just a vain theory.
The other references to Jesus’ resurrection in the following three gospels do not contradict the above. By combining the four gospels it is most plain that the writers wrote of different visits by several different groups of both men and women, as well as different times of visitations. Matthew 28 merely records the very earliest visit made by anyone to the sepulcher.
Do We Celebrate His Resurrection?
There is neither a command nor precedence for celebrating Jesus’ resurrection. We are told to commemorate His death by partaking of bread and wine which are symbols of His body and blood. This is also known as communion (I Cor. 10:16), or The Lord’s Supper (I Cor. 11:20). Incidentally, supper is an evening or night meal, not a morning one. Notice that the occasion in Acts 20:7 “when the disciples came together to break bread,” this was a night time affair on the first of the week, which began at sunset. (The word day was supplied). Paul preached to them and continued speaking until midnight. With our reckoning of time, we would call that a Saturday night service! There are no recorded worship services during the day on Sunday in the entire New Testament.
We, therefore, conclude that all efforts to glorify the day of the sun are forever vain traditions promoted and nurtured by men who despise the perfect law of liberty (James 1:25) as established by the living God Himself.
And while we whole-heartedly agree with Jesus that all the law hangs on the First and Second Great Commandments (Matt. 22:36-40), we are also aware of the fact that they do not negate the other Ten as found in Exodus 20:1-17. It is not for us to pick and choose which commandments we wish to observe.
WHY OBSERVE PASSOVER?
Alfred King
The question of Passover observance is a legitimate question for Christians who understand that we live no longer under the Old Covenant established by God through Moses when leading the children of Israel out of Egypt. As Israel camped at the foot of Mount Sinai, God gave Moses many commandments for the people as well as the order for worship and sacrifices required for the Tabernacle worship. The Tabernacle was built as a place where God would dwell among His people. God gave Moses many important instructions for approaching God in the Most Holy Place. There were various sacrifices required and certain procedures necessary for the priests in their service pertaining to the Tabernacle.
While the Passover observance was commanded in the laws of Moses the actual observance was earlier while Israel was still in Egypt. The Passover involved the tenth plague sent upon Pharaoh for his refusal to free God’s people from Egyptian bondage. It was this plague, the death of the firstborn throughout all Egypt that brought Pharaoh to the realization that God was truly God.
Israel was commanded to kill a lamb and place the blood of the lamb on the two side posts and the lintel of every Israelite’s home. That night when the angel of death passed through Egypt, He would pass over or bypass every house where the blood was sprinkled. In every house where there was no blood, the firstborn of that house died.
We see then that God established the Passover observance before Sinai. This feast foreshadowed redemption and therefore, it represents one’s salvation under the New Covenant. When one is born again he is freed from sin’s slavery and the bondage which fell upon men because of Adam’s transgression. Christians who observe the Passover Feast today do so in celebration of our salvation, remembering the day the blood of Jesus Christ was placed upon the doorposts of our hearts and our sins and iniquities were washed away.
Passover From Its Beginning
The promise of the Passover in reference to Israel was first announced 400 years before The Exodus took place. It was when God made a covenant with Abram and is recorded in Genesis 15. In that covenant several promises were given. One was that Abram’s seed would become as numerous as the stars in the heavens (Gen. 15:5). God added some information concerning Abram’s seed in verses 13-16, which was prophetic. God told Abram that his seed would be strangers in a foreign land and would be afflicted 400 years. It was during this time that Abram’s seed would multiply greatly. God added to this His promise that He would bring them out with great substance, they would not go out emptyhanded but would gather the wealth of Egypt as they exited. In this covenant made with Abram, God foretold and decreed the first Passover 400 years before it actually took place and 400 years before Sinai when the law was given.
The Passover that was foretold to Abram four hundred years before it took place contains a very important message for Christians today. Although the original Passover took place approximately 3500 years ago, the Feast of the Passover is still a yearly reminder of the power and sufficiency of Christ’s blood to deliver His people from the bondage of the flesh, the world, and the devil. It is the time when believers are translated out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.
Also, it was at the time when Israel went out of Egypt that they became a nation. They were no longer slaves, no longer impoverished, no longer a people under the government of others, they were now a holy nation, a nation chosen by God and they were free. How greatly that message resounds today in every born-again soul who has been freed from the slavery of sin and death.
Roughly 2000 years ago, Jesus shed His blood on Calvary and it was the establishment of the New Covenant Church, a church which is destined to become the bride of Christ. As Israel was promised the land of Canaan as her inheritance, so believers since the resurrection of our Lord are promised to be the bride of Christ, to inherit God’s kingdom, His heaven, and Eternal life. As it was the Passover lamb in Egypt that set Israel free and gave the promise of Canaan, so Jesus’ blood has opened the way by which believers will be wed to Christ and will be one with Him.
Consider two things in scripture that confirm this union of oneness with Jesus Christ. In the beginning God said, “Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh” (Gen. 2:24). Jesus states in Matthew 19:5-6 that two are made one. Matt 19:5-6: “And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.” As God has joined together a man and a woman, similarly but in a spiritual manner He will join His people to Himself in oneness.
Jesus in His prayer recorded in John 17, solidifies the truth of this oneness.
* Consider:
(John 17:11) “Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we are.”
(John 17:21) That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us.”
(John 17:22-23) “And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one.”
(John 17:23) “I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.”
Symbolically contained in the Passover Feast is the promise similar to that given to Abram. As his seed would be delivered from Egyptian bondage and possess the land promised, those under the New Covenant are promised deliverance from sin’s enslavement but also the assurance of being united with Christ as His bride in a special and unique oneness.
It is with these things in view, let us therefore keep the feast with rejoicing as we celebrate Jesus Christ and what He has delivered us from and what He is bringing us into.
* The prayer of Jesus recorded in John 17 is probably the strongest proof of the Trinity found in scripture. Jesus uses the plural pronoun “we.” In His prayer He speaks of the Father and His oneness, three in one, and prays, “even as we” (plural) “are one” (singular – unity). Somehow Jesus promises to bring His people into that oneness with Himself and His Father (the Holy Spirit is also a part of this unity).
PASSOVER NOTICE FOR 2024
Correction:
In the March issue of the Testimony of Truth there was an error on the date for the beginning of Passover. The days of the week were correct but the date was not. Below is the correct day and date. We apologize for the mistake.
People of the Living God will be observing the yearly Passover this year beginning at sundown on Monday, April 22nd. Tuesday, April 23rd is the Passover Sabbath which begins at sundown on Monday. Passover lasts for seven days, therefore it will end at sundown on Monday, April 29.