Giving to the Poor

Giving to the Poor

The theme of giving to the poor is all throughout scripture.  I grew up going to church but heard very little about this.  When I began to study the Bible, I found it amazing that this subject is sorely neglected in our churches based on how often it is mentioned in the scripture.  In fact, in certain “Christian” circles, giving to the poor is frowned upon.  Sometimes there are disparaging comments made about people who are in a lower class than we are.  My goal in this article is to highlight what the scriptures say and how widespread this subject is in scripture.  For every book of the Bible that mentions the subject, I want to include a quote or a reference with explanation.  Let’s start toward the beginning.

Keep in mind, the phrase may not be “the poor”; it might be orphans, fatherless, widows, strangers, foreigners, oppressed, servants, slaves.  The point is that the people to whom God wants us to be generous are not people of privilege.  In some cases, it’s the blind and deaf.  There are no hard and fast rules about who is poor and who has enough.

The Law of Moses

Back to the beginning: it’s difficult to find anything in Genesis, but beginning with Exodus and the laws for the nation of Israel, there are numerous commands for God’s people in their treatment of the poor.  Remember that the nation of Israel were pretty much all slaves in Egypt except Moses.  All the plagues striking Egypt was a vindication of the oppressed nation.  Then when God gives Moses the law on Mount Sinai, in the first set of commandments following the ten commandments, we have commands for giving to the poor in Exodus 22:21-27.  Since this is the first that I can find in the Bible, let’s outline a few basic principles.  No oppression of foreigners, widows, or orphans (because you were foreigners in Egypt).  What would be the penalty if they did?  God Himself would hear from heaven, His wrath would wax hot, and He would strike the Israelites because of their harsh treatment of the poor.  Further, they were not allowed to charge the poor any interest on loans.  Notice the open door that the poor person has to God Himself to call upon Him if he is ever oppressed.  The reason for this open door is the gracious character of God.

In the book of Leviticus, it opens with descriptions of the different sacrifices that God’s people were to offer at the tabernacle.  For each type of sacrifice, there is always a provision for those who can’t afford the more expensive sacrifice; sometimes a couple of birds or sometimes a small amount of flour, see Leviticus 5:11.  Every field and vineyard owner was required to leave a portion of their crops for the poor, see Leviticus 19:9-10.  Handicapped (blind, deaf) are also mentioned in this passage, vs. 14, and then it transitions into the second greatest commandment of all, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” Leviticus 19:18.  If you like, you can read about what the feast of Pentecost originally signified according to Leviticus at this link here.  Then you can read about the socioeconomic system according to the Mosaic law at this link here.  Note:  If you are not going to read these posts, just know that God’s economic system favored the poor.

The book of Numbers doesn’t have a whole lot except for Numbers 27 & 35 when receiving the commandments concerning inheritances.  In chapter 27 we find out that women (yes women!) could receive the inheritance of their father if there was no son to receive it.  Typically the woman would marry and her inheritance would be reckoned through her husband’s family.  But here God specifically revealed that women have rights too.  Levites did not have inheritances that would be passed down father to son, but that didn’t mean they were forgotten.  These men of God had certain cities that were allotted to them.  Also, what about someone falsely accused of murder?  Or perhaps they murdered someone but there were extenuating circumstances?  Many times the person could become a pariah and would be shunned by people everywhere.  Someone from the victim’s family was bound to take revenge at some point.  Not so in God’s economy.  In chapter 35 it is clearly laid out that God thinks of these people and provided a safe place for them.  We don’t often think of murderers (or someone who accidentally killed someone) as oppressed, but there are circumstances where they would receive God’s full protection because revenge would not be the right thing.

Deuteronomy is rife with passages about treatment of the poor, but it’s difficult to sort them all out because they are interspersed here and there.  10:17-19 tells us that God loves the poor and provides for them.  In chapter 15 there are commands for the forgiveness of debts every seven years, giving to the poor, and fair treatment of servants.  Again, Pentecost was a holiday for the poor at the expense of the rich, Deuteronomy 16:10-12.  There are several minor commands in chapters 23-24.

Historical Books

I can’t find anything of note in Joshua.  Judges doesn’t have anything direct, but when you consider that some of the judges that God used were people that considered themselves poor or outcast, that should make us think (Ehud, Gideon, Jephthah).  When we get to Ruth, though, it’s the main theme of the story.  Here is a widow and her widowed daughter-in-law looking for some God fearing person to allow them to take food for free out from their fields.  Enter our hero Boaz.  It’s a romance story, but the hero wouldn’t be the hero if he wasn’t kind to this poor foreigner.  The rich landowner even serves her lunch on a certain day.

In First Samuel we don’t have a whole lot; but we should consider that Hannah identified as poor in the sense that she was barren.  This makes her song in chapter 2 one of vindication for all the poor.  “The LORD makes poor and makes rich.  He brings low and lifts up.  He raises up the poor out of the dust and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes.”  Second Samuel contains the amazing story of David’s kindness to a crippled man.  The reason is based on a promise that David had made to his father, Jonathan.  Mephibosheth went from a disabled man in hiding to eating at the king’s table every day because of the mercy of King David, see chapter 9.

The book of First Kings starts out with two poor women pleading their case before King Solomon.  Who really cared about these two poor women each claiming that the baby was theirs?  Solomon used wisdom from God to discern who was the rightful mother.  Can you imagine that poor woman showing up to court thinking because of her poor status that she would get no justice, but then the overwhelming relief that she was to go home with her child?  Chapter 21 outlines the abuse of a wicked king using his position of power to gain personal property to become even richer.  God’s judgment was against Ahab and Jezebel for murdering the innocent for personal gain.

I can’t find anything in Second Kings.  In First Chronicles there is a hint during the reign of Jehoshaphat.  He instructed those who were judges during his reign in chapter 19 to judge righteously.  Don’t take bribes and show partiality to the rich.  The reverse of course is to judge the poor fairly.  The reason he cites is that the LORD was with them in this judgment and to not bring down God’s wrath upon them (sound familiar, see Exodus 21:23-24).  Second Chronicles closes with stating that the reason for the 70 year captivity was because of the prophecy of Jeremiah.  The Israelites had not followed the law to allow the land to rest on the Sabbath years, therefore God forcibly caused the land to rest.  All servants were supposed to get every seventh year off, but this had not been happening.  The post exilic book of Ezra doesn’t contain anything that I can find.  But the companion book of Nehemiah shows him getting very angry about not following the law concerning charging interest, see chapter 5.  Esther doesn’t contain anything direct unless you consider that Mordecai was most likely poor and of course Haman was quite rich.

Poetry

The book of Job has excellent guidance concerning the treatment of the poor.  First, Job starts out rich, then becomes poor.  As he sits there in his sickness and poverty, friends come to insist that God must have inflicted this current state of his because of something bad he did.  After several discourses of talking about his faith in general, Job finally gets specific.  He outlines that, while he was rich, he was regularly kind to the poor, having close relationships with them.  Job 29:11-16 tells of deliverance, blessing, and aid that he gave to the poor, the fatherless, widows, blind, lame, and simply anyone who had a need.  His riches were at their disposal, so much that in 31:13-21, he insists that he never overlooked any servant of his, any poor person, widow, fatherless (who regularly ate at his table), or someone with no clothes.

For the book of Psalms, it would be difficult to list them all.  It doesn’t get more direct than Psalm 41 which starts out “Blessed is the one who considers the poor” (helpless or weak).  This is followed by blessings that God will give to those that do.  Psalm 112-113 are probably part of one longer song encompassing 110-118.  Here in 112 it states that the righteous man gives to the poor.  Then as if to reinforce the thought, it states in 113 that God lifts up the poor.  He takes needy people and places them with royalty.  The righteous man and God Himself have the same heart toward the poor.

For the writings of Solomon, Proverbs 19:17 and 22:9 illustrate a couple of principles.  When people give to the poor, they are really lending to God.  Wouldn’t you like to have God indebted to you?  He will repay with interest.  Blessings will come to those who are generous to the poor.  Ecclesiastes sees everything done under the sun, including oppression of the poor and hoarding of riches, see 5:8-17.  There is a veiled reference to giving to others in 11:1-2.  It’s definitely not the theme of Song of Solomon.

The Prophets

Now we get to the prophets.  There are some scathing rebukes contained in some of their writings.  Isaiah’s first prophecy contains one in 1:23.  He foresaw that the Messiah would judge the poor in 11:3-4.   God is always a stronghold to the needy and poor, 25:4.  So many beautiful themes in this rich book, but when we get to Isaiah 58, giving to the poor and representing the cause of the oppressed take center stage.  The true themes of fasting are revealed to be as such: bring the homeless poor into your house, pour yourself out for the hungry, let the oppressed go free, and then your light shall break forth like the dawn, your healing shall spring up speedily, and righteousness will go before you.

Jeremiah has some poignant words directed at the house of David (think monarchy) concerning the oppressed and the poor in chapter 22 of his book, see verses 3-4.  Commenting on days gone by in verse 16, God states that in former times all was well in Israel when the poor received fair treatment.  Later in chapter 34 directing his prophecy toward Zedekiah, Jeremiah condemns him for not following the law regarding the freeing of the servants.  Zedekiah had at first followed the law, but probably due to pressure from the elite, he called them back.  Basically, Jeremiah foretells God’s wrath is coming just like God promised because of their unfair treatment of the poor.  Jeremiah’s Lamentation documents the wrath (4:11) of God being poured out on Israel with 3:34-36 showing that God was displeased with unfair legal treatment.  The irony of Lamentations 5:1-3 should not be missed.  Now that this wrath has come, the entire country belongs to the poor.

Ezekiel 18 has some very good theology and quotable quotes.  We throw them out often.  “All souls are mine.”  “The soul who sins shall die.”  “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked?”  “I have no pleasure in the death of anyone.”  The basic principle of repentance is spelled out so simply that anyone can understand.  But what is at the heart of doing right and doing wrong?  What constitutes true repentance?  When do we know we are finally doing right in God’s sight?  Just take a look.  Giving to the poor is something named here that righteous people do when they repent.  The righteous person does not oppress, does not charge interest on a loan, gives food to the hungry, and clothes to those who have none.  On the contrary, the wicked person is easy to spot.  They oppress people, are not concerned with justice, charge money for loans they give, do not give food to the hungry, or clothes to those who need them.

I can’t find anything in Daniel, nothing direct in Hosea or Joel, but Amos makes up for what these three lack.  If there is one central passage on the abuses that the rich inflict upon the poor in scripture, it’s the book of Amos.  He was most likely a wealthy businessman who knew the inside business practices of all the other rich, for-profit, businessmen out there.  Imagine if a billionaire came out and exposed all his billionaire friends in all the ways they exploit the system and made it all public knowledge.  This is the equivalent of the theme of Amos.  He prophesied during a time of great economic prosperity for the northern kingdom of Israel despite their sinfulness.  The prophet Jonah foretold this would happen during the reign of Jeroboam son of Joash and it came true, see II Kings 4:25 with Amos 1:1.  Amos denounced human trafficking, oppression of the poor, and legally subverting the cause of those that they exploit in his opening lines of condemnation against Israel, see Amos 2:6-7.  The women who wanted a lavish lifestyle drew the ire of the prophet as contributing to the plight of the poor, see Amos 4:1-3.  “Trampled by taxes” is how the poor and needy are described in 5:11-12.  The lavish lifestyles of the rich and famous are again mentioned in 6:4-7.  Oppression of the poor gets another mention in 8:4-6 focusing on the manipulation of the economic system in favor of the rich.  Why couldn’t the poor ever get ahead in Israel?  Because God’s people failed to follow his laws to be kind to the poor and instead did the exact opposite, padded their own accounts and rigged the system so that the rich always won and the poor always lost.

No mention in Obadiah and Jonah, only a hint in Micah, nothing in Nahum, a smidgeon in Habakkuk and Zephaniah, nothing in Haggai, but finally in Zechariah we get a little throwback all the way to Isaiah 58.  That passage focused on the poor, but also what godly fasting is all about.  Fasting was supposed to be a time to take the food that you would normally eat and give it to the poor.  Here in Zechariah 7, after the temple has been rebuilt, the priests are presented with the question of whether or not they should continue with the practice of fasting in accordance with the time when the first temple was destroyed.  God doesn’t answer their question at first, but admonishes them for wrong motivations for fasting in the first place, which in their case had been self pity.  A true fast was to show kindness and mercy to the poor and God again reveals these same truths mentioning the widow, the fatherless, and the foreigner.  Finally, Malachi closes the prophets with a brief rebuke against those who oppress workers’ rights, widows, fatherless, and foreigners pointing out that they don’t fear God and lumping them in the same category as those who practice witchcraft, see Malachi 3:5. 

On to the New Testament writings.

The Gospels and Acts

Matthew has one of the most powerful illustrations about giving to the poor in the Parable of the Sheep and Goats found in Matthew 25:31-46.  If you haven’t read it, read it.  Let the words sink in.  If you give food to someone who is hungry, if you give clothes to someone who hasn’t enough, if you visit someone who can’t go out of their house, you did that for Jesus, the King of kings.  You spent time with Jesus and indebted Him to you (sound familiar?)  On the contrary, if you walked past someone who needed food, drink, clothes, or a visit, you walked right on past Jesus like you didn’t care at all.

For Mark, I include the story of the rich, young ruler which is also in Matthew and Luke, but since Mark didn’t have anything else, and because Mark seems to include more unique material in his version of this story than Matthew or Luke, I include it here, see Mark 10:17-31.  This young guy, a very rich person of prominence, living his best life, walks up to Jesus and wants to know about eternal life.  He insists he has always followed the law.  Jesus has a moment where he looks at him and loves him (that’s only found in Mark).  Then Jesus commands him to sell everything that he has, every single possession.  Then take all that money and give it to the poor.  We know the story.  He couldn’t do it.  He loved his stuff more than God or the poor.  Jesus then speaks to those who would listen after they witnessed that powerful illustration of what it means to not love God with all your heart.  When you hear the words of Jesus about how hard it is for a rich person to get into the kingdom of God, then the choice of giving all of your money to the poor to become poor and obtain the kingdom of God should be an easy choice, if you want the kingdom of God.

When we get to Luke, we must believe that this was a man who wanted people to know the heart of God concerning the poor.  Luke has more unique material about the poor than any other writer in scripture that I find.  Let’s start at the beginning.  Mary was most likely poor.  If you examine The Magnificat in Luke 1:46-55, it closely resembles Hannah’s prayer in I Samuel 2.  She starts out rejoicing because God has looked upon her humble estate.  She derides the rich and the proud, but states that God has exalted “those of a humble estate” meaning of course herself.  Also for their sacrifice in Luke 2:22-24, notice that Mary and Joseph offer two turtledoves which was the substitute in place of the more expensive lamb for someone who was poor, see Leviticus 12.

Luke includes words of John the Baptist that we don’t find anywhere else.  When John commands, “Repent!”, the people want clarification.  “What exactly are we supposed to do?  What do you mean by bring forth fruits worthy of repentance?  Come on, John, get specific.”  So he does.  If someone has extra clothes, they should give their extra clothes to people who don’t have enough.  If someone has extra food, give food to those who don’t have enough.  Don’t charge more money than you are supposed to.  Don’t try to get more money out of someone through your job.  Be satisfied with the amount of money you make for your job.  Seriously, read about it in Luke 3:10-14.

When Jesus begins His ministry in Luke 4:18, He quotes Isaiah stating, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because He has anointed Me to proclaim good news to the poor.”  Luke’s version of the beatitudes starts out “Blessed are the poor”, not “poor in spirit” as Matthew’s does.  Blessed are the hungry.  But then Luke tells us the reverse, when Jesus pronounces the curse.  Cursed are you who are rich, who are full, and who are laughing, see Luke 6:20-26.  Jesus only raised three people from the dead during His earthly ministry, one of them being the only son of a widow, see Luke 7:11-17.  Luke is the only one who includes the parable of the good Samaritan, Luke 10:29-37. 

There is a parable commonly called the parable of the rich fool only found in Luke 12:13-21.  Jesus told it so we would be on guard against covetousness.  Shortly after in Luke 12:23-24 is a passage that only appears in the book of Luke ~ “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.  Sell what you have and give to the poor; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”  The context seems to suggest that seeking the Kingdom of God involves giving to the poor.

Luke 14:12-23 has several unique teachings from Jesus.  First, don’t invite people to your house who are of the same social status as you.  You should be inviting poor people over to your house; and not just poor people, also the crippled, lame, and blind.  The reason you should invite them over is because they cannot pay you back like other people of your same social status can.  Then Jesus tells the parable of the great banquet.  Notice who gets invited: the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, just as the previous teaching.  Compel them to come in. 

Luke is the only one who includes the parable of the rich man and Lazarus.  Remember Lazarus was a beggar, a poor man, and not just a poor man, but a very sickly poor man.  One thing that people sometimes miss is that before Jesus told the parable in Luke 16:19-31, the Pharisees who were lovers of money were making fun of the teachings of Jesus, see Luke 16:14-15.  The parable basically says that the rich man had everything he could want in this world.  He died and went to hell.  Lazarus had nothing, not even good health.  He died and was carried into paradise. 

The last passage I’m going to include is a bit of a controversy at least for me.  Here is Luke 11:37-41. 

And as He spoke, a certain Pharisee asked Him to dine with him. So He went in and sat down to eat.  When the Pharisee saw it, he marveled that He had not first washed before dinner.  Then the Lord said to him, “Now you Pharisees make the outside of the cup and dish clean, but your inward part is full of greed and wickedness.  Foolish ones! Did not He who made the outside make the inside also?  But rather give to the poor of such things as you have; then indeed all things are clean to you.

Jesus is talking about how to be clean on the inside rather than appearing to be clean on the outside.  He condemns a Pharisee for being greedy on the inside while trying to appear righteous on the outside.  Then he makes this quote that if we give to the poor then everything is clean for us, inside and out.  While that may seem to be quite a jump or perhaps emphasizing the external, let’s wrestle with the words of Jesus.  We know that the Pharisees were lovers of money and appearing righteous on the outside.  The challenge here is to ignore what the Pharisee or self righteous person has been doing on the outside, but focus on the state of his heart.  If someone is regularly generous to the poor, it shows that they are not greedy but willing to share their wealth.  In Matthew 6:2-4, Jesus had condemned giving to the poor to make a show of it.  Instead, do it privately.  If this Pharisee wants to repent, he should regularly give to the poor without making any type of show about it, and then he would truly be clean, inside and outside.  But that simple statement, “Give to the poor then everything will be clean for you,” is quite potent to me.

Then John has virtually nothing on the subject.

It should be no surprise that Luke: The Sequel (also know as The Acts of the Apostles) contains frequent references about giving to the poor.  After Pentecost, one of the manifestations of the Holy Spirit described in Acts 2 is that believers were described as people having generous hearts and had all things in common, see Acts 2:42-47.  It is further described in Acts 4:32-35 with the development that there was not a needy person among them.  Think of all the talk and plans to end world hunger, and they did it in a very short amount of time through the power of the Holy Spirit, but only within that people group.  Acts 6:1-7 describes the daily giving ministry to the poor widows and the testimony this had on all who witnessed it.  It was a powerful thing to see so many people fed every day and no one went without.  Saint Tabitha’s sewing ministry is described in Acts 9:36-39.

When it came time for God to reveal Himself to the Gentiles and open the door of salvation to them, He chose Cornelius.  One thing that stands out in this godly Gentile’s life is that he gave generously to the poor, see Acts 10:1-2.  The angel specifically says that his prayer and alms had ascended as a memorial before God, 10:4, 31.

In Acts 11:27-30, Agabus foretold that there would be a great famine resulting in food shortages.  He prophesied in Antioch which prompted many to be concerned about the mother church in Jerusalem.  The saints in Antioch began setting aside money for the saints in Jerusalem.  Instead of believers in the same city sharing their goods with each other, now we have believers in one city sending charity to believers in another city.

Paul’s final visit to Jerusalem was partially for the purpose of giving to the poor.  There are several scriptures across several books which bring together the entire story.  Note also that Paul especially wanted to be there to present this offering to the poor at the feast of Pentecost, see Acts 20:16.  When Paul arrives there is no direct mention that he gave the offering to the church leaders, but we know it happened based on other passages.  When Paul gave his defense before Felix in Acts 24, he states that it was only twelve days ago that he arrived in Jerusalem for the purpose of giving to the poor, see verse 17.  In Paul’s letter to the Romans, he tells them that he is on the way to Jerusalem to bring aid to the poor saints which was donated by the saints in the countries of Macedonia and Greece, see Romans 15:25-29.  First Corinthians 16:1-4 introduces the Corinthians to this idea and then in Second Corinthians 8-9 Paul expounds upon the spiritual principles of giving to the poor as they donate to the poor saints in Jerusalem.  The book of Acts at this point showed the progression of giving to the poor so that it flowed from believers in one country to believers in another country.  Believers in Macedonia and Greece had never been to Jerusalem, but they gave to their poor. 

The Epistles

Therefore let us transition to Second Corinthians 8-9 which contains the essence of why we should give to the poor.  Because of the entire context of this discussion, it shouldn’t be necessary to state that these two chapters are about giving to the poor, but because of how many times I have heard these verses taken out of context, I want it to be stated for the record that these two chapters are not about giving to the church or giving to missions, but giving to the poor.  “God loves a cheerful giver”, “He who sows sparingly will reap sparingly”; and other such verses were written by Paul to encourage the Corinthian believers to understand the importance of giving to the poor, and in this context, the poor are simply those who had less material goods than they did.  With that in mind, let’s work through the passage pointing out principles as they come up.

There are several key words that are going to come up again and again in this passage, one of them being “Grace”.  Paul is writing to the Corinthians who lived in the province of Achaia (modern day Greece) and informing them of what the Macedonian believers had already contributed to this offering.  Even though they were going through affliction, they still played the part of generosity.  They had an abundance of joy and “extreme poverty” which overflowed in this offering.  They gave according to their means, and even beyond their means so that the poor saints in Jerusalem would experience relief.  One of the more striking statements in these verses, see Second Corinthians 8:1-5, is that the Macedonian believers did something unexpected.  Instead of just giving the money, they first gave themselves to the LORD, then to the apostles.  Only after giving themselves did they contribute monetarily to the offering.  This should be a lesson to us.  Before giving your money to a cause, first give yourself to the LORD, then give yourself to the ministry.  Once you have given yourself, your money will be secondary.  It states right there “gave themselves FIRST to the Lord.”

In Second Corinthians 8:8-15, we have the great example of Jesus Christ.  He was rich.  He became poor.  Why?  For us.  His poverty allowed us to become rich.  Do you want to be like Jesus?  Have you become poor for the sake of others?  This is what I believe is meant in the first section in verses 1-5.  The Macedonian believers experienced “extreme poverty” by becoming poor.  They gave themselves to the Lord and to the cause first by becoming poor, or taking a posture of humility in regard to their material possessions.  In doing so, they became like Jesus.  Paul’s main point here is not to raise funds, but to prepare hearts.  Hearts that are like Jesus will be poor hearts.  Before you can rightly give to the poor, you must become poor.  But lest we carry this too far, Paul balances out the execution of the giving by stating that it is not meant that they become completely, materially poor and then the believers in Jerusalem become rich, oh no.  There should be a balance or a matter of fairness.  It is accepted according to what a person has, not according to what they don’t have.  If you don’t have it, you can’t give it.  If you have an abundance, and others have a lack, then let your abundance make up for their lack.

Paul’s quotation of Exodus 16:18 in Second Corinthians 8:15 could have an entire sermon preached on it.  Let’s try to contain it to a paragraph.  Back in the days of manna from heaven, there was a daily routine that the Israelites kept for 40 years in the wilderness.  Every day excepting the Sabbath, the Israelites would get up in the morning and gather manna.  After all the manna was gathered, it was time to measure it out; one omer for each Israelite.  After one omer for each Israelite had been measured, there was nothing left over.  The Israelite who gathered a whole bunch would get one and the Israelite who gathered very little would get one, see Exodus 16:18.  Every single day for 40 years there was always exactly enough for every single Israelite to get exactly one.  God in heaven knew exactly how much manna to rain down from heaven, but the Israelites needed to come together and share.  Let’s transpose this lesson to the Corinthian church giving to the poor saints in Jerusalem.  God is in heaven raining down blessings.  More material blessings fell upon the Corinthians believers than on the saints in Jerusalem.  But once all believers came together and measured out enough for each one, there would be enough for every single person.  He that gathered much (Corinthians with extra) had nothing over and he that gathered little (Jerusalem experiencing poverty) had no lack.

Paul takes nine verses to describe the accountability principle, see 8:16-24.  Titus and two other trustworthy brothers were coming ahead of him.  This was for the purpose of making it a willing offering and not a forced collection.  This also has the purpose of providing for things honest in the sight of the LORD, see Second Corinthians 8:21.  The Corinthian believers had come to trust Titus, see Second Corinthians 7:13-16.  In First Corinthians 16:1-4 there was an open invitation to any Corinthian Christian who wanted to accompany Paul to Jerusalem.  Now that’s transparency!

Paul has some final thoughts about this in Second Corinthians 9.  He states that it would be over the top for him to write about it because they had already expressed the willingness to do this over a year ago.  But he writes about it anyway.  God loves a cheerful giver to the poor.  That’s how the phrase should go.  Whoever gives to the poor generously will reap a generous harvest.  Then Paul quotes Psalm 112, see the above notes.  Then when God has blessed you with the results of that harvest from your generous contribution to the poor, then you will have even more to give to the poor, see 9:10-11.  “You will be enriched in every way to be generous in every way.”  The whole reason for God blessing you is to be a blessing to someone with less blessings than you.  Then when He blesses you even further, you can be an even greater blessing to others who have less than you.  Those to whom you are generous will be praising God for you, see 9:13-14.  If you are a pastor, preacher, church leader, or anyone who teaches the word of God from these two chapters, please do not take these verses out of context.  This is not about making your church budget, it’s not about tithing, it’s not about a church building project, it’s about giving to the poor.

There are a handful of other verses in the epistles.  Galatians 2:9-10 shows the heart of Peter, James, John, and Paul all united on giving to the poor.  Ephesians 4:28 commands those who can work with their hands to do so in order to share a portion of what they earn with those in need.  The gift of the Philippian church to the Apostle Paul was of the nature of giving to someone in ministry so these verses will not apply to this theme.  I don’t see anything direct in Colossians, First Thessalonians, or Second Thessalonians. 

First Timothy 5 has quite a few instructions on exactly who the church should be supporting monetarily.  Widows are the main category, which would have been the main expense, see Acts 6:1-7.  If the widow has children or grandchildren who can support them, this is the first choice.  If someone is a Christian and has a parent or grandparent and refuses to support their own relative, that’s worse than being an unbeliever.  The widow who is supported by the church must have a godly reputation having a history of godly service to the LORD.  Younger widows should not receive assistance (remember this is before social security) because they have opportunities to get married, raise families, manage households, and all the other things women did to earn money in those days.  You can see Proverbs 31:10-31, Acts 9:36-39, and Acts 16:14 for some examples in that day.  The theme of giving to poor widows is in verses 3-16 and just after this in two short verses we have instruction on elders getting paid.  It’s ironic to me that Paul spent such a brief time on the wages of a pastor or teacher and gave such detailed instruction on giving to the poor, but we have it all turned around now.  Now the main expenses and topics in the church are how much the paid pastors are getting and very little emphasis and room in the budget for giving to the poor.  If you don’t believe me just look at any church budget.  Then try to bring the subject up to your church leadership.

I find nothing of note in Second Timothy, Titus, or Philemon.  In Hebrews we have a mention of kindness to those in prison or in need of housing reminiscent of the parable of the sheep and goats, see Hebrews 13:1-3.  James treats the poor with respect in his epistle.  This is a man with a heart for the poor.  His words are not just words, but a call to action.  In James 1:9-10, those that are poor are told to rejoice because they are lifted up, but those that are rich must rejoice because they are brought low.  Chapter 2 gives a vivid description of favoritism that was happening in the churches during that time.  Poor people, or poorly dressed people, were not being treated nearly as well as rich or richly dressed people.  And why is that James asks us?  It is an utter failure to “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  The poor man who is a Christian is rich in faith and an heir of the kingdom, therefore to treat him/her with contempt is grievous in God’s sight.  When James begins to talk about faith and works, his main example of works which demonstrate faith is giving food and clothes to those in need, see James 2:14-17.  Later in chapter 5 verses 1-6, James has some harsh words for the rich.  Those who have wealth have a responsibility to treat their workers generously.  Look at the main witness that will testify against them.  It’s their own gold and silver that they possess that will condemn them.  Ouch!  Just the fact that they have these riches while their workers are struggling is testimony enough.  Note also the throwback all the way to Exodus 22:21-27, their cries come up to the LORD.

There is next to nothing in First and Second Peter, but in First John we have a little tidbit.  First John 3:16-18 tells us exactly how to love our neighbor.  All throughout John’s epistles, he keeps talking about love, specifically, how we are supposed to love one another.  In this section he gives the example, as in THE example.  If you have a brother who has a need, and you have the means to meet that need, and then you don’t meet that need, you do not have the love of God dwelling within you.  It’s a powerful statement and it flows from Christ laying down His life for us.  Therefore, we are to lay our lives down for each other.  What does that mean?  Die on a cross for them?  No, meet everyday needs that you can meet.  It’s not difficult to explain, it’s just difficult to admit that the poor are our responsibility and then live like it.  Read the entire epistle of First John at once and ask if you do not meet those needs that you can see with love, how can you say you love God whom you can not see?  This will have to be the final word as I don’t see anything of note in Second & Third John, Jude, or Revelation.

Here are some final thoughts.  While some books of the Bible like Genesis, Joshua, or John don’t seem to mention giving to the poor, others like Amos, Luke, and James have it woven in as a major theme.  Other books have a chapter that seems to highlight it quite strongly like Ezekiel 18, Matthew 25, or Second Corinthians 8-9.  In your studies, instead of glossing over these references, stop, meditate, and then if your life doesn’t match with the scriptures, repent.  Change your heart, change your mind, change your ways.  Begin to give to the poor.  Do it out of love for God and love for them.  Stop making excuses.  If you don’t know any poor people, then consider Jesus who left heaven to dwell among the poor.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

The Boy and the Heron ~ Tainted Hands

The Boy and the Heron: Tainted Hands

Creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God ~ Romans 8:19

The anime film The Boy and the Heron has gained international acclaim.  Maybe anime isn’t your thing.  I’m not here to promote that genre, but to promote a scriptural truth embodied in the film.  If you haven’t seen it, there will be one spoiler contained in this post.  I will try to keep the rest unrevealed in case you want to be surprised.

I knew nothing of the film and decided to watch it somewhat on a whim.  One of the reasons I knew nothing of the film is because there was virtually no marketing done to promote it.  I knew it was anime and have been impressed with a couple of instances of this genre, but I’m by no means an aficionado.  I’m glad that I knew nothing of the film because it made for some very nice surprises.

First, the art is beautiful.  There are times when the story seems to lag a bit, but as I watched I was captivated by the beauty of the artwork involved.  Whether it was birds, sky, people, fire, water; it was all gorgeous.  The plot involves a fantastic storyline as we follow Mahito on a journey into a mystical tower.  I was glad that I watched the version dubbed in English as opposed to subtitles.  The English voices were very well done.

If I were to compare it to something, I would say it’s sort of like an Alice in Wonderland type of adventure.  There are many mini-adventures that make up the entire larger adventure.  Sometimes it seems to be disjointed, but toward the end you can see how all the individual scenes contribute to the larger whole.  One theme that is prevalent throughout the entire movie is that of loss and imperfection.  The movie begins with Mahito losing his mother in a tragic fire.  His father remarries and they relocate to a family property that has a mysterious tower.  I will reveal the mystery of the tower but try to keep the rest veiled. 

Mahito hears from family servants about the legends surrounding the tower.  His great granduncle either built it or discovered it, we are not quite certain until the end.  At the same time that Mahito arrives at this property, a mysterious heron is there and quite soon is leading him to this tower.  The heron is revealed early on to have a devious part to play.  Mahito is being led into a trap.  From here I will summarize and say that there are many adventures, helpers, adversaries, that Mahito encounters.  There are some deep questions being raised, such as “Why are things this way?  Why the killing?  Why the suffering?”

The reason for the many adventures is because of the nature of the tower.  It is a portal to many worlds.  The tower was built around this mystical structure by the great granduncle who had disappeared years ago.  Now toward the end of the movie, Mahito is being led to an encounter, or perhaps a confrontation, with someone at the very center or maybe top of the tower.  He enters and finds someone claiming to be his great granduncle.  He wants Mahito to succeed him in his place as the master of the tower insisting that it must be someone of his bloodline.  There are building blocks in front of him and he explains to Mahito that he must stack these blocks in such a way as to keep all the worlds intact.  This revelation explains some of the odd language that had been used throughout the film.

Mahito tells his great granduncle that the blocks in front of him are tainted and will only lead to tainted worlds.  The great granduncle tells Mahito that he is very wise to have noticed that and now he realizes that he is the one to be his successor.  It’s sort of like he has passed a test.  But now, for some reason, Mahito finds himself somewhere else again.  Keep in mind, I only saw the movie once and I’m drawing from memory.

Mahito again is drawn to the top center of the tower where he knows his great granduncle is waiting.  This time there is an adversary actively trying to keep him from seeing him.  Mahito is resilient in his quest.  His true quest though is to bring back his father’s wife safely.  This is how he was lured into the tower in the first place.  As his great granduncle is sitting before him, the blocks are still there, but they look a little different.  He explains to Mahito that these blocks are not tainted.  Now he is to take over as the master of the tower.  He must restack the blocks every three days in order to keep all the worlds intact to which the tower provides portals.  Mahito considers the weight of the responsibility.  Great granduncle again insists that it must be someone from his bloodline.

As it unfolds, this scene is so striking to me.  For those who have been paying attention to the entire scope of the movie and all the themes and questions that have been raised, this is the moment of truth.  At the beginning of the movie as Mahito had first arrived at the new home, he was sent to school.  On his first day he got into a fight.  On his way home from school, his clothes were dirty.  He stopped, picked up a rock, and hit himself in the head with it causing him to bleed.  This produced the intended reaction from his father, outrage at the school for letting this happen on school property.  Mahito had never told his father the truth of the incident.  Mahito had also been curt and distant from his father’s new wife.  He was not at all excited to find out she was expecting a child.

As Mahito stood before the master of the tower, watching him handle the building blocks, he put his hand up to the scar on the side of his head, which had accompanied him on all his adventures in the tower.  He realized his blame in many things.  He confessed to his great granduncle that his hands were tainted, and even though the blocks were not tainted, that what he would do with them would be tainted, resulting in tainted worlds.  (This brief sentence answers the underlying themes of the movie.)  As Mahito refused to take his ancestor’s place as his successor, the entire tower is about to come crashing down.  Mahito is going to return to his own world of suffering, where his mother is dead, where people are evil, and his own hands are tainted.  It’s such a thought provoking scene and I’d love to watch the whole movie again just to see this two minute moment.

I was apprehensive about Mahito at first.  He seems an unlikely hero.  And yet he is a hero.  My reason for believing he is the hero is that he knows that he is being led into a trap.  It smells like a trap.  It looks like a trap.  He is warned that it is a trap.  And yet he goes forward.  There is danger, but he does not turn back.  You can sense that he will be led to some type of confrontation and his resilience is heroic to me.

The Bible talks about this principle of tainted hands.  God created all of creation and it was very good.  But sin entered the world.  God had put a sinless man and woman in charge of it all.  They held the building blocks to all of creation.  But then those hands became tainted.  Even though the creation was very good, the hands that stacked them were sinful.  The results were such that the beauty of creation could be seen, but suffering, sinfulness, sadness, overshadowed the beauty of the creation.  Why is there war?  Why do people get jealous?  Why is there sickness?  Why is this world the way it is?  The answer lies in our own tainted hands.

This is what the scriptures teach us.  But they don’t leave us without hope.  Yes, there is a groaning of creation as it is subjected to being ruled by tainted hands.  But there is something about to happen.  Here is the passage in Romans 8:

18 For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.

19 For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God.

20 For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope

21 that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.

22 For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.

23 And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.

One day there will be people created in the image of God without tainted hands who will handle the building blocks of creation in the original way for which they were intended.  Creation is longing to be held by the perfect children of God.  It is a grievous thing for this perfect creation to be subjected to an imperfect rule.  When perfect children of God begin to reign here on the earth, there will be a freedom in creation that does not currently exist.

The laws of thermodynamics seem to be based on being handled by tainted hands.  The first law is that energy cannot created or destroyed.  It is a closed system.  But what if there were holy beings who could create holy energy?  The second law is that the universe tends to disorder or entropy.  Something hot will always cool down.  Something organized will always become disorganized or decay if left to itself.  But what if the universe became more and more ordered as a general law?  What if you could leave that garden alone for a week to come back to a thriving crop?  For those who think I’m way off base, you should read Joel 3:18, Amos 9:13, and Ezekiel 47:8-12.  The third law of thermodynamics is that the universe is at its perfect state when it is completely still, or at absolute zero.  But what if God wants the universe to move?  In a renewed creation, where the children of God are handling the building blocks of creation, the state of perfection will be reached when the universe is being moved by the children of God.

There are words in the Bible about the coming kingdom that are used so seldom that it is difficult to understand what they mean.  One of them is regeneration.  It’s the Greek word Paliggenesia used in Matthew 19:28 and Titus 3:5.  It basically means Genesis all over again.  Another found in Acts 3:19 is times of refreshing, or Kairos of Anapsuxis in the Greek.  This refreshing is like in the midst of your psyche.  Another is the restitution of all things, or Apokatastasis, used in Acts 3:21.  Note in Acts 3 that Peter is linking these big words to the Father sending Jesus Christ.  There is something big coming.  The New Testament writers grappled with how to convey exactly how big this thing is.  When this renewed creation is put in place and the children of God are put in charge, it will be a beautiful thing because creation will be handled with untainted hands.  The building blocks of the universe will result in a different set of laws of thermodynamics.  The entire universe will be in the care and charge of hands that are holy because they were bought with the blood of Jesus Christ.

An apophasis is when you mention something by not mentioning it.  Sort of like, “We are not going to talk about what a trouble maker he is.”  There is another way to use it in reference to God.  God is indescribable, but that is a descriptive word.  How can you describe someone as indescribable?  In I Corinthians 15, the great resurrection chapter, the apostle Paul tries to tell us about the coming resurrection body that we will all have.  The problem is that he describes it without really describing it.  He basically says that it’s of a different glory than the glory of the body that we currently possess.  Some of the words used to describe it are incorruptible, immortal, powerful, spiritual, heavenly; basically not at all like the current body that you and I walk around in right now.  We will have untainted hands in order to handle the untainted creation of God.

We can begin to do the work of God in the here and now.  If you have believed on Christ, you have been washed and have been made clean.  You can do God’s work and handle whatever business He has put before you in such a way that it will be pleasing to Him.  Snow is about the whitest thing ever.  The scriptures tell us that if we are washed and made clean that we will be as white as snow, Isaiah 1:16-18.  The Psalmist asked God to wash him and he would be whiter than snow, Psalm 51:7.  This was sung for years as a chorus to God at the temple.  Let this be our prayer.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

From Iron to Animal

From Iron to Animal

Chris White is on the right track in the podcast to which I posted a link.  To reconcile these beasts and see the common theme is difficult, but this is what studying the word of God is all about.  Let me back up a bit.  Daniel had a vision of beasts in Daniel 7.  The fourth beast in that vision had ten horns.  When John had his series of visions which we call the book of Revelation, he also saw a beast with ten horns.  But there are some differences.  Let’s recap (which is short for recapitulate) for those who are just joining the conversation.

God showed Daniel what would happen in his day and the days leading up to the end of the age as far as world empires go.  He saw a vision of a beast like a lion that represents Babylon.  This was followed by a beast that was like a bear which represents Medo-Persia, commonly known as the Persian Empire.  Then there was a beast like a leopard which represents the Greek Empire.  Finally, Daniel saw a fourth beast appear and devour the previous three beasts.  These four beasts came up from the great sea, which is the Mediterranean Sea, and had their struggle on those waters.

If we look at history, the empire that was ruling during the time of Daniel’s vision was the Babylonian Empire.  The one that succeeded it was the Medo-Persian Empire, then the Greek Empire, then the Roman Empire.  Parallels can be seen throughout each of the beasts and their respective empires.  It would be good to be familiar with Daniel 2 and the four successive empires spoken of there.  Gold is the most royal of the metals and represents the Babylonian Empire.  The lion is the most kingly of all animals and is even called king of the beasts.  Silver is less valuable than gold, and the bear is somewhat less formidable and infamous than a lion.  The bear is raised up on one side to show that one side of the empire would be more dominant than the other.  Many historical sources simply call it the Persian Empire, only believing that the Medes constituted one country within the empire.  This is due to the Persian dominance toward the end.  Remember, the latter rulers got to write the history.  Then for the third empire, bronze is less valuable than silver.  It is interesting that even to this day that the medals awarded in ceremonies are based on this value system: gold for first place, silver for second place, and bronze for third place.  The leopard is chosen for the Greek Empire because of the speed with which it conquered the known world.  The four heads of the leopard show the four fold division which was the final form of that empire.

That fourth beast, though, is what really concerned Daniel.  Don’t you find it interesting that Daniel wanted to know about the fourth beast more so than any other thing that he saw?  Daniel 7:19 shows Daniel’s inner desire to know the truth of the fourth beast, and Daniel 7:23 shows the answer that he received.  It was an iron beast which matches the iron of the fourth empire in Daniel 2.  But in Daniel 7, instead of an animal representing the empire, there is no animal but only a metal.  Our imagination is left to fill in the details as to what this beast looked like.  Think of it.  It could have been an iron elephant, or an iron horse, or an iron dragon.  We should probably think of it as some fierce animal like the other three, but this vision will simply not reveal it to us.

Some have pointed out that the Roman Empire never officially conquered the Greek Empire.  This is true.  But Daniel 7 does not convey the fourth beast would conquer the third beast.  The iron empire digested the previous three empires into its being.  Remember the book of Acts.  During the time of the early church, the Greek language, wisdom, and schools had not gone out of existence, but were incorporated into the Roman Empire.  The Persian road system was still used by the Romans, being referred to by historians.  The Roman Empire was deliberately multilingual and multicultural.  Many societies existed within this greater system.  In short, Daniel’s vision was completely accurate that this beast digested all the previous beasts within its being.

John’s Revelation of Jesus Christ draws upon so much imagery from the law, psalms, and prophets, that’s it’s difficult to name them one by one.  When we come to Revelation 13, it should be obvious that Daniel 7 must be brought to the forefront.  First, John is standing on the sea.  It was stated at the beginning of his vision (see Revelation 1:9) that he is on the island of Patmos, which is located in the Mediterranean Sea.  This reminds us of Daniel’s vision where Daniel first saw the four winds of heaven striving, literally bursting forth, on the great sea.  Next, John sees a beast rising out from the sea.  Again, Daniel saw four beasts rise up in sequential order out from the Mediterranean Sea.  John notes that this beast has seven heads and ten horns.  Another parallel here is that the fourth beast that Daniel saw had ten horns.

Let’s cut away just for a minute to Revelation 17 which is an explanation of the seven headed ten horned beast.  I think this is appropriate because instead of us guessing (perhaps incorrectly) what these seven heads and ten horns represent, we can let the angel correctly interpret for us.  The seven heads are seven kingdoms, or perhaps the term “world empires” would help us better here, that have appeared and will appear over the course of many years.  The angel specifically states that five of them are past, one is currently in existence at the time of John receiving his vision, and one is future, see Revelation 17:9-11.  The commonly held view which I also hold is that those past five empires are Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece.  Egypt was a beast that Satan had used to persecute Israel, see Psalm 74:12-15, Isaiah 51:9-10, but He slew.  Assyria is also pictured as a beast that persecuted Israel and that God slew, see Isaiah 27:1.  The next three as beasts have already been mentioned from Daniel 7 and also persecuted Israel.  They were beasts of their own in these other visions but here they constitute one head on the ultimate beast of Satan’s using.  The beast that was ruling the world at the time that John received his vision was the Roman Empire.  The ten horns are ten kings which will all rule at the same time, see Revelation 17:12.

Now let’s come back to the beast out of the sea in Revelation 13.  There are seven heads and ten horns on this beast and there are ten crowns upon the ten horns.  This shows that the ten kings are currently ruling as this beast rises out from the sea.  The angel explains in Revelation 17 that five empires have past, one is currently in existence, and one will come shortly.  When John sees the vision in chapter 13, he is seeing into the future from his time.  He is seeing past the current Roman Empire into the time when ten kings will arise and give their power to the one man as described in Revelation 17:12-14.  Then the persecution against the saints will encompass the world, see Revelation 13:3-8.

Here is the main point to which the title of this post refers.  This should also inspire some sense of expectancy among us.  John sees the animal form of this beast.  When John saw the vision of the dragon in Revelation 12, it had seven heads and ten horns.  It was a dragon though; and dragons were also referred to as serpents, see Revelation 12:9, Isaiah 27:1.  When we come to Revelation 13, there are two major changes to the beast from Revelation 12 to Revelation 13.  The first is that the crowns have been transferred from the heads to the horns.  This was mentioned in my last post.  But the second major change is that this beast is not in the animal form of a dragon.  The animal form is leopard, bear, and lion; and they are in the reverse order of the beasts that Daniel saw in his vision.  The beast with ten horns has the characteristics of the three beasts which it digests into its being.  What was hidden from Daniel is revealed to John.

Let’s break this down.  Daniel saw an iron beast that would devour the lion, bear, and leopard.  John sees a beast with lion, leopard, and bear incorporated into its being.  John would have understood this to be the Roman Empire in which he grew up, but with the added development of having the ten kings.  There was no division in his day of the Roman Empire into ten divisions, or having ten kings.  The expectation of the churches receiving this vision is that coming soon to a Roman Empire near you that there would appear ten kings within the bounds of the Roman Empire who would give their authority to one man who would be the ruler of them all.  He in turn would persecute Israel, the churches, and all who follow Jesus Christ.  We have been waiting for this development for almost two thousand years.

The vision is even more specific than that though.  The beast is described as a leopard, with the feet of a bear, and the mouth of a lion.  Note also the dragon (the devil) gives to this beast all his authority.  What is meant by the body of the leopard?  For the Greek Empire it meant the speed with which it conquered the known world.  Here, we can surmise that the end times empire headed by the ten kings will not take long to develop at all.  It will engulf the world with great celerity.  How about the feet of a bear?  The paws of a bear seem to be its greatest strength and they are not afraid to use them to attack.  This empire will be strong and able to attack.  The mouth of the lion could have a two fold aspect.  First, the lion as a beast roars.  It is one of the things that distinguishes it from the other beasts.  It has a frightening quality to it.  Or with the lion being the king of the beasts, perhaps this ruler will speak in a kingly way, like the kings of old.  Revelation 13:5-6 tells us what will happen when he opens his mouth.  He will speak great (Greek word megas which can mean great in number or great in rank) things, but they will be against God.  Perhaps it is the roar of the lion that he will have, terrifying to other animals, or perhaps a kingly way of speaking; or maybe both.

John’s readers would have received hope from this vision knowing that there was only one more world empire to dominate the world before the saints would inherit the kingdom, see Daniel 7:17-18, 25-27.  Five were past, one was present, and only one more was future.  It would be easily identifiable having ten kings ruling at the same time, gaining power over the Mediterranean Sea.  They would give their power to one man who would be completely against Christ and all Christ followers.  Instead of despairing, when the church saw those things happening, they were supposed to have hope in the middle of persecution knowing that the devil only had a brief moment of time left.

Some prophecy scholars do not believe that there will be a revived Roman empire.  They point to Israel’s surrounding nations and prophecies which tell that it is these nations which will comprise the end times empire.  In response to that, I remind you all that the Roman Empire at the time of John included those countries which surrounded Israel.  In fact, the Roman Empire was later divided into two portions, west and east.  The west received more attention in later years, but that eastern portion was just as much a part of the Roman Empire as the west.  The Roman Empire was basically the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.  So I believe that these nations currently surrounding Israel looking to destroy her will be just as much a part of the beast of Revelation 13 as those portions of the west.  These same scholars also point to the long gap in between John’s vision and our current circumstances.  In response I remind all of us that God’s word deals with long gaps in the midst of prophecies that weren’t completely understood until they came to pass.  God sees the big picture spanning centuries.  Many times he is not concerned with each minor development, but the overarching plan that He has to call out for Himself people from all nations called by the name of Christ before these things happen, see Amos 9:11-12 with Acts 15:14-18.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

P.S.  I’m rethinking my view on the ten kings.  Because the crowns are on the horns of the beast rather than on the heads, it is possible that the emphasis in this end times empire (most likely revived Roman Empire) will be on the individual kings and not as much emphasis on the country.  Of course if they are kings, it only stands to reason that they have authority over something.  I use the term “king” loosely.  They could be prime ministers, or presidents, or something like that.  Remember the devaluation of the metals in the colossus of Daniel 2.  It went from gold, then silver, then bronze, then iron, then to a mixed form of pottery and iron.  If you look at the governmental structures of Babylon through Rome, the central ruler lost ultimate power.  The king of Babylon was sovereign.  During the Persian Empire, the king had a council that he consulted before doing anything, see Esther 1.  The Greek Empire brought us democracy, but democracy with dictators.  The Roman Empire was first a Republic with senators.  This iron empire devolves into a mix of pottery and iron, the weakest of all which will be destroyed by Christ at His coming.  Our current weakness of world leaders was foreknown by God.

P.P.S. I wanted to start this post with “and another thing”, but I didn’t want to be that guy. Ya know?

Chris White

I believe I have mentioned Chris White before.  If I haven’t, I should have.  He is a featured podcaster on Eschatos Ministries frequently talking about the end times.  He is in the middle of this series on the identity of the seven-headed ten-horned beast of Revelation.  And this is really good stuff, this is very well done.

This morning, yes just this morning, at church, my in person church, my friend, face to face, walked up, sat down beside me and proceeded to tell me that I was the star guest of Chris White’s latest podcast over on Eschatos Ministries.  I sort of stared at him in disbelief as he reassured me “No I’m serious.  He kept mentioning you over and over again and how your blog at The Orange Mailman helped him to understand how to view the identity of the seven-headed ten-horned beast.” 

So, I went over to Eschatos Ministries and pulled up the latest podcast and sure enough, Chris White mentions me several times and a blogpost that I had written some ten years ago.  The funny thing is that Chris says what I thought ten years ago.  “There is no one talking about this issue.”  I remember thinking to myself, “If no one else is talking about it, and it’s something that I see in scripture, then I will use my blog as an outlet for what I have studied and the conclusions to which I came.”  So there it sat.  Maybe people read it, maybe they didn’t.

Here are some links, first of all to Eschatos Ministries.

https://www.alankurschner.com/

Now here is the link to where the podcasts can be found.

Home Page

Right now the podcast at the very top is the one that I have mentioned dated December 15^th, 2023.  It is labeled CHRIS WHITE

December 15, 2023

A Study of the 7-Headed, 10-Horned Beast in Revelation (Part 7)

And I believe you can follow this link here for that particular episode:

https://bibleprophecydaily.com/a-study-of-the-7-headed-10-horned-beast-in-revelation-part-7/

The following link is most likely the post that Chris is quoting, although his research is much more detailed.

Heads Horns and Crowns

Let me go into a little bit more detail.  Maybe I’ve said this before and maybe I only thought it.  There is a specific reason why the crowns are on the heads of the dragon in Revelation 12 and they are on the horns of the beast in Revelation 13.  Did you notice in Revelation 12:3 that the dragon has 7 heads, 10 horns, and 7 crowns upon the heads?  Then notice Revelation 13:1 where the 7 headed 10 horned beast has 10 crowns and they are on the horns. 

What are the two main differences?  In Revelation 12, there are 7 crowns.  In Revelation 13, there are 10 crowns.  In Revelation 12, the crowns are on the heads.  In Revelation 13, the crowns are on the horns.  Since the beasts are the same (Chris is correct here) we have to note the difference, the reason for the difference, and the timing of the difference.  Heads and horns can be synonymous, but they are different.  The heads are the kingdoms but the horns are the actual kings.  There must be some transition where the power and authority of Satan’s kingdom is transferred from the whole empire to individuals.  Each empire was empowered by Satan.  First Egypt as a whole, then Assyria as a whole, then Babylon, etc.  But now at some point in the future, there will be a transition whereby the true authority, aka the crowns, will reside in ten people. 

The timing should be somewhat evident as the beast arises out of the sea, the context here is the Mediterranean Sea.  As that beast rises out of the sea, that fundamental change has happened.  The beast still has 7 heads and 10 horns.  So there is continuity.  But there is a change albeit ever so subtle.  Revelation 17 is the explanation of how this transition occurs.  If you notice especially verses 9-13 that there is a transition from kingdoms (heads) to kings (horns).  The 10 horns are 10 kings who will reign with the beast (the final king) for a short period of time.  In short, this transition shows the crowns being shifted from the heads of the beast to the horns of the beast.  Then the 10 kings give their power to the one man, who is the final king or ruler of this entire beastly system.

There is a lot more to say here especially since in Revelation 17 a woman is sitting on that entire 7 headed 10 horned beast.  But let’s not miss that little transition that is coming soon to a world empire near you.  Namely, the power shift from a kingdom to 10 individuals with absolute authority who will then give their authority to one final ruler.  The rule will be short lived though.  Jesus Christ will kill him with the breath of His mouth.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

Killed by the Beast

The timing of the two witnesses of Revelation 11 has been revisited by quite a few of late.  The classic view that the two witnesses will prophesy beginning at the abomination of desolation doesn’t make sense to many and they have quite a few different views.  I’m not going to go into all that.  Many of you know that after many years I changed my view.  I now believe they will prophesy in the first half of Daniel’s 70^th week.  It occurred to me just how simple this view is when I shared it with someone a bit ago.

Consider:  When do we believe that the beast will arise out from the bottomless pit?  There is an event described in Revelation 17:8 which states that this beast will arise out from the bottomless pit.  It seems to happen in conjunction with the ten horns, or ten kings, giving their power to the one man, see Revelation 17:12-14.  We know this man to be the antichrist, the eighth king.  We know that the antichrist (the beast) receives authority to rule for 42 months, see Revelation 13:5.  Revelation 17 seems to be describing the rise of the antichrist into his position of power for that 42 month period.  In fact, Revelation 17:8 is a parallel to Revelation 13:5.  Compare:

17:8  The beast that you saw was, and is not, and will ascend out of the bottomless pit and go to perdition. And those who dwell on the earth will marvel, whose names are not written in the Book of Life from the foundation of the world, when they see the beast that was, and is not, and yet is.

13:3 And all the world marveled and followed the beast.  13:5 And he was given a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies, and he was given authority to continue for forty-two months.  13:8  All who dwell on the earth will worship him, whose names have not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

Revelation 17 is the explanation from the angel that helps to make sense of Revelation 13.  The timing of Revelation 13 should be obvious.  The mark of the beast is a part of the abomination of desolation which happens at the midpoint of Daniel’s 70^th week.  The language of Revelation 17 is a summary of Revelation 13.  The timing is the same.  The beast ascends from the bottomless pit at the midpoint when the antichrist is revealed.

We also know that the length of the ministry of the two witnesses is 1260 days, see Revelation 11:3.  This is the same amount of time as 42 months and many have simply said, “It must be referring to the same time period as others of the same length.”  But upon examination, let’s see if that holds up.  Remember, the simplest explanation is typically the best.  Let’s read Revelation 11:7 at face value with just a couple of clarifications.

When they (the two witnesses) finish their testimony (of 1260 days), the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit (at the abomination of desolation) will make war against them and kill them.

It seems that the ministry of the two witnesses, which is to prepare the believing remnant of Israelites and the sons of Levi, see Malachi 3, will transpire for 1260 days (I believe during the first half of Daniel’s 70^th week).  Then when the days of that ministry are over, the beast ascends up from the bottomless pit, the antichrist comes into power, and one of his first acts of business is to kill the two witnesses.  This makes more sense for the killing of the two witnesses, the worldwide holiday, and no one being allowed to bury them to occur during the great tribulation rather than the Day of the LORD as the wrath of God is being poured out upon the earth.

Because the description is an aside within the trumpet sequence, many believe the events will occur within the trumpets which is a part of the Day of the LORD.  But the plain reading of Revelation 11:7 understanding some basic principles lead us to a different conclusion.  Revelation is not strictly chronological.  Sometimes there is a section that backs up to give a big picture view.  Sometimes it zooms in and gets quite in depth.  The temple and two witnesses in Revelation 11 is one of those big picture views.  So let’s take it that way.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

A Critique of a Critique

Joel Richardson has been getting very specific in his FAI videos on prewrath versus posttrib.  He has claimed to be prewrath in the past but some prewrathers have analyzed his viewpoint and found it doesn’t quite match up.  I very much appreciated his clarifications on two recent videos.  Joel summarizes the prewrath view and gives the strengths and weaknesses of that position.  Ahah!  Sounds like a challenge to me. 

Now don’t get me wrong, Joel seems very humble as he is presenting his views on why prewrath could be right or could be wrong.  He states sometimes that “this is my opinion and I could be wrong.”  That’s refreshing.  So I’m going to critique his critique of prewrath.  The surprising thing to me is that I agree with many of the things that he says about how prewrath may not measure up against the scriptures, and I will try to post links on my blog where I have stated these very things.  Joel’s plan is to post two more videos, one clarifying the strengths and weaknesses of posttrib, and then to give his position which he says is a hybrid between the two.

Here are the links to the two latest videos by Joel R.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8V0sqAsV7Y

Joel does a fair job at presenting the basics of prewrath.  In his opening remarks, he links Revelation 6:12-17 which describes the sixth seal paralleling it with the coming of Christ after the great tribulation described in Matthew 24:29-31.  His main point is the identical description of the cosmic signs in both passages.  He is quite emphatic that the rapture happens in both of those passages.  He states that the gathering of the elect in Matthew 24:31 is the rapture and doesn’t understand how others cannot see this.  However, a big part of prewrath is that the appearance of the church in Revelation 7:9-17 is a result of the rapture and Joel does not go into this.  Another key passage which Joel Richardson does not mention is Joel 2:28-32.  The prewrath rapture hinges on the cosmic signs functioning as a time marker in two different ways.  First, the cosmic signs happen AFTER the great tribulation, see again Matthew 24:29-31.  Joel 2:28-32 gives us the other marker, namely that the cosmic signs happen BEFORE the Day of the LORD which is an extended period of God’s wrath.  It specifically states in Joel 2:31 “The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood BEFORE the great and terrible day of the LORD comes.”  So the cosmic signs stand as a dividing point between the great tribulation and the day of the LORD which are two different periods of time within the entire framework of eschatology.  When articulating prewrath, here is one key piece that we should get right:

Great tribulation, then cosmic signs, then resurrection/rapture, then the Day of the LORD wrath.

People who present the prewrath view should include a presentation of this time period known as the Day of the LORD.  I am not aware of any presentation that doesn’t include it.  Joel R. mentions Alan Kurschner’s book “Antichrist Before the Day of the LORD” which dedicates over 50 pages, roughly one third of the book to exploring the phrase the Day of the LORD.  Far from being a term limited to the old testament prophets, new testament writers also use this term as being a period of time that early Christian disciples were aware of and needed instruction concerning it.  I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11 includes the classic rapture passage but also describes the Day of the LORD.  II Thessalonians mentions the term in 2:2, which should cause us to broaden the entire passage to II Thessalonians 1:6 all the way through 2:12.  Finally, II Peter 3:1-14 is another passage using terms like the Day of the LORD, the coming of the Day of God, new heavens, and new earth just to name a few.  This should point us back to books like Joel and Zephaniah which focus heavily on describing the nature of the Day of the LORD.  Isaiah 13:6-13 and Malachi 4 should also be studied because of the general concepts which embody the Day of the LORD and hello, isn’t everybody talking about when Elijah is going to show up?  Hint hint:  It’s before the Day of the LORD.

Let’s get into what Joel Richardson (I’m typing his last name in places because I don’t want people to be confused as to whether or not I’m talking about Joel the son of Pethuel who wrote a book of the Bible) deems as the weaknesses of prewrath.  His first critique, and this is something that I have been saying for a long time: prewrath believes in two second comings of Christ.  Granted, the base presentation of prewrath states that there is one second coming of Christ but it is a complex event during which many things happen.  But Joel R. is correct that many prewrathers will lay out their timelines and state that Jesus initially comes to rapture the church, goes back up to heaven, and then comes later from heaven to earth at the battle of Armageddon.  That is essentially two separate comings of Christ which is something which prewrathers are critical of pretribbers.  I have been saying this for years.  You can’t have it both ways.  I have engaged in very specific discussions with other prewrath authors on this very issue.  You can’t have Jesus bouncing back and forth between heaven and earth two or three times after saying that pretrib is wrong because it has two separate comings of Christ, one before the seven years and one after the seven years.

The main reason for this belief in two different comings of Christ amongst prewrathers is the belief that Jesus comes at the sixth seal to rapture the church and administer His wrath, but there is also the belief that Jesus comes from heaven to earth in Revelation 19 at the battle of Armageddon.  Let’s examine these issues one at a time.  Number one: Does Jesus come again (His second coming) at the sixth seal?  Since Matthew 24:29-31 and Revelation 6:12-17 are direct parallels, we must believe that He does.  It states in Matthew 24:30 “they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.”  Also, the nations of the earth mourn (Greek word kopto, also used in Revelation 1:7) in Matthew 24:30, and in Revelation 6:15-17 the inhabitants of the earth are crying out in terror because the face of the One Who sits on the throne is now visible to them and they are terrified.  So yes, Christ definitely comes at the sixth seal.

But does Jesus come again in Revelation 19?  This is one of the biggest misunderstandings in Revelation chronology, and I have been saying this for years.  People are adding extra ideas and words to the passage which are simply not there.  They believe that Jesus comes riding out of heaven, coming from heaven to earth, on a white horse, and rescuing the nation of Israel just in time before they are destroyed by the antichrist.  Please go back and read Revelation 19:11-21 in a couple of different reliable translations without any preconceived notions.  It will be difficult to do because we have been conditioned to think of this in a certain way.  This is a vision, a heavenly vision, of Christ as a warrior with his armies following or accompanying Him.  But one thing that does not happen, heaven does not open at this point in time to let Jesus out of heaven to come to earth.  The tense of the verb open should read something like, and I saw heaven having been opened.  Then there is a description of Christ sitting on a horse, not riding.  The armies of heaven accompany Him, but it does not say they are coming from heaven to earth.  Instead, look at the entire passage and see that Christ has been on earth for some time, in fact, enough time for the antichrist to be gathering together against Christ.  Yes, that’s right.  The antichrist has not been gathering together against the nation of Israel, but against an already returned Jesus Christ, read Revelation 19:19.  Now we need to go back to the chronologies of either Revelation 6-11 or Revelation 12-16 and see where this event fits.  When are the armies of the antichrist gathered together?  The sixth bowl is the place where the nations are being deceived into gathering together and here in Revelation 16:16 is the place where we read that the location is Armageddon, not Revelation 19.  How do you know Revelation 19 occurs locationally at Armageddon?  Why did you import the physical location of Revelation 16:12-16 to Revelation 19:17-21 but not the timing?

I call to witness three old testament passages to support the idea that Jesus comes back, begins to rule, and then defeats His enemies.  First, Psalm 2, “I have set my King upon the holy hill of Zion.  You are my Son.  Ask Me for Your inheritance and I will give You the earth.  You will break them in pieces with a rod of iron.  Now be wise kings of the earth.  Submit to the Son lest He be angry when His wrath is kindled just a little.”  Notice how the Psalm starts out.  Why are the nations raging?  They are gathering together against the Christ.  God thinks this is very funny, by the way.  Second, Psalm 110.  “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”  Joel R. quotes this passage in support of his version of posttrib.  But the entire psalm is clearly in favor of Christ returning and beginning His rule in the midst of His enemies.  Then the LORD strikes through kings in the day of His wrath which is the Day of the LORD.  Third is the oft misquoted Zechariah 14:3-4.  How many of you have heard someone teach from this passage that Jesus descends to the Mount of Olives?  There is a problem with that.  Again, it’s adding words and ideas to the text that are simply not there.  Jesus GOES FORTH into battle and His feet stand on the Mount of Olives.  He doesn’t return at this time because He is already back.  He has appeared to the nation of Israel in Zechariah 12 and the ramifications are being described in prophetic terms throughout Zechariah 12, 13, & 14.  Jesus is already here on earth when the Day of the LORD events of Zechariah 14 are being described because He goes forth to meet the enemies.  When it says in Zechariah 14:5 “and the LORD my God shall come and all the saints with Him,” this is not talking about Jesus coming from heaven to earth, since earlier in the passage He GOES FORTH in battle to meet those who are coming against Jerusalem.

To get back to the point, Joel R. is completely correct in that many prewrath teachers have been teaching multiple second comings of Christ.  And I believe those prewrath teachers are wrong.  Just because they have the label of prewrath and I hold to prewrath does not mean that I will agree with them on this point.  There is one second coming.  Joel R. points to Hebrews 9:27-28 rightly so.  He shall appear the second time without sin unto salvation, and I have blogged about this.  It’s not a second and third time, just a second time.

Joel R. also broadly points to Acts 2:32-35 where Peter quotes from Psalm 110 to show that the timing of the coming of Christ will be in conjunction with the timing for the enemies of Christ to be made into a footstool.  However, Joel R. doesn’t go back and give the full context of Psalm 110, which I briefly gave above.  Psalm 110-118 is one long Messianic Opus.  I blogged through it all years ago and may have additional thoughts now.  But one thing is clear, “Rule in the midst of Your enemies.”  You cannot argue that all the enemies of Christ must be in submission to Him before He comes.  That would ruin the rest of the psalm.  Since I already touched on this above, let me insert this idea which I touched on from Psalm 2.  The invitation for the nations to either submit or be crushed is given, then God awaits their response.  This is our Gracious God in action.  The trumpet and bowl judgments of Revelation bear out this same attitude of God toward mankind.  It’s not like Jesus shows up and just starts striking everybody dead.  He comes, offers repentance by allowing people to call on the name of the LORD, see Joel 2:28-32.  Then when they gather together against Him in rebellion, only then does He crush them.  Look at each trumpet judgment separately.  God pours out one phase of His wrath, then waits.  Will they repent?  No.  Okay, I will pour out the next phase of My wrath.  Will they repent?  As a whole, no.  At each stage God allows for mankind to repent.  I’m not saying this is the view of posttrib, but it seems like it at times, that they believe Jesus only comes back when He’s finally fed up with everything and ready to burn the whole place to the ground.  In actuality, Jesus is coming back to save the earth, not destroy it.  His compassionate heart is at the center of everything He does, even at the second coming.

I’m very glad that Joel R. goes to Acts 3:19-21 because this is a passage that I have pointed to for years.  Joel R. focuses on the timing of Jesus remaining in heaven until the restoration of all things.  That is a valid point.  And when is that time of the restoration of all things?  Joel R. seems to be leading us to believe it happens at the end of Daniel’s 70^th week.  However, there is another time marker in the passage which Joel skips over, namely the repentance of Israel.  Repent (you Israelites) and He will send Jesus.  This is something that is a time marker throughout Isaiah and especially in Psalm 92-99.  The repentance of Israel (described in Psalm 95:6-11) will be the impetus for the return of Christ.  When Israel repents, then Christ becomes jealous for His people and He returns.  This is also covered in the book of Joel the son of Pethuel.  This repentance is described in Joel 2:12-17 and God’s reaction is described in the subsequent verses.  So yes, let’s talk about the timing of the restoration of all things, but let’s also talk about the timing of the repentance of Israel.  This is intimately connected to Israel being provoked to jealousy by the salvation of Gentiles within the church, see Romans 11:25 with the term “the fullness of the Gentiles” with Revelation 6:11 and this post here.

Joel R. also cites Matthew 25:31-32 as further proof that prewrathers have inconsistencies with the return of Jesus.  Many prewrathers do teach that Jesus comes back at the rapture, turns back around, goes to heaven, then comes back later in power and glory and sits on the glorious throne described here in Matthew 25.  And I agree with this.  How can we say it’s all one coming if we are teaching that Jesus is going back and forth between heaven and earth?  There needs to be a prewrath reformation of sorts to address this and I have been trying for years to get prewrathers to see the inconsistencies within our position.  I’ll list Acts 1:11 here as well even though Joel R. gets to this a little later, but it’s the same fundamental issue.

Joel R. also cites the oft quoted “last trumpet” argument.  I sort of thought we had adequately addressed this, but apparently many posttribbers remain unconvinced.  I personally don’t see what the big contradiction is, but I see this argument all the time.  So let me give my take on this, and remember I’m not your typical prewrather with some pat answer.  Throughout the millennial kingdom, will there be other trumpets blown?  Look at Zechariah 14:16 and tell me if you believe that the Feast of Tabernacles will be observed throughout the Messianic reign by Israel and Gentile nations alike.  If you answer yes, then how about the other two fall feasts.  There is the blowing of trumpets and the Day of Atonement.  Will the blowing of trumpets be observed alongside the Feast of Tabernacles throughout the Messianic Reign?  If you say yes, and this is a very plausible idea, then the last trumpet in question is not really the last trumpet ever.  The phrase “last trumpet” is situational.  What does it mean?  Last of what?  “The last trumpet at the end of the age” is the answer that I would give.  If you are a student of the Olivet Discourse, you understand that the coming of Christ in power and glory is the end of the age.  The sixth seal parallels the trumpet in Matthew 24:31 which is the last trumpet at the end of the age.  But just like the days of Noah, there is this time period during which the earth is being destroyed while the remnant was safely aboard the ark.  They got on the ark, the LORD judged the earth, then they got off the ark and inherited the new earth.  This time of destruction is described in Revelation 8-11 during the trumpet judgments.  Situationally, an examination of the phrase “last trumpet” of I Corinthians 15 will place it in parallel with Matthew 24:31 and I Thessalonians 4:16, but not with Revelation 11.

We will have better insight about the last trumpet if we examine the surrounding context of the passage which names the last trumpet.  The phrase “last trump” only appears in I Corinthians 15:52 from what I understand.  It is generally assumed by pretribbers that the trump of God in I Thessalonians 4:16 is the same as the last trumpet.  And it is generally assumed by prewrathers and posttribbers that the trumpet of Matthew 24:31 is the same as the last trump because there is consensus that the resurrection & rapture occur in all three of these passages.  But in I Corinthians 15:51-55 there are two key old testament prophets that are quoted that should be studied in context and in conjunction with these three passages here, namely Matthew 24:29-31, I Corinthians 15:51-55 (and the entire resurrection passage as a whole), and I Thessalonians 4:13-5:11.  Those two passages are Isaiah 25:8 and Hosea 13:13-14.  I have written about these passages before and they correlate with the prewrath view quite nicely.  Isaiah 25:8 is a precursor to Isaiah 26:17-21 which shows the resurrection and a supernatural protection of God’s people occurring after a time of persecution but before the wrath of God.  So to sum up, it doesn’t make sense to me that Joel R. and others point to one word “last” and ignore the surrounding context and other prophets being quoted here.  Further, to overlay all of the events of the coming, resurrection, and rapture onto the seventh trumpet of Revelation 11:15-19 without carefully comparing scripture seems hasty.  In short, you need to prove that the last trumpet equals the seventh trumpet, which I have never seen anyone adequately do.

Joel R. also raises the issue of how we meet the LORD in the air.  Do we meet Him in the air and escort Him to the earth?  Or do we meet Him in the air and then are in heaven for some period of time?  I agree that when Jesus comes that He does not go back to heaven.  He establishes a presence or Parousia in some type of way.  In the parable of the ten virgins found in Matthew 25:1-13 they go out to meet the groom and escort him on the way to his destination.  It’s not that the groom turns around and goes back.  Is the parable defining how the saints meet Christ in the air and then escort Him to earth?  Or is the parable of the ten virgins about being ready for the coming of the bridegroom?  Personally I think this argument is weak.  Jesus never said this parable was teaching the destination of the ten virgins or the bridegroom but an overall readiness for His coming.

Now here is one of the better arguments for posttrib that I have seen over the years.  It should be no surprise that Joel R. would mention this.  The scripture states that the antichrist will wear down the saints (reference to Daniel 7:25), he will trample Jerusalem (a reference to Revelation 11:2), and he will reign (a reference to Revelation 13:5) for three and a half years.  So you see Joel R. has pulled from multiple places and overlayed them all to refer to the antichrist, which I agree with.  But then Joel R. states that when Jesus comes back He kills the antichrist.  I believe I addressed this above.  Jesus comes back but does not instantaneously kill the antichrist, but there is time for the people of the earth to either believe in Christ or continue in their sinfulness by following the antichrist.  There are passages which sum things up into a nice neat package like II Thessalonians 2:8.  It’s a cause and effect.  Jesus returns and the mere fact of His return ensures the destruction of the man of sin, see also Isaiah 11:4 but in the overall context of Isaiah 11:1-10 which gives a broader explanation.  But this one sentence summary doesn’t mean it happens instantaneously.  Scripture should be compared with scripture because the point of II Thessalonians 2:8 was not to teach how long between the return of Christ and the death of the man of sin.  It was written to encourage believers to stay true to the LORD in the face of deception, which would be an extended period of time (think thousands of years now.) 

Let’s look at each verse in context.  First, Daniel 7:25 teaches that there is an overall authority to the antichrist (the little horn) of 3.5 years.  Note: time, times, and half a time is symbolic for 3.5 years, compare Revelation 12:6 with Revelation 12:14.  Part of this authority is to wear out or persecute the saints.  Then there is this end portion of the verse which is translated correctly in some versions, but some have translated it incorrectly because they have a preconceived viewpoint.  “They” shall be given into his hands for 3.5 years.  “They” is the word in question here.  What is given into his hand for 3.5 years?  Some translations go so far as to say “the saints will be given into his hand for time, times, and the dividing of time.”  That is incorrect.  The correct translation should be “They shall be given into his hand”.  What is this referring to?  The preceding phrase is that “he thinks to change the times and the laws”.  The plain reading (it seems to me) should be that the antichrist thinks to change times and laws and they will be given into his hand for 3.5 years.  It is the times and laws that will be given into his hand for 3.5 years, and part of that authority includes wearing out the saints.

Let’s move to Revelation 13:5.  He was given an overall authority of 42 months.  As he executes this authority, it was given unto him to make war with the saints, see Revelation 13:7.  Does this mean that the rapture cannot happen until the 42 months are over?  I see no reason to come to this conclusion.  It is God granting the overall authority.  He sets a limit for the antichrist, the man of sin, for 42 months.  He allows the antichrist to persecute the saints.  If at some point in time the LORD returns, raises the righteous dead, and translates the living saints so they are out of reach of the antichrist, does this mean that Revelation 13:5 is suddenly untrue?  No it does not.  He has authority to persecute saints, but at the rapture Christ makes the church inaccessible to him.  His overall authority is 42 months, but at some point his ability to persecute the saints will be severely limited.

This is why an overall understanding of Revelation 12-16 is necessary to see why many prewrathers and posttribbers are mistaken about Revelation chronology.  I have received heat from this before but it is the truth of the scripture right in front of us.  The overall authority of the antichrist is 42 months, not 43 months.  The bowls picture the antichrist as still being in authority, having a kingdom, a throne, followers, and the ability to deceive and wage war.  Revelation 12-16 (like Revelation 6-11) gives us the overall timeline of tribulation, then rapture, then wrath.  The rapture is pictured in Revelation 14:14-16 and I have written about this extensively, see this link here.  After the rapture, the wrath of God will be poured out during the bowl judgments as the antichrist is still reigning, meaning during his 42 months of authority.  The antichrist gathers the armies of the earth against an already returned Christ.  They will meet their demise at Armageddon at the seventh bowl, which is further described in Revelation 19:17-21.

My point in mentioning Revelation 12-16 is that Revelation 13:5 must be understood in context.  The antichrist is given 42 months of authority.  He begins to persecute the saints.  He makes them stand out by forcing the world to take a mark knowing the true Christians will refuse.  Sometime before the end of the 42 months, Christ comes, resurrects the saints, and raptures the church at a day and hour that no man knows.  Then the bowls are poured out on the kingdom of the antichrist.  At the seventh bowl the antichrist and his armies meet their doom at the end of the 42 months.

Joel R. will get into the chronology of the seals and trumpets which I have blogged about at this post here.  In short, the seals are opened in progressive sequence followed by the trumpets in progressive sequence.  There are too many contradictions if you try to overlap them, but Joel R. will try to do this.  See this link here for more information.

I would encourage you to watch both of Joel’s videos, and I’ll probably be watching the next couple as well.  People in our group have wanted him to clarify for some time since he says he is prewrath but then also says he is posttrib.  If anyone has any questions please feel free to comment and I will try to answer the best that I can.  I will give the same disclaimer as Joel R.  I could be wrong.  I don’t have any books out there to defend.  I have changed my position before.  If you have made it this far, I salute you brave nerd. And if you find all the hidden links and read all those posts I will send you a prize through the US Mail!

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

Caught Off Guard

I highly recommend subscribing to Zion’s Fire bimonthly publication.  I found this gem which I have typed to the best of my ability.

Caught Off Guard by Marvin J. Rosenthal  1935-2022  Published in Zion’s Fire May-June 2023

The danger for the Church is not in being left behind, but in being Caught Off Guard.

Is the Church prepared to encounter the Antichrist before the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?

Years ago, Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins wrote a book titled, Left Behind.  It was a very popular prophetic novel on the second coming of Christ, which became the first in a series of novels and movies under the “Left Behind” banner.  The book sounded a legitimate evangelistic warning that those who do not accept Christ will be “left behind” at His coming.  At the same time, with its pretribulational emphasis of imminence – Jesus can come at any moment – it set the Church up to be caught off-guard and spiritually ambushed by the Antichrist.

Unfortunately, this “any-moment” rapture idea (though unbiblical) remains a deeply engrained dogma within many of our evangelical churches today.

At the Lord’s coming, the dead in Christ will be resurrected, and the one generation of believers living at that time – both the resurrected and the raptured – will be caught up in the air to be forever with the Lord (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).  Either resurrection from the grave or rapture is the believer’s “blessed hope” (Titus 2:13).  It is that hope which can keep God’s elect on an even keel no matter how severe the raging storms of life may become.

The prospect of encountering the Antichrist does not in any way infringe on the blessed hope.  The sometimes-heard pretribulational battle-cry, “I’m looking for the upper-taker [Jesus Christ], not the under-taker [the Antichrist],” is like a broken cistern which holds no water, or a cloud which produces no rain.  They hold out false promise which will never come to fruition.

The Scriptures clearly teach that the Antichrist and the Great Tribulation will precede the Lord’s coming.  The Church should be constantly watching for her Lord’s coming, but fully cognizant of the fact that it is the emergence of the Antichrist which will indicate the Lord’s emergence is near.  Believers still living at that time will be removed from the earth by rapture before the outpouring of God’s wrath during the Day of the Lord (the trumpets and bowls of the Book of Revelation), but they will not be exempted from the difficulties associated with eh Antichrist.

The Church is not going to be whisked to Heaven on beds of ease as historic pretribulationism teaches.  Because of unfolding world events and rightly perceived looming dangers on the horizon, some pretribulationalists have begun suggesting that difficult days may come to the Church before she is raptured.  This alarm, though welcome, will not suffice to prepare the Church for the specific danger which lies ahead as the Antichrist, empowered by Satan, persecutes true believers who will not give him their allegiance as he seeks world domination.

If the Church believes she will be out of here before the Antichrist emerges, she will be caught off-guard and unprepared when he appears to deceive the world.

It is the manifestation of the Antichrist in connection with the abomination of desolation at the rebuilt Temple on Mount Moriah which will indicate the Lord’s soon return.  And far from infringing on the blessed hope, the manifestation of the Antichrist will attest to its soon realization.

The Rapture is not a signless, any-moment event.  Contrary to popular pretribulational teaching, the coming of Christ will not be as “a thief in the night” for the believer.  There will be very specific and prophesied events which precede His coming. 

For the Church, the danger is not in being left behind, but in being caught off guard.

Caught Off Guard

The Early Church Fathers

In the year A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea convened.  It was an important council of Church leaders.  The Church fathers who lived and taught before the council were called the Ante-Nicene Fathers.  They lived and ministered during the approximately 300-year period following our Lord’s death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.  Some of them were taught by the Apostles themselves.

It is certainly true that the Church fathers did not always agree and not all of their views were to be embraced.  However, as a general principle, the closer one lived to the time of the Lord, the more important his testimony.  When there is great unity among the Church fathers, their testimony – like a cord consisting of many strands woven together – is all the more unbreakable.

Those premillenarians who believe the Son of God will return to Earth to establish a literal 1,000-year kingdom (and I am among them) rightly cite the Church fathers as a source of important evidence to support their position.  In dramatic contrast, however, they cannot appeal to the same Church fathers for support of a signless, any-moment Rapture because the Church fathers did not teach it.  This is a glaring inconsistency.

Not a single Ante-Nicene Church father supports a signless, any-moment Rapture.  Quite the opposite, they uniformly teach the Antichrist must appear before Christ’s coming for the Church and that the Church should be watching lest she be caught off guard.  Listen carefully to what the Church fathers taught.

Justin Martyr wrote: “The man of apostasy [Antichrist] … shall venture to do unlawful deeds on the earth against us the Christians …” (Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, 110).

The Pastor of Hermas wrote: “Happy are ye who endure the great tribulation that is coming …” (Vision Second).

And again he wrote: “Those, therefore, who continue steadfast, and are put through the fire, will be purified by means of it.  … Wherefore cease not speaking these things into the ears of the saints.  This then is the type of the great tribulation that is yet to come” (Vision Fourth).

The Teaching of the Twelve Apostles states: “Watch for your life’s sake.  Let not your lamps be quenched, nor your loins unloosed; but be ye ready, for ye know not the hour in which our Lord cometh … for the whole time of your faith will not profit you, if ye be not made perfect in the last time … then shall appear the world-deceiver as Son of God, and shall do signs and wonder.  … Then shall the creation of men come into the fire of trial, and many shall be made to stumble and perish; but they that endure in their faith shall be saved from under the curse itself” (Chapter xvi).

Irenaeus wrote: “And they [the ten kings] shall … give their kingdom to the beast, and put the Church to flight” (Against Heresies, V, 26, 1).

And again he wrote: “But he [John] indicates the number of the name [the Antichrist, 666] now, that when this man comes we may avoid him, being aware who he is” (Against Heresies, V, 30, 4).

He also places the resurrection of the Church and the Old Testament saints after the revelation (appearance) of the Antichrist (Against Heresies, V, 34, 3; V, 35, 1).

Hippolytus wrote: “Now concerning the tribulation of the persecution which is to fall upon the Church from the adversary [he has been speaking of the Antichrist and the Antichrist’s persecution of the saints] … That refers to the one thousand two hundred and threescore days [the last half of Daniel’s 70^th Week] during which the tyrant is to reign and persecute the Church” (Treatise on Christ and Antichrist, 60, 61).

Melito of Sardis wrote: “For with all his strength did the adversary assail us, even then giving a foretaste of his activity among us which is to be without restraint [in context, referring to the removal of the restrainer of 2 Thessalonians 2:7-8] …”

Tertullian wrote: “Now the privilege of this favor [to go without dying at the Rapture] awaits those who shall at the coming of the Lord be found in the flesh [those who are still alive], and who shall, owing to the oppressions of the time of Antichrist, deserve by an instantaneous death [Tertullians’ way of describing the Rapture], which is accomplished by sudden change, to become qualified to join the rising saints [those who had already died in Christ]; as he writes to the Thessalonians” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, xli).

And again he wrote: “That the beast Antichrist with his false prophet [Revelation 13] may wage war on the Church of God … Since, then, the Scriptures both indicate the stages of the last times, and concentrate the harvest of the Christian hope in the very end of the world …” (On the Resurrection of the Flesh, cf. Scorpiace xii).

Cyprian, commenting on the tribulation in the Olivet Discourse, wrote: “With the exhortation of His foreseeing word, instructing, and teaching, and preparing, and strengthening the people of His Church for the endurance of things to come …” (Treatise VII).

Commodianus places the resurrection of the Church after the appearance of the Antichrist and his tribulation, but before the Millennium (Instructions xliv, lxxx).

The Constitutions of the Holy Apostles states: “And then shall appear the deceiver of the world [the Antichrist], the enemy of the truth, the prince of lies, whom the Lord Jesus ‘shall destroy with the spirit of His mouth, who takes away the wicked with His lips; and many shall be offended at Him.  But they that endure to the end, the same shall be saved.  And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven;’ and afterwards shall be the voice of a trumpet by the archangel; and in that interval shall be the revival of those that were asleep.  And then shall the Lord come, and all His saints with Him” (Constitutions VII, ii, xxxi, xxxii). 

Victorinus speaks of Elijah the prophet, who ministers during the times of the Antichrist [and gives a lengthy discussion of the persecution of the Church by the Antichrist] (Commentary on the Apocalypse VII, 351 ff.).

Lactantius clearly believed that the coming of the Lord to resurrect the righteous was to take place after the Great Tribulation (Institutes VII, xv-xxvii; cf. Institutes IV; and Epitome lxxi, lxxii).

The early Church fathers not only consistently warned that believers would encounter the Antichrist before the Rapture, but called for watchfulness, purity, and steadfastness.

It is not Prewrath Rapturism which has strayed from the orthodox position of the early Church, but Pretribulation Rapturism.

For the Church fathers, the danger to the Church was not in being left behind, but in being CAUGHT OFF GUARD.

Fin

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

Prayer in every book in the Bible?

Prayer in every book of the Bible

Our new(er) pastors just completed a sermon series on prayer.  It was very well done and I began thinking about the pervasiveness of the subject of prayer throughout the Bible.  When I did my series on Harnessing the Power of the Tongue for the Glory of God, I did not want to cover the subject of prayer because it was far too great.  Even now, to do a series on prayer seems beyond me.  When I was writing the devotionals for the book Fantastic 42, I was told that one of them should have a prayer focus.  I balked.  I thought to myself, “I struggle with prayer.  How can I be an encouragement to others in this area?”  Fortunately, God provided the right perspective and a very well done devotional on prayer.

As this series was being preached, I began researching to see if the subject of prayer is covered in every single book of the Bible.  It came up slightly short in my view.  But there were some books (Psalms for example) where it was difficult to limit the selections to just three.  Others I could not find even one reference.  So here is the result of my work.  I picked some because of their overall importance in the scriptures.  I picked others because it was the only reference I could find in that book.

Some of these are actual prayers.  Some are commentaries on prayer.  Some contain a key principle about prayer that may prompt you to do a little study.  Some are extensive, spanning several verses.  Others are snippets where you would have to go to the original passage to get the full context.  Anyway, I hope these passages are an encouragement to you to pray to this great God.

One thing that stands out is the lack of references to prayer in the book of Genesis.  Very rarely is someone crying out to God.  It is always God reaching down to Adam, Noah, Abram, Jacob.  They respond to God as He pursues them.  God is truly the Father Who came running to save us.

Genesis 18:27 ^ Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am but dust and ashes.”

Genesis 20:7 ^ Now then, return the man’s wife, for he is a prophet, so that he will pray for you, and you shall live.  But if you do not return her, know that you shall surely die, you and all who are yours.

Exodus 32:11-14 ^ But Moses interceded with the Lord his God: “Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people You brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and a strong hand?  Why should the Egyptians say, ‘He brought them out with an evil intent to kill them in the mountains and wipe them off the face of the earth’?  Turn from Your great anger and change Your mind about this disaster planned for Your people.  Remember that You swore to Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel by Yourself and declared to them, ‘I will make your offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky and will give Your offspring all this land that I have promised, and they will inherit it forever.’ “  So the Lord changed His mind about the disaster He said He would bring on His people.

Leviticus 16:22 ^ Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over it all the iniquities of the people of Israel, and all their transgressions, all their sins.  And he shall put them on the head of the goat and send it away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness.

Leviticus 26:40-42 ^ If they will confess their sin and the sin of their fathers – their unfaithfulness that they practiced against Me, and how they acted with hostility toward Me, and I acted with hostility toward them and brought them into the land of their enemies – and if their uncircumcised hearts will be humbled, and if they will pay the penalty for their sin, then I will remember My covenant with Jacob.  I will also remember My covenant with Isaac and My covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land.

Numbers 6:24-27
The LORD bless you and keep you;
The LORD make His face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.
So shall they put My name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

Deuteronomy 8:10 ^ When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.

Joshua 9:14 ^ Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions, but did not seek the Lord’s counsel.

Judges 16:28 ^ Samson called to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, please remember me and please strengthen me only this once, O God, that I may be avenged on the Philistines for my two eyes.”

Ruth 2:4 ^ Boaz came from Bethlehem.  And he said to the reapers, “The LORD be with you!”  And they answered, “The LORD bless you.”

I Samuel 1:9, 10, 15 ^ Hannah was deeply distressed and prayed to the LORD and wept bitterly.  Hannah answered, “No, my lord, I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have been pouring out my soul before the LORD.”

I Samuel 2:1-2 ^ Hannah prayed: My heart rejoices in the Lord; my horn is lifted up by the Lord. My mouth boasts over my enemies, because I rejoice in Your salvation.  There is no one holy like the Lord.  There is no one besides You!  And there is no rock like our God.

I Samuel 12:23 ^ Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way.

II Samuel 7:18 ^ Then King David went in and sat before the LORD and said, “Who am I, O Lord GOD, and what is my house, that You have brought me thus far?”

I Kings 8:22-23 ^ Then Solomon stood before the altar of the LORD in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven, and said, “O LORD, God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven above or on earth beneath, keeping covenant and showing steadfast love to Your servants who walk before You with all their heart.”

I Kings 18:36-37 ^ At the time of the offering of the oblation, Elijah the prophet came near and said, “O LORD, God of Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, let it be known this day that You are God in Israel, and that I am your servant, and that I have done all these things at Your word.  Answer me, O LORD, answer me, that this people may know that You, O LORD, are God, and that You have turned their hearts back.”

II Kings 19:15 ^ Hezekiah prayed before the LORD and said: “O LORD, the God of Israel, enthroned above the cherubim, You are the God, You alone, of all the kingdoms of the earth; You have made heaven and earth.”

I Chronicles 29:10-13 ^ David blessed the LORD in the presence of all the assembly.  And David said: “Blessed are You, O LORD, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever.  Yours, O LORD, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is Yours. Yours is the kingdom, O LORD, and You are exalted as head above all.  Both riches and honor come from You, and You rule over all. In Your hand are power and might, and in Your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all.  And now we thank You, our God, and praise Your glorious name.”

II Chronicles 20:6-7 ^ Jehoshaphat said, “O LORD, God of our fathers, are You not God in heaven?  You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In Your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand You.  Did You not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before Your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham Your friend?”

II Chronicles 30:18-20 ^ Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, “May the good LORD pardon everyone who sets his heart to seek God, the LORD,” and the LORD heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

Ezra 9:6 ^ Ezra said: My God, I am ashamed and embarrassed to lift my face toward You, my God, because our iniquities are higher than our heads and our guilt is as high as the heavens.

Nehemiah 1:5-6 ^ Nehemiah said, “O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God Who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep his commandments, let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, to hear the prayer of Your servant that I now pray before You day and night for the people of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against You.  Even I and my father’s house have sinned.”

Esther 4:16 ^ Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day.  I and my young women will also fast as you do.  Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.

Job 42:7-10 ^ The LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.  Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to My servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And My servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your foolishness.  For you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”  So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.  And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

Psalm 39:12 ^ Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry; hold not Your peace at my tears!  For I am a sojourner with You, a guest, like all my fathers.

Psalm 54:1-3 ^ O God, save me by Your name, and vindicate me by Your might.  O God, hear my prayer; give ear to the words of my mouth.  For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves.

Psalm 143:1-2 ^ Hear my prayer, O LORD; give ear to my pleas for mercy!  In Your faithfulness answer me, in Your righteousness!  Enter not into judgment with Your servant, for no one living is righteous before You.

Proverbs 15:29 ^ The LORD is far from the wicked, but He hears the prayer of the righteous.

Ecclesiastes 5:4 ^ When you vow a vow to God, do not delay paying it, for He has no pleasure in fools. Pay what you vow.

Isaiah 56:7-8 ^ I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in My house of prayer; for My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.  The Lord GOD, Who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, “I will gather yet others to Him besides those already gathered.”

Jeremiah 10:23-24 ^ I know, O LORD, that the way of man is not in himself, that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.  Correct me, O LORD, but in justice; not in Your anger, lest You bring me to nothing.

Lamentations 3:55-59 
I called on Your name, O LORD, from the depths of the pit;
You heard my plea, ‘Do not close Your ear to my cry for help!’
You came near when I called on You; You said, ‘Do not fear!’
You have taken up my cause, O Lord; You have redeemed my life.
You have seen the wrong done to me, O LORD; judge my cause.

Ezekiel 9:8, 11:13, 20:49 ^ Ah, Lord GOD!  Will You destroy all the remnant of Israel in the outpouring of Your wrath on Jerusalem?  Ah, Lord GOD!  Will You make a full end of the remnant of Israel?  Ah, Lord GOD!  They are saying of me, “Is he not a maker of parables?”

Daniel 9:3-5 ^ Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.  I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, “O Lord, the great and awesome God, Who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from Your commandments and rules.”

Hosea 14:1-4 ^ Return to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity.  Take words with you, and return to the Lord.  Say to Him, “Take away all sinfulness.  Receive us graciously, for we will offer the sacrifices of our lips.  For in You the fatherless finds mercy.”  I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely, For My anger has turned away.

Joel 2:12, 28 ^ Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.  And it shall come to pass after this that I will pour out My Spirit on all flesh.

Amos 7:2-3 ^ I said, “O Lord GOD, please forgive!  How can Jacob stand?  He is so small!”  The LORD relented concerning this: “It shall not be,” said the LORD.

Jonah 1:7 ^ When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord; and my prayer went up to You, into Your holy temple.

Micah 3:4, 7:7 ^ They will cry to the Lord, but He will not hear them; He will even hide His face from them at that time, because they have been evil in their deeds.  Therefore I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; My God will hear me.

Nahum 1:7 ^ The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him.

Habakkuk 3:1-2 ^ A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet.  According to Shigionoth.  Lord, I have heard the report about You; Lord, I stand in awe of Your deeds.  Revive Your work in these years; make it known in these years.  In Your wrath remember mercy!

Zephaniah 3:9 ^ At that time I will change the speech of the peoples to a pure speech, that all of them may call upon the name of the LORD and serve Him with one accord.

Zechariah 7:12-13 ^ They made their hearts diamond-hard lest they should hear the law and the words that the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.  Therefore great anger came from the LORD of hosts.  “As I called, and they would not hear, so they called, and I would not hear,” says the LORD of hosts.

Zechariah 8:20-22 ^ Thus says the LORD of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities.  The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, “Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the LORD and to seek the LORD of hosts; I myself am going.”  Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the LORD of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the LORD.

Malachi 1:9 ^ Entreat the favor of God, that He may be gracious to us.

Matthew 6:6-7 ^ When you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.  But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father Who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.

Mark 1:35 ^ Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.

Luke 11:1 ^ It came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.”

Luke 18:1 ^ He told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart.

John 17:1-2, 19-21 ^ When Jesus had spoken these words, He lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You, since You have given Him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom You have given Him.  For their sake I consecrate Myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.  I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word, that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You, that they also may be in Us, so that the world may believe that You have sent Me.”

Acts 4:31 ^ When they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness.

Romans 8:26 ^ The Spirit helps us in our weakness.  For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.

Romans 10:13 ^ Whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.

I Corinthians 14:15, 16, 33 ^ What is the conclusion then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will also pray with the understanding.  I will sing with the spirit, and I will also sing with the understanding.  Otherwise, if you bless with the spirit, how will he who occupies the place of the uninformed say “Amen” at your giving of thanks, since he does not understand what you say?  For God is not the author of confusion but of peace, as in all the churches of the saints.

II Corinthians 12:8-9 ^ Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.  But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”  Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

Galatians 4:6 ^ Because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”

Ephesian 6:18 ^ Pray at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication.  To that end keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints.

Philippians 4:6-7 ^ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Colossians 4:2-4 ^ Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.  At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison, that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.

I Thessalonians 1:17 ^ Pray without ceasing.

II Thessalonians 1:11-12 ^ Therefore we also pray always for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I Timothy 2:1-4 ^ First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.  This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, Who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

II Timothy 1:3 ^ I thank God Whom I serve, as did my ancestors, with a clear conscience, as I remember you constantly in my prayers night and day.

Philemon 1:4-5 ^ I thank my God always when I remember you in my prayers, because I hear of your love and of the faith that you have toward the Lord Jesus and for all the saints.

Hebrews 4:14-16 ^ Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.  Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

James 5:13-18 ^ Is anyone among you suffering?  Let him pray.  Is anyone cheerful?  Let him sing praise.   Is anyone among you sick?  Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.  And the prayer of faith will save the one who is sick, and the Lord will raise him up.  And if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.  Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, that you may be healed.  The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working.  Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed fervently that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain on the earth.  Then he prayed again, and heaven gave rain, and the earth bore its fruit.

I Peter 5:6-7 ^ Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on Him, because He cares for you.

I John 3:20-22 ^ Whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything.  Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; and whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases Him.

I John 5:14-15 ^ This is the confidence that we have toward Him, that if we ask anything according to His will He hears us.  And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of Him.

Jude 1:24-25 ^ Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

Revelation 8:3-5 ^ Another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne, and the smoke of the incense, with the prayers of the saints, rose before God from the hand of the angel.  Then the angel took the censer and filled it with fire from the altar and threw it on the earth, and there were peals of thunder, rumblings, flashes of lightning, and an earthquake.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

Resurrection Sunday Quiz

Resurrection Sunday Quiz.  27 passages from the New Testament scriptures regarding the resurrection.  Either read them and be blessed, or see if you know which books of the Bible they are from.

A ~ For this reason the Father loves Me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again.  No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.

B ~ An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.  For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

C ~ I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in Me will live even though he dies.

D ~ An angel of the Lord descended from heaven and came and rolled back the stone and sat on it.  His appearance was like lightning, and his clothing white as snow.  For fear of him the guards trembled and became like dead men.  The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified.  Some of the guard went into the city and told the chief priests all that had taken place.  When they had assembled with the elders and taken counsel, they gave a sufficient sum of money to the soldiers and said, “Tell people, ‘His disciples came by night and stole Him away while we were asleep.’  If this comes to the governor’s ears, we will satisfy him and keep you out of trouble.”  So they took the money and did as they were directed.  And this story has been spread among the Jews to this day.

E ~ Why do you seek the living among the dead?  He is not here but is risen.

F ~ I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore.  I have the keys of Hades and of Death.

G ~ Christ being raised from the dead dies no more, death has no more dominion over Him.

H ~ I pray that God would give you the spirit of revelation to open your eyes that you all may know what is the exceeding greatness of His power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His own right hand in the heavens.

I ~ They show us how you wait for His Son from heaven whom He raised from the dead, Jesus who delivers us from the wrath to come.

J ~ It is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in His name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.

K ~ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit, in which He went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison, because they formerly did not obey, when God’s patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water. Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to Him.

L ~ We know that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true; and we are in Him who is true, in His Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.

M ~ With great power the apostles were giving their testimony to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and great grace was upon them all.

N ~ He is the first born from the dead that in all things He might have the preeminence.

Ñ ~ As for the fact that He raised Him from the dead, no more to return to corruption, He has spoken in this psalm, ‘You will not let Your Holy One see corruption.’  For David, after he had served the purpose of God in his own generation, fell asleep and was laid with his fathers and saw corruption, but He whom God raised up did not see corruption.

O ~ His Son Jesus Christ our Lord was born of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead.

P ~ Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the flesh, vindicated by the Spirit, seen by angels, proclaimed among the nations, believed on in the world, taken up in glory.

Q ~ He has fixed a day on which He will judge the world by a Man whom He has appointed; and of this He has given assurance to all by raising Him from the dead.

R ~ God has both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power.

S ~ He who raised up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also by Jesus and shall present us with you.

T ~ I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I but Christ lives in me.

U ~ He was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but in dealing with you we will live with Him by the power of God.

V ~ Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of those that have fallen asleep.

W ~ According to His great mercy, He has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.

X ~ Indeed, I count everything as loss in order that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and may share His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.

Y ~ It has now been made evident through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

Z ~ Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, equip you with everything good that you may do His will, working in us that which is pleasing in His sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

Happy and Blessed Resurrection Sunday to you all.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman

Righteous Anger? Check Psalm 39.

Is there such a thing as righteous anger?

This was the question posed to me and it’s a good one.  I can’t find the phrase in the Bible but there are principles that can be applied.  So here is how I initially answered the question.

Quote>>>

In the Bible, God is described as being angry in several different passages. Jesus is also described as being angry. We know that God and Jesus are both righteous.  We get angry because we are created in the image of God.

But we are sinful, therefore God‘s commands reflect the fact that it is OK to be angry as long as we do not sin.  Ephesians 4:26-27 is the passage where this is found, and also makes sure to tell us that it should only be for a short time; “Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.” 

The short answer is yes there is such a thing as righteous anger.  But we need to be careful because we are sinful and so prone to unrighteous anger.  I believe that is why the commands in the Bible to be kind, loving, merciful, gracious, and forgiving far outnumber this one command to be angry.

>>>End Quote

That’s the short answer.  But this theme should be one worth exploring if you are someone who struggles with anger.  God gets angry, but what does God get angry about?  Jesus was angry, but what was Jesus angry about?  When I get angry, is it a righteous anger, or a selfish anger?  Psalm 7:11 has a very simple explanation for why God gets angry.  The entire Psalm gives us the context that God is angry at wickedness or sinfulness.  This theme is played out over many stories in scripture including the flood of Noah, Sodom and Gomorrah, and the unfaithfulness of God’s own people Israel.  Sinfulness makes God angry.

It would be so easy for us to think that whenever we get angry that it is a righteous anger because we are mad about someone else’s sin.  However, the Bible commands us to judge ourselves before we would judge someone else.  I Peter 4:14-19 instructs us how to handle suffering.  Peter warns us that much of our suffering could be caused by our own sinfulness and not because we are righteous.  Then Peter tells us that the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God.  The righteous person is scarcely saved.  If this is true, if we being righteous are just barely making it into the kingdom of God, how strictly we must judge ourselves before we turn our judging eye toward someone else that we would deem a wicked sinner.  Remember Jesus told a little story about a beam and a mote.

We tend to make excuses for our own sins but want to hold others accountable for their sins.  But, if their sins are inexcusable, why aren’t our own sins inexcusable?  Why aren’t we ready to confess to others, “I’m sorry, I did something wrong and I have no excuse but my selfishness”?  One of the prerequisites for being a Christian is that we confess rather than cover up our sins, see I John 1:8-10.  Why aren’t we just as angry and incensed about our own tendency to sin as we are when others sin against us?  Whatever answer you may have to explain this away is going to reflect a self-centered point of view, which, might I remind you, is one of the definitions of sinfulness.

Why do we get angry?  It’s not always about someone doing us wrong.  Sometimes it will be circumstances in general.  “That’s not fair!” we exclaim when something happens.  It may not be someone doing something against us, but instead a certain twist of fate that we just don’t appreciate.  It could be sickness, loss of job or something valuable, or maybe even the untimely death of a loved one.  We get mad because we think, “Why did it have to happen this way?”  For an answer to this type of question, let me ask you one question.  What about Job?  Remember Job?  In one day he lost all his wealth and all his children.  Was that fair?  And what was this for anyway?  God and Satan were having a conversation.  God says, “Take a look, he’s a righteous man.”  The devil said, “Take everything away and he will turn on you.”  God said, “Go ahead.”  And what happened.  God was right and the devil was wrong.  But that’s not all.  God and Satan had a follow up conversation.  Satan pushed the issue even further challenging God that if Job’s health were taken away, then Job would turn on God.  God said again, “Go ahead.”  Again, God was right and the devil was wrong.

How does this story make you feel about God?  God is up in heaven allowing the devil to do what he wants just to prove a point.  All the while, Job wanted some kind of answer from God.  Job knew that he had not committed a grievous sin for which God was punishing him.  But he wanted some kind of audience with God to get an answer for his condition.  Why God?  Why me?  Does this type of thing make you angry?  Or do you trust God?  Because you can’t have both.  You either trust God or you are angry with Him about your circumstance.  How often have you or I said or thought, “If I could just know the reason why this is happening, then I could deal with it.”  I’m sure Job thought that, too.  But that’s not faith.  Remember Romans 14:23, whatever is not of faith is sin.  Habakkuk is known for his brief statement, “The righteous live by faith.”  If you don’t live by faith, you are not righteous.

If you would indulge me, I’d like to give a scenario for Psalm 39.  In this Psalm, David finds himself outraged at a certain situation.  He almost sins with his mouth, but God prevented him from talking.  After David and God “had a moment”, God allowed David to talk once again.  What was it that made David so angry?  I have an idea so thank you for allowing me to entertain you with this story.

Psalm 39
I said, “I will guard my ways,
that I may not sin with my tongue;
I will guard my mouth with a muzzle,
so long as the wicked are in my presence.”
I was mute and silent;
I held my peace to no avail,
and my distress grew worse.
My heart became hot within me.
As I mused, the fire burned;
then I spoke with my tongue:

“O LORD, make me know my endand what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am!
Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath!      Selah
Surely a man goes about as a shadow!
Surely for nothing they are in turmoil;
man heaps up wealth and does not know who will gather!

“And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
My hope is in you.
Deliver me from all my transgressions.
Do not make me the scorn of the fool!
I am mute; I do not open my mouth,
for it is you who have done it.
Remove your stroke from me;
I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
When you discipline a man
with rebukes for sin,
you consume like a moth what is dear to him;
surely all mankind is a mere breath!           Selah

“Hear my prayer, O LORD,and give ear to my cry;
hold not your peace at my tears!
For I am a sojourner with you,
a guest, like all my fathers.
Look away from me, that I may smile again,
before I depart and am no more!”

David had an incident in his life where someone (or maybe a group of people) who is foolish and wicked was standing before David.  David wanted to lash out in anger over the situation, but God prevented him.  God supernaturally made David mute and did not allow him to speak at all.  When David finally regained his wits (when was the last time someone used that phrase in real life?) the response that flowed from his spirit was one of humility.  He asked God to allow him to remember his own mortality, the fact that he would one day meet his death.  He further asked God to deliver him of his sins.  Imagine, someone wicked, probably deserving of death, was standing before David, and after God stopped David in his tracks from sinning with anger with his tongue, David began confessing his own sins.  When was the last time you became outraged at someone else’s sins, but then ended up confessing your own sins?

I like to imagine what circumstances David was going through when he wrote individual psalms.  For some reason, I think of the time when someone came to David with news that King Saul had died.  You can read about this story in II Samuel 1.  The story of how Saul actually died is in the previous chapter, I Samuel 31.  In I Samuel 31 it is recorded that Saul killed himself.  But here comes a young man falling down before David saying he has news of the fate of Saul and Jonathan.  He tells David that Saul asked him to kill him, so he did.  He says he took the crown and bracelets from Saul’s body after he was dead and then presented them to David. 

David was full of all kinds of emotion.  His king was dead.  His best friend, Jonathan, was dead.  The armies of Israel were scattered.  Saul had tried to kill David multiple times but David had refused to stretch out his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and yet somehow he knew that one day God would judge Saul.  David no longer had to be concerned with Saul pursuing him, yet this man was his father-in-law.  Saul had called David his son at times.  It was all coming true that God rewards the wicked therefore we are not to take vengeance into our own hands.

Here is this young man confessing that he did the exact opposite of what David had been practicing.  David tears his clothes.  He is in mourning.  Yet the fate of this young man is left undetermined for a time.  Could it be that David had the Psalm 39 experience while he was contemplating what to do with this murderer of his king?  All types of things were running through David’s mind.   But before David could pronounce a righteous judgment upon this murderer, David needed to be reminded of a few things.  He needed to remember his own mortality.  One day David will die as well.  When will that be?  Who will strike David down in battle?  At the end of his life, after all the notable deeds, it will be just a vapor that has appeared for a moment.  In comparison to Almighty God, who are we really?  David also needed to be reminded of his own sinfulness.  If he pronounced judgment upon this man, does that mean that David is righteous and has never sinned?  No, of course not.  David’s first thought may have been, “How dare he!”  But then David (after God struck him speechless) thought of the times when he was tempted to strike Saul down.  He had cut his royal robe as an act of dishonor.  David was reminded that he had sinned as well.

Before David pronounced his first death sentence, he needed to be in a right place with God.  God struck him with the weight of the situation.  If out of anger David rushed over and struck him down, that would have been just as bad as what this young foreigner did.  The young man was not an Israelite, but he still needed to be treated with respect.  As King, David would not be pronouncing judgment upon others because he was more righteous than they.  In fact, David was just as sinful as God reminded him in that moment.  God reminded him of his sin so forcefully that David begged God to “look away that I might smile again.”  David confessed to God that he is also a foreigner in God’s sight, therefore no better than this foreigner.  God stepped in to correct David and it made his vitality dry up.  David held his tongue until God had “the talk” with him.  Now David could open his mouth and render judgment that would not be out of anger.

After David regains his composure, being reminded of his sinfulness, being reminded of his own mortality, David very simply pronounced judgment.  He only asked one question to which the young foreigner had no answer.  Why were you not afraid to stretch out your hand to destroy the one that God anointed?  David commanded one of his young men to execute him for the crime of murder, and that of murdering the king.  David very simply states, “His own mouth testified against him.  He admitted that he killed the LORD’s anointed.”  David has regained his equanimity.  He is not speaking out of anger.  He knows that he is sinful but must function as God’s agent in this instance.  This man’s life will end here.  David’s will go on, but for how long?  David must not be proud against this young foreigner.  One day David’s life will end as well.

The next time you get angry or want to lash out in anger at a situation, remember this lesson from King David.  He had it written down after all.  Let God have a moment with you.  Remember your own sins.  Remember your own mortality.  Remember that we as Christians are to live as if we are in a foreign land because we are not truly home yet.  Then, after God has convicted you of these simple lessons, then proceed with humility.  Be angry, but do not sin.

Have fun and stay busy – Luke 19:13

-The Orange Mailman