The End Times

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away. “But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. (Matthew 24:35-36)

There has been, and there still is, a large amount of speculation as to when Jesus will return. In fact, there’s been a wealth; a down right  overabundance of speculation on the subject. Some of the “theories” (though they aren’t true theories, but hypothesis’) don’t make much sense, but most are mathematical, and actually do make a certain amount of sense. The problem with these speculations, though, is that they are completely unBiblical. The above tells that no one, not even the mathematicians, knows the day or hour when Christ will return, and the World as we know it will end.

The simple reality of it, is that it doesn’t matter. None of it. When will Jesus return? I don’t know (and, in spite of innumerable claims, neither does anyone else). What I do know though, is that we should live every day of our lives, as though that was the day Jesus will be coming back. Which is something that we do, by living every moment, of every day, in light of the Gospel; remembering everything that He went through for us, and the freedom that we now have because of Him.

To put it simply: our focus shouldn’t be on when Jesus will return, it should be on Jesus.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Luck and Providence

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there. In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” (Matthew 21:17-20)

`Sometimes we’re like the disciples: blind to the miracles going on in front of us. The disciples no doubt heard Jesus curse the fruit tree, and they obviously saw it wither. You’d think they’d be able to draw a connection, right? The people in Heaven probably ask the same questions of us, when we don’t bother to look at the cause of the miracle, but instead admire the miracle itself.

Have you ever found a five dollar bill lying on the ground somewhere, and thought how lucky you were that you found it before anyone else? Well Christians have a word for that: providence. There is no such thing as good or bad luck, those are just figments of our imagination that we humans created in an attempt to dumb down God’s supreme providence into something we can more easily understand. We tend to do the same thing with miracles; dumb them down into “luck”. For example, a car crash that everyone would think to be fatal, but which leaves everyone involved alive, might be seen as luck, rather than God’s hand at work.

Likewise, we see the disciples attempting to understand why the fig tree withered as quickly as it did. You can almost see their minds taking into account rain fall, irrigation, the current temperature, and trying to fathom a reasonable explanation. Yet there is no reasonable explanation for some things, aside from God’s providence.

When Jesus was dying for everyone’s sins, people may well have thought it was simply “bad luck” that this poor man had been caught. Yet even then, even when He turned His face away from His own Son, and allowed Him to die for all of our sins, He was working out everything for our good and His glory.–We need to stop focusing so much on “good luck”, and start praising the one, God almighty, whose hand of direction, guidance, and protection is on us even now.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Adding and Subtracting

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. For it is better that you lose one of your members than that your whole body go into hell. (Matthew 5:29-30)

Some fairly radical thinking going on here. Now, cutting off limbs, and poking out eyes, isn’t what God actually wants us to do, is it? What happened to taking care of our body, “because it’s the temple of God”? Certainly its true that it’s better to go to Heaven missing an arm then it is to go to Hell intact, but surely Jesus doesn’t actually expect us to cut off an arm!

Well of course Christ doesn’t want us to hack off limbs! That would be downright pagan. No, rather, as He sometimes does, He’s speaking figuratively. He’s trying to make the point that it doesn’t matter what you have to do, it’s worth salvation. Even if you have to “cut off an arm”; even if you have to sell your TV to break an addiction to it. To put it simply: Jesus is talking about cutting off access to sin.

There are plenty of things to capture our attention; plenty of idols to take up the space where Jesus belongs. We’ve got computers, TVs, not to mention sports, cars, sport cars, etc.. But if any one of them threatens to take up residence in our heart, we are to cut off our access to it. Jesus died in order to save us, and so that He and He alone could claim possession over our minds, bodies, and hearts. The last thing He wants is something that is merely temporary taking up what is, by right, His throne. Thus the commandment to get away from whatever is causing us to sin.

There are two things we’re to do:

1. Radical amputation.
2. Radical pursuit.

Radical amputation is what we’ve already discussed; “radically amputating” whatever is causing us to sin. The second is just as important as the first; radically pursuing Jesus. Here’s an example my dad once used, “Subtraction without addition equals multiplication.” When one demon is “subtracted”, but Jesus is not “added”, we end up with more problems than the one we started out with it; the demons “multiply”. Which is why, once Jesus gives us the strength to overcome whatever difficulty that we’re facing, we need to replace the sin struggle with some form of ministry; we need to radically pursue Christ. Something we see Jesus Himself supporting just a couple of verses after the ones we originally looked at:

And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. And if anyone forces you to go one mile, go with him two miles. Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven. For he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. (Matthew 5:40-45)

Jesus tells also says this,

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’^(K) (Matthew 25:40)

When we “go the extra mile”, we’re doing it for Christ. When we love our enemies, we’re loving Christ. – We’re radically pursuing Him. So, let’s not multiply, let’s just stick with adding and subtracting.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Fulfillment

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. (Matthew 5:17-18)

Quite possibly the two most used verses to support obedience to the commandments; to the ‘Law and the Prophets’, this verse states clearly that Christ came to fulfill rather than to abolish the Law. There can be no doubt about that. So the real question is, what does Jesus mean when He says that He’s come to “fulfill” the Law and the Prophets?

There are two things which answer that question for us:

1. The nature of the law.
2. The nature of the books of the Prophets.

The nature of the law was sacrificial. There were sacrifices for cleansing, for sin, for unintentional sin, and for many other occasions. The nature of the books of the prophets was to point forward to Christ. Something we see in the following verses:

²⁵ He said to them, “How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! ²⁶ Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?”^(Y) 27 And beginning with Moses^(Z) and all the Prophets,^(AA) he  explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.^(AB) (Luke 24:25-27)

Not only that, but we see that the books of the Prophets were actually referring to His death and crucifixion. Which we can infer by looking at where He says, “Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” Then seeing how He follows it up by explaining what Moses and the Prophets said of Himself. So here’s the conclusion that we can draw: when Jesus says that He’s going to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, He must be referring to His death and Resurrection. Which brings up the second and final question, “How does Jesus’ death and Resurrection fulfill the Law and the Prophets?”

Well the author of Hebrews tells us:

The law is only a shadow^(A) of the good things^(B) that are coming—not the realities themselves.^(C) For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect^(D) those who draw near to worship.^(E)2 Otherwise, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins.^(F) 3 But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins.^(G) 4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats^(H) to take away sins.^(I)

⁵ Therefore, when Christ came into the world,^(J) he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
    but a body you prepared for me;^(K)
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
    you were not pleased.
⁷ Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll^(L)—
    I have come to do your will, my God.’”^[a](M)

⁸ First he said, “Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them”^(N)—though they were offered in accordance with the law.⁹ Then he said, “Here I am, I have come to do your will.”^(O) He sets aside the first to establish the second. ¹⁰ And by that will, we have been made holy^(P) through the sacrifice of the body^(Q) of Jesus Christ once for all.^(R) (Hebrews 10:1-10)

Jesus, through His death and Resurrection, makes us holy and acceptable to God. Both the prophets and the law were a shadow of the “good things to come”; the salvation we have in Christ.

The point being this: Jesus didn’t come to abolish the Law or the Prophets. Paul tells us that all Scripture is useful, and the Law and the Prophets are a part of Scripture. Rather, Jesus came to fulfill them, by being a sacrifice on our behalf.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Shining Saltiness

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. (Matthew 5:13)

“if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness by restored?” We know that Jesus sometimes uses physical things to teach Spiritual lessons. So what is the point He’s trying to make? The “salt” He’s talking about is clearly believers, as compared to unbelievers. He makes that clear by the statement, “You are the salt of the Earth,” but what does He mean by the next bit? (i.e., “but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?”)

It seems rather clear, if you consider believers to be “salt”, that salt that looses it’s saltiness, is the equivalent of a believer whose lost the defining aspects of a believer. Another option would be to say that salt that has lost its taste, is the equivalent of a believer who looses His salvation; his taste, but in order for that to be true, the salt would have to change into another substance entirely. The first possibility is also supported by its famous context:

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. (Matthew 5:14-15)

Jesus is stating what any Christian should see as obvious: we aren’t to hide our Christianity away and out of sight, and live as everyone else does. If we do, we’ll have lost our saltiness, to put it one way.

Jesus is our ultimate example in this. (He’d have to be, seeing as He’s the one telling us to do these things). Jesus didn’t hide His light – He didn’t hide Himself. The exact opposite, in fact; you can’t get a lot more public than dying on a cross for the entire World.

The point being this: we shouldn’t be afraid of other’s opinions about Christianity. Rather, we should be as Jesus was, and let our saltiness shine.

 

Why We are Loved

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth. “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied. (Matthew 5:3-6)

The poor in Spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hungry and thirsty for righteousness. These are the people, in this section at least, that we are told will be blessed. But, why, and how? This may sound heart-less, but why would God even care about such people?

Perhaps a better question would be, why does God even care about us (because, we are “those people”)? Really think about it a second. Does God love us because we’re so incredible He can’t help Himself? Does He love us because we can help Him in some way in which He couldn’t use other people or things? Anyone who has an actual understanding of how bad we were before Christ saved us, should know the answer to those questions is no. God loves us because His son died for us, and no other reason. However much it may hurt our pride to admit it.

The poor in the Spirit, those who are hungry and thirsty for righteousness, and all the rest, are loved because of grace – we are loved because of grace. We are to love Jesus, because He first loved us. We are to love Him because His Spirit goes before our ”poor” one, so that we can receive “the kingdom of Heaven”. We should love Him because those who mourn will be comforted by Jesus Himself, and because those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled by Christ, who is bread of the life.

The point being this: Jesus took our sin onto Himself, (and in fact, the Bible tells us [2 Corinthians 5:21] that He became our sin), and then died for us. That is why God loves us; because we are now sinless in His sight. So,  because of that, our “poor Spirit” should be praising God!

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Proximity to Jesus

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

Seeing the crowds, he went up on the mountain, and when he sat down, his disciples came to him. And he opened his mouth and taught them, saying: (Matthew 5:1-2)

Jesus, apparently in an effort to get high enough to be able to speak to the entire crowd, goes to the top of a conveniently near-by mountain. Next, up came his disciples, while the crowd remained below. There’s a pretty clear separation that we can see here: we’ve got Jesus, we’ve got His disciples, and then we’ve got the untold masses below. Now, perhaps someone put up a sign that told the masses gathered below not to come up to where Jesus was, and Matthew simply forgot to record it, we don’t know. However, as far as we do know, the crowds didn’t come up because they didn’t want to.

They, apparently, preferred to hear Christ’s teaching from a safe distance. A distance, where they could quickly disappear from if Pharisees showed up… Yet, they were still allowed to hear Christ’s teaching, right along with the Jesus’ disciples, who had actually come up the mountain to be with Him. So, what’s the real difference between the masses, and the disciples? Both parties had the chance to follow Jesus around and hear Him speak, but only the masses could hurry off, and not be caught if those opposed to Jesus showed up. So, was the crowd actually in a better position than the disciples, who were physically closer to Christ, were?

Well, it’s true that physical proximity to Jesus doesn’t matter that much. However, Jesus does reward their willingness to openly follow Him later. Only the Disciples got to witness Jesus curse a fig tree. Only the Disciples got to hear Him say, “Peace be with you.” when He appeared to them after His crucifixion. But now, let’s get back to being realistic; how does any of this apply to us? Certainly it’s good for the Apostles to be able to climb the mountain and be physically close to Jesus, but so what? It’s not like we can do that.

The Apostles teach us a lesson: when we walk Spiritually close to Christ, He’ll walk close to us. – When we make Him the focus of our day, and when our aim is to please and to give glory to God, Christ will show Himself to us in new and sometimes unexpected ways.

So, which are we? One of the masses who hears Christ, but will run off the moment opposition arises, or a disciple, to whom Christ reveals Himself in new and different ways?

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Interpretations and Applications

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

And leaving Nazareth he went and lived in Capernaum by the sea, in the territory of Zebulun and Naphtali, so that what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah might be fulfilled: “The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles—the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned.” (Matthew 4:13-16)

Jesus is fulfilling yet another prophecy, not exactly anything new. Except, this particular prophecy is quite vague. All it says is that the land of Zebulun and Naphtali would see a great light. Couldn’t that easily mean something as different as those areas would merely experience a very sunny day? Who is Matthew (aside from a Holy Spirit inspired author of the Bible) to say that this prophecy was of Christ?

Well, a pretty obvious reason for Matthew’s saying that the prophecy refers to Christ, is that he’s Holy Spirit inspired, and so has that authority. Another possible answer would be to draw the line backwards: i.e. to see that Christ went to those areas, and so the verse must refer to Him. A third possibility is to simply look at Isiah’s Character, and draw the conclusion that this man doesn’t make casual prophecies about the weather, and so the verse must have some sort of further meaning. Which, in this case, would be that it was referring to Christ. So, is it one of the three? All three? Something else entirely?

The New, explains the Old. Matthew knew that Jesus is the light which illuminates hearts and minds, and chases away the darkness. Matthew also knew that Jesus was physically passing through Zebulun and Naphtali, so he made the reasonable connection. Which is why we can come to the conclusion that the New Testament, explains the Old Testament. Take this example:

⁷ But to each one of us^(A) grace^(B) has been  given^(C) as Christ apportioned it. ⁸ This is why it^[a] says:

“When he ascended on high,
    he took many captives^(D)
    and gave gifts to his people.”^[b](E) (Ephesians 4:7-8)

(The actual verse, Psalm 68:18, says that God received gifts from men). Paul tells us that grace has been given to us, and then misquotes a verse to confirm what he said. The doctrine he was trying to teach, allowed him to find a verse, and explain it according to how it applies to us. Back then, in the Old Testament, God received gifts from men. He received their sacrifices, and led those captive to the law. But now, He gives gifts of grace to all who ask, and leads captives of grace. As was said, the New explains the Old.

Now, trying to do what Paul and Matthew did can be dangerous, because we have to be sure that we’re interpreting a verse correctly. Otherwise we could see a random verse, and decide that it means something completely wrong. The base rule though, is that the interpretation must actually make sense, and go from applying to the people in the Old Testament, to applying to us.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Running to God

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, “‘You shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.’” Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. (Matthew 4:8-11)

And now we see what the Devil truly desires. His temptations have been continually escalating up to now: first he tries to convince Jesus to turn stones into bread. When that failed, he tried to convince Christ to throw himself off a building. When that also failed, he resorts to offering Christ the World, if He’ll just bow to him. In each of these attacks, notice that we never see Christ asking, “Why me?”, or raging that He’s being tempted. We don’t see Him irritated at Himself for not being able to keep the Devil from tempting Him. We don’t see Him panicking at His situation. And we certainly don’t see Him going to “doctors” for medication to help Him deal with the over-whelming depression the Devil’s put Him into. No, we see none of that. Rather, we see Jesus simply quoting the Bible, and in the last case, telling the Devil to leave.

We, likewise, aren’t to be frightened when we are tempted. God promises to be our refuge, if we’ll only run to Him; to His word, so we really have no reason to get worked up. – It happens to everyone, older or younger, without exception. Even babies are tempted to be selfish, and only care about themselves, and not care about how much sleep others in the family get as a result.

The point being this: temptation is nothing new. Satan tempted Jesus Himself. We aren’t suddenly non-Christian if we fall under the Devil’s scrutiny. So, when we are tempted, let’s run to our shelter; run to the living Word.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland

 

Wrapping Ourselves in Christ

Hello again!

This is what God gave me today in His word:

The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires. (Romans 13:12-14)

Now, the first thing Paul tells us to do here entails a fairly obvious course of action: not getting in orgies, or getting drunk, or being sexually immoral, not quarreling, or having jealousy. Nothing strange about that; it’s a clear-cut command. Yet, the second thing Paul tells us to do, seems a little strange. He tells us to put off darkness, but then he says to put on the armor of light. – When he explains what he was taking about in the next verse, he says we’re to, “put on the Lord Jesus Christ”. Alright Paul, but how?

Well, Jesus tells a parable on the subject:

⁴³ “When ^(A)the unclean spirit has gone out of a person, it passes through ^(B)waterless places seeking rest, but finds none. ⁴⁴ Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds the house empty, swept, and put in order. ⁴⁵ Then it goes and brings with it seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there, and ^(C)the last state of that person is worse than the first. So also will it be with this ^(D)evil generation.” (Matthew 12:43-45)

This person’s demon left for a while, but while it was gone, the person didn’t put on Christ; didn’t fill himself (we’ll just refer to the person as a he) with Christ, and so rather than getting better, his situation simply got worse. Yet, what we’re talking about here is salvation, and Paul is writing to a group of saved people. So is he really telling them to do something which they’ve already done, or is he actually talking about something else?

Well, Paul is talking here about armor. Something which we wrap around ourselves in order to protect us against attack. So, the question, is how do we wrap ourselves in Christ? By focusing on Christ. By thinking of Him, and what He did for us, we “put Him on”.

The point being this: we are to wrap ourselves in Christ. When people look at us, they should wonder at how much we speak and act like Christ. Our focus should be Christ.

You are Loved!

Joshua Cleveland