Because He Lives

There is no example of a quicker or more complete transformation of an individual, or in this case of a group of individuals, than that seen in the Disciples following the resurrection of Jesus. When they came to grips with the reality of the Jesus’ resurrection and were given the Holy Spirit as God’s testimony to the truth of His word, everything changed.  

The Disciples had spent approximately 3 years with Jesus during which time they became convinced that He was the promised Messiah. As such they believed He was going to raise up an army and overthrow Rome. 

Peter was so convinced that Jesus was going to lead a rebellion against Rome and set up His kingdom that when soldiers came to arrest Jesus, he pulled out a little sword and single handedly took on a whole slew of them. He assumed Jesus would give them a miraculous victory.

Then everything fell apart. Not only did Jesus not move to overthrow Rome, but He allowed the soldiers to arrest Him. Peter still loved Jesus, but he dared not be identified as one of His followers lest he too be arrested and crucified. When questioned about that relationship, he denied it. If Jesus was not going to overthrow Rome, that was the smart and safe thing to do.

And it got worse. The Romans that Jesus was supposed to overthrow beat Him mercilessly and it did not appear He was going to do anything about it even if He could. It got still worse. They crucified Him. Jesus died. A dead Messiah could not hope to set up a new kingdom. No victory over Rome was going to take place and their dream of a role in the kingdom was over.

If Jesus was not going to use His power to give them victory, then obviously they were on the losing side and their lives in danger. If Jesus, who had displayed many miraculous powers could not win against the Romans, who were they to think they stood a chance. They had apparently picked the wrong side. Rome was still in charge, and they were in danger for being identified with Jesus and crucified like Him. The best thing to do was stay out of sight so off they went to a safe room and once inside locked the door so no one could find them. At least for a while they would be safe.

Then something happened they never expected. The resurrected Jesus appeared to them in that locked room. Try sometime to imagine the looks on their face at that moment. 

Fast forward 50 days. It was the day of the Jewish celebration of Pentecost. Jesus had been with them for 40 of those 50 days so they knew with certainty that He was alive, but they still had no clear understanding of what was going to happen next. They joined thousands of other Jews who had come to Jerusalem from all over the Roman world to celebrate Pentecost. Suddenly the Holy Spirit came upon them, and they understood what the ministry of Jesus was all about.

Read the sermon Peter preached as recorded in Acts 2. Then skip ahead to Acts 4. Peter and John had just healed a crippled beggar. Read Acts 4:5, 4:7-8, 4:10-12.  Acts 4:18 notes that the religious leaders “commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus.” 

So how did Peter, who a few weeks earlier had denied he even knew Jesus, react? How did John, who a few weeks earlier had hidden behind a locked door so no one could find him, react? Read Acts 4:19-20 for their response.

Peter and John refuse to yield to the pressure of the same religious leaders who had dragged Jesus to the Roman authorities and demanded that Pilate order Him crucified. And, from all history records, they were joined by all the disciples except Judas who, according to Matthew 27:5 “went away and hanged himself,” in a refusal to deny their faith regardless of the cost. 

The only death of a disciple, beside Judas, that is recorded in Scripture is that of Stephen and the record of that death is found in Acts 6 and 7. Read Acts 6:8-15 which records how some opponents of Jesus tried to prove Stephen’s testimony wrong and when that didn’t work, they persuaded some men to falsely accuse him of blasphemy. On the basis of their false testimony Stephen was dragged before the Sanhedrin, that is the ruling Jewish counsel. Rad Acts 7:1. Acts 7:2-53 records Stephen’s answer. Stephen laid out God’s plan beginning with Abraham and ended with the declaration that they had betrayed and murdered Jesus. Needless to say, that did not set well. Read Acts 7:54. Read verses 59-60 which record they stoned Stephen to death. 

I have never known some willing to maintain a lie to the point of dying for it. Stephen declared, in no uncertain terms, that he knew Jesus was alive because he had seen Him following His resurrection. I cannot imagine anyone willingly allow others to stone him to death for a lie. All Stephen had to do was cry out “I’m sorry, I lied” and the stoning would have stopped. He didn’t cry out because he knew it was no lie. He had seen the risen Lord. 

The testimony of the other Disciples added to that witness. Commentators today are dependent on the records of the early church historians and there is considerable difference in the details of those historians.  

Generally accepted historical records suggest that Peter was crucified in Rome. The most repeated aspect of that record is that he asked to be crucified upside down, saying he was not worthy to die the way Jesus did. Other records place his death in Persia with the same understanding that he opted for upside down.

The one thing all the historical records of the Disciples have in common is not a single Disciple ever recanted of his testimony of the reality of the resurrection of Jesus. Not a single Christian or secular historian even hinted at the possibility of one recanting. 

There are three very powerful testimonies to the truth of the resurrection. First, no opponent ever produced a body that they could identify as Jesus. Everything in our faith hinges on the truth of that resurrection. Had any opponent of Christianity been able to produce a body the whole movement would have been stopped dead in its tracks. 

Second, is the multiple witnesses to Him following that resurrection. Read I Corinthians 15:6. Paul declared that over 500 saw Jesus at one time and if someone wanted to verify that, many were still alive. Had that not happened, the opponents of Christianity would have immediately declared how many they interviewed who denied it. Jesus was seen alive because He lives. 

The third testimony that cannot be denied is that of the Disciples who gave up everything and, if history is even close to accurate, died horrible deaths because they knew it was true. While we cannot be sure of the fate of each of the Disciples, we can say with certainty that not one of them ever recanted of their commitment to the resurrection of Jesus. How do we know that? We know it because we can be 100% certain that had even one of them changed his story the opponents of Jesus would have jumped all over it and declared it everywhere. History does not even hint that one Disciple recanted.

What does that mean to us? All of us have been challenged at some point to prove our faith to ourselves. Satan continually tells us our faith is unreal and the resurrection of Jesus is an ancient myth designed to keep a lie alive. When Satan whispers that in your ear remember, no one ever produced Jesus’ body, He was seen alive by many, and His disciples gave up everything including their lives because they knew He was alive. That’s good enough for me.

Psalm 3

This is the first time the word “Psalm” is used in the book of Psalms, the first time a Psalm is attributed to David in the Psalms, and the first prayer in the book of Psalms.  Although not used in the NIV translation, this is the first time the Hebrew word “selah” is used and it is used here after verses 2, 4 and 8. “Selah” occurs 71 times in the Hebrew editions of the Psalms and 3 additional times in the Psalm or hymn recorded in Habakkuk 3. General speculation is that it had some musical meaning but what exactly that was, has long been lost. 

The ancient rabbis gave the setting in which David wrote this Psalm as, “When he fled from his son Absalom.” II Samuel chapters 15-18 detail that event.While the Psalm itself does not give specific details of either Absalom’s rebellion or the response of some of the people to him, the historical context set forth by the early rabbis seems more than adequate to place the writing in that setting. Realistically none of us will ever face a situation the same as that but all of us have faced and will face situations in which it may seem like everyone, or everything, is against us. The message of Psalm 3 reminds us that we have a God to whom we can turn for help.

Read Psalm 3:1-2. The very first word is “Lord.” One of the characteristics of our self-sufficient mentality is that we assume that there is nothing we cannot handle and so we turn to God when all else has seemingly failed. Critical situations call for us to pray while the rest of the challenges we think we can handle ourselves.

This Psalm is classified as a “lament Psalm” because it details the pouring out of one’s heart to God in a particular situation in which, from a practical perspective, there is little or no hope. When our lives are touched by situations that seemly have no hope apart from God, we certainly should seek His help and strength in a special way. But we must not limit our dependence upon God to those situations. Nothing is either too big or too small to take to Him in prayer.

David’s enemies were telling him that if God had ever been on his side, God had now abandoned him. They declared, “God will not deliver him.” He heard them but didn’t really listen to them because he knew God’s promises to provide and protect.

Verse 2 is particularly interesting because of the attitude of those who reject God too often display today. They declared, “God will not deliver him.” That is the declaration of those who, for all practical purposes, are atheists. They may outright deny the existence of God, or they may select one of several approaches that deny God’s ability or willingness to help us when we are in trouble. Some suggest that if God created, He then left creation to its own end and does not control it or interact with it any longer. A more common form of denial is that God cannot or will not help us when we need Him because we are not worthy of His help. This is one of Satan’s favorite arguments. It suggests that God may help a Billy Graham, but we are both insignificant and to impure to expect Him to help us. 

The idea of God deliverance of him can easily be missed. The word used here is Yeshua, which means helper and one who saves. It is the equilivent of Joshua and Jesus, who came to be our Savior. The God who offers us help in times of trouble is the same one who loves us enough to offer us eternal salvation in Jesus from the penalty and power of sin. Read Psalm 46:1 in respect to today. Read John 3:18 in respect to eternity. 

The Psalm goes on with verses 3-4 expressing David’s confidence in spite of the apparent seriousness of the situation. David was certain that that God would hear his prayer and certain that God would be his shield and restore him to the place God had set for him. Read verse 3. The psalmist noted three things that he can count on. God is his shield, gives him glory and then lifts his head up high.

The first is easily understood, although often forgotten. By declaring God to be his shield he was declaring that God was his protection or defender. Every soldier in his day was protected by a smaller shield that was used for hand-to-hand combat and protected him when the enemy got too close. That was the shield referred to here. The enemy may get close, but God is the shield that protects at that time. Read Genesis 15:1 on God’s promise to Abraham. Read Ephesians 6:16 on Paul’s challenge to Christians.  

The second assurance that David declares is that God will be his glory. Generally, when we think of glory, we think of God’s glory but here is it glory that God gives to His children. Read Psalm 62:7. We reflect the glory of our creator when we are living as God would have us live and doing that which He has called us to do.

The third assurance David trusted in was that God would “lift his head up high.” We often tell our children after they have failed at something to “hold you head up high.” It is easy to feel despondent at times, especially at times of seeming failure, but God enables us to find encouragement. David knew that God would help him to keep his head held high.

Read verse 4.That God answered him comes as no surprise. God has promised to do that. The Hebrew wording for “I call out” denotes an audible prayer. It was not just an inward petition but one that he vocally called to God. That gives us some sense of the urgency of his prayer. See Matthew 26:34. There are times when we can express ourselves better if we pray audibly.

The phrase “from his holy mountain” is a reference to Mt. Zion in Jerusalem. The Ark represented the presence of God. David knew God was not contained in the Ark, but the Ark reminded the people of the promise of God to be with them. One of the challenges we face as Christians is to balance our understanding of God, keeping in perspective both His transcendence, that is His eternal glory and power as found in heaven, and his imminent presence, that is His presence with us here and now in the real world.

Read verses 5-6. Contrary to what one would expect given his situation, David was able to lie down calmly, sleep, and rise the next morning invigorated. Too often when we are troubled, we take our troubles to bed with us and toss and turn all night instead of giving them to God. The old saying “When you can’t sleep at night instead of counting sheep, talk to the shepherd” is all too true.

David slept well and woke up refreshed and renewed in confidence. God had kept him safe all night and the fact that God gave him another day meant that God was not finished with him. Do we face each new day knowing that God has something more for us to do? If that were not the case, we would have gone home during the night.

Read verses 7-8. The Psalm closes with David calling on God to rescue him by disarming or rendering harmless his enemies as He had done on other occasions. Verse 7 begins withDavid’s call to God to rescue him. It reads Arise, Lord! Deliver me, my God! The call to arise is an Old Testament way of asking God to act. David did not think God was sleeping. 

Verse 7 goes on, “Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked.” That request has to be put in the context in which it was written. To strike someone “on the jaw” or literally in the Hebrew “on the cheek” was a way of saying “shame on you.” The imagery of “breaking the teeth” came from the idea of pulling out the teeth of a wild animal in order to make it harmless. Put together David was asking God to declare the rebellion against him shameful and to disarm it. 

The last part of that verse is what is interesting, David asks God for His “blessing on your people.” David did not pray that God would bless him but the people. The people he wanted God to bless included those in rebellion against him as they too were Israelites. It is easy to ask God to knock the teeth out of those who offend me, but hard to ask God to bless them. 

Psalm 3 reminds us that in the world we will have difficulties and the enemies of God will in some way come against us. When that happens, we have an all-powerful, all-loving, all-caring Father in heaven who will defend us. Because we know that, we should be able to sleep at night and wake up in the morning ready for whatever God has for us that day.

Psalm 2: When the laughing stops.

Psalm 2 is a “Messianic Psalm: because it speaks of Jesus, the promised Messiah. Read Acts 4:25. That verse is a quote from Psalm 2:1 which Peter then applied to Jesus. Twice the author of Hebrews applied this Psalm to Jesus (1:5, 5:5).  

Psalm 2 may originally have been part of Psalm 1 since they are connected in some early Hebrew Bibles. Psalm 1 divides mankind into 2 categories, those who follow God and are righteous and those who refuse to follow Him and are described as wicked. Psalm 2 details the activities of both groups and describes, as Psalm 1 did, the end for each. Psalm 1 ends with the declaration “the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.” Psalm 2 presents the Anointed one, or Jesus, who will provide the way for sinners to be declared righteous and will ultimately judge the wicked.

The Psalm divides into 4 stanzas, each 3 verses long, with each stanza looking at man’s sin from a different perspective. In stanza 1 which is verses 1-3, we have the situation viewed through the eyes of the Psalmist, although anyone today who reads the paper or checks the news online can relate to the question of verse 1. Read verses 1-3. 

The Psalmist looked out at the world and saw that society was in rebellion against God. The leaders of that society wanted to end the rule of God. Verse 3 answers the question of verse 1 regarding whypeople conspire against God. Verse 3 declares that they no longer want to be tied to God’s rules and regulations. The people wanted to be free to live as they desired. It was a society that wanted the freedom to do what every man decided was right in his own eyes. The key to overthrowing restraints was being united, that is agreeing together. All we hear in the news today is that “obviously the commitment of the majority is changing and so must we” or “a new consensus shows… so get in line.” 

In verse 2 the Psalmist described that activity as ultimately a rebellion against God’s Anointed one. You’ll notice that the word “Anointed” is capitalized. The Hebrew word used there is the one from which we get the word “Messiah” and the Greek word “Christ.” The clamor to be free to sin if one wants to, is rebellion against Jesus. The “right to choose” is really the desire to reject God’s standard and Jesus as Lord of lords and King of kings. 

Stanza 2, (verses 4-6), takes us behind the scenes for a heavenly perspective at man’s rebellion. They present the issue from God’s perspective. Read verses 4-6. The Psalmist records that God is laughing at the efforts to dethrone Him. Man can rebel but he cannot unseat God. We are answerable to God. God is and always will be on the throne and His will will ultimately be done. 

Don’t assume that God is laughing at sin. There is nothing funny about that. God is laughing at the efforts of man to dethrone Him. If ever the hope of dethroning Him held a possibility, and it really never did, the Cross and the empty tomb settled it all. Sin is serious and nothing to laugh at but the idea that one can dethrone God and thereby nullifying His declaration to judge sin is a joke. God is on the throne and not moving over.

In verse 5 the Psalmist declared that God will not always laugh at man’s futile efforts to dethrone Him. The time will come when He will speak. When God stops laughing it is all over. Judgment will come. When the laughing in heaven stops judgment on earth begins. 

Verse 6 declares that God has installed His King. Just about every translation capitalizes “King.” Jesus will rule because the God who laughs at attempts to rebel against Him has decreed that He will. Read Philippians 2:9-11. 

Stanza 3 is found in verses 7-9. Read verses 7-9. Here Jesus spoke and said that the Father had named Him “Son,” which is capitalized because it refers to Jesus. The whole declaration of what God has promised is repeated and amplified in the New Testament. Twice, at His baptism and on the Mount of Transfiguration, God called Jesus His Son (Matthew 3:17 and Matthew 17:5). History is going somewhere, and God is not only totally in control of it, but it is right on time. Our legalization of sin is not derailing His plan or even slowing it a bit. Jesus will reign.

Notice particularly verse 7 announces, “I will proclaim the Lord’s decree.” Note it is a decree that God made. God can make that decree because He is still on the throne. 

Verses 8 should impact how we view missions and our own personal witnessing. In verse 6 the narrator spoke for God and declared what God had done in the past, that is God’s decision to install Jesus as ruler of the earth. In verse 8 the narrator shared what God’s plan is for the future. That plan is to have the rule of Jesus spread to the entire world. God’s plan is to use the church. Read Matthew 29:19-20. God’s plan is for the whole world to hear the message of salvation and that will only happen through His church and those of us who make up that church.

Stanza 4, which is the final scene, is recorded in verses 10-12. (Read verses 10-12) 

That stanza presents a warning, a command, and a promise. It begins with a warning to those who are in rebellion against God. It simply tells them to wise up, get smart, wake up and see what they are doing and where it all ends. Think how appropriate that is to our generation when those who are seeking to rebel against God often describe themselves as the wise ones and Christians as the fools unwilling to give up outdated traditions. Sinful man defies God in the name of science, or education, or coming of age. Read Psalm 14:1. God says, “ Get wise, smarten up. I’m on the throne.”

Verse 11 commands us to serve the Lord with fear. In David’s day to serve the king was far more than doing little things for him. It was a commitment to him, to being his subject, to supporting him. When this is translated to the Anointed One, or Jesus, it is a call to belong totally to Him in every way. It is a call to be His subjects who are always seeking to be obedient to Him, to doing His will, to supporting Him in every way. 

The biblical concept of service is not simply what we do, it is what we do as an expression of worship. Some translations actually translate the word “serve” as “worship.”  Genuine worship or service is to be a time of celebration or joy because we recognize the awesome nature of the one who sits on the throne and the privilege we have of serving Him.

Verse 12 is an additional command. To kiss someone was a sign of loving submission to someone. The idea is that we are to not only serve Him, which in a sense we must do since He is sovereign, but that we are to do so lovingly. Psalm 2 called for a kiss of genuine love and commitment to Jesus, God’s Son. 

The Psalm ends with a promise. It literally says that in contrast to those who plot to be free of God’s restraints and live as they want, the ones who honestly take refuge in God are those who are truly blessed, or as a word we perhaps better understand, “happy.” Those who claim the right to do their own thing often do so because they think that sinning will satisfy them or make them happy. Nothing could be further from the truth. Those who follow God’s way are the genuinely happy ones. Read John 10:10.

Psalm 2 ends in the same way as Psalm 1 did. It presents only two alternatives for man. Man can refuse to acknowledge God and in which case “He will be angry and your way will lead to your destruction, for his wrath can flare up in a moment.” Or man can commit to following God, in which case God will “Bless all who take refuge in him.”

Psalm 2 reminds us that Jesus is on the throne. He will rule forever and ever. The rebels in any era who seek to deny that truth will ultimately be judged for their foolishness while those who trust God and His Word will ultimately be happy. 

2021 Independence Day

On July 4^th America celebrates its 245^th birthday. July 4^th celebrates our independence from England, a freedom we cherish and will defend. Christians have an Independence Day also, it’s called Easter. It is our Independence Day because the purpose of that day, as promised in the Old Testament, was to set people free from the penalty, power, and ultimate presence of sin.

Read Isaiah 61:1. Approximately 700 years later Jesus had begun His ministry. Early on in that ministry, Jesus entered a synagogue in Nazareth and read from the scrolls. Read Luke 4:18-20 to see what He read. Then read in verse 22 what Jesus said next. Jesus declared not only that He was the Promised One sent to fulfill that prophecy, but He also declared that at the heart of His mission was setting captives free.

The Jews worshipping in the synagogue who heard Jesus make that declaration thought only of freedom from Roman rule and Roman taxes. That belief or hope continued throughout His ministry and was seen most vividly on Palm Sunday. But Jesus did not come to set us free from an earthly government, but to free us from slavery to sin. Read John 8:32. 

Read in John 8:34-36. Jesus’ response to a challenge by the Pharisees. Read also Romans 8:1-3.

There are a variety of things worthy of study in John 8:31-36. First, we have the objection the Pharisees raised as recorded in verse 33. For any Jew to declare he had never been a slave seems ludicrous, Certainly they understood that as a people they had been nothing but slaves for most of their existence. In the beginning they were slaves for 400 years in Egypt. As a nation leading up to the time of Jesus their slavery began when they had been carried away in slavery by the Babylonians. After their return one nation after another controlled them. They had been slaves to the Syrians, the Egyptians, the Greeks and at that time they were slaves to Rome. 

What we need to understand is the context in which they spoke. The Jews believed, according to various passages in the Torah, especially in Deuteronomy, that regardless of who they might be a slave to in this life, they were, in the final analysis, servants of God. While the rest of humanity might be judged for their sins, the fact that they were descendants of Abraham meant that they were exempt from that judgment. In the end they viewed themselves as slaves to no one but instead as servants of God.

Their attitude can be reflected in people who think that because they have their names on a church roll, and perhaps their lineage includes a long line of Christians, somehow, they are saved from the judgment on sin.

Perhaps deeper than believing that one’s heritage exempts one from judgement is the broader belief today that one is not a slave to sin unless perhaps one is addicted to some substance that he cannot break free from. Even then we hear over and over “I can quit anytime I want” which literally means they are not really in bondage to it. Attitudes such as “I can do whatever I want since it is my body and my life” deny the fact that in some way sin controls an individual. Further, if there is no God to judge sin there is no one to legitimately tell me I am a slave to it, so I am free.

The Bible, however, has a different message. The Bible teaches that sin is real, and sin has consequences that we cannot escape. Therefore, we are bound to those consequences even as a slave is bound to a slave master. 

The Bible tells us that we are slaves to the judgment on sin which is death. We cannot simply walk away from it. The wage of sin is death and since we cannot pay that price, we are slaves to it.

The message of John 8, and in fact the whole New Testament, is that Jesus and Jesus alone can set us free from the bondage to sin. In the discussion Jesus had with the Pharisees, Jesus began by stating that “the truth will set you free.”

While Jesus did not spell it out initially, He was referring to Himself. It is not until verse 36 where we read that Jesus said “if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed” that we know for sure Jesus is clarifying what He had earlier declared when He said He had come to set prisoners free.

Jesus declared that when He sets us free from the slavery to sin, we are really free. The freedom Jesus provided gives us freedom first, from the penalty of sin, second, from the power of sin and finally from the very presence of sin. It is complete and glorious freedom, far more valuable than even our American freedom that can be either lost or abused.

The death of Jesus allows us to be set free from the penalty of sin. The penalty of our sin is death but when Jesus paid our death penalty, He set us free from that. The loss of fellowship with God because of sin was restored as was the penalty of an everlasting separation from Him. When the payment of our sins is accepted, we are given everlasting life.  

If freedom from the death caused by sin were all that was provided for us on the Cross, we would have incredible reason to rejoice and give thanks. It is, however, only one part of the freedom available because of the death of Jesus for us. His death provided us with the potential of freedom from the power of sin. We are given the power to be set free from the slavey to sins. Read Galatians 2:20 and I Corinthians 10:13.

What we need to do is determine where we need to change and then realize that the power to make that change is available to us. We don’t have to be slaves to sin. We can have freedom from its power if we allow God to work in and through us. Too many Christians are slaves to a habit or character trait that has been a part of them too long. They would like to see it gone but have decided it is simply something they and their family must accept and live with. We forget that there is freedom available in the power of Him who was raised from the dead. 

Even as we celebrate that freedom let’s not fail to celebrate and live in the freedom all who have accepted the finished work of Jesus on the Cross have. In Jesus we have freedom from the penalty of sin that allows us to have true fellowship with God and guarantees new glorified bodies and an eternity with God. We have a freedom from the power of sin that enables us to overcome temptations and live as He would have us live. Ultimately we will be in heaven with our Lord and there we will be free from even the presence of sin. That is freedom to be enjoyed each and every day and therefore should be celebrated daily and shared with all around us.