Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Lev 16–18
Chronological Order: Exod 19:1–21:32
His Kingdom Come
Allegedly the Mayan calendar ends on December 21, 2012 and thus the world must end on that date as well. Jesus tells us no one knows the day or time of His return. If the Mayan calendar turns out to be right it will be an accident. While Jesus doesn’t give us a date He does give us some of the signs of the coming end. He said we would hear of wars and rumors of wars and that we’d see famines and earthquakes; these all were simply the beginning of the birth pains. Friends, there have been all of these in abundance since Jesus ascended into Heaven. He wasn’t saying these are signs but only the symptoms of the coming end.
In His description in today’s reading Jesus goes on to say that the disciples would be delivered up to tribulation and put to death. This did come to pass as all but one of the Apostles died violently for their faith and many followers (disciples) of Christ have been murdered since. By the way, notice He says Christians will be delivered up to tribulation. This may put a bit of a crimp in the argument of the pre-trib rapture folks. Those that subscribe to that point of view believe that all Christians will be taken up in the rapture before the tribulation mentioned in Revelation takes place. This statement by Jesus doesn’t necessarily mean that we won’t be taken up, but I don’t see conclusive proof that we will be either. Regardless Jesus consistently warns people that following Him will come with hardship so pre-trib or not don’t expect an easy ride. (By the way, I don’t take a position on pre, mid, and post trib rapture. I don’t feel there is enough information to say with certainty in any case.)
Well, I have digressed. The persecution of the saints is also something that is to be expected on the way to the end. In fact, the trouble that Christians will face as we proceed to the end of days will be so severe that many will fall away. The last few verses of today’s reading give us cause for concern and state specifically when the end will come.
Matthew 24:9-14 ESV
“… and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake. And then many will fall away and betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will arise and lead many astray. And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.”
So, we will have a hard time as the days come to an end. We will be hated by all nations! The end, however, will come when the Gospel has been proclaimed throughout the whole world – that’s probably why they all will hate us. When the end comes brother everyone will have heard the truth. The Gospel, since the time of Jesus has headed west from Jerusalem. Today it continues west from China where thousands are accepting Christ daily. Soon the Gospel will come full circle coming back to Jerusalem from the east. Then my brothers Christ will return and His will be done. His kingdom will come. Don’t fall away brothers. Persevere until the end. Your reward comes at a price but it is well worth the struggle.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Lev 14–15
Chronological Order: Exod 16–18
Heart Felt Faith
Jesus has been telling the Jews that the promise of God to Abraham and his descendants will now be offered to the Gentiles because their faith has been external rather than internal. In other words their faith was all about appearances and did not penetrate down to their heart. This was a problem then for the Jews as it is for Christians today. There are those who go to church regularly, donate funds to the church, and even accept a place of honor in the church as deacons or elders but they are Christians only outwardly; inside they are still lost and separated from God.
In today’s reading Jesus really lets the scribes and Pharisees have it with both barrels. We have been hearing parables about them and their empty faith but now Jesus just states it all blatantly to their faces.
Matthew 23:25-28 ESV
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.”
Fellas, where is your heart? Is your heart truly dedicated to the Lord Jesus Christ? Does your heart belong to Him? Is the focus of your life His will or yours? I hope you will pray for me as I pray for you that your heart will continually be cleansed by the shed blood of Jesus Christ and that your faith will be honest, true, and heart deep.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Lev 11–13
Chronological Order: Exod 13–15
Loving God And Others
I love the answer Jesus gives to the Sadducees when they try to test Him in today’s reading. They didn’t believe in the resurrection of the dead. They believed that once a person was dead that was the end of it. The Pharisees, on the other hand, did believe in the resurrection of the dead and so they were in regular conflict with the Sadducees on this and other issues. A side note here, I was reading a James Michener book called The Source, a fictional work to be sure, but he had a character assert that the concept of the resurrection of the dead did not appear until the advent of Christianity. Today’s passage shows that this assertion is absolutely false.
The entire Bible actually points to a resurrection of the dead and clearly the concept was familiar to Jews prior to Jesus’ death since they here ask Him about this very thing. Jesus actually shows us that the Old Testament does affirm resurrection of the dead.
Matthew 22:31-32 ESV
“And as for the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was said to you by God: ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.”
So, that is very exciting. We have definite confirmation in the Old Testament and the New that there is a life after physical death. There is a resurrection of the dead.
Now, I have often said that if I had to boil the Bible down to one word, as if I would actually do such a foolish thing, that word would be love. In today’s reading both the liberal and conservative wings of Judaism attempted to trip Jesus up. You see Jesus wasn’t fitting neatly into either camp. Having just demolished a cherished belief of the left He will deal with the Pharisees. A Pharisee lawyer (that’s redundant) asked Jesus to name the greatest commandment. He was trying to test Jesus, that is to say trap Him on one side or the other of the political divide. Jesus answered:
Matthew 22:37-40 ESV
“…You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Love the Lord your God and love others as yourself. Jesus told us that the entirety of the Bible rests upon these twin pillars of love. It is clearly assumed that we love ourselves but we are being asked to push past that and love God more and others at least as much as ourselves. The closer you get to that ideal the closer you get to being the man God created you to be. So get going guys. Forget about yourself and start loving God with all your being and others as much as yourself. You will notice an incredible change in your life as you do.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Lev 8–10
Chronological Order: Exod 10–12
The Wedding Garment
For three days straight, in our reading in Matthew, we hear Jesus give His followers a parable concerning the empty faith of the Pharisees and the invitation of Gentiles to join the membership of God’s Chosen People. Today that parable is about a wedding feast. A man’s son is being wed and he invites his friends to join him in the celebration. These so called friends rejected the invitation so the man sent his servants out to find anyone who wished to attend. Do you see the analogy? The friends, the ones that already know and have a relationship with the Master, have turned their backs on His offer and even killed His servants sent to call them to the feast. These were the Jews who acted pious but rejected right relationship with God. The strangers who were invited were those who did not have a previous relationship with the Master. These were the Gentiles.
Now I have heard time and again the argument that “the Jews” were no longer the “Chosen People” and that they had been supplanted by Christians. This concept, in my view, is not exactly accurate. What is a Jew? A Jewish friend of mine once said to me that a Jew can be one who practices an Old Testament faith or he can be a Jew simply in a biological sense in that he is a physical descendent of Abraham. In other words a Jew can be someone who practices a particular religion or he can be a person who is from a particular blood line. I don’t know how other Jews feel about this assessment. As far as I know he could have been way off the reservation on that observation, but it seems to me to be accurate.
In fact, something similar could be said about Christians. There are some who claim to be Christian because some ancestor was once a Christian or because mom and dad made them go to church on Sunday when they were a kid. Basically there are those who view being a Christian as some kind of tribal affiliation. Then there are those who are “practicing Christians”. I like that turn of phrase. A Christian never really reaches perfection until he stands before Christ. All who truly are Christians are practicing – trying to do better.
Anyway, Jesus made it clear that only those who come through Him can get to Heaven. That is a very exclusive claim. Still, someone who is genetically Jewish can, and I say there will be many who will, accept Christ as their Savior and enter Heaven. There will also be many who claim to be Jewish, and many who claim to be Christian, who will not enter Heaven. In a sense it is true that the promises of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have been transferred to Christians but this in no way means that the promises to the Jews will not be kept. You can be Jewish and a Christian – you know that right? God keeps His promises.
Often times we think that for us to get something good it has to be taken away from someone else. This is certainly the point of view of a number of politicians today. They play a zero sum game – God does not. Do not think that God took His promises away from one group to give them to you; He did not. He has laid down the requirement to enter Heaven and it has nothing to do with labels like Jew or Gentile.
Well, I’ve rattled on and haven’t really gotten to my point. After the master in our story invites strangers to the wedding feast he sees a man who is not dressed appropriately.
Matthew 22:11-14 ESV
“But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there a man who had no wedding garment. And he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ For many are called, but few are chosen.”
When someone invites you to a formal wedding do you show up in cut-off jeans and a tank top? No you do not show up that way. Your heart is definitely not in the right place if you answer such an invitation in such a disrespectful way. In this analogy a wedding garment is the snow white robe you gained when you rejected the tattered, sin stained cloths you used to wear.
I’m reminded of an old Christian allegory written by John Bunyan entitled “Pilgrim’s Progress”. I learned of this book while reading a biography about Ronald Reagan. He had said that this book had made the greatest impact on his life. Wikipedia says this about this book:
“…published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200 languages, and has never been out of print.”
The story is one of a man named Christian who journeys from his hometown of “City of Destruction” to the “Celestial City”. It is a struggle for this man to make his journey as he must overcome many obstacles along the way. In the story there is a moment, after having passed through the “Wicket Gate”, where our hero meets up with a fellow called “Ignorance” who came into the territory by climbing over the wall rather than going through the gate. He intends to enter the Celestial City but finds that he cannot but is instead thrown into Hell.
Jesus has told us that the gate that leads to destruction is wide but the gate to eternal life is narrow (Matthew 7:13-14). It is a popular belief that there are many ways to God. This belief is false and Jesus shows us it is false in today’s passages. The attendee of the wedding feast who was not dressed appropriately did not enter through the narrow gate. He jumped the fence just like the character named Ignorance in Pilgrim’s Progress. The fence jumpers will be spotted and removed. There is only one way into the Celestial Wedding Feast and that gate is narrow; it proceeds through Jesus Christ. There is no other way.
So let me ask you brother, are you wearing your wedding garment or have you jumped the gate? Do you think you’ll get in because you’ve done more good than bad or because you’ve found another way in? My friend you are invited but you must have on the proper attire. Attire you can only obtain by submitting your life to Christ.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Lev 5:14–7:38
Chronological Order: Exod 7–9
The Vineyard Will Be Given To Those Who Bear Fruit
At this point in Matthew, Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Passover celebration. He is not far from the cross now. He is preparing His disciples for a future without His physical presence. He is also letting them know that the promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are about to be offered to the Gentiles. The Jews had been the only Chosen People for centuries. In yesterday’s reading Jesus caused a fig tree to wither up because when He came to it looking for fruit there was none to be had. I mentioned in yesterday’s commentary that many feel the fig tree represents Israel and the fact that their faith had become all show and no fruit.
The “religious” folks of Jesus’ day were all about ritual and legalism; they really had the letter of the Law down pat. Unfortunately they were all posers. They acted pious but their hearts were full of self-centeredness; they in no way mastered the spirit of the Law. In fact I would wager that they didn’t even comprehend the concept. How sad that God’s Chosen People had become empty shells; Godly on the outside and filthy on the inside.
In today’s reading Jesus gives us a parable about a master and his wayward tenants. When it came time for the tenants to give the master the fruit due him they beat and killed his messengers. Eventually the master sent his son to collect the fruit and they killed him too. This parable is a story of the history of Israel. God sent servants, the prophets, to the people of Israel to call them back to Him; He was looking to harvest the fruit that belonged to Him. The Chosen People beat and stoned and killed those prophets. God sent more prophets and the people killed those too. Finally God sent His Son to the tenants and, just like the son of the master in the parable, the tenants would kill Him as well.
What would the master do to those murderous tenants?
Matthew 21:41 ESV
“…He will put those wretches to a miserable death and let out the vineyard to other tenants who will give him the fruits in their seasons.”
The promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob have now been offered to gentiles as well. Let me be clear, becoming a member of God’s family, a member of the Chosen People is no longer determined by being a Jew or being a Gentile. Membership is based upon the condition of a person’s heart. It just doesn’t matter if you go through the “godly” motions. If you are a poser you will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
You know, the lost are pretty tired of “godly” posers. Too often they look at people who call themselves Christians and what they see are people who go to church and condemn sin but then live no differently than the rest of the world.
Are the lost seeing in today’s Christians the Pharisees of the past? Is your faith real? Is your faith only skin deep or is it heart deep? God and the rest of the world are watching. If you are a poser you are only fooling yourself. Don’t be a fruitless fig tree. Bear your fruit in season. How would you feel if you heard these words from the mouth of Jesus?
Matthew 21:43 ESV
“Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.”
Do you understand how important it is for your Christian faith to bear fruit? I hope so brother. I hope so.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Alternate Plans
Bible Order: Lev 1:1–5:13
Chronological Order: Exod 4–6
The Withered Fig Tree
There are several segments in today’s reading that we could dissect but I want to focus my comments on the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree. Here in His final days as a human being Jesus went to a fig tree looking for fruit only to be disappointed. Jesus was not pleased by this trees lack of fruitfulness so He commanded that it never bear fruit again. Upon saying this, the tree withered at once.
Can you imagine watching that fig tree withering before your eyes? I’m reminded of an old vampire movie where the vampire has a stake driven through his heart and he withers and turns to dust before our eyes. Such withering is a dramatic visualization of the draining away of life. There are a lot of theories concerning what the fig tree in this story represents. Some believe the fig tree represents Israel and the fact that their faith had become an outward façade of ritualistic and lifeless religion. There was no fruit, only leaves. Can you eat leaves? No you can only eat fruit. Their faith looked pretty from a distance but up close it was worthless.
In the fruit there is sustenance and there is seed for even more trees and fruit and sustenance. Jesus tells us that a tree is known by its fruit but what are you if you bear no fruit? You may not be bad but you are worthless without fruit. I’m reminded of God saying that He would prefer that we be hot or cold but if we are lukewarm He will spit us out of His mouth. By now you can probably tell where I’m going with this can’t you?
Are you a fruitless fig tree? Do you go to church Sunday morning acting all Christian like only to live the rest of the week all pagan like? Are you all leaves and no fruit? Where is your fruit? Are you performing your job as spiritual leader in your home? Do you invite people to church or Sunday School? When was the last time you shared your faith with a lost person? Where is your fruit?
Brothers, Jesus came that you might have life and have it more abundantly. If you are sitting there with green leaves and no fruit, your spiritual life is withering up. You have been given a fullness of life that deep down you truly crave and yet you wither away. Be happy; bear fruit! That is why you are here.
Have a blessed day!
Your brother and servant in Christ,
Bill
Dying to self, living to serve!
Matthew 24:1–14
