483. The Good News Of A New Beginning. Joel chapter2

Posted on June 3, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

It is always great to get good news. Imagine how the people of Judah felt when they heard the message of Joel at the beginning of chapter 2. They were faced with really bad news about the devastation they were to face. But there was good news if they were to repent of their sins and turn back to God. Not only that but there was the promise of a future day of the Lord that would bring an incredible newness to the people of God.

The Bad News for Judah. A Day Of Disaster.

Their land was about to be invaded by a swarm of locusts which would bring terrible destruction on the land, “Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near, 2  a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. 3  Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them.” Joel 2:1-3. Bad news indeed!

The Good News for Judah

But there was good news as well in Joel’s message. If the people were to repent of their sin and turn back to God then calamity might be averted. But their repentance needed to be sincere, from the heart,  “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 and rend your hearts and not your garments.” 2:12-13

To Turn Back To The Gracious God Would Bring His Blessing 

“Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. 14  Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God?” 2:13-14. A wonderful description of God’s character is given in these verses which echo those in Exodus 34:6-7 “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands.”

The Good News Of Future Prosperity

God in His grace would be merciful to His people and would provide plentiful abundance for them and protection from their enemies,  “Then the LORD became jealous for his land and had pity on his people. 19  The LORD answered and said to his people, “Behold, I am sending to you grain, wine, and oil, and you will be satisfied; and I will no more make you a reproach among the nations. 20  “I will remove the northerner far from you, and drive him into a parched and desolate land, his vanguard into the eastern sea, and his rear guard into the western sea; the stench and foul smell of him will rise, for he has done great things. 21  “Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice, for the LORD has done great things!” 2:18-21.

Restoration Of Missed Blessings And Prosperity

Human sin restricts the fulness of the blessings God wants to bestow on His people. But here God promises the restoration of those blessings,  “I will restore to you the years that the swarming locust has eaten, the hopper, the destroyer, and the cutter, my great army, which I sent among you. 26  “You shall eat in plenty and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, who has dealt wondrously with you. And my people shall never again be put to shame. 27  You shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God and there is none else. And my people shall never again be put to shame.” 2:25-27. How wonderful it is to know that our God can restore to us what we have lost in the past. He can even deal with the shame we have felt from our past!

A Prophecy Of God’s Blessing That Would Transform Peoples Of All Nations

The book of Joel may not have been quoted much in the rest of the Bible but in its single mention it was highly significant. St Peter quoted the words which follow in chapter 2, to describe the momentous event on the Day of Pentecost as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the infant church, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29  Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”  2:28-29.  

On that most significant day St Peter explained what God had done in pouring out His Spirit on all the believers. It was a fulfilment of the prophecy of Joel given several hundred years before. Let’s see how St Peter described it in Acts 2, “But Peter, standing with the eleven, lifted up his voice and addressed them: “Men of Judea and all who dwell in Jerusalem, let this be known to you, and give ear to my words. 15  For these people are not drunk, as you suppose, since it is only the third hour of the day. 16  But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel: 17  “‘And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18  even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. 19  And I will show wonders in the heavens above and signs on the earth below, blood, and fire, and vapour of smoke; 20  the sun shall be turned to darkness and the moon to blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and magnificent day. 21  And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:14-21. St Peter in his address quoted almost the whole of the prophecy from Joel chapter 2 and St Luke [who wrote The Acts Of The Apostles] recorded Peter’s words in his book. 

We may wonder today if Joel understood the magnitude of the prophecy he had written. St Peter wrote generally about the understanding the prophets had of their messages, “Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace that was to be yours searched and inquired carefully, 11  inquiring what person or time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he predicted the sufferings of Christ and the subsequent glories. 12  It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.” 1 Peter 1:10-12. 

What is amazing about this prophecy of Joel’s in chapter 2 is the description of the exact nature of the events of Pentecost, some several hundred years in the future. He prophesied that the Holy Spirit would be “poured out” and significantly, it would be upon all flesh, not just upon prophets, priests and kings and a few others as what happened in the Old Testament time in which he lived. “Poured out” in the Greek Old Testament is [ekcheō, ἐκχέω] and St Luke uses the same word in Acts 2:33, “He has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.“

The final part of Joel’s prophecy in chapter 2 was quoted exactly by St Peter on the day of Pentecost, “And it shall come to pass that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” Acts 2:21. It is interesting that Joel and St Peter both see those who receive the Holy Spirit as those whom the Lord calls to Himself. Joel expresses it as, “For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem there shall be those who escape, as the LORD has said, and among the survivors shall be those whom the LORD calls.” 2:32. St Peter expressed it as, “For the promise is for you and for your children and for all who are far off, everyone whom the Lord our God calls to himself.” Acts 2:39. The verb used in both verses in the Greek translations is the word [proskaleomai, προσκαλέομαι] meaning to call to oneself. It is humbling to realise that those who call upon the Lord are those whom the Lord has been calling to Himself. No wonder that salvation is from the grace of God.

Blog No.483 posted on Saturday 03 June 2023.

Posted in BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Creation, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Salvation, Sanctification, Second coming of Jesus, Temptations, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

482. Difficulties Should Lead Us To Repentance. Joel chapter 1

Posted on May 26, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

Joel received the word of the Lord and shared it with all the people of Judah. In verses 1:1-4 he addressed the elders and all the people of the land and intimated that the destruction wrought by successive waves of locusts had been allowed to happen by their God. 

He then warned those associated with wine, such as the drunkards and those who drank wine, that they needed to become awake. “Awake, you drunkards, and weep, and wail, all you drinkers of wine, because of the sweet wine, for it is cut off from your mouth.” 1:5.

The locusts had come like a hostile nation and had invaded the land and destroyed the vegetation, “For a nation has come up against my land, powerful and beyond number; its teeth are lions’ teeth, and it has the fangs of a lioness. 7  It has laid waste my vine and splintered my fig tree; it has stripped off their bark and thrown it down; their branches are made white.” 1:6-7.

His advice was for them to be sorrowful “Lament like a virgin wearing sackcloth for the bridegroom of her youth.” 1:8. They were to be filled with a deep sense of loss. 

The priests and the ministers of the LORD were to mourn because no more offerings could be made, “The grain offering and the drink offering are cut off from the house of the LORD. 10  The fields are destroyed, the ground mourns, because the grain is destroyed, the wine dries up, the oil languishes.”  1:9-10.

The tillers of the soil; and the vinedressers were to be ashamed and to wail, for everything from which they could expect a harvest had dried up and perished. Joel adds, “and gladness dries up from the children of man.” The picture is of utter devastation and the loss of any joy in the situation. 1:11-12. 

A Call to Repentance

Joel went on to explain that God was behind the disasters so the people had to repent. It is interesting though that Joel does not express the nature of their sin.  He just urges the priests and ministers of the altar to put on sackcloth and lament, for grain and drink offerings had been withheld from the house of their God. They were also to consecrate a feast and to call a solemn assembly. The elders and all the inhabitants of the land were to gather to the house of the LORD and cry out to the LORD. 1:14.

There was a need for the nation to repent, for something worse was to happen. Joel expresses it in 1:15  “Alas for the day! For the day of the LORD is near, and as destruction from the Almighty it comes.” The day of the Lord is a major theme in Joel and was seen as a day of destruction. He reminds them of their present plight, “Is not the food cut off before our eyes, joy and gladness from the house of our God? 17  The seed shrivels under the clods; the storehouses are desolate; the granaries are torn down because the grain has dried up. 18  How the beasts groan! The herds of cattle are perplexed because there is no pasture for them; even the flocks of sheep suffer.” 1:16-18. The devastation affected not only the land, but even the animals used to grazing on the land were distressed because there was no pasture for them. The coming day of the Lord would bring even greater disaster so repentance was needed.

Joel then joins in crying out to the Lord, “To you, O LORD, I call. For fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness, and flame has burned all the trees of the field. 20  Even the beasts of the field pant for you because the water brooks are dried up, and fire has devoured the pastures of the wilderness.” There was utter devastation in the land and even the animals panted for God in their thirst. 

The whole of chapter 1 is a description of what God had allowed to happen to the nation and contained warnings to all the people to cry out to the Lord for mercy before the coming day of the Lord arrived. 

What lessons can we learn from Joel chapter 1?

It reminds us that God’s people need to be living in the way He wants them to live and not simply doing their own thing in life. God has placed Himself in a covenant with His people to protect and bless them but they need to remain faithful to Him. If they begin to stray and fail to live up to their commitment to Him and to His will, He may have to bring correction. 

This is not His punishment as such but His concerned discipline. His discipline has a purpose. As the writer to the Hebrews put it, “… but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. 11 For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.”  Hebrews 12:10-11. God’s discipline always has a positive purpose. It is to help His people return to Him to become more like Him by His grace.

WE also learn that God wants all His people to be open to Him and to repent when they stray from His ways. When they are not cognisant that they are living apart from His blessing, He may have to exercise greater discipline to get them to realise their sin and to return to Him in repentance.  

St Paul saw the value of the stories in the Old Testament [such as Joel chapter 1] as being instructive for believers in all ages, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” 1 Corinthians 10:11.

May we learn the lessons from Joel chapter 1 so that we maintain a close relationship with our heavenly Father and not have to endure His discipline. 

Blog No.482 posted on Friday 26 May 2023. 

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, Prayer, Salvation, Sanctification, Second coming of Jesus, Temptations, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

481. Ephesians 1:15-23. “Knowing The Power Of God In Our Lives.”

Posted on May 24, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

We live in very difficult times. It seems to be a topsy-turvy world in which values are being reversed and what was once called evil is being called good and the good is being called evil. It is a time in which we need to pray for one another, to experience the best that this life has to offer.

St Paul realised that his Christian converts needed to be prayed for. So in Ephesians 1:15-23 he told the believers in Ephesus what he was praying for them. It shows how we can pray for another today.

THE NEED TO PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER TO KNOW GOD BETTER. 1:15-17

Eph 1:15  “For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, 16  I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. 17 I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” [NIV].

There’s only one thing better than knowing God. That is, that we might know Him better! To have a deeper relationship with him. To have a deeper commitment to Him.

WHAT TO PRAY FOR ONE ANOTHER. THAT WE MIGHT KNOW 3 THINGS. 1:18-21

Eph 1:16  “I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, 18  having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know 

  • what is the HOPE to which he has called you, 
  • what are the RICHES of his glorious inheritance in the saints, 
  • 19 and what is the immeasurable greatness of his POWER toward us who believe.“

He wants them to know… Their HOPE. Their RICHES in Christ. The POWER they had in Christ. 

1].  THE HOPE TO WHICH HE HAS CALLED YOU.

In our culture, the word “hope” doesn’t have quite the same meaning as the word in the New Testament Greek. We use hope to describe what we would like to happen. For example, we hope to one day get married, if we can find someone silly enough or wise enough to marry us. Or we say we hope it will be fine next weekend. But there’s always a certain amount of uncertainty involved with it in the way we use it.

But there was no uncertainty involved with the way it was used in the NT. Hope meant something that was assured, something that would certainly come to pass. Nothing could prevent it.

Christian hope doesn’t mean that we become X’ians and then hope that one day we’ll go to heaven. 

  • No! Our Christian hope means that as Christians we’re assured of one day entering into the presence of our Heavenly Father. 
  • There’s no doubt about it at all. This is something God has promised to us in His grace.
  • We can know that we are right with God and that when we breathe our last breath, we will be immediately in the presence of God. 
  • That truth became immensely comforting for me in October 2019. I had been visiting my beloved wife Carole in the Palliative Care Ward of the hospital in Wauchope. She was dying of terminal cancer and had not responded at any time during the day I spent with her. As I left her to drive home, I kissed her and prayed that God might do a miracle if that was His will, and restore her to health and strength. As I walked out of the ward I turned to see if God had worked a miracle, but she lay there motionless. I was home less than couple of hours when the phone rang. It was the hospital ringing to say that Carole had passed away just a couple of minutes before. It was heartbreaking to hear that the beautiful woman who had been my best friend for over 60 years and to whom I had been married in a wonderful marriage for 54 years, had passed away. As I put the phone down, I felt empty and deeply saddened wondering how I could cope without my best friend and the woman I had loved for almost 60 years. Suddenly these words came into my mind, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” [2 Cor 5:8.] I realised afresh that Carole was now in the bliss in the presence of Jesus and that I had been able to love her until Jesus took her home.
  • The same words of assurance came to my mind when I heard that our dear friend David Curtis had passed away after being struck by a vehicle on a pedestrian crossing in Port Macquarie. He too was now “absent from the body and present with the Lord.”

2].  THE RICHES OF HIS GLORIOUS INHERITANCE IN HIS HOLY PEOPLE,

When we give our lives to the Lord, we become the heirs of God, and fellow-heirs with Christ.  [Romans 8:17.] Or “For all things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are Christ’s, and Christ is God’s.“ When we become Christians we become open to receive all the things that God has promised His people. They are riches, or as Paul writes elsewhere, they are the “unsearchable riches in Christ”  Riches that can never be exhausted by anyone within a lifetime. [Ephesians 3:8.]

There’s been a lot of argument in the church this century as to whether there is a second blessing beyond our conversion experience.  

  • I personally believe there IS a second blessing, 
  • AND a 3rd  AND a 4th , and a 1000th   blessing.
  • In other words, our whole spiritual pilgrimage will be spent discovering more and more of those unsearchable riches in Christ. 

I cringe every time I hear anyone say they have had the second blessing. Why should anyone stop there?  We can never ever say that we’ve arrived spiritually at a stage where there is nothing more to learn, nothing more to experience.

But God is always beyond the limits of our experience.  His unsearchable riches will never be appropriated by any individual or by any denomination, or by any movement within the church.  

3].  EPH 1:19- 21.  AND HIS INCOMPARABLY GREAT POWER FOR US WHO BELIEVE.

“That power is the same as the mighty strength 20  he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21  far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.”

There are many Christians today who are very sensitive about any mention of power.  But the Bible isn’t reticent about mentioning power. Notice what Paul says about power here. 

  • It is beyond measurement. It is megatos or megaton power, exceedingly great. 
  • It is the power God used in raising Jesus from the dead, and in seating Him at His right hand in glory. 
  • It is this sort of power which is “in us who believe.”

This is the humbling part. That you and I will only be able to experience anything of God’s power, when we become utterly weak. As Paul wrote, “God’s strength is made perfect in weakness.“

Paul later wrote in this same letter that “God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us..” (3:20.) I’ve seen something of the dimension of that power in the transformation of individuals, yet I know there infinitely more power available for us to tap into.

Paul finishes his prayer with the reminder that the risen Christ is the One in absolute authority in the church and in the world. But it’s an authority that has to be personally submitted to. In other words, for Christ to be the Lord of our lives, we need to submit ourselves to His rule over us. It’s not automatic. It needs a step of faith to say to the Lord, “Lord I want you to become the Lord and Master of my life, so that You can do in me and through me what you desire. I crown you as the Lord of my life.” It’s a step we all need to take!

But what about us in May 2023? How do we stand before God? 

In Ephesians 2 verses 1 and 3 Paul writes that the whole human race is dead in sin and that we are deserving of God’s wrath. We are sinners  facing the judgment of God. Not good news but absolutely true!

BUT WAIT! There is good news!  We can be set free from God’s wrath and judgment. Eph 2:4-6. “But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5  made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. 6  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”

  • He made us spiritually alive with Christ. Once we were spiritually dead, but now we have become spiritually alive with Christ.
  • When God raised Jesus from the dead and He ascended into heaven, He raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus.”
    • Seated in Christ, in the place of acceptance with God.  [You can never be more accepted by God than when you receive Christ as Saviour. More useful to Him, yes!]
    • Seated in Christ in the place of authority over the powers of darkness
    • Seated in Christ in the place of power over the world, the flesh and the devil.

So as God looks upon us today, He sees us in 2 ways

  • He sees us Geographically as being seated in this building [between Hay & Murray streets, Port Macquarie.]
  • He sees us Spiritually. He sees some of us being seated in Christ at the right hand of God. Everyone else being “outside of Christ.” 

How can we become among those who are “in Christ?” [No longer under the judgment of God?]

It was a question I was facing on New Year’s Eve 1958. I knew I wasn’t a believer. I knew I had to get right with God. But how?

  • As I wandered through the streets of Tweed Heads-Coolangatta about 11pm I knew I wanted to get right with God, and I remembered a prayer of commitment I had seen in a little booklet by the Rev John Stott. It was based on 4 letters of the alphabet. A,B,C and D.
  • A.        I had to Admit I was a sinner in the sight of God. [Sins of commission and of omission.]
  • B. I had to Believe that Jesus died on the cross for me to be forgiven.
  • C.        I had to Consider the Cost of  becoming a Christian. It would Cost nothing, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16. Salvation is a free gift in Christ. But it would cost me everything. I would have to give up living my way, and learn to live God’s way in Christ. As St Paul wrote, “and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” 2 Corinthians 5:15.
  • D. I had to Do something about it.  I had to invite Him into my life to be my Saviour and Lord. 

AND I had learned how to invite Him into my life in Rev 3:20 where Jesus said, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

It’s the picture of Jesus standing at the door of the hearts of individual people in the church in Laodicea, knocking and asking to come into their hearts. They had to deliberately open the door of their hearts to Him.

So just before midnight, I knelt down and prayed the prayer and opened my life to Jesus. He entered my life and I entered 1959 as a brand-new creation in Christ and life really began from that moment. I had come from spiritual death to be spiritually alive. Christ was now my Saviour from sin and I had made Him Lord of my whole being. 

The Good News is that you can leave this building today knowing that you are right with God and that if you were to die this afternoon or in 70 years time, you would wake up in bliss in the presence of Jesus. 

Today we celebrate Ascension Day, the day Jesus ascended into heaven. There He received the promised Holy Spirit whom He poured out on His disciples on the day of Pentecost and whom He now pours out on all who trust in Jesus as Saviour and Lord. That’s what He wants to happen in every person ever born!

Let’s allow Him to do that on us today as we pray, so that His Spirit can open blind eyes that they may see to believe.     

You can become a believer, someone in Christ, a child of God as you pray this prayer. A,B,C,D. You can pray it with me as I pray,

A].  Lord, I Admit I am a sinner in Your sight.

B].  I Believe Christ died for me on the cross.

C].  I have Considered the Cost of becoming a believer. It costs me nothing, but I know it costs me everything as I have now live for you for every moment of my life.

D]. I need to Do something about it. I now open the door of my life to You Jesus. Come into my life Lord Jesus.”

“Thank You Lord Jesus for coming into my life to be my Saviour. I now enthrone You as the Lord and Master of every part of my life. AMEN!” 

If you have prayed the prayer you need to tell someone you trust. 

StPaul wrote in Rom 10:9, “if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

Having prayed this prayer, you can leave this building today knowing that whenever you die, you will go to be with Jesus in Paradise. 

Blog No.481 posted on Wednesday 24 May 2023.

Posted in BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Coping With Personal Grief, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Glorification, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, OUTLINE OF EPHESIANS, Prayer, Praying our way through Paul's letter to the Ephesians, Real Life Stories, Salvation, Sanctification, Temptations, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

480. Jonah 4. Having The Right Motivations In Life

Posted on May 10, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

Chapter 3 of Jonah ends with these words, “When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.” 3:10.

It meant that the ministry of Jonah as a prophet sent by God to warn the people of Nineveh had been an outstanding success. The whole city including the king had believed God’s message and had turned from their sin. Their response to Jonah’s message meant they averted God’s judgment. 

It is quite surprising that the next verse in chapter 4 of Jonah has these words, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” 4:1.

Why would the prophet of God be angry when the people repented upon hearing his message so that God relented of His plan to destroy Nineveh? 

God Desires Good Motivations In His Servants. To have a heart like His

It seems that Jonah’s motivations were at odds with the heart and mind of God. We see that in the way he addressed God in prayer, “And he prayed to the LORD and said, “O LORD, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” 4:2.

Jonah had a serious problem. He was a prophet chosen by God to take His message to people. BUT he had a distorted view of what God should be like. He saw him as being “a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.” 4:2. That was a true picture of the character of God, but Jonah wanted Him to be different, to not be gracious, to not be merciful and wanting Him to bring disaster on the people of Nineveh. When God relented of bringing the disaster on Nineveh, Jonah got really angry. He told God that was the reason he fled from delivering God’s message initially because he was hoping the people of Nineveh would reject the message and disaster would come upon them. How sad that a prophet of God could wish to have a vengeful Master to obey. When the disaster did not happen, Jonah was shattered. He had a death wish for himself, “Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 4:3. He was angry that God’s gracious will had prevailed and that what he wanted to happen, didn’t. 

The Lord Questioned Jonah’s Motivation

 The question, “Do you do well to be angry?” is relevant for God’s people at any time. Can any believer ever resent God’s compassion on anyone, including their enemies? It was a question Jonah had to ponder. In the meantime, Jonah would go outside the city to see what God would do, “Jonah went out of the city and sat to the east of the city and made a booth for himself there. He sat under it in the shade, till he should see what would become of the city.” 4:5.

The Gracious Lord Acted Graciously For The Downcast Prophet

Jon 4:6 “Now the LORD God appointed a plant and made it come up over Jonah, that it might be a shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort. So Jonah was exceedingly glad because of the plant.”

As Jonah sits waiting hopefully for God to bring disaster on the people of Nineveh, God takes the time to make life more bearable for Jonah. 

The plant the Lord provided would comfort Jonah in his discomfort while Jonah sits waiting for the city to be destroyed. What a difference in their view of the people of Nineveh. The Lord waiting for the people to repent, while Jonah is hoping they don’t repent and thus would suffer judgment. 

God Teaches Jonah A Lesson About Life

One wonders if Jonah would ever humble himself to want God’s will to be done rather than what he personally wanted.  God had another lesson to teach His unruly prophet, “But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. 8  When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.”4:7-8.

God destroyed the plant He had provided for Jonah’s comfort, and the sun and the scorching wind brought great physical distress to him. He was also angry that the plant had died. God challenged Jonah again with the same words as before,“ But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry?” [for the plant] ” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” 4:9. He was angry that the plant that gave him relief from his discomfort had died.

God Teaches Jonah A Lesson About Love

God challenged Jonah about the contrast in their attitude to the people of Nineveh,  “And the LORD said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labour, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night.” 4:10. Jonah had concern for the plant which he had done nothing to create and only lasted for a short time. 

Then the Lord rebuked Jonah by showing the contrast He had in His attitude to the people of Nineveh.  “And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” 4:11.

The contrast was obvious. Jonah had no real concern for the lives of thousands of people who were facing disaster, many of whom were very young. His focus was on his own needs. He longed for the comfort of a small piece of vegetation that God had provided in his mercy for Jonah and when it died he was angry. But it was a plant, not a person. 

On the other hand, God had created not only the plant to bring comfort to Jonah but He had also created all the thousands of people including innocent children and all the animals in Nineveh. He didn’t want them to face disaster. He wanted them to turn from their evil ways. That was why He had sent His prophet to Nineveh with a message for them to turn from evil lest He be forced to destroy them. 

Perhaps Jonah eventually saw the error of his misunderstanding of the value that God had placed on people, even those who were rebelling against His ways. If Jonah actually wrote the book, he tells the whole story warts and all in describing the compassion God has on all the peoples of the world and the lessons God taught him. 

The story of the book of Jonah is relevant for today 

It shows the value the Lord has on all peoples even those who have no deep knowledge of Him and His ways. He knows they all face destruction unless they repent of their sins and turn to Him to be saved. So He has commanded His people to take the gospel message of His love to all parts of the world. The “gospel in a nutshell” as someone once wrote, reminds us of that, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17. Or as Peter wrote in 2 Peter 3:9, “The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God hates sin but loves sinners so much that He made it possible for even the worst sinners to be forgiven. All they need to do is to repent of their sins and receive salvation freely by accepting Christ as their Saviour and Lord.

God knows His world and the hearts of every individual in it. He wants them all to live and not die in their sins. He has made it possible for everyone to be saved, for the blood of Jesus shed on the cross can cover the sins of the whole world. But that salvation, that forgiveness is only to be found in Jesus whom He sent into the world to be its Saviour from sin. 

Jesus certainly used the story of Jonah to bring a warning to the people of Israel when He preached.  In Matthew 12:41 He said,  “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” If the people of the evil foreign city of Nineveh could repent of their evil deeds and turn to God for salvation when God warned them, then how much more should the Jews of Jesus’ day repent and turn to God as they listened to one of their own, not just a prophet, but to One who was the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. 

Blog No.480. Posted on Wednesday 10 May 2023. 

Posted in BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Creation, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, Prayer, Real Life Stories, Salvation, Sanctification, Temptations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

479. Obedience To God Brings His Blessings. Jonah 3

Posted on May 6, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

Jonah was certainly a reluctant prophet. He was commanded by God to go to Nineveh and warn them that if they did not turn from evil, disaster would come upon the whole city.  However, Jonah arose and went in the opposite direction in an act of sheer disobedience to God. He boarded a ship to get away from God. 

God dealt dramatically with Jonah as He caused a violent storm to arise so that the ship began to sink. He was thrown into the sea and was swallowed by a great fish. In the mercy of God, Jonah repented of his sin and cried out to God to be saved.  The great fish [at God’s command] then vomited Jonah out onto dry land. 

The Opportunities Given By Second Chances. 3:1-3

1 “Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time, saying, 2 “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it the message that I tell you.” 

It’s wonderful to know that God doesn’t give up on us when we disobey Him. In the story we read how God spoke to his prophet Jonah again and recommissioned him for the task of taking His message to the people of Nineveh. When God first called Jonah his response was disobedience, “But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.” Jonah 1:3. However God had dealt with Jonah so that at this second call, his response was different, “So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, three days’ journey in breadth. 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day’s journey. And he called out, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” Jonah 3:3-4.

We see in the story, God’s persistence in getting Jonah to take His message to the people in Nineveh. We also see His compassion for those in Nineveh as He did not want to have to destroy them. He wanted them to repent and give up their evil ways. As another Jonah [Simon Bar-Jonah] wrote, “The Lord is not slow to fulfil his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” 2 Peter 3:9.

God’s Message Brought Freedom

How did the people of Nineveh respond to Jonah’s message? We read, “And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them.” Jonah 3:5. The message Jonah proclaimed brought great conviction of sin and all the people of Nineveh repented of their sin, symbolised by their putting on sackcloth. This was a turning from sin and a turning to God in repentance. 

It was a widespread turning to God that affected even the king of Nineveh,  Jon 3:6  “The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes, 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, ‘By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water,  8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.  9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish.’”

This was an amazing response to Jonah’s message. The king issued a decree commanding that every person and animal be covered with sackcloth as a matter of urgency. They were all to cry out to God and turn from evil. It is interesting that Jonah as one of God’s chosen people initially turned away from God in disobedience but a whole ungodly city turned to God in obedience when challenged by God to repent and turn from evil.

It reminds us that humans have free will, the ability to make choices. Sometimes it is the most privileged people who reject their privileges while those less privileged make the right decisions. That is seen in the Prologue to the gospel of John, where John wrote of the coming of Jesus into the world, “He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him. 12 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.” John 1:11-12. One would have thought that the Jewish people would have welcomed their long-promised Messiah. Instead, by and large, they rejected Him. In Jonah’s day, it was the privileged prophet of God who initially rejected God’s command while the ungodly evildoing people of Nineveh immediately responded to God’s message to them. Human free-will can be used to glorify God or misused to detract from His name and glory.

A True Turning To God In Repentance Brings Freedom. Jonah 3:10. 

“When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it. 3:10. 

What an incredible act of mercy. Guilty sinners being pardoned by God, of their sins. Coming from the prospect of the judgment of God to being pardoned in His sight. Why? Because they had done what He wanted them to do. They had heard His message through the lips of Jonah and had turned from their evil ways. In a sense it was the same message Simon Bar-Jonah [Peter] would later give to the  Jews in Acts 3:19  “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out.”

Nineveh was a city under the coming judgment of God. But God in His mercy gave them the opportunity of being no longer condemned. He warned them of their perilous state and they responded in faith to His message. In many ways, it was the same message that Jesus would bring to His people. He was sent to be the Saviour from the condemnation from their sins and forgiveness would only be found in Him, “Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” John 3:18.

St Paul wrote that the whole world is under the condemnation of God because of its sin. However if individuals trusted in Christ for salvation, they would no longer be condemned, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”  Romans 8:1. 

The story of Jonah is a story emphasising many of the characteristics of God. In it we read of His holiness and His hatred of sin. We read of His persistence in bringing a rebellious prophet of God back to obedience. In it we see the compassion of God in wanting guilty sinners be released from His judgment if they responded in faith to Him.

Jesus Himself made use of the story of Jonah to bring  a warning to those who were rejecting Him and His message, “The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.” Matthew 12:41.

Blog No.479 posted on Saturday 06 May 2023.

Posted in Bible verses. Comments, Creation, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Glorification, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Real Life Stories, Salvation, Sanctification, Temptations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

478. The God Who Helps In Times Of Trouble. Jonah 2:1-10

Posted on May 4, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

There are times in the lives of many of us when we feel as though we have been overcome by difficulties, immersed in situations in which there seems to be no way to escape. It’s as though for some people, their lives have come to an end. Is it possible to be freed from those crippling difficulties so as to be able to live again with some sense of meaning and purpose?

The truths in Jonah chapter 2 provide some encouragement for people in today’s world who seem to be trapped in an inescapable morass. The story opens with Jonah being inside a great fish. He had been told by God to go to Ninevah to preach and to warn the residents to turn from their wicked ways. But he had disobeyed and had gone in the opposite direction and had boarded a ship going to Tarshish. When a severe wind and storm arose, the sailors reluctantly [at his suggestion] cast him overboard. A great fish then swallowed Jonah. The chapter ends with these words, “And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.” Jonah 2:10. What had happened for Jonah to secure his freedom? We see the following truths in this chapter.

1]. Jonah Prayed To The Lord. 2:1. “Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the belly of the fish.  2  saying, “I called out to the LORD, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice.”

Entombed in the belly of the great fish, Jonah prayed. We see three things in his description of what happened. 

  • There was his recognition of his drastic situation. He was in distress. He was in the belly of the great fish.
  • There was his response to the situation. He brought his situation to God. He “called out” to God. He “cried” out to God.
  • There was God’s response to his cries for help. God answered his call for help. God heard his prayer [and answered it.]

2]. Jonah Recognised That His Sin Had Led To His Present Difficult Situation. 2:3-6.  

“For you cast me into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me; all your waves and your billows passed over me. 4 Then I said, ‘I am driven away from your sight; yet I shall again look upon your holy temple.’ 5  The waters closed in over me to take my life; the deep surrounded me; weeds were wrapped about my head. 6  at the roots of the mountains. I went down to the land whose bars closed upon me forever; yet you brought up my life from the pit, O LORD my God.”

Jonah recognised that it had been God who had been responsible for him being cast into the sea. The sailors had been the human instruments in throwing him overboard, but it was God’s way of dealing with Jonah’s disobedience. That recognition is seen in his words, “I am driven away from your sight.”

It’s a reminder to us that God may use other people in His purposes to bring us back to Himself when we have wandered from His way. He allows difficult people in our lives who make life difficult for us. But when we eventually bring our situation before the Lord and receive His help, we are able to see those people as “grace builders.” Not in the sense that they were gracious to us or imparted grace to us. Rather in our difficulty we cried to God for His grace to be on our lives and He answered our prayer. So in a sense, they were used to “build up grace” in us. 

3]. Jonah Cried Out To The Lord In The Midst Of His Difficulty. 2:7.

Jon 2:7  “When my life was fainting away, I remembered the LORD, and my prayer came to you, into your holy temple.”

It seems that Jonah recognised that his life was coming to an end, so his mind recalled the Lord, his only hope. He prayed to God and God graciously answered him. 

4]. Jonah Bore Witness To God’s Saving Grace. 2:8-10.

Jonah utters a statement about the inability of false gods to help humans in their time of need. The hope of receiving steadfast love resides only in the one true God. “Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love.” Jonah 2:8.

However, Jonah had turned to God and affirmed that salvation belonged only to Him. He had recommitted his whole life and future to the Lord. “But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice to you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!” 2:9. 

Then miracle of miracles. “And the LORD spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land.” 2:10. The impossible had become possible by the grace and mercy of God. The captive had been set free by the power of God! Jonah’s prayers had been answered!

Jonah had been sent by God to preach to a rebellious people in Nineveh but had disobeyed Him. Much later Jesus was sent into the world to minister to His people, many of whom refused to trust in Him. They wanted Him to perform a great miracle so that they could believe in Him. But Jesus had already performed great miracles among them, and they had continued to harden their hearts against Him. So Jesus warned them that no sign would 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.” Mat 12:40. Jesus’ resurrection from the dead would be the sign that He was the Messiah who had come into the world to save His people. It was as though the story of Jonah and his release from the belly of the great fish had been a preparation for the nation of Israel to believe in a Messiah who would rise from the dead after 3 days and nights. Jesus saw Jonah as a historical figure whose life had been a preparation for the coming of the Messiah into the world.

Blog No.478 posted on Thursday 04 May 2023.

Posted in BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Real Life Stories, Salvation, Sanctification, Temptations | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

477. The Blessing Of Being Anointed By God. But Who Are The  Anointed? (Part 4 of 4).  Some Possible Conclusions. 

Posted on April 11, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

WE come now to draw some possible conclusions from the 3 previous articles in this series humbly recognising that I, like every other believer, can get spiritual truths out of perspective. 

That can happen when we become enamoured by the teaching and practice of those who seem to be make things happen, when our own lives [and ministry] don’t seem to bear that same “fruit.”

It is all too easy for us to become part of “group think” when we delve deeply into the writings of those we have come to admire and we continue to avidly read the reports of what is happening in their lives and ministries. Nothing wrong with that, unless those “admired folk” disparage others who do not see things in the same way. No one person has all the truth, nor has any particular movement. That’s why we need to look closely at the Biblical text and also be open to be instructed by the interpretations of others who are also interested in gaining a deeper and more faithful understanding of the text. 

It would appear from the previous articles that the words I quoted at the beginning of this series appear to me to be true. I add to them in the following list, of possible conclusions based on all the articles.

  • Every believer is anointed by God with the Holy Spirit to indwell them, to impart the life of God in and through them. 
  • A believer cannot become more anointed than before. Anointing by God [chriō, χρίω], refers to a once for all sovereign act of God when He imparts the gift of the Holy Spirit to those who open themselves to Him in faith and repentance. 
  • No believer is more anointed than another believer. There are no degrees of anointing.  
  • A human is either anointed by God or is not, meaning believers possess the Spirit of God and unbelievers do not.
  • Failing to recognise the difference between the Old Testament and New Testament concepts of the term “anointing” may bring confusion to believers today. One cannot, for example, ask for a double-anointing of the Spirit in the same way Elisha asked of Elijah. [NOTE 1]. The New Testament concept of anointing makes no provision at all for that to happen. 
  • There is a danger in seeing some believers as more anointed than others. It could lead to arrogance and pride in those who see themselves in this way as the “Lord’s anointed” or as more anointed than others.
  • It could also lead to some immature believers embarking on a never-ending journey to receive more and more “anointings” of the Holy Spirit in their desire to please and serve God. 
  • Better rather, for believers to believe what God has said in His word about anointing and to ask God to continue filling them with the Holy Spirit with whom they have already been anointed and sealed. 
  • God’s word indicates there is one “anointing” for each individual believer.  However, praise God there are many possibilities of being filled with His Holy Spirit over and over again in one’s desire to love Him and serve Him unreservedly, to His glory! As Paul wrote in Ephesians 5, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, 19 addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, 20 giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, 21 submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Ephesians 5:18-21.  [“Keep on being filled” is an accurate translation of the Greek verb in the present continuous passive Imperative.]
  • Praise God that every believer can know they were once -for -all anointed and sealed with His Spirit! But they are commanded to keep on being filled with the Spirit. This filling is not to be viewed as a drenching from without but as a release of the Spirit from within. As Jesus taught in John 7:38 “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  John commented on this, “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:38-39. 
  • This seems to be the way in which Paul saw the indwelling Spirit as being the source of Christian agape love. He wrote in Romans 5:5, “and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out [NOTE 2] within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” (NASB). 

Why then do some writers and speakers use terms such as these, which I have come across over recent years? Terms such as 

  • “heavy anointing’. Nothing in the New Testament to indicate such an occurrence. 
  • “double anointing.” Nothing in the New Testament to indicate such an occurrence
  • “passing on the anointing.” Sorry! It is the Lord who anoints individuals with His Holy Spirit. No other person has the authority or ability to do so. [We can anoint people with oil for healing but as we saw in a previous article in this series, that is described by a different New Testament word.]
  • “lying on the grave to absorb the anointing of a former saint.” If the Lord is the only One who can anoint with the Spirit, then what they are absorbing is certainly not the Holy Spirit! They may be gaining inspiration by being in close proximity to the human remains of a great servant of God from time past, but that is far different from ‘absorbing an anointing’. 
  • a sermon or a time of worship being described as “really anointed”. We have seen that the term ‘anointing’ refers to the gift of the Holy Spirit being poured out by the Lord on individuals who believe. Material things and human productions such as passionate preaching and singing beautifully to the Lord, can never be said to be anointed in biblical terms. The singing may be produced by a person who was anointed by the Lord at their conversion, but the singing is not anointed. It may give us great pleasure listening to beautiful singing but we can also derive great joy as a young singer nervously leads worship for the first time, whose notes in their nervousness, are not pure. We are blessed by their obvious willingness to lovingly serve the Lord to His glory.
  • “growing in the anointing.” One cannot grow in something that cannot grow. As we have seen before, anointing is the sovereign act of God when He gives individuals the gift of the Holy Spirit as they put their trust in Him.  He doesn’t keep on withdrawing the Spirit and then anointing individuals over and over again with increasing strength. No, He anoints them once at conversion and seals them at that same time with His Spirit. 

My concern is that I don’t see any justification for using these terms such as “anoint”, “anointed”, “anointing,” in the New Testament in the way I have described above.  For that reason, I see it as a dangerous and misleading emphasis in today’s Christian church. It may be that many folk have simply picked up the lingo of the day and have not yet checked the scriptural backing for those expressions. My prayer is that [if I am right in what I have written] they will go back to the Scriptures and begin to use those terms in the way the New Testament prescribes and not as they are used widely today.

A note of caution. What do you do when you hear someone using the term ”anointed” in a way that is not biblical? Hopefully you might be able to correct their wrong understanding by pointing to the truth of Bible verses on the topic, but doing it in a loving way and at an appropriate time and place. But we need to understand that God loves His people and wants the very best for them. He understands the words we pray but He also knows the motivation behind our words. That is why His answers to our prayers are often so much greater than we ever imagined they might be. 

What He is answering is the deep desire behind our inadequate words, a desire prompted by His indwelling Spirit in our hearts. As St Paul wrote, “Likewise 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. 27  And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.” Romans 8:26,27. God, the heart-searcher hears the words of our prayers but also what the Spirit is praying through them as they express their God-given desires in inadequate words. The Spirit’s words are in accord with the will of God and are answered in fulfilment of His will. God’s power is always greater than our ability to even imagine, as St Paul wrote in Ephesians 3:20, “Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us.” It may be that in the providence of God, those who are praying for a double anointing of the Spirit for example, are richly blessed by God, not because of the accuracy of their prayers, but because He was responding to their God-given desire to love Him and to see His kingdom extended.

NOTES

  • [NOTE 1].  2Kings 2:9 ‘When they had crossed, Elijah said to Elisha, “Ask what I shall do for you, before I am taken from you.” And Elisha said, “Please let there be a double portion of your spirit on me.”’
  • [NOTE 2]. “Poured out within our hearts.” The word for “poured out” [ekcheō; ἐκχέω] is a verb in Perfect tense indicating a past action with a present abiding result. The Holy Spirit with whom the believer is permanently sealed, is the instrument through whom God’s love is poured out within the believer’s heart. He is the reservoir through whom God’s divine agape love can flow out through the believer’s heart to touch the lives of others. It is the release of the fruit of the indwelling Spirit which is able to be manifest through believers’ lives. God’s love is the release of what exists within the believer [in the person of the Holy Spirit]. It is not another endowment from without.  

Blog No.477 posted on Tuesday 11 April 2023.

Posted in anointing, BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Glorification, Healing, Holy Spirit, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Salvation, Sanctification, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

476. The  Blessing Of Being Anointed By God. But Who Are The  Anointed? (Part 3 of 4).

Posted on April 10, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

Part 3. An Analysis Of All The Verses On “Anointing” As Relating To Believers

As I wrote in a previous article, there are only a small number of references to the word “anoint” in the New Testament. They are in the following verses.

The verb  [Chriō; χρίω.]  Used of believers. [All references.] There is one reference in one verse.

Though the verb appears in Luke 4:18; Acts 4:27; Acts 10:38; 2 Corinthians 1:21; Hebrews 1:9, there is only one reference to believers in 2 Cor 1:21.

  • (2 Cor 1:21, Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22  who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.

The noun [Chrisma, χρίσμα.]  Used of believers. [All references.] There are only three references to be found in two verses. 

  • (1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.”
  • (1 John 2:27 “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

What Do These Verses About Anointing In The New Testament Mean?

The verb  [chriō, χρίω]. Used to describe both status and function.  

  • 2 Cor 1:21 “Now He who establishes us with you in Christ and anointed us is God, 22  who also sealed us and gave us the Spirit in our hearts as a pledge.
  • The anointing comes from God Himself. As this verse states, He establishes believers together in Christ [or He makes them stand firm together in Christ.] He “anointed us” [by giving us His Spirit into our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come]. He sealed us [sphragizō; σφραγίζω] by His Spirit to mark us out as His own and to bring us the assurance of our identity as His people, in Him. This was a pledge or guarantee [arrhabōn, ἀῤῥαβών] which can be described as a down-payment given in advance as security for the promised full payment. 

The status of the person whom God anoints changes. Once they were not “in Christ.” Now they are “in Christ.”  Once they were without the Spirit. Now they have received the Spirit. Once they were outside the family of God, but now they have received the Holy Spirit [the Spirit of adoption] and have been adopted into His family, “For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” Romans 8:15.

This applies to every believer. No comparatives or superlatives here. So it is possible for a person to say, “I am the Lord’s anointed!” provided we recognise that every other believer in the world of every age group can say the same! Even the 5 year old who gives his or her life to the Lord today is among the Lord’s “anointed” in Biblical terms. As such, he or she will never become more anointed, no matter how long they grow into spiritual maturity. Nor can he or she pass on their anointing to another person no matter what spiritual giants they may become in later life. Each anointing by God of a person is unique and unrepeatable for that person and is non-transferable.

Not only do believers have a new status before God but they are also being equipped by Him to function and live for Him. His anointing of them gives them knowledge they could never have otherwise. That is the point of this verse. John’s readers were living at a time when an early form of Gnosticism was prevalent. Some aspects of Gnosticism involved having secret knowledge which was derived through secret rites and ceremonies for the few. John is at pains to show that the anointing God gives, makes His knowledge available to all whom He has anointed by His Spirit. Unlike Gnosticism there were no ceremonies or rites one had to undergo to receive their secret knowledge. God’s anointing of His people makes His knowledge available to all His anointed as they open their lives to Christ as Lord and Saviour.

The noun [Chrisma, χρίσμα].  These three are the only noun references in the New Testament to believers. They are all found in 1 John 2, verses 20 and 27. 

  • (1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and all of you know the truth.” 

Who is the “Holy One?” In the New Testament, the ‘Holy One’ appears to refer to Jesus Christ (see Mark 1:24; Luk 4:34; Joh 6:69; Act 3:14). [NOTE 1]. 

It is not surprising that Jesus is seen as the dispenser of the Holy Spirit. John the Baptist had predicted that happening. All the gospel writers record John the Baptist saying that Jesus would baptise with the Holy Spirit. [See NOTE 2].   

It appears however that Jesus would only do that after His death, resurrection and ascension, that is, His glorification.  Jesus said on the last day of the feast in John 7, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”  John commented on this, “Now this he said about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were to receive, for as yet the Spirit had not been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.” John 7:37-39.

It fits in with Peter’s description of the happenings on the Day of Pentecost in Acts 2:3, “Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.” Having ascended back into heaven, Jesus was then given the promise of the Spirit for Him to pour out on His believing people. It means then that in John 20:22 as Jesus breathed on them [NOTE 3] saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you withhold forgiveness from any, it is withheld” it was a proleptic saying [NOTE 4] of a future promise to be fulfilled after Jesus’ glorification. There was no indication that the disciples received the Spirit of God until the day of Pentecost. 

  • 1 John 2:27 “But the anointing that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.”

Jesus had promised that the Holy Spirit would teach His disciples, Luke 12:12 “for the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say.”

 John records the words of Jesus, “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.” John 14:26. “Will teach all things” is (didaskei; διδάξει =will teach) and (panta; πάντα  = all things). Here it is in the future tense because the Holy Spirit had not yet been poured out when Jesus spoke these words. 

The wording in 1 Jn 2:27 is similar. However naturally it is not future tense but present tense because the Holy Spirit had already been poured out on the day of Pentecost before John wrote these words.  Thus the translation here is  (διδάσκει = teaches) and (πάντων = ‘everything’ or ‘all things’). That was the present day reality when John wrote this epistle. The anointing by the Holy Spirit enabled them to understand spiritual truths and realities.  

As Paul wrote, 1 Cor 2:14 “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” The “natural” person is the unregenerate person who has not received the Holy Spirit. Spiritual things have to be spiritually discerned, and that is the ministry of the Holy Spirit in the hearts and minds of believers.

In the next article, we will look at what these truths about anointing mean for us today. But what is apparent is that to be anointed by God refers to the time we came before God in repentance for our sins seeking mercy and in faith opened our hearts and lives to Him to live as He desires us to live.

NOTES 

[NOTE 1].  The “Holy One” appears to refer to Jesus, Mar 1:24, “What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” Luk 4:34, “Ha! What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God.” John 6:69  “and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God.” Act 3:14, “But you denied the Holy and Righteous One, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you.”

[NOTE 2].  Jesus baptises with the Holy Spirit. Mat 3:11  “I baptize you with water for repentance, but he who is coming after me is mightier than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” Mar 1:8 “I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Luke 3:16 John answered them all, saying, “I baptize you with water, but he who is mightier than I is coming, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to untie. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” John 1:33 “ I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’34  And I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God.”

NOTE 3] “Breathed” is [emphysaō; ἐμφυσάω] This is its only use in the New Testament but it was used in the Greek Old Testament in Genesis 2:7 where God breathed on Adam and he became a living soul. The original creation came into being by an act of God, so Jesus brought into being a new creation by His acts as the promised Messiah.  It would begin when they received the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

NOTE 4] “Proleptic” means representing something in the future as if it already existed or had occurred. It was an anticipation of what would take place on the Day of Pentecost when the Spirit of God would be poured out on His people. 

Blog No.476 posted on Monday after Easter 10 April 2023.

Posted in anointing, Bible verses. Comments, Creation, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Glorification, Healing, Holy Spirit, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Salvation, Sanctification, Second coming of Jesus, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

475. THE GOOD FRIDAY CROSS THAT DIVIDES HUMANITY. Luke 23:39-43. [Paradise or Lostness]

Posted on April 7, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

We know that Good Friday is called “Good” because of the good news associated with it. It is the good news that Jesus died on the cross to take away our sins and to bring guilty sinners back to a holy God. The attitude we take to the crucifixion of Jesus has eternal consequences. We see this on that first Good Friday in the crucifixion scene. The scene is of 3 crosses, each with a victim nailed to it. There are two criminals and the third is Jesus. 

One of the criminals is said to have “railed” at Jesus, “One of the criminals who were hanged railed at him, saying, “Are you not the Christ? Save yourself and us!” Luke 23:39. “Railed” is the Greek word, [blasphēmeō; βλασφημέω] meaning to speak of God or divine things irreverently, to blaspheme, to mock. There is no sense of humility in his words. He wanted Jesus to do what he wanted Him to do, namely to rescue them all from their crosses. But there was no way that Jesus could affect such a rescue. He knew that it was the will of God for Him to die on the cross. There was no other way forgiveness could ever become available for humans except through His death, bearing all the sins of the world in His own body on the cross.

The other criminal looked at the scene of Jesus hanging on the cross, differently. That led him to rebuke the other criminal saying, “Do you not fear God, since you are under the same sentence of condemnation? 41 And we indeed justly, for we are receiving the due reward of our deeds; but this man has done nothing wrong.” Luke 23:40-41. We see in his words a number of things. We see his humility in recognising himself as a sinner. A sinner who deserved punishment for his sins. We see his recognition that God was to feared because of his sin. We see also his recognition that Jesus was innocent for He had done nothing wrong. Then from his lips came some of the most astonishing words ever uttered by human lips as he addressed Jesus, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Luke 23:42.

They were amazing, for who looked less like a king than the weak mutilated body of Jesus hanging on the cross. The first criminal had mocked Jesus. The second criminal recognised Jesus as the victor in the situation. He saw Him as a king, who would shortly after His death become a King. He wanted to be part of Jesus’ kingdom as he asked for mercy from this king by asking Jesus to “remember” him.

Then came the astonishing words from Jesus as He said to the second criminal, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in paradise.” Luke 23:43. Why were His words so astonishing? Because the criminal had done nothing to deserve any pardon from sin. There was nothing spectacular he could do in the future to merit any consideration for acceptance in Jesus’ kingdom, for he would soon be dead. But Jesus saw him as being with him in paradise. How? Because he had met the requirements we all need to meet to enter into Jesus’ kingdom. He had repented of his sin and turned in faith to Jesus for acceptance into His kingdom. Paradise awaited the second criminal who repented of sin and turned to Jesus. Lostness forever awaited the other impenitent criminal who would not turn to Jesus in repentance and faith.

There was one other astonishing thing in what Jesus said. He said, “Today.” The second criminal was accepted just as he was, and on that very day he would join Jesus in His kingdom. What a blessing it is for humans to know when they come to Jesus in repentance and faith He accepts them immediately. There’s no such thing as Purgatory for them to go through as a means of getting them prepared for heaven. They belong to Jesus from the moment they turn to Him. As the NKJV puts it, “to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.” It reminds us as St Paul wrote, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” Ephesians 2:8-9. Salvation comes by receiving a gift, not by having to work for it.

“Today.” What a beautiful comforting word. It meant a great deal to me almost 4 years ago when my beloved wife went home to be with the Lord. That very day she passed in the presence of Jesus and so I was able to write these words on the plaque above her burial place, “Absent from the body, present with the Lord.” 2 Corinthians 5:8. What a blessing it is to know that as we go through the pain and grief of losing our loved ones, that right now they are at bliss in the presence of Jesus.

“Today!” I had thought that I would not write anything today but having been to morning church today I came home with a deep desire to write on this passage describing the scene of the three crosses.  AND the good news that comes out of that passage. I believe it was the Lord prompting me to write something that would be of benefit to someone, somewhere in the world who needed to read it. I want to be the Lord’s instrument in the same way that St Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 6:1-2, “Working together with him, then, we appeal to you not to receive the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, “In a favourable time I listened to you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the favourable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.“ 

“Today!” my dear reader, the Lord may be calling you to come to Him, TODAY! He may be knocking on the door of your heart as you did on mine over 65 years ago and I responded to His invitation to me in Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” THAT DAY as I opened my heart to Jesus, I began a new life as a new creature in Christ leading to a wonderful fulfilling life in marriage, family life and ministry so that TODAY I am eternally grateful to Jesus for these words from Jesus on the cross, “It is finished!” On that day He offered the one sufficient sacrifice for sins so that forgiveness  could become available for the people of God throughout the world through all the ages. AND ALSO for the assurance of Jesus’ words to us, as he says that on the day of our death, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”

Good news on Good Friday! For you and me! TODAY!

Blog No.475 posted on Good Friday 07 April 2023.

Posted in BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Coping With Personal Grief, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Glorification, Healing, Holy Spirit, Judgement, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Real Life Stories, Salvation, Sanctification, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

474. The Blessing Of Being Anointed By God. (Part 2 of 4). Why The Dispensation Of The Holy Spirit May Differ In The New Testament Era From That In The Old Testament Era. 

Posted on April 5, 2023 by Jim Holbeck

In the previous article, we looked at the total list of occurrences of the words “anoint” or “anointing” in the New Testament. But it might be helpful to examine, before examining them in more detail, what differences might exist between the dispensation of the Holy Spirit in Old Testament times and what we find in the New Testament era. 

The Old Testament Dispensation of the Holy Spirit

In the Old Testament, prophets, priests and kings and others were anointed to signify their being set apart for the tasks God had prepared for them to do. They were given the gift of the Holy Spirit to help equip them for their ministry. However, the Spirit could be withdrawn as King Saul discovered, due to his disobedience, 1Sam 16:14 “Now the Spirit of the LORD departed from Saul, and a harmful spirit from the LORD tormented him”. 

When King David sinned against Bathsheba he pleaded with God not to withdraw His Holy Spirit from Him, “Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”  Psalm 51:11. God didn’t remove His Spirit from David. David repented, confessed his sin and turned back to God. 

We see that the dispensation of the Holy Spirit would be different in the New Testament. In the following ways.

  • The Spirit would be poured out on all the believing people of God, not just upon a select few as in the Old Testament era. As Joel prophesied, the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all who believed whether old or young, male or female, whether slave or free. [NOTE 1]. Peter saw the outpouring of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost as a fulfilment of that prophecy. “But this is what was uttered through the prophet Joel:“And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; 18 even on my male servants and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit, and they shall prophesy.” Acts 2:16-18. 
  • The gift of the indwelling Holy Spirit would mark them out as belonging to the people of God,  Romans 8:14, “For all who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God. 15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!” 16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” AND Rom 8:9  “You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” The people of God possessed the Holy Spirit. Unbelievers did not!
  • The Holy Spirit would not be withdrawn as in the Old Testament era. God’s people would be “sealed” by the Holy Spirit. Eph 1:13 “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit.” AND Eph 4:30 “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” AND  2 Cor 1:21 “Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, 22 set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.” Sealing denotes permanence and ownership by God! Sealed by Him, by His Spirit, for Him, forever!
  • Jesus fulfilled the prophecies about the Messiah and the messianic roles in the Old Testament. That is seen specially in Luke 4 where Jesus saw Himself as fulfilling the prophecy in Isaiah 61. [NOTE 2].  In Luke 4:16- 20 we read that Jesus read from this passage in the synagogue in Nazareth and then proclaimed, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” This was a claim to be the long-promised Messiah. As Paul wrote in 2 Cor 1:21 “For all the promises of God find their Yes in him. That is why it is through him that we utter our Amen to God for his glory.” 
  • In brief, JESUS IS THE ANOINTED ONE, fulfilling in Himself all the shadows or prototypes of His ministry in the Old Testament. 

He is THE PROPHET in a way no other prophet could fulfil the role. 

He is THE PRIEST who offered the only one true sacrifice for sin in offering Himself. 

He is THE KING with everything in heaven and on earth under His over-riding rule.  He is the One who is now able to baptise those who trust in Him with the Holy Spirit, in what Paul and John described as their anointing. 

  • Therefore we cannot just take the mention of anointing in the Old Testament and try to impose its meaning on the concept of anointing in the New Testament. The reason is that THE ANOINTED ONE, Jesus has come and has fulfilled all the prophecies about anointing in the Old Testament. That is why there is probably so little mention of anointing in the New Testament. The SUBSTANCE [the ANOINTED ONE] has come in Jesus. He is THE CHRISTOS, THE MESSIAH, THE ANOINTED ONE. The shadows fade. Fulfilled! By THE CHRISTOS! The Anointed One. Who Anoints His People with the Holy Spirit!

In the next article, we will look at an analysis of all the verses on “anointing” in the New Testament as relating to believers.

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NOTES. 

[NOTE 1]  Joel 2:28-29.  “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions. 29 Even on the male and female servants in those days I will pour out my Spirit.”   

[NOTE 2]. Isaiah 61, “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me, because the LORD has anointed me to bring good news to the poor; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to those who are bound 2 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favour, and the day of vengeance of our God; to comfort all who mourn; 3 to grant to those who mourn in Zion— to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified.”

Blog No. 474 posted on Wednesday 05 April 2023

Posted in anointing, BIBLE PASSAGE OUTLINES, Bible verses. Comments, Creation, Evangelism, Faithfulness, Forgiveness, Glorification, Healing, Holy Spirit, Justification, Mental Health, New Covenant, Prayer, Salvation, Sanctification, TOPICS | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment