God Will Protect His Name

Posted on September 8, 2012 by JohnJ


“But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went. “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.”‘
Ezekiel 36:21-23

You may think by the title that I refer to the Third of the Ten Commandments and the seemingly constant frivolous misuse of the names of the Lord mindlessly abused by almost everyone. But no, the verses above tell the story I’m addressing. It has to do with not only Israel during the Babylon Captivity but I believe for Christians too. This occurred to me when I read these verses a few days ago, so I list the complete text at the bottom of the page in support.

First by no means does my theory deny the infinite love of our magnanimous Savior for His creation, otherwise the very intimate and personal sacrifice of His Son in the excruciatingly painful crucifixion and death on the cross is incomprehensible. Certainly we have a difficult time plumbing the depths of the verse from John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” God does cherish His creation and creatures.

But His love not withstanding, God does judge the sin in the world. It is inescapable when reading the Bible from cover to cover to see both God’s deep and abiding love and forgiveness balanced with His powerful judgement. He postpones judgement time after time in hopes that His people will return to their senses, and sends His messengers to them time after time after time. But there comes a time when a line is crossed and time is up and all the multitudes of warnings have fallen on deaf ears and the promised judgements are rendered.

But it isn’t the judgement that concerns me here. It is for whom God is acting that makes me pause. Usually we human beings look at everything we go through in life from the perspective of – guess who – ourselves! Doesn’t it seem that everything starts and ends with how it affects us and our little world? “What will I eat?” “What will I drink?” “What will I wear?” (Matt. 6:31) Self preservation is very strong in all of us, so, such self centeredness is not surprising. And when we read of God’s mercy on the remnant of His people in the Old Testament we instinctively think it is mainly for their welfare He acts.

But these verses make it crystal clear that it is for the sake of the holiness of God’s name that He acts. It is so His name will not be profaned any longer that He does what He must do. He judges and He restores, not for man’s sake, but for the glory of God.

This should give the Christian great pause. The Born Again Believer should not be proud of heart that he was chosen from among the many to become a child of God, because, one, he was selected based on nothing that he had done deserving it, and two, it wasn’t done for his sake, but was done for the greater glory of God. This should humble the heart of every Christian. The Believer is made a child of God in order to bring glory to the majestic and magnificent Creator of all things, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Many of us are still living our lives trying to come to grips with what this really means in our daily, moment by moment lives. Many of us are still clinging to the attachments and distractions of this world, trying to figure out how to let the Holy Spirit empower us, to let Him control our desires, our temptations, our hopes, our dreams. We’re still finding it too easy to succumb to the worldly temptations, to give in to the lusts of the flesh, to ignore His Word, to mute His voice, to diminish His influence in our behavior, thoughts and actions.

But bear in mind, God is acting on us all. And while He loves us and wants to give us the very best His creation has to offer, He ultimately has the holiness of His name to protect when it has been profaned with such abuse and excess day in and day out since the Fall so many thousands of years ago. He promises to restore all things. He promises to bring His remnant through all the bad times. But through it all He promises that in doing so “they will know that I am the Lord.” Yes, this phrase “They will know that I am the Lord” is such a vital message that is occurs 26 times in the book of Ezekiel and no where else. It is a declaration to Israel and to the rest of the nations. The world has forgotten Who it was who created them, Who gave them life, from Whom are all things. And Who is holy. But He has promised – they are soon going to remember!

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Here is the section in its entirety. It is especially pertinent to Believers today.

Eze 36:21 “But I had concern for My holy name, which the house of Israel had profaned among the nations where they went.
Eze 36:22 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
Eze 36:23 “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,” declares the Lord GOD, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
Eze 36:24 “For I will take you from the nations, gather you from all the lands and bring you into your own land.
Eze 36:25 “Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness and from all your idols.
Eze 36:26 “Moreover, I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; and I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27 “I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will be careful to observe My ordinances.
Eze 36:28 “You will live in the land that I gave to your forefathers; so you will be My people, and I will be your God.
Eze 36:29 “Moreover, I will save you from all your uncleanness; and I will call for the grain and multiply it, and I will not bring a famine on you.
Eze 36:30 “I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field, so that you will not receive again the disgrace of famine among the nations.
Eze 36:31 “Then you will remember your evil ways and your deeds that were not good, and you will loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities and your abominations.
Eze 36:32 “I am not doing this for your sake,” declares the Lord GOD, “let it be known to you. Be ashamed and confounded for your ways, O house of Israel!”

Compare with Isaiah 44:3 and Joel 2:28.

[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]

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Prophets, Apostles, & the Holy Spirit, “What the Bible Teaches”

Posted on September 6, 2012 by JohnJ

This the 28th installment of 52 reviewing RA Torrey’s 1898 publication What The Bible Teaches. See all of Lex’s posts here. A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here. You are welcome and encouraged to join the discussion in your comments to these posts.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT, PROPHETS & APOSTLES

Torrey now discusses the work of the Spirit as it pertains to the work of the Old Testament Prophets and the New Testament Apostles. He is careful to distinguish the role of the Spirit in the offices and gifts the Spirit appointed in the first century church as Paul lists in 1 Corinthians 12 (apostles, prophets, teachers, etc.) from the ordinary Spirit-filled believers. All believers are endowed with the same Spirit but God uses whom He will and how He will for His own, sometimes special, purposes, though all for the greater glory of God, and none with lesser value than others.

I get a special thrill reading the Old Testament, in particular how the foretelling of New Testament ideas and ideals, the things of Christ, the things of the Spirit, of redemption and restoration, are depicted by the prophets though they may not quite have fully realized it at the time. This is particularly and especially pronounced in Isaiah, but is generously scattered throughout all the Prophetic books. Unless you read through the Bible from cover to cover a number of times you will miss so many of these gems which is a real shame, since they are such a blessing and encouragement. And as Peter wrote (1 Peter 1:10-12) even the prophets were trying to figure out just what these prophesies were supposed to mean, like we are doing today with the Book of Revelation and other end times prophesies. But when Jesus Christ came and completed His earthly ministry a lot of those prophesies became clear to His disciples.

Torrey brings attention to the prophet’s utterances being, not the words of the person of the prophet, but the very words of God Himself. Well, I guess that’s why the prophet would frequently say to his audience, “hear the word of the Lord,” right? It does make one wonder how the prophet knew that his next thoughts and words that would be coming out of his mind and mouth would be the words from God, though. Especially in a time when so many false prophets were telling so many lies in the Lord’s name. I suppose that is how intimate the relationship was between prophet and God. When Saul prophesied he couldn’t control himself, he couldn’t help but prophesy (1 Sam. 10:10). Maybe that’s how the all the prophets worked as well. They could just feel that the Spirit was in control and that they were somehow not. Wouldn’t you love it to have such regard by the Lord to feel His strength, His power like that?

Lastly Torrey touches on a favorite topic of mine, biblical textual criticism. “If the Holy Spirit is the author of the words of Scripture, how do we account for variations in style and diction from the human writers?” The answer is simple, so I’ll just point you to a fun web site where you can browse a lot of topics on the biblical text. It is Bible Research Internet Resources for Students of Scripture. The texts that are the foundation of the translations we enjoy today is such a remarkable and fascinating case study. The skeptic in his ignorance thinks it preposterous that an intelligent human being could believe in the Bible, but just the opposite is the case. When you look at the texts, and the case for their accuracy, how can a reasonable person not believe?

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Baptism of the Spirit, What the Bible Teaches

Posted on August 31, 2012 by JohnJ

Now here’s a topic you can sink your spirit into. Immerse yourself in Lex’s post and make some topical comments.

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Culture Worship

Posted on August 25, 2012 by JohnJ

Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'”
Jeremiah 7:3-4

While it is obvious from reading Scripture that Israel could not for the life of them remain faithful to their Lord and God, it may not be entirely clear why they could not. I believe the main reason they could not keep the faith is the same reason Christians today can not keep the faith. And that is what I call Culture Worship as opposed to God worship.

I’ll deal with Christians momentarily and discuss Israel first because it she a remarkable creation. After all the promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and four hundred years oppressed and enslaved in Egypt God brought her out in overwhelmingly dramatic fashion. It couldn’t have been even remotely possible that she could not be hugely impressed by what God did to obtain safe passage for a million people. Add to that all the other miracles they knew came only from the Lord on their travels in the wilderness. So then came the Promised Land and time passed and they mingled with the other nations and what happened? They saw all the little enticements, the delectables and delicacies the other guys had and they now desired. Never mind that Israel had God Himself for their very own, the Creator of the universe, the Keeper of all the promises of good things He would do for them! But they really didn’t see God. He wasn’t visible. Yes, they had a tent of meeting, but really, how cool was that compared to all the glorious shiny pagan stuff all those other nations around had with their bangles and beads and things.

So then came the big letdown. “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah; and they said to him, “Behold, you have grown old, and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king for us to judge us like all the nations.” 1 Sam. 8:4 Never mind that the Lord God was their King, they really wanted to be like all the other nations. They had not exterminated the nations as God had commanded, they had instead become appreciative of them, had intermarried and were intermingling with them. Their culture really wasn’t so bad after all, was it? So they reasoned.

Look at King Solomon, not so many years later. Spoken of as the wisest King in history (Kings 4:29-34). And what was his end of days? His later years were apostate, degrading, fallen away from his Lord and God. And how did that happen? He married a lot of wives! And those wives were of many different cultures (1 Kings 11:1-8) and his heart turn to their gods so that Solomon could please his wives, appreciating their cultural heritage more than the Law of the Lord and His truth, power and glory.

And so it goes, all throughout the course of Israel’s history. God sent His prophets but the people were more interested in their entanglements, in their cultural enticements to be concerned with the wrath to come. Even when the tragedies unfolded in front of their faces they refused to see the light and lay the blame on God and the prophets instead. (Read with wonder this exchange between Jeremiah and the remnant left behind in Jerusalem in Jeremiah chapter 42-44!)

So we see that Israel had really substituted Form in place of Person; Ceremony in place of Relationship. They had the Temple, the Law, the ceremonies that gave them structure and organization and they could be religious automatically, on autopilot, as it were. They really didn’t have to think about the person of God through any of it. They just had to develop rules and processes that covered any contingency and the machinery would basically run itself.

This is what the verses at the top of the page are saying. You can’t just say “we have the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord.” This was the whole attack of Jesus against the Jews of His day. Nothing had changed in the four hundred years after Jeremiah. They just had a different Temple. But they ignored the same Lord and God that their Fathers had. They placed more importance on their culture that they did in the Living God. The High Priest in Jesus day said as much: “nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish.” John 11:50 In other words, we can kill Jesus and keep our Temple, city, ceremonies, vestments, songs, processions. Throughout her history it is the Jewish culture that is worshiped instead of her Lord and God. And all kinds of bad things have happened to her because of it. She has been warned time after time after time – a majority of the Old Testament is just that, dire warnings against apostasy and pleadings not to abandon her God. But to Israel the organization and culture was more important than the Omnipotent One. She preferred the trappings of Ceremony to her Creator.

Today, to many many Christians things are the same. Their church organization is more important that the One in whose name that organization stands. They have the ceremonies just like the Jews had, but are devoid of the Spirit. They’ve learned to memorize the chants and prayers without the heart. But on the outside their actions speak louder than their words. I know, I’ve been there. They too should listen as the Lord speaks, “Amend your ways and your deeds, and I will let you dwell in this place. Do not trust in deceptive words, saying, ‘This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD.'”

So if you are warned not to trust in deceptive words in what words are you to trust? Here is the crux of the matter. You are going to have a rough time of it if you are not familiar with the right words. I promise you if you are not immersed in God’s Word, from Genesis to Revelation, you are making life very difficult for yourself. And I do mean immersed. You need to be reading the Bible through and through so that you are familiar with how God has worked every step of the way through history. Only by reading over and over again from the beginning to the end can you really have an appropriate idea where God’s work with man started and where it is going, to be able to appreciate living in the present. If you don’t know how God has worked throughout history in Scripture, all that He has said, what promises He has made, you can have no idea how God can work in your own life. And if you don’t know how God can work in your own life you are truly adrift in this world.

I was sorely tempted at this point to point out cultural particulars that in my opinion are antithetical to the things of the Spirit and of the prosperity of the Church, and to say if you watched these TV shows, watched these movies, read these books, did these activities you must be a struggling or failing Christian. But I know this is not my job and I would be grievously mistaken if I attempted to do this. One, because others could point to things in my own life they would say fails the test, and two, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to show people how to sanctify themselves to a more holy calling as saints and excel in fellowship in Christ.

The thing I must do is this, share one section of verse from the Old Testament as a guide for all of us. It is a virtually unknown portion of the Ten Commandments, but, in my opinion, the most important part, because if followed all the rest would follow as a matter of course. Here are the verses from Deuteronomy 6:5-9
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart.
“You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.
“You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead.
“You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

It is not difficult to see the emphasis on loving God with all you heart, mind, soul, and might. Can you think of anything on earth you really love that much? What is there on earth that you love so much that is pretty much constantly on your mind as you go about your daily business? Every day? Day in and day out? Week after week? Do you really think about the Lord that much? Or is He pretty much forgotten except for Sundays, if you do go to Church? Are you diligent to teach God’s Word to your kids or family or is that not possible? Are you diligent to talk about His Word sitting around your house or does the Word never come up? Is Christ the first person you think of when you fall asleep at night and wake the next morning, or are are all the trappings of the world choking God out of your life? Is He on your mind all throughout the day as you work and play and rest and relax? And if not, how would you define this sentence:
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.?

All the TV shows, movies, activities, are they influenced by how you think our Lord would be involved in them or through them or could influence them, or is He as far as possible from them? Remember Paul’s admonition that “Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Cor. 10:31

But again I emphasis that without immersing yourself in the Word you are handicapping yourself as you are not availing yourself with the tools for spiritual success. Paul tells us “Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” Col. 3:16

So I implore you, if you are not currently reading the Bible from cover to cover please start. It is a truly awesome journey, it is exciting to see how God has worked in thrilling ways directly in the history of mankind in his fabulous grace and kindness, and yes, also His awesome judgement. Reading from cover to cover helps you get to know Him like you never thought you could. Start today. Pick up a Bible now. Find a current, accurate translation, one done in the last few decades, not from a century or more ago, because if you don’t read a translation in your own colloquial language, one that you easily understand, you will be less likely to maintain the reading habit. (See the Resources page on this site.)

If you are not now reading daily the Word of God you need to ask yourself why that is. Why are you not devoted to the most direct communication from the mind of God to human beings that we have today, basically God’s love letter to mankind? Why wouldn’t you want to know everything that is between these covers and find out everything you can possibly know about the God who is there and is not silent, who has not been silent for thousands of years, but has been speaking to us for generations on every topic of life that is still relevant today?

So immerse yourself in the Word, not just your culture. Jesus plainly stated, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.” Matt. 24:35 These verses are reported in all three synoptic Gospels, giving you a good indication of how important His Word is compared to the world and our cultures. Delight yourself in His Word. It will change your life for good!

[Scriptures taken from the New American Standard Bible © 1995]

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The Work of the Spirit, “What the Bible Teaches”

Posted on August 23, 2012 by JohnJ

This the 26th installment of 52 reviewing RA Torrey’s 1898 publication What The Bible Teaches. See all of Lex’s posts here. A PDF copy of the book can be downloaded here. You are welcome and encouraged to join the discussion in your comments to these posts.

THE WORK OF THE HOLY SPIRIT

Next Torrey examines the role of the Holy Spirit in working in the world, in man, and specifically in the believer. This important stuff, for the new believer as well as for the experienced – especially as Torey gets into the meat of the power of the Spirit in the Christian.

God made all creation (Gen. 1:1), but all three Persons were used. By the Word the world was made. (John 1:1-3) But the Spirit of God moved over its surfaced in a creative process. (Gen. 1:2 ff.) The Spirit seems to be the effective energizing force of the Godhead in creation as well as in working within and through mankind.

It is the work of the Holy Spirit that convicts man of sin. It is by His power that men are awakened and their eyes are opened to the truth of the Gospel.

Then He works in the believer. He opens our eyes to understand His Word in the Scriptures. Whereas before the words and verses were pretty much just kind of fairy-tale-like, but now they are alive and active!

It by the power of the Spirit that we as believers are able to resist the Tempter, certainly not by our power, which is why we fail so often. It is by the life-giving power of the Spirit that we are energized to love God and Christ and the Spirit, to love the reading and studying of His word, and to enjoy the fellowship of the saints. It is by the power of the Spirit that we are able to focus on the things of the Spirit, and resist the delightful distractions of this world that tear the fabric of our sanctification, causing us to lose confidence in His grace and His glory. Without our active dependance on the power of the Holy Spirit in our daily lives we can’t help but let those distractions push aside more and more our sense of His presence, we ignore just a little more the still, small voice of our Lord in our ear telling us how much He loves us, telling us just how really big He is, and just how really small and unimportant so much of this world is, and if we would only let Him He’d show us a little more of His glory than we are currently letting Him.

These are some of the ways the Spirit works in the Believer, and Torrey discusses even more, which is why this particular chapter is so important.

The Spirit guides us, He helps us pray, He protects us. He never leaves our side. And then comes that day when we are favored with that face to face meeting with our Father and our cry “Abba, Father” takes on an even more heart-felt touch.

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