From Gary.... Maher Shalal Hash Baz

It is odd how some things come together!  Recently, just before Bible class I was talking with someone about names in the Bible and I remembered Maher Shalal Hash Baz as being one of the longest names in the Old Testament.  So, as I was looking through my stock of pictures today, I noticed the title I had put on this one- Leaving quiet waters.  Naturally, I thought of Isaiah chapter eight and put the two together.  I copied the whole chapter, just for added meaning...

Isaiah, Chapter 8

 1 Yahweh said to me, “Take a large tablet, and write on it with a man’s pen, ‘For Maher Shalal Hash Baz’;  2 and I will take for myself faithful witnesses to testify: Uriah the priest, and Zechariah the son of Jeberechiah.” 

  3  I went to the prophetess, and she conceived, and bore a son. Then Yahweh said to me, “Call his name ‘Maher Shalal Hash Baz.’  4 For before the child knows how to say, ‘My father,’ and, ‘My mother,’ the riches of Damascus and the plunder of Samaria will be carried away by the king of Assyria.” 

  5  Yahweh spoke to me yet again, saying,  6 “Because this people have refused the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;  7 now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.  8 It will sweep onwMaher Shalal Hash Bazard into Judah. It will overflow and pass through; it will reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, Immanuel.  9 Make an uproar, you peoples, and be broken in pieces! Listen, all you from far countries: dress for battle, and be shattered! Dress for battle, and be shattered!  10 Take counsel together, and it will be brought to nothing; speak the word, and it will not stand: for God is with us.” 11 For Yahweh spoke thus to me with a strong hand, and instructed me not to walk in the way of this people, saying,  12 “Don’t say, ‘A conspiracy!’ concerning all about which this people say, ‘A conspiracy!’ neither fear their threats, nor be terrorized.  13 Yahweh of Armies is who you must respect as holy. He is the one you must fear. He is the one you must dread.  14 He will be a sanctuary, but for both houses of Israel, he will be a trap and a snare for the inhabitants of Jerusalem. 15 Many will stumble over it, fall, be broken, be snared, and be captured.”  16 Wrap up the testimony. Seal the law among my disciples.  17 I will wait for Yahweh, who hides his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him.  18 Behold, I and the children whom Yahweh has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from Yahweh of Armies, who dwells in Mount Zion. 

  19  When they tell you, “Consult with those who have familiar spirits and with the wizards, who chirp and who mutter:” shouldn’t a people consult with their God? Should they consult the dead on behalf of the living?  20 Turn to the law and to the testimony! If they don’t speak according to this word, surely there is no morning for them.  21 They will pass through it, very distressed and hungry; and it will happen that when they are hungry, they will worry, and curse by their king and by their God. They will turn their faces upward,  22 and look to the earth, and see distress, darkness, and the gloom of anguish. They will be driven into thick darkness. 

Some things happen on a national level.  Whole countries sometimes collectively make decisions that are disastrous.  Prewar Germany was one such example, and ancient Israel was another.  Germany chose Adolph Hitler and Israel had its Resin and Remaliah, but the important thing is that NEITHER CHOOSE GOD!!!  Any choice other than God will result in tragedy and ruin.   Maher Shalal Hash Baz is a long name, but somehow it has stuck with me and I remember the waters of Shiloah associated with it as well.  Does The United States Of America remember God?  Will it choose the cult of Islam instead of the one true God?  People are free to make any choice they want. America, what will you do???

From Bill and Laura Dayton... WHOSE LIVING IN YOUR HOUSE?

WHOSE LIVING IN YOUR HOUSE?

By God’s grace we have all been given places of our own that we can call HOME! As Christians, God expects us to claim them as places where HIS Word, HIS ways, and HIS will are respected. For many who live with unbelieving family members this is a very difficult task. Nevertheless, God does give us His authority to demand some standards that will keep Satan and his influence under control.

The Word of God has some good advice for those of us struggling with rebellion under our roof. There is a sense in which we must love and encourage those we love towards improvement. However there comes a point when our patient love becomes more of a license to do evil. This has become a dominant theme in our culture. Proverbs 17:15 gives us a warning about going too far in accepting sin and evil in our homes. “He who justifies the wicked, and he who condemns the just, BOTH OF THEM alike are an abomination to the Lord.” Let’s just get real about sin shall we? Our world is too busy blaming mom and dad, economy, race, etc. for evil behavior. God says there is no justification! NONE! In a way this is good news because when a person realizes where the buck stops so to speak, he then is free to decide who he will be and who he will follow.

Let’s continue to pray that God blesses our homes with faith, hope and love where His peace rules!

From the Heart of a Servant. 

From Jim McGuiggan... Was Cornelius saved before Peter came?

Was Cornelius saved before Peter came?

Some readers wonder about my claim that Cornelius was “saved” before baptism in the name of Jesus Christ and before God sent the Spirit on him.  It seems to me that we need to make up our minds about Gentiles (and Jews) in pre-Christ days. I believe that Gentiles in those days—those who patiently continued in doing what was right, who had the things of the Jewish Torah written on their hearts and were seeking a higher life—I believe that they were right with God (“saved”) and in the Final Judgement will receive glory, honour and immortality (see Romans 2:6-16).  God didn’t enter a special covenant with Gentiles (as he did with Jews) but we’re not to suppose as some hyper-Calvinists do that that automatically damned them. The holy grace of God that was extended to them was brought to them (however we wish to express it in atonement theory) in the Lord Jesus Christ. This was true also of Jews who lived in pre-Christ days (compare Hebrews 9:15).  For obvious reasons these pre-Christ Gentiles (and Jews) were not required to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be “saved”. He hadn’t yet arrived and the gospel about him was not being proclaimed. Life with God (salvation) was possible only through Jesus Christ but it wasn’t essential that these people know about it. If it had been essential for everyone to hear and know of Jesus Christ and commit to him in faith then, obviously, no one prior to his coming could have been “saved”.  Express it as we will, but God extended holy grace to pre-Christ people prior to but always in view of the coming of Jesus Christ. Compare Romans 3:24-26. The saving “gospel of Jesus Christ” did not exist among men until Jesus Christ lived, died, was exalted and made Lord of all and sent the Holy Spirit as the proof of his Lordship. See Acts 2:33-36. So, of course one did not have to believe it to be right with God (“saved”)—see the important John 15:22-24 text for the obvious principle at work here.  Could any Gentile be saved prior to the coming of the gospel of Jesus Christ? If the answer’s yes, then people like Cornelius were surely of that category. If the answer’s no, we need to be prepared for what that means. (I won’t pursue some hyper-Calvinistic responses here but their God is not the God I read of in scripture or see in Jesus Christ.)   If the answer’s yes, providing he became a Jew this would be precisely the kind of national righteousness that Paul scathed in Galatians and in Romans. (“Christ is only for Jews or those who will become Jews,” some said back then. “God was only for the Jews in pre-Christ times,” some would say today.)   But what has all this to do with Cornelius who lived after the coming and glorification of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord?   Cornelius was still a pre-Christ person. He now lived in the Christian Era but he had not yet been offered the gospel. And it was the will of God that he had not yet been offered the gospel because it was God’s purpose that the gospel would go Jews first and then to all the world (Acts 1:8; 3:26; Acts 13:46 and Peter’s own claim in 15:7 that Cornelius was the first case of a “raw” Gentile hearting the gospel offer).  You understand, it doesn’t matter how much he heard about Jesus and what he had done among the Jews and what some Jewish preachers were saying to other Jews about him (Acts 10:36-38)—uncircumcised Cornelius wasn’t offered salvation "in Jesus the Messiah", wasn’t thought to be included in the offer. He was never offered the gospel until now!  Salvation “in Jesus Christ” was more than forgiveness, it was to be part of the New Covenant people, it was to be part of the new work of God in the world, it was to be part of “the body of Christ” (Ephesians 5:22). An ancient Jew like Isaiah would have been right with God (“saved”) but he wasn’t a part of the body of Christ; he could not be! Cornelius was right with God but now he was being called into a relationship with God through Jesus Christ in whom all that “salvation” means is found. What Cornelius was offered was salvation in relationship to Jesus Christ, which is precisely what many (most?) Jews of that time would have said he couldn’t have! They clung to a national righteousness and Cornelius’ being received into Jesus Christ exposed that.  We would say the same of Jews like Mary, Joseph, Anna, Elizabeth and so on. Before Pentecost they would have been right with God and after Pentecost they would have been right with God but under the terms of a new covenant and in relationship with Jesus Christ. There’s nothing difficult about this concept.  It’s as if God said to faithful Jews, “You have had life and salvation with me under an arrangement that I am about to end. If you want to be saved you must now come to me on the basis of a new covenant centred in the person of Jesus Christ.”  Had the devoted Anna (see Luke 2:36-38) later refused to be baptized “believing on him who was to come” (Acts 19:4) she would have been cut off from among the people (Acts 3:22-23). But presuming she submitted to John’s baptism she would have been no more forgiven than she was before she was baptized. Now her relationship with the God of forgiveness would have altered in terms of covenant—she would be confessing that her relationship with God was in and by Jesus who brought salvation to his people (Matthew 1:21) and to everyone else.   All that had gone before Jesus was preparatory, covenant structures and sacrifice and such. We’re not to think that in the preparatory stage no one was “saved” but we’re not to mistake the paradigm shift in covenant. Cornelius, I believe, was saved before he was offered the privilege and the divine call to submit to Jesus Christ. The difference between the two saved states is the difference between day and night.  Many of us have reduced the meaning of Jesus Christ and reduced what he has brought to nothing but remission of sins and a passport to heaven. This is a terrible reduction. What a righteous Jew or Gentile had before entering Jesus and what he/she had on taking Jesus as their Lord is not at all the same, though there were elements of sameness. (See what you make of Hebrews 11:39-40 with 12:23.)  I believe Cornelius was saved in pre-Christ terms by the generous grace of God just as Jews were. I believe that his salvation “in Christ” was a shift of faith in content. He was now being called to take the name of Jesus on him as Saviour and Lord just as Jews had been called to do.       

©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.

Many thanks to brother Ed Healy, for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.

From Mark Copeland... The Insufficiency Of The Scriptures (Jn. 5:37-40)

                          "THE GOSPEL OF JOHN"

             The Insufficiency Of The Scriptures (5:37-40)

INTRODUCTION

1. The all-sufficiency of the Scriptures is an important doctrine...
   a. For the Scriptures are completely adequate - 2Ti 3:16-17
   b. God has provided all that we need for life and godliness - 2 Pe 1:3
   c. We do not need further revelation, we have the faith delivered
      "once for all" to the saints - Jude 3
   -- Thus we have that which is able to build us up and give us our
      inheritance - Ac 20:32

2. Yet there can come a time... when the Scriptures are insufficient...
   a. When despite its power, the Word of God is unable to save
   b. When despite diligent study, it does not benefit those who search
      through it
   -- There can be a time when the Scriptures are insufficient!

3. We find such an occasion in the gospel of John...
   a. When Jesus was confronted by unbelieving Jews - cf. Jn 5:16-18
   b. Who had rejected various sources bearing witness to Jesus - cf Jn 5:33-36

[In what serves as our text (Jn 5:37-40), we learn when and how the
Scriptures can be insufficient, as it proved to be in the case of the
Jews...]

I. HOW THE SCRIPTURES PROVED INSUFFICIENT FOR THE JEWS

   A. THEY DILIGENTLY SEARCHED THE SCRIPTURES...
      1. As indicated in our text - Jn 5:39
         a. The KJV has Jesus commanding them to search the Scriptures
         b. The ASV, NKJV, NASB has Jesus acknowledging their study of
            the Scriptures
         c. "The form here can be either present active indicative
            second person plural or the present active imperative second
            person plural. Only the context can decide. Either makes
            sense here, but the reason given 'because ye think' (clearly
            indicative), supports the indicative rather than the
            imperative." - Robertson's Word Pictures
      2. The Jews were diligent students of the Scriptures
         a. Moses was read in the synagogues every Sabbath - cf. Ac 15:
            21
         b. "Hillel used to say, 'More law, more life...He who has
            gotten himself words of law has gotten himself the life of
            the world to come' (Talmud). In their zeal for the
            Scriptures the Jews had counted every letter of them,
            expecting to find life in the laws and precepts..."
            - McGarvey's Fourfold Gospel
      -- One could hardly be a more diligent student of the Scriptures
         than the Jews!

   B. YET THE SCRIPTURES DID NOT BENEFIT THEM...
      1. They were unwilling to believe in Him of whom the Scriptures
         testified - Jn 5:39-40
      2. Failing to believe in Jesus led to the Father's Word not
         abiding in them - cf. Jn 5:38
      -- Unwilling to believe in Him of whom the Scriptures testified,
         the Scriptures proved insufficient to be the Word of life for
         them!

[How sad that many Jews who had the benefit of receiving "the oracles of
God" (Ro 3:1-2) and studied them so diligently fell short of receiving
their true benefit.  Yet the same occurs often today...]

II. HOW THE SCRIPTURES CAN BE INSUFFICIENT FOR US TODAY

   A. WE MAY BE DILIGENT STUDENTS OF THE SCRIPTURES...
      1. Indeed we should be diligent students of the Word!
         a. The gospel is God's power to save - Ro 1:16
         b. The Word of God is living and powerful - He 4:12
         c. The Word is able to save our souls - Jm 1:21
         d. The Word is able to make one born again - 1Pe 1:22
         e. The Word is able to help us grow - 1Pe 2:2
         f. The Word is able to give us that inheritance among those
            sanctified - Ac 20:32
      2. Many people are diligent students of the Word!
         a. Every denomination has its scholars, people well-versed in
            the Word
         b. People read the Bible daily, study it in church frequently
         c. Some can even quote entire sections from memory
      -- Many are like the Berean Jews in their study of the Scriptures
         - Ac 17:11

   B. YET THE SCRIPTURES WILL NOT BENEFIT US...
      1. If we do not have faith - He 4:1-2
         a. We may come short of our promised rest
         b. Like the Israelites who fell in the wilderness
      2. If we are not doers of the Word
         a. If we are only hearers, we deceive ourselves - Jm 1:21-25
         b. If we are only hearers, we will not stand in times of trial
            - Mt 7:24-27
      -- Unless we believe and obey the Word of God , it remains
         insufficient to save us!

CONCLUSION

1. The Word of God is truly all-sufficient..
   a. To do the work God designed it do - Isa 55:10-11
   b. To bear fruit in the noble and good heart - Lk 8:11,15

2. Yet "people of the Book" (as the Koran calls Jews and Christians)
   should take heed...
   a. The Word cannot bear fruit in some hearts - Lk 8:12-14
   b. We must let the Word lead us to Him Who is the giver of life - cf.
      Jn 5:40

Indeed, "the all-sufficiency of the Word" must be understood in its
context, for the Word alone does not save.  To be saved we also need
faith (Jn 8:24), we need blood (Ep 1:7), we even need water (Ep 5:26),
the last being an allusion to baptism where the Word, God's grace,
Christ's blood and our faith comes together to provide remission of
sins! - cf. Ac 2:38; 22:16

Executable Outlines, Copyright © Mark A. Copeland, 2011