Did Jesus Deny Deity and Moral Perfection in Mark 10:18? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=10&article=4832

Did Jesus Deny Deity and Moral Perfection in Mark 10:18?

by	Eric Lyons, M.Min.

The New Testament writers repeatedly testified to the fact that, though Jesus “was in all points tempted as we are,” He was “without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). Paul claimed that Jesus “knew no sin” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Peter said that Christ “committed no sin, nor was deceit found in His mouth”—that He was the perfect sacrificial Lamb, “without blemish and without spot” (1 Peter 2:22; 1:19). Likewise, John wrote that in Christ “there is no sin” (1 John 3:5). Jesus was supremely “pure,” “righteous,” and “good” (1 John 3:3; 2:1; John 10:11,14).
Additionally, the New Testament has much to say about the divine nature of Christ. Jesus claimed to be the Messiah (Mark 14:62; John 4:25-26), Whom Isaiah prophesied would be “Mighty God” and “Jehovah” (Isaiah 9:6; 40:3). Jesus accepted worship while in the form of a man (John 9:38)—implying that He, too, was Deity (Matthew 4:10; cf. Acts 12:21-23; 14:14-15). Jesus forgave sins, which only God can do (Mark 2:5-10). The apostle John said that Jesus “was God” (John 1:1). Jesus claimed to be “one” with God (John 10:30), leading His hearers to believe that He made Himself “God” (10:33). And, after the apostle Thomas called Jesus “Lord” and “God” (John 20:28), Jesus immediately acknowledged Thomas’ faith, rather than deny the deity that Thomas had just professed. In his letter to the Philippians Paul wrote that Christ Jesus “being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God” (Philippians 2:6). In fact, “in Him all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form” (Colossians 2:9).
In light of the fact that the Bible claims repeatedly that Jesus was both “good” and “God,” some contend that in Mark 10:18 (and Matthew 19:17) Jesus said just the opposite. In an article titled “New Testament Contradictions,” Paul Carlson stated that Mark 10:18 (among other passages) is “an embarrassment to the church,” as it indicates “Jesus did not consider himself sinless” (1995). By saying, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God” (Mark 10:18), allegedly “Jesus made a clear distinction between himself and God,” and, according to Muslims, Matthew and Mark “believed that Jesus was not God” (“The Bible Denies…,” 2014, emp. added). According to skeptic Dennis McKinsey, in Mark 10:18, “Jesus is not only admitting that he is not perfectly moral but that he is not God” (McKinsey, 2000, p. 247).
Does Jesus actually admit not being “good” and “God” in Mark 10:18? How did Jesus respond to the wealthy young ruler who asked Him, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” Did He deny being perfectly moral and Divine? The simple fact is, Jesus never denied being good or God.
So what did Jesus mean? Before answering this question, one must keep in mind that Jesus often responded to questions in unexpected, masterful ways. He offered thought-provoking, soul-searching answers (often in the form of questions) that, unfortunately, many people have misinterpreted. [Consider, for example, when the Pharisees asked Jesus about why His disciples allegedly broke the law of Moses and plucked heads of grain as they walked through the fields on the Sabbath. Rather than explicitly deny that the apostles were disregarding the Law of Moses, Jesus asked His accusers two very appropriate (and very perceptive) questions:

Have you not read what David did when he was hungry, he and those who were with him: how he entered the house of God and ate the showbread which was not lawful for him to eat, nor for those who were with him, but only for the priests? Or have you not read in the law that on the Sabbath the priests in the temple profane the Sabbath, and are blameless? (Matthew 12:3-5).

Although many have misinterpreted Jesus’ response on this occasion to justify situation ethics, Jesus did nothing of the sort. The only “law” that Jesus’ disciples broke while going through the grain fields (Matthew 12:1-8) was the Pharisaical interpretation of the Law (see Lyons, 2003 for more information; see also Miller, 2004).]
The rich young ruler was confident in his keeping of various commandments (Mark 10:20), but he surely never thought that Jesus would instruct him to sell whatever he had and give it to the poor—to leave everything and follow Him (10:21). Similarly, when the young ruler initially came to Jesus, saying, “Good Teacher, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” he never expected Jesus to say, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God” (10:17-18).
The young man seems to have regarded himself as “good” (since he professed to have kept all of the commandments that Jesus mentioned—Mark 10:20). Perhaps the gentleman simply wanted to know—from one good man to another good man (a “good teacher”)—what do I need to do to inherit eternal life. Rather than immediately answer the young man’s question, however, it seems Jesus first wanted (1) to humble him, by highlighting that he was not as “good” as he considered himself to be, and (2) for him to realize Who exactly he was questioning. He wasn’t merely petitioning a “good” (Greek agathos) man.
The Bible records various (mere) human beings who were called “good” (agathos). Luke recorded that “Barnabas was a good man” (Acts 11:24). Paul indicated that Christians are to “do good to all” (Galatians 6:10). (Are Christians who do good, “good” Christians?) Even Jesus stated previous to His encounter with the rich young ruler that “a good man out of the good treasure of his heart, brings forth good things” (Matthew 12:35). Thus, clearly when Jesus spoke to the wealthy ruler He was not using “good” in the sense of a man being “good.” Rather, He was using it in the sense of God being absolutely, supremely good. The kind of goodness to which He referred belonged only to God. The only way man can objectively call someone “good” is if there is an ultimate standard for goodness—the supreme, unblemished, good God.
Jesus never said what skeptics, Muslims, and others allege He said—that He was not good, or that He was not God. Instead, Jesus attempted to get the rich young ruler to see the implications of calling Him “good teacher.” Do good (merely) human teachers claim to be the Messiah? Do good men accept worship and honor due only to God (John 5:23)? Do good men claim to have the power to forgive sins? Absolutely not! But Jesus had the power to forgive sins. He actually claimed to be the Messiah and accepted worship. So what was Jesus implying when He asked the young ruler, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God”? As Norman Geisler and Thomas Howe observed:

Jesus was saying to him, “Do you realize what you are saying when you call Me Good? Are you saying I am God?”… Jesus was forcing him to a very uncomfortable dilemma. Either Jesus was good and God, or else He was bad and man. A good God or a bad man, but not merely a good man. Those are the real alternatives with regard to Christ. For no good man would claim to be God when he was not. The liberal Christ, who was only a good moral teacher but not God, is a figment of human imagination (1992, p. 350).

To contend that Mark 10:18 proves that Jesus thought Himself to be neither morally perfect nor God is (1) to disregard the overall context of the Bible, (2) to twist the Scriptures like untaught and unstable people do—“to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16), and (3) to take a superficial reading of the text. Far from denying the deity of Christ, Mark 10:17-22 actually affirms it. The young ruler “called Christ a ‘good teacher,’ with no indication that he understood Jesus to be the Messiah. Jesus seized on the word ‘good,’ pointed out that if the man thought He was good, then He must be God” (Roper, 2:203), because only God is innately and supremely good.

REFERENCES

“The Bible Denies the Divinity of Jesus” (2014), A Brief Illustrated Guide to Understanding Islam, http://www.islam-guide.com/ch3-10-1.htm.
Carlson, Paul (1995), “New Testament Contradictions,” The Secular Web, http://infidels.org/library/modern/paul_carlson/nt_contradictions.html.
Geisler, Norman L. and Thomas A. Howe (1992), When Critics Ask (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books).
Lyons, Eric (2003), “Did Jesus Condone Law-Breaking?” Apologetics Press, http://www.apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=1276.
McKinsey, Dennis (2000), Biblical Errancy (Amherst, NY: Prometheus Books).
Miller, Dave (2004), “Situation Ethics,” Apologetics Press, https://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=11&article=1064.
Roper, David (2003), The Life of Christ (Searcy, AR: Resource Publications).

Fighting the Crowd Over a Young Earth by Kyle Butt, M.Div.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=9&article=882

Fighting the Crowd Over a Young Earth

by	Kyle Butt, M.Div.

It is difficult indeed to find any common ground between evolutionists and creationists. In fact, the two groups disagree on just about every subject in the Universe. But there is one area where they see eye to eye: the age of the Earth. Now, of course, they do not agree about how old the Earth is, but they do agree that if it has an age measured in thousands of years rather than billions, then evolution never could have occurred.
Therefore, evolutionists use every means at their disposal to “prove” that the Earth is very, very old. In Darwin’s day, the age of the Earth was around 20 million years. It is interesting to note, however, that from a scientific viewpoint, the age of the Earth has effectively doubled approximately every 15-20 years—so that planet Earth should be celebrating approximately 5 billion years of existence (or 250 times as old as it was thought to be during Darwin’s day).

TRUE SCIENCE AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH

Even though most science textbooks and journals teach that the Earth is billions of years old, many scientific findings do not agree. In fact, there are over a hundred different scientific methods for calculating the age of the Earth, and roughly 70 of those render an age of the Earth measured in thousands of years, not billions.
One of the strongest scientific arguments for a young Earth comes from the field of human population statistics. According to the records that are available, the human population on Earth doubles approximately every 35 years. If you break down that figure, it represents an annual increase of 20,000 people per every million (Morris, 1996, pp. 317-320). Let’s suppose that humankind started with just two individuals (we will call them Adam and Eve, for the sake of argument). And suppose that they lived on the Earth 1 million years ago (some evolutionists suggest that man, in one form or another, has been on the Earth 3-5 million years, but we will use the more conservative figure of 1 million). Suppose, further, that an average generation was 42 years, and that each family had an average of 2.4 children (they probably had many more than that but again, we will use conservative estimates). Allowing for wars, epidemic diseases, etc., there would be approximately 1 x 10⁵⁰⁰⁰ people on the Earth today! That number is a 1 followed by 5,000 zeroes. But the entire Universe (at an estimated size of 20 billion light-years in diameter) would hold only 1 x 10¹⁰⁰ people.
On the other hand, if one set the age of the Earth at about 6,000 years, the current world population would be approximately 4.34 billion people. Evolutionary figures thus would imply an Earth population 10⁴⁹⁰⁰ times greater than would fit into the entire Universe! The question is: which of the two figures is right on target, and which could not possibly be correct? Allowing for an Earth measured in billions of years compromises both the biblical text and the scientific evidence. It is a young Earth after all.

REFERENCE

Morris, Henry M. and John D. Morris (1996), The Modern Creation Trilogy—Volume 2: Science & Creation (Green Forest, AR: Master Books).

Religion in Politics? by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=1964

Religion in Politics?

by	Dave Miller, Ph.D.

Q.

Should Christians let their religious convictions affect their political convictions?

A.

Many Americans will go to the polls this week to indicate their choice of political leaders. It has long been a common sentiment that “religion and politics don’t mix”—meaning that one should keep these two spheres separate and distinct, and that political preference be exercised without the interference of religious opinion. But the Bible contradicts this notion. For the faithful Christian, God’s will naturally permeates every aspect of life and takes precedence over everything and everyone (Matthew 6:33). Every thought and every action is subjected to the scrutiny of Scripture (2 Corinthians 10:5). While many decisions in life are left by God to individual taste and personal preference, nevertheless, every area of life must be approached with a proper understanding of moral and spiritual principles that may impinge on one’s decision-making. The Christian is free to form a personal opinion on many political questions—from whether the government should fund healthcare, social security, and public education, to how foreign policy should be conducted. No one’s soul is necessarily jeopardized by the stance taken on these matters. Nor has God ever destroyed cities or nations on account of these political concerns.
But we must face the fact that religious and moral issues are being politicized. Just because politicians seize upon these issues, dragging them into the political arena, does not mean that they are exempt from religious scrutiny. The two premiere moral issues confronting the nation are same-sex marriage and the butchery of unborn babies (from abortion to embryonic stem cell research). Like the great prophets of old (e.g., Amos 7:10ff.; Mark 6:17-18), Christians have the divine obligation to stand firm against all politicians who support such evil behaviors. Indeed, our voting should be guided by the same principle articulated by Jehu when he challenged Jehoshaphat’s political affiliation with King Ahab: “Should you help the wicked and love those who hate the Lord?” (2 Chronicles 19:2).

Religion in America Fading by Dave Miller, Ph.D.

http://apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=7&article=2329

Religion in America Fading

by	Dave Miller, Ph.D.

While it is extremely difficult to measure the extent to which religion impacts Americans, one polling organization has attempted to do so using four criteria. The poll was designed to acquire a sense of how the 50 states compare with each other on the matter of which has the most religious population. The four criteria used were the importance of religion in people’s lives, frequency of attendance at worship services, frequency of prayer, and absolute certainty of belief in God (“How Religious...?,” 2009). As one might expect, more Americans in the “Bible Belt” states indicate that religion is very important in their lives. Mississippi has the highest percentage of its population so indicating (82%), followed by Alabama and Arkansas at 74%, Louisiana at 73%, Tennessee at 72%, South Carolina at 70%, Oklahoma and North Carolina at 69%, Georgia at 68%, Kentucky and Texas at 67%. The states with the lowest percentage of its citizens indicating that religion is important in their lives are New Hampshire and Vermont with 36%. Sadly, the national average is 56%. Think of it. Only 56% of Americans say that religion is important to their everyday living. Specifically, only 39% of Americans say they attend worship at least once a week, only 58% say they pray at least once a day, and only 71% say they believe in God with absolute certainty.
So what? What does it matter if the Christian religion has less and less impact on Americans? Quite simply, the nation will unravel and culminate its illustrious existence in disaster. So said the Founders of the Republic (cf. Miller, 2008), and so says the Bible (e.g., 2 Chronicles 7:14-22).

REFERENCES

“How Religious Is Your State?” (2009), The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, December 21, [On-line], URL: http://pewforum.org/docs/?DocID=504.
Miller, Dave (2008), The Silencing of God: The Dismantling of America’s Religious Heritage (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).

Does God REALLY Know Everything? by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

http://apologeticspress.org/AllegedDiscrepancies.aspx?article=787&b=Genesis

Does God REALLY Know Everything?

by Eric Lyons, M.Min.

Numerous passages of Scripture clearly teach that God is omniscient. The Bible declares that God “knows the secrets of the heart” (Psalm 44:21), that His eyes “are in every place” (Proverbs 15:3), and that “His understanding is infinite” (147:5). Of Jehovah, the psalmist also wrote:

O Lord, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether.... Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it. Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there (139:1-4,6-8).

The New Testament reemphasizes this truth: “God is greater than our heart, and knows all things” (1 John 3:20, emp. added). Not only does He know the past and the present, but the future as well (Acts 15:18; cf. Isaiah 46:10). According to the Bible, there is nothing outside of the awareness of God.
Atheist Dan Barker, however, alleged in his February 12, 2009 debate with Kyle Butt that the Bible paints a contradictory picture of God and His knowledge. Whereas some scriptures indicate that God knows the future, supposedly, the God of the Bible cannot exist because other passages reportedly teach that God does not know the future. Twelve minutes and 54 seconds into his first speech, Barker exclaimed:

Look what God said after he stopped it [Abraham’s sacrifice of Isaac—EL]. He said: “Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for I know now, I now know, that you fear God, seeing that you have not withheld thy son.” I know now? I thought God knew everything. The Bible says God knows the future but here He is saying, “I didn’t even know.” The Bible even says that God searches and understands all the imaginations of the heart. The God of the Bible knows the future. The God of the Bible does not know the future (2009).

Is Barker correct? Does the Bible paint a contradictory picture of God’s knowledge? Do some passages testify to the omniscience of God, while others indicate that He is finite in His understanding?
The kind of language found in Genesis 22:12 actually is present throughout Scripture. As early as Genesis chapter three, God asked Adam, “Where are you?” (3:9). In Genesis four, He asked Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” (4:9). The book of Job reveals that at the beginning of God’s first speech to Job, God asked the patriarch, “Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth?” (38:4, emp. added). Are we to assume questions like these or statements like those found in Genesis 22:12 and 18:21 (“I will know”) imply a lack of knowledge on God’s part?
First, one must acknowledge that questions often are asked and statements frequently are made for a variety of reasons. Are we really to assume that the Creator of heaven and Earth was ignorant of Adam’s whereabouts when He asked him, “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9)? Are we to believe that God did not know where Job was when He made the world (Job 38:4)? Certainly not! What father, having seen his son dent a car door, would imply ignorance by asking, “Who did that?” Obviously, the father did not ask the question to obtain information, but to see if the son would admit to something the father knew all along. On occasion, Jesus used questions or made statements for the same purpose. When He questioned the Pharisees’ disciples and the Herodians regarding whose inscription was on a particular coin, it clearly was not because He did not know (Matthew 22:15-22). Likewise, when Jesus asked the multitude that thronged Him, “Who touched Me?” (Luke 8:45), it was not because the woman who touched Him was hidden from Him (Luke 8:47). Jesus knew the woman who was made well by touching His garment before she confessed to touching Him (Mark 5:32). His question was intended to bring attention to her great faith and His great power (Mark 5:34). In no way are the questions God asks or the statements He makes an indication of Him being less than omniscient.
Second, the term “know” (Hebrew yada, Greek ginosko) or one of its derivatives (i.e., knew, known, etc.) is used in Scripture in a variety of ways. Several times it is used in reference to a man and woman having sexual intercourse (Genesis 4:1,17,25; Judges 11:39; 19:25). Jesus used the term to refer to His regard for His sheep (i.e., people—John 10:27). In contrast to the way of the wicked that will perish, the psalmist wrote that God “knows” (i.e., approves, takes delight in, etc.) the way of the righteous (Psalm 1:6). Paul used the term “know” in Ephesians 3:19 in the sense of knowing “experimentally what intellectually is beyond our powers of knowing”—the love of Christ (Jamieson, 1997). The fact is, like so many words in Scripture (and in modern times) the word “know” has a variety of meanings. What’s more, neither Dan Barker nor any Bible critic can prove that the term “know” in Genesis 22:12 directly contradicts God’s omniscience.
Third, the Bible’s usage of phrases such as “now I know” (Genesis 22:12) or “I will know” (Genesis 18:21) in reference to God actually are for the benefit of man. Throughout the Bible, human actions (such as “learning”) frequently are attributed to God for the purpose of helping us better understand His infinity. When Jehovah “came down to see the city and the tower” built at Babel (Genesis 11:5), it was not for the purpose of gaining knowledge. Anthropomorphic expressions such as these are not meant to suggest that God is not always fully aware of everything. Rather, as in the case of Babel, such wording was used to show that He was “officially and judicially taking the situation under direct observation and consideration” (Morris, 1976, p. 272). Almighty God visited Sodom and Gomorrah likely “for appearance’ sake, that men might know directly that God had actually seen the full situation before He acted in judgment” (p. 342). “These cities were to be made ensamples to all future ages of God’s severity, and therefore ample proof given that the judgment was neither rash nor excessive (Ezek 18:23; Jer 18:7)” [Jamieson, 1997]. Similarly, in the case of God testing Abraham regarding Isaac, although God already knew what Abraham would choose to do, there still was a reason to allow Abraham the opportunity to actually show his great faith and know that God indeed had witnessed (in real time and not just in His foreknowledge), Abraham’s actions. God came “to know” of Abraham’s faith by actual experiment. The meaning of the phrase, “now I know” (Genesis 22:12), therefore, “is not that God had, by the events of this probation, obtained information regarding Abraham's character that He did not previously possess; but that these qualities had been made apparent, had been developed by outward acts” (Jamieson, 1997).
Similar to how God instructs man to pray and make “known” to Him our petitions for our benefit (Philippians 4:6), even though He actually already knows of our prayers and needs before they are voiced (Matthew 6:8), for our profit the all-knowing God sometimes is spoken of in accommodative language as acquiring knowledge.

REFERENCES

Butt, Kyle and Dan Barker (2009), Does the God of the Bible Exist? (Montgomery, AL: Apologetics Press).
Jamieson, Robert, et al. (1997), Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Bible Commentary (Electronic Database: Biblesoft).
Morris, Henry M. (1976), The Genesis Record (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker).

We serve the living God by Roy Davison

http://www.oldpaths.com/Archive/Davison/Roy/Allen/1940/living.html

We serve the living God
We "serve the living and true God" (1 Thessalonians 1:9), "the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them" (Acts 14:15).

Life is found only on earth. In the dark middle ages, atheistic alchemists believed in the spontaneous generation of life. Pasteur disproved their theory, and one of the basic scientific principles of modern biology is that all life comes from life.

The theory of evolution, by the way, is simply a new form of the old alchemist theory, which pushes the supposed spontaneous generation of life back in time beyond the reach of empirical research. Darwin developed his theory a few years after Pasteur proved the old form to be false.

The empirical scientific evidence is unanimous: life comes from life. Which proposition then is more plausible: that life originally came from dead matter or from a living source?

No explanation is more plausible than the Biblical explanation. The living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them, is the origin of life on earth. "Then God said, 'Let the waters abound with an abundance of living creatures' ... So God created ... every living thing that moves" (Genesis 1:20,21). "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7).

The living God is the origin of human life. "God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them" (Genesis 1:27).

We do not bow down before a marble statue, a lifeless image that cannot see, hear, feel or think. Nor do we worship nature or man. We worship the true and living God who created us, who watches over us, who loves us, who hears our prayers, and who intervenes.

"The Lord is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, and the nations will not be able to endure His indignation" (Jeremiah 10:10).

After Daniel was saved from the lions, the Persian king, Darius, wrote: "To all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth: Peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble and fear before the God of Daniel. For He is the living God, and steadfast forever; His kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and His dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues, and He works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions" (Daniel 6:25-27).

The living God has spoken to man.

When the old covenant was given, the people "heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire" (Deuteronomy 5:26).

When Jesus came as Savior of the world, the voice of God was heard: "And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'" (Matthew 3:17). Peter, James and John heard the voice of God when Jesus was transfigured. "Behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!'" (Matthew 17:5).

Peter testifies in his second letter: "We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: 'This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.' And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. And so we have the prophetic word confirmed, which you do well to heed as a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts; knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:16-21).

The living God has spoken to man. The message is preserved in prophetic writings. Private interpretation of Scripture is not allowed because God's word has a fixed meaning that man can understand. Jeremiah warned the people: "You have perverted the words of the living God" (Jeremiah 23:36). God tells them, "Therefore behold, I, even I, will utterly forget you and forsake you" (Jeremiah 23:39). If we refuse to listen to the living God why should He listen to us?

Peter speaks of untaught and unstable people who twist the Scriptures to their own destruction (2 Peter 3:16). We may not pervert or twist the words of the living God. We bow our heads when we talk to God in prayer. We should be even more reverent when God talks to us, when the holy Scriptures are being read.

We will be judged by the living word. "The word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account" (Hebrews 4:12,13).

The living God has revealed Himself in the person of His Son, Jesus Christ. "No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him" (John 1:18). The confession of Peter is the confession of all Christians: "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16:16). "We have come to believe and know that You are the Christ, the Son of the living God" (John 6:69).

Through Christ, both Jews and Gentiles can become "sons of the living God" (Romans 9:26 // Hosea 1:10). "We trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those who believe" (1 Timothy 4:10). We do not "trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Timothy 6:17). The blood of Christ cleanses our "conscience from dead works to serve the living God" (Hebrews 9:14).

This purification enables Christians to be "the temple of the living God" (2 Corinthians 6:16).

We are "in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth" (1 Timothy 3:15).

We have "the seal of the living God" (Revelation 7:2). He has "sealed us and given us the Spirit in our hearts as a guarantee" (2 Corinthians 1:22). "You were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise" (Ephesians 1:13). "And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption" (Ephesians 4:30).

We "have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven" (Hebrews 12:22,23).

We serve the living and true God, the living God, who made the heaven, the earth, the sea, and all things that are in them. He created us in His own image and, like the Psalmist, we long for our Father. "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God" (Psalm 42:2). "My heart and my flesh cry out for the living God" (Psalm 84:2).

Roy Davison

The Scripture quotations in this article are from
The New King James Version. ©1979,1980,1982,
Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers unless indicated otherwise.
Permission for reference use has been granted.

Published in The Old Paths Archive
(http://www.oldpaths.com)

The unseen picture by Gary Rose

Promises

Joy

Adoration

Three pictures, one theme- Love. But, somehow I couldn't find a picture that described what God was thinking when he decided to show mercy on his wayward creatures, human beings. 

I suppose that for many of us, a picture of Jesus hanging on the cross would have been perfect, but to my mind, no picture could adequately do justice to the perfection of the supreme being whose essence is Spirit.

Instead, I would ask that you reflect upon this passage from Paul's letter to the Ephesians....

Ephesians, Chapter 2 (World English Bible)

 ¹ You were made alive when you were dead in transgressions and sins,  ² in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the children of disobedience.  ³ We also all once lived among them in the lusts of our flesh, doing the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.  ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,  ⁵ even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— (Emp. added vss. 4,5, GDR) ⁶ and raised us up with him, and made us to sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,  ⁷ that in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus;  ⁸ for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  ⁹ not of works, that no one would boast.  ¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared before that we would walk in them.

The Father sent Jesus to die for us, to bless mere human beings. Human beings that had shown a propensity for disobedience in the extreme. Yet, somewhere in the essence of the Almighty, love and mercy existed to such a degree that self-sacrifice was the result.

When I consider my life, I wonder how God could do this for me, but I guess I will never know until I enter heaven. You know, I just realized that I have found the perfect picture to describe God's love after all.

Just look into it for awhile and you will see what I mean.

Let me hold it up for you....