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When interpreting a passage of scripture its alway best to have some understanding about the purpose of what’s being written.
For instance in 1 John 5:1, “Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God…”
OK, without giving some consideration to why the letter was written we might conclude that anyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and the only thing we have to do is believe. Boom…. I believe therefore I am born of God and have a one way ticket to Heaven.
That would be a wrong conclusion for several reasons.
1 John was written was because there were Christians teaching that Jesus was not the Christ. They started with an incorrect premise. They reasoned that since all human flesh is sinful and deity cannot have anything to do with sin that deity could not dwell in a human body. Therefore Jesus had no deity in him… he was not the Christ.
OK so knowing that… let’s interpret the verse again. Whoever believes that deity indwells within Jesus is born of God. Those who do not believe that Jesus is the Christ are not born of God and are false teachers and false believers.
So the belief in this passage is used to contrast the belief of Christ-ians with the Anti-Christ-ians.
So you see the importance of understanding why a scripture was written and to not make some hasty application that might have disastrous consequences. After all Satan and his minions believed correctly that Jesus was the Christ but they were not “born of God” were they?
The first thing Jesus did after he was baptized and had received the Holy Spirit was to go to the wilderness to allow Satan to tempt him. We get some details about that temptation.
Satan thought he had found a weak point and was going to put his finger on it and suggested to Jesus since he hadn’t had a thing to eat for 40 days that Jesus should turn a stone into a loaf of bread and eat it.
The thing I want you to notice about this is that Jesus had the power to turn a rock into bread and he could have done so and enjoyed a meal with Satan but Jesus, unlike a lot of humanity, wanted nothing to do with Satan.
So Satan decides next to tempt Jesus with power and showed Jesus all the kingdoms of the world and offered Jesus authority over all of them if he would only do one small thing… bow down before Satan and worship him. A lot of humanity wouldn’t give that a second thought. They would drop right to their knees and revere Satan for the power to control all the countries of the world and think that they had pulled one over on old Sate.
Jesus wouldn’t do it because it was wrong to give something to Satan that only belonged to God and nothing Satan could offer was worth offending God. We’re quick to engage in things that are wrong because we know God loves us and is forgiving. Be careful you might get tangled up in that rope. You belong to God don’t give what is God’s to Satan.
The last desperate attempt of Satan was take a stab at Jesus’ pride. Satan led with a scripture this time. He quoted Psalm 91 in which the promise is made that God would send angels to protect his righteous one from harm.
With this scripture Satan invited Jesus to Jump off the highest point of the Temple to see if God would send angels to protect him. Jesus answered with Deuteronomy 6:16, “Thou shall not make trial of the Lord your God”. You don’t have to accept every challenge that is thrown at you. You can walk away.
Why did Jesus start his ministry by allowing Satan to tempt him?
Because he knew that when believers began their ministry after being baptized that Satan would attack them too. And to show them that it is possible to be tempted by Satan and to conquer him. Gather yourself up and get about your spiritual business and don’t worry and moan about Satan. He is a coward and you can beat him… just like Jesus did.
In Luke 3:16-17, John the Baptist after baptizing the people in water promised that Jesus Christi would baptize them in the Holy Spirit and in Fire.
John explained what these two baptisms were by comparing them to an agricultural harvest. Harvested grain was scattered over a “threshing” floor and the grain would be threshed to separate the grain from the chaff or hull. Then the grain would stored in a barn and the chaff would be burned up.
The grain are God’s faithful people, the chaff are the unfaithful. The thresher is Jesus Christ.
This sort of reference when applied to humanity must refer to a separation of people… the good being “stored” or gathered into Heaven and the bad being “burned” or destroyed with “unquenchable” fire and being consigned to Hell.
Therefore, within this context, “Baptism in the Holy Spirit” must refer primarily to the faithful being gathered into Heaven and the process that ends in that event. And “Baptism in Fire” must refer to God’s punishment of the unfaithful.
God’s blessings begin with baptism and end (so to speak) with eternal life.
God’s curses begin with being outside of God’s family and end with eternal punishment.
Acts 2:38, “Repent and be baptized … in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit”.
On our recent cruise in the Baltic I was talking to two of the crew members in the dining area. They were men in their early thirties and were in some sort of managerial position. One was from Romania and the other was from Serbia.I was entertaining them with a few jokes and was about to tell them my joke about how God created Eve. I always preface that joke by asking if they are familiar with the account of creation. I was dumbfounded when they said they were unfamiliar with how God created the world. Incredulous I persisted... you know, God created all the animals, he made the earth in six days? They said they had never heard that story. I asked them if they were some kind of muslim... they said no they were Christians but they didn't really read the Bible or attend church. Incredible!!!
So I got to teach the story of creation to two grown men on a cruise ship. I'm praying they start reading their Bibles.
In 1 Samuel 2 we read of two priests named Hophni and Phineas. They were sons of the main priest Eli. Hophni and Phineas were evil priests… they took the sacrifices the people offered and used them for themselves… they stole from God. In addition, they were having sex with some of God’s women servants.
Their father Eli had heard the reports about his two sons and confronted them about it. Here’s what he told them….
“Why do you do such things? I hear from all the people about these wicked deeds of yours. No, my sons; the report I hear spreading among the Lord’s people is not good. If one person sins against another, God may mediate for the offender; but if anyone sins against the Lord, who will intercede for them?”
Now get this, all sin is against the Lord because he instituted the Law, but there is a type of sin against other people for which there is a sacrifice and another sin against God for which there is no sacrifice.
Blasphemy, or speaking against God, is one of those sins for which there is no sacrifice. There was no “I’m sorry” or “here sacrifice this lamb for my sin”. It required an instant death penalty. In fact that was the charge made against Jesus… that he blasphemed the name of God by claiming to be God.
OK, this information clears some things up for me.
In Acts 5 Ananias and Sapphira are killed by God… why? Because they lied and stole from God when they held back part of their offering. Hmmm, that’s a lot like Hophni and Phineas.
In Acts 12 God kills King Herod… why? Because Herod accepted the praise of the people after his oration. They said… “the voice of a god and not of a man” Herod blasphemed by accepting that praise and God killed him for it.
In Matthew 12 when Jesus (In conjunction with the Holy Spirit) cast a demon out of a man the Pharisees said he did it not by the power of the Holy Spirit but by the power of Satan. They Blasphemed the Holy Spirit and Jesus said that it was an unforgiveable sin (Just like Eli told his sons Hophni and Phineas) because they sinned against deity.
Most of our sins are against other people… fornication, theft, untruthfulness, etc. But it is possible to sin directly against God and have no hope at all unless God chooses to extend mercy.
Choose the path to conquer all sin because that path leads to eternal life… but I’m warning you don’t sin directly against God.
Near the end of the Apostle Peter’s life he sat down and composed a letter to a group of Christians. The letter wasn’t about himself or really anything about his life. It was about encouraging them to keep the faith so that they could inherit eternity.
Recently Julie and I were on an airliner and we were going through some rough weather and the pilot announced we were low on fuel and he was going to have to divert to another airport. As we were going through that rough weather I considered that this might be my last day on earth so I opened up the messages on my IPhone and started composing my last words to our children.
Peter’s last words to his spiritual children were to get busy and be diligent about developing their Christian character. He also warned them about false teachers who might lead them down the wrong path and shipwreck their faith.
He told them not to worry but to have confidence in God and if they would follow the path he had set out for them all would be well.
When I was on that airplane my last words to my children were about how proud their mother and I were of them and to tell our grandchildren how much we loved them. I told them to do their part in keeping our family strong and cohesive and lastly I told them to trust in God… to study his word everyday and to lead their lives by it.
I’m sure the people Peter wrote these words to were friends of his and that at his death they remembered his last words to them and treasured them. We should also treasure Peter’s last words and hold them dear to our hearts and not be lazy in our faith but to get busy. Those are timely words just like the words of a father to his children.
I hope God blesses each and every one of you.
There were two times God the Father sent angels to help his Son… after the 40 days of fasting in the wilderness when the Devil had tempted Jesus and in the Garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was in distress anticipating the torture he would have to suffer.
These were arguably the two most dramatic and challenging times in the life of Jesus. One was the deprivation of his physical body screaming for the nutrients it needed (that he had denied it) and the other was his emotional anxiety screaming for calm and peace and self control in the face of physical torment at the hands of others.
In both cases God sent angels to administer relief.
2 Peter 2:9 assures us that God knows how to deliver his people out of temptation. That’s very reassuring because sometimes our bodies are so wracked with pain and disease that it can affect our behavior towards others and sometimes we suffer depression, anxiety and emotional distress which also affects our behavior..
Trust what God said… he knows how to deliver us out of temptation and he knows the things we suffer from and he might… just might, send Angels to help us. Just like he did with his Son Jesus Christ.
