Mystery of Godliness – Part 7

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Received up into glory

The Lord Jesus Christ gave us a hope in Him that is sure and the anchor of our soul.  This hope is threefold and is evidenced when we were saved, and as His life is manifested in us during our earthly walk, and when we shall be caught up together with Him in the air and  our bodies shall be changed into glorified bodies fashioned like our Lord’s body.  As we desire to exercise ourselves to godliness and see the application as we learn of God being received up into glory, we must view the last aspect of our Lord’s earthly ministry and understand how and where He went, so we might further understand how and where we’re going.

When we read the Old Testament and learn about the animal sacrifices, we see how they pointed forward to Christ.  The fire for the altar on which the sacrifices were burnt, was originally lit by God by fire coming down from heaven.  As a sacrifice was burnt, the smoke and savor of the sacrifice would ascend back to the heavens.  We immediately think of our Lord Jesus Christ coming down from heaven, dwelling on the earth, shedding His blood and being sacrificed for us, rising from the dead and ascending to heaven.  The perfect sacrifice for a world of lost sinners.

When we examine our Lord’s ascension to heaven, we notice that it is two-fold.  When Mary Magdalene was at the empty tomb weeping because she didn’t know where our Lord was, Jesus appears to her and He says in John 20:17

Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God and your God.

This ascension was the pure sacrificial savor to God the Father, Christ could  not have sinful human flesh touch Him before He was received by the Father in glory.  Later in the same chapter we can see that He had ascended to the Father and was back on earth, for we see he was able to be touched by human hands as we read in John 20:27-29

Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.  And Thomas answered him, My Lord and my God.  Jesus saith unto him, Thomas, because you have seen, you have believed: blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed. 

It is very interesting to note that the first ascension of Christ was in secret in the sense that it was not viewed by anyone and as far as we can tell by the Scriptures and was only known about by Mary Magdalene who was looking for the Lord.  With that in mind let’s look at the second ascension of Christ.

After the Lord Jesus Christ rose from the grave, ascended to God, and was back on earth, He taught the apostles for forty days and then He ascended to heaven the second time.  We read about this ascension in Acts 1:9-11

And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.  And while they looked steadfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? This same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

As we examine this ascension to the throne of God, we can read the outcome, which the Holy Spirit through the pen of David prophesied in Psalm 110:1

The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.

Here then we see God the Son received up into glory a second time,  this time seated at the right hand of God the Father.  So now we need to consider that when we see the disciples witnessing Christ’s second ascension and the two men in white explaining that our Lord will return in the same manner, we need to follow where the Holy Spirit is pointing to.  So if we consider these things and then think of how His ascensions are similar with the way He will return, we notice that the first ascension was in secret, it seems then that the first return of our Savior will be in secret.  This is commonly called the rapture of the church, though the word rapture is not found in our Bibles.  The words “caught up” are in our Bibles and are describing this coming of our Lord in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17

For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep.  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Now what is interesting is when we see the words “caught up” this is actually one word in the greek, and that same word is used in Acts 8:39 to describe when the Holy Spirit caught up Philip and brought him to another city, and we also see this word used in 2 Corinthians 12:2,4 when Paul describes the man who he knew who was caught up to paradise in the third heavens.

Now when we consider Christ’s second ascension into heaven being visible with men watching, we think of His coming back which will also be visible as we read in Revelations 1:7

Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him.  Even so Amen.

We also see this in Matthew 24:30

And then shall the shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

So then this coming will be at the end of the 7 year tribulation period, when our Lord Jesus Christ comes back to the earth and sets up his millenial reign, as He sits on the throne of David and rules and reigns the earth and Israel is a nation of priests.

There is a lot more to consider, but I want to post this, so Lord willing, we will continue looking at God being “received up into glory” in the next post.

Grace and Peace to you all,

DW

 

 

 

 

Mystery of Godliness – Part 6

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Believed on in the world

As we continue our study the next couple of posts, and examine the fifth and sixth parts of the mystery of godliness, we will see the results and purpose for which the first four parts were designed by God.  As we looked at in the last post, the apostle Paul had a special commission from the Lord, to preach the gospel of the grace of God to the Gentile world and to reveal the mystery.  We too, by the Holy Spirit’s instructions through the pen of Paul have been charged to preach the gospel as well, being made ambassadors for Christ.  God’s Word illustrates a clear principle that before someone can believe, the gospel has to be preached or published.  We see this in Romans 10:14-15

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard?  And how shall they hear without a preacher?  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? As it is written, how beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Everyone of us has a ministry and is a preacher in a sense to someone.  That someone could be a family member, a co-worker, or someone who you meet randomly.  All saved men and women since the beginning of time have been saved based on the Lord Jesus Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection.  But it is not until the apostle Paul was saved and instructed, that the secret of God’s grace and His plan for the heavens and the Body of Christ was made known.  To Paul was given a dispensation or administration that was never made known before and was distinct from God’s plan for Israel.  In this age of grace it is in the apostle Paul’s epistles that we find the explanation for our salvation by God’s grace, the faithfulness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through faith in His finished work on our behalf.  In the epistle’s of Paul we learn how to stand, walk, and run in Christ.  It is not until we learn this truth, that we can appropriately apply the spiritual truths found in the Old Testament Scriptures to our lives as Paul did, while we at the same time leaving the physical ordinances of the law and convenant promises where they belong with Israel.

We rejoice that the Lord’s grace abounded in Paul as he preached to the Gentiles and the Lord Jesus Christ was believed on in the world 2000 years ago.  And we rejoice that almost 2000 years later, God is still graciously empowering members of the Body of Christ to preach the good news and the Lord Jesus Christ is still being believed on today. But as we rejoice, we also shed a tear because we know people who have not believed.  Sadly many have had the gospel preached to them, but they have not believed.  So what explains this, how come some believe and some won’t believe?  What does the word “election” really mean?  There are plenty of lengthy theological explanations out there today, with some saying that God picks and chooses who is saved and who is not saved, and some people saying that it is totally by a person’s choice.  We know that the natural man or flesh is completely depraved, so can a totally depraved person choose to believe God?  Well, let’s not ponder a bunch of theological positions with a bunch of words that aren’t found in the Bible, but are popular in theology.  Instead, let’s take a look at the cross, for it is there where we see election defined.

Matthew 27:38-44

Then were there two thieves crucified with him, one on the right hand, and another on the left.  And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, and saying, Thou that will destroy the temple, and build it in three days, save thyself.  If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.  Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save.  If He be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him.  He trusted in God; let him deliver him now, if he will have him: for he said, I am the Son of God.  The thieves also which were crucified, cast the same in his teeth.

So let’s notice some things about the three crosses.  We have two thieves, both of whom are guilty and deserve their punishment.  One on the right hand and one on the left hand of our Lord.  Both are nailed to their crosses totally unable to save themselves.  And they are both equally near to the Savior of the World, but both of them are hurling insults and mocking the Lord.  Now let’s consider the state of every man born into this world except the Lord Jesus Christ (who was sinless being both God and man).  We read Romans 3:10-18

As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one.  There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.  They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.  Their throat is an open sepulcher (grave), with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips; Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness: Their feet are swift to shed blood: Destruction and misery are in their ways:  And the way of peace have they not known:  There is no fear of God before their eyes.

This Scripture we just read describes man in his original state as a child of Adam, both those who would go on to believe in God and those who wouldn’t believe in God.  And returning back to the thieves we see that they both have mouths that are full of cursing and bitterness as they mock our Lord on the cross.  We need to remember that we were there that day as well, for it was our sins and the punishment we deserved that the Lord Jesus Christ graciously shed His blood for us.  He was also shedding His blood for both the thieves as well.  Let’s look what happened a little later.  When we look at this time when Christ was on the cross in the Gospel of Luke, when we come to chapter 23 and verse 37 we see that this the exact point where we left off in the gospel of Matthew.  We read in Luke 23:35-37

And the people stood beholding.  And the rulers also with them derided him saying, He saved others; let Him save himself, if he be the Christ, the chosen of God.  And the soldiers mocked him, coming to him, and offering him vinegar and saying, If thou be the king of the Jews, save thyself.

What happens next is absolutely awesome, as the Holy Spirit gave us view in Matthew, we saw two thieves, equally guilty and deserving punishment, both mocking the Son of God.  And we see this is the same timeframe that Luke records in Luke 23:35-37.  Then as we look in Luke 23:38 we see words being published, these words were in three different languages that all the world could read.  The words were true words, though perhaps written in mockery, they were true words describing the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son, King of kings, and Lord of lords, they described His attribute as “King of the Jews”. We read Luke 23:38

And a superscription also was written over him in letters of Greek, and Latin, and Hebrew, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. 

Let us now read the rest of this passage and see how these words being published  caused one man, a thief of the world, to believe on the Son of God.  We read further in Luke 23:39 -43

And one of the malefactors which were hanged railed on him, saying, If thou be Christ, save thyself and us.  But the other answering rebuked him, saying, Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?  And we indeed justly; for we receive the due reward of our deeds but this man hath done nothing amiss.  And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom.  And Jesus said unto him,  Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.

So as we again consider the two thieves we see them equal in depravity, equal in their ability to look at the Savior, equally mocking, and then the Word is published, and they equally have a chance to read it.  After the published Word they equally have a chance to fear God, one thief does, one thief does not, this then is free will.  Both were unable to choose to believe God before the Word is published, but after the Word is published one thief fears God and one thief doesn’t.  Before the foundation of the world, God knew which thief would believe and which thief would not, therefore as pertaining to election, He manifested the Way to salvation, the Truth of salvation, and the Life of salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.  And in election according to his foreknowledge, He ensured that all those that would believe were thoroughly equipped unto good works which He created in Christ Jesus for us to walk in.

As we again consider these two men on either side of our Lord, we see that the one man believed, because he spoke, “And he said unto Jesus, Lord remember me when thou comest into they kingdom” and then the Lord spoke to him, “Verily I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise”.  How unsearchable are His judgements and His ways past finding out!  When this man was mocking the Lord, the Lord knew all along that the man would believe in Him, and inspite of the mocking, that He would save him.  What grace, what mercy, what manner of love this is!  When we look at the thief on the other side of Jesus, we notice that nothing more is said to him or by him.  Silence and an eternity of suffering and seperation from God await him.  The savior is right there next to him, but he will not believe, he does not fear, he is dying, he does not care, he witnesses the other man speaking to the Lord and the Lord assuring that man that they shall be together that day in paradise, but all we have is defiant silence from the unsaved thief, before he is ushered into an eternity in hell.  Oh may we pray that those who are not saved, would hear the good news of God’s grace in the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ, and would be pricked in the heart.  But while our hearts hurt for these people we know, we realize that is up to them to accept God’s free gift of salvation and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.

As members of the Body of Christ, we know that we have much more of God’s Word available to read than did the thief on the cross.  May we then yield to God, through prayer and the study of His Word, so Christ would manifest His life through us and we might speak the truth in love, and tell others of the Lord Jesus Christ and how He saved us by shedding His blood and dying for us, being buried and rising from the dead.  And as He is believed on in the world, may we praise Him and thank Him for His awesome power and working.

Mystery of Godliness – Part 5

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Preached unto the Gentiles

As we examine the fourth aspect of the mystery of godliness, we recall Christ’s words during His earthly ministry recorded in Matthew 15:24:

But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

The Holy Spirit through the pen of the apostle Paul confirms this in Romans 9:4-5:

Who are the Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;  Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed forever.  Amen.

The few instances that we see the Lord Jesus Christ interacting with the Gentiles during His earthly ministry, is only when they took their place as inferior compared to the Israelites.  We see an example of this when the gentile woman acknowledged her position as a “dog” feeding off the crumbs of the children’s (Israel) table in Matthew 15:27.  So if we look at the whole span of God’s Word we notice that after the tower of Babel, God chose Abram who would become Abraham and made a covenant with him and gave him some promises.  A couple generations later we see Jacob born who would be named Israel and who begat 12 sons.  The nation of Israel was born.  Prior to God calling out Abraham, God dealt with the whole world on an even footing.  The nation of Israel was separated from the rest of world (Gentiles) and given a place “nigh to God”.  At that point God’s interactions with the Gentiles were on the basis of the their interaction with Israel.  For any Gentile to come to God at that point, He had to come to Israel and be converted.  So at that point the Gentiles were without God as we see in Ephesians 2:11-12:

Wherefore remember, that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh, who are called Uncircumcision by that which is called the Circumcision in the flesh made by hands.  That at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world.

Time forbids looking at this in detail, but when we read the prophecies in the Old Testament, we see that when the Messiah would come and set up the eternal kingdom, then Israel would be a nation of priests that would bring the nations back to God (This will happen during our Lord Jesus Christ’s millenial reign when rules the earth.)  But until those prophecies would be fulfilled, the Gentiles were to be viewed at unclean, inferior and to be strictly avoided especially in the sense of intermarriage because of the heathen idol worship and influences they would bring, which we see happen in the Old Testament.  So as we consider this subject of  “preached unto the Gentiles” we must realize this did not happen during Christ’s earthly ministry.  Many people today, only want to read the red words in their Bible, which were the words that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke during His earthly ministry, but they don’t realize that those words were to the Jews.  Does that mean as Gentile Christians we don’t get have any application for us in the gospels?  There is plenty of application in the gospels for us, but we must realize we can’t have it applied appropriately until we understand what God provided for us in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ.  If we just read the gospels, we might begin to attempt to live Jesus Words according to our might or our will.  It just can’t be done and neither could it be done by the Jews He spoke those words to.  When we learn of all that happened by the finished work of our Lord Jesus Christ concerning His death, burial and resurrection we find out that our flesh (old man, sin nature) is utterly depraved and can’t do the works of God.  But when we are saved we are a new creation in Christ, and then we are empowered to do the works of God through him, not by our will or determination, but rather as we yield to the Lord through prayer and the study of His Word, He will purge our vessels, equip us and send us out.  We learn to differentiate the flesh from the Spirit.  Praise the Lord our strength is not in ourselves or what we will to do, but if we simply yield to Him then He will direct our path and grow us in Him.

So back to our current subject, it is not until Peter is sent to Cornelius that the Gentiles are preached to.  (Many think that there were Gentiles preached to at Pentecost, but upon closer examination we find those were Jews from many different nations, we also see that only the Jews were being preached to up until Acts 11:19).  Now when Peter was sent to Cornelius, the Lord was having him use a key of the kingdom that He gave to him, showing Peter that the Gentiles were no longer to be viewed as unclean.  The Lord would also use this instance in Peter’s ministry to prepare him to confirm Paul as the apostle to the Gentiles.  We see this recorded in Acts 15, when Paul met with the other apostles in Jerusalem and communicated the gospel of the grace of God which the Lord Jesus Christ had given him.  This meeting is also recorded in Galatians 2, where we read of Peter, James, and John shaking hands with Paul and agreeing that they would go the Jews while Paul would go to the Gentiles with the gospel of the grace of God.

Now prior to this, when Israel’s rulers stoned Stephen, they nationally rejected the Holy Spirit and the offer of the “times of refreshing”.  At this point all was ready for the seventieth week of Daniel also known as the tribulation to begin.  Had the Israelites repented and accepted that Jesus was the Christ and admitted that they had killed Him and He rose from the dead, the Lord would have come back and set up His kingdom and ultimately Israel would be going to the Gentiles as a blessing to them.  But this did not happen.  On a national level Israel repeatedly rejected God the Father when they rejected the prophets, the last one being John the Baptist, then they rejected God the Son, when they crucified the Lord, and then they rejected the Holy Spirit when they stoned Stephen.  But here is what is awesome and what so much of Christendom misses, God in His foreknowledge knew all this would happen and despite Israel’s failure to accept their Messiah, He would still go to the Gentiles with the good news of His grace through Christ Jesus the Lord.  The order was always supposed to be Israel first as a nation of priests that went to the Gentiles who would be second, but because of Israel’s national rejection, the Lord raised up Paul to testify of His grace towards the Gentiles inspite of Israel’s failure.  The prophetic time clock was stopped and has been stopped for nearly 2000 years as God in grace offers salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ to anyone who will believe whether they are Jew or Gentile.  Every one is on an equal footing as God reconciled Himself to the world through the shed blood, death, burial, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Everyone is brought near to God.  So if everyone is brought near, what is the admonition?  Be reconciled to God!  But how?  By believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and accepting God’s gracious gift of salvation by grace through faith in Christ and His finished work!

So far in our study of the mystery of godliness, we have seen the dual meaning of each aspect as we desire to exercise ourselves to godliness.  When we looked at “God manifest in the flesh” we understood that the Holy Spirit conveyed both the physical manifestation of God the Son on this earth, and the spiritual manifestation of Christ in us, the hope of glory.  When we look at “justified in the Spirit” we understood that Christ was raised from the dead and also that we are raised in Him to walk in newness of life.  When we looked at “seen of angels” we saw Paul and his fellowlaborers were made a spectacle to the angels as they learned of the grace of God by witnessing the Lord Jesus Christ working in him, and by extension us as members of the body of Christ are also being used to show the manifold truth of God’s grace to the principalities and powers.  Now as we look at “preached unto the Gentiles” we again view both the dispensation (economy or administration) that Paul was given concerning the Gentiles and our responsibility to preach the gospel of the grace of God as well.  Let’s look at just a few verses where the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to testify of the apostleship given to him.

Romans 11:13

For I speak to Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles I magnify my office.

Romans 15:16

That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.

Galatians 2:7-8

But contrariwise, when they saw that the gospel of the uncircumcision was committed unto me, as the gospel of the circumcision was unto Peter: (For He that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles.

Ephesians 3:7-8

Whereof  I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.

Paul did not preach himself to the Gentiles or nations, but he preached Christ Jesus the Lord, and Paul himself a servant for those who heard him (2 Corinthians 4:5).  So also we too, as we exercise ourselves to godliness, should follow the pattern he was given in Christ (1 Timothy 1:16). This pattern shows Paul who was the number one persecutor of Christians, saved by the grace of God through our Lord Jesus Christ and then we see God’s grace working in Paul greatly.  This pattern shows that no one is beyond the reach of the grace of God.  No matter what you’ve done, if you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ He will save you for ever!  Throughout Paul’s epistles the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to testify of the apostleship given to him many times.  Why is this?  Why is the fact of the Gentiles being preached to is so important, why if we desire to exercise ourselves to godliness is it so important to understand that God was “preached unto the Gentiles”.  Because it is in Paul’s epistles where we find the “preaching of the cross” and the “preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery”.  If we are going to be vessels ready for the Lord’s use, we need to eat our spiritual food, we need to read God’s Word.  When we learn of the salvation that has come to everybody, Jew and Gentile, we are learning of all that Christ has done for us and accomplished for us by the cross.  We learn of the earthly purpose of Israel and the heavenly purpose of the Gentile members of the body of Christ.  We learn of how the law and ordinances all pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The outward circumcision of the Jew pointed to the need for the inward circumcision of the heart, a circumcision that could not be performed by the hands of men, but by the operation of God through the Holy Spirit, based on the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.  The various water baptisms were outward pictures of the inward need for cleansing.  The law was never given to justify a man, but by it man found out that he was a sinner and needed a Savior.  Flesh and blood could never keep the law, only the Lord Jesus Christ could keep every part of the law perfectly.  But as we yield to the Lord through prayer and consumption of His Word, and His life and love are working out of us, we will glimpse the Lord Jesus Christ working out of us and Him performing the law.  The minute we say we will keep the law or we will do this or that for the Lord and it is by our might, we will fail and we fall from grace experientially.  But the minute we say we can’t, but praise the Lord He can and through His resurrection He has raised us to walk in newness of life, we will see the fruits of the Spirit being produced all according the good works He made for us to walk in according to His purpose and grace in saving us.

By prayerfully reading God’s Word and understanding what was preached unto the Gentiles and why this age of grace we live in was not prophesied about until it was revealed to Paul.  By understanding the difference between Israel and Gentiles, we can also see how there is no difference between Jew and Gentile in Christ.  The same Lord is rich to all those who call upon Him.  When we see how we can live godly in Christ Jesus during our lifetimes, we find out how any man could ever live godly in any age.  By our faithfulness?  No, by the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world.  “The volume of the book is written about Him”  When you read your Bible from Genesis to Revelations, whenever you read of a man or woman performing a good work, it is because the Lord Jesus Christ was faithful to go to the cross, and shed His Holy blood and die for us, we who deserved an eternity of separation from God and punishment in the lake of fire.  He voluntarily died for us, He who knew no sin, became sin for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.  He was buried and He rose from the dead on third day.  The firstborn from the dead providing our justification, providing our redemption, providing us to be able to eternally be with our Lord and Savior.  All glory, honor, praise and thanksgiving to God the Father through Christ Jesus our Lord forever and ever!

The Mystery of Godliness – Part 4

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Seen of Angels

Just as the earth has a governmental structure associated with it, with certain men holding positions of rank and authority, so when we read Daniel 10 we see that the angelic realm also has a similar structure of rank and authority.  When reading Daniel 10 we notice that just as the earth has believers and unbelievers, so too the angelic realm has angels that are loyal to God, and angels that have fallen and follow the devil.  We see in Daniel 10 a struggle between the angel that talks with Daniel and the “prince of Persia”.  We see that Michael comes to help battle against the prince of Persia.  Towards the end of the chapter we also read that there will be another struggle with a “prince of Grecia”, which correlates with the rise of the Grecian empire that would follow after the Persian empire.  So we are actually getting a glimpse into spiritual warfare in the heavenlies and how it corresponds with happenings in the earth.

As we contemplate this third aspect of the mystery of godliness, namely “seen of angels”, we must realize that what the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to call “the preaching of the cross” and “the preaching of Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery”  was “hid in God” until revealed to Paul.  This means that it was also hid from angels as well, both the elect and the fallen.  In the Scriptures prior to Paul’s epistles we see how God is going to reconcile the earth back to himself by setting up a kingdom on earth that will be eternal with the Lord Jesus Christ ruling the earth.  What we don’t see until Paul’s epistles is how God is going to reconcile the heavens back to himself.  We often think of how the earth was corrupted with sin when Adam and Eve sinned, but we also have to realize when Lucifer fell and took a third of the angelic realm with him, the first and second heavens were corrupted as well.  Of course we must note that the third heavens where the throne of God and paradise are, were not corrupted.

When we learn of the mystery, we are learning of what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished by the cross.  The death, burial and resurrection of Christ is the centerpiece of time.  By the Lord Jesus Christ’s finished work He made possible the reconciliation of the whole universe back to God.  Both the heavenly and earthly.  That this would be accomplished by the cross, was not known to the angels, yes they knew of earthly reconciliation, but they had no clue about the heavenly reconciliation.  For the fallen angels, this heavenly reconciliation spelled their defeat.  Just as saved Israel and the Jewish members of the body of Christ will be a nation of priests when the Lord Jesus Christ sits on the throne of David and rules the earth, so too the Gentile members of the body of Christ have a heavenly calling and purpose.  When the Lord Jesus Christ rules the earth, Israel will be a vessel for His governance, so too as He also rules the heavens, the Gentile members of the body of Christ will be vessels for His governance.  Where does this leave the devil and his fallen angels?  Well, they will be kicked out of heaven and cast into the earth for a short time and then ultimately thrown into the Lake of Fire.

Let’s look at some Scripture which talks about what the angels saw when the mystery was made known.  As Paul and his fellow laborers were made a spectacle unto the world, angels, and men (1 Corinthians 4:9) so we as members of the body of Christ (also called the church) are being viewed by the angelic realm so the manifold wisdom of God might be known to them.  We see this in Ephesians 3:9-10

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers  in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God.

As pertaining to the wisdom of God that is being made known by the church, the fallen angels would never have had our Lord crucified if they would have known how it spelled their defeat as we read in 1 Corinthians 6:3

But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

We see that by the Lord Jesus Christ dying for our sins and rising from the dead He spoiled the fallen angels.  We read this Colossians 2:13-15

And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses;  Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to His cross;  And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

And we see that we shall judge angels in 1 Corinthians 6:3

Know ye not that we shall judge angels?  how much more things that pertain to this life?

As we contemplate our heavenly calling and purpose what is amazing is that spiritually we are already seated at the right hand of God in Christ Jesus as we read in Ephesians 2:5-6

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved)  And has raised us up together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

Is it any wonder then, why the adversary and his fallen angels fight so vigorously to keep the mystery of godliness unknown among the members of the body of Christ?  We are engaged in spiritual warfare as we read in Ephesians 6:12

For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but principalities, against powers, against rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Before can we can engage in this battle we have to be equipped by the Lord.  We see our armor listed in Ephesians 6:13-18.  Note that our only offensive weapon is the Word of God.  How important then that we read God’s Word and ask Him to give us understanding.  Preachers and teachers are great gifts from the Lord but they are not to have dominion over our faith, we must read the Word of God for ourselves.  While our fight is not against flesh and blood, we do see that the adversary uses flesh and blood to suppress and corrupt the Word of God and the gospel of His grace.  We see this in 2 Corinthians 11:13-15

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.  And no marvel: for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light.  Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness: whose end shall be according to their works.

Now this verse doesn’t mean that we deem ourselves false apostle detectors and start tracking and attacking every person we think is a false apostle.  Quite the opposite, this verse should spur us that much more to study God’s Word, so we might have eyes to see and ears to hear and discern.   The best thing we can do for a pastor or teacher of God’s Word is to study the Word of God ourselves and ask questions.  Iron sharpens Iron.  If you have never heard the mystery of godliness preached on, go and ask your pastor about it, it may spur both of you to search the Scriptures that much more, and praise the Lord that is always a great thing!

In closing, throughout the ages, God and His work has been witnessed and seen by the angels.  At Pentecost we see Peter declare that the Holy Spirit inspired words of the prophet Joel were being fulfilled and the last days had begun.  But the prophetic time clock abruptly stopped and we see Saul of Tarsus saved on the road to Damascus.  Saul who would be called Paul was given a mystery not made known to man or angel before being revealed to him.  This mystery period has lasted for two thousand years while God continues to graciously offer salvation to any and all who will believe in the Lord Jesus Christ.  After Paul was given the mystery and Peter learned of the gospel of God’s grace, Peter wrote this in 2 Peter 3:15-16

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you.  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.

If the apostle Peter by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, states that there are some things that are hard to be understood, then obviously that should prompt to us to pray that much more and ask God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ for understanding from Him and a hunger for His Word.

So as we contemplate God being seen of angels, we realize that the angels have always seen God, but they did not know about the mystery.  As we yield to God through prayer and study of His Word, what will naturally result is the life and love of Christ working in us.  Just as we read that the apostles were being viewed by the angels in 1st Corinthians, so they are viewing us, witnessing the grace of God at work in the lives of believers.  When we are walking in the Spirit and we are empowered by the Lord Jesus Christ, they are actually witnessing the mystery of godliness.  How could man every live godly?  Only by the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work and His sanctifying work in the life of the believer.  May we pray that we might walk more circumspectly in this life, prayerfully reading God’s Word and seeking understanding from Him, so that His grace may be magnified as the Holy Spirit empowers us and the Lord Jesus Christ manifests His life in us.  May we by His power be reflectors of His grace!

The Mystery of Godliness – Part 3

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

Justified in the Spirit

To be justified is to be made right with God also known as righteous in the sight of God and acceptable to His holy standard.  I have heard this modification of the word justified in the following sentence used as explanation.  “Just as if I’d never sinned”.  The only way our sins could ever be forgiven and forgotten forever was by the Lord Jesus Christ shedding His blood, dying on the cross, and being buried for us.  In the same fashion, the only way we could ever be quickened or made alive, thus being made acceptable to God in His beloved Son was by our Lord Jesus Christ being resurrected from the dead and our being clothed with Christ’s righteousness.  We see this clearly defined in Romans 4:25 when the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to say this about Christ’s death and resurrection:

Who was delivered for offenses and raised for our justification.

As we read the second aspect of the mystery of godliness, which is God “justified in the Spirit”, this specifically takes in view the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ and Him being the “firstborn from the dead”.  Now someone may say, “hey but weren’t other people before this raised from the dead, in fact didn’t Jesus raise people from the dead?”  Very good question, and the answer is yes other people were raised from the dead, but their bodies were not changed into eternal bodies like our Lord Jesus Christ was. Those that were raised from the dead, still ended up dying again.   So our Lord is literally  the firstborn from the dead.

Another question that might be asked is, “how was the Lord Jesus Christ justified in the Spirit, how was He made right with God, when He is and always has been God, He didn’t have the  need to “made right or made righteous” did He?”  The answer is no, He didn’t need to be made righteous, but we did.  We know that our Lord Jesus Christ has always been righteous, He was righteous in eternity past, righteous during His earthly ministry, and He is righteous forever more.  So when we read that God was justified or “made right” in the Spirit, this does not hold in view our Lord having to made right from sin, but rather shows that by God the Father raising Christ from the dead in the power of the Holy Spirit, He was made the firstborn from the dead.  By doing this, He created the way for all who would believe in Him to be made right in Him and providing direct access to God the Father in prayer through our Lord.  We received this right standing with God, the second we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved.  We were literally raised with Him in the Holy Spirit so we could walk in newness of life, while here on earth.  We received the “earnest”  of the Holy Spirit and our Spirit became alive, and when we are finally resurrected when the Lord Jesus Christ comes back for us, then we will experience the redemption of our bodies as well as they are changed into eternal living bodies.  Here are a number of verses which point to some of the things we have been discussing:

Romans 8:11  But if the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwells in you.

Romans 3:26  To declare, I say, at this time His righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believes in Jesus.

1 Corinthians 6:14  And God has both raised up the Lord, and will also raise up us by His own power.

Romans 8:29-30  For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.  Moreover whom he did predestinate, them He also called: and whom He called, them He also justified: and whom He justified, them He also glorified.

Colossians 1:18  And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence.

So as we again contemplate this second aspect of the mystery of godliness and desire to “exercise ourselves to godliness”, we must realize that in order to do so it has to by the power of the Holy Spirit and not our flesh or our will.  By the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit we can walk in newness of life as we read in Romans 6:4

Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.

Note: Please note the baptism mentioned in the above verse is not some water ceremony done with human hands, but is actually the operation of God performed the moment we believed in the Lord Jesus.  God sealed us with His Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit identified us with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection.  Lord willing, we will look at this further in a future post.

Continuing our study, we must now revisit a sobering verse we briefly looked at a couple of posts ago.   2 Timothy 3:5

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

The context in which the apostle Paul issues this dire warning consists of him explaining the last days and the way men will be behaving wrongly.  My opinion is that this chapter is talking about professing Christians in the last days.  When Paul talks about them having a form of godliness, we must realize that the verse we have been examining the past few posts is a verse that explains godliness.  So when he talks about those who have a form of godliness, he is talking about those who know or affirm or preach the different parts of godliness we are looking at.  But these same individuals he is talking about deny the power from which godliness is produced, which is the Holy Spirit and the application of this specific part we are looking at today, which is “justified in the Spirit”.  As we rejoice in knowing the gospel of the grace of God and gaining understanding in the preaching of the Jesus Christ according to the revelation of the mystery, we must realize the knowledge of these things alone is not what causes us to live Godly in Christ Jesus, but rather it is the Holy Spirit working the Word of God and the Lord Jesus Christ living His life through us.  As we read in 1st Corinthians 13, we can understand all mysteries, and all knowledge but if we don’t have the love of Christ, we are nothing.

When we think of having a “form of godliness, but denying the power thereof” we also immediately think of the Pharisees during our Lord’s earthly ministry as an example.  These Pharisees held the fundamental truths of God’s Word, especially in light of the Saduccees who were denying some of those truths.  But though they were correct concerning the form of God’s Word, they were blind as bats because they used it to justify themselves and they were operating according to their own works instead of God’s works.  God’s Word was not being mixed with faith, which would have given them a correct view of their sinfulness and need for a Savior.  Oh how this should cause us to walk circumspectly, so we might not turn the knowledge of the mystery and the grace of God into a system by which we approve ourselves and condemn others!  How then do we ensure that we don’t deny the Holy Spirit which is the power of godliness?  How can we ensure that it is Christ living His life in us and through us to others and not our own tricky flesh or motives?  How can we ensure that “what we have begun in the Spirit, we do not continue by the flesh” as is written in Galatians.  By yielding to the Lord through prayer and His Word.  Prayer with our heavenly Father through our Lord Jesus Christ, in the Holy Spirit is so important.  Do you feel like when you pray, that it doesn’t feel like you are talking to God, then tell Him that, that’s the best place to start in prayer.  Tell God everything, He is your heavenly Father.  If you want to hear what He says, you have to read His Word.

As we close this look at the second aspect of the mystery of godliness, we rejoice that when the Lord Jesus Christ was raised from the dead, He was raised for our justification.  The same Holy Spirit that powerfully raised our Lord, works in us and raised us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.  The Holy Spirit works in us during this life as He sanctifies and grows  us spiritually, and He will also raise us up physically when our Lord Jesus Christ returns for us.  Our bodies will be changed to glorious, eternal bodies fashioned like our Lord Jesus Christ”s body.  We know that when our Lord justified us in the Spirit, He clothed us with His righteousness, may we pray that God would teach us to yield to Him more so the fruits of His righteousness, His grace, and His working may work out of us.

The Mystery of Godliness – Part 2

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

God was manifest in the flesh

The first part of the mystery of godliness takes in view God being manifest in the flesh.  Immediately we think of our Lord Jesus Christ leaving the throne of God and coming down to earth, being born of a virgin, and entering humanity, holding the title, “Son of God” and also the title “son of man”.  As we noticed in the last post, we are exhorted to “exercise ourselves to godliness”, so we also view God being manifest in the flesh by the Holy Spirit residing in us, and Christ living His life through us.  To see how this is possible we need to go back to the beginning of creation and see how God created man.

First, let’s look at how God created Adam after His own image and likeness as we read in Genesis 1:26-27

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.

We see in verse 26 that God says, “Let us make man in our image” and then in verse 27 we see that God “created man in his own image”.  As we learn in the other scriptures, there is one God that exists in three distinct persons:  God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.  So verse 26 holds in view the aspect of the tri-unity of God, while verse 27 holds in view the oneness of God.  As we touched on in a previous post, this is difficult for our human minds to grasp, but we see examples of tri-unity throughout God’s creation.  In fact, in verse 26 we see one of these examples as He explains the dominion He has given Adam over the world which is one, and then goes on to describe the dominion over… 1. The fish in the sea  2. The fowl of the air 3. The cattle and creeping things of the earth.  One world, with three distinct parts: water, earth, and air (atmosphere).  So as we learn in other Scriptures that man possesses a body, a spirit, and a soul (1 Thessalonians 5:23) we see that Adam was created after the very image of God, and not only this, but he was created perfect and alive in all three aspects.  We see this in Genesis 2:7

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 soul.

Next, let’s briefly review what happened to Adam’s posterity because he sinned in Genesis 5:3

And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth.

When Adam sinned and ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he died.  The form of the image he was created in, did not change, he was still body, soul, and spirit.  The likeness of that image he was created in did change, he died in the spirit and was dying in the body.  Thus when we look above we see his son Seth formed in Adam’s likeness and image, which still had the form of the image of God, but was filled with Adam’s likeness of a dead spirit and dying body.  Every single person who has walked the earth except for our Lord Jesus Christ, was in Adam when he sinned, in fact lest we get highminded, if we would have been in Adam’s shoes, we would have done the same thing as him.

Let’s now look at how God would be manifest in the flesh in Matthew 1:20 and then in Luke 1:35

But while he thought on these things, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife; for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.

And the angel said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.

God the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ could not be stained with sin as He entered humanity, thus being able to provide the perfect atonement and sacrifice for the world’s sins, reconciling the fallen sons of Adam to God, by the perfect sacrifice of Himself.  This could only be accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ entering humanity through the virgin birth.  As we looked at before, Adam was created with a living body, soul, and spirit.  When he sinned, he and all those after him possessed dead spirits and a dying body.  When the Lord Jesus Christ was conceived, He was conceived by the Holy Spirit in the virgin Mary.  This resulted in the Lord Jesus Christ being born truly alive in the body, soul, and spirit.  He like Adam had a free will and encountered all manner of trials and temptations, yet unlike Adam, He was also God and  never sinned.  By this perfect sinless life and fulfilling all the righteousness of the law, He alone provided the perfect sacrifice for our sins and reconciliation for Adam’s fall, when He the perfect, spotless, Lamb of God was slain for our sins.  There has really only ever been two type of men in history, the first and the second Adam.  Let’s read 1st Corinthians 15:45-47

And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Let’s also read Romans 5:17

For if by one man’s offense death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.

And let’s read Romans 5:19

For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

As we near the end of today’s post, let’s look at God being manifest in us who believe as we start by reading Colossians 2:13 and Galatians 2:20

And you being dead in your sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, he has quickened together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses.

I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

When we were born into this world, we were born dead in the spirit and dying in our bodies.  Sons and daughters of Adam.  As we entered the toddler stage we bore witness to this fact by beginning to sin in ignorance.  When we became old enough to discern between right and wrong we bore witness to this fact by sinning willfully.  Prior to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, we were dead and held in slavery to death and sin.  When we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection for us.  We were instantly quickened by the Holy Spirit.  We were made alive in the spirit.  As before we were in Adam, with all the sin and slavery that entailed, we were now made free and placed in the Lord Jesus Christ by God’s grace through faith.  All glory, honor, and praise to God the Father through Christ Jesus our Lord forever and ever!

As we were made members of the spiritual organization called the “Body of Christ” and placed in Him, so the Holy Spirit resides in us, God manifest in the flesh!  As those that are alive from the dead, we still temporarily have this body that is dying, and have temptation to sin, but we are not slaves to sin anymore, and if we yield to God he will provide the way of escape when sin comes a knocking.  Our free will gives us the choice to live godly in Christ Jesus or mind the things of our flesh which is still dying.  If we yield to the Lord, He will live His life through us and we will see God manifesting His life and righteousness in us and out of us to others.  Even though our flesh is corrupted and dying and cannot be improved, we can see him transforming our bodies into vessels for His use, we can see the earnest of the Holy Spirit, working while we look forward to the redemption of the purchased possession when the Lord Jesus Christ will come back for us and give us each brand new eternally living bodies that will not be able to sin.  Then will be said, “Death is swallowed up in victory!”!

As we have examined this first attribute of godliness, which “God manifest in the flesh”.  May we pray that we might yield to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ in prayer and the reading of His Word, as we are filled with the Holy Spirit in all wisdom and understanding.  And may we pray that the Lord Jesus Christ might manifest His life in us more and more, ministering to each other and others, while we thank God for all He has given us in Christ Jesus the Lord.

2 Corinthians 13:14

The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Amen!

The Mystery of Godliness

1 Timothy 3:16

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness:  God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.

 

And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness

Many of us, by God’s grace, have come to understand the mystery or secret that was committed to the apostle Paul by our risen, ascended Lord Jesus Christ.  This mystery is great and was hidden in God until He gave it to our beloved apostle.  The more we learn of this mystery, the more we see our victory in Christ, as He works in us by faith, working His love out of us to others.  All the while we focus on the hope He has given to us which is the “redemption of the purchased possession”, when He shall change our vile bodies into glorious bodies fashioned like His.  From salvation to sanctification to glorification it is all by His working and when we yield to Him and He works in us, we are living godly in Him.  Godliness can be described as Christ living His life through us.  We see the subject of godliness summed up in one phrase, “Christ in us, the hope of glory” when we read Colossians 1:27

To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.

As we examine the form of godliness given to us in 1 Timothy 3:16 in the future posts, we shall take time to examine every part of the verse.  Before we do that, let’s prepare and look at a few of the other verses which mention godliness in Paul’s epistles.

We see that the key to a quiet and peaceable life is in godliness and honesty in 1 Timothy 2:2

For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

We learn that women professing godliness will be adorned with good works in 1 Timothy 2:10

But (which becometh women professing godliness) with good works.

We see that we are to exercise ourselves to godliness and that it is profitable to us both in this life and eternity in 1 Timothy 4:7-8

But refuse profane and old wives’ fables, and exercise thyself rather unto godliness.  For bodily exercise profits little: but godliness is profitable unto all things, having the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come.

We learn that the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the apostle Paul’s doctrine or instruction is according to godliness in 1 Timothy 6:3

If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our Lord Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness.

We see that some people will think monetary or statuatory gain is godliness, which is false, but we are shown that godliness with contentment is great gain in 1 Timothy 6: 5-6

Perverse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth,  supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.  But godliness with contentment is great gain.

We learn that we are to follow after godliness in 1 Timothy 6:11

But you, O man of God, flee these things and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience and meekness.

We see that some can have a form of godliness, but deny the power from which true godliness flows, which is the Holy Spirit. We see this in 2 Timothy 3:5

Having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.

We learn that Paul was a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ according to his acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness in Titus 1:1

Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God’s elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness.

Nearly 2000 years since the Holy Spirit inspired Paul to write the verse at the top of the post, sadly we have to admit that this mystery of godliness is still a mystery to most professing Christians, though it was revealed.  Most folks think being godly involves their will and their power, though they might not say it like that.  Many labor and toil to keep ordinances not meant for the Gentiles and many zealously strive to follow Jesus by their own working and determination.  They have not heard of the mystery of godliness, they have not heard about Christ in us, the hope of our glory.  They do not know that the same Holy Spirit that raised our Lord from the dead, has raised us in the Lord Jesus, to walk in newness of life by His empowerment.  Not relying on ourselves or our strength, but on Him.  When we are strengthened and grown in the Lord by His working is when we will be vessels for His use.  But before we can do any good works we have to be strengthened and grown by God, this happens when we yield to Him by prayerfully reading His Word and by prayer.  Once He has equipped us, He will send us out or send people to us for ministry.  Our thoughts can jump all over the place, so we can’t rely on our thoughts or opinions to guide us, we must rely on the Word of God for our direction.  May we pray that our Lord Jesus Christ’s love would dwell in us richly, and we might understand and explain the mystery to others that was explained two thousand years ago.  Ephesians 3:9

And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ.

To be continued…

 

2000 Silent Years – Part 3

2 Timothy 4:10-11

For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world, and is departed unto Thessalonica; Crescens to Galatia, Titus unto Dalmatia.  Only Luke is with me…

2 Timothy 4:16-17

At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me:  I pray God that it may not be laid to their charge.  Notwithstanding the Lord stood with me, and strengthened me: that by me the preaching might be fully known, and that all the Gentiles might hear…

I had planned to launch into a series of posts on the mystery of godliness, but I feel one more post is necessary prior to that series.  As we examine the verses above we are reading excerpts from the last epistle Paul wrote.  We find the “apostle to the gentiles” is in prison with most of his fellow laborers in the Lord having deserted him.  Lord willing, as we shall see in later posts the apostle Paul was given a direct revelation also known as the mystery from the Lord Jesus Christ.  This message did not contradict what the disciples were preaching, but it was a different revelation that God kept secret until given to the apostle Paul.  Paul was commissioned to go to the Gentiles aka nations (non-jewish people) with his message.  As we begin to examine the mystery please realize that it is not what most people are hearing preached in their churches.  In fact if you search church history, you will find very little if anything about this message.  This causes some to immediately dismiss it because the so called “church fathers” did not write on it.  It should not suprise us when we read the verses at the top of the post and realize that at the end of his ministry, Paul was abandoned by nearly all of his fellow laborers.  When we contemplate Paul’s word to the Ephesians before he left them this should also not suprise us that the “church fathers” write nothing of the mystery.  Let’s read what Paul said to the Ephesians in Acts 20:29 – 32

For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock.  Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.  Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears.  And now brethren, I commend you to God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you an inheritance among all them which are sanctified.

Mark this and mark it well, the adversary does not want the mystery and the grace of God preached.  He has been working for 2000 years to keep this message silent.  He either wants people to lump Paul in as one of the other apostles with no different message, or for those who know the mystery, he wants them to deify Paul and pay no attention to the rest of the scriptures.  For those who do study their Bible, he wants them either to choose to follow the words of the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry or choose to follow Paul’s words during Paul’s ministry.  The devil always sets up two sides and wants people to choose one.  The truth of the matter is that both are for us, while Christ’s Words during His time on earth are clearly recorded in Scripture,  so too Christ’s Words while seated at the right hand of God the father in heaven are clearly recorded through the Holy Spirit’s inspiration of the apostle Paul’s epistles.  The Lord Jesus Christ commissioned the apostle Paul’s ministry and words.  So why does it seem like some of the things Jesus says during His earthly ministry and some things that Paul says during his ministry are different?  Because too often people treat the Bible as a smorgasboard, they go from Genesis to Revelations picking and choosing what they want to apply and not apply.  Not thinking about what they are reading and not prayerfully asking God to give them understanding.  What results from this approach is  “theologies” and “denominations”.  Before we can understand the Old Testament and the four gospels and James, Peter, and John’s parts of the Bible, we have to understand what happened at the cross.  True understanding begins with understanding all that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us when He shed His blood, died, was buried, and resurrected.  Understanding the mystery is understanding the reason that God purposed that Christ should die for our sins and according to His grace save us.  It is in Paul’s epistles that we learn these things.  Peter, James, and John wrote their epistle’s after the Holy Spirit communicated the truth of mystery to Paul and they agreed to the right hand of fellowship written in Galatians 2:9.  Read what Peter, James, and John were saying in the book of Acts and then read their epistles and notice the difference of what they were preaching.  And actually let’s listen to Peter’s own words about Paul’s epistles after Peter had learned of the gospel of the grace of God commissioned to Paul.

2 Peter 3:15

And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you;  As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction.

Folks before we can appropriately have the whole Word of God applied to our hearts, we have to “rightly divide the Word of Truth”.  This involves thinking on God’s Word and different periods in the Bible and the way God was dealing with Israel and dealing with the Gentiles.  Recognizing God’s plan for the restoration of the earth, and God’s plan for the restoration of the heavens.  Seeing how in the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work at the cross, He has provided the victory over sin and death.

Before we close this post and Lord willing, start a new one about the mystery of godliness, let’s consider what we really want.  We want to be pleasing to God and to be used by Him for His glory and to reach out to those who are lost or brothers and sisters in need.  In order to be pleasing, we can’t depend on ourselves because the fact of the matter is we fail and often at that.  If it’s not blatant sin that hinders us, its our own indifference to what’s going on around us or we’re busy entertaining ourselves with the things of the world.  So in order to be pleasing to God, it has to be His working in us and we need wisdom from Him and we need to yield to Him through prayer and His Word so we can be empowered by Him.  The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, when we fear the Lord is when we realize His holiness and our sinfulness.  Once we see this clearly, all we can do is call upon His name.  It is at this point that we are rightly dividing and we are noting the difference between us and God.  Then He in grace can pick us up and strengthen us with whole counsel of His Word, and we are empowered by Him to do good works.  His Word is our spiritual food and we need to eat it and digest it prayerfully.  We need to admit when we don’t understand somethings and wait upon Him, it may be that He gives us understanding on a particular part of His Word immediately or maybe 10 years from now, but we can rest assured, God is in control and He will give us what we need when we need it.

Just as we need to rightly divide the difference between us and God and consider these things and call upon Him, so too when handling His Word.

2 Timothy 2:15

Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the Word of Truth.

When we rightly divide His Word is when we notice the differences, whether they be Jewish or Gentile differences, earthly or heavenly differences, differences in time periods, or whatever else.  We need to not fear the differences and try not to think about them, but we need to fear God and ask Him to give us understanding.  The first part of understanding God’s Word is understanding some things that happened that at first glance appear different and unconnected, but with light and understanding from the Lord Jesus Christ we will come to find out throughout the ages, the events have been proceeding according His glory and honor.  When we read the epistles of Paul we will learn of the differences and get explanations.  Consider the book of Romans, the Holy Spirit inspires Paul to write about the entire span of human history from beginning to end.  When we read these things we will find out that the whole of time is anchored upon the cross and that time when our Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross for us, taking our sins upon Him and providing salvation for all who will believe in Him.  All the history before the cross points to the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial and resurrection.  All the history after the cross points back to the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection.  So when we rightly divide His Word and the Lord gives us understanding in these things, we are not finished and only spend our time reading Paul’s epistles. As we looked at 2 Timothy 2:15 above let’s turn exactly a chapter and a verse later and read:

2 Timothy 3:16-17

All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:  That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

After we rightly divide God’s Word and notice the differences, and find out what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished by the cross, and realize all the spiritual blessings that God has so graciously poured upon us, and after we realize God’s heavenly purpose for the Gentile members of the body of Christ, and God’s earthly purpose for the Jewish members of the body of Christ, then we can go through the rest of the Scriptures and light bulbs will go on in succession.  We can then see the plan of God through the ages, and see the river of God’s grace flowing through time and eternity.  We can then through the Holy Spirit find application and instruction in the whole of God’s Word as we firmly rest on the foundation of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Lord willing we will begin examining the mystery of godliness in the next post, until then let’s rejoice in our God through our Lord Jesus Christ!

2000 Silent Years – Part 2

Acts 2:16-20

But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel:  And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh:  and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:  And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy.

  And I will show wonders in the heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:  The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before that great and notable day of the Lord come.

As we look around the professing Christian world today, we see a very similar environment which followed the 400 silent years.  We see organizations of men which profess God and Christ that either take away from the Word of God like the Saduccees or add to the Word of God with the philosophies and traditions of men like the Pharisees.  Many might read this statement and readily agree with it and then state how their church or denomination is different or better, but for those who really read God’s Word you have to admit, when you read of the local assemblies in Paul’s day and consider church structure, function and behavior there is a marked contrast.  So what happened?  How did we get to this point?  Well, to understand we have to go to the Scriptures and look at what was happening prior to the beginning of this 2000 silent year period.

As we examine the verses that are listed at the top of this post, you will notice a division between verses 18 and 19.  Before we go into the reason for that division let’s get a context of what was happening.  After the Lord Jesus Christ’s resurrection and before He ascended to the right hand of God the Father, He had told the disciples to wait in Jerusalem for the “promise of the Father” which would be the baptism with the Holy Spirit, which we know happened at Pentecost.  When the promise happened and the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages and the Jews from other countries which were in Jerusalem heard their respective languages being spoken and were amazed, they began to question what it meant and some basically were saying the disciples were drunk.  We see the beginning of Peter’s response to these accusations in the verses at the top of this post.

Note how Peter basically tells them that what is happening right then is the beginning of what was prophesied by Joel and can be found in the Old Testament of our Bibles.  The period Joel is explaining is the tribulation which culminates in the “day of the Lord”.  It is also what is called the “70th week of Daniel” based on the seventy weeks, each “week” being seven years which we read about in Daniel 9.  Well we find in Daniel that the 69 weeks or 483 years would occur before the Messiah was “cut off, but not for himself”, which we believe is what happened at the cross when the Lord Jesus Christ died for our sins.  This left a remaining week or 7 years until the day of the Lord.  In grace God added another year to the 483 year period, which is typified by a parable our Lord spoke which is recorded in Luke 13.

So as we read in Daniel 9 and the passage Peter quoted in Joel, we learn that at the time of Pentecost when the disciples had received the promise of the Holy Spirit, all was ripe for the lead up to the “day of the Lord”.  In fact Peter says that the last days had begun and points to Joel to prove it.  Now back to the division between verses 18 and 19.  Well we notice that the things Peter listed in verses 17 and 18 happened and we can read about them in the book of Acts, but the things that Peter listed in verses 19 and 20 did not happen then and have not happened yet.  When we read in Daniel of the 69th week when Messiah was “cut off” and then we read the events listed Daniel 9:27 have not happened yet either.  So we have to ask why, what happened, what stopped the prophetic time clock?  Why has two thousand years gone by and the events mentioned in Acts 2:19-20 have not happened yet?  It seems a bit mysterious doesn’t it?

Let’s look at some more scripture and mark another mysterious distinction.  In Acts 3:21 we see an excerpt from when Peter is again preaching and notice that as Peter is describing what is happening at that time and the very near future he states that what he is saying “God had spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began“  Now let’s read in Romans 16:25 what the Holy Spirit inspired the apostle Paul to write:  “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.”  So we see Peter speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ a message that had been spoken by God’s prophets since the world began, and then later we see Paul speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ according a revelation of a mystery which was kept secret since the world began.

So at this point, we know that at the time of Pentecost all was ripe for the last days to begin and in fact they had already began as testified by Peter, but yet we did not see all the things happen that were supposed to happen.  Instead we see a two thousand year period in which the tribulation has not yet happened.  Why the mysterious delay?  Well, we also notice that Paul was given a revelation of a mystery, which was kept secret since the world began.  So if were trying to find out why this mysterious 2000 year period has lasted so long, and we read in God’s Word about a mystery that has been made known, it would follow that we should seek to prayerfully study and understand the mystery so that we might gain more insight as to our own day and time and what is ailing the professing Christian world at this time.

So now let me cut to the chase, we are living in a time period that was not prophesied or mentioned in the Old Testament Scriptures, but the reason for this time period and what God is doing today was made known to the apostle Paul and then later to Peter and the disciples as the Holy Spirit made it known to them through Paul’s ministry.

It is a very sad thing to say that this mystery which has been revealed and is found in our Bibles is still a mystery to almost all of “Christendom”.  When we learn of this mystery, not only do we learn of what’s going on in this time period, but we learn of the abundant grace of God, we learn of all that the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us by shedding His blood, dying for us, being buried, and then rising from the dead.  We learn of how we can yield to God and let the Lord Jesus Christ live His life through us, instead of us trying to live the Christian life ourselves and failing miserably.  Make no mistake, the devil does not want Christians to understand the mystery.  And make no mistake for those who do understand the mystery, the devil wants them to act like Pharisees, where they get prideful that they know the truth and no one else does.  He also wants those who understand the mystery and the gospel of the grace of God to turn it into a system of knowledge whereby they spend their times arguing minute details of the mystery such as when the body of Christ began, or which Bible translation is the best, instead of having God’s Word applied to their heart.

When we get an understanding of the mystery which our Lord Jesus Christ gave to the apostle Paul, the rest of the Scriptures open up to us.  So in the next posts Lord willing, instead of showing the unique apostleship to the gentiles that the apostle Paul was given that I was planning to post on.  Instead I’m going to post some older writings that I posted on another blog a while ago, that specifically deal with the mystery.  I think it’s around 12 posts or so.  I pray that the Lord would give us all understanding in His Word, so that we might be “vessels for His use”.  Until then, may God richly bless you with all spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus our Lord!

 

2000 Silent Years

John 17:17

Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth

As we begin to look at our own 2000 year period of silence, we must remark on a few issues.  First, when we say that we are in a period of silence, we don’t mean to imply that God is not speaking today, for He is speaking through His Word, and also as He and His Word works in believers and they speak to others He is speaking as well.  We rather mean to imply that just like the 400 years of silence, He is not giving revelations outside of what we have in our Bibles.  The Scriptures are complete and are the authority by which our faith, conduct, and agreement with others rest.

Secondly, as we look at the current state of  “Christendom” it is not our goal to attack any individuals, denominations, or groups.  It is not our goal to promote any individuals, denominations, or groups either.  We will be taking a hard look at the professing Christian world as a whole, that will not be that favorable, but it is not with the intent to bash or promote any specific organization.  It is rather to take a look at God’s Word and compare what is going on around us in the light of God’s Word.  Some of you may feel like me, that when you read God’s Word and see what’s going on in “Christendom” the two do not line up.  Some may also feel like when they compare their local church with God’s Word it just doesn’t line up either.  Pertaining to denominations or Christian groups, we must remark that the organization that every saved person who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ belongs to is called the Body of Christ, which is a spiritual organization composed of every believer.  Local church membership, denominational ties, or lack of church attendance have absolutely no bearing on whether a person belongs to the Body of Christ, just accepting God’s gracious gift of eternal life and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and His death, burial, and resurrection for our salvation and justification.  While we are members of the Body of Christ which is  also called the church in Scripture, we are also are in need of fellowship and edification with other believers, this is where a local assembly also known as a physical church comes in.  In Paul’s day the believers would usually meet together in people’s homes.

Thirdly, as we consider this 2000 year period, we are going to try and shy away from history and stick to God’s Word.  In the Bible, God says that His Word is inspired by the Holy Spirit, He does not say the history books or even church history books are.  Scripture tells us that temporarily Satan is the “god of this world”.  Does it not logically follow that he has control over the “wisdom of this world” i.e. history, science, and the like?  So while if I hear of Luther and what he did with the reformation, I am thankful, but I will not base any part of my faith or belief on those subjects, because it is not included in the Word of God.  So I realize this may be offensive, but I have heard people advocate doctrinal viewpoints on what was written by the reformers or the early Christians, in “church history”.  Again this should not be, God’s Word should be the authority on all matters.  History was written by those in power at the time, and then possibly rewritten by those who came to power after.  It really comes down to a belief in God’s Word.  Do you believe God’s Word is true or what men say is true?  If you believe in God’s Word, it should not matter what history, science, archeology, religion or any other body of knowledge professes.  This will probably seem narrow minded to many, including many Christians, but if truth resides in multiple sources including those outside the Bible then there is no way to discern what the truth really is.  But we hold to the fact that God divinely inspired men to write down the truth, and that body of truth solely resides in the Bible.

Lastly, Israel was called to be a kingdom of priests, the ruling nation of the earth that would bring the gentiles back to God.  While scripture tells us that this will be fulfilled one day when the Lord Jesus Christ returns and rules and reigns, when we consider the period after the 400 silent years we see anything but this.  Instead we see them under the Roman Empire and under a false religious system that professed God.  When we read what they had back then, the Old Testament Scriptures, and we see a common thread that when Israel whether pertaining the nation as a whole, or the leadership, or individuals trusted in the Lord and sought Him, the Lord always took care of His people.  What we find in the period after the 4oo years is the leadership of Israel so concerned with their traditions and philosophies of men, that they completely missed fundamental meanings and truth of the Scripture at that time.  Does that mean that there weren’t any God fearing Jews waiting for the Messiah.  Well, as we already looked at in prior post, we know that there were some.  But the religious machine at that time squelched their voices.  Folks, unfortunately it is no different now.  The adversary wants to keep us out of God’s Word, he wants to keep us ignorant of God’s Word, he wants us to follow traditions and philosophies of men.  He wants us to think that those who are most qualified to teach on God’s Word are those who have been ordained by some institution or have the appropriate college degrees.  That’s the way the world dictates who is wise, but that is not God’s way.  God wants all of us to prayerfully read His Word, and if we ask Him for understanding He will give it to us, no matter what our educational background.  We will not immediately understand everything, but He will give us what is needful for today.  The only way we will appropriately discern what is going on today in our lives, is if our eyes and ears are strengthened by God through the intake of His Word and the understanding of the Holy Spirit.  Do you really enjoy God’s Word?  If you don’t, don’t pray like you do, but instead tell your heavenly Father the truth and ask him to give you a hunger for His Word.  Ask Him to give you discernment and understanding.  If you have read God’s Word and it scares you or fear that some things may contradict, don’t let that stop you, but do tell God everything.  The more you grow in His Word, the more you will see and understand that God’s Word does not contradict itself whatsoever, but rather in some instances God had different directions for different times, and in some instances, one event or one subject is looked at in scripture from different angles, the Holy Spirit thus giving a much more complete view.  We have been given access to God the Father through our Lord Jesus Christ,  through prayer.  Let’s pray and make known all our requests to God!