Randy Green's Blog - Posts Tagged "lost"
Kettle & the Pot – Part 1
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
There’s this old saying from back in the day, “You ever hear of the kettle calling the pot black?” It is a retort to someone who launches criticism at another, for something he himself is prone to do. Or perhaps the gainsayer doesn’t do the same thing he is criticizing, but he is known for doing much worse.
There are a good many kettles going around nowadays, and it was no different in Jesus’ day. Luke 15 is an excellent example of this. The chapter contains three parables by Jesus, each one teaching the selfsame lesson. Let’s list the three:
1. the lost sheep
2. the lost coin
3. the prodigal son
There is one additional point to be made before proceeding. The third and final parable, the prodigal son, adds a twist to the lesson being taught. It will be the emphasis of our study in Luke 15.
First we need the context in which the three parables occurred. The context is to be garnered from verses 1-2.
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Why did Jesus teach the lesson intimated in the three parables? Answer: there were two classes of people around Him at that time. On the one side were “the tax collectors and the sinners”, and they were flocking to Jesus to hear the Word of God and receive blessings from Him. On the other hand were “the Pharisees and the scribes”.
Today we might equate those two classes of people with low-lifes on the one hand and proper religious folks on the other. The low-lifes live for themselves and do whatever gives them pleasure. Their moral tank is on empty. The proper religious folks go to church and consider themselves moral, upstanding pillars of the community. Their moral tank overflows, or so they would say anyway.
The religious folks didn’t like the fact that this upstart carpenter Jesus was getting all the attention. He never went to their seminary, you see. How dare He think Himself a teacher of the Bible! They viewed Jesus as competition. They were the religious experts. Who did Jesus think He was?
To make matters even worse, those who flocked to Jesus and made Him look impressive by the number of followers He had, why, they were the religiously uneducated and Biblically illiterate common folk. If Jesus really knew God and understood His Word aright, He would know better than to associate with such riffraff. In the eyes of the religious leaders, that in itself proved Jesus wasn’t from God.
So Jesus told these three parables to explain how God actually did view the tax collectors and sinners. But we are out of time again, so we must wait until the morrow to continue this tale. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
There’s this old saying from back in the day, “You ever hear of the kettle calling the pot black?” It is a retort to someone who launches criticism at another, for something he himself is prone to do. Or perhaps the gainsayer doesn’t do the same thing he is criticizing, but he is known for doing much worse.
There are a good many kettles going around nowadays, and it was no different in Jesus’ day. Luke 15 is an excellent example of this. The chapter contains three parables by Jesus, each one teaching the selfsame lesson. Let’s list the three:
1. the lost sheep
2. the lost coin
3. the prodigal son
There is one additional point to be made before proceeding. The third and final parable, the prodigal son, adds a twist to the lesson being taught. It will be the emphasis of our study in Luke 15.
First we need the context in which the three parables occurred. The context is to be garnered from verses 1-2.
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Why did Jesus teach the lesson intimated in the three parables? Answer: there were two classes of people around Him at that time. On the one side were “the tax collectors and the sinners”, and they were flocking to Jesus to hear the Word of God and receive blessings from Him. On the other hand were “the Pharisees and the scribes”.
Today we might equate those two classes of people with low-lifes on the one hand and proper religious folks on the other. The low-lifes live for themselves and do whatever gives them pleasure. Their moral tank is on empty. The proper religious folks go to church and consider themselves moral, upstanding pillars of the community. Their moral tank overflows, or so they would say anyway.
The religious folks didn’t like the fact that this upstart carpenter Jesus was getting all the attention. He never went to their seminary, you see. How dare He think Himself a teacher of the Bible! They viewed Jesus as competition. They were the religious experts. Who did Jesus think He was?
To make matters even worse, those who flocked to Jesus and made Him look impressive by the number of followers He had, why, they were the religiously uneducated and Biblically illiterate common folk. If Jesus really knew God and understood His Word aright, He would know better than to associate with such riffraff. In the eyes of the religious leaders, that in itself proved Jesus wasn’t from God.
So Jesus told these three parables to explain how God actually did view the tax collectors and sinners. But we are out of time again, so we must wait until the morrow to continue this tale. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Kettle & the Pot – Part 2
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
Jesus told three parables to teach an important spiritual truth to those listening to Him. In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus made the point that there were 100 sheep and one was lost. In response the shepherd left the 99 in the sheepfold and went searching for the one lost sheep until he found it.
In the parable of the lost coin there were 10 coins and one was lost. The owner of the coins lit the lamps in the house and swept through the entire dwelling, not giving up until she found it. In both cases the shepherd and the woman rejoiced ecstatically over recovering the one lost piece of property.
In the parable of the prodigal son the same lesson was taught. This father had two sons. The younger insisted his father give him his inheritance now. After receiving it, the younger son went off to a far country because he wanted to live contrary to the way his father raised him. So he went far away where his father wouldn’t witness it.
To make a long story short, he squandered all his inheritance and needed a job. The only job offer he received was to feed some pigs. This son was so impoverished and destitute, that he actually wanted to eat the pig food!
Suddenly he remembered good old dad and life as it once was. Living for the devil lost its appeal. Living for dad jumped to the forefront of his desire. So he headed back home, intent on begging his father just to let him be one of the servants. He wasn’t fit to be dad’s son anymore, he reasoned.
That, by the way, is the definition of true Biblical repentance. More often than I care to remember, I’ve heard apologies that went like this, “If I’ve ever done anything to hurt you, I’m sorry.” That’s fine and good, dear friends, but that’s not real repentance! What is being repented of? The person speaking in such a fashion isn’t even aware of what he/she did wrong, so how can the person ask forgiveness for doing it?
Anyway, the father saw the son coming way off yonder because he was watching expectantly for his son’s return. He wanted him back and wanted to forgive him, you see. So he ran down the road and, before his son could even repent, he threw his arms around the lad and gave him a bear hug. Then he had the servants put a ring on his finger and a robe around his torso. He followed this up with an order to kill the fatted calf and prepare a feast for his once-lost son.
The message is the same as that of the first two parables. Something was lost and the owner wouldn’t give up until he retrieved it. Of course the owner is God, and the lost items are sinful men and women. The tax collectors and sinners flocked to Jesus and He gladly received them. They had been lost, but now they were found.
This is where the twist occurs in the parable of the prodigal son. Oh, but it is time to stop once more. We will finish the saga tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Jesus told three parables to teach an important spiritual truth to those listening to Him. In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus made the point that there were 100 sheep and one was lost. In response the shepherd left the 99 in the sheepfold and went searching for the one lost sheep until he found it.
In the parable of the lost coin there were 10 coins and one was lost. The owner of the coins lit the lamps in the house and swept through the entire dwelling, not giving up until she found it. In both cases the shepherd and the woman rejoiced ecstatically over recovering the one lost piece of property.
In the parable of the prodigal son the same lesson was taught. This father had two sons. The younger insisted his father give him his inheritance now. After receiving it, the younger son went off to a far country because he wanted to live contrary to the way his father raised him. So he went far away where his father wouldn’t witness it.
To make a long story short, he squandered all his inheritance and needed a job. The only job offer he received was to feed some pigs. This son was so impoverished and destitute, that he actually wanted to eat the pig food!
Suddenly he remembered good old dad and life as it once was. Living for the devil lost its appeal. Living for dad jumped to the forefront of his desire. So he headed back home, intent on begging his father just to let him be one of the servants. He wasn’t fit to be dad’s son anymore, he reasoned.
That, by the way, is the definition of true Biblical repentance. More often than I care to remember, I’ve heard apologies that went like this, “If I’ve ever done anything to hurt you, I’m sorry.” That’s fine and good, dear friends, but that’s not real repentance! What is being repented of? The person speaking in such a fashion isn’t even aware of what he/she did wrong, so how can the person ask forgiveness for doing it?
Anyway, the father saw the son coming way off yonder because he was watching expectantly for his son’s return. He wanted him back and wanted to forgive him, you see. So he ran down the road and, before his son could even repent, he threw his arms around the lad and gave him a bear hug. Then he had the servants put a ring on his finger and a robe around his torso. He followed this up with an order to kill the fatted calf and prepare a feast for his once-lost son.
The message is the same as that of the first two parables. Something was lost and the owner wouldn’t give up until he retrieved it. Of course the owner is God, and the lost items are sinful men and women. The tax collectors and sinners flocked to Jesus and He gladly received them. They had been lost, but now they were found.
This is where the twist occurs in the parable of the prodigal son. Oh, but it is time to stop once more. We will finish the saga tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Kettle & the Pot – Part 3
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
The lesson of the prodigal son was the same as the lesson of the first two parables. However, it didn’t stop with that one lesson. The most important lesson occurred only in this parable. Let’s assay the parable and learn the lesson, shall we?
The father had two sons, not just one, though only one was lost, i.e., gone away from the home front. The other son never left home. He stayed and did what his father told him to do. When he heard the joyous celebration taking place inside the house, he asked a servant what it was about.
The servant reported to him how his brother had returned, and the family was celebrating. Big bro was irate! Dad had to go outside and attempt to coax him into joining the feast. Big bro resented dad and let him know it in no uncertain terms.
“I never ever left you. I stayed right here and did everything you told me to do. Still, you never threw a banquet for me and invited all my friends to celebrate with me. But this ragamuffin, this urchin, this tatterdemalion, he goes off to the brothels and wastes all his money, then comes crawling back for more—and you throw him a party! How dare you, dad!”
Remember the context now. There were two classes of people around Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners were represented by the prodigal son. They didn’t stick around the church building with Father God and “did everything He told them to do”. The other class of people consisted of the Pharisees and the scribes. They did hang around in the church building and consider themselves the prim and proper moral examples of society. They did everything Father God expected of them. This class was represented by big bro.
What did the father (aka Father God) have to say in response to big bro’s attitude toward his younger brother? “Son, you are always here and everything I have is yours.”
In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this means they could have enjoyed Father God and celebrated with Him, but they were to stiff and formalistic to enjoy Him. They were too busy believing themselves to obey all His rules, when in fact they failed miserably. They did what he said only perfunctorily. They didn’t understand the need for their obedience to come from the heart, which would have made it a joyful thing, not an onerous burden they failed to enjoy.
Then the father (aka Father God) added, “This brother of yours was lost but now he is found, he was dead but now he lives.” In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this was Jesus’ rebuke of them for wanting to keep the tax collectors and sinners separated from Father God by their sins. The tax collectors and sinners came to Jesus to be forgiven, and the religious leaders and teachers wanted Jesus to send them away, leaving them in their sins and destined for hell!
Can you believe that? Isn’t that about as outrageous an attitude as ever darkened the doors of the church building? Fie fie on those scribes and Pharisees! Right? But can we look in the mirror and feign innocence to the same charge, dear friends?
Let’s hie off to the Lord Jesus now and pour our hearts out to Him. He wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Are we wholeheartedly on board with this? Let’s not get off our knees before Jesus until we are.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The lesson of the prodigal son was the same as the lesson of the first two parables. However, it didn’t stop with that one lesson. The most important lesson occurred only in this parable. Let’s assay the parable and learn the lesson, shall we?
The father had two sons, not just one, though only one was lost, i.e., gone away from the home front. The other son never left home. He stayed and did what his father told him to do. When he heard the joyous celebration taking place inside the house, he asked a servant what it was about.
The servant reported to him how his brother had returned, and the family was celebrating. Big bro was irate! Dad had to go outside and attempt to coax him into joining the feast. Big bro resented dad and let him know it in no uncertain terms.
“I never ever left you. I stayed right here and did everything you told me to do. Still, you never threw a banquet for me and invited all my friends to celebrate with me. But this ragamuffin, this urchin, this tatterdemalion, he goes off to the brothels and wastes all his money, then comes crawling back for more—and you throw him a party! How dare you, dad!”
Remember the context now. There were two classes of people around Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners were represented by the prodigal son. They didn’t stick around the church building with Father God and “did everything He told them to do”. The other class of people consisted of the Pharisees and the scribes. They did hang around in the church building and consider themselves the prim and proper moral examples of society. They did everything Father God expected of them. This class was represented by big bro.
What did the father (aka Father God) have to say in response to big bro’s attitude toward his younger brother? “Son, you are always here and everything I have is yours.”
In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this means they could have enjoyed Father God and celebrated with Him, but they were to stiff and formalistic to enjoy Him. They were too busy believing themselves to obey all His rules, when in fact they failed miserably. They did what he said only perfunctorily. They didn’t understand the need for their obedience to come from the heart, which would have made it a joyful thing, not an onerous burden they failed to enjoy.
Then the father (aka Father God) added, “This brother of yours was lost but now he is found, he was dead but now he lives.” In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this was Jesus’ rebuke of them for wanting to keep the tax collectors and sinners separated from Father God by their sins. The tax collectors and sinners came to Jesus to be forgiven, and the religious leaders and teachers wanted Jesus to send them away, leaving them in their sins and destined for hell!
Can you believe that? Isn’t that about as outrageous an attitude as ever darkened the doors of the church building? Fie fie on those scribes and Pharisees! Right? But can we look in the mirror and feign innocence to the same charge, dear friends?
Let’s hie off to the Lord Jesus now and pour our hearts out to Him. He wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Are we wholeheartedly on board with this? Let’s not get off our knees before Jesus until we are.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
My Enemies Are Three – Part 1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest [Ephesians 2:1-3].
In 1 Kings 21 the story is told of evil King Ahab of Israel and his wicked wife Jezebel. King Ahab wanted an Israelite named Naboth to sell his vineyard to the king. Trouble was, the Law of Moses interdicted the sale because ownership of tribal land had to remain within the tribe. If Naboth sold the vineyard to King Ahab, the land would pass from Naboth’s tribe to Ahab’s tribe.
Being the mighty king he was, Ahab went home and moped about it. Wicked Jezebel crooned him into telling her the tale, and was she irked! So she hired some wretched lowlifes to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God. Here was Naboth upholding the Law, and there was Ahab/Jezebel perverting it. Naboth paid with his life, as did his entire family. Ahab went in and took over the vineyard.
The Lord was none to pleased with this state of affairs. All authority is established by God. He established it to represent Him. Ahab blasphemed God’s character by his crime, and he was the king of Israel! So the Lord took action against Ahab. He sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab and pronounce the Lord’s verdict on him and his family.
Elijah went to Jezreel, the city where Naboth’s vineyard was situated. When Ahab saw Elijah, he knew his crime was exposed. He knew the Lord dispatched Elijah to pronounce judgment against him because he had a predilection for sinning and had experienced the Lord’s pronouncements many times already. Let’s read verse 20 of 1 Kings 21 and hear what Ahab had to say to Elijah.
Ahab said to Elijah, “ Have you found me, O my enemy?”
Elijah was the Lord’s prophet, not his own person. What Elijah had to say to Ahab or anyone else was the Word of God, not the words of Elijah. Accordingly, if Elijah was Ahab’s enemy, then the Lord was Ahab’s enemy first. If the Lord was Ahab’s enemy, then Ahab was sinning and not repenting of his sins. These are the straightforward facts of spiritual life, dear people.
Well, I’ll leave the rest of the story to your imagination. Better yet, go to your Bible and read the story. It’s better and safer that way, rather than depending on the imagination.
What I want us to take from the story is how Ahab recognized Elijah as his enemy. Ahab was a child of the devil, Elijah a child of God. So Ahab rightly discerned this truth about Elijah.
I thought of this connection when I began reading the second chapter of Ephesians. God has His enemies and His family shares these enemies with God. There are three broad categories of enemies generally associated with the Lord and His people.
Oh, but time demands we cease our investigation. We will continue it on the morrow. Jesus summons us into His presence for personal time with Him now. Don’t keep Him waiting!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In 1 Kings 21 the story is told of evil King Ahab of Israel and his wicked wife Jezebel. King Ahab wanted an Israelite named Naboth to sell his vineyard to the king. Trouble was, the Law of Moses interdicted the sale because ownership of tribal land had to remain within the tribe. If Naboth sold the vineyard to King Ahab, the land would pass from Naboth’s tribe to Ahab’s tribe.
Being the mighty king he was, Ahab went home and moped about it. Wicked Jezebel crooned him into telling her the tale, and was she irked! So she hired some wretched lowlifes to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God. Here was Naboth upholding the Law, and there was Ahab/Jezebel perverting it. Naboth paid with his life, as did his entire family. Ahab went in and took over the vineyard.
The Lord was none to pleased with this state of affairs. All authority is established by God. He established it to represent Him. Ahab blasphemed God’s character by his crime, and he was the king of Israel! So the Lord took action against Ahab. He sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab and pronounce the Lord’s verdict on him and his family.
Elijah went to Jezreel, the city where Naboth’s vineyard was situated. When Ahab saw Elijah, he knew his crime was exposed. He knew the Lord dispatched Elijah to pronounce judgment against him because he had a predilection for sinning and had experienced the Lord’s pronouncements many times already. Let’s read verse 20 of 1 Kings 21 and hear what Ahab had to say to Elijah.
Ahab said to Elijah, “ Have you found me, O my enemy?”
Elijah was the Lord’s prophet, not his own person. What Elijah had to say to Ahab or anyone else was the Word of God, not the words of Elijah. Accordingly, if Elijah was Ahab’s enemy, then the Lord was Ahab’s enemy first. If the Lord was Ahab’s enemy, then Ahab was sinning and not repenting of his sins. These are the straightforward facts of spiritual life, dear people.
Well, I’ll leave the rest of the story to your imagination. Better yet, go to your Bible and read the story. It’s better and safer that way, rather than depending on the imagination.
What I want us to take from the story is how Ahab recognized Elijah as his enemy. Ahab was a child of the devil, Elijah a child of God. So Ahab rightly discerned this truth about Elijah.
I thought of this connection when I began reading the second chapter of Ephesians. God has His enemies and His family shares these enemies with God. There are three broad categories of enemies generally associated with the Lord and His people.
Oh, but time demands we cease our investigation. We will continue it on the morrow. Jesus summons us into His presence for personal time with Him now. Don’t keep Him waiting!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
My Enemies Are Three – Part 2
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest [Ephesians 2:1-3].
The children of God are daily confronted with three categories of enemies. The first three verses of Ephesians 2 reveal them. Let’s dissect these verses and see for ourselves. But before identifying the enemies, let’s not overlook the two categories which comprise the children of God.
The first two verses depict one type, while verse 3 portrays the other. We recognize the first type by the words “you were dead in your trespasses and sins”. The other type is revealed by the words “we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh”. Do you see the significant difference? I’ll give you a hint. Notice the two pronouns “you” and “we”.
We know both of these categories of persons belong to God’s family because of the concomitant descriptions. The “you” folks are described this way:
• you were dead in trespasses and sins
• you formerly walked
Those words depict children of the devil, yes. But notice the words no longer applied to those whom Paul was addressing. The verbs are past tense. Those qualities once were true of these people, but no more. They were no longer children of the devil, though they once were. This means they were born again into the family of God.
The “we” folk are described this way:
• we too all formerly lived
• we were by nature children of wrath
You will observe how the same applied to the “we” folks as applied to the “you” folks. They once upon a time were children of the devil, but no more. The verbs are past tense. Now they belonged to God’s family.
So then, who were the “you” folks and who were the “we” ones? Well, Paul did the writing, so the language means he was one of the “we” folks. Paul was writing to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, so they were the “you” folks. So what distinguished Paul from the Ephesian Christians?
It’s really quite simple, dear friends. Paul was a Jew by ethnicity, the Ephesian Christians predominantly Gentiles. The first two verses of Ephesians 2 note how the Gentile Ephesian Christians used to belong to the devil’s family. In the third verse Paul added that the Jewish Christians were in the same boat. They too once belonged to the devil’s family, even though they had the Law and the Temple.
In fine, Paul lumped all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike, into the same lump of clay. Every person, regardless of ethnicity or any other distinction, is conceived in sin and born in iniquity. Every person is born dead to God and by nature a child of the devil. Every person must be born again, if he would see the Kingdom of God.
We will conclude this analysis in our next study. For now we have plenty on our plate on which to feed.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The children of God are daily confronted with three categories of enemies. The first three verses of Ephesians 2 reveal them. Let’s dissect these verses and see for ourselves. But before identifying the enemies, let’s not overlook the two categories which comprise the children of God.
The first two verses depict one type, while verse 3 portrays the other. We recognize the first type by the words “you were dead in your trespasses and sins”. The other type is revealed by the words “we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh”. Do you see the significant difference? I’ll give you a hint. Notice the two pronouns “you” and “we”.
We know both of these categories of persons belong to God’s family because of the concomitant descriptions. The “you” folks are described this way:
• you were dead in trespasses and sins
• you formerly walked
Those words depict children of the devil, yes. But notice the words no longer applied to those whom Paul was addressing. The verbs are past tense. Those qualities once were true of these people, but no more. They were no longer children of the devil, though they once were. This means they were born again into the family of God.
The “we” folk are described this way:
• we too all formerly lived
• we were by nature children of wrath
You will observe how the same applied to the “we” folks as applied to the “you” folks. They once upon a time were children of the devil, but no more. The verbs are past tense. Now they belonged to God’s family.
So then, who were the “you” folks and who were the “we” ones? Well, Paul did the writing, so the language means he was one of the “we” folks. Paul was writing to the Christians in the city of Ephesus, so they were the “you” folks. So what distinguished Paul from the Ephesian Christians?
It’s really quite simple, dear friends. Paul was a Jew by ethnicity, the Ephesian Christians predominantly Gentiles. The first two verses of Ephesians 2 note how the Gentile Ephesian Christians used to belong to the devil’s family. In the third verse Paul added that the Jewish Christians were in the same boat. They too once belonged to the devil’s family, even though they had the Law and the Temple.
In fine, Paul lumped all mankind, Jew and Gentile alike, into the same lump of clay. Every person, regardless of ethnicity or any other distinction, is conceived in sin and born in iniquity. Every person is born dead to God and by nature a child of the devil. Every person must be born again, if he would see the Kingdom of God.
We will conclude this analysis in our next study. For now we have plenty on our plate on which to feed.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
My Enemies Are Three – Part 3
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest [Ephesians 2:1-3].
The first three verses of Ephesians 2 enumerated two types of Christians. There are those of Jewish ethnicity, and there are those of Gentile origins. By birth every Christians was a child of the devil. He had to be born again, born a second time, in order to die to the devil’s family and be adopted into God’s family.
As children of God we face three categories of enemies daily. These three were our one-time friends. While we ate and drank and partied with old Lucifer, we were the best of friends with these three rascals. But all that changed when we joined the family of God. Now the three rascals are our inveterate enemies.
So just who are these villains? Well, the usual epithets applied to them are,
1. the flesh
2. the world
3. the devil/Satan
Paul, you see, noted how the Christians consisted of both Jews and Gentiles by ethnicity. Simultaneously with this he identified the three enemies of Christians, thus making it evident that the three were enemies of all God’s children, whether Jew or Gentile.
You say you don’t see the flesh, the world, and the devil specified in verses 1-3 of Ephesians 2? I’m sorry. But they sure are there! Allow me to show them to you.
The first villain who Paul identified was the world. He wrote:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.
The Gentile Christians in the past used to conduct their lives according to who again? Answer: according to “this world”. They wallowed in the same sorts of sins as all unbelievers do. Only because they were born again did they cease engaging in such a lifestyle.
The second villain Paul identified was the devil. He wrote:
According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
The prince in question is the spirit of disobedience. Friends, that would be none other than the devil, or Satan for short.
The third villain—well, the process of elimination leaves only the flesh, so the flesh it is! Paul wrote:
We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.
And that makes a grand total of three enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The three are inveterate enemies of every child of God, but they are BFFs for every child of the devil.
Oh, I almost forgot. Paul also made specific reference to the children of the devil in our three verses. Listen:
• the sons of disobedience
• children of wrath
I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. Aren’t you? I sure don’t look back with longing on my life of disobedience and wrath. Once escape from the grasp of sin by God’s grace, and we no longer find pleasure in such filth as we once did. Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
The first three verses of Ephesians 2 enumerated two types of Christians. There are those of Jewish ethnicity, and there are those of Gentile origins. By birth every Christians was a child of the devil. He had to be born again, born a second time, in order to die to the devil’s family and be adopted into God’s family.
As children of God we face three categories of enemies daily. These three were our one-time friends. While we ate and drank and partied with old Lucifer, we were the best of friends with these three rascals. But all that changed when we joined the family of God. Now the three rascals are our inveterate enemies.
So just who are these villains? Well, the usual epithets applied to them are,
1. the flesh
2. the world
3. the devil/Satan
Paul, you see, noted how the Christians consisted of both Jews and Gentiles by ethnicity. Simultaneously with this he identified the three enemies of Christians, thus making it evident that the three were enemies of all God’s children, whether Jew or Gentile.
You say you don’t see the flesh, the world, and the devil specified in verses 1-3 of Ephesians 2? I’m sorry. But they sure are there! Allow me to show them to you.
The first villain who Paul identified was the world. He wrote:
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world.
The Gentile Christians in the past used to conduct their lives according to who again? Answer: according to “this world”. They wallowed in the same sorts of sins as all unbelievers do. Only because they were born again did they cease engaging in such a lifestyle.
The second villain Paul identified was the devil. He wrote:
According to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience.
The prince in question is the spirit of disobedience. Friends, that would be none other than the devil, or Satan for short.
The third villain—well, the process of elimination leaves only the flesh, so the flesh it is! Paul wrote:
We too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh.
And that makes a grand total of three enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil. The three are inveterate enemies of every child of God, but they are BFFs for every child of the devil.
Oh, I almost forgot. Paul also made specific reference to the children of the devil in our three verses. Listen:
• the sons of disobedience
• children of wrath
I’m so glad I’m a part of the family of God. Aren’t you? I sure don’t look back with longing on my life of disobedience and wrath. Once escape from the grasp of sin by God’s grace, and we no longer find pleasure in such filth as we once did. Praise the Lord! Thank you, Jesus.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
Kettle & the Pot – Part 1
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
There’s this old saying from back in the day, “You ever hear of the kettle calling the pot black?” It is a retort to someone who launches criticism at another, for something he himself is prone to do. Or perhaps the gainsayer doesn’t do the same thing he is criticizing, but he is known for doing much worse.
There are a good many kettles going around nowadays, and it was no different in Jesus’ day. Luke 15 is an excellent example of this. The chapter contains three parables by Jesus, each one teaching the selfsame lesson. Let’s list the three:
1. the lost sheep
2. the lost coin
3. the prodigal son
There is one additional point to be made before proceeding. The third and final parable, the prodigal son, adds a twist to the lesson being taught. It will be the emphasis of our study in Luke 15.
First we need the context in which the three parables occurred. The context is to be garnered from verses 1-2.
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Why did Jesus teach the lesson intimated in the three parables? Answer: there were two classes of people around Him at that time. On the one side were “the tax collectors and the sinners”, and they were flocking to Jesus to hear the Word of God and receive blessings from Him. On the other hand were “the Pharisees and the scribes”.
Today we might equate those two classes of people with low-lifes on the one hand and proper religious folks on the other. The low-lifes live for themselves and do whatever gives them pleasure. Their moral tank is on empty. The proper religious folks go to church and consider themselves moral, upstanding pillars of the community. Their moral tank overflows, or so they would say anyway.
The religious folks didn’t like the fact that this upstart carpenter Jesus was getting all the attention. He never went to their seminary, you see. How dare He think Himself a teacher of the Bible! They viewed Jesus as competition. They were the religious experts. Who did Jesus think He was?
To make matters even worse, those who flocked to Jesus and made Him look impressive by the number of followers He had, why, they were the religiously uneducated and Biblically illiterate common folk. If Jesus really knew God and understood His Word aright, He would know better than to associate with such riffraff. In the eyes of the religious leaders, that in itself proved Jesus wasn’t from God.
So Jesus told these three parables to explain how God actually did view the tax collectors and sinners. But we are out of time again, so we must wait until the morrow to continue this tale. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
There’s this old saying from back in the day, “You ever hear of the kettle calling the pot black?” It is a retort to someone who launches criticism at another, for something he himself is prone to do. Or perhaps the gainsayer doesn’t do the same thing he is criticizing, but he is known for doing much worse.
There are a good many kettles going around nowadays, and it was no different in Jesus’ day. Luke 15 is an excellent example of this. The chapter contains three parables by Jesus, each one teaching the selfsame lesson. Let’s list the three:
1. the lost sheep
2. the lost coin
3. the prodigal son
There is one additional point to be made before proceeding. The third and final parable, the prodigal son, adds a twist to the lesson being taught. It will be the emphasis of our study in Luke 15.
First we need the context in which the three parables occurred. The context is to be garnered from verses 1-2.
Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Why did Jesus teach the lesson intimated in the three parables? Answer: there were two classes of people around Him at that time. On the one side were “the tax collectors and the sinners”, and they were flocking to Jesus to hear the Word of God and receive blessings from Him. On the other hand were “the Pharisees and the scribes”.
Today we might equate those two classes of people with low-lifes on the one hand and proper religious folks on the other. The low-lifes live for themselves and do whatever gives them pleasure. Their moral tank is on empty. The proper religious folks go to church and consider themselves moral, upstanding pillars of the community. Their moral tank overflows, or so they would say anyway.
The religious folks didn’t like the fact that this upstart carpenter Jesus was getting all the attention. He never went to their seminary, you see. How dare He think Himself a teacher of the Bible! They viewed Jesus as competition. They were the religious experts. Who did Jesus think He was?
To make matters even worse, those who flocked to Jesus and made Him look impressive by the number of followers He had, why, they were the religiously uneducated and Biblically illiterate common folk. If Jesus really knew God and understood His Word aright, He would know better than to associate with such riffraff. In the eyes of the religious leaders, that in itself proved Jesus wasn’t from God.
So Jesus told these three parables to explain how God actually did view the tax collectors and sinners. But we are out of time again, so we must wait until the morrow to continue this tale. See you then.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Kettle & the Pot – Part 2
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
Jesus told three parables to teach an important spiritual truth to those listening to Him. In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus made the point that there were 100 sheep and one was lost. In response the shepherd left the 99 in the sheepfold and went searching for the one lost sheep until he found it.
In the parable of the lost coin there were 10 coins and one was lost. The owner of the coins lit the lamps in the house and swept through the entire dwelling, not giving up until she found it. In both cases the shepherd and the woman rejoiced ecstatically over recovering the one lost piece of property.
In the parable of the prodigal son the same lesson was taught. This father had two sons. The younger insisted his father give him his inheritance now. After receiving it, the younger son went off to a far country because he wanted to live contrary to the way his father raised him. So he went far away where his father wouldn’t witness it.
To make a long story short, he squandered all his inheritance and needed a job. The only job offer he received was to feed some pigs. This son was so impoverished and destitute, that he actually wanted to eat the pig food!
Suddenly he remembered good old dad and life as it once was. Living for the devil lost its appeal. Living for dad jumped to the forefront of his desire. So he headed back home, intent on begging his father just to let him be one of the servants. He wasn’t fit to be dad’s son anymore, he reasoned.
That, by the way, is the definition of true Biblical repentance. More often than I care to remember, I’ve heard apologies that went like this, “If I’ve ever done anything to hurt you, I’m sorry.” That’s fine and good, dear friends, but that’s not real repentance! What is being repented of? The person speaking in such a fashion isn’t even aware of what he/she did wrong, so how can the person ask forgiveness for doing it?
Anyway, the father saw the son coming way off yonder because he was watching expectantly for his son’s return. He wanted him back and wanted to forgive him, you see. So he ran down the road and, before his son could even repent, he threw his arms around the lad and gave him a bear hug. Then he had the servants put a ring on his finger and a robe around his torso. He followed this up with an order to kill the fatted calf and prepare a feast for his once-lost son.
The message is the same as that of the first two parables. Something was lost and the owner wouldn’t give up until he retrieved it. Of course the owner is God, and the lost items are sinful men and women. The tax collectors and sinners flocked to Jesus and He gladly received them. They had been lost, but now they were found.
This is where the twist occurs in the parable of the prodigal son. Oh, but it is time to stop once more. We will finish the saga tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Jesus told three parables to teach an important spiritual truth to those listening to Him. In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus made the point that there were 100 sheep and one was lost. In response the shepherd left the 99 in the sheepfold and went searching for the one lost sheep until he found it.
In the parable of the lost coin there were 10 coins and one was lost. The owner of the coins lit the lamps in the house and swept through the entire dwelling, not giving up until she found it. In both cases the shepherd and the woman rejoiced ecstatically over recovering the one lost piece of property.
In the parable of the prodigal son the same lesson was taught. This father had two sons. The younger insisted his father give him his inheritance now. After receiving it, the younger son went off to a far country because he wanted to live contrary to the way his father raised him. So he went far away where his father wouldn’t witness it.
To make a long story short, he squandered all his inheritance and needed a job. The only job offer he received was to feed some pigs. This son was so impoverished and destitute, that he actually wanted to eat the pig food!
Suddenly he remembered good old dad and life as it once was. Living for the devil lost its appeal. Living for dad jumped to the forefront of his desire. So he headed back home, intent on begging his father just to let him be one of the servants. He wasn’t fit to be dad’s son anymore, he reasoned.
That, by the way, is the definition of true Biblical repentance. More often than I care to remember, I’ve heard apologies that went like this, “If I’ve ever done anything to hurt you, I’m sorry.” That’s fine and good, dear friends, but that’s not real repentance! What is being repented of? The person speaking in such a fashion isn’t even aware of what he/she did wrong, so how can the person ask forgiveness for doing it?
Anyway, the father saw the son coming way off yonder because he was watching expectantly for his son’s return. He wanted him back and wanted to forgive him, you see. So he ran down the road and, before his son could even repent, he threw his arms around the lad and gave him a bear hug. Then he had the servants put a ring on his finger and a robe around his torso. He followed this up with an order to kill the fatted calf and prepare a feast for his once-lost son.
The message is the same as that of the first two parables. Something was lost and the owner wouldn’t give up until he retrieved it. Of course the owner is God, and the lost items are sinful men and women. The tax collectors and sinners flocked to Jesus and He gladly received them. They had been lost, but now they were found.
This is where the twist occurs in the parable of the prodigal son. Oh, but it is time to stop once more. We will finish the saga tomorrow.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
Kettle & the Pot – Part 3
But he answered and said to his father, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.” [Luke 15:29-30]
The lesson of the prodigal son was the same as the lesson of the first two parables. However, it didn’t stop with that one lesson. The most important lesson occurred only in this parable. Let’s assay the parable and learn the lesson, shall we?
The father had two sons, not just one, though only one was lost, i.e., gone away from the home front. The other son never left home. He stayed and did what his father told him to do. When he heard the joyous celebration taking place inside the house, he asked a servant what it was about.
The servant reported to him how his brother had returned, and the family was celebrating. Big bro was irate! Dad had to go outside and attempt to coax him into joining the feast. Big bro resented dad and let him know it in no uncertain terms.
“I never ever left you. I stayed right here and did everything you told me to do. Still, you never threw a banquet for me and invited all my friends to celebrate with me. But this ragamuffin, this urchin, this tatterdemalion, he goes off to the brothels and wastes all his money, then comes crawling back for more—and you throw him a party! How dare you, dad!”
Remember the context now. There were two classes of people around Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners were represented by the prodigal son. They didn’t stick around the church building with Father God and “did everything He told them to do”. The other class of people consisted of the Pharisees and the scribes. They did hang around in the church building and consider themselves the prim and proper moral examples of society. They did everything Father God expected of them. This class was represented by big bro.
What did the father (aka Father God) have to say in response to big bro’s attitude toward his younger brother? “Son, you are always here and everything I have is yours.”
In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this means they could have enjoyed Father God and celebrated with Him, but they were too stiff and formalistic to enjoy Him. They were too busy believing themselves to obey all His rules, when in fact they failed miserably. They did what he said only perfunctorily. They didn’t understand the need for their obedience to come from the heart, which would have made it a joyful thing, not an onerous burden they failed to enjoy.
Then the father (aka Father God) added, “This brother of yours was lost but now he is found, he was dead but now he lives.” In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this was Jesus’ rebuke of them for wanting to keep the tax collectors and sinners separated from Father God by their sins. The tax collectors and sinners came to Jesus to be forgiven, and the religious leaders and teachers wanted Jesus to send them away, leaving them in their sins and destined for hell!
Can you believe that? Isn’t that about as outrageous an attitude as ever darkened the doors of the church building? Fie fie on those scribes and Pharisees! Right? But can we look in the mirror and feign innocence to the same charge, dear friends?
Let’s hie off to the Lord Jesus now and pour our hearts out to Him. He wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Are we wholeheartedly on board with this? Let’s not get off our knees before Jesus until we are.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
The lesson of the prodigal son was the same as the lesson of the first two parables. However, it didn’t stop with that one lesson. The most important lesson occurred only in this parable. Let’s assay the parable and learn the lesson, shall we?
The father had two sons, not just one, though only one was lost, i.e., gone away from the home front. The other son never left home. He stayed and did what his father told him to do. When he heard the joyous celebration taking place inside the house, he asked a servant what it was about.
The servant reported to him how his brother had returned, and the family was celebrating. Big bro was irate! Dad had to go outside and attempt to coax him into joining the feast. Big bro resented dad and let him know it in no uncertain terms.
“I never ever left you. I stayed right here and did everything you told me to do. Still, you never threw a banquet for me and invited all my friends to celebrate with me. But this ragamuffin, this urchin, this tatterdemalion, he goes off to the brothels and wastes all his money, then comes crawling back for more—and you throw him a party! How dare you, dad!”
Remember the context now. There were two classes of people around Jesus. The tax collectors and sinners were represented by the prodigal son. They didn’t stick around the church building with Father God and “did everything He told them to do”. The other class of people consisted of the Pharisees and the scribes. They did hang around in the church building and consider themselves the prim and proper moral examples of society. They did everything Father God expected of them. This class was represented by big bro.
What did the father (aka Father God) have to say in response to big bro’s attitude toward his younger brother? “Son, you are always here and everything I have is yours.”
In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this means they could have enjoyed Father God and celebrated with Him, but they were too stiff and formalistic to enjoy Him. They were too busy believing themselves to obey all His rules, when in fact they failed miserably. They did what he said only perfunctorily. They didn’t understand the need for their obedience to come from the heart, which would have made it a joyful thing, not an onerous burden they failed to enjoy.
Then the father (aka Father God) added, “This brother of yours was lost but now he is found, he was dead but now he lives.” In terms of the Pharisees and scribes, this was Jesus’ rebuke of them for wanting to keep the tax collectors and sinners separated from Father God by their sins. The tax collectors and sinners came to Jesus to be forgiven, and the religious leaders and teachers wanted Jesus to send them away, leaving them in their sins and destined for hell!
Can you believe that? Isn’t that about as outrageous an attitude as ever darkened the doors of the church building? Fie fie on those scribes and Pharisees! Right? But can we look in the mirror and feign innocence to the same charge, dear friends?
Let’s hie off to the Lord Jesus now and pour our hearts out to Him. He wants ALL men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth. Are we wholeheartedly on board with this? Let’s not get off our knees before Jesus until we are.
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Genesis: Volume 1 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/Randy-Green/e/B...
My Enemies Are Three – Part 1
And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest [Ephesians 2:1-3].
In 1 Kings 21 the story is told of evil King Ahab of Israel and his wicked wife Jezebel. King Ahab wanted an Israelite named Naboth to sell his vineyard to the king. Trouble was, the Law of Moses interdicted the sale because ownership of tribal land had to remain within the tribe. If Naboth sold the vineyard to King Ahab, the land would pass from Naboth’s tribe to Ahab’s tribe.
Being the mighty king he was, Ahab went home and moped about it. Wicked Jezebel crooned him into telling her the tale, and was she irked! So she hired some wretched lowlifes to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God. Here was Naboth upholding the Law, and there was Ahab/Jezebel perverting it. Naboth paid with his life, as did his entire family. Ahab went in and took over the vineyard.
The Lord was none to pleased with this state of affairs. All authority is established by God. He established it to represent Him. Ahab blasphemed God’s character by his crime, and he was the king of Israel! So the Lord took action against Ahab. He sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab and pronounce the Lord’s verdict on him and his family.
Elijah went to Jezreel, the city where Naboth’s vineyard was situated. When Ahab saw Elijah, he knew his crime was exposed. He knew the Lord dispatched Elijah to pronounce judgment against him because he had a predilection for sinning and had experienced the Lord’s pronouncements many times already. Let’s read verse 20 of 1 Kings 21 and hear what Ahab had to say to Elijah.
Ahab said to Elijah, “ Have you found me, O my enemy?”
Elijah was the Lord’s prophet, not his own person. What Elijah had to say to Ahab or anyone else was the Word of God, not the words of Elijah. Accordingly, if Elijah was Ahab’s enemy, then the Lord was Ahab’s enemy first. If the Lord was Ahab’s enemy, then Ahab was sinning and not repenting of his sins. These are the straightforward facts of spiritual life, dear people.
Well, I’ll leave the rest of the story to your imagination. Better yet, go to your Bible and read the story. It’s better and safer that way, rather than depending on the imagination.
What I want us to take from the story is how Ahab recognized Elijah as his enemy. Ahab was a child of the devil, Elijah a child of God. So Ahab rightly discerned this truth about Elijah.
I thought of this connection when I began reading the second chapter of Ephesians. God has His enemies and His family shares these enemies with God. There are three broad categories of enemies generally associated with the Lord and His people.
Oh, but time demands we cease our investigation. We will continue it on the morrow. Jesus summons us into His presence for personal time with Him now. Don’t keep Him waiting!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
In 1 Kings 21 the story is told of evil King Ahab of Israel and his wicked wife Jezebel. King Ahab wanted an Israelite named Naboth to sell his vineyard to the king. Trouble was, the Law of Moses interdicted the sale because ownership of tribal land had to remain within the tribe. If Naboth sold the vineyard to King Ahab, the land would pass from Naboth’s tribe to Ahab’s tribe.
Being the mighty king he was, Ahab went home and moped about it. Wicked Jezebel crooned him into telling her the tale, and was she irked! So she hired some wretched lowlifes to falsely accuse Naboth of cursing God. Here was Naboth upholding the Law, and there was Ahab/Jezebel perverting it. Naboth paid with his life, as did his entire family. Ahab went in and took over the vineyard.
The Lord was none to pleased with this state of affairs. All authority is established by God. He established it to represent Him. Ahab blasphemed God’s character by his crime, and he was the king of Israel! So the Lord took action against Ahab. He sent the prophet Elijah to confront Ahab and pronounce the Lord’s verdict on him and his family.
Elijah went to Jezreel, the city where Naboth’s vineyard was situated. When Ahab saw Elijah, he knew his crime was exposed. He knew the Lord dispatched Elijah to pronounce judgment against him because he had a predilection for sinning and had experienced the Lord’s pronouncements many times already. Let’s read verse 20 of 1 Kings 21 and hear what Ahab had to say to Elijah.
Ahab said to Elijah, “ Have you found me, O my enemy?”
Elijah was the Lord’s prophet, not his own person. What Elijah had to say to Ahab or anyone else was the Word of God, not the words of Elijah. Accordingly, if Elijah was Ahab’s enemy, then the Lord was Ahab’s enemy first. If the Lord was Ahab’s enemy, then Ahab was sinning and not repenting of his sins. These are the straightforward facts of spiritual life, dear people.
Well, I’ll leave the rest of the story to your imagination. Better yet, go to your Bible and read the story. It’s better and safer that way, rather than depending on the imagination.
What I want us to take from the story is how Ahab recognized Elijah as his enemy. Ahab was a child of the devil, Elijah a child of God. So Ahab rightly discerned this truth about Elijah.
I thought of this connection when I began reading the second chapter of Ephesians. God has His enemies and His family shares these enemies with God. There are three broad categories of enemies generally associated with the Lord and His people.
Oh, but time demands we cease our investigation. We will continue it on the morrow. Jesus summons us into His presence for personal time with Him now. Don’t keep Him waiting!
To further research this issue, I direct you to my book Exodus: Volume 2 of Heavenly Citizens in Earthly Shoes. To purchase my books please go to:
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B005PJ761C
https://sites.google.com/site/heavenl...
