Marriage not Fornication

Marriage Not Fornication

Marriage is Approved by God. Fornication is Not.fornication feet

The marriage relationship is a sacred bond; husband and wife are “one flesh” (Genesis 2:24). Jesus says so in Matthew 19:4-6:

And He answered and said to them, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female,’ and said, ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

“One flesh” is the physical union of man and woman. First Corinthians 6:16 says “Or do you not know that he who is joined to a harlot is one body with her? For ‘the two,’ He says, ‘shall become one flesh.’” His point is not that these two are married, but they are pretending to be, so their relationship is a lie. That is why he says, “Flee sexual immorality (fornication). Every sin that a man does is outside the body, but he who commits sexual immorality sins against his own body” (1 Corinthians 6:19). He sins against his own body by using his body to commit fornication. Pretending is not the same as being married.

Marriage is approved by God. Fornication is not. Do you want to be approved by God? Cease fornication and get married. That is Paul’s advice in 1 Corinthians 7:2-4: “Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does.”

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Babylon the Great

Babylon the Great

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great!”  This statement comes via an angel coming down from heaven in a vision of John in Revelation 18.  But who is Babylon?

The first mention of Babylon in the Bible comes from 2 Kings 17:24. The Assyrians were in power at the time and had destroyed the northern tribes of Israel.  As a method of keeping the land productive and also void of attempts of mutiny, the Assyrians moved people from the middle eastern province of Babylon as well as other lands to settle the land of Israel.  At a later time, Babylon as an empire and a city is mentioned in the book of Daniel.  For our investigation of the Babylon of Revelation 18, verse 9 of that text specifies the Babylon of focus is a city, not a province, country, or empire.

Narrowing the scope of examination, the city of Babylon was an ancient city dating back to the time frame of 2200 BC as part of the Accadian empire.  It at that time was small and relatively insignificant, but by the time of the Chaldean/Babylonian empire of Nebuchadnezzar around 600 BC it was a mighty city, possibly the largest in the world.  The pride and immorality of this city is most exemplified by Nebuchadnezzar, and it would be humbled as he was (see the book of Daniel). It was this mighty city that would be crushed by Cyrus the Great of Persia in 539 BC.  Is this the Babylon read about in Revelation 18?

The chapter of Revelation under examination gives further insight to the identity of Babylon the Great.  She was very sinful influencing kings, nations, and people of the world.  All nations were deceived by her.  The destiny of this city according to John’s inspired writing was destruction.  Verse 24 of the text provides a very specific clue as to who this Babylon is.  “And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth.”

Jesus when upon the earth spoke of the coming destruction of Jerusalem.  Matthew 23:29-37 is one of the places His words are recorded.  Jesus in this context speaks of those He would send to direct the lives of men: prophets, wise men, scribes.  He mentions that the Israelites would persecute, flog, crucify, and kill them.  Very exactly he states in verse 37, “O JERUSALEM, JERUSALEM, the city that KILLS the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.”  He also identifies in verse 35 that “all the righteous blood shed on earth” would come upon Jerusalem.  This establishes almost exactly the sentiment of Revelation 18:24.  “ALL” the blood of the slain prophets was found in Jerusalem – Babylon the Great!

An additional aid in understanding Jerusalem as the identity of our quest is the term “great city” used five times in Revelation 18.  Revelation 11:8 speaking of Jerusalem calls it the “great city” where the Lord was crucified.  In fact, it is my assertion every instance of the words “great city” in Revelation reference Jerusalem.

Jerusalem played the harlot with the world.  It was arrogant, adulterous, and murderous.  That it is compared to the historically immoral city of Babylon should come of no shock.  Jerusalem had been called out over centuries for what it was and the behaviors it engaged in.  It had also been compared Sodom frequently by the prophets.  Jerusalem was a shambles of what it should have been, which was a light upon a hill.  Rather, Jerusalem was a plague that polluted and destroyed as did Babylon.  Indeed, it became Babylon the Great.

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Blind Sight

Seeing What a Blind Man Saw, Immediately

When Jesus opened the eyes of the man born blind, the man understood what had just happened. He told the unbelieving leaders, “Why, this is a marvelous thing that you do not know where He is from; yet He opened my eyes!” He then said, “Since the world began it has been unheard of that anyone opened the eyes of the one who was born blind” (John 9:30, 32).  Isaiah prophesied that the Messiah would open the eyes of the blind (Isa. 35:4-5). It had never happened until Jesus came, and Matthew records Jesus doing this at least six times.

There is a remarkable lesson to be learned as one reads Mark’s account of that time when Jesus opened the eyes of blind Bartimaeus in Jericho. When Jesus gave him this blessing He said, “Go your way; your faith has made you well” (Mark 10:52). His eyes were immediately opened. Now if you had been Bartimaeus what would you have done? Would you have rushed to tell others, perhaps your friends or those who cared for you? The remarkable thing is that Jesus told the blind man to go his way. What way did He go? He followed Jesus! The way He chose to go was the way Jesus went!

What an amazing lesson there is to be learned. Salvation does not come by saying a sinner’s prayer of about fifty words and then going your way. The way of Jesus involves far more than words. Just before He ascended, Jesus told the apostles to go and made disciples of every nation. He then told them how this was done. It involved both teaching and baptism. One makes disciples by telling them about Jesus who will save them, but He is far more than our Savior. He has all authority, and one makes disciples by “…teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you” (Matt. 28:18-20).  Until this is taught one is not a disciple of Jesus.

The problem is that sometimes those who find Jesus do not follow the example of Bartimaeus. When they are saved, they literally go their own way and do not follow His way. When that blind man had his eyes opened, he immediately surrendered his way to follow Jesus. Far too many Christians fail to grow like Jesus by following Him. Jesus did teach about worship, the Lord’s supper, studying the Bible, assembling with the saints, standards of morality including sexual matters, the way we speak, dress and react to others.

Being a Christian involves surrendering our ways and walking in the ways of Jesus, following Him. We are His slaves and in every walk of our lives we give up our lives to follow him. We acknowledge Him in our confession before we are baptized, and then every day of our lives it is a confession that He is Lord, and we surrender to Him (Rom. 10:9-10).

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The Reality of the Devil

The Reality of the Devil

“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour” (1 Peter 5:8).

The word “Satan” means “adversary.” The word “devil” means “accuser” or “slanderer.” This being (most likely an angel that God created and then sinned falling from heaven [2 Peter 2:4, Revelation 12:7-9]) is both the primal enemy of God (and his people) and the one who accuses God (and his people). He tempted Eve in the garden of Eden (Genesis 3:1-4), brought cruel trials upon Job (Job 1:9-12, 2:4-7), and tempted Jesus (Matthew 4:1-10). He is the adversary of God’s people because he seeks to sift them like wheat (Luke 22:31), devour them (1 Peter 5:8), and oppress them (Acts 10:38). He is the enemy of all righteousness (Acts 13:10), the father of lies, and a murderer (John 8:44).Satan bound in chains

The devil is a corruption of something that was once good. He perverts what is good and uses it for purposes that oppose God. When people oppose God, they do the devil’s work and are used by him for his own purposes. (We have mercy upon those who sin because they are being used.)

The devil does not compromise. He demands absolute loyalty. He will not quit until he has conquered as many as he can. God’s people should not compromise with his evil, but use the message of the gospel to convert people to Jesus Christ since the devil’s goal is to get as many as he can to go to hell, a place prepared for him and his angels (Matthew 25:41). Don’t be deceived by his lies as he can appear as an angel of light to trick you (2 Corinthians 11:14).

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Singing a Hymn of Confidence?

Hymn: Is My Name Written There?

There is no way that the author of a hymn has of knowing just how widely it may be used. In every generation, there are songs which briefly appear and just a few years later they are rarely used. There are other songs which have been around for decades, and there must be a reason for this. There was no way for Daniel S. Warner to know in 1893 that the song he published would be around over a century and be translated and sung in both Russia and Germany and become part of over forty hymnals. It is not sung as much today as it once was, but the message it conveys is timeless.hymn name

My name is in the Book of Life,

Oh, bless the name of Jesus;

I rise above all doubt and strife,

And read my title clear.

(Refrain)

I know, I know, My name is there;

I know, I know, My name is written there.

Jesus describes the new birth by which one becomes part of the family of God. The Spirit of God uses the words of God to convict men of sin, righteousness and of the coming judgment (John 16:8) and brings them to a burial in the waters of baptism (John 3:5). The Lord says that if this does not happen, he will never enter the kingdom of heaven. However, when one is baptized, he is added to the kingdom his name is “…registered in heaven (Heb. 12:23). There is a divine book that has within it the names of all who have been born again.

At the final judgment that book which contains the names of all the redeemed will be opened. “And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:15). It is these words which lie in the background of the hymn written 130 years ago.

Can you know that your name is there? The Holy Spirit has revealed how one becomes a child of God in His family. Believers who repent (decide to turn their lives over to Jesus) are lead by the Spirit to be buried in water, into the death of Jesus, as they call upon God to save them (1 Pet. 3:21).

These words of the Spirit bears witness that if one does obey Jesus his name will be written in that book. The sobering question is whether your spirit can bear witness that you have obeyed the words of the Spirit. There are two witnesses needed to establish truth. The witness has been given from heaven, there is another witness and that is that your spirit (your soul). Can you say that you have obeyed the Lord and I know your name is written there? The Bible does not say “to my spirit,” but says “with my spirit.” The Spirit bears witness with my spirit that I am saved (Rom. 8:16).

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