Tyre, Babylon, and God

God Treats the Wicked Fairly

The city of Tyre is mentioned nearly sixty times in seventeen books of the Bible. This ancient Phoenician city occupies an important place in both Bible and world history. Many great truths are understood as we look at those verses which tell us about this important nation, which developed our alphabet and spread it around the western world.

God is a just God, treating all fairly.

God is a just God, treating all fairly.

Nebuchadnezzar and Tyre

While many Bible students are aware that Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the city of Jerusalem and carried the Jews into Babylon for seventy years, very few are aware that he then attacked the city of Tyre. His plan involved a siege around this city on the Mediterranean Sea. The prophet Ezekiel foretold this event in great detail—the description of the Babylonian army, the death of many, the battering rams to open the gates, the ramp to reach the tops of the walls  and the destruction of the towers around the city (Ezek. 26:7-13). This siege lasted thirteen years, but whenever the Babylonians entered the city, there were no treasures. The people had fled from the city, escaping in their ships taking all the treasures with them.

God, Nebuchadnezzar and Tyre

It would have been easy for the Babylonians to view those thirteen years as wasted effort, but the big picture is far different. God used ancient nations to accomplish His will, even those who did not believe in Him. He used the king of Assyria to punish and scatter the northern kingdom of Israel and called them His “rod of anger” and His “staff of indignation” (Isa. 10:5-7). He also used Nebuchadnezzar to destroy Jerusalem and called him His servant (Jer. 25:9; 27:6; 43:10). He used these evil people even though they were infidels!

In Ezekiel chapter twenty-nine, we discover another aspect of the nature of God. After Nebuchadnezzar had been used by God to punish both Tyre and Jerusalem because of their ungodliness, the king of Babylon marched against Egypt. Read the words of God’s prophet about why Nebuchadnezzar would be able to succeed. “Nebuchadnezzar…caused His army to labor strenuously against Tyre…yet neither he nor his army received wages from Tyre …Therefore… I will give the land of Egypt for the labor they expended on it.”    Our God is a just God. They had unknowingly done His will but they received none of the treasures of Tyre. Yet God remembered what they had done and His justice demanded that they should be rewarded. He gave them the greater treasures of Egypt.

Now think about His justice and how He will reward you. If He treats the ungodly and rewards them, how much more will He see your service. Our God is a truly just God!

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Marriage Vows

What God Joined Together

When two people come together under the idea of marriage, they stand before a man to recite wedding vows to each other.  But, what does this mean?  Consider if you will, the words both the male and female make: “Will you take this woman/man to be thy wedded wife/husband, to live together in holy matrimony?  Will you love her/him, comfort her/him, honour her/him, and keep her/him in sickness and in health, forsaking all others for as long as you both shall live?  Will you take thee to have and to hold from this day forward, for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, and to love and cherish each other till death do you part?”

Your marriage vows are before God, do you mean it?

Your marriage vows are before God, do you mean it?

When a marriage comes together, those involved in that marriage make this promise to each other and to God.  They believe that they will be together forever.  However, many times, this is far from the truth.  Separations occur and eventually divorce comes (annulments included).  But, what is divorce?  Divorce is a legal dissolution of a marriage.  It is a ceasing, a breaking, to let go, or to release from bonds that terminates a marriage.  But what is ceasing?  What are things that break in divorce?  Could we say that we are breaking two hearts in a marriage or breaking a family into jagged pieces?  What are we letting go?  Could it be the bond that was first made on the wedding day between each other and between God?  But, why the release?

Did not Jesus say to the Pharisees who came tempting Him with questions on divorce that, “. . . a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh” (Matt. 19:5)?  Two lives join into one.  This is why the bond of husband and wife is stronger than that between children and parents.  And, to be as one means that they are to be the only ones together.  Yet, if this is true, then what comes in between them?  It should be said that when something comes in between the one flesh, it must be a painful experience seeing as how pain always comes when something is inserted between flesh.  With a marriage, this insertion is planned and cannot happen by accident and once it is between flesh, it separates it and divorce is seen shortly down the road.

Jesus said, “Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder” (Matt. 19:6).  Now, what could be so forceful that it could separate flesh?  Perhaps a friend?  Maybe they just drive each other crazy.  Could it be that they are just not compatible?  Jesus again speaking said to the Pharisees, “Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery . . .” (Matt. 19:9).  What is fornication?  It is illicit sexual intercourse.  It is sexual intercourse whether it is with a man, woman, homosexual, lesbian, animal, etc . . .  Jesus said that for this reason only can one divorce.  Why?  It is because sexual intercourse breaks the one flesh into two.  It is because there is a foreign flesh attempting to rip part of the flesh from the rest.  It is because it breaks the covenant relationship between man and woman.  It is because it breaks the covenant relationship with God because once you are in a marriage, you are commanded by God to keep it (Rom. 7:2).  Men can attempt to justify this by saying that the laws of the land permit other actions.  Well, so did the laws of the land in Jesus’ day (Matt. 19:1-9).  But, just because it is a law of the land, does not give us a right to violate God’s law.  The apostles, which were led directly by the Holy Spirit said, “. . . We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Therefore, if God defines what a marriage is and what it is not and also defines the reason to end a marriage, we must obey God rather than man for only God can dissolve a marriage.

Divorce that comes outside of fornication, happens when men forget God (Rom. 1:18-32), when they forget His word (Psa. 119:11), and when they want to do what is right in their own eyes (Jdgs. 17:6).  May we each do the will of the Father (Matt. 7:21-23).

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Hurting Spirituality of Youth

When the Church Hurts Young People’s Spirituality

I have been a Christian for several decades now, and I still struggle with an observation that I see throughout the church. Allow me to explain. When children reach fourteen or fifteen years of age parents collectively hold their breath until those children make the decision to obey the Gospel and be baptized. Afterwards there is rejoicing as Mom and Dad breath a sigh of relief. Cards are sent. Prayers are offered. And we may even allow the newly converted male children to wait on the Lord’s Table.

Instead of social functions, why not focus on youth service to God?

Instead of social functions, why not focus on youth service to God?

But after a few weeks/months that young person’s zeal wanes, and we all return back to the “normal” activities of life. We don’t expect much from this new Christian. In fact, truth-be-told, we don’t expect anything except for them to continue attending services. After all, they have demands at school and will soon be heading off to college.

It is like baptism is their “cape” that will get them into heaven, and as long as they have that somewhere nearby then that’s enough. And so, our young people get into the habit of obtaining their cape, and then promptly hang it on a nearby coatrack. Surely we don’t expect them to fly right away … right? It’s like we baptize our children and then put it on cruise control until we once again collectively hold our breath to see if they escaped college with their faith in tact. Why have we allowed this to be the normal? This is not the pattern we find in the New Testament—so why is this the pattern we find in the church?

Here’s what I intend to teach my children regarding putting off your service to Christ.

Once you make the decision to follow Christ that becomes your lifelong commitment. It doesn’t officially start once school is out or at a more convenient time. Rather your decision to step onto the narrow path begins once you put on that new man (Colossians 3:8-10).

Saul (who would later become known as Paul) was persecuting Christians. He was a dangerous man for Christians to be around. In Acts chapter 9 we find Saul’s conversion and baptism. Saul went three days without food and water (verse 9) and then Ananias came to him and taught him the Truth. We then learn “So when he had received food, he was strengthened. Then Saul spent some days with the disciples at Damascus. Immediately he preached the Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son of God” (Acts 9:19-20, emp. added).

Saul didn’t wait years and years to begin bearing fruit. The text says “immediately” he preached Christ! This is a man who was radically changed and wanted to tell the world about Jesus Christ. He wasn’t interested in waiting a few years or waiting until he was out of college. He wanted to tell the lost about Jesus.

My prayer is that you will have Saul/Paul’s attitude—that you will immediately look for opportunities to teach the Truth and bear fruit. Don’t buy into what the world is promoting that you don’t start life until you are out of school. You are already alive and you were created for good works (Ephesians 2:10)! God has blessed each of you with talents. Look for ways to use those talents for Him.

If you take the world’s mentality of waiting until you are older then several things are likely to happen: (1) you will become cold and apathetic; (2) you will waste several years that you could have reached lost souls; (3) you will help perpetuate this false notion that only older people can bear fruit for Him; (4) you will lose sight of the importance Christ should have in your life!

Don’t wait. Come out of that water looking for ways to serve Him. Turn the world upside down and don’t let anyone tell you that you can’t! After all, you are a new man with God on your side.

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The Virgin Mary

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy – the Son of God.”

Luke 1:26-35

Earlier in the chapter, an angel had announced to the elderly priest Zacharias that he and Elizabeth would have a son, John (Luke 1:5-25).  Six months into Elizabeth’s pregnancy, Gabriel now appears in the town of Nazareth of Galilee to her relative Mary, a virgin who was betrothed to one of King David’s descendants, a man by the name of Joseph.  Most likely in her teenage years at the time, Mary is disturbed when the angel greets her and tells her that the Lord is with her and favors her.  Gabriel tells her to not be afraid because she has found favor with God, and then foretells her conception and pregnancy which would result in a son, Jesus.

Gabriel then informed Mary that her son would be “great,” and would be called “the Son of the Most High” (v. 32).  This would be what Jesus would come to be called, for at the time prior to his human conception he was known as the eternal “Word” (John 1:1-14).  The angel foretold that the Lord God would give to Jesus the throne of his ancestor David, a genealogical fact recorded in Matthew’s genealogy (Matt. 1:1ff).  Jesus receiving the throne of David would be the ultimate fulfillment of the prophecy God gave to David through the prophet Nathan centuries earlier (2 Sam. 7:12-16).

Premillenial dispensationalists talk a lot about how Jesus will reign from Jerusalem for a thousand years, but God’s messenger Gabriel gave a different prophecy to Mary when he foretold that Jesus would reign over the house of Jacob “forever,” and “of his kingdom there will be no end” (Luke 1:33).  So much for a reign of one thousand years…

The Jews of Jesus’ day made an erroneous assumption similar in one respect to the error of today’s premillenialists in that they also thought that Jesus’ kingdom would be a physical one (Luke 17:20-21; Acts 1:6).  In reality, Jesus’ kingdom is not of this world (John 18:36).  It is a spiritual kingdom manifested today in his body, the church (Eph. 1:22-23).  Just as the church is said to never die (Matt. 16:18-19), so this kingdom will last forever also (cf. Dan. 2:44).  The members of the church are the citizens of this kingdom, this spiritual Israel (Gal. 6:16; Rom. 2:28-29; Col. 1:13; 1 Thess. 2:12; Heb. 12:28; Rev. 1:4, 6, 9; cf. 1 Pet. 2:9).  If we as Christians grow to be like Christ as God directs us, an entrance into the eternal kingdom will be abundantly supplied to us (2 Pet. 1:5-11) at the end when Christ delivers the kingdom back to his Father after having conquered all his enemies on the day of Judgment, including death (1 Cor. 15:24-26; cf. Rev. 20:11-14).  However, if we fall back into unrepentant sin we will be taken out of the kingdom on that day and will be cast into hell (Matt. 13:40-42; cf. Rev. 20:15; Heb. 10:26-31; 2 Pet. 2:20-22).

Mary understandably wanted to know how this could happen, considering that she was still a virgin.  Gabriel then told her that her conception would be miraculous, that it would happen by the power of the Holy Spirit, and that the child to be born of her would be Deity, the Son of God, holy and set apart from the rest of the world.  Despite the erroneous teaching of Catholicism that she would perpetually stay a virgin even after the birth of Jesus, the New Testament very clearly states that after his birth Mary fulfilled her betrothment to Joseph by having sexual relations with him in marriage that would result in more children (Matt. 1:24-25; cf. 13:55; Mark 6:3; John 2:12; 7:3-10; Acts 1:14; 1 Cor. 9:5; Gal. 1:19).  However, she miraculously conceived Jesus as a virgin through the power of the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah concerning the birth of the Messiah (Matt. 1:18-23; cf. Is. 7:14).

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Exact Essentials

Exact Essentials

That which is essential is that which is fundamentally necessary and indispensable. Cereal boxes talk about essential vitamins and minerals. These are things the FDA says are necessary and indispensable for our physical well being. There are other things that are essential as well, such as a drivers license for legal driving, flour in a recipe for pancakes, or a car seat for a new born. Essentials are things that must be.

There are some things on which we must be right!

There are some things on which we must be right!

The charge has been leveled against us “that the Church of Christ is the one and only church in human history that is 100% correct on everything, and everyone single other person, every single other church that has ever existed, is wrong and hellbound.” Such an assertion is misrepresentative and misleading concerning what many churches of Christ truly believe.

Consider first of all that there has never been any mere mortal in human history that has been 100% correct on everything. We can all say with absolute certitude, “I am correct about some things,” however, we would be wrong to say, “I am correct about everything” because some things are beyond our knowledge and hence our ability to be either correct or incorrect. The assertion that the “Church of Christ is 100% correct on everything” is exaggerative and factually incorrect.

On what, then, must we be correct? There are things that are essential and there are things that are optional. In things that God has made essential, we must be right and cannot be wrong. In things that God has made optional, we are allowed to be either right or wrong. So the question becomes: what things has God made essential? This is where the discussion ought to begin. If God tells us something is essential, then it is my obligation to get it right. How does God tell us? He does that in His word, the Bible (2 Timothy 3:15-17). How can I know that what God says is essential? The Scriptures will tell us of its essentiality. A good example is Acts 17:30, “And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent.” Repentance is something that is essential. Therefore, we must be correct on that point; we don’t have the prerogative to be wrong.

Second, the churches of Christ today don’t claim to be the only church in human history that is correct. The church that the apostles established in the New Testament was correct. Other churches that have existed throughout the ages have been correct also. So, what is the “beef” that the churches of Christ today have with other churches? It is that many are incorrect in matters that God has made essential. In that regard, failure to be correct is to place one’s soul in jeopardy and because we love our fellow man and want him to be saved, we feel the obligation to warn him regarding his error.

Yes, there are some things on which we must be right! God has told us what is essential and what is optional in His word. Let us read it, study it, learn from it, and know it so that we can be right where we must be right and so that others may know wherein they must be right as well.

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