Bible Study #749

The goal of Bible Study is not just learning, but living If you are saved, you will have a desire to be holy, a hunger for the Word, the inner witness of the Spirit, and a desire to share Jesus. These are the birthmarks of the believer. #749 13 Oct 15 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God John 1:1 Grateful for . . . . THE WORD OF GOD ! (\0/) (\0/) (\0/) (\0/) (\0/) (\0/) Greetings! In the beginning: In contrast to 1 Jn 1:1 where John used a similar phrase (“from the beginning”) to refer to the starting point of Jesus’ ministry and gospel preaching, this phrase parallels Genesis 1:1 where the same phrase is used. John used the phrase in an absolute sense to refer to the beginning of the time-space-material universe. Was: The verb highlights the eternal pre-existence of the Word, i.e., Jesus Christ. Before the universe began, the Second Person of the Trinity always existed; i.e., He always was (cf. 8:58). This word is used in contrast with the verb “came into being” in v. 3 which indicates a beginning in time. Because of John’s theme that Jesus Christ is the eternal God, the Second Person of the Trinity, he did not include a genealogy as Matthew and Luke did. While in terms of Jesus’ humanity, He had a human genealogy; in terms of His deity, He has no genealogy. The Word: John borrowed the use of the term “Word” not only from the vocabulary of the OT but also from Greek philosophy, in which the term was essentially impersonal, signifying the rational principle of “divine reason,” “mind,” or even “wisdom,” John, however, imbued the term entirely with OT and Christian meaning (Gen 1:3 where God’s Word brought he world into being; Ps 33:6; 107:20; Prov 8:27 where God’s Word is His powerful self-expression in creation, wisdom, revelation, and salvation) and made it refer to a person, i.e., Jesus Christ. Greek philosophical usage, therefore, is not the exclusive background of John’s thought. Strategically, the term “Word” serves as a bridge-word to reach not only Jews but also the unsaved Greeks. John chose this concept because both Jews and Greeks were familiar with it. The Word was with God: The Word, as the Second Person of the Trinity, was in intimate fellowship with God the Father throughout all eternity. Yet, although the Word enjoyed the splendors of heaven and eternity with the Father (Isa 6:1-13; cf. 12:41; 17:5), He willingly gave up His heavenly status, taking the form of a man, and became subject to the death of the cross. Was God: The Greek construction emphasizes that the Word has all the essence or attributes of deity, i.e., Jesus the Messiah was fully God (cf. Col. 2:9). Even in His incarnation when He emptied Himself, He did not cease to be God but took on a genuine human nature/body and voluntarily refrained from the independent exercise of the attributes of deity. Scripture makes a distinction between the Word of God written, the Scriptures, and the Word of God incarnate, or Jesus Christ in the flesh. John in his prologue, speaks of Christ as the eternal, pre-existent One who became flesh. We may say: 1. the Word existed before the world began 2. the Word was with God, or distinct from, and yet in communion with, God the Father 3. the Word was God, or identical in essence with God the Father 4. through the Word, God brought into being the entire created universe, both the visible and the invisible (Col 1:16; Heb 1:2; 11:3 5. the Word is the source of the physical, intellectual, moral, and spiritual life of man (1:4) 6. God the Word became flesh, or incarnate as a true human being (1:14). In essence this is the same teaching as that of Paul, who said that in Christ the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily (Col 2:9). Keep a smile on your face and a song in your heart! ♥ Memory verse for this week: Ps 56: Something to think about: God can't use ignorant Christians. Do you know who use ignorant Christians? The devil does!!! This week's Trivia's: [answer's below . . ] 1. How many times did Jesus speak upon the cross as recorded in the New Testament? 2. What was the name of the king who tried to get the wise men to lead him to baby Jesus? * * * * * * * * * Is there anything keeping you from trusting Jesus Christ right now? * * * * * * * * * BIBLE MEDITATION: The Only Thing You Have That God Wants .. “He that findeth his life shall lose it: and he that loseth his life for My sake shall find it.” Matt. 10:39 DEVOTIONAL THOUGHT: We have nothing that God needs. Think about that. If I were to give God my riches, I couldn’t make Him richer. He owns everything. If I were to give God my wisdom, I wouldn’t make Him wiser. He is the all-wise God. If I were to give God my power, I couldn’t make God more powerful. He is omnipotent. God wants only one thing from His children—our hearts. If we pray to God without giving Him our heart, we are mocking Him. If we preach without giving God our hearts, we are preaching in ignorance. ACTION POINT: God is saying to you today, “Give Me your heart.” How will you respond? from the Ministries of Love Worth Finding . . . by Adrian Rogers * * * * * * * * * The power of God is greater IN you than the power of sin OVER you * * * * * * * * * We have begun another journey and will learn from the book "AGENTS of the APOCALYPSE" written by David Jeremiah. A Riveting Look at the Key Players of the End Times. GBY . . . . AGENTS of the APOCALYPSE . . . . THE SCRIPTURE BEHIND THE STORY . . The history of redemption has been written in the blood of martyrs, much like Daniel in our story. Early in the Old Testament, we read of Pharaoh scheming to destroy all male children born to Hebrew women. When Jews were under the rule of the Persian Empire, Satan inspired Haman, the wicked favorite of King Ahasuerus, to devise a scheme to kill every Jew in the country. In the second century before Christ, Antiochus Epiphanes became one of Israel’s unrelenting enemies, attacking Jerusalem and executing Jews who refused to bow to Zeus. Herod tried to destroy Jesus by slaughtering all the infant boys in Bethlehem. The first pages of church history tell of Stephen, who was stoned to death for insisting that the Jewish religious leaders had murdered Jesus (Acts 7). Herod had the apostle James executed (12:1-2). Polycarp, bishop of Smyrna, was burned at the stake for his refusal to worship Caesar. Revelation 2:13 mentions Antipas, a member of the church at Pergamos who was executed for his faith. Still others did under the cruel reign of Emperor Domitian because of their Christian testimony. Many Roman Christians suffered in the arenas. Medieval believers endured the Inquisition. The Huguenots and other Protestants were massacred or exiled during the Reformation. Hundreds of Chinese believers lost their lives during the Boxer Rebellion, and Russian Christians were sent to slave labor camps or to Siberia. The people of God’s chosen nation have suffered martyrdom throughout history. So intense was Hitler’s persecution of the Jews in Europe that some believe the Jewish population in Europe was reduced to less than the number of Jews who left Egypt under Moses. In Germany in 1938, hundreds of synagogues were destroyed within a few days, and the shopwindows of thousands of Jewish-owned establishments were shattered. The Auschwitz concentration camp was equipped to execute thousands of Jews per day; Hitler’s torture camp Treblinka destroyed more than one million people in just a few years. The infamous Adolf Eichmann, expressing Nazi hatred for the Jews, said, “I shall leap laughing into my grave, for the thought that I have five million human lives on my conscience is to me a source of inordinate satisfaction.” Moses’ prediction of Jewish persecution has been fulfilled in literal ways throughout history: The LORD will scatter you among all peoples, from one end of the earth to the other, and there you shall serve other gods, which neither you nor your fathers have known—wood and stone. And among those nations you shall find no rest . . . ; but there the LORD will give you a trembling heart, failing eyes, and anguish of soul. Your life shall hang in doubt before you; you shall fear day and night . . . . In the morning you shall say, “Oh, that it were evening!” And at evening you Shall say, “Oh, that it were morning!” because of the fear which terrifies your Heart, and because of the sight which your eyes see. Deut. 28:64-67 John says that the end of it all has not yet arrived. There will be more martyrs in the future. “When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’” (Rev. 6:9-10). These souls under the altar testify to the untold suffering and persecution that will occur during the Tribulation period. The Context of Their Martyrdom . . . When He opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. Rev. 6:9 Who are these martyrs? To help us answer this important question, we must first remember that John places them in the future, when the church of Jesus Christ have been resurrected. So then, these martyrs are not from the church age we are living in now. Also, since the martyrs ask for judgment on their oppressors on the earth, their murderers are obviously still living. This strongly suggests that these martyrs are faithful saints who are killed during the Tribulation period. After the church is taken away, God will turn His attention to Israel once more. During the seven-year Tribulation period, many Jews will return to God, as Daniel Goldman did in our story. In his letter to the Romans, Paul wrote, “I do not desire, brethren, that you should be ignorant of this mystery . . . that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in. and so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: ‘The Deliverer will come out of Zion, and He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob’” (Rom. 11:25-26). This is another way of saying that Israel as a nation will be saved. The partial blindness of the people will be taken away, and many Jews will turn to God and reject the Antichrist during the Tribulation. Because of this, the Antichrist will martyr so many of them that their blood will run like a river. But if not one believer will be left on the earth at the beginning of those seven years of Tribulation, how will people be saved? For one thing, God will send forth His two witnesses into the world to prophesy and perform mighty miracles. There will also be 144,000 Israelites who are “sealed” for God’s service during this period (Rev. 7:4). It is possible that another means will also be used. Dr. Henry Morris has suggested a “silent” witness: Millions upon millions of copies of the Bible and Bible portions have been published in all major languages, and distributed throughout the world. . . . Removal of believers from the world at the rapture will not remove the Scriptures, and multitudes will no doubt be constrained to read the Bible. . . . Thus, multitudes will turn to their Creator and Savior in those days, and will be willing to give their testimony for the Word of God and even . . . their lives as they seek to persuade the world that the calamities it is suffering are judgments from the Lord. In the Tribulation period, martyrdom will be as common as it is uncommon in the West today. Those who trust in God at that time will be called upon to demonstrate their faith—often with their very lives. “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death” (Rev. 12:11). Although believers during this period will experience intensified persecution, this is not a new thing God’s people. The psalmist describes martyrdom this way? “For Your sake we are killed all day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter” (Ps 44:22). During Israel’s captivity in Babylon, three young Jewish men portrayed the mind –set of martyrs when they were willing to die rather than worship the Babylonian king’s golden image. When they were threatened with death by fire, they responded, “If that is the case, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king. But if not, let it be known you, O king, that we do not serve your gods, nor will we worship the gold image which you have set up” (Dan. 3:17-18). Zechariah the prophet spoke of the future day of tribulation as a time when two-thirds of the entire Jewish population would be killed. But, God promised, “I will bring the one-third through the fire, will refine them as silver is refined, and test them as gold is tested” (Zech. 13:8-9). The book of Revelation identifies the enemies of God as those who have shed the blood of His people (Rev. 16:6; 17:6; 18:24; 19:2). Jesus spoke of this coming period of intense suffering in His sermon at the Mount of Olives: “All these are the beginning of sorrows. Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nation s for My name’s sake. And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another” (Matt. 24:8-10). Biblical scholar Richard Bauckham summarizes martyrdom during the Tribulation period with these words: “Revelation portrays the future as though all faithful Christians will be martyred. . . . It is not a literal prediction that every faithful Christian will in fact be put to death. But it does require that every faithful Christian must be prepared to die.” next week: . . The Cause of Their Martyrdom . . The Consequence of Their Martyrdom . . * * * * * * * * * Often when we are waiting .. God is working * * * * * * * * * CHRIST'S TRANSFORMATION * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. Matt. 17:2 During this brief display of divine glory, Jesus “was transfigured.” That is the translation of the Greek word metamorphoo, from which we get metamorphosis. It basically means “change into another form.” From within Himself Jesus’ divine glory was manifested before Peter, James and John. Here Jesus revealed Himself as He truly is, the Son of God. As the divine glory radiated from His face, it illumined even His garments, which became “white as light” in supernatural testimony to His spiritual splendor. The “light” portrayed Jesus’ glory and majesty, as Peter testified years later in his second epistle: “For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son with whom I am well-pleased’” (2 Pet. 1:17). John later testified that “we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (Jn 1:14). In His human form Jesus Christ was veiled, but when He comes again to earth, He will come in His full divine majesty and glory, a glimpse of which Peter, James, and John witnessed on the mountain. From now on there could be no doubt He was God incarnate, and there should have been no doubt He would come some day in the fullness of His glory. ASK YOURSELF How encouraging of Christ to use this event to provide a context for the hard realities He had just told to His followers, as well as to confirm the glorious realities still to come. How has Jesus encouraged your heart in recent days, and how have you responded? * * * * * * * * * Anyone can change if they are willing to be changed * * * * * * * * * God does not save us because of what we’ve done. Only a puny god could be bought with tithes. Only an egotistical god would be impressed with out pain. Only a temperamental god could be satisfied by sacrifices. Only a heartless god would sell salvation to the highest bidders. And only a great God does for His children what they can’t do for themselves. God’s delight is received upon surrender, not awarded upon conquest. The first step to joy is a plea for help, an acknowledgment of moral destitution, an admission of inward paucity. Those who taste God’s presence have declared spiritual bankruptcy and are aware of their spiritual crisis. . . Their pockets are empty. Their options are gone. They have long since stopped demanding justice; they are pleading for mercy. * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * God will show His mercy forever and ever to those who worship and serve Him. Luke 1:50 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Answers to this week's Trivia's: 1. How many times did Jesus speak upon the cross as recorded in the New Testament? A. Seven Matt. 27:46; Lk 23:34; Lk 23:43; Lk 23:46; Jn 19:26-28; Jn 19:30 2. What was the name of the king who tried to get the wise men to lead him to baby Jesus? A. Herod Matt. 2:7-8 * * * * * * * * * Answers to Questions about heaven. . . David Jeremiah Is there an intermediate hell? What about purgatory? A. Yes—there is an intermediate hell. When an unbeliever dies, his body goes into the grave and his spirit and soul go to Hades. Revelation 20 tells us that “Death and Hades delivered up the dead” (v. 11-15). This passage indicates that Hades remains an intermediate hell until the Great White Throne Judgment—when “Death and Hades [will be] cast into the lake of fire”—the permanent hell. But Hades is not a place of decision. There is no such place as purgatory. The Bible teaches that “it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). In Luke 16:26, Abraham describes a “great gulf fixed” between Hades and Paradise, “so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.” This passage illustrates the permanence of the gulf between heaven and hell. We won’t be able to “cross” from one side to the other. Whatever decisions we make about eternity will be made in this life. * * * * * * * * Always pray to have eyes that see the best in people, a heart that forgives the worst, a mind that forgets the bad, and a soul that never loses faith in God. Until next time remember, "Keep looking up!" God loves you with an everlasting love! Nancy <\\\>< Remember: A man may go to heaven….. Without health, without wealth; Without fame, without a great name; Without learning, without earnings; Without culture, without beauty; Without friends and without ten thousand other things---- But he can NEVER go to Heaven without Christ. ~ This is a FREE e-mailing ~ This Bible Study is sent to subscribers only according to our strict NO SP*M policy. If you appreciate the information contained in this letter, please forward it to your friends. If you have acquired this letter from a friend and want to subscribe: Send an e-mail with Subscribe on the subject line to: hisfootprints4us@comcast.net If you do not want to receive these Bible Studies, please send an email with 'unsubscribe' on the subject line to hisfootprints4us@comcast.net No hard feelings This week's Quiz: More Miscellany . . . Here are some more questions left over from other categories, a little potpourri to test your general knowledge. 1. When God told Jonah to go preach, where did Jonah flee to? Jonah 1:1-3 a. Joppa c. Tarshish b. Egypt d. Rome 2. The valley of the shadow of death is mentioned in what favorite psalm? a. 23 c. 1 b. 100 d. 119 3. When Satan tempted Jesus, what is the one place he didn’t take Him? Matt 4:1-11 a. the wilderness c. a mountain b. the sea d. the temple 4. The wilderness the children of Israel wandered in was called the wilderness of: Num 33:1, 12 a. Sin c. Beersheba b. Kadesh Barnea d. Jeruel 5. How many people were on the ark during the flood? Gen 6:10; 7:7 a. 2 c. 6 b. 4 d. 8 6. What is the only book of the Bible that mentions Lucifer? 14:12 a. Revelation c. Ezekiel b. Isaiah d. Daniel 7. What prophet saw the valley of dry bones? Eze 37:1 a. Elijah c. Elisha b. Ezekiel d. Ezra 8. Who wrote most of the proverbs in the book of Proverbs? Prov 1:1 a. David c. Moses b. Solomon d. Isaiah 9. Who said, “I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the lord”? Ps 122:1 a. David c. Solomon b. Moses d. Asaph 10. Ecclesiastes 112:13 says the whole duty of man is to: a. love the Lord with all your heart b. love your neighbor as yourself c. fear God and keep His commandments d. remember now your Creator in the days of your youth