"We are bound to thank God always for you, brethren, as it is meet, because that your faith groweth exceedingly, and the charity of every one of you all toward each other aboundeth; So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure: Which is a manifest token of the righteous judgment of God, that ye may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which ye also suffer: Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you; And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day." II Thessalonians 1:3-10.
The suffering of those Christians from persecution in the first century and through all of history demonstrates the justice of the just God, who will recompense those who attack His people. When? To read this passage as it is almost always read is to assume that one day when Christ returns physically to end the world, then the recompense will occur. But that is not the scripture. Notice that Paul does not say that Jesus will return to earth from heaven; he says "the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven." Replace the word "from" with the word "in," and it becomes very clear. ("The KJV translates Strong's G575 in the following manner: from (393x), of (129x), out of (48x), for (10x), off (10x), by (9x), at (9x), in (6x), since (with G3739) (5x), on (5x), not tr. (16x), misc. (31x).")
The revelation of Christ sitting at the right hand of God as the just Judge, recompensing the wicked NOW, not some day in the future, was the comfort and rest for those Christians suffering two thousand years ago. It's hard to imagine that the idea of Christ returning millennia after their unjust deaths would be much comfort to them. The passage clearly says that He will take vengeance on their persecutors, not the persecutors of another generation of Christians.
Stephen and Herod are the perfect demonstrations of this principle. After Stephen's accusation of the Sanhedrin, the statement that finally drove them to destroy Stephen was this: "And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord, And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul." Acts 7:56-8. Stephen revealed Christ "in heaven" standing at the right hand of God Almighty. These were the same people who persecuted and crucified Christ. They would face just recompense in the appropriate time - in the first century, not centuries later.
In Chapter 12 of Acts, Herod executes James, the brother of John, then discovering that his death pleased the Jewish authorities, he put Peter in prison with the same intent of killing him. After prayer by the Church, Peter was miraculously released from Herod's prison. Directly after this event, Herod traveled to Caesarea, and when the people of Tyre and Sidon proclaimed him a god, "immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost." Acts 12:23.
Christ, the just executor of the wicked exercised His authority from heaven and sitting at the right hand of God, justly put Herod to death. Yes, there is perfect and final justice upon Christ's second coming. That does not mean that Christ cannot exercise His authority in the present even before He returns. Then there shall be eternal vengeance "away from the presence of the Lord" and He "shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe." II Thessalonians 1:10. That event does not limit His ability to give His saints rest from persecution by destroying their enemies, and that ability would apply in our day also.
Sunday, January 5, 2014
Thursday, January 2, 2014
The Book of Esther Played Out in Acts
In Acts 4, Peter continues the accusation that Jesus began. He accused the Sanhedrin and the High Priest of killing the "Blessed One." Their message of comfort changed once the leadership began their attempt to stop the message. It turned to accusation. It was either Christ or the establishment. The apostles and other of Christ's followers, like Stephen, clearly thought Christ would be victorious over the establishment of that day. The establishment thought they would survive somehow within the Roman system or escape it in the future somehow. Christ and His apostles focused on God and his judgment of who should succeed and prosper into future generations; the establishment relied upon political power, negotiation, gamesmanship, waiting the Romans out, as they had waited out the other empires that had taken Israel captive. In that waiting, however, the establishment ignored Daniel's interpretation of Nebuchadnezzar's dream and the other visions Daniel saw. See 10th post, "Daniel - The Key Timing Prophecy."
Acts 5 is full of the blessing of God upon the Apostles, showing that history was with them. Key events: Miraculous judgment upon Ananias and Saphira in the new church like the judgment upon Achan and his family in the church of Israel in Joshua 7 upon first entering Canaan, multitudes of sick healed, miraculous signs, persecution by the Sanhedrin, miraculous release by God's hand from prison, and intercession by the most honorable of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel, in the Apostles' favor. Every aspect of life was working in the Apostles' favor, whether the miraculous, the political, their liberty to preach, the preservation of the holiness of the early Church - everything was working in their favor, and everything was working against the establishment. It was the inverse of the story in the book of Esther about Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Everything Haman did to try to destroy and frustrate the Jews was turned around by the providence of God to frustrate and destroy him.
What was ironic and what demonstrated the blindness of the Jewish establishment was the fact that the possbility that they could be playing the part of Haman. They had no conception of that possibility, verifying John the Baptist's warning:
"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Matthew 3:7-10.
They did not heed John the Baptist's words, even though he was a prophet, and so they reaped what he promised - blindness and God's judgment. Soon after Acts 5, the establishment, which can neither win legitimately nor resist the power of the new Church, turns to what they used against Christ - false accusation and murder. That strategy arose not from deliberation - Gamaliel had ended that as a wise strategy; no, it arose out of the passion of a moment - Stephen's faithful indictment citing the Hebrew Covenant and law of Moses and the prophets, which exposed the hellish hearts and motives of the establishment. Most importantly, it exposed the establishment's failure to abide by the very scriptures they contended they lived by and by which they accused the Apostles and Stephen.
But, like Pharoah, they had been raised up for this very purpose - to have power temporarily and then be cast down, demonstrating the truth and the glory of God. "And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Exodus 9:16. To the establishment, this verse could only apply to Gentiles, even though God's testimony through Daniel lead to the salvation of a Gentile king, Nebuchadnezzar. It was a mysterious thing - that the people of God could be NOT the people of God; it was mysterious to Daniel. Daniel 9:24-27; 12:1-4, 8-13. With Christ's coming, mountains would be leveled, valleys raised, the crooked made straight, and the hearts of many would be revealed. Luke 2:34-5. It was a mystery to John the Apostle. Revelation 17.
Again, timing was critical. The establishment didn't understand the times, even though Daniel had laid them out. They didn't understand that they could not wait this one out. God had changed things, established His Son as the new Moses, the new Adam, for a new people, a new Church. The old would be swept away, and all those who held onto that old would be swept away with it. And the establishment, those who had persecuted and rejected the Stone, Christ, would see it with their own eyes in their own lifetimes.
Acts 5 is full of the blessing of God upon the Apostles, showing that history was with them. Key events: Miraculous judgment upon Ananias and Saphira in the new church like the judgment upon Achan and his family in the church of Israel in Joshua 7 upon first entering Canaan, multitudes of sick healed, miraculous signs, persecution by the Sanhedrin, miraculous release by God's hand from prison, and intercession by the most honorable of the Sanhedrin, Gamaliel, in the Apostles' favor. Every aspect of life was working in the Apostles' favor, whether the miraculous, the political, their liberty to preach, the preservation of the holiness of the early Church - everything was working in their favor, and everything was working against the establishment. It was the inverse of the story in the book of Esther about Haman, the enemy of the Jews. Everything Haman did to try to destroy and frustrate the Jews was turned around by the providence of God to frustrate and destroy him.
What was ironic and what demonstrated the blindness of the Jewish establishment was the fact that the possbility that they could be playing the part of Haman. They had no conception of that possibility, verifying John the Baptist's warning:
"But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: And think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire." Matthew 3:7-10.
They did not heed John the Baptist's words, even though he was a prophet, and so they reaped what he promised - blindness and God's judgment. Soon after Acts 5, the establishment, which can neither win legitimately nor resist the power of the new Church, turns to what they used against Christ - false accusation and murder. That strategy arose not from deliberation - Gamaliel had ended that as a wise strategy; no, it arose out of the passion of a moment - Stephen's faithful indictment citing the Hebrew Covenant and law of Moses and the prophets, which exposed the hellish hearts and motives of the establishment. Most importantly, it exposed the establishment's failure to abide by the very scriptures they contended they lived by and by which they accused the Apostles and Stephen.
But, like Pharoah, they had been raised up for this very purpose - to have power temporarily and then be cast down, demonstrating the truth and the glory of God. "And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth." Exodus 9:16. To the establishment, this verse could only apply to Gentiles, even though God's testimony through Daniel lead to the salvation of a Gentile king, Nebuchadnezzar. It was a mysterious thing - that the people of God could be NOT the people of God; it was mysterious to Daniel. Daniel 9:24-27; 12:1-4, 8-13. With Christ's coming, mountains would be leveled, valleys raised, the crooked made straight, and the hearts of many would be revealed. Luke 2:34-5. It was a mystery to John the Apostle. Revelation 17.
Again, timing was critical. The establishment didn't understand the times, even though Daniel had laid them out. They didn't understand that they could not wait this one out. God had changed things, established His Son as the new Moses, the new Adam, for a new people, a new Church. The old would be swept away, and all those who held onto that old would be swept away with it. And the establishment, those who had persecuted and rejected the Stone, Christ, would see it with their own eyes in their own lifetimes.
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