Author: Calleen Hough

God’s judgment

John MacArthur and Richard Mayhue discuss the topic of future judgments in their book A Systematic Summary of Bible Truth. These two theologians tell us, “The Bible clearly teaches that all people will face a judgment day before God when his judgment will be all that matters. A day of reckoning is coming when all will stand before the Creator to account for every thought and deed” (Biblical Doctrine, 2017). Jesus primarily taught his followers about God’s judgment through parables that were designed to enlighten their minds and open their hearts to the influence of the Holy Spirit whose job it is to convict and convince us of our sin (John 16:8-11, Acts 7:51). According to MacArthur and Mayhue, “All Christians are headed for a day of judgment before Jesus Christ. Scripture explicitly mentions the judgment seat of Christ in two places; in each, Paul is addressing Christians: ‘For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil. (2 Cor. 5:10) Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. (Rom. 14:10)…This judgment results in rewards for what a Christian has done with his or her life—for deeds good or bad (2 Cor. 5:10). This is a whole-life evaluation. The ‘good’ refers to those works done in the power of the Holy Spirit that bring glory to God. The ‘bad’ refers to worthless deeds that do not bring God honor, works done in the flesh (Gal. 5:19-21)…The judgment seat of Christ does not stop with an evaluation of deeds; rather, it goes deeper to motives. First Corinthians 4:5 says that the Lord ‘will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God.’ Thus, the judgment before Jesus is so penetrating that motives behind deeds are evaluated as well. Not only does what we do matter, but so does why we do what we do” (pgs. 864-865).

Paul talked about God’s judgment in the context of Christ’s second coming and indicated in his second letter to the Thessalonians that the judgment would take place at Christ’s second coming. Paul wrote:

This is evidence of the righteous judgment of God, that you may be considered worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are also suffering—since indeed God considers it just to repay with affliction those who afflict you, and to grant relief to you who are afflicted as well as to us, when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he comes on that day to be glorified in his saints, and to be marveled at among all who have believed, because our testimony to you was believed. To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul said that God considered it just to repay with affliction those who had afflicted Christians. The Greek word that is translated just, dikaios (dikˊ-ah-yos) means “equitable” or equal. “Also, just as it should be, i.e. fit, proper, good.” Dikaios is used “of one who acts alike to all, who practices even handed justice: just, equitable, impartial” (G1342). A word that is derived from dikaios is dikaiosune (dik-ah-yos-ooˊ-nay) which refers specifically to Christian justification. Dikaiosune is “being just as one should be” and is “Spoken of that righteousness which has regard to God and the divine law…Merely external, consisting of the observance of external precepts…Internal, where the heart is right with God, piety toward God, and hence righteousness, godliness…So  used in the expression ‘to count or impute as righteousness,’ i.e. to regard as evidence of piety (Romans 4:3, 5, 6, 9, 22; Galatians 3:6; James 2:23)” (G1343).

Paul said when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven, he will inflict “vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus” (2 Thessalonians 1:8). The Greek word that is translated vengeance, ekdikesis (ek-dikˊ-ay-sis) is derived from the word ekdikeo (ek-dik-ehˊ-o) which means “to execute justice” (G1556). Vengeance is mentioned throughout the Bible, but particularly in the prophetic books of the Old Testament with regard to the nation of Israel. The prophet Hosea talked about Israel reaping the whirlwind and said of God’s judgment:

The days of punishment have come;
    the days of recompense have come;
    Israel shall know it.
The prophet is a fool;
    the man of the spirit is mad,
because of your great iniquity
    and great hatred.
The prophet is the watchman of Ephraim with my God;
yet a fowler’s snare is on all his ways,
    and hatred in the house of his God.
They have deeply corrupted themselves
    as in the days of Gibeah:
he will remember their iniquity;
    he will punish their sins. (Hosea 9:7-9)

The prophet Micah echoed Hosea’s sentiments, but directed his comments to the ungodly that God would purge from among Israel. Micah said of God’s judgment, “And in anger and wrath I will execute vengeance on the nations that did not obey” (Micah 5:15).

Micah concluded his message with a tribute to God’s steadfast love and compassion. Micah asked, “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance? He does not retain his anger forever, because he delights in steadfast love. He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19). “Micah ends his prophecy by indicating that his total confidence was in God. Despite Israel’s great iniquity, God indeed pardons sin and delights in showing ‘steadfast love’ (hesed [2617]). God not only forgives sins but casts them far away (‘into the depths of the sea,’ v. 19)” (note on Micah 7:18-20). The Hebrew word cheçed (khehˊ-sed) or hesed “is one of the most important in the vocabulary of Old Testament theology and ethics. In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: ‘strength,’ ‘steadfastness,’ and ‘love.’ Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. ‘Love’ by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet ‘strength’ or ‘steadfastness’ suggests only the fulfillment of a legal or other obligation. The word refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Yahweh and Israel). But checed is not a matter of obligation; it is also of generosity. It is not only a matter of loyalty, but also of mercy. The weaker party seeks protection and blessing of the patron and protector, but he may not lay absolute claim to it. The stronger party remains committed to his promise, but retains his freedom, especially with regard to the manner in which he will implement those promises. Chesed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law. Marital love is often related to chesed. Marriage certainly is a legal matter, and there are legal sanctions for infractions. Yet the relationship, if sound, far transcends mere legalities” (H2617).

Paul indicated that God’s motive for inflicting vengeance on those who do not know him and those who do not obey the gospel is so that justice can be carried out. Many think that God is not just, that he allows things to happen that should not happen, and that he does nothing about the pain and suffering of his people, but Paul made it clear that God’s judgement will involve an equivalent amount of suffering for those who have afflicted his people over the years (2 Thessalonians 1:6). Jesus’ parable of the persistent widow was intended to convey the justice of God’s judgment. The widow complained to the unjust judge because he wouldn’t give her justice against her adversary. Jesus said, “For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’ And the Lord said, ‘Hear what the unrighteous judge says. And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?’” (Luke 18:4-8). Jesus’ question, “Will he find faith on the earth?” implied that the reason God’s judgment has not yet been carried out is because God’s people are not, like the persistent widow, demanding justice from him.

Jesus Christ’s return could be a good news and bad news situation for many Christians. Although Christ’s return will mean that our suffering is over and God will carry out vengeance on our enemies, believers will have to appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:10) and may be reluctant to find out how their deeds will be evaluated. In his parable of the talents, Jesus indicated there will be some who are very disappointed. Jesus said, “He also who had received the one talent came forward, saying, ‘Master, I knew you to be a hard man, reaping where you did not sow, and gathering where you scattered no seed, so I was afraid, and I went and hid your talent in the ground. Here, you have what is yours.’ But his master answered him, ‘You wicked and slothful servant! You knew that I reap where I have not sown and gather where I scattered no seed? Then you ought to have invested my money with the bankers, and at my coming I should have received what was my own with interest. So take the talent from him and give it to him who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has will more be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away. And cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth’” (Matthew 25:24-30).

No one is righteous

The Apostle Paul argued in his letter to the Romans that no one is righteous except God. Citing from Psalms 14:1-3 and 53:1-3, Paul said, “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10-12). The Greek word that is translated turned aside, ekklino (ek-kleeˊ-no) means “to deviate” or “to decline (from piety)” (G1578). The Hebrew word that was used in Psalms 14 and 53, suwr (soor) “is used metaphorically to describe turning away from the Lord because of a rebellious heart (Jeremiah 5:23)…Its meaning extends further to indicate falling away, as when one is enticed to fall away from following the Lord to pursue other gods (Deuteronomy 11:16; 1 Samuel 12:20; Psalm 14:3)” (H5493). The author of Psalms 14 and 53, King David, understood the concept of turning aside because he had committed adultery and murder (2 Samuel 12:9) after God made an unconditional promise to him that he would make David the father of an everlasting kingdom (2 Samuel 7:16). After he had utterly scorned the LORD, the prophet Nathan confronted David and told him, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ’”I anointed you king over Israel, and delivered you out of the hand of Saul. And I gave you your master’s house and your master’s wives into your arms and gave you the house of Israel and of Judah. And if this were too little, I would add to you as much more. Why have you despised the word of the LORD, to do what is evil in his sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and have taken his wife to be your wife and killed him with the sword of the Ammonites. Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.” Thus says the LORD, “Behold, I will raise up evil against you out of your own house. And I will take your wives before your eyes and give them to your neighbor, and he shall lie with your wives in the sight of this sun. For you did it secretly, but I will do this thing before all Israel and before the sun.”’ David said to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the LORD.’ And Nathan said to David, ‘The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die’” (2 Samuel 12:7-13). In spite of his willful rebellion, the LORD put away David’s sin, meaning that David’s sin was forgiven, it did not have a negative impact on his relationship with the LORD.

David’s personal realization that he could not live up to God’s standard caused a great deal of pain and anguish in his soul and resulted in him writing several psalms that are referred to as laments. According to Mark Vroegop, author of the book, Dark Clouds Deep Mercy, a lament is a prayer in pain that leads to trust. Mark states, “You might think lament is the opposite of praise. It isn’t. Instead, lament is a path to praise as we are led through our brokenness and disappointment. The space between brokenness and God’s mercy is where the song is sung. Think of lament as the transition between pain and promise. It is a path from heartbreak to hope.” Psalm 53 is a perfect example of David’s journey from a painful realization of his failure to the hope that God’s unconditional promise to him was still in effect. David began this psalm by stating:

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”
    They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity;
    there is none who does good. (Psalm 53:1)

David used the term fool to describe people who don’t believe in God. The Hebrew word that is translated fool, nabal (naw-bawlˊ) means “stupid; wicked (especially impious)” (H5036). David met someone named Nabal early in his life, when King Saul was trying to kill him. It says in 1 Samuel 25:2 that Nabal was very rich, “he had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats.” Nabal was a harsh man who behaved badly (1 Samuel 25:3) by refusing to reward David and his men for protecting his sheep (1 Samuel 25:10-11). David intended to kill Nabal (1 Samuel 25:13, 22), but Nabal’s wife Abigail intervened (1 Samuel 25:18, 23-31) and prevented David from responding inappropriately. Afterward, we are told in 1 Samuel 25:36-38, “And Abigail came to Nabal, and behold, he was holding a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. And Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunk. So she told him nothing at all until the morning light. In the morning, when the wine had gone out of Nabal, his wife told him these things and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. And about ten days later the LORD struck Nabal and he died.”

David’s memory of what had happened with Nabal likely prompted him to associate the behavior of those who do not acknowledge God with this man. David said, “They are corrupt, doing abominable iniquity” (Psalm 53:1). But, David didn’t stop there. David went on to say that all have fallen away, and “together they have become corrupt” (Psalm 53:3). David stated:

God looks down from heaven
    on the children of man
to see if there are any who understand,
    who seek after God.

They have all fallen away;
    together they have become corrupt;
there is none who does good,
    not even one. (Psalm 53:2-3)

David’s conclusion that “there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 53:3) was based on his awareness of his own depravity. David loved God and was identified as a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14), and yet, David broke two of God’s Ten Commandments without even giving any thought to the consequences for himself, his family, or the nation of Israel of which he was the appointed king.

David’s hopeful response to his realization that no one is righteous apart from God is reflected in the final verse of Psalm 53. David exclaimed:

Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion!
    When God restores the fortunes of his people,
    let Jacob rejoice, let Israel be glad. (Psalm 53:6)

The Hebrew word that is translated salvation in this verse, yᵉshuʿwah (yesh-ooˊ-aw) means “something saved” (H3444). Many personal names contain a form of the root including Jesus, a Greek form of jeshuʿah. Salvation or “’deliverance’ is generally used with God as the subject. He is known as the salvation of His people.” David was likely thinking of Israel’s Messiah when he said, “Oh, that salvation for Israel would come out of Zion” (Psalm 53:6). David’s second statement, “When God restores the fortunes of his people…” is a reference to Israel returning from exile, a period of time when the people of Israel were anticipating the arrival of their Messiah and eventually, the birth of Christ (Luke 2:26-32).

Paul explained the significance of Christ’s righteousness being transferred to us in his letter to the Romans. Paul said:

But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:21-26)

Paul indicated that the reason why Christ’s righteousness was imputed to all believers through his death on the cross was to show God’s righteousness, “because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins” (Romans 3:25). In other words, God leveled the playing field so that both Old and New Testament believers could receive forgiveness of their sins. Paul said, “For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23).

If

Solomon’s prayer of dedication for the house of God revealed his “great familiarity with and reverence for the warnings of God, which were given to all Israel through Moses (see Leviticus 26; Deuteronomy 28)” (note on 2 Chronicles 6:14-42). Solomon’s primary petition in this prayer was that God would listen and forgive them when his people cried out to him for help. Solomon mentioned specific circumstances that would require God’s forgiveness: if a man sins against his neighbor (2 Chronicles 6:22); if the people were defeated by their enemy (2 Chronicles 6:24); if there was famine in the land (2 Chronicles 6:26); if they sinned against God (2 Chronicles 6:36). Each time, Solomon asked that God would hear from heaven and forgive his people who had sinned against him (2 Chronicles 6:39). Afterward, “the LORD appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him: “I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up heaven so that there is no rain, or command locust to devour the land, or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land” (2 Chronicles 7:12-14). “This is a key Old Testament passage that presents the conditions of true repentance: humbling oneself, praying, seeking God’s face, and turning from evil” (note on 2 Chronicles 7:12-14). God said if his people truly repented, then he would hear from heaven and forgive their sin.

Humbling ourselves means that we are bringing ourselves into subjection to God. This has to do with being submitted to God’s will, allowing God to have control of our situation and circumstances. An example of humbling oneself is shown in 1 Kings 21:27 where the wicked king Ahab repented of his sin after being confronted by Elijah the prophet. It says in 1 Kings 21:17-29:

 Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Arise, go down to meet Ahab king of Israel, who is in Samaria; behold, he is in the vineyard of Naboth, where he has gone to take possession. And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord, “Have you killed and also taken possession?”’ And you shall say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord: “In the place where dogs licked up the blood of Naboth shall dogs lick your own blood.”’”

Ahab said to Elijah, “Have you found me, O my enemy?” He answered, “I have found you, because you have sold yourself to do what is evil in the sight of the Lord. Behold, I will bring disaster upon you. I will utterly burn you up, and will cut off from Ahab every male, bond or free, in Israel. And I will make your house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, and like the house of Baasha the son of Ahijah, for the anger to which you have provoked me, and because you have made Israel to sin. And of Jezebel the Lord also said, ‘The dogs shall eat Jezebel within the walls of Jezreel.’ Anyone belonging to Ahab who dies in the city the dogs shall eat, and anyone of his who dies in the open country the birds of the heavens shall eat.”

(There was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the Lord like Ahab, whom Jezebel his wife incited. He acted very abominably in going after idols, as the Amorites had done, whom the Lord cast out before the people of Israel.)

And when Ahab heard those words, he tore his clothes and put sackcloth on his flesh and fasted and lay in sackcloth and went about dejectedly. And the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite, saying, “Have you seen how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself before me, I will not bring the disaster in his days; but in his son’s days I will bring the disaster upon his house.”

It says that “there was none who sold himself to do what was evil in the sight of the LORD like Ahab” (1 Kings 21:25), and yet, because he had humbled himself, God said he would not bring disaster in Ahab’s days (1 Kings 21:29). The Hebrew words that are translated dejectedly in 1 Kings 21:27 are translated went softly in the King James Version of the Bible. Another way of describing Ahab’s response to God’s condemnation of his behavior might be that Ahab treaded lightly or exhibited a gentle spirit toward God as a result of God holding him accountable for his sin.

Even though Ahab humbled himself before God, he did not truly repent of his sin. Ahab stopped short of asking God for forgiveness. The second condition of true repentance is praying, or more specifically, asking God to intervene in your situation so that your sin can be forgiven. Psalm 51 is a prayer that King David prayed when Nathan the prophet confronted him about his sin with Bathsheba. David began by asking God to have mercy on him. David prayed, “Have mercy on me, O God, according to your steadfast love, according to your abundant mercy blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin!” (Psalm 51:1-2). David asked that God would blot out his transgressions and wash him thoroughly from his iniquity. The Hebrew word that is translated wash, kabas (kaw-basˊ) “refers to God’s internal cleansing of the heart, making it white as snow. Jeremiah 4:14, however, showed that God’s people must work to cleanse their hearts and avoid temporal destruction” (H3526). David’s genuine sorrow wasn’t all that was needed for true repentance, David needed his relationship with the LORD to be restored.

Another condition of true repentance is seeking God’s face. This aspect of true repentance has to do with restoring intimacy with God. Moses’ relationship with God is one of the best examples of what it means to have intimacy with God in the Bible. It says in Exodus 33:11, “Thus the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.” The place where Moses went to speak to the LORD was called the tent of meeting. “Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. When Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door” (Exodus 33:7-10). It says in Exodus 33:7 that everyone who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. Seeking the LORD requires us to get away from other people and to focus our attention only on God. All the people watched Moses go into the tent of meeting and worshipped God from afar, but only Moses experienced intimacy with God.

The final condition for true repentance may be why so few people actually do it. God told Solomon that he would hear from heaven and forgive the people’s sin if they humbled themselves and prayed, and sought his face, and turned from their wicked ways (2 Chronicles 7:14). The Hebrew word that is translated turned, shuwb (shoob) “is used to describe divine and human reactions, attitudes, and feelings” (H7725). Jeremiah described this kind of turning as washing your heart from evil. Jeremiah stated, “O Jerusalem, wash your heart from evil, that you may be saved. How long shall your wicked thoughts lodge within you?” (Jeremiah 4:14). Jeremiah indicated that wicked thoughts can lodge within us, but we are able to dislodge them through an intentional effort of washing our hearts from evil. The Apostle Paul described this process as putting off your old self and putting on the new self. Paul told the Ephesians:

Now this I say and testify in the Lord, that you must no longer walk as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their minds. They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart. They have become callous and have given themselves up to sensuality, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. But that is not the way you learned Christ!—assuming that you have heard about him and were taught in him, as the truth is in Jesus, to put off your old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24)

Paul said our old self belongs to our former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires (Ephesians 4:22). In order to get rid of the old self, we must put on the new self, which Paul indicated was “created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Ephesians 4:24). The key to being able to do this is what Paul referred to as being “renewed in the spirit of your minds” (Ephesians 4:23). This means that we are under the controlling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit who is directing our energies toward the enjoyment of fellowship with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. Spiritual regeneration involves more than the free act of God’s mercy and power by which he removes the sinner from the kingdom of darkness and places him in the kingdom of light, it is “the gradual conforming of the person to the new spiritual world in which he now lives, the restoration of the divine image. In this process the person is not passive but is a fellow worker with God” (G3824).

God told Solomon that he would hear from heaven and would forgive their sin, if his people would humble themselves, and pray and seek his face and turn from their wicked ways. God contrasted this promise with an alternative that actually did take place. God said, “’But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will pluck you up from my land that I have given you, and this house that I have consecrated for my name, I will cast out of my sight, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples. And at this house, which was exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, “Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?” Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the LORD, the God of their fathers who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods and worshipped them and served them. Therefore he has brought all this disaster on them.”’” The prophet Jeremiah foretold that Nebuchadnezzar’s invasion of Jerusalem would result in God fighting against his own people (Jeremiah 21:5) and in his message to the house of David, Jeremiah gave the people a final opportunity to repent of their sin against God. Jeremiah concluded his message to the house of David by stating, “’”And many nations will pass by this city, and every man will say to his neighbor, “Why has the LORD dealt thus with this great city?” And they will answer, “Because they have forsaken the covenant of the LORD their God and worshipped other gods and served them.”’” Weep not for him who is dead, nor grieve for him, but weep bitterly for him who goes away, for he shall return no more to see his native land’” (Jeremiah 22:8-10).

The house of God

Abraham’s grandson Jacob was the first person in the Bible to identify a place on earth where God was believed to be located. It says in Genesis 28:10-11 that “Jacob left Beersheba and went toward Haran. And he came to a certain place and stayed there that night, because the sun had set.” Jacob had a dream that night in which he saw a ladder that reached to heaven. “And behold, the angels of God were ascending and descending on it!” In his dream, the LORD told Jacob that he would keep him wherever he went and would bring him back to the land that he had promised to give Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 15:1-16). It says in Genesis 28:16-22:

Then Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I did not know it.” And he was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”

So early in the morning Jacob took the stone that he had put under his head and set it up for a pillar and poured oil on the top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, but the name of the city was Luz at the first. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go, and will give me bread to eat and clothing to wear, so that I come again to my father’s house in peace, then the Lord shall be my God, and this stone, which I have set up for a pillar, shall be God’s house. And of all that you give me I will give a full tenth to you.”

The Hebrew word Bethel means “house of God” (H1008). Jacob later returned to Bethel and built an altar, “and called the place El-bethel because there God had revealed himself to him (Genesis 35:7). It says in Genesis 35:9 that God appeared to Jacob and, “Then God went up from him. And Jacob set up a pillar in the place where he had spoken with him, a pillar of stone. He poured out a drink offering on it and poured oil on it. So Jacob called the name of the place where God had spoken with him Bethel” (Genesis 35:13-15).

David took it upon himself to build a house for the LORD after he was established as the king of Israel, but his decision was overridden by God. It says in 2 Samuel 7:4-7, “But that same night the word of the LORD came to Nathan ‘Go and tell my servant David, “Thus says the LORD: Would you build me a house to dwell in? I have not lived in a house since the day I brought up the people of Israel from Egypt to this day, but I have been moving about in a tent for my dwelling. In all the places where I have moved with all the people of Israel, did I speak a word to any of the judges of Israel, whom I commended to shepherd my people Israel, saying, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’”’” The LORD went on to tell David that he would make a house for him and that after David was gone, God would “raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12-13). This promise referred “initially to Solomon but was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the ‘Son of David’ (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:25-35) who reigns at God’s right hand (Psalm 2:7; Acts 13:33).

Solomon built a temple in Jerusalem on “Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to David his father, at the place that David had appointed, on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite” (2 Chronicles 3:1). After all the work that Solomon did for the house of the LORD was finished, “the house of the LORD, was filled with a cloud, so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the house of God” (2 Chronicles 5:13-14). It says in 2 Samuel 6:1, “Then Solomon said, ‘The LORD has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. But I have built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever.” Solomon believed that God’s promise to David had been fulfilled because he had completed construction of the temple that his father had designed, but in his prayer of dedication, Solomon acknowledged the conditional aspect of God’s promise to establish his kingdom on earth. Solomon asked:

“But will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built! Yet have regard to the prayer of your servant and to his plea, O Lord my God, listening to the cry and to the prayer that your servant prays before you, that your eyes may be open day and night toward this house, the place where you have promised to set your name, that you may listen to the prayer that your servant offers toward this place. And listen to the pleas of your servant and of your people Israel, when they pray toward this place. And listen from heaven your dwelling place, and when you hear, forgive. (2 Chronicles 6:18-21)

Solomon’s understanding of God’s metaphysical nature was that he couldn’t be contained within space or matter, but God could be present in a particular geographic location in the same way that humans are. Solomon asked that God listen from heaven, his dwelling place (2 Chronicles 6:21), suggesting that God had dual residency and could dwell both in heaven and on earth at the same time. It’s unclear whether or not Solomon actually believed God could occupy the temple he had built for him. Throughout his prayer, Solomon asked God to hear from heaven (2 Chronicles 6:23, 25, 27, 30, 33, 35, 39). It’s possible that Solomon knew God would only occupy the temple he had built for him temporarily, and then, would be dealing with Israel from afar. Solomon concluded his prayer with the benediction, “And now arise, O LORD God, and go to your resting place, you and the ark of your might. Let your priests, O LORD God, be clothed with salvation, and let your saints rejoice in your goodness. O LORD God, do not turn away the face of your anointed one! Remember your steadfast love for David your servant” (2 Chronicles 6:41-42).

Jesus tried to reassure his disciples before he left them that his Father’s house was an actual place where they would all be living one day. Jesus told them:

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. And you know the way to where I am going.”

“No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.”

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and yet you still don’t know who I am? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father! So why are you asking me to show him to you? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words I speak are not my own, but my Father who lives in me does his work through me. (John 14:1-10, NLT)

Jesus said his Father lived in him and did his work through him. The Greek word that is translated lives in, meno (menˊ-o) is spoken “of the relation in which one person or thing stands with another, chiefly in John’s writings; thus to remain in or with someone, i.e. to be and remain united with him, one with him in heart, mind, and will (John 6:56; 14:10; 15:4-7; 1 John 2:6; 3:24; 4:15, 16)” (G3306).

Jesus considered relational oneness with his Father to be essentially the same thing as them living under the same roof. Jesus prayed that his disciples would “all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me” (John 17:21). Jesus considered relational oneness among his followers to be the ultimate testimony to him being the Savior of the World. Just as a Solomon built a house for God to dwell in forever, the Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians that believers are being joined together to form a temple for God to live in. Paul said, “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him you also are being built into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19-22). Paul referred to believers as members of the household of God and said that we are being built together into a dwelling place for God. The Greek word that is translated dwelling place in this instance is katoiketerion (kat-oy-kay-tayˊ-ree-on), a derivative of the word katoikeo (kat-oy-kehˊ-o), which means “to house permanently” (G2730).

The book of Revelation gives us a sneak preview of the permanent house that is being built for God through the process of believers being joined together in Christ. John tells us, “Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed…And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9-14). John lets us know that the future new Jerusalem is a part of the new heavens and a new earth that Isaiah predicted hundreds of years before Jesus was born (Isaiah 65:17-19). Echoing Isaiah words, John tells us, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning or crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:1-4).

It seems that when Jesus told Thomas that he was the way, and the truth, and the life in response to his question, “How can we know the way?” [to my Father’s house] (John 14:5-6), that Jesus realized having a relationship with a spiritual being that we can’t even comprehend, much less be able to relate to as a Father, is not possible without his help. Jesus wanted Thomas, as well as the rest of his disciples and us, to understand that having a relationship with God is possible because we can see and get to know God through the lens of Jesus’ human life. Jesus asked Philip, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus wanted to change Philip’s perspective about who he was talking to. Philip was standing face-to-face and conversing with the creator of the universe, and didn’t even realize it. In order to see God in him, Philip needed to know Jesus in a different way. Jesus used the word ginosko (ghin-oceˊ-ko) to describe the kind of knowing that enables us to understand and/or fully comprehend who God the Father is in order to have a relationship with him. Paul talked about knowing in part in his discussion of the body of Christ and the way of love as a means of knowing God more intimately. Paul said, “For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known” (1 Corinthians 13:9-13).

God’s kingdom

God’s covenant with Abraham was based on a promise that he would make of him a great nation (Genesis 12:2). After the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, and were preparing to enter and take possession of the land that God told Abraham he would give him, Moses said, “For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for his treasured possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth” (Deuteronomy 7:6). About 400 years into their existence as a nation, Israel demanded that a king be placed over them. It says in 1 Samuel 8:4-5, “Then all the elders of Israel gathered together and came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him, ‘Behold, you are old and your sons do not walk in your ways. Now appoint a king to judge us like all the nations.’” From a biblical standpoint, judgment is the primary function of a king and is based on his authority over the people. Since God is the source of all authority, he “will eventually conduct all judgments (Psalm 96:13)” (H8199). Abraham identified the LORD as “the Judge of all the earth” (Genesis 18:28).

Samuel was upset that the people wanted to have a king appointed over them, but God told him, “Obey the voice of the people in all that they say to you, for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). God said the people of Israel had rejected him, which meant they had refused to accept his authority. In spite of this, God granted Israel’s request and chose Saul, then David to lead the nation of Israel. After David was established as King of Israel. God made a covenant with him that expanded on and clarified God’s promises to Abraham. “It represents an unconditional promise to David that he would be the father of an everlasting kingdom” (note on 2 Samuel 7:4-16). The LORD told David:

“I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. And I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. And I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. And I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. And violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. And I will give you rest from all your enemies. Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house. When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:8-16)

When God said that David’s son would build a house for his name and he would establish the throne of his kingdom forever, he was referring initially to Solomon, but this promise was ultimately fulfilled in Jesus Christ, who was identified as the “’Son of David’ (Luke 1:31-33; Acts 2:25-35)” (note on 2 Samuel 7:13).

The books of First and Second Chronicles were originally one book and the generally accepted author of them was Ezra, the man who led Israel’s effort to rebuild the temple of God after they were released from captivity in Babylon. These books restated the history of Israel and Judah as it related to their spiritual condition. Second Chronicles opens with Solomon worshipping at Gibeon and praying for wisdom. Solomon prayed, “O LORD God, let your word to David my father be now fulfilled, for you have made me king over a people as numerous as the dust of the earth. Give me now wisdom and knowledge to go out and come in before this people, for who can govern this people of yours, which is so great?” (2 Chronicles 1:9-10). The Hebrew word that is translated govern here is the same word that is translated judge in 1 Samuel 8:4-5. Solomon realized that he had been placed in a position that belonged to God and so he asked for God’s help to carry out his responsibility. Solomon asked God for wisdom and knowledge, qualities that only God could give him. “God imparted wisdom to His people by His Spirit (Exodus 31:3), but His Anointed One, the Messiah, the Branch, would have His Spirit rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom (Isaiah 11:2), in abundance” (H2451). In this respect, King Solomon and Jesus Christ were much alike. God told Solomon, “Because this was in your heart, and you have not asked for possessions, wealth, honor, or the life of those who hate you, and have not even asked for long life, but have asked for wisdom and knowledge for yourself that you may govern my people over whom I have made you king, wisdom and knowledge are granted to you. I will also give you riches, possessions, and honor, such as none of the kings had who were before you, and none after you shall have the like” (2 Chronicles 1:11-12).

An example of Solomon’s wisdom in judging his people is described in 1 Kings 3:13-27. Two prostitutes came to him, each of them claiming to be the mother of an infant that one of the women was likely carrying in her arms. 1 Kings 3:23-28 states:

Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

The people determined it was the wisdom of God that had resulted in justice being done for the mother of the living child, and they respected Solomon because God had given him the ability to judge in the same way he would.

Psalm 72 gives a closer look at Solomon’s desire for justice in Israel. Solomon prayed, “Give the king your justice, O God, and your righteousness to the royal son!…May he defend the cause of the poor of the people, give deliverance to the children of the needy, and crush the oppressor!” (Psalm 72:1, 4). Solomon associated defending the cause of the poor and giving deliverance to the children of the needy with the salvation that only comes from God (H3467). As Solomon continued his prayer, it is evident that what he had on his mind when he prayed this prayer was the future Messiah’s kingdom on earth. Solomon prayed, “In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, til the moon be no more! May he have dominion from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth!…For he delivers the needy when he calls, the poor and him who has no helper. He has pity on the weak and the needy and saves the lives of the needy. From oppression and violence he redeems their life, and precious is their blood in his sight” (Psalm 72:7-8, 12-14). The Hebrew word that is translated redeems, gaʾal (gaw-alˊ) is used theologically to convey both “God’s redemption of individuals from spiritual death and His redemption of the nation of Israel from Egyptian bondage and also from exile (see Exodus 6:6)” (H1350).

The Apostle Paul said in his letter to the Romans that we should not pass judgment on one another because we will all stand before the judgment seat of God (Romans 14:10). Paul asked:

Why do you pass judgment on your brother? Or you, why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God; for it is written,

“As I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me,
    and every tongue shall confess to God.”

So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. (Romans 14:10-12)

Paul explained in his second letter to the Corinthians that the reason we will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ is “so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil” (2 Corinthians 5:10). “This accounting has nothing to do with justification, which is credited to the Christian fully and forever through faith in Christ; instead, it refers to what we have done with our lives as Christians (cf. 1 Corinthians 3:11-15)” (note on 2 Corinthians 5:10, KJSB). Jesus referred to rewards that believers will receive in his parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and then, went on to talk about the judgment. Jesus said, “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:31-34).

Restoration of life

Psalm 30 was written by King David near the end of his life. “David may have penned the psalm in dedicating the building materials he collected for the temple (cf. 1 Chronicles 22:1-6), or he may have intended that the psalm be used at the dedication of the completed temple” (note on Psalm 30:1-12). The title of Psalm 30 is “Joy Comes with the Morning, but the word joy only appears once, and the tone of the psalm is rather somber. David may have been thinking about his death when he wrote Psalm 30 and wanted to convey his thoughts on this topic. David expressed a hopeful attitude about his final departure, but also seemed to be concerned about the outcome of this final event in his life. David began by stating:

I will extol you, O Lord, for you have drawn me up
    and have not let my foes rejoice over me.
O Lord my God, I cried to you for help,
    and you have healed me.
O Lord, you have brought up my soul from Sheol;
    you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit. (Psalm 30:1-3)

David said the LORD had brought up his soul from Sheol, the world of the dead (H7585), and restored him to life, even though he hadn’t yet died. The Hebrew word David used to refer to the restoration of life was chayah (khaw-yawˊ), a verb meaning to be alive or to keep alive. “’To live’ is more than physical existence. According to Deuteronomy 8:3, ‘man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD’ (H2421). David said that he had been restored to life “from among those who go down to the pit” Psalm 30:3). The pit represented death, but to David, the Hebrew word bowr (bore) must have had a different connotation because it wouldn’t make sense for God to restore David’s life before he had actually died. David used the phrase “go down to the pit” in two of his other psalms (Psalm 28:1; 143:7). In Psalm 28:1, David said, “To you, O LORD, I call; my rock, be not deaf to me, lest if you be silent to me, I become like those who go down to the pit,” suggesting that going down to the pit meant that David was separated from God or cut off from communicating with him.

David went on to say that God’s anger only lasts for a moment, compared to a lifetime of blessing, and that joy comes with the morning. David stated:

Sing praises to the Lord, O you his saints,
    and give thanks to his holy name.
For his anger is but for a moment,
    and his favor is for a lifetime.
Weeping may tarry for the night,
    but joy comes with the morning.

David identified those who should sing praises to the LORD as saints. The Hebrew word that is translated saints, chasiyd (khaw-seedˊ) is derived from the word chasad (khaw-sadˊ), which means to bow the neck “in courtesy to an equal, i.e. to be kind” (H2616). Another word that is derived from chasad is chesed (khehˊ-sed), “A masculine noun indicating kindness, lovingkindness, mercy, goodness, faithfulness, love, acts of kindness. This aspect of God is one of several important features of His character: truth; faithfulness; mercy; steadfastness; justice; righteousness; goodness. The classic text for understanding the significance of this word is Psalm 136 where it is used twenty-six times to proclaim that God’s kindness and love are eternal. The psalmist made it clear that God’s kindness and faithfulness serves as the foundation for His actions and His character: it underlies His goodness (Psalm 136:1); it supports His unchallenged position as God and Lord (Psalm 136:2, 3); it is the basis for His great and wondrous acts in creation (Psalm 136:4-9) and delivering and redeeming His people from Pharaoh and the Red Sea (Psalm 136:10-15); the reason for His guidance in the desert (Psalm 136:16); His gift of the land to Israel and defeat of their enemies (Psalm 136:17-22); His ancient as well as His continuing deliverance of His people (Psalm 136:23-25); His rulership in heaven (Psalm 136:26). The entire span of creation to God’s redemption, preservation, and permanent establishment is touched upon in this psalm. It all happened because of the Lord’s covenant faithfulness and kindness” (H2617).

The term saints is used in the New Testament to refer to both Old and New Testament believers in Christ. It says in Matthew 27:52-53 that after Jesus’ death, “The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised, and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many.” The Greek word that is translated saints here is hagios (hagˊ-ee-os). Hagios is “Spoken of those who are purified and sanctified by the influences of the Spirit, a saint. This is assumed of all who profess the Christian name, hence hagios, saint, hagioi, saints, Christians (Acts 9:13, 14, 32, 42; Romans 1:7; 8:27; 1 Thessalonians 3:13). Spoken of those who are to be in any way included in the Christian community (1 Corinthians 7:14). David is not the only author who referred to the saints in their psalms. Saints were also mentioned in the interpretation of Daniel’s visions of the end times (Daniel 7:18, 21, 22, 25, 27). David encouraged the saints to give thanks to the LORD because “his anger is but for a moment, and his favor if for a lifetime” (Psalm 30:5). David said, ‘Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” David’s statement correlates with one that the Apostle Paul made in his second letter to the Corinthians, which is addressed to “The church of God that is at Corinth, with all the saints who are in the whole of Achaia” (2 Corinthians 1:1). Paul said:

So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:16-18)

Paul identified human beings as consisting of two parts, the outer self and the inner self; one that is seen and one that is unseen. Paul said “the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal” (2 Corinthians 4:18). The two parts that Paul was referring to were the body, which is transient (G4561), and the soul, which is eternal (G4151). The body represents the physical aspect of man and the soul the spiritual entity within man that enables him to have intimate union with God. In Psalm 30, David was referring to the inner self, when he said, “O LORD, you have brought up my soul from Sheol; you restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit” (Psalm 30:3).

In his letter to the Ephesians, Paul described a transition from death to life that occurs when individuals are saved, or what Jesus identified as being born again (John 3:3). Paul told the Ephesians:

And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience—among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:1-7)

Paul indicated that everyone starts out dead from a spiritual perspective, and that we must first be made alive by God in order to be raised up with Christ. The phrase made alive together with is derived from the Greek word suzoopoieo (sood-zo-op-oy-ehˊ-o), which means “to reanimate conjointly with” (G4608). This is spoken of those who have received eternal life and who will be resurrected on an appointed day sometime in the future. Jesus told Martha after her brother Lazarus had died, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die” (John 11:25-26).

David said to the LORD, “You restored me to life from among those who go down to the pit” (Psalm 30:3). David was likely talking about his spiritual life being restored or more specifically, being made alive together with Christ at a specific point in his life. Although we don’t know for sure when David first believed in and trusted Christ for salvation, we know that after he committed adultery with Bathsheba, David confessed, “I have sinned against the LORD,” and Nathan told him, “The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die” (2 Samuel 12:13). The Hebrew word that is translated put away, ʿabar (aw-barˊ) means “to cross over” and is used very widely of any “transition” (H5674). “The verb refers primarily to spatial movement, to ‘moving over, through, or away from.’ This basic meaning can be used of ‘going over or through’ a particular location to get to the other side, as when Jacob ‘crossed over’ the Euphrates to escape Laban (Genesis 31:21).” David’s sin of adultery may have been why he thought of himself as having been restored to life “from among those who go down to the pit” (Psalm 30:3). It seems likely that this was a turning point in David’s life and one that he would likely attribute to God’s mercy and faithfulness. David said in Psalm 30:8-10, “To you, O LORD, I cry, and to the Lord I plead for mercy: ‘What profit is there in my death, if I go down to the pit? Will the dust praise you? Will it tell of your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me! O LORD, be my helper!”

David concluded Psalm 30 with a statement that appears to be a reference to a future restoration of life that he would experience in heaven. David declared:

You have turned for me my mourning into dancing;
    you have loosed my sackcloth
    and clothed me with gladness,
that my glory may sing your praise and not be silent.
    O Lord my God, I will give thanks to you forever! (Psalm 30:11-12)

Typically, glory is associated with God, but David said, “That my glory may sing your praise” (Psalm 30:12). Paul discussed the glory that David was speaking of in his letter to the Romans. Paul said, “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17). Paul went on to talk about the saints’ future glory, and said, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed” (Romans 8:18). Paul made it clear that the glory that is to be revealed in the children of God is linked to the restoration of life that will occur after God judges the world. John tells us in the book of Revelation that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and said, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away” (Revelation 21:3-4).

David said that he would give thanks to God forever for restoring him to life (Psalm 30:3, 12). The Hebrew word that is translated forever, ʿowlam (o-lawmˊ) is derived from the word ʿalam (aw-lamˊ) which means, “to veil from sight, i.e. conceal” (H5956). Eternity is currently hidden from us in the sense that we can’t see things that are in the spiritual realm, even though we know they exist. My soul is just as much a part of me as my body, but I don’t know what it looks like or how it appears to others. Paul described our lack of ability to perceive things in the spiritual realm as seeing “in a mirror dimly” (1 Corinthians 13:12), and said that when eternity is no longer veiled from our sight, it will be like we are face to face with reality, and we will know fully as we have been fully known. Paul concluded his first letter to the Corinthians with a discussion of the resurrection of the dead. Paul said, “For if the dead are not raised…we are of all people most to be pitied. But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep. For as by a man came death, by a man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive” (1 Corinthians 15:17-22). Paul said that we will all be changed in a moment, “in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet” (1 Corinthians 15:52), and then, stated:

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:

“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
    O death, where is your sting?” (1 Corinthians 15:53-55)

Celebrate God’s Victory

Luke’s gospel concludes with the celebration of Jesus’ resurrection and ascension into heaven. Luke states, “Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands he blessed them. When he blessed them, he parted from them and was carried up into heaven. And they worshipped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy, and were continually in the temple blessing God” (Luke 24:50-53). The Apostle Paul discussed the resurrection of the dead in the context of a mystery and the believer’s victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:35-58). Paul said that we must all be changed and that our mortal body must put on immortality, and then, Paul concluded, “The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Although Jesus gave us the victory over sin and death through his resurrection and ascension into heaven, sin and death still exist in the world today, and we have not yet experienced the full manifestation of God’s kingdom on earth. Psalm 98 is a celebration of the righteous reign of the Lord, a future event when the psalmist says, “All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Psalm 98:3).

Psalm 98 begins with a call to celebrate God’s victory. The psalmist instructs us, “O sing unto the LORD a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand, and his holy arm, hath gotten him the victory” (Psalm 98:1, KJV). The English Standard Version of the Bible translates the last part of Psalm 98:1 as “His right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him” associating God’s victory with Jesus’ work of salvation on the cross. The psalmist went on to say:

The Lord has made known his salvation;
    he has revealed his righteousness in the sight of the nations.
He has remembered his steadfast love and faithfulness
    to the house of Israel.
All the ends of the earth have seen
    the salvation of our God. (Psalm 98:2-3)

The Hebrew word that is translated seen in Psalm 98:3, raʾah (raw-awˊ) denotes a type of seeing something with the eyes that requires “the individual to see physically outside of himself or herself: to see so that one can learn to know, whether it be another person (Deuteronomy 33:9) or God (Deuteronomy 1:31; 11:2); to experience (Jeremiah 5:12; 14:13; 20:18; 42:14)” (H7200). This type of seeing requires the person that is seeing to be physically present with the person or object that is seen. During Jesus’ ministry on the earth 2000 years ago, his travels were limited to the geographical region known as the Promised Land, the territory that God promised to give Abraham and his descendants (Genesis 15:7). Psalm 98:2 refers to a time when God’s salvation will be revealed in the sight of all the nations.

Isaiah’s prophecy in 52:1-12 is about the LORD’s coming salvation and he uses the term good news to refer to Jesus’ gospel message. It says specifically in Isaiah 52:6-7 about the righteous reign of the Lord:

“Therefore my people shall know my name. Therefore in that day they shall know that it is I who speak; here I am.”

How beautiful upon the mountains
    are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
    who publishes salvation,
    who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

The “servant song” that followed Isaiah 52:1-12 “is one of the most explicit prophecies of Christ’s atoning work on Calvary. It caused great controversy within Judaism because it clearly connected the Messiah with suffering and death. As a result, some Jewish scholars even suggested two messiahs: one who would suffer and another who would reign. In anticipating the Messiah, they could not comprehend how he could fulfill both sets of prophecies. Jesus applied this prophecy to himself (Luke 22:37), as did his disciples (Matthew 8:17; John 12:38; Hebrews 9:28)” (note on Isaiah 52:13-53:12).

The good news of the gospel is what prompts God’s chosen people to sing to the LORD a new song in Psalm 98:1, and we see that when Jesus is revealed in the sight of the nations and “all the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God” (Psalm 98:3), that there is a call to all the earth to join in the celebration. The psalmist invites us to:

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth;
    break forth into joyous song and sing praises!
Sing praises to the Lord with the lyre,
    with the lyre and the sound of melody!
With trumpets and the sound of the horn
    make a joyful noise before the King, the Lord! (Psalm 98:4-6)

The great joy that Jesus’ disciples felt as they made their way back to Jerusalem after he had ascended into heaven (Luke 24:52) was likely very small in comparison to the joyful noise that all the earth will make when it sees the salvation of our God. Even the seas, rivers, and hills will join in the celebration of God’s victory (Psalm 98:7-8).

The psalmist closes his call to celebrate with a reminder of the Lord’s mission when he returns to earth. The psalmist says, “For he comes to judge the earth. He will judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with equity” (Psalm 98:9). The Hebrew word that is translated judge, shaphat (shaw-fatˊ) means “pronounce sentence (for or against)…This word, though often translated as judge, is much more inclusive than the modern concept of judging and encompasses all the facets and functions of government: executive, legislative, and judicial. Consequently, this term can be understood in any one of the following ways. It could designate, in its broadest sense, to function as ruler or governor…In a judicial sense, the word could also indicate, because of the exalted status of the ruler, the arbitration of civil, domestic, and religious disputes (Deuteronomy 25:1)…In the executive sense, it could denote to execute judgment, to bring about what had been decided. This could be in the form of vindication (Psalm 10:18; Isaiah 1:17, 23); or a condemnation and punishment (Ezekiel 7:3, 8; 23:45)” (H8199). The psalmist tells us that Jesus will judge the world with righteousness (Psalm 98:9). The Hebrew word tsedeq (tsehˊ-dek), which is translated righteousness, is “a masculine noun meaning a right relation to an ethical or legal standard…The word is frequently connected with the term justice (Psalm 119:106; Isaiah 58:2)” (H6664). In addition to bringing justice to the world, the psalmist tells us that Jesus will judge the people with equity or straightness (H4339). The New Testament concept of straightness has to do with having a straight path or perhaps, a direct route to an immediate outcome (G2117). This suggests that when Jesus returns, there will be an immediate change in people’s circumstances that will be reflective of his moral and legal standard for them. In other words, Jesus intends to straighten people’s lives out when he comes back to judge the world, and will instantaneously get everyone aligned with God’s word, the Bible.

Jesus told his disciples shortly before his death that their sorrow would turn into joy and that in a little while they would see him again (John 16:16-17). Jesus’ disciples didn’t know what he meant by a little while, but were afraid to ask him (John 16:18). John tells us:

Jesus knew that they wanted to ask him, so he said to them, “Is this what you are asking yourselves, what I meant by saying, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly, I say to you, you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice. You will be sorrowful, but your sorrow will turn into joy. When a woman is giving birth, she has sorrow because her hour has come, but when she has delivered the baby, she no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world. So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you. In that day you will ask nothing of me. Truly, truly, I say to you, whatever you ask of the Father in my name, he will give it to you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full. (John 16:19-24)

Jesus compared the joy that his disciples would experience when he returned to that of a woman who had just given birth to a child. Jesus said, “She no longer remembers the anguish, for joy that a human being has been born into the world” (John 16:21). Anyone who has experienced the birth of a child can appreciate how seeing your baby for the first time makes you want to celebrate and might put a song in your heart that wasn’t there before. We see in Psalm 98 a spontaneous reaction to all the ends of the earth having seen the salvation of our God (Psalm 98:1-3). The book of Revelation tells us that this reaction is preceded by Christ’s defeat of Antichrist and the Marriage Supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:1-10). Then, the curtain to heaven is opened and we see Jesus ride into the scene. John tells us:

Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. (Revelation 19:11-16)

It’s easy to see why Jewish scholars didn’t connect Jesus, the suffering servant, with the Messiah that was going to deliver Israel from the political oppression of Antichrist. There is a stark difference between this triumphal entry and the one we see in the gospel of Luke where Jesus road into Jerusalem on the back of a donkey (Luke 19:35-40). Regardless of their differences, each of these events should cause us to make a joyful noise to the LORD and break forth into a joyous song to celebrate God’s victory.

Twenty-four sacred officers

The tabernacle where the people of Israel met with God was constructed by the Israelites in the wilderness not long after they were delivered from slavery in Egypt, but it was later replaced by a permanent structure built by Solomon in the city of Jerusalem. King David laid out the plans for building the temple of God before his death (1 Chronicles 22:2-5), but it was his son, King Solomon who executed the plans and brought the building project to completion (2 Chronicles 5:1). The event that inspired David to build a house for God was a pestilence that killed 70,000 men in less than three days. 1 Chronicles 21:15-16 tells us, “And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented of the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, ‘It is enough; now stay your hand.’ And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem.” David was instructed to raise an altar to the LORD on the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite (1 Chronicles 21:18), and later said about the site that he had purchased, “Here shall be the house of the LORD God and here the altar of burnt offering for Israel” (1 Chronicles 22:1).

David’s preparation for building the house of the LORD God included the organization of the priests and the Levites to do the work that was required to conduct religious services and to maintain the temple. David organized the priests “according to the appointed duties in their service” (1 Chronicles 24:3). The Hebrew word that is translated appointed duties, pᵉquddah (pek-ood-dawˊ) means “visitation.” Jesus referred to a time of visitation during his triumphal entry when he wept over the city of Jerusalem. Luke tells us, “And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, ‘Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that made for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation” (Luke 19:41-44). The Greek word that is translated visitation, episcope (ep-is-kop-ayˊ) refers to “superintendence; specially the Christian ‘episcopate’:-office (of overseer), visitation” (G1984).

There are only two instances in the New Testament where episcope is used to refer a specific office or position that needed to be filled among believers. The first is in reference to the position that Judas Iscariot had as one of Jesus’ twelve apostles. It says in Acts 1:15-20 that Peter stood up among the brothers and said:

“Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness, and falling headlong he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,

“‘May his camp become desolate,
    and let there be no one to dwell in it’;

and

‘Let another take his office.’”

Judas’ betrayal of Jesus resulted in him being removed from his appointed office. Paul said in his first letter to Timothy, “The saying is trustworthy: If anyone aspires to the office of overseer, he desires a noble task. Therefore an overseer must be above reproach, the husband of one wife, sober-minded, self-controlled, respectable, hospitable, able to teach, not a drunkard, not violent but gentle, not quarrelsome, not a lover of money. He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God’s church? He must not be a recent convert, or he may become puffed up with conceit and fall into the condemnation of the devil. Moreover, he must be well thought of by outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, into a snare of the devil” (1 Timothy 3:1-7). In this passage, Paul mentions the office of overseer and then, refers to an overseer. Paul used the Greek word episkopos (ep-isˊkop-os) to refer to an overseer, indicating that he was talking about a “Christian officer in general charge of a (or the) church” (G11985). From this we can conclude that David’s organization of the priests according to the appointed duties was intended to be similar to management of the body of Christ or what we refer to today as the church.

We are told in 1 Chronicles 24:4-19:

Since more chief men were found among the sons of Eleazar than among the sons of Ithamar, they organized them under sixteen heads of fathers’ houses of the sons of Eleazar, and eight of the sons of Ithamar. They divided them by lot, all alike, for there were sacred officers and officers of God among both the sons of Eleazar and the sons of Ithamar. And the scribe Shemaiah, the son of Nethanel, a Levite, recorded them in the presence of the king and the princes and Zadok the priest and Ahimelech the son of Abiathar and the heads of the fathers’ houses of the priests and of the Levites, one father’s house being chosen for Eleazar and one chosen for Ithamar.

The first lot fell to Jehoiarib, the second to Jedaiah, the third to Harim…the twenty-third to Delaiah, the twenty-fourth to Maaziah. These had as their appointed duty in their service to come into the house of the Lord according to the procedure established for them by Aaron their father, as the Lord God of Israel had commanded him.

The appointed duty of the 24 sacred officers was “to come into the house of the LORD according to the procedure established for them” (1 Chronicles 24:19). The Hebrew word that is translated procedure, mishpât (mish-pawtˊ) is “a masculine noun meaning a judgment, a legal decision, a legal case, a claim, proper, rectitude. The word connotes several variations in meanings depending on the context. It is used to describe a legal decision or judgment rendered: it describers a legal decision given by God to be followed by people (Isaiah 58:2; Zephaniah 2:3; Malachi 2:17)” (H4941). The procedure that the officers were expected to follow was commanded by God. This meant that the priests’ activities were governed by God’s sovereign authority and were meant to result in a divinely ordered arrangement for the management of God’s house of worship.

The orderly arrangement of the priests’ activities in God’s temple reflected the ideal state that God intended when he created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1-2 tells us that in the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, “The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” God added all of the necessary elements to make his creation a functioning system that was able to sustain itself. God created light, an expanse to separate the waters, vegetation, and living creatures. Then, God created man in his own image and gave him the task of caring for his creation (Genesis 2:15). It says in John 3:16 that, “God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” The Greek word that is translated world in this verse is kosmos (kosˊ-mos), which means “orderly arrangement” and as a noun signifies “to tend, to take care of” (G2889). The priests in God’s temple were delegated representatives that had the divine responsibility of keeping God at the center of everyone’s attention as the Creator and benefactor of life. Worshipping God is a necessary part of human existence and is vital to the sustainment of God’s creation.

The mistake that the Israelites made in their worship of God was letting it become a meaningless ritual rather than a heartfelt expression of adoration and gratitude toward the benefactor of all that they possessed. God blamed the priests and the Levites for this problem and Jesus pronounced seven woes on the religious leaders of his day prior to his crucifixion (Matthew 23:1-36). Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples:

“The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat, so do and observe whatever they tell you, but not the works they do. For they preach, but do not practice. They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people’s shoulders, but they themselves are not willing to move them with their finger. They do all their deeds to be seen by others. For they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes long, and they love the place of honor at feasts and the best seats in the synagogues and greetings in the marketplaces and being called rabbi by others. But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers. And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven. Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ. The greatest among you shall be your servant. Whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and whoever humbles himself will be exalted.

“But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you travel across sea and land to make a single proselyte, and when he becomes a proselyte, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves. (Matthew 23:2-15)

Following his harsh criticism of Israel’s religious leaders, Jesus foretold the destruction of the temple. Luke tells us, “And while some were speaking of the temple, how it was adorned with noble stones and offerings, he said, ‘As for these things that you see, the days will come when there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” (Luke 21:5-6).

One of the passages in Isaiah that refers to Israel’s Messiah that Jesus identified with himself is Isaiah 61:1-2. Jesus quoted this passage when he was teaching in a synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and told the people afterward, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). Isaiah 61 talks about the year of the LORD’s favor and says that the Christ of God will “grant to those who mourn in Zion—to give them a beautiful headdress instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, the garment of praise instead of a faint spirit; that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he may be glorified. They shall build up the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former devastations; they shall repair the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations. Strangers shall stand and tend your flocks; foreigners shall be your plowmen and vinedressers; but you shall be called the priests of the LORD; they shall speak of you as the ministers of our God” (Isaiah 61:3-6).

The fourth chapter of the book of Revelation gives us a glimpse into God’s throne room in heaven. The Apostle John, who wrote the book of Revelation, tells us that “a door was standing open in heaven” and he was commanded to “Come up here” and would be shown “what must take place after this” (Revelation 4:1). The after this that John is referring to is after the year of the LORD’s favor, when the gospel of Jesus Christ is being preached throughout the world. John tells us that, “a throne stood in heaven, with one seated on the throne” and “around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and seated on the thrones were twenty-four elders, clothed in white garments, with golden crowns on their heads” (Revelation 4:2, 4). John went on to describe four living creatures who never cease to say, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!” (Revelation 4:8), and then, tells us, “whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever” (Revelation 4:9-10). John concluded his description of God’s throne room by telling us the twenty-four elders, “cast their crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created’” (Revelation 4:10-11).

John used the same word that is translated elder in Revelation 4:4, 10 to refer to himself in the greeting of his second letter. John opened his letter with the statement, “The elder to the elect lady and her children” (2 John 1:1). “The ‘elect lady and her children’ (2 John 1:1) may be a reference to an actual lady and her children, but many scholars contend that this is a cryptic way of addressing a church to safeguard against the letter falling into the hands of those who were hostile to the church” (Introduction to the Second Letter of John). In the same way, John may have wanted to protect his identity by referring to himself as “the elder,” but this reference could also have been John’s way of disclosing that he saw himself as one of the twenty-four elders in his vision of God’s throne room. The identity of the twenty-four elders may not be as important as the role they play in God’s throne room. Like the twenty-four sacred officers that were tasked with maintaining the orderly arrangement of worship in God’s temple, the twenty-four elders who cast their crowns before the throne, demonstrate for believers the proper procedure to worship a God who is so holy, that it causes them to fall down before him in adoration and awe.

The Christ of God

Jesus’ birth and crucifixion was the culmination of thousands of years of God’s involvement in securing mankind’s redemption and was the climax of his Abrahamic Covenant. Beginning in the Garden of Eden, God communicated his plan of salvation by referring to a man that would come into the world and would eventually become known as the Christ of God (Luke 23:35). The LORD told the serpent that had deceived Adam and Eve, “Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life. I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:14-15). The offspring of the woman that God was referring to is identified in Isaiah 7:14 as the son of a virgin who would be named “Immanuel,” or “God is with us” (Isaiah 8:10). This Christ of God is linked to Abraham in Genesis 12:1-3, where God’s covenant with Abraham was initially communicated to him. It states:

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”

This promise to Abraham is one of the most significant passages in the entire Bible. It points ultimately to the redemption of the whole world. Abraham’s family became a divinely appointed channel through which blessing would come to all men. This promise was formalized in a covenant (Genesis 15:17-21) and was repeated four additional times: twice to Abraham (Genesis 17:6-8; 22:16-18), once to Isaac (Genesis 26:3, 4), and once to Jacob (Genesis 28:13, 14). This promise is emphasized in the New Testament in Acts 3:25, Romans 4:13, Galatians 3:8, 29 (where it is called “the gospel’), and Ephesians 2:12. Its importance to the Gentiles is evident, for it is clearly stated that Gentiles who were ‘separated from’ and ‘strangers to the covenant of promise’ have been brought to it by the blood of Christ (Galatians 3:8; Ephesians 2:12, 13)” (note on Genesis 12:1-3).

The connection between Jesus and the Christ of God was not evident to most people, including Jesus’ twelve disciples. When Jesus asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ His disciples responded, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets” (Matthew 16:13-14). After Jesus asked them directly, “who do you say that I am?,” Peter was the only one who spoke up, and answered Jesus, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16). It appears that Jesus didn’t want anyone to know that he was the Christ of God. After commending Peter for having this divine revelation (Matthew 16:17), Matthew tells us, “Then he strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that he was the Christ” (Matthew 16:20).

One of the connections that Jesus made between himself and the Christ of God was in a conversation he had with a ruler of the Jews who was named Nicodemus. Nicodemus came to Jesus at night so that he could ask him some questions about what he had been teaching everyone. After Jesus told Nicodemus that he must be born again, Nicodemus asked, “How can a man be born when he is old?” (John 3:4). Jesus went on to explain about the spiritual birth that takes place when a person accepts Christ as his Savior (John 3:5-8). Jesus concluded his conversation with Nicodemus by stating, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life” (John 3:14-15). The Israelites experience with the bronze serpent in the wilderness is recorded in Numbers 21:4-9. It states:

From Mount Hor they set out by the way to the Red Sea, to go around the land of Edom. And the people became impatient on the way. And the people spoke against God and against Moses, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no food and no water, and we loathe this worthless food.” Then the Lord sent fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people, so that many people of Israel died. And the people came to Moses and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you. Pray to the Lord, that he take away the serpents from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. And the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent and set it on a pole, and everyone who is bitten, when he sees it, shall live.” So Moses made a bronze serpent and set it on a pole. And if a serpent bit anyone, he would look at the bronze serpent and live.

The Israelites looking at the fiery serpent that was set on the pole was an act of faith. There was nothing about the fiery serpent in and of itself that was able to offset the effects of the people having been bitten. The key point was people believing that looking at the bronze serpent would keep them from dying. The Hebrew word that is translated live in Numbers 21:9, chayay (khaw-yahˊ-ee) is used in Genesis 3:22 to describe eternal life. “It is used in reference to life which is the result of seeing God (Exodus 33:20; Deuteronomy 5:24[21]) or looking at the bronze serpent (Numbers 21:8, 9)” (H2425) and is identical in form and meaning to the verb châyâh (H2421), which is used in Psalm 119 to say that God’s word preserves life (Psalm 119:25, 37, 40, 88).

A false prophet by the name of Balaam made reference to the Christ of God in one of his oracles. Balaam began by stating, “The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, the oracle of him who hears the words of God, and knows the knowledge of the Most High, who sees the wisdom of the Almighty, falling down with his eyes uncovered: I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; a star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel; it shall crush the forehead of Moab and break down all the sons of Sheth” (Numbers 24:15-17).

After Philip was called to follow Jesus, he found Nathanael and told him, “We have found him of whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph” (John 1:45). Nathanael wasn’t convinced that Jesus was the Christ of God. He asked Philip, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46). From a human standpoint, nothing about Jesus seemed remarkable. It wasn’t obvious to everyone that Jesus was the Savior of the World. He looked like an ordinary person, and yet, Philip said to Nathanael, “Come and see” (John 1:46). John tells us, “Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and said to him, ‘Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom there is not deceit!’ Nathanael said to him, ‘How do you know me?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.’ Nathanael answered him, ‘Rabbi, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!’ Jesus answered him, ‘Because I said to you, “I saw you under the fig tree,” do you believe? You will see greater things than these.’ And he said to him, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man’” (John 1:47-51). It wasn’t how Jesus appeared to Nathanael that made it clear to him Jesus was the Christ of God, but how and what Jesus said to Nathanael that convinced him who he was.

Luke tells us, when Jesus was crucified, “the people stood by, watching, but the rulers scoffed at him, saying, ‘He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God’” (Luke 23:35). The people standing by and watching Jesus die is foretold of the Christ of God in Psalm 22:7, 17. These verses state, “All who see me mock me; they make mouths at me; they wag their heads…I can count all my bones—they stare and gloat over me.” The rulers accusation, “He saved others; let him save himself, if he is the Christ of God” was addressed by Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus asked his disciples, “Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” (Matthew 26:53, 54).

Jesus knew that in order for him to save the world, he had to die. Just before he was arrested Jesus had prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me, nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Jesus’ prayer request was not about changing God’s decision to save the world through the death of his only Son. After Abraham’s son Isaac was born, God instructed him, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2). As Abraham and Isaac were walking toward Mount Moriah, Isaac asked his father, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” (Genesis 22:7). Abraham responded to Isaac’s question by stating, “God will provide for himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son” (Genesis 22:8). The angel of the LORD intervened in Abraham’s situation just as he was about to slaughter Isaac (Genesis 22:12). Abraham proved that his faith in God was genuine, for he believed that God could bring Isaac back to life if need be (Hebrews 11:17-19). God’s provision of a ram as a substitute showed that he did not want human sacrifices. The only human sacrifice approved by God was that of his Son, the sinless Lamb of God (John 1:29).

Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me” (Matthew 26:39) was about the human aspect of what he was going to do as the Christ of God. Jesus willingly gave up his life, although he did reveal that it was obedience to his Father rather than his own human nature that caused him to do it. When he and disciples were discussing the difficulty of a rich person being saved (Matthew 19:23-24), Jesus was asked the question, “Who then can be saved?” (Matthew 19:25). Jesus’ response was, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible” (Matthew 19:26). As a man, it was impossible for Jesus to die for the sins of the world, it wasn’t in his human nature to willingly give up his life so that others could be saved. It was only because he had his Father’s divine nature, that Jesus was able to execute God’s plan of salvation and fulfill all the Scriptures about the Christ of God (Matthew 26:54). After his resurrection, Jesus spoke with two men who were traveling on the road to Emmaus. These two men told Jesus about all the things that had just happened in Jerusalem and yet, they weren’t able to figure out what it all meant. Jesus said to them, “’O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the prophets, he interpreted to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning him” (Luke 24:25-27).

Jesus told the two men who were traveling on the road to Emmaus the story of the Christ of God, speaking to them in the first person. It was like one person telling another his life story. Luke tells us after they drew near to their destination, Jesus acted as if he were going farther (Luke 24:28), but the men convinced Jesus to stay with them. While they were eating dinner, Jesus “took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them. And their eyes were opened, and they recognized him. And he vanished from their sight. They said to each other, ‘Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked to us on the road, while he opened to us the Scriptures?’” (Luke 24:29-32). Later, Jesus appeared to his disciples, and said to them:

“These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.” Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (Luke 24:44-49)

Jesus opened the minds of his disciples so that they could understand the Scriptures. The disciples weren’t able to understand the things that Jesus was saying about the Christ of God through their normal human cognition. The Greek word that is translated opened their minds, nous (nooce), refers to the intellect or mind in the sense of divine or human thought, feeling, or will (G3563). The Greek word that is translated understand, suniemi (soon-eeˊ-ay-mee) means “to put together, i.e. (mentally) to comprehend” (G4920), which means that our ability to comprehend Scripture is divinely controlled. When Peter identified Jesus as “the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus told him, “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). Basically, what Jesus was saying was that it is impossible for us wrap our minds around the fact that he is the Christ of God. The only way we can comprehend this spiritual truth is through divine revelation.

The power of darkness

Jesus framed his betrayal and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane as the exercising of authority. Jesus asked the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders who had come out against him, “Have you come out against a robber with swords and clubs?” (Luke 22:52). The religious leaders were treating Jesus like a dangerous criminal, but he said to them, “When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me” (Luke 22:53). The chief priests and officers of the temple and elders wanted to put Jesus to death, but they feared the people (Luke 22:2). Jesus had become well-known among the Jewish people and his miracles were recognized as signs of his divine power (Luke 23:8). Jesus acknowledged the religious leaders authority when he said, “But this is your hour and the power of darkness” (Luke 22:53). The phrase your hour indicates that the authority of the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders was temporary and it had been given to them from the power of darkness. It says in Paul’s letter to the Colossians that God delivers believers from the domain of darkness and transfers them “to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins” (Colossians 1:13-14). The Greek word that is translated domain, Exousia (ex-oo-seeˊ-ah) is also translated power in Luke 22:53. Exusia refers to “the power of doing something, ability, faculty…with the meaning of strength, force, efficiency” (G1849). Exusia also refers to the power of doing something or not doing something in the sense of “license, liberty, free choice.” Acts 26:18 associates the power of darkness with Satan. Jesus told Paul when he was on the road to Damascus, “I have appeared to you for this purpose, to appoint you as a servant and witness to the things in which you have seen me and to those to which I will appear to you, delivering you from your people and from the Gentiles—to whom I am sending you to open their eyes, so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me” (Acts 26:16-18).

Jesus said that our eyes must be opened in order for us to turn from darkness to light and from the power of Satan to God (Acts 26:18). From this we can assume that the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders were not aware that they were acting under the authority of Satan and had come out against Jesus because they actually believed he was breaking God’s law. Luke tells us that “Satan entered into Judas” and then, he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray Jesus to them (Luke 22:3-4). Satan and the demons who follow him (Luke 8:32) have the ability to enter into people and take control of their bodies and minds (Mark 9:22; Matthew 16:23). In these kinds of situations, the power of darkness is in complete control of a person’s thoughts and actions. Jesus told Peter, “’Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.’ Peter said to him, Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death. Jesus said, ‘I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me’” (Luke 22:31-34).

It says in Genesis 1:1-2, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.” The initial state of the earth when it was created was darkness. Speaking through the prophet Isaiah, God told his people, “I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the LORD, who does all things” (Isaiah 45:7). The Hebrew word that is translated calamity, ra’ (rah) means “bad or (as a noun) evil…This word combines together in one the wicked deed and its consequences. It generally indicates the rough exterior of wrong-doing as a breach of harmony, and as breaking up of what is good and desirable in man and in society. While the prominent characteristic of the godly is lovingkindness (H2617), one of the most marked features of the ungodly man is that his course is an injury both to himself and to everyone around him” (H7451). After God created the heavens and the earth, we are told in Genesis 1:3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. And God separated the light from the darkness. The fact that darkness preceded light, suggests that it is was the combination of light and darkness that produced a good result.

The Apostle Paul viewed the interaction between light and darkness from a human perspective to be a struggle that he described as a type of spiritual warfare. Paul said in his letter to the Ephesians:

Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm. Stand therefore, having fastened on the belt of truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, as shoes for your feet, having put on the readiness given by the gospel of peace. In all circumstances take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming darts of the evil one; and take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit, with all prayer and supplication. To that end, keep alert with all perseverance, making supplication for all the saints. (Ephesians 6:10-18)

Paul said that believers need to be able to stand against the schemes of the devil (Ephesians 6:11). Standing against the schemes of the devil means that we do not let him trick us into believing a lie. Paul identified six pieces of spiritual armor that enable believers to stand firm when the power of darkness confronts them: the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the shoes of the gospel, the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the spirit (Ephesians 6:14-17).

Jesus’ conversation with a man named Nicodemus led to a clarification of what it means to be born again. Jesus told Nicodemus, “Unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). Jesus went on to say, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil” (John 3:16-19). Jesus later told his disciples, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Greek word that is translated light in this verse is phos (foce), which means “to shine or make manifest” (G5457). Jesus was speaking of himself as “the great Teacher and Savior of the world who brought life and immortality to light in His gospel,” but also, figuratively of “moral and spiritual light and knowledge which enlightens the mind, soul or conscience; including also the idea of moral goodness, purity and holiness, and of consequent reward and happiness.”

Jesus said “people loved darkness rather than light because their works were evil” (John 3:19). Typically, we don’t want our sins to be revealed to others because of the shame and guilt we will feel as a result of the truth being made known to them. Paul explained in his second letter to the Corinthians that preaching the gospel is like shining a flashlight into the darkness of people’s consciences, but sometimes people don’t see anything because “the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4). Paul went on to compare the gospel with the light that shined out of darkness when God first commanded, “Let there be light” (Genesis 1:3). Paul said, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus sake. For God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:5-6).

The scribes and Pharisees tried to convince Jesus’ followers that he was casting out demons by using the power of darkness against Satan’s own kingdom (Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:22). Christ answered the accusation that his power to cast out demons came from Beelzebub, the prince of demons be asking the question, “How can Satan case out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand .but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house” (Mark 3:23-27). With this statement, Jesus was making it clear that light and darkness do not come from the same source and that one has to overcome the other in order to prevail. Jesus encouraged his followers to overcome the power of darkness so that others could draw closer to God. Jesus said, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light. Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light, but when it is bad, your body is full of darkness. Therefore be careful lest the light in you be darkness. If then your whole body is full of light, having no part dark, it will be wholly bright, as when a lamp with its rays gives you light” (Luke 11:33-36).