spiritual ability

Spiritual success

The conquest of the land of Canaan under the leadership of Joshua began with God instructing Joshua to take the people to the other side of the Jordan River (Joshua 1:2). God told Joshua, “No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them” (Joshua 1:5-6). It appears that God commanded Joshua to “be strong and courageous” because his spiritual success was linked to these two characteristics and they were not a natural part of Joshua’s personality. The Hebrew word that is translated strong, chazaq (khaw-zakˊ) means “to fasten upon” or “take hold of.” Chazaq appears in the book of Exodus in connection with Pharaoh’s refusal to let the people of Israel go so that they could worship God. “In reference to Pharaoh, it means to brace up and strengthen and points to the hardihood with which he set himself to act in defiance against God and closed all avenues to his heart to those signs and wonders which Moses wrought. Pharaoh was responsible for his hard heart. Four times we read: ‘Pharaoh’s heart was hardened’ (Exodus 7:13, 22; 8:19; 9:35)” (H2388). God’s command to be strong likely meant that he wanted Joshua to be strong in the sense of having the necessary hardihood to set himself against the people of Canaan. The Israelites were instructed to “save alive nothing that breathes” and to “devote them to complete destruction” (Deuteronomy 20:16-17). The Hebrew word that is translated courageous in Joshua 1:6, ʾamats (aw-matsˊ) has to do with being mentally alert (H553). Both chazaq and ʾamats are connected with being obstinate, a personality trait that is associated with stubbornly refusing to change one’s opinion or chosen course of action despite attempts to persuade one to do so. God reemphasized the importance of strength and courage to spiritual success when he said to Joshua, “Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses my servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go” (Joshua 1:7).

God told Joshua that he would have good success if he did everything according to the Law of Moses. The Hebrew word that is translated good success, sakal (saw-kalʾ) means “to be (causative make or act) circumspect and hence, intelligent…It’s first use in the text, in Genesis 3:6, contributes to an interesting paradox, for while the forbidden fruit was ‘to be desired to make one wise,’ it was a very unwise thing to take it! The basic meaning of sakal seems to be ‘to look at, to give attention to,’ as illustrated in this parallelism: ‘That they may see, and know, and consider, and understand…’ (Isaiah 41:20). From this develops the connotation of insight, intellectual comprehension” (H7919). God reiterated his prescription for good success when he told Joshua, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success” (Joshua 1:8). God said that Joshua should be careful to do according to all that was written in the Book of the Law because it would make his way prosperous. The Hebrew word that is translated way, derek (dehˊ-rek) is used figuratively throughout the Old Testament of the Bible to refer to “a course of life or mode of action…In one passage derek signifies the overall course and fixed path of one’s life or his ‘destiny’” (H1870). When God said that Joshua’s way would be prosperous, he meant that Joshua would have spiritual success; that Joshua would thrive spiritually (H6743).

Psalm 1 echoes God’s message to Joshua and depicts spiritual success as a tree that yields its fruit at the appropriate or appointed time (H6256). It states:

Blessed is the man
    who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
    nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
    and on his law he meditates day and night.
He is like a tree
    planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
The wicked are not so,
    but are like chaff that the wind drives away.
Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment,
    nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous;
for the Lord knows the way of the righteous,
    but the way of the wicked will perish. (Psalm 1:1-6)

The author of Psalm 1 reinforced the message that the person who wants to experience spiritual success should meditate on the law of the LORD day and night. Biblical meditation typically involves a verbalization of scripture or rather one’s emotional reaction to its message. The Hebrew word hagah (haw-gawˊ) means “to meditate, moan, growl, utter, speak” and conveys “the idea that mental exercise, planning, often is accompanied by low talking” (H1897).

Bearing fruit was a common theme in Jesus’ teaching throughout his ministry. Jesus’ parables made it clear that bearing fruit was not the norm, but that it usually required some type of special circumstance or an intervention for it to happen. In one of his conversations with his followers, Jesus connected repentance with a fig tree’s ability to bear fruit. Luke 13:1-9 states:

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

The Greek word that is translated repent in Luke 13:3, metanoeo (met-an-o-ehˊ-o) means “to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider…to change one’s mind or purpose” (G3340). The LORD identified the change that needed to take place in Joshua’s mind when he said, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). Joshua may have been dreading the moment when he was going to have lead the Israelites across the Jordan River and begin conquering the people living in the land of Canaan. The Hebrew word that is translated dismayed, chathath (khaw-thathˊ) means “to be dismayed, shattered, broken, terrified” (H2865). Joshua acted according to God’s command in spite of his natural inclination to tremble in fear and be in dread of what was going to happen (Joshua 1:10-11), but in what may have been a moment of weakness, Joshua “sent two men secretly from Shittim as spies, saying, ‘Go, view the land, especially Jericho’” (Joshua 2:1). Joshua 2:1-11 tells us what happened when the two spies encountered a woman referred to as “Rahab the prostitute” (Joshua 6-17). It states:

And they went and came into the house of a prostitute whose name was Rahab and lodged there. And it was told to the king of Jericho, “Behold, men of Israel have come here tonight to search out the land.” Then the king of Jericho sent to Rahab, saying, “Bring out the men who have come to you, who entered your house, for they have come to search out all the land.” But the woman had taken the two men and hidden them. And she said, “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went. Pursue them quickly, for you will overtake them.” But she had brought them up to the roof and hid them with the stalks of flax that she had laid in order on the roof. So the men pursued after them on the way to the Jordan as far as the fords. And the gate was shut as soon as the pursuers had gone out. Before the men lay down, she came up to them on the roof and said to the men, “I know that the Lord has given you the land, and that the fear of you has fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you. For we have heard how the Lord dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites who were beyond the Jordan, to Sihon and Og, whom you devoted to destruction. And as soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no spirit left in any man because of you, for the Lord your God, he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath.

Rahab’s declaration that the LORD, “he is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath” was a profession of faith that bolstered the spies confidence and her testimony was shared with Joshua who was then able to lead the people across the Jordan River (Joshua 3:1). In exchange for her help, Rahab was told, “Our life for yours even to death! If you do not tell this business of ours, then when the LORD gives us the land we will deal kindly and faithfully with you” (Joshua 2:14).

The two words the spies used to describe their future relationship with Rahab, deal kindly and faithfully with her, were associated with the covenant God made with Abraham. Checed (khehˊ-sed) which means kindness “refers primarily to mutual and reciprocal rights and obligations between the parties of a relationship (especially Yahweh and Israel). But cheçed is not only 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 the 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. Checed implies personal involvement and commitment in a relationship beyond the rule of law…Behind all these uses with man as the subject, however, stand the repeated references to God’s cheçed. It is one of His most central characteristics. God’s loving-kindness is offered to His people, who need redemption from sin, enemies, and troubles” (H2617). The Hebrew word that is translated faithfully in Joshua 2:14, ʾemeth (ehˊ-meth) is derived from the word ʾaman (aw-manˊ). “Aman means ‘to be firm, endure, be faithful, be true, stand fast, trust, have belief, believe…Considering something to be trustworthy is an act of full trusting or believing. This is the emphasis in the first biblical occurrence of aman: ‘And [Abram] believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for righteousness” (Genesis 15:6). The meaning here is that Abram was full of trust and confidence in God, and that he did not fear Him (v. 1). It was not primarily in God’s words that he believed, but in God Himself. Nor does the text tell us that Abram believed God so as to accept what he said as ‘true’ and ‘trustworthy’ (cf. Genesis 45:26), but simply that he believed in God. In other words, Abram came to experience a personal relationship with God rather than an impersonal relationship with his promises” (H539).

We know that Rahab believed in God because she is commended for her faith in Hebrews 11:31, which states, “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” The Greek word that is translated disobedient, apeitheo (ap-i-thehˊ-o) means “to disbelieve (willfully and perversely)” (G544). Rahab distinguished herself from the rest of the people of Canaan because she cooperated with God’s plan and did her part to make sure that is was carried out. Being mentioned by name in Hebrews 11 meant that Rahab the prostitute was a significant contributor to the spiritual success of God’s plan of salvation. Rahab was also mentioned in James’ message about faith without works and was set alongside Abraham as an example of being justified by individual acts of faith. James said:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. But someone will say, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from your works, and I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! Do you want to be shown, you foolish person, that faith apart from works is useless? Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered up his son Isaac on the altar? You see that faith was active along with his works, and faith was completed by his works; and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness”—and he was called a friend of God. You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone. And in the same way was not also Rahab the prostitute justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out by another way? For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:14-26)

Rahab was likely identified as a prostitute to show that her moral depravity prior to her encounter with the Jewish spies made her an unlikely candidate to risk her life in order to help them escape. “The Hebrew term zonah (H2181) is the common word for an ‘adulterer’ or ‘prostitute’ (Leviticus 21:7; Jeremiah 5:7). The New Testament affirms that such a woman can be pardoned (Luke 7:37). Rahab was not only pardoned but raised to a position of honor. She married into an Israelite family and was an ancestor of David, thus placing her in the line of Jesus, the Messiah (Matthew 1:5)” (Note on Joshua 2:1).

“It was not unusual for strangers and foreigners to go to Rahab’s house, and thus the spies would not appear suspicious there. Others who passed through the prostitute’s house would provide the spies with information on the situation in Jericho. God did not bless Rahab for lying but for her faith in the report that the spies gave” (note on Joshua 2:1). Joshua 2:23-24 tells us, “Then the two men returned. They came down from the hills and passed over and came to Joshua the son of Nun, and they told him all that had happened to them. And they said to Joshua, ‘Truly the LORD has given all the land into our hands. And also all the inhabitants of the land melt away because of us.” The two spies’ report to Joshua affirmed their belief in what Rahab had told them even though she was a prostitute and had no credibility as a woman. The reason why Rahab’s words had such a big impact on the two men who came to her for help was because she demonstrated the characteristics that the Israelites needed for spiritual success, strength and courage, when she hid the spies and lied to protect them from the king of Jericho (Joshua 2:2-3).

Proverbs 18:21 states, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.” The impact of Rahab’s words is evident in the way the two spies reacted to the things she said. Jesus’ spent most of his ministry telling people things that were intended to change their lives. The power of the tongue is a way of describing the influence that a person has over another person when he says something that impacts him so much that it changes his life. The reason why the power of the tongue can lead to death or life is because hearing and believing God’s word is the only way we can be revived from spiritual death, but if we harden our hearts and rebel against God’s word we will not (Hebrews 3:16-19). The Apostle Paul explained this point in his letter to the Romans. Paul began by asking the question, “How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ” (Romans 10:14-17).

Overcoming the world

John concluded his first epistle with a bold statement about the victory that every believer can expect to have as a child of God. John said:

By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God? (1 John 5:2-5)

John equated overcoming the world with keeping God’s commandments and indicated that our faith in Jesus is what makes this victory possible for us. John’s concept of overcoming the world was most likely linked to the Jewish belief that eternal life could be attained through moral perfection (Matthew 19:16). The Greek word that John used that is translated world, kosmos (kos’-mos) “is first a harmonious arrangement or order, then by extension, adornment or decoration, and came to denote the world or universe, as that which is divinely arranged” (G2889). The reason why John thought it was necessary for Christians to overcome the world was because the present condition of human affairs is alienation from and opposition to God. If we go the way of the world, we will end up separated from God for all of eternity.

God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt and gave them the opportunity to go in and possess the land that he had promised to give their ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but along with that opportunity came the obligation for the children of Israel to serve God and keep his commandments. God assured the Israelites that he would bless them for their obedience and said:

“If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last to the time of the grape harvest, and the grape harvest shall last to the time for sowing. And you shall eat your bread to the full and dwell in your land securely. I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid. And I will remove harmful beasts from the land, and the sword shall not go through your land. You shall chase your enemies, and they shall fall before you by the sword. Five of you shall chase a hundred, and a hundred of you shall chase ten thousand, and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword. I will turn to you and make you fruitful and multiply you and will confirm my covenant with you. You shall eat old store long kept, and you shall clear out the old to make way for the new. I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect. (Leviticus 26:3-13)

God’s expectation that the children of Israel would walk in his statutes and observe his commandments was based on his deliverance of his chosen people from slavery. God told them, “I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect” (Leviticus 26:13). God used the euphemism of breaking the bars of your yoke to signify that the Egyptian Pharaoh was no longer the Israelite’s master. The children of Israel were free to do as they pleased. God’s declaration that he had made the Israelites walk erect meant that his sovereign will had been carried out according to his plan of redemption that was set in motion before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:3-4). All the Israelites had to do was choose which way they wanted to go.

In order to convince the Israelites that it would be best for them to pursue a path of righteousness, God informed his chosen people of the consequences of their disobedience. God said:

“But if you will not listen to me and will not do all these commandments, if you spurn my statutes, and if your soul abhors my rules, so that you will not do all my commandments, but break my covenant, then I will do this to you: I will visit you with panic, with wasting disease and fever that consume the eyes and make the heart ache. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. I will set my face against you, and you shall be struck down before your enemies. Those who hate you shall rule over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. And if in spite of this you will not listen to me, then I will discipline you again sevenfold for your sins, and I will break the pride of your power, and I will make your heavens like iron and your earth like bronze. And your strength shall be spent in vain, for your land shall not yield its increase, and the trees of the land shall not yield their fruit.”

“Then if you walk contrary to me and will not listen to me, I will continue striking you, sevenfold for your sins. And I will let loose the wild beasts against you, which shall bereave you of your children and destroy your livestock and make you few in number, so that your roads shall be deserted.”

“And if by this discipline you are not turned to me but walk contrary to me, then I also will walk contrary to you, and I myself will strike you sevenfold for your sins. And I will bring a sword upon you, that shall execute vengeance for the covenant. And if you gather within your cities, I will send pestilence among you, and you shall be delivered into the hand of the enemy. When I break your supply of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven and shall dole out your bread again by weight, and you shall eat and not be satisfied.”

“But if in spite of this you will not listen to me, but walk contrary to me, then I will walk contrary to you in fury, and I myself will discipline you sevenfold for your sins. You shall eat the flesh of your sons, and you shall eat the flesh of your daughters. And I will destroy your high places and cut down your incense altars and cast your dead bodies upon the dead bodies of your idols, and my soul will abhor you. And I will lay your cities waste and will make your sanctuaries desolate, and I will not smell your pleasing aromas. And I myself will devastate the land, so that your enemies who settle in it shall be appalled at it.” (Leviticus 26:14-32)

God’s stern warning was likely intended to inspire the awe and reverence that his chosen people seemed to lack. The grumbling and complaining that was a constant part of Moses’ assignment to lead the children of Israel out of slavery in Egypt was a reflection of the Israelites’ negative attitude about leaving behind their lifestyle of spiritual bondage.

The book of Leviticus concludes with an important lesson about the value of a soul. Leviticus 27:1-8 states:

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to the people of Israel and say to them, If anyone makes a special vow to the Lord involving the valuation of persons, then the valuation of a male from twenty years old up to sixty years old shall be fifty shekels of silver, according to the shekel of the sanctuary. If the person is a female, the valuation shall be thirty shekels. If the person is from five years old up to twenty years old, the valuation shall be for a male twenty shekels, and for a female ten shekels. If the person is from a month old up to five years old, the valuation shall be for a male five shekels of silver, and for a female the valuation shall be three shekels of silver. And if the person is sixty years old or over, then the valuation for a male shall be fifteen shekels, and for a female ten shekels. And if someone is too poor to pay the valuation, then he shall be made to stand before the priest, and the priest shall value him; the priest shall value him according to what the vower can afford.

The Hebrew word that is translated valuation in this passage, erek (eh’-rek) is derived from the word arak (aw-rak’) which means “to set in a row, i.e. arrange, put in order…’To arrange in order’ makes it possible ‘to compare’ one thing with another” (H6186). In many ways, that is what happens when we get involved in activities in the world. We compare ourselves with other people and we often think we are better than they are.

Jesus talked about the value of our soul in the context of compromising our commitment to him in order to gain an advantage in the world. Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:24-26). Jesus used the same word interchangeably for life and soul indicating that the part of a person that is saved or becomes born again is the soul. Salvation is comparable to the redemption of persons that was discussed in Leviticus 27 except that salvation is a permanent state of redemption that can only be attained through a spiritual transaction with God. When Jesus died on the cross and paid the penalty for the sins of all of mankind, he completed the necessary transaction on our behalf. Thus, we can experience the benefits or gain from this transaction without doing anything ourselves. Jesus asked the question, “What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his own soul?” (Matthew 16:26). In other words, if we work to get ahead in the world and neglect the salvation of our souls, we won’t experience any real benefit.

John concluded, “For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world” (1 John 5:4). John’s statement had to do with personal conquest. The point I believe John was trying to make was that at the end of our lives there is only one thing that really matters and that’s the salvation of our souls. In order to be saved, we need to be born again (John 3:3) and John made it clear that the only way we can do that is by faith. The Apostle Paul talked about this in his letter to the Ephesians. Paul said:

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. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. (Ephesians 2:1-10)

Paul indicated that we are saved by grace through faith, therefore, grace and faith work together to accomplish the task of saving a soul. You might say that grace is God’s part and faith is our part, but Paul went on to say that “this is not of your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast (Ephesians 2:8-9). I believe this was the point Jesus was getting at when he asked the question, “what shall a man give in return for his soul?” (Matthew 16:26). A person that is in unsaved state, is spiritually bankrupt and has no means of redeeming himself. It is only through Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross that we can be reconciled to God and have eternal life.

John seemed to be addressing a concern that some believers had when he said, “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life. And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him” (1 John 5:13-15). Like the Israelites who grumbled and complained about everything that didn’t seem to be right with them, some of the 1st Century Christians may have expected a life of ease after they committed their lives to Christ. John emphasized the fact that God hears our prayers, but also pointed out that it is only when we ask for something according to God’s will that we know we have the requests that we have asked of him (1 John 5:15). One of the evidences that we have overcome the world is that our will and God’s will are aligned with each other.

John’s message about overcoming the world was continued in the book of Revelation. Each of the seven churches that the Lord instructed John to write to was encouraged to overcome a difficult circumstance in order to obtain a reward. The letter to the church at Ephesus stated, “To him who overcomes I will give to eat from the tree of life, which is in the midst of the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7, NKJV) and the church in Smyrna was told, “He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death” (Revelation 2:11, NKJV). The Lord told the church in Pergamos, “To him who overcomes I will give some of the hidden manna to eat. And I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name written which no one knows except him who receives it” (Revelation 2:17, NKJV). Each of these spiritual rewards was connected with the kingdom of heaven that Jesus talked about throughout his ministry on earth and seem to form a comprehension picture of what believers will experience after the resurrection of the dead. The final piece of the puzzle was given to the church at Laodicea. The Lord told them, “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne” (Revelation 3:21, NKJV). In this instance, sitting down on a throne denotes the assumption of power and rule over a specific dominion. When Jesus sat down with his Father on His throne, his conquest over the world became a reality in that he was able to exercise his authority over it (Ephesians 1:20-23). Jesus indicated that we who have overcome the world will do the same after we are resurrected from the dead.

A new identity

Names in the Bible had more significance than what we think of them today. Beginning with Adam’s naming of the animals that God created, names were a mark of individuality and by implication authority over a particular activity or area of responsibility. Today we might think of it as having purpose or our reason for being alive. The Hebrew name Abram (ab-rawm) means high father or father of height (H87/H48). What this might suggest is that Abram’s father was a very tall man and his son was expected to tower over most of his peers, but the spiritual meaning could be more significant. One of the root words of Abram is ruwm (room). “Basically, ruwm represents either the ‘state of being on a higher plane’ or ‘movement in an upward direction'” (H7311).

Based on his name, it seems likely that Abram’s destiny was intended to be one of triumphing over his enemies. We don’t known exactly why God called Abram out of Ur of the Chaldeans (Genesis 11:31), but it could be that his victory over the kings of Shinar, Ellasar, Elam, and Goiim (Genesis 14:15) was due in part to Abram’s superior knowledge and/or experience with strategic warfare. The Assyrian and Babylonian Empires were associated with the Chaldeans (Isaiah 23:13, 43:14), Abram’s native people, and may have been the reason why God hand picked Abram to be the father of a great nation that would eventually overtake and eliminate these barbarians from the face of the earth (Isaiah 48:20).

The critical key to Abram becoming a great nation was the birth of a child that God promised to give him when he was 75 years old (Genesis 12:1-4, 13:14-15). After ten long years of waiting for God to fulfill his promise, it says in Genesis 16:1-4:

Now Sarai, Abram’s wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said to Abram, “Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her.” And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram’s wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife. And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived.

The Hebrew word translated listened in Genesis 16:2, shama (shaw-mah’) can refer to hearing that is both intellectual and spiritual. “In the case of hearing and hearkening to a higher authority, shama can mean to obey” (H8085). To listen to one’s voice means taking note of something and believing it (H6963). In that sense, Abram’s response to Sarai’s direction was similar to his response to the word of the LORD, a prophetic message that indicated, “your very own son shall be your heir” (Genesis 15:4).

His willingness to conceive a child with Sarai’s Egyptian servant suggests that Abram wasn’t relying on the LORD to produce a family, but was relying on his own physical ability to achieve what God had promised him. In one sense, Abram was acting contrary to God’s will, but what he was doing was completely within the bounds of his legals rights. You might say that Abram was exercising his free will and God allowed him to do so because he was free to decide how his destiny would play out.

God’s ability to accomplish his will regardless of the individual choices and actions people take is what makes prophecy such an amazing feat. God does not limit our choices, but is able to predict and control what will happen as a result of the choices we make. Jesus’ birth is a perfect example of God’s ability to accomplish something in spite of his chosen people’s lack of cooperation and even rebellion against him. Matthew’s gospel states, “Now the birth of Jesus Christ took place this way” (Matthew 1:18) and then Matthew went on to say, “All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had spoken by the prophet: ‘Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel (which means God with us)'” (Matthew 1:22-23).

The Hebrew name Immanuel (im-maw-noo-ale’) is derived from the two words im (eem) and ‘el (ale). Im specifically means “equally with” (H5973) and suggests that the name Immanuel referred not only to God being with us, but God being one of us, a human being. Isaiah’s prophecy of Christ’s birth was particularly significant because it was identified as a sign of God’s faithfulness and was intended to be something that was impossible for anyone but God himself to accomplish (Isaiah 7:11-14). The idea that God would become a human and live among his people was probably beyond the wildest imagination of most if not all of the Jews who were alive in Israel at the time that Isaiah spoke this prophecy.

Prior to Jesus’ birth, God’s identity was primarily linked to the names he was given when he manifested himself to believers. It says in Genesis 12:7 that the LORD appeared to Abram. The Hebrew word translated appeared, ra’ah (raw-aw’) means to see. “Basically ra’ah connotes seeing with ones eyes,” but it also can mean to perceive, get acquainted with, examine, and discover (H7200). One way of describing what happened when the LORD appeared to him would be to say that Abram had a personal encounter with God. Hagar, Sarai’s Egyptian slave also had a personal encounter with God. After she became pregnant with Abram’s child, Genesis 16:4 states that “she looked with contempt on her mistress” and so “Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her” (Genesis 16:6). Then, it says, “The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness” (Genesis 16:7).

The identity of the angel of the LORD was unknown to Hagar until he spoke these words to her:

“I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered from multitude.” And the angel of the LORD said to her, “Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction. He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone’s hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen.” (Genesis 16:10-12)

Hagar’s response to this prophetic message is recorded in Genesis 16:13. It states, “So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, ‘You are a God of seeing,’ for she said, ‘Truly here I have seen him who looks after me.’ The name “You are a God of seeing” or el (ale) ro’iy (ro-ee’) in Hebrew literally means the “visible God.” The primary distinction between God the Father and God the Son was that Jesus’ human birth made it possible for God to be visible to everyone in the world.

Matthew’s gospel states, “Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him'” (Matthew 2:1-2). The wise men were looking for God and understood that he could be found in a specific location. Because of their experience with astrology, the wise men were able to find Jesus’ birth place using the stars. The wise men were not believers and yet, they wanted to know God’s identity. They wanted to see him face to face and worship him

Thirteen years after Ishmael was born, it says in Genesis 17:1-2, “When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, ‘I am God Almighty; walk before me, and be blameless, that I may make my covenant between me and you, and may multiply you greatly.'” God’s interaction with Abram was based on a new identity that was established when Abram became a believer (Genesis 15:6). Based on their personal relationship with each other, Abram was expected to become like God and God was going to become like him, a man. God made a second covenant with Abram that had to do with what is referred to in the New Testament of the Bible as sanctification or what God described as walking before me and being blameless.

The phrase “walk before me, and be blameless” consists of three Hebrew words that convey a message of spiritual transformation. The Hebrew word translated walk, halak (haw-lak’) can “be used of one’s behavior, or the way one ‘walks in life'” (H1980), the idea being that of repetitive motion or daily habits. The Hebrew word paneh (paw-neh’) which is translated before me, has to do with how God sees us or you might say God’s reaction to our behavior; does it make him smile or cause him to get angry. The Hebrew word translated blameless, tamiym (taw-meem’) “means complete, in the sense of the entire or whole thing” (H8549). Tamiym is derived from the word tamam (taw-mam’). “The basic meaning of this word is that of being complete or finished, with nothing else expected or intended” (H8552).

The transformation that God wanted to accomplish in Abram’s life had to do with his spiritual identity. God said to Abram, “Behold, my covenant is with you and you shall be the father of a multitude of nations. No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:4-6). It can be assumed that God was referring to physical kingdoms on Earth when he said, “I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you,” but there was more to God’s promise than that because he indicated that Abraham’s offspring would possess the land he was giving them eternally.

God told Abraham, “And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God” (Genesis 17:7-8). An everlasting possession is one that cannot be taken away and therefore, suggests that God was talking about a spiritual possession rather than a material one. His designation of “all the land of Canaan” implies that God was referring to a specific geographic location, but there may have been another aspect of owning land, a spiritual aspect to God’s promise, that was associated with Abraham’s eternal inheritance in Heaven.

The key to understanding God’s promise to Abraham may be found in the symbolic act that was established as a sign of his covenant. God told Abraham, “This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you…Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant” (Genesis 17:10-11, 14).

Essentially, circumcision symbolized consecration to God, “it signified Abraham’s covenanted commitment to the Lord – that the Lord alone would be his God, whom he would trust and serve” (note on Genesis 17:10, KJSB). Underlying the symbolic physical act of cutting off the flesh of one’s foreskin, was the spiritual intent to live according to God’s divine order and sovereign rules of law. Abraham’s circumcision was analogous to the oath which God had submitted himself to and was basically saying, “If I am not loyal in faith and obedience to the Lord, may the sword of the Lord cut off me and my offspring as I have cut off my foreskin.”

Circumcision, for all practical purposes, was a reminder to Abraham and his descendants that they were not to rely on their own physical capability of producing offspring in order to fulfill God’s promise to make them into a great nation. Ultimately, it took a miracle for Jesus, the Son of God to be conceived and brought into the physical world of humans. After he was born, Jesus was constantly in physical danger, starting with King Herod’s plot to find him and kill him before he had a chance to fulfill his destiny (Matthew 2:13).

An angel of the Lord instructed Mary’s husband Joseph to take Jesus out of the country to protect him from physical harm. He said, “Rise, take the child and his mother, and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you, for Herod is about to search for the child, to destroy him.” The Greek word translated destroy, apollumi (ap-ol’-loo-mee) speaks metaphorically of spiritual destitution. “The idea is not extinction but ruin, loss, not of being, but of well-being” (G622). Because Jesus was both God and man, he was subject to spiritual as well as physical death Later, Joseph and his family returned to Judea, “And he went and lived in a city called Nazareth, so that what was spoken by the prophets might be fulfilled, that he would be called a Nazarene” (Matthew 2:23).

The Greek word translated Nazarene, Nazoraios (nad-zo-rah’-yos’) means “a Nazoroean, i.e. inhabitant of Narareth; by extension a Christian” (G3480). In simple terms, a Christian is someone that follows Christ, but it also refers to being called out or consecrated by God and placed in a particular location to fulfill a divine purpose. Abraham and Sarah were technically the first Christians in that they were called out of the land of Ur of the Chaldeans and designated to live in the land of Canaan, but it was their faith in God that made them believers or followers of Christ. God told Abraham, “I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession” (Genesis 17:8). The Hebrew word translated sojournings, magur (maw-goor’) is derived from the word guwr (goor) which means “to turn aside from the road” and is associated with living in a hostile environment as a guest (H1481). Jesus, who was a resident of Heaven, came to Earth and lived in a hostile environment for 33 years and was eventually crucified because he said he was God.

When he originally promised to give the land of Canaan to Abraham’s offspring forever (Genesis 13:14-15), God didn’t specifically state that his offspring would come from his wife Sarah. It wasn’t until after Ishmael was born that God told Abraham, “As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sarah shall be her name. I will bless her and moreover, I will give you a son by her” (Genesis 17:15-16). Sarah was not only sterile, but also postmenopausal when God told Abraham she was going to give birth to a child. Sarah ability to conceive was dependent on her becoming a believer, putting her trust in God the same way that her husband Abraham did.

It says of Abraham in Genesis 18:1-3, “And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the day. He lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold three men were standing in front of him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed himself to the earth and said, O Lord if I have found favor in your sight, do not pass by your servant.” “This theophany (an appearance of God to man) may have been Jesus Christ. The New Testament teaches that Christ existed coeternally with God the Father (John 1:1; 8:58; 10:30; 17:5; Col. 1:15-17), and it is entirely conceivable that he would at times take the appearance of humanity prior to his incarnation” (note on Genesis 18:1-33).

Sarah’s personal encounter with Jesus began with her listening in on his conversation with Abraham. After Abraham had served his visitors a meal, “They said to him, ‘Where is Sarah your wife?’ And he said, ‘She is in the tent.’ The LORD said, ‘I will surely return to you about this time next year, and Sarah your wife shall have a son.’ And Sarah was listening at the door behind him. Now Abraham and Sarah were old, advanced in years. The way of women had ceased to be with Sarah. So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, ‘After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?'” (Genesis 18:9-12). Sarah’s private thoughts revealed her skepticism about God’s ability to give her a child when she and Abraham were too old to be sexually active.

It’s clear that Jesus performed a miracle in order for Sarah to become pregnant. After Sarah laughed at the thought of conceiving a child at the age of 90, the LORD asked Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:13-14). The Hebrew word translated too hard, pala (paw-law’) means “beyond one’s power to do” (H6381). Even though it was impossible for Sarah to conceive a child, it was still within God’s power to do it if she was willing to put her trust in him instead of relying on her own physical capability. Hebrews 11:11 testifies to Sarah’s belief in the LORD. It says, “By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised.”

If you would like to have a relationship with God, you can do so by simply praying this prayer and meaning it in your heart:

Dear Lord Jesus, I know that I am a sinner, and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe you died for my sins and rose from the dead. I turn from my sins and invite you to come into my heart and life. I want to trust you and follow you as my Lord and Savior.

If you prayed this prayer, please take a moment to write me at calleen0381@gmail.com and let me know about your decision.

God bless you!

Spiritual progress

The underlying message of Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians was spiritual progress. Paul started by depicting his work of preaching the gospel as laying a foundation that others could build on (1 Corinthians 3:10), then he identified the type of building that was being constructed by asking the rhetorical question, “Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16, ESV). The analogy of building a house for God was Paul’s way of explaining the slow, but steady spiritual progress believers were expected to make in their growth as a Christian. When Paul talked about celebrating the Lord’s supper and receiving spiritual gifts, he was explaining to the Corinthians a spiritual process that sometimes takes place outside of our awareness. Afterward, Paul stated, “But earnestly desire the best gifts. And yet I show you a more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31, NKJV).

The excellent way of love that Paul described in 1 Corinthians 13 was about an intentional effort to grow in one’s faith. Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand that there would come a time in their spiritual growth when they would have to work harder if they wanted to continue to make progress. Paul instructed the Corinthians to “Pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts, especially that you may prophesy” (1 Corinthians 14:1, ESV), then he went on to explain that speaking in tongues compared to prophesy was useless in building up the body of Christ. He stated, “The one who speaks in a tongue builds up himself, but the one who prophesies builds up the church” (1 Corinthians 14:4). The point I believe Paul was trying to make was that increased spiritual progress has more to do with helping others to grow than helping ourselves.

The Greek word Paul used to describe spiritual progress was oikodomeo (oy-kod-om-eh’-o). Oikodomeo, as a verb, means literally “to build a house” (G3618). Paul may have wanted the Corinthians to understand that when Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2), he was talking about an actual house or place for them to live in. Paul clarified this point in a letter he later wrote to Timothy. He said, “but if I am delayed, I write so that you may know how you ought to conduct yourself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth” (1 Timothy 3:15, NKJV). Paul was writing to Timothy about leaders in the church setting a good example for others. Paul’s reference to “how you ought to conduct yourself” meant that he was looking for a certain type of behavior in mature Christians and told Timothy that godliness was a great mystery (1 Timothy 3:16).

The Greek word translated mystery in 1 Timothy 3:16 is musterion (moos-tay’-ree-on). In the New Testament musterion “denotes, not the mysterious (as with the English word), but that which, being outside the range of unassisted natural apprehension, can be made known only by divine revelation, and is made known in a manner and at a time appointed by God, and to those only who are illumined by His Spirit…its Scriptural significance is truth revealed” (G3466). Paul eluded to this in 1 Corinthians 14:19 when he said, “Yet in church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.” Regarding spiritual progress, Paul was saying that being able to teach others the truth of God’s word through the anointing of the Holy Spirit was the ultimate expression of godliness or Christlike character.

Temptation

Paul compared the Corinthian believers to the Israelites that wandered in the wilderness for 40 years in order to illustrate their need for spiritual nourishment. Paul said that the Israelites “all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ” (1 Corinthian 10:3-4, ESV). Paul wanted the Corinthians to understand that their spiritual health was dependent upon a regular intake of spiritual food. Paul’s declaration that Christ was the Rock that provided water was based on Jesus’ statement to a Samaritan woman that he met at a well. He told her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14, ESV). Jesus went on to explain that we obtain our spiritual nourishment through worshipping God. He said, ” But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshippers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those that worship him must worship in spirit and truth” (John 4:23-24, ESV).

Paul talked about the Israelites’ being tempted in the wilderness and said, “Now these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come” (1 Corinthians 10:11, ESV). Paul may have wanted to stress the importance of the time period in which he lived by describing it as “the end of the ages.” What Paul was referring to was the culmination or end result of God’s work of saving his chosen people. Although the age of God’s grace has been going on now for more than 2000 years, Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was a single event that marked the fulfillment of God’s promise to the Israelites to give them a Messiah. Therefore, Paul warned the Corinthians to not take for granted their spiritual health. He stated, “Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Corinthians 10:12).

Paul was probably focusing his attention on the Corinthian Jews in particular when he talked about being tempted to ignore the gift of salvation that Jesus had made available to them. The Greek words translated stand and fall in 1 Corinthians 10:12 likely have something to do with the Israelites’ status as God’s chosen people. Stands or histemi in the Greek is comparable to the word tithemi (tith’-ay-mee) which was used by Peter to refer to unbelieving Israel (1 Peter 2:8). What seems clear from Paul’s discussion of temptation was that it was related to spiritual health. Paul stated, “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you to be tempted beyond your ability; but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it” (1 Corinthians 10:13 ESV). The phrase “beyond your ability” refers to spiritual strength that can be attained through spiritual exercise or as an inherited trait. To be able to do something means that you have the power to accomplish it. Paul concluded his lesson on temptation with this admonition, “Wherefore, my dearly beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). In other words, don’t do things that you obviously know are wrong.