We Only Get So Many Words

reposted from James macDonald

We only get so many words in our families. The older our kids get, the fewer words we have with them. What are you going to spend your words on? “Clean up your room!” “I asked you five times to take out the garbage!” “How many cookies have you had since lunch?” Is that how you’re going to spend your words? Like that’s going to have a big impact! I fear we’re wasting our words on issues of little value, and then we’re too exhausted to pour into our families the kind of truth that can be a fountain of life to them. Instead, let’s choose words of truth that build and guide and that establish a foundation of wisdom for our families that will last them a lifetime.

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Choosing to Change

James MacDonald

Look at Romans 6:10, “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all. But the life that He lives, He lives to God.” Some Bible teachers argue that change is all about God and not about us at all. All we really need to do in order to experience the transforming power of the Gospel, they say, is lean back in our recliners, put our feet up, and let God do it all. Now hear this: That is not what the Bible teaches! Of course we need God’s help, but we cannot be changed without making the choice to change ourselves. Notice Paul’s command in Romans 6:12: “Therefore do not let sin reign in your mortal body.” What’s that if it’s not a choice?!Do not let sin reign in you! Make a choice. Read More

Clash of the Titans: Competition for Woody Biomass | F2M Market Watch

At the Argus RenewablesTrading Summit 2011, Pete Stewart talked about the relative economics of pulp and pellet production and assessed the effects of competition for woody biomass on these two types of manufacturers. Pulp producers will still be competitive globally if the increased competition for woody biomass drives pulpwood and chip prices higher. The margin for pellet manufacturers is much slimmer; the price risk they face is much greater.  Read More

Are you a Threat

Os Hillman, Friday, June 10 2011

"One day the evil spirit answered them, 'Jesus I know, and I know about Paul, but who are you?'" - Acts 19:15

Are you a threat to the kingdom of darkness? If satan and his demons had a board meeting and your name came before the board, what would they say? Would they say that you are one of their most feared enemies and they needed to keep many demons harassing and opposing you? Or would they say, "Gentlemen, this person poses no threat to our activities. Leave him alone. He needs no help from us." There are millions of church-going believers sitting in pews Sunday after Sunday who pose little threat to the kingdom of darkness.

If we truly believe that we war against rulers and principalities that cannot be seen, then we must realize that their mandate is to hinder any believer who is seeking to walk in the fullness of God. However, "greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world" (1 Jn. 4:4b KJV).

If you are seeking to fully follow the Lord, you can expect harassment from the enemy. God permits temptation because it drives us deeper into the soil of God. These times reveal God's power to keep us and walk us through the temptations. Our message becomes fruitful when it is born out of obedience and suffering for His name. Do not consider it strange if you find yourself fighting major battles the more obedient you become to the Master. God desires each of us to become a feared enemy of hell in order to affect satan's domain. When you begin to feel harassed, chances are you are beginning to affect the kingdom of darkness, and satan doesn't like this. So, how many demons do you think are assigned to you? 

Avoiding the Gibeonite Ruse

by Os Hillman Monday, June 06 2011

"The men of Israel sampled their provisions but did not inquire of the LORD" (Joshua 9:14).

When Joshua and the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they fought many battles. In fact, they fought 39 battles in the Promised Land compared to only two in their exodus from Egypt. God instructed them to wipe out all their enemies completely. The more battles they won, the more their reputation preceded them as they entered new territories. Such was the case when Joshua and the people came into the land where the Gibeonites lived. The Gibeonites knew they were as good as dead if they didn't do something. So, they dressed up in old, worn clothes and posed as foreigners passing through. They asked Joshua and the people to make a peace treaty with them. An interesting thing happened.

The scriptures tell us that Joshua and the people made a treaty with them because they did not inquire of God about these people. They assumed what they said was true. This turned out to be a very bad assumption. They were now forced to abide by this treaty after they discovered their true identity. They had been deceived. The Israelites were forced to make the Gibeonites slaves. This created a problem for Joshua and the people. The deception resulted because Joshua failed to keep a vertical focus with God. Joshua did not ask God about these people.

They now had to pay the consequences. Those consequences resulted in having to work to avoid cross-tribal marriages while they had to make an entire people their slaves. This was something God never intended them to have to do. The relationship was a source of compromise for the Israelites that made them susceptible to future compromises.

Many of us fall for the Gibeonite Ruse in our lives. It may be a great looking investment, a job that's going to pay more, or a relationship that you deeply desire. Sooner or later we all get entangled in our own Gibeonite Ruse because we fail to inquire of God. 

Dealing with My Biggest Disappointment

James Macdonald June 3, 2011

The psalmist said, “I have been young, and now am old . . .” (Psalm 37:25), and that is how I feel. “Fifty” is not over the hill, but it is surely down the road—and now that I am down that road I see things a lot differently than I did when my shoes were new and I hadn’t broken a sweat. Back then I was filled with convictions that have lasted and idealisms that have not. Read More

Ed Stetzer - Developing Missional Churches for the Great Commission, Part One

Ed Stetzer - Developing Missional Churches for the Great Commission, Part One

When it Storms

James MacDonald - May 31, 2011

Been thinking a lot lately about the disasters that keep raging around us, the tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and devastation that have brought a tragic end to so many lives…and turned survivors’ lives upside down. And thinking about how those and more personal storms—car accident, cancer diagnosis, marital breakdown—can leave us begging for answers to “why?” as we cling to the hands of a sovereign God. Read More

The Cost of Broken Covenants

by Os Hillman

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May 30, 2011

“During the reign of David, there was a famine for three successive years; so David sought the face of the Lord.” – 2 Samuel 21:1a

There was a famine in the land, and David equated that famine to the blessing or lack of blessing from God. He sought God to know why there was a famine. The Lord did not take long to answer: “It is on account of Saul and his blood-stained house; it is because he put the Gibeonites to death” (2 Sam. 21:1b). Many years earlier, when Joshua entered the Promised Land, the Israelites were tricked by the Gibeonites into believing they were travelers when they were actually enemies of Israel. The Gibeonites tricked Israel into making a peace treaty with them. It was one of the first major mistakes Israel made after entering the Promised Land. As a result of the peace treaty, the Gibeonites were kept as slaves to Israel. This was never God’s intention for Israel. He had wanted Israel to destroy all their enemies, but they made an error in judgment that required that they honor a covenant with the Gibeonites. Read More

Does God Know our Decision before we Make it?

The Sunday School lesson for May 15 focused on the question, “Does God know my decisions before I make them?” This post is copied from Josh Hunt’s lesson notes. Since we did not meet, you might enjoy what Josh had to say.

On Sunday May 22, we’ll discuss the question “Does God help those who help themselves?”

1. What do we learn about God from Isaiah 46.10?

Rather than spelling out a long list of specific things God has done (as in 44:24-28), a general principle is explained that covers all his actions. In stark contrast to the idols that cannot even speak, much less tell the future (46:7), God is “the one who declares” (the participle maggîd; NIV, “make known”) what has not yet happened, as well as what he will accomplish in the end. This refers to his revelation of future events to people. He is “the one who says” (the participle ʾōmēr) something and it happens (Gen 1 illustrates this point). There should be no doubt about his future plans, for his purposes will be accomplished; he does everything that he pleases. This correlation between his plans and what happens proves God’s faithfulness and reliability. — New American Commentary – Isaiah 40-66: Volume 15b.

2. How would this verse affect the way we watch the evening news?

In reality, people and nations are not the ones who determine the course of history; God is the one who plans and directs what will happen. The veracity of these plans is evident in the course of history, for some of the statements that God made in 14:24-27 have already been fulfilled. God stated that his plan and purpose was to crush Assyria, and he did that when his angel destroyed 185,000 Assyrian troops outside the walls of Jerusalem (37:36). His plans involved not just what will happen to the Israelites; he has plans for all the nations of the world, and nothing can stop him from accomplishing his will (10:5-6; 22:11; 30:1-5; 37:26). Although it may sometimes seem like this world is going to self-destruct because of the wars and terrible atrocities people inflict on one another, the world is not drifting aimlessly out of control toward a hopeless end. Kings and presidents may try to strategize and work together to direct the political affairs of the nations, but in reality it is the sovereign power of God’s hand that will bring his plans (not ours) to fruition. Although there is evidence that the end will come with uncontrollable death and destruction (24:1-23; 34:1-15; Dan 7-8), afterward God will transform this world and its people in order to establish his holy kingdom for his people (2:1-5; 4:2-6; 25:1-26:6; 30:18-26; 35:1-10; 45:18-25). What he originally planned will appear; what pleases him will stand forever. — New American Commentary – Isaiah 40-66: Volume 15b.

3. What do we call the doctrine in theology that teaches that God knows everything?

Omniscience.

4, What if it were not true? What if God did not know everything? Would that comfort you or alarm you?

5. Is there any part of your life you wish God didn’t know about?

6. Luke 10.20. What does it mean that our names are written in heaven?

Such power and authority can be a heady experience, so the disciples were warned not to rejoice just because evil spirits had obeyed them. The main reason to rejoice was that their names were registered as citizens of heaven. Their ministry was not to become an experience of power leading to pride, but an experience of servanthood out of love for God and out of the desire for more people to join them in the Kingdom. — Life Application New Testament Commentary.

7. What is the book of life referred to in Revelation 3.5?

The Book of Life refers to the heavenly registry of those who have accepted salvation in Christ. This expression appears elsewhere in the Bible. The picture of God’s “book” first appears in Exodus 32:32-33. Also, the psalmist had cried out against his enemies, “Erase their names from the Book of Life; don’t let them be counted among the righteous” (Psalm 69:28). Daniel had prophesied, “At that time every one of your people whose name is written in the book will be rescued”(Daniel 12:1). This “book” symbolizes God’s knowledge of who belongs to him. At that time cities had registry books, so having one’s name removed meant losing citizenship. A city would also erase a person’s name from the registry when he or she died. For the citizens of heaven, however, death is not a cause for one’s name to be removed; instead, it is the way of entrance. — Life Application New Testament Commentary.

8. Revelation 20.12, 15. What are the books referred to in this passage?

Jesus Christ will judge these unsaved people on the basis of what is written “in the books.” What books? For one thing, God’s Word will be there. “The Word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48). Every sinner will be held accountable for the truth he or she has heard in this life.

There will also be a book containing the works of the sinners being judged, though this does not suggest that a person can do good works sufficient to enter heaven (Eph. 2:8-9; Titus 3:5). Why, then, will Jesus Christ consider the works, good and bad, of the people before the White Throne? To determine the degree of punishment they will endure in hell. All of these people will be cast into hell. Their personal rejection of Jesus Christ has already determined their destiny. But Jesus Christ is a righteous Judge, and He will assign each sinner the place that he deserves.

There are degrees of punishment in hell (Matt. 11:20-24). Each lost sinner will receive just what is due him, and none will be able to argue with the Lord or question His decision.

God knows what sinners are doing, and His books will reveal the truth.

“The Book of Life” will be there, containing the names of God’s redeemed people (Phil. 4:3; Rev. 21:27; note also 13:8; 17:8). No unsaved person will have his or her name in the Lamb’s Book of Life; only true believers are recorded there (Luke 10:20). — The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 2.

9. How literally do you take this lake of fire?

The phrase lake of fire occurs only in Revelation, and that for a total of six times (19:20; 20:10, 14 [twice], 15; 21:8). John explains the significance of this phrase by identifying it as the second death. This is the place where the wicked are forever separated from the living God to suffer eternally the torments of hell. It is the place in which the wicked spend eternity. But how do we understand the terms Death and Hades? First, Death is a state and Hades a place. Next, these two are intricately connected, as in the fourth seal where the rider on the pale horse is Death, and Hades is following closely behind him (6:8). Hades as the place where the souls of unbelievers are kept is not to be identified as the grave in which the bodies of both believers and unbelievers repose. By contrast, hell is the place of endless suffering. When both Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, the authority they exercised in cosmic time has ended.

If Death and Hades are cast into the lake of fire, which is the same as the second death, will their authority continue in that state and place? Their temporary power will become a permanent power in the lake of fire over the unbelievers suffering in hell. The anguish and distress of the wicked in hell is unimaginable. The parable of the rich man (Luke 16:19-31) describes hell as agony, fire, and a place of torment. There the rich man was cut off from Abraham and Lazarus in heaven, and there he suffered the second death that is both spiritual and physical.

John comes to the conclusion of his judgment vision, and once more he stresses the lot of the wicked. Their names are not recorded in the book of life, and therefore they are thrown into the lake of fire. “Not every lost person will undergo the sufferings of a Judas! God will be perfectly just, and each person will suffer precisely what he deserves.”

The comfort God’s people receive is that their names are recorded in the book of life; they are the possession of the Lamb who was slain for them. John links the expression book of life to the Lamb (13:8; 21:27). To be forever with the Lord is the reward he grants his people whose names are in this book. — Baker New Testament Commentary – Exposition of the Book of Revelation.

10. Revelation 21.23 – 27. How is the new Jerusalem different from other cities?

John turns from this beautiful description of the city to the life within it. In antiquity every notable city had at least one central temple. The New Jerusalem not only differs in this respect from ancient cities but also from all Jewish speculation about the age to come. Illuminated by the overflowing radiance of the presence of the glory of God, the Holy City no longer needs a temple (naos). Yet paradoxically it has a temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple (v. 22). And in another sense, the whole city is a temple, since it is patterned after the Most Holy Place (v. 16). Jewish expectation was centered on a rebuilt temple and the restoration of the ark of the covenant. In his glorious vision, John sees the fulfillment of these hopes in the total presence of God with his purified people, while the Lamb, the sign of the new covenant is the fulfillment of the restoration of the ark of the covenant (see comments at 11:19; cf. John 4:21, 23). As long as there is uncleanness in the world, there is need for a temple where God’s presence and truth are in contrast to the uncleanness. But in the new city no such symbol is needed any longer. In fulfillment of Isaiah 60:19-20, there will be no further need, as in ancient temples, for any natural or artificial lighting because the glory of God will dim the most powerful earthly light into paleness (cf. Zech 14:7). In the earthly tabernacle and temple, there was, to be sure, artificial lighting (the seven-branched lampstand in the OT tabernacle and the temple); yet the Most Holy Place had no such lighting because of the shekinah, the light of God’s own presence. — The Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation.

11. Why wasn’t there a temple in the city?

One of the great theological changes from Old Testament to New Testament times is the notion of temple. Formerly, the temple was the single building where God’s presence was made known. The prophet Ezekiel’s intricate description of future glory necessarily included a splendid temple (Ezek. 40-48). In Christian times, however, the temple is not a building but God’s people (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21). God is present wherever his people meet. In the eternal heavenly city, this notion is carried to its fullest and most wonderful extreme. John did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The symbolic nature of Revelation is apparent here, because one of the earlier blessings promised was that overcoming saints will serve God eternally in his temple (3:12; 7:15). On the one hand, serving God in his temple in the earlier passages means being near God’s presence—most readily understood through the language of temple— forever. The passage here means that God’s presence will not be limited to a single building but will permeate the entire city. — Holman New Testament Commentary – Revelation.

12. How is God like light? What does light represent?

God will be the light in the new Jerusalem. Light represents what is good, pure, true, holy, and reliable. Darkness represents what is sinful and evil. The statement “God is its light” means that the city will be enveloped by God, who is perfectly holy and true. Light is also related to truth in that it exposes whatever exists. Just as darkness cannot exist in the presence of light, so sin cannot exist in the presence of a holy God. The city will be completely without sin and evil.

If we want to have a relationship with God, we must put aside our sinful ways of living. To claim that we belong to God but then to go out and live for ourselves is hypocrisy. To prepare to live with him in eternity, we must love the light and let it chase out any darkness in our lives. — Life Application Bible Commentary – Revelation.

13. Psalm 147.4 – 5 What do we learn about God from this verse?

The billions of stars are all named by God and kept up with by him. Everything is in its rightful place in the universe. He counts and names the vast starry host above and calls them each by name. To name something is to assume the care of that thing, as a parent does in naming a baby. God is mighty in strength to order the starry hosts and planets above. His understanding of each of the stars has no limit. He knows their exact location and size. — Holman Old Testament Commentary – Psalms 76-150.

14. Look at the verses in the margin on page 138. If you had to pick one as a favorite to memorize, which would it be and why?

15. On page 138 Lutzer bring us up the idea of God’s omnipotence. What does omnipotence mean?

The ability of God to do everything that is in harmony with His nature and perfection. — Evangelism and Church Growth.

16. Psalm 139. Someone read this out loud while the rest make a list of everything God knows about us.

17. On the whole, how does the idea of God’s omniscience make you feel?

Perhaps, like me, somewhere deep inside you entertain the lie that you know yourself better than God knows you and that you’ve somehow successfully hidden something from His omniscient eye. This could be the only explanation for why He bothers with you. For those of us who try to live in the light of Scripture, this thought process is far more subtle than outright. Roots always extend underground. Sometimes the only way we know one of these roots exists is when we see what’s growing from it. If we have false assumptions like, “If God really knew me, He wouldn’t like me” hidden somewhere in our core, it will feed our insecurities like a zookeeper shoveling hay to an elephant. We only know that assumption is there because something big, alive, and destructive is growing from it.

Some of us never seek healing from God for our insecurities because we feel like we don’t fit the profile. We think insecurity only looks one way—mousy, maybe even inept—and that’s not exactly who we see in the mirror. At least not once the mascara’s on. And it certainly is not the woman we present to the public. Insecurity’s best cover is perfectionism. That’s where it becomes an art form. — So Long, Insecurity (Beth Moore)

18. How might if change our language if we were aware that God is aware of everything?

The story is told of an elderly grandfather who was very wealthy. Because he was going deaf, he decided to buy a hearing aid. Two weeks later he stopped at the store where he had bought it and told the manager he could now pick up conversation quite easily, even in the next room. “Your relatives must be happy to know that you can hear so much better,” beamed the delighted proprietor.

“Oh, I haven’t told them yet,” the man chuckled. “I’ve just been sitting around listening—and you know what? I’ve changed my will twice!”

God is not like a dear old grandfather who hears only when we speak clearly and directly to him. He always hears us. And his attitude toward us is not changed by what he hears, because we stand before him by grace. But if God were like that grandfather—and if his attitude toward us were changeable—how would your conversations of the past week have affected his attitude toward you? — Illustrations for Biblical Preaching.

19. Would it make you more confident or less confident if you were constantly aware of God’s knowledge of you?

The guillemot is a small arctic sea bird that lives on the rocky cliffs of northern coastal regions. These birds flock together by the thousands in comparatively small areas. Because of the crowded conditions, hundreds of females lay their pear-shaped eggs side by side on a narrow ledge, in a long row. Since the eggs all look alike, it is incredible that a mother bird can identify those that belong to her. Yet studies show that she knows her own eggs so well that when even one is moved, she finds it and returns it to its original location.

Scripture tells us that God is also intimately acquainted with each of his children. He knows our every thought and emotion, every decision we must make and problem we are going through. Therefore, an understanding of the full extent of God’s omniscience should both evoke praise and bring comfort to believers. — Illustrations for Biblical Preaching.

20. What do you want to remember from today’s study?

21. How can we support one another in prayer this week?

Does God Really Suffer?

Did God really suffer? Did Jesus feel the pai of the crucifixion? Is it important that He suffered? Why?

I have posted Josh Hunt's Sunday School lesson on this topic below.

1. 1 Peter 2.21 – 24 What do we learn about Christian living from this passage?

Undoubtedly, even the strongest believer would raise the question, But why do we have to suffer? The believer has been called by God to the situation. God not only calls the believer out of darkness into his wonderful light (2:9); he also calls the believer to endure suffering that is unjust and painful. The believer’s appropriate response to unjust suffering carries a powerful testimony to an unbelieving culture.

Peter referred to the life of Christ as motivation or illustration. Here it serves as both. Jesus’ life was dominated by suffering (see 1:11). His life of suffering becomes an example for believers who follow him. We do not suffer the same agonies he endured, but we can follow Christ in the way in which he endured the suffering and responded to it. — Holman New Testament Commentary – I & II Peter, I, II & III John, Jude.

2. What are some examples of ways that Jesus is an example for us?

The word ὑπογραμμόν (hypogrammon) translated “example” was used literally of a pattern of letters of the Greek alphabet for children to copy and thus learn to write. It was also used figuratively, as here, for a pattern for behavior. Christ’s suffering is a pattern for Christian slaves to follow. Jesus himself had summoned his disciples to follow him in contexts in which he discussed his coming suffering (e.g., Mark 8:31,34). Peter’s wonderful addition of the phrase “in his steps” was the inspiration for the title of Charles Sheldon’s famous book In His Steps. Christians are called to imitate Christ’s willingness to suffer for doing good. He did it for us. We do it for him. — College Press NIV Commentary – 1 & 2 Peter.

3. What does this passage teach us that we need to remember when we suffer?

All that Jesus did on earth, as recorded in the four Gospels, is a perfect example for us to follow. But He is especially our example in the way He responded to suffering. In spite of the fact that He was sinless in both word and deed, He suffered at the hands of the authorities. This connects, of course, to Peter’s words in 1 Peter 2:19-20. We wonder how he would have responded in the same circumstances! The fact that Peter used his sword in the Garden suggests that he might have fought rather than submitted to the will of God.

Jesus proved that a person could be in the will of God, be greatly loved by God, and still suffer unjustly. There is a shallow brand of popular theology today that claims that Christians will not suffer if they are in the will of God. Those who promote such ideas have not meditated much on the Cross. — The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 2.

4. Isaiah 53.4 – 6 As we read this passage, look for all the verbs that relate to the suffering savior. What do we learn about Jesus from this passage, written 700 years before his birth?

This stanza multiplies the expressions for what the servant experiences (he is smitten, afflicted, pierced, crushed; he receives punishment and wounds). Such a multiplication of terms represents typical Hebrew style in conveying the full range of pain and suffering. It also clarifies that these experiences are due to the transgressions and iniquities of others. Because of what the servant took up and carried, the guilty will enjoy peace with God and be healed. — College Press NIV Commentary – Isaiah: Volume 2.

5. What do we learn about the doctrine of man from this passage? What do we learn about ourselves?

Sin is serious. The prophet calls it transgression, which means rebellion against God, daring to cross the line that God has drawn (Isa. 53:5, 8). He also calls it iniquity, which refers to the crookedness of our sinful nature (vv. 5-6). In other words, we are sinners by choice and by nature. Like sheep, we are born with a nature that prompts us to go astray and like sheep we foolishly decide to go our own way. By nature we are born children of wrath (Eph. 2:3) and by choice we become children of disobedience (2:2). Under the Law of Moses, the sheep died for the shepherd; but under grace, the Good Shepherd died for the sheep (John 10:1-18). — Old Testament - The Bible Exposition Commentary – The Prophets.

6. What do you know about the stripes mentioned in this passage?

Pilate delivered our Lord to the lictors to be scourged. The Roman scourge was a most dreadful instrument of torture. It was made of the sinews of oxen, and sharp bones were inter-twisted every here and there among the sinews; so that every time the lash came down these pieces of bone inflicted fearful laceration, and tore off the flesh from the bone. The Saviour was, no doubt, bound to the column, and thus beaten. He had been beaten before; but this of the Roman lictors was probably the most severe of His flagellations. My soul, stand here and weep over His poor stricken body.

Believer in Jesus, can you gaze upon Him without tears, as He stands before you the mirror of agonizing love? He is at once fair as the lily for innocence, and red as the rose with the crimson of His own blood. As we feel the sure and blessed healing which His stripes have wrought in us, does not our heart melt at once with love and grief? If ever we have loved our Lord Jesus, surely we must feel that affection glowing now within our bosoms.

“See how the patient Jesus stands,
Insulted in His lowest case!
Sinners have bound the Almighty’s hands,
And spit in their Creator’s face.

With thorns His temples gor’d and gash’d
Send streams of blood from every part;
His back’s with knotted scourges lash’d.
But sharper scourges tear His heart.”

We would fain go to our chambers and weep; but since our business calls us away, we will first pray our Beloved to print the image of His bleeding self upon the tablets of our hearts all the day, and at nightfall we will return to commune with Him, and sorrow that our sin should have cost Him so dear. — Morning and Evening.

7. How would you explain the idea of substitutionary atonement to someone who had never heard of it?

According to the Chicago Tribune, on June 22, 1997, parachute instructor Michael Costello, forty-two, of Mt. Dora, Florida, jumped out of an airplane at 12,000 feet altitude with a novice skydiver named Gareth Griffith, age twenty-one.

The novice would soon discover just how good his instructor was, for when the novice pulled his rip cord, his parachute failed. Plummeting toward the ground, he faced certain death.

But then the instructor did an amazing thing. Just before hitting the ground, the instructor rolled over so that he would hit the ground first and the novice would land on top of him. The instructor was killed instantly. The novice fractured his spine in the fall, but he was not paralyzed.

One man takes the place of another, takes the brunt for another. One substitutes himself to die so another may live. So it was at the cross, when Jesus died for our sins so that we might live forever. — 750 Engaging Illustrations.

8. 2 Corinthians 5.21 What do we learn from this passage about how we can become acceptable in God’s sight?

The modern view of the death of Jesus is that He died for our sins out of sympathy. The New Testament view is that He bore our sin not by sympathy, but by identification. He was made to be sin. Our sins are removed because of the death of Jesus, and the explanation of His death is His obedience to His Father, not His sympathy with us. We are acceptable with God not because we have obeyed, or because we have promised to give up things, but because of the death of Christ, and in no other way. We say that Jesus Christ came to reveal the Fatherhood of God, the loving-kindness of God; the New Testament says He came to bear away the sin of the world. The revelation of His Father is to those to whom He has been introduced as Saviour. Jesus Christ never spoke of Himself to the world as one Who revealed the Father, but as a stumbling block (see John 15:22-24). John 14:9 was spoken to His disciples.

That Christ died for me, therefore I go scot free, is never taught in the New Testament. What is taught in the New Testament is that “He died for all” (not—He died my death), and that by identification with His death I can be freed from sin, and have imparted to me His very righteousness. The substitution taught in the New Testament is twofold: “He hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.” It is not Christ for me unless I am determined to have Christ formed in me. — My Utmost for His Highest.

9. Repeat after me: “I am the righteousness of God.” Is that how you see yourself?

We believe our way into behaving; we don’t behave our way into believing.

10. What are the practical implications of this verse? What difference does it make to our day-to-day lives?

“Since we have now been justified by His blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through Him!” (Romans 5:9). How can we be sure that God will not deal with us in anger because of our sins? Because Christ took all of God’s anger upon Himself at the cross, and we are now in Him, hidden within His righteousness.

It has always hit me as very strange that in many Christian groups the good news of Jesus Christ seems to be reserved for the lost man, while Christians are living in guilt, insecurity, and fear of God’s anger. You could be an ax murderer or a Mafia hit man, and the message will be, “God loves you, and Jesus Christ died for your sins. All you need to do is receive Him by faith and you’ll be saved!” That’s right! Any man who comes to Jesus Christ will be saved, regardless of his past. However, the believers are getting a message like this: “You dirty, rotten backsliders! You’d better clean up your act, or God’s punishment will fall on you!” First you get the good news, then after you’re a Christian you get the bad news. — Classic Christianity (Bob George)

11. Who can quote this verse?

Here are seven things I have found helpful: Choose a time when your mind is free from outside distractions…perhaps soon after getting up in the morning. Learn the reference by repeating it every time you say the verse(s). Numbers are more difficult to remember than words. Read each verse through several times—both in a whisper and aloud. Hearing yourself say the words helps cement them into your mind. Break the passage into its natural phrases. Learn the reference and then the first phrase. Then repeat the reference and first phrase as you go to the second phrase. Continue adding phrases one by one. Learn a little bit perfectly rather than a great deal poorly. Do not go on to the next verse until you can say the previous one(s) perfectly. Review the verse(s) immediately. Twenty to thirty minutes later, repeat what you’ve memorized. Before the day has ended, firmly fix the verse(s) in your mind by going over it fifteen to twenty times. (You can do this as you drive or do your job.) Use the verse(s) orally as soon as possible. After all, the purpose of Scripture memory is a practical one, not academic. Use the verses in conversation, in correspondence, in teaching, in counseling, in everyday opportunities. Relate what you’ve learned to your daily situation. You’ll be thrilled with the results. — Growing Strong in the Seasons of Life by Charles R. Swindoll, © 1983 by Charles R. Swindoll. Published by Multnomah Press, Portland, Oregon 97266.

12. I think most Christians know our sins have been taken away. What else does this passage teach about us?

Most Christians, I find, understand the general idea behind forgiveness: God took our sins and gave them to Jesus. But that’s only half the message! God also took Christ’s perfect righteousness and gave it to us! Second Corinthians 5:21 says, “God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.” How could I stand up and declare that in the sight of God I am as righteous and acceptable as Jesus Christ? Because of what I do? No way! It’s because of who I am in Christ. — Classic Christianity (Bob George)

13. John 14.7 – 11. What is the best way to know what God is like?

The Lord had just said, “If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also: and from henceforth ye Know him, and have seen him” (14:7). In other words, the disciples would have had no need to ask the Lord about where he was going or how he was to get there if they had really known him. He himself was the full revelation of the Father.

Many times the Lord had spoken to his disciples about his Father. He delighted to use this novel name for God. Throughout the Old Testament, God is seldom spoken of as a Father. This lovely name for God was, really, the Lord’s revelation, and a wonderfully comforting one it is. God is not merely Elohim, the awesome God of creation, omniscient in his purpose, omnipotent in his power, omnipresent in his person; he is not just Jehovah, the God of covenant, wise and loving, but strict in his requirements; nor is he merely Adonai, God of command, sovereign Lord, and owner of the universe, who must be obeyed. He is a Father, a God of comfort, a God of compassion, one who has a home and a family. The Lord used this name for God over and over again. How well John remembered it! In his gospel the expression “the Father” or its kindred expression “my Father” occurs 156 times. — John Phillips Commentary Series – Exploring the Gospel of John: An Expository Commentary.

14. What exactly does it mean to know the Father?

What does it mean to “know the Father”? The word know is used 141 times in John’s Gospel, but it does not always carry the same meaning. In fact, there are four different “levels” of knowing according to John. The lowest level is simply knowing a fact. The next level is to understand the truth behind that fact. However, you can know the fact and know the truth behind it and still be lost in your sins. The third level introduces relationship; “to know” means “to believe in a person and become related to him or her.” This is the way “know” is used in John 17:3. In fact, in Scripture, “to know” is used of the most intimate relationship between man and wife (Gen. 4:1).

The fourth use of “know” means “to have a deeper relationship with a person, a deeper communion.” It was this level Paul was referring to when he wrote, “That I may know Him” (Phil. 3:10). Jesus will describe this deeper relationship in John 14:19-23, so we will save any further comment until we deal with that section.

When Jesus said that knowing Him and seeing Him was the same as knowing and seeing the Father, He was claiming to be God. From now on, they would understand more and more about the Father, even though Jesus was leaving them.

I appreciate Philip’s desire to know the Father. He had come a long way since that day Jesus found him and called him (John 1:43-45). The burning desire of every believer ought to be to know God better. We read and study the Word of God so that we might better know the God of the Word. — New Testament - The Bible Exposition Commentary – New Testament, Volume 1.

15. Who can describe a time when you felt like, “Where is God?” Who has a story?

Where is God when it hurts? He is in us—not in the things that hurt—helping to transform bad into good. We can safely say that God can bring good out of evil; we cannot say that God brings about the evil in hopes of producing good. — Where Is God When It Hurts? (Philip Yancey)

16. Pain seems to draw some closer to God while others it drives farther away. What do you guess makes the difference? What makes some grow closer to God in pain while others run?

Once Dr. Paul Brand and I were discussing individual Christians who had undergone great suffering. After he had related several personal stories, I asked whether the pain had turned those people toward God or away from God. He thought at length, and concluded that there was no common response. Some grew closer to God, some drifted bitterly away. The main difference seemed to lie in their focus of attention. Those obsessed with questions about cause (“What did I do to deserve this? What is God trying to tell me? Am I being punished?”) often turned against God. In contrast, the triumphant sufferers took individual responsibility for their own responses and trusted God despite the discomfort. — Where Is God When It Hurts? (Philip Yancey)

17. Why is there so much pain in the world?

Much of the suffering on our planet has come about because of two principles that God built into creation: a physical world that runs according to consistent natural laws, and human freedom. By committing himself to those two principles, both good principles in themselves, God allowed for the possibility of their abuse. For example,water proves useful to us and all creation because of its “softness,” its liquid state, and its specific gravity.Yet those very properties open up its rather disagreeable capacity to drown us—or the even more alarming possibility that we might drown someone else. Take another example, from wood. It bears the fruit of trees, supports leaves to provide shade, and shelters birds and squirrels. Even when taken from the tree, wood is valuable.We use it as fuel to warm ourselves, and as construction material to build houses and furniture. The essential properties of wood—hardness, unpliability, flammability—make possible these useful functions. But as soon as you plant a tree with those properties in a world peopled by free human beings, you introduce the possibility of abuse. A free man may pick up a chunk of wood and take advantage of its firmness by bashing the head of another man. God could, I suppose, reach down each time and transform the properties of wood into those of sponge, so that the club would bounce off lightly. But that is not what he is about in the world. He has set into motion fixed laws that can be perverted to evil by our misguided freedom. — Where Is God When It Hurts? (Philip Yancey)

18. Isaiah 53.10 – 11 What pleased God?

To whom do you think this is referring? [Isaiah 53] Barry had a good idea who. Reading out of his own Tanach, he was startled at the parallels to Jesus, but he was still a bit confused. He wanted to give his rabbi a chance to explain it.

“I vividly remember the first time I seriously confronted Isaiah 53, or better still, the first time it seriously confronted me,” Barry explains. “Being rather confused over the identity of the Servant in Isaiah 53, I went to my local rabbi and said to him, ‘Rabbi, I have met some people at school who claim that the so-called Servant in Isaiah 53 is none other than Jesus of Nazareth. But I would like to know from you, who is this Servant in Isaiah 53?’”

Barry was astonished at his response. The rabbi said, “Barry, I must admit that as I read Isaiah 53 it does seem to be talking about Jesus, but since we Jews do not believe in Jesus, it can’t be speaking about Jesus.”

Barry didn’t know a lot about formal logic at that point, but he knew enough to say to himself, “That just doesn’t sound kosher to me! Not only does the rabbi’s so-called reasoning sound circular, it also sounds evasive and even fearful.” Today Barry observes, “There are none who are as deaf as those who do not want to hear.” — I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Norman L. Geisler and Frank Turek)

19. Matthew 27. 46 What is Jesus feeling in this verse?

Two of the prayers in troubled times (the Abba in Gethsemane and Eloi from the cross) were so moving that words from the original Semitic language stuck in the minds of hearers. Of the seven cries from the cross, at least three were prayers. Hebrews reports that “he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death” — but of course he was not saved from death. Like the people who wrote me letters, like all of us at times, Jesus knew the sensation of getting no answer to his pleas. — Prayer (Philip Yancey)

Is God more tolerant than He used to be?

We continue to study about the "10 Lies About God," using Erwin Lutzer's book book as our study God. Last Sunday's lesson focused on the question, "Is it safer to sin today than in the Old Testament?" The answer is no; God says in Malachi 3: that He is unchanging. Read on to se Josh Hunt's approach to the discussion.

David Ashcraft

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1. How do you answer those who say God is more tolerant today than he was in the Old Testament? Is it safer to sin today when compared with the Old Testament days?

It is possible to look at a few isolated events like Uzzah and say that doesn’t happen anymore. It didn’t happen very often back in the day. Ananias and Sapphira are a New Testament example of the idea that God times says enough is enough, even in the New Testament.

2. Why does it matter whether God is more tolerant today?

Lutzer speaks of those who want to live without the consequence of sin. God sometimes does punish sin, but even if he did not, sin would not be a good idea. Sin is the stuff that messes up your life. Even if God did not punish, sin usually brings its own consequence. This is the central message we want to present each week: God is good. Sin is bad. It is bad for us. It ruins our lives. God is a rewarder. It is always in our best interest to live the Christian life.

3. How would you respond to a critic that said Christianity was too intolerant?

Whenever you hear Christians criticized as intolerant, ask, “What do you mean by ‘intolerance’?” True tolerance doesn’t mean accepting all beliefs—the good and the goofy—as legitimate. After all, one who disagrees with Christians doesn’t accept Christianity; he thinks Christians are wrong! Historically, tolerance has meant putting up with what you find disagreeable or false. You put up with strangers on a plane who snore or slurp their coffee. Similarly, you put up with another person’s beliefs without criminalizing him. — The Apologetics Study Bible: Understanding Why You Believe.

4. What are those that wave the flag of tolerance intolerant of?

A sophisticated presentation of this point is found in Stanley Fish’s “The Trouble with Tolerance” in the November 10, 2006, issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. This is a review of Wendy Brown’s Regulating Aversion: Tolerance in the Age of Identity and Empire (Princeton University Press, 2006). Her point (and Fish’s) is that the Western idea of “tolerance for all views” is itself a very particular set of assumptions about reality that is then used as a criteria to determine who society will tolerate and who it won’t. Fish says that our society has its own set of holy, unquestionable beliefs, like “the sanctity of choice.” Brown and Fish argue that many historic, traditional beliefs have only become “intolerant” in our society because of the new construction our liberal Western society puts upon them. “It assumes that people do things not because of what they believe, but because they are Jews, Muslims, blacks or gays…they are immune to rational appeal.” Therefore any religion that values its own truth ahead of tolerance is considered “over-attached” to their culture and incapable of being rational. “Once a group has rejected tolerance as a guiding principle and opted instead for the cultural imperatives of the church or tribe, it becomes a candidate for intolerance that will be performed in the name of tolerance.” — The Reason for God (Timothy Keller)

5. What do we learn about God from Psalm 90.2?

The love of God is eternal. The psalmist expresses the greatness of God’s fatherly care in the imagery of birth. It is not entirely clear who is giving birth; is it God (NIV, “you brought forth the earth”) or the earth (“before the earth and the world gave birth”; cf. Prov 8:25)? The metaphor of God’s giving birth is possible (cf. Deut 32:18; P.D. Miller, Jr., “Psalm 90,” Interpreting the Psalms pp. 125-130). It is more likely to render the phrase in favor of the earth giving rise to mountains, while not denying the creative role of the Lord in the process of the formation of the earth (cf. Gen 1:11, 20).

The confessional statement “you are God” (v.2) affirms both God’s kingship over creation and his otherness. The designations for the Lord in these verses have been carefully chosen, as the psalmist sings praise to “the Lord,” the Ruler of the world, who alone is “God” (El; cf. Isa 44:6; 48:12). The Canaanites believed in El as the father of the gods whose supremacy had gradually been taken over by Baal, his son. The psalmist states that there is no other Lord than the God who is eternal and who is the “dwelling place” of his own. — Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Volume 5: Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Songs.

6. Page 87. How would you respond to someone who said, “God just keeps getting better and better.”

I wouldn’t be too hard on them. Although I understand it is technically not true, my experience with God seems to keep getting better and better.

7. 1 Peter 1.15 – 16. How does this command to be holy make you feel?

It tends to not make us feel so good because we don’t think holiness is so good. We don’t think it really is good for us to live the Christian life.

8. What exactly does it mean to be holy?

Continually restate to yourself what the purpose of your life is. The destined end of man is not happiness, nor health, but holiness. Nowadays we have far too many affinities, we are dissipated with them; right, good, noble affinities which will yet have their fulfillment, but in the meantime God has to atrophy them. The one thing that matters is whether a man will accept the God Who will make him holy. At all costs a man must be rightly related to God.

Do I believe I need to be holy? Do I believe God can come into me and make me holy? If by your preaching you convince me that I am unholy, I resent your preaching. The preaching of the gospel awakens an intense resentment because it must reveal that I am unholy; but it also awakens an intense craving. God has one desfined end for mankind, viz., holiness. His one aim is the production of saints. God is not an eternal blessing machine for men; He did not come to save men out of pity: He came to save men because He had created them to be holy. The Atonement means that God can put me back into perfect union with Himself, without a shadow between, through the Death of Jesus Christ.

Never tolerate through sympathy with yourself or with others any practice that is not in keeping with a holy God. Holiness means unsullied walking with the feet, unsullied talking with the tongue, unsullied thinking with the mind—every detail of the life under the scrutiny of God. Holiness is not only what God gives me, but what I manifest that God has given me. — My Utmost for His Highest.

9. What is the difference between holy living and good Christian living?

I see them as the same.

10. Malachi 3.6 What difference does it make to our day to day lives that God doesn’t change?

Even when our hearts grow cold toward God and our devotion to Him weakens, His love remains steadfast. We may forget God, but He remembers us.

God was concerned because the people of Judah had allowed their hearts to drift far from Him. In a powerful moment, God shared His heart with His people, recalling what it was like when they first began loving Him. He remembered how they had loved Him, as a new bride loves her husband, with excitement and enthusiasm for the future. He recalled the kindness they had expressed as they willingly followed Him wherever He led them. God reminded them of the love they had once had for Him, so that the memory might rekindle feelings of devotion and their hearts might return to Him.

If you do not guard our heart, you will grow cold in your love for Christ. A time may come when He approaches you and reminds you what your relationship was once like. Do you recollect the joy that permeated your life when you first became a Christian? Do you recall the youthful commitments you made to Him, pledging to do anything He told you to do? Do you remember the thrill you experienced each time you came to understand a new dimension of His nature? Spiritual memory is important. You may not realize how far you have drifted from God until you contrast the love you are expressing to Him now with that of earlier days.

God has not changed. He is the same Person you gave your heart to when you became a Christian (Mal. 3:6–7). If your love for God is not as intense as it once was, return to Him. He will restore the intimate fellowship you once shared with Him. — Experiencing God Day by Day: A Devotional and Journal.

11. What is not attractive—to some—about God’s unchanging nature?

Men and women wish that they could get God to change. They do not like him for his godly attributes: sovereignty, holiness, omniscience, justice, wrath—even love, because it is a holy love. But they could endure these perfections if it were possible to think that given time God might change in some of them.

We could endure God’s sovereignty if we could think that given a bit more time God’s grip on the universe might weaken and another strong personality might take over. Perhaps we could take over. Maybe men could be sovereign.

We could endure God’s holiness if we could think that given a bit more time his tough moral standards might change. What we are forbidden to do now we might be able to do then. We could wait to sin.

We could endure omniscience if given the passage of years it might be possible for God to forget. We could wait for him to become senile.

We could endure his justice if with the passage of time it might become more of an abstract ideal than a reality.

We could even endure his love if it could cease to be the perfect and properly jealous love the Bible describes it to be.

But God does not change. God is the same today as he has always been; he will be the same in what we would call billions of years from now. God will always be sovereign. He will always be holy. He will always be omniscient. He will always be just. He will always be loving. It is appropriate that we be reminded of this in the closing pages of the Old Testament. — Boice Expositional Commentary - An Expositional Commentary – Philippians.

12. Doesn’t it seem like God has changed—that he is meaner in the Old Testament than the new? How would you respond to someone who suggested that God changed in this way?

“Isn’t there a big difference between the often-cruel God of the Old Testament and the loving God of the New Testament?”

Geisler smiled. “It’s interesting you ask that,” he replied, “because I just did a study of every time the Bible uses the word that the King James Version translates as ‘mercy.’ I found it occurs 261 times in the Bible—and seventy-two percent of them are in the Old Testament. That’s a three-to-one ratio. Then I studied the word ‘love’ and found it occurs 322 times in the Bible, about half in each testament. So you have the same emphasis on love in both.

“Ironically,” he added, “you could make a case that God is more judgmental in the New Testament than the Old. For example, the Old Testament talks very little about eternal punishment, but the New Testament does.”

“There’s no evolution in God’s character, then?”

“That’s right. In fact, the Bible says, ‘I the Lord do not change.’9 In both testaments you’ve got the identical, unchangeable God—the one who is so holy he cannot look upon sin, and yet the one whose loving, merciful, gracious, and compassionate heart wants to pour forgiveness on all people who repent.”

Compassionate? I thought to myself. Merciful? The time had come to get to the crux of the character issue. — The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity (Lee Strobel)

13. Hebrews 12.18 – 24. How did Mount Sinai differ from Jerusalem?

Whereas Sinai was forbidding and terrifying, Zion is inviting and gracious Sinai is closed to all, because no one is able to please God on Sinai’s terms—perfect fulfillment of the law. Zion is open to all, because Jesus Christ has met those terms and will stand in the place of anyone who will come to God through Him. Zion symbolizes the approachable God.

Sinai was covered by clouds and darkness; Zion is the city of light. “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God has shone forth” (Ps. 50:2). Sinai stands for judgment and death; Zion for forgiveness and life, “for there the Lord commanded the blessing—life forever” (Ps. 133:3). — MacArthur New Testament Commentary – Hebrews.

14. What is the difference between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant?

Forgiveness was different under the law (also called the Old Covenant). It was a good news/bad news situation. Let’s say that you are an Israelite living under the law. All year long God is keeping a record of your violations of the law, and the entire nation’s as well. All year long you feel the guilt of your sins; you live in fear of God’s punishment, which was threatened for transgressions of the law. But the great Day of Atonement is coming! The annual day of fasting and praying and confessing your sins. The day each year when the perfect bull is sacrificed on behalf of the nation. The one and only time that a single mortal man, representing the whole nation, can enter into the most holy room of the temple, the Holy of Holies, which represents the very presence of God. Taking sacrificial blood, the high priest fearfully enters behind the veil and there sprinkles the blood which covers the nation’s—and your—sins for the previous year.

Two goats are sacrificed as well: One is slain at the altar; the other, called the scapegoat, becomes the subject of an unusual ceremony. Elders of the nation place their hands on the head of the goat, symbolizing the transfer of the nation’s sins to the animal. Then, before thousands of witnesses lining the streets, the scapegoat is driven from the city, out into the wilderness, symbolizing the removal of your sins. You watch with relief and thanksgiving, the innocent animal symbolically taking your guilt away. What relief! That’s the good news.

A man under the law could enjoy the blessing of God’s forgiveness, but that system provided no final solution.

What’s the bad news? Tomorrow your sins begin adding up again. Next year there will need to be another sacrifice. And the next year. And the next. — Classic Christianity (Bob George)

15. Were the sins of Old Testament saints paid for by the blood of animals?

God graciously gave this system to Israel as a means for man to experience relief from the guilt he experienced under the law. The key Old Testament word is atonement, which means a covering. Those sacrificial offerings did, indeed, cover sins, but they could not take them away, “because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins” (Hebrews 10:4). A man under the law could enjoy the blessing of God’s forgiveness, but that system provided no final solution. It is similar to the use of a credit card, which enables a person to have the benefit today of the coat he wants to buy, without paying cash. That’s the good news. But the bad news is that somebody is going to have to pay the tab! The card didn’t pay for the coat; it only transferred the debt to an account. That account will still have to be paid.

Sin Is Taken Away!
Then in God’s perfect timing, Jesus Christ was introduced to Israel by John the Baptist: “Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29). From that point on, the finished work of Christ is presented in the New Testament in total contrast to the old system:

And by [God’s] will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all. Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, He sat down at the right hand of God (Hebrews 10:10-12).

Relentlessly the New Testament hammers home the message that Jesus Christ offered Himself as one sacrifice for all time. When will we believe it? In contrast to the Old Covenant priests who are pictured as “standing” and making continual sacrifices, Christ is shown as having sat down. Why is He seated? Because “it is finished!” (John 19:30). The writer of Hebrews reaches the climax of his argument in 10:14: “Because by one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” Jesus Christ has done it all!

I find that few Christians can read that verse without flinching and trying to water it down. It is too bold, and the implications are too threatening. Notice that it doesn’t say we act perfect; this is talking about identity. But the Bible says that through Jesus Christ we have been made totally acceptable in the eyes of a holy God! — Classic Christianity (Bob George)

16. How does Hebrews 12.5 – 6 describe our relationship with God?

They had forgotten an important point: Scripture links suffering and sonship, as Proverbs 3:11-12 shows. The address “My son” is normal for a maker of proverbs who assumes a superior but caring position. The author, however, sees a fuller meaning in these words than that, for they are words from God to his people. When God speaks of discipline and rebuke, it is sons that he addresses. It is interesting that this warning is called “that word of encouragement.” The certainty of suffering encourages the believer rather than dismays him because he knows that it is God’s discipline for him. Incidentally, it seems not improbable that the words might perhaps be taken as a question: “Have you forgotten?”

The word for discipline combines the thoughts of chastening and education. It points to sufferings that teach us something. In v. 4 the striving was against sin, but somehow the hand of God was in it, too. No circumstances are beyond God’s control, and there are none he cannot use to carry out his purpose. So the believer is not to belittle the significance of his sufferings nor lose heart in the face of God’s correction. “Those he loves” comes first in the Greek, which gives it a certain emphasis. God disciplines people he loves, not those he is indifferent to. The readers should see the sufferings they were experiencing as a sign of God’s love, as Scripture already assured them. It is the son that is punished and “every son” (panta huion) at that.

In the ancient world it was universally accepted that the bringing up of sons involved disciplining them. Therefore, we should not read back modern permissive attitudes into our understanding of this passage. The Roman father possessed absolute authority. When a child was born, he decided whether to keep or discard it. Through out its life he could punish it as he chose. He could even execute his son and, while this was rarely done, the right to do it was there. Discipline was only to be expected. — Expositor’s Bible Commentary – Volume 12: Hebrews through Revelation.

17. How do we know if a trial that comes our way is God’s discipline on us or something else?

The question becomes: how do we know whether the difficult times we face are part of the discipline of the Lord or something else? For example, they could be the result of our own foolish behavior or attacks by Satan. Regardless of their sources, we can treat all difficulties as opportunities for us to grow and learn from God. The context of this chapter shows that these words apply to the suffering that believers face from hostile nonbelievers, those who mistreat Christians who stand for their faith. In many parts of the world, Christians face persistent persecution. Even if we are not experiencing persecution (and perhaps we should be if we are truly standing for Christ), we can pray for those who are. — Life Application Bible Commentary – Hebrews.

18. 2 Peter 3.9 What does God seeming slowness reveal about God?

Peter now explains why it is that the Lord has not yet returned. While from a human perspective he seems “slow in keeping his promise,” the apparent delay has nothing to do with being slow. The “some” who accuse God of “slowness” are undoubtedly the scoffing teachers.

Far from showing a lack of concern for people, the Lord is actually showing mercy. The theme is a common one in the Old Testament, as time and again God waits to execute his judgment in order to give people a chance to repent. Joel 2:13 provides an excellent example: “Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity.” Peter does not deny that from a human point of view the return of Jesus seems delayed; but that apparent delay is actually patience, allowing for repentance.

The statement that God does not want “anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance,” has always created problems for certain theologians. Those who believe that God has chosen some to be saved (and not others) have trouble explaining why God wants all to be saved but has chosen only some. A standard response is to ask who is actually included by the words “anyone” and “everyone.” Since Peter writes that God is patient “with you,” suggesting that some of his readers were in need of repentance, it is argued that Peter means “any of you” and “all of you.” That is, God wants all those he has chosen to repent and therefore shows patience in sending Jesus. However, it must be noted that some are apparently in real danger of being caught unrepentant when Christ comes “as a thief in the night.” And it is far from clear that “anyone” and “everyone” refer to God’s chosen ones. For what sense does it make to say that God wants his saved ones to repent so they can be saved? Surely it is more reasonable to think that God wants everyone to repent and be saved.

As explained above, Peter does use the language of “election” in order to reassure his readers (see comments on 1:3). However, this letter as a whole tends to resonate better with a free-will doctrine rather than that of predestination.-- College Press NIV Commentary – 1 & 2 Peter.