BIBLE STUDY on VERSE

1 Peter 4:1-3
(1) Therefore, since Christ suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves also with the same mind, for he who has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, (2) that he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh for the lusts of men, but for the will of God. (3) For we have spent enough of our past lifetime in doing the will of the Gentiles—when we walked in lewdness, lusts, drunkenness, revelries, drinking parties, and abominable idolatries.
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What weapon does he say we possess to fight this evil? We have the mind of Christ. Paul fought against disunity at Corinth and came to the same conclusion (see I Corinthians 2:16). We have access to the same Mind that prepared for and resisted the temptations of Satan the Devil for forty days. It is ours to access, if we only will.

As Peter says plainly in I Peter 4:1, if we truly arm ourselves with such a mind, we will cease sinning. We will be applying it to our situations and resisting the motivations of the evil within us. We will not let that evil emerge. If we have and use the mind of Christ, we are taking the fight to the enemy. We are not just allowing evil to pull us around by the nose but taking the offensive to confront it and overcome it.

We must ask ourselves, then, if we have truly committed ourselves to the task of recognizing and fighting the evil within us. Peter says we "should no longer live the rest of [our] time in the flesh." To put it another way, are we committed to stamping out our carnal natures? More positively, have we committed ourselves to live the life of Christ, to do the will of God? Or are we still reserving the right to "enjoy" evil on occasion? Each person has to answer for himself.

If we are not already, it is time to begin evaluating ourselves, trying to plumb the depths of our wicked hearts. We must begin seeing the evil and eradicating it, committing ourselves not to repeat the evils we have done. In Hebrews 12:1, Paul says that we need to "lay aside every weight" that besets us, that holds us back. Throw it off! It is crunch time!

In this vein, Peter provides us with two major pieces of counsel. First, in I Peter 4:7, he writes, "But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers." With this, he attempts to rouse us with hard, cold reality. We do not have time to indulge our desires and lusts! The return of Christ—the terminus of our period of judgment—is upon us! Besides, we could take a walk and be hit by a bus. Is our current spiritual state what we want to hand in for our final grade? It can be that close! Why do we dilly-dally about this? It is time to get serious!

His second piece of advice appears in I Peter 4:19: "Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator." In verses 17-18, the apostle had warned that we will be "scarcely" saved—by the skin of our teeth, as it were. It will happen not because of any righteousness we possess but because of God's grace. Remember, He sees our "desperately wicked" hearts; He knows how depraved we are even still. We must understand this—and be thankful—but it should also motivate us to make the utmost effort to please Him. Our righteousness will never be good enough for salvation, but because the gracious, righteous Judge is watching and evaluating what we do, we are bound to strive to cooperate with Him in being transformed into His image. Thus, Peter says that we must dedicate our lives to doing good. We know that God is faithful and will save us despite ourselves, but we still must show Him that we are serious about living His way of life.

As Christians, we are engaged in a two-pronged maneuver: destroy the evil within ourselves and replace it with acts of goodness. This assault begins with the realization that evil remains in us, but through God's intervention in our lives, there is also in us a germ of good that is ready to grow. With His continued help, we can nurture it to eternal life.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Luke 21:36
(36) Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man."
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Coupled with watching and overcoming, the next subject that Jesus addresses in Luke 21:36 is prayer. To grasp just how important prayer is, notice the example of Daniel, one of the three most righteous men in the Bible, according to Ezekiel 14:14. Part of his story is in Daniel 6:7, 10:

All the governors of the kingdom, the administrators and satraps, the counselors and advisors, have consulted together to establish a royal statute and to make a firm decree, that whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days, except you, O king, shall be cast into the den of lions. . . . Now when Daniel knew that the writing was signed, he went home. And in his upper room, with his windows open toward Jerusalem, he knelt down on his knees three times that day, and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as was his custom since early days.

Daniel believed that prayer was so essential that he chose to risk his life to lions rather than lose contact with God for even a part of a day. We could say that he feared the Lion of Judah more than any physical lion. To him, prayer was a life-and-death issue. Is it to us? How many excuses would we have made to avoid those lions? What excuses do we make today to justify a lack of prayer?

Is anything more serious than a life-and-death issue? Because of the Bible's obviously high regard for Daniel, it is reasonable to assume that his attitude about prayer played a significant part in deserving the label of "righteous." Prayer, for us, becomes a spiritual life-and-death question, not just a physical one as Daniel faced.

— Pat Higgins









Elaine, the enemy wants to kill ... before it's even birthed!
1 Cor. 3:3-4 for you are still fleshly. For insofar as there is jealousy, strife, and factions among you, aren't you fleshly, and don't you walk in the ways of men? For when one says, "I follow Paul," and another, "I follow Apollos," aren't you fleshly?
During the Catholic inquisitions, as millions of Christians were being killed by the Jesuit Priests for apostasy, throughout Europe, Christians were fleeing. In Bohemia alone, there were an estimated 4,000,000 Christians before the Jesuit inquisition, and ten years later, only 800,000 people remained in Bohemia – all of whom were Catholic. These terrible events prepared the ground for one of the greatest moves of God that have ever been recorded, the Moravian Revival, which lasted for over 100 years. Gustav Warneck, the German Historian of Protestant Missions, testified, "This small church in twenty years called into being more missions than the whole Evangelical Church has done in two centuries."
It began with a young man, Count Zinzendorf, who was 27 years old when he opened his estate to welcome believers escaping persecution and inviting them to settle there. There were different groups, Bohemian Brethren, Moravian Christians, Reformed Christians, and unsatisfied Catholics. After a few years, this fragmented community of some 300 individuals with differing spiritual convictions and loyalties was so rife with conflict and disunity it seemed destined to fail.
One of the village founders, Christian David, got so caught up in apocalyptic fanaticism that he referred to Zinzendorf as the “Beast of the Apocalypse,” while the estate manager of the village, Johan Andreas Rothe was termed the “False Prophet." In this impossible environment, Count Zinzendorf devoted himself full-time to reconciliation and conflict resolution, visiting each home for prayer and exemplifying the persevering love of Christ.
Amazingly, this personal attention and devotion to unity and reconciliation opened the way for an awakening that would come in just a few weeks. Yet what would have happened if Count Zinzendorf had lost patience and, in justified frustration, thrown everyone off his estate? Instead of a 100-year spiritual awakening...NOTHING of spiritual significance would have happened. The enemy, working through the carnal attitudes of believers [1 Corinthians 3:3-4], continually slandered this young man and one another, but his response was to disarm those persecuting him with the love of Christ. The result was a genuine revival.
Elaine, disunity, and slander are deadly to spiritual life and will absolutely kill any hope of enjoying God's presence. This is true in the smallest company of two or three, or in a local church community, or in any size gathering at all. When the Lord is moving, He will bring humility and love as Zinzindorf did. Let this humble Count be your example in any sphere of responsibility God places you. God is always desiring to birth something supernatural!
Your family in the Lord with much agape love,
George, Baht Rivka, Obadiah and Elianna (Going to Christian College in Dallas, Texas)
Traveling north up I-95 on the East Coast (US)
Editor's Note: Latest YouTube Video: Is it time for the spring rain? George Whitten dives into the current events in Russia, Ukraine, and Israel. He goes into detail about the events taking place in the Asbury Awakening and postulates from the Bible whether or not we are at the last great move of God.

Hebrews 2:1-3 (Daily Verse and Comment)
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(1) Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away.

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The Berean: Daily Verse and Comment

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 Hebrews 2:1-3
(1) Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. (2) For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, (3) how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him,
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These verses are similar to Proverbs 21:16: "A man who wanders from the way of understanding will rest in the assembly of the dead." The person who is neglecting his salvation is not deliberately setting his mind to turn away from God or His way of life. He is simply, through neglect, allowing himself to drift in that direction. He does not plan to go that way; he gets distracted by things in his life—by hobbies, work, rearing children, and a great many other things. No matter what it is, he allows himself to neglect what has been given to him.

The metaphor used here is of a boat that has slipped its mooring and is drifting within the harbor. Just drifting with the current.

Both of these verses point to a major problem we see in the end-time church of God. We may call it Laodiceanism, and that is a very nice "tag" to put on it. We can comfortably say the word, but are we aware that a Laodicean is a drifter? A Laodicean is somebody who is hanging on to the best of both possible worlds, as he sees it. He has one foot in the church and one foot in the world, and he does not realize that he is drifting.

This is the kind of person that God says He finds unpalatable—one He will spit out of His mouth (Revelation 3:16).

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Jeremiah 11:7-8
(7) For I earnestly exhorted your fathers in the day I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, until this day, rising early and exhorting, saying, “Obey My voice.” (8) Yet they did not obey or incline their ear, but everyone followed the dictates of his evil heart; therefore I will bring upon them all the words of this covenant, which I commanded them to do, but which they have not done.’”
New King James Version

Jeremiah alone carries this solemn warning from God Himself ten times! Mankind, it seems, has a tragic flaw in its character, so strong that it drives him to gamble away his life—and perhaps his loved one's lives—despite strong warnings from a truly trustworthy and authoritative Person. Somehow people manage to convince themselves that they know better (Proverbs 16:25).

This message is of special importance to God's children. At this point, we should worry less about preparing to escape the end times' painful calamities than to take warning about preparing for God's Kingdom, which is far more important than avoiding the rigors of persecution, the pains of disease, the pangs of hunger, the fear of earthquakes, or the panic and deprivations of warfare. As real as those events are—and they are coming—they are nothing compared to losing out on the Kingdom of God because we failed to heed the Bible's exhortations while distracted by other things that burned up our time and energy.

Indeed, the overwhelming majority of those now laboring under the weight of indebtedness have done just this. At the time when they could have heeded the warnings, their minds were consumed by their desires to make even greater profits while the getting was good. Jesus warns in Matthew 24:37-39:

But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be. For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.

This failure to self-discipline responsibly has been mankind's practice from the beginning. At Christ's return, people will be engaging in everyday life as if it would go on without change today, tomorrow, and forever. We, however, have been warned by truly trustworthy and authoritative persons. Jeremiah 30:7 warns that just ahead is the time of Jacob's Trouble, a time so disastrous that no other period in mankind's history can equal it. It would be wonderful to escape it because God chose to grant us that blessing (Zephaniah 2:3), but to lose out on the Kingdom of God would be a tragedy of far greater proportions.

Massive changes in the earth's political, economic, and religious configuration are coming. Wars will be fought on a scale never seen before, and weapons of mass destruction, held in abeyance since 1945, will be used. The ball is in our court. Now is the time to show God that:

We have taken His warnings seriously.

We love Him and His way of life.

We appreciate all He has done for us and given us.

We are loyal and intensely desire to be like Him and His Son.

Through prayer, study, and submission, we are ready and willing to give our all as living sacrifices to be in His Kingdom.

Will we responsibly submit to Paul's appeal in Romans 13:11-14?

And do this, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand. Therefore let us cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

Let us diligently and responsibly conform our lives to the image of Jesus Christ so that we might share life with Him forever.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Colossians 3:1-5
(1) If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. (3) For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. (4) When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory. (5) Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.
New King James Version
In broader generalities, Christ told the Ephesian church to do the same (Revelation 2:1-7). Here we see it in Paul's epistle to the Colossians, in a more specific way.

Because of what Christ said, we can understand that it is not impossible for us to redirect our energies and feelings. If we tie Galatians 6:7-10 to Colossians 3:1-4 and Revelation 2:1-7, we can see that Paul was saying that the rewards are in the doing—in the works. As Christ said, "I know your works." The solution is, "You need to redirect your energies, go back to your former devotion. And, if you have the right devotion, if you show real love, then the right works will come, and you will overcome."

God's way is such that it begins producing the good soon, not late. The apostle is saying that, if we begin sowing the right seed, we will soon begin to reap the fruit of the harvest to come because God's Word always produces results. God says that His Word will not go forth and return empty. We can be assured that fruit will be produced if we sow the right things, if we turn our energies to the way they should be.

The harvest, then, begins to be reaped—soon, in the sense of well-being, a sense that things are well between us and God. John 3:21 and the next several verses tie in here so well. So in the Ephesian church, as well as the whole church era, the members' lack of love was showing in what they were doing. Ignorance was not motivating them, but a loss of affection for Christ (Revelation 2:4-5). This is serious business. If there is no love for Christ, there is no salvation (I Corinthians 16:22).

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Ezekiel 8:15-18
(15) Then He said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Turn again, you will see greater abominations than these." (16) So He brought me into the inner court of the LORD's house; and there, at the door of the temple of the LORD, between the porch and the altar, were about twenty-five men with their backs toward the temple of the LORD and their faces toward the east, and they were worshiping the sun toward the east. (17) And He said to me, "Have you seen this, O son of man? Is it a trivial thing to the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they commit here? For they have filled the land with violence; then they have returned to provoke Me to anger. Indeed they put the branch to their nose. (18) Therefore I also will act in fury. My eye will not spare nor will I have pity; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them."

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You think Easter sunrise services are beautiful? God was showing the prophet Ezekiel the sins of His people in a vision—a prophecy for today!

"Turn thee yet again," said God, "and thou shalt see greater abominations than these [Ezekiel had just been shown, in vision, idol worship among professing people of God]. And he brought me [in vision] into the inner court of the Eternal's house, and behold . . . between the porch and the altar, were about five and twenty men, with . . . their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing . . . that they commit the abominations which they commit here? . . . Therefore will I deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them." (Ezekiel 8:15-18)

Do you grasp what this most abominable thing is?

It is the identical thing millions are doing every Easter Sunday morning—the sunrise service—standing with their faces toward the east, as the sun is rising, in a service of worship which honors the sun god and his mythical idolatrous consort, goddess Easter. Yes, deceived into believing this is Christian, millions practice every Easter the identical form of the ancient sun worship of the sun god Baal! Throughout the Bible this is revealed as the most abominable of all idolatry in the sight of the Eternal Creator!

— Herbert W. Armstrong

Proverbs 15:1
(1) A soft answer turns away wrath,
But a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 15:18
(18) A wrathful man stirs up strife,
But he who is slow to anger allays contention.

Proverbs 29:22
(22) An angry man stirs up strife,
And a furious man abounds in transgression.

New King James Versio

The dictionary defines anger as "a strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism." In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for "anger" is also used for "nostrils," for when people are angry, their nostrils flare open and their breathing becomes heavy. In the New Testament, two primary words are translated as "anger": One refers to a passionate outburst, and the other, to a settled, irate frame of mind.

Ephesians 4:31 tells us that neither one is acceptable to God: "Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice." In the same context appears a seemingly conflicting statement: "'Be angry, and do not sin': do not let the sun go down on your wrath" (verse 26). In Greek, this literally means "Be angry but do not sin," "In your anger, do not sin," or "When angry, do not sin."

Dr. Richard Strauss, the author of nine books and a minister of 21 years, writes in his book, Getting Along With Each Other, that some psychologists claim that it is good for people to vent their anger to release the pressure. The problem, he writes, is that venting tells the body to maintain an emergency status, keeping the anger flowing. This establishes more deeply the habit of reacting angrily, making it more difficult to overcome sinful anger, as the Bible instructs.

Further, allowing the emergency state to continue reduces our ability to reason clearly and ultimately upsets the body's chemical balance, making us physically sick. Doctors suggest that migraine headaches, thyroid malfunction, ulcerative colitis, toxic goiters, high blood pressure, ulcers, heart attacks, backaches, rheumatism, arthritis, allergies, indigestion, asthma, and many other illnesses can be emotionally induced. Jordan Rubin, the author of The Maker's Diet, states, "When we are angry, our immune system can be depressed for up to 6 hours."

How do we overcome sinful anger? First, by recognizing and admitting we have an anger problem and taking it to God, confessing it, and praying for His help. As with any sin, we must acknowledge it before God in all honesty, seeking His forgiveness and asking for strength to overcome it through His Spirit.

Second, we need to examine its causes. Some common causes are: 1) selfishness, that our selfish demands are not being met; 2) perfectionism, that our oftentimes unjustified expectations are not being satisfied; and 3) suspicion, that we misinterpret others' motives or intentions.

Third, we must "be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you" (Ephesians 4:32). Kindness is the counterpart of malice, a resentment that produces bitterness. Kindness produces goodness, helping us to avoid responding in anger.

Tender-heartedness is the opposite of cold-heartedness. A tenderhearted person, sensitive to the needs of others, is compassionate and merciful, loving justice and hating injustice and sin while showing love toward the sinner.

Forgiveness, like a healing medicine, is vital to unity and harmony among people. More often than not, it is more for the offended or hurt person because the offender may not care if he is forgiven or not. Forgiveness stops anger from settling in our minds, leading later to resentment and bitterness. Paul suggests that we need to practice forgiveness to learn from God's example.

In James 1:19-20, the apostle sums up what we need to know about anger: "So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath, for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God."

— Clyde Finklea

Psalm 51:7-10
(7) Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;
Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
(8) Make me hear joy and gladness,
That the bones You have broken may rejoice.
(9) Hide Your face from my sins,
And blot out all my iniquities. (10) Create in me a clean heart, O God,
And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

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David grasped the major difference between the hearts of God and humans. He uses the same Hebrew term for “create” as Moses uses in Genesis 1:1, when God created the heavens and the earth. Man's heart does not have the foundational goodness of our holy God's heart.

His primary request in the psalm concerns his sins of adultery with Bathsheba and the arranged murder of Uriah. He first craved forgiveness and cleansing of those sins, but he also undoubtedly wanted his heart to be created anew so that he would never repeat such sinful conduct. He desired the nature of his heart in pristine condition so he could truly glorify God. David is asking God to fulfill in him what Paul speaks of in II Corinthians 5:16-17:

Therefore, from now on, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

This renewal of the heart is not simply godly righteousness legally added to a carnal human heart. The new heart is not merely a repair of the old one. David speaks of an entirely new, clean heart and of a mind generated and motivated by God's Holy Spirit. It is a completely new creation of God, paralleling what Adam underwent as God created him in Genesis 1. Was not Adam a new creation at that time?

— John W. Ritenbaugh

1 John 2:15-17
(15) Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. (16) For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. (17) And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
New King James Version

John is not the only apostle who called upon the children of God to keep themselves from being spiritually contaminated by the world. James urges us "to keep oneself unspotted from the world" (James 1:27). The apostle Paul makes a strong appeal in Romans 12:2, saying, "And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."

This world is not God's world! Some have such a difficult time grasping the practical ramifications of this concept, perhaps because we think of God as Creator, Owner, and Ruler and marvel at the staggering beauty of what He has made. In that sense it is His world.

Nonetheless, the systems that operate our cultures are not His. The Greek word translated "world" in I John 2:16 is kosmos, which has a moral connotation and means "the world apart from God." William Barclay in his commentary on this verse writes, "To John the world was nothing other than pagan society with its false values and its false gods" (p. 56).

The world's systems generate and sustain our government and politics, entertainment, fashion, religion, business ethics, medicine and health care, culinary tastes, social programs and institutions, education, science and technology, economics, and use of power. The world's systems have formed much of our belief systems and attitudes, and these in turn have shaped our conduct.

These are the things we must overcome. And this world and its systems are so appealing! But God says not to waste our love on them because they have no future! In fact, this world is so bad that other prophecies show the whole thing will be destroyed and replaced when God invokes the restitution of all things (II Peter 3:10-11; Revelation 21:1).

The basic reason all must be destroyed is because at its very foundation is a destroying and antagonistic spirit, Satan the Devil, the god of this world. Henry David Thoreau grasped an important principle when he stated, "An institution is but the lengthened shadow of one man." As Jesus phrases it, "A corrupt tree cannot bring forth good fruit" (Matthew 7:18). Satan is a destroyer, and his way is at best a bad mixture of good and evil. James confirms this when he asks this rhetorical question, "Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening?" (James 3:11).

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Revelation 2:26
(26) And he who overcomes, and keeps My works until the end, to him I will give power over the nations—

New King James Version

Consider how much the lust for power is a major motivating force in this world. It can be seen operating in families, in workplaces, in churches, and in commerce—and possibly, it is most visible in politics. We can see in all of these instances that people are doing what they can to obtain power, often by any means available, fair or foul. They are just following the influence (I John 5:19) of the one who first lusted for power: “I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation on the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High'” (Isaiah 14:13-14).

While the world is struggling to get power, God promises to give it to us as a byproduct of enduring to the end. In this life, the only power we have to strive for is power over ourselves. In the next, God will provide the rest.

Those who seek power in this world miss the fact that our life is but for a moment. Even if they do receive the power they seek, it lasts only for an instant in comparison. Consider how long our power will last if we endure to the end: “The LORD knows the days of the upright, and their inheritance shall be forever” (Psalm 37:18).

The vision Scripture provides is so all-encompassing that not one of us can truly comprehend its breadth. After all, this vision is actually God's own vision. Our minds are limited in what we can see, as Paul points out in I Corinthians 2:9: “But as it is written: eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

But with that said, God gives us the means, His Spirit (I Corinthians 2:10), to follow the example of our predecessors so that we, like them, will see a vision that ensures our enduring to the end. Part of that vision involves identifying the things we hate about this evil world around us and then finding the scriptures that illumine the vision of how God will—together with us using the power He will give us—create a new world devoid of these evils.

Each of us is unique, and what part of that vision will motivate us will likewise be unique. So, before our burdens and afflictions begin to weigh us down, we can choose to prepare now (Matthew 25:1-13) and take the time to identify the evils we hate. With that, we can begin building a vision from Scripture that, through meditation and prayer, allows God to use His Spirit to make that vision as real as the present to the effect that, in comparison, we will be able to say along with Christ and Paul, “My burden is light” and my “light affliction . . . is but for a moment.”

— Pat Higgins

Romans 12:1-2
(1) I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. (2) And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
New King James Version

Notice that the days of sacrifice are not over. We are to present our bodies a living sacrifice. Sacrificing has been transferred from the physical slaughtering of animals to the sacrifice of the self, from the slaying of a dumb and uncomprehending beast to the intelligent and deliberate choice of an understanding human, made in the image of God.

The principles of the sacrifices given in Leviticus 1-5 and so forth still apply to us under the New Covenant in their spirit—the stretching out of principles to their spiritual intent. It is these principles that Paul is drawing on for this command. We are to present our lives as a sacrifice to God.

Remember, our salvation rests on the human sacrifice of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. First, He gave up His glory to become a man. Second, He sacrificed His life; for 33 ½ years, He laid it down as an offering to God, and as an example to us of perfect obedience. Finally, He gave up His human life as a sacrifice on the stake.

Sacrifice is a New Testament doctrine! It is on such a higher plane that there is no comparison with the sacrificing done in the Old Testament. Now we have to be sacrificed and much in the same way, in principle, that Christ was. Many individual verses or paragraphs in the Bible explain that such things as prayer, thanksgiving, faith, and repentance are Christian sacrifices.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Galatians 5:5-6
(5) For we through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. (6) For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.
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The last phrase, "but faith working through love [is everything]." It is contrasted to circumcision, which avails nothing.

Faith works through or by love. This is a two-sided statement. The love of God produces faith in us for Him because, without His revelation of Himself, we would never have faith in Him since, before conversion, we do not know the true God. We do not know what He is like. We do not know where to look for Him, and until He reveals the truth about Himself, we are behind the proverbial eight ball. So, faith works by love in the sense that in God's revelation of Himself, He opens knowledge and understanding to us that was not previously available to us. God's love begins by building faith in us in Him.

The other side of the coin is, in return for God's love given to us to produce faith, faith reveals itself to God by returning love to God. We give it back to Him in submission. "If you love Me," Jesus says in John 15:14, "keep My commandments." A living faith will do that.

Suppose a husband asks his wife, "Do you believe that I love you?" and the wife answers, "Yes, I know that you exist." Do we get the point? If our Bridegroom, Jesus Christ, said to us, "Do you know that I love you?" how does He expect us to reply? Does He want to hear, "Yes, I know that You exist?" This answer is faith at its lowest form, merely a belief.

If we really love Christ, our faith in Him, our future Husband, will respond, not by merely acknowledging that He is, but by loving Him back. Faith works by or through love. In this way, God can tell how much faith we have. He learns this not merely by testing us through trials, but by seeing if and how we give the love of God back to Him through submission. We understand by experience that we can return love, an intimate love, only to someone we trust—faith. If one's spouse, the one to whom we should be giving such love, disregards us and commits a horrible sin that destroys our trust, it is quite difficult to return real love or even feign love to him or her.

This understanding is a way we can test our faith, and it is probably the one that God will evaluate us on most thoroughly. The first of the great commandments is whether we love God with all our heart, soul, being, might, strength, etc. If we love Him, we will submit to Him and keep His commandments. That is where faith works—in submission and obedience, revealing our love for God. How well have we done in this area?

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Isaiah 14:12-15
(12) "How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
(13) For you have said in your heart:
'I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
(14) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.'
(15) Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol,
To the lowest depths of the Pit.

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Isaiah 14:12-15 illustrates the process of Satan's thinking that led to his fall. Evidently, God had at some point also given him the earth to govern, as this passage shows him ascending to heaven, implying that he must have come from the earth. Isaiah also writes that he had a throne that he desired to exalt over all the “stars”—angels—of God. Revelation 12:4 reveals that a third of the angels were thrown to the earth with him, probably those whom God had earlier given him to assist him with his job on the earth, but Isaiah 14:13 reports that he wanted to rule all the angels, not just a mere third of them.

As God gave him more, Helel's greed grew until he began to conceive thoughts of taking everything for himself, not just the angels, but God's very throne. As several modern translations read, “I will make myself like the Most High.” In essence, he wanted to be God. He deceived himself into thinking he was smart and powerful enough to boot the “Old Man” out and take over ruling all things!

So we see the sins that most describe Satan: vanity, greed, selfishness, self-exaltation, and pride, of course. Who knows how long these sins festered in him before they broke out into action? However long the time, these sins embittered him until he began to plan a coup against the very throne of heaven and to recruit other angels to his cause.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Matthew 10:34-39
(34) "Do not think that I came to bring peace on earth. I did not come to bring peace but a sword. (35) For I have come to "set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law"; (36) and "a man's enemies will be those of his own household." (37) He who loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me. And he who loves son or daughter more than Me is not worthy of Me. (38) And he who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me. (39) He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.
New King James Version

Evaluate yourself against these pressures:

Peer Pressure

Teens tend to be idealistic, and this is good. They often resolve to be serious, "hit the books" and spurn the drugs, sex, smoking, drinking and "hanging out" that they have seen others doing. But if the "right" fellow or girl appears, or if the teen is recognized by the "right" clique, his desire to be accepted by them pressures him to adjust his ideals to conform to them. His ideals or convictions are merely preferences.

A minister may search the Bible for truth and find something interesting that he believes and resolves to do and teach. When he tells his fellow ministers about what he has found, they may say to him, "I don't say you're wrong in this, but don't you think you should tone it down a bit? Make it less offensive, and then maybe we can cooperate with you and work on some of your objectives."

At first he may strongly defend his belief, but little by little, as he sees the reaction of his peers, he may begin to bend. He believes it and resolves to do it, but if he changes, his belief is a preference.

If the Word of God tells us to change something, we must change it! But we must be very careful about things previously proved from God's Word, believed, put into practice and then changed when some form of pressure is brought to bear!

Family Pressure

This is perhaps the strongest pressure. When Jesus advises His disciples about counting the cost of commitment to Him, every person He mentions is a family member. "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26).

Usually no one can motivate you like a deeply loved mate. A husband may resolve to commit himself to a strong belief, but on telling his wife, she replies, "Please don't, honey. Do you realize what this will do to us and our family?" His resolve begins to melt because he knows he will feel responsible if, because of his belief, he inflicts discomfort or pain on an innocent bystander.

Fear of Lawsuits

Living in perhaps the most litigious society ever on the face of the earth, we are aware of the expense and hassle of going to court, even for the innocent. We may say, "I'm all for this, but I'm not going to get sued over it! You can't ask me to be sued—that's going too far! The news media will make me out to be a villain. They'll publicly hang me! At the very least I'll lose my hard-earned reputation, maybe my job and all my property because of attorney and court costs." This daunting pressure causes many to change their beliefs.

Jail

You may have never really been in a jail, but they are not pleasant places. Most prisoners want to get out as quickly as they can. In fact, some will risk life and limb to escape, knowing they will probably be unsuccessful. If they do make it out, they will most likely be apprehended and returned to "serve" even longer sentences. Jail is very damaging to a person's liberty and reputation.

Most people who go to jails never get past the visitor's area. I have been into the deepest bowels of several maximum security prisons to visit violent inmates on death row. They are horrible places.

In contemplating what it would be like to be in prison, remember that virtually every move an inmate makes is programmed by his captors. You would be isolated from your dearest family members and friends. You are told when to get up, when to eat, when to exercise, when you can read, watch TV, bathe or shower, and occasionally even when you can talk, go to the bathroom or sleep.

Additionally, the people around you have made a living of not playing by the rules. You would be stuck on their turf. Some are quite violent. It is a crazy, frightening environment for one accustomed to the comforts and control of home.

Would you really be willing to go to jail for your faith? Even when no one seems to understand why you would do such a thing? Would the pressure of facing jail make you change your beliefs? If so, your beliefs are preferences.

Maybe some of you men are saying to yourself, "Yes, I'd go to jail." But would you be willing to stand by and watch your wife go to jail? Some have faced that. Would you then pressure her to change her mind?

Do your beliefs mean so much to you that both you and your wife would go to jail, knowing your children would be taken by the state and raised by foster parents you do not even know?

The Pressure of Death

This final test is obvious, yet some have learned through experience that there is a fate worse than death. When a person's resolve over a belief fails, his guilt can be crushing. Luke 22:34, 59-62 shows Peter in such a circumstance.

Do you see the common factor in these? What does your belief mean to YOU? What are you willing to sacrifice in exercising your belief? If you feel you should do something but have the right not to do it, it is merely a preference.

A belief that is God-ordered is a conviction. It is not merely a matter of resolve or dedication, but a matter of believing with all our heart that God requires it of us. If we hold our beliefs as God-ordered, we will withstand all the above tests.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Galatians 3:5-11
(5) Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— (6) just as Abraham "believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness." (7) Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. (8) And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, "In you all the nations shall be blessed." (9) So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. (10) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them." (11) But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."
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Here, the subject is the role faith and works play in the justification process. This time, he uses Abraham as the model by which all his "children in the faith" also become "children of God." He begins by posing a question, which can be paraphrased as, "Do miracles come by ritual?" There is in this a veiled illusion to magic. Do miracles come by incantation? Do they come by knowing certain formulas that may include even such things as cutting the flesh or going through long periods of fasting or sufferings to get God's attention? Will God respond with a miracle out of pity once we show Him how humble and righteous we are? No, it does not work that way. Miracles come by a living God, who is actively working in our lives because He called us and we have faith in Him.

With that foundation, Paul begins what turns into the preamble for a very controversial section of Galatians. He proceeds to state that it was through faith that Abraham was justified. It is good to remember that Abraham not only believed who God is, but he also believed what God said. This is what set him apart from everybody else. His faith was not merely an intellectual agreement, but he also lived His faith.

Abraham's works did not win him acceptance by God, but they did prove to God that Abraham really did believe Him. So Paul says in verses 10-11 that those who rely on their works to justify them are under the curse of the law. What is "the curse of the law"? The death penalty! When one sins, he brings on himself the curse of the law he broke, which is death. In effect, he says that those who seek justifcation through works are still under the curse because justification by this means is impossible.

So powerful is the curse of the law that, when our sins were laid on the sinless Jesus Christ, the law claimed its due. Jesus died! Paul quotes from Deuteronomy 27:26 to counteract those who were troubling the church, because they were saying that their asceticism, magic, and similar things (like keeping Halakah, the oral law and traditions of Judaism) could justify.

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Genesis 1:28
(28) Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth."
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A basic purpose for marriage is also found in this verse. The two key words here are "subdue" and "dominion," both of which are terms of command and control. This purpose, then, deals with marriage providing a basis for proper government.

"Dominion" has thrown many people off-track, assuming God means autocratic, despotic rule. However, any dictionary will show that dominion is nothing more than "supreme authority" or "sovereignty." The Hebrew word, radâ, implies exercising authority over those under one's control, whether a king over his kingdom or an employer over his employees. It does not necessarily suggest harsh, cruel governance.

"Subdue" (Hebrew kabaš), however, can have this implication. Nevertheless, subjecting creation to human benefit or people to God's way does not have to be done with rigor. Severity should be applied only when there is steadfast, defiant resistance, and then only as necessary. The two words together provide a wide range of means for mankind to order and govern what God has given him. Of course, God does not intend for humanity to go beyond the authority He has entrusted to it, either in terms of scope or application.

So, as these opening instructions to humanity indicate, God uses marriage to teach us how to govern. Marriage teaches us how it is done best, specifically as God Himself governs. God is a Father, and He has a Son who is the Head of the church. We in the church comprise the Son's wife, His Bride, and we are learning how to rule with the Son forever in His Kingdom. A primary institution that God created to teach us this is marriage, the very same institution into which we will soon enter with His Son. Again, we see the physical blending into the spiritual.

In our physical lives, most of us begin to live within the family as a child, and from that position of weakness and immaturity, we learn how to be ruled, to submit, and to learn and grow as a subordinate. We learn what it is like to be under authority. Later, as we grow in maturity, we take on more responsibilities and experience more freedom. If we are alert and smart, we learn many facets of how to rule ourselves and thus how to govern others.

When ready, we take up the challenge of living at the next level of authority as a husband or wife. In that role, we learn other things that teach us about government and how best to handle situations. First, we must become accustomed to living with our new mate, ruling ourselves, and providing direction to a developing family as a spouse.

Then, sometimes suddenly, we must learn how to govern little ones. As they grow, we learn different ways—better ways—to govern them at their various levels. The diverse situations that arise in life lend themselves to learning new and different approaches that will lead to better outcomes. The family and our changing roles within it teach us how to do that.

The godly family, beginning with marriage followed by the rearing of children, teaches us how to govern. Along with the Bible, it gives us most, if not all, the necessary instruction that we need. These experiences over time become part of our character, which we will carry through the grave. We will have those experiences to draw on when similar instances arise among those subject to us in God's Kingdom.

These essential tools, provided to us through God's instruction and applied in the Christian family, prepare us to rule in God's Kingdom and to teach the right and proper way to live.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

(7) “ A cunning Canaanite!
Deceitful scales are in his hand;
He loves to oppress.
(8) And Ephraim said,
‘ Surely I have become rich,
I have found wealth for myself;
In all my labors
They shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.’

New King James Version

In Hosea 12:7-8, God speaks directly to businessmen: "A cunning Canaanite [or merchant]! Deceitful scales are in his hand; he loves to oppress. And Ephraim said, 'Surely I have become rich, I have found wealth for myself; in all my labors they shall find in me no iniquity that is sin.'" Here, the Israelite merchant brushes away his sin by saying that his wealth proves he is blameless, yet God shows him for what he is: a boastful, deceitful, and oppressing sinner.

Amos 2:6-7 expands on some of his deeds:

Thus says the LORD: "For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not turn away its punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver, and the poor for a pair of sandals. They pant after the dust of the earth which is on the head of the poor, and pervert the way of the humble."

From His vantage point in heaven, He sees businessmen selling out their employees for a little extra profit. He watches them greedily taking advantage of every opportunity to squeeze every last bit of wealth out of customers, especially the poor and the weak. He takes note of every time they corrupt someone to fatten their bottom line. He later mentions their trampling of the poor, harsh terms, and profligate lifestyles (Amos 5:11); their taking of bribes and interfering in the judicial system (verse 12); and their undermining of religious practices, cheating, and selling inferior products (Amos 8:5-6).

Isaiah adds that this condition runs rampant through the entire nation, not just the mighty businessmen (see Isaiah 1:4-6). He suggests that, if the common man were in the high-and-mightys' shoes, he would do the exact same, sinful things! He mentions them in Isaiah 1:21-23:

How the faithful city has become a harlot! It was full of justice; righteousness lodged in it, but now murderers. Your silver has become dross, your wine mixed with water. Your princes are rebellious, and companions of thieves; everyone loves bribes, and follows after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, nor does the cause of the widow come before them.

What we are observing in American business was inevitable. The anything-for-increased-profits model of business can only produce inequities, mediocre products and services, and strife, and these, along with the workings of a relentless market economy that punishes inefficiency, will destroy even the mightiest of corporations. And who usually ends up suffering? The little guy, the poor, the weak. We need to watch for these business breakdowns, as they are signs that a crisis looms.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

1 Samuel 29:1-7
(1) Then the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. (2) And the lords of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. (3) Then the princes of the Philistines said, 'What are these Hebrews doing here?'And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, 'Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years? And to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me.' (4) But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; so the princes of the Philistines said to him, 'Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become our adversary. For with what could he reconcile himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men? (5) Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying:
'Saul has slain his thousands,
And David his ten thousands'?' (6) Then Achish called David and said to him, 'Surely, as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. (7) Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.'
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In verse 4, the word "reconcile" is ratsah, meaning "to be pleased with, to accept, to favor, to satisfy." The Philistine princes themselves specified what David would have to do to be acceptable to Saul, to regain his favor: He would have to change sides in the middle of the battle. Once he did that, he and his men could slay a large number of the Philistines in a kind of sacrifice to Saul—to show Saul that he, David, was on his side and therefore should be accepted.

So, David would have to make a sacrifice. He would 1) have to turn traitor, 2) have to slay a lot of Philistines, and 3) have to put his own life on the line. In reality, if he would have done this, he would have made himself unacceptable to either side! He would have sacrificed just about everything. This was one reconciliation that David did not want to do! Even though he argued a little bit with Achish to reinforce his cover, saying, "I don't want to return. I want to stay here with you," he and his men went back to the land of the Philistines and did not fight in that battle.

Even in a case like this, some sort of sacrifice would have to be made to bring about reconciliation. Sometimes the sacrifice that is made has consequences itself. We have to make sure that the sacrifice that we make to reconcile with another will not put us into deeper water with God. So when we consider reconciliation, we must think deeply about it; it is not something we should do carelessly or automatically. We must really take the matter to heart to understand fully what we are doing. We have to try to predict what will happen as a result, so that it does not cause greater problems down the road. Reconciliation is not an easy subject and often not easy to do.

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Daniel 11:40-42
(40) "At the time of the end the king of the South shall attack him; and the king of the North shall come against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter the countries, overwhelm them, and pass through. (41) He shall also enter the Glorious Land, and many countries shall be overthrown; but these shall escape from his hand: Edom, Moab, and the prominent people of Ammon. (42) He shall stretch out his hand against the countries, and the land of Egypt shall not escape.
New King James Version

Students of Bible prophecy have often wondered about the role of the "king of the South" in the end time. Daniel 11 describes the back-and-forth fighting and intrigue between the Seleucid Empire based in Syria—the king of the North—and the Ptolemaic Empire of Egypt—the king of the South. Obviously, during the time of their conflict, these nations were north and south of Jerusalem, respectively, and their battlegrounds were often in the land of Israel.

Neither of these two empires exists any longer. However, verse 40 speaks of "the time of the end," meaning the period just before the return of Jesus Christ. Which nations, then, are the kings of the North and the South?

Because the Roman Empire swallowed up both of the older empires, it could at one time have been said to be both. However, Diocletian split the Roman Empire into Eastern and Western halves in AD 284, and in 324, Constantine established the eastern capital at Byzantium, renamed Constantinople (now Istanbul). The Western Empire fell in 476, to be succeeded down the centuries by several resurrections of a Holy Roman Empire.

The Eastern Empire, however, proved more enduring, lasting until 1453 when the Turks under Mahmed II took the weak and tired city of Constantinople after a 53-day siege. Once again, there were rival kings of North and South, though this event merely formalized an ongoing struggle between Christian Europe and Muslim Middle East. This situation remains intact today: Even now, we are witnessing the bitter and violent conflict between the Western and Islamic civilizations.

Notice in verse 40 that the king of the North invades and conquers "countries," suggesting that the king of the South is composed of several nations, much like the modern Middle East.

The King James Version uses "push at him" instead of "attack him," and this is to be preferred, as the Hebrew verb means "to thrust." It could be a military attack, but it could equally be an economic, religious, or cultural assault. Whatever it is, the king of the North reacts to it swiftly and forcefully.

We should also note verses 41-42. In them, God directs our attention to the area targeted by the king of the North: "the Glorious Land"—the land of Israel—Edom, Moab, Ammon (all three part of modern Jordan), and Egypt. It is clear that, if this prophecy speaks of our day, the king of the South is represented by the Arab peoples of the Middle East.

Could we be seeing this prophecy beginning to come to pass? Perhaps the waves of predominantly Muslim immigrants into Europe have woken the emerging colossus of the North to some of the troubles the clash of cultures can cause. If these problems should be combined with terrorist attacks on European soil of the magnitude of the September 11 bombings, an armed response would seem to be unavoidable.

However, the leader, the person who is the king of the North, is still lacking. No strong man has stood up in Europe to take the lead in solving some of these problems. The stage, though, is being set for such a ruler to galvanize both the leadership and citizenry of Europe to unite to fight against the enemies of their civilization (see Revelation 17:9-14).

Though it is probably not the catalyst, Europe's immigration woes could provide some of the fuel for the coming conflagration. This is an area on which Christians should keep a watchful eye (Mark 13:32-37).

— Richard T. Ritenbaugh

Matthew 5:7
(7) Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Psalm 41:1-3
(1) Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
(2) The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
(3) The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
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This should not be the major reason for being kind. Yet God, who is ever ready to give and bless, has of His own will inspired these words for our benefit, so we understand that our efforts in glorifying Him and His way do not go unnoticed. It is a promise we can claim whenever we get into a bind. He who enabled us to be kind and generous to others in their need will respond by providing us a helper in our need. Jesus says in Luke 6:38:

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

This is very wonderful motivation for those who believe God's Word, but perhaps there is even greater. Being merciful and kind is evidence that God has given us His Spirit—that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts and is producing fruit. For proof of the importance of passing on God's kindness—expressed in His calling, forgiving, giving us His Spirit, and promising we will receive yet more mercy for being merciful—listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 25:34-36, 40:

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me." . . . And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Matthew 5:7
(7) Blessed are the merciful, For they shall obtain mercy.

Psalm 41:1-3
(1) Blessed is he who considers the poor;
The LORD will deliver him in time of trouble.
(2) The LORD will preserve him and keep him alive,
And he will be blessed on the earth;
You will not deliver him to the will of his enemies.
(3) The LORD will strengthen him on his bed of illness;
You will sustain him on his sickbed.
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This should not be the major reason for being kind. Yet God, who is ever ready to give and bless, has of His own will inspired these words for our benefit, so we understand that our efforts in glorifying Him and His way do not go unnoticed. It is a promise we can claim whenever we get into a bind. He who enabled us to be kind and generous to others in their need will respond by providing us a helper in our need. Jesus says in Luke 6:38:

Give, and it will be given to you: good measure, pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be put into your bosom. For with the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.

This is very wonderful motivation for those who believe God's Word, but perhaps there is even greater. Being merciful and kind is evidence that God has given us His Spirit—that the love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts and is producing fruit. For proof of the importance of passing on God's kindness—expressed in His calling, forgiving, giving us His Spirit, and promising we will receive yet more mercy for being merciful—listen to Jesus' words in Matthew 25:34-36, 40:

Then the King will say to those on His right hand, "Come you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me." . . . And the King will answer and say to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Mark 14:12
(12) Now on the first day of Unleavened Bread, when they killed the Passover lamb, His disciples said to Him, “Where do You want us to go and prepare, that You may eat the Passover?”
New King James Version

The word translated as "first," protos, typically signifies a thing that is first in a sequence or first in prominence. However, it can also indicate an order of events, as well as whether an event occurs before or concurrently with another.

For example, in John 1:15 John the Baptist acknowledges Christ's pre-existence, saying, "He who comes after me is preferred before [above] me, for He was before [protos] me" (see also verse 30). Also, in II Peter 2:20, Peter says of those who become entangled in the world again, "the latter end is worse for them than the beginning [protos]," again showing an order of events.

The word translated as "day," heeméra, can refer to a literal 24-hour period of time, but it can also indicate a general period of time or a season (see Luke 9:51; 17:24; 19:42; 23:7; John 8:56; Acts 2:20; 8:1; 17:31; Romans 2:5; I Corinthians 3:13; II Corinthians 6:2; Ephesians 6:13; Hebrews 3:8). So the first part of Mark 14:12 could also be translated, "Now at the beginning of the season of Unleavened Bread . . ." or "Now at the beginning of the time of Unleavened Bread . . ." Nothing dictates that in this case heeméra designates a specific 24-hour period, and much argues against it.

Matthew 26:17, when correctly translated, shows that the disciples asked this question before the Feast of Unleavened Bread and before they had kept the Passover. But how are we to understand the explanation, "when they killed the Passover lamb"? In the Greek, the word translated as "killed" is éthuon. It can indeed refer to the singular act of slaying an animal (Acts 11:7), but also to a religious sacrifice (Acts 14:13) or to the entire occasion of which a slaughtered animal was paramount, such as the fatted calf being killed for the prodigal son (Luke 15:23, 27, 30). In addition, in the sentence in question, the verb tense indicates an action in progress but not yet completed.

In other words, the sacrificing of the Passover lamb—or preparations for doing so—was taking place at the time the disciples asked their question! Most of the people did not observe a Temple-kept Passover; in Mark 14:12, the common people were sacrificing lambs throughout the city, not the priests. The priests would not slay the Temple Passover lambs until the following afternoon. But as Abib 14 was drawing near, the disciples observed people around them on the outskirts of Jerusalem in the process of sacrificing—at least engaging in the necessary preparations, even if they did not perform the sacrifice itself until after sunset—prompting them to ask Jesus where He wanted them to likewise prepare for Passover.

— David C. Grabbe

1 Timothy 2:1
(1) Therefore I exhort first of all that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men,

1 Timothy 2:3-4
(3) For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior, (4) who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth.

1 Timothy 2:6
(6) who gave Himself a ransom for all, to be testified in due time,

2 Peter 3:8-9
(8) But, beloved, do not forget this one thing, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. (9) The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
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Three times in four brief verses (I Timothy 2:1, 3-4, 6), God states He has planned for the salvation of all. Since He desires to save all men, they must all be given an opportunity for it. It is very obvious from human experience that very few among all mankind have ever heard the gospel or come to the knowledge of the truth.

Verse 6 also says that Christ is a ransom for all, and this will be testified or witnessed of in due time. The way Paul wrote this shows that the testifying is still future. In other words, many had not heard of Christ's ransom for sin, and Paul indicates that he expected many then living and many yet unborn would also die without hearing of it. But it would be witnessed to all in due time because Jesus Christ is the only name under heaven by which men can be saved.

God's plan, humanly speaking, covers a long time. Like Paul, Peter clearly says that God does not desire anyone to perish. Other scriptures indicate that some will, but it is not God's will that they do so.

The critical factor in these verses is repentance. How can a person repent if he does not have knowledge of the truth, if he does not know the purpose God is working out, of what he should repent, why he should repent, or by what means his sins are forgiven? The overwhelming majority of people who have ever lived on earth fit into this category! These things remain untestified to them.

I Corinthians 15:21-23 adds another important revelation to this mystery. "For since by man came death, by Man also came the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ all shall be made alive. But each one in his own order: Christ the firstfruits, afterward those who are Christ's at His coming."

Simply put, God is proceeding according to a plan. All die, but that same all will also be made alive, resurrected in a certain order according to God's plan. Verse 26 reads, "The last enemy that will be destroyed is death"—it has not yet been destroyed! This means that God's plan is still continuing, and in due time the opportunity for salvation will come to all, even though God must resurrect many to that opportunity. Most churches exclude most of this world from salvation because they are not part of their group. Why do people scoff when we point out that God will give all mankind the chance to conform to His image?

— John W. Ritenbaugh

Matthew 26:39
(39) He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will."

Matthew 26:42
(42) Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done."

Matthew 26:44
(44) So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words.
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Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, just a short while after urging His disciples to drink of His cup. As He prayed fervently and emotionally to His Father in heaven, the symbol of the cup was fresh in His mind. Just as He had given His disciples a cup from which to drink, so had the Father placed a cup before Him! Notice Matthew 26:39: "He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, 'O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.'"

In the Old Testament, the cup is also a metaphor for the divine punishment of sin. Hence, Jesus' death would involve far more than just physical torture and death. Christ would become the target of untold divine wrath, as every sin that had ever been committed would be heaped on this one sinless Being! He who had sought always to do the will of His Father perfectly, He who had heard His loving Father exclaim, "This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased," would now experience His Father's overflowing wrath for all sin, including all the worst sins! Some of what He suffered was for our sins—yours and mine.

Jesus knew that death and incurring God's wrath for sin comprised the climax of His mission on earth as the Messiah. But now, as that hour approached, His awareness of God's wrath against sin became even more intense! The Bible explains this in detail in Romans 1:18—3:20. To Jesus, it was an unimaginable horror!

The second and third times He prays in the Garden, He changes His words slightly, as He realizes He definitely has to drink of that cup: "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done" (Matthew 26:42, 44). He now fully accepts the fact that the only way to get past this ordeal is to go through it.

The cup is still on Jesus' mind even after the soldiers from the High Priest come to capture Him. When Peter tries to defend Him physically with a sword and misses Malchus' head, cutting off his ear instead, Jesus says to Peter: "Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?" (John 18:11). Indeed! And shall we not drink the cup which our King has given us?

— Staff

Jude 1:6
(6) And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;
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While referring to the rebellious angels in general, this example shows that the chains that bind sinning angels are not their final judgment. A measure of judgment is involved, but note that Jude explains that the chains reserve them for the judgment of the great day. When Satan is bound, it certainly will be a punishing experience for him, but it will not be the punishment—it is not his final judgment. The Bible clearly states that Satan's judgment, written in advance, is to be burned (Ezekiel 28:18-19).

In Peter's parallel account, the apostle describes the false prophets who are manifestations of Satan's image: “By covetousness they will exploit you with deceptive words; for a long time their judgment has not been idle, and their destruction does not slumber” (II Peter 2:3). He writes about the false teachers and the spirit influences—including Satan—behind them. God has already handed down the verdict; He has determined their punishment and set the date.

In addition to being chained, Satan is also cast into the pit. He is totally immobilized, and moreover, he is shut up with a seal that restrains him from deceiving. He is completely powerless for a thousand years while he awaits the judgment of the great day.

The prophet Isaiah also foretells a future binding of spirit beings:

In that day the LORD will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be dismayed, the sun ashamed; for the LORD Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders—with great glory. (Isaiah 24:21-23, New International Version)

Verse 23 mentions the moon and sun being dismayed and ashamed, providing a time reference. Revelation 21:23 describes the New Jerusalem descending from heaven sometime after the Millennium. When it does, those in New Jerusalem have no need of the sun or the moon. Those magnificent heavenly lights are figuratively disgraced and ashamed by the superior light of God. Isaiah 24:23, then, corresponds to the time after the Millennium.

But before that, the “powers in the heavens and the kings on the earth” will be shut up for a long time and then punished. The “powers in the heavens” refers to demonic principalities, including Satan (see Romans 8:38; Ephesians 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Colossians 1:16; 2:15; I Peter 3:22). The New Kings James Version calls them “the host of exalted ones.”

Isaiah then refers to “the kings on the earth.” However, those kings—mentioned in parallel with the “powers in the heavens”—do not have to be human. Scripture alludes to spiritual rulers throughout its pages: The king of Babylon (Isaiah 14:4), the king of Tyre (Ezekiel 28:12), and the princes of Persia (Daniel 10:13, 20) and Greece (Daniel 10:20) are a few examples.

These powers—these kings—will be shut up in prison, but their punishment does not come until “after many days” (Isaiah 24:22). (The word “days” is not restricted to 24-hour blocks of time; it can be used as a general marker of the passage of time.) Their binding serves as a prelude to their punishment.

Likewise, Satan's binding is not his actual punishment. Its primary purpose is to protect the nations from deception, and then his punishment follows. The prophets describe him as being gazed upon by men during his imprisonment (Isaiah 14:16; Ezekiel 28:17). At this time, he is not on trial but on display because God has already reached His verdict.

Psalm 2:2-3 speaks about the kings of the earth and the rulers, saying, “Let us break Their bonds in pieces and cast away Their cords from us.” The spirit rulers are chafing at their chains, causing the nations to rage. Yet when Christ returns, these powers and kings will be shut up in prison.

— David C. Grabbe