DOERS OF THE WORD

GODLY FRUIT

Joshua was told to conquer all of the nations in the promise land. It did not happen and because of that, those surviving people corrupted God’s people over time. Israel took up idolatry and many pagan practices due to the heathen influence. So too, after the apostles and elders who taught and wrote the NT text where gone and the gospel was to advance farther into the world, those uninspired teachers did not keep the Holy Writings pure. They did not cast out pagan myth and philosophy as they should have but they mixed it with Christian tradition, which has caused the church to suffer from that time until now.

Since the time Israel entered the promise land, they experienced both blessings and corruption. Their actions depended upon who their leadership was at the time. If they had good leaders then they prospered but if their leaders were corrupt then the nation fell into corruption. I see this also in church history over the centuries when Godly men influenced the church it prospered but when influenced by corrupted leaders the church has suffered.

I fear almost all Christian doctrines are a mixture of truth and human belief. I think we need to strive to rid the Christian doctrines of error while we seek to understand the Word of God more deeply.

Titus 1:7-9 7 For the overseer must be above reproach as God's steward, not self-willed, not quick-tempered, not addicted to wine, not pugnacious, not fond of sordid gain, 8 but hospitable, loving what is good, sensible, just, devout, self-controlled, 9 holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, that he may be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict.

James 1:27 27 Pure and undefiled religion before God the Father is this: to care for orphans and widows in their misfortune and to keep yourself unstained by the world.

Ephesians 4:14-16 14 The purpose of this is to no longer be children, tossed back and forth by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching by the trickery of people who with craftiness carry out their deceitful schemes. 15 But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head. 16 From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

James 3:17-18 17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruits, impartial, and not hypocritical. 18 And the fruit that consists of righteousness is planted in peace among those who make peace.

From what I have seen in books, publications and internet forums there is a huge lack of Godly fruit coming from what is proclaimed and promoted. People are too busy to prove themselves right instead of proving the Scriptures correct by their deeds. There is too much talk and not enough action. In Christian circles, what one accuses the other of; they too are guilty of the same. It is almost an atmosphere of animals biting and devouring each other.

1 Timothy 6:3-5 3 If someone spreads false teachings and does not agree with sound words (that is, those of our Lord Jesus Christ) and with the teaching that accords with godliness, 4 he is conceited and understands nothing, but has a sick interest in controversies and verbal disputes. This gives rise to envy, dissension, slanders, evil suspicions, 5 and constant bickering by people corrupted in their minds and deprived of the truth, who suppose that godliness is a way of making a profit.

Those actions are so obvious in the internet forums over the last few years. Few do what they say. There are too many hearers and proclaimers of the Word and not enough doers. Let us speak the truth in love and practice it toward one another.

Philippians 4:8 8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is worthy of respect, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if something is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.

By Fred Robbins May‘07

THE SOUL

The Soul That Sins Shall Die


When the KJV translation was published the vocabulary was much different than today. There have been some minor revisions over the years yet many words were left that are out of date today. There has been much confusion and error created because of the word ‘soul’. When most people think of a soul today, they imagine a part of a person that is spiritual and can be separated from the body. They see that the body dies but the soul continues to live forever. This idea is due to the mistaken teaching about the soul. Many see man as a dualistic being made up of body and soul while others view man as a tripartite made up of spirit, soul and body. What does the Bible say about man?

Genesis 2:7 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

The modern translations have used the word person, creature or being unlike the KJV using the word soul instead. Several other translations use the word soul also. It was common at the time of these translations to call people souls. So it was used to interpret people or a person in the Bible. A more modern and correct translation would be creature or person. What this verse is saying is that the dust of the earth and the breath of God made a living person. The person is not made up of a body and soul but the whole person is called a soul. This cannot be denied if one looks at the text closely.

The Hebrew is nepesh and is used 751 times in the OT. It is translated soul 475, life 117, person 29, mind 15, heart 15, creature 9, body 8 and man 3 times with miscellaneous other translations.

There are a couple of things to notice in Genesis 2:7. The first is the breath of life. God formed man from the ground but he was first an inanimate figure. God breathed the breath of life in him and he became a living soul. It does not say man received a living soul but that he became one. That breath of life brought animation and consciousness to the figure or in other words, it was the life force. This same breath of life was also given to all of the animals.

Genesis 7:21-23 21 And all flesh died that moved on the earth, birds, livestock, beasts, all swarming creatures that swarm on the earth, and all mankind. 22 Everything on the dry land in whose nostrils was the breath of life died. 23 He blotted out every living thing that was on the face of the ground, man and animals and creeping things and birds of the heavens. They were blotted out from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those who were with him in the ark.

Here we see this breath of life that was in all creatures. The same breath that was in man was in all creatures. The life force animated the bodies of clay. Man was formed from the dirt as so were the creatures. This life force is called a spirit and it is that spirit (life force that returns to God when the soul dies). Just as James said.

James 2:26 26 For as the body apart from the spirit is dead, so also faith apart from works is dead.

Secondly let us look at what man was made of, ‘DUST’.

Genesis 2:7 7 then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

God formed man from the dust of the earth. When God pronounced judgment upon Adam for his sin, it included returning to the dust he came from.

Genesis 3:17-19 17 And to Adam he said, "Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten of the tree of which I commanded you, 'You shall not eat of it,' cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; 18 thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. 19 By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return."

The idea of being created by dust should be somewhat humbling.

Genesis 18:27 27 Abraham answered and said, "Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.

Job 10:9 9 Remember that you have made me like clay; and will you return me to the dust?

Ecclesiastes 12:7 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Man was set apart from the other creatures in that he was created in the image of God. What that image is has been debatable for centuries and that is not what I want to get into here.

The understanding of the soul can be made simpler without all of the philosophical interpretations added to it. The idea that the soul is something that can be separate from the body comes from pagan philosophy.

“The doctrine of the immortality of the soul, according to this respected encyclopedia, came from pre-Christian Greek philosophers who acquired it from pagan Egypt and Babylon!

Notice what Herodotus, the famous Greek historian who lived in the fifth century before Jesus, admitted:
The Egyptians also were the first who asserted the doctrine that the soul of man is immortal. . . . This opinion, some among the Greeks have at different periods of time adopted as their own. (Euterpe, chapter 123)

It was the Greek Socrates who traveled to Egypt and consulted the Egyptians on this very teaching. After his return to Greece, he imparted the concept to Plato, his most famous pupil. Compare the present-day doctrine of the churches with what Plato wrote in his book, The Phaedo:

The soul whose inseparable attribute is life will never admit of life's opposite, death. Thus the soul is shown to be immortal, and since immortal, indestructible. . . . Do we believe there is such a thing as death? To be sure. And is this anything but the separation of the soul and body? And being dead is the attainment of this separation, when the soul exists in herself and separate from the body, and the body is parted from the soul. That is death. . . . Death is merely the separation of soul and body.
Sounds a lot like ordinary church teaching, does it not?” (From Forerunner Commentary)

Plato did not get his knowledge from God or a prophet of God. Plato’s knowledge was the supreme imagination of man, the pre-historic science fiction of those times. It was so powerful that it was believed upon throughout the ages and even those setup as Christian teachers were deceived by the influence. After years of being taught as truth, it became tradition.

Colossians 2:8 8 Be careful not to allow anyone to captivate you through an empty, deceitful philosophy that is according to human traditions and the elemental spirits of the world, and not according to Christ.

At this point, I would like the reader to consider what is being said in the light of the Holy Bible. This article is an overlap of the last one posted. I feel the ideas need discussion yet most are only willing to ridicule and insult what is being put forth instead of actually proving their point from God’s Word.

I can see the reluctance to try to Biblically disprove the ideas I have been writing down yet those who hold a traditional view of the immortal soul and hell should feel they could support it from the Scriptures to anyone who asks. If some thinks this to be such an important topic, I wonder why so few discuss it and not allow discussion of it. You may notice on many forums the topic of immortal soul or annihilation is not permitted.

With the strong emotional feelings that the traditionalists have about the immortal soul and hell I am surprised more are not speaking up.

The idea of an immortal soul is not Biblical. You will find that nowhere in Holy Writ because it is just a theological term made up by men. The title of this article should raise eyebrows if it is Biblically supported. It is because we find those words in Ezekiel 18.

Ezekiel 18:4 4 Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

The soul that is spoken about here is not separate from the person because it is the person. See how these other translations handle it.

Ezekiel 18:4 (NRSV) 4 Know that all lives are mine; the life of the parent as well as the life of the child is mine: it is only the person who sins that shall die.

Ezekiel 18:4 (NCV) 4 Every living thing belongs to me. The life of the parent is mine, and the life of the child is mine. The person who sins is the one who will die.

Ezekiel 18:4 (HCSB) 4 Look, every life belongs to Me. The life of the father is like the life of the son—both belong to Me. The person who sins is the one who will die.

People are not immortal, only God is.

1Timothy 6:16 16 He alone possesses immortality and lives in unapproachable light, whom no human has ever seen or is able to see. To him be honor and eternal power! Amen.

King Solomon makes some interesting observation about the natural man.

Ecclesiastes 3:19-20 19 For what happens to the children of man and what happens to the beasts is the same; as one dies, so dies the other. They all have the same breath, and man has no advantage over the beasts, for all is vanity. 20 All go to one place. All are from the dust, and to dust all return.

Ecclesiastes 8:8 8 No man has power to retain the spirit, or power over the day of death. There is no discharge from war, nor will wickedness deliver those who are given to it.

The “spirit” in these verses is the life force, that ‘breath of life’ God gives to all living.

Ecclesiastes 11:5 5 As you do not know the way the spirit comes to the bones in the womb of a woman with child, so you do not know the work of God who makes everything.

I must qualify these verses by saying they do not refer to Christians. Solomon is simply reporting what he sees in mankind generally. The following verse is rather sobering in the sense that it is describing old age and death for the natural man.

Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 1 Remember also your Creator in the days of your youth, before the evil days come and the years draw near of which you will say, "I have no pleasure in them"; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return after the rain, 3 in the day when the keepers of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those who look through the windows are dimmed, 4 and the doors on the street are shut—when the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low— 5 they are afraid also of what is high, and terrors are in the way; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along, and desire fails, because man is going to his eternal home, and the mourners go about the streets— 6 before the silver cord is snapped, or the golden bowl is broken, or the pitcher is shattered at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Preacher; all is vanity.

There is really no support in the OT for the idea of a separate immortal soul that most Christians believe in so let us move to the NT to see what that has to say.

The word for soul in the NT is psychē which is rendered in the KJV as soul, life or mind. The KJV uses the word soul thirty nine times. The Greek word “psychē” is found one hundred and five times. The first time the word “psychē” is found in the NT we see it in the verse below.

Matthew 2:20 20 saying, "Rise, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who sought the child's “life” are dead."

The word “psychē” in this verse is translated life. This is an interesting word study to take through the NT.

The verses below speak about a soul dying and being destroyed.

James 5:20 20 let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.

Matthew 10:28 28 And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

I first want to point out in these two verses the death of the soul. If the soul is immortal, then how can it die and how can it be destroyed? If a soul is a living person then this makes plain sense.

Now looking at Matthew 10:28 some will say …aha… see the soul is separate from the body. Let’s look at the corresponding verse in Luke.

Luke 12:4-5 4 "I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have nothing more they can do. 5 But I will warn you whom you should fear: fear the one who, after the killing, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him!

The point is, do not fear one who can only kill you because God can kill you and never give you life again. You will have eternal death never to live again. This goes along with the promise of eternal life to those who believe in Christ and the gospel.

Romans 2:6-7 6 He will reward each one according to his works: 7 eternal life to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality …

Eternal life is given to those who continue in good works and seek …immortality. If man already has immortality then why seek it?

1 Corinthians 15:50-55 50 Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. 51 Listen, I will tell you a mystery: we will not all die, but we will all be changed-- 52 in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. 53 For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, "Death has been swallowed up in victory." 55 " Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

Here Paul is speaking about the resurrection and rapture stating that flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingdom of God. That should not be a problem if we had shed our bodies and we were just a soul but Paul is speaking about the body that will inherit the Kingdom. It is the person, a whole person that is saved not just part of them.

It is the body that is changed and the person receives immortality. If we are immortal then why put on immortality?
Paul quotes Genesis 2:7 in 1 Corinthians 15:45.

1 Corinthians 15:45-49 45 So also it is written, "The first man, Adam, became a living person; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit." 46 However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, then the spiritual. 47 The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. 48 Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Again, Adam did not receive a soul he became one and as more people see this it will help open a better understanding of the whole Bible. God does not want to just save a soul apart from the body, He wants to save the whole person. A part of me will not be saved but all of me will.

Fred Robbins April ‘07

ANNIHILATION

After Death - What?

Death is RealThere is no escaping the reality of death. When it comes suddenly, unexpectedly, as the result of an accident or heart attack, we are shaken. Similarly when someone still "in the prime of life" dies of cancer or kidney failure. Such events are so common that we all experience them. We are overcome by the sense of our own helplessness: we cannot reverse what has happened. All human resources are powerless to restore a dead person to life. The grieving relative is not easily comforted.

How do people react to the fact of death? The young frankly do not treat the matter seriously. When they have the occasional shock - a friend is killed in a road accident, for example - it is just "bad luck". The tragedy is soon forgotten. The middle-aged do not care to contemplate death. It is too far off yet to seem a real danger: "Better face it when it comes." Older people become more aware that here is a reality they will not escape. Their friends and relations pass off the scene. Failing eyesight and hearing, growing physical ailments remind them that the human frame eventually perishes.

Survival?
Many people find some comfort in the idea of survival. A mysterious inner life called "the soul" is thought to pass out of the perishing body and to go to "heaven", where the personality continues to live--in bliss. This view is not so confidently or so widely held as once it was; it is now often more a pious hope than a strong conviction. And it is very vague, as is shown by the prayer uttered each Christmas Eve at the famous Lessons and Carols service in King's College, Cambridge. The leader prays that the congregation may be joined with those "who rejoice with us, but on another shore and in a greater light" - he means those who have died. If we were to ask, What is this "greater light"? Where is this "other shore"? we should be unlikely to get any very definite answers. The hope is vague.

The view which used to be held, as a necessary counterpart, that the "souls" of evil people go to "hell", there to suffer torments, is now very generally abandoned, except for the Catholic Church, which maintains belief in hell, purgatory, limbo and paradise. It must be said that there is a certain lack of reason in the popular attitude here. For if the "souls" of the righteous go to heaven, where do the "souls" of the wicked go?

An increasing number of people today are frankly pessimistic. They accept the fact that death is the end of life. "I shall soon be pushing up the daisies", as one acquaintance put it. The view has unfortunate consequences, for the person holding it is strongly tempted to argue that his life is all he has; it is his own to do as he pleases; and he may as well "eat, drink, and be merry", for tomorrow he will die. This view of life has a serious effect upon the kind of life to be lived, which can become self-indulgent and self-centered, with the disastrous results for society which we are seeing today.

Messages from the Dead?
The inescapable fact is that since the dawn of history millions upon millions of human beings have lived, died, and been laid in the grave. If they have in fact survived in some new form, would you not have expected to hear from them some word of consolation for the bereaved, some information about their state, or some warning for the living? Yet we never hear anything from them. Not a word. Is not this strange? And where are all these millions anyway?

There are people, called Spiritualists who believe in survival and claim to receive messages from
the dead. But thorough investigation will reveal how unconvincing the claims are. Years ago the present writer attended seances and read widely in the literature. The alleged messages from the dead were so trivial and commonplace as to require no "spirit" explanation. The descriptions of the after-life were filled with gardens, streams, fruit-trees and sweet smelling flowers, enjoyed in blissful idleness. Quite clearly this is just an idealised picture of human longings. C. E. M. Joad, a serious investigator in psychical research, commenting upon the poor quality of alleged spirit communications, robustly declared: "It is evident that if our spirits survive, our brains certainly do not!"

Then there is "the pity of it". Men and women sometimes living worthy lives, humanly speaking, being helpful, kindly and intelligent; some even learned and expert in their field. Need all this just be lost for ever? Is there no way in which the life and character which is of real value can be preserved? Naturally this raises the question, What is real value? We shall come to that later.

The Vital Question
How do we settle this question about what happens after death? Where do we go for a thoroughly reliable and truthful answer?

Do we trust to our own feelings or "intuition"? How do we know we are right? How could we expect anyone else to accept our view on our own authority? How can any man or woman anywhere tell us the answer? How do they know, anyway? Do we accept the views of religious leaders, either of individuals or of Councils or Synods? How do they know? And what are we to think when prominent religious leaders are seen to be divided among themselves on important issues? One prominent bishop has declared that Christ did not literally rise from the dead; others declare the Resurrection to be one of the foundations of the Christian faith. Who are we to believe-and why?

These questions, when sincerely faced, lead us to this inescapable conclusion: the opinion of one human mind is, of itself, of no more value than that of any other. In other words, human thinking cannot give us the answer. From this a very important conclusion emerges; since no human mind can pronounce with authority on what happens after death, then clearly we need an authority coming from outside and above mankind-that is a super-human authority.

The Answer
Such an authority exists among us. It is the Bible which from first to last declares that it is a message to the human race from God-the Creator of the heavens and the earth, and of mankind.

The Bible writers never claim to speak on their own authority, but only "the word of the Lord". "I have put my words in thy mouth", as God said to the prophet Jeremiah (1:10). Jesus accepted the writings of "the law and the prophets" (Our Old Testament) as the Word of God. He himself declared that the words he spoke were God's words. The apostles said the same thing: Paul declared that "all scripture is inspired of God" and used a term which means "God-breathed". The "breath" (or Spirit) of God is in what is written, and so what the Scriptures say is truth. The earliest believers in Christ, from those who knew the Apostles personally, accepted the Old and New Testaments as the true and reliable Word of God. For centuries the teaching of the Bible has been the foundation for Christian belief.

Just think what the Bible does. It records how the human race came into being and it explains in clear terms why there is evil, suffering and death in the world. It tells us positively what happens after death. And it also reveals the new kind of life which can be ours, if we will only pay attention to its message.

There is no other book in the world which does all this. In fact there is no book anywhere which shows so many signs of being produced not by human minds, but by the mind of God. Over 100 years ago Henry Rogers wrote a remarkable book entitled The Superhuman Origin of the Bible Deduced from Itself. He declared: "The Bible is not such a book as man would have written if he could, nor could have written if he would." The reason is that it is a message to us from God. That is why it deserves our sincere attention.

The Bible and Us
It is most important that we should understand what the Bible has to say about us, our origin and our nature. It is the only authoritative account anywhere of how we came to exist.

The book of Genesis is about our origin. It tells us clearly that man was a created being: that is, he depended upon a Creator for his very life. He was not responsible for his own origin. This is how it happened:

"The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul" (Genesis 2:7).

Notice man's lowly origin: from the ground. Genesis tells us also (at 6:17 and 7:21) that the animals too share "the breath of life" with mankind. But it is the expression "a living soul" which claims our attention and teaches us the first and essential condition for understanding the Bible: we must understand Bible terms in its own sense, and not in ours. Now to many people "the soul" suggests some spirit within man which "survives the death of the body". But that is not at all how it is used in Genesis, where the word translated "soul" is used of the animals as well. In Genesis 1:21,24 it is translated "living creature". The Revised Standard Version (R.S.V.) renders "living soul" as "living being". So does the New International Version (N.l.V.). The New English Bible (N.E.B.) has "a living creature".

The conclusion is clear: Genesis is telling us that by origin and nature man was created a living being. Of course, he has greater powers of mind than have the animals, but basically his nature is the same as theirs.

The Coming of Death
The question as to how man's life might come to an end is treated very early in Genesis. Adam was told by God that if he disobeyed the commandment he had received, he would die. He did disobey, and this is the judgement which was pronounced upon him:

". . in the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art and unto dust shalt thou return" (3:19).

The record is devastatingly simple: death is not a door opening to a new life--it is a judgement for disobedience. Man returns to the ground. So in the Genesis record of the Flood, when "the earth was corrupt before God and filled with violence . . . for all flesh had corrupted his (God's) way upon the earth" (6:11-1 2), the waters of judgement came, and men and animals perished in the same way:

"All flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, of cattle, of beast . . . and every man; all in whose nostrils was the breath of life ...died" (7:21-22).

Man and Animals
The Bible frequently compares the nature of man to that of the animals. The Psalmist declares, speaking of both:

"Thou (God) takest away their breath, they die, and return to their dust" (104:29).

The writer of Ecclesiastes is quite categorical: he desires men to see
"that they themselves are beasts. For that which befalleth the sons of men befalleth beasts; even one thing befalleth them: as the one dieth, so dieth the other; yea, they have all one breath . . . All go unto one place: all are of the dust and all turn to dust again" (3:19-21).

Men and animals have by nature the same fate: they all return to the ground. Some may object that the next verse gives a different sense, but all modern versions (R.V., R.S.V., N.I.V., N.E.B.) put it thus:

"Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes downward to the earth?" (v.22).

That is, who can tell whether there is any difference? Incidentally, the word translated "spirit" here is the very same as is rendered "breath" in v.1 9; which shows that "spirit" here is the life resulting from breathing. It ceases when breathing stops.

So the "soul" can die. The Psalmist, speaking of the judgement God brought upon the proud Egyptians by the ten plagues, says: "He (God) spared not their soul from death"; and then immediately adds: "and gave their life over to the pestilence" (Psalm 78:50), showing that the soul and the life are the same thing.

Twice God declares through Ezekiel: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die" (Ezek. 18:3,20). Samson, in his final appeal to God, prays: "Let me die with the Philistines" (Judges 16:30). But the margin of the A.V. shows that what Samson literally said was: "Let my soul die . . ."

The soul then, is the person, the living being. When he perishes, the soul, or life, perishes with him.

Man in God's Image
Does this mean that men are no better than the animals? Not quite that, for Genesis 1:26 tells us that man was made "in the image" of God. In other words, the physical nature of mankind is just like that of the animals; but man has a superior mind, capable of understanding and responding to God. The Psalmist has this most valuable comment:

"Man that is in honour, and understandeth not, is like the beasts that perish" (Psalm 49:20).

So it is understanding which can make the difference between a man and the animals. When we ask, "Understanding what?", then the New Testament comes powerfully to our aid, as we shall see.

In view of the Biblical evidence so far reviewed, it is no surprise to learn that the dead rest, completely unconscious in the grave. Do not trust in princes or in man, says the Psalmist, for "his breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish" (Psalm 146:4).

David prays that God will deliver him, for "in death there is no remembrance of thee: in the grave who shall give thee thanks?" (Psalm 6:5).

Psalm 115 says the same: "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into silence" (v. 17).

The writer of Ecclesiastes is most emphatic:

"For the living know that they shall die: but the dead know not anything . . . Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now perished . . . Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest" (9:5-10).

The place of the dead is consistently described in these emphatic passages as "in his earth" (the dust of the ground from which man was made), "in the grave" and "in silence".

The Sleep of Death
Daniel has a remarkable statement on this subject. It is especially significant because of the use made of the same idea in the New Testament. His prophecy contains this reference to events in "the last days", when God will show His power once more in the earth, at "a time of trouble such as never was... Many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt" (Daniel 12:1-2).

Now that this statement refers in part to the faithful servants of God is clear from the assurance that they will receive "everlasting life". But look where they are until they receive this reward: they sleep "in the dust of the earth", a testimony entirely consistent with all we have seen so far.

At this point some readers may say: "So far you have been quoting the Old Testament. Surely the New Testament is a new revelation of Jesus and the Gospel? Does it not say something quite different?"

Jesus, the Apostles and the Old Testament
To answer this question it is essential to understand what was the attitude of Jesus, and the Apostles after him, to the writings now known as the Old Testament. The facts are clear and beyond question: they all accepted "the law, the psalms and the prophets", as the inspired Word of God. They quote from them constantly in support of their preaching; they never contradict or cast doubt upon any Old Testament passage, but rather seek to draw out the true significance of what was written. You would thus expect the New Testament writings to agree in their teaching with the Old, and so it proves. Here are a few examples.

There had been a tragedy in Galilee. Roman soldiers had killed a number of Jews in a religious riot. Some Jews came to Jesus to tell him of it. His response is very significant. Do you think, he asked, that those Galileans who died were greater sinners than all the other inhabitants of Galilee, because they suffered such a fate? Not at all, he said, but I tell you this:
"except ye repent ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:1-31)

Now "to perish" in the Bible means just what it means to us: to cease to exist with no suggestion of survival. There is no escaping the teaching of Jesus here: all mankind will perish, unless they repent. This is just like Psalm 49: man is like the beasts that perish, unless he understands. Here we have the first hint of the answer to our question, "Understand what?" It has evidently something to do with repentance.

Jesus also agreed with Daniel, who had declared that "many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake" (12:21).

This is how John's Gospel records his saying:
". . . The hour is coming, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his (Jesus') voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of condemnation" (John 5:28-29). (Jesus' "all" is the same as Daniel's "many": it is all who during their lifetime have "heard the voice of the Son of God", v.25.)

Look where the dead are: "in the tombs" ("sleep in the dust of the earth", Daniel); they "come forth" by resurrection ("they awake", Daniel); they come forth either to life or to judgement. The harmony between Jesus and Daniel is complete; the Lord is endorsing the teaching of the Old Testament on this important matter of the place, the state, and the fate of the dead.

The Apostles uphold the same teaching. John, in the best-known verse of the New Testament, declares:

"God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth on him, should not perish, but have everlasting life" (3:16).

The words we have emphasised are frequently ignored, but there is no escaping the verdict that those who do not "believe on" Jesus (in the way the Scriptures explain) will perish, that is cease to exist.

The Apostle Paul has the same message. Writing to the believers in Ephesus, he tells them that before they came to know and believe in Christ, they were "without Christ having no hope, and without God in the world" (Eph.2:1 2). This is a shattering saying. It tells us plainly that if we are not related to God through Christ, in the way He requires, we are "without hope". How precious must be that "understanding" which can save us from such a fate!

The Apostle James tells his readers not to make too confident assertions of what they will do at some future time. You never know what will happen tomorrow, he says; and then adds:

"What is your life? For ye are a vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away" (James 4:14, R.V.). The R.S.V. and the N.I.V. have : "You are a mist that appears . . . and then vanishes."

Daniel's description of the dead as "sleeping" in the grave is reproduced by the Apostle Paul. The believers at Thessalonica were mourning the death of some who had believed in Christ:

"I would not have you ignorant, brethren, concernmg them which are asleep (he means in death), that ye sorrow not, even as the rest who have no hope .... For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven ... with the voice of the archangel and the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise . . ." (1 Thess. 4:13,16)

Notice what this passage is saying: the faithful believers who have died are "asleep"; those who do not believe have "no hope"; Christ personally (note "himself") will descend from heaven; and the faithful dead will rise-from the grave of course. Here are basic teachings which are found throughout the New Testament. They are foundation truths of the Gospel.

The Resurrection of the Dead
It has always been hard for those who believe in survival after death by some immortal soul or spirit, to explain why the New Testament lays such great emphasis upon the resurrection of the
dead.

That it does so is beyond question. Jesus assumes that it is true, in telling the Jews not merely to invite their rich neighbours to a banquet, hoping to get a return invitation, but to invite those in need, "and thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just" (Luke 14:14). The faithful dead are to be raised from their graves; that is when they will receive their reward.

The Apostle Paul devotes a whole chapter to asserting that the dead will rise. He makes a special point of arguing that if Christ did not rise from the dead, then no one else can either. In that case, "they also which are fallen asleep in Christ have perished" (1 Cor. 15:18). (Note the implication here: if in this case even the believers in Christ have "perished", how much more those who have not believed!)

But there is no doubt about it, says Paul: Christ did rise from the dead (see his impressive list of actual witnesses in verses 3-8 of this chapter); and so Christ has "become the first-fruits of them that are asleep" (v. 21). Twice within three verses Paul has described the dead as "asleep". Such is his agreement with Daniel.

In the remainder of this chapter Paul declares that for the faithful dead there is to be, after their resurrection, a change of nature: "Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God." Our present nature is mortal and corruptible; but when the dead are raised, they are to be "changed": for "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality". This is the way "death is swallowed up in victory" (vv. 50-54).

So we arrive at the clear Bible truth that the reward of the righteous does not consist of some "spirit existence" somewhere; it will be the granting of an incorruptible body, one that will not waste away and perish as our present one does, but will no longer be subject to death. The reason is remarkable: God has a work for the faithful to do in the future. Those who are granted resurrection from the grave will move about in the world as real, tangible people, engaged in the practical task of enlightening the nations of the world in the truths of God which they have either ignored or perverted for so many centuries. This will be the purpose of the rule of Christ over the nations when he returns, as the Bible says he will.

"But . . .?"
But are there not some passages in the New Testament which support the idea of survival after death? There are a very few passages sometimes quoted in this way. But when they are carefully examined, they will be found to be in harmony with the teaching of the Bible as a whole. We treat here some of the better known ones.

Hell:
In the Old Testament the word translated "hell" means no more than a concealed or covered place. Translated as "hell" 31 times, it is also rendered "grave" 31 times, in passages like these:
(Jacob, mourning the loss of his son Joseph): "I will go down into the grave to my son, mourning.(Gen. 37:35). "In the grave who shall give thee (God) thanks?" (Psa. 6:5). ". . . there is no work nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave whither thou goest" (Eccles. 9:10).

Hence the prophecy about Christ: "Thou (God) wilt not leave my soul in hell...", means quite simply that God would not leave his life, or himself, in the grave, as is shown by the rest of the verse: "...neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption" (Psa. 1 6:10).

In the New Testament this passage is quoted by the Apostle Peter (Acts 2:31). He uses the Greek term usually translated "hell", showing that he understood it in the same way as the Psalm.

Gehenna:
There is, however, in the New Testament another and very interesting word translated "hell", represented in English as "Gehenna". This was the name of a place just outside the city of Jerusalem. The following explanation from Grimm-Thayer's Greek-Engllsh Lexicon of the New Testament is very helpful:

"Gehenna: ... the valley of lamentation ... is the name of a valley to the South and East of Jerusalem, so called from the cries of little children, thrown into the fiery arms of Molech, an idol having the form of a bull. The Jews so abhorred the place after these horrible sacrifices had been abolished by King Josiah (2 Kings 23:10) that they cast into it not only all manner of refuse, but even the dead bodies of animals and of unburied criminals who had been executed. Since fires were always needed to consume the dead bodies, that the air might not become tainted by the putrefaction, it came to pass that the place was called 'Gehenna of fire'."

Now Gehenna is used 12 times in the New Testament, 11 of them by Jesus himself. Here is one case:

"If thine eye offend thee (cause thee to stumble, R.V.), pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell (Gehenna), where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched" (see the whole passage, Mark 9:43-48).

Jesus' meaning is this:
If there is anything you are doing with your hand, anywhere you are going with your feet, anything you are seeing with your eyes, which is preventing you from entering the Kingdom of God, then stop doing it; for otherwise you will end up being destroyed with the wicked in death. The worm and the fire are symbolic agents of destruction. They are not everlasting, but they continue their work till all is consumed. So Gehenna becomes a type of the judgement upon the wicked in the last day.

All other uses of Gehenna will be found to contain the same idea.

The Soul:
The Old Testament passages already considered have shown that the "soul" means "the person" and his "life". It can sin and it can die.

The word so translated in the New Testament is used about 100 times. It is rendered soul 58 times, life 40, and mind 3. One of the sayings of Jesus is significant. Having told his disciples that anyone who desires to be one of his true servants must "deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me", he goes on:
"For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it. For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" (Matt. 16:25-26).

The English reader would think two different words were being used here, "life" and "soul". Yet it is the same original word throughout, a fact which the R.V. and the R.S.V. versions recognise by translating "life" in all four cases.

Another passage often quoted is: "Be not afraid of them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul ..." This sounds very impressive, but the second part of the verse says: " . . but rather fear him (that is, God) which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Gehenna-Matt. 10:28).

So the soul can be destroyed. Jesus' meaning is not hard to follow: If a faithful servant is put to death, he will get his life (or soul) back-at the resurrection of the dead, as we have seen. But the unfaithful servant will be totally destroyed in death, in the judgement symbolised by Gehenna. His "soul", or life, will perish with him.

The Rich Man and Lazarus:
If the reader is not familiar with this passage (Luke 16:19-31), he is recommended at this point to study it carefully.

Lazarus, the beggar, dies and is "carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom". The rich man dies, but when he is "in hell, in torments", he can see "afar off" Lazarus in Abraham's bosom. He begs Abraham to send Lazarus, "that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue . But the request is rejected-the former rich man must suffer his punishment. Besides, says Abraham, "between us and you is a great gulf fixed", so that no passing over from one place to the other is possible. The rich man then asks Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his five brothers, lest they suffer the same fate as he has done. This request too is rejected, in terms we shall consider further in a moment.

Now there are certain features of this narrative which make it impossible to take it literally. Abraham's bosom as the place of the righteous after death; the conversation between Abraham in bliss and the rich man "in hell"; the idea that one might be sent with water from the one place to the other "to cool the tongue" of a sufferer. The conviction that this is not a literal account of the states of the dead, but a kind of parable, or symbolic narrative, becomes a certainty when it is realised that all these details were part of the tradition of the Pharisees at the time, as Josephus, the Jewish historian of the first century, shows in his Discourse Concerning Hades. So Jesus was employing some of his opponents' own ideas to confound them.
But it is in the last few verses of the passage that Jesus' real point emerges. When the rich man requests Abraham to send Lazarus to warn his brothers, Abraham replies: "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them." When the rich man says, "Nay, father Abraham, if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent", Abraham replies: "If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead."

Within a short time this saying was strikingly fulfilled. Jesus raised Lazarus-the real Lazarus-the brother of Martha and Mary, from the dead. The miracle created a sensation among the people, but far from "being persuaded", the leaders of the Jews were only the more resolved to kill him. Very shortly after that, Jesus himself rose from the dead. Despite the powerful evidence of witnesses, the Jewish authorities were determined to deny his resurrection and to reject his claim to be the Son of God. They had not really accepted the teaching of their own Scriptures, "Moses and the prophets", and they would not accept the claims of Jesus to be the expected Messiah.

This was the whole point of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. It perfectly conveyed the point Jesus wanted to make. It has nothing to teach us about the state of the dead. For that we must go to the evidence of the Bible as a whole.

The Thief on the Cross:
Luke 23:39-43 contains the account. Jesus hangs on the cross. One of the two thieves, crucified with him, confesses that he is being "justly condemned", but "this man (Jesus) has done nothing amiss". Then, turning to Jesus, he says, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom" (v.42).

This is an astonishing request. Look what it implies:
1. that to the thief Jesus was "Lord";
2. that the thief expected Jesus to survive the crucifixion;
3. that at some future time, Jesus would be "coming into his kingdom";
4. that at that time Jesus would be able to "remember him" and to restore him to life.

All these assumptions agree entirely with what the New Testament teaches. Now look at Jesus' reply:

"VERILYISAYUNTOTHEETODAYTHOUSHALTBEWITHMEINPARADISE."
Now that is just how the Greek letters appear in the oldest manuscripts: they are all capitals; the words are not separated; and there is no punctuation. So how do you understand Jesus' answer? Is it,
"Verily, I say unto thee, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise"?
Or is it,
"Verily, I say unto thee today Thou shalt be with me in paradise"?

It makes all the difference in the understanding of Jesus' promise. How are we to decide? Grammatically either sense is possible. Semeron (today) may be taken either with the first verb, or the second. But there are other considerations.

Jesus was using a familiar Hebrew form of statement commonly found in the Old Testament. Here are three examples from one chapter (Deuteronomy 4:26,39,40): "I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day . . . Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart . . . Thou shalt keep (God's) commandments, which I command thee this day . . ."To declare something "this day" (or today), was a form of solemn statement with full assurance of truth. Similar expressions occur 42 times in the book of Deuteronomy alone. So Jesus was using a well-known Hebrew form to underline the seriousness of his words, "I say unto thee today . . ". The thief could be assured that what Jesus promised would indeed come to pass.

Where was Jesus "that day" anyway? Not in glory, in heaven. He was in the tomb. As he prophesied himself to the scribes and Pharisees: "The son of man shall be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth" (Matt. 12:40). "Heart" is a Hebrew idiom for "midst"; he meant he would be in the grave.

What are we to understand by "paradise"? Once again we must be careful to get our understanding from the Bible itself, not from human traditions. The word was originally Persian and in the Old Testament is translated forest, orchards, and gardens. Isaiah declares that when the time comes for the Lord to "comfort Zion", He will "make her wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord (51:3).

The Greek translators of the Old Testament (about 200 years before Christ) rendered the Hebrew "garden" here by paradeisos, the word used by Jesus in his reply to the thief. Now the reference in the Isaiah prophecy is to the prosperity and fertility of "the Land of Promise", the land occupied by Israel in the years before Christ. So "paradise" stands in the Bible for the new Kingdom of peace and joy which Christ will establish when he returns to the earth, when "he comes in his kingdom", as the thief believed he would. Thus understood, the passage owes nothing to Greek legends, but is quite consistent with the teaching of the whole Bible.

The small number of other passages which are sometimes brought forward to support the idea of survival of the soul after death will also be found, on careful examination, to be quite consistent with the rest of Scripture.

Why so Widespread?
The question may well be asked, If the survival of some soul or spirit after death is not taught in the Bible, how has it become so widely believed among religious people?

The explanation is simple. Some such idea of survival was common in all the pagan religions of antiquity, in all nations. It represented a common longing of the human mind. It was a distinctive mark of early Christianity that it rejected this false belief. The first Christians understood the perishing nature of mankind. They looked for the new life, promised through the Gospel, not at death but at the return of Christ when the faithful dead would rise from their graves. As time went on, however, "mass conversions" of formerly pagan nations occurred in the Roman world.

Inevitably many converts brought their pagan notions with them. Further, the leaders of the Christian Church tried to make its teaching harmonise with the ideas of the philosophers, derived from Greek sources. The immortality of the soul was common among them.

But wherever there has been a serious attempt to discover what the Bible is really saying, there has been also a return to the beliefs of the early Christians. Such a return occurred during the Reformation in Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries. The truth has been acknowledged openly in more recent times by distinguished theologians. Look at these quotations:
In 1897, B. F. Westcott, Professor of Divinity at Cambridge, commenting on 2 Timothy 1:10, wrote:

"The central fact of our creed . . . is not the immortality of the soul, but the resurrection of the body. Our Saviour brought life and incorruption (not immortality) to light. . . Bearing this truth in mind, we can see the force of Paul's words: 'The Lord Jesus shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation' (Phil. 3:21, R.V)" - Some Lessons of the Revised Version of the New Testament, p.192.

In 1924, Bishop Gore (of London) wrote:
"I think . . . that, in the doctrine of human nature, the proposition that the soul of man is in its essence incorruptible, and so necessarily immortal . . . is derived from Greek -philosophy and not from Scripture." - The Holy Spirit and the Church, p.288, footnote.

Appalled at the spread of irreligion in the war years, the Church of England set up a Commission under the chairmanship of the Bishop of Rochester. Members of many religious communities took part. The report, Towards the Conversion of England, published in 1945, contains this paragraph:
"The idea of the inherent indestructibility of the human soul (or consciousness) owes its origin to Greek, and not to Bible sources. The central theme of the New Testament is eternal life, not for anybody and everybody, but for believers in Christ as risen from the dead." - p. 23.
(The italics in these quotations are the present writer's.)

These are remarkable declarations indeed. All that we have been finding in Scripture is here confirmed. Men and women do not automatically survive death. By nature they perish in the grave. Those who are to attain to eternal life will do so as a result of resurrection from the grave at the coming of Christ.

The Vital MessageFrom our brief review of the teaching of the Bible on this important subject one thing becomes clear: the message it contains is vital to us all, for if we take no notice of it, we shall perish. That is why its message is called "the Gospel", that is "the good news". Just how essential it is Paul showed in reminding his readers in Corinth of "the gospel which I preached unto you . . . by which ye are saved, if ye keep in memory what I preached unto you . . . (1 Cor. 15:1-2).

To the Romans he wrote:
"I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth (Rom. 1:16).

How much our perishing race needs this "good news"! What a marvellous thing it is that this message of life still exists among us, for here it is, in the pages of the Bible, in the very words of Jesus and his apostles. Let us make it our aim to get to know this "word of life" while we still have the opportunity, for our very future is at stake.

-- FRED PEARCE

GOD OUR ROCK

Does God Change His Mind?

When we think of God, sometimes we think of His excellent attributes such as justice, love, holiness, righteousness, all knowing, all present and His immutability. There are more but it is this last mentioned attribute I would like to comment on. We can say God is immutable or unchanging because of certain Scriptures found in the Bible.

Malachi 3:6 6 "For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.

Numbers 23:19 19 God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?

Hebrews 13:8 8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever!
James 1:17 17 All generous giving and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or the slightest hint of change.

These verses above are used to show forth God’s immutability but taken alone as I have listed them here can distort the understanding of them in their context. It may seem that the title of this article is answered in Numbers 23:19. This verse was a prophecy Balaam made to Balak king of Moab. After Israel crossed the Jordan and captured Jericho the other nations feared them. Balak wanted Balaam to curse Israel so they might defeat them in battle but Balaam could only bless them. This verse was making a specific point that God wanted Balak to understand concerning the situation. In its context, this verse cannot be used to universally teach, God never changes His mind.

God’s immutability or unchangeableness is in His essence, attributes and counsel. God does not change for He is a rock that we can trust in. He is our true stable foundation unlike all other things in this world that change. What is it that we can truly depend on apart from our Wonderful Lord? Our faith is only in Him. God will not change in who He is or what He is for He will always be God. God will not change in His attributes for He will always remain just, holy, loving and all of the rest. God will not change in what He declares to be right and wrong and why blessings and punishments come about. His Word that we have in the Bible will always remain the same. How would you feel praying to a god who would grant a request one day and deny it the next?

In thinking about the immutability of God, some have gone too far in believing that God does not change His mind and whatever God says will happen. If God says such and such will happen then you can count on that because God does not lie. That does not mean God cannot change His mind because we are given many examples in Scripture where God did change His mind and other situations where His decision was determined by what people did. Moses steps in and intercedes for Israel just after they came out of Egypt.

Exodus 32:12-14 12 Why should the Egyptians say, 'With evil intent did he bring them out, to kill them in the mountains and to consume them from the face of the earth'? Turn from your burning anger and relent from this disaster against your people. 13 Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, 'I will multiply your offspring as the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your offspring, and they shall inherit it forever.' " 14 And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

There are many situations as this where God relented of the evil He was going to do. There was Jonah in Nineveh.

Jonah 3:4-10 4 Jonah began to go into the city, going a day's journey. And he called out, "Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!" 5 And the people of Nineveh believed God. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. 6 The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. 7 And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, "By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, 8 but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. 9 Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish." 10 When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

There was David and the destroying angel.

1 Chronicles 21:14-17 14 So the Lord sent a pestilence on Israel, and 70,000 men of Israel fell. 15 And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the Lord saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, "It is enough; now stay your hand." And the angel of the Lord was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. 16 And David lifted his eyes and saw the angel of the Lord standing between earth and heaven, and in his hand a drawn sword stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces. 17 And David said to God, "Was it not I who gave command to number the people? It is I who have sinned and done great evil. But these sheep, what have they done? Please let your hand, O Lord my God, be against me and against my father's house. But do not let the plague be on your people."

There was Isaiah and Hezekiah.

2 Kings 20:1-6 1 In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him and said to him, "Thus says the Lord, 'Set your house in order, for you shall die; you shall not recover.' " 2 Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the Lord, saying, 3 "Now, O Lord, please remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. 4 And before Isaiah had gone out of the middle court, the word of the Lord came to him: 5 "Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the leader of my people, Thus says the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen your tears. Behold, I will heal you. On the third day you shall go up to the house of the Lord, 6 and I will add fifteen years to your life. I will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and I will defend this city for my own sake and for my servant David's sake."

What we are able to see in these events is God changing His mind on pronouncements that He had made. Now in the above examples it appears that men had changed the mind of God through their appeals to Him. This does not diminish God’s power or knowledge. Our Gracious God made it plain that if bad conduct was repented of and turned away from, He would turn away His wrath. Also if good conduct was turned into bad then the blessings would cease. When God changes His mind in His conduct toward someone, He does not do it grudgingly but He does it with compassion. He is always gracious in His blessings that He gives to His people.

Jeremiah 18:6-10 6 "O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter has done? declares the Lord. Behold, like the clay in the potter's hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. 7 If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, 8 and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. 9 And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, 10 and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.

Jeremiah 26:2-3 2 "Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord's house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord all the words that I command you to speak to them; do not hold back a word. 3 It may be they will listen, and every one turn from his evil way, that I may relent of the disaster that I intend to do to them because of their evil deeds.

Therefore, we see that in some cases God’s actions depended upon the people and the situation at the time. Some doctrines portray God as a ridged god whose decrees have already determined the future. That is not what these Scripture references reveal. These verses should inspire prayer and supplication. We should boldly go to God with the right and proper requests that stem from an honest and humble heart. On the other hand, let us not think we can tell God what to do as some teach or that He is waiting to act according to our desires. God is still a sovereign God who does listen to us and will give us help in time of need. Christians can become so confused about prayer because of the different teaching they listen to. Some teach that we cannot change God’s mind and that we should pray because we are told to. I do not get that from the Bible or my experience with the Lord. My experience with the Lord is personal and very real. He reveals His will to me and out of love toward Him I obey somewhat imperfectly. In my life, whenever I have needed help I have asked Him and He has given it. My prayers are not spoken from blind obedience but out of a heart felt need for His help either for me or others.

Jesus said, Matthew 7:7-11 7 "Ask and it will be given to you. Seek and you will find. Knock and the door will be opened for you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who seeks finds, and to the one who knocks it will be opened. 9 Is there anyone among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? 11 So then, if you, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

We need to be careful what we ask for and how we ask,

James 4:3 3 you ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly, so you can spend it on your passions.

We pray that our favorite team will win or our lottery numbers will be drawn. Most of us do not know what to pray for but if we bathe our self in the Word of God we will learn how and what to pray for. If we pray according to God’s will, He will hear us. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you, humble yourself and He will lift you up. Let us rejoice in the Lord and always give Him thanks for all of the great things He has done.

Fred Robbins March 2007

PRETERISM

The Problem of Preterism


I believe the supporters of preterism have been short sited and overly optimistic in their evaluation of what they call a movement or new reformation. It seems today that any group that is promoting some unorthodox or non-traditional doctrine sees themselves as some new movement bringing new light to the Christian community. These groups are optimistic of spreading their newfound doctrine, which is not new, for others to follow. Let’s understand that Preterism is not new. It has been around longer than any of us have.

Some have declared that Preterism will be the uniting factor to bring the body of believers together. This too is a mistake caused by not understanding Preterism. It is seen by many as another view of eschatology but upon close inspection, that too is suspect. Eschatology deals with the last things, the end of the world and man’s final destination in the traditional sense. Preterism does not actually fall into that category like Amillennium, Postmillennium, Premillennium and dispensational doctrines. They all deal with the same topics yet the approach and outcome are quite different. Preterism views life after Christ’s return and all the others view life before. One deals with the present and the others deal with the future.

I think Preterism is more related to a hermeneutic, the method of interpretation, than the outcome of interpretation. To argue if one is Preterist or not reveals a shallow understanding of what Preterism is. Preterists interpret the Scriptures from the standpoint that Christ has already returned. It is a different method of looking at the Scriptures than other eschatological approaches and yet they can continue to keep their theological background they had before. Most of us know all of the different groups within “Preterism”. The fracture continues to grow monthly. The battles within the Preterist community are no longer with those that oppose it but among themselves. They bite and devour one another and eventually they will be consumed. There will be no agreement and unity among Preterists anymore than other groups. All of the different theological backgrounds can use a preterist hermeneutic but that does not make them united. An Arminian may remain an Arminian and so a Calvinist. Their age-old battles will remain and will never change. The only uniting factor is the view that Christ has already returned but after that, anything goes. Therefore, to claim to be Preterist is in the most basic form to say that Christ returned. That is the one and only recognizable belief they have in common.

If Preterism does not wake up it will only show the Christian community how cruel and mean dogmatism can be. This arrogance did not start with Preterism but has been fueled by the proponents over their long held theological positions.

1 Corinthians 13:2 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 4 Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is what the so-called Preterists need to go back and learn.

Fred Robbins March 2007

Abraham

ABRAHAM AND ISAAC



The call of Abraham is found in Genesis chapter 12 with clarification found in Acts chapter 7. Where one part of Scripture may seem obscured, we can usually find clarification in other parts with careful searching. The story of Abraham is one of faith and true faith results in obedience. God called Abraham away from his home, country and relatives. It was to be a journey trusting upon God has he traveled through a foreign land. The various trials that Abraham encountered were no doubt difficult but the focus of this article will look at probably his most difficult trial he faced and that having to sacrifice his son Isaac.

Genesis 11:31-32 31 Terah took Abram his son and Lot the son of Haran, his grandson, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife, and they went forth together from Ur of the Chaldeans to go into the land of Canaan, but when they came to Haran, they settled there. 32 The days of Terah were 205 years, and Terah died in Haran.

Genesis 12:4-6 4 So Abram went, as the Lord had told him, and Lot went with him. Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran. 5 And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan. When they came to the land of Canaan, 6 Abram passed through the land to the place at Shechem, to the oak of Moreh. At that time the Canaanites were in the land.

Acts 7:2 - 4 2And he said, “Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran, 3and said to him, ‘Leave your country and your relatives, and come into the land that I will show you.’ 4“Then he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Haran. From there, after his father died, God had him move to this country in which you are now living.

The relationship of Abram and Sarai was surely that of a true and deep love for one another. They had no children but for Sarai it seemed as a curse. It was a blessing to bear children but somewhat of an embarrassment not to. Sarari was a respectful wife wanting to please her husband and feel complete as a woman who had children. The Scriptures do not spend time in relating this love affair between these two people but as the story unfolds one can feel the close bond between them. It is revealed in what Sarai does for Abram and what Abram does for Sarai.


Genesis 13:14-16 14 The Lord said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, "Lift up your eyes and look from the place where you are, northward and southward and eastward and westward, 15 for all the land that you see I will give to you and to your offspring forever. 16 I will make your offspring as the dust of the earth, so that if one can count the dust of the earth, your offspring also can be counted.

Genesis 15:1-6 1 After these things the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision: "Fear not, Abram, I am your shield; your reward shall be very great." 2 But Abram said, "O Lord GOD, what will you give me, for I continue childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus?" 3 And Abram said, "Behold, you have given me no offspring, and a member of my household will be my heir." 4 And behold, the word of the Lord came to him: "This man shall not be your heir; your very own son shall be your heir." 5 And he brought him outside and said, "Look toward heaven, and number the stars, if you are able to number them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." 6 And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.

It must have been confusing for Abram, for God was telling him about his offspring yet Sarai remained barren. The years were passing by and all these things must have weighed heavy upon Abram’s thoughts. How, he may have thought, will I have offspring from Sarai? Sarai also was probably concerned speaking with her husband knowing he would have offspring according to God’s promise.

Genesis 16:1-3 1 Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar. 2 And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the Lord has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai. 3 So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.

It was surely a hard decision for Sarai to make giving an Egyptian servant to her husband so he may have the offspring God promised him. Out of respect, Sarai suffered the pain of having her husband have a child from another woman and a servant at that. It was an honor and blessing for women to have children then but Sarai’s barrenness and Hagar’s success seemed almost too much for Sarai to bear. In addition to the humbling experience, Hagar had an attitude of pride in bearing Abram’s son that added to the insult toward Sarai. The pain and embarrassment was difficult for Sarai but the belittling attitude and insubordination from Hagar was too much for Sarai to take.

Genesis 16:4-6 4 And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress. 5 And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the Lord judge between you and me!" 6 But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.

We must give Abram credit for showing the love and respect for Sarai. Throughout their marriage, this was strong and evident. They were a close and loving couple, though without children, God blessed them. It is not revealed what Sarai had done to Hagar yet it seemed bad enough for her to flee from her master. She was desperate and appeared to have run away suddenly. Sarai had felt she had made a mistake in giving Hagar to Abram but now it was done and Abram would have a child.

Genesis 16:7-9 7 The angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur. 8 And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai." 9 The angel of the Lord said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her."

I see by these verses Hagar may have been disobedient not submitting to Sarai. She may have thought she was privileged as a bearer of Abram’s son but her fears drove her away. Then an angel appeared to her in the wilderness telling her to return to her master and submit for she and her son would be blessed. Hagar would again find herself and her son alone in the wilderness visited by an angel later.

Now we have a chronological setting to help put the story in perspective. Abram was 75 years old when he left Haran with Sarai, Lot and his many servants. At age 86 Ishmael was born. We can take the events that happened between then as covering some 11 years. Abram was 99 years old when Sodom was destroyed and Abram’s and Sarai’s name was changed. Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah. Abraham was 100 years old when Isaac was born. At that time Sarah was 90 years old.

Genesis 17:17-19 17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, "Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" 19 God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him.

I think there had to be some confusion in the mind of Abraham after all he laughed at the idea Sarah would bear him a son yet he believed God that it would happen. Sarah, when hearing it laughed also.

Genesis 18:13-15 13 The Lord said to Abraham, "Why did Sarah laugh and say, 'Shall I indeed bear a child, now that I am old?' 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? At the appointed time I will return to you about this time next year, and Sarah shall have a son." 15 But Sarah denied it, saying, "I did not laugh," for she was afraid. He said, "No, but you did laugh."

We see the old couple that had probably spent 50 years or more together. They had encountered various trials and blessing. Abraham now had a son that he no doubt loved and after hearing that Sarah would bear him a son, he probably was concerned about Ishmael and his future.

Genesis 17:18-21 18 And Abraham said to God, "Oh that Ishmael might live before you!" 19 God said, "No, but Sarah your wife shall bear you a son, and you shall call his name Isaac. I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his offspring after him. 20 As for Ishmael, I have heard you; behold, I have blessed him and will make him fruitful and multiply him greatly. He shall father twelve princes, and I will make him into a great nation. 21 But I will establish my covenant with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this time next year."

God assured that Abraham’s first son, Ishmael, would be blessed and taken care of. Abraham and Sarah after years of trials and blessing together would now experience the desire that they both had held most dear. They would have a son together and though some confusion was in their minds, there was also a great joy. Abraham was happy for Sarah that now she would bear a son and become a mother. It would be a son that was part of both of them, a son they could both love as their own. Sarah was happy to be blessed with the ability to have a son that would complete her womanhood. Like Abraham, she also thought of her husband and the joy she could bring him in giving him a son. Had there been doubt and disbelief by them there would have been no effort on their part to even try but they believed God. The moment they came together may have meant more than all the other times they had tried.

The joy was unbelievable when it was confirmed that Sarah would have a son. She had probably felt inferior to Hagar over the years but now that was not ashamed. She was the wife of the man she loved and was going to be the mother of his son. They both saw it as a miracle from God. They were too old to have children naturally and it must have felt like an overwhelming blessing from God. The time had come and Sarah gave birth to the son they named Isaac. To think their joy was great before, now that his son was born joy and rejoicing filled the camp for quite a while.

Genesis 21:1-7 1 The Lord visited Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did to Sarah as he had promised. 2 And Sarah conceived and bore Abraham a son in his old age at the time of which God had spoken to him. 3 Abraham called the name of his son who was born to him, whom Sarah bore him, Isaac. 4 And Abraham circumcised his son Isaac when he was eight days old, as God had commanded him. 5 Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. 6 And Sarah said, "God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh over me." 7 And she said, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."

There may have been some pride on the part of Sarah but not for what she did or her abilities. It was not a haughty pride but humble. It was the fulfillment of many years of desire by two people in love. God had given them a promise and they believed it, they trusted and it was accomplished. Their life had now been turned around but there was some problems brewing. Hagar was upset about Sarah bearing a son and Ishmael was jealous of Isaac because of the attention and favor he received. Ishmael was 14 years old when Isaac was born and when Isaac was weaned at age 3 to 5 years old, there was a feast in his honor.

Genesis 21:8-10 8 And the child grew and was weaned. And Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. 9 But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, laughing. 10 So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son, for the son of this slave woman shall not be heir with my son Isaac."

Other translations say Ishmael was mocking Isaac and Sarah was not pleased about that at all. Yet what turned out to disturb Sarah worked out as a prophecy revealed in the New Testament by Paul.

Galatians 4:22 - 31 22For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the bondwoman and one by the free woman. 23But the son by the bondwoman was born according to the flesh, and the son by the free woman through the promise. 24This is allegorically speaking, for these women are two covenants: one proceeding from Mount Sinai bearing children who are to be slaves; she is Hagar. 25Now this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem above is free; she is our mother. 27For it is written, “Rejoice, barren woman who does not bear; Break forth and shout, you who are not in labor; For more numerous are the children of the desolate Than of the one who has a husband.” 28And you brethren, like Isaac, are children of promise. 29But as at that time he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so it is now also. 30But what does the Scripture say? “Cast out the bondwoman and her son, For the son of the bondwoman shall not be an heir with the son of the free woman.” 31So then, brethren, we are not children of a bondwoman, but of the free woman.

At the time, Abraham was not pleased about the decision by Sarah for he loved Ishmael. It needed divine intervention for peace to prevail.

Genesis 21:11-14 11 And the thing was very displeasing to Abraham on account of his son. 12 But God said to Abraham, "Be not displeased because of the boy and because of your slave woman. Whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for through Isaac shall your offspring be named. 13 And I will make a nation of the son of the slave woman also, because he is your offspring." 14 So Abraham rose early in the morning and took bread and a skin of water and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed and wandered in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.

This was hard for Abraham even after God explained the situation. He loved Ishmael for he was after all his son and he did care for Hagar because that was the type of caring man Abraham was. He had to let Ishmael go but at least he was assured that God would care for him and Hagar. Here again we see the faith of Abraham trusting what God said but this was a minor event compared to what would be coming later. As a side note, Ishmael was referred to in Scripture as the son of the slave woman. Isaac was called Abraham’s only son and so it was in the eyes of God.

The hopes had been set on Isaac and life settled down to a calmer routine. For a while, life became normal if there is such a thing. Other events became the focus for a short time but then God came again to Abraham but this time it was with a command that broke his heart. Life was good. There was peace among his neighbors and they were enjoying their son and old age. Abraham was wealthy so life was not a struggle for survival. Over the years, they had their trials and life was not always easy and comfortable but they had no idea that those early trials were preparing them for what was ahead.

Genesis 22:1-3 1 After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 2 He said, "Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I shall tell you." 3 So Abraham rose early in the morning, saddled his donkey, and took two of his young men with him, and his son Isaac. And he cut the wood for the burnt offering and arose and went to the place of which God had told him.

We are not told how much time had passed or how old Isaac was. The emotional details are left out of this story for a purpose. God wants us to see Abraham’s faith and not the torment he may have felt when told what to do. Though the emotions are left out of the story, we cannot help but think about the feelings Abraham had. Did he tell Sarah what he had to do? It does not say for I think she may have insisted upon going with them or maybe tried to stop him. It is speculation about what they thought and felt but how would you take something like that?

Hebrews 11:17 - 19 17By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son; 18it was he to whom it was said, “In Isaac your descendants shall be called.” 19He considered that God is able to raise people even from the dead, from which he also received him back as a type.

This is interesting because Abraham believed God could raise him from the dead. Was his faith so strong that Abraham was confident we would not lose his son?

Genesis 22:5 5 Then Abraham said to his young men, "Stay here with the donkey; I and the boy will go over there and worship and come again to you."

Abraham had the faith and trust in God not wavering in his duty. It pictures Abraham moving forward with confidence that it would all work out ok in the end. We can see Abraham’s faith, which does not hesitate or stumble. The story of Abraham is a story of faith for he is the father of all who believe. His example was to be strong that others may follow with assurance but what about Isaac?

Genesis 22:6-8 6 And Abraham took the wood of the burnt offering and laid it on Isaac his son. And he took in his hand the fire and the knife. So they went both of them together. 7 And Isaac said to his father Abraham, "My father!" And he said, "Here am I, my son." He said, "Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?" 8 Abraham said, "God will provide for himself the lamb for a burnt offering, my son." So they went both of them together.

For Isaac it may have started as an adventure. A young boy taking a trip with his father to perform an offering yet Isaac saw no offering that they were taking. He must have been old enough to question about the missing offering and to carry the wood that was more than just a couple pieces. I doubt he thought of any danger to himself while on the journey but probably taking in the sights and sounds of the countryside while talking with his father. Now the time had come when they had arrived at their destination.

Genesis 22:9-10 9 When they came to the place of which God had told him, Abraham built the altar there and laid the wood in order and bound Isaac his son and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. 10 Then Abraham reached out his hand and took the knife to slaughter his son.

The thought of having to do that to my son or having my father do it to me is frightening. Maybe Abraham was not concerned about the outcome but he had to be concerned about the way Isaac was feeling. How was Isaac feeling? As I said earlier, we are not given the emotional background involved in this story but we cannot help but ask the questions or feel some type of emotion ourselves. Did Isaac think his father was delusional or did Abraham take the time to explain to his son what God had told him and that all would be fine? It is not known if human sacrifices were in practice at that time. It may have been totally new to Abraham but it certainly revealed afterward that human sacrifices were not required or accepted by the God of Abraham. There was only one sacrifice God was pleased with.

Genesis 22:11-14 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, "The Lord will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."

The moment had come, Isaac stricken with fear as he was tied to the alter. Abraham was about to kill his son in whom all of God’s promises were made. What an awesome story! We can sit in comfort and safety and read what was real at one time. We are far removed by time and culture from the days of Abraham. It takes an effort to see the realism in these stories. This was not something Abraham wanted to do but had to do. When he raised the knife to kill his son a part of him was also dying. To observe Abraham’s life you can see the difficulties of different events. There was joy, there was sorry, and it seemed to be a pattern in this great mans life. It was not constant but similar to what we all go through in our lives, but of course ours is not as drastic as sacrificing our own child.

Genesis 22:11-13 11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, "Abraham, Abraham!" And he said, "Here am I." 12 He said, "Do not lay your hand on the boy or do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from me." 13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram, caught in a thicket by his horns. And Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son.

Abraham again experiences a wave of relief and joy. God was true and fully dependable. He may have wiped the tears from his eyes and took a deep breath of relief. Isaac was happy to get untied and climb off the altar. After their hugs of love and tears, Abraham took the ram for the burnt offering. This was another case where God had no intension of having done what He said. I present this as a rough article that may stimulate thought and interest in God’s Word. By no means is it complete or thorough but a start for others to develop thoughts and ideas about this historical story.

Genesis 22:14 14 So Abraham called the name of that place, "The Lord will provide"; as it is said to this day, "On the mount of the Lord it shall be provided."

“What Abraham was asked to do He’s done, He’s offered His only Son.” (From the song by Michael Card; God Will Provide a Lamb)

Fred Robbins Jan. ‘07