Tilling and Planting

Author: Cory Lewis

  • Salvation Defined

    Salvation Defined

    Intro

    I’ve mentioned several times the concept of salvation. Especially in my last two posts about Heaven and Hell. At the time I said that I wasn’t going to get into the details about salvation and what it means, etc. However, since I teased it so many times and since it is a foundational concept in Christianity, I think now is the time to address it.

    The Basics

    When it comes to the word, salvation. What does that mean? According to the Oxford Dictionary, the word salvation means “preservation or deliverance from harm, ruin, or loss”. To be saved from drowning is deliverance from death and the preservation of your life. And when it comes to Christianity and Biblical salvation, it is deliverance from sin, Hell, and oppression from Satan. And it is an eternal preservation of your spirit to dwell with God in Heaven. Now if that were all, this would be a very short post. But there is so much more to salvation. Especially the questions of “Who’s saved?”, “How are you saved?”, etc. So let’s get started.

    Why Do I Need Salvation?

    The first question to answer is why. Why does mankind need salvation? I hinted at it before in my definition of salvation from a Biblical perspective. But I’ll expand upon that here.

    To put it simply, we have sinned. Mankind lives in open (and closed) rebellion to God and His commandments. The Bible teaches that all have sinned. Nobody can make the claim that they have not sinned.

    If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8 (NIV)

    And being a holy and just God, He cannot allow sin to go unpunished. The punishment for sin is death and eternal separation from God in the Lake of Fire.

    For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NIV)

    Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation 20: 14-15 (NIV)

    Can’t Save Ourselves

    In addition to pointing out the main problem, I also need to point out that we are wholly unable to save ourselves. No amount of good works or money or whatever can save us. The Bible declares that “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) and all “fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). It doesn’t matter what we do, we can never measure up to the holiness of God – which is the only standard that can get us into Heaven. Only perfection gets us into Heaven. And I think we all can agree that none of us are perfect.

    Now that I’ve established the problem, let’s take a look at God’s solution.

    The Plan of Salvation

    The Bible says that before the foundations of the world were laid, Jesus was chosen to die (1 Peter 1:19-20). That means that God knew that mankind would sin and reject Him and He still created us. All because of His great love. That alone is mind boggling. But God also planned out how to buy us back from the devil.

    The What

    God’s plan entailed coming to Earth as a human being (Jesus) (John 1:1), living a perfect life (2 Corinthians 5:21), and sacrificing Himself to satisfy the righteous requirements of God to cover all sin for all humans for all time – past, present, and future (Hebrews 10:10). The fact that He lived a perfect life is key. Because of that, Jesus did not deserve to die. He deserved to live forever. However, because He died a willing, sacrificial death, God could place upon Jesus the sins of all people from the past, the present, and the future and consider all of them atoned for. And God demonstrated His acceptance of the sacrifice by raising Jesus from the grave. Furthermore, His sacrifice and resurrection defeated death, Hell, the grave, sin, and Satan.

    The How

    “That’s all well and good, but what do I have to do to ‘get saved’?” The process is very simple. While Jesus did all the heavy lifting, He does ask you to do one thing. Believe. Yep, that’s it. In Acts 16, a man asked Paul what he must do to be saved, and Paul responded with “Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved.” (Acts 16:31 NIV).

    Many religions have lists of things to do in order to get to their version of paradise. Biblical Christianity says, “God already did it, just believe.” God only requires that you have faith in Him and His sacrifice. After you’ve prayed a prayer of faith to receive salvation, the righteousness of Jesus covers all your sin and brings your spirit back to life and places Holy Spirit within you. After that, you are a new creation, and you will find yourself living a new life. A life pleasing to God.

    And before you ask, God offers salvation as a gift. He doesn’t force it upon anyone who doesn’t want it and won’t receive it. Think about a gift for a minute. If you give someone a gift, they have to open their hand and accept it in order to benefit from it. That’s why Jesus’ sacrifice didn’t automatically make everyone saved for all time. Everyone can still choose for themself whether they want to accept the gift or not.

    This actually leads into a heresy that I wish to briefly address.

    Universalism

    I don’t intend on spending a lot of time on this topic, but I do feel like I need to address it. And that’s this idea of Universalism. Universalism claims that all people will go to Heaven. No matter which religion you subscribe to, you end up going to Heaven. People come to this belief usually through one of two ways. To some, the thought of people being tormented for all of eternity makes them uncomfortable and search for an alternative. Or they emphasize God’s love and goodness while downplaying His righteousness and justice. But the Bible clearly teaches that people go to Hell when they die. And they will ultimately be thrown into the lake of fire for all of eternity (see my post on Hell for Biblical evidence of that).

    I agree that God is full of love and compassion. In fact, 2 Peter 3:9 reveals that God doesn’t want anyone to perish. But God cannot allow sin into His presence so the sin must be covered. And that’s where Jesus’ sacrifice come into play. For that love and compassion drove God to send Jesus (and made Jesus willing to go along with it) to Earth to die so that we may live. Jesus declares in John 14:6 that “no one comes to the Father except through me.” Time and again, the Bible reveals the exclusivity of the road to Heaven. It’s a narrow path and few find it. The way to Hell is broad and many more walk that path.

    From this, we can conclude that Universalism doesn’t exist as a Biblical truth. It’s a dangerous heresy that we must not fall for and must be ready to demonstrate – in love – the truth of the gospel.

    Wrapping Up

    I did my best to explain in simple terms what salvation is. I hope you find it useful as you explain to others the wonderful news of the gospel. It’s especially important to understand salvation when talking to the lost. A lack of understanding leads to people not actually being saved but believing they are. That’s a bit scary to think about.

    One last note, the Bible doesn’t talk about a “salvation prayer”. The Bible says to “declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead” (Romans 10:9) in order to be saved. So, we do need to open our mouths and profess to God that we believe and accept His sacrifice. How that prayer looks varies. The specific words don’t matter so much as the heart behind them.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Hell: Eternal Separation

    Hell: Eternal Separation

    Intro

    Man – Woman, Hot – Cold, Up – Down, Heaven – Hell. Opposites. When two things are opposites, there’s little to no similarities between them. In my last post, I talked about Heaven and how we as believers should look forward to it with hope. Today, I’m going to talk about Heaven’s opposite: Hell. Yes, Hell is a real place – and I’ll show that from Scripture – and people really go there. Buckle up. Talking about Hell isn’t for the faint at heart.

    Does Hell Exist?

    The first question I need to address is does Hell even exist? Not all Christians even believe that it does. And if I don’t offer Scriptural evidence, I might as well not bother talking about the rest, because some people might tune it out.

    The short version is that, yes, the Bible does refer to Hell as an actual place. Several verses describe Hell as the place of torment for the unbeliever when he dies. Some examples follow.

    If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut if off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to stumble, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and thrown into the fire of hell. Matthew 18:8-9 (NIV)

    Then the king told the attendants, “Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Matthew 22:13 (NIV)

    Notice in these passages how Hell is associated with grief, fire, darkness? Clearly Hell is not a place where you would want to go. As the place of eternal punishment and suffering, you would do well to avoid it at all costs. Jesus used strong illustrations in Matthew 18 to describe the seriousness of it.

    Notice that the examples I gave are both spoken by Jesus. And if you ever need good Scriptural evidence of a particular doctrine, find out what Jesus says about it. While these are only a couple of examples, there are several more I could pull out. But for brevity, I’ll just list the references of a few more: Mark 9:44-48, Matthew 8:12, Matthew 13:40-42. And this is still a partial list. Now I will admit avoiding some very common or popular ones because those reference the Lake of Fire more specifically. And you may be wondering, what’s the difference? I’m glad you asked.

    Hell Vs Lake of Fire

    Many people get a bit confused. What’s the difference between Hell and the Lake of Fire? Are they the same place or different? From what I can tell in Scripture, they are two distinct places. And to quickly set up this next verse, another word for Hell is Hades.

    Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. Revelation 20:14 (NIV)

    This passage is perhaps the clearest in showing that the two are different. After all, you can’t throw something into itself. The passage goes on to say that anyone whose name isn’t found in the book of life will be thrown into the Lake of Fire. Since unbelievers are dying every day, they have to go somewhere, and Revelation shows that the Lake of Fire is the final judgment and currently no one is in it. However, Revelation tells us that not only will unbelievers end up here, but Satan and all his angels will too.

    Why Hell?

    People don’t like the idea of Hell, and I don’t blame them. Frankly, I don’t like the idea of Hell. I don’t like the idea of an eternal Lake of Fire where billions will spend all of eternity in torment. But that doesn’t negate its existence. However, I should address the questions of why God would create such a place and how could He send people there, because a lot of people ask them.

    Why Did He Create It?

    First of all, Hell (and the Lake of Fire, but from now on I’m going to lump them into the one word) was not originally created for man, but for Satan and his hordes of demons.

    Then he will say to those on his left, “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Matthew 25:41 (NIV)

    Unfortunately, Hell shows us another example of things that (many) humans experience or will experience that we were not meant to. Other examples of that are we were not meant to life live apart from God, we’re not meant to live a fast-paced stressed-out life, and we’re not meant to live in bodies that suffer various physical ailments. Yet humans experience all these things.

    How Could He Send People to Hell?

    The second question that a lot of people have is how could a loving God send people to Hell? Well, the fact of the matter is that we humans have free will. God created us to make choices. And because of the fall, not all of those choices are good ones. God will not force us to love Him or follow Him. Therefore, there needs to be a place for those who reject God. And when they reject God, they choose to go to Hell. And while that sounds ridiculous, think about it. They spend their entire lives saying, “I don’t want your presence in my life.” So, when they die, why would God force them to be in His presence for the rest of eternity? Hell is the one place where they can spend eternity apart from the presence of God, just like they wanted in life.

    And once you die, it is too late.

    Just as people are destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, Hebrews 9:27 (NIV)

    Understanding Your Fate

    Something else that is interesting is that in Luke 16, Jesus tells the story of a rich man and a beggar named Lazurus. In this story, Jesus describes the rich man dying and going to Hell and being in torment but notice that he does not ask Abraham (whom he sees in a place of comfort) to get him out, but rather asks for water to cool his tongue – to make it more bearable. This suggests that – at least in the intermediate place of Hell – people will be at least passively okay with being there. At least to a certain degree. Whether that’s more of a resigned “I deserve to be here” or if it goes back to what I said earlier about not wanting to be in God’s presence, I don’t know.

    I see this as a demonstration of his accepting his own fate but understanding that it is a terrible fate, and he has a sense of regret. Consequently, he doesn’t want others to end up with him.

    Abraham’s Bosom

    Now something else I’m going to address (really quick) about this story is the existence of a place of comfort that can be seen from Hell. Referred to as Abraham’s Bosom, the Jews believed that the righteous would go here when they died. And it is true that without going through Jesus, there is no way into Heaven. So, the righteous of the Old Testament would need a place to go that is a place of comfort until Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

    And while the Bible isn’t clear about it, it is likely that sometime after Jesus’ death (and possibly after His resurrection as well), God took those in Abraham’s Bosom up to Heaven to be in His presence permanently (some see Ephesians 4:8 as a reference to this event).

    Wrapping Up

    I hope you see the horror of eternal separation and I hope it stirs you to reach out to loved ones and others with the gospel. I know I need to do better in this area. I’ve got many people in my life that needs to know about Christ. I have not been a very good verbal witness. I say verbal witness because I do believe I live a lifestyle that points to God – or at least is different enough from the world to be noticeable. Let us all pray for strength, boldness, and the words to speak so we can save people from this unspeakable horror and to a life of freedom.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Heaven: Home

    Heaven: Home

    Intro

    Heaven is generally thought of as the place where God dwells and where Christians go when they die. And while this is true, it’s so much more. Jesus describes Heaven as a paradise to the thief on the cross. In Revelation, John describes a sea of glass. He also mentions that Heaven has its own temple and ark of the covenant. And this only scratches the surface. Let’s discover the majesty of God’s dwelling place together.

    Which Heaven?

    This might surprise some of you, but the Bible talks about multiple heavens. Crazy right? Because of that, I’m going to briefly cover all three heavens and then get on with the main event.

    The First Heaven

    The first heaven (not called that specifically in the Bible, but a good label for clarity) is what we call the sky, or atmosphere. James 5:17-18 contains a great example of the Bible calling the atmosphere “heaven”.

    Elijah was a human being, even as we are. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth produced its crops. James 5:17-18 (NIV)

    The Second Heaven

    As we move up the list, we also move “up” in a more literal sense. What we call outer space – or the cosmos – is also referred to as “heaven” by the Bible.

    And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon, and the stars – all the heavenly array – do not be enticed into bowing down and worshipping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Deuteronomy 4:19 (NIV)

    The second heaven consists of all the stars, galaxies, planets, and everything else that exists in the cosmos. There is far more majesty here than in the first. And that pattern continues when we move on to the third – and final – heaven.

    The Third Heaven

    When we get here, we have now entered God’s dwelling place. God sits enthroned above the universe from the third heaven. This is the only one of the three that is explicitly referred to by the name “the third heaven”. Found in 2 Corinthians 12, Paul tells the story of “a man” that he knew that had been caught up to the third heaven. Many scholars believe this man was Paul himself, but because of all the things he couldn’t talk about, avoided questions by not naming himself.

    I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know – God knows. (NIV)

    After laying all this groundwork, I’m now going to turn my attention to describing what the Bible has to say about this third heaven and what it means for Christians.

    The Descriptions

    The Bible records various things about heaven including physical descriptions, what life will be like, who will all be there, etc. I’m going to cover some of these and try to show you through these passages the incredible home we have to look forward to.

    What Does Heaven Look Like?

    Humans are visual people. That’s why pictures are so popular. And if you lived before the invention of the camera, it would be paintings – though you had to be fairly wealthy to get one of those. So, it’s no surprise that one of the first questions people have about Heaven is “What does it look like?” And while the Bible doesn’t give details about every aspect, there is some pretty powerful imagery to give us a glimpse of the majesty and beauty of our future home.

    Heaven’s Throne Room

    The throne room of God Almighty is a sight to behold according to John in Revelation 4. Look at the descriptions he gives it. “A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled the throne…From the throne came flashes of lighting, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the throne, seven lamps were blazing…Also in front of the throne was what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” Wow! I’m trying to picture this concept of a rainbow shining like an emerald, and I admit, I have questions. But what I can picture is amazing. And I know that it falls short of the truth.

    The New Jerusalem

    Revelation also gives a description of the New Jerusalem, the city that comes down from Heaven to be the home of the saints for all of eternity. Now you could argue that this is the future home and not the current home. I say, so what? Whether the New Jerusalem will be current Heaven brought to Earth or something God creates (or has created and is currently waiting) as separate, is entirely irrelevant because they have the same designer and are going to have similar majesty and beauty. This gives me confidence that many of the features of this city reflect what Heaven is like today.

    And those descriptions include walls made of jasper, streets made of gold, foundations made of various precious stones, and the gates made of pearls (Revelation 21). Talk about incredible! Talk about majestic! I can’t wait to live there for all of eternity. The majesty of it is only topped by the majesty of God Himself – who will be living there among us.

    What Will We Do In Heaven?

    For some reason, an idea got started and circulated that living in Heaven will be boring because all we will do is sit on clouds, play harps, and maybe fly around and talk to other people. There is so much more than that! Ever hear of the marriage supper of the Lamb? That’s right, there’s food in Heaven! As my pastor likes to say, “If you’re looking for me, I’ll be over by the chocolate fountain.” So, we’ll be chatting with friends and family over food. Coming from the Midwest, this will be both fun and normal.

    Incredible People

    And speaking of talking to others, what’s so boring about that? Being able to hang out with people who have died before you and talking to them. Talking to people in your family tree whom you’ve never met or hardly knew. Or how about talking to Biblical characters? Abraham, Moses, David, Peter, Paul, etc. Or other people throughout history. The Bible indicates that we will see them and be able to interact with them. Talk about all the stories we don’t have written in the Bible. And if you’re worried about seeing someone you had a rough relationship with here on Earth, don’t worry, all things are made new – even relationships.

    Worship In Heaven

    But more importantly, we will worship God. Again, in Revelation, John describes numerous scenes of worship around the throne. Look at Chapters 4, 5, 7, 13, 15, and 19 to see incredible scenes of worship to God and to the Lamb. There will be no end to the worship of God. Does that mean that all we will do is fall on our face and sing to Him? No, how can you eat and sing at the same time? What it does show is that there will always be someone singing in worship. And further, it also shows that worship is more than just singing. It’s a lifestyle. And once we get to Heaven, we will be perfect so everything we say and do will be a form of worship to the one who created us.

    Learning New Things

    The Bible hints that all throughout eternity we will continue to learn and discover new things. New things about God and new things about all that He has created. That’s a lot of discovery and I’m excited about it.

    Who Will Be In Heaven?

    And now, perhaps the most controversial question: Who will be in Heaven? What are the criteria to spend eternity in this incredible place? The reason this is controversial is because no one wants to spend eternity in the alternative to Heaven. Consequently, various religions put up very lax requirements to get to their version of Heaven. Even within Christianity, there are some differences on who goes to Heaven and how you are saved. This post is not about the criteria for salvation – though I’ll get to that at some point since I’ve been covering a lot of the basics since I started blogging – so I won’t go into the details about that.

    Those Included

    That said, here’s some verses that tell us exactly who gets to go to Heaven.

    And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession — to the praise of his glory. Ephesians 1:13-14 (NIV)

    Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12 (NIV)

    Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.” John 3:3 (NIV)

    A good summary of these verses is that only those who are children of God, or born again, will be in Heaven. Again, I’m not going to define all that it means to be born again, or saved, or even “what about the Old Testament saints” question. I’ll address those at a later time.

    Those Excluded

    Equally important to know is who won’t make it into Heaven. People you see here will not enjoy God’s presence for eternity and will instead suffer for that same period.

    Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood. Revelation 22:15 (NIV)

    Anyone who loves and practices these things (and this isn’t a comprehensive list) will not be enjoying the marriage supper of the Lamb. Of note, it says those who love and practice these things. If you are someone who struggles with it and are praying through it and fighting to be free, be rest assured that this verse does not apply to you. It applies only to those who do it, love it, and have no intent or desire to change.

    And I bring to you a warning as well. A warning found in Matthew 7:21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.” Beware that you do not fool yourself into believing you are good just because you “do good works for God”. It may be good. But is it what God asked you to do? Are you in His will? Do you truly know Jesus? Or are you trying to earn your way into Heaven?

    Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Matthew 7:21 (NIV)

    Wrapping Up

    While we’ll never fully comprehend heaven here on earth, the Bible gives us a glimpse that gives me assurance that no matter how bad it gets here, this world is not our ultimate home. Take confidence in that, my brothers and sisters. Let that knowledge fill you with hope today.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Replacement Theology

    Replacement Theology

    Intro

    I apologize for the one-day delay of this post. I had a lot going on this past weekend and wasn’t able to finish it Monday evening. But here it is. So, without further ado. In my last post (catch up here) I talked about God adopting us into His family. I also mentioned an erroneous way of thinking called Replacement Theology. This belief supposes that God rejected the Jewish people and that the Church replaced them. No room for coexisting as people of God. With today’s growing Anti-Semitism in the world, the church needs to be the Jewish people’s strongest supporters. That’s why I feel the need to address Replacement Theology.

    The Theology

    I’ve already given a short definition of Replacement Theology. But I’m going to expand upon it here. Replacement Theology is the idea that the Church replaces the Jewish people as God’s chosen people. When the Jews rejected Jesus as their Messiah, God rejected them as His people. And God transferred any prophecies and promises that were written for Israel to the Church.

    The Text

    When it comes to truth claims, there needs to be something to back it up. And when it comes to doctrines of the Christian faith, that something needs to be in the form of Biblical text. So, what Scriptures do proponents of Replacement Theology use to back up their claims? The major ones include Matthew 21:43, Romans 2:28-29, Romans 9:6-8, Philippians 3:3, and Galatians 6:15-16. I intend to go through each of them individually and show where they are skewed to say something they don’t. Then I’ll offer up a more accurate interpretation based on larger context. And context is so important when it comes to interpreting Scripture. False doctrine always crops up the moment you take something out of context.

    Matthew 21:43

    Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. (NIV)

    Knowing that Jesus was talking to Jews at the time He made this statement, one could conceive that Jesus was telling the Jews they were no longer God’s chosen and were being replaced. However, let’s back up and find the context. In verse 23, the chief priests come up to Jesus (who was teaching in the temple courts) and challenged His authority. Jesus responded to that challenge and then proceeds to tell two parables. Verse 43 comes after Jesus tells the Parable of the Tenants (verses 33-39). Afterwards He asks the priests what the master would do to the tenants. They answer that the master would kill those wicked tenants (verses40-41). Jesus then not-so-subtly compares those priests to the wicked tenants (verse 45).

    When you take in the wider context of the passage, you see that the people losing the kingdom of God were those who were regarded as the Spiritual leaders of Israel. And their chief responsibility was to guide the Jews to God and worship Him in Spirit and in Truth. But they failed. Therefore, God was replacing the “Spiritual leaders” of that day with those who would do what God desired them to do and lead people in accordance with the will of God. And that replacement doesn’t exclude Jews. After all, the early church was exclusively Jewish for a time.

    Romans 2:28-29

    A person is not a Jew who is one only outwardly, nor is circumcision merely outward and physical. No, a person is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is circumcision of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the written code. Such a person’s praise is not from other people, but from God. (NIV)

    Proponents claim that this Scripture teaches that an unsaved Jew is not a Jew at all and therefore has no claim to any blessings or promises of God. But this is not the case at all. To claim that would be to make God out to be a promise breaker (more details in a later section). A major topic found in Romans is that the Jewish law cannot save and cannot give people true righteousness. That’s why Jesus came and died as the perfect Lamb of God to take away the sins of the world. And that’s what this passage is on the heels of. Verses 17 through the end of chapter 2 talks all about the Jews and the Law. Here, Paul is saying that to be a Jew that truly pleases God, you must be circumcised in the heart, not just in the flesh.

    As Isaiah 64:6 puts so eloquently, “all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (NIV). Paul argues time and again that what we do in the flesh is simply not enough. The Law – though good as it is – cannot save us. We need Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, we need Jesus. That’s all he’s saying here in Romans. To claim anything else is quite a stretch.

    Romans 9:6-8

    It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.” In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring. (NIV)

    Romans 9:6-8 really could sound like Paul saying that the church has come in and become “Israel”. Even though they may be Gentiles and not Jewish by blood. However, the broader context here demonstrates Paul’s love for Israel, even though Israel has by and large remained unrepentant and has rejected Christ. In earlier verses (3-5) Paul makes note of the benefits of having received the covenant, the law, having the patriarchs, etc. Paul’s clear that it is of great benefit to be a Jew. So why would he suddenly say, “but the nation of Israel has been replaced by the Church, so there’s no real reason to be proud of your Jewish heritage.” Talk about contradicting yourself!

    Here Paul expresses that just being a Jew does not make one saved. And simply being a descendant of Israel or Abraham does not automatically make one an inheritor of all of the promises of God. Paul used the examples of children of Abraham that did not inherit all of God’s promises to Abraham. Ishmael is the best-known son of Abraham that didn’t inherit the promise, but Abraham also had 6 other sons besides him and Isaac. And yet, only Isaac inherited the promises. Going down the line a bit further, Jacob inherited the promises from Isaac while his brother Esau, did not.

    Once again, Paul makes no claim that the church replaces Israel. He’s arguing as to why the Law and simply being a Jew isn’t enough to be saved. There’s more to it than that, the Jews need Jesus just as much as the Gentiles.

    Philippians 3:3

    For it is we who are the circumcision, we who serve God by his Spirit, who boast in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh (NIV)

    Again, people misconstrue and twist this passage to make the claim that the Church replaced Israel. After all, the “we” refers to Christians. And these would have been Gentile Christians to boot. Then of course you have the statement of being “the circumcision”. And since circumcision was the physical sign of being a Jew – of being one of God’s people – it could certainly sound like Paul’s making the argument that the Jews are no longer God’s people. In this passage, Paul is merely saying that the believers fulfill the spiritual meaning of circumcision. We don’t need to be physically circumcised to serve God and be counted among His people. By accepting Christ, we become spiritually circumcised.

    Furthermore, this passage comes immediately after Paul gives a warning about “evildoers, those mutilators of the flesh”. Paul is addressing a group of Jewish believers spreading the false teaching that Gentiles had to be circumcised in order to be saved – in addition to believing in Jesus. Hence why Paul explains that true circumcision – in regard to serving and pleasing God – comes from Holy Spirit circumcising the heart.

    Galatians 6:15-16

    Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is the new creation. Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule – to the Israel of God. (NIV)

    Proponents twist the phrase “the Israel of God” to make the claim that it’s referring to the Church. Now Paul did use “Israel” in a bit of a broader sense here, but he’s still not saying that the Church replaced Israel. The passage here says much the same as the passages from Romans. Being a Jew, being circumcised doesn’t make one saved or an automatic inheritor of the promises of God. What matters is accepting Jesus as Lord and being made into a new creation. Paul addresses this more than anything else (at least it certainly seems that way!) throughout his many letters.

    After all this, I now turn my focus to defend the Jewish position in the eyes of God by bringing out passages that clearly demonstrate God’s ongoing love and faithfulness toward Israel.

    The Defense

    Contrary to what proponents claim, God has not rejected Israel. The New Testament declares His support and love all over. I’m only going to give you a few examples.

    Romans 3:1-4

    What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision? Much in every way! First of all, the Jews have been entrusted with the very words of God. What if some were unfaithful? Will their unfaithfulness nullify God’s faithfulness? Not at all! Let God be true and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (NIV)

    Paul points out here that even though some Jews don’t believe God, God’s faithfulness to His people and to the promises He made to their ancestors remains. And we can see this throughout the Old Testament as well. Especially in the book of Judges. The Israelites repeatedly turned their backs on God and He continued to honor His covenant and rescue them when they cried out to Him.

    Romans 11:1-2

    I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. (NIV)

    “By no means!”, Paul says, did God reject His people. We find a similar phrase in Romans 11:11 “Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all!” (NIV). Paul dedicates a lot of Romans to defend the Jewish nation while also showing how the Gentiles fit in God’s Kingdom. And he makes it clear that God has not and will not reject His covenant people.

    Old Testament Prophecies

    In addition to the New Testament passages, the Old Testament prophets prophesied many things concerning Israel that have not been fulfilled. The borders of Israel as promised by God are much larger than anything Israel controlled in its history. And as you’ll see in the next section, assuming that the Old Testament prophecies and promises can be transferred to the church is inherently dangerous.

    The Dangers

    Choosing to adhere to Replacement Theology brings with it some inherent dangers. They’re not obvious from the surface, but all it takes is a peek under that surface, a following to the logical conclusion that exposes these. Here’s but a few.

    God as Promise Breaker

    Replacement Theology misrepresents God as one who breaks His promises. The Bible states that “God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he not speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?”, Numbers 23:19 (NIV). And logically, if God breaks promises like any man, how can we be confident in our own salvation – which is the whole point of Romans 9-11? The claim that Old Testament promises and prophecies have been transferred to the church makes those promises broken promises.

    Anti-Semitism

    Replacement Theology led to many anti-Semitic policies and actions within the church, which spills out into the rest of the world. This encourages violence against the Jewish nation. And violence against any human is sinful in God’s sight. And God frowns upon encouraging such violence just as much as actually committing the act.

    Revulsion Towards Jesus as Messiah

    Replacement Theology brings many Jews to revulsion at the idea of Jesus being their Messiah. The Church is supposed to provoke Israel to jealousy to come back to God and embrace their Messiah (Romans 11:11).

    Reduced Understanding

    Replacement Theology results in there being a smaller number of Jews coming to faith. Which in turn leads to a lack of people more knowledgeable about the language, culture, Mosaic and rabbinic law and tradition that would greatly benefit the Church.

    Mocks Old Testament Promises

    Replacement Theology actually makes a mockery of Old Testament promises. You can spiritualize some promises, but not all of them. The land that God gives to Israel is a great example. Genesis and Ezekiel lay out the borders of the promised land (much larger than what Israel has ever actually controlled by the way). So, how does this promise get transferred over to the Church?

    Reduced Evangelism Among Jewish People

    Replacement Theology birthed an even more dangerous theology: Two Covenant Theology. Two Covenant Theology supposes that the Jews and Christians related to God via two different covenants. You’ve got Judaism for the Jews and Christ for the Gentiles (and any Jew that wants to follow Him). This led to a drop in attempts at evangelizing the Jewish communities across the world. Which is worse than Replacement Theology! At least Replacement Theology encourages reaching Jewish people for Christ. Two Covenant Theology says that Jews already have a right relationship with God and don’t need Jesus at all!

    Wrapping Up

    Coming to the conclusion, I hope you see that Replacement Theology is not only wrong, but it’s dangerous. And I hope you can see that God loves His chosen people now just as much as He did when He brought them out of Egypt. And God’s plans for them are far from over.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!

  • Adopted

    Adopted

    Intro

    The New Testament repeatedly tells us that God adopted us into His family. The topic of adoption is at the forefront of my mind right now. I recently came off of volunteering for a week at a camp that my church put on for kids in the foster care system. (See For The Children’s website for more information about the non-profit organization that my church partners with to make it happen). I’ve done it now five years running, and I intend to continue to do it as much as possible. People who adopt (or even foster) children and children who have been adopted both offer a different perspective (I would think) on this concept of God adopting us than the average person. So, today I’m going to explain what it means for God to adopt us as His children.

    Why Adoption?

    First of all, why do we need to be adopted in the first place? Aren’t we all God’s children? Adam and Eve’s sin resulted in separation from God. Humans were no longer a part of God’s family. Jesus tells the pharisees that they are children of the devil rather than of God (John 8:31-47 for whole context). Furthermore, 1 John 3:9-10 states “Those who have been born into God’s family do not make a practice of sinning, because God’s life is in them. So they can’t keep on sinning, because they are children of God. So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers does not belong to God.” (NLT). The Bible demonstrates that not everyone (not even all Jews – God’s chosen people) can claim to be children of God.

    Now that I’ve established that we are not naturally born of God, it becomes clear that we need to be adopted. And Galatians 4:4-6 says it so well, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption into sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hears, the Spirit who calls out, ‘Abba, Father.’” (NIV). I find this a beautiful passage since it affirms our adoption into God’s family and declares that we have the right to call Him “Abba, Father”.

    Roman Adoption

    It’s interesting to note that the writers of the Bible really only used the adoption metaphor with Gentiles and not Jews. Adoption was uncommon in the Jewish world and would have been a difficult concept to grasp. However, it really is a perfect metaphor to us Gentiles who aren’t part of God’s chosen people. The Gentile readers readily understood adoption in the Roman world. For Romans, if there was no heir for a man to leave his wealth to (or he deemed the heir unfit) then he would adopt someone. When he adopted someone, that person would get a name change and have any previous debts cancelled. And he would receive all the rights and privileges that come with being a natural born son.

    That sounds a lot like what happens when we come into relationship with Jesus. Jesus paid our debts on the cross (Colossians 2:13-14) and we are now co-heirs with Him (Romans 8:14-17). And to take it a step farther, the Romans made adoptions irreversible.

    Benefits of Being Adopted

    So, what do we get out of being adopted by God? Probably a lot more than what I’m going to talk about today!

    A Relationship with God

    First and foremost, we get a loving relationship with God as our Father. I’m not going to spend much time here because I have an entire post about God as our Father here. One thing I didn’t mention there but I will here is that as our Father, He has an inheritance for us. And while I’m sure there’s more to it than this, our inheritance includes a glorified body, a permanent place of residence in His coming kingdom, and being able to enjoy all of eternity with Him in a new heaven and new earth.

    Led by Holy Spirit

    A major benefit of being adopted by God is that Holy Spirit indwells in us and leads us into what God has for us on this earth. Holy Spirit convicts, corrects, comforts, and empowers us in this life. He enables us to approach the throne room of grace with boldness and talk to the God of the universe. You can read a bit more about Him in my post here.

    Part of a Global Family

    Have you ever run into another believer that you’ve never met before and immediately connected with them? I have. It’s incredible to say the least. Any time I would go to Lifest, I would inevitably have at least one short conversation with a complete stranger and yet feel this connection I’ve never had with any non-believer. All people who have God’s Spirit living in them are part of this giant family that goes beyond all earthly boundaries such as language, nation, race, ethnicity, etc. 1 Corinthians 12:12-27 covers this very well.

    Blessed by God

    Ephesians 1:3 says, “Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” As members of God’s family, He blesses us richly. Blessings such as hope, peace, and joy in the midst of difficulties. Endurance in times of tribulation. The power to love the unlovable, to forgive the unforgiveable. Through Holy Spirit we conquer every fear, worry, and anxiety through the power of Christ. We employ the Armor of God to defeat every attack of the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-18). We are on the winning side in a war between kingdoms. And lastly, we get to spend all of eternity in the presence of the Holiest of Holies, the Great I Am, the Alpha and Omega, God Almighty, Amen.

    What Adoption Does Not Mean

    Now, I need to address a very serious misconception that exists within the church. Called Replacement Theology, it supposes that when the Jews rejected Jesus, God replaced the Jews with the Church as His chosen people. It claims that any prophecies regarding Israel’s future are for the Church, and not Israel. In the minds of those who adhere to Replacement Theology, God has no plans for Israel’s future. He rejected them when they rejected Christ.

    I’m not going to talk about this in any depth here. In fact, I plan on doing a whole separate post about it. I wanted to mention it here though and just say that this is an erroneous doctrine. The Bible declares God’s plans for Israel over and over again. God is far from done with the Jewish people. Refuting false doctrine will be new territory for me in this blog, but I feel it needs to be addressed. I don’t plan on writing up a lot of refutations on false doctrine, but I will address it where necessary.

    Wrapping Up

    After this I hope you see the blessings of adoption into God’s family. And I only scratched the surface of it. I encourage you to look into this more and find out for yourself just how much God loves us to choose to adopt us.

    Outro

    If you enjoyed this post, please consider doing one or all of these things. First, subscribe if you haven’t. If you have, thank you! Second, spread the word. Send these to everyone you know and encourage them to read and subscribe. This blog is purely word of mouth right now. I rely on you, my readers, to help me get more readers. And third, please consider donating. It’ll enable me to continue to offer regular posts.

    Feel free to leave a comment with any questions about what I’ve written, any additional comments about the post, or if there’s a topic you’d like me to write about. Before doing that though, be sure to check out all my posts here and see if I’ve covered it already. And if you find I’ve done it already but aren’t satisfied or still have more questions, let me know!

    Thank you for reading this! I greatly appreciate each one of you. Until next time, God bless you all!