Month: June 2018

By Curt Darling

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Belshazzar, grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, was the third king of the kingdom of Babylon. We don’t know much about his father. It has been said that he might have been still alive and out of the country commanding a battle on foreign soil. Unlike his grandfather who had humbled himself before “the Most High [God] and praised and honored Him” (Dan. 4:34 NKJV), Belshazzar “praised the gods of gold and silver, bronze and iron, wood and stone” (5:4).

It seems, according to tradition, the army of the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus the Great, diverted the river that flowed through Babylon. Through this method or another, as Belshazzar held a great feast with much drinking of wine, the army of the Medes and Persians was able to enter and capture the city, bringing the Babylonian Empire to an end according to the Word of God.

This was tied with the prophecy of Jeremiah, which said the Jews would be in exile for 70 years (Dan. 9:2) – a period that would end a short time after the fall of Babylon. Cyrus, the king of Persia, according to a prophecy announced around 150 years before the king was born (see Isa. 45:1), would be the one used of God to open the way for the exiles to return to Jerusalem.

Belshazzar’s Choice
The drinking party Belshazzar held was certainly a bad choice, but his command to get and drink from the gold and silver vessels plundered from the temple of God was worse. They had been acquired when God gave Judah over to Nebuchadnezzar, who was then king of Babylon. You see, when kings went to war and won they carried off the religious articles, often storing them, to show that the gods of the defeated country could not help them in the battle. Of course we know from the Bible that this was not the case with Judah, for what took place was a work of God with His people rather than simply weakness on His part.

Belshazzar, although aware of what took place in his grandfather’s life, lifted himself up in pride and defied the Most High God, for the cups and bowls had been set apart for His glory. Instead, Belshazzar sought to drink wine from them in the names of other gods (Dan. 5:22-23). This could bring nothing but disaster, like what happened when the ark of the covenant was taken into battle and captured by the Philistines (see 1 Sam. 4-5).

Because of Belshazzar’s foolish choice, “the fingers of a man’s hand appeared and wrote … on the plaster of the wall … and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote” (Dan. 5:5). Not one of the king’s wise men could interpret it. Then the queen, either Belshazzar’s mother or grandmother, thought of Daniel. Sadly, it seems Belshazzar did not know Daniel, a righteous man (Ezek. 14:14,20).

Daniel was brought in, and he scolded Belshazzar for not heeding the lessons he should have learned from his grandfather’s life. He then interpreted the writing: “You have been weighed in the balances, and found wanting” (v.27). That night King Belshazzar was killed and the kingdom – even the world rule – was given to the Medes and Persians.

What Is Our Choice?
The cups and bowls from the temple were “holy,” separated to God. They were His – not something to be used for simply any purpose. If you think this is not significant, consider what Jesus said when He spoke about the temple in His day. At the age of 12, He called it “My Father’s house” (Jn. 2:15-17). Later, as He cast out those buying and selling in the temple just days before He was crucified, the Lord Jesus called it “My house” (Mt. 21:12-13). How personal!

So where is the temple now? There are two forms in which it is expressed. One is collectively with all believers: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are” (1 Cor. 3:16-17). The second is individual: “Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you …?” (6:19). These two points are reiterated in Ephesians 2:19-22 and 1 Peter 2:4-9.

We Christians need to be careful. What are we indulging in? Remember, God destroyed Belshazzar for drinking out of the holy vessels from the temple, and Jesus took a whip and drove out those who desecrated it. Listen to the Word of God. Honor Him to whom honor is due!

By Brian Reynolds

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Those who think Paul hated women say there is plenty of evidence to support their theory. Their argument is that Paul’s pre-conversion rabbinical training in the strictest school of the Pharisees and the culture in which he lived formed his thinking (Acts 26:5; Phil. 3:5). The first century sect of the Pharisees had very low, even disparaging, views of women. The fact that Paul was not married is hinted at as being suggestive of his alleged dislike for women. Proof of this, it is said, can be found in Paul’s own statements: Women are to be silent in the churches; they are not to preach or teach; they cannot take the position of an elder, and they are to have their heads covered in the meetings. Beyond this he taught that the Christian wife is to be submissive to her husband. These facts, say the opponents of Paul, are indisputable and such views are not acceptable today.

Back To The Beginning
The best place to begin is in the beginning, which is where both the Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul turned when discussing the man/woman relationship (Mt. 19:4; 1 Cor. 11:8-9). Man and woman are equal in creatorial standing – they were both created in the image of God (Gen. 1:27). The fall of man has not changed this, although there was a disruption of the role and relationship because of sin. Man and woman are also equal in the redemptive work and purpose of God: They are “one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28 KJV) and “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7).

However, the roles of man and woman are different, whether in the natural or church relationships. It is evident that, even before the fall of man, the woman was to be man’s helper, a complementary role (Gen. 2:20). This should not be hard to understand for there are biological differences that are found in the very nature of things. But that does not mean that there is inequality, which is the crux of the issue. The critics of Paul and of the Bible think that equality means there must be sameness, and that equal means the same.

Sounds Like The Serpent To Me
Therefore there is a very strong effort today to blur or deny gender distinctions – a Satanic attack upon God’s prerogative. He has made them male and female, and He has made them different.

In Christianity, these distinctions are to be maintained as Paul insisted. Rather than the apostle, it was his critics who hated. They clearly hated him and what – even who – he represented. Paul was familiar with being attacked and persecuted for preaching the gospel of grace. In fact, his life was in jeopardy. So he would not be surprised today to be ridiculed on the subject we are now discussing.

Fairly Friendly Friends
There are those today who are not as unfriendly towards Paul, but they still try to undermine his teaching. They are fairly favorable to Paul when it comes to the doctrine of salvation by grace; they would agree with him that in Christ “there is neither male nor female” and that we “are all one in Christ Jesus” (Gal. 3:28). But they say some of Paul’s other teachings are the product of his culture and therefore have no authority upon Christians today. His teachings regarding, for example, “headship” (1 Cor. 11:1-16) or the place of women in public ministry (1 Tim. 2:8-15) are often viewed wrongly as local situations of Paul’s day, having no bearing on our modern world.

So What Did Paul Teach And What Exactly Did He Mean?
Let’s look at some Scriptures for which Paul is spoken evil of or that are often explained away as irrelevant. Rather than giving a detailed exposition, my thought is to show Paul’s teaching was connected with what was “in the beginning” and was through the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

• 1 Corinthians 11:1-16
There have been many fanciful and twisted explanations of this passage, even among evangelical believers. It appears all the fancy footwork is an effort to explain away the obvious. The theory of some is that the Corinthian culture of that time period necessitated the woman’s head to be covered: Since temple prostitutes let their hair hang down in the open, the Christian women should cover their head or otherwise shave all their hair off. Others try to force the passage into having to do with submission in the husband and wife marriage relationship: The wife has to give some evidence of submission. This theory goes on to say that since head covering is not typical of our society today, then other ways of a wife’s submission can be practiced. Unfortunately the English Standard Version, which is generally a very reliable translation in all other respects, has given some credence to this by translating “woman” as “wife” in 1 Corinthians 11.

However, the passage is not dealing with either prostitutes or the marriage relationship as such. The subject is headship in creation. The head of the woman is the man, and the head of man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God. The man is the image and glory of God and the woman is the glory of the man. The covered head of the woman declares that the glory of man has no place in the meetings of the saints and the uncovered head of the man declares that the glory of Christ alone is to be seen. Only one Man is on display and His glory expressed: Christ.

What I want to stress is that instead of having to do with the culture, Paul removed this subject from that sphere altogether and took it back to the beginning in the original creation. He stated his point in the most definite way possible: “The man is not of the woman; but the woman of the man. Neither was the man created for the woman; but the woman for the man” (vv.8-9). Even though the believer is in Christ and a part of the new creation, the order of the first creation is to be acknowledged as long as we are in this world.

• Ephesians 5:22-33
In this passage Paul dealt with the marriage relationship. The submission of the wife and the love and care for her by the husband is a picture of Christ and the Church. Paul said that this is “a great mystery” (v.32). There is nothing at all of inequality here, but there is certainly a different role for the wife than for the husband, and likewise in relation to the Church and Christ. We are one with Him, yet He is the head.

Even within the Godhead itself there are different roles; They are one in essence, co-equal, yet distinct persons. As stated before, equality has nothing to do with being the same or usurping the role of another. Again the apostle Paul did not base his teaching on anything found in his day. In fact his teaching would have been very shocking to some of that time period by giving the woman such an exalted place! Rather, he based it on the creation of man and woman, quoting Genesis 2:24 in Ephesians 5:31.

The apostle Peter was in agreement with Paul. Peter lifted the woman higher than anything seen in his day of Roman and Greek paganism. He taught that if husbands are not considerate or understanding of their wives, God will not hear the man’s prayers. In other words, if you are nasty or impatient with your wife, God will not listen to you! He said that the husband and wife are “heirs together of the grace of life” (1 Pet. 3:7). She is spiritually absolutely equal; and because she may be physically weaker, the man must be considerate, or he will not get far with God.

• 1 Timothy 2:8-15
This is one of the most contested passages, yet it could not be clearer in its bearing. “Let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man; rather, she is to remain quiet” (vv.11-12 ESV). The subject has to do with ministry in the house of God, which is restricted to men. The cry is immediately, “This is inequality!” But the woman’s role is to learn in silence while the men are given an audible role – each has their part. The apostle, as always, went right back to the garden of Eden, “For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived” (vv.13-14) – and this is exactly what happened. You may protest the Genesis account or Paul’s reasoning upon it, but you cannot say he took it from the culture of his day or that he hated women. There may be women in a congregation more gifted, more intelligent and more devoted than any man present, but God has established an order.

Consider what J. N. Darby wrote: “The part that women take in all this history is very instructive, especially to them. The activity of public service, that which may be called ‘work,’ belongs naturally to men (all that appertains to what is generally termed ministry), although women share a very precious activity in private. But there is another side of Christian life which is particularly theirs; and that is personal and loving devotedness to Christ. It was a woman, who anointed the Lord while the disciples murmured; women, who were at the cross, when all except John had forsaken Him; women, who came to the sepulchre, and who were sent to announce the truth to the apostles who had gone after all to their own home; women, who ministered to the Lord’s need. And indeed this goes farther. Devotedness in service is perhaps the part of man; but the instinct of affection, that which enters more intimately into Christ’s position, and is thus more immediately in connection with His sentiments, in closer communion with the sufferings of His heart – this is the part of woman: assuredly a happy part” (Synopsis Of The Bible, Matthew 27).

Despite all of the devotion and spiritual intelligence shown by the women disciples, not one of them was chosen by the Lord to be of the Twelve. When He sent out the twelve disciples they were all men; and as if to confirm this, when the disciples sought a replacement for Judas after the ascension of Christ, a man was chosen. There were 120 disciples in that upper room and many of them would have been women, but Peter said they were to choose one from “these men” who had accompanied the Lord in His ministry (Acts 1:21 KJV). So if we are going to charge Paul with hating women, we must also charge Peter and the Lord Jesus Himself.

• 1 Timothy 3:1-2
The choosing of elders for the work of overseer is the same as we have seen already – it is confined to the men. Here Paul did not mention the order in creation, but clearly there is no inkling that he is copying the pattern of the culture. Just the opposite, for many of the pagan temples had women priests. One important thing to note is that Paul said that the overseer, among other qualifications, must be “the husband [a man] of one wife [a woman]” (v.2). The ordaining of women elders is in clear defiance of the God’s order. The fact is that believers are being influenced by their own culture, the very thing with which they charge the apostle. There is not one iota of evidence that Paul’s church order is based on cultural patterns. He told us himself where he got his doctrine: “The things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord” (1 Cor. 14:37).

A Final Thought
It could seem to be self-serving for a man to be writing this, but I assure you that my heart’s desire is to simply present the Lord’s truth no matter what the subject. May we each, whether man or woman, find grace to live out the Lord’s commands for His glory and our blessing!

Answered by Eugene P. Vedder, Jr.

QUESTION: If Christ is co-equal with God the Father, why should He hand over the kingdom to God as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:24?

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ANSWER: We speak of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit together as God, recognizing that these three Persons are one God. The three Persons of the Godhead together are referred to as the “Trinity.” While we cannot understand such a relationship by our human reasoning, we recognize from Scripture that each of the Three is fully God and that the Three, while distinct, are absolutely co-equal in every way. Scripture tells us too that God is a Spirit (Jn. 4:24) and that, as God, He has no material body.

Fulfilling the counsels of the Godhead, God the Son humbled Himself and came to earth as Man, sent by God the Father, conceived by God the Holy Spirit, born in Bethlehem to the young virgin Mary. While still being true God, He is now also true Man, yet holy as man could never be – entirely without sin in nature, thought, word or deed. In fulfillment of the promises of God in the Old Testament, He came to glorify God and to be the Savior mankind needed. “Messiah” is the Hebrew word for which “Christ” is the Greek equivalent, meaning “Anointed One.”

The promises of God included not only the suffering and death of the Savior, but also the fact that God would reward Him by raising Him from among the dead and exalting Him to sit at His own right hand (Ps. 110:1). God has also appointed Him to rule over the entire world as King of Kings and Lord of Lords (1 Tim. 6:15).

It is wonderfully true that the Lord Jesus was raised from among the dead as a real Man. He ascended into heaven as Man and sits at God’s right hand as Man. He remains God and Man in one person forever. Revelation 19 shows us that at the close of the tribulation He will return to this earth, followed by His glorified saints, and will annihilate the armies of the world, cast the Antichrist and the beast alive into the lake of fire, and set up His kingdom in righteousness.

Revelation 20 goes on to tell us that He will then rule in righteousness for 1,000 years. He will do so as the Christ – the Man Christ Jesus. Other Scripture passages show us that this will be a glorious time. Satan will be bound, the desert will blossom as a rose, swords will be turned into plowshares, and evil will be dealt with righteously every morning. Additionally, the environment will be fully cleaned up, there will be peace on earth and lives will be extremely long since death will only come as the wages of overt, or public, sin. No kingdom on earth has ever been so glorious or lasted so long under the same ruler.

God has tested mankind in various ways since He made the first human beings and placed Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden, including in innocence, under conscience, under government, under the law and under grace. The Lord’s rule in righteousness will be the final test of mankind. Satan will be bound during this time so no one will be able to honestly say, “The Devil made me do it.” After 1,000 years in the bottomless pit, Satan will be loosed. The Bible tells us that he will go to deceive the nations again and will gain a huge following, for many will have been subject to the Lord only with a feigned obedience, rather than from the heart. The ingrained wickedness of the human heart will become evident as vast crowds from the ends of the earth will follow Satan to march toward the camp of the saints, Jerusalem, the holy city, the world’s capital (Rev. 20:7-8).

What God has always known about man will become fully manifest: The human “heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked” (Jer. 17:9)! Man will have demonstrated that his heart is incurable. The judgment of God – fire from heaven – will fall and devour this vast company. The heavens are going to “pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (2 Pet. 3:10). The time of rule will be over. Christ will not have been deposed, but He will have reigned until He has put all enemies under His feet. He will raise the wicked dead, and they will appear before the great white throne to be judged according to their works. There will follow a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

The wicked dead will be raised, judged and consigned to hell along with Satan and his demons; the lake of fire being their lot forever. Death, the last enemy, is then destroyed. All things will have been put under Christ’s feet. His bride will be with Him in perfect bliss forever. Of the new earth we read, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself shall be with them and be their God” (Rev. 21:3). Evil will have been rightly dealt with forever, so there will be no more need for rule, authority or power. Christ’s work of salvation and of annulling the work of the Devil will have been completed to the glory of God. Hence, He can then turn over the responsibility He has exercised in perfection to God the Father, who had entrusted Him with it. He, the Son, “will also be subject to Him who put all things under Him, that God may be all in all” (1 Cor. 15:27). God will dwell with man. Individual work for each person of the Godhead will no longer be needed. God will be all in all.

 Part Three: The Son Asked For All Christian Believers (Verses 20-26)

By David Anderson

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In this final part of His prayer, the Son included everyone who believes the gospel in our dispensation. In John 17:20 (ESV), “these” are the apostles and “those” means all who have responded by faith to their preaching or teaching of the New Testament message of salvation. In the beginning of verse 21, the Son prayed for believers, “that they may all be one, just as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You.” This spiritual unity of believers is fundamental and essential for the life of God’s children within His family. It is “in Us” (v.21), in the Father and the Son, derived from the oneness of the Father and the Son in their eternal relationship to each other within the Godhead. In Ephesians 4:3 it is called “the unity of the Spirit,” which was formed at Pentecost. The Son had already referred to it, “ … that they may be one, even as We are one” (Jn. 17:11).

This unity was actually manifested, or shown, to the world by the Church in the early days of Christianity: “Now the full number of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one said that any of the things that belonged to him was his own, but they had everything in common” (Acts 4:32). By reading through Acts we get the sense of what the Son meant when He asked in His prayer that a witness of unity would cause the world to believe that the Father sent the Son (see 1 Jn. 4:14). To achieve this objective, the Son stated that He has given believers the very glory bestowed on Him by the Father (v.22). This is His glory as the Son of Man, who is now glorified at God’s right hand as we wrote about in the second article of this series.

His prayer for their unity continued in verse 23, “I in them and You in Me, that they may become perfectly one.” He recognized the ongoing need for the spiritual maturity of His people throughout the church age to continue this unity. Oneness would be necessary to convince the world that the Father had indeed sent the Son, and it would make the world understand that the Father loves believers as He loves His Son (v.23).

It was given to the apostle Paul to know and teach that such unity would ultimately only come about when “we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). That will be when the Church is complete and by His side (1:22-23). When the perfect unity of John 17:21-23 is arrived at and achieved in the coming day of glory, the Son’s fullness will be displayed in and through the complete body of the saints. It is then that the whole world will recognize that the Father loves believers as He loves His Son. Additionally, it is then that unbelievers will have to openly acknowledge that the Father did indeed send His Son into the world.

The Son began to express His own personal desire at verse 24, “Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, may be with Me where I am; to see My glory that You have given Me because You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” “I desire,” or “will” (KJV), is a strong expression meaning “I demand by my own right.” In that sense it contrasts with His requests made in verses 9, 15 and 20.

As Son, He can demand or require that the Father grant His desire. It is that His own be “with Me where I am.” However, this demand was made on the basis of His appreciation of the Father’s love for Him from “before the foundation of the world.”¹ Reading John 14:2-3 we understand “with Me where I am” means “within the Father’s house” – which is heaven itself! “With Me where I am” is the reward for all faithful service to Him (Jn. 12:26). There in the saints’ eternal home believers will behold, or look at, His glory. His displayed excellences will fill the new heavens and the new earth throughout eternity.

The Lord Jesus specifically demanded that His own be privileged to contemplate His preeminent glory as the Son of the Father. It will include that glory which the apostles beheld while with Him on earth (2:11). This glory is described as the glory of the only-begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father (Jn. 1:14,18). For believers heaven will be the full realization of eternal life and the everlasting enjoyment of that family, or home, life of God into which we have been brought by the Son.

In John 17:25-26 the Son concluded His prayer by summarizing His ministry to His own, which He said continues throughout the Christian era – even today – and into eternity. He addressed the Father as “righteous Father” (ESV) when He thought of the fact that the world is willfully ignorant of the true God. The world proved itself to be unrighteous when it rejected Him, God’s Sent One (see Jn. 16:8-11). By contrast, believers know the Father because they have been given divine insight to appreciate the unique glory of the Son of His love: He came from His Father’s side.

In coming into the world the Son’s special work was to make the Father’s name known to His own. He said to the Father, “I have manifested Your name to the people whom You gave Me” (v.6, see v.26). The Son displayed the Father’s name by word and by deed. He also committed Himself to continue, from heaven, to make the Father’s name known (v.26). He declares it; He tells it forth.

For us this is the basis of our true worship, “I will declare Thy name unto My brethren, in the midst of the church will I sing praise unto Thee” (Heb. 2:12 KJV). This worship arises from our ongoing experience and appreciation of the Father’s love. We are overwhelmed to know that it is the very same love that He has for His Son! Yes, there is no greater spiritual experience than to actively participate in the family life of God. This is the essence of Christianity – eternal life, known and enjoyed even now on earth!

Summary Of John 17
Let me summarize the main points of this Series on the Son’s prayer in John 17.

He asked for His own glorification:

• In risen, ascended Manhood so He could glorify the Father by giving eternal life to believers (vv.1-3), and
• As Son, in the Father’s presence (v.5).

He asked for His own:

• Safety, security and unity by being kept in the good of the Father’s name (vv.7-12),
• Present satisfaction so they may be completely full in His joy while in this world (v.13),
• Protection from all of the world’s evil and the Evil One (vv.14-15),
• Sanctification so that they could be sent into out the world (vv.16-18),
• Spiritual unity of all of His own so the world would believe and know the testimony (vv.20-23), and
• Present enjoyment of eternal life and for their eventual translation to heaven (vv.24-26).

Conclusion
I finish my meditations by pointing out that the Son always did the Father’s will and obeyed all of the Father’s commands.² Unlike us (consider 1 Jn. 5:14), He never asked/prayed for anything which was not in keeping with and in absolute conformity to His Father’s will. He knew that the Father always heard Him (Jn. 11:42), and He did not need to finish His prayer with “Amen [let it be so].” Therefore we are guaranteed that all He has asked in this prayer, both for Himself and for His own, has been, continues to be, and will be completely and fully answered by the Father!

ENDNOTES
1. “Before the foundation of the world” means from eternity, and it has to do with eternal issues. See Ephesians 1:4, 1 Peter 1:20 and Revelation 13:8.
2. See John 4:34, 5:30, 6:38, 8:29, 10:17-18, 12:49-50, 14:31, 15:10.