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1 Kings 18:19-20

The Sounds Of Silence

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 22, 2024

Mt. Carmel is where Elijah slew the prophets of Baal. Elijah called for a meeting. In 1 Kings 18:19, Elijah tells Ahab, “Now therefore send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” All the people gathered as the two opposing parties faced off. Verse 21 continues, “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him.’” Eight hundred fifty pagan prophets against one lone figure astride Mt. Carmel. I remember the Three Dog Night song from 1968, “One is the Loneliest Number.” It’s incredibly difficult to stand alone against the tide of public opinion. In verse 18 of this chapter, Ahab greets Elijah by calling him “the one who is troubling all Israel.” According to Ahab, if Elijah had just joined the crowd worshipping Baal, everything would be just fine. But Elijah was a lone voice against the majority. In verse 20, we read, “Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men.’ Elijah said to Ahab, ‘I am not the one who is troubling Israel—you are!’” I think it’s interesting that the same group, Three Dog Night, that sang “One is the Loneliest Number” also sang the song warning, “Eli’s Coming, you better watch out”

In America, the liberal church and press are always blaming the evangelical, conservative church for causing division in the church and in the country. But who is really causing the division? America was soundly founded upon the biblical principles of the Scripture and stood strong on those convictions. Who brought the strife? I have been ridiculed for leaving my former denomination, but I always argue, “No, they left me!” I know many others who face the same criticism.  The Bible-believing Christian today stands alone in many ways against the tsunami of liberalism. Once strong churches have left the orthodox doctrines of the Christian faith and have gone the way of all flesh. But they blame those who wish to hold on to the integrity of the content of the Christian faith as being the rabble-rousers and trouble causers. But I must ask, “Who moved?”

Elijah faced a world in which the orthodox faith of his people was deteriorating into a plethora of ideas and personal opinions of its citizenry. In 1 Kings 18:21, we read, “And Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal, then follow him. But the people did not answer him a word.” Notice the last phrase: “The people did not answer him a word.” Elijah’s challenge stands the test of time! Yet, most of the world is still silent!

 

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Job 19:25-26, Various

Life After Death

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 21, 2024

I did a long study once on life after death. I not only looked at biblical material and research done by believers but also considered secular research as well. In my studies about life after death, I’ve become bored with the liberal scholars who suggest that the idea of life beyond the grave is a modern invention and was not even part of the Old Testament religious system. Listen, you all, no matter what you’ve heard in your secular philosophy of religion class or your Old Testament Class at some University; it’s clear in the Bible that there was an awareness of life beyond the grave from the very beginning. It was the loss of this clear teaching that aroused sin in Lamech as well as those living in the time of Noah who perished in the flood. It was the loss of that reality at the tower of Babel that brought man’s self-idolatry and worship of the pleasures of this life. It was to Abraham that God began to renew the world with Faith! God chose Abraham to be the one to restore the conviction of life beyond the grave.

It has been proven time and again that monotheism is not the product of an evolutionary development of human religious systems. A recent discovery at Ebla assures us of its existence long before the evolutionary chart suggests it emerged. It has roots in the oldest book of the Old Testament, the Book of Job. Job asserts his faith in God amidst the greatest trials one can imagine and says, “For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth.  And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God…” (Job 19:25-26). Geisler (See “When Critics Ask”) argues that the phrase repeated in Genesis “gathered to his people” most “certainly seems to indicate more than merely being buried close to his kinsmen.” This phrase is used for Abraham (Genesis 25:8), Isaac (Genesis 35:29), and Jacob (Genesis 49:33). This last passage indicates that it wasn’t Jacob’s burial that was being discussed but his death. It reads, “When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” The gathering took place immediately upon death. Further, in Deuteronomy 32:50, Moses is said to have ascended the mountain where he passed away and was gathered to his people. As the book of Jude affirms, there is still no record of a burial site for Moses.

Jesus’ life, death, burial, and resurrection were purposefully God’s plan to bring us back to a true understanding of the depth of God’s love for us all in the assurance of life beyond the grave. It was Christ’s message from the beginning and His ultimate promise at the end. John expressed it this way (1 John 2:24-25), “Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father.  And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.” In the Gospel itself, Jesus is quoted as saying (John 11:25), “He who believes in Me, though he may die, yet shall he live.” Jesus has promised eternal life to believers, free from all tears, sorrow, and pain (Rev. 21:4). That is why when it comes to death, Christians are a people of hope.

 

 

 

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Philippians 3:20, Various

Heaven Is My Home

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 20, 2024

The Bible tells us in Philippians 3:20 that “…our citizenship is in heaven…”  It is our one true home!  In the “Heaven Answer Book,” Billy Graham writes, “Jesus mentions Heaven about seventy times in the book of Matthew alone. It appears from the very first verse in Genesis—“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”—to the last reference found at the end of Revelation—“[He] showed me the great city . . . descending out of heaven from God” (Revelation 21:10 NKJV). In fact, fifty-four of the sixty-six books in the Bible mention Heaven. Remember: the Bible is our only authoritative source of information about Heaven.” I can’t express the importance of Billy’s last exhortation for us to remember there is only one authoritative source about heaven. That is the Bible. We don’t need near-death experiences or little boys telling us that there is a heaven. We have the Bible. It’s full of “heaven.”

The certainty of its existence and my confident assertions that I have a place there has nothing to do with my living a “good” life. George W. Truett once said in a sermon on Grace, “I could not trust my hope of heaven on the best second I ever lived!” My faith and assurance of heaven surely have everything to do with God’s grace and nothing to do with my goodness. Jesus continually made it perfectly clear that no one would enter into His Kingdom based on their own goodness. Furthermore, my certainty and hope of heaven are never verified by the visions, dreams, or stories of after-death or near-death experiences that often make headlines in our world today. If a subjective experience serves to verify a biblical truth, then a subjective experience may be used to falsify a biblical truth. The truth of heaven and the certainty of it being my home must rest totally and completely on the authoritative words of Scripture.

In her book on Near-Death Experience and Christian Hope, Carol Zaleski presents, as one reviewer described it, a “sustained meditation on the human right and need to imagine the possibilities of the world to come.” To her, it’s the imagination that matters. The reviewer of her work even describes her premise as “truth lies in the imagination.” Jesus disagreed with her. Our imaginations and experiences are not the basis of life after death. They will give no comfort in the darkest part of the valley of the shadow of death.  But God’s unchanging truth will. God made us not for this world but for the next world. He sent Jesus to make sure we get there safely. In Jesus great prayer in John chapter 17, he said, “They (The believers) are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.  Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” (John 17:16-17) He tells us that he’s gone there to prepare a place for us. He promises to take us there!  Billy Graham goes on to say, “If someone asks you about Heaven, you can say with assurance, ‘We know that if the earthly tent [body] we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands’ (2 Corinthians 5:1). What a promise! What a destiny!”

 

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1 Peter 1:3, Various

A Living Hope

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 19, 2024

My favorite verse for Easter sermons is 1 Peter 1:3.  I’ve preached more sermons on this one verse than any other I. can think of, even John 3:16. It says, “Praise be to the God and Father of Our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade away – being reserved for you IN HEAVEN.” This imperishable, unspoiled, non-diminishing hope we have of life beyond the grave, established and confirmed by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead, is the greatest motivator in life.

We often struggle with the difficulties we experience in this world, in this decaying flesh, in these imperfect bodies with imperfect minds and emotions. Our human sufferings are given a new context with the reality of our hope of heaven.  Paul says in Romans 8:18, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”  Amidst all the trials and sorrows in this life, we can all cling to the living Hope Jesus purchased for us on the Cross of Calvary.

When John Todd was six, his mother and father both died, and he was raised by a kind aunt who loved him as his mother. He was studying for the ministry when she fell ill and, from her deathbed, wrote him a letter asking if there was really something awaiting her beyond the grave. Here is his reply: I, as a boy of six, was left quite alone in the world. You sent me word you would give me a home and be a kind mother to me. I have never forgotten the day I made the long journey to your house. I can still recall my disappointment when, instead of coming for me yourself, you sent your servant, Caesar, to fetch me.  I remember my tears and anxiety as, perched high on your horse and clinging tight to Caesar, I rode off to my new home. Night fell before we finished the journey, and I became lonely and afraid. “Do you think she’ll go to bed before we get there?” I asked Caesar. “Oh, no!” he said reassuringly. “She’ll stay up for you. When we get out o’ these here woods, you’ll see her candle shinin’ in the window.” Presently, we did ride out into the clearing, and there, sure enough, was your candle. I remember you were waiting at the door, and you put your arms close about me—a scared and bewildered little boy. You had a fire burning on the hearth, a hot supper waiting on the stove. After supper, you took me to my new room, heard me say my prayers, and then sat beside me till I fell asleep. Someday soon, God will send for you and take you to a new home. Don’t fear the summons, the strange journey, or the messenger of death. God can be trusted to do as much for you as you were kind enough to do for me so many years ago. At the end of the road, you will find love and a welcome awaiting, and you will be safe in God’s care. All those in Christ have the same living hope.

 

 

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1 Corinthians 3:3

Better Together

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 18, 2024

Paul is hard on the Corinthians because they were grownups still acting like children. There were petty jealousies and envy. In 1 Corinthians 3:3, Paul says that the believers were still living according to the dictates of the flesh. He writes, “…because you are still fleshly. For since there is envy and strife among you.” He calls them spiritual babies. The reason? They were a divided church, unable to work together.  The verses following verse 3 show the source of their division. Some people were attaching themselves to Paul, some to Peter, and others to Apollos. Their childish preferences kept them from doing what God wanted them to do: Work Together for the common good!

The independent commission investigating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks reported that the rescue efforts were hampered by a “Rivalry between New York’s police and fire departments.” Their report said, “This rivalry has been acknowledged by every witness we have asked about it.” Americans needed cooperation, not competition, on that gloomy day. We are at our best when we set aside our own ambitions and throw all our efforts into the common good instead of putting energy into unhealthy rivalries. Surely, we must see how important this is for the church of the living God. In 1 Corinthians 1:10, Paul exhorted the believers. He said, “Now I exhort you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all agree, and there be no divisions among you, but you be made complete in the same mind and in the same judgment.”

L. Wilson says, in his sermon entitled Better Together, “I’m so glad that the Corinthian Church had this problem because it allows us to have this beautiful teaching that Paul gives. Paul makes it clear that he and Apollos were partners, not competitors in ministry. They are just doing their part in the Kingdom work. It is God, not them, that gives the growth and is deserving of the glory. The verse that follows this explanation is precious. It says, “For we are God’s co-workers.” This is a very comforting truth for us all. We’re all in the same boat! We’re all in this together. We are much better, much happier, much more effective, and much more efficient if we expend our energies in cooperative efforts. One commentator concludes, “An old Swedish motto says, ‘Shared joy is double joy. Shared sorrow is half the sorrow.’ The secret to life is not simply enjoying life’s joys and enduring its sorrows, but being involved in both with others like co-workers or team members working together—rejoicing with those who rejoice and weeping with those who weep (Rom. 12:15).”[1]

[1] Keithley, Hampton. n.d. Hampton Keithly Studies from Bible.org.

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Genesis 11:1f

The Origin Of Language

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 17, 2024

This will probably bore you to death, but I found it fascinating, so I’ll put it here anyway. It concerns the tower of Babel in Genesis Chapter 11 and the origin of language as a whole. During my last trip to Israel, I met Isaac Moseman. I liked Isaac. He has spent most of his life studying the origin of language and has some fascinating ideas.

Mount Carmel is the historical site for the battle between Elijah and the prophets of Baal. But in modern archaeology, it’s also famous for the discovery in one of the caves of the earliest homo-sapiens with a hyoid bone. This floating bone in the throat is what enables human speech. In his article on “The Origin of Language,” Isaac Moseson argues that scientists are “scurrying around Africa for Paleolithic evidence of which knuckle-walking hominids of millions of years ago were evolving grunts and gestures into what would become words.”  He doesn’t deny that some animals, bees, and dolphins, for example, may have some means of communication, but it’s incomparable to the complexities of human speech.

Two things are required for complex human dialogue. First, it demands a vastly enlarged brain for reasoning skills. It’s only with this enlarged brain capacity that humans are “able to process this unexplainable new language ability.” Isaac suggests, “The blown-out brain cavity is suspiciously like the Genesis record of a Creator ‘blowing into the nostrils’ of a man.” The second necessity for human speech is the hyoid bone. Scientists are looking for the origin of language near the Northeast African homeland. Yet, “the oldest hyoid bone for speech ever found was unearthed in the Carmel Caves near present-day Haifa, Israel.”  It’s a well-established archeological fact that the Fertile Crescent is the location for the oldest human “attempts at agriculture and literacy.” Isaac thus concludes, “… all the evidence suggests that modern, speaking man emerges in the Late Stone Age in what might be called a Proto-Semitic region.” That’s the Promised Land!

Recently secular geneticists have proven that all living “humans share the mitochondrial DNA of a single woman.” Isaac goes on to comment, “Studies of the male Y chromosome also prove that the human population on Earth was once very small.” For many years, modern linguists were opposed to the idea of all our languages coming from a “mother tongue,” so to speak. But, as Isaac observes, “By the 21st Century, the evidence was so persuasive that now those who oppose monogenesis (All languages come from one language) are marginalized.” He calls the one mother-of-all languages Edenics. It was the language spoken by Adam and Eve in Eden.  Isaac says, “The Edenics project has begun to show that the Eden scenario … is the key to The Origin of Language. Languages constantly and naturally devolve into dialects that become ‘languages,’ but Edenics follows the Genesis record (Chapter 11) that there was a traumatic neuro-linguistic event (The Tower of Babel), which was the Big Bang of language diversity.”

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2 Samuel 1:11, Various

Schadenfreude

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 16, 2024

Wikipedia will define this word for you. It says, “Schadenfreude is the experience of pleasure, joy, or self-satisfaction that comes from learning of or witnessing the troubles, failures, or humiliation of another. It is a borrowed word from German, with no direct translation, that originated in the 18th century.” It says that the word showed up in the 1700s in Germany and in English in the 1800s. I think the idea is much more ancient than that. We might find the idea in the mind of Caine before he murdered his brother Abel. If you studied the bible stories, I’m sure we’d find it in a lot of places, as well as Solomon advising us against it in the book of Proverbs. Commenting on the passages from Proverbs that speak to this, the United Bible Societies, “Handbook for Translators, says, “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls: The warning Do not rejoice means “don’t be happy,” don’t take pleasure, because of what happens to someone else.” It goes on to quote the Contemporary English Version (CEV) translation of a similar passage that says, “Don’t be happy to see your enemies trip and fall down.”[1] But, honestly, don’t you think there might be a twinge of this in each and every one of us? It is something that is the normal human response. But you don’t find it in the man after God’s own heart.

Saul had tormented David until David fled from his home, family, friends, and country to keep peace in Israel. Although God had presented him with several opportunities to dispatch his enemy, Saul, David refused to act. God blessed David with great success. God cursed Saul with great failure and defeat. He and his son, Jonathan, were killed in battle on the same day against the very Philistine Army that David defeated after killing Goliath. I think it is almost natural to rejoice, or at least smile, at the misfortune that fell upon an enemy. How does David react? Here’s what we read in the first chapter of 2 Samuel, Verse 11, “Then David took hold of his clothes and tore them…And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan, his son and for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel because they had fallen by the sword.”

Being a man after God’s own heart, David managed to keep the big picture in mind over his own personal interests. He cared more about the nation of Israel than he did about his position and role amongst them. He quietly stepped back and let God work in his conflict situation with Saul. God acted in David’s favor, but David did not gloat or celebrate or even secretly smile at the disaster that fell upon his Enemy. He wept for him. Schadenfreude is the offspring of vengeance. It’s the secret way we get even with others. The greatest giant that David ever slew was not Goliath. It was the monster of Schadenfreude.  He never struck back in his conflict with Saul. Max Lucado writes, “Revenge is irreverent. When we strike back, we are saying, ‘I know vengeance is yours, God, but I just didn’t think you’d punish enough. I thought I’d better take this situation into my own hands.” Ogilvie writes, “There are few things more destructive than hatred that is nourished within a heart. It can destroy marriages and families, churches and denominations, and even countries.”

It is often argued that vengeance is a character trait of the God of the Old Testament. Jesus made it clear that personal vengeance if not outright prohibited, is discouraged for our own welfare. Jesus even offers that the ethic of helping one’s enemies should replace retaliation. Scaer observed that “This apparent dissimilarity led Marcion in the second century, Schleiermacher in the eighteenth century, and some scholars since then to conclude that the Old Testament religion was inferior to that of the New Testament. Such a view characterizing the Old Testament as absolute demand for vengeance overlooks Joseph’s forgiving his brothers.”[2] It also overlooks David’s remorse over the misfortune of Saul.

[1] Reyburn, William David, and Euan McG. Fry. 2000. A Handbook on Proverbs. UBS Handbook Series. New York: United Bible Societies.

[2] Scaer, David P. 1996. “Vengeance.” In Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology, electronic ed., 796. Baker Reference Library. Grand Rapids: Baker Book House.

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1 Samuel 4:21, Psalm 78

Ichabod

Filed Under: Devotions by Chuck
March 15, 2024

Eli was corrupt in many ways. He used his office as a Priest for personal gain, and he taught his sons to do so, too. Hophni and Phineas, Eli’s two wicked sons, tried to use the Ark of the Covenant as a lucky charm against their enemies. They marched it out to go to battle when the army went out to stand against the Philistines. The Glory of Israel was used like a rabbit’s foot. God’s presence in the Ark was a special indication of Israel’s role in God’s eternal plan. They “dissed” it! The Ark contained their entire heritage: the Ten Commandments, Aaron’s rod that budded, and a jar of the manna from heaven. It was their Glory. It was the evidence of God’s miraculous presence in their history and in their present lives. It was their Glory. It represented the God who saved them, talked to them, and fed them. It represented the God to whom they owed their allegiance. Rather than serving God, they used God to serve themselves. God would not permit it.

As is often the case of families, Phinehas’ wife was a more spiritual person than he was. She had more spiritual insight than her husband, her father-in-law, or her brother-in-law.  The two men may have been priests, but they lacked true spiritual insight because of their abuse of their roles. Phinehas’ wife understood the significance of what had happened, and with her dying breath, she named her son “Ichabod.” The most famous Ichabod is the gangly schoolmaster Ichabod Crane in Washington Irving’s story “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow.” Irving probably picked the name because it sounded absurd and also because he knew the name’s Hebrew meaning, “no glory.” The Ichabod in the Bible was the grandson of the priest Eli. The Philistines had captured the ark of the covenant from Israel, and Eli was so appalled he literally fell over and died. It means, “The Glory is Gone.”  This event was so tragic that Asaph included it in one of his Psalms. In Psalm 78, He sang: “He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among mankind, and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe.”

Commenting on this episode, the “Got Questions” website says, “One wonders how many churches today have lost the glory of the Lord, whether willingly or unknowingly. The same things that caused Ichabod in Israel—sin, disobedience, idolatry—are present in many of today’s churches. Christians must never take the glory of God in our midst for granted, lest we wake up one day and find that Ichabod has become a reality among us.”[1]

[1] Got Questions Ministries. 2002–2013. Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered. Bellingham, WA: Logos Bible Software.

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