Tag Archive | Woes & warnings

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 359

Dec25

   Day 359—We are in the LAST month of Bible reading for the year, studying the LETTERS of the Apostles.

Day 359 – 2 Peter 1-3 (Salvation, Scriptures, Prophecies) 

This is the second letter that Peter wrote to the persecuted churches. He is even more concerned with the false teachers infiltrating them. He warns and encourages the believers to stand firm in the faith.

It’s possible that Peter wrote THIS letter from prison in Rome and soon faced execution by Emperor Nero.

2 Peter 1.

Peter affirms that his recipients “have obtained a faith of equal standing…by the righteousness of our God and Savior Jesus Christ.” By God’s grace alone.  God has done it all by His divine power: life and godliness through the knowledge of Him. 

Peter challenges them to add to their faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, steadfastness, godliness, brotherly affection, and love. “For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  Whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind.” 

“If you practice these qualities, you will never fall.” 

“Therefore, I intend to always remind you of these qualities…..to stir you up by way of reminder.”   

Peter knows he will be martyred soon and says, “I will make every effort so that after my departure, you may be able at any time to recall these things.”  (Review NOW the qualities Peter emphasized so strongly in the above paragraph.)

Peter then tells them he knows what he’s talking about because he was one of the three eyewitnesses of Jesus’ transfiguration on the Mount.  And…. not only THAT, he has a “more sure word of testimony…. the word of the prophets.  “...knowing first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.”

2 Peter 2.

Peter warns, “False prophets and teachers are among you!  They blaspheme the truth and will exploit you. Their destruction is sure. God didn’t spare the world in Noah’s time. God destroyed Sodom & Gomorrah (except Lot).  “God knows how to rescue the godly from trials while keeping the UNRIGHTEOUS under punishment until the day of judgment.”  

Peter then writes about the horrible things (verses 10-22) the “unrighteous” are and do that will bring God’s final judgment on them. For them, the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.

2 Peter 3.

You can hear Peter’s desperation as he writes, “I am stirring up your sincere mind by way of reminder, that you should remember the predictions of the holy prophets, and the commandment of the Lord and Savior through your apostles, knowing this first of all, that scoffers will come in the last days, following their own sinful desires.

They will taunt, ‘Where is the promise of His coming? Since the fathers fell asleep, ALL THINGS continue as they were from creation.”  (Like today, too!)

Regardless of what these “scoffers” say, “the Day of the Lord WILL come like a thief” with cataclysmic horrors in the heavens and on earth.  “The heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn!”  (WOW)

But true believers are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells. (As God promised.)  “Since you are waiting for these, be diligent to be found by Him without spot or blemish and at peace. 

Count the patience of the Lord as salvation (SEE verse 9), JUST AS OUR BROTHER PAUL ALSO WROTE TO YOU ACCORDING TO THE WISDOM GIVEN HIM.”

“Take care not carried away by the error of lawless people and so lose your own stability.  But GROW in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.“

.

(Peter, probably in his seventies, was martyred soon after writing this letter, being crucified (as tradition says) upside down, refusing to be crucified like his Lord.)  (Read John 21:18-19 where Jesus tells Peter how he will die.)

.

Day 359 – Jude 1 (True apostles & apostates, doxology)

Jude (Judah in Hebrew/Judas in Greek) was one of Jesus’ four half-brothers, listed in Matthew 13:55. He calls himself “the brother of James,” who was the leader of the Jerusalem church. Although he and his brother initially rejected Jesus as Messiah, they were converted after Jesus’ resurrection, and so Jude was an eyewitness.

The content of Jude’s letter is very similar to 2 Peter and powerfully confronts apostasy/false doctrine in the church. Peter says it is coming; Jude says it has come. (Christianity was thought to be very vulnerable at this time. Only John and Jude, the eyewitnesses to Jesus’ life, death & resurrection, were now alive .)

(Jude uses many OT illustrations and even quotes Peter. And… he quotes from books NOT in the Canon of the Bible but were accurate and true.  See how Paul did this in Acts 17:28, 1 Corinthians 15:33, and Titus 1:12)

Jude 1.

Jude wanted to write to these believers about their “common salvation” (a wonderful topic to write on), BUT, instead, he felt the necessity to urge them to “contend for the faith that was ONCE FOR ALL delivered to the saints.”   Why? Because certain people “have crept in unnoticed,” ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.”

Then, like Peter, Jude reminds them of OT instances where God brought judgment on those who indulged in unbelief (Israelites), immorality (Sodom & Gomorrah), and blasphemy (fallen angels). 

“WOE TO THEM, for they walk in the way of “Cain’s greed,” “Balaam’s error,” and “Korah’s rebellion.”

He calls these false prophets and teachers “shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds, fruitless trees, wild waves of the sea, and wandering stars,” always leading believers astray.

Jude further calls them, “grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires, loud-mouthed boasters, and ones who show favoritism for gain” (in case you missed them before!).

REMEMBER, beloved, the words of our Lord Jesus Christ and the predictions of (Peter).  “In the last time, there will be scoffers, following their own ungodly passions, who cause divisions, worldly people, devoid of the Spirit!”  (WATCH OUT!!)

But you, beloved…

  • build yourselves up in the most holy faith
  • pray in the Holy Spirit
  • keep yourselves in the love of God
  • wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life
  • and have mercy on those who doubt
  • save others by snatching them out of the fire,
  • to others, show mercy with fear, hating even the garment stained by the flesh.

And then Jude’s doxology.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, BE GLORY, MAJESTY, DOMINION, AND AUTHORITY, before all time and now and forever. Amen”

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 299

Oct26

  Day 299—We are in the TENTH month of Bible reading and studying the New Testament Gospels.

    Day 299 – Luke 12 – 13 (Rich fool parable, no anxiety, Be ready and faithful, fig tree parable, mustard seed, teaching)

Luke 12. In these chapters, it seems that, as Jesus approaches “his Hour,” his teaching is more intense. Woes, warnings, cautions, and exhortations are spoken to the leaders, crowds, and disciples.

After a series of “Woes” hurled at the religious leaders in Luke 11 the crowds increased. Luke 12 says there were so many thousands (myriads) of people, that they were trampling one another.  He tells his disciples again to BEWARE of the leaven (sin) of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.  Though it is hidden now, it will all be evident eventually.

Someone in the crowd called out, “Teacher! Tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me!”  Jesus answered with a warning. “Take care, be on your guard against covetousness. One’s life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions.”

Then Jesus tells the parable of the Rich FOOL.  As a farmer, he had so much wealth that when he got a bumper crop, he decided to tear down his old barns and build new, bigger, and better ones. (He had no thought of the poor surrounding him.)  Then, he said, I will have enough to retire for many years. Relax. Eat. Drink. Make merry. (Play Golf. Cruise the world.) 

“Thou fool! said God. “Tonight, your soul is required of you.  Then, who will get all your possessions?”

Jesus reminded them that so it is for those who LAY UP TREASURE FOR THEMSELVES AND ARE NOT RICH TOWARD GOD.  Turning to his disciples who had left everything to follow Him, he said, “And you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or wear.  LIFE is more important than food and clothing.”

Then Jesus asks them to think of the ravens who don’t have barns but eat every day from the Father’s hand. “You are worth much more than birds.”  He told them they couldn’t even add one hour to their lifespan, so why be concerned with the rest.  “Flowers don’t work or spit, but oh, how glorious one is.  Won’t God clothe YOU?”

“Your Father knows that you need these things. Seek His kingdom, and all these things will be added to you.  It’s the Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom, so sell your possessions and give to the needy.  For where your TREASURE is, there will be your HEART also. 

Jesus then reminds his disciples to be ready for action, to get their lives ready and their things in order. Be prepared to serve at any hour. He warns them of distresses, divisions, and prison that will be coming. “Blessed is the servant his master will finds ready when he comes.”

.

Luke 13.  Continuing with His warnings, Jesus tells them that natural things will happen to them and not to think of them as unusual. Just repent and be ready to die at any time. 

Then, he tells them the parable of the barren fig tree.  The tree did not have figs year after year and the owner wanted to cut it down. But the gardener begged for one more year when he would care for it tenderly.  Then, if it had no fruit, cut it down. 

He told them the parable of the mustard seed that a man sowed in his garden. It grew and became a tree where birds nested. This was the kingdom – spreading large from a tiny beginning.

The parable of the leaven was along the same lines. A woman was making bread. She mixed a bit of yeast into the flour which spread and caused the whole dough to rise.

.

One time, Jesus was teaching in a synagogue on the Sabbath when he saw a woman hunched over almost double by a “disabling spirit.”

“Woman, you are freed from your disability,” said Jesus, laying his hands on her. Immediately, she stood straight and glorified God.  

The synagogue ruler accused Jesus. “There are six days in the week when work ought to be done! Come then and be healed, not on the Sabbath.” 

“YOU hypocrites!  You would save your ox or donkey by giving it a drink on a hot day.  Ought not this woman – A DAUGHTER OF ABRAHAM WHOM SATAN HAS BOUND FOR 18 YEARS – be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath!???”

 

Later on the road, a disciple asked, “Lord, will only a few be saved?”

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 

Once the master of the house has shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying ‘Lord, open to us,’ He will answer you, ‘I do not know you.’  

And you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in your presence, and you taught in our streets.’ But he will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know you. Depart from me, all you workers of evil.’

And there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see the patriarchs in the Kingdom, and you cast out. “

YIKES!