Is the Story of Jonah True?

August 10, 2011 Leave a comment

A little girl got saved during the local church’s summer Bible School. Unfortunately, though, her parents didn’t share her new-found faith in Jesus. They refused to take her to church or even buy her a Bible. So each Sunday morning she walked herself to church, carrying the oversized family Bible under her arm.

As it so happened, her route to church took her past the home of an atheist professor who taught at a university. As he watched the precocious little girl make her way to church each Sunday, he couldn’t help but be touched by her. But in his way of thinking he felt sorry for her because she had bought into all of the nonsense of the Bible and Christianity.

Finally his interest in the girl became too much for him to keep bottled up, and so one bright Sunday morning he went out to meet her and enlighten her. He politely stopped her and said, “Little girl, you don’t really believe that book you are carrying, do you?” She answered, “Yes, I do.” “You mean you believe that story about Jonah living in the belly of a whale?” “Yes, I do.” The professor continued, “But how could Jonah do that?” “I don’t know,” said the girl, “but when I get to heaven I’ll ask him.” To that the professor said, “Oh, but what if Jonah isn’t in heaven?” The little girl thought for a second and said, “Well then you can ask him.”

In my study I have several excellent commentaries on the book of Jonah, commentaries written by conservative Bible-teachers such as James Montgomery Boice, J. Vernon McGee, and Henry Morris. Concerning Jonah being swallowed by the “whale,” these commentators make two main points. First, it would have been simple for the God who created all of creation and performs miracles as simply as you and I breathe to have had Jonah swallowed whole and kept alive. Second, even if we take the miraculous out of play, the whole story is even possible on a naturalistic level.

The Hebrew term that is used to describe the monster is gadol dag, which can generically refer to any kind of large sea creature. For one thing, the creature in question really could have been some kind of whale. For example, the sulphur-bottom whale can reach a size of over one-hundred feet and have a mouth as wide as twelve feet. This whale has multiple compartments in its stomach, any one of which could provide more than ample room for a man to live. The head of the whale can be seven feet high, seven feet wide, and fourteen feet long, and it actually serves as an air storage chamber. Also, this whale has no teeth. It feeds by swimming along with its mouth open, straining out the water, and then swallowing whatever is left.

A sperm whale is another candidate for the creature that swallowed Jonah. Its mouth can be twenty feet long, fifteen feet high, and nine feet wide. According to one well- documented account, in February of 1891 a sailor named James Bartley was lost at sea during an attempt to harpoon a sperm whale in the Falkland Islands region. A short time later the whale was killed and drawn to the side of the ship. There it was worked up and its blubber removed. The following day the stomach was hoisted on deck. When the stomach was opened, Bartley was found unconscious, but alive, inside. He was revived and not long afterward resumed his duties aboard the ship.

Then again, the one that got Jonah didn’t have to be a whale at all. A whale shark, for example, could have fit the bill. In the early 1920s the Literary Digest ran the account of an English sailor who was swallowed by a whale shark in the English Channel. Two days later, the creature was spotted again and killed. When it was cut open, the sailors found the man unconscious but alive. He was rushed to the hospital, only to be discharged a few hours later after being found to be physically fit. In 1926, Dr. Harry Rimmer, the President of the Research Science Bureau of Los Angeles, met the man. Rimmer described his physical appearance as odd. The man was devoid of hair and patches of his skin were covered in a yellowish-brown color.

You see, those who attempt to criticize or explain away the story of Jonah do so at their own peril. The God of the miraculous is certainly not on their debate team. Neither are the historical reports of “Jonahs” from more modern times.

And then, of course, there is the one piece of evidence that should settle all doubt about the matter for the Christian. “What is that piece of evidence?” you ask. It’s the fact that Jesus Himself made a point of putting His stamp of approval on the story of Jonah when He said:

For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish (the classic King James translation goes with the translation of “whale” instead of “fish”, but “fish” is more accurate), so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:40, N.K.J.V.)

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, Children, God's Word, Heaven, hell, Scripture, The Bible Tagged with , , , , , , , ,

G.P.S. and Armageddon

July 26, 2011 Leave a comment

For our vacation this year, Tonya and I borrowed a G.P.S. from her parents to help us with the driving. For anyone out there who doesn’t know, G.P.S. stands for Global Positioning System. Basically, a G.P.S. is a small computer that attaches to your windshield or dash and gives you highly specific directions on what roads to take and when to turn. It will even list local stores and restaurants in the area. All this is made possible by the fact that the computer links up to a satellite somewhere out in space and computerized information is relayed via the connection. I don’t want to understand the device much more than that because, frankly, it gets a little too creepy for me.

“What do you mean by that last statement?” Okay, I’ll tell you. First, the fact that the data concerning virtually every interstate, highway, and site location in the United States can be stored in a satellite system that mounts in your car is too Star Trek for me. When did we get smart enough to devise such technology? Second, if a satellite up in space can tell exactly where my Dodge Caravan is at any given time and place, who knows what else the powers that be know about me and mine? That’s too Big Brother for me. Third, by living in a world that has become so dependent upon computers, we seem to have ripened ourselves for some kind of cataclysmic technological meltdown in the future. And that’s a little too book of The Revelation for me.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m really not the type to go around playing Chicken Little by saying, “The sky is falling.” I’m also not the type to grow a long beard, dress in weird clothing, and stand on a street corner holding a sign that reads, “The end of the world is near.” With that said, though, there is something about The Revelation that has aroused my curiosity for years. That something is the fact that the book seems to go out of its way to make mention of horses being used in battle in the future.

The passage I have in mind is Revelation 19:17-18, two verses which are found in the context of the book’s classic passage on the famous battle of Armageddon. They read:

Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, “Come and gather together for the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, both small and great.”

The bloody carnage that will be on display in the wake of the battle of Armageddon will be unfathomable. Revelation 14:20 speaks of blood flowing as high as the horses’ bridle (about four feet high) covering a distance of 1,600 furlongs (the approximate distance between the site of the battle of Armageddon and Edom in the south). Then, in addition to that verse, the words of Revelation 19:18 speak of untold numbers of corpses and carcasses that will become a great feast for the vulturous birds of the air. And here’s the point I’m trying to make: A bird can’t eat the remains of a tank, jeep, helicopter, fighter jet, or transport truck, but it can eat the remains of a horse. Because of this, how can we not interpret the horses at the battle of Armageddon to be literal horses?

Of course, I realize that this interpretation hinges upon the idea that the events of The Revelation are future events, and not everyone holds with this idea. But after studying the book for several years now and preaching through it twice, I side with the now predominantly held belief that the events are still to play out in the future. This world simply hasn’t yet seen the likes of all that is described in The Revelation.

And that brings us back to the matter of the literal horses at the coming battle of Armageddon. The question is, why will this world’s future soldiers be relegated to mounting horses? Could it be that there is coming a time when our vast array of military technology, technology which is based upon computers, will cease to function? Will someone invent a weapon that will render computers inoperative? Will this world one day be forced to endure a true Y2K-type event? While I freely confess that this is all mere speculation on my part, it’s certainly something to think about.

If it does happen, I suspect (and again I’m not preaching any of this as indisputable fact) that it will not take place until after the man the Bible calls the Antichrist has instituted his worldwide identification program known as “the mark of the Beast” (Revelation 13:16-18). That will take place at the midway point of the coming seven-year tribulation period. Students of prophecy puzzled for centuries as to how the Antichrist would be able to pull off such a worldwide program, but now, with computers having the power to store oceans of data and give us a cashless society, the puzzle is solved. So I’m guessing that all our computer technology will still be up and running at the half way point of the tribulation period.

You see, this is the kind of stuff that I think about when I use a device such as a G.P.S. I know, I know, I should just sit back and enjoy the ride, right? But give me credit for at least trying to understand how all of today’s computer wizardry factors into Bible prophecy. I may not have all the answers right, but at least I’m trying to take the test.

Filed under Bible Study, Christ's Second Coming, Coming Judgment, God's Word, Prophecy, Scripture Tagged with , , , , , , , , , , , ,

A Word About Lighthouses, Fire, & Wood

July 8, 2011 Leave a comment

One foggy night a captain saw a faint light directly in the path of his ship. He ordered his signalman to send out the message: “Alter your course ten degrees south.” The signalman did so, but back came the reply: “Alter your course ten degrees north.”

With his pride hurt, the captain ordered that a second message be sent out: “Alter your course ten degrees south! I am a captain!” But back came the return message: “Alter your course ten degrees north! I am Seaman Third Class Jones.”

At this point the captain was enraged and ordered that a third message be sent: “ALTER YOUR COURSE TEN DEGREES SOUTH! I AM IN A BATTLESHIP!” But he had to concede defeat when back came the message: “ALTER YOUR COURSE TEN DEGREES NORTH! I AM IN A LIGHTHOUSE!”

Disagreeing with God’s written word, the Bible, is about like that captain expecting that lighthouse to move for him. In the end, either in this life or in eternity, that’s not an argument that you are going to win. God’s word has stood, is standing right now, and will continue to stand. You disagreeing with it won’t change it. You getting mad at it won’t alter it. You resisting it will only hurt you.

Jeremiah 5:14 is a very interesting verse. It reads:

Therefore thus says the Lord God of hosts: “Because you speak this word, behold, I will make My words in your mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.”

Notice that in this verse God compares His words to fire. When we think of fire, we think of its many advantageous uses. Fire can be used for illumination, cooking, warmth, purification, forging, etc. But God wasn’t telling Jeremiah that His words were going to be a blessing to the people of Judah. His point was, those words would destroy the people. The words would be the fire and the people would be the wood.

Here in America, we have reached a state as low as Judah’s. We argue with God’s word. We disagree with it. We doubt it. We scoff at it. We explain it away. We ridicule it. We ignore it. Therefore, as a nation, we stand as dried wood, ready to be consumed by the fire of God’s judgment.

Frankly, I wish that I could change this about America, but I can’t. I’m just one person. All I can do is remain true to God’s word and take my personal stand with it. Just as Jeremiah stood in stark contrast to the typical citizens of Judah, I can stand in such contrast to the typical citizens of my country. And the great news is that as I do this God’s word will become a source of blessing, not condemnation, to me. I will experience that word as a source of illumination, warmth, and purification. And isn’t that better than being dried out wood awaiting the fire?

Filed under Bible Study, Coming Judgment, God's Word, Personal Holiness, Reward, Scripture, The Bible, Trusting In God Tagged with , , ,

The Class of Prayer (part 2)

July 1, 2011 Leave a comment

When it comes to carrying a good attitude into a class (including the class of prayer), nothing will help you more than seeing the value of the class. In my last post, I told you about a French class that I took in high-school. Now let me tell you about another class from my days of academia.

In college, my major forced me to take an introductory class into the application of computers. At that time, computers were just on the brink of taking over the world, and my college was wise to mandate a basic class in how to use them. But to a young man who was still equating the electronic typewriter with advanced technology, such a class seemed at best optional and at worst unnecessary. I just couldn’t see the class’s value.

So, as I had done with my high school French class, I went into that class with, shall we say, less than ideal enthusiasm. Since I had made it that far in life without relying (at least knowingly) upon computers, I figured that I could keep up that archaic pace. Little did I know that over the next few years computers would become standard operating equipment, just like telephones, televisions, and automobiles. I’m sure that when homes first began to be wired for electricity there were people who chaffed at the idea and couldn’t envision a home-life void of lanterns and candles. Even though I didn’t realize it at the time, I wasn’t acting much differently as I sat in that computers class.

Perhaps you are guilty of a similar mindset in regards to learning to pray. You are asking yourself, “Since I’ve made it this far in my life without putting much emphasis on prayer, why start now?” At the risk of hurting your feelings, let me say that your attitude makes as much sense as my attitude toward that computers class. Whether you admit the
obvious or not, you need to learn how to pray. If you don’t, you will forevermore be out of step with the times God has for you. You’ll be using lanterns and candles while others are enjoying the power of electricity. You’ll be using an electronic typewriter while others are benefiting from desktop computers and laptops to do better and more prolific work. Yes, you learning how to pray inherently holds extreme value, regardless of whether or not you understand and appreciate that value.

Actually, though, I suspect that most people would readily agree to the value of a class on prayer. With the exceptions of atheists and agnostics, everybody would love to learn how to harness the power of prayer. But the problem is that relatively few people are willing to put in the work necessary to excel in a class on the subject. The fact is, in one very important way, learning how to pray is similar to learning how to speak French, operate computers, do long division, or read and write: it takes work.

This explains why the majority of people don’t truly know how to pray. They don’t know because they’ve never put in the work to excel in the class. Oh, they may have a good attitude about learning how to pray, and they may see the value in the assignment, but they aren’t willing to devote themselves to the task.

But let’s assume that you are willing to put in the work to learn how to pray. How, then, do you go about that work? Well, as in virtually any class, there is a textbook, a textbook that must be studied and learned. For a class on prayer, that textbook is the Bible. If you want to truly learn how to pray correctly and effectively, you must learn what the Bible teaches concerning prayer. You’ll not find the required information on the pages of Time, Newsweek, People, The National Enquirer, or the top selling piece of fiction from the New York Times bestseller list. If prayer is talking to God, then the Bible, which is God’s written word, must be the textbook for a class on prayer. That only makes sense.

So, are you ready for class to begin? If you are, then make today the day you start devoting deep Bible study to the topic of prayer. And don’t forget that you must go into the class with a good attitude, see the value of the class, and put in the work to excel in it. If you will do these three things, I promise you that nothing can stop you from learning how to pray. After all, the same Jesus who heard His disciples say, “Lord, teach us to pray,” stands ready to be your teacher as well.

Filed under Bible Study, Discipleship, prayer, Scripture, The Bible Tagged with , , , , ,

A True Masterpiece

June 13, 2011 Leave a comment

An artist visited a museum where one of his masterpieces was on exhibit. As he approached the painting he noticed that the museum had placed one of his earlier, lesser known works beside the masterpiece. He stood there comparing both paintings and began to feel sad. Just then someone recognized him and said to him, “You should be pleased because of the progress you have made.” But the artist didn’t share that opinion. He just smiled somewhat sadly and said, “It grieves me that I realized so little of the promise I showed in my youth.”

Truth be told, many Christians would have to say the same thing about their Christian growth. They showed such promise when they were young! They went to church. They studied the Bible. They prayed. They gave. They witnessed. They lived lives of holiness. But then they got older and ran into some trouble.

When conflict within the church caused them to become disillusioned, they stopped attending. When differing interpretations made studying the Bible harder, they gave up on it. When their prayers weren’t answered to their satisfaction, they quit praying. When their financial situation took a downturn, they eliminated their giving. When they saw no fruit from their witnessing, they hushed. When God didn’t seem to reward the life of holiness, they turned to worldly pursuits and pleasures.

Christian friend, do you find yourself anywhere in this description? If you do, I urge you to find your way back to the fellowship you once had with God. And, please, work on the fellowship before you start working on the service. If you can get the fellowship where it needs to be, the service will inevitably flow, but if the fellowship isn’t there the service will seem like drudgery. Try to rediscover that simple, childlike faith that you once had, a faith that was sincerely shown even in a rhyming prayer: “God is great, God is good. Let us thank Him for our food. By His hands we all are fed. Thank you, Lord, for daily bread. Amen.”

Consider Matthew 18:1-4:

At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Isn’t it fascinating that Jesus said that we must “become as little children” AFTER we are “converted”? Why would He say such a thing? He said it because He knew that we are prone to become more hardened, cynical, and doubtful as we age. The adult life has a way of knocking the childlike faith out of us, and even authentic Christian conversion doesn’t eliminate that tendency. That’s why we adults must become again “as little children.” Is that a tall order? You’d better believe it. But is it one worth meeting? Absolutely, because when we meet it that creates a true masterpiece.

Filed under Adversity, Attitude, Backsliding, Bible Study, Children, Choices, Disappointment, Evangelism, faith, giving, God's Work, perseverance, Personal Holiness, prayer, Problems, salvation, The Bible, trials, Trusting In God, Witnessing, Youth Tagged with , , ,

At What Age Should A Person Marry?

June 7, 2011 Leave a comment

Here’s a good question: At what age should a person marry? Well, obviously, since each situation is unique, it’s impossible to come up with a “one size fits all” age. But what I want to do with this post is present a Bible case that people getting married as teenagers can be a good thing.

Let me start by quoting Proverbs 5:18-19, which says:

Let your fountain be blessed, and rejoice with the wife of your youth. As a loving deer and a graceful doe, let her breasts satisfy you at all times; and always be enraptured with her love.

Notice that the man’s wife is specifically described as the wife of his “youth.” We find this same idea in Proverbs 2:17, which describes the immoral adulteress in this way:

Who forsakes the companion of her youth, and forgets the covenant of her God.

The “covenant of her God” refers to the marriage covenant the woman once entered. Notice that she entered into that covenant with “the companion of her youth.” The picture is one of a young couple getting married and the woman cheating on the man sometime when they get older.

Truth be told, it is a simple fact that in Bible times people got married when they were relatively young, typically when they were teenagers. This was especially true for Jewish girls. Since there are no Bible instances of children getting married, there’s no need to get all weird here and take the age down too low.

And now let me give you three practical reasons why I believe that getting married in one’s later teens can be a good thing. Actually, I didn’t even get these from the Bible. They are just real-life facts that back up what the Bible teaches about getting married young.

Reason #1: It is a biological fact that when a young man or woman hits the teenage years, the urge to have sex increases.

I ask you, would God wire us this way and then expect us to resist that urge until we are married at 25 or 30 or whatever? It seems to me that the way He has designed our bodies points to Him being in favor of us getting married relatively young.

Reason #2: The whole idea of sowing your wild oats, getting drunk with your friends, laying out all night, carousing around, and acting like a typical early-twenty-something certainly takes a major hit if you’re married.

Imagine the following conversation:

“Hey, it’s Friday night, let’s go bar-hopping.” “I can’t, me and the wife are headed to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to pick out a shower curtain.”

Or this one:

“Hey, it’s ladies night at the club. Can you go with us?” No, my husband will be home soon and I’ve got to cook some dinner for him.”

Do you see what I mean?

Reason #3: Physically speaking, raising children is a game best played when your body is younger.

When Tonya and I got married, I was 27 and she was 25. When Ryan was born, I was 30 and she was 28. When Royce was born, I was 34 and she was 32. So now Ryan is almost 14, Royce is 10, and I am 44. That means that I speak with some authority when I say that kids and the infinite list of things that you have to do for them absolutely wear you down.

I held up pretty good until I hit 40. That’s when I fell apart physically. And yet I’m far from out of the woods on this raising kids thing. Right now I’m coaching Royce’s baseball team of 9 and 10 year olds. I’m lugging all that equipment in and out of my car. I’m hitting ground balls in practice. I’m crouching down in that catcher’s position to warm up my pitchers. Needless to say, when I get home after a game or a practice, I am done for the day.

The fact is that Tonya and I have often talked about how it would have been better if we’d gotten married when we were younger and been physically younger as we raised our kids. Honestly, if we had our lives to live over again, and we could go back and fix our sins and mistakes (which cost us several years), I think we would get married right out of high school and go to college as a married couple. We dated a lot in high school, and we both know now that it was always God’s will for us to marry each other. So we could have done that right after graduation and then gone to college together.

Someone says, “But Russell, you’ve got a good marriage. How could things have worked out any better than they did?” Are you kidding? The years of my late teens and early twenties were filled with sin and mistakes. Trust me, I’m still feeling the scars those years left on my soul. As a matter of fact, I actually know one couple who did get married right after high school and attend college as husband and wife. They’ve been married for many years now, have kids, hold down solid jobs, and seem perfectly happy and contented. Just think about all the temptations that come with college life, temptations that could be pretty much defanged if you were married.

Now, in closing, there is one last thing that I need to say on this subject. And please hear me well on this: Getting married young doesn’t magically preserve your marriage and mean that you will never get divorced. I hope you understand that if you want your marriage to work the way God intends, you have to make Him the center of it. That applies whether you get married at age 18 or age 98. My whole point with this post has been that the idea of entering into the marriage covenant with the companion of your youth is indeed Biblical. No, it’s not the average mindset in American culture, but that doesn’t automatically make it wrong. To the contrary, with the way America stands spiritually these days, not to mention our high divorce rate and scores of troubled marriages, how can we possibly say that our way is better than the way the Bible describes?

Filed under adultery, Bible Study, Children, God's Will, Marriage, Parenting, The Bible Tagged with , , , ,

How To Recite The Twenty-Third Psalm

May 24, 2011 Leave a comment

Back in the day when orators were highly esteemed, a banquet was held for such a man. Following the banquet, he was asked to recite something for the pleasure of the guests. He agreed to do so and asked if anyone in the audience had a specific request. An elderly preacher spoke up and said, “Sir, could you recite the twenty-third Psalm?”

After a moment’s pause, the orator said, “I can and I will, but after I have recited it I want you to do the same.” Surprised, the preacher said, “Well, I’m not much of an orator, but I will oblige if you wish.”

Then the orator began his recitation. He held the audience spellbound as he worked his way through the majestic lines of the beautiful Psalm. When he finished, the audience burst into a great round of applause.

When the applause finally died down, the old preacher arose and began his turn. His style was vastly different from the orator’s, much more simple and humble. But there was a strange, undeniable, uncommon power to it. When he finished, no applause broke from the audience. Instead there was a holy silence, marked only by a few tears that streamed from some faces.

At that point the orator walked over to the old preacher, put his hand on his shoulder, and summed up the scene perfectly. He said, “My friends, I reached your eyes and ears, but this man reached your hearts. I know the twenty-third Psalm, but this man knows the Shepherd.”

Filed under Belief, Bible Study, Comfort, Communication, God's Love, God's Provision, Humility, Personal Holiness, Scripture, Trusting In God, Witnessing Tagged with , , , ,

Christ’s Resurrection: Study The Facts, I Dare You

April 21, 2011 1 Comment

A group of lawyers once met in England to discuss the Biblical accounts of Christ’s resurrection. They were curious as to whether or not there was sufficient information regarding the resurrection to make a case that would hold up in an English court of law. When they had finished their research, they published the results of their investigation. Their conclusion was that Christ’s resurrection was nothing less than one of the most well-established facts of history!

Along the same lines, noted Christian apologist Josh McDowell came to Christ by way of some of Christian friends in college challenging him to intellectually examine the claims of Jesus. In Christianity: Hoax or History, he writes:

Finally, I accepted their challenge. I did it out of pride, to refute them. But I didn’t know there were facts. I didn’t know there was evidence that a person could evaluate.

I guess the point I’m making is that you don’t have to check your brains at the door if you want to be a Christian. You don’t have to believe in Santa’s flying reindeer in order to also believe that Christ rose from the dead. One is fantasy, the other is history. If you doubt the historical veracity of the resurrection, I challenge you to dive into the same serious, academic study into which those lawyers and Josh McDowell dove. I mean, after all, if the claims about Christ can’t stand up to a little honest scrutiny, they aren’t worth much anyway.

But what you’ll find is that they can stand up to such scrutiny, and that simple fact will bring you face to face with a risen Savior. At that point, the decision will be yours. Will you make Him the Lord of your life or will you reject Him? Even if you do reject Him, you won’t be able to change the fact that He really was who He said He was, and He really arose just as He said He would.

Filed under Bible Study, Christ's Resurrection, Easter Tagged with , , ,

The New Testament, Prayer, & Jesus

April 8, 2011 Leave a comment

The New Testament era officially began with the birth of Jesus. As God in the flesh, He ushered in a new age and revealed God more intimately than any Old Testament Jew could have imagined. The “one” Lord God of Israel was revealed to be one God who actually exists in three distinct persons: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

Is it any wonder that this concept of God as a Trinity was rank blasphemy to so many Jews? We can hear them crying out, “God the Son? NO!! God the Holy Spirit? NO!! The Lord our God, the Lord is one!” If you were a Jew in the time of Christ, you probably wouldn’t have been so quick to accept Jesus either. After all, not only did He claim that He was God’s Son, He also had the audacity to place the Holy Spirit on the same level as Himself and the Father.

Furthermore, the New Testament era also brought the teaching that prayers should be prayed to God by way of Jesus. Specifically, the New Testament describes a three-link “prayer chain” that involves each member of the holy Trinity. The chain is as follows:

Link #1: God the Holy Spirit indwells each Christian and prays intercessory prayers for the Christian in accordance with God’s will.

“Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

Link #2: God the Son (Jesus Christ) sits at the right hand of God the Father in heaven and, acting as High Priest, prays for the Christian, takes the Christian’s own prayers to God the Father, and takes the Holy Spirit’s prayers concerning the Christian to God the Father.

“Seeing then that we (Christians) have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” (Hebrews 4:14-16)

Link #3: Prayers should be addressed to God the Father in Jesus’ name.

(Jesus speaking) “And in that day (the day when Jesus would be back in heaven rather than with His disciples) you will ask Me nothing. Most assuredly, I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” (John 16:23-24)

As you can see, the New Testament places the highest premium on praying in the name of Jesus. The fact is, it isn’t hard to see how someone could reach the conclusion that God doesn’t even hear the prayer of anyone (Jew, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc.) who isn’t a Christian. After all, everything about the New Testament is Christ-centric.

Along these same lines, we should also consider the following passages:

“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6)

“Then Jesus said to them again, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.’” (John 10:7-9)

“Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, ‘Rulers of the people and elders of Israel: If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the “stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.” Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.’” (Acts 4:8-12)

“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus.” 1 Timothy 2:5

“For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.” (John 5:22-23)

“And He (Jesus) went through the cities and villages, teaching and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, ‘Lord, are there few who are saved?’ And He said to them, ‘Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able.’” (Luke 13:22-24)

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it.” (Matthew 7:13-14)

It’s impossible to read these passages and miss what they teach: Jesus is the only way to God the Father. You might not agree with this teaching, but you should at least be honest and admit that it is there. And so what implication does this teaching carry in regard to prayer? If we concede that Jesus is the only way to God the Father for salvation, must we also concede the same in regards to prayer? Does God the Father’s ear only hear prayers that are prayed through Jesus? My answer is, no. And I’ll have more to say about that in my next post. Stay tuned.

Filed under Bible Study, Doctrine, prayer, salvation, Scripture, The Holy Spirit Tagged with , , , , , , ,

Sunday School

March 25, 2011 Leave a comment

Most people don’t know that the Sunday Schools of today’s churches bear little resemblance to the original Sunday Schools of England’s late 1700s. Those schools were quite literally places of basic education where poor children could learn to read and write. You see, in that day England did not have what we now think of as state education. Therefore, it was typically only the richer class who could afford to educate their children. That was done by means of hired governesses, private tutors, and boarding schools. Poor children were usually left to either take the low pay and long hours (as much as 13 or 14 hours a day) of factory work or some other form of low-level, menial labor.

While there is some debate as to when and where the first Sunday School opened, there is no doubt that Robert Raikes became the man most closely associated with the movement. He was the editor of the Gloucester Journal, and he saw Sunday Schools as a way of keeping the children of poor families from gravitating toward lives of crime. His Sunday Schools began by meeting in homes, and he promoted the work through his newpaper.

As the term implies, the schools met each week on Sunday. Why that day? It was the only day the factories didn’t work, which made it the day children got into the most trouble playing in the streets, being loud and rowdy, and just generally creating disturbances. Raikes used the Bible as a textbook to teach the children to read and write.

Within just a few short years, the Sunday School movement exploded throughout England as approximately 250,000 children were attending schools. It wasn’t long before the various religious denominations began to open their own schools, and by the 1830s attendance in Sunday Schools had grown to over one million. Not only did the schools teach the children to read and write, they also provided them with new clothes to wear on Sunday as well as basic instruction in matters of morality and cleanliness. Discipline was handed out for offenses such as cussing, lying, and other forms of inappropriate behavior. For the record, the first Sunday School in the United States was opened in the 1790s by Samuel Slater in his textile mills in Pawtucket, Rhode Island.

Over the century that followed, child labor laws and the beginnings of compulsary state educational systems eliminated the primary needs for which the Sunday School movement had begun. This allowed Sunday Schools to turn their focus exclusively toward religious indoctrination and become the Sunday Schools we know today. It’s interesting that arguably the greatest impact the Sunday School movement made on society was that it was successful enough to cause society to put the schools out of their original business.

Filed under Bible Study, Children, church, Corporal Punishment, Doing Good, God's Work, Influence, Scripture, spanking, Teaching, The Bible Tagged with , , ,

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