The Blessing of Changing a Sermon

Posted on May 9, 2022 by russellmckinney

On Sunday, July 1st, 2009, I had in mind to preach a sermon on prayer. Specifically, I planned to preach on the so-called “Lord’s Prayer.” But as I began to ease into my studying and preparing for that sermon, the Lord made it clear that He wanted me to preach something else. He wanted a sermon on salvation.

The text He told me to use was Matthew 7:21-23, where Jesus says, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” Since preachers are always being told how important it is to grab the listener’s attention with the sermon’s introduction, I opened up with these words: “You can die and go to hell from a seat in church just as much as you can from living in a box in some rat-infested alley, taking your meals out of a garbage can.” Pretty attention-grabbing, huh?

From there, I proceeded to explain that the person who has experienced genuine salvation will evidence that salvation in his or her conduct. In other words, the person’s salvation will show up in the way the person lives. As James 2:20 so succinctly puts it: “faith without works is dead.” While good works can never produce salvation, salvation will inevitably produce good works. While good works can never flow into salvation, they must flow out of it.

This doesn’t mean the person who gets saved will never sin again. Romans chapter 7 is the Bible’s best passage on why saved people (Christians) still sin. In that chapter, Paul explains that the Christian has two inner natures that are constantly at war. On the one hand, at the moment of salvation, God the Holy Spirit comes to live inside the Christian’s body, and the Spirit brings the nature of God to the person. Consequently, that new nature seeks control over the person, a control that will lead to deeds of righteousness. But on the other hand, even when the Spirit comes to indwell the individual, the Spirit’s presence doesn’t eliminate the individual’s old nature (the nature with which everyone is born, the nature of Adam). That nature also seeks control over the Christian, a control that will lead to deeds of sin.

Still, though, despite continuing to have to contend with the old nature, the truly saved person will evidence salvation (to some degree) in his or her life. Some Christians evidence it more than others because they handle the Romans chapter 7 set-up better, but every Christian will evidence it somewhat. That was the core message of my sermon.

As part of the sermon, I walked the listeners through the plan of salvation. I told them that salvation requires a head knowledge of certain facts:

Fact #1: There is a God. (Psalm 14:1: “The fool has said in his heart, ‘There is no God.’”)

Fact #2: God is thoroughly holy. (Psalm 47:8: “God reigns over the nations; God sits on His holy throne.”)

Fact #3: You are a sinner. (Romans 3:10,23: “There is none that is righteous, no, not one…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”)

Fact #4: Your sin separates you from God. (Psalm 5:4: “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness, nor shall evil dwell with You.”)

Fact #5: Jesus (God the Son) left heaven, came to the earth, took human form upon Himself, and ultimately died on a Roman cross for all the sins of the world (and that included all your sins). 1st Timothy 2:5-6: (“For there is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself a ransom for all…”)

Fact #6: On the third day after His burial, Jesus arose from the dead and eventually ascended back up to heaven. (Matthew 28:5: “…the angel answered and said to the women, ‘Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here; for He is risen…’”)

Once you have these six facts settled in your mind — i.e., you believe them — then it’s time to get your heart involved. It is with your heart that you must voluntarily, willfully, purposefully place your belief in Jesus as your personal Savior. As scriptural evidence of this, in Acts 16:30-31 a jailor in the city of Philippi asks Paul and Silas a straight question: “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” And the answer they give him is: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” Likewise, Romans 10:10 proves that this belief must be from the heart. That verse says: “…for with the heart one believes unto righteousness.”

Interestingly, the Bible uses different terminology to describe this saving belief. It speaks of coming to Jesus, opening the door to Jesus, putting your faith in Jesus, trusting in Jesus, and calling upon Jesus. But these aren’t separate experiences. They are just different ways of describing what it is to believe in Jesus in a saving way. Salvation is not a process; it is a moment-in-time experience.

So now let me get back to my story. What were the results of my sermon on salvation that day? Well, at the close of that Sunday-morning service, I got no response. Naturally, that was a little disappointing, but I thought, “Lord, I obeyed and preached what You told me to preach. That’s all I can do. I’m sure You had Your reasons for having me preach that today.” Then I put the sermon out of my mind and went on about my business.

The next day, Monday, was an especially busy day as I hardly stopped all day. Even at 7:00 that night, I had to have my oldest son, Ryan, at a baseball practice for his all-star team. That practice lasted for over two hours, and by the time that Ryan and I got back home around 9:30, I was whipped.

No sooner had I gotten in the door than Tonya said to me, “We need to talk.” As she spoke, Royce, our eight-year old, was sitting in her lap. I replied, “Oh no, what do we need to talk about?” She said, “It’s nothing bad.” Then we took Royce into his bedroom, where Tonya explained to me that he wanted to get saved. He had listened to my sermon the previous day, understood that going to heaven was far better than going to hell, and wanted Jesus to forgive him of all his sins and be his personal Savior.

And what did I do? Right then and there in his bedroom, I took him by his hand and said, “I’m going to pray and I want you to repeat what I say.” Then I led him through a version of what you might call “a sinner’s prayer” by keeping the focus on the basics: sin, Christ’s death, belief, and forgiveness. (By the way, don’t ever force a child to become a Bible scholar to get saved. Since that child has the rest of his or life to learn all the finer points of Christian doctrine, just keep things simple and anchored to the basics. That will do just fine.)

In the days that followed, I didn’t rush Royce into the waters of baptism. Instead, I talked with him some more and made sure that he really did know Jesus as his Savior before I baptized him. Truth be told, though, I had full confidence all along that the little fellow had experienced authentic salvation that Monday night. What a glorious thing it is for a father to know that both his sons are born-again Christians!

And now, as I finish up this post, let me leave you with a word of application. That word is simply: obey God. Just as I obeyed Him by changing my plans and preaching that sermon on salvation, you must obey Him and do whatever it is He is telling you to do. Even if you don’t fully understand it or agree with it, you must obey. Just know that if God is giving you a specific command, He has His reasons for doing so and they are good ones. I’m not saying that your obedience will lead to someone getting saved, but I am saying that it will surely lead to some type of good harvest somewhere down the line for not only you but for others as well.

Posted in Baptism, Belief, Change, Children, Christ's Death, Christ's Resurrection, Disobedience, Forgiveness, Obedience, Parenting, Personal, Preaching, Reward, Salvation, Seeking Forgiveness, Sin, The Holy Spirit | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Maybe So, Maybe Not

Posted on May 7, 2022 by russellmckinney

In my previous post, “Let’s Get Real,” I pointed out that God allows Satan to win a lot of battles, even though God has already won the eternal war. That post was all about being honest with God when we talk to Him. Putting it simply, if we don’t understand what God is doing, or agree with it, we shouldn’t shy away from expressing that to Him in prayer. After all, how can prayer be real if it isn’t honest?

But now let’s come at this topic from a a different direction. To help us do this, I want to share an illustration that I once heard James Merritt, the pastor of Cross Pointe Church in Duluth, Georgia, use. Consider this the other side of the “Let’s Get Real” coin.

There was an old man who was known as the wisest man in a certain village. Whenever someone wanted council they would go see this man. One day a farmer went to him and said, “A horrible thing has happened to me: my ox died. I’m a farmer and I depended upon that ox to get my fields plowed and my crops planted. Now I can’t plant my crops and I’m going to starve. Do you agree that this is the worst possible thing that could have happened to me?” The wise man said, “Maybe so, maybe not.”

The very next day the farmer looked out his window and saw a strong, sturdy horse come galloping up to his farm. The farmer wouldn’t have tried to catch the horse if he had still had the ox, but the ox’s death led him to go out and catch the horse. It turned out that the horse was much younger and stronger than the ox and could plow ground much faster. Because of this, over the next couple of weeks, the man was able to plant twice as much as he would have been able to plant with the ox.

The man went back to the wise man and said, “I owe you an apology.” Then he told him the story about the horse. He finished the story by saying, “You were right. My ox dying wasn’t the worst thing that could have happened. Actually, it was a blessing in disguise. The best thing that could have happened to me was getting this horse.” The wise man said, “Maybe so, maybe not.”

Three days later the farmer’s son took the horse out for a ride. But the horse threw him and the fall broke both of the son’s legs. Since the young man was the only worker the farmer had to help him get in his crops, the farmer was devastated. He went back to the wise man and said, “How did you know that me catching that horse was not going to be a good thing? My son getting both his legs broken has to be the worst thing that ever happened to me.” The wise man said, “Maybe so, maybe not.”

The very next day troops came to the village to take every young man away to fight a war that had just broken out. The only young man who wasn’t taken was the farmer’s son who was laid up with those two broken legs. Tragically, the village got word a few days later that every one of those young men had been killed in that war.

Vance Havner, that great preacher, left us with two good quotes about God’s sometimes downright confusing ways of dealing with us. First, he said, “God marks across some of our days, ‘Will explain later.’” Second, he said, “…all question marks will be straightened into exclamation points.” That first quote describes what we might call “the difficult here and now” while the second one describes “the sweet by and by.”

So, how does this “Maybe So, Maybe Not” post walk hand in hand with the “Let’s Get Real” post? The answer is: Even as we are honest enough with God to question Him or disagree with Him when we don’t understand what He is doing (or not doing), we should be humble enough to admit that His wisdom is infinitely superior to ours. As another old quote puts it, “Even when we can’t track Him, we can trust Him.”

That’s something that we all need to be reminded of, isn’t it? Our knowledge and understanding are so limited that we don’t know what the next second holds, to say nothing of the next day, week, month, or year. But God does, and He can be trusted to always do right. Therefore, anytime we “get real” with Him, let’s not forget to also “get real” about all the things that we don’t know about our situation. The truth is that we simply don’t have His infinite knowledge, and if we did, we’d no doubt see the wisdom of handling things exactly the way He is handling them.

Posted in Adversity, Complaining, Contentment, Disappointment, Faith, God's Omnipotence, God's Foreknowledge, God's Omniscience, God's Sovereignty, God's Will, God's Work, Patience, Perseverance, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Let’s Get Real

Posted on May 5, 2022 by russellmckinney

I’m fascinated by the story found in Luke 13:10-17. It’s the story of a woman who was stricken with a “spirit of infirmity” for eighteen years. The result of the infirmity was that she was constantly stooped over, unable to stand fully erect.

What’s so fascinating is the stated source of the woman’s pitiful condition. When verse 11 uses the term “spirit of infirmity,” that means that a demon (fallen angel) kept this woman in her bent-over condition. In verse 16, Jesus even calls the woman, “a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound….for eighteen years.”

We might say that the woman spent eighteen long years as a prisoner of war in Satan’s hands. Yes, Jesus healed her, but that healing didn’t take away the painful memories of all those years. This raises the question: “Why would an all-powerful God who despises the works of Satan sit up in heaven and watch as one of Satan’s fallen angels afflicted a decent woman for almost two decades?” Somebody might answer, “It was because He knew that she would meet up with Jesus one day and He would cure her.” Well, that’s a nice little answer, but it doesn’t give that woman those eighteen years back.

Let’s admit that even though Satan is surely destined to lose his war against God, God lets him win a lot of battles. Think about Job. God did win that war in the end, but Satan sure left a lot of scars on Job before the end came. Even if God completely healed those sore, running boils with which Satan struck Job from head to toe, He didn’t resurrect those seven sons and three daughters that Satan more or less killed by way of orchestrating an accident. I know, I know, God gave Job seven more sons and three more daughters. But do you think that Job ever forgot the names and faces of all those kids he buried?

I realize that we don’t usually speak this bluntly when we talk about God. I guess we are too scared to sound even remotely critical of Him. But God isn’t afraid of a sincerely offered comment that seems to call His actions (or lack of them) into question. I offer Martha and Mary, the sisters of Lazarus, as proof. Each of them, on different occasions, pointedly said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21,32). Despite the not-so-subtle accusation in that comment, Jesus didn’t rebuke either of those sisters for making it. Instead, He simply continued along in His timing and plan to raise Lazarus from the dead.

Of course, we know the story of Lazarus has a happy ending. Furthermore, the delay until that happy ending was only four days. But what do we do with a delay of eighteen years? Remember, that’s how long the woman from Luke 13:10-17 had to wait for her healing. I myself have heard plenty of preaching in praise of Christ’s miracle-working power, but I’ve never heard even one sermon on why Satan got to have his way with that woman for all those years.

You say, “Then why don’t you preach it?” I would if I had the answer myself. You see, I’m not writing this blog post to share some profound insight with you, an insight that nobody else has ever shared; I’m writing it to get you to be more real with God.

The prophet Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh and preach. That’s what got him enrolled in “whale seminary.” Finally, after he had preached to Nineveh and Nineveh had repented to the point where God stayed their destruction, Jonah “got real” with God. With anger he prayed, “Lord, wasn’t this what I said when I was still in my country? I knew that you are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm” (Jonah 4:1-2).

Basically, Jonah was saying, “God, I knew that You would let these people off the hook. I even said it back in Israel. Why, then, did You make me come all this way and go through the motions of prophesying destruction upon them when You and I both knew that You wouldn’t carry through with it?” Say what you will, but that kind of prayer inspires me. It inspires me to talk to God like I’m talking to a real person. It inspires me to dare question Him if I don’t agree with the way He is running the universe. It inspires me to show my anger and disillusionment over what He has done or hasn’t done.

My favorite story from the book of Genesis might well be the one that is found in Genesis chapter 15. God comes to Abraham (Abram) and says, “Do not be afraid, Abram. I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward.” Well, that sounds good, doesn’t it? But Abraham, at that point in his life and walk with God, was tired of hearing such talk. The way he saw it, God had reneged on a promise because Abraham’s wife Sarah (Sarai) was still barren even though Abraham had been waiting for over a decade for God to grant him a promised son through her.

Abraham’s frustration explains why his response to God was so coldly blunt. He said, “Lord God, what will You give me, seeing I go childless, and the heir of my house is Eliezer of Damascus? Look, You have given me no offspring; indeed one born in my house is my heir!” Allow me to put that into a Russell paraphrase. Abraham said, “Yes, Lord, that’s all well and good, but can we talk about the pink elephant in the room? You have given me no offspring.”

And how did God respond to that criticism? Did He get hysterical or mad? Did He launch into a fifty-point defense of Himself? No, He just calmly reiterated the promise one more time: “This one shall not be your heir, but one who will come from your own body shall be your heir.”

So, in closing, let me leave you with two thoughts. First, we simply have to deal with the fact that there are some things about God’s actions that we won’t understand until we get to heaven. Why did He let Satan hold sway over that woman for eighteen years? Why did He let Satan claim the lives of Job’s first ten children? Why did He let Lazarus die and put that family through all that grief? Why did He make Jonah go pronounce doom on a nation of people He was going to spare in the end? Why did He make Abraham and Sarah wait twenty-five years for their promised son? My only answer is, we can all ask Him when we get to heaven. Until then we’ll just have to be content with Isaiah 55:8: “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord.

But, second, let’s not shy away from being “real” with God when we talk to Him. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6). If that statement means nothing else it must mean that God takes no pleasure in a dialogue that showcases half-truths and outright lies. Putting it another way, He doesn’t want fake niceness or fake contentment from you. He doesn’t want to listen to your prayers and think, “Why don’t you tell Me how you are really feeling?” Instead, what He wants is the “real” you (warts and all), and it is only when you speak to Him with such honesty that you can enter into the deepest kind of prayer to Him.

Posted in Adversity, Anger, Complaining, Demons, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Grace, Honesty, Perseverance, Personal, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Satan, Suffering, The Devil, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Play Your Piccolo

Posted on May 2, 2022 by russellmckinney

Acts 6:1-7 gives the account of an election that was held by the early church. Not only did the apostles instruct the church members to choose seven men, the seven had to be much more than just “casual Christians.” They had to be of a good reputation, full of the Holy Spirit, and full of wisdom. Why was the standard for selection so high? It was because the seven would be responsible for overseeing the daily distribution of food to the church’s widows.

Many students of the Bible consider this to be the first election of deacons. I’ll admit that this interpretation is debated, but I have always agreed with it more or less. However, what’s sad is the fact that in the debate over the interpretation, and in the adjoining debate over the qualifications for deaconship, a major point is missed altogether. That point is the apostles quote, “It is not right that we should leave the word of God and serve tables.”

The Bible is a very complex book that takes tons of study to teach correctly (2 Timothy 2:15). Such study requires time, lots of it. It also requires prayer and focus. But all of that is hard to achieve when a man is expected to fill his days with visiting the sick, evangelizing the lost, counseling the troubled, attending meetings, etc., etc., etc. Therefore, is it any wonder that the New Testament so plainly teaches that every Christian is supposed to help out with the work of the church?

Passages such as Romans 12:1-13, 1 Corinthians 12:1-31, Ephesians 4:11-16, and 1 Corinthians 14:26 show us that God doesn’t expect all His work to be done by a precious few “spiritual elites.” Instead, He imparts at least one spiritual gift to each Christian and says, “Go wear it out through use.” By way of definition, a spiritual gift is a skill or talent the Christian did not have before the moment of salvation. At that moment, however, the Holy Spirit imparted the gift to the Christian when He came to indwell that Christian. Every Christian receives at least one spiritual gift, and many Christians even receive more than one.

Here again, though, the church has made the mistake of getting all bogged down in how to interpret the spiritual gift passages. The major point of contention centers around the question of whether God still imparts all the different kinds of gifts or whether the so-called “sign” gifts were exclusively for the days of the early church. I do have an opinion on all that, but the point I’m making right now is this: In all our debating and arguing, we have overlooked the basic teaching that every Christian is supposed to do his or her part in the work of the church.

Ephesians 4:11-12 refers to apostles, prophets, evangelists, and pastor-teachers as gifts that Jesus gave to the church. Apostles had the spiritual gift of apostleship, prophets had the spiritual gift of prophecy, evangelists had the spiritual gift of evangelism, and pastor-teachers had the spiritual gift of pastor-teaching. And why did Jesus give these people to the church? He did it “for the equipping of the saints.” Okay, so why did the saints (Christians) need to be equipped? They needed to be equipped in order to do “the work of the ministry.” The set-up isn’t hard to understand. The spiritually gifted leaders in the church are supposed to equip the so-called “lay members” so that the “lay members” can do the work of the ministry. That’s a far cry from the spiritual leaders doing all the work!

In 1 Corinthians chapter 12, the apostle Paul compares the functioning of the church to the functioning of the human body. He says that if a foot doesn’t do its job because it wants to be a hand, that hurts the whole body. If an ear doesn’t do its job because it wants to be an eye, that hurts the whole body. If the whole body is one big eye, the work of hearing doesn’t get done. If it is one big ear, the work of smelling doesn’t get done. What a marvelous illustration that is!

Sir Michael Costa, the noted composer and conductor of another day, was once conducting a rehearsal that featured a large number of performers and singers. The mighty chorus was singing out in perfect unison, the organ was thundering, the drums were rolling, the horns were blasting, and the cymbals were clashing. But in the midst of that din of noise, one piccolo player began to feel very small and insignificant. He thought to himself, “In all this sound it doesn’t really matter whether I play or not. Nobody will notice if I just stop.” And so he stopped. Immediately, however, the great conductor brought the entire rehearsal to a screeching halt, threw up his hands, and cried out, “Where is the piccolo?”

That story makes me think of God. I can just picture Him leaning over heaven’s balcony, listening to the volume of noise that rises up as the church goes about its work, and noticing every spiritual gift that isn’t being put to use. Unlike Michael Costa, though, He doesn’t miss the sound of just one player. No, He misses the sound of many thousands, even millions, of spiritually-gifted people who simply aren’t doing the jobs they are supposed to be doing.

So tell me, Christian, how is your piccolo playing these days? Are you using your spiritual gift (gifts) in service to Christ? Are you carrying your weight in regards to the work of the church? Or does the Lord only hear silence coming from your chair? Speaking as a hard-working part of the orchestra, let me say that we need your piccolo. If you won’t play it, somebody like me will have to pick up the slack, and the truth is that I’ve got plenty of my own work to do.

Posted in Bible Study, Church, Doing Good, Faithfulness, God's Work, Individuality, Pastors, Preaching, Service, Spiritual Gifts | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

“Lord, I Believe; Help My Unbelief”

Posted on April 29, 2022 by russellmckinney

The story of a certain father bringing his demon-possessed son to Jesus is recorded in Matthew 17:14-21, Mark 9:14-29, and Luke 9:37-42. While each of those accounts provides different details about the story, the account that typically gets used as a preaching text is Mark’s. The reason for that has to do with the dialogue that Mark says took place between the father and Jesus.

According to Mark, the father brings the son to Jesus and says, “If You can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” The word “If” gives us a glimpse into that father’s heart. He is open-minded about Jesus but not fully convinced. He is willing to give Jesus a try, but he can’t make himself unreservedly believe that Jesus can cure the boy. But let’s not be too harsh on this man. He isn’t a bad sort of fellow; he is just a parent at his wit’s end over his child’s deplorable condition.

Jesus knows this, and so He doesn’t lambaste the guy for using the word “If.” Instead of getting all defensive about His miracle-working power, Jesus goes on the offensive by saying to the father, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” You have to love that comeback. Now the pressure is back on the father. Does the man have enough belief to see his son delivered?

This brings us to everybody’s favorite part of the story as the father responds to Jesus by saying, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” How’s that for blunt honesty? “Lord, I’m not totally faithless. There is a very real part of me that does believe You can heal my son. But I won’t lie and say that my faith is perfect. I want to be the believer You want me to be, but You are going to have to help me get there.”

Of all the Bible stories in which I could be cast, this one is perhaps the most natural for me. I believe the Lord can and will do wonderful things in my life, but my belief frequently needs help. It’s during such times that I need a fresh measure of the Lord’s strengthening grace. Putting it another way, I need Him to look at me through eyes of mercy and not let my bad cancel out my good.

Those of us who know something about weightlifting know the term “spotter.” A spotter is a person who stands behind the bench while the weightlifter lies on the bench and bench presses as much weight as he can. When the weightlifter reaches the limit of what he can lift, and the weight starts coming back down toward his chest, the spotter reaches down with both hands, grabs the bar that is holding the weight, pulls it back up, and places it onto the holding bars.

I see myself as a weightlifter who can bench press a limited amount of weight. I know where the spiritual gym is, and I know how to handle myself in the midst of a spiritual bench press, but when the weight becomes too heavy for me, when I can no longer lift it, when I feel it is just about to crash down hard onto my chest, I’m glad I have Jesus as my spotter. His strength makes up for weakness. His ability covers my inability. He can pick up where I leave off.

I write this as a way of encouraging those of you out there who are too hard on yourself concerning your level of faith. If you are a Christian, and if you have a legitimate amount of faith, don’t think that your lack of “ideal” faith keeps the Lord from doing what He wants to do in your life. After all, if Jesus had waited until the father of that demon-possessed boy had “perfected” his belief, who knows when that boy would have been delivered and healed? Would he ever have been?

You see, it’s not that your somewhat deficient faith is a good thing. We know it isn’t. But the Lord always stands ready to give credit where credit is due, and He understands that some faith is certainly better than no faith. Think about a loving earthly father. If that father sees that his child is obviously making an attempt to live up to his wishes, he will not give up on his child. Instead, he will work with that child, show patience, and give the child time to do even better. And my point is, if an earthly father will operate like that, how much more will our heavenly Father?

Posted in Adversity, Belief, Comfort, Faith, Fear, God's Love, Grace, Needs, Personal, Prayer Requests, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

My Body, A Temple

Posted on April 27, 2022 by russellmckinney

I’m well aware that 1 Timothy 4:8 says: “For bodily exercise profits little, but godliness is profitable for all things” (N.K.J.V.). I’m also well aware that overweight Christians love that verse because it seems to dismiss the need for exercise. Nevertheless, a thorough study of the totality of scripture will show that God is all for Christians keeping themselves in good physical shape.

First, there are the multiple passages that vividly paint gluttony in a bad light. Proverbs 23:21 says: “For the drunkard and the glutton will come to poverty.” Likewise, 1 Samuel 4:18 makes a point of saying that Eli, Israel’s high priest, was “old and heavy.” Judges 3:17 does the same with Eglon, king of Moab, saying that he was “a very fat man.” As proof of how fat Eglon was, Judges 3:22 says that when Ehud stabbed him with a dagger, “the fat closed over the blade.” We don’t have to think too hard to get the visual imagery of that line, do we?

Second, there is the Bible’s great teaching that the Christian’s body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. According to multiple passages, the moment an individual believes in Christ as Savior, God the Holy Spirit takes up residence inside that person’s body. This experience is known as “Spirit baptism,” being “born again,” or “regeneration” (1 Corinthians 12:13; John 3:1-8; Titus 3:5). The experience is so necessary to authentic Christianity that Romans 8:9 flatly says: “Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His.”

The presence of God the Holy Spirit inside a Christian’s body automatically makes that body the temple of God. That’s why 1 Corinthians 6:19 asks the profound question: “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” You see, it isn’t the bodybuilder, the yoga expert, or the aerobics instructor whose body is a temple. Only the Christian can rightly say, “My body is a temple” because only the Christian has the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Years ago, I heard Charles Stanley preach on this subject, and the outline he used stuck with me. He said the Christian’s body being the temple of the Holy Spirit should affect three things:

#1: what the Christian puts in his or her body

#2: what the Christian puts on his or her body

#3: what the Christian does with his or her body

Point #1 covers sins such as gluttony, drunkenness, and drug addiction. Each of these sins involves the Christian putting something (or at least too much of it) literally inside the body. As for me, I agree with those who would add smoking cigarettes, chewing tobacco, and dipping snuff to this list of sins. You might get mad at me for saying that, but I think the medical evidence now clearly indicates that all of these activities are bad for one’s health. Putting it simply, they do harm to the temple of the Holy Spirit.

Point #2 covers the sins of immodest or unholy appearance. The Christian female’s wardrobe shouldn’t be a showcase for short skirts, skimpy bathing suits, spray-on jeans, low-cut tops, skintight shirts, shirts that expose the midriff, crude tee-shirts, etc. Likewise, a Christian male’s wardrobe shouldn’t be a showcase for low-riding pants, immodest shorts, spray-on jeans, skintight shirts, shirts that expose the midriff, crude tee-shirts, etc. I’m not trying to be the fashion Gestapo here, but some looks are just out of bounds for the Christian.

Furthermore, I don’t think tattoos, even Christian ones, are becoming to the temple of the Holy Spirit. The fact that God forbade them among the people of Israel (Leviticus 19:28) shouldn’t be completely dismissed as Old Testament, antiquated stuff that only pertained to the worship of idols. (For a much more thorough treatment of this topic please read my post “Should a Christian Get a Tattoo?”) Also, any “look” that gives the impression of gaudiness (Isaiah 3:16-23) or worldliness (Romans 12:2; Titus 2:11-12; James 4:4; 1 John 2:15-17) should be avoided. This gets into the realm of excessive jewelry, body-piercing, and hairdos that are designed to induce a reaction.

Before you accuse me of legalism or label me a fanatical Puritan, ask yourself this question: “Should the Christian’s appearance bring attention to the Christian or honor to Christ?” You know the answer. Furthermore, we as Christians should be trying to please God with our appearance rather than impress members of the opposite sex. 1 Timothy 2:9-10 talks about women adorning themselves in modest apparel and taking a low-key, toned-down approach to hairdos, jewelry, and clothing. Similarly, 1 Peter 3:1-6 says a woman’s outward holiness should spring up from her inward holiness. I like that. The Christian (man or woman) who is wrong in some way in outward appearance isn’t where he or she needs to be in inner holiness. As the old saying goes, the heart of the problem is usually the problem of the heart.

Point #3 covers the incredibly broad area of sinful acts done with the body. Certainly, sins such as murder, adultery, and theft are on this list, but so are sins such as flying into an ungodly rage, lying, gambling, using profane language, and looking at pornography. Basically, whenever the Christian takes the indwelling Holy Spirit along for a ride He doesn’t want to take, that Christian defiles the temple that is his or her body.

What we, as Christians, must realize is that Jesus wants lordship over every area of our lives. That includes how we eat, how we look, and how we act. Sadly, far too many Christians simply don’t do their part to keep their temples unspotted and acceptable to the Lord. To help with this problem, let me offer a tried-and-true piece of advice: Christian, before you put anything in your body, on your body, or do anything with your body, ask yourself, “If I do this, will it upset the Holy Spirit who dwells inside me?”

Read James 4:5 sometime. That verse says that the Spirit who dwells within us yearns jealously. Yes, Christian, you can make the indwelling Holy Spirit jealous. When you overeat, you make Him jealous because He gets the idea that you love food more than Him. When you let your body get out of shape, He gets jealous because He gets the idea that you don’t care about His temple. When you put something sinful in your body, He gets jealous because He gets the idea that you’d rather have that something than Him. When you put something sinful on your body, He gets jealous because He gets the idea that you are more concerned about impressing others than impressing Him. When you do something sinful with your body, He gets jealous because He gets the idea that His opinion of what you should and shouldn’t do means nothing to you.

And so, in closing, I’ll ask you, the Christian, “How’s your temple looking these days?” Is it a place the Holy Spirit is proud to call home? If it’s not, you need to make the necessary repairs. For some of us, that might mean starting something (for example, an exercise program). For others, it might mean giving up something (for example, cigarettes). But whatever action the repairs call for, do it without delay. After all, nobody, even God, likes to live in a house that causes them shame.

Posted in Alcohol, Dieting, Dress and Appearance, Drugs, Gambling, Gluttony, Homosexuality, Idolatry, Personal Holiness, Repentance, Sanctification, Sex, Sin, Temptation, The Heart, The Holy Spirit, The Tongue | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Path That Won’t Lead You Back

Posted on April 25, 2022 by russellmckinney

In moonshine country, a revenuer once asked a boy, “Son, will that path take me to your daddy’s still?” The boy answered, “Yes, but it won’t bring you back.” Life has some paths like that. They will take you to a dangerous place and not bring you back.

When God rejected Cain’s bloodless sacrifice, He knew that Cain was standing at the head of such a path. That’s why He said to him, “If you do well, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it” (Genesis 4:1-7, N.K.J.V.). God was telling Cain that he was at a critical juncture. Cain’s next move would set the course for what remained of his life. Sadly, Cain chose badly and in a jealous rage killed his brother Abel (Genesis 4:8).

Cain then spent his remaining years as a vagabond (Genesis 4:12). Even though he was a skilled farmer, the earth stopped producing harvests for him (Genesis 4:11-12). Even though he married, fathered a son, and built a city (Genesis 4:16-17), he never got back into relationship or fellowship with God. Why not? He had gone down a path that wouldn’t bring him back.

The people of Israel anxiously awaited the report of the twelve spies they had sent to scout the land of Canaan. When the spies returned, they told tales of a lavishly abundant land that “flowed with milk and honey.” Even more than that, the spies brought proof of the land’s abundance in the form of pomegranates, figs, and a massive cluster of grapes (Numbers 13:1-27).

The report caused the people to get all fired up about claiming Canaan as their own, but that enthusiasm quickly died when the spies started talking about Canaan’s strong people, fortified cities, and race of giants (Numbers 13:28-33). At that point, the people said, “If only we had died in Egypt or in this wilderness!” Even when Caleb and Joshua, two men of great faith, tried to rouse them to go claim Canaan, they responded by making plans to stone those two optimists (Numbers 14:1-10) .

But God interrupted the stoning proceedings and, instead, gave His verdict of the situation to Moses. And what was that verdict? For the next forty years the people of Israel would wander in the wilderness, and over the course of those years, every Israelite twenty years old or older would die. The only two exceptions would be Caleb and Joshua. Consequently, when the wandering and dying off was all said and done, God would give Canaan to Israel’s younger generation (Numbers 14:11-38). Wow, what happened there? Those Israelites went down a path that wouldn’t bring them back.

In his letter to the Romans, the apostle Paul reached far back into the history of the human race and talked about the world’s very first idolaters. Creation itself gave these people ample evidence that there was a Creator God who should be worshipped (Romans 1:20), but these people took their knowledge of God and corrupted it. Rather than worship the true and living God, they changed the glory of God into inglorious idols of birds, animals, and creeping things and worshiped them (Romans 1:21-23).

And how did God respond to these idolaters? He “gave them up” (“gave them over”) to uncleanness. That means that He let them run wild with their sins. As a result, the people started committing all kinds of sins on an even grander scale than they had been committing them. Some of the sins were downright perverse as the idolaters sexually dishonored their bodies in ways that went against nature. This, you see, was the origin of homosexuality and lesbianism (Romans 1:24-27). Furthermore, God didn’t just give the idolaters over to debased bodies; He also gave them up to debased minds, minds that constantly planned and schemed to commit all kinds of ungodly deeds (Romans 1:28-32). Basically, God said, “Okay, if you don’t want to worship Me, then go find out for yourselves just how godless, wicked, and perverse you can get.”

What those first idolaters didn’t realize was that they were starting down a path that wouldn’t lead them back. Instead of forcing them to return to their knowledge and worship of Him, God took all restraint of conscience or the Holy Spirit’s conviction off them and watched as they plunged deeper and deeper into the dark depths of sin. What started with a rejection of Him and an embracing of idols ended with a cornucopia of sins that included everything from sexual perversity to being disobedient to parents.

Obviously, when God gives you over to yourself to commit all the sins you want to commit, you are in a bad way (even if you don’t realize it). You might live for years after the giving over, but you won’t ever make any changes for the better. To the contrary, your heart will grow increasingly harder toward the things of God and you will become more settled in your rebellion and probably more “hardcore” in your sins.

And it isn’t just lost people who can go down paths that won’t lead them back. As scriptural evidence of this, let’s recall something the apostle John said. In 1 John 5:16-17, he writes: “If anyone sees his brother sinning a sin which does not lead to death, he will ask (pray), and He (God) will give him life for those who commit sin not leading to death. There is sin leading to death. I do not say that he should pray about that“(N.K.J.V., emphasis mine).

So, what is the sin that leads to death in the life of the Christian? It can be one of two kinds of sins. First, it can be a singular sin that causes God to more or less strike the person dead. That’s what happened to Ananias and Sapphira, two Christians in the early church at Jerusalem (Acts 5:1-11). It’s also what happened to some of the Christians in the church at Corinth (1 Corinthians 11:27-30).

Second, the sin that leads to death for the Christian can be the singular act that climaxes days, weeks, months, years, or decades of playing the rebellious child, never fully coming under the lordship of Christ, and living as you please. As such, it is that moment when your heavenly Father looks down from heaven and says, “You are eternally My child and I love you, but you are never going to change as long as you are on the earth, and I’m tired of watching you bring shame to the family name.” In this way, the sin that leads to death is the final period on the earthly life of a Christian who pushes God too far.

Referring again to my opening illustration, I am not writing this post to people (Christians or non-Christians) who are right now walking paths that won’t lead them back. Frankly, these people have already passed the point where they can be helped. Instead, I’m writing this to anyone who is currently standing at the entrance to such a path. You are Cain before he killed Abel. You are those Israelite adults before they refused to conquer Canaan and instead tried to stone Caleb and Joshua. You are those idolaters before they made their first idols. And I’m saying to you, “Don’t go down that path you are considering. Change your direction while there is still time. Submit yourself fully to the Lord while there is hope for you, and let Him lead you into the blessings of a life lived for Him.”

Posted in Choices, Disobedience, Fatherhood, Homosexuality, Lesbianism, Obedience, Rebellion, Sin, Temptation | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Change

Posted on April 23, 2022 by russellmckinney

In her newspaper column on gardening, Jan Riggenbach gives us a good word on how to plant bedding plants. She writes:

Giving new bedding plants some rough treatment at planting time may be the best thing you can do to help them survive in the garden. When I was new to gardening, I tried to set tomatoes, petunias, and other bedding plants in the garden without disturbing their roots at all. Nowadays I am much more ruthless…If the plant has been growing in its pot so long that the roots are circling the bottom, I jab my finger into the bottom of the soil and pull down to untangle the roots…If the whole pot is filled with circling roots, I have to be merciless. I don’t worry if I break some of the roots; that’s better than allowing the roots to continue to circle when the plants are growing in the garden.

I think Riggenbach’s gardening advice about breaking up encircled roots can also be applied to life. Oftentimes, the worst thing that can happen to a person is to continue to live the same life year after year. Such a circling of roots doesn’t lead to health and growth. Instead, it leads to stagnation and rut.

Yes, change can be a good thing, a healthy thing. God told Noah to build an ark (Genesis 6:5-22). That was change. He commanded Abram (Abraham) to leave his home in Ur and journey to a land that He would show him (Genesis 12:1-3). That was change. He commanded Moses to leave the safety of Midian, go back to Egypt, and lead the Israelites out of bondage (Exodus 3:1-10). That was change. He commanded Amos to leave Tekoa and go prophesy to the northern kingdom of Israel (Amos 7:14-15). That was change. Jesus commanded Matthew to leave his job as a tax collector and follow Him (Matthew 9:9). That was change. Peter was instructed to eat meat that wasn’t kosher (Acts 10:9-15). That was change. These are just a few of the numerous, similar examples found in the Bible.

One of my favorites comes from the life of Jacob. Through an incredible series of events, Jacob came to the point where he was prepared to load up his large family and his sizable holdings and move the whole show from Canaan to Egypt. You might ask, “Why would he consider doing such a thing?” The answer is that he had learned that his long-lost son, Joseph, was now second in command of Egypt and wanted Jacob and the family to join him there.

Charles Spurgeon, the renowned preacher, suggested four possible reasons to explain any hesitation Jacob had concerning that move:

#1: Jacob was 130 years old at this time (Genesis 47:28), and old people don’t like change.

#2. Egypt was a pagan land, one well known for its pantheon of false gods.

#3: Egypt was the subject for bad memories for Jacob’s family. Jacob’s grandfather, Abraham, had once gotten into trouble there (Genesis 12:10-20), and God had forbidden Isaac, Jacob’s father, from going there (Genesis 26:1-6).

#4: Jacob had been warned of future evils. God had told Abraham that his descendants would be strangers in a foreign land and serve the people of that land for 400 years (Genesis 15:13). Assuming that Abraham passed that revelation down to Isaac, and that Isaac passed it down to Jacob, it wouldn’t have taken much deduction for Jacob to figure out that Egypt would be that land.

Still, though, despite these four legitimate reasons for hesitation, Jacob pulled up stakes and made his way to Beersheba. Beersheba, you see, was pretty much the southern edge of Canaan, which made it the jumping-off point to Egypt. This brings us to the best part of the story. While Jacob was camped at Beersheba, he offered sacrifices (Genesis 46:1) as a way of rededicating himself to God. That was his way of rededicating himself to God and saying, “Lord, I am about to make a major change in my life, and I want to know for certain that this change is Your will.” Wasn’t that a perfect thing for him to do at that time of his life? And God must have thought so as well because He gave him the assurance he needed by saying to him that night:

I am God, the God of your father, do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again; and Joseph will put his hand on your eyes (Genesis 46:2-4).

Let’s take these statements one at a time.

First, God said, “Do not fear to go down to Egypt.” God wouldn’t have said that unless Jacob was somewhat afraid of the change. Yes, Jacob had stepped out in faith by beginning the move, but he certainly hadn’t blown past Beersheba and headed straight on down into Egypt. The fact that he was currently camped at that southernmost part of Canaan proved that he had a bit of trepidation about continuing southward into Egypt.

Second, God said, “I will make of you a great nation in Egypt.” For the record, God did keep this promise. 400 years later, when the Israelites made their exodus out of Egypt, they were some two million strong.

Third, God said, “I will surely go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you up again.” There are a couple of possible ways to interpret that part about God bringing Jacob up again.. On the one hand, God could have been referring to where Jacob would be buried. When Jacob died in Egypt, a large group made a one-time trip back to Canaan and buried him in the family burial cave. On the other hand, God’s promise could have spoken to the fact that God would one day bring Jacob’s entire nation, the Israelites, up from Egypt and settle them again in Canaan.

Fourth, God said, “And Joseph will put his hand on your eyes.” What a beautiful scene this describes. At Jacob’s death, his beloved son Joseph would be right there to close the eyes on the corpse. What a comfort it was for Jacob to know that he would die with loved ones gathered around him.

Getting back to my opening illustration, what God was doing in all this was breaking up the encircled roots in Jacob’s life. He was replanting Jacob in brand new soil by commanding him to make a radical change. Certainly it was a scary time for Jacob, even painful, but the change would produce incredible blessings and fruit that simply would not be produced if Jacob stayed where he was.

Perhaps God is dealing with you right now about a major change that He wants you to make. If He is, I encourage you to follow Jacob’s excellent example. Before you officially “take the plunge,” have your time at “Beersheba” by rededicating yourself to God completely and letting Him know that you don’t want to do anything that isn’t His will. Then, if He gives you the assurance and peace that the change is of Him, don’t be afraid to launch out with Him. Putting it simply, don’t let fear of the unknown keep you from your land of Egypt and all the blessings God has for you there.

Posted in Aging, Change, Choices, Elderly, Faith, Fear, God's Will, Obedience, Reward, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

That Old Serpent

Posted on April 21, 2022 by russellmckinney

My brother Richie and his family were renting an older house when one day he killed a huge blacksnake on the wooden deck of the place. That was scary enough, but a few days later he saw what he figured was that snake’s mate lying on the deck. He would have killed it too, but he was in the process of moving into a new home and didn’t have a hoe or shovel handy. So, he had to settle for merely scaring the thing off the deck.

When I saw Richie sometime afterward, he showed me a cell-phone picture he had taken of the one that got away. We estimated the snake to be over six feet long. For some reason, the creature made me think of Satan, the one the Bible calls “the serpent of old” (Revelation 20:2). As Genesis chapter 3 tells us, it was Satan who entered into the body of the garden of Eden’s serpent and tempted Eve (Genesis 3:1-5). If you don’t believe that a fallen angel (a demon) can enter into the body of a serpent, you had best read the story of how Jesus allowed a group of demons to enter into a herd of swine (Matthew 8:28-32; Mark 5:1-14; Luke 8:26-33). Certainly, if those demons could have entered into those swine, Satan could have entered into that serpent.

Count me among those who teach that the incident in Eden explains why snakes crawl on their bellies. After all, God did say to the serpent, “Because you have done this, you are cursed more than all livestock and every beast of the field. On your belly you shall go” (Genesis 3:14). That wouldn’t have been much of a punishment if the serpent had always slithered along on the ground. Evidently, the creature originally stood erect.

But why did God punish that poor serpent? Wasn’t it just a pawn in the hands of a mighty fallen angel? What purpose is served by having a world full of snakes going around on their bellies rather than walking upright? Dare I say that God meant for every snake to be a constant reminder of what happened back in Eden. He doesn’t want us to ever forget that Satan deceived Eve, a deception which led to the fall of the human race.

Isaiah 14:3-23 and Ezekiel 28:1-19 are two of the more fascinating passages concerning Satan. In them we find him indelibly intertwined with the earthly kings of Babylon and Tyre. In each passage, much of the language fits Satan better than the earthly ruler. For example, Ezekiel 28:15 says, “You were perfect in your ways from the day you were created, till iniquity was found in you.” Also, Ezekiel 28:13 says, “You were in Eden, the garden of God.”

Some translations of Isaiah 14:12 even use the word “Lucifer,” which means “shining one” or “morning star.” Obviously, the point that Isaiah and Ezekiel are making is that Satan was the real power behind the thrones of Babylon and Tyre. That accounts for why some parts of the passages apply to the earthly kings while other parts apply to Satan. It is as if God keeps crossing back and forth between the story of the two kings and the story of Satan.

This means that we can use these passages to glean several truths about Satan. When we do this, we come up with seven of them:

#1: God created Satan as perfect (Ezekiel 28:12,15).

#2: Satan was bright, shining, and indescribably beautiful (Ezekiel 28:12-13,17).

#3: Satan was a cherub angel (Ezekiel 28:14).

#4: Satan had a high rank in the angelic order, possibly even the highest (Ezekiel 28:14).

#5: Satan became sinfully vain and proud of his beauty and rank (Isaiah 14:13-14, Ezekiel 28:16-18).

#6: Satan fell from heaven (Isaiah 14:12, Ezekiel 28:16).

#7: Satan has even more judgment in his future (Isaiah 14:16-17, Ezekiel 28:19).

Whereas the Isaiah and Ezekiel prophecies only hint at Satan’s future judgment, other passages paint in the full picture. The judgment’s order is as follows:

-At the midway point of the coming seven-year Tribulation period, Satan and the other fallen angels (Revelation 12:3-4 indicates that one-third of all the angels fell with him) will make a second attempt at overthrowing God in heaven (Revelation 12:7). Again, though, they will lose and be cast out of God’s presence (Revelation 12:8-12).

-At Christ’s Second Coming, Satan and the other fallen angels will be chained up and cast into that place described as “the bottomless pit” (Revelation 20:1-2; Matthew 8:28-29; Luke 8:26-31; Isaiah 24:21-22). They will remain incarcerated there for the 1,000 years of Christ’s Millennial reign upon the earth (Revelation 20:2-3).

-Following that reign, Satan and the other fallen angels will be released to mount one last rebellion against the Lord (Revelation 20:7-9). God the Father will personally cast fire down from heaven to put an end to that rebellion (Revelation 20:9).

-Satan and the other fallen angels will then be banished to the lake of fire where they will spend eternity suffering in torment (Revelation 20:10, Matthew 25:41).

And so, you see, unlike Richie’s blacksnake, Satan isn’t going to get away. His days really are numbered. Surely, he knows this, and that’s why he works so diligently to get his desires done. But take heart, Christian, in the fact that God is still on the throne and Satan must answer to Him. We want God to hurry up and deal with him, but God is always working from a predetermined plan. Therefore, what we must do is trust Him and patiently await Satan’s demise.

Oh, and in the meantime, let’s keep on the lookout for what Satan and his angels are up to in our lives. Let’s put on “the whole armor of God” so that we can “stand against the wiles of the devil” (Ephesians 6:10-20). And, as for me, I’m watching out for blacksnakes too!

Posted in Angels, Christ's Return, Coming Judgment, Demons, Prophecy, Satan, Spiritual Warfare, The Devil | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Christ’s Post-Resurrection Appearances

Posted on April 19, 2022 by russellmckinney

In my previous post, The Events of the Morning of Christ’s Resurrection, I offered a logical sequence for the events that took place the morning Jesus arose from the dead. That sequence included Christ’s first three post-resurrection appearances. First, He appeared to Mary Magdalene. Second, He appeared to that group of women of which Mary Magdalene had originally been a part of earlier that morning. Third, according to 1 Corinthians 15:5 and Luke 24:34, He appeared to Peter at some unrecorded time and place sometime that morning. Now, with this post, I’m going to list all the other post-resurrection appearances that Jesus made as part of the forty days between His resurrection and His ascension (Acts 1:1-3).

Resurrection Sunday Afternoon: Mark 16:12-13 and Luke 24:13-27 both record how Jesus appeared to two of His followers who were walking the seven-mile road between Jerusalem and the little village of Emmaus. One of the men was named Cleopas (Luke 24:18). This appearance took place Sunday afternoon. These two men were part of a group of Christ’s followers who had been told by Mary Magdalene earlier that she had seen the resurrected Jesus, but they had not believed her story (Mark 16:9-11).

For some reason, neither Cleopas nor the other man recognized Jesus as He walked with them, talked with them, and explained to them what the Old Testament taught about the Messiah. It wasn’t until He joined them for an evening meal at Emmaus that “their eyes were opened and they knew Him” (Luke 24:30-31). At that moment, He vanished from their sight. The two men then immediately returned to Jerusalem (Luke 24:33-35).

Resurrection Sunday Night: Upon arriving in Jerusalem, Cleopas and the unnamed man from Christ’s Emmaus road appearance found the group of apostles (Luke 24:36-43 and John 20:19-25). The two apostles who were missing from the group were the betrayer Judas Iscariot and Thomas. The ten apostles were assembled behind locked doors in a large room in Jerusalem.

After allowing Cleopas and the other man entrance into the room, the ten apostles began telling them that Jesus had arisen and that He had appeared to Peter (Luke 24:34). In response, Cleopas and his friend told them their story about how Jesus had walked with them on the road to Emmaus and had even eaten with them in Emmaus (Luke 24:35). It was then that Jesus suddenly appeared in the room and said to all twelve of the men, “Peace to you” (Luke 24:36).

Strangely, His appearance did not bring peace to that group. To the contrary, it terrified them. Seeing their fear, Jesus said to them, “Why are you troubled? And why do doubts arise in your hearts? Behold My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself. Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have any flesh and bones as you see I have” (Luke 24:38-39). We would assume that such an offer would have evoked belief from the group, but it didn’t. Undeterred by their unbelief, however, Jesus said to them, “Do you have any food here?” Then they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb, both of which He ate in their presence (Luke 24:41-43).

The Following Sunday Night: When the ten apostles told Thomas about their experience with the risen Jesus, he didn’t believe their story. His reply was, “Unless I see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and put my hand into His side, I will not believe.” Accordingly, the Bible says that he got his chance “eight days later” (John 20:26). Since the Jews counted any portion of a day as being a day, the phrase “eight days later” is generally accepted to mean “the following Sunday” with the inclusion of both Sundays accounting for eight days rather than the seven of a usual week. This explains why many modern translations translate the Greek behind the “eight days later” phrase as “one week later.” The point is, it was the following Sunday.

As had been the case the previous Sunday, the apostles were gathered together in a room with the doors tightly shut. The only difference this time was the fact that Thomas was with them. As before, Jesus suddenly appeared in the room and said to them all, “Peace to you” (John 20:26). Then He looked at Thomas specifically and said, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands, and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing” (John 20:27). Thomas, to his credit, didn’t need to take Him up on the offer. He simply answered Him, “My Lord, and my God!”

The Remaining Days of the 40-Day Period of Time: What follows now is a listing of the rest of Christ’s post-resurrection appearances before His ascension. It is hard to label any of these appearances with an exact date because the Bible just doesn’t give us that information. With that understood, here’s the list:

-According to John 21:1-14, Jesus appeared to a group of seven of His apostles on the shore of the Sea of Tiberias (Galilee) early one morning. This is the famous story where He asks Peter three times, “Do you love Me?” Also, He prepares a breakfast of fish and bread for the seven apostles, who have been out on the water all night long fishing. They haven’t caught anything, but when Jesus shouts out to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some” they obey and catch 153 large fish.

-According to Matthew 28:16-20, Jesus appeared to the eleven apostles at a mountain in Galilee, and according to 1 Corinthians 15:6 He appeared to 500 of His followers at once. It is possible that these two appearances were one and the same. As the theory goes, the fact that Matthew 28:17 says “When they saw Him, they worshiped Him; but some doubted” might indicate that more than the eleven apostles were present for that appearance. Basically, it’s hard to imagine that by that time any of the eleven apostles would have still been doubting that Jesus had resurrected.

-According to 1 Corinthians 15:7, Jesus appeared to James. Most commentators believe this refers to James, the earthly half-brother of Jesus, rather than to the apostle James. If that is a correct interpretation, this appearance could well have been what turned James from a non-believer (John 7:5) into the man who would become the leader of the early church in Jerusalem (Acts 1:14; 15:6-29).

-Finally, according to Acts 1:3-12, the resurrected Jesus appeared to approximately 120 of His followers on the Mount of Olives just before His ascension. During that appearance He told them to wait in Jerusalem a few more days until they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. This baptizing occurred on the Day of Pentecost that is described in Acts chapter 2.

Posted in Christ's Resurrection, Easter | Leave a comment