The Sound of the Scrape

Posted on December 4, 2021 by russellmckinney

Harry Ironside, the renowned pastor and preacher, once told the story of a Christian widow who lived in Scotland. Her husband’s untimely death had left her with several small children to raise, and money was forevermore tight for the family. Through it all, though, the widow kept her heart fixed upon the Lord and taught her children to trust in Him at all times.

There came a day, however, when the woman’s cupboard was almost totally bare. Despite her best efforts at frugality and money management, all she had left was a handful of flour. So, like the Bible’s widow of Zarephath (1 Kings 17:8-16), she set herself to scraping up the last of the flour from the bottom of the barrel.

It was then that she experienced a crisis of faith. As the sound of the scraping reached her ears, she couldn’t help but begin to cry. Normally she was plucky and full of faith, but her situation had never gotten quite this desperate. She was at the end of her rope, and she had to admit to herself that she felt totally forsaken by God.

As she stood there crying hot tears, her little boy, Robbie, walked over to her and tugged at her dress. He looked up at her in mild astonishment as if he could hardly believe that she was crying. Then, in his thick Scottish dialect, he said, “Mother, what are ye weepin’ about? Didn’t God hear ye scrapin’ the bottom of the barrel?”

The boy’s loving rebuke brought the widow under conviction as she realized she was doing a poor job of living out everything she had been telling her children about trusting in the Lord. That prompted her to stand up straight, dry her tears, and reassert her faith. And did God reward her faith? Yes, He did as her help soon came from a completely unexpected source.

I don’t know why God oftentimes chooses to scare us to death before He comes through for us, but my guess is that He knows that’s the best way to build our faith. I think about Moses and the Israelites standing on the shoreline of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army breathing down their necks (Exodus 14:1-31). I think about Naaman having to dip seven times (not six) in the Jordan river before his leprosy was cured (2 Kings 5:1-14). I think about the apostles’ boat filling up with water to the point of almost sinking before Jesus woke up and calmed the wind and sea (Mark 4:35-41). As someone has said, “God is never late, but He sure does miss numerous opportunities to be early!”

Maybe you are scraping the bottom of your barrel right now. You’ve cried out to God, asking Him for help, but as of this moment He still hasn’t met your need. What should you do? You should keep scraping the bottom of that barrel and rally your faith as best you can. Remember, many of God’s finest deliverances are of the “last second” variety, and His delays are not the same thing as His denials. Be like David, who confidently says in Psalm 23:1, “The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want (lack).” You see, the sound of the scrape can actually be a good sound if that’s the sound God has to hear before He meets your need.

Posted in Adversity, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, Faith, Fear, God's Omnipotence, God's Timing, God's Provision, Needs, Prayer Requests, Problems, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God, Waiting | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

The Best Present

Posted on December 2, 2021 by russellmckinney

Since Christmas happens in December, I try to weave in some Christmas posts here and there throughout the month. Today I thought I’d share a story that I picked up somewhere along the way a few years ago. It was written by a woman named Margery Tallcott, who was a parent in the Great Depression. She wrote:

When our son Pete was six, it was a Depression year and the bare essentials were all we could afford. We felt we were richer than most people, though, in things of the mind and imagination and spirit. That was a comfort of sorts to us, but nothing a six-year-old could understand.

With Christmas a week off, we told Pete that there could not be any store-bought presents this year – for any of us. ‘But I’ll tell you what we can do,’ said his father with an inspiration born of heartbreak. ‘We can make pictures of the presents we’d like to give each other.’

For the next few days each of us worked secretly, with smirks and giggles. Somehow we did scrape together enough to buy a small tree. But we had pitifully few decorations to trim it with. Yet, on Christmas morning, never was a tree heaped with such riches! The gifts were only pictures of gifts, to be sure, cut out or drawn and colored and painted, nailed and hammered and pasted and sewed. But they were presents, luxurious beyond our dreams: A slinky black limousine and a red motor boat for Daddy. A diamond bracelet and a fur coat for me.

Pete’s presents were the most expensive toys cut from advertisements. Our best present to him was a picture of a fabulous camping tent, complete with Indian designs, painted, of course, by Daddy, and magnificent pictures of a swimming pool, with funny remarks by me. Daddy’s best present to me was a watercolor he had painted of our dream house, white with green shutters and forsythia bushes out on the lawn.

Naturally, we didn’t expect any “best present” from Pete. But with squeals of delight, he gave us a crayon drawing of flashy colors and the most modernistic technique. But it was unmistakably the picture of three people laughing – a man, a woman, and a little boy. They had their arms around one another and were, in a sense, one person. Under the picture he had printed just one word: US. For many years we have looked back at that day as the richest, most satisfying Christmas we have ever had.

Whatever your financial state is this Christmas, don’t forget that you are blessed if you have family who love you. As little Pete knew, “US” is tough to beat as a holiday gift. And if you are a Christian, you are even more blessed because you are a member of the family of God. That means that one day you’ll receive your “best present”: the blessing of getting to spend eternity in joy, happiness, and bliss with your Savior. His name is Jesus, and He really is the reason for the season.   

Posted in Christ's Birth, Christmas, Eternity, Heaven, Salvation | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Why Do Christians Worship on Sunday?

Posted on November 30, 2021 by russellmckinney

According to the Bible, the Sabbath day is the day we call Saturday. Ask any Jewish person about that if you don’t believe me. Technically, the Jews observe the Sabbath from sundown Friday evening to sundown Saturday evening. That goes back to the seven days of the creation week. The Bible describes each of those days as running from evening to evening, not morning to morning. It also goes back to Leviticus 23:32, where God defines the Sabbath as running from evening to evening.

Some people call Sunday “the Christian Sabbath,” but that just confuses the issue. If the Bible gives Sunday any name, that name is “the Lord’s day.” That comes from Revelation 1:10, where the apostle John, who was living as an imprisoned exile on the island of Patmos, says, “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day.”

But what about the people (professing Christians, I might add) who say that Christians should meet for worship on Saturday rather than Sunday? Where do they get that idea? They get it from the famous 10 Commandments which are found in Exodus chapter 20. These people say, “Since the fourth commandment says, ‘Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy,’ shouldn’t Christians meet for worship on Saturday?”

So, the question on the table is: Why do most professing Christians meet on Sunday rather than on Saturday (the Sabbath day) anyway? For that answer let’s start at the creation week and bring things up to today. To do this we’ll look at several different passages of scripture.

We’ll begin in Genesis chapter 1, where we find the account of the six days of the creation week. There we’re told that God finished the work of creation on day six of that week. Then we get Genesis 2:1-3:

Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. And on the seventh day God ended his work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all his work which God had created and made. (N.K.J.V.)

When God went to work on creation, day one of the creation week was Sunday. That means that day seven, the day upon which God rested from His work, was Saturday. Even though the word “Sabbath” isn’t actually used in Genesis 2:1-3, God does call Saturday the “Sabbath” in the book of Exodus. The word “Sabbath” means “rest.”

However, the interesting thing about God blessing and sanctifying Saturday is the fact that for thousands of years He didn’t tell anyone that He had done it. If you read through the book of Genesis and into the early part of Exodus, you won’t find any place where anybody observed Saturday as a Sabbath day. Do you know who the first person was that God told about the Sabbath? It was Moses.

Not coincidently, it was Moses who wrote the book of Genesis, with its story of creation. That’s why Genesis 2:1-3 says that God rested on the seventh day of the creation week and that He blessed that day and sanctified it. Moses could write that because God had revealed it to him.

The story of God first commanding anybody to keep any type of Sabbath day is found in Exodus chapter 16. God told the Israelites to gather twice as much daily manna on the sixth day of the week (Friday) as they normally did. By doing that they could take Saturday as a day of rest..

That brings us to Exodus 20:8-11. After God had instructed the Israelites to keep the Sabbath day, He made the keeping of the Sabbath day a part of Israelite law. You see, as we read Exodus 20:8-11, we are breaking into the listing of that law’s so-called “10 Commandments.” These 10 Commandments were not only the beginning of that law but also served as what we might call the moral heart of it. And the fourth commandment was the command for the people of Israel to keep a weekly Sabbath. As Exodus 20:8-11 says:

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work; you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. (N.K.J.V.)

With these words, God made the keeping of the Sabbath day law to the Israelites. And do you know what the penalty was for breaking the law of the Sabbath? It was death. In Exodus 31:14-15, we read:

You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Every one who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.  

Those who believe that Christians should keep the Sabbath by meeting for worship on Saturday dance around this part about capital punishment. They say, “Oh, we don’t have to obey the ceremonial parts of the law; we only have to obey the moral parts of it.” But the problem with that interpretation is that the Old Testament law doesn’t work that way. You can’t just take some parts of it and ignore other parts of it, and distinctions aren’t made between the so-called moral parts of the law and the so-called ceremonial parts. In James 2:10, the Bible actually says that if you miss the mark in keeping even one part of that law you are guilty of breaking the whole law. So, if you are going to say, “We ought to keep the Sabbath,” you must also say, “and if we don’t we should be put to death.” 

Thankfully, we don’t have to worry about that. Do you know why? Be warned, the answer might surprise you. It’s because the 10 Commandments, as famous as they are, are actually a part of Old Testament/Jewish law, and Christians don’t live under that law. But before you label me a heretic, let me quickly point out that you will find nine of the famous 10 Commandments repeated in some form to Christians in the New Testament. That brings Christians under those nine. Guess which one of the 10 is not in some form given to Christians in the New Testament. It is the command to keep the Sabbath.

Now let me explain why that particular commandment shouldn’t be and isn’t given to Christians in the New Testament. Exodus 31:12-13 is a very important passage in regards to this whole topic. Those verses say:

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak also to the children of Israel, saying, ‘Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the Lord who sanctifies you. (N.K.J.V.)

Yes, you read that right. The keeping of the Sabbath has always been a sign between God and the Israelites (the Jews). It is not a sign between God and the church (Christians). Just in case we miss this clear teaching in verses 12 and 13, God repeats it in verse 17:

It (the keeping of the Sabbath) is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed. (N.K.J.V.)

So, the keeping of the Sabbath has always been and will always be a sign between God and Israel (the Jews), not a sign between God and the church. This explains three misunderstood points of the Bible. Let’s take them one at a time.

First, it explains why God did not require people from the time period of the book of Genesis to keep the Sabbath. The book of Genesis, you see, is only about the beginnings of the Jewish people. Adam wasn’t a Jew. Seth wasn’t a Jew. Enoch wasn’t a Jew. Noah wasn’t a Jew. The first Jew was Abraham, and his story doesn’t begin until the end of Genesis chapter 11. Truth be told, his descendants didn’t actually become a full-fledged nation until the events of the book of Exodus. As the book of Genesis closes, they are still just a family. Not surprisingly then, it is in the book of Exodus that God first commands them to keep the Sabbath.

Second, the Sabbath being a sign between God and the Jews explains why the commandment to keep it isn’t repeated for Christians in the New Testament. In the New Testament, God takes the focus off the nation of Israel and places it onto the church. At that time, even the Jewish Christians were allowed to stop keeping the Sabbath.

Third, the Sabbath being a sign between God and the Jews explains why the keeping of the Sabbath is mentioned in certain Bible passages which describe Christ’s millennial reign upon this earth. The passages are Ezekiel chapters 44-48. Those chapters mention the keeping of the Sabbath as being a part of those future days. Why is that? It’s because the 1,000 years of Christ’s millennial reign are actually the fulfillment of a promise that God made to the Jews about a glorious Messianic age. Just to be clear, Gentile believers will have a place in that kingdom age. First and foremost, though, the 1,000 years are God keeping a promise that He made to Israel. That’s why the keeping of the Sabbath will be a part of those days. It is only right that the Sabbath will be a part of that age because the keeping of the Sabbath is a sign between God and Israel forever.

Now let me work something else in here, too. Those who believe that Christians ought to keep the Sabbath by meeting for worship on Saturday like to point out that Jesus kept the Sabbath. They say, “Christians are supposed to follow in Christ’s footsteps, and He kept the Sabbath.” Well, there is an amazingly simple explanation for why Jesus kept the Sabbath. He kept it because He was a devout Jew who lived his life under Old Testament/Jewish law.

Taking things even further, Christ’s keeping of the Sabbath was a part of His perfect observance of the law. The fact is that Jesus was only qualified to die for everyone else’s sins because He lived out the law perfectly without sinning even once. That’s why He could accurately say, “Don’t think that I have come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Christ’s perfection in keeping the entirety of that body of law qualified Him to be worthy to die for the sins of all mankind. That’s why He had to keep Israel’s weekly Sabbath. But Christ’s keeping of the Sabbath doesn’t mean that Christians should also keep it.

But now let’s talk about what happened after Christ’s death and resurrection. It was then that the church age began, and it was then that the Christians (including Jewish Christians) began to make the transition from worshiping on Saturday to worshiping on Sunday. Okay, so why did they make that transition?

Here’s the answer. First, Jesus arose on a Sunday, the first day of the week. Second, Jesus, in His resurrected body, made appearances to some of His followers not only on resurrection Sunday morning and evening but also on the Sunday that followed. Third, Acts chapter 2’s day of Pentecost, which was the day the Holy Spirit began to indwell Christ’s followers, was on a Sunday.

It was because of these three facts that the early Christians began to pick up on the idea that God was doing some new stuff on Sundays. That’s why they began to meet together on Sundays. As evidence that they made the transition, Acts 20:7 says:

Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight. (N.K.J.V.)

The phrase “to break bread” most likely refers to the meal the early Christians ate in conjuncture with the Lord’s Supper. This means that Acts 20:7 is referring to a New Testament church service. The service is even complete with a lengthy teaching from Paul! And what day was this worship service held on? Sunday. As verse 7 says, it was the first day of the week.

To see this same thing in another passage, let’s consult 1 Corinthians 16:1-2. The apostle Paul, as he traveled around, took up a love offering from the churches he visited. That love offering was for the Christians in Jerusalem, who were in need in those days. Listen now to what he says to the Corinthian church about that love offering:

Now concerning the collection for the saints (that love offering for the Christians of Jerusalem), as I have given orders to the churches of Galatia, so you must do also. On the first day of the week (Sunday) let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come. (N.K.J.V.)

The question is: Why would Paul single out Sunday as the time to collect that love offering? It was because that was the day upon which those Christians of Corinth, like all other Christians, met for worship. They met each Sunday as a weekly celebration of the fact that Jesus resurrected on a Sunday, and God would surely have rebuked them and chastised them if they had been wrong to do that.

Now let’s finish up by looking at what we might call the icing on this cake. In Colossians 2:16-17, Paul speaks to the Christians of Colosse and says something interesting about Sabbath days. He says:

So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths, which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is Christ. (N.K.J.V.)

When Paul lists “food,” “drink,” “a festival,” “a new moon,” and “sabbaths,” he is referring to matters that pertained to that Old Testament body of law. The law prescribed certain dietary restrictions, feast days, and (as we’ve been talking about) Sabbath days. Notice, though, that Paul calls the keeping of the Sabbath “a shadow of things to come” and says that Jesus is the substance that formed that shadow. In other words, the keeping of the Sabbath was meant to give the people of Israel a weekly taste of the eternal rest that their coming Messiah would ultimately give them.

The gist of Paul’s argument is this: Why should New Testament Christians try to keep an Old Testament/Jewish law that only gave a shadow when we now personally know as our Savior the one who was casting the shadow in the first place? Mark it down, Christian, your rest is a person (Christ), not a day (Saturday). What was it that Jesus said?  He said, “Come unto me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, N.K.J.V.). This helps us understand why Paul says to Christians, “Don’t let anybody judge you (falsely accuse you, criticize you) over the fact that you don’t keep the Sabbath.”

Therefore, Christian, if someone ever says to you, “You have church on the wrong day; you are breaking the fourth commandment,” just take comfort in the fact that Paul said, “Don’t let anybody judge you over not keeping the Sabbath.” Yes, we are right to worship on Sunday. Christians have been doing that since the earliest days of Christianity, and it is exactly what the Lord wants us to continue to do. So, with all this understood, I guess the only thing left to say is, see you in church this Sunday.

Posted in Christ's Resurrection, Church, Church Attendance, The Old Testament Law, The Sabbath, Worship | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Do You Really Trust God?

Posted on November 26, 2021 by russellmckinney

My victory and honor come from God alone. He is my refuge, a rock where no enemy can reach me. O my people, trust in him at all times. Pour out your hearts to him for God is our refuge. (Psalm 62:7-8, N.L.T.)

A boy was waiting for the bus, but he wasn’t standing at a corner bus stop. Instead, he was standing squarely on the line in the middle of the street. A businessman called out to him from the sidewalk, “Son, you need to get out of the street and go find a bus stop.” The boy answered, “Thanks Mister, but I know the bus will pick me up right here.”

About that time a bus pulled onto the street and started slowly making its way toward the boy. The boy never flinched. The bus pulled up next to him, stopped, and the door opened. As the boy stepped onto the bus, he turned to the businessman and said, “Mister, my daddy drives the bus.”

Christian, do you really believe that your heavenly Father drives the bus called “All Creation”? Do you really believe that He can be trusted? Most importantly, do you actually trust Him?

I once heard a preacher who was preaching in a Bible conference. His wife was in attendance at the service, and he took a moment to sing her praises. One of the things he said about her was, “No matter where I am, I don’t have to worry about her because I know that she’ll be doing right.” I don’t remember anything else from that man’s sermon, but I do remember that line about his wife. I thought, “It’s a wonderful thing for a husband to be able to have that kind of trust in his wife.”

It’s just as wonderful, though, even more so, for a Christian to be able to have that kind of trust in God. In regards to saved believers, I’m not sure any greater words have ever been spoken than Job’s words from Job 13:15. He said, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him… (K.J.V.)” That is definitely a major-league, radical statement of trust in God, a statement that not just every saved person is capable of making.

So, Christian, the question put to you right now is simply: “Do you REALLY trust God?” I’m not talking about trusting Him for eternal life; I’m talking about trusting Him for earthly life. If you are an authentic Christian, you are already trusting Him for salvation. Why, then, can’t you trust Him for everything else? As the words of our text passage say, He is your refuge and your rock, and He wants you to pour out your heart to Him. But you’ll never have much motivation to do that until you trust that He will hear your cries and do right by them.

Posted in Adversity, Assurance of Salvation, Attitude, Belief, Commitment, Courage, Discipleship, Doubt, Eternal Security, Faith, Fatherhood, God's Love, God's Omnipotence, God's Omnipresence, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, Human Life, Needs, Personal, Problems, Sanctification, Trials, Trusting In God, Worry | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Thankful for the Flu

Posted on November 24, 2021 by russellmckinney

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18, N.K.J.V.)

Rhonda Reece and her husband Glenn were having a miserable Thanksgiving Day. When circumstances had prevented them from visiting their out-of-state relatives, they had decided to spend the day working on a home-remodeling project. But that plan had come to nothing when they had both been hit hard with the flu.

As they lay there in bed, too nauseated to even get up, Rhonda said, “This is the worst holiday ever.” Glen heard her but didn’t respond immediately because he was too busy downing another dose of Pepto Bismol. Once that task was completed, though, he rolled over to her, stroked her hair lovingly, and said, “Let’s just be quiet.” Pretty soon they were both sound asleep.

It was late afternoon before they awoke again. That’s when Glen whispered to Rhonda, “This isn’t the worst holiday ever.” “What?” she asked. Glen answered, “Remember the Thanksgiving that we visited your aunt in Mississippi and car trouble turned our six-hour trip into two days?” “Oh, yeah,” she said. Then she offered her own candidate for an even worse holiday by saying, “And do you remember the Christmas kitchen fire?” “Yep,” said Glen, “it didn’t make our landlord very merry.”

Now a ton of memories were beginning to flow through their minds. Pushing herself up onto one elbow, Rhonda said, “Remember the Thanksgiving that our whipped potatoes dwarfed the turkey?” That one evoked a chuckle from Glen, and for the next two hours the couple laid there in bed reminiscing over holiday disasters of years gone by.

Along about twilight that evening their doorbell rang. Both got up to answer it, and there on their front porch stood Linda, their neighbor from down the block. She was holding two sacks. Smiling, she said, “Someone told me that you had the flu. I don’t know if you feel up to eating, but I fixed some turkey and stuffing and goodies for you. It’s wrapped so that you can freeze it if you don’t want to eat it now. I just couldn’t imagine anyone missing Thanksgiving dinner.” At that point she handed Glen the large sack. Then she handed Rhonda the smaller one and explained, “There are some colas and a box of crackers in here. Call me if there’s anything I can do.”

After thanking Linda warmly, Rhonda and Glen began making their way to the kitchen to put the food into the refrigerator. As she walked, a wave of immense gratitude came over Rhonda. She couldn’t help but marvel at all the blessings that God had provided on “the worst holiday ever.” She and Glen had missed out on feasting with their family, and their backup plan of working on their house had failed spectacularly. Still, though, God had blessed them that day with rest, a time of recalling precious memories from their past, and a neighbor unexpectedly bringing them food. As Rhonda would later say, “I discovered that I could be thankful for the flu.”

I don’t know what circumstances you’ll find yourself in this Thanksgiving Day, but don’t forget to look around for God’s blessings in them. Even if your life is not what you want it to be right now, you can always identify some good gifts that have come down from God the Father (James 1:17). As Jesus said, the Father bestows blessings upon not only the just but also the unjust (Matthew 5:45). That means that everyone has some God-sent blessings in their lives. It’s just a shame that we’ve set aside only one day per year to call “Thanksgiving Day” when everyday such be such a day to us.

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Dragons in the Bible

Posted on November 23, 2021 by russellmckinney

Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet (Psalm 91:13, K.J.V.)

I’ve been doing some preaching recently on Genesis chapter 1. That led me to study up on what the Bible has to say about dinosaurs. By the way, did you know the word “dinosaur” wasn’t even invented until Sir Richard Owen, who was the First Superintendent of the British Museum, coined it in 1841? The word means “terrible lizard.”

Because the King James Version translation was first published in 1611, it doesn’t use the word “dinosaur.” The K.J.V. does, however, use the words “dragon” and “dragons” a total of 35 times. 22 of those instances occur in the Old Testament while the other 13 occur in the New Testament. The 13 New Testament instances are all found in the book of The Revelation and each of them serves as a symbolic reference to Satan.

The Hebrew word the K.J.V. renders as “dragon” or “dragons” is tanniyn. It’s a word that translators have always struggled to convey into English. For example, Strong’s Concordance defines it as “a marine or land monster, i.e. a sea-serpent or jackal — dragon, sea-monster, serpent, whale.” Obviously, there is a big difference between a sea-serpent and a jackal, just as there is a big difference between a dragon and a whale. The Old Testament’s first use of tanniyn occurs in Genesis 1:21 where the K.J.V. translates it as “whales.”

In the K.J.V., Psalm 74:13 speaks of “the dragons in the waters,” and the following verse (Psalm 74:14) cites the name “leviathan.” Similarly, Isaiah 27:1 makes mention of “the dragon that is in the sea” and names that creature “leviathan.” Psalm 104:26 fits in nicely with these references by saying that God made leviathan to play in the sea. Finally, the entirety of Job chapter 41 provides the Bible’s description of leviathan. The creature was some type of massive sea-monster that could actually breathe fire (Job 41:18-21). Even stranger is the fact that the Psalm 74:14 verse speaks of leviathan as having heads (plural).

There isn’t a person alive who can say with any certainty what type of creature the leviathan was, but our best guess is that it was some type of aquatic dinosaur. As for the fact that it could breathe fire perhaps that isn’t so unbelievable considering the number of cultures around the world that have ancient stories that tell of fire-breathing dragons. The national emblem of China was a dragon. Roman legions inscribed the emblems of dragons on their battle standards. Norse sailors built depictions of dragons onto the front of their ships. The Maya, the Aztecs, and the Native Americans of North America spoke of dragons. Even the small country of Bhutan, which is located in the Himalayan mountains, has a dragon on its flag. It’s simply impossible to believe that all these peoples in all these different corners of the globe creatively concocted the exact same type of creature to use in their folklore. It’s much easier to believe that people in ancient times had to deal with these frightening creatures.

And what about dragons being able to fly? Oh, the Bible mentions that type of creature, too. The verse is Isaiah 30:6. There the King James Version speaks of a “fiery flying serpent.” It sure doesn’t take much to read that description and think, “That was a dragon that could fly and breathe fire.”

Just as The Revelation uses “dragon” to symbolically depict Satan some of the Old Testament’s usages of “dragon” and “dragons” symbolically depict wicked rulers, wicked nations, or Satan himself. For example, in Ezekiel 29:3 God calls Egypt’s Pharaoh “the great dragon that lieth in the midst of the rivers” (K.J.V.). But what we should keep in mind is that there is usually a literal thing behind symbolic language. In other words, if God used a “dragon” (tanniyn) to symbolize Pharaoh, it means that such a creature really did exist.

With that said the Old Testament actually provides a fairly thorough description of “dragons” (tanniyn). They were poisonous (Deuteronomy 32:33), dwelt in dens (Jeremiah 10:22), made a wailing sound (Micah 1:8), and lived in deserted places (Job 30:29; Jeremiah 9:11) and wilderness sites (Isaiah 43:20). In regards to their habitats the creatures could be land based or sea based. As for their size they could be gigantic like the leviathan or small like the “serpent” (Exodus 7:9-10) that Aaron’s rod became when he threw it down before Pharaoh. (The Hebrew word translated in that passage as “serpent” is our word tanniyn.)

While we are tempted to think of tanniym as always being reptilian, Lamentations 4:3 says the creatures would “draw out the breast” and “give suck to their young ones” (K.J.V.). That is a feature of mammals that give birth to live young, unlike reptiles that lay eggs. Perhaps the best way to understand the tanniym is to think that some kinds of them were reptiles and other kinds were mammals.

If the Old Testament’s multifaceted description of tanniym confuses you welcome to the world of the Bible translator. Some modern translations use the words “jackal” and “jackals” to define the land versions of tanniym, but jackals seem wholly inadequate to have been the tanniym. Even the translators of the King James Version were not consistent in how they translated the word. Yes, they oftentimes went with “dragon” or “dragons,” but in other instances they went with “serpent” (Exodus 7:9-10), “sea monsters” (Lamentations 4:3), “whale” (Job 7:12), or “whales” (Genesis 1:21).

Personally, I think Dr. Henry Morris had the right idea about the word tanniym. In his book, The Biblical Basis for Modern Science, he suggested that the word should always be translated as “dinosaur” (or “dinosaurs”). To explain how the Hebrew language could correctly describe the tanniym in such a wide range of ways, he wrote:

The fossil record reveals both terrestrial and marine dinosaurs, small and large dinosaurs, dinosaurs of many different characters living in many different environments.

Of course, to believe that the Bible incorporates dinosaurs into its storyline is to deny the theory of evolution, refute the notion that the earth is billions of years old, and conclude that dinosaurs and humans coexisted not only before the flood of Noah but also after it. It is to believe that the marine and flying dinosaurs were created on day 5 of the creation week and the land dinosaurs were created on day 6. It is also to believe that two of each kind of flying dinosaur and land dinosaur were aboard the ark and repopulated the post-flood world with dinosaurs (no doubt in less prolific numbers). Frankly, that’s a mental leap that most people — even many professing Christians — aren’t willing to make. But it’s one that I made several years ago, and I have to say that the more I study the Bible, the more I realize that this interpretation fits the scriptural facts better than any other one out there.

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Stopping Short (post #3 of 3)

Posted on November 19, 2021 by russellmckinney

So the days of Terah were two hundred and five years, and Terah died in Haran. (Genesis 11:32, N.K.J.V.)

The Bible doesn’t tell us how long Abram, Sarai, Terah, and Lot lived in the city of Haran. It does, however, provide us with several clues that indicate that the stay was substantial. First, Genesis 11:31 in the K.J.V and the N.K.J.V. says they “dwelt” there, and many other translations use the word “settled” rather than “dwelt.” Second, Genesis 12:5 lets us know that the group lived there long enough to acquire servants. Third, the stay was long enough for Terah, who was healthy enough to make the six-hundred-mile journey from Ur to Haran, to die in Haran.

This is a part of Abram’s story that rarely gets mentioned. We’re talking about months, perhaps years, that he spent out of the will of God in Haran. Call it stopping short. Call it partial obedience. Call it something else. But the bottom line is that God wanted Abram in Canaan, and he settled down to a comfortable life in Haran.

In the Biblical account, it is only after we read the words “Terah died in Haran” that we read the words:

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3, K.,J.V.)

Pay special attention to those words: “Now the Lord had said…” That wording proves that God had spoken to Abram when Abram was living in Ur. God’s command is only revisited in Genesis 12:1-3 because it serves as a transitional segue to explain why Abram left Haran and headed out for Canaan. By the way, if we need any more scriptural evidence that God spoke to Abram in Ur rather than in Haran, we find it in Acts 7:2-4, which says of Stephen appearing before the Sanhedrin Council:

And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ Then he came out of the land of the Chaldeans and dwelt in Haran. And from there, when his father was dead, He moved him to this land in which you now dwell.” (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

Just as Abram’s settling in Haran rarely gets mentioned in overviews of his life, I’ve never heard one preacher bring up the fact that we don’t even know how old Abram was when God first spoke to him there in Ur. Time and time again I’ve heard preachers reference Genesis 12:4, which says that Abram was 75 years old when he departed from Haran, as being the age at which God promised to give him a son (a promise implied by the words “I will make you a great nation”). These preachers then point out that Abram was 100 years old when baby Isaac was born (Genesis 21:5) and say, “Abram (Abraham) waited 25 years for God to make good on His promise.” Well, actually, the wait was longer than 25 years, longer by how much time it took for Abram to leave Ur, travel to Haran, and live in Haran until Terah died.

Whatever the amount of time was that Abram spent in Haran, it is safe to say that it would have been longer if Terah hadn’t died when he did. The way the story reads, Terah’s death was the event that prompted Abram to get back to doing what God had told him to do. I find here a very human element to the story. How many times does the death of a domineering father or mother kickstart a man or a woman to chart a new course in life? In Abram’s case, the death of his elderly father didn’t require him to chart a new course but instead finish one that he had previously begun.

So, as Abram, Sarai, and their servants uprooted from Haran and headed out for Canaan, were Abram’s days of stopping short finally behind him? No, they weren’t. Remember that Abram had initially allowed two extra people to accompany him when had left Ur. His dad Terah was one of them, and Terah was now dead. But what about Lot, Abrams nephew? Dare I say that Abram now had a second chance to sever ties with him and get more in line with God’s original vision for the journey? All Abram had to do was either leave Lot in Haran or send him back to Ur. As we know, however, he did neither. Genesis 12:5 says:

Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. (N.K.J.V., emphasis mine)

You say, “But Russell, maybe God wanted Lot to live in Canaan.” My reply to that is, “Have you read about Lot’s life in Canaan?” He started off badly by falling in love with the lush plain where the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were located and pitching his tent at Sodom (Genesis 13:1-13). Then he officially moved into Sodom and temporarily became a prisoner of war when a coalition army from the East plundered the city of its goods (Genesis 14:1-12). Only when Abram put together a personal army and defeated that coalition army was Lot rescued from that predicament (Genesis 14:13-24). Next, he moved right back into Sodom and had to be basically drug out of there, along with his wife and two daughters, by two angels before God could destroy that city (Genesis 19:1-22). Even in the escape, his wife looked back longingly toward Sodom and was immediately turned into a pillar of salt. Then, finally, the last time Genesis mentions him, he produces the two ungodly races called the Moabites and the Ammonites by getting drunk during successive nights and having incestual sex with his two virgin daughters (Genesis 19:30-38). I’m telling you, if God wanted Lot to live out his life in Canaan, I’d hate to know what all would have happened to that guy if he had been supposed to spend his days in Ur or Haran!

So, by piecing everything together about Abram making the move from Ur to Canaan, we learn that in three ways he stopped short of doing God’s will. #1: He stopped short of separating from his idol-worshiping family completely by allowing Terah and Lot to accompany him on the trip. #2: He stopped short of pressing on for Canaan by settling down for a time in Haran. And #3: He stopped short of making good on a second chance to separate from Lot when Lot could have either been left in Haran or told to go back to Ur.

What all this indicates is that Abram was something of a spiritual mess when he started out with God. Even though he had great potential for service, he had a lot of rough edges that would have to be smoothed out over the decades that followed. As we know from the Bible’s record of his life, those rough edges were smoothed out, and the Abram (by then known as Abraham) who minded God perfectly by agreeing to offer up Isaac as a burnt offering was a man of shockingly ideal obedience (Genesis 22:1-19). Basically, the longer Abram lived, the more obedient to God he became. The fellow who stopped short of doing God’s perfect will in three ways even before he arrived in Canaan kept on plugging until he finally realized his full spiritual potential. That’s the closing epitaph to Abram’s life, and may it be the closing epitaph to my life and to your life as well.

Posted in Change, Children, Choices, Commitment, Death, Discipleship, Disobedience, Dying To Self, Faith, Faithfulness, Family, Fatherhood, God's Will, Obedience, Parenting, Rebellion, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Stopping Short (post #2 of 3)

Posted on November 17, 2021 by russellmckinney

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out with them from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan; and they came to Haran and dwelt there. (Genesis 11:31, N.K.J.V.)

While Abram was living with his family in Mesopotamia (Ur), God said to him, “Get out of your country and from your relatives, and go to a land that I will show you.” Abram wasn’t even specifically told to take his wife Sarai with him, but since God isn’t in the business of breaking up marriages, her accompaniment was surely implied. Abram, however, stopped short of carrying out God’s plan.

It’s not that Abram missed God’s will completely. After all, he did take Sarai and leave Ur. The problem was that Terah (Abram’s father) and Lot (Abram’s nephew) went along on the journey. Why did Abram allow that? One possibility is that Abram enjoyed the comfort level of having his dad and nephew along for the trip. Another possibility — one that I favor as an interpretation of the events — is that Terah was something of a domineering father who wasn’t about to let Abram leave him behind in Ur while he and Sarai went off to build a new life together. As I pointed out in the previous post, the wording of Genesis 11:31 (our text verse for this post) makes Terah, rather than Abram, the driving force behind the big move.

If I am correct in the way I’m reading between the lines, there is a strong warning here that goes out to parents, particularly fathers. Parent, it isn’t your job to run your child’s life. Once your child reaches a certain age, God wants that child to get out on his/her own and become a responsible adult. He wants that child to live the life that He has planned, not the one that you have planned. We parents might not always like or agree with God’s plan for our kids, but we must faithfully turn our children over to Him.

But now let’s get back to our story and find a second instance where Abram stopped short of doing all of the will of God. Not only did he stop short of leaving his entire family behind in Ur and heading off (along with Sarai) on his own, he also stopped short of making it to Canaan, the land where God was taking him. We read about this stoppage in Genesis 11:31, the closing words of which say:

…and they came to Haran and dwelt there.

If you will look at a map, you will see that Abram and his group didn’t take a straight-line path to Canaan. Such a path would have led them through the Arabian desert. Instead, they followed the Euphrates river up around the desert. Haran was about 600 miles from Ur, which means that they traveled quite a ways toward Canaan. But Haran was still short of Canaan.

Interestingly, Haran was also the name of another one of Terah’s sons (Genesis 11:27). That son had died in Ur after having fathered Lot (Genesis 11:28). The fact that the fatherless Lot was not only Abram’s nephew but also Terah’s grandson no doubt played a major factor in him accompanying them when they left Ur. Also, the fact that Terah had given one of his sons the name of this city might suggest that Terah was originally from this city. If this was the case — and it’s certainly not a definite fact — this would help explain why Terah was so quick to settle down in Haran rather than press on toward Canaan.

As for the city of Haran, it was a very prosperous place. It was located on an important trade route between Canaan and Syria, and that prime location brought a great deal of commerce into the city. Still, though, worldly ease is no substitute for God’s will, and every day that Abram spent in Haran was another day spent short of accomplishing God’s will for his life.

The takeaway for us from this part of the story is this: Not only can family relationships cause us to stop short of doing all of God’s will, worldly ease can as well. You see, we can be quick to seek God’s will and do it without reservation when we think His will is going to get us out of an undesirable situation. But what about those times when we are quite comfortable where we are? Ah, then it gets a lot tougher to mind God fully.

To Abram’s credit, he had already left a comfortable life once when he had left Ur and headed out for an unknown land. Now, though, God wanted him to do it again by leaving Haran and continuing the journey to Canaan. So, will Abram leave the prosperity of Haran behind and resume the pursuit of His God-appointed destiny? Tune in next time to find out, as we finish up this three-post series. And until then, don’t you settle for some Ur or some Haran in your life when God has a Canaan as your destination.

Posted in Change, Choices, Commitment, Decisions, Disobedience, Dying To Self, Faith, Faithfulness, Family, Fatherhood, God's Will, Obedience, Parenting, Rebellion, Series: "Stopping Short", Submission, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Stopping Short (post #1 of 3)

Posted on November 15, 2021 by russellmckinney

Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will shew thee: And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed. (Genesis 12:1-3, K.J.V.)

Did you know that a clock that is just five minutes off is more dangerous than a clock that is five hours off? If a clock is five hours off, anyone can see that it is obviously wrong and ignore it. But if a clock is just five minutes off, it can fool anybody. That kind of a clock can cause you to be late for work. It can cause you to miss a flight or an appointment. Well, along the same lines, one of the most dangerous alternatives to the will of God is the one that is off by just five minutes. It is often no more than you stopping short of doing ALL that God wants you to do.

The Bible character “Abraham” is legendary around the world, but he actually began his life as “Abram.” He and his family lived in Ur of the Chaldeans, the Chaldeans being people who lived in the country that would become historically known as Babylon. As a matter of fact, Ur was in the same general area as Genesis chapter 11’s infamous city of Babel.

Reaching far back into human history, that entire region was a popular place for people to settle. What made it so appealing was the fact that two great rivers (the Tigris and the Euphrates) flowed through there. As evidence of this, Acts 7:2 says that Abram lived in Mesopotamia. The name “Mesopotamia” means “between the two rivers.” Today we know that land as Iraq, and the Tigris and the Euphrates both empty into what is now called the Persian Gulf.

The Ur of Abram’s day was a wealthy and populous city. That was the good news. The bad news was that it was also a center of idol worship. Does it surprise you to learn that Abram and his family were a family of idolaters? Joshua 24:2 says:

And Joshua said to all the people, “Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Your fathers, including Terah, the father of Abraham and the father of Nahor, dwelt on the other side of the river (the Euphrates) in old times; and they served other gods. (N.K.J.V.)

What seems strange about this family’s idolatry is the fact that the genealogy of Genesis chapter 11 starts at Noah’s son Shem and ends at Abram. In other words, Abram could trace not only his genetic lineage but also his spiritual lineage back to Noah and Noah’s godly son Shem. How then did the servitude of other gods get into the lives of Shem’s descendants, people such as Abram’s family? The best explanation I can offer is that somewhere along the line the members of that family fell in love with the ways of those who worshiped false gods. It probably began with a family member before Abram’s father Terah, but that Joshua 24:2 verse does explicitly state that Terah served other gods.

Okay, so why I am I mentioning all of this? I’m mentioning it because it’s important for us to understand Abram’s background. When we understand his background, we can better understand why God asked him to do what He asked him to do. And what was that? God asked him to leave his family behind in Ur and travel to a land that God would show him. You see, on the surface, such a command might seem harsh in light of family love. The command makes more sense, though, when we take into account the idolatry of Abram’s family. Obviously, God wanted Abram to break his ties with idolatry, and that meant breaking his ties with his family. As Acts 7:2-3 says concerning Stephen

And he said, “Brethren and fathers, listen: The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he dwelt in Haran, and said to him, ‘Get out of your country and from your relatives, and come to a land that I will show you.’ (N.K.J.V.)

Unfortunately, however, Abram stopped short of fully obeying God’s command. In regards to the Biblical account, the problem crops up in Genesis 11:31. As you read that verse, see if you can spot the mistake Abram made:

And Terah took his son Abram and his grandson Lot, the son of Haran, and his daughter-in-law Sarai, his son Abram’s wife, and they went out from Ur of the Chaldeans to go to the land of Canaan… (N.K.J.V.)

The problem was that Abram took his dad (Terah) and his nephew (Lot) along with him when he and his wife (Sarai) pulled up stakes from Ur to head out for the land (Canaan) that God would show him. Remember what God specifically told Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family, and from your father’s house.” But when it came time for the big move, Abram took Terah and Lot along with him. Even worse, the way Genesis 11:31 is worded, Terah, not Abram, was the ramrod behind the whole operation. The verse doesn’t say that Abram took his dad, his nephew, and his wife. Instead, it says that Terah took his son, his grandson, and his daughter-in-law! Do you see the difference? As for no mention being made of Terah’s wife, evidently he was a widower.

In closing, let me say that there is nothing automatically wrong with being tight with the members of your family. There isn’t even anything wrong with living in close proximity to them. But there is plenty wrong when you put your relationship with them ahead of your relationship with God, and there is plenty wrong when you take what you know to be the will of God and filter it through their opinions. Can it be difficult to go against your family, especially when it comes to life-altering decisions? Definitely. But if the alternative is missing God’s will, even by just five minutes, it’s much better to cross your family than cross Him.

Posted in Change, Children, Choices, Commitment, Decisions, Disobedience, Dying To Self, Faith, Faithfulness, Family, God's Will, Obedience, Parenting, Rebellion, Seeking Advice, Series: "Stopping Short", Submission, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Paul Thought Jesus Was Coming Really, Really Soon

Posted on November 12, 2021 by russellmckinney

Name just about any generation of Christians, and you’ll find that those Christians suspected they were living in the “end times” when the events of prophetic passages such as Matthew chapters 24 and 25 and the entire book of The Revelation were beginning. Certainly this current generation of Christians has that suspicion. But did you know that even the apostle Paul felt that way about his day?

I’ll cite two passages on this topic, the first one being 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17. In those verses, Paul describes the Rapture as follows:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. (N.K.J.V.)

You’ll note Paul’s use of the word “we” there in reference to the Christians who would be alive to experience the Rapture. That’s pretty conclusive evidence that he thought he would be in that group. Please understand, though, that Paul’s erroneous expectation doesn’t invalidate either his ministry or his prophetic word about the Rapture. It just shows that God chose not to correct Paul’s assumption. As for why God played it that way, perhaps He wanted Paul to exemplify the fact that every Christian who is alive on the earth during any era should have the mindset, “The Rapture must be going to take place very, very soon.”

The second passage I’ll cite as evidence of Paul’s expectation is 1 Corinthians 7:26-33. As you read these verses, see if you can pick up on what Paul is implying about getting married. Trust me, it’s not hard to figure out. The verses say:

Because of the present crisis, I think it is best to remain as you are.  If you have a wife, do not seek to end the marriage. If you do not have a wife, do not seek to get married.  But if you do get married, it is not a sin. And if a young woman gets married, it is not a sin. However, those who get married at this time will have troubles, and I am trying to spare you those problems. But let me say this, dear brothers and sisters: The time that remains is very short. So from now on, those with wives should not focus only on their marriage. Those who weep or who rejoice or who buy things should not be absorbed by their weeping or their joy or their possessions. Those who use the things of the world should not become attached to them. For this world as we know it will soon pass away.  I want you to be free from the concerns of this life. An unmarried man can spend his time doing the Lord’s work and thinking how to please him. But a married man has to think about his earthly responsibilities and how to please his wife. (N.L.T.)

In light of Paul’s mindset about the end of time, his thoughts about marriage make perfect sense, don’t they? I mean, if Jesus really is coming to snatch His people away from this world sometime in the next few days or weeks, each Christian would be wise to spend his or her remaining time serving Jesus to the extreme. And since it takes a great deal of time and effort to make a marriage work, that’s time and effort that could be used in prayer, Bible study, and evangelism instead.

Today we are hearing a lot of talk about how we must be living in the absolute final days just prior to the Rapture. Well, maybe we are. That’s definitely a possibility. Then again, Paul was thinking this same thing when he wrote his letters we call 1 Thessalonians and 1 Corinthians, and some 2,000 years have passed since then. I’m just pointing that out.

With this in mind, I would advise you to continue making your mortgage payments and car payments, and don’t quit your job in order to spend all your time sitting on a mountaintop praying and fasting. As is the case with so many things, what we must have in this area is balance, the type of balance that will enable us to live wisely for the Lord in this world even as we confidently expect the one to come. Admittedly, this is not an easy balance to strike, but it’s one that we can strike with God’s help. And it’s one that we must strike if we want to navigate the waters of our lives in a manner pleasing to Him. To live any other way is to either shortchange the imminence of the Rapture or shortchange God’s will for our earthly lives.

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