THE SPINE OF BIBLICAL PROPHECY

THE "SPINE" OF BIBLICAL PROPHECY

This term is taken from the book by Derek Prince called "Prophetic Guide to the End Times". He says that whenever people wish to assemble the bones of a human skeleton, they always start with the spine, and then fit the other bones to it. He goes on to say that chapters 24, and 25, of the Gospel of Matthew, are the spine of Biblical prophecy, which directs us how and where to fit in the other scripture passages pertaining to the end time scenario. A careful reading of these passages, realizing they are the direct words of Jesus in answer to the questions of His disciples, give us the much needed outline of coming events. And if anyone should know how they will play out, it is certainly Jesus. I choose to believe the words of Jesus over the words of some man any time!

 

The 2 questions asked are recorded in (Matt 24:3). The first was "When will these things be?", and the second was "What will be the sign (singular) of Your coming, and of the end of the age?". The rest of chapter 24 answers these questions in chronological order. Verses 4-13 give the signs (plural) that will be the "first of the birth pains, with more to come". Then in verse 14 Jesus answers the first of their questions with " And the Good News about the  Kingdom will be preached throughout the whole world, so all nations will hear it, and then the end will come." This is absolute proof that Jesus can not return at "any moment" because there  are still hundreds of "people groups" who have never heard the Name of Jesus. In (Rev 7:9-14) we see the great multitude that can not be numbered, that we are told are those who have come out of the "great tribulation", from every "nation, and tribe, and people, and language"! Therefore at least one person from all these "unreached people groups" must hear the Gospel of the Kingdom and be saved, in order to be part of this multitude John saw before the Throne in heaven! This is only part of this "spine" we see outlined in (Matt 24:4-51), but it answers the first question asked in verse 3. One important word  to look for when reading this chapter is the word "then", which indicates the order in which one event follows another. This is very important in keeping the right sequence for a proper understanding of end time events!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

A BOND SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST

A  BOND SERVANT OF JESUS CHRIST

 

The Apostle Paul often used this expression in his description of himself, for example read the opening sentences of his letter to the church at Rome. Slaves were common to the Roman culture of that day, but their slavery was forced. A bond servant was also a slave to his master, but someone who could have been set free from his forced slavery, but chose to remain as a slave to his master by his own free choice. This is the context in which Paul uses the term. I encourage you to read the first 7 verses carefully and see how well Paul defends the roots of the gospel from the OT by declaring the lineage of Jesus, presents the power of this gospel to change lives, and then challenges his readers to become involved in spreading this gospel of "The Good News" of Jesus Christ! (Rom 1:1-7)

 

This is the key to living a victorious spiritual life of following Jesus, we must be bound securely to Him "by Love's strong cords", to borrow the word from an old hymn. This means much more than just praying a so-called "sinner's prayer", and claiming to be a Christian. I have met many such people in my day, who think they are followers of Jesus, but don't have a clue as to what is involved on their part! A true follower of Jesus must be able to declare like Paul did in (Gal 2:20), which can only come after obeying his instructions given in (Rom 6:1-11). I believe many people are trying to live a "Christian" life in their own strength, which is impossible! We must die to our own desires and what we believe are our own "rights", and realize that if we are to become "bond servants" to Jesus, we no longer have any of our own rights. As a slave to righteousness, the only right we have is the right to obey the commands of God which are clearly laid out in His Word! That's where a relationship with the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary, as Jesus promised His disciples in the Gospel of John, in chapters 14, 15, and 16. These same promises given to these first followers of Jesus, are still available to us today who want to be true followers of Jesus. But the conditions laid out by Paul and the other original apostles are also still valid for today, and must be followed by hearing, and obeying the still small voice of the Holy Spirit!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

A SPIRIT FILLED LIFE

THE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE

 

This is the title of a little book in our library written in 1895 by John MacNeil. His name came to light from reading a book about the Welsh Revival last week. He was mentioned in the book, although not one of the key players in that revival, which centered around Evan Roberts. I knew we had this book by him, so found it and have been reading it with renewed interest. It is a small paper back, only 126 pages, purchased sometime in the mid '60s for 45 cents, believe it or not! It was published by Moody Press Publications, bearing a  number MCL49, which apparently stood for the 49th book put out by Moody Col portage Library. This was written several years before the Pentecostal denomination was formed shortly after the Azusa Street Revival of 1906, and was not written from a denominational, or a sectarian perspective.

 

It covers everything you might want to know about the Spirit-Filled life, in a simple easy to understand style, and I highly recommend it. If you ever see a copy in a used book store sometime, I suggest you buy it for sure! Brother MacNeil states that a Spirit Filled Life is every believer's birthright, and is a command to be obeyed, "Be filled with the Spirit" (Eph 5:18). He speaks a lot about the need for "cleansing", before we ask to be filled with the Spirit.  And he does an excellent job of explaining the difference between "the baptism of the Spirit", and the "filling of the Spirit". Basically there is only one baptism, but there can be many fillings after the first one, which is called the baptism as well as the filling. (Acts 2:4). There has been much confusion around this issue due in part to different terminology, as near as I can determine. Another matter he sheds light on is the difference between our being "blameless" and "faultless". We can be blameless in this present life, provided we are doing the very best we can with the revelation that we have received, (1 Thess 5:23). However we can only be faultless when we stand before God in our resurrected bodies (Jude 24). How sad when some people who have been made blameless by accepting what Jesus has done for us on the cross, then consider themselves faultless, or to have arrived at a state of "sinless perfection", which is impossible to achieve in this life!

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer

SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME

SOME THOUGHTS ON TIME             

 

The little word "time" is a very interesting word, that the Concise Oxford English Dictionary recently stated is the most often used noun in the English language. And the Bible has a lot of scriptures that speak about time. With our finite minds, it is very difficult for us to properly understand time. Most people complain about never having enough time, but the fact of the matter is that we all have the same amount of time. Every day has 24 hours, and every week has 7 days, that gives us all a total of 168 hours a week, or 10,080 minutes! The best description of time I ever saw presented was a large circle drawn on a sheet of paper to represent time and space inside the circle, surrounded by eternity. God exists outside of time in eternity, and is not confined to operate in our circle. From His perspective it is always "now", and in (Ps 90:4) Moses stated when referring to God "For you, a thousand years are as a passing day, as brief as a few  night hours" NLT. And Peter was probably referring to this OT passage when he wrote "----a day is like a thousand years to the Lord, and a thousand years is like a day" (2 Peter 3:8).

 

There are lots of scripture passages that warn us that the day is coming when time will be no more, and that God is giving us time to get things right with Him. But I believe He has an appointed time to roll up time as a scroll, so to speak, and our universe will become part of His eternity again. One of the most challenging scripture passages to me is the third chapter of 2 Peter, from which we quoted part of verse 8 above! If you read the whole chapter carefully you will see several references to "The Day of The Lord". This is probably the most important day mentioned in all of scripture, and is certainly worthy of some careful study. For the redeemed children of God it will be a glorious day, but for the wicked children of Satan, it will be a horrible day when God starts to pour out His wrath.  (Rev 15:5-8) Listen to the last two verses from the NLT, "I am warning you ahead of time, dear friends. Be on guard so that you will not be carried away by the errors of these wicked people and lose your secure footing. Rather you must grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. All glory to Him, both now and forever! Amen."

Sincerely submitted.

Dave Jamer