1Kings, chapter 4, comments; Solomon's wisdom

 

1Kings 4:1 ¶  So king Solomon was king over all Israel. 2  And these were the princes which he had; Azariah the son of Zadok the priest, 3  Elihoreph and Ahiah, the sons of Shisha, scribes; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud, the recorder. 4  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was over the host: and Zadok and Abiathar were the priests: 5  And Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers: and Zabud the son of Nathan was principal officer, and the king’s friend: 6  And Ahishar was over the household: and Adoniram the son of Abda was over the tribute. 7  And Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, which provided victuals for the king and his household: each man his month in a year made provision. 8  And these are their names: The son of Hur, in mount Ephraim: 9  The son of Dekar, in Makaz, and in Shaalbim, and Bethshemesh, and Elonbethhanan: 10  The son of Hesed, in Aruboth; to him pertained Sochoh, and all the land of Hepher: 11  The son of Abinadab, in all the region of Dor; which had Taphath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 12  Baana the son of Ahilud; to him pertained Taanach and Megiddo, and all Bethshean, which is by Zartanah beneath Jezreel, from Bethshean to Abelmeholah, even unto the place that is beyond Jokneam: 13  The son of Geber, in Ramothgilead; to him pertained the towns of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead; to him also pertained the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, threescore great cities with walls and brasen bars: 14  Ahinadab the son of Iddo had Mahanaim: 15  Ahimaaz was in Naphtali; he also took Basmath the daughter of Solomon to wife: 16  Baanah the son of Hushai was in Asher and in Aloth: 17  Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar: 18  Shimei the son of Elah, in Benjamin: 19  Geber the son of Uri was in the country of Gilead, in the country of Sihon king of the Amorites, and of Og king of Bashan; and he was the only officer which was in the land.

Here is listed Solomon’s administration with names that might mean little to us. Of note are place names like Megiddo from which will come the word Armageddon in Revelation, which is the Mount of Megiddo. Another name is a subordinate king, Og of Bashan, the namesake of the one killed as the Israelites battled their way into the Promised Land.

1Kings 4:20 ¶  Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry. 21  And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22  And Solomon’s provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal, 23  Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl. 24  For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river, from Tiphsah even to Azzah, over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. 25  And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon. 26  And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27  And those officers provided victual for king Solomon, and for all that came unto king Solomon’s table, every man in his month: they lacked nothing. 28  Barley also and straw for the horses and dromedaries brought they unto the place where the officers were, every man according to his charge.

Verse 20 is hyperbole as no one in their right mind believes that there were as many Israelites as sand on the seashore but just a huge amount of people, millions perhaps. Solomon will write;

Proverbs 14:28  In the multitude of people is the king’s honour: but in the want of people is the destruction of the prince.

Solomon’s reign is a mercy and a blessing to the people of Israel. He was paid tribute by other kings nearby and everyone benefited from God’s blessing on His rule. It was a Golden Age for Israel.

Verse 26 brings up an important point I discussed in Genesis about chariot warfare.

In my comments on Genesis 50:7-14 I noted;

The phrase chariots and horsemen will play a very important part in places in the Old Testament and be a source of contention. One thing missing in scholarship and Bible exposition is the common sense understanding of chariot warfare. A chariot was a mobile fighting platform as well as a ceremonial vehicle whose weak link was also how it was delivered to the forefront of the battle so quickly; its horses. Logic tells us, logic and common sense, that the horses would be what the infantry would go after first. Kill the horses and the chariot cannot move and respond to the battle. So, with chariots there needed to be a string of horses and horsemen to accompany them. Like the pit crew at a NASCAR event these teams needed to be able to replace dead and injured horses or, in a fierce battle, the chariot would have been rendered useless and even helpless quite quickly, as the driver would not be able to remove to safety in the event of being overwhelmed, with dead horses.

1Kings 4:26  And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.

2Chronicles 9:25  And Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem.

So, in these two verses which have been the source of much disagreement it is very obvious to me that Solomon had 40,000 stalls for chariot horses and 4,000 stalls that were big enough for the chariot and the horse team that drew it. This would be necessary for maintenance and preparation before training and battle. This also implies a string of 10 horses per chariot as the primary team and backup. These backup teams would have not only needed protection by cavalry but perhaps were a capable fighting force all their own. There is no contradiction, just common sense and reading comprehension needed here.

 

 

 

1Kings 4:29 ¶  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. 30  And Solomon’s wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31  For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. 32  And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. 33  And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. 34  And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.

Solomon was given an abundant wisdom and compassion for his people. He was the greatest and most wise man of his era. We have many of his proverbs in that book. Also, he was a well-known natural scientist who studied the world around him extensively. This drew people from the cultures around him who had heard of him, although there is little documentation from that era to help us see what they thought about him. We are limited mostly to Biblical texts to learn about Solomon. This is not surprising as there is not any textual evidence of anything from Og of Bashan or any writings left to us of Ethan the Ezrahite, etc. etc. Remember, it says all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom. This doesn’t lead us to kings from China or Western Europe. This is localized to Solomon’s part of the world. I’ve explained previously that people writing, even under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, in the ancient world are referring to their part of the earth typically when speaking of all the earth.

 

Mark 13:14-23 comments; false prophets shall rise

 

Mark 13:14 ¶  But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains: 15  And let him that is on the housetop not go down into the house, neither enter therein, to take any thing out of his house: 16  And let him that is in the field not turn back again for to take up his garment. 17  But woe to them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! 18  And pray ye that your flight be not in the winter. 19  For in those days shall be affliction, such as was not from the beginning of the creation which God created unto this time, neither shall be. 20  And except that the Lord had shortened those days, no flesh should be saved: but for the elect’s sake, whom he hath chosen, he hath shortened the days. 21  And then if any man shall say to you, Lo, here is Christ; or, lo, he is there; believe him not: 22  For false Christs and false prophets shall rise, and shall shew signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect. 23  But take ye heed: behold, I have foretold you all things.

Read Matthew 24:15-25.  Here’s a very serious problem for the modernist who doesn’t believe in prophecy. Most of those kind of people see Daniel as being written about one of the Greek kings who ruled Palestine and prefer to date Daniel until that time or after so that they can eliminate its prophetic importance. But Jesus declares here that Daniel is written about a time much future to not only Daniel but Jesus.

 

Daniel 8:13  Then I heard one saint speaking, and another saint said unto that certain saint which spake, How long shall be the vision concerning the daily sacrifice, and the transgression of desolation, to give both the sanctuary and the host to be trodden under foot?

 

Daniel 9:27  And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate.

 

Daniel 11:31  And arms shall stand on his part, and they shall pollute the sanctuary of strength, and shall take away the daily sacrifice, and they shall place the abomination that maketh desolate.

 

Daniel 12:11  And from the time that the daily sacrifice shall be taken away, and the abomination that maketh desolate set up, there shall be a thousand two hundred and ninety days.

 

So, rather than viewing Daniel in terms of events prior to Jesus’ time it’s important to see them as Jesus described, a prophecy of events future to the first century AD. But what is an abomination? And what is the abomination of desolation?

 

Deuteronomy 7:25 The graven images of their gods shall ye burn with fire: thou shalt not desire the silver or gold that is on them, nor take it unto thee, lest thou be snared therein: for it is an abomination to the LORD thy God. 26 Neither shalt thou bring an abomination into thine house, lest thou be a cursed thing like it: but thou shalt utterly detest it, and thou shalt utterly abhor it; for it is a cursed thing.

 

In the context of naming something, a thing, to be presented in the temple, this would not refer to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD because the temple was destroyed. An abomination in this context would be an idol. To be desolate is to be empty, devoid of life or value. The gods of the pagan world were called vanities, shown that they were nothing, a vain thing. Clearly the abomination of desolation is a false god set up in the temple of God that is to be rebuilt at the end time, for it doesn’t exist today.

 

2Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

 

This is a reference to the Beast of Revelation, who is popularly called Anti-Christ.

 

Revelation 13:15 And he had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed.

 

The image of a pagan god-man, the Beast, the Anti-Christ, will be set up in a temple that has yet to be built. It is an image, a statue that speaks. Many Jews are waiting to rebuild the temple now.

 

www.templemountfaithful.org

 

From their website; “The goal of the Temple Mount and Land of Israel Faithful Movement is the building of the Third Temple on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem in our lifetime in accordance with the Word of G-d and all the Hebrew prophets and the liberation of the Temple Mount from Arab (Islamic) occupation so that it may be consecrated to the Name of G-d.”

The future Roman emperor, Titus, in 70AD did not set himself up in Herod’s Temple to be worshipped. He destroyed the temple. This is a future prophecy about the end time. Jesus tells the Jews in the Tribulation as they read the King James Bible (let him that readeth understand) that when this happens run as fast as you can.

 

And there has been no time in history like the time that is coming in the Tribulation. There is nothing to compare it to. Not World War Two, not the Black Death of the 14^th century, not the Spanish Flu, nothing. And if that time wasn’t shortened no flesh would be left alive. Think of the time of the Great Flood.

 

Genesis 7:21 ¶  And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth, and every man: 22  All in whose nostrils was the breath of life, of all that was in the dry land, died. 23  And every living substance was destroyed which was upon the face of the ground, both man, and cattle, and the creeping things, and the fowl of the heaven; and they were destroyed from the earth: and Noah only remained alive, and they that were with him in the ark.

 

But Jesus promises the time will be shortened. Notice that He also talks about the signs and wonders that the false Christs and false prophets will use to deceive, and even the very elect of God could be fooled.

 

Revelation 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.

 

Revelation 13:11 ¶  And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon. 12  And he exerciseth all the power of the first beast before him, and causeth the earth and them which dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose deadly wound was healed. 13  And he doeth great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from heaven on the earth in the sight of men, 14  And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.

The end of history will be a terrible and dreadful thing.

Proverbs 24:23-26 comments; judge righteously

 

Proverbs 24:23 ¶ These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment. 24 He that saith unto the wicked, Thou art righteous; him shall the people curse, nations shall abhor him: 25 But to them that rebuke him shall be delight, and a good blessing shall come upon them. 26 Every man shall kiss his lips that giveth a right answer.

Matthew Henry, writing in the early 1700’s, takes these verses together. He says that, in the first verse, the reference to “the wise” is a reference to judges and magistrates. This is understandable in the literal sense for the Hebrews as they lived under God’s Law which covered not only their religious duties to God but their civil duties to man. Henry would also think it to be taken in the literal sense for the state of his day as the English also believed that they lived in a sort of theocracy under God’s Laws with the King as the head of the church on earth.

However, that notion has been shown to be false as we have seen through history that the sole purpose of the modern nation-state has been to perpetuate itself and its power not only over the people over whom it executes governance but also, inasmuch as possible, over its neighbors and fellow nation-states. The empire of Great Britain was, like all other empires of man, one of the greatest forces for evil in the world and more than any other empire besides the one that inherited the Roman Empire, the one that rules its people throughout all countries from the Vatican, it has given us the confused and mixed up world system we have today, its superficial dedication to Christ notwithstanding.

As the Christian must view the verses under the doctrine of the Law specifically given to God’s chosen people, the Hebrews of Ancient Israel, in a spiritual sense or he becomes a worldly monster much like Imperial England, Germany, or Spain let’s try to apply these verses to the individual Christian. The Christian must apply God’s standard equally in all things, if he or she is wise. For instance, take these verses quoting Christ in His ‘Sermon on the Mount’ to some of His beard wearing, pork abstaining, temple going, Sabbath observing disciples.

Matthew 7:1 ¶ Judge not, that ye be not judged. 2 For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again. 3 And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? 4 Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye? 5 Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye. 6 Give not that which is holy unto the dogs, neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn again and rend you.

 

There are many issues covered in these few short sentences such as in verse 6 not placing your converts to Christ under the control of false male or female teachers who are teaching an ungodly religion. However, our focus is more narrow. Jesus says to judge others by the same standard you judge yourself. He states, at least to the Jews who are still under the doctrines of the Law at the time of His most famous sermon, that they will be judged by the same standards they use to judge others. As a consequence it would be better for them not to judge others at all. He goes on to say that they are willing to judge the speck in their brother’s eye while ignoring the beam in their own. We often point our fingers at other people’s faults and sins and ignore our own glaring defects. As I have pointed out before, for others we issue accusations, for ourselves excuses.

Paul, in writing of doctrine to the Christians at Rome, as he prepares his own argument against legalism and self-justification in the book of Romans, gives a brief moral history of man and ends it with a punch that must have knocked his readers off their feet. Please bear with me as I believe a large section of the passage must be read to get the whole effect, and I will read it as it was meant to be read, with pauses at punctuation marks, lest my own emphasis give the wrong impression.

 

Romans 1:16 ¶ For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. 17 For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. 18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness;

19 ¶ Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. 20 For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: 21 Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: 25 Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. 28 And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; 29 Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: 32 Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.

2:1 ¶ Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. 2 But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. 3 And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?

So, to judge by a righteous standard we must use the same standard for others as we do for ourselves. It is the rare Christian, particularly a fundamentalist like myself, who has not at some point held the truth in unrighteousness and judged others, particularly in today’s society, those who engage in homosexual behavior or those who support an imagined unfettered constitutional right to abortion, by a different set of moral standards than we do ourselves. Of course, the self-righteous Christian has a problem even seeing the truth of this perspective because they are so very convinced they have never been guilty, since being saved, of any of the sins of action AND thought listed in the verses in Romans.

In verse 24 in Proverbs, it talks about calling someone that is evil, good. For instance, under the civil law, declaring someone’s argument in a conflict as correct who is clearly wrong and oppressing the other side, usually the person without the deeper pockets. How can our own country, secular nation or Christian one, as either side will profess, hope for any good to come of us when even Christians extol the virtues of celebrities, the wealthy, and the powerful;

Psalm 12:8 The wicked walk on every side, when the vilest men are exalted.

For a Christian to hold out as a person to honor, respect with your attention and money, and your conversation people who are so vile and wicked to the extreme: actors and actresses, sports figures, music personalities, and many politicians, also men and women of the business world, is an absurdity to the extreme. How many Christians, I wonder, enjoyed the appropriately named television show, American Idol? How many Christians have put money in the pockets of people who denounce their faith and ridicule their intelligence like Bruce Willis or Ian McKellan, by watching their movies and praising their performances? What about people like a former president of the US who called Jesus Christ his “favorite philosopher” when God calls philosophy “vain deceit”?

Colossians 2:8 Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.

It is impossible to judge a righteous judgment if you use a different standard for yourself than you do others and it is impossible to judge a righteous judgment if you uplift wicked men and women as being examples of anything good.

Finally, the verses in Proverbs state that by judging righteously you will win the approval of others. This was certainly applicable in the Jewish state when it honored God but would hardly have an application today as the whole world lies in wickedness (1 John 5:19), the proof of which lies in the fact that more often than not people in positions of authority are praised for their indecent decisions rather than righteous ones. [By the way, we find the concept of men kissing each other as inappropriate and gross but there are many customs of other cultures that might appear so as they are alien to our contemplation. I refer you to Paul’s references to a “holy kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:26) and to Peter’s reference to a “kiss of charity” (1 Peter 5:14) although I wouldn’t recommended you walking up to a Christian in our culture and giving them a smooch, even on the cheek, as their might be trouble.]

So, let me repeat, for the Christian to contemplate, what I have taken away as the spiritual value for you of these verses in Proverbs;

It is impossible to judge a righteous judgment if you use a different standard for yourself than you do others and it is impossible to judge a righteous judgment if you uplift wicked men and women as being examples of anything good.

Mark 13, 5 to 13, part 2, wars and rumors of wars

 

7 And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

The celebrated expert on War from the early nineteenth century, Von Clausewitz, is reported to have said that war is the attempt to compel an enemy to do one’s will. I have read that in the last 4,000 years there have only been 300 without war and the person jokingly said that those 300 years must have been needed to reload. Since 1945, when the U.N. was created to end global conflict there have been nearly 200 wars, civil wars, genocides, terrorism, humanitarian interventions, inter-ethnic wars, and even drug wars. The 20th century was the bloodiest century in history and the 14th century ran a close second. One hundred million people were murdered in war, millions were displaced from their homes, and countless numbers suffered horribly in the 20th. Plague alone killed 35 million in Europe in the 14th century while nearly 20 million died of the Spanish flu alone in the early 20th.

Every week my email inbox receives notifications of earthquakes from the USGS. There are and have been earthquakes around the world, some in history killing hundreds of thousands of people as in Lisbon, Portugal in the 1700’s and in China in the 1500’s.

Historical famines, such as the one in the Deccan Plateau of India in the late 1800’s due to British Imperial policy (see Mike Davis' Late Victorian Holocausts: El Nino Famines and the Making of the Third World) and the one recently in Ethiopia, have killed millions of people. (see 1 Timothy 6:10 for the reason.)

These are not new things. They are the nature and condition of humanity. Books like Catastrophe: An Investigation into the Origins of Modern Civilization by David Keys shows how the ancient world was destroyed by climate change, famine, and plague beginning in the early 500’s. Books like James Reston, Jr.’s The Last Apocalypse: Europe at the Year 1000 AD show that the European world feared that the end was near as the first millennium was coming to an end and Vikings, Magyars, and Muslims seemed poised to tear their world apart.

Satan is the god of this world. (2 Corinthians 4:4.) It is under his operative control. Mankind is essentially wicked. Even born-again Christians can be so consumed by the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the lust of the eyes (1 John 2:16) that they are for the most part useless to God if they are truly born-again.

Jesus tells you that this is only the beginning. What is coming after the church is removed will make World War II look like a skirmish. We act foolishly when we look at the conditions we see around us and say, well, this must be the end. You can’t even imagine what the end will be like. Read Revelation. Jesus is about to say that if those days weren’t shortened “no flesh should be saved.”

The time of God’s wrath is coming on the earth that will be unlike anything since the Great Flood of Noah that wiped out all humanity save eight people.

9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. 10  And the gospel must first be published among all nations. 11  But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12  Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

 

Read Matthew 24:9-14. Jesus warns his Jewish disciples of what they are going to come up against both in the immediate time to come and in the future. They will be hauled before religious councils, beaten in the synagogues, and brought forcibly before national leaders and kings for His sake.

 

As the context can clearly also be applied to the Tribulation to come based on previous statements we can surmise that these warnings would extend to the 144,000 Jews in the Tribulation, “the servants of our God.”(Revelation 7:3). Clearly, many Christians have suffered under these conditions, first under the hand of the Jews, then the Romans, then the Roman Catholic and Greek Orthodox state-churches at Rome and Constantinople, under the Arab-Islamic invasions and conquests, under the Protestant state-churches of Europe, and even now in parts of the world under Islam.

 

Peter later relays this message;

 

1 Peter 4:12 ¶  Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13  But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14  If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified. 15  But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men’s matters. 16  Yet if any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God on this behalf. 17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? 18  And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? 19  Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.

 

Jesus says that the gospel will be preached to every nation. Are the 144,000 Jewish servants of God evangelists in the Tribulation? Remember how Jesus sent out His disciples to the Jews? Read Matthew 10:1-42.  In the verses in Matthew Jesus also tells them not to think about what to say but that the Holy Spirit will give them what they should speak. The direction taken here is that these Tribulation verses in Mark and Matthew can be linked to the Jewish servants of God in Revelation.

 

Family members will betray them and they will be roundly hated by all men because of Jesus Christ’s name. Then comes that curious verse that says that he that endures to the end shall be saved. Revelation repeats in 2:11, 26; 3:5; and 21:7 “he that overcometh” which is defined in

1 John 5:5.

 

My point is that these verses must have a double application as Jesus warns His disciples of what they will have to face and warns us of what is coming on the earth at the end.

Proverbs 24:21,22 comments; the change agents

 

Proverbs 24:21 ¶ My son, fear thou the LORD and the king: and meddle not with them that are given to change: 22 For their calamity shall rise suddenly; and who knoweth the ruin of them both?

Both Henry and Gill put this in a political perspective having to do with betrayal and disloyalty and treason. From a purely physical standpoint you could certainly express it in this way. But, what about a spiritual application for Christians? At the time the New Testament was written there were no Christian kings and Christians were told to obey the laws of the land in which they lived and to not bring shame on the cause of Christ. There are more pressing things to consider than conservative and liberal issues and what kind of change the current President may or may not have brought to the White House.

Our king is God Almighty, the Creator of the universe, who is composed of three parts, as we are; the Spirit or mind, which is the Holy Ghost, the soul, which is God the Father, and the body, which is the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, all three part of one but in God’s case only capable of acting independently and yet in perfect harmony with each other. We, as well, are composed of body, soul, and spirit but if ours are separated we physically die.

Our Lord, who is our king, gave us His words in book form to speak to us through and to enlighten and edify us with and by reading it each day, hearing it preached, and studying it we grow as His people. The Bible is so important to the faith of many that the famous and controversial Anglican, William Chillingsworth, said “I am fully assured that God does not, and therefore that men ought not to require any more of any man than this, to believe the Scripture to be God’s word, to endeavor to find the true sense of it, and to live according to it.”

He also wrote the famous line about the Protestant religion, which is the physical expression of the Protestant faith, “The Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, is the religion of Protestants.”

(as reported on page 363 of John Fletcher Hurst’s 1892 book, Short History of the Christian Church.)

But, in spite of 2,000 years of the majority of Christians using and believing in what modern scholars call the Byzantine line of Bible manuscripts and versions, in spite of the common usage among Christians of many important verses relating to doctrine, and in spite of the preponderance of historical and Biblical documentation underscoring the inspiration of God in both copies and translations of the true line of Bible manuscripts there are many today who would change God’s word.

These dividers and malcontents are willfully ignorant of how the Bible is divided, how it’s words are self-defining, how it is designed to be read and understood, and how the Holy Spirit uses it to talk to the believer and to change his or her life. They view the Bible as merely an old book that “contains” God’s word but not necessarily IS God’s word, and only view the validity of a version or translation based on available manuscript evidence alone rather than looking at the larger picture of the writings of the early church “fathers” and the documents used by the churches of God throughout history. They attempt to describe what the Bible in one limited way just as a person might try to describe an elephant by describing only its tail.

We are not to meddle with them. Their own calamity is at hand. Just as those people in the realm of politics who are given to change, not for a specific reason such as correcting an inequity or an injustice, but simply for the point of their addiction to change, often come to ruin and drag others down with them, these Bible correctors have reduced the power and the value of the Bible, God’s words, to the level of a book of good advice and moral example.

Just as the young person is warned in these Proverbs written under the dispensation of the Law given to Moses about worldly politics in God’s physical kingdom on earth not to follow those who speak rebellion and treason, we must warn Christians to not allow so called scholars, with an agenda, to take the Bible that God has given them away from them.

 

The essence of Modernism is that all things modern are superior to all things of the past, that the past has nothing to offer us but a bad example. The essence of Modernism is to believe that if we have done it now, it is better than something our forefathers did in the past. And as Paul was taken to Rome to his death by two ships of Alexandria, Egypt so Christianity is being taken to its demise by two manuscripts of Alexandria, Egypt’s apostasy, the Codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, two among a small minority of around 50 manuscripts (out of thousands) that support the modern Bible versions in their addiction to changing the traditional text.

The Bible that we use is the fountain of our knowledge and understanding of God’s will. The Bibles that they use are the excuses for their own opinions and worldly, humanistic drivel that passes for sermons, creeds, and purpose led psychological innovations in the church. When the change agents get up in front of a church and announce they are going to speak from God’s error free word, they do not mean the one they have in their hands and they have no direct knowledge of the one they are referring to. Don’t meddle with them. Their opinions will be pure humanism and they will set up two conflicting authorities in Bibles that say different things and then they will offer to be the arbiter between those two opinions. The change agents of modern Christianity, in pulpits across the nation, mean to do what Satan has been unable to do for two thousand years, to take your Bible away from you, right out of your hands, and to render you totally dependent on them and their opinions to learn the things of God.

Mark 13, verses 5 to 13 comments, part 1, lest any man deceive you

 

Mark 13:5 ¶  And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: 6  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. 7  And when ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars, be ye not troubled: for such things must needs be; but the end shall not be yet. 8  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows. 9  But take heed to yourselves: for they shall deliver you up to councils; and in the synagogues ye shall be beaten: and ye shall be brought before rulers and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them. 10  And the gospel must first be published among all nations. 11  But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate: but whatsoever shall be given you in that hour, that speak ye: for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost. 12  Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. 13  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

5 ¶ And Jesus answering them began to say, Take heed lest any man deceive you: 6 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.

Abba Hillel Silver, writing in his 1927 book, The History of Messianic Speculation in Israel, points out that in the first century before the destruction of the temple an expectant enthusiasm burst out hoping for the Messiah to come, probably more due to the Roman occupation than anything along with their understanding of the prophecies in Daniel.

Daniel 9:25 Know therefore and understand, that from the going forth of the commandment to restore and to build Jerusalem unto the Messiah the Prince shall be seven weeks, and threescore and two weeks: the street shall be built again, and the wall, even in troublous times. 26 And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.

Theudas is mentioned in Acts 5:36 as being someone who garnered followers as did Judas of Galilee in the next verse.

Acts 5:36 For before these days rose up Theudas, boasting himself to be somebody; to whom a number of men, about four hundred, joined themselves: who was slain; and all, as many as obeyed him, were scattered, and brought to nought. 37 After this man rose up Judas of Galilee in the days of the taxing, and drew away much people after him: he also perished; and all, even as many as obeyed him, were dispersed.

The Jewish general, turncoat, and questionable historian, Josephus, reports in his Antiquities of the Jews, in book XX, chapter 5, which you can read free online at openlibrary.org or gutenberg.org, that Theudas told people he was a prophet, took on many followers, and promised to part the Jordan. The Romans didn’t let it get that far but cut off his head and carried it back to Jerusalem.

Silver goes into much detail about the many people throughout history who claimed to be the Messiah and the consequences not only they suffered but their followers as well. He also goes into a great amount of detail about Jews trying to predict when the Messiah was to come.

We know this is not an uncommon thing among so-called Christians in history. People from the nineteenth century’s John Nichols Thorn, a Cornish tax rebel, shot by the British government, Arnold Potter, a Mormon, who died while attempting to ascend into heaven by jumping off a cliff in 1872, to recently David Shayler and Alan Miller, Ann Lee of Shaker fame in the 1700’s, Sung Yung Moon, David Koresh, and David Icke all claimed or claim to be Jesus Christ or the Christ.

There were literally dozens of people in history who would claim to be the Messiah or Christ or the Second Coming of Jesus. There will be one final one; the Beast of Revelation whom we know of as the Antichrist, although that title is not found in the Book of Revelation. He is mentioned prominently, not only by the Apostle John, the writer of Revelation, but by Paul.

2Thessalonians 2:4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

The foundation of Christianity is the belief and assurance that Jesus Christ, the Nazarene, was and is God in the flesh. It is impossible to honestly call yourself a Christian if you do not believe that with all your heart, Bill O’Reilly’s nonsensical views notwithstanding.

Christ has warned His disciples not to believe anyone who says they are Him. Christ is returning to earth to take control, not to lead people into the desert or to jump off a cliff.

2 Thessalonians 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8 In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9 Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; 10 When he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe (because our testimony among you was believed) in that day.

Of course, who his mighty angels are is revealed in the parallel verse in 1 Thessalonians 3:13 but that is not for this study.

Believe no one who says he or she is the Christ, the Messiah, or Jesus returning. You’ve been warned.

Proverbs 24:17-20 comments; when your enemy falls

 

Proverbs 24:17 ¶ Rejoice not when thine enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth: 18 Lest the LORD see it, and it displease him, and he turn away his wrath from him.

Jesus Himself goes even further to say this to us,   

Matthew 5:44 But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; 45 That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so? 48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

One of the character traits of a true Christian, which I have talked about previously in Proverbs, is the willingness not to seek revenge for wrongs done to you. Jesus goes further to say that you should pray for your enemies and even those who “despitefully use you”. How fortunate we are, how blessed, to have a Saviour, a God, who does not seek to avenge Himself on us for what we have done to Him but…

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

We are not to be glad when our enemy falls. We are to have pity on the unsaved and the carnal Christian lest we prove that we are them. Using the famous line from the old Pogo cartoon which was misquoting a famous line from our history, “we have met the enemy and he is us.”

How many of you have not only not sought revenge but praised your opponent or rival when he or she defeated you in sports, or received an award or a promotion you thought you should get?

It’s very easy to watch the news and think how glad you are that “those people” whoever they are, received their comeuppance, their just desserts. What a pathetic example of a follower of Christ we are when we laugh and mock at our enemies’ distress. Shall we put God in a position of defending the person we hate or that holds us in low regard?

 

No one has nailed you to a cross for their sins. No one to whom you have given all things in eternity has treated you with contempt and disregard. Who can have done more to you than you have done to Christ? And yet, God Himself LOVED the whole world saved and unsaved.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

A Christian will be gracious in defeat and magnanimous in victory. Are you? Or do you cheer when your enemy stumbles?

 

Proverbs 24:19 ¶ Fret not thyself because of evil men, neither be thou envious at the wicked; 20 For there shall be no reward to the evil man; the candle of the wicked shall be put out.

We’ve been told before not to envy wicked people. Here, we are told not to worry and fret ourselves because of them. The prophets often would question God as to why the evil were allowed to prosper so long.

Even Job himself laments;

Job 12:6 ¶ The tabernacles of robbers prosper, and they that provoke God are secure; into whose hand God bringeth abundantly.

Jeremiah also complains;

Jeremiah 12:1 ¶ Righteous art thou, O LORD, when I plead with thee: yet let me talk with thee of thy judgments: Wherefore [Why] doth the way of the wicked prosper? wherefore are all they happy that deal very treacherously?

We have the past evidence in the Bible that God does eventually settle accounts with the wicked person; whether it be a robber or a wicked king or even a rebellious nation. You can be sure, in our day, that He will eventually settle accounts with crooked, cynical politicians, merchants of war, and the occasional Wall Street investment banker, as well.

God settled accounts with Germany for over a century of what is called “Higher Criticism” of the Bible which was thinly disguised contempt and unbelief. He settled accounts with the British Empire for trashing His Bible, for starving tens of millions of people in India to death while the grain stocks of England were filled, and for turning its back on the Jews after promising them a homeland. It is said that World War One prepared the land for the Jew and World War Two prepared the Jew for the land. Man does the work, thinking he is running things, but God brings His plans about often through men. Even Abraham Lincoln admitted the Civil War was a judgment on the entire nation for the sin of slavery.

God settles accounts but, remember, we are not to gloat over the fall of the wicked. God has already warned us about that. And what about you? Will God settle accounts with you? Or will you receive the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour? God is in the process of settling accounts with this wicked Babylon of America even as we speak. When will He settle accounts with you? Now is the time to believe and be saved. Otherwise;

Hebrews 9:27 And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: