Get Ready - Stay Ready

They had no illusion about what they were doing.  This was either a historic document - or their death warrant.  There was no turning back now.

So John Hancock, president of the Continental Congress, took up a pen and boldly signed the Declaration of Independence.  He was followed by 55 other brave men who shared his dream.

It was the beginning of what has become the most powerful nation the world has ever known - the United States of America.

By signing the Declaration of Independence, these men were committing an act of treason in the eyes of the British government.  The punishment was death, so they were irrevocably committed to their course of action.  The revolution would either be successful or it would be the end of them.  There could be no turning back, no matter how hard or how long the course.

There is a lesson here for all who have declared independence from this world ruled by Satan and who are now seeking the Kingdom of God.

Yes, that is what you do when God calls you and you heed.  You turn your back on Satan and his way and you pledge allegiance to a new ruler, Jesus Christ.  You promise that you will obey Him, serve Him, work for Him and make His goals your goals.  And you promise you will do this until His Kingdom comes.

Ever since Jesus said He would come again, His people have been waiting for Him.  They have waited for 20 centuries and the final crisis at the close of this age of Satan has not yet begun.

Perhaps, it is understandable that God's people sometimes get weary, sometimes frustrated and even discouraged while they wait for the fulfillment of their dream.  Jesus knew this would happen.

He is not playing games with us to see how long we can wait.  Neither is He hanging around in heaven procrastinating.  He is eager to come back.  He, like us, can hardly wait to get on with the challenges of the Millennium and the massive task of bringing all mankind to salvation.

But He, like us, is under the authority of His Father in heaven and only the Father knows when the time is right.

Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 24, starting in verse 35 through verse 36 (read).

The Father of the Family of God has reserved for Himself the responsibility of judging the exact moment in the end-time sequence of events for Jesus Christ to return.  It may not be a precise, predetermined calendar date.

The final events that will lead to God's intervention in man's affairs are rather like a giant whirlpool.  Already we can feel the current tugging at us, pulling us closer and closer to the end.  The closer we get to the end, the faster the events will move, whirling ever closer to the last desperate plunge into a disaster from which only God can rescue humanity.  But in the last giddy spin, it is hard to predict exactly which time around will be the last.

Jesus is not delaying the date of His return to tease us or try us unnecessarily.  He is trusting His Father in heaven to let Him know the right time.  Then He will return without delay.  And He will expect to find those of His people who are alive at that time ready and waiting for Him.  Read Matthews 24:45-47.

The faithful servants use the time of waiting to prepare themselves to serve in the world tomorrow, by diligently fulfilling what is expected of them today.

But another kind of servant gets tired of waiting (read Matthew 24:48-50).

Time and again Jesus warned that however long the wait might be, we must be ready.  He warned that there would be false alarms and that Satan would try to deceive God's people into following false messiahs (Matthew 24:23-26).  The apostles warned against those who would try to deceive His children into losing interest and giving up (II Peter 2:3, Galatians 6;9).

There is another danger, too.  Some, while not actually giving up, might be tempted to relax in their spiritual growth, thinking there is "still plenty of time."  They run a real danger of being caught unaware.

Jesus warned that His Second Coming would occur in a time like that just before the Flood (Matthew 24:37).  What were those days like?  Read verses 38 to 39.

"Watch therefore,"  Jesus urged, "for you do not know what hour your Lord is coming" (verse 42).

When you consider all the things Jesus said about His return, you see that it is going to take longer than we think but when it happens it will happen sooner than we expect.

Even as close to the end time as we are, we cannot be certain exactly how long we have to go.  This for God to decide.  It is His responsibility.

Our responsibility, once we have truly committed ourselves to the establishment of the Kingdom of God on this earth, is get and stay ready.  There really is no alternative.  Like the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, the true Christian has placed his life on the line. The Christian has staked all on the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

People today remember July 4, 1776, as America's Independence Day but it was really only the beginning.  It took many more years before the American colonies won independence.

Some of the events of those years have become legend:  Paul Revere's ride, Washington crossing the Delaware River, the decisive battle at Yorktown.  The whole story of the American Revolution was made up of thousands of individual acts of sacrifice, as the colonists put their farms, their fortunes and their lives at stake for their new nation.

Sometimes it must have seemed as if independence would never come.  In the winter of 1777-78, when Washington's army lay exhausted at Valley Forge, some may have thought the dream was over but they could not turn back.  They had risked everything.  So they endured and in the end, they won.

When the battles were over, many of the men who had signed the Declaration of Independence were well prepared to become the founding fathers of the nation for which they had worked so hard.  Their patience was rewarded.

So will ours be.  We must get ready and stay ready.  Then, when the end come - and it will come - we will be ready.

Hell

When you die, you are going straight to hell!

Does that statement shock you?  It shouldn't or at least it wouldn't.  It wouldn't, that is, if you knew that many times the word hell in the Bible just means "the grave."

But, sad to say, most people do not understand what the Bible says about this subject of hell.  Millions live in fear of dying and going to an eternally burning, fiery hell where they be tortured throughout all time.

Others live another type of fear - the hideous worry that some departed loved one is right now suffering such a fate and will continue to do so throughout eternity.  Still others are unable to accept that a good God would punish even the wicked in such a manner and therefore reject God's existence altogether.

Such states of mind need not afflict those who will look into God's Word for themselves.  The biblical teaching about the topic is plain and reassuring.

Depending upon the Hebrew or Greek word from which the English word hell is translated, the word hell in the Bible means, simply, the grave, a place of restraint for demons (not man) or the place where the wicked mercifully shall be burned up and die (not live immortally in pain) if unrepentant.

Most believe hell to be a hideous place of eternal torment - perhaps even inside the center of the earth - where the immortal souls of the wicked roast forever without burning up.  Satan is pictured as in charge, with him and his demons inflicting unbearable pain and laughing with glee all the while.

Thankfully, this not at all the picture of hell that the Bible paints for us.  To the contrary, many popular conceptions about hell did not originate from the Bible at all but from the imaginations of a writer during the Middle Ages named Dante Alighieri and his classic work The Divine Comedy.  His ideas were in great part based upon two pagan philosophers with whom he was enraptured - Plato and Virgil.

The fact is that much common thinking about hell is merely the thoughts of men and not the revelation of God.

The place to start is to remind ourselves that the biblical writers did not write in English but mostly int he ancient languages of Hebrew and Greek.  The original idea behind the words translated "hell" in the Authorized or King James Version is not faithfully conveyed to by the word hell today.

Four words - one from the Hebrew and three from the Greek - are translated as "hell" in the Authorized Version, the one still in widest use among Christians.

Two of these words, sheol in the Hebrew and hades in the Greek, simply mean "the grave."  This is the meaning of the word from which the English "hell" was translated in Acts 2:27 (read) and is also used in Revelation 1:18 (read).

The Greek hades, which means the grave but is often translated hell or its Old Testament Hebrew equivalent (sheol) is found in many other verses.  See Matthew 11:23, Luke 10:15, Revelation20:14, Proverbs 5:5, 7:27.

In I Corinthians 15:55, the translators themselves rendered the Greek word hades as "grave" instead of hell.  To make the true meaning more plain, many modern translation render these two words other ways, such as leaving the Greek as "hades" or saying "the grave."

Of the other two words translated into English as "hell," one occurs only one time.  It is the Greek word tartaroo, found only in Peter 2:4.  The word actually means a place of restraint or incarceration and it is used only of the fallen angels (demons) - never of man.  Further, it carries no implication of ever-burning fire.

Yet the final word translated "hell" in many English versions does indeed refer to a punishment for the wicked in fire.  Notice Mark 9:43, where Christ warns that the evil will go "into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched."  See also other verses where the world translated "hell" does indeed refer to a fiery punishment for the wicked - Matthew 18:9, 10:28, 5:22, James 3:6.

In all of these places the word translated into the English as "hell" is the Greek word gehenna.  It refers to a valley just outside Jerusalem, called the Valley of Hinnom, which at the time of Christ was the place where refuse and even dead bodies of animals and despised criminals were thrown to be burned up.  Christ used this valley to describe, in type, a very real punishment by fire for the wicked and unrepentant. 

But the time, place and nature of that real hell fire is different indeed than the mythical hell of men's imaginations through the ages.

For one, that hell is much hotter than the mythical hell fire, since it burns up and kills those who are thrown into it.  Malachi 4:1 says it will burn up the wicked, not torment them without end forever.  Verse 3 says they will be ashes under the soles of the feet of the righteous.

Actually, the reason many believe that hell fire torments one but does not kill him is that they believe the false doctrine of the immortality of the soul.  But the Bible plainly says God will destroy - not merely torture - unrepentant souls in hell (Matthew 10:28).

This lake of fire will only be kindled at the end of this present age, when God resurrects from death, death being like a sleep with no consciousness or thought (Psalm 6:5, I Thessalonians 4:13-18).  The wicked will then be burned up at one time.  See Revelation 20:14-15, which shows that this lake of fire will burn at the end of God's plan of salvation for man.  See also Matthew 13:30 and John 5:28-29.

Finally, realize exactly where this hell fire will take place, II Peter 3:10 give the answer (read).

This earth will be burned up after the end of this age.  This fire is the real hell fire, which will serve the same purpose as the gehenna fire Christ used to describe it.  It will burn up the wretched refuse of man's civilization gone sour.  It is "the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone" described in Revelation 21:8 and 20:14-15.

Although it will burn the wicked, it will kill them and burn them up.  Our loving God will not torture the unrepentant for time immemorial.  They will die in what amounts to a mercy killing, for the very attitudes that demand their death would make them miserable if they were allowed to live.  Truly, God is a good God of mercy and justice.

Although the verses cited above make the subject of hell plain, some cite certain scriptures to try to prove that hell is an ever-burning fire that tortures the wicked forever.

Once such series of verses is Mark 9:43-48, which speaks of the hell fire that shall never be quenched.  This means that the fire is not put out, but goes on until it burns up the wicked and dies out itself.

Revelation 14:11 is also misunderstood.  It says the smoke of the wicked's torment rises forever.  This means that those who chose to follow the coming beast power will not be able to escape God's ultimate, final punishment on that satanic government that will rule this earth just prior to Christ's return.

Some say that Matthew 25:41-46 proves the punishing of the wicked is everlasting.  But these verses rather show that this fire into which the wicked are cast was prepared for the demons.  When a man dies in fire, he dies.  His punishment is over forever, although his punishing is over quickly.  For the demons, who are immortal, this not so; they "shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever" (Revelation 20:10).

The subject of hell is much misunderstood.  The truth is sobering but reassuring and gives much peace of mind to those who seek to know and obey the merciful God of love.

John 17:3

"And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You sent" (John 17:3).

The term "know' implies intimate, experiential knowledge, not merely bookish or theoretical knowledge.  Jesus Christ suggest that having an intimate relationship with the Father and Son causes us to become one with them.  The only way we can do that is by living the way God does by faith.  He walks - lives life - with those who agree with Him.  The One who already had this unique relationship with God reveals to us the knowledge of how to do that.

Originally given to a spiritually faltering people, Amos 5:4 adds a vital command: "For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: 'Seek Me and live.'"  The word "seek" is not being used in the sense of "search" because God had already revealed Himself to them.  Instead, it conveys the sense of "turn to Me," "seek to live as I do," "turn to My way of life," "seek to know Me in intimate detail."

In John 17:3, "eternal" is translated from the Greek aionis.  Here, it deals not so much with duration of life, since by itself living forever would not necessarily be good.  Rather, it implies "quality."  Eternal life is the life of God, the way He lives life.  To possess it is to experience a small measure of its splendord now.

Four times in this chapter (verses 6, 11, 12 and 26), Jesus uses the word "name" in reference to God.  "Name" represents, identifies, signifies and encompasses what He is revealing to us about God.  It includes what He is in His Person, His attributes and His purpose.  God's name keeps, guards and sustains us both by our trusting what it signifies and then, through obedience, expressing what it means.

Psalm 9: 2, 10 declares, "I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your name, O Most High ... And those who know Your name will put their trust in You; for You, Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You." "Name" does not refer to what He is called or the sound of that name but to what He is like in His nature and character. We can trust and know what He is.  This has marvelous implications for us.  Matthew 28:19-20 says: "Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.

The word "in" in verse 19 can just as correctly be translated as "into," meaning that we are immersed into the name of the Father and Son.  We now bear that name.  They are God and we are children of God.  Baptism and the receipt of the Holy Spirit are the entrance into that name and all it implies.  We have entered into the Family of God.  Just as a son bears his father's name, God's name is our spiritual family name.

Giving

It happened one day when Jesus and His disciples were visiting the Temple in Jerusalem.

The disciples were from the northern region of Galilee and were impressed by the great building and what they saw there.  Jesus was not.

Oh, Jesus respected the Temple, all of the splendor, pomp and pageantry.  But he saw a system that had become corrupt and a religion that thought it upheld God's law but had missed the point.  So while His disciples were exploring, He sat down on a bench to rest.

The bench was in a public area known as the "court of the women."  It was also the place where offerings were made for the Temple treasury.  Close to where He sat were 13 trumpet-shaped boxes in which the offering money was placed.

Jesus watched with mild interest as people brought their offerings.  Many rich men were giving large amounts.  He smiled to Himself as a wealthy man tried to look suitably humble as he deposited a particularly impressive offering.  But then something else caught His attention.

A widow, obviously very poor, had come into the court.  Sensing that this was an opportunity to teach His disciples a lesson, Jesus quickly called them over to Him.

The widow went up to one of the boxes and dropped in two small copper coins.  A Temple official gave her a patronizing look.  Her offering was so small as to almost useless -  less than one 15th of a day's wages then.

But as she hurried away, Jesus explained, "This poor widow has put in more than all" (Luke 21:1-3).

The disciples looked puzzled.  The widow had only given two lepta - almost valueless coins.  Some people had given hundreds, even thousands, of times more than that.

But Jesus said, "All these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God but she out of her poverty has put in all the livelihood that she had" (Luke 21:4).

This incident teaches an important lesson about giving.

Notice that Jesus did not criticize the wealthy men who had given large offerings.  He did not question their sincerity.

Rich people are often generous.  To some, it's good for their "image."  With some, maybe it's peer pressure - their friends invite them to get on the bandwagon of this or that favorite charity.  Surely most sincerely want to help those less fortunate than themselves.  They are rich and they give generously - but out of their abundance.

But this little widow in the Temple that day showed another side to giving.  The plight of a widow in the first century was often desperate.  A woman without a breadwinner often lived on the verge of destitution.  People like this widow were more likely to come to the Temple for a handout.  Instead she gave all the spare cash she had!  She did not, of course, give her house, her furniture and her clothes, leaving herself utterly destitute - but she did give all that she had available at the time. Nobody could have criticized this woman if she had not made an offering that day and her offering had made hardly any difference in what was collected.  But poverty does not stop you from giving - not when giving is a way of life.

What priority does giving have with you and for me?  We are comparatively wealth - especially compared with the abject poverty that most people on earth must endure.  We are generous, helping support those causes and organizations you believe in.  They can count on us - while we have it to give.

But are we just just giving out of our abundance?  Maybe we need to think again the widow who gave up her two little coins.

Critical point:  Jesus was not talking about amounts but rather, attitude - the attitude of giving in a world that finds its security in getting.

These are precarious times.  Our prosperity is balanced on a razor's edge.  A few rash moves, a major nation defaulting on it's loan payments, a run on the banks - and our economic house of cards collapses.

In such times, the tendency of those with wealth is to protect themselves and preserve their prosperity.  Would we, if it all came apart, still be willing to give?

The apostle Paul warned the young minister Timothy (read I Timothy 6:17).

Paul was not criticizing the rich because they were rich.  But he was warning them not to trust in their wealth for security.  How could they avoid this trap?  Read verses 18-19.

When Paul wrote this, he knew that the Church of God was heading into a time of turmoil and testing.  He was afraid that richer members might be tempted to regard their wealth as refuge and security.  This attitude would produce selfishness and greed.

The apostle James understood this, read what he said in James 5:1-4.

James realized that the rich, who in good times give of their abundance, forget their commitment when the going gets rough and may even exploit those they have helped.

That is why Jesus directed us to the example of the widow that day in the Temple.  She did not live in a world of get - hers was a world of need.  But unlike the rich, she had found security in that world. Although she could not survive by herself, God looked after her.  That was His responsibility (Psalm 68:5).  Meanwhile, she still had her responsibilities to carry out.

Perhaps that morning she had looked at her meager possessions.  She had a roof over her head, food for the day, clothes - yes, God had provided for her needs.  But there wasn't much else - except those two copper coins.  A mere pittance but they were better than nothing - anything is better than nothing for somebody who had discovered the joy of giving.  She wrapped her old cloak around her and headed up the hill to join the crowds at the Temple.

That widows' mite over 2,000 years ago should teach us something very important about giving.  We should make it a habit.

Be thankful - and generous.  But never allow yourself to come to the point where "you can't afford to give."

God loves cheerful givers (II Corinthians 9:7) and He makes sure they have peace and security that this world's wealth can never guarantee.

The Name of God

"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7).

The third commandment is certainly against common swearing, including using euphemisms of common in society.  Many commonly use "gee," "gosh," "golly," "doggone," etc... to substitute for the more offensive words some carelessly spew from the mouth.  This commandment also covers the light or disrespectful use of any of God's attributes or character.

All the Divine Names and Tittles in the Bible, by Herbert Lockyer, lists 364 names and titles just for Jesus Christ.  Through His name and titles, God has chosen to reveal His attributes, office, authority, prerogatives and will.  Each name of God features some distinct virtue or characteristic of His nature.  Thus, God has declared the glory of His nature by His names, which are not be abused.

It is this commandment more than any other that shows how much God should be a part of our every word, deed and attitude.  It shows that the test of our spiritual cleanliness is how we use the name of God, whether in truth or in vanity.  It indicates that a person is better off being sincerely wrong than to be a professing Christian and deny His name by the conduct of their life.

To help us know David, the Bible shows him as a shepherd, warrior, king prophet, poet, musician and sinner, each a part of a rich nature.  God is manifold times greater, yet He reveals Himself, His nature, just as the Bible reveals David.  We see God in a multitude of circumstances, revealing what He is by the way He acts and reacts.  He also names Himself what the circumstances reveal of Him, so whenever we see that name, it also brings to mind an aspect of His nature.  Therefore, He give us a double-barreled revelation of Himself.

Death

Public enemy #1; that's how death can be described.  For it will slay all us and at time of its own choosing.

But paradoxically, although we all know we will die, very few know exactly what death is.  Certainly death must be the least understood although most relentless enemy that faces man.

Yet it need not remain a mystery to those who will look into their Bible to read - and believe - what God says.  For God has not left us in ignorance about this important subject.

Since life is merely a temporary, mortal, chemical process (with man being made from the physical elements - "dust"), death is just the cessation of life.  One who is dead has no consciousness separate from his body and feels no pain nor pleasure but is as if asleep.  Nonetheless, we all will live again after death, after a passage of time, when resurrected back to life again.

Most Christians believe that at death they do not really die - that is, cease to live in any form.  They instead believe that at death only the body dies and the "soul" is then liberated to live on in heaven or hell (depending upon the moral merit of the former life).

Others believe in reincarnation, thinking that their soul, which is liberated at death, will be placed in a new body to live again, with this process occurring over and over.  Scientists who believe evolution seem to recognize death for what it is (the total cessation of life) but they also err because they know nothing of the hope of the dead - life again after a resurrection.  Many other beliefs about death exist beside these.

Perhaps the main reason why people, religious or otherwise, do not understand death is because, first of all, they do understand what life is.  The Bible makes it plain.

Genesis 2:7 records, "And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul" (Authorized Version).

Note.  Man does not have a soul.  He is a soul.  The word translated "soul" here is the Hebrew word nephesh.  It means a living, breathing, physical creature.  The word carries no implication of immortality.  In Genesis 1:24 it is translated "living creature" and refers to animals.

Further, the Scriptures say dogmatically that the soul can die and therefore cannot be immortal.  See Ezekiel 18:4, 20 and Matthew 10:28.

The Bible nowhere teaches that man has an immortal soul.  In fact, the immortal soul doctrine was adopted by professing Christianity from pagan Egypt through the Greek philosophers.

But note that man, as God stated, is composed of the physical elements of the earth and is dust.  God plainly told Adam, who sinned, "For dust you are and to dust you shall return" (Genesis 3:19).  But men do not want to believe God.  They do not want to believe that man's life is merely a physicochemical existence that will run down and stop - die.

Hence, they choose instead to believe the lie Satan told Eve when he said, "You will not surely die" (Genesis 3:4).  They believe that within this dusty body, as a sort of prisoner of the flesh, is an immortal soul that is unleashed at the death of the body and that continues in conscious life forever.

To be sure, man is not merely an animal.  For one, man is made in God's image and in God's likeness (Genesis 1:26-27).  And man's potential - that of being born into the God Family - is far mor incredible than the fate of any animal.

Further, God reveals that there is a spirit in man (I Corinthians 2:11) that gives man mental superiority over animals.  It is this spirit that imparts the power of mind to man and the power of moral decision, including the ability to grow in character.  but this spirit is not the man.  And it is not an immortal soul.  It is something in man that gives man a dimension of life above the animals.  It does not give him immortal life, however. 

To understand death requires that we know that man's life is merely a chemical process involving physical elements.  When that process stops, we die.  We are dust and when we die our bodies decay and return to the dust.

When we die, all conscious thought and awareness ceases.  Notice Psalm 6:5, "For in death there is no remembrance of You; in the grave who will give You thanks?"

And compare Ecclesiastes 9:4-5: "For him who is joined to all the living there is hope, for a living dog is better than a dead lion.  For the living know that they will die; but the dead know nothing."

The apostle Peter knew that even the righteous die and lose all consciousness and bodily presence, for he stated:  "Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his tomb is with us to this day.... For David did not ascend into the heavens" (Acts 2:29, 34).  Even righteous David was not an immortal soul that left his body and went to heaven.  Even David was dust and decayed back to the elements.

Other scriptures supply even more detail about death, comparing it in a figure of speech to sleep (I Corinthians 11:30, I Kings 2:10).  When a person is asleep, he loses consciousness and is unaware of his surroundings.

The topic of death is in some ways unique.  Most people will not believe what God says if their senses tell them differently.  For example, Adam and Eve did not believe God's warning about the tree of good and evil, because the fruit of it looked good and desirable.  Yet, in the case of death, people will not believe God when He says death is what it indeed appear to be to the most casual observer - namely, the cessation of life.  People will not believe God no matter what He says, whether our senses tell us to agree or not.

But caution.  Nothing said here means to imply that death is the end of all hope of life.  It is not.  An old saying goes, "Where there is life, there is hope."  But the great God says, in effect, that even where there is death there is still hope - in fact, the main hope.

That hope is the resurrection of the dead from death to life again.  Notice Job's  question and answer about death: "If a man die, shall he live again?  All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come" (Job 14:14, AV).

And see further Christ's startling statement:  "Most assuredly, I say to you, the hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God; and those who hear will live" (John 5:25).

Jesus knew His statement might startle His audience, so He said further: "Do not marvel at this; for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth - those have done good, to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil, to the resurrection of condemnation [judgment]" (verses 28-29).

The Scriptures are plain that all people will be resurrected, even those who will eventually be cast into the lake of fire to die the "second death."

The apostle Paul chose to comfort the living relatives of those true Christians who had died by reminding them of the wonderful resurrection to come (I Thessalonians 4:13-18).

To alleviate their sorrow, Paul explained that the dead in Christ will be resurrected at Christ's return and that they - along with us, if we qualify - will forever be with Christ.

Yes, the truth about death is far less foreboding than the fanciful imaginations of well-intentioned but errant religionists.

When properly understood, this topic of death can fill us all with real hope, for then we know the wonderful truth that we will all see our beloved deceased relatives again.

Death is indeed an enemy but through the resurrection from the dead this enemy is annihilated.  Therefore Paul says in I Corinthians 15:26, 54-55: "The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death ..... So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.  O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is they victory?"

The Power of Temptation

Like the pull of gravity or the force of magnetism, there is an invisible power working on your mind. It pulls and tugs, trying to bend your will toward its source. If you allow it to draw you, its pull intensifies, and soon its power seems overwhelming. Finally, you give up all resistance and yield.
 
You have just succumbed to the power of temptation.
 
Temptation is a real force, and it is dangerous. Every person who has lived, including Jesus Christ, has felt its power.
 
As a Christian, you need to know how temptation works — and how to resist its subtle influences, which lead to sin.
 
Where does temptation come from? What is the best way to avoid or resist it? Is temptation sin?

During Jesus Christ's final night with His disciples, before His crucifixion, He gave them a warning: "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).
 
Jesus well understood the subtleties and powers of temptation and the weakness of human beings. That's why He gave this admonition.
 
Temptation is not sin, but it is the forerunner of sin. Temptation is an appeal to the carnal, human mind and flesh to think or do something contrary to God's law of love. It's a force of attraction in the wrong direction.
 
Have you ever experimented with a magnet? If you place a small piece of iron not far away from a magnet, invisible lines of force will reach out from the magnet to attract the iron. If you place the iron piece just a little closer, the attraction will intensify. Nudge the iron still closer and it will be drawn all the way to the magnet.
 
Temptation works much the same way. For some people the object of wrong attraction might be money, for others drugs. Some are allured to overindulge in food and drink. For a great many the enticement comes from power and sex.
 
The original, classic case of temptation is found in the first book of the Bible. Eve, the first woman, was approached by a subtle serpent — Satan the devil — who aroused Eve's interests and desires by offering her a false image. In her deception Eve "bought" it (Genesis 3:1-6). Satan succeeded in enticing her and stirring up a wrong desire within her. Through Eve Satan tempted Adam, the first man, to sin, and the result is the world in which you live.
 
What Satan did to Eve he is doing to the whole world. The Bible calls him the "god of this world" (II Corinthians 4:4, Authorized Version). He is the father of lies (John 8:44), and we may also appropriately call him the father of temptations. He has created an atmosphere of lust, envy, jealousy and competition that has led billions of mankind into sin and resultant death. Satan, the "prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2), has been responsible for the wrong enticements, pulls and attractions that influence us in this world.
 
But as flesh-and-blood humans, we carry a burden of responsibility, too, for many of the temptations that draw us.
 
Speaking through the apostle James, God said: "Each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death" (James 1:14-15).
 
The apostle Paul frankly discussed his own battle with temptation: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me" (Romans 7:18-20).
 
As Jesus said, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
 
The Bible tells of many individuals and even whole nations that have succumbed to temptation. In the book of Judges, for instance, is the story of how Samson was unsuccessful in resisting Delilah's temptation (Judges 16:4-21). Samson, therefore, endangered his own life and the security of his people. II Samuel 11 shows how David became so obsessed with his desire for Bathsheba that he perpetrated both adultery and murder.
 
Joseph, on the other hand, was able to resist temptation in the case of Potiphar's wife (Genesis 39:1-12). Joseph exercised a restraint and control that kept him from yielding to a persistent temptress — that kept him from sinning against God. How did he do it? Why was he able to resist when others could not?
 
Joseph was just as human as any of us. He wasn't perfect. He sinned in his life. The Bible says, "There is none righteous, no, not one... for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:10, 23). Yet, in this and other situations Joseph was able to master temptation and keep himself from sinning. How?
 
Let's remember Jesus' admonition: "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation." While David and Samson had temporarily forgotten this principle, Joseph apparently had not. He remembered he was human and vulnerable to temptation, and so stayed close to God in prayer, watchful of circumstances around him.
 
Forgetting how human we are is a serious mistake. It will lead us to lower our spiritual defenses and allow ourselves to draw near situations we ought not. Human nature or, more accurately, carnal mindedness is tuned in to temptations. It desires to go the wrong way. It is naturally attracted to Satan's lures. Unless we catch ourselves and resist soon enough, we will be caught off guard and pulled into sin.
 
Let's turn our attention now to the example of Jesus Christ. In the book of Hebrews we find this statement: "For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin" (Hebrews 4:15).
 
For 33 1/2 years, Jesus Christ successfully withstood all the pulls, tugs and enticements of Satan, this world and His flesh, and did not sin. Jesus followed His own advice. He knew His own human qualities and strengths were no match for the spiritual warfare He had to wage. He plainly stated, "I can of Myself do nothing" (John 5:30).
 
No human being has the strength to fight this spiritual warfare alone. But though we can do nothing of and by ourselves, Jesus also tells us, "With God all things are possible" (Matthew 19:26). When a person is spiritually close to God and relies on God's power, seemingly impossible tasks become possible. 

Speaking to those who had received God's Holy Spirit, Paul said, "For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind" (II Timothy 1:7).
 
This is the way Jesus Christ fought all His battles and won. He had a full measure of God's Spirit. He had the very mind of God. He was able to overcome every wrong temptation.
 
The greatest time of temptation in Jesus' life, the confrontation between Himself and Satan, serves as the example of our learning. You can read about this titanic spiritual battle in Matthew 4:1-11. Satan three times tried to tempt Jesus into sinning against God and thus disqualifying Himself as Savior of the world. But Jesus rejected Satan's lures and thus qualified to replace Satan as ruler of the world at Jesus' Second Coming.
 
The confrontation between Jesus and Satan was a total success for Jesus. He had fasted and prayed and was filled with the knowledge of the Scriptures, and was well armed for the enticements and attractions that were put before Him. Jesus knew the enemy was not just Satan, but the fleshly pulls of His own body.
 
In Paul's second epistle to the Corinthians, God inspired these words: "For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ" (II Corinthians 10:3-5).
 
Just as Jesus Christ needed the spiritual presence of His Father to assist Him with His struggles, so we need Jesus Christ's intervention and assistance in our struggles. He can help us literally capture every wrong thought before it leads us into sin. He can and will help us to overcome the temptation to sin, if we stay close to God spiritually.
 
Let's take seriously Jesus' helpful admonition to watch and pray.