Navarre Messenger

April 20, 2008

In this issue:

 Part II

(Continued from last issue) 

Consider Balaam and Balak. An ungodly man that wanted to be paid to testify falsely and yet could not. God intervened and would not let him. There have been many copycat Balaams through the years. God will often cast aside or ignore their puny efforts to counterfeit what God has done. God made His point with Balaam.   Balaam went to Balak hoping for a charlatan’s wage… but when he opened his mouth the truth came pouring out!.   “He took up his discourse and said, "The oracle of Balaam the son of Beor, And the oracle of the man whose eye is opened, The oracle of him who hears the words of God, And knows the knowledge of the Most High, Who sees the vision of the Almighty, Falling down, yet having his eyes uncovered. I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near; A star shall come forth from Jacob, A scepter shall rise from Israel, And shall crush through the forehead of Moab, And tear down all the sons of Sheth.” Numbers 24:15-17

Depending on the dating system you use, Balaam (an enemy) prophesied of Jesus here in 1500 BC (give or take 200 years). The “He” or “Him” i.e. the Messiah that was coming was attested by friend and foe alike.

The oldest known prophecy of Jesus is from the Garden of Eden:

   “The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you will go, And dust you will eat All the days of your life. And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, And you shall bruise him on the heel." Genesis 3:14-15

This “He that is coming” became more and more clear as time went on. Looking for “Him” eventually became looking for “Messiah.” Over the millennia “He” became clearer and clearer.

In roughly 740 BC, King Ahaz’s behavior was being challenged by God. God challenged Ahaz to choose a test by which God could prove God’s own claim to be the God of Israel! It was almost like writing a blank check! Ask anything you want…. "Ask a sign for yourself from the LORD your God; make {it} deep as Sheol or high as heaven." But Ahaz said, "I will not ask, nor will I test the LORD!" Isaiah 7:11-12

Ahaz in his stubbornness lost out on an opportunity afforded to only a very few men in history. So Isaiah looks to the future and gives another people in another time the blessing that Ahaz lost out on.

“And he said, Hear ye now, O house of David; is it a small thing for you to weary men, but will ye weary my God also? Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” Isaiah 7:13-14 

 Very few people realize that perhaps the most famous of the Old Testament prophecies is actually set with a foolish king thumbing his nose at the God who created him. Let us not make the same mistake. Isaiah began his ministry with the challenge…

“Come now, and let us reason together,” saith the Lord. Isaiah 1:18   Throughout his ministry Isaiah continued to lay out what would become the greatest intervention of God into human history. The sending of His only begotten Son. . .  

“ For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, the everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this. The Lord sent a word into Jacob, and it hath lighted upon Israel.” Isaiah 9:6-8 (approximately 700 BC)  

Almost none realize that virtually all of Jesus’ life was recorded before his birth… and that history relentlessly moves toward “Him.”   The seeming contradictions of the coming Messiah become clear with the "key."

I.E. From where Jesus was to come …   Jesus to come from Galilee…  

Isaiah 9   “Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations. The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.  

But I thought Jesus was born in Bethlehem? Actually He was. This is a section of Jesus’ life that is very familiar even to non Christians. Most do not realize that it is meticulously described in prophecy.  

Jesus is eternal yet coming from Bethlehem . . .  

Micah 5: 2. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

But, it also says Jesus is from Egypt?  

Hosea 11: 1. When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt.  

Note that at the time of Jesus, these NT authors took pains to sort this out for us. They were intimately familiar with these Jewish flags for the Messiah.  

Matthew 2:14-16 “When he arose, he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt: And was there until the death of Herod: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Out of Egypt have I called my son.”

Note that it was as it is supposed to be, at just the right time… Other inspired men were then also given to help us connect the dots of this Jewish testimony. Note that the testimony of a friend is important, but the unwilling corroborative testimony of an enemy is powerful! Do you think as you put all this together that God did not know these people would reject then crucify His Son? He told them how they would react as a people.   

God in His wisdom did not send Jesus to a people that would “cover-up” anything for him. He sent Jesus to a people that would expose every flaw… if there were any to expose!   

But when he heard that Archelaus did reign in Judaea in the room of his father Herod, he was afraid to go thither: notwithstanding, being warned of God in a dream, he turned aside into the parts of Galilee: And he came and dwelt in a city called Nazareth: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophets, He shall be called a Nazarene. Matthew 2:22-23.   

Well let’s see, a Nazarene? It appears to be a play on words. In Isaiah 9, Jesus’ would come from Galilee and in Isaiah 11 He is called the branch. In Hebrew it is rhythmic play on the sounds of the words. So Isaiah describes the Galilean (Isaiah 9) known as the branch (Isaiah 11) the Nazarene.   

Both the Nazarene and the Egyptian prophetic references note bring us back to the use God put to ancient Israel. He had them do things to play out the coming sacrifice of His son. Through their behaviors and inferences, you wind up with substantive quotes the give us a powerful testimony once connected together. Remember that this is God’s stated reason for creating Israel. (Psalm 78)  

As we were going through the prophetic descriptions of the coming of Jesus, that demonstrated an absolute knowledge of all future events… Did you consider that that He knew all about you also? He didn’t tell the whole world about you, like He did Jesus, but claims similar knowledge about your birth???  

Jesus said the hairs of your head are numbered.   It is obvious all of this is true.

(To be continued in next issue) From an article by Jerry Blount

To the Local Church or  to the Lord?

One clear lesson we can glean from the Lord’s messages to the seven churches in Asia is that local churches are fallible. Their fallibility is seen in the Lord’s call for them to “repent” (Revelation 2:5, 16; Revelation 2:21-22; Revelation 3:3, 19).

While the local church is biblically authorized, necessary and beneficial to Christians, if our loyalty to a local church is greater than our loyalty to the Lord, we abuse our blessing! We have forgotten that the Lord is infallible and the local church fallible.

Too much emphasis is placed on the collective activities of the church, while little emphasis is realized in the individual activity of Christians. To acknowledge the possibility that a local church can sin and need a wholesale repentance is to begin to accept our individual responsibility as Christians (Philippians 2:12). This is demonstrated in the three works of a local church.

Local churches can engage in collective worship practices that are not authorized in Scripture. We must remember that God desires true worshippers that worship in spirit and in truth (John 4:23-24). True worshippers are individuals, not churches. If individuals never question the unauthorized worship practices in a local church, who will? Who is to blame? Will a local church answer at the judgment (2 Corinthians 5:10)?

Local churches can engage in evangelism practices that are unauthorized. Souls are to be called to Christ by the gospel (2 Thessalonians 2:14), not by entertainment, recreation and social functions. It is the fellowship of Christians in a local church that make such unauthorized activities possible. To end these unauthorized practices, individual Christians must challenge them and, if necessary,  withdraw their fellowship (Ephesians 5:11). Let every individual Christian trust in God and His word to save souls, not men and their social gospels (Galatians 1:6-9).

Local churches organize themselves in a variety of ways that God has not authorized. Where the first century churches each had a plurality of elders (pastors) and deacons, evangelists and members (Philippians 1:1; Ephesians 4:10-11; 1 Corinthians 12:20), today’s churches have one pastor overseeing a flock with every type of minister under the sun (youth, singles, pulpit, evangelistic, music, etc), female leaders (1 Corinthians 14:34-35; 1 Timothy 2:11-12), and many other perversions. Individual Christians fill these unauthorized roles and individual Christians call for them to be filled. Individual Christians must recognize that just because the collectivity demands something, it does not necessitate or authorize it (Colossians 3:17). Local churches are not organized by majority rule, but by the Lord’s rule (Matthew 28:18).

Many other practices of local churches fall into the same dilemma. For instance, some local churches spend their money without the authority of the Lord. It is not their money, it is the Lord’s money and must be spent how He authorizes. When local churches cease to function under the Lord’s authority, they cease to be the Lord’s church (cf. Revelation 2:5). In addition, the names local churches call themselves by say much about where their allegiance lies.

The actions of many Christians would lead us to believe that the local church is the head of the individual Christian. Let us never forget, just as Christ is the Head of the church (Ephesians 1:22-23; Colossians 1:18), He is also the head of the individual Christian (1 Corinthians 11:3). The leadership of a local church is also subject to Christ (Hebrews 13:7,17). Local churches are not sources of authority, but are to be under the authority of our Lord (Ephesians 5:24), who purchased the church with His own blood (Acts 20:28). He has been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18).

If individual Christians fail to correct local churches when they stray from the will of God, they render themselves subject to the local church, not to Christ. Only when individual Christians, subject to their Lord and Savior, demand that local churches remain faithful and true to the inspired teachings of the Lord, will the Lord truly be our all in all (Ephesians 1:22-23).

By Jonathan L. Perz via Moody Church of Christ bulletin