To imagine what it would have been like for those who, in the first century, received the books of the New Testament which had just been written and sent to them is beyond comprehension. Before the books were written, there were apostles and prophets who could tell them about Jesus, about His life and the new way of living He revealed. However, they were not always present. Then, for the first time, the churches had a handwritten copy of the Bible, and they could assemble and study together.
Not every person was able to read, so there were those who read these words given by God while others listened, trying to remember every word God had given to them. The Bible describes this. “Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of this prophecy…” (Rev. 1:3). Now, for the first time they held in their own hands the message from heaven. That verse adds one other vital truth about the one who is blessed because he has a Bible. It adds, “and keep those things which are written in it.” The real blessing is not found in just reading or hearing God’s words. That blessing comes when the words are taken and written in our hearts and manifested in our lives.
What a contrast between the church as it began and that which is part of our world! We no longer have heaven’s message in heavy scrolls but in beautiful, leather-bound books. The widespread use of cell phones allows many of us to carry the entire Bible in a compact device we keep in our pockets and purses. How blessed we are!
Yet what has happened? Across our lands believers assemble, yet Bibles are often not present. We have decided that study in Bible classes is more focused on what some modern man has written about the will of God instead of going to the original truths. Sometimes those studies become a discussion about what each person thinks about a matter instead of searching the words of the Bible to see what God has said about these same issues.
Pulpits are filled with gifted speakers, or those who have read their messages, and for the moment we are fascinated by their ideas, but it is far removed from what happened in the early church. They read the very words given by God, they heard the words given by God and they left worship determined to remember these words to change their lives.
Think about this contrast and then when you open your Bible realize you have the message from heaven. Read the Bible with the joy of those early Christians. Their lives were changed because they realized the treasures which were theirs because finally they held the words from heaven. Have that same joy because you have your own copy of these words!
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Each of us finds truth at the cross of Jesus. As you stand at the foot of His cross, what great truths come into your heart? Sometimes our greatest understanding of truth comes in the midst of great trauma.
At His cross, I learn the truth about myself. There were so many who were impacted by His death and each had his own reason for being there. I wonder if I would have stood beside those who mocked Him? Would I be among those who walked by and kept going with little interest in what was happening?
Would I have stood beside His mother and sought to comfort her, or would I have not been there at all like those disciples who fled from the garden? The answer to these questions might be discovered by seeing what emotions I have during the meditation I do when I commune with Him around the His table.
At His cross, I learn the sinfulness of mankind. Think of all the evil that filled the hearts of those evil men whose agenda brought about His death. Three times Pilate asked these men, “What evil has He done?” (Luke 23:22). There is no answer to this question, for He never did even one thing wrong. The Jews could not find any evidence as to why He should die until two false witnesses lied about what He had said about the temple. Why was the mob so enraged? Why were the words spoken to Him and about Him so filled with such blasphemy? Evil is a reality in our world and it has never been seen more clearly than at the foot of the cross.
At His cross, I learn the truth about my inability to save myself. My own “goodness” could not take away the guilt of only one sin. The only hope I have of heaven is that hanging on that cross was the One whose sinless life could redeem me. My sinfulness means I owed a debt, and on that cross was One who paid my debt. There was nothing I could do to remove sin and God sent His son to pay my debt. I feel my sinfulness and helplessness at the cross.
At His cross, I learn about God’s providential love which surrounds me now. Jesus died for me, a mortal worthy of the torment of hell because of my rebellion. Now if God did that much for me when I was His enemy, how much more will He do for me now that I am His child? Mediate on these words, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for
us…For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life” (Rom. 5:8-10). He loved me then and He loves me much more now!
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The watchword in our society that permeates so many aspects of life is acceptance. The values of any
single member of society is equal to the values of any other single individual. There is no single answer
to any question that is actually right, so every person defines “truth” based on their own experiences.
As an illustration of this, look at our world’s definition of marriage and sexual activities. For so many,
there is no difference in living together without marriage and living together inside a marriage.
Comments like, “We have been together for fifteen years, but just got married two years ago” illustrate
this so well. Our society, based on the idea of total acceptance, forbids anyone to make any judgment
about these situations.
How does a view of accepting all things as equal fit with the teachings of the Bible?
You see the same when terms like “my significant other” or “my partner” are given the same values as
those who say, “my husband” or “my wife.” The idea of total acceptance censors those who say there is
a difference between any of these words.
The end result is the same. Anyone who accepts anything never can fully embrace anything! Since all
ideas are equal in value, there is no way total acceptance of everything could ever allow anyone to fully
accept anything. There is nothing absolutely true. We have no compass to guide us!
Now take this principle of accepting everything into the church and look at the results. Is worship
totally subjective and consequently any meaningful way any one person chooses to worship has the
same value as the way any other chooses to worship? How would such impact the Lord’s supper?
There is no boundary as to what elements are found in the Lord Supper. There is no boundary as to
when one eats the Lord’s Supper. There is no boundary as to whether one ever has the Lord’s Supper.
One is told, “Judge not that you be not judged,” and such misuse of scripture results in a complete
inability to find truth that is absolute. We have no compass to guide us. Never forget that anyone who
accepts everything can never embrace anything. The Lord’s Supper can never have structure of any
form if one accepts everything.
Take this view of tolerance and the acceptance of all ideas being equal and look at how it changes
views toward sin. Look at how it changes the understanding of salvation and our view of someday
standing before the Lord to be judged.
There is truth. There is absolute truth. There is eternal truth. Jesus is absolutely the Messiah. He truly
died and literally rose on the third day. He is coming again, and each person will be judged by the
eternal truth. You can embrace this!
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“We shall not all sleep, but we shall be raised.” Are there any words more comforting than these? We sing about it, and our
hearts are filled with comfort. If there is no resurrection, we are of all men most miserable; our lives have been wasted, and
we should have lived our lives by the philosophy of “let us eat drink and be merry for tomorrow we shall die.” Many have
heard the following words and have been blessed every time they sang them.
When the trumpet shall sound,
And the dead shall arise,
And the splendors immortal
Shall envelop the skies;
When the Angel of Death
Shall no longer destroy,
And the dead shall awaken
In the morning of joy.
Think of what a great day of joy that will be!
The Joy of Seeing God
The Lord made a remarkable promise in the opening words of the Beatitudes. “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall
see God” (Matt. 5:8). Obviously, we all shall see the Son of man who, coming in His glory, will separate the sheep from the
goats (Matt. 25:31-32). This is true because God has appointed a day in which He will judge the world by the One He raised
from the dead (Acts 17:31). We will all appear before the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10). However, the promise of
seeing God is reserved for those who are pure in heart. Is it possible that the wicked will never be allowed to see God in all
of His majesty?
The Joy of Seeing All the Redeemed
Jesus may have been speaking of the entrance of Gentiles into the kingdom of God when He said, “Many will come from
east and west and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 8:11), but is there any doubt
that all the redeemed will share eternity together? Imagine sitting with those heroes of faith in Hebrews chapter eleven and
thousands of other like them. Add to this sitting again with those who shaped our own lives in our journey on this earth.
The Joy of Seeing Jesus
Can you imagine seeing the One who loved us before we ever lived; the One who loved us and gave Himself for us while we
were sinners! Perhaps we might see those beautiful marks of love in His hands and in His side. We are His bride, and He
awaits our coming.
O the bliss of that morn, in the morning of joy!
There is a supreme day of joy coming.
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There may be some things in the Bible which are difficult to understand, but there are others which are so simply stated but often are easily overlooked. Two of these truths are that Jesus established the church and that He never wanted it to be changed.
Read Matthew 16:18 and notice how easy it is to understand the promise Jesus made before He died about what was about to happen. “I will build My church.” Even a child can grasp these words. Continue to read the Bible, and you will see exactly what happened. Just days after He ascended into heaven that church became a reality, and men were added to it (Acts 2:38-47). We must never overlook this truth so plainly stated.
Read the words in Matthew 16 which follow His promise to build the church. He said to Peter, “Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” Two chapters later, He expanded this right to reveal God’s message bound upon all men to include others (Matt. 18:18). For the church to exist, there was a new testament which was about to be revealed, but when that truth was bound on this earth it was bound in heaven. We must not overlook this truth so simply stated.
To see how firmly this new way of living was binding on man, read the words of the apostle Paul. “I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you in the grace of Christ, to a different gospel, which is not another; but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ” (Gal. 1:6-7). The truth was so firmly bound on mankind that to change it is described as a perversion.
Then, read the next verse to see that the gospel could not be changed. “But even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than what we have preached to you, let him be accursed.” Do you see how easily these words show that the Lord never gave any man, including the apostle Paul, or any angel from heaven to change the truth that was revealed?
Yet, it is so easy to overlook these two truths. God first gave that Old Testament to the Jews and only God Himself could change it (Deut. 4:2; 12:32). When Jesus gave us the New Testament, He gave this same message—do not change it. How tragic it is that since Jesus left the earth men have changed the church and changed the truth bound on us in so many ways.
What would happen if all those who believed in Jesus decided to return to the simple truth given by Jesus and the apostles? What would the church look like if we established that first-century church in our day? Think about it!
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