The Everlasting Gospel

“And I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the everlasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people, Saying with a loud voice, Fear God, and give glory to him; for the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of waters.” (Revelation 14:6-7)

When the Lord Jesus returned to heaven after His resurrection, He left the disciples with the Great Commission to “preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). Unfortunately, over the centuries there has developed much misunderstanding concerning the content of the gospel (“good tidings”), and many have preached “another gospel” (Galatians 1:6) that can never save. This false gospel wears many faces, but inevitably, at its heart will be found the false hope of evolutionary humanism, glorifying man instead of God, worshipping and serving the creature more than the Creator (Romans 1:25).

We can be sure that the gospel preached in our text is the true gospel—in fact, it is called specifically the everlasting gospel! And its great burden is to call people everywhere back to faith in the one true Creator God, who made all things in heaven and Earth. The Lord Jesus Christ must be accepted, first of all, as God and Creator before it can be meaningful to present Him as Savior and Lord. Otherwise, we preach “another gospel” and “another Jesus”—neither of which are even real!

The true gospel must also present Christ as the sin-bearing, crucified, resurrected Savior (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) and as the coming King of kings and Lord of lords (Matthew 4:23; Revelation 19:16). But it must first present Him as omnipotent and offended Creator. Then only, like the angel, do we truly proclaim the everlasting gospel. HMM

Glorified in the Saints

“And they glorified God in me.” (Galatians 1:24)

It is amazing to read in the Scriptures that the God of glory can actually receive yet more glory through His people. But that is what happened in Paul. When he became a Christian, his life changed completely, and those who saw the change glorified God in Paul.

Jesus prayed that this would be so, not only in Paul but in all His followers. In the upper room before His crucifixion, He prayed: “I pray for them...which thou hast given me; for they are thine. And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them” (John 17:9-10).

He is glorified when we, like Paul, become His. But then He is further glorified as we grow in Him. Paul himself prayed for those whom he had seen come to Christ: “Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him” (2 Thessalonians 1:11-12).

Finally, He shall be glorified when He comes again. “When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven...he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10).

As we give glory to Christ in word and deed, He truly was, and is, and will be glorified in His saints. This is a privilege greater than can be measured that more than compensates for any opposition this generates from the world. “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” (1 Peter 4:14). Therefore, “let your light so shine before men, that they may...glorify your Father which is in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). HMM

Setting Up an Ebenezer

“Then Samuel took a stone, and set it between Mizpeh and Shen, and called the name Ebenezer, saying, Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.” (1 Samuel 7:12)

Many Christians have joined in the singing of a familiar verse in an old hymn without knowing its great meaning: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer; hither by thy help I’ve come.” When the Ark of the Covenant was captured by the Philistines, the old priest, Eli, and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas, all died the same day, as did Phinehas’ wife in childbirth. It was a tragic day for Israel.

But then the people returned to God under Samuel, and 20 years later the Lord gave them a miraculous victory over the superior armies of the Philistines. In commemoration of this deliverance, Samuel set up a stone monument in the same place where the Philistines had captured the Ark 20 years before, calling the stone “Ebenezer,” a name that was always associated thereafter with the site (1 Samuel 4:1; 5:1).

Now “Ebenezer” means “Stone of Help,” and seeing it would always remind the people, whenever they might later come to fear the circumstances around them, that God had been their “help in ages past” and thus could be trusted as their “hope for years to come.” Only God is truly able to help in times of great need, but He is able! “From whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the LORD, which made heaven and earth” (Psalm 121:1-2).

It is well to remember those times in our own lives when God has helped us in some special way. We forget so easily, and the sin of ingratitude is cited by God as one of the first harbingers of imminent apostasy (note especially Romans 1:21). A physical token can help us remember, but whatever it takes—remember! God will hear and answer our prayers for future help, too, but “with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God” (Philippians 4:6). HMM

Good, Very Good, and Not Good

“And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” (Genesis 1:31)

Six times during the creation week, God saw His handiwork and pronounced it “good” (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25). Finally, when it was all finished, He surveyed all He had just completed and judged it all to be very good!

That is the way with God. And if He can make a flawless universe, we can be confident He knows what He is doing with us. “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). What God does must be, by definition, good! We can affirm, therefore, with confidence (even though it must often be by faith rather than sight) that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).

There is, of course, an important scientific principle also established by this verse: whenever we see anything in the world that is not good (e.g., sin, suffering, death), we can know that such things constitute an intrusion into God’s perfect creation. They were not “created” as a part of the primeval creation, nor will God allow them to continue their intrusion forever. They all eventually must be eliminated when God makes His new earth. In the meantime, this principle tells us that the great sedimentary rocks of the earth’s crust, containing as they do the fossilized remains of billions of dead animals, plants, and people, must have all been formed sometime after the end of creation week. At least most of them must therefore have been formed at the time of the great Flood (Genesis 6–9) when “the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished” (2 Peter 3:6).

Because of sin, the present world is groaning in pain (Romans 8:22), but the first world was all “very good.” HMM

True Discipleship

“Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31-32)

One may come to a mental acceptance of certain facts about God and deceive himself into thinking he believes on Christ, but the genuineness of that faith needs to be tested before it is judged as real. “Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?” (James 2:19-20). Works, of course, do not save one’s soul, but the faith that does save is a faith that produces good works.

An earlier group of listeners had also “believed in his name, when they saw the miracles which he did. But Jesus did not commit himself unto them [literally, ‘did not believe on them’], because he knew all men” (John 2:23-24). It is essential that we believe on Him but even more essential that He believe on us!

The test is simple! If we continue in His Word, then we are real disciples. Our dedication to Christ is measured by our obedience to His Word. If we question His Word, or resent His Word, or try to avoid obeying His Word by “interpreting” some preferred meaning of our own into His Word, then we urgently need to examine the genuineness of our belief in Christ.

If we are His disciples and do continue in His Word, then He makes us a wonderful promise: “Ye shall know the truth.” Literally, this is “come to know the truth.” As true disciples (that is, “learners”), we have His assurance that our continuing studies in His Word will yield an ever-increasing comprehension of God’s created and revealed “truth” with ever-growing freedom to understand and obey the perfect will of God. HMM

Blessed in Christ

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ.” (Ephesians 1:3)

This little phrase, “in Christ,” conveys a world of doctrinal truth with great blessing to the believer. Positionally speaking, God has actually “raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). God in effect sees us as “in Christ,” and this wonderful position at God’s right hand implies great honor.

It is well to note similar phrases throughout Scripture. Paul assures us that we were “chosen...in him before the foundation of the world” (1:4), “accepted in the beloved” (1:6), and “created in Christ Jesus unto good works” (2:10).

He is the one “in whom also we have obtained an inheritance” (1:11) and “in whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (2:22). We have the glorious future promise that God will “gather together in one all things in Christ” (1:10) “according to the working of his mighty power, Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (1:19-20).

Therefore, in our exalted position in Him, in the heavenly places, we do indeed enjoy “all spiritual blessings.” This doctrinal truth provides us with the incentive and power to live a practical Christian life that is genuinely consistent with our high calling and position in Him.

This is the basis of the many New Testament exhortations to the believer to live daily “in Christ.” For example, “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him” (Colossians 2:6). Therefore, since “ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God....For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3). HMM

The Christian Rest

“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his.” (Hebrews 4:9-10)

This is an important New Testament affirmation that God’s work of creation was “finished from the foundation of the world” (Hebrews 4:3). The reference is to Genesis 2:1-3, where the writer has told us that God had “rested from all his work which God created and made,” thus completely denying the contention of theistic evolutionists that the processes of “creation” (that is, evolution) are still going on.

In addition, it makes a significant comparison between the believer’s rest and God’s rest. The word “rest” here is not the usual word for “rest” and is used only this once in the New Testament. It means, literally, “sabbath rest” or “keeping of the Sabbath.” In the context of chapters 2 and 3 of Hebrews, the concept of rest is being expounded with several meanings. The original warning was in Psalm 95:11, where it referred both to the Israelites entering into the promised land under Joshua and to God’s own rest after His work of creation. Psalm 95 is repeatedly quoted in Hebrews, where other meanings are also implied: the keeping of a weekly Sabbath in commemoration of God’s rest after creation; the promised future rest to the world and its believing inhabitants—possibly in the millennium but certainly in the new earth; and the believer’s present spiritual rest after he puts his faith in Christ, no longer trusting in his works for salvation.

With such a rich investiture of meaning in the fact of God’s past rest and the promise of our future rest, it is appropriate that there should be a perpetual weekly commemoration and expression of faith in that rest in every generation until its ultimate fulfillment in the eternal rest in the New Jerusalem.

In the meantime, we are urged to “labour” to “enter into that rest” (Hebrews 4:11). HMM

Living Stones in the Holy Temple

“And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house....And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” (1 Kings 5:17; 6:7)

The building of Solomon’s temple was one of the most remarkable construction operations in history. Much of the temple’s legendary beauty was attributed to the great stones—beautiful and costly stones quarried from beds of white limestone—that were used in its construction.

Probably the most remarkable feature of its building was the fact that each stone was carefully cut and dimensioned while still in the quarry, so that the temple itself could be erected in silence, with each stone fitting perfectly in place as it came to the temple site. The temple, as the structure where God would meet with His people, was considered too sacred to permit the noise of construction during its erection.

In the New Testament, the physical temple is taken as a type of the mighty house of God being erected by the Holy Spirit. “[Ye] are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:20-22).

Each believer is like one of the beautiful temple stones, so costly that the price was the shed blood of Christ Himself. Taken out of the great pit of sin by the Holy Spirit, each person, one by one, is being placed quietly in the great spiritual temple. “Ye also, as lively [i.e., living] stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). HMM

Peter and the Name of Jesus

“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12)

This is the climactic declaration ending Peter’s three great messages in the early chapters of Acts (2:14-36; 3:12-26; 4:8-12). On the previous day, he and John had seen the crippled man healed at the temple gate, saying: “In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” (Acts 3:6). Testifying to the crowd that had assembled following the miracle, Peter said: “His name through faith in his name hath made this man strong” (Acts 3:16).

But what exactly is meant by “His name”? In biblical usage, one’s name stands for his character and all that he is and does. In his three messages, Peter actually used many different names and titles to refer to Christ. Note the following partial list: the Lord, Jesus of Nazareth, Thine Holy One, Christ, Jesus Christ, a Prophet, the Stone, the Head of the Corner.

To the multitude on the day of Pentecost, he had exhorted: “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38). To the Sanhedrin, he said: “Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole” (Acts 4:10).

Perhaps the most definitive form of “the name” was prescribed by Peter in the concluding statement of his great sermon on the day of Pentecost: “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36). Thus, He is the Lord Jesus Christ. HMM

The Perfections of God

“Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” (Matthew 5:48)

Since God is Creator of the universe, all that He does is right, and all He says is truth, by definition. The world He created was perfect; the Word He inscripturated is perfect; every work He accomplishes is perfect; all the ways He follows are perfect; and the will He reveals is perfect.

His perfect world: “And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). Of course, because of sin, the creation is now groaning in pain, but it was perfect as it came from God in the beginning. It will again be perfect in the ages to come, when God makes “all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

His perfect Word: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm 19:7). God has given us His inspired Word, providing perfect guidance for every need, “that the man of God may be perfect” (2 Timothy 3:17).

His perfect works: “He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he” (Deuteronomy 32:4). Not only His work in creation but also His works of redemption and reconciliation—all His works throughout history.

His perfect ways: “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him” (Psalm 18:30). His ways may not be our ways (Isaiah 55:9), but always, they are the best ways.

His perfect will: “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that...perfect, will of God” (Romans 12:2). His will is invariably right.

Thus, God is our standard of perfection, and we must never set a lower standard for ourselves. “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (our text). HMM

Blinded Minds

“But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost: In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.” (2 Corinthians 4:3-4)

The “god of this world” is none other than Satan, who is also called “the prince of this world” (John 12:31) and the one “which deceiveth the whole world” (Revelation 12:9). It is sobering to realize that he and his demonic cohorts have the power to blind the minds of unbelievers, preventing them from comprehending even the simplest elements of the saving gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

However, Christ can make the blind to see! In answer to prayer and through the faithful presentation of the Word of truth, “the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know...” (Ephesians 1:17-18).

The Lord desires that people come to Christ; therefore, He gives His witnesses weapons that can even vanquish Satan and open the eyes of the spiritually blind. These are the spiritual weapons of truth and righteousness, peace and faith, the Word and prayer (Ephesians 6:11-18). “(For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations [literally, ‘reasonings’], and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought [same word as ‘mind’] to the obedience of Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).

Even though Satan is far more intelligent and powerful than we or those we seek to reach, God still enables us to recapture their minds and bring them to Christ as we proclaim His truth, in His name, by His grace! HMM

Diluting the Word of God

“And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.” (Revelation 22:19)

It is a very serious error to try to add some new revelation to God’s written Word, as many cults and false religions do. This is the warning of verse 18 (see also Deuteronomy 4:2; Proverbs 30:6).

It is even more dangerous, as shown in the above text (the third from the last verse of the Bible), to delete (or even dilute) any of the words of the Bible. Note that the warning emphasizes the words, not just the thoughts. The sad fact is that a great many liberal theologians, especially in the past hundred years or so, have been doing just that, thinking thereby to make Christianity more compatible with modern science and philosophy. But they are literally playing with fire—this same book had just warned that any whose names do not remain in the book of life will be “cast into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). Tragically, many of the sections they seek to “take away” are the references to hell.

God has promised to guard His Word against any such deletions. “The words of the LORD are pure words:...Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever” (Psalm 12:6-7).

There are also many who would not try to take away any of the words from the text but who then dilute their intended meaning in order to attract unbelieving intellectuals. This also is dangerous. Peter warns against those who would “wrest,...scriptures, unto their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:16). We must never forget the words of the Bible are “pure words,” meaning just what they say. “All scripture is given by inspiration of God [God-breathed], and is profitable...” (2 Timothy 3:16). HMM

The Good Pleasure of God

“Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfill all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11)

God’s good pleasure withholds judgment! “It is of the LORD’s mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness” (Lamentations 3:22-23). “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works” (Psalm 145:8-9).

God’s good pleasure is to do good to His people! “The LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly” (Psalm 84:11). “Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:3-4).

God’s good pleasure forgives us! “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).

God’s good pleasure is to bring about His will! “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts....So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it” (Isaiah 55:9-11). “The Lord...is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). When we live in God’s good pleasure, we are able to “delight” in Him. HMM III

Entertaining Angels

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.” (Hebrews 13:2)

Angels are not human men or women; they are spirits—in fact, “ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation” (Hebrews 1:14). Nevertheless, God has given them the remarkable ability to take on the actual appearance of men when the need arises.

The allusion in our text to some who have unwittingly played host to angelic visitors probably refers to Abraham, who entertained God and two angels, appearing as men, one hot day long ago in “the plains of Mamre,” and then to his nephew Lot down in Sodom, who offered the hospitality of his home to the two angels that evening (Genesis 18:2; 19:1). Because of the wicked reputation of the Sodomites and then their rapacious desire to abuse Lot’s two guests, these angels the next day enabled Lot and his daughters to escape when there came down “fire from the LORD out of heaven” (Genesis 19:24) to destroy that city.

Most of us have never seen an angel—that is, unless we, like Abraham and Lot, have unwittingly encountered them. But the fact is that they are there when needed! “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them” (Psalm 34:7).

In fact, the Bible records a number of miraculous occurrences that actually involved the agency of one or more angels to bring them about. For example, the prophet Daniel passed an entire night in a den of hungry lions because, as Daniel reported the next morning, “My God hath sent his angel, and hath shut the lions’ mouths, that they have not hurt me” (Daniel 6:22).

God indeed is able to deliver us when we have a special need and when we call on Him in faith. HMM

The Law and the Spirit

“Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.” (Leviticus 23:16)

This commandment represents the initiation of the Jewish Feast of Pentecost (“fiftieth day”) that many years later was the day on which the Holy Spirit came to the church waiting in the upper room (Acts 2:1-4). There were seven such annual “feasts of Jehovah,” all outlined in Leviticus 23, beginning with the Passover commemorating the deliverance from Egypt and culminating in the Feast of Tabernacles in memory of their entrance into the Promised Land after dwelling in tents in the wilderness.

The middle feast of the seven was Pentecost, which seems to have been the anniversary of the giving of the law on Mount Sinai. It was scheduled 50 days after the “morrow after the sabbath” of the wave-offering of the “firstfruits” (Leviticus 23:10, 15), which in turn seems to have been the Passover sabbath on the 14th day of the first month (Exodus 12:2, 6). It was on the third day of the third month that God came down on Mount Sinai to give the law (Exodus 19:1, 11, 16). Jewish time-reckoning included both the first and last days of a time period in figuring the number of days between two events, so both the Lord’s appearance on Sinai and the annual Feast of Pentecost seem to have been 50 days after the Passover offering.

And so was the coming of the Holy Spirit! When the Holy Spirit came to the upper room, there were fiery tongues and a mighty wind (Acts 2:2-3). On that great day, Peter announced to Israel, “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made the same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ” (Acts 2:36), and we have received His great promise of the indwelling Law in our hearts by the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 10:15-17). HMM