Recent Posts

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: Helping Us in Our Weakness

“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Romans 8:26)

When the Holy Spirit said He “helpeth our infirmities,” He caused Paul to coin the Greek word sunantilambanomai (translated “helpeth”). This very unusual and complicated term is only used twice in Scripture, once in our text and the other when Martha requested that Jesus tell Mary to “help” her wait on guests during a dinner at their home (Luke 10:40). This strong term insists on working together in the same task with the same enthusiasm.

We have astheneia (infirmities) and are unable to articulate the correct request. But the Holy Spirit makes huperentugchano (intercession) for us—again, a very unusual word, adding the Greek preposition huper (above) to the basic word for “intercession” (used in Romans 8:27, 34; 11:2; Hebrews 7:25).

Then, the Holy Spirit uses stenagmos (groaning) that cannot be alaletos (stated), using two words unique to this very specific application. What seems to be in view by Paul is that the Holy Spirit makes a “sigh” in a way that only God Himself can understand, because the thought is too deep for words.

Whenever we find these words used in other Greek literature, they usually describe a sound that is emitted under either pain or ecstasy. How marvelous! HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: Stimulating Patience for Us

“For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God....Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” (Romans 8:19, 21-25)

The Holy Spirit has insured us with a witness with our own spirit that, as the children of God, we have certain affirmations about our relationship with the Creator. Clearly, we are to know that our eternity is “reserved in heaven” for us, since the power of none other than the Creator Himself keeps us (1 Peter 1:4-5).

The current “fellowship of his sufferings” that we are privileged to now endure (Philippians 3:10) has absolutely no comparative value to the glory we will share with our Redeemer for eternity. It is a fact that the creature (read “creation”) is an unwilling participant, “groaning” in those sufferings. Yet, because of the Holy Spirit’s witness, we have an “earnest expectation” that assures us “that in nothing [we] shall be ashamed, but that...Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death” (Philippians 1:20).

We “are saved by hope,” but we have not seen that hope. Hope seen is not hope. Hope expected is patiently waited for. HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: Verifying Our Relationship with Christ

“And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:17)

Since it is obvious that we are children of God by the internal ministry of the Holy Spirit to our spirit, then it follows that we are “heirs of God.” Paul states it should be equally obvious that we must be “joint-heirs” with God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus (our text).

It is noteworthy that Paul recognizes that one of the sure signs of our relationship with Christ is that “we suffer with him.” Paul warned: “All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12). That was promised by our Brother Himself when He said, “If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you” (John 15:20).

But—and here is the great promise—we will “be also glorified together” (Romans 8:17). All our present sufferings pale in comparison to “the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). When our Lord Jesus was delivering the simple Beatitudes as He introduced His magnificent Sermon on the Mount, He ended them with the note that we would be persecuted (Matthew 5:11). However, we are to “rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you” (Matthew 5:12). HMM III

The Holy Spirit’s Ministry: Identifying the Children of God

“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” (Romans 8:16)

Paul presents a magnificent section in Romans 8 on the resources of the believer. He begins with an affirmation that the Holy Spirit has been tasked to bear witness with our spirit that we are the actual children of God.

No less than 13 times does the phrase “children of God” appear in the New Testament, all written in one way or another to confirm that we “are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26).

Obviously, this does not apply to all humanity, as some assert. None other than Jesus Himself stated that the wicked Pharisees and Sadducees were “of your father the devil” (John 8:44). The apostle John made the difference crystal clear: “In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother” (1 John 3:10).

The children of God are peacemakers (Matthew 5:9) and according to the Lord Jesus are “equal unto the angels” because they are “the children of the resurrection” (Luke 20:36). Furthermore, none other than the Creator Himself promises to “gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad” (John 11:52).

Finally, this is how each of us can know that we are, indeed, the children of God—“that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments” (1 John 5:2). HMM III

Declaring the Unknown God

“As I...beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, TO THE UNKNOWN GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.” (Acts 17:23)

The people of Athens were known to be quite religious, worshiping a host of nature gods. They had even set up an altar “to the unknown god.” Paul pounced on this point of contact to declare unto them the God they didn’t know.

He starts by laying the foundation: this God, he claims, is the Creator. He not only “made the world and all things therein,” but He is also “Lord of heaven and earth” (v. 24). To cause to exist and then to rule over all of creation, one must be omnipotent. He is much too great to dwell in “temples made with hands” (v. 24). How ludicrous to think He might need anything, including the worship of men, “seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things” (v. 25).

This God “hath made of one blood all nations of men” and “hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation” (v. 26). To know all men, their race, futures, and details of their lives, God must be omniscient, eternal, boundless. He has done this so “that they should seek the Lord” (v. 27). He is not hard to find, for He is “not far from every one of us.” He is the sustainer and source of all life. “In him we live, and move, and have our being;...we are also his offspring” (v. 28), totally unlike gods of “gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device” (v. 29).

But mankind has not known this God. He has been patient but hates sin and “commandeth all men every where to repent” (v. 30) to gain forgiveness based on the work of “that man whom he hath ordained” (v. 31) as a final sacrifice, or as righteous judge. We can be sure of this because, when the sacrifice was slain, God “raised him from the dead” (v. 31).

Some mocked at the declaration of this mighty God (v. 32); some refused to act; but others believed (v. 34). JDM

Christ: Our Redeemer

“For I know that my redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth.” (Job 19:25)

This famous testimony of Job has encouraged many. He knew, as we can know, the reality of his living Redeemer and that the Redeemer would one day reign over His creation as intended.

A redeemer is one who buys back something that has fallen into the hands of the enemy. Originally, the creation was in the proper hands, but Adam sinned, and the rebellious world and its inhabitants fell into bondage at the hands of Satan. “Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned” (Romans 5:12). We became the slaves or “servants of sin” (Romans 6:20).

To be freed, a slave must be redeemed. Could we as slaves have bought ourselves back? No, we had nothing of worth. Silver and gold would not do it. In fact, nothing short of the blood of a completely innocent sacrifice would suffice to pay the “wages of sin” (Romans 6:23). Only God the Son, by being both God and man, could be that perfect sacrifice. “And he saw that there was no man [capable of redeeming mankind], and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation” (Isaiah 59:16). “In his love and in his pity he redeemed them” (Isaiah 63:9) by His own blood, buying us out of bondage to sin and Satan.

Notice also that this redemption is not just something we hope for; it is a fact! He has done it, and it will never be undone! “Thou shalt know that I the LORD am thy Saviour and thy Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob” (Isaiah 60:16). “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (2 Timothy 1:12). JDM

Hardness of Heart

“Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.” (Mark 16:14)

Apparently many people—even Christians—are afflicted with “spiritual cardiosclerosis” (hardening of the heart), for there are some 40 references in the Bible to this malady. The first was in reference to Egypt’s unbelieving pharaoh. Concerning him, God told Moses: “I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21).

But when the children of Israel did escape Pharaoh’s persecutions, they also contracted this debilitating attitude: “Harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness: when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work” (Psalm 95:8-9).

Even the very disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ were rebuked by Him for their hardness of heart. In spite of the Old Testament prophecies, and in spite of His own repeated promise that He would rise from the dead, the disciples forsook Him and fled into hiding when He was arrested. Some were even skeptical about the first reports of His resurrection until they saw Him for themselves. His rebuke (our text) essentially equated their unbelief with “hardness of heart” (Greek sklerokardia).

If this heart of hardness and unbelief could attack the 11 disciples, it could surely happen to us, if we allow it. “Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief....But exhort one another daily...lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin....To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts” (Hebrews 3:12-13, 15). Instead, we should heed Christ’s first great commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart” (Matthew 22:37). HMM

Creation and the New Year

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1)

It is appropriate for Christians to begin the New Year by referring back to the beginning of the very first year. The first verse of God’s Word is also its most important verse, since it is the foundation on which everything else is built. Even God’s great work of salvation is irrelevant and futile without His prior work of creation, for only the Creator of all things could ever become the Savior of all things.

If a person really believes Genesis 1:1, he or she should have no difficulty believing anything else in the Bible. The very first object of saving faith (Hebrews 10:39) is the fact of special creation by the word of God (Hebrews 11:3).

The verse is comprehensive and scientific, viewing space (“the heaven”) and matter (“the earth”) as functioning in a framework of time (“in the beginning”). This space/matter/time “continuum” (as scientists call it) has not existed eternally, nor is it still being created, both of which heresies are standard beliefs of all forms of evolutionary pantheism (including most of the world’s religions and philosophies, ancient or modern). It was created, and even completed, in the past.

This foundation of all foundations is, clearly, the only sure foundation upon which one should build a life, an organization, or anything. A firm renewal of one’s commitment to special creation as literally recorded by divine revelation in the inerrant Word of God is thus the proper way to begin a new year, a new home, a new career, a new family, or any phase of a Christian life. This is the time to confess and forsake all doubts and trust God’s Word! In the beginning of the first year, God created all things. At the beginning of this year, we should resolve to believe and obey all things in His Word. HMM

Times and Seasons

“And he said unto them, It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the Father hath put in his own power.” (Acts 1:7)

Just before Christ ascended into heaven, His disciples asked Him, “Lord, wilt thou at this time restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (v. 6). Christ refrained from answering their question as they had hoped, but in His wisdom He used the occasion to teach them that some information is for God alone, including the “times or the seasons.” In our finiteness, we are unable to handle too much information, and should we know even a small part of the “knowledge [which] is too wonderful for me” (Psalm 139:6), we would use it improperly.

Isaiah taught the same lesson many years before: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9). God has graciously revealed enough that we know He has a wonderful plan, but the details are known by Him alone. They are under His “own power” or authority (our text). Certainly He knows the future, but more than that, He controls it.

And why not? He created time (Genesis 1:1); surely He can exercise authority over it. Surely the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last” (Revelation 22:13) can control the destinies of individuals and nations. “Power” to work out His good pleasure rests solely with “the only wise God our Saviour...now and ever” (Jude 1:25).

Even though this “power” is His alone, His promise to the disciples that “ye shall receive power [a different word than that in verse 7, here meaning strength]” (Acts 1:8) has been fulfilled in the person of the Holy Spirit. We have what we need to be “witnesses” of that which we know of Him to “the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). JDM

Prepared for You

“Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” (Matthew 25:34)

In context, this wonderful promise may apply specifically to those living believers recognized as “sheep” by Christ when He returns to judge the nations (or “Gentiles”) at the end of the age. For them He has prepared a wonderful kingdom in which they can fully serve their great King here on Earth. The “goats,” on the other hand, will be sent away into “everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:41).

But we remember also that the Lord Jesus Christ has also prepared a mansion in heaven for His faithful disciples. “In my Father’s house are many mansions...I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2).

He is, even now, preparing for us that glorious place. One day, it will be fully prepared, and we shall see it when He brings it down from heaven, as John did in his great vision. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).

It will, indeed, be a wonderful place of “many mansions,” and John describes some of its beauties in the Bible’s last two chapters. But that is not all. “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). Therefore, we can say with Paul: “For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18). He has indeed prepared a great eternal future for His redeemed children. HMM