Originally preached AUGUST 23, 2009.

The boy in my current series of messages in which, among other things, I have been attempting to make a case as to the importance of scrutinizing and judging by the scriptures what I and other Bible teachers are teaching, reminded me of a middle aged atheist and his quest for spiritual truth many years ago. Each of them had been studying a pocket New Testament for about a year, and then the boy came into possession of a couple of Study Bibles. Both people had been sincerely studying the Bible with an open mind and aching heart. It took the atheist a little less than a year to discover a simple but profound eternal truth concerning the only means a sinner can obtain salvation. For instance, the following passages of scripture seemed to leap off the pages and hit him right between the eyes.

“Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God,” John 3:3 (ESV).

“Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God,” John 3:5 (ESV).

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” John 3:16 (ESV).

“Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?” John 11:25-26 (ESV)”

“And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. ²⁹ For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. ³⁰ And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified,” Romans 8:28-30 (ESV).

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places, ⁴ even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love ⁵ he predestined us for adoption through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, ⁶ to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. ⁷ In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, ⁸ which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. ¹¹ In him we have obtained an inheritance, having been predestined according to the purpose of him who works all things according to the counsel of his will,” Ephesians 1:3-11 (ESV)

“And you were dead in the trespasses and sins ² in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— ³ among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. ⁴ But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— ⁶ and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, ⁷ so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. ⁸ For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, ⁹ not a result of works, so that no one may boast.¹⁰ For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them,” Ephesians 2:1-10(ESV).

“…not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham because they are his offspring, but “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹ For this is what the promise said: “About this time next year I will return and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only so, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹ though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of his call— ¹² she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated,” Romans 9:6-13 (ESV).

“All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out,” John 6:37 (ESV).

“And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day,” John 6:39 (ESV).

“No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day. ⁴⁵ It is written in the Prophets, ‘And they will all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me, John 6:44-45 (ESV).

“And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father,” John 6:65 (ESV).

Although there are many other passages I could cite to make the point of God’s absolute sovereignty in salvation; these were the ones which convinced the atheist that if there is a wonderful place called heaven where people can go after they die, but whether or not someone can get in depends not “primarily” on “the decision” he or she makes to believe in Jesus at a certain point in time, but on “the decision” God had made before the beginning of time. Those passages I just quoted gave the atheist lots of food for thought. It seemed as though the Bible was saying that God, if there even was such a Being, took away a person’s freedom to choose whether or not to believe in Jesus, but rather that “God chose” to save certain folks even if they didn’t want to be saved, and then He just let all the others go to hell. And this wasn’t fair! But such an apparently fatalistic assertion didn’t square with the atheist’s understanding of the biblical narrative of the life, death and resurrection of God Himself living amongst His creatures in the Person of His Son, Jesus Christ, a man who exemplified the personification of love, especially on His cross. The atheist was also hoping he would discover evidence supporting the existence of a loving Creator. In his case it was because he was at a point in his life where if God didn’t exist, his life would meaningless and he would be better off dead. It goes without saying, the man was hurting very much. That’s the only reason he wouldn’t allow these verses to become stumbling blocks. Instead, the hopeful man viewed them as incentives to dig deeper in the Bible searching for the truth.

The perplexed boy in my story had his own dilemma to contend with. He also truly wanted to believe in Jesus and the promises in the rest of the New Testament but the ones concerning Him returning in judgment and rescuing those Christians who were still alive at the time. But since everyone knew Jesus didn’t come back like He promised; how could he believe in Him if he couldn’t even believe Him? Compounding the boys dilemma were the two men who wrote the Study-Bibles who claimed that Jesus was speaking to those first Christians about an event which could occur in our own time. The boy discovered that although the word “generation” is used thirty three times in the New Testament, Scofield and Ryrie changed the plain meaning of the word “generation” in Matthew 24:36. Then it became a piece of cake to change the meaning of other words in the Bible as well. “Truly, I say to you, this generation (the plain meaning of this word was changed so that it meant the nation or family of Israel) will not pass away until all these things take place,” Matthew 24:34 (ESV).

At this point I would like to quote from what is proving to be a very insightful book I’m currently reading entitled: “THE LOST WORLD OF GENESIS ONE” by John H. Walton, a man whom you may recall I have quoted in the past. “The Old Testament does communicate to us and it was written for us, and for all humankind. But it was not written to us. It was written to Israel, it is in a language that most of us do not understand, and therefore it requires translation. But the language is not the only aspect that needs to be translated. Language assumes a culture, serves a culture, and is designed to communicate into the framework of a culture. Consequently, when we read a text written in another language and addressed to another culture, we must translate the culture as well as the language if we hope to understand the text fully.” (A) I would like to add that it behooves you and me to apply that excellent advice when we are studying the New Testament as well.

Now let’s pretend the boy and his parents are back at the following weekly back yard Bible study with the old teacher. As usual, the teacher had been hoping and praying throughout the previous week that the boy would find additional evidence to bolster his case concerning the so called end-times. He knew his prayers had been answered when the boy immediately blurted out: “Look at the stuff I found. Can I show it to everyone, teacher?” “Certainly you may. Go right ahead, young man.” “Great! Take a look at this verse.”

“I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened,” Matthew 24:34 (NIV)

Now here’s what the note in my Study Bible says about the word generation in Matthew 24:34. “The word “generation” (Gr. Genea), though commonly used in Scripture of those living at one time, could not here mean those alive at the time of Christ, as none of these things”- i.e. the worldwide preaching of the kingdom, the tribulation, the return of the Lord in visible glory, and the regathering [i.e. the Rapture]of the elect-occurred then.. The expression “this generation” here (1) may mean that the future generation which will endure the tribulation and sees the signs, will also see the consummation, the return of the Lord; or (2) it may be used in the sense of race or family, meaning that the nation or family of Israel will be preserved “until all these things have happened,” a promise wonderfully fulfilled to this day.” “Now listen to what the other guy has to say.” “No one living when Jesus spoke these words lived to see “all these things” come to pass. However, the Greek word can mean “race” or “family,” which makes good sense here; i.e. the Jewish race will be preserved, in spite of terrible persecution, until the Lord comes.” (C)

“But when I read my Bible that doesn’t have study notes it says nothing about any world-wide preaching of the kingdom, teacher. I’m glad it didn’t because that would make it even harder for me to believe in Jesus. I mean like, He’s supposed to be God and know everything; He had to know there’s no way they could have gone all over the whole-wide world preaching the Gospel. No Way! But this is what Jesus said. “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, “Matthew 28:19 (ESV). “Now take a look at all this other stuff I found, teacher. I’m really excited about it.” “Here’s another one of their notes.” “No one living when Jesus spoke these words lived to see ‘all these things.’ come to past.” “But look at what the Bible says,”

“… if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven, and of which I, Paul, became a minister,” Colossians 1:23 (ESV).

“I went on to find out what those guys had to say in their notes on that one. Guess what? Would you believe- zilch! Now look at this verse.

“And when they could not find them, they dragged Jason and some of the brothers before the city authorities, shouting, “These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also,” Acts 17:6 (ESV).

“Listen to what those guys had to say about that one. You guessed it, zilch! So what am I supposed to believe, teacher? Either those Study Bible guys didn’t know what they were talking about or else a kid like me doesn’t have the smarts to understand what they are saying. Should I believe what the Bible says or what those experts say? Did Jesus tell His disciples to do something they couldn’t do? Did they go right ahead and do it and those people who were alive back then knew they did? If they didn’t, then the Bible got it wrong, but if they did, then those guys who wrote my Study Bibles are out to lunch. If you ask me, I think those guys are full of a lot of double talk. Without those study notes to mess people up like they did to me, or anything else to influence them, there’s no way someone can possibly come up with that kind of end of the world stuff just from reading the actual Bible. No way! Unless they’re nuts! That kind of stuff has to be concocted. Do I have it right, teacher?” “If you don’t mind, I would rather wait and see what you are leading up to. Please continue, young man” “Cool! Here’s what the Gospel of Luke has to say about the same thing Jesus was telling them about in Matthew’s. It had to do with the destruction of the temple and all of Jerusalem by the Roman general named Titus in A. D. 70.

”Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. ¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. ¹² But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. ¹³ This will be your opportunity to bear witness. ¹⁴ Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, ¹⁵ for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. ¹⁶ You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. ¹⁷ You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. ¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish. ¹⁹ By your endurance you will gain your lives. ²⁰ “But when you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. ²¹ Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, and let those who are inside the city depart, and let not those who are out in the country enter it, ²² for these are days of vengeance, to fulfill all that is written. ²³ Alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress upon the earth and wrath against this people. ²⁴ They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled,” Luke 21:10-24 (ESV). I’m so happy I finally came to this Bible Study, teacher. And I’m glad I’m on summer vacation so I can spend lots of time studying about this kind of stuff instead of having to do any homework. Listen to this that I found while I was surfing the net over at my friend Rick’s home.”

“In April, a.d. 70, immediately after the Passover, when Jerusalem was filled with strangers, the siege began. The zealots rejected, with sneering defiance, the repeated proposals of Titus and the prayers of Josephus, who accompanied him as interpreter and mediator; and they struck down every one who spoke of surrender. They made sorties down the valley of the Kedron and up the mountain, and inflicted great loss on the Romans. As the difficulties multiplied their courage increased. The crucifixion of hundreds of prisoners (as many as five hundred a day) only enraged them the more. Even the famine which began to rage and sweep away thousands daily, and forced a woman to roast her own child, the cries of mothers and babes, the most pitiable scenes of misery around them, could not move the crazy fanatics. History records no other instance of such obstinate resistance, such desperate bravery and contempt of death. The Jews fought, not only for civil liberty, life, and their native land, but for that which constituted their national pride and glory, and gave their whole history its significance—for their religion, which, even in this state of horrible degeneracy, infused into them an almost superhuman power of endurance.”

“Titus (according to [the Jewish historian] Josephus) intended at first to save [the temple] that magnificent work of architecture, as a trophy of victory, and perhaps from some superstitious fear; and when the flames threatened to reach the Holy of Holies he forced his way through flame and smoke, over the dead and dying, to arrest the fire. But the destruction was determined by a higher decree. His own soldiers, roused to madness by the stubborn resistance, and greedy of the golden treasures, could not be restrained from the work of destruction. At first the halls around the temple were set on fire. Then a firebrand was hurled through the golden gate. When the flames arose the Jews raised a hideous yell and tried to put out the fire; while others, clinging with a last convulsive grasp to their Messianic hopes, rested in the declaration of a false prophet, that God in the midst of the conflagration of the Temple would give a signal for the deliverance of his people. The legions vied with each other in feeding the flames, and made the unhappy people feel the full force of their unchained rage. Soon the whole prodigious structure was in a blaze and illuminated the skies. It was burned on the tenth of August, a.d. 70, the same day of the year on which, according to tradition, the first temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. “No one,” says Josephus, “can conceive a louder, more terrible shriek than arose from all sides during the burning of the temple. The shout of victory and the jubilee of the legions sounded through the wailings of the people, now surrounded with fire and sword, upon the mountain, and throughout the city. The echo from all the mountains around, even to Perea, increased the deafening roar. Yet the misery itself was more terrible than this disorder. The hill on which the temple stood was seething hot, and seemed enveloped to its base in one sheet of flame. The blood was larger in quantity than the fire, and those that were slain more in number than those that slew them. The ground was nowhere visible. All was covered with corpses; over these heaps the soldiers pursued the fugitives.

“The Romans planted their eagles on the shapeless ruins, over against the eastern gate, offered their sacrifices to them, and proclaimed Titus Imperator with the greatest acclamations of joy. Thus was fulfilled the prophecy concerning the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place.”(D)

“Now listen to this other stuff I found, teacher.” “Hold it right there, young man. We’ve run out of time.” “We did? Boy it really flies’s by quickly at this study.” “I’m very pleased to hear you say that, young man. Lord willing, we’ll all be back again next week.” “Lord willing, teacher.” “Lord willing,” his mother added because she had just received another glimmer of hope. In her heart she somehow knew her boy was on to something that would prove Jesus did come back and keep His promise after all, while her husband Charlie just sat there with what was becoming an increasingly common blank facial expression. As usual, the teacher silently praised God for inclining the boy to really search through his Bible to see if what Bible teachers were claiming was indeed factual.

In closing, I would like to say that if any of you didn’t already know; the atheist I spoke about at the beginning of this message was honored by God many years later when He called the man to become your pastor.

Lord willing, in a couple of weeks…

(A) Page 9 “THE LOST WORLD OF GENESIS ONE,” © By John H. Walton, Inter Varsity Press P. O. Box 1400 Downers Grove, Il. 60515-1426

(B) OXFORD NIV SCOFIELD STUDY BIBLE, © 1967 Oxford University Press, Inc.

(C) RYRIE STUDY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION, © 1994 by the Moody Bible Institute of Chicago.

(D) Citing the historian Flavius Josephus in his classic History of the Christian Church, (Chapter 6) Phillip Schaff provides a lot of insight on what was happening during The Great Tribulation. http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/history/1_ch06.htm

(E) If any of you folks have those Study Bibles you may find it interesting to read what they have to say about the following passages.

“Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God,” Romans 3:19 (NIV).

“In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census should be taken of the entire Roman world,” Luke 2:1 (NIV).