The Sword of the LORD

Just before Jesus was ascended to His Father, He told His disciples to tarry in the city of Jerusalem until they were filled with power by the Holy Ghost.  The purpose of this outpouring of the Spirit, among other things, was that they might have power to become His witnesses.    On the day of Pentecost, the Jewish feast that marked the completion of the wheat harvest, as the Apostles and other disciples were gathered together in one place, there was suddenly the sound of a rushing, mighty wind.   It filled the place, and tongues of fire lit on everyone’s head as they all began speaking in languages that they did not know as the Spirit filled them.  Thus was fulfilled the words of Jesus that they would take His Words to the world.  Starting at that moment, and continuing until this very day, the Word was spread by His disciples.  Beginning in Jerusalem , and spreading to the uttermost parts of the earth, they took the gospel message to those ...

"Therefore is the kingdom of heaven likened unto a certain king, which would take account of his servants." (Matthew 18:23).   Jesus uses this parable in Matthew's gospel to convey yet another lesson concerning the kingdom of heaven.  The opening verse (23) reveals that the king over this kingdom is one who takes "account of His servants."  Each servant is accountable to his own master, and it is our Lord who is our Master and who will be our ultimate judge.  "For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ." (Romans 14:10).  "So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God." (Romans 14:12).    Interestingly, the Greek word which Matthew used in this verse - and was translated as "account" in most English translations - is logos .  We should be familiar with this Greek word because it is translated 218 times in the New Testament as "Word."   Logos is used in John 1:1, "In the beginning was...

"And when one of them that sat at meat with Him [Jesus] heard these things, he said unto Him, Blessed is he that shall eat bread in the kingdom of God.  Then said He [Jesus] unto him, A certain man made a great supper, and bade many: and sent his servant at supper time to say to them that were bidden, Come; for all things are now ready.  And they all with one consent began to make excuse ." (Luke 14:15-18).   The one thing that all of Jesus' disciples had in common was this: they all left everything behind to follow Him.  Jesus walked the shores of Galilee and called to the fishermen who were casting their nets into the sea, and to those who were helping their father mend nets.  Their response was to drop everything and follow Him.  He walked by the table of a tax-collector by the name of Matthew and said, "Follow Me," and Matthew got up, left his table, and followed Jesus.  None of these men questioned where they were going, or how long they sho...