The Sword of the LORD

Jesus’ teaching was very hard for the people to accept.   Just the day before, He had multiplied a few loaves and fish to feed over five thousand people.   They had come out to see Him then because of the miracles that He was performing on the sick and afflicted.   They loved Him then, but their focus seemed to be more on those miracles than on trying to understand the words of life that Jesus was speaking to them.   They were ready to accept Him as a prophet, and they would have even tried to make Him a king; but they couldn’t see that Jesus was much more than that: He was the Son of God and their long-awaited Messiah.   Jesus had sent His twelve disciples over the sea to Capernaum the night before.   It was then that He had appeared to them walking on the sea as they struggled against a great storm.   When the people realized that Jesus had gone, they found means to cross the sea also and found Jesus at Capernaum.   Jesus called them out by ...

Elijah was a prophet of the Lord who lived around 900 B.C.   God worked many miracles through Elijah including sending fire from heaven in a great contest between him and the prophets of Baal.   The story with which I most identify from Elijah's life, however, is found in the 19th chapter of 1 Kings.     After Elijah's confrontation on Mt. Carmel with the Baal worshippers, Queen Jezebel of Israel was furious with him and commanded that he be put to death.  Elijah's response was like what yours or mine might be: he fled for his life, traveling a day's journey into the wilderness to hide.  While there, Elijah began to feel sorry for himself, and asked God to end his life.  Instead, the Lord sends an angel to minister to him, providing food and water to sustain him.  On the strength of that food, Elijah is able to travel 40 days to Mt. Horeb, where he finds a cave to hide in.  It is there that God asks him this pointed question, "What doest ...

In 1941, during World War II, the Nazis invaded Belarussia and began a systematic extermination of the Jewish inhabitants.   They filled vast mass graves with the bodies of those whom they brutally murdered.   Using local collaborators, the Germans were able to discover and slaughter whole families.     Four brothers by the name of Bielski, whose parents were slain during this persecution, were driven into the immense forests of that area to try and survive.  Before long, they found themselves caring for a large number of others who had also fled to the forest for safety.  There is a motion picture called Defiance which depicts the story of their plight.   In one scene from the movie, the older brother, who had become the leader and a sort of Moses to the band of Jews, was trying to rescue the group after the Germans had discovered their location.  As they struggled to make their way through the forest, they came to a large marsh that see...

“And Saul armed David with his armour, and he put an helmet of brass upon his head; also he armed him with a coat of mail.  And David girded his sword upon his armour, and he assayed to go; for he had not proved it.  And David said unto Saul, I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them.  And David put them off him .  And he took his staff in his hand, and chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag which he had, even in a scrip; and his sling was in his hand: and he drew near to the Philistine [Goliath] .” (1 Samuel 17:38-40).   A dear lady that we fellowship with told us recently about how her sisters would criticize and ridicule her after she became a Christian.  One sister in particular would try to buy her clothes and take her to get her hair done at a beauty parlor when she visited her because she didn’t like the way she looked.  Our friend said, “She just wanted to fix me.”  She said that she w...

"Happy art thou, O Israel: who is like unto thee, O people saved by the LORD, the shield of thy help, and Who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places." (Deuteronomy33:29).   The blessings and promises that God bestowed upon Israel in the Old Testament were but foreshadows of everything that He has given to the believers in Christ.   Christ was always going to be the fulfillment of God's great plan.   He was the Tree of Life in the beginning of creation, and He is the Tree of Life in the closing chapter of the Revelation of John.   Though the prophecies of old were spoken to Israel after the flesh, most of them have their broader fulfillment in spiritual Israel which is the church of Jesus Christ - that body of believers (both Jew and gentile) who have been born again and are bound together not by any particular doctrine, creed, or bloodline, but by the Spirit of the living God....

"Then said they unto Him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him whom He hath sent." (John 6:28,29).   The works of the flesh should be quite evident to most Christians.  In fact, the apostle Paul tells us as much in Galatians 5:19.  He says the works of the flesh are manifest, openly known, or apparent.  He even lists many of them such as adultery, fornication, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, jealousies, selfish ambitions, envy, murders, and drunkenness.  The Christian, however, must also be concerned about the less apparent things that are just as clearly the works of the flesh.  We know we should avoid the very bad things, but it is the seemingly good things that we plunge headlong into.  We call them good deeds, Christian ministry, and godly service; but in many cases they are self-directed and the result of self-righteousness and self-effort, an...

At a certain point in Jesus’ earthly ministry, He began to show His disciples the truth concerning His Passion.   He told them plainly that He was to suffer at the hands of the elders and chief priests, and that He would be killed by them; but, after three days, He would be raised from the dead.   This was, indeed, a difficult concept to comprehend.   It was hard to wrap one’s mind around.   After all, Jesus was the mighty Son of God, the promised Messiah, and the Prince of Peace.   How could they kill Him?   Hadn’t He come to establish God’s heavenly Kingdom on earth and reign forever?   Peter was especially affected by this revelation, and, acting as a friend and one who loved Jesus, he began to rebuke his Lord saying, “Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee.” (Matthew 16:22). I’m sure that Peter’s whole intent was to comfort His Lord, and encourage Him that He would overcome these difficulties, and go on to be the King of Israel...