The Sword of the LORD

"Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall ye know that I am He , and that I do nothing of Myself; but as my Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." (John 8:28).   There is an old hymn that we sing that says:   Must Jesus bear the cross alone And all the world go free? No, there's a cross for everyone, And there's a cross for me.   Unfortunately, these words are lost on many Christians today.   It's easy to understand and believe that Jesus carried a cross to Calvary, and died there for our sins; but it’s much more difficult to grasp the idea of bearing crosses in our lives.     The whole idea of resurrection power working in us to make us more Christ-like is based on the concept of life from death.   Jesus' illustration of the kernel of wheat being buried in the ground and dying before it can sprout and grow is the perfect picture of what our spiritual life must be.   It is a contin...

“My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.  And if any man sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: and He is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world .” (John 2:1, 2).   “What shall we then say to these things?  If God be for us, who can be against us ?  He that spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He [God] not with Him [Jesus] also freely give us all things?  Who shall lay any thing to the charge of God’s elect?  It is God that justifieth.  Who is he that condemneth?  It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, Who is even at the right hand of God, Who also maketh intercession for us .”  (Romans 8:31-34 KJV).   Imagine that we are sitting in a vast hall of justice in heaven.  We have been brought up on some very serious charges before the Court of Heaven and before the Jud...

OVERVIEW IT IS GENERALLY AGREED that the letter of James in the New Testament was written by the half-brother of Jesus, who was known as James the Just.   He and Jesus shared the same mother, Mary, but not the same father - James’ father was Joseph while Jesus’ Father was God.   This James was not one of the original twelve apostles.   He was neither James the son of Zebedee and brother of John, nor was he James the son of Alpheus, both of which were part of the original twelve.   None of Jesus’ brothers accepted Him while He was growing up or during His public ministry (see John 7:1-5).   After Jesus’ resurrection, however, James became a believer and was present with the 120 when the Holy Spirit fell on the disciples on the day of Pentecost.   James later received the office of apostleship and was became a pillar of the Church of Jerusalem.     James’ epistle is thought to have been written around A.D. 45 which would make it perhaps the ea...

“Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment.  And this will we do, if God permit.” (Hebrews 6:1-3).   Eternal Judgment “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment: so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second time without sin unto salvation.” (Hebrews 9:27, 28).   The Bible teaches that we are given one opportunity to live out our natural lives before being raised from the dead to one day stand before the Judge of all the earth to give account for what we did with that life.   There are no “do-over’s,” and we are not going to be endlessly reincarnated as some other person, creature, or plant until we finally get it righ...