The Sword of the LORD

" For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh: that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."  (Romans 8:3,4). The Old Testament is the story of God's dealings with man under the law.  It is a tragic story of man's utter failure to live according to the law's holy demands.  Since the original fall, God has allowed man to gorge himself on the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil only to discover that the result of eating that fruit was what God indicated it would be in the beginning: death.  "For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh..."   The problem was not so much with the law - for it is holy, just, and good - but with the flesh.  Those men and women in the Old Testament who found grace in the eyes of the Lord, did so b...

In Jesus' day, there was a pool in Jerusalem which in Aramaic was called Bethesda, meaning "house of mercy."   Once in a while, an angel would enter the pool and stir the waters up so that they visibly moved.   It was discovered that anyone who could be the first to enter the pool after the water was stirred would be healed of whatever was afflicting them.   For this reason there was always a large number of people who were blind, sick, crippled, etc. who would wait all around the pool for their chance to be healed.     A story like this may seem strange to us today.   Many modern Christians and theologians would rather dismiss what they don't understand than to believe the witness of God's Word.   Even several of the more popular modern Bible translations have removed the text of John 5:4 from their editions, choosing to skip verse four altogether and go directly to verse five from verse three!   I say, let God be true and every man a ...

"The apostles said to the Lord, "Increase our faith!"   (Luke 17:5 NIV)   As Christians, we can relate to the apostles' desire to have a greater abundance of faith.   During Jesus' ministry He often reproved them for their lack of faith because they failed to trust Him in the midst of difficult circumstances.   Things haven't changed much in 2000 years.   We still tend to think that we need to know what God intends for us from A to Z before we will accept that what He is doing is in our best interest.   Truth is, even if He would spell things out for us, and let us know His long-term goals for us, we still would not understand or submit meekly to His workmanship.     I have had the opportunity to watch various blacksmiths as they applied their craft to crude bars of iron.   They first must cast the metal into a forge and heat it until it is glowing orange.   While it is still hot, they place it on their anvil and beat ...