Today I watched the speech made yesterday to the US Congress by the prime minister of Israel. The bulk of the speech laid out the solid case for Israel defending itself from its enemies such as Hamas in Gaza in the current war, before pledging Israel’s continuing commitment to be an ally of the US in defense of freedom and asking for America’s appreciated support of his nation to continue. All what could be expected in the speech, and supported by wise people of any political persuasion.

But what didn’t make the news, and what I found most interesting and not necessarily foreseeable, was how Netanyahu closed the speech. He announced his vision for what he’d like to see in the middle east, which he emphasized would bring “peace, prosperity, and security” to the region. He suggested there should be an alliance of nations in the middle east like NATO, which he suggested should be named The Abraham Alliance. It would be governed by a treaty that is a covenant of the involved nations who commit to an end of war against each other. Both parties in the Capitol gave a standing ovation to the idea.

Come, Lord Jesus, come. Take Your bride away and glorify Yourself on the earth through what You do here in preparation for Your return, so that Your kingdom will come and Your will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.

An online friend sent a couple theology questions last night. Here is the answer to one of them that I sent.

What happens when we Christians die, is it going straight to heaven or being asleep until the resurrection?

There is a sense in which both are true, biblically speaking and I’ll explain how in a moment. But essentially, the answer is we who are believers and thus eternally saved by Christ and His sacrifice go to heaven where He is right away at the moment of our death. Indeed for the believer, death is a “passing away” as it is often called. Jesus said He goes to prepare a place for us, from which He will return for us, and that place He spoke of was heaven, because He was going to the Father where He dwells. (See John 14:1-7) He wanted His children to be comforted by that since He would be away from the earth while we’re in it. We could be comforted both by the Holy Spirit’s presence within us, and by the knowledge that Jesus is coming back to take us to heaven where He is.

Now that raises the question of where are those who have already died in Christ, since His return is still future. Have they missed out on being returned for and taken to heaven? Or are they still waiting for that? Or are they already with Him there now? The Bible’s answer is that they are already there with Him now, and they are waiting for their resurrection which is a future event. 2 Corinthians 5:8 is a verse Paul wrote about looking forward to dying, because, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” So we see that when physical death happens to the saved one (believers), his or her soul and spirit—the very essence of their identity and all they are, separates from this body; and immediately when that happens they will “be present with the Lord.” Actually, physically, literally there with the Lord in heaven—not just a metaphor. And they are alive and awake there. So that God, for example, was able to send Moses, who had died centuries before, along with Elijah, who had been taken up alive into heaven, to appear and converse with Christ on the mount of transfiguration.

When Christ does return for those of us in Him still living on the earth at the time of the rapture, He “will bring back with Him those who have fallen asleep in Him.” (1 Thess. 4:14) That brings us to the question of in what sense are those who live in heaven, waiting to come back with Him on resurrection/rapture day, asleep now? The Bible speaks of believers who have died as being “asleep,” not to say they are unaware of their surroundings or that they aren’t having the experience of heaven and God’s presence yet, but to reassure us of the certainty of the coming resurrection. Their bodies “sleep” in the grave, but they will rise again. Jesus spoke of Lazarus being asleep and His plan to “go wake him up.” The disciples didn’t understand, so Jesus explained that what He meant was Lazarus was dead. But to God, waking the dead will be easier than it is for us to wake our children who are sleeping.

Death is a shedding, or undressing of ourselves of these mortal bodies, in order to eventually put on the immortal glorified resurrected bodies that will be sinless, painless, and live forever. (See 1 Corinthians 15:53-55, a passage about the resurrection to come.) So our loved ones who have died in the faith are with Christ and have been so since the moment they left the body; and their bodies are asleep, waiting for the awakening of the resurrection when Christ returns for “those who are alive and remain.” (See 1 Thess. 4:14-17)

If you want to go deeper into that topic, my video message on John 11 is more detailed. Here’s a link: https://youtu.be/Yb06Togb1D8?si=1h8Qn16Qa2IZeeAi

The concept of “soul sleep” that those who are believers die and are unconsciously waiting for the resurrection without now enjoying the presence of the Lord is one foreign to the scriptures, though. It comes more from the cult that calls themselves “Jehovah’s witnesses,” as if they could be witnesses for Jehovah while rejecting the true identity of God the Son. They have arguments for “soul sleep,” but I would say they are patently untrustworthy to discuss the scriptures. Their leaders’ habit from the dawn of their cult has been to torture the scriptures until they confess to what they want. And their teachings are varied levels of bizarre ideas that truly no one could ever come up with just from reading the word of God without introducing the outside interpretations they alone demand. And even they believe that originally righteous ones from earth went to heaven. They just claim that Christ already returned more than a century ago and filled heaven to capacity with 144,000 saints so that now their “righteous ones” sleep until Jehovah comes because there is no room for them in heaven while they wait for His kingdom on earth. My city has hundreds of thousands of people in it, but God’s throne of heaven is a tiny place, don’t you know.

In short, everything the jw’s teach is hopelessly misguided and worthless, and should be dismissed without pause by anyone who wants to know God and hear from Him.

Take comfort that everyone who believed in Christ and His perfect sacrifice for sins on the cross, and later died, is with Him to this day, awaiting the moment He returns with them to give them resurrection bodies, and then change us into those bodies in the twinkling of an eye to then lift us up into heaven with Him.

An online friend sent a couple theology questions looking for biblical answers. Here is the answer I sent to one of them:

Have you seen the facebook posts quoting Leviticus about the significance of the right ear? What are your thoughts about that?

— I haven’t seen any of those posts, so I’m not aware of what in particular they say. But the one passage I can find in Leviticus that speaks about the right ear is one giving instructions on the sacrifice to consecrate the priests, beginning with Aaron and his sons who will serve as priests (in the Old Testament covenant of law with Israel.) Part of the instructions to sanctify the priests for service involves taking some of the blood from the sacrifice and putting it on the priest’s right ear, right thumb, and the big toe of the right foot. Then the rest of the blood is to be on the altar. This would set apart the priests for their priestly duties before the Lord’s altar, and I think that the three body parts cleansed with the blood are on the right because that symbolizes the favored side for serving. The right ear prepared the priest to hear God’s commandments, promises, and guidance. The thumb on the right hand prepared the priest to worship and serve the Lord with his work/actions. And the blood on the toe of the right foot prepared him to go wherever he was told to by the Lord.

Jesus, of course, fulfilled all of these things and every other priestly duty, as our Great High Priest, and as the Mediator of a new greater covenant. (Hebrews 4 and 8 for examples). With the ear, He listened to the Father before speaking on earth to us. (See John 12:49 for example) With His right hand, He served and obeyed the Father, completing the work He was sent to do. (See John 17:4 for example) With His foot, He went where He was sent by the Holy Spirit. (See Matthew 4:1 for example).

One of the things intense heat for several days does to me, and perhaps others, is make me show less patience and kindness. When that happens, I need a course correction, like the one the Spirit gave me in the night reminding me from the word that “patience and kindness are the first two items on the Love List in Paul’s letter to Corinth.” So the love I’m showing is deficient when patience and kindness are lacking in me.

Just a little lesson I learned that I’m sharing now with you, in case it applies.

The three-part story in Peter’s life of God changing everything in the church by sending the gospel to all nations, not only the Jews, completes with Peter’s return to Jerusalem and the apostles in Acts 11. His explanation of the vision contains very important lessons for every Christian and every church to learn today.

Imagine Christians singing the old hymn as if it said, “My hope is built on nothing MORE than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.” If the hymn were changed to that, it would be losing more than the rhyme from the original. You see, someone who hasn’t fully trusted in Christ for salvation will add something More that they put their hope in, in addition to Christ. “You have faith in Christ? Good. I have that and my baptism.” Or “I have faith and my works.” or “I have faith and my religious heritage/tradition.” or “I have faith and I keep the sabbath by worshipping Saturday.” Or, or, or….

The very scriptural hymn, though, reminds us that those adding more are actually placing their faith in LESS, not more, than the saved person is. Anything you add to faith alone in Christ alone is a subtraction–actually a complete negation–of the cross of Christ. (See Galatians 5:2)

Putting your faith in nothing more than Christ and His sacrifice for you is actually putting your faith in nothing less than the One thing it takes to save you. And there is no salvation to be found in Christ plus anything–only in Christ alone.

So here’s the hymn as it was rightly written. Sing it out if you know the tune, and put some emphasis on the word “less” as you celebrate the fact that nothing less than the infinite grace of God has saved you forever.

“My hope is built on nothing less

than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

but wholly lean on Jesus’ Name.

On Christ the Solid Rock I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

All other ground is sinking sand.”

In Acts 10 part 2, Peter preaches the gospel to the household of Cornelius and they hear, believe, receive the Holy Spirit, and are baptized in Jesus’ name. The Messiah of the Jews is bringing His eternal salvation to the nations. Hope is born for the world. And from this event we learn how God wants to use us to make Him known.

Greater Works – Visions from heaven

Our study of the life of Peter comes to the first half of Acts 10, and shows God opening His plan for His glorious salvation to be proclaimed to the nations, providing visions of instruction to prepare Peter to proclaim it and the gentiles to hear it. On both sides, their beliefs about themselves and the role of their faith will have to be course-corrected. An Old Testament dividing wall is about to be torn down, bringing about a change in the world that still affects us all two millenia later. And we as individual Christians will find in this message instruction and inspiration for our calling to greater works in the Lord’s service.

At the end of Acts 9, we see “Peter’s smaller miracles.” Like healing a lame man and then raising a woman from the dead. In light of Jesus’ words in John 14, those are the smaller miracles, which show God’s compassion and draw people’s attention to Him. The “greater works” of Peter’s ministry are about to expand as he and Israel shine Christ as a light to the gentiles and people are saved and given eternal life. In this Acts 9 passage, we see the stage set for those events in a way that teaches and motivates us to seek a summer of greater works.

In Acts 5, we see Peter’s first divine prison break, after which the apostles take their first beating for Christ. Their reaction and response is surprising, as well as instructive and inspiring, in ways you may never have noticed. This is the continuation of an ongoing sermon series “Growing in Grace” on the life of the apostle Peter.

“Peter the Powerful,” a sermon in the ongoing series on the life of Peter, looks at the end of Acts 4 and beginning of Acts 5, when God’s use of Peter as a preacher of truth, healer of the sick, righter of wrongs, and leader for the apostles, reaches its peak. The power is all God’s, of course, not man’s, and the Name of Jesus is the One being exalted through it all. At the center of the events is God’s swift and strong judgment of a married couple who tried to take some of that Name’s honor for themselves. Their quick deaths remain a dire warning for each of us today, and an all-important lesson for us to learn in our walk of faith.

Pride is never a virtuous thing. But pride in things that we should be ashamed of is pride of the worst kind. Our world today isn’t in need of more pride—there was never a time in history with a shortage of pride. When we follow our basest, darkest desires, we do things that should humiliate us. Our sexual sins of any kind or degree should be things we want to keep hidden because of shame. We shouldn’t want our nakedness exposed, nor our moral failings known. If as an individual, one of us reaches the point where he or she can engage in the worst behaviors their flesh is capable of desiring, and he or she feels no shame, that’s a level of lostness that should make him or her very sad. Because at that moment, there’s no reason for hope. Not hope of happiness. Not hope of life. Not hope of honor. Not hope of joy. Not hope of satisfaction. It’s just wallowing in darkness, and celebrating the condition of hopelessness. We’re all sinners, but we should all want our sins covered, not exposed and celebrated. We’re celebrating the very things that destroy us. That’s not sane. And it isn’t just happening to individuals anymore. Our whole world is joining in, not just doing these things, but celebrating those who do them. There is no lower point for our world to sink to. There is no reason for hope for society. But for individuals in darkness who seek hope, there is one place for it to be found. You see, the God who made us wants us to be cleansed and made whole. To have hope for satisfaction, joy, peace, love, honor, and glory. For most of human history, God provided a system of sacrifices that would cover the sins of those who believed. Their shame was covered and their lives could have hope for eternity. Then, when the time was right, God stepped into humanity, as the eternal Son of God made Himself flesh and walked among us in the person of Jesus Christ. Christ lived a sinless life without need of shame. He lived that perfect life on our behalf, in our place, so that His righteousness could earn us eternal life and joy with Him. Then, He took our shame upon Himself, along with all of our sin. He hung on a cross, naked and bleeding, exposed to the world, bearing the guilt and shame for all that we have done in our rebellion and the hopeless darkness of our depraved minds. He suffered in our place, because of our guilt. He bore our shame upon His own back. Then He died for us. He paid the price for our sins. He absorbed every ounce of the punishment we had earned. It was in our place, instead of us, that He died. He deflected God’s judgment from us by taking it Himself. Then three days later, He rose again to life, proving Himself to be God and proving He had paid the full price for our sins. He rose to life and promised eternal life, abundant life, salvation from condemnation in hell, peace, and eternal joy in heaven to everyone who believes on Him. Unlike the animal sacrifices that only temporarily covered sin and shame, He had become “the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world.” When you trust Jesus Christ to save you from your sins and the punishment for them, He doesn’t just cover your sin and shame; He takes it away—forever. Whatever kind of sexual activity or desire or identity has been yours up until this moment, don’t take pride or try to persuade yourself that you are fine as you are. God made you. He loves you, even though you’ve done wrong. He wants to give you life today. Let Him. Don’t listen to the voices of those who want you to stay in darkness and never-ending cravings that can never satisfy your heart. Come to Jesus. Drink of His living water by believing in Him and His promise: “I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish.” Don’t be lost anymore. Let Him rescue you today.