Getting Past the Past :: By Dennis Huebshman

Published on: by RR10 Category:General Articles

Take a few moments and consider just how miserable our existence would be if we didn’t have such a loving, caring, graceful and merciful Triune God. When God created the heavens and the earth and all the land and sea creatures, He very well could’ve stopped there and would not have had to tolerate any human weaknesses. However, He knew from the minute He put humans on this earth all that would take place from that time until the new heavens and new earth of Revelation 21 would be created. (ESV – all emphasis mine)

For anyone who doesn’t have a relationship with the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, this sounds almost too incredible to be possible. Unless someone is familiar with Genesis 1:3-5, they would not know that time was created for us, and our Heavenly Father is not bound by it.

Besides being Omniscient or all-knowing, Omnipotent or all-powerful, He is Omnipresent or everywhere at the same time. Consider what the Psalmist wrote in Psalms 139:7-12; “Where shall I go from Your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from Your presence? If I ascend to Heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, You are there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there Your hand shall lead me, and Your right hand shall hold me. If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me, and the light about me be night, even the darkness is not dark to You; the night is as bright as the day, for darkness is as light with You.”

No one can hide from our God. Hebrews 4:12-13; “For the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit; of joints and of marrow; and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from His sight, but all are naked and exposed to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.”

John 3:16 gives us the “God So Loved” promise that all who believe in His Son will have eternal life. This thought is continued in verses 18-20 to give us the consequences of not having Jesus as our Savior. “Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment; the Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the Light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the Light and does not come into the Light lest his works be exposed.”

Is it any wonder that Lucifer, Satan, or the devil is called the prince of darkness? Because of destructive self-pride (Isaiah 14:12-16; Ezekiel 28:13-19), he lost his position as an archangel and is destined to be cast into the lake of fire, which was made specifically for him and his followers (Matthew 25:41). That will take place at the end of our Savior’s 1,000-year reign on earth immediately at the end of the Tribulation/Wrath 7-year period.

Unlike humans, for whom our Savior shed His precious blood to offer us the gift of eternal life, Satan and the fallen angels have no pathway to forgiveness. They were already in the presence of our most Holy Heavenly Father and turned against Him and all that is good.

Humans have a choice, and we can repent and call on Jesus to be our Savior as long as we have not passed from this life. The steps are in Romans 10:9-13, and as verse 13 states, “All who call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” As I have said many times, God will force no one to receive and accept His Son but will accept all who truly call on Jesus to save them.

There is a song that was written by Anna Waterman in 1920 that is performed by the Gaither Vocal Band. It is called “Yes, I Know” and has a wonderful message about the Savior’s saving grace and how much He loves you. The chorus sums it up with “Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean.”

1.) Come, ye sinners lost and helpless, Jesus’ blood can make you free; for He saved the worst among you when He saved a wretch like me.

Ref) And I know, Yes, I know, Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean. And I know, Yes, I know, Jesus’ blood can make the vilest sinner clean.

2.) To the faint, He giveth power; through the mountains makes a way. Findeth water in the desert; turns the night to golden day. (ref)

3.) In temptation He is near thee; holds the powers of hell at bay. Guides you to the path of safety; gives you grace for every day. (ref)

4.) He will keep thee while the ages roll throughout eternity. Though earth hinders and hell rages, all must work for good to thee. (ref)

There is an urgency present today that this age is rapidly coming to a close. Next on the agenda is the 7-year tribulation, which will be the worst time this earth has ever experienced. All the signs are here now, and the changes started taking place within the past decade. Jesus said that when the signs begin to take place, our redemption is near (Luke 21:28). He called them “birthing pains.”

There is an obvious turning away by many from anything that has to do with the Savior and even from the Father. People would rather concentrate on what is available here and now than consider what will be their eternal destination. Again, the Father is not surprised by any of this.

At the Great White Throne of Revelation 20:11-15, every person there will be told exactly why they are in that line, the opportunities they had to choose a different path that would have led to eternal life with Jesus, and what degree of punishment they will be subjected to forever. Unlike earthly penal institutions, there will be no pardons, no parole, no limited sentences.

God doesn’t send any of us to hell but will allow us to choose to go there. He would much rather that all would repent and call on Jesus to save them, as given in 2 Peter 3:9.

Please take a few moments now to give some serious thought to where you will spend eternity if you were to leave earth right now. Heaven with Jesus, or hell with Satan. There are no third options. No one has sinned so great that they cannot be forgiven by the Savior.

Hoping, praying, and wishing that we will see you at the Homecoming!

Shalom!

huebshman46@gmail.com

19 Dec 2022

Published on: by RR7 Category:Israel Watch

More archaeological proof

Although this isn’t technically biblical history (though there are prophetic relevancies in Daniel), a new discovery in Israel lends credence to that history.

Recently a horde of silver coins from the era of the Maccabees was uncovered in the Negev. Once again, we find biblical-era figures in the secular record. Can we forget the 19th century conventional “wisdom” that said the Hittites never existed, and the biblical mention of them was therefore flawed?

Their existence was doubted because modern archaeology had not yet discovered them. It didn’t help that Darwinian philosophy was all the rage then, casting doubt on the historicity of the Bible. In other words, secularists wanted the Bible to be false. A person like that will find “evidence” to strengthen his argument.

Then of course, the Hittite civilization was found. In 1834, ruins were discovered at Kanesh. Since then, beginning with biblical archaeologist William Albright, the Bible’s truthfulness has been buttressed countless times in the sifted soil of the Middle East.

I am reminded here of the wonderful quote from the novelist, Walker Percy. He once wrote that he was puzzled as to why he never saw Hittites walking down the streets of New York City.

“But I do see Jews,” he wrote. You see his clever point: biblical history tells us that the Hittites eventually were lost to history, as all great civilizations are. Yet the Jews are eternal.

So it is that if one can cast doubt on the Bible, one can dismiss Jewish history and perhaps more importantly, deny their modern claims to the land. Men often go to absurd lengths to do this. Who can forget Yasser Arafat claiming he was descended from the Canaanites, therefore “Palestinian” rights to the land trumped Israel’s!

At any rate, I’ve seen marvelous archaeological sites myself in Israel. Th walls of Jerusalem at the time of the Babylonian invasion. The Temple Mount and its relics (ironically, many dug up by the Palestinians!). Acra, the fortress built by Antiochus Epiphanes in Jerusalem, but denied historically by the deniers, only to be discovered under a parking lot!

The lengthy list goes on.

The discovery of the silver from the time of Alexander the Great is wonderful. The tale is told in the book of 1 Maccabees, which of course is not in our Bible, but is a record of the revolt over persecutions launched by Antiochus a couple hundred years before Christ. This led to the rise of the family of Judah Maccabee; his family pushed back their tormentors and established a brief period of Jewish sovereignty in the land (before the Romans took over).

As with other conquering civilizations, the Jews ran afoul of the law when choosing to worship their one true God. This was the environment in the years after Persian rule, when the Greeks were on the ascent.

According to the Times of Israel:

“During rescue excavations in May, a small, incredibly preserved wooden box holding 15 silver tetradrachma coins was discovered in a cave in the Darageh Stream Nature Reserve. The coins were minted by Ptolemy VI, king of Egypt, and date to up to 170 BCE, which is just before Seleucid King Antiochus IV Epiphanes began handing down harsh measures against Jews’ freedom of worship.

“According to Eitan Klein of the Israel Antiquities Authority, which announced the find on Tuesday, the hoard was stashed by a fleeing Jew, who presumably subsequently died in the violence leading up to the Maccabean Revolt.”

You can rest assured that many more such discoveries will come to light in the future. For those who have ears to hear and eyes to see, biblical history will always shine bright.

Jim1fletcher@yahoo.com