General Articles

Taking Out the Garbage :: By Grant Phillips

Published on: by RR7

 

A lot of guys don’t like taking out the garbage. As for me, I like seeing it gone. As soon as it starts accumulating, I round it up and get it to the outside garbage container. We have made a habit of putting nothing perishable into our kitchen garbage container unless it is first placed in a zip lock bag. Also, nothing is placed in the outside garbage container unless it is in a garbage bag.

Why do we dispose of our garbage? (Others may not go to the lengths we do, but hopefully, they still take out the garbage.) For that matter, why do we flush the toilet after each use?

I got to thinking about this the other day from a spiritual standpoint. Don’t we do these things to rid ourselves of something offensive?

Why do we bathe or shower? Have you ever smelled someone who seldom did so? There’s your answer.

It’s not rocket science. We remove certain things in our lives simply because they are offensive, and the longer they hang around, the more offensive they become.

When I began this article, I first changed the word “garbage” to “trash” because “garbage” just sounds so “offensive,” but the more I thought about it, I decided to change the word “trash” back to “garbage” because sin IS offensive. We need to realize that there is nothing pretty or nice-smelling about sin.

Think about this … sin is even more putrid to God than it is to you and me. Don’t think so? Jesus died for us that we might be free of sin, its corruption, and its penalty. Sounds to me like sin is really bad.

If you have a minute, let’s take a quick mental journey together.

On the shores of Guadalcanal on August 7, 1942, or Normandy on June 6, 1944, once lay the mangled bodies of many soldiers. Sin brought death to a lot of good men.

Stand on the corner of Anywhere, USA and witness pimps auctioning off ladies for sex.

Travel with me to the red-light district of most large cities and behold the decadence that prevails.

Visit the hospitals of any town or city and witness the pain, misery and death that sin rewards all mankind.

No community is exempt of broken homes where every imaginable atrocity is laid upon the backs of the innocent.

Lest you think I forgot, many of our churches have become bastions of greed, pride, sexual perversion, and denial of the Jesus they say they represent.

Mankind is drunk on sin. No beverage could ever bring us to the level of intoxication that sin has dealt us. We are so sloppy drunk we don’t know which end to put our pants on, or for that matter, whether it should be pants or a dress.

Any sin is egregious (outstandingly bad) to God Almighty, but we have sunk to depths unknown in the sewers of sin, and it would make previous generations blush at our decadence. Why do I say that? I say that because we should know better.

“And that servant who knew his master’s will, and did not prepare himself or do according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. But he who did not know, yet committed things deserving of stripes, shall be beaten with few. For everyone to whom much is given, from him much will be required; and to whom much has been committed, of him they will ask the more” (Luke 12:47-48).

We today have the entire Word of God at our fingertips. Someone may say on judgment day they didn’t read it, so they didn’t know. That’s your fault. At least in this country (for now), anyone can get a Bible, even free of charge. Everything you need to know is there.

It is so easy for us to plunge to the depths of sin. For example, those hooked on drugs or pornography try it once. Then they try it again. Each time gets easier, and each time they need a greater fix until they are trapped by its tentacles. Another example; that first lie affected our conscience, but the second, third and fourth were easier and easier, until we became a habitual liar. This shows just how easy it is to be overcome with sin, but only one who is pure and without sin can see just how horrible sin really is. That someone is Jesus.

Do you know that God has been taking out the garbage since Adam and Eve brought down that old sin nature upon us all? Over the last 6,000 thousand years, roughly, mankind has not only garbage-dumped planet Earth, but even more importantly, we have corrupted ourselves. We have become the offensive garbage container of sin to a holy and righteous God. He is without sin. We are loaded with it, and no matter how much we scrub, it remains.

“As it is written: ‘There is none righteous, no, not one; There is none who understands; There is none who seeks after God. They have all turned aside; They have together become unprofitable; There is none who does good, no, not one.’ ‘Their throat is an open tomb; With their tongues they have practiced deceit’; ‘The poison of asps is under their lips’; ‘Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness.’ ‘Their feet are swift to shed blood; Destruction and misery are in their ways; And the way of peace they have not known.’ ‘There is no fear of God before their eyes'” (Romans 3:10-18).

You and I can attempt to overcome sin on our own, but as long as we are in these earthly bodies, that old sin nature within us will just keep pumping out garbage. Only the blood of Jesus Christ can make us new, not merely like new, but NEW.

“without shedding of blood there is no remission” (Hebrews 9:22b).

God has given us more than we can ever comprehend. We started out with a beautiful, garbage-free, sin-free world, but we chose through Eve and her husband Adam that we could take God’s place. Did not the serpent say, “For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil”? (Genesis 3:5). Be like God! Hardly! We became fools instead … Satan’s suckers.

In Genesis 3:15, God said He would send a Redeemer, and all who would come to Him believing would be saved. He would rid this world of Satan and make a whole new world for those spiritually born into His family.

Man has a natural tendency to attempt his own salvation. Listen, I can take the garbage out at our house, but there is nothing I can do to make it, the garbage, smell better. On the other hand, God can because He can remove it once for all.

Even in the saintliest of minds, we are corrupted with the garbage of sin in our very being. We can work all our lives trying to remove that nauseating smell of sin, but only the blood of Jesus Christ can cleanse us and set us free.

“Come now, and let us reason together,’ Says the LORD, ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool'” (Isaiah 1:18).

When we come in faith to Jesus, asking Him to save us and clean us up, He does so. How is it that He can change a smelly old sinner? He removes the self-righteous garbage from our life and then clothes us with His own righteousness.

“But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts” (Romans 13:14).

“and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith” (Philippians 3:9).

Doesn’t it seem the more we try to remove the garbage in our lives, we no sooner get it out the back door than it’s coming back in the front door? The apostle Paul wrestled with this. He talks about it in Romans chapter seven.

All of us are sinners (Romans 3:23). The difference between a believer and an unbeliever is that a believer is a saved sinner and has a home waiting in Heaven, but an unbeliever is a lost sinner bound for hell.

How can we have our sins forgiven and be saved by the blood of Jesus Christ?

“For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Corinthians 5:21).

Jesus took our sin and its penalty upon Himself. In exchange, He gives us His righteousness. You just can’t top that!

Grant Phillips

Email: Phillip5769@twc.com
Pre-Rapture Commentary: http://grant-phillips.blogspot.com
Rapture Ready: https://www.raptureready.com/featured/phillips/phillips.html

Connecting the Prophecies of Ezekiel and Daniel :: By Gene Lawley

Published on: by RR7

 

The prophecies of Ezekiel are written to the Jews, and those of Daniel bring in secular events that involve Jewish people and the nation of Israel. Look at Ezekiel 37, which tells of the restoration of Israel out of the ashes of history to become a sovereign nation—so created by a decree of the United Nations.

In Ezekiel 37, the prophet sees a valley of dry bones that began to take on flesh and sinews in restoration (verse 6). Promise fulfilled—Ezekiel 37:11-14. We can date this event over the period of about 1870 to May 14, 1948, when Jews began to return to the land until its birth in one day as a new nation.

Now look at Luke 21:28-33 for the update to the present time:

“Now when these things begin to happen, look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.

“Then He spoke to them a parable: ‘Look at the fig tree, and all the trees. When they are already budding, you see and know for yourselves that summer is now near. So you also, when you see these things happening, know that the kingdom of God is near.

“Assuredly, I say to you, this generation will by no means pass away till all things take place. Heaven and earth will pass away, but My words will by no means pass away.'” (Underscored for emphasis—it is not the generation of the first century, but that one in which these things will happen and are happening.)

The next thing mentioned in Ezekiel after the dry bones become alive again is in Ezekiel 37:26: “Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them, and it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; I will establish them and multiply them, and I will set My sanctuary in their midst forevermore.” (Is that sanctuary a reference to the Messiah?) This promise clearly indicates that God will not ever turn from His chosen people of Abraham and not complete His plan for them. In other words, there is no such thing as a valid “replacement theology.”

Parallel with this promise in Ezekiel is that of Daniel 9:27, which says this one who arises from the heritage of the Romans will “confirm a covenant with many for one week (of seven years).” The Jews will endorse this one because its perpetrator is seen as their friend, even as perhaps the Messiah to come, especially since he also authorizes the rebuilding of their temple. (And he has no nail holes in his hands or feet.)

Notice that these two promises are events that deal with the Jews. In order for the one in Daniel to happen, something must happen that will allow that one of Roman heritage to appear with authority to confirm a covenant and allow the Jews to rebuild their temple.

This one of Roman heritage, therefore, cannot be one coming out of obscurity suddenly to gain the authority required for these things; certainly not. Something dramatic must take place.

What is missing? It is an event that is not Jewish related, not a Jewish event—the Rapture, of course. It is a non-Jewish happening, for it is the “snatching out” of all the believers in Christ to allow the Antichrist to be revealed, the culmination of that “falling away” prediction in 2 Thessalonians 2:3-7. Therefore, the reading of 1 Thessalonians 5:2-3 has two parts, as, “For you yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night” (then the break-in events and the Rapture occurs, and the prophecy turns to its focus on the Jews, saying, “For when they shall say, ‘Peace and safety,’ sudden destruction comes upon them, as labor pains come upon a pregnant woman, and they shall not escape.”

The narrative goes back to those who are in the Rapture, saying in verses 4-5: “But you, brethren, are not in darkness, so that this Day should overtake you as a thief. You are all sons of light and sons of the day. We are not of the night nor of darkness.”

The labor pains of a pregnant woman continue until the baby is born; therefore, that comparison may well be pointing to the seven years of tribulation, truly that 70th year of Daniel’s earlier prophecy in Daniel 9; for that period is purely for God’s promise of judgment for the Jews.

Back to Ezekiel again, we find no mention of a Rapture after God’s promise of an everlasting covenant, but that prophecy goes right to the coming Gog-Magog invasion of Israel. Daniel does not identify this event, unless it is included in the “sudden destruction” mentioned by Paul. Daniel does not name it as Ezekiel does. Thus, we see “wars and rumors of wars” mentioned in the prophetic accounts told by Jesus, but not with specific names, such as 1st and 2nd world wars. It is interesting that Daniel continues with actions of this new arrival, the Antichrist, while Ezekiel goes directly to the Gog-Magog war, followed directly with rebuilding the Jewish temple, beginning in Ezekiel 40.

Despite opinions to the contrary, it does appear that the flow of end-time events is basically in chronological order. The authority for the judgment of the tribulation period is determined in Revelation 5, and 6 is a preview of what will happen in those times ahead. Jesus, the Christ, opens each seal which reveals the content of the future judgments, with seal five featuring the main issue of the first half of the seven years, the ministry and results of the 144,000 young Jewish evangelists, reported in Revelation 7.

The sixth seal depicts the Great Tribulation when the Satan-empowered Antichrist activates the Mark of the Beast and those who do not take the mark are methodically slaughtered. Zachariah 13:8 reports that two-thirds of the Jews are killed, but God intervenes, and one-third of them are saved from Satan’s wrath (see Rev. 12:13-14).

Along with this, as those times wind down, we are told of the marriage banquet of the Lamb, followed by a final battle when forces of evil are defeated, the Antichrist and his false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire, and Satan is bound in the bottomless pit for a thousand years. This begins the millennium, meaning a thousand years with Christ personally ruling the world “with a rod of iron” from His throne in Zion, the city of David, in Jerusalem. Contrary to growing opinion (apparently), I am certain that God knows how long a millennium is, for sure. But of course, believers of today and the past will not be here to experience those events.

In conclusion, it is clear that God is not confused with all of these intricate details in the Word, but the student must search them out while keeping in mind the total attributes of God. One timely reminder from Jude 1:3, which obligates us to “earnestly contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the saints,” is that Jude made that declaration before the end of that first century. It was after that century that the development of so many false doctrines and deviations from that true body of faith has occurred. Mankind thinks he has the ability and right to “improve” on what is the eternal Word of God. Again, it brings to mind Proverbs 9:10, “Fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.”

Contact email: andwegetmercy@gmail.com