Someone posted a question on social media last week: Is there any proof that Jesus actually rose from the dead?       Sometimes you just want to chuckle at people’s ignorance. Oh, the amount of proof is astonishing! How many people saw Him! How many testified that it was Jesus indeed! People even came back from the dead to give testimony to Jesus!       Jesus Christ, as resurrected, appeared to Mary Magdalene (Mt. 28:9-10, Jn. 20:11-17 – an “idle tale” Peter says, Lk. 24:11) and to the other women.       To Simon Peter (who must have swallowed his words; Lk. 24:34; I Cor. 15:5).       To the 11 Apostles (Lk 24:36-49; Jn. 20:19-23, 26-29; I Cor. 15:5), when Jesus ate some fish and had them touch Him to prove He was real flesh and not a ghost, even rebuking them for their unbelief and hardness of heart (Mk. 16:14).       To two disciples on the ...

Power to Raise the Dead.       Jesus, His disciples, and a great crowd went to the town of Naim. As they got there, they saw several men carrying a bier with a dead man on it, heading for burial. The man was the only son of a widow. Jesus had great compassion on her. “Do not weep,” He said. He approached the bier and said to the corpse, “Young man, I say to you arise.” The man sat up and began speaking. (Lk 7:11-17.)       Scripture tells us Jesus raised three people from the dead. In addition to this widow’s son, he raised Jarius’s daughter (Lk 8:41-42,49-56) and Lazarus of Bethany (John 11:1-45). In Israel’s history, by God’s power, the Prophet Elijah had raised the son of the widow of Zarephath after he had died (1 Kings 17:17-24), and Elijah’s successor, Elisha, likewise raised from the dead the only son of a couple from Shunem (2 Kings 4:32-35). All these “raisings” in Scripture were only the returning of natural human life after having died....

(5) Temple Prophecy, Foreign Kings, Herod's Rage. Later, 4 BC … The shepherd Samuel was back at his home in Hebron so I had a chance to visit with him and get the latest. They named Mary’s Baby, “Jesus” [Yeshua, Joshua, “the Lord saves”] ( Lk 2:21 ). I asked Samuel about the welfare of the little family – oh!, this winter has been so cold! His shepherd partner, Elijah, it turns out knew many people in Bethlehem, and a widow he knew gave the family a welcome in her home (cf., Mt 2:11 ). Oh, I couldn’t imagine a young woman giving birth in a stable and using a feed trough for the baby’s cradle! Ugg! ( Lk 2:7 , 12 , 16 .)  “But wait until you hear this!” Samuel said excitedly. “The Lord spoke again through prophets!” It seems Samuel was at the Temple in Jerusalem when Mary came for her purification and Jesus’ presentation as the firstborn male. ( Lk 2:22-24 .) Old Simeon was there. I met Simeon years ago – amazing he could still be alive – but, oh!, that’s right! He always said he...

(4) The Shepherds. The narrator, back home in Hebron now, Winter of 5-4 BC, and is telling his neighbors the story ..... How amazing! Amazing! Amazing! Yes, Samuel – you know the shepherd here in Hebron – he was there! He saw it all! Remember Elizabeth’s cousin Mary who was here last Spring helping them out when baby John was born? She is the mother! Samuel saw her, her husband Joseph, and the Baby! We were coming on the road home from the census and ran into Samuel and he told us the whole story! Ok, yes, yes, I’ll start from the beginning.  Samuel was with about a dozen shepherds and one of them, Elijah, had been with his flock earlier in the day when he said Mary – very much expecting! – and Joseph, her husband, came along the road. Elijah let their donkey pasture and got fresh milk from his ewes for Mary. When he learned they were going to Bethlehem for the census, he told them how crowded it was. But in case they can’t find shelter, he told them about the caves used as sta...

Life in This World: You Will Be Hated. Last week we looked at what Jesus and the Bible tells us about how live in the here and now – which is to live only in Christ, abiding in Him. The Bible has still more to say on this. Jesus tells us that we, though living now in this world, are actually no more of the world, just like He, when He walked the Earth, was not of this world ( Jn 17:16 ; cf. 17:20 ). Yet Christ has no intention of removing us from the world but intercedes for us that we be protected from the devil ( Jn 17:14-16 ; Mt 6:13 ).  So He does want us in this world. There’s no mistake. We’re supposed to be here. In fact, Christ has sent us into the world ( Jn 17:18 ). He wants us to be consecrated in truth ( Jn 17:19 ), to bear witness to the truth ( 1 Jn 4:14-15 ), and to preach the Gospel ( Mk 14:9 , 16:15 ). At the same time we must guard ourselves from getting contaminated by the world ( Jas 1:27 ), must not love the world ( 1 Jn 2:15 ), nor model ourselves on t...

Life in This World: Only in Christ       In our series of articles on what Jesus and the Bible tell us about life in this world, we now want to focus specifically on what the Bible says about how live in the here and now.       We who were fallen “in” Adam (as our head), are now risen “in” Christ (as our new head; 1 Cor 15:21-22 ). To put it another way, when we abide in Christ, we are made alive together with Christ, are spiritually raised up with Him [in His Resurrection and Ascension], and spiritually made to sit with Him in the heavenly places ( Eph 2:5-6 ). If this is true, and it is, what does that mean? Well, if we have been raised with Christ, then we must seek the things that are above, to set our minds on things above not on earth ( Col 3:1-2 ). Start living in heaven now. Paul says to put to death what is earthly in us, such as immorality, our passions and vices, and to put on the new man ( Col 3:5-17 ) – our new being now in Christ. To...

Idolatry and the Enemy's Lies.       Lastweek’s article began to address what the Bible tell us about dealing with the evil and demonic in the world. One way evil deceives is under the lie of occult powers or other “gods.”       Let’s consider the experience of one person, we’ll call him Jack. Jack had no religious information in his family growing up, but he had some sense there had to be something more. By the time of his marriage, then birth of his first child, it just made sense that there must be a God.       Now Christianity recognizes that there are some truths about God that people can reach by natural, God-given reason. Jack is at this point. He has a general belief in God because his reason and life experience persuade him it must be so. So he seeks to live a good and loving life the best he can based on that understanding. Hopefully this general belief will enable his to inquire further and, in God’s grace, com...

The Evil of this World         We are continuing in our series about what Jesus and the Bible say about the world and how to live in it. Last week’s article focused on what Jesus, who is the Truth, tells us about the world. In the process, we got an overview of who Jesus is, what He has done, how He has overcome the world, and how He now reigns over the world.       Reading last week’s article , were you surprised at how many of the Scriptural references refer to the devil and his demons? Amazing, isn’t it? When we look at those Scriptures we see quite clearly that Jesus came to overcome the devil and his evil, and they are very real indeed.       A couple weeks ago a YouTube video by a guy called “JP” went around social media. It is titled, “ Why I Changed My Mind About Evil! (I Was WRONG) .” In his own humorous way, JP basically says that in the past he could brush off the idea of evil, the devil and demons, but no...

The Reign of Christ over This World.       “What will it profit a person to gain the whole world if he loses his own soul?” ( Mt16:26 ; Mk 8:36 ; Lk 9:25 .)       “World,” of course can mean the physical universe. “World” is also used in the Bible to refer to the collection of forces of opposition to God. “Worldliness.” Anti-God.       So what if a person gains everything this world has to offer – riches, pleasures, honors and respect, power and authority over others, self-satisfaction – all of it! But if you lose your soul, your personhood, your life? If you end up apart from God by your own choice? That’s Hell. You’ve given your soul to the devil. Jesus says your soul – destined for eternity – is worth more than the whole world. But you’ve tossed it away.       So let’s look at what Jesus, the Truth, tells us about this world. First, He’s not of this world ( Jn 8:23 , 17:14 ). The world doesn’t k...

Meditation on the Two Standards of the Two Kingdoms. Last week we spoke of two kingdoms within this world. We have only the two options: to live according to the kingdom of this world and the devil, or according to the kingdom of Jesus Christ. There is no other option. To serve self is to serve the devil.  Bob Dylan laid it out it in his 1980 Grammy award-winning song:  But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed You’re gonna have to serve somebody Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord But you’re gonna have to serve somebody. In his Spiritual Exercises , St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556) has a Meditation on Two Standards . Ignatius had been a soldier. The “standard” is the banner held high in battle signifying the lord under whom the soldiers serve. Ignatius begins this meditation – and we might follow along – as follows: “This is the history. Here it will be that Christ calls and wants all beneath His standard, and Lucifer, on the other ha...

The World's Two Kingdoms.         In our series reviewing what Jesus Christ and the Bible tell us about the world, we have so far reviewed that the world as created by God is good, although now in a “fallen” state because of the entrance of the evil which fallen angels (devil, demons) and humans brought into the world ( Gen 3 ). Due to such rebellion, creation now suffers death ( Wis2:24 ) and decay ( Ro 8:20-23 ), and is under the power of the devil, its ruler ( Jn 12:31 ; 14:30 ; 16:11 ; 2 Cor 4:4 ). But we also know God has a plan that is being worked out in history.       Then what is the world’s destiny? On the one hand, the world is to be condemned ( 1Cor 11:32 ) and punished ( Is 13:11 ) for its evil. Yet just as God’s grace has prepared the means of salvation for humanity so that we need not be condemned ( 1Cor 11:32 ), there will similarly be a “new creation,” a “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” ( 2 Pet 3:13...