Wednesday Bible Study John Chapter 1 Verse 6

All glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

Turn to John chapter 1. Today we will studying verse 6.

6 There came a man sent from God, whose name was John.

It is at this point I need to make a very clear distinction. To my knowledge, there are only three Johns in the Bible. The first would be John Mark or the Apostle Mark. The Apostle Mark was rarely called by his first name John. The second would be the Apostle John son of Zebedee. The Apostle John who wrote the Book of John, First John, Second John and Third John and the Book of Revelation. And the last would be John the Baptist, who is the topic of our discussion in verse 6. So to be clear, John the Baptist is not John the Apostle, son of Zacharias. John the Baptist never wrote anything in the bible; his job was to herald the coming of the Lamb of God.. So let’s find out who John the Baptist was and what he did.

We turn to Luke 1 and find out the unusual circumstances of John the Baptist’s birth. Luke is where we get most, if not all of our information about John the Baptist’s birth.

Luke 1
5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zacharias, of the division of Abijah; and he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth.

6 They were both righteous in the sight of God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and requirements of the Lord.

7 But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren, and they were both advanced in years.

8 Now it happened that while he was performing his priestly service before God in the appointed order of his division,

9 according to the custom of the priestly office, he was chosen by lot to enter the temple of the Lord and burn incense.

10 And the whole multitude of the people were in prayer outside at the hour of the incense offering.

11 And an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing to the right of the altar of incense.

12 Zacharias was troubled when he saw the angel, and fear gripped him.

13 But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zacharias, for your petition has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you will give him the name John.

14 You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.

15 For he will be great in the sight of the Lord; and he will drink no wine or liquor, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit while yet in his mother’s womb.

16 And he will turn many of the sons of Israel back to the Lord their God.

17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

18 Zacharias said to the angel, “How will I know this for certain? For I am an old man and my wife is advanced in years.”

19 The angel answered and said to him, “I am Gabriel, who stands in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.

20 And behold, you shall be silent and unable to speak until the day when these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their proper time.”

21 The people were waiting for Zacharias, and were wondering at his delay in the temple.

22 But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them; and they realized that he had seen a vision in the temple; and he kept making signs to them, and remained mute.

23 When the days of his priestly service were ended, he went back home.

24 After these days Elizabeth his wife became pregnant, and she kept herself in seclusion for five months, saying,

25 “This is the way the Lord has dealt with me in the days when He looked with favor upon me, to take away my disgrace among men.”

A couple thoughts on this. First, how God uses attributes of us as unmistakable signs to all. It is well known that people of advanced age do not have babies, yet Abraham and Sarah did and now Zacharias and Elizabeth have also been used as a mighty symbol by our God to show them and us that he is Sovereign Over All. We need to remember this in these days of panic and uncertainty. Both couples were of an advanced age and had a child, by the Grace of God. Both children ushered in something new and wonderful. Isaac fulfilled the prophecy of the Jews and the lineage of Jesus and John foretold of the coming of Christ and our salvation.

Next thought would be Elijah. The angel Gabriel spoke of this in Verse 17 of Luke 1.

17 It is he who will go as a forerunner before Him in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers back to the children, and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous, so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

We now turn to Malachi.
Malachi 4:5-6
5 “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord.

6 He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

Also in Isaiah 40:3
A voice is calling,
“Clear the way for the Lord in the wilderness;
Make smooth in the desert a highway for our God.

So we find that Elijah will come before the Lamb of God comes, to restore the hearts of the children to their fathers so that God would not come and smite their land with a curse. The Pharisees knew this and that is why they asked John “who are you?” That part is coming in a later part of this chapter.

In the time of Jesus, messianic expectation was never far from the surface, and speculation was that both John the Baptist and Jesus were the reappearances of ancient biblical figures.

In Matthew 16:13–16
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”

We come now to the angel Gabriel. At first I thought he had not been given a sense of irony or humor, but now I think Zacharias’ silence was to be used as another mighty sign.

We continue with John’s story.

Luke 1:57-80
57 Now the time had come for Elizabeth to give birth, and she gave birth to a son.

58 Her neighbors and her relatives heard that the Lord had displayed His great mercy toward her; and they were rejoicing with her.

59 And it happened that on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child, and they were going to call him Zacharias, after his father.

60 But his mother answered and said, “No indeed; but he shall be called John.”

61 And they said to her, “There is no one among your relatives who is called by that name.”

62 And they made signs to his father, as to what he wanted him called.

63 And he asked for a tablet and wrote as follows, “His name is John.” And they were all astonished.

64 And at once his mouth was opened and his tongue loosed, and he began to speak in praise of God.

65 Fear came on all those living around them; and all these matters were being talked about in all the hill country of Judea.

66 All who heard them kept them in mind, saying, “What then will this child turn out to be?” For the hand of the Lord was certainly with him.

And Zacharias praised the Lord for the birth of his son and has a prophecy.

67 And his father Zacharias was filled with the Holy Spirit, and prophesied, saying:

68 “Blessed be the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited us and accomplished redemption for His people,

69 And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of David His servant—

70 As He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets from of old—

71 Salvation from our enemies,
And from the hand of all who hate us;

72 To show mercy toward our fathers,
And to remember His holy covenant,

73 The oath which He swore to Abraham our father,
74 To grant us that we, being rescued from the hand of our enemies,
Might serve Him without fear,

75 In holiness and righteousness before Him all our days.

76 “And you, child, will be called the prophet of the Most High;
For you will go on before the Lord to prepare His ways;

77 To give to His people the knowledge of salvation
By the forgiveness of their sins,

78 Because of the tender mercy of our God,
With which the Sunrise from on high will visit us,

79 To shine upon those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death,
To guide our feet into the way of peace.”

80 And the child continued to grow and to become strong in spirit, and he lived in the deserts until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

I call this a good start to understanding this man sent from God, whose name was John.

“Grace and peace be yours in abundance, through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.” 2 Pet. 1:2

Wednesday Bible Study John 1:1-5

All Glory to God the Father and to our Savior Jesus Christ

Let us turn to John 1

John 1: 1-5
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

The Apostle John – known simply as the disciple whom Jesus loved. John never refers to himself in his own gospel, except as the one whom Jesus loved. Early Church fathers consistently identify him as John. In fact, Polycarp, an early Church father, was an actual disciple of John. Polycarp lived from 70 to 160 AD and testified that John wrote his gospel in the city of Ephesus, which is in Asia Minor, when John was at an advanced age. John was aware of what was written in the other gospels, and the Holy Spirit compelled him to write a spiritual gospel. They believe John to have died around 100 AD and to the best of my knowledge, he did not die a martyr, which would make him the only one of the disciples not to have been a martyr.

We find an interesting reference to this in John 21.
Our Lord is calling Peter to task. Peter, as Peter always does, is being a bit rebellious, but had finally accepted what Jesus had been asking him, which was “Tend my Sheep” and “Follow Me!”
Jesus then tells Peter that his path to follow would be a hard one. I think that maybe there might be a bit of tension between John and Peter. This was before the Holy Spirit was sent to indwell them (Acts 2:3), when all lessons by Christ were understood and the Love that Christ commanded them to have for each other took hold.

John 13:34-35

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

35 By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Getting back to our Peter story, we find this in John 21:20-23

20 Peter, turning around, *saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following them; the one who also had leaned back on His bosom at the supper and said, “Lord, who is the one who betrays You?”

21 So Peter seeing him *said to Jesus, “Lord, and what about this man?”

22 Jesus *said to him, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you? You follow Me!”

23 Therefore this saying went out among the brethren that that disciple would not die; yet Jesus did not say to him that he would not die, but only, “If I want him to remain until I come, what is that to you?”

(I find I share a lot of the mule-headedness that Peter had.)

Jesus met John and his brother James, while they were in their father’s boat, mending nets. They both immediately got up and followed Jesus.

Matthew 4:21-22

21 Going on from there He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets; and He called them.

22 Immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed Him.

Both of them were called the Sons of Thunder by Jesus. And we can see perhaps an example of this.

Luke 9:51-55

51 When the days were approaching for His ascension, He was determined to go to Jerusalem;

52 And He sent messengers on ahead of Him, and they went and entered a village of the Samaritans to make arrangements for Him.

53 But they did not receive Him, because He was traveling toward Jerusalem.

54 When His disciples James and John saw this, they said, “Lord, do You want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?”

55 But He turned and rebuked them, and said, “You do not know what kind of spirit you are of;

56 for the Son of Man did not come to destroy men’s lives, but to save them.” And they went on to another village.

They were a tad zealous in how they approached things. We also know that John and his brother came from an ambitious family. Their Mother approached Jesus and asked of Him something He could not grant.

Matthew 20:20-28

20 Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee came to Jesus with her sons, bowing down and making a request of Him.

21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?” She *said to Him, “Command that in Your kingdom these two sons of mine may sit one on Your right and one on Your left.”

22 But Jesus answered, “You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink?” They *said to Him, “We are able.”

23 He *said to them, “My cup you shall drink; but to sit on My right and on My left, this is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by My Father.”

24 And hearing this, the ten became indignant with the two brothers.

25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them.

26 It is not this way among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant,

27 and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave;

28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

All of the disciples were wrangling for more honor and glory in what they perceived to be Jesus’s mission here on earth. It was of their nature, because they were born of sin, as we ourselves are.

Review:

This first chapter of John starts out in something that causes awe in me.

1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

There is no reference in the Bible as to Jesus being called the Word of God, but we do find in John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

So the Bible ends up explaining itself. Jesus was there in the beginning, with God and also being God. Our Trinity is one God with 3 persons. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Sometimes hard to wrap our head around it, but that’s where Faith comes in.

2 He was in the beginning with God.

Again to reinforce the concept, Jesus was there, in the beginning, before time and the universe as we understand it, began. The Word, as Jesus, enjoyed all the splendors of heaven and eternity with the Father, yet He came down to earth in the form of man and died on the cross, emptying Himself, so that we who believe might live. A gift too awesome to really understand.

3 All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.

Jesus Christ was God the Father’s agent in creating everything in the universe.

Colossians 1:16-17

For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him.

17 He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.

Hebrews 1:2,4

2 In these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world.

4 In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

Light and life are qualities of the Word that are shared not only among the Godhead as found in John 5:26 For just as the Father has life in Himself, even so He gave to the Son also to have life in Himself;

But also by those that respond to the gospel message regarding Jesus Christ.
Found in John 8:12, 9:5, 10:28, 11:25, 14:6. John uses the word “life” 36 times in his gospel. More than any other gospel.

5 The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.

Proverbs 4:19 The way of the wicked is like darkness;
They do not know over what they stumble.

Just as a single candle can overcome a room full of darkness, the powers of darkness are overcome by the work of the Son, through his death on the cross.

Numbers 6:22-26 “The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace.”

Isaiah 59

All Glory to God the Father

Let us turn to Isaiah 59

Separation from God

1 Behold, the Lord’s hand is not so short
That it cannot save;
Nor is His ear so dull
That it cannot hear.

The Lord’s strength is more than adequate to bring deliverance to captive Israel and to us today. His ear is attuned to the call of His repentant people. We are His people and can claim Abraham as our Father, just as the Jews do. Let us look at Romans 4 verses 9 to 12:

9 Is this blessing then on the circumcised, or on the uncircumcised also? For we say, “Faith was credited to Abraham as righteousness.” 10 How then was it credited? While he was circumcised, or uncircumcised? Not while circumcised, but while uncircumcised; 11 and he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had while uncircumcised, so that he might be the father of all who believe without being circumcised, that righteousness might be credited to them, 12 and the father of circumcision to those who not only are of the circumcision, but who also follow in the steps of the faith of our father Abraham which he had while uncircumcised.

God always had planned for Gentiles to be included in His Grace and Mercy, to be offered His hand in saving Grace and salvation. The Jews were to be His ambassadors and priests to the world. But the Jews were stiff necked and not accepting of His Son, the Messiah and our Savior.

We must remember that God is always available and fully capable of helping His people. God never moves away from His people, they move away from Him. He hears and answers prayers, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.

2 But your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God,
And your sins have hidden His face from you so that He does not hear.

Who has separated from whom? Has God left us or have we left him? If our prayers are not answered, and the salvation we wait for is not brought unto us, it is not because God is weary of hearing prayer, but because we are weary of praying. If you are persistent in sin, you have in fact caused God to hide His face from you and He will give you up to your sin. As in Romans 1 verses 24 to 25:

24 Therefore God gave them over in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, so that their bodies would be dishonored among them. 25 For they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.

3 For your hands are defiled with blood
And your fingers with iniquity;
Your lips have spoken falsehood,
Your tongue mutters wickedness.

It sounds like Romans 1 is the right place to continue. Verses 28 to 32.

28 And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper, 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greed, evil; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malice; they are gossips, 30 slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unmerciful; 32 and although they know the ordinance of God, that those who practice such things are worthy of death, they not only do the same, but also give hearty approval to those who practice them.

4 No one sues righteously and no one pleads honestly.
They trust in confusion and speak lies;
They conceive mischief and bring forth iniquity.

We are puffed up with pride and will do, or say, anything to save face. We will tell a lie, if it will sway the decision for us. We are lost to sin and nothing has changed from then to now. Isaiah is telling his people that their hearts and minds are stayed on evil.

5 They hatch adders’ eggs and weave the spider’s web;
He who eats of their eggs dies,
And from that which is crushed a snake breaks forth.

This is speaking of the evil imaginations they hatch in their evil minds. They tell one lie upon another to catch a person in their evil web. Those who associate with them become just as evil as they are. How is it that we think that we can associate with satan and not be affected? And satan quite often comes in the guise of a believer, someone you would trust, who would beguile you with a smooth message that makes sense. Remember what happened with Eve.

6 Their webs will not become clothing,
Nor will they cover themselves with their works;
Their works are works of iniquity,
And an act of violence is in their hands.

They are not weaving material for garments to help someone. They are weaving to trap someone who is unaware, like a spider would. Their works help no one at all. They are works that are useless.

This we have seen in our own society in recent years, that acts of iniquity and violence destroy, they do not build.

7 Their feet run to evil,
And they hasten to shed innocent blood;
Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity,
Devastation and destruction are in their highways.

This seems to be taken from Proverbs 1 verse 16:
For their feet run to evil And they hasten to shed blood.

The words focused on the national depravity of Israel that stood in the way of God’s deliverance. Paul showed that what was true of sinful Israel is indicative of the depravity of all mankind; Romans 3 verses 15 to 17:
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 in their paths are ruin and misery,
17 and the way of peace they have not known.”
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

8 They do not know the way of peace,
And there is no justice in their tracks;
They have made their paths crooked,
Whoever treads on them does not know peace.

The way of peace they know not. Neither the way of peace with God, supposing it is to be made by man, and not by Christ; and are ignorant of the steps and methods taken to procure it.
Look closely at our present day and marvel at what was spoken 2600 years ago is so true in our day and time. We who do everything possible to avoid discomfort, boredom and drudgery and are so easily swayed by what the world wants of us in our churches. We have churches that have ordained gay/lesbian clergy, who support Planned Parenthood (63 million abortions), who say they believe the God of the Bible, but not the bible itself. And yet we are so incurious as to even bother to find out any of these things, but willingly sit in the pew and let life slide by.

A Confession of Wickedness

9 Therefore justice is far from us,
And righteousness does not overtake us;
We hope for light, but behold, darkness,
For brightness, but we walk in gloom.

Because we have no regard for justice or honesty, God will not plead our cause against our oppressors; He does not defend our rights, nor avenge our wrongs; as if he had said, If we had executed judgment and equity among one another, they would not now have been far from us.

John 11:10 “But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him.”

Jesus says walk in the Light.

John 8:12 “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

The secret to all of this, is repenting and coming to God, so that the Light will guide you.

10 We grope along the wall like blind men,
We grope like those who have no eyes;
We stumble at midday as in the twilight,
Among those who are vigorous we are like dead men.

They have eyes to see, but they do not see. Their sin has blinded them. Their spirit is dead.

11 All of us growl like bears,
And moan sadly like doves;
We hope for justice, but there is none,
For salvation, but it is far from us.

They are in desperate need of a Savior. God could not wait until they, or we, deserved to be saved, because they could not pull themselves out of the darkness. God sent His Son to bring the Light to the world, so that whosoever would could be saved.

When the Light of Jesus shines in your life, it does away with all darkness. They just need Jesus, their Messiah to come and awaken them.

12 For our transgressions are multiplied before You,
And our sins testify against us;
For our transgressions are with us,
And we know our iniquities:

If we shut our eyes against the light of Divine truth, it is just with God to hide from our eyes the things that belong to our peace. The sins of those who profess themselves God’s people, are worse than the sins of others. And the sins of a nation bring public judgments, when not restrained by public justice. Men may murmur under calamities, but nothing will truly profit while they reject Christ and his gospel.

13 Transgressing and denying the Lord,
And turning away from our God,
Speaking oppression and revolt,
Conceiving in and uttering from the heart lying words.

Luke 6:45 “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.”

14 Justice is turned back,
And righteousness stands far away;
For truth has stumbled in the street,
And uprightness cannot enter.

With evil men there is no justice. They lie and cheat to get whatever they want. There is no such thing as a fair trial, when you have evil witnesses.

The Lord took it on Himself to change Israel’s condition through the intervention of His Suffering Servant (53:12).

15 Yes, truth is lacking;
And he who turns aside from evil makes himself a prey.
Now the Lord saw,
And it was displeasing in His sight that there was no justice.

In an environment where evil prevailed, anyone who departed from it became a victim of his environment because he did not fit in.

Those, who are living evil lives, try to destroy anyone who tries to break away and do right. One of the reasons for this is because the evil ones are afraid their evil ways will be found out.

God helps those who try to break away from evil. God will fight on your behalf, if you make a stand for God.

16 And He saw that there was no man,
And was astonished that there was no one to intercede;
Then His own arm brought salvation to Him,
And His righteousness upheld Him.

Not any man came forward to try to straighten this out. It is not known why, but perhaps from fear, no one stepped forward to work for God in this matter. God had sent judges, and prophets, but the evil ones had killed them.

There was no man who would do this, so there had to be the Arm of God to be the Savior. Jesus Christ is the Arm of God. He is the Savior. Jesus was not a man, but was housed in the flesh of man for His stay upon the earth.

He not only had righteousness, He was Righteousness.

17 He put on righteousness like a breastplate,
And a helmet of salvation on His head;
And He put on garments of vengeance for clothing
And wrapped Himself with zeal as a mantle.

The Lord armed Himself for the deliverance of His people and for taking vengeance on enemies who would seek His destruction. Paul drew on this terminology in describing a believer’s spiritual preparation for warding off the attacks of Satan (Eph. 6:14, 17, 1 Thess. 5:8).

Jesus did not need armor like the kings wore in battle. His armor for His breast was righteousness. He is the Head of the church. He brought salvation to all who would believe. He is the Head; the believers in Christ make up the body.

The only weapon He used was the two-edged sword, which is the Word of God. His sword came from His mouth.

The Bible says that vengeance belongs to God, He will repay. He worked tirelessly, so that all who would believe would be saved. He worked 6 hours on the cross to complete His work on the earth. When the six hours were over, He said, it is finished.

18 According to their deeds, so He will repay,
Wrath to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies;
To the coastlands He will make recompense.

The judgment is generally against all, in Israel or outside it, who come under this description. The word “islands” is used, as elsewhere, for far-off lands. The words point to every such judgment, from that of Cyrus to the great final day.

Lest we think that judgement here is only for the wayward Jews, I remind all that it is a narrow path that we must choose and all will bend a knee to our King, Lord and Savior.

19 So they will fear the name of the Lord from the west
And His glory from the rising of the sun,
For He will come like a rushing stream
Which the wind of the Lord drives.

Fear could be thought of as reverence to God. The Gentile world will depend on the name of Jesus to save them. This just means when the great armies of the world come against the believers, Jesus will raise a standard against Satan and the world.

20 “A Redeemer will come to Zion,
And to those who turn from transgression in Jacob,” declares the Lord.

Romans 3:30 “Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.”

21 “As for Me, this is My covenant with them,” says the Lord: “My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring,” says the Lord, “from now and forever.”

This is that everlasting covenant that God made with man.

Galatians 3:16 “Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.”

In Christ we inherit the promises of both Jew and Gentile.

Galatians 3:29 “And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

We are to take no thought what we are to say. God will fill us with the correct thing to say, as we need it. He is with us, and in us.

Colossians 1:27 “To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory:”

Now may the Lord bless you, and keep you;

May the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;

May the Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.’

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Wednesday Bible Study – The Come to Jesus edition

All Glory to God the Father

I am going to call this the “Come to Jesus” edition of Wednesday Bible Study for obvious reasons as we proceed. I have struggled with this since last week, which ironic as I know that for at least some of you, the last Bible Study is gone from your mind.

So let me recapp to bring us all up to speed. Last week was Isaiah 58 and in the course of my reading the scripture and my commentary of such, I happened to touch on what some might call my favorite hobby horse, I am talking about ELCA and the role of women in the church. Every time I do this, I notice quite a few pinched faces around the table. For some it is the mention of the ELCA and for others, it is the mention of women and sometimes it’s both. And I am getting the impression that you, those with the pinched faces, are thinking of me as a bit of a misogynist.

The end of last week’s Bible Study had a different tone however, and it opened my eyes. The rest of that day I was shaking my head and that led to prayers to the Lord for wisdom on how to handle this. Now, I don’t have a direct communication line to God, He deals with me as He deals with everybody else. Typically I will get answers, by what shows up in my YouTube feed, what I end up clicking on, that sort of thing. If you hadn’t noticed, I truly believe in God’s control of all and I do mean all.

Happily, my prayers were answered and it came in two parts. Part one was to point out the sin with authority, and the second part was Genesis 3:16, which is the curse of Eve. Unhappily, this turns out to be a hard message.

Now I know the way of our group and by extension most of Minnesota, would rather sweep things under the rug when disagreements pop up. Pretend to forget they happened and go on with life.

Except when souls are involved. I am not an ordained pastor, nor am I an elder of the Church, nope, none of that. I got asked to teach this bible study, so now I am a teacher, and as a teacher I am way more accountable to God than I have ever been. We see in the Bible that James thought it not always wise to to become one who taught the word of God.

James 3:1
Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness.

So let’s get to the matter at hand. Please turn to 1 Timothy, chapter 2 and I will show you where I get my wacky ideas about church and women from.

1 Timothy 2:7-15
For this I was appointed a preacher and an apostle (I am telling the truth, I am not lying) as a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth.
8 Therefore I want the men in every place to pray, lifting up holy hands, without wrath and dissension.
9 Likewise, I want women to adorn themselves with proper clothing, modestly and discreetly, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly garments,
10 but rather by means of good works, as is proper for women making a claim to godliness.
11 A woman must quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being deceived, fell into transgression.
15 But women will be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

https://bible.org/seriespage/what-does-it-mean-not-teach-or-have-authority-over-men-1-timothy-211-15
This is a long and very detailed look at 1 Timothy 2, specifically verses 11 and 12. Their analysis was this: Therefore, we must conclude that the restrictions imposed by Paul in 1 Timothy 2:12 are valid for Christians in all places and all times.

Do they believe?

We come to our first bump in the road, Bible Inerrancy.
The Bible claims to be the very word of God. If God is God, He does not make mistakes. If the Bible is breathed out by God, there cannot be “minor errors” in details of history. If the Bible contains such errors, it can hardly be the work of a perfect God. And if God is not perfect and totally trustworthy, God is not God.

2 Timothy 3:16-17
Every scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the person dedicated to God may be capable and equipped for every good work.

Do they believe?

Now let’s deal with the other elephant in the room. In 1847 the Missouri Synod of the Lutheran Church was founded by German immigrants to combat what they saw as the liberalization of Lutheranism in America. It turns out they were way ahead of their time.

The ELCA was formed in 1988 and counted 5.2 million members. It was a merger of 3 churches: The American Lutheran Church, the Association of Evangelical Lutheran Churches and the Lutheran Church in America.

They had long been pressured by Europe to accept the inevitable. Finnish female pastors had told them they were decades behind the times.

So they formed committees and enlisted the help of liberal theologian scholars who turned out to be very flippant with Paul’s instructions for the church. Of course feminism by the women in the committees played a role in this, which is nothing new, at all. In the bible, Jezebel was a big proponent of feminism. Do you remember how God dealt with this woman? She was thrown out a window, trampled by horses and eaten by dogs. Fortunately for us, God slowed way down on doing that kind of thing since Jesus was here.

So the ELCA choose to opened their doors to the world, because the world had changed and was demanding that women have their rightful place, their full civil rights and that naturally meant that they go ahead and ordain women as pastors, then bishops. A bishop is in control of 50 congregations and they have the authority to vote, representing those 50 congregations.

I remind you at this point that in the entire Old Testament, there was never a woman as priest. In the New Testament, never a woman as priest or elder. We have God’s will for the church as defined by Him and that was good for at least 4000 years and now because we are so dang smart and know so much, God’s will no longer applies.

This also brings us to the Genesis 3:16 part of the program. The curse of Eve, but really it is much more than that. Eve was deceived by satan, and ate from the Tree of Knowledge. She was persuaded that God was holding something good back from her. Adam had learned that when he perceived his need, God would provide for that need. Our daily bread so to speak. This was the beginnings of Faith, which was the intent of God, for us to have Faith in Him.

The devil comes along and upends Adam and Eve’s faith that God would provide their needs. That God was good and loved them. No, says the serpent, eat from this tree and you will not die, you will know what God knows and won’t that be great? Now the divine order of life has been upset, with satan leading Eve and Eve leading Adam.
God had been cut out of that loop. God then hands out justice, Eve gets a 2 part curse. Pain in childbirth and the desire for her husband, and her husband will rule over her. How is desire for her husband a curse, you ask? Well when it is used in this context in Hebrew, it is also used in the same context in:

Genesis 4:7.
If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

Here God is talking to Cain and the desire spoken about here is also used in the same context as Eve’s desire, so this desire is one to overthrow or dominate, rather than loving desire. Eve will seek to assert her dominance over her mate, to be its leader like when she ate from the Tree of Life. And of course people argue over this, but the Hebrew is pretty clear. If you have Faith in the Lord, believe in the Bible as His Living Word, thereby acknowledging His divine will. God, then Man, then Woman is how He intends His order of authority to be. This is also why those led by satan dispute this.

https://bible.org/seriespage/5-fall-man-gods-perfect-plan
Another long and detailed study of the fall of Man and God’s perfect will.

So, is it any surprise when you open the church doors to the world, who do you suppose wanders in? Lucifer, probably with a smile on his face and rubbing his hands together with delight. This came about due to their belief that the Bible is not inerrant. They say they believe in the God of the Bible, but not the bible itself, because it was written by sinful men. No mention of the Holy Spirit working with these sinful men, which all men and women are, producing the God-Breathed words by their hands with His authority.

Matthew 12:31
31 “Therefore I say to you, any sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven people, but blasphemy against the Spirit shall not be forgiven.
The definition of Blasphemy:
The crime of assuming to oneself the rights or qualities of God.
Irreverent behavior toward anything held sacred, priceless, etc.

I don’t know if this qualifies as blasphemy for saying only sinful men wrote and copied the scripture, but from my reading the bible and understanding how God hates sin, I would be very careful.

ELCA Bishops say they only believe in the God of the Bible
ELCA pastor Jerry O’Neal writes, “To those who say, ‘But you don’t believe in the Bible?’ No, I don’t. As our former presiding bishop, Mark Hanson, once said, ‘I don’t believe in the Bible – I believe in the God revealed in the Bible.’ The Bible is NOT inerrant. It contains clear contradictions in places…

In 2003 a Lutheran for Life web article we find this: “A member of the ELCA inquired of the Board of Pensions as to whether they would pay for an abortion for the purpose of sex selection. The board stated that they would pay for an abortion for that purpose. The secretary of the ELCA confirmed this conclusion.”

They also have an AbortionSS_Summary.pdf that states in which “A developing life in the womb does not have an absolute right to be born…”

Now we move on to 2009 where the ELCA voted, and it passed the vote, to ordain LGTBQ pastors. They also will marry gay couples. At this point, ELCA membership had dropped to 3.2 million members

Leviticus 18:22 You shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female; it is an abomination.

Leviticus 20:13 If there is a man who lies with a male as those who lie with a woman, both of them have committed a detestable act; they shall surely be put to death. Their bloodguiltiness is upon them.

God is very clear on this.

And a  funny thing started happening when these female Bishops got together. They started referring to the Holy Spirit as she.
https://religionnews.com/2018/07/25/new-elca-female-synod-bishops-talk-metoo-religious-left-what-lutheran-looks-like/

We saw this ourselves at Beckville Church, which we used to belong to. The pastor called the children up for a children’s story and said “Since God is genderless, today let’s call her she.” We have never been back after this.

Matthew 18:6
But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a great millstone fastened around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea.

Let us turn to Romans 1

It is clear to me when they opened their doors to the world satan began to lead them.

We just read Romans 1:18-32 and it seems to be their guiding principle, not to mention how they ignore “Thou shall not kill.”

Let me summarize, there was a lot of information here and in case you nodded off for a bit…

The ELCA is in direct contravention to God’s will on the Headship of His church and family. God chose Man to lead. Genesis 3:16, 1 Timothy 2:8-15, 1 Corinthians 14:34-36

The ELCA says they believe in the Bible, but their Bishops say no, only the God of the Bible.
2 Timothy 3:16-17
You will find, when looking at the ELCA information on the web, they will talk out both sides of their mouth.

The ELCA, with its female pastors and Bishops, is changing the gender of the Holy Spirit and is corrupting children in thinking God is genderless, so again, female.
Ephesians 4:4-6, Matthew 28:13, John 15:26 and many more. Plus Jesus’s warning of sinning against the Holy Spirit.

The ELCA is ordaining and marrying gay/lesbian people. The Bible calls this an abomination.
Leviticus 18:22, Leviticus 20:13, Romans 1:26-27

The ELCA will provide money to pay for abortions to their membership, with their health plan.
Exodus 20:13 Thou shalt not kill.

You may be incredulous to my claims, but I remind you that I am accountable to God and I take that very seriously. So, this is the Come to Jesus moment. Go where your heart leads you. Repent and accept Jesus as your Savior, Lord and King.

I recommend that we all pray for the members of the ELCA, that their hearts would be softened and they would come back to Jesus.

Questions?

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