Doctrine – Page 2

Husbands, Love

Biblical teaching on marriage is straightforward and clear: wives submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord (Ep 5:22); husbands love your wives, as Christ loves the Church. (25)

Seems simple enough, on the surface anyway, but as most anyone who’s been married for any length of time will confess, it ain’t so easy. Men and women are VERY different in how we communicate and how our minds and hearts work. This definitely complicates matters significantly, but it’s actually by design, and it’s a very good one. (Ge 2:18)

Though the biblical pattern always addresses the wife’s role first, this doesn’t imply her role is more important, or that the husband’s duty is secondary. We know from experience everything rises and falls on leadership; the home is no exception.

So, beyond the obvious … being kind, gentle, patient, humble, thoughtful, respectful, considerate, selfless (1Co 13:4-7), honest, hard-working and a man of my word, how do I actually love my wife in an effective and meaningful way? I’ve found I can be a veritable paragon of virtue and still fail miserably. In spite of all of the instruction I’ve had, and the tons of scripture I’ve memorized, I’ve evidently been missing something very basic that might make all the difference.

It’s embedded in the very word husband or husbandman, which actually refers to a farmer, one who cares for animals and crops for a living. (Ge 9:20, Ze 13:5, Jn 15:1, Ja 5:7) How do successful farmers actually do this?

They pay attention to their animals and crops, constantly monitoring their health and safety, with an informed knowledge of what they need, when they need it, and what makes them thrive. Farmers do this because plants and animals don’t advertise; they don’t cry out when they’re in trouble. The husbandman must carefully and diligently and proactively and systematically inspect everything under his care to preemptively discover issues and take care of them before they fester and get out of hand. (Pr 27:23) It is a full-time job: there are many variables … and many adversaries.

The simple farming metaphor suggests a marriage is much like a farm which must be tenderly and wisely cared for and nourished; but the reality is that a wife is obviously not so simple to take care of. Farmers struggle in their marriages just like the rest of us. (1Co 7:28)

The fact of the matter is that Woman is a bewilderingly complex creature, defying ultimate description. She’s more like an exotic, extravagant military grade radar/sonar device, extremely fine-tuned to pick up subtle cues, processing, filtering and distilling millions of signals from her universe.

She’s designed to do so, under the safe, loving, stable protection of her husband. When something moves her, and many things will, she may not immediately understand what it is, why it moves her, or what to do about it, any more than a radar can interpret all of the signals it receives on its own.

She needs to process what she’s thinking and feeling; she needs for her husband to explore, discover, ask, probe and listen with genuine interest and concern: she, in all of her beauty and complexity, is his to husband. This is primarily how he loves her.

And as with any farm, the husband can’t indiscriminately check out and neglect his duty any more than a farmer can take off for a season and expect everything to take care of itself, or military intelligence officials may disregard the constant flow of radar signals and keep their country safe. The husband must check in regularly with his wife and monitor her spiritual, emotional and physical state, listening, observing, studying, noticing and genuinely caring.

This seems to be what the Bible means when it calls husbands to dwell with their wives according to knowledge. (1Pe 3:7) This evidently isn’t merely a general knowledge of the wife’s history and general character, which is clearly important, but an active awareness of her present condition: a compassionate and intentional understanding of her current spiritual, emotional and physical state. This is an essential prerequisite to effectively leading and caring for our wives; it is intrinsic to cleaving to them (Ge 2:24), natural to being one flesh with them. We husbands cannot properly love our wives apart from this.

There is, as we should come to expect from Father’s brilliant design in Creation, an exquisite synergy within this intricate dynamic. The husband’s logical, methodical, compartmentalizing, problem-solving mindset often misses the big picture, oblivious to intangible threats and callous to the sensitivities of the young and vulnerable. The wife, synthesizing the familial and societal chaos around them within her emotional framework, is thus the husband’s eyes and ears in an unseen world, alerting him to imbalances and pathological trends he might never notice. When they harmonize together, they’re a formidable force in an unforgiving world, accomplishing what neither one of them ever could on their own. And this mysterious, powerful, mystical union is grounded in agape: selfless love.

There are many ways to express love in a marriage; we each have one or more love languages, ways we more easily receive and experience love (Quality Time, Acts of Service, Gifts, Words of Affirmation, (Non-sexual) Physical Touch, etc.), but if a husband does not care, if he’s not actively trying to understand his wife, consistently noting where she’s at, how she’s doing and what she’s feeling, asking her questions about herself and listening to her, engaging with her about herself, other expressions of his love will likely be diminished in their effectiveness. Obviously, this depends on the circumstances, the wife’s general frame and disposition, their history together, and many other variables, but active listening seems to be fundamental to it all.

articles ♦ blog

Restore the Joy

audio

Depression afflicts millions of souls around the world and it’s a growing problem. Medication, therapy, busy-ness and distractions … it doesn’t really set us free. Very few find ultimate, sustainable victory. What exactly is depression? What causes it? How do we overcome?

We can define depression as a season of joylessness, ingratitude, heaviness, hopelessness, despair, being cast down and despondent. Depression can incapacitate us, rendering us socially awkward and unproductive, alienating us from the life of God, from our families and community. It sounds like the work of the enemy, the thief who steals, kills and destroys (Jn 10:10a), because it is. Depression isn’t God’s will for us, not even for a moment. (10b)

To say depression is a sin may be a stretch, and a cruel one at that; we’re all sinners, and shaming one who’s already depressed isn’t the least bit helpful. A better way to think of it is a state of spiritual captivity resulting from an incomplete, inaccurate perspective. (Jn 8:32) Prisoners of war need to be rescued, not lectured and reprimanded.

We get depressed when we believe lies about God in the midst of our suffering, then we get our focus on the wrong thing and it blows up all out of proportion, and then we literally get in our own way, opposing ourselves. This is how the devil ensnares us and takes us prisoner. (2Ti 2:25-26)

Overcoming depression is simply a matter of re-focusing, getting our perspective more aligned with God’s. (Ps 42:5) It’s a journey, and easier said than done, of course; we can’t do this all on our own. God must give us repentance to the acknowledging of the truth, a fundamental change in our thinking, to set us free. (2Ti 2:25)

Medication and counseling may indeed help give us an edge to jump-start the healing process; spiritual problems can be inseparably intertwined with our physiological and emotional states. We should treat depression holistically, without dismissing its spiritual roots.

Similarly, proper rest, diet and exercise are all part of a healthy mind, soul and spirit. (3Jn 2) We can’t function as we’re designed while we habitually neglect and abuse ourselves; self-hatred isn’t Love — it displeases God because He is Love. (1Jn 4:8)

Yet such external remedies are ultimately superficial, band aids for broken bones, dealing with symptoms rather than the deeper core issues: the root cause of depression is a corruption in our relationship with God. At the root is the lie that God is not good, that He cannot be trusted, that there is no hope in Him. One who is in love with God, who knows the goodness, power and love of God experientially (Ep 3:19), who implicitly trusts God in all their suffering and calamity (Ps 119:75), knowing all things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose (Ro 8:28), who are continually abounding in thanksgiving to God (Co 2:7), praising God for His lovingkindness and tender mercies (Ps 63:3), who are delighting in the nature and character of God (Php 4:4, Ps 104:34), who are feeding in the majesty and strength of God (Mi 5:2), who are meditating in the treasures of His Word night and day (Ps 119:97), who are rejoicing in eternal salvation and in the heavenly glory that awaits them (1Pe 1:4-6) … no, they are not depressed: they cannot be.

So, what should we do when we find ourselves trapped in a season of depression?

First thing is we stop lying to ourselves: we admit we’re depressed and angry and bitter and resentful and despondent and that we have lost all hope. We confess we don’t like the way God is treating us and that we feel like we’re suffering unjustly and that God has left us. We pour out our hearts before Him (Ps 62:8); He can handle it; He already knows. (Mt 6:8) But it’s good for us to admit where we’re at: to cry out to God and admit our weakness, our inability to help ourselves, and confess our infirmity. (Ps 77:10)

Once we get real with our own hearts we can begin to heal, to identify the lies behind every one of these beliefs, attitudes and feelings. We go to God’s Word, the living Sword of the Spirit, and let it pierce down into the deepest places of our heart (He 13:8), and lay ourselves out bare and naked before God. (He 13:9)

We identify a wound, a hurt, a bitterness, a disappointment, and ask God to show us the lie underpinning it, the deception holding us captive in depression. (Ps 139:23-24) Then we ask Him to show us what parts of His Word to focus on to correct this lie. (Mt 4:4) Then we hide these texts in our heart, memorizing them, meditating on them and praying over them, asking God to quicken us and help us believe (Mk 9:24), until the lie is broken and we’re set free in that area. (Ps 119:11)

One by one we cast down these imaginations, these broken perceptions, these twisted beliefs which exalt themselves against the knowledge of God, and bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. (2Co 10:5) We are rooting out and pulling down the enemy’s strongholds in the battlefield of our hearts, neutralizing them one at a time by the power of God. (2Co 10:4)

We know we are getting free as we experience more joy in God (Ps 51:12), more gratitude, more peace, more trust, more satisfaction in Him. (Is 26:3)

This isn’t a quick fix, certainly, but it actually works, and in the end, I think it’s the only one that does.

articles ♦ blog

Lay Hold on Eternal Life

audio

Getting the Everlasting Gospel right (Re 14:6) — understanding it, accepting it, internalizing it and living it out (1Co 15:1-2) — is how we lay hold on eternal life. (1Ti 6:19)

Yet Satan relentlessly and cleverly corrupts and distorts the Gospel to hide the truth from us; his counterfeits abound and they’re appealing. (2Co 11:13-15) So, we have a sobering challenge before us, the ultimate life-and-death struggle – the fight of all fights: to lay hold on the true Gospel for ourselves. (1Ti 6:12) Little if anything is more important than this, and very few of us will get it right. (Mt 7:13-14)

The Apostle Paul claims he was taught the Gospel directly and personally by Jesus Christ Himself (Ga 1:11-12), and then proclaims an eternal curse upon anyone, including himself or any other apostle, or even an angel from Heaven, preaching a different gospel than what he had already preached. (Ga 1:8) We may derive several practical truths from his remarkable claim.

By pronouncing an eternal curse upon anyone modifying the Gospel, Paul implies the Gospel message was already sufficiently clear to be correctly and fully understood by anyone presenting the Gospel; Paul effectively expected all those in the Galatian churches to understand his prior teaching for themselves and compare all Gospel proclamations with that particular expression of the Gospel.

This implies that the true Gospel message can be understood by anyone carefully considering the scriptures, particularly the writings of Paul, and searching out the truth for themselves. (2Ti 3:15) Therefore, any claim that the true gospel was merely hidden “in seed form” within Paul’s message, only to be revealed later through subsequent developments, may be confidently rejected.

Paul’s sense of urgency in presenting the Gospel correctly, in its pure form, in the midst of counterfeit gospels which were evidently already common (2Co 11:4), implies it is extremely important that we each strive to fully understand what Christ taught Paul; we can easily be misled if we’re careless. (2Pe 3:16-17) Getting the Gospel wrong, either in our understanding or personal ministry, may be eternally and incomprehensively devastating.

Paul’s determination to openly challenge those who had been deceived by a false gospel, even those who had been taught by Paul himself, tells us Satan is actively at work to deceive and corrupt the Gospel and that he is often very successful. Paul was on the lookout for gospel deceptions and anticipated them because he understood our enemy. (2Co 2:11) We should soberly consider Paul’s admonitions and carefully verify that our personal understanding and application of the Gospel aligns with everything in the Word of God.

By including angels from Heaven in his list of potential deceivers, and even including himself, Paul is warning us to anticipate corruption from the very highest levels of spiritual authority. We should expect any religious organization or individual claiming authority to interpret scripture for others to be a magnet for satanic infiltration and deception. Paul is effectively saying we should ultimately trust no other Gospel claims than what we can verify for ourselves in the source material, the Word of God, which He has already given us.

Paul rejected the right of any being in Heaven or on Earth to alter or adjust the Gospel itself in any way. This implies there never has been and never will be any revelation from God that modifies or amends the original Gospel message in any manner whatsoever. The everlasting Gospel has never changed since the beginning of time; it will remain constant forever, just like Jesus Christ. (He 13:8)

Finally, Paul’s lack of reference to any external authority as a final arbiter in any dispute over gospel claims, such as the other apostles, a counsel of bishops, an angel from Heaven, or even Paul himself, implies his audience already had a reliable, faithful, unchanging standard by which to evaluate any subsequent preaching of the Gospel and that they were each individually and personally responsible for doing so. Paul, in writing to the local assemblies of Galatia (Ga 1:2), comprising all the saints and not merely bishops, could easily have set himself up as such an arbiter, or pointed believers to church leaders for approval, but he did not. Rather, he admonished them all for having allowed themselves to be deceived by a false gospel and removed from God as a result. (Ga 1:6)

Claiming otherwise, that someone else could be the final, authoritative arbiter in interpreting Paul’s Gospel for anyone but themselves, is effectively indistinguishable from giving a sinner authority to misinterpret it and preach a different gospel. This would remove the responsibility and accountability from the individual believer for believing the true Gospel, which neither Paul nor God ever does. Thus, Paul’s claim implies each believer is individually responsible to evaluate any presentation of the Gospel for themselves, based on their personal understanding of that eternal standard which they already have, interpreting it for themselves, and rejecting any gospel presentation which they find to be inconsistent with it. (This is the essence of Sola Scriptura.)

God’s prescription for addressing Satan’s gospel counterfeits is therefore not self-appointed spiritual authority telling others what to believe, but the humble, earnest searching of scripture by each individual believer (Ac 17:11), seeking a common, mutual, personal understanding of the Gospel (Php 2:2), based on an unchanging, written, supernaturally preserved standard (Ro 16:26): holy scripture. (2Ti 3:15)

articles ♦ posts

Not With Meats

audio

God’s dietary law seems to draw inordinate resistance from the carnal mind. (Ro 8:7) “Why does God care what we eat? Why’s He meddling with our food?” As I heard one casually say, “He can have everything else; just don’t mess with my stomach.”

Yet wasn’t Jehovah God’s very first command, not eating of the forbidden Tree, dietary law? Maybe this resistance isn’t just post-apostolic error: it’s as old as humanity itself.

What if God’s interested in our appetite because in some ways we are what we eat. Perhaps then it isn’t good to ignore any of God’s laws, especially kashrut, the dietary ones. (Mt 5:19)

Then again, some of us thrive on such external restrictions and leverage them for self-exaltation, imposing artificial barriers in addition to God’s dietary law (1Ti 4:1-3) to differentiate and commend ourselves for our self-restraint. (Co 2:20-23) But basing our identity on our own self-will seems a bit circular, pointless really.

And let’s be real, some of us just get bored with Torah so we start looking for something fresh, something different, something new, heaping to ourselves teachers, having itching ears. (2Ti 4:3) Yet we end up being carried off by divers and strange teachings (He 13:9a), tossed to and fro like little boats in the storms of life (Ep 4:14), deceiving and being deceived (2Ti 3:13), “ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth.” (2Ti 3:7)

So how do we ground ourselves in such complex spiritual realities? Where should our hearts and minds be resting, finding strength and stability? (Is 26:3) Different is not necessarily better, and focusing on anything such as diet, as an end in itself, certainly isn’t the answer: it’s grace. (He 13:9b)

Yet, being precise in our definition here (which is simply game-changing, paradigm-shifting), we find that grace is not mercy or lenience; God’s unconditional forgiveness isn’t the rock on which our soul should rest. Being forgiven of the eternal consequences of our sin is essential, certainly, but it won’t get us very far all by itself: we need to be delivered from sin’s power as well, set free from the stranglehold it has in our minds and hearts. (2Ti 2:25-26) That’s where grace comes in.

Grace is divine enablement (2Co 12:9), it’s the power to obey Torah, to overcome sin and stop sinning. So, God’s grace is indeed the answer: what should ground our hearts in spiritual reality is God’s ability and willingness to transform us into the image of His Son. (Ju 24) We should not glory in anyone or anything else. (2Co 10:17)

Earthly food won’t make us spiritual; spiritual food is what we need: the Bread of God, the Bread of Life. (Jn 6:33)

articles ♦ posts

Thy Word Is Settled

audio

The scripture says of itself that it’s settled in Heaven forever. (Ps 119:89) The word “settled” (nāṣab) means “stands firm,” “is established,” or “is fixed in place.” Heaven is the seat of God’s throne and absolute authority—nothing there can be altered by earthly powers, time, or circumstance.

In other words, God’s Word is not temporary or provisional—it is forever (lə·‘ô·lām, “to perpetuity”). It originates from and is anchored in God’s unchangeable nature and throne in Heaven. No earthly opposition, cultural shift, human opinion, or historical event can overturn, revoke, or nullify what God has spoken. (Ps 12:7)

So, how does this fact this inform the KJV-Only debate, which is evidently a singularly unique one (there’s no ESV-Only or NIV-Only debate).

What’s actually being debated is whether any biblical translation at all should be received as fully inspired of God. The objective in opposing implicit trust in the KJV is to dethrone anyone’s implicit trust in any version of the bible, the KJV in particular.

The first question to ask in such encounters is, “By what standard are we claiming a given translation is imperfect?” The claim itself implies a perfect standard by which to make the claim. So, what is this standard? Where is it, and how do we access it?

Yet no such standard is ever offered, since the actual claim is that no such standard exists. Yet this claim lacks any sort of proper grounding. How does one prove a perfect translation does not exist?

By definition, we can’t prove such a claim; we can only disprove it.

What we are actually encountering are axiomatic claims: accepted as true or false a priori. No proof is required or even offered. We call such claims assumptions.

We can assume there is a perfect translation of the bible, in a language we can understand today, or we can assume there is not. These are our only choices.

We navigate such scenarios using proof by contradiction: if an assumption leads us to contradiction, then it is false.

Assumptions about the existence of a perfect, trustworthy translation of the Bible reveal underlying beliefs about the purpose of biblical inspiration itself, and about God’s ability to achieve this purpose. Either God has a purpose in inspiring the Bible, or He doesn’t. If He does have a purpose, He either intends to achieve it, or He doesn’t.

If there is no perfect translation of the Bible, then either God had no purpose in inspiring it in the first place, or He has no interest in actually preserving this quality of His Word across the boundaries of time and language in order to achieve this purpose.

What does the Bible say? It says God inspires His Word to fully equip believers to live the spiritual life. (2Ti 3:16-17) To achieve this purpose God must preserve this inspired quality of His Word across the boundaries of both time and language, so He has. This formally ends the debate. We’re done.

The only remaining question is, which Bible can I implicitly trust as God’s inspired Word? For me, the answer is straightforward. It’s the only one being attacked so we will not implicitly trust it: it’s the KJV.

What harm is done to me by not trusting any Bible as inspired? I then have no faultless ground for my faith: this is eternally catastrophic.

What harm is done to me by implicitly trusting the KJV as inspired? I must endure the mild disdain of a few who won’t. I can live with that.

articles ♦ posts

Casting Down Imaginations

audio

In our daily battles with sin, if we’re not intentional we can find ourselves continually playing defense, reacting to our own sins after the fact, trying to recover and undo the damage.

Yet how can we ever win a battle if we’re always on defense? How do we go on the offensive in striving against our sin?

God says the weapons of our warfare are mighty through Him to pull down strongholds (2Co 10:4), enabling us to cast down our imaginations and every high thing within us that exalts itself contrary to the knowledge of God (5a), so we may bring all our thoughts under control to the obedience of Christ (5b) This war is not focused on changing the world: it’s about delivering ourselves from being slaves to sin. (Ro 6:16)

Once we become aware of a weakness in our spiritual defenses, a sin that’s getting the best of us (He 12:1), or any pattern of behavior which is un-Christlike (1Pe 2:21), where we are missing the mark (Ja 4:17), we can go on the offensive by engaging our imagination with the power of Christ and the sword of the Spirit: God’s Word. (Ep 6:17)

Reimagine the scenario in which we failed, replaying it in our mind while consciously inviting Father God into the experience. (Ep 4:6) Invite Him to show us the lies driving our behavior (Ps 139:23-24), empowering the stronghold holding us captive (Jn 8:32), and the related scriptures from His living Word which expose and address these lies. (He 4:12)

Then we speak the truth of God’s living Word along with Him into ourselves and ask Him to give us repentance to receive and acknowledge the truth in the very deepest places of our mind and heart. (2Ti 2:26) In this way we receive with meekness the engrafted Word which is able to deliver (save) our souls. (Ja 1:21) We cast down the imagination itself, by putting it under and making it subject to the Word of God until it has no more hold on us, and then ask God to bring that part of our spirit, heart, mind and soul into obedience and set us free. (Ro 7:24-25a)

Once we overcome a particular sin pattern like this, we can bookmark it and periodically check to ensure we’re still free by replaying related scenarios in our mind as part of an entire series where we’ve experienced failure and have been set free, noting in each one that we’re still responding as Jesus would. If we’ve lapsed at all, we can cleanse ourselves again with the washing of water by the Word in the same fashion to regain and maintain our freedom. (Ep 5:26) This is how we add virtue — moral excellence — to our Faith (2Pe 1:5), overcome the world and live in victory. (1Jn 5:4)

articles ♦ blog

Great in the Kingdom

audio

Jesus tells us there’s a hierarchy in Heaven, a ranking or metric whereby some believers are counted great and others least in God’s kingdom. (Mt 5:19) Though salvation is by grace and not by works (2Ti 1:9), works are evidently very important. (Ro 2:9)

Jesus Christ explains the standard by which He will measure us all to define this eternal ranking in His kingdom; He lays it out very plainly: “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do and teach them, the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 5:19) Jesus is talking about Torah, the Mosaic Law; (17-18) He will evaluate everyone in His kingdom based on how we have respected Torah, His Law, the Law of God. Did we do our best to keep all of it as a manner of life and teach others to do so? Or did we break certain parts of it and encourage others to do so?

So, Jesus will give every one of His saints a grade in Heaven based on how we keep His Law, even the least of His commandments: the seemingly obsolete and obscure laws He laid out for us in the Old Testament in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Do we love them (Ps 119:97), delight in them (Ro 7:22), and try our best to love and honor Him in keeping them? (Jn 14:21) Or do we ignore some or all of them? (Ro 2:8-9)

Jesus mentions two grades in His Kingdom: Great and Least: in other words, we’re evidently either getting an A+ or an F.

Clearly, those trying to convince us God’s Law is just for Jews, if they’re in God’s kingdom at all, are ignorantly aiming for an F, and they want us at the bottom as well. Not smart.

We don’t even know what sin is apart from Torah (Ro 7:7); how can we strive against sin (He 12:4) if we have no clue what it actually is?

Jesus’ focus on obedience to the least of His commandments tells us they’re all important. He wasn’t careless or arbitrary in giving us His Law; if we break any of His commandments on purpose, we expose ourselves as lawbreakers (Ja 2:10), those who despise His Law and trample Him underfoot. (He 10:28-29)

Those who don’t yet know Jesus Christ as Judge, don’t yet know Him as He is. (He 10:29-31) Those of us who do, serve Him with fear and rejoice with trembling. (Ps 2:11, Php 2:12)

articles ♦ posts

Everlasting Burnings

audio

The doctrine of Hell, a place of everlasting punishment for the wicked, finds its roots in the Tanakh, the Old Testament. While not fully articulated there, the concept exists in seed form, discernible to those attentively studying God’s revelation. (Jn 3:7–10).

While the Tanakh does not explicitly describe Hell as a fiery, eternal abode the way we find it in the New Testament (2Th 1:7), it does contain vivid imagery related to moral distinctions which prefigure and lead us to this understanding. Daniel 12:2 states, “And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.” This is perhaps the clearest hint given in the Tanakh, introducing a post-mortem, eternal suffering: the righteous inherit “everlasting life,” while the wicked face “everlasting contempt.” The Hebrew olam (everlasting) and deraon (contempt) suggest a permanent, disgraceful fate, a precursor to eternal punishment, which a diligent reader should perceive as divine justice extending beyond the grave.

Isaiah 66:24 illuminates further: “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” The unquenched fire and undying worm depict a lasting physical judgment, likely tied symbolically to the Valley of Hinnom (Gehinnom), a place of dismal, abhorrent destruction. This imagery, though focused on physical ruin, hints at an unfathomable eternal consequence for rebellion, foreshadowing a reality more severe than earthly death.

Isaiah 33:14 extends the imagery by capturing the terror of divine judgment: “The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?” The “devouring fire” and “everlasting burnings” evidently symbolize God’s holiness and wrath (De 4:24). The dread felt by sinners as they perceive the ultimate threat of divine wrath suggests an inescapable, impending, eternal judgment, a window into Hell’s eternal fire, discernible to those pondering God’s justice.

Psalm 1:5–6 reinforces this: “Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.” The “perishing” of the ungodly and their exclusion from the reward of the righteous imply permanent, divine rejection, aligning with the Tanakh’s covenantal framework where disobedience brings destruction (De 28:15). This shows us there will be a final separation of the righteous from the wicked; the wicked be unable to withstand God’s piercing, fiery judgment and will suffer immeasurably in the face of His indignation. (Ps 69:24)

Jesus’ teachings in the New Testament elaborate on the Tanakh’s foreshadowing and imagery, confirming what attentive readers should have understood. In Matthew 25:46 Christ openly declares, “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.” This directly echoes Daniel 12:2, replacing “shame and everlasting contempt” with “everlasting punishment” and affirming “life eternal” for the righteous. Jesus’ use of “everlasting fire” in Matthew 25:41 (“Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.”) draws on Isaiah 66:24’s unquenched fire and Isaiah 33:14’s everlasting burnings, clarifying their eternal nature.

In Mark 9:43–48, Jesus warns, “If thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into Hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.” This directly quotes Isaiah 66:24, applying its imagery to Gehenna (Hell), the New Testament term derived from the Tanakh’s Valley of Hinnom. Christ’s repetition of “fire… not quenched” confirms the Tanakh’s seed as a literal, eternal reality, intensifying its horror beyond symbolic destruction.

Jesus’ parable in Luke 16:23–24 further elaborates: “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off… and he cried and said… I am tormented in this flame.” The rich man’s conscious torment in flames builds on Isaiah 33:14s “devouring fire” and Deuteronomy 32:22’s fiery wrath, revealing Hell as a place of suffering, consistent with the Tanakh’s hints of divine indignation (Na 1:6, “Who can stand before his indignation?”).

The New Testament doctrine of Hell is consistent with the Tanakh, which emphasizes God’s holiness, justice and covenant. The Tanakh informs us of the basic concepts — fire (Is 66:24, 33:14), contempt (Da 12:2), and perishing (Ps 1:5–6) —reflecting divine wrath against sin, which Christ’s words clarify as eternal punishment. The righteous’ contrasting fate (Ps 23:5–6, Da 12:2) aligns with the Gospel’s eternal life, showing God’s unified plan: reward for obedience, punishment for rebellion.

Like Nicodemus, who should have understood spiritual rebirth from Ezekiel 36:26 (“A new heart also will I give you”), readers of the Tanakh should discern the reality of Hell in its warnings of judgment. Christ’s teachings do not introduce a foreign concept but fulfill the Tanakh’s moral framework, revealing Hell’s full reality as more horrific than its symbols.

The Tanakh plants the seeds pointing us to the reality of Hell, painting the reality of eternal judgment for the wicked and eternal life for the righteous. Christ’s words confirm and elaborate upon these seeds, unveiling Hell’s eternal fire as the reality behind the Tanakh’s fire, shame, and everlasting contempt. This doctrine, consistent with God’s revelation, calls us to humbly heed scripture’s warnings and embrace the hope of the Gospel.

articles ♦ blog

Righteousness Exalts

audio

When given a voice, a social platform or a vote, to influence a community or culture, should we promote a strictly biblical worldview, or should we soften it to accommodate diversity? In other words, should we fully promote what we think is true or neglect to point others toward what we believe is correct for fear of offending them?

Firstly, we should inform our choice here based not on how our fellow-citizens might react, but on whether our choice pleases God or not. In the end, our peers will not be our judges; God Himself will reward us all according to our deeds. (Ro 2:5-6) We ought to please God rather than Man. (Ga 1:10)

Secondly, we should acknowledge Torah as God’s universal standard of righteousness for all Mankind (Ro 3:19); it is not merely Jewish law. (De 4:8) Breaking it is the definition of sin, independent of race or nationality. (1Jn 3:4)

We should also recognize that righteousness exalts a nation, and that sin is a reproach to any people. (Pr 14:34) The more closely our nation’s laws and general civil order align with Torah, the better off all of us will be.

And we should not find it charitable to deviate from the Law of Love in the name of compassion and tolerance. All of Torah hangs on, depends on and is upheld by the Law of Love. (Mt 22:37-40) Denying the Law of Love is not love; this is fear.

Finally, we should observe that when Christ returns, He will rule the nations with a rod of iron (Re 2:25), enforcing Torah with justice, precision and rigor. (Mi 4:2) Freedom of religion is not on His radar.

We should be prepared to humbly yet unapologetically defend God and His laws in the face of those who presumptuously make up moral law as they go; we should not be ashamed of anything in Torah. (Lk 9:26)

Yet we should be careful to promote Torah itself, not man-made additions to it, and anticipate those who might legalistically abuse Torah to create a burden or twist it to impose injustice. This is especially true when our judges are fallible, when society itself is composed largely of unbelievers. Torah was originally imposed in just such a context, ancient Israel, and is perfectly designed for it.

So, we should pray for and encourage the enactment of laws which reflect both the letter and spirit of Torah, which focus on well-defined and achievable behaviors, and which are easily interpreted and supported with impartial, enforceable penalties.

We should also remember that God’s kingdom is not of this world, and that He is working all things out according to His own will and plan. We should expect to be in the small minority in our entire world view and glad for opportunities to engage others to understand and appreciate it as well as we can.

articles ♦ blog

Hate Evil

audio

Scripture defines fearing God as hating evil (Pr 8:13), and exhorts all who love God to hate evil. (Ps 97:10) What is evil, and what does hating it feel like? How can we know if we hate evil, or measure how much we hate it? How can we grow in hating evil, and in loving and fearing God?

We should define evil (the way God does) as any tendency to want to sin, or to violate God’s law. (1Jn 3:4) Hating evil is detesting our tendency to want to break God’s law (Ro 7:24), any reluctance or hesitancy to obey God’s law with delight and joy, or any tendency to excuse or make light of any motive or attitude which deviates from perfect holiness. This is the way of the wicked, an abomination to Jehovah. (Pr 15:9)

We should be asking God to search our hearts, to try us and expose our thoughts to uncover our wicked ways (Ps 139:23-24a), any place where we’re not hating evil, where darkness still has a foothold (Pr 4:19), where the enemy can take us captive whenever he likes. (2Ti 2:26)

Our goal is to cooperate with God as He leads us in the everlasting way (Ps 139:24b), as He gives us repentance to acknowledge the truth (2Ti 2:25), the truth that sets us free. (Jn 8:32)

It is insufficient to merely stop desiring sin, to stop being tempted and drawn away by our lust (Ja 1:14), to be neutral or complacent about sin; sin must become utterly disgusting, repulsive, grotesque, abominable, dreadful.

We must begin to recognize what sin does to us and to God, what it costs God and us, and to identify it in all of its ugliness and horror. We cannot toy with sin safely. If we don’t hate sin, we don’t yet see it clearly: we need God to open our eyes and help our hearts understand. (Jn 12:40)

In hungering and thirsting after righteousness, God will fill us (Mt 5:6); in perfecting holiness (He 12:14) in the fear of God we will find it (Mt 7:7-8); in adding to our faith virtue, moral excellence, we build on the rock and find true freedom.

articles ♦ blog