We Are Within His Reach

Job 1:6 … "Now there was a day when the sons of God (fallen angels) came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them."

From this scripture we can conclude there was a certain day when Satan presented himself before God, to give an account of his activities on the earth. It is doubtful that Satan and his fallen angels just showed up for a visit. I would assume that God summoned them for this meeting.

 Albert Barnes, the old theologian from the mid 1800's made this comment ... "It is to be observed, that Satan, no less than the other fallen spirits, is subject to the government of God, and uses the ministry of this demon to execute punishment, or when from any other cause it seemed good to Him to send evil upon men. But he, although incensed against the race of mortals, and desirous of injuring, is yet described as bound with a chain, and never dares to touch the pious unless God relaxes the reins. Satan, in walking round the earth, could certainly attentively consider Job, but to injure him he could not, unless permission had been given him."  

And it was. Job's afflictions began with the Lord's permission. God asked Satan if he had considered Job. The word "considered" literally means ... to place thy heart on. The question is really, "Hast thou placed thy heart on my servant Job?"

This phrase means more than merely to observe or to look at since it is clear from the following verses (8-10) that Satan had attentively considered Job but found that God had placed a protective hedge around him.  

"And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job ... Then Satan answered the LORD, and said ... Hast not thou made an hedge about him?"

God was the one who first brought up Job to Satan. But Satan already knew about Job. From this ... could I conclude that Satan knows about each one of us and watches us as well?

Many people teach that Satan was wrong when he said that God had placed a spiritual and physical hedge of protection around all that Job had. They say that because of God's statement to Satan ... "All that he has is in your power." I believe that God did have a hedge around Job which is why nothing touched his family and property until God removed it. Otherwise God should have said ... "All that he has is already in your power."

This is the charge Satan made against Job to God ... that the only reason Job served God was because he and his family was under God's protection. So he tells God to remove it and Job won't serve you any longer.

Satan tells God in Job 1:11 ... "But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face."

God answers him back in Job 1:12 ... "And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power ..." Which means, "No I won't, you do it."

 This is where the old saying came from that says ... "God afflicts not willingly, but if it must be done, let Satan do it." And that is exactly what happened ... God did not want to put His hand on Job, but instead said ... "Satan you do it."

The devil is real, and he is continually seeking to accuse, to lead astray, and, if possible, to destroy those who love God. How far his influence may extend in the world, we cannot say; but while we are on this earth, we are within his reach.

What we do know is this ... Satan did have access to God before Jesus defeated him on the cross through His death and resurrection, but it is unclear if he is still allowed access to heaven. But according to this scripture in ...

Revelation 12:7-10 … "And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels, And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast out, the ancient serpent, he who is called Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole habitable world, he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And I heard a great voice in the heaven saying, Now is come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ; for the accuser of our brethren has been cast out, who accused them before our God day and night."

I am of the opinion, and you know what that is worth ... not much ... but my thinking on this scripture in Revelation is that this war happens during the Tribulation because Revelation Chapter 12 gives us a brief symbolical overview of events during the Tribulation ... as well as Israel, the sun clothed woman giving birth during the rule of the Roman empire, while the dragon, (Satan) waited to devour her man child, Jesus ... which he could not do, so he is in the process of persecuting Israel and will continue to do so until the end of the Tribulation.

I share these scriptures in Revelation to help put into context the question of whether or not Satan still has access to God as he used to have ... as the accuser of the brethren. Notice though, that it says that Satan no longer has a place in heaven any more.

So, I really don't know if Satan still accuses the brethren before God or not ... but if he does it won't do him any good. Why do I say that? Romans 8:1 ... "There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus ..." Period.

And if that isn't enough, Hebrews 7:25 says that Jesus ... "ever liveth to make intercession for" ... the saints.

What good would it do for Satan now to go before God, even if he could and try to accuse us when Jesus would intercede for us before God the Father on our behalf. I wonder if the only accusing Satan does today is to us, not before God.

So now ... I don't believe He will, but ... are you ready if God would bring up your name to Satan. The devil is real and we are within his reach.

Truer words have never been spoken than when Oswald Chambers, the Scottish Protestant teacher and W.W. I chaplain said this ...  

"We look upon the enemy of our souls as a conquered foe; so he is, but only to God, not to us."

That is why ... The battle is real.


Comments welcome

Just Because God Said It

In this look at Scriptural "faith" as seen and spoken of by the writers of the Bible; I am going to try and assess why "their faith" ... (for lack of a better term) ... "worked" for them, when it seems so many of us struggle with ours.

So, in thinking about faith, which is one of the most important assets a believer has; and because it says in Hebrews 11:6 ... "without faith it is impossible to please God" ... I am automatically drawn to what many call the faith chapter, Hebrews 11.

Verses 1-8 ... (edited)

"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen."

The author of Hebrews, whoever he may be, doesn't waste any time with this first sentence. He speaks of faith as something evidently I haven't been able to grasp hold of as of yet. He says it is the substance you are believing for, and is so real you have the evidence ... even though it can't be seen. I'm going to let that soak in a while.

"Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear."

Am I right by saying that even God had to use faith when He created the universe from nothing? If God needed faith, how much more do we need faith when we make an effort to commit to something or believe for something, even from the hand of God.

"By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God."

This is quite a statement ... "By faith Enoch was translated." Through who's faith? God's faith or Enoch's own faith. Either way it was done because "Enoch pleased God." But how does one please God? The answer is in the next verse ...

"But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him."

"Without faith ... it is impossible." God loves to respond to faith in His children. That's what moves God. But right away I find a problem with faith. It requires ... "believing God."

"By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith."

Can you comprehend the faith it took to build a ship in the middle of the desert Noah lived in. He had never seen rain in his life, but God said it was coming so he built it anyway because if God said it, Noah believed it would happen. Noah wasn't fearful of God, but because he believed God, he was "moved with fear" of the coming flood and through obedience became an heir of righteousness even before Abraham, who was later called the Father of Faith.

"By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went."

Abraham, like Noah before him, simply believed God and "went out, not knowing" where he was going. Why did both of these men do as they were told? I believe they both came to know when God's presence was with them, and learned when it was God's voice speaking to their hearts and not their own mind, and most importantly understood who God was ... He was not a man.

They knew long before Moses recorded this truth years later in Numbers 23:16 & 19 ...

"And the LORD said ... God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?"

Whether it be with regard to things temporal, spiritual, or eternal, God never forgets His word. He foresees all events, He is also able to bring to pass what He has said, and is always true and faithful to His word.

Abraham was one of the first men the Scripture speaks about as having faith ... one who just believed God would do what He said He would do, period. That was it, case closed.

Continuing on in Hebrews 11:9-10, speaking of Abraham, it says when he left his home and traveled to a strange country ... "he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

Abraham wanted a sure foundation to what he believed, a rock as it were ... only he didn't know the coming Messiah, Jesus, was that the rock. The only foundation Abraham found He could stand upon was the promise of God. How much faith did Abraham have? I really don't know ... but I know this ... his faith was in God.

God's promises are so certain, that He speaks of them as being "already" in existence. God, instead of simply promising that He would make Abraham the father of many nations, speaks of it as already being done. Genesis 17:5, "... for a father of many nations I have made thee." In God's own mind, it was done.

To put it in as simple a term as I can … Abraham just believed God because … if God said it, then he believed God would do it. It's just that simple. It didn't matter to Abraham if he was 99 years old with no children yet. God was not a man that He should lie.

In the Amplified Bible, the Apostle Paul speaks of Abraham in Romans 4:18 this way …"For Abraham, human reason for hope being gone, hoped in faith …" The word hope means to "anticipate with confidence."

Notice the word "reason." Abraham didn't use "reason" which was the power of his mind to believe. Reason is the opposite of "faith" and will do you no good when trying to believe God for a "promise." Just as believing is a product of the "heart," doubt is a product of the "mind," as is "reason." Human reason will tell you ... "Nope, can't happen, that's impossible."

In Romans 4:21, Paul continues with … "And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform."

Abraham's confidence was this … "that the truth of God" … since God can be nothing less, bound Him (God) to fulfill His promise to him; therefore God could do nothing less or He wasn't God; and he was confident that God had the power and ability to perform it.

Isaiah 14:24 ... "The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand."

God never changes His mind, alters His counsels, purposes and decrees, or is unfaithful to His word.

Since "God is not a man, that he should lie," God's own truthfulness binds Him and obligates Him to fulfill all of His promises to believers … who like Abraham … without any other reason for believing God's promises will be fulfilled in the natural, believe it … just because God said it.



Comments welcome.

Deja Vu on the Temple Mount

The author ... an Italian journalist, looks at the situation on the Temple Mount, rubs his eyes and writes ...

Books that were written in Hebrew, discussed Judaism, or mentioned Israel were banned from the Soviet Union. Zionism was branded "pornography" in the state-run media, and devout Jews were called "parasites" by the Stalinists, just like drug addicts.

Something similar is happening on the Temple Mount.

The Islamic Waqf ... the religious Muslim authority ... has removed every sign of ancient Jewish presence at the most Jewish holy site. At the entrance, a Waqf sign says "The Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyard and everything in it is Islamic property."

Today Jews are barred from praying on the Mount and are not even allowed to carry any holy articles with them. With Islamic observers supervising visits, Israeli police have frequently arrested Jews for various violations, such as singing or reciting a prayer even in a whisper.

Jewish women have been recently arrested following claims by police and Waqf officials that they noticed they were praying on Temple Mount.

Why is it a crime for a Jew to mention God’s name on Temple Mount? And why is the State of Israel complicit in enforcing this anti-Jewish rule?

Freedom of worship for all religions, including free access to the holy places of all faiths, has always been a cardinal principle of the Jewish state. And by and large, Israel has honored this principle, even under extremely difficult circumstances.

It is ironic that Judaism’s holiest site should be the only place in Israel where this principle is violated. Nothing can justify the infringement of religious rights in the Temple Mount and that infringement undermines respect for the rule of law in Israel by making a mockery of the law that guarantees freedom for all faiths.

Jerusalem is not the capital of Israel in the sense that Washington DC is the capital of the US. Jerusalem is the city of the presence of God. The Temple Mount is the reason for Jewish existence. It’s Israel’s testimony and license to the land. The Arabs know that very well. 

Many devout Jews won’t set foot on the Temple Mount until it is "redeemed." They are afraid that they may be stepping on the ground covering the ruins of the Holy of Holies, allowed only to the High Priest on Yom Kippur, and that is enough to keep them away. But there are those who believe they have a right to pray in the grounds where the Temple stood, particularly on Tisha be’Av, the anniversary of its destruction.

Though many respected rabbis forbid praying on the Mount, others permit it. And there is a growing and brave movement, led by Rabbi Yisrael Ariel and Professor Hillel Weiss, which sensibilize the Israeli public on the Temple Mount.
 
After all, disagreements among rabbinical authorities have always been Judaism’s trademark. It is a religion that encourages questions and intellectual dialectics. That is not the Israeli authorities’ affair. Jewish worshipers should be free to pray on the holy mountain if they wish to.

Islamic leaders, aware of the centrality of the Temple Mount in Judaism, have whipped up a paranoid frenzy among their followers by charging that the intention of Jewish worshipers is to destroy the mosques. In October 1990, the mere sight at a distance of a dozen would-be Jewish worshipers (who had actually been turned away) triggered the blood-drenched Temple Mount riot.

Under these circumstances, the police prefer to avoid confrontation. The Wakf has obliterated the remnants of Jewish antiquities on the Temple Mount because enough Jews do not visit the Temple Mount. Nobody was there to guard the holy place.
 
There is a fine, but clear, line between doing everything possible to prevent unnecessary clashes and surrendering to terroristic threats.

The Temple Mount is the site of the Al-Aqsa Mosque (705 AD). However, way before that, it was the site of the the First Holy Temple, built by King Solomon (stood from 950 BC to 587 BC) and the Second Holy Temple (517 BC to 70AD) and is indisputably Judaism's most sacred site. The Western Wall, where Jews are allowed to pray, is merely a remnant of an outside compound wall of Herodian days and not part of the Temples.

The Muslim Waqf, the religious Muslim authority, has systematically attempted to destroy all archaeological evidence of earlier Jewish presence on the Mount, illegally excavating and destroying priceless and irreplaceable relics. Israeli archaeologists and volunteers sift painstakingly through the debris of the excavations, finding artifacts that are then transferred to Israeli museums.

The Muslim Waqf was allowed to manage the site after Israel succeeded liberating the Temple Mount in 1967 at the suggestion of then Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. It maintains a discriminatory policy seeking to bar Jews entry to the site. The Israeli police, afraid of riots, allow the Jewish worshippers to be discriminated against to the point of not being allowed to even whisper prayers on the Mount.

Israel is the only democracy in the world in which Jews are forbidden to worship in an open space they consider hallowed. Those who lived in the country under the British Mandate or in the USSR must be experiencing a twinge of deja vu.

My Favorite Poster

Three Nails

The commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem reported there was a new rebellious spirit not only in the city but in the surrounding countryside as well. But Rome wasn't going to allow it. We had received word that Rome was going to put down any troublemakers. Because of potential future needs from the expected trouble brewing, the supply sergeant ordered a new supply of nails to restock the materials crib in his military storeroom.

Since Rome executed all criminals by crucifixion, (whether murderers, thieves, or enemies of the state stirring up insurrection, or for any other charge levied against the citizens of a conquered Israel) the Roman army needed a good supply of the long iron spikes used to nail the hands and feet of the condemned to the many crosses that lined the roads into Jerusalem.

Roman crucifixion did two things. It got rid of criminals, and the sight of men stripped naked hanging on those crosses along the roadsides, many times for days in the hot sun with scavenger birds picking off the flesh of their dead bodies turned out to be the greatest deterrent to crime and rebellion Rome could offer. I can attest to the fact, Roman brutality was more than just a rumor.

After I hand delivered the new order for one hundred nails to the Jew on the north edge of Jerusalem, I followed the old man a few feet from his small house to his workshop to make sure he began working on them immediately. I stayed with him about an hour that morning looking around his shop at all his tools and asking questions about his trade. He also knew very well what the nails he was making would be used for. Herod, the Roman appointed king over Judea and Samaria, trying to stay in favor with the people, decided to send all his trouble makers to the Roman army for trial and punishment ... which usually meant crucifixion.

This old nailsmith made nails for a living, any size or length. This new order would be made out of three-eights of an inch, square iron bar stock he forged himself in his shop. Each bar was a little longer than a normal span, the distance from the tip of a man's thumb to the tip of his little finger when spread out wide. These spikes needed to go through a six inch wooden beam and then have the points clenched over with a hammer to secure them.

He had worked for more than thirty years in this small stone building just like his father before him who had taught him the trade. There was a fire burning slowly in the brick forge, so the old man began to pedal a leather bellows, which brought the fire to a white heat. Next he used tongs to place one of the small bars into the fire. It didn't take long before it turned red, the sign it was ready for him to put the hammer to it.

He pulled the first bar out of the fire with the tongs and held it down on his heavy anvil that was mounted to a big stone base in the middle of the shop next to the forge. With regular timed strikes of his blacksmith hammer he began to taper all four sides equally to a sharp point on one end of the bar. He said by doing so, he thought that his nails might not cause as much pain for the condemned as dull, blunt ones would bring. Why make the pain any worse than need be. He would repeat this process another ninety-nine times before he would be finished with his latest order.

Because he knew the Romans didn't seem to care if the condemned were guilty or innocent, he often wondered if his nails were ever used to crucify those who hadn't committed any crimes. How was he to know that this time, three nails out of this batch were going to be used to change the history of the world.

It was approaching the first week of the Jewish month Nisan just before the Jewish Passover, called by many, the Feast of Unleavened Bread. The city of Jerusalem was beginning to get crowded with people bringing their sheep, spotless lambs without any kind of outward blemish on them to be used for a sacrificial offering for their sins. As I remember, that Passover day was bloody. It was going to be my third and last year stationed in Jerusalem.

Three years earlier I just happened to be down by the Jordan River, assigned to watch the crowds that gathered together as a wild looking man they called John the Baptist dunked people into the river to have their sins forgiven. The Jews said he was baptizing them in water. One day I heard this man John proclaim to all the people watching, something I didn't understand at all. He pointed to an average looking Jewish man walking toward him and said for all to hear ... "Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world."

I learned later this so called Lamb of God was really just a man from Galilee ... Jesus of Nazareth, who his followers believed was ... the Son of God. I had heard that said before about the Roman emperor, Caesar. It seems like men in power always think they are god. But this man didn't act like he was anyone special. I saw him once when he stopped a woman from being stoned to death. After the crowd left, he helped her up, said something to her, smiled and walked away. I think she became one of his followers.

The only reason I am telling you this story is because something happened that changed my life. I met this man again. I was called upon to be part of the Roman detail that crucified three men on that Passover day. Even though I had performed that gruesome task before, I never got used to it. But as a soldier under orders, what could I do. You do as you are told or the same fate might await you.

There were nine of us, three men assigned to each of three prisoners. I had charge of the man who was going to be crucified on the middle of three crosses, this very same Jesus that I had seen a few times before. I'm not even sure what his crime was. He was put on trial and convicted by Pilate for saying he was the Son of God ... at least that's what the Jewish priests said. While the other two prisoners tried their best to resist as the crucifixion process began, the man the three of us had, offered no resistance whatsoever. Most men do.

After the other two men threw him down and dragged him upon the cross that we had laying on the ground ready for him, we stretched out both of his arms as far as we could pull, one man on his right and me on his left. With my knee on his forearm I placed one of the three nails between the upper bones in the palm of his hand next to his wrist. What I cannot get out of my mind, what I haven't been able to forget, if what I was doing wasn't hard enough on me; as I raised the hammer to drive the first of the three nails into his body ... he turned his head and looked me in the eye, called me by name and with such love and compassion in his voice said ... "I forgive you."

Sweat was now pouring down my forehead, the palms of my hands were so wet I could hardly hold on to the big hammer I held in my right hand. I did not want to bring it down onto the nail I was holding in my left ... but the Captain in charge of the crucifixion was standing right over me watching everything we were doing. He allowed no mercy for anyone.

Then this man called Jesus closed his eyes, clenched his teeth and I hammered and hammered and hammered seven hard powerful blows. My eyes filled with tears, I couldn't see him clearly anymore. I dropped the hammer and stood there shaking with tears running down my face. How could this man have known my name? How could he forgive me? I had his blood on my hands ... literally.

From the very moment I drove the first of those three nails through his hand, until he died about three hours later; the heavens turned almost as black as night, lightning flashed and the wind blew over the top of that hill with so much force I thought the cross would come down. But when this man Jesus hung his head in death I really became afraid. The earth itself began to tremble and shake as if what we had done, should not have been done. Not to this man anyway. A few drops of rain fell as if heaven was even crying. I think the earth and nature itself was upset and started shaking and groaning because of his death.

Not too many days later I heard a rumor that the man I helped crucify had been seen in the city. What, he wasn't dead? He was alive? How could that be, I saw him die on that cross. I was there. I was the one with the hammer.

Another ten days came and went and then, I saw a man across the street ... it was him. I couldn't believe my eyes. I didn't walk ... I ran to him. With both of my hands placed upon his shoulders, I stammered, "It is you. You're alive." Then with a lump in my throat, I asked him the same question I heard Pilate had asked him. "Are you really ... the Son of God?"

Once more, this man Jesus from Galilee looked me in the eye, smiled and said ... "I am."

My heart was pounding when I woke up. Thank God I was only dreaming. I rubbed the sleep from my eyes, sat up and swung my legs over the edge of my bunk placing my bare feet on the cool stone floor of the barracks I was in. Half awake, I looked down at my military sandals beside the bunk. I could not believe my eyes.

The bloody hammer was laying beside them.



C0mments welcome.