The Peaceful Kingdom

September 4, 2016 Background Scripture: Isaiah 11:1 – 9 Lesson Passage: Isaiah 11:1 – 9 The focus of the next series of lessons shifts to the most prolific of the writing prophets, Isaiah. Isaiah’s writing spans all times from the pre-existence of time to the post-time events recorded in the book of Revelation. Today’s lesson focuses on the future Kingdom of God on earth. Of course, the kingdom is established by the long awaited Messiah of God. The details given by Isaiah begin with the origin and nature of the Messiah. The Messiah will be from the tribe of Judah and a descendant of Jesse (David’s father). This is significant because Judah is spoken of here as a remnant and not the full tribe. This is part of the hope that God provides for His covenant people. The northern kingdom of Israel, which consisted of ten tribes, was decimated by the Assyrians in 722 B.C. The southern kingdom of Judah, the two remaining tribes that inherited land, fell to the Babylonians in 586 B.C. The northern kingdom was never restored but God provided a remnant from the southern kingdom which included the family line the Messiah would come through. Isaiah’s language, which describes a rod from the stem and a branch from the roots of Jesse, refers to a remnant that is analogous to a branch growing out of the stump of a tree that was cut down. This is the hope the Jewish exiles could hold on to even in Babylonian exile. God made promises that were firmly rooted in the covenant He made with Abraham. Israel could not be annihilated without God going back on His promises. God would punish the sins of the nation but He would also preserve a remnant to fulfill His promises. The Messiah would come forth from this remnant. The kingdom established by the Messiah would restore the pre-flood conditions of nature without the presence of sin. In the post-flood covenant God made with Noah, God declared that the fear and dread of man would be in every beast of the earth. Furthermore, animals were added to man’s diet in this covenant. But here, in the Noahic covenant, God also spoke of beasts taking man’s life as well. Nature was literally turned against itself after the flood. The kingdom established on earth by the Messiah would restore the balance of nature and peace would prevail. Animals that we classify today as carnivores because they are meat eaters will return to being herbivores and consume plants for their food. Today’s carnivores and herbivores will share the same diet of plants in the Messiah’s kingdom. They will no longer be predators and prey. Wild beasts will no longer pose a threat to mankind and little children will be able to play with snakes that are classified today as poisonous. Perhaps the most significant aspect of the Messiah’s kingdom will be in the area of human relations. The Messiah’s righteousness will be the standard for justice. The meek of the earth will be vindicated because the Messiah will argue their case for them. The words of the Messiah will be words of justice. The Messiah’s knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and counsel will be given to him by the Spirit of God. The Messiah’s kingdom on earth will be the peaceful kingdom. Robert C. Hudson August 24, 2016

Love Fulfills the Law

August 28, 2016 Background Scripture: Romans 12:1, 2; 13:8 – 14 Lesson Passage: Romans 12:1, 2; 13:8 – 10 God revealed His perfect Law through Moses. Moses, who is known as the great Law giver, made known this Law to Israel and they, in turn, have made it available for the world. The Law describes holiness and righteousness—or characteristics of a right relationship with God. Since the Law is already perfect, it will never be amended or repealed. Everything of God works in concert with the Law and grace is no exception. In this letter, Paul made it clear that we don’t have the capacity, in our own strength, to keep or fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law because of sin in our flesh. Even when we desire with all of our heart to do as the Law demands, sin, in us, is present to hinder us. In this part of the letter to the Romans, Paul turned his attention to what is required for us to fulfill the Law. Paul stated that love, one for another, fulfills the Law. He reiterated the four commandments that govern peer to peer righteousness to show that they are summed up by simply acknowledging that we should love others as we love ourselves. When we demonstrate our love for others, we do not steal from each other; we do not tell a lie as a witness against another; we do not violate the intimate trust of marriage; and we do not desire to have anything that is the property of someone else. Because love avoids harming another person, it then is the fulfillment of the righteous Law of God in this regard. The actions Paul defined are a demonstration of benevolent love that is the meaning of the Greek word agape. Agape is the love that fulfills the Law. Agape love is benevolent action because it is motivated by the need or needs of another. Agape love does not have good feelings as its source neither is it sustained by emotions. Meeting the needs of another person is the source and sustainer of this type of love. The act of agape love may bring joy to the benevolent one but that is not the motivation for it. Agape is not done out of a sense of obligation as in the case of a parent meeting the needs of a minor child. Agape does not have an expectation of reciprocity as is often the case of two admirers caught up in a romantic affair. The English word love is too often restricted to feelings, reciprocity, or obligation and therefore could never describe actions that fulfill the righteousness of the Law. Only when we understand the Greek word agape that was used by Paul do we begin to comprehend how actions can fulfill the Law. We have to adjust our thinking when we see the English word love in the scriptures so that we can have a clear understanding of the Greek word it was translated from. This can be further complicated by the fact that three different Greek words are used in New Testament writing that are translated into the one English word love or some variation of it. The meaning of the Greek words range from: befriending, to being fond of or preferring, to being benevolent. The fulfillment of the Law could never be based on individual preferences or friendships. Only in the Greek word agape can the Law be fulfilled. A benevolent love motivated by the needs of others fulfills the Law. Robert C. Hudson August 22, 2016

Grafted In

August 21, 2016 Background Scripture: Romans 11:11 – 36 Lesson Passage: Romans 11:11 – 24 Jesus said it best: Salvation is of the Jews. That is to say, everyone God chooses to save will be saved through the faith God gives based on the covenant that belongs to the Jews. The beginning of the Jewish faith is the circumcision of the male babies. This makes all of the males participants in the covenant of God and the females are sanctified as part of the family. It was through the Jews that the Law of God was received. The Jewish faith was built on the keeping of the Law—which included circumcision. But the Law is contrary to the flesh and leads to an individual’s moral disobedience becoming exceedingly sinful. The Jews’ hope of deliverance was dependent on the promised Messiah of God arriving in their midst. However, because of the disobedience in the children of the covenant, they were not prepared to receive the long awaited Messiah when he was presented to them. In our lesson today, Paul stated that Israel’s disobedience provided a window God used to extend salvation, by faith, to the Gentiles. The Gentiles were previously outside of the covenant of God. This window of salvation for the Gentiles, Paul reasoned, was provided to provoke the Jews to jealousy. But Paul’s conclusion is that all of Israel will still be saved. God promised salvation to the Jews and He is not going back on His promise. During this time between Pentecost and the Rapture, also known as the Church Age, God has spiritually blinded the Jews and this has made them enemies of the gospel. The Jews are not enemies of God for they are still God’s covenant people. Therefore, Paul warned the Gentile believers to not get beside themselves and think they are superior to the Jews. The Jews are the original people of God and that has not changed. Paul used the analogy of an arborist’s work with trees. The arborist can improve the quality of fruit produced by grafting branches from a tree into the trunk another tree. The grafted branch relies on the trunk and roots of the tree it has been grafted into for all of its substance. When the grafted branch begins to bear fruit, it is due solely to the trunk and roots of the tree it is grafted into. Paul viewed the Gentile believers in the same manner as the grafted branch. The fruitfulness of Gentile believers is due solely to the tree of salvation they have been grafted into—not because of self-worth or merit. The tree of salvation is the people of God. Again, the Jews are the original people of God. The caution here is that Gentile believers should not become high-minded and think they are better than the Jews. The fact of salvation is that Gentile believers have been grafted into the Jewish family and made partakers of the covenant. This is the essence of the doctrine of adoption. Abraham is the father of the faithful and we have been made children of Abraham through adoption. God’s entire plan of salvation is of the Jews. During this Church Age, Gentiles are being saved because we are being grafted in. Robert C. Hudson August 13, 2016

Living under God’s Mercy

August 14, 2016 Background Scripture: Romans 9:6 – 29 Lesson Passage: Romans 9:6 – 18 The text for today’s lesson presents some aspects of God’s sovereignty. From this study, we should conclude that God is not waiting at man’s beck and call to respond to man’s wishes as though God is man’s humble servant and not vice versa. On the contrary, mankind continues to exist in our present state because of God’s patient mercy towards us. One important aspect of God’s sovereignty is the election of saints. The saints are not the elect of God because we accepted the salvation offered through Christ but rather we accepted the salvation offered through Christ because we are the elect of God. There is a difference. God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world. God chose us before we had the opportunity to choose Him. To further show that the purpose of God stands by election and not by works, Paul noted that God called Isaac, the offspring of Abraham, before he was born. This clearly shows that before the child could do either good or evil, he was already chosen by God as the bearer of the seed of promise. Likewise, Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, was also chosen by God beforehand. God executes His will in the absence of any activity on man’s part. We cannot manipulate God’s will to suit us in spite of our feeble attempt to do so. God’s will is according to His divine mercy and not man’s doings or abstentions from doing. Even in the creation, God created all things before He created man and then God assigned man to have dominion over His creation. Throughout man’s history, God has used whoever He desired to accomplish His will. God has used both good and evil people for His purpose. God elevates or destroys whoever He chooses. Whether God elevates a good person or an evil one, it is for the same purpose and that is that the outcome will conform to God’s will. There is much that we don’t understand about the actions of God. But it is important to understand that we were created by God and the creation has no right or grounds on which to question the creator, God. God can display the riches and depth of His mercy by saving the unworthy and bringing them into His glory. This He does with both Jews and Gentiles who receive Jesus by faith. Likewise, God can show His wrath by being patient with evil people that He will later destroy—even though He may choose to use them for a time to bring about His will. Through the prophets of God, He spoke plainly about the future. One philosopher has stated that prophecy is a mold that history gets poured into. God has demonstrated this over and over throughout time. God declared the end long ago through His prophets. Hosea prophesied concerning the acceptance of the Gentiles into God’s family at a time when it seemed unthinkable. Isaiah prophesied concerning the remnant of Israel that would be preserved to keep the descendants of Abraham from being excluded from God’s plan long before there was a dispersion of the Jews. Both prophecies are declarations of God’s mercy. The conclusion to be drawn from examining the lesson passage is that the mercy of God is the only reason salvation is available for Jews and Gentiles. We live under God’s mercy. Robert C. Hudson July 26, 2016