End of the word of god

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Дата выпуска: 28.11.2013
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Nearly two millennia ago the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth asked Him a question that has intrigued people ever since: «What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?» (Matthew 24:3, King James Version).

People in every generation since have wondered about this. Will the world literally end? If so, how? Why? And when? What does the Bible really say about this crucial and disturbing question?

Your concern should not be when the world will end. Instead, your main focus should be to seek God to be spiritually prepared for the times that are coming. 

Religious people aren’t the only ones asking these questions. In recent decades people from many walks of life have expressed concern about the possibility of the end of the world as we know it. Politicians, educators and scientists foresee the potential destruction of our world from a number of causes—including nuclear warfare, environmental disaster, planetary pollution, overpopulation, killer diseases and collision with a comet or asteroid.

Potential devastation from the sky

Although some of these possibilities are unlikely, others present a real threat. Based on the increasing number of gigantic impact craters discovered in recent years, scientists believe that a collision between earth and a killer asteroid is inevitable.

What would be the result of such a violent encounter? «An asteroid only a kilometer across would create cosmic havoc by impacting on the earth,» writes Michio Kaku, professor of theoretical physics at City College of New York. «. . . The shock wave would flatten much of the United States. If it hit the oceans, the tidal wave it created could be a mile high, enough to flood most coastal cities on earth» (Visions: How Science Will Revolutionize the 21st Century, 1997, p. 317).

In 1908 a meteor or comet exploded over a remote area of Siberia. Though it was relatively small, with an estimated diameter of only about 50 yards, it flattened 1,000 square miles of forest, felling 80 million trees. The energy released by that celestial missile is estimated to be about equal to that of a large hydrogen bomb. The resulting tremors were recorded as far away as London. (To learn how such events might tie in with Bible prophecy, see «Will Civilization End in Global Cataclysm?»)

The increasing nuclear threat

Experts generally agree that, of all possible means of destroying humanity, nuclear weapons pose the greatest threat.

And the genie cannot be put back in the bottle. Austrian theologian Ulrich Kortner put it this way: «The nuclear threat . . . constitutes not a temporary, but rather an irrevocable global threat. The actual possibility of an end to all life is now a constituent part of our reality» (The End of the World: A Theological Interpretation, 1995, pp. 229-230, emphasis added).

Some sober scientists go even farther, saying that nuclear annihilation is inevitable. The late Carl Sagan, perhaps the world’s best-known scientist before his death in 1996, wrote that «the development of nuclear weapons and their delivery systems will, sooner or later, lead to global disaster» (Cosmos, 1980, p. 328).

With the Cold War ended, the probability of all-out nuclear war between countries has lessened for the time being, but the continuing addition of more nations to the nuclear club ratchets the threat back upward.

If North Korea has successfully developed nuclear weapons—as it has strongly hinted it has done—the nuclear club of nations now totals 10. More than 50,000 nuclear weapons exist in the world, many in dangerously unstable places. No one dares dismiss the idea that terrorist groups, if they can get their hands on nuclear devices, will use them in pursuit of their deadly aims.

Optimistic scientists believe that, thanks to continuing discoveries in science and technology, the nations will realize they must cooperate and work together to develop a unified global civilization. However, admits Dr. Kaku, «in the background always lurks the possibility of a nuclear war, the outbreak of a deadly pandemic, or a collapse of the environment» (p. 19).

Is time running out?

Reagan expressed concern that Armageddon may occur in our generation. His defense secretary, Casper Weinberger, observed: «I believe the world is going to end—by an act of God, I hope—but every day I think time is running out» (quoted by Reginald Stackhouse, The End of the World, 1997, p. viii).

Former French president Valery Giscard d’Estaing commented on the state of humanity: «The world is unhappy because it doesn’t know where it is going and because it senses that, if it knew, it would discover that it was heading for disaster» (ibid.).

Former U.S. vice president Al Gore speculated on the longevity of the world: «Two world wars, the Holocaust, the invention of nuclear weapons, and now the global environmental crisis have led many of us to wonder if survival . . . is possible» (Earth in the Balance, 1992, p. 366).

Indeed, experts from many fields share the concern that we could see the end of civilization as we know it. These concerns have created an age of anxiety, especially in a world where so little seems certain anymore.

Many others, however, say there is no need to be concerned about the world ending. They point to epidemics of end-time panic that have raged in the past. They list many failed past predictions regarding the end of the world.

Such criticism is justified to a point. Doomsday predictions have abounded for centuries; date-setters have been wrong many times. The problem with most of these prognostications was that, though well intentioned, the specific chronological details were the ideas of men who badly misinterpreted information in Scripture.

Is there a source to which we can go for reliable information? There is! That one reliable source is the Bible—what it really says. Many people today have a vague idea that the Bible says something about the end of the world. Does it? Most certainly!

The end of an age

Although we do not know the time, one thing we know for sure is that the Bible prophesies the end of the world as we know it. But what does that mean?

When Jesus’ disciples asked Him about «the end of the world,» they weren’t talking about «world» in the sense of our physical planet, the earth. The Greek word translated «world» is aion, from which we get the English word eon. The two mean essentially the same thing—an age, an epoch, an era .

Christ’s followers well knew the many prophecies of the Old Testament that foretell the coming age of the Messiah. Our present time, the time of human rule on earth under the deceptive sway of Satan (1 John 5:19), is described by the apostle Paul as «this present evil age» (Galatians 1:4).

Another Greek word translated «world» in the New Testament is kosmos, which denotes the ordered world around us—that is, not the physical planet we live on but man’s society and geopolitical dominion. This is what will end.

Paul and the other apostles understood that, at the end of this age, man’s corrupt civilization will be swept away and a new era will dawn at the return of Christ. Peter described this change as one in which «times of refreshing» will come from God the Father through Jesus, who will return from heaven when «the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets» (Acts 3:19-21, New International Version).

This transition from man’s misrule—which is, in reality, the unrecognized rule of Satan—to Christ’s divine reign in the Kingdom of God was at the heart of the messages of the biblical prophets as well as the gospel Jesus taught. (For more information, read our free Bible study aid booklets The Gospel of the Kingdom and Is There Really a Devil?)

Scripture proclaims that the present age—the civilization and societies we know today—will terminate in a cascade of unimaginable destruction and violence that will climax at the return of Christ. In the New Testament alone, more than 300 verses refer to these events.

Signs of the end time

When Jesus’ disciples asked about the end of the age (Matthew 24:3), He responded by listing several warning signs. The first would be massive religious deception, including religious teachers who, while claiming to represent Him, would not follow His teachings but would deceive many through a counterfeit Christianity.

He also said there would be many wars and other conflicts between nations and ethnic groups. He also spoke of famines,massive disease epidemics and earthquakes.

The problem with trying to precisely predict the end from these signs is that these trends and conditions have been with us in varying degrees from the first century until now. This helps explain why end-time fervor has arisen repeatedly for two millennia.

Many believe that man’s development of modern weaponry with the ability to annihilate human life is a sure sign of the last days. As for this destructive potential being a sign of the end, Jesus did say that «if that time of troubles were not cut short, no living thing could survive» (Matthew 24:22, Revised English Bible, emphasis added throughout).

Our awesome scientific and technological advancements have bequeathed to this and future generations a heritage over which hangs the ultimate sword of Damocles. Indeed, without miraculous intervention from God the human race has no assurance of survival.

However, we should realize the sobering fact that, no matter when the end of the age comes, people will be living at that time who will dispute the possibility of the world ending. Under inspiration of God, the apostle Peter tells us that «scoffers will come in the last days, walking according to their own lusts, and saying, ‘Where is the promise of His coming?'» (2 Peter 3:3-4).

Regardless of when it occurs, there will be people who express disdain even as the very time approaches. No matter how difficult things look, some will assure everyone that man has everything under control. Tragically, such assurances will do nothing but provide a false sense of security, leading people to foolishly continue to trust in human ability rather than in God.

As the end approaches

However long it is until the actual end of the age, one theme the biblical writers emphasized is that it draws nearer every day. Paul warns us that «now it is high time to awake out of sleep; for now our salvation is nearer than when we first believed» (Romans 13:11).

And salvation is certainly important to keep in mind as everything falls to pieces around us. The end of the world as we know it, though it includes many catastrophes on a scale never seen in history, is not all bad news for mankind. It includes good news too. God will intervene before it is too late (Matthew 24:21-22). The alternative is not only the destruction of human civilization but the annihilation of the human race itself.

The only wise action for anyone who understands what is coming is to turn to God with repentance and obedience (Acts 3:19). Indeed, «now [God] commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed [i.e., Jesus Christ]» (Acts 17:30-31, NIV).

When Jesus comes in power and glory, He will rebuke the world for its sins. This is part of the message proclaimed from the beginning of the true Christian Church. On the day of the Church’s founding, the apostle Peter exhorted his audience, «Be saved from this perverse generation» (Acts 2:40).

This is the message the Church is still commissioned to proclaim. How were the people to be saved? Peter urged them to repent—to turn from their own sinful, selfish ways and to seek God’s ways—and to be baptized (Acts 2:38). At His second coming Christ will reward those who do so.

Focus not on timing but preparation

It is not a question of whether the world—man’s corrupt civilization—will end. God’s Word says it will. Our chief concern should not be when it will end. Jesus said it would be impossible for men to precisely calculate this ahead of time (Matthew 24:36, Matthew 24:42, Matthew 24:44).

Instead, our main focus should be to seek God to be spiritually prepared for the times that are coming. «But keep on the alert at all times,» said Jesus, «praying in order that you may have strength to escape all these things that are about to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man» (Luke 21:36, New American Standard Bible).

The Bible describes believers as living in a state of expectancy, in a state of tension, between two worlds. We live in the present world, which we know will end, while we look for the world to come with the return of Christ. «So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him» (Matthew 24:44, NIV).

We need to seek God in heartfelt repentance and faith, leading to baptism by God’s true ministers so we can receive God’s Spirit (Acts 2:37-39). Then we are to remain faithfully obedient while awaiting Jesus’ return. For «he who endures to the end shall be saved» (Matthew 24:13).

Jesus never said the Christian calling would be easy. On the contrary, He said it would be challenging (Matthew 7:13-14). The reward, though, is great, far beyond anything we can imagine. 

I am sure all of us are aware of the fact that the book of Nehemiah more or less divides itself into two parts. In the first seven chapters of the book the main con­cern is the rebuilding of the wall of the city of Jerusalem that had been broken down during the days of Nebuchadnezzar the King of Babylon. In the next set of chap­ters beginning with 8:1, the main theme is the work of reformation and all the various areas of reformation that were to take place within that city at that time. That work of rebuilding the wall of the city was met with a great deal of opposition on the part of the enemies of the children of Israel, but in the goodness and by the grace and mercy of the Lord the people had a heart to work and the work came to be completed in due course. The walls were built, the gates were hung upon their hinges once more and all the necessary personnel were appointed for the good governing of the city. The work was finished and the people would come to rejoice to the praise of the Lord.

Be that as it may, however, Nehemiah’s calling under the Lord wasn’t simply the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem: it was the reforming of the people who were going to live within those walls. In chapter 8, then, the whole business of refor­mation begins to dominate. Now, you would have to say that the work of reformation had already begun to one degree or another. That fact is very apparent as you begin to look at the people in Jerusalem as they viewed the Word of God in their midst. At the end of the day any true work of reformation is going to be marked by how the people of God view the Word of God amongst them. In chapter 8 you have an out­standing example of that fact. The spirit of reformation was already abroad, and is very evident as you begin to look at the events that now begin to unfold themselves in this part of the book.

So taking up the first eight verses of the chapter to begin with, let me just give you some of the features that marked out that time in Israel, features that must always be present when it comes to determining any true work of reformation amongst the people of God. For the sake of convenience, I’ll give you four words that we can pin on our hearts and on our minds. The words are appetite, attitude, attention and action.

Appetite for the Word of God⤒🔗

First of all then, we have what you might call the people’s appetite — their appetite for the Word of the Lord in those Old Testament days. The first verse of the chapter reads:

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

They gathered themselves together as ‘one man’, and as they gathered themselves together as one man it was with one desire in their hearts and minds: that Ezra the servant of the Lord would ‘bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel’. Of course, it was not simply that he would bring the book, but that he would read out of the book, preach out of the book and show them the things that God would have them to know out of the book of the Word of the Lord. They wanted to know what the Lord their God had to say to them; and of course they weren’t disappointed in any way whatsoever. Verse 8 of the chapter says:

So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading.

They came with this desire, with this appetite for the Word of the Living God; they came with one heart and with one mind to the place called the water gate. Now there is no end of application out of those events in the City of Jerusalem at that time. You see from this point onwards that the children of Israel are going to be known as the people of the Book. From this time onwards the Book, the Word of God, was meant to be central in their lives. It was in their adherence to the Word of God that they would show themselves to be Israelites indeed.

That characteristic mark is something that passes over into the New Testament Scriptures of the Word of God to every true redeemed child of the Living God. You remember the Saviour’s own words, ‘if ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed’ (John 8:31). There is nothing that marks out a man or a woman or a young person as being a child of the Living God more than a readiness and a desire to know what the Word of God says, in order to do what the Word of God says to the praise of the Lord’s Name. These words in the first epistle to Peter, chapter 2 verses 1-3, are well known, I’m sure,

Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speakings, as newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious.

Now there is more to that perhaps than meets the eye. Peter isn’t simply saying that new Christians are to desire the sincere milk of the Word of God, the ‘milky things’, as it were, of the Word of God; he is saying that all Christians are to have an appetite for the Word of the Living God all the days of their lives. There is a process in the Epistle to the Hebrews in which the writer speaks about laying aside milky things and progressing onto strong meat; but that is not what Peter is speaking about when he speaks about the sincere ‘milk of the word’. What he is speaking about is the milk of the ‘mother’ — the Word — that gave us spiritual birth in the first place. That is the point; as he says in the previous chapter, we are ‘being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever’ (chapter 1 verse 23).

If we have spiritual life this day, we were given spiritual birth by the Word of God. This is by the Spirit of God, of course, but you can’t separate the Word of God from the Spirit of God. What the Apostle is saying is this: that the Word of God is your mother in the faith. And as a child, a newborn babe, desires the milk of its mother’s breast, so every born-again believer in Christ does exactly the same thing. That hunger is to characterise us every day that we live. How do you know a living baby? It cries for its mother’s milk. How do you know a living soul? It does exactly the same thing.

These old Israelites had that desire, that appetite for the Word, the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. It’s an ill omen for the new Israel — the Church of the Living God — if we don’t have the same kind of appetite for the Word of God that the old Israelites were showing in Nehemiah 8. So it is this appetite that is to be sought when we begin to determine what is, or what is not, a work of reformation — or revival or refreshing, or whatever you might want to call it.

It is not only in Nehemiah 8 that you have this selfsame kind of thing; you have it throughout the Word of God, in the Old Testament and New Testament alike. It is always a good practice to see parallel, equivalent passages in the two Testaments. We have a great need in our day for people to grasp the totality of the Word of God from beginning to end.

Let me give you one New Testament passage that ‘echoes’ these events of Nehemiah chapter 8. It is in Acts 10, when Peter had been sent for by the Roman centurion Cornelius, to come and preach the gospel to those that would gather in his home — what was the beginning of the work of the gospel among the Gentiles in a very real way. After a bit of rebuke and a bit of persuasion from God, Peter finally got up and went to the house of Cornelius. When he got there, all the household and others had gathered together, and Cornelius related how he came to send for Peter in the first place. Then he said this: ‘Now therefore are we all here present before God, to hear all things that are commanded thee of God’ (verse 33). What an invitation! Many a pas­tor or preacher would envy that kind of congregation when they come into the pulpit on a Lord’s Day morning or evening.

In this passage in Acts, the people were waiting to hear the Word. ‘Speak on Peter’: that is what they were saying. We are here to hear what God has to say to us through you. Peter does that very thing and he ‘speaks on’: he speaks the Word of God to those hungry hearts that had gathered in Cornelius’s home. You see the scenes and the truth behind the scenes. In the Old Testament and New Testament alike, they are scenes of desire, of appetite: desire for the sincere milk of the Word that we might grow there­by, desire for the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded Israel. The people want to know how they might order their lives to the glory of God out of the Word of the Living God.

That’s what we see in those glimmerings of reformation in Israel in those old days. It is something that must characterise any true work of reformation: personally in our own souls, corporately in the churches of Christ. You know the words of David I’m sure well enough; ‘More to be desired are they than gold, yea, than much fine gold’ (Psalm 19:10). These people come with an appetite for the Word of the Living God. Note that as one of the things that marked out that day in the city of Jerusalem: there was an appetite for the Word of God.

Then there are two other things that we are told about the people who had now rebuilt the wall of the city: their attitude towards the Word that they asked to be pre­sented to them and their attentiveness on that same Word. Both are absolutely essential for all that lies before them.

Attitude towards the Word of God←⤒🔗

With regards to their attitude, not for one minute did those people ever consider that this Word that was going to be read in their presence was anything other than the Word of the Living God indeed. Look again at their request in Nehemiah 8:1,

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that was before the water gate; and they spake unto Ezra the scribe to bring the book of the law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded to Israel.

It was the book of the law of Moses, but more importantly it was the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. The people didn’t have any difficulties in their hearts and minds in discerning between human instruments and divine instrumentality. They knew it was Moses that had given them the Law, but also that God had given Moses the Law in the first place. It was God’s Word, the Word which the Lord had commanded to Israel.

It was absolutely crucial that they start out with that attitude, and adopt that atti­tude, right at the outset of this work of reformation. As we’ll see in a minute, when they begin to delve into that Word they are going to come upon a couple of surprises. They are going to have to be persuaded that it is the Word of the Living God. It’s a wee bit like that time when the mother of Zebedee’s children made the request before the Saviour that her two sons might sit one on the right hand and the other on the left in His Kingdom (Matthew 20). But Jesus answered, ‘Ye know not what ye ask. Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?’ (verse 22).

‘Ye know not what ye ask.’ There are times when we ask the Lord to open up the Word to us, but we know not what we ask, and we have to be prepared for what the Lord begins to tell us out of that Word. If we entertain any thoughts that it is anything other than the Word of the Living God then we are only going to obey those parts of the Word that serve our purpose or that suit our thoughts. However, if we have the conviction within our hearts and our souls that this is nothing other than the Word of the Lord God of heaven and earth, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, then that will give us the motivation necessary to do whatever it is that the Lord com­mands us to do. This is the Word of God, ifs the Book of the Law of Moses which the Lord had commanded to Israel. The people of Israel were off to a good start with that attitude that they had stored up in their hearts and souls.

We all know that sometimes the precepts of the Word are difficult, but if we are able to follow those precepts they are going to be a blessing. That lovely old hymn says

The Lord is King!
Who then shall dare
Resist His will, distrust His care,
Or murmur at His wise decrees
or doubt his royal promises?¹

Whether they be precepts or promises, if we have settled that this is nothing other than the Word of God, if that is the attitude of our hearts and our souls, then we will enjoy the promises and we will undertake the precepts. It was so essential that this fact be established right at the commencement of this work when God was going to reform that people.

Attentiveness to the Word of God←⤒🔗

Then, of course, it is that attitude — that this is indeed the Word of God — that accounts for their attentiveness, their attention, being paid to the Word. In verses 2 and 3 we read that

‘Ezra the priest brought the law before the congregation both of men and women, and all that could hear with understanding, upon the first day of the seventh month. And he read therein before the street that was before the water gate from the morning until midday, before the men and the women, and those that could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive unto the book of the law’.

That doesn’t need any enlargement for any of us. The very essence of reformation in a soul is that that soul is attentive to the Word of the Living God. Very simply, the Word comes to be pronounced in their hearing and they incline their ears, or are going to incline their ears to that Word. It is reciprocation. It is always the preaching of the Word of God or the reading of the Word of God on the one hand and the hearing and attentiveness to the Word of God on the other.

You will probably know that there are what you might call two famines men­tioned in the Scriptures. One of them has to do with the preaching of the Word of God and the other one has to do with the hearing of the Word of God. In 1 Samuel, when Samuel was still only a young boy, the state of things in Israel had come to a very low ebb, and it says that ‘the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision’ (3:1). It doesn’t mean that the Word was precious in the sense that it was valuable. It was precious in the sense that it was rare. You hardly ever came across the true preaching of the Word; there was no open vision; there was no open declaration of the Word of the Living God. There was a famine of the preach­ing of the Word.

In the book of Amos we read about the famine of the hearing of the Word of God. ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD’ (8:11). Sometimes you can have the one, sometimes you can have the other. Sometimes it is the lack of preaching that is uppermost, sometimes it is the lack of true hearing that is uppermost. But in Nehemiah’s time in Israel neither was the case: there was both an endeavour to preach the Word of God and a willingness to hear the Word of God. That combination is of the very essence of any true reform­ing work in the people of God.

The word ‘attentive’ comes in verse 3 of Nehemiah 8, and literally means that their ears were inclined towards the Word. There is a sense in which God’s ear is attentive to us.

‘I waited for the Lord my God,
and patiently did bear;
At length to me he did incline
my voice and cry to hear’.²

The implication is absolutely clear: if God directs His ear to hear what we have to say, surely we have to direct our ears to hear what God has to say. We are always under obligation to be attentive to the Word of the Living God.

You know how it is with our children sometimes? You want to speak to them sincerely, you want to give them some good piece of advice or some good directive. But one of the great barriers is not being able to get their ear, not being able to get their attention. Are you listening to me? Are you listening to me? How often does the Lord our God have to say to each and every one of us, ‘Are you listening to Me? Are you listening to Me?’

In that ongoing work that had now begun in Jerusalem, one of the features was their attention, their attentiveness. Their ears were towards the Word that they desired to be brought to them.

That great exponent of the human heart, John Bunyan, has got it just right when it comes to the business of the ear. If you have ever read The Holy War, you’ll know that the book is about the city of Mansoul. Mansoul was once ruled over by the great King El Shaddai, but then along came the evil prince Diabolus, the devil, and took control of Mansoul. But then there came a point when El Shaddai was going to bring his Mansoul back once again and so he sent Prince Emmanuel, His Son. The first place that Prince Emmanuel began to launch His attack was at one of the gates of the city called Eargate. As that assault began, Diabolus, the devil, had already taken precau­tions with regard to Eargate because, as Bunyan says, it was at that gate that he himself first made an entrance into the city. ‘Yea, hath God said…? Ye shall not sure­ly die’ (Genesis 3:1, 4).

I heard recently about a preacher over in Northern Ireland who announced that ‘tonight I am going to bring you a word from the devil. And the word from the devil is this. Ye shall not surely die’. That is the devil’s text, and there right at the beginning, in John Bunyan’s words, it was through Eargate that the devil made his entrance into Mansoul. There were precautions; it says the gate was to have double guards, double bolts and double locks and bars. Then comes the masterstroke. The keeper of Eargate was an old gentleman called Mr. Prejudice and he had sixty deaf men who were to do his bidding. That is a good picture of the ear: double guards, double bolts, and dou­ble locks and bars. Old Mr. Prejudice and his sixty deaf men under him were the keepers of the gate.

That is what the ear is like by nature. But again, we can be thankful that at this point in Israel’s reformation that was beginning to take place, that wasn’t the case. When they gathered themselves together as one man to hear the Word of the Lord, they were attentive unto the Word of the Lord. You see, it all hangs together: their appetite for the Word was healthy, their attitude to the Word was right, and so their attentiveness on the Word was absolutely assured.

Action on the Word of God←⤒🔗

Then comes the action. You have appetite, attitude, attentiveness and then you have action in verses 5 and 6 of the chapter. ‘And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all the people; (for he was above all the people;) and when he opened it, all the peo­ple stood up: and Ezra blessed the LORD, the great God. And all the people answered, Amen, Amen, with lifting up their hands: and they bowed their heads, and wor­shipped the Lord with their faces to the ground’.

Ifs not hard to visualise these scenes. Ezra opens up the Book, stands above the people, blesses the people and the great God. And all the people answer, Amen, Amen. They lifted up their hands, and they bowed their heads, and they worshipped the Lord their God. ‘Stand up, and bless the Lord, Ye people of His choice’.³That’s the kind of thing that was happening at that time. They stand up and then they bow down. There is no contradiction in that. You see, we stand up in the presence of the Word of God and we bow down in the presence of the Word of God. It’s that which we seek for our blessing and it’s that which we submit to, to the praise and honour of the Lord. Ezra blessed all the people and blessed the God of that Word, and they respond­ed with their Amen, Amen.

Somebody has drawn a good contrast between the dedication of the temple in the days of Solomon. There, there were trumpeters and cymbals and glory and beauty, natural and supernatural, to overwhelm the worshippers. Here with Ezra, however, all you had was a man standing on a wooden pulpit with a Book in his hand. But it was the Book of God. That was the whole point. When the Book of God was brought into the midst of the people they reacted in the way that was befitting to having the Book of God in their midst.

The word ‘amen’ either gives weight to what is being said, or is a response to what has been said. It is as when the Saviour said ‘verily, verily’: amen, amen, so be it; or when we are responding and saying in our hearts and souls, ‘so be it’ to all the prom­ises of God in Christ. It’s a great word. It is as the Psalmist David by the Holy Spirit of God brings the first part of the Book of Psalms to a conclusion with that lovely 72^nd Psalm, ‘And blessed be his glorious name for ever: and let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen’ (verse 19). ‘So be it!’ We also see it when Paul prays in Ephesians 3, ‘Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen’ (verses 20, 21).

These people standing beside the water gate want to hear the Word of the Lord. They have got an appetite for it, and an attitude towards it, that it is the Word of the Living God. No wonder then that they are attentive to it and act toward it as they ought. When men and women begin to respond like that to the Word of God, you can fairly say there is a work of reformation afoot in that person or people.

‘Touching and Glancing’ on the Word of God: the first day←⤒🔗

Now that was only the ‘first day’; that was just the beginnings of the first day. You follow on into the chapters and you get the next day, and the day after, and so on right through this part of the Book of Nehemiah. It’s a work of reformation that is going on. Let me just give you at least a few glimmerings or a few gleanings (as Isaac Watts would talk about ‘touching and glancing’, so we just touch and glance on some of the things that now follow on).

That first day concluded with the celebration of one of Israel’s great feasts, the feast of trumpets; and in the feast of trumpets you have the real beginnings of Israel’s determination to walk in the light of the Word. They did not just desire to hear it, but to walk in the light of it. If you look in verses 9 and 10,

And Nehemiah, which is the Tirshatha, and Ezra the priest the scribe, and the Levites that taught the people, said unto all the people, This day is holy unto the LORD your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the law. Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.

Now there are awfully strong implications in that. The people, in that sense, have been hewn asunder by the Word of the Lord because the Word of the Lord very often does that to us, especially when the Lord is working a work of reforming grace. All the people wept, it says, when they heard the words of the Law. But in step Nehemiah, Ezra and the others and they tell them not to weep but in essence to ‘eat and drink and be merry’. Now, why were they told to do that? It was because the Word of God required them to do that. It was the feast of trumpets, and the feast of trumpets was to be marked out by rejoicing in the nation of Israel: they were to be rejoicing and giv­ing thanks to the Lord God of heaven and earth. You see the implications and the ongoing application of that! Those people at that point didn’t really feel much like rejoicing. But their feelings had to become subservient to the Word of God. This is the feast of trumpets. It’s a holy day. On this holy day you are not to mourn and you are not to weep. You are to rejoice. But I feel like weeping. It doesn’t matter. You are to rejoice.

When the Word of God comes, very often in a very striking way it has to overrule our feelings. When the Word of God is able to overrule our feelings, the work of reformation is going on in our souls. ‘Rejoice in the Lord always: and again I say, Rejoice’ (Philippians 4:4). The circumstances might be pretty grim, and you may say ‘I can’t rejoice in these circumstances’; but you rejoice in the Lord in the midst of the circumstances. We are not asked to rejoice in the circumstances, but to rejoice in the Lord in the midst of them. Dear Mr. Spurgeon in his own usual way, when he comments on those words of the Apostle, says, ‘I never yet read a portion of Scripture that says, groan in the Lord always, and again I say groan’.⁴These people are to do what the Word of God tells them to do; and they do it.

But of course there is a great rationale behind their being called to do that very thing: verse 10, ‘Then he said … Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength’. There’s nothing that will help us to press on at difficult times like the joy of the Lord in our hearts. When God commands us to do something, whatever it is, it is ultimately for our spiritual good. So ends the first day. They have only begun. But in the very beginnings, surely there are all the true marks of reforming grace.

‘Touching and Glancing’ on the Word of God: the next days←⤒🔗

Now again just to touch a wee bit more, when we come to the second day and the third day and the fourth day, it’s more of the same. In verse 13 we read, ‘And on the second day were gathered together the chief of the fathers of all the people, the priests, and the Levites, unto Ezra the scribe, even to understand the words of the law’. That’s a tremendous word for any believer, but especially for anyone who is engaged in the ministry of the Word of God or the preaching of the Word of God to others. You see, here were these men. They had just spent the whole of that previ­ous day opening up and declaring and reading and preaching the Word of God. So they must know it all. No they don’t! And on the second day they are back to the Word of God to understand the Word of God, and not just for themselves, of course. They want to investigate the Word of God for themselves but also for the good of others as well.

The Lord has yet more light and truth to break forth from His Word. When we think we know it all, we only show how little we really know. There are those things we know, and we must know them unto everlasting life: but to adopt the attitude that ‘I don’t need to investigate this Word further’ —that’s spiritual death creeping into the soul.

In the text of the Authorised Version that I’m using, it says ‘they were gathered together … even to understand the words of the law’ (verse 13). But there’s a reading in the margin. It says, ‘to understand … or, that they might instruct in the words of the law’. So in fact if you put the two things together you probably get the fulness of why those leaders had met together on the second day. It was in order to understand the Word of God for themselves in order that they might instruct others in that Word also. It wasn’t an academic pursuit. It was study with purpose.

You may know what is said about Ezra in the book of Ezra: ‘For Ezra had pre­pared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments’ (Ezra 7.10). That was their intention. They were investigating the Word so that they might instruct others in the Word so that together they might implement the Word. This is proof perfect that it was a reforming spirit that was abroad at that time.

When they begin to investigate the Word, they are in for a great surprise. The great surprise is this: they were to celebrate the feast of tabernacles or the feast of booths by dwelling in booths; for years and years they had been observing the feast of booths but without any booths. An amazing thing: nobody had ever stopped and said, ‘why do we call this the feast of booths? Why do we call it the feast of tabernacles?’ For years, since the days of Joshua (as it says in verse 17), they hadn’t built any booths at the feast of booths. The feast was to remember how their fathers had wandered in the wilderness for all of those years and had never built houses, but had lived in booths. Every year at the feast of tabernacles, they were to go and break down branches and bring them, and build tabernacles or booths of the branches to remember how their fathers had wandered in the wilderness and how God had sustained them and brought them into the land of Canaan. But here was the feast of booths and they hadn’t built any booths. If you want an equivalent for us today, if you want to transfer it into Christianity, it’s like having the breaking of bread without any bread!

But to their credit, once they began to see that they were lacking in that part of the Word of God, they began to put it right. That’s reformation. And let me say, my dear friends, that’s a word that each and every one of us needs to understand with regards to true reformation. Reformation isn’t simply something that is historical or historic. It’s something that’s biblical from beginning to end. Where anything clashes with the Word of God and we are shown where we miss the mark with regards to the Word of God, we’d better put it right if we want to enjoy a time of reformation in our souls.

Conclusion to this study of the Word of God←⤒🔗

So they come with an appetite, they come with an attitude, they are attentive, they act aright, they investigate, they implement: that’s reform. As we look around us with regards to so many things, and with regards to so many claims in our day, especially with regards to the work of reformation or refreshing or revival or whatever you might call it, we simply assess any claim along those lines by asking: How central is the Word of God in that work? Is it precious in the sight of God’s people? Is it sought after? Is it believed in? Is it performed regardless of anything else? When all of that is in the work, then God is in the work. By the grace of God and His enabling, may each and every one of us be determined to seek after the Lord our God! He has shown Himself in His Word, and has shown us what He requires from us. By His grace, may we endeavour to do all of that! Amen.

On Thursday afternoon I listened to Bud Burk’s sermon on prayer from last week. I was deeply moved. Christ went to Gethsemane and the cross so that I might be able to pray. Access to God in Jesus’s name was dearly bought.

My assignment today is to do for the Bible what Bud did for prayer. Our custom in prayer week each year is to sandwich the week with a message on prayer and a message on the word of God. Because the two are so intimately related in the Bible and in Christian experience.

• The psalmist prays, “Incline my heart to your testimonies” (Psalm 119:36). He prays that he would want to read and meditate on God’s word. Prayer and the word.

• He prays, “Open my eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of your law” (Psalm 119:18). He prays that he would see wonders in the Scripture. Prayer and the word.

• Paul says, “Take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God, praying at all times in the Spirit” (Ephesians 6:17–18). Take the word praying. Prayer and the word.

• He says, “Pray for us, that the word of the Lord may speed ahead and be honored” (2 Thessalonians 3:1). Pray that the word would break through and triumph. Prayer and the word.

• And the apostles said that they should “devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word” (Acts 6:4). Prayer and the word.

“We believe that God has spoken in history and the Bible is the authoritative deposit of that word for all time.”

So we sandwich prayer week with messages on prayer and the word around prayer week because the Bible puts them together so closely, and because we believe this juxtaposition is the key to living the Christian life. That is what I will try to show today with illustrations of how this actually works. The text we will build on is 1 Thessalonians 2: 13–14:

And we also thank God constantly for this, that when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea.

1. God has spoken.

Verse 13b: “You received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” So twice he calls his communication the “word of God.” This is not merely the word of man. Paul is speaking. But it is the word of God. God has spoken and is now speaking through Paul.

We believe that God has spoken in history, and that by inspiration, the Bible is the authoritative deposit of that word for all time.

All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:16–17)

2. His word comes to us in human words.

In the middle of verse 13, Paul says, “You received the word of God, which you heard from us.” You heard God’s word from us. We are human. God is divine. We are speaking on his behalf. His word is heard in human words.

Christ had appointed apostles who would be his authoritative spokesmen. He teaches and guides and inspires them (and a band of brothers close to them) and they speak his word on his behalf with his authority.

Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:13, “We impart [God’s truth] in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.” This is what we have in the New Testament — God’s word mediated to us in the divinely taught words of men. God’s words come to us in human words.

3. The Thessalonians heard the words of Paul.

Verse 13b: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us. . . .” God spoke, humans gave his word through their words, and the Thessalonians heard that. They heard the sounds. They knew the Greek language. They construed meaning with their minds.

God uses humans to deliver his word, and he delivers it to humans. Human minds hear and understand the word from God, and then another set of human minds receive it from those human mouths and again hear and understand it.

Nothing has been said yet about how the Thessalonians have evaluated the words. Only that they are hearing, and by implication, they are construing. They are trying to make sense of what they hear. That’s what we do when we hear someone speak. So the Thessalonians heard the words of Paul.

4. As they heard, God acted on their minds and hearts.

What did he do? And how do we know this?

What he did was enable them to receive Paul’s words as the word of God. Verse 13b: “When you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” That’s what God did. He opened their mind and heart to know that Paul was speaking the word of God, and he gave them the inclination to receive it for what it is, not mere human words, but God’s word.

How do we know God did this? Because at the beginning of verse 13, just before saying that they received his word as the word of God, Paul says, “And we also thank God constantly for this.” For what? “That when you received the word of God, which you heard from us, you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.”

But why would Paul thank God for this? Why would he thank God that the hearts of the Thessalonians grasped the divine nature of the human word? Why would he thank God that the hearts of the Thessalonians embraced the human words as divine word? The reason is that God enabled them to do this.

It’s the same as when Peter said to Jesus: “You are the Son of God,” and Jesus responded, “Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven” (Matthew 16:17). In other words, God enabled Peter to see that the human person of Jesus was more than human. And God enabled the Thessalonians to see that the human words of Paul were more than human.

“We thank God that . . . you accepted our word not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God.” We thank God because God gave you eyes to see the word for what it really is.

If you have welcomed the gospel as God’s word and believed, that’s how it happened to you. God opened your eyes. God inclined your heart. You saw in the words of man, the word of God (see John 8:47; 18:37; 1 John 4:6).

5. The Thessalonians accepted Paul’s word as the word of God.

We’ve said it, but it deserves its own point. Point 4: God acted. Point 5: the result was that the Thessalonians accepted Paul’s word as God’s word.

There is another word for this reception in verse 13: belief, or faith, or trust. “You accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” He is calling them believers now precisely because they accepted his word as God’s word.

So saving faith, involves the work of God, opening the eyes of our hearts (Ephesians 1:18) to see Paul’s message as God’s word and accept it, embrace it, receive it. Faith doesn’t look at the word of God from a distance and pronounce it true. It takes hold of it, receives it, takes it in, embraces it.

“If you have welcomed the gospel, then God opened your eyes. God inclined your heart.”

“As the word of God!” That is, as supremely valuable. Precious. All important. So the Thessalonians accepted, welcomed, received, embraced Paul’s message as the very word of God, as supremely important and precious and valuable in their lives. It was received as a treasure —whose value is only exceeded by God.

6. This word of God was now at work in the Thessalonians.

Verse 13b: “You accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you believers.” So God acted to cause them to welcome the word. And now the word itself is living and active in them.

The word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. (Hebrews 4:12)

And what specifically was the effect of this working? That’s the last observation.

7. The working of God’s word produced joyful endurance in suffering.

Notice the connection between verses 13 and 14. End of verse 13: “which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered the same things from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews.”

Paul is giving evidence that God’s word is at work in them. And he says that receiving Paul’s word as the word of God had led to suffering. But that by itself would not prove God’s word was at work in them, because they might have responded to their affliction with anger and doubt and unbelief. But they didn’t. How do we know that? Because Paul had already said it clearly, which is why he didn’t need to here. Look at 1 Thessalonians 1:5–6:

Our gospel came to you not only in word, but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and with full conviction. You know what kind of men we proved to be among you for your sake. And you became imitators of us and of the Lord, for you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.

By the Holy Spirit, God had powerfully given them joy in the midst of their affliction. “Our gospel came to you in power and in the Holy Spirit . . . And you received the word in much affliction, with the joy of the Holy Spirit.”

Now when we go back to 1 Thessalonians 2:13–14 we see how God does this. He does it by his word. Verse 13, at the end, “The word of God, which is at work in you believers. For you, brothers, became imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea. For you suffered. . . .” Indeed you suffer with joy. Joy in the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit was giving them joy in suffering by the working of the word in their hearts and minds.

Applying the Text to Your Life

So here is the truth that I draw out of this for living the Christian life: by the work of the Holy Spirit, God defeats temptation (like the temptation to be angry and depressed that you are suffering) by awakening joy through belief in the word of God which is at work in us. And that word is most centrally the good news that Christ died for us so that all the promises of God are Yes in him (2 Corinthians 1:20).

So let’s say the lesson another way now. We live the Christian life, we walk by the Spirit, when the Holy Spirit overcomes our temptations to sin by awaking joy through faith in the blood-bought promises of God that are at work in us. So you see the dynamics at work here: the Holy Spirit, the word of God, faith, and joy. By the Spirit, we trust the promises which bring joy which defeats temptation. And all the while we are praying!

So now let me illustrate how this works. It helps me to have an acronym called APTAT.

A — I admit I can’t in myself do what needs to be done.
P — I pray for God’s help.
T — I trust a particular promise he has given.
A — I act to do whatever God is calling me to do.
T — I thank him for his help when I am done.

So here’s how it works with temptations for specific sins.

The Temptation of Fear

God has called you to do something. You know it’s right, but you’re afraid. What do you do?

You admit honestly and humbly: “I am afraid and I cannot do this by myself.” Then you pray: “O God, grant me courage. Please don’t let me be ruled by fear. Take it away.”

Then you call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood-bought promise that Christ has guaranteed for you by his blood: “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand” (Isaiah 41:10). You trust this promise. You say to God, “I take this promise for myself. I trust you. You are now my help.”

And you act. You act, believing that God, the Holy Spirit, is acting in you by his word through your faith. And when you are done, you bow your head and say, “Thank you. Thank you.”

The Temptation of Covetousness or Greed

You desire something that you don’t need. And the desire grows and starts to be very powerful. You’re losing your contentment in Christ — starting to feel that if you don’t have this, you will be miserable and maybe even give up on God. What do you do?

You admit you can’t beat this. It’s too strong. You need God’s help. Powerful help. Then you pray: “Father, I need your help. Please conquer my covetousness. Take away this craving. Restore my joy and my contentment.”

Then you call to mind a specific tailor-made, blood-bought promise like Hebrews 13:5–6: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ So we can confidently say, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not fear; what can man do to me?’”

And you trust that promise. You say, “Yes, Lord. Yes. You will never leave me. You will take care of me. You are enough. You are my contentment. I trust you. I believe you.” And you act. You turn away from the idol. And as you turn away from the coveted idol, you thank him. “Thank you, Lord. Thank you.”

The Temptation of Bitterness for Being Wronged

Someone has hurt you very badly. Or perhaps they’ve hurt someone close to you. A huge injustice has been done. You know it was wrong. Everybody knows it was wrong. Efforts at biblical reconciliation have been made. Maybe you made progress, maybe you didn’t. And you find yourself eaten up with recurrent anger and bitterness against the offender. You may even be married to him or her. Or it may be your father or your former boss.

“Call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood-bought promise that Jesus has guaranteed for you by his blood.”

And you know the bitterness is wrong, but you can’t seem to shake it, because every time you try the sheer injustice of it all rises up with such ugliness you clinch your fist and grit your teeth that this wrong is not being properly punished. Justice is not being done. In fact he or she may not even think they did anything wrong. Life may be going on just fine for them while you deal with the wreckage. What do you do?

You admit: “I can’t shake it, I need help. I am being enslaved by this bitterness. It’s destroying me, and no one else.” Then you pray: “Father, I really need your help. I can’t stop feeling rage at this person. Help me. Please take it away.”

Then you call to mind a specific, tailor-made, blood bought (and that is especially relevant here, because Jesus bled instead of being bitter) promise, like Romans 12:19, “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.’”

And you trust this promise: He will repay. He will repay. Vengeance belongs to him and he will see to it that perfect justice is done for every sin against me, indeed every sin in the universe. He will deal with it, either in hell or on the cross. I don’t need to carry this cause anymore. I can hand it over to him who judges justly (1 Peter 2:23). And I do that now. “I trust you, Father, to settle this matter perfectly. I trust you.”

And then you act. You get rid of the reminders you’ve been using. You don’t go to the brooding places. You burn the letters you’ve been simmering over. You stop rehearsing all the scenarios of vengeance. When they come up in your head you say, No, and turn to the word of Christ, the cross, the promises, the judgment.

And you look up to God, your merciful Father, and thank him for being a perfectly holy and righteous judge who lifts the deadly burden of vengeance from our back.

So I commend it to you: APTAT — admit, pray, trust, act, thank. I think this is what it means to walk by the Spirit. To walk by faith. I think this is what it means for the word of God to be at work in those who believe.

And I pray I will be able to look back on 2012 with you and say,

I thank God constantly that all year long you received the word of God, which you read in your Bible and which you heard from me; and that you accepted it not as the word of men but as what it really is, the word of God, which is at work in you who believe, to set you free.