OF WORLDS AND A NEW CREATION
- What do we mean when we say, “North Korea is our enemy”?
- What do we mean when we say AMERICA declared war on Japan or Germany?
- What do we mean when we say, “The allies defeated Germany”?
- What is Peter talking about when he says [2 Peter 2.5] God brought the flood on “the world of the ungodly”?
- When God destroyed BABYLON what is it he destroyed?
- How does He picture its destruction in Isaiah 13:1-22?
- How does he picture his judgment on EDOM [and her allies] in Isaiah 34:1-17?
- And Judah in Zephaniah 1:2-4, Jeremiah 4:23-28?
- And ROME in Daniel 2:44; 7:3, 7-10, 17, 23, 26-27?
- This prophetic speech speaks of the “end of their world.” It’s the end of the empires or structures [religious, social, military or otherwise] they have created. The destruction of an empire is described in terms of uncreation. [See the texts above.]
- These creations are the creations of the powerful and not the marginalized, poor and vulnerable. Note texts like Ezekiel 16:49-50 and Daniel 4:27 with 2:37-38.
- Note that God raises up the various kingdoms [Daniel 2:37-38; 4:25, 32; 7:2; Romans 13:1, 4, 6; 1 Peter 2:13-17; 1 Timothy 2:1-4] and holds them responsible for the state of the world under their dominion [texts in previous paragraph]. These powers [governments, authorities and such] are structures God purposed to enable humans to live and prosper under Him [Colossians 1:15].
Rome, one of the powers God raised up to do good and to serve Him [Romans 13:1, 4], like Adam rejects God’s purpose and becomes satanic [Revelation 13:4] and God brings it down as he brought down Egypt. Note the use of the images of the Egyptian plagues as God attacks the Roman world. The Egyptian and Roman “worlds” that these two empires claimed were created by the gods and human power were dismantled by God who established he is the one true God to whom all the powers should subject themselves and serve. He ends the Roman world [Revelation 21-1] and brings about a new creation—it’s a world without Rome, a world without a sea out of which Rome will rise!
God destroys Babylon’s world and brings in a new creation [Isaiah 65:13-23; 66:18-24]. This is not the physical destruction of a physical world or the description of a new physical world—these are visionary descriptions of deliverance from an old satanic world—a world created by the corrupt and corrupting powerful ones.
The “world” that Jesus condemns is a satanic empire that makes itself visible and expresses itself through structures it has corrupted and by which it corrupts and abuses the vulnerable. Courts, schools, economic programs, military might, political and financial evil, religious perversion, industrial, educational, social and civil evils. The powerful, corrupt themselves, breed resentment and violence and despair and poverty and so make the world like themselves, hating and being hated.
Had God not brought Hitler and his Nazis down the world now would be unrecognizable. Germans would have been corrupted even more than they were—those that were—than they were while Hitler lived and ruled.
If God had not brought down Stalin’s regime who knows how deep and how wide the gulf would be between the nations though we can hardly be happy about how bad things are now who can say how much worse they might be. I purpose to develop this last point in a later piece.
To be continued, God enabling.
THE BIBLE OR THE CHURCH? BY STEVE FINNELL
THE BIBLE OR THE CHURCH? BY STEVE FINNELL
Where does the complete truth reside, in the Bible or the church? The Bible has the complete truth, no truth needs to be added.
If the church has the absolute truth, then which church would that be? The Mormon Church, the Seventh-Day Adventism Church, the Roman Catholic Church, the Baptist Church, the Jehovah's Witness Church, the Methodist Church, etc.
There is one Bible and many churches. Only the Bible has the absolute truth.
Churches cannot be trusted to teach and maintain the truth. 1 Timothy 4:1-4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in latter times some will depart from the faith......(NKJV)
You can only trust the Bible.
Church leaders cannot be trusted, the apostle Paul had to confront the apostle Peter because of his hypocrisy. Galatians 2:11-14 But when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed.......(NKJV)
Church leaders are not infallible. Only Scripture is infallible.
2 Timothy 3:16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,(NKJV)
Man-made church doctrine is not Scripture. Creed books, denominational edicts and statements of faith, are not the infallible word of God.
Only the Bible has God's Scripture. If the churches are receiving God's inspired word, then why do they not add their creeds to the Bible?
1 Peter 1:23 But the word of the Lord endures forever."(NKJV)
God's word lasts forever. The church doctrines of men change as they rely on their own understanding.
Trust the Bible or trust church doctrines written by men? Two choices.
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