Why was the revival needed?
If we fundamentalists strictly believe in the inerrancy of God's Word, then let us pay close attention to excatly that which the Word teaches. Jonah 4:2 tells us precisely why God sent this revival to Ninevah. God sent this revival because He is loving and gracious. He wanted to save this generation of Ninevites. The prophet Nahum tells us that God destroyed Ninevah approximately 150 years after Jonah for the sin of apostasy. God did not save the generation of Ninevites before this 150 year window of grace, nor did He save the generation following. Why this particular generation? God does not tell is in detail why.
Who did God use as an instrument of revival?
The Bible plainly states that God used Jonah as His instrument of revival. God's will was to save these Ninevites. The book of Jonah relates that God accomplished His will despite the hardness of the human heart or the freedom of his will. There can be no doubt that the Bible teaches the freedom of the human will because Jonah chose to try to run from God instead of going to Ninevah. If Jonah had not been free, as the Calvinists teach, then he would have been compelled to go to Ninevah despite his hatred for them. Jonah hated the Ninevites because they were a very cruel people who had destroyed thousands of Jonah's people, the Israelites. Jonah was afraid they would repent, and he wanted them to be destroyed. When Jonah finally got to Ninevah and preached, he became angry because they repented and God saved them. The fact that these cruel, idolatrous people were saved bears testimony to the fact that God can and will save anyone no matter how hardhearted they may be. Perhaps, this is the very reason God saved these Ninevites. God wanted to show everyone who reads His Word that He will accomplish His will to save no matter what any sinful man may do.
What did the revival center upon?
According to God's Word, this revival centered on nothing less than God's will to send this revival. There was no praying for revival. There was no preacher willing to do God's will. There was only God's will. Even after God had severely punished Jonah, causing him to change his mind, Jonah still had rebellion in his heart even as he preached. Jonah got angry with God because the Ninevites repented, and he went out of the city to the east, lay down in the hot sun, and wished to die. Jonah never got right with God in this life, and yet God showed tender love and care for him. This story constitutes a message for all true believers. God loves us and has saved us from our sin despite our sin, heresy, or even faithlessness. II Timothy 2:13. God may punish us, but "He will never leave us or forsake us." Hebrews 13:5.
How can we apply the revival to our own spiritual condition today?
In the third chapter of II Timothy, the Apostle Paul prophetically describes the conditions of the world "in the last days." The Apostle Paul did not blame the Church for the evil conditions of the last days. Jesus severely criticised the Laodicean church in Revelation 3:14-19 for their lukewarmness, but He did not blame them for the evil conditions of the world. In the tenth chapter of the gospel of John, Jesus taught that He knows all of His sheep, and His sheep know Him. This truth makes it manifestly and logically impossible for any souls to go to hell because the Church failed to get the gospel to them. This teaching makes the preaching of the gospel necessary for the salvation of souls, and this cannot be true. The salvation of souls rests solely on the finished work of Christ and has nothing whatsoever to do with the obedience or disobedience of the Church. Jesus taught the Great Commission in Matthew 28:18-20 in order to provide rewards for Christians who would obey Him in getting the gospel message to the world. But Christian obedience has nothing to do with God providing salvation for any believer. Salvation has been provided by Christ alone.
God provided caring rewards for Jonah because he obeyed God and went to Ninevah. But had Jonah refused to obey God even after being severely punished, this would not have stopped the Ninevah revival. God would have simply sent the revival some other way, and the Bible would have recorded that other way.
Monday, March 20, 2017
Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Parable of the Vine and Branches
John 15:1-17
Jesus gave this parable as an illustration of how His Father would separate the Church from the world. Jesus is the true vine; that is, the life giver, and His Father is the husbandman; that is, the One who planted the Vine in the world.
The branches represent the people of the world. The fruit represents the life and good works of the Church. Those branches that symbolize the people of the world who will not allow the life of Christ to flow into them to give them life and fruit, the Father cuts them off, and they die and are burned. The life of Christ flows into the branches that represents the Church and supplies the Church with life and fruit. God even purges the sins of the Church so that it can produce even more fruit.
In verse 3, Jesus informed His disciples that they were clean because they had received His Word. Jesus meant that these members of His Church would be washed clean of sin by His blood through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Living Word. Since God is eternal, He often spoke in His Word of works He would do as if He had already done them, and in a sense, He has already accomplished all of His eternal purposes. John 17:4 provides a perfect example of the eternal sense of God's Word.
In verses 4 and 5, our Lord taught that His life was absolutely essential to the life and fruit bearing powers of the Church. In verse 3, Christ alludes to His shed blood which is essential for the cleansing of His Church. In verses 4 and 5, Christ alludes to His resurrection which is essential to the eternal life of the Church.
Our Lord does not teach in verse 6 that a saved person can lose his salvation. By the phrase, "If a man abide not in me...," Jesus simply meant those branches that never received life from Him in the first place.
In verse 7, Jesus did not mean that a believer could ask God for whatever he wanted, such as riches, and get it. Verse 8 clarifies verse 7. Jesus meant that the Church could ask God for whatever it needed to bear fruit and spread the gospel, and God would supply that need. But these verses also mean that sometimes God will give an individual believer something for which he has asked.
Verses 9-14 do not mean that those who fail to keep Christ's commandments will lose God's love. God absolutely loves everyone. Christ meant, as verse 11 shows, that Church members who separate themselves from the world, obey Him, and live for Him will be certain to experience constant fellowship with Him, feeling that special love and joy that comes only from the Holy Spirit. Believers who backslide into sin do not feel God's love except at times when God rebukes them and chastises them.
In verses 15 through 17, our Lord teaches that He considers the members of His Church to be His friends and not His servants. However, the friends of the Lord will serve Him because they love Him.
The phrase in verse 16, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you...," does not mean that God has predestined those who will be saved and those who will be lost. Both John 6:37 and 1:12 deny this Calvinistic interpretation. This phrase simply means that no one can get saved except by the sacrifice of Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit. For example, it is possible that a person could sincerely repent and call on God for Christ's salvation, but if God chose not to save him, he would not be saved. But according to John 6:37, God never does that. God has promised that whosoever sincerely repents and puts his faith in Christ will never be denied salvation. John 6:37 and 1:12, as well as other scriptures, guarantee the freedom of the individual to obtain Christ's salvation through sincere repentance and faith.
Jesus ends His parable with a commandment that His followers love each other. Jesus bases His commandment on verses 9 and 12 where our Lord provides His Church with the awesome assurance that He loves His Church to the same degree that His Father loves Him. The grace of God is truly amazing.
Jesus gave this parable as an illustration of how His Father would separate the Church from the world. Jesus is the true vine; that is, the life giver, and His Father is the husbandman; that is, the One who planted the Vine in the world.
The branches represent the people of the world. The fruit represents the life and good works of the Church. Those branches that symbolize the people of the world who will not allow the life of Christ to flow into them to give them life and fruit, the Father cuts them off, and they die and are burned. The life of Christ flows into the branches that represents the Church and supplies the Church with life and fruit. God even purges the sins of the Church so that it can produce even more fruit.
In verse 3, Jesus informed His disciples that they were clean because they had received His Word. Jesus meant that these members of His Church would be washed clean of sin by His blood through the power of the Holy Spirit, the Living Word. Since God is eternal, He often spoke in His Word of works He would do as if He had already done them, and in a sense, He has already accomplished all of His eternal purposes. John 17:4 provides a perfect example of the eternal sense of God's Word.
In verses 4 and 5, our Lord taught that His life was absolutely essential to the life and fruit bearing powers of the Church. In verse 3, Christ alludes to His shed blood which is essential for the cleansing of His Church. In verses 4 and 5, Christ alludes to His resurrection which is essential to the eternal life of the Church.
Our Lord does not teach in verse 6 that a saved person can lose his salvation. By the phrase, "If a man abide not in me...," Jesus simply meant those branches that never received life from Him in the first place.
In verse 7, Jesus did not mean that a believer could ask God for whatever he wanted, such as riches, and get it. Verse 8 clarifies verse 7. Jesus meant that the Church could ask God for whatever it needed to bear fruit and spread the gospel, and God would supply that need. But these verses also mean that sometimes God will give an individual believer something for which he has asked.
Verses 9-14 do not mean that those who fail to keep Christ's commandments will lose God's love. God absolutely loves everyone. Christ meant, as verse 11 shows, that Church members who separate themselves from the world, obey Him, and live for Him will be certain to experience constant fellowship with Him, feeling that special love and joy that comes only from the Holy Spirit. Believers who backslide into sin do not feel God's love except at times when God rebukes them and chastises them.
In verses 15 through 17, our Lord teaches that He considers the members of His Church to be His friends and not His servants. However, the friends of the Lord will serve Him because they love Him.
The phrase in verse 16, "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you...," does not mean that God has predestined those who will be saved and those who will be lost. Both John 6:37 and 1:12 deny this Calvinistic interpretation. This phrase simply means that no one can get saved except by the sacrifice of Christ and through the power of the Holy Spirit. For example, it is possible that a person could sincerely repent and call on God for Christ's salvation, but if God chose not to save him, he would not be saved. But according to John 6:37, God never does that. God has promised that whosoever sincerely repents and puts his faith in Christ will never be denied salvation. John 6:37 and 1:12, as well as other scriptures, guarantee the freedom of the individual to obtain Christ's salvation through sincere repentance and faith.
Jesus ends His parable with a commandment that His followers love each other. Jesus bases His commandment on verses 9 and 12 where our Lord provides His Church with the awesome assurance that He loves His Church to the same degree that His Father loves Him. The grace of God is truly amazing.
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