He Who has Begun a Good Work in You

Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;
Philippians 1:6

It’s probably just me, but when I read the title and verse above, the word “circumlocution” comes to mind. That means using a whole lot of words to say something that could be said in just a few. Now, it’s not the same as rambling because that usually gets off topic. Circumlocution is on topic, but verbose.

That having been said, I put a lot of thought into trying to condense the title He who has begun a good work in you, and I couldn’t come up with anything that was an exact fit. The closest I got was “I.T. guy.”

An I.T. guy is a person who works with Information Technology (i.e. computers) and sets you up with all the software you need to get everything started. Once that’s done, he’s just a phone call away whenever the computer crashes or gets sick with a virus. You have confidence that he’ll be there to complete the job until the day the warranty runs out.

Christ began the good work of salvation in the lives of every believer, but His work and relationship with each continues on a daily basis. He cleans, sanctifies, and glorifies each saint as they go on in their daily walk of faith. This relationship is not only continuous, but progressively gets better until the Christian either dies and enters glory or the church is raptured.

Well, my explanation of the title He who has begun a good work in you, has become somewhat circumlocutious not to mention a little garrulous and pedantic. I should have just given my paraphrase of the verse instead: “Being confident of this very thing, that Christ’s got’ya covered” (Philippians 1:6 RKV).

  

Last Adam

And so it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being." The last Adam became a life-giving spirit.
1 Corinthians 15:45

Before anyone can understand the Last Adam, there needs to be a clear understanding of the first Adam. Adam was the prototype of God’s greatest creation. Unlike the animal kingdom, the first human was a spiritual being capable of language, reason, emotions, and discovery.

The engineering put into the human was amazing. The components of the physical structure consisted of several inter-dependent systems that caused the creature to move, turn raw materials into energy, increase in size and abilities, as well as make more of the species. Each body system was composed of microscopic, self-replicating parts called cells that could repair themselves when damaged.

If the hardware was fantastic, the software was even more so. Designed to be in the spiritual image of God, Adam #1 could love, show empathy, have original thoughts, and solve complex problems. More amazing yet was that he was capable of devotion, holiness, and fellowship with God. Placed in the perfect environment, Adam and all his future generations were designed to never die. However there was one flaw.

As long as there was no temptation, everything worked perfectly. But as soon as there was an opportunity to sin, everything fell apart. Take all temptations from people today and the human condition improves remarkably.

Since a perfect world no longer exists, the Last Adam, Jesus Christ, came in to fix the problem. Being both God and Man, the Savior became the mediator between Adam’s race and the Holy God.

In dying on the cross for the sins of men and women, the Lord became a substitute replacing mankind’s broken relationship with God with the perfect fellowship that He had with the Father. Through faith in the Crucified One, believers are accepted in the Beloved and the age old problem of Sin is finally fixed. The flaws of the first Adam are done away with and the world is offered a free, eternal upgrade through the Last Adam.

Maker

"Woe to him who strives with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth! Shall the clay say to him who forms it, 'What are you making?' or shall your handiwork say, 'He has no hands'?”
Isaiah 45:9*

Absurd and ridiculous; something out of a cartoon - That's the image of a lump of clay arguing with its potter and giving instructions on how it wants to be made. Yet, that is a frequent occurrence between human beings and their Maker. If the truth were known, there's a greater disparity between the most intelligent man and his Creator, than a genius and a glob of dirt.

This verse pronounces a curse to those who would dare to criticize God for making them the way they are. However, in this "enlightened age" society sees nothing wrong with that. People undergo hormone treatment, operations, and cross dressing in order to change their gender, still the DNA of every cell in their body would argue otherwise. The Bible proves itself true by saying, "There is no fear of God before their eyes." (Romans 3:18).

Faith is the process of agreeing with God. A believer agrees with what God is, says, and has done. To argue with any of it is to not believe.

The Lord Jesus Christ made the world and everything in the heavens (Hebrews 1:2 and 10). In fact, there is nothing made that He didn't make (John 1:3). As Maker of the human race, the Savior customized every individual that ever lived. All were made for a purpose and on purpose, so it dishonors the Creator to envy others for their strengths, intelligence, or appearance.

Life has been given to each one as a joy and privilege, so each man and woman should come to their Maker with thanksgiving for the gifts He has given.

*Isaiah 17:7, 22:11, 54:11

He-who-shall-not-be-named

But so that it spreads no further among the people, let us severely threaten them, that from now on they speak to no man in this name. So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.
Acts 4:17-18

The arch villain in J.K. Rowling’s “Harry Potter” book series is an evil sorcerer called Lord Voldemort. So terrible and intimidating is this antagonist that most characters refer to him as “He-who-shall-not-be-named.”

After Christ’s crucifixion the Jewish Sanhedrin made the Savior’s name illegal. Peter and John were beaten and imprisoned for using it and Stephen was executed for preaching in that forbidden name. Throughout church history, believers have had their property seized and have been tortured, hanged, and burnt at the stake for mentioning “He-who-shall-not-be-named.” 

         Pakistan, March 12, 2014: the homes of over 200 Christian families and a number of churches burned to the ground by an angry mob. They were accused of testifying to their faith in Jesus Christ by going to church.

Palmelkh, Saudi Arabia, April 7, 2014: A young Filipino girl employed as a maid had her mouth and left eye sewn shut with fish line for the crime of saying that Christ Jesus was her Savior.

Islamic State occupied Iraq, December 27, 2014: A spokesman for ISIS announced to the remaining Iraqi Christians: “We will break your crosses and enslave your women.” Earlier in the year, hundreds of Christian men and boys were executed for not converting to Islam and 3,500 Christian women were sold as slaves.

         China, July 14, 2015: The Communist government continued its program to remove crosses from government licensed churches. Those who refuse have their churches bulldozed and their pastors imprisoned.

Soon and very soon, the Anti-Christ will set up his world kingdom and then for a very short time, the name that is above every name will become He-who-shall-not-be-named.

         Oh Lord, how long!!? How Long!!?

Even so come Lord Jesus!

Head of all Principality and Power

For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power.
Colossians 2:9-10

During the Middle Ages, Thomas Aquinas proposed a system of angelic hierarchy in his book Summa Theologica. He developed and elaborated on an idea first suggested by late fifth century Theologian, Pseudo-Dionysius. Aquinas’ aggrupation of celestial beings included three levels or “spheres,” each with a triad of angels.

Highest Sphere: Heavenly Counselors

1.     Seraphim (listed from highest to lowest)

2.     Cherubim

3.     Thrones

Middle Sphere: Heavenly Governors

1. Dominions

2. Virtues

3. Powers

Lowest Sphere: Messengers and Soldiers

1.     Principalities

2.     Archangels

3.     Angels

                  Aquinas based his hierarchy roughly on Colossians 1:16 and Ephesians 1:21. He mentioned the Cherubim guarding the tree of life as well as Isaiah’s, Ezekiel’s, and Apostle John’s mention of the throne of God. Although the Roman Catholic church today still holds these levels of angelic authority as church doctrine, there is little in actual scripture to support this belief.

                  Although interesting, angelology is not elaborated on much in the Bible, but one thing is very clear. Jesus Christ is God. In His body was the fullness of the Godhead and He is the Head of all Principality and Power, and anything else anyone wants to add to the list. 

Everlasting King

But the LORD is the true God; He is the living God and the everlasting King. At His wrath the earth will tremble, And the nations will not be able to endure His indignation.
Jeremiah 10:10

Today, September 9, 2015, Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom has become the longest reigning female head of state in the world, displacing Queen Victoria, who reigned 63 years, 216 days. Sobhuza II of Swaziland holds the record for male monarch at 82 years, 254 days. A little better known is King Louis XIV of France who sat on the thrown for 72 years, 110 days. In 1830, King Louis the XIX of France became the shortest reigning sovereign with just 20 minutes on the job.

Over five millennia of human history have seen world leaders and their governments come and go, none ever reaching a century of being figurehead of their domain. Christ will outshine them all when he rules 1,000 years on earth, after the Anti-Christ is destroyed. Then, He'll reign in heaven as the Everlasting King.

Some might argue that this title is referring to God the Father and not the Son. To clear that up, one would only have to go to 2 Peter 1:11 which says, “for so an entrance will be supplied to you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” Simple logic then concludes, if the Son of God has an everlasting kingdom, He must be the Everlasting King.

Living forever without having to go through destructive campaign cycles, political attack ads, regime change, revolutions, coup d’états, wars and rumors of wars, it must be heaven. True paradise will not have injustice, corruption, or oppression. This certainly was impossible when men and women ruled the world, but is very obtainable under Christ.

Hail King Jesus! – the Everlasting King!

Helper

"The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?"
Hebrews 13:6

I get really frustrated when I lose things. It can be my car keys, my wallet, or something I just had in my hand five minutes ago. I throw things around trying to find it and I can't do anything else until it is found.

Lately, my son Jeremy has had the audacity to interrupt me while I was melting down to ask, “Have you prayed about it?”

Actually, I found the question to be quite offensive. After all, I'm the preacher! I'm the spiritual one! I don't want to bother the Lord of the Universe with anything so trivial as lost keys. If the truth were known, I do eventually pray for my lost keys, but that's long after I've also lost my temper, my peace of mind, and my sanctification.

The worst part of my son's advice was that he is right. I tried it and it worked. I've found my stuff sometimes in a matter of minutes and other times before I can finish the prayer. The time lapse is so ridiculously short that it is obvious that God is trying to teach me a lesson. I can almost hear Him say to me, “Of course, you'd rather spend hours of fruitless frustration and bad attitudes than ask Me for help!” I've been humbled not only before my son, but also before my God.

Christ wants to be our Helper, but He also wants us to ask Him for help. When we tell Him that we can do something by ourselves and don't need His help, He just sighs and backs off. Joseph Scriven nailed it in his hymn What a Friend we have in Jesus when he said, “Oh what needless pain we bear, all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer!”

“He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? (Romans 8:32). In other words, if Jesus wanted to die on the cross to be our Savior, what makes us think that He doesn't want to be our Helper?