“THE NEW NAME, WRITTEN IN GLORY”

 

Six centuries before the birth of Christ, the prophet Isaiah foretold that a new name would be given to the people of God. The prophet wrote, “And the nations shall see thy righteousness and all kings thy glory: and thou shall be called by a new name, which the mouth of Jehovah shall name” (Isaiah 62:2). The Lord was going to give his people a new name! This prophecy is fulfilled in Acts. By this time Jesus had come, gave his blood for the sins of the world, and resurrected from the dead. The church had been established and the gospel was being preached among the nations. Thus the stage was set for the giving of this new name, an in Acts 11:26 we read, “The disciples were called Christians first in Antioch”.

The name Christian is not a term of derision. Rather, this is the new name which God gave to His people. It is a name to be worn with joy and with thanksgiving. The apostle Peter wrote, “If a man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name” (1 Peter 4:16). A Christian is one who follows the example of Christ both in word and deed. By this behavior one is identified with Christ. We see this from what was said about Peter and John in Acts 4:13. “Now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed, and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus.” This is what it means to be identified with Christ. Many people followed after Jesus during His earthly ministry, yet few followed His words and His example. In fact, most feared to be identified with Him.

To be identified with Christ is to be in a covenant relationship with Him. Jeremiah had prophesied of the day when God would “make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah.” (Jeremiah 31:31). Jesus was the mediator of that new covenant (Hebrews 12:24). His laws would be written upon the mind and heart of His people (Jeremiah 31:33; Hebrews 10:16). This pointed to the fact that their consciences would be purged from sin (Hebrews 10:2; 2 Peter 1:9). Jesus would purge our sins with His blood (Hebrews 1:3). This is why Jesus, after observing the Passover with His disciples, took a cup and said, “this is My blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for forgiveness of sins” (Matthew 26:28).

Entrance into this covenant relationship is by means of the new birth that Jesus spoke of in John 3 to Nicodemus. The Lord said, “Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except one be born anew, he cannot see the kingdom of God” (John 3:3). When Nicodemus failed to understand the new birth, Jesus explained it more fully by saying, “Verily, verily I say unto thee, Except one be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” (John 3:5). Notice from John 3:5 that Jesus spoke of the new birth in connection with entering into the kingdom of God. This indicates that the new birth could not occur unless the kingdom of God had been established. Jesus also taught in Matthew 7:21 that entrance into the kingdom was conditioned upon obedience to the will of the Father. He said, "Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven".

From these texts we learn several things. We see that the new birth is an act of obedience to the will of the Father and that entrance into the kingdom is by obedience. Further we see that entrance into the kingdom is identical with entrance into a covenant relationship. Therefore, entering into a covenant relationship with God is an act of obedience.

Jesus told Nicodemus that he needed to be ‘born anew’. There was something for Nicodemus to obey in being born anew. How would this happen? When would Nicodemus undergo this new birth? It would happen in the manner that Jesus explained to the apostles. The kingdom of God would come ‘with power’ from on high. The apostles were to wait in Jerusalem until this happened. When this power came upon THEM (the apostles); they would preach words of repentance and remission of sins. (Luke 24:47-49). They would explain how remission is connected to the blood of Jesus. Everyone who was saved in the book of Acts was ‘born anew’ in like manner as Nicodemus.

In Acts 10 Cornelius, we find a good moral man who was not a Christian (Acts 10:2, 22). Yet Cornelius had not been ‘born of water and of the Spirit’. An angel of God was sent to tell him ‘words’ THAT PERTAINED TO BEING BORN ANEW (Acts 11:14). He would need to obey these words, like as Nicodemus. Cornelius was told the same words as Nicodemus.

To exercise one’s faith by obedience to these words is to obey the gospel. Those who will be eternally lost are those who do NOT obey the gospel (2 Thessalonians 1:8). While there are many who do not know God, many who know God have not obeyed the gospel commands that pertain to being born anew. Those who have are known in Glory by this new name: Christian.

2/27/22

“TWO WAYS TO BE OVERTAKEN”

 

In the days of the prophet Samuel, the people of Israel demanded a king (1 Samuel 8). This demand was a grave act of disobedience. In spite of God’s warnings against this (Deuteronomy 17), it would have been ‘well’ with them had they heeded all that God had spoken through His servants the prophets. But they didn’t listen. What’s more, disobedience characterized the lives of the majority of the nation of Israel after the demand for a king. Because of their persistent disobedience, the messages of the prophets called upon the people to repent. God warned time and again that if they persisted in rejecting His words, that there would be grave penalties. God’s words are never spoken in vain. “For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven and do not return there but water the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose, and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:10-11). To ‘overtake’ meant that God would carry out what He purposed (Lamentations 2:17; Jeremiah 44:28-29).

Disobedience is fueled (ignited) by false words. As in Old Testament times, false words abound today. Therefore truth is as rare today as it was then. The responsibility falls upon each of us to distinguish between God’s words and false words. Pleading ignorance is only a feeble attempt to place our blame upon someone else. This was what Adam and Eve did (Genesis 3).

God warned the prophet Ezekiel of those who preached error, prophesying “from their own inspiration”; “following their own spirit”; “false visions”, and “lying divinations” rather than LISTENING “to the word of the Lord.” (Ezekiel 13).

The devastating effect upon those who heard such was seen from the words of another prophet, Zechariah. He opened his message by reminding the people of what had happened to their ancestors when THEY refused to LISTEN to the “word of the Lord” by the prophets. Zechariah wrote, “Thus saith Jehovah of hosts: Return unto me…and I will return unto you, saith Jehovah of hosts. Be ye not as your fathers, unto whom the former prophets cried, saying…return ye now from your evil ways, and from your evil doings: but they did not hear, nor hearken unto me…your fathers, where are they? And the prophets, do they live for ever? But my words and my statutes, which I commanded my servants the prophets, DID THEY NOT OVERTAKE YOUR FATHERS? And they turned and said, Like as Jehovah of hosts thought to do unto us, according to our ways, and according to our doings, so hath he dealt with us.” (Zechariah 1:3-6). We see from this that God’s words overtook those who listened to these false prophets as well as the false prophets.

God’s words are designed to overtake us. The manner in which they will overtake us depends upon our acceptance or rejection of them.  “If at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom, that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, and if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I intended to do to it. And if at any time I declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, and if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will relent of the good that I had intended to do to it.” (Jeremiah 18:7-10). The earlier prophets spoke to the ancestors of the people of Israel of Zechariah’s day. These ancestors were warned to repent of their sins, yet refused. But those to whom Zechariah spoke, repented.

In repentance there is, of course, a submitting of one’s own will to the will of God. It is in the submitting that the ‘overtaking’ of God’s words occurs. Likewise, when God’s words are rejected, one will still be overtaken. It will occur at the appointed time of God’s choosing. This manner of being overtaken is in the form of punishment. Clearly, as in Ezekiel’s day, those who questioned NOT the error, along with those who preached “falsehood” and a “lie”, will perish together. Ezekiel was told to expose them AND their false doctrine (Ezekiel 13:1-8).

As God told the prophet Jeremiah, only a message of truth will open one’s understanding, giving a "heart to know me, that I am the LORD..."; so that wayward people will "return" to God, "...with their whole heart." (Jeremiah 24:7). If we allow God’s words to ‘overtake’ us NOW, in repentance and fruit unto righteousness; THAT DAY, i.e., the day of the Lord will not overtake us as a thief (1 Thessalonians 5:2).

2/12/22