April 30th 2023
If You Really Keep The Royal Law Found In Scripture, "Love Your Neighbor As Yourself," You Are Doing Right. (James 2:8).
Matthew 10:28 (NIV)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jesus is telling us that Satan is not “the One” to fear in this lifetime, it is God only, who mankind should hold in awe, as only God is in control of where your immortal soul will spend eternity, when it leaves this mortal world. In this cursed world only, those who have been “born again” are offered protection from Satan through the Holy Spirit. Have you been born again? Paul wrote about this effect of being born again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). The change is immediate, but the results are life changing forever!
Jesus referred to Guardian angels as beings that watch over children, or did He mean children of God. In Psalms references seem to indicate that angels may offer protection for believers. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7). And again, For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12). Of course, Satan used such comments to tempt Jesus, trying to get Jesus adore him, and lose His opportunity to die for the sins of mankind. If Satan knows the Scriptures, does any human being have an excuse for not studying the Word of God?
The writer of Hebrews posed an interesting question about angels. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14). This reference is certainly not directed at children only. Jesus had a conversation with His disciples that Matthew recorded for us. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:1-3 and 10). Jesus is saying we must be child-like in our belief about who He is. Jesus certainly believed that Satan exists in this cursed world, as He had conversations with Satan.
Jesus read the Scriptures available in His time on this earth as the Son of Man. When asked about someone divorcing his wife, Jesus quoted Genesis. "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:6-9). Jesus believed in marriage being one man and one woman for the rest of their mortal life and He did not condone divorce.
Some professing Christians do not ascribe to the worldwide Flood, but Jesus referred to it as a real event. "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27). The Flood Jesus believed in was obviously devastating as Jesus described it as, “Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Jesus tried to explain to the Pharisees that they would kill him, but He would rise from the dead in three days. Jesus was trying to convince them that He was the promised Savior. Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. (John 2:19-22). The resurrection is of course the proof that Jesus had walked this earth as the Son of Man, and He arose from the dead as the Son of God.
The Gospel was fulfilled by Jesus Christ life, death, and resurrection and John wrote about this miraculous thirty-three-year lifespan that changed this cursed world enough to allow salvation for all those who believe the account recorded in the Bible for (us) you! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Here is the rest of the story for all those who believe! "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33).
Jesus’ brother James wrote about the form of religion that followers of Jesus Christ should practice on this earth. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27). In the New Testament (NIV) there are nine references to the term "Love your neighbor!" let us end this commentary with one from Jesus’ earthly brother James. If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. (James 2:8).
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
Matthew 10:28 (NIV)
Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.
Jesus is telling us that Satan is not “the One” to fear in this lifetime, it is God only, who mankind should hold in awe, as only God is in control of where your immortal soul will spend eternity, when it leaves this mortal world. In this cursed world only, those who have been “born again” are offered protection from Satan through the Holy Spirit. Have you been born again? Paul wrote about this effect of being born again. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17). The change is immediate, but the results are life changing forever!
Jesus referred to Guardian angels as beings that watch over children, or did He mean children of God. In Psalms references seem to indicate that angels may offer protection for believers. The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. (Psalm 34:7). And again, For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways; they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. (Psalm 91:11-12). Of course, Satan used such comments to tempt Jesus, trying to get Jesus adore him, and lose His opportunity to die for the sins of mankind. If Satan knows the Scriptures, does any human being have an excuse for not studying the Word of God?
The writer of Hebrews posed an interesting question about angels. Are not all angels ministering spirits sent to serve those who will inherit salvation? (Hebrews 1:14). This reference is certainly not directed at children only. Jesus had a conversation with His disciples that Matthew recorded for us. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: "I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. "See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. (Matthew 18:1-3 and 10). Jesus is saying we must be child-like in our belief about who He is. Jesus certainly believed that Satan exists in this cursed world, as He had conversations with Satan.
Jesus read the Scriptures available in His time on this earth as the Son of Man. When asked about someone divorcing his wife, Jesus quoted Genesis. "But at the beginning of creation God ‘made them male and female’. ‘For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate." (Mark 10:6-9). Jesus believed in marriage being one man and one woman for the rest of their mortal life and He did not condone divorce.
Some professing Christians do not ascribe to the worldwide Flood, but Jesus referred to it as a real event. "Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man. People were eating, drinking, marrying and being given in marriage up to the day Noah entered the ark. Then the flood came and destroyed them all. (Luke 17:26-27). The Flood Jesus believed in was obviously devastating as Jesus described it as, “Then the flood came and destroyed them all.”
Jesus tried to explain to the Pharisees that they would kill him, but He would rise from the dead in three days. Jesus was trying to convince them that He was the promised Savior. Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days." The Jews replied, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and you are going to raise it in three days?" But the temple he had spoken of was his body. (John 2:19-22). The resurrection is of course the proof that Jesus had walked this earth as the Son of Man, and He arose from the dead as the Son of God.
The Gospel was fulfilled by Jesus Christ life, death, and resurrection and John wrote about this miraculous thirty-three-year lifespan that changed this cursed world enough to allow salvation for all those who believe the account recorded in the Bible for (us) you! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16). Here is the rest of the story for all those who believe! "Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33).
Jesus’ brother James wrote about the form of religion that followers of Jesus Christ should practice on this earth. Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world. (James 1:27). In the New Testament (NIV) there are nine references to the term "Love your neighbor!" let us end this commentary with one from Jesus’ earthly brother James. If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, "Love your neighbor as yourself," you are doing right. (James 2:8).
Your brother in life through Adam, your brother in eternity through Jesus,
Bob Moak
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