Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place, and there He prayed (Mark 1:35).

What an example for any who would serve the Almighty God!  It is quite easy to neglect private communion with God when you are extremely busy.  Yet the Lord Jesus rose up before daylight and purposely found a solitary, isolated place to commune with His Father.  He could have communed with His Father anywhere, but His fame was spreading (Mark 1:28) and time alone was no doubt hard to find, so He found a place where there would be no disturbances.  It says He went out and found this solitary place, and here He prayed.  The Lord rose up “a long while” before daylight; that is, it was still dark and quiet.  The hustle and bustle of daily life and work had not yet begun.  It was in this quiet sphere that the man Jesus communed with God His Father and heard from Him before the day began.  It was a “solitary” place.  It was a place where Christ would be alone with His Father.

For us today, I wonder if we have such a “solitary” place where we resort to be with the Lord (see John 18:2).  Surely it is not in the kitchen with kids running around.  Nor is it in the car with music blaring.  The solitary place is where no interference of man or the world can occur.  In Luke we often find the Lord praying, and it says He often went to the wilderness or mountain to do so: “So He Himself often withdrew into the wilderness and prayed” (Luke 5:16).  And again, “Now it came to pass in those days that He went out to the mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God” (Luke 6:12).  Do we take time out of our busy days and “withdraw” to be with Christ?  Do we go out to Him (or shut the door to our “closet,” Matt. 6:6)? The place does not matter for the servant of God so long as he can fellowship with his Master without distraction.

The Psalmist said, “O GOD, Thou art my God; early will I seek Thee” (Ps. 63:1).  As one has said, “What first lays hold of the heart in the morning is likely to occupy the place all of the day.”  In our fast-paced society we are so prone to begin our days “on the go” without sitting before the LORD in quietness and communing with Him.  We do not want to present this as some law or checklist to do as the day begins.  It is the Lord.  It is life.  The Lord stands ready to impart more of Himself and His grace to equip me for the day and its difficulties.  Is the Lord worthy of such time?  Surely He is.  Do I need His grace to navigate through each day?  Without question!  The Lord says, “…for without Me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).  Apart from abiding in Him, we can accomplish nothing of eternal value.  This is not to say we should not seek Him throughout the day, for surely the Scripture exhorts us to “pray without ceasing” (1 Thess. 5:17) as the day unfolds moment by moment.  But to meet the Lord in that solitary place and behold Him is something each of God’s servants needs.

To close, we refer to the story of Mary and Martha in Luke’s Gospel.  Martha, the text says, welcomed the Lord into her house, but she became “distracted with much serving” (Luke 10:40).  She even went so far as to complain to the Lord about her sister (Mary) not helping her!  Such is the state of one consumed with much serving.  Mary, on the other hand, sat at the feet of the Lord and heard His word.  In light of all of this, note the Lord’s words to Martha:

Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her (Luke 10:41-42).

Mary sat at the feet of the Lord and heard His word, and the Lord’s assessment is that she chose “that good part” and the one thing that is needed.  Martha was encumbered (literally, “drawn away”) with much serving.  It drew her away from fellowship and communion with the Lord!  This is certainly not to say that serving the Lord is wrong.  But the Scripture would have us on a regular basis at the feet of Christ, in quietness and rest hearing Him and learning of Him as we go out to serve Him in this dark world.  This is the “one thing needed” and the “good part” according to our blessed Lord!  May we make time to meet the Lord in that place where we can hear His voice and commune with Him.

- d. wolfe

What I never understood until I was much older is that the words from that song come directly from Scripture. They are found in Psalm 118. I’ll quote the relevant verses in context:

Psalm 118:22-26
The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the Lord’s doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. Save now, I beseech thee, O Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the Lord: we have blessed you out of the house of the Lord.

It’s a nice thing to think about each day being in the hands of the Lord and even a gift from Him. But the song I sang in Sunday School wasn’t about every day. It was about a specific day.

Acts 4:8-12 (in regard to questions about a miraculous healing of a lame man)
Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost, said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of Israel, If we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is made whole; Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

That Sunday School song is about the day when the “stone which the builders refused became the head stone of the corner.” This is the day that the Lord has made! The day when the Lord Jesus Christ triumphantly rose from the grave. We will be glad and rejoice in it! The most important day in all human history; the day when salvation was won for all who would trust in the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ.

See also 1 Peter 2:3-8, Matthew 21:42, Mark 12:10-11, Luke 20:17

-J. Wilbur

You may now subscribe to www.sheepfood.com and be automatically notified when new articles are added.

Just scroll down and enter your email address to subscribe!

-J. Wilbur

-J. Wilbur

1 Sam. 22:1-2

David, God’s anointed King, has been utterly rejected by the establishment.  He flees from King Saul and finds himself in the cave of Adullam.  But certain men gather to him and he becomes “captain” over them.  The word “captain” means commander, official, leader, or ruler.  These 400 men come under the authority of God’s anointed (yet persecuted) King.  What a picture this is of the church in its relationship to the Lord Jesus, God’s Anointed, and coming King of Kings!  He has been rejected by Israel and also the world at large.  He is despised and rejected by man, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.  And whereas the world as a whole “gathers together against the LORD and His Anointed” (Acts 4:26, cf. Ps. 2), Christians gather to Him.  The mentality of the world is to break the bonds of the LORD and cast away His cords (Ps. 2).  They want to be free of every residue of the authority of God and His Messiah.  Yet to born again believers, Christ is now their captain.  They have come under His authority and own Him as Lord.  Those who come to salvation in Christ are like the 400 men in David’s day—in distress, in debt, and discontented.  These are three vivid descriptions of people who are down and out:

1) IN DISTRESS – The word is “anguish, distress, in a narrow straits.”  Figuratively the word can mean in a narrow, confined place, i.e. in trouble.  The Bible speaks of the Lord being a haven for those in distress: “For Thou hast been a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall” (Is. 25:4).  Believers are said to be those “…who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us” (Heb. 6:18).

It might also remind us of the words of the Lord Jesus when He said, “Come to Me, all you labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28).  Christ invites those who are in trouble, those feeling the weight of sin and the judgment to come to Him.  The Philippian jailor had this burden.  Note the language in the Acts account: “Then he called for a light, ran in, and fell down trembling before Paul and Silas.  And he brought them out and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’” (Acts 16:29-30).  He was trembling.  He had heard them singing hymns and praying to God.  The man was in distress, as he was trembling.  We can hear the distress, the narrow straits, in his voice as he entreats Paul and Silas, “WHAT MUST I DO TO BE SAVED?”  Paul and Silas point him to the Captain of their salvation, the Lord Jesus Christ.

2) IN DEBT – The word relates to having a “creditor,” i.e. being in debt to someone.  Perhaps it was poor planning, laziness, or idleness that left such ones in debt.  Or perhaps it was some unforeseen setback, or some event out of the person’s control that left him owing money to a creditor.  Whatever the case, these ones were in debt, and they came to David.  It might remind us of the servant in Matthew 18 who owed his master 10,000 talents.  The Bible says, “But as he was not able to pay…” (18:25).  He had a debt he could not pay.  What a picture of the sinner before a holy God!  He owes a tremendous, terrible debt that he cannot pay, and thus the Lord has the right to exact from him some other compensation (cf. 18:25)—judgment and eternal separation from Him.

But notice also the lord’s compassion on his servant: “Then the master of that servant was moved with compassion, released him, and forgave him the debt” (18:27).  When the servant sought for mercy from his lord, his lord was kind and compassionate, forgiving him the enormous debt he had accumulated.  O the grace of God in this!  That God would forgive our sins, and do it justly in the Gospel!  He shows mercy and compassion to the ones who repent and place their faith in God’s Anointed, the Lord Jesus.

3) DISCONTENTED – (mar) lit. bitter of soul.  It is similar to the word “Marah” in Ex. 15, which means “bitter waters.”  In 1 Sam. 1:10 the exact same word is used when it says Hannah was in “bitterness of soul.”  She was childless and provoked by her rival.  Scripture says she was “miserable” and “wept in anguish.”  In Prov. 31:6 the same word is used but translated a little differently.  It speaks of those who are “of heavy hearts” (KJV).  It is that state of being in which a person is tired of life—we might even say sick of life.  As Job would say in his misery, “My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul” (Job 10:1).  Life just does not seem worth living in such a state.  The soul cringes at going on another day.  After the victory at Carmel, Elijah found himself in such a plight under the broom tree in the wilderness outside of Beersheba.  He said, “It is enough!  Now, LORD, take my life, for I am no better than my fathers!” (1 Ki. 19:4).  The demoniac also was of this same spirit: “And always, night and day, he was in the mountains and in the tombs, crying out and cutting himself with stones” (Mark 5:5).  It is utter despair!

But the Lord meets such discontented people where they are.   The prophet says of Him, “A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoking flax He will not quench…” (Is. 42:3).  The Lord does not look on the down and out and see their hopeless condition and say, “Well, there is no remedy.  I can’t help you.”  O the tenderness of the Lord Jesus!  Though the person is about to break and though the wick is about to go out, He does not finish off the process.

What a compassionate God we have!  What a Captain to gather unto!  Though the world rejects Him, though the vast majority of people mock Him and belittle Him, we as believers gather unto Him, being enlightened by the Holy Spirit that He is the “Savior of the world” and the coming King of Kings—God’s Anointed, God’s Messiah.  We may be small.  We surely are the outcasts and rejects of society, but the Lord is all to us.  We are “not many mighty, not many noble…”  We are the “weak things” and the “base things of the world” (1 Cor. 1:27-28).  We can do nothing without Him (John 15:5), yet we can “do all things through Him who strengthens [us]” (Php. 4:13).  We are outside established religion (“without the camp,” Heb. 13:13), and people will look at us as strange.  As the Lord is a reproach and a byword among men, so are we.  We “bear His reproach” for we have identified with Him.  The Lord is our unseen Captain.  We gather unto Him, we own His authority, and we delight to serve Him.  Whereas the world gathers together “AGAINST the LORD and His Anointed” (Acts 4:26), we gather unto Christ in faith, trusting God’s Word that He is the Savior, Messiah, and Son of God.  And one day it will come to pass that, “If we endure, we shall also reign with Him” (2 Tim. 2:12).  We may suffer in these few short years while on earth, but this is nothing compared to the glory and kingdom that will soon follow (Rom. 8:18, Rev. 5:10)!  Grace upon grace!  And look at what many of these men became: “mighty men” under the authority and rule of David!  Where David slew the giant and overcame the enemy in 1 Sam. 17, these mighty men later will be seen doing the same thing (2 Sam. 21:15ff.)!

We have become overcomers, in the true sense of the word.  Just as Christ overcame the world (John 16:33), so we too are called and given the power to overcome.  “For whatever is born of God overcomes the world.  And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith.  Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:4-5).

-d. wolfe

In the first post in this series we began to deal with the very real struggle all of us face in our lives as believers—the struggle of how to do good.  For oftentimes we desire to “do good” but then find ourselves instead doing what we hate.  The Word of God records for us a real life example of this struggle in Paul the apostle.  He experienced defeat despite desiring to do good: “…For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (Rom. 7:15).  We can recognize the great tension here, for it is one thing to be ignorant of God’s will and do evil, but quite another to desire to do the will of God and not be able to do it.  Paul described himself as “the one who wills to do good” (Rom. 7:21), yet he could not find the means by which he could accomplish this end.  As he went on to say, “…for to will is present with me, but how to perform that what is good I do not find” (Rom. 7:18b).  We noticed last time that there are two main components to this verse: 1) The will, and 2) How to perform what is good.   In this post we want to begin considering the first component, the will.

The will and desire to “do good” is a vital part of our walk with the Lord, but there are at least two difficulties we might encounter in this:

1) We must understand correctly God’s will, and
2) We must make God’s will our will.

If we do not have the first, then our “will” is useless, for it does not match what God really desires.  We are in fact calling our own will God’s will.  For example, suppose someone affirms that God’s will is for believers to amass millions of dollars and live in luxury. Yet this is completely contrary to the revealed will of God (see 1 Tim. 6:9).  In such a case, what good is that person’s “will”?  We must understand what God’s will is!

But further, if we do not have the second, God’s will becomes some theoretical, far-off thing that does not grip our minds, hearts, and consciences.  The will of God must be made our will.  We must come to delight in it and allow it to have full sway.  The Lord Jesus said to His Father, “I delight to do Thy will, O My God, and Thy law is within My heart” (Ps. 40:8).  He also prayed to His Father in the garden, “…not My will, but Thine, be done” (Luke 22:42).   The Lord understood the will of God and it was His delight, so much so that He could say, “My food is to do the will of Him who sent Me, and to finish His work” (John 4:34).  The will of the Father was truly Christ’s will.  He not only knew the will of God, but accomplished it at every turn.  At the end of His earthly course He could truly say, “I have glorified Thee on the earth.  I have finished the work which Thou hast given Me to do” (John 17:4).  What man could say such?  Jesus Christ was a Man who perfectly demonstrated what it means that  “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word which proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4, cf. Deut. 8:4).

But we are sinners in sinful bodies (unlike our Lord, Heb. 4:15).  In light of this we must ask, where does the “will” to do good come from?  How do we come to know God’s will?  Is it automatic for the believer?  Are there hindrances to the will of God?  Several Scriptures can help us begin to answer these questions.

Where Does the Will to Do Good Come From?

…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure (Php. 2:12-13).

The will to do good does not come from our imagination or what we think His will to be.  God’s will comes from God working His will in us.  Thus God is the origin.  Yet He does not force His will upon us or force us to act. He works in us in such a way to compel us to will and do His good pleasure.  Paul said, “For the love of Christ compels us…” (2 Cor. 5:14).  When we begin to understand the immensity of the love of Christ and what God has accomplished for us in the Gospel, it will begin to cause us to act in a certain way.  Do we recognize this work of God in us?  Perhaps it is a trial or some unforeseen event in our lives that comes upon us.  Perhaps it is a rebuke from a brother or sister in the Lord.  Or perhaps it is simply we in simple faith reading His Word and allowing His Spirit to direct our paths.  God moves in many different ways to “work” in us.  Do we bow under His lovingkindness as a Father and allow His hand to mold and shape us?  He has begun a good work in us and has promised to “complete it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Php. 1:6).

But further these Scriptures also show us our responsibility to act.  God works IN us as believers, but we are to work OUT our salvation.  We are to work out what God is mightily working in us.  And notice it says, “your own salvation.”  There is a “common salvation” (Jude 3) God has graciously given to every believer through the finished cross work and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.  But each of us has our “own salvation” to work out practically in our walk with Him.  My salvation is different than yours in this sense.  God does not deal with us all in exactly the same way.  The world tends to do this.  The U.S. government, for example, gives us social security numbers to identify us.  To the government each of us is a number.  Not so with God.  He knows each one of us by name, as a good shepherd knows the names of his sheep (John 10:3).  Each of us has our own unique personality and gifts.  Each of us has different struggles, obstacles, and weaknesses to overcome.  Each of us has different ways we can bring Him glory, and so the Lord molds our Christian character in various ways.  God is working in us “to do for His good pleasure.”  The will of God worked in us and through us is to the intent that He is glorified and pleased.  It is for His pleasure.  We as believers sometimes mistakenly adopt the mindset that God exists for us.  But the Word of God says just the opposite:  “yet, for us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we for Him” (1 Cor. 8:6).    Our existence is for Him.  Our lives and doing His will are for His pleasure.  O that we might work out more and more what He is working in us!

But notice finally in this verse it says with “fear and trembling?”  Why are we to work out our individual salvation “with fear and trembling?”  The answer this verse gives is because the God of glory is so working in us!  The Almighty God has stooped in grace to save us from a lost eternity, but also is now presently working in us to conform us to the image of His beloved Son (Rom. 8:29)!

How Do We Come to Know God’s Will?

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God (Rom. 12:2).

From this we learn that coming to know the will of God is not automatic.  The will of God is good, acceptable and perfect, but it does not simply drop out of the sky into the believer’s brain.  The will of God must be PROVEN or TESTED.  Many of us err in this.  We live in a fast paced, fast food, lightening fast technological society where we want everything now.  We also live in a world where many false claims and misinformation are blindly accepted.  Understanding the will of God takes time and testing.  We have to prove it.  Concerning this word “prove,” Barnes helps to explain:

“The word used here (dokimazo) is commonly applied to metals, to the operation of testing, or trying them by the severity of fire, etc. Hence it also means to explore, investigate, ascertain.” [NT Commentary]

The purpose of the testing is to reveal the true character of the metal.  Is the gold really gold?  Is the silver really silver?  The fire will reveal the truth of its makeup.  When we “prove” God’s will we come to know the truth—what it really is.  And we will have evidence (“proof”) of the truth from His Word.  The Word of God reveals the truth of His mind and His will, so we must sit (as it were) at the Lord’s feet, hear His Word, and meditate on it.  It takes time and it takes waiting on the Lord to reveal His will.  It takes patience and sometimes the Lord’s timing is during the “fourth watch of the night” (see Matt. 14:25), but the Lord honors such waiting: “I waited patiently for the LORD; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry” (Ps. 40:1).

Are There Hindrances to the Will of God?

And be not conformed to this world, but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind…(Rom. 12:2).

But finally, there is opposition to the will of God.  The world would ever stand in the way of the Christian seeking to do God’s will, and so the exhortation is “Be not conformed to this world.”  That is, do not be molded into the world’s way of thinking and acting.  We as Christians sometimes think that the default condition in this world is that we understand the will of God and are doing all right.  But the opposite is true.  The default condition is being conformed to this world.  It happens quite naturally and with no effort at all.  Our lives can effortlessly be fashioned after the course of this world.  The world presses in on us and can easily shape us according to its standards.  For instance, the world would say, “Always make sure you’re looking out for number one (i.e. yourself!)”  But the Word of God says, “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself” (Php. 2:3).  The world’s standards and beliefs are many times in direct contradiction to the Word of God and God’s will for the believer!

We must guard against this.  There must be the recognition of God’s mercies (Rom. 12:1) and the resulting desire to be transformed by the renewing of our minds. God would have us “transformed,” which is the same word used in the Gospels at the Lord Jesus’ transfiguration (see Matt. 17:2).  It is similar to a word we use in English, metamorphosis: to change into another form.  And so are we allowing the world to conform us after its pattern, or are we allowing the Lord to transform us so that we can prove His good, and acceptable, and perfect will?

“…The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak” (Matt. 26:41).

Not only is there opposition from without—from the world trying to shape and conform us to its ways—but also within.  Here the Lord describes the flesh and its opposition to the Spirit.   By “flesh” oftentimes the Bible means human effort, strength, or ability.  The Lord says the flesh is weak though.  It has no power or ability to accomplish the set purposes and will of God.  In fact it wants nothing to do with God and His will.  We have no power in or of ourselves to “perform what is good” (Rom. 7:18).  The flesh is utterly ruined, as it continues in the same verse: “In my flesh dwells no good thing.”  It is completely given over to corruption.  There is no good thing in it.  This must be understood.  Many times by our decisions and actions we contradict this truth, somehow believing there is at least “a little good” in all of us.  No!  The Lord Jesus said, “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing…” (John 6:63).  Do we hear and take to heart the Lord’s words?  The flesh profits nothing.  There is nothing to be gained through the flesh.  No “life” can come from it.  It cannot accomplish anything good or positive for the believer.  The Spirit of God desires to work growth and change in the believer to conform him into the image of Christ, but the flesh wants nothing to do with this. The flesh, when allowed to function, can cause the believer to stumble and not do God’s will.

In the next post we hope to begin to cover the second component of Rom. 7:18 – “how to perform that which is good.”  This is a big subject in the Word of God and one that is severely mishandled today in Christian circles.  If we as believers truly entered by faith into the truth of what the New Testament epistles teach concerning the power to do the will of God, we would live more abundant, joyful, victorious lives as His dear children.

-d. wolfe

A Hebrew Shofar (Trumpet)

I recently posted some thoughts on why I believe the rapture of the church will occur before the tribulation (click here). I know there are a lot of debates out there about the phrase “the last trump” of 1 Corinthians 15:51 which states, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” I thought I’d just add in my two cents.

This “last trump” is sometimes confused with the last of the seven trumpets of Revelation (Rev 8:2) and some conclude based on this assumption that the rapture of the church will occur in the middle of the tribulation. But this is very unlikely since Paul wrote of “the last trump” some thirty years before the details of the Revelation (and the seven trumpets) were given. In other words, not even the apostle, Paul, knew about the seven trumpets of Revelation when he wrote 1 Corinthians. So if  ”the last trump” is an allusion to anything at all, it must be to something else. And I believe it is.

The book of 1 Corinthians is actually full of references to the Feasts of Jehovah. These seven feasts are described in a few places in the Old Testament. See Leviticus 23 and Deuteronomy 16 for some very clear descriptions. In order, they are: the Passover, the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Firstfruits, the Feast of Pentecost (AKA Feast of Weeks), the Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles (AKA, Feast of Ingathering).

Here is a list of some of the references to these Old Testament feasts within the book of 1 Corinthians.

• The Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread are mentioned in 1 Corinthians 5:7-8, “Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump, as ye are unleavened. For even Christ our passover is sacrificed for us: Therefore let us keep the feast, not with old leaven, neither with the leaven of malice and wickedness; but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.”
• The Feast of Firstfruits is mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:20-23, “But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. … But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.” It is also referred to in 1 Corinthians 16:15 in a more incidental way, “… ye know the house of Stephanas, that it is the firstfruits of Achaia, …”
• The Feast of Pentecost (or Feast of Weeks) is mentioned explicitly in 1 Corinthians 16:8, “But I will tarry at Ephesus until Pentecost.” It is also alluded to implicitly in 1 Corinthians 16:2, “Upon the first day of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as God hath prospered him, …” Compare this to Deuteronomy 16:10, “And thou shalt keep the feast of weeks unto the Lord thy God with a tribute of a freewill offering of thine hand, which thou shalt give unto the Lord thy God, according as the Lord thy God hath blessed thee:”
• The Feast of Trumpets is what Paul is referring to when he speaks of “the last trump” in 1 Corinthians 15:51, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.”
• The Day of Atonement was the most solemn day in the Jewish Calendar. To the believer, the Lord’s Supper is the most solemn time. Although in many ways the Passover is reflected in the Lord’s Supper, the Day of Atonement is also reflected just as much. Compare Leviticus 23:29, for example, with 1 Corinthians 11:29-30. In a later post, if the Lord permits, I hope to explore this further.
• The Feast of Tabernacles is alluded to in 1 Corinthians 3:16 to the assembly, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?”, to the individual believer in 1 Corinthians 6:19, “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, …,” and the final fulfillment of this “Feast of Tabernacles” is referred to in 1 Corinthians 15:24 (compare to Revelation 21, especially verse 3).

Features of the Feast of Trumpets:

Now to focus on the Feast of Trumpets which Paul is referring to when he speaks of “the last trump.”

• For some Old Testament references to the Feast of Trumpets see Leviticus 23:23-25, Numbers 29:1, Numbers 10:10, and Psalm 81:3. The trumpet would be blown on the first day of every month and at least according to tradition, a long blast would be blown on the first day of the seventh month to signal the Feast of Trumpets.
• The Feast of Trumpets is the only feast that begins on the 1^st of the month. The exact day was, therefore, uncertain until it happened. The Israelites had a calendar based on the cycle of the moon (a lunar calendar). The first observation of the crescent of the new moon would signal the start of the next month. They could only predict this to within a couple of days so they would have to wait and observe the evening sky when the time approached in order to know exactly when the feast was to begin. This is also why the day for the Israelite was sundown to sundown rather than what we have (midnight to midnight). Therefore note there was uncertainty associated with when the Feast of Trumpets would be. Just as we wait for the Lord Jesus and know not “the hour or the day.” We know the day of the rapture is coming; we await the imminent return of our Lord to receive us in the air. But we don’t know exactly when that day will be.
• Other than the blowing of the trumpets there appears to be little instruction beyond this for Israel to do on the day of this feast. It would be a Sabbath day and they would offer a burnt offering (Lev 23:24-25) and that’s all. It appears to be mainly a signal that the 7^th month has begun (a very important month in the Jewish calendar). Likewise the church simply waits for it and will have nothing special to do on that day (other than see the Lord Jesus who is the fulfillment of all burnt offerings). It is out of our control and we simply wait for it to happen. “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).

Importance of the Feast of Trumpets to Israel

For the church “the last trump” is the signal of our home-coming. For Israel it is a signal that the day of Atonement is at hand (which happened 10 days after the Feast of Trumpets) where Israel must “afflict” its soul (see Leviticus 23:26-32). Prophetically speaking the Day of Atonement illustrates the seven-year tribulation period where the world and Israel will be tried. By the end of those days, two thirds of Israel will be lost and all those who remain of Israel will be saved (Zechariah 13:8-9, Romans 11:26).

Below are two verses that are sometimes confused with “the last trump” mentioned in 1 Corinthians. When these verses are confused with “last trump” people conclude the rapture of the church will happen at the end of the tribulation because the context of these verses are clearly in that time frame.

Isaiah 27:12-13: And it shall come to pass in that day, that the LORD shall beat off from the channel of the river unto the stream of Egypt, and ye shall be gathered one by one, O ye children of Israel. And it shall come to pass in that day, that the great trumpet shall be blown, and they shall come which were ready to perish in the land of Assyria, and the outcasts in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the LORD in the holy mount at Jerusalem.

Matthew 24:30-31: And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other.

But the trumpets mentioned in these verses are not an allusion to the Feast of Trumpets at all. They are an allusion to the trumpet mentioned in Leviticus 25:8-10, which is connected with the Day of Atonement in the year of Jubilee. The year of Jubilee was a very special year in Israel where all property returned to its original owner, as the context of these verses from Isaiah and Matthew seem to depict.

Leviticus 25:8-10: And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years. Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land. And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubilee unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.

Finally, in Matthew 24:36, where the Lord Jesus says, “But of that day and hour knoweth no man,” some have claimed this phrase was commonly used in connection with the Feast of Trumpets. And though I have no reason to doubt this, if the Lord Jesus is speaking of the rapture here He is doing it indirectly. He is talking about a time of judgment which Israel will face – the beginning of which will likely coincide closely with the rapture of the church. The context of the verses that follow His statement (Matthew 24:36-42) describe those “taken” as being taken for judgment rather than taken to be with the Lord. So once the rapture occurs there will be no escaping the judgment that will come. To those caught up in the things of this world, who have no interest in God or the salvation He offers, the Lord Jesus warns, ”And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man” (Luke 21:34-36).

I believe it is important for us to try and understand how the Scriptures would have been understood by those who first read them. Recognizing that Paul is using the Feasts of Jehovah in the course of his teaching throughout 1 Corinthians helps in this case to see what “the last trump” would have meant to those early believers, many (maybe even most) of whom were very familiar with these “Feasts of Jehovah” (Acts 18:8). It’s not always easy for us and the answers rarely come quickly, but humbly seeking to understand the Word of God and how it was understood by those who first read it will always be instructive. May we prayerfully seek the Lord that we may obey where He tells us to “Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (1 Tim 2:15). Let us always seek by the power of the risen Lord Jesus Christ to rightly divide His Word of Truth.

-J. Wilbur

We must ever guard against pride in thinking we fully understand and grasp a truth.  There are unfathomable depths in even the “simplest” Scriptures, and we have the privilege as God’s dear children to learn more and more of the infinite God, or as Peter puts it, to “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be glory both now and forever.  Amen” (2 Pet. 3:18).  Until being in glory with the Lord, the believer never should adopt the mindset that he or she has “arrived.”  The Holy Spirit would ever have us grow in our knowledge and appreciation of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ..

In this chart is an examination of our Lord’s words in John 3:16, and below are Scriptures that have helped me appreciate the greatness of God and His character.

(download chart)

FOR GOD (The greatest SOURCE)

“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jam. 1:17).

SO LOVED (The greatest HEART)

“Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called the children of God!” (1 John 3:1).

THE WORLD (The greatest EXTENT)

“For if when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son…” (Rom. 5:10).

THAT HE GAVE (The greatest SACRIFICE)

“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?” (Rom. 8:32).

HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON (The greatest GIFT)

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Cor. 9:15).

THAT WHOEVER (The greatest INVITATION)

“…Whoever desires, let him take of the water of life freely” (Rev. 22:17).

BELIEVES IN HIM (The greatest TERMS)

“Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, you and your household” (Acts 16:31).

SHOULD NOT PERISH (The greatest DELIVERANCE)

“Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it” (Matt. 7:13).

BUT (The greatest DIFFERENCE)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth on Him that sent Me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

HAVE EVERLASTING LIFE (The greatest PROMISE)

“He who has the Son HAS life; he does who does not have the Son of God does not have life” (1 John 5:12).

d. wolfe

- PART 1 - 

“…for to will is present with me, but how to perform that what is good I do not find” (Rom. 7:18b).  We find in this verse much of the struggle in ourselves as believers.  We desire to do good many times, but often fail.  We desire to live victorious lives, but rather experience defeat.  But notice the two aspects of “doing good” in this verse:

1) The will to do good (The will, the inner desire)

2) How to perform what is good (The means, the power)

Many times one or both of these are missing in the believer, which then leads to failure and disappointment.  How many times in our Christian experience have we found ourselves sinking in sorrow and defeat, wondering how we could fall so easily?  This is clearly Paul’s struggle in Romans 7.  As a believer he delighted in the law of God, but at one point in his Christian walk he ended up doing what he hated, even though he desired to do what was right.  Note his perplexity: “For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do” (Rom. 7:15).

And yet this was Paul!  Here was a man who saw the risen, glorified Christ on the road to Damascus (Acts 9).  Here was a man who received direct revelation and communication from the Lord Jesus (see Gal. 1:12 and 1 Cor. 11:23).  Here was a man who wrote one third of our New Testament, being inspired by the Holy Spirit.  Here was a man who was caught up to the third heaven and heard such inexpressible things there that he could not even pen them (2 Cor. 12:2, 4).  And yet…here was a man.

I suppose this is one of the problems we often do not honestly face as believers.  The Bible says we are “carnal, sold under sin” (Rom. 7:14) and that “in [our] flesh nothing good dwells” (Rom. 7:18a).  Many of us really have not come to the full realization of this, and thus we are prone to trust in something in and of ourselves for victory.  And thus defeat ensues.  But here was man who could honestly say, “but how to perform what is good I do not find,” and again, “For what I am doing I do not understand.”   If we experience this struggle, do we pause to consider the reality of the difficulty and what God would do to give us victory?  Our natural, default tendency is to resort to our own strength or to human wisdom and methods. But these have shown themselves to be utterly bankrupt of power.  In his struggle, Paul came to know and practically live out God’s solution for the Christian life.

And so, according to Rom. 7:18, Paul found it necessary not only to have the will to do something, but also the means to do it.  Both are vital.  We often are found wanting to do the right thing, but lack the “how to” to do it!   And yet as we meditate on this, we have to confess also that to will to do that which is good is also elusive for believers.  I don’t think we realize this enough.  Our own conception of “God’s will” is present, but often times it is in contradiction with His good and acceptable and perfect will (Rom. 12:2).  And so the short circuit, as it were, is twofold. We often do not come to know His will (and make it our will), and we often do not find the means whereby to perform that which is good.

It must be said from the outset that will alone is not enough.  I can fervently desire to do God’s will in various areas of my life, and still miserably fail! Paul needed to know HOW to perform that which is good.  And sadly, he could not find it. I believe this is why in Rom. 7:24 he cries out, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death?”   Paul as a believer here calls himself “wretched,” or miserable.  It is not that Paul here finally recognized he was a sinner, and a wretched one at that. In my opinion, this is entirely not the case.  He knew he was a sinner through and through. (He honestly owned that he was the “chief” of sinners in 1 Tim. 1:15.)  What caused him to call himself wretched was the fact that he as a believer in Christ knew the law, agreed with it, delighted in it, desired to do it (willed to “do good”), yet could not find how to do it!  This is indeed a wretched, miserable state!  Think of it.  His mind wanted to do one thing (the “right thing”), yet his body did the opposite, and he couldn’t stop it!

But amidst his perplexity notice that Paul asks the right question: Not “WHAT will deliver me from this body of death?” but, “WHO will deliver me from this body of death?”  Sadly, we as Christians often are found resorting to “what” will deliver us from the body of this death.  We find and immerse ourselves in formulas, methods, and programs to deal with the very real problem of indwelling sin, yet we inevitably experience defeat.  But note God’s solution to the problem of indwelling sin: “I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!…” (Rom. 7:25).  God’s solution, which Paul discovered and which we hope to examine further, is found solely in a person.  And that person is His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the next entry we want to explore this further and examine what the Word of God has to say about these two components of “doing good”: 1) The will to do good, and 2) The means to do it.

d. wolfe

-J. Wilbur