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Supernatural Before Adam – Because the days are evil – 2
Demons, evils spirits and of course Satan are all part of the unseen supernatural. They oppose the Lord and deceive many, but Jesus knew them all and exercised power over their evil.

We introduced this series, Because the Days are Evil, with a quote from a letter written to the first century church at Ephesus. Now we’ll take a brief look at the relationship between Jesus and the spirit world and the seen and unseen we question in this day.

The seventy-two returned with joy, saying, “Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name!”
And he said to them, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.
Luke 10:17-18 ESV

Before Adam

Genesis answers some of our questions about the supernatural and creation of the physical universe, yet seems to lack an explanation of the origin of spirits, angels, Satan and the supernatural.

Consider an explanation of creation from Genesis 1 and Adam, Eve, original sin and the serpent all come to mind. But follow this timeline from Genesis and you may wonder about the creation of the serpent in the garden.

Moses relates God’s covenant with the forefathers of the Hebrews and includes some explanation of the beginnings of things. We clearly see supernatural occurrences orchestrated by the Lord.

In the garden, a perfect setting God created for man, we observe supernatural events and a supernatural explanation of the influence of evil by Satan, a talking serpent, a snake with poisonous words against God tempting man (adam) to death.

Jesus claims the supernatural more than once, offering insight into the eternal not understood in the chronology of mankind. He says, “I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.”

Have you ever wondered where that fit into the timeline of creation?

Natural vs Supernatural time

How do the created measure time of the Creator?

The supernatural is sometimes observable, but not naturally measurable.

Science provides reliable natural explanations of the observable, but fails in unproven theories of the supernatural. We just don’t get it – we want to understand everything as if we are above a creation not of our making.

We want to be gods of the unseen and the immeasurable. Yet we cannot be and should not try to be God!

Therefore a human measure of the infinite with billions and billions of stars and trillions and trillions of atoms in this visible place is just as unfathomable as time and its supernatural beginning.

A world introduced to the risen Christ Jesus once measured time in terms of the Son of Man, King above all kings who proved, “I and the Father are One.”

This year is A.D. 2019, that is, anno Domini (from the Julian calendar) or ‘in the year of our Lord‘ twenty-nineteen.

Theories of time immemorial and explanations of the unobservable supernatural have come and gone. Even faithful men of God and followers of Christ have come up short in our proofs of the unprovable.

Yet by faith all men must start with faith that One exists in the unseen realm of the supernatural who was and is and will always be – One who reigns over a vast and glorious creation.

The heavens declare the glory of God,
and the sky displays what his hands have made.

One day tells a story to the next.
One night shares knowledge with the next
without talking,
without words,
without their voices being heard.
Yet, their sound has gone out into the entire world,
their message to the ends of the earth.
Psalm 19: 1-4 GW

Christ, Lord over the supernatural

Luke 10: excerpt

After this, the Lord appointed 70 other disciples to go ahead of him to every city and place that he intended to go. They were to travel in pairs.

He told them, “The harvest is large, but the workers are few. So ask the Lord who gives this harvest to send workers to harvest his crops. Go! I’m sending you out like lambs among wolves…

Jesus, Son of Man, sends followers to proclaim the Gospel to an unbelieving world.

“But whenever you go into a city and people don’t welcome you, leave… If the miracles worked in your cities had been worked in Tyre and Sidon, they would have changed the way they thought and acted… Judgment day will be better for Tyre and Sidon than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted to heaven? No, you will go to hell!

So Jesus warns of hell and speaks of judgment day. Many refuse to believe it because they can’t quantify it.

Woe to those deceived by the great deceiver Satan, the serpent of sin who enters the natural creation with slithering supernatural power over those who turn against God!

Do you believe only your eyes?

Jesus continues instruction to faithful followers:

16 “The person who hears you hears me, and the person who rejects you rejects me. The person who rejects me rejects the one who sent me.”

He had commissioned the eleven Disciples again after after He rose from the grave:

“Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.
Mark 16L15b

Some men and women will not believe you, He previously had told seventy-two disciples. Yet, ‘Go your way; behold, I am sending you out as lambs in the midst of wolves, Jesus had commissioned them. [Luke 10:3]

17 The 70 disciples came back very happy. They said, “Lord, even demons obey us when we use the power and authority of your name!”

Jesus has power over demons you also do not believe exist — if you are deceived.

18 Jesus said to them, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like lightning.

Jesus told an unbelieving religious establishment, “Before Abraham was, I am!” Here the Lord witnesses to disciples, “I watched Satan fall from heaven…” Yet unless some see Satan or demons or unseen supernatural powers they will dismiss all as myth.

Seventy men came back to Jesus, the Gospel records, and witnessed:

“Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name.” [KJV]

Yet many do not believe because they cannot see these supernatural beings of spirit.

a Supernatural Serpent

Now the serpent was more crafty than any other beast of the field that the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God actually say, —
Genesis 3:1a KJV

STOP! Two things here in Moses’ narrative of creation.
1. A serpent (who we later learn is Satan) is talking. Not only is that crafty, but seems to an unbelieving world an impossibility.
2. The supernatural serpent asks an evil question of the woman, “Did God actually say … (you know the questions object about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil). Satan is asking Eve to question the word of God!
Then the serpent tells the woman a lie.

3:4 וַיֹּאמֶר הַנָּחָשׁ אֶל־הָֽאִשָּׁה לֹֽא־מֹות תְּמֻתֽוּן׃
The serpent said to the woman, “You surely will not die!
Genesis 3:4 Hebrew & NASB

Go ask her then, “Eve, do you believe the evil one who told you, ‘You will not die?”

Of course not even followers of Moses could do that, because Moses also records that both Adam and Eve died. After their original sin of disobeying the Lord God, their flesh and bones returned to the dust.

Therefore, consider the supernatural influence of spirits, demons, fallen angels, men possessed by evil and especially Satan could have on your life and death, your merciless judgment or eternal life by grace.

Jesus IS the Lord, One with God the Father of all creation and the Holy Spirit. God loves you and asks for your eternal love of good.

Yet Satan would sway the uncertain toward the gravity of Hell and battle of evil against good.

Choose this day who you will follow. Christ Jesus our loving Savior? Or Satan the angel of darkness asking you to prove, “Did God really say…?”
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To be continued...
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October 5, 2019
Jude -2- Necessity is the Father of Exhortation
To Correct or Encourage?

Do I just keep encouraging my child, servant or follower, or must I instruct them with words of exhortation? Every parent, master, or leader must judge between the value of correction versus positive reinforcement.

Jude, a leader of the church no less loving of the recipients of his letter than the Apostles, faces this familiar dilemma of the parent. I want to encourage you, my beloved children, by acknowledging all of the good things you do. BUT, (Oh, oh, here it comes…) I have this against you.

If this approach of dealing with the church and individual wayward relationships to the Lord and each other sounds familiar, it should. In the Revelation of Jesus Christ to the Apostle John exhortation to the seven churches also takes this form.

Like John, Peter, Paul and others, Jude has a close relationship with many individual saints of the church. As a father encourages a son or daughter, so the words of Jude touch the hearts of the hearers of his letter.

They will hear Jude’s letter as words from a beloved mentor. Many know Jude, Servant of Jesus Christ as the brother of James or know of him.

Jude’s greeting:

Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied.
Jude 1:2 KJV

ἔλεος Mercy to you, Jude writes.

It means kindness or good will towards the miserable and the afflicted, joined with a desire to help them. Jude not only knows them but cares about their struggles and community.

When Jesus tells the parable of the good Samaritan, our Lord convicts us that we often fail to show mercy to our fellow man. We too tend to qualify which neighbor we choose for our mercy. Yet like those who questioned the Lord we know which one acted as Christ would act.

“The one who showed mercy to him,” he said.
Then Jesus told him, “Go and do the same.”
Luke 10:37 CSB

Jude shows the church compassion and mercy, also greeting them with peace and love multiplied. If you are one of those called by the Father you will recognize the same peace of Jesus Christ regardless of what exhortation will follow.

“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
The words of Jesus Christ, the Good News of John 14:27 NASB

ἀγάπη – Love

Love is much misaligned and misdirected in and by the church. Jude speaks here of agapē [ah-gah’-pay], the love by which all hearers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be known.

ἀγάπη – Agape is affection, good will, love, benevolence, brotherly love; that visible relationship between Christians. One key reason Jude and others must exhort individuals to such love is so that others will always recognize us as beloved children of our loving Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus warns us in the Gospel of Matthew:

“Many false prophets will rise up and deceive many. Because lawlessness will multiply, the love of many will grow cold.

Did our Lord not describe this familiar brokenness of the church in these last days? Jude must warn the saints faithful to the Lord.

Jesus added an encouragement to this caution about our potential loss of agape love:

“But the one who endures to the end will be saved.

Jude will exhort believers to keep in Jesus’ love, abide in His love or live as Jesus taught us by His example.

“Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love.
If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
Encouragement of Jesus – Gospel of John 15:9-10 NASB

Occasion of Jude’s Letter

Jude – NRSV

Jude clearly states the reason for his exhortation replacing unsalted positive encouragement.

3 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. 4 For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.

His indictment is clear, a warning to the saints to watch out for those ungodly ‘christians’ who have stolen their way into the trust of the church. They pervert grace into licentiousness.

Because now we rarely hear such pointed exhortation, let’s look just a bit closer into the problem outlined in verse 4.
- Certain intruders pervert God’s grace.
  - It’s not everybody or even the majority of the saints.
  - These sinners were marked out beforehand for condemnation, pointing to their same sins from the Old Testament. Jude’s following verses point to these OT examples.
- This is Jude’s and the church’s general condemnation of ungodly persons who turn from the grace of God, as opposed to the repentance possible for those God allows to return to righteousness.
- They pervert the grace of God into licencentious.
  - one of Jude’s two serious indictments
- and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
How can ANY man or woman identified as a ‘christian’ deny Jesus as the Messiah (Christ), Lord God & ONLY lord and master of your mortal and eternal life?

Jude, bondservant of Jesus, would have us ask this question of every hearer of his letter. Who truly serves Jesus Christ as your Master and Lord?

Other Description of Jude’s purpose

The Geneva Bible of 1599 states:

3 He warneth the godly to take heed of such men, 4 that make the grace of God a cloak for their wantonness:

Like licentiousness, wantonness leaves us thinking of an archaic approach to sin rarely mentioned in this day and translated gently for contemporary readers of Jude’s exhortation.

All will agree that Jude urges the saints (all Christians) to contend earnestly or defend the true faith handed down to the church by Christ and through the faithful word of God in the the Old Testament. From there we easily stray when called upon to confront a false claimant of Christ.

Who are these?

Jude writes, ‘certain men have crept in unnoticed,’ or ‘by stealth’ some versions translate.

Let’s examine Jude’s two-part accusation.

ἀσέλγεια – Licentiousness

Defined: unbridled lust, excess, licentiousness, lasciviousness, wantonness, outrageousness, shamelessness, insolence

We tend to think of the sin of these men Jude describes as sexual sin, a sin which may accurately describe just part of their specific acts against God. Yet other sinful behaviors men and women would hide from the saints with whom they worship certainly apply to Jude’s warning.

Jude’s exhortation describes a general conduct thought to be private which would cause a public disgust. These shameless excesses could include gluttony, tyrannical demeanor, greediness and other excesses of the fleshly senses, which include hunting for victims prone to your sins.

You may notice the similarity of the Greek word translated as licentiousness, ἀσέλγεια, and it’s Hebrew root, ἄλφα.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Revelation of Jesus Christ to John 22:13 KJV

This Greek description as a compound negative participle of Alpha, the word of God and Christ, indicates an antichrist, a description other New Testament writers use of those opposed to the Gospel.

ἀρνέομαι Ἰησοῦς Χριστός – Deny Jesus Christ

This is the most serious of Jude’s two accusations against these antichrists who have found their way into the church, men and women against whom he must warn other followers of the Lord.

Ungodly persons [ἀσεβής] καὶ τὸν μόνον δεσπότην καὶ κύριον ἡμῶν Ἰησοῦν Χριστὸν ἀρνούμενοι, that is: “only Master and Lord our Jesus Christ deny.”
- Jesus is our Lord, the LORD God
- The LORD IS our only Master
- Jesus IS the Messiah, the Christ
- We serve ONLY Him.
Many deny the Lord, our personal Master whom we serve as Christians. Ungodly persons may claim Jesus or claim God, yet not serve Him. Many more will claim a god or antichrist because they oppose the LORD.

Jude is not alone in his exhortation for believers. The Apostle John also warns of such antichrists:

… so now many antichrists have come. …They went out from us, but they did not belong to us… I write these things to you concerning those who would deceive you.
First Letter of John, excerpts from 2:18-19 & 26 NKJV

Biblical warnings from the Old Testament

Next we will continue in Jude’s letter to saints of the first century church with his Old Testament examples. Remember, the Old Testament was the only Bible for Jesus, Jude, James and the Apostles. But feel free to preview these few verses as if you knew only this Bible, still applicable today.
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To be continued...
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July 17, 2019
James – Above all – 9
But above all things, my brethren, swear not…
James 5:12a KJV

You had begun to count the barrage of important words to the congregation. “FINALLY,” says the preacher after a lengthy sermon, as our dull ears and glassy eyes slowly return, “point number nine.”

Peter, Paul and others frequently conclude with ‘finally,’ James closes his letter, ‘above all.’

In conclusion

Before we examine this specific closing of James and the concluding nine verses, consider a few closing points of other pastoral letters.
- Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice. Become mature, be encouraged, be of the same mind, be at peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you. – Paul, in his second and final letter to the church at Corinth.
- Finally, be strengthened by the Lord and by his vast strength. – Paul’s brief closing to his church at Ephesus
- Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable — if there is any moral excellence and if there is anything praiseworthy — dwell on these things. – Paul’s closing to the church at Philippi
James closes: Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear… so that you won’t fall under judgment.

Other first generation church leaders also include similar phrases as if to say, ‘last, but not least.’ Their letters also emphasize some of same points to remember as does James.
- Above all, put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity. – Paul’s letter to the church at Colossae
- Above all, maintain constant love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins. – First letter of Peter to the church, echoed by James’ concluding sentence.
- Above all, be aware of this: Scoffers will come in the last days scoffing and following their own evil desires – Second letter of Peter to the church. Early in his letter James makes a similar point:
  - If anyone thinks he is religious without controlling his tongue, his religion is useless and he deceives himself. – James 1:26
James 5:

Oaths

12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath. But let your “yes” mean “yes,” and your “no” mean “no,” so that you won’t fall under judgment.

James does not prohibit oaths; rather he calls out those who take oaths, vows or solemn promises lightly.

If a Christian’s oath is the fruit of God, then our words must convey pure truth. NO guarantees by god, as unbelievers see the Lord, and NO guarantees by earth and NO oaths by any other authority outside your own true word.

Yes equals yes and your no equals no. Simplicity. And truth by your own personal guarantee of your own words. Does this not go back to the opening point of James’ letter to the church?

My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.
James 1:19-20 CSB

Don’t get God involved in your words to another. By your words you will be judged. – Matthew 12:37

Prayer

13 Is anyone among you suffering? He should pray…

What believer in Christ does not suffer? All sometimes suffer hardship, sickness, troubles and many evils.

Pray, beloved brother, James urges in his letter. Pray, beloved sister. Yet he also points to the encouragement from others in our church family, because their joy reflects the Lord to us.

Are you cheerful? Then sing praises to the Lord.

(Are you? Then do you?) Those brothers and sisters who suffer hardship feel your joy in Christ. At times you also need to hear the joy of beloved brothers and sisters in Christ.

14 Is anyone among you sick? He should call for the elders of the church, and they are to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord.

Here James points to leadership roles of encouragement by our local church. His corporate letter tells all who are sick to seek the anointing and prayer of our local leaders, the elders who shepherd us. Though the anointing oil does not heal the unknown mysteriously; the Lord, in answer to prayer, may heal the one who believes, if it is His will.

Mark relates good news of such results by those sent out into surrounding towns by the Lord Jesus.

So they went out and preached that people should repent. They drove out many demons, anointed many sick people with oil and healed them.
Mark 6:12-13 CSB

Once again, before the Lord’s half-brother repented of his disbelief, James most likely knew some of these who experienced miraculous healings. James continues:

The prayer of faith will save the sick person, and the Lord will raise him up; if he has committed sins, he will be forgiven.
James 5:15 CSB

Jesus forgives a lame man

Perhaps you recall a healing by Jesus in a public event where James may have been among the crowds outside the house.

Luke 5:

17 On one of those days while he was teaching… sitting there … from every village of Galilee and Judea, and also from Jerusalem. 18 Just then some men came, carrying on a stretcher a man who was paralyzed… because of the crowd, they went up on the roof and lowered him on the stretcher through the roof tiles into the middle of the crowd before Jesus.

20 Seeing their faith he said, “Friend, your sins are forgiven.”

… Who can forgive sins but God alone?”

23 Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’?

24 But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he told the paralyzed man, “I tell you: Get up, take your stretcher, and go home.”

25 Immediately he got up before them, picked up what he had been lying on, and went home glorifying God.

James 5: Do you need healing?

James 5:16

Above all, remember that God judges and that the Lord answers prayer.

16 Therefore, confess your sins to one another and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is very powerful in its effect.

James points to Elijah, whose prayers God heard and answered because of his righteousness.

Are we not cleansed of our sin in Christ Jesus, dear brother?

Confess your sins and be cleansed by the righteousness of Christ. Pray for the sick among you.

Community

19 My brothers and sisters, if any among you strays from the truth…

James closes with this: IF any among you.

He does not begin by asking us to judge others, our neighbors or the world, but simply points this directly to application to the community of our church by saying, ‘if any among you.’

Christians tend to be quick to speak and slow to listen, as James cautions earlier in his letter.

strays from the truth

This closing call to truth is not to the grey-edged truths of the world which are not truth at all. His pastoral call to us is to that higher absolute truth of Christ Jesus.

Do not stray from truth. But if you do — and some of you will — bring your brother or sister back into the love of our church community.

and someone turns him back…

We all know the Way, the Truth and the Life. To bring someone back to Jesus will require their repentance.

But who will go to a brother in the Lord asking for his repentance?

It is not an easy thing to confront another in truth and love. (All the more reason we should limit this to the community of our church.)

20 let that person know that whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.

James’ question to those of the church is really more like:

Do you care at all if your brother (or sister) in the church will go to hell?
Go to him seeking his repentance and ask him to return to the Lord.
We all have many sins in need of covering by our works of grace.
see James 5:20

No Post Script

James writes to the church corporately, perhaps with certain individuals in various churches in mind.

He could have closed with a few personal greetings or asked for a personal messenger to come to him with help of some sort, but he does not. And James could have appealed to the authority given him as one of the brothers of Jesus, son of Mary the same mother. Again, he does not.

Rather, he appeals to all as brethren and himself humbly as a fellow servant of the Lord. James and the church at that time identify themselves as Jews.

Christians are no different than Jews to Rome and the world. Cause any trouble and you are not welcome in this city.

James writes to encourage several congregations throughout the region of the eastern empire of Rome.

Most hearers of his letter are poor, some very poor. Trials of life test your faith in the Lord.

Persist — show the fruit of your joy in the Lord, the evidence of your faith.

Count it all JOY, dear brothers and sisters, whenever you face the challenges of your faith in Christ Jesus!

HOW?

Any trial is an outward circumstance which could challenge your faith. Temptation always lurks inwardly as an enticement to sin. Here is one good way to resist:

…let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath.
James 1:19b KJV

Do what the Law of God says and allow the Lord to judge others. Those rich who dispersed you to hard circumstances in difficult places will also be judged. Do not allow them to lead your church or you into sin.

All must show their works of their faith, bringing each other into repentance before the Lord. God commands peace between believers. Repent and love each other, for the sake of Christ Jesus.

Do you, beloved believer to whom I write, hear the Lord Christ Jesus in our appeal?

James writes to many churches, asking us to build community and faith by our works of faith in Jesus.

Above all, hear the heart of James.

For he was once the unbelieving brother of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now he asks us to show our faith by our works.
May 30, 2019