RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF GOD

RIGHTLY DIVIDING THE WORD OF GOD

                As a part of our 40 day fast leading up to Resurrection Day, our Pastor has been encouraging us to read a book of the Bible each week. This past week it was 2^nd Timothy and so in 2^nd Timothy among other things Paul talks about “Rightly Dividing the Word of God. What exactly does that mean?

                First of all, it doesn’t mean chopping up the word of God… nor does it mean piecing together a bunch of scriptures to make the Bible say what we want it to say. Many have quoted Isaiah 28:9-13 to describe the proper way to arrive at doctrine, but they obviously didn’t read it in context. For instance verse 13 says:  “So the word of the Lord to them will be, Order on order, order on order, Line on line, line on line, a little here a little there that they may stumble backward, be broken, snared and taken captive.”

                Do we really want to be snared and taken captive? Do we want to stumble backward and be broken? NO, we don’t and yet this is what especially cult groups do. They piece together scriptures to make them support their views, rather than studying the Bible as a whole and accepting it as the whole truth.

                According to my New American Standard Bible, rightly dividing the Word of truth means to “handle accurately the word of truth.” And for this we need the Holy Spirit who alone can guide us into all truth. The Holy Spirit inspired the scripture in the first place, so it is the Holy Spirit who interprets the Word. If we rely solely upon intellectual understanding, we will end up misinterpreting the Word and remaining blind to its real message. It says it like this:

                “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of God.” 2 Tim. 2:14

                Many times when you hear someone say that so and so came into the truth, they are not talking about so and so, coming into a saving relationship with Jesus Christ through His Word and the guidance of the Holy Spirit… rather they are talking about that person having come into their particular brand of religion as interpreted by them… usually line on line, order on order.

                Paul says a lot in this little book written to Timothy. He talks about people who are forever learning, but never coming to a knowledge of the truth. But this is why I so often quote Luke 24: 27 in order to keep things in perspective. It says:

                “And beginning with Moses and with all the prophets, H explained to them the things concerning Himself in all the Scriptures.”

                In other words, we can piece together any number of scriptures and create any number of doctrines and still not know Jesus. And if our study of the Word is not forming a clear picture of Jesus in our hearts and minds, then we are largely missing the point of scripture.

                People can argue about every little turn of phrase, or base their entire lives upon some unique interpretation of scripture as interpreted by man and yet feel extremely uncomfortable if the gifts of the Holy Spirit are manifested and or skeptical if it is claimed that someone was healed by God, or that spiritual warfare took place and a demon was cast out. They desperately want truth to remain theoretical and dead so as not to be confronted by a living God.

                We forget that wherever Jesus went while on earth, His very presence flushed the demons out of the woodwork. Many like to present Jesus as a benign pacifist, but He was not so to the demons or to the kingdom of darkness. They were shrieking in terror so that everyone who met Jesus either loved Him, or they wanted to kill Him.  A great light was shining in the darkness and hell was on the alert… and people couldn’t help but demonstrate which kingdom they belonged to.

                Is it any different today? No, we are coming into a time of polarization where the kingdoms of darkness and light are coming into direct conflict. There is a Remnant people of God ( not based on a certain denomination or set of biblical or prophetic interpretations, but by  their love of Jesus and their devotion to living by His Holy Spirit and by His Word) this is becoming increasingly hated by the world and the kingdom of Satan.

                Even as we watch on, the devil is now seeking global control. For instance: I have noticed that certain utility companies have been working in our area both day and night. For a while there, we would pass them on dark streets with their boring machines, working under floodlights to lay the thousands of miles of cable that must be put in place to handle the new 5G network.

                I did not understand the reason for their mad rush until my son Zach shared an interview with Newt Gingrich and another man. It answered my question as to why they are in such a rush to get this system on line quickly.

                As it turns out, China is well ahead of us in implementing the 5g network and as it turns out, whichever nation gains control of the 5G will also control the world… it is literally that big of deal, because more than speeding up our communications and exponentially expanding our band width, it will also handle our defense systems and communications of all types both military and civilian. Gingrich called this our “Sputnik Moment” A time I still remember, when Russia sent up the first satellite and America had to rush to get ahead of the Russian space program

                This5 G system is literally the system that the Bible talks about by which they will be able to control the buying and selling of every person on the planet… and all of our appliances are currently being turned into smart devices, so that they know what you have in your refrigerator, in your toaster… exactly how much energy you consume… what is your GPS location at all times… your medical history… your religious beliefs… every conversation on the phone  and the internet… what kind of music you listen to… you name it, they can track it and the new quantum computers can handle this entire flow of information in real time and store everything about you in a file with your name on it.

                So when they convert to a cashless society, (and they will,) then you will have to comply with the system, or you get turned off… your bank account blocked, your ability to even buy a loaf of bread cut off along with your ability to pay your rent, or gas, or your house payment or your taxes or to keep your home. You will become an exile in a world where you can no longer hide.

                So in those days that are just ahead of us, we will be wishing that we had spent less time wrangling over certain lines of doctrine, and more time getting to know Jesus and how to live by His Spirit. YOU will wish that you had spent more time memorizing scriptures that will keep your mind on Him… studying prophetic patterns so that you would understand what was happening and what to expect. You will wish that you had learned how to operate in the power of the Holy Spirit… that you had spent more time praying for your friends and loved ones… that you had made doubly sure that you are truly born again and walking in the Spirit and in Truth.

                IF the ultimate goal of all scripture is that we be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ, should we not then learn to walk as He walked and to love as He loved?

                If we were to find ourselves in an end time war zone, would we not conclude with Paul saying:

                “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ. More than that I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord for whom I have suffered the loss of all things and count them but rubbish ( dung) in order that I man gain Christ, and may I be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which comes from God on the basis of faith that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of his suffering, being conformed to His death; in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.” Phil. 3:7-11

                It is in the heat of battle, whether financially, or physically or spiritually or even at death’s door, where we will suddenly discover what was important in life. It was to know Jesus and to have lived by His Spirit and His truth until those things had become flesh in me. Christianity, after all, is just an act, until the real Spirit of Christ begins to function in and through us.

                The Pharisees loved the Messiah with all of their hearts and they were praying for His appearance. But their traditions had painted a false picture of Him so that when the real thing came, they rejected Him because He did not fit their doctrines. Should we not then seek with all of our hearts to know the real Jesus and not the one that our pleasure loving hearts have created for us? Do we want a God who is good all the time, by our standards or by His standards?

                We have created a false Christ today that is all love, but no justice. “He would never judge us. He would never confront us with our sins and our sinful nature. We no longer need to repent. We no longer need to die in His Cross, or to be covered by His blood. That was the old fashioned way right?  The bloody Messiah… the sacrificial Lamb of God… isn’t it time to move beyond all of that gore?

                No, it is NOT time to move beyond the realities and the enormity of sin and what it cost God Himself to rescue us. Nor is it time to run away from our own death to self and to the world through His Cross and the new life that we must now live by His Spirit.

                How is it that many of today’s Christians are flocking back to the Pope for peace and unity? He has publicly said that the cross was a failure and that Jesus is not returning. He has also stated that we cannot have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. We can only come to God, as He is mediated for us by the church… a pagan church with a despotic leader that wants to rule the world. Is that what we want? Not me!

                But the antidote to the spirit of this world is the Spirit of Christ and the antidote to Satan’s lies is God’s Truth, His Word and the antidote for living in this kingdom of darkness is to be born again into the kingdom of God’s dear Son.

                We need to man up and to embrace our destiny in Jesus Christ. He alone is the Way, the Truth and the Life… and while we are privileged to be members of the Body of Christ in this world, we will not allow our relationship with Jesus to be mediated to us by any pope, priest or religious organization. There is one God and one Mediator between God and man, the Man Jesus Christ. 1 Tim.2:5

                “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry by as much as He is also the Mediator of a better covenant which He has enacted on better promises. Heb. 8:6

                And for this reason He is the Mediator of a new covenant… Heb. 9:15

                We have not come to Mt. Sinai… “but we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem and to myriads of angels to the general assembly and church of the first-born who are enrolled in heaven and to God, the judge of all and to the spirits of righteous men made perfect and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant and to the sprinkled blood which speaks better than the blood of Abel.” Heb.12:18-24.

                We may sometimes feel alone in this world, but we are surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses. Heb. 12: 1. We have Jesus as our High Priest and Mediator. We have His Holy Spirit dwelling in our hearts. We have fellowship with each other in the Body of Christ and greater are the armies that are with us than those that are against us. Let us therefore press on to know the wonders of our salvation in Jesus Christ.