-------------------------<BrethrenVoice>------------------------- [which seeks to be guided solely by the NT Biblical pattern, facilitates free flow of Christian info. To God be the glory!] [eMail Moderator: brethrenvoice-owner@...] [<GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> archives/read online: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ezmlm.cgi] <GLEANINGS-FOR-THE-DAY> <24 October 2002> Contents: ------------- 1) <Devotional> "Believing a lie, believing the truth" (Pt-8)-Ravi Zacharias 2) <Doctrinal> "The complete thing - Knowledge" (Pt-4) - R.E. Harlow 3) <Prophetical> "The Redeemer's Return" (Pt-61)- A.W.Pink 1) <DEVOTIONAL> <SLICE-OF-INFINITY> "'BELIEVING A LIE, BELIEVING THE TRUTH', RESURRECTION," (PART-8 OF 8) Ravi Zacharias I was once invited to lecture at the Lenin Military Academy and to participate in a discussion at the Center for Geopolitical Strategy in Moscow with six Russian generals-all but one, atheists. As we entered this imposing building, I was aware of being in an historic setting, for all of the general secretaries of the USSR had earned their education there. In the welcoming hall were the portraits of Peter the Great and Kutusov. Every facet of the building was pompous and stately, intended not accidentally I am sure, to make the individual feel small and insignificant. Here, in its inner chambers, our discussion began. As the conversation unfolded from early unease through robust argumentation all the way to our warm conclusion, something incredible happened. One by one, each of these generals conceded that Russia was now in a pathetic state, not just economically but morally. As the men stood to bid us good-bye, the senior-ranking general grasped my hand and said, "Dr. Zacharias, I believe what you have brought us is the truth. But it is so hard to change after seventy years of believing a lie." How haunting are the general's words! After seventy years of believing a lie, it is so hard to change. What a moment in history when once-Marxist nations admit to a dastardly failed experiment that demonstrates beyond any doubt the dire consequences that are reaped when God is eliminated from the framework of life's choices. Yet strangely enough, we in the West are now moving toward that same ideological base, unwilling to believe what stares us in the face. I vividly remember after speaking at Cornell University one evening, a young woman, who was a science major, approached me. Her eyes were filled with tears as she confessed to me and her peers, "I cannot tell you how deeply I struggle. I long to believe in God and walk the way of Christ. But everything in my academic pursuit steers me away from God. Science is a religion here and leaves no room for God." Friend, are you perhaps like the Russian general or the university student, longing to know truth in a world that says there is no God, no soul, and no afterlife? The truth is that the resurrection of Jesus is a reality that cannot be dismissed out of hand without a serious study of the historical record. And in that record-the Gospels-you may, in turn, discover Him who is "the resurrection and the life." --- Copyright (p)(c) 2001 Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM). Reprinted with permission. A Slice of Infinity is a radio ministry of Ravi Zacharias International Ministries. _______________________________________________________________________ (2) <DOCTRINAL> "THE COMPLETE THING" - KNOWLEDGE R.E. Harlow .... The special gift of knowledge is mentioned only in 1 Corinthians 12:8; 13:8; 14:6. We all have some knowledge in a general way, 1 Corinthians 8:1, and it should increase, Romans 15:14; 2 Peter 3:18, but the word of knowledge was a gift to some believers and was for the profit of others, 1 Corinthians 12:8; 14:6. Like prophecy, this gift was to vanish away. The question is when? There are two answers to this question. When the Lord comes. When the New Testament was complete. The first answer has received support from a popular hymn, one line of which is based on 1 Corinthians 13:12, "We shall know as we are known." This interpretation asserts that the gifts of prophecy, tongues and knowledge will continue until the end of the church age, until Christ comes. We have already seen that the special gift of prophecy was needed when the New Testament was still unwritten. The same could be said for the word of knowledge. Let us look closely at the Greek text of 1 Corinthians 13.8-13. Six things are mentioned: love, prophecies, tongues, knowledge, faith, hope. Verse 8, love never falls or fails. Most ancient manuscripts have fall, the same as used in Luke 16:17. The Word of God never falls, Romans 9:6. Prophecies will be cast away or abolished, as partial things, v.10, and childish things, v.11. (This verb abolish is found four times in this chapter, verses 8(twice),10,11; 6:l3 and 15:26 will help to show you the meaning.) Tongues will stop. Knowledge will be abolished, same word as the one used of prophecies. Verse 9, prophecy and knowledge were partial. Verse 10, when the complete thing would come, the partial would be abolished. This phrase "complete thing" is in the neuter gender. The word translated perfect comes from the word end. Complete is an acceptable rendering, Arndt and Gingrich, page 816. It means complete or mature as In Ephesians 4:13, a complete man; and 1 Corinthians 14:20, in your minds be mature; both in contrast with being Infants as In verse 11. Verse 11, an illustration of maturity. Verse 12, an illustration of full knowledge. Verse 13, abide, continue, as the majority of the witnesses in 1 Corinthians 15:6; as Paul, for the blessing of the believers, Philippians 1:25. So In verse 8 we see that prophecy, tongues and knowledge will cease, and in verse 13, faith, hope and love will abide. If the prophecy, tongues and knowledge last until Christ comes, it must be that faith, hope and love go on beyond that, into eternity. Ceasing and abiding things could not terminate at the same time, at the Rapture. But faith and hope do not go on into eternity. Hope that is seen Is not hope, Romans 8:24,25. We read of the hope of glory, the hope of eternal life and the hope that is set before us, Colossians 1:27; Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18. We need faith to get to heaven but not when we get there. See Hebrews 11:1. Love is the only one of these three which abides into eternity, love never falls. The greatest of these is love. Explanation #1 teaches that prophecy, tongues and knowledge cease when Christ comes, so the continuing things, faith, hope and love, must go on beyond that, into eternity. But we know that faith and hope are not necessary after Christ comes. Explanation #2 shows that prophecy, tongues and knowledge were no longer needed when the New Testament was complete. They ceased at that time, and faith and hope continue, until the second coming. Only love on into eternity. [To be concluded] _____________________________________________________________________ (3) <PROPHETICAL> "THE REDEEMER'S RETURN" (PART-61) THE RECOVERY AND REVIVAL OF THE BLESSED HOPE ITSELF Arthur W. PinkArthur W. Pink 5. Because for the believer there is "no judgment" and all upon earth during the Tribulation period are unquestionably the subjects of God's judgments. One of the most blessed, most remarkable and most far reaching utterances which fell from our Lord's lips while He tabernacled among men is that recorded in John 5:24 "Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth My word, and believeth Him that sent Me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life." Nothing could be simpler than this. The one who has received Christ as his or her Saviour is for ever beyond the reach of Divine "judgment." We quote this verse from the Gospels because the same assurance is given to us in the Church Epistles. There, also, we read, "There is therefore now no judgment to them which are in Christ Jesus" (Rom. 8:1). In the above verses an unequivocal assertion is made which requires no great learning to understand. Every believer has been justified by God Himself, justified eternally, justified "from all things" (Acts 13:39). The result of this decision in the High Court of Heaven for those who have been pronounced righteous is that there is for them "no judgment." Hence it ought to be clear that no believing sinner who has been "accepted in the Beloved" can possibly be left on earth during the Great Tribulation, for at that time God's sore "judgments will be on the earth. That then will be the time when God's Judgments are let loose needs no arguing--the last book in the Bible makes that abundantly clear. The "seven golden vials" in which are stored up the concentrated and long suppressed "wrath of God" (Rev. 15) will then be poured forth upon the world which crucified the Lord of Glory. To teach then, that any of the members of Christ's Body will be left behind on earth to suffer these judgments is to repudiate the express testimony of our Lord to the contrary, is to undetermine the glorious doctrine of Justification, and is to make God's children the subjects of His "wrath" instead of the objects of His love and grace. [To be concluded] _____________________<BrethrenVoice>_____________________ Subscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-subscribe@...> Unsubscribe, eMail:<brethrenvoice-unsubscribe@...> FAQs/Faith Statement, eMail: <brethrenvoice-faq@...> <BrethrenVoice> Home: http://associate.com/digests/brethrenvoice/ <eFellowship> Home: http://groups.msn.com/BrethrenChristiansForum/ "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith." 2 Cor 13:5 "You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free." Jn 8:32 _______________________________________________________