Heidi McCandless - Procrastination.  Every one of us deals with this to some degree.  In some situations it doesn’t make much difference, in others, it can change the course of your life!  I almost missed the most important thing ever because I was too slow to realize how important it was.  I’m speaking of course of my own life – eternal life that is.

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Tom Bentley

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 Sketches of Jewish Social Life

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Crossword Puzzle Maker

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Ron Mills' Story - At the age of 22 I started to consider suicide as an answer to feelings of hopelessness. By the time I was 23 I would get brief periods of wondering “is this all there is to life?" I remember going to night clubs after drug use and drinking and just standing amongst hundreds of people and feeling very alone and tired of life. There had to be more to this Life (more...)

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"Take the Challenge"

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Could our Lord have returned to heaven without going to the Cross?

This idea used to be put forward as a possible suggestion for illustrative purposes. What a wonderful ending to our Lord’s life it would have been had He gone straight up to heaven without dying! but without asserting that this was a possibility. Of later years this supposition has become an affirmation, put forward as though there was a clear “thus saith the Lord” for it. Especially have speculative teachers, who love the sensational, asserted this in connection with the Transfiguration on the Holy Mount. In reality this was the most unlikely moment for such a thing to occur, had it been otherwise within the range of God’s purposes, for such an event is never hinted at in any of the three Gospel accounts of the Transfiguration.

In Matthew 17" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 17 this comes just after the Lord’s first clear announcement of His passion: “Jesus began to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things”, etc. (Matthew 16:21)." TARGET="_blank">Matthew 16:21). In Mark 9" TARGET="_blank">Mark 9 likewise the account is preceded by the words of Mark 8:31," TARGET="_blank">Mark 8:31, “The Son of Man must suffer,” etc., and so in Luke 9" TARGET="_blank">Luke 9—the reference to the sufferings in Luke 9:22" TARGET="_blank">Luke 9:22 as a necessity, is followed by a glimpse of the coming Kingdom glory.

Far then from a choice being offered to our Lord on the Holy Mount of returning to heaven without dying, I believe this prophetic view of the coming Kingdom glory was to cheer the disciples in view of the certainly coming Cross. There is an additional fact given us in Luke, namely, the subject on which Moses and Elias conversed with our Lord in the glory —“They spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.” Certainly Peter tried to turn Him from this purpose in Matt. i6, but was met with a stern rebuke.

The momentous scene in Gethsemane clearly shows, however, that the Lord was a free Agent in redemption. He was under no fatalistic necessity to redeem men, but He was “the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world,” and He had said to Nicodemus, “The Son of Man must be lifted up.” Later we hear Him saying, “For this cause came I unto this hour,” and “The Son of Man came . . to give His life a ransom for many.” These two sides of truth are seen at Gethsemane. His holy human will rightly shrank from contact with sin, and the Divine abandonment involved; but as a Divine Person His will was able to say, “Nevertheless not My will but thine be done.” When Peter sought by the use of the sword to defend His Master, the latter says, in Matthew 26:52," TARGET="_blank">Matthew 26:52, “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?” but immediately adds, “But how then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?”

In John 18:11" TARGET="_blank">John 18:11 we have an additional word, “The cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” which, coming either before or after the other words, gives us the balance of Scripture. It was with “wicked hands”—the voluntary act of murderers—that men crucified and slew Him; but it was also with holy hands that He by a voluntary act, and by the Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God (Hebrews 9)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 9). He could say with equal truth, “No man taketh My life from Me, but I lay it down of Myself,” and “this commandment have I received of My Father” (John 10)." TARGET="_blank">John 10). There was no fatalistic necessity for our Lord to lay down His life, but there was a moral necessity, and it is very unprofitable and unsound specula tio to assert the contrary.

W.H.

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It is not good to stereotype all Jews or all Muslims as being hateful or even distrustful.  It is also important to note that not all Arabs are Muslim and not all Muslims are Arabs.  There are Arab Christian minorities that still live in the middle eastern countries.  There is, however, a long history of conflict, terrorism, war and bloodshed between the Muslims and the Jews.  Why is that? Does the Bible give us any insights?

The Beginning of the Family

The roots of the Arabs and the Jews can be traced back to their father Abraham.  Abraham had a son, Ishmael, through his slave-wife Hagar.  Later, he had his second son, Isaac, through his wife Sarah.  Isaac, the son promised by God became the father of Jacob, later renamed Israel, and then Isaac became the grandfather of 12 sons of Israel who are the heads of the 12 tribes of Israel.  Ishmael left home and became the father of the Ishmaelites, who are the Arab peoples.  

Genesis 16:1-16" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 16:1-16 and Genesis 21:1-21" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 21:1-21 tell the story of how these two groups began.  Since Sarah was not successful in getting pregnant, she offered Hagar to Abraham to become his concubine.  The seeds of conflict were sown in the fact that Abraham had two women.  The desire of God was never that a man would have more than one spouse.  Genesis 2" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 2 and Jesus words in Matthew 19:4-5" TARGET="_blank">Matthew 19:4-5 tell us that the pattern of marriage is found in Adam and Eve – one man and one woman.

Before the birth of Ishmael, the Angel of the Lord said

“He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."  (Genesis 16:11)." TARGET="_blank">Genesis 16:11).

Islam

Islam was founded in 610 A.D. by conquest and subjugation of infidel religions.  Many Arabs are of the Muslim faith.  Jews, as well as other faiths, who refuse to submit to Allah, can be and should be destroyed, according to Islam.

The Qur’an teaches that Ishmael, not Isaac, was born as the son of promise.  It also teaches that God tested Abraham by asking him to offer Ishmael, not Isaace, as the Bible says, as a sacrifice. Teaching that Ishmael was the chosen son of promise, the Arabs become God’s chosen people.  The rise of Islam has increased this conflict between the two groups who both claim to be God’s people.

Modern Conflict

The Jews occupied the land of Israel since the time of Moses to the time of Christ.  In AD 70, the Roman army put down a rebellion and obliterated most of the Jews living in Israel, scattering the survivors to all parts of the Empire.  In 1948, the Jewish homeland was established as a new country on this piece of ground.  However in the middle of the 20th Century, Palestine was occupied by Arabs. The formation of the Nation of Israel has united Arabs of many countries in a common hatred of the Zionists who established Israel as a country on land they believe was stolen from them.  Conflict has simmered, and sometimes erupted into open war over the question of who owns the land. 

The original story in full...

Here is the Bible’s story about the origins of Abraham’s two nations…

Genesis 16:1-16" TARGET="_blank">Genesis 16:1-16  Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. She had a female Egyptian servant whose name was Hagar.  (2)  And Sarai said to Abram, "Behold now, the LORD has prevented me from bearing children. Go in to my servant; it may be that I shall obtain children by her." And Abram listened to the voice of Sarai.  (3)  So, after Abram had lived ten years in the land of Canaan, Sarai, Abram's wife, took Hagar the Egyptian, her servant, and gave her to Abram her husband as a wife.  (4)  And he went in to Hagar, and she conceived. And when she saw that she had conceived, she looked with contempt on her mistress.  (5)  And Sarai said to Abram, "May the wrong done to me be on you! I gave my servant to your embrace, and when she saw that she had conceived, she looked on me with contempt. May the LORD judge between you and me!"  (6)  But Abram said to Sarai, "Behold, your servant is in your power; do to her as you please." Then Sarai dealt harshly with her, and she fled from her.  (7)  The angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, the spring on the way to Shur.  (8)  And he said, "Hagar, servant of Sarai, where have you come from and where are you going?" She said, "I am fleeing from my mistress Sarai."  (9)  The angel of the LORD said to her, "Return to your mistress and submit to her."  (10)  The angel of the LORD also said to her, "I will surely multiply your offspring so that they cannot be numbered for multitude."  (11)  And the angel of the LORD said to her, "Behold, you are pregnant and shall bear a son. You shall call his name Ishmael, because the LORD has listened to your affliction.  (12)  He shall be a wild donkey of a man, his hand against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he shall dwell over against all his kinsmen."  (13)  So she called the name of the LORD who spoke to her, "You are a God of seeing," for she said, "Truly here I have seen him who looks after me."  (14)  Therefore the well was called Beer-lahai-roi; it lies between Kadesh and Bered.  (15)  And Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram called the name of his son, whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.  (16)  Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore Ishmael to Abram.

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What is the application of Psalm 45" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 45? Is the Bride mentioned in the Psalm Israel or the Church? How are we to understand the expressions, “unto the king” and “unto thee” in Psalm 45:14" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 45:14?

In order to fully understand Psalm 45," TARGET="_blank">Psalm 45, it will have to be accepted that its principal application, so far as the Bride is concerned, is not to the Church but to Israel. The expressions, “King’s daughters,” “the daughter of Tyne,” and “the rich among the people,” etc., are more easily explained when we think of Israel in her future exaltation above the other nations, and acknowledged as Bride by the Lord, in keeping with His promises of Isaiah 54:5; 62:5;" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 54:5; 62:5; Hosea 2:19, 20," TARGET="_blank">Hosea 2:19, 20, etc., than when we think of the Church. Yet there are, no doubt, one or two expressions, such as, “Forget also thine own people” and “raiment of needlework” (as compared with Revelation 19:8," TARGET="_blank">Revelation 19:8, R.V.), which appear to suit the Church better, although they can perhaps be understood of Israel also.
Of course, some take it for granted that if the Church is the Bride, Israel cannot be; and if Israel is the Bride, the Church cannot be; but this is to lose sight of the fact that the term is figurative, and there is no reason why the figure should not be used of Israel in the Old Testament and of the Church in the New Testament. This is the case with other figures, e.g., Israel is the Vine of the Old Testament (Psalm 8" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 8o:8, etc.), while the Church in union with Christ is the Vine in the New Testament; Israel is the House in the Old Testament, while the Church is the House in the New Testament (Numbers 12:7;" TARGET="_blank">Numbers 12:7; Hebrews 3: 6)." TARGET="_blank">Hebrews 3: 6). Even the term, “Body,” which we usually look upon as the exclusive property of the Church, had been used of Israel in Isaiah 26:19" TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 26:19 (where the italics should be omitted).  Moreover, it may be that these early pictures, like the early prophecies of the Messiah’s coming, in which events separated (as we now know) by many years, are joined together as if one—are so worded by the Holy Ghost as to include applications both to Israel and the Church, some details being more suited to the one application, and some to the other. This would be helpful in studying the Song of Songs, of which Psalm 45" TARGET="_blank">Psalm 45 seems to be the germ.
I consider this to be a better way of looking at the matter, than to accept the view suggested in Newberry’s Bible, where he distinguishes two women, the “Queen” (Israel), to whom he applies vv. 9-12, and the “King’s daughter” (the Church) to whom he applies vv. 13-15. I could agree that the Israel aspect of the picture is prominent in the former verses, and the Church aspect in the latter; but I cannot see two separate Brides in the Psalm definitely distinguished from one another.
With regard to v. i, I think that the “unto the King” at the begin- fling of the verse, and the “unto thee” at the end of it, refer to the same person. It is only an example of what is very common in the Psalms, in Isaiah 53," TARGET="_blank">Isaiah 53, and elsewhere, that is, an abrupt change from speaking about the Lord, to speaking to Him. And this speaking to Him is continued into verse 16, which, as well as verse 17, is addressed to the King, not to the Bride, although in our A.V. it looks as if it were.

W.R.

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