What Are Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs?

Posted on 13 Jun 2007 by James Johnson

A querist asked:
I’m seeking input on the difference, if any, on psalms, hymns and spiritual songs ( Eph 5:19 & Col 3:16). And, if we are to be singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, should we be singing at least one from each category at each worship service?

James replied:
I take ‘psalm’ to be the common usage in the scripture, that is, one of the 150 psalms set to music. Ed Fudge published a song book several years ago where he set quite a few psalms to common tunes.

A hymn is a song praising God. A spiritual song is a song with a religious message that strengthens the inward man.

Most of the modern controversy over instrumental music centers around the word ‘psalm’. The ancient psalms were sung and often accompanied by instruments of music (see Ps 150). Because the NT uses ‘psalms’, many have seen this as a license to introduce instruments of music. However, God specifies “speaking to one another” by psalms (Eph 5:19), and organs do not speak. He also specifies that psalms are to be sung (Jas 5:13). When God specifies, He excludes all else. God’s specification of singing excludes playing.

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The Middle Wall of Partition and the Law

Posted on 20 May 2007 by James Johnson
Eph 2:16 says the middle wall of partition between Jews and Gentiles was broken down “by the cross”, not “at the cross”.  There is a difference.  Jesus provided the means of removing the middle wall of partition at Calvary, but the time that middle wall was removed was “in one body” (Eph 2:16), the church, and the church was not established until Pentecost (Acts 2:47), and middle wall was not pratically removed until God accepted the Gentiles into the church beginning with the household of Corenlius. 
 
What God has done with the middle wall of partition is to make both Jew and Gentile members of the one body (I Cor 12:13), where all the members are united in purpose and work.  He accomplishes the destruction of the wall by translating both Jew and Gentile out of the power of darkness (Rom 3:23) into the kingdom of the Son of His love (Col 1:13).  In the Kingdom of Heaven, we have a NEW law, but it is attached to the old covenant of Abraham and is the one reward that God has always had for the faithful, and it has incorporated the same moral code–the 9 commandments–that are found in all three of God’s laws.  The hope of Christians is identical to the hope of the Jews and the old Gentiles who still remembered God (e.g. Noah, Melchizedek, Adam, etc.). 
 
The Law in its entirety still exists and still applies to Jews.  It does not and never has applied to Gentiles (Dt 4:8, 5:3).  Nothing of the Law has passed away.  It simply is no longer the means of the Jew’s salvation.  Christ is the means, and He wants Jews to become Christians and to become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven where they will be in the one body (Acts 2:38).  It is “in the body” that the middle wall is destroyed, and nowhere else.  The means for enabling the kingdom (where “the body” is) and the consequent removal of the partition was the cross.  Jesus paid in full and then removed our certificate of indebtedness at the cross (Col 2:14).  He provided the means whereby every man could be translated out of the power of darkness into the kingdom where HIS law applies.  The complete old law (either Moses or the Gentile Law, as appropriate) is thereby abolished for His citizens and His alone when they become citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Law in its entirety still applies to all Jews that are not Christians.  In this way you have both the Law in existence in every aspect until heaven and earth pass, but at the same time you have the middle wall of partition that is part of the Law that is broken down when Jews and Gentiles become members of the one body, become citizens of the kingdom, and become subject to the Law of Christ.
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Some OT Types

Posted on 20 Mar 2007 by James Johnson

There is a huge parallel between David and Jesus as there also are between Saul and Jesus, Moses and Jesus, Joseph and Jesus and others. David wrote many Psalms, and in some of them he speaks of himself as if he was the Messiah. The Jews understood this (see Acts 2:29), and when a prophecy obviously could not be true of David, they understood that he was speaking of the Messiah. At least once, David and his unnamed Son are mentioned in a verse that baffled the ancient scribes.

Luke 20:42 And David himself saith in the book of Psalms, The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand,
43 Till I make thine enemies thy footstool.
44 David therefore calleth him Lord, how is he then his son?

The answer to the enigma is known to us, but it baffled the best minds of the ancient Jews. They had no idea that God would come incarnate, so they could not understand how one could be both Lord and the son of David. They also did not have the three-in-one concept of the Trinity even though there were hints of Christ and the Spirit being active in the OT record (I Cor 10:4, Gen 18:1-2, 17, Ps 51:11).

Another interesting type that I have run across, and I may have written of this before, is David going out to meet the army of the Philistines. He went out by himself with a sling and a stone and smote the gigantic champion of the Philistines and then cut off the giant’s head. When Jesus comes again, Isaiah and Micah say that He goes out alone before His army (Isa 63:3, Micah 2:12-13) armed only with the sword of His lips (Rev 19:21), and He seizes the Devil, the Goliath of evil, and casts Him into Gehenna hell (Rev 20:10), the second death. Then he cuts off the head of the Goliath when He takes the beast and the false prophet and throws them into Gehenna hell (Rev 19:20). Then He annihilates what’s left of the army (Rev 19:21) like Saul did the Amalekites, and afterwards, when He passes out the crowns to His elect, we see that He stands taller than the rest, like King Saul, as Ezra relates:

II Esdras 2:42 I, Ezra, saw on Mount Zion a great multitude, which I could not number, and they all were praising the Lord with songs.
[43] In their midst was a young man of great stature, taller than any of the others, and on the head of each of them he placed a crown, but he was more exalted than they. And I was held spellbound.
[44] Then I asked an angel, “Who are these, my lord?”
[45] He answered and said to me, “These are they who have put off mortal clothing and have put on the immortal, and they have confessed the name of God; now they are being crowned, and receive palms.”
[46] Then I said to the angel, “Who is that young man who places crowns on them and puts palms in their hands?”
[47] He answered and said to me, “He is the Son of God, whom they confessed in the world.”

There is also an interesting parallel in the relationship of Joseph as the prime minister of Pharaoh and Jesus as the under-King to the Sovereign Father (I Cor 15:28), but this post is probably already longer than anybody will read, so I will end here.

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David as a Type of Christ

Posted on 19 Mar 2007 by James Johnson

It is clear from Peter’s sermon in Acts 2 that David is a type of Christ. Peter quoted Ps 16:8ff where David said, “Therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; Moreover my flesh also shall dwell in hope: Because thou will not leave my soul unto Hades, neither wilt thou give thy Holy One to to see corruption.” So David speaks of himself as not seeing corruption, but Peter said, “Men and brethren, let me speak freely to you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.” It was because David was a prophet that he spoke of himself as experiencing these things, when the reality was that he was merely typical of his more famous son.

While Ps 16:8ff is directly prophetic, there are many aspects of David’s life that are more subtly typical of the life of Christ. One such typical parallel is David’s early rule in Hebron. David’s early rule was not in Jerusalem. In order to rule in Jerusalem David had to conquer his enemies that held that city. Jesus rules, but not in Jerusalem. It will not be until the end of the world when Jesus moves His rule from a distant country to Jerusalem. Like David, when He comes to rule there, He will have to conquer His enemies first (Zech 14:2).

There are more types involved regarding the end of the earth. For example, in Mt 24:4-7 Jesus described the woes surrounding the destruction of Jerusalem. Jesus said these troubles were “the beginning of birth pains” (Mt 24:8, NIV). Now, when a woman feels the beginning of birth pangs and goes into labor, it may be many hours before the baby is actually born. In a similar way, these pangs that were experienced in the first century were the beginning of the sorrows that would follow after and precede the birth of God’s children into God’s new earth at their resurrection. God spoke of Jesus being begotton of the Father at Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (Acts 13:33, Rom 1:4). Like the most severe contractions immediately precede the birth of the child, the throes of earth at the end of the age immediately precede the birth of God’s children from their beds of clay. While God’s children are here on earth, they are isolated from their Father, even as an unborn babe is isolated from his father while in the womb.

My son made the observation that by being born from the earth at the end of the age, the
Christian actually experiences three births. He is born once of his mother. He is born again at baptism (I Pet 1:23), and born yet a third time at his resurrection from the dead. In a similar manner, our mother, the earth is reborn three times. The first earth was born in Gen 1. The second birth of the earth was at the Flood (II Pet 3:6). The third birth of the earth will be at the end of the age when the new heavens and the new earth are revealed (II Pet 3:13).

Like we have three births, we also experience three cleansings. The Hebrews used three things to cleanse: water (Lev 13:6), fire (Num 31:23) and blood (Lev 14:14). Christians will be cleansed by all of these things. We are cleansed by water through having our bodies washed with pure water (Heb 10:22). We are cleansed a second time by having our hearts sprinkled with the blood of Christ to purge us from an evil conscience (Heb 10:22), and we are cleansed the third time by fire at the end of the world, when like Shadrack, Meshack, and Abednego we pass through the fiery furnace of the burning earth (II Pet 3:10). John the baptizer said,

Mt 3:11 He that cometh after me is mightier than I…he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:

In the same way that Christians are purified three times, the earth likewise is purified three times. It was purified once by the waters of the Flood (Gen 7:20). It was purified again by being sprinkled by the blood of Christ (Jn 19:34). It will be purified yet a third time by the fire at the end of the age (II Pet 3:10).

Jesus has come once like David begain His career, as the Shepherd of the Sheep. Jesus will come again a second time like King David, as the mighty warrior king who overcomes all His enemies (Rev 19:16). He will even go out alone and face the mighty “Goliath” of the enemy, where He will kill him (the Devil will be thrown into the Second Death, Rev 20:10), and cut off his head (the Beast and False Prophet, the head of the army of the Devil, Rev 19:20). The army of Satan will then be pursued until not one of them is left (Rev 19:21, 14:20), like David destroyed the Canaanites (I Sam 27:8-9).

There are some amazing parallels between Jesus and lives of many of the Bible worthies. These hidden gems are there for the finding for those with the determination to go looking for them. God’s word is a wonder of intricately interwoven wheels within wheels, and He works out His plan precisely as it was intended. Let us therefore serve God, for His message is clear: He wins.

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The Twelve Patriarchs

Posted on 5 Feb 2007 by James Johnson

I was studying about the great pyramid of Giza and I noticed that in the Grand Gallery there were 36 ceiling stones. There are 12 ceiling stones in the Queen’s Chamber and 24 ceiling stones in the King’s Chamber. Now if the 12 stones in the Queen’s chamber represent the 12 apostles and the 24 stones in the King’s Chamber represent the 24 elders around God’s throne (Rev 4:4), what do the 36 stones in the Grand Gallery represent? I got to thinking that 3 X 12 = 36. You have 12 apostles and 12 sons of Jacob, but who are the other 12? Well, Enoch was the 7th from Adam (Jude 1:4), so God definitely started counting patriarchs from Adam, and Noah was then the 10th, but that’s not enough. I got to looking at the genealogy, and sure enough, Shem is 11, Arphaxad is 12 (Gen 11:13) and Arphaxad lived at the same time (he lived to be 438 and lived ca. 2368-1930 BC) that God made the new blood-covenant with Abraham (2018-1843 BC) which grew to include the 12 twelve sons of Jacob.

The significance of the patriarchs extending past the Flood is that we end the Patriarchical Dispensation at the wrong place. I have always ended it at the same time that the old world perished (II Pet 3:6) and our present world began (II Pet 3:7), but Noah, the tenth patriarch, survived the Flood, as did his three sons who were also ante-diluvians. I think the proper place to end the Patriarchical Dispensation is when the covenant with Abraham began, because almost all of the Bible is focused on the Abrahamic Covenant. Moses’ Law was given at Sinai about 1500 BC, but the covenant that led to that started 430 years earlier (Gal 3:17). It seems that the proper place to draw the line is Arphaxad and he makes 12 patriarchs and the 12 patriarchs plus the 12 sons of Jacob and the 12 apostles makes 36 men, 12 from each of the three dispensations, that are summed up in Christ as depicted on the ceiling of the Royal Gallery in the great pyramid at Giza.

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Discussion Regarding the Question, Is John the Apostle Dead?

Posted on 22 Jan 2007 by James Johnson

>You begin by saying it is a possibility and end by saying Johns being
>alive is a requirement. So, which one do you think it is – a possibility
>or a requirement?

The major point of my post was to point out two prophecies that require that
John continues to live until Jesus comes again. The first prophecy is that
John was to be martyred even as Jesus was, but John was not martyred. He
just disappeared and was presumed dead. Since that prophecy was not
fulfilled, John must continue alive to fulfill it. The second is the
prophecy that requires that John prophesy again before many peoples,
nations, tongues and kings. That didn’t happen. Therefore, John must remain
alive for it to happen. These two prophecies were not fulfilled. God
cannot lie. Therefore, they will be fulfilled. These prophecies require
John to be alive to be fulfilled. Hence, the Bible requires that John still
lives. Do you have an alternative without making it all into figures of
speech?

>
>2) From my understanding of the word translated into our English word
>’death or die’ – it can mean, and does mean a separation. In the Garden of
>Eden we correctly understand God’s statement to Adam that if he eats the
>forbidden fruit that he shall die to not mean a separation of the spirit
>from his physical body.
>You state:
>However, there have been two men taken by God that have survived thousands
>of years up the present day. Enoch’s translation is described in Genesis
>(Gen 5:24) where the text simply says, “He was not; for God took him”.
>Likewise, Elijah was taken up by God as described in II Ki 2:11 where it
>says, “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven”
>
>To further offer proof of John still being alive because we have no record
>of his death (I’m implying here a separation of the spirit from his
>physical body) is again to perhaps misuse the word ‘die’.

Maybe I am reading too much into what you say, but I am inferring from what
you say here that you do not believe that the spirits of Enoch and Elijah
still inhabit their original bodies. That is what Jas 2:26 means about
“dead”, and it is what I mean by “dead”. Like James says the body without
the spirit is dead, that is what I mean. The spirit separates from the body
and the body dies. By John still being alive, I mean that his spirit still
inhabits his body. I mentioned the “death” of John simply to show that
there was a historical anomaly regarding his supposed death–they never
found his body, which is very strange considering his advanced age and welll
known location in Ephesus. You are right that not finding the body is no
proof of his death. But not finding the body is at least circumstantial
evidence that he could still live. The major evidence I cited was the two
prophecies. The historical evidence provides for the possibility that the
prophecies could yet be literally fulfilled.

>
>3) If God took John, as He did Enoch and Elijah, why didn’t He simply tell
>us as He told us about Enoch and Elijah?

If it was Paul that was caught up into the third heaven and experienced
things that it was not lawful for him to utter, why didn’t he plainly say
so? (II Cor 12:2). God has reasons for things that are not always apparent
to men. Maybe Jesus did not specifically say that John was to be translated
for the same reason that Paul was given a thorn in the flesh–so John would
not be exalted above measure (II Cor 12:7). There was already huge
jealousy among the apostles regarding John’s request to sit at Jesus’ right
hand (Jn 10:41). Considering the history of jealousy among the apostles,
perhaps the best Jesus could do under the circumstances was to hint at what
was to take place. He did, after all, distinctly mention the possibility
that John would live until Jesus came again. Why mention such a bizarre
eventuality unless He meant it? He could have just told Peter like He did
in Acts 1:7, “It is not for you to know the times or the seasons, which the
Father hath put in his own power.”

>Your statement:
>His being caught up and ultimate return provides an eyewitness of Christ
>from the Christian dispensation to those who live at the end of the age
>and completes the company of witnesses from the Patriarchical, Mosaical
>and Christian dispensations.
>seems to imply those who are living at the ‘end of the age’ need an
>eyewitness of Christ.

Yeah, they need some heavy evidence because the wonders the Devil will work
will be so convincing to people that they will need counterbalancing. Here
is some more context from the Ascension of Isaiah

4:9 And the greater number of those who shall have been associated together
in order to receive the Beloved, he [Beliar] WILL TURN ASIDE after him.
10 And there will be the power of his miracles in every city and region.
11 And he will set up his image before him in every city.
12 And he shall bear sway three years and seven months and twenty-seven
days.
13 And many believers and saints having seen Him for whom they were hoping,
who was crucified, Jesus the Lord Christ, [after that I, Isaiah, had seen
Him who was crucified and ascended] and those also who were believers in Him
– of these few in those days will be left as His servants, while they flee
from desert to desert, awaiting the coming of the Beloved.

To this situation, the Bible agrees for in Mt 24 it says,
“For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall
deceive the very elect” (Matthew 24:24)

and Paul also assents to the great deceptions that are to be worked in those
days when he writes,
2 Thessalonians 2:3 Let no one in any way DECEIVE you, for it will not come
unless the apostasy comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the
son of destruction,

and then

2 Thessalonians 2:8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord
shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the
brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with ALL POWER and
SIGNS and LYING WONDERS,
10 And with ALL DECEIVABLENESS of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them STRONG DELUSION, that they should
BELIEVE A LIE:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness.

Obviously the deceptions of that time at the end of the age will be so great
that believers will need some help. God sends that help in the form of His
eyewitnesses working wonders to warn the believers to hold fast to their
faith.

>
>My question would be Why? Why does anyone need an eyewitness of Christ?
>John wrote his gospel account so those who read it could understand Jesus
>was the Messiah – why would anyone need another witness?

When the power of the Evil One has increased, so have the powers of God’s
prophets been increased (e.g. I Ki 18:24, II Ki 1:10, Jas 5:17, Dan 2:27-28,
3:26). At the end of the world, the Evil One works such great wonders that,
if it were possible, they would seduce even the very elect (Mk 13:22, II
Thes 2:9-12). At the same time that the Man of Sin and the False Prophet
are working their wonders (Rev 11:7, 13:12-13, 19:20), God sends His Two
Witnesses to Israel who work wonders there (Rev 11:3-6, 8).
>
>
>I don’t have a problem or issue with you believing John is still alive,
>you have the freedom to believe whatever you desire, but I do not see any
>Biblical evidence that would lead to the conclusion “the Bible evidence
>requires that John the apostle still lives”.

You didn’t deal with the evidence I submitted. The main evidence was the
two prophecies. You do not mention those prophecies.

>You mention IF John died a natural death in AD101 and IF John died a
>natural death in Ephesus as most historians SUPPOSE….and then conclude
>and since John did NOT drink the cup.
>
>There are two IF’s and one suppose followed by a definite conclusion.
>
>That is the problem I have and the reason I said there is no biblical
>evidence to support the conclusion John is still alive.

There are only two possibilities regarding John’s death. He is either dead
or he is not. Nobody can establish that he is dead. Therefore, the secular
evidence admits the possibility that he is alive. The Bible prophesies that
John will die a martyrs death. He did not. Therefore, John still lives.
Likewise, in AD 95 John was to again prophecy before many people, nations,
tongues and kings, and he did not. Therefore, John must still live. This
is the Bible basis for my conclusion. There is no if and suppose about
these two prophecies, and the supposing is done the historians, not by my
article. The two prophecies require that John still lives, for he never
fulfilled them.

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Is John the Apostle Dead?

Posted on 22 Jan 2007 by James Johnson

The Bible promises, “It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb 9:27). However, there have been two men taken by God that have survived thousands of years up the present day. Enoch’s translation is described in Genesis (Gen 5:24) where the text simply says, “He was not; for God took him”. Likewise, Elijah was taken up by God as described in II Ki 2:11 where it says, “Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven”. These men were sterling representatives of the first two dispensations, the Patriarchical and Mosiaical. However, there is no explicit account of a similar translation from the Christian age. There is, though, both secular and prophetic evidence that the apostle John did not die, but was taken up. He is the Christian witness to the end of the age of the power of God and the truthfulness of His word.

As evidence that John is not dead, consider, first, Jesus’ peculiar remarks concerning John when Peter asked Him how John would die. Jesus answered, “If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?” (Jn 21:22). Now, that is not a direct promise that John would live until Jesus came, as John himself points out (Jn 21:23), but it does leave open that possibility. Next, consider the strange circumstances surrounding the supposed death of John. Hippolytus reports concerning John,

John, again, in Asia, was banished by Domitian the king to the isle of

Patmos, in which also he wrote his Gospel and saw the apocalyptic

vision; and in TrajanÂ’s time he fell asleep at Ephesus, where his

remains were sought for, but could not be found.

Early Church Fathers, Vol. 5, Hyppolytus on the Twelve Apostles, p535

So, according to the early church, John’s remains were never found and he was consequently PRESUMED dead. There is, however, a prophecy in the ancient Jewish literature, the Ascension of Isaiah, that says,

these are the days of the completion of the world.

2 After it is consummated, Beliar the great ruler, the king of this world, will descend, who hath ruled it since it came into being; yea, he will descent from his firmament in the likeness of a man, a lawless king, the slayer of his mother[Nero–JRJ]: who himself (even) this king.

3 Will persecute the plant which the Twelve Apostles of the Beloved have planted. Of the Twelve one will be delivered into his hands. Asc Isa 4:1-3

Unless God raises up one of the dead apostles, this prophecy (the same account that describes Isaiah being sawn in two–cp Heb 11:37) strongly suggests that one apostle must survive until Jesus comes, for it is appointed unto men ONCE to die (Heb 9:27).

To me, the most compelling evidence that John is not dead are two prophecies that cannot be fulfilled if John died a natural death in AD 101. The first is Jesus’ promise to James and John, the sons of Zebedee (Mk 10:35), that “ye shall indeed drink of the cup that I drink of; and with the baptism that I am baptized withal shall ye be baptized” (Mk 10:39). What cup did Jesus drink? Jn 18:11 tells us that the cup of which Jesus was drank was the fate of His death on the cross for confessing that He was the Son of God (Mt 26:63-66). The Bible says that King Herod beheaded James the son of Zebedee to vex the church, apparently for James’ testimony that Jesus was the Son of God (Acts 12:2, cp Acts 4:2). However, though Tertullian says that John was plunged into boiling oil by the Emperor Domitian in AD 95 (Tertullian, Early Church Fathers, Vol 3, Part Second, The Prescription Against Heretics, Ch 36, p489), John emerged unscathed and was subsequently sentenced to the mines on Patmos where he received the Revelation. After John was released from Patmos, he returned to Ephesus, from which city he disappeared around AD 100-104. If John died a natural death in Ephesus, as most historians suppose, he did not drink the cup that Jesus and James, John’s brother, and all of the other apostles drank. Since God CANNOT lie, and since John did NOT drink the cup that Jesus drank before his disappearnce in AD 101, John must still live and must still face the fate foreseen by Isaiah.

The second prophecy that makes the death of John impossible is the promise Jesus made to John on Patmos. Through His angel, Jesus promised John, “THOU must prophesy AGAIN before MANY peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings” (Rev 10:11, cp Rev 1:1). Now if John was on Patmos in AD 95 when he received and wrote the Revelation, and John was released from Patmos when Nerva came to the throne in AD 96, then it was only 4 years from the time that John was released until he disappeared from Ephesus. At the time of his release, John was nearly 100 years old, and history says that John was feeble, and had to be carried to the services of the church at Ephesus. There is no historical record whatever of John fulfilling the prophecy made by the angel in Rev 10:11. There is, however, a promise that John will return and apparently witness to the world at end of the age (see quotation above from Asc Isa 4:1-3). Since God cannot lie, the promise that John must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations and tongues and kings must be fulfilled, and in order for it to be fulfilled, John must still be alive.

An interesting consequence of the continued life of one of the apostles who was an auditioner of Jesus address in Mt 16:27-28 is the complete negation of the preterit doctrine. In Mt 16:27-28 Jesus speaks of His glorious return to earth at the end of the age and promises that some listening to Him speak would still be alive when He came again. Jesus promises, “For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom” (Mt 16:27).

The preterit position is that every prophecy of God was fulfilled by AD 70, and they cite Mt 16:27-28 as proof their doctrine. They use the supposed fact of the deaths of all the apostles to argue that Jesus must have figuratively come in His glory in AD 70. They say Mt 16:27 proves their view because they aver that none of the apostles could still alive. It is, however, impossible to reconcile the preterit world view with God’s revelation, for their teaching that all prophecy was fulfilled by AD 70 completely destroys the promises to the faithful that they will bodily rise from the dead (cp. Rom 8:11, I Cor 15:12-32) and inherit the kingdom of God (Mt 5:5, I Cor 3:21-22, II Pet 3:13, Rev 22:14). Since the preterit world view obliterates the hope and core of Christianity as it is clearly revealed by God, it cannot be right, and therefore their contention that nobody witnessing Jesus’ discourse in Mt 16:27 could still be living cannot be true. A living apostle stands as an irrefutable negation of their error, for his miraculous preservation to the end of the world is testimony certain that God was not done in AD 70. The living John provides for the literal fulfillment of Mt 16:27 at the Second Coming, for if John still lives, as the prophets say he must, then since he was one standing and listening to Jesus in Mt 16:27, then Jesus’ words can still be literally fulfilled at some future date when Jesus comes in His glory.

As we have seen, the Bible evidence requires that John the apostle still lives. Ancient prophecy points to his eventual return and sacrificial death. His being caught up and ultimate return provides an eyewitness of Christ from the Christian dispensation to those who live at the end of the age and completes the company of witnesses from the Patriarchical, Mosaical and Christian dispensations.

Posted in End Times, Eschatology | 66 Comments

God Enabled Love by the Death of His Son–Jn 3:16

Posted on 14 Jan 2007 by James Johnson

John 3:16 is a wonderful verse that has had countless sermons preached based upon its message. It says,

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

God’s love has been emphasized in discussing this verse, and it truly shows God’s incalculable love for His creation. There is another aspect of love that is involved here, though, that I have not seen discussed. It is the aspect of God’s love in sending His son that enables men to love. The major purpose of the present creation is to provide an eternal solution for man’s free will and sin that results from man’s capacity to choose to do good or evil (I Pet 1:19-20). If God did not need to provide a solution for man’s free will and sin, then God could have started with the new earth and everything would have been perfect–except there would have been no solution for the exercise of free will that chose to say, “No!” Alternatively, God could have made men automotons that had no choice but to obey God, like a machine has no choice but to obey when you push a button. However, God wanted men who could truly love by choosing to love. He did not need billions of tape recorders telling Him how great He is. He wanted sentient beings that could of their own free will choose to love Him and hence obey Him (Jn 14:15). In order to make it possible for men to choose to love, God had to also create the means to pardon those that exercised their free will negatively and failed to love and obey. Since the wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23), over eternity, God would lose His creation if there was to be no solution for sin that springs from free will.

When God sent Jesus, the Lamb of God (Jn 1:29), that died for the sins of the whole world, God provided an eternal solution for sin. Without that solution for sin, the creation would not even have been possible. God could not justly create beings that would sin and thereafter they would have no solution for their transgression except for eternal death. Therefore, God foresaw before the world was the problem of sin, and provided for it in determining that Jesus would die for sin, even before God created the earth. We can see, then, that Jesus’ sacrifice enabled free will, and as a result of enabling free will, His sacrifice enabled men to love as God desires. Jesus’ sacrifice enabled man’s ability to truly love. Had it not been for Jesus and His sacrifice, the creation and men that love God would not even have been possible. How matchless is the wisdom of God and His ways past finding out!

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“It Is Figurative” and Every Man Is Right in His Own Eyes

Posted on 23 Feb 2006 by James Johnson

The Bible says, “Every way of a man is right in his own eyes”. I believe what I say is right, or I wouldn’t say it. Every honest man does that. Others believe what they say is right, or they wouldn’t say it. I put my stuff out there to let people have a shot at it. I have to change my views sometimes because they are not defensible. I have even embarassed myself a few times because what I said was so wrong. That being said, let me give a little background in this “it is figurative” business.

I have discussed prophecy on the OT Prophecy list. The group is dominated by AD 70 preterits. They believe that ALL prophecy was fulfilled at the destruction of Jerusalem in AD 70. Their main tool is “it is figurative”. At first I tried Bible study, but after a while it became obvious that Bible study and reasoning from the scriptures with these men is impossible for the simple fact that every single scripture that one may present to contraindicate an AD 70 fulfillment of all scripture meets with the immediate “it is figurative” response. This technique renders reasoning from the scriptures impossible, because anything that disagrees with their postulates is a figure of speech to be explained away. It shows that absolutely any scripture can be nullified by the “it is figurative” hermaneutic.

Because I could not study the Bible with them, I began to attack their position. I showed them that the basis for their position was not logic, but assumptions and word association. Logic did not compel them to reach their position, but rather they made some basic erroneous assumptions and reasoned from there. They also use word association to relate unrelated scripture. An example was explaining the sword of Rev 19:21 to be the sword of the Spirit in Eph 6:17. Now why pick that sword to “explain” Rev 19:21? Why not pick Gideon’s sword or Goliath’s sword or the Cherub’s sword in Gen 3? There is no logical reason, because the sword in Rev 19:21 was not a figure of speech to begin with, and there certainly is no justification then for trying to make it something else. When you think in that manner about what they are doing, it becomes obvious that they are making it up. Now what happens when you conclude that ALL prophecy was fulfilled in AD 70 is that you subvert and destroy the Bible eschatology. There is no Second Coming. There is no resurrection of the dead. There is no judgment. There is no hell. There is no new earth. These things are either past already or else they are figures of speech. Our future is to be a ghost with God. That’s it. I believe that the destruction of the Christian’s hope is a repudiation of Christianity because it repudiates the resurrection of the dead and thereby denies the resurrection of Christ (I Cor 15:13), and it is all based upon this “it is figurative” hermeneutic. If applied, it completely destroys Christianity and divine inspiration. It is a horrible methodology.

Not every one that employs the “it is figurative” teaching goes so far as to deny the bodily resurrection of the dead, but they do, however, employ the same methodology on prophecy. It’s just that do not choose to go as far as these preterits have gone. The people who don’t go as far as making all prophecy cease in AD 70 but who do employ the “it is figurative” hermeneutic to explain some Bible prophecy are called partial preterits. Most brethren fall into that category, so you are in good company. All of the commentaries by brethren that I have been able to find are partial preterits or continous historists, and the historists use the same “it is figurative” technique. The problem with the technique, however, is that there is no logical stopping place short of complete unbelief. You can apply it in part, but it is not logical. You do not apply it to some things just because you want to, not because logic compels you. The same “it is figurative” pronouncement can be applied to absolutely ANYTHING. The technique is devastating to understanding the Bible. It results in replacing what God said with what man wants it to say.

Because of the problem that I see with preterism, I began to examine what they were doing with the scriptures. At first I saw that they were doing word association without real justification, as I pointed out previously about the sword. Then I began to wonder what motivated them to apply the technique to some scriptures and not others. The basic answer is that they don’t believe what the scripture literally says. They do not believe that the stars will literally fall from the sky. They do not believe that the dead will literally rise from the earth. They do not believe that birds will literally eat the dead armies at the end of the world. Because they don’t believe what it says they pronounce it to be a figure of speech and proceed to redefine everything to make it say what they want it to say. There is no reason not to believe that God will literally sound trumpets in heaven or pour out a bowl. What is wierd about pouring out a bowl? The Gentiles have done it for millennia. It is called a libation. The only unusual thing about the angel pouring out the libation is that a plague follows. The text does not say that the plague came out of the bowl. It just says the plague followed the pouring out. The libation marked the beginning of the plague, but God brought it about by other things that He did.

These preterits don’t believe the text, so they make up stuff that they can believe. There is no justification in saying that Christ will not literally return to the earth, and that the dead will not literally rise from the dead based upon what the text actually says, but you can do it if you pronounce enough scriptures “figurative” and redefine them to suit your theory. That is why I said that the “it is figurative” hermeneutic is based on unbelief. It is obvious when you look at it. They simply do not believe that a city can float or a sword can proceed out of somebody’s mouth or that a pearl can be big enough to serve as a gate. Because they don’t believe what the text says, they make it a figure of speech and start doing word association and redefining terms. It is the same thing the modernists did with the virgin birth and the same thing the theistic evolutionists did with the creation and the same thing the skeptics did with Christ’s resurrection and the same thing that Jack Holt did with baptism. There is no place where it cannot be applied, and these men all do it for exactly the same reason: they do not believe what the text actually says. The basis for “it is figurative” is unbelief in what God literally says.

So, the “it is figurative” proponents can take umbrage at my remarks, but I am just trying to warn where that trail leads. It winds up the thorny thicket of complete apostasy. There is another alternative to making up our own Bible. It is called believe what God says. The literal truth is not wierd when you think about it a little. It is outside our normative thinking, but well within the range of reasonable behavior of God. After all, God made the earth to start with. What’s a giant pearl to the God that invented the oyster? A literal understanding of Revelation is enlightening and refreshing and encouraging. It is just not the traditional norm.

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If God Intended for Sin to Occur, Is God Guilty of Sin?

Posted on 22 Feb 2006 by James Johnson

[correspondent:] To say that God intended and caused this sin to occur is to say that God is guilty of sin.

[James replies:] This is hogwash. God sent a lying spirit into the mouth of Ahab’s prophets. God planned for Ahab’s prophets to lie like a rug and sent one of His agents to bring it about (I Ki 22:22). God was responsible for the idea of the lie being put into the minds of Ahab’s prophets. Likewise, God was responsible for Job being tempted to curse God and die (Job 1:12). It was the Devil that was the proximate cause, but it is very clear from Job that the Devil could not do one thing without God’s permission. God also promises to send a lie to those people that love it. “God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie” (II Thes 2:11). God certainly intended for men to sin and kill Jesus (Jn 12:27, Acts 2:23). God sent Jesus into the world for that very reason.

[correspondent:] Not only can’t God sin, but God cannot even tempt man to sin.
James 1:13
13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man:

[James responds:] The thing that God promises is that He will not be the agent that brings the temptation. He is always at least one step removed from that. However, God sometimes sends the agent that brings the temptation, and He ALWAYS is the one that permits the temptation to occur (I Cor 10:13). It was the Holy Spirit that led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the Devil for 40 days (Mk 1:12-13). God certainly intended and caused this temptation to occur. It is God that we are to petition to “lead us not into temptation” (Mt 6:13). Without the prayer, God sometimes does lead us into temptation, but God never sends men a temptation stronger than their will (I Cor 10:13).

To say that God did not intend for sin to occur makes God incompetent. He created a heaven and an earth where 1/3 of the angels in heaven rebelled, the first man and woman He created sinned, and the first child born to them killed his brother. The angels He assigned to watch people left their first estate (Jude 1:6) and cohabited with women to produce giant offspring (Gen 6:4). These angels that sinned wreaked such havoc on the earth that within 1500 years of its creation God was forced to destroy it. If you think that all occurred by accident and it was not God’s will, then God sure did a sorry job of creating this earth. If He did not intend for sin to occur and it did anyway, then we have zero assurance that He will be able to bring about what He promised. The only sensible explanation for sin is that God planned sin for a reason. The only reason sin could have been needed was to provide a solution for sin.

If God is the sovereign God, then nothing whatever can be done without His permission. He does not have to be the immediate agent of the action, but a God that can infallably foresee the future and that has all power in heaven and on earth can stop any action at any time by merely speaking the word. If, then, sin occurs at all, it is with His knowledge and consent. Any other possibility renders God less than all-powerful and all-knowing or renders Him a sadist.

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