" In the Last Days . . . "

2nd.Thessalonians 2:1-10  " Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our LORD JESUS CHRIST, and by our gathering together unto HIM, that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of CHRIST is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called GOD, or that is worshiped; so that he as god sits in the temple of GOD, showing himself that he is god. Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things ?

And now ye know WHAT withholds that he might be revealed in his time. For the mystery of iniquity does already work: only HE WHO now letteth will let, until HE be taken out of the way. 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: Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they receive not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. "

     The WORD of GOD prophetically states, " This know also, that in the last day perilous times shall come " (2nd.Timothy 3:1a). " Perilous times, " fierce days, will prevail before our LORD's return. Do biblical texts depicting the " last days " for the church age speak of a great revival ? Will the strategies of the " church growth " experts establish the LORD's kingdom in the earth ? Will the charismatic dreamers and " power evangelism " deceivers bring about the Salvation of multitudes by supposed " signs and wonders " ? Will ecumenical evangelism, in which consensus on the very Gospel itself does not even exist, bring to pass a revival ? Not according to this text !

     The " day of CHRIST " (v.2) refers to the period of time when the wrath of GOD will be poured out upon an unbelieving world during the seven-year tribulation period following the rapture of the church. The persecuted, suffering Thessalonian believers thought they had possibly missed the rapture and were in the midst of the prophesied tribulation. But this was not so ! Paul assured them that " that day " was yet future, for before the LAMB of GOD's wrath would be fully manifested, the Antichrist and great apostasy would come on the world scene. The " spirit of Antichrist " is at work even now (1st.John 4:3), and a departure from the one, true faith is increasing. This apostasy and wicked spirit of rebellion will reach a crescendo after the church is caught up (raptured) to be with CHRIST, but the LORD wants us to know that such are building in ferocity and scope right now. In observing the sad state of Christendom, we can see that these are truly the " last days " of the church age - and " perilous days " they certainly are ? DWC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used  with  permission.   www.feasite.org

" The Bible Authenticates ITSELF " (Final Part #4)

Isaiah 7:14  " Therefore the LORD HIMSELF shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a SON, and shall call HIS name IMMANUEL. "

     The prophetic statements of Scripture defy fulfillment by coincidental probability, thus authenticating GOD's WORD. The most important prophetic announcements are those that foretold JESUS CHRIST coming to earth as our SAVIOR. The appearance of these in the Old Testament number in the hundreds ! Obviously, GOD wants us to notice them. Genealogical statements made centuries before JESUS' coming - declaring that HE would be of the seed of Abraham (Genesis 22:18), of the tribe of Judah (Genesis 49:10), of the family of David (Jeremiah 23:5-6) - were fulfilled exactly as predicted. The place of JESUS' birth was declared more than seven centuries before the wonderful events in Bethlehem (Micah 5:2), and the evil decree of Herod (Matthew 2:16) was announced hundreds of years earlier by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 31:15). Our LORD's death, burial, and resurrection all were recorded in prophecy long before their actual happening (Isaiah 53; Psalm 16:10). JESUS betrayal by a friend (Psalm 41:9) for thirty pieces of silver, which would be thrown in the house of the LORD and then picked up and used to purchase a potters field (a place where the poor were buried)(Zechariah 11:12-13), are exact fulfillment's that were prophesied far before those events occurred. As with the prophecies in the earlier studies, these biblical statements are much too precise to be mere coincidence. 

     The LORD has purposely revealed through prophecy that HE is the only True GOD WHO alone knows the end from the beginning (Isaiah 48:5). No man can use the excuse, " I just did not really know if GOD and HIS WORD were true." The Bible authenticates ITSELF time and again, and we are responsible to read it and believe it (John 20:31). JMC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used with permission.   www.feasite.org

" The Bible Authenticates ITSELF " (Part #3)

Ezekiel 26:1-21  " And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the WORD of the LORD came unto me, saying, Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste: Therefore thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I AM against thee, O Tyre, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the LORD GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations. And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I AM the LORD. For thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.

He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee. And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers. By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach. With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground. And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard. And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the LORD GOD.

Thus saith the LORD GOD to Tyre: Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee ? Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling: they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment and be astonished at thee. And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that was inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which was strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it ! Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure. For thus saith the LORD GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee; when I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living; I will make you a terror, and you shall be no more: though you be sought for, yet shall you never be found again, saith the LORD GOD. "

     GOD has placed within the Bible fulfilled prophecies proving to the sincere reader that the Bible is true. The prophet Ezekiel made an amazing pronouncement concerning the city of Tyre: " Son of man, because that Tyre hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto ME: I shall be replenished, now she is laid wast. And they shall destroy the walls of Tyre, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock. For thus saith the LORD GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyre Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people " (vv.2,4,7). Shortly after the prophecy, the king of Babylon came upon Tyre and destroyed the city, causing the inhabitants to flee to a fortified island that was about one half mile off the coast.

     Ezekiel's prophecy continues: " And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water . . . for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the LORD GOD " (vv.12,14). In fulfillment, more than two and a half centuries after the prophet Isaiah had recorded these words, Alexander the Great conquered the island inhabited by the citizens of Tyre. By taking the debris from the mainland city, and in exact keeping with the words of Scriptures, Alexander made a land bridge to the island: " And they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water. " Yes, GOD's WORD is true ? JMC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used with permission.   www.feasite.org

" The Bible Authenticates ITSELF " (Part #2)

Isaiah 45:1-3 " Thus saith the LORD to HIS anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, AM the GOD of Israel. "

     We noted yesterday that an honest investigation of the prophetic statements of Scripture reveals GOD's WORD to be a supernatural book. Only the true and living GOD, WHO is eternal and knows all events past, present, and future, could be the source of the prophetic utterance of Scripture. In our previous inquiry we cited several verses from Isaiah in which GOD challenges anyone else to reveal the future. In the context of those passages is a most interesting prophecy of the conquering of Babylon by Cyrus the Persian. Nearly two centuries before the Persian leader's triumphal acquisition of Babylon, the prophet Isaiah, by the inspiration of GOD, in today's text names this man and declares specifically what he would do. GOD says to Cyrus, " whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD which call thee by thy name, AM the GOD of Israel " (vv.1b-3). Several facts further illustrate the miraculous nature of this prophecy. Isaiah wrote these words while Assyria was the kingdom that dominated the world, which was even before Babylon's rise as a world empire. The prophet also forecast that Cyrus would make specific proclamations regarding Jerusalem (Isaiah 44:28). These declarations, which were prophesied centuries before their exact fulfillment, authenticate GOD's Holy WORD. The Bible is true. JMC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used with permission.   www.feasite.org

" The Bible Authenticates ITSELF " (PART #1)

Isaiah 41:4, 22-23  " WHO has wrought and done it, calling the generations from the beginning ? I the LORD, the FIRST, and with the LAST; I AM HE. . . . Let them bring them forth, and show us what shall happen: let them show the former things, what they be, that we may consider them, and know the latter end of them; or declare us things for to come. Show the things that are to come hereafter, that we may know that you are gods: yes, do good, or do evil, that we may be dismayed, and behold it together. "

     An honest investigation of the prophetic statements of Scripture reveals that men inspired of GOD wrote specific statements forecasting future events - revelations that have been fulfilled with exactness. This is an uncomfortable fact for those who have purposed to reject the Bible. Strange theories have been developed by men who have desperately attempted to answer the historical accuracy of Biblical prophecy. One popular fabricated explanation is the claim that the prophecies were plugged into the Book by an unknown editor after the forecasted happening had historically occurred. The finding of the Dead Sea Scrolls proved the fallacy of this argument, but for lack of a better explanation many continue to hold this bogus excuse.

     In the prophetic Book of Isaiah, written in the eighth century BC, GOD reveals that, as the "FIRST" and the "LAST," HE knows what is going to happen from the "beginning" (v.4). GOD challenges those who arrogantly disregard HIS WORD, " Let them accurately predict future happenings." HE declares in our text, " Let them bring them forth . . . that we may know that you are gods "(vv.22-23). An authenticating attribute of the true GOD is that HE can perfectly declare the future: " Behold, the former things are come to pass, and new things do I declare: before they spring forth I tell you of them " (Isaiah 42:9 cf. 46:10). " I have even from the beginning declared it to you; before it came to pass I showed it to you " (Isaiah 48:5). During the next few days, we will examine some of these specific prophecies that have been perfectly fulfilled. Yes, the Bible purposely authenticates itself so that men have utterly no excuse for rejecting GOD's WORD. JMC

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, FEATURE: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used with permission. www.feasite.org

" I Was Blind, Now I See "

John 9:1-25  " And as JESUS passed by, HE saw a man which was blind from his birth. And HIS disciples asked HIM, saying, MASTER, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind ? JESUS answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of GOD should be made manifest in him. I must work the works of HIM that sent ME, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work. As long as I AM in the world, I AM the LIGHT of the world.

When HE had thus spoken, HE spat on the ground, and made clay of the spittle, and HE anointed the eyes of the blind man with the clay. And said unto him, Go, wash in the pool of Siloam (which is by interpretation, Sent). He went his way therefore, and washed, and came seeing. The neighbors therefore, and they which before had seen him that he was blind, said, Is not this he that sat and begged ? Some said, This is he: other said, He is like him: but he said, I am he. Therefore said they unto him, How were thine eyes opened ?

He answered and said, A man that is called JESUS made clay, and anointed mine eyes, and said unto me, Go to the pool of Siloam, and wash: and I went and washed, and I received sight. Then said they unto him, Where is HE ? He said, I know not. They brought to the Pharisees him that aforetime was blind. And it was the Sabbath day when JESUS made the clay, and opened his eyes. Then again the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. He said unto them, HE put clay upon mine eyes, and I washed, and do see.

Therefore said some of the Pharisees, This MAN is not of GOD, because HE keepeth not the Sabbath day. Others said, How can a MAN that is a sinner do such miracles ? And there was a division among them. They said unto the blind man again, What sayest thou of HIM, that HE hath opened thine eyes ? He said, HE is a Prophet. But the Jews did not believe concerning him, that he had been blind, and received his sight, until they called the parents of him that had received his sight. And they asked them, saying, Is this your son, who ye say was born blind ? How then does he now see ? His parents answered them and said, We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind:

But by what means he now sees, we know not; or who has opened his eyes, we know not: he is of age; ask him: he shall speak for himself. These words spake his parents because they feared the Jews: for the Jews had agreed already, that if any man did confess that HE was CHRIST, he should be put out of the synagogue. Therefore said his parents, he is of age; ask him. Then again called they the man that was blind, and said unto him, Give GOD the praise: we know that this MAN is a sinner. He answered and said, Whether HE be a sinner or no, I know not: one thing I know, that, whereas I was blind, now I see. "

   JESUS CHRIST is the LIGHT of the world (John 8:12). LIGHT exposes what the darkness hides, and those who love darkness hate the LIGHT (John 3:20). The Bible says it this way: "And this is the condemnation, that LIGHT is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than LIGHT, because their deeds were evil. For every one that doeth evil hates the LIGHT, neither comes to the LIGHT, lest his deeds should be reproved" (See John 3:18-21). One day JESUS and HIS disciples "saw a man which was blind from his birth" (v.1). This man had never seen light; he had been born in darkness. In the mind of the disciples, the man or his parents had evidently committed some great sin that caused him to be born blind (v.2). But JESUS told them that his blindness was not because of any sin committed by the man or his parents "but that the works of GOD should be made manifest in him"(v.3). Stating again that HE is "the LIGHT of the world" (v.5), JESUS then proceeded to heal the man (vv.6-7). And even though the man could not explain his new found sight, he boldly declared, "I was blind, now I see" (v.25).

Every person is born spiritually blind from birth. Every one of us is born in darkness, and we cannot save ourselves. Only JESUS can save us from our sins. Only JESUS can open up our spiritual eyes. The man received his sight through obedient faith. "LORD, I believe. And he worshiped HIM" (John 9:38). Some Pharisees asked JESUS, "Are we blind also ?" (John 9:40). If a person refuses to believe in CHRIST for Salvation, he is still blind, and his sin remains. No one has true spiritual sight apart from JESUS (John 9:41). If you have not already done so, Let CHRIST open your spiritually blind eyes today ! PNF

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, Feature: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used with permission.   www.feasite.org

" Entrusted with the Gospel "

1st.Thessalonians 2:1-8  " For yourselves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it was not in vain: But even after that we had suffered before, and were shamefully entreated, as ye know, at Philippi, we were bold in our GOD to speak unto you the Gospel of GOD with much contention. For our exhortation was not of deceit, nor of uncleanness, nor in guile: But as we were allowed of GOD to be put in trust with the Gospel, even so we speak; not as pleasing men, but GOD, which trieth our hearts.

For neither at any time used we flattering words, as ye know, nor a cloke of covetousness; GOD is witness: Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of CHRIST. But we were gentle among you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: So being affectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have imparted unto you, not the Gospel of GOD only, but also our own souls, because ye were dear unto us. "

     Is the Gospel an essential in your life ? To what lengths do you go to see that the message of the Gospel is clearly and sincerely expressed ? The Apostle Paul and his companions were willing to see to it that the message of the Gospel was made known despite the obstacles and hindrances they faced. He not only endured being "shamefully entreated" when he ministered in Philippi, but he further described the reception in Thessalonica as being "with much contention" (v.2). One can see the resolute determination that drove Paul and company to present the Gospel throughout the world, wherever they found themselves and had the divinely given open door. A few responded in both Philippi and Thessalonica, but when we read of those ministries in the book of Acts, we realize that the numbers were relatively small. Yet even the low amount of converts did not dissuade the Apostle because he considered it a great privilege to be "put in trust with the Gospel" (v.4). Paul Knew that it was an honor to proclaim the Gospel of GOD's great Salvation from sin to the Gentile world.

     Furthermore, the Apostle did not use terms, phrases, or ideas to manipulate the Thessalonian Saints (vv.3,5). He made no attempt to deceive them into hearing his proclamation of the Gospel. He was not simply seeking results so that he could "pad his resume" to impress others. Paul's desire was exclusively to please the LORD through the ministry that GOD allowed him to have. To what end are you serving the LORD ? Are you merely looking at the results - the end product - or are you seeking to be honest and faithful in your service for GOD ? We are but stewards entrusted with the Gospel. GDF

Your servant in CHRIST,

Julie

Copyright, Feature: A Daily Bible Study Guide.

Used with permission.   www.feasite.org