Were the Proverbs About Christ?

A preacher named Voddie Baucham spoke in one sermon about the book of Proverbs being all about Christ. I doubted that until I read Colossians 2:1 to 3 (BBE) which reads, "For it is my desire to give you news of the great fight I am making for you and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face in the flesh; So that their hearts may be comforted, and that being joined together in love, they may come to the full wealth of the certain knowledge of the secret of God, even Christ, In whom are all the secret stores of wisdom and knowledge."

Voddie pointed out that since all wisdom dwells in Christ, all the references to the wise son or man refer to Christ. Being perfectly righteous, Christ fulfills all the proverbial sayings about Wisdom.

But some smarty-pants person might ask about Lady Wisdom. How could she represent Christ? The truth is that she doesn't. This woman is a literary device which shows us how valuable wisdom is.

As for the fool, that's us. One example of this is Proverbs 11:29 (BBE) which says, "The troubler of his house will have the wind for his heritage, and the foolish will be servant to the wise-hearted."

In my How I Was Razed memoir, I wrote about how I foolishly turned my back on God due to the lies a cultic church taught. It took the loss of my house and a bad condo deal to make me realize my folly.

And which one of us can boast of never despising wisdom? Proverbs 1:7 (BBE) condemns all of us. "The fear of the Lord is the start of knowledge: but the foolish have no use for wisdom and teaching."

Certainly we were unwise rebels as children. Proverbs 22:15 (BBE) reveals this. "Foolish ways are deep-seated in the heart of a child, but the rod of punishment will send them far from him."

Only the Trinity possesses all wisdom. As we read in Jude 1:25 (BBE) about the complete wisdom of our Master. "To the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, let us give glory and honour and authority and power, before all time and now and for ever. So be it."

I also apologize to those who are awaiting my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? I'm not used to writing in a didactic style so compiling my book is becoming difficult. Even so, I hope to have time this summer to buckle down and edit it.

On Thursday, I'll post on the subject of God's X-ray vision.

Saturday Song: Badfinger, "It's Over"

I'm certain that any child would say that summer holidays are the best. For two whole months, there's no getting up early and going to school. Families usually plan their vacations for July or August since their children are out of school. And judging from all of the folks I know, the summer is when great family memories are made.

The British band, Badfinger, recorded a song about returning home. It resonates with me since I was sent to a residential school for blind and deaf children for six lonely years. Leaving that sterile institution for the freedom of summer vacation each June meant so much to me.

Hear Badfinger's song here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mezhl2erFbc

A day will come when our enforced stay on this planet will be over. For many of us, our exit will be through the door of death. And unlike the folks who aren't believers in Christ, we don't fear it. Paul wrote in Philippians 1:21 (BBE) that, "For to me life is Christ and death is profit."

Neither was Peter afraid of death. He wrote in 2 Peter 1:14 (BBE), regarding his decease, "For I am conscious that in a short time I will have to put off this tent of flesh, as our Lord Jesus Christ has made clear to me." He referred to what Christ told him after he rose from the dead.

But there are some of us who will be privileged to see Christ return in our own lifetime. Paul wrote in 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17  (BBE), "For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are still living at the coming of the Lord, will not go before those who are sleeping. Because the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a word of authority, with the voice of the chief angel, with the sound of a horn: and the dead in Christ will come to life first; Then we who are still living will be taken up together with them into the clouds to see the Lord in the air: and so will we be for ever with the Lord."

Either way, we are assured of paradise. As Jesus told his disciples in John 14:2 (BBE), "In my Father's house are rooms enough; if it was not so, would I have said that I am going to make ready a place for you?
"

How wonderful then that we are headed for such a blissful rest. Life can be hard but we will receive our reward when we go to our eternal home.

On Monday, I'll tackle the subject of a startling fact I learned from an American preacher currently living in Zambia.

Do the Gospel

No, this isn't some new dance craze. I'm referring to the proof of salvation. So many churchgoers have never surrendered their lives to Christ. How can we recognize them? Here's how.

James 1:22 (BBE) exhorts us not to be listeners to the gospel, "But be doers of the word, and not only hearers of it, blinding yourselves with false ideas."

And here's how we recognize somebody who's truly born again. James 2:14 to 17(BBE) directs, "What use is it, my brothers, for a man to say that he has faith, if he does nothing? will such a faith give him salvation? If a brother or a sister is without clothing and in need of the day's food, And one of you says to them, 'Go in peace, be warm and full of food;' but you do not give them the things of which their bodies have need, what profit is there in this? Even so faith without works is dead."

I need to point out here that works won't save a person. Only the grace of God through Christ does that. Christ likened actions to fruit. He said in Matthew 7:15 to 17 (BBE), "Be on the watch for false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inside they are cruel wolves. By their fruits you will get knowledge of them. Do men get grapes from thorns or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree gives good fruit; but the bad tree gives evil fruit."

We also see the effects of salvation in Luke 19:8 and 9 (BBE). "And Zacchaeus, waiting before him, said to the Lord, 'See, Lord, half of my goods I give to the poor, and if I have taken anything from anyone wrongly, I give him back four times as much.' And Jesus said to him, 'Today salvation has come to this house, for even he is a son of Abraham.'" Christ meant he became a child of faith.

But some people who claim to be Christians will actually end up in hell. Ponder what Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 (BBE). "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will go into the kingdom of heaven; but he who does the pleasure of my Father in heaven."

John 6:28 and 29  (BBE) answers the next logical question. "Then they said to him, 'How may we do the works of God?' Jesus, answering, said to them, 'This is to do the work of God: to have faith in him whom God has sent.'"

Some folks might say that this is too easy. Why should it be a hard thing to believe how easy it is? I'll be answering that question in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? On Saturday, I'll post about the joys of going home and the ultimate destination of Christ's followers.

How We Christians Stay Connected

Just as we take being constantly connected to the Internet for granted, we also take our connection to our Lord and Master as a given. Like 1 Thessalonians 5:17 (BBE) says, "Keep on with your prayers."

Praying without ceasing doesn't mean we must be on our knees all day long. It's the attitude of knowing Christ is always with us and all we need do is pray and trust in him. When Jesus said he would return to his disciples in a little while, he commanded them in John 16:23 (BBE), "And on that day you will put no questions to me. Truly I say to you, Whatever request you make to the Father, he will give it to you in my name."

Christ also promised his disciples, and us by extension, in Matthew 28:19 and 20 (BBE), "Go then, and make disciples of all the nations, giving them baptism in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to keep all the rules which I have given you: and see, I am ever with you, even to the end of the world."

In the old days of the Internet, people had to use their phone lines and a modem to connect. It was slow and often unreliable. Downloading files was the same way.

So it was that the Spirit of the Lord would come on certain people and then leave. As the Bible says in 2 Chronicles 20:14 (BBE), "Then, before all the meeting, the spirit of the Lord came on Jahaziel, the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite and one of the family of Asaph;"

Sometimes the Spirit of the Lord stayed with people while departing from others. We read in 1 Samuel 16:13 and 14 (BBE), "Then Samuel took the bottle of oil, and put the oil on him there among his brothers: and from that day the spirit of the Lord came on David with power. So Samuel went back to Ramah. Now the spirit of the Lord had gone from Saul, and an evil spirit from the Lord was troubling him."

But praise God that we need not worry. The Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of the Lord, is our seal of salvation. As Paul wrote in Ephesians 1:13 (KJV) "In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,"

What a joy it is then that we are always in touch with our Master. He, and the two other members of the Trinity, are with us always. And nobody can rob us of them, as I found out personally.

I'll be writing more about the permanent connection we have with the Trinity in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Unlike unconverted sinners, we have the astonishing privilege of being joined to the creator of the universe.

On Thursday, I'll be posting about something that sounds like a new dance craze. It's in fact the sign of a person being truly born again.

Saturday Song: Blue Cheer, "Summertime Blues"

I was too young to remember the original version of this Eddie Cochran classic but I well remember Blue Cheer's version. That band took the song of teenage frustration about working all summer to a whole new level. I cranked up the volume on my transistor radio whenever I heard this song.

Watch the band perform this song here:

Work has a long history of not being enjoyable or easy. This started when Adam and Eve disobeyed God. Genesis 3:17-19 (BBE) reads, "And to Adam he said, 'Because you gave ear to the voice of your wife and took of the fruit of the tree which I said you were not to take, the earth is cursed on your account; in pain you will get your food from it all your life. Thorns and waste plants will come up, and the plants of the field will be your food; With the hard work of your hands you will get your bread till you go back to the earth from which you were taken: for dust you are and to the dust you will go back.'"

But as I found out when I had my first job as a dish washer at the CNIB cafeteria, getting a paycheck for the work I did felt exhilarating. The job wasn't fun but I did get paid.

Some workers weren't so fortunate. We read in Genesis 33:41(BBE) how Laban kept changing Jacob's employment agreement. God came to his aid, as Jacob said in Genesis 31:38 (BBE), "These twenty years I have been in your house; I was your servant for fourteen years because of your daughters, and for six years I kept your flock, and ten times was my payment changed."

In the end, Jacob came away with more goods and servants than if the Lord hadn't blessed him.

Being forced to slave for others is the worst form of work. As the children of Israel found when the Egyptians made them slaves, all they gained was their daily food and lodging. Then God sent Moses to liberate them but Pharaoh made their work more grueling. As he said in Exodus 5:9 (BBE), "Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words."

Of course physical work isn't the only sort of labour people do. Some assume that they must do enough good deeds to enter heaven. But Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 (BBE), "Come to me, all you who are troubled and weighted down with care, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke on you and become like me, for I am gentle and without pride, and you will have rest for your souls; For my yoke is good, and the weight I take up is not hard."

How wonderful then that we will have rest, even in this irksome world of wickedness. And our Lord hasn't forgotten us but continually advocates on our behalf in heaven.

On Monday, I'll be posting about the bad old days of dial-up Internet verses how we're now connected automatically. It relates to the way the Holy Spirit is always in us whereas people just had the spirit come upon them occasionally in the Old Testament times.

The Christian View of Liberty

Americans make much of their liberty. On July fourth, patriotic folks shoot off fireworks and celebrate another year of freedom. And while they celebrate independence from a tyrannical foreign power, we believers celebrate our dependence upon the King of Kings.

But how can subservience to a king free us? Sin is what rules our world at present. Jesus himself answered that question when he confronted the Pharisees. They thought they were free and were Abraham's children when they actually were in satanic bondage. John 8:34(BBE) reads, "And this was the answer Jesus gave them: 'Truly I say to you, Everyone who does evil is the servant of sin.'"

Worldly folks figure we live drab and tedious lives. If only they could know how we rejoice in God's provision of salvation from the tyranny of sin. Romans 5:1 and 2 (BBE) say, ""For which reason, because we have righteousness through faith, let us be at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ; Through whom, in the same way, we have been able by faith to come to this grace in which we now are; and let us have joy in hope of the glory of God."

Better still, we become adopted children in the royal family of Christ. As Paul explained in Ephesians 1:4 and 5 (BBE), "4   Even as he made selection of us in him from the first, so that we might be holy and free from all evil before him in love: As we were designed before by him for the position of sons to himself, through Jesus Christ, in the good pleasure of his purpose,"

Moreover, we give all that we are in exchange for all that Christ is. Hebrews 9:16 and 17 (BBE) explains, "Because where there is a testament, there has to be the death of the man who made it. For a testament has effect after death; for what power has it while the man who made it is living?"

Since Jesus died, we gain all that he has bequeathed to his adopted children. And since he lives, he enjoys it all with us. Revelation 19:6 and 7 (BBE) describes this joyous occasion when the Bride, meaning all of us believers, will be married to the Lamb of God, meaning Christ. "And there came to my ears the voice of a great army, like the sound of waters, and the sound of loud thunders, saying, 'Praise to the Lord: for the Lord our God, Ruler of all, is King. Let us be glad with delight, and let us give glory to him: because the time is come for the Lamb to be married, and his wife has made herself ready."

So we understand that what sinners consider bondage is actually liberty from the hellward spiral of the world. Knowing these glorious facts, how can any believer in Christ stay silent? This world will pass but Christ's rewards are eternal.

This and much more will be in my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? Worldly folks think they're free but they're in the worst bondage imaginable.

On Saturday, I'll post about the summertime blues teenagers get when they have to actually work for a living.

I Still Call It Dominion Day

In spite of the Canadian Government calling Canada's day of confederation Canada Day, I still like the old name much better. We Canadians used to celebrate Dominion Day before Pierre Trudeau's Liberals gave it the tacky name it now has.

The word "dominion" is used many times throughout the Bible. Genesis 1:26 (BBE) tells how God gave us the job of managing his creation. "And God said, 'Let us make man in our image, like us: and let him have rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the air and over the cattle and over all the earth and over every living thing which goes flat on the earth.'"

The founders of Canada wanted to keep this thought in the minds of the citizenry by inscribing Psalms 72:8 on the base of the Parliament building. The Bible in Basic English renders the verse as, "Let his kingdom be from sea to sea, from the River to the ends of the earth."

This also was a reminder to Canadians that Christ is the ultimate king and our laws are based on his teachings. Sadly, people ignore and reject him, making up their own laws.

We also read in Psalms 145:13 (BBE) that God's dominion is eternal. "Your kingdom is an eternal kingdom, and your rule is through all generations."

And what a joy it is that death has no power over our Master. Romans 6:8 and 9 (BBE) states of him, "But if we are dead with Christ, we have faith that we will be living with him; Having knowledge that because Christ has come back from the dead, he will never again go down to the dead; death has no more power over him."

Because he rose from the dead, we also rejoice in the promise of our own bodily resurrection. Revelation 20:6 (BBE) promises, "Happy and holy is he who has a part in this first coming: over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and will be ruling with him a thousand years."

I personally suspect that people want to erase biblical knowledge from the citizenry so that they'll only trust in human dominion. We read countless times in the Bible how those attempts failed. This is one point I hope to make in my book called You Think You're Going to Heaven?On Thursday, I'll post about American liberty and the freedom we believers have in Christ.

On Thursday, I'll post about American liberty and the freedom we believers have in Christ