Examining "A More Christlike Word"
by Brad Jersak
“For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus than the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit from the one you received, or if you accept a different gospel from the one you accepted, you put up with it readily enough.” (Paul’s concern from 2 Corinthians 11:4)
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The False Filter |
The Biblical Filter |
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The word OR the Word |
The Word THROUGH the word |
We have now considered these
questions:
1. What does Romans 5:9 mean in
speaking about “the wrath”? Is this the “wrath of God” as translated, or is it
someone else’s wrath?
2. How does Paul speak of “wrath” in
Romans, and then in his other epistles?
3. How did the gospels speak of
“wrath”?
4. How did the other apostles
communicate about this “wrath”?
So
far, it is clear that the reality of “the wrath of God” is taught in the
Scriptures. Now we move on to the fifth question:
5. How is this wrath revealed in the
Tanakh, the Hebrew Bible?
Problem: There are 209 references to “wrath” in the ESV, with 173 of
them in the Old Testament! I cannot share them all nor explain all their
meanings. The New Testament has already answered the question of what “the
wrath of God” is and means. But here is a sampling of the variety of ways the
Hebrew Scriptures (breathed out by God) reveal God in his wrath against sin.
Responding
to the mistreatment of the poor and needy
“You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. You shall not mistreat any widow or fatherless child. If you do mistreat them, and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, and my wrath will burn, and I will kill you with the sword, and your wives shall become widows and your children fatherless (Exodus 22:21-24).
In
relation to Korah’s rebellion
And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and make atonement for them, for wrath has gone out from the LORD (Yahweh, Jesus’ Father); the plague has begun” (Numbers 16:46).
Responding
to Israel’s disobedience to carrying out God’s wrath
Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day (1 Samuel 28:18).
Destroying
sinners in his wrath
Your hand will find out all your enemies; your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. The LORD will swallow them up in his wrath, and fire will consume them (Psalm 21:8-9).
The
Day of the LORD is the Day of God’s Wrath
Behold, the day of the LORD comes, cruel, with wrath and fierce anger, to make the land a desolation and to destroy its sinners from it (Isaiah 13:9).
Therefore I will make the heavens tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, at the wrath of the LORD of hosts in the day of his fierce anger (Isaiah 13:13).
Yahweh’s
wrath poured out
“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, my anger and my wrath will be poured out on this place, upon man and beast, upon the trees of the field and the fruit of the ground; it will burn and not be quenched” (Jeremiah 7:20).
No
pity for those who have rejected Yahweh
Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them” (Ezekiel 8:18).
The
Day of Wrath that matches what is in the New Testament
A day of wrath is that day, a day of distress and anguish, a day of ruin and devastation, a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness (Zephaniah 1:15).
Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them on the day of the wrath of the LORD. In the fire of his jealousy, all the earth shall be consumed; for a full and sudden end he will make of all the inhabitants of the earth (Zephaniah 1:18).
That
is a good sampling of what is in the rest of the 100+ verses in the Old
Testament. Here are all the biblical references from www.biblegateway.com.[1] I will simply say that enough of them speak of God’s wrath in history,
and in the end, that it is the same message as what we find in the New
Testament. Here are some articles that summarize this in contradiction of BJ’s
claims.[2]
Next
question:
6. In the context of “the whole counsel
of God” as we now have it in the Bible, is there a unified picture of “the
wrath” that clarifies what “the wrath” would mean in Romans 5:9?
Yes,
God’s wrath is in relation to his justice against sin. It is his vengeance
against sin. It is his hatred of sin. It tells us how horrible sin is, and how
abhorrent it is to a holy God. It also tells us of the love of God that sought
out sinners through the death of his Son to inherit eternal life instead of the
wages of their sin. I will let this article summarize the whole picture.[3]
However, in my time with God this morning
this parable came up:
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 13:47-50).
Clearly, Jesus did not correct Yahweh his
Father about judging, condemning, and destroying the wicked.
Then, as it was an exercise day, a few
things came up in my reading/listening to Scripture from Hebrews 10 on into I
John 4.
For if we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries (Hebrews 10:26-27).
This is speaking of people who had received
“the knowledge of the truth” but kept on sinning “deliberately”. What is
awaiting them? It is a very clear message.
Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “Vengeance is mine; I will repay.” And again, “The Lord will judge his people.” It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God (Hebrews 10:28-31).
This ties together the whole of Scripture as
it shows that what was witnessed visibly under Moses is equally in effect
spiritually during this church age. I mean, think of it, the Holy Spirit
“outraged” by people like the BJs who “profaned the blood of the covenant” by
constantly denying what Jesus did for us on the cross by propitiating God’s
wrath against our sin!
Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire (Hebrews 12:28-29).
Note
that it says our God IS a consuming fire, not that he WAS a consuming fire.
This ties together the pillar of cloud and fire that was visible to Israel and
their enemies during Moses' time of leadership with the spiritual “consuming
fire” who will continue to protect and save his people while destroying the
enemies of God.
And we have the prophetic word more fully confirmed, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit (II Peter 1:19-21).
Christians now have in the Bible “the prophetic word more fully
confirmed”. We must pay attention to IT, not to the BJs and their human/demonic
authorities. Peter was absolutely clear that none of the prophecies ever
received by the church came by the will of man, which means the BJs are 100%
wrong that God’s kids messed-up whatever God was really trying to say. It is
only Satan who wants us to believe his “Did God actually say…?” so we won’t
listen and obey God. All the Scriptures we now have united in the Bible are the
words men wrote down as they “spoke from God” and were “carried along by the
Holy Spirit”, and that is why the Scriptures unanimously and continuously
contradict EVERYTHING BJ has written!
But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction. And many will follow their sensuality, and because of them the way of truth will be blasphemed. And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep (II Peter 2:1-3).
Remember, this question has to do with whether the Hebrew Scriptures of
the Old Testament agree with the Greek Scriptures of the New Testament that
God’s wrath is real and that he will continue judging sin and sinners as
revealed in his word. Here Peter looks back to the false prophets that arose
among the people back in the days of old, and then says there will also be
false teachers among us today. All of this applies to the BJs. Their
condemnation “is not idle” and it “is not asleep”.
The
next section of II Peter 2:10-22 is quite lengthy, so I will simply point out
the descriptions of the people God is warning us to stay away from. And please
remember that I am not just venting my feelings in a judgmental way, but have
shown objectively that BJ misrepresents every Scripture he uses. I have shown
this by tackling what he has presented, showing how my time with God in his
word and prayer shows me BJ is wrong, and now how my exercise time
listening/hearing the word of God in longer sections also proves he is lying
and making good money at it. So, what Peter warns about here definitely applies
to the BJs.
·
Bold
and willful,
·
they
do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,
·
like
irrational animals, creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed,
·
blaspheming
about matters of which they are ignorant,
·
will
also be destroyed in their destruction,
·
suffering
wrong as the wage for their wrongdoing.
·
They
are blots and blemishes,
·
reveling
in their deceptions, while they feast with you (so applicable to BJ and his
annual cycle of feasts!).
·
They
have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin.
·
They
entice unsteady souls.
·
They
have hearts trained in greed.
·
Accursed
children!
·
Forsaking
the right way, they have gone astray.
·
They
have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from
wrongdoing,
·
These
are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm.
·
For
them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.
·
For,
speaking loud boasts of folly, they entice by sensual passions of the flesh
those who are barely escaping from those who live in error.
·
They
promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption. For
whatever overcomes a person, to that he is enslaved.
·
For
if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge
of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and
overcome, the last state has become worse for them than the first.
·
For
it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness
than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them.
·
What
the true proverb says has happened to them: “The dog returns to its own vomit,
and the sow, after washing herself, returns to wallow in the mire.”
That
is the extent of what stood out during my exercise time. However, I must remind
us again of what Paul said regarding “the whole counsel of God” because it is
imperative that we turn from these deceivers and return to the Bible as the
word of God that leads us to have a growing relationship with the Word of God.
This is from Acts 20:26-32. Luke writes of Paul speaking to the Ephesian
elders:
Therefore I testify to you this day that I am innocent of the blood of all, for I did not shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God.
Did
you know that this ties together the work Paul was doing in the church with
what was written in the prophets? Look at what God spoke to Ezekiel:
The word of the Lord came to me: “Son of man, speak to your people and say to them, If I bring the sword upon a land, and the people of the land take a man from among them, and make him their watchman, and if he sees the sword coming upon the land and blows the trumpet and warns the people, then if anyone who hears the sound of the trumpet does not take warning, and the sword comes and takes him away, his blood shall be upon his own head. He heard the sound of the trumpet and did not take warning; his blood shall be upon himself. But if he had taken warning, he would have saved his life. But if the watchman sees the sword coming and does not blow the trumpet, so that the people are not warned, and the sword comes and takes any one of them, that person is taken away in his iniquity, but his blood I will require at the watchman's hand (Ezekiel 33:1-6).
When
Paul said he was “innocent of the blood of all” it was because “I did not
shrink from declaring to you the whole counsel of God”. This goes back to God
telling Ezekiel that if he warned people about what was coming and they ignored
it, each person’s blood would be on his own head. But if he did not warn the
people and they came under God’s judgment, each person would die for their own
sins, but the watchman would be held accountable for their blood.
Paul
could say he was innocent of the blood of everyone he spoke to because he did
not withhold anything God gave him to say. Earlier in his ministry we read,
When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with the word, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus. And when they opposed and reviled him, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads! I am innocent. From now on I will go to the Gentiles” (Acts 18:5-6).
Same
thing. Paul was innocent because he told the Jews about the Christ. Their
blood, meaning their guilt before God, was on their own heads, and if they died
in their sins by rejecting Jesus as Messiah, it was totally on them.
I say
this because we are answering the question of whether the Bible is consistent
in its message regarding God’s wrath against sin. It is, and even these
instances where the apostles affirmed the prophets show that there is not even
one instance of the New Testament correcting the Old Testament. The Bible is
“the whole counsel of God” because it contains all the Scriptures God breathed
out through men who were carried along by the Holy Spirit to give us the “living
and active” word of God.
However, Paul continued,
Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood. I know that after my departure fierce wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock; and from among your own selves will arise men speaking twisted things, to draw away the disciples after them. Therefore be alert, remembering that for three years I did not cease night or day to admonish every one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified (Acts 20:28-32).
It
must have grieved Paul so deeply to know that “fierce wolves” would come among
the people as soon as he was gone and that they would “speak twisted things”.
With such warnings, we must let Paul continue to speak to us to lead us away
from those who would lead us astray. As it is said of Abel, “through his faith,
though he died, he still speaks” (Hebrews 11:4), the same is true of Paul, for
their words are given to us in the Scriptures, the very word of God. So let him
speak above the clamor of the false teachers, and follow his example of
following Christ the Word by obeying the word of God as we now have it in the
Bible.
© 2024
Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the
English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text
Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of
Good News Publishers.)
A More Christlike Word © 2021 by Bradley Jersak Whitaker House 1030 Hunt
Valley Circle • New Kensington, PA 15068 www.whitakerhouse.com
Jersak, Bradley. A More Christlike Word: Reading Scripture the
Emmaus Way. Whitaker House. Kindle Edition.
Definitions from the Bible Sense Lexicon (BSL) in Logos Bible Systems
[2]
Five Truths About the Wrath of
God
https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/five-truths-about-the-wrath-of-god
Six
Things You Need to Know About God’s Wrath
https://openthebible.org/article/six-things-you-need-to-know-about-gods-wrath/
God’s Wrath ‘Vengeance Is Mine, I Will Repay’
[3]
What is the biblical
understanding of the wrath of God?
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