Author: Lee A. Robinson

What If Jesus Were Never Born?  

/ Lee A. Robinson / 2 Comments

THE IMPORTANCE OF THE BIRTH OF JESUS

We celebrate the births of those we love. We’re glad they came into the world. We highlight how they enrich our lives, help us, and give us great laughs. We celebrate not only how they have blessed our lives, but also the world around us. If they had never come into the world none of these things would have ever happened – watch the movie “It’s a Wonderful Life.” 

What would it have been like if Jesus never came into the world?  

Let that question sink in… 

Here are a few of the reasons why the birth of Jesus is so important. 

  1. The birth of Jesus means that we can trust God and His Word. 

At the fall of man, God in judgment remembered mercy by promising a child who would deliver mankind from the serpent and sin (Gen. 3:15). This theme of the promised child developed during the Old Covenant times and Scriptures (Abraham’s seed; a King on David’s throne; virgin born; God would become flesh – Isa. 9; born in bethlehem, etc.). The One to come is summed up in the title “Messiah.” The hope of all Israel was the arrival of this Son. He would be the Governor of Israel, The King who would sit on David’s throne who would establish an eternal dynasty, the Hero and Deliverer of God’s people, the Suffering Servant, The RIghteous Emperor greater than Solomon, etc. 

The problem though is that it seemed like the more history Israel experienced the worse things were getting. There were rays of light after the Babylonian captivity, but then the Roman iron fist was clenching tighter than ever. “God, where are you? Where is your promised anointed one? Have you forgotten about us?” 

When the life of a nation could perhaps become no darker, that is when God began to fulfill his Word. God works at His own pace and in His own time. If the people were paying attention, and were guided by the Spirit of God, they would have known when God was going to do this work in history (the timeline in Daniel), and some did know it (Simeon, Anna and others). But whether we can see what God is doing or not does not dictate whether He is working or not. Whether the world was ready or not, He Came, just as He said. Jesus descended from heaven, was conceived in human DNA, developed blood, bone and flesh in the womb and then was born. This “Baby-God” was proof that God keeps His promises. God is faithful to His Word. You can trust Him at His Word. In the same way the long awaited anticipations of the Old Testament were fulfilled in the birth of Jesus, everything else that those same Scriptures say (as well as the New Testament) that relate to us and the world around us are just as faithful, reliable and certain. 

God promised a Son – – – that Son came. 

God promised _________ (you fill in the blank) – – – _______________ (that promise will be fulfilled. 

  

  1. The birth of Jesus marked the arrival of the Eternal King. 

The word “Gospel” in New Testament Greek is “εὐαγγέλιον (euangelion)” which means “Good News.” Related to this are the words “Evangelize, or Evangelist – a bringer of good tidings.” In the Greek/Roman world of the first century it had a deep, special usage that is carried into the story of Jesus in the New Testament. One instance of the word being used was in reference to a man running out of a battlefield home with the good news, “We have won the battle!!!” It’s not good news like, “Yay! I have enough butter for my toast,” but rather a triumphant, anticipated, world-shaking celebration.

This word was also applied to announce the installment of a new emperor. They didn’t have phones or the internet back then, so they would commission preachers, or “Evangelists” who would spread throughout the empire to proclaim the Gospel, or good news, that the new emperor was installed. Check out this one engravement that has been uncovered called the Priene Inscription, which was written about the birth of Caesar Augustus:  

“Since Providence… has set in most perfect order by giving us Augustus, whom she filled with virtue, that he might benefit humankind, sending him as a savior (σωτήρ), both for us and for our descendants, that he might end war and arrange all things, and since he, Caesar (and inherent from this Lord), by his appearance…. surpassing all previous benefactors, and not even leaving to posterity any hope of surpassing what he has done, and since the birthday of the god (τοῦ θεοῦ) Augustus was the beginning of the good tidings (εὐαγγέλιον) for the world that came by reason of him…”

This inscription ascribes to Augustus the titles of God, Lord and Savior. His birthday, in their minds, marked the arrival of a great King who surpassed all others in bringing political deliverance and peace to the world. He came to “arrange all things.” All of this is called the Gospel or “good tidings” of Augustus. 

Now, all of this should sound super familiar to anyone who knows the accounts of Jesus well. The Gospel of Mark begins with, “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” The Scriptures give Jesus the titles of God, Lord and Savior among others. It is clear that he came to “arrange all things” and to be the fulfillment of the long awaited plan of God. His birthday marked the day when the unique Son of God entered into the world as the last and greatest King. Basically, the Apostles were saying, “Yeah, the way you guys feel about Caesar Augustus is the way the One True God and us Christians think about Jesus. Just we think Jesus was much greater than your view of Caesar. Jesus is not a god, but the God, the Logos, the Messiah, the final King. He will not only bring peace to peoples and nations, but peace between us and God. He is the conqueror even over the Devil himself. 

So, to our application. The birth of Jesus marked the dawning of a new era in world history. He came to transform it into a different and better place. He crushed the head of the serpent at the cross; He defeated death at his resurrection; he ascended to rule over the world as King of the Kings and Lord of the Lords. Mankind now has verifiable and a living HOPE: forgiveness of sins, eternal reconciliation with God and each other in a deep, real way. His birth was the beginning of this all. 

 

  1. The birth of Jesus revealed to us something more about the true heart of God.

We knew alot about God before the incarnation: He is the infinite Creator and Sustainer of all things; He is highly Moral, loves righteousness, hates wickedness and will judge the world (the Flood, Sodom, etc.); He is the Providential Ruler of History and Nations. We also find the mercy, love and grace of Yahweh in choosing Israel, delivering them from slavery in Egypt, preserving them in the wilderness, giving them the Promised Land, exalting them to a great empire with David and Solomon, and even bringing them back after captivity and not forsaking them even though they had been stiffnecked and hardhearted since they came out of Egypt. 

However, what was now fully revealed with the birth of Jesus was the Humility of God. Yes, we knew that God is loving, patient and long-suffering. He was willing for his global reputation to be vulnerable because of his loyalty to his people Israel. But the fact that Yahweh, the LORD of Hosts, would arrive as a baby, lays bare to us a humility, vulnerability and empathy never seen before.

“Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation (literally emptied himself; divested himself of the outward form of his glory and divine prerogatives), and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men…” God condescended lower than any being could. He exchanged glory and worship of angels for obscurity, poverty, and dependence. They say that a human baby is the most dependent creature on the face of the planet.  

“And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.” (Philippians 2:6-8) As though going from God-to-Man is not humbling enough, he became a servant to men. Not the form of a royal king, opulent and powerful, but a common man, a Jew, poor, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief, a friend of publicans and sinners. The crown of which in the end was made of thorns- death by crucifixion: public, scandalous, shameful, and undeserved. 

God did all of this so that we could know Him more intimately and also so that He could know us more intimately: “But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man…Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people. For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour (help) them that are tempted.” (Hebrews 2:9,17-18) God not only knows about the temptations, heartaches, pains and sufferings of man, he feels them as well. God experienced dependence upon man to show us that we can truly depend upon God. 

All of Scripture reveals to us the full counsel on God’s nature, but we do find something very special about our God when we look to the manger. 

“Thank you, Father, that you sent your Son Jesus from heaven to come in the flesh like us. Thank you for fulfilling your Word and proving to us that we can trust every line in the Bible, that it is inspired and backed by you. Thank you for breaking into the world to bring a new Covenant and to establish your eternal kingdom. You are Almighty God, yet you understand a feel all of our troubles.” 

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14)

The Bowling Alley Girl

/ Lee A. Robinson / 5 Comments

An Effective Pain & Suffering Argument

Yesterday our family went bowling, which if you have kids and seldom go, it can be pretty entertaining. We won’t talk about who won, but we’ll just say that when Dorothy got two strikes in a row after having lost the first game, she was pretty giddy. As we were having a great time, a small group of young guys and one girl in her late teens (maybe 20 years old), came to the lane next to ours. All of them were bowling, and my daughter informed me later that the girl was getting a bunch of strikes, but she was not happy. Her sadness had nothing to do with the game. You could tell it was that inner, spiritual void, a life-less sadness, a person bitter and mad at life, others and God. She was wearing mostly dark colors, her black jeans almost completely tore apart (by design), which reflected the state of her soul. 

Well, you know how when life is going along quite normally, and all of a sudden the Holy Spirit deep down within says, “You were just taking it easy and enjoying your time with family, but I have some serious business for you to tend to right now.”? Yup, no question, I was to go and talk to these young people about Christ. I had a feeling what would happen… 

When our game was over I went over to the group and offered them gospel tracts. The guys were pretty receptive and took the tracts, but the girl- I could see the embarrassed smirk rising (embarrassment for me, not for her) accompanied by the thought, “Oh brother, here comes the Christian.” She didn’t say anything while I was giving them tracts, but as I was walking away I heard her say something under her breath to the effect of, “Why would you try to talk to me, I’m an atheist!” So I turned around to clarify what she said, and then asked her, “Why are you an atheist?” She replied perhaps the most repeated charge against God, “If there really is a God, then why is there so much pain and suffering in the world?” Case closed. It was clear that she has been satisfied with that answer for a long time to disprove the existence of God in her mind. I replied to her that I personally have found answers to the question of reconciling God and the problem of pain, which have been satisfactory to me, and that I think most of the time the problem is not a lack of answers, but a lack of willingness to hear the answers. To which, at my surprise she did not have a comeback, so I proceeded with this line of reasoning…  

I asked her, “Are you hoping one day to have a family? Children?” Her answer was, “Yeah, if I choose not to have an abortion.” O…K…. “Do you want to bear children that you will actually give birth to and raise?” She complied, “Yes.” So I reasoned, “So you would bring a child into this world, against their own will, knowing that they would experience pain and suffering?” This changed the moment in our interaction. She had previously been looking straight forward, not at me, but at this point she turned and looked at me. Her face said, “How dare you say something to me like that, but at the same time I understand and see how it’s true. I don’t know what to say, but I’m angry, confused, enlightened, don’t agree and do agree all at the same time.” Her mouth began to open, but nothing came out. So I continued, “You wouldn’t bring a child into the world so that they would experience suffering. You would do it for life and joy and happiness. Nevertheless, you said you would knowing what that child would encounter. So you are a lot like God. He brought you into this world, knowing you would suffer to a degree, but He brought you into the world for life’s sake, for joy and happiness.” I let that settle in a little bit, then said, “We may not understand everything, but if we think that God is evil when we would do the same thing without thinking twice about it, then we should question ourselves before we question the goodness of God.” I then encouraged her to read the first three chapters of Genesis with the comment, “God made everything very good. It was our choices that brought pain and suffering into the world. If there is anyone to credit for life and peace it is God, if there is anyone to blame for evil it is mankind ourselves.” 

To my surprise there was no response to any of this, so it was a good moment to insert the Gospel into the conversation (I did not say the following to her word for word, but it is exactly how I would have if I had another shot at the conversation). “The Bible teaches us the true heart of God in these matters. Jesus did not come into the world to condemn the world, but to save it. Before the foundations of the world, before we ever sinned, God had already planned a way for us to be forgiven, healed and eternally blessed. In the same way we would do anything to alleviate the suffering of our children, God gave himself, his own Son, to suffer in our place, so that we could be healed in every way. You as a person would bring a child into a painful world, knowing that you do not have the ability to be a substitute for some or most of their sufferings. But God brought us into the world, already having planned how He would be our substitute on the cross.” 

I left the conversation at that, encouraging her to reconsider her views about God. If you think of her, raise a prayer on her behalf for the walls of deception to be torn down and the light of the Gospel to shine into her heart. 

I hope this line of reasoning is a help to you as you help others come to know Christ. 

One more thing. As we left the alley, one of my daughters said, “When we started playing the game I had a bad attitude (she didn’t do so hot on the scoreboard), but when I noticed that girl, how sad she was even though she was getting so many strikes, it made me think how much worse life could be than mine, and also that I have nothing really to be upset about.” I was glad to hear how God’s grace is at work in her. 

“Thank you God for coming into our lives, breaking into our lives with your love and mercy and grace! You are the true God, the everlasting heavenly Father, our great Redeemer and Friend! We love you! May we behold the birth of many, many more into your family! Amen”

MORE THAN THE SAND

/ Lee A. Robinson / 1 Comment

“How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand…” (Psalm 139:17-18)

“That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore…” (Genesis 22:17)

Today I visited Pensacola Beach, FL with my two youngest daughters. We live in coastal New England so the beach and ocean are familiar to us. What was new to us at this particular beach was the white sand. I have visited various places in Florida as well as the Keys, but I do not remember the sand being so white. As I was sitting near the shore watching the kids play, I took some of this white sand and rubbed it into my palm. As I smeared it I could see each individual grain of glassy sand. When you look out at the beach it appears more solid than this, but when you really inspect it, it is literally individual pieces of sand, as you probably know. I thought of how many pieces there must be on this beach? I took just a pinch of sand in my fingers and spread it around and there were at least thousands on my hand. It is not millions, billions, trillions, etc. The only number I felt comfortable with was infinity. God knows how many granules are actually on that one particular beach, but the point for me was that it was far beyond what I could calculate or comprehend. 

As I sat there contemplating these tiny specs of glass, the above two sets of Scriptures came to my mind. The first speaks about the thoughts of God toward us: “they are more in number than the sand.” To say that they are more in number than the sand is equivalent to saying that they cannot be numbered, infinite. His thoughts towards us are continuous, they never stop. He is our great Father in heaven who is constantly watching over his children. Also, they are precious thoughts. “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.” (Jeremiah 29:11) The thoughts of God to those who are in Christ Jesus are only and continually precious and peaceful thoughts. He is the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls. Our thought patterns, emotions, physical ailments, situations, decisions, relationships, pasts and futures, and a whole bunch of other things are all his business, willingly. We are not trying to get him to be involved. He cares infinitely more than we do about our own lives. And since God is infinite, he can make the minute details of my life his constant business, as well as another believer in a remote village of China somewhere. It is as though I am the only person in the world as far as how involved God is in my life. What a wonderful comfort and hope!

The other scripture that came rushing into my mind was how God promised Abraham that his descendants would be in number as the stars of heaven and as the sand upon the sea shore. That is a lot of children! For those young couples wanting to wait to have children or to only have few children, think about this scripture a little deeper. Do you have the same heart as God has in regards to procreation and offspring? Anyway, the promise to Abraham I believe ultimately is a reference to Jesus Christ and his spiritual offspring (Galatians 3:16 & 29). There were at certain points in Israel’s history where God blessed the wombs of the Jewish women to bear lots of children. However, there has never been a time where the amount of people could not be numbered. This promise of children as many as the stars of heaven and as many grains of sand at the beach is a reference to the spiritual children of God, those from every nation, tribe and tongue, who have placed their faith in Christ and have been born again. Since these children are spread all throughout the earth, and since their identity is not marked by something physical, as far human measurement is concerned, their number is immeasurable! 

A few thoughts jumped out at me about this. First, praise God that his Gospel has been and will always continue to be successful! Sometimes we are tempted to think that only a few will be saved. Perhaps there are and will be some specific moments and places in history where few are being saved: in Sodom before its destruction; the nations before Christ came; physical Jews after Pentecost; etc. But the scriptures are plain that in the grand scheme of things, if we were to see the ransomed host of believers, we would only see a sea of faces, and have the same thoughts that I had on the beach today, that the number is innumerable! God knows how many souls belong to him. Those who are already saved, and those yet to be saved. But we must believe that God has a mighty host, and to continue evangelizing with that thought in mind. We are on the winning side and our labor is never in vain in the Lord.

Second thought: If the number of God’s people are as the sand of the sea, and my calculation of how many Christians are in the world right now is not very, very vast, then I must have a different understanding than God. Slowly over time God has been showing me that he has people everywhere. Even today, in a place I have never been, as we walked down one of the boardwalks, there was sitting on the handrail a booklet by Ray Comfort, obviously set there by some faithful Christian for a lost soul to retrieve. We were able to give a tract to the man checking people on to the pier. I am amazed at how many people I meet in New London, CT that belong to Christ. According to one friend’s research, New London is the least churched city in the least churched county in the country. However the factors work out, the point is that even in one of the most barren places in the country, there are so many Christians there that I am unaware of. They may not look like me, talk like me, worship just like me, evangelize just like me, but they confess Christ and the Spirit bears witness that they are the children of God. I am so thankful that I am a part of one huge family that loves God! If you are the kind of person that keeps very tight fellowship circles, and perhaps have begun to develop that Elijah mentality that you are the only one left, I encourage you to meditate on this scripture we’re discussing a little more.

“Father, you are worthy of infinite praise, for who you are, what you have done, and what you continually do for your people. Thank you for these little, but vast reminders that you have placed on every beach in this world. May we walk with you in faithfulness and in a way that pleases you today, for the glory of Jesus Christ. Amen”       

Agree To Disagree Agreeably 

/ Lee A. Robinson / Leave a comment

As Christians, we are not going to agree about everything. No two Christians agree or will agree on every point of doctrine or practice. Yet we are commanded, “Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.” How can we have unity if we do not agree about everything? We must agree to disagree agreeably. One of the main desires of Jesus in his High Priestly Prayer (the climax of his parting words to his disciples) was that they would all be one, or unified. Jesus did not pray, “Father, I will that you make all of my followers agree about everything.”

It must always be said that there are times when we must separate from other believers. If a professing Christian is living in public, unrepented of sin we must call it what it is and not associate ourselves with that person. If someone says that they are a Christian and deny that Jesus is the only way to salvation, love demands that we renounce the teaching of that person and disassociate ourselves with them. However, in both of these and similar instances, we are to “speak the truth in love.” We are to express our disapproval with patience, kindness, a broken heart, mercy, and a free invitation for full reconciliation if that person repents, such as the father as the prodigal son did. 

It seems that God has so designed every set of siblings with the exact opposite personality traits, strengths/weaknesses, etc. Why has God done this? Perhaps one of the reasons is that He wants every home to be training grounds on how to deal with people much different that ourselves. Why would we expect the church of God to be designed any differently? In fact, is not the church meant to be the light of the world? Are we not here to show the world what mercy and reconciliation looks like? Shouldn’t we expect that God would bring us into more difficult situations of disagreement in order for the fruits of the Spirit to be produced in our lives? Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance are the kind of things that we need to strive for among people we disagree with, not too much among those that we do agree with. 

“In Essentials Unity, In Non-Essentials Liberty, In All Things Charity.” This really is a great saying. I think the great difficulty lies in the definition of what is “essential” or not. We must draw the line somewhere. But the point of this particular article is not where we should draw the line, but when we do draw the line in the sand, it should be done after prayer, and conversation, and brotherly admonition. There should be benefit of the doubt. There should be every effort on our part to discern a way for us to maintain sweet fellowship, if at all possible, with those we disagree with, and at the same time not be partnering with something that will mar the reputation of Jesus. 

Dispensational PreMillennialism compared to Covenant, Partial-Preterist, PostMillennialism       

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Dispensational PreMillennialism 

  1. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him and his descendants (Abraham, Isaac & Jacob/Israel). “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” 
  2. God promised David that he would have a son (Messiah) who would sit on his throne forever. A literal, physical, earthly world-wide empire kingdom. – 2 Sam. 7, Psalm 2 
  3. Messiah came, but Israel as a whole rejected their King, so God postponed the Kingdom. 
  4. Instead of an earthly kingdom, God raised up something new, a spiritual kingdom – The Church: believing Jews & Gentiles. This People would bring the good news of salvation to all the world. 
  5. Sometime in the future, God will “rapture” the Church out of the world (1 Thess. 4), and will re-focus his attention on the nation of Israel. Israel will be judged by God (The Tribulation, Mat. 24/Revelation), not only for their sins of the past and present, but also because of their rejection of the Messiah for thousands of years.
  6. After this 7 year Tribulation, Jesus will return to earth in his literal body. He will kill everyone who is opposed to him (Armageddon). He will set up a literal throne and kingdom from Jerusalem ruling and reigning for 1,000 years on the earth. This Millennial kingdom is the ultimate fulfillment of the promises God made to Abraham and to David of worldwide blessing. 
  7. At the end of this great kingdom there will be one last revolt and battle (Gog and Magog), then there will be the final Resurrection & Judgment of the lost, and the saved will enter into the New heaven/Earth and new Jerusalem). – Rev. 19-22

Covenant, Partial-Preterist, PostMillennialism       

  1. God promised Abraham that all nations would be blessed through him and his descendants (Abraham, Isaac & Jacob/Israel). “In thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed.” 
  2. God promised David that he would have a son (Messiah) who would sit on his throne forever.
  3. Messiah came, but the nation of Israel as a whole rejected their King, so God took the kingdom away from them and gave it to another nation. – Mat. 21:43 Jesus came as Israel’s King. He died for the sins of the people, rose from the dead, and ascended to the right hand of God. He is already installed as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He will continue to reign “until all his enemies are made a footstool for his feet.” – 1 Cor. 15
  4. Jesus’ Kingdom is a Spiritual Kingdom, but works out itself into the material world, in the earth. He sits in heaven, but has all power in heaven and on earth. – Mat. 28 The Church, comprised of believing Jews and Gentiles, are the Nation of God, the one People of God. – 1 Pet. 2:9-10 There has always been one people of God – Israel. The Church has not “replaced” Israel. Jesus is the true Israel. Anyone in him is Israel.  
  5. Jesus and the Apostles prophesied that judgment would come on the unbelieving nation of Israel because of their sins and their rejection of Messiah. This terrible judgment (Tribulation) would occur in the first century generation – Mat. 24. The fulfillment of this was in 70ad when the Romans took over Jerusalem, destroyed the Temple, and either killed or dispersed the Jews throughout the empire. Jesus and the Apostles promised that whoever continued believing in Christ would be saved from this wrath that was to come. The Christian community fled Jerusalem (rapture) before the Roman occupation – Rev. 12 
  6. The promises made to Abraham and David are presently being fulfilled through Christ, the “seed” of Abraham, the son of David. Jesus is currently sitting on David’s throne. The blessing of Abraham is coming to all the world through the preaching of the Gospel, the dissemination of the Scriptures, the establishing of churches, etc. In short, all around the world people are receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, the ultimate fulfillment of the promise to Abraham. – Book of Acts. This Kingdom will last for a long period of time (symbolized by 1,000 years). It will gradually reach every nation. – kingdom like mustard seed/ leaven. Mat. 13 
  7. At the very end of this Reign will be one final attempt to resist King Jesus. Jesus will return physically to put a final end to the last of his enemies, even death itself. At this time will be the bodily Resurrection of all people for Judgment. The unrighteous will be judged and sent to the Lake of Fire, and the righteous will enter eternity with their King in the new heaven and new earth. 

Sweeter Than A Honeycomb

/ Lee A. Robinson / Leave a comment

This book of the Law is always in my hand,

I read it every day because that’s God’s command.

This book of the Law is always in my mouth,

Every time I taste it makes me want to Shout!

Thy Word is sweeter than a honeycomb

I will eat it up until I’m full grown

It’s my delight when I’m all alone

Thy Word is sweeter than a honeycomb!

This book of the Law heart,

I keep it in that place I obey every part

This book of the Law has two things to offer:

Everyone who loves it will succeed and prosper!

Thy Word is sweeter than a honeycomb

I will eat it up until I’m full grown

It’s my delight when I’m all alone

Thy Word is sweeter than a honeycomb!