Habakkuk 1:5 Look among the nations, and see; wonder and be astounded. For I am doing a work in your days that you would not believe if told. -LORD God
Proverbs 16:11 A just balance and scales belong to the Lord; all the weights of the bag are His concern.
Yours truly has been convicted by Facebook justice as a violator of Community Standards. Specifically, human exploitation…
“It looks like you shared something in order to exploit others for profit.” -Facebook
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This post is literally a word study of what the word “hamas” means in Arabic and in Hebrew. The title “Hamas” is also an acronym from an Arabic phrase.
The term “hamas” was also addressed in light of prophetical significance.
There are people and groups in this world who are simply not interested an anything else but their agenda. They do not take the time to read or listen. They are not interested in the thoughts or ideas of others. They are willing to suppress the freedom of speech of others at any cost. They don’t care about others. They are selfish. They think they know what is best for everyone. They want their way.
Psalm 96:13 Before the Lord, for He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He will judge the world in righteousness and the peoples in His faithfulness.
Memory Verse: Mark 2:10-11But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins,” He said to the paralytic, “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.”
Scripture: Matthew 9:2-8, Mark 2:1-12; Luke 5:18-26
Object Lesson: Imagine a world where if you break any traffic law that you have to pay a ten million dollar ($10,000,000) fine. If you are unable to pay the fine, you are sentenced to death. Regardless of the infraction, this is the just punishment.
Even if you run a stop sign, drive under the influence, or go two miles per hour over the speed limit, enforcement and punishment are consistent and there are no exceptions. The system is absolutely just.
If this were really the case, the roads would be empty. So you run a stop sign and the camera takes a picture of your infraction. The police come and haul you away to jail. You are waiting for trial and pending sentence. You know you did it. As you are cuffed and transferred to the judge in the court, a complete stranger comes in on your behalf and pays your fine. He plops down $10,000,000 on your behalf. Your debt has been paid.
Justice has been served in that the fine has been paid. You could not afford the fine, but the judge accepts the payment of the fine by this gentleman on your behalf. You are spared death and your life has been pardoned.
Doctrinal Emphasis: Forgiveness
Key Theme: Sin is forgiven once and for all.
The primary word for forgiveness in the New Testament is aphiemi/ἀφίημι. It means to remit or forgive debts or sins. It involves the complete removal of the cause or offence. This remission is based upon the vicarious and propitiatory sacrifice of Christ. Jesus took our place. Definition provided by Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words.
Only God can forgive sins. The Pharisees and scribes of the day knew this all too well in Mark 2:1-12, Luke 5:18-26, Matthew 9:2-8. This is the reason they took such offence when Jesus forgave the sins of the paralytic. As far as they were concerned, this was a blasphemous act and speech by Jesus. In their eyes, He was an ordinary man and not God. He was not even a member of the religious structures of the day. No mere man can forgive sins.
Jesus is not just an ordinary man. Jesus is God and He has the ability to forgive sins.
On an individual level, the forgiveness of sins is complete and distant. Psalm 103:12 states “As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”
Nations and individuals are forgiven of their sins. Israel’s sins corporately are forgiven in Psalm 85:2, “Thou didst forgive the iniquity of Thy people; thou didst cover all their sin.” This is also stated in Jeremiah 36:3b in reference to the house of Judah, “…then I will forgive their iniquity and their sin.”
Personally, we have to be forgiven because we are all born sinners. Ephesians 2:1 tells us that we are all spiritually dead. This is part of our family tree passed down by Adam.
Fortunately, we have redemption through the blood of Christ, the forgiveness of trespasses and sins, for His name’s sake (Ephesians 1:7, Colossians 1:14, 1 John 2:12).
The same concept is articulated in the Old Testament on personal level in…
Isaiah 43:25, “I, even I, am the One who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins.”
The forgiveness of sins does not mean that we are free to do whatever we want without consequence. We should not choose to abuse the work of the cross. Paul shuts down this argument in Romans 6:1b-2. “…Are we to continue in sin that grace might increase? May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it?”
Jesus’ work on the cross is clearly an act of grace and mercy towards sinful man. Honestly, is this any way to respond to a Man who suffered and died a horrible death on our behalf because of all of our sins?
What if the roles were reversed in the sense that you had bailed someone out of deep trouble? What if that person (the one you bailed out of trouble) chose to continue the behavior that landed them in trouble? What would you think if the person you spared continued to live in a sinful manner? After all, you were willing to pay the fine with your life for the sinner.
Have some empathy, put yourself in Jesus’ sandals. Try to look at this issue from His view…
There are consequences for our bodily actions. Physically, we die. The wage of sin is death. If God did not punish sin, He would fail to be just.
Galatians 5:1 For freedom Christ has set us free; stand firm therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery. ESV
photo: istock
Slavery or δουλεία/douleia in the koine Greek of the day. The word is translated as slavery or bondage. The root word is δοῦλος/doulos or slave. Doulos is also translated as servant in the New Testament.
The Hebrew word for slave is ebed. Generally speaking, the word is translated as servant in the Old Testament. Ebed is used 800 times in the Old Testament. Ebed is from the word abad in the Hebrew.
As a nation, Israel is all too familiar with slavery. The nation Israel spent 400 years in Egypt as slaves. In the verse below, the term abad is used.
Genesis 15:13 Then the LORD said to Abram, “Know for certain that your offspring will be sojourners in a land that is not theirs and will be servants there, and they will be afflicted for four hundred years.
Click on the audio/video link below for teaching and commentary.
Humanity’s dilemma… What are we going to do? What are we going to choose? Fundamentally we have two choices, life or death.
Romans 6:16 Do you not know that if you present yourselves to anyone as obedient slaves, you are slaves of the one whom you obey, either of sin, which leads to death, or of obedience, which leads to righteousness?
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What happens when one chooses a lifestyle of sin regardless of the specificity? God says we are a drift, thoughtless, and sensual. We are malicious, spiteful, greedy little haters. Again, the end result is death. And our path to death is not paved with good times and gold.
Titus 3:3 For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.
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Don’t kid yourself. There is no way we can overcome sin on our own. We are currently in a fallen and broken state. We are not independently strong enough to break the yoke of sin. It is a monstrous and overwhelming burden.
Believers are called to be slaves to God the Father. Notice the progression in the verse below from Romans. Choose God and this leads to growth, purification, and holiness. The end result is eternity with the Father, Son, and Spirit.
Romans 6:22 But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you get leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life.
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Believers are called to be slaves to justice. We are called to do the right thing by God.
Romans 6:18 and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of righteousness.
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This is ultimately about your attitude and heart toward Jesus. He wants us to be a willing participant. Christ is not making us follow Him. As people, we have the free will to choose.
1 Corinthians 7:22 For he who was called in the Lord as a bondservant is a freedman of the Lord. Likewise he who was free when called is a bondservant of Christ.
A point of Galatians 5:1 is this. As a believer in Jesus Christ, the individual has broken away from the yoke of sin because of Him. One has become free. This is an appeal to the will. Don’t go back to being a slave to sin. Stay with Him and in Him.
Passing judgement on a person’s sin, makes you an equal sinner. God didn’t make a list of sins & say one was worse than the other. He did however say that the greatest thing we can do is love. Let’s all love more…
James 4:12 There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and to destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor?
James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.
Matthew 22:37-40 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” -Jesus
Key Verse: “Men groan from out of the city, and the soul of the wounded crieth out: yet God layeth not folly to them” (Job 24:12).
@beholy404
There are many things about God and His dealings that we seem not to understand. One of such is the spate of wickedness and atrocities being perpetrated by wicked people and judgment does not seem to quickly catch up with them. Evils and crimes are committed in many places with impunity. The rights and privileges of the less privileged are forcefully trodden with no one to speak for them. And God seems to be silent!
Many people wonder why God delays judgment on the wicked. They want Him to unleash His wrath as they observe all the wickedness going on in the world. This was the same question Job raised in our passage as he tried to show his friends that God was not punishing him for his sins as they thought. He pointed their attention to all the wickedness going on daily around them which they were quite aware of and yet God seems to be silent about them. If God were punishing him for his sins, why then were all the wicked and terrible people around him in the society walking about free and judgment is not coming upon them, he queried.
Many people have been tempted to think that God is not fair. In fact, there are people who have concluded that it is either God does not exist or that He has abandoned the world to self-destruction. But the truth is, God’s ways are not our ways and His thoughts are not our thoughts. He has a set time for everything and a day of judgment for every wicked person.
Our attitude then is to have faith in His righteousness and justice. We cannot have a sense of justice more than the almighty God. Let us leave the judgment of the wicked in His Hands and strive to maintain an upright and just life. He will certainly judge the wicked and reward the upright with good.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God’s sense of justice will not overlook wickedness.
A question often posed, or a variant thereof goes like this… “If there’s a God, then why does He allow evil?”
My response is, “Is evil real? Or is it just a figment of your imagination?”
If it’s not real, then what is your concern?
But if it is real, should it be punished?
Have you yourself committed evil? Do you think any evil you’ve done is not as bad as someone else’s evil and therefore you’re good by comparison?
Because evil is real and evil should be punished, that means there is a good that is contrast to evil. Therefore, we have free will to choose good or evil.
And since there is a good to contrast evil proving that it should be punished, then it’s because of a violation of the Moral Law.
The Moral Law comes from the objective Moral Law Giver. Man has proven his morality is subjective relative to his situation or perception of someone else’s evil, and probability of getting caught. This is more proof of evil.
So evil is real.
Evil should be punished.
All have committed evil.
Evil is in contrast to good.
Good is defined by the Moral Law.
The Moral Law is given by an Objective Giver.
The last realization is our accountability to the Objective Moral Law Giver.
As determined earlier evil must be punished.
The penalty is Death.
Plato said, “The Deity may be able to forgive sin. But I do not see how.”
Plato understood that an Objective Moral Law Giver must be Justice. And Justice must be impersonal. So, the Moral Law Giver is obligated to punish sin.
Imagine for a moment sitting before you is a glass filled half way with water. While you’re watching, I place one drop of lethal poison in the glass. There is no antidote. Would you drink it? No, if you’re in your right mind you wouldn’t. What if I filled the glass with more water all the way to full? Now would you drink it? No, you wouldn’t, because the lethal dose of poison is still in the glass.
Your life is the glass of water. And the lethal poison is the evil you’ve done in your life. The additional water is the remainder of your life. Even without more evil, you can’t change the evil of the past. You are doomed.
But the Objective Moral Law Giver provided a way for you. He sent His Son who drank your glass of water and left His glass of water without the poison for you to drink. There’s nothing you can do about it. It’s done.
All that remains is for you to drink it and contemplate what that means to you.
John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, what whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
And the proof of that eternal life, the power over death, is the Resurrection of His Son.
