Milo

Ezra

INTRODUCTION
During the 70 years of Exile most of the Jews settled into a comfortable life in Babylon and other Eastern cities. Then in 539 B.C. Cyrus the Persian issued a decree permitting any Jew to return to his ancient homeland, to rebuild the temple of the Lord. Only a few responded. This enthusiastic group of settlers laid the temple foundation, but local enemies delayed its completion for 18 years. The first six chapters of Ezra tell the story of these pioneers and their struggle to finish the temple of the Lord.
In 458 B.C. another group of exiles, led by Ezra the priest, returned to Jerusalem. Ezra was a reformer, who taught God’s Law in Judea and called God’s people to rededicate their lives to the Lord. This book, written by Ezra, tells the story of these two groups of exiles who resettled the Promised Land.

THE EXILES RETURN
Ezra 1–6

“Everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:5).

The enthusiasm of those who returned to Judah was tested by hardship and by opposition from local peoples. Despite a long delay, the Jerusalem temple was rebuilt and God was again worshiped at the site He had chosen.

Background
Timeline. This time line relates events reported in Ezra with other postexilic events.

Decree of Cyrus (Ezra 1:1–4)
538B.C
The first return (Ezra 1:5–2:70)
539B.C
Temple construction begins
536B.C
Opposition & Delay
Ministry of Haggai
520B.C
Ministry of Zechariah
520B.C
Temple completed
515B.C
Events of Esther
483–473B.C?
Decree of Artaxerxes (Ezra 7:11ff)
458B.C
Return under Ezra
458B.C
Decree of Artaxerxes (Ezra 4:17ff)
446B.C
Decree of Artaxerxes (Neh. 2:1–8)
444B.C

Overview
A decree of Cyrus permitted the Jews to return to Judah and rebuild the Jerusalem temple (1:1–11). Ezra listed the returning families (2:1–70). They rebuilt the altar (3:1–6) and laid the temple foundation (vv. 7–13). Ezra quoted letters documenting opposition to the Jews (4:1–5:17) and the decree of Darius authorizing the temple completion (6:1–12). The task was completed (vv. 13–18) and Passover celebrated once again (vv. 19–22).

Understanding the Text
“In order to fulfill the word of the LORD” Ezra 1:1–4. Jeremiah had predicted the Captivity would last 70 years (Jer. 25:11–12; 29:10). Isaiah, writing in the time of Hezekiah, had named Cyrus as the ruler who would fulfill God’s will (Isa. 45:1–5). The very year this Persian conqueror supplanted the Babylonian kings, he did issue a decree permitting the Jews to return home. The decree also authorized reconstruction of the Jerusalem temple!
Josephus says that Cyrus read Isaiah’s prediction and was moved to fulfill it. It’s more likely this decree was one of many similar orders issued by Cyrus, who reversed the Babylonian policy of deportation, and permitted all captive peoples to return home.
The prophecy of Isaiah, and the action of Cyrus, remind us that God is sovereign. He controls the fate of nations, and all history moves toward ends which He alone has determined. The One we worship truly is God.

“Everyone whose heart God moved” Ezra 1:5–2:70. While some 50,000 Jews turned their hearts toward home, many more thousands chose to remain in Babylon. The Captivity had not been harsh: recovered records show that Jews, who were settled in an attractive district by the Kebar canal, were successfully involved in trade and business in the enemy capital. Why go back to face hardship, when life was easy in Babylon? Only those whom God moved to complete commitment would make the difficult choice.
Those who stayed were comfortable. But they missed out on so much. The names of the returnees are enshrined in Scripture. And only those who returned witnessed the restoration of God’s temple and worshiped there.
How important to keep our hearts open to the Lord, so that if He calls us to a special place of service we will be willing to respond.

“With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the LORD” Ezra 3:1–13. Those who returned to Judah found a desolate land. Thorns and thistles choked once-fertile fields, while Jerusalem was a heap of ruins. How hearts must have fallen as the enormity of the task before the returnees was driven home.
Yet as soon as the people settled in their towns, they reassembled at Jerusalem. There they rebuilt the altar, roughed out the foundations for the new temple, and praised God.
The greater our difficulties, the more important it is to put God first. When we do we, like those in ancient Judea, find our hearts also filled with joy and praise.

“The enemies of Judah” Ezra 4:1–5:17. Judah was a tiny area within a larger administrative district of the Persian Empire. Neighbors in what had once been Israel at first offered to help build the temple. The offer was rejected: they were not members of the covenant people descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The rebuff hardened local antagonism, which developed into active opposition. This opposition, with the difficulty faced by the returnees in scratching a living from ruined fields, halted construction of the temple.
The letters in these chapters are written in Aramaic, the diplomatic language of that age, rather than in Hebrew. Ezra clearly quotes material available to him in the Jerusalem archives.
Note too that the letters do not all date from the early return. What Ezra has done is to draw evidence from material written over a span of many years to document the fact that God’s people faced serious opposition.
We too can expect opposition at times. Hostility from outsiders is no sign that God has abandoned us, but may in fact suggest that we are doing exactly what God wants!

“A decree concerning the temple of God” Ezra 6:1–12. In the end King Darius confirmed the order of his predecessor, Cyrus. Not only was the temple to be rebuilt, but the very officials who had opposed it were ordered to pay all construction expenses from the royal treasury!
The God of the Old Testament truly is sovereign. Men may plot against His people, but God’s plans will be carried out.

“Then the people of Israel . . . celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy” Ezra 6:13–22. There had been years of struggle and discouragement. But at last the temple was finished. By showing his ability to “change the attitude” of the ruler of the empire that supplanted ancient Assyria, God had “filled them with joy.”
God is still at work, even in the lives of our enemies. The wait may be long, but God can still change attitudes, and fill us with joy too.

DEVOTIONAL
Where Will the Money Come From?
(Ezra 6)
I suppose it’s one of our most common worries. We need to build an addition on the church. But where will the money come from? I’d like to go to seminary. But where will the money come from? I wish I could help that missionary. But where will the money come from? I feel God wants me to go into nursing. But where will the money come from?
The same question was surely asked in ancient Judah as the people considered finishing the temple. The Prophet Haggai described the desperate conditions of that time: “You have planted much, but have harvested little. . . . You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Hag. 1:5–6). How could a destitute people, struggling to make ends meet, ever raise the funds necessary to complete God’s temple?
In his message urging Judah to give
priority to God’s temple, the prophet makes this statement. “ ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,‘ declares the LORD Almighty” (2:8).
How the people of Judah must have struggled. They were convinced they must complete the temple. But where would the money come from?
And then the decree of Darius, in response to the challenge raised by Judah’s enemies, arrived. There, with the permission to rebuild, were the words, “The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury” (Ezra 6:4). The endless wealth of one of the world’s mightiest empires was suddenly made available to God’s poverty-stricken people.
The incident teaches us an important lesson. “Where will the money come from?” is an important question. But not knowing should never deter us from acting if we are sure of God’s will. The message from God that Haggai shared so long ago is still true. The silver is the Lord’s. And the gold is the Lord’s. When we commit ourselves to do His will, the Lord will provide.

Personal Application
Lack of funds cannot keep us from doing God’s will.

Quotable
“In building, we need not act as the people of the world do. They first procure the money and then begin to build, but we must do just the opposite. We will begin to build and then expect to receive what is necessary from Divine Providence. The Lord God will not be outdone in generosity.”—Alphonsus Liguori

Nahum

INTRODUCTION
Nahum prophesied against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, while that empire was still at the height of its power, in the mid-seventh century B.C. The prophet, a citizen of Judah, predicted the city’s fall and vividly described the manner in which it was actually taken.
This brief book reminds us that God is the God of vengeance as well as love. Though God is gracious, He does not spare the wicked.

AGAINST NINEVEH
Nahum 1–3

“The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes and maintains His wrath against His enemies” (Nahum 1:2).

Any view of God that does not take into account His wrath is a distorted view. But rightly understood, even the doctrine of the wrath of God is a comfort to His saints.

Overview
God’s wrath takes the form of a judicial judgment of sinners (1:1–14) that exempts His own (v. 15). The destruction of Nineveh (2:1–3:17), proud capital of wicked Assyria, demonstrates God’s judicial vengeance (vv. 18–19).

Understanding the Text
“The LORD takes vengeance on His foes” Nahum 1:1–8. When we think about the wrath of God, or divine vengeance, it’s helpful to remember that vengeance is directed against God’s foes. Nahum described God as “slow to anger,” but reminds us that He will “not leave the guilty unpunished.”
God’s wrath, or vengeance, is linked with a judicial act. It is the right thing for God to punish the wicked. In fact, it is just as right for Him to punish the wicked as it is for Him to care “for those who trust in Him.”
Let’s not make the mistake of thinking that vengeance somehow goes against God’s character. As Nahum said, “The LORD is good” (v. 7). Yet “goodness” not only stands in contrast with evil, it stands against evil! If God were not willing to take vengeance on the wicked, and to treat them as objects of His wrath, God would not be good.

“One . . . who plots evil against the LORD” Nahum 1:9–15. The Ninevite who plotted evil against the Lord and counseled “wickedness” is identified in Nahum 3:18 as “the king of Assyria.” It is likely that the specific reference is to Sennacherib, the most aggressive of Assyrian conquerors, who according to Assyrian records devastated some 47 fortified cities in Judah in 701B.C
An important principle is alluded to in this passage. God had used Assyria to afflict Judah (1:12). But the Assyrians remained responsible for their motives and actions. Assyria did not attack Judah as a conscious response to the known will of God. In fact, the Assyrian attack was evidence of plotting evil against God! We see that clearly in the ridicule directed against the Lord by the Assyrian field commander who called for Jerusalem’s surrender (see Isa. 36). The principle this illustrates is: God can and does use the evil acts of wicked men to accomplish His own purposes. But God does not cause the wicked to do evil. Thus the wicked remain responsible for the evil they do.
So God declared through His prophet, “The LORD has given a command concerning you, Nineveh. . . . I will prepare your grave, for you are vile.” This is to be the fate of all who plot and do evil (see DEVOTIONAL).

“The river gates are thrown open” Nahum 2:1–3:1. The rest of the Book of Nahum is given over to four different descriptions of the fall of Nineveh. Undoubtedly the most significant is the description of the opening of river gates and subsequent flooding and fire in the city.
Nineveh was situated on three rivers, with a canal system that directed waters to its different districts. Once the suburbs of Nineveh were taken, these canal gates (as bab-nari, “gate of the river” may indicate) could be thrown open, and the city defenses flooded. As the walls of the palace collapsed, enemy soldiers swarmed into the city and plundered it.
What a destiny for the capital of an empire that had pillaged the world. All the treasures that had been assembled were taken. “She is pillaged, plundered, stripped!” (2:10) and all those who had struck terror into helpless victims were rendered helpless themselves. “Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale” (v. 10).
God was against Nineveh. In His wrath He had decreed her destruction and, therefore, her destruction was sure. Woe, then, “to the city of blood” (3:1).

” ‘I am against you,’ declares the LORD” Nahum 3:2–17. Three additional descriptions of Nineveh’s fall are contained in these verses (vv. 2–7, 8–11, 12–17). Together they are intended to drive home the horror of that day, and to portray as graphically as possible the implications of the wrath of God.
There is no vision of mercy here. Only visions of death and blood.
These are awesome images that bring home the reality of the wrath of God. Images that help us see that “God’s vengeance” is no abstract theological concept, but a terror that hangs over the head of the wicked, whether they are aware of it or not.

“Who has not felt your endless cruelty?” Nahum 3:18–19 Again the prophet reminds us that the vengeance described in his book was decreed as a judicial act. All that came to the Assyrians was what they had earned by their own acts. The wrath of God is never capricious. Never a careless outbreak of anger.
God, the Judge, has determined a punishment that is just.

DEVOTIONAL
Leaving the Guilty Unpunished
(Nahum 1)
Seeing God as the God of vengeance, who is filled with wrath, is more than a little disquieting. But it’s important if we are to have an adequate concept of God, and if we are to deal appropriately with crime in our society.
That’s what’s so impressive about this first chapter of Nahum. The prophet said, without qualification, “The LORD is good” (v. 7). But at the same time said, “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on His foes” (v. 2).
What puts Nahum’s vision of God in perspective is the fact of saying, “The LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished” (v. 3). Reading it, we realize that the wrath of God, and the vengeance of God, are judicial concepts. God the good must and will stand against evil. God the good must and will punish the guilty.
This is a lesson our society desperately needs to learn. Criminals should be charged and punished, not to “rehabilitate” them, or even to “get them off the streets.” Crime should be punished because a state, like God, must take the side of what is righteous and good. And when a person does evil, it is good for society, as it is good for God, to take vengeance.
It’s true that expressions of God’s wrath never go astray, as human expressions of judicial wrath may and all too often do. Yet the principle is clear. Human beings are responsible for the wicked deeds they do. And it is right that those who do evil suffer punishment for their crimes.

Personal Application
Save your sympathy for the victim, not the criminal.

Quotable
“A modern society that outlaws the death penalty does not send a message of reverence for life, but a message of moral confusion. When we outlaw the death penalty, we tell the murderer that, no matter what he may do to innocent people in our custody and care, women, children, old people, his most treasured possession, his life, is secure. We guarantee it—in advance.
Just as a nation that declares that nothing will make it go to war finds itself at the mercy of warlike regimes, so a society that will not put the worst of its criminals to death will find itself at the mercy of criminals who have no qualms about putting innocent people to death.”—Patrick J. Buchanan

2 John-3 John





INTRODUCTION
The Apostle John wrote these two brief letters. The first is addressed to an unknown Christian woman and her family; the second to a Christian leader and a friend named Gaius. These warm, personal letters emphasize themes found in 1 John: the doctrine of Christ’s deity, and the call to love and do good works.

WALKING IN LOVE
2–3 John

“As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love” (2 John 6).

There can never be too many reminders to love and keep Jesus’ commandments.

Background
John’s later years. John outlived the other disciples of Jesus. If he died in the late 90s, as most believe, he outlived Peter and Paul by some three decades!
During these decades more and more hostility developed toward Christians. There was both official persecution, and many nonviolent expressions of discrimination. In addition, the false teachers Peter, Jude, and Paul had predicted did emerge, and corrupted the faith of many.
What then seemed most important for John to communicate as he neared the end of his life? These two brief letters help us understand, for they pick up themes we are familiar with from 1 John. John emphasized the full deity of Jesus, and love as the mark of an obedient community.
How important these twin pillars of faith are today. We worship Jesus the Son of God. And we love one another as brothers and sisters in the family of God.

Overview
John greeted an “elect lady” (2 John 1–3), to encourage continuing love (vv. 4–6) and warn against those who deny Christ’s deity (vv. 7–13). John wrote Gaius (3 John 1–4), to encourage him to keep on ministering (vv. 5–8), to warn against Diotrephes (vv. 9–10) and to commend Demetrius (vv. 11–14).

Understanding the Text
“The elder . . . the elect lady” 2 John 1. John’s reference may have been to his own age, but more likely to his position in the church. He was one whose maturity and wisdom had made him worthy of trust.
The name “elect” was used in the first century in the way we use “born again Christian”—to identify individuals as believers who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The term need not be understood to imply predestination. But it does affirm that we who have chosen to believe in Christ have been chosen by God.
We want Him as a our God. But God wanted us first, as His children.

“Walking in the truth” 2 John 4. Here as in 1 John, “truth” is linked to reality. A person who walks “in the truth” lives in harmony with spiritual and moral reality, as these are known to us in Christ. You and I walk “in the truth” if our lives are marked by holiness and by love.

“His command is that you walk in love” 2 John 2:5–6. John emphasized a particular reality all Christians are to experience. We show our obedience to Jesus, and our harmony with Him, by loving fellow believers. I suspect that John may have thought the people he ministered to may have tired of his message. He did say the command wasn’t new. And that the elect lady and her family had had it from the beginning. But John was not apologizing. He is simply saying, love is so important, we must be reminded of it all the time.
John was like the old preacher who explained his philosophy of ministry. First, I tell ’em what I’m going to tell ’em. Then I tell ’em. And then I tell ’em what I told ’em.” That’s the way we need to be in reminding one another to keep on loving, for Jesus’ sake.

“Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh” 2 John 7–11. There are many doctrines that are important to Christians. But none are as pivotal as this one. Jesus Christ, the Son of God, existed with God and as God from the beginning. And God the Son was born into our race, lived here on earth as true man, and after dying for us was raised from the dead. It was God the Son who died for us on the cross: God, come in the flesh to redeem us.
People can be Christian and have doubts about verbal, plenary inspiration. People can be Christian and be absolutely wrong in eschatology. But no one who denies that Jesus Christ is God come in the flesh can be Christian in any biblical sense.
We’re not to run around ruling this or that person out of the faith because he or she differs from us on points of doctrine. But we are to have nothing to do with any who call themselves “Christian” but deny the full deity of Jesus Christ (v. 11).

“Your faithfulness to the truth” 3 John 1–4. John, in his 90s now, had developed a clear view of what is truly important in life. The things most of us focus our attention on-scrambling to advance in our careers, working out misunderstandings in our relationships, important things all have receded in significance to the last apostle.
What thrilled him now? He wrote, “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth” (v. 4).
We need to develop the same attitude when it comes to our children. I’m glad for the mom or dad who tells with obvious pride about the great job Joey’s got, or the house with its own swimming pool that Suzie’s husband bought in Houston at $40,000 less than it cost to build. But we need to remember that the one truly important thing in life is that our children walk in the truth, and walk with God.

“We ought therefore to show hospitality” 3 John 5–8. These few verses reflect the itinerant ministry of many in the first century who traveled from city to city, staying with one Christian group and then another, to share a special teaching or spiritual gift.
We saw in 2 Timothy, and in 2 Peter, how many of the itinerant teachers were false: they were insincere, seeking to gain a following only that they might win money from them. Here we see the other side. We see hundreds of believers who went on the road “for the sake of the Name,” and who received “no help” from any source. These men gave up any personal ambitions to travel and nurture Christians throughout the empire, usually receiving nothing but food and lodging from those with whom they briefly stayed.
We still have folks like this today. Missionaries, preachers, school teachers, social workers, who for the sake of Jesus give up the prospect of lucrative careers to work in an area where they can serve others, and better share Christ. Such folk should be honored by their fellow Christians, and encouraged in practical ways.

DEVOTIONAL
Epitaphs
(3 John 9–13)
Ever read one of those books of humorous epitaphs? Like the one in England, that tells all:

  Mary Picket,
  Lies silent and fast,
  Her husband’s ears
  Have peace at last.

Or the one from our own old West, that simply says:

  Flicker was quicker.

Actually, the thing about even humorous epitaphs is that most do say something about the character of the person they memorialize.
Something that stands out; something that folks remember.
In a sense John suggested a theme for the epitaphs of two leading individuals in the first-century Christian community of Asia. One, Diotrephes, was marked off as loving first place. He gossiped, trying to make others look small so he’d look bigger by comparison. And he tried to dominate his little group by cutting off any contact they may have with others. Someone might have written something like this on his tombstone:

Diotrephes, who cut others down,
Things are better
Now he’s not around.

On the other hand, we have Demetrius who was “well spoken of” by everyone, apparently because he was dedicated to doing good. I suspect a very different epitaph would have marked his memory.
You might try your hand at creating an epitaph for Demetrius. But it’s more important to create an epitaph for yourself. But by how you live, not with words.

Personal Application
How do you want others to remember you?

Quotable
In heart a Lydia, and in tongue a Hanna,
In zeal a Ruth, in wedlock a Susanna,
Prudently simple, providentially wary,
To the world a Martha, and to heaven a Mary.
-Epitaph of Dame Dorthy Selby

GOD’S GREAT LOVE
1 John 4–5

“This is how God showed His love among us: He sent His one and only Son into the world that we might live through Him” (1 John 4:9).

We are to rest in the assurance of God’s great love.

Overview
False prophets deny Jesus Christ is God and man (4:1–6). Love is the external mark of spiritual birth (vv. 7–21). The believer loves and obeys God, overcoming the world (5:1–5). The person who trusts Jesus has God’s life within him (vv. 6–12). God wants us to know we have eternal life; to pray with confidence (vv. 13–15), to pray for those who sin (vv. 16–17), and to abandon sin (vv. 18–21).

Understanding the Text
“Test the spirits” 1 John 4:1–3. In the first century, itinerant teachers traveled the Roman world. Second Peter 2 tells us that many false teachers were among them; men who saw teaching the new religion as a way to make money. This fit a well-established pattern, as teachers of philosophy and other religions also traveled, gathered little groups of followers, and charged whatever the market would bear. All these traveling teachers were trained in rhetoric, and were skilled hucksters. So John warned the gullible. Don’t be taken in by smooth-talking teachers.
The critical test then and now is, does this teacher present Jesus Christ as God in the flesh? Any who honor Jesus with less than full Deity express the “spirit of the antichrist” rather than the Spirit of God.

“The One who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world” 1 John 4:4–6. Every now and then I run across someone who is anxious about possible demon possession. This verse can be a great comfort. The spirit that animates the antichrist, Satan himself, operates freely in this world. But the Christian is not part of the world! We have within us One who is far greater than Satan—the Holy Spirit of God.
Let the Spirit fill your life, and you are in no danger of demon possession. Satan can manipulate the circumstances around you. But he cannot touch your heart or spirit as long as God’s Spirit lives within you.

“Whoever knows God listens to us” 1 John 4:4–6. Don’t be defensive if others think your faith in Christ is foolish or peculiar. We Christians speak in the language of our land, yet what we say can’t be “heard” by those who do not know God. The viewpoint of the world has always been blind to Scripture’s God.
Instead of being defensive, keep on loving and doing good. Every day God calls more men and women out of the world to Him. Some you speak to will suddenly begin to hear—and you’ll know that God is at work in their lives.

“Whoever does not love does not know God” 1 John 4:7–12. Non-Christians frequently ask believers to “prove” God. You can’t see Him, or touch Him, they may say. How can you know God exists?
On the one hand, you and I might argue from history. Jesus lived. He died. And His resurrection is the most thoroughly attested event in the ancient world! Those events demonstrate God’s existence, and His active love.
But there’s an even better way to answer. God revealed Himself in the love Jesus showed in giving Himself for us. And God creates a Jesus kind of love in the hearts of those who know Him. Others can know that God is real by seeing Jesus’ kind of love expressed by Christians.
It’s sometimes possible to reason another person into faith. But it is usually easier to love them to a personal trust in Jesus.

“God lives in him and he in God” 1 John 4:13–16. The theme of “assurance” is strong in these last two chapters of 1 John. I’ve known folks who actually get angry if a Christian suggests he or she “knows” he is going to heaven. To some that’s presumption. To others it’s an insult—a sign that the believer thinks he or she is better than they. But John makes it clear that God wants us to know, for sure, that we are saved, and that God lives in us, as we live in God.
It is not presumption to take God at His word, or to rely on the love God has for us. It would be presumption NOT to trust God’s promises.

“Perfect love drives out fear” 1 John 4:17–18. I suspect that most people feel a twinge of anxiety, and glance at their speedometer, if they see a police car while on the road. We appreciate police as guardians of the public good. But most of us are a little nervous around one.
It’s similar for most folks with God. The idea that God is over there in the next car, watching us, makes a person feel a bit edgy.
John, however, said that we need have no fear or anxiety in our relationship with God. Any more than if the policeman we recognized in the next car was our dad. Then we’d just wave to him and smile. There would be no fear, because his presence near us offered no threat of punishment.
Love does just this in our relationship with the Lord. On the one hand, we know He loves us. So He will do nothing to harm us. On the other, as we respond to Him with love, there’s no room left for fear. Terror of someone and love for him or her cannot exist at the same time. Real love drives out fear.
So don’t fear God. Remember He loves you. And love Him in return.

“He first loved us” 1 John 4:19–21. In God’s relationship with us, He is the initiator. He loves first. And His love makes a difference.
It’s as if we were soaking wet kindling. We have no spark of love for God in us; no way to ignite a flame. But God’s love encompasses us. It warms and dries us, and finally kindles love’s fire in our own hearts. In our relationship with God love drives out fear. In our relationship with others, love creates true caring.
What John was saying here is very important. If God’s love hasn’t warmed, dried, and kindled our own love for others, then we have not yet learned to love God. The same fire that warms God’s hearts warms our brothers and sisters.

“His commands are not burdensome” 1 John 5:1–5. Again John insisted that God stimulates one love in our heart; a love that expresses itself both toward God and toward others. We can’t be warm toward God and cold toward our fellowman at the same time.
There’s another exciting thing about love for God. It makes obeying easy. “Want to” is always easier than “have to.” As long as we feel that we are forced against our will to do certain things that God demands, those things will be burdensome to us. But if we eagerly want to do those same things, they seem to us to be a delight.
You can easily check the state of your love for the Lord using this principle. If you find you want to do those things that you know please Him, you can be sure that your love for God is alive and well.

“There are three that testify” 1 John 5:6–9. The meaning of the “water and blood” here is much debated. Perhaps the best way to understand them is to identify the “water” as Christ’s baptism, which introduced His public ministry here on earth, and the “blood” as His death, which ended it. Everything Jesus said and did in public, as well as His death, witness to His nature as the Son of God. The stories of Jesus’ life and death, confirmed in us today by the Holy Spirit, continue to identify Jesus as God’s Son and our Saviour. Anyone who rejects the record of Jesus’ life and death for us, as that record was inspired by the Spirit and is authenticated by the Spirit today, makes God out to be a liar (v. 10).
How clearly this passage draws the issue for all mankind. We either believe God’s Word in and about Jesus, or we call God a liar. There is no middle ground.

“God has given us eternal life” 1 John 5:10–11. Once again we have words of assurance. If you believe God’s words about Jesus, you have been given eternal life. That life is yours, now. “He who has the Son has life.”
Since you believe, enjoy! Be assured of your acceptance by God, and revel in the love God has for you. That love is far more wonderful than all the riches of the world.

“Ask anything according to His will” 1 John 5:14. It’s not that we have to guess at God’s will. This is a promise! As we live close to the Lord, He will guide our prayers, so that what we ask is what He wishes us to have.

“Sin that does not lead to death” 1 John 5:16–20. “Death” here is biological, not spiritual. We see a parallel in 1 Corinthians 5, where Paul demanded that a brother who lived in open, persistent sin be expelled from the church, and also be handed over to Satan “so that the sinful nature may be destroyed” and his spirit “saved on the Day of the Lord.”
It is persistent, determined continuation in known sin that puts a person beyond the reach of prayer, and exposes him or her to judgment in this life.
But John wants us to realize true believers can sin, and should be the object of our prayers. And he wants us to be encouraged when we fall. God’s life in us will call us back to holiness, and we will “not continue in sin.”
Don’t treat sin lightly. But don’t be overwhelmed when you fail. Draw on God’s strength, and stand again.

DEVOTIONAL
Blessed Assurance
(1 John 5:11–15)
There are very few things in this world that we can be sure about.
Becky Schmidt, our friend and our pastor’s wife went to the doctor for a regular checkup—and discovered she had cancer. She’s responding well to treatment. But suddenly the whole world of Richard and their three boys was shaken.
Karl Klammer left the north to take a job here in Florida. The family sold their home, loaded their possessions in a U-Haul truck, and headed south. The day after he got here, the company he was to work for declared bankruptcy, and shut down operations.
Last Saturday night a junior in our local high school was on her way to work. An- other car went through a stop sign, struck her vehicle, and killed her.
Assurance—that confident assurance about ourselves and our future—is something that this world simply does not offer.
Yet, right now, you and I can be absolutely sure, if we believe in Jesus, that we have eternal life. We can be completely confident that God listens to our prayers, and that as we ask according to His will, the answer is assured.
The circumstances of our life on earth will always remain uncertain. We can be assured only of the reality, and the wonder, of our relationship with God.

Personal Application
Claim the blessings of assurance, that are your heritage through faith in Jesus Christ.

Quotable
“To be assured of our salvation is no arrogant stoutness. It is faith. It is devotion. It is not presumption. It is God’s promise.”
—St. Augustine

TESTS OF FAITH
1 John 2:3–3:24

“Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth. This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in His presence” (1 John 3:18–19).

Love and obedience are inner and outer tests of a personal relationship with God.

Overview
John identified three tests of knowing God (2:3–11), and expressed confidence in his readers (vv. 12–14). He urged us not to love the world (vv. 15–17), and warned against antichrists (vv. 18–27). We are to live as children of God (v. 28–3:3), doing what is right (vv. 4–10), and loving one another (vv. 11–15) as God in Christ has loved us (vv. 16–20), assured by our lives and by the Spirit that we live in Him (vv. 21–24).

Understanding the Text
“We know that we have come to know Him” 1 John 2:3–11. Somehow the young woman in Canada got my Phoenix phone number. She began to call me, sometimes several times a day. She was anxious and afraid. She didn’t know if she was a Christian, though she believed in Jesus. When the fears came flooding back, she dialed my number.
She was an extreme case, but many Christians have moments of uncertainty. How can we know that we’ve come to know Him? John gave three tests. First, we obey His commands (v. 5). A person wearing the uniform of the U.S. Army obeys the orders of officers over him. That’s part of being a soldier. Obeying Jesus is part of being a Christian, and shows that we acknowlege His authority.
Second, we “walk as Jesus did” (v. 6). If we belong to Jesus we become more and more like Him. So when we respond to others and to life situations as Jesus did when He was here on earth, we show that we belong to Him.
Third, we love our brothers (v. 9). You can’t hate others and belong to Jesus, because Christ loves others. People can say they belong to Christ, and be hateful and hating. But their actions deny their words.
So take a look at yourself. Do you find you keep Jesus’ commands? Do you try to act as you think He would? Do you love your fellow Christians, and enjoy being with them? Then relax! You know Him. And others know you know Him as well!

“I write to you” 1 John 2:12–14. John’s letter wasn’t intended to convict, or to create anxiety. It was intended to encourage. It was written to those John knew were true believers, who showed the mark of Jesus in their lives. How good it is when others let us know they have confidence in us.
It can mean a lot to your family and friends if you give them the same kind of praise.

“Do not love the world” 1 John 2:15–17. In this famous paragraph “the world” is the total system of values and perceptions that together are expressed in the culture of sinful human beings. John revealed the nature of this system, saying that the roots of every human society are anchored deeply in the selfish cravings of sinful man, in man’s tendency to greedily desire the materialistic things he sees, and in man’s drive for ostentatious self-importance. Each of these is antagonistic to God, and a culture that weaves society from these values is corrupt.
We have to abandon the values of human society and adopt the values of God the Father. Man’s culture is not ours, and we should not be comfortable in it.

“Many antichrists have come” 1 John 2:18–25. John did believe that in the future a specific individiual, the Antichrist, would appear. John also believed that false Christians who even then were seeking to lead believers astray were antichrists: enemies of Jesus and the Father.
We know two things about antichrists from this passage. We know that they were once members of the church, but “went out from us.” They set up their own splinter movements. And we know that they revealed themselves by denying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. John said flatly that no one who denies the Son as God has any knowledge of the Father.
Not everyone who calls himself a Christian is one. In time, however, such folks reveal themselves, by causing schism in the church, and by denying the deity of Jesus.

“His anointing teaches you about all things” 1 John 2:24–27. What protects us from false teachers? Objectively, we make sure that “what you have heard from the beginning remains in you.” The doctrine of the early church and the Apostles is preserved in the inspired Word of God; we study and stand on it. But there is a subjective source of security as well. This is the Holy Spirit, that “anointing you received from Him,” who “teaches you about all things.”
The inner voice of the Spirit and the objective Word combine to witness to the truth. We don’t need any human authority to tell us what is true and what is false. If we listen to the Word, and to the Spirit, we will know.

“And that is what we are!” 1 John 2:28–3:10 Our dog Mitzi has this fixed idea that she’s a member of the family, and ought to have a place at the dinner table. If we don’t watch out, she jumps up on a chair, rests her chin on a place mat, and waits for the opportunity to grab a bite to eat. We have a hard time convincing her that she’s a dog, and dogs don’t eat people food at the dinner table.
John wants us to develop a fixed idea too. He wants us to understand that, even now, we ARE the children of God. We can’t tell what that means ultimately, other than the fact that when Jesus comes we’ll be like Him. But, knowing that we are God’s children and that we will be like Jesus, has a tremendous impact. Mitzi’s wrong when she thinks she’s a person and tries to act like one. But we’re right if we think we are God’s children. If we are totally convinced we’re God’s own, John says we’ll begin to act like God here and now.
If you ever wonder how to act in a particular situation, just remember that you’re a child of God. And act as you believe a child of God should.

“Do not be surprised . . . if the world hates you” 1 John 3:11–15. In the first and second century of our era the world did hate Christians. The Christians refused to take part in public life because sacrifices offered to gods and goddesses were a traditional element in political and social gatherings. Christians were condemned as atheists and as haters of humanity, for to the pagan those who did not shoulder their civic responsibilities seemed to attack the social order.
Otherwise Christians were good citizens: honest, moral, responsible, but still hated. So these words of John were important. Hatred comes from sin, and if Christians were hated and killed, the persecution revealed the sin that infected society. But the obverse must also true. If hatred is the mark of evil, love is the indelible sign of good and godliness.
Some, even in America, are hated because their stand strips away the cloak that hides the basic immorality of such things in our society as abortion, exploitation of sex, and media corruption. They feel the hostility John wrote of. But all of us are to show love, the unmistakable evidence that God has touched, and entered, our hearts.

“If our hearts do not condemn us” 1 John 3:21–24. Deep down, you and I do know what’s right. And we know when we do wrong. We may try to hide it, but even if we attempt to deceive ourselves, there remains a nagging certainty that we’ve done wrong.
What a powerful motive for choosing what is right and good! When our conscience is clear, when we know we’ve done our best, John says we “have confidence before God.” We have confidence to pray, and confidence to claim the answer to our prayers. And most important of all, we have confidence that He does live in us.
Only Jesus within can motivate us to gladly choose what is right and good.

DEVOTIONAL
Toward the Light
(1 John 3:4–10)
I remember when I was in grade school I had to do an experiment growing a lima bean. I guess education hasn’t advanced all that much, because now, 50 years later, the nine-year-old in our house has grown a lima been too. But what’s interesting is that, the sprouting plant will always grow toward the sun. Somehow the life of the bean is drawn toward the light. You can turn the plant around, even lay it on its side. Whatever you do, the sprout will orient toward the sun.
That’s what John was saying about us when he wrote, “No one who lives in Him keeps on sinning” (v. 6). The NIV captures the vital tense of the verb. It’s not that a Christian never sins. It’s that believers will not “keep on sinning.” John said the reason is that God’s seed—the principle of divine life —has been planted in our personalities. God’s life within us grows in the direction of godliness. His life is oriented toward purity. And if God’s life really is in us, there will be a definite tilt toward what is right, and away from sin.
Anyone may sin at times, and in all likelihood will. But you can still tell the DIRECTION in which a person is growing. And so can everyone else!

Personal Application
The direction of your life is more important than where you are now.

Quotable
“Glorious God, give me grace to amend my life, and to have an eye to my end without begrudging death, which to those who die in You, good Lord, is the gate of a wealthy life.
“And give me, good Lord, a humble, lowly, quiet, peaceable, patient, charitable, kind, tender and pitiful mind, in all my works and in all my words and all my thoughts, to have a taste of Your holy, blessed Spirit.
“Give me, good Lord, a full faith, a firm hope, and a fervent charity, a love of You incomparably above the love of myself.
“And give me, good Lord, Your love and favour, which my love of You, however great it might be, could not deserve were it not for Your great goodness.
“These things, good Lord, I pray for, give me Your grace to labour for.”—Thomas More