This, then, is the family line of Perez:
Perez was the father of Hezron,
Hezron the father of Ram,
Ram the father of Amminadab,
Amminadab the father of Nahshon,
Nahshon the father of Salmon,
Salmon the father of Boaz,
Boaz the father of Obed,
Obed the father of Jesse,
and Jesse the father of David.
- Ruth 4:18-22
The Book of Ruth ends with what might seem, at first glance, an abrupt pivot – a genealogy. After four beautiful chapters of narrative about loyalty, love, providence, and redemption, the story concludes by tracing a line of descendants from Perez, son of Judah, to King David. To modern readers, genealogies can feel anticlimactic, like reading the end credits after a great drama. Yet in the ancient world, genealogies were powerful tools of meaning, identity, and hope. This closing passage of Ruth is no exception. Rather than a mere list of names, it weaves together deep theological threads and offers enduring insights for us today.
The genealogy of Ruth does not appear in isolation. By tracing the line from Perez to David, the author situates Ruth’s story firmly within the grand narrative of Scripture. Perez, the son of Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38), was a significant figure in Israelite tribal history. The tribe of Judah would later be identified as the royal tribe, the tribe from which Israel’s kings, and ultimately the Messiah, would come (Genesis 49:10).
By anchoring Ruth’s story into the line of Judah, the genealogy highlights how God’s providence works not only in personal stories but in national and even global history. Ruth, a Moabite widow, becomes woven into the fabric of Israel’s destiny. Her faithfulness and her inclusion into God’s people have implications far beyond just her life; they help shape the lineage of King David and, by extension, the story of Jesus Christ (see Matthew 1:1-16). This teaches us that no story is isolated. Our lives, like Ruth’s, are connected to larger purposes we cannot always see. Our small acts of faithfulness today may echo far into the future, whether we realize it or not.
The Book of Ruth is filled with themes of redemption. Boaz is portrayed as a guardian-redeemer who rescues Ruth and Naomi from poverty and social marginalization. Yet the final genealogy shows us that this redemption is not just temporal or social; it is generational and eternal.
By fathering Obed, Boaz and Ruth start a family line that restores Naomi’s family line, which seemed on the brink of extinction. Naomi, who had once declared, “The LORD has brought me back empty” (Ruth 1:21), now cradles Obed in her arms as a tangible sign of restored hope. The genealogy magnifies the truth that God redeems what appears lost, revives what seems barren, and writes new futures where none seemed possible.
For us today, this invites us to see how God’s work of redemption operates on multiple levels. It reminds us not to lose hope in the bleak seasons. God’s redemptive power can transform not only individual circumstances but entire family legacies.
Ruth’s Moabite identity is a crucial element of the story. The Moabites were historically enemies toward Israel (Deuteronomy 23:3-6), and yet Ruth’s faith and loyalty to Naomi and to Israel’s God led to her full inclusion into God’s covenant. By marrying Boaz and becoming the great-grandmother of David, Ruth shatters ethnic and cultural barriers.
This genealogy affirms that the Kingdom of God has always had room for outsiders who turn to Him. Ruth is not merely accepted; she is honored as a pivotal figure in Israel’s story. For modern readers, this invites reflection on the radical hospitality of God’s kingdom. The church, as the body of Christ, continues to be a place where those from every tribe, tongue, and nation are grafted into the people of God.
Ending the Book of Ruth with David’s name is no accident. For the original audience, who were likely living during or after David’s reign, this genealogy underscored the legitimacy of David’s royal lineage. It reminded Israel that God had orchestrated events across generations to raise up a king “after His own heart” (1 Samuel 13:14)
From a Christian perspective, the genealogy doesn’t stop with David. Matthew 1 explicitly echoes Ruth 4’s genealogy to show that Jesus Christ, the ultimate Redeemer, descends from this line. Thus, the narrative of Ruth is not just a prequel to David’s reign; it is an overture to the arrival of the Messiah. This teaches us to view history and our own lives through the lens of God’s unfolding kingdom. Even in mundane decisions or challenging circumstances, God is at work, advancing His redemptive purposes that culminate in Christ.
One final note from the genealogy is its testimony to God’s covenantal faithfulness. The ten names listed span several generations, from Perez (in the time of the patriarchs) to David (the era of monarchy). Across centuries, despite human failings, suffering, exile, and wandering, God’s promises endure. For us today, this provides a solid foundation in the midst of life’s uncertainties. God is faithful to His promises, even when timelines stretch longer than we expect. His work spans beyond our lifetimes but always aligns with His perfect will.
Far from being dry historical data, this genealogy is a testimony of grace, hope, and purpose. It invites us to entrust our stories to the God who writes history – a God who, through Ruth and Boaz, gave Israel a king and the world a Savior.
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When Ruth came to her mother-in-law, Naomi asked, “How did it go, my daughter?”
Then she told her everything Boaz had done for her and added, “He gave me these six measures of barley, saying, ‘Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.’”
Then Naomi said, “Wait, my daughter, until you find out what happens. For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.”
- Ruth 3:16-18
This passage contains a pivotal moment in one of the Bible’s most beautiful stories of loyalty, redemption, and divine providence. Here, we see what happened after Ruth's bold nighttime encounter with Boaz on the threshing floor, which you can read about here and here. This was a turning point not only in Ruth's life but in Naomi’s as well.
When Ruth returns from the threshing floor, Naomi’s question to her in verse 16 is full of emotion. Some translations say, “Who are you, my daughter?” which in Hebrew could imply more than simply asking for news. It might reflect Naomi’s anxious curiosity: has Ruth’s status changed? Is she still a poor woman gleaning in a field, or has she become Boaz’s bride-to-be?
Every person who has ever waited in hope can relate to this moment, not knowing how their future will unfold. Naomi had sent Ruth into a highly delicate situation. While their intentions were honorable, Ruth’s nighttime approach to Boaz could have easily backfired. But now, as Ruth steps through the door, Naomi is asking not just for information but for reassurance, for hope—for a sign that their long season of emptiness might finally be coming to an end.
Naomi, who once declared she went away full and came back empty, is on the verge of having her story rewritten. Her question isn’t just about the logistics of what happened—it reflects a mother’s deep longing for restoration, both for Ruth and herself.
In verse 17, Ruth recounts what Boaz did for her, emphasizing his words: “Don’t go back to your mother-in-law empty-handed.” This line is particularly important when we remember Naomi’s lament in chapter 1. She asked to be called Mara, meaning bitter, because “the Lord has brought me back empty” (Ruth 1:21). Now Boaz, perhaps knowingly, uses language that directly counters Naomi’s despair.
Boaz gives Ruth six measures of barley. While the precise amount is debated, it is clearly a generous gift. But beyond physical sustenance, this gift carries symbolic weight. It is a token of Boaz’s intentions; he didn’t send Ruth away with a vague promise. He gave something tangible, demonstrating both provision and commitment. It is also a message to Naomi; this gift wasn’t just for Ruth. Boaz intentionally told Ruth to take it to Naomi, honoring her and acknowledging her role in Ruth’s life.
Ruth’s obedience and boldness are met not with scandal or rejection but with grace and generosity. Her actions, though risky, are honored. She is no longer merely the Moabite widow who gleans in the fields—she is becoming someone Boaz esteems and protects. This also has implications for Naomi, as Boaz’s words provide her with healing. The very one who said she returned empty is now receiving fullness again—first through Ruth’s loyalty, then through Boaz’s generosity.
Naomi, who initiated the plan earlier in this chapter, now steps back and tells Ruth to wait in verse 18. This might seem surprising after all the urgency and risk they undertook. But this moment reveals something profound about faith and trust.
Naomi says, “For the man will not rest until the matter is settled today.” This is not just a statement of observation; it’s a declaration of confidence in Boaz’s character and God’s providence. Naomi knows that Boaz is not the kind of man to delay. She also seems to recognize that, at this point, the outcome is out of their hands.
Earlier in the narrative, Naomi was bitter, defeated, and passive. But here, she speaks with calm assurance. Her faith has been rekindled. She believes Boaz will act righteously and swiftly, and in that belief, she releases the situation to God’s timing. Ruth, having done all she could, must now embrace the spiritual discipline of waiting. This can be the hardest part of any journey of faith—when you’ve put everything on the line and now must trust the outcome to someone else’s hands.
This short passage teaches us a hard but necessary lesson in life and faith: sometimes, the most faithful thing you can do is wait. Naomi and Ruth had taken bold steps. But now, having done their part, they must trust God (and Boaz) to move. Their story echoes the same theme seen throughout Scripture: the faithful ones who wait are the ones who see God’s hand most clearly. Faith in God is not just about bold action—it’s also about quiet trust.
In our modern culture that prizes instant gratification, waiting can feel like wasted time. But in God’s economy, waiting is never wasted when it is filled with faith. God is always working behind the scenes in our lives, orchestrating all things for His good purposes. Sometimes, that involves action on our part, but other times, that involves waiting on God and His timing.
This narrative teaches us about hope in transition and the power of waiting on God to work. Naomi asked Ruth, “How did it go, my daughter?” Truly, the answer was: It’s going beautifully because God is not done, and the best is yet to come.
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One of the sermons that has left a lingering effect on me is David Wilkerson’s “The Hunter From Hell.” The sermon is about how the enemy goes after the “precious life,” especially those young people whom God has called from an early age. Throughout the sermon, Wilkerson gives example after example of these teens who he has ministered to and whose lives were totally wrecked through the gangs, drugs, drinking, violence, poverty, etc. and yet had a call from God early in life. He described a pastor who discovered his teenage sons were mainline heroin addicts and instead of receiving help, they just walked out stone cold. He describes Nikki Cruz, who was caught up in gangs, being a violent gang warlord, only to discover later that Cruz remembered a calling to ministry as a little boy. He described others who lived the “standard good kid” life of some who never amounted to much, but the one son of this family who was treated as a black sheep was the one who thrived. That has made me think that the enemy can sense when God is moving, and he is going to try to take that calling out while it is still young, but God is going to prepare that person for something powerful.
I am reminded of myself in that sermon. I am easily one who “the system” tried to push through the cracks and just move me along. They had no intention of actually helping me. But my parents would not let that happen, and they fought for me because they saw I was worth it. Early in my fencing career, I was NOT a good fencer by any means and yet my coaches were very patient with me for about 12 years before they finally retired (coinciding with my college graduation as well). But that sport has done wonders for me, and when I was planning to start the fencing program for my school, one demographic I had in mind all along was that “non-athlete” and the one that never had a program to belong to. With a number of kids on my team now, that has been the case. The administration of my school loves it, and teachers who were initially skeptical about the program are in total support after seeing what it has been doing.
All of this is an outflow of the heart of Jesus. It’s Jesus who loves the outcasts, the downtrodden, the societal rejects, the ones only deemed useful for the menial labor tasks no one wants to do. If they are not even useful for that, the view is that they should be “discarded.” The mindset of eugenics and seeking to reduce the world’s population sees anyone who will consume resources more than produce resources to be useless and deserving to die, especially the disabled and elderly. But Jesus does not do that; He treats such lives as precious in His sight. We see this in three different occasions (among others) in Scripture.
Jesus went to Sychar, a town in Samaria, a place where Jews would intentionally go around and avoid due to racial tensions. The Jews hated the Samaritans, and the Samaritans hated the Jews. Jesus went to the well of Jacob and met a woman there, a social outcast, because she couldn’t go with the other women. Jesus used small talk about the well to introduce true water and life and hope to her. He knew she had a very troubled life with marriages, and He told her the truth without condemning her, and she realized He was the Messiah. Jesus came to that little town just to meet her.
Later, Jesus went to Jerusalem and met a man at the pool of Bethsaida, hoping to get healed by the hot spring or whatever stirred the waters. This man had been paralyzed for 38 years, and he wanted to be healed. Jesus came to him and healed him. He didn’t heal anyone else; He came for that one man and that one man alone. Why no one else? We don’t know. But we know that of the group at that pool, Jesus went after this one.
In Luke 15, we get three parables about the searching for the one – the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the Prodigal Son. Each of these is about leaving the safe and secure ones and going after the lost one. It is also about welcoming the returning one back with open arms. And it is no coincidence that I am writing this when I am. I am writing this post on January 20, 2025, though you are reading it over a month later. Literally yesterday, we had a young man in our church return after a few years of going prodigal. I don’t know what he got caught up with or even if he was involved with sin, but he did no sin against my church and he was met with nothing but loving and open arms. While we may help him deal with past issues, we really don’t care what he did; we care that he came back. My church and I got to be the father of the Prodigal Son and welcome him back, without being the elder brother who despised the younger one for what he did. It was so cool to be on the welcoming side of that and be Jesus to those who think they are lost and worthless.
Jesus had compassion for the lost and the hurting. He knew that the one was worth going after. But it wasn’t everyone. He had specific people He was looking for, and when He found them, He brought them home. Some may have come kicking and screaming, but Jesus found them. Some of you have been among those whom Jesus has saved when many others around you were not. Some of you have seen others saved near you but may not have been saved yet. If you are reading this and your heart is being tugged at, it means you either have been through this or you have seen it before in others, or you are being the one Jesus is coming for. Come to Jesus. It doesn’t matter what you have done or where you have been, just come home. Come to Christ. He is worth it; He is so worth it. And unlike any sinful master we have had before, Jesus is a good master, and none will truly take care of us like He does. If you are one of those that the devil went after to devour, you are held as precious in God’s sight. Come home.
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So the two women went on until they came to Bethlehem. When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them, and the women exclaimed, “Can this be Naomi?”
“Don’t call me Naomi,” she told them. “Call me Mara, because the Almighty has made my life very bitter. I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? The LORD has afflicted me; the Almighty has brought misfortune upon me.”
So Naomi returned from Moab accompanied by Ruth the Moabite, her daughter-in-law, arriving in Bethlehem as the barley harvest was beginning.
- Ruth 1:19-22
In the verses before this, we see Ruth clinging to her mother-in-law Naomi and making the journey back to Bethlehem with her. That meant leaving her people, her customs, and her gods, but Ruth declared loyalty to Naomi’s people and Naomi’s God instead. We don’t know anything about what occurred on that journey, as the narrative picks up here as they arrive in Bethlehem.
In verse 19, we read that “When they arrived in Bethlehem, the whole town was stirred because of them.” The verb “stirred” conveys more than mere curiosity. It suggests an emotional uproar or agitation. Naomi’s return after at least a decade, coupled with her altered circumstances of now being a widow and having a daughter-in-law with her, creates a ripple effect in the community. This phrase speaks to the communal nature of ancient Israelite life, where personal events often impacted the whole town.
The reaction of the women in the town calls out the role of community in our life stories. Naomi’s return prompts reflection and conversation, demonstrating how deeply her life was intertwined with the people around her, even after having been gone for at least ten years. Shared experiences and interactions with those around us are an important part of each of our stories. The women were initially shocked, but then they became witnesses to Naomi’s transformation throughout the rest of the narrative.
The question posed by the women of Bethlehem (“Can this be Naomi?”) highlights both recognition and disbelief. The name Naomi means “pleasant” or “delightful.” Her return, marked by grief and hardship, contrasts starkly with the identity her name conveys. This question implicitly underscores the transformative power of suffering, which can leave people unrecognizable—not just physically but emotionally and spiritually.
Naomi’s request to be called Mara (verse 20), meaning “bitter,” reflects her internal state. This renaming is significant in Hebrew culture, where names often symbolize one’s identity or destiny. By renouncing the name Naomi and embracing the name Mara, she articulates her perception of life’s harshness and God’s role in her suffering.
Her desire to go by the name Mara illustrates how suffering can reshape our sense of self. Her lament reveals the human tendency to interpret pain as a defining feature of identity. Yet, this renaming is not the final word in Naomi’s story. Her journey reminds us that while suffering may mark a season of life, it does not have to define who we are.
Naomi explains this further by stating that “the Almighty has made my life very bitter.” The word Almighty here is the word Shaddai in Hebrew, which emphasizes God’s sovereignty. Naomi’s lament attributes her suffering to God’s direct action of taking away her husband and two sons. She explains this in verse 21, blaming all of her sufferings on God.
Naomi’s perception of God as the cause of her misfortune reflects an honest grappling with divine sovereignty. While she attributes her hardships to God, the broader narrative of Ruth reveals a more nuanced picture. God’s providence is at work, even in the midst of her pain, orchestrating events that will lead to unexpected blessings.
The mention of the barley harvest beginning in verse 22 is more than a timestamp; it’s a subtle foreshadowing of hope. The harvest symbolizes provision and new beginnings. This detail prepares readers for the unfolding narrative of redemption and restoration, much of which is centered around the events of the harvest.
The connection of Naomi’s lament about suffering with the mention of the barley harvest illustrates the tension between bitterness and hope. Her words express despair, yet the setting points to the potential for renewal. This tension is a hallmark of the Christian journey, where lament and trust often coexist. Naomi’s raw honesty challenges us to bring our pain before God without pretense. Her example encourages us to articulate our struggles, trusting that God can handle our emotions. Lament is not a lack of faith; rather, it is an act of faith that acknowledges God’s presence in our pain.
Seasons of hardship are not permanent. God’s timing often unfolds in ways we cannot anticipate, bringing hope and restoration when we least expect it. As believers, we are called to trust in the unseen work of God, even when our circumstances seem bleak.
Even though there has been much hardship and suffering in this first chapter of Ruth, there is hope! God was at work in the lives of Naomi and Ruth to bring about redemption through the barley harvest and other events that would unfold, and He is also at work in our lives today. Even if you’re going through a difficult time right now, remember that your story is not over yet, and God’s faithfulness endures through every season of life.
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The Gospel does not merely reach the repentant sinner, though for one to be born again, he must repent of his own sin. The Gospel also reaches the destitute. The destitute are not those who have been broken and shattered over their sin; the destitute are those whom society has broken and left as outcasts. They are those reduced to do “manual labor,” the thankless jobs, in which no one gets noticed. They are the poor, the rejected, and the ones who are refused recognition or support. In India, they have a caste system, and below the four major castes are the Dalites, the poor of the poor, and the ones treated as though they are beneath the Brahman. The Gospel is for these types of people, those who are poor in spirit.
When Jesus began His ministry, He went to His hometown of Nazareth and quoted Isaiah 61, saying His calling was to rescue the lost, free the captive, and lift up the downtrodden. He was the fulfillment of this prophecy for the ones whom society has ignored, the ones whom the world rejects. Judea, that distant wasteland that the Romans deemed almost a punishment to be sent “out there,” was rejected by the world. In David and Solomon’s time, they were the pinnacle of the world. All the nations came to see them. But Israel and Judah sinned against God and made this tiny, weak nation truly tiny and weak, where the only reason it remained in existence was the divine protection of God. Israel was not an affluent nation. They did not have a prestigious heritage. They were slaves. They went to Egypt as a family and were enslaved, but they came out as a nation that was led and backed by God Himself.
The exodus from Egypt and the entering of the Promised Land is a full image of the Gospel. We who were once slaves to the meanest and strongest slave master ever to exist (sin) were bought with the greatest price ever paid (the blood of Jesus). The lowest of all people were brought out of slavery and exalted to the highest possible position: servants of God, people who would worship God, serve Him, and praise His name forever. That is the purpose of the Christian: to love God, to enjoy Him forever, to serve Him, and to be His people.
The ones whom the world has beaten down, the victims of the scams, those whom the government has robbed, those who have landed on very hard times, those whom the bankers have denied, those whom the politicians have run down, all unjustly – the Gospel is for these people too. Unlike the selfish rulers who make promises they have no intention of keeping, God does not break His promises. While God does not promise immediate relief to all people, He does promise He will elevate those who trust Him and yet the world does not.
For those in ministry, if you are in that backside of the desert church, serving only 10-50 people if that, and when you go to conferences to get fed and help you are seen as “lesser than,” understand this: one day, God is going to raise you above all those pastors who use their numbers and congregation size as a boasting figure to look at self. The greatest sermons and the greatest preachers truly are those whom no one has heard.
Jesus said, “The first shall be last, and the last shall be first.” When James and John asked to be seated at the right and left hand of Jesus, you could see Jesus weep with frustration at how little they got the purpose of the Kingdom. The Gospel reverses the order of this world. While man seeks acclaim, glory, prestige, names, money, and power, Jesus seeks humility, service, and love and care for others. The world is all about self and elevating self. The Kingdom of God is about denial of self and serving others and a purpose greater than self. When Jesus comes again, He will bring low those who thought they were the best, and He will raise up those the world refused to allow to grow and develop.
The destitute are those who cannot get out of their situation on their own. They need help. They need someone to come down, reach down, and stoop down to lift them up. They need someone from a higher station to come elevate them. The worldly will keep shoving them down because they don’t want competition and they don’t want to be seen as weak before their blood-thirsty peers. The worldly see these people as mere obstacles in their path. The godly, however, sees the individual despite the circumstances and sees the image of God, even if marred and corrupted, in that person. The Gospel is for these people, too. The Gospel tells them that their troubles in this world are only temporary and that the day will come when they will enjoy paradise forever.
Do not hear what I am not saying. I am not saying that the Gospel will lift these people up if they do not repent of their sins. In every category of person I address in this series, there must be repentance because all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God in their own right. But the Gospel does much more than cleanse humble sinners. That is primary, but it does more than that. It also lifts up those whom the world has rejected, and it will bring low those the world lifts up. I’ll address that category next week. The Gospel is for the wealthy too.
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by Eric Hansen
If you’ve been a Christian within the last 2,000 years, I’m almost certain the experience of a spiritual valley has hit you at least once. I’m not referring to those fleeting bouts of annoyance with your church or brother in Christ but the real deep valleys – those times where you sit there in your chair, staring at your Bible and just say to yourself, “Why am I even doing this?”
These are some testing times, and to put it bluntly, they suck. You can feel like there’s no hope, rhyme, or reason for things to be going on. If you’re in a disagreement with a fellow Christian, you can even start thinking, “If this is what Christianity is then forget it.” Even just having faith for a few years now, I’ve experienced these emotions more than once. In this blog post, I want to recap those experiences so far, and then address ways that I went about handling the situation. Along with that I’ll share some experiences in hindsight. While I might sound like I’m complaining in describing the events, I truly am not, but that’s one of the things you may realize once you start getting out of that valley.
The first time I experienced this was back in January of 2020. I was going in for some major surgery (a heart cath) and was afraid. Luckily everything turned out fine, but the recovery from it was kind of brutal. My wife was going through some things on her own, having to quit her job not long before, and she was probably more afraid than I was during the procedure since I did have a risk of dying. But, at no point before, during, or after did my church show any support or love to us. The pastor offered some comfort before, but he was on vacation while I was gone and didn’t reach out to me after he returned. None of the elders reached out to us to see if we needed anything or how we were doing. Only one time did anyone reach out (besides the kids we were pastoring to at the time, God bless them), and that was to just say, “Hope to see you in church soon.” For a month, we dealt with fear and depression, and it just intensified immensely the last 2 weeks of that. We felt alone, unloved, and unimportant. After we got out of this valley, though, my wife confessed that she was afraid I was going to give up on my faith. Sometimes that thought crossed my mind, but then I reminded myself that my loyalty is to Christ, not to the church. But it took a long while to even want to pick up my Bible again.
Even though I haven’t yet experienced such a deep valley again, the intense dread of the matter recently crept up again. I won’t go into the details much as I don’t want to support gossip. However, things came to a head when I started realizing just how a person I had asked to mentor me had changed in their theology since the start. They became a different person to me, and I wasn’t the only one to see it. But this being the 3rd person I’ve held in high regard on a personal level, I basically felt abandoned and hurt. I’m very much for showing and extending love and grace to others, but we can’t be selective on who we extend that to. From my perspective, the situation became very hypocritical, and that was the very thing this person has been adamant about not being. I could also be wrong on my observation, and I hope so, but I remember after speaking my emotions out to them, I was thinking, “Man, if this is what I gotta deal with as a Christian, is it even worth it?”
Now, this isn’t to say that the road was paved in death the whole way through. There were definitely bouts of sunshine and rainbows spread throughout the journeys. But, when we’re in those valleys, it’s hard to remember them let alone look back and see it.
I can’t honestly explain how I recovered from the first instance. I remember waking up on February 1, 2020 and feeling like an immense darkness had been lifted. Now, during that month of the valley, I prayed and tried to keep a relationship with God as best as I could. So I can always say God lifted me from the depths of my own personal hell. But, at the same time, almost all of those prayers felt like they were bouncing off walls and satellites. I also hadn’t been reading the Bible, so it was much more of a one-way conversation, unfortunately. But, the fascinating thing to me is that my wife, who had been struggling just as bad as me, shared the same thoughts on the same day.
As for the second trial of fire, it’s been a really different experience. Between the first valley and now, I’ve gained a much deeper understanding on how the Spirit directs me most often. When something is God’s will and not just my own will, I sense an incredible feeling of peace about it. Unfortunately, what brought me that peace was accepting the difference in theological views and realizing that for my personal growth to not be stunted, I needed to step away from such a deep relationship with them. I love them dearly, but I love them enough to know when it isn’t healthy as well. This is probably one of the biggest lessons I learned from this valley.
Both times, and with all the other more minor valleys I’ve had, perseverance was definitely key. It’s very easy to walk away from God when things get tough.
Some would say to be in the Word, read it more, etc. But, I can’t sit here and suggest that because each situation is going to be different. But, I will suggest finding a Christ-focused, Bible-believing person and talk with them about your valley. Keep in mind to not start gossip, and the easiest way is to only focus on “I.” If you can read the Bible, then by all means do it. But, if we’re being practical about these situations, it’s not always comfortable to read such a book, especially when you’re already at the point of doubting your faith. Even as an introvert, I’ve found much more success in this most recent valley talking to others about my emotions than I did keeping everything internalized during the first one.
A passage I held close to my heart during this last valley is from 1 Thessalonians 4:1-2: “Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you in the name of the Lord Jesus to live in a way that pleases God, as we have taught you. You live this way already, and we encourage you to do so even more. For you remember what we taught you by the authority of the Lord Jesus.”
The book of 1 Thessalonians is one of the few epistles that has deep praise for keeping true to the Christian faith even during turbulent times. It reminds me of what the book of Jude was meant to be originally (Jude 1:3: “Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. But now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people.”).
I know that I was on a righteous path to Christ before I got tossed into the valley. While I tumbled my way to the bottom, it wasn’t impossible to rebound. The opportunity granted me the time to understand that my faith was unstable. The way back to Christ was to build my faith on a sturdier foundation than I had previously. So the first book I reached for from my bookshelf was What Every Christian Ought to Know by Adrian Rogers. The next book I’ll be reading is Worldview Warriors’ very own Charlie Wolcott’s Biblical Foundations. While my faith is still building firmer, these resources from a biblical perspective have helped me explore the Bible deeper (such as digging into 1 Corinthians 14) and to learn what is needed to grow further with God.
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Yesterday marked the first Sunday of the church season of Advent - the season where we celebrate the anticipation of the birth of Jesus on Christmas. Each Sunday of the Advent season has a theme traditionally associated with it, and this year, I will write on each of those themes as we go through this season.
The theme for this first week of Advent is hope. What exactly is hope? Hope can be interpreted in two main ways. One definition for hope is a desire that something we would like to happen, or an expectation that we would like to be fulfilled. A second definition for hope is the knowledge that something will happen for certain. Do you see the difference there? Sometimes, hope is just wishing something would happen; other times, hope is knowing that something will happen and waiting for it expectantly, though we may or may not know exactly when it will happen. The difference is in the degree of certainty we have.
We often hope for things in this life without certainty. Perhaps I hope my job will go smoothly this week; I do not know for certain that will happen, but I hope so. Perhaps I hope there will be a chocolate cake magically waiting for me in my kitchen; that’s unlikely, but a girl can hope, right? These are things that we may want to happen, but they’re not necessarily certain.
The hope that is given to us in the Scriptures, and that we focus on during this Advent season, is one of certainty. When we put our hope in God’s promises, we know He will fulfill them. He may not fulfill His promises in the way we would like Him to, but they will always be fulfilled according to His perfect plan and purpose and to give Him glory.
As we think about hope, take a look at a few passages from Scripture that encompass this idea:
“You are my refuge and my shield; I have put my hope in your word.” (Psalm 119:114)
“Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.” (Isaiah 40:30-31)
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.” (Hebrews 10:23)
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” (Romans 15:13)
“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” (Ephesians 1:18)
“I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. I wait for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning. Israel, put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption.” (Psalm 130:5-7)
There are many more passages in Scripture that point to the certain hope that we have in God. Do you see the difference in these passages between a hope that might happen and a hope that is certain?
Having a hope that is in uncertain things will cause a sense of uncertainty and anxiety in our lives. Instead, hope in the Lord, for He is faithful. He has shown us time and time again through His Word and through His working in our lives that He is worthy of our hope, and He will fulfill HIs promises.
Let me share a story to illustrate this from my own life. In 2010, I graduated from seminary with my Master of Divinity degree. Since not long after then, I desired to pursue another degree, whether it would be another master’s degree or a doctorate. I hoped it would happen, but year after year it didn’t, for a variety of reasons. In 2017, I had a moment of hope when I was told that a doctorate could be possible for me, but then that hope was shot down by some other life factors.
In the early summer of 2020, that hope was reignited in my life, and I began to see how God had been working in my life over the past 10 years to align everything that needed to happen to make my hope a reality. Throughout the summer, God kept revealing more and more how He had been working to make this happen - but in His timing rather than my own. For years, my hope was uncertain, but I kept hoping in the God of certainty and waiting on His plan. In September 2020, I began classes toward my Doctor of Ministry degree. Now, I have the certain hope that God will continue working in my life to sustain me on this journey that He so clearly has prepared for me.
What are you hoping for in your life? Is it a hope of uncertainty or a hope of certainty? Put your hope in the God of certainty that He will keep His promises to you. God promised to send His Son to earth to be born of a woman, live a sinless life, die an atoning death to take on the punishment that we deserve, and be raised again to reign in glory. We know with certainty that all of that happened some 2000 years ago, and every promise God has made has been fulfilled in Jesus. We can truly put our hope in Him, and I encourage you to do so this Advent season.
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If you have been following the last ten weeks as I’ve written on brainwashing, the Hegelian Dialectic Process, and what I believe about upcoming tribulation for American Christians and you are feeling either overwhelmed or fearful, I understand. Dealing with the topic of suffering is anathema to most in American Christianity. Most don’t want to hear it. Many will rebuke any person who dares bring up the topic. Yet there are some who are going through it and are asking: “What is the deal?” One of the reasons why Richard Wurmbrand started Voice of the Martyrs is because he wanted us here in the West to be alert about what is really happening to the Christians in the rest of the world.
Last week, I gave a warning that great suffering I believe is coming to us here in the U.S. If I’ve ever come close to “prophesying,” this would be it, and I do not consider myself a prophet or son or a prophet or what not. For the record, I am NOT saying this is a prophecy, but I say this to show how urgent the weight I feel on this issue is. I’m not alone on this one either. In many circles I’m, I’m hearing similar things. On a Facebook post that Voice of the Martyrs posted about the Tortured for Christ DVD, I posted that I had watched and seen in, then said that we need to be preparing for such suffering coming to us. I received many responses; most said they agreed, however, some responded with “Pray with me that it doesn’t happen.” I said, “I’ll pray that God does what He needs to do.”
Suffering is part of the Christian life. Jesus said it would come, and the closer to you get to God, the more suffering you will face. Just ask Job when God brought Job to Satan’s attention. Just ask Peter when Satan asked for permission to get at him on the very night Jesus would be betrayed. Jesus gave it to him and prayed for Peter that he would endure it. Just ask Paul when he was shipwrecked, stoned, beaten five times, ran out of town many times, and ultimately beheaded. Just ask the “Great Cloud of Witnesses” and that they endured as recorded at the end of Hebrews 11. Suffering is part of our life.
Let me also say this: we cannot be conformed into the image of Christ without suffering. Why? Because suffering is the only way to get sin out of our lives and to get us to rely and depend upon Christ instead of ourselves. My pastor told a story of a man who was dying of cancer. He asked his pastor if he would pray that God would heal him of cancer. The pastor responded: “This cancer has brought you closer to God than 40 years of my preaching. I will not pray for you to be healed. But I will pray that this cancer cannot take a single more cell without God’s permission.”
Suffering is not pleasant, but Paul took a position that most people really just skim over. He rejoiced over his suffering. He counted suffering as gain, because it brought him and others closer to Christ. That is what we are to do when it comes to suffering: rejoice. Again, Richard Wurmbrand is a modern example. He was put into solitary confinement for three years; he was in such darkness for so long that it nearly blinded him. And he came out simply glowing because he was with Christ every day. He took beatings from the Communist guards as a joy. The movie showcases a man preaching to the group and the guards come in and beat him up. He returns, hardly able to stand, and immediate says: “Where was I?” How do they handle this? How will we handle all this suffering I fear we may face, possibly within our lifetime?
This one is something I still have to wrestle with to really grasp, but Wurmbrand said that knowing Psalm 23 didn’t help him at all in prison. He had to know the Shepherd of which the Psalm speaks. Memorizing Scripture is vital, because when the Bible is taken from us, we will only have our memory to rely on. I am an intellectual type and I know Scripture very well, though I still have much to learn of it. But mere head knowledge of Scripture won’t help me when I face this kind of persecution. Knowing Whom Scripture reveals will help me. But how can I know Him, if I don’t know His Word?
The Apostle James knew the Savior. When he was executed, he had such a confident air and hope about him that his executioner confessed Christ and asked to be executed with James so he wouldn’t die alone. James was the first of the Apostles to be executed. How did he do that? He knew the Savior, but he also knew something else that Herod didn’t know.
Paul said the sufferings of this world are mere trifles, only here for a moment. He knew what suffering was, even more than Richard Wurmbrand. He was beaten, he was imprisoned, and he was even stoned, not to mention shipwrecked, faced robbers and thieves, many nights homeless in the cold, friends betraying him, other friends either abandoning him or couldn’t find him. He knew about suffering. And he counted it all as joy. How? Here is another clue. He had his eye on the prize. He had what Leonard Ravenhill described as “eternity stamped upon his eyeballs.” He saw the spiritual side of things and thus looked past the sufferings of this life, which is only for a few years, and then eternity. I heard of one pastor who was in a service when thugs came in and pointed guns at everyone, saying if anyone did not deny Christ they would be shot. The pastor looked at them and said, “How dare you threaten me with heaven?”
There is hope for us. Suffering is coming. Persecution will come here to the United States. It may or may not happen in my lifetime. But I have a duty to prepare both myself and the next generation for it. When it comes, there won’t be any prep time left. But if we prepare our minds and our spirits to be ready for it, when it comes, we’ll be ready. A couple months ago I wrote about being “sifted like wheat.” This persecution will be a sifting. What is going to be left? Will we find Christ, or will we find complete and total ruin? Some of the latter may be saved, but they will be saved as though through fire, with total loss. Only his life will be spared. But the man who suffers for the name of Christ and endures, the reward he will receive will be great.
We can stand in confidence of our salvation and the hope of Christ that is in us. I want to make this clear: we don’t have the strength to endure such suffering; only Christ does. Here is what that means. It won’t be us in our own strength who endures this suffering; it will be Christ preserving us. The ones who endure are the ones whom God preserves. He may allow us to fall for a season if that is what it takes to convince us once for all to rely upon him (like Peter), but He ultimately will preserve us all the way to the end. When this comes, let us rely on Him because He knows what is best for us and He has a goal to conform us into the image of Christ.
If the past couple months have been hard on you in reading these posts, I understand. But I have a sense of urgency about me and I had to cover this. Turn to Christ and turn to Him always and only. Nothing else can satisfy us and nothing else will preserve us. Christ will. And while suffering is something no one wants to go through heading into it, those who truly have known Christ in His power and have seen Him do His work in and through it don’t regret it. The day will come when all suffering will end and if we can gain Christ through it, then we must press through and pursue Him. The worst they can do to us is send us to Christ sooner rather than later. Why should we fear when the King is on His throne?
If you have committed your life to Christ, stay strong and don’t give in. Jesus won’t give up on you. If you have not committed your life to Christ, beware because you aren’t safe either. Wurmbrand described how a Communist was imprisoned by his own people and tortured. The man was baffled at this and realized that if a Communist tortured a Communist it was for torture’s sake, not good overcoming evil (in his mind), so that must make them unmitigated evil. But if there is unmitigated evil, there must be unmitigated good, and that which evil opposes must be good. The Communist told his guards they could stop torturing him because it had done its work: he was now a Christian. The guards couldn’t believe it. When evil comes, no one is safe, not even the instigators and perpetrators. The only hope anyone has is through Christ. Please make peace with Him before it’s too late.
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by Chad Koons
Statues are coming down. How do you feel about that?
Slogans are screaming upon signs, people are marching, and BLM is taking over the national conversation. What is your stance?
Deaths are being brought to greater attention, and people nationwide are demanding reform and declaring that justice be served. So, what do you do?
Pick a side and dig in. Unleash your rage and forget about the consequences. You are so blindly wrong, and you will feel my wrath, which you deserve, that I have been waiting to lavish upon you.
If I think you’re wrong then YOU are the problem and I’ll mow you down, either verbally or physically. I am justified in this, I’ve had ENOUGH.
Let the bodies hit the floor…
Let the bodies hit the floor…
Let the bodies hit the floor…
We simply don’t care anymore.
One nation, divided under God.
I know that you are angry. Depending upon what you are angry about, you may even have a great reason to be. But this isn’t Fox News and it isn’t CNN. These are people’s lives we are talking about. This is a cry into the heart of mankind, created in the image and after the likeness of God Himself.
Have righteous anger. But be angry and sin NOT.
Where is the voice of healing?
Where are the actions of true and lasting change?
We need to WAKE UP. We are NOT battling flesh and blood here.
No, that black person is not your enemy.
No, that white person is not your enemy.
No, that cop is not your enemy.
No, that institution is not your enemy.
No, that movement is not your enemy.
See? It’s on both sides. Racism is an ancient evil, born of Satan and carried along by demonic device.
Yes, we need to reveal the darkness.
Yes, we need to call out injustice.
Yes, we need to warn, protect, and educate.
Yes, we need to stand up for the neglected and empower the downtrodden.
Most importantly, YES we need to be like Jesus during this moment of His-story. Only God can judge, and rest assured that your every word and action will be judged by Him.
For my part, are my words brining life into this death scene? How useful am I really being? As a most wise mentor once told me, “Work like it all depends on work… and pray like it all depends on prayer.”
Sarcasm needs to stop. Pre-judging others needs to stop. Insults need to stop. Can we grow up? Satan has a plan for this. Yet God is up to something bigger, and only the wise will join Him there. You have two ears and one mouth for a reason. I won’t pretend to tell you how to fix this, but I do know who can. God help us, I fear that we are too self-righteous to seek Him. Do not look back on this moment and mourn the good you could have been.
Love God and love people. If bodies hit the floor, it should be yours – in prayer before a holy God.
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Over the past few weeks, we have seen two very different mindsets rearing their heads in public. It’s really easy to post cute and positive quotes from great people in history or some encouraging and uplifting song and think that we are living our lives in that way, but one has to think… are we really?
It’s easy to share or talk about living a life without fear, but once the rubber hits the road or the fecal matter hits the fan, how are we really living? Do we get anxious and fear, or do we choose to rejoice in the difficulty? We know that things are going to be difficult, but what is our mindset throughout the trial? Are we willing to face a difficulty head on, knowing that bad things could happen but trusting in God that no matter what the trial brings, we will rejoice in the Lord? If our plans are changed and we don’t know why or how this could happen, how do we deal with this outcome? What is our attitude?
For instance, if you are a follower of Jesus Christ and work in retail and you are worried about getting sick, I would ask, why are you worried and what are you worried about? Believe me, I am not judging you; I am trying to encourage you in your faith in Christ. Are Christ’s words true or not? You have to decide.
Jesus said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:25-34)
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by Steve Risner
Note: All numbers reflected here are as of March 30, 2020. They will certainly be different tomorrow and next week, but the point is the same. Thank you for reading.
Here’s the deal: there are 2600 dead in the US from COVID-19. That seems like a lot, but when we understand how the numbers work in the US, it’s actually not. That’s 0.0008% of the population of the country. In Ohio, the number of dead works out to 0.0002% of the population. There have been 162,000 who have died in 2020 from heart disease. There have been nearly 35,000 deaths from stroke this year so far. The flu season, being labelled “normal to low,” has claimed 22,000 Americans. The H1N1 (swine flu) of 2009 claimed 1000 Americans before the president made any declarations, and those were to stay calm, don’t panic, and stay open if you’re a business or school. That pandemic rattled the world, killing nearly half a million worldwide and 12,000 to 18,000 (depending on who you talk to) in the States. Almost 300,000 deaths have been recorded (about 3200 per day) due to motor vehicle accidents this year so far in the US. In Ohio, this works out to be about 250 deaths from crashes so far this year (based on averages and stats). Something around 325,000 have died worldwide from TB this year. It's estimated that there have been 10,000,000 deaths worldwide and just short of 200,000 in the US since January 1 due to abortion. Again, if statistical averages hold true, we have had nearly 40,000 die in 2020 from communicable diseases. Almost 7% of those are from COVID-19. Nearly 60% of those are from influenza. That is 20x the deaths from the flu vs coronavirus. Now, there have been 14 million deaths this year worldwide. This means that, if there are currently 27,000 deaths from the novel coronavirus so far, that is less than 0.2% of all deaths.
Another thing to consider is the capacity of our health care system. We're told it's out of control and hospitals are being filled. I even heard a talking head on the news use the phrase, "People are dying in the streets." Is any of this true at the moment? Not at all. In the US, there are about 190,000 cases of coronavirus. Worldwide, about 5% require a hospital. This means about 9400 will require a hospital in this country over the last 3 months. This is fewer than 2 per facility. In Ohio, there are 2000 cases and just shy of 200 hospitals. At the 5% rate, that is 100 hospitalizations or 1 per every 2 hospitals. California is considered to be fairly bad; they have 8600 cases. About 430 should require a hospital over the 3 months thus far. There are over 300 hospitals there, putting fewer than 2 per facility in need. New York is considered the worst in the country as of right now; they are dealing with 75,000 cases or roughly 40% of the nation's cases. They may have trouble. That's 3700 critical cases or abut 17 per hospital in the state. But reports at those hospitals suggest many have 0 cases or only a couple. I realize more highly populated places will have a heavier case load, but the numbers aren't adding up to what we're being threatened with. And when the media puts up footage of hospitals in Italy but refer to the hospitals in New York City, I'm not sure why we should accept anything they're telling us.
Obviously, the number of cases in the US is going to go up very quickly. We knew this weeks ago because of testing. The previous president depleted our stores for dealing with this sort of thing 10 years ago and never put anything back into the pot. This has led to issues now, while the current administration is being blamed. But that’s not the real problem.
It’s certainly true that this novel coronavirus is a threat to some. When I say “some,” I mean a very small portion of the population. The mortality rate of REPORTED cases is 4.5% worldwide. Here in the States, it’s 1.4% of REPORTED cases. The mortality rate of the flu is believed to be around 0.1%. That seems like the flu is much milder than COVID-19, but that’s not comparing apples to apples. Influenza often kills up to 10% of known cases. The 0.1% comes from presumed cases. That’s a big difference. It’s very likely, when working this into COVID-19, we probably have 1/10th or even 1/100th of the total number of cases on record. It’s commonly known that this virus has been in the States since December (some reports say November). So, we have a few months of cases with no testing whatsoever, and most of these cases are mild to no symptoms. How many times of you heard of the flu having no symptoms or very mild symptoms? It doesn’t happen. The flu is terrible nearly every single time a person gets it. Not so with COVID-19. That’s because, for the vast majority of cases, it’s hardly even an inconvenience.
Yes, this is serious for some. No, it’s not serious for most. Yes, we should do what we can to make sure everyone is safe. No, we don’t need to destroy the economy and shut down the world, shaming those who still need and want to work.
People keep saying that this will inundate our hospitals. I’ve seen numerous articles on it, warning of predicted full beds and no equipment to help. But while this might be true in New York City, it’s hardly come to a realization in the vast majority of places in the US. Yes, hospitals are busier than normal (since there have been 22,000 deaths from the flu) but when the media saturates the airwaves with terrifying news coverage, insinuating that all of the inhabitants of earth will die from this plague (when we can quite easily see that’s nowhere near the case) anytime someone has a sniffle, they’ll run to the ER because they’ve “got the corona!”
In Ohio, fewer than 5% of tests come back positive. There have been issues with tests reading false positives and negatives, and they’re supposedly getting better at this. But still… less than 5%. We also know that the projections from the top people in the fields involved have revised their numbers down dramatically over the last few weeks (before “stay at home” laws were implemented). You don’t see this in the media coverage because it doesn’t fit the apocalypse narrative at all.
It’s fear mongering. The numbers are inflated. This is obvious and to deny it is to ask no one to take you seriously. If there’s a good story or some positive news concerning this, you won’t see it covered by the media. It doesn’t fit the narrative. And there are lots of good things: experts predicting the worst is over, experts saying the mortality rate is much lower than we thought, experts telling us how many have recovered, and reports of how mild the symptoms are for the vast majority. Only 12% of those claimed to have died from this virus in Italy actually died from the virus. The largest portion died WITH it, not from it. As an aside, it would be very interesting to know what actually causes it to be worse in some and symptom free in another. It’s not age or health level, it seems, as some young people have been bad and some older have been mild.
It’s way too easy in these situations to ignore the facts and run with emotion. That’s what the media thrives on. You see pictures or hear stories of people dying and how awful it is, and your emotions are pricked. But reality needs to be in view here. Emotional arguments and positions are fine if they’re based on reality or at least peppered with it. Saying this virus is so terrible doesn’t work. Compared to things that happen all the time—flu, heart disease, stroke, car accidents, whatever—it’s a drop in a very large bucket. Yes, we need to do what we can to stop it, but shutting down the world makes no sense.
Experts are suggesting the data doesn’t support shutting everything down. It seems like this is impacted in a bigger way with good hygiene and not spreading your respiratory droplets on people or surfaces. Isolation may, in fact, make the situation worse by prolonging the epidemic and reducing herd immunity, so we have a spike in the near future which will return again and again. This doesn’t sound good to me. Keeping the number of hospitalized below the capacity of the hospitals is good. It seems like that is easily the case in nearly but not quite all hospitals. Keeping it much lower is bad because, again, it reduces herd immunity and prolongs the problem. We’ll deal with it for several months or even years rather than getting it finished in a few.
I hope this at least helps you explore what some of us believe about the situation. You can poo-poo my opinion all you want, but you can’t deny the facts if you want to be taken seriously.
My hope in all of this is that the Church, and especially myself and my family, can be a light in a dark place. My hope is that we rise up to the occasion to bless others and care for their needs. We’ve been looking for those who need a hand—whatever that may mean—and filling the void when we can. The Church needs to be out there in the trenches, meeting physical needs to so we can earn the right to tell people about their spiritual needs. Rather than fill people with dread and fear, my hope is to be joyous and encouraging. I want to spread hope rather than worry. I guess I want to be the opposite of the liberal media. I’ll be a light in a dark place. B.J. Palmer once said, “Better to light one candle than to curse the darkness.” I’m lighting a candle.
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I have enjoyed this study on miracles, and I hope you have too. If I were to rank the three greatest miracles of all time, they would be these three: Creation, the resurrection of Christ, and the born again Christian. The Creation is something I’ve talked about many times. God, using only His spoken voice, created the entire universe and everything within it out of nothing. Nothing existed prior to Him and nothing that was made exists apart from Him. But the other two miracles are closely related so I will focus on them.
While we don’t have a specific date for the resurrection, most scholars believe it to be around 30 A.D. This means in just over ten years, we might be able to celebrate the 2000th anniversary of the resurrection. This was no ordinary event, even for miracles’ standards. In all the miracles I have addressed so far, they were intercessions upon the natural order of things. They were completely impossible by natural, physical laws by themselves, but they did not change how the natural, physical laws operated. In the previous miracles where someone was raised from the dead, that person eventually died again. The resurrection of Jesus was vastly different.
The only time in history that the world’s entire mode of operation was changed prior to this was at the Garden of Eden when God cursed the ground for Adam’s sin. Sin was a foreign entity to the universe, as was death until man brought it in. With the curse came death, decay, disease, thorns, weeds, and the overall descent into chaos. Things break down and it always takes more energy to put something to use than it produces. There is no such thing as a 100% efficient machine in this sin-cursed world. Yet, the resurrection changed the nature of the world.
When Jesus rose, He acquired His glorified physical body. It’s a body that does not operate as it did in the sin-cursed world that could be hurt and age. His body is everlasting. It is a new entity. It will not wear down, get old, nor have to fight disease or sickness. It will live forever. But this was no mere exception to the general rule. This is a promise made to every believer. We have not received our glorified bodies yet, but we have something else which is a “down-payment,” a guarantee that we shall receive them: the Holy Spirit.
The Christian is also something that is brand new. Prior to Christ, a “Christian” did not exist. A Christian is not merely someone who is a believer and follower of Christ, but a born again creature. A new entity. The Christian is someone who is born, not with a nature of sin with an inclination to rebel against God and do as we ought, but someone who is born of God, with a longing and desiring to please and honor Him. But there is more to this.
The Christian does not operate by the “laws of man.” I am not merely talking about the society we live in but by the very means of how we think, operate, and act. A man of this world thinks about his physical needs: food, shelter, water, resources, and even his family and country. But a Christian thinks about something entirely different: the Kingdom of God. The Christian, operating as a Christian should, does think about physical needs but only in context of a greater purpose.
The Christian also has something that no one ever had before: the equipment and ability to overcome sin and temptation. This is completely impossible without the Holy Spirit in action, however the Christian is not subject the law of sin and death, not just legally but naturally. Satan no longer has dominion over the Christian, and neither does death. Hell has no victory and death has no sting. With Christ and the resurrection, along with born again Christians, the universe now operates on a new set of laws.
Christians know that death with come, but death does not scare them because they know what is on the other side of it. The Christian is the only one who receives persecution and trouble and grows from it. No other group ever actually grows when governments try to crack down on them. The Christian does not operate by the natural laws that the rest of mankind does. We are in this world, which means our bodies are still subject to the physical laws, however we are not to be of this world, which means we are not to operate as the others do. We are to be unique and separate. The Christian’s very existence is a miracle.
How did God make this happen? Jesus’ physical body was comprised of atoms and cells that were under the curse of sin. He aged. He could bleed. He could (and did) die. The food He ate was under the curse as was the very air He breathed. Yet He was without sin. Some may argue that Jesus cheated because of this, however due to this sin-cursed body, Jesus had temptations which in many cases were strong. It was Jesus’ spirit and mind that had no curse, so He could think and act purely with God’s heart and mind. But Jesus’ glorified body was not made of sin-cursed atoms and cells but of an entirely different substance that no science of ours can comprehend.
Yet when the Christian is born again, it is an even bigger miracle. While God created the heavens and the earth out of nothing, and while Jesus who was without sin rose from the dead, God took sin-cursed man and made him new in spiritual birth. This too only happens through death, which is part of why we physically will still die. However, when we become attached to Christ, and position ourselves in Him, then His death becomes our death and His resurrection becomes our resurrection. It is the greatest miracle. God took a sinful, selfish, God-hating Charlie Wolcott and turned me into something I cannot describe accurately: someone who knows God, seeks Him, seeks His truth, and longs for His name to be glorified. I’m far from a finished product and the miracle God started in me is not finished, but when He is done, I will be a sight to see, as will every born again believer. As the bride is a sight to see as she walks down the aisle for the wedding, so will we as we approach our Groom, Jesus Christ.
The greatest miracle was not overcoming a physical law God established, but taking sinful man and making him new all the while maintaining His integrity and His righteous standards. I cannot give this miracle its proper due, but every one of us should simply sit back and glory in our Savior giving Him the praise and honor and worship He deserves. I pray this series gave you a new perspective on God and that you might worship Him has you have not worshiped before. He is the Miracle Maker and all so that we might know Him. Let us know Him deeper and deeper.
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We know that the psalms are the songs of the Old Testament, but many of them (or at least verses from them) have been turned into songs we sing today as well. From what I recall, my first experience with Psalm 42 was actually singing a song based on verse 1 in church when I was in grade school, called As the Deer. While the beginning of this psalm starts out with longing for God, it’s a rather back-and-forth psalm, switching often between lament and hope.
The psalm starts with a lament in verses 1-4. The psalmist longs to experience God’s presence, using the metaphor of a deer longing for water. He has an appetite for being in God’s presence. It looks as though the psalmist is getting more and more depressed, while those around him question where God is and much time has passed since the last time he was able to be in God’s presence in the temple.
Verse 5 is an interesting one, because the verse starts as a lament but then turns to hope: “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.” The psalmist realizes that his soul is saddened, but then he reminds himself that he has no reason to feel that way - his hope is in God who saves him! The same is true for us. It can be so easy to get caught up in the things of this world that are so negative - diseases, death, the worldly self-focused culture, poverty, the negativity of the media, etc. But our hope can always (and should always) be placed not in those things but in the God of the universe, for He is always our Savior and our God!
In spite of that hope, the psalmist returns to lament in verses 6-7. The psalm started with the imagery of being desiring God like water to drink, and now it moves to imagery of waterfalls, waves, and breakers. Instead of calm and serene waters, the psalmist now feels the torment of rough waters in his life.
But again, there is hope! Verse 8 says, “By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me—a prayer to the God of my life.” The psalmist remembers that God is always with him, always loves him, and is the God who in fact gives him life. God’s continual presence and love is a comfort to the soul, both for the psalmist and for us today.
In verses 9-10, the psalmist remembers that God is his rock, but he still cries out to Him in lament. Because of the circumstances going on in his life (which we as the readers don’t know the details of), the psalmist still feels as though God has deserted him. He is feeling oppressed by his enemies, he’s experiencing pain, and he’s being mocked. Even though God is still with him, it can be easy to forget that in times of great distress.
But in verse 11, the psalmist repeats the realization and hope that he experienced in verse 5. He truly can praise God in all situations and circumstances, because God truly is his savior!
That’s technically the end of Psalm 42, but many scholars believe that Psalm 43 is actually a continuation of Psalm 42. It’s 5 more verses and it continues the same pattern of a few verses of lament followed by a verse of hope. Psalm 43:5 is actually the same wording as Psalm 42:5 and 11, which makes a strong case for these psalms actually being one.
Whether these two psalms should be together or separate, the meaning is clear: we all go through times where life is hard and we question God. God may feel very far away and it may feel like he’s forgotten us, but we can be assured that God is always present with us and always loves us, no matter what. We too can say with the psalmist that even when our soul is downcast and disturbed, “I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God!”
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2017 had quite an incredible ending for my family and me. As we continue on and find out more and more as the years go on, I am learning just how incredible it really was.
On December 15, 2017 my wife and children had just found out that I had suffered a life-threatening stroke and needed lifesaving brain surgery. The next day after surgery, no one knew what was going to happen. Even the neurosurgeons and nurses at the hospital were unsure of what was about to happen. I think they were just glad I was still alive. So, as I laid in the neuro ICU in a comatose state, hooked up to a respirator for my breathing, no one knew if I would be in a vegetative state for the rest of my days. On Saturday, December 16, 2017 they began “stroke checks” every hour, on the hour. I was heavily sedated but would be woken up every hour by a nurse agitating my mouth in an attempt to wake me up.
It all felt like a dream to me and, in all honesty, I was unsure at the time what was going on. Had I been kidnapped and brought somewhere to be tortured? Then I heard my wife’s voice and finally saw her face. That gave me much comfort and peace. Little did I know what had just happened to me. That morning, a doctor had not only sawed my skull open but then removed the part of my brain that had been killed by the stroke. Part of it was supposed to impact my balance and speech. Would I ever walk again? Would I ever speak on the radio or preach again? These are things that crossed not only my wife’s mind but my children’s minds as well.
Upon hearing that I had a life-threatening stroke and was having brain surgery, my mother, who is a retired nurse, packed funeral clothes as her and my father made their way to where we live. Being a parent myself, I can only imagine what it must have been like for my parents as they made the long drive out to Ohio from where they live in Minnesota, not knowing what might become of their oldest son.
In the neuro ICU, my wife was being patient and loving to me. At one point I motioned to her with my index finger that I wanted to write and she quickly got me some paper and a pen. The first thing I wrote was illegible. At the time, I had no idea that what I was asking to do, writing just a little note to my wife, held the interest of so many around me. While I was told that I had had a stroke, I still had no idea that I had just come out of brain surgery and that part of my brain was literally missing. It felt like I had just awoken from an evening’s rest. So, by me trying to write and communicate, many people were intrigued by me. Would I know how to write? Would I know how to use punctuation? These are things my wife and others wondered.
Well, I was able to communicate, and later to my delight the nursing staff removed my breathing tube. I don’t remember the following very well but my wife tells me that once the breathing tube was removed I just started talking and talking. She even said one of the nurses asked, “Is he always like this?” to which she said, yes, that’s him. Over the next few days I had so many visitors that my wife had to tell people to stop coming so I could rest. I am still so thankful for all of that. I am still so appreciative to all of the people that came and helped out our family and even bought our children Christmas gifts that year.
In the ICU, I was hooked up to monitors and had a tube draining fluid off of my brain, yet I was still asking to go home. Now, I see how silly that request really was. The next few days were critical as, according to the doctors, my brain could still swell. They were concerned as I wasn’t “out of the woods” yet. After being moved down to a step-down unit, later the next week I finally was able to leave and go home – not to a nursing home, but to our family’s home. I went to physical therapy two times and they told me that I could keep coming back but there was nothing more they could do to help me. I took a test with the occupational therapist also. At the beginning of the test she told me she would need to send out the results of the test to know what to do for later therapy sessions, but after the test was done she already knew I was beyond needing the help they could give.
About one month after the stroke and brain surgery, my wife and I went to go see the neurosurgeon. My wife and I were in the waiting room to be called into his office. “Jason DeZurik, Jason DeZurik,” the nurse called out. I grabbed the armrests on my chair to help me stand up and started walking over to the nurse to go to his office. She was visibly startled. She looked down at her chart not once, but twice and said, “I thought you’d be in a wheelchair. What nursing home are you rehabbing in?” I said, “Home.” She said, “Your home?”
Friends, our God is still a God of miracles. And even though all the doctors we saw would not say the word “miracle,” they would use words like, “remarkable,” “incredible,” and “above average” to explain my recovery. As I was being discharged from the hospital, one nurse leaned over and whispered in my ear, “You know you’re miracle, right?”
There is so much more I could share with you but I think you are getting the picture. God is God and we are not! I am still in awe of the technology we have in this day and age and I am absolutely in awe of Almighty God, that He would allow me to not only keep living on this planet but would allow me to live pretty much a normal life after that ordeal. Oh sure, I have some residual effects from this event, but I am so blessed to not only be alive but it’s good to know that I have the friends and family that I have in my life as well. It’s good to be alive!
If you’d like Jason and his wife to come and share their story with you and your group or congregation, please contact us at Worldview Warriors.
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I would say that Psalm 23 is likely the most well-known psalm, or perhaps even one of the most well-known passages in the Bible. It’s often used at funerals or other times when people are seeking comfort and peace in the midst of life’s difficulties.
This psalm is only 6 verses long, but it’s packed with meaning and significance, especially in the original Hebrew. There is so much richness that is not seen in the English translation, and I’ll be sharing some of that with you here.
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.” (verse 1)
The name for God here is YHWH, the proper Hebrew name for God that we should hold in so much reverence that in Hebrew we can’t even pronounce it. The Hebrew of this first phrase literally says, “The Lord shepherds me, I do not lack.” The “verb” is actually a participle, which shows continuous action; God is constantly shepherding or guiding us. Because of that, we do not lack anything.
“He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters.” (verse 2)
God does not just make us lie down in this comforting place. The Hebrew verb form used here means that He actually causes us to lie down. It is only through God that we truly can lie down and find rest, regardless of whether we are in a time of hurt or a time of joy in our lives.
God does not just lead us beside quiet waters, but He does so intensely with this verb form. The connotation of that Hebrew verb is that of being led with purpose. It is not just an aimless wandering, but rather a specific, intentional direction in which He leads us. It is God’s purpose that we are near these quiet waters, again regardless of where the world is trying to lead us.
“He refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths for his name’s sake.” (verse 3)
The word translated here as “refreshes” more accurately means “restores,” and again it’s an intensive verb. This is not just a slight refresh, but a full restoration of our souls that can only happen through Jesus. When He guides us along these right paths, He is doing so with purpose, just as He was leading with purpose in the previous verse.
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me. Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” (verse 4)
This valley spoken of is a place of utter darkness and gloom, and it has the shadow of death lingering over it. When others see a minor crisis in our lives, we may feel that we are in this place of utter darkness. But, we fear no evil because YOU, God, are with me, even in this place of deep despair! The word for “you” is written out in the Hebrew, which shows that this is for emphasis. It’s not just anyone who is with us, but God, our shepherd.
“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” (verse 5)
The phrase here “in the presence of my enemies” could be more literally translated “in front of the ones who attack me.” If the words of verse 4 are true that we fear no evil because God is with us, then we are able to even eat with those who we fear might attack us! That’s the power of the almighty God at work in our lives.
The phrase “you anoint my head with oil” is one that always amuses me in the Hebrew; it could literally be translated as “you make my head fat with fat.” The idea of anointing or making fat is richness. In that culture, if you were fat then you must be rich because you clearly had plenty to eat and didn’t have to expend much effort for it, as opposed to those people who had to work hard labor for each meal. We have that through God - He did all the work for us through Jesus on the cross, and all we need to do is to have faith in Him and He will make us rich in His grace, so much so that our cup overflows! This is another image of not only having enough but having plenty. The Hebrew for this phrase literally says that my cup is saturated.
“Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life.” (verse 6a)
The Hebrew word for “goodness” here is the same word that God used to describe all of Creation when He looked at it and saw that it was good (Genesis 1:31). This goodness that will follow us is not just something nice but the total perfection of God’s original Creation. This form of love mentioned here is the word hesed in Hebrew. Hesed is a combination of love, mercy, compassion, and kindness. We don’t really have a word for that beautiful, all-encompassing emotion in the English language. When the text says that goodness and love will follow me, that’s not just a haphazard following. That verb has a meaning of pursuing someone intently. Anyone going through a troubling time needs to know that we have this perfection and love not only following us, but literally chasing after us!
“And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.” (verse 6b)
The Hebrew for this final phrase is interesting, because there is actually some discrepancy on which verb is used. The Hebrew verbs for “I dwell” and “I return” are very similar, and in this particular form, it honestly could be either of them. So it could mean that we will dwell with the Lord forever, or that we will return to the Lord forever.
Even when we have trouble on this earth, we know that we will have a joyous homecoming of going to the Lord’s house for the rest of our days. Our troubles are only for a short time here on earth; we will have everlasting joy forever with Jesus! While that won’t erase today’s burdens, the hope of what is to come and dwelling with our Lord forever gives a glimmer of hope through any dark valley we walk through, that we will be fully restored through Christ.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
