2 Peter (Program #8) – The Divine Government (1)

The apostle Peter had a strong reaction to the apostasy that were spreading into the church near the end of his life.   In fact he wrote his two epistles largely as an inoculation against the heretical teachings that were gradually corrupting the  faith of the saints.  Especially regarding the matter of the Lord’s second coming in glory.

In 2 Peter, he first gives an eye-witness account of seeing the Lord Jesus revealed in glory as a foreshadow of His promise return .   Then he points the believers to the word of God, specifically the Old Testament prophecies concerning Christ, as he says in chapter 1:19 “and we have the prophetic word made more firm, to which you do well to give heed as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts;”   But after these two strong encouragements he goes on to speak of the coming judgment of the righteous God especially on those false teachers who were defiling the saints and leading them astray.

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Zechariah (Program #12) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (4)

The universe that God so marvelously created is full of wonderful things for us, His creatures to experience. For all the beautiful scenes He created for us to enjoy, He gave us eyes to see. To hear the birds sing, He gave us ears to hear. And even for us to ponder the mysteries all around us, we have minds that can learn and understand. But what about contacting the most marvelous thing of all, God Himself? If we attempt to touch God using any of these faculties, no doubt we will be sorely disappointed. Because to touch the spiritual and divine person of God, we must use the faculty created in man uniquely for that purpose. And the Old Testament prophet, Zechariah give us a clear verse telling us what that part of man is.

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2 Peter (Program #7) – The Divine Provision (7)

The book of 2 Peter continues the thought of his first epistle; God’s governmental judgment.  But it also stresses God’s divine provision for His people to enable them to live under such divine ruling.  The first chapter of 2 Peter describes this provision in its various aspects such as the divine power and all things pertaining to life and godliness, the divine promises and even partaking of the divine nature.

These provisions  are all on the side of life.  But Peter also details  provisions on the side of the divine truth.  First we have the testimonies of the apostles themselves who were actual eye-witnesses of the glory and majesty of Christ.  Second we have the prophetic word shining as a lamp in a dark place to enlighten us until the morning star rises in our hearts.

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Zechariah (Program #11) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (3)

Zechariah is one of those hidden treasures in the Old Testament. As a book of prophecy it does seem mysterious and rather vague to many readers of the Bible. But as with all Scripture, with the Spirit’s illumination and the right keys to unlock our understanding, it reveals marvelous treasures. The main treasure in Zechariah is how compellingly and marvelously Christ is revealed. We see Him as the Shepherd of God’s flock in chapters 11 through 13, as He comes in, in an intimate way to feed and supply God’s suffering people. But we also see how this One was fully rejected, attacked, judged and ultimately crucified as well.

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2 Peter (Program #6) – The Divine Provision (6)

Second Peter chapter one is one of the most weighty and profound passages in all of scripture. Phrase after phrase in these few verses convey the progression and development of the divine life as it germinates, matures and comes to full growth.

Along this long progression or path all of the attributes of God divine life become the virtues that developed and are ultimately expressed through us. Of course while God supplies the divine power according to Peter which enables us to escape the corruption of the world that work through lust and to become partakers of the divine nature, there are some basic conditions that we need to meet, such as having a full knowledge of all the divine things pertaining to life and godliness.  And in addition we need to add all diligence to co-operate with the divine power operating within us.  The result of  this marvelous development is that God is expressed through us and we in turn are supplied a rich and unshakable entrance into God’s kingdom.

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Zechariah (Program #10) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (2)

In Zechariah 10:3, Jehovah promised to visit His flock and make them like His horse of majesty in battle. This is a wonderful picture of the Lord’s loving visitation to His people and quite an encouragement to all believers in Christ today.

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2 Peter (Program #5) – The Divine Provision (5)

2 Peter 1 leads us through a wonderful progression or development of the precious faith that Peter mentions to us in his first epistle.  This faith, our divine inheritance is like a divine seed imparted or planted into our being.  As with any seed, deep within resides all the attributes of the life of that seed.  Peter clearly tells us that the life in the seed of faith is the very life of God.  It’s Christ Himself.  So the attributes which Peter goes on to describe are the marvelous virtues of God’s life as expressed in Christ.  Following this line these verses in 2 Peter open to us the progressive development of the divine life within the seeker.  As we move from faith to virtues to knowledge to self-control to endurance to godliness and then to brotherly love with the final stage of this life maturity being the very agape love, God’s own love being expressed.

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Zechariah (Program #9) – The Prophecies of Encouragement (1)

About 2500 years ago, the prophet Zechariah’s burden was to help the returned people of Israel to see God’s purpose. Today, God’s intention and His desire is that we will be one with Him. He’s brought us back to the very site, to the ground, even to the foundation of the temple typified by the recovery back to Jerusalem from Babylon in Zechariah’s day. Now God wants us to see that His interest, His desire and His burden are to finish the building of the temple, to build up the Body of Christ.

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2 Peter (Program #4) – The Divine Provision (4)

Most of the time Christians are satisfied if their behavior before the unbelieving world reflects a proper ethical conduct and high moral. In fact if we spend our entire day living in such a way surely at the end of our day we will be peaceful and probably feel quite good about ourselves and our testimony.

But the Bible declares what God is seeking from His people is not mere ethics and morality but a life that expresses Godliness, which means a life that expresses God Himself. This is much different, much higher than mere morality.  Listen again to 2 Peter 1:3 “Seeing that His divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness, through the full knowledge of Him who has called us by His own glory and virtue.“

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Zechariah (Program #8) – The Advice to Israel to Turn from the Vanity of Their Ritualistic Religion to the Reality of a Godly Life and the Desire of Jehovah to Restore Israel

God wants His people to turn from the vanity of their ritualistic religion to the reality of a godly life. Is your religion full of vanity and rituals or are you really in the reality of a godly life?

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