HOW DO YOU SPELL C-R-O-S-S

“See”

Look at Calvary. Don’t turn away. I know it’s not easy. What is done to Him is shameful. I know. But look closely! Past the spittle. Beyond the blood. There. In His eyes. Friend, that is love. It is love for you! See the nails in His hands and feet, fastening Him to a tree He created for man’s use. Look at the love He has for you!

“Are”

Are you able to see that He bled for you? Are you willing to admit that you are lost without Him? Are you ready to submit to His will, to obey Him, and to live for Him? Are you prepared for eternity? Are you convinced?

 “Oh”

Hear His cries of pain and agony. The death of a thousand deaths. Bitter moans of His disciples. The gasp of heaven’s angels. The sorrow of a Father for His only begotten Son! The gasps and exclamations of a hateful mob.

“SS”

That’s the hiss of the beguiling serpent. The one who is bruising the heel of the perfect One (Genesis 3:15), putting God the Son in the tomb. This is the moment of his triumph. Though resurrection will soon bring the ultimate victory for Christ and hope for man, at the cross of Calvary the devil must be enjoying his front row seat. Doesn’t he anger you? Disgust you? Motivate you? Live for Jesus. Don’t live for the snake!

Friends, the cross spells the difference between heaven and hell, hope and helplessness, joy and sorrow, day and night! The cross spells life!

“And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross…” (Ephesians 2:16).

Author Unknown

The Thousand-Year Reign

The vast majority of Protestants believe the “thousand years” of Revelation 20:1–7 refers to the tenure of Christ’s reign in an earthly kingdom upon His return. Since He will come before His alleged millennial reign, this theological system is called “premillennialism.” Since the aforementioned passage is the Bible’s only reference to a millennial reign of Christ, premillennialists rely heavily upon it, in spite of the fact that it does not contain or support premillennial dogma. For example, the passage does not mention such essential parts of the pre-millennial program as the rapture, the bodily resurrection of saints, the city of Jerusalem, an earthly reign of Christ, a thousand years of earthly peace, or even the Second Coming—all essential points of the dogma. A principal key to understanding the book of Revelation is that it is largely written in symbolic or figurative “code” language (Revelation 1:1). No other Biblical document contains more signs and symbols than this one. One should thus approach its details as symbolic unless there is some contextual reason not to do so. Note the figurative flavor of the opening verses of Revelation 20 (the “angel,” the “key,” the “great chain,” the “bottomless pit”/“abyss,” and the “seal” are all obviously figurative). There is every reason to believe (and no reason not to believe) the “thousand years” is also figurative. The events described in Revelation 20:1–9 are not a chronological continuation of chapter 19, which describes Jesus’ return, His destruction of all the ungodly, and His casting the “beast” and the “false prophet” into Hell (vv. 11–21)—all of which are highly figurative descriptions of the end of time and the Judgment. Revelation several times moves in cycles from the beginning of the church to the end of time, the last such cycle occurring in 20:1–9. In these verses John recaps the period from Pentecost to the Judgment (the Christian Age), during which Satan is bound for “a thousand years,” “loosed for a little time,” and at last cast into Hell forever. During this period (the present Christian Age), Christ now reigns over His kingdom, the church (Matthew 16:18–19; John 18: 36; Colossians 1:13; Revelation 1:5–6, 9), and simultaneously, Satan’s power is restrained. The “thousand years” of Satan’s “binding” and of Christ’s millennial reign is figurative, denoting a long, but indeterminate, period (cf. the “thousand hills” [Psalm 50:10] and the “thousand generations” [Deuteronomy 7:9]). During this time, “souls” (not bodies) of martyrs “reign” with Christ in Heaven (not on the earth), awaiting the universal bodily resurrection at His coming (John 5:28–29; I Corinthians 15:22–26). We are living in the millennium, the figurative “thousand-year” reign of Christ.

Dub McClish

Note: This article was written for and published in the Denton Record-Chronicle, February 16, 2007.

Man’s Greatest Concern

The story is told of a preacher who preached a very graphic and descriptive sermon on sin. After the sermon one “well meaning” and prominent church member approached the preacher with the following advice. The person said, “We don’t want you to talk so plainly about sin, because if our children hear you talking so much about sin they will more easily become sinners. Call it a mistake if you will, but don’t speak so plainly about sin.” 

Shortly thereafter the “well meaning” member was visiting in the preacher’s home. The preacher presented a bottle of strychnine marked “Poison” to his visitor. Reminding the “well meaning” member of the earlier advice given to the preacher, the preacher then said to his visitor: “I see now what you meant in your recent advice. You want me to change the label. But suppose I take off this label marked ‘Poison’ and put on some mild label, such as ‘Oil of Anise,’ can’t you see what happens?” 

“The milder you make the label, the more dangerous you make the poison.” Our Lord did not place a “mild label” on sin. He made it clear that sin is man’s greatest concern. It is the responsibility of the church (Gospel preachers in particular) to make sin as real and abhorrent to people as possible if there is to be any hope of convicting anyone of sin and thereby truly converting them to Christ. 

First, we must realize that God is the only one who can evaluate sin properly. Let us, therefore, strive to see sin as God sees it. Second, God defines sin to be “the transgression of the law” (I John 3:4). Sin separates men from God (Isaiah 59:2; Colossians 2:13). Hence, to die in sin is to be lost eternally in a devil’s hell (Galatians 5:19-24; Revelation 21:8; Matthew 25:41-46). 

Third, one should notice how God moves people to come out of a life of sin. Jesus had more to say about hell than anyone else we read of in the Bible, and the reason why is that He does not want anyone to go to that terrible place (Matthew 25; II Thessalonians 1:7-9; II Peter 3:9-13; Revelation 22:17). 

Is it not obvious that one of the ways to understand just how God views sin is to understand the place that God has prepared for those who die in sin? Do we try to get people to see the eternal consequences of their sinful lives (Romans 2:3)? 

God’s great love for sinful man is the other factor that helps us see sin as God sees it (Romans 2:4). “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8; John 3:16). To study in the Bible the loving, sinless life of Christ and to meditate on His agonizing and shameful death is a great motivating factor for man. In so doing, one realizes that Christ freely left Heaven and the form of God to take upon Himself the form of man whereby He allowed Himself to be tempted as all men are tempted, yet without sin (Philippians 2:5-8; Hebrews 4:15). Surely, few people meditate on what God has done for them that they never could do for themselves! 

If the consequences of a devil’s hell for the sinner and the love of God to redeem sinful man will not move one to turn to God in penitence and obedience to the Gospel, nothing else is available to turn the sinner from his eternal appointment with the fires of hell! 

People who take the Lord’s name in vain, commit adultery, and other immoral acts, who lie, cheat, gossip, steal, teach false doctrine, etc., are going to burn in hell eternally. The unfaithful members of the Lord’s church who have ceased to worship according to the Bible, who do not study the Bible, who are covetous, who murmur and complain, who are immoral, who repudiate Bible authority, who are hypocrites, and who hate their brethren who love and obey the truth will also suffer the torment of the raging fires of “the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:8; II Peter 2:20- 22). Assuredly, the elders and preachers who see a lost world and sinful members and do not try to confront boldly such sinful people with God’s Truth, will occupy one of the hotter and lower pits of hell. 

If precious souls are to escape the horrors of hell, we must do our part as Christians to get men to see what sin is. Let us not mince words as we expose sin. Neither, let us forget to set forth the Christ who is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

Dub McClish