There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true. —Soren Kierkegaard. "…truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity–it is simply true and that is the end of it" – Os Guinness, Time for Truth, pg.39. “He that takes truth for his guide, and duty for his end, may safely trust to God’s providence to lead him aright.” – Blaise Pascal. "There is but one straight course, and that is to seek truth and pursue it steadily" – George Washington letter to Edmund Randolph — 1795. We live in a “post-truth” world. According to the dictionary, “post-truth” means, “relating to or denoting circumstances in which objective facts are less influential in shaping public opinion than appeals to emotion and personal belief.” Simply put, we now live in a culture that seems to value experience and emotion more than truth. Truth will never go away no matter how hard one might wish. Going beyond the MSM idealogical opinion/bias and their low information tabloid reality show news with a distractional superficial focus on entertainment, sensationalism, emotionalism and activist reporting – this blogs goal is to, in some small way, put a plug in the broken dam of truth and save as many as possible from the consequences—temporal and eternal. "The further a society drifts from truth, the more it will hate those who speak it." – George Orwell “There are two ways to be fooled. One is to believe what isn’t true; the other is to refuse to believe what is true.” ― Soren Kierkegaard
57. What comfort does the “resurrection of the body” give you?
That not only my soul, after this life, shall be immediately taken up to Christ my Head;1 but also that this my body, raised by the power of Christ, shall again be united with my soul, and made like Christ’s glorious body.2
58. What comfort do you receive from the article about the “life everlasting?”
That, as I now already feel in my heart the beginning of eternal joy,1 I shall after this life possess complete blessedness, such as eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man; in which to praise God forever.2
I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
Ecclesiastes 3:14
How different this picture of life under the sovereign lordship of a living God is from what most people think God is like! A popular book for Christians on the topic of sex explains the truth that God has designed sex for pleasure. But it is not merely sex that is designed for pleasure; all things are designed for human pleasure. If you think a certain thing in and of itself is going to produce lasting pleasure, however, you will miss it. The secret is that it is the knowledge of God in that relationship that produces enjoyment. We are not in the grasp of the Great Cosmic Joy Killer, as many people seem to view God. God delights in human enjoyment.
The Searcher says that all enjoyment must be discovered by realizing that God is in charge, and He will not bend His plan for anyone. God has sovereignly, independently, set up the plan of life in a way with which we cannot interfere. He has done so in order that people should revere Him.
All through the Bible we read, The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10). Until a person recognizes and trusts the superior wisdom of God, he or she has not begun to fear God. This fear is not abject terror of God; it is respect and honor for Him. If you attempt to live your life without the recognition of God, ultimately you will find yourself, as the Searcher found himself; empty, dissatisfied, and restless, feeling that life is miserable and meaningless. The secret of life is the presence of God Himself.
Most of the struggle of life comes from our wanting to play God ourselves, wanting to be in charge of what happens to us. That is true even of Christians. When God refuses to go along, we sulk and pout and get angry with Him. We throw away our faith and say, What’s the use? I tried it, but it doesn’t work. What a foolish statement! God will not surrender His prerogatives. Nothing can be added to it, nor anything taken from it—God has made it so in order that men should revere him.
Lord, forgive me for thinking I know what is best for those I love and me. Teach me to trust in Your work, because I know that nothing can be added to it.
Life Application
God has sovereignly, independently, set up the plan of life in a way with which we cannot interfere. Why has He done this and what is the secret of life?
12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. 13 That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil—this is the gift of God. 14 I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that men will revere him.
15 Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.
16 And I saw something else under the sun: In the place of judgment—wickedness was there, in the place of justice—wickedness was there.
17 I thought in my heart, “God will bring to judgment both the righteous and the wicked, for there will be a time for every activity, a time for every deed.”
18 I also thought, “As for men, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. 19 Man’s fate is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath ; man has no advantage over the animal. Everything is meaningless. 20 All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return. 21 Who knows if the spirit of man rises upward and if the spirit of the animal goes down into the earth?”
22 So I saw that there is nothing better for a man than to enjoy his work, because that is his lot. For who can bring him to see what will happen after him?
We must therefore confess and bewail our original corruption in the first place: that we are the children of apostate and rebellious parents, and the nature of man is depraved and has wretchedly degenerated from its primitive purity and rectitude, and such is our nature.
Lord, you made man upright, but they have sought out many schemes; Ecclesiastes 7:29(ESV) and being in honor, they did not understand, and therefore did not remain, but became like the beasts that perish. Psalm 49:20(ESV)
Through one man sin came into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned: Romans 5:12(ESV) By that one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, including me. Romans 5:19(ESV)
I am the offspring of evildoers; Isaiah 1:4(ESV) my father was an Amorite and my mother a Hittite; Ezekiel 16:3(ESV) and I myself was called (and not miscalled) a rebel from before birth, and you knew I would deal treacherously. Isaiah 48:8(ESV)
The nature of man was planted a choice and noble vine, wholly of pure seed, but it has turned degenerate and become a wild vine, Jeremiah 2:21(ESV) producing the grapes of Sodom and the clusters of Gomorrah. Deuteronomy 32:32(ESV) How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed! Lamentations 4:1(ESV)
Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. Psalm 51:5(ESV) For, who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? There is not one. Job 14:4(ESV) I am by nature a child of wrath, because a child of disobedience, like the rest of mankind. Ephesians 2:2-3(ESV)
All flesh has corrupted their way; Genesis 6:12(ESV) we have all turned aside; together we have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one. Psalm 14:3(ESV)
Wisdom tells us that before we judge someone we should “walk a mile in their shoes.” It is difficult to make an accurate judgment without comprehending another’s situation in some detail. Less often welcomed is the need to walk a mile in someone’s shoes before we can comfort them. Since we often avoid difficulty and suffering at all costs, the comfort we offer can seem thin or shallow. We haven’t suffered, so we can’t comfort.In his second letter to the Corinthians, Paul offers a different perspective on the suffering he endured. He suggested that suffering has a purpose. As an apostle and messenger of the gospel, Paul, as well his coworkers, suffered greatly. But he had learned that his sufferings enabled him to comfort others who suffer (v. 4). Amid his difficulties, Paul had enjoyed the comfort of God, and this positioned him to comfort others.Paul’s sufferings were indeed like Christ’s. He suffered on our behalf. He endured so that we could learn how to endure. He received the comfort of God (Matt. 4:11; Luke 22:43) so he could comfort those who suffer (Matt. 11:28). The writer of Hebrews called Jesus a sympathetic High Priest, able to understand because of what He endured (Heb. 4:15). Paul understood the comfort he received came from Christ who commissioned him and had suffered like him (v. 5).The final step in this new perspective about suffering was to recognize that his sufferings were purposeful. Paul reasoned that he had endured distress so that his readers could be comforted (v. 6). If he received comfort, it was to comfort them. Rather than suggesting that suffering was a random experience, Paul reasoned there was a purpose for difficult experiences. They gave him a new ability!
Go Deeper How have your own times of suffering prepared you to comfort others? Can you think of a few specific examples of how God has used those experiences to teach you more about Him? Extended Reading:2 Corinthians 1-2
Pray with Us Jesus, at times it seems we go through the valley of tears in this world, but we can rejoice that You gave us the promised Comforter. Thank You that amid our hardships we can come to You and find comfort.
Ver. 10. Fear thou not; for I am with thee.—“Fear thou not!”:— I. THE CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH GOD ADDRESSES HIS PEOPLE. They are poor and needy. It is necessary that God should have room in which to work. Emptiness to receive Him; weakness to be empowered by Him. It is into the empty branch that the vine-sap pours; into the hollowed basin that the water flows; the weakness of the child gives scope for the man’s strength. II. THE ASSURANCES THAT HE MAKES TO THEM. No height, however bare, nor depth, however profound, can separate us from His love. III. THE DIVINE PROVISION FOR THEIR NEED. Life is not easy for any of us, if we regard the external conditions only: but directly we learn the Divine secret, rivers flow over bare heights in magnificent cascades; fountains arise in the rock-strewn sterile valleys; the wilderness becomes a pool (vers. 17, 18). To the ordinary eye it is probable that there would appear no difference. Still the tiny garret, and the wasting illness; still the pining child; still the straitened circumstances—still the deferred hope. But the eye of faith beholds a paradise of beauty, murmuring brooks filling the air with melody, leafy trees spreading their shade. What makes the difference? What does faith see? How is she able to work such transformations?
Faith is conscious that God is there, and that His presence is the complement of every need. To her eye common desert bushes burn with His Shechinah
Faith recognises the reality of an eternal choice, that God has entered into a covenant which cannot be dissolved, and that His love and fidelity are bound to finish the work He has commenced.
Faith knows that there is a loving purpose running through every moment of trial, and that the Great Refiner has a meaning in every degree of heat to which the furnace is raised; and she anticipates the moment when she will see what God has foreseen all the time, and towards which He has been working.
Faith realises that others are learning from her experiences lessons which nothing else would teach them; and that glory is accruing to God in the highest, because men and angels see and know and consider and understand together that the hand of the Lord hath done this, and the Holy One of Israel hath created it (ver. 20). (F. B. Meyer, B.A.) No fear for God’s people:— I. THE SPEAKER. The words derive all their importance from this. So many are our enemies, so mighty, so subtle, so malignant, so ceaseless in their attacks, that all finite beings would be powerless to help. We want Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence on our side. A patience, a compassion, a pity, a love that belongs only to God. We want One to help who embraces all being, all time, all eternity. We want even more than this. We want One who has engaged all these perfections on our behalf. We want even more than this: One who stands in the tenderest relation to us in all these. And such is the Speaker of these words. II. THE PERSONS TO WHOM SPOKEN. Literally to His ancient people. But spiritually to all the people of God, the true descendants of Jacob, everywhere, in all ages. They need them in every stage of their journey, every moment of their lives, every step they take. They are strangers on the earth. The world is a strange place to them, and they are strangers in it. The path which they are treading was never trod by them before. The religion of the world is not theirs; its habits, amusements, principles, practice, are all foreign to them. It is a strange land, and hostile too, for there is much in it that opposes them. They are sailors on a stormy ocean, where sun and stars in many days appear not, and no small tempest lies on them. They are soldiers in a field of hard fighting; their enemies vastly out-number them, overmatch them, and besides this, in themselves they are but weak, yea, powerless, and, unless perpetually encouraged, timid. III. THE WORDS THEMSELVES. “Fear not.” He says it more than seventy times in the Scripture. (J. H. Evans, M.A.) Fear not:— Three times within the compass of a few verses, the exhortation, “Fear not,” is given. I. THE EXHORTATION. “Fear not.” A great honour comes to anyone who is thus addressed by God. It shows that God cares for that person, and desires to live on terms of intimacy with him; for God binds His friends to Him by ties of love as well as reverence. True religion differs from false in this respect. How wonderful to hear God say to any man, “Fear not”; because all have reason to fear Him. Ever since Adam hid himself in the garden, fear has been characteristic of our attitude towards God. We sin against Him. He hates and punishes sin. Does it not look like mockery for us sinners to be told, “Fear not”? Terror often disappears as a fuller knowledge is gained of the object which caused it. Friday trembled all over on first meeting Robinson Crusoe; but soon his terror vanished. Much of our fear of God arises from ignorance; and will vanish when the light of the knowledge of God in Christ dawns on our souls. II. THE GROUNDS ON WHICH THIS INJUNCTION IS BASED. Remember that God never gives His children a stone when they ask Him for bread. If He says, “Fear not,” He means it. Why “Fear not”? “I am with thee,” He assures Israel. How tenderly God speaks to Israel in vers. 8, 9. His voice is like that of a mother crooning to her child—Israel, whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham My friend, I have taken thee, and called thee, and chosen thee, and not cast thee away. God is nearer to us than He was to even the Old Testament saints. Immanuel means “God with us.” III. THIS TEACHES US TO CLING TO CHRIST ALL THROUGH LIFE. Lord Chamberlain Leslie was once riding through a dangerous ford with the Queen of Scotland sitting behind, in the old fashion, and fastened to him by a belt. As she slipped backwards during the steep ascent out of the river, the Lord Chamberlain shouted encouragingly, “Grip fast.” “Ay,” said Her Majesty, “gin the buckle haud” They landed safely, and to make security double sure in the future, two additional buckles were sewed on to the belt. God’s command to us regarding Christ is, “Grip fast.” The bond that binds a believing sinner to Him will never break. Why, then, should we fear? (D. A. Mackinnon, M.A.) Encouragement not to fear:— I. THE TEMPER OF SPIRIT that the Lord aims to reduce His people unto. “Fear not; be not dismayed.” Quietness, settledness, and undauntedness of spirit. II. THE COURSE HE TAKES to reduce them to it. A proposal of motives and arguments of sufficient effect and prevalency to pull down vain fear out of the heart. (T. Crisp, D.D.) Fear, and its remedy:— I. WHAT IT IS FOR A PERSON NOT TO FEAR, nor be dismayed. Fear is a very distracting, disturbing, confounding passion; it is a kind of besetting passion that makes men lose themselves, especially if it be in the extremity of fear; it ariseth from an apprehension of some unavoidable, insupportable evil growing upon a person, and occasioned either by some symptoms of that evil, or by some messenger or other relating it, or by some foresight of it in the eye. Now, as evil appears greater or lesser, and more or less tolerable, so the passion of fear is more or less in persons. II. WHAT THE PEOPLE OF GOD SHOULD NOT FEAR. There is a threefold fear; a natural, a religious, and a turbulent fear. A natural fear is nothing else but such an affection as is in men by nature, that they cannot be freed from; such a fear was in Christ Himself, without sin. A religious fear is nothing but an awful reverence, whereby people keep a fit distance between the glorious majesty of God and the meanness of a creature. A turbulent fear is a fear of disquietness. Now all disquieting fear is that which the Lord endeavours to take off from His people.
The people of God need not be afraid of their sins. I do not say they must not be afraid to sin (Rom. 8:1).
Neither ought we to fear the sins of others. They cannot do God’s people any hurt.
They that have God for their God must not be afraid of men. III. WHAT THE FRUIT OF FEAR IS; or what prejudice or disadvantage fear and dismayedness bring along with them.
Fearfulness of spirit casts many slanders upon God. Upon His power, His faithfulness, His care and providence, the freeness of His grace, the efficacy of the sufferings of Christ.
As it respects God’s service. (1) It is the cut-throat of believing. (2) is prejudicial to all rehgious duties: it is a damper to prayer. It makes all duties merely selfish. Fear puts a man beside his wits, that while he is in such a passion, he is to seek for common ways of safety; so that, whereas men think that fear will help them to avoid danger, commonly, in amazement, you shall have people stand still, not able to stir to save themselves. Besides, this fear is such a torment, that commonly those evils so much feared, prove not so hurtful nor evil to a person as the present fears; and, besides this, it many times doth not only daunt the spirit of a man in himself, but proves very dangerous to others. IV. GOD’S MOTIVES, by which He attempts to prevail over the spirits of His people, not to be afraid or dismayed, come what can or may. God is our God.
What is it for God to be our God? While you have all things else but this, you have the rays of the sun; while you have this, you have the sun itself in its brightness and lustre. “I am thy God,” is as much as to say, Thou hast a propriety in Me. God’s all-sufficiency reaches beyond all wants.
What a person hath in this. There are three particulars whereby specially you may observe what great treasure people have in having God. (1) In regard of the quahty of the treasure. (2) In regard of the virtue of it. The quintessence of all virtues is in Him. (3) In regard of the sovereignty, universahty, and variety of help in it.
How it is so well with those that are the Lord’s. God, in giving Himself unto persons, gives Himself to be communicated unto them at sundry seasons, and in divers kinds and measures, and yet so that He will be the judge of the fitness of the time.
How He becomes their God, and upon what terms. The gift of Him is as cheap as it is rich. He never looks the creature should bring anything that he might procure it.
How He will be found of them. The way of finding out God efficiently to be our God, is the Spirit of the Lord. God makes Himself known passively to be the God of His people, by the word of His grace, and faith laying hold upon it revealed, and more subordinately in prayer, fasting, receiving of the Lord’s supper, and such ordinances, so far as they are mixed with faith. (Ibid.) Fear conquered:— Many good people are full of fears. Bunyan says of Mr. Fearing, “He was a man that had the root of the matter in him, but he was one of the most troublesome pilgrims that I ever met with in all my days.” Many things may help us to conquer our fears. I. IT IS WRONG TO FEAR. We are quite safe in God’s hands, and fear is really unbelief. It dishonours God. II. IT PREVENTS US FROM DOING OUR DUTY. If a gardener is afraid to sow his seed he will have no flowers, or if the farmer is afraid to plough he will have no crop. If a boy is afraid it is of no use to try for the prize, he will not get it. Fear is ruinous to our work. III. IT DISCOURAGES OTHERS (Numb. 13:31–33; 14:1). Fear kept the Israelites out of the promised land. IV. IT IS UNNECESSARY. We are afraid because the dangers seem so great, or the work so hard, and ourselves so weak. But we forget who is for us—more than all that can be against us.
God is with us.
God is our God. What a possession God is! (1) Vast. (2) Rich. (3) Secure. (4) Everlasting.
God will strengthen us as He did David and Samson.
He will hold us up by His right hand. Who then can lay us low? Away then with fear for ever. (R. Brewin.) Never despair:— I. GOD’S PEOPLE PASS THROUGH ADVERSITY. II. TRIBULATION STRENGTHENS GOD’S PEOPLE. III. GOD IS WITH HIS PEOPLE IN THE DAY of their trouble. IV. A PERSONAL ENCOURAGEMENT. “I am with thee.”
Your fellow-men may ridicule you because you have become religious.
In your trade you may have to pass through much tribulation.
You may have felt much fear about making a profession of your faith.
Temporal calamity often visits the people of God.
There may be affliction and pain coming to you. V. AN INVITATION TO SINNERS. You say this invitation is not in the text. Never mind, I must go over hedge and ditch to call the sinner to Jesus. (W. Birch.) Missionary encouragement:— The missionary could not take with him a higher word of manifold comfort than is here contained. I. THE COMMAND.
“Fear not, thou.” Fear throws a paralysis over the senses and faculties of man, so that flight and safety are more thought of than holding one’s ground, or making headway against the enemy.
“Be not dismayed.” If one have fear, he loses both courage and hope; and in this state no valuable work can be done. The soldiers of the first French Revolution were destitute of fear, and by nothing dismayed; hence, all the armies of Europe prevailed not against them, until, in the terms of Carlyle, they had provoked all men, and the Gaelic fire had kindled another kind of fire—the Teutonic kind. II. ITS GROUND.
“I am with thee.” God promised Moses that His presence should go with him; and without that, said Moses, send me not up.
“For I am thy God.” It is Jehovah that speaks, who created the universe and governs it still.
“I will strengthen thee.” God will renew not merely such strength as is natural to us, but a surplusage of strength for special service. In the strength of heavenly food and drink Elijah “went forty days and forty nights.”
“Yea, I will help thee.” Joseph in Egypt, or Daniel in Babylon, would have been destroyed by their enemies, and would never have become prime ministers but for the Divine interposition.
“Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” The right hand is an emblem of power—here, of omnipotent power—so that the work of righteousness which you do shall never cease. Truth is omnipotent, and shall rule the eternal years. III. ITS ENCOURAGEMENT.
If God be for us in mission work, who can be against us?
If He favour and command it, how can it ever cease? Deus vult, said Peter the Hermit, and for two centuries the Crusades flamed on high.
If truth and righteousness be eternal, how bold and hopeful ought the missionary to be! The Gospel is stronger than the strongest battalions. (Homiletic Review.) The Christian’s fears and the Christian’s encouragement:— I. THE CHRISTIAN’S FEARS. It may be asked why does the Christian fear? I answer, because of his knowledge. Do you say, “If this be so, then ignorance is bliss”? I answer, No. I do not say that our knowledge causes our danger, I only say it produces our fear. I may be in danger and not know it; but my ignorance does not diminish my danger; it rather increases it. See Captain Williams in the Atlantic. He is asleep in his cabin; maybe dreaming of wife, and home, and joys to come. He knows nothing of the rocks ahead on which, in a few moments, the vessel may dash, and where many a precious life will soon be gone for ever. If he were awake, there would be agony in his face instead of a smile; but there would be a chance of escape. His knowledge would produce fear, but might lead to safety. So with the sinner; he enters upon this year amidst smiles and songs, and little dreams that ere the next year comes he will be in eternity. If he were to awake there would be deep anxiety, but that anxiety might end in life and heaven. The Christian, however, is awake.
He knows that he is on trial for eternity.
That he is surrounded by enemies.
He knows himself: every day he lives he makes discoveries of his character that fill him with shame and sorrow. His constant acknowledgment is, “By the grace of God I am what I am.”
He knows that many a fellow-soldier has fallen. II. THE CHRISTIAN’S ENCOURAGEMENT.
There is the assurance of God’s presence.
There are several exceeding great and precious promises. Conclusion—“To whom wilt thou flee for help? and where wilt thou leave thy glory?” Talk about destitution, there are none so destitute as those who have no God. (C. Garrett.) Courage:— There is no virtue more highly and widely esteemed than courage, and no vice more generally detested than cowardice. Courage makes heroes, and amongst the ancients, at least, heroes were second in rank to the gods. Amongst savage tribes it may almost be said that courage is the only virtue, for without it all other good qualities lose their value, and where it exists it covers a multitude of sins. This is also the virtue which children most admire. Jack the Giant Killer is a story of perennial interest to the children. Nor is hero-worship a thing unknown among older people. I. THE NEED FOR COURAGE. Courage is the quality which enables one to resist. It is the power to say “No.” II. THE NATURE OF COURAGE. Courage displays itself in many ways. It may be seen on the battlefield, and in the quiet endurance of difficulties in the home. It may be seen in maintaining unpopular opinions amid difficult or dangerous circumstances, or in meeting death with unblanched cheek. What is courage?
Courage is not blindness to danger. It is no virtue to be unconcerned in the presence of dangers, about which one is totally ignorant. The greatest courage often goes along with the keenest sense of danger. The young officer who was fighting by the side of an old veteran was surprised to find his face blanched with fear. The young man being reckless of danger himself, asked with considerable surprise, “You are not afraid, are you?” “I am afraid,” was the reply; “and if you were half as afraid as I am you would run.” Two of our Lord’s disciples once displayed the courage of ignorance. When Christ asked them if they were able to drink of the cup which He should drink, and be baptized with His baptism, they readily replied that they were able. They were unconscious of the greatness of the task to which they were willing to pledge themselves.
Courage is a true estimate of dangers. “Knowledge is the antidote to fear.” “Courage is equality to the problem before us.” Socrates was condemned to drink the hemlock cup because he taught the youth of Athens noble truths about God, which were esteemed by the authorities as heresy. He might have won his life by a recantation, or an apology to his judges. He preferred death. When the executioner brought in the poison cup, the friends who were gathered round him wept, and Socrates alone was calm. He explained to them that he knew it was a dangerous thing to tell a lie; but that it might even be a blessing to die. At least he would not do what he knew to be evil, in preference to suffering what might possibly be evil, or what might even prove a blessing. The lie was the greater danger. III. MOTIVES FOR COURAGE. The possession of such courage is to be coveted. How is it to be gained? What motive can be found sufficient to inspire one to such acts of bravery?
Pity for the oppressed.
Consciousness of companionship.
Knowledge that the cause is God’s. (R. C. Ford, M.A.) Fear and dismay—an antidote:— There is no doubt of the fact that we have all some fears, and that there are moments when we are dismayed, for life stands connected not only with to-day and man, but with God and eternity. The words of our text come to those who are faithful. I. THE REASONS WHY SOME OF GOD’S PEOPLE HAVE OCCASION AT TIMES TO FEAR AND EVEN TO BE DISMAYED.
Our own nature is our enemy. In its depravity, in its ungodliness, the flesh lusteth against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary the one to the other.
Then there are these things that surround us, and those people who constitute the world around.
Then there is the great enemy. God often teaches us our inability. Is it not a solemn thing to stand in the midst of these enemies with that other world coming, and Christ to be the Judge? Is it not a solemn life when we think of all its responsibilities, if we are not found looking to the true source and finding the true power? II. THE ENCOURAGEMENT IN THE TEXT.
“Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” Do not imagine for a moment that it is your wants that bring to you this succour. The tendency with us all is always to make it our doing. Let us lay aside the thought that we have any power, and remember that from first to last it is all of grace. The first encouragement, then, is found in the Divine presence: “I am with thee.”
But there is yet a deeper depth. Sometimes the spirit of dismay comes over us. What will be the end? Cast away? What does the prophet tell us in regard to our covenant-keeping God? “Be not dismayed, for I am thy God.” Here is the most endearing relationship in the universe! There is not an angel in heaven but feels as he thinks of God that he is all safe. Now it is the same relationship between us and God; nay, it is a more sanctified one, for it is a relationship which exhibits the infinitude of His love, the unspeakableness of His mercy.
“I am thy God, I will strengthen thee.” One of the finest things that one finds after affliction is when the strength is returning and weakness is departing. There is a gladness and a gratitude in connection with such an experience as this which only those who have been afflicted can know. The downcast ones who are in the depths and ready to perish, ready to faint by the way, in that condition hear a voice; and what does it say to them? “I will strengthen thee.”
That is not all. “I will help thee.” Now this implies one step further. It implies that you and I have a burden, and as we are going through the world we are carrying it; but the burden is too heavy for us. We are tired; we are overloaded, and there is one Traveller by our side who can help us.
Then His support is effectual. “Yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” There is no left-hand work with God; no sinister work; it is all right-hand work with Him. And then all that is with it and all that it introduces is righteousness. I know of no encouragement like this text if we properly appreciate it. (A. M. Brown, LL.D.) God’s all-sufficiency a reason for fearlessness:— God can be God and fearless, but we can scarcely be creatures and fearless. Still less is it likely that sinful creatures should be fearless. It is more than the Father looks for under the present mode of our existence. But when the fearful thing is coming down, or when the children see it looming in the distance and are frightened, and they catch the Father’s countenance, and see that He is not frightened, it wonderfully reassures the poor children to see a fearlessness on the Father’s face. Heaven is full of “Fear nots.” And if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, it will break out of your midnight, and up from your deepest valley too, that voice of the Father, the All-in-all. I. The meaning of the word is that GOD IS OUR ALL-SUFFICIENCY, and not dis-related, but related to us. II. CONSIDER THE USE THE CHILDREN SHOULD MAKE OF THIS SUFFICIENCY OF THEIR FATHER. See what liberties we take with God’s earth. We get stones wherever we like. They are not our stones. And we get gold wherever we like, and we get iron wherever we like, and we get coal wherever we can. I hope the day will come when, even without thought or intention, we shall, from the new nature of our being, take up God as easily as the blade of grass takes up atmosphere and light. Let us enter our home—enter and be comforted, as all helpless things are, to find their source of supply so near. And let us not leave our nest and then fret that our rest is gone, but abide encircled by the everlasting strength. (J. Pulsford.) The sweet harp of consolation:— We sometimes speak very lightly of doubts and fears; but such is not God’s estimate of them.Our Heavenly Father evidently considers them to be great evils, extremely mischievous to us, and exceedingly dishonourable to Himself, for He very frequently forbids our fears, and as often affords us the most potent remedies for them. “Fear not” is a frequent utterance of the Divine mouth. “I am with thee” is the fervent, soul-cheering argument to support it. Martin Luther used to say, that to comfort a desponding spirit is as difficult as to raise the dead; but, then, we have a God who both raises the dead from their graves and His people from their despair. Saul was subject to fits of deep despondency, but when David, the skilful harper, laid his hand among the obedient strings, the evil spirit departed, overcome by the subduing power of melody. My text is such a harp. I. WE SHALL NOTE THE TIMES WHEN ITS SWEET STRAINS ARE MOST NEEDED. Occasions when comfort is needed are many; for some there be, who, like the willow, will only flourish in a soil which is always wet with consolation. If their mothers did not bear them with sorrow, like Jabez, they commenced very early on their own account to accumulate a heritage of woe. As John Bunyan would say, they need not be afraid of the Slough of Despond, for they carry a slough within their own hearts, and are never out of it, or it is never out of them. They are plants which flourish best in shady places, among the damps of sorrow. They delight most to dwell in the Valley of Humiliation; and when they are journeying through that peaceful vale, like Mr. Fearing, they could lie down and kiss the flowers, because the place is so suitable to their meek and lowly spirit. There is something sadly weak about this state of experience, though there is also much to admire: these are they whom the Master carries in His bosom, and doth gently lead. More or less, believers need consolation at all times, because their life is a very peculiar one.
Yet are there special occasions when the Comforter’s work is needed, and one of these certainly is when we are racked with much physical pain. Many bodily pains can be borne without affecting the mind, but there are others whose sharp fangs insinuate themselves into the marrow of our nature, boring their way most horribly through the brain and the spirit: for these much grace is wanted.
When the trouble comes in another shape, namely, in our relative sorrows, borne personally by those dear to us.
When all the currents of providence run counter to us.
Some of us know what it is to hear this voice of God in the midst of unusual responsibilities, heavy labours, and great enterprises.
Did you ever stand, as a servant of God, alone in the midst of opposition? Have you heard the clamour of many, some saying this thing, and some the other—some saying, “He is a good man,” but others saying, “Nay, but he deceiveth the people”? Did you never feel the delight of saying, “The best of all is, God is with us; and, in the name of God, instead of folding up the standard, we will set up our banners.”? If you have ever passed through that ordeal, then have you needed the words, “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God.” “Who art thou, that thou shouldest be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the son of man which shall be made as grass?”
We shall want this word of comfort most of all when we go down the shelving banks of the black river.
After death, we read in this Word of great events, what shall happen to us; but we feebly comprehend the revelation. Solemnities shall follow which may well strike a man with awe as he thinks upon them. What about that future? Why, faith can look forward to it without a single tremor; she fears not, for she hears the voice of the everlasting God saying to her, “I am with thee.” Thus have I mentioned a few of the occasions in which this harp sounds most sweetly. All through life I may picture the saints as marching to its music, even as the children of Israel set forward to the notes of the silver trumpets. II. We come to you, harp in hand, and pray you DISTINCTLY TO HEAR ITS NOTES. The sweetness of all the notes melt into each other, but now we shall touch each string severally and by itself, and if you have an educated ear you will hear that which will solace your souls. “Fear thou not; for I am with thee.” What does it mean?
“I am with thee in deepest sympathy.” When you suffer, you suffer not a new pang; Christ knew that pain long ago.
The Lord is with us in community of interests. That is to say, if the believer should fail, God himself would be dishonoured. Luther rejoiced greatly whenever he felt that he had brought God into his quarrel. “Well,” said he, “if it were I, Martin Luther, and the Pope of Rome who had to fight it out, I might well despair; but if it be the Pope against Martin Luther and Martin Luther’s God, then woe be unto Antichrist.” God is in the quarrel of the man who attacks error; God is in the quarrel of the man who is trying to do good, to reclaim his fellow-creatures from sin, and to establish the kingdom of Christ. Ay, and when you can quote a Divine promise, God is engaged in your affairs, because if He do not keep that promise, He is not true. It is with us as it is with the timid traveller in the Alps, who is attended by a faithful guide. He shivers as he passes under overhanging cliffs, or glides down shelving precipices, or climbs the slippery steeps of glaciers, but if his guide has linked himself with him he is reassured. The guide has said, “You are trembling, sir, but the way is safe; I have passed it many a time with many a traveller as weak as you are. But to reassure you and make you feel how safe you are, see here!” and he straps a rope round the traveller and round himself. “Now,” says he, “both of us or neither. We shall both get safely home or neither.”
The next string of the harp gives this sound, “I am with thee in providential aid.” In the old days of the post horses, there were always relays of swift horses ready to carry onward the king’s mails. It is wonderful how God has His relays of providential agents; how when He has done with one, there is always another just ready to take his place.
God is with us in secret sustaining power. He well knows how, if He do not interpose openly, to deliver us in trouble, to infuse strength into our sinking hearts. I have read of those who bathe in those baths of Germany which are much impregnated with iron, that they have felt after bathing as if they were made of iron, and were able in the heat of the sun to cast off the heat as though they were dressed in steel. Happy indeed are they who bathe in the bath of such a promise as this, “I am with thee!”
There is a way by which the Lord can be with His people, which is best of all, namely, by sensible manifestations of His presence, imparting joy and peace which surpass all understanding. III. MEDITATE MUCH UPON THE SWEETNESS OF THOSE NOTES.
The comfort of my text excels all other comfort under heaven.
There is all the comfort here that heaven itself could afford. The Manx people have for their motto three legs, so that whichever way you throw them they are sure to stand; but as for the saints, it is impossible for them to be thrown down by misfortune, or even by the infernal powers. We shall stand, for God upholds us. Now divide the words, and view them separately. “I AM.” Know you what this meaneth? God is self-existent, eternal, independent, sitting on no precarious throne, nor borrowing leave to be. It is no other than “JEHOVAH,” “JAH,” “I AM,” who has become the Friend of His people. Note the tense of it—not “I was,” not “I shall be,” but “I am.” We have yesterday, to-day, and for ever, the same great “I am.” “I am”—what? “I am with thee,” poor, feeble thing as thou art. IV. Though I have spoken of my text as a harp yielding rarest music, yet IT NEEDS THAT THE EAR BE TUNED BEFORE ITS MUSIC CAN BE APPRECIATED. It is not every man that understands the delights of harmony, even in ordinary music. So there are tens of thousands of men who know nothing at all of what it is to have God with them. Yea, this would be their dread; they would be glad to escape from God if they could. (C. H. Spurgeon.) Fear and its antidote:— To whom are these words spoken? We must not steal from God’s Scripture any more than from man’s treasury. They were spoken—
To God’s chosen ones (ver. 8).
To those whom God has called (ver. 9).
They are God’s servants, doing His will (ver. 8).
They are those whom He has not rejected from His service, in spite of the imperfections of which they are penitently conscious (ver. 9). To these every honey-dropping word of this text belongs. I. A VERY COMMON DISEASE OF GOOD MEN—FEAR.
This disease came into man’s heart with sin (Gen. 3:8).
Fear continues in good men because sin continues in them.
Fear coming in by sin, and being sustained by sin, readily finds food upon which it may live.
If fear finds food within, it also readily finds food without. Poverty, sickness, &c.
In certain instances the habit of fearing has reached a monstrous growth.
Even the strongest of God’s servants are sometimes the subjects of fear (1 Kings. 19:4). II. GOD’S COMMAND AGAINST FEAR. “Fear thou not; be not dismayed.” That precept is absolute and unqualified; we are not to fear at all. Why?
Because it is sinful. It almost always results from unbelief, the sin of sins.
It feeds sin.
It injures yourself.
It weakens the believer’s influence and so causes mischief to others. III. THE PROMISES WHICH GOD GIVES TO PREVENT FEAR AND DISMAY.
Many a man fears because he is afraid of loneliness. You are not alone, because God is with you.
Men fear they may lose all they have in the world, and they know very well that if they lose their property they usually lose their friends. Your goods may go, but your God will not.
Fear sometimes arises from a sense of personal weakness. “I will strengthen thee.” God can, if He wills it, put Samson’s strength into an infant’s arm.
Some fear that friendly succour will fail. If the work on which we have set our hearts is God’s work, He will send to our aid all the succour we need.
Many a child of God is afflicted with a fear that he shall one day, in some unguarded moment, bring dishonour upon the Cross of Christ. This is a very natural, and in some respects a very proper fear. “I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.” (Ibid.) Helpful presence:— It was said of Simpson, the discoverer of chloroform, that his presence in a sick-room half cured his patients. Pain lost half its terror, and seemed to expect its dismission, once he stood by the sick. (J. A. Davies, B.D.) A trinity of Divine forces:— “Strengthen,” “help,” “uphold,” a trinity of Divine forces, a triple wall of Divine protection. “If God be for us, who can be against us?” (J. R. Macduff, D.D.) A grand staircase:— When the late Dr. William Anderson lay dying, his friend, Mr. Logan, read this passage to him, and the noble old man at once seized it, and looking at his friend, said with great emphasis, “What a grand staircase that is up which to go to God!” (C. Garrett.) Security in God’s company:— If Cæsar could say to the fearful ferryman, in a terrible storm, “Be of good cheer; thou carriest Cæsar, and therefore canst not miscarry,” how much more may he presume to be safe that hath God in his company! A child in the dark fears nothing while he hath his father by the hand. (J. Trapp.) The protection of God’s presence:— Zwingle, in spite of all the machinations of his enemies, went about unharmed. It was as though an unseen bodyguard encompassed him, and his enemies despaired of attaining their end. “God is with me,” he said; “and with Him on my side I fear my enemies as little as the crag fears the ocean’s foam.” (Sunday School Chronicle.) God a background:— Dr. Dale of Birmingham, towards the close of his life, made the following entry in his diary: “Of course, when Sir Andrew Clark was sent for, and——and——came, I understood that my position was regarded as critical. I was too weak, however, to be much moved by it—too weak to find much direct consolation in the eternal springs of strength and joy. God was a kind of background to everything—hardly discerned, but there; this was all.” (Life of R. W. Dale.) General Gordon’s faith:— “I go as alone,” wrote General Gordon, as he started from Cairo to Khartoum, “with an infinite almighty God to direct and guide me, and I am so called to trust in Him, as to fear nothing, and, indeed, to feel sure of success.” (Sunday School Chronicle.) I will help thee.—God’s “I wills”:— I will, I will, I will. Oh, the rhetoric of God! Oh, the certainty of the promise! (J. Trapp.) The best Helper:— Two persons are spoken of here: “I” and “thee.” “I,” the person speaking, is our God and Saviour; and “thee,” the person spoken to, means everybody who needs His help and seeks it. There are four reasons why Jesus is the best Helper. I. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS NEAR TO HELP. God is always near when people are in trouble. He always could help them if He saw it best. But sometimes He sees good reasons for not helping those who are in need. II. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS ABLE TO HELP. III. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS WILLING TO HELP. He may not always be willing to help us just at the time, or in the way we desire,—that may not be best; but in His own time and way He is always willing to help. IV. BECAUSE HE IS ALWAYS KIND IN HELPING. There are some people who are willing and able to help others, and who do help them too, but it is done in a very rough manner. (R. Newton, D.D.) Our Helper:— I. WHO MAKES THE PROMISE? A promise is nothing to me unless I have good security that it will be kept. When a man makes a promise to me that he will do so and so, I value the promise according to his ability and disposition to make it good. If, now, you read from verse 10, you will see who it is that promises help. It is a well-guaranteed promise. He who made you knows all about you. His knowledge of you is even more exact than is the watchmaker’s knowledge of the delicate machinery which he takes apart and puts together again. II. HOW MUCH WE ALL NEED HELP. We begin to need it in many ways as soon as we are born, and we never cease to need it as long as we live. (J. W. Teal.) God’s help:— A minister was one day bringing his books upstairs into another room, for he was going to have his study on the first floor, instead of downstairs, and his little boy wanted to help father carry some of the books. “Now,” said the father, “I knew he could not do it, but as he wanted to be doing something, to please him and to do him good by encouraging his industry, I told him he might take a book and carry it up.” So away he went, and picked out one of the biggest volumes—Caryl on Job or Poli Synopsis, I should think—and when he had climbed a step or two up the stairs, down he sat and began to cry. He could not manage to carry his big book any farther; he was disappointed and unhappy. How did the matter end? Why, the father had to go to the rescue, and carry both the great book and the little man. So, when the Lord gives us a work to do, we are glad to do it, but our strength is not equal to the work, and then we sit down and cry, and it comes to this, that our blessed Father carries the work and carries the little man too, and then it is all done and done gloriously. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Exell, J. S. (n.d.). Isaiah (Vol. 2, pp. 274–282). Fleming H. Revell Company.
Good old Jacob could no more be with Joseph, for his hour had come to die: but he left his son without anxiety, for he said with confidence, “God shall be with you.” When our dearest relations or our most helpful friends are called home by death, we must console ourselves with the reflection that the Lord is not departed from us but lives for us and abides with us forever.
If God be with us, we are in ennobling company, even though we are poor and despised. If God be with us, we have all-sufficient strength, for nothing can be too hard for the Lord. If God be with us, we are always safe, for none can harm those who walk under His shadow. Oh, what a joy we have here! Not only is God with us, but He will be with us. With us as individuals; with us as families; with us as churches. Is not the very name of Jesus, Immanuel—God with us? Is not this the best of all, that God is with us? Let us be bravely diligent and joyously hopeful. Our cause must prosper, the truth must win, for the Lord is with those who are with Him. All this day may this sweet word be enjoyed by every believer who turns to “faith’s checkbook.” No greater happiness is possible.
“If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world.” – C. S. Lewis1
“God has put within our lives meanings and possibilities that quite outrun the limits of mortality.” – Harry Emerson Fosdick
“God hath given to man a short time here upon earth, and yet upon this short time eternity depends.” – Jeremy Taylor
“Eternity to the godly is a day that has no sunset; eternity to the wicked is a night that has no sunrise.” – Thomas Watson
“For death is no more than a turning of us over from time to eternity.” – William Penn
“I believe the promises of God enough to venture an eternity on them.” – Isaac Watts
“Time is given us to use in view of eternity.” – Harry Ironside
“We are so easily entangled in earthly affairs and so easily consumed with the desire for those things that do not last. We will not live on this earth forever, so even our trials should be viewed in the light of eternity.” – Theodore Epp
“Live near to God, and so all things will appear to you little in comparison with eternal realities.” – Robert Murray McCheyne
“Once a man is united to God, how could he not live forever?” – C. S. Lewis
“I judge all things only by the price they shall gain in eternity.” – John Wesley
“Right now counts forever.” – R. C. Sproul
“The awful importance of this life is that it determines eternity.” – William Barclay
“You were placed here to train for eternity. Your body was only intended to be a house for your immortal spirit. It is flying in the face of God’s purposes to do as many do – to make the soul a servant to the body, and not the body a servant to the soul.” – J. C. Ryle
“Satan’s greatest success is in making people think they have plenty of time before they die to consider their eternal welfare.” – John Owen
“If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next.” – C. S. Lewis
“Don’t let obstacles along the road to eternity shake your confidence in God’s promise. The Holy Spirit is God’s seal that you will arrive.” – David Jeremiah
1 All of these quotes are from the websites below:
Scripture’s application of righteousness is summarized in our responsibility to love our neighbor as ourselves. In this sermon R.C. Sproul discusses this simple principle and applies it to challenging situations.
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. (12:1)
The key phrase of this passage is let us run with endurance the race that is set before us. In the book of Hebrews, as in many places in the New Testament, “let us” may refer to believers, to unbelievers, or to both. As a matter of courtesy and concern, an author frequently identifies himself with those to whom he is writing, whether or not they are fellow Christians. In Hebrews 4 (vv. 1, 14, 16), for example, I think unbelievers are being addressed. Similarly, 6:1 speaks of unbelievers going on to the maturity of salvation. In 10:23–24, the reference can be both to believers and unbelievers. In 12:1, I believe “let us” may be used to refer to Jews who have made a profession of Christ, but have not gone all the way to full faith. They have not yet begun the Christian race, which starts with salvation—to which the writer is now calling them. The truths, however, apply primarily to Christians, who are already running. The writer is saying, “If you are not a Christian, get in the race, because you have to enter before you can hope to win. If you are a Christian, run with endurance; don’t give up.” Unfortunately, many people are not even in the race, and many Christians could hardly be described as running the race at all. Some are merely jogging, some are walking slowly, and some are sitting or even lying down. Yet the biblical standard for holy living is a race, not a morning constitutional. Race is the Greek agōn, from which we get agony. A race is not a thing of passive luxury, but is demanding, sometimes grueling and agonizing, and requires our utmost in self-discipline, determination, and perseverance. God warned Israel, “Woe to those who are at ease in Zion, and to those who feel secure in the mountain of Samaria” (Amos 6:1). God’s people are not called to lie around on beds of ease. We are to run a race that is strenuous and continuous. In God’s army we never hear “At ease.” To stand still or to go backward is to forfeit the prize. Worse yet is to stay in the stands and never participate at all, for which we forfeit everything—even eternal heaven. Endurance (hupomonē) is steady determination to keep going. It means continuing even when everything in you wants to slow down or give up. I can still remember the excruciating experience I had in high school when I first ran the half-mile. I was used to the 100-yard dash, which requires more speed but is over quickly. So I started out well; in fact I led the pack for the first 100 yards or so. But I ended dead last, and almost felt I was dead. My legs were wobbly, my chest was heaving, my mouth was cottony, and I collapsed at the finish line. That is the way many people live the Christian life. They start out fast, but as the race goes on they slow down, give up, or just collapse. The Christian race is a marathon, a long-distance race, not a sprint. The church has always had many short-spurt Christians, but the Lord wants those who will “make the distance.” There will be obstacles and there will be weariness and exhaustion, but we must endure if we are to win. God is concerned for steadfastness. Many of the Hebrew Christians to whom the letter was written had started well. They had seen signs and wonders and were thrilled with their new lives (Heb. 2:4). But as the new began to wear off and problems began to arise, they began to lose their enthusiasm and their confidence. They started looking back at the old ways of Judaism, and around them and ahead of them at the persecution and suffering, and they began to weaken and waver. Paul knew some Christians in the same condition, and to them he wrote, “Prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:15) and “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but only one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may win. And everyone who competes in the games exercises self-control in all things. They then do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable” (1 Cor. 9:24–25). Nothing makes less sense than to be in a race that you have little desire to win. Yet I believe the lack of desire to win is a basic problem with many Christians. They are content simply to be saved and to wait to go to heaven. But in a race or in a war or in the Christian life, lack of desire to win is unacceptable. Paul believed this principle and he had a hupomonē kind of determination. He did not pursue comfort, money, great learning, popularity, respect, position, lust of the flesh, or anything but God’s will. “Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; but I buffet my body and make it my slave, lest possibly, after I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:26–27). That is what Christian commitment is all about. The competition of the Christian life, of course, is different from that of an athletic race in two important ways. First, we are not to compete against other Christians, trying to outdo each other in righteousness, recognition, or accomplishments. Ours is not a race of works but a race of faith. Yet we do not compete with each other even in faith. We compete by faith, but not with each other. Our competition is against Satan, his world system, and our own sinfulness, often referred to in the New Testament as the flesh. Second, our strength is not in ourselves, but in the Holy Spirit; otherwise we could never endure. We are not called on to endure in ourselves, but in Him. The Christian has only one way to endure—by faith. The only time we sin, the only time we fail, is when we do not trust. That is why our protection against Satan’s temptations is “the shield of faith” (Eph. 6:16). As long as we are trusting God and doing what He wants us to do, Satan and sin have no power over us. They have no way of getting to us or of hindering us. When we run in the power of God’s Spirit, we run successfully.
THE ENCOURAGEMENT TO RUN
Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, (12:1a)
We are all creatures of motivation. We need a reason for doing things and we need encouragement while we are doing them. One of the greatest motivations and encouragements to the unbelieving Jews, as well as to Christians, would be all these great believers from the past, their heroes, who lived the life of faith. The cloud of witnesses are all those faithful saints just mentioned in chapter 11. We are to run the race of faith like they did, always trusting, never giving up, no matter what the obstacles or hardships or cost. They knew how to run the race of faith. They opposed Pharaoh, they forsook the pleasures and prerogatives of his court, they passed through the Red Sea, shouted down the walls of Jericho, conquered kingdoms, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, received back their dead by resurrection, were tortured, mocked, scourged, imprisoned, stoned, sawn in two, had to dress in animal skins, were made destitute—all for the sake of their faith. Now the writer says, “You should run like they did. It can be done, if you run as they did—in faith. They ran and ran and ran, and they had less light to run by than you have. Yet they were all victorious, every one of them.” I do not believe that the cloud of witnesses surrounding us is standing in the galleries of heaven watching as we perform. The idea here is not that we should be faithful lest they be disappointed, or that we should try to impress them like a sports team trying to impress the fans in the bleachers. These are witnesses to God, not of us. They are examples, not onlookers. They have proved by their testimony, their witness, that the life of faith is the only life to live. To have a whole gallery of such great people looking down on us would not motivate us but paralyze us. We are not called to please them. They are not looking at us; we are to look at them. Nothing is more encouraging than the successful example of someone who has “done it before.” Seeing how God was with them encourages us to trust that He will also be with us. The same God who was their God is our God. The God of yesterday is the God of today and tomorrow. He has not weakened, or lost interest in His people, or lessened His love and care for them. We can run as well as they did. It has nothing to do with how we compare with them, but in how our God compares with theirs. Because we have the same God, He can do the same things through us if we trust Him.
THE ENCUMBRANCES THAT HINDER US
Let us also lay aside every encumbrance. (12:1b)
One of the greatest problems runners face is weight. Several years ago the winner of a recent Olympic gold medal for the 100 meters came to our country for an invitational track meet. He was considered the world’s fastest human being. But when he ran the preliminary heat, he did not even qualify. In an interview afterward he said the reason was simple. He was overweight. He had trained too little and eaten too much. He had not gained a great amount of weight, but it was enough to keep him from winning—even from qualifying. Because of a few pounds, he was no longer a winner. In that particular race, he was not even qualified to compete. An encumbrance (onkos) is simply a bulk or mass of something. It is not necessarily bad in itself. Often it is something perfectly innocent and harmless. But it weighs us down, diverts our attention, saps our energy, dampens our enthusiasm for the things of God. We cannot win when we are carrying excess weight. When we ask about a certain habit or condition, “What’s wrong with that?” the answer often is, “Nothing in itself.” The problem is not in what the weight is but in what it does. It keeps us from running well and therefore from winning. In most sports, especially where speed and endurance count, weighing in is a daily routine. It is one of the simplest, but most reliable, tests of being in shape. When an athlete goes over his weight limit, he is put on a stricter exercise and diet program until he is down to where he should be—or he is put on the bench or off the team. Too much clothing is also a hindrance. Elaborate uniforms are fine for parades, and sweatsuits are fine for warming up, but when the race comes, the least clothing that decency allows is all that is worn. When we become more concerned about appearances than about spiritual reality and vitality, our work and testimony for Jesus Christ are seriously encumbered. We do not know exactly what sort of things the writer had in mind regarding spiritual encumbrances, and commentators venture a host of ideas. From the context of the letter as a whole, I believe the main encumbrance was Judaistic legalism, hanging on to the old religious ways. Most of those ways were not wrong in themselves. Some had been prescribed by God for the time of the Old Covenant. But none of them was of any value now, and in fact had become hindrances. They were sapping energy and attention from Christian living. The Temple and its ceremonies and pageantry were beautiful and appealing. And all the regulations, the do’s and don’ts of Judaism, were pleasing to the flesh. They made it easy to keep score on your religious life. But these were all weights, some of them very heavy weights. They were like a ball and chain to spiritual living by faith. These Jewish believers, or would-be believers, could not possibly run the Christian race with all their excess baggage. Some in the Galatian church faced the same problem. Paul tells them, “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me. I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly” (Gal. 2:20–21). He goes on, “You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (3:1–3). To impress his point even more, Paul says, “But now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how is it that you turn back again to the weak and worthless elemental things, to which you desire to be enslaved all over again?” (4:9). “After you started the Christian race,” he is saying, “why did you then put all those old weights back on?” Another type of encumbrance can be fellow Christians. We need to be careful about blaming others for our shortcomings. But a lot of Christians not only are not running themselves but are keeping others from running. They are figuratively sitting on the track, and those who are running have to hurdle them. Often the workers in the church have to keep jumping over or running around the nonworkers. The devil does not put all the encumbrances in the way. Sometimes we do his work for him.
Let us also lay aside … the sin which so easily entangles us. (12:1c)
An even more significant hindrance to Christian living is sin. Obviously all sin is a hindrance to Christian living, and the reference here may be to sin in general. But use of the definite article (the sin) seems to indicate a particular sin. And if there is one particular sin that hinders the race of faith it is unbelief, doubting God. Doubting and living in faith contradict each other. Unbelief entangles the Christian’s feet so that he cannot run. It wraps itself around us so that we trip and stumble every time we try to move for the Lord, if we try at all. It easily entangles us. When we allow sin in our lives, especially unbelief, it is quite easy for Satan to keep us from running.
THE EXAMPLE TO FOLLOW
Fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (12:2)
In running, as in most sports, where you look is extremely important. Nothing will throw off your stride or slow you down like looking at your feet or the runner coming up from behind or the crowds in the stands. The Christian race is very much like this. Some Christians are preoccupied with themselves. They may not be selfish or egotistical, but they pay too much attention to what they are doing, to the mechanics of running. There is a place for such concern, but if we focus on ourselves, we will never run well for the Lord. Sometimes we are preoccupied with what other Christians are thinking and doing, especially in relation to us. Concern for others also has a place. We do not disregard our brothers in Christ or what they think about us. What they think about us, including their criticism, can be helpful to us. But if we focus on others, we are bound to stumble. We are not even to focus on the Holy Spirit. We are to be filled with the Spirit, and when we are, our focus will be on Jesus Christ, because that is where the Spirit’s focus is (John 16:14). It is not that we try hard not to look at this or that or the other things that may distract us. If our focus is truly on Jesus Christ, we will see everything else in its right perspective. When our eyes are on the Lord, the Holy Spirit has the perfect opportunity to use us, to get us running and winning. We are to focus on Jesus because He is the author and perfecter of faith. He is the supreme example of our faith. In 2:10 Jesus is called the author of salvation. Here He is the author (archēgos) of faith. He is the pioneer or originator, the one who begins and takes the lead. Jesus is the author, the originator, of all faith. He originated Abel’s faith, and Enoch’s and Noah’s, as well as Abraham’s, David’s, Paul’s, and ours. The focus of faith is also the originator of faith. As Paul explains, “Our fathers … all ate the same spiritual food; and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they were drinking from a spiritual rock which followed them; and the rock was Christ” (1 Cor. 10:1, 3–4). Micah had preached the same truth hundreds of years before Paul. “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth are from long ago, from the days of eternity” (Mic. 5:2). But I believe the primary meaning of archēgos here is that of chief leader, or chief example. Jesus Christ is our preeminent example of faith. He was “tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin” (Heb. 4:15). Jesus lived the supreme life of faith. When the devil tempted Him in the wilderness, Jesus’ reply each time was the expression of trust in His Father and His Word. Jesus would not bypass the Father’s will just to get food, or to test His Father’s protection or lordship (Matt. 4:1–10). He would wait until the Father supplied or protected or directed. When the ordeal was over, His Father did provide by sending angels to minister to Him. He trusted His Father implicitly, for everything and in everything. “I can do nothing on My own initiative. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is just, because I do not seek My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me” (John 5:30). In the Garden of Gethsemane, just before His arrest, trial, and crucifixion, Jesus said to His Father, “My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; yet not as I will, but as Thou wilt” (Matt. 26:39). Whatever the prospect of hardship or suffering, He trusted His Father. His Father’s will was what He lived by and died by. It was all Jesus ever considered. The faith of all the heroes of chapter 11 together could not match the faith of the Son of God. They were wonderful witnesses and examples of faith; Jesus is a more wonderful example still. Their faith was true and acceptable to God; His was perfect and even more acceptable. In fact, without Jesus’ faithfulness, no believer’s faith would count for anything. For if Jesus’ perfect faith had not led Him to the cross, our faith would be in vain, because there would then be no sacrifice for our sins, no righteousness to count to our credit. Jesus not only is the author of faith, but also its perfecter (teleiōtēs), the One who carries it through to completion. He continued to trust His Father until He could say, “It is finished!” (John 19:30). These words, along with “Father, into Thy hands I commit My spirit” (Luke 23:46), were Jesus’ last before He died. His work was finished not only in that it was completed but in that it was perfected. If a composer dies while working on a masterpiece, his work on that piece is over but it is not finished. On the cross, Jesus’ work was both over and finished—perfected. It accomplished exactly what it was meant to accomplish, because, from birth to death, His life was totally committed into His Father’s hands. There has never been a walk of faith like Jesus’. The world has always mocked faith, just as they mocked Jesus’ faith: “He trusts in God; let Him deliver Him now, if He takes pleasure in Him; for He said, ‘I am the Son of God’ ” (Matt. 27:43). But in faith, Jesus endured the cross, despising the shame. Why should we not also trust God in everything, since we have not begun to suffer what Jesus suffered? “You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin” (Heb. 12:4). Jesus has set such a high example of faith that it is on His example that we should rivet our eyes for as long as we live. It is good to glance at the examples of the cloud of Old Testament witnesses, but it is imperative that we fix our eyes on Jesus (cf. 2 Cor. 3:18).
THE END OF THE RACE
Who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (12:2b)
In the ancient Isthmian games of Greece, a pedestal stood at the finish line, and on it hung a wreath—the winner’s prize. No one runs a race without some expectation of reward. The reward may be nothing more than a ribbon or a trophy or a wreath of leaves. It may be a prize worth a large amount of money. Sometimes the reward is fame and recognition. Sometimes it is a healthy body. Occasionally the race is run for the sheer exhilaration. The Isthmian races and the race spoken of in Hebrews 12, however, were not run for exhilaration. This type of race is the agōn, the agony race, the marathon, the race that seems never to end. It is not a race you run simply for the pleasure of running. If you do not have something important to look forward to at the end of this race, you will likely not start it and will certainly not finish it. Jesus did not run His race of faith for the pleasure of race itself, though He must have experienced great satisfaction in seeing people healed, comforted, brought to faith, and started on the way to spiritual growth. But He did not leave His Father’s presence and His heavenly glory, endure temptation and fierce opposition by Satan himself, suffer ridicule, scorn, blasphemy, torture, and crucifixion by his enemies, and experience the misunderstanding and denial of His own disciples for the sake of whatever few pleasures and satisfactions He had while on earth. He was motivated by immeasurably more than this. Only what was at the end of the race could have motivated Jesus to leave what He did and endure what He did. Jesus ran for two things, the joy set before Him and sitting down at the right hand of the throne of God. He ran for the joy of exaltation. In His high-priestly prayer Jesus said to His Father, “I glorified Thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do. And now, glorify Thou Me together with Thyself, Father, with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was” (John 17:4–5). Jesus gained His reward by glorifying His Father while on earth, and He glorified God by totally exhibiting the Father’s attributes and by fully doing the Father’s will. The prize Christians are to run for is not heaven. If we are truly Christians, if we belong to God by faith in Jesus Christ, heaven is already ours. We run for the same prize that Jesus ran for, and we achieve it in the same way He did. We run for the joy of exaltation God promises will be ours if we glorify Him on earth as His Son did. We glorify God by allowing His attributes to shine through us and by obeying His will in everything we do. When we anticipate the heavenly reward of faithful service, joy will be ours now. Paul spoke of his converts as his “joy and crown” (Phil. 4:1) and his “hope or joy or crown of exultation” (1 Thess. 2:19). He had present joy because of future promise. Those he had won to the Lord were evidence that he had glorified God in his ministry. What gives us joy in this life is confidence of reward in the next. Even if we must suffer for the Lord, we should be able to say with Paul, “I rejoice and share my joy with you all” (Phil. 2:17). And though, like Paul, we are not yet perfect, we should also forget what is behind and reach forward to what lies ahead, pressing on “toward the goal of the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (3:13–14). We should be able to look forward to the day when our Lord says to us, “Well done, … enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:21). “In the future,” the apostle says, “there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing” (2 Tim. 4:8). And when we get to heaven, we can join the twenty-four elders in casting our “crowns before the throne, saying, ‘Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power’ ” (Rev. 4:10–11). When Jesus went to the cross, He endured all that it demanded. He despised the shame and accepted it willingly, for the sake of His Father’s reward and the joy that anticipation of this reward brought. As we run the race of the Christian life, we can run in the joyful anticipation of that same reward—the crown of righteousness, which one day we can cast at His feet as evidence of our eternal love for Him.
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1983). Hebrews (pp. 372–381). Moody Press.
Top military official gains Trump’s trust as crisis diplomat in Iran nuclear negotiations US President Donald Trump is relying on Admiral Brad Cooper in ongoing negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, … The announcement that Cooper, commander of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), will participate in the negotiations is seen as a new diplomatic tactic, writes AP. Trump’s decision is also seen as a warning about the potential deployment of military resources. Cooper was involved in indirect talks between the US and Iran and participated in them in uniform.
Trump’s remarks create concern among the far right in the EU Donald Trump’s statements on Greenland and NATO may make him a liability rather than an asset for Europe’s far right in upcoming elections. However, he still has support for his immigration policies. Rarely have members of the European Parliament been so unanimous as when they debated the US claim to Greenland in Strasbourg on January 20.
The Great Oil Conspiracy: The Conclusion It is time to end the cover-up and misinformation that has prevented the American public from knowing the truth about oil – that hydrocarbon fuels are abiotic in nature, produced by the earth naturally on a continuous basis, and that the quantity of abiotic hydrocarbons yet to be discovered suggests the world will never run out of oil or natural gas, exactly as Julian Simon predicted decades ago.
Is this how Israel can stop the next hostage crisis before it begins? Knesset Member Ohad Tal has submitted legislation aimed at preventing the next kidnapping of an Israeli citizen before it happens. The bill, which is currently before the Ministerial Committee on Legislation, seeks to remove the incentive for terrorist groups to capture Israelis, Tal said. In explaining the rationale behind the proposal, Tal argued that Israel’s past policies have unintentionally encouraged kidnappings. “The truth is uncomfortable but unavoidable: over the years, Israel has created a built-in incentive for the kidnapping of Israelis,
‘Humanity now has a common enemy:’ UN Special Rapporteur Albanese condemns Israel at Al Jazeera forum “Humanity “now has a common enemy,” UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese said Saturday night at the Al Jazeera Forum as she delivered remarks condemning Israel during a panel focused on the Palestinian issue. Appearing by video link, Albanese took part in a session alongside Hamas figure Khaled Mashaal and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi titled “The Palestinian Cause in a World Moving Toward Multipolarity.”
Donald Trump will have to choose which side of history he is on as a collision between principle and power is coming. US President Donald Trump has been clear on one central issue: The Muslim Brotherhood is not a benign political movement but a transnational Islamist ideology that undermines states from within. His administration consistently rejected the idea that “political Islam” is harmless, arguing instead that the Brotherhood provides the ideological ecosystem from which movements like Hamas draw legitimacy.
Reports point to defiance within IRGC after mass killings in Iran Three weeks after the unprecedented massacre of protesters in Iran, carried out largely by forces of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and its affiliated Basij militia, there are growing signs of discontent among some IRGC members over the continued use of live fire against civilians. An IRGC member, speaking through an intermediary, said he has not reported to work since Thursday, Jan. 8, and has since refused to return, citing severe depression and ongoing medical treatment. According to the officer, although “shoot-to-kill orders” had been issued against protesters and harsh crackdowns were expected on Thursday and Friday, January 8 and 9, and in the days that followed, he was still shocked by the level of violence and brutality inflicted by IRGC forces on the public. many rank-and-file police officers are on the verge of psychological collapse. According to him, the situation is even worse in families where relatives themselves are protesters, as these officers find it impossible to justify their work to their spouses and children.
Pentagon Says It Will Cut Academic Ties With Harvard University Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth said on Friday his department was ending professional military education, fellowships, and certificate programs with Harvard University, marking the Trump administration’s latest escalation against the school. President Donald Trump’s administration has cracked down on top US universities, including Harvard, over a range of issues such as pro-Palestinian protests against US ally Israel’s assault on Gaza, diversity programs, transgender policies and climate initiatives. “Starting now and beginning in the 2026-27 school year, I am discontinuing all graduate level Professional Military Education (PME), all fellowships and certificate programs between Harvard University and the War Department for active duty service members,”
This is the list of what Israel is demanding from Iran Israel wants the talks to lead only to an agreement that includes the complete dismantling of Iran’s nuclear program, including a halt to uranium enrichment and the removal of enriched uranium from Iranian territory. Beyond that, Israel has a series of additional demands that Netanyahu is expected to present to Trump, following an “airlift” of senior Israeli security officials who have met with their American counterparts at various levels.
Global defense leaders to converge in Tel Aviv for Defense.Tech Expo 2026 International military, industry and investment figures expected at Israel’s largest defense and HLS exhibition; focus on combat-proven technologies, dual-use systems and cross-border cooperation; event reflects growing global demand for Israeli security solutions amid rising instability
Mexican Pastor Arrested, Bound, and Exiled From Community For Refusing To Bow To Catholic Statue In a village in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca, a pastor was arrested and forced from his community for refusing to bow to the statue of a saint. In November 2025, Protestant Pastor Mariano Velásquez Martínez begrudgingly agreed to be one of the community’s “mayordomos,” the overseer of religious festivals. Local Catholics promised he would be exempt from participating in Catholic festivals and would only have to provide the candles and flowers for the celebration. On Jan. 15, the pastor was ordered to pray to an image of St. James during a festival. When he refused, another mayordomo reported him to local authorities, who arrested him. After five days, officials bound him with a rope, led him out before 180 men — among whom were his uncle and cousin — and expelled him from the community.
Fifth Circuit Upholds Policy That Illegal Immigrants Can Be Detained Without Bond A federal appeals court has sided with the Trump administration in upholding a policy that mandates detention without bond hearings for illegal immigrants in the United States who entered without inspection. In a 2–1 decision issued Feb. 6, the New Orleans-based Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals reversed lower court rulings that had granted habeas petitions to two Mexican nationals,
Washington Post CEO And Publisher Quits As Newspaper Implodes In Epic Chaos That’s right, the same WaPo that spent years hurling “fake news” grenades at us here at ZeroHedge, trying to get us deplatformed, demonetized, and disappeared from the internet, is now eating crow as their own house of CIA-funded cards collapses. Yes, this is our unapologetic victory lap – we’ve outlasted another establishment hack, which earlier this week saw an in house “Red Wedding” where hundreds of CIA conduits “reporters” were fired… and it feels good.
AI ‘Kill Chains’ And Rise Of Skynet-Like Weapons Offer Glimpse Of 2030s Battlefield Ukraine has become the proving ground for 2030s warfare, where Western weaponry, Russian weaponry, and anyone else’s “next gen” weaponry collide on a modern battlefield that’s already providing a sneak peek of what conflict will look like: weaponized AI, ground robots, FPV swarms, and automated kill chains, with humanoid robo-killers that could enter field testing as early as this year. The focus of this note is how “kill chains” are becoming central to modern warfare, with humans increasingly pushed out of decision-making on the Ukrainian frontlines,
Zelenskyy Says US Gave Ukraine And Russia A June Deadline To End War Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Feb. 6 that the United States has given both Ukraine and Russia a June deadline to reach an agreement to end the nearly four-year war, adding that Washington is likely to increase pressure on both sides if fighting continues beyond that point.
SpaceX’s New Order Of Operations: Moon Mission First, Mars On Hold Elon Musk’s SpaceX is apparently reorienting its near-term space roadmap, pushing back a planned 2026 uncrewed Mars mission and focusing efforts on NASA’s Artemis program, with Starship’s uncrewed moon mission targeted for early next year.
US Congress Approves Funds For Baltics As Russia Tests NATO’s Eastern Flank WASHINGTON — Congress has approved $200 million in security assistance for the Baltic states as Russian activity along NATO’s eastern flank intensifies. The funding, approved this week as part of the Fiscal Year 2026 Defense Appropriations Act secures continued US backing for Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania under the Baltic Security Initiative (BSI). The $838.7 billion defense package, signed by President Donald Trump on February 3, locks in funding for security cooperation with the three Baltic states despite earlier attempts inside the Pentagon to eliminate it.
Millions of Americans on alert as dangerous cold sweeps East Coast Extreme Cold Warnings are in effect across much of the Northeast, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Vermont. With low temperatures down to single digits for most in the Northeast and winds continuing to howl, wind chills will be subzero.
Netanyahu to fly to Washington to discuss US talks with Iran On Tuesday, Netanyahu met with Trump’s Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, emphasizing that Israel won’t compromise on its war aims in the Gaza Strip, and cautioning against trusting Iranian promises. He reiterated to Witkoff that Hamas must be disarmed and Gaza demilitarized before any reconstruction efforts begin.
Gaza ‘Board of Peace’ to convene at WH Feb. 19, a day after Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu The meeting comes amid efforts to advance implementation of the 2nd phase of the Gaza ceasefire, following limited reopening of Rafah crossing, the expected announcement on the composition and mandate of the International Stabilization Force, and anticipation of a Trump declaration setting a deadline for Hamas to disarm.
Pay Attention Texas: These Are the Radical Candidates Being Pushed by CAIR CAIR Action Texas has openly endorsed a slate of far-left candidates – mobilizing Muslim voters to install activists whose platforms align with CAIR’s broader goal of reshaping Texas and America in ways that prioritize Islam over constitutional principles and national security.
Texas launches legal action against CAIR, Muslim Brotherhood, Antifa Ken Paxton, the attorney general in Texas, has launched a series of high-profile legal actions targeting alleged terrorist-linked organizations as part of his efforts to combat domestic and foreign extremism in the state.
Rep. Mark Harris: ‘Islam Poses a Real Threat to America’ U.S. Representative Mark Harris (R-NC) delivered a direct warning at the launch of the Sharia-Free America Caucus, stating that radical Islamic ideology represents a real and present danger to American safety, constitutional order, and national cohesion.
The History of the Internet: Surveillance and censorship were the aims from the outset The effort to change public perception of the internet from a military surveillance project to a promised utopian land of opportunity took about 20 years and a lot of work – and it worked like a charm – but surveillance has always remained at the center of what the internet is about.
Russia Develops “Cyborg Spy Pigeons” Using Live Birds A Russian technology company implanting chips into pigeons’ brains to turn them into remote-controlled “bio-drones” has ignited curiosity, concern, and skepticism. Sounds like science fiction, with potentially serious implications for surveillance, warfare, and technology ethics.
Thousands protest in Berlin in solidarity with Iranian uprisings The rally coincided with the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 anti-monarchy revolution and follows nationwide protests in Iran, which started in December over economic hardships, turned political, and were repressed in the most violent crackdown since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Host Harris Faulkner and the ‘Outnumbered’ panel discuss U.S. high schools permitting students to walk out of class to protest ICE, despite low proficiency scores in math and English. #ICE #StudentWalkout #Education #Activism #SchoolPolicy #Immigration #ICEProtests #ClassroomDebate #CollegeReadiness #Politics
Nevada is receiving an influx of wealth due to Californians fleeing the state.Michael H/Getty Images
Billionaires are planting roots in Nevada amid fears of a California wealth tax.
Nevada, with its generous tax advantages, is welcoming the ultrawealthy with open arms.
The influx of wealthy people is rapidly changing the state’s luxury market.
The most expensive condo sale in the Las Vegas area closed in early January for $21 million. If the sale of the 5,000-square-foot penthouse about 15 miles from the Las Vegas Strip had closed just a little more than a week earlier, it potentially could have saved the buyer a few hundred million dollars.
“He was looking for a while, and at the last minute, there was a little bit of a hiccup,” real estate agent Ivan Sher told Business Insider of the sale. “He was actually even under contract significantly before then.”
“I just felt a little bit like I wasn’t wanted,” Hankey told Forbes of why he chose to leave California.
Summerlin, Nevada.trekandshoot/Getty Images
While Hankey may still be on the hook for the billionaire tax — the bill will be on the ballot in November 2026 and would retroactively tax individuals who were living in California on January 1, 2026 if passed — Nevada has welcomed Hankey and other high-net-worth individuals with open arms.
For the ultrawealthy ready to ditch California, but not the West Coast, Nevada offers a happy medium. With tax perks similar to Florida’s — no income tax and low property taxes — Nevada is slowly becoming the next nerve center for the rich.
Nevada’s luxury market is growing
Sher, who repped Hankey’s $21 million penthouse sale on both sides as the founder of real estate agency IS Luxury, said that while Las Vegas’ luxury market was already heating up, the news out of California kicked it into a higher gear.
“If people were to ask me what percentage of my buyers were from California, I’d say probably about 25%, and then for the first few years after COVID, that number was closer to 80%,” Sher said. “As soon as that billionaire tax was proposed, the exodus began again — but at a much higher level.”
The Las Vegas metropolitan area had about 331 millionaire households in 2019, according to RentCafe data. In 2023, that number jumped 166% to 879 households.
Natalia Harris has been selling ultra-luxury real estate in the Las Vegas area for the last five years. In that time, she said the definition of “ultra-luxury” has changed in the Silver State.
“Back then, a home that was $10 million was ‘Wow’ for Vegas — that was at the top of the price point,” Harris told Business Insider. “Now we have three new listings that we just brought to market last week that are all between $11 million and $20 million.”
Zain Aziz, the founder of technology firm Atom and one of Harris’ high-net-worth clients, moved to the Las Vegas suburb of Henderson, Nevada, in 2025. He said leaving the high taxes and hectic lifestyle of Silicon Valley behind was bittersweet.
“You don’t really want to get punished if you do good and you create more jobs,” Aziz said. “I believe the Las Vegas Valley has become more and more what’s synonymous with what California used to be — which was free-spirited and ‘Come and achieve the impossible,'” he added.
Aziz isn’t the only one taking his assets elsewhere. Google cofounder Sergey Brin recently spent $42 million on a Lake Tahoe home on the Nevada side, according to Bloomberg. Larry Page, Google’s other cofounder, found a tax haven on the East Coast, buying two properties totaling about $173 million in South Florida.
Billionaire Larry Ellison, who owns homes across the country and the world, bought a handful of properties in Lake Tahoe near the California-Nevada border. He also recently sold his San Francisco home for $45 million in the largest sale in the area in 2025, according to the San Francisco Standard.
Ultra-rich Californians would rather do business one state over
Has California lost its juice?
Aziz, who also moved his business to Nevada, said the culture that built California giants like Oracle and Google no longer exists there — it’s budding in the next state over.
“There’s no longer that innovative culture, and I believe where it exists is Vegas,” Aziz said. “I think that a lot of people from California who are chasing that are going to move to Vegas primarily because of the proximity to California.”
A luxury development outside Las Vegas.4kodiak/Getty Images
For lifelong Californians not fully ready to leave the state’s sunny weather and stellar beaches behind, Las Vegas is a less than two-hour flight to Los Angeles or San Francisco.
It also helps that certain areas of Nevada can offer a taste of home. Harris described the MacDonald Highlands neighborhood of Las Vegas, which is about 15 minutes from the Las Vegas Strip, as the Hollywood Hills of Vegas, offering stunning mountain views that give way to a sparkling cityscape beneath.
For Aziz, the developments in Nevada represent promise.
“This will become the hub for the wealthiest,” he said. “The city wants that.”
Almost 2,000 truckers deemed to be unqualified to drive on U.S. roads have been removed, with several arrested and many vehicles put out of service, the Department of Transportation (DOT) said in a Feb. 6 statement.
Trucks line up next to the border wall before crossing to the United States at Otay commercial port in Tijuana, Mexico, on Jan. 22, 2025. Guillermo Arias/AFP via Getty Images
The action came as part of the first wave of Operation SafeDRIVE, a “high-visibility, multi-state enforcement and education effort focused on reducing dangerous driving behaviors, ensuring drivers are properly qualified, and addressing unsafe drivers and vehicles on the nation’s roadways,” the department said.
Inspectors from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration teamed up with law enforcement partners in 26 states and the District of Columbia in the three-day effort, Jan. 13 to 15, carrying out “targeted enforcement actions along major freight corridors and other high-risk locations.”
The operation resulted in 8,215 inspections, with 56 truckers being arrested for driving under the influence and illegally being present in the United States, DOT said. A total of 1,231 vehicles were put out of service.
Out of the 2,000 truckers, 704 were removed from service, including nearly 500 for violating English proficiency standards. The removal of these 500 truckers follows the Trump administration’s implementation of English language proficiency requirements for truck drivers.
President Donald Trump signed an executive order in March designating English as the official language of the United States. In April, he signed another executive order that instructed Transportation Secretary Sean P. Duffy to remove commercial truck drivers failing English proficiency tests.
Proficiency in English should be a “non-negotiable safety requirement for professional drivers,” Trump wrote in the order. “They should be able to read and understand traffic signs, communicate with traffic safety, border patrol, agricultural checkpoints, and cargo weight-limit station officers.”
Derek D. Barrs, administrator of the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, said the recent operation was about safety of the trucking sector. When drivers ignore rules or operate without having proper qualifications, they put lives at risk, he said.
Duffy said Operation SafeDRIVE “shows what happens when we work together with our law enforcement partners to pull unqualified drivers and vehicles off American roads.”
“We need a whole-of-government approach to ensure the Trump administration’s strong standards of safety are in place to protect American families and reduce road accidents.”
Crackdown on Unqualified Truckers
The crackdown on unqualified truck drivers comes amid incidents of illegal immigrants being involved in truck-related accidents.
In August, an illegal immigrant truck driver was accused of causing a crash that killed three people in Florida. In September, another illegal immigrant was arrested after a truck he drove caused an accident that resulted in a 5-year-old girl suffering critical injuries.
This month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an illegal immigrant from Kyrgyzstan after his truck hit a van in a head-on collision that killed four people in Indiana. He had obtained a commercial driver’s license in Pennsylvania, the Department of Homeland Security said in a Feb. 5 statement.
The Trump administration’s actions against unqualified drivers in the trucking industry has faced legal challenges.
In December, the state of California sued the administration after DOT decided to withhold $33 million in federal funding over the state allegedly failing to comply with the English proficiency requirement for truckers.
California argued in the lawsuit that it does enforce English-language rules for commercial drivers, accusing the DOT action of being “arbitrary and capricious, an abuse of discretion, and contrary to law; imperils the safety of all persons driving in California; and threatens to wreak significant economic damage.”
In June, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration launched a nationwide review that discovered widespread noncompliance regarding the issuing of commercial driver’s licenses across several states, especially California, Colorado, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Texas, and Washington.
In September, Duffy announced emergency action to restrict the eligibility of foreign-domiciled drivers to obtain these licenses.
“Licenses to operate a massive, 80,000-pound truck are being issued to dangerous foreign drivers—oftentimes illegally,” Duffy said.
More recently, DOT announced on Jan. 8 that a review of North Carolina’s nondomiciled commercial driver’s licenses by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration found that 54 percent were issued illegally. Duffy called this a dangerous situation.
“I’m calling on state leadership to immediately remove these dangerous drivers from our roads and clean up their system,” he said.
A growing pattern of support for communism within Democratic politics is becoming harder to ignore, especially as candidates and officials push policies that expand government control while downplaying ideological labels.
The trend was on full display in New York City, where Zohran Mamdani won election while openly embracing democratic socialism. Progressive Democrats applauded the victory, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Sen. Bernie Sanders. Mamdani’s rise confirmed that elements of the Democratic Party are no longer flirting with socialist ideas; they are campaigning on them openly and unapologetically.
But he’s not the only one. And the pattern is extremely disturbing.
Virginia presents a more subtle but equally revealing example, one rooted in messaging discipline rather than transparency. As Washington Times columnist Robert Knight details, Governor Abigail Spanberger (D-Va) campaigned as a pragmatic moderate, aided by press assurances that Democrats would govern with restraint. Yet Knight documents that once Democrats secured full control of the General Assembly and the governor’s office, the agenda shifted rapidly. Constitutional amendments, election law changes, criminal sentencing rollbacks, and expansive taxation proposals followed in quick succession.
Spanberger herself acknowledged in a leaked 2020 conversation that Democrats should avoid using the word “socialism,” a warning that Knight argues was less about ideology and more about optics during campaigns.
The substance of Virginia’s legislative agenda reinforces concerns about centralized power and weakened safeguards. According to Knight, Va Democrats are moving to limit voter-roll verification, extend absentee ballot counting, restrict hand counts, and authorize ranked-choice voting, while positioning the legislature to redraw congressional maps. Other proposals remove mandatory minimum sentences for violent crimes, raise fees across nearly every consumer transaction despite a multibillion-dollar surplus, and re-enter regional climate compacts that raise household energy costs.
These measures reflect an aggressive governing philosophy that prioritizes bureaucratic authority over accountability, and ideological objectives over voter consent once political control is secured. That’s communism, or politely, democratic socialism.
Whether through open admission or strategic concealment, the direction is increasingly clear. In New York, voters were offered socialism by name. In Virginia, Robert Knight argues, voters were sold moderation and given sweeping ideological change once the election was over.
Ephesians 5:6 offers a warning that resonates in moments shaped by rhetoric and reality colliding: “Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of such things God’s wrath comes on those who are disobedient.”
Communism replaces God with the state. People of God who vote for such ought to do some very deep self-examination. Political movements may rebrand themselves, but truth eventually surfaces in policy, cost, and consequences that citizens are left to bear. But even more, what are the eternal consequences of supporting such godless movements?
Ambassador Mike Huckabee warns Iran’s regime targets America, not just Israel. From terror proxies to peace through strength, he explains why Trump’s leadership, U.S.-Israel unity, and moral clarity are vital to stop a global threat before it’s late.
THE FUTURE: THE CROWN, WITH WHICH HE WILL BE REWARDED
in the future there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day; and not only to me, but also to all who have loved His appearing. (4:8)
Loipos, translated in the future, refers generally to what remains, that which is left to come. What yet remained for Paul, after the past and present were finished, would be by far the most glorious part of his life in Christ. Paul had the certain, Spirit-inspired assurance that in the future there [was] laid up for [him] the crown of righteousness. After he had fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith, he would be given the victor’s reward. Laid up carries the idea of being safely stored and carefully guarded. A certain part of their heavenly treasure is stored up in advance by believers themselves. “Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,” Jesus commands, “where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal” (Matt. 6:20). In his first letter to Timothy, Paul counsels him to instruct the people in his congregation “to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, storing up for themselves the treasure of a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is life indeed” (1 Tim. 6:18–19). Although he had not met Jesus during His earthly ministry, Paul doubtless had heard of his Lord’s promise “Blessed are you when men cast insults at you, and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely, on account of Me. Rejoice, and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great” (Matt. 5:11–12). Christ also said that His Father will reward those who give, pray, and fast in secret—that is, sincerely rather than for the notice and praise of men (Matt. 6:4, 6, 18). Christ will, in fact, join His Father in dispensing those rewards, “for the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds” (Matt. 16:27). Jesus’ promise was not a new revelation but was a quotation from Psalm 62:12—“And lovingkindness is Thine, O Lord, for Thou dost recompense a man according to his work.” The writer of Hebrews tells us that “he who comes to God [not only] must believe that He is, [but also must believe] that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him” (Heb. 11:6). No writer of Scripture more forcefully proclaimed the truth that salvation is entirely by God’s grace working through our faith than did the apostle Paul. Yet no other writer of Scripture more joyously anticipated the reward he one day would receive from the hand of the Lord who had saved and sustained him by grace. He continually pressed “on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil. 3:14). This reward will be based more on our motives than our accomplishments. The writer of Proverbs asks rhetorically, “Does He not consider it who weighs the hearts? And does He not know it who keeps your soul? And will He not render to man according to his work?” (Prov. 24:12). Selfishly motivated good deeds may be of great help to other people and may be used by God for His glory, but they will merit no reward for the doer. On the other hand, good work that is sincerely intended but not completed through no fault of the doer will merit a sincere doer’s reward, because it is the heart that God weighs. William Borden accomplished virtually none of the ministry he had envisioned, having been cut off by death even before he reached his field of service. But his final declaration of “No regrets” was well founded in the assurance that he had genuinely sought and faithfully obeyed the Lord’s will. Paul had no regrets. He did not claim perfection. “I am conscious of nothing against myself,” he said, “yet I am not by this acquitted” (1 Cor. 4:4). Nevertheless, he had absolute confidence that God had laid up for [him] the crown of righteousness. Crown is from stephanos, which has the literal meaning of surrounding and was used of plaited wreaths or garlands that were placed on the heads of dignitaries, military victors, and winners of athletic contests as a mark of great honor. It was a stephanos of thorns that Pilate’s soldiers placed on Jesus’ head as they mockingly hailed Him as “King of the Jews!” (Matt. 27:29). Stephanos perhaps most commonly was used of the wreath placed on the heads of winning athletes, much as medals are placed around the necks of Olympic champions today. It was the only prize (cf. 2 Tim. 2:5) ancient athletes received but was cherished as a great treasure. Yet, they run “to receive a perishable wreath [stephanos],” Paul said, “but we an imperishable” (1 Cor. 9:25). Of righteousness translates the single Greek noun dikaiosunē, which is here a genitive. Linguistically, it could be either a genitive of source, meaning that righteousness is the source of the crown, or a genitive of apposition, in which case righteousness describes the nature of the crown. As noted above, a believer’s heavenly reward is based to some extent on his faithfulness, making possible a genitive of source. But in this context it seems more appropriate to take righteousness as an appositive, describing the crown. It is the crown of eternal righteousness—the very righteousness of the Redeemer granted in full perfection to the glorified believer. Certain rewards that believers will receive or not receive will be individual, based on their own faithfulness. Summarizing the truths of the parable of the talents, Jesus said, “To everyone who has shall more be given, and he shall have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away” (Matt. 25:29). Paul teaches that “we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may be recompensed for his deeds in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). In his previous letter to believers at Corinth, he had explained that “each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it, because it is to be revealed with fire; and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built upon it remains, he shall receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved, yet so as through fire” (1 Cor. 3:13–15). But Paul is here speaking of the crown of righteousness with which every believer will be crowned. James speaks of it as a “crown of life” (James 1:12), and Peter as “the unfading crown of glory” (1 Peter 5:4). In the parable of the landowner who hired men at different times throughout the day and paid them all the same wage (Matt. 20:1–16), Jesus explains that every believer will share equally in eternal life and eternal righteousness. He also assures us that “blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied” (Matt. 5:6). Our satisfaction will come from the very thing for which we seek, righteousness itself being the reward of those who seek it. It is “the hope of righteousness” for which believers eagerly wait “through the Spirit, by faith” (Gal. 5:5), as we look “for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). “The kingdom of God is … righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit” (Rom. 14:17, emphasis added). Righteousness is that which, by the Lord’s gracious provision, will one day be our harvest (2 Cor. 9:10) and our clothing (Rev. 19:8). It could not be otherwise, because “we know that, when [Christ] appears, we shall be like Him” (1 John 3:2). When we believed in Christ as Savior and Lord, He imputed His righteousness to us (Rom. 4:6, 11); and as we live out our lives in Christ, His Holy Spirit works practical righteousness in us and through us (Rom. 6:13, 19; 8:4; Eph. 5:9; 1 Peter 2:24). Yet because of sin, which clings to us like an old dirty garment, we must battle against unrighteousness. It is only at the completion of that battle that His righteousness will be perfected in us, when we receive the very crown of righteousness from the Lord’s own hands. It is the victor’s wreath, Paul says, which the Lord Himself, the righteous Judge, will award … on that day. Paul has referred to that day two other times in this letter. He said, “For this reason I also suffer these things, but I am not ashamed; for I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day” (1:12). A few verses later he prayed that his beloved Onesiphorus would “find mercy from the Lord on that day” (v. 18). He is speaking, of course, of the day of Christ’s return in particular, the day of resurrection and rapture, when “the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and thus we shall always be with the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:16–17). In that glorious day, “we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable must put on the imperishable, and this mortal must put on immortality. But when this perishable will have put on the imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then will come about the saying that is written, ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’ ” (1 Cor. 15:51–54). The apostle admonished the church in Philippi, “Do all things without grumbling or disputing; that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world, holding fast the word of life, so that in the day of Christ I may have cause to glory because I did not run in vain nor toil in vain” (Phil. 2:14–16, emphasis added). The glorious prospect of receiving God’s crown of righteousness not only belongs to Paul but also belongs to all who have loved His appearing. Again the apostle uses a perfect tense (have loved), indicating the accomplishment of something in the past that has continuing effects. “Love is from God,” John says, “and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (1 John 4:7). Conversely, he goes on to explain, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (v. 8). Love of God is so absolutely essential that “if anyone does not love the Lord,” Paul says, “let him be accursed” (1 Cor. 16:22). In other words, a person who does not love God has no claim on God, either for salvation or for reward. And every true believer will love God and the things of God, because love is the supreme and necessary mark of salvation. When people become Christians, they come to love God. The regenerated believer is given a new heart, a new will, and a new spiritual attitude, all of which will be expressed in love, because “the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us” (Rom. 5:5). There are no exceptions. Likewise, all believers will love His [Christ’s] appearing, because they look forward to coming into His divine presence, where they will live and serve throughout eternity. Because our true “citizenship is in heaven, … we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). Paul was not speaking from pride. As much as any saint who has ever lived, he knew that every good thing he had and did came by the grace of God. “For this purpose also I labor,” he explained to the church at Colossae, “striving according to His power, which mightily works within me” (Col. 1:29). He was not taking credit for himself but was acknowledging that by the grace and power of God, working through the human faithfulness that the Lord requires, his life was coming to a victorious end. On the basis of the Lord’s own promise, he expected one day soon to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).
MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (1995). 2 Timothy (pp. 198–202). Moody Press.
Old Testament Isaiah 58:3–9a
Psalm Psalm 112:1–9
Epistle 1 Corinthians 2:1–12 (13–16)
Gospel Matthew 5:13–20
Index of Readings
OLD TESTAMENT Isaiah 58:3–9a 3 ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we afflicted our souls and You do not know?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, And oppress all your workers. 4 “Behold, you fast for contention and quarreling and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. 5 “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to afflict himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed And for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to Yahweh? 6 “Is this not the fast which I choose, To loosen the bonds of wickedness, To release the bands of the yoke, And to let the oppressed go free And break every yoke? 7 “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry And bring the afflicted homeless into the house; When you see the naked, you cover him; And not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 “Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of Yahweh will be your rear guard. 9 “Then you will call, and Yahweh will answer; You will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness,
PSALM Psalm 112:1–9
1 Praise Yah!
How blessed is the man who fears Yahweh,
Who greatly delights in His commandments.
2 His seed will be mighty on earth;
The generation of the upright will be blessed.
3 Wealth and riches are in his house,
And his righteousness stands forever.
4 Light arises in the darkness for the upright;
He is gracious and compassionate and righteous.
5 It is well with the man who is gracious and lends;
Who sustains his works with justice.
6 For he will never be shaken;
The righteous will be remembered forever.
7 He will not fear an evil report;
His heart is set, trusting in Yahweh.
8 His heart is upheld, he will not fear,
Until he looks in triumph on his adversaries.
9 He has given freely to the needy,
His righteousness stands forever;
His horn will be raised in glory.
EPISTLE 1 Corinthians 2:1–12 (13–16)
1 And when I came to you, brothers, I did not come with superiority of word or of wisdom, proclaiming to you the witness of God.
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
3 And I was with you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling,
4 and my word and my preaching were not in persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power,
5 so that your faith would not be in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
6 Yet we do speak wisdom among those who are mature, a wisdom, however, not of this age nor of the rulers of this age, who are being abolished.
7 But we speak God’s wisdom in a mystery, the wisdom which has been hidden, which God predestined before the ages to our glory,
8 which none of the rulers of this age has understood; for if they had understood it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.
9 But just as it is written,
“THINGS WHICH EYE HAS NOT SEEN AND EAR HAS NOT HEARD,
AND which HAVE NOT ENTERED THE HEART OF MAN,
ALL THAT GOD HAS PREPARED FOR THOSE WHO LOVE HIM.”
10 But to us God revealed them through the Spirit, for the Spirit searches all things, even the depths of God.
11 For who among men knows the depths of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so the depths of God no one knows except the Spirit of God.
12 Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, so that we may know the depths graciously given to us by God,
[ 13 of which depths we also speak, not in words taught by human wisdom, but in those taught by the Spirit, combining spiritual depths with spiritual words. 14 But a natural man does not accept the depths of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually examined. 15 But he who is spiritual examines all things, yet he himself is examined by no one. 16 For WHO HAS KNOWN THE MIND OF THE LORD, THAT HE WILL DIRECT HIM? But we have the mind of Christ. ]
GOSPEL Matthew 5:13–20
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out to be trampled under foot by men.
14 “You are the light of the world. A city set on a 1hill cannot be hidden;
15 nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a 1basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.
16 “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.
17 “Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.
18 “For truly I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not 1the smallest letter or stroke shall pass from the Law until all is accomplished.
19 “Whoever then annuls one of the least of these commandments, and teaches 1others to do the same, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 “For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Lutheran Service Book Three Year Lectionary. (2009). Concordia Publishing House.
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