OZTheology

FAITHFULNESS IN THE FACE OF SUFFERING - REVELATION 2:8-11 The next church addressed by Jesus is the church in Smyrna, meaning “bitter”, which fitted well the experience of its members in suffering for their faith.  It is one of two churches that is not rebuked and only commended, the other being Philadelphia.  Smyrna was a significant city in Roman times located on the coast with a temple erected in honor of Emperor Tiberius.  During Domitian’s reign, offering to the emperor was compulsory with a certificate of proof issued.  Not to possess this certificate was punishable by death, which faithful Christians would face.  It had a large Jewish community with considerable influence on governmental affairs, which informed against Christians.  Polycarp was martyred as the bishop of Smyrna in AD 166 at the instigation of Jewish leaders accompanied by Gentiles.  He was a disciple of John, the writer of the book of Revelation, and possibly made a bishop by h...

RECOVERING OUR FIRST LOVE - REVELATION 2:1-7 Having experienced his encounter with the glorified Christ recorded in Revelation chapter one, John receives messages for seven churches located in Asia Minor.   These churches are geographically ordered so that a messenger could visit each one with a circular itinerary, delivering Christ’s revelation to each one in sequence.   Each message includes an aspect of the previous description of Christ, a summary of the church’s behavior in various degrees of commendation and rebuke, a call to repentance for most and a promise accompanying a response of obedience.   It is addressed to “the angel of the church”, which probably refers to the church leadership, who will receive the message.   The term, “angel”, literally means messenger and can be supernatural referring to angelic beings (such as in Daniel 10:13, 20) or natural referring to human beings (Luke 9:52). The first church is in Ephesus, to which previously Paul ministe...

In view of recent events in the Middle East and Europe, I thought, now would be a good time to consider the book of Revelation, the last book in the Bible.  It is a challenging book and yet it promises blessing to the responsive reader who listens to and applies its content ( Revelation 1:3 ).  It is also a debated book with various interpretations depending on how you approach the content.  I will consider it from a futurist perspective, which is based on John writing the book after the destruction of the temple in AD70 and taking the content literally, while accounting for the many symbols used within it. Some historical context is helpful to grasp its significance to the original audience of seven churches in Asia Minor, addressed in chapters two and three.  The apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos (1:9), which was used as a prison by the Romans, because of his faith in and testimony about Jesus Christ.  This took place when Domitian was the Roman ...

Last time, we considered the first two steps in knowing what God wants.  This time, we consider the final step, which is practical in nature. The Scriptural Practices I believe there are five activities which contribute to the discovery of God's will. 1. Prayer The first is prayer.  The most important attribute for making right decisions is wisdom.  If your life is to be aligned to the will of God, then you need wisdom, and James tells us that the way to obtain wisdom is to pray (James 1:5).  The hardest time to make good decisions is when you are under pressure and this was the situation that James addressed in his letter.  He wrote to people under pressure, enduring trials, and told them that wisdom to make the right response to their circumstances was available through prayer. Prayer not only provides a right perspective, seeing our circumstances from God's point of view, but it also promotes a right disposition and sensitivity to God's will.  Philip...

The sign on the back of the trailer read, "If I'm not headed West, stop me and turn me around!"   Not knowing where I'm going is a problem, not caring about it is even worse, and tragically many Christians today are confused or misled about the critical matter of guidance.   Some want a set of printed directions emailed from heaven.   Others want total freedom to do what they like.   Does the Bible offer any guidance?   I believe the Scriptures provide three major markers for knowing what God wants and this blog will cover two of them.   I.          The Scriptural Precepts A number of New Testament passages state the will of God for Christians.   Having listed several spiritual and moral obligations when writing to the Ephesians , Paul states, "So then do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is."   He goes on to write, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but b...

Previously, we considered abiding in Christ as essential and the consequence of not abiding in Him.  Now, we look at the result of abiding in Christ, as well as its experience. THE RESULT OF ABIDING IN CHRIST John 15:2b, 5, 7-8, 11 The main result of abiding in Christ is fruitfulness in growing measure.  God the Father prunes fruitful branches so that they bear more fruit (verse 2b).  Believers experience God’s discipline in the removal of hindrances to spiritual fruitfulness.  This may be sinful attitudes and actions or neutral ambitions and distractions.  God will deal with anything that prevents fruitfulness.  Pruning may be uncomfortable, but the outcome is worth it.  Becoming more like Jesus and serving Him more outweighs the discomfort (Hebrews 12:5-11 cf. 2 Corinthians 4:15). Further, continued abiding in Christ will produce much fruit (verse 5) and this will glorify the Father (verse 8).  Both Jesus and the Father enable believers to be...

When we moved into the first home we bought, which was in Para Vista, it came with a well-established fruit tree.   This tree produced fabulous “Million Dollar Peaches”, which we enjoyed seasonally each year.   The tree was so laden with fruit one year that the weight cracked one of its branches without completely severing it.   When the time came for the tree to bear fruit again, I noticed a significant difference in the fruit production on that damaged branch.   It flowered as the rest of the branches and little peaches began to grow, but they never became full-sized, delicious “Million Dollar Peaches”.  They lacked sufficient connection with the source of nutrients and so failed to produce that delightful fruit. Jesus uses a similar reference to fruit bearing in His farewell discourse with His disciples in John 15.  He declares that He is the true vine and His disciples are the branches, with His Father as the vinedresser.  The main point of this ex...

  WHICH BIBLE? - AN EXAMINATION OF TRANSLATIONS - Part Four Having considered original manuscripts and subsequent copies, which then gave rise to textual traditions used in the production of Bible translations and the earlier English versions of those translations, we can examine the method of translation used in modern versions. MODERN VERSIONS AND METHOD OF TRANSLATION Modern Versions   Since the King James Version, many English versions have been produced, most of which were based on Wescott & Hort’s revision of the Greek text.   The first one was the English Revised Version (1881, 1885), followed soon after by the American Standard Version (1901).   Then, as a result of further manuscript research and revision of the Greek text, and the changes in English literary style, the Revised Standard Version (1946, 1952) was produced.   This version was severely criticised by conservative evangelicals and fundamentalists for its seeming liberal bias at ...

WHICH BIBLE - PART THREE Having considered original manuscripts and subsequent copies, which then gave rise to textual traditions used in the production of Bible translations, we now come to examine English versions of those translations. THE ENGLISH TRANSLATION OF THE TEXT - EARLY VERSIONS A number of early efforts sought to produce an English version of Scripture but none succeeded in translating the entire Bible.   From Caedmon (7th cent) who sang Scripture and Aldhelm (640-709) who translated portions of the Bible to Richard Rolle of Yorkshire (c. 1320-40) who also translated only portions of the Bible, English-speaking people waited for the first complete Bible that they could read for themselves.   John Wycliffe was the man God raised up to bring it to them.   These are a selection of the versions produced for the English-speaking  church. Wycliffe's Translation   John Wycliffe (c. 1320-84) gradually realised the errors of Rome and began to speak...