Come Out of Her, My People

November 14, 2021

In Revelation 18 we see a vision of the coming destruction of Rome (referred to figuratively as “Babylon”).  The city had become filled with sensuality, immorality, deceit, arrogance, and self-glorification. Because of this, God was about to bring the city down in fiery judgment.  In the vision of coming judgment, John heard a voice from heaven warning the people of God: “Come out of her, my people, so that you will not participate in her sins and receive of her plagues; for her sins have piled up as high as heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.” (Revelation 18:4-5, NASB)

I think about this verse often, and the words of God often ring out in my mind:  Come out of her, my people!  Look around.  Do you see similarities between our society and that of Rome?  Is our society becoming dominated by sensuality, immorality, deceit, and arrogance against God?  Aren’t we bombarded by these things on a daily basis?  Will God rise up and judge our nation one day?  I do not know the plans of God, but I do know that we need to heed His warning:  Come out of her, my people!  There needs to be a serious effort by each one of us to distance ourselves and create a firewall between ourselves and the ways of the world around us.  There is a great danger that we would participate in their sins, and therefore be partakers of their judgment.  Of course, this is not to say that we should not befriend and have a great love for people outside of Christ, but we must not participate in the things of this world.

What concrete steps are you taking to come out and be separate?  Many of us may need to take a much more radical approach to separate living.  Our God is holy, and He expects us to walk in holiness.  He called us out of the realm of darkness, and He expects us to be separate from it.  He expects us to be different!  To be set apart!  Let us not participate in the ways of the world.  Let us strive for holiness so that no matter what may come, we will stand safely and securely on the side of our God.    

— Scott Colvin

Leave a Comment » | daily walk, holiness, Revelation 18:4-5 | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Scott Colvin

Vanity

November 9, 2021

I had a very good reader (think Ph.D. in literature) say to me, “I’ve just read Ecclesiastes, and it didn’t make sense.” She had read the NIV. I personally don’t like the NIV’s translation “ Meaningless, Meaningless.” I gave her information on the Hebrew word, hebel, which is traditionally translated “vanity.” She reported a meaningful second reading of the book.

The Hebrew word *hebel* (הֶבֶל Strong’s Number H1892) occurs 38 times in Ecclesiastes. Here are the major translations of the term.

  • Vanity KJV, NKJV, ESV, NASB 1995
  • Futility NASB 2020, CSB
  • Futile NET
  • Meaningless NIV

But what does hebel mean? It means vapor or breath.* So the question is how does this word function metaphorically within the book of Ecclesiastes. The first thing we think of with vapor is that it is transient. Vapor comes and goes quickly. In the winter when we see our breath, it is momentary. When we watch the steam rise from our tea kettle, it dissipates quickly. So vapor is a fitting image for the transitory. We see it in the famous line from the Letter of James.

You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.
(James 4:14, NASB)

Now that I’m older I’m noticing how fleeting life is. By virtue of my age, I’m keenly aware that the time ahead of me in this mortal life is smaller than the time I’ve already experienced.

The second aspect of vapor is that it obscures our sight. During Covid-19, we have all worn masks at some time or another. For those of us who wear glasses, we’ve had the additional experience of our glasses fogging up. It is just vapor, but for a moment I can’t see. Or maybe you’ve had the windshield of your car fog up? And if you have experienced fog, you know how vapor can keep you from seeing things clearly. Life is like that. We can’t see everything clearly even though we want to. Things happen in life that leave us with questions. For instance in Ecclesiastes, we read:

There is a righteous man who perishes in his righteousness, and there is a wicked man who prolongs his life in his evildoing. (Ecclesiastes 7:15, ESV)

We would like answers to all of life’s questions. It is not that we have no answers. Ecclesiastes gives us some important answers. But we will always have questions where the answers seem obscured by the fog of this physical world.

Ecclesiastes struggles with the brevity of life and the fact that we don’t always see things clearly. In reading it, we wrestle with our limitations and are brought to worship the Eternal God who has the answers.

— Russ Holden

*BDB, s.v. “הֶ֫בֶל,” 210.

Leave a Comment » | Ecclesiastes 1:2, hebel, Vanity of vanities | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

Whitewashed Living

November 5, 2021

Cemeteries have a certain beauty in their own way, don’t they?  They are quiet.  They have well-manicured grass and beautiful flowers.  There are many beautifully carved stone monuments scattered about the grounds.  And yet, even though cemeteries are beautiful on the surface, we don’t go there just to enjoy the afternoon or to have a picnic, do we?  That’s because we know what lies under the surface. 

Jesus made this point when talking about the scribes and Pharisees.  “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!  For you are like whitewashed tombs which on the outside appear beautiful, but inside they are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness.  So you, too, outwardly appear righteous to men, but inwardly you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28 NASB) What do we learn from Jesus’ statement?  People, even Christians, can be just like a cemetery—beautiful outwardly, but full of death and decay inwardly.  The scribes and Pharisees went through the right motions.  They read and memorized the scriptures, they faithfully attended worship services, they carefully tithed all that they had, they said all the right things, and yet Jesus told them that they were dead inside!  Jesus knew what was under the surface.  It was all a veneer.  They were just like whitewashed tombs. 

You and I need to be careful that we do not fall into this way of living.  We need to be careful to surrender our inner lives completely to God.  We need to be careful that we’re not just going through the motions so that we appear righteous to others.  We can fool people with a coat of whitewash, but we can never fool Jesus.  He knows our hearts, and He wants to be Lord of our hearts.  If we will surrender our hearts to Jesus, He will make our inner selves radiant and beautiful, and that beauty will flow outwardly into our lives and make us truly beautiful in the eyes of God. 

— Scott Colvin

 

P.S. This is Scott Colvin’s first post on whiletoday.com. Check out his bio under About. I’m glad to have him joining me as a writer for this blog. — Russ Holden

            

Leave a Comment » | Christian living, heart, Matthew 23:27-28, righteousness | Tagged: , , | Permalink
Posted by Scott Colvin

“Chronological Snobbery”

November 1, 2021

In my previous post, I listed online Bible study sites that are for the most part free. But the reason they are free is that most of these books are in public domain. Since they are no longer under copyright protection, they are free to copy. That can be a plus to students of the Bible especially if you have a limited personal library or no personal library.

Old books can be valuable. C.S. Lewis warned people against “chronological snobbery” in his book, *Surprised by Joy*. It is the fallacy of thinking that new books are always better. Owen Barfield was the one who argued with Lewis on this point changing Lewis’ mind. Lewis writes:

In the first place he made short work of what I have called my ‘chronological snobbery’, the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited. You must find why it went out of date. Was it ever refuted (and if so by whom, where, and how conclusively) or did it merely die away as fashions do? If the latter, this tells us nothing about its truth or falsehood. From seeing this, one passes to the realisation that our own age is also ‘a period’, and certainly has, like all periods, its own characteristic illusions.

I read those words early in my life, so I have read both old books and new books. I have profited from Lewis’ wise advice.

However, when using public domain books for Bible study, there is a caution. It is possible for something old to be discredited as Lewis noted. In Biblical studies, the areas where old books may be discredited arise from archaeology, increased knowledge of the Biblical languages, or increased knowledge about manuscripts of the Bible. For example, Smith’s Bible Dictionary is in public domain on a number of sites. This dictionary says that Dagon was a fish god. But from archaeology, the Philistine god is now known to have been a god of grain. Older scholars had made an incorrect assumption about the identity of Dagon from the etymology of the Hebrew word *dag* (fish).

We have a wealth of books at our finger tips on the Internet. Public domain books may be used with profit, but also note the warning that some information may be out of date.

— Russ Holden

2 Comments | Bible study, Bible study tools, chronologicall snobbery, public domain | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

Online Bible Study Resources

October 8, 2021

I’ve been collecting Bible study resources since I was a teenager. I’ve purchased lots of books and electronic books over the years. But I also know what it is like starting out with very little to help you. I’ve pondered whether I could afford a particular book. So free online Bible study resources can be beneficial to people who don’t have a large library at their disposal. Here are a few that I like.

https://www.biblegateway.com

It allows you to read and search multiple translations including some foreign languages along with Greek and Hebrew. Some translations also have audio available. In the commentaries it also provides the IVP New Testament Commentary for free. They also have a paid level which grants access to other, newer commentaries.

https://biblehub.com/

Bible Hub has commentaries, concordances, dictionaries,
topical studies, Greek and Hebrew resources, and a way of viewing multi
translations at once. It also provides interlinear Bibles in Greek and Hebrew.

https://bibleproject.com

This site provides free videos on books of the Bible plus other topics. They are very well done and well worth looking at as you begin to study a book of the Bible or a specific topic.

https://www.biblestudytools.com

This site has online Bibles in various languages. It also has the Society for Biblical Literature’s Greek New Testament, the Septuagint, and Latin Vulgate. It can do parallel Bibles. It can do interlinear Bibles in the KJV and NASB. It has commentaries, concordance searches, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and topical Bibles. Check the site for a list of other resources.
Note: since this is free, the Bible study works will be older commentaries that
for the most part are in public domain.

https://biblia.com

Biblia is an online source by Faithlife (the company which makes Logos Bible Software). You can sign up for a free account and will receive access to a number of Bibles and resources. 

https://www.ccel.org Christian Classic Ethereal Library

A large site of public domain works of interest to Christians.

http://www.para-gospel.com

This site provides the synoptic gospels and the Gospel of John side by side. It will display a variety of translations.

https://www.studylight.org/

Provides commentaries, encyclopedias, dictionaries, and concordances.

https://bestcommentaries.com

Their tag line is rotten tomatoes for biblical studies. It is a review site for commentaries and other books in biblical studies. This can be a good site to check when considering what commentary you wish to buy. It will let you know whether the commentary is technical, pastoral, devotional, or special study. It will also give you an idea of the viewpoint of the author: critical, Roman Catholic, evangelical, Pentecostal, or Lutheran. It also lets you know whether the commentary is available in three major software packages: Logos, Accordance, and Olive Tree.

I don’t necessarily agree with everything on these sites. In fact, the owner’s of some of these sites state they don’t agree with everything on their site. But books provide the opportunity to think through passages with other students of the Bible. Test everything by scripture. Sola Scriptura!

These sites are worth exploring. May you be blessed in your study of the Bible.

— Russ Holden

Leave a Comment » | Bible study, books and resources, online | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

Life on Loan

October 1, 2021

The parable was told in response to a request; a request that Jesus refuses. A man asks for Jesus to arbitrate an inheritance dispute. Having asked the rhetorical question who made me a judge or arbitrator over you, Jesus concludes with a warning: “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions” (Luke 12:15, ESV). Then Jesus tells the story of the rich fool.

The rich fool has a problem – a problem that many of us would like to have. He has so much that he is struggling with where to put it all. What do you give the man who has everything? Answer: storage containers. The rich man decides to tear down his barns and build bigger ones. That is where many modern readers struggle to understand the story. We hear the word barn and think a large, red wooden structure. Barns in the ancient world were often underground granaries that were plastered or bricked. “Tear down” likely refers “to the deliberate taking down of the barns in such a way that the material can still be used.” This rich man has abundance, and he plots a way to keep it all.

The parable gives the rich man’s inner dialogue.

 …and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.’ (Luke 12:17–19, ESV, emphasis added)

It is interesting to count the number of times the words, “I” and “my,” occur. If all the world’s a stage, this man acts if he is in a one man play.

But the rich fool has his exit. “But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’” (Luke 12:20, ESV). The word for “required” is interesting. It means to demand something back or as due as in the case of a loan. Jesus has given us the image that our life is on loan from God.

What happens when I view my life as on loan from God? It changes everything. My life, my time, and my resources are matters of stewardship. I will have to give an account. I must view things from God’s perspective and priorities.

This changed perspective makes the warnings understandable. The abundance of possessions is not the most important thing; God is most important. If I haven’t laid up treasures in heaven, I have nothing that will ultimately last. God will demand my life back someday. My life is on loan.

— Russ Holden

Leave a Comment » | stewardship | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

The Difficult Thing about Wisdom

September 24, 2021

The book of Proverbs was written to make us wise. Yet Proverbs itself indicates that more information is insufficient to produce wisdom. For example, wise words, a rebuke, and even a proverb on the lips of a fool may be to no avail.

Do not speak in the hearing of a fool, for he will despise the good sense of your words. Proverbs 23:9, ESV

A rebuke goes deeper into a man of understanding than a hundred blows into a fool. Proverbs 17:10, ESV

Like a lame man’s legs, which hang useless, is a proverb in the mouth of fools. Proverbs 26:7, ESV

So what is so difficult about wisdom?

Proverbs lays the foundation for wisdom and identifies the difficult thing for us. We must trust God more than ourself. We must fear/respect/reverence God, so that we go His way rather than our way.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones. Proverbs 3:5-8, ESV

More information won’t help if the attitude is wrong. It’s like the Tree of Life in the center of the garden all over again for each of us (see Genesis 3). Will we listen to God, or will we listen to our own lusts and the Serpent’s call?

Someone has noted the different approaches people take to the Bible, God’s word.

Some people accept none of it.
Many people accept part of it.
A few people accept all of it.

Some people live none of it.
Many people live part of it.
A few people live most of it.

Which approach describes you? It’s precisely at this point that Proverbs and the rest of the Bible challenges us. The difficult thing about wisdom is that it requires us to trust the Lord with all of our heart. The prerequisite for wisdom is faith.

Leave a Comment » | wisdom | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

The Bruise

September 16, 2021

I bruised myself. It was a deep purple bruise, the size of a half dollar on the inside of my right wrist. I wasn’t aware at the time, but I think I know what I was doing when I got it. Three days later I broke the fifth metatarsal bone in my left foot.

It took a week before I saw the orthopedic doctor for my foot. Although my foot hurt some, it was my right knee that was the most painful from walking as to protect my foot. I saw the orthopedic doctor in about a week and viewed the damage in an X-ray. He even took an X-ray of my old arthritic knee. An injection in my right knee helped that pain to go away in a few days. I was put in a boot for the duration. The bruise didn’t seem to get better for about two weeks. During that time I was pretty laid up with my foot and knee. The pain lessened at the end of my second week.

Then the bruise began to heal. It was slow at first, and then the evidence of the bruise began to disappear. And then the bruise was gone. I took comfort in the bruise. It was evidence of the God-given, healing properties of my body. The healing I could see on my wrist, I could trust was also going on in my foot.

Five weeks after the break, I am out of the boot with pain as my guide to activities. I saw the second X-ray, and it was much different than the first one. It reminded me of the body’s marvelous ability to heal. I had a retired dentist friend who I used to visit. He would always greet me with Psalm 139:14 “… for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” And the psalm is true.

The broken foot gave me a couple of difficult weeks with the pain. I’ve faced difficulties before. But I’m also aware of the many blessings even in those difficult weeks. You can take comfort even in a bruise.

Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6–7, NIV)

— Russ Holden

Leave a Comment » | healing, material comfort, Philippians 4:6-7, trials | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

Cain

September 10, 2021

What was wrong with Cain’s sacrifice in Genesis 4? The honest answer is that we don’t know for sure. We are told what Cain and Abel sacrificed, and we are told that God accepted Abel’s and rejected Cain’s. What we don’t know is whether God had given any commands about sacrifice, and if so, what they were. Later reflection in the Bible provides few clues.

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. Hebrews 11:4, ESV

We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous. 1 John 3:12, ESV

Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam’s error and perished in Korah’s rebellion. Jude 11, ESV

Some have speculated that the problem was that Cain didn’t offer an animal sacrifice, but even under the law there were grain offerings, and we aren’t given enough information to know if this is the problem. Josephus speculated:

They had resolved to sacrifice to God. Now Cain brought the fruits of the earth, and of his husbandry; but Abel brought milk, and the firstfruits of his flocks; but God was more delighted with the latter oblation, when he was honored with what grew naturally of its own accord, than he was with what was the invention of a covetous man, and gotten by forcing the ground… Josephus, Antiquities 1.54.

Somehow, I don’t buy his explanation, but it illustrates that speculation could be endless. Maybe it was a matter of his heart. Maybe it was in the kind or quality of his sacrifice. Maybe it was both. What is important for us to know is that Cain could have pleased God but didn’t.

What was the mark of Cain? The honest answer is we don’t know. The mark served its purpose in sparing Cain from vengeance, but there is no reason for us to assume that a mark on Cain would have been passed on to his descendants. In fact, that would seem to counter its purpose. I’m old enough to have even heard some racist interpretations of the mark of Cain. Such speculation really comes to a dead end when we realize that after the flood, humanity traced its genealogy through Noah back to Seth not to Cain. Racism is evil, for we are all one in Adam, and we can all be one in the Second Adam – Jesus Christ.

–Russ Holden

 

Leave a Comment » | Cain, Genesis 4, Mark of Cain, Racism | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

Archaeology’s Fraction

September 3, 2021

Archaeology provides significant insights to our understanding of the Bible. Insights into culture can help bring a passage to life. Yet, archaeology has limits. Many people, places, and events of the Bible will be unnoticed by archaeology. That should not be surprising, because our knowledge of the ancient world is very limited. Archaeologist Edwin Yamauchi explains that fragmentary nature of the evidence with a number of facts.

  • Archaeology deals with material remains, which include writings, daily items, buildings, utensils, etc. Only a small fraction of these materials remains exist due to erosion and the destructive nature of human beings. Further, theft has stripped many archaeological sites.
  • Palestine had 300 known archaeological sites in 1944. That number grew to 7000 by 1970. Yet archeologists have surveyed only a fraction of the sites available.
  • Of the sites that have been surveyed only a fraction have been excavated. Palestine had 5000 sites in 1963. Of those, 150 had been excavated in part and 26 had become major sites.
  • Of the sites that become archaeological digs, only a fraction of the site is actually excavated. This is due to the enormous costs, the amount of time, and also to preserve the possibility of future archaeological research. Hazor is a site of 175 acres. Yigael Yadin estimated that it would have taken 800 years to clear the site.
  • Only a fraction of the discovered material has been published. For example, 25,000 cuneiform texts were discovered at Mari, but only 3,500 to 4000 have been published.

Grant Osborne summarizes the above survey, “Yamauchi estimates that being supremely optimistic we could have one-tenth of the material in existence, six-tenths of that surveyed, one-fiftieth of that excavated, one-tenth of that examined, and one-half of that published. This means that we have only .006 percent of the evidence.”* The above exercise is not to minimize archaeology, but to interject some humility into discussions about what moderns know.

The Bible itself is a major source of information about the ancient world. We can appreciate the insights that archaeology provides, but we can’t expect it to confirm all the details of the Bible. The absence of archaeological information about a particular person, place or event doesn’t mean that the person or place did not exist or the event did not happen. Our knowledge of the ancient world is valuable but partial and but a fraction of the past.

–Russ Holden

Leave a Comment » | archaeology, limits of archaeology | Permalink
Posted by Russell Holden

« Previous Entries
Next Entries »