Now the LORD
descended in the cloud
And stood with him
there, and
Proclaimed the name
of the LORD.
And the LORD passed
before him
And proclaimed: “The
LORD,
The LORD God,
merciful and gracious,
Longsuffering, and
abounding in
Goodness and truth,
keeping mercy
For thousands, for
giving iniquity
And transgression and
sin, by no
Means clearing the
guilty, visiting
The iniquity of the
fathers upon
The children and the
children’s
Children to the third
and the
Fourth generation.”
Exodus 34:5-7
How
important is it to know the LORD? How important is it to follow His commands?
How important is it to teach your children? How important is the history of the
Church? How important is it to remain pure and remove iniquity from your lives?
The answers to these questions seem so apparent to anyone who is seeking the
truth and desires to live in truth. We as fathers have a deep and serious
responsibility to teach our children our spouses about God our Father and
Savior. To do this teaching we must reach back into history and teach how God
worked through the circumstances of life. We teach how God addresses sin and
how merciful God is to those who repent and turn their lives around so to live
in accordance with His commands and laws. A Psalm of David helps to understand our
God and Savior: “The LORD executes righteousness and justice for all who are
oppressed. He made known His ways to Moses, His acts to the children of Israel.
The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. He
will not always strive with us, nor will He keep His anger forever. He has not
dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our
iniquities” (Psalm 103:8-10). God’s ways are known, they are recorded in
His word for us to read and learn so that we will live in a manner that God
requires of us. Aiding in our learning is to fully understand how history, the
men and women of history, has affected our Christian Religion, and you
personally. Many have foregone any knowledge of he doctrines of our Faith, such
as the vicarious death and resurrection of Jesus Christ (see 1Corinthians
15:3-4), and have opted for a religion of experience. There is a deep and
abiding experience when a person come to believe in Jesus Christ and converts
their life to live according to what is taught to us in the Scriptures. Now we
will attempt to look into history and bolster up our knowledge, a knowledge
that will increase more than just knowledge, rather our faith, and give to our
children more than historical facts, but how those facts give proof of the
existence of a loving and merciful God. We have no excuse for apathy. We have
no excuse to not examine history in light of our God’s work among His people
even when His people strayed from His commands. We will be able to see how culture,
society, philosophies, and philosophers affected many people to believe in a
lie, and how those who remained faithful to God held fast to God’s law, and His
commands, and how God blessed those who remained faithful to Him. To study
history I must by necessity omit some things in this blog that would be helpful
in a larger essay. But I must admit into this blog the important aspects of
history that are important for our understanding; therefore I will examine the
political elements, the societal elements, the religious elements, and those
philosophies that have influenced decisions, governments, and theologies. A big
undertaking but one that I will accomplish with the help of the Holy Spirit to
remain faithful and true to the word of God and never forgetting that it is not
just history we are to learn, rather about God and His desire, His commands,
His precepts, His doctrines that are the mainstay for Authentic Biblical
Christians.
I will not
begin farther back into history than the return of the Israelites to Jerusalem
by decree of Cyrus. A brief overview will be given to set the tone of the
environment that influenced the thinking and beliefs of the Israelites. Added
to this overview will be the political events that went just before the birth
of our Savior Jesus Christ. This environment existed at the birth of Jesus
Christ and the one in which He grew as a boy into manhood. It is this
environment that He had to address when He ministered leading to His death.
Don’t be confused to think that Jesus Christ developed His teachings from the
environment for this is not the reason He came to earth. Jesus Christ came to
earth to do one and one only thing: to destroy sin, sin that has and is
plaguing mankind, sin that needed to be dealt with by the justice of God. We
are the recipients of His death, that propitiation for sin, for all of God’s
elect whoever they may be, sin was destroyed and now Jesus Christ sits at the
right hand of the Father making intercession for all of God’s children. Sin has
been paid! Do you believe in Jesus Christ as the Savior sent from the Father,
that Jesus is both God and man? Our study of history will give you the “why”
Jesus came when He did and then how the Church grew as the gospel was preached.
How the Church fought heresy, even when the Church misused their relationship
with God. How the Church aligned with the state and how oppressive that
alignment affected people. How heresy still exists in our day and age. Most
important when we know the problem that made cause for many Churches to fall
into error, that knowledge will keep us from such error and provide truth for
those seeking truth.
Starting in
the next blogs will be the journey through history. Join me, even ask
questions, don’t sit back and be apathetic, get involved, teach these truths to
your spouse, your children, also in Bible studies, be intentional to live for
our Savor Jesus Christ no matter the cost. Here is Authentic Biblical Faith
will shine as a light in the darkness of this world. Praise God, we are not
alone in the ministry given to us by Jesus Christ. As we are intentional to
serve Him the Holy Spirit will aid and guide you, this is God’s promise and He
never goes back on His promises, they are always fulfilled.
Beware, brethren lest there be
In any of
you an evil
Heart of unbelief in departing
From the
living God;
But exhort one another daily,
While it is
called “Today,”
Lest any of you be hardened
Through the
deceitfulness
Of sin. For we have become
Partakers of
Christ if
We hold the beginning of our
Confidence steadfast
To the end.
Hebrews 3:12-14
Put Your Trust In Him
Richard L. Crumb
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