Category: Articles

2 Peter 3:10: But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be dissolved with fervent heat, and the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

It can be difficult to envision the earth being burned up. It can be even more difficult to remind ourselves that this may be seconds away. The earth may be gone before tomorrow.

The Holy Spirit through Peter said that some will find this so hard to believe that they will ridicule the promise of the Day of Judgment (2 Pet. 3:3-4).

If we walk by faith, we will realize that this world is temporary, and the years we spend here will seem short when we reach our eternal destination. Consider what James told the Christians he wrote to in James 4:14-15: Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor, that appears for a little time, and then vanishes away. For you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will both live, and do this or that.”

Both physical death and the Day of Judgment can come at any time. We do not know what will happen tomorrow, and must therefore be prepared at all times to meet the Lord.

Recognition and remembrance of what comes after this life should prompt us to obey God. Notice 2 Peter 3:11-12: Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness, looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, which will cause the burning heavens to be dissolved, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

Since the world may be gone at any moment…

• We should prepare for what comes after life on earth (Matt. 25:31-46).
• We should care about things that have eternal significance (Col. 3:2).
• We should fear God instead of man (Luke 12:4-5).
• We should lean on God’s wisdom and not our own (Prov.3:5).

May we heed the Lord’s warning and “Watch therefore, for you don’t know the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming” (Matt. 25:13).

“For we must all be revealed before the judgment seat of Christ; that each one may receive the things in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10).

May we all prepare for the Day of Judgment, knowing that it could be today.

– Michael Hickox

Matthew 6:19-20: Don’t lay up treasures for yourselves on the earth, where moth and rust consume, and where thieves break through and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consume, and where thieves don’t break through and steal;

In Luke 12:16-21, Jesus spoke a parable that shows the folly of laying up treasures on earth. The man in the parable had earthly wealth and planned to build bigger barns before saying to himself, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years. Take your ease, eat, drink, be merry” (verse 19). God told him, “You foolish one, tonight your soul is required of you. The things which you have prepared― whose will they be?” (verse 20).

Like the rich fool, many center their lives on earthly riches. What profit do these things provide beyond the “here and now?” What if we are called to meet God in judgment tonight? “Treasures” on earth provide nothing beyond this life, and do not produce contentment in this life (see Ecc. 5:10).

Jesus encouraged a wiser pursuit in Matthew 6:20. May we obey Him, and seek the eternal “treasures” God has prepared for the righteous.

– Michael Hickox

Mark 12:35-37: And Jesus answered and said, while He taught in the temple, “How say the scribes that Christ is the Son of David? For David himself said by the Holy Ghost, The Lord said to my Lord, Sit thou on my right hand, till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David therefore himself calleth Him Lord; and whence is He then his son?” And the common people heard Him gladly.

Mark 12 contrasts the Jewish rulers, who thought they were right, with the “common people,” who often were right. While the Jewish rulers were largely hypocritical (Mark 12:38-40), many of the common people had a genuine interest in Jesus.

John 7 shows a similar contrast. The Jewish rulers at that time had been seeking to punish Jesus since He healed a man on the sabbath day. When Jesus revealed Himself at the feast of tabernacles, the Jewish rulers questioned their officers “Why have ye not brought Him?” (John 7:45). The officers responded, “Never man spake like this man” (verse 46). The Pharisees then asked, “Are ye also deceived?” (verse 47).

Notice what they went on to ask in verse 48: Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on Him?

This was the Jewish leaders’ standard of right and wrong. If the Pharisees agreed that Jesus was a fraud (which they really didn’t – John 3:1-2), then they had no doubt that He was a fraud.

Their perception of the common people who believed Jesus to be the Messiah is in verse 49: But this people who knoweth not the law are cursed.

The contrast between these two broad groups is a theme throughout Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. The Jewish leaders thought that they already had things figured out, while many of the common people opened their hearts to the truth. The Jewish leaders saw these common people as beneath them, but God saw differently.

A similar tendency can exist today. We must become as fools in order to be wise (1 Cor. 3:18). This is a way of saying that we must let go of our worldly wisdom as needed in order to humbly accept the true wisdom that is from above.

Those who are rich, “wise,” popular, or prestigious in this world often have the most difficulty doing this. These people may still accept the simple truth, but it can be more difficult. Sometimes, it is the “common people” who receive the Word most easily.

Whether we are considered common people from a worldly perspective or not, we must have the humble mindset that leads us to accept Jesus’ teachings. We must trust and obey God.

This is what the common people of Mark 12 did. May we be like them and accept the truth.

– Michael Hickox

John 1:22-23: Then said they unto him, Who art thou? That we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias.

When John the Baptizer was asked who he was, he said that he was not Christ (John 1:20). Nor was he Elias (verse 21), though he came before Jesus “in the spirit and power of Elias” (Luke 1:17). Nor was he the prophet like Moses that God would raise up (Deut. 18:15).

Instead, John simply said he was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness.”

John took emphasis away from himself and directed it toward Jesus, saying, “He it is, who coming after me is preferred before me, whose shoe’s latchet I am not worthy to unloose” (John 1:27). He stood in awe of Jesus (cf. John 1:29), rather than trying to make others stand in awe of himself (cf. Matt. 23:5).

God could use more servants like John, who do what is right at whatever cost (cf. Matt. 14:3-10), yet humbly see that doing so simply makes one God’s instrument.

John emphasized God’s message rather than the messenger. He exemplified the need for all “voices” that God uses to seek glory not for themselves, but for God (cf. 1 Pet. 4:11).

– Michael Hickox

Matthew’s record of Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” begins with the statement “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:3). Like each of the “beatitudes,” this statement shows the stark contrast between those who seem blessed in the eyes of the world and those who truly are blessed according to God.

The word translated “poor” in Matthew 5:3 can mean “destitute of wealth, influence, position, honors; lowly, afflicted,” or “helpless, powerless to accomplish an end” (see Thayer & Strong-G4434). When we consider these definitions, it helps us see that the one who is poor in spirit recognizes his or her hopelessness without God.

Those who are truly blessed do not claim to be spiritually “independent” or “self-sufficient,” but claim the very opposite of this. Those who are poor in spirit realize we are dependent on God. Without God, we are doomed for eternal destruction.

The tax collector of Luke 18:10-14 recognized this. Unlike the Pharisee who boasted about how great he was and treated God as though God were fortunate to have him, the tax collector “would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner” (verse 13). While the Pharisee thought he was high and mighty, the tax collector recognized he was poor and lowly. He knew that it was only through God’s mercy that he could be forgiven of his sin, and receive salvation.

The Bible is full of examples of men who had a heart more like that of the Pharisee, and were proven foolish for such an attitude.

When Moses was sent by God to tell Pharaoh to release Israel from bondage, Pharaoh responded “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I know not the Lord, neither will I let Israel go” (Exodus 5:2). Pharaoh thought he was powerful, and may have seemed so in the eyes of the people. He was proven a fool by God though when the ten plagues came upon Egypt.

Pharaoh’s pride led to his downfall, while the meekest man on earth led the Israelites out of bondage (cf. Numbers 12:3). Such “turning of the tables” is common in the Bible. God repeatedly humbles those who exalt themselves and exalts those who humble themselves.

Those added by God to His kingdom are not the “high and mighty” Pharaoh’s, but those who, like David, cry out “Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me: for I am poor and needy” (Psalm 86:1).

David recognized that we are undeserving of anything better than eternal destruction because of how we have treated God. None of us would exist, or have anything we need to survive without the allowance of God. Those too proud to acknowledge our dependence on Him will be brought low on the Day of Judgment.

The poor in spirit acknowledge their helplessness without God, and give Him all glory.

Truly, the poor in spirit are far more blessed than the wealthiest, healthiest, most prestigious, most liked, most famous individuals on earth, for Jesus said of the poor in spirit, “theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

– Michael Hickox