-
“Tidings of Great Joy” “Tidings of Great Joy” –– page 3page 3Why
you Must Believe in God Why you Must Believe in God –– page 5page
5
God’s Revelation in the Bible God’s Revelation in the Bible ––
page 12page 12
OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD 1543GladTidingsGladTidings
-
Bible Talks, Study Classes, Sunday Schools and Youth Clubs
areheld regularly by Christadelphians worldwide. The address ofyour
nearest group can be obtained either from one of the Glad Tidings
Distributors listed above, or from one of thecontact addresses
listed on the back cover.
Bible VersionsThe version most used in this issue isthe New King
James Version (NKJV)and other versions are sometimes
used.
D The New King James Version iscopyrighted by Thomas Nelson.
D The English Standard Version is published by Harper
CollinsPublishers © 2001 by CrosswayBibles, a division of Good
NewsPublishers. Used by permission.
D The New International Version is copyrighted 1978 by New York
Bible Society
GladTidingsO F T H E K I N G D O M O F G O D
127th Year 1543A monthly magazine published by the
Christadelphians (brothers and sisters in Christ)and available
throughout the world.
AcknowledgementsPhotographs:
Cover and pages 10-11:Reading the Bible
istockphotosIllustrations:
Clipart.com; Gerald Newton: pgs.18 and 19.
ContentsA12
Glad Tidings Distributorsfor orders and payments
United Kingdom – Cilla Palmer, “Highlands”, 78 Mildenhall Road,
Fordham, Ely, Cambs, England CB7 5NR Tel: (01638)723959 (24 hrs
& Fax) [email protected]
Australia – Jon Fry, 19 Macey Street, Croydon South, Victoria,
Australia, 3136
[email protected] – Vivian Thorp, 5377
Birdcage Walk,
Burlington, Ontario, Canada, L7L 3K5 [email protected]
New Zealand – Neil Todd, 14 Morpeth Place, Blockhouse Bay,
Auckland 7, New Zealand
South Africa – A. J. Oosthuizen, P.O.Box 50357, Musgrave
Road,Durban 4062, South Africa [email protected]
U.S.A. – Pat Hemingray, 3079 Kilburn West, Rochester Hills, USA,
MI 48306
Other Countries – Andrew Johnson, 22 Hazel Drive, Hollywood,
Birmingham, England, B47 [email protected]
Editor: Owen Tecwyn Morgan, 26 The Crescent, Hampton-in-Arden,
Solihull, England, B92 OBP [email protected]
Publisher: The Glad Tidings Publishing Association A registered
charity – Number 248352
Contents“Tidings of Great Joy”3
Why you Must BelieveGod.............................5
The Witness of Stephen...................................7
Help with your DailyBible Readings..........9
Bible Reading Tables ................................10-11
God’s Revelation in theBible.........................12
The Return of the Jews .................................16
Jonah and the Whale.................................18
Its objectives are – to encourage the study of the Bible asGod's
inspired message to men; to call attention to theDivine offer of
forgiveness of sins through Jesus Christ; andto warn men and women
that soon Christ will return toEarth as judge and ruler of God’s
world-wide Kingdom.
-
128th Year 3
came to pay homage for the angelsaid:
“Do not be afraid, for behold, I bringyou good tidings of great
joy which willbe to all people. For there is born toyou this day in
the city of David aSaviour, who is Christ the Lord. Andthis will be
the sign to you: You will finda Babe wrapped in swaddling
cloths,lying in a manger” (Luke 2:10–12).
Then an entire company of angelsappeared and proclaimed
together:
“Glory to God in the highest, and onearth peace, goodwill toward
men!”(Luke 2:14).
Great JoyThose marvellous events happenednearly two thousand
years ago and it ishard for us to realise just how excitingthe news
was. The people of Israelwere subject to a Roman occupyingforce –
something they hated. Theyhad been waiting and waiting for
apromised Deliverer or Saviour.
He was first promised to Adam andEve, when they were in deep
distress;then promises about him had beenmade to Abraham, Moses and
KingDavid. His Coming was often spokenabout when God’s prophets
foretoldfuture events and there were peoplewho lived in daily
expectation. But thenews that came to the shepherds wascompletely
unexpected and unlookedfor.
You sense their appreciation,however, in their readiness to
leavetheir sheep and go into Bethlehem, toseek out a child who had
just beenborn there and to pay their respects.And the record says
that: When they
When things get you down what do youdo? Some people go shopping
in thehope that will help. Others eat a bitmore and then worry
about their waist-line! But sometimes things are sodepressing that
nothing seems to help.
Really BadWhat must it be like to be living in Syriaat present,
with the nation being tornapart by opposing factions? Many whofled
from Iraq to Syria, when Iraq wasat war, are now fleeing back to
Iraq, tostart their lives all over again. Andthere are many
countries whereparents fear that they cannot feedthemselves or
their children becauseof the weather, the government, theirhealth
and everything else. For many,life is full of uncertainty.
Put yourself in the shoes of a heavilypregnant girl who was told
to leavehome with her young husband to goand stay with friends many
miles away.Transport was difficult and the journeyarduous and when
they reached theirdestination their friends couldn’t orwouldn’t
accommodate them. Theyhad to sleep rough and her baby wasborn that
very night with nobody tohelp. They felt unwanted and unloved,yet
they prized that child, as though hewas the most special baby
ever.
Something RemarkableThen a group of agricultural workerstracked
the young couple down, to theouthouse where they were staying,
andknelt before the baby boy. They camewith the news that they were
out in thefield when a company of angels cameto tell them that the
king of Israel – theMessiah – had just been born. They
“Tidings of Great Joy”“Tidings of Great Joy”
-
4 Glad Tidings
in the First Centurypeople wanted deliv-erance from theobvious
things –oppression, taxation,illness, hunger anddeath. But
theydidn’t think about theunderlying problem:the indirect cause
ofall those things. Thereal problem is sin –disobedience to,
andrebellion against, thelaw of God. Solvethat and you solve
allother problems.
What of Us? The issues that now confront us are
rehearsed every day by politicians andpundits who are anxious to
get ourvote or our money. All the time we hearabout the world’s
economic problems.We see how unstable our world is andhow easily a
nation can slip into chaos.There are daily news bulletins
aboutcrimes, mistakes, lies and deceptions.But you hardly ever hear
about theunderlying problem – which is still sin!
The great news is that Jesus hasdied to set us free from sin and
death.Soon he will come from heaven to ruleon earth as King and to
solve all ourother problems. But, like the shep-herds, we must be
diligent to searchand seek out the Lord.
Reading the Bible regularly is a bighelp to get to know the
Saviour of theworld. That is why we have included aBible Reading
table in this issue, sothat you can read God’s Word rightthrough
the coming year, if the Lordremains away. Don’t miss the
opportu-nity!
Editor
had seen him, theymade widely known thesaying which was toldthem
concerning thisChild. And all those whoheard it marveled atthose
things which weretold them by the shep-herds (Luke 2:17–18).
They just couldn’t stoptalking about it, andunderstandably
so.These were tidings ofgreat joy for them, asindeed they are to
“allpeople”.
A SaviourAngels no longer appear as they did inBible times, at
least if they do we areunaware of the fact (Hebrews 13:1).The
Romans are no longer a conquer-ing race, so nobody is now looking
fora Conqueror to get rid of them. Norcan we ever again expect that
a childwill be born to a virgin: that was a oncefor all happening
for the child was the“only begotten Son of God” (John1:18).
As things worked out, Jesus had notcome to conquer the Romans,
or to becrowned as King of Israel, ruling fromJerusalem over God’s
worldwidekingdom. That time will come, but hehad first to
accomplish a much moredemanding deliverance – somethingneeded by
every person, in everynation and in every age.
This is what Joseph, his foster father,was told by the
angel:
She (Mary) will bring forth a Son, andyou shall call his name
Jesus, for hewill save his people from their sins”(Matthew
1:21).
It was sad, but understandable, that
-
128th Year 5
Not believing Young Wilfred was helping his father,working with
his best tools. The fatherwarned his son ‘Be careful how youhandle
this one. Hold it exactly like thisor you will hurt yourself’.
A few minutes later, when hisfather’s back was turned, Wilfred
letout a cry: he had misused the tool andhurt his hand. Wilfred had
not trulybelieved his father, and he suffered theconsequences. We
need to make surethat we do not make this mistake withthe Almighty
Father.
Eve did not believe GodIn the Garden of Eden, God had toldAdam
and Eve that if they ate fruitfrom the tree of knowledge of goodand
evil then they would die: “… but ofthe tree of the knowledge of
good andevil you shall not eat, for in the daythat you eat of it
you shall surely die”(Genesis 2:17). Eve was tricked bythe lying
words of the serpent. “Thenthe serpent said to the woman ‘You
willnot surely die’.” (Genesis 3:4). Sadly,Eve believed the
serpent, rather thanGod, and suffered the consequences.
There is a clear lesson for us all. It isnot sufficient to
believe in God; Eve
believed in God, Wilfred believed in hisfather. We must believe
what God hassaid and try to obey it.
Jesus always believed GodThe supreme example of belief in Godis
Jesus, God’s Son. In everything hedid he obeyed his father, the
Lord God.In Matthew chapter 2, when he istempted he always fends
off the temp-tation with the Word of God, alwayssaying: ‘It is
written…’, and thenquoting from the Old Testament Scrip-tures. In
the Psalms we have abeautiful description of how Jesustreasured his
father’s commandments,for the Psalmist wrote prophetically
ofJesus:
“Then I said ‘Behold, I come; in thescroll of the book it is
written of me. Idelight to do Your will, O my God, andYour law is
written in my heart’” (Psalm40:7-8). Hebrews chapter 10 tells us
that thesewords are about God’s Son, Jesus.They show how the
commands of Godwere so precious to Jesus that hedescribes them as
being ‘in his heart’.It was his joy to do what his fatherasked of
him – even though this some-times involved horrendous
suffering.
A Friend of GodNo-one else has ever loved God’s
commands and obeyed them likeJesus did. But there are
notablepeople in the Bible who did try to obeyGod. One example is
Abraham, who isdescribed in James 2:23 as a ‘friend ofGod’. What a
lovely testimony! Whathad Abraham done to warrant this?
Why you Must BelieveWhy you Must BelieveGodGod
-
6 Glad Tidings
The scripture says:
“Abraham believedGod, and it wasaccounted to him
forrighteousness” (James2:23).
God had askedAbraham to offer hisonly son Isaac as asacrifice.
This isrecorded in Genesis22. Abraham andSarah his wife hadwaited
years for a son,and God had promisedthat from Isaac wouldcome a
great nationand one who wouldeventually be theSaviour and Ruler of
the world.
Abraham was prepared to do exactlywhat God asked of him and was
willingto sacrifice his son (although an angelstopped him at the
last minute),because he believed that God woulddo what He had
promised. If only wecould be like this!
UnchangeableWe cannot change God’s Command-ments. Time and again
we are told thatit is very important to follow exactlywhat God
says, and not to use our ownideas.
King Saul, the very first king of Israelmade this mistake. God
told King Saulto utterly destroy the Amalekites – anation of people
who had treated theIsraelites very badly. God said to him:
“Go and attack Amalek and utterlydestroy all that they have, and
do notspare them” (1 Samuel 15:3).
Saul did go to battle, as he was told,but he did not destroy
everything.
“But Saul and thepeople spared Agagand the best of thesheep, the
oxen, thefatlings, the lambs andall that was good” (1Samuel
15:9).
God was very angrywith Saul. Saul tried tojustify what he
haddone:
“…the people sparedthe best of the sheepand the oxen, to
sacri-fice to the LORD yourGod” (I Sam. 15:15).
This may seem like avery good reason, but
God was angry with Saul and the con-sequences were very serious.
Samuelthe prophet says to him:
“Behold, to obey is better than sacri-fice and to heed than the
fat of rams… Because you have rejected theword of the LORD, He also
has reject-ed you from being king” (1 Samuel15:22-23).
Aim to BelieveAll these examples given us in theScriptures of
truth show us plainly thatwe must aim to believe God. Manypeople
believe in God. They may alsobelieve that He will give them
eternallife. Are they right? The Bible clearlyteaches that although
we must believein God, this is not enough. We must tryto find out
exactly what He wants us todo, and to obey as best we can, andthen
to commit our lives completely toHis ways. This alone is how we
trulybelieve God, and it is the only way tobe saved.
Anna Hart
-
128th Year 7
That serious accusation meant thatStephen was on trial for his
life beforethe High Priest and Jewish Council.
Stephen’s DefenceInstead of refuting the charges madeabout him,
Stephen went right back tothe times of Genesis chapter 12, whenthe
Lord God asked Abram to leave Urof the Chaldees and to move to
theland we now know as Israel. Heexplained about the promises
Godmade to Abraham, the way Isaac wasborn and how the line of
descent con-tinued through Jacob and his twelvesons. He talked
about their time inEgypt, and the way Moses, “instructedin all the
wisdom of the Egyptians”, ledGod’s people out of Egypt. He
remind-ed them of how God had performedwonders and signs in Egypt,
and at theRed Sea.
Now he was ready to deal with theissue of whether Jesus would
changethe customs delivered by Moses, forhe now introduced the
promise thatGod made by Moses that He would“raise up for you a
prophet like mefrom your brothers” (Acts 7:37). Thiswas a very
clever move, for it is recog-nised that the Lord Jesus was
theprophet like Moses, but it was not pos-sible for High Priest or
Council toacknowledge this, even though the fol-lowers of the Lord
Jesus would do so.
Then Stephen turned to the timewhen the people of Israel were in
thewilderness. Far from keeping faithfullyto the commands and laws
which Godhad given them through Moses, whilsthe was away from them
receivingGod’s law, they had made an idol of
It was perhaps inevitable thatas the Jerusalem congrega-tion of
the young church grewquite large there would besome, and so there
were.
Some of the members felt neglected,especially widows from the
Greek-speaking areas, who felt they were notgetting their fair
share of the welfaremoney. The Apostles did not wish toleave the
preaching work they weredoing to attend to the issue, but
clearlysomething had to be done.
Zealous OpponentsSeven men were specially appointedfor the task.
One of these wasStephen, who comes to our noticebecause he soon
became involved inthe preaching work as well as lookingafter the
daily distribution to those inneed. He seems to have upset somefrom
the synagogue of the Freedmen,who would have liked to oppose whathe
was saying, but found it impossibleto refute his arguments. So
theyresorted to the tactics of the mob,stirred up a commotion and
thendragged Stephen before the JewishCouncil.
They knew that any charges theybrought would not stand up before
thecouncil, so they arranged for false wit-nesses to say:
“This man does not cease to speakblasphemous words against this
holyplace and the law; for we have heardhim say that this Jesus of
Nazareth willdestroy this place and change thecustoms which Moses
delivered to us”(Acts 6:13–14).
First Century Preaching – 5
The Witness of StephenThe Witness of Stephen
-
8 Glad Tidings
gold in the shape of a calf and wor-shipped it. This was
possibly the lowestpoint in Israel’s history, but there wereother
low points.
History LessonContinuing to trace Israel’s history,Stephen
talked about their worship ofGod, first a tabernacle or tent, made
inthe wilderness then a permanentTemple constructed in Jerusalem
inthe reign of Solomon. God had notasked for such a building, but
KingDavid had wanted to build it as a placein which to worship God.
Stephen nowquoted the prophecy of Isaiah, whereGod asks:
“Heaven is My throne, and earth is Myfootstool. Where is the
house that youwill build Me? And where is the placeof My rest?”
(Isaiah 66:1)
Then God explained that He is theCreator of everything, and what
Hewants is people with the right attitudeof mind and heart.
Stephen contrasted God’s expecta-tion with the attitude of those
whoresisted the claims made by JesusChrist, the Son of God:
“You stiff-necked and uncircumcised inheart and ears! You always
resist theHoly Spirit; as your fathers did, so doyou. Which of the
prophets did yourfathers not persecute? And they killedthose who
foretold the coming of theJust One, of whom you now havebecome the
betrayers and murderers(Acts 7:51–52).
In a masterly way, Stephen hadshown that God’s people were
alwayswayward, forsaking the commandswhich God had given them. Time
andagain God had sent prophets to callthem back to the right way,
but theresponse had been to persecute andkill them. The prophets
had spoken
about the coming of the “RighteousOne”, a clear reference to the
LordJesus. Stephen showed that the oppo-sition to the Apostles and
to the rest ofthe congregation of believers was justlike the
hostility shown towards God allthrough the history of Israel. His
finalrebuke to the Council was stinging:
“You are the men who have receivedthe Law of God miraculously,
by thehand of angels, and you are the menwho have disobeyed it”
(Acts 7:53,J.B. Phillips).
Stephen’s EndStephen’s defence was a compre-
hensive rebuke of the Jewish nation,who should have been the
guardiansand keepers of a law which was yearsahead of any other
such code, andwhich should have ensured the bless-ings of the Lord
God, generation aftergeneration. That it had not done sowas
entirely due to their failure toobserve its wise provisions, in
particu-lar their failure to faithfully worship theLord God.
Sadly, those who heard this spiriteddefence took absolutely no
notice.They were so incensed by what he hadsaid that they threw him
out of the cityand stoned him to death, becomingthe first to suffer
such a fate after thedeath of the Lord Jesus himself. Justbefore
they stoned him, Stephen sawa vision: “the glory of God, and
Jesus
-
128th Year 9
standing at the right hand of God”(Acts 7:55). He told them what
hesaw, but they just “stopped their ears”.They did not want to hear
whatStephen was saying for they felt surethey knew God’s will
better than him.In fact they ignored one who reallycould have
guided them to a betterrelationship with God, by their accept-ance
of Jesus Christ as Lord.
This whole incident provides a pow-erful lesson for us. Stephen
wasinspired by God to explain importantaspects of Israel’s
religious history, sothat his hearers would not rely on
theirtraditions, but would learn instead toaccept God’s truth. But
they weren’t
prepared to listen and would not followhis argument, or reason
thingsthrough. Yet he was clearly speakingthe truth, and was a man
approved ofGod, as his vision of the Lord Jesusdemonstrated. How
careful we toomust be not to rely upon human tradi-tion, or the
things we have alwaysbelieved unthinkingly. The Scripturesgive us
the opportunity to read for our-selves what God wants of us.
Byreading them on a regular basis, wecan ensure that we fully
understandthe whole counsel of God. What ablessing that can
bring!
Mark Sheppard
Help with your Daily Bible ReadingHelp with your Daily Bible
Reading
Use The World Wide Web to help you to do your daily Bible
readings (using thereading tables on pages 10 & 11). This is
the 13th year in which this Chris-tadelphian web site has been
available to help people understand the Biblemessage.
There are over 24,400 comments, charts and tables from over 50
differentChristadelphians.
W View the different thoughts on the day’s readings online.
W Have each day’s thoughts e-mailed to you daily – over 1,000
use this facil-ity.
W Read each reading online in any of 5 different versions
W Correspond by e-mail with any of the contributors who have
writtenthoughts.
W Search for comments on specific chapters – a real aid to Bible
Study.
The object of the site is to encourage personal Bible
reading.
The site can be viewed at http://www.dailyreadings.org.uk/
For further information either visit the site and click on
CONTACT US or e-mail [email protected] or
[email protected]
-
Bible Readin
-
ng Tables
By courtesy of The Christadelphian
-
12 Glad Tidings
Throughout history peoplehave often sought some Beinggreater
than themselves –sometimes to worship, atother times to blame for
any-thing they didn’t understand!
When in trouble, it was thereforenatural for them to turn to
that greatBeing to champion them, first inbattles between tribes
and later inwars between nations.
The Enlightenment?Things changed dramatically in the17th
century. The dawn of modernscience brought answers to a wholerange
of questions which had previous-ly been regarded as
unfathomablemysteries. Man’s knowledge abouthimself, the earth and
the universegrew hugely and the need for a god to“fill in the gaps”
in his understandingbecame far less urgent. Despite thisthere were
many scientists in thatperiod who viewed their discoveriesand work
as something that revealedmore about the might and power ofGod:
something that added to what Hehad revealed about Himself in
theBible. Other leaders of men also sawthe Bible as God’s
revelation:u “It is impossible to rightly govern
the world without God and theBible” – George
Washington(1732-1799), the first US presi-dent.
u “I believe the Bible is the best giftGod has ever given to
man. All thegood from the Saviour of the
world is communicated to usthrough this book” – AbrahamLincoln
(1809-1865), sixteenthUS president.
u “There are more sure marks ofauthenticity in the Bible than
inany profane history” – Sir IsaacNewton (1642-1727), one of
thegreatest scientists of all time.
u “The existence of the Bible, as abook for the people, is the
great-est benefit which the human racehas ever experienced.
Everyattempt to belittle it is a crimeagainst humanity” –
ImmanuelKant (1724-1804), Germanphilosopher.
u “The New Testament is the verybest book that ever was or
everwill be known in the world” –Charles Dickens
(1812-1870).English novelist.
Science and ReligionIt was later still in the 19th centuryafter
the work of Charles Darwin thatsome thinkers proposed a new
ideaaltogether. They argued that scienceand religion present two
different con-cepts about the earth and indeed theuniverse. They
are equally true, theysaid, but they do not overlap. They arethe
two sides of the same coin. Oneshows us how things are and how
theywork, the other tells us why they areand what the purpose of it
all is.
Things have moved on again so thattoday man thinks he knows
theanswers to pretty well all of the ques-tions that can be thrown
at him. Some
God’s Revelation in theGod’s Revelation in theBibleBible
-
128th Year 13
men have become insufferablyproud of their achievements andthink
they can do without a God.Some even deny His existence.
But all is not lost, even today. OneChristian writer of the last
century,who was also something of aphilosopher, made the
followingpoints in one of his books.
Bible RevelationI hope I’ve said enough to at leastset your
minds thinking about theidea of God. As Christadelphians, wehave
come to believe that there isan Almighty God and that He
hasrevealed Himself and His purposewith His creation and that
revelationis uniquely to be found in the bookwe know as the Bible.
This is very
much in accord, as we have seen, withthe thinking of some men of
earliergenerations. So let’s look at someBible passages to see what
it tells us.
u The Bible tells us that Godis the Creator and Sustain-er of
all things. He dwellsin the heavens in unap-proachable light. He is
thepersonification of wisdomand power:
In the beginning God created theheavens and the earth. The earth
waswithout form, and void; and darknesswas on the face of the deep.
And theSpirit of God was hovering over theface of the waters. Then
God said, “Letthere be light”; and there was light.And God saw the
light, that it wasgood; and God divided the light fromthe darkness.
God called the light Day,and the darkness He called Night. Sothe
evening and the morning were thefirst day (Genesis 1:1–5).
“To whom then will you liken Me, or towhom shall I be equal?”
says the HolyOne. Lift up your eyes on high, and seewho has created
these things, whobrings out their host by number; Hecalls them all
by name, by the great-ness of His might and the strength ofHis
power; not one is missing (Isaiah40:25–26).
He who is the blessed and only Poten-tate, the King of kings and
Lord oflords, who alone has immortality,dwelling in unapproachable
light,whom no man has seen or can see, towhom be honour and
everlastingpower. Amen. (1 Timothy 6:15–16).
u The Bible tells us thatGod’s power is limitlessand so He is
everywherepresent by His spirit. He
“Suppose, for a moment, thatthere was no intelligence behindthe
universe, no creative mind. Inthat case, nobody designed mybrain
for the purpose of thinking. Itis merely that when the atomsinside
my skull happen for physicalor chemical reasons to
arrangethemselves in a certain way, thisgives me, as a by-product
the sen-sation I call thought. But if so, howcan I trust my own
thinking to betrue? It’s like upsetting a glass ofmilk and hoping
that the way thesplash arranges itself will give you amap of
London. But if I can’t trustmy own thinking, of course, I
can’ttrust the arguments leading toatheism; therefore I have no
reasonto be an atheist, or anything else.Unless I believe in God, I
can’tbelieve in thought, so I can neveruse thought to disbelieve in
God”(C S Lewis).
-
uses His power for specialpurposes. Some, by theirvery nature,
are uniqueoccasions:
Prophecy never came by the will ofman, but holy men of God spoke
asthey were moved by the Holy Spirit. (2Peter 1:21).
The angel answered and said to(Mary), “The Holy Spirit will come
uponyou, and the power of the Highest willovershadow you;
therefore, also, thatHoly One who is to be born will becalled the
Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
(Jesus) was handed the book of theprophet Isaiah. And when he
hadopened the book, he found the placewhere it was written: “The
Spirit of theLord is upon me, because He hasanointed me to preach
the gospel tothe poor; He has sent me to heal thebrokenhearted, to
proclaim liberty tothe captives and recovery of sight tothe blind,
to set at liberty those whoare oppressed; to proclaim the
accept-able year of the Lord” (Luke 4:17–19).
Suddenly there came a sound fromheaven, as of a rushing mighty
wind,and it filled the whole house wherethey were sitting. Then
there appearedto them divided tongues, as of fire,and one sat upon
each of them. Andthey were all filled with the Holy Spiritand began
to speak with othertongues, as the Spirit gave them utter-ance
(Acts 2:2–4).
u The Bible tells us that Godhas not only revealedHimself to
mankindthrough His Word but alsoin the person and the lifeof His
Son, the Lord JesusChrist:
While he thought about these things,behold, an angel of the Lord
appearedto him in a dream, saying, “Joseph,son of David, do not be
afraid to taketo you Mary your wife, for that which isconceived in
her is of the Holy Spirit.And she will bring forth a Son, and
youshall call his name Jesus, for he willsave his people from their
sins”(Matthew 1:20–21).
When the fullness of the time hadcome, God sent forth His Son,
born ofa woman, born under the law (Gala-tians 4:4).
For indeed He does not give aid toangels, but He does give aid
to theseed of Abraham. Therefore, in allthings he (Jesus) had to be
made likehis brethren, that he might be a mer-ciful and faithful
High Priest in thingspertaining to God, to make propitiationfor the
sins of the people. For in thathe himself has suffered,
beingtempted, he is able to aid those whoare tempted (Hebrews
2:16–18).
God, who at various times and invarious ways spoke in time past
to thefathers by the prophets, has in theselast days spoken to us
by His Son,whom He has appointed heir of allthings, through whom
also He madethe worlds; who being the brightnessof His glory and
the express image ofHis person, and upholding all things bythe word
of His power, when He had byhimself purged our sins, sat down atthe
right hand of the Majesty on high(Hebrews 1:1–3).
What is God Like?But you will want to know what the Godof the
Bible is like as a person, giventhat it’s possible to think of Him
in thatway. Is He vengeful or forgiving? Is Hefull of anger or of
love? Does He have
14 Glad Tidings
-
128th Year 15
a quick temper, like so many of us, oris He incomparably
patient?
One of the great leaders of theJewish people – Moses – asked
thesequestions of the Lord God Himselfwho, in reply, revealed this
to him:
The Lord passed before him and pro-claimed, “The Lord, the Lord
God,merciful and gracious, longsuffering,and abounding in goodness
and truth,keeping mercy for thousands, forgivinginiquity and
transgression and sin, byno means clearing the guilty, visitingthe
iniquity of the fathers upon thechildren and the children’s
children tothe third and the fourth generation”(Exodus 34:6–7).
If you ask why God should speak witha man who was a leader of
the Jews,and not some other nation, have alook at the article about
the Return ofthe Jews to their own land. They arethe people whom
God has chosen andwe do well to remind ourselves thatJesus Christ,
God’s only begotten Son,was born of a Jewish woman.
Why is God like that?Why is God merciful, gracious
andlongsuffering? Why has He all thesewonderful characteristics? We
need tothink about this for a moment. Godcreated man in the
beginning describ-ing His creation as “very good”. Yet Hegave man a
thinking mind and theability to exercise choice. Would manchoose to
worship and obey God asGod intended he should, or would herebel?
History tells us the answer tothis question time after time.
Thisstate of human rebellion is called sinand it leads mankind to
death andoblivion. So we ask, “What aboutthose who really want to
worship Godand be obedient?” What will happen tothem?
Have a quiet read of Psalm 103:8-18. Here is God’s gracious
mercy inaction. The Creator has, through thesacrifice of His Son,
made it possiblefor honest, repentant men and womento turn to Him
and not to perish atdeath. Meditate a while on the follow-ing Bible
passages (John 3:16; 1John4:9-11 and 2 Peter 3:9).
At death, men and women whomake a covenant relationship with
Godare asleep in Christ, unconsciouslywaiting for the day of
resurrection (see1 Corinthians 15:21-22, 51-57). Forthe Bible tells
us that God, althoughhigh and lifted up, almighty andimmortal, is
yet loving and mercifultowards weak and rebellious mankind.As the
crown of His creation we need,as individuals, to show God that
werealise how weak and failing we are.We must then turn to Him with
repen-tant hearts seeking forgiveness for ourwrongdoings, as says
the prophet:
“Seek the Lord while He may be found,call upon Him while He is
near. Let thewicked forsake his way, and theunrighteous man his
thoughts; let himreturn to the Lord, and He will havemercy on him;
and to our God, for Hewill abundantly pardon” (Isaiah55:6–7).
This gracious, kind and loving God isthe majestic person that
the Bibleuniquely reveals to us. We all need toturn to Him through
His Son, and whatgracious words of invitation Jesus
Also spoke:
Come to me, all you who labour andare heavy laden, and I will
give yourest. Take my yoke upon you and learnfrom me, for I am
gentle and lowly inheart, and you will find rest for yoursouls”
(Matthew 11:28–30).
Trevor A Pritchard
-
16 Glad Tidings
In AD70 the Jewish nation came to anend when the Roman army
conqueredJerusalem, killed many of its inhabi-tants and scattered
the survivorsthroughout all the nations of the world.
Prophecy Fulfilled!This was a remarkable fulfilment ofBible
prophecy, one which foretoldtheir scattering being in
Deuteronomychapter 28, a prediction given byMoses over a thousand
years earlier.And some forty years before it hap-pened, ‘the
prophet like Moses’ – theLord Jesus – had foretold this event
aspart of the extensive prophecy he gaveon the Mount of Olives:
They (the Jews) will fall by the edge ofthe sword, and be led
away captiveinto all nations. And Jerusalem will betrampled by
Gentiles until the times ofthe Gentiles are fulfilled.
(Luke21:24).
Jewish DispersionSo it was that, following the destruc-tion of
Jerusalem in AD70, the Jewsbegan a long period of
dispersionthroughout all the nations of the world,having no
homeland of their own, andoften being moved on as anti-Semi-tism
led to persecution and pillage.This period of dispersion lasted
formore than 1800 years until near theend of the 19th century when
a move-ment toward national recovery andresettlement in the land of
their forefa-thers began.
Between 1918 and 1939 there wasa steady trickle of Jews back to
theland, mainly into the area around Tel
Aviv. Many of these were fleeing frompersecution in Russia. It
was, however,the holocaust during the Second WorldWar which turned
the trickle into aflood. Since then, there has been aregular return
of Jews to the land oftheir forefathers. It is a national recov-ery
which is unique among the nations,for throughout the long period of
dis-persion, despite the manypersecutions which they suffered,
theJews kept their distinct national identi-ty.
Modern MiracleIn the return of the Jews to the landand the
establishment of the State ofIsrael as a Jewish State, we see
amodern day miracle which also fulfilsBible prophecy. For just as
their disper-sion was prophesied, so was theirrestoration. These
prophecies also givecompelling evidence to the veracityand
reliability of God’s Word. Here aresome of the prophecies of return
andrestoration, taken from the prophecyof Jeremiah.
“Therefore behold, the days arecoming,” says the Lord, “that it
shallno more be said, ‘The Lord lives whobrought up the children of
Israel fromthe land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord liveswho brought up
the children of Israelfrom the land of the north and from allthe
lands where He had driven them.’For I will bring them back into
theirland which I gave to their fathers.“Behold, I will send for
many fisher-men,” says the Lord, “and they shallfish them; and
afterward I will send formany hunters, and they shall huntthem from
every mountain and every
Prophecy and the Time of the End – 6
The Return of the JewsThe Return of the Jews
-
His prophets Ezekiel and Jeremiah:
“Therefore say to the house of Israel,‘Thus says the Lord God:
“I do not dothis for your sake, O house of Israel,but for My holy
name’s sake, whichyou have profaned among the nationswherever you
went. And I will sanctifyMy great name, which has been pro-faned
among the nations, which youhave profaned in their midst; and
thenations shall know that I am the Lord,”says the Lord God, “when
I am hal-lowed in you before their eyes. For Iwill take you from
among the nations,gather you out of all countries, andbring you
into your own land. (Ezekiel36:22–24).
“Thus says the Lord: ‘If My covenant isnot with day and night,
and if I havenot appointed the ordinances ofheaven and earth, then
I will cast awaythe descendants of Jacob and DavidMy servant, so
that I will not take anyof his descendants to be rulers overthe
descendants of Abraham, Isaac,and Jacob. For I will cause their
cap-tives to return, and will have mercy onthem.’ ” (Jeremiah
33:25–26).
The Jews in general think they areacting on their own initiative
and skillin returning to the land of their forefa-thers, and in
their ability to remainestablished in the land. This is how italso
appears to the nations of theworld, but nothing could be
furtherfrom the truth.
The Jewish people are back in theland of their forefathers in
fulfilment ofBible prophecy, and in these prophe-cies of the return
we have seen andare seeing the Word of God being ful-filled before
our very eyes.
John Shepley
128th Year 17
hill, and out of the holes of the rocks.For My eyes are on all
their ways; theyare not hidden from My face, nor istheir iniquity
hidden from My eyes(Jeremiah 16:14–17).
For behold, the days are coming,’ saysthe Lord, ‘that I will
bring back fromcaptivity My people Israel and Judah,’says the Lord.
‘And I will cause them toreturn to the land that I gave to
theirfathers, and they shall possess it’ ”(Jeremiah 30:3).
Behold, I will bring them from thenorth country, And gather them
fromthe ends of the earth, Among them theblind and the lame, The
woman withchild And the one who labors withchild, together; A great
throng shallreturn there. They shall come withweeping, And with
supplications I willlead them. I will cause them to walk bythe
rivers of waters, In a straight way inwhich they shall not stumble;
For I ama Father to Israel, And Ephraim is Myfirstborn. “Hear the
word of the Lord, Onations, And declare it in the isles afaroff,
and say, ‘He who scattered Israelwill gather him, And keep him as
ashepherd does his flock.’ (Jeremiah31:8–10).
God’s Work – God’s WorldAlthough all of the above quotationsare
from the prophecy of Jeremiah, heis not the only one who foretells
thesemomentous events. The return is awork of God. It is He who is
in control.It is for His Holy Name’s sake, and asa vindication of
His Word, that theseevents are taking place, not becauseof any
righteousness displayed by theJews. In fact they are returning
inunbelief and generally are quite igno-rant of the hand of God at
work in theirlives. This is what He declares through
-
18 Glad Tidings
to imagine the impact on him. As aJew, Jonah had always kept
himself atarm’s length from all Gentiles (non-Jews). They
worshipped idols, andwere unclean. How, he asked himself,could
Israel’s God have anything to dowith such people? Besides, the
Assyri-ans had powerful kings, and couldeasily bring trouble for
Israel (thirtyyears later they would indeed invadeIsrael and take
captives). Nineveh was700 miles away to the north east.Jonah
decided God was making a bigmistake. He went to the shippingcompany
office at Joppa, bought aticket, and sailed off in the
oppositedirection.
No Escape!You cannot run away from God. After awhile a great
storm blew up, and theship was in danger of sinking.
Thesuperstitious mariners cast lots todecide whose fault it was,
and the lotfell on Jonah. He admitted he wasrunning away from God.
But, to hiscredit, he volunteered to sacrificehimself to save them
from drowning.“Hurl me into the sea”, he said, “thenthere will be a
calm”.
So they picked him up and threwhim overboard. The irony is, the
sailorswere Gentiles. Jonah had been forced
Jonah came from Galilee, where Jesuslater grew up. He was a
prophet to theTen Tribe kingdom. Like Amos andHosea, he lived
during the long reign ofKing Jeroboam the Second and whatwe learn
from the record in theaccount in the historical record isJonah was
a very willing prophet whenhe thought that his nation wouldbenefit
from his prophecies.
The date would be about 780 BC,and this is what we read:
And (Jeroboam II) did evil in the sightof the LORD; he did not
depart from allthe sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat,who had made
Israel sin. He restoredthe territory of Israel from the entranceof
Hamath to the Sea of the Arabah,according to the word of the LORD
Godof Israel, which He had spokenthrough His servant Jonah the
sonof Amittai, the prophet who wasfrom Gath Hepher (2
Kings14:24–25).
Jonah the ProphetProphecying about the expansion ofIsrael was
one thing but then Jonahreceived an extraordinary request fromGod.
He was told to go to Nineveh, thecapital of Assyria, and call on
thepeople there to repent. It is hard for us
The Books of the Bible – 19
Jonah and the WhaleJonah and the Whale
-
128th Year 19
to realise that Gentiles have feelings,just like Jews. They did
not want to die.And he had been prepared to give hislife to save
them! Perhaps he wasbeginning to see that God was rightafter
all.
Mercifully, God did not let him die. Agreat fish saw him fall
through thewater and gobbled him up. It was prob-ably a whale –
they have been knownto swallow men alive when chased byharpoon
boats, and they breathe airlike men. The second chapter of
Jonahrecords his amazing prayer to Godfrom the darkness and terror
of hisunderwater prison. God heard it fromthe depths of the ocean
and had pityon him. Three days later the whalethrew him up on a
Mediterraneanbeach.
A SecondTimeAgain Godcommand-ed theprophet to go toNineveh. And
thistime, grumpily, he went.The Assyrian capital was a
hugemetropolis – it took three days to crosson foot. Jonah cried to
the people thatif they did not repent from their vio-lence and
their wicked ways Ninevehwould be overthrown. Remarkably, theking
set an example, clothed himself in
sackcloth as a sign of mourning andstarted praying to the God of
Israel.
Jonah sat down outside the city towait for the outcome. He was
reallypeeved when God told him the capitalhad been saved. But God
reprovedhim.
“Should I not pity Nineveh, that greatcity, in which are more
than onehundred and twenty thousand personswho cannot discern
between their righthand and their left (presumably Hemeant little
children) – and much live-stock? (Jonah 4:11).
As the apostle Peter writes in theNew Testament, God does not
wishthat any should perish, but that allshould reach repentance (2
Peter3:9). So, whatever our race, we canbe sure that if we truly
humbleourselves before God,He will have mercy onus.
In the New Testament,Jesus remarks on the repen-tance of the
Ninevites, andcontrasts them with thehard-hearted Jews of
Galilee who
refusedto listen to
his call to repen-tance. He also saysthat as Jonah was
three days in the belly of the whale, hewould be three days in
the tomb, andthen rise again.
David M Pearce
-
Local Information
To find out about your nearestChristadelphian Meeting, or ifyou
want some free Bible litera-ture, or would like to enrol on
acorrespondence course, write tothe address nearest you.
United KingdomThe Christadelphians, Freepost, MID 30912,
Birmingham, B27 [email protected]
Africa & EuropeChristadelphian Bible Mission, 404 Shaftmoor
Lane, Birmingham,B28 8SZ, UK [email protected]
The AmericasCBMA, 19111 Kinsie Street, Northridge, California,
USA, [email protected]
Caribbean CBMC, Box 55541, Unit 119, 15280,101 Avenue, Surrey,
BC, Canada,V3R 0J7 [email protected]
IndiaT Galbraith, GPO Box 159, Hyderabad, 5000001, India
South and East Asia ACBM, PO Box 42, Wallacia, NSW2745,
[email protected]
Printed by Jarvis North West Print
Addresses for the Free Offer :Addresses for the Free Offer :In
the UK write to: Glad Tidings Magazine,
FREEPOST, NAT7259, Ely CB7 [email protected]
In Africa and Europe write to: Anne Bayley,68 Hay Lane, Shirley,
Solihull, West Midlands,
England, B90 4TAIn other countries, to: Andrew Johnson, 22
Hazel
Drive, Hollywood, Birmingham, England, B47
[email protected]
GladTidingsOF THE KINGDOM OF GOD
If you would like toreceive the Glad Tidings maga-zine FREE for
6months – sendyour name andaddress to one ofthe addressesbelow. Or
go to ourwebsite.
Your Name (BLOCK CAPITALS please)
Address
Post Code
Country
Visit our website:
www.gladtidingsmagazine.org
Free Offer Contact Details