Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Hello, dear ones.

Becki and I did our walk/jog already. I should be getting a call to breakfast any minute.

Another good point was made by Becki during our walk this morning. She pointed out that when King Ahab finally met Elijah, he labeled him as the “troubler of Israel”—in other words, Ahab was convinced that this out-dated believer in an obsolete God was the root cause for all the national problems befalling Israel. Does that sound a little familiar? You and I know different. So did Elijah.

Be blessed.

Love. Dad/Ray.

If you have read the FOCUS VERSE above, it’s now important to read Joshua 6:26: “At that time Joshua pronounced this solemn oath: ‘Cursed before the Lord is the man who undertakes to rebuild this city, Jericho: At the cost of his firstborn son will he lay its foundations; at the cost of his youngest will he set up its gates.’” Do you have goose bumps yet? To add impact to this precise fulfillment of prophecy, bear in mind that the pronouncement of Joshua was not just made the week before—it was over 500 years before!

Here’s something else to bear in mind—words of Peter, maybe 500 years into the future—“Bear in mind that our Lord's patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him. He writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction” (2 Peter 3:15-16).

What’s the point? The point is that God’s authentic Word is FACT—and, as the quip goes, “FACTS ARE STUBBORN THINGS.” It doesn’t matter that the pronouncement of His Word contains “some things that are hard to understand” (and I find many)—it doesn’t matter that God’s people are split up into factions of opinions over interpretations and doctrinal applications—it doesn’t matter that many will become so confused and weary with all the debating that they choose to “throw the baby out with the bath” and write off God and faith as just a bunch of controversial nonsense—the FACT is that “until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished” (Matthew 5:18). The FACT is (according to this Biblical body of FACTS) that every life road is going somewhere—DESTRUCTION or SALVATION. And “whoever believes in him shall not perish (destruction) but have eternal life (salvation)” (John 3:16). That option sure sounds a lot like GOOD NEWS to me!

Of course, there are those who get very irritated with those of us who take this view and would rebuff us with a challenge like, “How can you be so sure that this is FACT?!” The first response that comes to my mind is another question that impresses me as being quite legitimate—“How can you be so sure it isn’t?!” Whether God’s Word is FACT or not, the over-arching FACT of the matter is—WE SHALL ALL FIND OUT!