Articles

The following articles are posted here (scroll down to view):

• Is hell for real or do we all go to heaven? 
• God is in control of history
• Why bother about Israel?
• Aren’t all Religions the same?
• If love is all you need, what is love?

IS HELL FOR REAL OR DO WE ALL GO TO HEAVEN?

Introduction

I was 14 and attending my first Christian camp. Each evening at the camp there was a meeting. We sang some songs and then there was a speaker. As I recall the particular evening it was a Monday night and the speaker was a fiery Brethren evangelist with the memorable name of Bill Smith. He was an excellent speaker who had the ability to enthral a group of young people. His sermon consisted mainly of his telling of the sinking of the Titanic. He drew out the story and embellished it with a dramatic flair. As he drew his talk to a close he majored on those passengers who were drowning in the cold sea waters. He spoke of their agony and cries for help as they sunk to their deaths. He spoke of hell and eternal damnation.

He was wrapping it up now and the challenge came to us, the youthful listeners.

“If you were to die tonight, where would you spend eternity?” His questioning was riveting and it pierced my heart.

I knew that I was not ready to meet God. I knew about God and believed in him in some sense. I believed the Bible to be the word of God. However, I did not have a personal relationship with God. I had not truly committed my life to Jesus and asked him to be my personal Saviour.

Bill Smith gave a lengthy and emotional appeal for those who were not saved to come forward to the front and commit their lives to Jesus. Young people responded. I stood there. I knew I needed to go to the front, but I was too shy or embarrassed to do that.

That night as I lay on my pally ass I knew that I needed to make my peace with God. So there in the darkness I prayed and confessed my sin and asked Jesus to come into my life and be my Saviour. There was nothing overwhelmingly dramatic as a consequence. However, I knew a quiet peace in my heart. I knew that I had become a Christian.

So that night all those years ago a hell fire preacher was used by God to bring me into the kingdom.

Some might say that it was an emotional response. However, that was nearly 60 years ago and I am a believer today as strong as I have ever been.  Emotion does not last that long and does not carry you through all the ups and downs of life.

Today there is not a lot of hellfire preaching. However, hell is back in the news. It has come from an unlikely source: an international rugby player has spoken about hell. He has caused a furore. Homosexuals among others are going to hell if they do not repent; he posted that on social media. As a consequence he has been dismissed as a player by Rugby Australia. They have a policy of inclusiveness which does not include Christians who believe like Israel Folau.

At the moment his comments and situation are front page news. Hell is being discussed again in the media and on social media.

However, not everyone is positive about this. Non-Christians are outraged that he openly states that some people, especially gays, are going to hell. Christians are divided on the issue. One Anglican priest in NSW has publicly condemned Folau and has insisted that gays are not going to hell. Others like Hillsong’s Brian Houston have mildly rebuked Folau for misrepresenting the gospel.

I want to be honest here: emotionally, I get mixed feelings about hell. Frankly, I am quite willing to support the idea that some people are going to hell.  I am supportive of the idea that evil dictators who slaughter millions of innocents will go to hell. Vile ISIS terrorists who rape, enslave women as sex slaves and murder deserve hell as far as I am concerned. Child molesters and murderers can go to hell too.

However, I am not comfortable consigning to hell beloved relatives, long time friends, revered public figures and sporting heroes. So emotionally I am betwixt and between. Out of this a question arises.

Is hell for real or does everyone go to heaven? I want to address that now.

What Jesus said about Hell

I begin by looking at what Jesus had to say about hell. Let us be clear about this. Jesus is the supreme, final and absolute revelation of God. The gospels witness to his words and deeds. A Christian accepts him as Saviour and Lord. His words and teaching are the final one on any subject that he addressed. Emotions are not the deciding factor. My emotional response to the subject of hell has no objective truth behind it.

What did Jesus say about hell?

I am going to examine some significant passage in the Gospels where Jesus spoke about hell. I think that we will find this quite enlightening.

1. The Sermon on the mount

This is a famous sermon preached by Jesus and reported in Matthew 5-7. It is interesting that in it he refers unapologetically to hell.

But I tell you that anyone who is angry with a brother or sister will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to a brother or sister, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the court. And anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell. (5:22)

Later Jesus makes it clear that this fire never ends: Matthew 18:8.

If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.

Such passages indicate the Jesus presented hell as a real entity and an eternal one at that.

2. Jesus’ warning to his opponents

Jesus spoke severely to those who opposed his message. In Matthew 23 we read:

¹³ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You shut the door of the kingdom of heaven in people’s faces. You yourselves do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to.^[14] [b]

¹⁵ “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are.

 

These are very severe words. They are a frightful warning to those who oppose his ministry and so condemn people to hell.

I think those like the Anglican priest whom I quoted in my introduction would do well to take heed to these warnings.

3. A summary of Jesus’ teaching

Here is a simple summary of what the gospels report that Jesus taught concerning judgment and hell.

John 5:28-29:

 “Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice ²⁹ and come out—those who have done what is good will rise to live, and those who have done what is evil will rise to be condemned.

At the end of time after the return of Jesus there will be a resurrection of the dead. The righteous will be raised to life and the evil will be raised to condemnation.

The wicked-those who have not received Jesus as Lord and Saviour-will go away to everlasting punishment. We read from Matthew 25:

³¹ “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his glorious throne. ³² All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. ³³ He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.

³⁴ “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. ³⁵ For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, ³⁶ I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’

³⁷ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?³⁸ When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? ³⁹ When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

⁴⁰ “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

⁴¹ “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. ⁴² For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, ⁴³ I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.’

⁴⁴ “They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’

⁴⁵ “He will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

⁴⁶ “Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”

We see that there is a consistent teaching reported in the Gospels that Jesus spoke about judgment and eternal punishment. In my view dismiss this and then you make the Gospels meaningless. Why? Well you have to excise significant bits from them and then who decides what is fact? No. you must accept the reliability of these words and if not face the fact that you are rejecting the teachings of Jesus. People like to make Jesus in their own image. However, the only true and authentic One is Jesus of Nazareth witnessed to in the New Testament; who is the son of God, who died for our sins and rose again. You cannot change that! Take it or leave it! And know that your eternal destiny depends on your response.

Judgment is Real

Let us be clear there is judgment coming one day. Paul sums it up in 2 Thessalonians 1 when he wrote:

⁵ All this is evidence that God’s judgment is right, and as a result you will be counted worthy of the kingdom of God, for which you are suffering.⁶ God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you ⁷ and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. ⁸ He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. ⁹ They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might ¹⁰ on the day he comes to be glorified in his holy people and to be marvelled at among all those who have believed. This includes you, because you believed our testimony to you.

 

It is very clear: “those that do not know God and do not obey the Gospel of our Lord Jesus will be punished with everlasting destruction. Fearful words, but true none the less.

What is hell like?

Jesus gives us an idea as to what hell will be like in some other Gospel passages. In Mark 9:47 and ten other texts in the gospels the word Gehenna is used for hell. That is how we translate it in English.  Gehenna was the valley outside Jerusalem where rubbish was burned. Let us look at the verses around it and unpack them a little.

⁴³ If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— ⁴⁴ where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁵ And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— ⁴⁶ where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’

⁴⁷ And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— ⁴⁸ where

‘Their worm does not die
And the fire is not quenched.’

Following J I Packer here I draw your attention to these points.[1] The worm that dies not is an image for the endless dissolution of the personality by a condemning conscience. Fire is an image for the agonising awareness of God’s displeasure. The outer darkness is the knowledge of the loss not merely of God, but of all good and everything that made life worth living. The gnashing of the teeth is the image for self condemnation and self loathing.

In essence hell is eternal separation from God, from his love and all that is good and lovely. The unrepentant sinner will live with his burning guilt and shame forever.

As J I Packer says:

The unbeliever has preferred to be by himself, without God, defying God, having God against him, and he shall have his preference. Nobody stands under the wrath of God save those who have chosen to do so. The essence of God’s action in wrath is to give people what they choose, in all its implications: nothing more, and equally nothing less.[2]

A compassionate objection to hell

There are those who may be described as evangelical who reject this teaching on hell on “compassionate grounds”. The notable and highly respected Anglican pastor and theologian, the late John Stott, is one.

He said,

I find the concept of eternal conscious torment intolerable and do not understand how people can live with it without cauterizing their feelings or cracking under the strain.[3]

Many years ago I heard John Stott speak in Canberra and Adelaide. I enjoyed his teaching and have read a number of his books. I really like his book The Cross of Christ. Therefore, I am really puzzled by his strong rejection of eternal punishment. I am puzzled not because of his expression of emotional revulsion – I think we all have that in some measure. I am puzzled that a man who regarded the word of God so highly would dismiss its clear teaching on eternal punishment.

He is not alone. A number of significant Christian theologians share his views. He believed in annihilation – the wicked are destroyed. Others have succumbed to universalism. Jurgen Moltmann appears to embrace this. He asserts that because God is love, love will triumph in the end and all will be saved.[4]

I respect him as a great theologian; however, our reflection on Scripture does not allow us to contradict Scripture. The fact remains eternal judgment of the wicked is certain.

We are not more compassionate than God. He made the greatest sacrifice imaginable to rescue us and give us the gift of eternal bliss. If we reject that then we bring judgement upon ourselves.

Also, think of this: there are those who are haters of God, who work against him every moment of their lives. There are those who delight in wickedness and reject God’s way of living and morality. They delight in debauchery, violence and hatred of Jesus. Why would they want to go to heaven and why should they be allowed in to heaven in such a state? No justice demands judgment of the wicked!

Who goes to heaven?

Ultimately, heaven will be the eternal dwelling place of the righteous. The final description of heaven is portrayed in the closing chapters of the book of Revelation.

The description of what heaven will be like is in Revelation 21:1-4. It is a wonderful picture of an awesome place. John describes his vision in these words:

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away

So God is dwelling with his people. There will be no death, no mourning, no crying and no pain. What a wonderful prospect! This is where our eternal dwelling will be. This life is only a preparation for heaven, eternity.

Later John says:

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

It will be a place of absolute purity. No one who is shameful or deceitful will be there.

Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will be in heaven.  This is the book that contains the names of those saved by the sacrifice of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus.

Those who have repented of their sins and trusted in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

And so as the book of Revelation draws to a close this invitation is given:

¹⁴ “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. ¹⁵ Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

¹⁶ “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you^[a] this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

¹⁷ The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life. (22:14-17)

No, not everyone goes to heaven! That is clear. For any pastor/priest/preacher who professes to be Christian to state that all go to heaven is to face the charge that they are not Christian at all.

Finally, how can I be sure that I am going to heaven?

If all that I have said is true, and it is true according to the Bible a question forms:

How can we know that we are going to heaven?

Again we go to the words of Jesus. We read from John 14:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. ² My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?³ And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. ⁴ You know the way to the place where I am going.”

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

We believe in him as our Lord and Saviour. He died so that we might be forgiven and have eternal life.

Ravi Zacharias in his book Can Man Live Without God? Tells this story:

“I was speaking at a series of meetings in Belgium. One night my interpreter, Wilfred, was driving me to my next engagement. I did not know him very well and so our initial talking was formal. Then he began to tell me about how it was that he came to commit his life to the person of Jesus Christ and how this commitment had been tested. He told me of how he had been attending a conference in a rather Edenic setting in Switzerland. He described the unfolding events of one fateful day: “The hymns resounded all day on the reality of heaven, and the speakers expounded on it. I was basking in the greatness of this hope and enjoying the promise of such a destiny. Quite unexpectedly, my name was called during the meeting to go immediately to the office as there was an urgent call awaiting me. I did just that and picked up the phone to hear the sombre and sobbing voice of my wife, Faith, informing me that our nine-month-old baby had, without any warning, died in his crib a short while ago.”

He said that the news had brought him to the lowest point of his life. The devastation defied description. The anguish and anger built up within his heart to volcanic proportions, threatening to spew out his uncontainable grief. A cry within him wanted to sue God for contempt of human life … He packed his bags, got a train ticket and sat alone in the train looking out through the window where nothing seemed to ease the ache.

Across the aisle from him sat a man reading his Bible, opposite him sat two young people who did not try to hide their contempt for religious books. The man finally responded to their taunts and they were involved in a heavy discussion. Finally, one of the young men, anger unmasked, leaned over and said to the man, “If your God is so loving and kind as you say He is, tell me why he lets the innocent suffer? Why does He permit so much warfare? Why does He allow little children to die? What kind of love is that?

Those questions – especially the last two – stabbed Wilfred in a way he had never felt before, and he caught himself on the verge of blurting out, “Yes, you religious zealot! Answer them and me, and tell us why He lets children die. What sort of love is that?

But a strange mental transformation took place in Wilfred’s own mind. He awaited the other man’s answer, and then he looked at the two young men and found himself saying, “Do you mind if I enter your conversation? I’ll tell you how much God loves you; He gave His only Son to die for you.”

The young men abruptly interrupted and argued that it was easy for Wilfred to make such pronouncements disconnected from the concrete world of death and desolation.

Wilfred waited for the appropriate moment because he needed every ounce of courage and conviction to say it once, but to say it clearly. “No, no, no, my dear friends,” he said, “I am not distanced from the real world of pain and death. In fact, the reason I am on this train is because I am heading home for the funeral of my nine-month-old son. He died just a few hours ago, and it has given the cross a whole new meaning for me. Now I know what kind of a God it is who loves me, a God who willingly gave His Son for me.”

There it is; the amazing love of God so that no one has to go to hell. Love has made a way so that we can escape the just judgment of God.

We decide what our eternal destiny will be: heaven or hell. As I close I must ask this:

What have you decided? What is your destiny: heaven or hell?

[1] J. I. Packer, Knowing God (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1973), 172

[2] Ibid., 173.

[3] Cited in: Timothy Keller et al. Is Hell for real or does everyone go to heaven?  (Grand Rapids Michigan: Zondervan, 2004), 34.

[4] Jurgen Moltmann, The Coming of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 251.

GOD IS IN CONTROL OF HISTORY: FAITH IN TIMES OF UNCERTAINTY

Sermon notes Sunday December 10, 2017

 

Reading: Habakkuk 1:2-7, 12-13

Introduction

I am greatly disturbed by many things politically, economically, and  socially that I see happening today in our nation. We now have same sex marriage legalised. At this stage there are no protections for free speech and religious freedom.

Genuine Christian belief in Australia is definitely marginalised. If we believe the Bible as God’s word and the supreme authority for what we believe and how we are to live then we are in the minority.

• We are a nation of ‘binge drinkers.’
• The church is asleep. I read this week of a denomination in India that works among tribal people and is having great success and experiencing great persecution, that when you want to be baptised you must declare that you are ready to die as a martyr. If the person does ot then the church will not baptise them. Wow! What a challenge!
• Violent crime increases and is paraded every day on our news broadcasts.
• We have nasty demonstrations from “Antifa.”
• We now live constantly on the ready for terror attacks

At times I feel Like Habakkuk…He prophesied in the late seventh century BC just prior to the Babylonia ascendency, Assyria was the dominant world power.

He cries out to God,

How long, O LORD, must I call for help,        but you do not listen?        Or cry out to you, “Violence!”        but you do not save?

³ Why do you make me look at injustice?        Why do you tolerate wrong?        Destruction and violence are before me;        there is strife, and conflict abounds.

That was Habakkuk’s response to what he was seeing in his day.

And God had an answer for him just as he has for us. I think that the answer is summed up like this: God’s people are not to be dominated by fear and despair. We are to be a people of faith.  How do we move from fear to faith? Habakkuk will help us.

The Puzzled Believer

The book opens with Habakkuk complaining to God. He lived in a sick and decadent society. Physical violence was rampant. Strife and contention were everywhere. God’s law was ignored or wrongly applied.

Worst of all, for the believer, was the apparent fact that God did not seem to be concerned. He was permitting all this to happen. Habakkuk was puzzled.

Habakkuk felt that God was unresponsive to his prayers and cries for help (verses 1 and 2). He wondered why God was allowing violence and injustice and wickedness to abound.

Many of us feel like that. We have been praying for revival in our nation, we have wanted a mighty move of the Spirit to sweep through our churches but nothing seems to be happening. In fact in some areas it may seem that we are going backwards.  Why is God so seemingly silent? God’s seeming silence and seeming inactivity are only ‘seeming.’ He is not inactive. We see this in my next point.

God’s strange Answer :In verses 5 and 6 God answers Habakkuk.

⁵ “Look at the nations and watch—        and be utterly amazed.        For I am going to do something in your days        that you would not believe,        even if you were told.

⁶ I am raising up the Babylonians,        that ruthless and impetuous people,        who sweep across the whole earth        to seize dwelling places not their own.

First, he makes it plain he is not inactive. He says, “I am raising up the Babylonians.”  God is in control of his world. Ultimately he will have the last say in all the affairs of humanity. Turn to Isaiah 14 and follow as I read verses 24 – 27.

²⁴ The LORD Almighty has sworn,        “Surely, as I have planned, so it will be,        and as I have purposed, so it will stand.

²⁵ I will crush the Assyrian in my land;        on my mountains I will trample him down.        His yoke will be taken from my people,        and his burden removed from their shoulders.”

²⁶ This is the plan determined for the whole world;        this is the hand stretched out over all nations.

²⁷ For the LORD Almighty has purposed, and who can thwart him?        His hand is stretched out, and who can turn it back?

Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones says, “The Bible asserts that God is over all. He started the historical process, He is controlling it, and He is going to end it. We must never lose sight of this crucial fact.” (p. 22)

Second, Habakkuk was really surprised by God’s answer. It wasn’t what he expected. God is saying here that I am raising up the Babylonians who will bring devastation on you. He did not want to hear that. Sometimes God allows things to get worse before he brings the salvation we desire. Why? So that we will trust him.

Trust in God is the fundamental issue. It is only as we live in dependence upon him that we will do his will and know his blessing.

God’s strange Instruments

 Now be clear about this God did not condone the wickedness of the Babylonians. See 2:15 – 17.

¹⁵ “Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors,        pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk,        so that he can gaze on their naked bodies.

¹⁶ You will be filled with shame instead of glory.        Now it is your turn! Drink and be exposed !        The cup from the LORD’s right hand is coming around to you,        and disgrace will cover your glory.

¹⁷ The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you,        and your destruction of animals will terrify you.        For you have shed man’s blood;        you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.

I want to tell you this that history stands as a testimony to all violent regimes that every one of them has fallen. God judges the nations and the nations that promote violence today and rage against humanity will not succeed.

However, God permitted the Babylonians to come and to attack Israel and they were a means of judgment on God’s wicked people. God chastises his people – because he wants us holy. See Hebrews 12.

We must understand that it is possible that the forces which today are most antagonistic to the Christian church are possibly used by God for his own purpose. The church is apathetic about the things of God. Too many Christians are not even committed to regular worship. Yet Muslim fanatics who pray 5 times a day are eager to die as martyrs for Allah!

Could it not be that God has allowed the present situation so that we will wake up? Yes, he may be using strange instruments and he has done so in the past.

God’s ways are often Misunderstood

 Paul said exactly this in Acts. We look at 13: 27 – 35.

²⁷The people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Jesus, yet in condemning him they fulfilled the words of the prophets that are read every Sabbath. ²⁸Though they found no proper ground for a death sentence, they asked Pilate to have him executed. ²⁹When they had carried out all that was written about him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb. ³⁰But God raised him from the dead, ³¹and for many days he was seen by those who had traveled with him from Galilee to Jerusalem. They are now his witnesses to our people.

³²“We tell you the good news: What God promised our fathers ³³he has fulfilled for us, their children, by raising up Jesus. As it is written in the second Psalm:    ” ‘You are my Son;       today I have become your Father.’ ³⁴The fact that God raised him from the dead, never to decay, is stated in these words:    ” ‘I will give you the holy and sure blessings promised to David.’ ³⁵So it is stated elsewhere:    ” ‘You will not let your Holy One see decay.’

We note that Paul is telling these people that the Jews did not understand what God was doing in sending Jesus as the Messiah. Then in verse 41 he warns them quoting from Habakkuk 1:5!

Also, the Babylonians thought that their gods were their strength – see 1:11. Then they sweep past like the wind and go on—        guilty men, whose own strength is their god.”

However, look at 2: 12 –14.

¹² “Woe to him who builds a city with bloodshed        and establishes a town by crime!

¹³ Has not the LORD Almighty determined        that the people’s labor is only fuel for the fire,        that the nations exhaust themselves for nothing?

¹⁴ For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD,        as the waters cover the sea. The kingdom of God will triumph in history. 

Faith is needed

 

Habakkuk 2: 4 says, “The righteous will live by his faith.” This verse is very important in the New Testament. In Romans it is significant in Paul’s teaching on justification by faith.

The point here is that it makes plain that there are only two possible attitudes to life.  Faith or unbelief.

In verse 4 the righteous person is contrasted with the arrogant Babylonian who depends on his pride and power and acts wickedly. The person who has faith in God is humble – faith is humble dependence upon God.

Now in the present climate we who have faith in God can look at the world at the present crisis and we can choose to trust in God.

We know that his kingdom will triumph.

We know that God is ultimately in control.

We know that he will avenge his elect.

We know the martyrs’ cries will be heard.

We know that the only banner that will be flying at the end of world history will be the banner that says, “Jesus Christ, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.”

So we live by faith in God and his word. He will not disappoint us.

How to Pray

 Habakkuk 3:2 tells us how Habakkuk prayed.

LORD, I have heard of your fame;   I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.   Renew them in our day,   in our time make them known;   in wrath remember mercy.

This is the way we should be praying for our nation. The wrath of God is seen in God giving us up to the consequences of our rejection of him – see Romans 1 from verse 17 to the end of the chapter.

But, now we ask God for mercy. Our prayer is Lord pour out your mercy.

So we move from fear to faith. Faith in our mighty God who knows what he is doing and who will have the final say!

All you need is Faith

 Paul McCartney of Beatles fame is touring Australia. This reminded me of one of the Beatles’ songs. “All you need is love.”

However I want to modify that and close my talk today with this last point. “ALL YOU NEED IS FAITH/.”

Habakkuk 3:16-19

I heard and my heart pounded,     my lips quivered at the sound; decay crept into my bones,     and my legs trembled. Yet I will wait patiently for the day of calamity     to come on the nation invading us. ¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud     and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails     and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen     and no cattle in the stalls, ¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the Lord,     I will be joyful in God my Saviour.

¹⁹ The Sovereign Lord is my strength;     he makes my feet like the feet of a deer,     he enables me to tread on the heights.

These are amazing verses.

Note:

verse 17

Verse 18

Verse 19

Even if there is no deliverance.

Even if there is no miracle

Even if there is no revival

Even if there is no answer to our long uttered prayer.

Will our faith in God and knowledge of him and relationship with him be enough?

WHY BOTHER ABOUT ISRAEL?

Israel today is a small country, smaller than any Australian State, with a population of less than 8 million people. However, it is constantly in the news. Currently, one of the major issues facing US President Barack Obama is Israel and the attempts to bring peace betweenIsrael and the Palestinians. The Obama administration has been debating the possible division of Jerusalem or its control by a neutral body. Jewish groups are considering the rebuilding of the temple and Muslims are warning of dire consequences if that is done – because the Dome of the Rock mosque is situated on the old temple site!  Currently Hamas in Gaza have been firing hundreds of rockets on civilian houses in Israel.  The world is watching. This tiny nation is big in world affairs. Why bother about Israel?

As I answer this question I want to acknowledge Derek Prince[1] as the source for a lot of what I am going to say.

ISRAEL HAS A SPECIAL PLACE IN THE PURPOSES OF GOD 

Jeremiah 31:17 says, This is what the LORD says:
       “Only if the heavens above can be measured
       and the foundations of the earth below be searched out
       will I reject all the descendants of Israel
       because of all they have done,”
       declares the LORD.

In effect God is saying that he will never cast off the nation ofIsrael.Israelis special to him.

Deuteronomy 7:6-9 For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession. The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. ⁸ But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your forefathers that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. ⁹ Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands.

This people was chosen by God because he set his love upon them and he entered into a covenant with them. If they were to keep his covenant then they would be blessed if they did not then certain consequences were to follow. Now, some teach today that these promises of a special place for Israel in the plan of God have been replaced by the Church. It is called ‘replacement theology.’ Why do I reject ‘replacement theology’?

Romans 11:25-32 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited:Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

²⁶And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:
   “The deliverer will come from Zion;
      he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
 ²⁷And this ismy covenant with them
      when I take away their sins.”

 ²⁸As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, ²⁹for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. ³⁰Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience, ³¹so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. ³²For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all

 In verse 25 Paul distinguishes between the Gentiles and the Jews. He makes it clear that he is talking about ethnicity here. To say thatIsrael means the church here makes the passage non-sensical.Israel, national Israel, will turn to Jesus – verse 31 and they will believe in the Saviour – verse 26 and 27. The great American revivalist and theologian of the 18^th century Jonathan Edwards said, “Nothing is more certainly foretold than this national conversion of the Jews in Romans 11.” So he clearly sees that this is a reference to ethnic Jews – even though the nation of Israel did not exist in his time. However, he still saw a significant purpose for the Jewish people in the plan of God.

GOD’S PLAN FOR ISRAEL

What is God’s plan for Israel? From the time God created the nations and provided the earth for them to dwell in, his plan for all the nations has centred around Israel.

Deuteronomy 32: 8-9 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
       when he divided all mankind,
       he set up boundaries for the peoples
       according to the number of the sons ofIsrael.

 ⁹ For the LORD’s portion is his people,
       Jacob his allotted inheritance.

His plan for all the nations centre around Israel. We must remember that the inheritiance, well being and blessing of all the nations come from and ultimately revolve around Israel. What happens in Israel affects all the nations. Make no mistake about it – we see that daily paraded in the news media!

THE RESTORATION OF ISRAEL

The issue of the Jews return to the land of Israel is a big one in Scripture. The Jews have been dispersed from the land twice in history: In approximately 585 BC by Nebuchadnezzar and in AD 70 by the Roman general Titus.

70 years after the exile in Babylon they returned to the land and rebuilt the temple. In 1948 Israel was re-established as a nation and Jews have been returning ever since. In recent years thousands of Russian Jews have gone back to Israel. And, now thousands of hispanic Jews are returning. There are many Scriptures that refer to the restoration of Israel. The reestablishment of Israel is the fulfilment of Bible prophecy!

Jeremiah 32:36-42 “You are saying about this city, ‘By the sword, famine and plague it will be handed over to the king of Babylon’; but this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: ³⁷ I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me for their own good and the good of their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

 ⁴² “This is what the LORD says: As I have brought all this great calamity on this people, so I will give them all the prosperity I have promised them.

Ezekiel 36:22-28 “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. ²³ I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.

 ²⁴ ” ‘For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. ²⁶ I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws. ²⁸ You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God.

And finally, Zechariah 14 A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you. I will gather all the nations toJerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will not be taken from the city.

 ³ Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. ⁴ On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. ⁵ You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel. You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king ofJudah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him.

 

So what do we conclude from all this?

1. We have confidence in God and his word, we are seeing before our very eyes the fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
2. God shows himself as the Lord of History.
3. We have inside information in what is going on in the Middle Eastand should not be taken by surpriseat the turmoil there.
4. The restoration of the Jews to Israel is God’s plan for them.
5. Israel will not be overcome by its enemies.
6. We have great hope for the blessing of Israel turning to their Messiah, which will bring blessing to the world.

---

AREN’T ALL RELIGIONS THE SAME?

By Barry Manuel

I attend an advanced Spanish conversation class. It is my way of improving my speaking of the Spanish language. Recently, we had a discussion on various viewpoints of life. This of course included the religious approach. In the course of the discussion the question was asked: Aren’t all religions the same? Many people would answer ‘yes’. I do not. Why?

First, I acknowledge that many people in non-Christian religions are sincere in their beliefs. Also, they live decent lives and want the best for their families and societies. I am not arguing on the basis of sincerity and general conduct. Just as there are good and bad in all races and nations, we will find good and bad adherents of any religious belief.

Second, I point out that it is rather strange to say that all religions are the same. Why? Well, they have significant differences. I am not going to give a study here in comparative religion and so I will take one point: What major faiths believe about Jesus.

Some time ago someone gave me some leaflets that were available at the university they attended. The leaflets were produced by the Islamic Society and set out why Muslims believe that Jesus is not the Son of God. for christians it is essential Christian belief that Jesus is indeed the Son of God! A few years ago as I flew fromBrisbane to Port Moresby I was engaged in a conversation with a man who told me that Jesus was one of his spirit guides.

While in PNG at that time I read about a leader of a witchcraft cult, that was being accused of sacrificing a 14 year old girl. The man Stephen Tari is known as the ‘Black Jesus’. Recently, I looked at some Jewish websites and found that there it was emphatically asserted that Jesus was a man, who led a cult called the Nazarenes. He is not divine, he did not die for our sins, he did not rise from the dead and he is not the messiah. Isn’t that enough to suggest that all religions are not the same?

Third, Christianity is unique because Jesus is unique. The New Testament witnesses to the following about Jesus: he had a unique life, he did unique things, he died a unique death and he rose again. He is unique. When it comes to Jesus all religions are not the same!  The challenge of Jesus remains. C. S. Lewis was once a professor at CambridgeUniversity. In his younger years he was an agnostic, later he became a Christian. He wrote the well known children’s novels The Narnia Chronicles, which have now been made into two movies. He was a very good friend of J. R. R. Tolkein, author of Lord of the Rings. He challenges all who take the time to consider Jesus, but are unsure of what they think, with these words,

I am trying to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about him: ‘I’m ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don’t accept his claim to be God.’ That is the one thing we must not say. A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things that Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic – on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg – or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a mad man or something worse.[1]

I think that the evidence points to one thing: Jesus Christ is the Son of God who makes it possible for us to live new lives – lives of meaning, peace and goodness. All who trust in him experience his presence and power, and have the promise of eternal life.

IF LOVE IS ALL YOU NEED, WHAT IS LOVE?

By Barry Manuel

I show my age here a bit, but in the 60’s the Beatles sang, “All you need is love.” It was a hit and I am sure many agreed with the sentiments. Recently, I have noticed that the argument for gay marriage is based on that premise, love. If two people love each other, man to man, woman to woman, then they should be allowed to marry. After all, all you need is love. In my research about spirit mediums I noticed that one was into this love thing also.

He said, “Good, developed mediumship is never frightening because there is nothing to be gained from frightening people. Mediumship is based upon the links of love that exist between people and love never harms us.”

Then I recall after the last Federal election that some of the politicians got into this love thing and wanted to turn parliament into a great big love in.  I have a feeling that it hasn’t worked out that way. Instead of it being a ‘lover’s lane’ it still looks like ‘abuse alley’ to me. And, what about the Hollywood stars who have their love children? That is, the child is born out of marriage. I find that one a bit annoying because all my children are love children and they were born in marriage!

Then, I remember Jesus saying that we are to love our enemies. That is a challenge-often it is a struggle to love our friends!

Also, the Bible declares without any doubt that God is love. So, what is love? We really do need to get a handle on this. If God is love we do need to know what love is. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son…” As a hymn from the Welsh revival of 1904 says, “Here is love vast as the ocean.”  This is where we discover what love is; the love of God so powerfully displayed in the death of Jesus Christ.

The Love of God is the love of the Cross

 Here we need to focus on 1 John 4.

¹⁰ This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.¹³ We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. ¹⁵ If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God. ¹⁶ And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. ¹⁷ In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. ²¹ And he has given us this command: Whoever loves God must also love his brother.

 John the apostle defines love for us in the words, “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10) It is fairly well known that the word translated “love” here is agape in the original Greek text. Greek has a number of words that are translated “love.” But agape has a distinctive air. It is not distinctive because of its special usage in pre-biblical Greek but because of its rather weak meaning. This changes dramatically in the New Testament. There agape becomes the word that expresses the love of God. It now becomes a powerful symbol for the love that sacrifices everything that we might be redeemed and restored to fellowship with God. So as we look at verse 10 and see that love is God sending his son to die for us then we discover the full significance of agape, in the Christian sense. It isn’t tolerance. Sin is not tolerated! Christ died for sinners! It isn’t nice, kind feelings. There is something far deeper than warm feelings and niceness in the death of Jesus.

God is love and his love is declared, defined and delineated in the death of his Son. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” (1 John 3:16) Apart from Jesus Christ and his love the world would not know what true love is.

So what is it like?

1. It is utterly selfless and self-giving. This is seen in the words “Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” He is dying for others not for himself.  Theologian Emil Brunner puts this so well.

In the Cross of Christ God says to man, ‘That is where you ought to be. Jesus my Son hangs there in your stead. His tragedy is the tragedy of your life. You are the rebel who should be hanged on the gallows. But lo, I suffer instead of you, because I love you in spite of what you are. My love for you is so great that I meet you there, there on the Cross. I cannot meet you anywhere else. You must meet me there by identifying yourself with the one on the Cross.[1]

2.This love displayed in the Cross of Jesus is utterly unconditional on God’s side. We did and do absolutely nothing to deserve it or to move him to love us. In Romans 5:8 Paul says, “But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”  Sinners are rebels against the love and holiness of God. As we saw in our last chapter even such a good man as the priest Isaiah was devastated when he saw himself in the light of God’s holiness. Because of sin all we can ever be is objects of God’s wrath (Romans 1:18 – 32).God chooses out of his great love and mercy to love us and to send Jesus to die for us so that we might be forgiven. That is unconditional love.

3.The word translated “atoning sacrifice” in 1 John 4:10 is hilasmos. This word is to be translated “propitiation” and it refers to the removal of wrath by the act of sacrifice.[2] Here is a wonder indeed. God gives to God, in the death of Jesus, the sacrifice demanded by his holiness, and God removes the wrath of God from sinners by that sacrifice. This love is utterly holy!

The death of Jesus is God acting to judge sin. The Cross is the holy love of God acting for sinners who defy the holiness of God – that is love indeed. The death of Jesus is not a nice example of self-sacrifice, like the act of a hero – which by the way I do not despise for one moment. But the death of Jesus is a holy death that delivers us from the absolutely deserved judgment of the holy God. This love gives Jesus up as the willing victim of love so that we can know the love of God. That is why true love does not condone sin! To be blunt true love will not approve of what God declares to be sin.

1 Corinthians 6:9-11 says,

⁹ Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, ¹⁰ nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God. ¹¹ And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.

Love does not condone sin! it redeems us from sin.

The Love of God in our lives 

John tells us in the remaining verses of chapter 4 how the love of God operates in our lives.  First, in verse 13 we are told that the Spirit of God gives us the reality of living in God – and He in us. It is by the Spirit that the love of God, this awesome love of the Cross becomes real in our lives. The Spirit accomplishes the work of the Cross in us.[3]  He is the great gift of God released to us because of Christ’s redeeming work and he brings us into all the power, freedom and knowledge of the work of the Cross. In Romans 5: 5 Paul says that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. This means that we do not simply know about the love of God. Through the Spirit we actually know the love of God in our experience. We know that God loves us!

Second, the love of God gives us confidence according to verse 17. This confidence is the assurance that we can stand before God on the Day of Judgment without fear of judgment. Many Christians do not have this assurance. Why? It is because they do not understand the love of God given in the Cross or they are living in deliberate sin and need to repent and be restored to fellowship with God.If we are living in obedience to God then we can be assured that we have nothing to fear on the Day of Judgment. We have confidence. All our sin is forgiven because Christ died for our sins.

If we are living in deliberate sin then such people must ask themselves if they are truly Christians – sadly they may not be. If we are confident that we are truly a Christian, then we must ask ourselves, “Why are we dishonoring our Lord by doing that which put him on the Cross?” If we know Christ then surely we must repent and seek his forgiveness. If we do that then we will be forgiven and restored to fellowship with God (1 John 1:7).

Third, knowing the love of God displayed in the Cross of Jesus results in us showing that love to others (1 John 4: 19 – 21). Here I want to say two things about loving others.

1. God’s love in the Cross is the fountain or source of our love for others. We love and know love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). Love, true love is in us. We can now love others. This will be a process of growing and learning but it can happen because its source is God not ourselves. We depend upon God to show the love we have now come to know as a reality.

2 .The depth of our love for God is seen in the love we extend to others (1 John 4:20, 21). Now that may take us some time to think about. If we know God and love him the outcome is that this amazing fountain of love flows out to others. If our love for God is a religious duty but not something that arises from a heart that has been profoundly impacted by the Cross of Christ then we are not very likely to be filled with compassion for others. When we respond with love and adoration to God because of what he has done for us then this is seen in our living and loving. If we cannot love others then it is because we do not know in our experience the love of God and our love for God may be nothing more than a dull, formal religious duty.

Here is a Powerful Story of the Love of God…..

The late Charles Colson in his book The Body tells this amazing story of Father Maximilian Kolbe.[4] This story illustrates in a profound way what it means to know the love of God and to live in that love.

Father Maximilian Kolbe was forty-five years old in the early autumn of 1939 when the Nazis invaded his homeland. He was a Polish monk who had founded the Knights of the Immaculate, a Franciscan order whose headquarters was in Niepokalanow, a village near Warsaw. There 762 priests and lay brothers lived in the largest friary in the world. Father Kolbe presided over Niepokalanow with a combination of industry, joy, love and humor that made him beloved by the plainspoken brethren there.

Maximilian Kolbe had a global vision for evangelism, and he saw the emerging technology of his day as powerful tools to be harnessed in his work. Radio, publishing, mass media – he dreamed of having the resources to use them all to spread the Good News. In his simple room at Niepokalanow, he sat each morning at a pigeon hole desk, a large globe before him, praying over the world and focusing on the many opportunities for the gospel to be shared. He did so tortured by the fact that a terrible evil was being spread in those dark days of the late 1930’s. Adolph Hitler was in control of Germany. Whole nations had already fallen to Hitler and his Nazis. Storm troopers were already marching in the streets of Austria and Czechoslovakia.“An atrocious conflict is brewing,” Father Kolbe told a group of friars one-day after he had finished his prayers.

In the morning of February 17, 1941 Father Kolbe was sitting at his pigeon hole desk, his eyes and prayers on the globe before him, when he heard the sound of heavy vehicles outside the thick panes of his green-painted windows. He knew it was the Nazis, but he remained at his desk. He would wait for them to come to him.After being held in Nazis prisons for several months, Father Kolbe was found guilty of the crime of publishing unapproved materials and sentenced to Auschwitz. Upon his arrival at the camp in May 1941, an SS officer informed him that the life expectancy of priests there was about a month.

Kolbe was assigned the timber detail; he was to carry felled tree trunks from one place to another. Guards stood by to ensure that the exhausted prisoners did so at a quick trot. Years of slim rations and overwork at Niepokalanow had already weakened Kolbe. Now, under the load of wood, he staggered and collapsed. Officers converged on him, kicking him with their shiny leather boots and beating him with whips. He was stretched out on a pile of wood, dealt fifty lashes, then shoved into a ditch, covered with branches, and left for dead. Later, having been picked up by some brave prisoners, he awoke in a camp hospital bed alongside several other near-dead inmates. There, miraculously, he revived.Kolbe was switched to other work and transferred to Barracks 14, where he continued to minister to his fellow prisoners, hearing their confessions, praying with them, comforting them.

By the end of July 1941, Auschwitz was working like a well-organized killing machine, and the Nazis congratulated themselves on their efficiency. The camp’s five chimneys never stopped smoking. The stench was terrible, but the results were excellent: eight thousand Jews could be stripped, their possessions appropriated for the Reich, gassed and cremated – all in twenty-four hours.About the only problem was the occasional prisoner from the work side of the camp who would figure out a way to escape. When these escapees were caught, as they usually were, they would be hung with special nooses that slowly choked out their miserable lives – a grave warning to others who might be tempted to try. Then one July night the air was suddenly filled with the baying of dogs, the curses of soldiers, and the roar of motorcycles. A man had escaped from Barracks 14.

After the roll call, Camp Commandant Fritsch ordered the dismissal of all but Barracks 14. The prisoners from Barracks 14 stood motionless in line. They waited. Some fainted and were dragged away. Father Kolbe, by some miracle, stayed on his feet, his posture as straight as his resolve.By evening roll call, the commandant was ready to levy sentence. The other prisoners had returned from their day of slave labor; now he could make a lesson out of the fate of this miserable barracks.

Fritsch began to speak, “The fugitive has not been found” he screamed. “Ten of you will die for him in the starvation bunker. Next time, twenty will be condemned!”The starvation bunker! Anything was better – death on the gallows, a bullet in the head at the Wall of Death, or even the gas in the chambers, All those were quick, even humane, compared to Nazi starvation, for they denied you water as well as food.

The prisoners had heard the stories from the starvation bunker in the basement of Barracks 11. They said the condemned didn’t even look like human beings after a day or two.

Commandant Fritsch walked the rows of prisoners. When he stopped before a man, he would command in bad Polish, “Open your mouth! Put out your tongue! Show your teeth!” And so he went, choosing victims like horses.  Soon there were ten men, ten numbers, neatly listed on the death roll.

“My poor wife!” one man cried, “My poor children! What will they do?”

“Take off your shoes!” the commandant barked at the ten men. This was one of the rituals; they must march to their deaths barefoot.

Suddenly, there was a commotion in the ranks. A prisoner had broken out of line, calling for the commandant. It was unheard of to leave the ranks, let alone address a Nazi officer; it was cause for execution.Fritsch had his hand on his revolver, as did the officers behind him. But he responded in an unusual way. Instead of shooting the prisoner, he shouted at him.

“Halt! What does this Polish pig want of me?”

The prisoners gasped. It was their beloved Father Kolbe. The priest spoke, “I would like to die in place of one of the men you condemned”.

Fritsch stared at the prisoner, his number was 16670. He never considered them as individuals. Number 16670 didn’t appear to be insane.

“Why?” snapped the commandant.

Father Kolbe knew he needed to be careful. The Nazi never reversed an order; so he must not seem to be asking him to do so. Kolbe knew the Nazi policy: the weak and the elderly first. He would use this principle.

“I am an old man, sir, and good for nothing. My life will serve no purpose.”

His ploy triggered the response Kolbe wanted. “In whose place do you want to die?” asked Fritsch.

“For that one,” Kolbe responded, pointing to the weeping prisoner who had bemoaned his wife and children.Fritsch glanced at the weeping prisoner. He did look stronger than this weak number 16670 before him. For the first and last time, the commandant looked Kolbe in the eye. “Who are you?” he asked.

The prisoner looked back at him and said, “I am a Catholic priest”.

“A priest!” the commandant snorted. He looked at his assistant and nodded. The assistant drew a line through number 5659 and wrote down number 16670. That was Maximilian Kolbe’s death sentence.

Father Kolbe bent down to take off his clogs, then joined the group to be marched to Barracks 11. “Remove your clothes!” shouted an officer.

In the basement the ten men were herded into a dark, windowless cell.

“You will dry up like tulips”, sneered one of their jailers. Then he swung the heavy door shut.

As the hours and days passed, however, the camp became aware of something extraordinary happening in the death cell. In the past prisoners had spent their dying days howling, attacking one another, and clawing the walls in a frenzy of despair. But now, coming from the death box, those outside heard the faint sounds of singing. Now, the prisoners had a shepherd to gently lead them through the shadows of the valley of death and to point them to the Great Shepherd. And perhaps for that reason, Father Kolbe was the last to die.

A prisoner named Brono Borgowiec, who survived Auschwitz, served as attendant to the death cells. Each day he had to remove the corpses of those who had died. He also was supposed to empty the waste bucket, but each day the bucket was dry. The inmates had drunk its contents in an effort to satisfy their thirst.On August 14, 1941, there were four prisoners still alive in the bunker, but now it was needed for new occupants. A German doctor named Boch descended the steps of Barracks 11, four syringes in his hand. Several SS troopers and Brono Borgowiec were with him – Brono had to carry out the bodies.

When they swung the bunker door open, there, in the light of their flashlight, they saw Father Maximilian Kolbe, a living skeleton, propped against one wall. His head was inclined a bit to the left. He had the ghost of a smile on his lips and his eyes wide open, fixed on some faraway vision. He did not move. The other three prisoners were on the floor, unconscious but alive. The doctor took care of them first: the needles were jabbed into the bony arms. Then he approached number 16670 and repeated the action. In a moment, Kolbe was dead.

What a powerful story of a man who knew the love of God in Jesus Christ and whose whole life had been motivated by that love even to the point of dying in the place of another. When the power of the wonderful Cross of Jesus captures our hearts it inspires us to heights never imagined by those who do not know the love of the Cross.

We do well to think much upon the Cross and what God’s love displayed there for us means. That amazing love poured out for us will soften our hearts and inspire us to love.