Psalm 102

The title captures the essence of this prayer.  The writer is sorely afflicted, overwhelmed by his trial, and pours out his heart to the Lord.  It may be the writing of a king as the writer speaks of a national affliction as well as his personal pain.  In the end this Hymn is full of usable truth for today.

·        He cries to the Lord to hear his plea and to hurry with His answer, v1-2.

·        He describes his pain and the depth of his pain, v3-7.  His pain is physical.  He forgets to eat.  He is losing weight.  And feels very alone (the picture of the various birds that live alone in the wilderness).

·        He describes his problem (his enemies who reproach him all day long) and the depth of his problem (he is experiencing God’s wrath), v8-11.  This is a familiar situation among God’s people who were prone to wander from the Lord into idolatry.  God’s chastening involved some enemy nation that would afflict His people until they cried out for His mercy.  This happened in the time of the Judges, in varying degrees in the days of the Kings, through the Assyrian and Babylonian captivities, and into today’s results of the Roman destruction.  This problem is personal to the Psalmist and is yet national.  And the result is that both the man and the nation feel very temporal (v10).

·        He describes his Hope (i.e. the object of hope, the One in whom he hopes), v12-17.  It is not simply the Lord; it is the eternal Lord.  While he feels temporary his trust is in the Lord who endures forever.

·        He describes his hope (i.e. the promise the Lord has made), v18-22.  It is not enough just to have an eternal Lord; there must also be a promise from that eternal Lord that applies to the situation.  The writer has such a promise, pictured as a time when the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the Lord (v22).  At that time not just God’s people but the nations will declare His name and praise in Zion!  This is ultimately a Messianic promise, a reference to the Kingdom of Messiah promised in Psalm 2.

·        He concludes with a clear statement: because God is eternal His people will be established, v23-28.  This is a call for personal endurance.

This Psalm is full of encouragement for saints today when they are overwhelmed.  If we have a promise from the Lord for our time of trial, then God will keep His promise.  There will never come a time when His promise will fail.  The eternal God keeps His word eternally.  For example, consider Paul’s words in his hour of trial: I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day (2 Tim. 1:12).

The flesh responds to overwhelming trial with anger, bitterness, crankiness, hopelessness and the lifestyles of addiction, loneliness and depression.  Let us heed the call to trust God.  Cry out to Him.  Wait on Him.  He is faithful!

Is hell’s punishment unending? (Mk. 9:42-48)

Several years ago US News & World Report published an article entitled Hell’s Sober Comeback.  The point was that in the early 1990s polls indicated a rise in the number of Americans who believed in hell.  From 58% in 1952, 54% in 1965 and 53% in 1981 it was now 60% in 1990.  Not that polls or public opinion are really the issue.  But personal opinion does matter. If you believe that your choices (not simply opinions) in this life bring consequences in the life to come then common sense would say you would seek to make good choices today.

The question we are going to consider over the next few Saturdays on this blog is not a pleasant one.  But it is unquestionably important.  And ultimately the question really is this: does the Bible say hell is eternal?  I haven’t seen any poll results lately but I have sensed that among those who call them evangelical Christians there is likely, in recent years, a drop in the percentage of those who believe hell is eternal.  Love Wins (Rob Bell, 2012) was met with considerable resistance in the evangelical community; but my personal experience is that after thought there are others who have come to share Bell’s difficulty with such a concept.  They are not alone nor was Bell the first to express his views. 

With that in mind we would like to begin, today and next, with a survey of answers to the question we are raising.  Then we will turn to the Bible ourselves and see what it says.  Then we will be satisfied, no matter the answer, when we understand the only God-spoken opinion.  So, from today’s passage, what does Jesus mean when He says, and why did He speak of hell as the place having the fire that shall never be quenched?

·        Robert Ingersoll (1833-1899), nicknamed the great agnostic, said that as a child he heart a preacher proclaim the doctrine that God subjects sinners to unending torment in hell.  He decided then that if God was like that, then he hated Him.  Many find belief in a hell of unending punishment to be inconsistent with a loving God, morality and even logic.

·        Seventh Day Adventists reject an eternal hell and claim the Scriptures indicates the destruction (annihilation) of the one who has rejected God’s salvation.  An article from the SDA Ministry magazine (July 1987, p10) said “There are substantial moral and logical difficulties in believing in a God who tortures His enemies forever. Like Ingersoll, thousands of thinking men have turned away from such a God.”  The Adventists view was framed thus: "...hell is future and will burn only until the wicked are reduced to ashes."

·        The Roman Catholic view is less defined.  Christ Among Us, the lay theology book for Catholics, says: "Theology has no complete answer as to how, or even whether anyone may be damned forever" (p289).

More next week.

2 Corinthians 2:3-11

Do you ever use the failings of others to control them or dominate them in some way?  Perhaps you claim to forgive them but don’t forget what they did, bringing it up at a later time for your own advantage?  In this passage we see true forgiveness expressed by Paul.

He had previously written the Corinthians what is often called a severe letter in which he had reproved them for not dealing with an unrepentant brother in Christ.  This is a “lost” letter of Paul which he referred to in 1 Cor. 5:9 when he was again dealing with the matter.  He had written this letter out of much affliction and yet had done it because he loved them so deeply (2:4).

Now he is writing to advise the Corinthians that they need to forgive the man.  The punishment (v6, exclusion from the fellowship) had apparently been effective and the man had repented.  They needed to reaffirm their love for the man by forgiving him and receiving him back into the body.

Forgive in v7 is actually the term for grace.  They need to show grace to this man, the same grace shown to all when God forgives them by faith.  Let us note some rather important thoughts about forgiveness in this passage.

·        Forgiveness was in response to repentance.  This is the normal teaching of Scripture.  Confession leads to forgiveness (1 John 1:9).  The story of the unforgiving servant in Matt. 18:21-35 bears out the same thought.  But remember too that when others are not repentant we must have an attitude of grace, not holding a grudge against them (Rom. 12:17-21).

·        Forgiveness is a means by which we comfort or help our fellow-sinner (v7).  If we hold it against them, bringing it up at a later time, we may cause them to be swallowed up with too much sorrow.

·        Forgiveness is an expression of love (v8).  It does the 2 things that are fundamental to love: it gives something to the one at fault (remember John 3:16: God so loved that He gave); and it sacrifices, in essence relieving the guilty one of a debt (again, remember in Christ He pays our debt).

·        Forgiveness demonstrates obedience since God commands it (v9; Eph. 4:32).

·        Forgiveness is thus in agreement with Christ (v10).  This is what Paul means when he says he also forgives the man in the presence of Christ.  Knowing we stand before Christ who forgave us, failure to forgive others is the ultimate inconsistency.

·        Forgiveness is a deterrent to the plans of Satan (v11).  Satan is always against what Christ is doing.  Christ is building His Church; Satan seeks to destroy it and one way is by keeping believers for the practice of forgiveness.

Let us practice the love of Christ.  In love we are to reprove those at fault.  In love we are to forgive repentant sinners.

2 Corinthians 1:15-2:2

Has anyone ever taken a “good-faith” decision you made and turned it against you?  Perhaps they read into it sinful motives or deceitfulness in some way.  Thus what you decided with a good conscience toward God is made out to be a heartless or mean action towards others.  How would you tend to handle such a situation?  Perhaps with great defensiveness you would go on the attack to put your accusers in their rightful place.  Or perhaps you would just walk away saying nothing.

Paul is dealing with this exact situation here.  Certain people are questioning his decision not to make a return trip to Corinth as an indication that they are not very important to him.  Likely the ones leading the way in this false charge are people who have a different, hidden agenda (isn’t that usually the case?).  They were really trying to undermine Paul’s authority and relationship with the church so that they could take his place.

How Paul handles this is typical of this very personal letter we call 2 Corinthians.  Does he defend himself?  Yes, although it is hard to call Paul’s attitude defensive. 

o   He explains that he would have loved to come to Corinth, not only so he could be a help to them but so they could help him (v15-16).  Note that in saying this he acknowledges that the relationship of apostle to local church is 2-way.  They needed him but he also needed them.  (cf. Rom. 1:11-12)

o   He also explains that he did not want to come to them at that time since he would have had some burdensome issues to deal with, such as the matters of discipline he dealt with in the first letter to Corinth (1 Cor. dealt with division in the church, failure to discipline an unrepentant brother, and other improprieties.)  He didn’t want another sorrowful trip (1:23-2:2).

But in his necessary defense Paul turns from himself to focus on God.  He has been no less sincere than God Himself (v18).  He reminds them of Jesus Christ whom he preached to them, the One they received by faith (v19).  Certainly they realized Jesus’ words were in no way uncertain (v20).  God had established Paul and the Corinthians in their special relationship (v21).  That same God had given the Holy Spirit to each as the guarantee of His word (v22).

Some in Corinth felt they really needed Paul and were disappointed he had not come.  But their complaint indicated they really doubted God.  The same is true for us.  When we are disappointed we need not attack those we think let us down. Remember that the Father of mercies and God of all comfort is our help.  He is faithful.  ALL His promises come with a resounding YES and AMEN (so be it!).  May our disappointments be an opportunity to discover anew the precious promises of God!

2 Corinthians 1:8-14

Paul felt a need to let the Corinthians know that he had recently been in an extreme trial of some sort.  He didn’t want them to be ignorant of this, probably because of a charge some in Corinth were making against Paul that he had gone back on his word to come to see them (cf. 1:15ff).  Apparently this unspecified trial had been part of the reason Paul had not come.

Of this trial Paul says, “we had the sentence of death in ourselves.”  His life was in real danger and rescue was out of his own hands.  Have you ever been in such a situation?  Occasionally I take a corner a little too quickly for some in the car and one of the grandkids will holler, “we’re all gonna die!”  But for Paul it was no joke.  He apparently had a strong thought that death was near at hand.

As a young man I was leading a group of young people on a hike in the mountains east of San Diego.  It was a semi-arid place and a hot day.  We wandered around on some unmarked trails for a while when I realized we were seeing things we had seen before.  We were going in circles, running low on water, and in a fairly unfamiliar area.  For the first time in my young life the thought came to me that we could die.  After a brief prayer as a group the Lord helped us find our way back to the place where we had started.  

Over the years I have been encouraged in being with several Christian brothers and sisters who knew they were on their deathbed.  Various organs of the body were shutting down and they knew they had, at most, two or three days to live.  I have been amazed in several instances at they way these saints have shared last words with a variety of family members and friends, and wondered how I would face that situation of being under the sentence of death.

I have also been around folks feeling under the sentence of death who have lived their lives with little interest in God at all.  They seemed to live as if they would never die.  Then they found they had cancer or had a stroke or in some other way became aware of the fragile nature of their own lives.  In some cases this has brought them to seriously consider that moment after death.  Some have come to trust Jesus Christ as Savior, the very One who welcomed into His kingdom the thief on the cross just hours before he died.

Paul is very clear that he was not angry at God for his difficult affliction.  He understood the necessity of “death-sentence” situations in life.  It is at these times that a person is brought to the end of himself and trusts in God who raises the dead (v9).  If God delivers us from the death sentence there is a lot of thanks that He gets (v10-11).  Remember, the goal of affliction is to speak well of God. If He takes us through the death sentence there is still anticipation of the day of judgment, the day of the Lord Jesus (v14).

Like Paul we must endure affliction with a clear conscience, conducting ourselves in godliness, not by fleshly wisdom but by God’s grace (v12).  Death is inevitable; we all are under the sentence of death.  Does this cause you to trust in yourself?  Or are you strengthened to trust the Living God who raises the dead?