But before faith came. Galatians 3:23

Sorry, if this trip through Galatians is becoming tedious, but imagine that moment when a new reader drops in and has no idea of what we are talking. It happens.

We are working our way through Paul's letter to the Jewish/Messianic converts, in the region of Galatia, an area that entails most of Southern Turkey today. There was no particular church, so we can easily assume that letter was meant to be read to anyone who would listen. With every village, Saul/Paul entered, he and those with him looked for the Synagogue. They would not have been elaborate structures, probably more like the buildings we have seen in Iraq or Afghanistan. Because Paul was a scholar in the law and the prophets (The Torah and Tanakh,) he was the perfect man to be an apologist for the gospel of Yahshua, the crucified and risen Son of God. He could take his audience directly to the passages that identified Jesus as the Messiah for which they longed. Some were hungry for this hope and promise. While others, acted like Saul, the Pharisee and zealot he used to be known as when he persecuted the church, looking for ways to harm, or if necessary kill the Apostle, the man we come to recognize as the Apostle Paul.

We left off with Galatians 3:22, which according to the Complete Jewish Bible tells us:

“the Tanakh shuts up everything under sin; so that what had been promised might be given, on the basis of Yeshua the Messiah's trusting faithfulness.”

It is not so dissimilar to what we will see in verse 23.

Galatians 3:23 NASB But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.

“Before faith came.”

Didn't Abraham show faith? What about Moses, and the prophets? Apparently, they did, then this has more do with a person or event.

What then would that event have been? The Cross, but not just the cross; it was all that encompassed those three days.

If it was a person, who would that person be? Jesus Christ, the Son of God.

"we were kept in custody under the law,"

Within the Jewish community, they were kept in check, to some degree, by the law. The law originated with ten simple commands. In the desert, under the guidance of Moses, the portable temple was set up, along with ordinances of worship - the distinct methods associated with righteousness. As a result, the priesthood added over six hundred laws; this too, kept Israel, the Jews, and strangely the Gentiles, in custody under the law.

"being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed."

Galatians 3:22 told us that everyone subject to the law was shut up under sin, but now in Galatians 3:23, we learn that we all were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed.

G4788 sugkleio From G4862 and G2808; to shut together, that is, include or (figuratively) embrace in a common subjection to: - conclude, enclose, shut up.

So, the Jews/Israel were embraced in a common subjection to the law; and incapable of having faith.

Is that true, they were incapable of having faith?

Let's use Christ's birth as an example of Israel's incapacity to have faith?

The Magi from the East (Matthew chapter two,) seeing His star in the east, gathered together - complete with entourage, and came to Jerusalem looking for the Child that was born the King of the Jews. What is so dramatic about this event is that Herod called all the chief priests and scribes of the people to him, demanding who is this king and where is he. The priesthood knew the answer but had no faith in Yahshua as the Messiah and king of the Jews.

Within that same story, we find Jewish shepherds; men who were not held so tightly to the man inserted laws, by which the Jews gained their righteousness. These shepherds sought out the child who was born the king of the Jews when directed to do so by the angels. Those shepherds could have chosen to ignore the angel voices, much like the majority of the priesthood had done.

In opposition to the idea that ALL of Israel had no capacity for faith, there is:

Anna - Luke 2:36-38 NASB And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years and had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, 37 and then as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the temple, serving night and day with fastings and prayers. 38 At that very moment she came up and began giving thanks to God, and continued to speak of Him to all those who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem.

Simeon - Luke 2:25-32 NASB And there was a man in Jerusalem whose name was Simeon; and this man was righteous and devout, looking for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord's Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple; and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to carry out for Him the custom of the Law, 28 then he took Him into his arms, and blessed God, and said, 29 "Now Lord, You are releasing Your bond-servant to depart in peace, According to Your word; 30 For my eyes have seen Your salvation, 31 Which You have prepared in the presence of all peoples, 32 A LIGHT OF REVELATION TO THE GENTILES, And the glory of Your people Israel."

And - Hebrews chapter eleven takes up several verses defining characters from the Old Testament, whom, by faith, did things ranging from the simple to the amazing. Indeed many had faith, but they were not in the majority amongst their peers.

Now, apply this same thought to the Gentiles that lived in and among the Jews.

One of the dominant Gentile characters is the Roman Centurion Cornelius that invited Peter to his home so that they could hear the gospel. (Read this in Acts chapter ten.) Now, God had alerted Peter that He was about to do something radically different, through a vision, in which a blanket was lowered having clean and unclean animals in it. Peter was told to take and eat. Appalled at the thought of eating pork and a few of the others, Peter begins to tell God that there is not a chance because I am a Jew and I don't eat unclean things. God replies to that with, don't call unclean what I have made clean. Now that made little sense to Peter at the moment, but it would soon. No sooner did the vision end when a messenger summons Peter to the Centurion's home. Imagine that, being summoned to the home of someone who could have you imprisoned. But there is an addendum, this man Cornelius is “a devout man and one who feared God with all his household.” Peter knew what it meant for a Jew to be devout, but what about a Greek, and, how did this come to be? So Peter went.
Upon learning about the Centurion's desire to hear the gospel more fully, Peter begins giving them his best sermon. However, right in the middle of that discourse, God extends His hand of mercy and fills the entire family with the gift of the Holy Spirit, and they all spoke in other tongues.Evidently, the Gentiles could have faith as well.

So, is the statement that all were shut and incapable of having faith true? No, but it is true when applied to the majority.

“the faith which was later to be revealed.”

Jesus was buried, and the disciples (all 120+ of them) mourned like puppies without a mother, for they still did not understand. On the third day, the two women went to the tomb. But what did they find? The stone rolled away, the guards gone, and an angel sitting on the stone. That angel spoke to them, saying, He is not here. Read this in Luke 23:54-56 and Luke 24:1-9.
I use these two women and the disciples in general because they all demonstrated little faith in Jesus words which informed them that, He was the Messiah; the Son of God; that he would rise again, and that He would have tremendous power bestowed upon Him by the Father. Not to mention the ability that He was going to confer upon them.

After that morning at the empty tomb, Yahshua began appearing to them. Think the impact these sightings, signs, and His words would and should have on the disciples – a rather large number of people. First, He appeared to the two ladies at the tomb. Then, he appeared to the two on the Emmaus road. Later, he walked through the locked door and into the upper room where over 120 disciples, including the women, were gathered; Thomas, the one who said, I will not believe unless I can put my hand into His wounds, was invited by Jesus to touch those same wounds. Jesus walked among them for forty days, eating, drinking, and elaborating on the scriptures, from Moses through the prophets, about the things that they witnessed. On the road to Emmaus He had spent the day with them, and yet, they did not realize who it was until later that evening at dinner.

It is in this room in which they had gathered, that He entered even though they had locked the door, that the Holy Spirit, which could only be described as cloven tongues of fire, lit upon them all and they all spoke in utterances that they did not know. While it may have been mere sounds to them, others heard these so-called unlearned people, speaking in a multitude of dialects, and attesting to the glory of God.

What held them together, both mentally and physically, to the point that the overwhelming sadness and lack of faith were overcome? They followed Jesus instructions and stayed firmly knit together. We see this in Acts 1:14 NASB. The faith came.

“These all with one mind were continually devoting themselves to prayer, along with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with His brothers.”

We call this fellowship. Simplistic as it seemed, there was a purpose involved, whether they understood it or not, for It fought off the depression and sadness, while helping to maintain unity and purpose.

Once the Holy Spirit fell upon them with power, they were changed, people. Peter preached before thousands that Pentecost day; Philip, ran alongside the eunuch's chariot, and explained the portion of Isaiah's prophecy, which the eunuch was reading.

Every one of these so-called faithless disciples eventually had a tremendous impact on the world.

Could we then say that faith came in the course of time? Absolutely, and it will come to us as we pursue Him.

It is hard to imagine the despair.

Having gone to the tomb and finding it empty the ladies are confronted by an angel who tells them to go and tell the disciples, but John did not tell us that. We need to look at Mark's gospel which would have been conveyed to him by Peter. Peter had not been there, so how did Peter know all this? Mary (We cannot exclude that the others were there with her.)

What is the report? The tomb is empty; Jesus is gone, and someone who just appeared out of nowhere told us to go tell the disciples.

Do John and Peter analyze all this information, comparing it with the comments that Jesus had made and make some decisive conclusions that motive them to investigate for themselves because they need foundational information for their next sermons?

Get real! What you hear barely registers - you are still in shock. The man that loved you like no one else ever had, and while you stayed by his side he took care of every need you had has died and was buried in that tomb, and now he is gone. You don't even have a plan; you merely respond and run to the scene.

John 20:3 Moffatt NT So Peter and the other disciple set out for the tomb;

Even though Mark conveys that the ladies ran trembling from the tomb, that does not mean that they, at least Mary Magdalene, did not do what the angel told her. We do not see the angels demanding a hasty conveyance of the message, but the implications are there. Merely to be a character enveloped in the moment would imply that you would run with all haste. 

 

Where did Mary find Peter and John? That is not given to us, but can be assumed. You probably do not just rent out a room for your Passover meal, so this had to be a relative of one of the men and we can assume, to some degree, a disciple. 

In time Jesus will tell the followers, all 120 of them, to wait in the upper room. This may have been the same room that they had the passover in, and may well be where they found Peter and John. Distraught, you either run to seclusion or to a familiar place. Having been told Mary ran to the familiar place and found Peter and John there. 

As we have worked through John's gospel it is hard to imagine the despair they felt as Jesus told them that he, the best thing that ever happened to them, was to be brutally murdered (a voluntary act on his part) and taken from them. 

 

I do not think we can accurately imagine how they felt, or what they thought as they heard these words – the tomb is empty, and an angel said, he is not here. Looking at a picture recently coming out of Syria, I see a small boy, approximately 2-3 years old, standing in front of an older man sitting on the ground. They both seem to be in the street. What the boy is looking at we do not know, but he is crying in anguish because horrible people have wantonly slaughtered his mother because she is of a differing religion. Anguish, despair, loss of direction, no sense of purpose, and no idea of what is to happen next. Maybe that is what they felt.

John 20:4 NASB " The two were running together; and the other disciple ran ahead faster than Peter and came to the tomb first;..."

I have heard deeply spiritual sermons that seemed to focus on Peter coming second. We know that Peter was very disappointed by his own actions and you might think that it showed in his lack of enthusiasm in running. Get over it; he ran; John just ran faster.

What were they hoping to see? Perhaps nothing; perhaps they just needed to verify that the tomb, which bordered upon impossible to get into, was empty. Why do we crane our necks, some even stopping to look at the horrid car crash, as they traverse the freeway? What are you hoping to see? Why should these men be so different, except that Jesus was like family with one exception; he gave them hope.

Empty! What does that imply? Back to it's original state. If grave robbers had come they would not have taken the time to leave grave cloths. 

 

We have a clear indication of what they might have expected.

Matthew 16:21-22 NASB From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. (22) Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."

Peter even challenged Jesus about it, but this only added to Peter's disillusionment, and John tells us none of them believed. 

If you read the 20th chapter of John you will see that John indicates that after having seen the clothes lying as they were he believed. Belief has such varied depths of understanding to it. I personally know people who have a belief in Jesus, but we are cautioned to look at the fruit that comes off the tree as an indicator. (Don't judge one bad apple coming off a tree that may be filled with good apples, as an indicator of the health of the tree. Occasionally the tree can become infested. Should you be a horticulturist then you would know to be observant, take action, and stop the infestation that could destroy not only the fruit but the entire tree. Your fast actions can help to maintain that tree for its lifetime. You should also understand that a well maintained tree has its own natural defense system and often includes the nutrient flow. In a pine tree you would call this sap, and in a well watered tree the sap flow is strong enough to inundate the boring beetle or push it back out. Locally, we lost a large quantity of forest due to drought and beetle populations that went out of control. Ordinarily the trees themselves would have been their own defense but rain had been sparse.)

 

Have you ever heard the sentence, "hindsight is twenty twenty".  It means, looking back I can see clearly what was going on; at the time I could not. John wrote this almost 90 years after Jesus death, and possibly 40 years after Mark wrote his gospel. 

You can easily look back and see that when John chose to finally step inside the tomb, and saw the grave clothes, not strewn about hastily but placed in different locations, was the point in time where something changed in him. Suddenly this was becoming real to him. Kind of like my tree story a moment ago there was a point at which God stepped in, did some maintenance work and changed the direction of John's life.

Many of you have already looked back. Could you see twenty twenty? Did you see your need for Jesus Christ? All it takes is for you admit that you have messed up and that you need him. Ask him into your life. He will take the burden of your sins off you – He did this on that cross so many years ago. He merely has been waiting for you to accept that he did it for you. The moment you do this a new life begins in him, along with the assurance of a life with the Father in eternity.

all those dwelling in the earth will worship it, Revelation 13:8

Revelation 13:8 LITV

And all those dwelling in the earth will worship it, those of whom the names had not been written in the Book of Life of the Lamb having been slain from the foundation of the world.

Several things jump out at me as I read this. The statement is implying that there is only two classes of people on the earth at this point.

A. Those that worship the beast

B. Believers in Yeshua, those whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Is this really the situation? I am not trying to challenge God but I wish to better understand because I have read other passages that make me believe that this is not the case. As I was writing my notes, not having a good concordance in front of me, I questioned if the word All as used here was valid.

There are several things that fuel my challenge:

• Dake's feels strongly that the beast will not have a global reign
• The book of Daniel records that Nebuchadnezzar had a statue built and demanded that everyone bow before it. We are told that everyone, except for three, did bow. And yet Daniel was not there.
  So no, everyone did not bow. Simplistic yes, but as I have read through the old testament I have seen over the top statements and it becomes clear that not everyone was there, and therefore is a generalized statement at times.

If I jump ahead to Revelation 21: 10-27 we are told of the New Jerusalem, coming down to the earth and how it lights the earth. The kings of the earth bring their glory unto it. But verse 27 should shock you.

Revelation 21:27 AMP But nothing that defiles or profanes or is unwashed shall ever enter it, nor anyone who commits abominations (unclean, detestable, morally repugnant things) or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life.

Who could be left on earth at this point.

What do we know about those that take the mark and worship the beast? They suffer the same fate as the Antichrist and his false prophet. So they should be gone.

• We assume that anyone coming to Christ during the seven-year period is martyred, so allegedly they are gone.
• When Christ returns to earth he kills anyone that is attempting to fight with him. So combatants are gone. This includes those that Revelation 19 describes: the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies.

Those that fight against Christ will probably be, in majority, Islamic, but there is no guarantee of that, for a good deal of the world seems to hate the idea that God wants any authority over their lives.

If we work off the idea that it is an Islamic force coming against Christ, what can we understand about their ideology? Teach the young to hate and prepare for Jihad. Because the fundamentalists teach the way of Jihad as soon as the child can read, it is safe to assume that even if family was not carrying a weapon against God that their anger and hatred are deeply ingrained. If not destroyed in battle the merciful God allows them to continue on trying to live.

I think we need to understand something here. While the New Jerusalem sits here on earth and the earth is ruled by those called Saints, the previously martyred, for a thousand years. Life seems to go on. After all the cataclysmic judgments the earth suffers I am sure it will be vastly different, and you can see that in scripture if you pursue it.

Nothing will demand that you relinquish your anger nor your pagan ideals, but there will be one huge demand placed upon you. You must make the trip to Jerusalem, take part in the yearly Feast of Tabernacles, and bow in obeisance before God. (Some will see this as bordering on impossible. Do you really think that there will be airplanes flying after what the earth goes through, probably not. I do strongly suspect that there will have been a shaking to the point that the land masses will probably be reconnected and that the earth's population will be dramatically reduced.)

Seems simple enough. The punishment for non-compliance will mean no rain on your ground for a year. I do not know if that means a nation suffers or the person, but the outcome may be the same for without water you do not drink and your crops do not grow.

If you have read any of my commentaries on Revelation then you should have picked up on the idea that I think God is a merciful God and that he is continuing to show mercy. Having given the earth the blanket of forgiveness of sins, placing his Son upon the brutal cross, and watching a world ignore that act of love, I could only imagine how I might react. To say the least my patience would have been worn thin, but God does not seem to work that way.

(Do not balk at this idea, Jesus paid a price that was enough and we were forgiven. He even took it one step further and bought us out of the slavery that Adam's transgression placed us into to. Did that forgiveness buy us a spot in the family of God? No! He left that entirely up to us – This is the idea behind free will, we get to choose if we wish to be in the family of God. We do that by hearing Jesus words – he calls to you all the time- and believing in the Father.)

Who is left?

1. The surviving remnant of Jews.
2. Non-combatants
3. The nations
   Revelation 21:24 NASB The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.
4. Those that have come to Jesus during the tribulation years and have been taken captive, and survived. I suspect that God will have them join with him in judgment over the earth for the thousand-year period. (Really, think about it. Who better to judge than those who the earth has already judged. Wait, that could be really scary as our human understanding tells us that they will seek retribution. No, they will judge with a righteous judgment, with Jesus as their leader and example.)

We make the assumption that the end comes with a purging where evil is wiped off the earth and God's people alone populate the earth, but that is not the case. Yes, it is true, that the source of evil is locked up for a thousand years but that does not change what is in the heart of man. His choice to pursue God freely, or hate him stills exists, and God is not demanding you throw out your idols. That might be wise in the end, but as long as you comply by coming to the yearly feast you get to go on living as you choose. Are you beginning to get the picture, all nations, at least remnants of them are still here; including those we whine about saying, they have never heard the gospel! Trust me on this. They will hear the gospel. That is guaranteed, for an angel flies over the earth preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ, and this happens several times, one of which is immediately after the rapture.

Haven't you ever wondered how it is that the world, after living for a thousand more years in a condition that might be as close to the garden environment that Adam walked in, would be deceived and attempt to turn against God at the end of this millennial period.

"..whose name has not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb who has been slain."

Those of us who have asked Jesus Christ to come into our lives and make his home there, believing that God, the Father, sent his only Son to die on a cross, bearing all our sins, and then rose again to new life so that we may also might live with him, are the ones that have their names written in the book of life.

Many would tell you that you have to confess your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you your sins in order for him to accept you, but that is not the case, for while we were still sinners Christ died for us. He died for us knowing that many would not accept his love and gift; all he asks is that you believe in him and that the Father sent him. Yes, there is more. Scripture tells us that God awaits the chance to show the treasures of heaven and the life that awaits you as part of the family of God. Adam had that life for a limited time (it might have been thousands of years.)

This book of life has belonged to the lamb from before time was even a concept. The Lamb is Jesus. John, the disciple, the angry man who learned what love is, wrote:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men.

(John 1:1-4 NASB)

 John spoke of my Jesus, my God.

Jesus told them exactly what would happen and then he did it. He rose from the dead. He walked among them, ate with them, let him touch his body, and comforted them. He then told them, as hard as this is going to sound to you, I have to go away to the Father now so that I can prepare a place for you.

A place for me? This is just overwhelming me now. Do you realize that one of the reasons I write is because I have struggled to understand and take this in.

He is real because he did what he said.

And though this is not intentional, here Easter is almost upon us. The time when we celebrate the fact that he rose from the dead. It is the reason for our hope, our hope that there is an eternity of peace with the Father in a land where it is too good to be true. Free from the mental anguish and pains of this world that Satan destroyed.

Easter is our anchor for Hope.

As I have watched on the news lately, many are trying to take away our hope, denying the children, innocent children the right to associate or even consider the possibility that there is a hope.

Jesus Christ did what he said he would do and he rose from the grave.

Yes, there is a hope. It does not matter what people do to me, or what goes on around me. Jesus is mine. I know this because I have asked him in and I have a confidence that he has never left me. He has proven himself true and faithful to me, even when I was not faithful to him.

I love you Father and anxiously await your embrace.

He has risen indeed!

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