Fighter Verses

The brightest hope in all the world, the culmination of all the promises of God, and the most precious thing bought by Christ’s blood is what we see foretold in Revelation 21:3:

The dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

In other words, what makes heaven heavenly is the fact that we will be able to fellowship with God.

C. S. Lewis likewise saw the presence of God (or his absence) as the key to defining heaven and hell:

While it is true to say that God’s own nature is the real sanction of His commands, yet to understand this must, in the end, lead us to the conclusion that union with that Nature is bliss and separation from it horror. Thus Heaven and Hell come in. But it may well be that to think much of either except in this context of thought, to hypostatize them as if they had a substantial meaning apart from the presence or absence of God, corrupts the doctrine of both and corrupts us while we so think of them. (Surprised by Joy, ch. 15)

With every new promise that God would dwell with his people and be their God, anticipation intensified. And with every fulfillment, there was both relief and joy, on the one hand, and disappointment and sadness, on the other. For example, at the return from exile, many rejoiced at the long-awaited restoration of God’s presence in the newly built temple …

The pattern of recapitulated promise and partial fulfillment left those who hope in God’s promises tasting and loving, yet longing and waiting for even more. And with every recapitulation, God’s word built up more and more anticipation. That is, until one day,

… the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.
[John 1:14a]

In Jesus, the very Word of God, God’s fullness had finally arrived. And many recognized him to be the long-awaited fulfillment, and flocked to him.

Yet, while a few knew better (e.g., Simeon: Luke 2:25-26, 34-35), many presumed that Jesus’ coming was the final consummation of the promises. Little did they understand that he would soon be taken from them (John 14-16).

And that he was; he was killed. Yet, it was all according to the promises, for the payment of his people’s sins to secure God’s presence with them forever. Only by such payment could God dwell with his otherwise sinful people without abhorring and destroying them, but rather loving and blessing them forever.

And even when Jesus was resurrected, the eager, promise-anticipating disciples wondered if now he was going to fulfill it all (Acts 1:6). Before ascending into heaven, he answered that God’s presence would be with them in a new way:

You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you.
[Acts 1:8; compare 2 Corinthians 6:16]

His answer implied that in this overlap of the ages, the final fulfillment has already begun (the Holy Spirit’s indwelling), but that it is building up to a final consummation.

And it is for this consummation that we also look forward. After the people of God are finally revealed and glorified, the new Jerusalem will come from heaven. Then all of God’s promises will culminate in the event John is describing:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.”
[Revelation 21:3]

There is a hint that God was among man in the very beginning, at least to some degree. It can be inferred from Genesis 3:8 that God had been in the habit of “walking in the garden,” where the first man and woman were naked and unashamed in his presence—that is, until they sinned. Thereafter, the blessing of God’s presence with man was removed.

While a handful of the godly occasionally find access to the presence of the Lord (e.g., Enoch, Abraham, etc.), there is not a solid promise of God dwelling with man until nation-state Israel. To them he promises, if they obey him:

I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
[Leviticus 26:11-12]

And with the pillar of fire and cloud that accompanied the Israelites, and with the institution of the tabernacle and holy of holies, God really did dwell among Israel. But he remained only accessible through sacrifice, and that by the priests. And as Israel strayed in their hearts and disobeyed him, the reality of God’s dwelling with man became more distant.

But then there was a fresh restoration of God’s presence when Solomon instituted the temple, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple like a cloud. Yet, Solomon even acknowledged that something was lacking of God’s fullness dwelling with man when he said,

Will God indeed dwell with man on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you, how much less this house that I have built!
[2 Chronicles 6:18]

But most disheartening was that, in time, Israel so rebelled against God that his glory finally left the temple for good (Ezekiel 10:4, 18).

Nonetheless, the very same prophet who described God’s devastating departure also anticipated a more lasting covenant than the first. By this covenant, God promised to set his king over them forever and promised furthermore,

My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD who sanctifies Israel, when my sanctuary is in their midst forevermore.
[Ezekiel 37:27-28]

…

Does God deliver the righteous from afflictions? Or do they suffer?

Psalm 34:19 apparently answers, Yes:

Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
but the LORD delivers him out of them all.
[Psalm 34:19]

In his word, God frequently promises his saints protection from harm (Psalm 91:3-15; Proverbs 19:23; etc.). He also promises that the faithful will suffer (John 15:20; 2 Timothy 3:12; etc.). Sometimes, they are both promised together. Consider these examples:

• Endure? or Escape?

God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.
[1 Corinthians 10:13b-c]

• Harassed? or Helped?

… a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me … Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
[2 Corinthians 12:7b,8-9]

• Put to death? or Perish not?

You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death … But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.
[Luke 21:16, 18-19]

So also with this week’s fighter verse, does Jesus promise persecution (even potentially death)? Or does he promise deliverance (even life)?

Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life.
[Revelation 2:10d]

Revelation 2:10 is surprising when you consider what comes just before it:

To the angel of the church in Smyrna write: “The words of the first and the last, who died and came to life. I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich) and the slander of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan.” (Revelation 2:8-9)

Notice two things about Jesus here:

1. He is the first and the last. Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, he who is and who was and who is to come—Jesus is Lord God Almighty (Revelation 1:8). And he begins his letter to the church at Smyrna with this powerful statement about his supremacy over all things.
2. He knows. Jesus says he knows the tribulation, poverty, and slander of the saints in Smyrna. But what does he mean? Two options seem valid here:
   1. He knows their sufferings in the same sense that Yahweh knew the sufferings of his people when they were in Egypt (Exodus 3:7). He sees their afflictions and hears their cries. Jesus is completely aware of the situation in Smyrna.
   2. In another sense, Jesus knows their suffering from his own experience. He is the one “who died” (2:8). Jesus himself went through tribulation (Matthew 26:38) and poverty (Luke 9:58) and slander (Mark 14:56). He knows from experience and can personally relate to what the saints in Smyrna are going through.

Verse 10 is surprising because, having reminded them of his power and knowledge, Jesus doesn’t tell the church that he is now coming to relieve their suffering. Rather, he tells them that they are going to suffer more, and that they must not fear suffering but be faithful in it, even unto death.

So why does Jesus remind them of his power and knowledge if it isn’t to assure them that they will be delivered from earthly suffering? It’s because he wants to assure them of a greater deliverance he provides: salvation from the second death (2:11).

Jesus’ power and knowledge are our confidence that, with his help, we can endure any suffering on this earth—even suffering unto death—and that, as we look to him, neither our present temptations nor the final judgment will succeed in causing us to lose “the crown of life” (2:10).

Do not fear what you are about to suffer … Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life. [Revelation 2:10]

In his book We Become What We Worship: A Biblical Theology of Idolatry, Greg Beale helps us understand the significance of the seven letters of Revelation:

In view of the similar logical development and theme of all of the letters, the general main point of chapters 2-3 can be formulated in the following manner: Christ encourages the churches to witness, warns them about compromise and exhorts them to “hear” and to overcome compromise in order to inherit the promise of eternal life with him. Therefore, the logical development of each letter climaxes with the promise of inheriting eternal life with Christ, which is the main point of each letter. The body of all seven of the letters provides the basis on which the Spirit calls the churches to respond by “hearing,” which should inextricably result in overcoming, the consequence of which is inheriting the respective promises. (pg. 242)

He then goes on to explain the relationship between the seven letters and the rest of the book of Revelation:

…[T]he symbolic visions of Revelation 4-21 are parabolic portrayals of the more abstract, propositionally expressed exhortations, warnings and promises of the letters, so that the latter interpret the former and vice versa. (pg. 252)

Do you follow the logic of Romans 5:10?

Paul is arguing from the lesser to the greater. Or, as Johnathon’s post describes it, he argues from the harder to the easier. Let me explain.

Before being born again, we were God’s enemies by our defiance (Colossians 1:21; James 4:4; Romans 8:7), and he was angry enough about it to destroy us (2 Kings 22:13; John 3:36; Romans 1:18). But despite all our opposition to him, he took the initiative to make us his friends. And it was his Son’s death that satisfied God’s anger and reconciled us to him.

If God did that difficult a thing in the past, how much more certainly will he do an easier thing, both now and on-goingly into the future …

We have now been reconciled to God and are friends in his sight. How much easier it is then for God to be inclined towards us and show us all possible favor. Moreover, if his Son’s death satisfied him, how much more will his precious Son’s life be satisfying to him in his sight for us.

Therefore, we will most certainly be saved.

Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. [Romans 5:9–10]

In Romans 5, Paul helps us understand how being justified before God affects the way we live our lives. First of all, we have peace with God and we rejoice in the future hope of seeing the glory of God (Romans 5:1-2). More than that, we are able to rejoice in our sufferings (Romans 5:3). Why? Because we know that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope” (Romans 5:3-4).

But how do we know that our hope is real, that we’re not just passing our days in a fanciful stupor only to face God’s wrath on the last day? Answer: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us” (Romans 5:5).

What does that mean? Paul explains in verses 6-8: “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

In other words, the Holy Spirit calls our attention to the reality that Christ died for us when we were toads. This is what it means for God’s love to be poured into our hearts. To say it another way, in feeling the wonder of verses 6-8 we experience the reality of verse 5. The glory of Christ dying for us when we were sinners is a self-evidencing witness to the validity of our hope.

If Christ died for toads, it will be no hard thing for him to marry a princess. If Jesus washed our grimy hands, it will be no hard thing for him to let us handle the fine china. If God gave his Son for his enemies, it will be no hard thing for him to welcome his friends home. This is why the justified need not fear.

“Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.” (Romans 5:9–10)

The word for “everyone who believes” in Romans 1:16 is a present participle in Greek.

Daniel Wallace finds this significant:

The present was the tense of choice most likely because the NT writers by and large saw continual belief as a necessary condition of salvation. (Greek Grammar: Beyond the Basics, 621)

According to Wallace, then, Paul is saying that in order for the gospel to be “the power of God unto salvation” for you, your faith must be more than a one-time confession somewhere in the past that Jesus is Lord. It must be a perpetually living and acting thing, a daily readmission that Christ is Lord and an ongoing resignation of your life to him.

One way to picture this is to say that saving faith is not like a lemon that a used car salesman fixes up just enough to make the sale and get it off his hands. Rather, faith is like a junker that God jump-starts to life for you, and one that he offers lifetime maintenance and improvements on as long as you keep bringing it back to him.

For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.
[Romans 1:16]

When we quote a verse, have we wronged God’s word if we leave off a word or two? For example, could we have just memorized this week’s Fighter Verse (Romans 1:16) without the word “For” on the front?

Some may be ready to cite Scriptures’ warnings against attributing words to God that he has not spoken (e.g., Deuteronomy 18:20; Proverbs 20:25; Revelation 22:18-19). After all, it would be blasphemous to claim God had said something which he had not, or to otherwise misrepresent his true word.

However, such a contention not necessary. There is no rule that requires a full verse to be the minimum unit cited or memorized, since we have no claim that the division of verses or chapters is inspired by God. Moreover, leaving off words from a verse can be done without misrepresenting the author’s intended meaning. For example, the New Testament authors frequently quote only the relevant portion of an Old Testament Scripture, leaving off whole segments mid-paragraph, mid-verse, or even mid-phrase.

Thus, there is nothing necessarily wrong with leaving off a word or quoting only part of a verse, so long as the intended meaning is not misconstrued. So, for example, as you quote Romans 1:16 in a relevant life context, feel free to claim that God’s word says “the gospel … is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes,” since you are still accurately communicating one of the verse’s main points.

However you may quote it, it may nonetheless be useful to include that extra word “For” in your memorization. The word may serve as a reminder that Paul said it in a context. It may later provoke curiosity as to why Paul is not ashamed of the gospel. And you may be pointed back to look at the verse’s context …