The Heaton File

Which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come. And He put all things under His feet and gave Him to be head over all things to the church, which is His body, the fullness of Him who fills all in all. (Ephesians 1:20-23)

The Right Hand Of God

There is no authority greater than what is possessed by God the Father, Creator of all things. He rules over the universe, and all things are subjugated to His word. Jesus acknowledged His words came from the Father, and everything He spoke was the will of the Father. The Holy Spirit came upon the apostles through the will of the Father. John describes the brilliance of the throne in the eternal as filled by One who sat upon the throne with the creatures surrounding the throne giving glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne. They call Him “Lord God Almighty, Who was and is and is to come.” Everything known to man in the universe comes from the throne of the Almighty, who rules above all humanity.

As the One who sits upon the throne as sole occupant, the Lord God exercises His authority according to His will. When Jesus offered Himself as an offering for the sin of all men, God raised Him from the dead and seated the Lord Jesus Christ on His right hand. To be raised to the right hand was significant of favor, trust, and power. Jesus lived a perfect life and died to bring men back to the Father. His love, humility, and devotion to His Father were rewarded with all authority both in heaven and earth. This authority comes from sitting at the right hand of God. Jesus was received up into heaven forty days after the resurrection and sat down at the right hand of God. He was exalted to a place of complete authority. Stephen, the martyred saint of God, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.

There is no authority on earth greater than Jesus. He died, arose, and sits at the right hand of God, making intercession for mankind. The Christian lives his life with the rule of Christ as He who sits at the right hand of God. All authority was given to Christ when He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever. Jesus has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, angels and authorities and powers having been made subject to Him. Ruling at the right hand of God shows His preeminence, dominion, and power. There is no greater authority in the church than the head, Jesus Christ. His rule is one of a groom adorned for His bride cherishing her with the loving grace given to Him by His Father. As the church submits to Christ, they recognize He sits at the right hand of God. All authority in the church comes from Jesus Christ.

Sitting at the right hand of God shows the relationship of Christ with the church. He dominates by the authority granted Him by the Father. Everything flows from that headship as one who sits at the right hand of God. Members of the body are subject to all things under the headship of Christ. There is never a question of what a man must do to be saved. The word of Christ establishes the will of the Father. Jesus told His disciples when a man believes and is baptized, he will be saved. If a man refuses to believe, he will be lost. The authority of salvation comes from the mouth of Jesus, as one who sits at the right hand of God. To dismiss baptism as nonessential is to deny that Jesus is at the right hand of the Lord God. Denying the teaching of Jesus is rejecting the authority given to Him by the Father. All the Lord’s commands rest upon the authority of the One who sits at the right hand of God.

Jesus will relinquish the authority given to Him when all things are completed, and He Himself will be subject to the Father. Until that time, Jesus Christ rules at the right hand of God with all the authority granted Him by His Father. When men deny the teaching of Jesus, they deny His authority. Rejecting the authority of Jesus is to deny God. Accepting the rule of Christ is to follow the will of the Father and to be found pleasing in His sight. Sitting at the right hand of God impresses upon all men to listen to Jesus Christ as One who has all authority. Thank God for He who sits at His right hand.

And at that time Hanani the seer came to Asa king of Judah, and said to him: “Because you have relied on the king of Syria, and have not relied on the Lord your God, therefore the army of the king of Syria has escaped from your hand. Were the Ethiopians and the Lubim not a huge army with very many chariots and horsemen? Yet, because you relied on the LORD, He delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to show Himself strong on behalf of those whose heart is loyal to Him. In this you have done foolishly; therefore from now on you shall have wars.” (2 Chronicles 16:7-9)

The Eyes Of The Lord Are Seeking

Twenty years after the death of King Solomon, his great-grandson Asa became king of Israel, ruling 41 years. The previous two decades were marred with the wicked king’s Rehoboam and Abijam. When Asa ruled the southern tribes, he did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, as did David. The years were filled with prosperity and a period of restoration to the law of God. There was no war for thirty-five years. During the thirty-sixth year of the reign of Asa, Baasha, king of Israel, came up against Judah to wage war. Instead of seeking the counsel of the Lord, Asa chose to appeal to Ben-Hadad, king of Syria, with silver and gold from the house of the Lord and the king’s house. He sought a treaty with the Syrians to fight against Israel. Ben-Hadad attacked Israel, causing Baasha to withdraw from his conquest of Judah.

The Lord was displeased with Asa for making a treaty with Ben-Hadad. Hanani the seer came to King Asa, scolding him for not trusting in the Lord’s power to defeat Baasha. The prophet reminded Asa how God had delivered him from the Egyptians and the army of Lubim. At the critical moment of decision, Asa should have sought the Lord’s counsel to fight against Baasha. Hanani reminded the king the eyes of the Lord search the whole earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. Asa had acted foolishly, and the peace he enjoyed for thirty-five years would end.

God has always desired hearts that are fully committed to Him. He has demanded first place since the beginning of time. When the Jews received the law at Sinai, it began with the declaration that God was why they had escaped Egypt and nothing but His power and might saved them. They were not to put any god or any man before their allegiance to the Lord God Almighty. Anything less than complete devotion was not acceptable. Jesus taught in the mountain message that unless a man seeks first the kingdom of God, there are no blessings. The example of a fully committed heart is the life of Jesus Christ, who willingly sacrificed Himself for the sins of the world. The One who had never sinned died to save those who had sinned.

Being fully devoted to the Lord is not a fanatical persuasion without reason. It is a life that is measured with each step examined under the microscope of God’s will. Asa had a big decision to make, and he chooses to ignore the power of God. Life is filled with big decisions that must be gauged by what God would desire for the individual or the selfish desires of self. The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, seeking hearts that are loyal to Him. God wants to see His people dedicated to Him in every part of their life. They should not allow the pressures of the world to decide how they live. The Christian walk is a cross-bearing journey guided by the word of the Lord, the Good Shepherd.

There are many decisions to make in life that must be measured by the will of the Lord. When a young man and woman decide to marry, their first thoughts may be because of their love for one another. What must come first is whether this individual will help me or hinder my journey to eternal life. Marrying someone simply because of their beauty is like buying a house because of the paint. What is important is what is on the inside. That is who God is seeking. When a career is being considered, few put at the top of the list whether their jobs will glorify God or dishonor His name by the nature of the work schedule, influences, and conflicts with the word of God. Asking what God thinks of the job decision is seldom considered and should be the first thing to think about. If a young man is very talented in a sport that takes him to the highest peaks of his athleticism, will he deny the Lord to play sports on the day when he should be worshipping God? So many make decisions without consulting God first.

The church needs souls whose hearts are found by the eyes of the Lord as fully committed to Him. Families that center their marriages and parenting with God-first principles will be pleasing in the eyes of the Lord. Young people who choose careers that give glory to God will find the pleasure of the eyes of God. When life is molded in a spiritual world of the word of God, the example to others will let the light of Christ shine in a dark world. Neighbors will come to Christ by the example of men and women entirely devoted to the Lord. Friends will understand the seriousness of how much the Christian loves the Lord and is dedicated to the kingdom of God. It takes fully committed hearts. The eyes of the Lord go to and fro throughout the earth. What does He see in your life?

Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. For he who has died has been freed from sin. (Romans 6:3-7)

The Moment Of Salvation

When a child is born, the day and time are recorded on his birth record. This shows the moment of birth. Before the day and the minute, the child remained in the womb. When he is cut from his mother’s umbilical cord, he begins his life independently. His journey has started. Most people remember the day they were born and are reminded each year when the birthday cake blazes with candles. Few remember (or know) the moment they were born. What is significant about that moment is the realization of life’s beginning. It is important because it marks a dividing time from one stage to another. The life experience is marked from that single moment of the day. 7:34 am (for example) is an exact moment when life outside the womb begins. It is an amazing time stamp.

 Jesus told Nicodemus that a man enters the kingdom of God by being born again. The imagery of birth is found throughout scripture, describing the moment a person leaves the dark womb of the world to the light of God’s love and grace. John writes in his first epistle the beauty of being born of God as the joy of being redeemed. Paul uses the analogy of the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus as the new birth. In the figure of coming out of the tomb, salvation is found when a man rises from the watery grave of baptism to the renewal of the resurrection in Christ. A man is buried with Christ through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead, salvation is granted to those who have been united together in the likeness of His death. What is significant to consider is that moment in time, a man is no longer a lost, condemned, and hopeless sinner – but a child of God. The moment of salvation.

Every man struggles with sin and becomes a slave to sin. He is without hope, walking according to the desires of the flesh like the rest of the world. Life is filled with the passions of the world with no way to save himself. He is a servant of the devil, following the passionate desires and inclinations of a sinful nature. God’s wrath is against him. Being a good man will not put him in favor of God. Acting religious does not take away the anger of the Lord. Seeking the wisdom of human acceptance fails. And then a day comes when the gospel of Jesus Christ enters the dark heart of disbelief, and a change begins to take place.

The grace of God is shining through the clouds of doubt, and hope rises. There is an understanding of God’s love, the sacrifice and the price paid by the Son of God to redeem man, and an urgent need to obey. The voice cries out, “What must I do to be saved.” From the throne of a loving Father comes the reply to “repent and be baptized for the remission of sins.” Hearts overcome with fear are now consumed with hope as the water washes away all sin. It is a moment of cleansing. A new birth has been marked by a single moment where the lost soul becomes a new creation. Joy fills the heart. A journey of faith begins. God’s love has overcome another soul.

In the life of all of God’s children, a moment comes when they are no longer servants of the devil but slaves of God. It is that moment that is the glorious realization of God’s grace. One hour before, a man was lost. Thirty minutes prior offered no hope. Obedience to the will of the Lord marks a single moment in the life of the saved when they were born again. He was lost, but now he is saved. Without that moment of God’s mercy to take away all sin, there would be no hope. The day of one’s birth is important to remember the power of creation and God’s love. Knowing and considering the day of one’s spiritual birth has eternal consequences. That is when life really begins. Thank God for that moment of birth.

Then Jesus cried out and said, “He who believes in Me, believes not in Me but in Him who sent Me. And he who sees Me sees Him who sent Me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in Me should not abide in darkness. And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him—the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. And I know that His command is everlasting life. Therefore, whatever I speak, just as the Father has told Me, so I speak.” (John 12:44-50)

All Men Will Be Judged By The Word

There is a great day of judgment coming. All nations will be gathered before the Creator. The dead, small and great, will stand before the Lord. From every age from Adam until the final day of earth’s existence, every person stands before a Holy God to be judged. There will never be an assembly like the gathering of all souls before the throne of the Lord God. Social status will not be a factor of judgment. Kings will stand next to peasants, and the rich will mingle with the poor. There will be no famous people exalting their accomplishments or despots forcing their will on the oppressed. No one will think of themselves better than another. All souls will be standing in the same place doing the same thing waiting for the judgment of the one who sits upon the throne. And then a voice will speak, and divine separation begins. Most will go to the left into a dark abyss of damnation while the few enter the portals of heavenly splendor. Judgment is completed. Hell is closed. Heaven abounds with the singing of the faithful. Eternity fills the void as time without end.

Believing in the day of judgment is not imperative to its reality. Most do not think there will be a day of reckoning. To them, life is lived here, and then everything is over. There is nothing beyond the grave. Sadly, in the reality of death, they awaken to the certainty of how vast eternity will be. Every soul will know the judgment of God is righteous. No one in the pit of Hell will believe they deserve eternity in heaven. They will know the verdict passed down was correct. Their doom in the eternal flames will come from a truth they learned too late. It is not so much the presence of God, Jesus, or the Holy Spirit that convicts them. Every person standing before the judgment bar of a Holy God will know the word of God judged them.

Jesus came into the world to bring the light of God. He taught the multitudes the gospel of the Father, and while multitudes accepted His teaching, most did not. In less than three years, the world turned against Jesus and His preaching, and they killed Him. In the past two thousand years, the word of God has been challenged. Many have denied its truth. Other books were written casting doubt on the word of God. Churches with different dogmas arose leading men astray from the word of the Lord. Sadly, many souls follow a corrupted teaching of the word of God. Mormons follow the Book of Mormon. Moslems believe in the Koran. Denominations hold to their creed books. The Roman Catholic Church blindly follows the Pope and his word. Everybody has their own belief.

Judgment is coming, and the Book of Mormon will not be there. The Koran will not be there, and all the creed books of man-made churches will be burned up in the fire when the world comes to an end. The Pope will be before the Lord, but he will not be a Pope. He will be a man, and that is all. His words will mean nothing. Joseph Smith’s words and Muhammad’s words will mean nothing. The religious leaders and their human wisdom will mean nothing. Whatever Kent Heaton says and writes will mean nothing. What will be on the lips of every soul gathered is how they lived up to the word of God.

Jesus declares to the Pharisees to reject Him is to reject God. When a man rejects Jesus and will not receive His words, he has that which judges him – the word spoke by Jesus will judge him in the last day. Everything Jesus said came from the Father. The Bible contains the words of God in totality, and every word is pure. Refusing to obey the words of the Bible will bring the wrath of God. Judgment will come from one book, and that book is what is contained between Genesis and the Revelation. There is no other book with that power. No message can promise salvation as can the gospel of Jesus Christ. Eternal life is found in the words of God. You and I will stand before the judgment bar of God, and the book we have in our hands will be our judgment. If we do not listen to His word now, we will listen on the day of judgment. Do not let that day come without knowing the word of God. Your soul depends on it.

Nevertheless, even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess Him, lest they should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God. (John 12:42-43)

Seeking The Wrong Praise

The admiration of others is an important part of relationships and how many people identify themselves. Goals are set early in life to become an accomplished athlete, musician, business entrepreneur, or remembered as a historical figure. Men strive for the gold ring of excellence to hear the applause of others praising who they are. They become stars and famous people with accolades of self-importance. Trophies are given, awards bestowed, names flashed across the screen, and for some, they see buildings and structures named after them. The praise of men. It can be very heady, alluring, and intoxicating.

What happens after the awards show is over, and the cleanup crews are putting everything back together? Where do the golden trophies reside? How long will a famous name be remembered? Who can identify the name inscribed on a building in generations to come? The Oscar for best actor in 1956 is long forgotten. Few will know who won the World Series in 1959. Thomas Starzl was a world-renowned doctor who, in 1963, did something very few people know about. There are myriads of buildings named after people that are long forgotten. This is the praise of men that is so powerful in life and yet easily forgotten in the next generation.

The futility of the praise of men is that it is so fleeting. The span of a man’s life is so brief, and when he dies, his memories fade into distant images of days gone by with little or no significance to the next generation. People get older and more feeble in time no matter how rich or famous they become. When older men and women try to retain their youth by looking thirty years younger, they only succeed in making themselves look ten years more foolish. The praise of men is temporary – very temporary. Nothing is lasting about fame. It flourishes for a time and then vanishes away as quickly.

It is difficult to imagine how those living when Jesus walked among them could not embrace His teachings and His message. The miracles proved beyond doubt that He was God. When He preached before the multitudes, hearts were stirred with either the passion of goodness or the zeal for hatred. There was no middle ground. Jesus was the Son of God, or He was a fraud. Among the Jewish rulers, many believed in Jesus. They accepted His teaching as divine. There was no doubt about His divine powers. His message was always a moving and challenging experience. These men believed in Jesus Christ, but they could not acknowledge any allegiance lest they fall from favor from their peers. They were unwilling to admit they believed in Jesus for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue.

Jesus knew why the rulers would not acknowledge Him as the Son of God. They loved human praise more than the praise of God. If they confessed Christ, they would lose their influence among their fellow Jews. People would shun them and treat them as the offscouring of the world. If they wanted fame and power, they could never admit to believing Jesus was the Son of God. So, they held on to the praise of men, and when they died, the praise of men died with them. Their attempt to have praise failed. It was of no value.

Today, there are those in the world who can never devote their lives to serve the Lord as it would harm their social status, job security, or position among their friends. They deny any allegiance to being a Christian because they love the praise of men more. No one knows they are a Christian, and they want to keep it that way. Their lives become empty shells of hypocrisy, showing the world a face of social acceptance, believing that God will accept their pretense to save them. Death comes to all men, and the praise of men ends. What happens next is the tragedy of the story. The praise of men cannot save a soul from condemnation. Only the praise of God can do that. When it is too late, every heart will want to hear the Lord say, “Well done, good and faithful servant; who loved My praise more than the praise of men.” Sadly, few will hear these words. Why? The praise of men is strong, powerful, alluring, and deceitful. The only question left to be asked is whose praise are you seeking? Men or God? Choose.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Spirit Fruit: Joy

There is a lot of sadness in the world. When Adam and Eve spent their first day outside the garden, they reflected on the gladness they had when they walked and communed with God. Sin blighted the happiness of the first couple, and now they stood alone in an uncertain world. They would find joy as they trusted in God and learned to devote their lives to Him. The struggle for humanity has always been how to answer the need for happiness. Sin presents an allurement of great pleasure as a means to obtain joy, but it never delivers on what it promises. The reason sin is so alluring is that it has a lot of joy and pleasure to it. It has an enticement that is irresistible with a promise of grandeur far beyond the norm. Sadly, what is sought for in the moment of pleasure is quickly lost. Sin never lasts.

Joy is the desire of every human being. How they find that joy is what makes a difference in their lives. Some seek after the works of the flesh to find joy. They seek pleasure in sexual immorality, impurity, and lustful pleasures, and while enjoying a temporary euphoria of gladness, it never lasts. Many lost souls live their lives with drunkenness and wild parties and find nothing at the end of the road but misery and heartache. Joy escapes them. Happiness is never found. Sadness fills the heart. Misery overshadows every part of their life. Death comes, and all hope is lost.

The fruit of the Spirit is joy because it comes from God, and it is eternal. Finding joy in the blessings of God brings gladness to the heart and promise to the soul. Life is a hard road to walk and can be filled with challenges that can overwhelm. Finding the joy of God does not take away the problems of life. Paul’s great letter of joy was written from a Roman prison cell. The book of the Bible that mentions joy more than any other is the prophet Isaiah. He lived in a time of great wickedness and turmoil, yet his message was joy and hope in God. Having the joy of the Spirit will not take cancer away, bring back a loved one, increase the bank statement or solve the world’s problems, but it changes the view. Joy brings a faith-lift to the broken heart and soothes the troubled soul.

Joy brings hope in the glory of God. It finds its worth in righteousness and the peace of God. Joy is the measure that helps the eye see the Lord, who, having not seen, is loved and worshipped with gladness. There is joy in the knowledge that sin has no dominion and that through the blood of Christ, sins are washed away. Worship is based on the joy of being a child of God addressing the Father with thanksgiving and love. Remembering the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on a Roman cross fills the heart with gladness. Singing with fellow saints fills the heart with joy. The fellowship of the body of Christ fuels the spirit of joy. Death is no longer feared when the fruit of the Spirit of joy faces the end of life with courage and hope.

Because of the joy awaiting Him, Jesus endured the cross, disregarding its shame. He faced His life and His death with the joy of the Father, and now He is seated at the right hand. Followers of Jesus will find that same joy, and when life becomes a heavy cross to disregard the pain of this world for the joys of eternal life. Joy on earth will end. Joy in Heaven will never end. Let joy reign in the heart. Joy.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ. (Ephesians 1:3)

In Christ And In Him

For those seeking the blessings of God, the fellowship of spirit has always been where the covenant of God is established with the heart of man. Whether in the Garden of Eden, the Law of Moses, or the New Testament church, the Lord always provides a haven of redemption. God is a jealous God demanding the will of men bow to His glory and follow His will. This requires a relationship of obedience. When men seek to find salvation outside the bounds of God’s law, they fail to receive the blessings of the Father. Adam and Eve rebelled against the Lord’s command when they took of the forbidden fruit, breaking fellowship with God. When the nation of Israel refused to keep the Law, they were rejected by God and lost their blessings. Jesus came into the world to bring all men to the Father through one covenant, one church, one redemptive plan, and one Lord. If there are any blessings to be enjoyed with the Father, it can only be in Christ.

The importance of being in Christ is highlighted by the possibility of not being in Christ. It is a fundamental lesson of receiving blessings if one is in Christ, but if a person is not in Christ, there will be no blessings. Paul said that all spiritual blessings are in Christ and in Him. God chose His people to be in Christ before the foundation of the world. Only in Christ will the redemption through His blood be found. The inheritance of eternal life is in Him and no other. The Ephesians had trusted in Christ after hearing the word of truth, the gospel of salvation, and were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise. Every aspect of salvation is found in Christ and in Him.

All spiritual blessings are found in one place and one place alone – in Christ. If a person is not in Christ, they receive no blessings. Many believe in Jesus but are not in Him. It is possible to be religious and follow a pattern of worship and still not be in Christ. To be in Christ means a person has followed the will of God to do what He demands a person to be in Christ. Paul reminded the saints in Rome they were joined with Christ Jesus in baptism, showing how a man enters a covenant with God. Through the grace and mercy of God, salvation is offered to all men, but not all men are willing to come into Christ. One of the most seditious teachings of Satan is to convince men that baptism is not necessary for salvation. Baptism is the avenue that puts a man into Christ, and without baptism, there is no entrance and no blessings.

Sin separates man from God, placing him outside the realm of blessings from the Father. God desires all men to come to repentance, but while He pleads for men to go in, He will not force anyone to come through the door. All spiritual blessings are in Christ. Redemption is in Him. If a man stands outside the door and does not enter into Christ, he receives no blessings, forgiveness, and hope. There is no eternal home for those who are not in Christ. Being religious does not put one in Christ. Living a good life will not place a man in Christ. Following the doctrines of men has never put a man into a covenant with God. To be in Christ demands the heart follow the will of God. A man is saved by the grace of God and the obedience of the heart to be baptized for the remission of sins. Until one is immersed in water, there are no blessings. They are not in Christ.

And he broke in pieces the sacred pillars and cut down the wooden images and filled their places with the bones of men. Moreover, the altar that was at Bethel, and the high place which Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel sin, had made, both that altar and the high place he broke down; and he burned the high place and crushed it to powder, and burned the wooden image. As Josiah turned, he saw the tombs that were there on the mountain. And he sent and took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar and defiled it according to the word of the Lord which the man of God proclaimed, who proclaimed these words. (2 Kings 23:14-16)

The Defilement Of Death

Josiah was eight years old when he became king in Judah, ruling thirty-one years. His life would end tragically in a battle against the Egyptians at Megiddo at the age of thirty-nine. In a world filled with the darkness of idolatry and pagan worship, Josiah was a reformer to God’s people seeking to bring the hearts of the nation back to righteousness, truth, and devotion to the true God. According to the law, he restored true worship as found in the book discovered during renovations of the Temple. Much of his reform was tearing down. He removed the idolatrous priests that served Baal and worshiped the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the powers of the heavens. The wooden image of Asherah was removed from the Temple, taken outside the city, and burned. Josiah tore down the homes of the male and female idolatrous prostitutes who lived inside the Temple of God.  

Throughout Judah, the king tore down and destroyed the images of Baal, Asherah, Chemosh, and Milcom. When he broke down the gods’ sacred pillars and wooden images, he filled their place with human bones. Seeing the tombs on the mountain, the king took the bones out of the tombs and burned them on the altar, and defiled it according to the word of the Lord. He executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them. Everywhere Josiah went, he removed the idols and desecrated them with the dead bodies and remains.

The Jews and heathens both considered the body of a dead man as defiled. Under the Law of Moses, a man who touched a dead body was unclean for seven days. The Gentiles recognized the defilement of a dead body. Josiah’s action was a message both to the Jews who rejected idolatry and those who embraced the pagan rituals of the severity of rebelling against the one true God. Filling the places of idol worship with the bones of men showed the putridity of death and the consequence of rejecting God. Burning the bones of men on the altars made them unclean and unholy.

Touching a dead body was not forbidden by God for sanitary reasons. It was a lesson to show how death is the defilement of body and soul. The reason that death reigns is because of sin. Adam and Eve lived in the garden with the tree of life but when they rebelled against God, He cast them away from the tree of life and death ruled over men. The process of the body decaying in death is a testimony of how powerful the pungent stench of sin becomes in the heart of men. Josiah’s act of burning men’s bones on the altars was to show the power of God over those useless idols. The defilement of the bones highlighted the defilement of the idols.

Josiah’s act of burning men’s bones has a powerful fulfillment many centuries later when the disciples of Jesus came to His tomb early on the first day of the week. They found the tomb empty. The angel told the women who entered the tomb that Jesus has risen, and He was not there. They would find no bones. There would be no defilement. Jesus would rise on the third day so that His flesh would not see corruption. Death reigned until the resurrection of the Son of God, and then the defilement of sin was taken away. Josiah defiled the altars with the bones of men. God removed the stain of sin with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The hope for those who follow the Son of God is that death has no power and will not defile the spirit. Death is a blessing as the body embraces the bones but the soul – eternal life.

But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth. (John 4:23-24)

Religion On Campus Fades

The heading in a recent news article reflected the trend that most U.S. adults avoid church, and college students are becoming increasingly disassociated with “organized religion.” Young people suggest religion has not played a significant role in their lives as they begin to form their opinions of life. The changing world values and technologies of the modern age have shifted the attention of young minds away from the values of their upbringing to the desires of self-expression, rejection of establishment, and buying into a culture bent on canceling anything that offends. This new trend is an old path with a fresh coat of asphalt. In the 60s, the same song filled the airways with the hippie movement and protested against the Vietnam war. Women’s liberation, Black Panther, social injustice, and defiance against law and order were the mantra of the day fighting against the establishment. Now the grandchildren of that lost generation are putting on the same clothes with a different style.

There is an appeal for “religious organizations” to adapt to the needs of young people. According to James Cavendish, a University of South Florida sociology professor, churches need to be “less emphatic and less absolutist in its religious pronouncement about issues, whether it be abortion or sexuality,” according to James Cavendish, a University of South Florida sociology professor. There is agreement that what are termed “religious organizations” need to adapt to the needs of young people because they have never represented the pattern of the New Testament church. All of the denominations (Protestant churches) have become social, political, and moral bastions of self-serving, accepting institutions catering to the whims and notions of the masses. Instead of men adapting to the word of God, the will of God must bend to the will of men. That is total nonsense (if I may be so bold).

The popular saying among many is they are “not religious, but they are spiritual.” Religion has become a melting pot of blending the spiritual notions of carnal desires to become the new gods of modern America. It is impossible to be a follower of Jesus Christ and believe abortion is a right. The Bible teaches God created man in His own image, and when a woman has an abortion, she commits murder. Those who argue against this do not defend their belief with scripture but with their own opinions. Accepting sexuality at any level is what society demands. Homosexuality (and all of its cousins) is condemned throughout scripture, but “religious organizations” bow down to the social pressures to accept the perversion as viewed by God. It must be understood that sexual intimacy outside of marriage is condemned, infidelity is condemned, and men with men and women with women is condemned. That is what God says. But that is not the opinions of the liberated, spiritually conscience minds of those who are not religious.

Fundamental to the failure of the modern view of religion is that men have created their own totems of what they want to worship. Instead of men drawing themselves to the Lord God, they demand God come down to their level and become the god of human wisdom. The angels laugh at the absurdity of man’s plight. Created higher than humankind, the angels worship God as sovereign and supreme. Jesus tells a woman from Samaria that worship is based on a clear, demonstrative, and power model: worship must be according to truth, and it must be according to spirit. Anything less is vain worship.

The newest polls showing a decline of worshipers is not new. When men begin to fill their hearts with their own self-deluded grandeur and worth, there is no room for God. They will boast in their arrogance until they die, and then they will discover that God must be worshiped according to spirit and truth. It is a sad commentary to see so many souls lost in the wilderness of pride, believing they are their own gods. Two things are certain: there is a God, and you are not him.

Joshua turned back at that time and took Hazor, and struck its king with the sword; for Hazor was formerly the head of all those kingdoms. And they struck all the people who were in it with the edge of the sword, utterly destroying them. There was none left breathing. Then he burned Hazor with fire. So all the cities of those kings, and all their kings, Joshua took and struck with the edge of the sword. He utterly destroyed them, as Moses the servant of the LORD had commanded. But as for the cities that stood on their mounds, Israel burned none of them, except Hazor only, which Joshua burned. And all the spoil of these cities and the livestock, the children of Israel took as booty for themselves; but they struck every man with the edge of the sword until they had destroyed them, and they left none breathing. As the LORD had commanded Moses his servant, so Moses commanded Joshua, and so Joshua did. He left nothing undone of all that the LORD had commanded Moses. (Joshua 11:10-15)

Leaving Nothing Undone

The northern conquest of Canaan was a hard-fought and bloody campaign. Israel faced insurmountable odds with their enemies numbering as the sand that is on the seashore in multitude, with very many horses and chariots. The Lord told Joshua not to be afraid when he saw the vast armies standing before him as victory would be brought by the hand of God for Israel. All of the kings camped against Israel, and their armies were decimated as the people of God attacked their enemies until they left none of them remaining. Joshua hamstrung all the horses and burned the chariots with fire. The Israelites completely destroyed every living thing in the city, leaving no survivors. Not a single person was spared. And then Joshua burned the city.

When Moses wrote the final chapter of the history of Israel and the law of the Lord for the nation, he reminded the people that whatever God had commanded them to do when they entered the land must be obeyed. He warned them not to add to or take away from the word of the Lord. Part of those commands included the will of the Lord to destroy the idolatrous people of the land and let nothing that breathes remain alive. God commanded His people to utterly destroy the Hittite and the Amorite and the Canaanite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. Joshua fulfilled the word of the Lord to the letter of the law.

It is hard to see God’s people slaughtering every human being, leaving no survivors. Not a single person was spared. Why did Israel do this? The word of the Lord demanded it. It was the fulfillment of the word to Abraham concerning the iniquity of the Amorites, and judgment was passed upon an ungodly, idolatrous, and rebellious people. Joshua left nothing undone. He did not go outside the bounds of God’s law, presume to know more than God by refusing to destroy all the people or change the word of the will of the Lord. Joshua followed the word of the Lord from a heart believing God’s righteous judgment was the right thing to do. Many years later, Saul would refuse to do what God said, and he lost his kingdom.

The Bible contains the mind of God, and on every page are the instructions of the Divine to the human heart. All scripture is inspired through the Spirit and must be applied in its proper place. The Law of Moses have been stricken from the pages of authority for salvation. Jesus Christ is Lord, and His will is the authority for salvation. Nothing can be left undone when it comes to what a man must do to be saved. When men refuse to obey the word of the Lord, they find themselves like King Saul, without the blessing of God. The heart must have the courage of Joshua to do all that the Lord commands. Obedience is necessary without exceptions, changes, or revisions to the word of the Lord. Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all the commands that the Lord had given to Moses. Can we do any less today?