Hold on, for the grace of God

2 Cor 4:8-9 - We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.

Hard pressed
We are hard pressed on every side. Isn’t it so, sometimes? We feel like we cannot take it anymore; we doubt we can still hang on. But the Word says we are not crushed.

There was one I know, who was out of job, low in savings, had bills and expenses to meet, and his spouse divorced him, and he had to legally fight for righteousness, and for the care and control of his children (case of which became long drawn); he was hard pressed to be with income, hard pressed to pay for expenses bills, and to pay the lawyers, on top of his obligation to his children and his mother. He held on to the Word that says “we will not be crushed”.

Perplexed
The same gentleman was perplexed, really perplexed, for he was by then a Christian of many years, had served in his church in more than one ministry, faithful in his church attendance, sang, praised and worshiped the Lord mostly fervently, relative to many, in church services, took pain to ensure his children receive Sunday school teachings, and to grow with Christian inputs. When his career started to brightened up, he started to want to serve the Lord more, and had began to seek the Lord; he began a year of fasting on weekends, and went to seminars and teachings in the faith. Toward the end of the year-long fast, he lost his job and his career; things went south for him, until finally, the cruel thing happened, his wife divorced him, and wanted to take the children away, overseas. It was all so perplexing! Down, down, and down, he went to the bottom of the pit, nothing around, but darkness, and more darkness. But he had to refuse to be abandoned to despair, because the Word says despair is not our lot.

Persecuted
Today, if you are being persecuted, the Word says that you are not abandoned. Many people may not take notice of your predicament, many of those you know, do not understand you, your loved ones may be incapable of helping you; even your partner may abandon you. But there is one who will not abandon you. He is the Lord.

Struck down
When we are struck down, whether by calamity, by sickness, or by any others, are we destroyed? We are not destroyed.

I know of one who was struck (but not down) by stage 4 lung cancer. It has been more than a year now for this lady, and she has refused, and continues to refuse defeat, and destruction. Sister, you are struck, but you are not down, and when you are not down, you can be hard pressed and yet not crushed, you can be perplexed but you are not to be in despair; the Devil had tried to persecute in your job yet you were not abandoned, the Lord had given you back your job. Keep up the spirit, sister. Physical destruction is possible but endpoint destruction is remote, unless you allow yourself to be counted or be reckoned with Satan.

That is how it is
Until we are called home, we are to persevere as Christians, and be of good cheer; life is worth living just because Jesus lives. We have to accept that even though we have entered into salvation, we are still in this fallen world, and as much as we want it, and work toward it, this world is still far from being completely taken over by the kingdom of God, meaning perfection is not here.

In the words of the Apostle Paul, in 1 Cor 13:12, for now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then {when Jesus comes back} we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. There are varying degrees of manifestations, in this world, of the kingdom of God, especially when believers will themselves to be the hands and legs of Jesus, yet full manifestation is not here. The latter will come when we reach our home in the Kingdom of Heaven. Many people did not quite get the picture that Paul was painting with the reflection as in a mirror, because, the modern day mirror is of such high quality in terms of reflection that we forget that in the days of the apostles, the commoners’ mirrors were of poor quality, giving poorer reflection of the actual thing. Today, when we look at one mirror and then look at another, it is all the same, very clear reflections, it was not so then, and so, there were varying degrees of clarity.

Paul then went on to say that, nevertheless, 3 things still remains; 3 things we need to hold fast to, and they are faith, hope and love (1 Cor 13:13). The context of this “3 things” should be for earthly living, NOT as some commentators had wanted to interpret it to be, for living of all time, including that in the Kingdom of Heaven. Trying to frame the “3 things” in the Kingdom of Heaven living, just confuse matter; I believe the objective of Apostle Paul was to give guidance to current living on earth, i.e. earthly living.

The Apostle Paul was saying that the scenario of 2 Cor 4:8-9, that we are hard pressed on every side, perplexed, persecuted, even struck down, are very real. Yet as gospel bearers, and having entered into salvation with the Holy Spirit indwelling our body, we are to shine for God. Paul said we have the ministry of the Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:8), and with that we are able to show the all surpassing power of God working in and through our life. We are not to lose heart; by the grace of God, even when we are hard pressed on every side we are not crushed; perplexed, but we are not in despair; persecuted, but we are not abandoned; struck down, but we are not destroyed.

The Key – We can attract the grace of God
Revelation? When we hold fast to the 3 things, faith, hope and love (1 Cor 13:13), we can attract the grace of God.

The grace of God cannot be demanded, cannot be merited, yet it can be attracted. Do not get me wrong, I am not saying that grace of God is not poured out to his children all the time. God is extending grace all the time, different grace, and different degree of grace. This, I called the quiet grace of God. There are streams and streams of quiet grace of God extending out from Him all the time.

There is also the exceeding grace which God also extends out to people from time to time, in various occasions, like a supernatural healing of a sickness. A miracle is an exceeding grace at work. Do not be mistaken, even non-believers are recipients of certain quiet grace of God. God’s grace is truly an amazing grace!

So, if grace of God is given, and cannot be earned or merited, is there nothing that is of Man’s part that we should do? It is not that God MUST, or God SHALL do it, but I believe, we can ATTRACT the grace of God; and for that we need to hold fast to the 3 things the Apostle Paul referred to – faith, hope and love. The exercise of faith attracts grace of God. Living in hope attracts God’s grace, and in loving, we attract grace.

Exercise of faith attracts grace
The opposite of faith is doubt. When we are hard pressed from every side, it is very easy for us to begin to doubt whether we can make it through. We will be crushed when we doubt. In order, not to be crushed, we have to hold fast to our faith, and in our actions, we act out in keeping with that faith. We pray and move, or not move, accordingly. We are to do the right thing that we can do, for those we cannot do, we trust God to take care.

Faith without action is dead, and is not a complete unit of faith that would be pleasing to God. For example, a belief that God can heal is not yet a complete unit of faith that is pleasing to God! It is merely a right belief, not yet a faith; there is still another element, and that is conviction. A right belief with a strong enough conviction, will move you to act in keeping with the belief, and the whole thing becomes faith, a complete unit pleasing to God.

Faith in action, or living faith is what can possibly attract grace (and hopefully exceeding grace) of God. You can be of right belief all you want, that God can heal, but if you are not going to pray for the sick person, your belief will just stay as your belief, a dead thing. When you go into action, and that reflects your conviction, we have a faith, capable of attracting the grace of God, coming as healing for the sick person, for example. Why are Christians not crushed when we are hard pressed from every side? It is because we hold fast to our faith, not doubting our making it through.

Living in hope attracts God’s grace
When we are perplexed and very tempted to repeatedly ask why and why, yet we do not despair, why? It is because to despair is to be without hope. We do not despair because we have a strong hope. What hope? Are hope and faith the same? Obviously, as used in 1 Cor 13:13, they are not the same.

The first way of looking at “hope” in 1 Cor 13:13 is to view it as the living hope, i.e. the hope that we, Christians, have, of making it to Heaven to dwell with God there. Viewing it this way does help us to keep things in perspective, that what we are facing and living through here, on earth, is a short and temporal experience; and when we fix on eyes on the after-life, worldly things fade into the background, set-backs and sufferings are more clearly seen as temporal, and more easily accepted, and need not be unduly fret over, or be anxious about.

Another way of viewing it, which I like, is not to view hope as “the looking forward to something happening according to expectation” (common definition). There is another meaning of hope that can help us weather through storms of life. But this meaning is not referring to confidence of outcome, for that too closely resembled faith, and would make it meaningless for the Apostle Paul to include hope as one of 3 things, since faith was already listed. Let me elaborate:

When one is sick, he may say he has faith that he will be healed by God (when someone prays for him). He has faith that he will be healed. That is his faith (that he will be healed), even though undoubtedly, his faith is in the Lord. If faith and hope are the same, then we could word the same sentence as “When one is sick, he may say he hopes that he will be healed by God.” But that is not exactly the proper thing to say. It will be ok to say, “When one is sick, he may say he has faith that he will be healed. His hope is in God.”

What is the difference? The difference is this: his faith that he will be healed is referring to his confidence that he will be healed (Heb 11:1, NIV), whereas hope is the ground of that confidence that he will recover. Hope as the ground, got to do with who God is. Let say the sick man is in need of a surgical operation, and I am to perform it. He has better not hope, for I am no surgeon, not even a doctor. He has no ground to be optimistic. We do not despair because we know our God, and that is the ground, that is the hope.

Hope is the ground, and is the ground of our confidence (faith). In another definition of faith, found in Romans 10:17 (KJV), it is said that faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. The Word of God is about God. From the hearing of the Word, we get to know God; in other words, faith comes from knowing who God is. Who God is, is the ground, and is the hope. In other words, Romans 10:17 implies that faith cometh from hope in God; faith cometh from the ground of who God is (It is possible that faith and hope are used synonymously, but used in 1 Cor 13:3, they were obviously referring to different things).

So, I repeat, even though we are perplexed, we do not despair, because we are with hope – we know who our God is. And when we live our life always with hope, always knowing who God is, with personal knowledge of Him, even, and act consistent with that knowing, we can attract His grace in our life.

In loving, we attract grace
Why do I say when we are persecuted, we are not abandoned. Firstly, there is the category of people being persecuted for their love for God. Our living in love for Him attracts His grace. Secondly, in general persecution, we are not abandoned, because we acted as instruments of His love. He is watching, and we are not alone; he is right beside us. When we are persecuted, we can rest in knowing that He loves us, and in His love for us, He will use other willing instrument of His love to comfort us, and if none was available, He Himself shall manifest to bring comfort, and assure us that we are not abandoned. As Christians, we should be ever ready to be God’s instrument of love, extending comfort to others, even to those being persecuted. And when we do that, moving in love, we can attract the grace of God for ourselves when we face persecution, and for those in persecution. If you want to see and perceive more of God’s grace, go, move in love. Perhaps, then and only then, can we appreciate why the Apostle Paul said that the greatest of the 3, is love, for though the very foundation of God's throne is justice and righteousness, He moves in love and faithfulness (Ps 89:14).

For those struck and down – the grace of God is there, to carry you home
When the temporal end comes, i.e. for those going to be struck down, the perspective to hold is this: Satan cannot destroy us if we do not allow ourselves to be counted or reckoned with him.

In John 10:10, we read that the Devil came to steal, kill, and destroy {notice destruction is put after killing}; while Jesus, the Lord, came that we might have life, and life abundant. Both had come (on earth). It is the Devil who aims to destroy; he came first, and he hatched out a deception, and Man had fallen for that deception in the Garden of Eden, and so, every man is already condemned to destruction. Through that deception, every man became counted with Satan, to share his destiny, which is destruction by the burning lake of fire in Hell.

The destruction in John 10:10 is not a mere physical destruction, but is one that includes both physical and spiritual destruction, with the latter being the endpoint. This endpoint destruction is not a reduction to nothingness; it is the eternal “roasting in the burning lake of fire” away from God, and is the eternal spiritual death, and is the destruction that Man must fear, and which we, as Christians, are being rescued from, by the Lord, Jesus.

The Lord came to give life, to deliver us from this eternal death. Before becoming Christians, we were first of all, condemned to that eternal death, because of the Original Sin, but by our acceptance of Jesus as our Lord and Savior, the Lord gave us life; we are no more condemned by that action of Adam and Eve. So, today, we may be struck down, even through accident, calamity, and sickness, we are not destroyed. We may suffer physical destruction, physical death, but in our journey into eternality, that is, but a transition, for after this corruptible body is gone from us, our soul and spirit (Man is body, soul, and spirit) will, in His time, acquire an incorruptible body, and at that time we will be complete once more, and will dwell in the presence of the Almighty God, forever. We may be struck down, but we are not destroyed.



Anthony Chia – Hold fast to faith, hope and love, exercise them, live in them, and live them out; in this way, the grace of God may be attracted for our lives and for the lives of those around us.

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Judges series - Samson as type to Jesus

The concepts of types and parables

What is a type when used in Scripture?
When we say something is a type for another, what we are saying is the first mentioned thing (usually referred as “the type”) has enough attributes to somewhat show us what the second mentioned thing is about.

It is NOT equal to, and NOT the same as the actual thing (the second thing, in the above para.) that we are referring to, but the knowledge and understanding of the type can help us to understand the actual thing. It points us to the actual thing, yet it is NOT a pointer merely, for a pointer or sign per se, does not have attributes or elements of, or is a representation of the actual thing.

For example, a “L” plate hung on a car on the road, is a pointer or a sign, telling us the driver is a learner-driver; there is nothing on the plate that can be considered as attributes, elements or a representation of the driver in the car.

A type, on the other hand, would have some attributes or elements in common (or nearly common) with the actual thing. For example, and is one quite widely accepted, Moses is considered as a type to Jesus Christ. Why do we say that? Because these are the attributes or elements in common:

1. Jesus (the actual thing) is a Deliverer, and Moses was a deliverer.
2. Jesus is leading God’s people to Heaven (Our Eternal Promised Land), and Moses was leading God’s people (Israelites, then) to the Promised Land.
3. Jesus was sent by God into the world (John 3:16), and Moses was sent by God (back) into Egypt (Exo 3:10).
4. Jesus faced death threat at infancy (Mat 2:16), and Moses also faced death threat at infancy (Exo 1:15-16).
5. Jesus left royalty to be the Deliverer (Phil 2:6-8), and Moses also felt royalty (Heb 11:24).
6. Jesus was rejected by some of his own (Matt 23:37, and Matt 12:24, Matt 27:22), and Moses was also rejected by some of his own (Acts 7:23-27).
7. From rejection by his own, Jesus embraced the Gentile, converting them to be part of His corporate bride (Rom 11:25), and Moses, also from rejection by his own, took and converted a Gentile wife (Exo 2:21, Exo 18:5-12).

Moses was not a mere sign; he was a type, pointing to Jesus Christ as the actual Deliverer, the perfect Deliverer.

Samson as a type to Jesus Christ

Samson was also a type to Jesus Christ. The story of Samson, as would, the story of Moses, was a parable. What then is a parable? For clearer picture of what is a parable and what to watch out for, in interpreting a parable, see my separate article, “The Parable of the Shrewd Manager (Luke 16:1-15)”. Just remember that in the story of Moses, as a parable to Jesus’ story, Moses was the type to Jesus, likewise, in the story of Samson as a parable, Samson was the type to Jesus. Also, remember that a “type” is not “the thing”, and so, even as Moses did not represented Jesus fully or completely, so was Samson not able to fully or completely represent Jesus. The only one type that can fully represent another is Jesus as a type to Father God, for truly when we see Jesus, we see the Father (John 14:7,9).

The Parable of the Samson story

In regarding Samson as a type to Jesus, the story of Samson, in this regard (pointing to Jesus), was a parable. The story of Samson in itself is more of a narrative, and NOT a parable, as such. This understanding must be noted, so that we do not go round mindlessly interpreting plain narratives, allegorically.

Here is the story of Samson in a snapshot:
1. Before he was even conceived, his arrival was already proclaimed (Judges 13:3).
2. The LORD spoke to both his parents about him coming (Judges 13:3,11).
3. He was set apart for God since birth, to be the “light” in the dark season of the people; the people of God were greatly oppressed (Judges 13:1), and he was to begin the deliverance of God’s people (Judges 13:5).
4. As he grew, God blessed him (Judges 13:24).
5. He overcame the lion (Judges 14:5).
6. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power (Judges 14:19).
7. He was betrayed (Judges 16:5-6).
8. He was bound, blinded and mocked (Judges 16:21,25).
9. He entered into sacrificial death (Judges 16:30).

Whose story does the above look like? Yes, the story of Jesus. Not exactly the same, because it was a parable when it serves to point to Jesus. Samson was a type to, and a metaphor for Jesus, and it pointed to us, the limitation of a man as a deliverer or savior, and therefore, begged the coming of a true deliverer, Jesus Christ who is of God, and is God.

For the benefit of readers, for the same story, references for Jesus are now given: the story of Jesus Christ in a snapshot:
1. Before he was even conceived, his arrival was already proclaimed
(Luke 1:31).
2. The LORD spoke to both his parents about him coming (Luke 1:30-31,Matt 1:20)
3. He was set apart for God since birth, to be the “light” in the dark season of the people; the people of God were greatly oppressed, and he was to begin the deliverance of God’s people (Matt 1:20-21, John 1:9).
4. As He grew, God blessed him (Luke 2:40).
5. He overcame the lion (Satan – the roaring lion {1 Pet 5:8}, Gen 3:15, Jesus crushed Satan’s head – symbolic to mean the wrestling back of authority).
6. The Spirit of the LORD came upon Him in power (Matt 3:16-17, Jesus empowered to defeat Satan in the 3 counts of Temptations in the desert).
7. He was betrayed (Matt 26:15-16).
8. He was bound, blindfolded (“blinded’) and mocked (Matt 27:2, Luke 22:63-65).
9. He entered into sacrificial death (Heb 2:14-16; 2 John 2).
10. He was resurrected (Acts 2:31-32, Ps 16:10-11) [added, Samson’s story did not have this. I will address this in a while.]

There are of course, other “parallels” that can be extracted from the story of Samson being speaking in parable form, the life of Jesus. For example, Samson means “like the sun”, and in that respect it spoke of proximity to the LORD, for the LORD is a sun and shield (Ps 84:11), and we have Jesus being the said to be the light (John1:9), and God is light (in Him there is no darkness) {1 John 1:5}. Even, Samson’s father’ name can signify something – Manoah means “rest”, and we often speak about (from Isaiah 57:2) entering into the God’s rest. The “God’s rest” is referring to the rest in the Father God, Jesus’ father. One can even argue why the Philistines were called Philistines, for Philistine means “one who crawls in the dust”, and the serpent of old (Satan) was the one described that way (Gen 3:14). But just do not go overboard, and try to make every verse describing Samson’s life as pointing to a similar thing in Jesus’ life, for parables are parables, it is not necessary to do that, and it will be wrong to “force” it, for the type or metaphor is always imperfect relative to the actual thing, in this case, Jesus Christ.

I added a point 10 in the story of Jesus; this was of course, without equivalent in the story of Samson. It is how it is, with parables or metaphors; a parable or metaphor cannot capture everything of the “actual thing”. Even in the things that were illustrated, they were still illustrations, always short in fullness and extent, for men or the world is nowhere near God, and kingdom of God. Although man was created in the image of God, the fallen man is nowhere a sufficient model or representation of God, yet infallible God works with fallible men, to achieve His ends, which include the establishment of eternal bliss for all in the kingdom of Heaven.

Now, since I have established some grounds to classify Samson as a type to Jesus Christ, does it therefore mean that, whatever happened in the life of Samson was a matter of engineering by the LORD, including the failings we have visited in the expositions of the 4 chapters that God had allowed the story of Samson to occupy in the Holy Scripture? Remember, the story of Samson had episodes of him sleeping with enemy prostitute, and then ripping the gate of enemy town and waved it around on a mount. Some even argued he did not honor the vows of a Nazirite; God said he was to be a Nazirite even before conception. My short answer is that it was probably not like that - that God would have engineered all his steps in life. I believe it was more of God distinctly decided to grant favor upon Samson, even before his conception, and that decision was followed through, but it was perhaps, the lack of sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, and the lack of guarding his heart (or what I call, lack of tending the “garden” of our heart) that had made him short of the truly admirable deliverer of the people of God, the Israelites, then.

I like to remind people not to subscribe, even subconsciously, that our life is a completed movie being screened. We are living in real-time, and God deals with us in real-time. Samson (and we, too) was with free-will, and so he was free to choose what he did in his life; and we, our life, in appreciation of the favor and grace of God in our life, to work out our salvation with fear and trembling, with full sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, so as to fulfill the will of God in our life. The “whatever will be, will be”, fatalistic view, is wrong. In Samson’s case, despite whatever failings on his part, and even in all our own cases, God was and is doing according to Romans 8:28 - And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. Despite Samson’s presumptuousness and failings, God did not withdrew His hand completely, but had still performed miracles when Samson had needed it, for the sake of His name, and as a grace to Samson.

The riddle - out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet

Lastly, I have said in my exposition of Judges 14, I believe the giving of the riddle, “Out of the eater, something to eat; out of the strong, something sweet.” was prophetic, i.e. it was the LORD’s idea to give the riddle. Its contemporaneous answer was the lion, but the prophetic answer was another! And, I said that I will attempt to answer the riddle at the end of my exposition of the 4 chapters devoted to Samson in the Scripture. Different people have different views on this; nonetheless, here is my take:

In 1 Pet 5:8, we read this: Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. The eater, indeed, was the lion, and is the lion – Satan; he devours, he is the eater.

Now, who holds the keys to Hades and death? It was Satan, initially, and the keys are now in the hands of Jesus Christ. This, we read in Rev 1:18 - I am the Living One; I was dead, and now look, I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades. When Jesus Christ died, crucified, he was swallowed by death and Hades. If you want a visual metaphor, the stings of death put Jesus into the eater (lion). What stings of death? They were represented by the bees in the story; they were the stings of death that were in all men because of men’s sins, for the sting of sin is death. It was all our stings of death that forced Jesus into the eater, the lion, or into Hades.

But out of it, something to eat, said the riddle. What was there to eat? When Jesus was resurrected, meaning He got out of Hades, or the metaphorical lion, there is something to eat. What is that? It is the very body and blood of Jesus Christ. When we partake of the Holy Communion, we consume elements representing the body and blood of Jesus. God defeated Satan (lion) with Jesus Christ dying, being forced by our stings of death into the lion or Hades, and then by God’s power Jesus was taken out of the eater, and He ended up as the something we can partake of.

Lion or Satan was strong, Jesus as man (Jesus on earth, was fully man), was not; that was why the second part of the riddle said “Out of the strong” came something sweet. Jesus said that His body broken for us and His blood shed for us, were what would set the New Covenant into place. What is this? This is the Good News – the Gospel, the sweet Gospel. This was not just honey, but honey from the rock (Ps 81:16). The honey is Jesus; it is also the Good News, it is sweet Jesus, it is sweet news! Samson was pointing to a more perfect, in fact, the perfect Samson - Jesus Christ is His name.


Anthony Chia – You, Oh Lord, is that something we eat; you, Oh Lord, is that something sweet. May we feed on you, always, and live.

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If stars are stars, and sand is sand, the tree of good and evil is no tithe!

Have you heard it yet? People are saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is tithe, you know. Got such thing, meh! Not new, but even big-time grace preacher saying that, you know!

For those not having any idea of what I was referring to, for the first part of the title, “If stars are stars, and sand is sand”, you may want to read my separate article, “Stars are stars, sand is sand”. In this article I would like to address the saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is tithe.

The intention of this article is not to attack a person as such (I am only against teaching, not person, per se), and there can be, by now, many people subscribing to this saying. For understanding of my stance, let me re-quote a text I put up on someone’s “forum” where discussions were made concerning theologies and doctrines, even heresies of some preachers:

“To be fair, many of us who speak out against false teachings within the body of Christ, especially those teachings against the core tenets of the faith, are not fighting other believers. Jesus Himself did not like false teachings, the Apostles taught against it; the Apostle Paul was particularly vocal about it. Jesus, in His end-time messages, via the illustrations of the 7 churches, also warned of subscribing to false teachings.

Scripture gave us indication that the coming on of greater measure of false teachings as sign of time, but still it did not say we are not to resist them. I see things are happening as foretold in 2 Tim 4:3-4 - For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”

The tree of knowledge of good and evil being referred to, according to the “doctrine”, is that same tree of knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden, which we read in the Book of Genesis. The purported doctrine is this: Adam and Eve can eat from all the trees, but not this one tree. And accordingly (?), this is the tithe, like this is money, and this is the money {tithe portion} you cannot use (you got to give back to God). What is this? To me, it is PURE speculation. As far as I know there are no verses that suggest such a “filling in the gap of this story” is tenable, i.e. there is not even partial support for such a doctrine from the Word of God.

That a glass, I can put marbles in it, does not necessary mean that all glasses are made for the purpose of putting marbles in them, likewise, when God said {concerning tithe} we cannot have all of our income, it does not necessarily mean that everything that God said we cannot have, are tithes! When God said you cannot have someone’s wife (against covetousness), it (the woman) is no tithe to God. Or when God said you shall not eat of the food offered to idols, is that tithe to God? Then why is it that it becomes tithe to God when God told Adam not to eat of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil! If God said it, I accept it, but God did not say or implied it, then we should not say such. The food to be offered for idol, is food made available by God, still it does not mean that the abstinence of it, is tithe to God; in the same way, the trees in the Garden were made available by God, the abstinence of one tree, did not mean it was tithe to God! I say this looks like one making up story anyhow! Go write a novel, perpetrator, or shoot a fiction movie, but do not adulterate the Word of God, with hidden agenda.

I want to make it very clear that I am not against tithing. But I know many overly grace believers, under the influence of their preachers, are; because in their view, tithing is of the law. Now, can you figure out what this is all about? When the tyre hits the road, we get to see who are the real champions of particular ideology. “Grace, grace, grace” they shout! “No law, no law, no law.” But wait a minute, no law means no tithe, no tithe means no money, and no money means ….

{Deep call unto deep?!, Well, deep in thought-lah} “Mm, Mm, Mm {deep in thought-what}, got to stick with no law, but must have tithe………….{Deep in thought, but MUNCHING…} Hey, where did my wife get this apple from, it is so sweet; ….. Aah, we were first, at the Gar… Gar… Guardian PharmaC Den… Den…. Then, we went into NTU-See. Aha! Apple, Gar…Den. I got it! The Holy Spirit has spoken – Apple and Garden, ….. and Adam and Eve, and the tree of (knowledge of) good and evil. Hallelujah, Hallelujah.” {Now, I am even more convinced that we have to be careful not to anyhow think the Holy Spirit is speaking to us. We continue} “The ‘First’ is always special, Guardian PharmaC is not,…. but ‘First’ is special. Hallelujah! Hallelujah! The first law is special, I can say, it is not counted the same way with the rest, like the FIRST Sin was special, it has perpetualty. That’s right, the first law must have perpetualty, so tithing must continue. Yah! Yah! Yah!”

That is pure speculation of how it came about!? Sure. So is the saying that the tree of knowledge of good and evil is the tithe! And so is the first prohibitive law being God’s command for tithe, a speculation. I rest my case!

As one from churches which believe that churches should be allowed to receive tithes, on behalf of God, I say thanks, but no thanks, to such teaching, which speculates on the Word with selfishness, and hidden agenda.


Anthony Chia – Incompatibility between grace and tithing? But this is NOT the answer! We still need to be careful with what we hear from such b i g – time preachers!

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Judges series - Judges 16 – Presumptuousness kills

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".
{For full listing of all articles in this series, click here}

{At Gaza}
1 One day Samson went to Gaza, where he saw a prostitute. He went in to spend the night with her. 2 The people of Gaza were told, "Samson is here!" So they surrounded the place and lay in wait for him all night at the city gate. They made no move during the night, saying, "At dawn we'll kill him." 3 But Samson lay there only until the middle of the night. Then he got up and took hold of the doors of the city gate, together with the two posts, and tore them loose, bar and all. He lifted them to his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that faces Hebron. [For what reason Samson went to Gaza, a big city of the Philistines, we do not know. He did nothing there except to sleep with a prostitute, and afterward, in the middle of the night got up, ripped apart the city gate and carried it to the top of the hill.

To me, it was a demonstration of brute might. It was as if Samson was saying, “See, I have come into your stronghold, enjoyed myself, and afterward, torn apart your city gate for all to see, what can you do to me?” But why this conduct? Moral character flaw? Or was it presumptuousness?]

{Samson and Delilah}
4 Sometime later, he fell in love with a woman in the Valley of Sorek whose name was Delilah. 5 The rulers of the Philistines went to her and said, "See if you can lure him into showing you the secret of his great strength and how we can overpower him so we may tie him up and subdue him. Each one of us will give you eleven hundred shekels of silver." [Some time later, Samson fell in love with a woman called Delilah who was then bought over by the Philistine rulers to find out the secret to Samson’s great strength.]
6 So Delilah said to Samson, "Tell me the secret of your great strength and how you can be tied up and subdued." 7 Samson answered her, "If anyone ties me with seven fresh thongs that have not been dried, I'll become as weak as any other man." 8 Then the rulers of the Philistines brought her seven fresh thongs that had not been dried, and she tied him with them. 9 With men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the thongs as easily as a piece of string snaps when it comes close to a flame. So the secret of his strength was not discovered. 10 Then Delilah said to Samson, "You have made a fool of me; you lied to me. Come now, tell me how you can be tied." 11 He said, "If anyone ties me securely with new ropes that have never been used, I'll become as weak as any other man." 12 So Delilah took new ropes and tied him with them. Then, with men hidden in the room, she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" But he snapped the ropes off his arms as if they were threads. 13 Delilah then said to Samson, "Until now, you have been making a fool of me and lying to me. Tell me how you can be tied." He replied, "If you weave the seven braids of my head into the fabric on the loom and tighten it with the pin, I'll become as weak as any other man." So while he was sleeping, Delilah took the seven braids of his head, wove them into the fabric 14 and tightened it with the pin. Again she called to him, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and pulled up the pin and the loom, with the fabric. 15 Then she said to him, "How can you say, 'I love you,' when you won't confide in me? This is the third time you have made a fool of me and haven't told me the secret of your great strength." [Delilah proceeded to pester Samson to reveal the secret of his strength. We read here for 3 occasions, Samson lied to Delilah, and the Philistines could not take Samson. Tying Samson with fresh throng did not weaken him. Neither did tying with new rope, nor having the 7 braids of his head woven into a fabric.]
16 With such nagging she prodded him day after day until he was tired to death. 17 So he told her everything. "No razor has ever been used on my head," he said, "because I have been a Nazirite set apart to God since birth. If my head were shaved, my strength would leave me, and I would become as weak as any other man." 18 When Delilah saw that he had told her everything, she sent word to the rulers of the Philistines, "Come back once more; he has told me everything." So the rulers of the Philistines returned with the silver in their hands. 19 Having put him to sleep on her lap, she called a man to shave off the seven braids of his hair, and so began to subdue him. And his strength left him. 20 Then she called, "Samson, the Philistines are upon you!" He awoke from his sleep and thought, "I'll go out as before and shake myself free." But he did not know that the LORD had left him. 21 Then the Philistines seized him, gouged out his eyes and took him down to Gaza. Binding him with bronze shackles, they set him to grinding in the prison. 22 But the hair on his head began to grow again after it had been shaved. [Delilah continued her nagging, finally Samson told her everything, that he was a Nazirite since birth; and no razor had ever been used on his head, and that his strength would leave him if his head was shaved. So, while Samson was asleep, Delilah shaved his head and had the Philistines come and successfully seized him, and had his eyes gouged out and took him down to Gaza, the city he had previously openly defied by needless show-off. Afterwards they shackled him and put him to work in the prison. Meanwhile in prison, his hair began to grow, but the sad thing was that he had already lost his eyes. This is my take, and you do not necessarily need to agree with me: Samson grew presumptuous and proud, became a show-off, did slacken on his morality {although, not right from the beginning, as thought by many}, again was not discreet with secrets, fell, got humiliated, humbled, and became repentant.]

The Death of Samson
23 Now the rulers of the Philistines assembled to offer a great sacrifice to Dagon their god and to celebrate, saying, "Our god has delivered Samson, our enemy, into our hands." 24 When the people saw him, they praised their god, saying, "Our god has delivered our enemy into our hands, the one who laid waste our land and multiplied our slain." 25 While they were in high spirits, they shouted, "Bring out Samson to entertain us." So they called Samson out of the prison, and he performed for them. [The rulers of the Philistines began to celebrate the capturing of Samson. They attributed it to their god, Dagon, and had the celebration carried out at the temple premise. While in high spirits, they wanted to make fun of Samson and to have Samson to be brought to the open.]
When they stood him among the pillars, 26 Samson said to the servant who held his hand, "Put me where I can feel the pillars that support the temple, so that I may lean against them." 27 Now the temple was crowded with men and women; all the rulers of the Philistines were there, and on the roof were about three thousand men and women watching Samson perform. 28 Then Samson prayed to the LORD, "O Sovereign LORD, remember me. O God, please strengthen me just once more, and let me with one blow get revenge on the Philistines for my two eyes." 29 Then Samson reached toward the two central pillars on which the temple stood. Bracing himself against them, his right hand on the one and his left hand on the other, 30 Samson said, "Let me die with the Philistines!" Then he pushed with all his might, and down came the temple on the rulers and all the people in it. Thus he killed many more when he died than while he lived. [With the loss of his eyes, Samson decided he shall die glorifying God.

While it is praiseworthy that Samson had glorified God by bringing down the temple and killing a few thousand Philistines, I feel I must say that one must not be too quick to imitate Samson. No point in time, no matter how difficult things may become, we must not end our own lives, unless God directs so. Our lives are not ours to take. Our first response should be to live and stay alive to glorify God. If all else failed, and we lose our lives to the enemies, so be it, but otherwise, we are to will and hope to live.]
31 Then his brothers and his father's whole family went down to get him. They brought him back and buried him between Zorah and Eshtaol in the tomb of Manoah his father. He had led Israel twenty years. [Samson’s family came and collected his body to be buried with his father, Manoah. Samson led the Israelites for 20 years.]

What we can learn here:

Some who wrote on Samson’s life, almost had nothing good to say about Samson. I believe some of the negativities were over-rated. Some writers tended to inject their own judgmental spirit into scriptures, despite in some places the plainness of matter was staring in their faces. For example, for the marriage of Samson with the Philistine woman in Timnah, it was clearly said that it was a stirring from the Lord (Judges 13:25 & 14:4), yet some writers just ignored that, and claimed that Samson did wrong to entertain the marriage with a pagan woman.

This tends to show the judgmental attitude in us all, to even judge others’ ministries. The Apostle Paul was very clear about judging another’s ministry. Put it very simply, Paul was saying that only the Master knew what He had assigned out, only He was in any position to judge His servant, not us, because we were not the ones who knew what the minister was to do, unless the Lord revealed to us what He had instructed the said minister.

Hosea (from the Book of Hosea), for example, was told by the Lord to go and take an adulterous woman with children as his wife! Nothing is foolishness if that is what the Lord has wanted done! Bible is filled with many more of such things, which men would have labeled as foolishness, if not for them being said to be asked of, or done, by the Lord.

Nonetheless, we have to ask ourselves whether or not there is anything to be learnt from the passage that talked about Samson’s episode at Gaza (vv 1-3).

In verse 4, of Judges 14 (previous chapter), where we read of Samson’s wanting to marry a Philistine woman at Timnah, it was said that the LORD was seeking an occasion to confront the Philistines who were oppressing the Israelites then. Was this episode at Gaza, another of such occasions sought by the LORD? Should we be kind and understanding, and just assume it?

My own view is that the 2 episodes were clearly separate occasions and matters. Much time might have even elapsed between the 2 episodes; do not forget that Samson led for 20 years (v31), altogether. Without mentioning of time, just the mention of these 2 episodes, and even the one that followed - Samson’s association with Delilah, which led to the secret of his strength exposed, and he being captured, blinded, and eventually died, one might be tempted to think that the events occurred consecutively, one following another, but I believe that was not necessarily the case.

For the former (marriage at Timnah), God had allowed it to be written into scripture that it was His idea; to me, if the latter (at Gaza) was also His idea, He would have also inspired the author to pen it in as well, unless the latter clearly patterned after the former. Do you think it was fair for Samson, and for us, too, to assume it being the case? I think not, and so, my view is that for this occasion, Samson had been presumptuous to do the thing he did, sleeping with a Philistine prostitute and thereafter, demonstrated His strength in deviance of the enemy. It is tempting to argue, it was an attempt by God to “do it back” to the Philistines for the latter’s dishonoring of God by ridiculing a chosen man of God at Timnah. But, the dishonor had already been avenged, many Philistines had paid the price, we read that in Judges 14, Samson even killed 1,000 men with a jawbone at Lehi. I do not think this is the right argument.

It is obvious that Samson was chosen of the LORD, even before birth, to be a judge for the Israelites, to lead them in the face of the Israelites’ suffering under the oppression of the Philistines. After the events at Timnah and Lehi, we can be sure that Samson by then realised that he was called (to service) by the LORD; the only thing was, what were the more precise things that he was to do?

I am inclined to think that Samson thought what he did was what the LORD would be pleased with. And so, I do not think it was a moral character flaw (at Gaza), as such {but that event might have led him to suffer decline in morality}; but rather it was presumptuousness on the part of Samson.

If it had been a case that Samson had wanted to have fun, and afterward, was remorseful and repentant as some commentators put it (saying that he laid AWAKE until middle of the night for that reason; but not necessarily the case, I believe, it could just be that he stayed on, until middle of the night!), do you think he would then go and do something that very obviously would “hit the headline”, by pulling out the gate and waving it around on the top of a hill? Why couldn’t he have fun in Israelites’ territory? He was a judge, and would be afraid to be seen visiting prostitutes in his own territory, that he had to go to the enemy’s city to do it? If it were the case, do you think he would want to publicise it by the subsequent show of might?

I believed Samson planned to confront the Philistines, and it entered his mind that those acts would be what he would do. And so, I believe he was not believing that he would be judged as being of loose moral character; more I think, he was thinking that he would bring honor to God’s name by being able to say, “I have gone into the enemy’s stronghold, enjoyed myself, and afterwards, torn apart their city gate for all to see, and the enemy could do nothing to me!”

Was God glorified by what Samson did at Gaza? Obviously, many of us do not think so, especially those who argue that Samson was already of loose moral character, for he slept with the prostitute at Gaza. Can this possibly be the way of God? A later event, in history, shaded some light on this, and the event was that of Philistine’s Goliath’s ridiculing of the Israelites in the Valley of Elah during the reign of King Saul (1 Sam 17). God did not take kindly to what Goliath did, day after day, encroached into the Israelites’ border in deviance, in the presence of the Israelite army; and He engineered David to confront the giant enemy, and had the enemy fallen by a sling stone from the shepherd “boy”, David. Could God have resorted to those acts which Samson did at Gaza, with no apparent reason except to boast? I do not think so. I believe the lesson to learn in this, is that we are to be careful not to be too presumptuous in whatever manner of service calling of God.

Concerning Samson and Delilah, the important point to note was that Samson started to know of his power, and an inkling of God’s service calling on his life during the time of God’s stirring of him to go to Timnah and marry a Philistine woman. Although, there might be a certain peculiarity to Samson’s service calling, as indicated by what he did and accomplished with clear sanction of God, in the inaugural acts connected to the marriage at Timnah, still the overwhelming issue is whether or not, Samson had been too presumptuous thereafter. It could be that one initial isolated event that he got involved with enemy’s woman, with sanction of God, did not mean that his ministry for the LORD was to be inevitably tied to women of the enemy (but which Samson probably thought so).

Indeed, Delilah was possibly a Philistine woman {enemy woman}, or at least she was not an Israelite. Even if she was not a Philistine woman, she would have been one of the local inhabitants who easily would have aligned herself with the Philistines, owing to the root issue of Israelites being conquerors of the land, taking the Canaan Land from the locals, including the Philistines. Now, Delilah was a woman in the Valley of Sorek. This place was not in the Israelite territory. In fact, it is believed that Timnah, where Samson had earlier on, wanted to marry a Philistine woman, was in Valley of Sorek, making it all possible that, that territory was a territory of the Philistines. Even if Delilah was not born of the Philistines, she lived under the rule of the Philistines.

To fall in love, per se, is not wrong, but Samson fell in love with an “enemy woman”. Was that what the LORD had wanted? The scripture is silent on this. Again, the issue is that, whether or not, Samson was again presumptuous to think, since his inaugural episode from the LORD was connected to an “enemy woman” (even marriage), that he would receive God’s blessing to fall in love with Delilah. We, of course, know that Delilah brought about Samson’s downfall, and scripture did not attribute any good done by Samson from that relationship with Delilah, except, afterward, after Samson’s secret of his strength was leaked, and he was blinded, and imprisoned, he did exercise his strength for a last time and killed a couple of thousand Philistines.

It is all possible that Samson grew presumptuous {maybe even too presumptuous} and proud, became a show-off, did slacken on his morality {although, not right from the beginning, as thought by many}, again wasn’t discreet with secrets, and fell. But I believe his biggest mistake was possibly that he was too presumptuous. He was one earmarked for much more, and much greater exploits for the LORD, but because of his presumptuousness, he might have short-circuited the exploits that God could have accomplished through him. Nonetheless, in line with Romans 8:28, in everything God still works thing out for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. Despite Samson’s presumptuousness and failings, God did not withdrew His hand completely, but had still performed miracles when Samson had needed it, for the sake of His name, and as a grace to Samson.

Concerning Samson taking of his own life, my comments are in the body of the commentary. I just want to say that I believe it is a sin for believers to take their own lives, and MUST NOT be attempted, unless instructed by God.

There is also a side point to note, and that is that we are to learn from our mistakes. Samson did not learn that from his mistake of not being discreet with secrets or confidential matters. He was deceived once by his bride at Timnah, and yet, he did not learn, and got deceived again, and this time by his lover, Delilah.

While I have said that generally we do not judge people concerning their ministries, it does not mean that we cannot engage such ministers if we think that something might be amiss. And for the ministers, be humble, be prepared to hear people out, and talk to God, ask Him, so that we do not end up like Samson, dishonor God, be ourselves humiliated, and miss the greater exploits that God has intended for our lives. That we start well, we should want to continue on to do greater exploits, and end well.

My Prayer (you can pray this, too):
Lord, the life of Samson, as recorded for us, is difficult to decipher, yet, overwhelmingly, I sense that I am being taught not to be presumptuous as to what is to be done for you, especially, what is to be done, borders into darkness.

Lord, I am not young anymore {you may adapt this!}, yet, I am still not very sure about what you want me to do, but I am quite sure that some inaugural acts have happened in my life.

Lord, I want to read correctly your service calling for my life. Though late in life, I have started, maybe, even started ok; although, it was nothing compared to what Samson had done at Timnah or at Lehi, but

Lord, I want to continue on to do greater exploits, and end well.

Lord, help me to be sensitive to your Holy Spirit, for only with favor and sensitivity to your Spirit, will I be able to do great exploits for you. Amen.
Anthony Chia

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Please, 1 John 3:9 does not mean a believer cannot (unable to) sin!

Preamble
Increasingly, because of the overly grace believers unrepentant push for their erroneous core theology of all sins, past, current, and FUTURE ones, are forgiven of a believer at the time of his born-again, many believers are beginning to re-interpret scriptures, often in most ridiculous manners, just to tie with erroneous core doctrines of such grace theology.

While I am not opposed to (in fact, I encourage) studying and receiving of revelation and understanding of scriptures for ourselves, too many grace preachers are too casual with their accusations of churches lying to congregations, causing believers everywhere to abandon established interpretations of scriptures, to re-interpret scriptures with skewed lenses, instead of approaching scriptures with an open mind, and weighing out the established interpretations. The danger of every Tom, Dick, and Harry doing their own interpretations, and then teaching them to others, without weighing out established interpretations properly, is that such characters might not have been poring over all of Scripture enough to have grasped the overall counsel of the Word. Piecemeal interpretations of scripture without regard to context, and thematic flow, often only result in wrong interpretations. Sometimes, context is brief or a text lacks details, to interpret such, we need to employ the technique of scriptures-interpret-scriptures, and weigh any interpretation against the overall counsel of the Word. The overly grace belief movement has generated a pattern of scripture-interpretation haughtiness, on a scale, I believe, had not been seen before. It might be a sign of time, but even so, false teachings are to be resisted in the body of Christ.


1 John 3:9
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (NKJV)

No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in him; he cannot go on sinning, because he has been born of God. (NIV)

The above verse of 1 John 3:9 should never be interpreted as a believer cannot, as in unable to, or impossible for him to, sin (whatever the sin may be). The author, John, DID NOT have that notion whatsoever. The same goes for 1 John 5:18a - We know that whoever is born of God does not sin (NKJV); We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin (NIV).

Experiences AND overall counsel of the Word negate it
Our own experiences in our Christian walk tell us that it cannot be true; AND the overall counsel of the Word tells us it cannot be true. If we have read enough of the Bible, over and over again, and choose to be honest with ourselves, The Word would not admit such interpretation of a believer is unable to sin.

One article I read recently narrowed the sin to the renunciation of the faith, and said that a believer is unable to renounce his faith in Christ Jesus. No, the overall counsel of the Word does not teach such even, that a believer can never (impossible for him to do so) renounce his faith. These verses below are enough to show that it is possible for a believer to renounce his faith:

32"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. 33But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven. (Matt 10:32-33)

Again Jesus’ words, and here, it shows that it is even possible for a believer to blaspheme the Holy Spirit {not that we should do it} –

8"I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. 9But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God. 10And everyone who speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven. (Luke 12:8-10)

Jesus to the Ephesus Church, end-time message –

I know where you live—where Satan has his throne. Yet you remain true to my name. You did not renounce your faith in me, even in the days of Antipas, my faithful witness, who was put to death in your city—where Satan lives. (Rev 2:13)

The above illustrated clearly “scriptures-interpret-scriptures”, and the overall counsel of the Word does not permit such interpretation of 1 John 3:9 to say that it is impossible for a believer to sin (be it, renunciation of his faith, or other sins).

Context – so that you will not sin, and if you do sin ….
Contextually, the author, John already stated his position for us, very clearly in 1 John 2:1-2:

1My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. 2He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2 NIV)

John specifically mentioned that the purpose of his writing to the children of God was so that they would not sin. In other words, John was exhorting believers to make every effort not to sin, but if anybody does sin, he should know that we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense, and He is Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.

When John said, “… so that you will not sin”;
And he also said that,“...but if anybody does sin”. What do these 2 phrases tell us? They are pointing to John NOT having the notion that believers cannot (unable to) sin. He would not be exhorting believers to make effort not to sin if it was not possible for them to sin.

One of the right ways of interpreting scripture is accept what is clear and without ambiguity, and use it to weigh out “disputed” scripture, as what I have done here, weighing 1 John 3:9 and 1 John 5:18a against 1 John 2:1-2.

So what was John trying to say by 1 John 3:9?
Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God. (NKJV)

John was exhorting believers not to sin. He was saying that a believer (a born again) SHOULD NOT sin or continue to sin. Why? Because the Spirit of Christ (which is also the Holy Spirit) {God’s seed} is in us; the holy God is in us. At born again, God put deposit of his Spirit in us. In Jesus’ words, at born again we are not only born of water, but born of {so, the use of the word, “seed”} the Spirit. The “cannot” was not to be taken as “unable” or impossible” to do, but as “SHOULD NOT”.

It is like my friend telling his son, Bu Lee, “You cannot beat up (or continue to beat up) your schoolmates. You are now in the country’s most prestigious school (Raffles Institution)”. Obviously, it does not mean that Bu Lee is not capable of beating up his schoolmates anymore. He did that before, in his previous school, and he can still bash someone up with no problem. The father was trying to get him not to do it since now that Bu Lee has managed to get into a very reputable school, it is just not right and proper (not that it was right and proper, previously) to disgrace the name of such a school by engaging in bullying. It is along this line, that John was saying, the holy God, by His Holy Spirit, is indwelling in us, we should not sin or continue to sin. Scripture said that when we are born-again, we become a temple of God, where God is to be enthroned.

In all visions in Scripture, where God allowed men to catch a glimpse of His dwelling or throne-place, it was always that everything around the throne was holy; sandals must be taken off, or holiness was felt or experienced. Moses, Isaiah, and even the author, John himself, had had such experiences. John was therefore saying we cannot sin, because minimally, the holy God must be given the reverence due Him.

Clearly, John was painting to us that believers are capable of sinning, but we should not sin, and there are problems with us sinning; sinning by believers are NOT non-issue.



Anthony Chia – Lord, there is now a class of false teachings within the body, misleading your children, to sway from your commands and ways, robbing you of the reverence due you, by saying that it is alright, when it is not, and by misquoting you in your saying of “It is finished.” Lord, protect your children. Help us, in our attempts to overcome, against all false teachings, especially those from within. May you help me to proclaim only your truth, and nothing, but your truth. Stop me, Lord if I am NOT speaking your truth, for I can bear NOT, “the blood of your children on my hands”. Amen.

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Luke 6:46 - Part II – As Christians, we are to obey His commands

Why do you call me, “Lord, Lord” and do not do what I say? (Luke 6:46)

The sister went on to say that in the past she did not know that following Jesus was not about “doing” the laws, and that she did get confused between obedience to God and “doing” the laws. She said there did not seem to be any difference to her.

In part I, we ended with such saying, “Sure, it is possible to be like what the Lord has remarked in the above verse, that there are those among us who just call Him, Lord, Lord, but do not do what He say or said”. The consequence of that was allegorically depicted by the Lord in one’s attempt to build a house, one, on the foundation of His Lordship, and another, without {such} foundation; one will stand, the other, a wash-out, when water of testing comes.

Doing laws? Obey His commands
So now, is following Jesus about “doing” the laws? Now, if the “doing the laws”, here, means obeying the commands of God, then, yes! To be a Christian is to live a life in obedience to the commands of God or to live a life in submission to His Lordship. As a Christian, if you are not going to live your life that way, then you should not be surprised when the Lord poses Luke 6:46 to you. To me, the allegory of Jesus is referring to our homes, our homes or, no homes, in Heaven! If I be very blunt about it, if you are not going to live out your life in submission to His Lordship, it is possible you will have no home waiting for you in Heaven, even though you thought you have one built.

Luke 6:46 is to be taken seriously
My advice for people, not that I have arrived, is not to reason away Luke 6:46 and the allegory of Jesus that followed it. Do not listen to people who say that salvation has nothing to do with Lordship of God, or think out all kinds of excuses, including grace, etc, etc, to say that it is alright if the commands of God are not followed so long as one has accepted Jesus as his Savior. I too find it difficult to obey some of the commands of God, but still it does not necessarily mean that obeying the commands of God is not the thing to do. The spirit must be one, of us submitting to the Lordship of God. There might be isolated failures which we have to ask for forgiveness from the Lord, but we must endeavor to live in submission to His Lordship.

To obey God is to obey His commands
Again referring to the sister’s remark, does obeying God imply obeying his commands? Yes, but if you find it very difficult to obey a certain command of God, you can talk to God. God is not legalistic, but the spirit should be that we are to obey Him and His commands.

New lens – obey out of love
The word, “transformation” has become such a catchy jargon that it is used in all sorts of settings to talk about changes that are to take place in the hearts and minds of believers concerning many matters, but it was rarely used to point to what God said concerning how we should view the obedience to his commands. Jesus said those who love Him obey His commands, and those who obey His commands are the ones who love Him. This is the transformation that we must catch; we have to change our mindset in our viewing of obedience to God’s commands. From obeying out of fear, we are to change to obeying out of love for God. Our submission to His Lordship should be, out of love, and not out of fear. When the obeying and the submission are out of love, it will cause lasting change in us. If it is out of fear, when the “stick” is taken away, the attitude disappears. If it is out of love, with or without the “stick”, the attitude remains. God first loves us. How can we love Him back? Obey Him and His commands, is one sure way!

No, No, No, …
Is it alright for one to disobey God or to sin, just because Jesus had already died for us, and His work was completed; and all our sins have been forgiven of us at our born-again? The answer is no. It is not alright. At our born-again, our FUTURE SINS, relative to the time of born-again, were NOT yet forgiven, simply because it had not happen. It is reading words into Scripture to say that our FUTURE SINS were already forgiven. Jesus’ blood was capable of cleansing future sins, but it does not necessary mean that at our born-again, the blood of Jesus cleansed at that moment, even the sins of our future, relative to the born-again moment. Subsequently, when we, believers, sin, we just have to practice 1 John1:9. We are not made perfect at born again, that we are incapable of subsequent sinning. It is a lie that 1 John 1:9 is not believers; and those believers who think that they have not sinned subsequent to conversion is calling God a liar. I encourage readers to read my separate article on “1 John 1:9 is for believers” to correctly understand that indeed 1 John 1:9 is for believers.

Godly sorrow leads to repentance
That we have been reconciled to God at born-again through the work done by Jesus on the Cross, does that mean that everything is alright between God and a believer? Yes. Then does it mean that a believer is no longer condemned, and his guilt has been removed from him? Yes, at his born-again, when he was forgiven and cleansed of his sins. What if he sins after his born-again, does he become condemned, and be guilty? Unless you can find Scripture saying that a sin by a believer is not a sin, and the wages of sin is not the same as that of a sin before born-again, a sin brings on condemnation, and rightly that believer is guilty and should be sorrowful for it. It is a lie that a believer is not condemned on sinning, not guilty, should not feel guilty, and ought not be sorrowful about what he is doing or has just done. The Apostle Paul said in his epistle to the Corinthians brethrens (2 Cor 7), that believers ought to be sorrowful for sins they had done. In fact, Paul was saying that he did not regret his letter caused them sorrow, because godly sorrow was to bring on repentance. If you ignore godly sorrow, or numb it again and again (and that includes the pricking of your conscience by the Holy Spirit), you will not repent, and when you do not repent, and will not ask for forgiveness, how are you going to be forgiven, and the condemnation from the sin be lifted you?

Please, a sin is a sin
Are you insisting that God had forgiven you of your FUTURE sins, and therefore, there is no consequence to whatsoever sin that you may commit now or in the future? Is sin not a sin anymore? Where is it written in Scripture? Or are you expecting the blood of Jesus to operate like an auto-wipe anti-virus program for the believers, the very moment you commit a sin, it is automatically wiped off you! These are presumptuous interpretations of Scripture. Scripture only said that Jesus died more than 2000 years ago, yet his blood is available and capable of cleansing of the sins of any future person, relative to Jesus’ death and resurrection. Died once but propitiation is available for appropriations into future. People should stop saying a believer is persecuting Jesus all over again if he feels condemned or guilty. No, Jesus died once and was persecuted before His death and resurrection; even if you want it He will not die again or be persecuted anymore. This cannot be used to justify the position that one should not be sorrowful about his un-confessed sins, on the pretext that, that would persecute Jesus all over again. He should only not feel condemned, guilty or sorrowful if he has confessed his sins, as in 1 John 1:9. It is right to explain to such believers who had confessed, that they are not to feel that way {guilty, condemned}, but it is surely NOT right to tell believers that they should not feel condemned, guilty and sorrowful when they are indeed in sin, and have NOT wanted to confess or ask forgiveness. At times, we should not be too harsh to people, but surely reinforcing the “it is alright to do wrong/sin” mentality is NOT acceptable.

Our God is a holy God, be holy as He is holy
Brother Anthony, you mean I have to do it {confession} again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and …? You don’t like that, then, refrain from sinning. You don’t like it, but Scripture said the Holy Spirit is grieved (by your sinning). If you say you love God, stop grieving His Spirit. THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH TRYING. We should not dissuade people from trying to be better, rather we should persuade it, and exhort it. Satan will tell you to forget about trying, that it is too difficult; do not fall for it! We are all on a journey, we do fall, but we are to get up, and when we fall again, we get up again, and whether we are up or down, we are to help others along, not discourage them, on the Highway of Holiness. Those who are interested to know where Scripture talked about this Highway, and my exposition thereof, read my separate article, “Way of Holiness”.



Anthony Chia, high.expressions – Lord, I will try, and try, and try, because it is my love for you.

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Judges series - Judges 15 - Vengence on the Philistines

The way to read this article is that the orange underlined texts are the verses of the Bible (NIV, unless otherwise stated). The black texts following the Bible verses (and enclosed by square brackets) are my commentaries. At the end of these Bible texts and commentaries, I have inserted a section on "Points to take note/What we have learnt/can learn".
{For full listing of all articles in this series, click here}

Samson's Vengeance on the Philistines

1 Later on, at the time of wheat harvest, Samson took a young goat and went to visit his wife. He said, "I'm going to my wife's room." But her father would not let him go in. 2 "I was so sure you thoroughly hated her," he said, "that I gave her to your friend. Isn't her younger sister more attractive? Take her instead." [Samson, now, came back for his bride. But his supposedly father-in-law gave his bride to one of Samson’s male companion on the pretext that Samson must have hated his bride too much to take her hand. Samson was asked to take the younger sister instead.]
3 Samson said to them, "This time I have a right to get even with the Philistines; I will really harm them." 4 So he went out and caught three hundred foxes and tied them tail to tail in pairs. He then fastened a torch to every pair of tails, 5 lit the torches and let the foxes loose in the standing grain of the Philistines. He burned up the shocks and standing grain, together with the vineyards and olive groves. [Samson was not about to accept that; he became mad with the Philistines. Samson had the reason for being mad, firstly, the 30 men companions assigned to him during the marriage ritual threatened his bride’s family with death threat (burn to death, {Judges 14:15}), and secondly, one of the 30 men took his bride as wife. He caught 300 foxes, had them tied tail to tail in pairs, fixed a torch on each pair of tails, and set the foxes out to burn up all the harvest of the Philistines in the area.]
6 When the Philistines asked, "Who did this?" they were told, "Samson, the Timnite's son-in-law, because his wife was given to his friend." So the Philistines went up and burned her and her father to death. 7 Samson said to them, "Since you've acted like this, I won't stop until I get my revenge on you." 8 He attacked them viciously and slaughtered many of them. Then he went down and stayed in a cave in the rock of Etam. [The town folk, Philistines, were the ones who gave him (Samson) the 30 men companions who cheated on his riddle, and one of the men (the friend referred to, here, I believed, was not Samson’s friend who came with him from his own hometown, rather it was someone assigned to him in the bride’s town) took his bride. Because of what the foxes, released by Samson, did, now, the folks (Philistines) burnt his bride family. Samson wanted revenge, attacked and slaughtered many of the Philistines before retreating to a cave at Etam.]
9 The Philistines went up and camped in Judah, spreading out near Lehi. 10 The men of Judah asked, "Why have you come to fight us?"
"We have come to take Samson prisoner," they answered, "to do to him as he did to us." 11 Then three thousand men from Judah went down to the cave in the rock of Etam and said to Samson, "Don't you realize that the Philistines are rulers over us? What have you done to us?"
He answered, "I merely did to them what they did to me." [The Philistines, who ruled over the Israelites, took an army and went up to Judah demanding for Samson. The men of Judah had no choice but to go to the cave to find Samson. The latter explained that the Philistines did him wrong first, he merely took revenge.]
12 They said to him, "We've come to tie you up and hand you over to the Philistines."
Samson said, "Swear to me that you won't kill me yourselves."
13 "Agreed," they answered. "We will only tie you up and hand you over to them. We will not kill you." So they bound him with two new ropes and led him up from the rock. [Samson agreed to be tied up and be handed over to the Philistines, but he made the men of Judah swear not to kill him. With that, Samson was led away to be handed over to the Philistines.]
14 As he approached Lehi, the Philistines came toward him shouting. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him in power. The ropes on his arms became like charred flax, and the bindings dropped from his hands. 15 Finding a fresh jawbone of a donkey, he grabbed it and struck down a thousand men. 16 Then Samson said,"With a donkey's jawbone I have made donkeys of them. With a donkey's jawbone I have killed a thousand men." 17 When he finished speaking, he threw away the jawbone; and the place was called Ramath Lehi. [When Samson was led up to a place called Lehi (meaning jawbone!), the Spirit of the Lord came upon him in power and he broke free from his rope binding, and he killed a thousand Philistines men with a jawbone of a donkey he found there. That, I believe, made him the judge who slain the most enemy men with a club. Shamgar, the judge in Judges 3, only managed 600 Philistines.]
18 Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, "You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?" 19 Then God opened up the hollow place in Lehi, and water came out of it. When Samson drank, his strength returned and he revived. So the spring was called En Hakkore, and it is still there in Lehi. 20 Samson led Israel for twenty years in the days of the Philistines. [As a further proof that it was God working through Samson, God opened up the hollow place in Lehi to let out water for Samson to drink when Samson won but was very thirsty from the fight. Samson led Israel for 20 years during that time of Philistine oppression.]


What we should have learnt:

1. While we should be prepared to be a fool for Jesus, it is not necessarily that we should allow ourselves to be made a fool of. We see here, Samson, as an Israelite, had come to an enemy town to marry, and then even as he had fulfilled his end of the bargain (concerning the riddle), he was told his wife was taken over by one of his male companions from the town. Obviously, here, the Philistines thought that they could just trample upon a child of God, an Israelite. When the honor or the name of God is being mocked, we, as one with God, should not just let things be, especially if we sense a “prompting” from the Spirit. We see here, Samson was not about to accept such mockery.

2. While revenge should not be on our mind, unless, prompted by the Spirit, we should still consider acting in honor. Here, obviously, the Philistines of the town ganged up to dishonor Samson, and in the process, dishonor the God of Israel, Samson had to act, and he sent into the fields of the Philistines, 150 pairs of foxes, each pair tied at the tails and was fixed with a lighted torch. The harvest of the enemy got burned up.
We also read that Samson, despite the wrong they did to him, Samson still acted in honor, to avenge the death of his wife and father-in-law. While I am not asking people to go take revenge, we have to understand that in those days, at that time and setting (including being under the oppression of the Philistines), if Samson had not done anything, the murderers would go free, and the name of God would have been mocked.

3. Snare of a wicked one has a way of overtaking the wicked himself. Great servants of God, like King David, believed in that; for example, we read this in Ps 35:8 (by David) –

may ruin overtake them by surprise—
may the net they hid entangle them,
may they fall into the pit, to their ruin.

We read here that Samson’s wife and father-in-law went along with town’s Philistines, to dishonor Samson, and God. They ended up being burned by the very people they plotted evil with. Do not join hands with the wicked ones, for you may just well be counted with them, and suffer the same fate as them. We read this in Proverbs 4:14 –

Do not set foot on the path of the wicked or walk in the way of evil men.

4. Be courageous does not mean no fear. Being courageous is to do the right thing despite fear. All of us have fear. Moses was fearful at the time he was called to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He said he could not articulate well to negotiate with Pharaoh of Egypt, for example. Joshua who took over the leadership from Moses, to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land was repeatedly being told to be courageous, meaning, do the right thing despite fear. Samson had his fear; we read here he attacked and killed, and then he went into hiding in a cave.

We then read that despite fear, Samson also chose to do the right thing, be willing to be handed over to the Philistines instead of implicating the rest of his countrymen, causing needless bloodshed to his people.

5. A man of God is sensitive to the Holy Spirit. We read that when Samson came to a place called Lehi (meaning jawbone), sensing the Holy Spirit coming upon him (in Old Testament times, the Holy Spirit was not ordinarily indwelling a man; at the appropriate time, the Spirit would come upon the man), he went into action, broke loose the rope binding him, grabbed a jawbone of a donkey, and killed 1,000 Philistines with the bone!

6. Those sensitive to the Holy Spirit, and with God’s favor, will do great exploits for God. Samson obviously had the favor of God on his life, even his birth was heralded by the Lord himself, coming as an angel of the Lord. Favor of God is critical but sensitivity to the Holy Spirit, I believe, is equally important, so that we do not miss out on the exact timing of God. Samson became the man and judge recorded in the Bible to have slain the most enemy men with a club.

7. Those who fought for God’s honor can expect to be refreshed by the LORD. It is my belief that the Philistines, in doing what they were doing to Samson, were insinuating Jehovah was nothing. I draw us to the parallel in the story of Elijah. Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel, brought honor to God (name of God was brought low due to King Ahab’s queen, Jezebel). After the mighty victory which God rendered to Elijah, including the killing of 450 prophets of Baal, Elijah was tired, and threatened death by queen Jezebel, Elijah prayed this (from 1 Kings 19:4): "I have had enough, LORD. Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." Samson said almost the same thing (from verse 18): “Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” In both cases, God refreshed His men who had served to bring honor to his Name. Elijah was provided food and drink; and here, Samson was given what he needed, water to drink, a spring (En Hakkore – spring of him who called) birthed forth, to bring the water. Just like Elijah (perhaps, one day I would do a deeper study of parallels of Samson and Elijah), Samson’s strength returned and he revived.



Anthony Chia – Lord, thank you for opening my eyes to the richness of your Word. May you continue to teach me your ways. Lord, help me to be humble even as you reveal much to me. Amen.

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