FISH Ministry

ETERNAL SECURITY IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

God’s people rejoice over the many New Testament scriptures that teach eternal security for the believer, and rightly so. It is not that several references of the same are absent from the Old Testament, rather they are often not so readily apparent to the English reader. One such reference is especially enriched by the way translation puts it in various contexts. That term is the Hebrew “Chashaq.” As this story unfolds, what may appear to be odd coalesces into a common idea producing a tremendous blessing to those who know the Lord.

Various usages of the Hebrew term appear in several different English terms. Some of these are:
1. In I Kings 7:33 the translation is “Spokes” as part of a wheel.
2. The “fillets” connecting the vertical boards of the tabernacle is translated from “Chashaq.” Exo. 38:28.
3. Emotional “Desire” as in a man desiring a woman is often translated from “Chashaq.”
4. This term is translated “longeth,” as an action applied to what a caananite prince did to Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob. This caused the sons of Jacob to slay an entire village. Gen 34:8
5. The term is also translated “Love” in Isaiah 38:17.

There are other similar usages, but one can easily see that the idea however used Is “Attachment,” whether emotional or physical.
Underscoring the meaning of the title of this article is that of Isaiah 38:17, “Behold for peace, I had great bitterness: but thou hast in love (Chashaq)to my soul delivered it from the pit of corruption: for thou hast cast all my sins behind thy back.” This is not something the believer did or merited, but action initiated by God extended to the soul. It is therefore not the option of the believer to undo what God has done, and the power of preservation is only as strong as God Himself.

Readers should now coordinate John 10:29 and Romans 8:38-39 with “Chashaq” and rejoice!

WHO PREPARES YOUR SPIRITUAL TABLE

Elisha was a mighty prophet of God in ancient Israel; the successor of Elijah, and a worker of miracles among the people of his time. Some of his mighty works are recorded in 2 Kings 4. A dearth prevailed in Gilgal (rolling hill country) when Elijah visited the sons of the prophets there. At his command a huge pot was prepared for pottage sufficient to feed all the people. One of the food preparation workers went into the field to gather herbs, and found a wild vine from which he gathered many gourds and shredded them into the pot. When served, the people could not eat. The gourds were poisonous and doubtless very bitter. They cried out that there was death in the pot. Elisha commanded that meal be cast into the pot then the pottage served. And so it was that the food was good and all the people ate with no harm.

What a wonderful story! But why is it in the Bible, and does it have meaning for this generation? In a world of sin and degradation, there is almost always a spiritual dearth. Too many times, what is gathered to satisfy spiritual hunger is nothing more than certain religious garbage (Iniquity) that can only produce eternal harm because it is not of God, but of man, or worse, from Satan’s recipe book. It may look good, sound good, and offered as good, but in spiritual affairs nothing is good but that which comes from God. That which is unknown and wild is not to be trusted as a remedy and guide to satisfy spiritual hunger, and to direct the lives of men toward eternal reward.

So, Elijah ordered that meal (flour) be added to the pot, and the people served. It was then that they found no harm at all in the pottage. Now flour is the substance of bread. Jesus said “I am that bread of life,” John 6:48. One may eat of the bread that Jesus gives, and find his hunger satisfied. In fact, He stated that those who do not eat of that bread of life have no part with Him. Truly, there is death in the pottage of this world, but Jesus, the bread of life negates the effects of sin and of death by His own eternal righteousness which is imparted to all those who hear Him and follow His directions.

Surely, the tables of life are laden for many banquets, but what is being served? On the other hand, there is a banquet provided by the Lord Jesus that a man may eat thereof and live forever. Whose table are you feeding from? Are you confident that yours’ is a banquet of life, or is it a banquet of death from the delicacies of the devil?

Jesus said, “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst after righteousness for they shall be filled.” Matt. 5:6. David said, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: Blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” Psalm 34:8. At the Lord’s banquet there is no death in the pot, only life, and that everlasting!

WINNING THROUGH LOSING

“And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. If any man have an ear, let him hear” Rev. 13:7-9

In the letters to the seven churches of Asia, recorded in Revelation Chapters Two and Three, much is said to encourage God’s people of covenant to be overcomers of the sins that threaten their well-being. and that of the churches. However, as the world nears the end of the present age, it is prophesied that the beast will be given power to make war with the saints and to overcome them. This appears to be escalating at the present time.

Modern Christians who long have lived in unparalleled luxuries of life are softened to the point of recoiling in horror at the thoughts of any adversity. Doctrinal compromise is not new. Their preference is to shun Revelation and the dreadful apocalypse envisioned as the age closes. But, we dare to ask just what does it mean that the beast will make war with the saints and overcome them?

Certainly, the church of the Lord Jesus Christ has sailed through bloody seas, suffering horribly in the flesh in the dark ages, and the inquisitions of the sixteenth century. Is that what is referenced in Revelation 13? Perhaps there is understanding of these scriptures that escapes those whose occupation it is to make sensational books on religion for monetary gain. Think with me.
Several Greek words are translated “war” in the New Testament. Some specifically denote armies of soldiers, while others lend themselves to more figurative scenarios. In Revelation 13:7, the word is “Polemos” from which the English language also gets” polarize, polemics”, etc. The dark ages proved that blood baths did not stop the testimony of churches. Moreover, our adversaries are truly not flesh and blood, but principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in high places, according to the apostle, Paul. Eph. 6:12

It is a point of logic then that the war the beast will wage against the saints will be a war of influence, a war of polarizing the minds of godless beast worshippers against the witness of Christ Jesus, overcoming saints to a point of near complete marginalization. When we understand that “beast” in prophetical terms means government, then we look for governmental powers and personnel to implement words, ways, and means to negate the meaning of the faith, and the power of evangelism. The effectiveness of such governmental actions will engulf all whose names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. God’s people have no trouble identifying measures currently in place which are directly aimed at this goal. Others, more strenuous will follow. Indeed the saints will lose this war, but will have the final, great, eternal victory in Christ that will follow. Hence, in the war of the beast with the saints, we lose the battle, but we win the war in the power of Christ Jesus ... big time!!!