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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
The Love of the Truth is not light reading! It is devotional material, but at the same time it is meat. Spiritual milk is needed but so is spiritual meat. The Hebrews writer rebuked some who should have progressed from milk to meat (see Hebrews 5.12-14). In a similar passage, Paul chided the Corinthian believers because they could only take the spiritual milk and were incapable of receiving spiritual meat (1 Corinthians 3.3). The reader is challenged to put on his/her thinking cap and to thoroughly study these messages on The Love of the Truth!
The Limited Commission (Matthew 10) was operative for a short time; it was later replaced by the Great Commission (Matthew 28.18-20). Under the Limited Commission, the Twelve were restricted from preaching to the Gentiles and the Samaritans. Under the Great Commission they were commanded to go into all the world and preach the Gospel to every creature (Jew and Gentile). The authority granted to the Twelve under the Limited Commission was for a unique time and therefore certain aspects of it were applicable only to that time. This fact demonstrates the need for a careful study of context in biblical interpretation.
We have considered the fact that the Twelve were given certain miraculous powers under the Limited Commission. We raised the question as to the purpose of these powers. We also explicitly denied that their primary purpose was to relieve the suffering of mankind. What then was the purpose of the miraculous? It is actually implied in the Focus Text of 2 Thessalonians 2, the text where the expression The Love of the Truth is found. Satan planned the use of “lying wonders” so he could deceive! These were counterfeit miracles intended to imitate true miracles, miracles which validated the inspired messengers and messages of the first century.
Since newly revealed truths were confirmed with the use of signs and wonders (Hebrews 2.3-4), Satan schemed that he could confuse many by imitating/counterfeiting those signs and wonders (2 Thessalonians 2.8-10). This is the great deception of 2 Thessalonians 2. This is the connection between Apostolic Empowerment, the Great Deception, and Miraculous Confirmation of truth. Just as in the days of Moses when Pharaoh's magicians imitated the miracles of Moses, Satan planned under the Gospel Dispensation to again resort to the same trickery. The problem, however, for Satan is that he cannot duplicate, only imitate! They may look the same, but they are not the same. The miracles of God's prophets cannot be duplicated! That is why God chose that method of confirmation, a method that would stand up to the closest scrutiny. God's miracles are real and invite investigation; Satan's counterfeit signs are ambiguous, distant, and detest investigation!
The Love of the Truth is a love which cannot rest until truth has been separated from error; until fact has been distinguished from fiction. The simple truth about miracles is this: They were given in order to confirm the word of God as it was being delivered. Once the faith was completely revealed, they ceased in as much as their primary purpose was fulfilled. The Love of the Truth invites examination and testing; error runs from it!
Questions:
1. What two contrasting metaphors did the Hebrews writer and Paul use to show that believers need to progress from the basics to more complex spiritual matters?
2. What was/is Satan's objective in using counterfeit signs and wonders?
3. How was/is it possible to distinguish “lying wonders” from the true (God's actions)?
4. What primary purpose did the miraculous have in the hands of God's first century evangelists and ministers (please consider Hebrews 2.1-4 in your answer?
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