Ephesians 4:15, “but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ—”

Zechariah 8:16, “These are the things you shall do: speak each man the truth to his neighbor; give judgment in your gates for truth, justice, and peace;”

John 8:44, “You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”

We celebrated Valentine’s Day just yesterday. For many people, it was a day filled with joy, chocolate, flowers, and dinners. For others, it was a sad day, the first Valentine’s without a loved one. Maybe the one you love has rejected your advances, and that day was a sad reminder. We have a lot of lonely people in our world; some are lonely for their own reasons; others are not able to find anyone to love them. Sadly, in our world today, there is confusion between what love is and what tolerance is. Our world would have us to believe that these are one and the same.

The word tolerance is defined this way in the dictionary: the ability or willingness to tolerate something, in particular the existence of opinions or behavior that one does not necessarily agree with. We have learned that, in general, the desire is for us to tolerate the bad behaviors of others and not of us. One of the problems we face is that love has become about everything but the truth. Now, let us be clear: there is a certain degree of tolerance involved in love. We are called to forgive each other numerous times for the same failures, just like God forgives us. We are told that true Godly love covers a multitude of sins; that means a lot of sins. I have heard a good marriage defined as one where the husband and wife each forgive each other a lot.

The Bible tells us that Truth and Love go hand in hand; one will have a hard time when you try to separate the two. Our world is doing that. We are told in John 8:44 that all lies are from the devil. He is the father of all lies. So, if we say a man can be a woman, and vice-versa, we are lying, and that is from the devil. If we tell our children that a man can do what a woman does and vice-versa, that lie is also from the devil. If we tell our kids that love means encouraging evil and that tolerance means that we ignore God’s stated laws about right and wrong, then we are lying, and that is from the devil.

Love requires truth; one cannot speak lies in love. I will say it again: one cannot speak lies in love. The world’s definition of tolerance requires us to do that. It requires us to turn a blind eye to the obvious truth and to promote lies as ‘truth.’ This is hatred. Love requires us to be willing to be hated for it. This is hard; we all want to be liked. But the truth separates; it requires lines to be drawn. I love my wife, so I do not have sexual relations with other women; all else is lies. All else is hatred.

Truth fosters other things in our lives and in our societies; just look at what Zechariah says: truth comes hand in hand with justice and peace. They cannot be separated. The contrast is that lies breed injustice and warring. Herein, then, is the Achilles heel tolerance; the very thing that it desires to bring in cannot be had when that tolerance is built on lies. Jesus is the very standard of truth, and as such, He is intolerant by the world’s standards. But He also requires that we live in justice and peace with each other.

In Micah 6:8, see this admonition: “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Because of the doctrine of tolerance even promoted by churches, many Christian women have stayed in physically abusive relationships, and sadly, some have been killed. We have been guilty of promoting tolerance at the expense of love and truth. We used guilt about separation or divorce to coerce these women to stay and ‘tolerate.’ In many cases, we did not even challenge the men to stop their evil ways.

One can see that as we get closer and closer to the return of our Savior Jesus, the lies of the evil one grow more and more audacious, and they are no longer creeping into our churches; they are being proclaimed from the pulpit. Many of the mainline denominations have been infiltrated and flat-out taken over by the LGBTQ2+ communities, and they no longer have any fear or reverence for God at all. It does not take long for the lies to cheat God of His glory. It does not take long for the lies to pervert the Gospel, and a local ‘church’ becomes a highway to Hell and not a gateway to Heaven. We are tolerating people right into Hell.

Jesus’ love requires sacrifice; it requires a standard that is not negotiable, and it requires us to say ‘No’ at times. Love requires us to be perceived as hateful and even mean. Real love is hard and requires us to have a thick skin. True Godly love looks at the long view and is not satisfied with instant gratification. God’s love requires forgiveness, then more forgiveness, then a bit more forgiveness, and finally, more forgiveness.

I pray that your life is filled with God’s truth, that you live in peace and justice with those around you, and that you never allow tolerance to defy the clearly established boundaries of God.

God bless you,

Dr. Sean Gooding
Pastor of Bethany Baptist Church
70 Victoria Street, Elora, Ontario

 

Isaiah 2:1-5

“The word that Isaiah the son of Amoz saw concerning Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

“And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord.”

Isaiah 11:1-9

“There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. The Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord. His delight is in the fear of the Lord, and He shall not judge by the sight of His eyes, nor decide by the hearing of His ears; But with righteousness He shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; He shall strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He shall slay the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt of His loins, and faithfulness the belt of His waist.

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.”

Revelation 20:4

“And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.”

In Acts 1:6, the remaining apostles asked Jesus if he was going to ‘restore the Kingdom’ at this time. They understood that the Messiah had risen from the dead and that no armies of man could stop Him from taking back Jerusalem. They were ready for Jesus to kick butt and take names. They did not understand that there were billions of Gentiles to be redeemed and that there would be at least a 2,000-year window between that day and That Day when the Kingdom would be restored. In Matthew 8:29, even the demons knew that there was a time appointed to settle the scores.

In Revelation 20:1-3, we are told that Satan will be bound for 1,000 years in a pit, and then he will be released for a little while. It is at this time that the events recorded for us by Isaiah some 750 years before Jesus was born take place.

I have had some of my church folks ask me about this, and others have inquired as well. This is a somewhat mysterious time, but there is some information given to us that will allow us to have some idea of what it will be like. First of all, Satan will not be loose to deceive the nations. This is the big one. There will be no one running interference between mankind and Jesus.

We are told in verse 9 of Isaiah 11 that the ‘knowledge of the Lord will cover the sea.’ Everyone on earth will know that Jesus is a real person; they will see Him and know him. There will be no atheists in the Millennial Kingdom. There will be no war; we are told that the implements of war will be beaten into farming equipment. There will be limited death; the animals will revert to the way they were at creation, and even lions will eat straw. Snakes will pose no harm even to children, and people will live very long.

In Isaiah 65:20, we get the idea that living to 100 and maybe beyond will be normal. Today, it is an oddity and a celebrated milestone. Even though sin will still be around, the power of death will be limited.

Now, here is a wrinkle, at least for me to consider: if you read Ezekiel 40-46, you will see a detailed version of a FOURTH temple. According to Daniel 9:27, there will be a third temple built that allows the Jews to resume sacrificing during the time of the Anti-Christ. This temple is defiled when there is an idol of the man of Sin erected there, and the people are forced to worship the Anti-Christ. But in Ezekiel, we have this new massive temple, and it is not inside the city of Jerusalem. It would appear that the sacrifices begin again. Why? I am still researching and seeking the answers.

In Jeremiah 33:17-18, we see this promise, “For this is what the LORD says: David will never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel, nor will the priests who are Levites ever fail to have a man before Me to offer burnt offerings, to burn grain offerings, and to present sacrifices.”

God promises the house of David that they will always have a man on the throne; we can surmise this to be Jesus. But look at the promise to the house of Levi; he too will have a man to stand before Jesus forever to burn offerings. There are a lot of things that will happen in the Millennial Kingdom. Long-running national disputes will be solved (Isaiah 2:4). There will be many who will be saved; the new Jerusalem is huge and will house billions of people comfortably.

Sadly, there will still be rebellion. Once Satan is loosed, he will be able to raise an army of people to storm Jerusalem to challenge Jesus. This rebellion will be swiftly and decisively dealt with by Jesus (Revelation 20:7-9). Then there will be the final judgment. We, the saved of the Gentile era, are told that we will reign with Him for the 1,000 years. Since the New Testament church is Jews and Gentiles, then we can deduce that the saved Jews will be with us as well.

The Millennial time will be a busy one filled with drama and the expansion of mankind. Imagine how the population of the earth and heaven will grow when there are limits on death.

How will salvation be in the Millennial time? Jesus will be there; one will see Him in all His glory and pomp; one will see Him with power and as a King. One will still need to have faith that He is who he says He is, BUT this will be a sight salvation, unlike those of us who believe by faith without sight.

Man, there is a lot to unpack. I can see why there are not a lot of sermons about this time. There is quite a bit of information, but it is spread all over the Bible. The Jews knew that the Messiah was coming to be the King, but they did not understand then or now the suffering part laid out in Isaiah 53.

I hope that this gives you some insights and inspires you to learn more.

Jesus is coming soon! The more I see the rampant and rabid rejection of the imminent return of our Savior, the more I understand that it is very near; there are a lot of people who still need Jesus, and for those of us in the Gentile church, there is some really cool stuff ahead for us to see and experience.