THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION

The Books Of The Chronicles: God's Preservation Of His Davidic And Levitical Covenants

XIV. God's Help In Overcoming Strong Opposition

(1 Chronicles 20:1-8)

Introduction: (To show the need . . . )

In today's world, we face strong opposition to belief in the divine inspiration and authority of the Bible:

(1) We face it from toy giant company Mattel as "(l)ast September" it "launched a line of gender-inclusive dolls" where "children can choose to make the doll male or female." ("Barbie Takes on a New Gender," Answers magazine, January-February 2020, p. 41)

If we informed the Mattel company leaders that 1 Corinthians 6:10-11 in the Bible claims homosexual orientation is sin, they would not change their production line, for they do not view the Bible as God's Word.

(2) We face it from an author of popular children's books. "The highly anticipated book, The Magic School Bus Explores Human Evolution is set to release July 2020 . . . Author of the series Joanna Cole . . . said, 'Let's face it, most scientists believe the planet is billions of years old.'" (Ibid., "The Magic School Bus Explores Evolution," p. 42)

If we told her that Exodus 20:8-11 in the Bible claims God made the universe in a solar week, Joanna Cole would not alter her book's content, for she does not view the Bible as God's Word.

(3) We face it from a noted Seminary. "Union Theological Seminary in New York City held a chapel service where students confessed and prayed to potted plants as part of a class offering 'liturgical responses to the state of the climate.'" (Ibid., p. 43) The seminary's leaders added, "'Today in chapel, we confessed . . . to the beings who sustain us but whose gift we too often fail to honor. What do you confess to the plants in your life?'" (Ibid.)

If we told these leaders of this seminary that Genesis 8:22 in the Bible claims the earth's climate will stay habitable for man as long as the earth exists and that Exodus 20:3 in the Bible forbids the worship of any god but Scripture's God, they would not alter their beliefs or curriculum, for they do not view the Bible as God's Word.

Need: So we ask, "If we face strong opposition to belief in the divine authority of the Bible, what should we do?!"

I. In Deuteronomy 20:1-4, God promised to give Israel victory over foes who were more powerful than her.

II. God began to fulfill that promise when Israel trusted God and fought such foes, 1 Chronicles 20:1-8:

A. 1 Chronicles 20:1-3 with 19:1-19 tells of God's providing victory for Israel over foes more numerous than her:

1. Israel's victory over Ammon in 1 Chronicles 20:1-3 followed Israel's repeat victories over far more numerous Ammonites and their Aramean allies in 1 Chronicles 19:1-19.

2. In defeating the Ammonites, David took great spoil (1 Chronicles 20:1-2) and subjugated the Ammonites to slave labor, humiliating the nation as their king had humiliated David's messengers, 1 Chron. 20:3; 19:4.

B. 1 Chronicles 20:4-8 tells of God's provision of victory for Israel over foes more powerful than her:

1. David had trusted God as a youth to defeat the giant Philistine Goliath in 1 Samuel 17:32-50.

2. Following David's lead, other men in Israel trusted God to defeat other Philistine giants, 1 Chron. 20:4-8:

a. Sibbechai the Hushathite slew Sippai, a Philistine giant, and subdued the Philistines, 1 Chronicles 20:4.

b. Later, Elhanan the son of Jair slew Lahmi, the brother of Goliath the Gittite, a man of such great size that his spear staff was like a weaver's beam, 1 Chronicles 20:5 ESV.

c. In another battle at Gath in Philistia, a giant taunted Israel like Goliath did in 1 Samuel 17:4-11, so David's nephew Jonathan slew him, and all these giants came from a race of giants, 1 Chronicles 20:6-7, 8.

Lesson: When David and Israel's soldiers trusted God's Word for victory were they to fight enemies more numerous and powerful than they were, God gave David and Israel's soldiers victory in reward for their faith.

Application: (1) May we trust in Christ for salvation, John 3:16. (2) If facing strong opposition in the spiritual challenges we face, may we trust Scripture on the matters involved and rely on God's power and gifting for victory!

Conclusion: (To illustrate the message . . . )

To apply this message, we trust Christ's Matthew 28:18-20 promise to be with us to make our discipling work effective as we engage in spiritual battle against strong opposition to belief in the divine authority of the Bible. We do battle by relying on God and using the resources of knowledge and spiritual gifting He has given us (as follows):

(1) First, we assert that the Old Testament book of Isaiah is God inspired and that Jesus is God Incarnate by way of fulfilled prophecy (as follows): (a) the complete Isaiah scroll found in the Dead Sea Scrolls was dated by two independent radiocarbon tests (Zurich, 1991 and Tuscon, 1994) at 125 B. C., so it was penned 120 years before Jesus' birth. (Jeremy D. Lyon, "Dead Sea Scrolls - Timeless Treasures from Qumran," Ibid., Answers, Oct.-Dec. 2012, p. 40; Harold W. Hoehner, Chron. Aspects of the Life of Christ, 1979, p. 27) (b) The Jewish cult at Qumran had hid the scroll where it was found, and they "avoided all contact with the outside world" (Zon. Pic. Enc. Bib., v. Two, p. 67), so this scroll was at least a copy of a copy, implying the authorship of Isaiah at 700 B. C. as Isaiah 1:1 claims; Ryrie S. B., KJV, 1978, p. 968. (c) Thus, 700 years before Christ, Isaiah predicted that (i) Messiah would be God Incarnate (Isa. 9:6), (ii) that men would be justified by faith in Him who died for them as a sin offering (Isa. 53:5, 10a) and that He would be buried (Isa. 53:9) and rise again (Isa. 53:10b). (d) The only faith that has ever made these same claims is the Biblical Christian faith (1 Cor. 15:1-11), so it is the true faith, Jesus is God Incarnate and Isaiah is God's Word.

(2) Second, we assert that John's claim that Jesus is God Incarnate (John 1:1-17) matches the Isaiah 9:6 claim of the Messiah, and John's Gospel of Jesus in John 1:12-13; 6:51; 20:30-31 matches the Isaiah 53:1-11 Gospel of the Messiah, so John's Gospel is God's Word in accord with God's Word in Isaiah, Ryrie St. Bib., KJV, ftn. to Rom. 12:6.

(3) Third, we assert that Jesus' words in John's Gospel extend to cover the canonicity of all 66 books of the Protestant Bible: (a) On the New Testament, (i) Jesus' John 17:20 statement covers the canonicity of His immediate disciples (minus Judas Iscariot, John 6:70-71), and since John 1:42 records Jesus as renaming Simon as "Peter," by way of John 13:36-17:20, Jesus condoned the canonicity of 1 & 2 Peter. (ii) Then, Peter in 2 Peter 3:15-16 called Paul's epistles Scripture, making Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 & 2 Thessalonians, 1 & 2 Timothy, Titus and Philemon canonical. (iii) Paul cited Luke 10:7 in 1 Timothy 5:18, calling it Scripture on par with Deuteronomy 25:4, so Luke's Gospel is canonical, and Luke 1:1-4 with Acts 1:1 reveals Luke wrote Acts, so Acts is canonical. (iv) Luke in Luke 6:12-16 named Jesus' disciples who would disciple others through their word as He had stated in John 17:20, and Luke 6:12-16 names Matthew and John as two of those disciples, making the Gospels of Matthew and John, the epistles 1, 2 & 3 John and Revelation canonical. (v) Jude 17 indicates that the epistle of Jude was not written by the apostle Jude, but Matthew 13:55 with Acts 1:12-14 and Jude 1 indicate Jesus' half brother Jude who was a brother of James authored the epistle of Jude. The other apostles whose words were covered under Christ's canonicity authorization heeded Jesus' half brother James in his Acts 15:13-30a ruling, implying Jesus' other half brother Jude was also to be heeded, making Jude's epistle canonical. (vi) Peter in 1 Peter 5:13 covers the canonicity of Mark's Gospel, for Peter claimed he had discipled Mark to come to Christ, and he evidently gave Mark the eyewitness testimonies of the life of Christ that are so prevalent in Mark's Gospel. (vii) Jesus' words in John's book of the Revelation run at least from Revelation 1:18 to Revelation 3:22, and in Revelation 2:10, He alluded to the James 1:12 "crown of life" phrase as canonical, for James 1:12 is the only passage in all ancient literature [Arndt & Gingrich, A Grk.-Eng. Lex. of the N. T., 1967, p. 774-775] that explains that this crown is won for overcoming temptation, information that is necessary to discern the basis for the reward of that crown in Revelation 2:10. Thus, though we do not know which James wrote the epistle of James, Christ's reliance on James 1:12 to clarify Revelation 2:10 makes the epistle of James canonical. (viii) Then, Jesus' words in Revelation 1:16; 2:12, 16 mention "the two-edged sword" that proceeds out of His mouth, and Hebrews 4:12 is the only other passage in all of ancient literature [Ibid., p., 199] that defines this sword in a Biblically meaningful way, i. e., as the Word of God, information needed to understand Christ's reference to it in Revelation 2:12, 16 (and also in Revelation 19:15, 21). Christ's clear reliance on this clarification in Hebrews 4:12 thus reveals that Hebrews is canonical even though we do not know who humanly authored that epistle! (b) On the Old Testament, in Matthew 23:35, Jesus said the prophets ran from Abel in Genesis 4:8 down to Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24:20-22. The Hebrew Old Testament has the same 39 books as our English Bible, but they are arranged in a different order, 2 Chronicles being last (Kittel, Bib. Heb.). Had Jesus held the Apocrypha that existed in His day to be canonical, He would have named a martyr of the Maccabees and not Zechariah as the last prophet, so Jesus condoned the 39-book Old Testament as canonical.

(4) So, by fulfillment of the Isaiah scroll's prophecy on Jesus' identity as God Incarnate and His Gospel of justification by faith in Him in His death, burial and resurrection, and by the Isaiah scroll's match with John's identity of Jesus and His Gospel, which book by John tells of Christ's words that extend to cover the canonicity of all 66 books of the Protestant Bible, we assert the Scriptures given in our introduction to address the issues named there as God's authoritative commentary on them: namely, God in 1 Corinthians 6:10-11 claims homosexual orientation is sin; God in Exodus 20:8-11 claims He created the universe in a solar week; God in Genesis 8:22 claims He will keep the earth's climate habitable for man while the earth exists and God in Exodus 20:3 claims we must worship Him alone.

May we trust in Christ for salvation from sin. May we then rely on the Lord, on His Word and the power and spiritual gifting He has given us to believe and assert the teachings of Scripture with God's blessing.