The Last Words of Jesus

 

Most people who know they’re going away for a very long time, or that they’re going to die, don’t waste their time on trivial things. They call in friends and family, they try to settle quarrels with estranged friends and relatives, and they talk about the things they consider most important.

John chapters 13-17 record the Last Supper and Jesus’ ‘high priestly prayer’ for his disciples prior to his betrayal and execution. Although the cross was not the end for him, these events marked the beginning of his departure from his disciples. Their relationship would never be the same again, and they were going to have to get used to no longer having him around. Jesus was never one to waste words, but here he emphasizes and re-emphasizes certain things in such a way that we should view them as supremely important.

First, he exemplifies humility, selfless love, and service in washing his disciples’ feet - even the feet of his betrayer, Judas - and commands them to follow his example in their treatment of one another. He returns to this theme later, urging his disciples to “love one another,” and even tells them that that this type of selfless love will be the distinguishing characteristic of his disciples in the future. Not the doctrines they hold to, or even the content of their preaching, but their treatment of one another:

 

“By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” - John 13:35

This stands in sharp contrast to what Jesus tells his disciples about the last days in Matthew 24:

 

“Then they will deliver you to tribulation, and will kill you, and you will be hated by all nations because of My name. At that time many will fall away and will betray one another and hate one another. Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many. Because lawlessness is increased, most people’s love will grow cold.” - Matthew 24:9-12

Here, Jesus tells his disciples that, as the pressures against Christians mount in the days before his return, many of them will turn on one another and even betray one another to death. For this reason, he commands them to remain devoted to one another, and even says that their steadfast love for one another will confirm them as his true disciples in the eyes of all around them.

Christians need one another. If we act in selfless love, we have the ability to help, encourage, and strengthen one another. For some in the last days, the presence of other Christians will probably be the primary factor in sustaining their faith in the midst of tribulation.

As the author of Hebrews writes:

 

“Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.” - Hebrews 10:23-25

This is more than an admonition to “go to church.” It’s a directive to engage in genuine, edifying fellowship. It has to do with surrounding oneself with a network of believing support.

The second thing Jesus emphasized was the abiding presence of God and the promise of being with Jesus in the kingdom. The author of Hebrews tells us that it was “for the joy that was set before him” that Jesus endured the cross. In other words, he went through the horrors that he did because he knew that something better awaited him on the other side: the redemption of his bride, his return to the Father, and, ultimately, the promise of the kingdom. In a similar way, Jesus tells his disciples to remember that, even though he is leaving them, he will eventually return and take them to be with him.

Thus, no matter what awaits them, the disciples have something to look forward to, something worth believing for. Jesus also emphasizes his unity with the Father in all of this so that his disciples will understand that his word to them has the Father's own authority behind it—it’s the true and faithful promise of God.

 

“...and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father’s who sent Me.” - John 14:24

In the meantime, Jesus tells them that, even though he is physically leaving them, the presence of God will still remain with them in the Holy Spirit. They will not be left alone. In fact, the Spirit will teach them and testify to them about the things of Christ. This will be vital for the disciples, as Jesus has already warned them of deception in the last days (Matthew 24:4, 23-27). Indeed, Jesus refers to the Spirit as “the spirit of truth” (John 14:17).

The third thing Jesus emphasizes is the necessity of “abiding” in him by practicing his teachings. He compares the disciples to branches that must remain attached to the vine in order to have life and bring forth fruit. He promises that those who abide in him will “abide in my love” and “bring forth much fruit.” After this, he once again reminds them to love one another. The emphasis on unity here underscores the fact that believers are a community, a “body” through which Christ carries out his works in the world. There are certainly individual aspects to the Christian life, but the business of bringing forth “much fruit” will come from united communities of believers, growing together in their connection to the vine and supporting one another.

Fourth, Jesus emphasizes that the world will hate his disciples for the same reason they hated Christ: his word convicted them of their sin. He warns them of this persecution in advance in order to prepare them to face it:

 

“These things I have spoken to you so that you may be kept from stumbling. They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. These things they will do because they have not known the Father or Me. But these things I have spoken to you, so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you of them.” - John 16:1-4

The word translated “stumbling” here is the Greek word skandalizo, which means to trip over an impediment, the way you might trip over a rock and fall. Jesus warns his disciples here so that they can mentally prepare themselves to face what is coming, grounded in his truth, led by the Spirit, and standing in unity.

 

“These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer; for I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33

Jesus then prays to the Father in John 17, underscoring these things he has taught his disciples, and entrusting them to the Father's care. He does not ask that the Father take them out of the world, but rather that he sustain them while in it:

 

“I do not ask You to take them out of the world, but to keep them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.” - John 17:15

As we look forward to the coming of the Lord and reflect on what he said the last days would be like, we need to meditate on these ‘last words’ or ‘parting words’ in John 13-17. Our strength to overcome in the face of deception and persecution will depend on our standing in the unity of love, fixed on the promises of God in Christ, led by the Spirit of Truth, and continually deriving life from the vine that is Christ as we practice his teachings and bring forth their fruit.

 

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” - John 3:20-22

 

"Your Faith has Saved You. Go in Peace."

 

My favorite book of the Bible by a wide margin is the Gospel of John, but my favorite story in the Bible is found in chapter 7 of Luke’s gospel. In this story, Jesus is dining at the house of a Pharisee named Simon. While Jesus is reclining at the table with his host and the other guests, a woman comes in, falls down at Jesus’ feet, and begins to weep. She anoints Jesus’ head with perfume from an alabaster box, washes his feet with her tears, kisses them, anoints them with more of the perfume, and then wipes them with her hair. When Simon sees this, he thinks to himself that Jesus can’t really be a prophet, because if he were a prophet, “he would know who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, that she is a sinner.” Given the way this is phrased, I assume the woman must have been either a prostitute or else was known for being “loose,” as my parents’ generation would say.

Jesus, being aware of what Simon is thinking, presents him with a parable concerning two men who owed money to a lender. One of them owed 50 days’ wages, while the other owed 500 days’ wages. When the men were unable to pay, the moneylender forgave them both. Jesus then asks Simon, “which of the two will love him [the moneylender] more?” Simon replies, “I suppose the one whom he forgave more.”

Jesus confirms that Simon has answered correctly, and then says this to him:

“Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume. For this reason, I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he is forgiven little loves little.”

Then Jesus said to the woman: “Your sins have been forgiven. Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”

There are two things I would draw your attention to here:

First, this woman was notorious in her community for being a “sinner,” someone with whom no one decent would be caught dead. In spite of this, she came to Jesus and found forgiveness. Maybe tonight you feel as though you are so filthy Christ could never stoop to love you. If so, remember this woman. Jesus had a reputation for hanging out with people who were less than respectable. In fact, his enemies called him “a friend of tax collectors and sinners.” To this, Jesus replied, “It is not the healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick. But go and learn what this means, ‘I desire compassion, and not sacrifice,’ for I did not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance” (Matthew 9:12-13). In Luke 19, when he dines with a tax collector named Zacchaeus, who turns to him and promises to reform his life, Jesus comments: “Today, salvation has come to this house, because he, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost.”

If you’re a wretch, an outcast, despised and sick at heart, he came for you.

Second, notice that Jesus commends the woman for her faith. But how did she show faith, you might wonder. She’s not recorded as saying anything.

The woman showed her faith in coming to Jesus in humility. It was the job of common servants in those days to wash the feet of a guest, and this they would have done with water and cloth of some type; but this woman washed his feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You can’t humble yourself much more than that. Further, she anointed Jesus with a type of expensive perfume, likely given to her by one of her “clients,” or else purchased with money she had made in her trade.

She came to Jesus because she knew who he was. As the Pharisee Nicodemus said, “We know that you are a teacher who has come from God, for no one can do these signs that you are doing unless God is with him.” The woman knew that Jesus had been sent by God. Further, Jesus had forgiven sins on a number of occasions, and had been castigated for it by the Jewish leaders. Jesus was preaching a gospel of “repent and believe,” and this woman exemplified both. She regretted her past and wanted to be reconciled to God, and she knew Jesus was God’s chosen. She showed her faith by recognizing him for who he was and what he could do. On another occasion, in Matthew 9, two blind men came to Jesus, asking him to restore their sight. Jesus asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” These men believed in both who Jesus was and what he could do. The woman in Luke 7 showed the same faith.

Further, Jesus emphasized that, because he had come from God, with the authority of God, all who accepted him also accepted God:

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me receives him who sent me.” – John 13:20

Here’s the point of all of this: No matter what you’ve done, how dirty you feel, and how badly people may treat you because of your past, no matter how much you might want to shy away from him, Jesus came for you. If you want to be forgiven, turn to him openly, showing that you know who he is and what he can do for you. Your faith can save you, too.

“Come unto me all you who labor and are heavily burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” – Matthew 11:28-29

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,

Because he anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives,

And recovery of sight to the blind,

To set free those who are oppressed,

To proclaim the favorable year of the Lord.” – Luke 4:18-19

Understanding the End Times, Part One: The Kingdom of God

 

Remember the former things long past,

For I am God, and there is none other;

I am God, and there is no one like Me,

Declaring the end from the beginning,

And from ancient times things which have not been done,

Saying, “My purpose will be established,

And I will accomplish all My good pleasure.” – Isaiah 46:9-10

There is significantly more to the end times issue than the popular focus on matters of when and how end-time events will take place. The question of “Why?” is also extremely important. We have to understand why this period of history is coming, what it is designed to achieve. Nor can we restrict our study of scripture to what is specifically said concerning the end. No, if we want to fully understand the end, it’s essential that we go back to the beginning, for all of human history has been steadily leading up to this time.

God created human beings to be his imagers—that is, to reflect and represent him—and he gave us the task of caring for this planet. In other words, mankind was to act as God’s regent or viceroy on the earth, ruling over the world on his behalf. Ultimately, Adam and Eve—the father and mother of the Adamic race—chose to rebel, seeking the knowledge to live without the guidance of God. They chose their own will over God’s will, and this unfortunate choice soon became the defining characteristic of the human race: the gratification and exaltation of self. As a result of their rebellion, Adam and Eve were cast out of the place of privilege and blessing that God had prepared for them, doomed to labor for their sustenance and, eventually, to die. Yet, even in the midst of judgment, God showed them mercy and promised a redeemer.

In the centuries that followed, God worked through various individuals who were willing to be led by him. One of the most prominent of these was a man named Abraham, with whom God entered into a covenant, which is a solemn agreement based upon promises (marriage is a type of covenant). In his covenant with Abraham, God promised several things, including:

1. He would have descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven.
2. He and his descendants would possess a great land inheritance encompassing the territory between the Nile and Euphrates rivers.
3. He would become a blessing to all nations.

Abraham’s descendants multiplied greatly and eventually became the nation of Israel, which was named for Abraham’s grandson, Jacob, whose name God changed. In time, God established a covenant with Israelites in order to establish them as a holy people, meaning a people set apart to himself, so that he could bless them for Abraham’s sake and bring them into the land he had promised. This covenant became known as the Mosaic Covenant or the Law of Moses in that it was given to Israel through Moses after the Israelites were freed from a period of bondage in Egypt. In this covenant, God promised Israel many blessings, but he also sternly warned them that these blessings (including the privilege of living in the land they inhabited) were conditional on their loyalty to him. If they departed from him and served other gods like the nations around them, God promised to visit many different types of judgments upon them and to evict them from the land.

Israel started off well under Moses and his successor, Joshua. They established the civil and ceremonial law that God had commanded, and they took the land of Canaan from the various tribes living in it and became prosperous. In time, however, many of them left off serving God in favor of worshiping pagan gods and adopting the religious practices of the nations around them, such as child sacrifice. Time after time, God warned and judged his people for their idolatry, often by sending foreign conquerors to rule over them; and, time after time, the Israelites repented and turned back to God, who then delivered them through a host of judges and prophets.

This cycle continued until the people finally demanded a king to rule over them, just as the nations around them had kings. God warned them of how a king would tax and otherwise oppress them, but the people were insistent, so God set a man over them named Saul. Saul was effectively the nation of Israel in a microcosm. He started off well, just as Israel had in the day s of Moses and Joshua, but he became proud and stubborn and disobeyed God repeatedly. God then revoked the kingship from Saul and chose another man, a young man named David. David was by no means perfect, but he was a man after God’s own heart. He remained loyal to God throughout his life, and while he was king over Israel the people worshiped and served God as the Law of Moses prescribed. God entered into a covenant with David as well, promising that his family would retain the throne forever.

After David and his son Solomon passed off the scene, ten of Israel’s twelve tribes rebelled against David’s grandson Rehoboam and broke away, becoming known as Israel or “the Northern Kingdom.” The remaining two tribes became known as “Judah” or “the Southern Kingdom.” The Northern Kingdom became steeped in idolatry and paganism early on, and had no really good kings at all apart from a man named Jehu, and even he tolerated idolatry in the land to a degree. Eventually, the Northern Kingdom was destroyed and its people were taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire. For its part, the Southern Kingdom remained loyal to the house of David and produced some good kings, but it also had some kings who gave themselves wholeheartedly to the service of pagan gods. As a result, the Southern Kingdom outlasted the Northern Kingdom but eventually fell to the Babylonian empire under Nebuchadnezzar and its people were carried off into exile for seventy years.

As he had in the days of the judges, God sent one prophet after another to Israel and Judah, warning of impending judgment and calling on them to repent and return wholeheartedly to their God. Even as they prophesied of overthrow and captivity, however, a number of these men also foretold a time when God would restore the fortunes of his people, defeat their enemies, and re-gather them in their own land, establishing an everlasting kingdom. In this kingdom, justice and righteousness would reign supreme, and God himself would dwell among men as he had not since the beginning. The kingdom would be centered on Jerusalem, which the prophets commonly referred to as Mount Zion, and the land of Israel would become a place of peace and particular blessing, just as the Garden had once been. God also promised to inaugurate a new covenant with both Judah and Israel, and to write his laws in their hearts so that they would never stray from him again.

This covenant and kingdom would be established and ruled over by a descendant of David known as the Messiah. Messiah is a title taken from the Hebrew word Mashiach, meaning “anointed one,” after the ancient practice of anointing kings with oil. In the Greek language, it is Christos: Christ or “the Christ”. Thus, Messiah was to be both deliverer and king, and it was prophesied that even the gentile nations would come to revere him.

Yet, the prophets also warned that the coming of the kingdom would involve a time of great calamity for Israel. The nation’s enemies would rise up against it, intent on destroying it. God would eventually intervene and stop this, but it would be a terrible time for humanity as a whole. Judgment would fall on those who hated Israel as well as those who hated God and refused to acknowledge him and honor Christ as king.

Eventually, in what the Bible calls “the fullness of time,” God sent his Son, Jesus of Nazareth, into the world. When he began his public ministry, the Bible tells us that Jesus came preaching: “Repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand!” (Matthew 4:17), which effectively means: “Turn from your rebellion against God, because the Kingdom of God is coming and judgment is coming with it.” The Jews of Jesus’ day knew very well what this reference meant: the time of Israel’s prophesied restoration was near, and they began to openly debate whether Jesus was the expected Messiah, the Christ. Yet, Jesus refused to openly proclaim himself as such, and he would not allow others to prematurely put him in that position. Instead, he taught the people, healed them, freed them from spiritual oppression, and even raised the dead back to life. In so doing, he fulfilled Old Testament prophecies concerning the work of the Messiah, and he exemplified the blessings of the coming Kingdom age, in which disease, the oppression of evil, and even death itself would be overcome. In other words, he showed himself—and those who followed him and did the same works as he did—to be the living Kingdom of God among them: the very personification of the Kingdom and the proof that it was in fact on its way, with both blessing and judgment.

 “I AM the bread of life…” – John 6:35

“I AM the light of the world…” – John 8:12

“I AM the gate for the sheep…” – John 10:7

“I AM the good shepherd…” – John 10:11

“I AM the resurrection and the life…” – John 11:35

“I AM the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” – John 14:6

“I AM the true vine…” – John 15:1

In a nutshell, the ministry of Jesus Christ was a ministry of reconciliation. Everything he did was geared toward restoring what humanity had lost when it lost access to God and the blessings of Eden: peace, health, and life in all of their various dimensions. He set right all that had been made wrong in human experience. In healing the sick and lame, he restored people’s bodies to their proper function. In raising the dead, he restored life that had been lost. In teaching, he restored truth where it had been clouded or distorted. He came to bring restoration, and he was the very embodiment of it.

Yet, not all accepted him or recognized him for who he was. From the very beginning, Jesus called out a select few to follow him and learn from him intimately. These people—both men and women—became his disciples. The closest of these were twelve men whom Jesus called “apostles.” It was specifically these that he trained to carry on his ministry, for he knew that he would not continue with them for long. Those who were jealous of him and hated him were conspiring to kill him. This, too, had been prophesied in the Old Testament, although the prophecies were not well understood. They told of one who would come and carry away the sicknesses and diseases of the people, who would bear the burden of sin to make atonement, and who would be put to a shameful death. Jesus warned his disciples that this was coming, but he also promised that it was not the end: after he had suffered and died, he would rise again; and as he lived, they would live also.

Jesus inaugurated the promised new covenant with his disciples the night before his death; and when he was raised from the dead, he commissioned them to go and preach what he called “the Gospel of the Kingdom” throughout the world. The word “gospel” is from a Greek word meaning “good news.” The Kingdom of God is indeed good news—even with its prophecies of judgment—if you view it the way God views it, for it represents the end of evil’s domination of this world. From that time forward, true justice and righteousness will reign supreme, and the old, corrupt regimes of this world will never come to power again.

In his ministry of reconciliation, the New Testament calls Christ “the last Adam.” Why? Because he is the embodiment of what man was meant to be under God. He is the first—not of a new race, but of a renewed race of man—in perfect fellowship with God. Where Adam failed, choosing to follow his own will and effectively be God to himself, Christ succeeded, remaining faithful to God and doing his will perfectly and consistently. He is the perfect image of God.

“If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” – John 14:9

“For in him, all the fullness of Deity dwells in bodily form.” – Colossians 2:9

All of this brings us back to the time of the end.

The purpose of the end times is to bring in the Kingdom of God with Christ at its head, to do away with everything that is contrary to the will and character of God, and to establish eternal righteousness and blessing with man restored in perfect, eternal fellowship with his creator. In the words of the angel Gabriel as recorded by the prophet Daniel:

“…to finish the wrongdoing, to make an end of sin, to make atonement for guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal up vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy.” – Daniel 9:24

Just as the events of the creation in Genesis prepared the world to be handed over to the government of humanity, which was made in the image of God to represent him in the world but fell into rebellion, so the events of the end times are to prepare the world to be handed over to the government of Jesus Christ, who is the perfect, unfailing image of God and will reign in eternal righteousness. He has indeed declared the end from the beginning.

As they say, “That’s what it’s all about.”

“Then the seventh angel sounded; and there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ; and he will reign forever and ever.’” – Revelation 11:15

Understanding the End Times - Introduction

For 2,000 years, Christians have been expecting the “the last days,” “the end of days,” and “the end of the age.” Even Christ’s own disciples lingered on the Mount of Olives for awhile after his ascension, as if expecting him to turn around and come right back. Since that time, every new war, outbreak of disease, upheaval in the church, an unprecedented social trend, has brought with it a renewed flood of speculation about the end.

I grew up in the heyday of the imminent pretribulation rapture movement, when books like The Great Late Planet Earth and speakers like Jerry Falwell and Hal Lindsey had many believers thinking that the end of the world was right around the corner. I remember some pastors teaching that, at virtually any time, the United States would be taken over by a communist dictatorship and Christians would be herded off to concentration camps. I was an anxious kid, and my mind often turned to end-time scenarios as preachers and Bible teachers I heard commented on items in the news. I also struggled with assurance of salvation issues, and our church taught that if you weren’t taken in the rapture you had forfeited your chance for salvation. As you might imagine, these two elements made for an interesting mental mixture at times.

I remember an occasion when my parents went out and were several hours later coming back than they had said they would be (remember that this was the era before cell phones). Meanwhile, a terrible thunderstorm broke out, turning the sky an ugly yellow color. I was filled with a very real dread that the rapture may have happened and I had been left behind. Close to a state of panic, I called my pastor (who I was reasonably sure was a saved person, if anyone was), just to see whether he would answer the phone. He did, and my blood pressure slowly returned to normal. Meanwhile, I’m sure he was confused as to why a kid who had been attending the church longer than he had would suddenly call and ask to verify the Wednesday night service time…

It’s interesting now to look back on all of the failed rapture/second coming/end time predictions now (anyone remember 88 Reasons Why the Rapture Will Be in 1988? – check out the reviews on Amazon for some interesting commentary). Prophecy teachers who thought they had everything figured out turned out to be totally wrong. For instance, none of them predicted the collapse of the Soviet Union. Undaunted by this miserable track record, however, more prophecy teachers have since arisen with brand new theories or tweaked variations on the old ones, and more embarrassments have resulted (the Harold Camping/Family Radio debacle in 2011 being a particularly prominent and unfortunate one).

The newest end-time theory I’ve seen relies on a teaching that was common in the early church, namely that the six creation days of Genesis represent six successive 1,000-year ages of human history, with the seventh day representing the Millennial Reign of Christ. According to this theory, 2032 will mark the end of the sixth age and the beginning of the seventh, as it is generally believed that Christ died in AD 32. Pretribulationists who hold to this theory are now speculating that the rapture will take place in the fall of 2025, likely coinciding with the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashanah. Further, they speculate that the near-earth asteroid Apophis (scheduled to make a close flyby of the earth in 2029) is the “Wormwood” object referenced in Revelation. This Wormwood connection is fueled, not only by the fact that 2029 is midway between 2025 and 2032, but also by the fact that Apophis is the Greek name for the Egyptian serpent demon Apep, who was seen as a god of chaos and destruction. Pretribulationists are not the only ones looking at these dates, however. I also know of one posttribulationist group that is also interested in this timeline, as they place a heavy emphasis on the teachings of the early church fathers.

So…what about it? What do we really know about the biblical End of Days?

This has been an area of interest and study for me for quite some time. I’ve written articles and made videos on various aspects of the subject, and used to frequently discuss and debate it online. My intention here is to write a series of posts touching on various aspects of the End Times question, with the goal of passing along what I’ve learned. I don’t pretend to have everything figured out, by any means, but I do believe I have a much clearer understanding of biblical eschatology (End Times studies) than I used to. Further, I have found that these understandings dovetail nicely with the broader tapestry of biblical teaching.

I pray that at least some of you will find these studies of use, and that the Lord will receive glory as I try to share what I believe he has taught me.

Who Were the Nicolaitans?

In the book of the Revelation, Jesus Christ commends the church at Ephesus for the fact that they “hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate” (Revelation 2:6). Debate has taken place over the centuries in regard to just who the Nicolaitans were and what it was about them that Christ hated. Given that the word ‘Nicolaitanes’ itself is a compound Greek word meaning “victory (or conquest) over the people,” some have argued that the Nicolaitans represented a high-church type oligarchy that suppressed the laity or common people, yet this interpretation does not fit naturally with the text of Revelation.

Jesus himself seems to elaborate on the matter a bit further in his message to the church at Pergamos in Revelation 2:14-15:

“But I have a few things against you, because you have there some who hold the teaching of Balaam, who kept teaching Balak to put a stumbling block before the sons of Israel, to eat things sacrificed to idols and to commit acts of immorality. So you also have some who in the same way hold the teaching of the Nicolaitans.”

Here, Christ equates the teaching of the Nicolaitans with that of Balaam, a renegade Old Testament prophet who led Israel into idolatry and immortality.

The early church father Irenaeus of Lyon may be the best authority we have on the Nicolaitans outside of scripture. Irenaeus was born sometime between AD 120-140 and died around the year 200. He was a disciple of a revered church father named Polycarp, who was a disciple of the apostle John himself. Irenaeus was a prolific early Christian writer and apologist whose works were extremely influential in the early centuries of Christianity. He mentions the Nicolaitans twice in his writings.

In Book I, Chapter 26 of his best-known work Against Heresies, Irenaeus claims that the Nicolaitans were followers of Nicolas, a proselyte (convert to Judaism) from Antioch, who was one of the seven deacons appointed by the church in Acts 6:

 

The Nicolaitans are the followers of that Nicolas who one of the seven first ordained to the diaconate by the apostles. They lead lives of unrestrained indulgence. The character of these men is very plainly pointed out in the Apocalypse of John…as teaching that it is a matter of indifference to practice adultery, and to eat things sacrificed to idols.

In Book Three, Chapter Eleven of Against Heresies, Irenaeus lumps the Nicolaitans in with the Gnostics as “an offset of that ‘knowledge’ falsely so called” (‘Gnostic’ being derived from the Greek word gnosis, meaning “knowledge”). The Gnostics effectively layered Christianity over pagan teachings, and promoted a number of heresies related to the nature of God and the person of Jesus Christ. Gnostics denied the resurrection of the body and instead taught a form of spiritual ascension in which the body was cast off and left behind forever. Since the body was to be discarded in this way, Gnostics felt that what a person did in the flesh was unimportant, hence their uninhibited practice of sexual sins such as adultery.

Another church father, Clement of Alexandria, who lived c. AD 150 to 215, denied that Nicolas was the father of the Gnostic doctrine bearing his name, arguing instead that the Gnostics had perverted one of his sayings:

 

Such also are those who say they follow Nicolaus, quoting an adage of the man, which they pervert, “that the flesh must be abused.” But the worthy man showed that it was necessary to check pleasures and lusts, and by such training to waste away the impulses and propensities of the flesh. But they, abandoning themselves to pleasure like goats, as if insulting the body, lead a life of self-indulgence; not knowing that the body is wasted, being by nature subject to dissolution: while their soul is buried in the mire of vice (Stromata, Book Two, Chapter Twenty)

Whatever the truth about Nicolas himself may have been, Irenaeus and Clement clearly agreed that the Nicolaitans taught the sinful indulgence of fleshly desires, particularly where sexuality was concerned. No wonder Christ hated their doctrine and wanted it out of his churches.

The Creation Controversy: Recommended Resources

The following are various books, websites, articles, and video presentations that I recommend for further information on alternative understandings of Genesis and creation-related issues. The reader should understand that I present these resources for their informational value. I do not necessarily endorse all of the views reflected here, nor should it be assumed that the authors and contributors listed here would necessarily agree with me on any particular point. As with everything else in life, “Test all things; hold fast to that which is good.”

Books

A Biblical Case for an Old Earth, by Richard Snoke.

A Matter of Days: Resolving a Creation Controversy, by Hugh Ross.

 Darwin’s Doubt: The Explosive Origin of Animal Life and the Case for Intelligent Design, by Stephen Meyer.

Dinosaur Blood and the Age of the Earth, by Fazale Rana.

Early Genesis: The Revealed Cosmology, by Mark Moore.

Friend of Science, Friend of Faith: Listening to God in His Works and World, by Greg Davidson.

Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design, by Ken Ham, Hugh Ross, Deborah Haarsma, and Stephen Meyer (Edited by James Stump).

Improbable Planet: How Earth Became Humanity’s Home, by Hugh Ross.

(Mis)Interpreting Genesis: How the Creation Museum Misunderstands the Ancient Near Eastern Context of the Bible, by Ben Standhope.

Navigating Genesis: A Scientist’s Journey through Genesis 1-11, by Hugh Ross.

Seven Days that Divide the World: The Beginning According to Genesis and Science, by John Lennox.

The Creator Revealed: A Physicist Examines the Big Bang and the Bible, by Mike Strauss.

The Genealogical Adam and Eve: The Surprising Science of Universal Ancestry, by Joshua Swamidass.

The Grand Canyon: Monument to an Ancient Earth, by Carol Hill, Gregg Davidson, Wayne Ranney, and Tim Helble.

The Unseen Realm: Recovering the Supernatural Worldview of the Bible, by Dr. Michael Heiser.

 

Websites

Age of Rocks: Exploring the Wonders of Geology in Response to Young Earth Claims: ageofrocks.wordpress.com

God and Science.org: www.godandscience.org

John Lennox: www.johnlennox.org

Old Earth Ministries: www.oldearth.org

Reasons to Believe: www.reasons.org

Stephen Meyer: www.stephencmeyer.org

The Glenn Morton Archive: https://www.oldearth.org/bio_glenn_morton.htm

The Grand Canyon: Monument to An Ancient Earth: www.grandcanyonancientearth.com

William Lane Craig: www.reasonablefaith.org

 

 Articles and Video Presentations:

“100 Reasons theEarth is Old,” by Jonathan Baker.

Articles onDinosaur Soft Tissue and Related Matters
 

“Coming to Gripswith the Early Church Fathers’ Perspective on Genesis,” by John Millam: 

“Early Genesis,the Revealed Cosmology,” companion blog to the book by Mark Moore: 

“Hugh Ross Responding to YEC Criticism of Navigating Genesis,” by Sentinel Apologetics (an excellent, capsule look at how young-earth ministries often misrepresent old-earth creationists).

“Noah’s Flood: ABird’s-Eye View,” by Steve Sarigianis.

“Scandal of theEvangelical Mind: A Biblical and Scientific Critique of Young-EarthCreationism,” by Bruce Gordon.

“The Demise and Fall of the Water Vapor Canopy: A Fallen Creationist Idea,” by Glenn Morton.

“The LondonHammer: An Alleged Out of Place Artifact,” by Glen Kuban.

“The PaluxyDinosaur/ ‘Man Track’ Controversy,” by Glen Kuban.

“Textual andscientific resources in response to young-earth creationism”

“What is GopherWood? Do even the Supposed ‘Errors’ in the Text Point to Christ?” by Mark Moore.

“Why Behemothisn’t a Dinosaur,” by Ben Standhope.

“Why I LeftYoung-Earth Creationism,” by Glenn Morton.

“Why Leviathanisn’t a Dinosaur,” by Ben Standhope.

“Why the UniverseIs the Way It Is,” by Dr. Hugh Ross (a powerful example of how real science is an ally to theism rather than an enemy).

If you’ve enjoyed this series, you can find it available in book form on Amazon.com in both Kindle and paperback formats under the title: Creation in the Crossfire: A Study of the Genesis Debate in the Church.

Paperback Edition

Kindle Edition