Two men approached the village water pump. The first man slung down his bucket with a thud. He seemed annoyed and aloof. He jerked the pump with a scowl and soon snatched up his bucket, sloshing half the water out in the process.

The second man then approached and placed his bucket with care. He grabbed the pump handle firmly. He began to pump steadily and vigorously, and a smile spread across his face as the vessel filled up with cool, fresh water.

These two men describe the two ways we can approach God’s Word, our “fountain of life” (Prov. 13:14). Many people read the Bible and listen to preaching with a sense of duty. They put little joy or effort into it, and get little out of it. They’re glad to just check it off their list and move on to other, “more important” things in life. They really can’t understand why anyone would make such a fuss over spiritual things.

Others take time to enjoy the Word of God. They love to read it, to study it, to drink deeply of it. They can never seem to get enough. They cherish their times of fellowship with the Lord, and walk away refreshed and satisfied.

It’s amazing that the same book can produce such different results. Some people love it. Others tolerate it. some even revile it. Only the Spirit can give us that hunger and thirst for righteousness, and open our eyes to the truth of God’s Word. But we do need some good, old-fashioned spiritual “elbow grease” if we expect to reap any benefits from the Bible.

Holiness does not arrive by surfing the net and checking baseball scores. Christlikness is not produced by watching sitcoms and crime dramas. It takes hard work, pumping the Word of God into our lives. We must discipline ourselves for the purpose of godliness (1 Tim. 4:7). Yet all the while, it remains a labor of love.

Why not put more effort and joy into your time with the Lord each day? You may just be surprised by the results.

Many of you have probably seen this video, connecting Barack Obama with the Antichrist. I’ve had two people in the last week ask me about it, so here’s my response:

1. The biggest problem is equating Satan (Lk. 10:18) with the Antichrist. These are two different people, not the same (See Rev. 13:2) This should make us immediately question the integrity of the rest of the video.
2. Another problem is that Jesus explicitly told us the end would come unexpectedly (Mark 13:32-33). He would not have disclosed any specific details, even encrypted, to tell us when it’s about to appear.
3. It elevates the oral, speculative words of Christ above the inspired, written word of Christ. The NT was not written in Aramaic. (We don’t even know for sure that Jesus spoke regularly in Aramaic. He may have chosen to teach in the more cosmopolitan language of Greek.) It is highly speculative to assert what Jesus would have said in Aramaic, and then to draw conclusions from this. It opens up a Pandora’s box of hermeneutical and theological abuses. God gave us the inspired New Testament in Greek, and that is what He intends us to study.
4. Even the linguistic and grammatical support crumbles upon closer look. It is true that one Hebrew word for “lightning” is baraq, that the Hebrew word for “heights” in Isaiah 14:14 is bamah, and that there is an Aramaic conjunction waw (pronounced “u” in u-bamah). But please note, waw means “and.” Jesus did not say “from heaven and lightning.” He said “from heaven like lightning.” Even if Jesus had spoken in Aramaic, and even if He had chosen the words baraq and bamah (which is by no means certain), He would have joined them together with the preposition min, meaning “out of, from.” Thus, He would have said, baraq mi-bamah, and not baraq u-bamah.

This kind of stuff sounds good on the surface, even raising a hint of plausibility, but really undermines the clarity of Scripture. It delves into hidden meanings and connections, rather than encouraging people to seek the plain meaning of Scripture, found through the grammatical-historical method of interpretation.

I believe Satan is even content to use a video like this to get people anxious and distracted from the Person of Christ and clearly revealed Word of God.

To read more on the biblical identity of Antichrist, I would suggest checking out some recent articles by Bret Capranica.

Sometimes, pastors and teachers rely on the Jewish Mishnah to give historical background to the New Testament. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the Mishnah was the “collection and codification of Jewish oral laws, systematically compiled by numerous scholars (called tannaim) over a period of about two centuries” (see Mishna (Jewish laws)). This effort was done by the rabbis at the end of the second century AD.

For many reasons, Mishah studies and citations should be used very cautiously in biblical studies and preaching. It should not be assumed that everything in the Mishnah accurately describes the situation in New Testament Palestine 150 years earlier.

Case in point: the Jewish trial of Jesus Christ. Most people point out how illegal the proceedings of the Sanhedrin were during Jesus’ trial. It certainly was unethical, and it may have been illegal, but it is anachronistic to simply cite the Mishnah in proof that the Jews violated their own law. Robert Thomas explains,

Possibly the Jewish leaders were so obsessed with quickly disposing of Jesus before the Sabbath and Passover Week that they knowingly violated their own procedures. This has been the traditional Christian exploration. More likely, however, the provisions of the Sanhedrin tractate were not operative in Jesus’ time. The Mishnah was a collection of orally transmitted laws drawn up toward the close of the second century. By this time the ruling Sanhedrin, as it had existed historically, had ceased to exist and was only an academic institution having no authority. The regulations of the Sanhedrin tractate conflict with other Jewish sources closer to the first century, and its provisions are probably not a reflection of actual Sanhedrin procedures in the first third of the first century. Consequently, it is probably wrong to accuse the Sanhedrin of illegal procedures… (Thomas, A Harmony of the Gospels, p. 336)

Just a little word of caution to help us accurately handle the Word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15). Don’t ignore the Mishnah, but do use it with caution and integrity.

Somewhat-related posts:

• Tabloid archaeology
• The high priest’s rope