LUKE 18 SERIES, STUDIE #6 THRU #10, by Chris McCannNote: This document contains five studies, consisting of 19 pages. Luke 18 Series, Study #6 by Chris McCann, originally aired September 15, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Luke, chapter 18 and tonight is study #6. We are continuing to look at Luke 18:1:

And he spake a parable unto them *to this end*, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint;

We looked up the Greek word translated as “faint” and it led us to Galatians 6:9:

And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.

The Greek word translated as “faint” is translated here in Galatians 6:9 as “weary.” From that verse, we started looking at God’s program of “reaping” and reaping is gathering the fruit and we saw in our last study how the feast of ingathering is held in conjunction with the Feast of Tabernacles. Both feasts began on the 15 th day of the Hebrew seventh month and both feasts continued for seven days with a solemn assembly on the 8 th day and both feasts would conclude on the 23rd day of the seventh month when they would all be sent home. They would be sent home from the Feast of Tabernacles and they would be sent home from the feast of ingathering, the time they had come before God having “gathered together” themselves. And that is the key to what God has done spiritually; He has saved His elect and they were saved during the day of salvation through God’s program of evangelization in which God sowed the seed of the Gospel. It was not that long ago and we all can remember well what God commanded His people. It was stressed and it was placed upon our hearts to get out there in the world and share the Gospel and “sow the seed.” We were to sow, sow and sow. Every time we shared the Word of God it was spiritual seed that fell upon the hearts of men and God would bless His Word in those He had foreordained to receive it unto salvation. They would become saved and they would be the fruit.

The day of salvation was the season to sow, but then came Judgment Day and the evangelization of the world stopped. It was the end of sowing the seed. There is a verse is Deuteronomy that is sort of an indirect statement that has great significance, spiritually. You do not sow seed on ground that has been destroyed by fire and brimstone. Of course, you would not because the fire and brimstone has destroyed it so you do not sow at that time. Spiritually speaking, God began to pour out “fire and brimstone” on May 21, 2011 and, therefore, we no longer sowed the seed. It was no longer the day of salvation, as Christ has come as a thief in the night and it is Judgment Day and the time for “reaping.” We know it is the time for reaping because the Bible defines “harvest” as the end of the world, so God links “harvest” with “the end” of this world. In Revelation, chapter 14 it said that the Son of man (Christ) is putting in His sickle to reap because “the harvest of the earth is ripe.” It was Judgment Day and the Bible tells us in Joel 3:13: “Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for their wickedness is great .” The context is Judgment Day. Judgment Day is the time of reaping. There is a time to plant, according to Ecclesiastes, chapter 3, and there is a time to reap and the reaping is taking place now. It is another program, in some ways, but it is similar in other ways. God says we must prophesy again and just as the program of sowing the seed was carried out by going out into the world with the Gospel the program of reaping that which was sown is carried out the same way. Let us read that in Revelation 10:11:

And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations, and tongues, and kings.

There are four groups listed because it is pointing to the four points of the earth – North, South, East and West. The only thing that has changed from the sowing of the seed to the reaping of the harvest is that God is no longer saving. The door is shut, rather than open. The light of the Gospel is out, rather than brightly shining.

But God’s people are doing the same task in declaring what the Bible says and we are teaching what the Bible declares. When God was saving a great multitude, we told people the door is wide open and we told them to go to the Lord and seek Him while He may be found. Now we tell people what the Bible says for this time. The door is shut. We are only “doorkeepers.” We are only following God’s direction and we are sharing what we have learned that comes down from above to us lowly doorkeepers. When the door was open, we rejoiced and it was a time of great rejoicing because God was saving so many. When the door shut, it is a grievous time and we have sorrowed over it and, yet, we have to tell the truth and we have to share what we have been instructed to say: “The door is shut.” What God has shut, no man can open and we certainly cannot open it.

It says something significant about this in the parable in Luke 16 about the rich man in “hell” and he is in torment and desires just a drop of water and he asks Father Abraham to send Lazarus with a drop of water, but the response is that those that “would come from hence” with that drop of water cannot. They cannot cross that great gulf that is fixed. That is our inability today. It is not my idea and it is not any child of God’s idea to shut the door to heaven. We would desire it to be open and we would desire there would be just a drop of water or a ray of light. We would desire that there be even a little salvation because we have people that we want to experience the grace and mercy of God in this day. We would that it be so, but the Lord has placed in us a desire to do His will. We have to be honest and we can only say what God would permit us to say, so we have to tell people the truth and the truth is the door is shut because the “season” has changed. The season of sowing is done. Now it is time to reap.

We saw this in Zephaniah, chapter 3, in our last study, but let us look at it again in Zephaniah 3:16:

In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not: *and to* Zion, Let not thine hands be slack.

Remember, the word translated as “slack” is the Hebrew word, Strong’s #7503, is the word “faint” or “weary,” and it is the word we found in Isaiah, chapter 13, in the context of Judgment Day. Then it goes on to say in Zephaniah 3:17-18:

JEHOVAH thy God in the midst of thee *is* mighty; he will save, he will rejoice over thee with joy; he will rest in his love, he will joy over thee with singing. I will gather *them that are* sorrowful for the solemn assembly…

The two words “solemn assembly” is a translation of the word that is translated as “appointed time” that is used in relationship to all the set (or appointed) feasts, like the Feast of Tabernacles and the feast of ingathering. Then it says in Zephaniah 3:18-19:

...*who* are of thee, *to whom* the reproach of it *was* a burden. Behold, at that time I will undo all that afflict thee: and I will save her that halteth, and gather her that was driven out…

Keep in mind when we see the word “save” we are still looking to be saved in the sense of the completion of the salvation of our bodies and that is what is in view here. It goes on to say in Zephaniah 3:19-20:

…and I will get them praise and fame in every land where they have been put to shame. At that time will I bring you*again,* even in the time that I gather you: for I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth, when I turn back your captivity before your eyes, saith JEHOVAH.

When was the captivity turned? It was after the 70-year period, which would point to after the Great Tribulation, so this entire passage relates to our day. Let us just look at another verse in Nehemiah, where the word “gathered” is found. It says in Nehemiah 8:1:

And all the people gathered themselves together as one man into the street that *was* before the water gate…

Nehemiah, chapter 8 is in the context of the Feast of Tabernacles and it says in Nehemiah 8:18:

Also day by day, from the first day unto the last day, he read in the book of the law of God…

And this is the only time in the Old Testament that the phrase “the last day” is used along with the Feast of Tabernacles. It is also used once in John 7, verse 37, along with the Feast of Tabernacles, the last day of that feast. And the other six times, this phrase is used in relationship to the rapture, the resurrection and the last day of Judgment Day, so God is linking together Nehemiah 8 and the “gathering” of the people “as one man.” Who would that “man” be? It would be the Lord Jesus Christ and they have come together as the body of Christ. They are the elect and they are there present to keep the Feast and they will continue to observe this Feast to “the last day.” Spiritually, this points to God’s elect that have come together as the body of Christ to observe the Feast of Tabernacles unto “the last day” and that is what we are looking toward on October 7, 2015. It is the last day of harvest, the last day of Tabernacles and there is a strong likelihood it will be the last day of earth’s existence. If we are correct, that is the day God’s people will “go home.” They will be taken up out of this world and forever be with the Lord in the new heaven and new earth.

Well, there was something else I wanted to share when I was looking up the word “reap” before we go back to our parable of the widow woman in Luke, chapter 18. Some people may be wondering what any of this has to do with the request of the widow woman in that parable. It is related through the word “faint.” This is part of the joy of searching the Bible and comparing Scripture with Scripture because sometimes it just “carries us along” in directions that we did not intend to go, but the word “reap” led me to a verse that is important to this time of reaping. It says in Matthew 6:26:

Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?

Here, the Lord Jesus is saying that the fowls of the air do not sow, reap or gather into barns. The reaping and gathering are basically the same thing. The fowls do not gather and the fowls do not sow. Now we know from the parable in Matthew 13 that “fowls” have a negative connotation. When God uses the word “fowls” as He does in Matthew, chapter 13, it is not in a positive way. It says in Matthew 13:3-4:

And he spake many things unto them in parables, saying, Behold, a sower went forth to sow; And when he sowed, some *seeds* fell by the way side, and the fowls came and devoured them up:

Here is a picture of God’s salvation program and, as many of us know, the seed is the Word of God and the sower is the Son of man. But, in the explanation of the parable, it says in Matthew 13:18-19:

Hear ye therefore the parable of the sower. When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth *it* not, then cometh the wicked *one,* and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.

If we go back to verse 4, it was the fowls that devoured the seed, but in the explanation Christ says it was “the wicked one” that took the seed. The fowls represent Satan and his emissaries, all the unsaved. They do not “sow.” They were not active and occupied in the day of salvation in sowing. If they gave any appearance of sowing, it was not the true Gospel. The wicked do not sow the true Gospel. The Son of man sows the true

Gospel, but the wicked do not sow in the time of sowing. Instead, they are busy in devouring the seed. They were involved in snatching it away. Many of us experienced this leading up to May 21, 2011, which was the most recent time we were sowing and it was a bountiful effort. We would go and share information with people, whether online or in person. I remember getting into conversations with people. Someone would “step up” and they were not interesting in sowing the good seed. They would listen for a second and then they start arguing, disputing and contradicting and telling other people not to listen to it. That is what they would do in person, but even online they do similar things. So the conversation we were having with one person would be interrupted by Satan’s emissaries. That was Satan’s goal: to prevent his house from being ransacked and to prevent an elect person from leaving his kingdom of darkness. Of course, Satan was not successful when it would come to one of God’s actual elect, but there were many that “were called” (but not chosen) and the seed was snatched away from them. They were disturbed in the sowing process, first of all, because it did not fall on “good ground,” but Satan also came to assault and take the seed away.

Let us also look at Luke, chapter 12, which restates what we read in Matthew 6. It says in Luke 12:24:

Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls? Here, the fowls are identified as ravens. They do not sow or reap. We know from the parable that the fowls of the air definitely were not sowing seed, were they? They were snatching it away. But, what do the fowls do in the time of harvest or in the time of reaping? God tells us they do not reap. They do not sow and we know exactly what that means – the wicked (the unsaved that do not understand truth) do not like the spiritual truths of the Gospel and the true Word of God. They just do not like it. It disturbs them. Like the Pharisees, they sense that Jesus is speaking against them, so they lash out. The fowls of the heaven represent the wicked and they were never actually involved in the sowing process, as far as this parable is concerned, and they hindered the sowing of the seed. Therefore, we can expect that in the time of reaping, the fowls will not participate or lend a hand. If there is a discussion with people about “no more salvation” or the likely date for the end of the world as October 7, 2015, the fowls will come and they will “throw a monkey wrench in the works.” If they are of the world, they will say, “I will see you on October 8.” If they are in the churches, they will say, “No man knows the day or hour.” They are going to attempt to prevent the reaping from occurring. They will attempt to prevent God from gathering His fruit and reaping His harvest. That is what the fowls will be actively doing in this time period.

I have to say I have never seen anything like it when we post things on Twitter or Facebook, and we see great numbers of people that have “shut their ears” and “closed their eyes.” There are staggering numbers of them. Every now and then there is 1 out of 100 or 1 out of 200 that say, “Well, let us just wait and see.” You can hear the voice of one of God’s people as they respond, but all around them is an enormous gathering of fowls that are not involved in the reaping process in any positive way. It is because the fowls do not sow and they do not reap. They do not get involved with either activity.

Luke 18 Series, Study #7 by Chris McCann, originally aired September 16, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Luke and tonight is study #7. We are going to look at Luke 18:1-5:

And he spake a parable unto them *to this end*, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

I will stop reading there. We are going to move on into verse 2 at this point and into the parable itself. In verse 1, God gave us a great exhortation: “that men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Then the Lord Jesus presents us with a parable that is an illustration of what He had just told us. It is an encouragement. Then it goes on to say in Luke 18:2-3:

Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

The wicked judge would not for a time, but then he said, “Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her.” In other words, he agreed to hear her cause and respond to it and he would then execute the law in her favor.

Then God summarizes it with this statement in Luke 18:6:

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

And what did the unjust judge say? He said that because of her continual coming, it wearied him and, therefore, he would avenge her. God has identified the judge as being unjust, so what is God saying to us? What are we to hear through this parable?

Let us go back to verse 2 and start looking at each verse carefully to see what we can learn about the parable overall and then we will be in a better condition to understand the point the Lord is making to us.

Again, it says in Luke 18:2:

Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

God gives us information about the judge, so let us find out what kind of judge is being described. First of all, it says he did not fear God. It says in Psalm 36:1-4:

The transgression of the wicked saith within my heart, *that there is* no fear of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity and deceit: he hath left off to be wise, *and* to do good. He deviseth mischief upon his bed; he setteth himself in a way *that is* not good; he abhorreth not evil.

In these verses God tells us about the transgression of the wicked that have no fear of God before their eyes. The judge in the parable does not fear God and, therefore, the statements made in this passage in Psalms would apply to the judge. He flatters himself in his own eyes; he has left off to be wise and to do good; he devises mischief; he sets himself in a way that is not good; and he does not abhor evil. On the other hand, if this judge feared God, he would hate evil and he would set himself in a way that is good; the words of his mouth would be truth and sincerity, instead of wickedness and deceit. He would be a wise man and this poor widow woman that came before him would have had a better possibility of being heard, but he is not a just judge because he does not fear God and he has no concern for justice. He does not hate evil. Evil does not really bother him and, therefore, someone could come before him with a cause of evil that has been committed against them, but that would not cause this judge to render a just verdict. He is not concerned about that because he does not abhor evil.

What else can we know if this judge does not fear God? It says in Proverbs 1:7:

The fear of JEHOVAH *is* the beginning of knowledge: *but* fools despise wisdom and instruction.

Elsewhere it also says that it is the beginning of wisdom, so since this judge does not fear God he lacks both knowledge and wisdom. This would not be the ideal person to bring your concern before at all.

It gives us a statement about the opposite condition, when it says in Proverbs 8:13:

The fear of JEHOVAH *is* to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth, do I hate.

This is why God’s elect hate evil, as a result of the indwelling Spirit of God. These are all things that are wrapped up in someone that has the “fear of JEHOVAH,” but the judge’s problem is that he does not have this fear. He is a natural man. He is a man that is not concerned with God or the Law of God. He is not concerned with the Bible, we would say, because He is not going to be convinced or moved in any way by the things the Bible says and when this woman comes before him he would not make reference to the Word of God in judging her cause. The Bible would not come into play because this man would be using his own thoughts, reasoning, feelings and his own ideas in judgment.

Not only that, but it also says in our verse in Luke 18:2:

Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man:

When we first read this we might think that he does not fear God, but at least he does not regard man, in the sense that he is not a respecter of persons. For example, he would not regard the rich more than the poor or he would not regard the powerful more than those that are lowly. So we might get the idea that maybe the judge is not “all bad,” but I do not think that is what is in view here. Let us go to Proverbs 29:7:

The righteous considereth the cause of the poor: *but* the wicked regardeth not to know *it*.

This is what is in view with the unjust judge. Not only is he completely unconcerned with God and has no fear of God, but he also has no regard for the poor. He has no regard the elect, which is spiritually what this says. He not only does not care for God or the Bible, but he does not care for the people of God. He is not interested if someone is a Christian. He is not interested if someone attempts to live uprightly and walks in the fear of the Lord. We know the Bible does typify the elect as the “poor” of this world. Jesus said in the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:3:

Blessed *are* the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

This is who is in view in our proverb. The “righteous” would be the Lord Jesus and the body of Christ that are made righteous through Him are the ones that “considereth the cause of the poor.” They are the poor in spirit. When God sent forth the Gospel in the day of salvation, it resulted in the “righteous” considering the cause of the poor. When God’s people feed the sheep, they are the “righteous” considering the cause of the poor. But the wicked regard not to know it. The unsaved individual that has no fear of God does not care what anyone’s spiritual condition might be and he did not care in the day of salvation that there were people in China or India or Africa that had not yet heard the Gospel. It was not his concern and he certainly does not care at this time that Christ commands us to feed His sheep and prophesy again to accomplish this task all over the earth. He would say, “So what?” It is not his concern and he does not regard to know the cause of the poor and that is the nature of the judge that this poor widow is coming before.

If you were a widow in the days of old, it was a very difficult circumstance. We read in Luke 18:3:

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

First of all, we read in verse 2 that there was in this city a judge and now we are reading that there was a widow in that city and this tells us that there is a wicked man in the city and a “widow” in the same city that would typify the elect. The elect are typified by “widows” and by the “poor” and the Bible brings these two ideas together in Luke 21:1-4:

And he looked up, and saw the rich men casting their gifts into the treasury. And he saw also a certain poor widow casting in thither two mites. And he said, Of a truth I say unto you, that this poor widow hath cast in more than they all: For all these have of their abundance cast in unto the offerings of God: but she of her penury hath cast in all the living that she had.

The “poor widow” cast in all her living or we could say she is “offering up her life,” as it says in Romans 12:1:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, *which is* your reasonable service.

The elect are to offer up their lives and the “poor widow” cast in “all the living that she had.” It is a picture of someone offering up his or her life in service to God. So when we examine the words “widow” or “poor” in the Bible, we see that it does point to the elect, those God chose unto salvation from the foundation of the world.

This woman is in the same city as the judge and, therefore, it cannot be a reference to “holy Jerusalem,” for example, because there can be no wicked in that city. It also cannot be the earthly Jerusalem because the context of God’s encouragement to keep praying and the widow’s request for vengeance is all language (which we will see later) that applies to Judgment Day. Therefore, the widow cannot represent earthly Jerusalem or the churches or heavenly Jerusalem. So what city can it be? The city that is in view is “Babylon,” the city that represents the world. It is that “great city Babylon,” as we read in Revelation, chapter 18, and today we find in Babylon (which is now fallen) the unsaved that have no fear of God and we also find God’s people. God’s people remain on this earth in the Day of Judgment.

So the widow came unto the judge and said, “Avenge me of mine adversary.” Again, the judge is very possibly the worst person she could go to in order to plead her cause because the judge does not care about God and he does not care about the people of God. So here comes an elect of God before a judge that is not inclined toward her in any way and, yet, she has no recourse. For all we know, he is the only judge in the city or he is the judge that was appointed to her, so she must go before him. She came before him and she presented her cause.

Not only is the unjust judge a problem, but you can imagine what this judge would think when a widow comes to him. She is not the mayor of the city and she is not a councilman. She is not an officer of some kind. She is not a rich person and she is not a farmer that owns a large piece of land. She is a widow woman, which means she does not have a husband, so there is no man to threaten the judge. She is alone, without a husband. God speaks of widows in 1Timothy 5:3-5:

Honour widows that are widows indeed. But if any widow have children or nephews, let them learn first to shew piety at home, and to requite their parents: for that is good and acceptable before God. Now she that is a widow indeed, and desolate, trusteth in God, and continueth in supplications and prayers night and day.

The distinction between a “widow” and a “widow indeed” is whether she has children. If she has children, she is a “widow” and if she has no children she is a “widow indeed.” She is desolate. She not only has no husband to help her, but she has no children to help her. The point here was that if she had no children, the church was to help, but if she had children, then the children would care for her.

Here in our proverb, we are not told if the widow has children, but it leads us to think she would be a “desolate” widow. In any case, she typifies the elect. As far as the judge is concerned, she is a widow all alone and in that day she was of little concern to anyone. The widow has no power, wealth or influence. She has nothing to offer that would make this judge even begin to bother with her. He is a busy man and he has a lot of things to do and more important cases to hear and rule upon. He has rich and powerful individuals that are also seeking his attention and they want him to judge their cases. They can “help” the judge in some way. They could offer some benefits. Who knows when the judge might need their favor somewhere down the line? But this widow can never help the judge. She does not have money or a position of power or influence, so what does he care? As she comes seeking his help to avenge her of her adversary, it says in Luke 18:4:

And he would not for a while…

The Greek word translated as “a while” is also translated as “season,” so this was going on for some time. The judge would go to his courthouse in the morning and he would take off his cloak and hang it on a hook and he would sit down and look at his court docket and see the cases he was going to deal with that day. Then came the knock, knock, knock (from the widow). After a while I am sure he sighed because he recognized the knock or he recognized the time of day that she would come – maybe early in the morning as soon as he opened the door. There she was again: “knock…knock…knock.” More than likely, at times he would just let her knock or he would tell his assistant to send her away and the widow woman would go away, but the next day came the “knock, knock, knock,” again and again. Maybe she not only came in the morning, but maybe she came back in the afternoon. Of course, this is a parable, but the idea is that she kept coming.

You know, this parable fits in with another parable and there is an almost identical principal God gives us in Luke 11:5-8:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

It was an “importunity” and that carries the meaning of “shamelessly” coming at a time when one should not be coming. Lord willing, we will look more at this in our next study.

Luke 18 Series, Study #8 by Chris McCann, originally aired September 17, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Luke and tonight is study #8. We are going to look at Luke 18:1-5:

And he spake a parable unto them *to this end*, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

We have been taking time to consider what the unjust judge says and we have seen how God set up that whole parable. The judge is the last person a child of God would want to go to for justice. He has no regard for the “widow,” a picture of God’s elect. He is just not a good man. He is an unjust judge, but the point the Lord Jesus is making is that by the widow’s continual coming she got her desire.

In our last study we saw there was another parable where a man comes to his friend at midnight and he desires to borrow some loaves of bread. We saw there were similarities between this parable in Luke 11 and the parable we are studying in Luke, chapter 18.

One similarity is that both parables are set in the context of Judgment Day. As a matter of fact, in Luke, chapter 11, we see that it says in Luke 11:1-4:

And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth. Give us day by day our daily bread. And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.

So Jesus is teaching them how to pray. This is a form and we have learned much by looking at the Lord’s Prayer and how we are to approach God in prayer and we have also learned that this prayer is a petition for salvation, especially when it says in verse 4: “And forgive us our sins; for we also forgive every one that is indebted to us. And lead us not into temptation; but deliver us from evil.” The “evil” is the “evil day” or Judgment Day and it is only through salvation that we are delivered from evil, so the Lord’s Prayer was a wonderful and beautiful prayer that had application all through history until May 21, 2011 when the day of salvation concluded. So this prayer was for the time when God was still saving people because there are petitions within it for forgiveness of sins. Can a sinner go to God today and say, “O, Lord, forgive me my sins.”? We know the Bible teaches that God is not forgiving sins today. Can a sinner go to God today and say, “Father, lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.”? Here we are today in the day of temptation during a time of extreme trial and testing. We are in the day of evil, the Day of Judgment. We could still pray that prayer, but we would also pray, “Lord, I know that this prayer asks for forgiveness of sins and is it possible you could have done that prior to shutting the door on May 21, 2011?” Realizing this, God has given two prayers here in Luke, chapter 11. As Jesus teaches the disciples to pray in answer to their request, He gives examples of two prayers: 1) the first prayer was for the day of salvation, which time lasted for centuries; and 2) the second prayer that begins in verse 5 is a prayer designed by God for the time of Judgment Day. It is a prayer that instructs the people of God how to approach God in prayer when the door is shut and we know God shut the door on May 21, 2011.

So, let us look at this parable in Luke 11:5:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves;

The word “loaves” is the same Greek word translated as “bread” in verse 3 in the Lord’s Prayer. So the friend is requesting bread. Then it goes on to say in Luke 11:6-7:

For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee.

Here, we can recognize this as language of Judgment Day. The “friend” pictures God who is within the house or within the kingdom of heaven. He is in bed with His children, which typify all the elect that God has saved. They are all safe and sound within and the door is shut. God cannot “rise and give,” so this matches all we read in the Bible. There is a “great gulf fixed” when there is a request for a drop of water or the language of men “seeking death” (in salvation) but not being able to find it. Then it goes on to say in Luke 11:8:

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

We have gone through this parable before and we have seen it is not teaching salvation. The request for “bread” is being made on behalf of another friend for his journey. So it is as if this man is asking for “bread” of God and he requests “three” and that number represents the purpose of God concerning prayer and concerning the way we are to pray in the Day of Judgment and concerning what we are to request. “I would like three loaves of bread. Break to me the truth of the Word of God. Break to me the Lord Jesus Christ, the bread of life, so I have it to feed to my friend.” We know the door shut on May 21, 2011 after the end of the Great Tribulation after God saved the great multitude. We also know that after the “great catch of fish” the Lord had a conversation with Peter, who typified the elect, just like the friend that comes to the man’s house for bread is typifying the elect. In John, chapter 21, Christ asked Peter three times, “Lovest thou me?” How many times did Christ ask him this question? It was three times. Peter responded, “Ye, Lord, thou knowest I love thee.” How many times did Peter respond? It was three times. Then Christ commands, “Feed my sheep.” How many times did Christ say that? It was three times, indicating that the purpose for the time of Judgment Day is to “feed the sheep.” It is your task and it is what you should be doing.

So this man in the parable in Luke 11 typifies the elect and he comes to God requesting bread for his friend on a journey. In other words, he is asking for bread to feed a sheep. He is coming to God for the Word of God in order to have to feed his friend. It is exactly what Christ told Peter to do. It is a parallel idea, even though it is speaking of feeding a person instead of sheep. Who are the sheep? The sheep are people. It is a parabolic statement, just like when the Bible says that Jesus is the “Lamb of God.” The elect are the sheep and they are fed by the Word of God, so this matches perfectly with what Jesus told Peter.

Yet, the “man” is in bed and the door is shut and his children are with him and he says, “I cannot rise and give thee.” God makes this statement and does not respond to the request for bread because it is the “wrong time” and God wants us to know that. It is a wrong time, is it not? It is the wrong time to go to a friend’s house. We even know this in our evil day (and it is an evil time we live in), because it is still considered inappropriate to go to a friend’s house late at night when you know the friend is in bed and you know the door is locked and the lights are out. The “day” is over. It is “night” time and the man is in bed and the door is shut and locked. It is not the correct time to come and even today we understand that – it is not polite. It is rude and if you had a friend that did this, you would be very annoyed and disturbed at him because he dared to come at that time. We would say, “If you needed bread, why did you not come earlier? Why are you knocking at my door at this hour? It is after midnight. My kids are asleep and we are all at rest in bed.” But, here comes the friend, knocking and crying outside the door, “Friend, I need three loaves.” This is a parable, but it would be a normal reaction for the “man” to say from within, “Trouble me not. The door is now shut and my children are with me in bed. I cannot rise and give thee.” In fact, we might say, “I will not rise and give thee. Go away! Go away!” That is exactly the idea in this parable because the “time” is all wrong. The time to come for bread is during the day, is it not? It is during the “day of salvation” when the light is still shining forth into the world and when the door of the house of the kingdom of God is open. That is the time to come for bread. It is not after all the children have been gathered and brought in and the door is shut and the night has come. Everything this friend is doing is wrong. The “man” of the house is letting him know that: “You are troubling me! You should not do

this.”

Just think about it. When we pray to God today…and remember, Christ is teaching the disciples how to pray today. When we pray to God today we are not approaching God as people have throughout history; they would approach Him in the day of salvation and they would make their request and beseech Him for salvation, knowing the door was open. And especially right near the end during that “little season” of the Great Tribulation, the door was so wide open because God was saving a great multitude. That would have been the time to come to the man’s house for bread: “Of course, you need three loaves. Here is what you need.” We know that God answered many prayers of the saints and the cries of His people all through history. They came at the appropriate time and they sought the Lord while He could be found and God was well-pleased that these individuals were coming to Him. Of course, the only ones that came in a right way to Him were those that God was drawing. That was all part of God’s plan, but God still considers it as them coming to Him, even though He willed in them to do it.

But, now is a completely different “time.” Some people confuse the time. They hear that God has shut the door and there is no more salvation and they say, “It is not fair. It is not just. It is not right. God would not be a loving God if He did that.” Yet, you could ask these same people: “In the Day of Judgment and in the day of wrath when God is punishing people, would it be unfair for Him not to save them when He is punishing them? Would it be unjust of God to stop His salvation program at the time He is pouring out His wrath?” You see, they do not understand that May 21, 2011 was the beginning of Judgment Day and we have been living in the Day of Judgment ever since. This is the “time” of the furious outpouring of the wrath of God. This is the day of punishment and God is punishing the wicked people of the world and that is why the door is shut. The light of the day of salvation is gone. It is spiritual “night” time. Christ has come as a thief in the night and it is Judgment Day. There are no more children of God that are outside of His kingdom – they are all within.

That is why it is nothing short of amazing that God permits prayer in the Day of Judgment. He would not have to do that. If you think back to our previous understanding of the Day of Judgment, we did not think He would allow people to come to Him and beseech Him and make requests of Him. But, here we are in Judgment Day and God could just maintain His initial statement, “Trouble me not. The door is shut: I cannot rise up and give thee.” That would be it and there would be no leeway. It is just like a brick wall and judgment without mercy. There is no more salvation. There is no prayer that can get beyond this gulf that was fixed on May 21, 2011.

Yet, God has His elect living on the earth in the Day of Judgment, He is making allowance even though it is not the proper time to come to Him. It is a time that people should be in their own homes and they should not be disturbing their neighbor. But it goes on to say in Luke 11:8:

I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

This word “importunity” is only found here. We do not find this word anywhere else. It is a word that is made up of two different Greek words. It is Strong’s #335 and it is a compound word that is made up of a word that is translated once as “reverence” and once as “shamefacedness.” It is translated as “reverence” in Hebrews 12:28:

Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

It is translated as “shamefacedness” in 1Timothy 2:9:

In like manner also, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety; not

with broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array;

These are the only two places that we find Strong’s #127. So the word “importunity” is that word plus it is negated by the Greek Alpha prefix which means “no reverence” or “not shamefaced.” That would be the literal meaning of “importunity.” In other words, we could say the person is not ashamed to come to the door. We can see that the friend that came to the man’s door is “bold.” He has a concern for his friend that is on a journey and he wants him to receive the bread – he desires bread for him. He knows that his other friend has the bread, so he needs to go to this man even though it is late because his other friend is on a journey and he needs the bread now. It is not something that can wait. It has to happen this night or the poor soul on his journey will not have bread.

So this man comes to his friend’s house without “shame” and, in a sense, without reverence for the time or the shut door and he makes request in a bold manner to his friend, but he is not asking for himself – it is for the one on the journey. And God says that this is the reason his request was granted. Again, it says in Luke 11:8: “yet because of his importunity.” Since Jesus is teaching us how to pray in the Day of Judgment, it is as though God is encouraging us to come to Him when we should not come; to approach Him when we should not approach Him; to make request of God for things we should not request in the time we are living in because the door is shut and because it is “night.”

Luke 18 Series, Study #9 by Chris McCann, originally aired September 18, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in Luke, chapter 18 and tonight is study #9. We are looking at the parable in the first eight verses of Luke 18, in which the Lord Jesus is instructing us how to prayer and endure in prayer: “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.” Then the Lord give the parable of a judge in the city that did not fear God or regard man. There was a widow in the same city that came to him, requesting vengeance upon her adversary. The parable tells us that he would not, for a while, but then he relented because of this reason, in Luke 18:5-6:

Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith.

So this is the point God is making to us. God wants to teach us about persistence in coming to Him and not give up. Do not stop. Do not turn back or turn away to the left or to the right. Keep coming. The unjust judge was troubled. Last time we were looking at a related parable in Luke, chapter 11, where there was a man that had a friend that was on a journey, so the man went to another friend’s house late at night to request three loaves for his friend. So, let us look at this parable in Luke 11:5-8:

And he said unto them, Which of you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me three loaves; For a friend of mine in his journey is come to me, and I have nothing to set before him? And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee. I say unto you, Though he will not rise and give him, because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.

Again, the Lord is teaching us in a parable about prayer and this parable in Luke 11 is Christ’s instructions for prayer in Judgment Day. We talked about that before. The first few verses of Luke, chapter 11, gives the “Lord’s Prayer” and it is guidance for prayer throughout the day of salvation because within that prayer are petitions for salvation that no longer apply once Judgment Day came, so God gave a second prayer for our time when we prophesy again and feed the sheep in the Day of Judgment. This is exactly what the parable in Luke 11 relates to when the man comes to his friend for three loaves (bread) for a friend of his that is on a journey.

God’s people came to God in the Day of Judgment out of obedience to His command in the Bible: “Feed my sheep.” The people of God approach God and, yet, it is too late – the “day” is done. The 12-hour work day is done. Remember, we looked at that where the men labored in the vineyard and they worked during the “day” and the last hour (the 11th to the 12th hour) of labor was performed in God’s vineyard by bringing the Gospel to the world in the day of salvation. Then the “day” ended and the “night” came and, spiritually, that is what has happened. The world entered into “night” when the sun was darkened, the moon did not give her light and the stars fell from heaven. That means it was dark all over the earth; it is spiritual night.

We also know that at the end of the Great Tribulation on May 21, 2011, the door was shut, so we can see that in this parable God is letting it be known that the day is over and it is night time and the door is shut. All the elect are safely inside the house (the kingdom of heaven) and everything is indicating that one should not go to your friend’s house at that time. Remember, the Bible says that God is the “friend” of the child of God. Jesus said that his friends are those that do His commandments. So when we go to God in Judgment Day, God is revealing the situation to us – it is too late; it is night; the door is shut. In other words, it is Judgment Day and it is the day of His wrath and punishment. He is administering the cup of His wrath to the unsaved inhabitants of the earth, so what are you doing coming to Him at this time? Yet, who is the one that commands us to come? God did when He said, “Feed my sheep,” and what are we going to feed them? I remember after May 21, 2011 that I wondered, “What do we teach? What do we say? What is going on?” There was confusion. “Is it Judgment Day? Is the door shut? Are we still in the Great Tribulation or after the Great Tribulation?” There was total confusion at that time and it was at that time we had to go to God and ask Him to “break us bread.”

Our request for “daily bread” in the Lord’s Prayer was for the day of salvation, but now there is another prayer for this time and we have to go to God who is in His house after the door is shut and it is a bold thing for us to come to Him. That is what is in view with the word “importunity,” as it says in Luke 11:8: “…yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth.” This means that he lacks “shamefacedness” and he dares to come at this hour to make his request. The man of the house would have to get up out of bed to fill the request, so it is a bold request. God is offering encouragement that because of the “importunity” He will give him as many as he needeth.

Is that not what we found to be true right after May 21, 2011? At first, there was (seemingly) no bread and there was nothing to share with people and that continued for a little while. We did not know what to tell people. We did not know what to do. Should we give out tracts or should we not? And for a while, people did not do anything and there was no bread to give for a little while after May 21, 2011, until God started giving us bread as we came to Him and now we have an abundance and we have as much as we need. There is all kinds of Biblical information concerning “the revelation of the righteous judgment of God” that has been opened to our understanding and, therefore, we now have “bread” for our friends on their journey. We have tracts available; we have four different tracts about the Day of Judgment and we have Bible studies that we can direct people to and as we approach the likely end of the world on October 7, 2015, we have Biblical information to share with people all over the world. Among these people are God’s elect, the great multitude that was saved during the Great Tribulation, and we have bread for them as they are traveling on their journey to heaven. And God is stressing that the “importunity” is the reason the bread is given. It is because we came to Him when we should not have come. This describes our current situation pretty well, as we pray to the Lord for help, for wisdom, for understanding, and so forth. And, yet, it is not the proper time, as it was before.

Another point is in regard to what the man of the house says in Luke 11:7:

… Trouble me not: the door is now shut…

The door is now shut. Does that remind us of anything? Let us go back to our parable in Luke, chapter 18 and

remember what God said about the unjust judge in Luke 18:3-4:

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while…

And, again, that word “while” can be translated as “season,” so this went on for some time or for a “season.” It was not that she came to him for just a week, but she kept coming, week, after week, after week. Then it goes on to say in Luke 18:4-5:

… but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

Here is the word “trouble,” just as we saws in Luke 11:7: “And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not.” His coming at this late hour in the night and at this importune time was troubling to the man of the house. Likewise, the widow woman is troubling the unjust judge. And, yet, because she did “trouble him,” he relented. What troubled the judge was not the time the widow was coming, but the thing that troubled the unjust judge was her “continual coming.” She would not stop. We can be sure that in an earthly situation, an evil man like this would have that widow woman thrown out and removed from his presence. He would have his assistant or security guard take her out. “Take her out! Show her the door.” And she would be taken out, but the next thing you knew, there she was again the next day and the judge might think, “What do I have to do to get rid of her? Throw her out again.” He might even threaten her, but he is doing everything possible to discourage her and get her to stop coming to him. That is what annoys him to no end. That is what “troubles” this unjust judge – she just keeps coming. Then, at some point, he becomes certain that she will never stop doing this. She is not discouraged like a “normal person” would be discouraged. She is persistent and steadfast and unmoveable and she just keeps coming and she will not give up. Therefore, the man makes a decision thinking only of himself. He is only concerned with his own peace of mind. It is not Biblical peace, but he just wants to be left alone and he just wants to restore his own peace and there is only one thing to do: “Because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.”

Then the Lord admonishes us in Luke 18:6-8:

And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

We are going to look at these verses in another study, but for now, let us go back to the Greek text that is translated as “continual coming” in verse 5, where the unjust judge says, “I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.” The translation of this word as “continual coming” does really express what is happening, even though it does show her definite persistence, but the literal translation of “continual coming” should be “unto the end.” It would read this way: “Because this woman troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her coming ‘unto the end,’ she weary me.” Now that does not seem to make too much sense. What end? What would he mean by that? And, yet, spiritually, it makes sense when we understand that this is a parable God gives to encourage His people that are living in the world in the Day of Judgment and as they approach the end of the world. That is exactly where we are headed; there is a strong likelihood that October 7, 2015 will be the end. It is the 1,600th day since May 21, 2011 and we get the 1,600 days from the 1,600 furlongs of Revelation 14, verse 20. God speaks of Christians as running the “race” in 1Corinthians, chapter 9, and that is the same Greek word translated as “furlong.” It is at the end of the furlong or end of the race that you would receive the incorruptible “crown,” which points to the wonderful blessings that God has in store for each of His elect. That would be at the end of the world and the end of our time living in this world. It is when the world is destroyed.

So, here, the Lord teaches us about a widow that has nothing going for her. There is nothing in her that would cause the unjust judge to grant her favor and answer her request in a positive way, but she keeps coming to him. That is the point God is emphasizing – keep coming. There are two things in these two parables teaching us about prayer in Judgment Day:

1) Come to God when it is really not a proper time to come and that is where we show “importunity.” 2) Keep coming unto the end

Some people have stopped coming or they have ceased for a while and given up. They are tired. They are weary. They have (apparently) lost hope that God will hear their prayer. That is no different than how God has worked all though history as there have been mothers, fathers, husbands and wives that had concern for loved ones that were not saved. They would keep coming to God in the day of salvation, beseeching the Lord, “O, Lord, have mercy. Will you please save my son and my daughter? Will you save my husband?” They would pray for 10 years, 20 years, 30 years or 40 years, and there may have been no change that they could see. Therefore, none of us have an excuse. We cannot say, “Well, God has not heard my prayer, so why pray?” This parable, in that sense, has application at all times to all the Lord’s people to keep coming because God is not an unjust judge. If the unjust judge would hear a widow’s plea because of her persistence, how much more would the good and righteous Judge of all the earth hear us? Our God does all things uprightly and perfectly and He is a God full of love, goodness and compassion.

Knowing that this is the God we are approaching unto, how much more hope can we have? How do you think the widow woman would have felt if the judge she was approaching was a judge that is good and upright and was a judge that loved her and cared for everything about her and her situation? Do you not think this widow would have been greatly encouraged to be able to present her supplication to that kind of judge? Yet, she would not give up even though the judge was an evil man with no love or concern for her or for her situation. She just kept coming and it says, “Hear what the unjust judge saith.” He did hear her case and he granted her request. He gave her what she desired. God is saying, “Come to me. Come to me at a time when you should not come, but come to me and keep coming to me. Keep praying for those that you love and all the people in your life. Keep praying for them unto the end.”

The word “end” is “telos” and it is Strong’s #5056. It is the word found in Matthew 10:22:

And ye shall be hated of all *men* for my name's sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

It is also the word found in Matthew 24:13:

But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.

Enduring to the end is tied to this widow’s continual coming. She is enduring. No matter the circumstances, she is enduring, even though the circumstances are not pleasant at all. It says in Hebrews 3:6:

But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Then it says in Hebrews 3:14:

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end;

There is something interesting here in Hebrews, chapter 3. I read verse 6 and I read verse 14, but look at what it

says between those verses in Hebrews 3:7-13:

Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost saith, To day if ye will hear his voice, Harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness: When your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, They do alway err in * their* heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest.) Take heed, brethren, lest there be in any of you an evil heart of unbelief, in departing from the living God. But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

This is set in the context where God describes the coming out of Egypt and the 40-year testing program in the wilderness, the day of temptation. We have talked about this before and how that matches very well with May 21, 2011, the day of great deliverance of all of God’s elect, followed by the 1,600 days of judgment which breaks down to “40 x 40,” and “40” is the number of testing. It is no wonder God makes this conditional statement in Hebrews 3:6, “if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.” Why is that difficult? Why would it be hard to hold fast your confidence to the end? It is because you are being severely tried and the storm has come. The house has been built (whose house are we) upon the Rock and there is another house that is built upon the sand. Then God brings the same storm of Judgment Day against both houses to assail them and beat against them to see what “foundation” they are really built upon. Are we part of the house of the living God with the Rock as our foundation or are we just a professing Christian whose house will be demolished?

Luke 18 Series, Study #10 by Chris McCann, originally aired September 21, 2015

Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in Luke, chapter 18 and tonight is study #10 and we are going to read Luke 18:2-8:

Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?

We have been spending some time in this parable, carefully looking to see what God has here for us. We have seen it is a parable that relates to the Day of Judgment. We realize when we looked at the Greek text in Luke18:5, “lest by her continual coming she weary me” that the words “continual coming” should literally be translated “coming unto the end.” The woman keeps coming to him every day “unto the end” and that relates to our time as we approach God at this time in the end of the world. The widow represents the elect people of God that are living on the earth in the Day of Judgment and they are, day and night, making requests of God and beseeching Him and they continually keep praying.

What are they praying for? Many are praying for loved ones and others that they know and they are not praying that God would save them at this time, but they are praying, “Could it be that you saved them prior to May 21, 2011? Having had mercy, have mercy. Could it be that you had already extended the sceptre of your grace upon my son or upon my daughter before you shut the door on May 21, 2011? May it be that you have saved them already, but now, O, Lord, I beseech you that you might show forth that salvation within them by your power? Could it be they are interested in the Word of God and the things thy Word is declaring concerning Judgment Day? May you lead them to truth?”

More than that, as we examine the widow’s woman request, we see what is on the hearts of the people of God at this time as we live on the threshold of the conclusion of all things related to this earth. It says in Luke 18:3:

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

Then he says in Luke 18:5:

And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary.

The word “avenge” is used twice here and it is also used in the follow up verses in Luke 18:7-8:

And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily…

The words translated as “avenge” are Strong’s #1556 and #1557. The English translation is the same, but there are two different Greek words used that are closely related. We see that God uses the word that is Strong’s #1556 in Romans 12:19:

Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but *rather* give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance *is* mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

Here God is speaking to His people and the people of God will experience trials, tribulations and affliction from the enemies of God because the people of God identify with God and His kingdom through the Word of God. As we carry and share the Word of God with the people of the world (who are enemies of God and His kingdom), the people of the world will lash out at the messengers, the children of God that are carrying the message. They despise them because they despise the Word that they bring, so God says to His people, “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves.” If we are reviled, we revile not again. If someone is speaking evil of us, we do not return evil for evil. If someone slaps you on the cheek, turn the other cheek. There are many ways that God expresses that His people are to forgive, forbear and endure the reproach that comes as a result of the Word of God. They are not coming against us personally, but they are coming against us for the Word’s sake. Just as they hate Jesus, they hate the Word of God and if we are identified with that Word, we will be hated. That is why God says, “Marvel not, my brethren, if the world hate you.” They hated Him before they hated us. It is normative and it is to be expected because it is the typical reaction of men in darkness when the light shines upon them; they want to flee from the light. They cannot stand the light and they must put it out and somehow restore the darkness. Therefore, they lash out at God’s people when they bring the light and they attempt to get them to put down the light or get them to go away. They have done it with violence in times past. They will do it with words. They will apply pressure through the government or through organized religion or whatever they can do to stop the light from shining into the darkness. That has been the reaction of the people of the world all through history.

Therefore, God has issued forth this directive to His elect: “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves.” It is not our place to do so. It is not our role and we are not the Judge of all the earth. We are not God. God is saying that we must wait, as He goes on to say, in Romans 12:19:

… but *rather* give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance *is* mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

There is a time and place for this. There is a Day of Judgment, an appointed time in which God will pour out His wrath. Remember, Babylon’s fall typified the fall of this world at the beginning of Judgment Day on May

21, 2011 and God speaks of Babylon’s fall in Revelation 18, verse 2, where He says, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen.” Then He says in Revelation 18:6:

Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she hath filled fill to her double.

You see, God had waited patiently all through history until the end of the Great Tribulation and now it is Judgment Day and now is the time and place for His cup of wrath to be meted out to the unsaved inhabitants of the earth. Christ came with “ten thousands of his saints,” all those He had saved. This is the time of the vengeance of God, as we read in Revelation 19:1-2:

And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God: For true and righteous *are* his judgments: for he hath judged the great whore, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication, and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. And again they said, Alleluia. And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.

The “great whore” is a reference to Babylon and this is further commentary on the fall of Babylon. He has “avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.” This is what the widow in our parable is requesting: “ Avenge me of mine adversary.” Who is the adversary of the woman? Who are her enemies? It is Satan and his kingdom of darkness, typified by Babylon. All of the unsaved are in the kingdom of Satan and they are set against God and His righteous nation, the company of the elect. There had been a spiritual battle raging all throughout history and finally it was the time of the end and time for God to take vengeance. The “woman” has been beseeching the Lord to avenge her of her adversaries, similar to what we read in Revelation 6:9-11:

And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they *were,* should be fulfilled.

Verse 10 helps us to understand what it means to be “avenged.” Again, it says, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? To “avenge” means to “judge.” They are asking, “How long, O, Lord, before you bring to pass Judgment Day and justice is done? How long will it be before the injustices of this world are done away?” That is why the righteous soul of Lot was vexed, day by day, by their unlawful deeds. The desire of the ones God has saved is to do the will of God and God made them righteous in their soul existence and the Spirit of Christ began to dwell within them and, therefore, there is a very strong and ongoing desire to do the will of God and to have the whole world do the will of God. In other words, a child of God was once part of this evil world and contributed to the chaos and evil deeds, but after he is saved, God has transformed him in his soul and now he wants righteousness. He desires uprightness. He desires justice to be done because these are the attributes of God and His Word. He is most upright. He is most just and holy and pure. He is a righteous Judge that upholds His own Laws.

The children of God now have righteous souls, but they still live in a sin-cursed earth. They look at the world and the world is so far from “righteousness.” Concerning every human being, God says, “There is none righteous, no, not one.” In a world full of unrepentant sinners that have no love or concern for righteousness, there are lies and deception and all sorts of evil. It is the way of the world. They say Christmas is about “Santa Claus” and Easter is about the “Easter bunny,” and most people are fine with these things; they do not mind the twisting and turning of truth and the deceitfulness of turning away from the truth of the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ into the world, the greatest event this world has ever known, as He was born into the world and dwelt

among us. They do not mind substituting the overweight man in the red suit. Likewise, the grand event of the resurrection of Christ after He went to the cross is substituted with a bunny rabbit and some eggs, which has nothing to do with anything. These things are perfectly fine with the world because they accept unrighteousness and they prefer to deal in things that are not righteous, but are lies and deceit. They are comfortable with that.

But after salvation, the child of God is no longer comfortable with these things. It vexes our souls. We cannot take credit, of course, but this new creature that God has created is troubled within and vexed by thousands of things that pervert and change the Law of God and when that which is “good” is suddenly called “evil” and that which is “evil” is suddenly called “good;” when men take the Sunday Sabbath and turn the day into a day to enjoy sports; when men abuse God’s Law concerning marriage and divorce is rampant everywhere and men are marrying men and women are marrying women. These things are troubling to the souls of God’s people. It is grievous and it is a vexation of spirit that God’s people because everywhere they turn in this world their desire for righteousness is opposed. Even the flesh of our own bodies is contrary to righteousness. The unrighteousness of this world and the fallen state of man and the civilization established by mankind that shakes its collective fist at God is something that gnaws at the souls of the children of God. So the cry goes up, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, doest thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that well on the earth?”

Remember what it is that God’s people seek, in 2Peter, chapter 3. Yes, it involves the end of the world, but there is more to it than that, as it says in 2Peter 3:12-13:

Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

Yes, we are looking for the new heavens and new earth, but we are also looking for “righteousness.” We are looking for a just and good place that is righteous. That is sort of the appeal when we hear stories of old and we compare that past time to this present evil generation. We look back and it looks so much more peaceful 75 or 100 years ago, compared to today. We desire a world, a government and a society where the true rights or the “righteous rights” of people are upheld according to the only righteous law, the Word of God. We look back, with longing in our hearts, to the day when there was no legal abortion and unborn children were protected by the law. We look back to a time not so long ago when there were hardly any divorces and there was no gay marriage at all. We look back to a time when there were (good) laws on the books that said it was against the law to work on Sunday the Sabbath, God’s holy day. It impacted the laws of the land. There was a time when sports were not legal to be performed on Sundays. I checked on the laws in our Philadelphia area and I think it was not until the 1930s or 1940s that the Philadelphia Phillies were allowed to play a game on Sunday and they had been in existence for decades before that, but they did not play on Sundays in Philadelphia. We look back and what is the attraction? What brings peace and what brings an atmosphere in which you would want to build a family and a home? It is all related to keeping the righteous Law of God. When men kept the Law of God as the Holy Spirit operated in the world to restrain sin, there was some “peace” and there was a good life, relatively speaking, that could be lived on this earth, at least to the degree that men observed the Law of God. But now it is in shambles. God the Holy Spirit has lifted His hand of restraint and God has given men up to the vilest of sins and the world is a mess. It is utter chaos because man thinks he is wiser than God. Man thinks he can write laws and he thinks he is the law giver and the judge and he thinks he is God and this is the result. Just read the newspaper and it does not matter what town or village or city they are talking about – it is a mess everywhere on earth.

The only solution is a new earth and a new heaven wherein dwelleth righteousness. It will be perfect righteousness and perfect holiness and everyone will do all things according to the Law and the will of God will be performed perfectly. That is why there will be perfect joy and perfect love.