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NASB | Isaiah 57:1 The righteous man perishes, and no man takes it to heart; And devout men are taken away, while no one understands. For the righteous man is taken away from evil, |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Isaiah 57:1 The righteous man perishes [at the hand of evil], and no one takes it to heart; Faithful and devout men are taken away, while no one understands That the righteous person is taken away [to be spared] from disaster and evil. |
Bible Question:
Hey Brother John If we could, I'd like to take this one point at a time. If that's ok with you, here's my first question. Mark 16:17 caused you a great deal of trouble because you never saw it fulfilled in the lives of saints today. If you had seen it fulfilled in the lives of saints today, do you think your views would be different? I too wonder when I see something in scripture but then I don't see it in the lives of believers. Or the way I like to say it: 'When my life does not line up with scripture'. When my life does not line up with scripture, does that mean 'it's not GOD's will' or 'that went away with the early church'? I do not believe so. I have heard that explaination before, 'that went away with the early church'. I want to be sure I am not making excuses for why 'this or that' isn't manifested in my life when scripture says 'this or that' should be manifested in my life. After this point is exhaused, I'd like to talk about Mark 16:17 and it's connection to the gifts of the spirit. May you dwell in the secret place of the Most High. Abba Father bless and keep you. btw, just to let you know, I grew up in a Baptist church and still go to one. |
Bible Answer: Hello Sister M, You asked "if you had seen it fulfilled in the lives of saints today, do you think your views would be different?" Absolutely yes! 1Th 5:21 "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." 2 Cor 7:14 "For if in anything I have boasted to him about you, I was not put to shame; but as we spoke all things to you in truth, so also our boasting before Titus proved to be the truth." I would be worse than a fool if I saw christians healing the sick, raising the dead, and doing signs and wonders even greater than those Jesus performed. In John 14:12, the Lord made a fascinating promise: "He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do". Does this mean (as some teach) that believers today can expect to perform greater miracles than He performed? If so, the promise has fallen to the ground unfulfilled, for no one today can do what He did. His miracles are in a category all to themselves. No one today can feed thousands of people with a small lunch. No one today can bring a man to life who had been dead four days. Nor can anyone still a storm or walk on water. His miracles simply can not be surpassed. What did he mean, then? He was referring to the church's ministry of meeting men's basic needs, completely and permanently. His miracles, while they were great, only met men's superficial needs -- physical healing, food, etc.-- and that only temporarily, for men healed again became sick, and men fed again became hungry. But in ministering the gospel of Jesus Christ, believers today can meet the basic and essential need of men and meet it permanently. Charles Haddon Spurgeon addressed this subject with characteristic eloquence: "He sent them forth to work miracles as well as to preach. Now, he hath not given us this power, neither do we desire it; it is more to God's glory that the world should be conquered by the force of truth than by the blaze of miracles. The miracles were the great bell of the universe which was rung in order to call the attention of all men all over the world to the fact that the gospel feast was spread; we do not need the bell now . . ., for the moral and spiritual forces of truth to work by themselves, apart from any physical manifestation, is more to the glory of the truth, and the Christ of the truth, than if we were all miracle workers, and could destroy gainsayers. Yet still, though we work no miracles in the physical world, we work them in the moral and spiritual world." The point here is this: this promise clearly prophesies that His ministry of miracles would be supplanted by something else, a ministry of spiritual healing. This greater ministry has replaced the other.(Fred Zaspel) Grace and Peace, Brother John |