<p>Free sharing permitted under the Creative Commons <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/">BY-NC-ND 3.0 (US)</a> license.</p>

Advent HOPE Sabbath School

Stephen Bohr

Fire, Lions, and Deliverance

All right, well this afternoon we are going to study part 2 of what we started this morning.

The title that I've chosen for the presentation this afternoon is Fire, Lions, and Deliverance.

I'm sure that you know where we're going to go to study our subject for this afternoon.

But before we do, we want to ask for the Lord's blessing.

Never should we open the Word of God without prayer, because the Holy Spirit who Inspired Scripture is the only 1 who can come and explain Scripture to us.

Father in Heaven, we thank you for the opportunity of gathering together this afternoon to study your Word.

We realize that we are insufficient when it comes to understanding your word.

Without divine wisdom we simply cannot understand what your will is for us.

So we ask for divine wisdom this afternoon as we open the different passages that we're going to study.

We ask for your presence through the ministry of the Holy Spirit and your angels.

And I ask Lord that in spite of the fact that we have so many people and we have an overflow room that everyone will be comfortable and be able to listen to the message that you have.

And we thank you for hearing our prayer we ask it in the precious name of Jesus Amen.

Well as we were studying this morning we noticed that there are 6 common denominators when it comes to the time of trouble, at least 6.

Number 1, in all of the passages you have a faithful remnant.

Number 2, there are enemies of the remnant.

Number 3, the remnant goes through a severe time of trouble because of the persecutions of the enemies of the remnant.

As a result the faith of God's people is severely tested in the time of trouble.

There is a delay to God intervening to deliver his people, but finally after the delay God's people are delivered in every single case.

Now we're going to begin our study this afternoon by going to a parable that Jesus told, it's found in Luke chapter 18 and verses 1 through 8.

It's known as the parable of the unjust judge.

I prefer to call it the parable of the persistent widow because at the center of the story of course is the persistence of the widow with the judge.

Now we need to ask first of all when this parable is speaking to especially, Now I believe the parable speaks to all people in all ages but it has a special focus to the end of time, to the time of trouble more specifically.

Because in the verses immediately before the parable Jesus has been talking about the second coming, he's spoken about the days of Lot, he's spoken about the days of Noah, and then you have Luke 18 verse 1 the parable.

And when the parable ends it ends with a question.

When the Son of Man comes will he find faith in the earth?

So the parable is sandwiched in between 2 second coming references.

So we know that it applies especially to the period of the second coming of Christ or immediately before the second coming of Christ.

Now another point that I want to emphasize is that There's a special word in the parable and that is the word elect.

Do you remember that when we studied Matthew 24 the great tribulation in Matthew 24 Jesus said that the time of tribulation would be cut short because of whom?

This parable picks up on that and refers to the elect, so we know that it refers to the generation especially right before the second coming of Jesus.

And I might say that there are people who talk about the final generation, you have final generation theology.

I prefer to call it faithful generation theology because the final generation will be a faithful generation, faithful even unto death, as we're going to notice in our study.

So let's go to Luke 18 verses 1 through 8 and take a look at this parable.

There are several protagonists or actors in the parable.

In the third place the widow is crying out for deliverance.

There is a delay in the judge answering the pleas of the widow.

But finally the judge does justice to the widow and she is rewarded or she's delivered.

You have all of the elements that we've spoken about so let's go to this parable in Luke 18 verse 1.

Then he spoke a parable to them that men always ought to pray and not lose heart.

So from the very beginning Jesus is saying what the central lesson of the parable is, it is that we should always pray and we should never give up, we should never lose heart, we should continue coming and coming and coming and coming into the Lord in prayer.

And then comes the parable that illustrates this central lesson, saying there was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man.

Now I'm going to say up front that the judge represents God.

And you're probably thinking, how can the judge represent God if it says that the judge did not fear God nor regard man?

We'll deal with that a little bit later on.

But I want you to just remember in your mind that the judge in this parable represents God.

So you have a judge and then verse 3 says now there was a what?

Now what does a woman represent in symbolic language in the Bible?

Now if it's a pure woman it represents a pure church, if it is an impure woman it represents an impure church, but what would a woman widow represent?

The widow we're gonna find in the parable had nothing absolutely to lean on, the adversary had taken everything from her.

Probably what happened was that her husband died and he owed a sum of money to the adversary and the adversary took all of the money and wiped out the widow.

And so basically the widow would represent the church, it's still a woman, represents the church in dire straits, a church that has lost basically everything.

And this will become clearer as we go along.

Now there was a widow in that city and she came to him saying, now that verb came does not catch the nuance of the Greek verb, it's a progressive tense, It's a continuous tense.

A better translation would be she kept coming and you're gonna see later on in the parable that that is really what the what the verse is saying.

So it says, and she came to him saying, get justice for me from my adversary.

Also there's an adversary in the story too.

Now that word adversary is not a common word in the New Testament, it is the Greek word Antidikon, and that word is used in another text 1st Peter chapter 5 verse 8 where it says your adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour.

So the widow represents the church in dire straits having lost everything, and the 1 who has taken everything is the adversary, and the only hope of this woman who has lost everything at the hands of the adversary is for the judge to do justice to the widow.

But afterward he said within himself, Though I do not fear God nor regard man, yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, now notice the continuous tense of the verb that I mentioned, lest by her continual coming she weary me.

So what kind of prayer life did this widow have?

Oh she came and came and the judge what did he do?

He kept on putting her off and putting her off and she'd said I'm not giving up I'm going to continue coming just like Jacob.

Now this judge says I'm going to give her what she's requesting to get her off my back.

You say how in the world can that represent God?

We're going to notice that it represents God by way of contrast.

In other words, what Jesus is saying is that if an unjust judge will answer the continuous pleas of this widow to get her off his back, how much more will God answer the pleas of his people because he loves them.

In other words, the attitude of God is not the same as the attitude of the judge.

Both of them delay in answering, but for different reasons.

Now, Jesus explained who the actors of the parable represent.

Let's notice verse 6, here Jesus explains the parable.

Then the Lord said, hear what the unjust judge said, And shall God, who does the judge represent?

God, the parable explicitly says it, shall not God avenge his own elect?

Do they go through the tribulation according to what we read this morning?

Will shall God not avenge his own elect who do what?

They keep coming and coming and coming, they cry out to Him day and night, but what does God do?

He delays, because it continues saying though he bears long with them, actually a better translation is though he delays to answer them.

And then Jesus in verse 8 says, I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.

Back to Menu

Fire, Lions, and Deliverance

Transcript

Sponsor

Recorded

Related

Surviving the Surge

42m

Lessons From David and Goliath

23m

2. She Must Increase

36m

WYC 2013 Seminar: Always Ready for Family

Prepared to Stand

1h

The Unjust Steward

48m

Ron Kelly Weekend

Spiritual Integrity in an Age of Pragmatism and Partisanship

50m

You’re Being Conditioned for a Lie

31m

What Are You Looking For?

1h 5m

GYC SE 2013 Plenary Sessions

Heaven On Earth

53m

GYC SE 2012 Seminar: Leadership

I Just Wanna Be a Sheep

58m

Personal Preparation

Personal Preparation- Part 3

1h 9m

Safe and Secure on the Wrong Side of Jordan

42m

Sound Doctrine