Here it is, this amazing Verse … “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils.”

Let’s study this little Bible “nugget” today. It certainly describes the current “religious” scene across the globe!

Notice that our (King James Version) translators have capitalized the noun “Spirit.” While not uniformly so, here that means for sure that the Holy Spirit is in view.

So, the Third Person of the Trinity is talking! And equally so, we Christians had best be listening!

The verb unit here is captivating. “Speaketh expressly” consists of two Greek verbs. (Well, more accurately … a verb and an adverb, an adverb which is fundamentally based on a verb!) As here: leg’o rhetos’. The verb roots are leg’o and rhe’o. And both verbs mean “to talk, to speak!” A double Speech by the Spirit of God! “Lego” means to speak with “purposeful thought” (our English word logic) behind one’s utterances. “Rheo” means to know what one is going to communicate so firmly, so deeply, that the words just “flow out” of one’s heart, one’s mouth!

Wow!

THIS VERSE MUST BE VERY IMPORTANT!

“Latter times” is a construction that paints “time” (in Greek “kairos”) as a “opportunity” to serve the Lord. An “open door.” A “window of possibility” in a way. The adjective “latter” occurs only here in this form in the entire New Testament. It suggests the “later” days, prior to our Lord’s Second Coming.

But what will happen in these last days?

The Holy Spirit is forewarning us, forearming us too!

“Some shall depart from the faith.”

The verb “shall depart” is a blend of a preposition and a verb … “apo” (meaning away from, out of) and “histemi” meaning “to stand.” To step away from the old-fashioned things we have been taught! (It is related to our word “apostasy!”)

That’s happening already!

I see more and more folks who are drifting (some slowly, some not so slowly) from the moorings of Biblical Christianity!

And “the faith” is usually a technical term meaning “the Word of God!” Indeed, all “apostasy” begins with a questioning of the Bible. Doubting some portion of Scripture. (Today the Bible is marginalized or outright denied by many a so-called religious group!)

Mercy!

Why are we being told all this?

I suspect to keep us strong in the Lord, to help us not be discouraged when these people depart, leave us.

I also believe this Verse is written here to keep us from following in their deadly paths! To make our goal something like Paul’s … “I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” From 2nd Timothy 4:7.

Maybe for this reason too. To help us be faithful to studying the Word of God. To help us cherish the Scriptures as God’s direct Word to men and women of any age.

Now, next lesson, we going to continue looking at this Text, 1 Timothy 4:1.

There is more to say!

—Dr. Mike Bagwell

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Here it is in the King James Version of Scripture … “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”

I suppose it’s a fact every farmer and gardener and maybe even homeowner should know. Snakes like such out of the way places. Hedges, walls, anywhere to hide.

But Ecclesiastes 10:8 is saying more than meets the eye. It almost looks like Solomon here is warning us about tampering with our hedges!

A “hedge” to an ancient mind meant any type of barrier or line of safety … to keep predators out and to keep loved ones in!

And in the spiritual realm, hedges and walls and barriers and lines of separation are absolute necessities!

The devil, in Job 1:10, even accused the Lord of building a “hedge of protection” around Job the faithful man of God.

Oh, how we need hedges today!

For our marriages!

Our families!

Our very own lives!

“Godly parameters,” one writer calls them.

Could it be that the devil, symbolized by the serpent of our Verse today, longs for us to cut down our hedges?

To compromise our standards, convictions, worldview?

Knowing full well, the devil does, that if we “break” those hedges … we expose ourselves to the venom of Satan!

Build some hedges today!

Let them grow!

And never, never break them down!

Out Text again … “Whoso breaketh an hedge, a serpent shall bite him.”

Let the wise be warned!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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I have heard this before, but in reading earlier today I was able to verify it as fact. Now, with excitement, I share the “news” with you.

Many a shepherd has lived in Israel through the years. Among them were found some of her most outstanding Prophets and Kings … Amos and David coming to mind.

During the days of the “Second Temple,” when Jesus was physically walking the earth, the innumerable flocks of sheep had to be tended in the “wilderness.” (Shepherds as a class were not held in high regard! They were constantly around their flocks, around birth and death … blood and wounds and sicknesses!)

Those smelly sheep must stay out of town, out of “sight” so to speak. Again, in the “wilderness.” (Don’t worry. There is plenty of green grass there, and still waters too, even if danger potentially lurks behind every tree. Truly “the valley of the shadow of death!”)

But there is one exception to the “wilderness” rule. And it focuses on the area around Bethlehem. The lambs that were destined for the Temple Mount, to be sacrificed on the altar there … were birthed and raised near Jerusalem, of course. Yes, near Bethlehem!

A lamb born there was headed for death! Specifically so! Sacrificially so! In accordance with the Law of Moses!

And I am sure you are by now ahead of me in the lesson … Jesus Christ, the Darling Lamb of God, was born right there, in the area we call Bethlehem! He was born to die! To sacrifice Himself and shed His sinless Blood so we sinners might be saved!

What thousands of little lambs were in type and symbol, Jesus became literally on an old, rugged Cross!

John the Baptist introduced Jesus well … “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.” John 1:29

Jesus’ very Life was dedicated to winning the lost … us old sinners … to God! He said so Himself … “For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” Luke 19:10

Are you saved?

Do you know this wonderful Man, the Son of God, the Saviour?

If not, you can change that right now!

Again, let’s listen as Jesus tells us how … “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.” John 5:24

Paul explains as well … “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Romans 10:9

One man prayed this, certainly from his heart, and God saved him … “God be merciful to me a sinner.” Luke 18:13

Jesus, not a lamb … but THE LAMB!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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“For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an EXAMPLE, that ye should follow his steps.” 1 Peter 2:21 beautifully records!

Jesus, our Example!

Though I think I must first emphasize that Jesus is our Saviour! We must be born again, washed in the Blood of Jesus. Our sins gone! John 3:7 and Revelation 1:5 are my Proof Texts for these assertions.

Then, truly, we Christians are to follow Jesus. “In His steps,” as Simon Peter just told us.

I want to share a fact with you about the word “example” Scripture just used, the Holy Spirit did.

It is in Greek, as the Lesson Title says, “hupogrammos.” Literally it means a “writing under.”

You might even translate it “underwriting!”

Culturally speaking, it is a term from the Greek schoolroom. The teacher would write a sentence on the board. The students would then (one by one) go to that board and “underwrite” those exact words, form perfect and without error!

That very sentence was their “pattern.” Their “example!” Their pens wrote straight when the letters on the board were straight! And they wrote with slants or curves whenever the letters did as well!

Now, let’s think about Jesus again. He is more than a Sentence. He is the entire Word of God! And I (with the pen of my life) am to follow, to copy, virtually to trace His every Move!

Underwriters … with Jesus being the Perfect Pattern!

And oh, what an “example” He has left us!

The dear Holy Spirit aids in our classroom penmanship, too! He’s making sure that we are being “conformed” into the very image of God’s Son, Who is Jesus Christ the Lord! (See Romans 8:29.)

Let’s get back to class now!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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God, in His Law, required this of the Nation of Israel as a perpetual ordinance …

“Now this is that which thou shalt offer upon the altar; two lambs of the first year day by day continually. The one lamb thou shalt offer in the morning; and the other lamb thou shalt offer at even.” Exodus 29:38-39

Yes, a morning sacrifice then an evening sacrifice!

Little lambs, at that!

And “continually!”

Was this still happening in Jesus’ lifetime?

Yes!

Now understand this. Jewish history says that the morning sacrifice occurred at the third hour of the day. That would be 9:00 AM, so to speak.

And the evening sacrifice at the ninth hour of the day (expressing the chronology in Roman time) … which would be 3:00 PM.

(Jesus was nailed to the Cross at the third hour of the day! Mark 15:25 says: “And it was the third hour, and they crucified him.”)

(Jesus died at the ninth hour! Again, Mark tells us. “And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani? which is, being interpreted, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elias. And one ran and filled a spunge full of vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let alone; let us see whether Elias will come to take him down. And Jesus cried with a loud voice, and gave up the ghost.” Mark 15:34-37)

Amazing!

Jesus began His Calvary Ordeal at the time of the morning lamb’s dying! And He laid down His Life at the time of the evening lamb’s dying!

In fact, Jesus IS the True Lamb of God!

An Israel was to continue this two-lambs-a-day procedure for how long?

“Continually!”

The Hebrew word for “continually” is “tamiyd.”

It means perpetually, always … potentially forever!

I am told the priests literally called this morning and evening sacrifice ritual the “tamiyd!”

But now that Jesus has come and died and has been raised from the grave and has even ascended to Heaven … there is no need for two lambs a day to be slain incessantly!

Why?

Jesus’ Blood has eternal Power!

Jesus is the Tamiyd!

His Blood covers me, cleanses me, empowers me … every morning, every evening, every hour, every minute … eternally!

Think of this glorious fact day by day!

Haeellujah!

What a Saviour!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

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