Gary Gleans

The book of Revelation is one of the hardest books of the Bible to understand because of all of the figurative language and the fact that it is dealing with future events.  There are several different ways that Revelation has been interpreted that range from describing ancient history to current events to future events.  However, it seems best to interpret Revelation according to the way John says he wrote it as reveling God’s plan for the future and how the second coming of Christ will take place.  This was the last book of the Bible to be written and it was written by the last living apostle, John, who wrote from exile.  John records visions that were delivered to him by angels who helped him to understand and interpret the visions that he saw.  He starts with a quick introduction of reviewing how Jesus was presented as glorified in the past and how John came to have this vision.  He then writes brief letters to seven churches who at the present time were the original readers of thi

Jude was written by the brother of James and the half-brother of Jesus.  Both James and Jude had rejected Jesus during His ministry on earth but after the crucifixion and resurrection they became convinced that their brother really was Messiah.  That had to have been a staggering discovery for both of them.  Once they were convinced of this truth; they both became vital leaders in the church and human authors of Scripture.  It is exactly this type of transformation that Satan wants nothing more than to destroy in the lives of men.  The transformation of the souls of men through the Gospel of Christ is something that Satan would like to be able to thwart at all costs.  Jude continues the theme of fighting false teachers that we have seen in several of the previous books.  Jude quotes 2 Peter so it seems that it was written shortly after this from Jerusalem to believing Jews and believers in general who are coming under attack from false teachers. DEFEND THE FAITH: Jude calls believ

The cause of Christ is expanded through a variety of means by a variety of people with a variety of different functions.  Itinerant preachers were an important part of the expansion of the early church as they carried messages from the apostles as well as were instrumental in providing consistent teaching for the churches.  These ministers of God’s Word needed to be lovingly received and cared for by those to whom they ministered.  As we saw in 2 John there were also itinerant false teachers who would travel from church to church destroying what the faithful messengers were striving to build.  The purpose of this letter is to encourage an elder named Gaius to continue his practice of offering hospitality to the faithful ministers of God and to condemn Diotrephes who refused to serve in this way. HOSPITALITY EXEMPLIFIED BY LOVE: Gaius must have been a personal friend of John’s and a leader in one of the churches for which John was responsible.  He was a great example of love and st

Discernment is one of the most important disciplines that we can develop in our lives.  God has called us to be wise in the way that we walk.  It would be so nice if everyone was honest and transparent about their motives in life.  Unfortunately, that is not the case.  There are many people who will claim to be believers who have been deceived or they themselves are deceivers.  We must be able to discern the difference between those who are genuine in their faith and intentions and those who are out to destroy the faith by propagating false doctrines.   THE DELIGHT OF HOSPITALITY: It is a great joy to be able to enjoy fellowship with our brothers and sisters in Christ.  John obviously writes to a sister in Christ with whom he has enjoyed this sweet fellowship.  However, this kind of fellowship finds its basis in genuine Christian love and obedience to the Word of God.  This seems to be a wonderful family where the children of this sister in Christ are being a great example of this

John most likely writes his first Epistle as an elderly man.  Most of his fellow apostles have been martyred by this time and the church has been under severe attack for many years by this time.  Some of these attacks came from outside the church in the form of Roman or Jewish persecution and some of the attacks came from inside the church in the form of false teaching and ungodly living.  These circumstances had a tendency to leave the church living in uncertainty.  John's focus in this book is to try to help his readers to be able to discern between true faith that leads to eternal life and the false faith of people who might be within the physical fellowship of the church but do not have true fellowship with Christ.  These are important distinctions that we must learn to discern in the church and our own lives today.  There are many people who profess faith in Christ but their attitudes and actions do not align with this profession.  On the other hand, Satan is constantly seeki

There are basically two sources of danger for the church.  In First Peter the danger of external persecution was the main focus.  In Second Peter the danger of internal corruption becomes the focus.  The point is that the true church is almost always under one of these two attacks if not both of them.  Peter is coming to the close of his life and ministry he is most likely in Rome suffering under the persecution of Nero and would soon be crucified.  But before he dies he wants to remind his readers to stand firm in their faith in the face of false teachings in light of future judgment.  Each chapter of this powerful book deals with one of those three themes.  We must be careful to not be deceived by those who desire to destroy our faith or distract us from the purpose for which we have been called to be a part of God’s family. FIRM FAITH: The supernatural power of God and the precious promises of Scripture provide us will all of the resources that we need in order to have a firm f

Peter writes this first Epistle from Rome during a time of great persecution.  The Emperor, Nero, had more than likely set fire to the city of Rome because of his great desire to build new edifices.  However, the political backlash for doing this would have been disastrous so he blamed the Christians for setting these fires and then started a huge campaign to exterminate Christians all over the Roman Empire.  Peter would eventually be killed in this persecution but he writes to believers who have been chased from their homes and are being falsely accused in order to help them deal with this situation in a manner pleasing to the Lord.  Peter exhorts his readers to remember their experience of salvation in the past.  He then calls them to walk in a manner pleasing to the Lord in the present.  He concludes by pointing them towards their hope in the future.  All believers in every generation must seek to live in their present circumstances with one eye looking back at what Christ has done

James was written by the half-brother of Jesus who, at first, rejected Jesus as the Messiah but later believed and became the leader of the church in Jerusalem.  He was later martyred for his faith so we know that this is one of the earliest books of the New Testament to be written if not the earliest.  It is written to believing Jews who had been scattered from Jerusalem by persecution initially by the Jews with Saul (Paul) leading the way and then by the Roman Empire.  It is a very practical book that clearly tells us how we are believers ought to live in the midst of trials, how we ought to obey the Word of God, how we can tell that our faith is genuine, how we out to treat one another and how we ought to walk with God.  There are times where James seems to contradict Paul’s teaching on justification by faith apart from works when he declares that faith without works is dead.  However, upon closer examination we can clearly see that both Paul and James agree that salvation is by fa

The book of Hebrews is one of the most difficult books of the Bible for us to interpret because of several factors.  First, we are not sure who the author is. Second, we are not sure who the recipients are. Third, we are not sure exactly when it was written.  These things are not essential to interpretation but they certainly help.  Much speculation is made as to whom the author might be but it is impossible to be dogmatic on this issue.  It seems unlikely to be Paul since he does not identify himself like he does in all of his other Epistles.  Whoever the author was, they had a deep knowledge of the Levitical system of sacrifice which seems to still be in place at the time of the writing.  This gives us our best clue as to the recipients and the time of the writing.  Since the temple seems to still be functioning we must assume the book was written prior to its destruction in 70AD.  The recipients also seem to be predominantly Jewish believers.  However, it is important to note that