1James, a servant of God and of
the Lord Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are
scattered abroad, greeting.
2My brethren, count it all joy
when ye fall into divers temptations; 3knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. 4But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 5If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. 6But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. 7For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. 8A double minded man is unstable in all his ways. ~ James 1:1-8 (King James
Version)
I
just love how James starts this letter to the 12 Tribes of Israel. James a
servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ… How many of us are so bold as to
lead a conversation with this sentence? How many of us are so bold as to start
any kind of communication with this sentence? [Your Name], a servant of God and
the Lord Jesus Christ.
To
understand this we must consider that Book of James most likely written by the
half brother of Jesus a younger son of Mary and Joseph is a letter written as a
call to holiness of life. This conforms well to what we know of the life of
Jesus, church history has noted James exceptional piety, (his devoutness and
spiritual purity) it is said that the knees of the saintly James were like that
of a camel due to the unusual amounts of time spent on his knees before God.
Looking at the Book of James, we note that some of the verses appear to be
addressing unbelievers, i.e. Chapter 5, verses 1-6. However, most of James
letter addressed to the 12 tribes of Israel in the Dispersion, (the scattering
of the Jewish nation in 722 B.C. when the Northern Kingdom of Israel
fell to the Assyrian Empire and finally in 586 B.C. when the
Southern Kingdom of Judah fell to the Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar). Having
said this we must further note that James focus is on the “Christian” Jews of
dispersion in that he identifies himself as a servant of Jesus Christ and from
references of having “faith in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ (James 2:1)
James
goes on to say that we should be joyful when we fall into divers temptations.
What does he mean by divers temptations? First, it is important to know that
the Book of James is designed to equip the 12 Tribes to overcome temptation
during the tribulation period. It is also important to understand that the
temptations are of a particular kind, not like the temptations of sex, drugs,
alcohol, etc., that we are warned of.
The
meaning behind “divers” is different. James is talking about the “different”
kinds of temptations, particular temptations. The three main groups that James
is talking about are the 1) Rich, 2) Poor and 3) Everyone in between – those
who have to decide whom they will associate. One of these particular diverse
temptations are to be drawn away from Christ or back into the false apostate,
(betrayer) religion, and the tradition of the fathers that will end up being
false apostate religion of the Antichrist. James letter is to equip them from
falling into this particular temptation by helping them discern who represents
the true faithful remnant, (remaining believers) of God.
The
members of the 12 tribes, those Jewish people out there during the Tribulation
period is going to see the rich and the poor, they will have to discern who
represents the true faithful believers of God. They will have to associate with
one or the other, by doing so they will be placing their allegiance with the
Antichrist or with God’s people, God’s Word. During this time the temptation
will be to believe that the rich are the ones being blessed by God. Satan will
use this to destabilize the nation and cause them to be double minded. James
says in 1:6 “But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.”
Therefore,
they need to ask God in “faith” NOTHING WAVERING.
Imagine
for a moment that you are Jewish and are in the synagogue during a meeting.
Seated up in the first two or three rows the rich, those that appear blessed by
God, standing in the back are the poor, those that look like God has forgotten
and cannot possibly be a true representation of God with us seated in between.
We look up to those in the front as displaying the true characteristics of God.
Then the Pharisee, scribe or high priest gives the word of God, as the service
is over the poor in the back start telling us that what we just heard is false
that Jesus Christ in the Messiah and the only way to God, Jesus is the one we
must follow not the Pharisee, scribe or high priest. That Jesus is the one who
fulfills prophecy as Isaiah 53 and others. They rich, the scribes and Pharisees
disagree telling us that God has blessed them with the riches they have
therefore what they tell us must be truth. Those of us in the middle think, I
can see the poor do have verses that seem to point to Jesus is the Messiah but
the rich there appear to be the ones that God is blessings.
Does
this scenario seem familiar? Do you see this happening today? Do you see the
double mindedness that could come out of this? That is why we must be stable in
our doctrine and understand what God’s Word says. It is our responsibility to
be in God’s Truth. This letter from James is a key to understanding the answer
to the questions: Who is truly representing the Word of God? Who is teaching
God’s Word? With whom do I associate myself?
The
Book of James being written to the entire 12 tribes not just the remaining
faithful is a call to all people, the rich, the poor and to all those who need
to decide whom to associate. The Books of Hebrews through Revelation were written
during a time where conditions were the same as they are going to be during the
Tribulation. If we do not understand what is written in these books we will be
doomed to repeat the mistakes made during the early Acts period. It is your
responsibility to know God’s Word; no one can do this for you.
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