Cy-Fair Bible Study

KLEROS: “A Place Among Those Who Are Sanctified” – Acts 26:18

“I am sending you to them to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.”

In the original Greek text of the New Testament, the word translated here as “a place” is “kleros.” The King James Version translated it “inheritance,” which is one of its meanings. Kleros is a very important word in both the New Testament and in the Greek version of the Old Testament that the Apostles used in the early church (called the “Septuagint”).  This is the first in a series of lessons exploring the meaning of this term.

Reference books list the main definitions of kleros as “lot, portion, or share.”  It is the word used for casting lots to inquire of the Lord in Acts 1:26.  Peter told the money-loving Simon Magus that he had “no share in this ministry” in Acts 8:21 (“neither part nor lot in this matter”), using the same word “kleros” for “lot” or “share.”  In Colossians 1:12 Paul uses the word for the “inheritance” of the saints, and in 1 Peter 5:3 it uses the same word to call the faithful church the Lord’s “heritage” that has been entrusted to the pastors.  The common theme is our allotted portion or share, designated and revealed by God’s grace to us.

Here, kleros is a place among the true saints. When we experience salvation through Christ, we receive a place at His table, at the eternal wedding feast of the Lamb.  “He brought me to his banquet table, and his banner over me is love.”  (Song of Songs 2:4; see also Isaiah 25:6).  There is a place with your name, designated and reserved for you.

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Learning from 1 Peter – How to Shepherd the Flock

1 Peter 5:1-4 - “To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers—not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock.”

This passage provides guidelines for pastors and ministers.

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Learning from 1 Kings – Rehoboam’s Mistake

1 Kings 12:12-15 – Three days later Jeroboam and all the people returned to Rehoboam, as the king had said, “Come back to me in three days.” The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier.  My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions.” So the king did not listen to the people, for this turn of events was from the Lord, to fulfill the word the Lord had spoken to Jeroboam son of Nebat through Ahijah the Shilonite.

Rehoboam made an egotistical decision that ended the unity of the Israelite nation for hundreds of years.  As a result, God’s chosen nation splintered into a northern kingdom called “Samaria” or “Israel,” and a southern kingdom called “Judah,” which actually included the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, Levi, and Simeon.  The Lord foretold this catastrophe, however, years before through a prophet.  It was a punishment for the disobedience of the leaders and the people during the later years of Solomon’s reign.

“Three days later” is a common occurrence in Scripture.  Prophetically, it points to God’s eternal time, moments in God’s Project of Salvation.

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Learning from Isaiah – Come, All You Who Are Thirsty

Isaiah 55:1-3

1 “Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.

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Learning from Psalm 73 – Asaph Envies the Wicked

Psalm 73 - “For I envied the arrogant, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”  (Psalm 73:3)

“When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.”  (vv. 16-17)

“Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.  But as for me, it is good to be near God.  I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.”  (Psalm 73:27-28)

In this Psalm, God talks about the “pure in heart,” as well as the “arrogant” and the “wicked.”  To man, the wicked may seem to have no troubles.  Those who are faithful feel that they have many struggles.  Sometimes this seems unfair, even to believers.

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Learning from 1 Corinthians 13 – Love Keeps No Record of Wrongs

“Love . . . keeps no record of wrongs.” – 1 Corinthians 13:5 (NIV)

“Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil…” (KJV)

The Greek phrase Paul employed here can mean “to think about evil” or “to keep an accounting of evils or wrongs.”  That is why the KJV translates it a little differently than most modern versions.  The original text encompasses both ideas, because the main point is dwelling on the other person’s faults. A person living in love will not keep a mental record of another church member’s wrongdoings, nor will they constantly focus on evil things, contemplating how to get revenge or how they would like to lecture the other person.

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Learning from Leviticus – Sprinkle the Altar on All Sides

Leviticus 1:5 – “He is to slaughter the young bull before the Lord, and then Aaron’s sons the priests shall bring the blood and sprinkle it against the altar on all sides at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting.”

This verse describes what they had to do with the blood when they brought a burnt offering – before the burning it, they would drain the blood and sprinkle it on all sides of God’s altar.  In the same way, we need the blood of Jesus to touch EVERY AREA of our lives – all sides.  Everything must be consecrated, every area of sin forgiven, every facet of our lives under its protection.  This is the opening passage of Leviticus, a book entirely about priestly sacrifices and other priestly duties – all of which foreshadow the work of Jesus, our Great High Priest.

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Learning from 1 Kings – Ahab, Jehoshaphat, and Micaiah

1 Kings 22:6-8 - So the king of Israel brought together the prophets—about four hundred men—and asked them, “Shall I go to war against Ramoth Gilead, or shall I refrain?”  ”Go,” they answered, “for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand.”

But Jehoshaphat asked, “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”    The king of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, “There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me, but always bad. He is Micaiah son of Imlah.”

“The king should not say that,” Jehoshaphat replied.

This is a lesson about hearing from God and knowing God’s will for our lives.  This story occurs during a period when the Israelites were divided into two kingdoms – a northern kingdom, usually called “Israel” or “Samaria” (Samaria was the capital), and a southern kingdom, called “Judah,” headquartered in Jerusalem.  Sometimes the northern and southern kingdoms were at war, and sometimes they were allies, as in this chapter.  The kings of Judah, the southern kingdom, were physical descendants of David, and a few of them (not the majority) were righteous, godly men.  Jehoshaphat was one of their most godly kings.  The kings of Samaria, the northern kingdom, were all bad, except for a mixed character named Jehu.  Ahab was one of their worst kings.  Jehoshaphat apparently felt intimidated by Ahab, and was willing to do almost anything to forge a deeper alliance between their kingdoms.  During a summit between the two leaders, Ahab proposes that they launch a war against  Aram (a people group from modern-day Syria and Iraq), to retake part of Israel’s territory (Ramoth-Gilead in modern-day Jordan) that the army of Aram had occupied.

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Learning from Isaiah 11 – The Sevenfold Spirit of God

Isaiah 11:1-3 – “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him; the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord –

– and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.”

Isaiah 11 is a prophecy about Jesus Christ, written about 700 years before he was born.  Jesus is the Shoot or the Branch who comes from the nation of Israel (the “stump of Jesse”).  Many other prophecies call Jesus “the Branch,” the “Shoot,” and the “Root” (see Psalm 80:15; Isaiah 4:2; Isaiah 53:2; Zechariah 3:8; Zechariah 6:12; Romans 11:16-18; Romans 15:12; Revelation 5:5; Revelation 22:6).  This prophecy also tells us something about the Holy Spirit, which inhabited Jesus and is inseparable from him.  God’s Spirit is sevenfold.  Of course, our mortal minds cannot fully understand or grasp this, as it transcends our mortal experience or comprehension.

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Learning from Isaiah 11 – Jesus, Banner for the Peoples

Isaiah 11:6-11 – “The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. ⁷ The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. ⁸ The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper’s nest. ⁹ They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord as the waters cover the sea.

¹⁰ In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. In that day the Lord will reach out his hand a second time to reclaim the remnant that is left of his people from Assyria, from Lower Egypt, from Upper Egypt, from Cush, from Elam, from Babylonia, from Hamath and from the islands of the sea.”

This chapter in Isaiah is a prophecy about the coming of Jesus Christ.  Isaiah lived about 700 years before Jesus came into the world.  He wrote more than any other Old Testament prophet about the coming of the Messiah.  Chapter 11 begins with a description of the sevenfold Spirit of God that would anoint the Messiah (that is, the “Christ”).  It then talks about the peace and harmony that will come when Jesus reigns on earth for 1000 years after His second coming.  When Jesus returns, there will be no more killing, disease, or death.

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