Hello, this is Pastor Steven Anderson from Faith Forward Baptist Church in Tempe, Arizona,
and today I want to talk about 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22, where the Bible reads,
If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema maranatha.
Now that word anathema has to do with being cursed.
And the word maranatha has to do with the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So what the Bible is saying here is that if any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
let him be anathema.
It's a curse upon that person for not loving the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now a lot of people today will tell us that the Jews are under the blessing of God,
and that God will bless those who bless them and curse those who curse them.
But here we see in 1 Corinthians 16, 22, a curse placed upon the unbelieving Jews.
Those Jews who do not believe in the Lord Jesus Christ are anathema.
They are under the wrath of God, they are under the curse of God.
And if God were going to bless those that bless the Jews and curse those who curse
the Jews, would a curse be upon the Apostle Paul for saying anathema here?
Or would a curse be upon the Holy Spirit for saying anathema?
Of course not.
Because the promise, I will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse
you was made unto Abraham and to his seed, which is Christ.
All those who are in Christ are blessed with faithful Abraham.
Now truly in the Old Testament, God would bless those who bless the nation of Israel
when they were worshiping the true God.
And curse those who cursed Israel when they were the people of God, when they were worshiping
the true God, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, those who followed them that were believing.
Those who turned away and worshiped other gods though were not under that blessing
even in the Old Testament.
Now the scripture is clear in this verse.
It doesn't say if any Gentile man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
No.
It just says if any man.
That would include Jew, Gentile.
That would include white, black.
It says if any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema.
This is just another scripture that proves that the Jews are not under the blessing
of God.
They are under his wrath unless they believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, which is a very
small remnant.