Blog Archives

Understanding How To Make Jesus Your Spiritual Legal Advocate Right Now!

(Ver 2.1)  This is Part 3 in a lesson series on “Understanding the Heavenly Laws and Court System of Heaven”.  I wrote this lesson a long time ago, but I have learned so much new while studying this subject that I felt that I needed to rewrite it to included more new information.  I love this subject.  It is one of the most important topics for a new Christian to learn after becoming saved.  Knowing this should change you and motivate you to become more like God who is Holy.  I hope you have read the entire series from the beginning but if not please click on “Part 1” now.  When I originally wrote on this subject I was thinking of a Christian only missing out on one judgement by making Jesus their personal Legal Advocate.  I knew that there was coming a great white throne judgment at the end of this age after the Great Tribulation.  We can read about this judgement in Revelation 20:11.  Only unsaved people will be judged during this time of judgment.  Therefore, I knew that by making Jesus my Lord right now, I would not be standing before the Great White Throne of Judgment then.  That was the main message of this lesson.  However, since continuing to study the subject of the “Courts of Heaven” the LORD has revealed so much new information in the last few months.

What the LORD has been saying to me and teaching me about this subject is very profound and essential to understand.  Christians are being brought before the throne of God right now by Satan our legal adversary and accuser (Rev 12:10).  In 1 Peter 4:17 God reveals that judgement begins with His House right now in the church age of Grace.  Paul wrote and warned the Church in 1 Corinthians 1:11 that IF we JUDGE our self, we will not be judged.  I know a lot of people say they are Christian today but don’t believe this is what the Bible says and what the Holy Spirit has been teaching His Church.  What I would suggest to you if you don’t believe is that you pray and ask the LORD to reveal this to you if it is true.  Then open your Bible and become a Berean type of Bible student (Acts 17:11).  Ask the LORD, do I need a personal legal Advocate right now.  Let’s get into the lesson and permit the Holy Spirit to speak.

 

INTRODUCTION TO THE SPIRITUA ADVOCATE

Today is a Bible lesson on “Understanding How to Make Jesus Your Spiritual Legal Advocate” now.   We will discuss what a Spiritual Legal Advocate is and what He does for us and then we will discuss why we as humans need a Spiritual Advocate.  Let’s start by defining the word “advocate”.  A legal advocate is always someone who holds superior knowledge on the subject of the law.  In our world people have to go to school for many years of legal study, graduate and then must pass an extensive legal bar exam in order to become a licensed legal advocate.  Some people call these individuals lawyers, attorneys or others call them counselors.  A counselor is someone who uses their wisdom and knowledge of the law to give you “advice” or “counsel” on what you should do in the given situation that you are in before the court and judge.  A lawyer is of course someone who practices the profession of defending, prosecuting, administrating or judging the laws passed by the legal bodies in power.

Today in our complex legal court systems, if you try to show up before a judge without a highly knowledgeable and skilled attorney you are in some serious legal jeopardy.  Let me tell you about one man I know of.  This man was chatting on the internet with a girl.  He was over 21 and she said she was 16.  He asked to meet her and set a location and time for the meeting.  As he neared the location the Police officers arrested him.  It turns out that this man had been talking with undercover Police on the internet in a sex sting.  Well this man could not afford an attorney to help defend him.  Even though he had not committed any crime by talking or meeting anyone, the district attorney threw the book at him and threatened him with many years of jail.  This prosecutor after scaring the man then offered him a plea deal.  In this deal he would not go to jail but needed to agree with counseling, become a registered sex offender and he would be on probation for a couple of years reporting to a parole officer.  This was all because this man could not afford the proper legal defense.  Now, I’m not saying he was right for doing what he did at all.  No, we must all understand that even the intent of sin has consequences.  What I am saying is that this man needed a good lawyer.  Let me give you another example quickly that makes the point a little more.

In another legal matter in past years I recall a very famous court trial for the very serious offense and charge of murder.  I will not name names, but I will tell you that this one trial that I am using as an example today was concerning a gruesome set of murders of two people.  You may know who I am talking about as I go.  This individual was charged with the crime, but he hired a “dream team” of legal counselors because he was a rich man and could afford the best that money could buy.  While the prosecution seemed to present a good case, they were no match for the highly paid legal minds of the “dream team” lawyers who cleverly made the prosecution look foolish.  To me the evidence presented in the trial was very compelling, but to the jury this man was found not guilty and thus got away with murder because of his lawyer’s abilities.

You see in our legal system all the lawyers have to do is to present reasonable doubt for someone committing the crime to allow the judge and the jury to acquit them.  This was the approach of the “dream team” lawyers.  They discredited the truth with as many doubts as they could invent.  They introduced unrelated distractions that had nothing to do with the evidence presented.  They manipulated the jury to believe what they wanted them to see and they won.   There is a basic rule of law that the judge and the jury must judge and find for the prosecution or the defense based upon the evidence being presented.  Whoever, does the best job at this is usually the victor.

I learned a lot right from these cases that the truth didn’t matter, justice didn’t matter, fairness didn’t matter and even the proof and evidence didn’t matter.  No, what mattered the most was if you had a good advocate on your side to help you plead your case then you could be set free.  This man accused of this horrific crime never got up to testify and never opened his mouth to defend himself one time.  The only people that spoke for him were his masterful attorneys and they prevailed.  You can obviously disagree with what I just said, but that would clearly be your opinion vs. mine.  So let’s drop our opinions and see what God and the Bible says to us on the subject of our legal advocate.

1Jn 1:9  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1Jn 1:10  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.
1Jn 2:1  My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous:

We can clearly learn several important things from these verses if we allow the Spirit of God to show us what they say.   The primary subject of these verses is “sin” and more specifically the sin of a Christian.  There are teachers in the world today that claim a Christian does not sin.  There are teachers today that claim that it does not matter if a Christian sins because there are no consequences for it.  There are even teachers today that claim we never have to obey these verses in 1 John 1 to ask God to forgive us for our sin.  Wow, what a deception that is being given to the Church.  That is exactly what Satan wants a Christian to believe.

Sin can be defined as many different things.  The Greek word G266 translated as “sin” simply means “to commit an offense””.  An offense simply occurs when a person commits an illegal act by disobeying the law.  For today’s discussion I will define sin as committing a violation of the law of God since we are discussing legal matters in a court of heaven.  There are certainly many other more complex aspects to the subject of what sin is or is not, but I will not be discussing those today.  Please do not get distracted on the subject of sin from me reading just a couple of verses from 1 John on the subject.  I simply can’t teach everything in one lesson, so let’s move on with today’s subject of why we as Christians need an advocate.

The Bibles tells us clearly that “ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).  John 1:10 says to Christians that if we say we have never sinned we make Jesus a liar and His Seed is not in us.   So it is not so much “if” a Christian will sin as to say “when” a Christian sins as verses 9 and 10 imply.  However, these verses are also clearly implying that the goal for a Christian should be that we should never sin.  But, if we do sin, then this verse 2:1 very clearly teaches us we have a major advantage over many other unsaved people in the world.  This advantage is because we have the Spirit of Jesus our righteousness living on the inside of us acting as our spiritual legal advocate, adviser and counselor to help us to change from repeating that sin.

Perhaps this will be a good time to further define the word translated as “advocate” in these verses.  This Greek word is G3875 and was translated as “advocate” in 1 John 2:1 because of the legal descriptions being made in the contextual verses.  This Greek word can also be translated as a “counselor” which is an equivalent name for a “trial lawyer”.  It is also translated as “comforter” in the Gospel of John verses where Jesus said “I will send you another comforter (G3875)…”.  The word comforter describes someone who provides “consolation” and that simply means someone that speaks or provides comfort or aide during a great time of loss or suffering.  I believe all of these can be applied to a legal court case.

 

Is there a court in Heaven with Laws?

Jesus our righteous advocate is now seated at the right hand in the presence of the supreme judge who is God (Heb. 12:2).  If we are Christians then we also learn that the Holy Spirit lives inside us (1 Cor 6:19) to further help us, and advise and counsel with us.  That is a great legal advantage for Christians against our adversary the devil.  In fact I would call this legal team the Ultimate and Unlimited Dream Team of Spiritual Lawyers.  These verses we just read in 1 John 1:9-2:1 and others that I have not yet covered clearly state that Jesus our righteousness is said to be our personal spiritual advocate.

Conditions for Having Jesus as Your Advocate:

  1. if we are Christians, (1 John was written to the Church)
  2. if we confess our sins, (1 Jn 1:9)
  3. if we ask for forgiveness (Lk 11:4, 1 Jn 1:9)
  4. if we repent (Acts 26:20, Rev 3:19)
  5. if we turn and change our sinful way (Acts 26:20, Rom 11:26, 2 Cor 3:16)

Please notice that there are conditions to this legal court arrangement with your Advocate.  God is Sovereign but yet we still have responsibility to ask and participate willingly in obedience.

If you are not a Christian, then you have serious legal issues when it comes to being judged by God and I would not wish to be in your shoes when this occurs.  I have heard people say that will never happen, or I am not a bad person and do bad things.  But, that is not true when you compare your goodness with God’s Holy Standards.   In this section I want to address the fact that Law exists on the earth and that this LAW on the earth came from Heaven.  Let’s examine verses that reveal where the earthly Law came from next:

Mal 4:4  Remember ye the law of Moses my servant, which I commanded unto him in Horeb for all Israel, with the statutes and judgments.

Here we have scriptural evidence and proof to the fact that God gave the law to Moses and Moses wrote it down for the children of Israel.  This represents a scriptural witness of the testimony of God.  This is what occurs during a trial.  What I am demonstrating to you is that God invented laws, courts, judges, prosecutors, lawyers and judgments.  These are not man made ideas, but we can see that they originated from our creator.  Our courts in America were modeled by our founding fathers after God’s courts in heaven, if you did not know that you should learn and study that fact until you accept it.  These founding fathers of the USA came from England to worship God freely without government control.  They read their Bibles extensively and wrote about it clearly.  I don’t have time to teach this and there are many other people that have books dedicated to this subject.  Go search for them and read them please.  Let’s read another witness testimony:

Neh 10:29  They clave to their brethren, their nobles, and entered into a curse, and into an oath, to walk in God’s law, which was given by Moses the servant of God, and to observe and do all the commandments of the LORD our Lord, and his judgments and his statutes;

God said to let every word be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses.  So here we have a second witness to the fact that the Old Testament books of the Bible were dictated by God to Moses His servant and these are the statutes and judgments of God.  A statute is just a written law, so this is not that complicated.  A judgment is a verdict issued by the judge, either of guilt or innocence towards those that are under the law.

Ok, I can hear the questions being raised by my last paragraph.  Many will ask doesn’t the Bible say the Church is under Grace and not the LAW?   We can all read Romans 6:14-15 where Paul teaches us that the church is not under the law, but now is under Grace.  Many people take these truths and attempt to make them the only truth and that is still a problem.  For example, Jesus said “A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE YOU, THAT YOU LOVE ONE ANOTHER, AS I HAVE LOVED YOU”.  Does Romans 6 overrule the statement of JESUS?  ABSOLUTELY NOT!   This new law given to Christians is still in effect.

In another Bible lesson that I did on this subject of the Courts of Heaven, I taught a lesson that I learned from my family.  Perhaps you read it.  My natural father was judged and died at a very young age because he did not walk in love and obey this commandment.  If you don’t believe me, that is not my problem because I know it is the truth.  My father did not take advantage of his access to his legal advocate.  He did not confess his sin,  He did not repent or try to change his way.  How, do I know?  Because he died.  He was warned by a man of God to come and see him and talk to him about this issue.  My father did not go and he died 3-4 months later.  My father was a Christian, a graduate of two Bible schools, a pastor of 3 different churches and yet he died a young man.  If you believe that this cannot happen to you then that demonstrates Satan’s victory over your mind.

We have clearly shown from the Bible that God has an established  legal system in place now on the earth by His law given through Moses.  We have learned that this law came from Heaven.  I wonder if it was modeled after what already existed?  We can clearly see that God is the author of these laws.  I believe these Words stand for eternity on the earth and in heaven based upon Luke 16:17 alone.

I can still sense resistance in the spiritual realm rejecting this teaching on the application of the law in the New Covenant.  Do you remember what Paul wrote in Romans 13:10?  Paul clearly teaches us that Love is the fulfillment of the law.  In other words when we love our brother on the earth, we will not murder him, steal from him, commit adultery with his wife, lie to him, etc.  Do you see the New Covenant direct connection to the O.T. LAW?  It is right in front of your face just accept it.  If we don’t love, we are breaking the LAW.

I’ll give you another example very quickly that is also very important.  In Ephesians 6:2 Paul very clearly quotes one O.T. Commandment that if we honor our father and mother that this was the first law that promised us a long life on the earth.  Wow, that means if we don’t do this we can die young.  Paul did not teach us that this did not apply to those under grace, no in fact he taught the opposite.  I hope and pray you receive this.

Are you perfect in walking in love?  I know I am not yet.  I am trying my best with the help of the Holy Spirit to improve in this area and I hope you are also.  What I am saying is that we are all still under a new law.  We don’t have to sacrifice animals anymore to atone for our sins because Jesus the Lamb of God was our sacrifice.  But, we are still required in the New Covenant to confess, ask, repent and change for not walking in love. This is true whether you know it or not.  You ignorance of the truth or the law is NOT a legal defense that will stand in God’s Court or on the earth.

So who is the most qualified to defend us against any charge raised against the law of love if not for the creator of the law Himself?  This is just basic logic and I hope and pray that you can see it.  This is why when the Bible calls Jesus my advocate, I feel very confident that I have the best legal advice possible because He is the one that wrote the law that He is defending me from.

We have seen a couple of verses that reveal many legal terms concerning judgments and statutes.  Let’s examine the Bible for scriptures to see if we even need a spiritual legal advocate or not.  We will focus first on the ending White Throne Judgment:

Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

According to the Word of God, the Bible clearly declares a day is coming when the books will be opened before the Supreme Court Judge of the Spiritual World.  This verse also clearly tells us that God keeps records in books of everything that has transpired on the earth.  So everyone who thinks that they have gotten away with things on the earth will be severely disappointed to know they have actually gotten away with nothing.  This verse implies the need for a good advocate and spiritual legal counselor before entering because God is going to judge people whether they want Him to or not.

This verse says that the “dead” were judged from what was recorded in these books according to their works.  The dead is simply a name for people that have never accepted Jesus or they accepted Jesus and turned back to love their old ways more.  A more accurate definition of “being spiritually dead” literally means a person that does not know God and does not have the further opportunity to change to get to know God.  We understand this from the definition of “eternal life” given by Jesus in John 17:3 where Jesus said “This is life eternal that they might know thee the only True God and Jesus Christ who you have sent”.  The antithesis of knowing is not knowing and the opposite of life eternal is death eternal.

Therefore, this Judgement taking place in Revelation 20 is not about saved Christians that have already given their lives to the Advocate.  Also the works mentioned here are of course either positive or negative things said or done in the body.  Maybe you think differently and believe that you can get by on this Judgment Day by your own merits and good things that you have accomplished in your life on the earth.  I’m sure you have never lied, or stolen anything in all of your days on the earth.  I’m sure you have never spoken an evil word about your family or your neighbor.  You have been a perfect example of a man or a woman that we could all look up to.  This would a very self-righteous attitude that I think many believe.  But, Judgment Day will come when these books are opened, then we will all see exactly what was said or done and it will be read for everybody whose names were not found in the Book of Life.  Their works will then be revealed completely on this day.  I think many will be very surprised on when the verdicts are read.

Act 13:39  And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

To be justified is a Greek word that means to be found innocent.  This is clearly a term for a positive judicial verdict from a judge or a jury.  To be justified by my faith in Jesus is what this is verse is speaking of.   We can read this in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38 for they all say that the just shall live by faith.  Again we see in these verses that those who are justified and found innocent are those that live by the faith of God and what was accomplished by Him in Jesus Christ.

Being found Innocent is the directly opposed positive position for the negative verdict of being found guilty.  Whenever we are found innocent there is no punishment phase of the trial necessary.  An innocent man or woman gets to walk out of the front door of the court house like everyone else.   However, a guilty man or woman is not so blessed or fortunate.  Ok, let’s shift our focus to living as a Christian in the world today.  Are we ever judged?  Many teach that we are not, but that is not what the Bible says:

1Co 11:32  But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

This verse is written to Christians about Christians.  The key point to this verse will be for Christians to not be “condemned” with the world.  By stating it this way God warns us that we still can be condemned with the world.  The term “condemned” means to be found guilty, which represents a judgment against us containing a sentenced punishment for a crime.  This verse compares two radically different types of people; 1) those unsaved people of the world that will be condemned versus 2) Christians who have the potential to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil to not be condemned.  This verse clearly teaches us that Christians can still be judged and corrected by the Judge in heaven.  Notice that this judging is implied to be happening right now in this life before we go to heaven.  That agrees completely with the verse in Revelation 12:10 that I mentioned earlier.  I hope you know this verse.  It is so very important that I want to give it again:

Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

Please memorize this verse.  It is a future prophecy that has not yet happened.  When it does occur at the midpoint of the tribulation Satan will be cast out of heaven and loud voice will proclaim salvation for those in the kingdom of God (the Church).  But, notice the end of the verse says the “accuser” (legal opponent in court) of Christian Brothers and Sisters will end.  It also says that it has been going on both day and night up until this point in time.  That is critical to learn.  That means these accusations and judgments are being handed out for someone today, believe it or not.

Therefore, when Christians are judged we can accept the chastening (correction) and confess, ask, repent and turn our course back to holiness or we can still suffer the consequences of our sin and this may result in our early death.  Satan has many ways to gain access into your life.  I can’t name them all.  We are all in need of prayer to ask our Advocate to help show us what is allowing Satan this entrance.  Pray and ask Him.  See what He says and then agree and repent quickly.

I can still sense the opposition to this type of teaching in my spirit. There is so much of the Bible that we do not know that we resist whatever is not pleasant to our itchy ears.  We want an easy life of salvation with no issues or problems.  We don’t want to be warned.  We don’t want to admit guilt or responsibility.   We don’t want to be corrected and told we are wrong and that we must change our ways.  I would strongly suggest that everyone go and read the letters written to the seven churches in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 over and over.  Jesus is speaking to the church and warning them to change, make corrections, repent or else He can blot their names out of the book of life and they can be condemned with the world like we just read in 1 Corinthians 11:32.

Please look up the Greek words in 1 Corinthians 11:32.  The word translated as “judged” can mean “someone is suing you in a court of law”.  Wow, I did not know this 10 years ago.  The Lord has been teaching the body of Christ this and it is eye opening.  There are more legal terms in the Bible than you can possibly imagine.  They are found from Genesis to Revelation.  This verse in 1 Corinthians teaches us that we can be judged in court as a Christian and a correction can be sentenced.  This occurs if we fail to judge our self and make corrections.  If we are hard hearted and refuse correction we may be devoured by our legal adversary (1 Peter 5:8).  I hope you are reading all of these lessons in the series because they are so critical to know before Jesus returns.

CONCLUSION

We can clearly see the need for a spiritual advocate named Jesus Christ by placing our faith in Him now we will miss the Great White Throne Judgment that will occur after the Great Tribulation.  But, we learn in the Bible that there are other trials happening before the tribulation.  These are court cases occurring for Christians because Satan our adversary brings us up before God’s court to accuse us day and night.  God must be fair and just.  God must hear the case if he has legal grounds he must render a verdict.

In every trial the one that is being charged it is always demanded for the accused to plead their guilt or innocence of the accusations being read before them as the trial begins.  I believe very seriously that this is the way judgments are being given out by God even today.  How can we plead our case now in this life?  We find part of the answer in 1 John 1:9 where the Holy Spirit said to the church “If we confess our sins (meaning to agree), He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness”.  We find another part of the answer in Revelation 12:11:

Rev 12:11  And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

You may not understand that it is totally dependent upon your faith confession is what Jesus has accomplished for us now that will determine how we will be judged, but this is exactly how the Bible declares.  Verse 10 was speaking of Christians and this verse is no different.  We must “plead the Blood of Jesus” in every court case we are in.  After a charge is brought for the Supreme Judge and you are asked how you plead, answer “I plead the Blood of Jesus”.  According to this statement God also says we will overcome our adversary with His blood and our spoken testimony.   What does that mean?

The Greek word G3141 translated as “testimony” literally means “evidence given in a court of law”.  Can you see the direct connection to a heavenly courtroom?   Why would a Christian need a testimony in God’s Court in addition to the Blood of Jesus?  Many believe the Blood of Jesus is all sufficient and all powerful so that we need nothing else.  Those that believe this truth alone are easily swayed into an extreme teaching of “Universal Salvation” that claims God saves everyone, including Satan.  But, that is not what the Bible teaches us.

No, we are required to speak as a witness in our own defense.  But, I believe that this is done now on the earth and not when we get to heaven.  What you say now determines where you will be after you die physically.

Heb 4:14  Seeing then that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession (confession, testimony).

Heb 10:23  Let us hold fast the profession (confession) of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised;)

Why are Christians told to hold fast our professions now?   Why must we have a profession in the first place?   Then what is it that we should be professing right now?   A profession by the Greek definition of this word is a verbal confession.  This word also comes from a Greek root word that means to “promise” or “covenant”.  That begins to make more sense to me.  When a husband and wife get married, they repeat marriage vows where they promise to be faithful to each other.  This is really what these verses are saying to us.   In our marriage covenant to Jesus Christ, we exchange words of promise to covenant together with our God to be faithful to Him.  So our confession by definition is the spoken words that come out of our mouths in this world to covenant with Him.   These are the words that we are told to hold fast to.  In God’s court system in heaven it only matters what you say here in this world and you will not be allowed to speak and say something different up there after you die.  I hope you understand this, for it is very important.

The Bible and Jesus said something that is highly relevant to any judgment trial that will take place.  Jesus said in Matthew 12:37, by your words you are justified and by your words you are condemned.    This is a very clear admission of our own innocence or quilt being a statement that comes from our own mouth today.  Did you know this?  Did you know that God said you will be judged and either convicted or found innocent based upon your own words?   Did you know that Jesus said that what you say right now is what determines your guilt or innocence in His Court in Heaven?   This is what God said and not what I said so either learn to accept it now or be judged by it.  This is why it is important to learn to control what we say now and then to do what God said in this verse in Hebrews to hold fast to our good profession or confession of Christ as our Lord.    I will wrap this lesson up by telling you what Jesus will say on your behalf in court now or on the final Judgment Day if you are a Christian right now.

Mat 10:32  Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.

Here is a statement that confirms what I have been teaching you from the mouth of God Himself.  This verse clearly says that if you confess Jesus before other men on the earth today, right now, He will confess you before God His Father in heaven.  So again it matters what you say today to what He will say in heaven.  Get it?   Here is another verse that declares this only using different words and descriptive terms:

Rom 10:9  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.

Here we can again see that it matters what we say in the world.  God tells us that if we believe in Jesus being raised from the dead and we then “confess” Him to be our Lord, that we would then be saved.  To be saved is the opposite of being condemned or sentenced to death.    These are simple legal terms and profound Bible truths.  To many ignorant critics who believe that God controls everything including our final outcome in eternity, you are just deceived into believing what Satan wants you to believe.  By people not doing what Jesus and the Bible say to do, people seal their fate to a Godless eternity.   Jesus will not be there to defend you if you do not accept Him as your defender here in this life right now.  Learn the legal lessons given to us in the Bible and accept Him as your advocate today, you will be extremely happy that you did later, I promise.

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels

God Bless, you all and please share these lessons with all of your friends and relatives.  If you would like to continue reading about God’s Heavenly Legal and Court System please .

Understanding the Coming Anti-Christ! The Man of Sin! Part 1

(Ver 1.1)  This is Part 1 of a series of lessons on Understanding the Coming Anti-Christ revealed to us in the Bible.  This will probably be a very different lesson than most things that you have heard about this coming individual, but I will give you Bible verses for everything that I say so that you can go and look them up and study them all for yourself.  I will warn you that I will say some things that you may have never heard before, but that does not make them wrong, it just makes them something new to learn.  Some of the things that I will write about today, I believe that God spoke into my spirit and revealed them to me.  I then spent the time looking into the Bible to see if they were actually true.  I have always found that whatever the Spirit of God says to me, the Bible will agree with, for these two are one and they always are in agreement.   So, if you have an open mind and a heart that wants to learn from the Bible, then I would say continue reading, otherwise you will not offend me if you go read somebody else’s blog today.  Today’s Bible lesson about the anti-Christ is not a theological doctrine or even a dominant Christian teaching that your salvation hinges upon.   Therefore, if you do not agree with everything that I say today, it’s literally OK, it really is not that important.  I do not believe that anything I say today will affect your salvation even in a minor way so it is not that critical to believe in.  However, this knowledge found in the Bible must have been important for someone to know otherwise God would not have recorded it for us to find.  Here is one of my foundational verses:

1Jn 2:18  Little children, it is the last time: and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last time.

According to God we are living in age of the “last time”.  This is a time period designated by God of predetermined duration with a designed set ending.  In other words God keeps a calendar of set events and has appointed the appropriate time for some things to occur.  This would be like if I set up a birthday party for a friend and invited some people to show up at a specific place, day and time.  This is what God has done on the earth for the coming of Christ.  The only difference is that the Bible says only God know the exact day and hour of this event.  God has established a set party in heaven and invited everyone to come by sending out a Book of invitations without giving us the set time.  God simply says be ready for it, for it is coming.  So we must all be ready to go when this time arrives.  However, there will be many who reject this magnanimous offer and will be very sorry that they did.  In this verse in 1 John God describes a coming individual called the “antichrist”.  This word is comprised of two Greek words, one being “Christ” or the “anointed” and the other meaning the “opposite”.  In other words God is saying that this coming individual will be the opposite of the Real or True Christ who was Jesus.  This antichrist will be a person who is diametrically opposed to everythting the Real Christ represents!  So in reading and studying the Bible you need to discover all you can about the Real Christ and then you will be able to better understand the negative qualities of this coming false-Christ.  Every postive qualitie of Jesus Christ has a direct antithesis of revealed antichrist truth.  Hopefully if you are already a Christian you already know the real Christ intimately so I will not spend much time talking about the real man Christ Jesus in this lesson but I will give you some valuable clues to the coming fake.  It is also noteworthy that even in John’s day back when he wrote this letter to the church, he informed us that there were already some antichrists in the world.  However, these false Christ’s were certainly different than the coming antichrist being spoken of in this verse.  Being like the coming antichrist is by far different than being the named antichrist.  I hope you understand that.  We will see why I say that as we continue on through the Bible.

Almost every major religion in the world today is looking for a coming “messiah” or “savior”.  You can find this in Judaism, Islam and even Buddhism.  Therefore, when the antichrist comes there are already countless numbers of people in the world who will buy into the deception being presented with eager hearts!  Satan has set this up on purpose to deceive people when this False Christ suddenly appears on the earth.  What I will do is start by giving you some basics about what the Bible says about this coming individual:

1Jn 2:22  Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son.

We can clearly see that this antichrist will come to deny that God has sent His son into the world.  He will deny that God is a Father.  He will deny that God had a Son!  He will deny that there is a way of salvation.  This clearly means that he will deny the Bible, Jesus and every Christian claim for Him being the way to salvation.  Why is it so important for the antichrist not to admit what God has already done through His son Jesus?  For one thing it seals your fate in not being saved and then he thinks that it helps him not to be thrown into hell for what he has done.  Satan is in denial of the works of Christ in the earth because what He accomplished was so detrimental to his long term kingdom plans establishing himself to be god.

1Jn 4:3  And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

Again we see another verse that says the coming antichrist will deny Jesus came in the flesh.  Jesus Christ was God incarnate meaning the God who took upon Himself the human nature of created flesh so that He could die and pay the price for our sins with His shed blood.  Do you realize why Satan is denying God came in the flesh as a man?  He is in effect saying this was a stupid and foolish act of God and it was not even possible for God to do something so crazy.  He is placing doubts in the minds of people so that they will not believe in the truth.  By discrediting one thing found in the Bible Satan in effect is attempting to discredit every other truth in the Bible.  Pretty soon you will see some more reasons why I believe Satan will do this.  In this verse it is important to note that spirit beings are behind this teaching and that it does not come from men on the earth.  However, these spirit beings deceive men into teaching these things and these were the antichrists that were present back when the Bible was written.

2Jn 1:7  For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.

We again have a third witness that says the antichrist will deny that Christ has come in the flesh.  Therefore, this must be a pretty important revelation to understand.  It is also very important to note that any antichrist is also called a deceiver.  Deception is a complex lesson that I have written on before.  Not all deception is a sin, but most of it is if it is intended for evil to cause harm or hurt to someone else.  It is fairly clear that this is Satan’s motivation, he wants to cause as much havoc and destruction as possible.  It appears to me that Satan has decided that if he is going down, he is going to take as many as he can with him.  Satan does this by using deception and lies that are intentionally designed to trick and cause you to fall.

The coming antichrist:

  1. Is a Liar with Evil Intent and Motives
  2. Will Deny Christ Has Come in the Flesh
  3. Will Deceive many to believe his Lies
  4. Is always a spirit being behind the message

Wow, so far no great controversial information, which is just amazing for me isn’t it?  I guess it is about to change and here are the new things that I warned you about that we need to learn.  I can remember a while back I was thinking on the Word of God and the Spirit of God spoke to me and told me that Satan would come to the earth in the same way that God came to the earth.  So I thought about this and started to ask some more questions and began to search my Bible for the answers.  You see what is Satan’s greatest weakness in the earth today?  If you did not realize it, Satan is a spirit being and it is illegal for a spirit being to be here in a natural world to tempt you.  The Bible says there has no temptation overtaken you except which is common (natural) to man (1 Cor 10:13).  What this verse means is it is illegal for Satan to tempt or test you supernaturally.  Therefore, Satan is forced to uses people in the world to overcome this limitation.  Have you ever thought of this before, why doesn’t Satan just kill you if he wants you dead so bad?  Did you know he can’t kill you, unless he talks you into killing yourself?  Satan can enter into the body of a man on the earth and cause them to say and do great evil to others, but Satan’s hands are tied because he cannot do it himself.  We can clearly see this in anyone who has committed mass murder of the human race, like an Adolf Hitler.  You can clearly see that a man has potential to do great harm to many others.  You can also see this in the Gospels when Satan entered into Judas and caused him to betray Christ to the leaders of the Jews (Luke 22:3).  So from Adam until now Satan has always entered into people and used these people to hurt and deceive other people.  So how does Satan overcome this severe limitation?  How did God overcome this limitation?  God became flesh and walked among us (John 1:14).  Is it possible for Satan to do the same?  Before you answer that question you better read the rest of this lesson and see what else I teach you today.

Let’s examine a familiar parable that Jesus taught us.  I have talked about this before, but God woke me up last night and related this lesson to the antichrist.  I’m talking about the parable of the wheat and the tares, do you remember this parable and it’s interpretations from studying about seeds?  God had a garden and planted good seeds of wheat.  While God was away from the garden, Jesus said an enemy came and sowed tares in the same field.  God said let them grow together until harvest time and I will send the angels to reap my crop of wheat and then to burn the tares of the enemy.  In this parable the wheat represents righteous saved people, the tares represents wicked lost people.  This is not a highly complex parable to understand; but let’s think about something new today from what we have been discussing.  Using this parable as a reference, God Himself became a grain of wheat when He took on the flesh of a man. This is the amazing fact that the coming antichrist will vehemently deny.  God becoming a man, why is it so important for Satan to deny this ever happened?  You really need to see how important that question is. Here again is the very difficult question that I o presented you with a few sentences ago and that is “If it is possible for God to be born into the world as a natural symbolic grain of wheat, can Satan do the same as a symbolic tare?”  Wow, you should really think about that before you answer.  I had one reader say that Satan has no creative power or any supernatural ability and they obviously ignored a lot of what the Bible says about Satan in order to make that statement.  How did God get Mary pregnant?  The Bible says God spoke words to her and said you will conceive after the Spirit comes upon you.  Is Satan a spirit?  Does Satan also speak words?  Wow, your religious minds are probably spinning right about now and that is probably not very good.  Nevertheless I am convinced from the Bible and what the Spirit of God said to me that it teaches us that the coming antichrist will be Satan incarnate the opposite or antithesis of God incarnate.  Satan the antichrist will be the personification of hate and evil while God in Jesus was the personification of love and good.  What I will do is show you some Bible verses now that while they do not spell it out completely there is enough information to derive some logical conclusions to support what God told me.  Here is the first verse that I want to examine carefully:

2Th 2:3  Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;

There are many ignorant people in the world that can’t read or can’t see what this verse says, I guess?  If you look at the context God is clearly talking about the coming of Jesus and the gathering together of the church in verse 1.  Then in verse 2 you can see God’s comforting words to us (the church) not to be troubled or worried about the coming “Day of Christ” that it is soon approaching or eminently at hand.  Of course when this was written it was much further away than it is today.  Nevertheless, in verse 3 God says that this “Day of Christ” will not come except 2 things happen first.  The first thing is said to be a “falling away” and I will not comment on that event in this blog.  The next thing that will occur is the revealing of the “man of sin”.  To me it is very clear that this is the coming antichrist.  However, the Greek word translated as “man” in this verse means “man faced” or a literal “human being”.  This is the definition for me and this is also you today in the world.  However, this verse says that this is someone who will be revealed.  The word “revealed” here means “to take off the covers”.  In other words this word means to make seen something that was hidden.  What was hidden that will be seen in the coming time of tribulation?  This is so critical that you think about this carefully before you answer that question.  God is clearly informing us that this time will be uniquely different than the times before.  Let me help you by asking you another question, has anyone ever seen Satan in the physical realm?  Could this be what is revealed that was previously hidden?  I believe that it could very well be that.

To reveal something clearly means to uncover that which was kept secret and hidden so that it can now be literally and plainly seen.  That is what we are talking about here, right?  Doesn’t this describe what God did when He came into the earth in the form of the man Jesus who was born of the natural woman named Mary?  Jesus, who was the eternal hidden God, became the visible incarnate God so that we could witness Him in person and so that He could give His life for us.  God took off the hidden spiritual covers from Himself and revealed to us the Savior Messiah in the flesh.  This is why I believe that these verses are saying that Satan who was the hidden spiritual enemy of God will also be uncovered so that people on the earth can see him visibly for the first time.  However, this man will not be here to save you; this man will be here to kill you.  This verse says very clearly that the “man of sin” will be revealed to us.  What is sin and where did it come from?  Did God create sin?  That is of course a deep theological question that I cannot get into today.  But, according to the Bible, sin originated from Satan if you do not know that you should go and read it in your Bible (Ezekiel 28:15).  So according to the Bible, Satan was the originator of the first sin in the Bible and is the one that I believe will be called the “man of sin” in the near future.  This is a human title for clearly a spiritual being, which I will refer to as Satan incarnate.  The next set of key words to examine in this verse is the man is called “the son of perdition”.  The word “son” is simple enough because it simply means one (a child) born from a father and a mother’s conception.  Jesus clearly called Himself both the Son of God and the Son of Man.  So Jesus clearly exemplified the demonstrated and established definition of the union of a spirit being and a natural being.  Therefore, God establishes this fact as being a viable reality and not a fantasy proposition of your imagination.  However, this verse is not speaking of the Son of God, here; the term “perdition” means “destruction”.  Who is responsible for destruction in the world?  If you associate John 10:10 with this verse and see what Jesus said about Satan you can see who this description fits.  In John 10:10 Jesus said “The thief (Satan) comes not but to kill, steal and to destroy”.  So Satan is responsible for the destruction on the earth.  So we now can see that the revealed man of sin can be related to being the son of the spiritual being Satan, the destroyer.   The Bible is complicate like that; you have to dig to find the hidden truths that are in it.  Sometimes it is obvious and other times like today it is more difficult to see, especially at first.

From this one verse we can conclude several new things about the antichrist and these are:

  1. The antichrist is a physical man
  2. The antichrist is a natural son from a woman
  3. The antichrist comes from Satan
  4. The antichrist is Satan incarnate
  5. Every man always has a spirit within him and he will be Satan

Continuing to read in this chapter of the 2 Thessalonians we learn some more information and some further confirmation of what I have just said:

2Th 2:4  Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Here God starts to tell us what this antichrist will begin to do in the earth.  He is said to be directly opposed to the real God, the Bible, the church and everything that they represent.  He will exalt himself as being greater than all of these.  You see if you use your brain and think you will know that this is only possible if Satan is here in the flesh.  Otherwise he cannot fulfill this specific prophecy.  The next statement says ‘he as God sits in the temple of God”.  I have heard many preachers try to teach that Israel will rebuild the temple in Jerusalem and reestablish the sacrifice before Christ’s return.  I could not disagree with them more than to say; can’t you see what the Bible says?  Where is the temple of God today?  Because many men think naturally they focus on the wrong things and they look at what God did in the past is what they expect or want God to do over in the future.  However, God is not this way and rarely repeats Himself.  What we can see from the O.T. is the fact that what God did in the natural realm was a pattern for what He was going to do in the spirit realm.  The Bible says very clearly that God does dwell in the buildings made by the hands of men (Acts 17:24).  So even if Israel did build a new temple in the city of Jerusalem, God would not be there to dwell in it.  Do you get it?  So the question needs to be changed from where is temple of God to who is the temple of God.  The Bible says “Now we are the temple of God” (1 Cor 3:16).  Uh oh?  This definition changes everything, doesn’t it?  The human body is now the spiritual temple of God today.  That is ME!  That is YOU!  If you are a Christian then you are now the temple of God. This is the temple made without the hands of men.  So this verse in 2 Thessalonians 2:4 fits with the revelation that Satan is an incarnate man of sin.  If the antichrist is Satan incarnate, then this man will have a body which was originally designed by God to be the temple of God, but this man will have the spirit of Satan in him and will proclaim himself to be God in this human temple.  Wow, I hope that you understand what I just said.  What we see is Satan’s attempts to duplicate what God has done so that he can be like the Most High God.  This verse makes no sense if this is not speaking of an incarnate Satan.  Satan cannot manifest himself spiritually in the earth and proclaim himself to be God unless he becomes a man like God became a man.  Only as a physical man can Satan look like one of us and set himself up to deceive so many people in the world.  When people see the antichrist on TV walking, speaking and acting like the one with all of the answers to the world’s problems, many will fall for his deception because the world will be in chaos and they will all be looking for the quick and easy answers to their problems.

2Th 2:6  And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.

God said that this man will be revealed at the right time.  I believe the right time is very close at hand, since God told me to write this Bible lesson to tell the world he is coming soon.  To be revealed or uncovered requires that he be physically born and grow to be a man just like Jesus did for 30 years before He did anything spectacular.  So no doubt the antichrist is already in the earth somewhere right now waiting for the opportunity to seize control.  That of course was my opinion, but I believe it is certainly self-evident that the time is very short.

2Th 2:9  Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,

This whole chapter does not say anything good for the people who are left in the world during this time of deception of this antichrist.  God gives a strong warning in these verses for people to learn now before it is too late.  As you can see in this verse, it is not a great translation; the translators added two words at the beginning and these really only cause confusion.  If you take the words out, it says “who comes after the work of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders”.  In other words, this is further confirmation that this man is Satan incarnate.  This man will have smooth words that will deceive the minds of the simple.  This man will have the ability to do signs and lying wonders.  Kind of sounds like Jesus doesn’t it, except these will be the opposite of what Jesus did.  When Jesus walked the face of the earth, He did many positive signs and wonders by healing the sick and raising the dead (Acts 10:38).  This is not what Satan will be doing.  Satan’s signs and wonders are intentionally designed to deceive people and cause them to buy into his ways of deception.  He will come doing many miraculous, spectacular and amazing feats that only a powerful spiritual being can accomplish.  It is also interesting to note that Jesus only did miracles after He was 30 years old.  I believe that this is a pattern of what Satan will mimic also.  Satan has to appear as a man with some level of authority and experience.  No one will follow after a teenager to be easily deceived.  If Jesus would have started ministering at the age of 12, very few would have followed him, if any.  But as man of 30, He got the attention of enough to start a church that would grow.

Christ vs. antichrist, this was the lesson for today.  God vs. Satan, one good and one is evil. One became a grain of wheat and the other a tare. While Satan has been effective at deceiving people in the world using humans, when Satan shows up in the flesh, he will be no match for the simple minded people left on the earth.  They will buy into the lies in droves not knowing what they are doing nor knowing who they are doing it with.  You should go back and read the entire chapter of 2 Thessalonians and see if you can see what God is saying about this coming “man of sin” also called the “son of destruction”.  Maybe you can help someone with this information and save them from this future deception.  I believe it is worth a try.  So I hope you enjoyed this Bible study on the antichrist and have learned something.  Remember that the antichrist is a man like you and me who will wield great power to deceive many.  He will be opposed to everything that Christ stood for.  He will deny that Christ ever came in the flesh so that he can deny that he is Satan in the flesh.  After all if he is just a miracle working man, it will be much easier to deceive the people.  Perhaps in my next lesson on this subject I will give you some more perspectives on this individual from other parts of the Bible.  God Bless you in your attempts to learn the truth!

If you would like to continue reading in this series please go to “Part 2” now.

 

Binary Systems in the Bible! God and Computer Concepts to Learn and Live By!

(Ver 1.2)  This is now “Part 2” of the lesson series concerning modern computer concepts found in the Bible.  In the first lesson I talked about how computers are rules based systems.  Nothing exists by chance or by random within a computer by design.  Every component of a computer system interacts with the other parts using strict rules and guidelines.  What I have been doing is attempting to show how these same principle conform to God’s design of the Bible.  Therefore I desire to teach computer concepts and show you how to apply them in your relationship with God and to increase your understanding of His Word.  I believe that God understands computers far better than we do and I also believe that He knew that we would have computers in these last days before He comes back to the earth.  I strongly believe that God created these amazing machines for us to learn with and to share the Gospel with others and that is why I take the time to write things that some of you may not fully understand if you are not a computer programmer also.  I have learned that computer programmers have a different approach to Bible study, usually more logical because we are forced by our jobs to think this way.  It is not necessarily a better way to think, but it is certainly very different.  In my last computer related post I talked about “Rules Based Systems”.  This is a vast complex subject that applies to the Bible and interpreting the Bible correctly in very direct ways.  If you would like to read this lesson first before continuing with today’s lesson, you can go and start with “Part 1”.

In today’s lesson I want to discuss some very basic computer concepts and show how they also apply to the Bible.  A computer in its simplest form is a binary machine.  What may you ask is a binary machine?  This is a machine that relies entirely on one of two numbers, either a 0 (zero) or a 1 (one).   At the most rudimentary levels of every computer that is all there is; just two numbers.   The computer is therefore solely dependent upon the simplest of all number systems the binary number system.  You see the most rudimentary element of a computer is a single “bit” of information and this “bit” can either be off or on (zero or one).  Computers of course are tremendously more complex by the sheer numbers of these “bits” that exist within a modern computer, but that is not my subject today.  What I want to do is focus on Binary concepts in relationship to the Bible.  The Bible is very much like a complex computer system.  It is probably the most complex book that you will ever attempt to understand, but many of the concepts given in it can be reduced to a simple binary number system choice.   Today I want you to focus on what is a Bible binary system?  Here are some definitions of a “Binary System” from the internet:

  • The number representation system, used in computers, with only two digits, 0 and 1
  • A system of arithmetic used with computers, also called base 2, that is based on the digits 0 and 1.
  • A system in which information can be expressed by combinations of the digits 0 and 1 (corresponding to “on” and “off” in computers).

Fortunately for most programmers today, we are not required to program a computer at the bit or binary machine level.  If you have ever done this you know how complex it can be.  We do not even use the computer machine’s language to program a computer anymore, because we have higher level languages that are translated to the machine level.  While some of today’s computer languages can still manipulate information at the binary level, most do not normally do this.  So why am I talking about binary systems in a Bible study Blog?  That is probably the biggest question that you have right now.   While not everything in the Bible can be simplified to a binary state, many things in the Bible can.  For example, God says this:

Deu 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

If you do not yet understand binary concepts, you probably just read over this verse and missed the basics that God is trying to get you to see.  In this verse found in Deuteronomy God places before all people a choice.  A choice involves making a selection between two or more things.  In this case there are just two choices that can be selected and this is a binary decision.  One choice is “Life” and the other is “Death”.   This is a very basic binary concept; we could say that life is the number 1 (one) and death the number 0 (zero).   This is the way all computers work.  It is based upon a simple light switch on or off idea.  You flip the switch on you get light, you turn the switch the other way and you get darkness.  It is the most basic choice in life that you can make.   Another binary concept found in this verse is “blessings” = 1 and curses = 0.    So God suggests that we choose life and blessings and that sounds much better to me too.  There are a number of binary concepts like this found throughout the Bible.  Starting in Genesis 1, there is the mention of Light and Darkness.  Light = 1 and Darkness = 0.  Day and Night are the same concepts in different words.  Here is the binary concept in this verse:

Gen 1:5  And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day.

The Binary theme in God’s Word is used extensively throughout the Bible.  You might also remember in Genesis 2 God put two trees in the Garden, one the Tree of Life and the other the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  What we can see from these trees is that they represent a choice.  God says do not eat from one or you will die, which implies the other is good to eat from.  These are very simple concepts given yet they have far reaching consequences based upon what you choose in this life as you can recognize from Adam’s poor choice to eat from the wrong tree.  What I find interesting about God is that He never forces you to solve a complex riddle to be saved for example.  God simply says here is my Son Jesus Christ sacrificed for your sins, make Him your Lord and believe I raised Him from the dead and live.  Don’t believe and die and go to hell. These are the basis of a simple binary choice but with very, very severe consequences to making the wrong choice.  A binary number can only be 0 or 1, off or on.  So they are directly opposed opposites.   You cannot be in both categories simultaneously.  It is a universal truth that you are either in one or the other states of existence.  It is a classic division of opposition.  Zeros are always the opposites of Ones.   Light is the complete opposite to darkness and you do not have both at once.  Back when I was an Assembler programmer I used binary bits as flags to the state of something.  If set to “off” the state would be false, “on” the state would be true.  That is probably too much computer terminology for many of my readers, but it is useful to describe what God has presented us in the Bible.  I pray that you understand the simplicity found in the Bible.  Here is a list of some of the Binary States that I have found as common themes in the Bible:

Binary 0

Binary 1

Evil Good
Death Life
Curses Blessings
Night Day
Darkness Light
Lies Truth
Unbelief Faith
Flesh Spirit
Sin Righteousness
Kingdom of Satan Kingdom of Heaven
Wide Path Narrow Path
Captivity Freedom

That of course is not a complete list, just introductions to some things that you can clearly see are taught in the Bible that represents a clear binary choice from every man or woman.  So I believe that the Bible is a highly complex book of information which also contains very simple binary choices being presented to everyone.  You just don’t have to understand the whole Bible to become saved!  It is more a simple choice or acceptance of some of the basic Bible information, called the Gospel.  Too many Christians want to say that people are not saved because they do not believe exactly like we do.  All that does is prove your ignorance of the Bible.  You assume that you are God and that you know everything when you preach with this attitude and you are sadly mistaken.  God will demonstrate your ignorance on judgment day if you are not very careful.  Do not cause other Christians to stumble because they do not believe what you do.  I try to teach this way, but I have had many religious spirited people attack me for what I say sometimes.  I have decided not to post negative critical comments on my blog anymore.  I read them, see if I can learn anything from them, and sometimes respond privately or in a follow-up post on my blog.  It is very difficult to help people who criticize other people because they think that they know everything already.  However, since they do not know everything that I know, or have experienced everything that I have experienced, they really should not try to judge me.   You can learn from Moses and the children of Israel in the wilderness.  What did they do right and what did they do wrong?  God only met with Moses on the mountain top and the others were not in on the private conversations unless Moses shared them.  The people one time gave up on God and Moses because Moses was gone too long for them.  They started to build idols and worship other false gods.  Why was this?  Was it a lack of Patience?  Was it a lack of knowledge?  I mean it could have been several problems combined.  They obviously mumbled and complained and probably criticized God and Moses while he was gone.  What was the net result of all of their opposition?  Most of them died in the wilderness and never saw the promise land.  So what is different today with some Christians mumbling and complaining about other Christians today?  What do you think the result will be for those who do this?  Do you think it will be the same as the children of Israel in the wilderness?  I guess I should get back on the subject that I’m supposed to be on.

Maybe I’ll wrap this up for today.  I do not want to overwhelm you with new concepts.  When I say that the Bible is like a large complex computer system most people will not understand my analogy.  However, I know it is true.  Within this complex spiritual book of information God has placed a series of simple Binary choices before all mankind.  These are the basics of life; the simplest choices can make the greatest differences in our life.  By choosing life, blessings, light, salvation and Jesus you have gone through a binary selection and made the right choice.  It is a simple choice that turns you from one state to another and I pray that you choose wisely.  God Bless you today as you learn to choose!

Understanding the Book of Job? An overview of what it is and what it is not! Part 3

(Ver 2.1)  This is Part 3 in a series of advanced Bible study lessons on understanding the book of Job.  I have been attempting to give you some new perspectives on the meanings behind the book of Job by showing you how it fits into other verses found in the Bible.  Only by using the Bible to interpret the Bible can we really see what God says in any other part of the Bible.  If we attempt to interpret a verse, chapter or book in isolation, we are forced to rely on our own opinions and natural thoughts to figure out what it all means.  But, I have noticed while studying the Bible that God was not stupid, He didn’t leave us in the dark with us trying to figure out what He said.  However, I believe that we are required to search and dig deep in order to find out what His definitions and comments are on the subjects that we are studying.  God says the natural man receives not the things written by the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14).  So, if you do not understand the Bible, it is because you are either not saved or it is simply just the fact that you are thinking naturally.  So if you have not read this series from the beginning I would strongly suggest that you go back and start with “Part 1” since I cannot repeat everything I teach in each lesson.  What I have been trying to emphasize in these lessons is the fact that God is the originator of blessings and that Satan is the author of the curses encountered in this world.  What I haven’t taught is why this transpires.

I will briefly make an attempt at a quick explanation of the origination of good and evil in the world before I continue with Job.  When Adam was created, God placed Adam in the Garden with his wife and told Adam that he may freely eat from every tree except one.  Everything created by God called “very good” by God’s own admission.  There God did not create anything evil, bad or harmful and Adam knew only the goodness of God.  There was one tree called symbolically the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil that God say do not eat from.  God told Adam that the day that he ate from this tree he would surely die.  I personally know that this was a symbolic tree that represted a hidden spiritual reality because of what I have studied and found that the Bible says in other parts.  In the past I did a couple of lessons on this subject and if you are interested you can read them by going to “Does Eating Fruit Kill You?”.   I will not attempt to repeat these lessons here, but I will tell you that Adam made the wrong choice.  Isn’t it funny how we keep coming back to people making choices in the world?  If you recall I told you that Job made some wrong choices that opened the door for Satan to come in and attack him.  These choices of Job involved wrong spoken words, wrong believing, fear, and no peace or rest.  This attack of Job was a repeated pattern found from when Adam was given a choice by God and made the wrong selection to let Satan into this world.  Adam’s choice resulted in him knowing the evil of Satan’s power.  Adam already knew the blessings of God so this was nothing new.  It was only Satan and evil that Adam gained or obtained by letting Satan into the world.  So if God gave Adam a choice, he must also give every man the same choice after Adam.  God does not control the choices of men.  God gives each man the freewill to make their own selections.  Job therefore had a choice between blessings and cursing.  Job allowed Satan to continue working evil in his life.  Both Adam and Job experienced the loss of children.  I’m sure that both men regretted their decisions, but yet it was too late to take them back.

In the first two lessons on Job, I went through chapter 1, verses 1 through 19 on all of the bad things that happened in rapid succession to Job and his family.  I also spent time in trying to reveal the actions that opened the door for Satan to attack Job.   It is obvious to me that this was a staged planned attack by Satan to take away everything that God had blessed him with.  So what was Job’s reaction?  That is where we are going to start today?

Job 1:20  Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped,

Job goes into a state of mourning and anguish; after all he just lost all of his children.  I do not know of any normal parent that loses their children that is not devastated.  To tear your clothing is a sign of sorrow, to shave your head is sign of mourning but, then Job still worships God.  This is one of the only good things that Job still does and it describes why he was blessed by God in the first place.  What we will find by reading is that even after all that has happened to Job, he does not turn against his God.  If you learn any lesson from Job you should learn this lesson, always stay on God’s side no matter what happens to you.  If you blame God and start to curse God, you are just digging your hole much deeper.  God did not kill Job’s kids, Satan did.  You see in the Bible it says this about kids:

Psa 127:3  Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward.

What would it mean to be a reward?  Children are clearly blessings from God.  I told you earlier if God blesses you with children and then kills them to take them away, His house is divided.  God would be both the author of the blessings and the author of the curses.  How would you ever follow a God who was so crazy and inconsistent?  I’m sorry but I could not.  I also tried to teach you that the Bible says God is a constant and does not change.  These verses prove that God is not the give of life and the destroyer of life simultaneously or God would have to change to do each.  God is truly only a giver of life and the devil is the taker of that life, but only by the allowed access of man’s choices do either happen.   So let’s see what Job was saying after all of this occurs to him and his family:

Job 1:21  And said, Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Here we have the famous classic Bible verse widely used at many funerals.  This is clearly a misguided application of the words of a man in sorrow.  If you just lost 10 kids, what would you be saying?  I am probably going to get some ignorant Christians mad at me, but I am going to tell you that not everything you read in the Bible is true.  These words of Job are truly in the Bible.  These words of Job were truly spoken by Job.  However, both of these facts together do not make his words the truth.  Job was a man without a church, a man without a Bible, a man without a spiritual leader or a pastor and a man who tried to blindly follow his God the best that he knew how to do under these circumstances.  It is true that Job had heard about God, but yet at this point in time no one knew that much about God.  God had not yet given man any written words to read about Him and to learn from.  The only words that Job could have had are the past experiences of Adam and the other descendants of Adam.  So why would you think that anything that Job says came from directly from God?  Did God come to Job and say I took your kids?  I took your possessions?  Did God say this or did Job say this?  What people say out of their limited state of knowledge and ignorance can be what they believe whole heartedly to be the truth; however, does that ever make it the truth because they believe it to be the truth?    Nowhere in this chapter does it ever say that God took anything from Job, only Job says this.

Here is where I should briefly discuss the fact that the Bible says that the Word of God was given by inspiration of the Holy Ghost (2 Tim 3:16).  The Greek word in this verse literally means the Bible was God breathed.  However, that does not mean everything in the Bible is true.  It is like watching the evening news on TV, the newsman is speaking and telling you things and events that were reported to happen that day, but does that mean everything that he says is the truth because it is on the news?  What if a news man quotes another man that says “I did not have sex with that intern”.  Does that make it the truth because it was on the news?  Obviously we learned that it does not.  This is the way the Bible was also written.  There are quotes in the Bible from men that were clearly ignorant or intentionally lying.  For example, in Acts 5, there was a man named Anainias and his wife that fall down dead for lying to the Holy Ghost.  Is what they said recorded in book of Acts the truth?  Again, obviously not.  I hope you can begin to see the struggle with reading the words of men in the Bible versus reading the words of God that were given to men.  If the Bible says “Thus saith the Lord” you can count it being the truth.  If the Bible says “thus saith Job” you are going to have great difficutly in convincing me this is the complete truth and I talk about this more in a minute.

Let’s talk briefly now about a hedge and the reason for a hedge to even exist.  Chapter 1 of Job clearly says that God had placed a hedge of protection around Job.  Therefore, who was God protecting Job from?  There are only two reasons to build a fence.   You do realize this yes?  First, you only need a fence around your property if there are animals, enemies or things that can come in and steal from you or hurt you.  Second, the only other reason to build a fence is to keep something in, like a prison.  I personally believe that both of these were true based upon my knowledge of the Bible.   I mean this is not rocket science; you just have to use your brain and think a little bit.   So let’s talk more about the first reason on keeping someone out.  Who is God guarding Job from?  It has to be from Satan!  Satan is a created spiritual being and he is capable of coming and going from the earth back and forth to the spiritual realm in heaven.  Satan is free to come and go and Job is not.  Job is definitely hedged into the earth’s natural and has never seen God or been to heaven.  For that matter Job has never seen Satan either, so clearly there is a hedge that prevents this view.  So what is a hedge by God’s definition?  This is where it really starts to get more interesting.  You see our definition is usually not’s God’s definition.  This word hedge is only found 3 times in the whole O.T.  This Hebrew word occurs twice in the book of Job and I personally believe this second usage of the word was the key to the definition:

Job 10:11  Thou hast clothed me with skin and flesh, and hast fenced me with bones and sinews.

Let’s briefly discuss the context of this verse.  Job is speaking and he is describing his body and God’s intelligent design of it.  Notice what Job says, Job is telling us that he is clothed with a body and that this body of flesh and bones is a “fence” around him.  The Hebrew word translated as “fence” is the exact same Hebrew word that was translated as “hedge’ in chapter 1.  Wow, I find that fascinating.  This is what we discover happening when Adam sinned.  God clothed Adam with a coat of skin.  Pay close attention to the fact that the body as described is not Job nor Adam, but rather they were actually the spirit that is covered by the body.  Isn’t this the definition of a hedge?   To keep something in or to keep something out?  What is Satan?  Satan is a created spirit being.  Satan is not allowed by God’s law to come into the natural realm to tempt or test as I taught in the first lesson.  I believe that this physical body is our hedge of protection from the evil beings in the spirit realm.  It is also our physical bodies that keeps us present in this world.  But, I do not have time to fully expand that thought today in this lesson.  It was simply an introduction to get you to think about something new.  Think about this also, when Satan attacked Job, what did he attack?  Did not Satan attack Job in the physical realm and not Job in the spiritual realm?  Could Satan have hurt Job spiritually speaking?  It is impossible to kill or hurt a spirit being, so Job was incabple of being harmed spiritually.  Therefore, I believe that Satan attacked God’s designed hedge or protection that surrounded Job and this was the man’s body and his natural surroundings that he possessed.   It certainly changes your perspective dramatically when thinking in these terms and I hope you are seeing them.

So let’s get back to the words of Job and what he said in chaoter 1 about the Lord taking and the Lord giving and determine if that is the truth or just his words.  Do you understand that there are many accounts of people speaking in the Bible and some of these people are clearly ignorant and do not know what they are talking about.  There are also many clear accounts of people who intentionally lie in the Bible as I just talked about found in Acts 5.  Jesus taught us that Satan is the father of lies and the words of Satan are found throughout the Bible.  Based upon the shear presence of lies being recorded in the Bible, do you understand how this information makes correct Bible interpretation more difficult?  If it does not say “Thus Saith the Lord God” or the Words of Jesus in Red Letters, then you are taking the words that are potentially words of an ignorant man or woman and exalting them to the status of God’s words.  Having said all of that there are Prophets of God who do speak God’s words, but even they sometimes quote Pharaoh or Nebuchadnezzar or someone else who does not speak for God.  Correctly interpreting the Bible is not as easy as you think and it takes brains, thought, logic and seeing who is speaking, who they are talking to and then finally noticing exactly what they say.

So let me ask you this, is Job a prophet?  Is Job speaking for God?  I’ve been to too many funerals given by preachers who think that these are the Words of God Himself, just because they are written in the Bible.  These are tough questions to answer based upon just the small parts that we have read so far.  But let’s go to the end of the book of Job and see what opinion God has of the spoken words of Job.  After all it really shouldn’t matter what you or I think about the Words of Job, it should really only matter what God thinks about his spoken words:

Job 38:1  Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,

As you can clearly see God is about to speak directly to Job and say something very significant to him.  You should pay very close attention to the next words that do come out of the mouth of God and then go back and apply these to what Job said in chapter 1 about God taking things away from him:

Job 38:2  Who is this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge?

God basically tells Job you do not know what you are talking about, so why do you open your mouth and speak any of these words.  According to God Job is speaking empty words from an empty head.  Therefore, we can clearly see that Job is confirmed by God to be ignorant!  God says Job has no knowledge to speak in the areas that he is attempting to speak in.  So should Job be saying anything at all?  Or should Job being doing what most Christians in the world should be doing and listen to God in order to learn.  Instead of running their mouths on the internet, many people need to hear what God is saying and go get some knowledge before they try to speak anything.  There are virtually many chapters of Job and most of these verses are just the empty words of ignorant men who should not be talking.  Yet we have a vast number of preachers who want to quote Job’s words at funerals as if God had spoken them.  That is just more demonstrations of ignorance in action.  I hope that if you learned anything today you learned the lesson of what God thought of Job’s spoken words.

Job 1:22  In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly.

We finally see what the last verse in chapter 1 says, after all of Job’s accusations of God stealing his possessions and killing his kids God says that Job did not sin nor charge God foolishly.  You see what people do or say out of ignorance is often overlooked by God.  Especially in the case where there is no written laws of God to follow.  Since Job had no Bible and was doing the best that he could to figure out what was the right things to do, God overlooked his accusations.  Let’s see a verse that is applicable to what is stated in Job:

Rom 4:15  Because the law worketh wrath: for where no law is, there is no transgression.

Clearly God says where there is not law there is no punishment for sins.  The law brings wrath and the law permits punishment, and this is true in the natural realm as well as the spiritual realm.  You see there was a time when child pornography was legal, but was it right?  Absolutely not, but yet because of the lack of laws, no one could be convicted of this crime.  It was only after laws were passed that now people are punished.  Because, Job lived during the time where there were no Mosaic laws of God written, there was no punishment that God could bring if He wanted to.  So Job did not transgress God’s laws even if he did not do or say everything right.

The next time you go to a funeral and they start to tell you how God took somebody, or their children, I hope that you can at least see this was not true.  God is not the thief who kills, steals and destroys.   The only two times I saw God take anyone in the Bible, God did not have to kill them to do it.  Enoch the Bible says was translated and poof he was gone.  Elijah was caught up in a chariot of fire and Elisha saw it happen.  So these are the only two times in the Bible that God is said to have taken anyone up beside the raised from the dead Jesus Christ.  If you can see somebody go up in a chariot of fire, then you can claim that God took them, otherwise do not accuse God of doing something that He did not do.  God does not have to kill anybody to take them to heaven; many people will find this out the hard way before too long when Jesus appears for the catching away of the church.  Then the dead in Christ will arise first and those that remain will be translated as Enoch and suddenly all disappear from the planet.   What a vast confusion this event will cause all over the world.

I guess I should briefly mention the subject of God’s judgment.  There are times in the Bible, like Noah’s flood or Sodom and Gomorrah that God is forced to exercise judgment upon the earth.  What happens when God exercises judgment?  In both cases, Noah and Lot the righteous were spared and the others perished completely.  So why do people want to apply God’s judgment to Job?  If Job was an unrighteous man and fell into judgment, he would not have been around at the end of the book.  Do not confuse judgment with attacks from Satan.  Satan does not have to ask permission to attack you, all he has to do is watch for you to open the door and Satan has learned he is now free to do to you what he can get away with.  In the book of Job you find that Satan is presenting himself with the other angels to learn what is valid and what is not valid for him to do.  Why is Satan being so careful?  You see you may recall that there are other references in the Bible to the “sons of God”.  In Genesis 6, before the flood, the sons of God are again referenced.  This time the “sons of God” see the daughters of men and see that they are physically beautiful.   These angels have physical sex with the human females and create races of giants on the earth.  This results in a polluted mixture of men and angels and God says this was an illegal perversion of God’s laws and design.  This was clearly an example of the angels crossing over the hedge.  You can see that by reading this verse in 2 Peter:

2Pe 2:4  For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

If God threw some angels into hell (but not all of them), they must have violated some spiritual law or done something that was very perverted.  Having sex with natural women would be an example of this type of perversion.    The angels are obviously ignorant of what is permissible and what is not permissible for them to do.  So believing that Satan is appearing before God in Job chapter 1 to accuse Job and to find out what is permissible makes perfect sense to me.  Satan has certainly seen that some of his angels were already cast into darkness, locked up with spiritual chains.  Do you understand that Satan must learn what is permissible and what is not?  So I have gone long enough in this lesson for today and I have given you many new things to think about.  I appreciate greatly your time in studying the Bible and if you have any comments or question about anything I have taught, please do not hesitate to leave me a comment.  God Bless.

If you would like to continue to read in this series about Job, please go to “Part 4“.

 

Who’s Sending the Storms in Your Life?

(Ver 2.1)  This is “Part 3” in a series of advanced lessons about “Understanding Hard Sayings” found in the Bible.  We live in a pretty crazy world at times. Some Christians like to believe that God is in complete control of everything that happens to us, but what do you do with the times when it seems like you are facing some very challenging overwhelming circumstances?   Did God send these negative circumstances to test you, prove you or maybe just to keep you humble?   It is funny what many churches teach on this subject and most of them ignore what the Bible says in order to teach something that they have created in their minds.  Human reasoning and religious thinking usually results in things that are directly opposed to the truth of God.  Learn to be careful who you follow and make sure what they are teaching you is based ONLY upon the scriptures being correctly divided and interpreted.  Also allow the Spirit of God inside of you to be your quide into the truth.  He will also keep you from what is not the truth if you let Him.  Always remember that whatever God says to you by His Spirit will always be in perfect alingnment with what He has said to you in His written Word.

Joh 16:33  These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

The Greek word translated as tribulation literally means “trouble” and “pressure”.  So we have all been faced with the storms of trouble and pressure in our lives.  These are things like losing your job and wondering what you are going to do now for money to pay the bills.  How about getting attacked physically with sickness and disease?    Having a child die suddenly?   What about being pregnant and having a miscarriage?  Facing natural disasters like hurricanes, tornados, wild fires, earthquakes and floods.  Look at the world’s economies on the brink of collapse.  The plunging real estate markets and the rollercoaster stock markets.  What about the price of food and inflation, droughts, famines, wars and I could go on and on  We are all faced with an enormous amount of different kinds of pressures being put on us from every side it seems.  The verse above in John 16:23 speak of these “pressures” in life.  Jesus told us that tribulation is a part of the world that we live in.  However, Jesus did not say God was sending them your way.  Jesus said be of good cheer for I have overcome the world.  Jesus directly links this “pressure” to the “world” that we currently live in.  Jesus did not say be of good cheer because these are just God’s way of testing you, changing you, proving you or whatever else people like to think.  I personally believe that if there was nothing to overcome in life that nobody would seek God for help.  But, yet I also believe that God never sent any of these storms of life that we are faced with.  I personally believe that God warned Adam not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and that Adam is the one that allowed evil to enter into the world that we reside within.  I’ll try to talk more about this as we go to show you who the originator of these adversities and evils really is.  Here are some Bible verses that I have found that helped me tremendously when I was studying this subject and I hope they are a blessing to you also:

Luk 8:22  Now it came to pass on a certain day, that he went into a ship with his disciples: and he said unto them, Let us go over unto the side side of the lake. And they launched forth.

In this story found in Luke, Jesus has been ministering to a group of people and it was now getting very late in the day.  Jesus sends the people away and goes with his disciples to cross the sea in their boat .  So far nothing new is happening that is very news worthy.

Luk 8:23  But as they sailed he fell asleep: and there came down a storm of wind on the lake; and they were filled with water, and were in jeopardy.

This is where the story starts to get really good.   There are many people in churches that teach that Jesus was God in His full deity power.  However, this verse should cause them a major problem, because the Bible says that God neither sleeps nor slumbers (Psalm 121:4).  You can obviously see the potential conflict to that kind of teaching by simply reading the verses in the Bible that reveal to us the truth.  I believe that Jesus Christ was fully God and fully man.  However, I also believe when God became a man, He stripped Himself of His deity powers in order to lay down His life for us.   You see it is impossible to kill an omnipotent God.   Understand that how you are now is how God had to become. If you sleep Jesus had to sleep.  If you eat then Jesus had to eat.  If you ever get thirsty then Jesus got thirsty.  If you could sin, then it was possible for Jesus to sin.  These are just basic realities found in the Bible.  So I got off of the subject for a quick side trip to help someone today.  This verse informs us that as they were sailing, Jesus went to sleep.  The winds picked up and a storm came upon them and it looked very bleak to the disciples.  Some of the disciples were men who made their living on the water; they were intimately familiar with this sea, the weather there, boats and sailing.  They obviously thought the situation was life threatening.   So they had a problem; one of those storms of life had arisen around them that I talked about earlier and they believed it could be the end of them.  The boat was taking on water, the wind was very strong against them and the outcome looked very bleak.   Fortunately for them they had Jesus in the boat asleep.  Let me ask you a quick question; do you have Jesus in you right now?  If you do He is not sleeping!

So let’s stop right here and determine something.  Who sent these winds and this storm to Jesus and the disciples?  Was this the work of God?  I thought God was in the boat?  Of course God in the flesh was in the boat but God who is a Spirit was also everywhere else at the same time.  But, did God send the storm?  People like to think that the storms are the acts of God because He is the highest power in control? Certainly men on the earth believe they did not cause the storm, therefore they understand cause and effect so someone had to cause  the storm!   Insurance agencies like to have “Acts of God” clauses to define what they will cover and what they will not cover.   I’ve even heard ignorant ministers claim a hurricane that almost destroyed New Orleans was an act of God’s judgment upon a sinful city.   People sure can be ignorant and accuse God of doing some crazy things that I doubt if He is pleased with.  Please let me introduce you to a new concept that is related to our subject today of who caused the storm:

Mat 12:26  And if Satan cast out Satan, he is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand?

Did you know that Satan had a kingdom?  That is not why I picked this verse, but it is an interesting point to keep in mind.  Jesus says that any kingdom divided against itself will be brought to nothing.  This is a spiritual law from the mouth of God!  What do we learn from this law?  Can you apply this knowledge to our discussion today?  Jesus claims that one party or one kingdom cannot fight against itself and survive.   That is a very important concept to keep in your mind when thinking about did God cause the storm.  So what is my point?  If God sends the storm and then God is awakened in the boat to stop the storm, would that not be God working against Himself?  That would make God divided against Himself, not in harmony and certainly not in unity.  It is more like a Jekyll and Hyde type of God.  You cannot send a storm just to give you something to do or to provide an opportunity to prove that you can stop it.  It would not make any logical sense.  The Kingdom of God would clearly be divided against itself if God sends the storm and then stops the same storm.  Do you understand what Jesus is teaching?

Luk 8:24  And they came to him, and awoke him, saying, Master, master, we perish. Then he arose, and rebuked the wind and the raging of the water: and they ceased, and there was a calm.

As you can see the disciples woke Jesus up and said Master look we are perishing.   Jesus got up and looked at the problem and spoke words to it!  The wind stopped and there was a great calm.  So let’s stop right there again and think.  If Words stopped the storm, could words have started the storm?  I think that is a very valid question.  If it were Words that caused the storm, they cannot be the words from God or He would be divided against Himself.  The Bible clearly says God does not change!  To speak words to cause a storm and then to speak words to stop the same storm would cause God to be a shifting inconsistent unstable God!   I find that a very interesting concepts to understand.  As a result of spoken words there was a great calm that surrounded them.  If the storm was intentionally sent to Jesus and the disciples what would have been the end result of the storm, if Jesus had not stopped it?  For what purpose would the storm have served?  Would the storm have been a blessing or a curse?  I recently saw a post on the internet that said “adversity can be a blessing in disguise” and I thought immediately how confused this writer was.  If you can read in Luke from the fear that the disciples possessed the storm seems to be designed to kill them, to destroy their boat and to steal their life, their time and their money away from them.  There is absolutely no logical way to think that the storm in Luke could be viewed to be a blessing in disguise.  What else is a storm good for?  Right here is an amazing time to use your brain and think again.  Is any major storm of life ever a blessing in disguise?   I do not think anyone recently in Joplin Missiouri would think it was.  So who does Jesus say causes these types of adverse destructive events in our lives?  Did you know that the Bible tells us who is responsible?

Joh 10:10  The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

The thief is a synonymous reference or title for Satan.   There are those in churches that think that God sends the storms of life upon them and if that is the case then God is the thief.   I cannot speak for your God, but my God is not a thief.   Anything that steals from you, tries to kill you or destroy what you possess, Jesus called it an act of the “thief” Satan.   We also know that God is not the one who kills, steals or destroys because Jesus said in this verse that He came to give us life abundantly and that would be the opposite of someone who was coming to give us death.  Hopefully you can see the difference and know who is behind each event that happens to you.  Jesus said that the pressures of life would come, but that we should be of good cheer because He had overcome all of the pressures.  Why is that important?  Because according to 2 Cor 2:14 God declares us triumphant “In Christ”.  Did you know you were in Christ?  I guess I do not have time to teach that today, but this is why God can tell you to be of good cheer when storms come!

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

There are just too many people in churches who do not realize that we have a spiritual enemy and an adversary of spiritual opposition.  This enemy is only interested in taking you out of this world.  He wants to deceive you any way that he can.  The term to wrestle is a physical conflict between opponents.  If you are wrestling a friend you are not wrestling.   The opponent is described to us as not being a physical being, but is clearly described to be a spiritual force.  The term principalities refer to the chief rulers in the spiritual realm.  These spiritual forces are described as being “wicked” that means evil and hurtful.  They do not play the game or fight the battle by any rules.  They are in a no holds barred match of spiritual wits against you.  They will send whatever they can against you to take you out.

Luk 8:25  And he said unto them, Where is your faith? And they being afraid wondered, saying one to another, What manner of man is this! for he commandeth even the winds and water, and they obey him.

Getting back to our main lesson story found in Luke, Jesus calms the storm with words and turns to the disciples and asks them a very funny question that most people do not understand.  Jesus did not say “Sorry fellows, I did not know, why didn’t you just wake me sooner”.   I think that is what most religious people would like to do or think that Jesus said.  Jesus was asking “Where is your faith?”  Why was Jesus asking them like they should have had faith to do something about the storm?    When you read the Bible you need to pay close attention to every word.  What is said and what is not said.  You do not ask a question like this if you did not expect something different.  Everyone likes to pray to God and ask him to calm the storms of life and God’s response will always be “Where is your faith?”  That is something that people do not grasp easily, because they do not know what faith is.    The implied meaning of the question that Jesus asked was the disciples could have done the same thing that Jesus just did.  I know that is going to go over big with some people and others it will be like I’m speaking heresy.   We can’t do what God does, can we?  We certainly are not God!  I know that for sure.  However, I’m just studying the Bible and trying to understand what it says.  You can choose to believe something else if you like; I’m not your judge.

What I take away from this lesson of Jesus and the disciples is that Jesus is more than capable of solving all of our problems.  But, His question will always be “Where is your faith?”   I also learn from this story in Luke that God is not causing the storms in your life so He or you can calm them.  God’s house is not divided and God must be consitently good or we woould not know if we should try to calm the storms, ask God to calm the storms or to simply let the storms kill us.  After all if God sent the storm and you prayed to have the storm stop you have made yourself a new enemy to the will of God and that is why I peronsally believe that God never sends the adversities in your life.  You of course can choose to believe what you like.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading in this series about “Understanding Hard Sayings” you may go to “Part 4“.

Understanding God’s Design of a Man! Man Made In the Image of God!

(Ver 1.2) There is a vast amount of confusion surrounding the makeup of the human design of man.  Natural and carnal people think they are just a physical body much like every other mammal on the planet.   Certain intellectual people in the world think and believe that they are just a mind in the universal consciousness of Nirvana, or some C.R.A.P. (Christian Reasoning Applied Poorly) like that.  Please forgive my bluntness, but God is not an intellect or a mind over matter concept of a religion.  There are only a certain number of Christians that realize the truth and of course not all of them really know very much about the details of the design of man and they mix up the components when speaking about them.  There is just too many differing man made opinions on the subject and the definitions given to us in the Bible are being ignored.  So today I will attempt to explore and to explain the 3 separate parts that make up the human design and teach you how they are related, what they are and where they exist using only the Bible to explain them.  This will probably be a very long lesson on the subject, so I apologize for not breaking it down into a series of shorter lessons.  We should start with the basics from Genesis, because this was the beginning of man and it states God’s initial design concepts and purpose for a man.  Why is it important to study this subject?  Primarily because how you see yourself reflects whether you came from a monkey or from a created design of God.  Based upon the correct interpretation of Human design found in the Bible alone proves that the evolution theory of man is a myth.  In Genesis, God gives us His stated purpose for creating a man and what we will quickly discover in Genesis is that God designed man after a divine pattern of Himself:

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the…

So here is the stated beginning of man.  Man is a created being.  Man had a specific stated point of origin.  You could call it a point of origination, but God calls it a beginning.   Genesis means a book of beginnings.  However we can see that humans are uniquely designed after a pre-existing pattern of God.  Uh Oh?   That probably bugs natural thinking people who believe only in evolution.  God who is a Spirit (John 4:24) existed before time and space existed.  God is an eternal spiritual being.  This of course is not the complete verse and I left out the ending to simply concentrate on the subject at hand of where did man come from?  The rest of the verse speaks about man’s responsibilities and purpose for being here.  However, I want to focus in on two specific words in this verse, one is “image” and the other is “likeness”.

Image

From an unused root meaning to shade; a phantom, that is, (figuratively) illusion, resemblance; hence a representative figure, especially an idol: – image, vain shew.

This is an interesting Hebrew word from the Strong’s definition.   It overall means a resemblance.  In other words you could have looked at Adam and seen his family resemblance to his father God.  I know there are many religious people who do not like me to call Adam a son of God, but yet that is what the Bible says so I’ll stick with it.  I did not say that Adam was the Son of God, so put down your stones.  Now let’s look at the word “likeness” and see the Strong’s definition for this word:

Likeness

From H1819; resemblance; concretely model, shape; adverbially like: – fashion, like (-ness, as), manner, similitude.

While this is a very similar word to the first, it is also a completely different word.  So either God is trying to teach us something, or He is just repeating Himself and confused and I do not think that God gets confused.   The key meaning of this word is “resemblance” as in the “family resemblance” was with Adam resembling his father God again.  Similitude is another definition of this word.  One definition of the word “similitude” is “One closely resembling another”.  Adam when created closely resembled his Creator.  What we can clearly see is that if Adam closely resembled God, then whatever God was, man was a very closely designed pattern of this God. You cannot look at one and not recognize the other.  Adam possessed the traits of the family resemblance of God.   When my son was born and grew up, everyone looked at him and said “He looks just like his father” and he did.   What I want you to see is this same family resemblance is handed down from generation to generation.  Here is a verse in the Bible that says something about Adam’s son resembling Adam:

Gen 5:3  And Adam lived an hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:

As you can clearly see the same two Hebrew words are presented for another father and son combination.  Adam’s son Seth bore the resemblance of his father Adam.  Do you recognize a pattern?  It is the same pattern between God and Adam, just being perpetuated down the line.  Every generation of Adam contained the same resemblance to God.  Man has never lost the family resemblance to the Most High.  What I want you to realize is that whatever God is, that is also what man is on a smaller limited scale.  If God is a Spirit, then man is a spirit.  If God is a triune being, then man is a triune being.  If God is a speaking spirit, then man is a speaking spirit.  There are just too many qualities of God to list them all in this lesson.  If you do not understand the trinity of God, I have written a blog on “Understanding the Trinity of God”.   So go and read about God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Spirit being One God in that blog.  Now, what I want to do is introduce you to the concepts about the triune makeup of man.  Man if created to look like God, must precisely follow the pattern of the makeup of God’s design.

What are the three parts that make up a man?  Also, I use the term man generically as “mankind” and I’m not leaving women out, so please understand this.  According to the scriptures that I have read and studied, the human makeup of man is that primarily of a spirit being.  After all God is a Spirit.  If a man had no spirit we would be purely just like a monkey.  Animals do not have spirits.  No animal was ever made in the image and likeness of God Almighty.  Therefore, man did not evolve from animals.  There are many idiots in the world that disagree and think God used evolution to bring us into the world, but they do err and make themselves to be fools.

Jas 2:26  For as the body without the Spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.

Those who want to see what the Bible says clearly will accept verses like this one.  However, those who do not want to accept the truth will be deceived into believing the lies of Satan very easily.   Many times you just have to read the Bible and accept it for what it literally says and this is one of those times.  Man’s body we are told is dead without his spirit being inside of his body.  You can also read into this a complimentary implied truth that is given to us, if the body is dead, then the spirit has departed and is no longer in the body.  People who do not want to believe this fact try to say this word “spirit” means breath, to respire, to inspire, to take in oxygen physically.  After all God when He created Adam “breathed” the breath of life into his nostrils, Genesis 2 says.  When you think naturally you think wrong and this is most people’s problem with their interpretations of the Bible.  They forget who the author is; God is a Spirit and not a physical being.  Because God wrote the Bible in a manner to give man a choice to be wrong, many think they are right and do not understand they are completely wrong.  The Bible says that the “carnal” mind of man is enmity to God.  Natural thinking is an enemy to the thoughts and ways of God.  If you think that God came down to the earth and did mouth to mouth resuscitation on Adam to get him breathing and to live, you are clearly deceived.  God breathed His Spirit into the body of the man Adam and Adam became a living soul.  If you go back and look up the references in the Bible using the Greek word translated as “spirit” in James 2:6; you will find that it is used in context with every type of spiritual being.  God’s Spirit or the Spirit of God, who is also called the Holy Spirit are examples found with this same word.  The spirits of demons, unclean spirits and evil spirits are also defined using this word.  Does God breathe oxygen?  Does Satan breathe oxygen?  Do Angels breathe Oxygen?  If you said No!; you are correct.  So then do not think that man only breathes oxygen and that is what makes us human.  So man’s spiritual makeup is no different than God’s spiritual makeup, the makeup of angels, Satan or demons.  The only difference is that we exist physically here on this planet and that means, we eat, drink, sleep and breathe to be here.  Do not confuse natural things with spiritual things or you will be totally confused.  I guess I still need to discuss the triune nature of man so I will introduce you to this using the Bible:

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

To declare something to be whole is to declare it to be complete, missing no parts.  Man is clearly described as a “triune” being in this verse.  Man has three distinct and separate parts that make up our “whole” existence.  These are listed in order of priority from most important to that of least importance.    The first part of man and the most essential component to man is the spirit of a man.  The spirit of man is the part that God breathed into Adam from His Spirit.  God is called the “Father” of spirits in Hebrews 12:9.  So if God is called the Father of spirits then God is only the Father of Adam’s spirit and not the father of Adam’s body.  Do you understand the difference?  When Jesus was born into the world as the Son of God, He is called the “Only Begotten”.  That means only Jesus was God’s naturally born physical Son.  God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).  You can clearly see the difference between Adam and Jesus.  Jesus was born here and Adam’s body came from the dust of the ground.  These are two radically different creative works of God.  So getting back to our verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:25; we can see that Adam when created had to possess all three of these qualities in order to live on this planet.  The Bible says that when God breathed the Spirit of Life into Adam; Adam became a living soul so we can see that the soul of Adam is different that the spirit of Adam.   God did not put His soul into Adam, it says that Adam only “became” a living soul after God breathed into his nostrils and that is completely different.    We have not discussed what a soul is, so that is probably the point of confusion for many people right now.  The final component of man listed in this verse in 1 Thessalonians 5:25 is the physical body of the man.  This is the part that we all can see and touch, but yet it is not the man, just the house that the man lives in.  These are the three components that make up the human design.  We are a triune being, consisting of three distinct parts.  We exist in three different dimensions or realms of existence.  These realms are the spiritual realm, the mental realm and the physical realm.

I have been in many churches and they sometimes use the words spirit and soul interchangeably.   They seem to think that they are one in the same things.  They will say after a church service that God saved 15 souls today in church.  Or they will pray for the soul of Brother John, because he is going through a hard time right now.  Or they will say God bless the soul of our dear sister.  So what is the difference between a soul and a spirit?  I guess we should first determine there is a difference.  So let’s start with this verse:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

So here we have a verse with the two key words used in contrasting styles and references.  God calls the first man Adam a Living Soul; but then He calls the last man Adam a quickening Spirit.   If the spirit of man was the same as the soul of the man, it would not be necessary to use different Greek words, would it?  Jesus Christ is called the Last Adam and He causes spirits to live.  The inferred reference or opposite truth to this is the clear association that the first Adam has caused spirits to die.  Since it is impossible for spirits to die, then we have to figure out another explanation of what this means.  I believe that it means that unrighteous people who are alive in the world are soul dominated or controlled.  In direct contrast to this, true Christians in the world should be Spirit aware and controlled.  If a person dies without knowing Jesus Christ and accepting Him as their personal Lord and Savior, they are now separated from God.  So any way let me give you another verse that declares the reality that the spirit and the soul are not the same thing.

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

If God can divide the soul from the spirit, they are not one in the same things.  What God is revealing to us is that these two things are clearly closely related or even work in conjunction with each other in a joint function or purpose, but that they are clearly and distinctly different components of the human design.   God actually gives us a clue in the very last statement to the definition of these two words.  The Word of God is said to be a “discerner” of the thoughts of a man’s heart.  This word translated as “discerner” comes from a Greek word meaning a “Judge”.  The Word of God is able to judge your thoughts.  Where are your thoughts?  Your thoughts exist within the realm of your mind and intellect.  However, God declares that the thoughts are associated with your heart.  Your heart is your spirit.  So we can conclude that your mind is how you get through to your internal spirit.  I think this is a good time to introduce you to the Greek Word translated as “soul”.  Here is Strong’s definition:

psuchē

From G5594; breath, that is, (by implication) spirit, abstractly or concretely (the animal sentient principle only; thus distinguished on the one hand from G4151, which is the rational and immortal soul; and on the other from G2222, which is mere vitality, even of plants: these terms thus exactly correspond respectively to the Hebrew [H5315], [H7307] and [H2416]: – heart (+ -ily), life, mind, soul, + us, + you.

No wonder people are so confused.  Using this definition is very confusing.  It would seem to apply to everything from people down to plants and did you know that in a way this is correct.  You see every animal on our planet has a soul.  The predominate thing that I take out of this definition is the usage of the reference to the word concerning your “MIND”.   Maybe you can clearly see that the Greek word “psuche” is where we get our words like “psyche” or words like “psychology” or “psychiatrist” come from this word.   These are all Mind related curriculums and references.   These are the study of your mental health and the human mind.  This is the predominate realm of the soul of man.  To have the ability to think, rationalize, process, calculate, make decisions, among other mental functions are all related actions of the soul of man.  Your mind is of course a very complex part of your being, the ability to reason and to create come from God’s nature being imparted into man at creation.  This is part of the makeup of man that makes him different than animals.  All animals have limited soulish realms, but they do not create nor are they self-aware of their own existence!  Sure animals have limited feelings but not like those of a human.  Sure in very limited forms animals build themselves houses or things like that.  But, I’ve never seen an animal write a song or even try to play the piano on their own without the prompting or training of a man.  Animals are not wondering “Why am I here?” and “Who am I?”.  Creativity is a part of the soul of man that is unique to us.  We learned this trait from our creator God.  But, your mind is more complex than just that.  How about your memory?  The ability to learn information and to recall facts and material on a subject in an organized fashion is definitely a mental function of the human mind.  Many naturally thinking people in the world associate or attribute this to the physical human brain.  However, this is not what the Bible teaches.  Your mind, your reasoning, your memory have nothing to do with your physical brain and I can prove that to you using the Bible.

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;

Jesus, God in the flesh tells us a real story about two men who both died.  One man was a beggar on the earth and the other a rich man.  The bodies of both the beggar and of the rich man are buried.  The Angels of God come and take the beggar.  Did you understand this?  The spiritual angels of God came and took the spirit of the beggar to the bosom of Abraham.  Now we are immediately told what happened to the rich man:

Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

The rich man now suddenly appears in hell.  We are not told if the angels carried him there or if this is just where you go by default after you die.  I find this story to be fascinatingly informative about the afterlife experience.  Before Jesus was resurrected, a human could not die and go to heaven, so the righteous ones who died were transported to a place called “Abraham’s bosom” and this is a place different than hell.  It is also interesting to note that the rich man could still “see”.  Spirits have eyes.  Interesting isn’t it?   The rich man tries to ask Abraham who was a far off from where he was in hell, to send Lazarus to give him a drink of water because he was being tormented in the flames.  Then the rich man asks Abraham to send Lazarus back to the earth so that he could tell his brothers not to come to this place of torment called hell.  Are you seeing anything here?  The rich man had all of his memory, his mental reasoning abilities; his entire soul realm was with him in hell.  Jesus told us that his body was buried in the ground so that means your soul works outside of your body.  Abraham was also physically dead and his body was buried and they were holding a conversation and using their minds to do it.

Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Here is one of Abraham’s responses to the rich man in hell.  He told the rich man to remember and this is clearly a mental function of the soul realm.  People in hell even without their bodies can remember, think and process things using their minds.   Many try to say this story that Jesus told is a parable and not a real story, but they make Jesus a liar then.  Is Abraham a real man?  Then if Abraham is real, the beggar is also a real man named Lazarus and finally the rich man must be a real man but one who is not identified by name.  I don’t think Jesus wanted to name the rich man or you could see that he didn’t make it to heaven and feel very sad if you knew him personally or he was one of your family members.

This story of Lazarus in the Bible, clearly describes all three components that make up the human design.  Every component is clearly identified and separated in one story.   It starts in the physical realm and ends in the spiritual realm.  The mental or soulish realm transfers wherever the spirit resides.  There are just many other Bible verses that speak about the triune nature and the design of man to resemble God, but I guess I have gone too long for one lesson.  I have certainly introduced you to some new concepts about the spiritual, mental and physical parts of the human design by God and I hope and pray that you can see them clearly.  God Bless!

Mine Eyes Have Seen the End to All Perfection!

The Bible says some really strange things.  Sometimes I read them and just scratch my head.  What do they all mean?  Today I am going to teach on one of these concepts that made me think a lot.   Often times I have heard many people claim that God is perfect and that when God created our world, God made it perfect originally in the beginning.  Both of these are very broad statements with potential conflicts.  In your mind, can you come up with a definition to what “perfect” is?  Is there anything in our world that qualifies as being perfect?  According to the laws of thermodynamics, everything in our world is in a state of decay.   Meaning you can build a brand new car today and just put it up on blocks and park it for 50 years and it will be in a complete state of disrepair and aging with yet still zero miles on the odometer.  You leave it parked long enough it will become rust and dust.  So can you think of anything in our current world that qualifies as perfect?    How would you define “perfect”?  To me something that is made perfect is something that is incapable of failing.

So if you have ever read my blogs, you know I’m not perfect.  If I could become better in any areas, it would be my typing and proof reading abilities.  I constantly go back and reread my blogs looking for typing mistakes and for places that I missed it.  The other day I wrote a blog about spiritual power and thought I said one thing.  But, since I left out one word “NOT” it changed it completely to say something that I didn’t want it say.  So if you ever read my posts, especially those that subscribe by email, sometimes the current version on the web has been updated, corrected, improved and hopefully made easier to understand.  Why is that?  Simply because, I’m not perfect!  However, at times it totally amazes me that God uses imperfect people to try to help others.  I would guess technically speaking that God has no other choices, we are all just imperfect people on this planet.

Psa 119:96  I have seen an end of all perfection: but thy commandment is exceeding broad.  

Did you know that if God is making a New Heaven and a New Earth, then there is at the very least some major flaws implied with the Old Heaven and the Old Earth?  Have you read in Revelation about these new spiritual and physical places?   Have you ever wondered why it was necessary for God to do this?  I certainly have.  This verse in Psalms 119:96 are the Words of God Almighty written to us.  God declares that He has seen the end to all “perfection”.  The Hebrew word “perfection” here means “completeness”.    Have you ever thought about the fact that if God creates a new heaven and a new earth, what is wrong with these old places?   Can’t God ever create anything perfect and incapable of failing?  God created Lucifer and he failed.  God created Adam and he failed.  What is the deal?  These are very difficult questions to come up with any good answers for.  But, it would seem to me that in order for God to give His creation choices and free will, it would require that they are not created originally to be perfect.  When God created our world in Genesis 1, I never see where God said anything was perfect.  God said it was good and then very good, but that is a far cry from “perfect”.

Perhaps you have some ideas on this subject and I would be very pleased if you would share them with me.  Today’s lesson is just a short thought provoking exercise into causing you to think about things in a new perspective.  If God is “Perfect” and this verse in Psalms says “ALL” perfection will end, does that include God Himself?  Now that is a very difficult question to answer also.  But, as I think about Jesus coming to the earth as God in the flesh, I think that the Bible tells us that He was tempted in every manner as we are, yet without sin.    The Bible tells us that God took on sinful flesh, to defeat sin and the consequences of sin.  So if God was here on earth in a perfect form of His deity power it would have been impossible to tempt Jesus and it would have been impossible  for Jesus to fail.  It would have also been impossible for you to kill Jesus on a cross.  I believe that Jesus in the form of flesh, was not perfect in the sense that God in heaven was perfect and incapable of failing.  But, that is just what I have read in the Bible and I don’t know everything.  Maybe you can come up with a better explanation of why God says “All” perfection will end.  God bless you as you abide in the Word of God.

Understanding God’s Spiritual Power and the Power of Spirits!

(Ver 1.1) Today is the next lesson, “Part 9” in the series on understanding the Bible subject of spoken words.  If you have not read this series from the beginning you should go and start reading with “Part 1“.  Most Christians possess the belief that God is omnipotent.   “Omnipotent is a theological term that is technically not found in the English translation of the KJV Bible.  However the word “Almighty” (H7706, G3841) is found in the KJV Bible and it means “omnipotent.  The word “Almighty” appears some 57 times in the KJV Bible with only 10 occurrences appearing in the New Testament and 9 of these are found in the book of Revelation.  It appears to me that God emphasized His power and ability more directly in the Old Testament and has given the subject less emphasis in the New Testament based upon His word selection and distribution.  The 9 instances of “Almighty” in Revelation seem to be related with God’s sovereign ability to execute judgment.   Judgment is not a predominate theme of the New Testament except when you come to the book of Revelation.  I did not say that you cannot find judgment in the N.T., I just said it was not the dominate theme of the church age.  If you recall when Jesus was walking the earth, people brought a woman to Jesus who was caught in the act of adultery and Jesus’ response should have been that of a judge according to the law; however Jesus was mercy driven with compassion and told those who were without sin, to cast the first stone.   However, did you ever think that the only one without sin in this group was Jesus and that He should have been the first one to cast the first stone, but did not?   The mercy of God is a much greater predominate theme in the N.T. than the judgment of God.  But that is another different subject to discuss at another time.  Today we are talking about the subject of spiritual power and the power of spirits.  Let’s look at the “Power” of God first.  Does God have ALL Power?

2Co 6:18  And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.

The Greek word G3841 translated as “Almighty” is a word meaning “all powerful” or “omnipotent”.  God has the power, strength and ability to do anything.  The power of God is massively demonstrated throughout the Old Testament.  From the creation account in Genesis 1 all the way to the flood of Noah, to the scattering of people at the tower of Babel, to the demonstration of power before Pharaoh in Egypt, the parting of the Red Sea, to the miracles in the wilderness.  There are just too many examples found in the Bible to list them all.  So we can easily understand that God has great and awesome power.  But, does God hold “ALL” power?  That was my question originally.  Meaning ONLY God has any power?  A lot of religious people think in these terms and miss what the Bible says on the subject.

Let me introduce you to a new concept and another term used to describe nature and character of God other than as the “Almighty”.   This new term that I will show you is used in the KJV Bible approximately 48 times; again 38 times in the Old Testament and only 10 times in the New Testament.  This term or name of God reveals Him to be the “Most High God”.

Gen 14:18  And Melchizedek king of Salem brought forth bread and wine: and he was the priest of the most high God.

Reading this verse we can clearly see that God is described as being “Supreme”.  Meaning among spirits there is none greater or more powerful than He is.  God is at the top of the spiritual food chain, proverbially speaking.  What do we learn from reading this verse?  If there is a “Most High God”, then there are other gods that are below him in rank, power and ability.  That statement might get some people upset at me, but yet I’m just reading the Bible and seeing what is written there.  Can you understand what was said by God?  You do understand that the author of the Bible does not need to qualify the name “God” with the adjective modifier of “Most High” if there are no other gods that exist?  It only takes limited basic logic and very simple reasoning to see what God says in this verse.  Of course some will try to say that God is the only “True God” and all of the others are just false imaginary gods.  However, the title “True God” is also found in the Bible and it is a different Hebrew word than “Most High”:

Jer 10:10  But the LORD is the true God he is the living God, and an everlasting king: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation.

We can clearly see that the LORD is called the “True God”.  So we can automatically conclude that there are also false imaginary gods that also exist.  But this verse also claims God is the “Living God” meaning these false imaginary gods are only defined as those that are dead or have no life in them.  A false god would be like when people in the world worship idols, the objects made by the hands of man.  These idols are “false and dead gods” and they have no power on the earth whatsoever.   Another example of a false god would be like those found in mythology.  False, gods like Atlas, Hermes, Mercury and etc.  These are gods made up in the minds of men that do not have any basis for existence.  So what we have learned is that there are several different types of gods in the world.  We created the following list diagram explaining what we have just learned with our God on left and others mentioned or implied on the right.

Biblical Title of God Antonym Opposite
Almighty God Limited god
True God False god
Living God Dead god
Most High God Lesser god

So what is my point?  Where am I going with all of this?  What I want you to see and learn is there are other gods in the world other than our Almighty God.  I am not talking about Greek mythology or Roman mythology or any other kind of imaginary, fictitious of mythological deity powers.  What I am about to show you are created spiritual beings in the Bible that God has called other types of “gods”.  You can clearly see these gods exist by the implications that we have just read in the Bible from the names given to us by our God.  Here is a N.T. verse that you should be aware of, but I’ll remind you of it:

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

So who blinded the minds of all those that believe not in this world?  This verse is not speaking of humans since they are the ones that have their minds blinded.  No this verse is speaking of another spiritual power that exists in the world.  This spiritual power is Satan and he is called the “god of this world”.  This Greek word translated as “god” in this verse means “deity”.  It can also mean “supreme”.   This word occurs over 1000 times in the N.T. and is most often used for references to our God.  For example in Matthew 1:23 where Jesus is described as “Emanuel” translated as “God” with us it contains the same Greek word.  However, in 2 Cor 4:4 we have a new mystery being stated using the same Greek word in reference to Satan.  Who gave Satan this title?  Or did he steal it from someone?   If Satan is called a god by the Most High God, do you accept it?  In other words is God a liar?  You see that is the problem with many Christians, they do not know that Satan exists and who he is.  So if Satan is a god, what type of god would he be?  He is not the “Most High”, nor is he the “Almighty God”.  I cannot call him the “True God” either.  He is certainly alive so he might fall into the living god category.  It really depends upon your definition of death.  Satan is not a physical being so he cannot die naturally.  If you do not know it, you cannot kill a spiritual being or cause them to cease to exist.  But, yet the Bible does talk about a “spiritual death” which can be defined as a separation from God.  I believe that Satan is now and has been separated from God ever since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  The Bible tells us that if Satan would have known what was going to happen to himself, he would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Cor 2:8).

Is Satan a lesser god than the Almighty God, I believe he is definitely on a lower spiritual plane than God Almighty.  Satan is not omnipotent, and he is not omniscient, and neither is he omnipresent.   So Satan qualifies as both a “lesser god” and a “limited god”.  So the question arises does this god Satan have any power?  I had one reader tell me that he didn’t think anyone could create anything other than the Most High God.  God is the only being that has the power of creation.  I’m not sure if I agree with that statement totally.  Where in the Bible does it say that only God can create anything?  If you know of a Bible verse like that I would be very pleased if you would share it with me.  Also, please do not assume that I am saying anything that I have not said.  God Almighty is the creator of everything that we see around us in our world.  But, many people think that Satan has no power to do anything and that is just not what the Bible says.  At least 3 times in Revelation the beast, the false prophet and Satan are stated as having done “miracles” (Rev 13:14, Rev 16:14, Rev 19,20).    A miracle is defined as a “supernatural” sign and wonder.  That tells me that Satan has significant abilities that he has not fully demonstrated to us.  That tells me that Satan is not powerless.  I learned a lot from what Jesus taught about Satan:

Luk 10:19  Behold, I give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the pwer of the enemy: and nothing shall by any means hurt you.

Apparently Jesus did not think that Satan had no power either.  There are two words in this verse, both translated as “power” but they are dramatically different Greek words.  The first word translated as “power” (G1849) was spoken to us (the church) and it means spiritual “Authority”.  Jesus gave the Church legal jurisdiction over Satan (serpent) and the rest of his demons (scorpions).  The second word (G1411) translated as “power” is in direct reference to a symbolic serpent and some symbolic scorpions.  These are the symbolic representations for the enemy of the church called Satan and his demons.  This word for “power” means “miraculous power” or the “ability to do supernatural miracles”.    So what is a miracle?   A miracle would be anything that occurs that is not of the ordinary course of nature.  If you scrape your leg and it bleeds, it will heal in the ordinary course of time and nature.  However, if you lost your leg in a motorcycle accident and it grew back from a stump that is a miracle.  So according to Jesus, Satan is capable of doing supernatural miracles.  So do you understand that a spiritual being like Satan has a miracle working type of power?  Jesus told us in John 10:10 that the thief came not but for to kill steal and to destroy.  The thief is again a reference to “Satan”.  To have power to kill and destroy something is the opposite power of giving life and creating new things.  So does Satan have spiritual power and ability to do something supernatural in our world?  I believe that the Bible says that he does.  God’s word at the very least implies that Satan has great power in the spiritual realm.  However, He is still well under the level of the Most High God in power and ability.

Then there are other references in the Bible that says people are gods.  Jesus looked at the Jews in John 10:34 and said “is it not written in your law that I said ye are gods”?  Jesus was quoting a scripture verse written in the O.T. in Psalm 82:6 where God told them they were gods.  People in the church today struggle with believing that concept.  Does man have the power and ability to do things in the spiritual realm or are we just limited to the natural realm?  We understand from Genesis 1:26, that man was created in the image and in the likeness of the Most High God.  If we were created to be like God Almighty that would mean that we had the similar features and characteristics that God had.  If God had all power, we must have been created with the likeness of this power on a lower scale.  You might call us gods of a lesser power.   Here is another verse found in Psalms that speaks about the creation of man:

Psa 8:5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

As you can see, this verse places man in certain spiritual rank and position of ability.  However, the translators really dis a very poor job with this verse ignoring what the original Hebrew language said.  The translators did not believe that man had any spiritual significance.  You see the Hebrew word (H430) translated as “angels” in this verse is the Hebrew name for God called “Elohiym”.  This is the name of the Supreme God used in the O.T. Bible over 2000 times, and it is translated as “God” the majority of the time.  What we discover from reading this verse, is that man (Adam) was created to be a little lower than the Supreme Most High God.  That does not sound like anyone with No power or ability.

We are children of the Most High but not of the same ability to create worlds, planets and universes.  One of our greatest weaknesses is that we lack the knowledge.    While knowledge has increased rapidly in these last days that we live in, the ability of man to create real life in a test tube has not even come close to God’s knowledge.  Man can create robots and simulated life but, we are not God and cannot create a human body.  So man has creative power in a very limited form.  Man can write new songs, books and create new movies.  While all of these acts demonstrate God’s ability in us, we are still not anywhere close to God’s ability.  We are lords, gods, and kings; we recognize our position but do not exalt ourselves above that position.  We recognize that we have power, but note the fact that we are NOT all powerful.  We can see ourselves as being so valuable to God that He came to purchase us with His own life and blood.  We can therefore know that we are not worthless, we are not powerless and that we have great value to God.  Knowing who you are and who you are not is very critical to knowing God.  Recognizing your correct position in the spiritual food chain is critical for you to know your purpose in life.  To know that you are not a nobody,  while you recognize that you are also not the Most High.

So who knows how many religious people I have offended by telling the truth.  If you are offended I’m sorry, but get over it and learn.  We have learned from the words of God in the Bible that there are other spiritual beings in the Bible that are called gods.  These spiritual beings have some power or limited power below the scale of the Most High God who holds Supreme Power.  But, what is power?  How does God define power in the Bible?  To our natural minds power is simply someone’s strength and ability to use it.  Naturally speaking the bigger your muscles are the stronger you are in this realm and this feature makes others think of you as being more powerful.  Take the example of Olympic weight lifting.  The strongest man can lift the greatest weight over his head.  The winner is the one that lifts the most.  That feat makes him the strongest man of the strong.  That was a sports analogy of power. But, this is not what God says is power in the spiritual realm.  What gives a spiritual being power?

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

You can read this verse and totally miss what God is saying.  In this verse, God is informing us that His Word is His Power.  The Word of God = the Power of God.  Many modern Bible translations mix the words up in this verse and translate it as God’s “powerful word” or “mighty word”.  However, if that is what God wanted to say he would have written it that way.  God is not stupid; people are just ignorant and come up with these incorrect translations.   The “Word” of His “Power” is exactly what God wanted you to see.  This informs us that ALL of God’s power is in His Word.  If you translate it the wrong way it only says God word has some of His power and this means that there is other power somewhere else not in His word.   So if God’s Words are His Power, what are words?  Words are thoughts, ideas, knowledge, understanding and wisdom expressed in a spoken language.   I hope that you understand these basic concepts.  To say that God is the Most High God would inform us that God holds ultimate knowledge, understanding and wisdom above all other spiritual creatures.

In the book of Revelation, Jesus is described 5 times as a being with a “sharp two-edged sword” coming out of his mouth (Rev 1:16, Rev 2:12, Rev 2:16, Rev 19:15, Rev 19:21).  In Bible days when this was written, the sword was the weapon of war and wielded much power and strength by the one that was using it.  It would be like someone with an AK-47 rifle today.   These verses found in Revelation again confirm and demonstrate the location of the “Power” of God as being in His mouth and His spoken words.  In Revelation 19:15 Jesus uses this sword to smite the nations that oppose him.  In a recent news article I heard about a group of militia in some state that was arming themselves to help God fight the coming anti-Christ.  I just laughed at their ignorance.   Your little AR-15 will be no match for the Sword of God.  What we have discovered is that God’s word is where His power is located and we can clearly understand this by reading Genesis 1 to observe how the world was created.  In Genesis 1, God saw a problem, God said the solution and then the solution was.  It is just very basic to conclude that it was the act of God speaking that released God’s power to create.   I hope that you understand those concepts because I am not going to explain them in more depth today.  Let’s move on to see what God says about this power in other verses in the Bible:

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Now we learn some new concepts.  The sword of God’s mouth is not all of the swords that exist in the spiritual realm.  If God’s sword is more powerful and sharper than all the rest, that makes God’s Sword the Sword Almighty, and the Most High Sword.  But, do you see that there is more than one sword in the world?  That is telling us that Satan has a sword coming out of his mouth, you have a sword coming out of your mouth and I have a sword coming out of my mouth.  That implies power of a lesser or limited capacity.  These are all just simple concepts, derived from reading the Bible.  If you recall in Isaiah 14:13 Satan uses the sword of his mouth to say the following “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will sit…” and on I could go.  Satan was wielding his power and making great plans to raise himself up to the Most High level.

But, God wielded His sword and said “Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit”.  Whose sword is sharper?  Whose sword is greater?  Whose sword will prevail in the end?  These are valuable lessons for your life.  Humble yourself and do not allow pride to exalt your own power, ability or knowledge to cause you to think that you can also be like the Most High.

If you would like to continue reading about the power of words you can go to “Part 10“.

The Sword of Our Mouth! Our Words Cut Two Different Ways!

(Ver 2.0)  I have taught on this subject of the significance of the spoken words of our mouth a couple of times now.   Today’s lesson will be Part 3 in the series and I will be talking about something that is completely new and different to many Christians.   However, if you haven’t read this series from the beginning I would suggest that you go back and start with “Part 1“.  This lesson will be focused upon God’s usage of the symbolic nature of a “double edged sword” to describe spoken words.  If you have read through the Bible you should already be aware of how God teaches us very clearly that Jesus has a double-edged sword coming out of His mouth.  We will see verses in this lesson that describe Jesus is able to destroy those who oppose Him with this symbolic sword.  This double-edged sword is widely accepted by theologians as a figurative representation of the power of God’s word spoken.  If we do not understand this concept, I will attempt to expound next in this lesson on this subject to clarify it and to help us better understand the concept of the power of spoken of words.  Let’s start by reading some foundational verses found in Revelation:

Rev 19:21  And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

God is truly an awesome God!   It shocked me a while back when I heard about a group of people in the U.S. that were getting together to form a militia to help God fight the coming Anti-Christ.  They were gathering guns and ammo like it would be useful to God’s victory over evil.  Where do people get these types of foolish ideas?  I really have no clue.  These people obviously do not know God, the Bible or understand the omnipotent power of God.   This verse in Revelation 19 reveals to us that the LORD Jesus will be sitting on a white horse and He will be able to kill everyone opposing Him, simply by speaking some choice directed words at them.  That is a clear example of the power of God in action.  God says something and then it happens.  Pretty awesome, isn’t it?  You can learn concept this from reading the Bible starting in Genesis 1 and going all the way through to Revelation 22.  God’s spoken words will always prevail and will always come to pass.  Let’s examine some additional verses because the Bible instructs us to establish every truth in the mouth of two or three witnesses (Mat 18:16):

Rev 2:12  And to the angel of the church in Pergamos write; These things saith he which hath the sharp sword with two edges;

Rev 2:16  Repent; or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will fight against them with the sword1 of my mouth.

Jesus speaking to the church in Pergamos, warns them to change or else they will also see the sword of His mouth come against them.  We can easily understand that God is a Spirit (John 4:24) and that God is not talking about a literal physical sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus.  We must therefore, conclude that this described sword  is a symbolic representative for the spiritual force that exists in the power of God’s Spoken Word.  I really hope that you understand this concept.  Did you notice that God says this figurative sword has two edges?  Two edges describes a weapon that can cut in either of the two directions depending upon which way a person swings it.  Two edges could could also symbolically mean something else.  The words of our mouth can be a blessing to someone or a curse to someone.  There exists two possible realms of opposing types of words in the world.  In the last Bible lesson we observed two types called “idle” or “lazy” words versus “working” and “productive” words.  But there are others like  “good” words or “bad/evil” words, “positive” words or “negative” words and words of “blessings” or words of “cursing”.   All of these are examples of a sword that can be used for two different purposes.

I find it fascinating that the English word “sword” is the letter “S” followed by word “word”.  I believe the letter “S” can stand for “Spirit” and we will learn more about this very soon.  The power of any sword or spoken word is always the same.  It is non-existent until used or spoken.  Therefore the power of any weapon will forever be dependent upon the directed purpose of the user.  In much the same way how a natural gun is used in the hands of the shooter, a spiritual weapon can be used for two completely different purposes.  The natural gun can be used as a positive weapon to help feed or protect people or as a negative weapon to hurt or rob from people.  These are parallel truths concerning the words of our mouth.  What I would like to do is give some additional scriptures that help to confirm what I have just said so let’s take a look at these:

2Th 2:8  And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

God is speaking prophetically in this verse about the coming events in Revelation.  The wicked one described here is the future antichrist who will soon be revealed.   The double edge sword we read about in Revelation in the mouth of Jesus is now called something completely new and different in this verse.  The symbolic double-edged sword of Revelation is now defined to be the “Spirit of His Mouth”.   This is still the same equivalent description of God’s Spoken Word that is infinitely powerful.  God’s spoken word has ALL of the ability to destroy or literally consume anyone who is opposing Him.   Do you understand that God’s spoken words are His Spiritual Power released?  This is an awesome revelation of something that is found within the character and nature of God the Almighty.  God is often described in the Bible to be omnipotent, but what is that makes God this way is what we will explore now:

Joh 6:63  It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

You can see a second confirmation that the Spoken Words of God are Spirit!  This verse was Jesus speaking to us and He says that His words are this Spirit that quickens.  To quicken is an old English term that means to give life to us.   God’s words are declared to be a force of life to us.  Because of what God has spoken to us we can live.  Now recall, what we previously read in Revelation.  In those verses God states His spoken Words are something that produces death.  These represent the same spiritual power directed two different ways for two different purposes.  This is an example of a double-edged sword.  A knife can be used to kill someone or it can be used to save someone’s life if used in a wise knowledgeable way by a surgeon.  Wow, these are very important lessons to learn and apply to our spoken words.

You will notice if you study the Bible, that Jesus chose His words very carefully and never shot off His mouth with random thoughts.  His words were always focused, directed and had a purpose.  Much of what Jesus said to people were words recorded by the Holy Spirit in the Old Testament.  In John 12:49 Jesus said He was told what to speak by His Father in heaven.  How many of us can say that?  How many of our words come from the God in heaven?    We should learn to become more like Jesus because, God’s words were always active, relevant and important.  Now let’s look at what the Bible says about the Power of God?

Heb 1:3  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high;

We can now see and learn from another verse about the Word of God.  This time God reveals to us that “All” of His Power is in His Word.  The Greek written here does not say “His powerful Word” it says “The Word of His Power” and that makes a huge difference.  Some translators tried to change the meaning to “powerful” word but the KJV Bible stayed true to the original Greek and preserved it as an accurate truth.  Here is the difference, does God’s Word have power or is it His Power?  Can we try to think why this is important?  If God said I am LOVE it would be completely different than Him saying I have love.  I believe this principle is what God was saying to us in Hebrews 1:3 to His spoken Word.  I believe that God is attempting to give us a revelation that His Word is His Power and His Power is His Word.

Therefore, we cannot separate God the omnipotent from His omnipotent Word or we could say His Word is God (John 1:1)!  This is why John 6:63 said the Words that Jesus spoke to us were from God’s Spirit and they contain His life giving Power for those who received them.  Always remember that God’s Words are Spirit!  God’s Words are Life!  God’s Words are His Power!  As we have seen before they are also a weapon against His enemies.   So we can all begin to understand that the Spoken Words of God can give life to some that will receive them and can take life away from others who do not accept the free gift of salvation.  That is the nature of a double=edged sword.  One aspect and application is always positive and the other is very negative.  That was a summary of several foundational truths that the Bible teaches us about the Word of God and the Sword of the Spirit.

So how does this apply to us?  What good does all of this information do me?  Are there any benefits to speaking God’s Word for me?  In other words what’s in this lesson for me?  We all know that God is all powerful, so how does this power help me?  Start by asking yourself this question.  Why did God give us a huge book of His Written HOLY Words?  Does the written Word of God have any visible power rising out from the pages?  Obviously not!  Therefore, these written words can only help me if I can learn to speak them.  I beleive that only by learning to believer and speak His Word will it ever help us.  I beleive this is “one” of the main reasons why God gave us His written Word.  God gave us His Word so that we can put it in our minds (Eph 4:23).  He also gave us the Word so that we could put it in our hearts (spirits) to believe it.   Finally, I believe that He gave us His Word so that we can now choose to put it in our mouths to speak it (Mat 12:34).

Heb 4:12  For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than ANY two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of( soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Let me introduce you to a hidden secret, in the Bible it says God is not the only one with a “two-edged” sword in his mouth.  In fact we do not have to think very hard or for very long before we figure out that every created human in the world can open their mouth and speak words either positive or negative.  This also includes other created spiritual beings like angels, demons and Satan.  All of these beings were created with mouths which emit words that come from their spirits (Mat 12:34).  But, this verse in Hebrews says plainly that God’s sword is sharper and more powerful than any of the others that might exist.  This verse clearly informs us that the other mouths have power in them, but implies that they are in a limited capacity compared to God’s spoken Words.  Do you get this concept?

If man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26), like the Bible clearly says we were, and if God’s Words are sharp and powerful, then our words must have a limited resemblance to His.  But, here is the major  part of God’s contribution to man, God gave us His spoken words written in a book form in order to permit us to put them in our mouth to speak them.  And the Bible says that God watches over His word to perform it (Jer 1:12).  Wow, I hope you understand what I just said.  The implications are far reaching if you can accept it and believe it.

Eph 6:17  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:

In Ephesians chapter 6, God commands the church to put on the armor of God.  Each of the armor pieces described to us is a symbolic representation of a spiritual truth of the completed freely given work of God to and for humans.  In fact every piece of armor is something that God has already provided to us freely.   It is now up to us to make the freewill choice to take each item and put it on.  This aromor included the Shield of Faith, the Breastplate of Righteousness, the Belt of Truth, the Helmet of Salvation, and the Shoes of Peace.   God is telling the church that there is a spiritual war and we must get ready for it.  So far all of the weapons of armor that I just mentioned were defensive  types of weapons to keep us safe from the blows of the enemy Satan.  But, then in verse  17 of Ephesians 6, God finally tells the church to take the “Sword of the Spirit”, which is directly defined to be “the Word of God”.  How is this Sword of the Spirit going to help us?  I believe very firmly that we now have the direct implied connection to our mouths!   Can’t you see this?  The only way that we can use the Spiritual Sword of the Word of God against an unseen spiritual enemy to our advantage is to speak it.  Leaving the Bible on our coffee tables will do nothing to keep the devil out of our houses.  This is a very powerful, spiritual Bible law being revealed to us.  What you say is far more important than what you can possibly imagine or know right now.  Take a look at this verse in Isaiah:

Isa 59:21  As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the LORD; My spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed’s seed, saith the LORD, from henceforth and for ever.

God is prophesying an awesome new covenant reality that is now established with us in the church and God says that He will put His Spirit upon us and His Words in our mouth.  Can you see the direct connection between our mouths speaking His spoken words with His Spirit?

God literally says that these words will not depart from our mouths, nor from the mouths of our seed.  Who are those called the Seed of Abraham?  We in the church are the seed of Abraham (Gal 3:29)!  Who is the Seed of the Woman?  You probably do not know this, but Jesus was the chosen Seed and we the church are in that Seed of the Woman (Rev 12:17).  God’s Word will not depart from our mouths and we will overcome Satan by His Blood and His Word that He has given to Us (Rev 12:11)!  I taught you earlier that this was a Biblical Spiritual Law being revealed to us.  Let’s look at an Old Testament example of this.

Jos 1:8  This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth; but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do according to all that is written therein: for then thou shalt make thy way prosperous, and then thou shalt have good success.

The lessons found in the Bible through intense study are usually very deep and complex and have many hidden truths associated within them.  Because we do not understand them completely we can easily just read over a truth and not grasp that these words apply to us and what we should be doing today.  Here in the book of Joshua God uncovers the secret to a human’s success on this planet.  It is a basic spiritual principle and law that is not very difficult to follow if we can understand it.  God tells Joshua that He should speak His word both Day and Night.  We could say that means constantly and continually or every waking moment.   God was teaching Joshua about the Sword of the Spirit that will cause him to be a great success in this world.  But, there is also an implied opposite truth found in this verse.  God says by impled antithesis that if we do not speak the Word of God we will not be a success.  Do we want to be prosperous and successful in life or dismal disappointed failure?  God is telling us how to do both, right here!  We have to make the choice.  We are not forced to do either but usually being passive results in failure and this is many people’s wrong defaulted selection.

Remember when Jesus was tempted by Satan in Luke 4:1-13?  Three times the enemy came to tempt him into a subtle trick.  But, here is the lesson learned from this example.  Every time the enemy Satan came with a temptation, Jesus brought out the Sword of the Spirit called the Word of God and said “IT IS WRITTEN”.  Wow, that is extraordinarily critical to learn from and apply to what Satan does to us.  You see the Bible says that Jesus was tempted the very same way that we are tempted (Heb 4:15).  But, He was wise enough to use the sword correctly as a living example.  I pray that this will be a benefit in your life today.

I guess I have gone long enough in this lesson and given you plenty of new things to think about.  The sword of your mouth is either going to be a blessing or a curse to you and to those you direct it at.  While your negative words will never be able to put a curse on me, they will cause curses to come upon you and your children.  What we say is so completely important that it cannot be emphasized enough for us to think before we speak.  If we do not have a Bible verse that backs up what we are about to say, we probably should not say it.

If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons on spoken words you can go to “Part 4“.

The Abrahamic Covenant and the Promised Seed!

(Ver 1.1)  Today will be a little bit different perspective on a familiar old subject.  This subject is widely taught in many different circles and it is interpreted very differently in most of them.  We will look at some familiar verses using the light of the Word of God to see what they mean.  Using the Bible to interpret the Bible, we will begin to see and understand the truth of the Word of God.  The basis of our lesson today comes from the book of beginnings, Genesis chapter 15.  As with many things written in the book of Genesis God uses symbolism to convey hidden spiritual information.  This chapter of Genesis is certainly no different.  In this chapter God tells Abram that he will have a son, who will be his heir.  God tells him that the number of his seed will be as the stars of the heavens.  In other words God declares that Abram’s descendants will be innumerable, more than he could count.   While these words can certainly be taken completely naturally, I believe that God is speaking about spiritual things in a prophetic way.  If you have not ever realized it, God is more interested in spiritual things than He is with natural things.  If God can fix you spiritually, then you will do the right things naturally.  That is the root cause of America’s problem and the rest of the unsaved world.  People want to raise children and think they can do it without God and ignore the Bible and then they are surprised to find our prisons overflowing.   You will never fix the sin problem, until you allow God to fix the spiritual problem within the hearts of man with His Word.  Teach the Bible in school to your children and see if the world doesn’t change.

Gal 3:16  Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ.

We can learn much, by reading God’s commentary in the Bible.  God purposely gives us clues in the Bible to what other verses mean.  Often times these explanations are revealed in the New Testament.  This verse in Galatians is very interesting, since our subject is the Abrahamic Covenant and I just mentioned the Seed of Abraham.  We can now begin to see and understand that God was speaking prophetically and in a very tricky manner when talking to Abram about his seed.   Seed is one of those types of words that can be either singular or plural and you can’t really tell the difference by just looking at it.  However, God reveals that Abraham’s seed was singular and this was symbolic of the one man called Christ Jesus.   So we know that Jesus Christ is the Seed being referred to in Genesis 15.

Gen 15:5  And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So shall thy seed be.

What we begin to see is another example of a Biblical Paradox or Puzzle being given to us.  How can one man, Jesus, the Seed of Abraham number beyond the number of stars in the heavens?  That of course is a very difficult puzzle to try to answer in a single blog like this.  Unless you start to think spiritually and consider what the New Testament reveals to us you will never understand it.  Galatians and other books of the New Testament speak of the church as being the children of Abraham.  The N.T. reveals that Abraham is the spiritual father of the many people who have come into the church.  This is the beginning of understanding this spiritual paradox.

In Genesis 15:9-10 God instructs Abram to take 5 animals and kill them.  God tells him to split three of the animals into halves.  Now we have a bloody mess on our hands.  God tells Abram to spread them out on the ground.  We then discover that birds try to come and devour the animals and Abram has to drive them away.  These are also all key symbolic references and they symbolize spiritual things.  The bloody animals killed represents the covenants of God.  The birds of the air represents the demonic forces attempting to prevent the covenant.  Blood is always symbolic of the forgiveness of sins.  Also in Bible covenants, the animals were split into pieces and they were saying, “thus it be done to me, if I brake this covenant”.   So we see that God is revealing to us some very important information about Bible covenants.  When two parties would enter into a covenant, they would pass between the bloody pieces of the animals and “cut an agreement” that was mutually beneficial to both participants.  Both parties in the covenant were required to follow the terms of the agreement and to be faithful to it.  If one party in the covenant had need of something that the other had in their possession, then it would be freely available to the other party.  It is exactly like a marriage between a husband and a wife who now have joint ownership of everything.  But, did you notice what happens in this covenant in Genesis 15?  Who does it say walked between the pieces to cut the covenant with God?

Gen 15:12  And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and, lo, an horror of great darkness fell upon him.

After Abram drives away the birds, the sun goes down and it gets dark.  It says Abram enters into a deep sleep and he is overwhelmed with darkness.  Darkness never represents God, but the opposite of God.   Darkness always represents Satan and his domain.  God gives Abram some prophetic words about his natural children being in bondage for 400 years, but tells him they will come out at a certain time.  These verses 13 thru 16, no doubt contain symbolism and information beyond the natural, but I will not attempt to teach what I do not know fully.  So let’s look at verse 17, for it is really getting good with this verse. 

Gen 15:17  And it came to pass, that, when the sun went down, and it was dark, behold a smoking furnace, and a burning lamp that passed between those pieces.

As you recall Abram killed 5 animals and laid the pieces upon the ground.  Now normally if this covenant was between God and Abram, God and Abram would now be walking between the pieces and cutting the covenant with God.  However, we find that Abram is asleep on the ground and two different symbolic people walk between the bloody pieces to cut the covenant.  What does this tell us?  I believe that it tells us that Abram was incapable of keeping the covenant that God wanted to make, so God makes a covenant with himself.  Did you notice what the two symbols were that passed through the pieces?  One was a “Smoking Oven” and the other was a “Burning Lamp”.   I really do not know how these two symbols can represent anything other than God.  Both are God in different forms and using different descriptions.  Much like God the Father and God the Son are one God but both are  unique and separate at the same time.

In Hebrews 12:29, it informs us that God is an all consuming fire.  I know this is not exactly a smoking oven, but you can get there mentally if you think about it.  People in Bible days did not have electric power and they cooked with fire.  If you look up the term translated as “Oven” you will find that it means a “Fire Pot”.  So fire is involved in cooking with an ancient Oven.  In Deuteronomy 9:3 God is again called a “Consuming Fire” who destroys.  However, everything in the Bible has symbolic meaning if you can find it.  In Deuteronomy 4:24 God is again called a consuming fire, but it then further stipulates why.  God is said to be a “Jealous God”.  That means God does not like it when His wife sleeps around like Israel was guilty of.    It is very difficult to actually say that the smoking oven represents God, because we cannot find a direct reference in the Bible that says that.  However, if you do a word search and look for the word “oven” in the Bible you will see that it more often than not, refers to a place where wicked and evil people are consumed.  People who are consumed by the fire of God.  God is certainly the fire, but the smoke could be the evil being burned up and consumed.   So it is a little more complex than we can imagine right now to declare that God is covenanting with himself.  We can look up the word “Smoking” and see what else it reveals in the Bible:

Exo 19:18  And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.

It would appear the “Smoke” is associated with the Old Covenant since “Sinai” is mentioned in this verse in Exodus.   We know that God gave Moses the law on Sinai.  We know that this verse says God is again the fire that descended upon the mountain.  The Smoke is equated to that which ascends upwards.  We can again derive, that which is consumed by the fire of God is evil and whatever is left  would be the ashes and the smoke, that which remains after God’s burning.  Fire normally consumes, oxygen, fuel, oil, or whatever is placed in it.  God is definitely the Fire, the flame, the heat, the light.  But, the oven and whatever is consumed is a different substance than God.  If God is the all consuming fire as we have seen in the Bible, the smoke would be representative of that which is burned up or consumed by God.

Psa 18:8  There went up a smoke  out of his nostrils, and fire out of his mouth devoured: coals were kindled by it.

God is again compared in terms of being a device that produces smoke, like an oven, a furnace or any other similar fire burning device.  Out of the nostrils of God comes smoke from something that is burned up or consumed by the fire of God’s mouth.  It is a very interesting symbolic representation being given to us.

Psa 37:20  But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the LORD shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away.

You see the same terms being repeated in this verse of Psalms 37 and it says God’s enemies who are the wicked, shall be as the fat of the lambs, and they shall be consumed into smoke.  Verses like these are helping me to see that God’s covenant in Genesis 15 is God walking between the pieces of animal flesh.  So we have in a roundabout way identified one symbol that has been said to walk between the pieces and cut the covenant.

The Lamp on the other hand is more easily interpreted using verses in the Bible.  We can find several good examples that declare that God is the burning lamp.   A lamp of course is a light in the darkness or night.   A lamp involves fire, oil and light.  All of these symbols are used for symbols of God in the Bible.  Let’s find some of these verses and review them:

2Sa 22:29  For thou art my lamp, O LORD: and the LORD will lighten my darkness.

This verse is exactly what I just said and refers to God as the Lamp that gives us light in the darkness.  Darkness again represents the spiritual domain of Satan.  People are born into the world that is ruled by Satan.  The hearts of men and women are said to be in darkness until they are saved and Jesus Christ shines spiritual light into them.

Psa 119:105  NUN. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

You cannot separate God from His Word, they are one in the same.  God is light and in him is no darkness.  God is also His Word!  God’s word is a spiritual light unto our spirit man within us.  By reading and studying the Bible we bring light to areas that have never seen the glorious light of God.  God and His Word are the Lamp that is lit to show the way unto righteousness.

Pro 13:9  The light of the righteous rejoiceth: but the lamp of the wicked shall be put out.

So many verses in the Bible are very informative and this one has hidden meaning within it.   If God is the lamp and the light, what is this verse telling us?  The light of the righteous will be GLAD, and the lamp of the wicked will be put out.  If Satan is the evil one that rules the darkness, His light or lamp of God has now been put out.   To put out a lamp means it is deprived of oxygen or oil or starved of any substance that causes it to burn.  This involves any means of causing the flame to be extinguished.   We can clearly assume that Satan use to be in the light of God, but God has now turned that light out.   It also has spiritual implications to those in the world that refuse God’s salvation and they also walk in the same darkness of spiritual night.

Isa 62:1  For Zion’s sake will I not hold my peace, and for Jerusalem’s sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth.

God prophesies that a burning lamp will come out of Jerusalem.  This lamp will burn with the light of Salvation.  This very bright lamp will also establish righteousness.  So who do you think God is talking about?  This is a prophetic statement for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ that was to be crucified in Jerusalem to bring salvation to the world.

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Jesus speaking to the nation of Israel, says He is the bright burning lamp that contains the light of the world.  But, Jesus then said that men loved darkness more than this light so they were unable to see the light.  Jesus equates the evil deeds of men to be of the darkness of the world.  God is therefore being contrasted as being the source of good, the initiator of kindness, goodness, grace, mercy, love and compassion, but the men of Israel as a whole, chose to reject these good things and to remain in their evil darkness.

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light  of life.

Jesus is again very clear in telling us that He is the Lamp that lights our spiritual paths.   Jesus says that if we follow Him, we shall not walk in darkness.  We could say in modern language that Jesus is the Flashlight of the present dark World.  If you have ever been camping in the forest, with no electricity you better take a flashlight or two.  To walk in the woods without one would be crazy.  This is how people are in the world, without Jesus and the Bible.  They are walking in spiritual darkness and they do not know where they are going or what they bump into or stumble over.  The symbolism within the Abrahamic covenant is very powerful, the spiritual implications are very informative.  We can see that God, the lamp of the world makes a covenant with the smoking oven that contains the consuming Fire of God.   It would appear to me that God in His infinite wisdom took the place of Abraham in the covenant and made a covenant with Himself.  In this way God could implement an agreement that both parties were capable of keeping.  Abraham was a physical natural man and incapable of keeping the covenant at the level that God wanted to establish, so God made a covenant that He could keep in the spiritual realm with Jesus Christ who was the promised Seed that now establishes our eternal covenant with  God.  So what was God’s solution for man not being able to keep a covenant?   The human race is sin prone, error driven, ignorant of spiritual things and God’s ways.  How is God going to make a covenant with people who are prone to errors and mistakes?  God’s solution is to became one of us, a man who is both human and God to implement an unbreakable covenant with Himself and His eternal man.  We then can see that God has used Jesus Christ, the Promised Seed to bring the rest of the human race back into right standing with God.  Everyone that accepts the free gift of salvation will be included.  It doesn’t matter if you are a Jew or a Gentile, the door is open to all.  It doesn’t matter if you are rich or if you are poor, the door is open to all.  It doesn’t matter if you are a man or a woman, the door is open to all.  Because of what Jesus has done, we have now have the opportunity of a life time being presented to all of us.    I pray that you make the right choice.

The Bible is so complex that it is impossible to know everything that is in it and to comprehend what everything in it means is also impossible.  So we do the best we can, with God’s help in figuring out what it all means.  We would be lost without His help, so I am eternally grateful and I hope that you are too.

Many Will Be Called, But Few Chosen! Predestination Debunked!

(Ver 1.3)  This is Part 2 in an important series of Bible lessons addressing the erroneous belief of extreme “Predestination”.  If you did not read “Part 1” I would highly recommend that you start there and come back to this lesson.  Today I will address the erroneous philosophy of “predestination” again using the Bible.    In my last blog I talked about how some believe that God intentionally hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that God could work great signs and wonders in Egypt.  I guess some people think that God was just wanting to show-off!   I do not know how people can get such mixed up ideas, but I guess it takes all kinds.  In this blog I want to talk about another “hard saying” found in the Bible that appears on the surface to indicate that God has preselected some people and others He has purposely rejected.   It appears to me that some even take it and twist this message to say that God has predestined some for salvation and others for damnation.   This of course to me is clearly in error and it violates the character of God and it turns Him into something that He is not.  If this was true, it would make God the Great Nazi Deity in the sky, who kills the inferior races and only selects those who are worthy or superior enought to be saved.  Isn’t this what Hitler did?   Is God the same as Adolf Hitler?  I do not think so!  What we have is a classic example of what I call “taking ‘a’ truth and trying to make it ‘the’ truth”.  This is a widely popular error found throughout the church body where men choose to wrongly divide the Word of Truth in order to believe in their incorrect interpretation of the Bible.   People need to realize that there is more than one truth found in the Bible and in order to correctly interpret any verse you have to take into account all of the other related verses.  This of course is a very challenging problem we all face, because  none of us knows every related Bible verse.  Bible study is like building a house or a building.  You must start with a basic firm foundation of Biblical truths to begin.  If you try to build on anything else your house of interpretations will fall down too easily.  So what we do is learn everything that we can about the basics and then start to build upon what we know and correctly apply these things to the new things that we learn.  That is the best that any of us can do.  Truth always builds upon truth yielding a sound and tight fitting construction, which will result in a structure that is not easily blown down.  True Bible Interpretation is not a house of cards that can be toppled easily.     So let’s look at one of these Bible verses that seem to indicate “predestination” on the surface.

Mat 20:16  So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Here we have Jesus, God in the flesh speaking to us directly and you can very easily take it the wrong way.   You can use your limited human mind to conclude that God is omnipresent, omnipotent and omniscient and therefore, whatever God wants is what happens to everyone.   You can take this statement by Jesus to mean that God has chosen some and others He has rejected.  I mean on the surface it really looks like this is what it could be saying.  However, if you think about it more closely you will see that interpretation is a house of cards.  You see why would God call “Many” and only choose a “Few”?    If God was only going to select a very few, you would think that God would already know who was going to be selected and not bother calling those that would not be selected!  Don’t you think that makes logical sense?  Why even call them if they are not being selected?  That would make God a teaser and a tempter.  Hang some bait out in front of someone and then yanking it away right before they get to it.  Sorry, you were not selected!  Is that your God?  That is not my God, so either we have different Gods or one of us is deceived!  However, there are other hard sayings found in the Bible that are equally hard to accept on the surface and here is one of them:

Rom 9:13  As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

This is a difficult verse on the surface.  How can God choose one son over another?  You could take this as a predestination act of God, if you wanted to.  The verse before this one says that while the children were still innocent and were even still in the womb, that God said the “elder shall serve the younger”.    What people do not realize is there is a major difference between “predestination” and “foreknowledge”.   There is a major difference between causing something to happen and knowing what will happen.  God clearly tells us that He makes known the end from the beginning.  Is this because God has predestined the end, or is this because God lives outside of the dimension of time and can forsee the end results.  I personally believe that God can see the end and this is what He reports, especially when it comes to the knowledge of what people will do like Jacob and Esau.  God already knew the character traits of each child and what they would do and what they would not do.  However, “predestination” would dictate that God predetermined what each child was purposed for and preselected one and rejected the other.  In other words in the “predestination” theology man plays no role in who God selects.  I talked about God being the great puppet master in the sky, pulling everyone’s strings making them do this or that depending on what God wants done at that time.  This is a common religious philosophy that is widely taught in some churches.  These people subscribe to a “no fault” religion.  They believe whatever happens to them in life, it is just not their fault!  They did not do anything to cause it and they could do nothing to stop it!  That is very ignorant to believe like that, but many people do it any way!  After all it relieves them of any responsibility or accountability for what they do.

So why would God choose Jacob and not Esau?  If you recall Esau ended up selling his birthright.   Jacob probably did some unethical tricks to get his father’s blessing but nonetheless Jacob has became the rightful heir to his father’s name and fortune.  You also have to realize that Jacob and Esau and this story is a spiritual foreshadowing of events to come.  This story has parallels in the natural that are patterns and types of what God was going to do in the spiritual realm.  Jacob is a type of Jesus Christ.  I believe Esau is a type of Adam, Jesus Christ’s older brother.  But, I know I do not have time to teach this and I probably already opened a can of worms that is causing some readers to draw back, so I’ll stop there for now.  What we must realize is that Jacob was selected by God, because of what Esau had decided and the actions that he had chosen.  People play a role in what God does through people more than most people realize.  What people want and desire, what people think,  what people say and do all play a key role in whether God is able to use them.  If you want to live in sin and be mightily used by God, guess what, God is not going to hesitate to look for someone else.  You are the determining factor to whether God is able to use you!

So why would God hate one son and love another?  What does God hate?  Let’s look in the Bible for the answer to that important question:

Deu 16:22  Neither shalt thou set thee up any image; which the LORD thy God hateth.

It would appear that God hates it when people serve false gods and idols.   Hate is a very strong word.  If God hates something it must be very bad.  Do you think that Esau could have been involved with another god or idol?   Do you know that it is exactly possible, here is another verse that speaks about Esau found in the New Testament:

Heb 12:16  Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.

This verse in Hebrews is interesting, isn’t it?  The verse is talking about “fornicators”.  In the Greek this word means “male prostitutes”.   Because Esau compramised his integrity and sold his birth right God  selected Jacob.  You should use your Bible search program and go through and study the verses you can find out about “Esau” for there are many references in the Bible to him.  He is a natural type of something in the spiritual realm that God hates.  But, also look for verses that refer to “Edom” for this is the nation of children that came from Esau and see what God says about them.  It is a fascinating study.  Maybe after you read all of these verses you can begin to see why I believe that Esau represents Adam and Satan. 

So let’s move on to some  verses found in the Bible that directly challenges the theory of “predestination”.  These verses will cause a conflict that must be resolved in order to correctly interpret the Bible.  I’ll start with one in Proverbs:

Pro 24:23  These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons in judgment.

You see on the surface you ask, why is this verse related to our subject and that is why the Bible is so difficult to understand for many.  They just don’t put the pieces of the puzzle together correctly so they end up confused and wrong.  This verse ends in a statement that a judge should be fair to everyone.   If a judge gave one man a 10 year sentence and let another man off for no time for the exact same crime, would that be fair to the one that got 10 years?   Does God have mercy on some people like this and others He does not let off the hook and throws them into hell?  Isn’t God the Supreme Judge of the Universe?  So does God judge differently than you should?  Why do you think that God came to the earth in the flesh in the first place?  I believe it was to set an example that we should follow.  So we should be attempting to become just like God?  I believe that we are.  So if God tells us to judge without respect to persons, God is already this way!  Do you get it?

Act 10:34  Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:

So God tells us what Peter the Apostle discovered.  Peter says that God shows no “respect of person”.  This Greek word has the following definition from the Strong’s:

From G4381; to favor an individual, that is, show partiality: – have respect to persons.

This Greek word is pretty clear in its definition.  To be partial to someone means you look favorably towards them.  It means you place a higher preference or priority upon one than the other.  It means you esteem some and look down upon others.  This is the Bible definition to having “respect of persons”.  It is clear that this is not an attitude that we should possess towards anyone.  But, that doesn’t mean we should accept everyone as they are either.  If you do, you will have to let your pedophile teachers, teach your Sunday school classes and that would be crazy wouldn’t it?

Rom 2:11  For there is no respect of persons with God.

Unless you are spiritually blind you cannot read a verse like this and still believe in the philosophy of “predestination”.    This verse clearly says that God does not show favoritism towards anyone.  God does not play favorites.  God does not  grant favors to anyone.  God is fair and treats everyone the same or God is being unfair.    You of course can ask a lot of questions and refuse to believe that this applies to God, but you would be failing to see what God is saying in the Bible and that is a huge mistake.  So God has said for us to be fair towards everyone, because I am fair to everyone.  So what is the determining factor of why God chooses one and not the other?  As we saw with Jacob and Esau, it had more to do with what they did and not so much with God forcing the decision.  Here is another interesting verse that is certainly relevant to our subject of “predestination”. 

Luk 10:42  But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

Jesus is at Mary and Martha’s house teaching and Martha comes to Jesus and complains that her sister is not helping fix the food for everyone.  What was God’s response to this question?  Did God say, “Mary I have chosen her and not you,  I have done all of this for a purpose and a plan that you do not understand”?  You see that would be a true “predestination” theologian’s viewpoint.  Fortunately for us God did not say this.  But, God says “Mary has chosen to hear the good things and I will not take it from her”.  It appears that Martha could have chosen the same thing that Mary chose and asked Jesus to feed them when they all got hungry, but she didn’t do that.  Jesus seemed to think that Mary’s choice was better than Martha’s choice, can’t you see the difference?  Did what Mary choose to do affect her personally and the results that she got?   Did what Martha choose to do affect her personally and the results that she got?  The answer to both of these quesdtions is, YES!   The decisions people make are directly involved in God’s ability to use them and that determines what they get.  People have more to do with what God does, than they can possibly imagine.

Rev 3:20  Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.

Apparently God wants to come in and have dinner with you!  If God wants in the door, do you think that God is not powerful enough to come in?  Why would the omnipotent God be standing on the outside knocking if He really just wanted to come in to eat with you?  The answer to that question is because God is a Divince Gentleman.  God will not force anyone into anything.  They must choose to open the door to let Him in.  Do you see how ignorant people can get with their invented religious ideas that God is in control of everything that happens to a man, to his house and him opening the door to let God in?  If God was in complete control He wouldn’t be knocking and waiting for someone to let Him in would He?   God is God and He is all powerful, but He does not violate your freewill choice.  God will not force you to open the door to your heart and let Him in.  You have the responsibility to open the door and invite Him in.  If you do not do this, God is a perfect gentleman and will not kick the door down like a thief or a robber. 

Let me end this blog with this new and different perspective to the subject of predestination.  Many times people do not think when they read the Bible so here is something new to consider.  If God only chooses some why does this Bible verse say what it says?

Psa 69:28  Let them be blotted out of the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous.

You see you can very easily read a verse like this and completely miss what it says and think that it does not apply to anyone or anything.  However, Jesus thought it was important enough and says this about it:

Rev 3:5  He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels.

So what does this have to do with predestination?   It is because you do not see, that you do not understand.  This verse says everyone’s name was written down in the “Lambs book of Life“, but that some of these names have now  been blotted out.  In other words, God expected everyone to be saved, but obviously there are many who did not accept the free gift.  You see God did not write your name in the “book of life” after you got saved.  The Lamb’s book of life had every name of every human that was supposed to be here on this planet already enter into it.  We can therefore conclude that God wanted everyone to be saved and those that overcame are the only ones that their names now remain in the book.  So if God predestined anything or anyone, God predestined everyone to succeed and to be saved, but some chose to reject God’s plan and do their own thing.  The word “Blot Out” means that the name was already there and removed or covered over using “God’s Whiteout”.   People who are young do not understand the concept of “whiteout”, but those who are older do, before computers were around people would type pages manually and have to cover mistakes up with a white liquid paper product.  I think you can still buy this product, but I doubt if it is very widely used for anything.  This is however, the concept given to us in Word of God.  God writes every name in the Lamb’s book of life and then depending upon their actions and decisions, God is forced to remove their name, if they so choose.  It is truly amazing what the Bible says when you can see it!  God Bless you and may you be blessed with the knowledge of Him that freely gives us all things!

If you would like to continue to read about this subject you can go to “Part 3“.

Does God Cause Some People’s Hearts to Be Hard? What About Pharaoh?

(Ver 1.4)  This is the Part 1 in an important series of Bible lessons addressing the primary subject of Extreme Predestination.  Many times people read things into the Bible missing what God actually says to make their own independent wrong assumptions.  Ignoring all of the words written on one subject they simultaneously jump to the wrong conclusions based upon selective reading.   Today’s Bible lesson will be a prime example of this type of error in wrong Bible interpreation.  Reading the Bible in isolation and not allowing God to interpret the Bible is one of the most dangerous approaches to take in Bible interpretation.  The Bible will always explain the Bible, but we are required to search the Bible in order to find these explanations.  The explations are not going to come to you and fall into your lap.   I once talked to a man who had graduated from an unnamed theological seminary, who claimed that God causes some people to be saved while choosing for other people not to be saved.  This belief is very much the classic manmade “predestination” mentality or philosophy.  His reasoning was based upon a combination of the known omnipotence of God, the sovereignty of God and several other beliefs that  he attempted to use to explain why things appear to be as if God controls what occurs in the world.  Because God is omnipotent and sovereign, his claim was nothing happened unless God authorizes it or commited it.  He was very pleased to show me scriptures in Exodus that appear to say that God purposely hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that God could do some spectacular plagues and signs to demonstrate His great power.  It is funny how religious minds work and think sometimes.  They think they are right, but when you actually study it out you can find something completely different in the Bible.  Many times the simple basic things written on the surface of the Bible give way to more elaborate complex spiritual meanings, that can be taken completely different than the surface reading.  So this seminary graduate chose to believe something on the surface and did not look any deeper to find out if that was really what the Bible actually said.  We as Christians, must weigh every scripture using other scriptures that are relevant to the subject.  We must use the Bible to interpret the Bible correctly, because only God knows what it all means and not us!  Today I will attempt to give you the rest of the story and help you to see the difference.  Here are a couple of the scriptures that my confused seminary brother in Christ used to say that God had hardened Pharaoh’s heart:

Exo 4:21  And the LORD said unto Moses, When thou goest to return into Egypt, see that thou do all those wonders before Pharaoh, which I have put in thine hand: but I will harden his heart, that he shall not let the people go.

Exo 10:1  And the LORD said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I might shew these my signs before him:

The Bible is written in a style that it can literally be interpreted in many different ways simultaneously depending upon the readers point of view or perspective.  From a single verse, 12 different people can read it and get 12 different individual interpretations.  This however, does not prove that any of them are right.  God purposely selected this method and style of writing the Bible so that mankind would have a choice in what they believe.  However, this does not mean every interpretation is correct, just because God allows you to jump to these wrong conclusions.  You see in Exodus 4:21 and Exodus 10:1, that God is speaking to Moses directly and God tells him what to do and then tells Moses what will happen as a result of what Moses does.  Religious people like to think that God’s will is the only will that is ever accomplished on the earth.  If God wants something done a certain way, then God’s will automatically overrides everyone else’s will and God gets His way.  That reasoning does not make any sense to me and I haven’t been able to find any Bible verses that directly back that theory.  You see that theory would make God the giant puppet master in the sky who pulls everyone’s strings to make them do exactly what He wants, when He wants it done.  That does not match the character or nature of God revealed to us in the Bible.  This does not match other scriptures that say God has given man choices and decisions to make.  If God was calling all of the shots, why would God say “Today I have set before you life and death, therefore choose life”.   Bible verses like these tell me that man has a choice and God makes a recommendation which one we should choose, but is not forcing you or I into making this right decision.  Therefore, we have a conflict presented to us in the Word of God.  Is God a good God, like the Bible says or is He an evil God to some and to others He treats differently.  Has God given mankind a choice in the result of their lives and their destiny or has God predestined some to hell and others to heaven?   Were angels given the ability to make right or wrong choices?   Does God really control everything that happens in the world, good, bad or indifferent?  Does it matter what I do today?  Can my choices change the results that I get?  Will what I do affect anyone else’s results?  What is the character of God like?  Does God require man to do something that He can do differently and God calls it OK for Him, but sin for man?  You have to ask yourself these important questions.  These are hard questions and I cannot attempt to answer all of these in this one blog.

I have to admit, that reading just those two verses that I gave you in Exodus, that it really appears that God purposely caused Pharaoh’s heart to become hard, so that He could do some great signs.  I mean you can very easily take it this way if you want to, by ignoring the rest of the Bible.  However, the Bible is One Book by One Author, who has intentionally revealed Himself in a very tricky way by spreading out little clues about himself from cover to cover.  We are required to find these clues first and then to use these clues to interpret the other verses in the Bible using this information.  Our interpretation of a single part of the Bible needs to be in harmony with all of the other verses found in the Bible on the subject.  One verse cannot contradict or conflict with another.  If you think it does, then you are wrong and do not understand what it says correctly!  God is always consistent and constant in His character, and His treatment of all people.

Often times people confuse foreknowledge with predestination.  Just because God knows your reaction to some event that happens in your life, does not mean that God caused it to happen that way.  So when God tells Moses of Pharaoh’s reaction to what Moses was going to do, why didn’t Moses stop and ask God what else can we do that will actually work and let the people go?  Don’t you think that Moses could have changed God’s mind and His approach to something that would have actually worked, if there was anything that was going to work?  Well the problem is still the question did God intentionally harden the heart of Pharaoh in order to accomplish His greater plan for Israel?   I think we need to start this study by defining what it means to be “hard hearted”.  Isn’t that what we are talking about?  If God made Pharaoh’s heart hard, how did God do this and what transpired or changed in Pharaoh when this occurred?  Did God do something in Pharaoh that caused him to react how he did?  Was there a specific something that changed within Pharaoh that forced this reaction?  Instead of trying to get a definition of “hard hearted” from the dictionary, let’s see if God gives us a definition in the Bible:

Mar 8:17  And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet hardened?

Here is a classic definition of being hard hearted directly from God.  Jesus is speaking to the disciples about them having no bread.  He ends the verse with a four part question that ends with “did you harden your heart”?  So why did God ask this question, if God was hardening their hearts?  Didn’t God already know if He was intentionally hardening their hearts for some purpose?  Isn’t Jesus Christ God in the flesh?  I hope you can begin to see how foolish people can be by believing in “predestination”.   Here we have God in the flesh asking if “they” had hardened their own hearts by doing what?  Part 1 of the question was by “reasoning”.  This is a mental operation of an advanced feature of the human capability.  You can train a monkey to do something that gives you a specified result, like play a song on a piano, but they will never be able to reason for themselves in order to come up with the notes to a song!  If you think differently, you are wrong!  Humans have the capability to “think”, to “reason”, to “consider”, to “dispute”, and to “muse”.   These are all logical methods of coming to a conclusion and then they also have the ability to discuss their thought process of why they came to this answer.  A monkey can do this only in an extremely limited capacity.  Keep in mind that “reasoning” ability is based upon knowledge.  People are only able to come to conclusions based upon what they know about the subject.  The more they know, usually a better decision can result.

So apparently “being hard hearted” involves your mind, your thoughts and your reasoning capability, based upon your previous knowledge.  Then Jesus asks parts 2 and 3 of the question, “didn’t you perceive what I said?”, “and didn’t you understand it?”  The first word to “perceive” is a very interesting word.  It means “to exercise the mind”.  It means to “think”.  It also means to “observe”.  All of these things are mental operations of the human mind.   Now the next word translated as “understand” means “to put together”.  It also means “to become wise”.  It also means “to comprehend”.   These are also all mental operations of the human mind.  So what was one of the determining factors to why the disciples hearts were hardened according to Jesus and God?  It was because they did not understand or see what was being said.  They used their minds to reason the wrong things and come to the wrong conclusions based upon the knowledge that they had up to this point.  So was this God’s fault or the disciple’s fault?   Who caused their hearts to be harden?  Was it the words that Jesus spoke or the their own lack of sufficient knowledge and inability to understand what he said that caused their hardness of heart?   This is a very important lesson to learn, because it applies to most Christians in the world today.  Jesus could ask the same question to most people who write blogs on the internet and even to many who sit in the pews of our churches.  I’ll go even further and say Jesus could ask most preachers who graduated from seminary, what are you thinking?

Mar 16:14  Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they sat at meat, and upbraided them with their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed not them which had seen him after he was risen.

Here is another determining factor in the definition of “hardness of heart” given to us by God.  Jesus met with the 11 disciples after He was risen from the dead and He more or less rebuked them for their “unbelief”.  Jesus appeared to some and not others and some went and then told the others, but at least some of the others did not believe what was told to them.  Jesus called this being “hard hearted”.   This is also a key factor to what we find wrong in our churches today, and it speaks to why people do what they do.  They either believe what is being taught or they do not!  Those who believe are said to be “tender hearted” and those who do not believe are said to be “hard hearted”.  Of course we do not believe anything just because someone says it, we have to be smart enough to verify it in the Bible, but that is a different lesson.   So what we have learned is that people have a choice in what they believe, don’t they?  By making right choices in what we believe we become more “tender hearted”, by making wrong choices in what we believe we become more “hard hearted”.  I hope you are grasping these concepts, they do apply to you right now.

Heb 3:13  But exhort one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin.

So this is now factor three in the definition of becoming “hard hearted”.  In, this verse in Hebrews God says to us, that the deceitfulness of “sin” is a key factor to becoming hard hearted.  Sin involves missing the intended mark of righteousness and holiness.   We are all guilty of this and some more than others.  However, it is a determining factor of who is said to be “hard hearted”.  Now I do not think that I covered this subject completely, but I have given you several key factors to the definition of becoming “hard hearted”.  So let’s review what we have learned as to what causes people to be hard hearted:

  1. The Ignorance of People Who Do Not Know Any Better!
  2. Inability to Perceive, Hear, Observe, See Spiritually
  3. Inability to Comprehend, Understand Mentally
  4. Distractions of Temptation and Sin Physically

The result of these factors will culminate into:

  1. Wrong Thinking
  2. Wrong Reasoning
  3. Wrong Believing
  4. Wrong Conclusions
  5. Wrong Assumptions
  6. Wrong Actions

So do any of these factors play a role in the life of Pharaoh?   If you do not think so, you would be wrong again!  God gives us basic clues and definitions throughout the Bible and we must apply them correctly, so here I go.  Did what Pharaoh learn as a child make any determination how he would react as an adult?  Would being the leader of one the most advanced nations on earth with untold power and riches factor into how Pharaoh would react?  Does the fact that Pharaoh and his people worshipped false idols and imaginary gods play any factor into how Pharaoh would react?  You know there are just so many different factors to consider that go into this decision process that Pharaoh had, that I cannot come up with them all.  But, when Moses appeared to Pharaoh and said “The Jehovah God” has sent me!  What would have been your reaction if you were Pharaoh?  This was not one of Pharaoh’s gods?  Who is this God?  That is what I would have thought!  What was Pharaoh thinking while Moses asked for the children of Israel to be freed?  Here the ruler of Egypt who possessed around 2 million slaves, was being asked to let them go for free and what do you think he thought about a request like that?  Do you see how these factors that we just learned of becoming hard hearted from the New Testament apply to what happened in Pharaoh’s heart?  Pharaoh did not believe Moses!  Moses did not come in the name of any of Pharaoh’s gods!  So when the true God says something to someone who doesn’t believe He exists, what is their reaction suppose to be?  I hope that you are beginning to see how complex the world and the Bible is.

Let’s continue through the Bible in Exodus and see what else God says about Pharaoh’s heart being hardened:

Exo 8:15  But when Pharaoh saw that there was respite, he hardened his heart, and hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said.

This verse is a little different than the first two that I gave you from Exodus.  This time it says Pharaoh was the one that hardened his own heart.  Moses had been commanded by God what to do and say before Pharaoh.  During this time, Pharaoh’s magicians would counter the acts of God with their own similar tricks.  Pharaoh saw these great signs of God as just being a magic potion of a sorcerer, which he could also cause to be produced using his own magicians.  Whatever, God did, the magicians of Pharaoh countermanded them with their own spectacular results.  So far God hasn’t done anything that was spectacular enough for Pharaoh to be impressed with.  Pharaoh did not believe in the God of Israel, so there lies the root of Pharaoh’s greatest failure in judgment.

Exo 8:32  And Pharaoh hardened his heart at this time also, neither would he let the people go.

Here we have another verse that clearly says Pharaoh was responsible for hardening his own heart.  Do we have a contradiction in scriptures or just a simple misunderstanding of what it all means?  Can God harden people’s hearts simply by them not believing in Him?  Will what people think about what is said to them, affect what they choose to believe?  Did God harden his heart or did Pharaoh harden his own heart?  Can you see how both of these statements are true at the same time?  God hardened the heart of Pharaoh and Pharaoh hardened his own heart are two perspectives of the same event.  What if Moses had come in the name of the god “Apollo”?   Would the reaction of Pharaoh had been different?  I do not think so.  So you cannot say that it was God’s fault for hardening Pharaoh’s heart.  Pharaoh didn’t believe in “Apollo” any more than He did “Jehovah”.   All Pharaoh knew was this was not his god so he was closing his mind to what else was being told to him.  Christians do this in churches every day.  A new teacher comes to town and says something that doesn’t fit what they think and they shut down and do not hear the rest.  It didn’t matter if it was directly from God and the truth, it was just not what they wanted to hear so they ignored it.  I know this happens with the things that I write on my blogs.  Many read it, but do not believe it, understand it or accept it so they shut their minds down and ignore it all.

1Sa 6:6  Wherefore then do ye harden your hearts, as the Egyptians and Pharaoh hardened their hearts? when he had wrought wonderfully among them, did they not let the people go, and they departed?

In this verse we again see a comparison being made between the people of Israel and the people of Egypt ruled by Pharaoh.  We can see very clearly that each of these people are responsible personally for hardening their own hearts.  There is no contradiction to the scriptures and there is no predestination reality with God.  God knows the decisions you will make, but you are still responsible for them, not God.

Eze 36:26  A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.

Do you know this scripture is talking about you?  If you are a Christian, you have this new heart available to you right now!  Did you notice that God said I will take out your “Stony” heart?   Isn’t a “stony” heart a formerly hard hearted person?  This again can be taken incorrectly, as something that God is solely responsible for making happen.  Some people still think like God is the spiritual surgeon who does a spiritual heart transplant surgical procedure in every believer!   But, that would not be a good interpretation of this verse based upon what we have learned.  God says I will replace your stony heart with a soft tender heart of flesh.  Are these symbolic references?  Yes they are!   Is God responsible for this happening in you?  Yes and No!  You still have a part to play in the procedure.  God never overrides your will and makes you do anything.  God never takes anything away from you that you do not want taken away.  God never gives you anything that you do not want to have.   This is the character and nature of the God and Man relationship.  However, without God doing anything we would all be hopelessly hard hearted.  So it is a partnership between us receiving what God has freely given to us by faith.  Here is an analogy that helped me tremendously when I studied this subject about the hearts of mankind.  I heard a preacher teach this so I cannot take credit for it, but, I will share it with you, so that I can help you to see it also.

Jesus Christ is called Light.  Jesus Christ is called the Sun of Righteousness.  Jesus Christ is compared symbolically to the natural sun in our sky.  The church is said to be in the “Day” and not in the “Night” or the darkness anymore.  Darkness represents the domain of Satan and evil.  So the church walks in the Light of God and Jesus Christ has risen in our hearts to give us this new glorious light.  So what can we learn from this symbolic representation?  Does the sun shine on everyone equally?  Or does the natural sun in our sky shine only on the righteous and good people in the world?    Of course the sun shines on everyone the same.  What causes the same light to shine on everyone equally the same with no bias or prejudice towards anyone?  Is this the nature and character of God exemplified in a natural part of creation?  Are the hidden qualities of God being clearly shown to us by looking at the sun in our sky?   Does God treat everyone the same?  My Bible says God shows no respect of persons, so God must be fairly treating everyone the same.  God has given the same Bible to everyone that contains His words of hope!  Yet some believe it and some do not, is this God’s fault?  Did God make one person hard towards the Gospel and another He made receptive and tender?   Why does the same natural sun in the sky, both melts wax and hardens clay simultaneously?  Is it the sun’s fault that these two objects react differently?  It is the same heat and light source upon both objects isn’t it?  But, the reaction to this light ray is completely different based upon the type of object absorbing or being bombarded by the light.  Can people choose to be hard or tender to the Light of the Word of God in the same way?  Do people have a choice in what they do, what they hear, is what they think important, what about what they say and how they react?  Of course people have these choice everyday and that is exactly why some people harden their own hearts and refuse to hear the truth and others are receptive and open and learn the truth.  The same Sun shines on everyone, but not everyone chooses to react the same to this constant light source.  You must choose to be wax and refuse to be the clay or you will become harden in your heart toward God also.

This is precisely the situation of Pharaoh in Exodus.  God said something that Pharaoh did not want to hear.  God said something that Pharaoh did not consider important.  God said something that Pharaoh did not think was relevant to him or his situation.  God said something that Pharaoh did not believe.  So,  God knew that no matter what he said, Pharaoh was not going to let the Israel people go.  Pharaoh wanted them for their labor and their lives of service for his own good.  Pharaoh let power and influence determine his outcome and the result ended very bad for them.  If you did not know it, Egypt is a type of the world.  Pharaoh is a type of Satan.  Moses is a type of Jesus, the deliverer and the children of Israel a type of the Church.  These are all types that represents patterns of things that were to come in the spiritual realm in the New Covenant of God.  Our spiritual Deliver is Christ Jesus who has freed us from the captivity of sin and Satan.   You have to decide right now are you a child of Egypt or a child of Israel and choose to become hard or tender toward what God is telling you right now.

There are many other things to learn from these lessons of Pharaoh, but I have gone too long in this blog.  I pray that you received something that was a positive benefit in your spiritual walk with God.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading in this series about the subject of “Predestination” you may go now to “Part 2“.

Speak To Your Rock! Why Moses Didn’t Enter into the Promise Land!

(Ver 2.4)  If you have ever read my blogs you know that I can be controversial.  I say things that are new and different.  But, I can only say what God teaches me to say and I have learned that God is different than anyone else I’ve ever met.  So if I say what God says to me, it will probably be different than what most men say and teach.  Today I want to explore some scriptures that God taught me many years ago.  Why didn’t Moses get to enter into the promise land?  What kept Moses out from the promised end of God’s plan?  The examples written in the Old Testament are there so that we can learn not to repeat the same mistakes that they made.  If we can learn these lessons from Moses, I think we can apply them to our situations today.  We have a better covenant, established upon better promises, yet we do not possess them automatically.  Even though God had already given the children of Israel the Promised Land, they were required to do something to possess it.  This is an extremely valuable natural typology of a pattern that is repeated in the spiritual realm for the church.  So let’s examine what kept Moses out of possessing God’s Promised Land.

I want to examine verses in the book of Numbers.  In chapter 20 of Numbers, Moses has a big problem again.  He is attempting to lead the people of Israel through a desert, there is little to no water to drink and the people and the animals are all very thirsty.  Moses goes to God and asks for help and God responds with a set of specific instructions, so let’s now start reading with what God says to Moses in the desert.

Num 20:8  Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

God gives Moses a very specific set of instructions with a limited number of steps.  These are not complicated steps, but yet people sometimes hear what they want to hear, instead of what God says and that get’s them into trouble in a very big way.  As we read through the rest of this chapter we find that Moses did not do what God said to do.  Let’s examine carefully the specific set of instructions that God gave:

  1. Take Your Rod.
  2. Get Your Brother Aaron.
  3. Gather the People before the Rock.
  4. Speak to the Rock.
  5. Give Everyone a Drink.

Five little things God told Moses to do.  There were five little specific steps of instructions from God.  Was this complicated?  No!  Was this different?  Yes!  God had never given these instructions to Moses before, so maybe Moses had a struggle with them or maybe Moses just assumed he knew what God had said.  Maybe he heard in his mind something different?  I do not know, I do know that it is interesting that Moses is the one that wrote this book of the Bible and if he made a mistake or didn’t understand it why did he write about his short comings?  Interesting question isn’t it?  What I learned from observing the instructions of God is that He rarely repeats exactly what He said for you to do before.  If God told you to strike the rock last time, then guess what you will probably be doing something different the next time.  I’ll talk more about that later.  Let’s read through Numbers and examine what Moses did, instead of following God’s instructions:

Num 20:9  And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

Num 20:10  And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

Moses makes a great start to obeying God, but a really lousy ending.    Let’s examine what Moses did according to these two verses and list the steps that he took:

  1. Moses Took the Rod.
  2. Moses Met with His Brother Aaron.
  3. Moses and Aaron Gathered the People Together Before the Rock.
  4. Moses Then Said to the People.

The first 3 steps seem to be perfect matches to the instructions that God gave to Moses.  So when did God ever tell Moses to say anything to the people?  I know that you have to say something to them to gather them or assemble them before the rock, but when did God tell Moses to speak to the people after they were all gathered together?  Did God tell Moses to preach to the congregation?   Did God say to tell the congregation anything at all?  I do not think that He did.  This represents the beginning of the downfall of Moses.  As soon as you start deviating from the plan of God, you begin to miss it and you fall into disobedience and there is the root of his problem.  If we continue reading in the next verse we will see what Moses did next:

Num 20:11  And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts

Did you see what happened next?  Let’s continue our list of what Moses did and analyze them to see what they say to us.  We are now on step 5 of what Moses did.

5.  Moses Lifted His Hand.

6.  Moses Smote the Rock.

7.  Moses Smote the Rock Again.

8.  Moses Gave Everyone a Drink.

You can see that Moses did eight things to God’s 5 step plan of instructions.  How many things is that, too many?  Of course that is 3 things too many.  God never told Moses to raise his hand.  God never told Moses to strike the Rock.  Why did Moses have to hit the rock twice?  I think it was simply because nothing happened the first time Moses hit the rock.  I believe that God realized that Moses wasn’t going to follow the plan so He was merciful and gave them water to drink anyway.  Moses had to hit the rock twice before anything came out and I bet you that Moses was a little concerned after nothing happened the first time that he struck the Rock.  What we must realize is that even though God still gave the people a drink, Moses’ actions taken had grave consequences attached to them.  So what was God’s response to Moses and Aaron’s actions taken?  Was God pleased?  Of course not, God says something that is very profound:

Num 20:12  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

God reveals the reason Moses struck the rock instead of speaking to the rock, as being a case of his unbelief.  Moses apparently had a problem with speaking to an inanimate object and expecting anything to happen from just your spoken words.  I’ll bet you a lot of Christians are still like Moses today.  God was trying to teach His servant Moses a valuable lesson about the spiritual law of words.  Words have authority and power behind them and God was attempting to raise Moses’ expectation level and spiritual awareness.  We know that previously in the wilderness that God had told Moses to strike the rock to bring out water for the people, but this time God changed the plan.   If you did not realize it, God hardly ever does the same thing twice.  By God’s instructions, Moses was supposed to speak to the rock before the people.  So while the people were watching, the people would have learned a valuable spiritual lesson also.  But, Moses failed and as a result God told him that he would not enter into the Promised Land that he had already given to them.  That is a sad lesson, but that is not the entire story.  You see you have not gotten the symbolism in this story found in Numbers.  It is very important to see that this story is covered with types and shadows of spiritual things to come.  The children of Israel are a type of the church.  Moses and Aaron are types of the leaders in the church.  The Rock is a type of Jesus Christ.  The Promised Land is a type of the Word of God, the promises of the New Covenant.  The wilderness can represent the time of trials or tests in the life of believers.  The water is most often representative of the spiritual drink of God’s Word.

1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

1Co 10:5  But with many of them God was not well pleased: for they were overthrown in the wilderness.

1Co 10:6  Now these things were our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.

So what are the lessons that we the church should learn from this one story in the Bible?

Let’s go back through the story again and this time look for the spiritual typology.   God tells Moses to take his rod.  The rod represents a symbol of power and authority.  It can also be a symbol of correction.  You can rule with a rod of iron and that would represent a strict control of intolerance or of a swift set of consequences for disobedience.  However, God never tells Moses to do anything with this power symbol.  God then tells Moses to get with Aaron his brother.  I feel like this represents church leadership talking together and working together for a common goal for the good of the people.  Then God tells these leaders to gather the people.  The people represent the church and they should be meeting together to witness the example of the leadership of God’s plan in order to learn what God is doing.  Now, here is the real lesson from the story.  I believe that we can see and learn a lot from the next instruction that God gives to Moses.  Step 4 God said for the leadership to “speak to the Rock”.  What did the Bible say was the Rock?  The Rock represents Jesus Christ.  So what is Jesus Christ?  Jesus Christ is the answer to your every problem.  What was Moses’ problem?  No water or angry upset rebellious people?  Obviously Moses’ problem was his own people.  You need to understand this, because it is very important to see.  People are the biggest problem in any church.  If it weren’t for people, church would be a great place to be.  People are the biggest challenge any minister faces.  People like to talk, gossip, complain, criticize and many other ungodly things.   People will start divisions, confrontations, internal fights, and just complain about anything they think that doesn’t fit with what they want to see happen.  People will start petitions, call for church meetings and votes to try to run the show and all along disregard God’s appointed leadership, his anointing, His plans and His purposes.  God has placed leadership in the church.  Pastors and teachers are called by God and appointed by God to do a specific job in a specific way.  Most of the time God deals with the leadership of the church and tells them exactly what to do and say to the people.  This is a significant learning point from the patterns found in the story of Moses and the children of Israel.  God never addressed the congregation or spoke to anyone in the congregation directly about how to run the the group or what to do.  God always went through His chosen leader recognizing spiriutal organization and sturcture.  This is how a church is supposed to operate today.  In the church it is a little bit different in that God is inside of every believer and He will speak personal direction to each individual believer.  However, God still recognizes spiritual order and He will not tell anyone in the church how to run the church other than the pastor.

Where was Moses’ downfall?  What was the first thing that Moses did that was not on God’s instruction list of 5 specific steps?  If you recall the downfall came when he started talking to the people.  This is a critical lesson for preachers as well as for the congregation members to take note of.  Here is the principle that Moses failed in.  Moses had a problem with the people in that they were thirsty which caused them to be rebellious.  Why didn’t Moses just speak to the Rock and get the answer to his problem?  Instead of speaking to the Rock and getting the answer, Moses called the people “rebellious rebels”.  Here God is trying to teach Moses a lesson concerning a spiritual law of speaking the answer and Moses chooses to speak the problem instead.  Wow, did you just hear what I said?  That was more than worth your time reading this lesson if just you understood that one very important point.   This is a critical lesson to learn and apply to our situations today.  God never said to speak to the people, and speaking to the people who were the problem was not going to bring Moses the answer.  You know if you tell someone who is a thief that they are a thief, it will never cause them to come up higher and change?  If you speak to rebels and say they are rebels, they will never learn to change.  Speaking to your problem and saying they are your problem will cause them to continue as they are and they will remain your problem because of your words spoken over them.  The people of Israel never learned any lessons from this experience.  Moses never learned any lessons either.  God told Moses that he was not going to lead the people into the Promised Land because of his unbelief.  Moses was probably one of the greatest Old Testament prophets of God and he came far short of the destiny that God had intended for him.  Can’t you see how his example of failure applies to you and can it help you not to repeat his mistake?   If you can, it will radically change what you say to who and when.  Many times it would be better to keep your mouth shut and not say anything than to speak the problem and remain in unbelief and miss out on God’s answer to your problem.  God told Moses that if he would only speak to the rock, that the rock would obey his words.  That statement boggles most Christian’s religious minds.  God will do what I say?   If you would only study the Bible and what it says about the words that you speak, you would certainly change many of the things that you say.  The problem is that most Christians fall into the same unbelief category and continue to speakto and about their problems.  Earlier in the book of Numbers, God revealed two things to Moses and Israel that have a direct bearing on everything that I just said about Moses.  You see it would be unjust if God punished Moses for doing something that God had not already told him to do and explained to Moses how things will work.   If we go back and read we will discover that God had already given Moses two spiritual laws to learn and to follow.  Take a look at what God says in these verses:

Num 6:22  And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

Num 6:23  Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons, saying, On this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel, saying unto them,

Num 6:24  The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

God taught Moses and Aaron, that they could bless Israel with the words that came out of their mouths.  By Moses speaking these positive good words over the people, God was able to bless them and cause them to prosper.  As you read down in this chapter, Moses and Aaron are supposed to say several other words of blessing and then in verse 26, God concludes that “I will bless them“.  Here is the principle given, you speak blessings and I will bless them!   Did you get that concept?  That is exactly the opposite of what Moses said and did.  Moses looked at the people and called them “Rebels”.  Can God bless these words?  What you find is that Moses ended up cursing his own people with his words and that is a major problem.  God cannot bless Israel because Moses did not follow the instructions of God and the spiriutal laws of God.  To emphasize the point even clearer to Moses in couple of chapters God tells him directly something that is very hard to misunderstand:

Num 14:28  Say unto them, As truly as I live, saith the LORD, as ye have spoken in mine ears, so will I do to you:

These words were spoken directly to Moses and Aaron, the leadership of the nation of Israel some 6 chapters earlier than the “speak to the rock” chapter in Numbers 20.  God reveals to Moses a spiritual law concerning his words that he speaks.  This spiritual law applies across the board to everyone in the congregation as well as the leadership.  God tells Moses that I will do whatever you say.  This verse tells me that God listens to the words that come out of your mouth.  Whatever you say, that is what God will do to you.  I know most Christians do not believe this.  That just doesn’t make any sense does it?  Why would God do that?  I do not know, but yet it is exactly what the Bible just said, isn’t it?   I guess Christians think these people in the wilderness were different than us today.  They were not really examples that we can learn anything from.  I guess people do not realize they are our examples and we better learn from their mistakes, or we will be doomed to repeat their failures.  There are many other Bible verses that I could go into right here to confirm what I have just said.  You can study them for your selves and see if they are there, or you can simply ignore them all and think they do not apply to you.  I’ll give you one confirmation to the words that I have just taught on and this is information found in the book of Psalms:

Psa 106:32  They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes:

Psa 106:33  Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.

As you can read this is God’s commentary on the story of Moses that we just studied.  In these verses God tells us that the children of Israel made Moses angry.  God calls this the waters of strife.  By making Moses angry we are informed that his spirit was provoked to speak unadvisedly with his lips.  You can clearly see from this verse that it was what Moses said that was his problem and not his striking the rock.  You should learn that what you say is also potentially your greatest problem area and learn to control your tongue even when angry or being upset.  You can clearly see a connection of what you say coming from your spirit inside of you.  This is an extremely valuable lesson to see and to learn from.

One of the most important subjects in the Bible to study and to understand is that about your spoken words.  God tells us that He is listening to what we say and that He will do to us whatever we say.  If we speak evil, that is what we will get.  If we speak good things, that is also what we will get.  Your words only affect your outcome and what you get.  Because, the children of Israel, murmured and complained to God about their situation that is what they got.  The older generation did not enter into the promise land, except for Joshua and Caleb.    What made Joshua and Caleb different?  What caused Joshua and Caleb to enter in where the other people their age all died?  You should go back and read that story very closely and see what Joshua and Caleb said, when the others said the exact opposite.  God did to Joshua and Caleb what they said and the others also got what they said.  This is a prevalent reality found throughout the Bible, from cover to cover.  You can read practically any story in the Bible and you can observe very closely exactly what they say, then read ahead and see what they got in life.  It amazes me when I study the Bible like this and see what God’s response is to what people say.  I know there are other spiritual laws in the Bible also; this one is not the only spiritual law that affects what people get in life.   But, this one is certainly one of the ones’ that people do not have a clue about.  Elvis Presley said he would never live to be older than his mother and he did not.  My grandmother said that a crazy driver would be her end and two teenagers racing ran into the side of her car and killed her.  If you look at what you have today and analyze it with what you said in the past, it will almost always add up to the same results.  Learn to be careful what you say even in jokes.  I’ll try to do more lessons on words in other blogs, but I have gone long enough today.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading this series on words, you can go to “Part 2“.

Understanding God’s Spiritual Family Structure!

(Ver 2.0)  This is “Part 1” in a series of very important advanced spiritual Bible lessons that will change your life and outlook on God and His Holy Word if you permit Him to do so.  Do you know what a family is?  How do we define a family in the modern world?  Satan is diligently attempting to pervert the family definition and corrupt God’s original design but these lies still do not take away from God’s truth.  Reading the Bible we can very clearly see that God created a specific family unit system and a very specific designed family structure here on the earth.  Was this family design something brand new or was it patterned after something in heaven that already existed?   Please let me give you a verse of great importance as a foundation to this entire series.  It is found in the Book of Luke and is understood to have been spoken directly by Jesus quoting from an obscure minor prophet name Micah:

Luk 12:53  The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother; the mother in law against her daughter in law, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. 

Ok, this is the mystery verse that initiated this Bible study series.  I have given it to you first to help you anticipate where God is taking us.  When I read this verse a tremendous curiosity to what God was speaking of filled my heart.  I just had a great desire to go and search the Bible to find out the answer to the mystery being spoken of by the Lord Jesus was.  I prayed and asked God to help me to understand and step by step over several years He taught me so very much about His Spiritual Family.  After this study. a lot more of the Bible came into focus and was so much more understandable than before.

God created the first family of our current world system and this event is described to us in Genesis chapters 1 and 2.  Take a moment and read these verses again.  You should be able to observe that this created first family unit only consisted of one man called the husband and one woman called his wife.  It is also important to note where the woman came from.  The woman came from the body of her husband and was not created or formed separately or independently from her husband.  This truth will become more important as you learn what this represents in the family of God.   This earthly created family grew and expanded into numerous children and eventually became very large in numbers.  In the terms of the current estimated human population on the earth today, the family of Adam has now grown to and exceeded nearly 7 billion people.  We must therefore conclude from this very solid scriptural information that a real family by God’s definition and design is comprised of a single man, a solitary woman and at least some children.  Does God have a spiritual family like this?  Did God ever have a spiritual family that was the pattern for this created family of Adam?  Here is a new question to also consider, what will the family of God look like at the end?  Will the ending spiritual family of God in Revelation 22 be the same pattern of what has already come before?  If you did not know it yet, God had a family exactly like this in heaven prior to creation and this is exactly how it will end up in the final chapter of Revelation.  Therefore the original design of God’s family in the spiritual realm will be how the final family of God will also be patterned in the eternal spiritual realm after this world that we live within is completed.

God in the Bible is defined to be an eternal Spirit being but, the natural universe that we are now a part of, it had a created starting origination point also called a beginning (Genesis 1:1, John 1:1).  Therefore, I believe that whatever God created here in the natural realm must have originated from the pre-existing spiritual realm.  I believe from years of Bible study that whatever was made manifest here in the natural realm had to be patterned from that which already existed in the eternal spiritual world.  I know that you may not yet understand patterns  and I will give you a good introduction to pattern concepts before I continue this lesson on the spiritual family of God.  Can we at least begin by agreeing that the spiritual realm existed prior to the physical/natural realm?  Surely we can understand the  concept of patterns by reading Genesis 1.  Lets talk about light in Genesis 1 and where it came from!   God is defined to us in the Bible as “light” where no darkness exists (1 Jn 1:5).  Using this information we can go and look at Genesis 1:2 and see that there was no light found to be present on the earth and darkness covered the face of the deep.  However, remember that the Creator God was called a spiritual light and He definitely pre-existed in heaven before creation took place.  In Genesis 1:3 God said “Light Be” and light then came into existence within the natural realm.   What was this natural light patterned from?  If God was the spiritual light found in heaven, then it must have been patterned after God.  How do I know that?  Well if you read the end of the book you will see in Revelation 22:5 that we will have no need for the sun, moon or stars or even candles because God will be our source for eternal light again.  What I have tried to demonstrate is how light had to exist in the spiritual realm first, and was then made manifest in the natural realm from a pattern of the spiritual dimension and then will again finally be transferred back into the completed spiritual realm of light in the end with no need for the natural anymore.   Did you understand that?  It is so important that you fully grasp these cycles of repeated pattern concepts.

What we are trying to do in this introduction of the subject is to establish that patterns were created by God for us to learn about hidden new spiritual things from the Heavenly.  Spiritual Light had to eternally exist in heaven originating from God prior to the creation of the natural light here in this dimension.  God in heaven had to be their only source for light because that is how it will end up in the end.  Do remember what Jesus said?  Jesus said “I am the alpha and the omega, the beginning and the end” (Rev 1:8).  Jesus was saying that how it was in the beginning is how it will end up at the end because the Lord changes not (Mal 3:6).  We also learn from reading in Ecclesiastes 1:9 that God says “the thing that has been is that which will be again…”  In this verse God claims there are repeated patterns.  Therefore what pre-existed in heaven has now come into existence on the temporary earth in natural terms and after this age is completed the spiritual light of God will again be our only source for light.

I pray that we all understand these essential concepts.  We have just learned based upon the verse in Revelation 1:8, Malachi 3:6 and Ecclesiastes 1:9 that how it was in heaven before the earth’s existence is at the least potentially how it is designed by God to be in the end and if not, then God has changed and must have lied to us in His word.   So let me ask you this “Which came first, the spiritual or the natural”?  If you answered the spiritual you would be correct.  Then let me ask you “How will it end up”?  Do you understand what I am trying to teach here today in this introduction?  It is very much like the old human question which came first the chicken or the egg?  In this classic human debate, people ask how can a chicken arrive on the earth without coming through an egg?  Then the argument goes into a circular debate, how then did the egg get here without a chicken to lay it?   What people fail to understand is that there was a more intelligent God than they are that was also involved in the entire process.  That is a key point to remember in reading the rest of this lesson series.  This more intelligent Creator God has some pretty amazing things hidden in the Bible that reveal many of the answers to the questions that we have all had at one time about things in the Bible and in the world around us.

I hope that you are beginning to see some new patterns revealed in the Bible how God teaches us that certain specific things existed in heaven before they ever existed here on the earth.  Perhaps I should regress and speak briefly about what humans use patterns for in our natural world.  A seamstress will use patterns to create new dresses, shirts, pants, or other pieces of clothing.  Each usage of the pattern replicates the original design using whatever fabric or customizations that are desired to produce the final product.  To the untrained eye it is often difficult to recognize several products that come from the same pattern.  However to the expert it is usually obvious.  This is exactly how the Bible is also, what I see as an obvious pattern will often be overlooked by a novice Bible student.  Where do you think man learned the use of design patterned concepts in what they create in the natural?  Since man was made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26) it is clear to me that what man does that is successful and beneficial here in the natural must have originated from what God has previously done in the spiritual.  People use patterns in almost every manufacturing and building process.  It is a dominant business working model and best practice for success.  Therefore, learn the lesson of patterns because I will be talking about them a lot in this lesson series.

I could give you many other verses to help establish the pattern truth in the Bible, but I am going to skip most of these verses to keep this lesson manageable and give you a couple of examples that are directly related to what I am trying to teach about this subject on the spiritual family of God.  Begin today in this lesson by understanding that God created the natural things found in this world to give us insight into the unseen pre-existing spiritual things.  What God created and how God created it reveal things that have been hidden since the foundation of the world.  Another way to say this is that God created natural things as a vision, or view or a window into the unseen spiritual dimension.  Here is a verse that might help you to better follow what I am saying:

Rom 1:20  For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse:

This is an amazing verse of truth being presented to us from God.  It speaks clearly and directly about the things that God created in the beginning.  God said that the hidden qualities of God can be clearly observed within the views of our current natural creation.  This would include the design, the components, the systems, the laws, the organization and the structure of our planet, the world and the universe around us.   That is some highly informative information.  God says that you can look around you and find the hidden characteristics of God in the things that surround you everywhere.  This of course does not mean that we worship creation and ignore the Creator and that is what many in the government, Hollywood and TV do.   What God is telling us in this verse is that the most isolated men in the darkest, deepest parts of the world who have never heard the Gospel preached are without excuse.  Meaning they could easily find God, if they only looked closely around them and saw Him.  This is technically only possible if the natural realm contains patterns from the spiritual realm.   In the book of Hebrews chapter 11, God speaks to us about Enoch who walked with God and was taken because of his extreme close relationship with God.   Let’s read this verse and then consider what it teaches us:

Heb 11:5  By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

Did you ever think and consider that there were no preachers, no churches, no Bibles, no witnesses to the truth and nobody to talk with to confirm that there was a God when Enoch was alive?  If you do the calculations from the dates and times of birth you will find that even Adam had died when Enoch was taken up to be with God.  Thereofre, even Adam who talked with God in the garden was no longer avaliable to consult on the existence of God.  In fact in John 6:46 Jesus teaches us that no man including Adam and Enoch had ever seen God directly.  How then did Enoch find this God and know Him so very well?  I think that is a really good question to consider.  Is this type of relationship with God still possible today for men to know God in this level of intimacy that God still takes us up?  If you did not know it, it will happen very soon again and you could be possibly left behind like those in Enoch’s day.  I believe it is possible for you to know God exactly like Enoch knew God and even greater!  So let’s get back on the subject of God’s Spiritual Family Structure and prove this concept using the Bible that God had one of these in heaven.

Mat 10:25  It is enough for the disciple that he be as his master, and the servant as his lord. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebub, how much more shall they call them of his household?

Here in this verse in Matthew, Jesus is speaking to the disciples.  This verse has great information within it, as long as you do not overlook what it says.  Jesus is calling himself the Master and the Lord.  He then tells the disciples that if the Jews said that the Master of the House is “Satan”, how much more will the servants and the members of the household be also called “Satan”.  There are two very important key words found in this verse of scripture.  First, is the word “master of the house” and this Greek word means the “Head of the Family”.  Jesus is the Head of a New Family of God.  The next key word is “household”.  This Greek word means “relatives” and those that live in the same “house”.  It implies a close relationship between the “Head of the House” and those who are part of His family.

So apparently God does have a spiritual family, with family members, relatives if you please that live in the same house.  These relatives are us, the church now and here is another important verse that confirms this statement of truth:

Eph 2:19  Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;

We can clearly see two contrasting groups of people being spoken of in this verse.  One group of people are called “strangers” and “foreigners”.  Have you ever been to a family reunion and not known some of the people there?  Usually you know everyone that is present at the family reunion.  However, if you come from a really big family you might sometimes not know every new child that is born since the last time you have gotten together.  Then other family members marry new spouses and the family continues to grows and it can be challenging to keep track of everyone all the time.  Nevertheless, what would you call someone who just shows up at your family party that no one there knows?  They would be called a stranger to everyone.  This was the exact way of God’s spiritual family when we were not saved, we were once foreign strangers to God’s spiritual family.  Until we were saved, we were not members of that spiritual family, so something must have occured for us to be known by God’s family.  This verse in Ephesians ends with a statement that we (the church) are now in the “household” of God.  Again this Greek word, means that we are now a member of the family and even a close relative of the same family or household.  Something changed or happened to put you into this family of God.  Do you remember what that was?  If you do not you are in trouble.  If you have not been saved, you are not a member of this spiritual family.  These verses imply that not everyone will be saved, so those that teach Universal Salvation have a major theological problem that they must just ignore.

Now I am going to introduce you to a verse in the Bible that I have already alluded to.   Maybe you did not realize it, but Jesus has establish a New family of God.  Why do I say that?  Because the Bible seems to imply that the Old family of God had some significant problems with it.

Heb 3:6  But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.

Here we have another important verse that has great revelation if we choose to see it.  Jesus Christ the risen Son of God is said to be the head or master of a new spiritual house (family).  Did you know the Hebrew word for Son (H1121) is “ben” and it literally means a builder of the family name?  Therefore, Jesus being a Hebrew walked the face of the planet and called Himself both the Son of God and the Son of Man.  What we discover from this new information is that Jesus is a unique product combination and the manifestation of a son from two separate and distinct dimensions.  One dimension was spiritual (Son of God) and the other dimension was physical (Son of Man) and Jesus embodies both of these realms simultaneously as a qualified Family Builder and name extender.  Wow, I do not really know if you heard  what I said but it was important.   Therefore, only Jesus was capable of rebuilding a new family and restoring the natural family of Adam after he sinned and the spiritual family of God to create a brand new family that consists of chosen select members of each of these previous dimensions, while omitting and leaving out those that God does not desire in.  That is very tricky and extremely intelligent, if you ask me.

Did God have a pre-existing spiritual family before the creation of Adam and Eve?   Did this family have a wife?  Was God her husband?  Who were the spiritual children in the previous Family of God before the creation of Adam?  What we must do is look at Revelation 20, 21, and 22 and see that if God has a bride and children there then He must have had those also before our world began or God has changed and we know that is not possible.  There are so many questions to consider and answer.  The Bible reveals a lot of information on this subject and I will continue it in another future lesson.   Thanks for taking the time to read and study the Bible with me and I pray that I helped you to see a new spiritual perspective of an old familiar subject.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading this series, please click here “Part 2“.

I Said Ye Are gods! Understanding Hard Sayings to Accept In the Bible!

(Ver 1.3)  This is “Part 1” of a series of lessons that I am doing on “Understanding Hard Sayings” found in the Bible.  The Bible is full of many difficult and hard things that we wrestle to wrap our limited human minds around.  God says some things in the Bible that are extremely hard to accept by a lot of people.   Most of the time, Christians read a difficult saying in the Bible and just ignore it, because they do not know how to explain it.  Heaven forbid that we just read a Bible verse and accept it for what it says!  Hardly ever do you hear a preacher teach on any of these hard things found in the Bible and when they do they usually attempt to excuse them or explain them away as something that they do not say.  I do not know if they are afraid of these verses or just do not want to take the chance of offending anyone so they just steer away from all of the controversy.  I could give you many examples of this in the Bible, but I’m going to go into one that is extremely controversial in most religious circles and one that is hardly ever mentioned in any church.  Human reasoning has attempted to say that man is a nobody and a worm of a being.  Many think that man is a being of very low order and importance in the spiritual chain of command or you might call it symbolically, the spiritual food chain.   I have heard many ministers get up and teach how unworthy we are and how we are nothing and that we can do nothing.  Yet the Bible does not seem to indicate this at all.  I would say from what I read that it actually says the opposite. 

Let me start by asking you a question that I have thought of and maybe you have also.  If man was so unimportant and low in the spiritual food chain, why did God have to come to the earth in person to pay for our sins with His own blood and life?  I mean that is an amazing question to consider.  Couldn’t God come up with some other way or plan to fix the sin problem of the human race?  God of course is the “Most High” in the spiritual food chain.  There was and still is no one higher than God and yet He chose to come to the earth in the flesh.  Were there not anyother sinless beings in heaven?  Couldn’t God have sent someone else?   Let me ask you was there anyone else that could have accomplished what God wanted and needed to accomplish with Jesus Christ?  I do not think there was anyone else, but I can’t tell you all of the reasons why in this lesson.

Here is today’s key controversial Bible verse and it is Jesus speaking to the religious leaders in Jerusalem.  Let me tell you what is happening within the context of this verse so that you will understand it a little better.  In this chapter of John, the Jews are speaking with Jesus and they are very upset and angry with Him.  They ask Jesus to tell them plainly if He is the Messiah or not.  Jesus tells them they do not believe the works that He does in his Father’s name so they would not believe if He told them anything else.  They claim that Jesus has just blasphemed against God because He has called Himself the Son of God and they begin to pick up stones to kill Him and this is what Jesus says to them in this chapter 10 of John:

Joh 10:34  Jesus answered them, Is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are Gods?

What do you do with a statement like that?  It is truly a difficult saying to accept.  You can clearly see why it has been so vastly ignored, like it is not in the Bible.  I think most people just think Jesus didn’t know what He was talking about or Jesus must have lied.  Surely He didn’t mean exactly what He said?  How can men be gods?  To hear people preach you would think that we were the lowest of the low.  It would be impossible for most religious people to think of themselves in these terms.  Do you think Jesus would say that again if He was standing in front of you in the flesh and you asked Him to?  I have to admit that I struggled with accepting that statement.  After all Jesus did not say it to me personally, or did He?  You see once I realized that the Bible was written to me personally as a love letter and a guide or handbook for every human, then I looked at this Bible verse a lot differently.   This is probably the greatest challenge most Christians are faced with.  To read a Bible verse and claim it to be true for Me and You!  As long as you read the Bible in an impersonal and indirect way like it was written for someone else and not you, you will never accept what it really says.

Let me briefly focus on the Greek word translated as “gods” in this verse.  Because it is a very important word to understand.  This Greek word G2316 is “theos” and it means “supreme deity”.  It is used in the N.T. over 1000 times and mostly for the name for our “God”.  Why would God use the exact same word to describe us as He uses to describe Himself?  I find that a fascinating question to ponder.  I believe it reveals more than we can possibly imagine.  It is beginning to change my perspective considerably on where man was created on the spiritual food chain, but we will need to research and study in order to find the truth. 

Did you know that Jesus only taught things that He learned in the Old Testament Bible?  Jesus would walk around and teach things that He found from reading the Hebrew books of the Law.  These books were given to them by God and they contained the laws of God.  So once you realize that Jesus only spoke things that He learned in the Old Testament you begin to realize the significance of the Word of God.  Jesus placed a very high priority on what was written in God’s Word.  In this verse in John, Jesus was speaking to the Jewish leaders who knew the law.  Jesus asked them a very simple question and one that could easily be verified.  Jesus asked them “Is it not written in your law?”  You see in this chapter the Jews were accusing Jesus of calling himself the Son of God and they called it blasphemy.  But, Jesus responded to their accusation with a simple verifiable question.  Doesn’t your Law say that you are gods?  In other words God had called them gods a long time before Jesus said He was the Son of God and they ignored it like religious people still do today.   Do you see the parallels found in our churches today?  Do you see the religious patterns still prevalent in the minds of religious people today?   Here is one of the verses that Jesus heard read from their law and Jesus learned this verse in their temple so they could not deny that it was written there:

Psa 82:6  I have said, ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High.

In this verse in Psalms Jesus was taught that the Most High God called men gods.  If Jesus could read and see this verse in the Bible, how is it that the religious leaders of the day did not understand what they had read in their own law?  Did God blaspheme when He called men gods?  This verse further goes on to call all men and women the children of the Most High.  That means they were all called the sons and daughters of God before Jesus said He was the Son of God!  If Adam was created a son of the most High God what does that make Adam?  You see now we are getting into the problem that religious people have with all of these types of verses in the Bible.  If Adam was a son of God that would make Adam an older brother of Jesus in the natural realm.  That causes many people to choke when they hear me say that.  You see I did not say Adam was God or “the Son of God”.  Adam was just a child of the Most High like this verse tells us clearly.  I certainly know how difficult the Bible is to understand and how complex it can get.  I have had people say to me that I am giving you my opinion on what the Bible says.  When someone says that to me, I know they do not know how to read or either they read it, but don’t want to see what it says.  I rarely give you my opinion about anything.  My opinion is not worth a dime to anyone, including to me.  I could care less about my opinion.  I am really only interested in what God’s opinion is and if you are not doing the same, you need to go to some other book and study it.  If you are not interested in learning what the Bible says, you should be reading someone else’s blog. 

I also want to speak of the Hebrew word translated as “gods” in this verse in Psalms.  This word is again a very importan word found in the Bible.  The Hebrew word H430 is the word “elohiym” and it is used over 2000 times in the O.T. for the name of God.  Again we have the same confirmation that God is calling us gods by direct name association.  That places such vast importance upon this subject that I cannot even describe it fully or begin to fully comprehend it all.  Let’s briefly consider some more scripture from the book of Psalms:

Psa 8:4  What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him?

Here is an interesting question that many people are asking today.  Who am I and why am I here?  This verse asks why is man on this planet?  And why did God have to come in person to visit us in the flesh, by the man called Jesus Christ.  So here is God’s answer to the question of why we are here:

Psa 8:5  For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels and hast crowned him with glory and honour.

Wow, more words religious people choke on.  You see in this verse it has a grossly mistranslated Hebrew word.  The translators were clearly choking on what it said in their minds and changed it to something else they thought was safer.  The Hebrew word translated as “angels” is the same word “‘ĕlôhı̂ym” that is normally translated as a name of God.  This verse in the original Hebrew is calling Adam a little bit lower than the Most High God.  A little bit means a very small peck down the ladder and not a vast expanse of difference.  Man was made a little lower than God and he fell down below the angels when Adam sinned.  This verse says that “Man” was crowned.  To be crowned means to be given “royal authority” and “sovereign authorization” or “power”.  The term to be crowned with glory and honor is very significant and implies many good things were given to man by God.

Psa 8:6  Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet:

These verses are an outstanding conformation for what God said to man in Genesis 1.  Man was given “dominion” over the works of God’s hands.  What were the works of God’s hands?  It was everything that we can see or touch that is around us.  To have “dominion” means to rule over, have authority over, to be in control of and to make decisions for.  It implies that man was to take care of what God had given to us.  It means that we were responsible to guard it and to keep those out that were not suppose to be here.   It means a lot of things.  It is like the United States government has “dominion” over the 50 state country.  It is responsible to take care of it, protect it and defend it.

Psa 136:2  O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth for ever.

Here we have another verse that is often ignored.  Who is the God of gods?  We can easily recognize this to be our Most High God!   However then who are the gods that He is God of?  That  becomes a mystery to many people.  To make us those individuals would never cross the minds of the religious thinkers.  However, I believe God is saying that we are those people called gods.  Again God calls us gods in a remote verse of the Bible that is widely overlooked.

So YOU and I are NOT the Most High God, but yet we were made in His image and likeness and we have His nature.  We do not have His Power or His ability, but yet for our lives we do have control of our own destiny.  You see we do have some power, we have the power to choose right or wrong, we have the power to choose life or death, we have the power to choose between heaven or hell and that is a lot of responsibility that many are taking too lightly.

So if God and Jesus called men and women gods, who am I to argue?  Who are you to say you are not?  I think some day people will stand before God and find out they had more responsibility than they realized to what happened to them.  I believe that God expects more out of us than you can imagine right now.  I don’t know if this will happen before Jesus returns or not for I do know the time we have left on this earth is very short.

It bothers me when people blog and at the end of their blog they ask people a question like what do you think?  When bloggers do this, they imply that what others think matters.  I think that many times people are just trying to encourage comments and I guess that is OK.   However, just as I am not interested in my own opinion, I am not interested in your opinion either.  If you know a Bible verse that would directly contradict anything that I just said, I would be very interested in hearing about it.  I am NOT God and I DO NOT know everything.  So I like to learn new things if they are legit things from the Bible.  If you just struggle with accepting the Words of Jesus, I suggest that you take up your questions and comments with Him and not me, because I was not the one that said it.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading in this series about Hard Sayings Explained in the Bible, please continue with “Part 2“.

Proverbs 1:22-23: I Will Make Known My Words Unto You!

(Ver 1.2)  I will continue to talk about Unity and the Keys to Understanding today.   Today I want to explore verses found in the book of Proverbs.  Proverbs contains a lot of the Wisdom of God.  It was written down by Solomon, the son of David the King and Bathsheba.  God used Solomon to give us many valuable spiritual truths.  I’ve heard several ministers recommend that we should read from the book of Proverbs on a daily basis to gain the wisdom of God.  I believe, that by renewing your mind to God’s wisdom you will be able to make better choices and decisions in this life.  Today I want to discuss the process that God uses to make His Word known to us.  We will begin with the first chapter of Proverbs and verse 22:

Pro 1:22  How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?

Who are these simple ones that God is talking to in this verse?  If you did not know that was you, you are already deceived into thinking too highly of yourself.  People on the earth are the simple ones that God is talking to.  It doesn’t matter how many degrees that you have or how many universities that you have attended, God calls you a simple one.  According to God, people love simplicity.  They want everything served up fast in a simple neat package to them.  However, God is not a part of your simple box concept.  You may want God to come down to your simple level and He might for awhile to help you.  However, God wants you to come up higher and to see and understand the more complex subjects found in God’s Word.  The implication given to us in the beginning of this verse is that God’s word is not simple.  I have heard many try to make it simple and reduce it to a human level of intelligence, but they were mostly just confused in what they thought God said.  There are many complex spiritual truths in the Bible and these are not always presented in simple terms using simple methods.  However if you learn this fact, you can at least become aware of what to look for.

Proverbs 1:22 says that fools hate knowledge.  I have seen a lot of fools in the world today.  We are in fact raising a generation of fools.  It has been rare for me to run across a young person that is truly hungry for the knowledge of God.  There are just so many distractions in the world today.  Television, movies, games, electronics, music, concerts, the internet, entertainment, sports and on and on I could go.  It would appear that words on the pages of the Bible are the last thing that anyone would really want to spend time with these days.  There are a huge number of distractions that keep young people’s mind off of anything that is productive or valuable.  School is the last thing that most of them would call fun.  But, God said fools hate knowledge.  Knowledge involves learning,  Learning involves hearing.  Then when you throw in understanding on top of all of this, that is beyond the mindset of any modern teenager.

Pro 1:23  Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you.

Here is a key to knowing and understanding God’s Word.  It involves you doing something after God does something and then God doing something in response to what you have done to solve the problem.  This is the way God works in most normal cases in the Bible.   God offers man reproof or correction and people are required to “turn”.  Notice that unless you turn, God will not do anything else.   If you think He will, you would be wrong.  So you knowing anything from God will involve you turning.  To turn implies a correction in your course and action.  It could be a new way to think about something.  It definitely involves you changing.  I believe this is a continual process within life.  Since God rarely gives us very much information at one time, we may need to make many course corrections as we continue our walk with God.

Proverbs 1:23 ends with God making known His Word to us after we turn.  The middle part of the verse says if we turn, then God will pour out His Spirit upon us.  So we can clearly see and understand that in order to know God’s Word it will take the Spirit of God to reveal it to us.  From these two verses in Proverbs I have learned several spiritual truths and I will list them again for you to see.  Here is my TOP 10 List of THINGS I LEAREND FROM Proverbs 1:22-23:

  1. The Bible is NOT SIMPLE!
  2. The SIMPLE DO NOT Understand the BIBLE!
  3. FOOLS do not want to Learn the BIBLE!
  4. God offers ALL of US Reproof!
  5. We MUST Turn and make Changes in order to Learn!
  6. IF WE CHANGE, God WILL then Pour Out His Spirit Upon US!
  7. The BIBLE Contains HIDDEN and CONCEALED INFORMATION!
  8. God will MAKE Known these Secret Things to ceretain individuals that qualify.
  9. Only With God’s Help Will We KNOW and UNDERSTAND God’s WORD!
  10. Understanding the Word of God is CONDITIONAL!

I do hope that you can see and understand what these verses are telling us.  In order for the Body of Christ to come into unity we will require God’s correction first.  We WILL have to HEAR God’s correction.  We will need to be OPEN to change.  Then we will need to CHANGE.  God will pour out His Spirit upon us and then we will all KNOW and UNDERSTAND the Word of GOD!  It is not a long process, but it is a process none the less.  People will need to put down their ego’s and become open to correction.  Accepting reproof is not easy for anyone.  Admitting you were wrong and changing will certainly be another challenge for others.  What God is informing us in these verses is, that it is more up to us than it is up to God on how much we understand in the Bible.  Understanding the Word of God is conditional.  If you think UNDERSTANDING is automatic you will never achieve it.  God is FAITHFUL, so He will do His Part, NOW YOU DO YOUR PART!  God Bless!

Who Sinned This Man or His Parents? John 9 Part 3 Understanding the Spiritual Heart of Man!

(Ver 1.2)  This is now  Part 3 in this Bible series on understanding the subjects of Night and Day and the spiritual heart of man and this will be different than anything that you have ever heard before.  If you have not read from the beginning of this series I would suggest that you go back and start with “Part 1“.  Today’s lesson wa a revelation that God taught me almost 20 years ago, when I was working for a small software company.  I had a co-worker that had graduated from a large seminary and he was a very confused individual.  For someone who could quote a large part of the Bible, he understood practically none of it.  He even studied the Hebrew and the Greek and still knew nothing of who God was or what He said in His Word.  He was a prime example of a man with two good eyes that could read but who couldn’t see what the words meant.  God and I tried to help him and teach him the truth, but he did not want to see it.  It is funny how God does things, especially for people who trust in their own ability or their own wisdom.  God will most of the time send some lowly nobody that does not fit the pattern that they esteem or hold as valuable.  You can recognize this was the same problem that the Jewish leadership had when Jesus walked among them.  Most of them looked down on Jesus as a nobody man from Nazareth and he certainly did not fit their inner circle of self appointed importance.  So what did they do?  They crucified their God and their creator.  They did not recognize the one that gave them their Holy Book of the law.  Even though this book contained so many verses that pointed them to Jesus, they did not see it.  I hope you are not like any of them.  Look for foolish things sometimes as a source for the greatest wisdom and you will more than likely see it is from God.

So today I am going to talk about spiritual blindness from a familiar story found in the Bible in John chapter 9.  In this story Jesus is said to heal a physically blind man.  My seminary co-worker told me that this chapter proves that God causes some people to be sick, so that Jesus could heal them.  That was a very confused interpretation and from what God showed me a clear misunderstanding of what this chapter was about.  People read and see what they want to see.  The seminary graduate was looking for verses that proved God caused some people to be sick for His glorious purpose.   It was very sad to see people treat God with such disrespect.  According to him, God would do something so perverted and illegal in the eyes of our court system that if tried, He would have to be found guilty and thrown into jail as a child abuser.  Let’s start reading this story starting with verse 2:

Joh 9:2  And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he was born blind?

In this verse the disciples asked Jesus a difficult question.  It is apparent that the disciples believed that sickness came as a result of someone’s sin so they asked Jesus as they passed by a blind man, who sinned?  This man or his parents to cause him to be born blind?  So here is the answer that Jesus gives to their question:

Joh 9:3  Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that the works of God should be made manifest in him.

Here is where you need to start to pay attention to what is said very closely, for Jesus does answer their question, but not the question that they had in their mind.  Jesus told them “Neither this man sinned, nor his parents; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him”.  You may  recall that the Bible says in Roman 3:23 that ALL have sinned and come short of the glory of God, so we know Jesus is not saying these people never sinned.  You see Jesus answered the question that He heard in His mind and not the question that come from their minds.  Do you understand the difference?  If you do you are doing better than most.  The answer was from God’s perspective on the situation.  God’s perspective is always a spiritual perspective first and foremost.  This is an extremely valuable lesson in correct Bible interpretation.  God tells us in His Word, “My thoughts are not your thoughts and my ways are not your ways” (Isa 55:8).  So Jesus, who was God in the flesh was not thinking naturally like they were.  The disciples were seeing a naturally blind man and asking a question about what caused his physical blindness.  But, Jesus was looking at the man’s heart and what caused his spiritual blindness.  The disciples asked a natural question and Jesus gives a spiritual answer.  My co-worker from the seminary never saw it either.  Jesus told the disciples that his spiritual blindness was not caused by anyone’s sin and then starts talking about working the works of God.  Verse 3 is where the seminary graduate said it proved that God made him blind so that Jesus could work and heal him.  But, look at what else Jesus teaches us as he continues to answer their question.  Notice Jesus did not stop talking, but says the following:

Joh 9:4  I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work.

Jesus starts by talking about working God’s work and we will look at that in a second.  But, you see in this verse Jesus starts talking about the spiritual day and night.  This is not the natural day and night that Jesus is talking about.  If you start to realize that Jesus is speaking symbolically of the spiritual day and night then you will begin to understand the rest of this chapter.  Again in this verse Jesus mentions the “work of God”.  Automatically preachers and readers (as well as the disciples of Jesus) think naturally and see the work of God as being a physical healing.  But, let’s continue to the next verse and the final statement in the answer to the question of who sinned?

Joh 9:5  As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

This statement is an incredibly informative verse that is a combination of natural and spiritual things.  You see Jesus was in the natural physical world.  God made manifest in the flesh.  But, then he says “I am the light of the world”.  Did Jesus tell the disciples that he was our Sun that lights our natural day?  Or did Jesus continue to show them a spiritual truth.  I believe Jesus was speaking that He was the spiritual Sun light of the world.  This is exactly why the Bible is so tricky to correctly interpret.  We have a verse that combines natural things and spiritual things and we are given the assignment to figure it out.  This is an example of rightly dividing God’s Word.  Thank God, He helps us.

If you continue reading in the next few verses in the chapter you see that Jesus spits and makes mud from the ground and then rubs it in the blind man’s eyes.  Jesus tells the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam and the man did and it says that the man came back seeing.  So was that all of the story?  Is that where the story ended?  Of course it is not and that is the problem with trying to take one Bible verse and trying to say God made him blind so that Jesus could heal him.  People need to do a much better job of studying and seeing what the Bible says.  According to a lot of preachers I heard this is where the story should end.  They were focused in on Jesus healing the natural man’s blindness and did not see the rest of the story.  What if Jesus healed the man physically and 35 years later the man dies and goes to hell?  Would Jesus have been pleased with giving this man sight for 35 years and him still going to hell for an eternity.  No you see Jesus was focused in on people’s spiritual blindness.  Jesus cared more about the man’s spiritual eyesight than He did about healing the man’s physical blindness. 

So what was the work of God that Jesus was interested in doing?  Was it healing the people’s physical bodies or was that just an introduction to help them to see who they were dealing with.  Jesus gives us a definition for the work of God in this same book of the Bible.  So instead of making a wrong assumption by thinking we know what the work of God was that Jesus was here to accomplish, let’s go find out what God said about why He was here.  If you can find it, this will be an absolutely critical piece of the puzzle.  In order to correctly interpret the Bible you must get God’s definitions for every subject.  Let’s go and find that definition and see what Jesus said was the work of God that He came to do:

Joh 6:28  Then said they unto him, What shall we do, that we might work the works of God?

You see the disciples ask Jesus another question and this time they want to know how to work the works that Jesus was here to do.  Jesus is about to give us the definition for the work of God in his answer and it is not the answer that most are expecting to hear:

Joh 6:29  Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.

Here is God’s definition for work and it is not healing people physically.  Jesus tells his disciples that the work of God that He was here to do was to get people to believe in the one that God had sent.  This of course was Jesus speaking of Himself.  Learning this truth alone changes your perspective on the entire story of the blind man in John 9.  Once you see that Jesus only heals the man physically to get him to see spiritually you can begin to see the true meaning of the chapter.  Now we know what to look for.  We also can begin to understand how Jesus did what he did and why.    Jesus said that the Work of God was to get men to believe in the One that God sent.  So why didn’t Jesus just open the eyes of the blind man and ask him if he believed?  You see the man would not have had any opportunity to believe anything.  Jesus spit and made mud and rubbed it into his eyes to get his attention.  When Jesus told the man to go and wash.  The man had an opportunity to say “what are you crazy, I’m not going to waste my time”.  The man obviously believed something by traveling to the pool of Siloam.   The pool was not that close and the walk to the pool would present many opportunities for the man to question what he was doing.  If he would have doubted and not gone to the pool he would have never been healed.  The blind man had exhibited some level of faith by just obeying Jesus’ instructions.  That is believing in something that you haven’t seen yet.

Let’s quickly review spiritual blindness.  We know from the New Testament that Satan is the source for spiritual blindness.

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

You see in this verse God tells us that Satan who is called the god of this world has blinded the minds of everyone that refuses to believe on Jesus as the Messiah.   Jesus is again called a light in this verse that will shine into the hearts of men who let him in.  But, we can see that is why Jesus could answer in John 9 that neither this man sinned or his parents to cause the man’s spiritual blindness.  It was Satan that caused the man not to see spiritually.  Jesus was answering their natural question with a spiritual answer.

So what happens in this story of the man that was born blind?  How does it end?  The blind man goes and washes in the pool and comes back seeing.  Everyone is amazed and there arises a great debate of the religious minds and leaders of the day.  They question the man repeatedly and bring in his parents and question them.  They have tremendous curiosity of what happened and they are focused in on the fact that Jesus did all of this on the Sabbath.   They call Jesus a sinner for working on the Sabbath and not keeping God’s law.  If they only could see who they were talking about.  Well the conversation and questions continue for many verses and they eventually end up with them casting the formerly blind man out of their church.  I guess it was technically a synagogue, but I just wanted to get your attention.  What did Jesus do immediately after all of this?  You notice Jesus did not show up to defend the blind man or to testify to the religious zealots.  Jesus in effect knew they were not reachable and he did nothing to defend himself either.  Jesus finds the formerly blind man and asks him this question:

Joh 9:35  Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when he had found him, he said unto him, Dost thou believe on the Son of God?

Did you see what Jesus was interested in?  Jesus didn’t ask him about how do you like seeing the world.   No, Jesus said “Do you believe in the Son of God?”  Jesus is dealing with his spiritual blindness and solving the problem of the man’s eternal destiny.   We can finally see the real work of God being performed.   Jesus was interested in getting the man to believe that He was sent from God.  The man immediately asks who is this Son of God that I might believe and Jesus tells him it is the one that you are looking at right now and talking with.  So the man says “Yes Lord I believe” and worships him.  This was a man whose spiritual eyes were opened to know the One True Living God of Creation.  His eternal destiny is established and I plan on seeing him in heaven some day.

The religious leaders of Jesus’ day were spiritually blind, but Jesus couldn’t help them to see.  Real seeing is an act of the human spirit.  Believing in someone that you have only  heard about and have never seen.  This is God talking to you right now.  Do you believe?  I’m not God, but He is using me right now to say something to you.  Believe in Him!

Luk 8:12  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.

Choose to be a believer!

Night and Day Defined! Understanding the Spiritual Heart of Man! Part 2

(Ver 1.2)  This is a series of lessons on a basic spiritual truth that reveals the hidden conditions of the hearts of men and women in the world.  God reveals this spiritual truth using the things created and found in the natural universe.  These natural things are clearly symbolic and represent a far greater spiritual truth.  I am convinced that this is an essential basic truth that every Christian should become intimately familiar with.  This is now part 2 of the series and I would suggest that if you have not read from the start that you go back and start with Part 1.

There is a real man or a real woman inside of the physical bodies of every person on the earth.  These real people are spirit beings that will live forever somewhere after their body dies.  However, most people in the world today don’t know about this fact and are oblivious to this stated reality found in the Bible.    The Bible often times speaks of these spiritual individuals in the hidden terms of the “heart”.  The “heart” of a man is the spirit of the man.  God is not talking about the physical blood pumping organ, God is talking about the center of your being, as in the heart of an apple or the heart of a tree.  The “heart” term used by God is a figurative Bible term and describes the center of a human.  This center of your being is the real you that you can not see.  When a physical body dies, the person’s spirit is immediately transported to one of two possible places.  One place is very good location called heaven and the other one is a very bad location called hell.   The spiritual things are the real eternal things, the natural things are the temporary things (2 Cor 4:18).  God has designed a system in the world that limits humans to a three dimensional realm with specific time constraints.  All of these constraints represents natural boundaries and laws.  When your body dies, you leave the natural realm you enter into the spiritual realm and you normally never come back (2 Cor 5:8).  I have heard of a few people dying and going into the spiritual realm and then they are revived or come back to life in their physical bodies, but I would not put all my eggs in this basket hoping that is what will happen to you.  Many times these people can see in both realms simultaneously.  These people can see the hospital room, the doctors, the nurses, their family and their body but usually they are above all of this looking down on it all.  These people are either sent back by God or God has allowed them to see and experience this in order to tell others that there is more to life than these few years we have on the earth.    So this was a brief explanation of the spiritual realm.

In my last blog I introduced you to a number of scriptures that reveal the hearts of people to be either in darkness or in the light of the knowledge of Jesus Christ.  Darkness and Light are symbolic references and are synonymous terms for Night and Day.  Today we will explore more scriptures found in the New Testament that further enlighten us to these truths.

Isa 9:2  The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.

I’ll start with this prophecy from the Old Testament.  This verse is speaking about Jesus coming to the earth personally walking among us.  This verse calls Jesus Christ the “great light” and that is of course a very significant statement.  In my last blog we read verses that showed Jesus to be the spiritual Sun, the spiritual light of the world.  Just as the physical sun is the source for all natural light on our planet, Jesus is the only source for all spiritual light on our planet.  In this verse in Isaiah the people are described as being in the darkness.  The darkness is caused by something that is blocking the light and causing a shadow.  You do understand the concept of shadows?  A shadow is an area where the direct light is not shinning.  The direct light has been blocked by another object that casts a shadow on the ground.  We were the people in this shadow and this shadow was caused by “death” and Satan.  If you read the New Testament you will find verses that describe Satan as holding the power of death.  So that is why I related the two together.  The Bible says Jesus was made manifest in order to destroy him that had the power over death (Heb 2:14).  So we can clearly see who is causing the darkness in the spiritual realm, it is Satan.  So the term “great light” let’s explore that term to learn more about the spiritual hearts of men.

Gen 1:16  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser lightto rule the night: he made the stars also.

You see in the fourth day of creation God makes a prophetic and symbolic reference to spiritual things that were to come.  God makes the “greater light” AKA “great light” to rule the “day”.  God then makes a “lesser light” to rule the “night”.  These lights are very significant to see and understand for other Bible interpretations.  The “greater light” is the Sun and represents Jesus Christ.  The “lesser light” is the moon and represents Satan.  These two spiritual rulers are over their own separate domains or kingdoms.   The Sun rules the Day (Ps 136:8), the moon rules the night (Ps 136:9).  These separate 12 hour periods represent two different spiritual realms and conditions of the hearts of people.  So the planet earth is a type and pattern of the human heart.  The sun shines on the earth in a constant and consistent manner and the earth revolves and is either in the shadow or darkness or in the light depending on how it is positioned at any given time.  The earth represents the hearts of men that have the opportunity to change and allow the light to shine or to turn away and stay in the darkness.  When Jesus was walking the face of the planet some 2000 years ago he told us this:

Joh 8:12  Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

Jesus made a bold and direct statement that He was the Spiritual Sun, the Greater Light that shined in the world.  Jesus said by following Him we would never again walk in the darkness but always have the “light of life”.  So light represents Life and darkness represents death.  Life and death are very strong analogies and very important to understand.

Act 26:18  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.

We can certainly see what I told you about the hearts of men having to be turned from darkness to light.  It is clearly the responsibility of the men and women to do the turning, God will not force you to turn, but He will help you if you ask.  Then there is another stark contrast given between these two realms.  Satan has the power to rule in the darkness.  To say Satan is powerless would be an error.  But what is important to note is that his power is limited to the realm of “darkness” and the “night”.  If you are in the light you are outside of the realm of his influence and power, or at least you should be.  Satan will still attempt to deceive you and influence power over you until you learn not to let him.

Col 1:12  Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light:

Col 1:13  Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

You see these two spiritual realms being starkly contrasted again.  The power of darkness is where, we the church use to be, but we are now called “saints in light”.  These two spiritual domains are also called different kingdoms.  The Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness.  Again day and night are symbolic references to two separate and distinct spiritual states or places to be.  Even though we walk the same planet with those who are still in darkness we are not of the darkness and darkness is no longer ruling our hearts and minds.  To be in the world but not of the world as the Bible says.

Eph 6:12  For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

So Satan and his demons are spiritual forces that rule the darkness of the world around us.  This verse clearly confirms that Satan is the moon, the lesser light, the ruler of the darkness that we referred to from Genesis 1.  A ruler clearly implies a kingdom, a kingdom of darkness.  Satan has been trying to establish his own dominion and kingdom outside of God since the beginning when sin was found in him.

1Jn 2:8  Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

In this verse in 1st John we are told for those who are in the light that the darkness has passed.  It is interesting to note that when the lights are on you don’t have any darkness.  But this verse also tells us that Jesus is the “true light”.  The Sun of Righteousness has arisen in our hearts and He is shinning a true light that we might see the truth.  It is interesting that the characteristics of the moon is used to describe Satan symbolically.  The moon has no life or produces any light of itself.  The only reason we can see the moon at night is because it reflects or masquerades as an object of light.  The moon is a pretender and shadow caster and a false light.   It is so different than the sun that is the key to the source of our life on this planet.  But as the Bible says, men who love the darkness are deceived by it and succumb to the trickery of the ruler of the darkness.  But here is some good news and hope for those that are in the darkness:

Eph 5:14  Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.

You see God says that those who are in the darkness are simply asleep and capable of waking up and seeing the light.  This is a very strong typology and the spiritual information is significant.  Pray for those in the darkness to wake up and see the light of day.  To turn and allow Christ to arise in their hearts.  Again if people do this they are translated into the light and the life of God.  If they refuse to turn they are already dead.  That is a very sad state of many people in the world today.

There are many other verses in the Bible that speak to us on this subject of Day and Night and I would suggest that you get your Bible search program and look for the key words, like day, night, darkness, light, sleep and any other word that you can think of that are associated with these spiritual realms.  By studying the subject you will better understand why people don’t see Christ like you see Christ.  Why they have been turned off when the light shines in on them.  Jesus told us that “now ye are the lights of the world” so it is our responsibility to be a light to others.  But this should be done in a Godly manner using the same ways that God worked through Jesus.  Learn to be like Jesus and walk like Jesus and you will get others attention by just being so radically different than they are.  Here is a quick chart of some of the lessons we have learned about the spiritual realms of Day and Night:

 Day And Night Characteristics

DAY NIGHT
Light Darkness
Sun Rules the Day Moon Rules the Night
See Blind
Awake Sleep
Sober Drunk
Life Death
Good Evil
Love Hate
True Light False Light
Greater Light Lesser Light
Righteousness Unrighteousness
Power of God Power of Satan

If you would like to continue reading in this series of lessons, you can continue with “Part 3“.

Night and Day Defined! Understanding the Spiritual Heart of Man! Part 1

(Ver 1.4)  This is Part 1 in a series of basic Bible lessons on understanding the Spiritual Heart of Man.  These lessons are some of the essential foundational concepts found in the Bible that permit us to understand many other more advanced subjects found in the Bible.  This Bible lesson today will be some additional information on a subject that I have mentioned before briefly, but these lessons will be a much more in-depth study of the subject.  I have learned from my Bible study that “Night and Day” represents the symbolic spiritual conditions of men’s hearts in the world today.  I of course mean the term men as a form of mankind, meaning both men and women.  This is a key subject to understand because it gives us a new perspective viewpoint into the spiritual realm that we cannot see or perceive with our five  natural senses.  The Bible says God is a Spirit (John 4:24).  The Bible teaches us that no man has ever seen God (1 Jn 4:12).  How then are we on the earth supposed to learn about this God and the spiritual realm that we have never observed?   God actually tells us if we open our eyes to see Him.  God created things in the natural world to give us clues of the unseen things in the spiritual world.  God tells us in Romans 1:20 “The invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that were made”.  So to understand spiritual things we need to recognize how God created natural things to operate.   The Bible informs us that the natural world is a temporary place (2 Cor 4:18).  The earth is a place that will change dramatically in the future eternal dimension beyond time.  But for now you must realize that we live within in the constraints of time and that God has put everything here in this world by design for a specific purpose to teach us about the things we cannot see.  God does nothing by accident and everything that He created hid a view of something we don’t understand.  We of course should also realize because of our human ignorance, we do not completely understand all of the motivations and purposes for everything that God has created.  But, we can at least begin to understand the things that God has taught us in His Word.  So that is what I will attempt to do today to teach you on the subject of Night and Day and what it means in the spiritual realm.

1Co 4:5  Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.

 You see in this verse God recorded a simple truth on the condition of the hearts of people in the world today.  These things are referred to as “hidden things”.  Hidden things are those that we cannot see clearly with casual observation.  Do you understand that anything that was hidden was removed from  our view intentionally by someone?  It is like hiding easter eggs for your children to find.  Some eggs you might place in plain sight but other eggs you might make very difficult to find and that is exactly what God has done with His creation and His Word.   God hiding things is a prevalent themed pattern found in the Bible.   In 1 Corinthinians 4:5 notice that God tells us that these things being spoken of (light, darkness and the hidden things) are matters of the heart of man.  The heart in the Bible will almost always be a reference to the unseen spirits of men and women.  God calls this a state of darkness before we are saved and Christ has entered into our spirits.  We are said to be in a state of symbolic darkness or night.  This of course is only a symbolic reference to a spiritual condition that we are unaware of in our unsaved and ignorant conditions.  Technically unsaved people are spiritually asleep and saved people are spiritually awake and I will try to get into that later since both individuals still have spirits that exist forever. 

2Co 4:6  For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

You see in this verse God tells us about an event that occurred in Genesis 1 on the first day of the creation account.  We can clearly understand from this verse in 2 Corinthians that this event in Genesis was prophetic and had a double meaning.  We know that there are many symbolic and prophetic events in the 1st chapter of Genesis if you have read my many other Bible lessons.  God says that He has commanded the “light” to shine in our hearts and that was described in Genesis 1:3 when God said “Let there be light”.  This light was the knowledge of the glory of God that it says was found in the face of Jesus Christ.  We are told that the face of Jesus Christ shines as the “sun” in Revelation 1:16.

Rev 1:16  And he had in his right hand seven stars: and out of his mouth went a sharp twoedged sword: and his countenance was as the sun shineth in his strength.

You can see in this descriptive symbolic verse in Revelation, Jesus is described as the sun.  We will certainly see many other verse in the Bible that further confirm this fact to us as we continue to study the subject.  The physical sun is one of the key sources for our existence on this planet.  Of course Jesus, the spiritual sun is certainly the key reason for our salvation out of this world.  What we are seeing is a pattern of spiritual truths being revealed to us using God’s created realities.  Those who are in darkness that do not know Jesus Christ verssus those who are now in the light of Jesus Christ.  Here is another very key verse on this subject:

2Co 4:3  But if our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost:

2Co 4:4  In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.

Jesus Christ is described as a light that shines into the hearts of men again in this verse.  This verse also says that people who have not believed on Jesus have been mentally blinded.  Blindness is of course just a symbolic state of darkness.  Darkness will simply be defined as the absence of light.  The absence of light is synonymously just the inability to see the light or it is called blindness.  Have you ever been deep in a cave when they shut the lights off?  I mean you can’t see your hand in front of your face.  This absence of the spiritual Light of Jesus is equated to spiritual blindness.  If Jesus is the light and He certainly claimed to be the light of the world, then Satan has done something to the unsaved world to affect their spiritual ability to see and understand.  God clearly tells us that the Gospel has been hidden to them.  Satan has blinded their minds so that they are unable to understand.  Your mind is just an internal part of your soul.  The soul of man is made up of three parts, the mind, the will and the emotions.  This three part internal component of man is not your spirit.  Maybe I’ll get to that in another lesson, but for now we will continue on.  If you notice Jesus is again implied to be the sun that shines into the hearts of men in this verse.  Here is what Jesus said about light and darkness in the Gospels when He walked amoung us:

Joh 3:19  And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

Joh 3:20  For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.

Joh 3:21  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

In these verses found in John, God is contrasting why people are like they are.  God says that those who are blinded by Satan love the darkness.  These people are incapable of seeing the light because they hate the light.  Whenever, light is presented to them they close their spiritual eyes and refuse to see it or even look at it.  It is a very similar experience to people walking out of a dark theater to suddenly see the brigh sunshine.  It is so bright that they just have to close their eyes.  God’s Word is like that to many unsaved people, it can be presented in ways that are too bright and blinding to people who live in the darkness of this world.  Jesus is talking specifically about this spiritual condition of the hearts of people in these verses.  Even though He does not directly mention the terms of Night or Day, they are certainly indirectly implied.

So we have two conditions of men’s hearts given to us.  Those that are blinded and in darkness and those that can see the light of Jesus Christ.  There is a sharp and distinct contrast given between these two states of the heart.  The difference is literally night and day.   Those in the darkness are called lovers of evil.  Those in the light love the truth.   That would imply that the darkness is a lie or a falsehood.  A false state of being.  A fantasy world of the imagination.  When you start to think in spiritual terms using this analogy you will begin to understand the spiritual realm with much greater clarity.   There are many scriptures that we still need to explore and to see.  Here is a very relevant verse found in 2 Peter:

2Pe 1:19  We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:

We can see in this verse that God is telling us that we who are in the church use to be in darkness, but now the day has dawned in our hearts.  The Day Star of course is Jesus Christ.  The Day Star is a significant reference to the earth’s closest star.   This Day Star represents our sun in other descriptive words.  The natural sun is said to rise in the east and set in the west.  We of course know from science that the sun does not move, but the rotation of the earth causes the sun to appear to rise and set.  It is the movement of the earth that determines the light or darkness we experience in the natural.  The same is true for the spiritual, God is always shining in a constant, consistent ever present way to every human on the earth.  However, men and women choose to turn either to allow the light to come in or turn and keep the light out.  It is the movement of the individual that allows God to shine in their hearts and not the other way.  2 Peter 1:19 says we were this dark place, but that God has commanded the light to shine out of darkness.  However, we still have a choice to make.  It is always a partnership of people receiving what God has given to them.  God will not force the light down your throat.

1Jn 2:8  Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.

1 Jn 2:9  He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now.

1Jn 2:10  He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

1Jn 2:11  But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.

God again contrasts two states of men hearts in these verse found in 1 John.  Those in darkness are contrasted to those in the light.  To those in the light it declares that our nights have passed and the true light of Jesus Christ is forever in our hearts.  However, God tells us a another secret, when He says that there will be some that say they are in the light and who are not.  That is of course a challenge we are faced with on a daily basis in this world.  We cannot see the spiritual condition of someone’s heart.  Someone in church can appear very Godly and Holy and even say some really good things.  But God informs us that what people say is not necessarily what is really in their hearts (Mar 7:6).  Too many Christian make this mistake every day.  It seems that a great number of people in the world made that mistake in the last election.  We had candidates saying one thing that they are a Christian and yet they do everything they can to oppose God’s ways and His Word.  But we can see that God tells us that there is a difference.  It has to do with good vs. evil and love vs. hate.  Those in the light actually love their brothers.  We can clearly see that this state of darkness causes people to be unable to perceive spiritual things and I can see this all over the internet and in people’s blogs and other parts of their life.   I guess I’ll end this post here and continue this subject in my next blog.

If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons on Night and Day you can go to “Part 2“.

The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 2 Identifying the Bridegroom

(Ver 1.1)  It is almost obvious to me that if my primary subject of this series is the identity of the Bride of Christ, that weare talking about a marriage of a woman to a groom.  In every normal Bible marriage there are always two participants, the man and the woman.  This was and is God’s design and definition of a marriage.  We will talk about this in more depth later, but for now I want to continue this series by first identifying the groom using the Bible and the scriptures that speak specifically about this marriage event.  If you have not been reading this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start with Part 1, The Introduction.

In every normal wedding that I’ve ever attended, there are two primary participants.  The bride and the groom.  I did say a normal God kind of wedding.  A male and a female are said to be joined together in holy matrimony.   I thought that in order to establish the identity of the bride of Christ we might ought to start with the basics and find out is Jesus Christ the groom?   This of course shouldn’t be too difficult, but I would guess that some Christians have never studied the subject so they couldn’t tell you if He is or if He isn’t.   Even though I do not like to go through basic theology, we might want to start with something more basic, like who was Jesus Christ was he God or was he just a man?  Hopefully you do know that he was a man, but he was also God in the flesh of a male human.  Jesus was both 100% God and 100% a man.   While I was studying I counted over 30 times just in the book of Matthew that Jesus is referred to as “the son of man”.  Of course the term “son” clearly indicates that he was a male and then the reference to him being a child of Adam is also there.  You might not see that very clearly right now, but it is there and we will probably get into that in more depth later. 

When there are a lot of scriptures on a subject it seems it is easier for people to see what you are telling them.  I think God was making a point and emphasizing it with bold and exclamation points that Jesus Christ was a man due to the number of scriptures that are recorded with this revelation.  So let’s back up again and scripturally establish the deity of Jesus.  There are not as many clear references in the Bible that declare the specific deity of Jesus Christ.  Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any.  Let’s start with one in Matthew the first chapter:

Mat 1:23  Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.

This verse is of course speaking about Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus Christ.  Here we have a very clear reference that he will be called “Emmanuel” which is a Hebrew name meaning “God with us”.  This of course is very controversial in various religions of the world and many of them would certainly deny that God would do something so ridiculous.   It is funny how God uses these foolish things to confound the wise.  So we need at least one more good reference that Jesus was God and I think there is a good one in the first chapter of John.

Joh 1:1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:14  And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

The first chapter of John is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, it is really amazing what it says.  In the very first verse of the chapter it describes God as being “the Word”.  This verse is a parallel to Genesis 1:1.  It just speaks of God in different terms.  If you see what John 1 says, it is almost a paradox, how can the Word be “With” God at the same time that it “Is” God.  It is an interesting theological predicament, much like trying to explain the Trinity of God.  I mostly just accept what it says and believe it just because it says it rather than attempt to explain it.  As you read down the chapter you find an amazing statement of truth in verse 14 about this God called “The Word”.  This verse informs us that “The Word” or “God” was made flesh and lived among us.  The God who has purposely hid himself throughout the ages from our physical view, would take on the form of a human male and walk around like He was just one of us.  That concept boggles the religious mind to no end.  What we can clearly see in this first chapter of John, is the fact that the man Jesus Christ was God in the flesh.  Let’s look at just one more reference in the Bible where Jesus himself makes a statement to some men who couldn’t understand or accept what he was saying:

Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one.

Joh 10:31  Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.

Joh 10:32  Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?

Joh 10:33  The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.

From the mouth of Jesus himself, he spoke and said that God the Father and him were one in the same.  That is an awesome statement of revelation that you need to get a hold of and understand the full implications given.  The men that heard him wanted to kill him and took up stones to do so.  Jesus just asked for what good work are you going to stone me for?  But they said it wasn’t for anything that he did, just for what he said.  They could see that he was a man and based upon what he said they rejected what he told them.  Jesus in affect was saying I am the one that created the universe and you didn’t recognize me.  Jesus was God standing directly before them and they did not see it.  Obviously we can learn a lot from this lesson if we are open.  In another place in the Gospels, Jesus said “If you have seen me you have seen my Father.” (John 14:7-9).  Again, Jesus says He is God.  There are certainly a lot of other scriptures that I could include in this discussion, but I’ll stop there.

We could certainly say more and easily get off of the mainline of the subject, so let’s go ahead and look at verses about Jesus being the bridegroom.  So in every marriage, there should always be a male participant making a proposal to a female, followed by a wedding ceremony.   So who is this bridegroom?  

Later I will take you to an in depth study of Revelation 21 where the angel takes John in the spirit to view the Lamb’s wife.  In this chapter we are given a glimpse and a view into the spiritual realm to see a symbolic woman who is described in elaborate terms.  But like I said earlier it does not say she is ever called the Bride of Christ, it says she is the “Lamb’s Wife”.   As we know from the Book of John only Jesus is ever directly or indirectly called the Lamb of God.

Joh 1:29  The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.

Joh 1:36  And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!

Jesus is seen walking up to John and John stops in his tracks and says “Behold the Lamb of God”.  This is an awesome revelation.  John knew that Jesus would soon suffer and die and be the one time sacrifice for the payment of our sin.  Therefore, we can clearly see the reference that Jesus is indirectly called the bridegroom that will marry the bride shown to us in Revelation 21.  We will certainly get into this in more depth later.   We could talk a lot about the significance of the lamb and in the use of lamb’s blood  right here, because there are a number of significant parallels given to us in the Old Testament, but I will try to stay on target and stick with our primary subject.

Now I want to go through other scriptural conformations found in the New Testament concerning the identity of the Bridegroom.  There are really several scriptures and I will not attempt to include them all for the sake of time and space.  We can see the identity of the bridegroom in the words of Jesus himself speaking to the disciples of John:

Mat 9:14  Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?

Mat 9:15  And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

When the disciples of John ask Jesus why his disciples don’t fast like they do, Jesus replies with a very important, but simple truth.  How can the children of the bride chamber fast when they are with the bridegroom?  The inference is clearly given that Jesus is calling himself the bridegroom and since he was present with them they didn’t need to fast.  He then says there will come a time when the bridegroom would be taken from them and then they could fast.  We can see that Jesus is looking forward to his crucifixion, his subsequent resurrection and his ascension, when he would be taken from this earth.  These words in Matthew 19:14-15 are echoed in Mark 2:19 and Luke 5:34 also, so here we see three specific witnesses declaring Jesus Christ to be the bridegroom.  In fact all of these are quotes of Jesus himself declaring himself to be the bridegroom.  Also, if you look closely at this verse and the specific term “bridechamber” you will also see the implied inference to who the bride is.  If you have been following my other blogs you can also see an implication of the “seed of the woman” by the reference to the children of the bride.  But since we aren’t there yet, let’s look at another witness to the identity of the bridegroom.  We can see that Jesus is again called the bridegroom by John the Baptist in the Gospel of John. 

Joh 3:28  Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.

Joh 3:29  He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.

We can see in verse 28 of John 3, that John the Baptist tells everyone that he is not the Greek word Christ, or the Hebrew equivalent word is Messiah.  However, we now know the identity of the one who John is about to talk about.  Then in verse 29, three times John the Baptist calls Jesus Christ the bridegroom.  This verse actually has more revelation, but that is the primary point that you should accept as a great additional witness.  John’s first statement is concerning the bride and declares that Jesus is the bridegroom that has her.   While John does not directly identify who the bride is, he definitely identifies who the Groom is.  Interesting isn’t it?    The Greek word translated as bride in this verse has the following definition in the Strong’s:

G3565

From a primary but obsolete verb νύπτω nuptō (to veil as a bride; compare the Latin “nupto”, to marry); a young married woman (as veiled), including a betrothed girl; by implication, a son’s wife: – bride, daughter in law.

You can see that this word is related to the Latin word “Nupto” meaning to marry.  We get English words like nuptial from this word.  So clearly we can see the association of a woman that is being married to the Lord Jesus Christ.  This woman must be the bride of Christ.  So who is this woman that is married to the Lord Jesus Christ?  Knowing who the bridegroom is, gives us a firm foundation for us to start an in depth study of who the bride is.  But let’s list some of the basic facts that we have just learned from the preceding verses:

  1. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh
  2. Jesus Christ is a Man and is also called the Son of Man.
  3. Jesus Christ is called the Lamb of God.
  4. Jesus Christ is called the bridegroom.
  5. Jesus Christ is said to have a bride and a wife.
  6. A bride is always a female.
  7. There has to be a marriage and a wedding between Jesus and His bride.

I think these are basic scriptural facts, but yet maybe you haven’t seen them until now.  So knowing these facts we can now explore the identity of the bride of Christ so let us start by researching the subject in the Word of God.  Two questions come to my mind at this point in the study and I think these questions will help us point to where we should go next.  Here are the two questions that I thought of:

  1. What is a marriage in the eyes of God?
  2. What is a woman in the eyes of God?

I believe by focusing in on what God thinks are the answers to these two direct questions that it will help to provide us a firm foundation to the clear identity of the bride of Christ.  In my next blog we will begin to focus on these subjects.

If you would like to continue reading this series, you can go to “Part 3“.

Gen 3:21 God Clothes Them With Coats of Skin!

(ver 1.2)  This is Part 8 in the Bible study series on Understanding Genesis 3.  I have been going through the key verses in Genesis 3 and bringing out many new spiritual perspectives based upon God’s explanations found in verses in other parts of the Bible.  I do not do this randomly because I use a set of rules that God has taught me about correct Bible interpretation.  I will try to teach you these rules later.  If you have not read all of the Genesis 3 series from the beginning I would recommend that you go back and read from “Part 1“.   I believe by looking for related linked scriptures in the Bible we have a better opportunity to fully understand what God actually meant when He gave us these original writings.  I believe the Bible is progressive revelation.   What I mean by that is that God systematically builds upon layers of knowledge in a structured manner that increases our understanding of the beginning words.  It is like reading a basic math book before you ever try to learn calculus.  By learning the basics you can then add to this knowledge and apply it to the more advanced and everything flows together in harmony.   You see the complexity of the Bible is so great because the intelligence of the author is so far beyond us.  But knowing that God is so much smarter than we are, He didn’t leave us in the dark to figure it out all on our own.  God has provided us a vast amount of commentary in the Bible on every subject and in fact I believe He has given us all the information we need to figure out these hidden and secret things, if we learn to follow His Word.

Too many times people teach a verse of scripture in the Bible in total isolation.  They focus into a verse and want to figure it out with their own human logic and reasoning.  But, God being a highly intelligent spirit being doesn’t write us a book that we can figure out alone in isolation.  Even though many men and women have tried, they have all failed miserably. Today I want to focus in on one verse found in Genesis and see what God says to us in the Bible about this verse.  This verse occurs in Genesis 3:21 and it says the following:

Gen 3:21  Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.

I have heard many Bible teachers read this verse and claim that God killed an animal and used its skin to make for the man and the woman external physical clothes.  They have tried to assume that this is the origination of the blood sacrifice.  But I am not convinced that this is what the Bible actually says.  What do we know from other verses up until this point in the story.  We know that Adam and Eve after they had sinned became afraid and told God it was because they were naked.  God confronts them and asks “who said you were naked?”  In other words God did not say they were naked?   From God’s perspective of the situation they were spirits clothed in a body.  But what changed from chapter 2 where Adam and Eve were not ashamed of being naked to chapter 3 where they obviously felt shame and embarrassment.  I went into a little bit of this whenever I wrote about them being naked in chapter 2.  I will not repeat everything here again.  What I said in synopsis is that the man and the woman were more like innocent children who are not concerned with clothing because they are spiritually aware and realize that they are spirits clothed with a body.  At a certain age of accountability, children suddenly become conscious of their bodies more than they are conscious of their spirits.  Now they are focused upon their bodies and wholly consumed with the natural.  This is what happened to Adam and Eve, they are now oblivious to spiritual things and now consumed with natural things.

So did God kill an animal and make them clothes or was this statement reflecting some other action that God did.  First let me start by asking this question, who or what were Adam and Eve that God was concerned with?  You see if you think naturally you focus in on their bodies and think that is what God is focused in on also.  However, God who made these natural things is not that concerned with the condition of these natural things like He is with the spiritual things.  We can determine by reading the Bible that natural things are “temporal” or “temporary” (2 Cor 4:18).   But, we are also told there that spiritual things are eternal.  So what is more important to God, the temporary house of the man’s spirit or the man’s spirit that will live forever?  I do so hope that you are following my logic.  I believe and am convinced that God cares infinitely more about spiritual beings and things than he does about the planet or natural things that He has made.  You see God can make a new heaven and a new earth and He will very soon.  What does that have to say about the old heaven and the old earth?  The Old will be gone and done away with and its value has ceased.  So what should Christians be focused on?  Should they be spending all their time and effort trying to save the whales and the trees or should they care infinitely more about the babies that are being aborted before they are born into this world.  These babies are the bodies for the eternal spiritual beings that God has planned and sent to be here.  For some reason so called Christian want to vote for a president who works against God’s design for them to be here and kill them.  Liberal politicians want to place all value on saving the planet and no value on babies and that is a crime.  Oh well I’ll change subjects and get back to our topic about skin.

What does it mean to be clothed with skin?  If you have never thought of it before that is what you are right here and right now.  You are a spirit that is clothed with a body that is covered with skin.  Skin is the largest organ in the body.  It is a vital part of why you are here.  Now I’m going to shift gears again and bring in a new perspective on the subject of skin.  Did you ever wonder why God initiated a practice with Abraham that started a process that is called circumcision?  This is a practice that most educated medical professionals will agree is a sound procedure that promotes health in the men that have this done.  Circumcision is a procedure that entails the removal of unnecessary skin.  Have you ever asked yourself if this skin is so unnecessary, why did God put it there in the first place?  Didn’t God know this when He was creating a man?  That to me is an interesting and an extremely valid question.  I would go so far as to say that anything that God does has a purpose and this skin also has a purpose.   What was the purpose of this skin?   It was done to show us something or teach us something that applies to the spiritual realm.  When God makes a covenant with Abraham one of the signs of the covenant was Abraham was required to be circumcised.  This was a outward sign of the covenant.  It was also a pattern of something else that was to come.  God gives us some insight into this practice in the New Testament:

Rom 2:28  For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:

We can see from the subject of this verse a comparison is being made between two types of individuals.  It is a known practice that the Jews have practiced circumcision ever since God spoke it to Abraham.  This is the outward sign of the covenant from the Old Testament.  But God now informs us some new things about this practice and why it was implemented.  This verse actually says that those who are circumcised in their flesh are not the true Jews and that this outward practice means nothing except being a pattern to something greater.  By continuing to read the next verse you will see the revelation of God being given:

Rom 2:29  But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

This is an awesome verse of truth if you can see it.  It declares the church to be the true Jews because of a circumcision of their hearts that has been performed by God.  If God removes the unnecessary skin surrounding our hearts (spirits), when did God put this skin on our hearts?  I think that is a really good question to consider.  God declares in Romans 2:29 that he has performed a circumcision of our hearts.  This would be a spiritual surgical procedure which mimics the natural procedure, to remove all of the unnecessary skin that covered our spirits.  This is actually an amazing concept being given to us.  Since we all still have the same bodies that we had before we are saved and they all have the same bones, flesh, organs and skin, we can assume that this outward skin is not what God has taken away.  It must have been an inward spiritual skin that was removed.  Isn’t that what God is saying to us?  God is not that concerned with your outward as you are.   God is focused in on our inward parts and these are the areas that change us to affect the outward parts.  Every spiritual process that God performs works from the inside out and not from the outside in.  So I’ll ask this question again, where did this spiritual skin that has been removed from our spirits come from?  You see I believe it came from Genesis 3:21 when God clothed them (the spirits) with skin.  This skin that God put on Adam and Eve must have been a spiritual covering to shield them from something or someone.  I believe it was a spiritual covering of unnecessary skin to keep them from knowing too much, too soon.  Every human born on this planet has this spiritual covering that makes them unaware of their true identity as being a spiritual being.

However, now God has removed this skin covering from the church and for the last 2000 years, we are the ones that God has stated to know the truth.  We are the ones that will discover all that God has done for us.  We will see things of the spirit more clearly than anyone before us.  We are the church, the body of Christ the ones that are purposely chosen to know what God is revealing.  You can choose to participate or you can choose to close your eyes and stay out of this blessing.  I’ll end this blog with this last point, in the New Testament the church is repeatedly commanded to “put on Christ”.  This is of course a spiritual exercise and not a physical one.  How do you put on Christ?  The term put on means to be clothed with.  Doesn’t that sound familiar.  You see if God removed your spiritual clothing of skin you would be spiritually naked unless you put something else on.  So God instructs the church to “wear” Jesus Christ as a garment.  To invest your spirit with a new spiritual set of clothing.  These are some powerful truths to consider and I hope that you enjoy studying the Bible as much as I do.  Jesus informed us that if we continue in His word, then we would be his disciples and then we would know the truth and then the truth would set us free.  Too many people are looking for God to do what He has already done.  People cry out for God to set us free from this world of evil and temptation.  But God said when you arrive at knowing the truth, then and only then will you be free from everything else.   Apparently there is so much more to learn and understand to obtain this freedom.

If you would like to continue reading in the Bible study series on Understanding Genesis 3 please continue to “Part 9“.

Bible Basics: Recognizing the Voice of God!

(Ver 1.3)  This is a inttoduction to an important Bible subject for every Christian to understand on “How to Be Led by the Spirit of God”.   I generally don’t get into Bible basics in any great depth.  But I realize that there are many people who are new to Christianity so we should try to help them in their spiritual growth.  There are so many people who want to hear from God.  So many people that want to know that God is real.  So many people that want God to speak to them from a cloud or a burning bush.  These people want proof that God exists and that He cares.  However, the system that God has designed is based upon faith.  God purposely hides Himself from our view.  God has not revealed himself to us in order to challenge us to believe in the One that we have not seen.  But that does not mean that God has not spoken to you.  It means only that you probably didn’t know it was God when it happened.  So how does God speak to us?  Why don’t we hear it normally with our outer ears?  We can see that people in the Bible also struggled with this reality and often times questioned God, “Where are you?”.   One significant story that has great meaning is given to us in the Old Testament book of 1st Kings.  Here we have the story of Elijah the prophet in a struggle with the children of Israel who were rebelling against God and His covenant.  Israel would even kill the prophets of God whenever they would bring words of condemnation against them.  They didn’t want to hear about their sin or the error of their ways.  This resulted in Elijah asking God where are you?  How come God who has all power, cannot or will not do anything to stop evil in this world?  It is still happening today and people are still asking the same questions.  We have murderers, terrorists, child predators, and just a multitude of evil at work in the world today.  Why does God not stop any of it?  It is a fascinating question, but since it is not my subject I’ll leave it for another blog.  Today is about hearing the voice of God.  Do you think that God only speaks to a few?  Are there any requirements that are necessary for God to speak to you?  Or could it be that God is speaking and most people are just not listening or just not hearing His voice?  I am a firm believer that God speaks if we will only be quiet and listen.

In the story of Elijah you find some very powerful truths about how God speaks and these can be directly applied to us today.  Let’s start by looking at chapter 19 and verse 11 of 1st Kings:

 1Ki 19:11  And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:

Here we have a statement that declares a pending interaction between the natural and the supernatural is about to take place.  The prophet Elijah is standing before God, but we know from scripture that NO MAN has ever seen God (John 1:18).  So we know that God while speaking to us can not normally be perceived by our five physical senses.  This verse then declares a strong wind comes with great force.  It sounds like a tornado or a hurricane force wind.  But the verse says God was not in the wind.  That should tell you something about who originates these storms.  Then comes a mighty earthquake, but it informs us that God was not in the earthquake.  Today in the news a large earthquake leveled Haiti.  This was not an act of God either.  God was not in the earthquake.     As we continue in the chapter we are given more information.

 1Ki 19:12  And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.

Then comes a great fire, but the Lord God was not to be found in the fire either.   We can see in these verses some of the greatest natural disasters given to us and each time the Bible clearly says that God did not have anything to do with any of them.   It is the mention of these three most destructive forces in our earth system that God teaches us that He is not found in them.  But now we are finally told how God comes to us and to speak.  The Bible declares that God was found in a “still small voice”.   I think that is what trips most people up when desiring to hear from God.  God doesn’t speak to them in a thundering voice that knocks them off of their feet and thus they conclude in error that God did not speak.  I believe most people are looking for the hugely spectacular demonstrations of God’s power and missing the greater supernatural small things that God does every day to help them.   You see when God says something to you, it will be easily overlooked and easily ignorable.   Why, because God does not interrupt or do things in a rude or obnoxious manner.  God is the ultimate gentleman.  God will normally always wait for you to get quite enough to hear before he actually says anything.  Then He will normally only speak to you in a really quite whisper.  Many times if you are a Christian you will find this voice originating in and near your heart or the center of your spiritual being.  Sometimes these words will rise up to your mind as a thought.  Many times you will wonder where did that come from?  God might tell you not to take a certain flight today.  God might tell you not to take a certain way home today.  God might tell you to slow down and drive 10 miles an hour slower.  These are all just small examples of God trying to keep you out of harm’s way.  God knows that an accident will occur at a specific time and place, because of a drunk driver and if you only turn one block sooner than normal you would miss it.  The problem is people don’t understand that these things are from God and they ignore them and follow their own agenda and normal routines.  Then when they are laying in the hospital they ask God why did you let this happen to me?  Most of the time if they would just think back and analyze what they were thinking before it happened they would understand that God was trying to stop it.

Too many times people are wanting some spectacular sign.  They want the earth to open up or the clouds to part.  They want a bright light to shine down from heaven or an angel to suddenly stop them from getting hurt.  Most of the time God refrains from the spectacular demonstrations of His power, in order to get you to hear this quite whisper.  If you learn that this is God’s Modus Operandi, you could possibly be saving your life from a tragic outcome.  Evil has a covenant right to be in this world, until the time comes when Adam’s allotted time period expires.  We are truly almost there, the end of the age is very near.  I hope you will begin to pay close attention to the still small voice and then learn to obey it.  Many times it is called intuition.  Just a knowing, that I should do this and not that.  Other times it will be a whisper to do this.  Learning to hear from God involves you learning how God speaks.  Then it involves you learning to listen.  These are valuable truths that will help you tremendously if you learn to recognize and follow them.

If you would like to continue reading about How to Be Led by the Spirit of God you may go to “Part 1” in the series.

We Are God’s Garden! God’s Farm System for Spreading the Word!

(Ver 1.1)  This is now “Part 4” in the Bible study series on Genesis 3.  Today will be a different perspective to the study of the Garden of Eden.  If you have not read the lessons from the beginning I would recommend that you go and start with “Part 1” first.  I believe today’s modern families miss out on the concept of farming and raising your own food to eat.  In our modern society, if we are hungry we go the restaurant or go to the grocery store and everything is nicely packaged and easy to buy.  Less than a hundred years ago, people normally didn’t have it so easy.  Many people grew up on farms that planted crops that not only fed them but were used to sell to others to earn a living.  The modern farm has everything heavily mechanized and machines take the place of what use to be done by hand.  These large corporate giants have eliminated the need for people to grow their own food to eat and have created a population that is totally dependent upon someone else for what they eat.  Someday when the antichrist shows up, he will certainly use this leverage to gain control over the population.

For thousands of years, farming and growing food was the normal everyday life style of the majority of people.  When Jesus was physically present on the earth he taught many lessons using principles found in farming and raising crops.  These natural elements and systems that God had created pointed us to spiritual truths and reveal to us the spiritual principles we are confronted with on a daily basis.  So even though we don’t normally grow our own food these days, it does not mean it is not important to fully understand these concepts.

 1Co 3:6  I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

1Co 3:7  So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase.

1Co 3:8  Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour.

1Co 3:9  For we are labourers together with God: ye are God’s husbandry, ye are God’s building.

The Bible actually declares that God has a garden.  This is obviously not a physical garden but a spiritual garden.  The term translated as “husbandry” in the KJV of the Bible is a Greek word that means “farm”.  This term is referring to a place where things can grow.  These verses in 1 Corinthians 3 are describing to you a farming process, using farming methods.  To clearly understand what is being taught you really need a firm grasp of how farms operate.  I am not an expert, I have learned a few things from some who were farmers so I’ll just hit the highlights of what I have learned.   Farming is a multi step process.  It involves many factors and while it seems simplistic, it is actually very complex to do it correctly.  The ground or soil must be prepared.  It normally involves a process that breaks up the hard surface and turns the soil revealing the parts that are covered.  We can then begin the process of sowing or planting seeds.  There are many ways of planting seeds and the exact method used depends upon the seed that is being planted.  The depth of the seed can vary depending upon anticipated amounts of rain that you are expecting.  The number of seeds per inch or foot can also vary depending on the crop.  Then there is the time factor.  Time is a necessary component to allowing the plant to develop.  The amount of time can vary tremendously based upon the type of seed planted.  Another key factor for planting is the timing or season to plant in.  There are designated times to plant specific crops, some are in the spring, some in the summer and even some in the fall.  So timing is everything in the process of getting a crop.  The other essential element to a successful crop is rain and water.  In 1 Corinthians 3 6, it implies that is what Apollos was doing, even though it was the exact same thing that Paul did, the first one planted, the second one watered.  Too much water is not good and not enough can be detrimental to the outcome.  In these verses it strongly suggests that farming is work.  A laborious task and an extraordinary effort to produce a crop.  But these verses also speak that it is not just one’s effort that produces the crop.  The other factors are the seeds that you are sowing, the timing of the planting, the amount of water the seeds get, the amount of sunshine that these growing plants get, the fight to eliminate pests and creatures that eat you crop before you get to harvest, then there are climate and temperature variations that can cause harm to crops.   The lessons of farming and the implications to sharing God’s Word are phenomenally important.

Mat 15:13  But he answered and said, Every plant, which my heavenly Father hath not planted, shall be rooted up.

How many know that Jesus is not talking about a natural farm crop?  Jesus is speaking of a spiritual crop of people.  Those that belong to God will be harvested, those that do not will be burned.  This verse declares that God has specifically planted seeds into the hearts of men and women.  It also implies there are some plants that God did not plant also.  Where did these plants or weeds come from?  You see in natural and spiritual farming there are a number of  known enemies to the expected outcome.  You didn’t have to plant a thing for these enemies to show up and they are not what you want to grow in your soil.  I noticed I don’t have to plant thistles and wild flowers in my yard, they somehow just magically appear.  Isn’t that amazing?

Lessons from the Parable of the Wheat and Tares

Jesus tells us a parable that has a direct relationship to the Garden of Eden.  In this parable Jesus describes to us a spiritual garden.  This garden is a place that we are told where God has sown good seed and an enemy has come in and sown bad seeds.  We understand from other parables that the good seed is the Word of God.  The soil is the hearts of men and women.  The fruit that is produced from the good seed represents the harvest and the tares are those that will be damned to hell and burnt.  Here is the story that Jesus gives us:

Mat 13:25  But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.

Jesus tells us in this parable that God’s garden has an enemy.  It implies that while God was away from the garden, his enemy came in and sowed tares among his wheat crop.  There is an amazing truth given to us in this verse if you understand farming.  By only looking at the surface of the ground you cannot tell what has been planted.  The wheat represents the desired crop of the seed that God has purposely planted.  But, the tares are the result of the seed of God’s enemy.  We can learn a valuable lesson from just this one verse.  You are wise if you recognize that not everything in the world is intended to help you.  Every false religion and philosophical writing that is out there are the seeds of the enemy. I’ll go so far as to say that every Hollywood movie and non-Christian television show are seeds of the enemy.  I know that went over big?

Mat 13:26  But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.

Jesus then tells us that both of these seeds are growing together, in the same soil, competing for the same water supply, competing for the same nutrients of the soil and existing in the same duration of time.  It is only after some time that you can even tell that both are present.  This process speaks to the power of God as well as the subtly and deceptive power of the enemy.

Mat 13:27  So the servants of the householder came and said unto him, Sir, didst not thou sow good seed in thy field? from whence then hath it tares?

In verse 27, Jesus, describes us, the servants of the householder asking God a question.  This is obviously a great question and one more of us should be asking today.  Where did all of these things come from that are opposed to the truth?   Where did all of these things come from that distract us from what we should be focused on?  Oh well, I guess I will move on.

Mat 13:28  He said unto them, An enemy hath done this. The servants said unto him, Wilt thou then that we go and gather them up?

Jesus reaffirms to us that these weeds are a result of what Satan has done in the earth.  Then in verse 28, the servants ask another question of the LORD.  Many have asked the same question but in different terms.  We have all questioned God why, when something bad has happened to us?  Here we have a bad plant in the garden and what would you normally do with a weed in your garden?  The servants want to know if it is OK to pull up these weeds and get rid of them.  I’ve often times have pondered the same reality in the earth, why after the resurrection of Jesus Christ did God not eliminate evil from the planet.  There must have been a legitimate reason for leaving it here.

Mat 13:29  But he said, Nay; lest while ye gather up the tares, ye root up also the wheat with them.

So Jesus’ reply is No!  Many times in war the Generals are faced with acceptable casualty rates.  Acceptable civilian casualties.  According to God’s philosophy, there are no acceptable loses.  Every plant is important.  If you have ever had a garden you know that pulling weeds can sometimes hurt the real plants that you want to grow.  The roots are many times intertwined with each other.  So if you pull one you may destroy the other. In God’s garden this is not acceptable.  God wants every plant that He can get.

Mat 13:30  Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.

Finally, we see the anticipated end to the world described to us.  To those that teach there is not a hell, I don’t know how they ignore verses like this.  According to Jesus there is a time of harvest coming.  We know from basic farming practices that plants are harvested normally when they become mature.  That is an interesting spiritual concept.  God’s garden will be harvested when it becomes mature also.  This verse in Matthew clearly indicates there is a difference coming, a division into two different groups.  Those that are to be discarded and to be burned and those that are going to be put into the barn.  The barn is a storage facility a home for mature crops.  The analogies and lessons of farming are immensely important.  I have only grazed the surface of the subject so I pray that you continue to research and learn from what God has done in His Word.  I’ll end this blog with this:

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

In this verse in James, our God is called the husbandman.  A husbandman is a term for a farmer.  The Greek word literally means a worker of the land or ground.  The husbandman is the one that harvests what he plants.  He plants, he cares for his harvest, he works the harvest and brings in the fruits of his labors.  These are all farming concepts and methods.  We can see that God who is a spirit has planted a spiritual garden and He expects to receive the fruits of His labors.  So these are spiritual Bible concepts, sow the seeds, water them, care for them and expect God to produce the fruits to harvests.

Now go back and reread Genesis 2 and 3.  See how God plants a garden, what kind of garden do you believe this was?  If God is a Spirit which the Bible declares is accurate then God planted a spiritual garden.

If you are reading and studying in the Genesis 3 series you may continue to Part 5 now.

 

Recognizing that God Uses People

Here is an interesting topic to consider when thinking about keys to understanding the Bible.  One of the keys to understanding the Bible is understanding the systems and methods that God uses in our everyday lives.  The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, so we know that God wants everyone to be saved.  So what is He doing to solve this problem, how does God try to reach people and get them to believe and know Him?  That is a question I think many have never thought of.  God is of course capable of solving the atheist and agnostic beliefs in everyone in an instance of time, by suddenly appearing and proving His existence.   Why didn’t Jesus when He rose from the dead, go to everyone and prove His existence?  Why did He only appear to a select few?  If He would have walked into the synagogue in Jerusalem, every Jew would have had no choice but to believe on the one that they crucified.  There would have been an instant establishment of a kingdom of God on the earth.  There would have been no room for any other religion in the world.  But, God chooses to do things differently.  God has implemented a system based around people.  Throughout the Bible we see that God selected certain individuals to bring His message to the rest of the people.  We can see this in the life of Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc.   Here is a verse that demonstrates God’s system to us:

 Rom 10:14  How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?

 God created a faith based system of beliefs for the human race.  We can see in this verse that it speaks of people calling on God to save them.  But how can they call if they haven’t heard of Him.  No one has ever seen God so we are all in the same boat.  We can clearly see a reference in this verse to the human element in God’s plan of salvation.  We can see that unless men and women preach and teach about God and His ways, no one will be able to hear, no one will be able to believe, and therefore no one will be saved.  The weakest link in the chain is people.  God has left the process in the hands of people.  Those that teach the Word of God have been called by God, selected by God, given the responsibility by God to get His message out.   No man or woman on this planet can save anyone, yet God has chosen a system that is totally dependent upon people who are imperfect and capable of failing.  On one hand you can see that God is either crazy or He has great faith in the ability of His Word to accomplish change in the hearts of men.

 Eph 4:11  And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;

 We can see in Ephesians 4:11 that the verse contains one key repetitive word, this word is “SOME”.  Some means not everybody, it could even mean a few, as in a small percentage.  The key emphasis is that not everyone has the same function, the same level of responsibility, the same knowledge, the same spiritual growth level, the same whatever.  God selected some people to specifically teach His Word.  That implies the rest are responsible to learn what is taught.  If everyone was a teacher no one would need to be taught, no one would need to teach.  If everyone knew everything God wouldn’t need to say anything. 

 So the point to today’s blog is for you to recognize that God uses people.  Just as he did throughout the Bible.  We can see David the giant slayer, Samson, even Saul of Taurus, who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament.  God has always selected specific men and women to get His message out to His people.   This is still happening today, your challenge should you choose to accept it is to recognize those whom God has sent and ignore those that just went.  So understanding the Bible will depend upon you understanding how God works and the systems that He has implemented and working with Him to accomplish His goals and purposes.  I hope this has been a blessing to you.

Genesis 3:1-6 – Does Eating Fruit Kill You? Pt 1

(Ver 2.3)  This is Part 1 in the series of Bible lessons on “Does Eating Fruit Kill You”.  But this is also Part 2 in the series of Bible lessons on the subject of “Understanding Genesis 3”  If you would like to start reading the Genesis 3 series with “Part 1” you may click the link and start there.  Two of the primary themes found in the 3rd chapter of Genesis are man’s response to God’s instructions and the temptation of man to ignore God’s instructions.  If you have been reading my lessons, you probably noticed that I do not stray from controversy and today will be more of the same.  The book of Genesis is full of complex subjects, symbolism and many hidden spiritual truths that challenges us  to figure out what is literal and what is symbolic of a much higher spiritual truth.   Differentiating between the physical and natural things found in Genesis from the spiritual and supernatural things found there is one of the greatest challenges that God has given to us in reading and understanding the Bible.  Over and over I have heard Bible teachers teach that the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were literal physical fruit trees in the middle of a natural garden; real physical trees, producing real physical fruit.  It is a fascinating idea or concept, but one that I believe does not hold water when analyzed by other scriptures found in the Bible.  Too many times people teach the Bible in isolation, ignoring what the rest of the Bible says on the subjects that they are studying.  This of course results in private interpretations based upon very limited information and leads us into confusion.  In order to correctly interpret the Bible we must always follow God’s rules of Bible Interpretation.  If you do not know that God has given us rules to interpret the Bible then you should probably go find out what these are before you do any more study of the Bible.

Well in my last Bible lesson on Genesis 3:1 I feel confident that I proved scripturally that the serpent being described to us was not a literal physical talking snake and that it had to be a symbolic named representation for Satan speaking to the mind of the woman.  You can go back to this Genesis 3:1 blog and reread this article to review that information “Was there a Talking Snake in the Garden?” lesson or just read it for the first time if you missed it to understand the concepts.  So based upon that information, what else in this 3rd chapter is literal and what is symbolic?  We should be able to logically conclude that Adam and Eve were literal spiritual beings in real physical human bodies, but that they were confronted by another liteal spiritual being named Satan that they could not see with their natural eyes.  So we automatically see that God combines physical and spiritual realities in the same story and this makes the information more difficult to understand correctly.    Let’s look at verse 1 again:

Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which the LORD god had made.  And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

So we see Satan speaking a thought in the mind of Eve, questioning the command of God.  Or was it a question?  It appears to me to be a statement of fact.  So many times we want to look at Satan as the father of lies and think that is all he is capable of speaking, but that is definitely not true.  Satan will always use the truth if he thinks it will work to his advantage.  Satan is very tricky and many times he will start with the truth and then twist it or misapply it to get you off of what was originally intended.  You see the truth was that God did make that statement and told Adam that “every tree in the garden was available to him for food”.

Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

Reading this verse in Genesis 2:16, I immediately saw something that the LORD God had taught me about Genesis 3:1.  The term “Every” is another ALL INCLUSIVE statement that omits none.  Again we can see a group association being established.  A set of related items can be associated together by a common name to form a well-known and clearly defined grouping of common items.  We can clearly see that in this grouping by God’s definition is included EVERY TREE that was designed to produce ANY food to be physically eaten.  If the tree did not produce any natural food to eat then it was not in the defined group.  Every fruit tree, every nut tree, every tree that produced any kind of edible food substance must have been included in this one group set.  If it was not on the list in the set then it did not have food on it.  If God said you can eat from EVERY tree that has food on it, then you can certainly see the major conflict and the problem being stated.  Since most Bible teach that the fruit that caused Adam to sin was something like an apple, that interpretation would directly conflict with what God has just spoken to Adam.  Was God a liar or are we not understanding what is being taught to us here?   I’ll vote that we do not fully understand the interpretation that the “Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil” was a physical fruit tree?  Let’s look at the next verse in Genesis 2:

Genesis 2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

You can see the apparent contradiction to the previous statement of God or possibly just a fact that has been missed by most casual Bible readers in that God must have just changed the subject and we missed it.  Instead of talking about natural physical food for the body, God is now speaking about a spiritual food and its impact on Adam’s life span on this planet.  In Genesis 2:17 God is not talking about natural food trees anywhere but changes subjects to symbolic spiritual trees.  I’m sure that you’ve seen the painting of Adam and Eve with the serpent wrapped around a tree and Eve holding an apple.  Do understand the contradiction and the problem we have just discovered?  If it is a literal fruit tree with physical natural food that is good to eat then God LIED!  Since most of you know that it is impossible for God to lie, we must have misunderstood the meaning of God’s statements.  What we can say is that in Genesis 2:16, God is speaking of natural physical food and told Adam that they could eat of every tree that has food on it.  But in verse 17, God changes the subject and most have just automatically assumed He was talking about the same things.  It is a very tricky technique used to conceal the truth in the Bible.  Mix spiritual things with natural things and dare people to figure out the difference.  God said don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will die.   This could not have been a natural physical tree for many reasons.  First, where is this tree today?  Does it still exist?  Did it suddenly vanish from the planet?  Then there is this, in the book of Proverbs it reveals some very strong information about this tree:

Proverbs 18:21 Death and life are in the power of the tongue: and they that love it will eat the fruit thereof.

Uh oh?  We can clearly see another paradox of Biblical proportions.  God tells us how we live and how we die and it is a result of the power of our tongue.   What God is doing is showing you the difference that your spoken words can make in your life.  The human mouth is a uniquely designed opening in the human body.  The mouth takes physical food in, but it also speaks spiritual words out of it.  This is why God connects both kinds of trees together in Genesis 2.  Adam didn’t die by physically eating anything.   It is fascinating that it also speaks of this process as being related to eating fruit, but, this is spiritual fruit and not physical fruit.  Is this a coincidence or is God trying to teach us something about the connection of natural fruit to spiritual fruit.  Isn’t fruit what Eve and Adam are said to have eaten?

Genesis 3:6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit  thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her and he did eat.

This has to be a spiritual tree for several reasons.  First, God said that every natural tree that was good for food to eat was permitted to eat from.  Then Eve saw the tree in her mind and it was a tree that could make one wise.  Does eating natural fruit make you wiser?  If you think it does you are deceived.  Nothing you eat physically makes you smarter.  This spiritual tree is an interesting concept; Eve could see it and understood that it would make her wise.  Science for a long time has tried to claim certain foods make you smarter, but that is not what this is talking about.  There is a dramatic difference between being smart and being wise.  A lot of people know things, but have no common sense.  I guess I won’t go there today though.  I want to shift focus and show you some other related verses in the Bible that are very relevant to our current subject.  This is what Jesus said about what we eat physically:

Matthew 15:17 Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out at into the draught.

Here are words directly from God about natural food.  He asks us a simple question; “don’t you understand the difference between natural things and spiritual things”?  He tells us that whatever we put into our mouths goes to our stomachs and is then flushed down the toilet.  He is declaring a very simple truth that this is not what killed Adam.  God says that this is not what makes a man unclean.  If you continue reading in the chapter Jesus says that it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles a man, because these are the things from his spirit.  This is what kills a man physically.

Matthew 15:18 But those things which proceed out f the mouth come forth from the heart (spirit) and they defile the man.

It is so fascinating when you put things together correctly in the Bible.  You can see that Jesus tells us what killed Adam and we didn’t even know it until now.   Too many times we try to interpret the Bible with our natural minds and we just need to figure out what God says about the subject to really understand it.  God’s perspective is so much better than ours.  Don’t you think?  What we have seen is information found in the Bible that tells us that a spiritual reality is more important to see than a natural one that is not true.  So people, who teach that there was a physical apple tree that Eve picked fruit from and ate it to kill them, do not understand many things about what God wants to teach them in the Bible.   I hope if nothing else that I have challenged you to think differently today and not to try to understand the Bible story of Adam and Eve in isolation from the other related verses found in the Bible.

If you want to continue reading this series you can continue to “Part 2”. 

Genesis 2:25 And They Were Both Naked

adam_eve_Genesis_25(Ver 1.1) This title sounds like an interesting Bible subject and statement to study.  And it probably gets a lot of people’s attention. This was a description of Adam and Eve in the beginning that God spoke in Genesis 2:25. No this verse does not promote nudity as the normal state for human existence. Nor does it specify that we should all go to church without any clothes on.  There are obviously some that would like that, but this is not what God is telling us here.  God is giving us a view into the spiritual state of the first man and woman before sin entered into the world.   Let’s look at the complete verse:

Genesis 2:25 And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

In this verse we can see God’s initial created state of innocence.  I only know of one time in a normal person’s life when they are not ashamed of being naked, and that is when they are children at the age of 2 to 4 years old.  My son use to take his diaper off and run around naked and it seemed to be his preferred dress code.  Isn’t it interesting that children do this without any consciousness of their nudity?  Why is this?   Here is a verse that Paul speaks about this state of innocence:

Romans 7:9  For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.

You see this is a complex verse that is easily misunderstood if applied incorrectly.  It speaks of a time in Paul’s natural life after birth when he was alive in a state of innocence.  This of course is speaking of a spiritual state of being alive.  Paul claimed to be spiritually alive in this verse before he had reached the age of accountability.  I many times hesitate in calling it a spiritual life and a spiritual death, because spirits can not technically ever die or cease to exist.  The human spirit will forever exist somewhere.  I often times refer to this state of existence as a type of spiritual awareness.

You see children when they are young are more in tune with their spirits than many adults.  I like to say it this way, children a closer realization that they are spirits clothed or covered with a body.  As a child ages and matures,  Paul says sin is revived and he died.  In other words he became spiritually unaware or dull and was separated from God.  No longer was Paul an innocent child when he came into the age of accountability and he became much less aware of spiritual things.  Now he was more body aware and much less spirit aware.  How did I come to these conclusions?  First by having children, then I saw it in the Bible:

2 Corinthians 5:4  For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life.

You see in this verse is again found a complex statement with widespread implications.  The primary subject of the verse is the human body.  Paul is writing about our current earthly body in the terms of it being a temporary dwelling place or a spirit cover.  God calls our bodies a tabernacle (2 Peter 1:14).  The Greek word for tabernacle is defined as a hut, a tent, or any other temporary residence that we will not be staying long in.  In this verse God refers to our natural human bodies as being the clothes for our spirits within our body.  When we die and leave this world, our bodies do not go with us and Paul calls this a state of being unclothed.  But he says we are anxiously awaiting an immortal and permanent dwelling place that will be coming soon.  Do you understand this better now?

So what we can say about Adam and Eve at this point in time is that they are spiritually alive and significantly more spiritually aware, in a child like state of innocence.  They were spirit beings that were clothed with natural human bodies that God had created for them.  Later we will see in chapter 3 the effects that sin had on them and what God did about it.

Thank you, for reading and studying the Bible with us.  Please leave a comment if you would like.  I’ll stop here for now and we can move on to another subject in the next chapter of Genesis.

How Did the Church Become the Body of Christ?

(Ver 3.2)  I will notify you up front, that this lesson may be very different than anything that you are expecting to read or even a departure from what you may have heard taught before on this subject. Therefore, it may be controversial because it is based upon many hidden Bible concepts which are only being opened and revealed by the Holy Spirit now on the subject of Covenants and Marriage.  I believe that if you read the entire lesson very closely using an open mind and your spiritual eyesight to see what is written that you will begin to understand there is much more to it than you first realized.  There has been a theological controversy within the church for many years.  Some believe that the church is only the bride of Christ while others believe the church is only the body of Christ.  There are also some that believe the church is both and even others that believe we are neither.  But, which belief is the actual truth?   After significant Bible study on this subject with the assistance and guidance of the Holy Spirit  I believe that the church is both the bide and the body simultaneously. But, how can a body of believers be both the “body of Christ” and the “bride of Christ” at the exact same time?  Have you ever heard a Bible preacher or teacher explain how being both is even possible?  I know I haven’t.  What I have heard some teach is that we are one but not both and they explain away any verses that conflict with their chosen belief selection.  Any conflicting scriptures that do not align with their beliefs are either ignored or must be explained away.   That is my controversial subject that we will be focused on today, believe it or not.  This lesson will teach us how both potentially conflicting beliefs can be viewed as a sound Biblical truth simultaneously.

INTRODUCTION

The human body is an amazingly complex designed creation of God.  It is comprised of millions, billions and even trillions of individual separate cells that work together in united ways to be one body.  This very complex body reality came from just the union of two separate individual cells.  Simply from the natural union of one male sperm cell entering into one female egg cell a multi-trillion cell being results.  These two cells combined will cause all of the other cells to grow and develop into this amazingly complex unified carbon based unit called the human body.  I believe that this is a basic parallel principle of truth that teaches us a little bit about how the church can be both a separate entity called the bride and by Christ entering into us (our spirit living and alive within our physical body)  we can simultaneously be called His body.  We will be reviewing scriptures that help to build this foundation of truth later in this lesson.

If the millions of people on the earth who call themselves Christians are one unified spiritual body of Christ, could it be that we were originated from the union of two spiritual cells that were joined to create this new body of Christ?  I believe that the 2 cell combined union natural process of creating a new body is a potential natural pattern for how spiritual things work in the spiritual realm.  Did you know that the Bible in Romans 1:20 teaches us that the natural things created by God reveal to us many of the hidden spiritual things of God?

There are also other potential things about male and female unions that must be understood in order to know how the church can be both Christ’s spiritual body and His spiritual bride simultaneously.  These are the spiritual concepts that we will be discussing today.  Are you ready to receive something new from the LORD?

CONFIMING THE CHURCH IS THE BODY OF CHRIST

Let’s start this section of our Bible study by confirming using several scriptures that Christians are firmly represented to be the body of Christ.  This is the most common belief in the church and I totally agree with this truth completely:

1 Corinthians 12:27 Now we are the body of Christ, and members in particular.

If you have ever read the New Testament, you have probably noticed that the church is described in numerous places to be called the “body of Christ”.  That is an absolutely fascinating factual piece of spiritual information that I would say the majority of Christians accept blindly without attempting to figure out how we became His body.  But, I believe us accepting truth blindly without asking questions of how this happened is a potential pitfall for deception.  I remember reading in Luke when the angel appeared to Mary and told her she was highly favored and would have a son.  But, the wise woman Mary asked “How will this be seeing I know not a man?”  That is really a great question and she was not rebuked for asking it.  I believe that this question of Mary was a very similar question to what I asked the LORD about us being the body of Christ.

It is very hard to ignore the scriptures that communicate the “body of Christ” truth to us.  You can find many references and I will just point us to some of them.  The church is called the body of Christ in Colossians 1:18, Ephesians 4:15-16, 1 Corinthians 12:20, and Romans 12:5.  These are a few of the obvious ones, but I believe there are others.  Are you curious yet to what God says in His Word about how we became His body?

TAKING THE CHURCH IS THE “BODY” TRUTH TO AN EXTREME

What I have discovered in the past is that while there are many Christians that embrace this foundational truth, there are some that exalt it into an error to teach the church is Christ or equal to Christ.  Mathematically speaking they would say “Church = Christ”.  They conclude this from reading verses like Colossians 1:18 where Jesus is called the “head” and the church is labeled as His “body”.  They then conclude we are Him here and now in the flesh and that is a partial truth.  But,this is an example of someone falling into a ditch of extremism.  Taking one truth and promoting it beyond what it actually says is a very dangerous approach to understanding the Bible.  We are required to balance all of the scriptures on the subject in order to recognize a more balanced complete application of truth.  Saying that the church is Christ is human logic that in effect places the church on the exact same level as Jesus himself.  These types of people teach, if Christ has a bride, then we (the church) also have a bride.  They in effect have concluded in error, that the church by being saved ha become the spiritual husband and the spiritual bridegroom, making us God or at least His equal.  That belief is a ridiculous conclusion of erroneous Bible interpretation that was probably formed and based upon ignorance and wrong reasoning.

I’ve actually heard some of these types of Bible teachers tell us that in Revelation 21:2 where God describes the New Jerusalem coming down from heaven, that this city called the New Jerusalem is the bride of the church.  Many have also concluded that this city is the natural nation of Israel.  This is just more examples of the wrong interpretations of the Word of God.  They try to convince us that the Church is the husband (aka the body of Christ) and Israel is the bride of Christ.  They say “After all if we are the body of Christ, then if Christ has a bride then we must also have a bride”.  But, there are so many problems with that mistaken human reasoning and logic.  The first being in Revelation it does not say this city New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ, it says that she is the Lamb’s wife (Rev 21:9) and that is a completely different concept.  I’ve never heard the church called the Lamb of God, have you?  I’ve also never heard the church called the body of the Lamb either.  Ask yourself that question, are you the Lamb of God?  If you are not the Lamb of God, then you can not be the husband to this bride described in Revelation chapters 19-21.  If you are not the lamb husband of the New Jerusalem, then you may have a major problem with the extreme interpretation of us being the  body of Christ, but not the bride of Christ.  I know the Bible is complicated, but we have to think and allow the Holy Spirit to speak, guide us and direct us into all truth in order to figure things out.  We have to be smart enough to listen, hear and see exactly what God says and then not to be foolish enough to jump to the wrong conclusions using our limited knowledge and understanding.

CONFIRMING THE CHURCH IS THE BRIDE
RESOLVING HOW THE CHURCH BECAME HIS BODY

There is still this main unresolved issue, if the Church is the Body of Christ, how did it get to be the Body of Christ?  I do not know of very many Bible teachers that are asking this question.  Why not ask God to reveal it to you.  Could it be that is why you came across this lesson?  I’ve personally never heard any Bible teacher even try to teach this deep question.  I could probably write an entire book on this subject, but I only have time in one lesson for a few words.  There are other Bible lessons on this website that will provide more detailed information than can be provided today.   Please understand that no teacher can teach everything they know in one lesson.  I would heavily recommend that you go and read the Bible series called “The Bride of Christ Revealed”. This series provides a lot more scriptures that prove the bride is the church.  That was the bottom line revelation that the LORD provided to me and He backed it up with overwhelming Bible evidence.  I will go over some of that information in this lesson briefly.

Gen 2:21  And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof; 
Gen 2:22  And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man. 

In Genesis chapter 2 we can read about a more detailed account of the Genesis 1 creation of man and woman.  There in Genesis 2 we found out that the woman’s body was “taken” out from the body of the man (Gen 2:21-22).  Uh oh!  Do you remember reading about this in your Bible?  God created Adam first and then subsequently the woman came from the man’s living body.  This was truly the wisdom of God in action.  God does nothing by chance or accident.  His choice to create the woman’s body in this fashion must have had a greater hidden purpose than we know right now.  The first woman’s body did not come directly from the earth, but rather came from her husband’s body. Adam then looked directly at the woman’s body and said she is now the bone of my bone and the flesh of my flesh (Gen 2:23).  Are these all familiar subjects?  Let’s look at verse 23 of Genesis 2 to refresh our memory:

Gen 2:23  And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.

In other words Adam was literally saying to us, “she was his body” or personal “she is my body”.  Uh oh again!  Does this sound familiar?  What mystery are we trying to solve?   Do you understand this?  Is this too complex or maybe too simple for us to believe?  Is it possible for God to make a complete woman from just a part of a man?  That is exactly what the Bible says happened so we have to decide if we want to believe it.   According to God and the Bible, the woman’s body was “taken” from the body of Adam.  Light bulbs should be beginning to be illuminated in our minds. We are asking God about how the Church became the body of Christ?   Could Eve be a type of the church and could Adam be a type of Jesus Christ?

Gen 2:24  Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.

There was a law of God established here in Genesis 2:24 concerning the subject of marriage covenants between a husband (a male) and his wife (a female).  This law states that the wife’s body would be called the same as her husband’s body.  Jesus confirm this truth in the Gospels also.  You can read one example in Mark 10:7-8.  Humans have long embraced and received this truth even in our human marriage ceremonies.  The wife has normally taken the name of her husband.  This literally makes her body called by his name signifying one flesh. Many in the modern world are attempting to move away from this practice but taking the husband’s name is very Biblical in my opinion.  In fact you can read in Revelation chapters 2 and 3 where Jesus addresses letters to the church that He will give them a new name if they overcome.  We can clearly see from this the inference of a marriage covenant between Jesus and the Church. What we discover from this law of covenant marriage is God’s mathematical principal that declares two are to be called and named as one.

Wow, Genesis 2:24 is totally amazing to me.  Two separate and distinct human bodies being called one body.  One male multiplied by one female equals one unified covenant body.  This is definitely God’s designed mathematical law of marriage (1 x 1 = 1).  This verse in Genesis 2:24 says that they are separate yet still considered one flesh!  Wow again and again, that is just so awesome to me.  What is a body made of?  The human body is largely comprised of flesh and bone.  So if the Church is the body of Christ, we are His flesh and His bones here on the earth and this implies by this stated law that we must be His wife simultaneously.  I’ll talk about that more in a bit.

I believe with all of my heart that Adam and Eve were physically created symbolic representations of a much greater spiritual truth.  I believe that Adam and Eve were physical natural patterns that reveal much deeper spiritual parallels and realities of the unity between Christ and the church.  I believe that Adam and Eve were a prophetical type and foreshadowing of a spiritual covenant marriage between the risen from the dead LORD Jesus Christ and the church.  Did you know that Jesus is called the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) in the New Testament?  Why did God call Jesus by the same name as the first Adam?  This is not a coincidence either.  This is God’s way of teaching us there is a divine purpose.  We should read the verse:

1Co 15:45  And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

Jesus is called the “Last Adam”, because of what God did with the first Adam.  God has repeated the use of the first Adam in the in the Last Adam.  The risen Jesus Christ the Lamb of God has taken a spiritual woman to be His wife and He married her and has now become one spirit, one flesh and one body with her.  Let me give you a another confirming witness found in the scripture about Jesus being a pattern of Adam to help us understand what is being taught to us today:

Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Adam is clearly stated to be a pattern or type of the coming Jesus.  The Greek word translated as figure means “a die as struck”.  If you understand printing press concepts this is what God is saying in this verse.  Whenever you use a die to strike a piece of paper the same image is repeated consistently.  God is trying to teach us that Adam was the pattern for what Jesus will do when He comes to the earth.   Since God takes and gives Adam a wife as one of the first or techinically His last works of creation, this is what will occur again with Jesus Christ and His wife.  This is exactly how the church became the body of Christ, it was performed by God through a covenant marriage.  Did you know that a covenat was a marriage in the eyes of God?  You can find this by reading in Malachi 2:14 and Jeremiah 31:32.  God when He implemented a New Covenant through Jesus Christ, He established a new marriage and calls the church His wife and His bride.  We can clearly see that because of the Genesis law of marriage since the church is called the wife of Christ we would also be called the body of Christ.  It is really not that complicated, but it was a hidden mystery of the Word of God. There are numerous scriptures that verify this relationship and we can look at a couple of them.  The church is said to be one Spirit with Christ and this is the natural Genesis 2 covenant marriage terminology revealed in a spiritual format.

1 Corinthians 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.

This verse in direct context is specifically talking about a husband and a wife relationship.  The same terminology of the marriage covenant is being conveyed with the terms “joined” and “one” that we saw in Genesis 2.  This verse is clearly speaking to the church and says that we being joined to the Lord are now one spirit with Him.  If we are one spirit with Christ this informs us that we are also the body of Christ.  In Genesis 2:24 that verse used the word “cleave” but if you study it out you will find that this is the same word and means the same thing as to be joined.  It literally means to “glue together”.  God is revealing that He will take two separate pieces and super glue them to make one new even stronger unit.  That is a clear definition of a marriage and a good covenant relationship between a husband and a wife.

There are so many scriptures that say the Church is the Bride of Christ that I just can’t include them all in this lesson.  But, I will leave you with one more reference that says it more clearly than you have ever imagined.  Those that teach that the church is not the bride of Christ obviously just ignore these verses or attempt to explain them away with some less than honest excuses.  If we read in the 5th chapter of Ephesians we can see an almost entire chapter devoted to husband and wife relationships.  In fact, if you do a count of the number of times husbands are mentioned either directly or indirectly I came up with around 14 separate references.  If you count the number of times wives are mentioned either directly or indirectly, I came up with at least 11 references.  Then if you count the number of times Christ is mentioned either directly or indirectly I came up with 11 times.  Finally if you count the number of times the church is mentioned either directly or indirectly, I came up with 12 times.  It is very foolish to deny the direct association of the church being named as a bride and the LORD Jesus being named as her groom/husband.  Christ and the church are revealed in the same terminology and language as a husband to a wife in this chapter repeatedly.   But, the real clincher for me was the fact that God repeats the Genesis 2 covenant law of marriage again in verses 30 to 32 of Ephesians 5.  I’ll go over them one at a time beginning with verse 30:

Ephesians 5:30 For we (the church) are members of his body (Jesus Christ), of his flesh and his bones.

This is the beginning of the stated law of marriage found in Genesis and the words of Adam that were said to his wife.  Adam said “She was bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh”.  Adam said very clearly that the woman/wife Eve was his body!  But, this time here in Ephesians God is talking directly about the Last Adam named the Lord Jesus Christ and about His bride/wife called the church.  Immediately following this verse we have the continuation of the Genesis 2 law of marriage being restated for our benefit:

Ephesians 5:31  For this cause shall a man (Christ Jesus)  leave his father (God the Father) and his mother (Israel/Mary), and shall be joined unto his wife (the church) and they two shall be one flesh (One Body).

Again we see that the church became the body of Christ by becoming the bride of Christ.  I inserted the subject’s names into the verse so that you could more clearly understand who God was speaking of.  The references are very clear and almost impossible to ignore.  It is very important to note that when an Old Testament verse like Genesis 2:24 is quoted in the New Testament that it is given to us for the purpose of explanation.  God is linking the life of Adam in Genesis to the life of Christ and explaining their similarities.   The subject discussion of husbands and wives is concluded with this very direct outstanding statement of confirmation:

Ephesians 5:32  This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.

So we finally we can taste the icing on the wedding cake in Ephesians 5:32.  God declares this information given in this chapter to be a great mystery.  What is a mystery?  A mystery is something that was hidden from our plain sight and from many who still haven’t seen it.  It is a puzzle that had to be figured out or solved with God’s help.  Praise the LORD!  That is what a mystery is, something that is confusing to many people on the surface only reading until we dig deep and learn the real truth with God’s help.  That was the mystery of God that was revealed to us today.  God finally tells us clearly that all of this talk about husbands and wives in Ephesians 5, is speaking of Christ and the church.  So if any one asks you how the church became the body of Christ you can now tell them exactly how it happened; it was by a New Covenant of marriage.  Thank you for studying the Bible with me and if this has been a blessing to you, then share it with someone else that you know to bless them with the same knowledge of the truth of God.

If you would like to continue learning more about the subject of the Bride of Christ being the church you can continue reading in this series with “Part 1“.

What Does God Think About Abortion? Pt 2

(Ver 1.4)  This is Part 2 in a series of advanced Bible lessons about the subject of what God thinks about human abortion.  If you have not read this series from the beginning, I would recommend very highly that you go back and start reading with “Part 1” first.  This series was designed to build upon each of the preceding lessons.  If you missed the first lesson then you have missed the basic foundations necessary to continue the study.  Thank you for joining this Bible study and please do go and get your Bible out or your tablet or phone and open your Bible Application to verify everything that is stated is what you find in your Bible.  There are really so many scriptures in the Bible that deal with the subject of abortion. But, they are only found if you look for them.  God says seek and you will find (Luke 11:9).  Which means if we do not seek correctly, we will never find.  Therefore there is a prerequisite requirement that stipulates that people must search for the truth, instead of searching for lies.   What I am teaching, is that it matters what we are looking for.  Truth never changes, but our knowledge of the truth will change only if we search to find God’s wisdom and His point of view on the subject.  I will say that there are people who look for verses to justify their belief in abortion and a woman’s right to choose.  According to the Law given by Jesus if that is what we seek for we can find verses that seem to justify that position.  But, does that make it the truth?  Absolutely not!  God wrote and designed the Bible to give humans the right to choose to know the truth or to not know the truth.  If He had not given us this right then we would have been created as pre-programmed robots that could only follow His will imbedded in our internal software.  But, we know this is not happening simply by observing human behavior all around us.  God wrote 10 fundamental commandments in Exodus 20, and I have never met a human yet on the earth that has not violated at least one of these edicts.  Therefore, none of us are robots and everyone has come short of the glory of God by sinning (Rom 3:23).

In my last lesson, I introduced us to the subject of abortion in the Bible.  We saw a key definition of abortion from the Merriam-Webster dictionary that correctly defined the meaning of the word to include the “death” of the child during the termination of the pregnancy.  Wow, that was important.  Here we have a fundamental confirmation that this was a developing life form.  You should know that a child is created by the union of the female egg and the male sperm and Webster was smart enough to understand that this was a life form that can die or be killed.  In fact if we sent a probe to the planet mars and found these two cells and brought them back to earth for analysis, there would be such great excitement of the discovery of life on Mars that we cannot imagine it.  Scientists would be so excited that life could exist on another place other than earth, that we would not be able to keep them silent.  This would help them prove that life could evolve anywhere and evolution was a viable theory.  But, these cells in the womb of a woman on earth are deemed unimportant by the same scientists.

Today, I will continue with the subject of what else God thinks about abortion today.  Please let us stop and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to open our eyes to see how He sees the termination of a child in the womb before birth.  So let’s get started.

OBSERVING NEW GOD THOUGHTS

Here is another interesting verse of God’s Word specifically concerning one of His major prophets:

Isa 49:1  Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name.

This verse says God knew the prophet Isaiah even while he was still in the womb of his mother.  It also claims that He already knew his name.  This proves that God knows the names of every born and unborn and even aborted child.  Then God says “I know what Isaiah will do, I know the plan for his life, his calling, and his purpose”.    I’ve said this before but, it will be beneficial to repeat it, if God knew Isaiah in his mother’s stomach, then he knew you while you were yet in your mother’s stomach also.  If God knew Isaiah’s name, then he definitely knew your name before you were born.   I am totally convinced that God knows the name of every aborted child that has never breathed a breath of fresh air, tasted food, had a drink of milk or lived to see the sun rise.  God knows more than you can imagine right now.  It is when people don’t know that they have a purpose in life that causes them to believe that NO human life is valuable in the eyes of God.  But, in actuality the opposite is true.  To God, ALL HUMAN LIFE IS VALUABLE!

Here are some more very powerful words from the Word of God concerning abortion.    God speaking to another prophet said the following words:

Jer 1:4  Then the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

Jer 1:5  Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Here is another prime example of what God thinks about abortion.  God clearly says to Jeremiah that He knew him and set him apart even while he was still in his mother’s womb.  This verse said God also formed the child in her. Have you ever studied the complexity of internal human development from the union of two different cells?  The join together and make one cell first.  This creates a combined unique complex DNA pattern that is used to by God to created entire individual containing trillions of cells when fully grown.  But, this process initially begins by cell divisions that eventually start dividing into very unique and different cell types.  Some cells form the head, some form the heart and other living organs, while others form the bones and skull tissues.  Every unique organ has originated with a designed intentionality.  What makes the union of just two cells create such a differing amount of tissues that cooperate and coordinate in specific order to work in harmony?  God claims He is at work in this process and if you knew how complex that it was, you would understand how smart God is.  I say this because He is capable of doing this to millions of people on earth simultaneously.

If God formed this child named Jeremiah, we know that He also forms every child.  The Bible says that God is no respecter of persons.  What God does for one He is required to do for all.  If a woman decides to terminate her child after God has formed him or her, then exactly who is this woman working against?  This verse says that God sanctified Jeremiah while he was still in his mother’s womb.  If God sanctified Jeremiah today in our world of aborted children, I wonder if God would have selected someone else who was going to be born or would we have just lost this book of the Bible.

People who believe that God is in sovereign control of everything that is happening in the world are greatly ignorant or confused and don’t understand what the Bible says.  God does not override the will of a human male or female.  People do whatever they want to do, even if God doesn’t want them to do it.  So if a woman aborts her child and God had big plans for that child what is the result of that abortion?  So we must ask how do we know that God has plans for me nd my child?  Because His word says He does:

Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.

This is an amazing verse of truth.  The word here translated in the KJV Bible as “thoughts” but it has the following definition in the Strong’s:

H4284

From H2803; a contrivance, that is, (concretely) a texture, machine, or (abstractly) intention, plan (whether bad, a plot; or good, advice): – cunning (work), curious work, device (-sed), imagination, invented, means, purpose, thought.

The underlying definition of this word in the Hebrew means “purpose” or “plan”.  God is saying I had a plan for you long before you were conceived or born, and I have a purpose for you after coming into this world.  You have a specific purpose from God in arriving and being here on this planet.   It goes on and says in that verse that it is a good plan and not an evil plan.   Here is the same verse in a more literal translation of the Bible:

Jer 29:11  For I know the purposes which I am planning for you, says Jehovah; purposes of peace, and not for evil; to give you posterity and a hope.

That verse really says a lot to me personally and we can clearly see that if God knew Isaiah and Jeremiah before they were even born and He knew what they were supposed to do, then God is revealing to us that He does the same thing for you and I and every other child that is soon to be conceived.

CONCLUSION

The Bible teaches us to establish every truth in the mouth of two or three witnesses (Mat 18:16) and I have done that very conclusively with these verses written by two different prophets over two thousand years ago.  But, But we are not finished with this subject, so we will continue on it again in the next lesson.  I thank you for your time in reading about God and His Word.  Please leave me a comment if you have the time and be blessed in your study of the truth.

If you would like to continue reading in this series of lessons about what God thinks about abortion, please continue to “Part 3“.

Is God Really in Control of Everything? Pt 2

control2(Ver 1.2)  This is now Part 2 in a series of Bible lessons concerning the nature and character of God and the subject of “Is God in Control of Everything that Happens”.  If you have not read “Part 1“, I would recommend that you go there to begin your study in this series.   In first lesson I asked a direct question that has bothered a lot of people in the church.  Is God really in control of everything that happens in the world?  This question often goes into deeper thoughts of why is there so much evil in the world if God is really controlling everything and that becomes a much more difficult question to answer.  While we can come up with many of man’s opinions and theories on this subject, we should determine what God thinks about it by examining His Word for clues to determine the actual truth.   I have already given you several great scriptures on this subject in my last lesson that conveyed a transfer of ownership and responsibility from God to man, concerning the dominion of the earth.   I don’t know if people think I provided enough evidence or not for this belief, so I will provide another verse witness that also says God put man in control of what happens on this planet:

Hebrews 2:7  Thou madest him a little lower than the angels, thou crownedst him with glory and honour, and didst set him over the works of thy hands:

If you read the preceding verse you will see this is speaking of Man or Adam and the sons of Adam.  It says God has crowned us and that denotes that we were given rule and authority of this earth.  Then the verse says man was put over the works of God’s hands.  To be put over something denotes clear responsibility and accountability for not performing what was expected.  Again if I gave you a million dollars, do I have any say after you take it as to what you do with it?  No I don’t.  The money would belong to you and now you are responsible to keep it or to burn it or do whatever you want to do with it.  That is called a transfer of power and authority.  This is exactly what God did for Adam in Genesis 1:26.

Then in my last blog I ended up with a verse in Matthew that had Jesus telling us that “All power both in heaven and earth has been given to me.”  The clear inference given is that before His resurrection and ascension, not everything was under God’s control.  So now we have a dilemma that God is controlling everything again and we still see evil, murder, terror, rape and death still prevalent in the earth.  So what is the situation and who is really in control still needs to be resolved using the Word of God.

Before I go there, let’s determine who had dominion over the World before the resurrection of Christ.  We can see from earlier scriptures that dominion and authority was given to Adam to control everything on the earth and in the earth, including the air and the sea.  So what happened?  Did Adam transfer this gifted ownership, rule and authority to someone else?  I gave you a clue that Adam did this by showing you what God said about Satan in 2 Corinthians 4:4 being called the “god” of this world.  What we learn from this single scripture is that if Satan has become the god of this world then how can God be in control of everything that happens here?   This is a hotly debated new topic.  Many theologians believe that Satan is God’s pawn and can do only what God gives him permission to do but that is in violation of most revealed scriptures.  For example, we should be able to see this more clearly by examining this verse when God was present on the earth in the flesh:

Luke 4:5  And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.

We can clearly learn and see that Jesus in this temptation of Satan is being taken up to a very high mountain and is shown “ALL” of the kingdoms of this world.  That information would leave nothing out, would it?  Then Satan makes this statement to Jesus that is absolutely critical to see and understand:

Luke 4:6  And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me, and to whomsoever I will I give it.

This is an incredible statement of revelation being given to us by God’s Word.   According to what is spoken by Satan all authority over the planet was “delivered” or “given” to him by someone.  That statement denotes new ownership and control rights thereof.  Satan then says that he is able to give it to whoever he wants to.   Remember who Satan is speaking to, this is God in the flesh who created him and he is either very stupid or he is telling the truth.   God would certainly know if Satan is not speaking the truth and He would have just said you are a liar, leave me and Satan would have had to leave if God was in control.  So we can see a very clear statement concerning who is in control of what happens on the earth and that  it is not God.  This is of course Satan speaking so many will say it is just a lie, but if it is just a lie then it could not have been a temptation to Jesus.  It has to be a real offer to Jesus in order for it to be a temptation for Him to take it.  Remember when Jesus walked the earth during his ministry?    Demons and religious people would constantly question his authority and his right to be here and to do what he was doing.  You’ll find instances like this in Mark 1:24, Luke 4:34 and Matthew 8:29.  Demons when confronted would question Jesus and call him God and ask what right do you have to do these things to them.

Mat 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.

This verse occurs after Jesus was raised from the dead.  Here Jesus literally tells us that authority has been given back to him here on the earth and even in heaven.   Why would God tell us that this authority was again transferred to Him if He already had it?  Can you answer me that?   So apparently Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection caused something to occur to transfer control back from Satan.  In 1 Corinthians 2:8 we have a statement about Satan and his demon cohorts that says, “If they would have only known what was going to happen, they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory.”  That was my paraphrase of the verse, but that is what it basically says.  You are free to go and study this verse for yourself.  The demons are called “princes” and that Greek word simply means a ruler of this world.  Therefore we know that if Satan would have known the consequences of killing Christ on the cross then he would not have done it.  So apparently killing Christ caused a major and even devastating blow to his plan.  I hope that you are grasping these concepts give to us by God.

Apparently from what I can see in the Bible God got back what Adam had lost and given away to Satan through the works of Jesus Christ who was a literal son of Adam (man) by his death on the cross.  Jesus was a direct descendant of the first man Adam.  Jesus being a man, had the right to take man’s authority back, as God in heaven He did not have the right to do this since it was God in heaven that gave the authority to man and man could do with it whatever he liked.  If you go through the law in the Old Testament you will see what gave Jesus the right to redeem what Adam had sold, but I won’t go into all of that detail today in this lesson.

So who is in control today?  We still have a problem with responsibility?  Who’s responsibility is it to preach the gospel?  Who is going to get men saved?  Who is going to be the missionary to Africa and Asia?  Is this God’s responsibility?  Is God going to send angels to preach His Word?  I don’t think so.  No what we have is a statement by Jesus that helps us to see what happened.  Earlier I gave you the verse in Matthew after  Jesus was raised from the dead and He said “all power is given to me both in heaven and the earth,  what was His next statement to us in the church?  Let’s read this verse and see what Jesus did with His new authority:

Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:

Did you see it?  Here we have another transfer of authority and responsibility.  We have been given the highest authority on the earth again being transferred this authority by the LORD JESUS!  Jesus said “I have been given all power, now you go.”  The “Now you go” is a conveyance of authority back to the church.  Have you ever asked yourself this question “Why if all authority was given to Jesus, wasn’t Satan just cast out into hell?”  That of course is a very interesting question to think on.  Apparently something still gives Satan the right to be here on the earth, even if he doesn’t have authority over Christians any more.  Perhaps you need to go back and read the verse that I mentioned earlier in Matthew 8:29.  This demon that Jesus confronted in this verse knew that there was a set time for them to be here.  That is why this demon said are you come to torment us before the time?   We need to understand what this time is because it is rapidly approaching.   There is coming a time when the devil and his demons will be cast into hell and that will be the end of them until after the 1000 year time of rest occurs but I will not teach that in this lesson today.

The Bible is such a rich and complex book, with so much deep information spiritual information given to us in it.  It certainly is challenging to put all of the puzzle pieces together correctly, but with God’s help I believe we will come to a mature understanding of the truth before Jesus returns.   Thank you for taking the time to read my Bible studies.  I hope and pray that something positive was planted in your spirit that will produce much fruit for the kingdom of God.   Be continually blessed and come back and share these lessons with your friends.

Is God Really In Control of Everything?

(Ver 1.3)  This is Part 1 in a very basic series of Bible lessons on the revealed nature and character of God. In these lessons we are going to confront a popular and controversial misconception that is being spread in many churches by many confused preachers. This belief has been transferred to their church members and is often spoken in public by Christians. I hear it on Facebook very often. People will post little things on their walls passing on the responsibility for everything that occurs in their life to God. On the national news recently I heard a precious Christian couple accuse God of their house burning to the ground. In tears they said to the reporter “God does not put more on us than what we can bare”. In stating that, they had just attributed the loss of all of their natural possessions to the acts of Almighty God and implied that He was in complete control of the situation. I then heard more of the news report and wondered why the police were still looking for an arsonist that started the fire when it was actually God’s fault according to the couple. I often wonder what people think when they say things like this and then I wonder what the message is being presented to the world that is listening to these kinds of statements. Let me ask you this question and see what you think today:  

Is God really in control of everything?

I am sure that there are a lot of opinions on this subject, but is opinion the thing that is really important in the world?  Do you believe that everything that happens to you is what God has planned? If yes, how do you know for sure that God controls what happens to you? How would you ever prove that to anyone? What evidence do you possess for that accusation? A lot of religious people are driven by the idea that God is absolutely sovereign and therefore they have taken that truth and extended it to include that whatever happens to them must have been something that God has instigated, has caused to occur, commanded to transpire or at the very least has allowed or permitted to happen. After all they have reasoned that if it was not the will of God for it to happen, then He could have stopped it since He holds the power and ability to do that. Insurance agencies often times have clauses in their contract that state “Acts of God” are not covered. They of course are referring to natural disasters like fires, hurricanes, tornados and floods. But are these the works of God? How can they be? If they kill people and destroy their homes, lives and property? Are these the works of your God? I can tell you for sure that they are not the works of my loving God? So we must have different Gods? Recently we saw on the news a crazy man that stood up and shouted “Allah is great” and started shooting soldiers and civilians.  In other shooting in Colorado we saw a man walk into a movie theatre and kill a bunch of people.  Were these all of the orchestrated works of God? If it was then I don’t want that God.

 The humorous thing that I have noticed about people who claim that God is in control of everything is that they never give us any scriptures to back that belief statement.  Do you know of any scriptures that says “I am the LORD and I am in control of what happens to you.”?  How about “I AM the Lord that sends you every clamity, test and trials”?  I’ve never seen it, if it exists.  So if there is no scriptural basis for your beliefs, what are your beliefs based upon? What kind of foundation are you standing upon?   It sounds like your opinion or your theory and that is worth less than 2 cents to me.  I once heard someone give a great definition of what a theory is and it went something like this:

TheoryA supposition based upon ignorance of the subject under discussion.

What a true statement that is.  Too many people have a theory about what God is like, who God is and what God does.  But how worthless is that information.  Here is the number one problem with saying God is in control of everything that happens, good, bad or indifferent.  You see when so many evil things happen to someone, no one can come up with a Bible answer for why it happened?  They always just claim that God is smarter and wiser than we are and we can’t understand His ways, He must have had a higher purpose in taking your child.  That is another idiotic opinion that I don’t mind telling you repels me away from a God who says in His Word that He loves us while causes a terrorist plane to fly into the side of a building killing hundreds and even thousands of people.

Of course religion quickly answers God had a purpose in it.  Why?  Because He did nothing to stop it from happening?  So how did you come to the conclusion that it was God’s responsibility to stop it or do anything about it?  What Bible verse is that logic based upon?  Can you help me?  The religious minded person, very often resort to a theory of what I call a “No Fault” Religion.  No matter what happens to me in life, it is not my fault.  I hope you see the problem, that means it doesn’t matter what you do, how you live, where you go, who you marry, where you work, if you live in sin or you become a nun, it just doesn’t matter.  According to that philosophy, God is going to let happen to you and me everything that He desires regardless of what you or I do.   I can’t find that in the Bible any where either.  You know what I found in my Bible was a statement that says “God is not mocked, whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal 6:7).  So apparently according to this verse it is not up to God after all what happens to you.  It appears to matter more what you do and the seeds that you plant in this life to determine what you will reap.  If you are getting a poor crop of bad, evil things happening to you, start checking to see what you have been sowing.  This is a spiritual law of planting and reaping, but that is not my subject primarily, so I’ll move on.

So if God is not in control who is?  This is an interesting question that is answered with the Word of God.  I’ll start with Genesis 1:26:

Genesis 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

This verse is obviously ignored by people who teach God is in control.  God himself speaking in this verse says “Let them have dominion over all the sea, air and earth and everything that is in them or on them”.  That doesn’t leave anything out does it?  Dominion is a term denoting authority and ruler ship.  It is God’s delegation of control.  It is a transfer of responsibility from God to man.  That is obviously tough for many to swallow and to comprehend.  How can God turn over the earth to a man that was going to screw it up and fail?  But before we go there let’s confirm this verse with another witness:

Psalm 115:16  The heaven, even the heavens are the LORD’s: but the earth hath  he given to the children of men.

Obviously another scripture religious people like to ignore, but this verse says the Heavens belong to God, but the earth was given to Adam and his children.  Let me ask you to think about this, have you ever given someone a present, maybe something really nice and very valuable?  After they took your gift and left was it your responsibility to guard it and protect it so that nothing would ever happen to it?  Of course not!  Once given and received, tt was out of your hands, you no longer had any right to say what happens to it, they could throw it in the trash or give it away to someone else and you don’t have any right to it anymore.  Do you understand that concept?   This is exactly what God did with the earth.

All of this doesn’t mean that God can’t participate in helping man out or doing something if he is asked to do it, but it does mean that God must ask permission to do something on earth, since He has given it to man to control.  I know that really bugs religious people, since God is sovereign, omnipotent and if He wants to do something they believe that He can just do it.  I really don’t understand that kind of logic when it is associated and applied to a God who cares about His integrity, His reputation, His character, His moral values, His self worth, His honor, and above all His Word.  That sounds more like Satan than God.  God will not violate your rights to choose.  God will not force you to do anything.  God will not override your will, your desires or your intentions.  God will not make you believe in Him.  God will not save you if you do not want to be saved.  Etc. etc.   If He did that He would be the great puppet master and a control freak and not a loving God.  God will let you strap on a bomb and blow yourself up, but is that what He wanted for you?  Was that God’s plan for you life, NO WAY!

So when people say God is in control just ask for a Bible verse that says that before you believe something so ridiculous.  Before I close I’ll give you some more Bible verses to consider.  In 2 Corinthians 4:4 Satan is directly called the God of this world.  I thought God was in control of this world?  Un Oh?  It appears someone forgot to tell Paul.  If Satan is the god of this world, that explains tornados, hurricanes, and floods much better to me.  Remember when Jesus was in the boat crossing the sea and a storm came up and almost sank the boat.  The disciples woke Jesus up and told Him they were about to perish and Jesus went to the front of the boat and looked at the wind and the waves stopped the storm by speaking to it.  Uh OH Again?  If God caused the storm and then stopped the storm He must be confused, or schizophrenic or maybe His house is just divided working against itself.  Today I like storms and tomorrow I don’t.  He just cant’ seem to make up His mind do I want a storm to sink them or do I want it calm.   Maybe God starts storms and only Jesus stops them.  How crazy is that?  I know that my Bible says Jesus was God in the flesh and He said when you have seen me you have seen the Father.  So whater Jesus did is what God does.  Therefore there is no way that God starts the storm and then stops it.  There are just too many problems with the theory that God is controlling everything.

What we need to realize is that Jesus said in John 10:10 “The thief has only come to kill, steal and destroy, but I came that you might have life…”  If it kills, if it destroys something you own, or if it is stolen from you, that was not God in control causing it to happen, that was Satan demonstrating his power and you letting him do it.

 I’ll do one more scripture that helps us to understand who is in charge now.  This verse is a statement made by Jesus Christ after His resurrection and it goes like this:

Matthew 28:18  And Jesus cam and spake unto them saying, All power is given unto me in heave and in earth.

Again we see a major problem with the God is in control of everything theory; Jesus who is God says that all power is now given to Him in heaven and on the earth.  But, I thought God already had all power over heaven and earth?  According to many theologians He did.  Obviously Jesus is just confused and He doesn’t realize what He is talking about.  Please don’t be ignorant!  Jesus knows exactly what He is talking about and the authority of both heaven and earth was transferred back to God at the resurrection of Christ.  But, what did Jesus immediately do with it and who did He get it back from?  So many good questions to ponder.  But I’ve given you enough to think about for now.  I hope that you do the research in your Bible to answer these questions.   Until next time, God bless you in your Bible study.

If you would like to continue reading in this series you may goto “Part 2“.