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The Most Important Things You Should Know About Heaven!
(Ver 2.0) Today is a new subject for me, even though I have taught on parts of this subject in other lessons. I believe that it is so important for people to clearly know about heaven; that I have decided to talk about it again using new terms and perspectives to give people another chance to grasp these concepts found in the Bible. Does God exist and if so where does He exist? This of course is an extremely complex subject for humans to comprehend since we are a naturally born people limited to the constraints found within a physical world and the Bible clearly says that God is a Spirit (John 4:24). So how do natural people come to understand spiritual things? Spiritual things are not the same as natural things. God lives outside of time constraints and space constraints. There are many people in the world who do not believe there is a God. They base these beliefs on the fact that they have never seen God, cannot see God, do not ever hear from God or have any other proof or evidence that He exists. They further expound that since God does not do anything to stop the evil in the world, He must not exist. Of course, the flip side of this extreme is another extreme of people believing that God is causing all of the evil in the world and therefore they do not want anything to do with Him either. But, all of this is purely by God’s design in order to give man a free and fair choice. God purposely hides Himself from our view, if He did not do this you would have no choice but to believe that He existed. All of that said, God has spoken to us directly in a written book form called the Holy Bible. I have studied this book for close to 25 years and have determined that there is no way that this book did not come from God directly. There is just too much complex information for it not to have a very intelligent designer and an author who could be no one but God. However, there are certainly many others in the world that view this book as a collection of fantasy and made up stories because they do not understand anything that is in it. This is again by God’s design; and it gives people who want to see the truth the opportunity to know Him and those who refuse the truth the right to go to hell. It is a very perplexing method of operation, yet I cannot question God’s ways since He is entirely smarter than I am. So today I want to discuss some very important things found in the Bible about Heaven, what it is, where it is and what do we need to know about it? We might talk about some of the characteristics of heaven like the existence of many mansions being there and how the streets are paved with gold and God’s throne is surrounded by angels, but I do not think these are the most important things to know about heaven so if we do talk about them, they will be later or in another follow-up lesson. I want to start with a verse found in the N.T.:
1Pe 3:22 Who is gone into heaven, and is on the right hand of God; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.
Why is it necessary for all the angels and spiritual powers to be made subject to Jesus, the Son of God? That is a very interesting question to consider. The Bible certainly has some very difficult statements to try to explain and this is certainly one of them. I will state what I believe and say that if every spiritual force and angel was already subject to God, I do not believe it would have been necessary for God to put them under His Son Jesus. Wow, I just got off the subject for a quick side trip to get you to think about something you may have never thought of before. So let’s go back to the beginning of this verse and notice that the Bible says that Jesus has gone back into heaven and is now located at the right hand of God. This verse very clearly informs us that there is a real place called heaven and that Jesus is there right now. We know from reading the Gospels in verses like John 3:13 and 6:51 that Jesus said before He was came to the earth that He came from Heaven. So heaven is where Jesus came from and heaven is where He went back to after He died and rose from the dead. Since the Bible says in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses let every word be established, I will give you another witness to this fact that we just read:
Heb 12:2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Jesus, again is very clearly described to be at the right of God at this moment in time. Where Jesus is now is also the location of the throne of God. A throne is always a place where a King rules His Kingdom. So heaven was the Kingdom of God, before Jesus came and died on the cross. However, God tells us that now the kingdom of God is within us (Luke 17:21). So it appears to me that God is said to be moving His Kingdom location and I will talk more about this later.
Heb 9:24 For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us:
The word “heaven” appears in the KJV Bible more than 550 times. However, it is not always in reference to the spiritual location of God’s throne. The word “heaven” can refer to at the minimum 3 different realms or dimensions and you must be smart enough to figure out which one God is talking about by the context of the verse being read. Paul wrote in 2 Corinthians 12:2 that he was caught up to the “3rd heaven” where he saw things that he could not verbally describe to us with human words. That makes heaven sound pretty awesome if you can’t even describe it. We can see in this verse in Hebrew 8:24 that Jesus is said to enter into a “Holy Place” not made by the hands of men. So God is now telling us about heaven as a spiritual place. This verse informs us that heaven has a temple that is the original pattern of the objects made on the earth by the hands of men in Jerusalem. This heavenly temple is called the “true temple” which would imply to me that the earthly temple in Jerusalem must be the “false temple”. But, I guess I won’t go there either today!
2Th 1:7 And to you who are troubled rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels,
As we have seen Jesus ascended into heaven after His resurrection and is now at the right hand of God. However, the Bible informs us very strongly that Jesus is coming back very soon. Not long from now this Jesus who went up to heaven will come back down the same way that He ascended, the angels told the disciples this in Acts 1:11. This verse in 2 Thessalonians tells us that when Jesus returns He will bring with Him many mighty angels. So we have just discovered a revelation that heaven is the home or a house that is full of the angels of God and that these spiritual entities are not insignificant beings. They clearly are said to be very mighty, meaning they are very strong. Here is another witness to this fact:
Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
So heaven is not described to be a small place. This place also has a very specific name and is called the “Heavenly Jerusalem”. This spiritual place is described to have a mountain named “Zion”. This place is clearly described to be the “City of the Living God”. This does not sound small or insignificant either, especially since you cannot number the population of this city. This city “Heavenly Jerusalem” is said to be the home of an innumerable number of angels. This is the mighty spiritual force army that will return with Jesus when He comes back. It is also critical that you note the name of this spiritual city. This city is called the “Heavenly Jerusalem”. Did you know that heaven had a name? This is another reference to the “true” heaven that we just read about previously. Why does God have another city called Jerusalem? I guess I should ask, why did God name the earthly city Jerusalem the same as His heavenly city Jerusalem? You do understand that the heavenly city Jerusalem certainly existed before the earthly city came to be. Isn’t that an interesting question to consider? This spiritual city seems to be called the real or true city of God. This is what I believe, God created a covenant with Abraham to bring forth a natural nation called Israel who would build God an earthly city that would be a pattern of His spiritual city Jerusalem in heaven. I believe that God did this for several reasons and I will probably not be able to get into all of these today. But, one of the reasons I believe was to show us a city that was like another city that we can’t see. Why is there just one city in our entire world that has the focus of every eye on it? Why does this city “earthly Jerusalem” gain so much attention? It is because it is a pattern of the “heavenly Jerusalem”. Just as the earthly city Jerusalem has had numerous attack and people come against it, I believe the heavenly city of Jerusalem is being attacked. Just as the earthly city of Jerusalem is being forced to stop building and expanding, so the heavenly city of God was attacked in the same way by Satan and his army. The majority of the world governments are proposing that the earthly Jerusalem be divided. If you study the Bible, God is also being forced to divide His heavenly city. So let’s look at another witness to this heavenly city of God called Jerusalem:
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
Here is another verse of scripture in the Bible that describes Heaven as a place that is somewhere above. Again it specifically names this city and calls it “Jerusalem”, but this time it qualifies it by calling it the Jerusalem Above! So we automatically know that it is not the Jerusalem that is on the earth or the Jerusalem below. Heaven is again said to be a city called Jerusalem, where the throne of God resides with an innumerable number of angels. But, this verse in Galatians tells us another major clue to a puzzle we didn’t even know was a puzzle. This city is called the Mother of the church. You do not understand yet how important that statement is, unless you understand God’s spiritual family structure. What we have just learned, is that the Heavenly Jerusalem is called the “Mother” of all of those in the Church of Jesus Christ, so this means the heavenly Jerusalem is not the Church! Did you understand what I just said? I’ll show why this is important to note very soon. What is a mother? A mother is a woman who has had a child or children. Wow that is one of the most important things you can learn today, if you can grasp this concept. A city is a woman, a woman is a city. A spiritual city is a spiritual woman and she can have spiritual children. But, remember that this heavenly city Jerusalem was comprised of a spiritual nation of angels which included Satan. Uh oh? I just let you in on some more information that I’m not ready to discuss yet. Let’ me shift gears and talk about another woman briefly that is said to also come from heaven:
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
First take note of what this verse says. A city came down from heaven and this city is called a woman, a bride and the wife for a husband who we will see later in this chapter to be the Lamb. This woman has the same name as the other two cities that we have already been looking at. This name is of course the “New Jerusalem”. Why is all of this that I am trying to teach you important to know? Because it helps you to know who you are in Christ and where you fit in God’s New Kingdom which I am attempting to reveal to you. In Revelation 21:2 we either have the same city Jerusalem or a new and different city called Jerusalem being described to us. From my current understanding of the Bible this is clearly a different city than the one that I just showed you in Hebrews and Galatians called the Heavenly Jerusalem and here is why I believe that. First off did you notice that this woman in Rev 21:2 comes down from heaven? Did heaven come down or did the city called New Jerusalem come down from heaven? Wow, you see heaven did not come down it is still there. What happens when a woman gives birth to a baby? Does the baby come down the birth canal and out to the waiting doctor? So we just read in Galatians 4 that this heavenly Jerusalem is our mother, meaning she gave spiritual birth to us. Let me ask you a basic question, do you have babies first or do you get married first? I guess I should ask which one should come first and not how it works in our world many times. If the heavenly Jerusalem is a woman who gave birth in Galatians 4, then she should not logically be the woman who is getting married in Revelation 21. Get it? You see the woman called Heavenly Jerusalem must already be married in order to have had children. This is not rocket science so you should be at least following my logic a little bit. If you continue to read Galatians 4 and see what it is describing to us, you will hopefully see that it is using the life story of Abraham as an allegory for a type of God. So let’s review the story of Abraham. As you may or may not recall, Abraham had two wives and two sons. One was from the much younger Egyptian slave girl Hagar and Galatians says this is a type of Jerusalem on the earth (Gal 4:25). The woman Hagar is called a “bondwoman” and she gives birth to a slave son who is not the heir with the promised son. Sarah who is not named directly in Galatians 4 is the type of the “Freewoman” and is called the Jerusalem that is above. This means that Sarah (the Heavenly Jerusalem) existed prior to Hagar (the Earthly Jerusalem) and they both now have children, but Hagar’s son came first and then Sarah’s son came after. We should know that Abraham represents God in this allegory since the Bible tells us that He was married to natural Israel (Jer 31:32). What you must see is that both of these cities called Jerusalem existed simultaneously and are called women who are in covenant with and married to God. Why is God telling us this information? It must be very important for us to see and to understand clearly. What you should notice in Galatians 4 is that God is quoting an Old Testament prophecy found in the book of Isaiah.
Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
As you can see God is quoting Isaiah 54:1 in this verse. This verse tells us that there are two women, one a barren woman (Sarah) and one a married woman (Hagar). As we have seen God is using the allegory found in Genesis 16 of Sarah and Hagar to reveal this information to us in Galatians 4. Sarah the older barren woman as we have seen is the one that is said to now have more children than the bondwoman Hagar. So the Bible tells us that these are two covenants and you automatically jump to the wrong conclusion that this is the Old Covenant between God and Israel and the New Covenant between Jesus and the Church. However, that just doesn’t make any sense based upon the information we have just read about these women. The Heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah) existed prior to Israel’s covenant with God on Mt Sinai (Hagar). This city had to exist prior to Jesus coming to the earth, dying and establishing a New Covenant. Then in Galatians 4:26 it says very clearly that this “Heavenly Jerusalem” is the mother of the church and not the church. So whatever covenant this is referring to, it is definitely not the New Covenant between Jesus Christ and the church and it is also not the old covenant between God and Abraham in the Old Testament. So that complicates things tremendously since no one has ever taught on the fact that the Bible mentions three different covenants and not just two. You see, this third hidden covenant has to be God’s covenant with the angels in heaven that existed before Adam ever came along.
Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
So let’s go back to Revelation 21:2 and notice that God is describing a city coming down from above that is called the “New Jerusalem”. What does the term “New” mean? It means it is not the Old Jerusalem. Which one was the barren old Jerusalem (Sarah), it was the Heavenly Jerusalem that was above. Are you beginning to see and understand the concepts being given to us? God has problems with the “Heavenly Jerusalem” and the “Earthly Jerusalem” so He creates a “New Jerusalem” to replace them both. Let’s look at the verse that comes right before this one in Revelation 21:
Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Again why replace the old heaven and the old earth with new ones if there are not problems with the old? What you do not realize is that God is a just God. He does everything in a decent legal ordered way. If God does not follow strict rules He would be no different than Satan the thief who comes to kill steal and destroy what you have. I have often asked myself and God this question, “If you found sin in Satan why didn’t you cast him into hell and get rid of him?” The only answer that I got back from God was that He could not legally do this and I do not have time to try to explain that statement in this lesson. You can go read some of my other blogs where I give you some clues to the answers to that question. But, it has something to do with this hidden third covenant that God had with the angels and I’ll leave it at that for today.
So getting back to Revelation 21:2; we can review that this verse is also describing a city called “New Jerusalem” who is also described as a woman who is to be married to the Lamb of God (Jesus Christ). A marriage is also a covenant defined to us in the Bible, so we know this is God’s New Covenant with US! So what have I taught you so far? We have three women, three covenants, three cities all named Jerusalem. One is called “Earthly Jerusalem”, another is called “Heavenly Jerusalem” and the last one is called “New Jerusalem” or “Holy Jerusalem”. This implies that the other two women were not the Holy Jerusalem of God and were definitely older than the “New” woman Jerusalem. Why is this important? Because God tells us that this city will come down from Heaven to be reestablished back here on the new earth. In this new city, God tells us that there will be no unrighteous people, no uncircumcised people and no ungodly people, only those that have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb. Finally there will be no Satan, no hurt, no harm, no thieves, no robbers, no murderers and no rapists, no one to do evil. There is where the Bible describes that we will spend eternity with God.
2Pe 3:13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
So even as Peter wrote about looking forward to this “New” heaven and “New” earth so we should also look for the coming new city of God that dwells only righteousness.
Many people want to know, where is this heaven that now is located? We have clearly seen in the Bible that it exists and that Jesus is there right now at the right hand of the throne of God. This place is large and holds an innumerable number of angels. It also holds the spirits of all of those righteous people that have died on the earth. They are there as witnesses (Heb 12:1) that are rooting us on in our spiritual journey. The people in heaven do not see what we see on the earth. Spiritual people are oblivious to natural things. Natural things are not important to spiritual people anymore. So people in heaven do not know what kind of car you drive, what kind of house you live in or how much money that you have in the bank. They do not know if you are married or single, and they do not care. The angels and people in heaven are only concerned with your eternal destiny. Have you made Christ your Lord and will you spend eternity with us. Whenever a sinner comes to know Christ, the Bible says that heaven rejoices. So heaven knows about spiritual things.
So where is this Heavenly Jerusalem located? The Bible actually does not specifically tell us, primarily because we would not really understand its spiritual location. As you recall this Jerusalem was said to be “Above”. But, since we live on the earth which is a round ball, every direction you are standing on has an up direction. So is heaven all around us? We are actually given some clues in the Bible and I will end this lesson with the information about the location of heaven:
Psa 75:6 For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.
Psa 75:7 But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
Many times God gives us direct information in Bible verses of specific things like God is a Spirit. However, other times God gives us indirect information and we learn from what is not given in the verse. This is the case here in Psalm 75:6. God tells us three directions that promotion does not come from. That only leaves one direction called “North” and that gives us an implied location for the direction of heaven. As you can see clearly God leaves this direction out of the statement and then in the following verse we have a contextual statement that God is the one that promotes one person and puts another person down. So I take these verses to indicate to us where we can find the location of heaven to be from God’s perspective. I assume this to mean you go to the North Pole of our planet and look straight up and this would represent the nearest proximity of the location of heaven.
Isa 66:1 Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?
So we have another verse in Isaiah that seems to indicate the direction of the throne of God to be an implied North. If you can see that the North Pole could be considered the top of our planet, the earth is said to be the location of God’s footstool. So God is sitting on the throne up above us.
I have covered a lot of new information from the Bible about this place called Heaven and shown you many things for you to think about. These are some of the most important things that I have found about this place in the Bible. However, I believe that if you read Revelation 21 you can see that heaven is not our final eternal destination. It would appear that God is preparing a new heaven and a new earth that we will live within eternity on. The Bible says that our eyes have not foreseen the things that God has prepared for them that love Him (1 Co 2:9). So it sounds like a really awesome time in store for us. I don’t know why anyone would not want to go to this place?
Are there Any Rules in Life to Follow? A Rules Based System To Life!
(Ver 1.3) This Part 1 in a series of lessons on modern computer concepts that are found in the Bible. If I learned anything from being a computer programmer for over 20 years, I learned that everything in this life has very strict rules or it is useless. In this life you do not get to do everything that you can do just because you can do them. You do not get to drive on any side of the street that you want to. You do not get to drive through any intersection as fast as you want to when you want to. You do not get to do many things because rules exist to keep you from hurting yourself and others. This is the basis of the majority of the problems in this world today. The problems of the world are caused by people who do stuff to other people just because they have the ability or power to do them. It comes from a self-centered ME mentality! The world is all about ME! What I need, what I want, what feels good to ME! People then use their attitudes of Me to take what they need or want from others without thinking about what they are doing to the ones that they are hurting. If everyone takes this attitude, then only the strongest survive to live. This attitude of ME is a self-centered absence of the feelings of the God kind of “LOVE” for anyone else. As long as people care more about themselves than they do about others, they will remain apart from the life of God. Today I want to talk about a computer programming concept called “Rules Based Systems” in relationship to what God and the Bible say about the concepts of them or the absence from them. Why are rules important to live by? Why do rules exist? The Bible is a highly complex book of spiritual information and it cannot be interpreted correctly without knowing God’s rules for interpretation. I’ll start by giving you a definition of this term from the internet:
rule-based systems are used as a way to store and manipulate knowledge to interpret information in a useful way.
I believe that God taught me about rules based systems as I learned computer programming. A rules based system is one that adheres to a strict set of laws in order to work correctly. When I first started learning computer programming in High School, I started with the Basic programming language. I also played with another early computer language called FORTRAN. Then I started working for a company and going to night school to learn mainframe programming. I learned Mainframe Assembler and COBOL and became an expert in both of these languages. This was of course way before there were any PC’s in the world. What I learned from programming languages, is that they have very strict rules that must be followed, or guess what they do not work. You create your program and then compile your program and get nothing but a long list of errors back. This is not fun, when this happens, but it happened a lot until I learned to follow the rules more closely. As I became more detailed oriented, I learned to pay attention to the little things that use to be where I made most of my mistakes. I would just automatically learn to look for them and try not to repeat them. I do not think that I ever got so good that I wrote a new program that complied cleanly the first time, but I did get much better. So why am I describing my work experience to you? Because it helps me more with Bible interpretation and understanding the Bible that you can imagine.
Did you notice two key words in the definition of what a rules based system was? The two key words are “knowledge” and the “interpretation” of the knowledge. A rules based system helps us to process vast amounts of information and then come up with the correct interpretations of that information. So what is the Bible? The Bible is the Spiritual knowledge of God written down in a book for us to read. However, the Bible is widely interpreted in many different ways resulting in contrasting and conflicting points of view. That is probably the major problem in the church today. Everybody has their own opinion to what the Bible means. Why is that? It is because of a complete disregard to the rules of Bible interpretation. Some people know one rule and they sometimes follow it and then sometimes they do not. They are very inconsistent. Other people know of no rules and they are all over the board with their interpretations. Only a few know more than one rule to Bible Interpretation and try to adhere to them consistently.
While I read and studied the Bible, I started to recognize patterns of a rules based system. Since God does not give us a list of the rules in any one place in the Bible, the correct understanding of the Bible must start with figuring out what are the rules that God has established for us to follow. You see I know that every computer language has their own individual set of rules to follow. However, I also learned that many of these rules cross languages and apply to other languages. Even though each language was uniquely defined, the application of the rules applied across the board. So in order to even begin to understand the Bible, you must first establish God’s rules for interpretation and not your rules. This is the first step of understanding God and the Bible.
Do you realize that God follows the rules that He has established? That is the beauties of God; He is a highly intelligent being. His ability is so far beyond our most powerful computer. I see the world around us and I recognize an intelligently designed world full of natural laws, systems and sub-systems. This is the basis of any large complex computer programming system also. Anything with an intelligent design has organization and rules. So why do people not recognize that the Bible is also an intelligently designed rules based system? Obviously they do not understand the importance of rules and following them. If you are a Christian you should be following rules in everything that you do. Following rules does not save you; it just helps you live the life that God intended for you on this earth. Christians who do not follow rules are no different than unsaved people who rob banks because they want money or rape women because it feels good to them. I know that is an extreme examples of bad Bible interpretations, but yet I feel that strongly about the subject. I do not mean to reduce rape and robbery to minor offenses, I hope you understand the point and forgive the analogy.
So what ire my main points today?
- Start by Recognizing that the Bible is a Rules Based System.
- Then find out what the rules are!
- Next follow the rules with all diligence!
When I was computer operator, on the top of our mainframe CPU, there was a big sign that said “THINK”. Wow, if more people would do that one word! To think before you act or speak is a widely ignored talent of many people in the world today. I have many blogs on the subject of Bible Interpretation, I hope you that you will go and read them and then learn to follow them. Life is a rules based system of existence. This is the intelligent design of God. If you learn the rules and follow them there will be great benefits to being a doer of the word of God and not just a hearer only. By learning the rules and following rules I believe that the Body of Christ will finally come into agreement to what the Bible says. So I challenge you today to apply what you’ve read today. By learning rules and living within their guidelines you make the Bible useful as God had intended it to be. You take the words of an intelligent God and you can finally begin to understand them. There is no greater benefit than knowing the real God.
If you would like to continue reading in this series you may go to “Part 2” now.
Myths about Jesus in the Gospels! PT 2 An Omnipotent Jesus vs. an Anointed Jesus?
(Ver 1.2) This is Part 2 in the series of advanced Bible Study lessons discovering the real Jesus of the Bible. These studies also spend time countering the myths of the false Jesus taught in many churches today. If you have not read the first lesson in the series I might suggest that you go and start with reading “Part 1“. There are a number of things taught about Jesus from the Bible that are clearly fabricated by Satan to discredit the real Jesus found in the Bible. In my last lesson on the real Jesus, I discussed a poor Jesus vs. a Jesus with money. I know I did not fully cover the subject, but I gave you some key scriptures that are very important to note when discussing the subject. I believe that Satan wants to portray the Jesus of the Bible as a homeless man who owned nothing and then he tries to use this image to imply that the followers of Jesus are never supposed to rise higher than their master the teacher. So if Jesus owned nothing Christians are supposed to own nothing and I do not follow that religious philosophy simply because that is not the Jesus of the Bible. I believe there are many scriptures in the Gospels that dispel the fact that Jesus owned nothing and I gave you many of these for your consideration. Please do not accept anything that I teach without you seeing it in the Bible. Verify everything that I say using your own Bible to confirm it. This is the only way that you are insured that someone is not deceiving you.
Today I want to attack another myth taught in many churches using the truth in the Bible. These churches teach that Jesus came to the earth as God in His full omnipotent Godhead power and they claim that He proved it by demonstrating to us countless miracles and supernatural signs like speaking to the wind and waves and walking on water to name a couple of prominent examples. I am going to start this discussion with a scripture that you probably do not associate as being important to this subject of Jesus’ omnipotence found in the book of Acts:
Act 10:38 How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
So I will not debate that Jesus was God in the flesh, if you do not know this already you should go read and study your Bible to find this for yourself. I have written about it in other Bible lessons, if you want to go read them. This verse in Acts is very clear, yet totally ignored by those who profess an Omnipotent Jesus theology. Omnipotent means “all powerful” capable of doing anything in His full Godhead strength. Was this the Jesus of the Bible when he was born in a manger and grew to be a man? If it was why did God have to anoint Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and Power? This verse implies that if God had not anointed Jesus, he would not have been able to heal anyone. It clearly says that it is the spiritual anointing power that healed the people and not the man Jesus of Nazareth. If Jesus is God in the full manifestation of omnipotence there is no need for any anointing, is there? If you do not see this, you do not know how to read. It just isn’t that difficult to see.
Do you know what “Christ” means? Jesus is called the “Christ” in the Bible. This is the Greek word for a Hebrew word translated as “Messiah” in the Old Testament. Do you know what “Christ” means? What is the definition of the word “Christ”. This word “Christ” means “anointed”, to rub or smear with oil. When David was anointed to be King by Samuel he poured oil over David’s head (1 Sam 16:13). This was an outward symbolic representation for an internal spiritual process that was taking place. This is also what happened to Jesus. Do you remember when Jesus was baptized in the river Jordan by John the Baptist and the Holy Spirit in the form of Dove descended from heaven? (Mat 3:16) This was God anointing Jesus of Nazareth the man with the Spirit of God and Power that we just read about in Acts 10. So why was it necessary for God to descend from Heaven if the Spirit of God was already in the body of Jesus in full omnipotent power? I hope you are seeing the problem with the erroneous teaching of many ignorant people in the church. Let’s verify this belief based upon the words of Jesus himself:
Luk 4:18 The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised,
Here we have Jesus speaking to the people in the temple. Jesus opens the scroll and finds the place it is written about Him in Isaiah 61:1 and He begins to read. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me”. In this verse Jesus is claiming using prophecy what we just observed in the Baptism of John. This claim was given that the Holy Spirit had descended upon him from the heavens in the form of a dove to rest. Jesus is very clearly stating that God has anointed him to do certain things and He begins to list these things that He is anointed by God to do. So if Jesus could do everything using full omnipotent deity power, Jesus must have lied and He did not need to read a verse about being anointed, does He? I thought God could do anything, especially an omnipotent God in full Godhead power. I hope you are beginning to see the falsity of what many try to teach you on the internet and in some churches. It is absolutely critical to see and understand the real Jesus so that you can understand the real you. God used this anointing power throughout the Old and New Testaments to give His power to men. God still anoints people to do things today in the world. But, my lesson is not about God’s anointing on us, it is about why it was necessary for God to anoint Jesus so let’s continue.
There are many things in the Bible that are difficult to explain with a single lesson because there are more than one inter-related subjects to also discuss or we do not understand what is being taught. In the Gospels we find that Jesus went around and healed many people but, what was the “determining factor” for why some got healed and some did not. First let me ask you did you know that Jesus did not heal everyone that was sick? I will prove this to you as I go. Was it God’s choice on who to heal and who to leave sick, lame and crippled or was there other factors involved that we do not yet understand? The Bible says very clearly that God does not show “favoritism”.
Lev 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Act 10:34 Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that God is no respecter of persons:
Jas 2:9 But if ye have respect to persons, ye commit sin, and are convinced of the law as transgressors.
Does God ask people to do things that God does not do Himself? I don’t think so, if it is a sin to respect one person over and above another, then God commits sin if he heals one person and does not heal another. So we clearly have a problem, when reading the Gospels, since Jesus did not heal everyone. So there must be another factor that can explain this situation and not leave us confused. Do you recall when Jesus was walking in Mark 5 with one of the rulers of the synagogue named Jairus? Jesus was on the way to his house to heal his daughter and there was a very large crowd of people following Jesus and touching Him. In this chapter is an incredible story within a story. Why is everyone touching Jesus on every side? Was Jesus just a man with rock star status to them or were they all after the healing Power that Jesus told everyone that He was anointed with? You are going to have to make up your own mind why people are touching Jesus, because the Bible does not directly tell us. However, while everyone is touching Him and He is walking to the house of the sick girl, a woman with an issue of blood comes up and forces her way through the crowd and touches the hem of His garment. Jesus stops and turns and asks a very funny question for an omnipotent and omniscient God to ask, “Who touched me?”. Was this a blunder by Jesus or did He not know who it was that touched Him after all the disciples said “Master the crowd is touching you on every side”. In other words the disciples see people touching Jesus everywhere, but they did not understand what just happened and only Jesus and this one woman knew what just transpired. However it is clear that Jesus felt the power leave but did not know where the power went based upon the question.
So I am going to make a longer story a shorter story for the sake of time. The woman with the issue of blood feels the power of God go into her and heal her and Jesus feels the power of God go from Him and heal her, and yet Jesus does not know who it is that got healed. Why is this? It only make sense if you understand the Bible correctly, otherwise it is just a point of confusion. Jesus we have seen was anointed by God with the Holy Ghost and Power (Acts 10:38). Jesus told us that the Holy Ghost had anointed Him in Luke 4:18. We also saw the Holy Ghost descend upon Jesus like a dove in Matthew 3:16. So we have 3 witnesses that say that Jesus was anointed with the Spirit of God. So Jesus had the power of God clearly upon Him with the anointing. But what was it that caused one woman in the crowd of hundreds to receive this power while the others did not? That is a very important question to understand the answer to. Fortunately Jesus gives us the answer:
Mar 5:34 And he said unto her, Daughter, thy faith hath made thee whole; go in peace, and be whole of thy plague.
Jesus gives us the answer to the million dollar question of why this woman received her healing and the hundreds of others who touched Him did not. Jesus said that the determining factor was her “faith”. So now we have a new problem what is “faith” and why did she have it and the others did not. Since that is not my primary subject, I’m not going to get into that fully in this lesson today. What I want you to see is that yes Jesus had Anointed Power, but that this power was only accessed by one woman with her individual “faith”. So apparently it was not all up to sovereign God in what happens in the world, is it?
My primary subject today is the myths concerning Jesus’ deity power, so I’m going to continue with teaching on this line of thought and leave “faith” to another day. I told you earlier that Jesus did not heal everyone and we clearly saw an example of this with the crowds touching Him in Mark 5 with only one woman getting healed. So now I’m going to show you a much stronger witness to the fact that Jesus was not God in His omnipotent power on the earth. If you continue reading in the book of Mark you will find starting in chapter 6 verse 1 that Jesus is said to come into his own country. This is the home of Jesus, the place where He lives in a house like I showed you in the last lesson in this series. He enters into the synagogue and begins to teach the people and the people automatically begin to question, him saying where did He get this wisdom? You see all of these people saw Jesus grow up and watched Him from a time of a child and knew Him and his family intimately. Why is Jesus teaching the people? I think people who do not understand “faith” don’t understand that before healing comes, teaching comes first. Jesus would always teach the people from the Bible, that God has anointed Him to heal and if they believed it, they could be healed and if they did not believe it they could remain as they were.
Mar 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
Jesus is the prophet in this verse that is without honor in his home city. The people were too intimately familiar with Jesus and His natural life to allow the new “anointing” to work. These people let the old natural Jesus influence who He was to them today. Little did they know that this was the Messiah spoken of in their Bible. These people let their ignorance rob them of the blessings of God. They did not know He was born in Bethlehem and they did not know His father was God. They just assumed they knew him and they made the wrong conclusions. This is one of the greatest danger that many people face today. I see this attitude in and out of church.
Mar 6:5 And he could there do no mighty work, save that he laid his hands upon a few sick folk, and healed them.
The Bible does not say that Jesus would not do any mighty works there; it literally says it was impossible for Jesus to do any mighty supernatural healings in this setting. In other words, no blind people came again seeing, no crippled people walked again, no deaf people could hear, nothing occurred but Jesus laying His hands on a few minor sick people to be healed. So obviously the Omnipotent Jesus was on vacation during this chapter of the Gospels or people just ignore the real Jesus to make up their fictitious version of Him. You can clearly see that Jesus was not omnipotent in this verse or He would have been able to heal everyone regardless of what they believed.
Mar 6:6 And he marvelled because of their unbelief. And he went round about the villages, teaching.
When Jesus saw their unbelief He was amazed. So what is the opposite of “faith” that got the woman healed in the chapter before this one? You can see that the woman with the issue of blood believed what she heard and these people in the Jesus home town did not believe. That is probably the most important thing that I will teach today, but that is not my primary subject, so I will continue.
What I have demonstrated to you is a version of Jesus that the Bible depicts as being the real “Emanuel” God with Us! This was a man who was God, but clearly was not God in His full Godhead power. Do you understand that it would be impossible to kill the man Jesus if He was here in His full Godhead power? If Jesus was the omnipotent God in person on this planet no would have been able to crucify Him and no one would be saved today. It is very clear to me that God stripped Himself of His divine powers when He choose to manifest on the earth as a human being like you and I. I am going to end this lesson on this note about the resurrection of Jesus. Did you know that after Jesus was raised from the dead He never did any more supernatural signs or wonders here on the earth? Jesus walked the planet after being raised from the dead for nearly 40 days and never did one single supernatural act to prove His divine nature. I mean why didn’t Jesus appear to everyone that just crucified Him and say look I told you so? You see after Jesus was raised from the dead He was again the omnipotent God. But then He told His disciples “that all power in both heaven and in the earth had been given to him”(Mat 28:18). So why is it that people teach that Jesus already had all power before He was crucified if Jesus said it was given to Him after being raised from the dead? Can’t you read and see that Jesus said this power wasn’t fully given to Him until after He was raised from the dead? You cannot have it both ways! Jesus had to be a man with human limitations before the crucifixion and then the power was returned back to Him after His resurrection or you just have to ignore more parts of the Bible that do not agree with your ridiculous fantasy. If Jesus had all power before His crucifixion then there is nothing to give to Him after His resurrection and Jesus is a liar. Wow, I don’t know if you really understand the things I teach or not, but it would be great if you did! God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading in this series of lessons about the Myths of Jesus in the church you may proceed to “Part 3“.
Myths about Jesus in the Gospels? A Rich Jesus vs. a Poor Jesus?
(Ver 1.3) This is Part 1 in a series of advanced Bible lessons on “Myths taught about Jesus” in the modern church. There are a number of things taught from the Bible that are clearly fabricated by the devil to discredit the identity and character of the real Jesus of the Bible. By portraying a fictional Jesus, Satan can keep the church from seeing, seeking and following the examples of the true Jesus. For example, it is widely preached and taught in many churches that Jesus was a very, very poor man and did not own anything of value. However, is this really what the Bible teaches us or is this just what Satan wants you to think so that he can keep you poor in the world today? What advantage does Satan gain by portraying a poor Jesus to the church? I believe that as long as Christians think Jesus was poor they will follow in his example to remain the same. Poor Christians are ineffective and unable to be a blessing to others and therefore very harmless to Satan or even to help the lost unsaved people under his control. Satan desires every Christian to take a vow of poverty to go and live in common dwelling community with others in the same way. In doing this they are unable to feed the poor or help preach the Gospel to the world on the outside. Poor nations are the same type of pattern in this world as poor Christians. This is very evident in the displayed wealth distribution of the nations as studied on the internet. Only the richer strong nations can be a factor to effect any positive change to any other nation that needs help. The poorest nations are the ones that are found the homeless, starving people that are begging for the other nations to come and help them. This is why Satan causes many churches to promote a false Mother Theresa type of sainthood thinking it to be the perfect model type of a real Christian. There are just too many churches that promote a vow of poverty philosophy and somehow believe that this self-imposed vow of suffering makes their people more pious or worthy of being saved. However, I’ve got bad news for you, if Mother Theresa would have had 5 billion dollars to help poor people she would have been much more effective and reached so many that she was never able to reach. Bill Gates helps more poor people than Mother Theresa will ever dream of. There is just no substitute for having money in this world to help and bless other people. Of course money without knowing God is completely worthless. I am not a prosperity preacher or teacher. I hardly mention money on my website and I never ask you to send me anything. Therefore, do not put me into a category of any other stereotyped Bible teacher. I simply like to look for what the Bible says and then teach that regardless of the message. If the Bible said that Jesus was poor then that is exactly what this lesson would be about. How about we just find out what God says in His Word and believe that. Can we just do that?
If you do not have any money or do not work to earn any money then you are living in poverty and usually called a beggar that is seeking and asking churches, charities, relatives, other people or the government for a free helping handout just to eat and to survive. Is that what Jesus did? Can you search the gospels and ever find Jesus begging from anyone? I mean try to find it and then tell me where it is. There are at the minimum two different ways to learn from the Bible. You can learn from what the Bible directly says or you can learn from what it does not directly say. If the Bible does not teach us that Jesus begged then why would you think that you should beg? This type of baseless poverty Jesus teaching would be very much like teaching since the Bible never teaches us that Jesus went to the bathroom, we must all not go to the bathroom and hold it to be like Him. No this is the challenge of resolving our ignorance to allow us to become realistic in our beliefs to see what the Bible actually says about how Jesus never begged for anything and then find out how that applies to us. So I want to take you through some scriptures in the Bible and show you some new perspectives on some things that should hopefully permit you to find and see the real Jesus of the Bible. You will soon find that this real Bible Jesus was not a poor man who owned nothing. Please let me show you in the Bible:
Mat 2:11 And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.
There are many verses in the Bible that I could start with, but I’ll start with this one in Matthew about the men from the east coming to visit baby Jesus after He was born. If you read you will find that these men traveled a great distance because they had seen His star in the east and they followed it to where Jesus was. Most Christma manger scenes have Jesus being born in a stable in Bethlehem with the animals that were present and they have the wise men coming to the manger with their gifts. However, did you notice in this verse in Matthew 2:11 that these men came to see Jesus in a house? There was no manger in this verse or the context. Apparently from this information we can see that Jesus at the very least was a child who lived in a house with his mother and father. So far this is not a homeless and destitute poor Jesus that we have been taught, is it? Next did you notice what these men brought to Jesus? It says they brought gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. That does not sound like a poor Jesus either? So if men traveled a great distance to see a newborn king, would they have brought small insignificant trivial gifts or large extravagant gifts fit for a living king? What would impress the family? If you do not believe me try taking a wrothless gift to the queen of England and see how it is received. You are foolish not to believe a gift for a king has to be great. Therefore, I do not think that Jesus was either homeless or poor as a child growing up; I hope you can see what the Bible says also.
Let’s shift gears to the older Jesus and see what the Bible says about the men that Jesus chose to hang around with. One of the key men that Jesus personally selected was a man called Peter. Peter was a key figure and we can learn a lot about him in the Bible. Peter was married, a fisherman with his brother and he lived in and owned a house:
Mat 8:14 And when Jesus was come into Peter’s house, he saw his wife’s mother laid, and sick of a fever.
So reading about Peter in the Bible we can clearly see that Peter was a businessman who made a living and had a job and thus was not homeless or a man of poverty. Jesus came into Peter’s house and healed his mother-in-law. So the house was large enough to accomodate more than just his wife. Jesus did not pick men who were homeless and poor to associate with, so why do people think Jesus was homeless and poor? Somehow it makes people feel good on the inside to think that Jesus had nothing, owned nothing to depended upon others for everything that He needed. This is exactly how Satan wants you to envision your Jesus so that you will never rise above the level of His poor example.
So do you think that Jesus ever owned a physical house and dwelling place? Some place where He lived for three years? An actual building called a home built with walls, windows, doors and a roof, in some city? If not then where would our Jesus live, sleep, eat or rest? Does He just sleep outdoors on the ground? Does He beg to sleep in other people’s houses? Maybe He just slept in someone’s barn. I do not know why people like to think that Jesus went from place to place sleeping under the stars for at least three years? Remeber that the ministry duration of Jesus was somewhere near three years of time. I cannot only assume that people read the Bible with dark goggles on so they do not have to see what is actually written there. They have created a Jesus in their minds and are quite content with keeping Jesus in their cramped little box of limitations. You would truly be amazed at what the Bible actually says if you would open your eyes and see it! Let me give you a verse found in Matthew to start with:
Mat 9:1 And he entered into a ship, and passed over, and came into his own city.
What does it mean if Jesus crosses over in a boat in order to get to His “own city”? It sounds like that was Jesus’ hometown, doesn’t it? The term “own” is a possessive pronoun and this town was the town that Jesus lived in and possibly even owned a home in. If I called you on the phone and you were my friend and I said “I’m back in town”, you know from that statement that I was gone from town but that I have now returned back home. So did you know that Jesus had his own city to return to? Well I’m about to show you some additional verses that will help us confirm this reality:
Mar 2:1 And again he entered into Capernaum after some days; and it was noised that he was in the house.
Capernaum was a seaside city on the north end of the Sea of Galilee, thus Jesus entered back into the city by boat as we just read about in Matthew. This verse in the book of Mark says there went out rumors spreading everywhere that Jesus was in the house. Uh oh? Further, notice that these rumors took several days to be spread, so Jesus has been in this house for at least that length of time. Whose house was this? Who did this house belong? That sounds pretty bad for the poor homeless Jesus proponents and teachers. If you knew I was gone out of town and drove by my house, could you tell when I got back home? More than likely you could! However, in Jesus’ day you could not just drive into town incognito unless you walked in, in the middle of the night when everyone else was asleep. So according to this verse Jesus comes to Capernaum in a boat and people see Him arrive and start spreading the word to all of their friends that “Jesus is home”. To be “In the house” you have to logically conclude that this was Jesus’ house that they are talking about, otherwise which house in a city of hundreds or even thousands of houses are they speaking of? You just cannot say that Jesus is in the house if you do not already know which one it is! So far this is just very basic simiple logic reached by observing what is stated in the Bible, it is not that difficult, but admittedly it can be easily explained away for those who refuse to see it.
Mar 2:2 And straightway many were gathered together, insomuch that there was no room to receive them, no, not so much as about the door: and he preached the word unto them.
So technically speaking it does not say this house belongs to Jesus, but then again it does not say that it doesn’t either. If you read the context there is no mention of any owner and I believe that is very important to note. So we have to use our brains in order to figure out the truth. Jesus is in a house and a large number of people hear that Jesus is present to be found there and they just happened to show up automatically at just the right house. How do all of these people know which house if this is not Jesus’ house? Uh oh? Here we have another problem for those who want to believe in a poor homeless Jesus. No this verse says so many people showed up, that they could get anyone else in the house, so they had to stand outside the door to hear His words. Then there comes 4 more men carrying a lame friend to get Jesus to heal him. How did these 5 men know what house to come to and why were they there? When they arrived at the house they could easily look at the house and all of the people knowing, yes Jesus is in the house. I conclude formthis that they knew He was home again because we can soon see that they were going to do whatever it took to get their friend healed.
Mar 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
You see here is the major problem that I have discovered about this story in the Bible. If this was my house that I owned and Jesus was just visiting with me for a few days and four idiots come tearing a huge hole in my roof what would you have done to stop them from tearing up your house? Do you know there is no mention that anyone was upset that 4 guys just tore a big hole in the roof to lower their buddy down in? I find that omission totally fascinating to say the least. To me the lack of anyone complaining just confirms that Jesus the healer was in His own house and He did not mind when He saw these men’s faith to get their friend healed. That is the only logical explanation of how everybody knew where Jesus was and why no one cared when the house was broken into and modified with a huge new sky light large enough to lower a crippled man. Let’s read down now in the same chapter and see what else Jesus does in his home city.
Mar 2:14 And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the receipt of custom, and said unto him, Follow me. And he arose and followed him.
Jesus is said to be walking in His city again and finds a man named Levi and tells Levi to “follow me”. Right there let’s analyze that statement; if Jesus wanted to go to Levi’s house would Jesus have said “follow me”? To me Jesus would have said “let’s go to your house and I’ll follow you”. Things in the Bible need to make sense when we read them. The verses present us with limited factual information and we are required to read the facts and use the information to make a determination of what is stated. L’et’s read the following verse and see what is said next:
Mar 2:15 And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him.
Hopefully you can see my problem? Whose house is Jesus now eating in? Did Jesus lead Levi to Levi’s house expecting Levi to feed everyone? Or did Jesus take Levi to Jesus’ house and there they all sat and ate together. The phrase “his house” is one that must be directed at Jesus and not at Levi since Levi is never mentioned in this verse. But, you see we could easily take this verses either way and almost be right. However, only one way is right and the other was must be wrong. Two truths can never exist from one statement. Did you notice how many people were present? Did you notice all of the disciples and Jesus were present and we know Levi was also there if he followed Jesus and now we can read that publicans and sinners were also there. That really sounds like a big group and not a small house at all.
Mar 2:16 And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners?
So poor Jesus proponents and teachers have more problems to try to explain away. I’ll start by asking you how did the Scribes and the Pharisees know where Jesus was eating? Are they following Jesus around? From my current understanding of Bible history the city of Capernaum was not a tiny 4 or 5 house community. It must have had a significant population with many families and houses in it. We can clearly see from this information that Jesus was eating in a house with a lot of people being present and while others simultaneously watching him and knowing where He was located. From what I have just read, I am convinced that Jesus was a man who owned a house in the city of Capernaum and that many people knew Him and exactly where He lived. This is really the only explanation that makes sense of how people kept finding Jesus in a big city. You of course have the option to remain ignorant and believe whatever you like.
Mar 6:4 But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.
If you read the Bible like you want to believe that Jesus was homeless you have to ignore a lot of the Bible to establish that belief. In this verse Jesus is speaking and He says some very profound words. Jesus was the Prophet that He is talking about in this verse. Did you know that Jesus was a prophet? The prophet’s office was just one position that He held, but nevertheless that is one title that He called Himself. This Prophet was said to have no honor among the people who knew Him personally. These people were His neighbors and relatives who knew Him and knew where He lived. These were the people who recognized Him when He walks down the street. These were the people who can see when He enters into the house where He lives and they knew exactly which house it was. These were the people who look at Jesus as being a regular human like them. Because the do not know Him as the Son of God, they hold no place of honor for Him in their heart because He appears to be exactly as they were in every way. To be exactly like them meant that He works, He eats, He sleeps, He goes to the bathroom and He lives in a house just like they did. Do you understand these basic things? They do not see Jesus with a halo around His head and they do not see Jesus walking above the ground where He does not leave any footprints. Jesus was not surrounded with angels. His faced did not glow. Jesus looked normal, acted normal and lived normally. Jesus was a man in complete normalcy like everyone else in appearance. Furthermore Jesus himself just spoke some words and said that He owned a house. Did you notice that? The Greek word G3614 translated as “house” literally means a residence. The inclusion of a personal pronoun of “own” before the noun house (residence) conveys ownership responsibility and is directly associated to the speaker of the words and that was clearly Jesus.
Mat 12:46 While he yet talked to the people, behold, his mother and his brethren stood without, desiring to speak with him.
Here is another very interesting verse that I found about Jesus. Jesus is in a house talking with some people and suddenly His mother and His half-brothers suddenly appear asking to talk to Him standing outside of the house. If this is not Jesus’ house where He lived, how do these close relatives know where to find Him? You can clearly see the difficulty that I have with people’s interpretation that says Jesus did not own a house. If His mothers and His brothers could come to exactly where He was and request a meeting, they had to know where to go. Jesus instead of going to speak to his natural family looked around the room and said those that do the will of my Father, you are my mother, my sister and and brother and then a couple of verses later you will read this:
Mat 13:1 The same day went Jesus out of the house, and sat by the sea side.
Again, we have to conclude that Jesus owned this house that He keeps being associated with near the sea. If Jesus is seen exiting a house and sitting by the sea, we know this is Jesus’ house in Capernaum that He is seen leaving from. There are certainly many more verses like these that I could go through to show you that Jesus did own a house, but I will leave it at that. It really doesn’t matter if you show people two verses or forty verses, if they do not want to see the truth, they will always ignore whatever you give them. Let’s change the subjecvt from houses to moeny and see another perspective of Jesus.
I want you to think about this, did Jesus ever have any money? We know there was one case in the Bible that says when Jesus was forced to pay taxes that He told Peter to go to the sea and catch a fish and use that money in the fish’s mouth to pay the tax. So stories like that are used by people to promote a poor Jesus who did not carry money around with Him. But, did you know that the disciple Judas was said to be the treasurer for Jesus and the other disciples (John 13:29)? Do you need a treasurer if you have no money? In fact if you search and can read the Bible, you will find out that Judas was a thief and he was able to steal money from Jesus and the disciples without anyone else knowing it (John 12:6). Did you know if Jesus only had a little bit of money and Judas took a little bit of it out, it wouldn’t be easily missed? But, if Jesus had a whole bunch of money in the bag and Judas slowly took out a little here and a little bit there, it would never be missed by anyone? So to me using this story of Judas alone we discover that Jesus did carry large sums of money so a little bit is never missed. Let me show you another story in the Bible about this large sum of money that Jesus and the disciples carried around with them:
Mar 6:36 Send them away, that they may go into the country round about, and into the villages, and buy themselves bread: for they have nothing to eat.
We have an interesting story of many people following Jesus in the wilderness. In the Bible verse before this one it says that it is very late in the day and the disciples come to Jesus and ask Him to send the people away so that they can still make it home to get something to eat. However, Jesus had a different lesson to teach them and said this:
Mar 6:37 He answered and said unto them, Give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, Shall we go and buy two hundred pennyworth of bread, and give them to eat?
Jesus tells the disciples to get all of the people something to eat and since there were thousands of them, the disciples ask Him a very strange question for poor homelss men. If these disciples did not have in their possession 200 pennies to buy this bread they would have said let’s go take up a collection so that we can go buy them some bread. But, they did not say that did they? They asked Jesus, do you want us to go and spend 200 pennies to buy all of these people bread to eat? The Bible tells us that there were approximately 5000 men in this group and we know these men had wives and children so there could have been 15000 people there around Jesus. Let me ask you this question, what would it cost you if you took 15000 people to McDonald’s and bought them all a burger? It would take a whole bunch of money to feed that many people. So why would the poor disciples ask Jesus if He wanted them to go and buy food for all of them, if they did not already have the money to do it? You see that would really be a stupid question to ask wouldn’t it. The disciples were not stupid and they were not poor either so get over it and see what the Bible says about money. The disciples had enough money on them to feed everyone, but still there were no bread stores in the wilderness to buy this food, so Jesus goes with His original plan of multiplying the loaves and fishes of a boy’s lunch. The discipiles could have solved the problem in a natural way, but Jesus was teaching them a supernatural method of supply.
I’ll end today’s leson with one more example of how Jesus was not a poor man. When Jesus was crucified it tells us that there were some soldiers who divided up what Jesus was wearing. Since Jesus was hanging on the cross naked about to die, He would have no further need of any of the items and the guards saw a great opportunity to profit:
Joh 19:23 Then the soldiers, when they had crucified Jesus, took his garments, and made four parts, to every soldier a part; and also his coat: now the coat was without seam, woven from the top throughout.
Jesus was wearing a seamless coat that was woven in one piece from top to bottom it says. You probably do not understand the significance to that statement. It means His coat was very valuable. This was the coat of a wealthy man, a king or someone of great status in the city or country. Not everyone possessed a coat such as this, because it took a lot of money to buy one. Evidently if Jesus was poor where did He obtain such a piece of clothing? Someone tried to tell me that this valuable robe was the garment placced upon him by Pilate, but if you go read closely that robe was not a gift but a temporary robe placed to mock Him (Mat 27:31). This royal mocking robe was removed after the mocking and it did not go to the cross. Thefore, the coat that the soldiers were gambling over had to have been owned by Jesus.
Joh 19:24 They said therefore among themselves, Let us not rend it, but cast lots for it, whose it shall be: that the scripture might be fulfilled, which saith, They parted my raiment among them, and for my vesture they did cast lots. These things therefore the soldiers did.
You see the soldiers recognized the value of the coat and said let’s not tear it up! Let us gamble for it so that one of us can use it like it is. For the soldiers to gamble for something that is worthless would be illogical or foolish; so they had to know that the coat was a very valuable item and something that they could not afford even with their salaries from the Roman Empire. This information about Jesus does not go along with the Mother Theresa type of poor Jesus that many people want to follow. There are many other Bible verses that I failed to mention, but I gave you enough references to get you to think and hopefully change your poverty mentality away from the poor Jesus to change it to the real Jesus. You see I do not believe that Jesus was Bill Gates or Warren Buffet while on the earth. However, I also do not believe that Jesus went about as a homeless man in absolute poverty either. You can see too many examples of Jesus beginning with His birth all the way to His death and never is it said that He was poor. Jesus is portrayed in the Bible as being more in the range of an upper middle class man and never a poor homeless man in the Bible. I hope that you can see it with your own eyes and definitely spend more time reading the Gospels for the real Jesus. Thanks for taking the time to read and study the Bible and if you have any questions or comments you are welcome to share them. God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading in this series about Myths of Jesus taught in the Church you may continue to “Part 2“.
Must Women Keep Silent in the Church?
(Ver 1.6) Some may have noticed that this website does not avoid controversy. I believe we need to learn everything possible about every subject and take on even the difficult or controversial Bible subjects that many like to ignore or abuse. The Bible has some very difficult things written in it and on the surface the subject of a woman teaching and preaching in the church, is certainly viewed as one example of those. Vast numbers of people with limited knowledge of the Bible, have long proclaimed their dominant doctrine over allowing women preachers and teachers, in the church. This is a very legalistic Old Covenant approach to understanding the rest of the Bible and the New Covenant age of Grace. Hopefully everyone understands the Bible is divided into two major divisions of covenant relationship. The Old Covenant is dominated by laws, commandments, rules, and words that were to be followed to the letter. But Jesus came to fulfill this law and He has accomplished this, and in implementing the New Covenant relationship with mankind, He has brought about a brand-new creation that never existed before. Please keep this truth in your mind as a foundation when studying this subject of women’s roles in the church, to avoid extreme legalism.
The Old Covenant legalism viewpoint and attitude is placing all women in only subservient roles that appear to be based upon prejudiced or biased legal opinions. What causes alleged Christian people to think this way? The answer to wrong extreme legal thinking and believing, is not knowing who we all are, “In Christ”.
We should all know and understand that in the Kingdom of God there is always order. God is not a God of chaos, disorder or rebellion. What we will find with diligent Bible study, is that many people that believe women must always be silent in the church forever, only read a very few select, and limited number of scriptures that they whole hardly embrace, proclaiming them as the final basis of all their beliefs on this important subject. This of course forces people to ignore vast numbers of other scriptures that do not align with their desired doctrinal outcome or definition of their beliefs. We must understand that the Bible is a book of more than one scripture, and one truth. One of the greatest errors in understanding the correct interpretation of any subject, is to not take a single truth and make it the only truth higher than all others.
In studying the Bible on any subject, it is very wise to pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide us into the fuller knowledge of His truth on any subject before we begin to read and study it. Then we must also ask the Holy Spirit to help us balance every verse on the subject, that He leads us to study. Finally ask the Holy Spirit to show us things that we have never seen before on this subject to grow our understanding of His truth.
If in our deep study of any Bible subject, if there is ever one scripture that He leads us to that we have never seen before, and this verse disagrees with our current beliefs, or one verse that we do not completely understand enough about the subject of women, then we must pray and ask again for the Holy Spirit to help us better understand what He wants us to know about that verse. It is only the Holy Spirit that can reveal something as truth, and He can resolve any and every conflict or controversy that we can encounter with other church members. God is the author of the book, and only He knows every verse, and every word and how they apply to the subject of women’s roles in the church.
Let us begin today by asking the Lord, have we ever studied the Bible on every scripture reference on the subject of women in the Bible? Then ask yourself and the Lord, “Do I totally understand every scripture in the Bible on the subject of women?” We should all believe and say that there is no way that any of us have studied and know everything about this complete subject enough to call our self an expert on the subject. The Bible is way too complex for anyone to say they know it all, except for God.
So how is it that there are some people in the church that can get up to teach and claim that women are not permitted to preach or teach in the church based upon their very limited knowledge on the subject? Please ask the question, who died and made these people higher than God to judge anyone else? Is not God the only person living that completely knows and understand the entire Bible to judge anyone? Be as wise as the man in Acts 5:39 “If this be of God, we cannot overthrow it, lest haply you be found to even fight against God”.
It would also be wise for these types of judging people to learn a lesson from the book of Job. God asked Job, “Who is this that darkens my counsel with words with no knowledge?” When people teach that a woman is incapable of teaching or preaching the Word of God, I believe that this implies that they believe women do not have the brains or mental capacity to know or understand the truth of the Word of God. It would also imply that they believe women cannot ever hear from God and therefore should not even be praying to God. In other words, it comes across that women are not able to go directly to God to listen for His leading because they should only go directly through their husbands or the other men in the church first to hear God’s voice. Is this how God operates?
What a potential arrogant, and superior attitude of pride that attitude could possibly represent! It should remind us of the church in the dark ages, when only a trained priest was believed to be capable of understanding the Bible. In these days no one else was even allowed to read the Bible. What controlling spirit in that time of the church age, were they dominated by? Do you remember what Jesus said to the Pharisees? In Luke 11:52, Jesus said “Woe unto you lawyers, for you have taken away the key of knowledge. You have not entered in yourself, and you have hindered those that were entering in”. Perhaps we need to also read Jeremiah 31:34 that is quoted in Hebrews 8:11. In this verse, God writes to the church, that “everyone” will know Him, from the least to the greatest”. This would certainly include women. Therefore, we all know that women hear from God as well as any man.
People can be too dogmatic when it comes to a deep Bible study discussion like this. Please do not be so engrained into a deep trench of traditional human beliefs, that you are dug in too deep to get yourself out of it. What we are going to do is go through some key Bible verses that are often ignored or purposefully overlooked to examine what else God says in regard to references of His usages of women in the Bible and His selected roles for them.
Have you ever had a Godly woman influence you? I can only personally speak a testimony about women that have influenced me. I will tell you that if it were not for good Christian women in the church, I would probably not be here today teaching the Word of God. I believe that it was only because of their direct prayers, help, involvement and their leadings from God in ministry that I am even here today to write this lesson. So, I appreciate whoever God uses and I refuse to put limitations on what God can do through anyone. Let’s focus upon the root scriptures of controversy first:
1Ti 2:11 Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.
So here we go with the first doctrinal classic verse, about shut up and just learn silently in the church, speech. However, perhaps we need to know some basic facts. The Greek word G1135, translated as “women” is predominately speaking to married wives in relationship to their husbands sitting under the teaching of the Lord’s Word together. This verse must be applied to this application first. With futher study we will discover that Paul is addressing a very specific cultural issue in this verse for the time of the early church. In that culture women sat on one side of the church and men on the other side of the church. This would cause a great number of issues during the church service causing disordered distraction to everyone present. Therefore, Paul wanted everyone to be silent while the Word was going forth.
If anyone is distracted, talking to others while the Word of God is being taught, is anyone learning anything? No, of course not! This was the situation in this letter. Paul was addressing a very specific problem of distraction in a very specific Church, and he was not establishing a broader New Covenant law that women can’t ever talk. If the problem was that it was the males were talking in church, then I believe Paul would have said, you talking and distracting men keep quiet and learn. Humans both male and female were designed by God with a mouth, a mind, and the ability to talk and communicate intelligently, so to say a woman can’t ever talk in church, is very ignorant and domineering.
So now this verse ends in the word “subjection” and this is not a bad word. It means you are “not in control” and you are “not the head”. Everyone on this planet is in subjection to someone or something. This word applies to men equally and as strong as to women. If you have ever been in the military, you understand “subjection”. You follow orders from the day you join to the day you leave. You are not there to do anything but to follow orders. The corporate business world is very similar, but some people do get paid to be creative and come up with new ideas. However, this does not mean they can do whatever they want, whenever they want and to whoever they want. They still have to be submissive to those that they are working for. To be submissive is a normal way of life; it promotes order and a chain of command for authority, and this further designates who has responsibility as well as accountability.
Even the CEO of a large public company is accountable to the stockholders. There is really no one on the earth that is in complete control of anything. Submission is not a negative thing, and it should never be used to force anyone to do anything that they do not want to do or keep them from doing what God calls and desires them to do. Learn from God’s example, the utmost highest Spiritual Being who came to the earth in the flesh and while He was here, He washed the feet of His disciples. Please don’t make yourself better than God. If you are not serving someone else, you have become deceived.
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
So here we go with another “Thus saith the Lord”! Oh yea, it doesn’t say God said this, it says Paul said this using the personal pronoun “I’ and that knowledge could make these words mean something very different. Did you know that it is possible, that Paul could have a personal opinion or belief, that could be his own and potentially biased or even wrong? Was Paul God? Did Paul know everything? Remember in 1 Corinthians 13:12 that Paul wrote that he and all of the rest of us are currently only seeing things through a glass darkly, and he personally said, that we only know the truth in “part”. Wow, that is an amazing revelation to apply to each of us personally. We need not think too highly of our self, and we believe that we know and understand everything about any Bible subject.
I would like to give you something new to consider. Did Paul when He was writing his letters, know that his personal words written in letters to his believing friends in churches, that God usee him to establish, were going to be taught in the future as God’s Holy Word and even combined and compiled together into a new greater “New Testament” with other 7 other writers? I personally do not believe that Paul had any knowledge that his personal letters, that were written to his friends in a few churches would be compiled and bound into a new book called the New Testament. If Paul considered these letters to be the official Bible, why would he not have written this in these letters? Also, why are there so many personal references to names of his special friends? Why in 2 Timothy 4:13, does Paul write and ask for someone to bring him his Coat that he left in Troas. He also asks for some special books and parchments to be brought to him. I find these types of personal references, to show us that Paul did not understand that what he was writing was God’s inspired Word. That does not mean it is NOT God’s inspired word, it only means, it is possible that Paul did not know that it was.
If God would have told Paul directly that this was happening, Paul would not have been living by faith, or walking by faith. Paul very clearly said, “the just shall live by faith”, quoting an Old Testament verse. In Acts 17:11 when Paul was preaching, he called the church at Berea more noble because they showed the diligence to verify what he was saying by finding it in the Old Covenant Hebrew writings. This tells us, that Paul believed those written Hebrew words were to be considered God’s inspired scripture containing God’s Word. But it should also tell us that even Paul needed the Old Covenant writings to confirm what he was teaching to the churches. DO NOT misunderstand what is being said, Paul’s words are certainly inspired words, but not all of them are to be considered, “Thus saith the LORD”.
Let us look at some other translations of 1 Timothy 2:12. The Modern King James Version says, “I forbid a woman to teach”. Again this represents a personal opinionated choice of Paul. The New American Standard Bible says, “I do not allow a woman to teach”. No mention of God’s command here either. The American Standard Versions says, “I permit not a woman to teach”. These are all common translations that harmonize together. There is no contradiction between any of the translations that it was only Paul’s opinion being given to the church for that specific day and that specific culture.
Were Paul’s personal views and words shaped by his life’s experiences and the culture of the surrounding world influences? I believe they were just as our views have a basis of our own cultural surroundings and influences. Please do not misunderstand me. I have no doubt that these words were inspired by God to be written down, but I believe that does not mean God said them. If we believe that every word in the Bible is a commandment from God, then we need to understand the Bible a lot more. There are quotations given by Satan who we know is a liar. Therefore, these are not instructions to follow or obey. Then there are a lot of quotes from men like Job, that we should know that he was rebuked by God for saying.
There are literally too many examples to teach them all that are found in the Bible. But I will mention a great example to learn from found in 1 Corinthians 7:6-12. In these verses Paul was very clear to teach us how he literally flipped into writing about his own personal opinion on the subject of marriage and divorce. Uh oh, this is speaking of husbands and wives again like we were reading about in Timothy. Please go and read these verses carefully and observe how Paul said, “I say, not the LORD” and other times “not I, but the Lord says“. This is just one great example that we need to learn from, to show how we must rightly divide the Word of Truth, and how easy it could be to wrongly divide the Word of truth.
Before we continue any further, please go and read the surrounding contextual verses to see what they say and how they fit with women being silent. Notice in verse 9 of 1 Timothy 2, Paul writes that women should dress moderately. So far so good for a lot of church women, but for others even this Pauline suggestion is not followed. But then Paul writes that women should not be wearing gold or pearls. Uh, oh? What just happened, how many women are following these as commandments. All of the sudden we have a Burger King religion of have it our way, or only eat selective doctrines we like from a larger buffet containing some choices that we don’t like. We eat from the words we like and the words we don’t like we leave alone. But to give notice, there are no quotations of “Thus Saith the LORD” in these words either. But we can still learn things to apply to us from them all.
Let’s talk about the Bible cultural influences that could have been used to contribute to the meanings of the Words written on the pages. In ancient days, were women ever in charge of anything when Paul wrote this? You can find a few instances of women like Esther, Jezebel, and Cleopatra who were in the world realm of royal power to have some very significant influence, power and authority for God and the devil. But for the most part, it was a total male-controlled world. There are many religions in the world that still hold to this domineering male philosophy, and I like to watch what the devil does to people in the world to learn from how he wants to pervert things to oppose God’s ways. Satan’s ways are usually the opposite of God’s ways. Satan seems to either want to keep women totally ignorant in a slave type of relationship or exalt them to the top of the food chain and make them run everything independently of male partnership. It is either total submission like in countries of Afghanistan or Iran, or total women’s liberation and independence like in Europe and parts of America. I believe both are perverted wrongs of extremism and the truth of God must be somewhere balanced in the middle. What I would like to say is if Satan uses women for his perversion, who says it is not possible for God to use women for His glory, righteousness and Holy purposes? If God is doing anything that resembles what the devil is trying to do in the world to women, that should raise a concern in our spirit, for us to ask when did God and Satan begin to agree on anything?
Only a few Christian churches seem to have the correct perspective of a balanced approach of the truth being somewhere in the middle. So here is another problem, I have heard from many extreme preachers and teachers that these verses written to Timothy should be interpreted that all women must not teach but rather to sit and keep silent in the church. According to correct Bible interpretation rules I need another witness that says this is the law of truth and so far I have not found it. The Bible says in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses let every word be established and here we read one passage and people want to make it the rule of their doctrine and force everyone to adhere to it.
I searched through every N.T. verse that had any form of the word “teach” and this is the only verse that I found with the word woman used in this regard. I find that to be a major problem with some people’s interpretation. If anyone is trying to take one verse out of context and make it a rule of law, that does not work for me. So let’s look at some other verses in the Bible and see what God says about women and see if we can come up with a balanced approach to this subject. Let us turn to the book of Acts and see how the early church is described.
Act 2:17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, saith God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
In this verse in Acts, Peter is quoting the Word of God from the Prophet Joel. Right there we learn that this means we will possess two direct witnesses to what this verse says. So we are clearly on a much safer and firmer ground for our interpretation. Do you understand that concept? It is so very important. According to this verse, God will in the last days pour out His Spirit upon “ALL FLESH”! This verse would certainly include both women as well as men as you can clearly see. This verse continues to say that both your sons and your daughters would “prophesy”. So, let’s stop right there and ask the question what does it mean to “prophesy”? Can you or I prophesy in silence? No clearly this verse involves women opening their mouth and making audible sounds that can be heard by anyone present.
What is the difference between teaching people with the spoken words from the Bible which were given by the Spirit of God and prophesying with the words potentially inspired by the Spirit of God in a church? Can you think of any differences? Isn’t prophesying the act of speaking words out loud to someone else so that they can hear them? Then what is the definition of teaching? Isn’t teaching speaking out loud words for other people to hear? It would be useless for a woman to prophesy without someone present to hear her. Uh oh? You can automatically and quickly see that this verse directly conflicts with Paul’s declared command to keep silent. You also have to remember that Paul did not really tell women to keep silent, he said to “learn in silence” and that is something completely different than to never say anything. Let us see another example in the book of Acts that brings further confirmation:
Act 21:9 And the same man had four daughters, virgins, which did prophesy.
These 4 daughters were the children of Phillip the evangelist. We are clearly told that they were able to prophesy to others. This clearly means speaking out loud in an audible voice that can be heard and even directed at the men that were there in the house. Did you know that the early church met in houses? They did not have any synagogues, temples or church buildings to meet at, so they met in houses. If the daughters of Phillip prophesied in the house they were probably doing it during a church service. So we have a huge issue with should a woman always keep silent in the church. Please allow me to ask again, what is the technical difference between teaching and prophesying? Is there a difference? Are not both spoken words directed at listeners? I will also say this, if you do not have women prophesying in your church services, you do not have a complete New Testament church. You have deviated from God’s original plan observed in the book of Acts in favor of your ideas of order. Let us now approach this subject from a new direction and see how God teaches us something new to consider.
Gal 3:26 For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.
According to the Bible, God says that we are all His children. So, does God play favorites? Are the male children preferred above the female children? If you think that they are you are clearly in need of learning the truth. Let us keep reading:
Gal 3:27 For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
We can continue down this chapter and see that every Christian has been baptized into Christ and that makes us ALL one with Him equally. This is an all-inclusive statement that includes both males and females. Then notice what God says about us all:
Gal 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
So here we go with another paradox and puzzle being presented. God says to us, that In Christ males and females are not different. But in the world, we can all clearly see that males and females are quite different, and even treated as such. This teaches us a new foundational difference, between Christians who are natural thinkers versus Christians who are carnal thinkers. We know in the world there are both males and females, but God claims in the spiritual dimension in Christ, we are all just members of one body. There is no difference within the Spirit realm from each other. I personally believe that men who teach male dominance usually are just very carnally minded individuals who look at external things and do not try to see things spiritually as God sees things.
If ignorant Bible teachers would just please read and study their Bible’s to see things within the Spirit and not in the flesh and how God sees them, they would discover that the church is called the “Bride of the Lamb”. Jesus is plainly revealed to be the Bridegroom of the church in the Spirit realm New Covenant (Luk 5:34-35). If you are a male preacher, does that bother you, to be called a spiritual woman bride of Christ? I think it does to many carnal naturally thinking people. But this means we (the church) are all collectively called one woman in the eyes of God. This is not something new. God did the exact same thing with the natural nation of Israel, calling Himself their husband, implying they were all His wife. So we are all in covenant and in subjection to our Head who is the Lord Jesus Christ (Eph 5:24).
So how can Paul write that women should not teach in one place in the Bible and then write there is no difference between men and women in Christ in another place? If you do not understand the major conflict between these two contrasting and opposing statements, then you do not realize that we have a significant problem that God can only resolve.
Here is my opinion and I usually do not give you my opinion so you do not have to take anything to heart that I say next in this paragraph. I think from a natural perspective that men counseling women or women counseling men privately should never be done under any circumstance. There are just too many potential problems that could occur. I have seen the best married pastors get into physical affairs with women because of this natural physical and emotional attraction that God created within us. Women should counsel women, and men should counsel men. This just makes the most logical and common sense approach to me. So, I believe firmly that counseling between opposite sexed individuals in the privacy of an office type setting should never be done under any circumstances. By avoiding the appearance of evil, men and women will not fall into these types of traps that Satan can use against them. However, what people do in a public church service is not limited by these natural types of rules. That was my opinion and there is no extra charge for that. So let us see what else the Bible says about women:
Tit 2:3 The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things;
This verse is directed at mature women, but I was shocked at how it ended. To be a teacher of “good” things implies strongly that women have the ability and can teach. In fact, it clearly implies these women should be teachers. It further implies that these women have gained some wisdom that is worthy to be taught to others. Obviously, we have another verse that goes against the broad concept of a “keep silent” verse that some like to focus upon. So, we have another potential conflict of whether women should teach or women should never teach.
Tit 2:4 That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children,
Here we have the follow up to the previous verse and it clearly says that it is OK for women to teach other women. Now it is interesting that this verse directly contradicts again that a woman should keep silent that some try to teach as the only gospel truth. If a woman has the ability to teach another woman, then she must also have the ability to teach anyone (PERIOD)! Any teaching ability is a gifting from the Holy Spirit, and it represents a special anointing given to her from and by God.
I would like you to go back and read chapter 1 of Titus, because in this chapter it is talking about Bishops in the church. God and Paul are clearly talking about women teaching in a church setting and not in a private setting. So instead of denying women who are called of God the right to preach and teach, we should be smart enough to recognize when God is doing something and we should not fight against God. If God is not behind it, it will not matter who it is that is teaching or preaching because there will be no anointing from the Spirit of God and it will eventually fail. My Bible says that unless the Lord builds the house, those that build it labor in vain (Ps 127:1). So if God wants to use a woman, we better bow to the wisdom of God and keep our mouth closed while we learn. Please learn the lesson that people try to only apply to women, learn in silence and we might be amazed at what God says through a woman.
We could go through the Bible from the beginning to the end to find that women play an essential part of the design of God’s purpose for humans. God promises the first woman that it will be a woman and her seed that will bruise the head of Satan with her heel. Wow, that sounds significant. Then at the end of the Bible we find a “Wonder Woman” standing on the moon which is a symbolic representation for Satan with her heels on top. Wow, again! We are seeing that God chose to use a woman to do this job!
Then read through the rest of Bible in between Genesis and Revelation and you will find other women used by God for very significant purposes. To name a couple notice Esther. Without her fulfilling her purpose to become a Gentile king’s wife, there would probably be no nation of Israel. A woman was the center character used by God to accomplish this. Then without Ruth a Gentile Moabite who decided to have faith to leave her nation to join in covenant with her mother-in-law to move to Bethlehem, there may have not been a Grandmother to King David. Read the account about Deborah who was one of the Judges (rulers) during the book of Judges. These are just a few of the women that are noteworthy to from. But there are other noteworthy women of faith like Sarah. Sarah was directly mentioned in Hebrews chapter 11, the Hall of Faith of noteworthy examples of Old Covenant people.
CONCLUSION
Let us review our key verse again that causes many to stumble in the light of what we have just read from other parts of the Bible:
1Ti 2:12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.
Let me ask you again, how can a woman keep silent and still prophesy? She can’t! How can a woman teach other women in the church and still keep silent? She can’t! Did you know the word translated as “usurp authority over” is only in the entire Bible this one time in this verse and no other places? According to Strong’s it means “a worker” who acts of themselves. Do you know this is wrong for anyone to do regardless of gender? To act of yourself means to be self-appointed and self-sufficient. This means to promote yourself and raise your own ability to a level above where you should be. Men are guilty of this more than women are guilty of it. So I do not know of any verse in the Bible that says that a woman cannot be called by God, appointed by God, promoted by God and made to be a blessing to others in the church? Today, God has already raised up and promoted several women in the church with large ministries that are way beyond many of the ministries of men on the earth. So please, let us become wise and recognize God’s perspective of truth and please LORD, help me not to judge the message given by the gender of the person delivering the message. Help me LORD, to study what is taught and just see if what is said was what You said in your Word! Help me to learn to see people as You see people and I believe You will be able to cause Your servants to stand or fall.
I’ll end this Bible lesson with an important instruction that God gave to one man and you see if it is something that applies to you also today:
1Sa 16:7 But the LORD said unto Samuel, Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have refused him: for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.
Please do not become legalistic and bound by laws of limitations that put God in a box that claims a woman is unable to be used by the Almighty. Thank you for reading, studying and leaving me a comment if you care to. I love you all and I pray for all my readers that He will give unto you the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in the knowledge of Christ Jesus. Amen.
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“.
Understanding the Book of Job? An overview of what it is and what it is not! Part 2
(Ver 1.2) This is Part 2 in a series of lessons on understanding the book of Job. The book of Job is a very tough book of the Bible to understand using just the reasoning found within your human mind. If you have not read this series from the beginning, I would highly recommend that you go back and start with “Part 1”. Too many Christians want to put themselves into the role of a Job because of all of the bad things that have happened to them and they find some peace or reason to help explain their situations in life. They use Job to help explain what is going on in their lives, because they think if God can test Job, then he must be testing me also. They want to see themselves as a Job being tested by God and this somehow makes them feel worthy of the bad things that have occurred. After all they think that God sent all of these evil things that were occurring in Job’s life to test him. That would be great if that was really what the Book of Job actually said, but that is just someone’s misinterpreted view of the book of Job and that does not make it the truth. Nevertheless, this view is widely taught this way and that is exactly the way Satan wants it to be taught. You see as long as you think that it is God sending you the curses of life you will have to accept them and just be patient until God changes His mind to bless you. You do understand the difference between blessings and curses? It is the difference between day and night and good and evil. Blessings are good and curses are evil. As you read the book of Job you need to figure out first who sends good things into your life and who sends the bad things to hurt you. If you think that God sends them all, you are sadly deceived and playing into the hands of Satan. Here is what my Bible says about God:
Jas 1:17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.
So as you can see God is the sender of every Good and Perfect gift into your life. Then who sends the evil bad curses into your life, do they also come from heaven above? You see you cannot conclude that they do, because this verse also says God does not change. If there is not any shadow of turning in God, then God is not blessing you today and cursing you tomorrow. God is not having full confidence in you today and testing you tomorrow. This is so absolutely important for you to see and to understand. God already knows the future, he does not have to test you to know what you are going to do, He already knows. Whenever Christian think that God tests them, they automatically think that God is stupid and does not know the outcome. The Bible says that God makes known the end from the beginning, so he must already know the end. Do you get it?
The story of Job is a story of God’s blessings and Satan’s curses. If you confuse the two roles you are just going to be deceived. If you recall, we have already looked at the first 12 verses of the book of Job. Job was said to be an upright righteous man blessed of God with tremendous wealth. This is what God is guilty of doing for Job. Satan sees the hedge of protection that God has placed around Job and his family and Satan starts to look for ways into Job to force God into lowering the hedge of protection. I showed you that Satan is called the “accuser” of the people of God in Revelation 12. Suddenly Satan appears in heaven and starts the legal accusation process. God is a God who holds all power and all knowledge. God is an omnipotent God and only He sees the future. But just because God is all powerful, too many Christians want to think that God controls everything that happens in the world. This results in a “No Fault” Christian religion. In other words no matter what happens to me in life, it is not my fault. This makes it all God’s fault. People like to think that when good things happen to them it is God’s blessings, but when bad things happen to them that it is just God’s tests and trials. However, I showed you in Deuteronomy where God says I set before you life and death and blessings and curses, now you choose life. So it would appear that God places the choice for both life and blessings in the hands of men on the earth. But, here is Job’s problem, he didn’t have Deuteronomy to read and he certainly didn’t have the book of Revelation to read. Job is flying in the game of life blindly, by the seat of his pants trying to figure out what to do and how to do it. This is Job’s greatest weakness, his ignorance. In Hosea 4:6 the Bible tells us clearly why God’s people are destroyed and it declares that it is for their lack of knowledge. If only Job had possessed the correct knowledge Satan would not have been able to make inroads into his life. This is what I am attempting to teach you about so that you do not fall into the same mistakes as Job. There is a popular quote that says those that fail to learn the past are destined to repeat it. Are you learning anything from God and Job yet? We are about to see that ignorance is what it is that is controlling what is happening to Job. So let’s continue our Bible study of this valuable book:
Job 1:13 And there was a day when his sons and his daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
This verse reveals that the children of Job have not changed their ways. They are still party animals and are in the process of having fun and fulfilling their fleshly desires. Here we find out that these are not young kids, for the eldest has a house of his own. At the least the eldest doesn’t live with dad Job anymore and it could be that every kid had their own house.
Job 1:14 And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:
What we are beginning to see is the power of Satan being made manifest that God describes to us in verse 12. It is funny how a messenger is spared in each case to come tell Job of the bad news. It is also interesting to note that before one messenger stops speaking another shows up with more bad news. So you can see the rapid progression of simultaneous events. Let’s continue reading and see what happens:
Job 1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Do you see how Satan works? Satan does not come into this world and steal your stuff from you personally. Satan uses people in this world to steal your stuff from you. This is the only legal course that Satan can take. The Bible says there has no temptation overtaken you except that which is common to man (1 Cor 10:13). The words “common to man” means “in the natural course of things”. In other words it is illegal for Satan to tempt you supernaturally. But, the Greek word translated as “temptation” also means “to test”. Job is being tested, but it is certainly not God that is doing it. The Bible says in James 1:13, “Let no man say when he is tested that I am tested of God, for God cannot be tested with evil and neither does God test any man”. I changed the words that were translated as “tempted” to “tested” because that is what the word means in the Strong’s. Look it up for yourself, if you do not believe me. Prove all things and then hold fast to those that are true. The story of Job is definitely the testing of Job and how Job survives it using his patience and the grace of God. But, James says God does not test men, so God clearly had nothing to do with the tests of Job. Do you understand this? If you do we can continue, if you do not you should go back and reread James a couple of hundred times until you get it.
Job 1:16 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed them; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
It seems that the messengers just keep coming and bringing more and more bad news. God gets blamed for something in this verse that He did not do. This still happens today. People call earthquakes and hurricanes acts of God. These clearly destroy things and kill people and take away human life. Is this the God that you serve? It is not the God that I serve. My Bible says that God is Love! Love does not bless you today and take it all away tomorrow. That doesn’t make any sense for our God to do that. One of the most important verses in the Bible is John 10:10 and it clearly describes God’s role and Satan’s role in the world.
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.
This verse sound like a major problem for the God is testing us theory. What is the major difference being described to us in this verse? Who is the speaker and who is he speaking about? Jesus (God in the flesh) is speaking here to us personally and He said I came that you might have life and that life more abundantly. Now using this information if you try to say that God sends hurricanes on the earth when someone dies; then somebody lied when they wrote the Bible. Do you think that Jesus lied or was He just confused about His role with the Father God? God the Son came to Give us Life; but God the Father sends storms that will kill you. Would this mean that God’s house is divided? Is God opposed to Himself? Which one is God doing, giving life or killing you? What did Jesus say about a house divided? If God gives life to people and kills people this is a Dr Jekyll and a Mr Hyde type of God and that is clearly a problem to me. You better go and study your Bible a lot more before you accuse God of sending storms to kill people.
Job 1:17 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
Again we see another example of how Satan can influence people to come and attack you, steal from you and do you harm. So here we get to some of the most devastating news:
Job 1:18 While he was yet speaking, there came also another, and said, Thy sons and thy daughters were eating and drinking wine in their eldest brother’s house:
Job 1:19 And, behold, there came a great wind from the wilderness, and smote the four corners of the house, and it fell upon the young men, and they are dead; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee.
A strong wind from the wilderness; what is that? That sounds like a tornado if you ask me. I do not know of any stronger wind on this planet than one of these forces of nature. Can Satan cause one of these to occur? It would appear from reading this story that he can. The force of the wind was directed at the house of the eldest brother, was this a coincidence? It cannot be a coincidence given the sequence of events that have just transpired in rapid succession. The odds for all of these events occurring to Job in that short of time are astronomically impossible. You talk about bad luck; it seems that Job has just hit the bad luck lottery. Here we are just 19 verses into Job and most of his possessions are taken, his children killed and this all in the matter of minutes.
I am going to stop with chapter 1 and 2 and skip ahead in the book of Job to show why this is occurring and what Job did to open the door for Satan to do it to him. You see if you begin to understand things in the Bible, you can apply what you learn in other places to help you better understand places like Job. What we will do is see if Job gives us any clues to what choices he made in order to choose the curses instead of the blessings. What we are going to do is look for what Job did and not focus on what you think God did or did not do. So let’s skip forward and read the last 3 verse of chapter 3 and learn what Job says about what just happened:
Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Job 3:25 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Job 3:26 I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
Amazingly enough there are some critical clues in these three verses. These verses taken in light of other verses in the Bible clearly demonstrate where Job missed it and allowed Satan to have access to his life and his family. Let’s see what he says.
Verse 24 speaks of Job’s” roarings like water”, what is that? What happens when a lion roars? It is making vocal sounds. Well this is a clue that Job was running his mouth too much. What is water a symbol of in the Bible? The N.T. tells us that we are made clean by the washing of the water of the word (Eph 5:26). So water must represent God’s spoken words in this verse. God speaks words that can make us clean, so what kind of words does the enemy Satan speak? I believe these are words that make us dirty. So what kind of words are you speaking?
Pro 18:4 The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.
So Words are Water! I do not have time to teach you everything that the Bible says about words in this lesson but you can go read my other lessons on this subject. In James God tells us that our mouths are like water from fountains and asks can a fountain bring forth fresh water and salt water at the same time? No it cannot, but it can either bring forth only fresh water or it can also bring forth the fresh mixed with the bitter undrinkable salt water. It would appear to me to be a choice to which one that you allow your mouth to bring forth. I will tell you very plainly that I believe your spoken words are Satan’s number one access into your life. If you say the wrong things, you open the door for Satan to waltz right in and use his power to steal, kill and destroy you. You in effect give him orders that allow his work to be accomplished. It is like a spiritual permission slip that is granted to him. Let me help to prove what I just said using the Bible to back it up:
Pro 6:2 Thou art snared with the words of thy mouth, thou art taken with the words of thy mouth.
Proverbs teaches us some very powerful lessons on the words that we speak. This is one of the most powerful lessons to learn found in this verse. God clearly tells us that we are “snared” or “taken” captive by the words of our mouth. To be “snared” or “taken” captive means to be imprisoned, enslaved, or to be trapped into something or somewhere that you do not want to be. Do you understand this? It is like falling into a pit and you did know was there. So is Job facing a situation that he did not want to be in? Of course he is, Job has been trapped or tricked into a series of things that were clearly not what he desired to happen to him. What happens to Job is based upon Job’s spoken words first and foremost, but that is not the entire problem revealed to us. Let’s look at the next verse in chapter 3.
In verse 25 of chapter 3, Job says that the thing that I feared the most has come upon me. That which I was greatly afraid of has over taken me. People, who do not understand faith in the Bible, do not know what Job has just told us. The Bible in the N.T. tells us that without faith it is impossible to please God (Heb 11:6). So why is faith so important to God? And then what is faith so that we can please God? Again I cannot teach you the answers to either of these questions fully in this blog. It would take way too long. I can only begin to tell you what faith is not in this blog. Faith is not fear. Faith is not being afraid. In fact fear is the opposite of faith. If you would like to read about “Understanding Bible Faith” then you can go to this series of lessons that will better explain why Job failed. Fear opens up the door for Satan to cause what you are afraid of to come to pass in your life. Faith opens the door for God to bless you and fear opens the door for Satan to curse you. This is how the whole Bible works and it is a common theme from Genesis 1 to Revelation 22.
Finally in Job verse 26 of chapter 3 we see more of the problem being described to us. To be in faith means to be in peace, but yet Job was in fear so he was definitely not peaceful and resting. The Bible says that to those who have believed they have entered into rest (Heb 4:3). When you have faith in God you can rest that he will do what He has promised. This is also having peace in your spirit. Job did not have this, so Job was open to the attack of Satan. Job was constantly in fear and was worried about his children and offered sacrifices to help his children and Job did this continually provring he was not in faith believing that it was working. This is not peace or rest, it is works based and the Bible says that no man is ever justified by his works.
Did you know that in any court of this land, you cannot go in and plead ignorance? Ignorance is never a valid reason for committing a crime. I’m sorry judge I didn’t know driving 140 was illegal. So it is with God’s spiritual laws. Just because you do not understand faith, spoken words, peace and rest does not mean you can get away with not doing them. You can clearly see that Job’s problem was at least 3 fold. He couldn’t keep his mouth shut; he was in fear for his family and finally he did not have any confidence in God’s ability so he could not rest. These are just Bible basics that God has hidden in the Word of God so that we can find them. We can also clearly see why God said everything that he possesses is in your power. It was Job’s own words and actions that open the door for Satan to come in. I would strongly suggest if you do not know much about faith and spoken words that you go study these two subjects extensively. If you can understand these, then you can clearly see how Job let Satan into his life. Then you can apply the lessons of Job to understand this is also how you let Satan have access to your life. So it is a vitally important subject to learn. I have gone too long in this lesson, so I’ll end it right here. I pray that you will continue reading in the next lesson so that we can learn some more from the book of Job. God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading this series you can continue with “Part 3“.
Understanding the Book of Job! An overview of what it is and what it is not! Part 1
(Ver 1.3) This is Part 1 of a series about understanding the Book of Job. The book of Job is a highly controversial book of mostly confusing information. The book of Job has been widely given the theme of patience and we see this mentioned in the New Testament book of James. This reference in James is the only time Job is mentioned by name in the N.T. The name Job is mentioned only 54 times and mostly just in the book of Job. However, the name does occur in Genesis 46 and Ezekiel 14. The book of Job is primarily about the afflictions of Job. However, the initiator of the problems in Job’s life and the cause of the problems are widely misinterpreted. The book of Job is often quoted at funerals and this is another misapplication of the scriptures and I will probably get into these verses later. The first two chapters reveal the afflictions occurring to this righteous man and then starts the words of Job in chapter 3 in an apparent conversation with some of his friends that have come to tell him what to do and this continues for many chapters. The discourse between Job and his friends go back and forth and finally end when God comes into the conversation with some new information that shuts everyone up. The last chapter of Job ends with God’s blessings on him being restored more than he ever had before. Most Bible scholars agree that Job is probably the oldest book of the Bible. The timeframe of Job is probably somewhere between Noah and Moses since it does not refer to Israel, the Old Testament law or any reference to God’s covenant with Abraham. The author of Job is probably the man Job himself, but we do not know this for sure. There are several verses found in Job that reveal things to us that confirm that it belongs in the Bible and that it is the inspired information from the Spirit of God. So I will not attempt to do a verse by verse study of the entire book, there is just too much unknown information found in this book to do this. I will attempt to teach some key verses that I have seen and I will try to use other verses in the Bible to help us to interpret what we find in Job correctly. Always remember that the Bible interprets itself. Let’s start with verse 1:
Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.
The first verse informs us where Job lived and what his nature and character was in the eyes of God. God calls the man Job a complete man, in other words a righteous man. He was humble and feared God and resisted evil. This is the type of man that God can stand behind as we will find out shortly.
Job 1:2 And there were born unto him seven sons and three daughters.
The man Job was married as we will also find out and he had 10 children. In the next verse we will see that the blessing of God were upon him.
Job 1:3 His substance also was seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she asses, and a very great household; so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.
According to this verse Job was the greatest of all of the men of the east. This is strictly in terms of wealth and the blessings of God on his life. This is also a hidden hint to the reasons of things to come. If God’s blessing are on someone, he will get the attention of everyeone else physcially and spiritually speaking. When Satan sees the blessings of God upon Job, Job became a target. In verse 4 of Job 1, you can see that Job had problems with his children. They like to party, eat, drink and be merry. They were into having fun more than they were into work and doing right. This caused Job vast concern of what would happen to his children. This is the introduction to what Job worried about the most.
Job 1:5 And it was so, when the days of their feasting were gone about, that Job sent and sanctified them, and rose up early in the morning, and offered burnt offerings according to the number of them all: for Job said, It may be that my sons have sinned, and cursed God in their hearts. Thus did Job continually.
So Job does some things that I find very interesting. His kids have stopped their partying and Job is offering burnt offering for the number of his children to the Lord. Where does Job get the idea for this? I honestly do not know. As far as I know there is no law, no priests and there was no precedence for doing what he is doing. Is Job a priest of God? I do not know? We know from the N.T. that without the shedding of blood there is no remission of sins (Heb 9:22). So Job was doing the right things, but where did he get this information? Plus was it doing any good since it was his children that were sinning and not him? This verse ends with the statement that Job did this continually so we assume that his kids were continually in a party mode. There is another scripture in the N.T. that I believe should be applied to this information we are given, and it goes like this “God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man sows, that shall he also reap” (Gal 6:7). What were Job’s children sowing? Will they reap what they sow regardless of what their father does? I believe God says they will.
Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.
So here we go with another introduction to some highly confusing information. The book of Job seems to change dramatic focus from the earth to a place in heaven. The “sons of God” are the angels of God and this would include all angels, the good and the bad. This verse says Satan came with them like he is not included in the group of “sons of God”, but I totally disagree with that interpretation and I believe that Satan was their leader and the most high angel. You can see this by reading verses in Ezekiel 28:14 that describe Satan as the anointed cherub and the covering cherub. Then in Isaiah 14:12, Satan is called Lucifer, the son of the morning. Morning is the “Early Light” and since God is Light we can see that Lucifer is called an early son of God.
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
We are now told that Satan has come from the earth, so we know that he is not on the earth while he is holding this conversation with God. We also learn that Satan is not omnipresent. He must walk across the earth and go from place to place. We therefore know that Satan is not everywhere on the earth at once. However, we do not know how many angels that Satan has under his control on the earth so there may be many angels tormenting people simultaneously and not just Satan doing everything. However, many angels there are, the Bible says in Revelation 12 that 1/3 of them are fallen with Satan. There is also another reality given to us found in the N.T. that helps to explain what is happing to Job. In 1 Peter 5:8 God informs us that Satan is our adversary and he goes about as a roaring lion seeking who he may devour. Is this not exactly describing what is happening here in Job? Satan had just come from walking the earth and he came across Job. He is obviously the adversary of Job that God has hedged out. But, he is seeking to devour Job as we will see as we continue to read in this chapter. We learn from reading 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan is not able to devour everyone if he is seeking ways to do this. This indicates that Satan is not omnipotent and neither does he have direct access to anyone unless certain conditions are met to allow him to come in. Keep 1 Peter 5:8 in your mind as we continue to read about Job:
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Why do you think that God brings up Job? I believe it is because God knows what you are thinking. God knows why Satan is there. Job is a spiritually righteous blessed man of God; there is none like him on the earth. In the eyes of God this is why Satan was there to contend for this man.
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Satan starts to ask God questions about Job. Why does Satan ask this question? Does Job fear God for no reason or for nothing as he said to God? This sounds like a complaint or accusation to me.
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Now we begin to see the problem that Satan has and why he is there to see God. Satan is questioning God’s authority to place a hedge of protection around Job and his family. You can clearly see what God is being accused of, the fact that God has blessed Job and given him great wealth and placed a spiritual wall of protection around him so that Satan could not touch him. What gives Satan the right to do this? That is an excellent question to consider, we know that Job’s children are living in sin in a constant state of partying. Job is continually offering sacrifices for his children who do not want sacrifices to be made or at least it appears that they do not care if they are made. The children of Job are not repentant or sorry for what they are doing, they are just being wild crazy rich kids who can get away with whatever they want, or so they think. We know that Satan is called the accuser of the brethren in the Revelation 12:10. This verse in Revelation says that Satan accuses the people of God on the earth both day and night. To accuse is a legal term that means “to charge with an offense”. You do understand that God is the ultimate supreme Judge of the Universe? Satan is the “Plaintiff” that brings accusations against righteous people before the Judge. So why does Satan do this? So these righteous people can be found guilty of violating the spiritual laws that God has established in the spiritual realm. Do you understand this? Satan is looking for a way into your life, he watches your every move, your every action, your every reaction and your every word to see what he can accuse you of doing that violates God’s laws. This is how it works until Revelation 12 comes around and Satan is cast down and he is no longer welcome to come into the heavenly realm to accuse us anymore.
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
So here is where it starts to get even more difficult to understand and to interpret correctly. Satan tells God to stretch His hand and touch all that he has and Job will curse God to His face. So is God the curser or was God the one that blessed Job? If you recall from reading earlier we know that God was the one that blessed Job and made him exceedingly wealthy. It was God who had placed the hedge of protection around him and his family so what would happen if God changes and does the opposite like Satan just said for God to do? If God does what Satan just said, then God becomes a liar. That is pretty strong words, but that is what the Bibles says:
Mal 3:6 For I am the LORD, I change not;
According to the Bible, God is a constant never changing force of good. If God would have blessed Job and suddenly bent to the pressure from Satan to change and curse Job then God is guilty of changing. Do you understand that this is impossible? The Bible describes God as being Light. Do you know that the speed of light is a constant? The speed of light does not diminish or change it always stays the same. The distances of stars in our universe are measured in the terms of light years. A light year is the distance that light travels in the course of a year’s time. This is a constant value or we have a major problem on our hands. If you do not understand laws of physics and science about light and the speed of light, just fix your mind on God. If God blessed someone today and tomorrow takes it all away, then God changed and now God is a liar. That is a major problem with most people’s Bible interpretations, they interpret a book of the Bible like Job in a vacuum and ignore the rest of the Bible and this is not a valid interpretation. Here is another challenge for you to consider from something that God said in the book of Deuteronomy:
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 God sets before us life or death, blessing or cursing and says to us to choose between the two, whose fault is it which one we get? Uh oh? That is a problem isn’t it? It would appear that if Job got curses instead of blessings, then he made the wrong choices to cause them to occur. Do you understand this?
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.
So we now have God giving permission, or so many people think it says. This however, is not what this verse says. Nowhere in this verse does it say you have won your case, I give you permission. People just read this into the statement because that is what they want to see that it says. All God said was “Behold” and that means look, open your eyes and see. Do you understand that? That is not a statement of permission; it is a directive for Satan to see what has already happened. You cannot behold something that is not already there. I mean God can see into the future, but Satan cannot. If Satan is told to see something it has to be something that he can already see. This is clearly not rocket science, so surely you can comprehend the simple words of the Bible. Then God tells Satan that all that Job has is in his power. Again this is not I give you the power; this is a simple statement that says you already have the power. There is such a huge difference between those two perspectives. The only thing God does is limit what Satan can do and this was not to touch Job. So God was guilty of still trying to protect his righteous man Job. God never gives Satan permission to do anything. God simply said you already have the right to do what Job has chosen.
So who is the author of destruction? Who causes death and tornadoes? We will find out in our next lesson about the story of Job. I hope that you will join me as I continue with this series of very different Bible lessons. Thanks for your time and your comments. God Bless.
If you would like to continue reading in this series you can go to “Part 2“.
Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of the Church in the Bible
(Ver 2.2) This is my list of the Names, Titles, Descriptions, Types and Symbols for the Church of Jesus Christ. If you are a Christian, this document helps to describe who you are and your place in the Kingdom of God. This is a living document of references to God. It will change and be updated as I find additional scriptures. A Name is a direct reference to the Church. A Title is a given direct identifying appellation signifying status or function. A Description is something that represents something in words. A Type is a real named person, place or thing that can be viewed to apply to a spiritual individual not named. A Symbol is a natural object that describes characteristics or features of a spiritual being you cannot see.
If you have found others that I may have not included yet, please share them in a comment. Thank you and God bless you in advance.
words. A Type is a real named person, place or thing that can be viewed to apply to a pattern of the spiritual individual not directly named. A Symbol is a natural object that describes the characteristics or features of a spiritual being that you cannot see or understand without first understanding the symbol. If you know of other references not named, please share them with me in a comment. Thank you.
|
Name, Title, Symbol, Type for the Church |
Description |
Scripture Reference |
|
12 Tribes |
New Covenant People in Jesus originating in His 12 Apostles, the fulfilment of Jacob’s 12 sons. |
James 1:1; |
|
Abraham’s Seed |
Those with Abraham’s type of Faith |
Gal 3:29; |
|
Babes |
Newborn (born again) Children of God |
Mat 11:25; Luke 10:21; |
|
Beloved |
The Bride of Christ |
Rom 9:25; 2 Ths 2:13; |
|
Blessed of My Father |
The Sheep of God’s Pasture |
Mat 25:34; |
|
Body, His |
Those married in Covenant to Christ |
Eph 1:23; Col 1:24; |
|
Body, the |
Those who are in Christ |
Eph 5:23; |
|
Body of Christ |
She Who is Joined and one with Christ |
Rom 7:4; 1 Cor 10:16, 12:27; Eph 4:12; Col 2:17 |
|
Born Again |
Those who are new Children of the Spirit |
John 3:3-6; 1 Pet 1:23; |
|
Born of God |
Children of the Spirit |
1 John 3:9, 4:7, 5:1, 4, 18; |
|
Born of Him |
Born Again of the Spirit |
1 John 2:29; |
|
Bride |
Married to Jesus |
John 3:29; Rev 21:2, 9; |
|
Bridechamber, Children of the |
Those married in covenant to the bridegroom (Jesus) |
Mat 9:15; |
|
Brother |
Sibling of eldest brother Jesus Christ |
Mat 10:50; Rom 8:29; Heb 2:11, 17; |
|
Called, the |
Those chosen by God |
Rom 1:6, 8:30, 9:24; 1 Cor 1:24; |
|
Candlestick |
Lights in the dark World |
Rev 1:20; |
|
Chosen |
Those people that have embraced the Calling of God to follow Jesus |
Jam 2:5; |
|
Chosen Generation |
Highly Favored People |
1 Pet 2:9; |
|
Children |
Sons and daughters of God |
Rom 8:17; |
|
Children, Dear |
Those dearly Loved by God |
Eph 5:1; |
|
Children of Abraham |
A Spiritual family type of Israel |
Gal 3:7; |
|
Children of God |
Born of the Spirit |
Mat 5:9; Rom 8:16, 21; Gal 3:26; 1 Jn 3:10; |
|
Children of Israel |
Spiritual Nation of God’s people |
Exo 19:6; Hos 2:23; |
|
Children of Light |
God is Light, those who are His children |
Luk 16:8; John 12:36; Eph 5:8; 1 Th 5:5; |
|
Children of the Day |
Those walking in the Light of God |
1 Th 5:5; |
|
Children of the Free Woman |
A type of the promised child born to Sarah, those who are reborn from the spiritual woman Jerusalem Above |
Gal 4:31; |
|
Children of the Living God |
Those Born of the Spirit |
Rom 9:26; |
|
Children of the Kingdom |
Those Who Belong to God’s Kingdom |
Mat 13:38; |
|
Children of the Promise |
Children of God’s Spoken Word |
Rom 9:8, Gal 4:28; |
|
Chosen |
Those Favored by God |
Eph 1:4; 2 Ths 2:13; |
|
Christ |
Those with God’s Anointing and Jesus in their Hearts |
2 Cor 6:15; |
|
Christian |
A Believer in Christ |
Acts 26:28; 1 Pet 4:16; |
|
Christians |
Followers of Christ |
Act 11:26; |
|
Church, Glorious |
Noble and Honorable |
Eph 5:27; |
|
Church, My |
Those Who Belong to God |
Mat 16:18; |
|
Church of Christ |
Those who Belong to Jesus |
Rom 16:16; |
|
Church of God |
Called Out by God |
Act 20:28; 1 Cor 1:2, 10:32; 2 Cor 1:1; |
|
Church of the Firstborn |
Those gathered in and with Christ Jesus the Firstborn from the dead |
Heb 12:23; |
|
Circumcised Heart |
God’s children that have been circumcised by the hand of the Spirit |
Rom 2:29; Php 3:3; Col 2:11; |
|
City |
The home of God within His people |
Mat 5:14; Rev 21:23; |
|
City, Faithful |
She who will be a faithful wife to God’s Covenant |
Isa 1:26; |
|
City of My God |
Where God Resides; |
Rev 3:12; |
|
City of Righteousness |
Those abiding with God who is their righteousness |
Isa 1:26; |
|
City of the Lord |
Those of the New Jerusalem |
Isa 60:14 |
|
City Not Forsaken, A |
Those pursued by God |
Isa 62:12; |
|
Daughter of Jerusalem |
The Church who is reborn by the Spirit of God, His Word and the woman Heavenly Jerusalem |
Mic 4:8; Zep 3:14; Zec 9:9; Gal 4:26; Heb 12:22; |
|
Daughter of Zion |
She who is Born of God |
Isa 52:2, 62:11; Mat 21:5; Heb 12:22; |
|
Disciple |
The Student of God |
Mat 10:24-25; |
|
Ekklesia (Church) |
A Calling Out |
Mat 18:17; Act 2:47; Rev 22:16; |
|
Elect, The |
Those Chosen of God |
Mat 24:31; |
|
Faithful Brethren in Christ |
Those married to Christ |
Col 1:2; |
|
Fellow Citizens |
Residents of the City of God |
Eph 2:10; |
|
Fellow Heirs |
Joint heirs together of God’s Kingdom |
Eph 3:6; |
|
Fellow Servant |
Working Together in Unison |
Rev 22:9; |
|
Field, His |
God’s Garden |
Mat 13:24; |
|
Flock of God |
Those in God’s Pasture |
1 Pet 5:2; |
|
Followers |
Those that that imitate the Godly examples of others |
1 Cor 11:1; |
|
Followers of God |
Led By the Spirit |
Eph 5:1; |
|
Friends |
Jesus Laid Down His Life for Us |
Jn 15:13-14; |
|
General Assembly |
Universal Congregation |
Heb12:23; |
|
Glory and Honor of the Nations |
Where God Resides |
Rev 21:26 |
|
Good Soldier of Jesus Christ |
Those in God’s Army |
2 Tim 2 :3; |
|
Great City |
She Who is Mighty and Strong |
Rev 21:10; |
|
Ground, Good |
The Good Soil of the Kingdom of God |
Mat 13:23; |
|
Habitation of God |
The New Jerusalem God’s City of Living Stones |
Eph 2:22; |
|
Heir(s) |
He Who Inherits |
Rom 8:17; Gal 3:29; Gal 4:1; Tit 3:7; 1 Pet 3:7; |
|
Heirs according to the Promise |
Those who inherit |
Gal 3:29 |
|
Heirs of God |
Those Who Inherit |
Rom 8:17; Gal 4:7; |
|
Heirs of Promise |
Those who inherit by an oath |
Heb 6:17; |
|
Heirs of Salvation |
Those that inherit the Kingdom of God |
Heb 1:14; |
|
Heirs of the Kingdom |
Those that inherit the Kingdom of God |
Jam 2:5; |
|
Holy City |
He has made her clean and ready |
Isa 52:1; Rev 21”2; |
|
Holy Jerusalem |
Blameless City of Jehovah |
Revn 21:10; |
|
Holy Nation |
Blameless People |
Exo 19:6; 1 Pet 2:9; |
|
House, Christ’s |
The Dwelling of Christ Jesus |
Heb 3:6; |
|
Household of Faith |
Those in the Family of God by Faith |
Gal 6:10; |
|
Household of God |
Those in the Family of God |
Eph 2:19; |
|
Household, His |
Those in the Family of God |
Mat 10:25; |
|
House of God |
Where the Spirit of God Lives |
1 Tim 3:15; |
|
House of Israel |
The Spiritual Israel in Covenant with Jesus |
Eze 34:30; Heb 8:8 |
|
House of Judah |
The Spiritual Jews in Covenant with Jesus |
Heb 8:8 |
|
In Christ |
Those abiding in Jesus Christ |
Rom 12:5; 1 Cor 1:2, 3:1 15:22; 2 Cor 1:21, 2:14, 3:14, 5:17; Gal 3:28; Eph 2:6, 2:10, 2:13, 3:6; 2 Tim 3:15; |
|
Isaac |
The church called a type of the son of promise being in Christ |
Gal 4:28; |
|
Israel |
God’s people saved by Grace |
Rom 11:26; |
|
Jerusalem |
City Redeemed of the Lord |
Isa 52:2, 9; Dan 9:25; |
|
Jew |
Spiritual type of natural Israel; Circumcised of the Heart |
Rom 2:29; |
|
Joined Unto the Lord |
The Bride of Christ |
1 Cor 6:17; |
|
Joint-Heirs with Christ |
Those who Inherit |
Rom 8:17; |
|
Just, the |
Those Who are Blameless |
Mat 13:49; |
|
Kingdom of Priests |
Spiritual People |
Exo 19:6; |
|
Kings |
God’s Royalty |
Rev 1:6; |
|
Kings of the Earth |
Rulers of the Earth |
Rev 1:5, 21:24 |
|
Lamb’s Wife, the |
Married to Jesus |
Rev 21:2, 9; |
|
Light |
Those of the Day |
2 Cor 6:14; Eph 5:8; Php 2:15; |
|
Light of the World |
Those that Teach the Truth and demonstrate the Love of God |
Mat 5:14; |
|
Living Stone |
The New Jerusalem of God |
1 Peter 2:5 |
|
Members of Christ |
The Body of Christ |
1 Cor 6:1; |
|
More than Conquerors |
The church in Christ Jesus |
Rom 8:37; |
|
Mother |
Spiritual Mother of God |
Mat 12:50; Gal 4:19; Rev 12:1; |
|
Nation, A |
Those of Spiritual Israel |
Isa 55:5; |
|
Nations of Them Which are Saved |
The Redeemed of the Lord from every nation |
Rev 21:24; |
|
New Creature |
Those Born of the Spirit |
2 Cor 5:17; |
|
New Jerusalem |
The Lamb’s Wife |
Rev 3:12, 21:2; |
|
One |
One consisting of many in Christ |
Gal 3:28; Eph 1:10; |
|
One Body |
One With Christ by Marriage Covenant; |
1 Cor 10:17, 12:12; |
|
One Bread |
One With Christ by Covenant |
1 Cor 10:17; |
|
Partakers of His Promise |
Participants of the union with the Holy Spirit. |
Eph 3:6; |
|
Peculiar People |
Purchased Possession |
Tit 2:15; 1 Pet 2:9; |
|
People, A |
God’s Spiritual People |
Heb 8:10 |
|
People, Holy |
Those made blameless |
Isa 62:12; |
|
People, My |
Spiritual Nation of Israel |
Hos 2:23; Rom 9:25; |
|
People Israel, My |
Children Born of the Sprit |
Mat 2:6; |
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Pillar in the Temple of My God |
Living Stone |
Rev 3:12; |
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Precious Fruit of the Earth |
That Which is to Be Harvested |
Jam 5:7; |
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Priests |
Those who bring the sacrifice of Praise to God |
Rev 1:6; |
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Priesthood, Holy |
Those who bring the sacrifice of Praise to God |
1 Pet 2:5; |
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Purchased (Possession) |
Those Bought with the Blood |
Act 20:28; |
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Rachael |
The type of the Bride of God’s Week of Work |
Gen 29:18 |
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Ransomed of the Lord |
Those Bought with the Blood of Jesus |
Isaiah 35:10; |
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Redeemed of the Lord |
Those Purchased from the World of Darkness |
Psa 107:2; Isa 51:11; 62:12; |
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Righteous, the |
Those Justified by God |
Mat 13:43; 1 Pet 3:12; |
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Righteousness |
Those Justified by God |
2 Cor 6:14; |
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Righteousness, Servants of |
Those who Serve God’s Purpose |
Rom 6:18; |
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Royal Priesthood |
New Covenant Kings and Priests that praise and worship God |
1 Pet 2:9; |
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Ruth |
A Type of the Bride of Christ |
Ruth |
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Saints |
Sacred, Pure, Blameless |
Rom 1:7, 15:25, 16:15; 1 Cor 1:2, 16:1, 15; 2 Cor 1:1, 13:13; Eph 1:1, 2:19, 3:18, 4:12, 6:18; Php 4:22; Col 1:2; 1 Th 3:13; |
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Saints In Christ Jesus |
Those blameless in Christ |
Php 1:1; |
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Saints in Light |
Those blameless in God |
Col 1:12; |
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Salt of the Earth |
Those who flavor and preserve |
Mat 5:12; |
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Same Body, the |
Joined members of the same body |
Eph 3:6; |
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Saved |
Those redeemed from Satan’s kingdom |
Rom 8:24; 1 Cor 15:2; 2 Cor 2:15; |
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Seed, Abraham’s |
Those of spiritual Father Abraham |
Gal 3:29; |
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Seed, Good |
Those planted by God |
Mat 13:38; |
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Seed, the |
Those of the Promise of Abraham |
Rom 9:8; |
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Servant |
Those in service to God |
Mat 10:24; |
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Sheep |
Those in God’s Flock sorted at the right Hand of God |
Mat 25:33; Heb 13:20; 1 Pet 2:25; |
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Sheep, My |
Those people dedicated to follow the Good Shepherd |
Jn 10:14; Jn 21:16 |
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Sister |
The Sibling of Christ |
Mat 12:50; |
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Sister Spouse |
Sister Married to Christ |
Song 4:9-10, 12; 5:1 |
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Sons of God |
Those Born of the Spirit |
Jn 1:12, Rom 8:14, 8:19; Gal 4:6; Php 2:15; 1 John 3:1-2; |
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Sons of the Living God |
Born of the Spirit |
Hos 1:10; |
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Sought Out |
Those pursued by God |
Isa 62:12 |
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Spiritual House |
The New Jerusalem God’s dwelling place |
1 Pet 2:5; |
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Spouse |
The Bride of the Son of God Jesus |
Song 4:8, 11; |
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Sweet Savor |
Pleasant aroma of Praise to God |
2 Cor 2:15; |
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Tabernacle, the |
God’s Eternal Temple |
Rev 21:3; |
|
Temple of God, the |
God’s Dwelling Place |
1 Cor 3:16; |
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Temple of the Holy Ghost, the |
God’s Holy Living City |
1 Cor 3:19; |
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They which are written in the Lambs Book of Life |
The Church |
Rev 21:27; |
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Tree, Good |
Those who produce Fruit of the Spirit |
Mat 7:17-18; |
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Tree of the Field |
Those that bear fruit for God |
Eze 34:27; |
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True Worshipper |
Those people in the Spirit |
Jn 4:23; |
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Twelve Tribes, the |
The Spiritual Israel of God |
Jam 1:1; |
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Vessels |
Those of the House in Honor |
2 Tim 2:20; |
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Vessels of Mercy |
A saved human |
Rom 9:23; |
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Way, the |
Believers walking and following the Good Shepherd in the narrow path of eternal life |
Gen 3:24; Mat 3:3; Mat 7:14; Act 9:2, Act 16:17; |
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Wheat, the |
That which is planted by God for Harvest |
Mat 13:30; |
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Wife |
The Church aka the Bride of Jesus |
Eph 5:25, 5:31-32; |
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Woman, A |
The Bride of Christ |
Rev 12:1 |
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Workman, A |
God’s faithful servants |
2 Tim 2:15; |
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Zion, the |
Those of the New Jerusalem |
Isa 60:14; |
If you would like to read other reference documents about Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols here are some others that are available:
Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of Jerusalem in the Bible
(ver 2.0) This is Part 4 in a series of reference documents revealing the multiple Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of Spiritual Individuals in the Bible. This lesson will focus only on the subject verses describing Jerusalem found in the Bible. This is a living document of references to Jerusalem and it will change and be updated as I am led to additional scriptures. A Name is a direct reference to the individual. A Title is a given direct identifying appellation signifying status or function. A Description is something that represents the individual in expressive words. A Type is a real named person, place or thing that can be viewed to apply to a pattern of the spiritual individual not directly named. A Symbol is a natural object that describes the characteristics or features of a spiritual being that you cannot see or understand without first understanding the symbol.
Jerusalem is a central subject of the Bible and the capital of Israel located in the Middle East today. Jerusalem is also a major city revealed in end time prophecy. This city has captured the attention of the entire world. Jerusalem is mentioned in the Bible directly around 767 times and indirectly many other times. However, it is very important for you to know that there is more than one city named Jerusalem in the Bible. In fact there are 3 separate and distinct cities all with this exact name. Knowing this information complicates correct Bible interpretation significantly. You must be wise enough to know which Jerusalem God is talking about when you see the name “Jerusalem” by itself. You may be asking yourself what are these three cities named Jerusalem and I will give you a quick lesson on them:
- The Jerusalem that now is as revealed in Galatians 4:25 and in multiple other verses and the primary subject of this document.
- The Jerusalem Above revealed in Galatians 4:26 and is called the Heavenly Jerusalem in Hebrews 12:22.
- The New Jerusalem revealed as the Lamb’s wife in Revelation 3:12 and 21:2.
From these references you should be able to recognize the existence of three cities named Jerusalem. This document will primarily focus on the one reference of the Jerusalem on the earth that now is. If you have seen other verses that I have not found yet for Jerusalem, please share them with me in a comment. Thank you.
|
Name, Title, Symbol, Type for Jerusalem |
Description |
Scripture Reference |
| Abomination | Disgusting Idol Worshipper | Ezekiel 9:4; Ezekiel 16:2, 36, 51, 58; Ezekiel 22:2, 23:36; 33:29; Malachi 2:11; Revelation 17:4-5 |
| Adulteress | Unfaithful Wife | Jeremiah 3:1; Jeremiah 5:7; Ezekiel 16:32; Ezekiel 23:45; Hosea 3:1 |
| Afflicted | Depressed Woman | Isaiah 51:21 |
| Aholibah | My Tent is In Her; Whore | Ezekiel 23:4 |
| Ariel | The Symbolic Name of Jerusalem | Isaiah 29:1-7 |
| Babylon | The Whore | 1 Peter 5:13 |
| Bad City | Wicked City | Ezra 4:12 |
| Birthed in Land of Canaan | Where She was born | Eze 16:3; |
| Bloody City | Those that Kill the Prophets | Ezekiel 22:2, 24:6,9; Nahum 3:1 |
| Bond Woman | Spiritual Hagar Egyptian Slave | Galatian 4:24-25, 30-31 |
| Burdensome Stone | Load Carrier | Zec 12:3; |
| Castle of Zion | The Net or Snare of Zion | 1 Chron 11:5; |
| City | Inhabited by the Children of Israel | Judges 1:8; 2 Kings 23:27; Psalm 122:3; Zec 14:2; Jeremiah 26:9 |
| City, Chosen | Highly Favored of Jehovah | 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 23:27; 2 Chron 12:13 |
| City of a Stranger | Home of the Jebusites | Judges 19:12 |
| City of David | David the Great King’s City | 1 Kings 8:1; 2 Kings 9:28; 2 Kings 14:20’ 2 Kings 23:27; 1 Chron 11:5; 2 Chron 5:2; 2 Chron 21:20; Isaiah 22:9; |
| City, Faithful | She who is faithful to God | Isaiah 1:26; |
| City of Righteousness | The inhabitants have God’s righteousness | Isaiah 1:26; |
| City of the Great King | City of David | Matthew 5:35; |
| City of the Jebusites | Inhabited by the trodden | Judges 19:11; 1 Chron 11:4; |
| City Where David Dwelt | The City of David the King | Isaiah 29:1; |
| City Which Is Called By Thy Name | Married to Jehovah | Daniel 9:18; |
| City Which Killed Jesus our Lord | Those Who the shed Blood of God is On their Hands | Mat 16:21; Rev 11:8; |
| Covent Breakers | Those Who Broke Covent with God | Eze 16:59; Romans 1:31; |
| Curse, A | City which is cursed | Jeremiah 26:6; |
| Daughter | Female born of a woman | Ezekiel 23:2; |
| Daughter of an Amortie | Her Father was a Canaanitish Mountain Tribe; | Ezekiel 16:3, 45; |
| Daughter of a Hittite | Her Mother was a terrorist; Fear and Terror | Ezekiel 16:3, 45; |
| Desolate | Waste Land | Jeremiah 26:8 |
| Desolate City | Jerusalem laid waste | Eze 26:19 |
| Desolation | Waste Land | Zep 2:15; |
| Divorced Woman | She that was Put Away | Isaiah 50:1; Jeremiah 3:8; Hosea 2:2 |
| Dross | Backsliders; Those who draw back; Refuse of the furnace | Ezekiel 22:18-19; |
| Drunken | She Who is Drunk | Isaiah 51:21: Jeremiah 13:13; Ezekiel 23:33; |
| Egypt | Spiritual Name for Jerusalem; Where she played the Whore in Her youth | Hosea 11:1; Revelation 11:8 |
| Evil | Moral Wickedness | Jeremiah 25:5 |
| Evil Figs | The Spoiled Fruit | Jeremiah 24:8; |
| Family Know of God | She who was married to Jehovah | Amos 3:2; |
| Faithful City | She who was faithful in Marriage | Isaiah 1:21; |
| Filthiness | Not Gold; uncleanness | Ezekiel 16:36; Ezekiel 22:15; Zephan 3:1; Revelation 17:4 |
| Filthy | Disobedient and Rebellious | Zep 3:1; |
| Fornicator | Lover of Idols | 2 Chronicles 21:11; Ezekiel 16:15; |
| Fuel to the Fire | She which is consumed by the Lord | Ezekiel 21:32; |
| Gomorrah | Spiritual name of Jerusalem; | Isaiah 1:9-10; Jeremiah 23:14; |
| Great City | She which was Great | Jeremiah 22:8; Revelation 11:8; Revelation 17:18; |
| Hagar | The Egyptian Bond Woman; slave girl | Galatian 4:24-25 |
| Harlot | The unfaithful woman | Isaiah 1:21; Jeremiah 3:1: Ezekiel 16:15; Ezekiel 16:35, 41; Ezekiel 23:19;Ezekiel 23:44; Hosea 2:5; Hosea 4:15; |
| Harlot, Well-favored | Beautiful Adulteress | Nahum 3:4; |
| Heifer | Female Cow | Hosea 10:11 |
| Her with My Name | The Name of Jehovah shall be on her | 1 Kings 11:36; 1 Kings 14:21; 2 Kings 23:27; 2 Chron 12:13; Jeremiah 25:29 |
| Holy City | Sacred | Neh 11:1 |
| Imperious Whorish Woman | Vixen Adulteress | Ezekiel 16:30 |
| Israel After the Flesh | Natural Nation of Israel | 1 Cor 6:18; |
| Jebus | Aboriginal Name of Jerusalem; Trodden | Judges 19:10; 1 Chr 11:4; |
| Jebusi | Trodden inhabitants of Jerusalem | Joshua 18:28 |
| Jebusite | Trodden Amorites | Joshua 15:8; |
| Jerusalem Which Now Is | Earthly Jerusalem | Galatians 4:25 |
| Jeshurun | Symbolic Name of Israel | Deu 32:15, 33:5, 33:26; Isa 44:2; |
| Jews | Those of Judah | Romans 2:17; |
| Jezebel | A type of the False Religion of Adultery and Idols | Revelation 2:20; |
| Killer of the Prophets | Murderer of Those Who Are Sent To You | Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34 |
| Lewd Woman | The Adulteress Wife | Ezekiel 23:44; |
| Married Wife | She who has a husband | Isaiah 54:1 |
| Mistress of Witchcrafts | She who is deceived by Magic | Nahum 3:4 |
| Mocking to All Nations | She who is ridiculed; | Ezekiel 22:4; |
| Mother | She who has born Children | Isaiah 50:1; Hosea 2:5; Matthew 23:37; Luke 13:34; Galatian 4:25 |
| Mother of Harlots | Her Children are like her | Revelation 17:5 |
| Mother’s Daughter | The female child; like mother like daughter | Ezekiel 16:45; |
| Mt Sinai | Where the Law Given to Moses | Galatians 4:24-25; |
| Mystery Babylon the Great | The Whore | Revelation 17:5 |
| Oppressing City | The City who is proud and violent | Zep 3:1; |
| Oppression, Wholly | She who has unjust gain; deceitfully obtained | Jeremiah 6:6; |
| Polluted | Trodden Down | Ezekiel 16:6; Zep 3:1 |
| Rahab | The Harlot, spiritual type of Jerusalem | Psalm 89:10; Isaiah 51:9 |
| Rebellious House | She who is disobedient and has become an enemy | Ezekiel 17:1, 24:3; |
| Rejoicing City | Joyous City | Zep 2:15; |
| Reproach to the Heathen | Disgrace to the Gentiles; | Ezekiel 22:4; |
| Salem | Peaceful the pattern and roots of Jerusalem | Genesis 14:18; |
| Seed of Evildoers | Fruit of Ungodliness | Isaiah 1:4; |
| Shalem | Early Name of Jerusalem | Gen 33:18; |
| Sinful Kingdom | A people to be destroyed | Amos 9:8; |
| Sinful Nation | A people led astray | Isaiah 1:4; |
| Sister | Woman with Siblings | Ezekiel 16:46; |
| Sister of Judah | The sister | Jeremiah 3:1; |
| Sister of thy Sisters | Sin runs in the family | Ezekiel 16:45; |
| Slayer of Innocent Blood | The City that Killed Jesus | Jeremiah 26:15; |
| Smitten | To Strike Down | Ezekiel 33:21; |
| Sodom | Spiritual Name for Jerusalem; | Isaiah 1:9-10; Jeremiah 23:14; Ezekiel 16:46-49; Revelation 11:8 |
| Thy Mother’s Daughter | Daughter of a Hittite (terror) | Eze 16:45 |
| Uncleanness | Religious filth | Ezekiel 36:17; |
| Where Our Lord Was Crucified | Jesus was hung on the cross there | Rev 11:8 |
| Whore | Adulteress Idol Worshipper | Ezekiel 16:33-34 |
| Whore, Great | Adulteress Idol Worshipper | Revelation 17:1; |
| Wife | She who is married to Jehovah | Jeremiah 3:20, 31:32; Ezekiel 16:8; Ezekiel 16:32; |
| Woman | The Great City | Ezekiel 23:44; Revelation 17:18 |
| Woman, Removed | Unclean Woman | Ezekiel 36:17; |
| Woman Who Breaks Wedlock | The Unfaithful wife of Jehovah | Ezekiel 16:38; |
If you would like to read other reference documents about Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols here are some others that are available:
Spiritual Visions! Real or Fantasy?
(Ver 1.5) This is now Part 2 of a series of important Bible lessons on the subjects of spiritual truths and realities. I had a reader try to tell me that the story in the Bible about Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus on the mountain top was a vision that Peter, James and John experienced and therefore in a vision anything is possible. The entire context of his message comment was an attempt to explain away the reality of the existence of spiritual beings after their physical/natural death. These types of people are simply very ignorant and deceived by the devil into believing lies. They do not want to believe that people are spiritual beings that exist after death because they would rather believe that they go into a state of unconscious sleep until judgment day comes and God awakens them. They are attempting to justify their deception of the false “soul sleep” theology by explaining away what the Bible actually says on the subject either directly or indirectly. This is a common ploy of deception used by Satan, either ignore those things in the Bible that do not conform or fit with your version of the truth, or attempt to explain them away using your limited intellectual knowledge and human reasoning. There arises a great problem with this type of wrong thinking. We can easily find verses that contradict a soul sleep belief. People, without understanding what they are saying believe that my God was and is a willing participant to visions with lies of deception being embedded within them. They said that God can give people a vision of anything, like fairies, monsters, fantasies, imaginary figures or whatever simply because He likes to teach us something and it would be OK and acceptable for God to behave this way since He is clearly the sovereign God. All of his comment was a response to my explanation of “Is there Life after Death for Seeing Spirits” lesson that was recently written on that important subject. If you have not read this lesson you should go back and start with that lesson first, because I will not repeat any of it here. Because these people want to believe you go to sleep when you die, they try to explain away Moses and Elijah appearance with Jesus as a vision fantasy. Today’s lesson is on the subject of visions and it is directed at those who want to know the truth.
INTRODUCTION TO SPIRITUAL VISIONS
So today’s lesson is about the subject of spiritual visions and what they are! God will further discuss today in this lesson the purpose that His vision are given to people. We will learn today that there is more than one kind of spiritual vision. We will also discover that there are other types of a vision possible for other purposes. We will research and discover the truth using the Bible and ignoring the words of deceivers. According to the “deceived individual” a vision is simply an apparition or a fantasy of Biblical and Godly proportions where anything goes. So according to this person, God can communicate with people saying anything He wants to and even lie to them using a vision not found within reality. However, my Bible says that “It is impossible for God to lie” (Heb 6:18). In Titus 1:2 it says God cannot lie. Therefore according to written scripture there is absolutely no way that a vision from God can be a party to a lie or untruth in any way or form. Because people do not want to know the truth, they make up excuses to explain away the truth and they present them to fools who buy into them like they were eating candy. What a crazy mixed up world that we live in. It is just way too easy for Satan to deceive some people (Rev 12:9).
So what is a spiritual vision? In order to understand something we need to define it first. A vision occurs when a natural man is given a view into the spiritual realm either past, present or future. A vision is not a normal human experience. A vision is most definitely a gift from God by His sovereign choice that allows natural people to see unseen spiritual things, places, events, angels and people. However, these spiritual things are never fabrications or fantasies because they are more real than the natural things that we can see all around us. God who is a Spirit (John 4:24), created the natural world as a pattern after the spiritual world that He already lived in. It was the Supreme God of the spirit world that created this natural world.
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The things that we perceive with our five natural senses are called the “Temporary” things of this world. This verse then contrasts the temporary things with the greater eternal things. What are eternal things? They are not natural things so they have to be supernatural things. These are spirits and the world that they live within. These are the eternal things and beings that God is comparing to natural seen things. Because people cannot see, feel taste, hear or smell the spiritual realm normally they do not believe that it exists. But, this is by God’s design and purpose not to allow man to know that he is a spirit being living in a temporary natural body, until after they are either saved or dead. Even after a person becomes a Christian they can still be a very “Carnal” Christian and still be flesh dominated.
Heaven is a very real spiritual location and place and existed way before the earth and the natural universe existed. What I am going to do today is to use the Bible to show you God’s usage of visions and see what we can learn from them. By standing firmly only on the Word of God and understanding what it says, is our only hope for not being deceived like some of these people that try to write me crazy responses, like they were trying to help me not to be deceived. I have learned better than to ignore God’s truth in order to follow a lie, I know who my God is and I know what His Word says, so I’m going to stand with Him and ignore the opinions of people.
THE FIRST VISION
The very first mention of a “vision” in the Bible comes in the Book of Genesis. This account is God speaking to Abram. If God is the one giving this vision then we know that God is communicating truth to Abram and these are not the words of any fantasy or fairy tale. Abram is able to perceive and understand the spoken words of God and here is this first mention of a vision in the Bible:
Gen 15:1 After these things the word of the LORD came unto Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.
So obviously God is lying to Abram and just telling him something He wants to trick him with. If you are spiritually blind this is what you might believe. If that is what you choose to believe then you might need to go read somebody else’s blog. What we can clearly see is that God holds a conversation with Abram in this chapter and informs him of what will happen in his life on earth and in the future to come. If you read the whole chapter you can clearly see that God gives Abram a covenant and reveals what will happen to his seed. These are spoken prophetic Words from God and not lies. There are no lies written here in this chapter because these are all of the true facts that will soon happen to Abram. God is not participating in a fantasy with Abram. It is very critical to note and learn the reason for the vision being given was for God to speak to a natural man named Abram. God did this by opening his spiritual eyes to see and hear something coming from the greater spiritual realm. God speaking to natural men with visions will become an established pattern of truth as we continue in this lesson. Please note that there is no other reasons given for the vision, do you understand this? Let’s look at another mention of “visions” in the KJV O.T. Bible.
ANOTHER CONFIRMATION FOR VISIONS
I am going to move to the book of Old Testament book of Numbers next. Here we should see God’s usage of visions and the further confirmation reason for their application usage. Remember in the Bible that God says let every word of truth be established in the mouths of two or three witnesses and that is exactly what I will do. Let’s read Numbers chapter 12 and verse 6:
Num 12:6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
God clearly informs us of how He uses visions to communicate to His servants the prophets. The prophets of God would receive spiritual information directly from God Almighty in the form of both visions and dreams. Again we see the only reason for God giving a vision to a human man is for God to speak to them. This means it has to be the truth, if it is coming from God. So I brought up dreams because this verse mentioned that God also uses them to communicate with people on the earth. I do not believe that every human vision or dream can only originate only from God, after all there are other spiritual beings that are alive and well on this planet. I have heard people say in church that they saw someone who they thought was Jesus and he appeared to them, but what he said to them tried to make them do something that the Bible did not say or confirm. So that type of vision could be the possible deception of the enemy Satan. The Bible says that even Satan can transform himself into an “angel of light” in order to try to deceive us (2 Cor 11:14). The only reason why Satan would transform himself is to be seen in a visual form. This clearly implies a vision into the spiritual realm. Therefore, if you do not know what the Bible says, you are an easy prey for this type of deception. I will tell you this plainly that God will never tell you anything in a vision that is contrary or opposed to the written Holy Word of God.
As you can clearly see in the above verse in Numbers 12:6, God uses visions to make Himself and His words known to people. So is God going to trick you with a false vision? Is God going to deceive you with a lying vision? Or is God going to speak ONLY the truth in a vision? What would make God known to us? I believe that only the truth is what comes from a vision from God for Him to make Himself known to us. So if Peter, James and John had a vision of Moses and Elijah speaking to Jesus was it fictional or real? I believe it has to be more real than anything we experience on the earth. The spiritual realm is not fictional, if it is, then God is a fictional character and I know much better than that. One of the key points to deception is to discredit the truth. Satan uses this ploy very often by inferring that God is the one that lies to people and that he is the one speaking the truth! This was his deception to Eve and he hasn’t come up with anything new for you either.
TYPES OF VISIONS
There are more than one type of vision in the Bible and in fact there are at least two types of visions that I have found in the Bible. One type of vision I will call an “Open” vision and the other type of vision I will call a “Closed” vision. Let me briefly show you the difference between these types of visions using the Bible. For example in the book of Job God says the following.
Job 33:14 For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not.
Spiritually unaware men have a great difficulty in hearing the voice of the Spirit of God. Either their minds are cluttered with busy natural stuff or their mouths are opened too wide and speaking with empty words instead of listening for God. In either case, God does not interrupt your life and your agenda because He wants to say something to you. God is a Gentleman who does not rudely butt in on what you are doing and interrupt you. If you think He does, you are wrong. In Job this verse tells us that men and women have a great difficulty in perceiving the spoken Words of God. God can be speaking to you and you never even understand that it was God. One solution to this problem is God’s usage of dreams also called night visions while you are sleeping. This is an example of a closed spiritual night vision:
Job 33:15 In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed;
As you can clearly see in this verse, God is saying that I will come to you in the night while your body rests and sleeps, because you did not hear me during the day when you were awake and busy. When you are in a deep sleep, your mind is usually very quite, you are not busy moving or talking and you can more easily hear what the Spirit of God wants to speak to you. Why is this possible? It is only possible because your spirit inside our sleeping natural body never sleeps. Just because your body sleeps does not mean the real unseen you ever sleeps. Only deceived people believe that spirits can sleep. While your body is asleep and your mind is not preoccupied, your spirit can hear directly from God in a night vision or a dream.
Job 33:16 Then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction,
God says that He is able to open the ears of the man in the night sleep so that he is able to hear the instructions from God. This is an example in the Bible of a closed spiritual vision. There is a key word given to us in this verse, and it is “opened”. This does not mean that the man was deaf and was unable to hear physically. It is only talking about the spiritual ears of the man being opened so that he can hear with his spirit. This type of vision is usually very personal and it is God speaking directly to your spirit for normally your benefit only. I guess it is important to note that even in a closed vision of the night, God must open something in order for you to hear it or see it.
So let’s contrast the difference between closed visions and an open vision. An open vision would be one that was in the likeness of the one experienced by Peter, James and John when they all saw Jesus speaking to Moses and Elijah on the mountain top. They were not sleeping, they were fully awake and they could clearly all see into the spiritual realm of reality concurrently something that they would have missed otherwise. If there was a third party watching this experience they would have seen Peter, James and John in a trance like state with their eyes fully wide open. But, these external observers would not have been able to perceive the presence of either Elijah or Moses unless God opens their eyes to see them. Let’s look at an example of this in the O.T.:
Num 24:4 He hath said, which heard the words of God, which saw the vision of the Almighty, falling into a trance, but having his eyes open:
An open vision is usually one that occurs with your natural eyes wide open. When this type of vision occurs to you the people around you usually do not see what God is showing you in the spiritual realm, they only see you in a trance like state of existence. You are usually the only one that perceives the message from God sent from the Spiritual Realm. This is a method of God that allows you to see into the real spiritual world and it definitely is not a fantasy event of any type.
There are just many examples in the Bible of this type of vision and I will only give you one more example in today’s lesson. I just cannot go through every mention of the word in the Bible, it would take too long. The next story that I want to touch on is the story of Elisha in the O.T. book of 2 Kings. In this story the servant of Elisha comes to him and tells him some really bad disturbing news, he thinks. He tells Elisha that they are surrounded by the enemy and on the verge of their death. However, Elisha did not fret with this news or get worried in the least little bit. Why was this? What made Elisha able to see the situation differently than his servant? Remember that Elisha was God’s prophet and what did we read in Numbers about God speaking to His prophets? All Elisha did was this:
2Ki 6:17 And Elisha prayed, and said, LORD, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see. And the LORD opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.
Open the eyes of my servant so that he can see that there are more for us than there are against us. To open your eyes, does not mean your physical eyes were closed or blinded, his physical eyes were seeing fine the natural things that they were faced with. What Elisha was requesting for God to do was to open his spiritual eyes to let him see into the spiritual realm in order to see that there were flaming chariots of fire all around them. This was an example of an open spiritual vision of view into a real set of angels of God riding in chariots of fire. These angels were not “make believe” and these angels were not fantasy; they were simply seen only in the real spiritual realm and this the truth from God. So people, who want to believe lies, can go and explain away these real spiritual things in the Bible with their human reasoning for other spiritually ignorant people to devour.
CONCLUSION – FALSE VISIONS
I’ll wrap this lesson up for today with one final verse to consider. We have learned there are at least two types of visions, one open and one closed. We have observed that God’s visions are only given because God wants to speak truth to a natural man about things that he may not have been able to perceive otherwise. Now I want to briefly address a part of the subject that I alluded to earlier about false visions from other spiritual beings.
Jer 14:14 Then the LORD said unto me, The prophets prophesy lies in my name: I sent them not, neither have I commanded them, neither spake unto them: they prophesy unto you a false visionand divination, and a thing of nought, and the deceit of their heart.
God clearly tells us that He does not give anyone “False” visions so that they can preach lies to the people of God. Did you understand what God just said? Do you understand why and how this applies directly to the vision that Peter, James and John had? If the vision of Moses and Elijah was not real and the truth then it was a fabricated lie and must be called a false vision. This would be a deception that God says that He is not participating in. This verse clearly teaches us that God gives people only visions of truth and spiritual reality. God will not give anyone a fantasy vision, a fairy tale vision or an imaginary vision of fiction. That would make God a liar and this is not my God and never will be.
People who want to believe lies will ignore vital scriptures in the Bible that conflict with their erroneous beliefs. These scriptures were placed there by God to teach us the truth and every scripture on the subject of visions must be balanced with the other scriptures on the subject. This is basic correct Bible interpretation. Only when we allow the Bible to interpret itself can we come close to actually understanding the truth. The next time anyone gives you a verse and tries to tell you that it is not a real vision from God of truth you should respond with the Bible.
It is very interesting to note, do you know that it does not matter what you believe? It does not matter if you are right or if you are wrong? Wow, I probably just blew someone’s mind saying that. I guess I should rephrase those statements, because it does matter if what you believe is the truth for your salvation. But, what I meant to say was your version of the truth does not change the reality of the actual God given and intended truth. God is not going to change to fit and conform with your personal beliefs. God is not going to change His truth to align with your version of the truth. God is a constant, never changing, eternal God that only projects the truth in His word to those who want to see it. To those who are not interested in God’s truth, they are permitted to be deceived and follow their own misconceptions. This is the only way that God can give everyone a free will and a right to make a fair choice in this life.
I had another confused reader try to ask me, why can’t there be multiple choices available to the afterlife? In other words he seemed to think that people are all so different in this current world, so therefore God will allow them all to be different in the world to come. While people will not be identically cloned robots in the afterlife and they will be completely unique we must understand that an anything goes moral mentality and the freedom to commit sin, will not be a direct part of God’s future plan. This type of thinking was the erroneous philosophy of an all-inclusive religion of tolerance and acceptance called “Universal Salvation” where everyone will be in heaven even if they never made Jesus their Lord here on this planet. I have other Bible lessons that address this so I will not repeat them here. But these are false lies of Satan also that will send people to hell because they think they do not have to repent and get saved. There will be no evil in the afterlife for those that are saved because there will be no tempter to test us. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire and will not be able to tempt anyone. God help us all to see the truth.
If I were you I would become hungry and thirsty to know the real truth. Only by being open minded and examining the Bible closely to verify everything that you believe is true, can you ever be assured that you have not been deceived. If you are not willing to change when the truth is presented to you then you are in trouble. Pray and ask God to show you the truth, He is the teacher and will confirm to you the truth. Base your faith only on the Bible and not on anything that a man teaches. Thank you for taking the time to read and study the Bible and I hope this lesson will help someone to understand spiritual visions. God Bless!
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“.
God’s Definition of Eternity! Are there any Limits to What We Can Learn?
(Ver 1.1) Today I want to do something different to stimulate and exercise your mind. I want to get you to thinking of some things that you may have never thought of before. God woke me up last night and taught me some new concepts about eternity that I have never even thought of before. I hesitate to tell people on the Web that God does this to me, because people sometimes think you’re crazy to believe things like God can actually talk to you and you can actually hear and understand Him. However, if this is not possible, then we have found something else that God can’t do, He can’t communicate with humans. Actually if you have ever read the Bible you have seen too many examples of God speaking to Adam and Eve, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah and I could go on and on. Today, the problem with most people is that they are not spiritually aware enough to realize when God is saying anything to them. Knowing how God talks to you is the key to hearing from God and I will not comment on that any further. So this is what the Spirit of God said to me, “Are there any limits to what you can know?” I took this to mean will there ever come a time when we are in eternity with God that we will reach a point that there is nothing else for us to learn? I mean forever is a very long time. Humans cannot even fathom the definition of what eternity is. After we go beyond billions or trillions, most people stop trying to process what those kinds of numbers mean in our brain. We have no reference point to the experience of eternity that even comes close to what forever means. You see my computer has a 1 terabyte hard drive in it. That is a far cry from my first computer hard drive of 10 megabytes. However, even 1 terabyte is nowhere close to having an infinite hard drive space available to you. I mean even Google doesn’t have infinite hard drive storage space. We are born on this planet with a limited perspective and we may live even 100 years and this is nothing compared to eternity. It would be like one cell out of every cell in our universe combined. Even Adam or Methuselah in the O.T. never lived to be older than 1000 years old. Methuselah the oldest recorded living man in the Bible, only lived 969 years. This is a nothing numbers compared to living in eternity. So there is no human on the earth that has any clue of how long eternity is. So here is the key question today to challenge you to think; how much could you learn if you had forever to do it in? Are there any limits to knowledge? Are there any limits to what God knows?
Isa 57:15 For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.
As you can clearly see, the Bible says that God lives in eternity. I looked up the word “eternity” to see the definition and it means “forever” or “without end”. Eternity is clearly just a concept to us that we have great difficulty in comprehending fully. God exists outside of the realm of time and yet sent Jesus Christ into the realm of time at the perfect time to accomplish what God needed to accomplish. So I believe that the dimension of time does not limit God. Einstein theorized that as we approach the speed of light that time would slow and then finally stop. I find that very interesting since the Bible says that God is Light! That is pretty awesome stuff to think on.
So here is where I’m going to start to get a bit controversial, surprise, surprise. Does God know everything? Is there anything that God does not know? These are almost trick questions. Because I do not know, if we have the answers to these questions. Most people believe that God knows everything. After all only He is omnipotent, omnipresent and omniscient to name three known qualities used to describe God. The term omniscient is a theological term that is used to describe God and it can actually mean “All knowing”. God can be described as having an infinite amount of capacity for knowledge and this is probably a very good thought. But, I also think that this is dependent upon your perspective. God certainly is All Knowing concerning us and the rest of His creation. The Bible certainly says that God knows some amazing details about us. God knows our every thought and with over 6 billion people on the planet, I do not understand how this is even possible. The Bible says God knows how many hairs are on our heads at any given time. Do you have a clue of how many hairs are on your head? Unless you are totally bald, you do not have a clue. This proves that God is the most detailed oriented being that I can conceive of. So what is the controversial part of my thought process today? If God holds the capacity to know everything that is possible to know but still does not know everything, then there is a possibility of an infinite amount of knowledge being available to learn. If God knows an infinite amount of information already, then there is nothing that He does not know. Which one is it? Either way, we have to conclude that there is no limit to what we can know and learn in eternity. Maybe this will come out clearer as I go forward; probably right now I have a bunch of people just scratching their heads and saying what did he just say?
Let me see if I can rephrase what I tried to say, either God already has infinite knowledge or the realm of knowledge is infinite and God has the capacity to know it all. I really cannot say which one is true using the Bible. If you say that God knows everything already, then you have to conclude there is no creativity in anyone else. Every book that can be written has already been written by God. Every song that can be written has already been written by God. Only God has creation power and the rest of us are just puppets imitating God’s preconceived ideas. That would mean that the Bible says we are made in his image but we do not have His power to create so the Bible lied. I haven’t found a Bible verse to describe any of this per say. If you know of one or two, please let me know. I would love to learn. I did see some verses in Job that describes God as having “perfect knowledge”. The term “perfect” would tend to mean or at the least imply “whole” or “complete” knowledge.
All I know is somewhere something or someone has to be infinite. Either the amount of knowledge available is infinite or the knowledge of God is infinite. Otherwise it would mean somewhere in the course of eternity we could potentially reach a point of the end of all learning and come to a state of knowing everything. If this could occur, what would we do then? Can you even wrap your mind around this deep subject today? Here is what I took away from what God said to me last night. There is no limit to how much you can know, because there is no limit to the availability of God’s knowledge. You see I totally believe that God has the capacity of knowing everything. I totally believe that God’s knowledge compared to my knowledge right now is a like a comparison of all of the water in all of the oceans in the world compared to my single drop of water, if that much. But, I also believe that eternity is a long, long time. So the bottom line is no matter how much we learn even in a trillion years of time, we would have just begun to learn what God can teach us.
Also God when he spoke to Abraham told him that his seed would be as the stars of the heaven or as the sands on the seashore (Gen 22:7). In other words more than you could count right now. However, if you had eternity to count them all, is it possible to do it. This has to be a finite number, just a very big number. Do you understand big number concepts? Is there any limit to how high you can count? I don’t think so, if you have the time to do it.
So I probably just turned off a bunch of religious or non-intellectual type people. I seemed to imply that there could be stuff that God still has left that He can learn and I certainly do not have any Bible verses to demonstrate or confirm this logic. But I will tell you this also; this is what else God said to me in the middle of the night. He told me to think about the number “Pi”. If you are not a math type person you probably do not know what I’m talking about. The number “Pi” is a number used in math and geometry in relation to measuring circles. A circle is a symbol of completeness. A circle could also be a symbol of infinity, since as long as you want to go around in the circle it will let you keep going. A circle is a line without ends. So a circle could possibly be representative of a picture of God. Here is the Web definition for “Pi”:
Pi: the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle
Pi is an irrational number, in decimal places it never ends and never repeats with any know pattern. To me I can see Pi as a picture of God. He has no end and never does He do the exact same thing exactly twice. However, God does utilize patterns to repeat things in the natural realm from the spiritual realm so we have some additional complexity to ponder. If anyone ever told you that studying the Bible was easy, they lied to you. What do you think of the concepts behind pi and how this number relates to God? So I believe that God invented math for us to learn about natural concepts and laws that we can apply to spiritual things. If you can learn from them and apply them correctly you will begin to see how they relate to other spiritual things. I use math laws in my Bible interpretations all the time. God taught me this method so I stick with it. So here is the problem that I am faced with, Pi is an infinite never ending number. No matter how many digits that you calculate the number Pi to, the number never ends. This is the definition of eternity again, demonstrated to us in the concept of a never ending number. When I was in the 10th grade I memorized Pi to like 8 or 9 digits; to me “Pi” was 3.141592653…” and I thought I was doing pretty well. Later in life when computers came along, I learned that “Pi” had been calculated out in the astronomical realms of numbers. However, even with all of this work they were not any closer to the end of the number than I was. Why did God create infinite things like this? Never ending number concepts? I believe it was to show us that there is no limit to what we can still learn in eternity. I mean think about it, if God can create a number that He cannot find the end of; that tells me that we have something truly amazing in store for us. So I probably offended someone again saying God could not solve Pi, but yet God would have to change the definition of Pi or round it off somewhere in order to stop computing the number. Do you understand this? God, who has far greater computing power than any computer we have on our planet, could spend the rest of eternity at calculating Pi and still never reach the end. That is the definition of something that is infinite, yes? So can an infinite God solve an infinite math problem? I think that is a very tough question for me to even try to think of how to answer. You see I think that an infinite God who lives in eternity could calculate Pi forever and still never reach the end of the number. There would always be another digit to add to the list of numbers. Wow, that is very deep, I know. So we can still look at this subject in different ways. We can say that the possible realm of knowledge is infinite or we can say that God already holds infinite knowledge. To me if God held infinite knowledge then God had Pi solved before we were given it. However, this means by definition that Pi is solvable and is not an infinite number. Then there is the concept of writing books or songs that I mentioned earlier. Is there a limit to the number of books that God could write? Is there a limit to the number of songs that can be written by us? I personally do not believe that there are a finite number of songs available for us to create. Do you understand the complexity behind these concepts that God has given to us? They are truly amazing, but yet they are nothing compared to what God has in store for us in the future:
1Co 2:9 But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.
When you start to think differently you begin to see old Bible verses in new enlightening ways. Is it beginning to get into your heart like it is mine? I think if it is, then we have only scratched the tip of the iceberg of knowing who God is and how much He loves us. Be a thinker, but begin to see God as He sees us. The Bible says that we have the mind of Christ, so begin to think like God. I know that I can hardly wait for the eternity of good things to come from God. I hope that I at least stimulated your mind to think today, like God did my mind last night. You may not agree with the things that I said, but that is OK also. Today was not a lesson on how to be saved so it really doesn’t matter that much. Today’s lesson was designed to get you to think eternally, infinitely, as a course for your future existence with God. If you disagree with anything that I said I’ll read it, but I probably won’t respond to the negative words of critics’ unless you can show me some Bible verses. You see I don’t know everything and I am perfectly willing to change to be right as long as I can see it in the Bible. In the meantime I’ll do my own search of the Bible using my computer to see if I can learn anything about what God has challenged me to think on. Mathematics is full of never ending number sequences and there must be a reason why God created them to be this way, so it is a challenge for you and I to find out why. Be continually blessed and encouraged in growing in the knowledge of Him.
Is there Life after Death? The Bible Evidence for Understanding Spirits!
(Ver 2.0) This is a serious Bible lesson on the important Bible subject of understanding death. Today I will discuss a very basic foundational subject but also an extremely important Bible truth in an attempt to make a potentially complex subject as simple as possible. I always like to emphasize that the Bible is a highly complex book of natural and spiritual information and one that the natural human mind is incapable of understanding without God’s help. This is the greatest and number one problem with why people read the Bible and do not understand what it says. God is the most intelligent being in both the Spiritual and Natural realms. God designed the Bible in an intelligent spiritual manner to permit humans the freedom and right to be wrong in everything that we believe. There is really no clear evidence for anything in the Bible, because people can put their own interpretations and definitions upon every verse, ignoring all other verses that do not fit with what they want to believe and thus they come to the conclusions that they desire to hold on to. That is a pretty foolish way of understanding the Bible, but people do it every day. By not being consistent and by not taking every related verse into account some people have concluded some vastly erroneous teachings.
Today’s lesson searches for what the Bible says about “Is there Life after Death?” This is obviously a highly controversial subject with a wide variety of opinions to the possible belief outcomes. There are a lot of people who would like to never think about death because they believe they are having so much fun. But there is still a difficulty that most of us face death is coming someday whether we like it or not.
Most of us have never died and then come back to talk about what happened to us after we died. The majority of dead people that were on the earth are still dead and have not been able to return form the dead to tell anyone about the after-life experiences, if it exists. And if anyone did die and come back would anybody believe them, since they would have no evidence like pictures to convince anyone of what they were trying to tell the rest of the world. Any personal natural death experience would probably only help to motivate the one that died to personally be more motivated to prepare for death.
So, what then do we do? I believe that we are given a Bible by God for the basis for all of our knowledge and for what we believe in our faith. If what you believe is not based upon what the Bible says, then you really have no ability to be confident of anything that you believe in. Faith is believing in something that we have no physical proof or evidence of possessing.
The Bible also firmly informs us that our faith must be based upon the Truth found in the Word of God. So, a Christian should be most concerned with what does the Bible say and reveal to me on the subject of death and the afterlife experience. Here is why I am addressing this subject today. I had a very deceived individual come to me who believes that when people die, they go into a state of sleep, until wakened for judgment day.
These types of believers do not believe in the existence of hell or eternal damnation or punishment. They want to believe that after this life there are no consequences for what we do here on the earth, how we believe, or whether we make Jesus our Lord and Savior or not. According to them those that are not saved by God are eliminated from future existence, they will have no consciousness of ever having been here on the earth or for ever existing at any time on this planet.
This type of teaching is one that I have heard proclaimed for many years. It is called a doctrine of “Soul Sleep” or a “Spirit Sleep” theology. They claim that everyone who dies goes to sleep until God chooses for the time of judgment. These people have many Bible verses that they believe that they can stand on and I do not deny that these verses exist. However, I do deny their weak erroneous interpretations of them and how they have twisted them to determine how they use and apply them with their natural minds to drive others into believing the lie of an eternal solution for an end of natural life with no eternal consequences.
This is a classic example of ignorance being combined with deception which is going to seed, and which is being spread and multiplied. God says in Hosea 4:6 “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”. Therefore, what we don’t know will end up killing us and sending many to hell. You better make sure you know God’s truth before you believe something someone tells you is their truth. The only way we can be insured is for us to read the whole Bible and make sure there are no other verses that conflict with what someone is telling us is the truth.
So rather than telling you about all of the verses that they have misinterpreted, I want to focus mostly in on verses in the Bible that will put a few gaping holes of doubt in their theological erroneous teachings. These are the verses that they purposely ignore or are forced to explain away so that they can hold on to their beliefs. Let’s look at some of these verses about death and life after death today and you can be the judge and see what the Bible is saying for yourself.
Deu 34:5 So Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD.
This verse in the Bible is very plain. Moses we are told died a physical death exactly like every other human on this planet in our history has done also. I guess I should clarify that last statement, because there are two men in the O.T. that did not experience death, and the Bible says God took them and these were Enoch and Elijah. The Bible says it is appointed unto man, once to die and then comes the judgment (Heb. 9:27).
This is where people like to believe that the in between time from natural death and the time of judgment is a state of nothingness, because the Bible says there is nothing or does it? People need to realize that God does not tell you everything in any one place anywhere in the Bible. You MUST put the puzzle pieces together correctly in order to have a valid interpretation of the Word of God. Let’s confirm that Moses died before we go any further:
Deu 34:7 And Moses was an hundred and twenty years old when he died: his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated.
We can again clearly see that God says Moses lived 120 years on the earth when he died a natural death. I find that it is very interesting what this verse says. It does not say Moses died of any illness, weakness, infirmity or even any natural cause, does it? It even says that Moses was physically strong and had good eyesight. Oh well, I guess I won’t go there and create any more controversy.
Can we at least agree that Moses died? So then according to many people who believe in Soul Sleep, Moses is now in spiritual “la, la land” of non-existence. I assume that this is a state of blissful nirvana or an unconscious state of rest according to what they want to believe occurs after death. I hope that you can see this is pretty crazy to believe this way, you have to ignore so much of the Bible to believe wrong. Here is the main reason that I call this an erroneous teaching. Please read this carefully:
Luk 9:28 And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
Here we have an account written by God in the New Testament that declares that Jesus went up on a mountain to pray. He took with Him, Peter James and John. So, we have 3 key witnesses to what is about to happen next. Is this a real story? You bet it is a real story if you chose to believe the Bible is the inspired word of God as is written in 2 Timothy 3:16. The Bible also says God is not a liar in Numbers 23:19. So, we know Jesus is praying and what happens?
Luk 9:30 And, behold, there talked with him two men, which were Moses and Elias:
Uh oh? Moses is suddenly there with Jesus on top of the mountain, and he is supposed to be asleep somewhere in la, la land. I really thought he was supposed to be sleeping until judgment day according to what these people care to try to teach us. Do you understand how wrong some people’s teaching can grow to become? Here Moses died at least 1500 years before Jesus came to be on the earth, and he appears with Elijah to talk to Jesus. I guess God must have awakened them both from their sleep. Maybe God sent a fairy princess to kiss Moses so that she could awaken him from deep spiritual sleep?
Do you understand what happens when anyone deviate from what all of the Bible say? These types of people have to start making stuff up and their lie is then as good as anyone else’s lie. Let’s stop here and think about this logically and just use some common sense. If Moses and Elijah were spiritually asleep for the last 1500 years or so, and do not remember their life on the earth and were just awakened for some quick purpose of God, what would they have to talk about with Jesus? Do you think that Jesus was the only one talking here and they were just getting filled in on the updates of the last 1500 years?
You see there are certainly many ways to explain away what the Bible says if someone does not wish to embrace it. However, it is so obvious to me that since Moses and Elijah were present with Jesus on the mountain top, they were clearly not asleep and could remember many things wrote to talk about. It would be a very far stretch to say that they were ever spiritually asleep either. So, you can believe whatever you choose to believe, but it may still be best to agree with the Bible’s truth.
So let me approach this subject of Soul Sleep from a different angle now. When you are asleep naturally speaking, are you ever aware of anything that happens? What about your dreams? Do dreams ever happen, do you ever remember them? Are there accounts in the Bible of anybody dreaming? You should probably understand if you have ever read the Bible that there are many people who have heard from God in a dream. Do you understand this? You have the story of Joseph in Genesis 37:5. Then in Matthew 1:20 we have another man named Joseph who heard from God in a dream about marrying the virgin, Mary.
So, we know that people do have dreams while naturally asleep and people can remember them and even hear from God when they are physically asleep. Therefore, is there a potential problem with spiritual sleep if there is any such thing? Have you ever seen a verse that explicitly says a spirit sleeps?
How do humans ever remember a dream if their natural body is asleep, and their mind is at rest? After all you were sleeping. That is a million-dollar question to ponder. You see your spirit inside your body never sleeps. Even when your body is asleep your spirit is awake and capable of hearing from God. Interesting, isn’t it? The Bible says in Psalms 121:4 that God neither slumbers nor sleeps. This tells us very clearly God who is a spirit, does not get tired. A spiritual being never needs a nap, to rest up or regain spiritual strength.
The problem with most people, they think that the spirit of a man is somehow different from God and this is their downfall. Because they think naturally, they come to the wrong conclusions concerning spiritual truths. This is the most significant way that God keeps people from seeing what the Bible really says. In their minds they have the wrong foundation of reference or the wrong perspective on things that were written.
If you are driving in a car, when you start out going in the wrong direction, it is sometimes very difficult to get the car to turn into the right destination. So, it is with Bible interpretation. So, people too often forget what the Bible says about Adam being made in the image and likeness of God. God said, “Let US make man in our image after our likeness…” (Gen 1:26). When you don’t believe what the Bible says in one spot it makes it increasingly easier to disbelieve another spot.
So, the point is if God (who is a Spirit) does not sleep or nap, the spirit of man does not sleep or nap either, because we were made in the image and likeness of God. If you want to see what the Bible really says, sometimes you have to change your perspective. Sometimes this requires you seeing things like God sees them. Sometimes it requires you to see things the way others see them around you. This is just part of the complexity of understanding the Bible.
So why did I go through the explanation of dreams while you are in a natural sleep? It was only to show you that your spirit never sleeps and that is the only way that you would remember what you dreamed. So, you decide what you want to believe, it might be wise to stay with what the Bible actually says.
So those who teach fictitious “Soul Sleep” have a predicament, we can clearly see that Moses died literally hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus came along yet he appears with Jesus to talk about spiritual subjects with the transfigured Lord. We also should know that Judgment Day is not coming for many more hundreds of years in the future when this event occurs.
Where has Moses been previously and where will Moses wait until the Day of Judgment finally comes. Think about it, where is Moses during all of this past and future time? You first have to understand that Moses is a triune being. That just means that Moses is a spirit being that has a soul that lives in a body. When his body died his spirit and soul left his body. We know this from other Bible verses like this one:
Jas 2:26 For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.
As you can see the Bible says that man is a spirit. The absence of the spirit from the body deems the body to be dead. The death of the body means that the spirit is no longer present in the body. Either way there is a clear separation of the two. When you go to a funeral and look in the casket you are not looking at the person, just the body that this person used to lived in. So as you look into the casket do they appear to be awake or asleep? If you are bright at all you have to say they look asleep. So, all of the Bible verses in the Bible that “Soul Sleep” teachers like to grab hold of, and use are from our perspective on what death is and looks like. The body is asleep and the spirit has departed and gone somewhere else. The spirit must still exist and must be awake because it is made in the image of God. So let’s look at another lesson of what God used Paul to tell us:
Php 1:23 For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better:
People who choose to believe in a “Soul Sleep” ignore verses like this one in the Bible. Here is Paul writing to the Philippian Church and he is speaking of a decision that he is trying to make. He is trying to determine if he should stay here in his body and help them or to leave his body and go be with Christ. Uh oh? That is a pretty strong indication that there is no sleep time in between death and what occurs afterwards. Paul calls death for a Christian something that is a “FAR BETTER” thing than staying here physically and living on the earth. So what would make death far better for anyone that would only go to sleep until judgment day? Sleep is not better than being awake, alert, aware and conscious, is it? If you think it is, you are a vastly deceived individual. Christians, who die according to what Paul just said, leave their bodies and go into the spiritual realm of heaven to be with Christ. That is what would be far better than being here. You are walking on the streets of gold, you beholding the face of the one that died for you, you are standing before the throne of the living God and you surrounded by all of the angels, and your Christian relatives and friends that have gone before you. That is the definition of a “FAR BETTER” time if you ask me. That is the only explanation of this verse that makes any sense to me. Seeing my earthly father again, seeing my son again, seeing my Heavenly Father for the first time, seeing Jesus Christ and the nail prints in his hands and feet, that is what gives me hope. Spiritual sleep is not hope, it is nothing to look forward to, it is nothing that you can call better even a little bit. What is FAR BETTER to you? How do you define “FAR BETTER”? It could make all the difference in the world.
So I could go on and give you many other Bible verses, that talk about death, heaven, hell and other related subjects, but I have gone long enough for today. I pray that you will take the truth of God’s word and hold fast to it so that no man will deceive you with lies from the enemy. I have found that some people are not capable of being helped. No matter how much you try to show them. These are what I call “Concrete Christians”; they are thoroughly mixed up and firmly set in their ways. They do not read the Bible with an open mind to allow the Spirit of God to teach them anything. They do not wish to see the truth, because they are happy with their perception of reality. They have extreme tunnel vision and only see what they want to see. Whatever you do, do not become as one of these types of people. Always stay open to change, but always base your change upon the Bible only. It saddens my heart tremendously when I encounter people like this if they are that easily deceived then they are open to other deception as well. The Bible says that there will be many in that day that come before Christ and say Lord, didn’t we do this and that in your name and Jesus will look at them and say depart from me for I never knew you. Do not be one of these! May God Bless you and help you to see the truth of His glorious Word!
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! We Are the Seed of Abraham! Part 10
(Ver 1.3) Today I am writing Part 10 in the series of lessons that I have been doing on the spiritual concepts and laws surrounding God’s designed Seed planting principles. If you have not read this series from the beginning, I would strongly recommend that you start with “Part 1”. If you have been reading this series, then welcome back. When you get a hold of this teaching it will change a lot of what you think and know about God and the Bible. The concepts given in the Bible about seeds cannot be overly simplified because they are vastly complex in how God applies them throughout the Bible. The concepts of seeds are overlapping and run in parallel at the same time. Seeds concepts are truly woven threads in the fabric of God’s truth found throughout the Bible. The subject of seeds is a common theme given to us in every part of the Bible. You can find seeds mentioned in the beginning of Genesis 1 all the way to references to seeds in the last chapter of the Bible in Revelation 22. Seeds are everywhere in the Bible if you know what to look for and if you understand the concepts behind them. You see in Revelation 22:2 God speaks of the “Tree of Life” on each side of the river flowing from the throne of God. These “Trees of Life” produce 12 kinds of fruit. If you recall we learned that Fruit comes from planting seeds, naturally and spiritually. You plant a seed, you get a tree and then it produces the fruit to produce more fruit trees. It is a simple concept, yet so profound. So who are these symbolic fruit trees in Revelation 22? Do you recall reading back in Genesis 2 about the first mention of the Tree of Life? God created a Garden for man. In the garden God placed two trees, named Adam and Eve, I mean the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and the Tree of Life. It would appear to me that God’s plan was for man to eat of the Tree of Life and live forever, since this is the way it is described to end up in Revelation 22. So what can we learn here? We learned from the Parable of the Sower that the Word of God was the seed of God. We learned that the hearts of men and women in the world were the soil where seeds are planted. Let’s stop right there and analyze that statement. What is a Garden? A garden is where you plant your seeds to grow your fruit. Genesis 2 describes vast amounts of seed principles being applied by God. We have a symbolic Garden and we have 2 trees that are symbolic of something also. One tree is OK to eat from and one tree is not OK to eat from. Sounds like a good time for making the right decision. Since Adam did not make the right decision we still see that God says I will make the right decision and it will end up the way that I planted it to end up. After all it is my garden and my seed. Are you beginning to see the concepts being given?
When you begin to understand just a little bit about seeds you can begin to see that God is smarter than us all put together. I am a firm believer that God’s stated beginning in Genesis 1 & 2 was a symbolic representation of how He wanted it to end up when our time on this planet is completed. We know that God is the giver of the “Good” Seed. We know that we (the people) are God’s Soil or Garden. That would make God the Ultimate Farmer! Do you understand 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.
Here is an amazing verse of scripture that describes God’s Farm System. The Lord God is described as being the “husbandman”. This Greek word translated as husbandman in the KJV Bible means “a worker of land” or literally a “farmer”. We can again see in this verse that Fruit is the desired anticipated outcome of God’s laborious seed planting. God sowed the good seeds to produce the good fruit from the earth. This verse is very symbolic in nature. The “Husbandman” is the Land Owner who Works the Soil to plant His seeds in. We can clearly understand that God owns the Earth, but that is only natural soil. God is not talking about a natural crop of corn in this verse. God is referring to a spiritual crop of fruit. But, realize that seeds do not produce fruit, seeds produce trees that produce fruit. This is a very critical part of the seed principle. This is why I called Adam and Eve trees that had no fruit in Genesis 2 and 3. Adam however, chose the wrong seeds and allowed the wrong fruit to grow, sinned and died. Adam in effect sold his birthright for some wrong fruit to Satan. We (the church) are now the purchased possession of God, by the redemptive price that He has paid with His own blood. Christians have been purchased, redeemed without money the Bible says. So we are God’s gardens that have allowed His Seed into our hearts to grow and produce fruit. We produce the Fruit that God is after. So when you read Revelation 22:2 and see the Trees of Life on each side of the river flowing from the Throne of God, we can understand that we are these trees producing this fruit every month of the year for an eternity to come. That is pretty cool stuff, if you ask me. If you can see it you will think it is pretty amazing also. Only by rightly dividing the Word of God have I come to these conclusions. By letting the Bible interpret itself and by understanding simple spiritual concepts like Seeds, Soil, Gardens, Planting, Sowing, Rain, Watering, Fruit, Reaping and Harvests.
So that was a quick introduction to an overview of how to apply the knowledge that we have gleaned from the Bible subject concerning Seeds. Like I told you before there are over 250 scriptures in the KJV Bible that directly mention the word “seed”. In many modern translations the literal meaning of the word “seed” is translated as offspring, children, or some other word that loses the true meaning that God was trying to get you to see. So while I do not try to tell you what to do, that is why I do not read many translations. They take too many liberties with God’s Word and change it too much. The best translation would be no translation, but since I do not speak Hebrew or Greek, I just look up the words in the dictionary and do the best that I can with God’s help. So the best translation of the Bible is the one that is the most literal and I can’t tell you which one that is, I just know some that they are not. People need to realize that God could have used any word that He wanted to and He picked “Seed” to describe these things we have been talking about. I guess translators think that God is stupid and He did not know the right word to use. Plus I use the KJV version because it is a FREE version of the Bible that is readily available to everyone without charge, limitations or restrictions. Jesus said freely you have received so charge the heck out of everybody and get all that you can. I think that is what some Bible manufacturers think, because this is the way that they act. It is only for the money they think. Oh, well I guess I’ll get off my soap box and keep teaching on the subject of seeds. Let me briefly review two concepts that I have touched on before, but this time using some new scripture verses.
Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.
Hebrews chapter 11 is one of the most important chapters in the Bible. But most people do not see what it says. The chapter is dominated by one Subject and that is “Faith”. We can learn that even though God did not reveal “Faith” in the Old Testament, He definitely made it a determining factor to what people received in their life. This chapter goes through many examples of Bible faith and in this verse we are told of Sarah’s faith in God’s Word. Sarah believed that God was faithful because He had promised them a child. Now she was 90 years old when this child came, but yet God was not too late was He? Many times God’s timing is not your timing, but yet we should not question God, just believe that it will happen like He said. In this verse there is the direct mention of “seed”. Sarah was able to “Conceive” Seed. Did you know that this is how that Mary got pregnant with Jesus also? These were examples of conceiving two different types of “seeds”, but yet the end results were both the same. Sarah conceived natural sperm of her husband Abraham’s natural seed. While Mary conceived the “Word of God”, God’s also known as spiritual seed. Both women were required to believe that it would happen like it was told to them. Both women heard the message, before it actually happened to them. Neither woman had any evidence or proof that it would ever happen, did they? There was no proof? This is a pattern of how to receive anything from God. If you want a baby and have not been able to conceive a child, here is your answer. God does not show any favoritism to anyone! God is no respecter of person! What God did for Sarah and for Mary, He will do for you if you choose to believe also.
So I got off the subject of the Seed of Abraham. That is what this lesson was supposed to be about when I started. I guess God wanted to talk to somebody out there and tell them there was hope. before I more on completely I also want to point out that God can exachange one seed type for the other by the lessons of Sarah and Mary. What God has created in the natural can still happen by an equivalent type of substance usage or exchange from the spritual realm. A spiritual seed can replace a natural seed and still give the same result. Let’s move on to an example of this using the seed of Abraham. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus Christ came into the world as the Seed of Abraham. Let’s prove that statement by reading this verse and see what God reveals:
Heb 2:16 For verily he took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham.
The Bible is so complex, that it is impossible to teach everything that just one verse says in a short lesson like this. Why would God mention that Jesus was not born or created as an angel? That is a much more complex subject that I guess I shouldn’t have mentioned because I cannot talk about it in this lesson. It only gives you something new to think about. Learn to ask God questions when you read the Bible and you just may be amazed when He shows you the answers. So Jesus was not an angel, just load that basic fact into your mind for a future reference to a new unkown question. However, Jesus was born the “Seed of Abraham”. We need to review the basic seed concepts again that we have previously learned that should be firmly established in you by now. We learned that a man is a physical being that has “Seed” within himself. I showed you several times now that when Abraham paid tithe, his future descendant Levi was reported to have also paid the tithe at the same time. This was because the physical future seed Levi was in his great grandfather Abraham. If you do not recall this you should go back and review the earlier lessons, because this is a very critical piece of spiritual information to fully grasp. The principle revealed to us in this lesson was that every natural descendant of Abraham did exactly what Abraham did because they came from Abraham’s physical seed. Now that would be really good information if you were a natural seed of Abraham and I’ll tell you why soon. What about the rest of us on earth? We were called Gentiles by the laws of flesh in the world that were not born from natural seed of Abraham? Are we all left out because we were not born from the natural seed of Abraham? We will find out as we continue.
Keep in mind that the Bible is so much more complex than you give it credit to be. Also keep in mind that God is smarter than you and I are. His ways are not your natural ways, so it makes it very difficult for us to grasp these very spiritual things being taught to us. Let’s turn to Galatians and learn something brand new about seeds:
Gal 3:19 Wherefore then serveth the law? It was added because of transgressions, till the seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ordained by angels in the hand of a mediator.
You can see that this is a verse with wide seed applications attached to it. We talked earlier about that the word seed can either be singular or plural and you really have a very difficult time in determining which one it is by only reading on the surface. The word in this context is clearly singular. Jesus Christ is again called the Seed of Abraham as we can see. This verse tells us clearly of all the natural seeds that were “IN” Abraham, only one of them carried the hope of the promise that was given to Abraham. This was a very literal one in some several millions of future natural seeds, type of prophecy. God singles out and separates “One Seed” to be the “Chosen Seed”. We know that this Seed was God Himself. Knowing this now doesn’t sound very good for all the other natural seeds that came from Abraham. Can you see how the Bible presents us with puzzles and paradoxical predicaments? We read in one place that being a seed of Abraham seems to be a good thing, but now we read that only one of the seeds actually carried the promise. Wow are things getting complicated or what?
Gal 3:18 For if the inheritance be of the law, it is no more of promise: but God gave it to Abraham by promise.
Let’s back up one verse in Galatians and see some of the context of what is being discussed around this subject of the “Chosen Seed”. I’ll try to stay on subject, according to what we just read in verse 19, we are talking about the Seed called Jesus Christ who we can see in this verse was promised the inheritance. So the inheritance was not promised to every seed, just the One! That is a pretty complex thing to think about and it can become a point of confusion, if we are not careful. What is an inheritance? Do you understand this concept? Have you ever seen or been to a lawyer’s office who reads someone’s last will and testament? Someone had to die in order for there to be an inheritance available to anyone. Do you understand this? This will certainly get more complicated than you can imagine when I tell you who died. Who died to leave an inheritance to the Chosen Seed? If you guessed that the Chosen Seed died you would actually be right! God gave Himself to be the sacrifice for man’s sin. God became the Chosen Seed of Abraham. This Seed died and was planted into the natural ground for 3 days and rose up spiritually alive again forever. God is the only one that I know of that is capable of experiencing death and then coming back to life to inherit that which He had left as an inheritance. I don’t know if you understand these concepts or not, but I know they are staggeringly powerful spiritual laws in action. Do you see how God used seed concepts and laws in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ?
What does all of this have to do with you and I? How does it affect us personally in the church? How do I apply seed information to me if I am not a natural seed of Abraham? I think that is what interests many people, what is the bottom line for me today? That is where I want to get to now. If you are a true Christian, a born again believer in Christ, then it has everything to do with you.
Gal 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
As you can see in this following verse of Galatians 3, the promise was by the faith of Jesus Christ that it might be given to us who believe. Do you see why I included the scripture about Sarah? Do you see how she was given a promise by God and trough her faith in His promised words, she conceived seed? God has implemented a system within Christianity that is based totally and completely upon faith and seeds. Let’s look at Faith in the terms of “Seed” concepts briefly. If you went to your garden and planted some seeds in it, did you have any faith when you plant your seeds? Do you believe that what you are doing is going to result in anything good in the future? You see if you did not have any faith in these seeds you would not have planted any of them in the first place. A seed is not a magic potion; you do not plant them and poof there they are like some magic bean stalk! Faith is never a Jack in the Bean stalk reality or fantasy. It always takes time and care to develop and produce that which was planted. So farming is a faith lesson. God planted a seed and expected a harvest. That is the definition of what faith is in a nutshell; believing in a harvest by only planting seeds in the ground. Remember that natural seeds are invisible substances when placed in the ground. You see nothing for many days and only believe they are there by faith.
Are you a believer today? Then you believe in God’s Seed principles. Even though you have never seen Jesus personally, you believe that He is faithful who has promised. The Bible says “Why stare ye into heaven? This same Jesus that you saw go up into heaven, will come back down in the same way” (Acts 1:11). Believing only in the words of angels written down in a book with no basis of proof and no physical evidence that you can take to court, that is what faith is. God’s Word is the Seed, remember? If you believe God’s Word it will conceive in your spirit the same as it did for Mary. No, you won’t have a virgin birth, God did not promise you that, but you can go into the Bible and see what He did Promise you and believe for that.
Gal 3:7 Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.
This verse near the beginning of Galatians 3 makes a declaration that is not widely understood. As you can see this verse is addressed to the Church of Jesus Christ. How can a widely Gentile congregation of people be called the children of Abraham? If you look up the definition of the words, it actually calls Abraham our “father”. I thought God was our Father? Here is another perplexing puzzle given to us in the Bible. You see there is NO WAY that I am a natural descendant of Abraham. I was not born of the natural nation of Israel. But, yet God still calls Abraham my father. People obviously just ignore verses like these in the Bible, I guess? Since I am not a natural child of Abraham that only leaves me to be a spiritual child of Abraham. Do you understand this logic? There are only two realms of existence and these are the created natural realm and the original spiritual realm. If you are a living born again Christian on this earth you exist within both of these realms simultaneously. If you are not a Christian you only exist in the physical realm until you die physically. If you look at the context of this verse you can see that Abraham was justified by faith. Abraham believed God, Galatians 3:6 says to us. So this means that we have also been justified by the same faith that Abraham possessed. Not just believing in God, but believing God came to the earth personally and died for your sins and was raised from the dead. This is faith in God’s personal accomplished works and His Words.
Gal 3:14 That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
You should make a valid attempt at understanding every verse in this chapter of Galatians. It describes who you are and reveals how you became what you are in very clear in-depth terminology. Let’s start by realizing that Abraham was extremely blessed by God. The natural descendants of Abraham have always been extremely blessed by God. The natural nation of Israel has controlled vast amounts of the world’s wealth ever since they left Egypt and took all they could carry. But, this verse says that the blessings of Abraham should come upon us, the Gentiles. How did this occur? It could only occur by you getting born again by your faith in Jesus Christ. Now that makes you of the same faith as your father Abraham. Again we see a principle of the seed within itself concept being given. Whatever our father spiritual Abraham did, that is also what we who believe God have done. Faith is a spiritual force of the human spirit. So you cannot see Abraham’s faith unless he does something to demonstrate his faith to us. When the lame man was brought to Jesus at the house where they tore the roof up to lower him to Jesus, the Bible says that Jesus could see their faith. So faith can be seen depending upon what people do. So what did our father Abraham do to demonstrate his faith? If you recall you might remember that God changed his name. When God changed his name from Abram to Abraham, Abram could have said that is not who I am and refused to go along with it. The name Abraham means “father of nations”. So by Abraham going around saying his name he confirmed that he was the father of nations even without having the promised child yet. This is another faith lesson that is an excellent story to show you how God works with people. But, this verse also says that the promise to Abraham was for us to receive the Spirit of God by this same faith. I honestly do not know how to explain that verse of scripture, so I just accept it by faith for now and trust the Lord God to reveal it to me later. Let’s skip down to the end of the chapter and see the last verse to wrap this lesson up:
Gal 3:29 And if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.
This chapter of Galatians ends with another seed concept and statement. If you are Christ’s, meaning that you belong to Him, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. We again see a reference to the promise of God made to Abraham and to his seed. God promised the Seed of Abraham that He would be the heir. This seed was Jesus Christ. But, now it calls us this same seed at the same time. Since you and I are not Jesus how do we explain what this verse says? That is a very strong question that many people do not fully try to comprehend how that we in the church have become an equal heir with Christ. God again exhibits His extreme intelligence in how He designed these things to work. We are joint heirs with Christ by marriage covenant. The church is the Bride of Christ and if you do not understand this, you should read the series of lessons that I did on this subject. By being joined to Him by marriage covenant we have become one with Him. The law of Genesis says that the two shall be even as one! We have just seen another paradox being presented to us. We have one body or seed but two heirs. We can only resolve this paradox by studying how Eve came from the one body of Adam to make two. So the Bible is complex I know and you may struggle with many of the things that I teach. I hope and pray that you at least go and read all of these verses in your Bible and look up the definitions and meanings of every word you can find and see for yourself if they are true or not. Do not ever take my word for anything, I am a man that makes mistakes, I am capable of failing since I am an imperfect growing Christian just like you are. So the bottom line of today’s lesson was the Church was called the Seed of Abraham. Did you know you were a seed? I bet you are beginning to see that you are a seed in more ways than one. I apologize for covering too much in one lesson and making it so long today. God Bless You, until next time.
If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons on “seeds” you can go to “Part 11“.
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! How are Spiritual Babies Conceived? Part 9
(Ver 1.5) This is a series of Bible lessons on the significance of understanding how Seeds work. I believe only by understanding how natural seeds work, can we really ever focus on how spiritual things operate. God gave us the natural things in our world to teach us about the unseen spiritual things through the wisdom of His intelligent design. Using many Bible verses and the Seed laws from Genesis 1 I have explored several subjects applying the knowledge of seeds to other scriptures in the New Testament. We have discovered that the Bible says there are multiple things that are all referred to by the title of a “seed”. This is just one of God’s techniques of concealing the truth in plain sight. God calls many things by the same name, title or description. This makes it more difficult for the reader to determine what type of seed He is talking about. From our study we have seen that there are natural seeds, like fruit seeds or grass seeds mentioned in the Bible. We have seen children called seeds all over the Bible. We have seen the male sperm called his seed. We have seen spiritual spiritual things like God’s Word being labeled as the seeds that are spread by teachers in the spiritual soil of a human’s heart. We have discovered that there exists two types of seeds in the Bible; one is the Good Seed and other is called the Bad or Evil Seed. By pattern association we can conlude these can be representative of the good words from God versus evil words from Satan. The Good seed was always sown by God exclusively and the evil seed was always sown by his enemy Satan. These are such important concepts to fully grasp. If you have not been reading this series from the beginning you should stop and go back to start reading with “Part 1” first. If you haven’t read from the beginning you have just missed more than I can possibly teach you in my simple introduction.
Today I want to discuss the previous seed concepts and seed laws in more detail to apply them to how a person becomes a Christian. I have alluded to this subject before in other lessons, but I will address it more completely today filling in some gaps. We have already seen that Jesus told us that the most important parable to fully understand is the Parable of the Sower. From this parable we should now know that God’s Word was the seed that the sower was spreading. We also learned that the soil in this parable was always the hearts or spirits of the men and women in the world. There were 6 revealed types of soil presented to us in this parable; 3 types of soil did not produce spiritual fruit and 3 types of soil did produce spiritual fruit in varying degrees of multiplication. This parable demonstrates Salvation to us very clearly and fully describes how you became a saved Christian. Those that hear the Word of God and allow other factors (spirits, natural attartions, etc) over rule their decision to be a Christian are those that were not saved. Those that hear the Word of God, understand it and choose to believe it, they are the ones that are saved and born again. All of this is really not that complex to me but I guess many people have not understood it and therefore do not apply it to the subject of how people become Christians.
So based upon the intimate knowledge of this parable of the sower, it would appear to say that the more Word of God we know the more fruitful we can become. Conversely the less we know about God’s Word defaults our fate to hell. Hopefully, we do understand this. Jesus teaching the parable of the sower was Him spreading the Word of God to the entire world. Every man, woman and child born from Adam represents the symbolic soil that is responsible to allow or permit God’s seed to be planted. It is much more the human rejection of the Word of God (the Seed) from the soil (the spirit) that causes people to go to hell than anything else that they will ever do. People like to think that sin is the key factor for going to hell, but this is simly not the case based upon the Word of God. The Bible says that everyone has sinned and come short of the glory of God (Rom 3:22). If everyone is a sinner there must be another factor for who is saved and who is not and it basically boils down to what type of soil we each choose to be. Do you realize that only you make the choices in your own life and for your life? I can’t do it for you, your wife can’t do it for you, your mother can’t do it for you and even God can’t and will not do it for you either. Do you also know that you have a spiritual enemy that is helping you to make the wrong choices? Only by studying the Bible can we better recognize the devices, plans and traps of this spiritual enemy. Only by continuing to study in the Bible are you able to grow and mature to being the overcomer that God has designed you to be. God is expecting to come back for a victorious church and not a defeated church.
So the Parable of the Sower gives us the basic overview for the whole plan of God for our Salvation. Jesus told us to “Go into all of the world and Preach the Gospel AKA the Word of God” (Mk 16:15). By preaching the Word of God you are sowing the Seed of the Word of God into the hearts of more people who can choose to let it grow. This is salvation or damnation in action. The human heart soil decides its own outcome by what seeds are permitted to enter and this is what determines what kind of fruit that it produces. Let’s look at this in action in the Bible:
1Co 3:6 I have planted , Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.
The Apostle Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and to you and I. Paul says that he has planted. So what does it mean to plant something? And What was planted? As you can clearly see these are seed concepts that are repeated for us. Maybe you do not understand these concepts fully because you have never planted a natural garden in your back yard. You always start the process by putting seeds in the soil and you then conintue the process by watering the soil and they grow over time into something that you desired to have. If you look back at the previous verse you will see that Paul and Apollos were “ministers”. A minister is anyone that sows God’s Word by God’s design. If you hear someone speak in church that is not teaching from the Bible they are not a minister of God. If you go to a church and the speaker is teaching from a Reader’s Digest you need to find another church that works like God said it should. Paul sowed only from the Word of God to the people in Corinth and they believed it. Then there came along another preacher named Apollos and he watered the seed that was in the hearts/spirits of the people with more of the Word of God and this helped the seed take root and to continue to grow. But, it also says that it was God that gave the increase. In other words God Spirit caused His Word Seed to Grow! Therefore only God gets any of the glory in the process of salvation of any human. Do you understand that no farmer can take credit for what is grown in his field? Does any farmer fully understand how multiplied natural corn is produced from a single seed? Did the farmer create the seed that produces the corn crop? I think you can see that he did not. Neither the farmer or the minister created the seed they are sowing nor did they invent the growth process that takes place, only God did this. They just plant the seeds, water them and watch them grow like it was a miracle, and it is. However, this is just the supernaturally designeddesigned seed process from God using His created Seed. This is a really amazing concept of how the spiritual New Birth process works. It is a partnership effort with God working through men and women who preach to spread the Seed of the Word of God. So the human that is planting the seed is not as important as God because God created the process. But it is also plainly the word of God being planted that is the critically important part of His whole process. It is really a paradox and a puzzle, without men and women sowing the word of God no one would ever be saved. However, without sowing the Word of God no one is saved either. If you are sowing seeds of Buddhism no one will be saved no matter how much you teach on it. If you are sowing the seeds of Islam you are sowing words that never produce salvation. If you are sowing the words of Judaism you are also not going to be saved. It is not very good news for any world religion out there; God made only One Way into the Kingdom of Heaven and that was through His Son Jesus Christ. So do not throw stones at me, I’m just a farm messenger. I did not write the Bible!
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
So I think I have given this verse before in another lesson on seeds, but it bears repeating for our current discussion on how people are spiritually born again. The fact that we have been “Born Again” is attributable to us receiving the incorruptible Seed of the Word of God into our spirits. There are two terms given to us by God in this verse that are critical to understand. These are “Corruptible” vs. “Incorruptible”. The term corruptible means able to “decay” and you can state this to be equivalent to a man’s mortal body. The natural realm is a temporary realm of decaying particles. The laws of thermodynamics dictate that everything around us is decaying and not reorganizing like evolutionists like to believe. If you build a new car today and never drive it; it will become a pile of rusted metal in the course of time. The opposite of mortal is immortal. We have been born again from an immortal seed. You may recall that Jesus said “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mat 24:35). So the Word of God is immortal, and not capable of being eliminated. The Word of God is the incorruptible SEED that causes us to be born again spiritually.
Corruptible seed can be viewed as either a physical or a spiritual type of seed. The sperm of a man is a corruptible natural seed. But so also are the spiritual words (seeds) of Satan. Satan’s seeds can be used to produce corruption in the human spirit. Jesus does not appear to say that the words of your enemy Satan will be ineffective in the parable. No it appears to suggest the opposite is true by the soil with the weeds. Weeds come from seeds just like fruit comes from seeds. It all depends upon the seeds we allow in our hearts. So every false teaching and false religion can be eliminate fruit.
So we now have a dilemma of sorts of how to discuss natural things so that we do not offend anyone by comparing them to spiritual things. You see if being spiritually Born Again is a comparable pattern to being born in the natural realm the first time, then how are natural babies conceived? You can begin to see my difficulty, can’t you? God created sex for a reason and it wasn’t just to make you feel good. Sex is a part of the reproductive pattern of new life on our planet. So sex must be related to new spiritual life also. So how does natural sex relate to the spiritual New Birth? That is where we are today in this discussion. Get ready for a new concept that you may have never thought of before.
Gen 4:1 And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the LORD.
We are informed that Adam “knew” his wife Eve and she conceived his physical seed. This is God’s definition of natural sex in the Bible. By the law of first mention, God again gives us the definition of what it means to conceive revealed in terms of spiritual information and descriptions. God could have described this act differently, but He specifically chose this Hebew word YADA which was translated as “knew”. The definition of this word is therefore very critical for us to understand in order to see how it applies to spiritual things like being born again. The Hebrew Word translated as “knew” means “to ascertain by seeing”. This is truly complex because men are usually visual types of people, they like to see. Women are not normally visual people and they do not want to see anything generally speaking. There is a widely used term for natural sex that is called “carnal knowledge” and this phrase is more suitable with the spiritual realm concept of obtaining word information that we can apply more correctly instead of thinking in human natural terms of having “intercourse”. We should be able to easily transfer God’s definition of natural sex as “knowling” into the spiritual New Birth process. We should be able to do this using our knowledge of the Parable of the Sower that we learned defines the process of order for any human to be spiritually born again. In this parable every soil (human heart) must receive “spiritual Word of God knowledge” from a teacher sowing the Lord God’s Word (Seed). This is not natural sex as many are thinking right now, is it? Of course not. However receiving spiritual seed (hearing words) is still a spiritual sex like act according God’s definition of the natural act. The human ability to “see spiritually” God’s Words causes us to conceive it.
However don’t forget there still exists an enemy to God’s created salvation process, who is trying to steal away the seed before or after being sown. The success or failure of the salvation seed sowing process is completely dependent upon the fact that some people value and choose to understand the Word of God and some people do not. This enemy’s method of causing some people not to understand is revealed more clearly in the New Testament scripture that says “the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe not” (2 Cor 4:4). You see spiritual blindness is the inability to see or literally understand spiritual things. If you recall in the parable of the sower, Satan came immediately to steal the Word of God that was sown in their heart and he was able to do this only because they did not understand it (Mat 13:19). Therefore, clear focused spiritual eyesight is one key to gaining spiritual knowledge and understanding. I could talk a lot more about that part of the subject, but I’m running long in this lesson. I do pray that you are following me on these points and beginning to understand how people are born again. Let me end this lesson with one more verse from Paul:
Gal 4:19 My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you,
So here we have another very difficult complex deep scripture to try to swim through. The apostle Paul is not a natural female yet he speaks in the terms of being a spiritual female. Can you see this? Only natural XX Chromosome females give birth, yes? According to what I have seen in the Bible God created only natural females to give birth. So what exactly is Paul talking about? Paul is saying, I have spread God’s seed into your hearts by teaching God’s Word to you, and now I am interceding for your continued thirst for more understanding to take root so that Christ can be formed in you, resulting in spiritual fruit that is viewable from the actions you live externally.
According to God through Paul what is the key to this spiritual birth happening? It was the spiritual ability of a human to see or to gain “spiritual knowledge” who heard the word of God that will determine whether they will conceive Christ and be born again. Paul can sow all of the seed he wants to, but none of it will grow unless the soil of the hearer allows it to stay by understanding what was said. You can easily see how that you can read verses in the Bible and totally miss what is said, can’t you? You can also see that there is an implied reality that Paul is a part of a spiritual woman, called the Bride of Christ. So the complexity of the Bible is so great that it causes many people to stumble. People will never see the spiritual truth of God’s Word trying to figure it out using only their natural minds.
What we can begin to see is that Paul’s (Saul) new birth conversion on the road to Damascus by Christ was not Christ’s.ending final work to bring Paul into full spiritual maturity, but was only the beginning of Saul’s Christian salvation growth experience. Like new born natural babies continue to grow through feeding, Paul was still responsibility to feed upon the Word of God through study to cause his own spirit to mature. Then using this gained knowledge he would become able to share it with others for getting more people born again by sowing the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. Getting more people Born Again by spreading the Incorruptible Seed, should become the goal of every Christian. This goal will result in the expansion of the new spiritual family of God in Christ. And the multiplication of Sowers spreading the Spiritual Seed of God by sowing His Incorruptible Seed into new soil.
Today’s lesson has been some of the basic Bible ideas of how natural people are born again using the laws and concepts surrounding Seeds in the Bible. I know I did not cover everything that I could have, I know I left out many verses that could have been included, but I did the best that I could in a limited time and space forum. God Bless you to see and to understand His Word! Thank you for your time in studying the Bible.
If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons on seeds you can go to “Part 10“.
Where DO BABIES Come From? Dealing With A Religious Spirit! Part 3
(Ver 1.1) This is Part 3 and followup to a previous lesson on the subject of “Salvation” and “Where do Spiritual Babies Come From?” If you have not read the series from the beginning I would recommend that you go back and start your reading from “Part 1“. Some people are more interested in arguing with you than they are about learning and seeing the truth in the Bible. These are people used by the devil to distract you and take your time from you. I recently had a commenter that clearly knows more than God Himself come to me to give me his opinions on everything. In his mind he has exalted himself to be the only authority of the truth in the Bible. He never says anything positive, and only criticizes and tells you all of the places where you are wrong. What a prideful arrogant attitude of mindless boastings. These are EMPTY WORDS from EMPTY HEADS. I tried to be nice just to get him to see another perspective. But obviously his vast knowledge must not allow him to be a blessing to others. He acts as the Judge Jury and Executioner and makes Himself God! His knowledge must go way beyond the capacity for any simple minded men like me to understand. So I guess I’m just going to have to be a little more direct today in my final response to his religious arrogance. Hopefully if he doesn’t want to know the truth, he will go away and read somebody else’s blog that will agrees with what he wants to see in the Bible. I am not changing to fit the ideas of a fool. God has taught me too much in the Bible for me to go away and follow the leadings of false teachers. I have learned from Jesus that He only confronted one type of person in the Bible when he was here personally on the earth and that was a religious person who thought they knew it all. If you do not understand this you should go and read the gospels again and see what Jesus said and did. You might think that I have been too confrontational with this man for a web site devoted to spreading the Love of God (Agape). However, Jesus looked at the Pharisees and called them a “generation of vipers” (Mat 23:33). Jesus said “You are of your father the Devil!” (John 8:44) Jesus did not mix words up and I will follow His example today of loving those who want to be loved and those who think too highly of themselves, well you can already see what I think of them.
In my first lesson on this subject I discussed the “New Birth” process as being a parallel to the “Physical Birth” process. If you know when the physical birth takes place, you can also know when the spiritual birth takes place by God’s design. What you must realize is that this is a “limited knowing” being described to us and that is what I will discuss today. None of this that I wrote obviously helped the man that wants to argue because he says that I did not address his scripture of John 3:7-8 which he claims is the answer to Nicodemus’ question of how a man is born again. I left this verse out because it had nothing to do with how a man is born again but he thinks that I am just being ignorant and wrong. For some reason this man wants to ignore everything that I have just said in the last lesson for something that he thinks is so important that this verse in John 3:8 says. He just could not understand why I intentionally left it out of my discussion. Oh well? I guess that I have just not learned how to teach everything found in the Bible in ONE LESSON! I guess some people want you to teach everything you know in a single sessioon and there is just no way that anyone can do that. I bet you this guy would criticize Jesus for the way He taught. I do not recall Jesus ever trying to teach everything He knew in any one lesson. I left John 3:8 out because it was really not that important to the subject being discussed about the New Birth. But, I will spend some time today to explain it and why I left it out. I doubt very seriously if any of this will help him, but there will be someone out there that will be able to use it. Most of the times religious people are too closed minded to see the truth, they are just too narrowly focused in on what they want to see as being important and you cannot help them no matter what you try to say. This is why this is my last response to this commenter about the subject of salvation. So here we go with the verses he thinks are so critical for us to understand:
Joh 3:7 Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
If you recall in verse 6, Jesus taught us that those who are born of flesh are flesh but those who are born of the spirit are spirit. Meaning there is a major distinction between these two types of births. One is totally natural and one is completely spiritual. One you can see and one you cannot see. However both are still called “births”. Get it? This is just not that hard to understand. Now in verse 7 Jesus says to Nicodemus not to be shocked that He said that you must be born again in order to enter into the Kingdom of God. Jesus is saying to Nicodemus don’t try to wrap your natural mind around this spiritual birth truth, you are not going to be able to grasp it right now! The Bible says the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God! (1 Cor 2:14) So how can I discuss spiritual things with a man who does not even understand natural things. It is probably just impossible!
Joh 3:8 The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
So I do not see this verse to be that highly controversial, but yet my commenter obviously changes it to say something that it clearly does not say. Isn’t that interesting how the Bible is written that way. God always allows you to be wrong. So what exactly is Jesus talking about here in this verse? What is the intended purpose for this statement? 
We can clearly see that Jesus is talking about the natural “wind” in the first part of this verse. What does the natural wind have to do with spiritual things? What is the point that Jesus is attempting to make? What I can see in this verse is the fact that here in the natural, no man can explain the wind. They do not know where it comes from, they do not know where it is going and they do not know how it got started in the first place. It could have been a butterfly in Africa flapping his wings that causes the breezes in Australia for all we know. There are jet streams in the upper atmosphere, wind patterns, pressures zones and vairous factors that determine our weather. I mean the weather man on TV gives you his best guess at what he thinks will happen tomorrow but this is not always very dependable. I assume that this is what my commenter is so focused in on. He thinks that because Jesus is comparing the wind to the spiritual birth birth process and since we do not understand the wind, we cannot understand the spiritual birth either. I assume this is where his natural mind is at? This would be a typical wrong interpretation for this verse by a carnally thinking man. Since I try to think spiritually this is not the way that I interpret this verse. All you have to do is use your brain just a little bit to see a new and different perspective on the subject. Quit trying to interpret the Bible in the dark! Stop ignoring the rest of the Bible by focusing in on just one verse in complete isolation. The Bible will always interpret itself, so God gives us the meaning of this verse in the other parts of the Bible if you want to look for them. You must change your perspective to see things spiritually. What Jesus is talking about here in John 3:8 is that to the outside natural observer, they cannot see an internal spiritual birth take place with their physical eyes. Just like you cannot see the wind blow, you cannot observe when someone is actually saved from a natural point of view. Jesus is linking the natural wind process to the spiritual birth process of a man as both being unseen events. The wind is a natural thing that we cannot see, like the spiritual birth is something that we cannot see. We are always required by God to take spiritual events by faith only. Here are the Words of Jesus again on the exact same subject in a different book of the Bible, but notice what He says here:
Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Here the religious Pharisees ask Jesus a direct question about the when is the Kingdom of God coming to the earth? They said “When will this happen?” Didn’t they? Isn’t this what my religious commenter was trying to ask me? This is a clear example of naturally minded men thinking only of physical things and asking Jesus a purely spiritual question. Is Jesus going to answer their question naturally or is Jesus going to answer their question with a right spiritual answer in His mind from His point of view? Jesus takes a natural question from natural men and gives them a spiritual answer. However, notice that instead of telling you that you can’t understand the new birth, Jesus says you can’t see when this New Birth happens. We are still talking about the coming into the Kingdom of God? Yes? Jesus clearly answer that the Kingdom of God comes without observation of any man! No natural man will ever be able to see the Kingdom of God. But, yet it is still here inside of me right now. They do not observe it coming into the life of any man, they do not perceive when it occurs and they do not understand why they have changed. Only the spiritual realm can see it when it happens, God sees it when it happens, the angels can see it happen, Satan can see when it happens, but us in this world live in the natural realm and we are dominated by our 5 physical senses. So I assume that because my commenter cannot observe this spiritual birth act of God taking place he does not believe that it has taken place? That is pretty ignorant! If you want to observe something in the natural to prove it has happened in the spiritual realm you will never experience it. The Bible says that the JUST shall live by FAITH and NOT by what they SEE, TOUCH, TASTE, HEAR, SMELL!
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.
Jesus continues His explanation of the Spiritual NEW Birth by saying no one will be able to say here is the Kingdom of God or there goes the Kingdom of God, because the Kingdom of God is WITHIN YOU! This is an internal SPIRITUAL KINGDOM, a SPIRITUAL BIRTH from the Spirit of God that only occurs on the inside of a person within the unseen spirit realm. That is why you cannot see it come or go. You have never seen your spirit! You have never seen God’s Spirit. You probably have never seen a spiritual angel. You have never seen Satan. However, all of these spiritual beings exist in the unseen spiritual realm. You cannot observe the spiritual birth outwardly no matter how you try to do it. If you want to observe something before you believe it Heaven help you to see the truth. This is the reason that Jesus compared the Spiritual Birth process to the natural wind on our planet. It wasn’t because we can’t understand it, it was simply because an outside observer can’t see it happening. Just because I cannot see you being born again, does not mean that you after being born again cannot know when it happened. This is also true of you not being able to see me being born again and that does not prove that I will not know that I am born again. People cannot mix scriptures up to make them say what they do not say. There is a major difference in me seeing you get saved verses you knowing that you are saved. Just because YOU cannot observe the fact that I was saved does not discount the fact that I KNOW that I am saved! Do you understand this? Can’t you see that this was Jesus’ main point in His statement of John 3:8? The verse in John 3:8 has nothing to do with how people are Born Again but has everything to do with whether anyone else in the natural realm can see it happen. Obviously you will see what you want to see so that is all I can do to help you. God can’t make you see the truth and I can’t make you see it either.
God wants to help people and that is the only reason that I responded to this man’s ignorant comments. However, neither God nor I can help anyone who does not want any help. He is the one that is trying to get me to change. But, ignorance becomes way too obvious once you have been exposed to the truth. I have not named any names to who this individual is, so as to protect his identity. I have also deleted his comments from my site so that you cannot find him either. This will give him an opportunity to do the right thing and remain anonymous. I have found that religious people just want to challenge your faith with there erroneous ways and for you to buy into their wrong beliefs, because only they see themselves to be so right. They neither know God or have the love of God in them so they do not know how to be nice to others. What this man needs to do is to get saved, born again and he will then be able to understand spiritual things. God says that the “carnal mind” is an enemy to the Spirit of God (Rom 8:7). So no matter how much I would like to help this man, only his mind is responsible for what he lets into his heart. My Bible says that the god of this world has blinded the minds of them that believe wrong so that they cannot perceive the truth of God! (2 Cor 4:4) So to all of those out there who read my blogs and can see spiritual things, please forgive me for trying to help someone who hasn’t seen. To my ignorant commenter, I will not respond to any more of your critical comments so DO NOT LEAVE THEM! I will not accept any more of your comments either. Perhaps you can unsubscribe to my blog so that you are not bothered with the truth any more. This will allow you to walk in your ignorance and be happy. So if I haven’t offended you enough by now I’m going to leave my response with this cartoon lesson because it seems to be more at your current spiritual level of understanding. Learn the lesson of Thumper in the Disney Movie Bambi, whose mother told him “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all!” If I wasn’t having to deal with such a religious spirited person I would not have had to be so blunt! I pray that you see the truth before Jesus comes back very soon.
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If you want to know how to get saved and know that you are with confidence you can go to: How do I get saved?
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! If You Abide IN ME and My Words Abide IN YOU! Part 8
(Ver 1.2) This is now Part 8 of a series of lessons on the concepts and laws surrounding seeds found in the Bible. The Seed is a natural divinely inspired design principle revealed in creation that demonstrates vast complex spiritual revelation. In the previous lessons I taught on the laws surrounding seeds and demonstrated some of their applications given to us in the New Testament. Today I will be doing another one of those lessons about seed applications using the New Testament. If you have not been reading this series from the beginning I would highly recommend that you go back and start reading with “Part 1”. Only by following the series from the beginning will you have much of a chance at understanding what is being taught. Let me review briefly the Major Seed Laws from Genesis 1 that we have already covered:
- Fruit with Seed within Itself!
- Every Seed produces after its Kind!
- Seeds Produce Trees that Produce More Fruit!
- You Always Harvest more than You Sow! Seed Multiplication.
Seed concepts are not widely known in modern America. Very few people plant gardens and grow their own fruit, vegetables and crops. The farm concept was a widely known principle in early Bible days. This is one of the key reasons Jesus taught using these principles so often in the parable lessons that he gave us. In Jesus’ days on earth, if you wanted to eat you better grow it. Today modern children just think everything is magic that appears at the grocery store or at the market and they probably do not even have a clue how it is produced. As a result of this they have lost the essential concepts and laws of planting seeds and getting harvests. To lose sight of these concepts is to lose sight of God’s designed ways. The Seed concept is still a vital part of the End Time Plan of God. God has never lost sight of what seeds are and how seeds work. That is one of the key reasons I have spent this amount of time on this subject. I believe it to be absolutely critical to understand how God works in the spiritual realm and since we do not have any personal experiences in this realm we must rely on the natural realm that God created as a pattern of information for the unseen spiritual realm. Of course you do not interpret nature, you interpret the Word of God, using the Word of God to define the things that you find in nature and this is the key to seeing these Bible truths and hidden spiritual things.
Today I am going to expand on the topic of the “Seed within Itself” Law of Genesis 1 using some fresh New Testament verses. In earlier blogs on this subject we discussed how that Levi had paid tithes in Abraham, because he was a seed of Abraham (Heb. 7:9). Levi was a future descendant of Abraham, yet God counted what Abraham did as applying to what Levi had done. This is one of the most profound truths in the Bible that I have ever seen, yet I have not heard hardly anyone teach on it. The concepts behind this teaching are far reaching and apply to many things in the spiritual realm. Today I am going to give you an example of these concepts. Let’s start the lesson with a verse found in Galatians:
Gal 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
There are verses like this one in the Bible that will totally confuse you unless you understand the Seed Laws and apply them correctly. How can Paul have been crucified with Christ, when he was not even there physically with him? I hope that you are beginning to see how this is possible. Paul was not there physically, but he was there spiritually as a future spiritual seed of God. If natural children are natural seeds in the Bible, then spiritual children are also seeds, but of a spiritual kind. Remember everything produces after its own kind. Jesus was called the Seed of Abraham and the Seed of David in the Bible. Paul was calling himself a seed of Christ Jesus. Whatever happened to Jesus is what happened to US who are born again. Since the spiritual birth is a spiritual process that is patterned after the natural birth process we can very easily begin to see that Paul considered himself to be a spiritual descendant of Jesus. Paul looked at Jesus as being his spiritual father. Paul looked to Jesus as being the head of a new spiritual family of God as you and I are also in this family. Here is another verse that use to boggle people’s mind:
Eph 2:6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
As you can see this verse says that we have been raised from the dead with Christ and that we now sit with Him in heaven. Have you ever been to heaven? If you have then you probably died or saw a spiritual vision of heaven. No, again we see the application of the “Seed within Itself” Law being applied to us in the spiritual realm. Whatever our father Jesus accomplished we accomplished because we were “IN HIM” when He did them. Wow, that is so awesome! That is just a totally RADICAL concept to try to wrap your mind around, isn’t it? Everything that Jesus did, we did if you are born again! This is why in the New Testament you can search and find so many verses in the Bible that describe how we are IN CHRIST, IN HIM, IN WHOM. By finding out what Christ did, you find out what you DID!
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
There are just too many scriptures in the Bible that repeat the “Seed within itself principle for me to give you them all. I think I gave you this one before, but it is so good that I will briefly go over it again. Because the human race was “IN” Adam all must die. Adam’s death passed death to every one of His Seeds. This is the natural picture of the seed within itself concept being described to us very clearly. Then there is a spiritual contrasting truth that is now revealed to us that Jesus who is the Last Adam and that He is the spiritual procreator of a new people that will live. Because Jesus was raised from the DEAD, we have been raised from the dead because we were IN HIM! As in Adam all died, so those IN Christ will all live. You better make sure that you are IN Christ if you want to live spiritually in God’s family!
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Being IN Christ is essential to understanding your position today in the spiritual realm. Those who are spiritually born again have become a NEW CREATION of Almighty God. This means that we are something that never existed before. Adam had a spirit within his body, but did not have the Spirit of God in union with his spirit. You can see in this verse that translators have added 3 words that are not in the Greek. If you take these out, they basically say the same thing, but review it without these words:
2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man in Christ a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
You can see a subtle difference now. The fact that we are IN Christ has not changed but only because we are IN Christ makes us a new Creature with Christ! God the Almighty Creator became a part of His creation by His designed purpose. I could try to elaborate why this was necessary but I might just cloud the current subject with too much extraneous information, so I’ll pass by that for now. What I want you to focus on is the fact that a man is now IN Christ and that is what also makes him able to participate as being a New Creature!
2Co 5:19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.
Now we can see why Jesus Christ was so different and why Satan did not know what to do with this man. Jesus was born a human male that had the Spirit of God within His Body. This is the SEED within Itself Concept being repeated. God provided Himself the Seed for our reconciliation. These seed concepts are so important for you to understand. It truly helps you to see what was accomplished by God and how He did them. God was IN Christ; the church was IN Christ so we are now IN God. Christ IN Us, the hope of Glory! Now the reverse concept is also applicable in the New Testament Bible. You can see that not only are we IN Christ, but Christ must also be IN us! It is a two way seed street reality. How do you get Christ in YOU?
Joh 15:4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it Abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye Abide in me.
More seed concepts are given in this verse statement of Jesus Christ. You can see the concept of fruit being given. Fruit is the end result that God is looking for in the lifes of every Christian. This fruit will always contain seed to produce more fruit. This is again the seed within itself concept. But we can also see the two way street that I just referred to and how that this works. While the SEED of God is in us, we are in the VINE of God. The VINE represents Christ and we are in Him. We the church, are the branches that produce the fruit as long as we abide in Him, Christ the Vine! But, we the church are also the ones that have the Word of God in Us! If you recall from earlier lessons on this subject, the Word of God was the Seed of God. We have been born again not of corruptible seed, but of the incorruptible seed, which is the Word of God (1 Peter 1:23). So we are beginning to see how it is a full circle concept of Seed Salvation. Everything starts with the Word of God and everything continues to exist with the Word of God.
Joh 15:7 If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what ye will, and it shall be done untoyou.
Do you see what Jesus is telling you? Do you see how the seed concepts and seed laws are affecting what you get in life? Do you see how that if you abide in Christ the Vine (the Spiritual Seed of God) and if you allow the Word of God (also the spiritual seed of God) to live in you a natural seed (the Seed within Itself) that you can not only produce fruit but that you can also get your prayers answered by God? Everything hinges upon the Word of God which is the Seed of God that produces the results that God is expecting to harvest very soon. Seeds are everywhere in the Bible. The concepts of seeds are everywhere in the Bible. Different Seed types and seed patterns are repetitious, overlapping and intersecting with each other and this can make them vastly complex to understand. The intelligence of God is so much greater than our minds and therefore we are challenged to come up to a higher dimension of how to think about these spiritual things and God’s Word. May the God of Peace enlighten your minds so that you can comprehend these Seed Principles! God Bless, until next time!
If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons you can now continue with “Part 9“.
Where DO BABIES Come From? A Bible Review of the Salvation Process!
(Ver 1.6) This is Part 2 in an essential basic Bible study series on the subject of Savlation and the Spiritual New Birth of God. What is it and how it occurs will be what I teach on today. If you have not read the first lesson I would suggest that you go and start reading with “Part 1” first. I had a Reader(?) try to tell me that being saved is not tied to any certain or specific observable process or stated steps found in the Bible. He told me that “Salvation” was not a formula! He implied that you just can’t ever be assured of your eternal destiny here in this life. He clearly said that there was just no single point event that you could observe of when you were saved. By stating that he implied that there are no given steps, instructions or ways in the Bible to be saved. He implied you can just never know if you are really saved. Call me different, call me unique, call me stupid I don’t care, that is just not what I see that the Bible says. My question to this guy is, “Where do Babies Come From?” Do you know how natural babies are made? Can you ever know if you will have a baby or your wife will have a baby? Does the mother ever know when she is pregnant? Does the mother of a baby know when it is time to deliver a baby? Is there a single point of time reference that goes on the birth certificate of when a natural baby was born? Is not the birth of the natural baby the entry of the child into our natural present world? This may not be a good set of questions to ask a male, but I bet you any mature female could answer these questions correctly. This is what Jesus taught us in John 3:3.
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
So have you ever thought about what Jesus said here? Jesus says that a man must be “born again” in order to see the Kingdom of God. To be “born again”, implies they were born once naturally already. Doesn’t it, isn’t this what this verse says? However, being born ONCE in the natural is not enough to get you into the Kingdom of God according to the words of Jesus. If I said, I’m going to drive to Detroit again tonight. Doesn’t that tell you that I have already driven to Detroit before? If we are required to be born again, how was the first birth accomplished? What you must realize is that Jesus is speaking of a first birth that is a completely NATURAL process. Was there a formula for making natural babies in the world? This is not a trick question! Is it a difficult or unknown process to create natural babies in the world? Come on and think with me for a moment! God is comparing a natural process to a spiritual process. Or are you spiritually blind enough to believe that THE spiritual things of God are somehow completely different than the natural things that God has created. I believe that many people think that God created natural things to be totally separate and independent from spiritual things and this is just NOT the truth (Rom 1:20). The natural process of things clearly point us to the unseen spiritual process and FORMULA! Naturally created things are clearly patterns of spiritual things that existed prior to God creating our world. God created natural sex as a pattern to spiritual things that you cannot see. Maybe you just don’t know or understand what it means and that is the root of your problem right now. But you should search your Bible and find the truth and then you will see that what I am trying to say is right. Let’s look at some more verses in John 3. When Jesus was speaking about being “born again” He was talking to a man named Nicodemus. This was his response to Jesus’ statement of being born again:
Joh 3:4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?
Because Nicodemus was a carnally minded man, he was thinking only in natural physical terms. He asks Jesus how can a grown man enter back into his mother’s womb to be born again? Nicodemus obviously was smarter than a lot of men today, at least he knew where babies come from. However, Jesus was speaking of spiritual things and Nicodemus was focused on the natural process of birth only. This is the repeated problem with most Christian in the world today. They think like Nicodemus and not like Jesus when they read the Bible. Do you understand the difference and why it is important to see things from God’s point of view?
Joh 3:5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
So Jesus starts giving us the spiritual answer to Nicodemus’ carnal question. Jesus in this verse speaks of both kinds of births, the first and the second in a contrasting comparison. To be born of water is the natural process of you coming into the world when your mother’s water breaks and she gave birth to you physically. This is the “First Birth” of all humans and it is only natural. However, this natural birth is contrasted with the spiritual birth process of being born of the Spirit. Being born of the Spirit is the “Second Birth” process that a man can experience. Jesus clearly tells us that if you are not born naturally first and then spiritually second you will never see the kingdom of God. Also note that Jesus did not say that you will be born again and again. In other words spiritual brith is a onetime event, just like being born into the natural world is a one time event. Your natural mother does not birth you over and over and like this process when you are born again spiritually it happens only once. Always keep that in mind, that a man is never born again, again. Let’s look at the next verse in John 3:
Joh 3:6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Jesus confirms what I have been saying in this next verse. You can clearly see that only natural mothers give birth to natural babies. You can see that only spiritual mothers give birth to spiritual babies. A natural mother does not birth a spiritual baby and a spiritual mother does not give birth to a natural baby. This is by God’s design and God’s laws of reproduction and procreation. Is this too complicated for you so far? Did you know that there were spiritual women who could give birth to spiritual babies? So I’m going to stop and ask you again, where do natural babies come from? Is there a formula for making natural babies? If there is a known formula for making natural babies then there is also a known formula for making spiritual babies. I am not spiritually blind to this truth like so many in the church! Are you understanding this new spiritual principle that I am attempting to teach you today? All you have to do is to open up your spiritual eyes, stop to look and study your Bible to find out the truth.
Let’ me now teach you that if you were “born again” to become a Christian right now that you had a spiritual birth mother. Did you know that you had a spiritual mother? Do you know that you had a physical natural mother? If you are here in this world reading this article posted on the internet you must have had a natural mother. It is just a biological fact of God’s designed creation. Again I will say if you had a natural mother to be born here in the flesh the first time into the world, then you must have a spiritual mother to be born into the spiritual Kingdom of God. So is there a corresponding spiritual mother for being “born again” into the salvation of the Lord? Of course there has to be a spiritual birth mother. You either never searched your Bible to find her or you must have just ignored her in the Bible and read right over the information. Here is your spiritual birth mother if you are born again:
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the MOTHER of us all.
Who was this letter and this verse written to? You should be smart enough to see that it was written to us in the church of Jesus Christ. If you are “born again”, here is your “spiritual mother” who gave birth to you to be in the new spiritual family of God. God tells us very clearly in a statement written to the church that the “Jerusalem Above” is our spiritual birth mother. Do you understand this? Is this complicated? So where do Spiritual babies come from? Do spiritual babies come into existence the same way that natural babies are conceived? Obviously NOT! Spirits do not have sex with each other, but that does not mean that the spiritual process is not very similar to the natural process symbolically. Natural things are most often used to symbolize spiritual truth that you cannot see. It also does not mean there is not a process to be saved or to be born again. If a natural woman gives birth to a baby and she knows when it occurs then a spiritual mother who gives birth to a spiritual baby would also know when she gave birth to a new child. Before we go there, let’s establish who this woman “Jerusalem Above” is and where this spiritual mother lives using the Bible.
Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
So we now have an established point of reference for the identity of the woman who gives spiritual birth to the church. In this verse in Hebrews God says that this is the “Heavenly Jerusalem”, the city of the Most High God. The location of which contains the throne of God and where the angels of the Lord reside and surround and praise God’s throne. Did you know that a city can be a spiritual woman? Did you even know that this spiritual woman Heavenly Jerusalem existed? You should go back and study the Old Testament and see how many times the Earthly Jerusalem is called a woman, the wife of God, the whore, the harlot. Read, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and Hosea to name a few great places to start. See how many times God describes Israel as His wife in covenant. See how many times she is described as being unfaithful and sleeping with other gods. See how many times you can find where God says “I divorce” you for your unfaithfulness to me. What we begin to see is a pattern that a woman to God is a nation of people in covenant with Him. You can clearly see that if Jerusalem Above or Heavenly Jerusalem exists from the verses that I just gave you that this is a pattern of another woman called Jerusalem Below or Earthly Jerusalem. What we have established is that we have a city on the earth called a woman and a city in heaven called a woman, both with the name Jerusalem. You can clearly read about both of these women in more depth by exploring Galatians 4. The Jerusalem Below is said to be a type of Hagar in the O.T. The Jerusalem Above is said to be a type of Sarah. Sarah births the child of promise and Hagar and her son are cast out. Sarah was the older of the two women in the Bible and existed before Hagar. Hagar had a child before Sarah had her child. These are all physical patterns of the spirit realm and the woman that gave birth to the church. So I probably just taught you a bunch of new things that you did not know. Yet they are there in the Bible and you can choose to see them or go ahead and reject them like a spiritually blind man. So let’s get back to the fact does a woman know when she has a baby? A natural woman certainly does, but how about a spiritual woman? Here is what Jesus taught us about this birth process:
Luk 15:10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.
As you can see the angels of God rejoice when just one sinner repents. What happens when one sinner repents? They are born again! Isn’t that what we are talking about? Are we talking about a single point in time when a sinner is saved and born again? If the angels rejoice when this occurs, they obviously have observed the second spiritual birth of the man. Where are these angels? You may recall that we read in Hebrew 12:22 that there were an innumerable company of angels in the Heavenly Jerusalem. Are these the angels of God that rejoice over the new birth of one spirit on the earth? You can try to explain it away if you want to, but I am convinced that these are the angels who rejoice. After all it is that city which is said to be our mother and every mother knows exactly when she gives birth to any new baby. People need to be smart enough to learn to put the pieces of the puzzle together correctly. I can see it very clearly, I guess you can too if you choose to believe what you read.
Did you know that only people who want to be saved, will be saved? No one repents if they do not want to repent. God does not force salvation upon anyone. Jesus says in Revelation 3:20 “Behold I stand at the door and knock, if any many will hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and I will sup with him and him with me”. 
That was the basic formula for salvation and being born again in a nutshell. Jesus first Knocks! The man either ignores the knock or listens for who it is that is knocking. Let’ me stop there and tell you that Jesus is speaking figuratively or symbolically in this verse in Revelation. Jesus is not going to come to knock on your physical house or apartment personally. No, your house where your spirit lives is your physical body. God’s Spirit is the Spirit of Christ that comes to knock on your heart’s door. The door that Jesus knocks on is your ears when a man like me comes and preaches the salvation Gospel. Yes, the Spirit of God is the Key partner to any salvation. No man comes to God unless the Spirit of God draws him. But, God doesn’t come in person, physically anymore to save anyone. Jesus Christ was God in the flesh and He came for a short time to fulfill the plan of God for our Salvation and Redemption. But, He went back to heaven and has now turned over the responsibility of teaching and preaching to people like me and you. So when a man comes to you and tells you the good news of salvation, that is Jesus working through that man to help you see the truth. Then the individual who hears the words of God, now stands at a crossroad and at a time of decision; to either accept it or reject it. If they accept it, they believe what was said and can ask Jesus to come and be their Lord with a repentant heart. This invites Jesus to come in to sup. Jesus them comes in at that exact point in time. That is when you are saved, that is when you are born again. If that person refuse to hear the Gospel, then Jesus has no choice but to walk away from the door. Jesus is not going to kick the door down, just because He wants to save someone.
Any new born physical baby when first entering our world is sometimes smacked on the bottom and they take their first breaths of air and begin to cry. This is a joyous sound for the mother who has gone through 9 months of pregnancy and then labor. She now knows that all of the discomfort and pain was worth it. So also then the baby knows when he or she is born into the world because they can cry and the mother knows when she has given birth to the baby because she can hear their cry, something that they never did before. Is it any different in the spiritual realm? No I do not believe it is. Once a person believes in their heart that God raised Jesus from the dead and they accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior like Romans 10:9-10 says they are “born again”. The Spirit of Christ comes into their spirit and they are saved. The angels see the birth and rejoice. The mighty cloud of witnesses in heaven also see the birth and they now rejoice (Heb 12:1). This is just how it works by God’s design, if you do not believe it, that is your problem and not mine and it does not change the facts. I know that I am saved and I know how I got saved. Salvation was not a long process, it was not a complicated proces, it was just following the formula that God gave us in His Word that worked for me. So I’ll ask you one more time “Where do Spiritual Babies Come From”? I believe that you can see that we still have a lot to learn about how God does things in the unseen spiritual realm. If you are not a “born again” Christian and have had the pleasure of this new spiritual birth it is not difficult to make happen in your heart. If you want to read about how to be saved, you can go to “Salavation and How to Know if You are Going to Heaven” and follow the instructions. God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading in this series you may proceed to “Part 3“.
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If you want to know how to get saved and know that you are with confidence you can go to: How to know that I am saved?
Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of Satan in the Bible
(Ver 2.2) This is Part 2 in a series of reference documents about the multiple Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of named Spiritual Individuals in the Bible. This document will focus only on the subject verses of the enemy Satan found in the Bible. It is not designed to teach anything other than give you a place to search from to find references to Satan in the Bible. This is a living document of references and it will change and be updated as I am led to additional scriptures. A Name is a direct reference to the individual. A Title is a given direct identifying appellation signifying status or function. A Description is something that represents the individual in expressive words. A Type is a real named person, place or thing that can be viewed to apply to a pattern of the spiritual individual not directly named. A Symbol is a natural object that describes the characteristics or features of a spiritual being that you cannot see or understand without first understanding the symbol. I will now give you the list of my references to Satan in the Bible and if you have others that I have not found yet, please share them with me in a comment.
|
Name, Title, Symbol, Type for Satan |
Description |
Scripture Reference |
| 666 | The Number of the Beast | Rev 13:18 |
| Abaddon | Destroying Angel – Jesus said the thief only came to steal, kill and destroy in John 10:10 | Rev 9:11 |
| Accuser of the Brethren | Legal Opponent in Court of Law – the devil is referred to as our adversary (court opponent) in 1 Peter 5:8 | Rev 12:10 |
| Adversary | The Opponent to the Church in a Lawsuit | 1 Peter 5:8 |
| Angel of Light | Impersonator, Actor, Stage Performer; Masquerader | 2 Cor 11:14 |
| Angel of the Bottomless Pit | Ruler of the Darkness | Rev 9:11 |
| Anointed cherub that coverth | The Winged Angelic Defender | Ezekiel 28:14 |
| Antichrist | Opponent of the Messiah | 1 John 4:3 |
| Appolyon | Greek Name of Hebrew Abaddon; Destroyer | Rev 9:11 |
| Baal | False God of the O.T. Type of Satan | Rom 11:4; |
| Balaam | False Teacher | Jude 1:11 |
| Bear | Kingdom of Satan Symbol | Rev 13:2 |
| Beast | Dangerous Animal; Venomous | Rev 14:9-10; Rev 16:10 |
| Beelzebub | Lord of the Flies; A god of Babylon | Mat 12:24, 27; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15, 18-19 |
| Belial | Worthless One | 2 Cor 6:15 |
| Bird, Hateful | Loveless | Rev 18:2 |
| Bird, Unclean | Foul, | Rev 18:2 |
| Blasphemer | Name of the One Who Vilifies God | Rev 13:1 |
| Cain | Murderer from the Beginning | Jude 1:11 |
| Chief of Demons | Prince of demonic gods | Luke 11:15 |
| Cherub | Winged Anointed of God | Ezekiel 28:14 |
| Cockatrice | The Viper | Isa 14:29, 59:5; |
| Deceiver | The One Who Deceives the entire world including Christians | Rev 12:9 |
| Devil | False Accuser; Slanderer a title and name of Satan identified to be the same individual in Revelation 12:9 | Mat 4:1-11, 9:33, 11:18, 12:22, 13:29, 15:22, 17:18, 25:41; Mk 5:15-18, 7:26-30; Luke 4:2-13, 4:33-35, 7:33, 8:12, 8:29, 9:42, 11:14; John 6:70, 7:20, 8:44-52, 10:20-21, 13:2; Acts 10:38 13:10; Eph 4:27, 6:11; 1 Ti 3:6-7; 2 Ti 2:26; Heb 2:14; James 4:7; 1Pet 5:8; 1 John 3:8-10; Jud 1:9; Rev 2:10, 12:9, 12:12, 20:2, 20:10; |
| Dragon | The Genesis 3:1 Serpent that has increased in power and strength | Rev 12:7-9 |
| Dragon, Great | Symbolic description of the Powerful Fabulous Serpent of Genesis 3:1 now having increased spiritual power and strength | Rev 12:9 |
| Edom | A Type of Satan, twin brother of Jacob, having characteristics hated by God | Eze 32:29; Joel 3:19; Mal 1:4; |
| Enemy | Adversary | Mat 13:39 |
| Esau | A Type Pattern of characteristics that the Lord Hates | Mal 1:2-3; Rom 9:13 |
| Evil One | Malicious; Wicked One | John 17:15 |
| False Light | The Opposite of the TRUTH of True Light Jesus. A description of the moon that makes not light of itself and can only reflect light from the sun who is Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness (Mal 4:2) | 1 John 2:8 |
| Father | A Male Parent that has sown “Seed” to produce children. In Satan’s case they are lies of deception that are being sown. | John 8:44; Acts 13:10 |
| Father of Lies | Fabricator & Distorter of the Truth, | John 8:44 |
| Fiery Flying Serpent | Satan | Isa 14:20, 30:6; |
| Fiery Serpent | Satan | Num 21:8; Deu 8:15 |
| Frog | Unclean Spirit | Rev 16:13 |
| Fox | Cunning Spirit | Luke 13:32 |
| Goat, He (devils) | Devils (Hebrew Word for He Goat) | Lev 17:7; 2 Chron 11:15 |
| God of this World | Ruler of the Darkness and Night of all that are asleep to hear the truth | 2 Cor 4:4 |
| Gog | Symbolic Name for the Anti-Christ | Rev 20:8; |
| Great Red Dragon | Original Genesis 3:1 Serpent but now of Increased Power and Strength | Rev 12:3 |
| Herod | A Type of Satan the Murdering King Ruler | Luke 13:31 |
| Judas | Judah The Betrayer of Messiah | John 6:70-71; John 13:2 |
| King of Babylon | A symbolic name for the Ruler of Jerusalem | Isaiah 14:4 |
| King of the Bottomless Pit | Ruler of the Darkness | Rev 9:11 |
| King of Tyrus | Ruler of the Rock | Eze 28:12 |
| Laban | A type of Satan as a Deceitful Man | Gen 31:7 |
| Leopard | Kingdom ruler by Satan Symbol | Rev 13:2 |
| Lesser Light | Moon who Rules the Night and Darkness | Gen 1:16 |
| Leviathan | Serpent Monster of Babylon | Isaiah 27:1 |
| Liar | Falsifier; Deceiver | John 8:44 |
| Lion | Kingdom of Satan Symbol | Rev 13:2 |
| Little Horn | Rising King | Daniel 8:9-11 |
| Lucifer | Bright and Morning Star | Isaiah 14:12-14 |
| Man of Sin | Man faced Trespasser | 2 Thes 2:3-4 |
| Moon | Ruler of the Night and Darkness | Psalm 136:9; Rev 12:1 |
| Murderer | Man Killer | John 8:44 |
| Oppressor | He Who Makes Sick | Acts 10:38 |
| Perdition | The Destroyer | 2 Thes 2:3; |
| Pharaoh | A Type of Satan as someone that rules Egypt a Type of the World | Eze 31:2-18; |
| Power of Darkness | Superhuman Ruler of the Night Kingdom | Col 1:13-14 |
| Prince of the Devils | Ruler of All Evil Spirits | Mat 9:34, 12:24; Mark 3:22 |
| Prince of the Kingdom of Persia | Type of Satan as the Ruler of the nation of Babylon | Daniel 10:13 |
| Prince of the Power of the Air | Ruler of the Authority of the atmosphere needed for the production of Spoken Words | Eph 2:1-2 |
| Prince of this World | Ruler of the Evil Darkness | John 12:31-32; John 14:30; John 16:11; 1 Cor 2:6-8; |
| Roaring Lion | Powerful Sounding King of the Beasts attempting to devour All Christians | 1 Peter 5:8 |
| Ruler of the Darkness | Moon who Rules the Night | Ephesians 6:12 |
| Satan | The Accuser, the Opponent; Adversary | 1 Chron 21:1; Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-7; Ps 109:6; Zec 1:3:1-2; Mat 4:10, 12:26, 16:23; Mark 1:13, 3:23-26, 4:15, 8:33; Luke 4:8, 10:18, 11:18, 13:16, 22:3, 22:31; Jo 13:27; Act 5:3, 26:18; Rom 16:20; 1 Cor 5:5, 7:5; 2 Cor 2:11, 11:14; 1 Thes 2:18; 2 Thes 2:9; 1Tim 1:20, 5:15; Rev 2:9, 2:13, 2:24, 3:9; 12:9, 20:2, 20:7; |
| Seducing Spirit | Imposter; Deceiver | 1 Tim 4:1 |
| Seraphim | The Fiery Serpent an Evil High Ranking Heavenly Angelic Ruler | Isa 6:2 |
| Serpent | Symbolic Name for Satan | Gen 3:1; Rev 12:15 |
| Serpent, Old | Symbolic Name for Satan; First Ruler of the earth | Rev 12:9; Rev 20:2 |
| Son of Perdition | Destruction’s Child | 2 Thes 2:3 |
| Son of the Morning | Satan a son of God’s First or Early Light | Isaiah 14:12-14 |
| Spirit, Foul | Perverted Spiritual Being | Rev 18:2 |
| Spirit, the | Satan a spiritual being | Ephesians 2:2 |
| Spirit, Unclean | Leprous Spiritual Being | Luke 9:42; Rev 16:13 |
| Star | Angel Cast Down to Earth | Rev 8:11; 9:1 |
| Star, Great | Angel Cast Down to Earth | Rev 8:10 |
| Star, Wandering | He Who Departs the Path | Jude 1:13 |
| Tempter | He Who Proves and Tests | Mat 4:3 |
| Thief | Robber; Burglar | Mat 24:43; Luke 12:39; John 10:10 |
| Viper | The serpent Satan | Isa 59:5; |
| Waster, the | He Who Destroys | Isaiah 54:16 |
| Wicked | Law Breaker; Evil Degenerate | 2 Thes 2:8; Eph 6:16 |
| Wormwood | Type of Bitterness | Rev 8:11 |
If you would like to references other documents in this series you may go to one of these:
Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of Jesus in the Bible
(ver 2.3) This is Part 1 in a series of reference documents about the multiple Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols of named Spiritual Individuals in the Bible. This document will focus only on the subject verses concerning Jesus found in the Bible. It is not designed to teach anything other than give you a place to search from to find references to Jesus in the Bible. This is a living document of references and it will change and be updated as I am led to additional scriptures. A Name is a direct reference to the individual. A Title is a given direct identifying appellation signifying status or function. A Description is something that represents the individual in expressive words. A Type is a real named person, place or thing that can be viewed to apply to a pattern of the spiritual individual not directly named. A Symbol is a natural object that describes the characteristics or features of a spiritual being that you cannot see or understand without first understanding the symbol. Here is what Jesus said to us about himself:
Joh 5:39 Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.
We know from what Jesus just said that the Bible is primarily about him, but you cannot find him directly named until the Gospels. However he was indirectly mentioned in almost every chapter of the Old Testament. I will give you a list of my references to Jesus in the Bible and if you have others that I have not found yet, please let me know about them.
|
Name, Title, Symbol, Type for Jesus |
Description |
Scripture Reference |
| Abel | Brother (a type of Christ) killed by Cain a type of Satan a murderer from the beginning | Genesis 4:2; |
| Abraham | Covenant Man of God a type of Jesus Christ | Gen 12-20; |
| Adam | A type of Jesus Christ; Gen 2:24 A man who leaves His Father to come to earth | Gen 2:; 1 Cor 15:45; |
| Adam, Last | Jesus referred to as the brother of Adam | 1Corinthians 15:45 |
| Advocate | Jesus Our Lawyer | 1John 2:1 |
| Alef and Tav, the | The first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet | Genesis 1:1 not in the English translation of the Bible only seen in the Hebrew |
| Almighty | The Supreme Powerful One | Revelation 1:8 |
| Alpha and Omega, the | The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, | Revelation 1:8 |
| Amen | God’s Final Word | Revelation 3:14 |
| Angel | God’s Messenger | Genesis 48:16; Exodus 23:20, 21 |
| Angel of His Presence | God’s Savior | Isaiah 63:9 |
| Anointed, His | God’s Anointed One | Psalms 2:2 |
| Appointed | He that was Chosen By God | 1 Sam 2:35; Heb 3:2; |
| Approved of God | He that Has God’s Favor | Acts 2:22; |
| Apostle, the | God’s Sent One | Hebrews 3:1 |
| Arm of the Lord | God’s Powerful One, The One at the Right Hand | Isaiah 51:9, 10 |
| Author and Finisher of our faith | God’s Inscriber of Faith | Hebrews 12:2 |
| Author of Life, the | Translated as Prince of Life in KJV | Acts 3:15 |
| Beginning and end of the creation of God | The Initiator and the Completion of all things made | Revelation 3:14; 22:13 |
| Beginning, The | Christ the Firstborn from the dead | Col 1:18; |
| Beloved | The One Loved By God | Ephesians 1:6 |
| Beloved Son | Son Loved by God | Matthew 3:17 |
| Bishop of Our Soul | Superintendent/Overseer of our Mind | 1 Peter 2:25 |
| Blessed and only Potentate | God’s happy Ruler of the Day | 1Timothy 6:15 |
| Boaz | A Type of Christ the Kinsman Redeemer | Book of Ruth |
| Branch, Righteous | God’s Seed that Sprouts Righteousness | Jeremiah 23:5; Zechariah 3:8 |
| Branch, The | The sprouting life of God | Zechariah 3:8 |
| Bread of God | The spiritual food of God | John 6:33; |
| Bread of life | God’s Spiritual Food | John 6:35, 6:48 |
| Brethren | The natural man of Israel | Acts 3:22; |
| Bridegroom | Jesus the Husband to the Church | Psalm 19:5; Matthew 9:15, Mark 2:19, Luke 5:34, John 3:29 |
| Bright Morning Star | Reference to Jesus Being the Sun, The Spiritual Light of the World | Revelation 22:16 |
| Brightness of the Father’s glory | God’s Sun Light Manifested | Hebrews 1:3 |
| Called of God | Jesus the Answer | Hebrews 5:10; |
| Captain of the Lord’s host | Leader of the Army of God | Joshua 5:14 |
| Captain of Salvation | God’s Deliverer | Hebrews 2:10 |
| Carpenter | God’s Builder of a Spiritual House | Mark 6:3 |
| Carpenter’s son | The Assumed Son of Joseph | Matthew 13:55 |
| Chief Shepherd | The Head of the Church | 1Peter 5:4 |
| Chief Cornerstone | The Stone the Builders Rejected, The First Stone in the New Jerusalem | Ephesian 2:20; 1Peter 2:6 |
| Chiefest among ten thousand | The Chosen One of Israel | Song of Songs 5:10 |
| Child | The Son of God and the Son of Man | Isaiah 9:6; Hosea 11:1; Luke 2:27, 43 |
| Chosen of God | The One Selected By God | 1Peter 2:4 |
| Christ | God’s Anointed One | Matthew 1:16; Luke 9:20; Acts 2:36; Heb 3:6 |
| Christ, The (Messiah) | God’s Anointed One | Matthew 16:20; Mark 14:61 |
| Christ a King | The Anointed King of Kings | Luke 23:2 |
| Christ Jesus | The Anointed Savior Jesus | Acts 19:4; Romans 3:24; 8:1; 1Corinthians 1:2, 30; Hebrews 3:1; 1Peter 5:10, 14 |
| Christ Jesus our Lord | Jesus the Anointed Supreme One | 1Timothy 1:12; Romans 8:39 |
| Christ of God | Acts 10:38 Says God Anointed Jesus of Nazareth | Luke 9:20 |
| Christ, the chosen of God | God’s Chosen Anointed One | Luke 23:35 |
| Christ the Lord | Anointed Supreme One | Luke 2:11 |
| Christ, the power of God | The Word Of God | 1Corinthians 1:24 |
| Christ the wisdom of God | God’s Application of His Understanding and Knowledge | 1Corinthians 1:24 |
| Christ, the Son of God | The Anointed Son of God | Acts 9:20 |
| Christ, Son of the Blessed | The Blessed Anointed Son | Mark 14:61 |
| Commander | God’s Chief Ruler, Prince | Isaiah 55:4 |
| Consolation of Israel | The One that Calls Israel to Good | Luke 2:25 |
| Cornerstone | The Stone the Builders Rejected, The First Stone in the New Jerusalem | Ephesians 2:20 |
| Counselor | The Giver of Advice | Isaiah 9:6 |
| Covenant of the people | The Divider of the People | Isaiah 42:6 |
| David Their King | Jesus the Seed of David | 2 Chron 6:6; Jeremiah 30:9 |
| Daysman | Jesus Our Attorney, Lawyer, Legal Representative | Job 9:33 |
| Dayspring From on High | Jesus the Sun or Righteousness, The Dawn of a New Day, The Rise of a New Light | Luke 1:78 |
| Day Star | Jesus the Sun Light of a New Day in our Hearts | 2Peter 1:19 |
| Deliverer | Savior and Redeemer | Psalm 18:2; Romans 11:26 |
| Desire of all nations | That Which Everyone Seeks | Haggai 2:7 |
| Door, the | The ONLY legal access to God | John 10:9 |
| Door of the sheep, the | The ONLY Access to God | John 10:7 |
| Elect | Chosen One | Isaiah 42:1 |
| Emmanuel (Immanuel) | God With Us | Isaiah 7:14, Matthew 1:23 |
| Ensign | God’s Signal/Sign to Man | Isaiah 11:10 |
| Eternal Life | Our ONLY Way to Know God | 1John 5:20 |
| Everlasting Father | The Eternal Father | Isaiah 9:6 |
| Faithful | He who is trustworthy | Isa 49:7; Heb 3:2; |
| Faithful and True | The Dependable Truth | Revelation 19:11; |
| Faithful Priest | The True High Priest of God | 1 Samuel 2:35; |
| Faithful Witness, the | The Testimony of Truth | Revelation 1:5 |
| Faithful and true witness, the | The Testimony of Truth | Revelation 3:14 |
| Father to the Inhabitants of Jerusalem | Jesus the Everlasting Father | Isaiah 22:21; |
| Finisher of faith | He Who Brings Our Faith to a Completion | Hebrews 12:2 |
| Fire, A | A Light of Israel; | Isa 10:17; |
| First and last | The Beginning and End of all things | Isa 44:6, 48:12; Revelation 1:17; 2:8; 22:13 |
| First begotten | Jesus the First Born Again from the Dead | Hebrews 1:6 |
| First begotten of the dead | Jesus the First Born Again from the Dead | Revelation 1:5 |
| Firstborn | Jesus the First Born Again from the Dead | Psalms 89:27 |
| Firstborn from the dead | Christ the Heir of God | Col 1:18; |
| Flame, A | The Fire of God | Isa 10:17; |
| Foundation | The Spiritual Building Block of the New Jerusalem | Isaiah 28:16 |
| Foundation, Sure | Indestructible Rock | Isaiah 28:16 |
| Fountain | God’s Supply of Living Water | Zechariah 13:1 |
| Forerunner | He Who Goes First, The Trail Blazer | Hebrews 6:20 |
| Fourth, the | The 4th man in the Fire | Daniel 3:25 |
| Friend of sinners | My Friend Jesus | Matthew 11:19 |
| Gift of God | God’s Present to Man | John 4:10 |
| Glory of Israel | The Best of Israel | Luke 2:32 |
| God | Supreme Deity | John 1:1 |
| God blessed forever | The Eternally Happy Supreme Deity | Romans 9:5 |
| God manifest in the flesh | Emanuel God in a Physical Body | 1Timothy 3:16 |
| God of Israel, the Savior | The Supreme Deity that has Saved Israel | Isaiah 45:15 |
| God of the whole earth | The Omnipresent Supreme Deity | Isaiah 54:5 |
| God our Savior
|
The Supreme Deity that has Saved Us | 1Timothy 2:3 |
| God’s dear Son | Jesus the Son Loved By God | Colossians 1:13 |
| God with us | Emanuel God in Person | Matthew 1:23 |
| Good | Opposed to Evil | Matthew 20:15; |
| Good Master | The Sinless Lord | Matthew 19:16 |
| Good Shepherd | Leader of the sheep | John 10:11, 14; |
| Governor | Supreme Leader | Matthew 2:6 |
| Great Light | Jesus the Sun of Righteousness arisen in our hearts | Matthew 4:16; |
| Great Shepherd of the sheep
|
Head of the Church | Hebrews 13:20
|
| Greater Light, the | Jesus The Sun of Righteousness, Ruler of The Day | Genesis 1:16 |
| He that shall have dominion | The Ruler of Heaven and Earth | Numbers 24:19 |
| Head | Chief of the Body | Col 2:19 |
| Head of All Principality and Power | Supreme and Preeminent Spiritual Ruler | Col 2:10 |
| Head of the Body | The Husband to the Church | Col 1:18; |
| Head of the Corner | New Jerusalem Cornerstone | Matthew 21:42; 1 Peter 2:7 |
| Head of the ekklesia (body) | Leader of the Church | Ephesians 1:22, 23; 5:23; Colossians 1:18, 24 |
| Heir of all things | The Inheritor of the Kingdom of God | Hebrews 1:2 |
| High priest | God’s Eternal High Priest | Hebrews 3:1, 4:14, 7:26, 8:1, 9:11; |
| Head of every man | Chief Among Men | 1Corinthians 11:3 |
| Head of the corner | The Corner Stone in the New Jerusalem | Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11 |
| Holy | Morally Blameless | Isa 57:15 |
| Holy child | Morally Blameless Son | Acts 4:30 |
| Holy One | The Chosen Blameless Man | Psalms 16:10; Isa 10:17; Acts 3:14, 13:35; 1 John 2:20; |
| Holy one of God | God Sent Blameless Man | Mark 1:24; Luke 4:34; |
| Holy one of Israel, the | Blameless Man from Israel | Isaiah 41:14; 47:4; 54:5 |
| Holy thing | Our Example of Blamelessness | Luke 1:35 |
| Hope (our) | Our Great Expectation | 1Timothy 1:1 |
| Horn of salvation | The King that Saved Us | Luke 1:69 |
| Husband, One | The New Covenant Maker | 2 Cor 11:2 |
| Husband, Thine | The One we Covenant With | Isaiah 54:5 |
| I AM | Our Everything We Need, the ALL Encompassing One | John 8:58 |
| Image of God | The Restored Likeness of the Supreme God | Hebrews 1:3 |
| Israel | The Head of God’s Spiritual Nation of People | Isaiah 41:8; Isaiah 49:3; Hosea 11:1 |
| Isaac | A type of Christ, God’s only begotten Son | Genesis 1:17; Genesis 21:10; Genesis 22:2 |
| Jacob | Type of Jesus, The Spiritual Head of the spiritual house of Israel; He will Rule as God | Genesis 32:28; Isaiah 41:8; Malachi 1:2-3; Romans 9:13 |
| Jacob my Servant | Faithful to God’s service | Isaiah 44:2; |
| Jehovah | The Most High God | Isaiah 40:3 |
| Jehovah’s fellow | Son of the Most High God | Zechariah 13:7 |
| Jeshurun | Upright One, Chosen of God | Isa 44:2; |
| Jesus | Our Spiritual Leader and Savior Joshua/Yeshua/ Jehoshua | Matthew 1:21; Used in over 600 verses in the N.T. for the name of God. |
| Jesus Christ | The Spiritually Anointed (Messiah) Joshua | Matthew 1:1; John 1:17; 17:3; Acts 2:38; 4:10; 9:34; 10:36; Romans 1:1, 16:18; 3, 6; 2:16; 5:15, 17; 6:3; 1Corinthians 1:1, 4; 2:2; 2Corinthians 1:19; 4:6; 13:5; Galatians 2:16; Philippians 1:8; 2:11; 1Timothy 1:15; Hebrews 13:8; 1John 1:7; 2:1 |
| Jesus Christ our Lord | Spiritually Supreme Anointed Leader | Romans 1:3; 6:11, 23; 1Corinthians 1:9; 7:25 |
| Jesus Christ our Savior | The Anointed Leader who Saved Us | Titus 3:6 |
| Jesus of Nazareth | Jesus the Natural Man/the Nazarene | Mark 1:24; Luke 24:19 |
| Jesus (of Nazareth), King of the Jews | Spiritual Leader of the Spiritual Jews | John 19:19; Matthew 27:37 |
| Jesus, the Son of God | The Son of the Most High Deity who is our Leader | Hebrews 4:14 |
| Jesus, the Son of Joseph | The Presumed son of Joseph | John 6:42 |
| Joint Heir | Co-Inheritor | Romans 8:17 |
| Joseph | A Fruitful Bough; A type of the coming deliverer | Gen 49:22 |
| Joshua | Leader into the Promise Land a type of Jesus | Joshua; Zechariah 3:8 |
| Judge | Supreme Lawyer of Justice | Acts 10:42 |
| Just man, Just person, Just One | Righteous Individual; Blameless Individual | Matthew 27:19, 24; Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14 |
| Justification, Our | Him who Justified Us | Romans 4:25; |
| King | Supreme Ruler | Isa 43:15; Matthew 21:5 |
| King Eternal | Everlasting Ruler | 1 Tim 1:17; |
| King of Israel | Supreme Ruler of Spiritual Nation of Israel | John 1:49 |
| King of the Jews | Supreme Ruler of the Spiritual Jews | Matthew 2:2 |
| King of Saints | Supreme Ruler of Spiritual Nation of Israel (the Church) | Revelation 15:3 |
| King of Kings | Supreme Ruler of the Church (New Jerusalem) | 1Timothy 6:15; Revelation 17:14 |
| King of Glory | Supreme Deity Ruler | Psalms 24:7-10 |
| King of Saints | The Ruler over the rulers | Rev 15:3 |
| King of Zion | Supreme Ruler of the Daughter of ZION (Church) | Matthew 21:5 |
| King over all the earth | Supreme Ruler of the planet | Zechariah 14:9 |
| Lamb | God’s Sacrifice for the Sin of humanity | Revelation 5:6, 8; 7:9, 6:16; 10, 17; 12:11; 13:8, 11; 14:1, 4; 15:3; 17:14; 21:9, 14, 22, 19:7, 9; 23, 27 |
| Lamb of God | God’s Sacrifice for the Sin of humanity | John 1:29 |
| Lamb that was slain | God’s Sacrifice for the Sin of humanity | Rev 5:12; |
| Lawgiver | God’s Scribe of Justice | Isaiah 33:22 |
| Leader | Military Commander | Isaiah 55:4 |
| Life, the | Our Source of Being | John 14:6 |
| Light | Jesus our internal Spiritual Sun | Mat 4:16; John 8:12 |
| Light, everlasting | Jesus our Spiritual Eternal Sun | Isaiah 60:19-20’ |
| Light of Israel | The Rising Sun of Spiritual Israel | Isa 10:17; |
| Light of the world | Jesus our Spiritual Sun who shines out of darkness | John 8:12, 9:5 |
| Light to the Gentiles | Jesus our Spiritual Sun who lights the way to God for every nation | Isaiah 42:6, 49:6; |
| Light, True | Jesus our Spiritual Sun and Source of Truth | John 1:9 |
| Lion of the tribe of Judah | Spiritual Ruler of the spiritual Jews (church) | Revelation 5:5 |
| Living Bread, the | The Word of Life | John 6:51 |
| Living God | The God of Eternal Life | 1 Tim 4:10; |
| Living Stone | The Living Corner Building Block of the New Jerusalem | 1Pet 2:4; |
| Lord | The One with Supreme Authority | Acts 2:36; Rom 1:3; |
| Lord and Savior – Jesus Christ | Supreme Ruler Who Saves | 2Peter 1:11; 3:18 |
| Lord Christ | The Anointed Supreme Ruler | Colossians 3:24 |
| Lord From Heaven | God Who Came From Heaven | 1 Cor 15:47 |
| Lord God Almighty | The All Powerful Supreme Deity Ruler | Revelation 15:3 |
| Lord Jesus | Supreme Ruler Jesus | Luke 24:3; Acts 1:21; 4:33; 7:59; 8:16; 9:29; 11:20; 19:5,10,13,17; 20:24,35; 21:13; Rom. 10:9; 14:14; 1Co. 5:5; 6:11; 11:23; 2Co. 1:14; 4:10,14; Gal. 6:17; Eph. 1:15; Php. 2:19; Col. 3:17; 1Th. 2:15; 4:1,2; 2Th. 1:7; Phm. 1:5; Heb. 13:20; Rev. 22:20; |
| Lord Jesus Christ | Anointed Supreme Ruler Jesus | Acts 11:17; 15:11,26; 16:31; 20:21; 28:31; Rom. 1:7; 5:1,11; 13:14; 15:6,30; 16:18,20,24; 1Co. 1:3,7,8,10; 5:4; 8:6; 15:57; 16:22,23; 2Co. 1:2,3; 8:9; 11:31; 13:14; Gal. 1:3; 6:14,18; Eph. 1:2,3,17; 3:14; 5:20; 6:23,24; Php. 1:2; 3:20; 4:23; Col. 1:2,3; 1Th. 1:1,3; 2:19; 3:11,13; 5:9,23,28; 2Th. 1:1,2,8,12; 2:1,14,16; 3:6,12,18; 1Ti. 1:1; 5:21; 6:3,14; 2Ti. 4:1,22; Tit. 1:4; Phm. 1:3,25; Jas. 1:1; 2:1; 1Pe. 1:3; 2Pe. 1:8,14,16; 2Jn. 1:3; Jude 1:4,17,21; Rev. 22:21; |
| Lord Jesus Christ our Savior | Anointed Supreme Ruler Jesus Who Saves | Titus 1:4 |
| Lord of all | Supreme Ruler of Everyone | Acts 10:36 |
| Lord of glory | Supreme Ruler of God’s Splendor | James 2:1 |
| Lord of Hosts (armies) | Supreme Ruler of the Army of God | Isaiah 44:6, 47:4; |
| Lord of Lords | Supreme Ruler of rulers | 1 Tim 6:15; Rev 17:14; 19:16 |
| Lord of the dead and living | Supreme Ruler of Everyone | Romans 14:9 |
| Lord of the Sabbath | Supreme Ruler of the Day of Rest | Mat 12:8; Mark 2:28 |
| Lord Our Righteousness, the | Supreme Ruler Who Makes Us Righteous | Jeremiah 23:6 |
| Lord over all | Supreme Ruler of Everything | Romans 10:12 |
| Lord, mighty in battle | Undefeatable Supreme Ruler | Psalms 24:8 |
| Lord’s Christ | Supreme Ruler of the Anointing | Luke 2:26 |
| Lord, strong and mighty | Undefeatable Supreme Ruler | Psalms 24:8 |
| Lord, your holy one | The Blameless Supreme Ruler | Isaiah 43:15 |
| Lord, your redeemer | The Supreme Ruler Who Has Purchased Us With His Blood | Isaiah 43:14 |
| Maker, Thy | Our Creator | Isaiah 17:7, 54:5 |
| Man, a | The Word of God became flesh (Adam) | Ezekiel 1:26 |
| Man Christ – Jesus | The Anointed Son of God/Man | 1Timothy 2:5 |
| Man of sorrows | Man of Pain | Isaiah 53:3 |
| Master | Head of the House | Matthew 23:8; Eph 6:9 |
| Master In Heaven | Head of the House of God | Col 4:1; |
| Mediator, the only | Our Reconciler, God’s Go Between Us and Him | 1Timothy 2:5 |
| Meek | The Humble God of all Power | Matthew 11:29; |
| Melchisedec | The King and High Priest of Jerusalem a type of Jesus Christ | Hebrews 7:15; |
| Messenger of the covenant | The Distributor of the News of Division | Malachi 3:1 |
| Messiah | God’s Anointed | John 1:41 |
| Messiah the Prince | The Anointed Ruler | Daniel 9:25 |
| Mighty God | The Undefeatable Deity | Isaiah 9:6 |
| Mighty one of Israel | The Undefeatable One of Israel | Isaiah 30:29 |
| Mighty one of Jacob | The Undefeatable One of Jacob | Isaiah 49:26 |
| Mighty to save | The Undefeatable Savior | Isaiah 63:1 |
| Minister of the sanctuary | Our High Priest | Hebrews 8:2 |
| Morning Star | Jesus Our Spiritual Sun who Rules the Day | Revelation 2:28 |
| Moses | A Type of Christ the Deliverer; the Lawgiver; Faithful servant; | Acts 7:35; Heb 3:5; |
| Most holy | Ultimate Blameless One | Daniel 9:24 |
| Most mighty | Omnipotent One | Psalms 45:3 |
| Nail, A | The Fastener of God | Isaiah 22:23 |
| Nazarene | Set Apart Man | Matthew 2:23 |
| Offspring of David | Descendant of David the King | Revelation 22:16 |
| Only Begotten | The Only Physically Born Son of God | John 1:14; John 1:18; John 3:16; John 3:18; 1John 4:9 |
| Only wise God, our Savior | The Unique Deity Possessor of Wisdom Who Saves | Jude 1:25 |
| Passover, our | The Lamb of God | 1Corinthians 5:7 |
| Plant of renown | God’s Seed of Righteousness | Ezekiel 34:29 |
| Potentate | Supreme Ruler | 1Timothy 6:15 |
| Power of God | The Word of God | 1Corinthians 1:24 |
| Physician | Healer | Matthew 9:12 |
| Precious Cornerstone | The Living Foundation for the New Jerusalem | Isaiah 28:16 |
| Priest Forever | Eternal Blood Shedder that Lives Eternally | Hebrews 7:17; Hebrews 7:21 |
| Prince | Supreme Ruler | Acts 5:31 |
| Prince of Life | Supreme Ruler and Giver of Life | Acts 3:15 |
| Prince of Peace | Supreme Ruler and Restorer of Tranquility | Isaiah 9:6 |
| Prince of the kings of the earth | Supreme Ruler of the rulers of the earth | Revelation 1:5 |
| Prince of the princes | Supreme Ruler of the rulers of the earth. | Daniel 8:25; |
| Prophet | The Anointed One Who Prophecies | Deuteronomy 18:15, 18; Matthew 21:11; Luke 24:19; Acts 3:22; |
| Propitiation (expiation, our Sin-offering) | The Lamb of God | 1John 2:2 |
| Rabbi, Rabboni | Teacher | John 1:49; 20:16 |
| Ransom | The Price Paid For Our Freedom | 1Timothy 2:6 |
| Redemption | He Who Purchased Us Back | 1Corinthians 1:30 |
| Redeemer | Purchaser of our field | Isaiah 59.20 |
| Redeemer of Israel | He who ransomed spiritual Israel with His blood | Isa 49:7; |
| Redeemer, Thy | He Who Purchased Us Back | Isaiah 41:14, 54:5 |
| Resurrection and the Life, the | Raised Back From Death to Life | John 11:25 |
| Redemption | He Who Purchased Us Back | 1Corinthians 1:30 |
| Righteous Branch | God’s Sprouting Seed of Righteousness | Jeremiah 23:5 |
| Righteous Judge | He Who Judges Fairly | 2Timothy 4:8 |
| Righteous Servant | Lawful Just Worker | Isaiah 53:11 |
| Righteousness | Our Justification | 1 Corinthians 1:30 |
| Rock, The | Cornerstone of Salvation | Deu 32:15 |
| Rock, Spiritual | Supernatural Stone | 1Corinthians 10:4 |
| Rock of Offence | The Stone that Offends | Isaiah 8:14; 1Peter 2:8 |
| Root of David | The Source of Life for David | Revelation 5:5; 22:16 |
| Root of Jesse | The Source of Life for Jesse | Isaiah 11:10; Romans 15:12 |
| Rose of Sharon | God’s Fragrant Flower | Song of Songs 2:1 |
| Ruler in Israel | King of the Jews | Micah 5:2 |
| Salvation | The One that Saves | Luke 2:30 |
| Salvation, My | He who Saved Us | Isa 49:6; |
| Sanctification | He Who is Set Apart | 1Corinthians 1:30 |
| Sanctuary | Our Holy of Holies | Isaiah 8:14 |
| Savior | The One that Saved Us! | Luke 1:47, 2:11; John 4:14; Acts 5:31, 13:23; Php 3:20; 1 Ti 1:1, 2:3, 4:10; 2 Tim 1:10; Titus 1:3-4, 2:10, 2:13, 3:4, 3:6; 2 Pet 1:1, 3:2; Jud 1:25; |
| Savior Jesus Christ | The One that Saves Jesus the Anointed | 2Timothy 1:10; Titus 2:13; 2Pet 1:1, 2:20, 3:18; |
| Savior of the body (ekklesia) | The One that Saved the Church | Ephesians 5:23 |
| Savior of the world | The Only Hope For Those in Darkness | Jn 4:4; 1Jn 4:14 |
| Sceptre | The Living Rod of God | Numbers 24:17 |
| Second Man, the | The Brother of Adam | 1Corinthians 15:47 |
| Seed, the | The Seed of God | Galatians 3:19 |
| Seed of Abraham | He Who Was In Abraham | Hebrews 2:16 |
| Seed of David | He Who Was In David | 2Timothy 2:8 |
| Servant | He who serves others | Isaiah 42:1, 49:6; |
| Servant of rulers | He who washes the feet of others | Isaiah 49:7 |
| Shepherd | The Overseer of the Flock | Gen 49:24; Psalm 23:1; Mark 14:27 |
| Shepherd and Overseer of souls | He Who Watches Over the Mind and Thoughts of Man | 1Peter 2:25 |
| Shepherd, Chief | The Overseer of the overseers | 1Peter 5:4 |
| Shepherd, Good | The Blameless Overseer | John 10:11 |
| Shepherd, Great | The Omnipotent Overseer | Hebrews 13:20 |
| Shepherd of Israel | The Overseer of God’s Israel the church | Psalms 80:1 |
| Shepherd, One | The only one that feeds us | John 10:16 |
| Shiloh | He Who Prospers | Genesis 49:10 |
| Solomon | Son of David the Builder of God’s Temple; a type of Christ | 1 Chron 28:9; 1 Chron 29:19; |
| Son | The Son of God | Mat 28:19; John 3:17; John 3:35-36; John 5:19-26; John 6:40; John 14:13; John 17:1; Rom 1:3; Rom 1:9; Rom 5:10; Rom 8:3; 1 Cor 15:28; Gal 1:16; Gal 4:4; 1 Th 1:10; Heb 1:2; Heb 3:6; Heb 5:5; Heb 7:28; 1Jn 1:7; 1 Jn 2:23-24; 1 Jn 4:10; 1 Jn 4:14; 1 Jn 5:9; 1 Jn 5:11-13; 2 Jn 1:3; |
| Son, Beloved | Son Loved By God | Mat 3:17; 2 Pe 1:17; |
| Son, dear | Loved Son of God | Col 1:13; |
| Son, My | The Son of God | Hosea 11:1 |
| Son, Only Begotten | The Only Naturally born Son of God | John 3:16; |
| Son Jesus Christ | The evidence that Jesus the Son was Messiah | 1 Cor 1:9; 1 Jn 1:3; |
| Son of God | He Who Was Born From God | Daniel 3:25; Mat 4:3; Mat 4:6; Mat 8:29; Mat 14:33; Mat 26:63; Mat 27:40; Mat 27:43; Mat 27:54; Mar 1:1; Mar 3:11; Mar 15:39; Luk 1:35; Luk 4:3; Luk 4:9; Luk 4:41; Luk 8:28; Luk 22:70; Joh 1:34; Joh 1:49; Joh 3:18; Joh 5:25; Joh 9:35; Joh 10:36; Joh 11:4; Joh 11:27; Joh 19:7; Joh 20:31; Act 8:37; Act 9:20; Rom 1:4; 2Co 1:19; Gal 2:20; Eph 4:13; Heb 4:14; Heb 6:6; Heb 7:3; Heb 10:29; 1Jn 3:8; 1Jn 4:15; 1Jn 5:5; 1Jn 5:10; 1Jn 5:12; 1Jn 5:13; 1Jn 5:20; Rev 2:18; |
| Son of Man | He Who was born of a natural woman a Son of Adam | Mat 8:20; Mat 9:6; Mat 10:23; Mat 11:19; Mat 12:8; Mat 12:32; Mat 12:40; Mat 13:37; Mat 13:41; Mat 16:13; Mat 16:27; Mat 16:28; Mat 17:9; Mat 17:12; Mat 17:22; Mat 18:11; Mat 19:28; Mat 20:18; Mat 20:28; Mat 24:27; Mat 24:30; Mat 24:37; Mat 24:39; Mat 24:44; Mat 25:13; Mat 25:31; Mat 26:2; Mat 26:24; Mat 26:45; Mat 26:64; Mar 2:10; Mar 2:28; Mar 8:31; Mar 8:38; Mar 9:9; Mar 9:12; Mar 9:31; Mar 10:33; Mar 10:45; Mar 13:26; Mar 13:34; Mar 14:21; Mar 14:41; Mar 14:62; Luk 5:24; Luk 6:5; Luk 6:22; Luk 7:34; Luk 9:22; Luk 9:26; Luk 9:44; Luk 9:56; Luk 9:58; Luk 11:30; Luk 12:8; Luk 12:10; Luk 12:40; Luk 17:22; Luk 17:24; Luk 17:26; Luk 17:30; Luk 18:8; Luk 18:31; Luk 19:10; Luk 21:27; Luk 21:36; Luk 22:22; Luk 22:48; Luk 22:69; Luk 24:7; Joh 1:51; Joh 3:13; Joh 3:14; Joh 5:27; Joh 6:27; Joh 6:53; Joh 6:62; Joh 8:28; Joh 12:23; Joh 12:34; Joh 13:31; Act 7:56; Rev 1:13; Rev 14:14; |
| Son of the Father | The Son of the First part of the Trinity | 2John 1:3 |
| Son of the Blessed One (God) | Son of the Happy One | Mark 14:61 |
| Son of the Highest One (God) | Son of the Omnipotent One | Luke 1:32 |
| Son of David | He Who is Born from David | Matthew 9:27 |
| Star out of Jacob | The Messenger from Jacob, the Sun of Righteousness | Numbers 24:17 |
| Stone, Tried | The Foundation of the New Jerusalem | Isaiah 28:167; |
| Stone, the | God’s Cornerstone of the New Jerusalem | Psalm 118:22; Matthew 21:42; Mark 12:10; Luke 2017; Acts 4:11 |
| Stone of Israel, The | The Spiritual Cornerstone of Israel | Gen 49:24; |
| Sun, the | The Sun that Rules the Day | Psalm 19:4, 84:11,136:8; Matthew 17:2; Rev 1:16; |
| Sun of Righteousness | The Sun that Shines Righteousness | Malachi 4:2 |
| Surety (Guarantee) | He Who is Trustworthy | Hebrews 7:22 |
| Stone of Stumbling | The Building Block Rejected by the Builders | Isaiah 8:14; 1Peter 2:8 |
| Sure Foundation | He Who is Trustworthy and Strong | Isaiah 28:16 |
| Teacher | The Knowledge Giver | John 3:2 |
| True God | The Opposite of the false god | 1John 5:20 |
| True Vine | The Real Source of Life | John 15:1 |
| Truth, the | He who is Faithful and True | John 14:6 |
| Unspeakable Gift | The Indescribable Present | 2Corinthians 9:15 |
| Very Christ | Unlimited Anointing | Acts 9:22 |
| Vine, the | The Source of Life to the branches | John 15:1-5; |
| Way, the | The Only Path to God | John 14:6 |
| Which is, which was, which is to come | The Eternal One God | Revelation 1:4 |
| Wisdom | The Application of Knowledge and Understanding | Proverbs 8:12 |
| Wisdom of God, the | The manifestation of God’s knowledge and understanding | 1Corinthians 1:24 |
| Witness | He Whose Testimony is True | Isaiah 55:4; Revelation 1:5; |
| Witness, Faithful | He Whose Testimony you can count on | Revelation 3:14; |
| Witness, True | He Whose Testimony is True | Revelation 3:14; |
| Wonderful | The One Beyond Compare | Isaiah 9:6 |
| Word, The | God’s Power | John 1:1; John 1:14; 1 John 5:7 |
| Word of God | The Power of the Omnipotent Deity | Revelation 19:13 |
| Word of Life | God’s Power to make Alive | 1John 1:1 |
| Worthy | Jesus the Highest | Heb 3:3; Jas 2:7; Rev 4:11, 5:9, 5;12 |
If you would like to read other reference documents about Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols here are some others that are available:
Understanding the Concepts of Deception Used by Satan!
(ver 2.0) This is Part 2 of a series of Bible lessons on the subject of deception. If you have not read from the beginning, it is suggested that you begin with “Part 1” to begin your study. Let’s read one of the series foundational Bible verses to get us started. This verse reveals a great deal of information about our spiritual enemy, including his identities, and his tactics.
Rev 12:9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Today will be a different type of Bible lesson from many others. As you can see from our Key Bible verse above, Satan is called the deceiver that is deceiving the entire whole world. That means, this statement includes Christians and non-Christians alike. Satan is an equal opportunity deceiver, and he shows no favoritism. He is interested in causing us to be deceived from believing and knowing the Truth of God by any means that he can. So, I’m going to introduce you to some new things to think about that God has taught me personally. You will hopefully see that these few things that I present you to think about could be a very effective tool of our enemy Satan. I do hope that you understand that God’s enemies are Christian enemies also. If Satan is an enemy of God, then he is our enemy here and now on the earth. Satan’s greatest weapon on the earth has always been the subtly of deception. But Jesus told us that if we continued in His word we would be His disciples and that we would know the truth and that the truth would set us free (John 8:31-32). That sounds like our freedom is dependent upon us continuing in the word, recognizing the truth, knowing the truth and then using this knowledge of God’s truth to set us free. If Satan can keep you from knowing the truth you will be forever bound by his deception. That is why he is trying diligently to do everything in his power to distract you and to keep you from knowing more about the Bible. In fact deception is one of his only weapons that he has to defeat you. If he can get you to think and believe wrong, he has accomplished his plan of deception, and you are now a party working in conjunction with him to deceive others in the world. There are false prophets, false teachers and false apostles in the world everywhere we look. The numbers of these false distributors of lies are so many today that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Christians to recognize all of the ways that Satan uses to deceive people. I will discuss just a couple of the ways that God has taught me over the years that Satan uses and I pray that you can see them also.
I am going to start with one method of deception which I feel is critical for all Christians to understand. This method of deception is to take a small but critical piece of the truth in the Bible and then to possess it or claim it is something that it is not. False teachers take bits of information out of context and then teach it in a false religion with new imbedded lies attached to it. For example, we can find the “Golden Rule” of the Bible found in almost every religion of the world in some alternative form. Because all of these other religions have attached themselves to this verse in the Bible, they have in essence diluted the true meaning as having come from God and they change it to fit what they prefer it to say. Most Christians just automatically discredit the teachings of Satanism and Cultic organizations. But, where did these false religious organizations get their information and why is it so important for them to claim it all as their own original ideas? Think about this a long time, where did all knowledge come from? Was it not our Almighty God who holds all knowledge? I think I should stop here and tell you that what I am saying I am saying to only mature Christians who have been in Christ for many years. I do not want you to think that it is OK to explore Satanism, or to go and study other religions looking for the truth. That would be very foolish to go to a source of predominately lies and try to determine which words are true and which ones are false. That is exactly what Satan wants you to do. What I am saying is study the Bible and ONLY the Bible and find the truth and then do not reject it because Satan has tried to pervert it. Do the sayings of Jesus from John 8:31-32. Continue in the Word was the first step of the command. That means you do not search history books, you do not search textbooks, you do not search other religions and you only stay with the BIBLE for your total and complete source of the truth!
I am not convinced that Satan has ever had a completely original idea in anything that he does or says on the earth. It would appear to me that Satan takes what God does and perverts into something useful for his purpose of deception. You must realize that Satan is a highly intelligent being that can run spiritual circles around what you know right now. Satan has been in the presence of God and seen what He does firsthand, have you ever stood before the throne of God? I doubt seriously if you have. Satan has been deceiving man for the last 6000 years, how old are you? Does your experiences match Satan’s experiences? I say Satan has had a lot more practice at deceiving people than you have had at resisting him. What Satan likes to do is take little key principles from the Word of God and to pervert them so that many Christians will automatically reject them because they are taught as a part of a cult lesson. Do you understand how powerful this is? By taking a truth and by discrediting it, he can now cause many people to more easily reject that truth and be deceived into believing a lie. This is a common political tactic used in our political system. A candidate for office simply discredits his opponent with some perverted mixture of truth with lies. By discrediting them they make themselves to be a more positive answer for the people. I usually do not like to name names but I will give you an example of this type of behavior of Satan. I was told by a reader that a small part of what I teach is a concept that is embraced by the Mormons and used to promote evolution. Since the Mormon religion is a false cultic teaching, does that make everything that they teach a lie? If I do not teach evolution using this same concept does that make what I say a lie? No, what I say is not a lie, but it has been discredited by a cult taking it and perverting into their lies. Does what they teach discredit everything that I say using the Bible? Again, I am not telling you to go read the Book of Mormon and try to figure out what is true and what is false. That is clearly a ploy of the enemy. The book of Mormon is promoted as ANOTHER Testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ given to a false prophet and written down so that you will not read the REAL Testimony of Jesus Christ. Jesus actually warned us not to read things that people ADD to the bible. Jesus clearly told us not to take away any words or to add any words to those that have been written in the Bible (Rev 22:19). The enemy has produced this book of Mormon simply as a tool to get you to not read the TRUE Word of God and His Holy Book of Truth. As long as Satan can distract you with the false you are never going to recognize the Truth. But, if the Mormons try to teach something that is a part of the truth just to discredit the truth; that does not mean the truth is not present in the Bible.
So let me give you another example of something that I may teach that is perverted by a satanic symbol. A common satanic symbol is a five-pointed star with a symbol of a male goat with horns on it. Why did Satan choose this symbol to pervert it? What is the significance of this symbol and the meaning of this symbol? Why did Satan pick a goat to pervert it? Now anything in the Bible that God uses for the symbol of the goat is tainted with this perverted image. Because the goat and the 5 pointed star symbols are used for a direct reference to Satan, anything that the Bible now attempts to use them for are more easily rejected by Christians. If someone suddenly came to you with a new revelation of what God said a “star” represents; you will more than likely retract from it. Now, if anyone comes to you with a revelation of what a goat is a symbol of in the Bible, you will automatically throw it aside. This is typical human nature to throw away even the good because someone used it for evil. It is an automatic death sentence for any symbolic object that Satan has used to describe himself. This death occurs by the simple association of any truth by associating with the lies or symbols for Satan. All Satan has to do is to get someone in the world to take a Bible symbol and to pervert it into a symbol for Satan and every Christian will automatically run very fast away from it.
The Bible informs us that Satan presents himself as an angel of light (2 Cor 11:14). Why would Satan then try to present himself with strong demonic images of himself being a very evil being with a pitch fork, horns and a pointed tail? It is because when he shows up looking like a glorious spectacular supernatural being or even as a normal looking person, he will be able to trick you into believing his lies. After all you are looking for an evil ugly being and not a handsome good looking fellow. It is the classic bait and switch approach to advertising; you present one image and then you switch out another new image that is completely different and try to get people to be a sucker for something they didn’t expect to get. This is a very prominent ploy used in deception. Make people think this is true and then present them with a set of lies that are believable. Satan used people like David Koresh and Jim Jones to deceive people. They looked normal, they sounded normal and presented some very subtle words of deception. As a result, many people died because these men decided it was time to die. Understanding how your enemy Satan operates may save your life someday.
I’ll end this blog with one more example of deception. If you did not know it, the Ram is a Bible symbol for God the Father. However, Satan uses this symbol for himself. Satan is attempting to exalt his throne to the equivalency of that of God’s throne. Satan is trying to deceive people into believing that he is god. When the anti-Christ comes in Revelation he will be setting himself up to be this most high god. So where is God a Ram in the Bible? We can find this several places in the Bible but we will start with Genesis 22:
Gen 22:13 And Abraham lifted up his eyes, and looked, and behold behind him a ram caught in a thicket by his horns: and Abraham went and took the ram, and offered him up for a burnt offering in the stead of his son.
When Isaac asked his father Abraham “Where is the animal for the sacrifice?” Abraham replied, “God will provide Himself as the lamb”. Jesus is repeatedly called the Lamb of God in the N.T. This is a symbolic name for Jesus Christ our sacrifice Lamb. Who is the father of a Lamb? A Ram is the father of a Lamb! As you can see in this verse in Genesis 22, instead of Abraham sacrificing Isaac God provided a Ram. This Ram was a symbol of Himself being the sacrifice. Abraham sacrifices the Ram a symbol of God coming to the earth in the flesh to pay the price for the sins of all mankind with His blood. So God’s symbol is that of a Ram and Satan now produces this symbol to represent himself. What is Satan trying to do? He is trying to discredit the truth of the Bible. He is taking a real symbol found in the Bible and trying to present you a false symbol. This is a classic ploy of deception. Take the real and pervert it.
So this blog was different, I know! It was an attempt to challenge you to think. Use your brain for something more than a place holder of useless information. Take the real and reject the fakes, the false, and the lies of the enemy. God Bless you to know the difference!
If you would like to continue reading about deception you can continue to “Part 3“.
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If you want to know how to get saved and know that you are with confidence you can go to: How do I get saved?
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! The Seed of Resurrection! Part 7
(ver 1.2) This is now Part 7 of a series of lessons on the concepts and laws surrounding seeds found in the Bible. The Seed is a naturally divinely inspired designed principle that demonstrates vast spiritual revelation and today will be another example of that. In a previous lesson I taught on a parable that Jesus spoke on concerning the seed concept that if a seed ever produces fruit, it must first die and be planted (buried) in the ground (John 12:24). We looked at Jesus being this seed, but of course He was also a man like you and I in the world. The Spirit of God raised the man, Jesus Christ from the dead and He became the first man ever to be resurrected from the dead. We know that the man Jesus Christ was crucified on a cross in Jerusalem. We know that He hung there and died. We know the Roman soldier pierced His side and His blood and water from His body flowed from His side onto the ground. We then know His body was taken down and placed in a tomb. We can now begin to understand the seed concepts being presented. The body of Jesus was a seed. This seed died and was buried in a earthly tomb. But, after 3 days we know that God raised this man Jesus back to life in His own physical body. So far I’m just stating things that you should already know, especially if you have been reading this series. If you have not read this series from the beginning I would strongly suggest that you go back and start reading with “Part 1”.
Let us today start by discussing some basic seed concepts using a natural seed. Did you know that a seed contains 3 main parts? How many main parts does a man have? A man also has 3 man parts; man is a 1). spirit that has a 2). soul, who lives in a 3). body. So man has 3 main parts. I believe the parallels to natural things and spiritual things are quite amazing. God is also described as a 3 part spiritual being. God the Father, God the Word and God the Holy Ghost are the three parts that comprise the One True God. So what are the 3 main parts of a natural seed? They are the 1). Seed Coat, the 2). Endosperm and the 3). Embryo. These are the 3 major components of a natural seed. Let’s compare the makeup of a man to the makeup of a seed. The outer portion that we can see would be the “human body” and this would correspond to the “seed coat” which is the outer shell membrane. Then man’s next layer going from least important to most important would be his soul. The soul of the man is his “mind” and this component corresponds to the seed “Endosperm”. The final most important part of a man is his spirit. The “spirit of man” corresponds to the most important part of a seed, the “Embryo”. God can be very tricky to understand. As you might have seen God calls the children of humans their “Seed”. So God describes the human makeup of a man to be designed after a seed. As you can see from the natural description of a seed this information corresponds very closely. However, in another parable Jesus spoke of a man being the “Ground” that the seed is planted into. However, this time the seed is the Word of God. Jesus taught in the Parable of the Sower that man could be 6 different types of ground or natural earth. This is the part that makes many people scratch their heads and say “how can we be both”, yet God clearly calls us both of these. I believe it depends upon your perspective and the application that you are attempting to use it in. Clearly there are different types of seeds and this is part of the difficulty of interpretation, being forced to determine the context and the correct type of everything being discussed by God. No body that I know of says Bible interpretation is easy, if you think it is you have been deceived.
So I have gone through a long introduction, introducing some new things along with a review of some basic seed concepts that we should have all previously learned. Today I want to show you something new in the Bible that applies to God’s design of us being a type of seed. The subject of the resurrection is of course a potentially controversial subject, since not to many people know much about it. Some believe in it and some do not. It is no different today than when Jesus walked the face of the earth. You may remember in Matthew 22:23 that a group of people came to Jesus to ask Him a question. These people were members of the Sadducees, who did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. So it is really no different today, we still have people who do not subscribe to what the Bible teaches. So let’s discuss resurrection and what it is briefly. The “Resurrection of the Dead” is a basic foundational truth taught in the Bible (Heb 6:2). The Greek word in the Strong’s dictionary means to “raise up”, to “stand up again” or “to raise to life again”. These are those which were once alive who are stated to have died and behold are alive again. That is the concept of resurrection being described to us and this is a seed concept being clearly demonstrated. A seed lives, a seed dies and is raised again to a new life after being planted. So if a man is a seed and his makeup or design resembles a natural seed we should be able to see how God plans to use this concept in the resurrection of our physical bodies.
1Co 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
In this verse Paul is writing to the church at Corinth and answering some basic theological questions. There must have been some raging debate on the subject to cause God to respond in this manner. Of course it also helps us to learn what was being taught since we were not present when Paul taught it to them personally. Two questions are presented to God. First, how are the dead “raised up” and second what kind of body will they have? I think these are two very good questions and we will see if God answers these questions.
1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
Backing up in the chapter we see some contextual verses that are also in reference to the seed resurrection principle. Adam caused all men to die because we were all “in” Adam when he sinned. Christ will cause all men to live again because we that are born again were in Christ when He was raised from the dead. This is not a universal salvation, meaning that everyone will go to heaven however. You see there are people trying to deceive others using these types of teachings where they only use the parts of the Bible that they like and then reject the parts that they do not like or that don’t fit what they desire to believe. Here is a verse that Jesus gave us on this subject of resurrection.
Joh 5:29 And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.
To “come forth” is a Seed concept. You dig a hole in the soil, sow a seed in the ground, cover it with dirt and in the process of time it “comes forth” out of the ground. Then Jesus tells us that some who have done good things will be resurrected into life and these are the good seeds that God planted. However, then there is the bad news for the bad seeds, those that have done evil will be resurrected to damnation. Wow, not very good news for some people. Everyone is prophesied to be resurrected from the dead and come forth but there are two types of seeds being described and they are very different, even completely opposite. We learned this concept when Jesus taught us the parable about the man who sowed good seed (Mat 13). The enemy came and sowed tares among the seeds of wheat and they both came to bear fruit simultaneously. What we discover is that the resurrection for the dead is a reality that everyone will face in the future; it is really dependent upon what type of seed you are in to where they end up. Some will be very happy and some will be extremely sad.
1Co 15:32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantageth it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
Here is a verse that I thought I would include simply because this is a common attitude found in the present evil world that we live in. People are massively consumed with self-indulgence and have a self-centered attitude towards life. If you have something and I want it I’ll just take it. After all there are no consequences to life, we are just the same as every other animal on the planet, they think and have been taught. If we evolved from monkeys and monkeys die that is the end of them so it is with us. There is no God, no Judge, no hell, no way are we going to bear any responsibility for our actions so live it up and be all that you can be for tomorrow you may die. People are so focused on themselves they do not know what they are doing to others. That is really going to be the hardest lesson to learn when it comes to judgment day.
1Co 15:35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
So let’s get back to finding the answers to the two questions being asked by the skeptics. How is it possible that this resurrection will occur and what will I look like after it does occur?
1Co 15:36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die:
God begins to answer the first question using the seed principle. To quicken something means to be made alive. This is a changing or reversal from death to life. What God is describing is the basic seed concept we previously discussed. A seed is useless unless it first dies. Only after the death of a seed, can the new life come forth. I like Paul a lot. He is very straight forward and stands firmly behind what he teaches. He says that those who are ignorant are fools because they purposely reject the truth. You need to decide if you want to be a fool today or change to accept the wisdom of God. God is revealing to us seed principles that are very profound and they apply directly to us in this subject of the resurrection of our physical bodies. We wouldn’t be able to live again if Jesus did not die for us and plant the seed for our salvation. Here is the next verse so pay close attention to what it says:
1Co 15:37 And that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
God almost gives us a contradiction of terms. One of the seed principles from Genesis is every seed produces after its own kind. An orange seed will produce only an orange tree. But, now we see another extension to the puzzle. You plant a seed and you get a tree and not just another set of seeds. In other words you do not plant a tree and get a tree. Or you do not plant a seed and just get more seeds. No the basic law is that you plant a seed and you will get a new living plant. God is saying in this verse in 1 Corinthians that the physical body that you have right now is nothing but a bare grain of seed. What God is alluding to is that your physical body you have now is not the spiritual body that you will have after the resurrection.
1Co 15:38 But God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
While wheat seeds only produce wheat, God is saying that every human is still a uniquely designed individual. So while we are all human seeds, we look differently and have unique natural features like individual fingerprints and DNA. These unique features will produce a similar design in the resurrected us. In other words everybody will not be clones in the resurrected spiritual realm. You can clearly see in this verse God is calling us each a seed, but at the same time also calling us all unique seeds. That makes our seed discussion a little bit more complex, but yet same seed principles and laws still apply. So let’s go through some of the other information revealed to us:
1Co 15:42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
I skipped down to verse 42 because it seemed relevant to our seed discussion. God says He will take the corruptible natural part of us and sow it to produce the new incorruptible part of us during the resurrection. That is pretty cool stuff, if you ask me.
1Co 15:43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
What was dishonorable and weak will become glorious and powerful. God is giving you a clue comparison of the difference between the old and the new. That which will become a new is highly better than that which was sown. This is a result of being born again of the incorruptible seed of God and not the corruptible natural seed of man.
1Co 15:44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
Our natural bodies will be planted as a seed that will produce the spiritual resurrected bodies. God clearly declares that our future spiritual bodies are not the exact same as our current physical bodies. The new spiritual body will not get sick, or grow old, will not fail, or even grow tired. There are just too many new features to describe this new body. The new body will certainly have many of the same features of the old body and still be able to do many of the things that old body could do. The best of the old will continue to be present in the new. Jesus after being resurrected from the dead would still eat natural food with his disciples. So eating is a future good thing to look forward to and all the church people said amen! So I think I have gone long enough on the subject of the “Seed of Resurrection”. I hope and pray that you enjoyed the lesson and derived some benefit from reading it. God continue to bless you until the next time.
If you like to continue reading this series you can go to “Part 8“.
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!
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! Seed Laws Applied to New Testament Truths! Part 6
(ver 1.3) This is Part 6 in the study series about seeds in the Bible. In my last few lessons on this subject, I have been going through some of the parables of Jesus concerning the subject of Seeds. In these lessons we learned some very valuable spiritual information that apply to every Christian believer and unsaved non-believer. Jesus used these natural Seed concepts and laws to describe vast complex spiritual realities that we have never seen or could even attempt to understand. The Bible contains more than 200 direct references to seeds in the KJV Bible and certainly many, many more indirect references on the subject can be found. If you have not been reading this series of lessons from the beginning I would recommend that you go back and start with Part 1 first. Today I want to teach you some New testament truths by reviewing and applying some of the basic seed law concepts that we learned from Genesis. We will read and study several New Testament verses that we have not discussed up to this point and learn how seeds apply to them.
THE SEED WITHIN ITSELF LAW
One of the first seed concepts that I gave you was the “Seed within Itself” law and concept revealed in Genesis 1:11. If you do not understand correct Bible interpretation, one rule or law of correct Bible interpretation is called the “Law of First Mention”. By going into the Bible and finding the first occurrence of a subject you are introduced to some basic concepts that are usually critical to understanding the entire subject. So Genesis 1:11 says that the earth brought forth trees with fruit “whose seed was in itself”. We understand this to be a natural law which applies, to fruit as well as to the natural man and woman. This law represents a self-sustaining reproductive system that was designed and created by God. God created one thing and this thing contained the built in capability to reproduce indefinitely, sustaining the existence of the species.
1Jn 3:9 Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
In reviewing the parable of the Sower we learned that the Seed of God was the Word of God. It was the Seeds of God’s Words that produces the spiritual fruit in our spirits. So this verse in 1 John 3:9 tells us that we are born of God. We should be able to clearly understand that this is a spiritual birth and not a physical birth and we can confirm that by reading the words of Jesus in John 3. We have previously seen that the human male sperm was called “seed” in the Bible and we can now begin to see a spiritual application taught from the pattern found within the naturally created reproductive process. This verse says that when we are born spiritually, and it came as a result of us accepting the truth of God’s Word. Now God’s Seed is in us and this is a spiritual repetition of the “seed within itself” law. The more of the Word of God you learn, the more of the Seed of God you have in you and the more fruit of God is potentially produced. It is a very basic concept, but yet very profound.
1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.
So here is another New Testament verse that describes the spiritual Seed of God to be the Word of God. This Spiritual Seed is compared and contrasted with the natural seed of the created man. The sperm of a man is called the corruptible seed. The Greek word translated as corruptible means “decaying” or “perishing”. This is interestingly enough related to the laws of thermodynamics that states everything is in a state of decay around us. Humans are in a state of aging from the moment they are conceived. However, we the body of Christ are Christians that are spiritually “born again”. This birth is not a natural birth, but is a spiritual birth that came as a result of us hearing the Spiritual Words of God. This would be symbolically analogous to our spirits being like the womb of a woman with the fertile egg present. By us lending our ears to God’s Word and hearing it and then understanding it, God’s Word becomes one with our spirit and then God’s Spirit becomes one with our spirit (1 Co 1:16). 1 Peter 1:23 teaches us that God’s word/seed will now “Abide” within us. Abide means to indwell and live in our spirits. This is clearly the seed within itself law from Genesis 1:11. If you have heard the Word of God and have accepted it and know it you have His spiritual seed on the inside of your spirit. Always remember that the Seed of God is in you!
EVERY SEED PRODUCES AFTER ITS OWN KIND LAW
Gal 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
God is talking to us about another law concerning seeds in this verse in Galatians. This law is also revealed to us in the first chapter of Genesis 1 in verse 11. However, here God is telling us about the seeds that are sown by a man. Sounds familiar doesn’t it? God says that every man will reap whatever kind of seeds that he sows. This is a basic spiritual application of the first law of seeds that every seed produces after its own kind. When I talked about this law originally, I told you that an apple seed will produce only an apple tree and an orange seed will produce only an orange tree. So what you get in life is determined by what you plant. This verse also says that God is not mocked by those who say this is not true and by those that say that this does not apply to them. In other words God is saying this is the way everything in the world works whether you believe it or not. That was a very strong statement from God. You should be beginning to understand a little better about the power of the seeds that you sow, if you have read this entire series of lessons. If you decide not to believe what you just read, God says you are not mocking the messenger Agapegeek, you are mocking God and I would be very concerned about doing something foolish like that.
Gal 6:8 For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.
The next verse in Galatians is just more conformation to exactly what God has said before. This verse reveals to us that there are two types of seeds that every man can sow in this world. The first type of seed is a natural or carnal seed type and this is another example of a corruptible seed type that will reap only natural death. Then there is a spiritual seed type that can be sown and this seed reaps life everlasting. So let me stop right there and ask you this, what is life everlasting? This certinaly does not mean that you will never die physically if you sow to the spirit. It also does not mean that you will ever cease to exist, if you do not do this. Man was created as a spirit being that will never cease to exist, after we die physically; our spirit will either go to heaven or to hell based upon our current relationship with Jesus Christ. The problem with most Bible interpretations is that people do not attempt to get God’s definition on any of the words that they are reading. They read every word and assume they know what they mean and then miss what God is trying to teach them. Here is a verse in the Bible that gives us God’s clear definition of what “eternal life” is in His eyes:
Joh 17:3 And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
To me this definition changes the meaning to what I thought it meant to live eternally dramatically and it causes me to shift my thinking differently than I had ever thought before. Eternal life is not living forever; eternal life is your ability to know the True Living God and Jesus Christ whom He has sent forever. That is just a radically different perspective of life eternal. Those who die without this spiritual eternal life will never know God or Jesus Christ and will probably not have a clue why they went to hell. I guess they may have some idea since God speaks of a coming time of judgment and there will certainly be some discussion to the charges against them before judgment is passed if God’s court is like our courts. I guess that last two statements was just my opinions so please do not take them as scripture. I also briefly got off of the subject of seeds to define a term that I think is important for you to know.
SEED SINGULAR OR SEED PLURAL?
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.
I alluded to this seed concept in an earlier lesson on this subject. I talked about the fact that the word “seed” can be taken as either plural or singular and that it is only determined which one it is referring to by the contextual usage of the word and even that can be very difficult figure out. This is just one of the intentionally designed methods of God used to conceal the truth in the Bible. In this verse in Galatians God is referring to the promise made to Abraham. Since Jesus was in Abraham when God made this promise Jesus was the “Seed” within himself that was to receive the promise. Abraham naturally fathered several children. Ishmael and Isaac are the two obvious sons that everyone remembers from Sunday school. However, Ismael was cast out of the house by Abraham’s wife Sarah and is not the promised child. Isaac was the promised child, the future grand-father to the nation of Israel. But, yet Galatians say that Isaac was not the seed that was to receive this promise. However, again Jesus was also in his father Isaac as the seed. Then the two sons of Isaac were born, Jacob and Esau. Esau, the firstborn was not the selected path either, but the younger son Jacob was. Jesus was in His father Jacob as a seed. I could go on and on through every generation from Israel to Mary and see that Jesus was in each parent. But, none of these were the selected “seed”.
Galatians 3:16 says that the promised “seed” that was in Abraham was only Jesus Christ. This was clearly a singular occurrence and not a multiple pattern of seeds being referred to. Hopefully you can better understand how God can look at Abraham and make a promise about his seed, when God was speaking about Jesus Christ who was in Abraham. The Son of God was the promised seed able to fulfill the requirements of God’s conditions, to fulfill the law, to live a sinless life, to die and shed his blood for you and I and to be raised from the dead so that we could forever go and live with Him. To me that is just an awesome display of the wisdom of God. I think I will end this blog today right here. I have just selected a few New Testament applications of the Seed concepts and laws and tried to show you how God used them to fulfill His plan of redemption. Hopefully you are deriving some benefit from these lessons. God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading this series you may go to “Part 7“.
Understanding the Eucharist! What is the Eucharist and Why do we Receive it? Part 1
(Ver 1.3) This is a difficult question to answer and a much more difficult subject to understand than many people give it credit to be. I had a reader ask me a question about why Catholics receive the Eucharist at every Mass? He said that the Eucharist is given out every day in thousands of languages. Do we have any scriptural basis for this and why would we do it so often? This is Part 1 of a series of lessons on the subject of the “Eucharist”. We will discuss; what it is, why we do it and how it applies to the modern church from a Bible perspective. I will explore many different aspects of this subject and give you quite a few new perspectives on this subject. I challenge you to read the entire series before you become a critic of any small part of the lessons. I will definitely warn you up front what I teach you will be different than what you might expect me to say on the subject, but yet I will only use the Bible to explore this subject and I will do my best to keep my opinions completely out of the discussion. What I am interested in is what God thinks about the subject and not what you or I think about it. I find that God’s opinion is much more important to me than your opinion.
In asking Catholics why they participate in receiving the Eucharist, I found that a vast number of answers to that question was “I don’t know”. Not one could give me a Bible verse or a Bible reason for receiving the elements of the Eucharist. Some knew that the bread and the wine represent the Body and the Blood of Christ. But why we receive it and participate in the ceremony, they could not tell me. Is there any benefit to participating in this ceremony? Is there a blessing attached to it? Or do we do it just because it is the right thing that we should do? What makes it the right thing to do? This might become a widely controversial subject before I’m through, so if you are interested in learning the truth keep reading, otherwise you might want to stop here and go to another website or blog.
So now I will begin to teach you some of the things that I know from the Bible about this subject of the “Eucharist”. There is absolutely no way I could tell you everything I know about this without writing a small book, so I will not be doing that. So today is just the introduction to the subject and like I said, it will probably be totally different than what you might expect. The Bible says that God is a Spirit (John 4:24). God existed throughout all of eternity, outside of the dimensions of time and space limitations that we exist within right now. The Bible says that God created the heavens and the earth (Gen 1:1). So God existed prior to the existence of this physical universe. We therefore know that the physical universe had a specific point of origin. When God created man in this world, God breathed the breath of life into him and this was Adam’s spirit which came from God’s Spirit (Gen 2:7). Hebrews 12:9 says that God is the Father of all spiritual beings. Therefore, man is technically a spiritual being that lives within a physical natural body (1 Th 5:23). Why is all of this important? Sometimes I just need to state the Bible basics before I try to introduce you to more advanced spiritual subjects found in the Bible and I do this to help refresh your memory. If you disagreed with anything that I have said so far, you will have greater difficulty with the remaining things to come. Let’s take a look at a verse that is not directly about the Eucharist but yet applies indirectly by the stated application.
2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
The Bible says that we need to focus our attention away from the natural physical things that we can perceive with our senses in the world and instead focus on the things that we cannot see. This is a contrasting verse that is comparing the natural dimension to the spiritual dimension. The Bible tells us clearly that those things that are natural and physical are just “temporal”. The English word temporal is translated from a Greek word (G4340) that means “temporary”. Anything that is considered temporary is not eternal. What God is saying is that this world is disposal and will change to the permanent some day in the future. Therefore, physical things can be viewed as being “here today and gone tomorrow” or “easy come and easier go”. What God is saying to us is that there exists nothing in this physical world that is visible that we can call “permanent”. Do you understand this? Only your unseen spirit which is present inside of your body right now will exist forever after your death and this existence will be either in heaven or in hell depending upon what you have done in this life to receive or reject the finished work of Christ Jesus. Of course God will create a New Heaven and a New Earth someday and these will exist forever and we who have received salvation will live there (Rev 21:1).
So I have probably just confused you up to this point. I have not even mentioned the “Eucharist”, or have I? Let me ask you this, can you touch the “Eucharist”? Can you smell the “Eucharist”? Can you taste the “Eucharist”? If you answer yes to any of these questions then they are natural physical things. These natural and physical elements according to the verse that we just read in 2 Cor 4:18, these are just more temporary things that God says we should not be focused on. Uh oh? I warned you that this was going to be controversial, didn’t I? That may make it sound like I am saying we should ignore them, but that is not what I’m saying at all. What I am saying is that we should be focused on the eternal spiritual objects represented by these natural symbolic elements that are only temporary physical things used to teach us. I am definitely not saying not to partake of these; I am just asking you to figure out why you are partaking of these and focus on the meaning behind partaking of them and not to focus on the physical bread or wine. You see after you die, you can take the meaning with you into eternity, but the physical bread and wine will remain here on the earth and turn to dust. Do you understand the difference between what I just said? What I am attempting to do is to change your perspective from a physical viewpoint to a far greater spiritual viewpoint. Let’s see what Jesus says about the Eucharist:
Mat 15:11 Not that which goeth into the mouth defileth a man; but that which cometh out of the mouth, this defileth a man.
Uh Oh? Jesus didn’t even mention the Eucharist, did He? As you should be able to clearly see He did talk about the Eucharist in an indirect reference. Jesus is talking about something going into your mouth as natural food. Unleaved bread and wine (grape juice) is normally used in the Eucharist church ceremony. What exactly is Bread and Wine? Here is another verse of scripture that is difficult to understand for many people. Jesus is speaking about the difference between natural things and spiritual things again. Jesus is saying that anything that you eat naturally and put into your mouth does not cause you to be “defiled”. To defile something is to cause it to be “unclean”, “polluted”, or to be “profane”. You can clearly see that Jesus is saying that it is not what you physically eat that causes you to sin and to become spiritually unclean. What would be the opposite truth (antithesis) to this statement that Jesus just made? I believe that it would be “There is nothing that you can physically eat that will make you “clean”, “pure” and “undefiled”. So what am I saying? I am saying that the “Eucharist” is a physical representation of something that is a spiritual truth that is more important than the physical pieces that you handle with your natural hands and put into your natural mouths. Jesus continues in this context to describe the things that you physically eat as being only natural things that are processed by the physical body and expelled down the toilet (Mat 15:17). So what makes the Eucharist elements any different? I think that is a very excellent question to consider. It would only be different if you knew what it all meant and how it all applied to your life as you partook of these elements. Without the knowledge and the reason for the action the action seems to be worthless to me based upon what Jesus just taught us about eating physical food. What we are seeing now in the Bible is a pattern of truths being revealed to us. There is a major difference between natural things and spiritual things. The natural things are placed here as temporary teaching tools and the spiritual things are the eternal things to be focused upon. Doing natural things without understanding the spiritual things behind them actually does you no good physically, emotionally or spiritually. I pray that you are grasping these important concepts.
What I am trying to say is DO NOT do things just because you are told to do them or asked to do them by a preacher or a priest. Do not do something just because others around you are doing them and you want to fit in. People have been poisoned and died by following that type of reasoning, simply because the cult leader that they were following determined it was time for everyone to die. What I am saying is find out why you are doing something in the natural realm using the Word of God and what it means and then use that information to determine if this what you should be doing. Follow God’s Word and not any man, any priest, any preacher, any denomination, group or whatever. Let God be True and every man a liar (Rom 3:4). I am attempting to teach the difference between religion and a real relationship with Jesus Christ. Religion is anyone partaking of a ritual set of elements without any knowledge of why they are participating. Relationship with Christ is worshipping the God in the knowledge of the one that offered His body and His blood so that we could be saved while we remember Him through partaking the elements. Let me give you another example of what I am trying to say from the Words of our Savior Jesus:
Mat 23:25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
Jesus is again contrasting the differences between temporary natural things and far greater spiritual things. Jesus is telling those that He was speaking to, that they were hypocrites. Why were they this way? Jesus said they were focused only on the outside of the cup (body) and not the inside of the cup (spirit). This was of course more symbolic representations for the temporary natural things of this world and the eternal spiritual things. Being focused just upon the taking of the “Eucharist” without knowing the reason why you are taking it would be an example of this type of hypocritical religious behavior. If you do something lacking any knowledge about why you doing it, the act becomes a pagan ritual or a religious rite that is attempting to please a god that you do not know and these are what Jesus was calling the actions of ignorant hypocrites. By only doing something externally while not knowing the reasons why you are doing it internally, you could be falling into a deceptive pattern found within any godless religion in the world. Do you understand that? What would make the taking of the Eucharist in a church any different than participating in an Islamic temple rite? I can literally see no difference between the two if they are both done in religious acts of ignorance. This is another statement Jesus said about these hypocrites:
Mat 15:9 But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
Jesus is clearly saying that these men worship God in vain, because they were teaching the “doctrines” and “commandments” of men. So when you do something that you do not have any reasons for why you are doing it, how do you know it is not a humanly created doctrine of man? Perhaps it could even be something that was designed by Satan to deceive you into a lie? Jesus said by adding your thoughts on top of the Word of God, you render the Word of God to be of No Effect! (Mat 15:6) These are all very strong words of warning to all those who practice religion and do not know God. Your religion will not save you. The partaking of the elements will not saved you. Going to church will not save you. Becoming a member of the church will not save you. Being baptized in water will not save you. I could go on and on but you get the point, I hope.
In these verses Jesus is talking about a strongly religious group of people of the Jews called the “Pharisees”. These men came up with their own set of rules and outward traditions that they thought made them righteous in the eyes of God. What you must know is God is much more concerned with the eternal spiritual you than He is with the temporary physical you. What I am attempting to teach you today is that doing things in the natural are worthless if you are not aware of the reasons why they are to be done. The Pharisees clearly did many good looking things externally in this world but internally they were corrupt and this was their downfall. If we die physically and know Jesus Christ the Bible says that we will go to be with the Lord (2 Cor 5:8). However, if you die physically and do not know Jesus Christ, then you are eternally lost in hell. Physical things done in your natural body are just temporary things and God is much more focused upon your eternal spirit and your soul that is inside your physical body that you cannot see. Real salvation always starts on the inside in your spirit and shows up on the outside in what you do and say. God changes your heart inside of you and this will always show up in the things you do on the outside later. The opposite of this is Religion which is man’s attempt to change himself to please God and God said this will never work. (Gal 2:6)
Any Christian who can not give a scriptural reason for why they are participate in the “Eucharist”, do you now see why it might be important to find that information before the next time you blindly participate? Does it make a difference if you do something with our without knowledge? Is it just the fact that we did something that makes it right? Is the fact that someone blindly participates in something that causes them to be in God’s favor? I do not think that God would have written the Bible, if He wanted you to blindly parrot and monkey religious rites. What makes Christianity different than any religion in the world? It is the fact that we have a personal relationship with God and in other religions they are trying to just please a god that they do not personally know or understand. So I’ll ask you again, does blindly following a ritual cause you to derive any benefit from what you did? Not according to what Jesus just said in Matthew 23. Jesus told us these were just the action of religious hypocrites. Please do not be offended at what I just said. I am not naming names and I did not call anyone this by name. I’m just reading the Bible and people need to decide if the Bible applies to them or not. I’m not your judge, so I will not judge you or whatever you do.
I think I will stop this introduction to the subject of Eucharist right here for now. I know I did not attempt to define the term or explain what it is or how it applies to us today. I think these will have to be future topics that we discuss as we continue to learn. Today I wanted to get you to think afresh and I wanted to shift your focus off of physical natural things and get you to start focusing on lasting spiritual things. Quit being a person who does something and does not know or understand why they are doing it. There is a major difference between natural and spiritual things and it is time for the Church to realize it. Are the temporary things in the world more important to you than the eternal spiritual things of God in you? If they are God and anything else that I tell you from the Bible can’t help you. Be blessed in the knowledge of Him that is Faithful and True. If you have any specific questions or comments please feel free to share them with me. If you have any experience with participating in religious rites without understanding the reasons why you are doing them, please share those also. Until next time, God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading the next lesson in this series, you may go to “Part 2” now.
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! The Kingdom of God is Like a Man that Sowed Good Seed! Part 5
(Ver 1.2) This is now part 5 of a series of lessons on seeds in the Bible. Hopefully if you have been reading this series you have started to understand the importance of knowing and fully understanding this subject. Jesus seemed to indicate that this subject was the key to understanding every other subject in the Bible. God has designed and implemented a wide variety of natural objects and laws as views into the spiritual realm that we do not know very much about. The natural laws concerning “seeds” are just one prime example of this revelation. God believes that you can plant just a single seed and expect a vast harvest. God planted the man Jesus Christ as a seed and He has been waiting for all of the fruit of this sown seed for the last 2000 years. Since I can not fully explain everything or repeat everything that is said in every blog, I would strongly suggest that you go back and and start reading with “Part 1” if you have not read from the start.
In the last lesson we discussed that Jesus was a seed. As you may also recall I also implied in a previous lesson that Adam was a seed. However, Adam was a natural seed and Jesus the Last Adam was a spiritual seed. In Genesis 1, God spoke to Adam and told him to be “fruitful” and to “multiply”. These are seed concepts that we have already discussed in some level of detail. Fruit comes from seeds and the fruit has the seeds to produce more fruit. This is the natural law of multiplication. Most seeds that you plant in the ground always produce multiple or multiplied new seeds. If you plant a seed of corn in the ground it will grow a new plant that can have anywhere from one to eight new ears of corn on it. Each ear of corn can contain anywhere from 200 to 400 new seeds. So doing simple math, we can say one kernel of corn seed is potentially multiplied into as many as (8 x 400=3200) new seeds. If you take these 3200 new seeds and plant them; potentially you get 3200 x 3200 new seeds that is more than multiplied growth, it is now becoming exponential growth. This represents the power of a single seed in the Bible. It only takes one seed to have potential explosive growth. God started with just one man named Jesus and this has resulted in a very large number of believers today. This is exactly why Jesus could say the Kingdom of God is like a man that plants a seed.
Today I want to explore some new concepts of seeds in the Bible using another parable that Jesus taught us. In this parable the Kingdom of Heaven is again being spoken of and a man is again planting seeds into the ground. It seems that Jesus used this seed analogy repeatedly to try to teach us new spiritual things. So let’s see what Jesus is saying now:
Mat 13:24 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a man which sowed good seed in his field:
So while Jesus is declaring another parable about a very similar subject, He is at the same time giving us additional information about the spiritual laws of seeds. In the last parable, Jesus qualified the noun seed with the adjective “mustard” meaning he limited the scope to a specific type of seed. In Matthew 13:24 Jesus does the exact same thing, but this time says this is “good” seed. With the addition of a simple adjective of “good” Jesus teaches us that there are also “bad” or “evil” seeds in the world. In my front yard I sometimes call these weeds, because these can be thorns and thistles and they are never anything that I planted. What we immediately conclude is that not every seed is “good”. Remember what God said was the “good” seed. Jesus taught us in the parable of the Sower that the seed was the “Word of God”. Obviously the Word of God is the Good Seed that potentially produced the Good Fruit. So what is “bad” or “evil” seed? I think we are about to find out:
Mat 13:25 But while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way.
It is important to note that God’s good seed is planted to produce “wheat”. Wheat is a very specific crop with a very specific purpose. It is critical for you to see if God would have wanted corn, He would have planted corn, if God would have wanted potatoes, God would have planted potatoes. What we learn is that God’s seed is specifically designed to produce a very specific crop for a very specific purpose. Wheat is normally ground up and we create flour with it and this is the key component to making bread. It is interesting Jesus talked about He was the bread of life. We can clearly see an association between Jesus the grain of wheat seed being sown to produce the future bread. After Jesus arose, the explosion of the Word of God grew very significantly. This growth was in both the new written words of the New Testament and the increased understanding of the Old Testament.
Many will try to interpret this parable and say things that it does not say. According to the Bible, God does not sleep or slumber, yet Jesus as a physical man certainly slept. However, now we are not talking about just God anymore. We must recall what the soil represented in the Parable of the Sower. The soil represented people in the world. Now that changes everything. People do sleep both physically and spiritually. Natural sleep is a pattern for spiritual sleep. We all normally sleep at night and work during the day. These are symbols and typology for the hearts of man also. Those in the night are those in darkness and they are spiritually asleep. God has given to us the “Good Seed”, the True Word, but yet God is not here personally to give it out and teach it to us in the flesh anymore. So this is a parable about the good seed creating the new spiritual Kingdom of God. Where exactly is the Kingdom of God located? Many will try to say it is in heaven, but this is not what Jesus taught. If you read in Luke 17:21, Jesus told us that the Kingdom of God is now “within us”. We therefore know that this Kingdom of God is within our spirits, right here and right now. So what do you call those that have the Kingdom of God in them right now? You call them Christians, those that are in the light! The opposite to those in the light are those who are in the darkness. These are those who spiritually sleep and slumber. These are the men who slept that Jesus is talking about in this parable. God didn’t begin to give us the Bible (good seed) for over 2000 years of human history. The Bible has grown over the next 2000 years from a few books into our current 66 books of the KJV Old and New Testaments. This is another example of the multiplication of seed. While men were in the darkness and spiritually asleep, Satan came and sowed tares. We clearly see that the tares came from a false, bad, evil set of words being spoken. You can call them lies, falsehoods, deceptive words, deceits, fabrications and you can even call them “leaven” even though we have not really discussed what symbolic “leaven” is yet. Leaven is something you mix with wheat and it changes the bread makeup. This is a spiritual principle that Jesus taught us to beware the Leaven of the Pharisees. The Pharisees would constantly take the word of God and add their own rules and words on top of the true words. Thus they diluted the truth with lies. I hope that you do understand who this enemy of God is? It is certainly Satan who has sown the seeds of the tares. Satan is a spiritual being created by God who was found to have sin in him. As we have learned that field represents the hearts of man. So we have seen that an enemy has come and planted “bad” seeds into the hearts of people in the world today.
Mat 13:26 But when the blade was sprung up, and brought forth fruit, then appeared the tares also.
What we have clearly learned from what Jesus taught us is that God has enemies. Spiritual forces that manipulate and deceive people into believing things that are not from God. God has given to us the “Good Seed” and this implies that Satan has sown “Evil Seed”. That means that not everything that comes along being taught is what God said. We can clearly see that false religions in the world are a trick of the enemy to distract and deceive you. We can also understand that false teachers will also come along and try to deceive you with enticing words.
All of this is just the practice of people teaching right or wrong things. The sowers are the teachers in the world today and the seeds are the words spoken. It is very rare that any man on earth teaches the pure Bible concepts without tares. Why is this? It is primarily because no man knows the entire Bible and everything that is in it and everything that it means. There is no man on the planet that is God who knows everything. So therefore, we must all become tolerant of each other’s ignorance and strive to come up higher and learn the truth. We are all on the paths of learning, or at least we should be on these paths. If you are not still learning new things then you are stagnating in a cesspool of ignorance. God tells us all to “Get more knowledge, but with all of your getting, get also understanding”. Jesus taught us to “continue” in the Word. To continue is an ongoing process, a never ending state of learning. Only by continuing, Jesus said you could be called His disciples and only then would you actually know the truth and be set free.
This parable continues to discuss many things concerning the Kingdom of God. God tells us that the seeds of the Kingdom will continue to grow with the tares of the enemy as long as it is not time to harvest. God tells us, if he would have torn out the tares, he could have taken out some of the wheat because the roots can be entangled with each other. However, there is coming a harvest time and I believe it is very near. It would appear to me that those in the darkness are growing stronger in their evil ways. The evil in the world is running rampant and unless God does something soon this will not be a good place to be.
Seed concepts are critical to understand for every Christian. I believe that if you grow spiritually you will be able to know the times and the seasons and be able to recognize the times of the impending harvest.
If you would like to continue reading this series you can go to “Part 6“.
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“.
Understanding Seeds in the Bible! Except a Seed Fall into the Ground and Die! Part 4
(Ver 2.3) This is now Part 4 of a series of lessons on seeds. Seeds are a vast complex subject found in the Bible. God uses natural seed concepts and applies them to spiritual things in repeated references found in the Bible. Today I will show you some more of the references that Jesus used to describe why He was here and how that He was both a physical and a spiritual “seed”. In the last lesson we reviewed the parable of the Sower and examined the symbolic elements to gain an understanding of what Jesus called the most important “parable”. In learning the concepts of this parable we can transfer much of that knowledge to other parables that Jesus taught us. If you have not been reading this series from the beginning, I would suggest that you stop and go back and start reading with “Part 1”. I have been going through the Bible showing you several different things that God calls seeds. Here is the original list again:
- Natural Grass Seeds
- Natural Fruit Seeds
- The Seed of a Man, His Sperm
- The Seed of a Woman, Her Children
- The Seed of a Man and a Woman, their offspring
- The Word of God
- The Seed of your Mouth, Your Words
- The Body of Jesus Christ
- The Church
- Your Body
These are of course not every type of seed mentioned in the Bible, only some of the ones that I wanted to show you. We have gone through and reviewed some verses about natural seeds in Genesis and learned some applicable laws that apply to every type of seed. The first law was that a seed always produces after its own kind. The second law of seeds is that the seed is always within itself. Both of these concepts transfer to many other types of seeds revealed to us in the Bible and you should understand them. If you recall I showed that every future generation or descendant of a man, is said to be in the man. God shows us that whatever the father did, is what their descendants did.
Today I want to show you another parable that Jesus taught us about seeds. After reading this you should become aware of why it is so important to know and to understand this subject. Let’s begin by reading in Matthew 13:31:
Mat 13:31 Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field:
Again, Jesus refers to the Kingdom of Heaven as being like a man who planted a seed. However, this lesson while very similar is very different than the previous lesson of the Parable of the Sower. Both are about a man, both are about seeds, and both involve planting seed in the ground to grow something. But, this time the seed is said to be singular. This is a new perspective on an old subject about a new type of seed or a new concept about the nature of seeds. In the Parable of the Sower the seed represented the Word of God (Luke 8:11). However, in this parable the seed is something completely different while being completely the same thing at the same time. Hopefully you will understand why I said that as we continue to learn. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is like a man that plants “One” seed and it grows into a massive tree in a field. Jesus is referring to a specific seed and qualifies it to be a “mustard” seed. Any time you qualify a noun you limit the scope of the noun and narrow the meaning. In other words, you exclude every other seed, for the type described. What we can see is that Jesus was teaching that NOT just any seed will work; it has to be a mustard seed. The mustard seed is not widely used in the Bible, but perhaps we will look at some more references to it later. What we learn is a symbolic meaning that not just any type of seed will work for what God wants to accomplish. God selected a specific seed to accomplish His plan and we will soon discover that Jesus was this seed:
Mat 13:32 Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.
Jesus calls this type of seed to be the least among all seeds. Jesus could be referring to the physical size of the seed, but yet I believe that is not what He is saying. We know today that there are many seeds that are smaller seeds than a mustard seed in the world. So Jesus must be referring to something else, a symbolic characteristic and not a physical attribute of the seed. What we should learn from this verse is that most great things have very humble beginnings. It is the classic analogy of the fact that the greatest oak trees come from little acorns. I know of practically nothing that starts big and just stays big. We are being presented a new perspective of the seed concept that all great things usually start as very small things. This goes against human nature, doesn’t it? Everyone wants to hit the lottery and win millions of dollars and then think that will solve all of their problems. However, God is teaching us a different lesson using seeds. This is part of the message that Jesus is attempting to get over to us. This is some of the key reasons of why the natural nation of Israel missed the first coming of their Messiah. Jesus did not come how they expected him to come, nor did He do what they desired Him to do. They were looking for a great and powerful savior and not a humble man that would not even save Himself. The disciples would ask Jesus “are you going to restore the kingdom of Israel now” (Acts 1:6). Israel was looking for the grand restoration and not for a small beginning. This is a classic example of the misunderstanding of the importance of how seeds work. Israel did not recognize the Seed of God as He walked among them. Jesus came to the earth as just a small, insignificant humble man. Jesus was God almighty who became like the least of all the men on the planet. Why would God almighty take the time to wash the feet of His disciples? Why did Jesus do this? It all goes back to seeds. God was planting a seed that would grow into a great spiritual Kingdom and not a physical Kingdom. This Kingdom did not come with a natural conquering mighty force, this Kingdom did not have a natural army with natural weapons, and this Kingdom did not come with much pomp and exalting circumstances. In fact this Kingdom cannot be physically seen at all, unless Christians choose to display it to others. Here is why Jesus said that He came to the earth:
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Wow! That is a very deep statement about the reality of how seeds work. Who is Jesus talking about? Who is this seed? You should be able to see that Jesus is this seed that He is referring to. Jesus prophesied His death, His burial and the resulting fruit that would spring forth from that planting. Jesus predicts that there will be much fruit that will come from His death. How was Jesus able to do this? It was because Jesus understood the concept of seeds. Plant a little seed and get a great harvest. From little humble beginnings can grow great and mighty things. This is a key seed principle and law that applies to what God was doing on the earth through Jesus Christ. In John 12:24, Jesus says that a kernel of corn (a seed) will be alone if it does not die. I believe that God is trying to teach us that the Seed of Jesus has been planted to produce more people in the world like Jesus. This is just a basic typology of how the seed produces more of itself in the earth. Just ONE little seed planted can produce a huge harvest over time. Let me show you some prophetic verses in the O.T. concerning Jesus:
Jer 23:5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.
You can read the Bible without studying and totally miss what is said. In this verse if you do not look up the definition of the key words you will breeze right over what God is trying to teach you about. The Key word that I want to look at is “Branch”. It is qualified to be a righteous Branch so we know this is Jesus. The Hebrew word “Branch” in this verse is a word that mean “sprouts”, “springs up”, “buds”. These are all “SEED” concept words. You plant a righteous seed, and you get a righteous harvest. That is what God is attempting to get you to see. The coming Messiah was a SEED man! Let me show you another verse of prophecy about this seed of God:
Eze 34:29 And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
Here is another verse about the coming Messiah and Israel missed it. God is saying I will “raise up” a “PLANT” of character. This word for “Plant” in the Hebrew means something that is planted in a garden. Sure sounds like a seed to me, how about you? I just wanted to show you some O.T. examples of this coming seed so that you would not think that I just make this stuff up. It is really amazing what the Bible says when you can see it.
What have we learned? We learned that God planted a seed, and this was a lowly humble man called Jesus Christ. But, through this humble beginning we see the growth that has transpired over the course of 2000 years. The church of Jesus Christ is now greater in strength and numbers than at any time in the past 2000 years. I am a firm believer that Jesus is expecting a triumphant church, a great church that has made herself ready. God planted the original seed, and it has grown over the course of time and developed further into this great prophesied tree that the birds of the air can now build nests within.
So maybe I should explain a little better the difference between the Parable of the Sower and the Parable of the Mustard Seed. You see in the parable of the sower, the seed is the Word of God. The Word of God is being spread by the teaching and preaching of Jesus Christ throughout the Gospels. But, if you have studied the Bible you also know that Jesus Christ is the Word of God!. According to John 1:1, “in the beginning was the word and the word was with God and the word was God”. By simple laws of mathematics we can substitute “Seed” for “Word” in this verse and see that it now says this:
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Seed, and the Seed was with God, and the Seed was God.
From the laws of mathematics, we can apply the truth that if A=B, then B=A and “Word” = “Seed” and see a new simple truth, that God is the Seed and that God had the Seed within Himself. Then we can learn from reading down in the chapter the following:
Joh 1:14 And the Seed (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.
God’s Seed takes on flesh and lives and walked among us. We can now better understand how Jesus can call himself the Seed. We can also better understand how God can plant this Seed Jesus and expect a spiritual harvest. Jesus was a spiritual seed of God and God now expects a harvest of more spiritual fruit. God believes that you can plant a seed and get a harvest. The ending of a matter is always greater than its beginning. I think where people get confused is in the fact that Jesus is multiple seeds simultaneously and this certainly makes our life more complicated in understanding the differences. Let me give you a list of the types of Seed Jesus is Associated with in the Bible:
- Spiritual Seed = Word of God (Parable of Sower)
- Natural Seed of God (Mustard Seed)
- Spiritual Seed of God (Son of God)
- Natural Seed of Mary (Son of Man)
- Natural Seed of David (Son of David)
- Natural Seed of Abraham (Son of Abraham)
- Natural Seed of Adam (Son of Man)
This is probably not a complete list, but it is all that I can come up with right now. If I locate other reference, I will update this list. I will end this blog here and hope that you have learned some new things from the Bible. God Bless!
If you would like to continue reading in this series, you can go to “Part 5“.
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