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Taking “A” Truth and Trying to Make it “The” Truth
(Ver 1.1) Today I want to do a Bible lesson on a subject concerning mistakes that people make while trying to interpret and understand the Bible. There are many possible mistakes that people make and this is just one of them that I have seen. It has very deep roots and is very prevalent in the church. There are probably no Christians today that have not been guilty of cooperating with this mistake to some extent. Today’s subject surrounds truths. Truth and knowing the truth is absolutely essential to mature spiritually. However, too many Christians take one truth and exalt it to be the only truth found in the Bible.
This is just another prime example of error in action. While private Bible interpretation is probably the number one problem with most Bible teaching, this one is probably number two on my list. I’ve seen people do this so many times across the board in every denomination. So what does it mean to take a truth and make it the truth? It basically involves jumping to the wrong conclusions. This action does not make that truth, untrue by itself. Most of the time a truth that you know is actually true. But that truth is not the complete truth on the subject.
For example, I have heard ministers say something like “Nowhere in the Bible does it say blah, blah, blah…”. Right at that point I know that is probably does not represent the truth. No one except God knows the entire Bible and what it all means. Therefore, a statement of “Nowhere, does the Bible say” should be viewed with great skepticism. In order to make this type of claim, a persons would have to understand Hebrew and Greek completely. Then they would have to understand the selection of words associated together to convey a meaning completely. This would also require understanding of figurative speaking, slang speaking, symbolic speaking and many other forms of communications used in the Bible. That is an enormous task for humans.
Some other people want to take a well known Bible fact and attempt to say it is this way and no other way. The mistake is made that they ignore all other viewpoints on the subject in favor of the one they like the best. To be fair to most, I would say the problem is rooted in the fact that they just haven’t seen or even become aware that other views exist. I believe this is because they are so focused on the one thing that they do know they are not looking to find anything that could contradict or confirm it. It doesn’t discount what they know as being in error, unless they say that every other point of view is wrong and only we are right. This is predominantly the root of every denominational war throughout the centuries. We are right and everyone else is wrong. I’ve got bad news for you, only God is right and everyone else is at the least a little bit wrong. The sooner we learn that, the sooner we will all grow up and mature and become the children of God that He desires.
I once heard this challenge put into an analogy of climbing a mountain. Studying the Bible is like climbing the highest mountain in the world. It is a huge challenge and very few if any have reached the top. However, we are all climbing the same mountain to find the truth. But we all have different views off of the mountain based upon our perspectives. If you are on the north side of the mountain you have one view, the south side a different view, the east side a different view, the west side as yet another view. Everyone is trying to say only our view is correct and yours must be in error because I don’t see it that way. People, we are all climbing the same mountain, understand and know there are different ways to view the same thing. Our viewpoints are based upon what we have seen in the Bible and the things that we haven’t seen is probably just because we are not on that part of the mountain. Of course I am speaking in very figurative terms in this discussion. But I hope that you understand the meaning. I use to really like to go on vacation to Colorado and I would always try to pick a high mountain to climb. Sometimes I would take a flag to leave on top of the mountain. This was just a sign that we made it. I hope you are climbing this Bible mountain and will learn this climbing lesson.
I use this example, but I don’t name names of who said it. If you know who said it, please ask him to forgive me. But, I will use this illustration as a prime example of exalting one truth at the exclusion of all other truth. I heard a well known Bible teacher say “the church is the body of Christ and not the bride”. He said, search the scripture and you won’t find anything that says Christians are the bride of Christ. What a statement of ignorance and arrogance. I’ve already written a Bible lesson series explaining how the church became the body of Christ so I won’t attempt to repeat that lesson here. What we have though is an example of someone taking one truth and trying to make it the entire, complete and only truth about the church.
You see I don’t have a problem with the church being the body of Christ, I can see all of scriptures that tells us that is what we are. I am in total agreement with the first part of his claim of truth. But, I asked God another question and that is, how did the church become the body of Christ? He then showed me the answers that explained it in the Bible quite literally and explicitly. If you have not read or studied how the church can be the Body and the Bride simultaneously I would suggest the you go and read that lesson by clicking “HERE“.
So most people who make this common mistake of taking a truth and trying to make it the truth, probably have not asked enough questions. They simply read a Bible verse and jump on that band wagon and think they found out something that no one else knows. Sometimes that can be true, but most of the time, it only means that we have discovered a part of the truth and we still need to dig further down to learn more. God’s Word is in ever increasing depths of complexity. Many times we discover something very simple on the surface and do not realize that there is more to it underneath the surface. We can call this the iceberg analogy. What we can see above the water is usually attached to so much more that we cannot see below the surface of the water. Don’t be a Titanic Christian and not understand this principle or we can easily sink like they did by seeing it too late. This is a very important concept to grasp in understanding the Bible.
So taking a truth and attempting to make it the truth is based upon an accumulation of other errors and mistakes people make of which could be one or more of the following:
- No desire to learn all of the Truth
- Jumping to Conclusions
- Making Wrong Assumptions
- Not asking the right Questions
- Insufficient Knowledge. Not knowing enough of the facts (or all of the facts if that is possible)
- Not having sufficient understanding of the subject
What we all need to realize is that there is more than one truth in the Bible. Each truth will fit together, balance and work in conjunction with all the other truths of the Bible. We should all begin by admitting we don’t know all the truth and continue to search to find and learn more truth. We should all be striving to understand as much as we can about everything that God says in the Bible. We should all strive diligently to correctly divide the Word of Truth. We should also all give others who make mistakes some extended effort of forgiveness and grace. This includes me if you don’t agree with what I teach. Perhaps you know something that I don’t and if you would share it kindly instead of calling me names or criticizing me, I could learn from you. Jesus while hanging on the cross said Father forgive them for they know not what they do. People today are the same as they were back then and they still do a lot of stupid things out of ignorane and think they are so right in doing them.
Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with me. I hope and pray that this short lesson gave you some food for thought. Please share it with a friend. God Bless you all.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 8 The Bride in the New Testament 2
(Ver 1.1) This is now Part 8 in the series of lessons on the Bride of Christ Revealed. I have been going through an intentionally designed set of information to step you through a process so that you could clearly see and understand the identity of the Bride of Christ. We have discussed a lot of subjects and a lot of scriptures. These are absolutely critical for you to understand so that you know who you are in Christ. By knowing who you are spiritually, it clearly indentifies you and your responsibility in the spiritual realm. If you have not read these blogs from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start with Part 1 The Introduction and then continue forward in progressive blogs so that you can clearly see and understand what God is saying.
I heard a minister say that speaking of Saul in the book of Acts when Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus, that those scriptures prove we (the church) represents Christ. Jesus says to Saul “why persecuteth thou me” in the book of Acts and if Jesus said you are doing something to me that proves we are Him. But, you see the reason that Jesus could make that statement, is because it says in Corinthians that the church is one spirit with Christ because they were joined or married to him. So we are not Christ, but have been joined to him by a marriage covenant, making us His body. This is the law of Genesis 2 concerning marriage, where God said the two will become one body. I tell you if you ignore these easy scriptures, you are going to have a lot of problems with the harder stuff in the Bible. In the last lesson we looked at the verse in 1 Corinthians:
1 Cor 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
This verse says that the church was joined to the Lord and became one Spirit. To be joined to someone is different than actually being someone. A wife is always joined to her husband and she becomes his flesh and bone. But that never means her role changes. She is never the husband or the head in the relationship. This is just basic reasoning and logic based upon scripture that we have read in Ephesians. Look at the Greek G2853 word translated as “joined” in the Strong’s dictionary:
G2853
From κόλλα kolla (“glue”); to glue, that is, (passively or reflexively) to stick (figuratively): – cleave, join (self), keep company.
The word translated as “joined” means to glue, cleave, or to stick together. This is another clear definition of marriage which is the act of taking two separate distinct people and making one out of them. That’s marriage in the clearest form of God’s definition given to us by God himself in Genesis 2, Matthew 19:5, Mark 10:7-8 and Ephesians 5:31. The two shall become one flesh. Glue is the joining substance and this could very well represent the Holy Spirit. But the purpose of glue is to take two separate and distinct pieces and join them or put them together and make one piece out of them. It is interesting that this Greek word is different than the previous Greek word that we looked at and since I am not a Greek language expert I don’t really have an explanation of why and how it is different. However, I did notice that the Greek word G4347 which is used in Ephesians 5:31, Matthew 19:5 and Mark 10:7 in the marriage law from Genesis comes from G2853 so they are definitely connected and definitely related and they definitely say and mean the same thing.
I don’t know how to make this any clearer. So if you think the church is still not the bride based upon these great witnesses I sure hope you will begin to see it someday. There are certainly more scriptures in the Bible that indicate that the church is the bride of Christ and I will give you some more for the stubborn and those who have chosen to close their eyes to the truth. Here is one that I found that I thought was very interesting and certainly fits together with a bunch of what we have been studying. This scripture is found in the book of Revelation and here we have Jesus himself again speaking to the church. Notice the words are in Red and then notice closely what Jesus is saying to us.
Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
I want you to first notice who this is written to, to whom is Jesus speaking? According to verse 13 of chapter 3 it is written directly to the church. That is certainly a critical point to understand up front. Then let’s go back to verse 12 and see what Jesus said to the church. The primary subject or theme of the verse appears to me to be a name changing operation. He says to them that have overcome, He will do what? He is going to give these people a new name. From what I see it could be three different names or all three new name references could also be the same. But did you notice the relationship to the new Jerusalem? This is definitely a part of the naming process. Who gets a new name in a normal wedding and marriage? Of course it has traditionally been the bride that takes the name of their husband. If the church was already the body of Christ, I don’t think there would be any need to write a new name on his body if the head already has a new name, then the body also has a new name. But, somehow Jesus finds it necessary to write a new name on the church, that sure sounds like a marriage to me. Putting the pieces of the puzzle together correctly sure seems to make things work together better. One of the main take away from this verse would be to see the association of the name “New Jerusalem” to the church. Are you one of the overcomers Jesus is speaking to? Jesus is telling you if you are, then you are the New Jerusalem of God. You are the city called New Jerusalem. You are the new house and temple of God. You have become a pillar in the temple of God. A pillar is a key part of a structure that holds the other parts together and keeps it from falling down. That is a major responsibility being given to us. What I wanted you to see was a verse of scripture that implies a marriage between a bridegroom and a bride. The bride should be willing to take the new name of her husband and this is what Jesus is telling us to do. What we have is a confirmation to the fact that the bride of Christ is a spiritual city of people called the New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem is a New Covenant marriage between Jesus Christ and the church.
I want to show you some verses in the Bible written to the church that clearly reveal us to be a chosen woman. Do you realize that when a man asks a woman to marry him, that man has already made a choice. Out of all the women on the planet, that man chose this one. That was a selection of one and the rejection of all the rest. This is what Christ has done and you can find that in the Bible if you look for it. Let’s read this verse:
2Jn 1:1 The elder unto the elect lady and her children, whom I love in the truth; and not I only, but also all they that have known the truth;
So what do you do with a verse like this? It is easily explained away or it can be taken and understood to be very profound. God is writing a letter to the church through the Apostle John and he calls all of us the “elect lady”. If you think only naturally you will try to say this is a letter written to a dear friend of John or maybe his wife. It is a great error to conclude that based upon the context of the words that are written. The “elect lady” being called “her” is the spiritual church of God. A lady by definition is a woman with character and moral standards. It would be the opposite of calling a woman a “whore”. Uh oh, I guess I won’t go there.
2Jn 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
As you can see John and God calls the church a lady. The commandment of love was the same new commandment that Jesus gave to John and the rest of the disciples. This commandment is now being passed on to the rest of the body of Christ. However, you have to see that the church is called “a lady”. A lady certainly qualifies to be the bride of Christ.
It seems that there are numerous other scriptures that imply marriage even though they don’t say it directly. Here are some of those that I have found, you of course can disagree and ignore them if you like. Remember in the Old Testament the word “Knew” was used numerous times for a sexual act between a husband and a wife. It says “Adam knew his wife Eve and they had a son”. That of course represents a covenant act between a husband and his wife as we have seen before. There are numerous scriptures in the New Testament that could very easily be taken to mean the same thing but in a spiritual context, not a natural physical act. After all God is a Spirit. His Spirit resides in the believer and as we have seen they become one Spirit with Him.
Gal 4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
You can see from this verse that there is a two way street being spoken of. We the church are now said to know God and now God also knows us. This is spiritual knowledge and represents a spiritual consensual covenant act. This is marriage in the purest spiritual form. We can easily ignore verses like this or overlook them or we can figure out what they are saying and believe them. Here is another example of God knowing us the church.
2Ti 2:19 Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity.
We can again see a covenant act of consensual spiritual knowledge being expressed in this verse. It said the Lord “knows” them that are his. It would be the same as saying Adam knows his wife and they had a son. I guess some might say we shouldn’t be talking about this kind of stuff in a lesson about God. I think they forget who invented and created sex. You can see God all over it if you look at it the right way. The other critical piece of information in this verse is the reference to a name change again. Again this describes a marriage covenant act of a name change performed by the bride. This verse in 2nd Timothy 2:19 says that they (everyone) have taken the name of Christ. Here we can see another reference to how the church became the body of Christ, by taking his name in marriage. Moving on to a couple of other example, I found in the book of 1 John these verses.
1Jn 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.
1Jn 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
As you may or may not know, John wrote and delivered a thematic message of Love. Love was his primary theme throughout all of his writings. We again see the covenant act portrayed in verses like these in direct relationship with love. This of course fits precisely with God’s definition of a covenant marriage. It’s amazing how many verses you can find that speak of the church in terms of the Bride if you look for them. I hope I am helping you to see these verses in a new light. Here is another interesting scripture reference that also speaks of the church as the bride of Christ in a clear but indirect reference:
Rom 9:24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?
Rom 9:25 As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.
You can see in verse 24 of chapter 9 of Romans that it is speaking to those God has called? I cannot speak for you, but I know that is me. He then informs us that this group of called individuals are made up of both Jews and Gentiles. That is correct, isn’t it? Then in verse 25 He speaks of the prophecy of Hosea and that is an interesting reference that we really haven’t explored very much. Let me first point out the last statement in that verse, that says I will call her my beloved who was not my beloved. That sure sounds like a marriage to me. If you recall, Hosea was commanded by God to marry a whore. He went and bought her out of whoredom and married her. While this could indirectly relate to the Gentiles, we know for sure that it is speaking of Israel as being the whore. The Old Testament quote is given that I will call them my people who were not my people. Right here we miss something that is implied and is dramatically different than what I’ve heard many teach. Many preachers speak of the nation of Israel as being God’s people today. I certainly believe that in the Old Testament, Israel were God’s people. But this verse says that I will call those that are not my people, my people. Do you understand the reciprocal truth given here? What is an inverse or reciprocal truth? I’m not sure if you’ve ever thought about that question or not. It is mathematical in its roots. The inverse or reciprocal of a number is the measurable opposite of what is given. In other words it is the opposite or negative truth of the positive truth that is given. It means the verse says more than what is on the surface. If the people who were not God’s people are now God’s people, what happened to those that use to be God’s people? The inference is that they are now not God’s people and can never be God’s people again because they were once God’s people. You see something that is pretty hard to grasp if you are not a logical, mathematical type thinker, grasping concepts and laws that are based in these verses can be difficult.
Since Israel is not my primary subject, I really can’t elaborate any more on verses like that one in this blog. I will recommend that you do some additional research on your own about Israel and their fate. I think where we need to go now is to review some more Old Testament types and shadows of the bride of Christ. So let’s dive into the Old Testament. In my next blog we will go back into the Old Testament and look for patterns, types and shadows for Christ and the church as the bride. We have already seen the Old Testament reference to the nation of Israel as being a woman, a wife and a bride to God in the Old Covenant. That is certainly a great pattern for the New Covenant, but there are other verse in the Old Testament that we should also be aware of. So until next time I hope you are having a great day.
If you would like to continue reading this series, you can go to “Part 9“.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 7 The Bride in the New Testament
(Ver 1.1) This is now Part 7 in this series on the subject of the Bride of Christ Revealed and I have covered a lot of information on the subject. In my last blog on this subject I introduced you to some very strong New Testament verses that confirm the identity of the Bride of Christ directly as being the church. Ephesians chapter 5 is predominately about the subject of marriage and the relationships between husbands and wives. We went verse by verse through key verses in this chapter and counted the references to see how many times natural husbands and wives were mentioned and then we looked at how these natural marriages fit a pattern for a greater spiritual truth. Jesus is clearly given to be the head, the husband and the bridegroom in these verses. The church is clearly given to be his bride, his wife and his body by marriage. If you have not been following this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading from Part 1, The Introduction. This series is designed to step you through the subjects in a way that you can more easily see and understand this very deep and complex topic. So read each part of the series in order and hopefully you will grasp all of the spiritual concepts.
I heard more than one preacher say “search the Bible and you won’t find one scripture that says the church is the bride”. I sometimes wonder what Bible they are looking at, for I found a bunch of verses that tell me the church is the bride of Christ. These were well known ministers and men who have been teaching and studying the Bible for 50 years. The main problem they are experiencing is one that Jesus said you will always find what you are seeking. Jesus actually said seek and you shall find. But the problem is when people seek wrong things you find wrong things. If you are looking for no verses that say the church is the bride you will find no verses that say this. You always get what you seek and not necessarily what is the truth. That is how God designed the Bible to give you a choice to believe whatever you want to believe. That is a law of Bible research and study. Here is another law of Bible interpretation, it tells us that in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established. I already showed you Ephesians 5 about Christ and His bride. So what other scriptures can we find in the New Testament that reveal the church to be the bride of Christ? Read these next scriptures very carefully, for they too are written directly to the church in Rome and they reveal very clearly the identity of the church as being the bride of Christ.
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
This is an incredibly critical verse to understand fully. It speaks about the law. Here is the important thing to grasp, it says as long as a man is alive the law has dominion over him. Do you understand that statement? The implication is that when a man dies, the law is no longer in effect over his life. But did you notice who Paul and God wrote this verse to? It says “brethren” and that would be the church, except then it qualifies it further and says to only my brothers who know the law. Do you understand that statement? I bet you don’t fully get it. You see to “know” is a covenant term between a husband and a wife. Adam “knew” his wife and she had a son. To “know” is a sexual type reference, but God is not talking about a physical intimacy but a spiritual intimacy. What God is saying in this verse is, these next verses are written to members in the church who were previously under the law of Moses and the Old Covenant wife of God.
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So we see some more important information concerning marriage and the law. If you recall in an earlier blog I discussed the law of marriage using Genesis 2. This verse confirms that there are laws in the Old Testament that govern marriage relationships. This verse says that a woman is bound by the law to her husband as long as her husband is alive. Why is that? The law of marriage said that they are one flesh. You can’t cut off a piece of your own body and get rid of it and still be whole. In most marriage ceremonies there is usually a phrase “until death do us part”. God informs us that death is a legal separation of a marriage covenant. There is really a tremendous number of applications of this scripture to the women in the Bible. If you recall Israel was called a woman married to God. That is exactly why God is using Paul to write these verses to Messianic Jewish believers. He is informing them of something that is very profound and relevant so let’s keep reading:
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
I really don’t want to get off of the subject and go into a lot of detail right here concerning Israel, but I guess I will mention it so that you can do further research and see that it does apply. If you read Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and Hosea to name a few good examples you will see God called Israel a whore because of her unfaithful interaction with foreign gods and idolatry. God considered these acts as adulteress conduct of sexual perversion. God also considered these acts as covenant acts of marriage to these foreign gods and idols. So I gave you a lot to research, but let’s get back to this verse and what it says. It is speaking to those under the law and it tells them that as long as their husband is alive if they are in covenant with another then they are committing adultery. But then it says if a woman’s husband is dead, then she is free to marry or enter into covenant with another man. Remember these verses are written to brothers, males and these men are referred to as a woman. I think sometimes people don’t see this and miss out what God is saying.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
I hope you are getting what these scriptures are saying for they end in a very clear statement in Romans 7:4 that says you are now married to another, the Lord Jesus Christ! Try to explain that away! I’m sure you’ll come up with something if you don’t want to see the truth. I could say a lot more about these scriptures because they reveal so much more that we haven’t seen, but since that is not my primary purpose in this lesson, I will not weigh you down with any unnecessary things to think about. The main thing to take away from these verses is the reference to a man married to woman and how she is bound to that husband until he is dead. If she marries another while he is alive she is called an adulteress. However, Paul clarifies the problem because he says the first husband died by the body of Jesus Christ. So now they are free to be married to another and that is to him that was raised from the dead. This is an incredibly detailed discussion about the law and the law in specific relation to marriage covenants. Only people under the law would have been concerned to this level of detail. Gentiles were never married to the law or God, so they are free to marry Jesus the same as a natural Jew is now free to marry the Lord. The primary point to see is that the New Covenant is a marriage. But instead of a covenant with the Father God, it is with the Son of God, Jesus Christ and that is a very important concept to note and pay attention to. There is always a reason for everything that God says and does and this is no exception.
So is the church the bride of Christ? Some sure have gone through great extents to try to prove that we are not. I don’t know how they don’t see it, it sure seems to be there to me. Are you seeing it? Let’s start going through some more scriptures and continue by looking at this important verse:
2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.
This verse is another that some Bible teachers are determined to explain away not letting people know what it really says. All the ingredients of marriage are mentioned in this verse. The identity of the bridegroom is clearly given as Jesus Christ. The mention of being married or “espoused” to Christ is a very clear reference. So who is the verse directed to? The verse is written to the bride. Bible teachers who don’t believe this verse say it is just making a comparison with the word “As”. You of course know if you can read that the word “as” is added by the translators and is not in the original Greek language so that argument is shot down pretty easily. We can clearly see that it is not making a comparison but it is identifying the church to be the chaste virgin. The Greek word translated as “virgin” has the following definition in the Strong’s:
G3933
Of unknown origin; a maiden; by implication an unmarried daughter: – virgin.
The description of an unmarried woman is clear from this definition. The reference is specifically to an unmarried daughter being presented to Christ. The word “present” in this verse is the same word we looked at in Ephesians and it means to stand beside. So we again see the reference to a marriage ceremony. Then there is the Greek word translated as “chaste” in the King James Bible and here is what Strong’s says about it:
G53
From the same as G40; properly clean, that is, (figuratively) innocent, modest, perfect: – chaste, clean, pure.
Wow does that describe the church you know, it’s not a whole lot of the church I know. So you can read this verse in 2 Corinthians and do what you want to with it. But it clearly has all the necessary ingredients and parties of a wedding ceremony and a marriage covenant. The clear inference is this bride is unmarried and a virgin that has not been touched by another man. The reference is basically the same as a woman dressed in clean and white fine linen that has made herself ready for her husband. But I guess that is just me speaking isn’t it? I can’t prove it to you, either you see it or you don’t. It is so funny how that you can’t make anyone see the truth if they don’t want to see it.
I tell you if you look for scriptures that identify the church as the bride you will find them, the trouble is so many are just not looking for them. I know sometimes that verse can say things indirectly and sometimes not be totally obvious when you read it. Look closely at this scripture because you will find another reference to the church being the bride of Christ:
1Co 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
1Co 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
Verse 15 starts with confirming the church is the body of Christ. God tells us that our bodies are like individual cells in the bigger body of Christ. We make up the pieces that His body is comprised of. It is a spiritual truth using a natural pattern of the human body. The natural human body consists of many different organs, tissues, bones, cells and other components that when working with each other make up a healthy living body. But as we have already seen we know how we got to be the body of Christ was by the law of marriage found in Genesis 2. That law states that two shall become one body after they are married. This marriage covenant between Adam and Eve was a pattern for the Jesus and the church. Finally, in this verse the subject of harlots come into play in direct relation to the body of Christ. The implication is given that the church now that they are married in covenant with God can still have spiritual sexual relationships with other gods and other spiritual entities. I will agree that these verse seems to go both for natural relations with whores as well as spiritual relations with whores. I believe there is a clear application to the law of double reference. Where a verse of scripture can be taken naturally and spiritually and both points of view are true.
Within the context of these scriptures here we see another direct reference to a physical relationship between a man and a woman. The reference is purely sexual in nature and contains an inference of a woman being joined to her husband by covenant. In 1 Corinthians 6:17, the husband is clearly the Lord Jesus so who is Paul writing to that has been joined to Him? What does it mean to be joined together in Holy Matrimony? Doesn’t this verse have the same contextual relevance to our subject of marriage between a man and a woman? God contrasts the union of Christ and the church to that of a man to a harlot. This is certainly a significant comparison and gives us a lot of information that we should be aware of. For example, having a sexual relation with a whore is called a marriage in the eye’s of God. The sexual act is a covenant act. So if the man has a one night stand with a whore, it declares that in the eyes of God they are joined together as husband and wife. I was watching TV and to my surprise there was a group of individuals sitting around a table and discussing how many sexual partners some of them had. Of course in the unsaved world to men it is a matter of conquest to say they have had a lot of female partners. Who knows who was lying and who was telling the truth, but a couple of them had estimated they had 40 to 60 different women in their lives. According to scripture God sees each of these relations as a marriage covenant act. Obviously men and women don’t see it the same way or they wouldn’t be so casual about who they married. If the courts viewed sex as God views sex, there would be a lot more alimony going out of some of their pockets.
Going back to the verse in 1 Corinthians 6:17 we see the same sexual act reference given but this time to the Church with Jesus Christ. If you don’t see this it is because you don’t want to see it. The difference or contrast is given that we the church have become one spirit with Jesus and the man with the harlot has become one flesh with her. Both have become one by a marriage covenant act. There is a very clear statement of the church being joined to the Lord Jesus. To be joined is of course a marriage. A marriage is always where God takes one male and one female and makes one body out of them. This is so critical to understand.
I have given you at the minimum three great witnesses found in the New Testament that all deal with the church being called the bride of Christ by a marriage covenant act of God. The law of marriage is applicable and helps to explain a great number of other Bible verses, like how the church became the body of Christ? So we have explored more than enough witnesses to confirm this truth, but I might give you some more unique points of view in my next blog on this subject. I think I have said enough today so I hope you have a great day.
If you would like to continue reading this series, you can go to “Part 8“.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 6 Presenting the Bride
(Ver 1.2) Today I want to begin to explore the New Testament references for the identity of the bride of Christ. I want to “present” you to the identity of the bride of Christ. You will see later why I said that so look for it. There are certinly many scriptures that identify the Bride to us, but I want to start with the strongest verses first. If you have not been following this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading from Part 1, The Introduction.
Here it is, one of the strongest scriptural evidence that I’ve seen concerning the identity of the Bride of Christ and it’s found in the New Testament in the book of Ephesians and chapter 5. These are words written directly to the church and specifically about the church so read them very, very carefully. Understanding Ephesians 5 is critical for you understanding your identity in the spiritual world. Pay close attention to the subject being discussed and then see how they fit together: I will go verse by verse starting with verse 22. I will keep a running total of references that I find on the primary noun subjects being discussed. So help me count as we go. Let’s start reading in Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 22:
Eph 5:22 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord.
We can clearly see that the primary subject of this verse is marriage because it is talking to wives and husbands. But did you notice who this verse is written to? It is written to the church, the wife of Christ. If you notice in this verse, it ends with “as unto the Lord”. The implied reference is that the church is the bride and Christ is the husband. There are clearly two patterns given to us; one is a natural pattern and the other is a spiritual pattern. The church is clearly commanded to submit to their husband, the Lord Jesus Christ. So while “wives” are mentioned only once, the implication is given that we the church are also a wife to Christ. If we count the references to noun subjects we have the following totals:
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 1 | |
| Wives | 1 | |
| Church/Body | 1 | |
| Christ | 1 |
You will notice the primary nouns given in this verse is concerning wives, husbands and Christ. There is one implied or indirect reference to the church as being a wife. I hope you can see what this verse is talking about and who it is talking to. So let’s go to the next verse and see what it says:
Eph 5:23 For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body.
So we have a continuation of the primary subject of marriage still in the context of husbands and wives being given to us. Again we see a direct relationship being established between the natural and the spiritual. The husband is said to be the head of the wife in the natural world and I refuse to comment on that statement. However, Christ is the implied husband of the church given the clear context of being the head of the body. The church is clearly given to be the body of Christ which is a direct parallel that we learned about when we studied about Eve being the body of Adam. We know that these are patterns for spiritual truths that God is communicating to us from natural truths. So let’s update our total number of noun reference counts.
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 2 | |
| Wives | 2 | |
| Church/Body | 2 | 1 |
| Christ | 3 |
So we are up to 2 direct references to husbands and wives and 3 direct and indirect references to Christ and his bride. Let’s continue with verse 24:
Eph 5:24 Therefore as the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in everything.
Again in this verse we have two parallels given to us. Both of these patterns are implied covenant marriages given from the context of the subject being spoken of. The church is said to be subject to Christ and that is just another way to say we are to submit. We can clearly see that this implies Christ is the husband and the church is the wife, given the ending statement of the verse being directed to natural wives to be submitted to their natural husbands. These are God’s words and not mine so don’t shoot the messenger. Just read them and accept them. Let’s update our total reference count from this verse:
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 3 | |
| Wives | 3 | |
| Church/Body | 3 | 1 |
| Christ | 4 |
I do not know how ministers have read these verses and refuse to see what they clearly say, but that is the way the Bible is written, men see what they want to see. Let’s continue with the next verse in the chapter:
Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it (her, the Church);
This verse repeats the pattern and speaks to husbands and wives again. It clearly implies that Christ is the husband that loves his bride, the church. It clearly says that He proves his love for her by giving Himself as a sacrifice for her. This verse should have used the personal pronoun “her” instead of “it”. The church is not an “it”. God did not send Jesus to die for an “it”. Let’s update our total noun reference count:
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 4 | |
| Wives | 4 | |
| Church/Body | 5 | 1 |
| Christ | 6 |
Let’s take a brief look at verse 26 even though this is a bit off the main subject of marriage. Take a look at what this verse is saying:
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
According to this verse “it” is again mistranslated as being a reference to “her”, the church. This verse is saying that Christ is sanctifying and cleaning the church by a washing process that involves the Word of God. This implies that the Word of God is a liquid like pure water with a power to clean dirty spots out. Isn’t that an interesting statement? Aren’t we talking about the church? I mean I can clearly understand it, but can you? If the church is the body of Christ, why would Christ need to give himself a bath to make himself clean? You see the problem with that logic, don’t you? That is why people who teach that the church is the body of Christ and only the body of Christ are severely mistaken. This is just further proof to me of how preachers have taught some incredibly stupid things. If the church was just the body of Christ we wouldn’t need cleaning or washing. Jesus is already clean and righteous. We are the ones with the faults and blemishes, the dirty spots that need cleaning off. But since we have become His body by a marriage covenant and we are a separate individual that still needs cleaning, we can more clearly see how we fit into all of these verses and not just some of them. As we continue with verse 27 we see more marriage terminology given to us about Christ and the church:
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.
In reading this verse I think of many weddings that I have been to. The bride comes walking down the center aisle and is presented to the husband usually by the father of the bride. Ephesians 5 is primarily about marriage so we can know that Christ is talking about His bride in this verse. What we have seen in the last three verses are a extraordinary effort being put forth by Jesus to give himself completely for His wife. This is a process that involved Him suffering and experiencing tremendous pain and death on a cross. He shed His blood for us, because He loved us that much. Verse 27 informs us why He was willing to go to this extraordinary effort. Verse 27 declares so that He might present “it” to himself. We of course lose a lot by not studying the Greek to determine what this actually means. From the English translation in the KJV it sure sounds like a term for marriage. In many marriage ceremonies I have heard it said by the minister after the final vows, “may I present to you Mr. and Mrs. fill in the name. However, the Greek word translated as “present” actually has a literal meaning “to stand beside“. That is actually a fascinating contradiction of terms. How can the body of Christ stand beside Himself? You see it just doesn’t really make sense unless you put it into the context of a woman standing besides her husband in a marriage ceremony and the two becoming one flesh that way. Several times in these verses the church is referred to as “it” and this again is a mistranslation and the same word should say and mean “her” and it is translated that way in the New Testament many times. In fact it is translated as “her” in Revelation 19:8 when referring to the woman called the “New Jerusalem”. Isn’t that a coincidence? Let’s look at this verse just for grins:
Rev 19:8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
I hope that you see why I included this verse, because it is so very similar to the one we just looked at in Ephesians 5:27. The first thing I wanted to point out is the term “G846” is translated correctly this time as “her” and not “it”. So how can translators make such obvious mistakes in one verse the word is “it” and another one it is “her”. That is a question that I suppose we all need to understand and see that translators are just men capable of making mistakes. Then the next thing I wanted to point out is what are the terms “clean and white” saying, is this describing what we read in Ephesians 5? Obviously they are references to what she is wearing a type of extraordinary piece of clothing or fabric. So how does that compare with what the woman in Ephesians 5 is wearing, it says “without spot or wrinkle” and this implies fine nice clothing also that does not have any dirty spots. I think we can clearly see that these two verse are speaking of the exact same woman. So again, what did Paul tell us that Christ was presenting to himself, a church without spot or wrinkle, clean by the washing of the water of the Word. It’s amazing how the Bible fits together, isn’t it? Both of these are describing the same wedding apparel if you ask me. What we see is that both of these women are described as being in perfect condition, wearing the finest clean garments. This is a clear picture of the church and this truth is reflected to us in the book of Revelation 19 when it speaks of the bride being adorned for her husband and how she has made herself ready. These are all pictures and patterns into a spiritual truth that I hope you are seeing and understanding. So let us update our running count of references that we have observed in these verses and see the new totals:
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 4 | |
| Wives | 4 | |
| Church/Body | 6 | 2 |
| Christ | 7 |
Let us continue with the next verse in Ephesians for it is really getting good now. In this verse we start to again see the law of marriage being restated in context with the husband and the wife in marriage:
Eph 5:28 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself.
Are you understanding these concepts? God is reaffirming the law of marriage from Genesis 2 in this simple verse of truth. This verse speaks to men and instructs them to love their wives because they are his body. Since Eve came from Adam’s body, so a wife is joined to her husband and the two are now said to be one flesh. If a husband physically abuses his wife it is like him hitting himself in the head, and that is idiotic and crazy behavior. In this verse we have several direct and indirect references to husbands and wives and this now is reflected in our total reference count in the following:
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 7 | |
| Wives | 6 | |
| Church/Body | 6 | 2 |
| Christ | 7 |
The next verse continues with more about the law of marriage from Genesis 2, but now concludes with the revelation that this also applies to Christ and the church:
Eph 5:29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church:
You see from this verse further confirmation that the woman and the husband are said to be one flesh or one in the same body. Whatever happens to one affects the other directly. However one treats the other is how they treat themselves. God is really saying to them to treat the other like he or she is you, because you two are one body. God then concludes this verse with the revelation that this applies to Christ and the church. Christ the husband and the church is the wife. Christ cherishes His bride, the church with great love and affection. The church is the Body of Christ. Christ dwells in us right here and right now if you are born again. Christ therefore loves the church because she is His body and His wife.
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 8 | |
| Wives | 6 | 3 |
| Church/Body | 7 | 2 |
| Christ | 8 |
I hope you are following my count and seeing the references, both direct and indirect implications being given to us. These scriptures are very important to understand. We are finally getting to some great scriptures that we have been working up to and the anticipation has been building with great excitement:
Eph 5:30 For we (the church) are members of his (Jesus Christ) body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
You finally begin to see what God is speaking of about Christ and the church. This verse informs us in very clear language that we are the body of Christ and indirectly tells us how we became His body. But then did you notice that it also calls us his flesh and his bones. Isn’t this what Adam said about Eve? Adam said she is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh. Do you understand the context? I put the description of who this verse was talking about in parenthesis so that you could better understand it. What we clearly see is a reference to the natural law of marriage given to us by God in Genesis 2. To reaffirm the connection to Adam, God repeats the law from Genesis in the next verse:
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man (Jesus Christ) leave his father (God) and mother (Israel), and shall be joined unto his wife (the church), and they two shall be one flesh (body).
God is directly saying that what happened with Adam and Eve was a pattern for Christ and the church. I included the participants in this verse and named names. I put these in parenthesis so that you would not confuse them with the original verse. I did not add to the verse I only clarified the subjects and references so that you could more easily see them. Did you see them? Did you understand them? That is the main part we are going for, if you can understand them, then Satan can’t steal them away from you. One of the key words in this verse is given to us and it is that the two will be “joined” together to be one flesh (body). The Greek word for “joined” literally means “to glue”. That is God’s definition of marriage, creating one body, taking two separate pieces and gluing them together to be one piece or one body. This is again basic math God’s way. With Adam he took one and made two, however God still called them one. You can see this from a multiplication perspective. One man times one wife equals 1 body. I’ve done wood working before, and I have taken two pieces of wood and using dowels and glue I’ve put them together or “joined” them and clamped them and let them dry. After sanding and staining it is incredible the strength and beauty of the one new piece of wood. There are in fact some glues that are so strong that if you would try to pull them apart the wood would usually break in a new spot. This is what God is trying to communicate to us. To join together is a process of marriage. Taking two separate individual pieces and creating one new piece. Here is a revised count of direct and indirect scripture references to the subjects in marriage:
| Direct | Implied | |
| Husbands | 8 | |
| Wives | 6 | 3 |
| Church/Body | 9 | 2 |
| Christ | 13 |
We can see that from this total sheet that we have an overwhelming number of witness to the subject matter of marriage in context with all of these participants. God declares that just as husbands and wives are in covenant and become one flesh so it is with Jesus and the church. The next verse in Ephesians actually declares to us some very valuable information. This verse is the overwhelming climax to the subject of marriage in this chapter of Ephesians:
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
You see in this verse Ephesians 5:32 God lets us in on a secret that has been kept hidden since the foundation of the world. God had a plan and He patterned this plan after things that He created for us to see. God created a man and a woman and established the law of marriage. God declares that just as one wife becomes one flesh or body with her husband, so all wives become one flesh with their husbands. God declares this to be a Great Mystery. The Greek word for mystery here means “to shut the mouth” as in “keep a secret” from someone. Did you know God had secrets? God must have not wanted someone to see his plan and I believe this was Satan. God says that all of this chapter is about marriage covenant relationships and that this is or was a great secret, but He lets the proverbial cat out of the bag so to speak by telling us that this all has to do with Christ and the church. Jesus Christ is the bridegroom and the church, the bride. The New Covenant is a marriage and the result is the establishment of new family unit. Why did God have to establish a new family? Apparently He had a major problem with his old family. If you can see this and understand it you will be far beyond a lot of other Christians who do not yet know who they are. Satan has tried to confuse the identity of the Bride for many reasons. Even preachers have helped Satan to confuse us. God is doing a new thing in these last days, He is getting the truth out for us to see and to understand. I hope and pray that you can see it. We will continue in the next blog on the mystery of the identity of the Bride using more New Testament verses that confirm our true identity.
If you would like to continue with this series, you can go to “Part 7“.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 5 The Law of Marriage
(Ver 1.3) In the last blog on this subject we talked about a covenant being a marriage. Before that, I talked about a woman being a nation of people and a city. We have been building our scriptural knowledge base to understand the identity of the bride of Christ and today I want to talk about the Law of Marriage. I hope you realize that the Old Testament holds the law of God written down by Moses. In these books God has established principles, concepts, definitions, and laws concerning every subject you can think of. So today I want to establish what happens when God enters into a marriage blood covenant with a group of people. If you have not been following this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading from Part 1, The Introduction.
I know this is a very new advanced study of a complex subject. I know that it will be difficult for some to see and understand. Based upon your current spiritual level of maturity, that alone will determine if you are able to fully grasp what is in this lesson series. Many times I know people read my stuff and think it is not true. It is funny how Jesus would go around and tell people “let him who has ears, hear”. Jesus was not talking about just hearing sounds with their ears, he was talking about them understanding with their hearts and that is something completely different. Too many people know how to read, but do not know how to see what was written. Getting understanding is the key to growing in spiritual maturity. Just as you cannot hand a first grader a college calculus book and say learn this, if you are struggling with the things that I have been saying you are probably not ready for this lesson. I would recommend that you either go back and study the basics some more until you fully grasp the foundational truths before you attempt to tackle any of the advanced subjects found in the Bible.
Let’s get into the second chapter of Genesis and see the account of the creation of woman and the first recorded marriage covenant and what happened to all of the participants. After all, we are talking about the identity of a woman called the bride of Christ, so where did the woman come from?
Gen 2:21 And the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof;
Gen 2:22 And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman, and brought her unto the man.
We can clearly see from these famous well known verses where God says woman came from? You’ve read this before I’m sure, but I doubt if you really fully understood what you read. You see these verses declare that woman was taken out of a man. That is representative of a mathematical operation of division or subtraction. You could say God took one and made two. One divided by 2 gives the same answer as one subtracting one half. Using either division or subtraction the result could still be two halves. But here is another perspective of division and mathematics. If you divide one by one you get one. Isn’t that an interesting concept. The reverse multiplicative principle would be to multiply one by one and you would still get a result of one. One male times one female equals one flesh and here is why I say that. Look at the next verses in Genesis in what Adam has to say about his wife:
Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
Since the woman was taken from his body, Adam then declares that she was his body. Did you see that? What is flesh and bones? His flesh and bones is the same as his body. Adam’s body consisted of flesh and bones. God took a portion of his body and made her body. Flesh and bones are the primary parts or pieces that make up his body. I hope all kind of light bulbs are going off in your mind based upon this revelation. Flesh and bone and the body are different terminology for the same thing. There are so many ways to describe, label or name the same things that we have to be smart enough to know when they are the same and when they are not. When Adam looked at his wife he called her the body of Adam. This is a pattern for another New Testament marriage we will see later. If God took a part of man out and created a woman who became the mother to all the natural living descendants on the planet earth, then you might say it would be legal for God to put back a woman into his son Jesus Christ. I’m sure you are wondering how I came to that reasoning and conclusion. It starts with this fact, did you know that Jesus is called the “last Adam” in the New Testament? Read 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.
Not only is Jesus called a quickening spirit in contrast to a living soul, but Jesus is specifically called the “last Adam”. Meaning there is a direct and specific relationship and connection to the “first Adam”. The distinct parallels and patterns between the two Adam’s are quite profound. I hope you are grasping this concept. 2 different Adams, one natural and one spiritual. If it was legal for God to take one man or as we have seen one Adam and create one male and one female, then the reverse logic would be to take one male and one female and multiply them together giving you one flesh again. Multiplication and division of 1 and 1 always results in 1. It is the only set of numbers that I know of that you can do this with. 2 times 2 doesn’t equal 2. 2 divided by 2 doesn’t equal 2. This is of course, very basic math truths, but it is amazing how God does things. Sometimes it is the really simple things that God uses to confound the wise.
When Jesus is called “Adam” in the New Testament, this of course is the same Hebrew word that we looked at earlier. This Hebrew word can be translated either as “man” or it can be translated as “Adam”. Both translations originate from the exact same word and this makes understanding the Bible much more complex. It is a puzzle of sorts, but that is the way God works. God is much smarter than we are and he could have chosen any words that fit, but he specifically selected these words to describe a man/Adam.
So, what other relationship do these two Adams share? I’ll probably lose some of you right here, but here goes. Both Adam’s were sons of God and therefore they are natural brothers. Both Adam and Jesus had the same Father. If you don’t understand that, don’t throw it away because it does have significance. There are things in the Bible that are difficult to grasp and understand at first because they are so different. The more religious you are the harder it will be for you to grasp certain things in the Bible and this is probably one of them and there are many others. I did not say Adam was God, but I will say Jesus was. Jesus the Last Adam was also the son of Adam. Jesus walked the face of the planet and constantly called himself the “son of man”. You lose the meaning and significance of that statement by reading an English translation. Jesus being a Hebrew and of the house and lineage of David was saying I am a son of Adam. The Hebrew word for “Adam” can and is translated as “man” several times. It’s the same word “H120” and “H121”. Sometimes translated as “Adam” and other times as “man”. How can the Son of God also be the Son of Adam? The Son of Adam and the brother of Adam? It’s pretty tough to grasp, but nevertheless this is what the Bible says. Nobody ever told you that the Bible was easy to understand. If they did they lied to you. If you look at the family lineage of Jesus given to us in Luke you will see that it goes all the way back to Adam and then to God. There is a clear implication that Adam was also called a “son of God”. Not God, not “The Son of God” either just a “son of God”.
Luk 3:38 Which was the son of Enos, which was the son of Seth, which was the son of Adam, which was the son of God.
Reading this verse is very informative, even if the words “son of” are added by the translators. Some say since these words are not in the original Greek we can explain away what actually is being conveyed. However, I believe the words “son of” do assist us in correctly interpreting the meaning. The clear implication is that Adam is called a son of God. You don’t go through a long list of names in a genealogy and every named pair represents a father and a son relationship except the last one. That would be idiotic to attempt such reasoning. I’ll say it again, be consistent a list is a list and every entry in the list should be treated the exact same. I know I got off of the subject for a side trip, but I believe it was important. Let’s get back to the original husband and wife.
We can sometimes ask questions that help us in our discussion. When God formed Adam’s body from the dust of the ground as it says he did, why didn’t God also make the female’s body from the dust of the ground? He wasn’t out of dirt or dust? It is of course an interesting puzzle? Why take out a part of something you already made to make another complementary piece of work? That of course is a hard question. Obviously God had a good reason, or He wouldn’t have done it. Let’s figure out why he did it?
Believe it or not the verses that we read in Genesis 2, gives us an established foundation of how we the church became the body of Christ. If the first Adam has a wife, God is saying it is Ok, for the “last Adam” to have a wife. The first Adam’s wife was a physical woman, the last Adam’s wife is a spiritual woman. Let’s go back and reread verses 23 and 24 in Genesis 2, because these are absolutely critical to understand.
Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
We see again in verse 23 that Adam declares his wife’s body to be his body and obviously that is where it originated from. God purposely selected this way to create the woman. This was a prophetic event of Biblical proportions. Again I will reemphasize that “flesh and bone” is the same terminology for the “body”. In other words a human body consists of both flesh and bones. Jesus actually confirms this with words in the New Testament when he used this terminology in the Gospels, he told his disciples, “handle me, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones”.(Luke 24:39). So Jesus confirms that he has flesh and bones and the clear implication is that is also called his body. If Jesus says “touch me” where would a man put his hand on Jesus to see if he was real? It seems obvious to me that Jesus is referring to his body as being flesh and bones. This is not rocket science, and you should be seeing something new by now.
Moving on to verse 24 in Genesis 2 we see God’s law of marriage being established. This is the first reference in the Bible of the marriage covenant relationship between a man and a woman. This again sets the “type” or “pattern” for every marriage relationship between a man and a woman in both the natural and the spirit worlds. I call this God’s “Law of Marriage”. God gives us a rule or a law for a blood covenant marriage. God said that a man in this case Adam would leave his father (God) and his mother (the earth) and would cleave unto his wife (the woman). I probably lost some of you again by including explanations in that preceding statement. I’ve already dealt with who Adam’s father was so you should already understand that. Since Adam did not have a birth mother and God formed his body from the dust of the ground I consider “the earth” to be his mother. That of course is my opinion, since I don’t have a Bible verse for that statement. You’ve heard the common term “mother earth” before haven’t you? Then the verse finishes up with the most critical thing that you should learn on the subject of marriage with a woman and that is it says the two (the male and the female) would become one flesh (body). This reveals how the church became the body of Christ, it was by marriage. You can obviously still reject everything I’ve said up to this point and say I don’t believe it. However, I’m not through though and I have many more scriptures that confirm what I just said. Is this what God really meant? Did Jesus believe this? Well guess what, I think so, because here is what Jesus said to us on the subject. If you notice these words are in Red, meaning Jesus in person spoke them directly.
Mat 19:5 And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh?
Mat 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.
Again we see a clear reference to the exact same words spoken by God in Genesis 2. Within the context of these scriptures you will find that the subject being discussed is divorce and is it lawful? Jesus’ attitude toward divorce is the same as it is today, he says “can’t you read?”, “didn’t God create them male and female in the beginning?” “Aren’t the two joined together and are they not one flesh.” How can a man cut off a part of his own body and get rid of it, isn’t that what he is really saying? Are they not the same body? Jesus said there should be no divorce if it was done right. Jesus is saying that the man and the woman were two, but after they are married God considers them to be one body. This is the Biblical law of covenant marriage. Two people have become one body. This is why Jesus when he married the church with the New Covenant has become one body with her. We can now begin to see how the church became the body of Christ. Just as Eve was the body of Adam, so the church is the body of Christ. These are very important truths to learn and remember. We will continue this study of the identity of the bride of Christ in my next blog. I hope you are beginning to see and understand these important spiritual concepts. We have now laid a foundation for getting into the subject of the identity of the bride of Christ using scriptures we can search for in the New Testament. We have discovered that a covenant is a marriage. God when in covenant is always the male in the relationship. The people that God is in covenant with is always the female. A female in covenant with God is a nation of people consisting of males and females and is always associated with a city named Jerusalem. Then we discovered the law of marriage that states when they are joined together, they become one body. I have another lesson that might be good to go read now that might help clarify some things or give you more information on the subject. This lesson is called “How did the Church become the Body of Christ“. Within this lesson I actually answer many questions that I have presented in this series. I hope that you are learning and we should be able to move into the identity of the bride in the next lesson in the series.
If you would like to continue reading this series, please go to “Part 6“.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 4 God’s Definition of Marriage
(Ver 1.2) This is now Part 4 in the series on this subject concerning the identity of the Bride of Christ. We are building a foundational scriptural knowledge for the identity of this woman and we will continue to learn more in this blog. Today, I have more new revelation from the Word of God on the subject of both what a woman is in the eyes of God and what a marriage is when in a relationship with God. In my last blog I introduced you to God’s definition of a spiritual woman using some verses you probably would have never used before, from Revelation 17 about Mystery Babylon and in chapter 21 that spoke about the New Jerusalem, a city, a woman who is called the bride of the Lamb. This was a New Testament definition so today I want to go back to the Old Testament and see what God says about marriage, expanding and confirming the definition of a woman that I gave you from Revelation. What we will be doing is looking for Old Testament patterns that confirm these New Testament truths that we have already discovered. I hope that you are beginning to understand how important it is to get God’s definition on the scriptures and subjects that we study. If you have not been following this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading from Part 1, The Introduction.
Did you know that God the Father was already married to a woman in the Old Testament? Probably you have read it before or maybe heard it taught, God was married to the nation of Israel in the Old Testament? So did God have a wife? Was God married to a woman in the Old Testament? Who was this woman? Does she fit the pattern that I showed you of the woman in Revelation 21? I wonder if you’ve ever seen this in the Old Testament, where God says to Israel I was your husband. It’s certainly there if you look!
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Here we have a very powerful verse of truth given to us by the prophet Jeremiah. These are the words of God spoken through the prophet and they call the natural nation of Israel a woman and the wife of God. I wonder what Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Joshua and the rest of the males in the nation of Israel thought about being called the female bride and wife of God? Do you think they had a problem being called the female wife of God? Do you think they even knew they were called a woman? Do you think they really cared? They were the physical bride of the Jehovah God? The nation of Israel, a woman married to God, could this really be? God said in this verse that He made a covenant with their fathers, the males in the family. He then said He “took them by the hand” and led them out of Egypt. When you take a woman by the hand that is a marriage terminology or statement for a wedding proposal. God then made it very clear what this covenant represented, He says I was their “husband“. The Hebrew word H1166 here translated as husband comes from a root word that means “to marry”.
H1166
A primitive root; to be master; hence (as denominative from H1167) to marry: – Beulah have dominion (over), be husband, marry (-ried, X wife).
God married to a physical nation which consisted of both males and females. If you don’t see the significance in this scripture and the relationship implied to the New Covenant, I pray you will get it as we continue going forward. I will tell you right here and now that if the Old Covenant was a marriage to God, then the New Covenant is also marriage, but to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Are you in the New Covenant with Christ? According to this verse a covenant is a marriage in the eyes of God. I’m going to say that one more time so that you will get it, when God enters into a covenant, He enters into a marriage. God is the Groom, the people in covenant are the bride. We can see a confirming witness to this revelation by reading a verse found in the book of Malachi:
Mal 2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
God is speaking to a husband in a clear reference to how he treated his wife. He informs him that she is the wife of his youth. You could apply this to many marriages today in the world and for that matter in the church. I think that I read that the divorce rate within the church is close to 50%. Meaning half of every marriage in the church is ending in divorce. This certainly should not be. Did you notice how Malachi 2:14 ended. God said this is the wife of your covenant. That is a powerful revelation which applies across the board to every marriage on the planet. In the eyes of God a marriage is a covenant. By the laws found in mathematics and algebra, we can also say that a covenant is a marriage. Maybe you didn’t take Algebra, but the principle is, if A = B, then B = A also. Some might think I’m making this stuff up, but we just read it in the Bible. The implications to this verse are far reaching. If the Old Covenant was a marriage to a people, the New Covenant would also be a marriage to a people. I did say people, and not a city, even though we will learn more about this as we explore more scriptures. We can clearly see that God said I was their husband in Jeremiah 31:32. God the Father would therefore be the Old Covenant Bridegroom. What is a husband except the one that was formerly known as the bridegroom. We could further call Israel the wife the former Old Covenant bride. We can also see in that verse that God has made a covenant with Israel and that He considered this covenant to be a marriage. So what is a covenant? The Strong’s definition of this word is as follows:
H1285
From H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh): – confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant, league.
We can see from this definition that it is describing the blood covenant event that occurred in Genesis 15, when God makes a covenant with Abraham. During this chapter, Abraham took 3 animals and split them into two pieces and then laid the pieces on the ground. We later read that the smoking furnace and the burning lamp pass through the pieces implementing the covenant. This is a blood covenant and it is also a representative type and shadow of the New Testament blood covenant, implemented by Jesus Christ. We know that the children of Israel while in captivity in Egypt, took a lamb and killed it and spread the blood on the doors of their houses and then they ate the lamb as a Passover meal. All of those are key types and shadows of the New Covenant implemented by the blood of the Lamb of God. I would certainly hope that all of this is not new to you and that you are intimately familiar with the subjects of blood covenants. There are good teachers that have done good jobs of covering the subject and I would strongly suggest that you take time and the necessary effort to gain knowledge on this subject.
So the Bible as you are aware is divided into two Testaments or Covenants. The first being the Old and the last being the New. Could it be that both of these represent marriages to God in the eyes of God? The first marriage was to a natural people, the last to a spiritual people. The first to a natural Nation and the last to a spiritual Nation. Could it possibly be? I think as you go on you will have to say it is more than possible, it surely is. Here is another scripture from the Old Testament prophets that we should be aware of:
Jer 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
This scripture is another witness to the relationship of God and what is referred to as the house of Israel. It speaks of a wife that is leaving her husband. You can see that the word “as” was added by the translators thinking they were making a comparison, but the true identity of Israel as being the wife to God is there. I heard one minister say don’t confuse identity with relationship. He was attempting to explain away a valuable Bible truth by claiming that I guess the church’s relationship to Christ was suppose to be that of a wife to a husband, but that didn’t mean we were a bride or a woman. But you know I always heard that if it looks like a duck, it walks like duck, it flies like a duck and quakes like a duck, then it in most likely hood, it is a duck. I’ll tell you who is confused and that is someone who reads the Bible and then attempts to explain away what it says. Heaven help that man for he is in danger of being held responsible for deceiving everyone that he has taught this to. Here is the dilemma, Bible teachers have encountered what appears to them as a major conflict on the surface. How can the church be the body of Christ and still be the bride of Christ. Rather, than looking for the Bible answer to the conflict they simply write off one position in favor of the other position and that is a wrong approach. Let’s look at another witness to the identity of Israel as being a woman and the wife of God:
Eze 16:2 Son of man, cause Jerusalem to know her abominations,
Eze 16:8 Now when I passed by thee, and looked upon thee, behold, thy time was the time of love; and I spread my skirt over thee, and covered thy nakedness: yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.
Eze 16:22 And in all thine abominations and thy whoredoms thou hast not remembered the days of thy youth, when thou wast naked and bare, and wast polluted in thy blood.
These scriptures are very revealing and again we see the clear reference to a husband and a wife relationship. The wife this time is called “Jerusalem”. Isn’t that interesting? Could this be the “Old Jerusalem” that we saw from the last blog? Doesn’t that sound familiar? Didn’t we read about another wife, a woman in Revelation called the New Jerusalem? We just read verses in Ezekiel that says God was married to a woman and a city named Jerusalem in the Old Covenant. The earthly city Jerusalem was related to the identity of a woman and within the marriage context of the Old Covenant. So was the covenant with the city or with the people in the city? Does God care about cities and building architecture or does God care about people? Did Jesus shed his blood for a city or for the people that make up the city? Would God marry a city and not the people in the city? I tell you there are so many questions that arise and I wonder if people have given any of these any thought?
There are really too many scriptures to give you all of them. If you study the subject for yourself and search your Bible you will see what I mean. Look for terms of marriage, look for the name of the women, Jerusalem. Look for terms like husband and wife, bride and bridegroom. Think of other terms that refer to covenants and marriages indirectly. Look for Israel and Jerusalem being spoken of in female terms of “she” and “her”. These scriptures will give you an expanded knowledge of what a woman and a marriage is to God. If you have the time read Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah and Hosea and see all of the references to the nation of Israel as being a woman married to God. Look for how many times she is called by adulteress names like, whore. The Hebrew definition of a whore is a woman who commits adultery. Did you know that you cannot be an adulteress unless you are married according to the Bible? You will soon discover that a marriage is a covenant and a covenant is a marriage. God is always the man and the husband and those in covenant with God are always the female, the bride and the wife. That is the way it is, whether you like or not and whether you want to accept it or not. I pray that you are learning these new radical concepts found in the Bible about God, the covenants of God and these women married to God named Jerusalem that are cities of people.
If you would like to continue reading this series, please go to “Part 5“.
Bible Translations! Which One Works Best?
We can argue to no end on the different positive and negative qualities of each available Bible translation. There are many popular versions that I think some like and some do not like. I do not profess one to be the best for you. Only you can determine what works best for you. I would probably say that it would be best if we could all read the original Hebrew and Greek and study based upon only the original words that were recorded for us. But since there are only a few people in the world that have this ability to read and study Hebrew and Greek, that forces the rest of us to read translations which all have some short comings to them.
The next thing I would like to point out is a translation is not the same as an interpretation. However, after years of study in the Bible I have discovered how interpretation has definitely crept into translations. Because translator’s are human and subject to errors, many of them have allowed their personal belief system to influence what their translations say. This in affect causes certain and specific areas of the translation to be slanted or skewed toward some belief that is contrary to the rest of the Bible. Let me be bold and describe an example of a major translation error in the NIV Bible. I’ll start by saying I’m not saying don’t read the NIV. A scripture that most everyone is familiar with and that is John 3:16. I use to see signs in the end zone at the football game on TV with “John 3:16” in bold letters. I think the devil has tried to stop these signs, but anyway that is not my subject. In the NIV John 3:16 makes one critical mistake that some might say is a minor change, but it changes everything and contradicts many other verses of the Bible. This word that is translated incorrectly is “Only”. It basically says Jesus was the “Only” son of God. Says Who? The original Greek word which was translated as “begotten” in the KJV actually means “born”. So what is the big deal? Well Islam says God has no Son. The NIV says God only has ONE Son. Where does that leave the rest of us? What is the difference between One and None. The only difference is single letter “N”. That omits the rest of the body of Christ and leaves them on the outside of God’s family looking in, wondering how do I get to be in the family? I’m sorry if I picked on your favorite Bible translation, I didn’t mean to put it down. I simply wanted to make a point with one example. I could certainly find similar problems in other translations.
So what would be helpful to you may not be helpful to me. Nevertheless, I will tell you that there are generally three types of Bible translations that we can choose from. Let’s look at these briefly so that we can better understand how to choose what we study.
| Paradigm | Theological Name | Description |
| Literal | Formal Equivalence | Word for Word |
| Dynamic | Functional Equivalence | Thought for Thought |
| Free | Paraphrased | Concept for Concept |
We can see from the above chart that there is generally three different approaches to translating the Word of God. The first paradigm is many times called a literal approach. In this approach a translator attempts to take an original Hebrew or Greek word and then to find a corresponding English word that will convey a similar meaning. In my opinion, this is actually, the best possible approach to Bible translation. However, even this approach can fall short and cause problems. If you study the original Hebrew you will find that sometimes a Hebrew word will be translated one way in one verse and then a totally different way in another verse. For example, the Hebrew word “H120” in the Strong’s concordance is usually translated as “man” in the majority of verses. But did you know that the Hebrew word “H121” is also the same word. But this time it is translated as “Adam”. Interesting problem, how do you know which one to translate where. It seems that it could be very subjective and sometimes it depends upon your beliefs or other scriptural knowledge on which one God is talking about.
The next translation paradigm is referred to as dynamic. Sometimes this can be a positive approach to translating the Bible and sometimes negative. The general approach in this method is a “thought for thought” translation. That means the translators read the original verse and then attempts to put the primary concepts and thoughts within that verse in the English translation. The only problem I see with this approach is that no one man can potentially understand everything about a single verse. God’s word is so much more complex than that. A single verse can potentially have an infinite number of thoughts associated with it. There are always implications to every verse of scripture. There are always multiple applications to every verse of scripture. There are so many possible thoughts behind every verse that it shocks me to think that men think they can even attempt to translate the key thoughts of God. God said my ways are not your ways and my thoughts are not your thoughts. So there is a way that seems right to men, but to God, He declares it to be wrong.
The final approach to Bible translation is called “Free”. This approach in my viewpoint is the least useful of them all. If this is the only translation that you think you can read and understand, then I say stick with it and go for it. For me, I do not use these types of translations. The primary reason why is it is based upon a concept for concept translation and it gives the most freedom to the translator to interject their theological beliefs and project concepts, thoughts and ideas that can potentially be contrary to what God actually says. You can still find good things in every translation as long as you are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of each. After all it is better to read any Bible translation than to read none at all. Perhaps you have thoughts on this subject and would like to leave your opinion in a comment on what translation works best for you and why.
What is a Bible Expert? Are there any Bible Experts?
(Ver 1.1) I received a comment on one of my blogs a while back asking if I was a Bible expert. I replied by asking for a definition of what he thought a Bible expert was. So far I haven’t gotten an answer to my question. You see it appeared by the arrangement of his question that this individual was not going to believe what I wrote, if he could not find an expert that also said what I was writing about. In other words it looked like to me that he was looking for a man to be his source for what he believed. I can only assume that if he found an “expert” based upon some unnamed criteria as to what makes one an expert, that he would suddenly accept something new to be the truth. I do not know about you but I feel that is a very dangerous position to take. You see anybody can say they are an expert. However, I do understand being cautious about accepting something that someone has written on a blog. If you do not know this person, their character, their background and their intention for writing the blog then you could be easily deceived into believing something that is not true.
So what do you do? Are there any Bible experts? What exactly is an expert? I guess since I didn’t get an answer to my question I can look in the dictionary and can get someone’s definition for what they consider to be an expert. So let’s start there.
Expert: A person with a high degree of skill in or knowledge of a certain subject
According to this definition this could apply to anybody about anything. It is obviously a general definition that goes across many boundaries. It also sounds very subjective. Do you understand what I mean by that? Something is subjective if it depends upon the perspective or opinion of someone else to whether or not anyone could be considered an expert. Yo Yo Ma could be considered an expert cellist. I guess this would be my opinion of the man based upon listening to him play the cello. However, since I do not play the cello does my opinion count for anything. Now there are other things like in certain sport fields like archery and target shooting, that people can be measured to determine if they are experts. Based upon the number of perfect shots that they pull off and judging the result from looking at their targets. This is not a subjective designation for being an expert. Bowling is another example, if you can bowl a consistent perfect game and never miss you would automatically qualify to be called an expert bowler. However, there is a huge difference in a subjective designation and a non-subjective designation that is quantifiable and measureable.
When you say somebody is a Bible expert, what are you saying? Let’s see if we can quantify it or measure it. You should understand that God is what I would call the ultimate Bible expert. Only God knows everything the Bible says and exactly what everything in it means. So if we would place God on the upper end of our scale as the ultimate Bible expert, where would you fall on the scale? Where would any man fall on the scale? I believe firmly that there are some men and women who know more than other people on this planet, but I would never call any of them experts as God is an expert. That also means I do not consider myself to be an expert. If I said I was an expert I would be saying I have confidence in my ability to figure out everything that I read in the scriptures. That would in fact make me no different than the man who wrote and asked if I was an expert. I would be placing too much emphasis on my skills and giving no credit to God who has given me the information that I blog in the first place.
I know men who are in their 80’s and who have studied the Bible and ministered for over 50 years. But I also know that as much as they know, they do not know everything. Sure I have learned from them and I do not say there is nothing that they cannot offer me. But, I have learned that God can show me a single verse in the Bible and ask me a simple question and I learned more from that one question than I could ever learn from the 80 year old man in a much shorter period of time. If you think that God doesn’t do that you would be wrong. If you think God doesn’t do that for you, you would be wrong again. I have studied the Bible in great depth for the last approximate 25 years. I cannot even count the number of hours that I have spent exploring the Book and asking God questions. In that time God has spoken some very direct things to me and revealed some awesome things that I have not told anybody. Some of it is coming out in my blogs, simply because I can’t help it. You have to teach what you know, that is just a basic principle of life.
So am I an expert? You be the judge if you want to, I know I am not. I am just a man who knows an expert God. I know I write a lot of things that are radically different than anything you will find in any Bible commentary or seminary. However, consider the source, if everybody got everything they taught from a seminary how would God ever introduce you to anything new? You might be amazed to find out that God does not always work through man’s organized systems. Why didn’t God recruit Jesus’ disciples from the priests, the scribes, the Pharisees, etc., the religious leaders of the day Too many times men have established set procedures and traditions that keep God from doing anything to help them. So what does God do? You would be amazed at how God uses the most unlikely candidates to bring out a new message. If you read your Bible and look you will see God selected a group of men, some fishermen, some business men, a doctor, a lawyer, every kind of profession God would surround himself with. God chose a shepherd to be the King of Israel. You can go on and on with who God used in the Bible and ask yourself, would any of these men have been your top candidate for the job? So is God any different today? I’ll ask you again, has God changed? Does He do things differently than He did in the past? Does God still use the foolish things to confound the wisdom of men?
What are you suppose to do? Do you believe something based upon the source qualifications of an individual or do you simply just read the Bible for yourself and see if it says what is being taught? I have written about this next scripture in several of my blogs and I’ll repeat it today because it applies to our subject. What did the early church do? Is this a pattern that we should be following? If you think about the situation of the early church you can learn a significant lesson. Here we have a group of people who do not have an organized seminary or theological group of experts to consult. These people were handed something that was completely new to them, a totally radical change to anything that they had ever heard before. They were taught about things that they had never imagined or even heard taught by anybody on the planet, especially the Jewish religious leadership of the day. These people faced an extremely important decision and probably the most important eternal decision that they would ever face. This is really no different than what you are facing right now. So you can learn this lesson and apply it or you can choose to ignore it and do what you want to.
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Paul and the other disciples were travelling about the countryside preaching the Word of God. They brought such a new radical teaching that I am sure it was immediately rejected by a lot of people just because it was completely new. However, this verse in Acts describes a group of people that God calls very noble. You could imply this also means brave and courageous. These people we are told, kept an open mind to the new things that were being taught them by Paul and the other disciples. Being open minded is an essential quality to a successful Christian growth process. But that is not where the verse ends, that was just the key essential ingredient that allowed them to be more noble. If you read the verse, we are given the key to Bible understanding in determining what we should believe and what we should reject. This verse says these more noble people heard what was being spoken and then they looked in the scriptures to see it for themselves. In other words they based their beliefs upon a personal knowing of what they saw in the verses and not based upon what an expert man was telling them to believe. Did you hear what I just said? Paul was probably the most expert man of his day and knew more about the scriptures than anyone else. But Paul never said believe what I say, because I’m an expert and you are not. Paul always pointed people to the scriptures and the Word of God. The Bible should be your only source for what you ultimately believe. You should never take the words of any man, even experts without finding out for yourself what the Bible really says. If this lesson applied to the early church it still applies to us today. We are still in the same church that they were in. We are still in the same body of Christ that they started, and what we believe must be based upon what God has spoken and not any man.
Having said all of that I should also tell you that God does use teachers to help you learn. God many times will pick one man, like a Paul and give him information and revelation from the scriptures to teach to His children. So God has anointed some men and women as pastors and teachers and He has given many of them specialties in specific areas of Bible knowledge. But, if they are not showing you Bible verses for you to see for yourself and for you to study, you should run away from them very, very fast. Stop looking for an expert to follow and follow God and your Bible. Use your relationship with God, the author of the Bible to help guide you into the truth that you need to learn today. Don’t try to make me or anyone else do your Bible studying for you. If you are depending on what I know for what you believe you will soon be deceived, if you are not already. I believe what I believe because I have studied it out in the scriptures for endless hours and I am confident in what I teach as being the truth because of this intimate and personal scriptural knowledge. You of course do not know everything that I know and cannot have the same confidence in anything that I say. I also understand that concept fully, and I hope that you do to. As we continue to follow God’s leadership through his Holy Spirit who indwells us, we will continue to grow in spiritual strength and faith and finally become the mature Christian that God is seeking.
So do I think that I am an expert, No! Are there really any experts in the world? None that I know of! After all what is there that we can measure that determines a Bible expert? Is it a title from a seminary or university? Is it a duration of a time of study? Does studying the Bible for 10 years make you an expert? How about 50 years of studying the Bible does that make you an expert? I hope that you see the problem with man’s qualification system. Make God your expert, and use the Bible as your source of knowledge and beliefs. Listen to God’s anointed teachers and then check out every word that they teach using your Bible and you’ll continue to grow spiritually with the rest of us. This is God’s system and design for getting people to see and understand the Bible. I have a responsibility and you have a responsibility. It is an equal partnership working with God and He will bring the increase from our labors.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 2 Identifying the Bridegroom
(Ver 2.0) This is “Part 2” of the series of essential Bible lessons on the subject of “Identifying the Bride of Christ” in scripture. Too most serious Bible students this should be an easy subject. But for a lot of people, they have never heard it taught or read about this subject. First, it should be obvious that if the primary subject of this series is to identify the Bride of Christ, that this subject is speaking of a covenant marriage between a female woman becoming joined to her male groom creating one new family. In every normal Bible marriage, there are always two participants, and always only a man and a woman. Any other type of marriage is a perversion of truth and scripture. This union of two opposite sexes, was established in the beginning and still is God’s design and definition of a marriage. Today in Part 2 we will learn more about this great subject. However, instead of focusing on the bride, today we will continue our study by identifying and confirming the bridegroom using the Bible and the scriptures that speak specifically about this marriage event. If you have not been reading this series from the beginning, I would strongly recommend that you go back and start with Part 1, The Introduction.
In every normal wedding that Christians have attended, there should only be two primary participants being married. These are the bride and the bridegroom. This is what God defines to be normal. Any other marriage type defiles God created design of marriage. We know this because Genesis 2:24 established this law of covenant union and marriage between one male and one female. This verse also they would be joined together as one flesh. Therefore, in order to establish the identity of the bride of Christ we might desire to start with the basics and confirm that Jesus Christ the groom? Hopefully, this will not be too difficult.
Basic theology is not the normal focus of Agapegeek. However, we might want to start with something more fundamental, like who was Jesus Christ? Was he God or was he just a man? Hopefully we can agree he is 100% man. But simultaneously we also must know that he is 100% God. In Romans 8:3 God writes through Paul, that Jesus was made in likeness of sinful flesh and this verse calls Him the Son of God. Jesus was both 100% God and 100% a man. While I was studying, I counted over 30 times just in the book of Matthew that Jesus is referred to as “the Son of Man”. Of course, the term “son” clearly indicates that he was a male and this then identifies Him be a child descendant of Adam, the first created man. You might not see that very clearly right now, but it is there, and we will probably get into that in more depth later.
When there are a lot of scriptures on a subject it seems it is easier for people to see what is taught to them. I believe that God was making a direct point of emphasis with an implied exclamation point that Jesus Christ was a human male due to the number of scriptures that are recorded with this revelation. So, let’s back up again and now scripturally establish the deity of Jesus. There are not as many clear references in the Bible that declare the specific deity of Jesus Christ as being human. Nevertheless, that doesn’t mean there aren’t any. Let’s start with one in Matthew the first chapter:
Mat 1:23 Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.
This verse is of course speaking about Mary becoming pregnant with Jesus Christ. Here we have a very clear reference that he will be called by the name “Emmanuel” which is a Hebrew name meaning “God with us”. This of course is very controversial in various religions of the world and many of them would certainly deny that God would do something so ridiculous as becoming a part of His creation. It is funny how God uses these foolish things to confound the wise (1 Cor 1:27). So, we need at least one more good reference that Jesus was God, and I think there is a very good one in the first chapter of John.
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
The first chapter of John is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible, it is really amazing what it says. In the very first verse of the chapter, God describes Himself as being “the Word”. This verse is a parallel to Genesis 1:1. John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1 both are written about the “beginning” of creation. However, they speak of God’s Work in different terms. John 1:1 identifies the contribution of God’s Spoken Word to create our world.
If you see what John 1 says, it is almost a paradox or a riddle. How can the Word be “With” God at the same time that it “Is” God. It is an interesting theological predicament, much like trying to explain the Trinity of God. It is usually advisable that if we do not understand a verse in the Bible fully and how it is possible, it is wise to just accept it for what it literally says and believe it just because it says it rather than to attempt to understand it before we believe it. God will always unfold the written words in due time to us in time if we ask, expect the answer to be shown to us, and then trust Him to show us this answer very soon.
As you read down the chapter of John 1, we find an amazing statement of truth in verse 14 about this God called “The Word”. Verse 14 informs us that “The Word” who is also known as “God” was made flesh and lived among us. The God who has purposely hid himself throughout the ages from our physical view, would take on the form of a human male and walk around like He was just one of us. That concept boggles the religious minds of many people to no end. However, what we can clearly see in this first chapter of John, is the fact that the man Jesus Christ was God in the flesh. Let’s look at just one more reference in the Bible where Jesus himself makes a statement to some men who couldn’t understand or accept what he was saying:
John 10:30 – I and my Father are one.
John 10:31 – Then the Jews took up stones again to stone him.
John 10:32 – Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
Johh 10:33 – The Jews answered him, saying, For a good work we stone thee not; but for blasphemy; and because that thou, being a man, makest thyself God.
From the mouth of Jesus himself, he spoke and said that God the Father and him were one in the same. That is an awesome statement of revelation that we need to get a hold of and understand the full implications given. The men that heard him wanted to kill him and took up stones to do so. Jesus just asked for what good work are you going to stone me for? But they said it wasn’t for anything that he did, just for what he said.
They could see that he was a man of flesh and based upon this fact and what he said they rejected his claim to be equal to God. Jesus in affect was saying I am the one that created the universe, and you didn’t recognize me. Jesus was God standing directly before them and they did not see it. Obviously, we can learn a lot from this lesson if we are open. In another place in the Gospels, Jesus said “If you have seen me you have seen my Father.” (John 14:7-9). Again, Jesus says He is God. There are certainly a lot of other scriptures that could have been included in this discussion, but for the sake of time we will end this part of the divinity of Jesus using three witnesses.
We could certainly say more and easily get off of the mainline of the subject, so let’s go ahead and look at verses about Jesus being the bridegroom. So, in every marriage, there should always be a male participant making a proposal to his desired female, and this is followed by a wedding ceremony if she willingly accepts. So, who is this bridegroom? Is it this God Man named Jesus?
Later we will go through an in-depth study of Revelation 21 where an angel takes John in the spirit to view the Lamb’s wife. In this chapter we are given a glimpse and a view into the spiritual realm to see a symbolic city who is described in elaborate terms to be a female bride who has finalized her marriage and is now called a wife. But like we learned earlier God does not say she is called the Bride of Christ; in this verse it only says she is the “Lamb’s Wife”. As we know from the Book of John and other New Testament books, only Jesus is ever directly or indirectly called the Lamb of God. Let us confirm this briefly:
John 1:29 – The next day John seeth Jesus coming unto him, and saith, Behold the lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world.
John 1:36 – And looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of God!
Jesus is seen walking up to John and John stops in his tracks and says, “Behold the Lamb of God”. This is an awesome revelation. John knew that Jesus would soon suffer and die and become the one-time sacrifice for the payment of all human sin. Therefore, we can clearly see the reference that Jesus is indirectly called the “bridegroom” that will marry the bride shown to us in Revelation 21. We will certainly get into this in more depth soon. We could talk a lot about the significance of the lamb and about God’s usage of a lamb’s blood. There are a number of very significant typologies and parallels given to us in the Old Testament, that reveal Jesus’ substitutionary work, but we will not cover this today.
Now I want to go through other scriptural conformations found in the New Testament concerning the identity of the bridegroom. There are really several scriptures, and I will not attempt to include them all for the sake of time and space. We can see the identity of the bridegroom in the words of Jesus himself speaking to the disciples of John:
Mat 9:14 – Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
Mat 9:15 – And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.
We touched on this subject briefly in Part 1. If you recall this was when the disciples of John ask Jesus why his disciples don’t fast like they do, Jesus’ reply was very important, and a simple truth. How can the children of the bride chamber fast when they are physically present with the bridegroom? The inference is clearly given that Jesus is calling himself the bridegroom and since he was present with them, they didn’t need to fast and this made them at least a part of the “bride”.
He then says there will come a time when I, the bridegroom would be taken from them and then they could fast. We can see that Jesus is looking forward to his crucifixion, his subsequent resurrection and his ascension, when he would be taken from this earth. These words in Matthew 19:14-15 are echoed in Mark 2:19 and Luke 5:34 also, so here we see three specific witnesses declaring Jesus Christ to be the bridegroom. In fact, all of these are quotes of Jesus himself declaring himself to be the bridegroom.
Also, if we look closely at these verses and the specific term “bridechamber” we will also see the implied inference to who the bride is. If you have been following the other blogs you can also see an implication of the “seed of the woman” by the reference to the children of the bride. But since we aren’t there yet, let’s look at another witness to the identity of the bridegroom. We can see that Jesus is again called the bridegroom by John the Baptist in the Gospel of John.
John 3:28 – Ye yourselves bear me witness, that I said, I am not the Christ, but that I am sent before him.
John 3:29 – He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled.
We can see in verse 28 of John 3, that John the Baptist tells everyone that he is not the Greek word Christ, or the Hebrew equivalent word is Messiah. However, we now know the identity of the one who John is about to talk about. Then in verse 29, three times John the Baptist calls Jesus Christ the bridegroom. This verse actually has more revelation, but that is the primary point that you should accept as a great additional witness. John’s first statement is concerning the bride and declares that Jesus is the bridegroom that has her. While John does not directly identify who the bride is, he definitely identifies who the Groom is. Interesting, isn’t it? Also, the Greek word G3565 translated as bride in this verse has the following definition in the Strong’s:
G3565
From a primary but obsolete verb νύπτω nuptō (to veil as a bride; compare the Latin “nupto”, to marry); a young married woman (as veiled), including a betrothed girl; by implication, a son’s wife: – bride, daughter in law.
You can see that this word is related to the Latin word “Nupto” meaning to marry. We get English words like nuptial from this word. So clearly, we can see the association of a woman that is being married to the Lord Jesus Christ. This woman must be the bride of Christ since Jesus is the Christ. So, who is this woman that is married to the Lord Jesus Christ? Knowing who the bridegroom is, gives us a firm foundation for us to start an in-depth study of who the bride is. But let’s list some of the basic facts that we have just learned from the preceding verses:
- Jesus Christ was and still is, God in the flesh
- Jesus Christ was and still is a Man and is also called the Son of Man, causing Him to be a descendant of Adam God’s first created man.
- Jesus Christ is called the Lamb of God.
- Jesus Christ calls Himself the bridegroom.
- Jesus Christ is said to have a bride and a wife.
- A bride is always a female.
- There must be a marriage proposal and covenant established and then a wedding ceremony between Jesus and His bride.
I think these are basic scriptural facts, but yet maybe you haven’t seen them until now. So, knowing these facts we can now begin to explore the identity of the bride of Christ. Therefore, let us start by researching the subject in the Word of God. Two questions should come to our minds at this point in the study and I think answering these questions will help point us to where we should go next. Here are the two questions that maybe you thought of also and these are based upon knowing that God is a Spirit and any wedding that He is involved in as a bridegroom, is also spiritual in nature:
- What is a spiritual marriage in the eyes of God?
- What is a spiritual woman in the eyes of God?
I believe by focusing in on what God thinks are the answers to these two direct questions that it will help to provide us a firm foundation to the clear identity of the bride of Christ. In the next lesson we will begin to focus on these subjects.
If you would like to continue reading this series, you can go to “Part 3“.
The Bride of Christ Revealed – Part 1 The Introduction
(Ver 2.0) This is Part 1 in the Bible Advanced Study series revealing the identity of the spiritual woman called the Bride of Christ. Perhaps you have heard preachers and Bible teachers say, “There is nothing in the Bible that says the church is the Bride of Christ”. However, after we study this subject for ourselves like the more noble Berean Bible students mentioned in Acts 17:11, we should all begin to find and see this teaching is not Biblically accurate. It is interesting how one preacher will teach something totally opposite to what another will teach. But all it does is prove that at least one is wrong or possibly that both are wrong and only God is right. This however creates confusion, division and an atmosphere for deception in the Body of Christ. Satan is all too ready to pounce on error and use it to cause a split or an offense against other Christians in the church. We are going to start a new series of lessons today on why the Church was called to be the Bride of Christ. We will discover scriptural evidence and a lot of it so that it can be clearly understood. This will probably be the most in-depth and comprehensive Bible lesson series that many have ever encountered on the subject of the Identity of the Bride of Christ, and it will probably take a long time and a lot of lessons to cover based upon the information found in scripture.
I want to start this lesson by confirming one thing, the term “Bride of Christ” is not found in the Bible anywhere that I have personally found. That might shock some people to learn that truth. But neither are the terms abortion, homosexuality, rapture, demons or the trinity found in the Bible either. Does that mean none of these exist either? Does anyone think that God cares nothing about any of these subjects to discuss them directly by name? Many times, basic theological principles are not directly named or labeled with a clear title that can be found in the Bible. Many times, these theological terms come as a result of man naming them with titles that have stuck. These manmade titles and labels cause the subjects to be more easily taught and referenced and for others to understand them.
So instead of us looking for the term “Bride of Christ” in the Bible and saying it doesn’t exist and therefore concluding that the church is not the bride, let us become wise enough to learn the lesson of how God wrote the Bible and do a search for other information that is given to us using synonyms and implied references to marriage. The Bible contains an almost infinite number of mysteries, puzzles, riddles and hidden information. God used this technique for two primary reasons. First to hide this information from His enemies who were led by Satan and then second to conceal the truth for us (the Church) to find at the right time. If we can understand this, it will help us unify in trying to figure out what the Bible really says and means.
The “Bride of Christ” is of course a very deep subject with a lot of complex interwoven layers of truth, and it may be extremely challenging to be taught concisely in a blog format. Therefore, if length of the lessons is problem, this series may be offensive just by the volume of information that needs to be covered. But please note brevity was not always God’s motivation in the Bible. After all understand God wrote 66 books from over 40 authors and very few of them were short books. We can also learn from Jesus who taught a very large group of people for 3 days in Mark 8:2 and none of them had had natural food to eat. Is anyone today that hungry for what God has to teach? Do also remember Peter in Acts 20:9 who preached so long one man fell asleep in an open window to fall to the ground and died. However, this man was raised from the dead and lived to talk about it. If anyone gets tired reading this series, you are not going to die just break it into sections and learn when you can get the time. Thank you.
INTRODUCTION
Let us start our introduction of this subject by addressing the two main reasons why some preachers think that the church is not the bride. In this way we will not ignore the views and thoughts on the subject from others. This will hopefully allow everyone the fair ability to weigh the evidence from everyone, to determine which is the view that matches with the witness of the Holy Spirit living in each of our hearts. Or perhaps there will be elements of each teacher’s view that bears witness with our spirit or perhaps neither teaching view will bear witness with your spirit, and then you are free to believe as the Spirit leads you. Out of respect and in the name of love, we will not name any names other teacher’s views. So, if you want to listen to any of these teachers who teach these beliefs it is easy to find them by a search of the internet using the topic.
The first reason that has been popular to why the church is not the bride, is because they say the church is the Body of Christ. This may shock some, but I believe this too. The church is the body of Christ. This is irrefutable and this belief is definitely amazingly true. But we will soon discover that this truth does not contradictory with the belief that the church is also the bride of Christ. We all should know that the New Testament clearly gives an overwhelming number of scriptures that confirm this basic truth. Again, I believe these verses, and everyone should teach firmly that the Church is the Body of Christ.
Many people with limited knowledge believe the Bible contains contradictions. And when someone encounters these differences in scriptures this is when potential errors can occur and even carnal fights over theological beliefs of doctrines. It should be obvious to everyone that being the body of Christ is a contradiction to also being the bride of Christ. How one resolves these conflicts will possibly result in unity or division within the church depending upon if we allow the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth or not.
What some teachers have concluded to resolve this conflict is that, if we are the body of Christ (Rom 12:5) and if Christ has a bride (Rev 21:9), then we (the church) also have a Bride. That belief would make us (the church) the bridegroom also. Jesus clearly claimed to be the bridegroom in Matthew 9:15. However, in this context Jesus is asked why doesn’t His disciples fast and Jesus’ reply is “How can the children of the bridechamber fast while the bridegroom is with them”. This statement clearly calls the disciples of Jesus those in the bride chamber and not the groom.
Therefore, we are observing thinking that brings us new contradictions in scriptures. A belief that says we are the bridegroom places us on equal ground with Jesus Christ and it causes us to be God as an equivalent in every aspect and feature. That logic should set off all kind of red flags in our minds. We are not the Creator God; we are His creation. What these teachers have done is a classic error of Bible Interpretation that many have fallen into without knowing it. They have taken “A” single truth and exalted it and have made it “The” complete truth. This happens very frequently and is a misrepresentation of what God desired us to know as truth. You see there are many truths in the Bible and if we take just one of them and exclude the rest of them, we are now in the potential of great error. That might be the most important thing that we can learn today from this lesson so don’t throw it away.
Now for the second reason why some preachers think the church is not the bride of Christ. They turn to the last chapters in Revelation and read about a city coming out of heaven from God (Rev 21:9). This holy city is called the “New Jerusalem”, and she is referred to as a woman. She is also called specifically the “Lamb’s Wife”. In their reasoning they have determined that since we are the “Body of Christ”, this is our (the church’s) wife also. In other words, God came to the earth in the flesh, suffered and died on a cross, went to hell and arose back to heaven all so that he could marry a city with buildings and houses that we could all live as one body happily ever after. Does this belief agree and balance with all scripture?
Would this teaching raise any questions in your mind with what you know about other verses found in the Bible? If this city New Jerusalem is the bride of the church, then we must also conclude that we are the Lamb. However, have we ever seen any verses of scripture that claims the church is the “Lamb of God”. In fact, we should have all been taught and know that the term “Lamb of God” refers to our spotless “Passover” sacrifice that only Jesus would qualify to make for our salvation (1 Cor 5:7, 1 Pet 1:19).
Let us quickly address the city called “New Jerusalem”. This city cannot be the bride. God uses this named city as a symbolic reference to the residents of the city. For example, if someone said on the news, “New York City” elected a new Mayor, did the buildings vote for them, or was it the people living in the city’s buildings? It should be obvious that only people are supposed to vote. But in our evil world the devil even tries to win elections in whatever way goes unchecked. Therefore, a city called the bride in Revelation is speaking of all of the inhabitants and residents of this city called New Jerusalem and collectively these people are called the Lamb’s “bride”, and we will find later the church is confirmed to be that city in other scriptures.
Let us now cover reason number three that is being taught to claim the church is not the bride of Christ. There are some modern Bible teachers that were clearly born a natural human male, and they feel if they are being referred to as a spiritual female bride, it removes their masculinity. One nameless pastor said, “I am a man, I don’t wear panties”. This clearly demonstrates a concerning level of carnal focus and thinking.
According to this pastor, he was struggling in thinking of himself as a spiritual woman or being called the bride of Christ, because he was a natural male, and any normal natural man should have a problem with being identified as any kind of female, even one that is female. I can understand that thought process, because I am a man also. There are so many natural people in the world that are so confused with their sexual identity, whether they are a man or a woman. These kinds of people ask, “Am I a man in a woman’s body” or vice versa. It seems this sexual identity crisis has also crept into the church by Satan’s design to produce confusion.
Is the church a man or is it a woman in the eyes of God? That is certainly the great debate that seems to be raging. You can so easily see why Satan wants to keep the church in confusion so that they don’t understand who they are and why they are here. If the church doesn’t understand the truth, then Satan is able to steal away their purpose and calling from our hearts and we will never be able to know our purpose according to what God’s Word and Jesus has taught us. As you read the rest of this lesson series, we will soon discover why Satan wants to convince the Body of Christ that they are not the bride of Christ. If he can convince us that we are not the bride, then we will not be able to fulfill the Biblical prophecies spoken by the words of God himself.
So normal men don’t like being thought of as a spiritual female. However, what we think, or would like or don’t like shouldn’t really mean anything. That also goes for how you and I feel about being called a woman. We must humble ourselves and submit to God realizing whatever He says about us and who we are is right, and we are the ones that are wrong. Therefore, we need scriptures to help us make our mind up who we are? Can we agree? This is us not making a prejudged decision, this is just us being open to receive whatever the outcome is that is found in God’s Word. Yes, or no?
Perhaps you have heard that a picture of the church being the bride, brings out an image of a woman dressed in a wedding gown, wearing combat boots. This one minister just couldn’t identify with such a thought being a male. Is there any natural female that may as a female woman have a problem if she is called a spiritual male (the body of Christ)? For some reason I’ve never heard a female complain. Therefore, why would a natural male have a problem if he is called a spiritual female (the bride)?
Isn’t this like having a natural carnal male chauvinist attitude, thinking a man is better and knows things better than God. Did you know that the Bible says in Galatians 3:28 that there is neither “male” nor “female” in Christ? If you are in Christ and you are worried about being called a male or a female you are could be thinking too carnally and naturally. If you are a male and have a problem identifying yourself as a spiritual woman and that did say spiritual, then you may need to repent and figure out what God thinks about it and not worry about your outward appearance or feelings on the subject.
What we must ask ourselves, is there precedence in the Bible for the Church to be the bride of Christ? Ok, that was a legal term and what is really meant to be said was, is there a valid Bible pattern, a type or a shadow given to us in the Old Testament that would mirror and confirm to us this New Testament truth being a spiritual woman?
In Legal terms, precedence is when a judge gives a ruling, he is obligated to explain why he ruled that way. Many times, a judge will normally give established case histories where similar rulings were given and then explain why he ruled the way that he did. Why does the Judge feel obligated to include similar case rulings in his decision process? That is an interesting concept if you think about it. When a judge provides supporting evidence for his decision, he is saying this is not just my lone opinion.
Precedence can also apply to the order of priority or sequence of importance. This is exactly how the Bible is written if you didn’t realize it. God is the ultimate Supreme Judge and Jesus is our Lawyer or Advocate. God does everything in an orderly legal fashion. He explains His rulings giving us His precedence on the subject in His Word. The Old Testament parallels the New Testament, as well as the Old Testament precedes the New. The Old Testament helps us explain the New Testament and vice versa. The Old Testament gives us natural pictures of actual living people that point us to spiritual truths. There are many natural examples in the Old Testament that point us to spiritual New Testament truths. In fact there is an Old Testament scripture that says, “The thing that has been, that is the thing that shall be” (Ecc 1:9) and God said there is nothing new under the sun. In this lesson series we will definitely explore some new foundational truths from both the Old and the New Testaments that confirm the true identity of the church, so get ready to learn.
Perhaps you recall in the Old Testament that the natural nation of Israel was named to be a female whore repeatedly? This was because they went whoring after other gods through idolatry. We can read in Jeremiah 13:27 where God is describing the earthly city named Jerusalem as going whoring and committing spiritual adulteries. Please understand that this is a natural city containing natural human males and females who at that time was in covenant with God and God refers to them collectively as a female. Did this female reference remove the masculinity of any of these males? Carnal thinking is a major enemy of receiving spiritual truth. God desires us to come up to a higher spiritual way of thinking and believing. Please let us not fall for this trick of Satan.
We can’t cover every scripture reference, and reason people believe and teach the church is “not” the bride, but I really do not want to dilute the truth. I must apologize if some lessons come across very blunt and to the point sometimes, there is never any intention to offend anyone, it is rather just an attempt to wake some sleeping giants up to the truth. Jesus who was God in the flesh and is called “LOVE”, said and did some things to religious people that was shocking blunt and direct. He called some a generation of serpents and vipers; he called others a den of thieves, and on and on we could go. Do you believe Jesus was being too tough and not walking in love? Could it be that people who get offended at the words of God are being challenged to change? Do you remember what Paul wrote in Galatians 4:16? He said, “Have I become your enemy because I tell you the truth?” That sounds like a bold statement, and some would call it prideful. People have the potential to learn more by not becoming offended than they do than if they do not allow offensive to control them. Therefore, if you read something that offends you in this series, it might be wise to forgive first and realize God might be speaking something that He desires for us to know.
Finally, learn the lesson from the US Secret Service. You know these people do not spend a lot of time studying how to make counterfeit money. Instead, they concentrate on studying the real money, its features, characteristics and qualities. If you become intimately familiar with the real you can automatically recognize the counterfeit. That principle works with the Bible in the same way. The more we study the truth; the false teachings become easily recognizable. What we have to do is to make sure that what we believe is firmly based upon 2 or 3 witnesses of scripture found in the Bible. If we do this, then we are standing on good ground that is able to recognize any false teaching influenced by the enemy.
Mat 22:2 The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son,
As you can clearly see, Jesus is describing a spiritual reality using a descriptive natural story found in the form of a parable. This marriage being described to us is what we will begin to study in this series of lessons. Jesus is telling us of the “Kingdom of Heaven” so He must be speaking about spiritual truths using natural descriptive terms that we are all familiar with. However, this is another reason why Satan is trying the destroy the God created institution of marriage between a male and female. This covenant marriage law is written in Genesis 2:22-24 and it is being attacked directly by Satan today. It is this amazing God created union that is the basis of our salvation. That is how important this subject of the bride of Christ is to learn.
In this parable there was a certain King what has arranged a marriage for His son. So, we must begin by understanding the King is representative of God the Father. The Son in this parable is clearly Jesus Christ and He is the “bridegroom”. The marriage must be to a “bride”. The bride can be referred to as a future “daughter-in-law”, or the King’s “son’s” wife. So now we need to determine what is a spiritual woman, who is this spiritual woman (bride) and what is a spiritual marriage in the eyes of God.
Before we can accurately understand the identity of the bride of Christ and confirm her existence we really need to step back and come to understand some spiritual basic concepts; like what does the Bible say a spiritual woman is, and how does a spiritual woman relate to a spiritual family unit. Obviously if we are talking about women and brides we are also talking about a marriage as Jesus begins to describe in the first line of the parable.
How is a son’s marriage to a bride related to this subject in the eyes of God. We also need to figure out scripturally who is the bridegroom? Please recall, that we were previously introduced to this answer in this introduction. What is a Blood Covenant and how is it related to marriage? I believe that Biblical blood covenants are also a key subject to study and understand for us to build the basic knowledge of the subject of the identity of the bride of Christ. I cannot fully expound in this lesson on all of the Bible basics that we should be aware of to more fully understand this subject.
This means that this lesson series is built upon other foundational teachings that are available and easily found on the site. Not all of this information can be retaught here. Please spend the time to review these lessons to gain the firm foundational understandings of the Bible about these subjects that were just mentioned. Most advanced studies of any subject must logically assume there are prerequisite subjects that are required for basic knowledge of the more advanced subject, so this lesson is no different. Anyone is free to study this lesson alone, but it is recommended that you go back and study the other subjects if you struggle with anything that is said that is difficult to understand.
Hopefully we all can agree that when we go to college and take an advanced class like Calculus or Statistical Probability, they don’t start the class with 1 + 1 = 2, we should have already learned that in elementary school. So it is in the Bible in many subjects. This lesson is a spiritual college level Bible course, and not much time will be spent on any elementary school basics. The bottom line is that if I say something that you don’t agree with, it is strongly recommended that before you reject it or write it off, that you do some basic study to see how the study has arrived at that statement.
So let us go back to one of the first major points of the introduction; This was “taking a truth and trying to make it the only truth”. This is a repeated error for many Bible teachers, and it is such a critical mistake because it closes our mind to look and examine other verses found in the Bible. When this happens our spirits become closed to new information that God wanted to teach us on the subject. Here is a God challenge for us all today. Realize that there is more than one truth written in the Bible.
Many of God’s truths found in the Bible are like the threads of a finely woven fabric or tapestry. It consists of many different threads (truths) that all fit together closely so that they overlapped with other threads (truths) and all of these fitted together correctly reveal the picture of God and His Son Jesus Christ correctly. In fact, the Bible is so complex that it is practically impossible for any human alone to fully comprehend everything that the Bible says. This is by God’s design. This causes us all to learn from each other.
But some saying the church is “only” the body of Christ and that’s it, simply closes our minds to anything else that the Lord wanted to teach us about the subject of Jesus and His bride. Also, weaving truths together incorrectly only produces a mixed-up confusing mess of individual truths not fitting together correctly in harmony.
You see, in the Bible God describes the church using many, many different names, titles and descriptions with each revealing several different new characteristics, qualities and features. We are described as “kings” and “priests” (Rev 1:6). In 2 Corinthians 5:12 the church is called “ambassadors” for Christ. In other places in the Bible, we are described as “saints” (Romans 1:7). The church is described as an “army” with armor and weapons (Eph 6:13). We are described as “children” and even “sons” of God in the New Testament. We are called “joint heirs” with Christ in Romans 8:17. In Romans 2:29 the church is called the spiritual “Jews”. In other places in the New Testament like 1 Corinthians 3:16 the church is called the “temple of God”. We could go on and on with other scripture references, but hopefully we get the point.
We can’t take any one of those truths alone and attempt to make it and it alone the entire truth of God’s word. And if we do this, we are in BIG trouble with trying to understand the rest of the Bible. Here is another good question for those who may teach that the church is only the body of Christ and therefore cannot be the bride. How can the church be called “joint heirs” with Christ if we are “Christ’s body”? Wouldn’t that make us the only heir and not a joint heir? Uh oh? That may be a problem that some have not given enough thought to resolve. A “joint heir” with Christ clearly implies a different heir and not the exact same one. So how can the church be joint heirs at the same time they are the Body of Christ?
This is just one example of a very significant puzzle and mystery, that we will get into and solve in this series. Hopefully you are learning a few things from this short introduction. I believe this series was designed by the Holy Spirit to introduce and teach us things in a specific order and sequence to hopefully help everyone more fully understand it. If you desire to know more of the Names, Titles, Descriptions and Symbols for the Church you can go to that lesson and research them in your Bible.
Conclusion
This has only been a short introduction to our subject of identifying the Bride of Christ as being a figurative term for the church. While this subject is controversial, there can only be one true identity of this spiritual woman, even if she is also symbolized by other identifying names, titles and descriptions. There is so much more to learn on this subject, and it is really amazing how much of it is unknown or ignored by many Christians.
If you are like many Christians, there should be a spiritual curiosity to desire to know the truth. Jesus called this being a true disciple in John 8:31-32 that will grow to find His truth. I have diligently sought to have this relationship with Christ intimately to know His truth and I pray you will also. Thank you for taking your valuable time to read and study the Bible with us. If you do not know Jesus Christ, there is a link at the bottom that will help you begin the journey to knowing Him. God Bless you.
If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons, you can continue with “Part 2“.
Gen 3:15 The Seed of the Woman! The Seed of the Serpent!
(Ver 2.6) This is Part 9 in the Bible study series on Understanding Genesis 3. If you have not read the series from the beginning you might benefit from starting at the beginning and reading “Part 1” first. I have given some important key points in the first lesson in the series that is needed for you to understand this lesson completely. This lesson concerns the words spoken to the serpent and you need to understand who this serpent is identified to be in order to understand how to interpret these words in this verse. One of the keywords in my title today is the subject of “seeds”. I have already touched on this subject in other Bible lessons that I have published, but since we are studying in Genesis 3, I feel that this needs to be discussed again so that people will understand it more thoroughly. It is disturbing to me how people can read the Bible and not see what it really says. In my opinion there are too many Christians that don’t have a clue what the Bible actually says. There is a great number of Christians who rely on others to tell them what to believe. If their preacher says it’s true then they are instantly on board with it without studying it for themselves. That kind of attitude has caused a bunch of people in the church to be deceived. Do not believe anything I say or anything anyone else says without you reading it in your own Bible and you seeing it for yourself; you must be able to determine if it is really true for yourself and no one else can do it for you. Here is today’s central Bible verse found in Genesis 3, let’s look at it carefully and consider what God says to us:
Gen 3:15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
From the context of this scripture we know that God is speaking. This verse occurs after the man and his wife had sinned by eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God is speaking to each participant in the ordeal in the reverse order of mention found in the chapter. If you read all of chapter 3 you will see that Satan (the serpent) is mentioned first, then the woman and finally Adam. But, God comes to the man first, since he is supposed to be in charge of the situation. Did you know if you are just a member of a church that God will not come to you and tell you how to run the church? God always communicates from the top down and not from the bottom up. I just threw that in for good measure; there is no extra charge for any new information that helps you personally. So if you look at this verse God is finally speaking directly to Satan who has initiated the problem. We know that in Chapter 3 of Genesis Satan is referred to in the terms of a symbolic “serpent”. That only means that there was not a literal talking physical snake in the garden during this chapter. If you don’t understand that statement you need to read my lesson on the subject called “Was There A Talking Snake In The Garden“. In that lesson I gave at least 4 sound Bible reasons why there could not be a literal talking serpent. I will not repeat that subject in this lesson to try to prove to you what I have already taught and confirmed with the Bible. If you do not understand there wasn’t a talking physical snake then go and read about it and then come back to study this subject about the seed of the woman. So we can see that God is speaking directly to Satan in reference to a woman. If you automatically try to assume that this woman is Eve, you would be totally wrong. Even though at this point in time Eve is the only physical woman on the planet, we can clearly see that God is speaking of a prophetic woman and this woman has to be a spiritual woman, since Satan is her spiritual opponent. A physical woman is not capable of stepping on the head of a spiritual being. If you think so, you would be wrong again. There are too many distinct differences between natural things and spiritual things for you to think otherwise. Let us start an analysis of the verse by reviewing the nouns in this verse and see what God has said to us. We can see that there are 8 primary nouns given to us in this verse. Here they are in order of mention:
- I (God)
- Enmity
- Thee (Satan, the serpent)
- Woman
- Seed of the serpent
- Seed of the woman
- Head
- Heel
If you look at my list and you study the verse you might notice that I left off two nouns. One being “it” and the other being “his”. These I believe are mistranslated words and do not reflect correctly the true meaning of the verse so I left them off for now. The first noun in Genesis 3:15 is “I” and this is God and God tells us and all the other participants what He was going to do as a result of their actions. This is the first thing that you should recognize, if God says something you can believe it will happen exactly like He said it would. We can see that this is one of the first direct statements of God’s plan of redemption that has far reaching implications. You can also see that this is God’s Will in action. God says “I will” and then tells you what He is going to do or make happen. Now, here is a list of the important verbs found in the sentence:
- Put
- Bruise
We can see that there are far fewer verbs given than there are nouns. Let’s start with the verse’s first verb “put”. We can clearly see that this is something that God says He will do. This word has a meaning “to place”. For example, you can “put” something on a shelf. You can “put” something in the refrigerator. But this verse says God will put something between two other direct nouns. The implication is given that God will change the order of something from one thing to another. You could say a reversal of roles, for example? You could also say this is a division or a separation of one noun from the other noun being separated with something in between. You might see this more clearly if you read my other blogs. What we need to do at this point is see who God is talking to and then to see what was placed between them to cause this separation.
Let’s start by looking at the second noun in Genesis 3:15 and this is “enmity” and this word clearly means “a hatred” or “hostility”. These are words normally between enemies. What we can clearly see at this point is that God says that He will put ”hatred” between the next two nouns. These nouns are of course the “serpent” and the “woman”. You can clearly see that God who has not identified who the woman is, has told Satan that there will be a hatred between him and her. In other words these two will become great enemies who will do battle. These are implied meanings derived from the chosen words and wording from this verse given to us by God Himself. Please note these important items and then notice the next two nouns in the verse. God seems to shift into talking about something new, or does He? I believe what we have here is a new point of view being given but, God is still talking about the same original two nouns. Notice what God says, I will put enmity between you and the woman, between your seed and her seed. So did God change subjects? We are still talking about the same enmity, right? So what makes you think that the “seed” of the serpent is separate from the serpent? Have you ever thought about that? You see if you logically conclude that the enmity is the same between the serpent and the woman as the enmity between the seed of the serpent and the seed of the woman, then you could say that God is still talking about the same two individuals. Let’s look at the very first verse in the Bible that talks about “seed” and see what it reveals to us by the law of first mention:
Gen 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bring forth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after his kind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so.
What we discover is a basic principle of the nature of seeds. A seed is something that when planted produces something else. But it only produces, based upon the law of Genesis “after his kind“. In other words apple seeds produce apple trees and not orange trees. Now here is the really important part of the verse, it says that the “seed is in itself”. In other words you cannot separate the seed from the tree or the fruit; they are considered to be one. An apple tree will produce apples, that have seeds that when planted will cause there to be more apple trees that produce more apples, that have more seeds that go on and on. These are the basic Bible laws surrounding seeds. If you do not understand them you can go read my blog series on “Understanding Seeds”. The principles of seeds are quite simple but the implications are vast and complex. If Genesis 3:15 is talking about the seed of the serpent, you have to go back to Genesis 1 and apply the seed law principles and see that they are considered to be one in the same. The seed of the serpent is in himself. The serpent is representative of a spiritual tree that has fruit with seeds in it. These seeds can be planted and will cause to multiply and grow and become greater in number. Yet this multiplication system still demands that no matter how many that are produced from it, they all originated from the one. If you have never studied the Bible on the subject of “seed” you should because it is a wealth of information. Most everything that God does is based upon a seed principle. Jesus told us a parable of a man sowing seeds and said if you don’t understand this one you will not understand any other.
So let’s go a little further with what a seed is in the relationship to a woman. If you search the Bible you will find some very interesting statements. I’ve heard preachers get up and declare that the “seed of the woman” is Jesus of Nazareth. That would mean that the woman in Genesis 3:15 would have to be Mary. Mary was the physical mother of natural Jesus, yes? Did God ever put enmity between Mary and Satan? I think you are smart enough to see that this does not fit the scriptures that we can read. Then you could say that “the seed of the woman” is Jesus Christ who was raised from the dead and called the firstborn from the dead (Col 1:18). That would mean the woman in Genesis 3:15 is the “Heavenly Jerusalem” who we are told is the spiritual mother of Jesus Christ and the church (Gal 4:26) and I hope you can see that this doesn’t work either. God never put enmity between this woman and Satan. So the seed of the woman cannot be Jesus just from thinking logically along these lines. Before we go any further let me show you a verse in Genesis that I think is the first actual reference to a woman having seed. This will at least establish that a woman can have seed. I’ve heard many ministers say that a woman cannot have seed and that only a man or male has seed and they are thinking of sperm as being the only type of seed there is in the Bible. What people don’t realize is there are many different types of things in the Bible all called seeds. Here is just one of them:
Gen 4:25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.
Hopefully you can see from this verse of scripture a principle being established. A child that is born of a woman is called her seed. Eve is called the mother of all living human beings since she was the first woman. Given modern DNA research, most have concluded that every human being has originated from this one woman they called “Eve”. This is a basic implementation of the seed principle from Genesis 1. But of course it is more complex than that. Adam and Eve were one flesh, meaning they were one body in the eyes of God. Adam’s sperm or male seed was implanted into his wife, she bore him a child and this child was also their seed. This seed has the potential to reproduce after the original pattern and produce more seed; it is an endless perpetual self-sustaining model of life on this planet. But we know that no matter how many seed are produced, they are still considered to be one with the original model from whom they originated from. Whatever Adam did everyone he produced did, it is a very extensive spiritual and physical law. The sum of the whole is always equal to one. All of the separate and individual parts are still one in the same in the eyes of God. You can learn this principle in the N.T. by reading 1 Corinthians 15:22, where God says “For as in Adam ALL die…”. Did you notice that verse said you were “IN” Adam? That is the powerful concept of the seed being in itself. That means whatever Adam did you also did and that is why death passed upon all humanity by the acts of just one man. This is God’s definition of the natural seed always being within itself, whatever your father did, you did principle. Let me give you another N.T. example of this spiritual and physical seed law:
Heb 7:9 And as I may so say, Levi also, who receiveth tithes, payed tithes in Abraham.
Did you notice that Levi was in Abraham? Whatever Abraham did was what his future descendant Levi, also did. So when did Levi come into the earth? You should look at the genealogies given to us in the Bible and see that Levi was generations away from Abraham, yet Abraham paid tithes and therefore Levi paid tithes. We can confirm this by reading the next verse in Hebrews:
Heb 7:10 For he was yet in the loins of his father, when Melchisedec met him.
Hopefully you understand the principle of seeds a little bit better now. Levi is said to have paid tithes because his great grandfather paid tithes to Melchisedec. Levi a future descendant was in Abraham and therefore whatever Abraham did, Levi did. That is one of the most important things that you can learn from our lesson today and it is certainly indirectly related to our primary subject of who the seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent is in Genesis 3:15.
So let’s approach the subject of the seed of the woman as being Jesus Christ but, from a different perspective. If the seed of the woman is Jesus Christ then who is the seed of the serpent? We know the serpent is Satan, but who is the seed of the serpent? You see you cannot say one type of seed is an individual male child without saying the other is also an individual male child. You must be consistent in your interpretations and not try to make one noun a specific object type and then try to change the definition of the other identical noun to make it to be something else entirely new, do you get it? So if Jesus Christ is the seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15 as many preachers have said, then who can the seed of the serpent be? I do hope you see the logic behind that question. What the Bible says matters, every word and every detail matters and then how you interpret the Bible also matters. If you are not being consistent and treating every word the same, then you are being selective in what you teach and therefore getting it wrong by default. So pay very close attention to every detail; then ask questions. When you read across a detail that you do not understand, start to formulate questions and make notes on them. You never know when you will be reading a verse in the Bible and suddenly realize that you just read the answer to your question you had a few days or weeks ago. So I hope you can see logically that the seed of the woman cannot be Jesus Christ, because we have not named the “seed of the serpent”. Here is another difficulty that I have with saying that Jesus is the seed of the woman, I have not found any verses in the Bible that says that Jesus bruised the head of the serpent. Can you find one? What I discovered in studying the Bible, is that it says Jesus sat down at the right hand of God waiting for His enemies to be made His footstool (Hebrews 10:13). What we learn from this one verse is that Satan (God’s enemy) is not yet completely under the feet of Jesus. Do you get it? So what is God waiting for? So let me ask you again who is the seed of the serpent? Is this Satan’s physical child? I don’t think so. But you have to be consistent, if one seed is a man child you have to make the other seed the same. This is just a basic law of correct Bible interpretation, be consistent and apply what you do equally across the board to each occurrence of the word. If a word occurs twice in one verse interpret them equally.
Getting back to the problem with this KJV translation of Genesis 3:15 I alluded to the fact that two nouns “it” and “his” were mistranslated because some translators thought they were speaking about Jesus Christ and this idea crept into the translation. The word “it” in this verse is a Hebrew feminine word that is actually translated as “her” or “she” many times in the Bible. You can see that in Genesis 3:12 when Adam says “the woman that you gave me, SHE gave me of the tree”. This “SHE” is the same Hebrew word, so SHE is a valid translation for this word. Search your Bible and see it for yourself. Then the term “his heel” does not have an actual Hebrew word associated with it that tells you the actual gender of the owner of the heel. In other words “her heel” would work for this verse equally as well and I believe it could be a much better translation. It totally depends on whose heel we are talking about doesn’t it? Look at your Bible and see if these are true. Is there a Hebrew word for “his” that has a Strong’s definition? I couldn’t find one! So I am convinced based upon other scriptures in the Bible which I haven’t given you here that this verse in Genesis 3:15 should end like this: “she shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise her heel“.
If you need more scriptures I’ll give you a quick synopsis of more evidence from the Bible of who this woman is. In Luke 10:19 Jesus told his church “I give you power to tread upon serpents…“. Reading that verse you have all of the key elements and nouns repeated from Genesis 3:15. You have a woman, who is the church, you have the mention of the serpent who is Satan, and you then have the action verb of stepping on the serpent with your feet. This is just the exact same stuff that we read in Gen 3:15, using different words. I hope you can see it. Then there is another verse that is very critical to understand found in Romans 16:20, “The God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly…“. Again we have a verse of scripture written to a woman (the Church) whose feet are to be used by God to bruise the head of Satan (the serpent).” You see, these two verses alone tell me that Jesus Christ did not accomplish this already and they confirm to me who is directly prophesied by God to complete this bruising of the serpent’s head. The Church is a spiritual woman, in covenant with Jesus Christ. Here is another perspective to consider, the church is called the “Body of Christ”. Jesus Christ is said to be the Head and the church is said to be His body (Eph 5). Where exactly are the feet located? Are your feet located on your head or on your body? So if God is going to use anyone to bruise the head of the serpent, would He not use His body? It’s not rocket science you just have to read and see what it says.
I have already blogged on most of the rest of this information when I gave you information about the woman in Revelation 12. Maybe I should rehash it again so that you can see it more clearly. You see the Bible in Revelation 12 speaks about a woman and since we are talking about a woman in Genesis 3:15 we should approach this woman as a potential candidate for the prophecy that God has given to us. You do not know it is not this woman do you? What I found absolutely fascinating was all of the clues given to us in Revelation 12 that fit the pattern of the prophecy in Genesis 3:15. First God is talking to the serpent when He prophecies in Gen 3. God actually reveals to us the true identity of the serpent in Revelation 12:9. Knowing this fact alone should give you some clues that God is revealing something that is much bigger in that Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 are related. You should be able to see that Genesis 3 and Revelation 12 are closely related if you study both chapters very closely. In Revelation 12 we have two primary nouns being repeated. These two nouns are the woman and Satan (the ancient serpent). The dragon we are told in Revelation 12:9 is definitely the “old serpent” so we can now see that the woman certainly could be the same woman being prophesied about in Gen 3. Now skip down to the last verse in Revelation 12 and notice another direct mention that is certainly not a coincidence.
Rev 12:17 And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
So now we have some information that the dragon hates the woman. The dragon is said to be at war with the woman and that makes him and her enemies. What did God say in Genesis 3:15? God said that he would put “enmity” between you (the serpent) and the woman. Again we see some amazing parallels being spoken of. Then here is the real kicker, did you notice that verse in Revelation 12 spoke of the “seed of the woman” again? Satan was at war with the woman’s seed. Do you understand that statement? It certainly sounds like this is the prophesied woman in Genesis 3:15. If you do not understand how the heel and the head of the serpent come into play you need to stop here and go and read my blog on “The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12“. Once you realize that the woman in Revelation 12 is standing on the moon with her feet you will begin to understand this is the woman that God spoke of way back in the beginning. I know this is different than anything you have ever heard before, but yet if you can read with your eyes open you will see that it is all true. I pray that this has been a blessing to you and that you will pass it along to someone who can learn from it also. God Bless.
If you would like to continue to read in this series concerning the spiritual subjects hidden in Genesis 3 please go to “Part 10“.
Gen 3:21 God Clothes Them With Coats of Skin!
(ver 1.2) This is Part 8 in the Bible study series on Understanding Genesis 3. I have been going through the key verses in Genesis 3 and bringing out many new spiritual perspectives based upon God’s explanations found in verses in other parts of the Bible. I do not do this randomly because I use a set of rules that God has taught me about correct Bible interpretation. I will try to teach you these rules later. If you have not read all of the Genesis 3 series from the beginning I would recommend that you go back and read from “Part 1“. I believe by looking for related linked scriptures in the Bible we have a better opportunity to fully understand what God actually meant when He gave us these original writings. I believe the Bible is progressive revelation. What I mean by that is that God systematically builds upon layers of knowledge in a structured manner that increases our understanding of the beginning words. It is like reading a basic math book before you ever try to learn calculus. By learning the basics you can then add to this knowledge and apply it to the more advanced and everything flows together in harmony. You see the complexity of the Bible is so great because the intelligence of the author is so far beyond us. But knowing that God is so much smarter than we are, He didn’t leave us in the dark to figure it out all on our own. God has provided us a vast amount of commentary in the Bible on every subject and in fact I believe He has given us all the information we need to figure out these hidden and secret things, if we learn to follow His Word.
Too many times people teach a verse of scripture in the Bible in total isolation. They focus into a verse and want to figure it out with their own human logic and reasoning. But, God being a highly intelligent spirit being doesn’t write us a book that we can figure out alone in isolation. Even though many men and women have tried, they have all failed miserably. Today I want to focus in on one verse found in Genesis and see what God says to us in the Bible about this verse. This verse occurs in Genesis 3:21 and it says the following:
Gen 3:21 Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.
I have heard many Bible teachers read this verse and claim that God killed an animal and used its skin to make for the man and the woman external physical clothes. They have tried to assume that this is the origination of the blood sacrifice. But I am not convinced that this is what the Bible actually says. What do we know from other verses up until this point in the story. We know that Adam and Eve after they had sinned became afraid and told God it was because they were naked. God confronts them and asks “who said you were naked?” In other words God did not say they were naked? From God’s perspective of the situation they were spirits clothed in a body. But what changed from chapter 2 where Adam and Eve were not ashamed of being naked to chapter 3 where they obviously felt shame and embarrassment. I went into a little bit of this whenever I wrote about them being naked in chapter 2. I will not repeat everything here again. What I said in synopsis is that the man and the woman were more like innocent children who are not concerned with clothing because they are spiritually aware and realize that they are spirits clothed with a body. At a certain age of accountability, children suddenly become conscious of their bodies more than they are conscious of their spirits. Now they are focused upon their bodies and wholly consumed with the natural. This is what happened to Adam and Eve, they are now oblivious to spiritual things and now consumed with natural things.
So did God kill an animal and make them clothes or was this statement reflecting some other action that God did. First let me start by asking this question, who or what were Adam and Eve that God was concerned with? You see if you think naturally you focus in on their bodies and think that is what God is focused in on also. However, God who made these natural things is not that concerned with the condition of these natural things like He is with the spiritual things. We can determine by reading the Bible that natural things are “temporal” or “temporary” (2 Cor 4:18). But, we are also told there that spiritual things are eternal. So what is more important to God, the temporary house of the man’s spirit or the man’s spirit that will live forever? I do so hope that you are following my logic. I believe and am convinced that God cares infinitely more about spiritual beings and things than he does about the planet or natural things that He has made. You see God can make a new heaven and a new earth and He will very soon. What does that have to say about the old heaven and the old earth? The Old will be gone and done away with and its value has ceased. So what should Christians be focused on? Should they be spending all their time and effort trying to save the whales and the trees or should they care infinitely more about the babies that are being aborted before they are born into this world. These babies are the bodies for the eternal spiritual beings that God has planned and sent to be here. For some reason so called Christian want to vote for a president who works against God’s design for them to be here and kill them. Liberal politicians want to place all value on saving the planet and no value on babies and that is a crime. Oh well I’ll change subjects and get back to our topic about skin.
What does it mean to be clothed with skin? If you have never thought of it before that is what you are right here and right now. You are a spirit that is clothed with a body that is covered with skin. Skin is the largest organ in the body. It is a vital part of why you are here. Now I’m going to shift gears again and bring in a new perspective on the subject of skin. Did you ever wonder why God initiated a practice with Abraham that started a process that is called circumcision? This is a practice that most educated medical professionals will agree is a sound procedure that promotes health in the men that have this done. Circumcision is a procedure that entails the removal of unnecessary skin. Have you ever asked yourself if this skin is so unnecessary, why did God put it there in the first place? Didn’t God know this when He was creating a man? That to me is an interesting and an extremely valid question. I would go so far as to say that anything that God does has a purpose and this skin also has a purpose. What was the purpose of this skin? It was done to show us something or teach us something that applies to the spiritual realm. When God makes a covenant with Abraham one of the signs of the covenant was Abraham was required to be circumcised. This was a outward sign of the covenant. It was also a pattern of something else that was to come. God gives us some insight into this practice in the New Testament:
Rom 2:28 For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh:
We can see from the subject of this verse a comparison is being made between two types of individuals. It is a known practice that the Jews have practiced circumcision ever since God spoke it to Abraham. This is the outward sign of the covenant from the Old Testament. But God now informs us some new things about this practice and why it was implemented. This verse actually says that those who are circumcised in their flesh are not the true Jews and that this outward practice means nothing except being a pattern to something greater. By continuing to read the next verse you will see the revelation of God being given:
Rom 2:29 But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God.
This is an awesome verse of truth if you can see it. It declares the church to be the true Jews because of a circumcision of their hearts that has been performed by God. If God removes the unnecessary skin surrounding our hearts (spirits), when did God put this skin on our hearts? I think that is a really good question to consider. God declares in Romans 2:29 that he has performed a circumcision of our hearts. This would be a spiritual surgical procedure which mimics the natural procedure, to remove all of the unnecessary skin that covered our spirits. This is actually an amazing concept being given to us. Since we all still have the same bodies that we had before we are saved and they all have the same bones, flesh, organs and skin, we can assume that this outward skin is not what God has taken away. It must have been an inward spiritual skin that was removed. Isn’t that what God is saying to us? God is not that concerned with your outward as you are. God is focused in on our inward parts and these are the areas that change us to affect the outward parts. Every spiritual process that God performs works from the inside out and not from the outside in. So I’ll ask this question again, where did this spiritual skin that has been removed from our spirits come from? You see I believe it came from Genesis 3:21 when God clothed them (the spirits) with skin. This skin that God put on Adam and Eve must have been a spiritual covering to shield them from something or someone. I believe it was a spiritual covering of unnecessary skin to keep them from knowing too much, too soon. Every human born on this planet has this spiritual covering that makes them unaware of their true identity as being a spiritual being.
However, now God has removed this skin covering from the church and for the last 2000 years, we are the ones that God has stated to know the truth. We are the ones that will discover all that God has done for us. We will see things of the spirit more clearly than anyone before us. We are the church, the body of Christ the ones that are purposely chosen to know what God is revealing. You can choose to participate or you can choose to close your eyes and stay out of this blessing. I’ll end this blog with this last point, in the New Testament the church is repeatedly commanded to “put on Christ”. This is of course a spiritual exercise and not a physical one. How do you put on Christ? The term put on means to be clothed with. Doesn’t that sound familiar. You see if God removed your spiritual clothing of skin you would be spiritually naked unless you put something else on. So God instructs the church to “wear” Jesus Christ as a garment. To invest your spirit with a new spiritual set of clothing. These are some powerful truths to consider and I hope that you enjoy studying the Bible as much as I do. Jesus informed us that if we continue in His word, then we would be his disciples and then we would know the truth and then the truth would set us free. Too many people are looking for God to do what He has already done. People cry out for God to set us free from this world of evil and temptation. But God said when you arrive at knowing the truth, then and only then will you be free from everything else. Apparently there is so much more to learn and understand to obtain this freedom.
If you would like to continue reading in the Bible study series on Understanding Genesis 3 please continue to “Part 9“.
Key To Understanding! In the Mouth of 2 or 3 Witnesses!
(Ver 1.4) We can certainly learn many things by observing our judicial court system, legal court proceedings and jury trial systems. Our court system, while not perfect is based upon some significant established Biblical principles. God has implemented a legal system in the Old Testament that is relevant to today’s topic of correct Bible Interpretation. In the Old Testament law God said that if anyone was guilty of breaking the law they were to be tried in a legal court. One of the requirements found in the O.T. was that any prosecution of a human must be accomplished using 2 or 3 witnesses to the offense and that all of these witnesses must agree with each other. It is a concept that can be found in our modern courts today. If you read God’s original Law in the Old Testament you will find this principle given to us by God. For example, in Numbers 35:30, God speaks of the trial of a murderer and He requires more than one witness in order to put the accused murderer to death. This is just a very common sense approach that keeps a single person from getting mad at another to accuse them of murder and then they are put to death when they actually never committed the crime. If there is only one witness, then it is essentially one man’s word against another. In those cases it is practically impossible to determine who is telling the truth and who is not. This law is repeated by God in Deuteronomy 17:6 that further states and confirms the need for 2 or 3 witnesses for anybody to be put to death.
Here is one of the basic foundational laws of Bible interpretation that is absolutely critical to understanding the Bible correctly. God built in a self-protection system that is very important for every Bible student to follow. If you have ever listened to a variety of preachers and teachers of the Bible, you probably noticed that very few of them actually agree on anything. In fact it is actually very easy to make the Bible say whatever you want it to say. You can pull things out of context and you can easily make the Bible say something that it doesn’t say. Ignorant people, churches, denominations and even intellectual theologians have all proved this reality. But here is what God says about that, in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word be established (2 Cor 13:1). This means you can’t take a single verse or a part of the verse and say that is what the Bible says. You are required to provide the collaborating, cooperating and corresponding testimony of at the least a second witness. Here is an example of what I’m talking about. There has been a group of individuals that call themselves Christians, that have read a Bible verse from Mark that they say instructs them to handle snakes in their church services. As a result many have been bitten and some have even died. That is a prime example of taking one verse out of context and attempting to make it a crazy doctrine. Don’t be stupid and fall into similar traps and pitfalls. Learn to correctly divide the Word of God before you start following someone’s stupidity. Snakes are widely spoken of in the Bible and many times they are a symbolic reference to a spiritual evil force that we cannot see. So people have taken a single verse literally and as a result have fallen into error. I’m sorry but that is dumb.
So the goal to correct Bible interpretation is to find at least two scriptures that say the same thing, even though they might say it using different words. Sometimes you can find a scripture from the Old Testament that is quoted in the New Testament. That certainly qualifies as two witnesses. That is the easiest way to confirm a truth in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses. But, you sometimes don’t have the luxury of a direct quote however, and you have to be smart enough to recognize when a verse with a little bit different wording conveys the same thought or idea on the subject in discussion. Here is a prime example of what I’m talking about. In the book of Revelation chapter 12 there is a symbolic woman clothed with a symbolic sun. In order to figure out who the woman is you have to first figure out who or what the sun is. You see the identity of one is totally dependent on the identity of the other. Does that make sense? Logically the Bible is organized into subjects that can be easily identified because they use the exact same Hebrew or Greek word to covey the subject. However, sometimes it becomes more difficult and this is another technique that God has used to conceal the truth in the Bible and this is to refer to the same object or noun using different names, terms, titles, descriptions, symbols or characteristics. It is still the same object, just called something totally different. Let me briefly enlighten you on the identity of the sun in Revelation 12. I would have to write a huge book to go into this in as much depth as it really needs to be explored, but I will not attempt to include everything I know right here. I’ve actually already written several blogs on the subject that contain more details. The sun is representative of Jesus Christ. How do I now that? If as I discussed in earlier blogs that the Bible interprets itself, then we should be able to find the identity of the sun in other scriptures in the Bible. Well in Malachi 4:2 the Bible speaks of the “Sun of Righteousness” rising with healing in his wings. Who do you think that is? This is of course just another symbolic reference, but this time in an Old Testament minor prophetic book that refers to Jesus Christ. This would be the first and most direct witness to this truth. But we still need at least one more witness. So now it become more challenging. But since I’ve already done the research and figured it out, I’ll take you to the next witness. There is a verse in Revelation 22:16 that further confirms the subject in the mouth of two witnesses that names Jesus Christ as the bright and “morning star”. What is “the Morning Star”? Some think that it is a nearby planet reference, but of course it is the Sun, our closest star to our planet that seems to rise every morning. Morning Star is the Sun using a different name. A totally different way to name the exact same thing, yet they both refer directly to the same physical object. For a third witness of the identity of the Sun we can find it in 2 Peter 1:19 “…until the day dawn and the day star arise in your hearts.” That was just the end of the verse, but it speaks about Jesus who is the Sun of Righteousness. You see the name “Day Star” is still another term for the Sun. The sun is our closest star and usually the only one we are able to see during the daylight hours. We can easliy conclude that the Day Star would represent a reference to our Sun. I hope you get the point and understand this valuable concept, if you are searching the Bible for a truth make sure that you find at the minimum two confirming witnesses to help you interpret the meaning correctly, otherwise throw it out. Whatever someone teaches from the Bible, if they do not follow this important rule, refuse to accept what they teach. This one thing will help you more than anything else that I know to correctly divide the Word of God. Follow God’s spiritual protection system for correct Bible interpretation and you will never be on shakey ground. If you want to understand the Bible correctly, then you must follow the rules that God has given to us or you will remain lost in your ignorance. Learn that there are rules to correct Bible interpretation, learn what these rules are and then live by them and you will benefit tremendously in learning about God and the truth. God Bless you and thanks of reading my Bible lesson on correct Bible Interpretation.
Gen 3:22-24 Guarding The Way To The Tree of Life!
(Ver 1.5) This is Part 6 of the Bible lesson series on Understanding Genesis 3. I am going to take this subject out of sequence and teach a 2 part Bible Study series on the Tree of Life first mentioned in Genesis 2. From reaching in this 3rd chapter of Genesis we discover the story of how Eve was deceived by the serpent into eating from the spiritual tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam then listened to his wife’s voice and he also ate from the same tree. The Bible says Adam was not deceived (1 Tim 2:14) so whatever he did was an intentional rebellious act of disobedience to commit sin. If you have ever studied the Bible, you know that God shows up on the scene and places curses on each party involved in Genesis 3 and I have not taught on these subjects yet. However, we know from scripture (1 Jn 4:12) that no man has ever seen God. This fact would include Adam or 1 John 4:12 is not a true statement from God. So how did God curse everyone without making himself visible to them? That is an interesting point to consider, but since it is not my subject today, I’ll leave it alone for your consideration. Now after Adam’s sin, we have the man and woman in covenant with Satan, the symbolic serpent of old. We can now get to today’s subject from Genesis, guarding the way to the tree of life. Who was God trying to keep from eating from the tree of life? You can make the logical conclusion that if God wanted to guard the way to the tree of life, there must have been someone who was greatly interested in it. You don’t place guards on your garbage piles so it must have been something of great value to someone. So, who was after this tree of life? What exactly is this tree of life? Why is it important to keep it safely out of the hands of someone? So many questions to consider? Let’ start with the 22nd verse of Genesis 3 and see what God says to us:
Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
I’ve already addressed the 1st part of this verse in another blog so I will not rehash that part of the verse. It is just important to note that God says the man has become like Him, in covenant with good and evil. That is some very powerful information, and it helps give us some foundational information for why God came in the flesh. If you need more information, please go back and read the Blog on “Gen 3:5 You Shall Be As God Knowing Good and Evil!“. Now pay attention to how God ends that verse. God says “because the man might also eat from the tree of life and live forever…”. Then God abruptly stops talking. This is one of the only places in the Bible that I know of where God doesn’t finish His sentence or His thought. God stops talking and leaves us wondering what was He going to say? Based upon the creation account in Genesis 1, we can see that whatever God says happens, so I would venture to guess that God did not want what He was thinking to come to pass so He shut His mouth and stopped talking about it. But that is just my opinion on the verse. But, I do think that is a powerful lesson for us all to learn from.
Let’s briefly address whether this is a physical tree or a spiritual tree. If it was just a physical tree why couldn’t God have just cursed the tree like Jesus did with the fig tree in Mark and bam the tree would not be a problem anymore. You see I do not believe it is a physical tree, with physical fruit. In this verse God says that the man could have “put forth his hand” and taken from the tree. What does that reference invoke in your mind? Most would think that it is speaking of Adam’s physical hand reaching out and picking a natural apple from a natural fruit tree. But I do not believe this is what God is saying. The term “hand” is a reference to power and ability. Adam had the power and ability to eat from the tree even after they had eaten from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. The word hand is a very popular word in the Old Testament. It occurs over 1400 times. Many times it is used in reference to a individual’s power and ability. Here is just one example of this found in the book of Job. Satan is in conversation with God about Job and he makes this statement to God:
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
You can see the reference here to God putting forth his hand. This is clearly the same terminology used in Genesis 3. Satan was telling God if he used his power to “touch” all that Job had, Satan thought that Job would curse God. Without getting into the story of Job, I will tell you that God did not take anything from Job. God did not hearken to the voice of his wife and do the wrong thing, like Adam did. What I want you to see is the reference that God has a hand that can be stretched forth. If the Spirit of God has a hand it must be spiritual. Just understand the difference between a spiritual hand and a physical hand and both are called a hand. This is one of the trickiest ways God has used to conceal information in the Bible. Speak of spiritual things in natural terms and then challenge your reader to figure it out.
Apparently, Adam had power and ability and was still capable of eating from the tree of life and living forever even after God said he would surely die. Obviously Adam did not understand what had happened, much less how to eat from the tree of life. We know from Genesis 2, that God had commanded the man not to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But God never said anything about not eating from the tree of life. There appears to be an assumption that eating from the tree of life is good. But now that Adam was in covenant with Satan, what does God do? Who is God attempting to keep from the tree of life?
Gen 3:23 Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
We can see from this verse that the man and his wife are sent out of the garden of Eden. They are returned to the ground from where he was originally created. Exactly where was that? Where was Adam created in relation to the Garden of Eden? The Bible tells us if you look for it and pay close attention. Let’s go back to Genesis 2 and read:
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
You can clearly see that this is the creation account of the body of Adam. Adam’s body was formed from the dust of the ground. So where was Adam when this occurred? All you have to do is read the next verse and pay attention to the compass directions given.
Gen 2:8 And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.
If the garden of Eden is located to the East of where Adam’s physical body was formed, what direction was Adam and Eve returned to after they had sinned? If you guessed back to the West, you would be correct. Why is east and west and these direction so significant? We can begin to ascertain the importance only after reading the last verse in Genesis 3.
Gen 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
So God drives the man out of the Garden and then it says God places a Cherubim at the east of the garden holding a flaming sword to keep the way of the tree of life. Are you beginning to see the paradox? Where did God drive Adam? God put the man and his wife back to the ground where they were created and this was West of the Garden of Eden. So where was the guarding Cherubim placed? They were placed to the East of the Garden. It is so fascinating when you see things correctly, isn’t it? God is obviously not attempting to keep the man away from the tree of life, if he was he would have placed the Cherubim on the West side where the man was.
(North)
(West) Adam ——-> Garden of Eden ——> Cherubim (East)
(South)
I wrote an earlier blog about the differences between the east and the west. I will not rehash all of that, but if you study the earth from the context that Israel is the middle of the world, then east of Israel towards Asia you would see that the religions of the world become increasingly darker and in some countries non-existent. Generally speaking if you move west from Israel you see the majority of the Christian nations in the world being to the West of Israel. Knowing this fact alone should help you see who God is guarding from the way to the tree of life. It is not from the Christians, but it is from the enemy of the church, the devil that God is keeping from the way to the tree of life. If you didn’t realize it, Satan is still looking for a way out of judgment. Eating from the tree of life would by association mean the establishment of a new covenant relationship with those for who it is intended. If you have followed what I showed you earlier you know that by Adam eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil, it established a covenant between Adam and Satan. So whoever is intended to eat from the tree of life, Satan is looking to get into covenant with to save his rear end. The tree of life is mentioned again in the last chapter of Revelation and this chapter starts with this statement:
Rev 22:1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
We can see that this verse describes the throne of God and the Lamb. It declares that there is a river of water of life flowing from the throne. That of course is an interesting concept since Jesus told us in John 7:38, that out of our bellies will flow rivers of living water. Our bellies is referring to our spirits, the true inner man. This reference is about the words that we speak and them being a river of life to others in the world. So the river of life flowing from the throne of God must also be the Words of God.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Revelation 22:2 now directly mentions the tree of life. But did you notice where or what this tree is? It says this tree grows in the middle of the streets around the throne of God. Who walks the streets of heaven? I personally believe this is a reference to Christians. It further says that there are more than one of these trees of life. In fact if you look closely it implies there are many, many trees of life everywhere surrounding the throne of God. If you use your brain a little bit you might be able to see that the implication is given to us, that we are the trees of life. But that might be hard for some to see. Let’s approach it from a different perspective? It says this tree is suppose to produce 12 fruits monthly. Exactly what is fruit? To the natural mid it is just apples, oranges, grapefruits, etc. But to the spiritual mind it is much different. God being a spiritual being is speaking of spiritual trees that produce spiritual fruit. So what are the fruits of the spirit? Oh, that changes everything doesn’t it?
I guess I’ll end this blog here and just leave you hanging. Maybe I have given you some new things to consider and challenged you to think on a higher dimension. God had to guard “the way” to the tree of life from Satan. Satan is still after this tree, but I don’t believe he has a shot at it. You see Jesus said “I am the Way”, so nobody can come to God except Jesus allows him access. Jesus Christ is the only legal way to this tree of life and if you belong to Him, you now have access to this tree of life to produce the fruit of the spirit. I’ll try to continue this in another blog to help expand our understanding of this deep subject.
If you would like to continue reading this series on Understanding Genesis 3 you can go to “Part 7“.
Bible Basics: Recognizing the Voice of God!
(Ver 1.3) This is a inttoduction to an important Bible subject for every Christian to understand on “How to Be Led by the Spirit of God”. I generally don’t get into Bible basics in any great depth. But I realize that there are many people who are new to Christianity so we should try to help them in their spiritual growth. There are so many people who want to hear from God. So many people that want to know that God is real. So many people that want God to speak to them from a cloud or a burning bush. These people want proof that God exists and that He cares. However, the system that God has designed is based upon faith. God purposely hides Himself from our view. God has not revealed himself to us in order to challenge us to believe in the One that we have not seen. But that does not mean that God has not spoken to you. It means only that you probably didn’t know it was God when it happened. So how does God speak to us? Why don’t we hear it normally with our outer ears? We can see that people in the Bible also struggled with this reality and often times questioned God, “Where are you?”. One significant story that has great meaning is given to us in the Old Testament book of 1st Kings. Here we have the story of Elijah the prophet in a struggle with the children of Israel who were rebelling against God and His covenant. Israel would even kill the prophets of God whenever they would bring words of condemnation against them. They didn’t want to hear about their sin or the error of their ways. This resulted in Elijah asking God where are you? How come God who has all power, cannot or will not do anything to stop evil in this world? It is still happening today and people are still asking the same questions. We have murderers, terrorists, child predators, and just a multitude of evil at work in the world today. Why does God not stop any of it? It is a fascinating question, but since it is not my subject I’ll leave it for another blog. Today is about hearing the voice of God. Do you think that God only speaks to a few? Are there any requirements that are necessary for God to speak to you? Or could it be that God is speaking and most people are just not listening or just not hearing His voice? I am a firm believer that God speaks if we will only be quiet and listen.
In the story of Elijah you find some very powerful truths about how God speaks and these can be directly applied to us today. Let’s start by looking at chapter 19 and verse 11 of 1st Kings:
1Ki 19:11 And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before the LORD. And, behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before the LORD; but the LORD was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but the LORD was not in the earthquake:
Here we have a statement that declares a pending interaction between the natural and the supernatural is about to take place. The prophet Elijah is standing before God, but we know from scripture that NO MAN has ever seen God (John 1:18). So we know that God while speaking to us can not normally be perceived by our five physical senses. This verse then declares a strong wind comes with great force. It sounds like a tornado or a hurricane force wind. But the verse says God was not in the wind. That should tell you something about who originates these storms. Then comes a mighty earthquake, but it informs us that God was not in the earthquake. Today in the news a large earthquake leveled Haiti. This was not an act of God either. God was not in the earthquake. As we continue in the chapter we are given more information.
1Ki 19:12 And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice.
Then comes a great fire, but the Lord God was not to be found in the fire either. We can see in these verses some of the greatest natural disasters given to us and each time the Bible clearly says that God did not have anything to do with any of them. It is the mention of these three most destructive forces in our earth system that God teaches us that He is not found in them. But now we are finally told how God comes to us and to speak. The Bible declares that God was found in a “still small voice”. I think that is what trips most people up when desiring to hear from God. God doesn’t speak to them in a thundering voice that knocks them off of their feet and thus they conclude in error that God did not speak. I believe most people are looking for the hugely spectacular demonstrations of God’s power and missing the greater supernatural small things that God does every day to help them. You see when God says something to you, it will be easily overlooked and easily ignorable. Why, because God does not interrupt or do things in a rude or obnoxious manner. God is the ultimate gentleman. God will normally always wait for you to get quite enough to hear before he actually says anything. Then He will normally only speak to you in a really quite whisper. Many times if you are a Christian you will find this voice originating in and near your heart or the center of your spiritual being. Sometimes these words will rise up to your mind as a thought. Many times you will wonder where did that come from? God might tell you not to take a certain flight today. God might tell you not to take a certain way home today. God might tell you to slow down and drive 10 miles an hour slower. These are all just small examples of God trying to keep you out of harm’s way. God knows that an accident will occur at a specific time and place, because of a drunk driver and if you only turn one block sooner than normal you would miss it. The problem is people don’t understand that these things are from God and they ignore them and follow their own agenda and normal routines. Then when they are laying in the hospital they ask God why did you let this happen to me? Most of the time if they would just think back and analyze what they were thinking before it happened they would understand that God was trying to stop it.
Too many times people are wanting some spectacular sign. They want the earth to open up or the clouds to part. They want a bright light to shine down from heaven or an angel to suddenly stop them from getting hurt. Most of the time God refrains from the spectacular demonstrations of His power, in order to get you to hear this quite whisper. If you learn that this is God’s Modus Operandi, you could possibly be saving your life from a tragic outcome. Evil has a covenant right to be in this world, until the time comes when Adam’s allotted time period expires. We are truly almost there, the end of the age is very near. I hope you will begin to pay close attention to the still small voice and then learn to obey it. Many times it is called intuition. Just a knowing, that I should do this and not that. Other times it will be a whisper to do this. Learning to hear from God involves you learning how God speaks. Then it involves you learning to listen. These are valuable truths that will help you tremendously if you learn to recognize and follow them.
If you would like to continue reading about How to Be Led by the Spirit of God you may go to “Part 1” in the series.
Gen 3:5 You Shall Be As God Knowing Good and Evil!
(Ver 2.2) This is Part 5 in the series about Understanding Genesis 3. The Bible has so much information in it, it is challenging just to know what to teach. Genesis 3 is about the spiritual downfall of Adam and Eve. But there are a number of other good lessons to learn from this chapter also. I am shocked sometimes at how people don’t see what the Bible really says and I think today will be another example of that. You can tell if you have read my blogs on Genesis that we are faced with a challenge by God to recognize the difference between spiritual things and natural physical things being described to us. Many times men tend to look at everything in the Bible naturally, but since the author of the Bible is a Spirit, God’s perspective is the only one that should count. Most of the time wrong interpretations of the Bible revolve around private interpretations from the natural minds of men. But, if we use the Bible to help us determine the true meanings, we are far more likely to get it right. In my last blog on Genesis I talked about spiritual fruit being different than natural fruit. I gave you several scriptures that declare that it is not what we eat physically that causes us to sin. We can therefore conclude that God did not command Adam and Eve to not eat of a natural physical fruit tree in the Garden. We can further conclude that God when He was speaking of not eating of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, was telling them not to eat of a spiritual tree. If you didn’t realize it, God is more concerned with spiritual things than He is with natural things. People want you to save the planet, save the trees, save the environment, save the whales, etc., but God wants us to produce spiritual fruit and become a mature Christian, to be a laborer and to help prepare for His spiritual harvest. So when we read the Bible we need to become more spiritually aware and less naturally focused. Focus only on spiritual things in context with the subject given. Recognize how God applies natural things to give us glimpses into the spirit world.
Today I want to expand on verse 5 in Genesis 3. This verse has some profound truths written in it, that I believe we need to understand. This verse is Satan, the symbolic serpent speaking to the mind of Eve. If you didn’t know the serpent was a symbolic representation for a spiritual being, then you need to read my blog, “Was There a Talking Snake in the Garden?” Many times people overlook what Satan says because he is called the father of lies and they don’t realize that Satan will use the truth, if he thinks it will work to his advantage. Satan actually knows more truth than you do, that is why he can lie so well. Here are the words of Satan spoken to the mind of Eve as a thought:
Gen 3:5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
Satan is of course very presumptuous to think that he knows what God knows. I do believe that God taught Satan everything that Satan knows, however, I do not believe that God taught him everything that God knows. I think people need to learn that lesson, if they don’t learn anything else in this blog. We then see a statement that declares that their eyes would be opened. I would hope that you could see that Satan was not speaking of their physical eyes, but Satan was referring to their spiritual understanding. Here is a scripture from the New Testament which speaks to us along these lines:
Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Our spirits have the ability to see, perceive or as it says in this verse to understand. To see with our spirits is the ability of our spirits to understand the spiritual truths being spoken to us. The term is repeated to us in this verse “to know”. Isn’t that what Satan said to Eve? Satan told Eve that they would “know” good and evil. So what does this Hebrew word translated as “know” mean? If you have been reading my blogs you already understand the answer to that question. To “know” something is a covenant term. To know something represents an intimate sexual knowledge. God uses this same Hebrew word when He describes “Adam knew his wife and she had a son”. To “know” someone is to be in covenant with that individual. So what was Satan telling Eve? According to the wording and the underlying meaning, Satan said to Eve you will be just like God, in covenant with good and evil. I know I probably lost several readers with that statement, but if you keep reading in the chapter you will see that God did not contradict that statement, but He actually confirms it. You see if this was a lie or a deception of Satan, then God had the opportunity to confront the lie when He was talking to each of the participants after Adam had sinned. But, never do you see any confrontation or rejection of that statement in the chapter discourse. As you continue in the chapter you actually see that God confirms what Satan said to Eve in verse 22:
Gen 3:22 And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
I should probably go back and address one modification that I made to the verse 5 translation before I talk about this verse 22. In verse 5 the word “gods” is the Hebrew noun “Elohiym”. This is a plural word that is often times used for one of the names of God. God being a triune being is a plural being and not a singular one. It is a complex paradox that God is directly called three personalities, but is still just one God. In contrast there are many gods, but there is one “Elohiym”, the Supreme God. In the first chapter of Genesis, this word “Elohiym” is translated as God around 26 times. So the KJV translators instead of making this word say “God” as they did the majority of other places in Genesis, they chose to make it say “gods”. But the problem with that reasoning was Adam and Eve were already gods, but they were gods that only knew good and not evil. The only thing that Adam and Eve would gain from eating this spiritual fruit was the covenant with evil and what a dumb mistake that was. So translators got the word wrong in verse 5 and focused in on the wrong noun. Instead of saying Adam and Eve were “elohiym” (gods) they should have just made it say “God”.
So why did I have to go into all of that explanation? Because if the translators would have just put these two verses, 5 and 22 together correctly they would have seen what God said in verse 22 “Look, the man has become like Me!”; in covenant with good and evil. God actually repeats exactly what Satan said would happen, so it could not have been a lie. God declares that Adam was now in covenant with evil and therefore we can determine based upon our knowledge of Bible covenants, Satan was now married to man. Whatever Adam was given was now given equally to Satan. There are many verses in the Bible that confirm this statement; I’ll give you one found in the temptation of Jesus:
Luk 4:5 And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time.
Here in the temptation of Jesus by Satan, Satan takes Jesus on a mental journey to the top of a very high mountain on earth. On the top of this mountain Satan shows Jesus all the kingdoms of this world. That would include every race, creed and inhabitant of the planet. There was nothing omitted or left out so that goes along with a true Bible covenant relationship between the two parties Adam and Satan. Then after showing Jesus these kingdoms, Satan makes this statement:
Luk 4:6 And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it.
We can clearly see that in Luke 4:6, Satan tells Jesus all of this which I just showed you has been given to me, and I have the power to give it to whoever I want. These were all true statements and Satan thought that he was in control of the situation, but God had a different plan. Now let me give you one more example of what I am saying found in 2 Corinthians:
2Co 4:4 In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
You see God shows us that one of Satan’s titles is “the god of this world” in this verse. Or actually I should say that this is the title that Satan stole from Adam and God just informs us of this. Adam when he was created was given dominion over all of the creation of God’s handy work. You can read this in the 1st chapter of Genesis as well as verses found in Psalms. God transferred complete control and responsibility over the planet to Adam and in effect made him the “god of this world system”. Adam had complete control over his own destiny and whatever he decided carried the decision for every one that descended from him. So after Adam dies, Satan becomes the “god of this world system”. Jesus gives us some very strong insight into this spiritual transaction between Adam and Satan in the book of John:
Joh 10:1 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
You can see from this statement a very powerful spiritual truth being revealed to us. Jesus is telling us that Satan did not enter into our world legally. He took advantage of Adam and Eve and entered in the world that God had given to them by deception. Jesus is calling Satan a thief that has robbed someone of something that didn’t belong to him. Jesus was also contrasting His presence on the earth as being legitimate, while Satan’s presence on the earth as being illegal. You see God could not come to the earth the same way that Satan did and just take back everything that was given to Adam, without being called a thief and become just as guilty as Satan. So we can see a puzzle being revealed to us. Jesus says whoever enters into the world by the door is legitimate. So what is this legal door into this world? It is only being born here by a natural woman that has given birth to you, and that makes you legally here. You have to be a direct descendent of Adam and Eve to be here legally. God is so very tricky and smart. God knew that He could come into the world and pay for our salvation, if He came as a son of Adam. So we have a man that was born into this planet that was both 100% man and 100% God and this was legal. So I got off track giving you some insight into Satan’s illegal entry and God’s legal introduction into our world. So let’s go back to Genesis and look at this covenant relationship.
What are the spiritual implications given to us from what we just learned? A Bible covenant relationship represents a marriage in the eyes of God. So Adam became married to Satan. Whatever God had given to Adam now belonged to Satan. After Adam’s death, Satan had complete control of it all. A converse truth was whatever Satan had now belonged to Adam, and that was really not a good trade. Adam was originally created to know only good, the things that God had provided for him. But now whatever happens to Satan will happen to Adam and vice versa. Fortunately for us, God had a plan of salvation that would destroy the works of the devil and make a separation from all the consequences that Satan now faces in the future. As soon as the prophesied 6000 year time table of Adam’s dominion is up, Satan will be cast out along with those who are now in covenant with him. The time is very short, and Satan knows his time of reigning on this earth is almost ended and guess why he is so very angry with the church. Lucifer who was once second only to God himself will not enjoy his eternal destiny.
We can see from a previous blog a conformation given to us in these verses in Genesis 3. God is in covenant with the angelic beings. This would include the good and the evil ones. In one of my last blogs I showed you that death is a legal separation of a covenant marriage relationship. Because of the death of the Lord Jesus Christ, God’s covenant relationship with evil was terminated. Through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our salvation was confirmed. All of those who believe in Him will be saved, but all of those who do not will be damned with Satan. It is a covenant reality, you are either joined to Jesus Christ and one with Him, or you are joined with Satan and one with him. These are powerful truths and help to explain a lot of the hidden things found in the Bible.
I know I teach a lot of new things, that you have probably never heard anyone teach before. The disciples in the Bible made a statement that is very profound, they said “Silver and Gold have I not, but such as I have give I thee”. Just as the disciples could only give what they had, I can only give you what I have. This is just a simple but basic Bible truth; everyone gives from only what they have. I hope and pray you enjoyed my Bible lesson today and grasped something from it that you can hold on to. If you liked it please share it with others that can also benefit from knowing the truth. God Bless.
If you would like to continue in the lesson series on Understanding Genesis 3 please proceed to Part 6.
A Modern Example of Deception to Avoid in the Church – Part 3
(Ver 1.2) This is now “Part 3” in a Bible study series about Christians that follow other Christians blindly without confirming what is being taught in the church is really the truth that the Bible teaches. These are examples that no real Christian should follow. In fact these are examples for Christians to greatly avoid becoming. If you have not read from the beginning of this series you may like to go read from “Part 1” first. But know this Bible study is not dependent upon a previous lesson to be understood and applied. Our subject in this lesson series concerns traps and tricks of deception that Satan uses to get Christians to not know or believe the truth. These are examples that need to be understood so that we don’t fall for them.
We can all learn from positive or negative examples. The Bible is full of both types of people. God wrote the Bible this way to teach us that we are all humans that make mistakes. But He also does this so that we can learn not to repeat their mistakes. Perhaps you recall the classic quotation of Edmond Burke “Those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it”. This is a wise saying because it is much wiser to learn from someone else’s mistake rather than to repeat it and reap the same consequences.
INTRODUCTION
Hopefully you should know that I do not enjoy criticizing others and it is my goal to never name any names in what is written. I have learned that there are no perfect people in the world and everyone including me, has made mistakes. But today I want to give an example of a Christian that was living an example that all should avoid. I want to address a stereotypical group of Christian people that are good examples of people doing very unbiblical things. It seems within this Christian group a large portion of these people believe things and even do things blindly without any scriptural basis for their beliefs. In other words they automatically believed in doing something that they were taught in their church without finding out if it is really true. For too many it actually goes much further than that. If they do accidently find out the truth about something in their Bible that disagrees with what they have been taught, they choose to ignore it and refuse to believe it. In other words they put more faith in their deceived church teacher than they do their God and their Bible. That just seems very dangerous to me. How do you know that your church teacher is not another Jim Jones or a David Koresh leading you into a path of deception, destruction and death? Some people want to trust and place all of their faith in a human teacher because of their admiration for their outward looks. We having people in the U.S. voting for people to be president because they like the way they look. Who cares what they stand for or if they are telling us the truth, he is just so good looking. Wow what a deception that is taking place. This is not what the Bible teaches us to do. Read this verse and see what made these people more noble Christians:
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
Here we have a story written by Luke where it describes Paul who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament preached to two groups of people. The first group called “Bereans” were described to be more noble that the second group called “those in Thessalonica”. I guess Paul named names and maybe I should also. But the Bereans do not follow Paul’s teachings blindly. The wise listeners to God’s teachers proved everything that was being taught by searching for them self in their own scriptures in order to prove if they were true or not. That is what I ask you to do also. Don’t believe anything that comes from me blindly. Get your own Bible, your own computer, phone or tablet and search to prove if it is really what God is saying to you. The Bereans were positive examples to follow after but let us move to a modern negative example to avoid.
A MODERN CHURCH EXAMPLE TO AVOID
As soon as I start describing this negative example church to avoid you will probably know who I am talking about. So even though I am telling you who it is, it will probably be very obvious and I really don’t know how to avoid this. In speaking with someone the other day they told me about a conversation that they had with their Christian friend. The conversation was about a Bible subject that everyone should know of. If you have been a Christian for long or you were raised in this church, you know exactly what we are about to learn. Hopefully you have already abandoned this teaching and moved far from the deception that is still being taught.
Blindness is defined as a person’s inability to see the light and this is true for physical or spiritual blindness. Sometimes the light is too bright and it forces some people to close your eyes. Many times our eyes have to adjust to different levels of light intensity before we can see things clearly. But sometimes people see the bright light of what the Bible says and then they just choose to close their eyes to it. They reject God’s bright truth for what they have chosen to believe called man’s traditional teachings. Jesus warned us in Matthew 15:6 that our “traditions can nullify the commandments of God”. To me that does not sound good.
People embrace traditions because of their trust in their teachers and their church. This is just wrong deceived behavior. And this type of behavior confirms the scripture that says “In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them that believe not…” (1 Cor 4:4). You can discover how successful Satan has been in blinding someone, by observing how they react to new Bible truth when you present it to them.
So here we go! In a recent conversation with a friend someone told me that the subject of Mary the mother of Jesus came up. It seems that this deceived person had been taught that Mary is still a virgin and that she was at the same level of importance as her Son, Jesus. This would mean that Jesus didn’t have any brothers and sisters on the earth and that Joseph (her husband) never had sex with his wife. I really do not understand the reasoning or logic behind this belief of the departure of common sense at all. Not only is this a direct contradiction to what the Bible says, it would defy basic human needs created by God. For example, a man not being able to touch his wife after marriage is not normal behavior. We will soon learn that this also goes against what the Bible says about healthy marriage relationships.
The net results of this type of church teaching was the deification of a human woman. Mary now becomes a spiritual being that we are to pray to and can ask to talk to God for you. Mary has been exalted beyond human creation and now becomes the path way to God and equal with God. Now people can say instead of Jesus being the only path to God they have been deceived into believing their are other ways to reach Him. You see I’ll tell it to you very straight, if you are praying to Mary, Mary IS NOT LISTENING. Mary is NOT GOD! Mary can’t hear you. Mary does not appear to people in the world today. Mary could very well be in heaven and could be in the presence of God right now, but there is no way that she is in control of anything or can do anything to affect your outcome or situation here on the earth. This is a deception from Satan and a way that he uses to distract people from the truth of praying to God correctly to get an answer.
I can be very blunt at times and I’m sorry. Sometimes I think you have to shock people in order to get their attention. I guess it is also possible that people don’t realize that the Bible contains God’s words spoken directly to you and I and we need to learn what He says and not a theory being taught to us in a church. If Christians do learn the truth to know and understand it, and still reject it, then they need to know that they are also rejecting the True God Himself. So let’s go through the Bible and see what God said on the subject of Mary:
Mat 1:20 But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.
We know from several verses found in the Bible that Mary was a virgin girl and that the Spirit of God came upon her and she conceived a child. Mary was a normal human female when she was visited by the angel with God’s message. But she was special in that she qualified to be in the right place at the right time with the right genealogy to be used by God. It was important that Jesus be born of a virgin, since He was the Only Begotten Son of God. I really do not want to attempt to explain all of the theological reasons for the virgin birth in this lesson. If you do not understand these I would strongly suggest you find the lessons on this website about the virgin birth and study them in depth. Continuing to read in Matthew the 1st chapter we see that the angel of the Lord appears to Joseph in a dream also and tells him it is still God’s plan for him to marry this woman named “Mary”. He is informed that this child is from God and not from another man and then we are told this statement:
Mat 1:25 And knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name JESUS.
You see in this verse there is a specific reference to sex. This verse tells us directly that Joseph did not have sex with Mary “UNTIL” after she gave birth to Jesus. That means she remained a virgin woman “until” after the birth of her firstborn son that they named “Jesus”. But this statement also means Joseph had sex with her (aka knew her) sometime after Jesus was born. If you want to ignore the Bible for your personal beliefs, then go right ahead and abide in your ignorance. The term “knew” her is a sexual reference. In Genesis 4:1 Adam “knew” his wife and they had a son. This sexual relationship between a husband and a wife is a normal part of the system that God created. To “Know” is a term that means to have carnal knowledge of, to be intimately physically connected with them and literally means sexual intercourse. It clearly means that Joseph was intentionally permitted to have sex with his wife Mary after Jesus was born, but not before. Why was this? Once a woman is pregnant you can’t get pregnant again? I guess I won’t attempt to elaborate on the why, for now. We can clearly see in other verses in the Bible that Joseph did have sex with his wife because it names some of their children. Here is a verse that speaks about Jesus and His earthly family.
Mat 13:55 Is not this the carpenter’s son (Joseph)? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?
We can see that these people clearly think that Jesus was Joseph’s son. They did not know that Jesus was not his son, they just assumed it based upon how they lived as a family unit together in a traditional household. Joseph is called the carpenter so Joseph was a normal man that had a normal occupation. As far as we can tell Joseph being a normal male would have had normal male sexual desires. So far we see all the aspects of a normal earthly family. Then we are given the names of 4 other males that are called Jesus’ brothers. These four are called James, Joses, Simon, Judas.
Now here is another plan of Satan deception where people are used to try to explain away what we can all read in the Bible. Satan uses our desires for our traditions to establish our beliefs of truth. This deceptive reasoning is that there were no Greek or Hebrew words for cousins, so they conclude that these brothers were actually Jesus’ cousins. Using this perverted logic they can preserve the virginity of Mary and continue to exalt her to a god. That is another example of ignorance gone to seed and growing into multiplied tricks of the devil. Truth always builds upon Truth and lies must be built upon other lies and the cycles usually never cross paths.
Just because the Bible does not have a word for cousin does not mean there are other ways of stating the truth if it was His cousins. If God wanted us to believe that these named men were Jesus’ cousins he could have said His mother’s brother’s sons or He could have used the Greek word G4773. This word was used by the Holy Spirit in Luke 1:36 to describe Mary’s cousin Elizabeth. There are certainly more than one way in the Greek and Hebrew words to describe relatives in the correct terms if God wanted to say something besides “brothers”. God used the Greek word G80 and this word means a “brother”. No you see people want to make Mary their god so they invent reasons to dispel what the Bible teaches for what they want to believe. If we continue on to the next verse we also discover more information about this family of Joseph:
Mat 13:56 And his sisters, are they not all with us? Whence then hath this man all these things?
In Matthew 13:56 we are not only told that Jesus had 4 half brothers, we are also told that he had sisters. We are not told how many, just that there were more than one. So apparently Joseph had a lot of sex with his wife over the years. We can clearly see that Jesus had at minimum 6 half brothers and sisters. If we think logically we can calculate that Jesus was approximately 30 years old when this verse was written. That means Joseph and Mary were potentially a husband and wife for 30 years. During this time period if they only had 6 children that would be pretty amazing in a era of no birth control or abortion. However, we do not know what happened to Joseph, he becomes obscure and hidden from mention after Jesus’ twelfth birthday. So even in a 12 year period to only have 6 children would be amazing. That would be one new brother or sister almost every other year.
Satan is very tricky. His methods of deception are very subtle. Most of the time Satan does not come at us with direct and obvious lies, but he likes to introduce little nuances to the truth to get us to focus on something else other than what God says. The Jewish leadership was tremendously guilty of doing this. They would take the laws of God and add to them. The Jewish leadership would write their own rules, thinking that if they followed all of these added rules, there would be no way that they would break God’s laws. Jesus called this the leaven of the Pharisees (Luke 12:1). This would represent a combination of untruths together with some truths. Satan likes to intermix some of the truth with some subtle lies in order to dilute the pure and render it ineffective. This is still one of the greatest deception techniques of the enemy today and everyone in the church is faced with these same issues.
There are so many churches that teach a watered down version of the Bible. There are way too many preachers and teachers that interject their opinions instead of just teaching the Words of God. If you go to a church that teaches something that the Bible doesn’t say, you are subtly being deceived and totally distracted from knowing the truth. Jesus taught us that it only takes a little bit of leaven to corrupt the whole loaf of bread. I have heard this truth taught and I agree with it whole heartedly. If you want to poison a dog you don’t throw them pure arsenic. You wrap the arsenic up in a steak so that they do not realize they are being poisoned. This is the trap of the enemy and a standard ploy of effective deception. Give the listener a bunch of what they want to hear and then mix in the lies a little bit at a time so that they are hard to recognize. People fall for this more than you think. It is all over the internet, it is all over some church pulpits.
You see this friend that believed Mary was good to pray to, would probably not read a book like Dan’s Brown’s “Da Vinci Code” because it is a totally opposite approach at deception. The Da Vinci Code is a totally fictitious book of lies with just a little bit of truth mixed with it. So while my friend was smart enough not to read that kind of material, they were easily deceived when someone just mixed in just a little fiction with a bunch of truth. I think there are many Christians who need to learn these lessons. Stay away from the Harry Potter CRAP! The Twilight Saga is another good example of material to avoid like the plague. If you are allowing your children to participate in these dangerous forms of entertainment you are making a huge mistake.
CONCLUSION
So this is a lesson about our next type of deceived Christian to avoid becoming. Learn how Satan is working to deceive others and implement safeguards to not repeat examples of failed behaviors. Read your Bible for your self. Study to show your self approved a workman that needs not to be ashamed. Prove everything that is heard in church with your own scripture research. Look for at least 2 or 3 verses that prove what was sad is actually what is true in God’s Word. Then go and search for verses that could contradict what was said. Study, study and study the Bible! And Pray, Pray and Pray! That is the only way that anyone will not be deceived.
Let us all pray for my friend and for friends you may know. Maybe you know some Mormon people. They are some of the nicest deceived people that I have ever met in my life. Whoops I named a name of a cult church. But this is important to know. These people have disregarded the Bible for a book called the “Book of Mormon” that they say came by special Revelation from Joseph Smith in 1830. Mormons call people who only read the Bible deceived but I say people who add to the Bible their own books to take away from reading the real are the ones that are deceived. So let us learn to avoid other books that try to take us away from the Bible also. Anything that distracts you from the Bible is a lie and trick of deception. Let us pray for these people.
LORD, we come boldly to the throne of Grace to ask for your mercy for ________ (add name). I pray that you will open their spiritual eyes of their understanding to have the ability to see and know the truth (Eph 1:17). Satan I bind you from blinding their minds and command you to release your hand deception from their life and mind (Mat 16:19). I repent for every sin that can be used to hold them in deception and ask that it be covered by the blood of Jesus to cleanse them from all unrighteousness in their heavenly record (1 Jn 5:16). I ask you LORD to send forth a laborer across their pathway as you commanded us to pray in Matthew 9:38 so that they may hear the Gospel of Jesus Christ clearly to receive the truth. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.
Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with us and we are blessed to hear from you and everything the Lord is doing in your life. God Bless you until the next lesson.
PERSONAL APPLICATION
LORD, I thank you because I have the mind of Christ. The Spirit of the Living God abides in me. He is my great Shepherd and I hear and know His voice. I am led by the Spirit of God only and the voice of a stranger I will not follow. Thank you for keeping far from deception by granting me the ability to spiritually discern the difference between right and wrong, truth and lies and good from evil. If there is any time when someone is attempting to distract me with an untruth, bring to my remembrance a Bible verse that will clear any confusion. Thank you for saving me and filling me with your precious Holy Spirit and I love you because you first loved me. In Jesus name I pray, Amen.
If you would like to continue to read in this series about avoiding deception, please go to “Part 4“.
Understanding Bible Covenants! Part 5 Until Death Separates Me from Thee!
(Ver 2.3) This is now Part 5 in the advanced study series on Understanding Bible Covenants. If you have not read from the beginning, I would recommend that you go and start with “Part 1“. We have been discussing Bible covenants as being a marriage covenant relationship between two individuals. We can see that these individuals can be either spiritual beings, natural beings individuals or groups or any combination of them. Covenants with God always result in God being the husband and the people in covenant as being the wife in the relationship. We know that Jesus is the mediator of the New Covenant (Heb 12:24). Jesus is therefore the Bridegroom and the church is His bride. Many have agreed with the scriptures in the New Testament that declare the church to be the body of Christ without understanding how the church became the body. This transformation was accomplished by marriage, when God declared in Genesis “that the man shall leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife and they two will become one flesh”. One flesh is a synonymous term for one body. Therefore one flesh refers to one body. A body consists of flesh and bones. Adam was opened up and his wife was taken out of him and Jesus the Last Adam was opened up and His wife was joined to him on the cross. The Bible actually says we were crucified with Christ, yet none of us hung on the cross physically as He died.
So in the eyes of God a covenant is a marriage and a marriage is a covenant. I gave you many scriptures that confirm this reality. As a marriage God provided us natural things to help us to understand spiritual things. Marriage covenants are a complex system of many dependent and interrelated aspects. Sex is one aspect of a marriage that demands and expects faithfulness of those in the relationship. Faithfulness is an essential aspect of marriage that applies to a covenant relationship with God. As your spouse trusts and expects you to be faithful to them, God expects and trusts you to be faithful to Him.
We can clearly see that the natural nation of Israel was not faithful and as a result had spiritual intercourse with other gods, religions and idols. This unfaithful infidelity resulted in God divorcing His Old Covenant wife. The net result of the divorce was a termination of the marriage/covenant relationship without any hope of reconciliation. I base that statement on the law of divorce given to us in Deuteronomy 24 where it says the first husband is forbidden to marry his divorced wife again after she has been married to another. I then attempted to give several scriptures that showed that Israel according to established spiritual laws was in a covenant relationship to another spiritual being other than God.
These are all very deep things that God has taught us from the Bible and I know it will be difficult to get people to see them. It is not my responsibility to make you understand or to make you see the truth. I simply present the information found in the Bible the best that I can and it is up to you to prove it, accept it or reject it. That is the way God designed the system and I can’t improve on it. I have found that people can read the same verse of scripture and pull out whatever they want to hear and close their eyes to whatever they don’t agree with. It is funny that God wrote a book that allows people to believe wrong. God will always enforce our right to be ignorant and foolish. God never forces us into knowing the truth. We are free to act and believe foolishly and God will not stop us. Ok, let’s get back to our subject.
I know there are many other aspects of marriage that also apply to the subject of covenants and perhaps someday I will expand to include them in this teaching. A marriage covenant is the establishment of a new family unit. Marriage always results in a new household, with a new head of the house. These two married covenant individuals enjoy a sexual knowledge that is only experienced between the two in covenant. Physical sex is just a pattern of a spiritual knowledge that Jesus desires to have with His wife. I showed you earlier that Adam “Knew” his wife and they had a son and I told you this was a pattern for the Last Adam, Jesus and his wife. These are all new concepts, new ideas and new thoughts based upon a new perspective from God’s Word. You can read the Bible and study it for yourself. All of this has been a review of stuff that I have already covered so I hope you understand them.
UNTIL DEATH DO US PART!
In this lesson we want to explore another aspect of marriage and covenants to show us some new information based upon what we have learned about the subject so far. This section will be about the subject of death as a legal separating force/power that terminates a covenant relationship between two legally bound parties or individuals. I’d like to begin this section with the foundational verses from the book of Ruth:
Rth 1:16 And Ruth said, Do not beg me to leave you, to return from following after you. For where you go, I will go. Where you stay, I will stay. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.
Rth 1:17 Where you die, I will die, and there I will be buried. May Jehovah do so to me, and more also, if anything but death parts you and me.
These are covenant words being spoken by Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi. Ruth pledges “faithfulness” to the God of her mother-in-law Jehovah. She places such a strong commitment that she claims that only death could separate her from the God and religious ways of over mother-in-law. If we read the rest of the book of Ruth and the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew we will discover that she is blessed and rewarded by God tremendously for making these covenant statements of commitment. She becomes the wife to Boaz, a type of Jesus Christ, and the great-grandmother to the great King David.
I believe this is a good time to introduce the fact that Bible covenants are entered into by speaking words. Words can be spoken to initiate a good covenant with God or an evil covenant with Satan. For example, if we read Romans 10:9-10 God informs us how we entered into a covenant with Jesus Christ by believing in Our heart and confessing with our mouth the LORD Jesus. Then in Proverbs 6:2 God informs us that humans are taken captive prisoners by also speaking words. In Proverbs 18:21 God declares that “life and death are in the power of our tongue”. Jesus informed us in John 10:10 that the thief came to kill, steal and destroy us, but that He came to give us life and that life in more abundance. God appears to be teaching us that our words spoken matter.
Knowing God gives us life and knowing Satan gives us the sin punishment of death (separation from God). Speaking right words are one key part of entering into Bible covenants wit God. These words can be called vows, promises, commitments, oaths, pledges or guarantees. Speaking words and entering into covenant relationships with anyone should be taken very seriously and never lightly or casually. I believe that God holds us responsible for our promises made to Him and to each other. There are numerous examples of this found in the Bible.
For example a famine of three years occurred to the nation of Israel in 2 Samuel 21:1-2. When David inquired of the LORD why this was happening, the LORD told him it was because of bloody Saul that attacked and killed the Gibeonites. God informs King David that Israel had made a covenant with these people a long time before. God obviously believed that this covenant that was made before Saul or David was born was still in effect and could not be terminated by either of the parties in the covenant. Therefore, judgement fell upon the natural nation of Israel for something that happened long before King David became king. Wow, this sounds very important to know in our education of understanding the serious nature of Vows and covenants. The covenant was entered into by Joshua and it was disavowed by Saul and the negative consequences fell upon Israel during King David.
Most modern marriage ceremonies include speaking words to each other. These words are often called “vows” and many of them are based upon Bible covenant principles. For example, many say “until death do us part” in their wedding vows. Wedding vows are considered covenant words of complete commitment made to each other. Just as Israel violating a covenant that they had made with another nation had consequences, I believe the breaking of covenant vows today will also result in negative verdicts of judgment at some time in the future. We just learned that Saul had murdered a people in covenant with Israel and Israel in the next King’s reign reaped a famine. I believe that this is possible even today that two people ending a marriage covenant can cause judgement to occur on future descendants. But, that is a different subject for another lesson.
We can clearly learn from the book of Ruth that death represents a legal termination of a covenant relationship and commitment. If one spouse dies, the other is said to be free to marry another. So death represents a legal point of covenant division. It represents a separation of the two that were said to be one when they were joined in covenant by the Law of Genesis 2:24. I’d like to cover an essential set of N.T. verses that confirm this truth. We will be reading from the book of Romans and chapter 7:
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Wow, these verses help explain our subject of covenants and the power of death separation precisely. Notice that Paul in verse 1 is speaking to believers that “know” the law. This phrase “to know” represents covenant relationship. Paul in this short passage was directing the next few verses to only former Jewish Old Covenant people. God writes this to teach them that because Jesus died (God in the flesh) on a cross, they were now freed from the bondage of that covenant in order to legally remarry in covenant the risen from the dead LORD Jesus Christ. There are people that claim Jesus was not God but 1 Timothy 3:16 informs us plainly that “God was manifested in the flesh”.
Paul was writing in Romans 7 by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit to teach us the legal fact that since Jesus (God manifested in the flesh) experienced death for them all, they could now be legally joined in Covenant marriage with risen Jesus and not be called an adulteress. This truth simply confirms that a marriage is a covenant and a covenant is a marriage and if they enter into another covenant while their husband was still alive, God called this adultery. Therefore we have all the subjects that we have been learning, marriage covenants, faithfulness, death separation and termination and remarriage in a New Covenant. Wow, Wow & Wow!
Can we begin to see what these verses in Romans say and learn how they apply to covenants both natural and spiritual? I believe these are amazing and especially important to how God eliminated Himself from the covenant of Israel and the angelic beings.
MARRIAGE, DEATH AND WIDOWHOOD
I alluded in previous lessons to this subject when speaking of the Heavenly Jerusalem who was described to be a free woman that came from an allegory given to us from Galatians 4. This Genesis allegory used Sarah’s relationship to Abraham. This relationship was a physical picture and representation of God’s spiritual relationship to the city called the Heavenly Jerusalem. I concluded that this free woman was the first wife of Jehovah God and therefore in covenant with God long before Hagar. In looking at other verses in Hebrews 12 we determined that this Heavenly Jerusalem consisted of the angelic beings too numerous to count. This means that Lucifer the top angelic being in the past was included in this covenant relationship. So how does God terminate an eternal marriage covenant relationship to eternally created angelic beings without the law? We know that the earthly Jerusalem (type of Hagar) is now in bondage with the law and that God used the law to end/divorce the Old Covenant marriage relationship because of her continued unfaithfulness (Isa 50:1, Jer 3:8).
But the heavenly Jerusalem was called the free woman or the woman outside of the law. We also learned from verses in the New Testament that without the law there is no punishment for sin. So how does God terminate a marriage covenant relationship with a group of sinful eternal spiritual beings that cannot ever die, without any law or legal precedence? It is a fascinating problem to consider and it is very perplexing puzzle to solve, but God always has a plan and an answer. We should be able to answer this question already but there are two solutions presented to us that can be utilized. The first solution is to get Satan to place himself into a covenant with the Law. The second potential solution is for the husband in the covenant to become a a being that could experience death on a cross to terminate all previous covenants.
If we recall from the previous lessons, we saw numerous scriptures from Galatians 4 that spoke about these two women in marriage covenant with Jehovah God. The one bond woman (Hagar) was directly said to be the natural nation of Israel and corresponded to the earthly city of Jerusalem. We just read about her in the last section of this lesson that was now freed from her covenant by the death of Jesus. Wow again! Then the other woman was the free woman and she is called the heavenly Jerusalem. It is essential to understand that both covenant women were married to the same God Jehovah and their covenants overlapped for a short time just as the allegorical type of Hagar overlapped with Sarah’s marriage. Now recall this O.T. quotation concerning this allegory:
Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren (Heavenly Jersualem) that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate (free woman Heavenly Jerusalem) hath many more children than she which hath an husband (bond woman: natural Israel).
What we can see in Galatians 4:27 the presentation that the bond woman had a husband with the implication that free woman did not. In fact the Greek word translated as “desolate” in this verse literally means “lonesome” and “solitary”. This is describing a woman that is not in covenant with anyone. Notice also the Greek word translated as “barren” is transliterated as “steiros” and we get our English word “sterile from it. These words are used by God to describe the Heavenly Jerusalem covenant wife. Finally, notice the prophecy that tells this woman to rejoice because her children will be many more than the children of the bond woman (Earthly Jerusalem). Who were we told that these many more children were? God teaches us in Galatians 4:26 that the spiritual free woman’s children were all of us in the church. That confirms and explains why Jesus said in John 3 that we must be “born again” in order to enter the kingdom of heaven. Everyone in the church has been first born naturally into the world and then next born supernaturally into the Spiritual Kingdom of God. It is important to note that if we are born once we can die twice, but if we are born twice we can only die once.
Galatians 4:27 seems like a paradox or a contradiction to what was said that both of these women were in covenant and married to God in the past. What happened to the husband of the woman in heaven? And I thought God divorced the woman natural Israel and here He says she has a husband. These are a really good questions. We have already explored how natural Israel may have entered into a covenant with Satan. But, let’s figure out the other question by going back to the Old Testament.
Isa 54:1 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.
We can see that these are the direct words of God himself spoken through the prophet Isaiah. We can see again this verse is speaking of two different women. I find it fascinating that nowhere in these verses does it claim this is an allegory of Sarah and Hagar. However, God reveals this to Paul in Galatians 4. This is just one way that God hides truth in the Bible.
We could conclude that only one of these women is now married by just reading this verse. However, we know from God’s explanation in Galatians that these women are Sarah and Hagar, and both were married to Abraham. If we recall from New Testament verses that were discussed in previous lessons, if anyone has sex with someone, God considers them to be married to that someone (1 Cor 6:16). Having casual sex has major covenant consequences in the eyes of God because of the experience of having “carnal knowledge” of that person. So far this was some review, but as we read down in the rest of Isaiah 54, we can begin to see the solution to God’s puzzle. The answer to what happened to the husband of the Heavenly Jerusalem is found in context of verse 1:
Isa 54:4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth, and shalt not remember the reproach of thy widowhood any more.
Here in verse 54:4 of Isaiah we see the answer to the question. The heavenly Jerusalem who was called the barren wife and the free woman in Galatians 4, is now declared to be a widow in the context of Isaiah 54:1. What exactly is a widow? This is not a trick question. A widow is a wife whose husband has died. Uh oh? That sure makes life difficult for many ministers that we have heard, who claim that God can’t die. Have you ever heard this before? That claim appears to contradict verses that we have been studying.
What is death? That is of course the million dollar question? We know from the book of Ruth that the only separation of Ruth from her mother-in-law covenant was going to be by death. We know Ruth said to Naomi, “until death part me from thee”. Without death we know that the wife is bound to her husband and if she marries another while her husband is alive then she is considered an adulteress.
We saw in Romans 7 that Israel can only be called an adulteress if while her covenant husband God is alive, she has sex with another man and becomes his wife. We know this harlotry is what happened in the O.T. many, many times. But, Romans 7 says because Jesus died Israel was now freed from that covenant to marry the risen from the dead LORD Jesus in the New Covenant.
No one can deny that based upon scriptures in Jeremiah, Isaiah and Hosea that Israel is called a whore, harlot and adulteress because she has committed sexual union and become married to other idols and gods while God was alive and in covenant with her. The Living God then divorced Israel His wife, and ended that covenant using the law. We also know that this heavenly woman if she was married to God, she would be bound by the law of marriage as being one spirit with her husband also. So if this heavenly Jerusalem consisted of good and evil angelic beings, how would God get rid of the evil angels, while keeping the good angelic spirits? Fascinating, isn’t it?
By Jesus Christ being crucified, God accomplished a major accumulation and combination of things simultaneously. This was God’s demonstration of His true wisdom and power. Through the death of Jesus Christ, God multi-tasked salvation for us with the termination of His covenant relationship with Satan, simultaneously. Through this death, it resulted in the heavenly Jerusalem becoming a widow. She is now free to marry another. The heavenly Jerusalem was now the widow and that makes it legal for her to marry another by the definition from the Word of God. But by Satan becoming entangled with Israel under the law, we now see that his relationship with God has now completely ended being separated the separation of death. Because Jesus Christ was God in the flesh, God died in Jesus Christ. I guess I could say God tasted death through the body of His son Jesus Christ hanging on the cross (Heb. 2:9), since spirit beings do not actually die as in cease to exist. Nevertheless, we can see that Satan’s future was sealed due to what transpired on the cross. So while it is technically impossible for a spiritual being to cease to exist, it is not technically impossible for a spiritual being to experience death. Through death, He destroyed him that had the power over death (Heb 2:14). This is why the Bible says if Satan would have known the consequences, he would not have crucified the Lord of Glory (1 Cor 2:8).
We should be able to easily begin to understand now why the Heavenly Jerusalem is called a widow and why God did this. God would have been one with this spiritual city and all of its inhabitants (angels). So God could not have legally punished Satan without punishing Himself along with Satan.
CONCLUSION
God found himself with a problem that needed to be resolved. Without the law of divorce how did God terminate His covenant marriage with Satan and his evil angelic beings? I really hope we are seeing this spiritual reality. Death is a legitimate separation for every covenant. Because Christ died, we died. Why was it necessary to be born again? To be born again represents another new beginning and an opportunity for a fresh start. Jesus was called the first born from the dead, so being the firstborn He is the head of this new family. Jesus now had preeminence over all other spiritual beings. In heaven Lucifer/Satan use to be the one with the Father, but he is now no longer in covenant with God because of the death of Jesus Christ. Since we were also crucified with Christ, we too are no longer in covenant with death, hell or Satan, either. The work of God was full and comprehensive. By Jesus being crucified on the cross, God accomplished 1) salvation for us, 2) the full payment for sin past, present and future, 3) reconciliation of our relationship with God and 4) the termination of our and His former flesh covenant relationship with Satan. God is so much smarter than we are and if we can see these things that was just described, we will increase our understanding of the Word of God by leaps and bounds above where we use to be.
Jesus said if you continue in my Word, then you will be my disciples and then you will know the truth and then Jesus said the “truth” that you “know” will set you free. I pray that the eyes of your understanding will be enlightened in the knowledge of Him.
Key to Understanding! NOT Getting in Over Your Head!
(Ver 1.1) 
Reading and studying the Bible is like learning to swim. If you don’t know how to swim, it is a very, very good idea not to jump into waters that go over your head. Waters can be a type of the subjects found in the Bible. Some subjects are shallow and much easier to grasp. While other subjects can be very complex or more challenging to understand and these can represent the deeper waters. For example, I use to never go into the book of Revelation and try to study that book, because it was so far over my head. Over the years, I have learned a lot more. Now by using what God has taught me, I can venture into these deep waters of the book of Revelation. Does that mean I understand everything in the book of Revelation? Definitely NOT! It only means that I have learned enough to start learning more. I have heard stories of many people who say that their dad threw them into the deep end of the pool and said learn to swim or drown. Of course you would realize that if they had drown he would have gone to jail for murder. Physically speaking it is not a good idea to learn to swim in the ocean. There are too many waves, currents and tides that can cause someone to more than likely die in the attempt. In other words people are less likely to survive than to learn how to swim in the deep ocean. These are all physical truths that are related to spiritual things that we face every day in our growth with God. We can learn some very valuable lessons that will help us tremendously, if we apply these principles correctly.
Start by evaluating where you are now in your spiritual growth. Are you new in Christianity? If yes, then it is not wise to try to study advanced deep subjects found in the Bible. Most of my lessons are very advanced and very deep. I deal with many complex subjects that a lot of people don’t have a clue on what they really mean. As a result, I would strongly suggest that if you are not an advanced Bible student, that you not read my lessons. Go away and study the basics, and after a few years of studying the Bible on the basic foundational Christian concepts, then come back to the advanced stuff. I generally do not spend a lot of time trying to teach basic concepts of salvation, sin, good versus evil, just to name a few of these basic topics. I do however have a few lessons on Bible Basics. These are here for foundational spirit building and growth. If you like this website, go and read the basics first and then go into the deeper waters.
This is what God said on the subject of getting in over your head when Paul wrote to the church in Corinth:
1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
Paul tells the church in Corinth they were not ready for the deep spiritual things of God because he said they were just baby Christians. God relates spiritual growth to physical growth of new born babies. When a baby is newly born we can’t give them a big hotdog or a piece of corn on the cob and say here is your dinner. Enjoy it and I’ll see you in an hour. Why is that important to note? If you have had children you already know the answer. God relates some subjects in the Bible to be advanced topics that babies can’t grasp and use. These topics are not good for them in fact. Because they are not ready for the complex foods in God’s Word. Baby Christians should avoid them. Otherwise, they could spiritually choke on them and this could cause them spiritual harm instead of helping them to grow up spiritually. God goes on in the next verse to differentiate between two distinct types of spiritual food:
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
We can see that there are two contrasting views of God’s spiritual food. These are equated as being either milk or meat, or we could call them liquid food versus solid food. Just like we wouldn’t give a baby a steak off of the grill to eat, we don’t give baby Christians spiritual steak either. Steak or meat is equated to the more complex subjects found in the Bible. The milk is representative of the simple or basic subjects that we should all have intimate knowledge of to build a firm spiritual foundation upon. These are tremendously valuable lessons to learn and fully grasp. We must understand the basic subjects before we ever attempt to swallow the advanced subjects. To many times I read or listen to Bible lessons and books that we can clearly see the author doesn’t know the basics. So, how can they attempt to try to get anyone to see anything advanced. If we don’t understand the basics we will never understand the advanced topics. In fact to a baby Christian, the advanced topic is dangerous.
Learn the lesson of swimming. Before you get in over your head make sure you are familiar with the shallow basic concepts found in the Bible. The deep things of God will come much easier and you will not spiritually drown because you panicked in waters that were over your head. But, here is another aspect to consider. Most babies don’t know they are babies. Because babies don’t understand the dangers of deep waters they will many times wander into them and not be able to get out. Many children have died because they were unsupervised and fell into the water and could not get out. If you are a mature Christian or at least a maturing Christian, keep this in mind when talking to others who are new to the faith in Christ. Help to guide the new Christians into the right paths of study. That is exactly why I recommended many not read my lessons. If you are a new Christian you will be much more comfortable with someone’s ministry that is geared at your level of spiritual development. That is in fact a lesson from life, children must go through kindergarten before they go to high school or even 1st Grade. There is a progressive learning experiences that we must develop in. Most immature Christians will reject advanced spiritual topics, simply because they are not at their level of development. If a 1st grader sat in a college level Algebra class, they wouldn’t get anything out of it. So it is with Bible topics.
I’ll try to end this blog with another contrasting bit of information of how to determine your level of spiritual growth. God gives us some very specific clues to judging ourselves based upon the next scripture in 1 Corinthians:
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
God contrasts those who are focused on carnal and natural things with those who are focused on spiritual things. Baby Christians tend to be focused on natural things that occur in the world, while spiritually maturing Christians look beyond these natural things and focus in on the things of God only found in His Word. The difference is where they place their emphasis and focus. This verse in 1 Corinthians said these people were jealous of one another. They were fighting and bickering about stupid things that didn’t matter. If you read people’s blogs you can see examples of this type of behavior everywhere. Trivial stuff is promoted to a level of importance that is worthless to our spiritual growth. People fight over what they think is right and ignore what God said. Then there are naturalist who want the church to focus on saving the environment, the planet, the trees, or the whales. Too many times people are focused on less important things while God desire us to grow to see higher and greater things. For example, if people would see what God cares about, there would not be any legal abortions.
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
God asks a very simple question here and makes a spiritual point that is beyond many people’s understanding. We have broad examples of this verse in our world today. One says, I am a Catholic. One says I am a Baptist. Another one says I am a Methodist, or whatever. Everyone echoing the same thought process that Paul confronted in Corinth. If you think your church is the only true church and everyone else is going to hell, you are deceived into believing a lie. The church of Jesus Christ is not a denomination. There is only One Body of Christ, there is only One Bride of Christ and these two are one in the same. There are legitimate and true Christians in every division of the body, but there are also false teachers and deceivers in every denomination out there. How will you know the difference? Jesus said you will know them by their fruit. Watch their natural life over time and see if they live according to the Bible. Judge what they say and do by what you know and understand in the Bible. You must focus in on the Bible and learn it and use it and only it to control what you think and do. The Bible contains the only truth that you will ever find on this planet. As you continue in the Word of God you will grow spiritually and become more spiritually mature. As you continue to feed your spirit using God’s spiritual food you will see that many good fruits will begin to spring forth and start to dominate your life. It is time for us to grow up spiritually:
Heb 6:1 Therefore leaving the principles of the doctrine of Christ, let us go on unto perfection; not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God,
Paul in this verse written to the church, informs them that there are many basic things that we should be moving beyond. God describes to us a process of growth as well as the goal of spiritual maturity. “Perfection” is just a word that means to become mature. Not a child anymore, not acting like a child, not dressing like a child and not doing childish things. The process of spiritual growth is patterned after natural growth. Eating properly and getting spiritual exercise will go a long way to helping us grow spiritually.
These are all valuable spiritual lessons for us to apply to our understanding of the Bible. I hope that you at least grasped the concepts and that you will continue to grow in the knowledge of the One True Living God. If you do not know Jesus Christ as personal Lord and Savior, please go to the menu and click on “Are You Saved?”. Read the verses and pray the prayer. God bless you and please leave us a comment. Share this lesson with a friend.
Understanding Bible Covenants! Part 4 Israel’s New Husband
(Ver 2.0) This is now Part 4 in a very advanced Bible study serious concerning Understanding Bible Covenants. This series is intended for spiritually mature Christians with an open mind that will commit to go and study the subject for themselves to verify if it is really true or not. Obviously by the title we have more controversial topics on covenants to discuss today. We have been discussing Bible covenants in some new terms using scriptures in the Bible that many have not seen before. I know this is a very deep subject and the complexities are vast. It is a very hard thing to accept new things when they are first revealed. I believe the natural human tendency is to reject the new, to fear the new, and to not believe the new. This is because I believe that we trust in our old understanding and beliefs so much more. The problem is that the majority of Christians do not have a clue what the Bible really says. Learning always involves growing in understanding. That implies an ever increasing and expanding knowledge process. Today’s knowledge should be building on what we learned yesterday. New truth should always fit balanced correctly with previous known truths. When it does not God is presenting us a new opportunity to come up to a higher spiritual level of thinking. Learning involves change. Being flexible and open is a key to growing with God. In my last blog I went into Old Testament verses that reveal the law of marriage and divorce. If you have not been following this series from the beginning, I would strongly suggest that you go back and start with Part 1 Covenants and Marriage.
In the last lesson we talked about Israel being divorced from God. Then we also were given several scriptures that strongly implied that Israel is now married to another spiritual being. This means that this spiritual being is now in covenant with the natural nation of Israel and God’s Law. Why was this necessary? Why would God want to get someone under the law? How would God accomplish such a task? These are all important questions to consider. But first let’s determine if this is even possible. Here are some interesting verses from the Old Testament:
Isa 28:14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, ye scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
We can clearly see who the next words of God in verse 15 are addressing by looking at verse 14 and seeing that God is speaking directly to the rulers of Jerusalem. This is the earthly city Jerusalem and God is speaking directly to the men that ruled that city. These were the old covenant people that God was married to. So what does this next verse say?
Isa 28:15 Because ye have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
We can again clearly see covenant words of marriage being spoken in regards to the natural nation of Israel to someone. This time it says that these people are in covenant with death and hell. That declaration does not sound very positive or good, does it? Who does the New Testament say had the power over death when this verse was written? This verse in Hebrews should help you:
Heb 2:14 Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil;
So we can see from what God reveals in Hebrews that Satan held the power of death in the Old Testament. We can therefore conclude that if Israel was in covenant with death and hell, that would mean they were in covenant with Satan. What does Jesus have to say about these Old Testament verses in Isaiah 28?
Mat 23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
We can see by this statement that Jesus implies these people in Jerusalem were married to a spiritual being that made them the children of hell. This implies a covenant relationship or marriage between a husband and a wife that has produced children of hell. Are you following these statements? Parents have children, produce families, and establish households. Basic physical biology dictates that a male and a female participate in order to produce children. If Israel is the woman who can have children, that was married to God, then who is the husband and the father in this relationship? Remember that it always takes two to tango. Jesus often times asked, if you don’t understand natural things, how will you ever understand spiritual things? So apparently these natural things are patterns into spiritual things to help us understand them. Here is another statement of Jesus to the natural nation of Israel:
Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do.
Did you see what Jesus said to the natural nation of Israel? He said that they were children of their father and that their father was the devil. This makes it almost impossible for us not to realize that in order for them to be Satan’s children, Satan must be in covenant and married to natural Israel. What we see is the identity of the male in the covenant relationship to the natural nation of Israel being the female. A simple husband and wife relationship that has produced children. These are of course spiritual and not natural children. Satan is not having natural sex with natural women like they did in Genesis 6. Satan learned that this was illegal and many of his angels were cast into chains awaiting judgement for doing this (Jude 1:6). We know that Satan like God is a spiritual being. We can conclude that because God can be married to Israel any spiritual being can be married to Israel, it is only logical common sense.
Why Was the Law Given to Israel?
Let’s change subjects a bit here and continue by asking what was the purpose of God giving Israel the law? Why was the law given to Israel in the first place? I have heard many say it was to show man how bad they were and to teach them that they were incapable of living up to God’s standard of excellence. I do agree with that and I do not deny that could be a part of the purpose of the law. But, I have found that when God does something He usually accomplishes more than one thing at a time. Many humans tend to focus on getting one thing done at a time. But I have learned from being a computer programmer, that the true demonstration of power occurs when someone is able to accomplish many tasks simultaneously. In computer terminology this is called multi-tasking and God does this everyday just listening to billions of people praying simultaneously. Here is a verse that will help to shed some light on this subject of why God gave Israel the law:
Rom 7:7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
Here we begin to see some major clues to why God gave the law to Israel. It is a lot like our laws that our government makes for us to follow. You see there was a time when child pornography was not against the law. But did that make it right or OK to participate in? Of course not. But the government could not do anything about the people who participated in this until they passed a law. People were free to do wrong because there were no consequences for our erroneous choices and stupidity. Does that help to clear up the reason for God giving Israel the law? You see in this verse in Romans, it says we would not have known sin except that we were given the law. I sometimes wonder if people read the Bible and never think about how these words apply to other spiritual beings like Satan or Lucifer as he was named originally? Thinking and asking questions is absolutely essential when studying the Bible.
We know from Old Testament verses that sin was found in Lucifer (Eze 28:15), but according to Romans, if Lucifer didn’t know the law then he can’t face the consequences for his sin. Do you understand what I just said? God could not enforce Satan’s punishment without first getting him to know the law (be under the law). To be under the law means that you know the law and are now in covenant with that law or in covenant to those people who are in charge of keeping that the law. These are truly amazing things to consider. Here is another very important verse on our current subject of why God gave Israel the law:
Rom 3:19 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
Wow, these are powerful words when we apply them to Lucifer (Satan). In order to stop Satan’s mouth and cause him to be found guilty he must be put under the law. Are you still following this? The implication is given unless we are under the law, we cannot be found guilty and we will not face any punishment for our sin. I know that God is a just God and is just in whatever He does, He does everything in a fair and impartial legal way. He treats everyone the same. God applies the same principles and requirements to everyone and everywhere, including Himself or He would be showing favoritism and we should know that He does not do that.
Rom 5:13 (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.
God confirms the truth that declares “where there is no law there are no consequences for a sin”. Sin is still wrong, but no punishment is possible until taken to court and found guilty of violating specific law. This is divine justice and how God works. Most civil normal governments operate on this principle. Corrupt evil dictatorial controlling governments do not operate on this requirement. This verse helps us to understand why God could not convict Satan and throw him into hell the instant that sin was discovered in him. That would have been an unjust verdict since as far as I know there were no laws in heaven. Remember Lucifer was created in a state of perfection. What need is there, of any laws if everyone in your kingdom is created and acting perfectly? I believe this is what is important to know for us to understand why God created a new world with humans in Genesis 1. Then why God created a new separate nation of people called Israel born from a man named Abram in Genesis 12. Then why God gave Israel the Law in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. Finally, we can better understand why it was necessary for God to come in the flesh as Jesus to die and save us from this dark Satan ruled world (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).
I have become convinced from Bible study that one major accomplishment of God giving the law to Israel was to get Lucifer under the law. There are very strong implications given to us in the Bible that this is one major accomplishment.
Is Israel in Covenant with Satan?
We were just introduced to a basic foundation for why it was necessary to get Satan to be in covenant with the natural nation of Israel. Before that we saw Israel itself admitting they were in covenant with the realm of death and hell. Then we saw several statements that Jesus made to Israel that would imply they were in covenant with Satan. We can now continue to analyze if this is what the Bible says happened. I’ll do this by going back to some scriptures that we saw in a previous lesson. In the previous lesson we emphasized the aspects of Galatians 4 and how Israel has been cast out of God’s covenant never to return. But hopefully we will bring out some new emphasis to the information for us to see what God is saying on this subject of: “Is Israel remarried to another man”?
Gal 4:22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
If you recall this verse, you can see two women and two sons being referenced. The first woman is the bond woman and the other is said to be the free woman. This is the concept of slavery versus freedom. You may recall that slavery was a condition of being under the law. This would help us to understand that Lucifer was of the free woman. This meant Lucifer was not under any law. Abraham symbolizes a type or pattern of God the Father (Jehovah). It is essential to understand that these women represents patterns of two wives in covenant with God. I’ll say this again, these two woman represent two covenants as we will see in this next verse:
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants (marriages); the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
We can see in this verse that God says these two women are allegorical and represent a far greater spiritual truth. In Biblical Allegory, God always uses a real historical natural occurrence to describe a parallel unseen spiritual reality. Most of the time if we read this story in the Old Testament we would not have a clue how it relates to any spiritual truth. However, since God gives us a specific example of how He encoded this information into the Bible in these verses in Galatians, we can begin to understand how this is possible. This is a very tricky method that God has chosen to hide these spiritual mysteries in the Bible.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
The bond woman is said to be Hagar and she corresponds to the law given to Moses on Mt Sinai. Therefore, Hagar represents a woman in covenant bondage to the law. God then tells us that she gives birth to a child after the flesh. Hagar is the natural nation of Israel and is directly called the “earthly city of Jerusalem”. This is in direct contrast to Sarah, the free woman who gives birth to the promised child after Hagar as we will read in verse 26 next. Who do you think the “promise child” represents? Of course it is the risen from the dead LORD Jesus Christ. However, Hagar who represents the natural Israel, gives birth to natural child Jesus of Nazareth the man after the flesh that gave His life for us to be saved. Mary called Jesus her “firstborn” son and God called Jesus His only begotten Son. But, Jesus is also called God’s firstborn from the dead. That would imply that Jesus Christ had two different births and two different mothers, one natural and one spiritual. These are very deep truths and can be very hard to see at first, simply because they are so new.
God just revealed to us that this Hagar is a type or pattern of the Earthly Jerusalem, who is now in bondage with all of her children under the law. Israel continuously tries to keep the law and earn their salvation by their works and have not realized that they are incapable of saving themselves. Remember we just read earlier that Jesus declared that Satan was the father of these natural children of Israel. Wow, that is so important. But, let’s continue with the next verse and look at Sarah:
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
We can see that there is clearly a new and different woman, called the free woman that is called the “Heavenly Jerusalem”. This literally means that she is not under the law. This Freewoman (Type of Sarah) is said to be the spiritual mother of Jesus Christ and the church. So what have we seen? There is a bond woman called the Earthly Jerusalem who is in bondage to the law. We then see that there is another woman called the Heavenly Jerusalem who is free, meaning she is not under the law. We know from studying the Bible that these two women were in a covenant and married to God (Type of Abraham) at an overlapping period of time. We know that Sarah (Heavenly Jerusalem) was married first to Abraham (God). Then Abraham and Sarah moved to Egypt where they bought a slave girl for Sarah named Hagar. Later after many years of being barren (Childless) Sarah (Heavenly Jerusalem) gives her husband Hagar (the Earth Jerusalem) as a wife to have a child for her. Abraham did this and had Ishmael that had twelve sons a type and pattern of Jesus and his 12 disciples.
Finally Sarah (the Heavenly Jerusalem) the much older woman and first wife came along and had the promised child and she was free along with her child. The Heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah) existed prior to the younger Earthly Jerusalem (Hagar). The younger earthly Jerusalem (Hagar) has a son that is older than the promised son of the free woman (Sarah). These are all allegorical truths to a spiritual reality that has been right before us but one that we haven’t seen until now. Now take a look at the next verse, because I want to reemphasize something very important:
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.
Who is the barren woman? It was a type of Sarah, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the free woman. According to Hebrews 12:22 the Heavenly Jerusalem consisted of an enumerable number of angels. We know from reading Job 38:4 that all of these angels sang for joy witnessing the creation of our world. Therefore, this Heavenly Jerusalem existed a long time before any earthly Jerusalem was formed. Are we all together on the same page?
What can we see by looking at this verse in light of the story of Abraham? We can see that this heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah) was God’s wife even before the earthly Jerusalem (young Hagar) ever came into the story. We can conclude logically that this covenant between God and the Heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah) existed before there was a natural nation of Israel. God (Abraham) was in covenant with this free woman (Sarah), not under the law for a long time before the bond woman was given to Him (Abraham) to have a child with. But we can also see this verse is telling her (the free woman Sarah) to rejoice because more are the children of the desolate woman than the other woman.
The desolate woman is a descriptive term for a woman incapable of having children as Sarah was for many years. Sarah eventually got pregnant but, only after many years passed beyond her normal child bearing years. But with God all things are possible, the barren woman now has many more children than the bond woman. God promised this free woman that her children will be of a much greater number than those of the woman in bondage to the law. We can then see the punch line in the last part of that verse. This verse ends with the statement “she which hath an husband”. Since God is only talking about two women in these verses, we can very easily determine who He is speaking of. God is speaking about the Earthly Jerusalem (Hagar) in the terms that she now has a new husband. The clear implication is given to us that the Heavenly Jerusalem (Sarah) does not have a husband when these verses were written.
We already know from reading verses in Isaiah and Jeremiah that God divorced Israel and ended His covenant relationship with the Earthly Jerusalem (Hagar). We even studied scriptures in Deuteronomy 24 that said it was now illegal for God to marry this same woman again. So we know that God is not in covenant or married to natural Israel. So who is? Who is the husband of the bond woman? Who is now in bondage under the law? Who wishes that they had never crucified the Lord Jesus Christ? If we don’t know this is Satan we need to go back and reread all of this again. Who wants to destroy Israel and wipe her from the face of the planet? How could Satan get out from under the law of his wife Israel? If his wife Israel were completely dead then Satan would be free from the law. If Satan were free from the law, then punishment of his sin could not be applied to him.
CONCLUSION
I have become a firm believer that Satan did not know what would happen to him if he crucified the LORD of Glory (1 Cor 2:8). I am also convinced that this is why Satan wants to destroy the natural nation of Israel and the Church. There are a lot of people in the world being used by Satan to get this done. Many of these people call the natural nation of Israel the little Satan and the USA and Christians the Great Satan. We could go into this subject much further but this lesson is long enough.
Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with us. If you have any questions or comments please feel free to share them. I do read them and appreciate the feedback. We do pray for you and we ask you to pray for us. God bless you and keep you until the next time we get together.
If you would like to continue reading this series of lessons on Bible covenants you may go to “Part 5“.
Understanding Bible Covenants! Part 3 Divorce and the Law
(Ver 2.1) This is Part 3 in the series on the very important subject of Understanding Bible Covenants. If you have not read this series from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading with “Part 1“. We have covered the Bible subject of covenants in a new spiritual light. In the first lesson we saw scriptures that defines a Bible God kind of covenant is a marriage relationship normally between a male and a female. In God’s covenants He is always the husband and we His people are always the female. In the second lesson there was featured a modern unfamiliar quality called “faithfulness”. This quality of “faithfulness” is where trust is placed in each covenant participant to remain faithful to their covenant partner. When unfaithfulness occurs the resulting infidelity normally causes the intended everlasting relationship to become strained, ineffective and even fail. Which brings us to today’s specific topic called “divorce”. Using this new perspective of “unfaithfulness” we will be exploring the Bible using God’s created concepts found around the essential subject of “faithfulness” in marriage covenants. Because it is so radically different than anything we have probably heard before it may be difficult for many to accept. It is interesting that this is the same response that Paul got in many places that he went into to teach the Word of God. Here is a scripture that describes Paul’s experiences:
Act 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.
This scripture describes two different groups and types of people. It speaks of one group being more noble than the other. The term noble is a symbol of royalty, those of nobility. These people were more noble than those in Thessalonica because of two qualities that they did. Or actually to be more precise it was one featured quality or attitude that they possessed and one action they performed. The first difference of these more noble people was they received the Word of God with an “open mind”. Meaning they were willing to listen and hear something totally new and radically different without prejudice. But instead of accepting everything that was taught them by faith and blindly following Paul, they did something else to prove what was being taught to them was actually what God said in the Word. It says they searched the scriptures daily to see if what Paul was saying was really in the books they called God’s Word. In those days they only had the Old Testament books and scrolls so that is the only verification that they had to search from. Today we can see that this also includes the New Testament writings. You can learn so much by following the example of the more noble group of people. You see there is nothing new under the sun, what was, is that, which shall be again. What you have seen before, is that which will occur again. God does things the same way today as He did in the days of the early church. History has always run in cycles that repeat specific divine patterns in human experiences and events. So when someone like me comes along and teaches something so radically new, what should you do? You should start by keeping an open mind to what is being said and then you must search your Bible to see if it is actually true. That is all I’m asking you to do.
In the last lesson we were talking about sex and infidelity in the context of a covenant marriage relationship. We saw that physical things gives us patterns into spiritual things. People who follow physical faithfulness probably have an easier acceptance with spiritual faithfulness. There has been an increased awareness of natural unfaithfulness due to a well know unnamed sports figure that has recently been caught up with the seeds that he had been sowing. Then before that we had a President that was caught up in an embarrassing White House sexual scandal. But, these were just popularly reported news examples that occur often in many natural human experiences. No human is perfect and all have sinned in some way.
Without God no one really has a chance to be perfect, we have all been there and all share in mistakes that we have made. Also, in the last lesson we referred to the fact that divorce was not legally permissible from God’s law unless a spouse had been unfaithful. I guess these two famous wives certainly had grounds for a divorce. I’m sure neither was happy or content with their covenant relationship. As far as the President’s wife, I believe she endured and stuck around the marriage for some future benefits. A wife will always have the right to choose. But, one thing that we can count on is the faithfulness of God. God will always be faithful to us. Therefore, the only opportunity for covenant failure in a relationship with God, will be on us. This does pertain to the subject today.
GOD’S OLD TESTAMENT COVENANT DIVORCE
So we have been looking at the natural nation of Israel as being called the unfaithful wife in the Old Covenant. She was accused of spiritual adultery and literal whoredom by following after and pursuing other gods by worshiping idols (Isa 1:2, Eze 6:8). There is really a very sincere lesson to learn from this, if we think about it. Recently on the news I saw a story that spoke of many so called Christian churches starting to introduce other foreign practices into their congregations. I don’t know if they were attempting to draw more people in or what. But the net result will be disastrous. These churches wanted to bring in yoga and far eastern mind altering religions. Things like far east meditation and mind relaxation and control techniques that just open people up for satanic interaction. By introducing these foreign religions into their churches they are succumbing to the same result that the natural nation of Israel fell into. This spiritual infidelity will result in spiritual sexual covenant relations with other gods just like Israel. I hope you are hearing me and understand what was just said.
So today I want to open a new can of worms that I know will not go over big with a lot of people, but I really have no choice. I believe I need to teach what God has taught me from the Bible. In the last lesson I gave scriptures about God’s wife Israel being unfaithful to her husband and God said I divorced her (Jer 3:8). If a covenant is a marriage, then a divorce is the termination of that covenant! This is absolutely critical that w see this and understand it. According to O.T. verses God is NOT in covenant with the natural nation of Israel anymore or ever will be again. I know that is a shocking statement, but we look it up in the Bible and verify what God says. Natural Israel now has the same opportunity to marry into the new covenant with Jesus, but the old covenant is over. Here is another witness to this fact:
Isa 50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill (H5612) of your mother’s divorcement (H3758), whom I have put away (H7971)? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
We have seen that the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah, both have declared the termination of the marriage covenant relationship between God and the natural nation of Israel. Notice that this verse in Isaiah also implies a selling of Israel to another buyer or owner. This sounds like Israel has entered into a new covenant relationship with someone besides Jehovah God, to me. I will tell you up front it was not to be in the new covenant with Jesus the Son of God. The Lord God says “I have Put Away your mother”. Those are terms for divorce based upon Israel’s foolish acts of infidelity. So we can conclude that the divorce is now final in the eyes of God.
Today I want to show you what God’s law says about marriage and divorce. It is so relevant to our discussion that I hope you can see it. The law concerning divorce is found in the book of Deuteronomy in chapter 24:
Deu 24:1 When a man hath taken a wife, and married her, and it come to pass that she find no favour in his eyes, because he hath found some uncleanness in her: then let him write her a bill (H5612) of divorcement (H3748), and give it in her hand, and send (H7971) her out of his house.
Here is exactly what we read in Isaiah and Jeremiah that God did to Israel. It is an exact representation of what happened to the natural nation of Israel. This verse says a man shall take a wife and marry her. We know that God took Israel by the hand and led her out of Egypt and married her (Jer 31:32). Then it says if the man finds “uncleanness” in her and we know that God found His wife natural Israel unfaithful following after other gods and worshipping idols repeatedly. So we know that according to the law, the man (God) then can write his wife (Israel) a bill of divorcement and give it to her to end the covenant. God did this using His prophets Isaiah and Jeremiah. These were His two witnesses for Israel’s whoredom. You then see that this verse says that the woman is now not a part of this husband’s household anymore. She has been kicked out of the relationship due to her unclean acts of wickedness. This is precisely what happened to the nation of Israel. Let’s look at the next verse in the law:
Deu 24:2 And when she is departed out of his house, she may go and be another man’s wife.
I read these words and see how God foretold what was about to transpire with His wife. This verse says this divorced wife can become the wife of another man. We saw scriptures that implied strongly that Israel was another man’s wife now. I could give you many other scriptures that would also confirm this but I just don’t have the time right here to include these. I’ll skip over verse 3 because it is about her new husband divorcing her. What I want you to see is the next verse and what God says:
Deu 24:4 Her former husband (Jehovah God), which sent her away, may not take her (natural Israel) again to be his wife, after that she is defiled; for that is abomination before the LORD (JEHOVAH): and thou shalt not cause the land to sin, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
You see according to the law, it would be illegal for God to marry the natural nation of Israel again. God said it would be an abomination for Him to take back a wife that has defiled herself with another man. It is therefore illegal, according to the law for God to enter into covenant with the nation of Israel again. I am glad I didn’t write the Bible, I just read it and see what it says. But, I don’t see how He could take her back and not make himself out to be a liar.
I know these are very strong words and the implications are very far reaching. Nevertheless I didn’t write the Bible so please don’t throw stones at the messenger. You have the opportunity to embrace what the Bible says or you now have an opportunity to reject it and ignore what God said. I suspect I’ll have both reactions. The Bible was written in an encoded fashion that forces us to correctly divide the words to come up with the truth. That means some will see it and some will not. That also means everything in the Bible is not always self evident or self revealing and since I don’t know everything maybe there is something that I don’t know yet that could change the outcome of Israel. I will humbly admit that truth that I’m not God and I don’t know everything. If God wants to keep something hidden it will remain hidden, if God wants to reveal the truth to someone or through someone then nothing will stop Him from doing that either.
A NEW TESTAMENT CONFIRMATION
I would like to briefly teach a New Testament confirmation for what we are reading in the Old Testament. I believe God will always confirm whatever is important in the Old Testament in the New either directly or indirectly. This reference that we will be going over is fairly direct but often easily misunderstood. We will be reading from the book of Galatians and chapter 4.
Gal 4:22 For it is written (prophesied), that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
Gal 4:23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh (natural); but he of the freewoman was by promise (Spirit).
Gal 4:24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai (natural Israel), which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar.
Gal 4:25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem (natural Israel) which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all (Jesus and the Church).
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.
Gal 4:28 Now we (the Church), brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise (Free Woman).
Gal 4:29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit (the Church), even so it is now.
Gal 4:30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman (Natural Israel) and her son: for the son of the bondwoman (Natural Israel) shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
Gal 4:31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
This is an amazing passage of scripture filled with untold revelation. There are two women being compared as mothers with sons. The LORD just keeps uncovering new information from these verses the more we study it. Has anyone missed what the LORD said after reading these verses, I will tell you that one woman is Hagar a young Egyptian slave woman and the other woman was Sarah the older barren wife and God says these two represent allegorical types of spiritual realities. Hagar represents natural Israel that came out of captivity in Egypt. Sarah is spoken of as a spiritual type of free woman that gives birth to the church. Abraham the covenant making husband to both women is also a type in this O.T. story. Abraham represents God the Father also known as Jehovah LORD. That was a very quick overview, so let us explore some of the important details for out subject of covenants and divorce.
Notice how God uses a real literal Old Testament story of Abraham as a spiritual allegory to reveal a greater unseen truth. If we read closely, we will discover that God is likening natural Israel to be called a model, type, pattern, or a shadow of a natural Egyptian “bonds woman” named Hagar. God equates her position of natural bondage to Israel’s servitude to the Old Covenant Law. It is remarkably interesting, to note that this Galatians 4 passage is speaking of this Hagar woman as a typology of natural Israel being in covenant with God. It is important to note that the natural people of Israel were taken from Egypt by God through Moses. Then God also gave them the law through Moses on Mount Sinai and later they possessed the land where Jerusalem eventually becomes their capital city.
I will not teach the entire set of verses. There are other Bible lessons on this website that have more detail if you are interested. But I do want us to focus on verse 30. This is a quotation from Genesis 21:10. What does this verse say so clearly? God tells us it is written “Cast out the bond woman (natural Israel) Hagar for her son will not be an heir with the son of the freewoman”. When we go back and study the original verse God uses the Hebrew word H1644 which is translated as “cast out”. Strong defines this Hebrew word as “to drive out from a possession”. But this Hebrew word also carries the meaning of “divorce” and a “divorced woman”. Wow, that is amazing confirmation to the verses we have read from Jerimiah 3:8 and Isaiah 50:1.
Galatians 4 is a New Covenant confirmation for what has happened to the Old Covenant people. Natural Israel is now no longer in covenant with God Jehovah even while still being in bondage to His written Law. There is a further confirmation found within Galatians 4. Remember when I showed implied O.T. references for divorced natural Israel now being in covenant marriage with someone other than God Jehovah? Did you notice Galatians 4:27? What is God saying in this verse?
Gal 4:27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren (Sarah a type of the Heavenly Jersualem) that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou (Sarah a type of the Heavenly Jersualem) that travailest not: for the desolate (free woman Sarah a type of the Heavenly Jerusalem) hath many more children than she which hath an husband (bond woman: Hagar a type of natural Israel).
This verse is another O.T quotation from Isaiah 54:1. I placed in quotations the unstated allegorical references revealed to us by God in Galatians 4 to help us understand who He is speaking of. I pray that everyone observed that this verse says the bond slave woman (Hagar the type of natural Israel) was cast out of God’s marriage covenant but is now being referred to as a “married” wife. But if her husband is not Jehovah God, then who is it? Go and read Isiah 54:1 and we will find God Jehovah is the one speaking about these two women. Notice that He does not claim in Isaiah 54:1 to be her husband. In fact, it was only 4 chapters before this prophecy that Jehovah gave natural Israel her bill of divorce.
Galatians chapter 4 is very profound. God has just confirmed that natural Israel is no longer in a covenant with Him. It further implies by indirect reference that she has no possibility to return to the covenant that she was in with Him. If we study the entire Bible for direct references to Hagar, we will find only 14 times her name is given by God. The last time she is mentioned in the O.T. is Genesis 25 where God gives the genealogy of Ishmael to have 12 sons. Before this mention is Genesis 21 where Abraham “sends her away with her son Ismael in verse 14. The Hebrew word “send away” is H7971 that was translated as “put away” in the law of divorcement we read in Deuteronomy 24 and the divorce decrees we read in Isaiah 50:1 and Jeremiah 3:8. These connecting words and subjects are not a coincidence. God is teaching us that natural Israel will have the same end as the natural Egyptian slave woman named Hagar.
CONLUSION
We have seen scripture that declares natural Israel’s covenant relationship with God has been terminated because of her continued unfaithfulness. We then saw the law of God that declares this relationship is over for good. We cannot blame God for ending the covenant. It was natural Israel’s repeated bad choices to commit whoredom with other gods that finally caused the consequences. Remember what God says in Galatians 6:7 “Be not deceived, God is not mocked whatever a man sows that will he reap”. Israel finally reaped what they had sown for hundreds and hundreds of years. A crop of failure will eventually come to anyone that does the same. God was extremely patient, forgiving and kind to the natural nation of Israel. He is the same today to us. Thank you Jesus!
I’ll end this lesson with this last statement, there is more in the Bible that we don’t know than what we do know. I don’t care how long we have studied the Bible or how much we have memorized and we can quote. Quoting scripture does not mean we know it and understand it. The term to “Know” means understand and I guarantee that we (me and you) don’t understand very much of the Bible. God’s intelligence level is so far beyond ours. Every word in the Bible has significance and meaning and most of the time we just read them like they don’t mean anything. The one reality that I am faced with every time I study the Bible is this: “The more I learn, the more I find out I don’t know”. If you are not there yet, then you don’t realize yet that you have a lot more to learn. In the next lesson, I’ll attempt to explore natural Israel’s new covenant relationship.
If you would like to continue reading in this series you may now go to “Part 4“.
Understanding Bible Covenants! Part 2 Sex, Infidelity and Divorce
(Ver 2.2) This is now Part 2 in the series of Understanding Bible Covenants. The Word of God is so awesome, I just love studying the Bible more than anything. I hope you are as excited about learning about God as I am. Please understand that I don’t say this because the main subject is about sex. I think I may know where some people’s mind is going. This is a very serious subject and I will warn you that it could be offensive to some. If you do not consider yourself a mature Christian maybe it would be best if you do not read the rest of this lesson. Just take that into consideration. In today’s lesson we want to continue talking about understanding Bible covenants. I want to provide several new established scriptures to expand our foundation for a sound understanding of what a Bible God type of covenant is. Today’s subject as you can tell by the title will certainly be different than most anything that you have probably heard before and represents an advanced study on the subject of covenants intended for mature Christians. If you are not a mature Christian then please just go read someone else’s Bible lesson for today. That was warning number two. Also if you have not read from the beginning of this series, I would strongly suggest that you go back and start with Part 1 dealing with Covenants and Marriage.
INTRODUCTION & REVIEW
In the first lesson in this series, we were introduced to some of the basic concepts and parts of what a Bible covenant is and some of what a Bible covenant is not. we learned that a Bible covenant is like a binding legal contract relationship between two separate individuals but yet it is certainly much more than this. We then described this legal contract to be equivalent to a natural marriage between a husband and a wife. We were also introduced to the fact that a Bible covenant relationship can be between any two of the following:
- A spiritual being (God the Father, Jesus, Lucifer, etc.)
- A physical being (Abraham)
- A group of natural beings (natural Israel)
- A group of spiritual beings (church, angels, etc.)
A covenant will always be between at least two of these categories of individuals of any combination. I should also point out that a covenant can be between two individuals of the same type. For example, a spirit being to a spirit being or a physical being to a physical being, or even a nation of people with another nation of people. It is of course difficult to think of a group of people as being a single united entity, but that is what the Bible declares so I’ll stick with that. In the last lesson, we saw examples of the natural nation of Israel being in covenant with the creator God. In these verses, we found scriptures that God called this covenant a marriage relationship. We can see that in a covenant with God, God is always the Husband representative and the nation, group or individual in covenant with God is always the female wife representative. This pattern established in the Old Covenant was continued in the New Covenant with Jesus being the husband (bridegroom) and the church being His bride and wife.
In the last lesson we were also introduced to the concept that when two people or individuals are married, that they become one flesh and/or one spirit. We found and read scriptures that describes God’s law of marriage that was first given to us in Genesis chapter 2. I will warn you the third and final time that today’s subject matter is of a very mature nature. If you didn’t realize it before now, God created physical things like sex as a pattern for us to understand hidden spiritual truths. If God created natural sex, it must be good and have a very good purpose more than just making us feel good and making babies.
NATURAL SEX – A COVENANT PATTERN
We will begin by saying that sex was of course designed to be limited within the boundary of a covenant marriage between a husband and his wife. Since we have been talking about covenants as a marriage, it doesn’t take long to realize that sex is a integral part of God’s designed marriage covenant relationship. This is exactly why Satan wants to pervert sex and make it a casual normal indulgence for anyone and everyone at any time, even younger youth dating. We can’t watch TV or movies without seeing sex glorified and promoted in a very prevalent and a dominate fashion. If Satan wants to pervert the subject, it must have a legitimate purpose and reason for existence for God’s glory. What we need to begin to realize is that the physical union of sexual intercourse and intimacy should point us to a greater spiritual covenant relationship within a much higher spiritual dimension.
So, what does sex have to do with Bible covenants? I want to talk first about the human sexual organs. As most know these are called the male penis and the female vagina. Remember I warned you. What does a male penis have to do with a covenant? For many mature Christians that study the Bible they already know the answer. The answer is circumcision. God introduced circumcision to Abraham in Genesis 17:
Gen 17:9 And God said unto Abraham, Thou shalt keep my covenant therefore, thou, and thy seed after thee in their generations.
Gen 17:10 This is my covenant, which ye shall keep, between me and you and thy seed after thee; Every man child among you shall be circumcised.
Gen 17:11 And ye shall circumcise the flesh of your foreskin; and it shall be a token of the covenant betwixt me and you.
This is the first mention of circumcision in the Bible that I know of. It is also the first direct mention of the male penis that I have found so far. The male and female sexual union act is first mentioned in Genesis 4:1 and we will talk more about this soon. Notice in verses 9, 10 and 11 of Genesis 17 God calls this His covenant that Abraham and every generation of male seed that they will keep. Now, remember what circumcision is and what we discovered in the first lesson. What is a key component of covenants with God? There is a verbal agreement made and there is a direct cutting of flesh followed by an immediate flow of blood. Wow, that makes circumcision to match the pattern of divine covenants, doesn’t it?
Now we need to move to the female sexual organ called the vagina. God designed the male sexual organ to fill with blood (uh oh, that sounds important) to become erect, and then to enter into female’s vagina to have carnal knowledge with her and this was designed by God to produce offspring (seed from seed). Now, we need to get into more detail. The first time a female vagina has carnal knowledge of the male sexual organ, something happens that does not normally occur ever again. As you probably remember this is the flow of blood and we are not speaking of the female monthly menses cycle. Although this monthly cycle applies because of the involvement of blood, as a type of cleansing, this is not the blood flow that represents the covenant between a male and female. Humans do not normally have sex when a woman is in her monthly cycle.
Ok, let’s get to the main point. There is a small piece of skin Called the hymen that exists for no apparent reason or purpose within the opening of the vagina of every normal female. When the male inserts his blood filled sexual organ inside his wife’s vagina for the first time, this medically unknown purposed skin tears and bleeds. This causes an immediate temporary flow of blood that humans have lowered in importance by labeling it as “popping her cherry”. This is a major conquest for the ungodly male that doesn’t understand what really just happened in the eyes of God.
This piece of unnecessary female skin that was ripped and torn to bleed is called the hymen. I believe we can easily begin to see that it was placed in the female vagina by God for the creation of an eternal covenant bond between that human male and his wife. One reason why this first sexual act is legally binding forever is because the woman does not grow back a new hymen ever again. It is a one and done covenant. At least that is what God intended when He created Adam and Eve. Adam only had one wife with one hymen and that covenant bond lasted them their entire existence on the earth over 900 years. Wow, we should learn that this was God’s design for every human covenant marriage. But, this truth soon became perverted shortly afterward in their following generations.
I pray that was not too graphic and that we all received something new to think about when considering who to have sex with. Just take note of the presence of blood and how many times it was just mentioned. We have the male covenant with God revealed to be a token by the visible cutting and removing of the unnecessary male foreskin. We have a female that when she becomes able to bare children begin a monthly flow of blood exactly where the male organ full of blood enters. Then we had the hymen another unnecessary piece of skin that is torn and bleeds whenever the husband’s first penetration occurs and this act by God’s design produces a husband and wife blood covenant bond that remains in effect until one of them dies physically.
Can we begin to see the power of the blood of God in all of these covenant making connections and parallels? Can we also begin to see the reasons oof Satan’s attempt to make sexual unions a trivial and meaningless temporary pleasure? We are going to talk more about this later but we should begin to know that in the eyes of God everyone that we have had sex with who is still alive physically we are in a marriage covenant with that person. But thank God for the blood of Jesus. I know what many of you may be thinking. How do I undo all of the mistake covenants that I have entered into before I knew all of this? We can simply bring these up to God’s Court in heaven and repent for them, ask Him to apply the blood of Jesus to cleanse us from these unrighteous acts and God’s word in 1 John 1:9 says that “He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteousness”. Thank you Jesus!
NATURAL SEX PATTERNS FOUND IN THE
NEW COVENANT SPIRIT REALM
Let us continue by understanding that a spirit does not have physical sex. Yet this natural sexual act is still found as a pattern for a greater spiritual truth. Let us go to the Bible and use the law of first mention and see what God reveals to us on the subject of sex. I already mentioned this verse in the last section, but the first mention of physical sex that I have found in the Bible was Genesis 4:1:
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.
This verse in Genesis represents God’s higher way of describing physical sex experienced in the covenant relationship between Adam and his wife Eve. Recall that since this was the first mention of Adam having sex with Eve her hymen had to be torn and this produced a lasting covenant as well as their “firstborn son” named Cain.
Believe it or not, here we have a pattern of Christ and the church. Adam, the first man was a created pattern (figure) of Jesus Christ (Rom 5:14) who was to come into the world to die and forgive our sins and then be raised from the dead to marry in covenant His bride, the church. Jesus implements this covenant by having His flesh pierced, torn and ripped to shed His blood for us. That is just a quick introduction to the New Covenant. Let’s get back to our study of the first directly mentioned human sexual act in the Bible.
There is a fascinating concept given to us in this verse in Genesis. To “know” something or someone, what does that mean? I’ve often heard the term for sex to be described as having “carnal knowledge of” them. Carnal knowledge is just another synonymous term for natural covenant making sex. The actual Hebrew word YADA (H3045) that was translated as “knew” is defined as follows: “to ascertain by seeing”. It seems to be a form of gaining knowledge, but going further than just a casual surface knowledge of something or someone. Because to YADA someone means to understand them intimately and personally. It would be like someone saying “I know of the President” but to really “YADA” the President we would need to spend a lot of personal time with them to really understand them.
There are many varieties of knowledge in the world. To know a friend is not the same as for you to know your wife, or at least it shouldn’t be. Let’s think about a different form of knowledge other than physical sex for a moment. You see, we can also go to school to learn some specific subjects. For example, we can sit in class to know algebra, to know geometry or to know trigonometry and these are all representative types of having sex within the confines of a physical marriage according to God’s selection and usage of the word. However, people can memorize facts and still not “KNOW” what they mean or how to apply them. For example many people know Einstein’s theory of relativity is E=MC2. But to understand what it means and how to make it useful is not to YADA it.
This word to know (YADA) can apply to either type of interaction by God’s design. You can know a subject intimately so that it becomes a part of you and you understand it and this is representative of a covenant relationship, to know and to understand husband or a wife subject intimately. Do you remember what Jesus said to us in Matthew 5:27 and 28? The subject is about extramarital sex which is inline perfectly with our Bible study subject today. Jesus said “You have heard (in the law) you shall not commit adultery”. “But, I say to you that a man that looks at a woman to lust after her has committed adultery already in his heart”. Wow, this sounds like it is time for many of us to repent and ask for forgiveness. What Jesus is doing is comparing spiritual adultery with natural adultery. One is the physical realization of the fantasy that we had in our heart and the other is simply the fantasy in our heart that Jesus said makes us guilty already of the sin before we act on it. Wow, this is amazing and should be an eye opening encounter for us all. Uh oh! I can hear minds clicking away to say “well if I already thought about her this way, I should go ahead and just do it since I am already guilty in the eyes of God. Please don’t be stupid and foolish to fall into that trap of Satan. Hebrews 11:25 teaches us that Moses chose to suffer affliction with the people of God rather than enjoy the pleasures of in sin for a season. I guess we will move on.
What we have to see and understand are the concepts given to us by God in His Word. Understand that there are parallels to knowing a subject (or even fantasizing about someone) and how that is related to the act of participating in physical sexual knowledge of someone. God when He was in covenant with the natural nation of Israel, wanted them to know Him so He gave them the law and the words of the prophets. Jesus wants the church to know Him so He gave us the Gospels and the Epistles. By us studying and having intimate knowledge of Jesus and embracing His Holy Word is the spiritual form of the natural wife having a physical relationship with her natural husband. In our covenant marriage case we are His wife and He is our husband. We are intimate with Jesus when we pray and when we read His Word to Know and spend time with Him.
Some might be struggling with the concept of what is being taught today so we are going to read over some key scriptures to help us come closer to a better understanding of the subject of physical sex in relationship with spiritual knowledge more clearly. We’ll turn to a verse that we may have never studied to learn what God desires for us to understand:
1Co 6:15 Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ? shall I then take the members of Christ, and make them the members of an harlot? God forbid.
This verse represents the very complex subject of covenant relationships utilizing different phrases, words and terms. Hopefully we can all see that this verse is comparing two opposing types of spiritual covenant relationships. The first spiritual covenant is between the church and Jesus Christ. We can see that there is an inferred meaning that the church is now married to Jesus Christ in this statement because of the reference to being members of His body. Remember when Adam saw his wife he said “she is bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh” in Genesis 2:23. That made Eve the woman the body of Adam the man. This is what the Law of God says in marriages.
We can see that since we have become the body of Christ (by God’s law of covenant marriage), that we can still go and commit spiritual adultery to make the member of Christ the members of a spiritual harlot simultaneously. We learn that this is a sexual but spiritual type of knowledge encounter with this woman called a “harlot”. We can see that it is still possible to be joined spiritually with another besides Jesus.
Again we understand that this is a direct application of God’s law of natural marriage from Genesis 2 being restated and applied using different words in a spiritual application. According to God, the author of the Bible, to become members of a harlot is to be spiritually connected through having knowledge of) her. This statement is actually a parallel to some Old Testament realities that transpired many years before Paul wrote these words. What we can observe and understand from this is an implication that if one wife can commit adultery, then any wife in any covenant relationship (including with Jesus) can commit adultery. Let’s look at the next verse to learn more confirmation to what is being taught by God:
1Co 6:16 What? know ye not that he which is joined to an harlot is one body? for two, saith he, shall be one flesh.
In this next verse we can see some more outstanding spiritual implications and parallels being given to us by God. We can very clearly learn that sexual relations with a harlot in the eyes of God is the exact same thing as a covenant marriage. That means that having casual sex or a one night stand with any woman whether she is a whore (paid money) or not will cause the two people to be in covenant relationship with each other. This is not really that complicated. Everyone that has been alive on the earth for a period of several years understands that people do not pay a prostitute to get married. No, the transaction and the exchange of money is for a brief pleasure of having sex. So what people do not realize is that this is not how God views the acts. God says in verse 16 that the two having this relationship have been joined in a marriage covenant. The literal Greek word G2853 translated as “joined” literally means to “glue” together two separate pieces. I do not believe people see it this way since it looks like it is just a temporary pleasure.
In the eyes of God having sex is a marriage and a marriage means there should have been sexual intimacy between a covenant husband and his wife. That is some very strong words I know, but you can read it for yourself. Study it out and see if this is not what God is saying. According to God, even a casual one night stand causes the participants to be in a covenant binding relationship.
We know recently in the news that a prominent sports figure was accused by several women to be in relationship with all of them. These fourteen or more women all accused this married man of having had sex with them. I also heard a rock star brag that he had sexual encounters with over a 1000 women and girls while touring with the rock band. He literally boasted that he had photos to prove it. But, according to these scripture verses that we just read these men now have a bunch of wives. These physical realities are parallel to the spiritual realities that God is attempting to get us to see and to understand. We can verify all of this in the next verse:
1Co 6:17 But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.
You see in verse 17 we see another implied reference to Christ being married to the church. The verse speaks directly that the church is “JOINED” to the LORD. That is a marriage term and is the same word that is translated in other places as “cleave” to his wife. This verse then declares that the church is One Spirit with our husband Jesus Christ. Again more marriage terminology. We can understand that this new covenant marriage is suppose to be a spiritual type of sexual relationship just based upon the context of the surrounding verses speaking about people who have sex with harlots at the same time as being in covenant with Jesus Christ. In fact these verses are a warning written to the spiritual bride of Jesus telling her not to be involved with joining herself with other gods, idols, the worldly desires and lusts or whoever or whatever.
There are certainly many things to consider about these statements and we can apply them to both natural and spiritual covenant relationships. These constitute concepts of physical faithfulness and they should apply to us in our spiritual relationship with Christ as well. The bottom line of these verses in 1 Corinthians 6 point us to being faithful to Christ Jesus our husband and not to wander off with a deception or trick of Satan.
SPIRITUTAL SEXUAL INFIDELITY AND ADULTERY
These are all very stout and strong words and concepts given to us in the Bible concerning being in binding covenant relationship with the right and wrong individuals. What we thought was only a temporary pleasurable encounter has been raised to a very serious level of critical importance. I pray that everyone is learning the significance. These concepts and words appear to have not been clearly understood before now by very many Christians . But, before we go to the Old Testament let me show the law of marriage again restated differently for us in the New Testament which introduces us to a new concept called adultery which we should see and know as the act of being married to multiple covenant sexual partners at the same time:
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
We can see new meaning in these words when we apply what we have just learned about the term “know”. To know something or someone is a sexual term that denotes a covenant act in a covenant relationship. So this verse is written to those that were in covenant with Jehovah God and His law and this could only be the natural nation of Israel. We know this because the Law was given to them by Moses on Mt Sinai after coming out of Egypt. Let’s see what God is saying to them that “know” the law:
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
These are some interesting words given to us from God. These words declare that a woman that knows the law is legally bound to the covenant law of her husband as long as he is alive. We know from previous study that Israel is called the wife of God in the Old Covenant (Jer 31:32). So we are told by God that this group or nation of natural people were bound (in bondage) by the law of God as long as He lives. God says very clearly that only when the husband is dead is she free to marry (enter covenant) again.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Here we have God’s definition of an adulteress. I do not understand how people have not put these things together, but I guess they are just hard to accept so they refuse to see them. Any way verse 3 of chapter 7 says if her husband is alive and she marries another man, then she shall be called an adulteress. An adulteress is a noun title for a woman who has committed a sexual act of adultery. Adultery is defined as “an extramarital sexual affair” and this “infidelity” is known as unfaithfulness. This is what is called the state of being unfaithful to your covenant spouse. Are we following these concepts?
How do we apply these physical things to spiritual things? We know that the natural nation of Israel did not have physical sex with other gods, idols or religions, but God said numerous times in the Old Testament that they were very unfaithful to Him. So apparently spiritual sex follows after a pattern of natural sex and is treated no differently by God. In fact in the eyes of God it is exactly the same. Spiritual sex would involve worshipping false gods, idols and other such unfaithful acts. These spiritual acts of the knowledge of foreign gods are covenant acts of infidelity in the eyes of God. This was Israel, His wife making herself in covenant relationship and being joined with other gods as we have just learned from the New Testament. Let us start looking at some Key Old Testament verses that speak about this subject:
Jer 3:1 They say, If a man put away his wife, and she go from him, and become another man’s, shall he return unto her again? shall not that land be greatly polluted? but thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again to me, saith the LORD.
Yet more difficult words to swallow from God. It is a struggle to understand how Israel the natural nation of people are said to have committed adultery with many lovers. In fact this verse actually says that Israel has become the wife of another man by being unfaithful even while being married to the living covenant God. Remember what we read in 1 Corinthians, that the sexual act itself causes you to become married in covenant with the harlot. This verse in Jeremiah calls Israel the harlot and the wife of someone else and this husband is not God. The implications to these statements are huge and very powerful. The ramifications and consequences to Israel’s acts of unfaithfulness are enormous. Who is this one that Israel is accused of having spiritual intercourse with, and is in covenant with, if it is not with God? It will certainly be a new thing to research and consider using the Word of God.
Studying the Bible on this subject is incredibly difficult, because it implies so many heavy and deep things for us to consider. Many ministers in the church teach and preach such favorable things about the nation of Israel and I guess that they gloss over and ignore statements in the Bible about her infidelity and unfaithfulness. As we continue with this lesson it will not get any easier for me to teach or for you to accept. Let’s continue with this verse also in Jeremiah 3:
Jer 3:8 And I saw, when for all the causes whereby backsliding Israel committed adultery I had put her away, and given her a bill of divorce; yet her treacherous sister Judah feared not, but went and played the harlot also.
In Malachi 2:16 God makes the statement that he hates divorce, however in Jeremiah 3:8 we see a direct statement that God has just divorced Israel, because of her repeated adulteries. If you recall from the definition of an adulteress in 1 Corinthians, an adulteress is any woman who has sexual knowledge outside of her covenant marriage while her husband still lives. God says backsliding Israel has committed adultery while I yet lived as their husband. What are the consequences of those transgressions? Here is a statement by God that directly breaks and terminates the old covenant marriage with the natural nation of Israel and completely ends the relationship. When God gave these words to His Prophet Jeremiah, the nation of Israel was divorced by law and no longer could be called the covenant wife of God but she is called the wife of another man in this book and others because of her sexual relationships with those gods. Because of Israel’s infidelity she has become the wife of another by the simple act of spiritual adultery. I told you that this wasn’t going to get any easier to accept. We are now heavy duty into the subject of divorce as it relates to the subject of marriage covenants. What gives God the right to divorce His unfaithful wife Israel? Let us confirm the divorce for the naysayers so there is no confusion: Please read another witness from the prophet Isaiah:
Isa 50:1 Thus saith the LORD, Where is the bill of your mother’s divorcement, whom I have put away? or which of my creditors is it to whom I have sold you? Behold, for your iniquities have ye sold yourselves, and for your transgressions is your mother put away.
Here we can clearly see God speaking about His covenant wife Israel. This verse was written to the Lord Jesus speaking to Him to ask His mother about her divorce. What I want you to see that God very clearly says “I have put her away”. This Hebrew word translated as put away means to cast out. Also in this verse God uses the Hebrew word H3748 that is only used 4 times in the O.T. This word is translated as “divorcement” here and it literally means a cutting of the marital bonds. The only other time this word is used is found in Jeremiah 3:8 that we just looked at and in the Law of Moses written in Deuteronomy 24:1-3 where God permits divorce because of the hardness of the hearts of the people of Israel according to Jesus in Matthew. Let’s look at that verse quickly:
Mat 19:8 He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so.
Notice what Jesus teaches about covenant relationships. Jesus said there was a time when this was permitted but it was only because they were hard hearted. Then Jesus says very clearly that this was not the intended design of God from the beginning. This would help confirm to us why God wrote in Malachi 2:6 that it is written that God hates divorce. God does not want to divorce anyone. God also does not want anyone in the world to divorce each other either. Divorce is far from the perfect will of God. God only permitted divorce under the law because of Israel’s repeated unfaithfulness while committing whoredom over and over and over. Let’s look at another verse that Jesus directly speaks concerning divorce in Matthew:
Mat 5:32 But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery.
Jesus enforces God’s right to divorce His unfaithful wife Israel here in this verse in Matthew. Here we have Jesus speaking of divorce as not being a legitimate alternative to end any covenant relationship except for the reason of “fornication”. The Greek word G4202 that was translated as “fornication” here actually means “Harlotry” or “whoredon”. I have not heard many or any Christian leaders, preachers and teachers teaching these concepts. I wonder why? Do they exist in the Bible? It is also interesting that harlotry is the physical or natural meaning of this Greek word, but it also conveys the spiritual meaning of “idolatry” in the case of natural Israel. In the case of God’s relationship with natural Israel His wife, the sole legal reason for His divorce to her is based upon Israel’s constant interaction with other gods, religions and their idols. They worshipped false gods and idols instead of the true and living God. They became those that worshiped the creation more than the creator. Wow does that sound familiar?
Jer 3:20 Surely as a wife treacherously departeth from her husband, so have ye dealt treacherously with me, O house of Israel, saith the LORD.
Here we have another incredible scripture that relates Israel to be the wife of God. The word “as” is added to the verse by the translator thinking that they were making a comparison, but Israel was the covenant wife by God’s own admission that God was speaking to in this verse. It goes on to describe her as a woman that has “departed” and “left” her husband. God does not like that one bit. A wife should not depart from her loving husband ever. In this verse it is implies that she (Israel) has left her husband for another man. I wonder why these scriptures are not taught and have been overlooked and ignored in the Bible? Are these verses written in the Holy Book? Did Israel commit adultery and fall into a covenant with another spiritual being? How could this be and who is this spiritual being that is now in covenant with natural Israel? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you should. They are truly important to your understanding of the Word of God.
I have to limit the number of verses that I could include on this subject due to lesson length. But please understand that just because I gave you a few verses, it doesn’t mean that there are not many, many others that say the same thing. You are welcome to search and find them out for yourself. You can find many verses of the whoredom of Israel in Jeremiah 3, 16, Ezekiel 16, 20, 23 and 43 and the book of Hosea to name the major references. Go read them and study them all for your self and learn what spiritual adultery represents. This was a woman that has left her husband to go and commit an act of sexual knowledge with another god besides her husband.
What I did was attempt to give you a foundational overview of a very complex subject, showing you how natural things are directly related to spiritual things. Marriage, sex, infidelity and divorce are all subjects that you should be familiar with in the natural. But, knowing how to apply them to God’s designed spiritual things is the challenge we are all faced with. I have shown you that God’s Old Covenant wife was unfaithful to Him and as a result, God has divorced her. That at least implies that this old covenant is over and done with for God the Father but not for natural Israel because of the law. Let’s go back to Romans and see a verse that I did not give you yet about this subject of covenant marriage:
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Here is a complex verse that does not make any sense if you do not see that it was only written to those that “knew” the law. God says you that knew the law have been freed from that bondage of covenant relationship because your husband God died on the cross in the flesh. Then God says directly to these people that were bound to that covenant that they could be married in covenant with another man named the risen from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ. You see this verse does not make any sense for a Gentile that was never in covenant marriage with God. It can only apply to the natural nation of Israel. Any way we look at it, the natural nation of Israel must enter into the marriage covenant with Jesus Christ or they will not enter into everlasting life. Jesus declared quite literally that He was the only way to the Father and that no one could enter in by any other way and that means covenant also.
There are multiple implied verses given to us in the Bible that the woman natural Israel is now married to another spiritual being and this could be the reason why Satan wants to wipe Israel off of the face of the planet. If you didn’t already know that you must have been living in a vacuum or a bubble. Satan is trying diligently to wipe Israel off the map and probably will attempt something dramatic very soon. As soon as countries like Iran develop nuclear weapons, Israel is in deep trouble. These weapons are not for defense, they are for the sole purpose of eliminating Israel. Many Christians view natural Israel and call them God’s chosen people and assume that is why Satan wants to kill them. I would suggest that Satan may want to kill them for a different reason. Perhaps in my next bible lesson we will get into more verses concerning this unfaithful woman that was in covenant with God but, appears to be married to another now.
If you would like to continue reading this series on Bible covenants, you can go to “Part 3“.
Problems with the Traditional Christmas Story!
(Ver 1.3) Almost every Christmas these days I come across another example of how people have adopted a tradition rather than the Bible. It seems that people are more comfortable with their idea of Christmas rather than what God said really happened in the Bible. What am I talking about? Mostly I have a problem with the manger scenes and living nativities that many churches put up this time of the year. If you have ever read any of my blogs you know I am a stickler for the details. I feel if God went to so much trouble to put a story in the Bible for us to read, we ought to have enough respect to figure out what it says and then to teach that. Obviously there are a lot of people who disagree with me on this or they wouldn’t have the wise men visiting baby Jesus in the manger in Bethlehem.
You really don’t have to be a rocket scientist to read and to study the Bible. You just need to pay attention to every word. The wise men were never in the town of Bethlehem and Jesus was there for less than a week. If you have read the Bible you know that the story starts by Joseph and Mary having to travel to Bethlehem in order to pay taxes and participate in the census that the Roman government had imposed on all of their citizens. Sounds a lot like what Congress is trying to do to us now. But I won’t go there. Joseph and Mary traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem because they were of the house of David. If they were not David’s descendants Jesus would not have been born in Bethlehem. It is funny how God knew what was going to happen and He prophesied where Jesus would be born way before hand.
Mic 5:2 But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.
Here is another point that I always like to make about the Christmas story. Why was Jesus born in a manager? I think most people think that it was simply because they were so poor that they couldn’t afford anything better. But, that is not what the Bible says either. We can clearly understand that because of Mary’s condition of being almost 9 months pregnant that they were not making as good of time as everyone else that was also having to travel to Bethlehem. When Joseph and Mary finally arrived in Bethlehem we know that Jesus was born in the manger because the inn was already full of people (Luke 2:7). We can easily conclude that Joseph had the money to stay at the inn and also enough in his pocket to pay his taxes. You did know you don’t pay taxes if you don’t have any income or money earned, don’t you? So Jesus was born in a manger because of the slower travel time and the insufficient space at the inn and not the lack of money of Joseph and Mary as many teach. That to me is a very important point to the Christmas story that you should not throw away and ignore.
Next, we find in the story of Christmas, that the angels appeared to some shepherds that were nearby tending their sheep and told them of the great news of the birth of the messiah (Luke 2:8-10). It is certainly significant that shepherds were told this since the Lamb of God was just born in Bethlehem and who better to come to see this Lamb of God, than these nearby shepherds tending their sheep. So we know that the shepherds were at the manger and witnessed the Lamb of God in Bethlehem personally. So where do we get the idea that Jesus was also visited by the wise men at the same time? I honestly do not have a clue where this tradition originated, nor do I care. If you read the account in the Bible you find that the wise men could have been there to see Jesus, up to two years after his birth in Bethlehem. We know that Jesus was circumcised in Jerusalem on the 8th day of his life so we can thus determine that Jesus was in the manger for less than a week. Just long enough for Mary to recover and for Joseph to pay the taxes. They then went to Jerusalem and did what the law instructed them to do for their new born son and offer all the appropriate sacrifices.
What would you assume that Joseph would have done then? If you guessed go home you would probably be correct. So here is the root of the problem, we have two different accounts of the birth of Jesus, the main account is found in Luke, but Matthew also provides us additional information. The problem occurs when people try to combine these two accounts into one story when they are really two separate accounts. In Matthew 2 we discover that the Magi were come from the east and they appear in Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. We also discover that they talk with King Herod and stir up a hornet’s nest of controversies. They are told that the messiah is prophesied to be born in Bethlehem of Judea. I guess this is automatically assumed to be where they travel to, to see Jesus. But that is not what the Bible says.
Mat 2:11 and having come to the house, they found the child with Mary his mother,
You can see in Matthew 2:11 that the wise men show up at a house and not at a manger. Who do you think this house belonged to? You can assume many options, but the one that makes the most sense was it was Joseph’s house in his hometown Nazareth. Here is the other interesting point to be made in this story, the Greek word translated as “child” does not mean baby or new born. When Jesus was a baby in the manger he is called by a different Greek word. You can look it up for yourself. This Greek word actually means a half grown child. So we can see that a lot of time has passed before the Magi make it to Jesus.
All you have to do is read and study and you come up with the right story. If you preach and teach the wise men showed up at the manger then you are either ignorant of the truth or you choose to preach a lie, either way the truth is oppressed for what you think and not for what the Bible actually says. So when we see a manger scene with 3 wise men on camels we are looking at a lie, a fabrication of the truth. How can the world learn to believe what a Christian is saying is the truth if what a lot of what they say is a lie. Is it important to be truthful all the time? I believe that it is. There are really so many other things we could look at in this story. For example, no where does it say that there were 3 wise men. Where did we get that in the story? I assume it is because they brought 3 types of gifts and everyone assumes that every wise man had a different gift. When we make such assumptions we again see how man can so easily get it wrong. There could have been 100 wise men or 2 wise men both would fit in the Bible text that we read in Matthew. My point is for us to be as precise to tell what the Bible actually says and for us to lose our traditions and what we thought was accurate. When we start to teach the real truth the world will have a much better opportunity to see it and to accept it.
I hope that you have a great Christmas Day.
Key to Understanding! God is into the Details
(Ver 1.1) In searching for the hidden qualities of the character of God I have discovered one of these to be significantly applicable to Bible Interpretation. While God created a very diverse number and types of people with various talents, abilities, personalities and physical qualities we were all made in the image and likeness of God. When unsaved people see Christians in the world they should be able to see the qualities of the Father being reflected outwardly so that they can come to know these hidden qualities of Him also. So while studying the Bible I discovered that God cares a lot about the details. I know some people only look at the big picture and they are happy with staying at the 1000 foot view of the scriptures. Others I’ve found like are like me and like to get the Word of God and look at it through a microscope so that they can fully understand every little detail. I get very frustrated sometimes when I listen to preachers who preach at the 1000 foot view level. I constantly say to myself, that is not what God said. I think overall it is what God said, but it is the fine little details that were omitted to potentially give the wrong impression of what God said. I don’t think it is wrong to stay at the 1000 feet level, it’s just not for me. You see when I read the scripture that told me God knows the number of hairs on my head, I very quickly realized that God cares about and pays very close attention to the most minute and trivial details of every area of our life. If God is truly detail oriented to an extreme and I would say that He is, then this should help us in our understanding of the Bible if we can apply a certain similar approach to reading and studying the Bible. I believe that it would immediately help you, if you just become aware of how God operates. Just by knowing that God cares about the smallest of details will help you change your focus to potentially have a greater understanding of the Word of God, even though that might not totally fit your personality.
My wife and I were eating out at a restaurant a while back and we looked the menu over and placed our orders. If it didn’t matter what we ate or what we liked, then why did the restaurant send us a waitress asking us what we wanted? You see I have been to a restaurant before where there was not choices of food. You went in and sat down and they started bringing out the food and you either ate what they gave you or you you went somewhere else. But, normally there are choices given to you at every restaraunt and you choose what you want to eat and how you want it cooked and on and on I could go. I think sometimes people miss out on understanding the basics of life. Any way we placed our order and asked for things to be prepared a certain way. We ordered something like a burger with mustard, lettuce and tomato. So here is the beginning of a huge potential problem, we were concerned with the details and someone either in the food service or preparation phase was not. Oh sure we got the 1000 foot view of the burger delivered to us, but because someone either assumed incorrectly or didn’t hear the details that were given we ended up with a product that was wrong. Does it matter if your customer got something they didn’t order even though it was still pretty good and edible? Sometimes customers are allergic to certain things like pickles and tell the server no pickles. It they ate this it might make them sick or even kill them. Is that OK? Is it important for food service and food preparation staff to be careful to follow exact directions for someone’s personal safety? If you don’t think so, you have a major problem. You see if it matters how physical food is prepared it also matters how spiritual food is prepared and served. There is no difference between the concept of both of these food sources. The details matter a tremendous amount in both the preparation and the delivery of the Word of God.
When I worked as a computer programmer I was very fortunate that God taught me to pay close attention to all of the details. When you write computer software the details matter a great deal. You can write a large routine correctly and it can even look like it ought to work perfectly for what it was designed to do. However, if you leave out even a single character like a semi-colon or a period it could change the logic so that it does not function correctly at all. In my early years of mainframe computer programming I wrote a lot of code in a computer language called COBOL. The simple omission of a period in COBOL could cause huge problems and be extremely difficult to debug and correct. Later on in work, I learned C++ and the omission of a semi-colon could also cause a similar major problem. You see a principle here from software construction that the omission of even a seemingly insignificant little detail matters. The omission of a single character can effect the outcome and actually make the rest of the code useless. This principle actually applies to Bible interpretation whether you realize it or not. You might not have followed my comments on writing software and you might find it hard to relate to my analogy, but I hope you at least understand the general concepts that I gave you.
You know what happens when you become detail oriented? You start looking at every word using a style or method that promotes a much closer observation and analysis. Knowing the details. doesn’t change the big picture, but it does enhance your ability to understand it and to teach it. Attempt to rise to God’s level of detail analysis. See the details like God intended you to see them. Get into the details and it will change your perspective on the Word of God and cause you to learn things like never before. I believe this and I practice it daily. God bless you to do the same.
Understanding Bible Covenants! Part 1 Covenants and Marriage!
(Ver 2.3) This is Part 1 in the Bible study series about “Understanding Bible Covenants”. We will be learning many of the basics concepts about this subject as well as exploring many new topics that may have never been heard. This lesson series is an essential part of us knowing who God is and how He operates. Our first priority should be to learn that God is a Covenant Maker. We should also learn that God is a faithful Covenant Keeper. We should learn that God’s type of covenants are established with two key characteristics the first being the shedding of blood and and the second being spoken words. These are two essential elements found in God’s divine design of covenants. Today’s lesson is focused on another important concept from God’s design of covenants that teaches us a Covenant represents a marriage and a true God kind of marriage is represented by a God Covenant. Finally, we will also learn that there can be more than one blood covenant implemented by God in the Bible. For example, the Old Covenant was implemented approximately 430 years after Abraham with the natural nation of Israel being led out of the nation of Egypt. The New Covenant was implemented approximately 4030 years after Adam when Jesus Christ was raised from the dead to lead us out of the kingdom of Satan. Both, covenants were implemented with the shedding of blood and spoken God words. Let us begin our Bible study on the subject of God Covenants beginning with a few of the basic facts.
FACT #1 – THERE IS BLOOD IN GOD/BIBLE COVENANTS
We will not be able to go over every detail of this subject of blood covenants. There are a are just too many verses containing the words blood and covenant in the Bible that could be studied for days. In fact there are at least 375 verses in the Bible that directly contain the word “blood”. We will however limit ourselves to a much smaller selection for this introduction. But, I do wish to mention a verse where “blood” and “covenant” occurs first. This is Exodus 24:8 where Moses takes the blood of sacrificed oxen offered to the LORD and sprinkles it over all the people, telling them this is the blood of the covenant. It is important to note that before this occurred Moses read the book of the covenant (Word of God)to the people and all of the people confirmed the covenant by saying “we will do as the LORD as said”. Wow, this is a significant pattern for what a covenant represents. There were words spoken that could be called “promises” or “vows” and then there was blood sprinkled. Remember this pattern as we continue, But let’s now read two verses found in the Book of Matthew:
Mat 26:27 And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, Drink ye all of it;
Mat 26:28 For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.
We will continue this section of the lesson with a basic Bible truth. While Jesus was reclining at the table with His 12 disciples, they were all observing the Jewish feast of Passover. Then Jesus picks up “the cup” and asks them to drink. He claimed that this cup represented His blood of the New Covenant which would be shed for the sins of many. Wow, this teaches us a lot. First understand that Passover had been celebrated for literally hundreds and hundreds of years before Jesus was born on the earth. But it was at this time that Jesus makes the claim that this old ceremony was being implemented (or fulfilled) by Him shedding His blood on the cross. What we learn from this, is the pattern of blood shed in the Old Covenant was being repeated and promoted in the New Covenant.
Hopefully, we all recall what happened in Exodus that was being celebrated at Passover. If not, it is probably a good time to go and read Exodus chapter 12 to take note about what God instructed them do. We should have found that the people of Israel were directed by God to take a spotless lamb into their home, kill it and eat it completely in haste, being fully clothed with shoes on and a staff in their hands ready to go. They also were told to apply the blood of the lamb to the doorposts of their houses. Remember that they were required to eat the body of the entire lamb one per family. That night a death angel would pass by every house and everyone that had the blood applied to the door, the firstborn child lived. But every house that did not have the blood applied, the firstborn child died. This shedding of the innocent blood of a spotless lamb represented Jesus hanging on a cross and shedding His blood for us all so we would not die spiritually. However, we learn from reading Jeremiah 31:32 that this was God’s marriage proposal for those that believed and obeyed God’s word and shed the blood of the lamb. Whey they performed these instructions, they entered into a covenant with God and were led by the hand of GOD out of Egypt. We will talk more about this in this later.
Jesus of course confirms that this was all given and enacted as a type and pattern to teach us and them about His coming work on the earth. When John the Baptist saw Jesus, he proclaimed “Behold the Lamb of God, that takes away the sin of the world” (Jn 1:29). John obviously knew something that almost everyone else that saw Jesus did not. Jesus knew this truth also and that is why He told His disciples “Eat my flesh and drink my blood or else you have no eternal life” (Jn 6:53). Can we see the parallels in these two covenants and the importance of blood in both cases? Natural Israel was saved a physical death in their homes because of the blood of lamb was placed upon thee doorways. Because of their freewill choice of obedience this produced a union with God to be saved our their bondage in Egypt to Pharaoh. The church is now spared eternal death and separation from God due to our union with Jesus Christ. An we are saved out from our bondage of sin, the world and Satan. Wow, this is so vital to understanding God kind of covenants. We will talk more about the contributing factor of blood in Bible covenants later.
FACT #2 – THERE IS MORE THAN ONE GOD/BIBLE COVENANT
Most people who have read and studied the Bible, know that the Bible is divided into 2 major divisions called Covenants or Testaments. The first part was called the Old Testament and the final part of the book is called the New Testament. The Word Testament is really just a synonymous term for the word “covenant”. However, in the modern world we may use “testament” a little differently. For example, a “last will and testament” is what many people write to control what happens to their assets after they die. This is an amazing parallel realization to Bible Covenants to some extent. We might get into this part of the subject later, if anyone is interested.
It is essential to know that these two covenants (Old and New) are completely different and separate from each other. In fact each of these covenants involve 2 completely different pairs of name individuals. The two named individuals of the Old Covenant are not the same two named individuals of the New Covenant. I know that statement will cause many to think. What we are doing is being very specific and detailed oriented when we attempt to see the Bible this way. A lot of people may not think this way when they read the Bible. But there are some new facts presented to us in the Bible that need to be understood. Fact #1: the Old Covenant was between God Jehovah and the natural nation of Israel (Jer 31:32). Fact #2: the New Covenant has been established between the risen from the dead Son of God Jesus and His bride the church (Rom 7:4). The old covenant was made with God the Father (Jehovah) and the new covenant was made with the risen from the dead, God the Son (Yeshua). I know it sounds like we are nit picking because there is only one God that is made up of three revealed personalities. But this is a very important designated difference to understand. God implemented His covenants in this way for specific reasons to gain an advantage over His adversary the devil.
There are major differences between these two revealed covenants. You may have heard that many Christians think that the New Covenant with the spiritual church was grafted into the Old Covenant and natural Israel. Therefore some believe that God has produced a combined and integrated single nation using old natural nation (1 Chr 17:21) added with a new spiritual nation (1 Pet 2:9). But this is not true and does not conform to balancing all of the scriptures. Remember the contrasting truth, that natural Israel was looking for a Messiah to physically manifest His Kingdom upon the earth at the first appearance. But, Jesus told Pilate in John 18:36 “My Kingdom is not of this world…”. Jesus was claiming that His Kingdom is a spiritual one that is not yet able to be observed with natural eyes. Jesus said this in Luke 17:20-21 “The kingdom of God is not coming with signs that can be observed”. He continued by saying “People will not say her is the kingdom or there is the kingdom, because the kingdom of God is within you”. Wow!
Let’s understand basic logic and apply it to God’s Word. We never say that something is new without first understanding that it is different and NOT the same as what was called the old. If I said that I bought a new car, we should automatically and logically know and understand that the new car is not the same old car that I use to drive and own. I might still have an old car, but the new car that I have now is newer to me and probably much different than the car that I previously had. When God said I will make a New Covenant in His Word, we must automatically conclude, know and understand that it is not the same as the old covenant.
Heb 8:13 In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old. Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away.
Even in the New Testament God reveals there are differences between an old and a new covenant. God is very direct in this verse to reveal that the Old Covenant will even vanish away. How can something that is on the verge of vanishing be something that can be joined to something new that cannot end (the New Covenant)? These are basic rules based upon basic logic and grammatical syntax for the usage of the descriptive qualification of nouns. What is a covenant? A covenant is a noun! What is the word “new” in front of this noun? It is an adjective that describes, modifies or more specifically qualifies the noun “covenant”. One never needs to place the adjective “new” qualifier before the noun covenant if there are no other covenants to distinguish it from. But yet we have people teaching a wide variety of things that go against these truths.
God reveals to us in the Bible that the body of Christ (the new covenant saved people) are made up of a widely diverse conglomeration of individual and separate members from every named religion that can be found on this planet. This is like a “Universal Salvation” type of belief that teaches there are many religious pathways that all lead to the same end God. But that is a lie from Satan. Jesus told us very clearly in John 14:6 “No man comes to the Father except through me”. There is only one way to be saved and this is by entering into covenant with Jesus. Therefore we have just learned that God has not included the old covenant of Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and others to be combined with the New Covenant for everyone to be destined for heaven.
The New Covenant is not the Old Covenant. In fact Hebrew 8:6 teaches that the church is now in a far better covenant than the old containing far better promises. This is another example of an adjective qualifier that distinguishes our new covenant with Jesus Christ to different than the one God Jehovah made with the natural nation of Israel. Like we said earlier if I have a new car that makes it different than the old car. Likewise if I have a better car, that also makes it different than the one that I had before also.
However, we can still say that our New Covenant of Christianity remains founded within and upon the established morals and principles established within the natural Israel Old Covenant laws and commandments. Jesus taught us in Matthew 24:35 that “Heaven and earth would pass away but His words would never pass away”. Jesus taught us that He gave the church a new commandment. Jesus was able to say this because He also said in Matthew 5:17 “Think not that came to destroy the law or the prophets, I have not come to destroy, but to fulfill it.” Then Jesus gave the church a new commandment law. He said in John 13:34 “I give you a new commandment”. This commandment was the new covenant law of love and Jesus taught us in Matthew 22:40 that the entire law of Moses hangs on the commands of love. This new covenant commandment came from the pattern of O.T. law.
We can read about types, shadow and patterns found in the Old Covenant that will help us to understand what Jesus has accomplished and given to us in the New Covenant. But while being similar patterns, God has implemented a New and better Covenant that is so unique and fresh that it is completely different while being practically the same simultaneously. Again it is like having a new car. Every old car may have the same features of four tires, a hood, a trunk, car doors, windows, an engine, a steering wheel, a brake, etc. But a new car usually has new benefits and features that make it better. That is the way with Jesus’s New Covenant. One great example of this is in the Old Covenant the Spirit of God only came upon the Prophets, Priests and Kings. But, in the New Covenant the Spirit of God indwells everyone in the the covenant.
Always remember this establish truth, the Old Covenant was a covenant with a natural people in the physical world and the New Covenant is Jesus with a spiritual people in the spiritual realm. If we do not know the difference between those two, that can be our homework to ask God to reveal this to us all.
Now read this verse in Jeremiah with a different and new perspective:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
We should obviously see that God is making a new covenant with someone. It says in this verse that this is with the “house of Israel and the house of Judah”. Everyone that reads this verse almost always automatically assumes that God is talking about the natural nation of Israel here. However, this of course is a problem based upon what we have just learned. If God makes another New Covenant with the same exact people what happened to the Old? That sounds like the Old and New are in effect at them same time. How can this be? This sounds like a major conflict. Does God take his old car named Israel and restore it to new and better condition? Or does God create a brand new and better car and also named it Israel? I believe the answer is the second choice. Maybe this concept new to you. If I owned a car and called it Bertha, could I not buy a brand new car that was better and call it by the same name? What if Bertha was my last name and I gave that to my car as a token of my affection for her?
We have a widespread problem within the body of Christ of people taking only one narrow viewpoint of a truth and attempting to make it the entire truth. I really don’t know if we all understand this fully, or not? For example, there are natural things and then there are spiritual things. There are also multiple different things, items, places and people that are called by the exact same name in the Bible. Sometimes one of them is a natural people, item or location that reflects an image or a pattern of a greater identically named spiritual reality. God uses a wide variety of methods of concealing information and truths in the Bible. He does this in order for us to correctly search to find what we are reading, we must understand that we are required to seek Him diligently with our spirit, mind and body for Him to teach us what the Bible means. This is called walking by faith and by the Spirit and not by sight. Too many Christians are trying to understand the Bible by their natural sight alone and ignoring their faith to receive His truth in their spirit. This was just a small introduction to the subject of Old and New Covenants and the reality that they are not the same covenants.
FACT #3 – A GOD/BIBLE COVENANT IS A MARRIAGE
Let’s get into today’s main subject of “what is a GOD/BIBLE covenant?” If we look in the dictionary we can learn several definitions for the word covenant. The basic definition of the word covenant is a formal sealed agreement or legal contract. In many commercial loans from banks, the legal document produced between the bank and the commercial customer making the loan, often times contains a list of covenants. These are usually legal stipulations, restrictions and requirements concerning the terms and usages of the money that is loaned. However, this type of covenant does not fully represent a Bible covenant. Then if you’ve ever bought a piece of property in an established organized neighborhood or development, most of the time the property comes with a set of covenants. These are usually restrictions and rules of property usage. These often time will tell you what kind of fences you can build, what kind of buildings you can add, even what colors you can paint your house. This also does not represent a real Bible covenant.
The Hebrew word translated as covenant occurs approximately 284 times in the Old Testament. This Hebrew word is H1295 and according to the Strong’s Concordance it has the following definition:
From H1262 (in the sense of cutting (like H1254)); a compact (because made by passing between pieces of flesh): – confederacy, [con-]feder[-ate], covenant, league.
We can see that this word means a legal contract by the word “compact”. A compact represents an agreement, treaty or contract usually between two different nations. This would be like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) where several different nations joined together to defend each other against an attack from Russia or anyone else. Notice how this Hebrew word H1295 also has a basic foundation on “division” as in the cutting of flesh which normally produces “blood”. We can see in the Strong’s definition that the word implies the presence of a knife that must be used to cut flesh and produce this blood. This definition would also imply that there is the necessity for the flow of blood if someone was cutting flesh. This is a representative type of a true divinely created covenant. We often times call God’s Covenants “blood covenants” because of this presence of a cutting of flesh that must take place.
We can find this concept example of a blood covenant given to us as a pattern in the Old Testament. For example, the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 15 involved the killing and splitting down the back bone of 3 different three-year old animals, a male ram, a female heifer and a female goat. All of this is typology and means something far greater than many know. As we can imagine this Abrahamic Covenant would have been an extremely bloody mess after this cutting took place. Abraham cut the animals into two pieces and they were then laid on the ground into separated pieces. Then the covenant was made by the two individuals making the covenant walking between all of the bloody pieces. The participants that walked through the bloody pieces were saying, “this be done unto me if I break this covenant”.
So a foundational principal of blood covenants involves cutting flesh. This is the concept of dividing one complete piece of meat into two. This is very significant whether we realize it or not right now. There is a principle being established within a Biblical covenant. It involves the creation of a covenant relationship between two separate and distinct individuals or nations. But it also involves a separation of those who are entering into the covenant from all those who are not in that covenant. Did we understand that statement? It is very important that we do. Go back to our NATO example of a covenant between a number of nations. The existence of this agreement excludes over 200 other nations in the world. They are not in the agreement and any NATO nation is not obligated to defend or help them unless they have a separate agreement.
So why is this so significant? In the Old Covenant, God made a covenant with the natural nation of Israel and they became God’s people (Exo 3:10). Also according to 2 Chronicles 7:14 this nation of people were given God’s name Israel. These are characteristics of a Bible/God types of covenant. Remember that these qualities are important to know. The establishment of this Old Covenant made the natural nation of Israel, God’s people on the earth. Therefore, everyone else on the earth were not in this covenant and they were excluded from being called God’s covenant people with the name Israel. In other words God was obligated to help and defend His people from the attack of these other people that were not in this covenant agreement and long as they obeyed the contract (written word of God). In this covenant relationship we can clearly observe the establishment of a natural division, or a partition of distinct difference between the covenant people of God that were supposed to know God’s Word and the non-covenant people that did not know God’s Word. What a powerful concept that God has implemented using His superior divine wisdom.
The closest thing that we have to a real Bible blood covenant in this world is a marriage between a man and a woman. Most of these wedding ceremonies patterned after Bible covenants include the speaking of word covenant promises and vows. The exchanging of rings. The taking of the husband’s name. All of this is followed by the participation of blood that we will talk more about in the next lesson on sex. There are other factors involved in marriages that we will get into deeper as we continue to learn this definition of “covenant” to be a marriage. But, let’s briefly talk about what in modern marriages do not fit with God’s definition of covenants.
Many modern marriages today have shifted away from the traditional Bible covenant to become perversions of truth. For example, modern marriages can come with pre-nuptial and other legal pre-marital restrictions that disqualify them from being an example of a true Bible covenant. In an example of a Bible covenant, the one party making the covenant with the other says, “what I have is yours and what you have is mine”. “If you have need of anything that I have it is yours unconditionally and vice versa”. There are no exclusions, exemptions, or exceptions and it is an all or nothing proposition. The reason why people believe they need pre-marital legal agreements is because of the next reason that we are going to learn about.
A true Bible covenant is the 100% solemn commitment from both participants in the covenant forever to be faithful to each other. Each participant in the covenant can fully count on the resources of the other participant if they have need of them. This was how Bible covenants worked by God’s design and this is how human marriages should work today. It is also interesting to understand that if either party broke the covenant the penalty was death. The pieces on the ground that were a bloody division indicates a warning of what would happen if one participant violated or attempted to annul the covenant. Wow!
We can also see by studying this subject that there are different strengths of covenants in the Bible. One of the greatest and strongest covenant types was the “blood covenant”. The blood covenant is the strongest covenant that can be made between any two individuals, nations or parties. A covenant without the cutting of blood is not as strong as a blood covenant but it is still was absolutely binding. For example, David made a covenant with Jonathan in the Old Testament (1 Sam 8:3). Even though Jonathan’s father Saul tried to kill David, David never retaliated against that family because of the covenant that was in effect. Even after Saul and Jonathan were killed, David tried to establish the blessings of the covenant with the descendants of Jonathan. You can read these accounts of David in 2 Samuel and it has a story of how David wanted to honor the covenant that he made with Jonathan. David sends out his people to find a crippled boy named Mephibosheth to confirm and establish his covenant with Jonathan. Mephibosheth was in hiding because he thought that David the king was going to kill him, but David just wanted to bless him. These are types and patterns of Jesus and the world. Jesus came and died to save the world and they are all afraid of Him because they think that He just wants to kill them also. So we have a stand-off, the world is in hiding and those who are sent out to tell them that, Jesus loves them and wants to bless them because of the covenant. Mephibosheth was eventually brought to the king’s palace and given the best of the best. That was done only because of the covenant that David made with Jonathan, Mephibosheth enjoyed everything that David enjoyed. This is an example of a Bible covenant that identifies with Jesus and the church.
I guess this should establish the fact that true Bible covenants have blessings attached to them. If the one party of the covenant has any need of something that the other party in the covenant has, it is available for them to freely use and partake of. This is one of the key ingredients to a Bible covenant. I think in most people’s minds today, a marriage means you also take the bad or the curses along with the good and the blessings. But with covenants with God, He is always good and only provides us with blessings. God does not intend to do any harm or anything bad or evil for or to any of us. He wants to bless us with only the good. This is what a true Bible covenant is all about.
Bible, covenants are always between two parties exactly like a marriage is only between a husband and a wife. It is important to note that covenants can be between a diverse type of individuals. You will understand this better as we go on in the series. God many times considers a group of people such as the natural nation of Israel or the church to be identified corporately as a single entity, personality and named individual. Everyone in the nation is treated the same and given the same benefits and blessings.
Covenants can be between any of the following four groups or classifications of individuals:
1. spiritual being to another spiritual being or a spiritual group of beings
- God & Lucifer
- Jehovah God & Angels
- Jesus & the Church
2. spiritual being to a physical being or a physical group of people
- God and Abraham
- Satan and Adam
- God and Israel
- Satan and Israel
3. physical being to another physical being
- Natural human husband (male) and natural human wife (female)
- Adam and Eve
- Abraham and Sarah
- Abraham and Hagar
- David and Jonathan
4. physical group/nation to another physical group/nation
- Natural nation of Israel and the Gibeonites
I tried to give you some examples of a few of the possibilities of each covenant relationship type. I know some have probably never heard of all of these covenants that were mentioned. But yet that doesn’t mean they don’t exist, it just means we never researched them and studied them to see if they exist. I would strongly suggest that we do the search and see if we can find them mentioned directly or indirectly. I have done the research and I am convinced that every example that I gave you is a valid covenant relationship that can be found in the Bible.
There is of course one noteworthy difference in some of these covenants. Covenants with God are a blessing of life and covenants with Satan are a curse of death. God wants to bless us and Satan wants to kill, steal and destroy us and everything we have (Jn 10:10). There are major consequences, distinctions and differences between the party we are in covenant with. I don’t know you personally and only you and God know where you are right now and who you are in covenant with. But I can guarantee you that you are in covenant with someone right here and right now, either Satan or God. These are the only two Kingdom possibilities to choose from. By default we were all born into the kingdom of darkness ruled by Satan and by our freewill choice we can submit to the Kingdom of Light and follow a new way of life.
Some have tried to differentiate between covenants that involve God and covenants that don’t involve God. But the principles and practices of Bible covenants apply across the board to whoever is in covenant with another. So there really is no difference in the basic concepts of Bible covenants, they apply equally across the board to all participants and all types of covenants mentioned in the Bible. What we will do now, is to go through some scriptural backing for what we have learned about covenant types. Hopefully this will help us better understand them more completely.
NATURAL HUSBAND AND WIFE MARRIAGE COVENANTS
Let’s start with a physical or natural husband and wife type of covenant. We call these types of covenants, marriages in modern times. But we must understand in the eyes of God a marriage is a covenant relationship and a covenant relationship is a marriage. But can we prove this using the Bible? I believe we must. Let’s look at a verse found in the book of Malachi to begin this part of the study. This verse is a scripture that is certainly very relevant to our subject:
Mal 2:14 Yet ye say, Wherefore? Because the LORD hath been witness between thee and the wife of thy youth, against whom thou hast dealt treacherously: yet is she thy companion, and the wife of thy covenant.
We can clearly see a relationship being described between a husband and his wife. God chastises the man for being unfaithful to his wife. But God ends the verse with a statement that declares this man’s wife and him are in a direct covenant relationship. The Hebrew word found in this verse about a human husband and wife marriage is H1285. It is the exact Hebrew word used by God to describe His covenant relationships in the O.T.
A husband and wife are one natural example of a Godly Bible blood covenant, or at least they should be. It is sad how perverted Satan as made marriages become in our modern society. So who were the first husband and wife? Of course they were Adam and Eve found in Genesis 1 through 4. God created this natural covenant relationship, as the physical pattern for humans to understand the definition of true covenant relationship is always between one man and one woman. This pattern also will be used by God so that humans can see into the unseen spiritual covenant realm. Let us go back to Genesis 2 briefly and discover what God says about the law of marriage.
Gen 2:23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
We can learn from this verse in Genesis that the woman was taken from a man and that her body was his body. This is a natural pattern for a spiritual reality of Jesus and the church. The church is called the body of Christ and most accept that reality without asking how the church got to be His body. But if you want to learn more about this I would recommend that you read the Bible lesson on the subject. How the church became the body of Christ. Let’s read verse 24:
Gen 2:24 Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh.
In this verse in Genesis 2 a spiritual law is established by God that governs every true marriage/covenant relationship, both in the physical realm and the spiritual realm. God establishes a precedence that two will “become one”. Either “one flesh” or “one spirit”, depending on the two parties in covenant. If they are both physical, then they are one flesh. If they are both spiritual then they are one spirit. If one is a spirit being and one is a natural people, then they are the least common denominator, or one flesh but that is my opinion and I haven’t found that in the Bible yet. I do know that the people in the church are called the body of Christ (1 Cor 12:27). We are also said to be one spirit with Christ (1 Cor 6:17). We can learn from these two stated dimensions that Christ has been joined with the people in the church both physically and spiritually.
So a marriage covenant represents a union as well as a division. The taking of two separate individuals and making one out of them, creating the exclusion of all the rest. That is the basis of all Bible covenants. Now what one has the other has. What one has need of the and the other has, it is automatically made available without conditions or cost. This is the foundation of a Bible covenant. We should all ask “How well does this description fit our marriage?” So let’s shift our focus to a spirit being in covenant to a natural physical people example and determine if it fits the pattern that has been described so far.
SPIRIT MARRIAGE COVENANT WITH NATURAL PEOPLE
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Wow, this verse really blew me away! The creator God of the entire universe was married to an entire nation of natural people. The verse speaks directly about a time when God led the natural people of Israel out of the country of Egypt and He says He took them by the hand. That is what a natural man should do to a woman when he proposes marriage. We can clearly see that God intended it that way, but did Israel? Obviously not. Israel didn’t understand what they were getting into, even though it was the best offer they ever had, at least until Jesus came along. God called Himself their husband to the nation of Israel. God directly links marriage to be a covenant and His covenant with Israel to be a marriage to Him. God establishes this with the association of selected words; from H1285 translated as covenant and H1166 translated as husband. An omnipotent God married to a physical natural nation of people, both males and females. That would make the entire nation of Israel the female wife (bride) to the LORD GOD.
I truly hope you are grasping the concepts of this lesson because they are so very important. Could it really be possible that a spirit being could be in covenant marriage to a natural nation of people. Obviously it was true. However, this was the Old Covenant, which was only a natural pattern for the coming New Covenant.
Now I will briefly show you the New Covenant so we can see if it also fits the pattern that was described as being a husband to a wife. There are many scriptures that we could go into, but one of the best is found in Ephesians 5:
Eph 5:30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
The context of this verse in Ephesians 5 starts around verse 22 and they are specifically directed to natural husband and wife relationships. But, intermixed into this context of natural marriage verses is also the spiritual covenant relationship between Christ and the church. So we can clearly see that God believes that the church is the bride of Jesus Christ our husband and that His relationship wit the church is a covenant marriage. Here in verse 30 we can read that we are members of His body. Then it declares the words of the law of marriage that we read earlier in Genesis 2 that, we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. These are marriage terms and direct conformation to how the church became the body of Christ. Then in verse 31:
Eph 5:31 For this cause shall a man (Jesus) leave his father (God the Father) and mother (Israel), and shall be joined (married in covenant) unto his wife (the church), and they two shall be one flesh.
We again see the law of marriage being restated and applied for us in the church. I filled in the blanks and put in parentheses who God is talking about in this statement to help us see it. I have had people question me about Jesus leaving His father and mother and being joined to His wife, but I just simply believe and go by what the verse says. . For we then see the confirmation to this truth in verse 32:
Eph 5:32 This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church.
God declares this covenant marriage relationship was a great mystery. A mystery means it was a secret that has hidden until time to be revealed. Obviously this mystery has been greatly misunderstood even today. There are many who refuse to believe the church is the bride/wife in covenant with Jesus, yet God tells us directly in verse 32 that He is speaking of Christ and the church as being a husband and a wife. I’ve noticed that you can’t make people see the truth, you can only tell it like it is and pray that they see it eventually.
We were given three really great examples that describe covenants to be marriages and marriages to be covenants. These included 1) physical to physical marriages, 2) spiritual to a physical nation marriage and 3) spiritual to spiritual marriages. These are all examples of Bible covenants that fit the truth of the pattern given to us in the Word of God.
CONCLUSION
It is important to note who originates Bible covenants. True Bible covenants are always initiated by the man and God the Father is always the male in every covenant relationship. However we have been introduced to the concept that there was an exception when we see the new covenant that was initiated between the risen from the dead male Son of God and His female bride the church. Both are still the same God only in different manifested instances. Just always remember that Jesus represents the male son within the Triune Godhead. The Triune Godhead is actually made up of three male personalities and all of them are One God.
In a normal human marriages the male asks the female to be his wife. The female then has the choice to become one with this man or to walk away. This is a picture and a direct pattern of the New Covenant relationship with the bridegroom Jesus Christ. He has invited everyone on the planet to come be His wife in this New Covenant, He has proposed marriage and everyone on the earth has a choice to make, either to believe and accept or reject. A non-decisions is of course the same as a rejection and a grave mistake with eternal consequences.
I hope and pray that you are all grasping these concepts, because they are truly great spiritual truths. God created and implemented natural things, systems, types and patterns to help us to see and understand spiritual unseen things. I think I will end this lesson today on that note for now and hopefully, God willing I can continue the lesson of how a Bible Covenant operates in my next lesson in this series. Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with me and I pray that you will continue to grow in all of the knowledge of Christ Jesus.
If you would like to continue reading this series, please go to “Part 2“.
The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12! Pt 7 The Book of Ruth
(Ver 1.3) This is now Part 7 in the series of advanced Bible study on the subject of the True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12. I hope and pray that you have been following it from the beginning. If not please go to the beginning and start with Part 1, before you try to read this part of the series. The message should make much more sense, if you take them in the order provided. In the last lesson we scripturally pursued evidence for if the Bible says anywhere that Jesus could be a spiritual father and have a spiritual family with spiritual children. You see if it says in the Bible anywhere that Jesus doesn’t have children or simply does not say that He can, then we would have no real foundational basis for the woman in Revelation 12 being the church covenant wife. I believe we found a few good scriptures that Jesus can and does have a spiritual family and that this spiritual family can or is implied to have spiritual children. One of these scriptures was a popular Christmas card verse about Jesus, with Him being called the “Everlasting Father” in Isaiah 9:6. This verse brought up a new good question. Why would God need to qualify the noun “father” with the type of father adjective “everlasting”? Here we have a noun (father) being limited in scope, modified or qualified using an adjective called “everlasting”. Didn’t most of us always think that God the Father, was the Everlasting Father? Everlasting means eternal or the one that lasts forever. The only logical implication from that qualification is that God the Father is not the Eternal Father, Jesus is. Is this true, or are we missing something?
This is what we will be addressing in today’s Bible lesson. Please remember that no one knows everything, except God. It is best, that we just read and study, the Bible the best that we know how. Then trust the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth as He said He would do in John 16:13. Please stay open to the Spirit of God, and if He wants to teach us something about the Bible, we do our best to listen. Therefore, try to stay open and pay close attention to every word that is written.
In the last lesson we were also focused on the existence of patterns found in the Bible. As you should recall a pattern is nothing but a model from which repeated occurrence can originate. This is truly a very significant topic used by God in the entire Bible. God writes about real historical facts that did occur in human history but then He uses them to teach us about Jesus. Remember what Jesus said to us in John 5:39, “Search the scriptures for in them you believe you have eternal life, but these are they that testify of me”. Jesus just taught us everything in the Bible is focused upon Him directly or indirectly. Jesus just claimed the Words on every page had something that would be a witness about His Life. Wow, that is an awesome concept.
INTRODUCTION
I want to take a turn and explore this subject of a woman in Revelation from a completely different and fresh angle of perspective. So many times, God when He answers prayer, He does so in a way that we were not expecting. God gives us the answer to the prayer, but usually in a new way that was different than what we would have done, or the way that we would have like it to be done. This is a lot of the time, the trouble with our Bible study techniques. Instead of studying a subject from God’s perspective we want the Bible to fit our idea of the way we think it should be. But we soon discover that God if He wanted us to know everything clearly could have written the Bible that way. However, since God wrote the Bible in a concealed manner with a hidden O.T. Jesus we must learn to work with what He has given to us. In doing this we soon learn that we need to change how we think. God is not like us, His ways are not our ways, His thoughts are not our thoughts (Isa 55:8). But that does not mean that we cannot change to learn His ways and think His thoughts. It just takes a transforming and renewing of our mind to know and understand the spiritual things of God (Romans 12:2).
I will start this lesson by saying that the child in Revelation 12 is God as we learned in Part 5 of the series. Every male child in the spiritual family of God is always God. Every female in the spiritual family of God is always the people in covenant with God. So, if a spiritual woman has a spiritual male child it can only be God. I just gave you some very basic concepts of spiritual things that are very important. If you do not understand these, that does not mean they are not true, it only means you may need to learn something that you do not yet know. If you keep reading the lessons, we will eventually all get to a united knowledge of the truth, but it will take time and commitment for us all.
PATTERNS OF JESUS FROM THE BOOK OF RUTH
In this lesson we need to explore the Book of Ruth. There is a Bible series on this subject that has more detail, but we will go through an overview to see how it applies to the woman in Revelation 12. The book of Ruth in the Old Testament has some absolutely fascinating information given to us in it. If you have never read this book perhaps you should do that now, before you continue with my blog. It is a short book, only 4 chapters so it will not take long to read through it and to gain a quick overview of it. To those who have read it and think they know what it is about, let me briefly recap. The primary subject of the book is a woman named Ruth. This woman is a gentile woman, not in covenant with God, not born into or of the nation of Israel. Ruth was a gentile woman not in covenant relationship with God or the Law. This is very important to understand.
The book of Ruth starts with the story of one family that came from Bethlehem. Already we can see some parallels being developed. Where was physical Jesus born? Jesus was of course born in Bethlehem. The story of Ruth starts with this family from Bethlehem leaving their home because of a famine. Famine is a state of or the absence of natural food to eat. Natural food parallels spiritual food and gives us insight into a greater spiritual problem, but I won’t go there right now. Any way this family consisted of the following family members:
- Elimelech, the father
- Naomi, the mother
- Mahlon, a son
- Chilon, a son
This family of four members, rises up and moves to a place called Moab to live because of a severe famine in Israel. There in that land the father Elimelech dies, and the two sons marry gentile women, but they also die. Now we have a family that consists of nothing but three women who were left as widows. These three women were one Jewish mother-in-law with two daughters-in-law. One of the daughters-in-laws leaves and goes back to her gentile family, but the other daughter-in-law made a much wiser choice. This woman was named Ruth, and she said to her Jewish mother-in-law, where you go, I will go, where you live, I will live, and your people shall be my people and your God will be my God. Ruth made a great choice and God honored her decision tremendously, by allowing her to become a great-great-grandmother of King David. Please notice that there are only 4 women directly mentioned by name in the genealogy of Jesus in Matthew 1 and Ruth is one of them. God bestowed a great honor upon this gentile woman named Ruth for her faith in trusting in Him and His Word.
We can see a great story unfolding of a gentile woman not in covenant with God, speaking covenant words to be joined into the family of God. These words spoken are a pattern of another future spiritual woman that was to come. In fact, all of these characters in this story I believe represent an allegory of a much higher spiritual reality. God is giving us a look into the spiritual realm by analyzing this story. This story is primarily about a gentile woman named Ruth and this woman is a model, type or pattern of the church.
Her mother-in-law Naomi is a type or pattern of the Nation of Israel. Her Father-in-law is a type or pattern of God. Earlier I told you that males in a covenant family normally always represent God, and the females represent women in covenant with God. In this story of Ruth, we see that the father as well as the sons all die. When Jesus died on the cross who really knew what this meant? Obviously, Satan didn’t know (1 Cor 2:8). I believe that when Ruth’s first husband died that this was a type of physical Jesus’ death on the cross. Now as we read in Romans 7 her husband’s death allows us to legally be remarried without being called an adulteress. But we have been introduced to this topic previously.
Now let me go into what the Book of Ruth is primarily about. You see everything that God said up until this point is just the introduction to the main subject found in the book of Ruth. The primary story line concerns God’s law of the “kinsman redeemer”. If you read chapter one of Ruth, you saw Naomi make a statement to Ruth that she was too old to have children for Ruth to wait around and marry. You see in Jewish families if a son married a wife and died without children it was the responsibility of the nearest relative, a brother to marry the widow to raise up heirs for his dead brother. This is the foundational basis of the story of Ruth.
What hope does Ruth have by hanging around her mother-in-law? Where does Ruth place her trust in for her destiny and future? Ruth is placing all of her trust in the law of God. God’s Word declared that a near relative was responsible to come into the picture and marry the widow to have children. Notice what God just said? The reason for the marriage was to have children for their dead relative. This is so significant that we cannot even begin to imagine what it all means. Ruth the widowed wife is a type of the church. Boaz is the kinsman redeemer, and he is a type or pattern of Jesus Christ, our near kinsman redeemer. This of course is the risen firstborn from the dead Son of God. It is very interesting typology to see how and where Ruth meets her Redeemer. If you read the story, you know she meets him in a harvest field. Jesus taught a lot about grains and harvests in the Gospels. Jesus even teaches us to pray the Lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into the harvest field. Wow, that is not a coincidence.
Boaz takes Ruth the gentile woman to be his wife with a covenant of marriage for the purpose of having children, and they become the great-great-grand-parents to King David. This is amazing stuff if you are understanding the implications. All of these pattern concepts are found in the law, in the book of Numbers and if you read through them closely you should begin to understand some of the spiritual implications to these words:
Num 27:6 And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,
Num 27:7 The daughters of Zelophehad speak right: thou shalt surely give them a possession of an inheritance among their father’s brethren; and thou shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass unto them.
Num 27:8 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.
Num 27:9 And if he have no daughter, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his brethren.
Num 27:10 And if he have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his father’s brethren.
Num 27:11 And if his father have no brethren, then ye shall give his inheritance unto his kinsman that is next to him of his family, and he shall possess it: and it shall be unto the children of Israel a statute of judgment, as the LORD commanded Moses.
You can see how God goes through a long discourse of how to distribute the inheritance of a family when the father dies. Who is our spiritual Father? Oh well I am sure I will have some say God the Father cannot die and I will not argue with you. You either see it or reject it, you choose. Any way in the law, if the father dies the inheritance begins to go to the children starting with the firstborn. Then if there are no children it is interesting to note that we start with the nearest relatives, uncles and then cousins. We can see a hierarchical order of inheritance being established. God is establishing a law of precedence in the natural realm to demonstrate how He will do something later in the spirit realm. I would like to ask those skeptics out there this question. Did you ever notice in the New Testament that we, in the church are called the joint heirs with Christ? What is an heir? An heir is someone who inherits after someone else died. Get it? Uh oh? Who died to leave us an inheritance? What was it, that we inherited? How did this inheritance follow the law in Numbers that we just read? There are just so many questions to think about, isn’t there?
So, the story of Ruth is a natural pattern to a much greater spiritual truth. We can see Ruth, who is the pattern of the church, marries the redeemer named Boaz a pattern of Messiah. She does this in order to raise up children for her dead husband and his father’s name should not vanish from the face of the earth. Let me briefly give you some scriptures in Ruth that may help you to understand this story better:
Rth 4:3 And he said unto the kinsman, Naomi, that is come again out of the country of Moab, selleth a parcel of land, which was our brother Elimelech’s:
Rth 4:4 And I thought to advertise thee, saying, Buy it before the inhabitants, and before the elders of my people. If thou wilt redeem it, redeem it: but if thou wilt not redeem it, then tell me, that I may know: for there is none to redeem it beside thee; and I am after thee. And he said, I will redeem it.
It was the responsibility of the nearest relative to buy back the land that belonged to and in their family name. In this verse, Boaz approaches a nearer relative first to ask him to buy the land of their brother Elimelech. But as you read down you find this nearer relative refuses, because it would mean that it would ruin his inheritance. You can see in verse 4 that Boaz tells this other relative that if he didn’t buy the land that he would do it, because there are no other relatives that can legally do it. But did you notice the term “redeem”. “Redemption” is a New Testament term and one of the key works of Jesus Christ.
Rth 4:5 Then said Boaz, What day thou buyest the field of the hand of Naomi, thou must buy it also of Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of the dead, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance.
You can see in this verse of Ruth the problem that the other relative is faced with. In order to redeem the land of Naomi, he must marry the gentile woman widow named Ruth and have an heir for his dead relative. This is the law of God given to the nation of Israel and it is very significant to the story of Jesus and the church.
So how does all of this relate to other scriptures in the Bible? I’ll end this lesson with this related reference found in the New Testament:
Rom 7:1 Know ye not, brethren, (for I speak to them that know the law,) how that the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth?
Rom 7:2 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband.
Rom 7:3 So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man.
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
Here we have a passage related to God’s law of marriage. These verses have widespread spiritual implications written all over them. Did you notice who they were written to? Paul writes these verses to those under the law. He actually says those that “know” the law (Rom 7:1). To “know” something is a statement related to a covenant relationship. I’ll try to do a lesson in the future explaining that statement in more depth. We can see that Paul is writing these verses to his natural brothers of the nation of Israel. So, while the book of Romans was written to the church, these verses pertain only to the natural Jews. It is very important to see this.
The law stated that a woman who was married could not be married to another man as long as the first husband was alive, or she would be called an adulteress. But the woman whose husband is dead is free to marry another (Rom 7:3). So what does God say to those who were under and in covenant with the law? God told them that they are now free to marry another, and this one that they should marry is the one that God raised from the dead, Jesus Christ. Are you following the reasoning and logic of these statements? Because Jesus Christ was crucified, these verses claim that their former husband was killed or died. That is what Romans 7:4 is telling them.
The crucifixion of Jesus has now freed them from the law to be in covenant with the risen from the dead man Jesus Christ, the Son of God. A marriage to the Son, and not the Father. We can clearly see that these verses do not apply to gentile believers because they were never under the law, or in covenant with God. The gentiles were never in or under the law and therefore were free to be married to whomever they choose. However, the natural nation of Israel was given the law on Mt Sinai through Moses and this law established many boundaries that they are forced to abide with as long as they refuse to accept their Messiah. Let me briefly go back to the book of Ruth and tell you about a statement that Ruth makes that reveals to us the principal of these statements in Romans 7:
Rth 1:17 Where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried: the LORD do so to me, and more also, if ought but death part thee and me.
Ruth makes a statement of truth that has widespread implications. You can see from the statement that death represents a dividing line. Death causes a separation of one connected person from another person. Only death can separate us, Ruth said. This is an incredible revelation if you apply it correctly and understand it fully. Ruth gives us a secret to how God will separate himself from Satan. Only by Husband’s death will the wife be freed from the law of her husband. Death represents a division between two connected in covenant individuals. Through death a legal and permanent separation occurs between two people who were in an eternal marriage covenant. It is important to know that God does all things in a legal, orderly and just manner.
There is so much more that we could discuss about these verses, but I wanted to show you another set of verses that speak about God experiencing death for us. The death of Jesus has so much more meaning than we have ever imagined. That means we have an inheritance that must be distributed according to the law. Ruth is a story that has so many great truths in it, that I did not get to them all in this lesson. Hopefully you will continue to study the book and see the other details that God reveals to us. For example, Boaz must go to a closer relative and ask him if he wants to marry the gentile woman. The closer relative refuses to marry Ruth because it will mess up his inheritance, so he thinks. Who is this closer relative representative in the spiritual realm? How does this pattern fit into the redemptive work of Christ? Then there is this fact found again in the genealogy of Jesus. I told you earlier this list only contains the names of 3 or 4 women, and they all have significance and meaning to Jesus. Boaz was a type of Jesus. Who is Boaz’s mother? Boaz is the son of Rahab the harlot. That is also very significant in the typology analysis. Who was Jesus born of? Jesus was born of the natural seed named Mary, that came from the tribe of Judah of Israel. The nation of Israel is also called a harlot in Old Testament books like Hosea. There are so many more things to consider. If you dig really deep you can find so many valuable truths.
CONCLUSION
So, I have attempted to give you scriptures that show why the woman in Revelation 12 is pregnant, and who this child is and why He must be delivered. The child in Revelation 12 has widely been taught to be Jesus Christ, but the typology and symbolism found in the Old Testament, and in the rest of the chapter 12 does not fit the natural birth of the Messiah. So, we have to look for spiritual truths and spiritual reasons to identify the male child and hopefully I have pointed you in the right direction. We have discovered is that the reason for every covenant marriage between a husband and wife is for the purpose to have an heir. This heir is the person that will continue the family’s named. God commanded this in Genesis 1 when He told them to be “fruitful and multiply”. This too was a divinely designed pattern of creation.
I know I did not cover everything in its entirety, and I know there is absolutely no way that I could do that even if I wanted to. Only God knows everything, and we only see things through a glass darkly and only truly understand what God wants us to understand, when He wants us to understand it. I believe that we have so much more to learn. Thank you for reading this series of lessons and studying the Bible with us. I appreciate your prayers and your diligent Bible study faithfulness. God Bless you.
If you would like to continue in this study series, please go to PART 8 now.
Key to Understanding! Realizing That Only God Knows Everything
(Ver 1.1) When studying the Bible, we discover some of theological qualities of the deity of God. This is sometimes overlooked when we just read the Bible. But knowing these characteristics can help us in our understanding of God’s Word. We should always start by knowing that God is the only deity power that knows everything. This is called being “Omniscient”. Then we must realize that we are not Him. This is a very basic truth, but I’ve heard some preachers get up and make statements, that sounds like they are God. For example, I heard more than one preacher say something like “Search the Bible and you won’t find anything that says blah, blah, blah”. This is about as foolish of a statement as anyone can make. I can only say that God is the only one that is qualified to make a statement like that. He is the only one that knows everything that the Bible says. Humans sometimes act like they have searched and because they haven’t found anything, that means there is nothing about that subject in the Bible. Here is a truth that you should be aware of, in the New Testament Paul wrote “For we know in part” (1 Cor 13:9-12). If Paul knew only a part of the truth, I would venture to say that we only know a part of the part that Paul knew. I won’t call names in this blog but I will give examples.
I heard a minister say, you can search the Bible and you won’t find anything in it that says the church is the bride of Christ. What an ignorant teacher. Who does he think he is? Obviously he thought he was near the level of God who knows everything about the Bible. What people don’t realize is the complex ways that God uses in the Bible to conceal subjects. God uses a multitude of different methods to make the Bible a giant puzzle. There is symbolism, typology, analogies, patterns, parables, allegories and a multitude of other ways to call the same object by the same name There are multiple things called by the same name, there are independent truths, dependent truths, and on and on I could go. Guess what, I did what he said, I searched the Bible and I found a huge number of scriptures that confirmed the identity of the church as the bride of Christ. Just because he didn’t see them, it doesn’t mean they don’t exist. What he did was he made a statement that caused a lot of people that were not so capable or immature Christians to believe wrong. What he did was contribute to the confusion and the divisions that we are already familiar with being well ingrained into the body of Christ. After I studied the subject, I have a hard time understanding how they miss it and don’t see it.
This is such a problem that teachers make this mistake more often than they realize and this is the root cause of the majority of the divisions within the church. One group sees a truth, the other groups don’t. It would be nice if teachers only taught things that were really truth. I’ll end with one more example of arrogant misleading. I heard a minister make this statement, “This woman is Israel, you can’t make this woman any other identity because it won’t harmonize with the rest of scripture”. Do you understand what an prideful statement that could be? He doesn’t know the rest of the scripture, so how can he make a statement like that? All he did was contribute to a falsehood using his opinion of one truth. He was talking about the identity of the woman in Revelation 12. After I studied the subject I didn’t have clue how he could have made that statement. He didn’t give any scriptures or backing for the statement, he just said it like it was Gospel and therefore everyone was suppose to believe it.
I don’t fault these teachers that I just gave you as an example, for they truly think and believe they are right. The Bible is however so much more complex than it appears on the surface. So instead of telling people what the Bible doesn’t say, concentrate and focus on what God tells you that it does say and only teach that. We have so many examples, of this in the church it would be impossible to include every example. So what is the low hanging fruit of this topic? Teach what you know and not what you think you know. If you make a statement make sure you can provide the verses to back the statement. If you can’t do that then it is wise to keep your mouth shut.
God Bless you with the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation in Knowing Christ Jesus. May He open the eyes of your understanding to see what is the truth. Pray this for yourself. Pray this for me. Pray this for all of your teachers. Pray this for you family. It is based upon a prayer that Paul prayed for the church in Ephesians 1:15. Until next time may God keep you all safe and fill you with His Spirit.
The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12! Pt 6
(Ver 2.8) This is now Part 6 in a series of very advanced study in the Bible, exploring the True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12. In the last lesson, we learned a tremendous amount of new Bible facts and concepts to think about and study. I know there are good people yet to be convinced of the identity of the Woman described in Revelation 12. It is very difficult and challenging to teach a complex subject. Especially, one that can be totally new to everyone. When teaching a new subject, I feel led to give enough Bible reasons (scriptures) for everything that is taught to eliminate doubts. Every teacher should feel the same way. But, we only can do this in a limited time and space format on the internet. It is very similar to many church services. The attention span of some people seems to have limits. So we should try to balance not taking up too much of your Bible study time, with providing enough detail in the lesson to confirm everything that is taught. I often leave out a lot of scriptures that could have been included. If you are a pastor, you may know the challenge I am talking about. If you have not been following this series from the beginning, I would strongly recommend that you go back and start reading with Part 1.
SPIRITUAL PATTERNS REVIEW
I do not wish to rehash every previous lesson in the series. But, please allow me to approach this subject of the identity of our child suspect, in a different way than you might expect. I believe we are beginning to learn from the Biblical evidence that only the church matches the patterns of the Revelation 12 woman’s complete description. The facts presented so far should at least cause us to favor the woman’s identity to represent the church. As we should have realized by analyzing God’s Word and His covenant wives, there are a limited number of women in the Bible that the woman in Revelation 12 could be. Therefore, I want to go into a quick review of the already seen Biblical patterns.
What is a pattern? A pattern represents an intelligent design. It can also represent a model or an example. One model can be a view of a much larger more significant reality that is not seen. But, by studying the model we can gain great insight into what the real is like. We can observe patterns, examples and models throughout the Bible. I believe that it is worth your time in changing how you study the Bible to include looking for these hidden patterns.
If you recall there are only three covenant wives mentioned in relationship to God in the Bible. We were introduced to these women in previous lessons. We also went through an overview of these women in these past lessons. We should now understand, how God the Father married a woman that represented a type (pattern) of Hagar. This allegorical Hagar represented the natural nation of Israel (called the earthly Jerusalem) in the Old Covenant (Jer 31:32). Therefore since we are analyzing the a woman producing a child, we should ask “can God the Father have a Son through these natural people?” Obviously, He did and He called His name Jesus, because He would save His people from their sins (Mat 1:21). Therefore, Israel in general appears to qualify to be a wife and could possibly be stretched to be viewed as a pregnant woman. But, to be more specific, it was literally the single individual woman named Mary, that was chosen by God to gave birth to the only naturally born Son of God. So Mary appears to be a closer match and best qualified to be the pregnant wife in Revelation 12.
Then we learned of the free woman and a covenant wife of God the Father, that was a type of Sarah (Gal 4:26). This woman represented the more mature original barren wife of God the Father. She is allegorically identified to be the “Jerusalem Above”. We also discovered that this spiritual woman gave birth to the the risen from the dead Lord Jesus and the church (Gal 4:28). Therefore, this heavenly woman qualifies to be the pregnant wife mentioned in Revelation 12 also. We are not really narrowing our suspect list directly, by focusing only on this single quality of being pregnant and in a covenant. That is exactly why, I was teaching this series subject using other important truths first. This initial focus was to reveal the meanings of the Sun, moon and stars.
But, we haven’t reviewed the fourth suspect. She is the church. We learned that she is married and in a brand new covenant with the risen from the dead Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. Next, we already asked and answered the question, can the Church’s covenant Husband (the risen Jesus Christ) have any spiritual children? I think you may have been surprised to find, according to the Bible, He can. Jesus was called the “Everlasting Father” in the Isaiah 9:6 prophecy. In fact God wrote that Jesus would be a child, a son and then become the Everlasting Father all in the same verse. Wow, that sounds important. These are repeated patterns found over and over in the Bible.
We have confirmed in the scripture that Jesus was a designed and designated pattern to be or become a Father as well as the Son of God. This verse will at least leave open the door to learning how this future male child that will rule nations with a rod of iron in Revelation 12, can be called a potential Son of Jesus (God the Son). Wow, I probably just rocked your theological religious boat. But please hang-in there with me, until we have read all of the lesson. We are about to potentially discover some Bible verses that we may have never seen, understood or applied.
PATTERN FUNDAMENTALS
Let us first start with some fundamental basics that we should already know and understand about the Bible and the Godhead. Matthew 1:18 clearly informs us that the virgin Mary was espoused to Joseph. But, before they “came together” (had sexual intercourse), she was found to already be pregnant by the Holy Ghost. I pray that we can all agree that the Holy Ghost is the same as God the Father, but in the form of the third person of the Triune Godhead. It is very important from this information that we conclude, that it is possible for the Holy Spirit to impregnate a physical natural woman through His spoken Word (seed). I believe that this fact of truth will become a natural pattern on a higher level, for the pregnant spiritual woman found in Revelation 12.
Do you recall how patterns were defined why they are important for Bible study? I try to emphasize this reality because of what we learn in Ecclesiastes 1:9. In this verse is where God states “The thing that has been is that which shall be; and that which has been done is that which shall be done; there is NOTHING NEW under the sun”. Now remember who we have previously discovered the symbolic Sun represents and keep that in your mind. A light bulb should have just popped on inside of you that this verse is related to Jesus very specifically. God does not select words by random accident or choice. God could have said “there is nothing new under heaven” or he could have said, “there is nothing new under the moon”. I hope you didn’t miss the significance of God’s choice for using the “sun”. God just prophesied something so profound that it is amazing to me. I believe God just taught us that what was to come in Jesus, previously happened in patterns that were already done in the past by Him and others. And I believe these could be natural patterns or spiritual patterns and maybe even both dimensions.
A pattern is nothing but a repeated recognizable form. When tailors make a dress, pants, or a shirt, they design and create a repeatable pattern. The fabric material is then selected and cut out from the designed pattern. Then the individual parts/pieces are sown together to create the final dress. Every dress that comes from the same pattern can be recognized as being from the original pattern by a trained observant eye. What we learn from natural patterns, is “good things by design are repeated”. It is a common sense approach that teaches us, what worked before will work again even if it is changed slightly. According to God’s Word, He uses good working established models and patterns. Also these divine patterns can be transferred from the spiritual realm into the natural realm and then even return back to the spiritual (Heb 8:5, Heb 9:23). We should all begin to recognize God’s repetition of patterns in the Bible. Every time we read the Bible we should do it using a trained eye looking for patterns of repetition. Redefine how you view and define prophecy. See prophecy as an a occurrence of a repeated pattern and not just the fulfillment of a prediction. Now let’s get into a few more basic fundamental patterns found in the Bible.
We already know that Jesus is the Son of God (Mat 16:16), the second person of the triune Godhead. The Trinity of God being comprised of the Father (Jn 14:11), the Son (1 Jn 5:20) also known as the Word (Rev 19:13) and the Holy Spirit (Gal 4:6, 1 John 5:7). These three unique personalities make up the One True Living God (1 John 5:7). These are all three personalities of the same Spiritual Being; they in union represent One God. I pray that you agree with these truths. They are actually very, very important and Satan fights us from believing in One God in Multiple Viewed Manifestations.
We must view the Trinity as being three different manifestations of the One God for His unique purposes at varying times. We just learned in Matthew 1:18 and Luke 1:35 that the Holy Spirit caused the virgin Mary to become pregnant. These were two verses that declare the work of the Father, the Word & the Holy Spirit’s together in producing the male child inside of the virgin woman named Mary. Some might ask how Jesus contributed to this pregnancy? Remember Jesus was the Word of God. The Word of God is the Seed of God (Luke 8:11). The same Hebrew and Greek Words for “seed” is also used to describe the male sperm that impregnates a woman. When Mary believe the angel, she said to the messenger “be unto me according to your word”. The message was from God, not the angel and Mary believe it and became pregnant. We also know from reading John 1:1 “In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God and the Word was God” then we find in verse 14 that the Word (God the Father) became flesh (God the Son) and dwelt among us”. Therefore we learn how God the Father just manifested in the form of His Son by sending the Word of God to a natural woman. Then after she accepts the Word of God though faith the work of the Holy Spirit manifests the baby in her womb.
Therefore the manifested Son of God must be the same God as the Father and the Holy Spirit God must be the same God as the Father God and the Word of God. Wow, I pray we haven’t lost any readers. So let’s continue our study by confirming some basic information that God (who is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit) can be called a Father in the Bible corporately or in each of His separate manifested states of existence:
Heb 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
Heb 12:7 If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?
Heb 12:8 But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons.
Heb 12:9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
We can clearly read that God is called the “Father of spirits” in verse 9 of Hebrews 12. These words inspired by the Holy Spirit are very appropriate to our subject study of God being called a male Father. Two names of God are given in this context the first is “Lord” (G2962) and the second is “God” (G2316).
We should immediately try to determine who are these spirits that God is said to be the Father of. Perhaps you noticed that these verses are comparing 1) natural birthed sons and fathers to the much greater spiritual birthed sons and Father. We have just discovered a new relationship, that these two different realms are made from the similar pattern. We need to realize that every natural human being is a simultaneous spirit being. Humans are a spirit that reside temporarily in a natural body possessing an internal soul (mind, will and emotions) (1 Thes 5:23).
By logical reasoning, we deduce that this verse in Hebrews 12:9, at the least implies that every spirit could have their origin from God. We can say this includes every spirit of every human man, woman and child on the planet. But, I would also say that this includes every angelic or demonic spirit that exists also. All of these are spirit beings, and had to originate from God, the Father of spirits since they did not create themselves. That to me is just basic logic. However, it is much more complex than this and we just can’t go into this deeper in this lesson.
We have already examined the Biblical fact that Jesus the Son of God was born of a natural woman. Therefore we can clearly see that God the Father can also have natural physical children, if He desires. In Luke 1:37 God says “With Him nothing shall be impossible”. But, remember what we learned in the last lesson. God says in John 3:16 that Jesus was the “Only begotten Son”. We learned from the Greek word (G3439) definition that “begotten” means the only physically born son. This Greek word G3439 is used in 9 verses in the New Testament and they all mean “the only natural born child”. It is used this way to describe a man in Luke 7:12 that Jesus raised from the dead. It is also used this way for an only daughter that was raised from the dead by Jesus in Luke 8:42.
Feel free to go and study this Greek word usage for yourself. Believing Jesus was the only physically born Son of God is very important. This teaches us that God is not going to have any more physically born natural mortal children that can die, ever again! Mary was the only virgin birth that God the Father will ever participate in by His admission.
GOD TO ADAM PATTERNS
God the Father is said to be the Father of spirits. Can God the Son also be a Father of spirits? We know that Jesus was a 100% natural male and was the 100% supernatural God. We all should know that Genesis 1:26 says “let us make man in our image and after our likeness”. This is an amazing statement. Who is “our” referring to in this verse? I believe it is a plural pronoun referring to God the Father, God the Son/Word and God the Holy Spirit. This would at least imply that we should be able to observe limited patterns of God (Father, Son & Spirit) in Adam and potentially vice versa. Adam is called a son of God in the Luke 3:38 genealogy of Jesus. This genealogy is very profound to our study. God teaches us from Jesus’ human lineage that He was a 100% Son of Adam (man) simultaneously being the 100% Son of God. This confirms how Jesus can be 100% human of the flesh and 100% God in His Spirit.
But, notice what we find in the geneaology of Adam given in Genesis 5. In this description we see how Adam passed his likeness given to him from God (a spiritual pattern) down to his natral children (a natural pattern). Since the pattern of Adam is implied to be passed down from generation to generation, this means it is still in effect when Jesus was born from one of Adam’s descendants named “Mary”. The Luke 3 genealogy is that of Mary. This is important because it makes what Adam did or could have done to remain in the realm of possibility for Jesus.
Therefore, as a 100% male human, Jesus must have been physically capable of having natural children in the normal way with a natural woman. But, just because some deceived people have tried to claim that Jesus had sex with a natural woman on the earth and fathered a child, please do not be so easily deceived by them. I am not going to dignify these false claims by naming anyone that claims this falsity. Jesus never had any natural children on the earth. If He had done this, we would be in serious trouble because this would cause scripture that we depend upon as being truthful to become a lie.
For example, Jesus was called the “ONLY begotten Son of God” as we have read. Then if He had physically produced natural children that would violate John 3:16. This is because He is still God (Emmanuel=God with us). If God in the flesh has another natural born/begotten mortal child then the “ONLY” begotten fails the test of truth. I pray you understand what was stated. The Bible does not contradict itself nor does the words of a man or a prophet contradict the Bible. If words spoken to be truth do not agree with scriptures, throw them in the garbage. Let’s get back on subject.
But, let us revisit the other spiritual possibilities. Can Jesus now in heaven, the second member of the Trinity, now have a spiritual child and become a new Spiritual Father? I think that is an interesting concept to consider especially in light of reading Isaiah 6:9. The only way Jesus could be an Eternal Father is for Him to produce an eternal son. This would only be possible in the spirit realm since that is where He is physically seated. Just ask yourself, when did Jesus become the Everlasting Father? Was it before He died on the cross, after He dies on the cross but before He ascends into heaven, or was it something that would occur after He ascended? We are touching on some very deep thought subjects. What I believe is that the “Eternal Father” title comes into manifestation come much later after ascension. In fact I personally believe that this eternal Fatherhood designation is awaiting complete fulfilment until Revelation 12 is consummated. You probably are scratching your head and asking yourself a lot of new questions. That is good if that is true. However, if you have already written this off as not being true, then leave me a comment and tell me, when Jesus the Son of God became “An Everlasting Father God”.
Think of what we are studying this way, God created natural physical things as a view or pattern into the originating spiritual pattern dimension (Rom 1:20). According to God everything in the natural originated from the spiritual dimension and will return to the spiritual dimension in the end. These naturally created things that we can see around us are shadows, types or patterns of spiritual things that we cannot see or fully comprehend. However, these natural things point us to and give us glimpses into, a realm of unseen spiritual possibilities.
These hidden spiritual possibilities are difficult to fully grasp with our physical eyes and senses unless we understand natural things better. Jesus said in John 3:12 “If I have told you earthly things and you believe not, how then will you believe if I tell you of heavenly things?” Can we understand that Jesus through teaching natural truths, He believed that He was giving us understanding of greater more significant heavenly spiritual truths? These are all just repeatable patterns of God’s design. I pray that you are receiving what I believe is being said by the Holy Spirit in this lesson.
ADAM TO JESUS PATTERNS
I alluded to this subject in the last section of the lesson. So what patterns did God create in this natural world? We obviously cannot address them all in one lesson, but we can narrow our focus into the main topic/subject of the woman and her child in Revelation 12. How will these created patterns help us understand this concept of spiritual pregnancy, birth pains, birth and children? I am still unable to cover the entire single subject matter in this lesson. But we will go into some of the important points, the best that we can.
We will start with God’s created pattern of Adam and Eve in the beginning of Genesis 1 and 2. They represent the initiating father and mother natural pattern of the entire human race. I believe we must remember what we learned in the last lessons about Sarah being a patterned allegorical figure of a pre-existing heavenly woman (Gal 4). It was this heavenly woman that is given to be the church’s spiritual mother. All of this information is a repeated patterns hidden in Adam and Eve. Therefore, the natural Adam and Eve family pattern was done before, but previously it was done in the spirit realm. However, using the Sarah analogy we find that this Sarah type of Heavenly Jerusalem represented a barren wife that had no children. But, that does not diminish the desire of God the Father to have children like Abraham did in Genesis 15:2. Remember, “there is nothing new under the sun” whether it is the natural physical sun or the symbolic spiritual Sun of God. What God said happened to Abraham was a pattern of what was happening in heaven. Wow, this is some incredible information.
Through Adam and Eve’s procreation, they no doubt produced a lot of male and female children (Gen 5:4). Certainly, we know from reading Genesis 4, Cain and Abel came from Adam and Eve, followed by Seth. Keep in mind that these two natural first parents were patterns of hidden spiritual than came before them as well as the things to come after them. For example, if we read Romans 5:14 carefully, we will learn that Adam was also a pattern of Jesus that would be born from his body. The Greek word G5179 was translated as “figure”. But this Greek word literally means a “die”, “model”, or “pattern”. This G5179 is very similar to H1823 that was translated as “likeness” in Genesis 1:26. H1823 means a “model” a parallel to the G5179 definition. Wow, I hope you see what the Lord is teaching us.
What we can see is that God created the first Adam as a “model” or “pattern” of “Himself the Spiritual Father” and this same “model” or “pattern” is being passed down to the future “Jesus”. Therefore we should be able to understand that the recorded Bible events occurring with Adam can all potentially apply to what God might have done before Adam as well as what could reoccur with the Last Adam, Jesus (1 Cor 15:45). There is truly nothing new under the Sun.
You might ask “What events in Genesis might relate to what could reoccur with Jesus?” That is a great question. First, Adam’s bride was taken out of his side in Genesis 2. Isn’t it amazing that Jesus was thrust through on His side hanging on the cross (John 19:34) and blood and water poured out of Him? I do not believe that was a coincidence. I believe the outpouring of the blood and water from Jesus on the cross represented the church bride coming out of His side. Do you recall what Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20? Paul said “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I that lives but Christ that lives in me…”. If you do not understand what is being spoken of here, you are missing out on understanding a huge spiritual mystery being revealed to us in Ephesians 5 and other parts of the Bible.
In Ephesians 5:22-33 God goes over the law of marriage covenant relationships between husbands and wives. In Ephesians 5 verses 31-32, God actually quotes from Genesis 2:24 from the discussion of taking Eve out of Adam side. This description is,an expression of the first human marriage to be a pattern. “For this reason shall a man leaven his father and mother and shall be joined to his wife and the two shall become one flesh”. Then God through the Apostle Paul breaks the great revelation wide open in Ephesians 5:32 about God taking Eve out from Adam becoming one flesh as being a great mystery concerning Christ and the Church. God is teaching us the fact that all of this in chapter 2 of Genesis pertaining to Adam was a pattern or a model for Christ and the Church. Let’s move on to the specific topic of children now.
If Adam knew Eve and she conceived a son as Genesis 4:1 teaches us, can it be possible that this is also a pattern for Jesus and His bride? I believe with all of my heart that it is. However, this Last Adam marriage covenant relationship is spiritual and not physical like the first Adam. The pattern of “knowing” is still repeated by God’s design between Jesus and the church. Remember what Jesus says in Matthew to those that thought they knew Jesus?
Mat 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Mat 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
This is very important for us all to understand! Jesus said many will think they knew me and they have even called me LORD. But I will say to them, I never KNEW you, depart! Just as Adam desired to KNOW and have intimate physical relationship with his wife the same appears to reoccur with Jesus. It not only appears to be a reoccurring pattern but has increased to be a requirement for Jesus KNOWING His bride in the New Covenant. There are a lot of people that believe they are Christians and do great things in His name. But according to Jesus they will not enter into the kingdom of God because they are not KNOWN by Him! This teaches us that Jesus must have an intimate spiritual relationship with us personally His bride. If this type of natural intimacy produces natural children, could it be possible that this occurs in the greater spiritual realm? I believe it does because, we read in past lessons about Paul travailing in birth until Christ was formed in other church members (Gal 4:19). Paul was attempting to get other people to come to the saving KNOWELDGE that he KNEW and this would result in their spiritual birth. This birth produced a new spiritual child called Christ in another human. Isn’t God amazing?
We learned previously that whatever is spiritual must produce or birth spiritual offspring. I’m praying that you are following all of this deep information. But, I’m not through yet. I want us to think of something else that is important and probably new to you.
GOD’S NEW NATURAL & SPIRITUAL FAMILY PATTERN
Do you remember what God said to the church in 2 Corinthians? We were introduced to this concept previously when I gave you Galatians 2:20. Paul said He was crucified with Christ…”. Paul claims to have experienced what Jesus experienced on the cross. Then in Ephesians 2:6 Paul claims us to be raised together and sit with Christ while still being physically here on the earth. What is this concept being taught? Let’s read to refresh our memory:
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.
This is an amazing verse that I cannot fully teach today. Notice that I underlined only the words that are found in the Greek and not the italicized words that were added by the translators. Now, please read the underlined words only. It would say “if any man in Christ a new creation: old things are passed away; behold all things are become new.” That is an amazing truth displaying Jesus to be the “new creation” and not us. Many times Christians make things in the Bible to be totally about them when really it is totally about Jesus Christ.
We the church do become a part of Jesus the new creation but only, if we are IN HIM. Therefore, Jesus was made by God, a new creation that never existed before. Why was it necessary for God to create something brand new? Think about that question. But, realize first that this teaches us that if we personally remain in (know) Him and He in (known) us, we are included in this new creation work. Have you thought of why all of this would be important? I have taught this truth in other lessons, but I will give you a quick overview of why this was essential for the plan of God.
Jesus being raised from the dead and becoming the “first born” from the dead, causes things in the spiritual realm to occur that not many have seen. For example His death and resurrection birth caused Him to legally separate Himself from every previous covenant that He had ever made with anyone. Remember “death” is a legal separation from a covenant marriage according to the Word of God and His Law (Ruth 1:17). We learn this by reading Romans 7:1-4. Paul, writing to Jewish believers, claimed they were bound under the law to their first (Old) Covenant marriage with God by law. In other words Paul writes that if they entered into a new covenant with anyone else they would be committing adultery. But, then Paul teaches them in verse 4, because Jesus died, they have been released from that old covenant, in order to be legally married in covenant to another, the risen Lord Jesus. Wow, this is so important to understand.
What we learn from this teaching is that when Jesus died, He not only separated God from the Old Covenant, He must have also separated Himself from the Angelic covenant with Lucifer. Now legally speaking God is not bound to keep His covenant with either Jerusalem. This means the earthly and the heavenly Jerusalem were both freed from previous covenants with Jehovah God. Natural Israel is free to now be saved from hell by believing in Jesus. Also they are now not legally bound to keep all the commandments of the Law that were impossible to keep. Finally, Satan/Lucifer is NOT open to entering any New Covenant with the risen Jesus. Therefore, Satan and his angels are headed to hell (Mat 25:41) at the end of man’s 7000-year history and the book of Revelation fulfillment (Rev 20:10).
We are learning more about how God uses repeated patterns. But we must never forget that He can also do something brand new if He so desires. Jesus becoming a new creation was a total shock to Satan. God becoming flesh (John 1:1-14) to die on a cross and save humans literally blew the minds of the devil and all his followers. They never imagined that there would come a time when they could not enter into heaven. This is exactly why Paul wrote 1 Corinthians 2:8 “which none of the princes of this world knew, for if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of Glory”. The Bible should be making more sense when you learn these previously hidden truths. I believe the death and the shedding of the blood of Jesus on the cross paid the price for all of our sins. But, I believe that it was the resurrection of Jesus from the dead that transferred saved people (those that wanted to believe and confess Him as Lord) out of Satan’s kingdom. Never forget that according to Romans 10:9 “If we confess Jesus as Lord and believe in our heart that God raised Him from the dead, we will be saved”. Therefore, believing in the resurrection is essential. Let’s move on to a new part of our discussion.
In recent paragraphs we spoke about the topic of intimacy between a covenant husband and wife. The word “in” is a major part of both physical and spiritual intimacy. I’m not going to explain that, I believe you know what that physical intimacy means. However, what it means to be “in” Christ and for Him to be “in” us can be challenging because of the spiritual nature of the subject. I believe this being “IN” Christ is significantly grounded to us being in and remaining in the Word of God. There are a lot of people that walk down the church aisle to give their lives to Jesus, but then never open their Bible to learn who He is. I hope and pray that is not you.
Just understand there are a lot of verses in the N.T. that claim we should be “in” Christ and Christ should be “in” us. This principle represents spiritual intimacy. What does it mean to be “in” Christ? It includes a lot, but it must include us studying the Bible more than occasionally. It should also include us praying and seeking to hear His voice. Remember in John 10:4 Jesus said “My sheep KNOW my voice”. But, that is getting us off the main subject. The main part of the 2 Corinthians should be that we are in Jesus who is a New Creation. That implies a lot of new things for us to consider.
God created the family of Adam and Eve as a separate and independent new family unit from heaven. I believe that this new family unit was modeled after God’s pre-established family unit already established in Heaven. As we know now Adam was created as a natural pattern who represented a new natural family father. Adam had every natural living human being on this planet on the inside of him. Adam should be called the natural father of the entire human race because we were all “in” Adam. We learn a principle in the Bible that whatever happened to Adam, happens to everyone that comes out from Adam in 1 Cor 15:22. We were all “in” Adam when he sinned therefore, death passed to every human (Rom 5:12). This natural pattern is further confirmation to what was taught about us being in Christ. We were crucified with Christ because we were “in” Christ and sprang forth out of Him.
We all know that Adam had a child through Eve. This I believe is future pattern of the Last Adam Jesus that was to come. There is a spiritual truth being given to us here that anything that happens to your father is passed down and has happened to every descendant of their father. We can learn this by us inheriting the law of sin and death from our original father Adam. We can confirm this as us now being “in” Christ to be crucified with Him. Wow, this concept is amazing. This knowledge literally shook me to the core of my inner being when God revealed it to me. We can find a great confirming witness in Hebrews 7:9-10. In these verses God’ reveals to us that Levi paid tithes “in” his great-grandfather Abraham three generations before him. This occurred because Levi was contained within one sperm cell inside of Abraham that created the descendant Levi. Wow, wow, wow!
That was a major clue to why Satan should not have killed Jesus Christ, if you didn’t understand it. Our current subject is really focused upon spiritual fathers and their sons and how they can have children because they were made in the likeness of their father. Just as God was the Father of Adam and Adam took a wife and had a son, so I believe God the Father impregnated Mary to give birth to Jesus. And this Son named the Last Adam has the same potential to have His own Son like the first Adam. Can you see what I am proposing for your evaluation, consideration and study? I do hope you are following this logic and that you understand the concepts of patterns. But, let us take a look at what the Bible says, here are some interesting verses that pertain to our current subject:
Eph 2:18 For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
Eph 2:19 Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
These verses in Ephesians give us two valuable further conformations. First that God is a Father and that He also has a family. Previously at creation in Genesis 1 God’s household was comprised of only a family of spiritual beings in heaven. I believe that these heavenly patterns were representative of the patterns that He implemented and passed down to be followed by Adam and Eve’s household and family structure here on the earth. I believe that Adam’s family was a natural family with natural parents giving birth to natural children. I then believe this pattern was passed further down the line into the life of Jesus to be repeated again concerning a new spiritual family. I’ll talk about this from the Bible next and give you scriptures to confirm it.
Now let’s explore this logic scripturally and see if it holds water and passes God’s litmus test of truth. We need to see if there are any scriptures that speak about Jesus beginning a family. Let’s start this analysis with this scripture in Hebrews:
Heb 3:6 But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
When I first read this verse, I almost missed what God was saying. It is so interesting that I studied it for a long time until God showed me what it was really teaching us. You see this verse is speaking of Jesus our Lord as the Son of God. This verse declares that this new Son Jesus has established a new house. This is a new house that did not exist before just like the New Covenant had never existed before either. This was also just like Him being the new creation that never existed before. But what does God mean when He says house? A new house implies a new family. In fact if you look up the Greek word (G3624) translated as “house” it is defined in the Strong’s that it figuratively means “a family”. How does God define a family? We can learn this through His creation. Jesus implies in Matthew 19:4 God made His type of family as beginning with one male and one female. These two then have children and that is the normal basis of a family.
Why did the Father God have the need to establish a new spiritual family through Jesus Christ? Apparently there was some major flaws and problems with the old spiritual family of God. We have already discussed this answer previously. We should not understand that everything in heaven was great and even called perfect until sin was found in Lucifer. You can read about the rise of evil in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. God gives us a windowed spiritual view of His problem in these chapters. Lucifer was filled with pride and God needed to find a legal solution to remove this evil from His presence.
As we learned Satan would not have crucified Jesus on a cross if he had known the consequences for killing Jesus (1 Cor 2:8). You can learn from that scripture that something happened through His death on the cross to cause Satan to be very unhappy with the outcome. Something major happened that affected him directly and personally. We have already seen how this was the loss of God’s covenant with him and the angels. Therefore, Satan lost his right to his home in heaven and his place in the previous family of Jehovah. This is separation and loss of heavenly rights are finally put into full effect in Revelation 12 the exact chapter that we are studying. Can you see the connections being made and how the Bible all fits together to tell one story using dispersed clues? I wish I could go into all of this in more depth but I just don’t have the time. I did give you major clues on this subject so I hope you can put the pieces together and seek the answers for yourself.
So we can see from Hebrews 3:6 that Jesus has established a completely new family unit for a new God family. We have already seen that God calls Jesus Christ the last Adam in the New Testament (1 Cor 15:45). God connects Jesus to the pattern of Adam directly. We can definitely see that Adam was a natural pattern of the spiritual Jesus. Adam had one wife who was the body of Adam, Jesus now has one wife who is the body of Christ. Let’s review this verse to confirm:
Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam‘s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
What is the subject of this verse? It is directly related to Adam, and God says Adam is a pattern of Jesus to come. There are many other parallels and patterns that we could explore, but let’s continue with our subject and study, can Jesus have his own family.
We know from Hollywood and a non-Christian author that Satan has attempted to say that Jesus who was a physical man for 33 and 1/2 years, had a sexual relationship with a woman on the earth and had children. I often times wondered why it was important for Satan to try to plant these misdirected false seeds in the minds of people on the earth. Satan rarely does anything that does not have a purpose. I believe it is an attempt to distract us from the truth. True Christians will always reject that Jesus had a sexual relationship with a natural woman, but what else does the words of author do to us? They automatically cause us to potentially reject any other new Bible assertion that Jesus could be a spiritual father of a spiritual child. The automatic conclusion would be, if we accept the physical child birth we are more likely to reject a spiritual child birth. But here is the main reason why we should reject the physical child birth, because it is not in the Bible. So we should determine if the spiritual child birth is found in the Bible.
We can see so many verses that give us widespread implications of the establishment of a new family of God if we look for them. Here is a verse that speaks to us along these lines:
Gal 6:10 As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.
Using basic logic and common sense again we can see this verse speaks of two divisions of people. Those who believe and those who believe not. Those who believe are a people in a new family or a new household called faith. This word “household” literally means people who are close relatives. This is like those who are living in the same family dwelling. But this is not just any family this is His family, the family unit of Jesus Christ. Those that have believed in Him.
So we have seen scriptures that indicate Jesus has established a new family of God and that this family is a new spiritual household with new family members of faith. So does Jesus Christ have children? Here is another scripture that I found absolutely fascinating. We have seen this before but we will review it again:
Isa 9:6 For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.
This verse is absolutely more proof and evidence that people read things and don’t see exactly what God says. I’ve had this Bible verse printed in a bunch of my Christmas cards and I didn’t see it for a long time. Did you see it? What are we researching? Are we not attempting to find verses that declare Jesus the second figure in the Godhead to be a new father? Is not this verse about Jesus Christ? Sure it is! Jesus is the child that was born, and the son that was given. We can clearly see that Jesus, the Son of God is also being called a father. But, notice this verse in Isaiah 9:6 calls Jesus Christ the “Everlasting Father“. Do you understand the implications behind that short statement? I doubt very seriously that many do. Why does God need to put an adjective “everlasting” in front of the noun “father”? The reason anyone does this is to differentiate one father from another father using a finite descriptive quality of one that is not found in any other. You see I thought God the Father was the Everlasting Father? This is truly mind blowing information that is much deeper than I can fully cover in this lesson. But, I will give you one verse to consider in the discussion of why Jesus can be called the Everlasting Father and why the Father God the 1st in trinity did not use this title to describe Himself. I mentioned this verse earlier but it is worth emphasizing again:
Rom 7:4 Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
We know from reading the context that this verse was written directly to only “Those that KNOW the LAW”. That is just God’s way of saying the Jewish people that were under the LAW of Moses and legally married to Him according Jeremiah 31:32. Because natural Israel was in a legally binding covenant with Him, they would not be able to be joined into the new covenant with Jesus Christ without being called an adulterer. Wow, notice the fact that God is informing us the old covenant is not the new covenant and being in both simultaneously is spiritual adultery.
But, since Jesus who was God made flesh died on a cross physically we learn from this verse that the naturally born Jewish people can now legally be “Married” (in a New Covenant) with the risen from the dead Jesus without being called an adulterer. Wow, this is so important to understanding so much of the Bible that it would take a book to write everything that is being taught here. The main point for this discussion is simply this is the reason why the risen Lord Jesus will be given the title “Everlasting Father”.
Did you know that you or I can not be legitimately called a father or a mother, unless we have children. That is just a basic Bible fact. So if we read in Isaiah 9:6 that God calls Jesus the “Everlasting Father” we can conclude that he must have at least one child. However as we have been discussing there are two kinds of fathers in the Bible, one is a natural father and the other is a spiritual father. A natural father is only someone that has sown natural sperm into a natural woman and she has conceived and has given birth to a natural child. Then and only then is he is called a father.
Spiritually speaking a pastor, a priest or a bishop could be a spiritual father. All of the apostles in the New Testament were considered spiritual fathers. Paul was considered a spiritual father (1 Tim 1:2, 2 Tim 1:2). In fact any Christian can sow spiritual seed (God’s Word) into the heart of a non-Christian and if they believe and Christ is conceived in them, then they also become a spiritual parent. You see there are spiritual families in different designs and patterns in the Bible as well as natural families that are similar. That means there are spiritual seeds that were sown into the hearts of men and women and they have believed and accepted Jesus as Lord to now be in Him. The spiritual process follows a pattern of the natural process so that we can understand it.
CONCLUSION
So I have given you a lot of new information to think about. I have given you direct and indirect scriptures that teach us Jesus Christ is a Son who has established a new family for God. This family consists of Jesus the bridegroom, the Church his wife and some potential spiritual children. You have to study the pattern of Adam and Eve and you have to put some pieces of the puzzle together. I know there are still some that don’t see what I’m saying. Before I comclude let me quickly give you one more revelation from the Word of God. Jesus called Himself the Son of God and the Son of Man. The Hebrew word “Son” (and Jesus was a Jew) means “the builder of the family name”. In other words Jesus said I am born a Son to build a new family for God and for Adam. Everytime Jesus said He was a Son, He implies that He will have children. This basically leaves Satan and the other demons out of the new family established by Jesus and His bride. I guess I’ll stop there in order not to overwhelm you with too much new information all at once.
I hope you realize how difficult it is to give you just a little bit and not cover a subject with all the possible scriptural backing. If what I write is just my opinion it is not worth a penny, but if it is God’s Word, then you cannot dismiss it or write it off, unless you are foolish. All we have seen so far is the possibility that this child in Revelation 12 is a child of the church and Jesus. , We have learned the basic foundation for why it was necessary for a new divine spiritual family. We have not yet fully learned all of the reasons why God did this. I personally am not sure anyone but God knows all of the reasons. But, we will continue with the subject of the identity of the woman in Revelation 12 and her child in my next lesson. I pray that you are thinking with your spiritual eyes open and that you understand the Bible lessons being presented. I would recommend that you reread them over and over. Thank You for taking the time to study the Word of God with us. God Bless you and keep you until next time.
If you would like to continue reading this series, you can continue with Part 7.
Recognizing that God Uses People
Here is an interesting topic to consider when thinking about keys to understanding the Bible. One of the keys to understanding the Bible is understanding the systems and methods that God uses in our everyday lives. The Bible says God is not willing that any should perish, so we know that God wants everyone to be saved. So what is He doing to solve this problem, how does God try to reach people and get them to believe and know Him? That is a question I think many have never thought of. God is of course capable of solving the atheist and agnostic beliefs in everyone in an instance of time, by suddenly appearing and proving His existence. Why didn’t Jesus when He rose from the dead, go to everyone and prove His existence? Why did He only appear to a select few? If He would have walked into the synagogue in Jerusalem, every Jew would have had no choice but to believe on the one that they crucified. There would have been an instant establishment of a kingdom of God on the earth. There would have been no room for any other religion in the world. But, God chooses to do things differently. God has implemented a system based around people. Throughout the Bible we see that God selected certain individuals to bring His message to the rest of the people. We can see this in the life of Moses, Joshua, David, Daniel, Isaiah, Ezekiel, etc. Here is a verse that demonstrates God’s system to us:
Rom 10:14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher?
God created a faith based system of beliefs for the human race. We can see in this verse that it speaks of people calling on God to save them. But how can they call if they haven’t heard of Him. No one has ever seen God so we are all in the same boat. We can clearly see a reference in this verse to the human element in God’s plan of salvation. We can see that unless men and women preach and teach about God and His ways, no one will be able to hear, no one will be able to believe, and therefore no one will be saved. The weakest link in the chain is people. God has left the process in the hands of people. Those that teach the Word of God have been called by God, selected by God, given the responsibility by God to get His message out. No man or woman on this planet can save anyone, yet God has chosen a system that is totally dependent upon people who are imperfect and capable of failing. On one hand you can see that God is either crazy or He has great faith in the ability of His Word to accomplish change in the hearts of men.
Eph 4:11 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
We can see in Ephesians 4:11 that the verse contains one key repetitive word, this word is “SOME”. Some means not everybody, it could even mean a few, as in a small percentage. The key emphasis is that not everyone has the same function, the same level of responsibility, the same knowledge, the same spiritual growth level, the same whatever. God selected some people to specifically teach His Word. That implies the rest are responsible to learn what is taught. If everyone was a teacher no one would need to be taught, no one would need to teach. If everyone knew everything God wouldn’t need to say anything.
So the point to today’s blog is for you to recognize that God uses people. Just as he did throughout the Bible. We can see David the giant slayer, Samson, even Saul of Taurus, who wrote 2/3 of the New Testament. God has always selected specific men and women to get His message out to His people. This is still happening today, your challenge should you choose to accept it is to recognize those whom God has sent and ignore those that just went. So understanding the Bible will depend upon you understanding how God works and the systems that He has implemented and working with Him to accomplish His goals and purposes. I hope this has been a blessing to you.
The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12! Pt 2
(Ver 2.9) This is Part 2 in a series of advanced Bible lessons on the essential subject of knowing and understanding “The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12”. In the last lesson on this subject, we were introduced to several potentially new Biblical ideas and concepts. One was the revelation of God’s usage of “dependent truths” in the Bible This is where understanding one truth is completely dependent upon understanding one or more associated truths. This could also be viewed as a type of parent truth related to their child truths. Without first understanding the identity of the parent truth the children truth is not easily found or understood. We learned this was a type of inherited or passed down association of attributes from one generation to the next. I believe in the concept of finding truth as learning from a paradigm of increasing layers of building blocks of truth. The foundational layer of truth are the basic fundamental blocks that must be acquired and laid down, in order to build (grow) higher layers of more complex truths. We will never understand the top layers of complex (meat) truths without first building up the essential elementary (milk) layers first. That is what is meant by the label “Dependent Truth Relationships”. The definition of the word “dependent” simply means something that is “determined”, “influenced” or controlled by something else. Hopefully that brings us clarity to why there are so many different theories to who the woman in Revelation 12 represents.
A common error of many interpretations of the identity of the “Woman” in Revelation 12 is based upon a lack of first identifying the basic fundamental truths that are necessary for us to understand the identity of the higher level dependent truths. These basics greatly change and influence our way of thinking to see things we had never seen before. By not first understanding the very basic symbolic truths of what she is wearing, why she is wearing this, what she is standing upon, why she is standing upon it, what she is crowned with and what she is doing we will not understand correctly her identified name. However, by understanding the correct meanings of these symbols, we can easily eliminate who she cannot represent which is helpful to change our focus upon who she actually must be.
Therefore we used this concept to begin to learn listing the main featured symbols associated with the woman. We then began our search for these symbols using the crown of 12 stars from three perspectives. These were the the number 12, the stars and the crown. We then moved on to the most important symbol to identify the symbolic “Sun” as being the Lord Jesus Christ. We learned the physical sun as being the closest star to our planet earth as well as the primary natural source of warmth, light and life. We then used these natural qualities relate to spiritual Jesus. There are an overwhelming number of confirming verses in both the Old Testament and the New Testament that called and described Jesus to be our spiritual Sun. Sometimes He was called “the Sun of Righteousness”, the “Day Star”, “the Bright Morning Star”, the “Light” of the world and other similar descriptions, but all of these were synonymous terms for the sun.
The first lesson ended with verses confirming how we (the Church) are instructed by God to be clothed with “Christ Jesus”. There are other verses that we did not go over that further this claim. For example, without this spiritual clothing of Jesus we are spiritually uncovered and naked and could be viewed in an open state of shame (sin). One great verse like this is found in 2 Corinthians 5:3. I recommend that you go and study this part of the discussion for yourself. What is essential to know beyond the identity of the Sun, is to next understand why the woman must be clothed with this symbol. God could have selected and described the Sun’s relationship to the woman to be many things. But, He chose to select Him to be clothing.
Let us reverse two of the main symbols. How would the viewpoint meaning change if the woman was standing on the sun and clothed with the moon? As we gather knowledge on this subject we will begin to see how that change would cause the woman to be a completely different person. In fact I believe Satan would love this woman and not be in a war with her if she was standing upon the Sun. Remember what Lucifer said in Isaiah 14:13? He said “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God”. This statement contains many of the same elements found in Revelation 12:1. For example, the mention of a throne implies a crown. The mention of stars is a direct comparison and we know our sun is just the closest star. The location in heaven is the exact same place where this woman in Revelation 12 appears in verse 1. Finally the term “above” is the identical concept of “standing on”. We know the woman in Revelation 12 is “above” the moon. Therefore, it was Lucifer’s desire to be standing on all of God’s stars with their position being under him. Wow, this is not how it is going to turn out as we will soon discover in Revelation 12.
If you have read through the first lesson you already know where we are going next in the dependent symbolic truth relationships. I realize that there are new readers constantly to this website. Therefore if you have not read the first lesson in this series, I would strongly recommend that you go back and start with “Part 1“. We will not be able to repeat that entire lesson again today. So you need to understand foundational basic things from the beginning to better understand the new things that will be discussed today.
GOD’S SYMBOLIC MOON IDENTITY
The next focus will be to ask God to reveal to us who the identity of the symbolic moon in Revelation 12:1 represents. We will also ask Him what it means to have this object under her feet. We do this by allowing the Holy Spirit to guide us into the Bible to define and interpret itself on this subject. This approach eliminates extra-Biblical bias, assumptions and prejudicial interpretations. But before we dig deep into the Bible to explore the moon’s identity, let’s begin to understand this subject with a general overview of our naturally created moon. God teaches us in Romans verse 20 that the invisible qualities of God can be known by observing things that were created, even these declare His eternal power and Godhead. Therefore by understanding naturally created realities we should be able to learn of hidden spiritual characteristics and truths. This is true of the sun, the moon and the stars. For example, notice the photograph in this paragraph of the moon. This photograph shows us the ever changing phases of the moon. The fact that the moon can be in a full visible phase and a completely invisible phase with varying stages in between is profound. According to Malachi 3:6 God says “that He is the LORD and He does not ever change”. Therefore the moon cannot represent a symbol of God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit. The moon also has a dark side that is never seen from earth regardless of the phase revealed to our view. These are just some of the basic natural facts concerning the moon.
Another basic fact is that the moon has NO light or life of its own production. This is also very revealing to us. This knowledge further confirms that the moon cannot represent God who is LIGHT (1 Jn 1:5) and LIFE (Jn 14:6). We have just learn from features given to us by natural observation that it is impossible for the “moon” to be a symbol of God. Therefore, we have eliminated one main Bible possibility.
I have heard more than one preacher claim that the moon represents the church in Bible symbolism. They attempt to say a Christian in of themselves has no “light or life” apart from Jesus who represents the Sun. Therefore, as long as a Christian stays in the light of Jesus they will be the Light within the Dark unsaved world. While that logic could be viewed as partially correct, I do not believe we understand what it means for a woman to be standing on the “church” means. If the moon is a symbol of the church, we are in serious trouble in Revelation 12. We will find out more about it means to be “under foot” later to clear up and learn that the moon cannot be the representation of the church.
The fact that the moon primarily revolves around the earth monthly can also be a clue. If the earth is a symbol of humans, God could never revolve around us. The earth is a symbolic type of the human condition as we learned about in lesson 1. If the earth represents humans we can turn towards God and allow Him to get brighter or by the same choice turn away from God to live apart from Him, on a daily basis. When we turn away from God we are departing from the light and moving back into a realm of darkness where God is not seen. When a Christians realizes their drifting away from God they can choose to repent and turn away from darkness and then move back towards the Light (Jesus). Christians are the ones that must focus on Him (Jesus, our Sun, Light & Life). These are just further confirmations to who the moon cannot represent.
The fact that the moon is normally only viewable at night is also an important fact of truth. This is just another applicable fact that informs us the moon cannot represent God because God is Light and in Him is no darkness. Also we learn from reading 1 John 2:8 that as long as a Christian remains in Him and Him in us we are in the True Light and the darkness has past. Wow, that is an amazing conditional promise, but it is a daily choice to remain in Him and permit Him to be Lord in Us. By us discovering who the moon is not this can greatly help us determine who the moon really represents.
SUN, MOON & STARS – LAW OF FIRST MENTION
Where in the Bible are the sun, the moon and the stars first mentioned? This will help establish by God’s design what is needed to understand the subject of the sun, the moon and the stars found in Revelation 12:1. God consistently reveals fundamental truths and definitions the first time a subject is mentioned in the Bible. Many Bible teachers searched their Bibles and found the sun, moon and stars mentioned in Genesis 37:9.
This verse teaches us about a divinely inspired dream that was given to Joseph. We were introduced to this dream in lesson 1. In this dream many teachers believe that this verse in Genesis 37 proves and confirms that the woman in Revelation 12 must represent the natural nation of Israel using the 12 sons of Jacob. This dream contains a symbolic sun, a symbolic moon and 11 symbolic stars that bow down to Joseph (the 12th Star of the family). However, this interpretation is in error and does not fit the remaining patterns of descriptions for what the woman in Revelation 12 is doing with these objects on and around her body. We have already seen several problems with this application. There are only 11 stars bowing with the moon and the sun. Jacob interpreted the dream and informed us that the sun represented him, the moon Joseph’s mother and the stars were Joseph’s brothers. As we saw before, wearing Jacob, standing on Rachel and a missing star are three of the most profound conflicts.
However, this is one of the main reasons why Bible teachers believe the woman in Revelation 12 represents the natural nation of “Israel”. Many people believe this way. But before you pick up stones to cast at me for being a false teacher, realize that this dream to Joseph is NOT the first mention of the sun, moon and stars in one verse in the Bible and that disqualifies it for usage from the law of first mention interpretation rule. Let’s explore the actual first mention of the sun, moon and stars and learn what God teaches us from it.
The very first mention from God of these created objects is found In the book of Genesis chapter 1 verses 13 through 18. This is the account that describes the 4th day of creation. We can learn some very important applicable truths to Revelation 12:1 by applying the interpretation law of first mention using Genesis 1 and not the assumed Genesis 37 reference. When we do this we will discover that God gives us very specific information and clues to the spiritual identities of the symbolic sun, moon and stars. Of course the first challenge is to realize that these heavenly objects are not called by the obvious names “sun” or “moon” like they are in Revelation chapter 12. This fact has been the reason why so many Bible teachers, students and commentators have not seen these relationships before now.
In Genesis 1 the sun and the moon are hidden, by God by labeling them with alternative names of “the greater light” and “the lesser light”. This was an intentionally designed method of God to conceal them and to reveal them to when He desired us to connect them to Revelation 12. In Genesis 1:16 God declares the existence of two great lights. The first He called the “Greater Light” and the second He called the “lesser light”.
We can all understand that the “greater light” represents another name for the sun and the lesser light represents another name for the moon because they are used with the direct named “stars” that are also heavenly created bodies. But, through God’s usage of “greater” and “lesser” lights we get a direct comparison to hidden spiritual truths of the greater light is described as being much more significant and powerful than the other. We can easily understand how this is found in the natural descriptions of the sun versus the moon. The natural sun is a huge ball of consuming fire and the moon is a smaller object than the earth and is a pile of dead rocks. Wow, that description should turn several lights on inside of our minds.
I believe this Greater and lesser light descriptions correspond to a verse of information given to us by God in 1 John 4:4. This verse is where God says to the church “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world”. This is another major corresponding parallel comparison of one spiritual person being on the inside of us that is called “greater” than another “lesser” spiritual being that is in the world. That should begin to turn more lights on in our minds to see things that we may have never read in the Bible before from this perspective.
I am a firm believer that the Greater Light represents Jesus Christ as we learned in the first lesson. As 1 John 4:4 teaches us this One that is called Greater is in a Christian. However, there is someone else implied as the lesser light that we are told is in all the people in the world. Wow, isn’t that amazing that this lesser light could be on the inside of someone? This is definitely a New Covenant spiritual reality that must be understood.
Since we already have learned that the “Greater Light” = the “Sun” and these symbols represent “Jesus” who was, and is, and is to come (Rev 1:8). Ask yourself “who is greater than Jesus”? The obvious answer is no one except God the Father. Therefore, we have not narrowed the scope of the possible identity of the moon the lesser light, in the least. Unless we know who God is speaking of in 1 John 4:4. We learn this from reading the contextual verses. There are two opposing spirits being described in verses 1 through 3. One is the Spirit of Christ and the other is the spirit of “antichrist”. These are opposites like the spirit of Christ whois Good and God and the spirit of antichrist is evil and the devil. What we should begin to see is that the moon (lesser light) appears to represent Satan based upon 1 John 4:4. But, let’s continue to study the rest of this subject in Genesis 1 to confirm these truths.
Remember that Genesis chapters 1 through 3 are vastly connected to the book of Revelation. I like to call them the Book Ends of the entire Bible. What God initiates in Genesis, He completes in Revelation. Let us look at a Genesis 1 quick overview. On Day 1 of creation God creates light to shine on the earth and establishes two separations or divisions of natural and spiritual opposition. One He called “day” and the other He called “night”. These are opposites just as we learned from 1 John 4. We could call this “Day” and anti-day.
We can understand from this statement in Genesis 1:3-5 that the sun and moon must have already existed on Day 1 for any of these days and nights on earth to exist. Think about this statement from God logically, the earth rotates completely every 24 hours to fulfill a one day cycle, that cycle consists of both daylight and darkness. It takes approximately 365 of these revolutions to complete one complete cycle of the earth around the sun. This completed cycle causes the fulfillment of one year. Without the sun’s presence providing light and gravitational pull upon the earth it could not participate in a single day cycle. Again it is the earth’s consistent rotation around the sun that causes each night and day to occur.
Therefore, the sun, moon and stars must have been created in Genesis 1:1 when God’s Word said “In the beginning the A-Z God created the heavens and the earth”. The beginning represents the realm of created matter, space, and time. It is very interesting to see what I just quoted from Genesis, that you may have missed. Did you notice that I said the “A-Z” God created? That is what the original Hebrew literally says using the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. When we go and read Revelation 1:8 we will find Jesus saying I am the Alpha and the Omega (A-Z) again. God used the first and last Hebrew letters in Genesis and the first and last Greek letters in Revelation about the same person that we call Creator. Again we discover more parallels within the bookends.
I also read in Genesis 1:5 “that there was evening and morning the first day”. The fact that God specifically describes a dusk evening event occurrence and a dawn morning event occurrence proves the sun’s existence. Without a physical sun with a turning earth evenings do not occur nor do sunrises in the morning . There are other Bible lessons that are found on this website to learn more reasons from the Bible for why we should believe this way.
Now continue by reading Day 4 of creation and Genesis 1:16. We can see that God introduces a new concept of “ruling” with two “rulers”. In this verse God says that the created sun (the greater light) will rule the Day division and the created moon (the lesser light) will rule the night division that were previously established on Day 1 of creation. It is very interesting to note that these two divisions can be further divided into 12 unique measurements of time commonly called hours. I believe that it is not by accident or coincidence that God has done this. I believe that this is a purposeful, intentional act of God that reveals some new hidden spiritual things to us.
In the last lesson on this subject I introduced you to a potential new controversial Bible topic division with there being the natural nation of Israel and the spiritual nation Israel (James 1:1, 1 Peter 2:9). Each of these two nations also consist of twelve distinct divisions like day and night. These 12 divisions or sub-divisions are called tribes (Gen 49:28, James 1:1). There were 12 tribes which originated from the man Jacob renamed Israel and there were 12 apostles chosen by the man Jesus a type of Jacob. These are all prophetical patterns of night (darkness) and day (light). Two nations one natural, and one spiritual with both having 12 divisions. Adding them together we get 24, the total hours in one day which consists of the dark and light periods of a day. Do you see how this might apply to the church? Do you remember what Jesus said to the Jewish leaders of natural Israel? He said “Search your scriptures for in them you think you have eternal life but these are they that testify of me”. Wow, Jesus was informing them He was on every page of their scriptures but they could not see Him because they were in darkness. But, we in the church if we have the Light of Jesus on the inside of us can find Him everywhere if we are looking in the same verses. This is probably something new to think about and where we go from here may be even a greater challenge for many to receive.
Day and night are natural symbolic references that present spiritual realities revealed to us in the New Testament. Both of these conditions represent the spiritual state of the hearts of men and women on the earth. Day and Night are two distinct and unique kingdom divisions, one of light and one of darkness. The church is said to be in the day and the light and the rest of the world is said to be in darkness. If you use your Bible search program you will find many references to these facts in both the Old and New Testaments. Search for key words like night, day, light and darkness to start with. I also have an entire Bible series on this specific subject called “Understanding Night and Day“. I would highly recommend that you read and study this subject series to better understand the spiritual truths of the existence of two separate spiritual kingdom realities. When you do this you will find that Jesus came into the dark world as a light to be the spiritual ruler of the spiritual day (Kingdom of Light) and Satan became the ruler of the night (kingdom of darkness) after Adam sinned.
There are two spiritual kingdoms and by default all humans are born in the darkness until the Light of God shines in their hearts. Humans can’t be in both kingdoms at the same time. By default we are all born into Satan’s kingdom of darkness until we receive Jesus to be our Lord and then we are translated and reborn spiritually into the Kingdom of Light (Col 1:13). I will try to give you some of the key verses for those that want an overview or review of the subject:
1Th 5:5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
God informs the church that we are now of the Day and of the Light. The church is actually called children of the Light. We learned and should now know from other verses in the Bible that God is Light and in Him is no darkness (1 Jn 1:5). Therefore, the saved members of the church are called the spiritual children of God. Here in 1 Thes. 5:5 is a very clear reference that anyone that is not spiritually reborn into the church (not a child of God) is in the night and in the darkness. We also can see that since God has no darkness in Him, these unsaved people in the darkness are completely separated from God. Wow, by default we are not in God and God is not in us. That should concern us if we have never invited Jesus into our heart.
So again we see two parallel truths, one natural truth and one spiritual. These truths represent divisions and separations. Again we should call these divisions “two kingdoms”, one called day and one called night. We also should learn that kingdoms normally have sovereign rulers. Who are the rulers of day and night? We know from studying the Bible that Night and Day are symbolic representations of the conditions of the hearts of men and women on the earth. Therefore, who the ruler of the kingdom within our hearts is either the ruler of Light or the ruler of darkness depending upon who we allow in our heart. But by default it is Satan when no choice has been made. Let’s go through the Genesis 1 day 4 account of creation and determine how this information fits into God’s spiritual pattern found within created natural truths of day and night:
Gen 1:14 And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15 And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.
Did you notice God said that there were lights, plural that were going to divide the day from the night? What did Day and Night represent? Day and night are symbolic states of the spiritual condition (kingdom) of the hearts of humans. These lights were created to provide humans light and life upon the earth. Earth (soil) represents symbolically the spiritual hearts of men and women. Earth is where the sun shines to cause plants, trees and fruit to grow. The church is instructed to produce fruit (John 15). Where does spiritual fruit grow in man and what causes it?
Here is a quick overview of the process taught by Jesus in the Parable of the sower. Jesus taught us that spiritual fruit comes from spiritual trees and spiritual plants that grow in the spiritual ground (the hearts of mankind) by receiving spiritual Seed which is defined to be the Word of God (Mk 4, Lk 8). I could spend a lot of time familiarizing us with these basic Bible concepts, but hopefully we understand them. If not, please go read the Bible series dedicated to the subject of Understanding the Parable of the Sower. Let us continue in Genesis and see what else God says about these two different dominate lights:
Gen 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.
We can clearly see that God declares two lights to be the rulers of these two divisions called day and night. These represent exact times of personal choice. Either day or night, there is no third option or realm of existence. If you are saved you are in the Day and if you reject Jesus not believing in Him you are automatically walking in the blindness of darkness.
The Hebrew word translated as “rule” is H4475 is defined to be someone who is in a state of powerful dominion to rule over a kingdom or a government. This cannot be talking about created planetary bodies in the sky. This is so important to understand the parallels being taught to us by the Holy Spirit. These two ruling lights are representative and symbolical patterns of a much greater hidden spiritual truth.
Here again we can observe one of God’s methods of hiding truth being utilized. In this verse God refers to the “sun” by a completely new and different name, called the “greater light” and the moon, He calls the “lesser light“. This verse contains all of the essential elements found describing the symbolic woman in Revelation 12:1. We can see the Sun, the moon and the stars all being mentioned for the very first time in the Bible. Since it is the first time these celestial objects are all mentioned in the Bible, these verses will help us to understand what these objects represent in Revelation 12. This spiritual law is called the law of first mention and is a common practice that God uses to establish and reveal truth to us. So who rules the day, we found out in lesson 1 that it is Jesus Christ the Sun of Righteousness.
SATAN THE MOON/LESSER LIGHT RULER OF THE DARKNESS
We are now going to begin to search and find scriptures in the Bible related to the ruler of the kingdom of darkness. God chose to conceal Satan as the moon ruler using different techniques in the Bible. But, even if these do not use the literal name or title of the “moon” or “lesser light” that does not mean that we will be unable to see that this is what God is speaking of using different references both direct and indirect. For example, here is a good scripture that is certainly related to our current moon subject indirectly using unstated antithesis truth laws:
1 Jn 2:8 Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth.
John writing to the church tells them that the “true light” is now shining in them. They have come out of the darkness and the night because they have seen the True Light (Jesus) in the internal spiritual realm. But by the law of inverse truth, if there is a true light, then there is also an antithesis unstated “false light” truth. This is an interesting consideration to ponder. You see the moon who rules the darkness does not produce any light of itself or have any ability to shine light without the existence of the greater light called the sun. The sun as we now know is Jesus Christ and we are beginning to learn the moon is the symbol of Satan the ruler of the spiritual darkness (a kingdom without God). The moon is a false light and a lesser light and the Sun is the True Light and the Greater One. Satan must be the ruler of the darkness; Satan must be the ruler of the night by inference. The concepts of a True Light and a false light is very similar to the saying of the Christ and an antichrist. Jesus is the Christ and Satan is the antichrist. These are just basic Bible patterns and principles of opposites being demonstrated to us. Jesus is good and Satan is evil. But, let us confirm all of this in the Bible:
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.
What we see in this verse directed to the church is a fact that declares our enemy to be the rulers of the darkness of this world. Remember that darkness is a spiritual condition of the hearts of unsaved people that are in the spiritual state of night without light (God). This can only be Satan and his demonic cohorts. Just note the direct reference to someone ruling and where they are said to be the ruler of; this of course is the darkness. Also remember that darkness is simply the nonexistence of light (No God). If we take light (God) away, people will be living in darkness.
It is very important to remember that darkness is a synonymous term for night. If Jesus is the spiritual Light of the world, then those who do not know Christ are people that are in a state of spiritual darkness (night). We should also consider the fact that night is the normal time for good people to rest and evil people to do evil. According to Ephesian 6:12 Satan is the ruler of those individuals without Christ living in darkness. If you noticed in Ephesians 6:12, it said the enemy of the church was a spiritual force that consisted of “principalities” and “powers”. If we again go back to Genesis 1:16 and review the Hebrew word H4475 translated as “rule”, it means to govern and have power over. So we can see that God has given Satan the legal right to seize power over everyone still living in his realm of the darkness. But, then we could also say that for those who belong to Christ, they are now ruled by Jesus, the Light of Day and Satan does not have any legal power or authority over us unless we give it back to him and sometimes we do too easily. Let’s look at another New Testament verse about Satan:
1Co 2:6 Howbeit we speak wisdom among them that are perfect: yet not the wisdom of this world, nor of the princes of this world, that come to nought:
This verse is again speaking about Satan being called the “prince” of this world. The Greek word translated as “prince” means “ruler”, the one that is above the rest. This is not speaking of a natural or physical kingdom in this verse, but it is speaking of the order within the spiritual realm of darkness. This world is a hidden reference to the spiritual dark world that we do not perceive with our 5 natural physical senses. What we realize from this verse is that this present world is ruled by an unseen spiritual force that will come to nothing eventually. So let’s expand our knowledge with another verse:
Eph 2:2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience:
Again we see a very clear reference to a “prince” as being a spiritual ruler of the dark world system. Paul writes that we who are now in the church use to obey this prince, but now we should not. The implication is given that we (the church) are now and should remain on the outside from under the control of this dark ruler of the dark world, even though he still is working in those who are not Christians. This Greek word translated as “prince” or “ruler” is clearly stated to be a spiritual being that we cannot perceive with our 5 senses. There is a clear division being stated between two groups of people; one group in the light and one group in the darkness. Here is another witness to exactly what we need to learn today:
Col 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
We can again clearly see a distinction and division being stated between two groups of people. These are clearly stated to be two distinct and different kingdoms and the rulers of the kingdoms are stated to us indirectly and directly. You can clearly see that it directly names Jesus the Son of God to be the ruler of the kingdom that the church now exists within. Indirectly we have to make the association that the “power of darkness” is a reversed and opposite ruler to Jesus (True Light) and he must be the “false light” of the moon. This indirect ruler with power reference can only be Satan the moon we learned in Genesis 1.
We need to understand a new quality of the moon light called deception. The true light of the sun, is so intensely bright that we can see no other lights in the sky normally. But at night the moon can be in any phase or totally dark. This represents the concept of deception. Since we can clearly see the moon at night and it does reflect a light that is not its own, that makes it a type of a deceiver. We learn from reading Revelation 12:9 that Satan is described to be the one that has deceived the whole world. How does he accomplish this? He does it by presenting deceptive thoughts, ideas and suggestions into the human’s mind and if we believe them he has taken us captive. We may talk more about this later.
So we have seen several good Bible references for Satan being called the prince, ruler and power of this present spiritual world of darkness. But, we will see another related scripture found in 2 Corinthians:
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.
Both an explicit and an implied truth is given to us in this verse. We should be able to see that Jesus Christ is recognized to be the spiritual (implied Sun) light, that is trying to shine into the darkened hearts of men and women who believe not the truth. We can logically deduce from this verse that those who believe, are those who the Light of Christ has risen within their spirits and those who are not saved are those that don’t believe in the Light thus still remaining in darkness. This verse implies that those who do not see the light (Jesus) of truth do not see either by 1) their own choice or 2) they have been blocked from seeing the light by Satan’s choice. This inability to see the light can be caused by Satan due to an implied cloud like situation, shadow or other type of blockage within the human mind that causes Jesus (The Word) not to be received internally. These unseeing people are literally spiritually blinded by their own carnal thoughts, ideas or mental distractions. There is an implied spiritual reality that must be casting a shadow internally so that they are unable to see His glorious light. This verse is describing two contrasting spiritual kingdom views between those who are in the darkness versus those that can begin to see daylight.
God also reveals who is blinding those who do no believe in Christ and he is called the “god of this world”, who is again Satan. It is Satan that has blinded their minds so that they cannot see (which literally means to perceive or understand) the light (Word of God) Jesus Christ. Physical blindness is the inability to see natural light clearly, spiritual blindness is the inability to see and understand the spiritual Word of God internally. Blindness can be external or internal according to this verse. Remember Satan who rules the night is said to be the one that keeps the light from shinning into their hearts and he uses thoughts placed in their mind to defeat them.
We are learning that Satan is the symbolic moon who rules those in the darkness and keeps men and women from seeing the True Light through a concept of blocking the light. Because some people see a little false light named Satan (moon) they believe his lies, tricks and deceptions. Our physical moon in the night sky has no life or light in itself. So it is analogous to Satan who is a deceiver with no life or light in him. But do not forget about the natural concept of eclipses that do occur in our natural realm. When this happens the sun’s light can be partially or completely covered or blocked by the moon. This causes humans not to be able to see the true light of the sun for a duration. This happens even though the moon is significantly smaller than the sun. But, since the moon is so much closer to the earth it does not take an object as great as the sun to block the sun. We can learn this by holding up our hand in front of our eyes while looking at the sun. The light from the sun can by blocked by our hand the same as the much larger moon. I hope and pray that you understand these simple natural truths and are transferring this information into the parallels and patterns of the spiritual realm correctly. It would be very helpful to read these lesson more than once.
CONCLUSION
Gen 1:18 And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.
You see in Genesis 1:17 and 18 the reiteration of the truth of God’s word, the sun will rule the day and the moon will rule the night. God prophesies that He will cause two separate spiritual divisions to manifest and one will be called the kingdom of light and the other will be called the kingdom of darkness. Within these kingdoms they will be ruled by two different rulers, one significantly greater than the other. We know that God is light and in Him is no darkness. Therefore we know that God is of the day and that is where the true church now is also, because He is inside of us. These are very powerful spiritual truths that every Christian needs to thoroughly understand and I hope I have helped you to see them.
I’ll leave you in this lesson, with this final bit of information. The fourth day of creation was a prophetic event within human history. God declares that a day with the LORD is as a 1000 years and a 1000 years are even as one day (2 Peter 3:8). If you do the math you will find that Jesus was born 4000 years after Adam was created. In other words Jesus came to the earth on the 4th day of creation as foretold by Genesis 1:16 to bring a spiritual Light to rule men and women and to provide an option out of Satan’s kingdom of darkness. When Jesus came into the dark world as a light He established a spiritual division of rulership that God called Day, meaning He left Satan out in the darkness. This is why the Bible says if Satan would have known what was going to happen, he would not have crucified the LORD of Glory.
Now we have established the identity of two of the major key dependent symbols in the book of Revelation and we should now be able to see clearer the identity of the woman suspect being described causing the other women suspects to move further away from clear focused possibility.
Rev 12:1 And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman (????) clothed with the sun (Jesus Christ), and the moon (Satan) under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:
Are you becoming a great detective and seeing the clues provided by God? So far I have just filled in two of the main dependent symbolic clues and already we have a greatly reduced set of possible suspect candidates for the true identity of the woman in Revelation12. In fact in my mind she can only be one woman in the list of suspect candidates. But, we will continue the study of the identity of the woman in Revelation 12 and hopefully we can all be united and all come to the same conclusion after viewing all of the facts of evidence provided by the Word of God. In my next lesson I will explore further evidence in the Bible for who the moon represents and we will hopefully begin to understand why the woman in Revelation 12 is standing on this moon symbol. We will learn that this is a major clue establishing the moon’s (Satan’s) prophesied position to be under the feet of the Church.
If you want to continue reading this series go to Part 3.
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