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Understanding Spiritual Gifts Part 3 – The Gift of Faith

(Ver 1.0) This is “Part 3” in a study series concerning God’s Spiritual Gifts. This series was initiated to answer a reader’s question on the subject of describing and understanding the 9 “Spiritual Gifts” found and defined to us primarily in 1 Corinthians 12. But in order to understand this subject we discovered in the introduction that we all have the basic need to obtain the knowledge of the fundamentals of the subject first. If you have not already studied this first and second lessons, it is strongly recommended that you please go back to “Part 1” before continuing with today’s lesson. Those concepts will largely not be repeated in this lesson.

Also, in the previous lessons we went over a quick overview of just some of the major Spiritual Gifts that were given to us (humanity or the church) by God. Therefore, if you have not read “Part 2” it is highly recommended, at least go back there before you continue with today’s lesson on the subject of the very specific gift of what God called the “Spiritual Gift of Faith”.

You may notice that we may not teach every subject in the order that the Lord listed them in the Bible. Rather we will endeavor to be led by the Spirit to teach each subject as we believe we are led. Therefore, this is our reason for learning about the “Gift of Faith” today, rather than taking them in the order as listed in 1 Corinthians 12.

Since I assume everyone has now read the first two lessons, my belief is that you should recall that we have already found a list of 15 spiritual gifts given to humanity and the church by the Spirit. Hopefully, you also remember the Greatest Spiritual Gift of God was Jesus Christ, the Spiritual Word of God made flesh (John 1:1-14, John 3:16). And this gift offers the Gift of Salvation to all of humanity. We will find out soon that not many spiritual gifts are offered to unsaved people. Receiving Jesus is a prerequisite to receiving other gifts given by the Holy Spirit.

Next, we reviewed the list of 9 Spiritual gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:8-10. These gifts were named as the 1) Word of Wisdom, 2) Word of Knowledge, 3) Faith, 4) Healing, 5) Working of Miracles, 6) Prophecy, 7) Discerning of Spirits, 8) Divers Tongues, and 9) Interpretation of Tongues. We also should have learned that all of these 9 gifts given by the Holy Spirit, were intended to be used through His anointed people in their ministry works, to either get the unsaved saved; or to build-up and edify the church body.

We can see this evidence very clearly in Acts 2 when God poured out His Spirit on the 120 men and women in the upper room in Jerusalem. This occurred 50 days after the feast of first-fruits where Jesus was raised from the dead, after being slain as the Passover Lamb for all humanity. However, the gifts of the Spirit weren’t first given to the church anywhere that I have seen, until the time of another major feast of Israel called “Pentecost” when all of the Jewish people were supposed to be in Jerusalem. And there were many people there in Jerusalem on this day traveling from other surrounding nations. Many of these people spoke other languages and they heard those in the upper room that were first filled with the Holy Spirit speak directly in one of God’s 9 gifts called “divers tongues”. Each of these visiting people from these nearby nations heard the upper room people speaking in their native languages while glorifying God. As a result of this manifestation of just one of the great 9 gifts sent from God, He got the attention of over 3000 and because of this amazing sign, these believed God and got saved. Read about it in Acts 2. It was real, and it actually happened this way.

I will stop here and point out that many people that say they are Christians that live now in the current times of last days churches have “ceased” believing that the gifts of God are still in effect and are being used by God now. Some of labeled these types of Christians as “Cessationists”. They simply believe the gifts were poured out to the Apostles in the beginning of the church age because they needed it for the church to get established until the Bible was written and published. After the Bible was made available, these gifts were not needed, according to their beliefs. But this belief does not match the Word of God nor the personal experiences of many. There are still many people today who do believe in them and operate in these gifts as the Lord leads.

Then in 1 Corinthians 12:28 we further discovered where God listed 5 new spiritual gifts that were joined to 3 gifts in common with the previous 9. These were 1) Apostles, 2) Prophets, 3) Teachers, 4) Miracles, 5) Gifts of Healings 6) Helps 7) Governments and 8) Diversities of Tongues. As was stated there are 3 overlapping gifts in this new list of 8 Spiritual Gifts only raising our total spiritual gifts so far, to 15 = (1 + 9 + (8 – 3)). The fact that the two lists contain duplications, simply helps us join the two lists together and unite them to learn there are definitely more than 9 spiritual gifts.

Instead of exploring the Bible for additional spiritual gifts (and there are others) we are going to focus today on the single subject of the Spiritual Ministry “Gift of Faith”.

Understanding Supernatural FAITH as a Spiritual Ministry Gift
that is Different than Other Types of Faith

One very important thing that must be understood about the list of the 9 Spiritual Gifts found in 1 Corinthians 12, is about the subject of the “Gift of Faith”. God through Paul specifically lists “Faith” in this list as the third spiritual gift. But this is the exact same Greek word pistis (G4102) used in other Bible verses like Galatians 5:22 and Ephesians 2:8 that says, “The Fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy Peace, Long suffering, Gentleness, Goodness, Faith”, and “By Grace are you saved through Faith”. Uh oh? Here we find two different types of faiths than the spiritual Gift of Faith and yet many preachers think they are all the same because of the same word being used.

This would be like us saying we all have the exact same identical “Blood” and ignoring the basic truth that there are several types of Blood. For example, in the human blood types there is 1) A Positive, 2) A Negative, 3) B Positive, 4) B Negative, 5) AB Positive, 6) AB Negative, 7) O Positive and 8) O Negative. Yet all of these are called “Blood”. Just as medical professionals cannot mix up blood types, so also preachers cannot or must not mix up Faith Types.

So there is a major conflict rising again about the subject of “Faith” types that must be rightly divided to resolve the mystery in the church that not all faith is the same. Remember, we can read Faith is the third gift in the list of 9 and it is surrounded by the gifts of 1) the Word of Knowledge and 2) the Word of Wisdom are listed before it, and then 4) the Gift of Healing and 5) the Gift of Miracles followed after it. What does that tell us and what questions should come to our minds? First question is that “How can this gift of “Faith” be the same type of Faith that is necessary to receive salvation as is clearly stated in Ephesians 2:8?

Also, how can the “Gift of Faith” be the same type of faith that is produced from a seed that grows roots and a vine with branches to produce a “fruit” called “Faith”? This too is a major problem and cannot be the same type of “faith” as the other two that were previously mentioned.

Do you see the problem? If God gives us the faith to be saved as a gift, why isn’t everyone saved? Or are they? It should be very obvious that everyone on earth is not saved because we can see too much evil, too many differing beliefs in who they worship as their god, and too many people who don’t even believe or claim that there is a God? Therefore, we know the “Gift” of faith is NOT for salvation to go to heaven when we die.

However, this word “Faith” is the exact same Greek word (G1402 pistis) that is found in over 200 verses.  God is definitely connecting all 243 verses containing the Greek word G1402 together like the subject of “Blood”. But does that mean because they are connected, they are all the same type of “Faith” used for the same purpose and applying to the same application?  No, it does not!      

What we are about to discover is that there are various types of faith and applying the “Gift of Faith” to be the same as all other types of faith like the “Salvation Faith” only causes spiritual conflict and confusion. Any time there is an apparent conflict that occurs in scripture, it does not reveal God made a mistake, it only reveals that we do not understand the subjects being discussed yet. Here is just a short list of the types of “Faith” that come from the Greek word G4102:

  1. Carnal/Natural Human Faith (2 Thessalonians 3:2). Every human “lives” by Faith but this type of faith is based upon only the 5 senses type of learned faith, and a Christian’s faith is only based upon God’s Words (2 Corinthians 5:7).
  2. Saving Faith (Ephesians 2:8) The Faith that comes from hearing the Word of God to be saved according to Romans 10:17.
  3. Fruit of Faith (Galatians 5:22). Spiritual fruit of faithfulness to continue to serve God and remain faithful to His Spirit only as our husband, thus not committing adultery with devils (2 Corinthians 6:15).
  4. Gift of Faith (1 Corinthians 12:9). This is our subject faith type and it is only given by God for ministering to others, it is not for personal use that I have seen in operation or read in the Bible.

Let’s first begin by stating the obvious that the spiritual “Gift of Faith” is different from the “Saving Faith” needed to be saved as well as the type of spiritual fruit Faith to remain faithful to God. And is certainly not related to the natural human faith we are all physically born with. Why is this?

We can understand this if we see how all 9 Spiritual Gifts in this list are only given to saved Christians for the Holy Spirit’s usage of ministering to others people as we should have learned in 1 Corinthians 12:7. In this verse God reveals that these 9 gifts are given by the Holy Spirit to “profit and benefit” the church body as a whole and these are not used to minister to the individual Christian for self-help. The one that is being used by God to help someone else is because God has sovereignly manifested as a Gift to be given to another person that God desires to bless for future service in His Kingdom.

For example, I believe Peter was used by the Holy Spirit with potentially a combination of gifts. These were, possibly the “Gift of Faith” and/or the gift of the “Working of Miracles”. We can find this account of the ministry of the Holy Spirit through Peter in Acts chapter 3. Here Peter is at the temple gate called Beautiful and he sees a lame man who is begging and he has been in this condition since birth. These types of situations certainly cause the mercy of God to be extended to certain people. Remember God knows the hearts of every person and God sees their potential future and will help them to fulfill the plan He has for their lives out of compassion and mercy. But we must know this will not usually be offered again. This is normally a one-time gift, because God expects all Christians to grow their own faith to receive for any future needs.

Peter told this man to look on us and said to him “silver and gold have I none, but such as I HAVE, I give to you”. Apparently, Peter acknowledges that it is not him alone that is about to heal the man. To “have something” implies that this “something” has been previously given to him and it is logical to think it came from the Holy Spirit because he was just Baptized with the Spirit in the previous Chapter.

Then Peter claimed this man was healed by “Faith” in the name of Jesus in Acts 3:16. In this verse Peter tells the Jewish people that this lame man had been healed by the name of Jesus and “faith” in His name. But it is the last part of this verse that helps us to believe this was the direct operation of God’s gift of Faith.

In the last part of Acts 3:16 Peter says, “Yea, the faith that is by Him (Jesus) has “given” this perfect soundness in the presence of you all”. Do you see how this could be describing “a gift” that is being “given” by Jesus through Peter to a lame man in the presence of a lot of other Jewish people to help them all believe in Jesus? This is how the Holy Spirit operates many times as He desires because He knows the best choices in every situation.

He can give one gift by supernatural choice to bless one lame man, and this causes many others to believe in Jesus through Peter’s gift of Faith or the working of miracles.  If you notice in this story a lot of people believed in Jesus after seeing this miracle (Acts 4:4). Almost everyone with the exception of the majority of the Jewish religious temple leaders believed in Jesus and the church grew by thousands because of one gift of a miracle.

By God gifting a lame man to walk who was lame from birth, is an undeniable supernatural miracle and anyone who had come into the temple had seen this man for years and years begging. This means this man’s gift of healing through a disciple of God caused the church to grow significantly because many people could hear the Gospel about Jesus Christ to receive “Saving Faith”.

So, in Acts 2 and in Acts 3 after the Holy Spirit was given on Pentecost, there were signs and wonders being operated through the church and as a result many thousands of people in Jerusalem were saved. There are certainly other examples in the Bible but we only touched upon 2 barely, to get you acquainted with this subject of the gift of “Faith” being completely different than the Fruit of Faith, the Saving Faith and the normal carnal faith unsaved people constantly live by.

Remember God says in Romans 1:17 “The just shall live by Faith”. If we had to wait for God to manifest a gift of Faith to live everyday we would all be in serious trouble. This is just further confirmation that the faith we live by daily is not the same as the “Gift of Faith” that God gives to minister to help others. I hope this gave you a good foundation for doing further study on this subject on your own. Or if you have specific questions, you are free to leave them in a comment.

Conclusion

So, we have seen how the Gift of Faith is not the same as other types of “Faith”. The Gift of Faith is given to God’s servants as He sovereignly chooses. Man operates in this gift by “Faith” because only God knows what will happen and how it will happen.  This is a clear cooperative arrangement between covenant partners for the betterment and growth of the church. Never forget that the Bible describes God has “longsuffering”, this means He has supernatural patience waiting in kind and compassionate love for His people to agree with Him and work with Him.

Not everyone operates in the gifts of the spirit especially in a church service. Most likely it will be the “Pastor” or an “Evangelist” that operates in many of the spiritual gifts as the “Lord Wills”. But it does not help the one that is being used in cooperation with God’s will. The servants (you and I) are never above their Master (Jesus Christ). Jesus is the “Head” of the church and He is the one guiding us and we are supposed to be His followers listening for and expecting His voice to guide us.

The Word of God in 1 Corinthians 14:1 says for us to “Follow after Love, and desire Spiritual gifts”, but then God says to us “rather to prophesy”. We can clearly see a mixture of spiritual fruits and gifts of the Spirit. But it should be obvious the Love of God and our spiritual fruit is not in the list of the 9 spiritual gifts. This further confirms the faith in fruits is not the faith in gifts!

Hope and pray this was a blessing to you. Whether you agree or disagree I love you and want “Peace’ to rule our hearts and minds. Let’s all do what we just read in 1 Corinthians 14:1 and “Follow after LOVE”. If you have ever had God use you in the gift of Faith, it would be a pleasure to hear your experience to encourage others.

Thank you for taking the time to read and study this Bible lesson. Please be a Berean Bible student and go and study every subject taught for your own self edification. Prove all things by the scripture whether they be so or not. God bless you and until next time, know Jesus is coming Soon!

Are You Saved? Do you Know Jesus? Life is Short! Jesus wants to Know You! Please come and get to Know Him!

Faith Exam Part 2 – No Faith, Lacking Faith or Real Working Faith

(Ver 1.0) This is Part 2 in the Bible study series concerning God’s New Covenant commandment to examine ourselves, whether we be in the Faith, prove your own selves (2 Corinthians 13:5). If you have not read the Introduction to this subject, it is strongly recommended that you begin your study with “Part 1” first. From reading our series foundational scripture verse, we learned that “we must examine ourselves, to see if we be in the faith”. This command proves concretely that there are potentially many Christians that believe they are in faith, when they are apparently not in the real type of working Faith, Jesus is looking for when He returns. Otherwise, why else would we need to do a self “Faith” exam? Never forget that this verse was written to saved “Christians” and not to the lost unbelieving world that obviously does not yet even have a faith level to become saved from going to hell. What we have been learning is that God’s true “Faith” ranges from zero (none) to great faith and in varying measures, levels and degrees everywhere in between. But also, we find that there is a feigned or fake type of faith that we see in the Bible.

A fake faith is often a person who says and believe that they have faith yet they know nothing about this subject of faith to determine if their belief is true.  Just because someone says they have faith does not mean it is a true faith that works and receives from God. Perhaps you have asked, “Sister so-and-so had faith but they died, why?”. I don’t know the answers to that question for everyone, but I do know that it was never God that failed and this only leaves the cause of failure upon some aspect found in the natural realm.

Do you remember being in school and learning a subject like math, grammar, science, history, etc.? We would all listen to the teacher’s lecture and then read and study the course textbook. We might all think that we really heard, knew and understood fully what was taught to us about the subject. But when it came down to it, it was the teacher’s exam that proved whether we learned the subject or not. If we have never taken a class on the subject of true Bible “Faith”, why would anyone of us assume we have a real faith? No subject is learned without study (2 Tim 2:15).

If we were given a “Faith” test today, what grade level based upon the standard of our God would be passing? Do you believe you are passing? It might be surprising to know that God’s level of passing is 100% perfect. Uh oh? That sounds like we are all failing, and from the human view point we can never be good enough. But God made a greater way for us than trusting n our own efforts to save us. God’s 100% requirement was fulfilled in Jesus Christ. And if we get into Him by faith, we are able to take advantage of His works.

However, there is more to it than this human Grace viewpoint of us having real working Faith. You see, what we need to know is that we may have super great faith in one area of our life, but almost zero faith in another essential life area. This is why taking God’s faith exam is not just a one-time Satan test that if we pass the test, he will never test or try our faith again in any other area of life.

Do you remember Satan’s temptation trail of Jesus found in Matthew 4? Didn’t Satan test Jesus three times in 3 different areas of human life. The first temptation was on the physical human needs for things like essential food. The second temptation involved a test for God’s protection by being asked to jump from the top of the temple and trust the angels to save him. The third temptation was clearly a spiritual test to get Jesus to worship him and in exchange Satan would give Jesus all the kingdoms of the world.

In ever “faith” test Jesus overcame the devil by quoting scriptures. The answer to every human test in life is the same for us. Therefore, if you do not know scripture and are able to quote it when tested in every area of life it is ordinarily too late to begin to build your faith in that area to win. Jesus never told the devil, wait a minute while I look up that verse. No, He simply quoted it from His heart and that is a true saving faith example.

So, we are learning the devil is persistent. In fact, in the temptation of Jesus, the Bible says Satan left Jesus only to return at a more opportune time. Satan was coming back to test Jesus again. This is the example that Christ set for us to follow in the area of true saving faith for every part of our life.

Today there might be some doubts about our salvation, tomorrow the temptation could come by some sickness, the next day there could be some major financial crisis, and then maybe a test that comes upon our family. There will be many tests and having real faith for each one is not just recommended but we will find it is essential.

What we will soon discover is that living by faith (Hab 2:4), walking by faith (2 Cor 5:7), fighting the good fight of faith (1 Tim 6:12) and overcoming the world by faith (1 Jn 5:4) is a daily requirement. This should help us to understand why a “self-Faith” exam is probably a “best-practice” to try to do every day. It really won’t take as much time as you may think once you know what to ask yourself.

Faith Self-Exam – Real Versus Fake?

Today we are going to further investigate one essential aspect of the subject of Faith. In performing any self-exam to determine if we have God’s defined “True Faith”, we should begin with the basic question “Am I in real Faith” or a “fake pretend Faith” for my situation facing me now? We can begin this exam by asking ourselves some basic faith-based questions? These are our questions.

  1. “Have I asked God what to do in this situation?”
  2. “Did I ask the all-knowing God to teach and show me how to overcome in this situation?”
  3. “Did I ask God for scriptures to help me in my problem?”
  4. “Have I heard His answer?” Yes, continue, No, wait!
  5. “Have I learned, memorized and meditated upon these scriptures so that I can stand firm in confidence upon them?”.
  6. “Now do I have peace in my heart?”
  7. “Or am I in fear about anything?”
  8. “Or am I worried or anxious about anything?”

Can we name at least two or three key verses and scripture references where God promised or revealed what we are believing and asking Him for? Did we claim these verses as His will for us (me)? If we can’t name the verses and quote them from our heart, we are probably not in faith. If we have a hard time thinking of the verses or saying the verses automatically, we are probably not in faith (Rom 10:8). Real Bible Faith is always built upon a firm foundation of the knowledge of God’s written or spoken Word (Rom 10:17) that pertains to Him meeting our relational, physical, mental, emotional or financial challenge of need which we are faced with currently in this world.

For example, if we are feeling very weak, tired and unable to do what is needed to be emotionally, physically or mentally accomplished today, we can stand upon Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me”. If we need physical healing, we can claim 1 Peter 2:24, “By whose stripes I was healed”. If we feel like we are losing our mind or our memory we can claim 1 John 2:20 which says “But we have an unction (anointing) from the Holy One and we know all things”. Or if we have been tormented by a great fear, God promises us “I have not given you a spirit of fear”, but rather I gave you “power, love and a sound mind” in 2 Timothy 1:7. These are just sample verses. It is best to be led by the Spirit of God to find the verses that apply to our personal situations.

What we are learning is that there are thousands of scriptural promises found in the Bible and God has claimed that “Every Promise is Yes and Amen” to Christians (2 Cor 1:20). But this implies we need to take fast hold to our promise not letting them slip and go from our hearts, in order to cause them to come to pass.

In other words, God’s promises are not always, easily, or automatically obtained just falling on us without a spiritual fight. These are only taken by “Faith” and “Faith” is only possible when we know exactly what God has said on the subject that we are facing. Remember we have spiritual enemies that are against us and these giants are trying to stop us from possessing the promise land.

Besides the many Christians that believe they are in faith but can’t name one Bible verse by heart, there are other problems that can cause faith failures. If you recall in Part 1, we learned about a kind of faith called “feigned” or “fake”. It was mentioned in 2 Timothy 1:5 when Paul was writing about “unfeigned” faith which represents God’s “Real Faith”. The Real Faith is the opposite of “fake” or “pretend” faith.

This verse clearly taught us about the existences of these two kinds of faith. Paul must have run into the “fake” faith before if he was praising some others for their “real faith”. Hopefully, you recall this but if not, please review “Part 1” because it usually takes the average person at least 7 or 8 times of hearing something to build it into their heart.

This subject today maybe a potentially controversial topic and it has probably caused heated debates between several differing Christian groups and denominations. However, we will attempt to only remain in a fair and balanced view of the scriptures and ignore human traditions. It would be very wise if everyone would take their own Bible to read along with the verses and use these to confirm or reject this topic based upon what the Holy Spirit speaks from His Word while reading.

No Faith or Lacking Faith
 as Contrasted with Real Faith

As we can read from the lesson title, our main subject is about three measures of faith we will call “No Faith”, “lacking Faith” or “Real Faith”. These conclusions are based upon the words spoken by Jesus in Luke 8:25 when He asked His disciples, “Where is your faith?”  This same event in a raging storm is written in Matthew 8:26 where Jesus is recorded to say, “Why are you so fearful, you of little faith”. Either expression indicates a faith level that was lacking the desired effectiveness amount that Jesus anticipated for His close following disciples to possess already.

These two statements of Jesus represent God’s expectation for all humans is not to live in fear or doubt and to choose to remain in faith despite the observable circumstances. Remember these statements were made before the disciples were born again and yet Jesus still expected them to believe what He said and act like what He said was true, which it was. This substantially teaches us that being born-again is not necessary to possess faith. In fact, it is having real faith that causes us to be born-again.

What this further teaches is that all humans have the potential to have real faith for salvation even before they are saved. This is actually confirmed in Romans 10:9-10. These verses claim “If we believe God has raised Jesus from the dead, and we confess Him as Lord, we will be saved”. So “Faith” is a requirement to become saved and this implies it is a further requirement to remain saved, especially since the New Testament commands us “To Walk and Live by Faith” (2 Cor 5:7, Rom 1:17).

Another key to understanding “real faith” is that believing for your salvation to become “born-again” was the most incredibly important step in your believing God journey. As we know now, our spiritual new birth required our contributing and participating “real faith” (Eph 2:8) to receive God’s Grace gift of salvation. This salvation consisted of His working great power to save those that believed (Jn 3:16) when He raised Christ from the dead (Eph 1:19-20). We can also conclude from this information that real faith or even faked faith can still exist in anyone regardless of being saved or yet unsaved.

With this in mind we can recall the Old Covenant nation of natural Israel. These people were written as examples for the church to learn from according to 1 Corinthians 10:11. Then we find two contrasting examples of people with faith and those without in this same nation. For example, Hebrews 11 provides us a long list of names that were illustrations of “Real Faith’ samples for us to follow. But in Hebrews 4:2 there were people in the wilderness that heard the Word of God but did not mix any real faith with God’s words to release His power. All of these people never received the promises of God. Wow! Which group are we in? This is our part to decide in the faith exam for today’s lesson.

A Modern-Day Extreme Grace Messages to Avoid

These statements cause some extreme Grace teachers to raise their eyebrows in shock. Some of these types of people will quickly turn this lesson off as a false teaching, without even reading everything that is revealed from the Bible. This extreme Grace belief is being taught by several grace teachers that believe when a human is born again, they were given God’s gift of faith to believe and therefore have obtained all of the fruits of the Spirit as a gift from God.

According to these teachers, they believe the fruits of the spirit included the completed “full” and “mature” fruits of love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance (Gal 5:21-22). But is this true? If it is then it appears that God can be accused of “favoritism” by giving those that will be saved the “beliefs” needed to be saved. This strongly implies that all of the people that are already in hell, were not given this faith to be saved. This is a belief that is parallel with extreme “election”.

Hopefully, you can see this cannot be a true belief, since it contradicts with 2 Peter 3:9 which says, “God is not willing any should perish” and John 3:16 that teaches us “whosoever believes will be saved”. This belief reverses human involvement in their salvation and any participation of “a human’s freewill choice to believe”. This belief also completely ignores the statement made by Jesus claiming when He is lifted up on the cross, He will draw “all men” to be saved according to John 12:32.

Notice the KJV translators placed the word “faith” in their list of spiritual fruits and too many teachers believe that this spiritual fruit is the same as our “faith” or our choice to believe during salvation (Eph 3:8). According to all of the scriptures that we should know on this subject of faith, does this make sense? Or are there contradictory verses that disagree and claim they are different types or categories of “faith”?

Remember what Jesus said to us in John 3:12. In this verse Jesus said, if I tell you of earthly things and you do not believe, how then can I tell you of spiritual things?” Jesus has just connected the truth that naturally created things are parallels into understanding spiritual things. God confirms this belief in Romans 1:21 when He declares the “unseen spiritual things concerning the Spirit of God are clearly seen in the things that were created, even His eternal power and Godhead”. That was a simple paraphrase, but the essence of the message is solid. We are learning and confirming “naturally created things” are windows into understanding unseen greater spiritual realities. In other words, understanding the created natural fruit processes are essential to understanding any and all spiritual fruit developments.

There is so much, so quickly ignored about the simple facts of what natural fruit is, how natural “fruit” grows and matures, where natural fruit comes from and finally how this information applies to discussing spiritual fruits. According to the Law of Moses in Genesis, all created natural fruit comes from fruit bearing trees that bring forth their fruit in season. Moses further describes these fruit trees saying, “they yield fruit whose seed is within itself”. This is a basic law of “seed time and harvest” (Gen 8:22) where everything God created reproduces after its own kind.

But notice how fruit is described to occur. God spoke in Genesis 1:11, “Let the earth bring forth trees yielding “fruit”. Do you see the natural process of seed planting, tree growth and finally fruit production?”  The fruit was not automatically fully on the tree. In fact, there was no created tree, only a planted “seed” of God’s Word spoken to the soil. The growing and sprouting tree had to increase from God’s seed to maturity in order to produce eatable fruit. If you understand this process fruit normally begins as a flowering type of bud, and then little by little it grows into maturity over the course of time before it can be eaten. This is why God created fruit trees long before He created the man to eat from them. Remember what we are learning is that spiritual fruit growth is almost identical to physical fruit production. Jesus taught us this concept in John 3:12 saying understanding earthly things helps us to understand unseen spiritual things like fruit.

Therefore, these extreme Grace teachers, teach since the “fruit” of “faith” is part of the new creation requirement for salvation and of being born again, they conclude too quickly that we must also already have all of the “faith” that we will ever need. This thinking is usually based upon beliefs in certain scriptures like these:

2 Peter 1:3 – According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: 

2 Corinthians 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

Galatians 5:22 – But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith

Romans 12:3 –  For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith

These are just a few scriptures that are being misapplied to the subject of faith to attempt to make them say things that they do not actually say. We will be covering a lot of other scriptures besides those that we have mentioned about “fake faith”, along with the verses of “no faith” and “little faith” verses that we have already seen and are being ignored like Jesus and Paul did not know what they were talking about.

And these belief conclusions do not balance with countless other scriptures that must be ignored or explained away. However, many teach from scriptures like these, that when we are born-again of the Word and the Spirit of God, we have become new creations and we are now “wholly complete” in our human spirits. We can all see this clearly from 2 Corinthians 5:17 where God says, “all the old things have passed away, and everything has become new” but don’t forget this only applies to those “in Christ”.

Praise the Lord we can all agree so far. But this is where things are beginning to be taken to an extreme position of potential great error. Some of these ministers teach that “faith” is a fruit of the Spirit of God and therefore, we have all the faith in our spirit that will ever need since we are now one “spirit” with God according to 1 Corinthians 6:17. We hopefully can agree upon the verse being referenced is true, but are some jumping to conclusions without the supporting evidence?

Also notice that some might be able to use the verse in 2 Peter 1:3 to help confirm this belief because God has written to us that He has already given to us “all things that pertain to life and godliness”. This appears on the surface when taken out of context to confirm the belief that we already have all the faith ever needed for everything in life we encounter. But is this belief really true?

Then some may take Romans 12:3 that also appears in the KJV Bible translation to say God has given to “every man” THE measure of faith. Some may begin to be more convinced that this automatic faith possession is actually true, and that all Christians already have all “the” faith they need?  

Notice teachers who teach this belief many times use our “faith” used to believe for receiving our salvation, mental or physical healing, natural or spiritual aid to be the same type of “faith” as used in Galatians 5:22-23 as if “salvation faith” in Christ was the same as one of the 9 fruits of the Spirit. That is absolutely not true! Why?

It is because the “fruits of the spirit” are all human choices we make daily. For example, having the fruit of “Love” while it is found in our spirit internally because God’s Love has been shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit as revealed in Romans 5:5, is not the same as us choosing to demonstrate it externally as seen “fruit” that is shown to the lost world? How many Christians demonstrate the wrong reactions when confronted by evil people that is far from “Love”.

This is called the conflict between the “flesh” and the “spirit”. God speaks of this conflict extensively in Romans 8. Every Christian is dealing with these opposing choices each and everyday and we all can easily slip to choose incorrectly. Therefore, having a fruit of Joy is not inward, it is being joyous outwardly even when the world is throwing evil at us. So, it is the same as saying we have “Peace” inwardly then when chaos comes to try to destroy us, we suddenly in turmoil unable to have the ability to remain calm. We must learn to develop outward fruits like showing and being “peaceful” and this is a spiritual growth process.

The same is true for our primary subject of “examining our faith”. Saying we have “Faith” is not the same as being “faithful” to God, His Word and each other. No, saving “faith” is an internal experience from God’s Word (Seed) being planted in our spirit. Real Faith only comes by hearing the Word of God (Romans 10:17). This is not the same as showing God that we will be externally faithful to Him in your external actions, choices, words, and lifestyles. Therefore, the fruit of Faithfulness is not internal “Faith” no matter what anyone tries to teach you. We must have true and living “Faith” to receive anything from God which has been given to us by His Grace. How then do we get this faith? Is it automatic like some teach? Have you “heard” every verse taught and found in the Bible? If the answer is no, you do not have all the faith that you could have.

Please let us quickly learn how to study the Bible. The Greek word translated as “Faith” occurs in around 244 verses of the New Testament. Did these Bible teachers that teach some of these verses mean that we already have all the necessary faith, look to see what else is written about the subject of Faith? All the verses must be balanced together correctly. We will hopefully get into this later in more detail.

But let us consider just one verse that contradicts for this part of the lesson. If these isolated verses on “Faith” were really truly interpreted for their application faith exists completely after the new birth, then why would God command us to examine ourself to see if we be in the faith? Remember this is the key verse in 2 Corinthians 13:4 for this series. Can we all agree this verse alone is a clear contradiction to their teaching?

To be told specifically to do our own self-examination of our faith to make the determination, “if I have the Faith that is necessary”, would cause God to look stupid in the light that people now say God has already given us “All Faith”? But also, do not forget that “IF” God has already given to all Christians “the Measure of Faith” that He requires, why would Jesus say in Luke 18:8, “Nevertheless, when the Son of Man returns, will He find faith?” Jesus is God in the flesh and He can’t and won’t contradict Himself! Otherwise, God becomes a “liar” like Satan.

It appears that there are too many Bible teachers embracing “selective scripture theologies built in isolation of other scriptures on the subject”. This is a very dangerous way to study and teach the Bible. By taking specific verses ignoring contextual content and related verses anyone can try to make the Bible say anything they like.

It is very easy to think one verse says something it does not say and then go and twist other verses to conform with the wrong belief. This occurs when we teach only the verses that fits our belief narratives while ignoring the many other Bible verses that potentially have direct content that proves their beliefs not to be actual balanced truth. When these teachers become locked into their beliefs and are unwilling to see other Bible verses on the subject of “faith” they become practically impossible to reach or teach. Perhaps you have heard some refer to them as “Concrete Believers”, meaning their beliefs are thoroughly mixed up and firmly set.

People who follow these kinds of Bible teachers must not be good “Berean Bible” students as God called the “more noble” people found in Acts 17:11. In this verse Paul was speaking of two types of people. One type in Thessalonica who were not very receptive to the teachings of Paul, and others like those in Berea that were considerably more opened minded to hear the new Words being taught. But then they did their own study in the Law to confirm if they were true.  Today, please let us all make the decision to become a true “Berean” open minded type of follower of Christ.

Faith in the Parable of the Sower

One of the most important parables ever taught from the mouth of Jesus is called the “Parable of the Sower” by many. But the main focus of the parable seems to be the “Seed” which is the Word of God. Since we are focused upon the subject of “Real Faith” and we should now know that this only comes from “Hearing the Word of God” (Rom 10:17), we should easily understand this parable is designed to teach us about “real faith” that only appears in 1 out of 4 types of human heart. Therefore, we know the other 3 soil types of the human heart were no faith or lacking faith that did not allow God’s Word to take root and produce “fruit” in their spirit. In other words, only 1 type of soil called good ground produced positive ending fruit and then sometimes only 30-fold, another time only 60-fold, and yet another 100-fold. Do you see the connection to varying degrees of human faith to receive?

In this parable Jesus said plainly, if you do not know this parable how will you know any other parable. Jesus places such important emphasis on this teaching that He claims us understanding the “Parable of the Sower” correctly is the key that unlocks all other parables and even other subjects of the Bible:

Mark 4:13 – And he said unto them, Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables?

Mark 4:14 – The sower soweth the word.

We need to know that Jesus was the original “Sower” in this parable. The “seed” that was being “sown” by Jesus is the “Word of God”. This makes God’s Words spiritual seeds that produce “New Life” when correctly received. This is because the “soils” in this parable are human hearts. But notice that this “Sower” (Jesus) in this parable never forced God’s “Seeds” (Words) into any human heart. In fact, Jesus the “Seed Sower” never even plows, cleans or prepares one heart soil type. He is simply sharing the Words of God to everyone equally and fairly.

This clearly implies it is the human’s responsibility to prepare, guard and protect their own heart’s soil. For example, the soil type 1 called the “Way Side” heart, has been trodden down so hard that the seed cannot enter it. This causes the “Seed” to be easily stolen by “birds of the air” a clear type of satanic spirits (Ephesians 2:2).

What we are learning in this beginning parable is that humans have been given personal responsibility to guard God’s Garden (the human heart). God commanded the first Adam to “Dress” and “Keep” the Garden (Genesis 2:15). The Hebrew word translated as “Dress” means to “work”, “till”, “prepare” the soil. The Hebrew word translated as “Keep” means to “Hedge”, “Guard”, and “Protect” the Garden soil. This was God’s unremovable human responsibility concerning our heart, mind and soul.

What does this Garden soil preparation and guarding from enemies have to do with our “Faith Exam”? Much more than many know right now. We will apply this concept to our self-examination of our faith, because “true” God like faith is of the heart.

Romans 10:8 – But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

As we can read “Paul” preached the “Word” (Seed) of faith concept that Jesus was teaching us in the Parable of the Sower. Paul was quoting Deuteronomy 30:14 insuring what was being taught now in the New Covenant had firms roots already established from the Old Covenant to build upon.

However, notice that there is a connection being reaffirmed between the hearts of humans and their mouths. God is building upon how a human heart is “Born-Again” through the entrance of God’s incorruptible “Seed” spoken by the mouth of humans. Paul speaks again of this process in 1 Corinthians 3:6 saying, “I have planted and Apollos watered, but God gave the increase”.

What we are being introduced to, is an important fact of Truth. According to Romans 10:17, “Faith comes by Hearing, and Hearing by the Word of God”. Hearing God’s Word either by someone else’s mouth or your own mouth is how we obtain faith. But did you notice the Bible is a huge book? Have you ever heard the entire Bible taught at one time? The answer is probably, no! This means there is still new amounts and levels of “faith” that can be obtained by hearing a new subject which has never been heard before. Do you see this? There is practically a never-ending supply of new “Faith” producing “Seeds” available to plant and water in our heart.

Real Faith is Measurable

There are many that may be confused by the term “Faith is Measurable”. What we must understand is that everything in the natural garden is measurable. This is the area of the soil, the amounts of seed planted, the amounts of crops expected based upon the seed planted per section, etc. This simply means spiritual things are all measurable also. Some may not believe this but this is what the created things of God teach us applying them to understand their spiritual counterparts. We can easily see that this is what the Bible says over and over using various measurement descriptions. Let us list a few of them on the subject of “Faith” to help us see it:

  1. Hebrews 11:6 – But without faith it is impossible to please God. Without is a clear measure indicator of zero faith. It is like never having heard the Gospel of Jesus ever.
  2. John 20:27 – “Be not faithless but believing”. Here Jesus is rebuking Thomas for having heard about the resurrection, but choosing not to believe it. This is clear rebellion and defiance since Thomas had heard Jesus said He would be raised up after three days. This is completely different than not being told the good news yet the net result was still “a zero faith” level.
  3. Matthew 8:26 – “Why are you so fearful, ye of little faith”. Here Jesus rebukes the disciples for thinking they were about to drown in a storm. Jesus had already told them, “Let us go to the other side” and Jesus went to sleep. Therefore, we see how the spiritual force of “fear” nullifies or reduces one’s faith level to become weak.
  4. Matthew 14:3 – “Oh thou of little faith, why did you doubt?” Here Peter gets out of a boat to walk on water and is almost to Jesus when he looked at the wind and the waves and began to sink. This clearly teaches us that when we begin to doubt what God said, our uncertainties reduce or remove our confident faith. This type of information strongly suggests that a human “faith” level could vary greatly from day to day based upon new circumstances or changing thoughts and focuses that are attempting to cause new “fear”. It could even involve new words heard that are counter to what the Jesus or His Word has spoken to us. We find this is believing the evil report rather than the “good” report of the Lord.
  5. Matthew 9:22 – Jesus speaking to a woman who had touched the hem of His garment and received her healing said, “Daughter, be of good comfort; your faith has made you whole”. This is an important story. This woman snuck up and received her healing without asking Jesus’ permission. She simply touched His garment and was healed. Jesus turns and asks “Who touched me” proving it was her level of working “faith” that produced the miracle to receive His power. You can read more details in Mark 5 about this same account. This woman appears to be in the middle ground of “Faith” measurements. She definitely did not have little faith. She could have been stoned in her condition yet was fearless to touch Jesus.
  6. Matthew 8:10 – “I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel”. We jumped to the “Great Faith” level of measurement. Here a gentile under authority told Jesus He did not have to come to his house, but speak the word only and his servant would be healed.

There are many other examples like these in the Bible but this is a good introduction to our faith is measurable subject. Please notice again the last verse Matthew 8:10. Again we see a clear reference that Jesus is looking for certain levels of faith. This is another confirmation that when Jesus returns to the earth, He is still looking for qualifying levels and measurements of “Faith”.

Perhaps this measurement concept will make more sense to many in the light of our previous subject of the Sower, the Word Seeds and the hearts being God’s Garden designed to produce “fruit” unto salvation (Romans 6:22, Romans 7:4). Have you ever planted a physical garden using “seeds”? If you haven’t, you should. The concepts of farming, planting, watering, protecting, guarding, and eventually harvesting are essential to the spiritual concepts of “Faith” and “Salvation”.

When preparing a natural garden, it involves plowing work which involves a blade that cuts through the soil.  This work includes removing all the rocks and stones. Plowing further removes all of the weeds and other growths that will try to take away life from any new seeds that are about to be planted. Plowing removes any hardened packed soil softening the ground to allow new seed to enter easily into the soil. From this information we can further see there are measurable levels of work that can be observed in the gardening process.

Let us see how these physical tasks can apply to preparing a spiritual heart for receiving God’s Word? We will only list a few today:

  1. We must develop a plan on how we are going to handle the devil’s thoughts that are going to try to distract us away from hearing the Word. This may be the first time or even after the fact to cause us to forget what we have heard spoken by a “Seed Planter” (teacher) sowing the Seed/Word of God. Satan will give everyone first person thoughts like, “I don’t believe this trash”. Or “I should would like to be home watching sports rather than sitting in church”. Or, “I am so hungry, I can’t wait to get to that restaurant”. Or after believing the word, “I didn’t really get saved”, “I must be crazy to believe this stuff”, etc. Anything that comes into our mind that tries to get us to turn back or away from the Word comes from evil spirits in the world. By preparing an attitude to focus and not to get distracted will cause the word a better chance at remaining strong to grow. Make a plan to value the Word of God and make it our daily priority!
  2. Remember to listen again and again to review the Word of God that we have heard and do this frequently. This represents the process of watering the seeds that were planted into our hearts. This is an essential part of sowing and reaping a fruitful outcome. The continual watering of the “Seed” will cause the roots to grow deep and strong and will be very difficult to be removed by Satan’s deception tricks.
  3. What are the things in life that are rooted into our lives that are consuming our focus away from pursuing the Words of God? These could be good or bad habits, addictions, desires like (seeking fortune, fame, drugs, food, alcohol, exercise); all of these are types of consuming desires that could represent some of the “evil weeds” that will work to choke out all the positive growth of God’s New Life Seed.
  4. What are some of the stubborn hard-hearted parts of our attitudes, values, or priorities that could be there to distract us from applying our time and attention to focus on the Word of God?
  5. Are we prepared to lose all of our worldly friends and family relatives who are not interested in the Words of God? The world will be coming after their friends to begin to try to influence all of our free-time we have decided to spend in God’s Word. When we refuse to act and be like them, then suddenly these old friends turn into enemies. These former friends and former friendly relatives will bring pressure upon a new Christian many to sway a them back into slavery and bondage of darkness.
  6. How are we going to handle the pressures from these friends and relatives when they persecute us and call us stupid for loving the Word of God? We must remain in “Love” to hopefully help them see how God has changed us. Being nice to the unsaved world and refusing to do what they do, speaks loud enough. If they walk away from us, then we continue to pray for them.

Conclusion – Do I Have Real Growing and Working Faith?

In conclusion let us ask the key question of God’s Faith Exam. Am I in real faith? To determine this we may need to review God’s created process of natural “Seed” planting, growing and harvesting steps to help us determine if we have begun the spiritual process of obtaining real faith needed to develop fruitful results. We have already seen how the amount of “fruit” produced is variable from zero to 30-fold, 60-fold to 100-fold. This means literally the words that were planted and watered could have varied tremendously from zero to 100% of the Words available to sow. Not to mention the time we spent to prepare the ground, keep and guard it from being destroyed or eaten up by our enemy.

The soil of course is our spiritual “heart. This is the garden of God and it must be prepared. Preparation involves cleaning, clearing including hard places to be made soft, and then weeded areas to be removed. Weeds are the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of fortune, fame and all the other distraction designed by the enemy to choke out and keep our faith from bring forth fruit.

This does not mean that we are saved by our works, but our attitudes, focuses, participation and choices greatly affect the success or the failure of God’s Word to work and bring us the increase. All of this is analogous of an open minded, broken, soft, humble human heart void of all pride in our spirit. We must be tender and even openly desiring to hear the Word of God at every opportunity. A humble open person is eagerly craving and willing to receive the Word of God “Seed” as if it was the most very valuable item available. If someone is bored with reading the Word of God, they are hard-hearted and have no seed entering to produce faith that will produce saving fruits, because there is no Word planted in their heart.

Even after soil preparation and receiving the incredible Seed in the heart ground, it may look or feel like nothing is working or changing for a long time. This is when a lot of people are easily deceived by Satan into believing his lie that God’s words don’t work. But this is just a major part of the process that is working only in the unseen supernatural spiritual “Faith” realm. Natural seeds must develop roots long before you see any fruits. So, it is also in the spiritual dimension.

Thank you for reading, liking and sharing these Bible lessons with others. The Word of God will work if we do not let it go out of our heart. In John 15:7 Jesus says we must abide in Him and His Words abide in us…”. This simply means the word is alive in our heart and remains watered. If there is ever a spiritual drought of not receiving the Word of God, for whatever reasons, the lack of watering will cause the roots, plants and fruits to whither dry up and die. That is not a positive outcome of any beginning faith amount.

God Bless you and keep you and never forget, Jesus is returning very soon!

Bible Basics – Understanding the Origin of the English Name of Jesus

(Ver 1.0) This lesson is a part of the Bible Basics series. There have been multiple questions asked about some of the basic concepts of Christianity surrounding the origin of the name of Jesus. Today’s questions involve the origin of the English Name of Jesus found in over 90% of the English Translations of the Bible. Therefore, this lesson will not be focused on the theological details of His identity, life, ministry or even for His purpose of visitation on the earth in the flesh. But rather today’s lesson will focus upon the historical reasons why the vast majority of Christians reading and writing English language, have chosen to call the Holy Son of God, by the name “Jesus”. To do this we are going to have to go through a brief history lesson on language translations and some of the basic rules and reasons for the choices made in the treatment of names and how these differ from other word translations.

Here are the two main readers’ questions that will be attempted to be addressed and answered today:

  1. How and where did the English name Jesus originate and when was it chosen to be the decided given name of the Son of God?
  2. The other question that arises is why does the name Jesus begin with the letter “J” when this alphabet letter never existed until around the times of the invention of the printing press?

The second question might be curious to many. But this is now a modern reason taught to some people why they should not trust the English Bible or believe in the name of Jesus. After reading this lesson fully, it should become obvious that this new ruse is just another trick of Satan to try to discredit the English language, the English Bible, God’s truth and the need for a Savior named Jesus.

Introduction to Languages and Translations

Today, in our present world, it is estimated that there are approximately 195 sovereign nations as of 03/2025. Within these nations are contained the world’s population of approximately 8.2 billion people. This world population speaks over 7000 different languages. However, most of these languages are spoken by less than 10% of the world’s population. This means around 80-90% of the world’s population speak the other 10-20% of the most widely used languages. First, we will list the top 5 world languages in use today:

  1. English – Known and Used by 1.5 billion people.
  2. Mandrin Chinese – Known and Used by 1.1 billion people.
  3. Hindi – Known and used by 610 million people.
  4. Spanish – Known and used by 485 million people.
  5. French – Known and used by 310 million people.

Now let us pay attention to our subject of the origin of the English name of Jesus. Originally the Holy Bible was primarily written and recorded in 2 primary languages, which are Hebrew and Greek and neither of these languages are heavily used in the world today. The Hebrew language may be known by approximately 10 million people and the Greek language by as many as 13 million people. Therefore, neither of these come close to the 5 most popular known and spoken world languages. This makes the original language study of the Bible very difficult for almost every human especially without smart phones, tablets or computers.

Now for a review of Bible translations. In the English language there are over 200 versions of the Bible. Of these 200+ English versions about 190 have chosen the name of our Lord and Savior to be “Jesus” called the “Christ”. He is also called “Jesus of Nazareth” on occasion as well as other symbolic terms like the “Lamb of God”. These 190 English versions of the Bible are the vast majority of the historical and modern texts, and it is easily determined that these consistently use the name “Jesus” for the “Son of God” for us to read and speak in the English language.

Now for a consideration of other choices within those not of the 190 that use the name Jesus. The name “Yeshua” appears in some Messianic English translations of the Bible, like the “TLV”, “CJB” and “NJV”. The name “Yahshua” or “Yahushua” are found in Sacred Name versions of the Bible. These name variations attempt to preserve the name of Messiah to better connect with the Hebrew roots of the Word of God. However, anything that is good and truthful can be taken to an extreme and thus it becomes legalistic laws of bondage and even unbalanced error and deception. Once any truth of one name is exaggerated to exclude all other language name, it has failed to reflect the love of God found in John 3:16.  To claim that there is only one name and it must be the Hebrew name, no longer reflects the merciful nature of God’s character, who desires and appreciates a personal relationship in every language, even with the English language people. God’s love and desire to save every human is absolutely true for all languages of the world. God died to save the speakers of all 7000+ languages of the world. God is by far more interested in seeking our love for Him, rather than He is to force every human to pronounce His name correctly or incorrectly. Love was and still is God’s motivation for saving us.

Does this make sense? To an eternal God, a 100-year-old human is still like an infant compared to His infinite knowledge and understanding. If my natural son at 1 to 2 years old only called me “Da” instead “Father”, I would love it and respond to him immediately. So, for a Christian to suddenly become legalistic and claim everyone must be perfect in how we pronounce His Hebrew name in order to be saved, this is a trick to exclude a lot of people in the world who don’t speak Hebrew. God still looks at the heart of humans much more than their perfection in linguistics and dialects.

Let’s quickly consider why “perfectionism” is a potential sin. When someone demands their version of the name of God, this could be because of “pride” and how they believe they are right and everyone else is wrong, claiming others are in error and are all going to hell. However, “pride” goes before destruction and the one making the demand to say the name of God one way and not any other way clearly demonstrates their own ignorance of God. It is absolutely impossible for human to pronounce the name of God correctly because, no one is God but God! He is the only one that knows exactly how His name should be said and pronounced in every language of the world. The rest of us are too ignorant to make ourselves equal to God and make these decisions.

Let’s stop and analyze the English word “God”. Is this word in the original Hebrew or Greek texts of the Bible? No, it is not! Therefore, the name “God” is an English translation from the original Hebrew word “Elohiym” and the Greek word “Theos”. Since the English name “God” does not appear in the original text, why should anyone insist that the name “Jesus” doesn’t exist and we can’t call Him by this name either? This makes no logical sense to many of us.

This is also very true for the names “Jehovah” and “Yahweh”. This Hebrew word is often translated as “LORD”. Is either of these Hebrew names “LORD”? Of course not! These are just two pronunciations of the Hebrew word spelled “Yod” + “Hey” + “Vav” + “Hey”. However, there are camps of people in the world who have taken up Holy wars against each other through fighting about which name is correct and which is wrong! How childish is this? Where is your love, patience, kindness, and compassion? If we are fighting to be correct when we have no clear mandate from God to enforce this unknown name’s pronunciation, there are probably many in this fight that are in a state of sinful pride and it is time for us all to grow up spiritually and put away our childish behavior (1 Cor 13:11).

Therefore, of the approximately 200+ English known translations, only a small handful—perhaps 5 to 10—consistently use alternative names like “Yeshua” or “Yahshua” in place of “Jesus.” These are niche translations, often aimed at specific audiences (e.g., Messianic Jews or Hebrew Roots adherents), and these represent less than 5% of the total available English translations. The overwhelming majority of scholars stick with the name of “Jesus” due to its established usage in English-speaking Christian tradition, dating back to the Latin Vulgate and early English Bibles like the Tyndale (1526) and Geneva (1560).

Introduction to the Origin of the English Name of Jesus

We need to address how English Bible translations decided to handle the name of our Messiah, which has traditionally been rendered as “Jesus” in the English New Testament. To accomplish this, we need to know that the Bible’s original languages were Hebrew for the Old Testament (with some Aramaic) and Greek for the New Testament. These two main languages provide the basis for all translations into any other legitimate language translation. No sincere translation of the Bible can or should come from any other source than these original texts.

For example, if someone attempts to take an English Bible translation and further translate it into another language like French, the resulting French translation will only magnify the English translation errors and shortcomings from the original Hebrew and Greek inspired languages. All translations would be moving through a doubled process of meaning transition. This no doubt would increase the level of confusion.

This multi-step translation game would be like having 20 people sitting around in a circle with each knowing two different languages. But none of the participants knowing the exact same two languages as their predecessor. All common languages would be sitting next to each other with each taking from the previous person who had a language in common. The person to the left of the next, would be sharing the story to the person on their right having one common language.  Say the first person would know only Hebrew and Latin and would initiate the telling of a Hebrew story while translating the story on the fly from Hebrew to Latin for the person to their right hand who only spoke Latin and English.

Then that Latin speaking person would translate the original Hebrew story converted to Latin into English for a person who only knew English and French. They in turn would retranslate the original Hebrew story from their native language English into French for the next person to their right whose native language was French and secondary language was Spanish. Now the French speaker would retranslate the original Hebrew story that was already been translated from Latin, into English, and then into French and now into Spanish for the next person in the circle. Can you begin to see the level of confusion that is being introduced from each translation. By the time the story returns back to the original speaker, no doubt it would be unrecognizable.

According to the Bible, God informs us that the original texts written in Hebrew and Greek were the inspired (God breathed) words of God (2 Timothy 3:16). Everything beyond these words may or may not be an anointed rendition of what God originally spoke. Therefore, there is a highly likely chance that some translator mistakes or bias were introduced to the next translation.

Therefore, every translation potentially introduces layers of subtle error. It would be like a Pilot that took off in their plane from New York to cross the Atlantic to reach Paris. If this pilot was only off by 1 degree by the time he crossed the Atlantic this plane would be nowhere close to Paris. This is why while reading the English Translation or other language translation it is extremely wise to study the original Hebrew and Greek Texts to confirm what is written in your language matches as close to possible to what is written in the original languages. It is recommended if you are a serious Bible student that you find “literal” as possible translations to study from. Some that are considered the best are the KJV Bible, the NASB Bible, and the Young’s Literal Version.

However, this is the first major challenge for anyone that does not read, write and speak both Hebrew and Greek. These people are at the mercy of knowledgeable translators that knew and understood two languages enough to believe they were able to say what God said and meant as precisely as they could. While simultaneously not placing any of their personal biases into their work to distort what God wrote originally.

Let’s begin to analyze the original name of Jesus. The Messiah’s name we call Jesus in English was written in th original Hebrew as typically “Yeshua” (ישוע), a shortened form of “Yehoshua” (יהושע), meaning “Yahweh saves” or “salvation”. In the Greek New Testament, this Messianic name has been transliterated as “Iēsous” (Ἰησοῦς), which is then transliterated into English as “Jesus.” The Hebrew concept of Messiah was changed to the English title “Christ”, however this comes from the Greek language “Christos” (Χριστός). None of these resemble the original Hebrew word “Mashiach” (משיח), meaning “anointed one” transliterated as “Messiah”.

However, we can find both three different languages in the New Testament for the original Hebrew word Messiah. For example, notice this verse.

Jhn_1:41  He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ.

Notice the writer of Matthew presents both the Hebrew word for Messiah and the Greek word for Messiah in the same sentence stating he is making the translation for the reader. This proves the New Testaments written in Greek was written by men that knew both languages and could translate them quickly as they were writing. It also teaches you something very important about how a Hebrew word and the equivalent Greek word can result in two completely different English words. The Greek word was translated into English as “Christ” and the Hebrew word was translated into Greek and then into English as “Messias”.

As you can clearly see there is a growing problem of translation of the Bible’s names, titles, terms, etc. from one language to any other language that is needed to share the Gospel. For example, when an original Hebrew name is moving into a new language it is normally transliterated into this language by the translators who are attempting to preserve the spirit of the original name using new individual letter sounds which are joined together to form a new word of similar pronunciation. Name transitions from one language to another was never done using an attempt to preserve the meaning and definition of each name word. Every Hebrew name is a word that has meaning.

Some Hebrew names are even compounds of two or more other Hebrew words forming a new name and new word meaning. For example, the name “Israel” literally means “He will Rule as God”. The “EL” being the shortened name of God and the other word meaning “He will rule”. However, this is only true for the Hebrew name yiśrâ’êl. The English transliterated name “Israel” has no word definition because it is only a translator’s attempt to approximate the sound of the Hebrew name in English. Let us give you another quick example of the name of “God”:

Mat 27:46  And about the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani? that is to say, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

While Jesus was hanging on the cross, He cries out to His Heavenly Father to say in English My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me? But it is written clearly that He spoke this in Hebrew and the closely pronounced words were “Eli, Eli, lama, sabachthani?”.

The term “Eli” is the Hebrew word H430 the shortened name of God we just looked at. The added “i” upon the end of “El” is the Hebrew letter “Yod” and which means “my” as a Hebrew suffix. All of these Hebrew words were brought into the Greek language alphabet letters and then finally written in Greek and both of these have been translated into English. Do you see the complexity of how three languages are interacting and how the third language English further adds a new layer of potential complexity to the translator’s efforts?

Therefore, it is essential to know all names were transformed from one language to another using “transliteration” attempting to preserve the name’s sound characteristics and never “translation” attempting to preserve the name’s definition or meanings. Please see how there are several Hebrew names that were taken from the Old Testament, then again into the Greek New Testament and finally into the English KJV translation:

HebrewGreekEnglishReference
Yesha’Yah (Isaiah KJV O.T.)Hesaias EsaiasEsaiasMat 8:17
Yonah (Jonah KJV O.T.)IonasJonasMat 12:40
Yerimeyah (Jeremiah KJV O.T.)HieremiasJeremiasMat 16:14
Yehudah (Judah KJV O.T.)IoudasJudasMat 1:2

Hopefully, this chart demonstrates how only a few name examples are dramatically changed going through translations. Remember this is just a short list of names that are listed in three languages differently. But it also demonstrates how one Hebrew name appears differently in English after moving through just one language translation, versus the English New Testament enduring two language translations. This is simply because the Hebrew names were translated first into Greek from Hebrew, and then finally from Greek into English.

Another major challenge that occurs in transliteration is that the original ancient Hebrew texts contained no vowels. The other major challenge with the Hebrew language is that it is based upon an alphabet that was comprised of only 22 letter characters. These 22-letter based Hebrew alphabet names were then needed to be moved into all other human languages by changing them into much different alphabets with different numbers of alphabet letters and sometimes very different sounds for each letter.

Do you see the challenge to come up with a perfect name to name transition? English has 26 letters today and Hebrew was only 22. The Russian language has 33 letters. For example, the Russian Orthodoxy uses Иисус (Iisus) consistently in religious texts for the name of Jesus. What we are learning is that the name of Jesus can vary greatly within any of the almost 7000 human languages upon the earth. Does this mean any of them are the wrong name and God will not hear them? Absolutely not! God is not willing that any perish, and He is much more loving and compassionate than people are.

Just for emphasis, let’s continue to review this transliteration challenge. With so many vastly differing numbers of letters in each alphabet and each of these letters containing differing sounds than the language being translated, it should be easy to see there are no perfect translations from language to language. For example, the Hebrew alphabet has certain letters that have no equivalent sounding letters in other languages. Hebrew has some “guttural” sounds that are ignored in most English translated transitions. This makes these original sounds to being converted into “a close as possible” matching transition for new language name spellings. Please note, that the ancient original Hebrew language alphabet has been modernized and now has added vowel markers that have been added to existing new styled letters, yet there are still no actual vowel letters that have been added.

Brief Language History Abraham 2000 BC to Jesus Birth 4 BC to Death 30 AD

We can make the logical assumption that Abraham spoke an older variation of the Hebrew language. Abraham begat a son named Isaac and Isaac begat a son named Jacob who was later renamed to Israel by an angel. Then Jacob begat the 12 sons from 4 women who initiated the 12 tribes of the natural nation of Israel. But for now, we will primarily focus upon Israel’s son named Joseph. Joseph was sold by his jealous brothers into slavery, and they carried him to be a slave in Egypt.

To make a long story short, Joseph had the favor of God upon him and Joseph was blessed to become the 2nd in command in the nation of Egypt. A famine came upon the region for 7 years. Joseph’s other brothers got hungry and came to Egypt to buy food and Joseph recognized them. Joseph’s father and brothers and their families move to Egypt merging their culture with that of Egypt.

But after time many died off and the new pharaoh did not know Joseph and how he saved them from a certain death by starvation. All the descendants of Jacob which were only approximately 70 in the beginning journey to Egypt had multiplied to millions in 400 years and the people cried out to God for salvation from Egyptian bondage.

Therefore, God raised up a deliverer named Moses to set the people of Israel free. This man Moses also became a part of the house of Pharaoh and had great authority and had even learned their culture and language. What we are witnessing is how one nation can be conquered by being taken into another nation and how suddenly two or more languages can co-exist simultaneously within one nation. This means names certainly had to be clearly identifiable in both languages to the same person to be accurately understood by the hearer for them to know who was being spoken of. Moses with God’s help and guidance eventually got the children of Israel free from Pharaoh but then they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering into the promised land.

In the next 1500 years from Moses to Jesus, the natural nation of Israel was carried away by other nations into more captivity. Two of the largest nations that had a major influence upon the nation of Israel were the conquering Babylonian kingdom, and the Medo-Persian Kingdoms. Both brought their culture and language into co-existence with the Hebrew people of Israel and their Hebrew language. Please understand that the languages did not merge, but rather the people just spoke two or more languages. The Hebrew language was mostly separated for religious observance and the other nation’s language was utilized for government and commerce activity. Now let us move closer to the time of Jesus.

It was approximately 323 BC when the ruler Alexandar the Great from Greece finished his world conquests. As a result of these conquests the Greek culture influence came upon every conquered nation with many of them being almost fully assimilated into the Greek language, cultural and religious ways. However, the leaders of Israel always maintained their original text laws, psalms and prophets in Hebrew. However, the Greek language became a major world dominated language much like English is today. If you wanted to do business, you better learn to speak Greek.

However, the Greek influence to the Hebrew speaking people did have an effect. Around 250-200 BC, the original Hebrew Torah was translated into Greek as the “Septuagint”. This appears to be the first translation of the original Hebrew inspired texts. This certainly displays the influence of the Greek language upon the entire world. It is very possible that even some Jewish Synagogues read from this Greek translation. However, the Hebrew was still the major documented language for strictest practicing Jews, like the Pharisees. We know this because after Jesus was resurrected, He spoke to the Pharisee Saul on the road to Damascus in Hebrew and Saul understood and spoke back to him. We also know Saul became the Apostle Paul and he wrote 2/3 of the New Testament in Greek. Therefore, Paul knew at least 2 languages fluently.

Now let us get to the life of Jesus. At his birth, there were many local languages found in the Mediterranean regions of southern Europe, the Middle East and northern Africa around the time of Jesus’ life on the earth. Most will already know that the English language did not exist at the time of Jesus’ Walk on earth. However, as mentioned before prior to Jesus the Mediterranean region was swiftly conquered by the Greek army led by Alexander the Great. From this vast conquest, the Greek language became the dominant culture and language for both conversation and business, much like English is today in the modern world.

But then came a new kingdom that was different than them all. This system of government originated from Rome, Italy. And with the rise of the Roman named Augustus, he spread the Roman Empire around the Mediterranean regions. Rome became the dominant government system in the world beginning at approximately 27 BC. Which was approximately 23 years before the birth of Jesus Christ in Bethlehem.

The Roman Government and Military spoke predominantly “Latin” to conduct their business. Therefore, in the Mediterranean region there were usually at least three languages spoken simultaneously. These were known and spoken by many groups of people. For example, around the Jewish region of Jerusalem the natural language was of course Hebrew or Aramaic which are very similar.

But financial business and even some religious activity around Jerusalem was conducted in the Greek language which we know came from the previous occupation of the armies of Alexandar the Great. But while Jesus was alive during the Roman Empire occupation of Jerusalem, it was useful to also learn, know and speak “Latin”. This means at minimum it was not unusual for people in Jerusalem to know and speak at least 3 languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin.

This is why both Luke and John write in the New Testament Gospels that the sign placed above the head of Jesus while hanging on the cross, said, “JESUS OF NAZARETH, KING OF THE JEWS”. And it was ordered by the Roman ruler Pilate to be written in the Hebrew, Greek and Latin languages. Can you imagine how the name of Jesus was written in 3 different languages on one sign? This proves the original name of Jesus was being translated into multiple languages about 2000 years ago. These three alphabets are so dissimilar, yet the same name of Jesus was written in all three languages on one sign, according to John 19:19-20.

Yes, we are beginning to learn how languages affect the communication of massive numbers of people in the world. Since the universal language of business was performed in Greek during the days of Jesus, the name Jesus had to be written in it. Even the language of the New Testament was chosen to be written in the Greek language. This was done because the Jewish people of Israel largely rejected the Gospel and Jesus as their Messiah and much of the remaining world spoke Greek, it makes sense to reach as many people as possible with the Gospel and other scriptural writings done in Greek.

When the Apostle Paul and many of the other disciples went out into all the world to preach the Gospel, most of the world still spoke Greek. Therefore, the New Testament was written in Greek, being designed to reach the most gentile people in the world. These are amazing things to think about. This means each writer of the New Testament needed to speak Hebrew and Greek simultaneously. Although there was a Greek translation produced called the Septuagint. This version was read in many Jewish synagogues. However, around the region of Judea the Hebrew text was predominately found.

There is a very interesting parallel happening today to the time when Jesus was beginning the early church. Just as Alexander the Great conquered much of the world to bring a common language to the business of world trade, so also this same pattern occurs in the rise of the British empire. One common saying about the British empire, was that the sun never sets on them. This was because they took the English language to every inhabited continent. Just as Alexandar the Great, conquered much of the world, the British also spread their culture, influence and common language throughout the world approximately 400 years ago. At the height of the British influence, they controlled almost ¼ of the world’s land. Therefore, God seems to have taken advantage of another common language used primarily for world trade and business, to again use it to spread the Gospel of Jesus Christ, for an end-time great harvest of souls. If you are not aware, the USA exports the most Christian media and materials to the rest of the world.

Now for the final subject of this part of the lesson. The English language and the alphabet are derived primarily from Rome’s old Latin language. However, we know that there are also other word influences from other languages. This means some of the primary roots of the English were encoded on the “sign” that was hung above the head of Jesus on the cross. This indicates God had already designed the future word for Jesus’ name to be included at the time of Jesus’ crucifixion.

The Hebrew Name of Jesus Transitions into English

We have briefly touched upon this in the previous section of the lesson. Therefore, we already know the original name of “Jesus” is from the Hebrew Old Testament and can be seen in our English Bible as the name “Joshua”. If we tried to pronounce it from the original Hebrew it would come close to sounding like “yehôshûa‛”. As you can clearly see that has no “J” sound. A closer sound might be the used as the letter “Y” as it is listed.

In the modern English Bible translations these two names “Jesus” in the New Testament and “Joshua” in the Old Testament are identical in the original Hebrew. But the names have been sounded differently because of the technique called “Transliteration” that we have already been introduced. Transliteration ignores the name’s original Hebrew meanings. It rather focuses upon the sounds of the letters within the name and the combined arranged sounds of the letters joined together. Here is another important language fact. The original ancient Hebrew language had no vowels. Today English has the vowels “AEIOU” and sometimes “Y”. But the omission of vowels causes significant challenges to gaining true pronunciation

The other significant challenge occurs because the Hebrew language only has 22 alphabet letters, and the English alphabet has 26 letters. Therefore, perfect transliteration of sounds is nearly impossible. However, it is amazing to see that many English alphabet letters have similar designs to the ancient Hebrew letters. For example, the designs of the English letters “A”, “J”, “L”, “M”, “O”, “T”, “Y” are very close to ancient Hebrew pictograph letters.

The Greek alphabet transliteration of names from Hebrew has had very similar challenges as the Hebrew to English transliteration. We previously learned that the Hebrew name of Jesus was transliterated into Greek as “Iēsous” (Ἰησοῦς). As you will notice the original Hebrew “Y” (Yod) was changed to the Greek letter “I” (Iota). This was the choice of translators who knew both languages.

Now notice that the English name Jesus in the original Hebrew was transliterated as “Joshua” in the Old Testament from the original Hebrew text. However, the name Joshua never appears in the New Testament anywhere in the KJV Bible. This is true even though he is mentioned at least twice in the New Testament as “Jesus” instead of “Joshua”. Why is this? This is because all of the names of Joshua in the Old Testament were transliterated into Greek “Iēsous” (Ἰησοῦς) and from this name it was further transliterated into the English named “Jesus”. This further proves that the name Jesus and Joshua were identical names. If both names were transliterated from the original Hebrew they would have been named “Joshua’. This makes it a little difficult to determine who the Bible is speaking of in every verse. This is why many times the name “Jesus of Nazareth” is mentioned as the name of our Savior in the New Testament.

As you can see our transliteration process of moving between two languages confirms our problem of translating from Hebrew to Latin, to English to Spanish that we were using as an example earlier in the lesson. The more translations a language is taken through, the more corrupted it becomes from the original writings. Names would completely change. However, the positive with the name Jesus being different in the New Testament than Joshua in the Old Testament causes verses to be more rapidly identifiable to whom it is referring to. For example, let us look at some verse examples where there appears potential confustion:

Zec 3:1  And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

This is an Old Testament Hebrew verse about someone named Joshua. This name was transliterated from Hebrew, and it appears from this name it could be the Joshua from the book of Joshua who led the children of Israel into the promised land. However, it is impossible for this name to be associated into the contextual description. This verse can only be referring to the New Covenant High Priest named Jesus in the New Testament. It is the only fitting explanation that aligns scripturally. Then;

Act 7:45  Which also our fathers that came after brought in with Jesus into the possession of the Gentiles, whom God drave out before the face of our fathers, unto the days of David; 

This verse can only be speaking of Joshua who led the children of Israel into the promised land, yet it was translated as Jesus because of the establish rules of transliteration. Yes, these are documented mistakes even in the KJV Bible of shortcomings produced by using transliteration. Yet even these errors do not phase God. English speaking Christians could call Jesus any of these names, Joshua, Jesus, Iēsous, Yehoshua, etc. and God is smart enough to know you are talking to Him. Thank God for His Love and Mercy.

Understanding the History of Adding the Letter “J” to English

The letter “J” was not part of the original English alphabet, which was derived from the 21-letter original Latin alphabet. The letter J was added to both the English and the Latin alphabets later along with U and W. The letter “J” introduction came relatively late in the history of the English language, and its development was a gradual process.

When Was “J” Added?

The letter “J” began to emerge as a distinct character in the English alphabet around the Middle Ages, with its use becoming more standardized in the 16th and 17th centuries. Here’s a brief timeline:

  • Roman Times (Pre-5th Century): The Latin alphabet, from which English evolved, originally had no “J.” The letter “I” served dual purposes, representing both the vowel sound /i/ (as in “bit”) and the consonant sound /j/ (as in “yes”). For example, in Roman inscriptions, “Julius” was written as “IVLIVS.”
  • Middle Ages (5th–15th Centuries): As Latin evolved into various Romance languages (like French, Italian, and Spanish), scribes began to distinguish between the vowel “I” and the consonant “J” sound. They sometimes elongated the tail of the “I” into a hooked shape when it appeared at the beginning of a word or represented the /j/ sound, especially in medieval manuscripts. This was more of a stylistic variation than a formal letter at first.
  • Renaissance and Printing Press (15th–16th Centuries): The distinction became more pronounced with the advent of the printing press in the mid-15th century. By the 1500s, typographers and scholars, particularly in France and Italy, began treating “J” as a separate letter from “I.” For instance, the Italian grammarian Gian Giorgio Trissino is credited with formally distinguishing “I” and “J” in 1524, though this was for Italian rather than English.
  • English Adoption (17th Century): In English, the use of “J” became widespread only in the 1600s. Early English texts, including some editions of the King James Bible (1611), still used “I” in place of “J” (e.g., “Iesus” for “Jesus”). By the mid-17th century, however, “J” was fully established as a distinct letter in the English alphabet, thanks to the influence of printing standards and the need for clarity in spelling.

Why Was “J” Added?

The addition of “J” to the English alphabet was driven by both phonetic clarity and linguistic transition:

  1. Phonetic Distinction: The sound /j/ (a voiced palatal approximant, as in “yes” or “judge”) needed a unique symbol to differentiate it from the vowel /i/. In Old English and Middle English, the “I” was overburdened with multiple roles, which caused confusion in reading and writing, especially as pronunciation shifted.
  2. Influence of Other Languages: English borrowed heavily from Norman French after the Norman Conquest (1066), and French already used “J” (derived from Latin “I”) for the /ʒ/ sound (as in “measure”) or /dʒ/ (as in “judge”). As English adopted words like “joy,” “justice,” and “judge” from French, the letter “J” became a natural fit for these sounds.
  3. Standardization in Writing and Printing: The rise of the printing press in Europe demanded consistency in typography. Printers adopted “J” to align with continental conventions and to make texts more legible and standardized across languages.

Fun Fact

Even after “J” was introduced, it was often the last letter added to alphabet lists. Early English alphabets ran from A to Z without “J,” “U,” or “W” being fully distinct (as “U” and “V” were also conflated in Latin). By the 17th century, the modern 26-letter English alphabet, including “J,” was solidified.

Conclusion

Yes, “J” was added to the English alphabet around the 16th–17th centuries, transitioning it from the original letter “I” which had at least two distinct sounds to meet the needs of word pronunciation. The English letter “J” borrowed from development of other languages, and the push for standardized writing. It’s a relatively young letter in the grand scheme of alphabetic history! But this does not make it an invalid letter. Nor does its usage disqualify any name derived from its usage. If you are at peace in your heart to call Jesus by this name, as I, use it and call Him Jesus. I have found repeatedly He hears, answers and responds every time I use His name in prayer to the Father.

As a further confirmation of the name of Jesus recognition within the spiritual realm, I have found casting out devils and binding spirits when using the name of Jesus has as much power as when the name of Jesus was used by Peter in Acts 3 with the lame man at the temple gate. Spirits are not stupid either. They recognize the “Power of the name of Jesus”. Check out these verses:

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name: 

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; 

Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Do you see why Satan wants to place doubts in your mind to whether the name of Jesus is legit or not? We are in a spiritual battle with spiritual enemies that try to deceive all humans into believing a lie. Because I speak English and I call Him Jesus, these spirits want me to doubt and question, am I right, and is this name really working? I guarantee it is working for me, because I can read my Bible and choose to believe it is His name for English speakers. Guess what you should know! God and Satan both know English. But it is not just knowing that His name is Jesus in English that causes its power to work. There is another factor called “Faith” which means we must believe and not doubt. Check this verse out:

Act 3:16  And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know: yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.

We are not sure whether Peter used the Hebrew, Greek or Latin name of Jesus when healing this lame man. But it really does not matter. All we know is the Bible is written in Greek so we can logically conclude that he used the Greek name, but he could be speaking Hebrew standing in front of a Jewish synagogue. What we can learn from this is that either way the name of Jesus worked because he had faith in the name that he chose to speak.

If you do not yet understand or have doubts, it is time to pray and seek God. Your future does depend upon your choices. If you believe Jesus is not God manifested in flesh to die for your sins, and you only know the English language, who then can you trust in to be saved? This is the same Bible that saved me and literally millions of other humans on the earth, including my mother, my father, and many other relatives. This is the same name taught in over 1.6 million English-speaking churches on the planet.

Remember there are at least 2.5 to 2.6 billion Christian believers in the world today. The majority of these people use the English language because of British and United States English speaking missionaries. It is ridiculous to believe we are all wrong with our choice of teaching in the name of Jesus, believing in the name of Jesus, praying to the Father in the name of Jesus, and casting out devils using the name of Jesus. Critics have come too late for me. I am already convinced 1000% and nothing anyone else can say will ever change my “Faith” in His Name.

Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

These are two verses that promise us, if we call on the name of the Lord, we will be saved. Who is your “Lord”? If you are only an English speaker and you do not believe it is Jesus you might be in trouble. How do I know Jesus is LORD? There are many verses that reveal this but here is one of the best:

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

This verse leaves no doubt that Jesus is Lord and we must confess Jesus to be our personal Lord in order to receive “salvation” and “be saved”.

Now if you are not a native English speaker and know English as a minor second language, then get a Bible in your native language. Find out His name in that language and call on Him and He will save you, if you believe in your heart and do not doubt. Like was said earlier, God is omniscient meaning “All Knowing”. He can speak every known and unknown human language.

Thank you for taking the time to read and share the Word of God with the world. The time is becoming shorter with every passing day to the time Jesus will return to the earth. If we are not ready to meet Him when He comes to take us up, then it will be too late to get ready. Now is the time of salvation, this is your opportunity to receive Him by faith into your heart. Jesus loves you so very much. Please do not delay and ask Him to be your Lord and Savior.

Understanding Bible Shalom Peace Part 1 – Introduction

(Ver 1.0) This is Part 1 of a new Bible study series about the Almighty God of “Peace” and His Amazing Works of “Peace” performed in His Kingdom of “Righteousness”, and “Peace” and “Joy” in the Holy Ghost (Rom 14:17). This series will attempt to answer the basic questions that every human should have on this subject of peace. This series also will provide a perspective of peace and the reasoning for peace that many have never seen in the Bible. Finally, we will further explore 1) the origin or source of all true “Peace”, 2) the present “now” condition and existence of peace or lack thereof, and 3) the future ending of “Peace” on earth and in heaven.

I will warn you that some of this information could be offensive to new Christians and Christians that have never studied the deep spiritual subjects of God. This subject study is intended for mature Christians that are Spirit-filled and have studied the Bible intensely for at least 10 years or more. I hesitated to put a number on this, because Christians mature at differing speeds just like natural children. Judge yourself and make up your mind before you continue.

Please do not fight over trivial things. We can disagree on spellings and pronunciations without calling anyone out as being false or wrong. Only God is justified to seek absolute perfection from anyone. But, if anything offends you, or if you run across something you never heard before and it sounds like “heresy”, please take the time to study it out more closely before you rush to judgment and ignore what I believe the Lord God wanted to teach today. You are also very welcome to ask questions and leave comments if there are areas that were not clearly stated or easily misunderstood. Please leave any positive contribution on any included “Peace” subject matter. Let “Peace” be the dominate motivation in commenting on the subject of “Peace”. Allow the Holy Spirit to guide you to make constructive criticisms. These are accepted if they are spoken in ways motivated by “Love” and not “strife” or “hate”. Name calling, vile words, and speaking evil about anyone or anything is un-Christ-like and is never allowed to be published on this website. Peace and Love are two of the key driving motivations of this Bible teaching website. Thank you.

Here are some of the basic questions that people have that will hopefully all be addressed in this series.

  1. Who or what is the spiritual enemy of man and God? Is there a real enemy named Satan?
  2. Why isn’t Satan in hell right now for every evil he has committed in heaven and on the earth?
  3. If God is good, why does He allow evil?
  4. How does the Bible explain and balance the existence of a God of Love and Peace who is also sovereign and omnipotent with the existence of evil?
  5. What does God define His type of “Peace” as?
  6. How does God’s definition of “Peace” differ from the world’s type of “Peace”?
  7. Does the World have any real “Peace”?
  8. Did the Kingdom of Heaven live in perfect “Peace” before the cross?
  9. Does the Kingdom of Heaven contain perfect “Peace” after the cross?
  10. Has Heaven ever experienced total “Peace”?
  11. Has the Earth ever experienced total “Peace”?
  12. If God is the God of “Peace”, why is there so much evil, chaos, death and destruction taking place in our world, even to Christians?
  13. We can all see that there are natural wars taking place, but is there also spiritual warfare taking place today?
  14. How can spiritual warfare exist with spiritual “Peace”?
  15. Does God have a plan to restore “Peace”, stability and unity back to the universe?
  16. Will there ever be any real “Peace” that I can see and experience on earth?
  17. Why does my heart feel so restless and empty, making me feel like I’m existing in a state of fear and confusion about my future?

Here is a list of subjects that will be introduced today in this first lesson of the series:

  1. Introduction to the God of Peace and His Ways of Peace
  2. Introduction to God’s Definition of the True Shalom type of Peace
  3. God’s Hidden Meaning of Shalom Peace
  4. Conclusion

Finally, it is noteworthy that this lesson was shortened for those with limited time to study.

Introduction to the “God of Peace”
and His Ways of Peace

Most Christians have heard the truths given to us in the Old Testament concerning the seven covenant names of God. If you have not, these are names of God that describe the truest characteristics of His Holy personality involving the people that are in covenant relationship with Him. These names are as follows:

  1. Jehovah Jireh – LORD, My Provider
  2. Jehovah Nissi – LORD, My Victory Banner
  3. Jehovah Rapha – LORD, My Healer
  4. Jehovah Tsidkenu – LORD, My Righteousness
  5. Jehovah Raah – LORD, My Shepherd
  6. Jehovah Sabaoth – LORD of Hosts
  7. Jehovah Shalom – LORD, My Peace

These are all very strong positive names and each of them describe one key attribute that reveals God’s truest strengths. But the one that we are studying today is the LORD my Peace. God has named Himself “YHWH Shalom” (Peace). This teaches us that true “Peace” is one of the key forces motivating God’s thoughts, plans, motives, desires, and actions. Therefore, the primary way to understand God correctly is to read about what real “Peace” represents.

Amazingly many Christians have learned to see the true God through the attributes revealed clearly to us in the Gospel accounts of Jesus. Remember Jesus was the YHWH God walking the face of the earth in flesh (Jn 1:1-14, Jn 14:7). This physical appearance of God is the most accurate representation of who God truly is. Jesus exemplified the qualities of “Love” and “Peace” amazingly well.

In fact, Jesus using Biblical typology is referred to as the King of Righteousness and the King of Peace seven times in the Bible because God calls Him a priest made in the order of Melchisedec.  This is a critical part of our lesson series to remember. Only Jesus can and will remain our eternal High Priest and our eternal King of Peace forever. It is also interesting to note that Melchisedec was the king of Salem meaning “Peace” (Gen 14:18). This city is the early name of the same city named “Jerusalem” that Jesus is said to rule over. Jerusalem also means a city that was “Founded Peaceful”.

However, we need to focus on all the names of God that were just given. All these names must be balanced together equally. There appears to be a controversy with the name “LORD of Hosts” being united with the other peaceful names, but there are no contradictions. The LORD of Hosts means; God is the LORD over armies.

If God is described to be named Jehovah Shalom (Peace), what does an omnipotent God of “Peace” need with an army of war? How could the same LORD of Peace that compassionately heals people to bring life, be a LORD over a strong force of power that can bring death? This is not that complicated. Having a powerful force of great strength helps a kingdom, nation or government to keep the peace and avoid wars when used correctly. However, there is also another truth that cannot be ignored. We are about to discover that God has an enemy (Psalm 55).

Rom 16:20  And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you. Amen. 

In at least 5 verses in the New Testament, God is described as the “God of Peace” which is parallel to the name Jehovah Shalom. These verses identify “Peace” to remain one of God’s major qualities of His character in the New Covenant. Notice that we again see a potential contradiction between the God of “Peace” and a “bruising” someone under the feet of someone else in Romans 16:20.

To “bruise someone under the feet” is a figurative description of conquering an enemy for their defeat (1 Kings 5:3). This typically is done in a war and that is the opposite of “peace”. Thus, God identifying Himself as “Peace” in a violent action like war appears to contradict. But there is still no conflict. Mostly we just do not understand what is being taught.

The name Satan comes from the Hebrew word H7854 meaning God’s adversary, opponent, and enemy. This helps us to understand one of God’s primary peaceful goals is to defeat His enemy named Satan. Remember that this verse in Romans 16:20, was written a long time after the death of Jesus on a cross. This teaches us further that there is still a spiritual war taking place and it appears God’s strategy will be the feet of the church that will be used to finally conquer Satan. Looking around us in the world, you must admit that Satan is still alive and well. This is based upon all the evil that has been greatly taking place openly right in front of us.

We are being introduced to the fact that God has an enemy that is fighting against Him. Satan is trying his best to cause his dark and evil kingdom to rule over all, including the God that created him (Lk 4:5-6). That is not wise at all. But this explains a lot about God’s key “Peace” quality and why it is also necessary for Him to have armies to keep His peace.

There are several spiritual wars in the Bible, but we will only focus on two major spiritual battles that need to be quickly mentioned to help confirm what is being taught. One is written about real past spiritual warfare, and the other is a prophesied future coming spiritual warfare and both are described as incredible power struggles of good versus evil.  

The first example to understand was a major spiritual warfare given by Daniel as he is praying in chapter 10. This war begins when Daniel prays asking for an answer for Israel. God sends him the answer by way of an angel. The answering angel was sent on the first day that Daniel prayed, but there was a spiritual war taking place that delayed the answer for 21 days from arriving. The answering angel also has to send for Michael a chief heavenly angelic authority to help him get through the evil opposition. That is an amazing example of spiritual warfare.

But there is another very significant future spiritual war that occurs between angelic armies that is written about in Revelation chapter 12. This war occurs when Satan brings 1/3 of the angels against Michael and his angels. Go read this account and you will discover very quickly that this future war is when Satan will be forever cast down from heaven and all evil angels will not be allowed to reenter. This is very important to see and understand, but we will address it more later in the series.

We will soon be learning in this series how the God of Peace is working in His ways of never changing love and peace which must also be balanced with His power, strength and righteous judgments. All of this together is accomplishing His desire to re-establish everlasting “Peace”. Simultaneously God is also “legally” and “righteously” eliminating all His enemies and their evil works along with their unrighteous influences.

Let us continue to focus upon what God is saying in Romans 16:20. This verse says God will use the “feet” of the church of Jesus Christ, to bruise Satan. Let us define who the church is first. The church is symbolically referred to as the “Building” (1 Peter 2:5), the “Body” (1 Cor 12:27) and the “Bride” of Christ. We will only be addressing the woman identity labeled as a “Bride” in this introduction. We will begin to find this truth in 1 Corinthians 16:17 where God writes “He that is joined to the Lord is one Spirit”. That is marriage covenant terminology that was first written as law concerning the first man and his wife in Genesis 2:24.

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.

Genesis 2:24 is requoted in Ephesians 5:31 again, but this time it is directly referring to a great hidden mystery that God is speaking of it being Christ and His church bride in Ephesians 5:32.

Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

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

It is very important to know that the first created Adam in Genesis chapters 1 to 4, was a planned pattern by God for the “Last Adam” (Jesus) (1 Cor 15:45). Romans 5:12-14 is the primary confirmation that declares the “Last Adam” (Jesus) to be a “figure” (type, pattern) of the first Adam. This simply means what God did to take a flesh bride out of the first Adam, has been repeated in the Last Adam to take out a spiritual bride. We will continue to talk about this in the series as we learn more about the ways the Living God of Peace works.

Then previously in Ephesians 5:25-27 God speaks of husbands and wives in direct relationship to Jesus being the husband that loves his church and is making her ready by the cleansing power of the Word of God in verse 26. And in Ephesians 5:27 this clean bride is being “presented” to himself as the glorious church (bride). This is all wedding terminology between the church bride and the Son of God.

Too many preachers of the Word of God today are ignorant prideful males, and they feel anyone calling them a bride is profane and demeaning. Therefore, they explain away the verses in the Bible that speak of these truths in spiritual terms. Do you know that in the Bible God says in Galatians 3:28, that “In Christ, there is neither male nor female?”. Yet they fight you for calling them bride.

Did you know God called the nation of Israel His virgin bride wife (Isa 62:5)? Please go read Jeremiah 31:32 where God speaking of Israel as His wife, said I was a husband to you”. People must learn the truth, not because I said it, but because God said it. In the spiritual realm of existence God’s covenants are marriages with a people of males and females. They all corporately are His bride, and He is always their Husband the Head of the Family. This is the way it is and will always be, whether you like it or not!

This knowledge identifies the church to be the New Covenant woman bride that is being used by God to bruise the head of Satan in Romans 16:20 and it further directly connects us to Genesis 3:15. There are many other lessons that explain this in more details on this website, if you are unfamiliar with who you are to God as the church. Please just understand that the Church of Jesus Christ is considered a symbolic spiritual woman and bride.

Next, let us define who Satan is. We must understand that Satan is the “head” ruler of the kingdom of darkness in this world (Acts 26:18, Col 1:13). Let us look at some other key identifying characteristics of this enemy. In 2 Corinthians 4:4, Satan is called the “god of this world”. This lower-case “g” “god” is the exact same Greek word translated as capital “G” “God” as referring to our Creator. Therefore, Satan is not a nobody or a powerless being. Then notice in Ephesians 2:2 Satan is called “the prince of the power of the air that works in children of disobedience”. Therefore, Satan is considered at minimum a “prince” of a kingdom. Jesus himself claimed Satan has a kingdom in Luke 11:18.

If you are a serious Bible student, Romans 16:20 should begin to fit into the pattern that was written about in Genesis 3:15. With a little study we should be able to see how Romans 16:20 is a parallel prophecy of the verse found in Genesis 3:15. If you recall, this verse was God speaking to the “serpent” saying, “I will put enmity between you and the woman”. Notice the emphasized hatred and implied war is between a serpent and a woman.  Then God mentions head and feet saying, “your head (the serpent) will be bruised under foot”. God does not identify which woman is being spoken of in Genesis 3:15, but He has now identified her in Romans 16:20, to be the church bride of Christ.

Most are going to criticize this teaching because almost every Bible teacher has taught this verse is about a “seed” and that connect that to be the Lord Jesus Christ. They further claim this brusising took place on the cross. But yet we can’t find a verse that claims what they teach mentioning Jesus to be the “Seed of the woman from Genesis 3:15”, or about His feet standing on the serpent.

Instead, we find verses like Luke 10:19 which is Jesus speaking to the church saying, “I give unto you authority to tread on serpents, scorpions and all the power of the enemy”. This was Jesus speaking to leaders of the church and it applies to us today also since we are in the same church body as they were.

We also see that Psalm 110:1 is quoted at least 5 times in the New Covenant claiming it was written about Jesus. This verse is the LORD (YHWH) God speaking to His Son saying, “Sit here at my righthand, until I make your enemies your footstool”. Wow, these verses go along with Romans 16:20 exactly. Jesus is currently seated in heaven at the right hand of God, and God said He would use the feet of the Bride of Christ to bruise the head of Satan (the serpent)”.

Notice, God does not inform us, who the “serpent” is in Genesis 3:1. But thankfully, God defines the name of the serpent to be Satan in Revelation 12:9 which is another key chapter about a woman standing with her “feet” on a very key object. This woman is standing on the moon. This object is defined to be the ruler of the night and darkness in Psalm 136:9. These are all God’s clues about the same bruising and the same woman being spoken of using direct or symbolic representations to identify her.

Now we have seen all the key connecting information that is necessary to interpret these verses correctly. Satan is defined to be the Genesis 3:15 “serpent” in Revelation 12. Then in Romans 16:20 we have a woman called the church who will be used by God to bruise Satan the serpent under her feet, and this has yet to occur and must happen very soon. Since this had not happened when Paul wrote this letter, we can deduce this is a prophecy of an event that must happen in a future context. Then you must realize that this time of bruising occurs before the rapture. Now is the time when the rapture could occur and therefore, the serpent’s head will be bruised before the bridegroom comes and gets His bride. Did you know this is why Satan hates this teaching and wants to silence it?

Do you see the connections being made here? We have three verses about a woman who is at war with Satan. In every situation we have her “feet” standing on the head of the ruler of darkness who is Satan. These are all verses that predict a victorious church and defeated enemy Satan. This is not an accident. There are many other lessons that teach this in more detail. These will not be repeated here. This is just being included because these are the wise choices of an almighty and omnipotent God of Peace, who is working to bring about a lasting eternal “Peace” over His enemy.

God chooses to use a foolish looking woman who appears weak to Satan, and she has been identified to be the church. Remember the first woman who was the wife of the first Adam was deceived (2 Cor 11:3). This wife was tricked by the serpent. But the church, the wife of the Last Adam will not be tricked. The natural wife who was the mother of all natural humans, is not the same as the “spiritual wife”.

For she represents the wife of Jesus Christ whose Spirit now lives in us and He has become joined with our human spirit, causing us to be much more powerful than we appear on the outside sometimes to our enemy (1 Jn 4:4). The Omnipotent God of Peace loves to use foolish things to confound the wise (1 Cor 1:27).

We should all know that God has surprised His enemy Satan by defeating him while hanging on a cross. During this event, He died, and His side was pierced by a sword allowing blood and water to flow out of His body (Jn 19:34). This was the spiritual birth of the church which is like the taking of the woman out of the first Adam (Gen 2:21-22). But this woman would be used by God to fulfill a prophecy with the crushing of the head of the serpent under her feet. Remember this woman is what God calls a weaker vessel (1 Pet 3:7).

You see if God in His omnipotent power defeats Satan, God could potentially appear to look evil, after all He is the one that speaks and the sun, moon, and stars just appear (Psalm 33:6). God’s power is so much greater than Satan, it is not a fair fight. This is not the way of God seen in His True Light. Do not forget that even Jesus (God in the flesh) stripped Himself of His deity power to become a humble servant man that died on a cross (Php 2:7-8). That is clearly not what Satan expected to happen and this is the man that God calls the Last Adam. This man of peace was the God of Peace that became like the first Adam, but He chose to keep the hundreds of Laws and Commandments of God to be without sin (Heb 4:15), while the first man Adam having only 1 commandment chose to revolt.

Are we beginning to see how God’s ways are not our ways (Isa 55:8)? What would we do if we were omnipotent, and someone became our enemy trying to steal our kingdom and glory? Humans would probably just kill them instantly in a fit of rage. But that does not sound like the True God, when we see Him correctly. If you believe that it does, you may not really know God as well as you should. Look at this verse of confirmation:

1Co 1:18  For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.

Finally, how is the God of Peace whose ways are not our normal human ways, using the church bride to defeat His enemy Satan? If you recall in Ephesians 6, God lists His armor for us to put on in this spiritual warfare that the church is involved within. God lists multiple pieces of spiritual armor including a belt, a breastplate, a helmet, a shield and a sword.

However, notice that one of the weakest sounding parts of the armor were the “shoes” that are supposed to be protecting the church woman’s feet. The church’s feet are supposed to be shod with the “Gospel of Peace”. Now put this together with what we just read in 1 Corinthians 1:18. God’s Gospel of Peace preaching the cross is completely foolish to everyone that is perishing. Is Satan going to perish? If we read the back of the book, we will quickly discover that he is.

Therefore, what some may consider weak and foolish is where God has placed His great power. Wow! That sounds like the God of Peace has guaranteed our victory, through wrapping our feet with the powerful Gospel of Peace, doesn’t it?

The church should be preaching this Gospel good news unashamedly and more today than ever. Do you remember what Paul said in Romans 1:16? Here Paul wrote “For I am not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God unto salvation, for the Jew first, and also unto the Greek”. This proves again the Power of God is found within foolish good words of peace. The time is growing very short for the end of the church age of God’s divine Grace. Yet we have His promises that we will overcome and He (the God of Peace) lives in us to guarantee our victory.

Introduction to God’s Definition
of the True Shalom Type of Peace

To begin to understand the subject of “Peace” we must learn to see the subject through the eyes of God and ignore human traditions. The English word “peace” occurs over 400 times in the KJV Bible. Within the New Testament the word “peace” is found over 100 times. The key Greek words translated as “peace” in the New Testament are G2270, G1514, G1515, G1516, G1517, G1518, G4601, G4623, and G5392. The Greek language as you should be aware is a much more descriptive detailed language than English and usually has several Words to describe the same subject. Each Greek word expresses details and types of “peace” which are usually applicable to only one version or feature of “peace”. For example, Jesus is called a “Peace Maker” using the Word G1517 through the blood of the cross (Col 1:20). This literally means there was a problem between God’s created humans that were under bondage of sin and Satan and their Creator God. This sin problem was solved by the bloody death of Jesus hanging on a cross approximately 2000 years ago (Col 1:20).

Then there is another verse that Jesus said about the church when He was calling us out to also be peacemakers (G1518). Jesus personally, promised the church that we would be blessed if we choose to become peacemakers like Him. Here is what Matthew 5:9 said, “Blessed are the peacemakers because they will be called children of God”. To become a child of God is the only way to be saved. Therefore, to follow and pursue after making peace with all men should be one of our greatest priorities (Heb 12:14).

In the Old Testament Hebrew language, the translated English word “peace” occurs over 300 times, originating from the Hebrew words H1826, H2790, H7965, H7999, H8002, and a few others. But we will be focused today upon H7965 (Shalom) for this study. The Hebrew word H7965 “Shalom” occurs over 230 times in the Old Testament, and it was predominately translated as “peace”.

Let us first review the definitions of the English word “peace” before digging into the Greek and Hebrew words. In the English language Peace as a noun is defined as:

  1. A state of tranquility or quiet silence
  2. The absence of war with enemies
  3. An agreement or treaty to end hostilities
  4. Freedom from quarrels and disagreement; harmony in personal relationships
  5. Concord and friendship between governments

These are just a few of the basic concepts of what peace represents in the English understanding of the word. Let us go over a few of the basic concepts found in the New Testament Greek word. We look first at the Greek word G1515. This word is defined as:

  1. To join (unite, bring together) in a state of peace implying harmony and agreement
  2. To be “One” meaning there are no divisions or disagreements
  3. “Prosperity” the implied result of living in peace with no conflicts implying safety and freedom from evil and conflicts including thefts
  4. “Quietness” the implied result of no war, strife, argument, disagreement, fighting, wars, destruction, chaos
  5. “Rest” the implied result of living in peace with others without the need to be on constant guard or watch for an attack
  6. Peace is also implied as a state of mental and physical “Health”, which is free from any oppression of thoughts, such as worries, fears, doubts or being physically ill, sick, weak, etc.

This Greek word G1515 parallels a lot of the English meanings that we saw before in the English definitions. But it has added a few new important details to the views found in the concepts of the God kind of “Peace” verses a human narrowed focus of peace. Let us transition to the Hebrew next to find a few potentially new aspects of “Peace” to God’s definition.

The Hebrew word H7965 transliterated as “Shalom” is by far more than a simplistic idea of just being “quiet” or “still” as in a calm and peaceful day, or sea. Looking at the Strong’s definition we find what this word literally means:

  1. “To be safe”, implied from enemy attacks, weapons, captivity, danger, accidents, harm, thefts, destructions, etc.
  2. “To be well”, implied to be whole, complete, free from mental or physical illness or disease, etc.
  3. “To be happy”, implied to be emotionally stable, secure, free from worry, and fears
  4. “To be prosperous”, implied to be more than blessed enough to bless others, free from lack, want or poverty
  5. and “To be in health”, implied to be in a physical or mental, condition of fitness and strength, having freedom from weakness, lack, where there is nothing missing, and nothing broken, and to abide in possession of God’s perfect human design originally made in His image and likeness.

This definition parallels and states more clearly what was found in the Greek word G1515 definitions. Therefore, to God the concept of “peace” concretely includes “spiritual” applications, physical applications, calm mental and emotional thoughts free from worry, stress, and fear, as well as living prosperously without any lack or want. All these qualities describe the original spiritual conditions and characteristics of God and His purposed original design for humans that were made “in” His image and after His likeness (Gen 1:26). This state of original “peace” between God and man has been restored now through Jesus who has blessed us who believe in Him and have placed our confident trust in Him.

From these definitions of the word “Peace” we can derive what it is not, and this will help us quickly determine if we are “In Peace” or “Out of Peace”. Here is a short list of what is NOT PEACE:

  1. Evils
  2. Destruction
  3. Chaos
  4. Divided against enemies
  5. War, Aggression, Hostility, Strife and Fighting
  6. Death, Demise
  7. Illness, Sicknesses, Diseased, Weak, Fatigued or Feeling Poorly
  8. Loss, Shortage, Poverty, Lack, Famines
  9. Struggles, Tensions, Strains, Tiredness
  10. Pressures, Worries, Fears, Concerns
  11. Having the need to focus and deal with Lies, Deceptions, Tricks, Traps, Snares

What we will soon discover is that God’s kind of “Peace” that was built upon unity, harmony and being one in spirit, was fully established at the beginning of His original works of creation in Genesis 1:1. This type of ultimate peace is not what we are observing now. What we can see happening in the world today is the continuation of pure evil and chaos that entered by the sin of the first Adam. God warned Adam that he would lose his peace when He said, “The day you eat, you will surely die”, speaking of the tree of the knowledge of “Good” and “Evil”.  However, God’s type of unified harmony became reestablished for those that were entering into the church in Acts 2 and onward.

God’s new creation being re-born in Christ Jesus was the beginning of living internally in spiritual “Peace”, but it will only be completely reestablished at the end of God’s current creation. This completed and “restored” Peace can only be released and experienced fully after all “evil” influence has ceased, and this primarily was written about in the book of Revelation chapters 21 and 22.

During our present condition and time of existence of internal spiritual peace, we are experiencing very limited external peace in the world. While we are living in internal peace, it is being joined with what looks like massive chaos and evil. What we must conclude is that God’s enemy Satan is working very hard to disrupt God’s plan to eliminate all evil. All evil will be eliminated with God’s finalization of a New Creation resulting in a New Heaven and a New Earth.

But these center times that have been occurring in between the beginning of the first creation and its ending, there has been a time where we can see there have been selected opportunities for everyone to live in some external peace, but it has never lasted. We can clearly look at our present world system and find various levels of evil, enemies, wars, chaos in our personal lives, in our work, in our families, in our friends, in our governments, etc.  Therefore, final realization within the New Creation will receive a return of the God kind of Peace and it “will” have at the minimum these qualities:

  1. Safety,
  2. Goodness,
  3. Love,
  4. Unity,
  5. Harmony,
  6. Freedom,
  7. Prosperity,
  8. Blessings,
  9. Health,
  10. Life Eternal,

We have only touched on “peace” as defined by God. Hopefully, you gained a basic knowledge that God’s true peace is all-inclusive providing us spiritual peace with Him as gift, and complete freedom from all evil influence eventually in the future.

The Hidden Meaning of Shalom Peace

There is a hidden meaning of the word Shalom, found in the ancient Hebrew alphabet spelling. These pictograph letters selected and used by God to spell the word Shalom, are the 1) Shin, the 2) Lamed and the 3) Mem. These three letters were selected and designed by God with His purposed plan to restore “peace” within His Kingdom forever. Remember this word spells the word “PEACE” and it was joined with His name “LORD” (YHWH) to declare who He was and what He will do in Jesus Christ.

If you have been studying the series of lesson about Jesus being found in every letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet, you should be convinced when Jesus said I am the Alpha and the Omega in Revelation. This applies to Him claiming He was every letter in the alphabet. Since Jesus was Jewish, He spoke Hebrew and said the words Alef and Tav to another Hebrew man named John who wrote the book of Revelation in Greek for most of the lost world to read. Therefore, John was inspired by the Spirit of God to write the first and last letters spoken by Jesus as the Alpha and Omega. This is based upon pure logic, common sense and also example of when Jesus spoke to Saul on the road to Damascus. Jesus clearly spoke to Saul in Hebrew also (Acts 21:40).

This revelation strongly suggested that since Jesus was the beginning of the alphabet and the ending of the alphabet, He could logically be found in every other alphabet letter also. This means, the Shin, the Lamed and the Mem are letters about Jesus and placing them together provides us a hidden message about what God is doing through Jesus to re-establish “Peace”.

The first letter “Shin” is a picture of the two top front teeth of a man. Remember, Jesus was God in the form of a man (Jn 1:1-14). This letter as the two front teeth represents an instrument that cuts or divides because it is very sharp. This too describes Jesus’ work on the earth in the flesh. Do you remember what Jesus said in Matthew 10:34?

Mat 10:34  Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. 

We can clearly see Jesus claiming to have come into the world in the flesh not to bring peace, but rather a sword. Swords cut, swords are for war, swords divide, and this is what the Shin represents in this word. Think about the two front teeth taking a bite of corn on the cob. They cut the corn off the cob, and then allow those pieces to enter the mouth, be chewed to pieces and swallowed. This is exactly what God is planning to figuratively do to Satan.

The next middle letter of the word Shalom is the Lamed. This letter is a picture of a Shepherd’s staff. It represents a Shepherd’s authority and power. Normally this letter represents Jesus, but we are going to find out by the next letter, it has a different application to the work of Jesus.

Finally, the last Hebrew letter in Shalom is “Mem”. This letter’s pictograph represents large waves of water. It represents moving liquids like water and blood primarily. But when water movement increases significantly it brings violence, destruction and death and these are works of Satan who is an extreme worker of evil (Jn 10:10). Therefore, the letter Mem can represent someone that produces “Chaos” and the disruption of “Peace”. We confirm this to be Satan by reading Revelation 12:15, “And the serpent cast out of his mouth, water (Mem) as a flood…”. This paints the picture of the Mem speaking words that are creating massive chaos. But it confirms exactly what is happening in opposition to peace.

Wow! Let us place the meanings of these three letters together to discover the hidden message concerning the works of Jesus Christ to restore “Peace”. Remember God is the God of “Peace” and think about what this meaning has to do with God’s works in creation.

Placing the letters of Shalom together we arrive at the meaning of the joined Shin, Lamed and Mem all together as God saying:

Shin        =     “He will destroy and divide

Lamed     =     the Authority

Mem        =      of he (Satan) that causes Chaos, death and destruction”

This will be the focus of the rest of this lesson series. We will be exploring the Bible to verify that this is exactly what God is still doing in our world today and it will soon come to an end and Satan knows this now and is fighting extremely hard to cause the plan of God to be slowed or to be stopped. But we all know this is a futile effort, because we have read the back of the book already, and have believed that it shall be even as the Lord has spoken.

Conclusion

We have only touched the surface to see a very small part of the Who, What, When, Where and Why of the subject of “Peace”. We were introduced to the basic Bible concepts of “Peace” as defined in the Word of God. We were also introduced to the meaning of the word Shalom hidden in the ancient Hebrew alphabet spelling. This word as we saw meant “He will DESTROY the AUTHORITY of the one that made CHAOS”. The “He” that will Destroy (Shin) is Jesus, the authority (Lamed) that makes chaos (Mem) in heaven and on the earth is Satan.

We further learned one of the names of God is Jehovah (YHWH) Shalom (Peace). We should have seen this name confirms Jesus to be the one that will destroy the authority of chaos, by us beholding (Hey) His hands (Yod) having been pierced by nails (Vav). Remember the name LORD YHWH is spelled Yod + Hey + Vav + Hey meaning Behold the Hands, Behold the Nails and this spells Jehovah. All of this was written about in Zecheriah 12:10.

God is the one that is eternal, all powerful, all knowing, all seeing, and who by His chosen name He purposes to dwell in a constant and never changing level of the highest order of “Peace”. This means He does no evil. God is also not the author of any confusion (chaos) but rather “Peace” according to 1 Corinthians 14:33). This verse in 1st Corinthians is a profound confirmation to what this series is teaching.

We will in this series be learning more about God’s characteristics of “Peace”.  We will further see how God’s original works of creation was done in ultimate peace and perfection. But we will then learn where and when Chaos and Evil occurred. We will be answering some important questions about why is evil still in existence and appears to be doing a massive amount of preparation and rehearsal for a coming world government that will be led by the highest evil ruler, Satan in the form of the antichrist.

Nevertheless, we will learn that Satan does not win, and God’s ultimate “Peace” will prevail in Jesus. Jesus is prophesied to be the “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6. This shows us that this is what we all should have great expectations of seeing and experiencing soon. We will be studying all this and much more in future lessons.

Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with Agapegeek. We appreciate your faithfulness and encourage you to verify everything that is written. Do not believe anything without the Holy Spirit’s confirmation internally, along with Him confirming what the verses say using the ruling force and power of the Holy Spirit’s “Peace” in your heart. Continue to abide in the Peace of God that passes all understanding (Php 4:7).

May God of Peace continue to be with you and richly Bless you All!

If you would like to continue your study in this series on the subject of Shalom Peace, please click “Part 2“.

Jesus in the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Part 7 – Vav – Jesus the Nail for Heaven to Earth Connection

(Ver 1.1) This is “Part 7” in the surprising and amazing Bible study series focused upon searching, finding, and learning how God became a man and how He was hidden in every letter of the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet. This series has been going through each letter of the alphabet (but not in alphabetical order) and today we are focused on the 6th letter called “Vav”. This ancient Hebrew pictogram is the image of a nail or a peg. Therefore, this letter represents the act of “connecting” two separated entities.

There are debates about the pronunciation of this letter, and some call it the “Waw”. But we have chosen the “Vav” sound as our preference. If you like another sound, that is fine, please just don’t fight us and cause divisions in the body. Simply change the Vav to the Waw as your chosen way of viewing the letter and learn what this letter means from the ancient Hebrew pictographic point of view.

If your interest today is just learning about the Hebrew letter “Vav”, this lesson is standalone. But if you are new to this subject of the ancient Hebrew Alphabet, it is good to learn the basic concepts of why the Ancient Hebrew alphabet is so important to know and how each letter was revealed by Jesus personally to represent Himself as a prophetical window into who He was, and what He came to do on the earth. Therefore, if you have not read the “Introduction”, it is recommended that you go back and begin there first.

Every time I go into studying a new letter of the ancient Hebrew alphabet, I become more amazed at God’s ability to teach us using a single picture. With each letter, I conclude that this must be the most amazing letter ever of all 22. Today is no exception, because I was totally amazed with what God has revealed to us in the many hours that I have spent in studying the letter “Vav”. I pray that every one of you will feel the same after you read this lesson. Here is a list of the sections that will be covered in today’s lesson on the Ancient Hebrew Letter Vav:

  1. Introduction to the Vav
  2. Genesis 1:1 – Beginning “Vav” Prophecy of the Coming End
  3. Jesus is God’s Sure Nail
  4. How God Placed Us in Christ to Vav Re-Connect Us with God
  5. Conclusion

If you are ready, let us get started learning God’s Word and alphabet.

1. INTRODUCTION

As you can see from the picture of the ancient Hebrew letter “Vav” the orignal ancient image looks like a nail, or a tent peg, and thus the rudimentary meaning of the letter is something or someone that connects two things together of either like or differing composition or nature. We will discover more meanings and applications of this letter as we continue to learn.

The letter “Vav” is the sixth letter in alphabetic order. The number six concerns the linear sequence as well as the gematria value. The number six is significant in Biblical numbers, because it represents “man” and especially the first man “Adam” when created in a sinless mature state of innocence before the fall. As you should know Adam was created as God’s last works of creation at the end of day 6. Therefore, the number 6 will become a very significant part of this lesson, especially because of the essential fact that God became a man to die on a cross to save us from hell (Rev 20:13-14).

The letter Vav is also used as a prefix which is added to another Hebrew word. This addition to the beginning of a Hebrew word, inserts the word “And” to the sentence. This is grammatically added to connect the previous thought, words, ideas, phrases, etc. to what is about to be said. This confirms the basic meaning of the letter “Vav” is that of “connecting” or “adding” two concepts or even entities together. This is the same idea of joining two objects of wood together by connecting them with a “nail”.

The Hebrew matching word for the letter “Vav” is H2053. This word is the two-letter sound of the single “Vav” letter, just spelled out in word form as “Vav” + “Vav”. This is the doubling of the single letter “Vav”, and this will become even more meaningful soon. However, this word only occurs 13 times in the entire Hebrew text, and it can only be found in the book of Exodus.

The Hebrew word “Vav” (H2053) has a root definition of a “peg” as in a “tent peg”. This is exactly what the picture of the letter represents. A tent peg is designed to bring stability to the tent dwelling (house and family inside). This tent peg connects the dwelling to the ground with a rope and this will keep the tent secure during a storm of strong winds. It is interesting that this is exactly what is needed for the “House and Family of God” to be firmly grounded. We are going to discover that Jesus is this ultimate grounding tent peg.

Therefore, this word “Vav” contains the idea of joining or attaching two or more things together like the tent to the ground. But how does this work? If you have ever been camping in a tent you know you better bring tent pegs and rope because you do not want your tent to blow away. The tent is made secure by hammering a peg into the ground (earth) and then attaching a loop or rope to the tent peg that is “also” tied to the tent. This causes the structure to become secure from being easily moved.

We can find in the New Testament where it says God created a new family in Jesus (Heb 3:6). Isaiah 28:16 prophesies this house that is being built by naming Jesus Christ as the coming “corner stone” of the foundation. 1 Peter 2:4-5 describes Jesus to be a “Living Stone” that was rejected of men but chosen of God. Peter further describes the church body as being connected stones to Jesus in His “household of faith” (Gal 6:10). These are all “Vav” concepts of connection being described using synonymous terms with no direct reference to a “peg”.

This Hebrew word H2053 can also mean a “nail”, or a “hook” as in an object that is used as a “connector” to “hang” or “attach” two separated objects together. This is an amazing concept if we will begin to see and learn how this applies to Jesus. The works of Jesus are described with great precision as in the concept of Him being a living “nail” that is used to rejoin sinful humans to the Holy God, and vice versa. We can read about this work of God in Jesus in Colossians 1:20 and other verses.

Let us examine the O.T. word H2053 usage briefly. In the Hebrew text of Exodus in the KJV Bible this word “Vav” is consistently translated as “hook” 13 times. When first used in the book of Exodus in chapter 26 verses 31 and 32, this word is utilized in the construction of the tabernacle by God’s instructions for the hanging of the separating veil covering to enter the most holy temple location. God’s usages of the “hooks” (Vav) was specifically for the hanging of the separating “veil” (H6532) placed upon wooden posts. This usage is certainly a hidden image and description of Jesus hanging on a cross (Tav).

For example, the O.T. veils are a typology pattern of Jesus’ human flesh. We learn this concept in Hebrews 10:20 where God writes the veil represents the “flesh” of Jesus Christ. It should be obvious that the wooden posts of the temple are a typological pattern of the “Tav” cross, and the nails (Vav) placed in the wooden posts (Tav) are what hung Jesus body (veil) up on the cross (Tav). There are other things that we could go into here, but this is just an introduction.

Today we are going to discover some of the amazing facts surrounding the letter “Vav”. Here is one of the first amazing facts that we will see about the letter “Vav”. The letter “Vav” is the 2nd most used letter written by God in the Torah. The 1st most popular occurring letter is the “Yod”. The 3rd most popular letter found in the Torah is the “Hey”. And if you have read the other lessons, you already know these are letters used to spell the name of the LORD. LORD in Hebrew is spelled “Yod” + “Hey” + “Vav” + “Hey”. Therefore, our God has chosen the three most significantly used alphabet letters for His personal covenant name. Each of these letters are important, including this letter pictured as a “nail”, which is the “third” position of His name.

The first letter of the name of God was the “Yod”, the picture of an outstretched hand. This is very symbolic of God’s love reaching out for His lost creation. The 2nd and the 4th letters are the same letter “Hey” meaning “Behold” and “Look”. This double reference to the picture of a man looking at something amazing, places a strong emphasis upon this person that is unnamed, implying created humans should search to find Him. The third letter is our “Vav” nail and all these together give us a prophetical message of God appearing before man to be seen in the flesh of Jesus.

Therefore, we have found a prophecy of Jesus being hung (nailed) on a cross encoded within the primary name of God. These letters are speaking to us “Behold the hand, Behold the nail”.  This covenant name of God is clearly teaching us that God will become a man with human hands and His hands will be pierced with “Vav” nails when He will die for us on a “Tav” cross.

This brings us again to the fact that the Vav letter sequence and gematria value are both “6”. Remember this number 6 represents an upright “man”. This fact is well known because man was created at the end of day “6” of creation in Genesis 1. Since God chooses to select a “Vav” as the third letter of His name, He has foretold to us how His power will allow Him to become a flesh and blood man that will be “Vav” nailed through His “Yod” hands and humans will be able to behold “Hey” when it happens in amazement. This fact is proved correct in John 19:37 where we can see this was fulfilled the first time while hanging on a cross in Jerusalem. This will become of greater significance as we continue to study this letter and its position in the alphabet.

Now to conclude this introduction to the 6th letter of the alphabet the “Vav”, we will also need to know a little bit about the 7th letter of the alphabet called the “Zayin”. These two letters are intimately connected. You see the 6th letter “Vav” is a metal object as in the image of a nail that designed for connecting, but the 7th letter “Zayin” is also made of metal in the shape of a farming tool used for harvesting crops like wheat.

When harvesting crops, the wheat must be cut with a sharp metal tool (Zayin). Therefore, the letter “Vav” is a joining together of two things and the letter “Zayin” is the separating or cutting division of a single thing into two parts. These are antithesis letter concepts of opposition, but God chose to place them directly next to each other in the Alphabet as letters 6 and 7. Therefore, they are connected by God’s design. We will soon discover more about this connection later in the lesson. Now let us move into some Bible details that will begin to unfold all these topics.

2. Genesis 1:1 Vav Beginning Prophecy of the Coming End

There are several amazing hidden prophetical facts found in the words of Genesis 1:1; “In the Beginning”. These prophecies when they are known, reveal God’s personal coming to the earth as a man sent to die by being nailed on a cross. These “End” prophecies occur at the very “Beginning” of the Bible, and they involve our Hebrew letter “Vav”. Here is our key verse for this section to help you understand why we are searching Genesis, and it also reveals what we are looking for:

Isa 46:10  Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:

As we can see, Isaiah reveals that God has declared the “End” from the “Beginning”. If you recall the beginning letter of the Hebrew alphabet is the “Alef” and the ending letter is the ‘Tav”. The “Alef” is a strong ox picture representing God as a Strong Servant (Jesus). The “Tav” is the picture of a cross the instrument of crucifixion for Jesus to die. Therefore, we are searching for the declaration of an “End” by returning to the very “First” (Beginning) verse of the Bible. According to the Word of God, in Isaiah we are supposed to be able to find something significant that will bring forth an “End”.

But let us place this search for the “End” within the context of our study subject of the Hebrew alphabet. We are going to approach this search with this strategy because it is not yet fully known what “End” will occur, and who it will affect. But also, it is true that we can read the translated plain text verse and find nothing about any kind of “End”. Therefore, this message of an “End” must be found in the alphabet letters that created the words that were written and translated into English. This seems very logical and obvious, doesn’t it?

The very first letter in the Hebrew alphabet is the “Alef” and the very last letter we should know is the “Tav”. The first letter Alef represents the number 1, and the last letter Tav represents numerically the number 22 the total numbers of letters in the alphabet. Also do not forget our current study is the letter “Vav” and this is the number 6. All these facts are given to help set the foundation of our Genesis Hebrew Alphabet search.

Therefore, let us look at the seven words found in the first verse, in the first chapter, in the first book that is in question. It is first interesting to determine if these verses are related to confirm we are at the correct location. We do this by looking for the Hebrew word H7225 translated as “beginning”. It is very simple to see with a search that this word beginning is found in both Isaiah 46:10 and Genesis 1:1 confirming the same word subject is being discussed by God in both verses.

— Hidden Vav Message Foundation —

For this study we will need to examine the Words of Genesis 1:1 in both the English KJV as well as the modern Hebrew:

Gen 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

Gen 1:1  בראשׁית ברא אלהים את השׁמים ואת הארץ׃ 

If you are new to the Hebrew language, this verse is written from right to left in a modern font type style and not the ancient Hebrew pictographic font. This may mean that if you desire, you may want to learn the connections from the ancient Hebrew to the modern transition Hebrew font. If you do not care to learn this, that is OK, because the information being covered here is not about the modern font type letter styles or shapes.

Let us notice a few key facts about Genesis 1. This verse in Hebrew consists of 28 alphabet letters in total. It has 7 different words with the Hebrew word H853 (Alef+Tav) occurring twice in two different spellings. If we read the verse as it is literally written it would say and it has both the English words that were translated from the Hebrew words given with Strong numbers. You will also notice that there are three prefix letters given, the first is the Beyt, the second is the Hey that occurs twice, and the final prefix is the Vav. Prefixes may be a totally new subject for you, but it is important for this study.

“In beginning (Beyt+H7225) created (H1254) (AT=H853) God (H430) the heaven (Hey+H8064) and (Vav+H853) the earth (Hey+H776)”.

We are about to get very deep into the Hebrew language today, but don’t be discouraged if it is a challenge at first. There are only 22 letters to learn, but there are a lot of rules to how they can be placed together and what each letter means and what they sound like depending upon location within a word and other details that will not be covered today. However, please make the effort to learn the basic concepts, because they will help you more than you know, since they have for me.

I have learned a lot by just digging much deeper in the Bible. I have found the greatest hidden truths are found in the smallest unknown details. For example, adding the 2nd letter “Beyt” to the beginning of the Hebrew word translated “beginning” (H7225) adds the word “In” to the translation. The word “the” that was placed by the translators in between these two words (In the beginning) in the KJV should not be there and it should literally only say, “In beginning”.

There are four Hebrew words found in Genesis 1:1 that use three unique prefix letters. We already saw the “Beyt” meaning the word “In” (used once). Then there is the letter “Hey” meaning the word “the” (used twice). Finally, we have our study letter “Vav” meaning the word “And” (used only once). This gives us our very literal verse in English as the translation “In beginning created (A-Z) God the heaven and (A-Z) the earth. I hope you are paying attention because this information reveals, or you could conservatively say it implies a lot of new material that we are about to uncover with our study. But first let us look at the placement of the verb in the sentence.

In the English KJV translation the verb “created”, and the noun “God” have been reversed from the way it was written in the Hebrew. Notice the English translation says, “In beginning God created” and the Hebrew says, “In beginning created God”. This was a normal translation change that was done to produce a more readable English-speaking sentence.

It is very interesting that by reversing the verb and the noun order, it sounds more like how the fictional movie character “Yoda” spoke to Luke in Star Wars. For example, English would normally say “It will consume you”, but Yoda would have said, “Consume you it will”. Or Yoda would have said, “Found someone you have” and this would be plainer in normal English as “You have found someone”. This is the writing style found in many Hebrew sentences. It is interesting that this gives the Bible the appearance of sounding like a riddle, or a puzzle book and literally it is one (Prov 25:2, Eze 17:2).

We are about to discover that there are several amazing, coded messages hidden within Genesis 1:1. Several of these will be revealed today in this section of our study subject “Vav”. But not all the coded messages are even known by any of us, except God the creator. We will only focus upon 7 amazing facts today, in the honor of the 7 days of creation in Genesis 1 and the 7 words listed in Genesis 1:1.

Our subject “Vav” letter occurs for the very first time in this verse of the Bible. By the Law of first mention, this occurrence establishes the foundational meaning for the entire rest of the Bible on the letter “Vav”.

— Amazing Fact 1 —
The First “Vav” in the Hebrew Text

If you can read the Hebrew text, you will find the first occurrence of “Vav” is located at exactly the 22nd letter position (address) in the text of Genesis 1:1, removing spaces. We are about to discover a major hidden prophecy found at this 22nd letter address. Also please notice that we cannot find any coded message in the English translation, and this causes us to understand that only the God inspired original Hebrew language is able to support hidden prophecies. Let us get started at analyzing these letters and words of Genesis 1:1.

This “First” “Vav” (6th letter) is found in the Bible at the 22nd letter position and this is the “Beginning” of the 6th Word in the verse, chapter, and book. How can the “First” occurrence of the 6th letter, a “Vav” begin the 6th Word?  Was this by design?

What we have just discovered is the occurrence of two connected (Vav) numbers of 6 (Vav). Usually when God doubles any reference in the Bible, this gives the reference added emphasis and causes the reference to the letter or word to become significantly “greater”, or it simply places the God emphasis of truth upon what is being stated at this location.

There are many times in the Hebrew text that a Hebrew word is doubled. This means God states the Word and then immediately repeats the Word. If you search the English translation for when this occurs it is difficult to find. This is because many times the translators made the text to say “Surely” you will _____. Or it could be translated as something else like this. By adding the word “Surely” the translators have communicated this is what will happen “without a doubt”.

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

For example, notice in Genesis 2:17 the Hebrew word for death “H4191” occurs twice when God speaks the consequences of eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. This was translated as “Surely Die”, but it could have been stated as “in dying you will die” or even “you will die once and then again”. This doubling of “die” implies that there are two different deaths that will be the consequence for this sin. This is God’s recorded way of saying this is “very important” to listen to me, because I know what I’m talking about. This is a warning, and it will certainly happen to you without a doubt if you disobey. Therefore, pay attention.

This double six reference connected with the first “Vav” strongly suggests that we are about to learn something worth paying attention to and that it will occur, guaranteed. For example, we should remember that 6 represents the number of a man, but because God doubled it, this man is no ordinary man. In other words, He is guaranteed to come and there is nothing you can do to stop this from happening. We are about to find that this “Sure” man is Jesus Christ (Yehoshua the Messiah).

This double six emphasis is only the first amazing fact whether you understand it fully now or not. But this single fact alone is not that amazing and almost any human author could do that, right? But we are about to find too many other combined facts of amazing circumstances that removes the human influence to cause us to only see all these facts added together can only come from God’s extreme intelligence and intelligent design and these will mathematically become impossible to occur without His participation and therefore, they cannot be a coincidence.

Let us consider a new additional fact of truth about a double reference. Take the 6th letter in English as “F”. If I wanted to create a sentence and make the 6th word begin with “F” that would be very simple, especially if we didn’t care what the sentence said.

We could write, “Let us go to south France”. Look, we just did it! We created a simple sentence with the 6th English word that begins with the 6th alphabet letter “F”, and the sentence sounds very readable. Notice that was not very difficult for anyone to do because there are nearly 30,000 words in the English language that begin with “F”. But will they each be readable? Or will the sentence be applicable and understandable? Does the double 6 have any special hidden meaning in our English example? And the truthful answer to all these questions is, No?

How many words beginning with “Vav” exist in the Strong concordance? There are only around 3 words. This significantly reduces the scope of sentences that can be constructed using the Hebrew alphabet without prefixes added. However, like Genesis 1:1 God just added the letter “Vav” to the front of another word and this added the word “and”, and this causes the addition of the 6th letter “Vav” at the beginning of the 6th Word to be simple. This is how a lot of people will explain away the first (1) fun fact of our discoveries. But we are not finished yet.

For example, in Genesis 1:1, notice how many “Alef” letters occur? There are exactly 6 and six is still the letter “Vav” sequence value meaning a man and a nail. What does the “Alef” represent in the ancient Hebrew alphabet pictographic form? It represents the strong “ox”, and this letter begins a key name of God “El” as the strong God of authority and power. Therefore, we have another key reference that our God will become a “man” by writing exactly 6 Alef’s in the first sentence.

That is interesting again, and this too could be easily accomplished by a clever author of English sentences. But notice would the created English sentence of six required occurrences of a chosen letter like “A”, being combined with the sixth letter beginning the 6th word, still answer the questions above? The answer is still no, and it is becoming even more difficult to occur even by intentional desired design with each additional fact that we find in this verse.

So far, we have found two clues concerning the number 6 with the first being a double reference of sixes joined with the sixth word that was written intentionally to begin with the 6th Hebrew alphabet letter. And the second being the inclusion of 6 Alef’s representing God becoming a man (#6). Both references certainly are pointing us to Jesus Christ who is a very Great Sure Man. Let us continue to search for additional fun and amazing facts in the first verse of the Bible.

— Amazing Fact 2 —
A Vav Man Who is Also the Alef and Tav

If you do not realize the extreme intelligence of God and His ability to weave several combined encoded messages and layers into the first 7 words, you are not very familiar with who God is, and what He is capable of doing. But add this to the fact that the first book of the Bible is a book that is called the book of “Beginnings” (Genesis) that adds new constraints and confirms the prophecy of Isaiah is being searched for in the correct location.

But also realize we are searching for this information in the first sentence, using God’s sovereignly chosen words that He also used to write a very profound and truthful top layer plain text statement (“in beginning God created the heaven and the earth”). Therefore, we are discovering several new facts within facts that add more conformations.

We will continue to learn by noticing again that this first occurrence of the 6th letter “Vav” that begins the 6th word, has been translated as “and” in the English translation. Remember “Vav” represents a connecting force between two objects, positions, places, people, etc. Therefore, we must ask and answer the question, what is God connecting with this first letter occurrence of the “Vav” meaning “and”, that also involves an emphasized Strong and Sure Alef God “man”?

We will continue our discovery by noticing that the 6th word of Genesis consists of three letters, beginning with the 6th letter of the alphabet a Vav, and these 3 individual unique letters create “one” Word. This sounds a lot like 1 John 5:7 that says, “There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word and the Holy Spirit and these three are one”. While this does not match the three letters, it establishes a principle and a pattern. We can clearly see that God has described Himself to be three unique named individuals and these three combined can be identified singularly as One.

It is also very interesting that this “Vav” in Genesis 1:1 is the “Only” Vav in the verse. This is another sentence construction requirement/restriction, and it also represents a new clue for us to potentially use to discover the identity of this man associated with the number 6 and the letter Vav.

Who is called an “only” in the Bible? One easy answer is Jesus who is called God’s “only begotten” Son. We can find this in John 3:16 a verse that can be quoted by many Christians. We know in this verse we have the reference of “God” (Alef) in both verses of Genesis 1:1 and John 3:16. We also have a reference to a “man” (6) who is an only occurrence.

This certainly appears to be a good first start to show us that Jesus written in John 3:16 as the “only naturally born son” of God qualifies to be our answer. But this single word connection of the “only” “Vav” gives us “only” the potential for a new connection for identifying Jesus to be the true man in Genesis 1:1. This is true despite Jesus being called someone who is “great” in multiple verses (Mat 4:16, Mat 24:30).

However, the English word “only” occurs over 250 times in the KJV translation of the Bible, and therefore this alone cannot confirm the identity of what we are searching for. Consequently, we must keep searching.

We all know that the number 6 represents “man”. And God connected this number to a picture of a “nail”. What are the other two letters? We will quickly notice that the Vav is only a prefix that is “added” (connected) to another very common word spelled “Alef” + “Tav” (AT) and this word is rarely translated into English anywhere in the Bible even when it occurs over 7000 times in over 5000 verses.

We have learned that this word H853 (Alef+Tav) represent two of the names that Jesus claimed to be in Revelation 1:8 when stating “I am the Alpha and the Omega” the first and last letters of the alphabet. Here is another connection to Isaiah 46:10 “I make known the end (Tav) from the beginning (Alef). But in the book of Revelation, we are seeing how God is showing us Jesus at the end of creation revealing His personal involvement and appearance in the beginning of creation and throughout the rest of the Bible.

This is our very interesting fact number two which claims the 6th word beginning with the 6th letter is connecting these three Hebrew alphabet letters (Vav+Alef+Tav) to describe One God called the “Word” (Jn 1:1, Rev 19:13).  By God combining each individual letter identity (nail, beginning, & end) into one Word, He has chosen to hide a message for us to find.

Remember Alef = God that begins the alphabet who also created the world (Eph 3:9), and this is being connected or joined to the “Tav” God/Man that will “End” the alphabet and His old/First creation (2 Cor 5:17, Rev 21:1). This has now brought forth a new beginning which was initiated by Him using the “Vav” nail as an upright man (6th letter Vav). This simply provides us insight that shows us the method of God (Alef) becoming a man (#6) that will be pierced by nails (Vav) and this will have to be done on a cross, since the third letter in this 6th word is the 22nd letter Tav, a picture of a cross.

Therefore, we have found an additional doubling of a word called the “Last”. The “Last” letter of our 6th Hebrew word is the “Last” Hebrew alphabet letter. This is just too amazing to consider how these three letters were selected by God to become the 6th Word at this single addressed location of the sentence.

Have you seen and accepted these as factual clues or are they just easily explained away as coincidence? Regardless, we have discovered how a nail represents an upright standing man that God places great emphasis upon, who has a unique name consisting of the beginning and ending of the alphabet, and this all is clearly pointing us to only one man named “Jesus”. But we are far from being finished from seeing the clues in this verse revealing Him. This is only the second (2) amazing, encoded fact that has been revealed so far.

— Amazing Fact 3 —
And the Two will Become One!

Next remember again that the letter Vav is a picture of a connecting “nail”, and it is used by God to represent the word, “and”. “And” is a designed connection (conjunction) between two words, sentences, phrases, etc. bringing the two thoughts into combined united focus together. This is the duplicate concept of a “nail” that joins two boards making them a stronger united single unit.

Therefore, our “Vav” in Genesis 1:1 is joining or reuniting two independent realities. As we know this letter “Vav” is only found once in Genesis 1:1. So we have a potentially new concept coming into the “light” that is addressed in Genesis 2:24 called “marriage” or “covenant”. In this verse God writes, “and they (two) shall be one flesh”. Wow!

Let us briefly establish what God has implemented in Genesis 2:24 using a “Vav” nail concept of connection of 2 into one, because this will become a critical part of the prophecy of the hidden great man in Genesis 1:1. In Genesis 2, God details the creation of a man named Adam, and how he places him in a sleep to open his side and remove a wife. This so far describes what happened to Jesus precisely while hanging “nailed” (Vav) to a cross (Tav).

Jesus literally died physically first and then He was pierced in His side with a Roman spear. It was this piercing that caused an outflow of blood and water (Jn 19:34). His natural body being dead, took on the appearance of sleep where He was then laid in a tomb for 3 days (Mat 12:30). Interesting how the 6th word in Genesis 1 begins with a Vav nail, Piercing the God/Man (Alef), ends with an ending letter Tav cross, and it is exactly 3 letters in length the time spent in a tomb. These parallels are very amazing to what we see happening to Jesus.

Back to Genesis 2, God then implements the heavenly concept of covenant upon the earth where the first man is joined with his wife, and they are both made from the one flesh of the first Adam. This also sounds like a parallel to what will be happening to Jesus and His spiritual bride the church. Look at this verse:

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

Here is the exact same “Vav” nail concept joining two objects together being applied to two separate spirits, 1) Holy Spirit, being joined to the 2) human spirit. And these two separated spirits become one new spirit and new creation (2 Cor 5:17). This is amazing and is helping us to understand the prophecy of Genesis 1:1 and the fulfillment of it in the New Covenant marriage of the Lord Jesus Christ to the church.

Now remember a female is the weaker vessel according to God’s Word (1 Pet 3:7). This only means she is normally physically not as strong as the husband. Remember this pattern because this is also true for the church and Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ calls himself the bridegroom in Mathew 9:15, and the church is called His chaste virgin to be joined with Him in 2 Corinthians 11:2 and this results in the creation of one “Spirit + spirit” in 1 Corinthians 6:17 that we saw earlier. We should also know that Jesus as the male in the covenant relationship is far stronger than all Christians.

This is a quick introduction to what Genesis 1:1 can represent by showing us how a “great man” could come to the earth to bring about a new covenant which will joins Himself to a new bride which is identified in the New Testament as the church. This is the third amazing clue to consider, but we are not finished with the information that God has included in this verse.

— Amazing Fact #4 —
Who is the Vav Joining Together?

We were introduced to the Vav general meaning of joining 2 separate individuals together as in a marriage/covenant union in the amazing fact #3. And these were pointing us to Jesus and the church. Now it is time to further confirm what we were confirm the letter “Vav” using the concept of the “Vav” as being the word “and”. What is directly said to be connecting in Genesis 1:1? This should help answer a lot of questions that are remaining in the minds of many. This new information should help us to confirm the identity of the 6th word Vav man. We are going to do this, by asking the question “what two words does the “Vav” located in Genesis 1:1 connect as one thought? It is found directly between two very significant Words.

These words are 1) “heaven” (H8064) and 2) “earth” (H776). These are two disjointed locations that are being connected. One is called heaven and is a spiritual location of God’s throne, and the other is primarily the surface of the created natural realm of human inhabitants called earth. These people are called “earth dwellers” nine times in Revelation. But there are also spirits that are abiding inside this dimension that rule the kingdom of darkness.

Therefore, God appears to be revealing another very clear hidden prophecy. Because of the placement of the “Vav” between these two separated realities. There appears that there is a need for reconciliation between God in heaven and humans on the earth. It appears that our God is using a “Vav” (nailed man) named Alef+Tav to be His connector to humans on the earth. Let us observe a New Testament parallel verse concerning what we are finding in Genesis:

2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;

It is very interesting to see what is happening to humans that choose to be joined in Jesus. Notice the subjects being named in this verse. First there is God in heaven that created all things. The next pronoun subject named is “us” representing all human earth dwellers. Finally, there is Jesus Christ. Uh oh? Could He be the connecting nail? Wasn’t He God that came down to earth and took on flesh to dwell among us (Jn 1:14), and be with us (Mat 1:23)? This appears to strongly match our 3 Word hidden prophecy found in Genesis 1:1. Do you see it?

We should begin to learn in this verse how God has “reconciled” humans back into favor with Himself by His work in Jesus Christ. This Greek word “reconciled” (G2644) indicates there is an exchange taking place. This is the “Vav” concept of God joining Himself to man so that we might be joined with His Spirit eternally. We find this concept being further described in 1 Peter:

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

This verse says more than we can teach today but notice again the similar subjects. The verse is about Jesus, who was God in the flesh, that came down from heaven to the earth to bare our human sins providing us an exchange to give us His righteousness. This truth says the righteous God came down to take (G399=bare) our sin penalty on His body while hanging on a cross made of wood from a tree. This strongly implies the heaven to earth connection with Jesus being the literal “Vav” connector that was said to be coming in Genesis 1:1.

Since “heaven” is mentioned first in Genesis 1:1, this strongly indicates heaven is the “source” of the man (Vav=6) that follows. But the next word beyond the “Vav” is “earth”, and this implies the destination location for this “connection” work of God.

Joh 6:38  For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.

Here is a verse confirmation for what we are observing in Genesis 1:1. We can very clearly read that Jesus is claiming to have come down from heaven to the earth. He also very plainly states that this was done to accomplish the works of God that sent Him. There are many other verses like this but that is enough to help us see what is being prophesied in Genesis 1:1 and fulfilled in John 6:38.

Only Jesus appears to qualify to be our coming prophecy man “Vav” who remember is also being revealed as the “end” of this present creation. We know Jesus comes from a pattern of the first man Adam (Rom 5:14) and that He is specifically called the “Last Adam”. “and” also the second “man” making Him to be identified as a type of “Vav” single man.

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.

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

Do you see how Jesus is being revealed to have come from heaven again? Doesn’t this order match the Genesis 1:1 order of first mention? We can see very clearly how Jesus was God (Jn 1:1-14) that was made flesh and dwelt among us as a man for 33 ½ years.

Therefore, all these patterns and hidden messages appear to only point us to one man. These facts so far, appear to suggest very strongly that Jesus Christ is our mystery “Vav” man connection that we have been searching for, that is described to be a “nail”. All this information represents “keys” that are helping us unlock God’s beginning prophecy of the “end”. And God is giving us all this key knowledge to cause us to understand the answer to this mystery.

— Review of Facts Revealed So Far —

Up until now we have seen several clues of facts being uncovered in letters, words, and phrases Genesis 1:1. These messages indicate there is someone that can be called the “only”. This is because there is “only” one Vav in the verse. This Vav represents a man because the number 6 value of the Vav is the number representation of man.

We have also found that this only Vav is joined with two other letters that represent the beginning and the ending alphabet letters. This indicates this man was present at the beginning of creation as well as he will be present at the coming ending of this creation. Since this “Alef-Tav” represents the beginning and ending we know that there is a corresponding connection to Jesus being this identity in Revelation 1:8

This information is strongly indicating that the God that created in the “beginning” is the one that will become a man (Vav=Nail) and He will be made the “connection” between “heaven” (the spiritual) and earth (the material). Wow, if you only knew what this meant. This location implies there is a problem that needs to be resolved by an implied separation between God and man.

The informed Bible student will already know that there are two problems that God is solving by becoming a man. The first solution that needed a resolution is the elimination of Lucifer and all evil spiritual beings from heaven. And the 2nd solution that was on God’s heart was the salvation of His very loved sinful humans that resulted with the fall of the first man Adam. This occurred only 2 chapters from Genesis 1:1 in Genesis 3. It was this act of the first man Adam that required another man called the Last Adam and His name is Jesus. He had to come down from heaven to the earth and die to shed His blood to redeem us. We will talk more about this as we continue, but this is a summary of our initial four (4) amazing fact so far that were coded in the first 7 words of Genesis 1:1.

— Amazing Fact #5 —
The Nail and the Cross Intersection Point

Ok, here is our next very amazing fact that we mentioned quickly earlier at the beginning of the section. Remember that there is only one letter “Vav” directly found in Genesis 1:1, and it occurs precisely on the 22nd letter position in the verse removing any spaces. It just so happens that this 6th letter “Vav” also begins the 6th word in the verse. Therefore, we have two sixes that are intersecting and being joined together at the single letter address location “22”. Here is list of what we have found once again:

  1. There is “only one directly written Vav” in Genesis 1:1, and it is the 6th letter of the alphabet.
  2. This 6th alphabet letter Vav also begins the 6th Hebrew Word found in Genesis 1:1.
  3. And both intersect at the exact 22nd letter address position of the sentence.

Do you see anything important in this information? If you do, is this a coincidence? Or do you believe like many that these are signs of God’s infinite intelligent design?

We know that one six represents man (either the first Adam before the fall, or man in general) and we found a double 6 appears to represent an emphasized “Sure and True Man”, who we have learned can point us to the “Last Adam” also known as the “second man”. Now we are talking about the “Last Adam”. Don’t forget that Isaiah said, “declaring” the “end” from the “beginning”, and anything that is called “last” is certainly the “end” of God creating any more “humans” named “Adam”.

These facts appear to cause us to make Jesus the great man that has been encoded as the “Vav” at the 22nd letter position in the verse. Why did God place this Vav nail exactly on position 22? Many people might think it just occurred by chance, but God does everything by intentional purposed intelligent design. There is NOT one letter in the Word of God that has not been pre-planned and well thought out on where exactly to place it.

In fact, God goes to such extreme detail of design, that it would probably be impossible to find every meaning of every single letter’s placement. Therefore, let us consider why He places the Vav nail on top of the 22nd position of the verse.

Perhaps you already can see where God is taking us? How many letters are there in the original Hebrew Alphabet? Yes, there are exactly 22. This too is not a coincidence. God purposefully connects the 6th letter and the beginning of the 6th word to the exact position of where the “Last” alphabet letter in Hebrew should occur. Wow! This appears to be another clue to the identity of the single “Vav” man confirming this man is the “Last” of something. Hopefully, you already know what the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet is. The 22nd letter of the Hebrew Alphabet is “Tav”.

What is the picture and meaning of the “Tav”, the last 22nd letter of the Hebrew Alphabet? Hopefully, you have learned this answer from other lessons like the introduction. But let us ask again, what is the picture of the “Tav”? Once you have seen it, it becomes unforgettable. The “Tav” is the formation of two crossed wooden sticks that produce the picture of the wooden “cross” that Messiah was slain upon. Wow!

Let’s place these new puzzle pieces together.

  1. 6+6 = “a Sure True Man” who is also called the “Nail” represented by the letter “Vav” and He is the connector joining heaven “and” earth
  2. He will be hung (nailed) on top of a wooden tree forming a cross and this is symbolized by placing a “Vav” (6) on top of the 22nd letter position in the verse the address of an implied cross.

These are truly amazing facts that could not have occurred by accident. All these clues together are organized in such a fashion that would have taken an ancient human writer a lifetime to create without supernatural help. But because the Bible is written by 40 authors over hundreds of years, how could all the facts that can be found exist without separate supernatural coordination?  This is just too amazing for all the rest of the Bible to also fit together to reveal this man Jesus Christ. But we are not finished yet with this verse, let us go to the next new revelation that we can find to help confirm what we are observing so far.

— Amazing Fact #6 —
Jesus
The First and the Last
The End from the Beginning

We have already found a lot of very amazing information that was hidden in just 12 of the 28 letters found in the last 3 words of Genesis 1:1. Remember in the previous amazing fact we found an implied “Tav” because this was the position of the 22nd letter. Remember a “Tav” is the “Last” letter in the Hebrew alphabet, and it occurs as the 22nd letter. Therefore, the 22nd letter position of Genesis 1:1 would be the implied location if we just placed every alphabet letter in order from the beginning. Right?

Therefore, God has created at this implied 22nd letter “Tav” position a mystery, by sovereignly choosing to overlay this position with the Hebrew letter “Vav” (the #6 letter). This choice of the divine author has placed a man and a nail (Vav) on a cross (Tav). That was an amazing prophetical choice for God to hide this using only 2 letters. But the Bible says in the mouth of two or three witnesses let every word of Truth be established.

Therefore, go back to the “Beginning” of the Hebrew text and search for the “First” occurrence of a “literal” 22nd letter “Tav”. Guess what? The “First” time that the letter “Tav” occurs in the text it is found in the very “First” word of the Bible. It is also very significant that the “Last” letter (Tav) of the alphabet is also the “Last” letter of the “First” word.

Have we seen a pattern like this before? Uh oh? We have just found the “Last” letter in the “First” word is a “Tav”. This causes the “First” connection between the words “First” and “Last”. Hopefully you can begin to see where we are going in this amazing fact. Guess what else? This Hebrew word is translated as “In Beginning” also meaning “First”. The number of the occurrences of the words “First”, “Last”, “Beginning” and “End” may become overwhelming to some.

It is amazing how God places a picture of the “Last” letter “Tav” a “cross”, in the “first” Hebrew word that is translated “Beginning” (the chapter recording God’s “First” works). Doesn’t all this sound like the Isaiah 46:10 prophecy about God making known the “End” from the “Beginning”? Also isn’t this amazing that Jesus said He was all these in Revelation 1:8 and Revelation 1:11? Do you remember what He said,

  1. I am the Alpha (Alef) the “First” alphabet letter,
  2. and the Omega (Tav) the “Last” alphabet letter,
  3. the “Beginning”,
  4. and the “End”,
  5. the “First”,
  6. and the “Last”.

Did you just notice the number of claimed names Jesus identified Himself as? Yes, there are exactly 6 names, the same number representing the “Vav”. Is this an accident? We shouldn’t think it is.

These six claims represent the number of the letter “Vav”, and they parallel what God said to us in Isaiah 46:10 saying, “I make known the end from the beginning”. Since Jesus claims to be the end and the beginning and the first and the last, including the “Tav” ending alphabet letter, we will be finding Jesus over and over.

We have found the following facts and pay close attention to how many times there is a mention of “First”, “Beginning”, “Last”, or “End” occurs, which are the names that Jesus claimed to be:

  1. The Bible “Begins” with the “First” word phrase “In Beginning”, which we are now learning can be understood to say, “In Christ” because Jesus has claimed to be the “Beginning”.
  2. The “First” Word of the Bible is H7225 and it is translated as “Beginning” confirming Isaiah 46:10 has directed us to come and search here for the “End”.
  3. We have also confirmed that the Hebrew word H7225 which is translated as “Beginning” in Isaiah 46:10 is the same word “Beginning” found in Genesis 1:1.
  4. We searched for the “Last” letter Tav by “Beginning” our search from the “Beginning” of the Bible and we found its “First” occurrence in the “First” word, of the “First” verse, in the “First” chapter, in the “first” book called “Beginnings” (Genesis in Greek).
  5.  We have further discovered that the “Last” letter “Tav” (#22) was placed by God as the “Last” letter of the “First” Hebrew word which is translated as “BeginningH7225.

Do you believe God is trying to get a message across using all these repetitive occurrences of “First”, “Last”, “Beginning” and “End” that are occurring with the Last Letter of the Alphabet in the First beginning word of the Bible? Perhaps it will help us to see a verse in Revelation:

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This reference to the “Lamb” is a direct symbol for our Savior the slain Jesus (Jn 1:36) and is referring to His death on a “Tav” cross. The Greek word G2602 is the word translated as “foundation”. But it can also literally mean “conception” as in a thought, idea, or concept (plan) from God or even in reference to a “pregnancy” conceived by the Word of God that will bring forth a birth. Conception is clearly indicating an event that causes a new “Beginning”. This undoubtedly describes Genesis 1:1 accurately.

We can certainly confirm there is an important “cross” found in the “First” and “Beginning” word of the Bible. This cross “Tav” is the “Last” and “Ending” letter of the “First” word. Therefore, this placement is strongly suggesting that this original “Beginning” will bring about and “End” utilizing a “Tav” cross which also must involve Jesus, since He claims to be this Alphabet Letter directly. Wow!

Now for some new additional hidden facts which can be found in this “Beginning” and “First” Word’s hidden message. Where in the 1st word of the 1st verse does the “Tav” occur? In other words, what is the “Tav” letter’s number location (address)?

If you look at the “First” Hebrew sentence and count the letters, the “First” “Tav” is found exactly at the 6th letter position. Therefore, the letter “Tav” (#22) overlays the 6th position for a letter to occur. Isn’t this the home address location of a “Vav” nail? Does this sound familiar? Do you think this is another coincidence?

Didn’t we find that the “First” occurrence of a letter “Vav” (#6), occurred laying on top of the 22nd open letter position? So, we have learned the “First” Vav has an “address” number of 22 the home of Tav. We have just found two super amazing combinations of either a 22 or a 6, overlaying the other, and it just so happens that one is a “nail” and the other is a “cross”. It is highly improbable based upon all the other amazing facts that this is a chance occurrence.

In fact, it is certainly mathematically impossible for all these to happen by chance because they all are communicating a common prophetical message about something that is not going to occur for almost four thousand years from when the first man Adam will be created on “Day 6” of the Genesis 1 beginning of creation account.

As we know we found the 6th letter of the alphabet laid on top of the 22nd position of all the beginning letters of the verse. This was our “First” direct nail to a cross relationship. And we have now just found the “Tav” 22nd letter on top of the 6th letter position an implied reference to the letter “Vav”. Why would God place a cross on top of the 6th position in the sentence? Therefore, both references of the “First” “Tav” and the “First” “Vav” indicate there is a “man” that will come from heaven to the earth to be nailed to a cross. Is God amazing or what? Now to help us confirm this with other verses let us check this verse out:

Joh 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, It is finished: and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

Ok, this verse sounds a lot like what we have been reading about hidden in Genesis 1:1. Here in this verse of John, God has written about when Jesus was hanging nailed (Vav=#6) on a “cross” (Tav=#22). While hanging on this cross (Tav) using nails (Vav) they had pierced His body both 2 hands and His 2 feet with these nails (Vav). Therefore, Jesus a man (Vav=6) is being literally “connected” (“Vav”) to the cross (“Tav”) using nails (“Vav”) and this appears to be the exact prophecy fulfillment of Genesis 1:1, God’s description from the letters and positions found in the “Beginning”.

Then notice what Jesus says, “It is finished”. This Greek word G5055 translated as “finished” can be defined as “to end” and “to complete” as in the fulfillment of a maximum limit that has been reached. Doesn’t this sound like an “End” as in Jesus fulfilling and reaching the “Last” letter prophecy of the alphabet “Tav” cross?

Is it just another coincidence that Jesus is making a reference to the “End” of something while hanging on the “Last” letter of the Hebrew alphabet? I really do not think this could have been an accident. Therefore, we must ask our self, what has just concluded or has reached the “Last” position of fulfilled limit when Jesus died? Here is the short list answer:

  1. Jesus’ natural mortal life and ministry “on” the earth has just “concluded” by His physical “death” hanging by nails (Vav) on a cross (Tav).
  2. Since the “Tav” cross was the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet as it was written in the beginning and has been fulfilled, and this implies that a new beginning is required.

Now recall that the Bible calls Jesus the “Firstborn from the dead” (Col 1:18). This same verse further gives us the reason for becoming the “Firstborn” of the dead is so that He could have preeminence over all the old creation. This strongly indicates that God’s significant problem with Lucifer and evil in heaven has been solved with the death of Jesus on the cross. Could this be the reason God writes in 1 Corinthians 2:8, that Satan would not have crucified Jesus, if he had known the consequences? This appears to be at least one major thing that God is revealing to us.  But let us move to another amazing fact of Genesis 1:1.

— Amazing Fact #7 —
Genesis 1:1 7 Words and
the 7 Days of Creation Parallels

While there certainly could be many other hidden treasures yet to be found in this single verse, in the honor of the 7 words in Genesis 1:1 and the number 7 as being the completion of God’s work in creation, we will end this section with a “final” amazing fact #7 that is potentially revealing another hidden prophecy. This hidden prophecy also deals with the letter “Vav”, but this time it will be connected directly with the letters “Alef” + “Tav” that we also saw briefly before as two names for Jesus Christ.

The first occurrence of the “Alef” + “Tav” is found in the verse as the 4th word. Then the second occurrence of the “Alef” + “Tav” occurs as the 6th word of the verse. But remember the 6th word occurrence has the added “Vav” nail connector. This is very amazing since this 3-letter word occurs around 3000 times in scriptures. What does all this mean? There is probably more than one explanation for the existence of these two “Alef + Tav” joined letters.

Many modern Hebrew seminary scholars try to say these two letter untranslated words (H853 7000+ times, H854 1200+ times), were added for the purpose of representing “a direct object pointer”. This means its purpose was to show the part of the Hebrew sentence that receives an action.

But how do we explain the selectivity of why only certain verses contain this Alef+Tav pointer? Out of over 31,000 verses why are there are only 9000 occurrences of these two letters and in some verse sentences like Genesis 1:1 there is more than one occurrence? Do the verses that have no “Alef Tav” word need no object pointer, or do these have no direct noun object that is receiving any verb action? And do the verses that have two or more “Alef”+“Tav” words have multiple primary objects that need to be emphasized. These types of inconsistencies appear to add a great level of new complexities.

While this direct object pointer using an “Alef”+“Tav” is possible, it appears to mostly deny what Jesus said to us about the first and last letters being His identity. Plus, Jesus personally told the Hebrew people to search their scriptures because these words were about Him (Jn 5:39). Finally, as of today we should be learning God’s superior intelligence reveals His ability to teach us multiple things using a single letter, word, sentence, etc. Therefore, all these facts could be true simultaneously.

The simplest explanation for these word occurrences is my approach to understanding what they represent and why they are there. This explanation is based upon allowing the Bible to interpret itself and ignoring human reasoning (2 Pet 1:20). With this Biblical approach we have greater assurance and alignment to truth that the fact that Jesus claims to be the first and last letters of the Alphabet 4 times in the book of Revelation means He must be these letters in the Hebrew. This is clearly written in a book that begins “The Revelation of Jesus Christ”.

Therefore, if this book of Revelation is primarily about Jesus and it says this is the “Uncovering” and “revealing” (G602=Revelation) of Him, this indicates that we are being given new information in this book that reveals things that were hidden from us since the beginning. Therefore, if Jesus personally claims to be these two letters 4 times, that is good enough for me. You are allowed to do with it as you please.

Do you know why people never see Jesus in the Old Testament? This is mainly because they are not looking for Him. I guarantee that He can be found in some form in every letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and it is these Letters that make up every word that is written down. Let us get back to our Genesis 1:1 2 Alef+Tav words.

Remember there are 7 Hebrew words in total in Genesis 1:1. I believe these 7 words are a parallel to the “7 days” of God’s work in creation. I also believe these “7 days” represent 7000 years of total human history on the earth. According to God writing through Peter again, we read in 2 Peter 3:8 that 1 day to the Lord represents 1000 years.

Applying this revelation of 1 day = 1000 years and the proposal that each of the 7 words in the first verse is a parallel to potentially represent something happening on that day of creation, this would help us to see the following about these two Alef+Tav untranslated words:

  1. The first Alef+Tav appearance occurs as the 4th word of Genesis 1:1. This appears to be prophetical to imply the “First” physical appearance of the man Jesus occurs on the earth at the “Beginning” of the 4000th year (4th Day). (First Alef+Tav)
  2. Because the “Last” occurrence of the “Alef”+“Tav” in Genesis 1:1 occurs as the 6th Word, this appears to teach us that the next time Jesus will appear on earth is at the “End” of the 6th day, year 6000 from the beginning of creation (Last Alef+Tav).

But remember the 2nd appearance of Jesus is attached with the letter “Vav” nail. This can simply mean this appearance will be the fulfilment of the Zecheriah 12:10 prophecy:

Zec 12:10  And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn.

We can clearly read in this verse that Jesus will be returning to the earth as a man with “Vav nail impressions in His flesh”. These nails pierced His body completely through his flesh to attach Him to a wooden cross (Tav). Therefore, the second time Jesus comes to the earth He is prophesied to return on the “Last” of day 6 as a man that has been pierced.

It is also very interesting that the word “me” that was translated in Zecheriah 12:10 is our H853 “Alef+Tav” word. This literally means Jesus is being defined again as the Alef+Tav.  But not like the beginning of His 4000-year “first” public appearance, here in Zechariah 12:10, He is now returning as the man that has been marked by “Vav” nails in which He has become this prophecy of a pierced man. This is too amazing to not be true.

Also do not forget who this man is!  He is Jehovah (YHWH) the God whose name means “Behold the hand, Behold the nail”. Let us move to a new revelation about Jesus being called “the nail”.

3. Jesus is God’s Sure Nail

We are about to go over a prophecy written down by the prophet Isaiah about Jesus Christ. In this prophecy God is directly prophesying about the coming Messiah. But these verses point us to Jesus directly claiming He is to be a type of a “Vav” nail. Let us read two key verses from the book of Isaiah:

Isa 22:22  And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open

Isa 22:23  And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house. 

Here is another amazing coincidence, or not? Did you notice what chapter we are in? It is just too amazing that these verses are found in chapter 22 the same number as the letter “Tav” cross. It is also further amazing that these verses begin with verse 22 of chapter 22, a double reference to the “Tav” cross. Just out of curiosity how many chapters are in Isiah? There are 66 chapters which is 22 x 3. Now all of this cannot be a coincidence. God must be guiding this information and helping us to find the exact verses that we need to learn and study about a Vav nail.

As we can clearly read in verse 23 God is saying “I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place”. This is seriously too amazing to ignore. Can we apply what we learned in the previous section to this prophecy? Did we not just find a sure man “Vav” nailed to a “Tav” cross using the first reference of the Hebrew letter Vav a nail in Genesis 1:1? Isaiah was written a long time after Genesis 1:1, how could he have known and understood what he was writing without the Holy Spirit to help?

Now pay attention that this verse in Isaiah is written about a man that is referred to as “Him”. Who is HIM? We could debate who this is for a long time. But God answers this question for us, and this man identifies Himself in Revelation 3:7 in a letter written to the churches. In this verse Jesus is personally speaking and claims to have the “Key of David that no man can open or close”.

Therefore, if Verse 22 is clearly identified to be Jesus, there is no question that the next verse 23 is also.  This literally teaches us that God is directly calling His sent Son named Jesus to be His designed and purposed “Nail” connection to humanity. Let us now examine and confirm this fact using the Works of Jesus described in the New Covenant.

However, there is another amazing clue to help us identify the identity of these verses in Isaiah. In verse 23, there is a translated phrase “and He shall be” that needs to be clearly understood. This word is “H1961”, and it is spelled “Hey” + “Yod” + “Hey”, which are three of the letters of the name of God (Jehovah/YHWH). But wait, this word is prefixed with the letter “Vav”, meaning “And”. Interesting how this is our key study subject today.  Adding the letter “Vav” to the word as a prefix has now completed all the letters that are needed to complete the name of God. This word is now spelled “Vav” + “Hey” + “Yod” + “Hey”. These are the exact same letters as Jehovah, but the letters “Vav” and “Yod” have been switched. Using the ancient Hebrew pictographic letter meanings this word now says, “Behold the Nail, Behold the Hand”. There appears to be a shift of emphasis by leading with the Vav “Nail” first.

But wait, there is more, the word “H1961” is translated as “I AM” in Exodus 3:14. This powerful name is the identity that God chose to give to Moses to tell His people who had sent him to them. Therefore, Hey + Yod + Hey is “I AM” and now add the “Vav” to the front we get the name the “Nailed I AM”. Who is this? This can only be Jesus. We know in John 8:58 Jesus said, “Before Abraham was, I AM”. This is spoken shortly before Jesus is about to be nailed (VAV) to the “TAV” cross. Don’t you think God knew this when He wrote Isaiah?

These are all too amazing facts to ignore. Jesus claimed to be every alphabet letter from the beginning to the end, from the first to the last, and He fulfilled them all and we are learning today about how the “Vav” was displayed and revealed in Yehoshua (Jesus). Now let us shift our focus to the application of the “Vav” Jesus works for the church.

4. How God Placed Us in Christ
To Vav Re-Connect Us with God

The scriptural prophesied work of God that was fulfilled in Jesus is so limitless that it is a great challenge to know, understand, and write about everything that was accomplished. It is truly amazing what God did for us by becoming a human man named “Jesus” (Yehoshua) (Mat 1:23-25). God sovereignly chose to manifest as flesh (Rom 8:3) and become a part of His “First” creation (Gen 1:1).

God accomplishes this work for more than one reason. The first reason that must be known was for the purpose to righteously separate Himself from Lucifer also known as Satan (adversary) and the devil (slanderer, false accuser) (Rev 20:10). Many preachers believe God sovereignly eliminated Satan from heaven the moment he sinned in heaven. But that belief does not align with scripture as we will soon see.

We are about to discover that this defeat of Satan took place by the death of Jesus while hanging on a “Tav” cross nailed by “Vav” nails (Heb 2:14, 1 Cor 2:8). It was His death that began the ending phase of God’s final plan to be initiated for the complete elimination of Satan. This “wicked one” is not cast down from heaven until Revelation 12:9. And Satan’s final elimination from influencing people that inhabit the face of the earth is not completed until Revelation 20:10. These final judgments will be happening very soon.

But the next primary dual purpose of sending Jesus into our world was to save His valuable humans from an everlasting separation from experiencing His sovereign Love for us (Mat 1:27, John 3:16). It was the “sin” of Adam that initiated this departure from the righteous and Holy God, and we required a connector to be re-joined in full righteous fellowship. Jesus became this “Vav” nail re-connection as we will read about in this section.

God accomplished this sovereign work as well as many other things that were performed in Christ as a display of His fulfillment of the letter “Vav” reconnecting with humans. This plan was carried out as a clear exhibit of the omnipotent force of His great power (Eph 1:19-20). God’s work to become a manifested part of His “First” and “Beginning” creation (Genesis 1:1) to die on a “Tav” cross hanging with “Vav” nails was a very humbling, merciful, kind, loving wise choice and it was clearly a major part of His plan of a “Zayin” separation from Satan by implementing a brand-New Creation (Isa 43:9, 2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15) which never existed before. God is doing all these prophesied Hebrew Alphabet letter works in Christ for the following reasons:

  1. To initiate and bring to fruition His New Creation and a New Beginning (2 Cor 5:17, Gal 6:15, Rev 21:1).
  2. To phase out and eliminate the cursed old creation (Gen 3:17, Rev 21:1)
  3. To save all humans that choose to believe in Jesus from an eternal separation by providing the ability to know God’s Love (Jn 17:3, Jn 3:16).
  4. To divide Himself from all unrighteousness and evil in both heaven and earth of the present creation (Eph 3:15, 2 Pet 3:13, Rev 21:8).

These works of God in Jesus are all actions of either joining (as a Vav) or cutting and dividing (as a Zayin). Both divine sovereign works are occurring simultaneously every day, even as you are reading. For example, as your mind is being renewed with these new Bible concepts that you may have never seen before, you are being invited to become joined to think a new way about Jesus and God’s work in you. These new concepts are either filling new space in your mind’s belief system like a “Vav” adjoining addition or they are cutting away with a “Zayin” type of hoe or sword the old contradictory beliefs that need to be uprooted and replaced with God’s new written Words of Truth Seed (Nun).

God’s plan in Christ was to produce a way of transitioning out of His First Creation and the present world’s “Old Creation” corrupted systems of governments (Rev 21:1) in heaven and on the earth. God accomplished this transition by Jesus’ death on the “Tav” cross. It was this death that began the separation from the old creation, and it was Jesus’ resurrection that initiated the New Creation making Him the head of every principality, power, might and dominion (Eph 1:20-22).

Both the original heavenly and earthly realms became “Vav” joined with knowing (in covenant) both good (God) and evil (Satan) simultaneously (Gen 3:5, Gen 3:22). However, Satan was the common part of the old creation that brought sin and wickedness into covenant relationship with both realms of the natural and the spiritual after Adam had sinned.

Satan now has a kingdom of rule (Lk 11:18), that is him currently governing the unsaved people of the world (Eph 2:2) as well as 1/3 of the angelic beings that were joined with him (Rev 12;4). This satanic kingdom is called “darkness” (Col 1:15). God is accomplishing this exit from darkness by providing a “Dalet” door named “Jesus” to make available and entrance into His Newly Created Son’s Kingdom of Light (Col 1:13).

This “Dalet” door transition was first made available after the death of Jesus on the “Tav” cross at the transition point of the end of Day 4 and the beginning of Day 5 of God’s Genesis 1 creation days prophecy (~4033 years after Adam). It is interesting to know the “Dalet” is the 4th letter of the Hebrew alphabet and this also appears to prophesy and show us what will be made available to us at the ending years of the 4th millennium.

The “Dalet” Door of salvation is entered by a human choosing to believe and act on the preached Gospel (Good News) message of salvation in Jesus by Faith.  Our faith belief in Jesus being raised from the dead and declaring Him to be our LORD (Rom 10:9-10) causes a spiritual “New Birth” (Jn 3:3) which is a personal human “New Beginning” and a “Vav” connection with God through Faith (Eph 2:8, 1 Pet 1:23). This never seen before “new spiritual birth” results in a completely “New Creation” system of existence (2 Cor 5:17). By joining this New Kingdom, we are living in Jesus Christ the Son of God’s realm of power and authority, that had never existed before in time past, and the result is His Holy Spirit living in us and removal from Satan’s darkness.

Jesus is the cutting Sword instrument of the “Zayin” that divides and cuts Himself and us away from the authority of evil (Satan), while concurrently driving a “Vav” nail to re-connect Himself back to all of those that choose the gift of His “Righteousness”. This work of God will be completed during a phase of work identified by the Hebrew letter “Chet” which is a picture of a wall without doors that separates God and His New Covenant Family from Satan’s evil darkness permanently.

The “Chet” is the 8th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and the number 8 signifies a “New Beginning” as in the first day of a brand-new Week. This simply teaches us it is at the beginning of the 8th day that a “brand-new” creation will be completely transitioned into, and the old creation ended after the final completion of Day 7 of the present old creation (7000 years of human history). This will be taking place after Day 7 of creation representing a 1000-year millennium rule of Christ with a 1000-year period of temporary interruption of Satan’s evil influence upon humans on the earth. This is described to occur in Revelation 20:2-3.

And we may know the “Zayin” is the 7th letter of the Hebrew alphabet that signifies it is on this day that the final “cutting” of God’s Zayin sword will be taking place. It is at the beginning of this day 7 of creation when Satan is bound and cast into hell for 1000 years. This will temporarily eliminate Satan’s rule from the face of the planet. But at the end of the 1000 years, he must be released to attempt to deceive any of the people that were born during this time that had never had the choice to choose between good and evil.

Therefore, Satan will be released to deceive natural people again at the end of the 1000-year reign of Christ and the church (those Vav connected with God). Then God’s last phased plan of the “Zayin” division and removal of Satan (the root source of evil, sin, and temptation) will be initiated (Rev 20:10). Subsequently the plan of separation will be finalized with the permanent removal of all evil, including anyone that chose to sin by submitting to Satan’s deceptions and temptations. These all will be cast into the lake of fire with him (Rev 21:8). These are all the ending completions of the “Zayin” cutting away types of prophecies found in the Old and New Testaments.

Finally, God’s New Heaven and New Earth will come into being, with a total “Chet” wall of separation from all Evil (Rev 21:1-2). No, you may not have studied these letters “Zayin” or “Chet” yet, but this was a quick introduction of the concepts. This was added because these letters “Vav”, “Zayin” and “Chet”, can’t be totally understood without including them together in a single lesson to explain how God prophesied the order of events in the arrangement of the letters.

These decisions to enter the Door of salvation or stand on the outside in opposition to the Kingdom of Light, can be made at any moment of time by the sovereign choice of every human by selecting to believe or not to believe. But this choice is only available if you have breath on this planet to speak. People are either “Vav” uniting in harmony with Christ through right beliefs and confessions, or they have chosen to remain in disharmony with Christ by default or through wrong beliefs.

And by not making a choice or choosing incorrectly, they are becoming permanently “Zayin” separated by death from God by their own willful decisions. This is because when Adam sinned, he became “Vav” joined with Satan (Isa 28:15), and now every human that is born from the first Adam must die (1 Cor 15:22). However, all this is occurring for God’s single common good and purpose to separate God and His infinite good, from Satan and his never-ending evil.

For example, when a man marries a woman, the two become united and joined (Vav) as a completely new family and this is good. But simultaneously they have now been separated (Zayin) from all other families on the earth that now exist as independent units.  Also, on an individual level the man and the woman have now become separated from all other individual males and females, to only be in intimate relationship which each other. These two joined intimate people have simply excluded (divided) themselves from intimacy with all other humans. This was exactly a description of the plan of God for a New Covenant in Jesus Christ.

Hopefully, you can begin to see how these two concepts of 1) a joining together like a “Vav” nail can occur simultaneously with 2) a separating and dividing of a “Zayin” sword. It is essential to understand how these two opposites must be present to work together for God’s single design purpose and His greater plan. If you do not see it yet, please be patient and continue to learn, it will become clearer soon.

Perhaps this might help you embrace this topic more quickly. We know a marriage is supposed to be monogamous meaning they are not intimate with their old boyfriends, girlfriends, or anyone else they should meet after the union occurs. This is God’s primary created example of the foundation of a successful covenant marriage (Gen 2:24). Notice in Genesis 2:24 both the joining together and the dividing separation is stated. This is a God created and designed Law. But these concepts were also a necessary requirement for God in His Old Covenant marriage with natural Israel (Jer 31:32) and these will further be expanded to include Jesus and His covenant spiritual bride in the New Covenant (Eph 5:31-32).

God informed natural Israel that He was a jealous God in Exodus 20:5. God says very clearly that they were not supposed to be unfaithful to Him, to go and worship other gods (Exo 20:3). If they do this, they will make Him jealous, and this would bring about consequences for their evils (Exo 12:12, Exo 23:33). Therefore, Israel was supposed to be “Vav” joined with the LORD God only, and forsake, sever, and divide (Zayin) themselves from all other false gods and idols and nations that worship them. Remember the false gods and idols were parts of Satanic worship of the devil’s demons, sorceries, and witchcrafts.  These were all traps of Satan used to defeat the people of God.

This seems very easy to comprehend for anyone of a divine moral character that knows God personally and intimately. For God is more than capable of being faithful to us, but for many people it has not been that easy for them to be faithful to Him as was displayed in natural Israel (Isa 1:21, Jer 3:8). This is a key reason why God sent Jesus into the world to become His human “Vav” connector.

Remember Jesus Christ is the eternal fulfilment of the Old Covenant pattern of a man standing in the office of the high priest (Heb 2:17). Remember in the Old covenant the high priest acted as a “Vav” connection between God and natural Israel, by entering God’s presence with animal blood for the sins of natural Israel. He did this with sacrificed blood when entering behind the veil into the Holy of Holies. This also was what Jesus Christ performed once with His blood entering into the real temple in heaven. Praise the LORD! Jesus will continue this role between God and man forever. All these High Priest actions fulfilled in Jesus as our “Vav” reconnection to God can be studied in Hebrews chapters 2 through 13. Please go and read them and see what He did for us.

However, God still expects this quality of faithfulness in our decision to be “Vav” joined with Jesus Christ. This faithfulness must include the commitment to be “Zayin” divided from evil. As God said to natural Israel in Leviticus 11:44 “be holy for I am holy”, He says the same to the church in 1 Peter 1:16. Repeatedly in the New Covenant God commands us after we are united with Him, to not be “Vav” joined with evil and unrighteousness (2 Cor 6:14-17). Therefore, God is expecting us to learn from natural Israel and not make the same mistakes to become unfaithful (1 Cor 10:11).

Today we have been studying the concepts hidden in the ancient Hebrew letter “Vav” and how they apply to what Jesus fulfilled for us in the prophecy of this unique letter. This letter “Vav’s” primary picture represents a “peg” and/or a “nail”. We can understand from this picture that this letter symbolically represents a connector plan, process, object, or person that performs a work like a nail that can be driven into two individual objects to “connect” or “reconnect” them as if they were one. It is very much like the modern day “super glue” concept of joining together broken pieces of a vase so that they can be made bonded together again.

It is absolutely essential to understand this “Vav” joining together concept, in the manifestation of the Son of God, Jesus. God’s Holy Spirit intentionally chose to be joined with His favored woman named Mary (Miriam) (Lk 1:30). God’s spoken Word produced a natural seed that was “joined” with Mary’s human “egg” and these two God created elements 1) human egg (Mat 1:20), and 2) divine Word “seed” (Lk 8:11) produced a natural human body (Heb 10:5) that could contain and carry both the blood of God plus the Spirit of God (Heb 9:14). Then this new human body type was the “beginning” of God’s intentional design, creating a prototype for His new creation. This would make Jesus the “First” human temple pattern of the Living Spirit of God (Jn 2:21) and give God the ability to take up residence in future believers’ human bodies (Act 17:24). Now with this foundation built, let us move to other scriptures in the New Testament that teach what was accomplished in Jesus using the “Vav” nail concepts.

Please take note that just because scriptures do not say they are about a nail or a peg, does not mean they are not directly connected to our subject of joining. Rather than look for the obvious “nail” mention, search for the applications for what a “Vav” represents. Think of all the synonymous ways to say “join” and this will help your search. It will amaze us how often we can find these concepts when we are looking for them. This is what we will be doing in the remaining part of this section.

We have already been introduced to the prophecy of this nail connecting God in heaven back to created humans on earth and we will easily find how this was fulfilled in God’s work “In Christ” by reading several great examples of verses in the New Covenant. Let us begin with Ephesians.

Eph 5:31  For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh.

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

This is a direct quotation of Genesis 2:24 that we briefly saw earlier in the lesson. Do not forget that this is God’s law of covenant union and connection with the simultaneous separation and division affecting two individuals. These are a husband and wife that are being joined to form a new family with them also being removed from their parent’s families and any other external temptations.

Remember we were connecting Adam and Eve to be a type and pattern of Christ (Last Adam) and the church (Bride). In that section we confirmed the function of a “nail” was to join two separated things to be like a marriage covenant union of a man and a woman. Concurrently both of these two “newly joined” individuals have also further committed and agreed to separate themselves from all others and this is called commitment and faithfulness. This is exactly what is happening in Jesus Christ and His bride, the church.

These natural marriage concepts suddenly become so much greater when viewed in the spiritual realm in Jesus Christ. Ephesians 5:31-32 reveals God’s hidden intention for creating the union of two becoming one in natural marriage was designed for His future purpose of the marriage covenant between Christ and His wife, the church. This is clearly a “Vav” type of spiritual connection taking place between the church and Jesus, with the simultaneous separation of them both by a spiritual “Zayin” cutting away from all sin, evil and Satan.

Consider that the first woman in Genesis 2 was taken out of the First man Adam. Therefore, God made one man first and called both of their name “Adam” (Gen 5:2). Then He took out (a Zayin division) called a woman to create two separate and unique individuals from a single “flesh” (Gen 2:21-23). Then God rejoined the two (male and female) back together by the reunion of two becoming one again in covenant marriage (Gen 2:24). This amazingly describes God’s natural pattern of what is happening in the greater spiritual dimension between Himself and His New Creation (2 Cor 5:17), the church.

Next, we need to understand the spiritual problem of sin that entered the earth in Genesis 3 through the participation of the author of sin Satan coming down to earth from heaven. When this rebellion occurred, God needed a solution for sin in both heaven and earth. But before this sin had occurred on earth, God already had a plan to send another Adam, named Jesus to earth to save humans (Rev 13:8). We must begin to understand God’s purposes for His Works to reconnect (Vav) humans back to Himself. We will find one of the key reasons for Jesus as a uniting “Vav” connector for heaven and earth in 2 Peter:

2Pe 3:13  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

If you have not yet seen the great significance of what God has accomplished in Jesus’ death on a “Tav” Cross pierced with “Vav” nails, this verse reveals His entire purpose was to make a new creation wherein only “righteousness” dwelled. What does this mean?

Doesn’t this sound like the “Zayin” sword concept of cutting and dividing by stating God is eliminating “evil” from the “righteous”? This “separation” must then also require that there be a simultaneous opposite of a “Vav” joining. To fulfill the verse this implied joining must represent the New Covenant (Heb 12:24). This New Covenant union that is implied to be taking place, must be between two previously separated individuals (God and the church using Jesus as their mediating connection).

Plainly this spiritual reunion must be a willing unification based upon agreement with each other to be simultaneously “Vav” joined together. Therefore, the church is choosing to be joined with God, His righteousness, His Holiness, and His goodness, while at the same time choosing to be “Zayin” divided apart from Satan, unrighteousness, and all evil.

As we can read in 2 Peter 3:13, there is certainly a God plan for a “New Creation”, which includes a “New heaven” and a “New earth”. This also means that God is 1) dividing and separating all His Old Creation, specifically the sinful evil portion from the righteous forever. We can confirm this reason of division (Zayin) for Jesus’ personal appearance on earth in Matthew 10:34-36 and Luke 12:51-53 which is based upon a prophecy from Micah 7:6.

Most of the natural descriptions in the Old Covenant have parallel and dual occurring spiritual applications that are based upon God’s chosen written natural symbolism. We are not going to be able to teach all these concepts of division today. There are other lessons on this website that speak in more detail about “Understanding Division” and “Understanding the Spiritual Family of God” to name two major sources for understanding what God is doing in Jesus to divide Himself from Lucifer and to join Himself to humans that were separated. Here is this significant prophecy declaring this division will be occurring in the future:

Mic 7:6  For the son dishonoureth the father, the daughter riseth up against her mother, the daughter in law against her mother in law; a man’s enemies are the men of his own house.

We can only give a rapid overview of one part of the prophecy about God’s division to introduce the subject to new readers. We know this prophecy is about Jesus, by Him personally quoting this verse. With this claim, He is clearly describing the dividing of God’s spiritual family was one of the key reasons why He was sent to the earth as a human. He claims in Matthew 10:34 that He did not come to bring peace but rather a “sword” (implying a Zayin cutting division is taking place). Then in Luke 12:51, Jesus is more plain speaking that His coming to the earth was directly to “divide”, and not to bring peace. This is obviously a hidden reference to God dividing Himself from Satan and the “unrighteousness” that is inferred in 2 Peter 3:13.

It is important to see that this prophecy is about dividing a family. First know that God has a family that is named both in heaven and on the earth (Eph 3:15). Second understand that before Adam, this God family only consisted of angelic beings in heaven (Heb 12:22). Please begin to understand that the first Adam was created to be a separated new part of God’s spiritual family that was not connected to the heavenly angels and especially Satan’s evil. This was God’ first “division” of His spiritual family. And this division symbolically occurs on Day 1 of creation where God creates “light” and divides the light from the darkness calling light “day” and darkness “night”. However, this Day 1 of creation was a prophecy for what was about to occur within this first 1000 years of human history.

It is most revealing when studying the Word of God to view what is written and spoken by God from His perspective of dividing Himself from Satan and evil in heaven. God is implementing a Genesis 1 re-creation of the planet earth to accomplish this. We can clearly see the first earth was destroyed in Genesis 1:2. God confirms this in 2 Peter 3:6. This creation has included many new things that never existed before as we are beginning to see. Of course, this work of God peaked with the creation of humans, a law, and a death consequence for disobedience. Hopefully you are seeing how all of this is working together to eliminate Satan with a “Zayin” type of division.

Then we know that we do not get very far past Genesis 1, until we find God’s kingdom purpose continuing to develop to separate Himself from Satan. As we should know Satan existed before Adam’s creation (Job 38:4-7). Since there is never a mention of Satan or anyone else on planet earth when Adam was created, we can logically deduce that Satan’s residence was in heaven. We must recall that Satan’s home in heaven will remain until after the War take place between Michael and his angels who will overcome Satan and his angels in Revelation 12:7-8. It is at this point during the tribulation that Satan and his angels are permanently cast out of heaven, and this takes place over 6000 years after Adam was created.

However, in Genesis 3, it appears that Satan’s interests have suddenly shifted from ruling in heaven and has move down to rule the earth. It further appears that Satan’s desires and purposes have been re-focused upon the corruption (Rom 8:21) of God’s sinless re-created good earth and its inhabitants (Gen 1:31). This intention clearly included his desires to “Vav” join himself to humans so that he could fill the earth with his evil and sin (Gen 6:5) that was then only found present in heaven (Eze 28:15).

Therefore, in Genesis 3:1, Satan suddenly appears in the garden on earth, to craftily tempt God’s newly created separated Adam’s family. However, please do not get confused, by the mention of Adam being called “separated” from God. This separation is plainly stated in Genesis 2:24 where God says the man shall leave his father’s house. Who is the created man’s father? We know from reading Luke 3:38 that Adam’s life came from God making God his father. 

But this implied separation of God from Adam, does not mean that God could not visit and talk with His creation as we can clearly read occurs in Genesis 2 and 3. This only meant that Adam was not a part of God’s heavenly spiritual family or kingdom and that he had been given by God a separated from heaven, earth domain. This domain included a new wife and family of his own, with his own God given authority to rule and manage the re-created earth (Gen 1:26).

This concept of a father to son separation has been passed from generation to generation. It is entirely true in the present earthly realm today, exactly as it was in God’s to His created first man Adam. For example, my son is the husband and father of his own house. He has been joined with his wife and they two are one flesh in the eyes of God. When they were married, they both left their parent’s house. This meant they both gained the independent sovereign abilities to make their own choices and rules apart from their parents’ homes. They are free to ask for their fathers or mothers’ advice, but the decisions are ultimately all in their power to make.

Therefore, this temptation to revolt against God that was brought down from heaven by Satan, was Adam’s sovereign choice to make. Satan directed this temptation intentionally at God’s separated newly created human family to join with them together in rebellion against God. It appears that in Satan’s mind this was an opportunity for him to gain greater power and control of all of God’s creation to exalt himself to be like God (Isa 14:13). But we will notice that this decision to come to the earth has moved him to also be in covenant with humans that must now “die” because of their sins. Uh oh. It is highly likely that Satan did not fully understand what this “Vav” joining with humans could include.

There appears to be a plan of God for moving Satan’s eternal domain found in the heavenly, down to the temporary earth’s surface domain (2 Cor 4:18). We could call this a part of the beginning steps of God’s transition for the separation from all evil from the righteous. This is where we are now and this temporary earthly rule (2 Cor 4:4) appears to be a part of the transitioning steps of God’s plan to eventually move Satan out of the spiritual eternal realm of God’s heavenly Kingdom into the eventual transition of being thrown down into hell finally and permanently separated forever from God and all the righteous.

Remember, it is the heavenly spiritual realm where there is no time, no death, no law, no sin consequences, and God plans for Satan to be brought down into the newly created world of Adam which will begin with a newly implemented concept of time, followed by a law with death consequences for committing sin.

Adam had been created and lived by God’s plan within a temporary separated natural realm of existence, involving the law of stewardship (Mar 12:1-11, Luke 12:42, Luke 16:1-13). This temporary creation involved a timed leased rulership of the earth. Therefore, it was never intended to last forever. The timed lease of the earth that was given to the first man, was to last for 6000 years of human work (Gen 2:5, Mat 17:1), and a 1000-year day of rest (Heb 4:3-11, Rev 20:6).

But after sin enters the world, Adam becomes “Vav” joined with Satan, and falls under the rulership of death (Rom 5:17) which was now within Satan’s power (Heb 2:14). Wow, do you see what has just happened after Adan sinned? Satan has become the temporary “god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), which is the temporary government systems that were given to Adam (Gen 1:26) but have now been transitioned to Satan’s rule according to Matthew 4:8-9.

This is a major shift from Satan only living within the freedoms of heaven where there are no laws (Gal 4:26). Please read the context of Galatians 4:26 to help confirm the heavenly Jerusalem above is called “free”, meaning there are no “laws” of bondage. This is very important to help us understand why Satan was never dealt consequences for his rebellion against God and why God is implementing a plan to transition Satan from out of heaven.

This rebellion of Adam then places him into covenant with Satan and this meant whatever was Satan’s is now Adam’s, and whatever was Adam’s, was now also Satan’s. This meant both Adam and Lucifer are bound by a limitation within a supernatural bondage to God’s newly created realm of time and laws. Remember Adam’s domain of earth’s stewardship was on a time limit that was set to expire in 7000 years. All this information is found based upon the Genesis 1 prophecies where God declared “I make known the end from the beginning”. But this will not be covered in this lesson due to an excessive increase in lesson length.

Remember that Adam and Eve, only knew God (light) and everything “good” that God had created, including themselves. There was no wicked or evil presence upon the earth after the 6 days of Genesis 1. It was not until Satan (God’s adversary) shows up in the Garden of Eden in Genesis 3:1, that evil had entered God’s newly re-created world. Remember from Genesis 1:26 we know that Adam had the authority to cast Satan out but chose rather to disobey God’s single commandment (Gen 2:17).

We can read about this temptation and rebellion occurring in chapter 3 of Genesis. As we know from scripture Satan implements his plans of death and destruction by primarily deception (Gen 3:1, Rev 12:9). In Genesis 3:1 we find how subtle Satan was above all of God’s newly made animal creation. Then Satan begins to speak to the woman and was able to deceive her in her mind to get her to disobey God’s only rule with the consequences of death (2 Cor 11:3). It is clear by Satan’s temptation that he nor Eve believed that a spirit being could die (Gen 3:4).

God then informs us in 1 Timothy 2:14 that Adam was not deceived during chapter 3 of the fall of man. Therefore, Adam’s sin appears to have been a willful and intentional rebellion (Zayin division) against God and an intentional joining (Vav) with Lucifer. Did you notice this was the “Vav” and “Zayin” concepts occurring in reverse from Jesus the Last Adam’s choices and works?

Nevertheless, Adam turned over his God given dominion of the earth (Gen 1:26) completely to Satan (Lk 4:5-6). And Satan became the “god of this world” until God’s appointed time has been fulfilled (Mat 8:29). Also, during this time of Satan’s dominion, “death” was passed upon all humans because we were all “in Adam” when he sinned (Rom 5:12). Now notice what else happened to Adam’s family on the earth:

Pro 25:5  Take away the wicked from before the king, and his throne shall be established in righteousness.

If the first Adam would have cast Satan out from the earth, wickedness would not have entered God’s created good world, and we would be living in the original creation state of only knowing “good” (Gen 1:31). But since Adam chose to “Vav” join Satan’s rebellion, darkness and wickedness has taken hold of the planet and according to Proverbs 25:5, righteousness departed from humans by the law of antithesis truth. If you are not familiar with this Biblical law, it simply states, that whatever is truthfully stated in any verse, the opposite unstated truth is equally true.

Therefore, Proverbs 25:5 also confirms that the state of God’s Kingdom of Heaven before Satan came to the earth to tempt man was not fully righteous either. This simply meant the state of heaven was a mixture of both good and evil, and unrighteous and righteous.

Too many people believe Satan was just cast out of heaven the moment he sinned. But because God is a righteous judge, He was not able to legally do this. Therefore, one reason for our current world’s creation was for us to learn that there is a “righteous”, “fair”, and “good” process that is being worked by God to eliminate finally and completely all evil.

God had purposefully created a “new” concept called “death” within His current world’s creation containing sinful humans. This concept brought about a separation for all that reject righteousness and God’s gifts of salvation. This part of God’s family by their own choices will be called “dead” to God as was the prodigal son in the parable found in Luke 15. God planned to use this newly created concept of “death” to separate Himself from Lucifer and all his wicked angels.

Therefore, we will say this is the beginning of the many steps of God’s “Zayin” plan of separation from evil began using the creation of our present world so that God in Jesus Christ could manifest to die on a “Tav” cross hanging with “Vav” nails. We know “death” was a major part of God’s plan by reading Revelation 13

Rev 13:8  And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.

This is an essential verse of truth that exemplifies the overview of the plan of God for eliminating evil. The end of the verse describes the beginning of the plan. Notice God had planned for the death of Jesus (called the Lamb) before our world was founded. Therefore, death is the key part of eliminating Satan and all evil.

This verse in context is about Satan’s manifestation as a man on the earth that will be worshiped by a lot of humans. In this chapter they will take his mark, and this will eliminate their names from the Lamb’s “book of life”. As we can see the Lamb’s purpose for death is two-fold. These are the two unified concepts of joining and dividing that will occur from God’s participation in Christ to die.

To all those that will join the faith in Christ their names are recorded in His book to remain, and this will give them life to know God personally forever. But all those that reject God’s free-gift of life through belief, will be “Vav” joined with Satan taking his mark, and “Zayin” cut away from God’s never-ending life.

For time’s sake we are going to jump forward past the cross to find and learn the ending phased strategies of God to permanently eliminate Satan and all evil from their union with the righteous. For example, notice these verses:

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels

Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
Rev 12:10  And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.

These verses of scripture in the book of Revelation describe a war that will take place during the soon coming but future 7-year tribulation. This war will be fought between God’s faithful angels led by Michael, and they will be fighting against Satan and his rebellious angels. It is during this final heavenly spiritual war that Satan is finally cast down to the earth as we can read in verse 9. This verse confirms the future and final “casting down out of heaven” event of Satan and all his angels. This also amazingly teaches us that Satan still has access to heaven even today as we can clearly confirm in the following verses of the Bible:

  1. Genesis 28:12
  2. Job 1:6
  3. Job 2:1-2
  4. Luke 22:11
  5. John 1:51

Twice in these five references, angels are directly stated to be “ascending” and then “descending” between earth to heaven and vice versa. God does not say that these were just the “good” angels. It implies these are “all” angels whether good or evil. In Luke we find an implied reference of Satan going before God demanding to sift Peter like wheat. But in Job we find the direct mention of both good and evil angels presenting themselves before God in heaven twice in a very short time span.

This would imply they were going often and in Job 2:2 God directly asks Satan where he has come from. This question was not for God to gain knowledge that He did not already know, but rather it was for our benefit to teach us Satan goes back and forth from the earth to heaven. Satan’s answer was “I am coming from walking to and fro throughout the earth and walking up and down in it”. This sounds like a paraphrase from 1 Peter 5:8. “Your adversary the devil as a roaring lion walks about seeking whom he may devour”.

What we are discovering is the clear fact that all angels have access to heaven today even as you are reading this lesson. And we can visibly confirm this statement by observing what we have just read in Revelation chapter 12.

Notice what Revelation 12:8 said. God says very plainly that before Satan and his angels were cast down, they had a place in heaven. The Greek word G5117 translated as “place” is an essential word to understand. This word literally states Satan, and his rebellious angels had dwelling places with implied addresses of ownership, as well as positions within the government including roles and titles. This is also confirmed in the book of Jude 1:6 where it also describes angels’ dwellings in heaven.

But after this final war in heaven, in Revelation 12, their access and living rights have been finally revoked and their places and positions of authority have been ended in heaven. Wow, this is a view of God’s final prophetic heavenly “Zayin” sword “cutting” plan of division, removing all heavenly evil from those that are called righteous in His heavenly Kingdom.

Next notice in Revelation 12:9 we find the heavenly war results and who it affected. In this verse God identifies the defeated beings as Satan called the dragon as well as the symbolic ancient serpent in the Garden of Eden. But don’t let it pass you by, that Satan is stated to have deceived the entire world and this also includes Christians at some time of human existence. Hopefully, only when they were not saved.

Now notice Revelation 12:10. This verse is amazing because it also confirms Satan’s future removal from heaven will occur during this soon coming heavenly war. Pay close attention to the words “Now has come salvation in heaven, because the accuser of our brethren has been cast down”. This is clearly stating a permanent Satan exit will be taking place and he will finally not be able to “accuse” Christian/righteous people anymore before God. This literally means this is what he has been doing for thousands of years.

We do not have the time to go into all the steps that have taken place to get us here. We can learn God’s major accomplishment to eliminate Satan was to come to the earth in the flesh to die on a cross being hung by “Vav” nails. We could call this the central part of God’s phased multistep plan for the elimination of “evil”. It was at this point that Satan literally believed he had prevailed over God. But Satan was not aware of the next step of God’s plan called the “Resurrection from the dead”. Here is a quick list of the major steps of God’s plan for the final elimination of evil:

  1. God foresaw the need to eliminate evil and decides to create a world with laws (Gen 2:16) and consequences of death for disobedience (Gen 2:17).
  2. God speaks to create this new world in Genesis 1:3-31.
  3. God then created one new man to rule this world (Gen 1:26, Gen 2).
  4. God knowing Satan’s ambitions, understood his desires to rule God’s new separated world and this would drive Satan down to the earth. God allowed Satan to temporarily “Zayin” separate himself from heaven to descend to the earth and become “Vav” joined to God’s new world containing laws, time limits and death consequences.
  5. After the sin and rebellion of Adam, Satan, sin, and death ruled over all humans (2 Cor 4:4, Eph 2:2, Rom 5:17-21).
  6. Now during the 6000-year time of man’s work on the earth, God and humans both were now joined simultaneously with good and evil (Satan). This meant Satan had rights to both the spiritual domain of God and the natural dominion of humans (Gen 3:5, 3:22). This is clearly a transitional plan of God to catch Satan with one foot in the spiritual and the other in the natural.
  7. The sin of Adam left God on the outside looking into His earth creation and Satan can practically destroy this creation by the time of Genesis 6.
  8. This brough God’s judgments upon the earth where only 8 righteous could be saved by an “ark” living through a global “flood” (1 Pet 3:8).
  9. This judgment places a fear of God upon the earth, and they begin to build a tower in Babel to save themselves from anymore judgements (Gen 11:5-8).
  10. This is when further judgments occur, and many new languages are implemented by God to divide the people on the earth. From these divided people come all the nations of the earth.
  11. In the course of time, God chooses one man from all the people of the earth, to create one new physical nation and one forthcoming planned coming new spiritual nation (1 Pet 2:9). This man named Abraham will bring forth “one” promised combined natural and spiritual seed named Jesus Christ (Gal 3:16). This man Abraham is now the spiritual father of everyone that has been and will be saved in Christ (Rom 4:16).
  12. During the next 2000 years of human time, God implements a significant marriage covenant (Vav joining) with the natural children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Jer 31:32).
  13. Further in the Old Covenant process these children of natural Israel are brought under the bondage of captivity in Egypt and God selects a man named Moses to deliver them.
  14. They are delivered by God implementing a final 10th plague on Egypt called the death of the “firstborn” and bypassed by the substitutionary “death” of an innocent sacrificial lamb (Exo 12). Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?
  15. Next God implements more “laws” in natural Israel for humans to follow. This is done to establish a High Priest system of mediation between God and man using blood sacrifices. This is done because God desired to personally live on the earth in a temporary tabernacle with them. This is now a pattern of God’s coming New Covenant with Christ living inside of temporary human bodies (1 Cor 6:19).
  16. At the end of 4000 years of human history, God comes personally into the earth being birthed in Bethlehem (Mat 1:23). This birth places God under His given LAW (Gal 4:4). God does this to fulfill all the “Law”, but also to “die” a spotless lamb’s death to pay the penalty for all human sins redeeming humans from Satan using a Zayin cutaway. Finally, this death on the cross also performed another “Zayin” divide, separating God, Himself from all evil at another set future time.
  17. It was after 3 days in hell that God was righteously satisfied for the death of Jesus as payment for “All” human sins, that Jesus is resurrected from the dead.
  18. It was this resurrection that began God’s “New Creation” with Jesus becoming the “Firstborn from the dead”. This new birth brought about a creation type that had never existed at any time in the past. And this gave Jesus preeminence over all other creations in the past, the present and the future.

It was Jesus being raised from the dead that sealed Satan’s future destiny in hell. This is why 1 Corinthians 2:8 claims that if Satan would have known what was planned, he would not have crucified the LORD God on a cross. What happened that Satan did not expect?

God’s surprise is called the first “New Birth” of a spiritual being (Rev 1:5). Jesus reveals this mystery in John 3:3 when He said, “Except a man is born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God”. Wow, that is a major statement. It is also the exact same “Vav” joining heaven to some deemed righteous, while simultaneously performing a “Zayin” cutting away of others named unrighteous and evil that is taking place.

Was Jesus a man? Yes, He was! Therefore, this statement first applied to Him. If we can read in Colossians 1:18 Jesus is called “the beginning”. What is He the beginning of? It comes in the next connecting statement, “the firstborn from the dead”. Wow, again! A growing number of Bible teachers are beginning to teach what was accomplished in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus. However, there are still too many that are leaving out that He became the “firstborn from the dead” while being resurrected. It was this powerful act of God that made Him preeminent (the FIRST, the HEAD, the alphabet letter “Resh”) in God’s never existing before, new creation.

This spiritually imminent New Birth is what Satan was oblivious to. It implemented a “New Creation” (2 Cor 5:17) that also brought about a “Vav” reconnecting “New Covenant” (Heb 12:24) with humans, which is resulting in a New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2), a “New Heaven”, and a “New Earth” (Rev 21:1), and all these new things will exclude (Zayin divide) Satan and all other evil completely. This New Creation is our current phase of existence in God’s plan of removal of evil and Satan. It will last for 2 days, or 2000 years called the church days of Divine Grace.

However, the church age will climax with implementing God’s next steps of His plan. This begins with the church being victorious over God’s enemy Satan. This will be the conclusion to Christ’s works on the cross that laid the foundation of Satan’s defeat and our Victory. This victory will result in the church standing upon Satan’s head with our feet (Rom 16:20). The church is the prophesied woman that will bruise Satan’s head under our feet in Genesis 3:15. Can you hear the screams of blasphemy that just happened? Please patiently put down your stones.

Yes, most teach Genesis 3:15 is about the “Seed” and not the “woman” crushing the serpent’s head. But both are true. Remember where the church came from and who the church is today. The church is called the bride of Christ and Christ is called the bridegroom. But the church is also called the “Body of Christ” like we can read in Colossians 1:18. We also know that Christ is called the “Head” of the corporate church “body” that is “Vav” united with Him to being in Him and Him being in our spirit. Therefore, we know that God says, “As He is, so are we!” (1 Jn 4:17). This appears to say whatever He does through us, is what He does. This would mean if we crush the head of the serpent under our feet, it is the same as if Christ Jesus in us has done it.

Therefore, where are the feet in the body of Christ? They must be in the church that is on the earth today. This is exactly why God writes to the church in Romans 16:20, “the God of Peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly”. This clearly is a statement of prophecy about a soon coming victory over God’s enemy. It is God’s sovereign choice to show Satan that it will be a newly created spiritual woman that will be the one that will crush his head, and not the Almighty God that created him. This appears to lower Satan’s pride significantly to not think that he is so high and mighty above all else. This is powerful if you will accept it.

Quickly, let us wrap this section of the lesson about the simultaneous “Vav” joining with God, and “Zayin” cutting away of Satan and all evil with observing the last steps of the plan of God for Satan’s permanent removal.

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

This verse in Revelation 20 is when Satan and all his evil spirit servants are cast into the pit for 1000 years. This is the last 7th day of the creation account found in the Genesis 1 prophecy of man’s complete history on the earth during this present creation. This is called God’s Sabath day of rest, and this is very interesting. What we learn from this coming 1000-year day of “rest”, is that it is a time where all humans on the earth that there will be no “evil influences” for humans to be tempted with.

This information clearly implies by the law of antithesis truth, the preceding 6 days or 6000 years of man will be a time when they will be working for God and against evil influences or working with the evil to be against God. These 1000 years of rest from fighting Satan, will bring down the Kingdom of God from heaven which will be ruled with a rod of iron by the resurrected from the dead LORD Jesus, and the resurrected and raptured church overcomers (Rev 2:26-27, Rev 5:10, Rev 20:4).

There will be physical tribulation survivors that did not take the mark of the beast and were not killed by the antichrist, that will be left on the earth. These people would have survived miraculously throughout the entire 7 years of God’s judgments upon the earth, and Satan’s wrath. Now these people will be able to repopulate the earth for the period lasting 1000 years. But after these 1000 years have ended, we can clearly read in Revelation 20:3 that Satan must be loosed for a short time from his pit captivity (Rev 20:7) to deceive, tempt and test people again (Rev 20:8). None of these natural newly born people on the earth have ever experienced any direct temptations. Therefore, it appears God is allowing them to be tested by evil to choose between “Vav” joining with Satan or remaining in “Vav” union with God through Jesus. Let us look now at the final “Zayin” division of Satan and all evil from the righteous:

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

We can clearly read in this verse that there is coming after the 1000-year reign of Christ, the never-ending separation of God from all evil. This is the last time that a “Zayin” cutting away will become final and the “Chet” wall of permanent division fully encloses all evil away from the righteous.

The “Great White Throne” Judgment will take place next after Satan’s elimination, and the unrighteous will be judged and whoever is not found written in the “book of life” will be cast into hell with Satan (Rev 10:15). This is the second death called the spiritual separation from knowing God and all His grace, goodness, mercy, love and forgiveness. This will truly be sad for these people since they could have accepted Jesus their entire life on the earth. Finally, God is completing the “Zayin” separation from evil and His “Vav” union with the “righteous” by ending His first creation after fully transitioning all righteous into His New Creation:

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Rev 21:5  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Rev 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

These are amazing prophetical promises that will be occurring much sooner than you may imagine. Hopefully, these verses make a lot more sense to you now. We can clearly see the culmination of God’s plan being fully realized that was planned from the very foundation of the world. God has spoken this entire plan in outline form in Genesis 1.

Go back and see how the 7-day creation of our current world was an overview for His plan of eliminating evil and “Vav” joining with only righteousness. Five or six times “Zayin” divisions take place. The first three chapters of Genesis have significant amounts of dual meanings attached to them. They contain natural descriptions of what is happening in our world during creation, and these are also symbolic revealing spiritual things that are prophesied to happen in the spiritual world of God’s plan of man’s salvation and Satan’s elimination. However, this will not be covered in this lesson.

5. Conclusion

There are numerous verses in the New Covenant as well as prophetical verses in the Old Covenant that could have been included in this lesson today. Hopefully, you have learned enough to spend your personal time studying this subject on your own. For example, to conclude this lesson, we will only review a few examples of what we have learned that Jesus fulfilled as the “Vav” ancient Hebrew alphabet letter:

1Co 15:24  Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power

Here is another confirming verse that helps unlock the mystery of Jesus as the “Vav”. Notice it begins with then comes the “end” and this connects us to the end being made known from the beginning we learned in the Genesis 1:1 prophecy.  Next notice Paul writes “when ‘he’ shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father. The “he” here in this verse is Jesus the Son of God that was raised up from the dead to “begin” a brand-new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and He in this process has “been highly exalted far above all principality, power, might and dominion” (Eph 1:21). This is a direct reference to Satan and all his kingdom evil angels. Let us include this verse of Ephesians in our conclusion.

Eph 1:21  Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:

It is essential to notice that the Greek word G746 translated as “principality” in Ephesians 1:21, is also translated as “beginning(s)” approximately 40 times. It is also the same exact Greek word that was translated as “rule” in 1 Corinthians 15:24.

Therefore, we have discovered that there was a “powerful” ruler that existed at the time of God’s beginning of His first creation (Gen 1:1) that needed to be put down and placed permanently underfoot. This spiritual ruler was “Lucifer” and God has been working His plan to remove Lucifer’s evil influence both in heaven and in earth through “Jesus’ death” being nailed (Vav) on a cross (Tav) (1 Cor 2:8) for the last 6000 years.

1Co 15:25  For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.

As we can confirm from this verse, God is implementing a progressive transfer of power and authority that began in God’s heavenly kingdom that was then transitioned to rule in the current temporary earth realm. Remember God personally came down in the form of a human baby in the middle of this process to “Vav” join Himself with His creation and to place Himself under His law (Gal 4:4).

It should be becoming obvious that this shift of power was a process and not just a one-time single event. We can see a major part of this transition was accomplished after Jesus was resurrected from the dead by reading Matthew 28:18. In this verse, Jesus the risen Son of God proclaims, “All authority in heaven and earth, has been given to me”. Clearly this is a profound statement of a shift in power and delegated authority.

It strongly confirms God’s need to eliminate Lucifer’s authority in heaven and then on the earth and it was accomplished when Jesus became the “First born from the dead”. It was through this “New First Spiritual Re-Birth of Jesus” that initiated God’s “New Creation”, including a “New Kingdom”, a “New Covenant”, etc. as we have learned.

God is amazing and we could have written many more volumes of information about this subject of a “Zayin” certain “Division” of Satan and evil from God and man, a “Vav” destined “re-connection” of all righteousness back to God, and a “Chet” final and permanent “wall of separation” being “built” between all good and all evil.

Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with us. We love you more than you may know. Hopefully this potentially new information did not overwhelm you. Please, be an Acts 17:11 more noble type of Christian and learn to study everything learned here for yourself, looking up every verse reference given and confirm what is taught is what God is saying to the church today. There is too much deception taking place in the world today, and God’s Word is the only source of TRUTH for the sound knowledge of what He has done for us and given to us. Praise the LORD!

Intro Alef Beyt-1 2 Gimel Dalet Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf Lamed Mem 1 2 Nun Samekh Ayin Pey Tsade Qof Resh Shin TavAlef-Beyt Chart (Series updated as LORD directs and permits)

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Understanding the Sovereignty of God – Part 2 – Who is the Sovereign Elect of God

(Ver 1.0) This is Part 2 in the series of lessons teaching us about the amazingly revealed subject of the “sovereignty of God”. If you have not read “Part 1“, it is highly recommended that you go back and start with this introduction. Too many Christians have manmade traditions or reduced doctrinal views of what “sovereignty” represents when teaching about the application of this word to God. Some of the popular mindsets that have been dominating a lot of these religious thoughts on sovereignty, align with the following types of Christian beliefs and confessions:

  1. You just never know what God will do next?
  2. Sometimes God heals some of us and other times He makes us sick to humble us, teach us, or to get some glory for Himself to help save others.
  3. God can do whatever He wants, whenever He wants, to whoever He wants because He is God.
  4. God will open the doors to what I should do, be, or go into, and shut the doors that I should not do, be, or go, into.
  5. If God wants me to have it, He will give it to me!
  6. If God wants me saved, He will save me!
  7. If God wants me healed, He will heal me!
  8. If God wants to bless me, He will bless me!
  9. Lord, if it be your will for my friend, my family, my child, etc., to be healed, delivered, or saved, we ask for your will to be done.
  10. God loves me so much; He won’t let anything bad happen to me…
  11. If God made me this way (poor, sick, gay, crippled, blind, lame, etc.), therefore He loves me and wants me this way.
  12. If God allowed evil to happen to me, He has a purpose for it.
  13. God took my child to heaven because he wanted another angel.

These are just some of the examples of wrong ways people think about God and His sovereignty trying to explain why bad things happened to them. People take a part of the total known or unknown sound doctrine of balanced sovereignty and then only magnify a small section of it to an extreme position that leaves everything that happens to us in the world totally up to God’s will and power. When this happens, God can easily be held responsible for every evil work that anyone, including Satan or any evil person does or makes happen.

In other words, people believe that God causes, commits, or permits all the liars of the world, in politics and of governments to happen, and they must all be doing their evils by the will and purpose of God. This would include mass murderers and genocide in the world blaming it all on God’s will. This would include all the starvation occurring in the world is also God’s will. This would include all terrorism is God’s will, and we could fill up a book with other examples of evil to blame them all on a loving God? This just does not match the revealed character and nature of God in the Bible.

Today, we will only address one part of the subject of sovereignty that is taught in a lot of Christian churches. We are delivering this specific topic only because we believe the Lord desires us to respond to a comment that was received asking a question from the previous lesson. This questioned sovereign position holds the belief of Sovereign Election of certain chosen individuals to receive salvation by His Divine selection only.

This belief of course, strongly implies that all others not selected by God were “chosen” to live on earth, die and go to hell by God’s sovereign design and right of choice. This extreme belief disqualifies the view of any human freedoms to choose whether to be saved or to be lost. This position places all responsibility for salvation only upon God who they claim has sovereignly chosen them. There are also other variations of this belief, but all of these must attempt to explain the other Bible verses that appear to conflict or contradict with this doctrine. We will see several of these conflicting verses in this lesson, and then attempt to balance them all together equally.

If you are aware of another variation of your belief to how this God choice of being Elect is defined, feel free to share it in a comment. But please only comment after reading the entire lesson first, so that we can compare all your Bible verses with the Word of God that will be shared here today. Also, if you are unable to leave a comment containing a belief with Bible verses, please do not bother sharing any personal opinions, they will not be given any value or time to be responded to.

For those readers that have the Holy Spirit living on the inside of your spirit to be saved, what does the Spirit of God say inside to you about this belief so far? Does the Spirit of God inside you give you any witnessed assurance that this belief is correct? Or does He cause you to feel that there is just something not right about God electing to make your choice for you, without your participation to go to hell? The Holy Spirit is the only guide to all truth that we can depend upon. Therefore, stop here and now and ask Him these questions, and let us see what He says to you and then let the Spirit inside’s judgement be your guide with what will be taught today to see if there is any agreement.

There will be no disagreement from Agapegeek, that there are certainly scriptures in the New and Old Testament that seem to imply this belief of “Election” is on the surface accurate. But with deeper study, it just might change our opinions and views to show us that it can be understood to mean something completely different and even to an opposite position. This does not mean anyone ignores the verses taught on election or disagrees with their inclusion in the Bible. It only means once balanced correctly, the interpretations of these verses can be shifted to see something amazingly missed before.

Our primary goal today is to find the truth! We are only desiring to see God’s view on this subject of sovereignty. Therefore, we promise the Holy Spirit to approach the subject with an open-minded position of rest, to be led by the Spirit of God, to go wherever He desires to go and show us whatever He sovereignly chooses to teach us, and we will choose to receive it with a thankful heart and mind.

Could this position of God sovereignly choosing some for salvation and other for hell’s separation, be another example of someone taking a partial truth and exalting it beyond its scope of application to be the only truth, excluding all other truths? Remember this practice of one truth independence can usually lead us into error. This is too often caused when we do not balance all scriptures equally together. Let us dig into this subject to discover if there is something that we may have omitted or missed. Here is a list of the sections that will be covered in our lesson:

  1. Election Confirmed
  2. God’s Wedding Invitation
  3. Jesus the Only One Chosen?
  4. How and When was the Church Chosen?
  5. Resolving Scripture Conflicts for Being Called “Elect”
  6. Conclusion

Election Confirmed!

Let us quickly go over a few of the key verses on the doctrine of “election”. We will begin with the red-letter words of Jesus speaking in prophetical terms about the end of the world that is beginning to happen now.

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect

It is obvious that Jesus is calling a potential person or a group or “set” of “like people” by qualifying and defining them using the term “elect”. This Greek word translated as “elect” is G1588, and it is defined by Strong as “select”, “favorite”, or “elect”. But it is also important to know that this single Greek word is translated as “elect” 16 times and “chosen” 7 times. Therefore, if we are only looking for verses that were translated as “elect” we will miss those that were translated as “chosen”.

This verse and God’s usage of the Greek word becomes our initial confirmation with the potential for somethings we could call “sovereign election”. It is important to note that the Greek word G1588 translated as “elect”, occurs 3 times in chapter 24 of Matthew. Therefore, this chapter seems to have an especially important emphasis on this subject. Here are the other verses in Matthew 24:

Mat 24:22  And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened

Mat 24:31  And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other

What we are observing is a new challenge to define being called “elect”. Most “elect” doctrines of being chosen for salvation, claim they were chosen by God and there is nothing they or anyone else could do, or anything that could happen on earth to not be saved. This means God’s sovereign election stands strong and unchanging, because He is God and He gets His way.

But notice verse 22 of Matthew 24. There is a timing of significant events that occur on the earth, where God describes the time must be shortened, or no one in the flesh was going to be saved. Therefore, God is speaking of elect people as those being saved, with the exception that it is not guaranteed salvation based upon something we are not told yet.

Now let us go back to verse 22, to see something that the translators may have missed in their KJV interpretation. The KJV translators must have believed in a form of the doctrine of guaranteed election, because of the way the verse was translated, and because they added specific italicized words that appear to support guaranteed election. But these italicized words do not occur in the verse. Here is what Dr Robert Young translated the verse to say in his very literal translation:

Mat 24:24  For there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall shew great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect(KJV)

Mat 24:24 for there shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and they shall give great signs and wonders, so as to lead astray, if possible, also the chosen. (YLT)

There are three major differences between these two translations. First, the omission of the italicized words; “it were”, before the word “possible” in the “Young’s Literal Translation”. The changing of the word “very” to “also” as it should be in the “Young’s Literal Translation”. The revision of the word “elect”, to the word “chosen” in the “Young’s Literal Translation”. All these changes help us to see some things much more clearly.

For example, what we are observing is how in these verses of Matthew, whoever these elect ones are, they could possibly be deceived as others were “also” deceived in verse 24 by the false Christ. And in verse 22 these “elect” ones, may not be saved unless God shortens the time of tribulation. What we are observing is a major discrepancy to viewing these “elect” to have a guaranteed salvation.

Therefore, many Christians must be assuming from these three verses in Matthew that these are speaking about the guaranteed pre-selected Christian church as being called the “elect” by Jesus. Yet that belief is even contradicted by what Jesus said in the entre statement, so which is it? Are they guaranteed saved or are they potentially saved based upon not being deceived by the false Christ and time being shorten for their sake to be saved?

What should be cautionary is that many times in the Bible, God uses the exact same word to refer to multiple like related beings. If you did not know yet, these “Elect” could be angels (1 Timothy 5:21), Israel (Isaiah 45:4), the church (1 Peter 2:9), or Jesus Christ (Luke 23:35, 1 Peter 2:6). Therefore, to be a wise Acts 17:11 type of Berean Bible student, we better do a lot more homework to study what is God really talking about.

As you can see this topic of study has suddenly become more complicated than most have thought. We have just been introduced to the potential of multiple identities as a condition to be determined for being called the “Elect”. Also, we have just observed two qualifying conditions that must be met to be in this group called the “elect”. Therefore, to assume each verse is about any single group or identity, is an assumption and must rather be proven with facts of scripture truth to reveal their identity.

However, we have identified and confirmed that Jesus spoke of someone as being the “Elect” that “if possible” could be deceived. And in another verse, He said “those days should be shortened, or no flesh would be saved, but for the elect’s sake, those days will be shortened”. Nevertheless, in the last verse with this Greek word we find the angels gathering the elect (chosen) ones off the earth. Therefore, there is someone that is called by this title.

Let us move to the next section to help us narrow down what this calling of someone as “Elect” means. Because God’s definition of the word will overrule man’s definitions 100% of the time.

God’s Wedding Invitation

Jesus teaches us a parable that could radically shift our focus on what being called “Elect” could be defined as. This parable is an amazing part of our study subject “sovereignty” even if you do not see it automatically at first. Let us please read carefully the story given by Jesus (God’s Son).

Mat 22:2  The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son

Mat 22:3  And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come

Mat 22:4  Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage

Mat 22:5  But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: 

Mat 22:6  And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. 

Mat 22:7  But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city

Mat 22:8  Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy

Mat 22:9  Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage

Mat 22:10  So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests

Mat 22:11  And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: 

Mat 22:12  And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. 

Mat 22:13  Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen

We will notice in verse 2 that Jesus is speaking about the “Kingdom of heaven”. This simply means these coming statements are about God’s sovereign government within the spiritual realm of existence apart from the earth. But then Jesus reveals this hidden spiritual reality is said to be “like” a normal story of a king that could have lived upon the natural earth. Parables always use natural parallels to teach unseen spiritual concepts so we can understand it.

Then Jesus gets started revealing the spiritual kingdom is like a “certain king” and this is a reference to God the Father in heaven that sits on His sovereign Kingdom throne. Therefore, we have the “Most High” as the Sovereign ruler that chooses to have a Son, and then arranges a marriage for His Son. This certainly matches our subject of God as “Sovereign”.

This should be obvious to who the son represents. This can only be Jesus that was God’s Son, who was born of the natural woman named Mary in Bethlehem. Isaiah 9:6 says, “Unto us a child is born, and a son is given” and this was written about the coming Messiah named Jesus (Yeshua).

The next key word in the parable to understand is “marriage”. This is a radically misunderstood concept for a lot of Christians, not knowing how to define this word.

In the eyes of God, a covenant is a marriage and God defines this to us in the Old Testament in Isaiah 54:5, Jeremiah 31:32 and Malachi 2:14, to only name three verses. Therefore, if a covenant of God is a marriage in His eyes, the marriage of this parable’s son is Jesus’s New Covenant, to His bride (Mat 9:15).

Guess who the bride is. If you said the church is the bride, you are correct (Eph 5:32, 2 Cor 11:2). So far, we have defined the parable subjects of the king as the Sovereign God the Father in heaven, and the son as the Lord Jesus Christ the bridegroom. How then does His church bride fit into this parable of a sovereignly arranged marriage by the Father God in Heaven?

In this parable, those that are the servants going out to spread the king’s invitations are symbolic for those that have already believed on the Lord Jesus and are working for God as His Kingdom servants to spread the Gospel (Rom 1:1). These servants represent the bride. They are working for God to get more into the wedding. These believing ones, are going out all over the world (Mk 16:15) preaching to those that are not yet saved. The invitations being given out represent the words of the Gospel of the kingdom (Mat 4:23, Rom 1:15-16), which is the good news of the free gifts of forgiveness, healing, deliverance, and salvation.  

Those that are being invited to the wedding, represents all the people that are in the world that have not heard the Gospel. Notice in Matthew 22:5, that many of these receiving the invitation make light of it and offer excuses like they did in Acts 2:13 and Acts 24:25 to name two examples of this type of world’s behavior.

Then next notice how Jesus says in Matthew 22:6 that others in the world will take more extreme hate filled positions against the Gospel good news, to even beat and kill God’s servants (Acts 5:40-41, Acts 7:51-57, Acts 8:1). God very clearly in this parable says these people that rejected His invitation would be destroyed and their city burned down, and this literally occurs for the first time in 70 A.D. with the destruction of Jerusalem.

In Matthew 22:8 Jesus said, those that were invited were not deemed worthy to receive the gift of the invitation to the wedding, so the king sends out his servants again in Matthew 22:10 telling them to go out into the highways and invite everyone. This again is the great commission of the church to go into the entire gentile world to preach the Gospel to everyone that is living on the earth. This is the heart of God to save all that are receptive to the invitation.

Hopefully, you do understand this parable better now being a representation of spreading the Gospel and how this works. If not, we can read about the process in detail in Romans 10:

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved

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

Rom 10:15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things

Please pay very close attention to the words selected by God. The first key word is “whosoever”. This represents everyone in the entire world, not just a few people that some Christians believe are the “elect” of the kingdom. This is very clearly our first confirmation that the Parable about being invited to come to the king’s son’s wedding feast is for everyone. But the choice to come is personally left completely in the hands of each one that heard the invitation to decide whether they would value the invitation, to choose to come to the wedding.

Romans 10 is a list of personal choices. None of these personal choices are the forced will of the Sovereign God. Please go and read the entire chapter. The first 4 verses are written about many people that were in the natural nation of Israel that corresponded to people that killed the kings’ servant men in the Matthew 22 parable about being invited to a wedding feast, by those that were sent to them preaching the Gospel.

But then in Romans 10:5, Paul begins to write the message of salvation is for “all”, by God’s sovereign choice to send forth the Gospel to the entire lost world and “only” those that “believe” and “confess” Jesus as Lord in Romans 10:9-10 will be saved. Wow, this is what Jesus was speaking about in the Parable. The invitations are spoken to everyone they encounter, and they must believe the good news message by faith and get dressed and go to the king’s palace for the feast (Rev 19:9).

We get the confirmation again in Romans 10:11-12 that this invitation to believe in Jesus is open to everyone in the world. Paul writes very clearly that it is to both the Jewish and the Gentile nations. This is amazing information about God’s sovereign choices and His gift of invitation is always given to anyone that will choose to come. But how do we balance this with the original “Elect” verses? That is a good question. We begin to understand the answer in Matthew 22:14, the last statement of the Parable of the wedding feast invitation:

Mat 22:14  For many are called, but few are chosen.

This is our key linked verse about the sovereign election of God. First, notice the Greek word G2822, that is translated as the word “called”. This word is defined and can be translated as “invited”. Therefore, to call someone to attend is an invitation. Next, notice the Greek word that was translated as “chosen” is the exact same word G1588 that was translated as the “elect”. Change the words “called” to “invited” and the word “chosen” to “elect” and reread it. “For many are invited, but few (choose to become) “chosen”. The italicized words are legally added because this is exactly what was taught to us in the parable. The entire parable is about those that choose to receive the wedding invitation, and it is them making this choice that causes them to be called “elect” (chosen).

Now let us shift to a totally new perspective that has been almost ignored by countless ministers.

Jesus the Only One Chosen by God

This is where we are going to potentially lose more readers. But this is what the Bible teaches us when we see it. If you do not understand the subject of “covenants” this is probably why you do not understand the title of this section. A covenant is between two parties or individuals. Any covenant is a lasting bond of unity exactly as a marriage was designed to be by God in Genesis 2.

However, a marriage like God’s covenants were completely dependent upon the weakest link in the bound contract. It only takes one party of the contract to break the covenant and if there is any imperfection in one, the covenant can be easily broken. This is what happened to the natural nation of Israel for 1500+ years. They were the weakest link in their covenant with God. They repeatedly went and worshipped other idols instead of the true and living God. God called this infidelity becoming a “whore” and God divorced these people in Jeremiah 3:1-8.

However, with God, He has no imperfections and is the strongest covenant partner possible. Israel in the Old Covenant was in a contract with God almighty, but they continually broke it making them the weakest link. This is why the New Covenant was not established between God and the church directly. Instead, our Father God sent His Son named Jesus to become a human and because He was equally God, He could become the God to man mediator.

Because the New Covenant was between God the Father, and God the Son who are both manifestations of God, they will never break this New Creation covenant that was first revealed to us in Genesis 15. Therefore, this covenant is eternally bonded between two ever living beings capable of not sinning to break it and it will never end (Heb 13:20).

If you go and read this story in Genesis 15, you will find Abram taking 5 animals and splitting three of them into two pieces and he places the bodies on the ground. Abram goes to sleep and sees a “smoking furnace” and “burning torch” walking through the covenant pieces. These two symbols represent God (the all-Consuming Fire Heb 12:29) and His Son, Jesus Christ (the Light of the World, John 9:5).

This information about Jesus being the one that is in covenant with God as the human representative, is very important. This makes Jesus the only one that was “chosen” as God’s “elect”, simply because He would remain faithful even when humans fail to remain faithful. We need to establish these assertions with more scriptures that claim Jesus is the only One God has chosen to be in direct covenant with Him. We will begin with Psalms first:

Psa 89:19  Then thou spakest in vision to thy holy one, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people

If you read the next verse, God is directly speaking of David, but by God’s repeated usages of double references between the natural and the spiritual realms, this verse is also speaking of Jesus. Remember Jesus is called the Son of David multiple times.

What God is saying is that He chose David to be King, and the future Son of David, named Jesus to sit upon his throne forever and ever in the future. Let us look at another verse that also points to the coming Messiah:

Isa 42:1  Behold my servant, whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles.

God calls the future Messiah, His “elect”. This is very amazing. But was this fulfilled in Jesus? We can discover this is what the Jewish people were expecting reading in Matthew:

Mat 12:17  That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying

Mat 12:18  Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles

God writing through Matthew, claims these Isaiah patterns of Messiah were all fulfilled in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, again calling Him the “chosen”. If you can see this, why are you calling yourself the chosen and elect one of God? Can both of you be the chosen one and the Messiah? The answer to that question is “Yes” and “No” but we will need to learn more. But we will look at one more verse about Jesus being the chosen one:

Luk 23:35  And the people stood beholding. And the rulers also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.

This is a verse written about the time Jesus was hanging on a cross and all the people were watching and mocking Him. These people wanted Him to prove that He was the Messiah by coming down off the cross. But Jesus told them very clearly, no sign will be given you, except the sign of Jonah. As Jonah was in the belly for 3 days and nights, so the Son of Man will be in the heart of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights (Mat 12:40, Mat 16:4).

Do you see how these statements are moving in parallel to the prophecy of the wedding invitation parable? Yes, the parable is a prophecy about what is happening to Jesus. These Jewish leaders hated Jesus so very much, that they incited a riot mob to demand His death, but this was the plan of God all along.

The main point from Luke 23:35, proves that the Jewish population was expecting the “Chosen one of God, called Messiah” to appear, and Jesus did not match their expectations because of their ignorance of the scriptures. Most were seeing a “conquering Messiah”, while ignoring the “suffering Messiah” in Isaiah 53. Finally, we are going to talk about the church next and all the references that call us “elect”, “chosen”, etc.

How and When was the Church Chosen?

We have observed verses in the Bible that place the titles of “chosen” and “elect” upon Christians, and this is a great hidden mystery to the how and when we were given these names. How did the church achieve this title, if God’s Son Jesus was the one that He prophesied would be chosen? The answer is not that complicated, but it may be resisted because some have never heard of it before. Let us look at scriptures that reveal how we made a choice that qualified us to be chosen by God:

2Th 2:13  But we are bound to give thanks alway to God for you, brethren beloved of the Lord, because God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit and belief of the truth:

As we can plainly see, the church was “chosen” from the very beginning. The beginning of what? Is this the beginning of time, creation, the world, the church, or what? In Ephesians 1:4 we find where God has chosen the church before the foundation of the world. Therefore, this is long before humans existed and could go back to the beginning of time, and creation. So, we have established the “when” this plan to elect us was established.

Now for the “How” question. We have previously mentioned this reason of “how” it was planned to be accomplished for us to obtain being called His “elect”. But now we are seeing it from a God perspective teaching us how we became chosen even before we were created. Please recall the “wedding invitation” parable of Jesus because this is being restated and expanded here in this verse written to the church.

God writing by the hand of Paul to the church says very clearly, we have been “chosen” to (receive) salvation because God sanctified us (made pure) by His Spirit, and this occurred because we chose to believe God’s words (invitation) which was the (Gospel) truth. Wow! This is just further confirmation that what we did to receive and believe caused God to cleanse our sins and define us as His “chosen”. But this is further confirmed in the next verse that follows:

2Th 2:14  Whereunto he called you by our gospel, to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Here is just more of the confirming process of what we just read about in verse 13. Remember this was God’s sovereignly chosen process for our salvation, that was planned even before the world began. Did you notice the word “called”? Paul says very clearly that God “called” (literally invited) us by our choice to hear the Gospel. This is the same parallel that we have been observing from the parable of the “wedding invitation”.

God has again connected the facts of Romans 10 with the parable of the wedding invitation to how we have been chosen to be called God’s “elect”. To be called God’s “elect” was designed by Him for us to first qualify to be called this by any human hearing the preached good news Gospel and to believe it. Yes, there is more to it than just that over simplified statement, but that is the basis for all salvation. Let us investigate this a little further to confirm it is true:

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

This is a new way to say the same things that we have already learned. But specifically notice the new revelation that is being offered to us to help explain what is happening when we choose to believe the Gospel of Christ. This very plainly states that Christians were “chosen” only because we were placed “In Him” and this Him, is Christ Jesus. But remember who Him is again? He is the “chosen” one that God could depend upon to keep His eternal covenant. This is why we need to be placed “In Him” spiritually, to insure we never break the covenant by sinning.

Again, God says this was His designed plan of salvation before humans were even created. We must get a hold of what is being taught to us and what God has done to us and for us.

2Co 5:17  Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (creation): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

This is one of the many (over 150) verses that claim we as believers have been placed “in Christ” by God’s sovereign choice after we choose to believe. Based upon the number of verses that describe this reality, this appears to be a major accomplishment to achieve our “salvation”.

Why was being placed “In Christ” so essential to God’s plan of salvation? This is important for at least two reasons. The first reason is that we were all “In Adam” when he rebelled and sold us into Satan’s kingdom of darkness. Because we were “In Adam” when he sinned, we all sinned, and we were all given the same “death” penalty (1 Cor 15:22).

But by believing in Jesus through faith we were saved out of the darkness of death to be placed “in” the living kingdom of God’s dear Son called Light (Col 1:13). Wow, now reread 2 Corinthians 5:17 to see the new light that is shining upon us being placed in Christ. According to this verse God has caused us to become a brand new, and a never existed before creation that has also made us a completely new person “In Christ”.

It is this sovereign new creation, that places us “In Him” by faith, that is the chief part of God separating Himself and us from the evil influence of Lucifer/Satan and all his angels that have sinned. Let us consider a verse that maybe some have not understood before now:

Joh 10:9  I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture.

Notice what Jesus is saying here. He is claiming to be a “door” for someone that is going somewhere. In John 10:7 we find that He is saying that He is the door for the “sheep” and being a “sheep” is a symbol for the saved Christians. What is Jesus saying them? Could it be that to be saved, you better enter in this door named Jesus? Could this be another way of saying that by us choosing to “enter” Christ the door, we will be saved by being “in CHRIST”? I believe it is. There are too many verses that confirm what we are learning, but we will end this section with this one:

Rom 16:13  Salute Rufus chosen in the Lord, and his mother and mine.

As you can see Paul writing about a random saved man in the church name Rufus, confirms again that anyone in the church is also chosen by God in the same way of choosing to enter the door of salvation named Jesus Christ. Because we that are saved, have chosen to get out of (exit) the first Adam and enter into the Christ by faith, we were all chosen and have become His elect “in Christ”. We accomplished this, not because we were God’s individual choice that was chosen for our personal salvation, but rather it was because we chose Him by believing the invitation of the Gospel, then we were placed “In Him” who was “the Chosen”. Wow! Praise the Lord!

Resolving Scripture Conflicts for Being Called “Elect”

There are countless scriptures in the New Covenant writings that conflict with a “sovereign God election” theological position where only a few people will be saved by a God only sovereign choice. If there were only 2 or 3, that would be enough to raise serious concerns that somebody was in error. But because there are literally dozens of verses, that is too many to ignore. We will only select a few to help limit the size of this lesson.

There must be a balanced approach to interpreting every scripture that God inspired to be written to ensure any confidence that we have found His intended truth. Remember according to God in 2 Peter 1:20, there is no private interpretation of the Bible that is allowed. This simply teaches us that the Bible will always interpret itself.

Also, it is impossible for God to lie, therefore, if we find any apparent contradictions in scripture, we are in need to hear from God to find how to resolve the conflicts using His Word as the only solution source. To do this we will apply what we have learned in the other sections to find out how they resolve the dispute with the “Sovereign God” only salvation belief.

It is only this interpretation of scripture about a human acceptance and belief in a divine invitation, that balances with all the other verses of the Bible on this subject of being called “elect” to represent our union with God’s plan of “salvation”. This was sovereignly chosen for us to believe in what He has done, to be placed in Christ, His chosen one. Here are just a few verses that would directly contradict with only a select few humans being chosen to be saved and all others in the world rejected to go to hell by God’s will:

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is the most popular verse in the entire Bible, and more Christian can quote this verse than any of the others. Yet this verse contradicts with the sovereign God only choice of human salvation. God says very plainly that He loved the entire human race in the world and wanted to save them all. But again, we see the problem it is only for those that “believe” the invitation of the Gospel that will not perish. Belief is a sovereign human choice. This again confirms that only that choose to believe that become the “elect”. Check out this verse:

2Pe 3:9  The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

First, notice that God is called “long-suffering”, this is a divine characteristic of God. It strongly suggests that God is still waiting for humans to “come” to not perish. This places the responsibility for humans not perishing upon those that choose to repent, and not God.

Also, notice that this verse says, God is not willing that any should perish. Why then if God is sovereign, isn’t everyone saved? If God is waiting for some to repent, this means, they were not first chosen either. If we believe that it is God’s will that he has “chosen” some to go to hell, this makes this verse totally false. It is a major conflict of too many scriptures to believe in only a select few that are chosen by God for salvation, and God is not the one that is confused and needs to change His Word. Therefore, it can only be some Christians that have not seen God’s truth that need to change.

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

God is very clear in this verse that it was His desired intention to save “All humans”. But then God clarifies that it is only those that “believed” the Gospel invitation that will be saved. This is only what fits the parable of the Wedding Invitation. In this parable, the king’s servants went out to invite “everyone”. But it was only those that chose to receive the invitation that went into the wedding feast for the king’s son. Remember many were “called”, but few chose to attend to be called the “elect”.

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

There are too many verses to include them all that say the same thing. This verse claims “whoever” calls on the name of the LORD will be saved. So, either God is forcing someone chosen to call upon Him, or humans have the choice to call and if they do, they will be saved and chosen of God as His “elect” being placed “in Christ”.

Conclusion

Thank you for taking the time to read and study the Bible here with us. We are a fast-growing family of believers that are hungry to know and learn the truth. If you are struggling to believe this lesson over your teachings of your denominational doctrines, it is strongly suggested for you to study the subject of “Human Freewill”. Go through the Bible and look for verses where God gave humans’ choices. Notice the first human choice sovereignly given, was to Adam eating from two selected trees. One choice brought Adam life, and the other choice brought Adam death. Adam disobeyed God and chose death, and we all died because of it.

There are so many verses that represent choices being sovereignly given by God to humans in the Bible that they should overwhelm you and help overcome your sovereign only belief that God is forcing all human decisions. There is a great need to balance the sovereign God given human freedoms to choose, with His desire to save everyone, and potentially your belief that He only selected some to be called His “elect”.

What we should have learned today, is that God gave us choices to make. He has sent His servants and His Son to make a way of salvation out of the automatic penalty of death and hell. We accept this way out of the world, by hearing about His Good News (Gospel) invitation to come to the wedding of His Son. Here is another example of God’s two choices being offered:

Deu 30:15  See, I have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil;
Deu 30:19  I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live:

God has placed a binary choice before every human of two possibilities and outcomes. One is a human choice for life and good by accepting His invitation, and the other is a choice for death and evil by rejecting His invitation. Could it be any simpler? You can live by believing and saying the right words.

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

Yes, this verse is true and is literal. There is nothing misleading in the verse. It is plainly stated and is accurate to the infinite degree. Please don’t ignore it anymore. Memorize it and think about it every chance you get. Then apply it to your life. By us believing the Gospel we can do what God has invited us to do and be saved from our death to live eternally “with Him”, “In Him” and “Him in us” as part of His creation strategic plan of salvation:

Rom 10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Rom 10:10  For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

These are not difficult instructions for beginning your journey of salvation if you have never done this. If you do this for the first time, please leave a comment and this will help place you on the path with the Lord as your lead Shepherd to help you and guide you each and every day. Jesus is the Good Shepherd (Jn 10:14) and He said, “if you confess me, before men, I will confess you before my Father” (Mat 10:32). This is why it is important to leave a comment before the world, to read.

What we have learned is that God has sovereignly chosen the method of salvation, but not the ones that were to be selected. Yes, God is all knowing, all seeing, and understands the end from the beginning. Therefore, He knows who will be saved and who will not. But this does not mean that He chose them to be that way. God has sent out His servants with a wedding invitation to the entire world. Therefore, every human must make their own choices to attend. If you are too busy for Him, you may regret this decision, eternally. However, God wants a bride that wants Him as much as He wants you, not one that is forced to be with Him.

Thank you and again, and we will pray for you all. Jesus could be coming back any day now. Hopefully you are all prepared and ready to meet Him. When this coming occurs this will be when the bridegroom Jesus, comes and gets all of those that accepted the invitation to the “wedding feast” and have made themselves ready by putting on His wedding garment of the “Robe of Righteousness”. This will take place in heaven for seven years. Ready or not it will happen much sooner than you think. God Bless you.

If you would like to read the next lesson, select “Part 3“.

Are You Saved? Do you Know Jesus? Life is Short! Jesus wants to Know You! Please come and get to Know Him!

Bible Answers: Understanding Spirits – What is Spirit Life and Spirit Death – Do Babies in the Womb that Die Go to Heaven?

(Ver 1.1) This is a Bible response to some awesome reader questions, concerning spiritual life and death. This may be one of the most important Bible lessons you can find on this website. There are too many Christians that are unlearned in spiritual basic truths. It is interesting that there has been growing number of unsaved people in the world that know more than a lot of Christians about spirits, but primarily the evil spirit Satan. There has been a growing worship of evil spirits, but my God is greater than all of these.

Christians today, need to know and understand that they are a “spirit” first and a human body “last”. This helps us identify and change our priority of focus. We also need to know our enemy is a “spirit” also and this helps us know how to deal with Satan. But most importantly we need to know about the Greatest and Most High Spirit that is God who created us all and trust Him to help us get through all of life’s unplanned events. Therefore, the reason for this Bible lesson.

A certain reader asks some very deep and relevant questions concerning the meaning of spiritual life and death. Here were the basic questions:

  1. Where does the human spirit come from?
  2. Is there “spirit life” in a human, and if so,
  3. When does spirit life begin?
  4. Is there “spirit death” and, what is it?
  5. and if spirit death exists, when did or does it occur?

From these questions about spirit life and death, we can also derive some other fundamental implied questions that many Christians are asking about today. There are countless numbers of women and men today that have known or personally experienced the death of an unborn child. Whether this was the intentional murder of the child through abortion, or an unintended miscarriage or other unexpected birth complication, we are going to answer these and other questions using only the Bible, which is the Word of God (Mat 4:4), also called the Word of Truth (2 Cor 6:7). Here are the applicable questions that come from the reader’s questions that will also be answered today:

  1. “Does a child that died in the womb, have a spirit?”
  2. “Was a child that died in the womb or out of the womb spiritually alive?”
  3. “Does a child’s spirit that died naturally or was killed intentionally, go to heaven or to hell, or just cease to exist?”

These are all great and thoughtful questions. It must be stated first that I do not desire to give my thoughts, or opinions on anything of this extreme importance, if possible. I will try to avoid sharing my thoughts because my opinions are as worthless as anyone else’s. However, I will share what the Spirit of God has taught me about this subject today based upon the Word of God.

I will also share with everyone at least one key God life experience. This relevant experience is the fact that my wife had a miscarriage over 30 years ago. This was a traumatic unexpected experience for us both. This occurred at a time when I had felt like the LORD had said He would give us another child. My wife had a difficult and drawn-out time of not getting pregnant. But it finally came to pass, and we both felt happy that God had answered.

However, an unexpected miscarriage was a shocking and saddening surprise. There is not much anyone can do once the conceived baby passes and is lost. This pregnancy had ended. It took years of Bible study and listening to the Holy Spirit to try to figure out what had happened and if we would ever see this child again.

It was only in the last few years that God gave me a dream about this loss. I saw a vision of this child in heaven. I saw it was a little girl. From this dream we can have confidence that children that die prematurely can be assured to be seen again in heaven.

However, this night vision while it was a great reassuring comfort, is not sufficient evidence and still must be further confirmed by what God has already taught us from His Word. Therefore, today we will use the Word of God to be assured and confident that unborn children go to heaven, and not by us just experiencing a night vision only. If you are ready to learn what the Word of God says on this essential subject concerning understanding spirits, and their life and death, let us open our Bibles and study.

Introduction to Spirit Basics

We will begin learning the spiritual basics with the straightforward question, “Are spirits eternal”? We will begin to understand this answer by first observing God’s revealed Spirit characteristics:

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

The most fundamental truth about God is found in this verse of John. Here it is revealed that God is a “Spirit”. This establishes the foundation for knowing all other truths about God. This means God before creating the natural universe in Genesis 1:1, existed only in an unseen Spirit form and dimension.

But this verse also establishes that humans must worship God in spirit and in truth. This is your first clue that humans have a spirit, but it also reveals a lot of humans are not aware enough to know about their own spirit. Now let us look at the revealed nature of God’s Spirit:

Psa 90:2  Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God

This is a very plainly stated verse that God existed before the universe was created and will still be God after it. Therefore, God is clearly described to have existed from everlasting to everlasting, claiming God Spirit is an eternal Spirit. This is very logical to understand because time was not created until Genesis 1:1 also. But we will look at another verse to confirm His eternal existence:

1Ti 1:17  Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.

We have now observed references from both the Hebrew Old Covenant and the Greek New Covenant that the Spirit of God is eternal. This means God’s Spirit will never cease to exist. It also implies that God’s Spirit has no beginning nor any ending. Therefore, we learn it is impossible for God’s Spirit to cease to exist, die a death, or to be destroyed.

Hence, we have established a basic truth about the Creator God of the heaven and the earth being an everlasting Spirit, without beginning and without end. But this is different apparently from all other spirits that are mentioned in the Bible. This is because the Bible reveals to us that humans and angels have a single point of origination that causes their existence.

Whether we call this a spirit birth (Jn 3:3), or a spirit creation event (Deu 4:32), or some other term, these types of spirit beginnings certainly happened. We will now continue with the “first man” named Adam and when and where his spirit came from.

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.

Let us establish a few other essential spirit basics on this subject from Genesis. The Eternal Spirit of God formed the physical body of Adam from the dirt of the ground. Then as we can observe in Genesis 2, God breathed into the nostrils the “breath” of life and the man became a living soul (Gen 2:7). From these stated truths we learn the body of man was made and formed from pre-existing created red “clay” soil before there was a spirit or life present in the body.

God says very specifically that man’s body was “formed” from this previously created earth substance. The Hebrew word H3335 translated as “formed” describes the work of a “potter” that is squeezing wet clay to make Adam’s human form. This means this work of God was extremely personal and hands on. It also demonstrates divine artistic design and composition.

Even modern science can find and name the basic dirt-like characteristics of the human body. Just some of the significant elements found in the human body are elements like “oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorous”. But there are also found trace elements of minerals like iron, iodine, zinc, fluoride, selenium, copper, chromium, etc. All these elements and minerals can be found in basic earth composition. Yet none of it is “alive” in and of themselves alone. Uh oh!

Therefore, after completion of forming Adam’s body from dirt, he only had a lifeless human shell that had no spirit or any ability to live. We know from reading James 2:7, “that the human body without the spirit is dead”. Therefore, the body of Adam was a lifeless corpse until God breathed into him a spirit that came from God’s breath (Spirit)!

This Hebrew word H5397 translated as “breathed” is a word that comes from a root word meaning “to blow” as exhaling a strong wind of air. This is difficult for some to comprehend since God is not a man (Num 23:19) that has natural lungs to exhale from. Also, as we have seen He is clearly described to be only a Spirit in John 4:24. Therefore, we can easily conclude that Adam’s “life” source and his internal “spirit” came from the eternal Spirit of God.

In fact, Adam’s blood also came from this breathing out of the Spirit of God. How do we know Adam’s blood came from God? We can know this for several reasons, but we will begin by knowing that it was necessary for the “Blood of God” in the body of Jesus, hanging on a cross, that was required to pay for the sins of humans.

God says in Hebrews that it was impossible for the blood of created bulls and goats to pay the debt of man’s sins (Heb 10:4). This verse proves that sinless created animal blood was not sufficient payment for the debt of human sin. This literally means man’s blood was of a much higher value than all other created beings and can only point us to Adam’s blood having come from God.

This fact makes the redemption of humans a very costly purchase price as we can read in 1 Peter 1:19. This verse says that our redemption required the precious blood of Jesus to buy us back, indicating the loss that was given away when the first Adam sinned, was of such great value to God, that it was enough for Him to die personally for us to get us back. This fact demonstrates God’s immense love for His created human children.

The second reason we know Adam’s blood was from God is found in Leviticus 17:11. In this verse of the Law, God reveals the life of the flesh is in the “blood”. Therefore, if Adam had no life before God breathed into his nostrils a spirit, he also had no blood, or he would have been alive already, like all other created animals. You do understand that no other created animals have a spirit? Not a fish, not a bird, and no other land mammal has a spirit. Nothing was made in the likeness and image of God except for “man” (Genesis 1:26). This simply means Adam was not created like animals and that both the “spirit” and the “blood” had to enter Adam’s body for scripture to be truthful.

The third reason is the name that God gave to “Adam”. This name is comprised of three Hebrew alphabet letters. The first is the letter “Alef” and in the ancient Hebrew lettering is an image of an ox, a strong symbol of God. The next two Hebrews letters is the combined “Dalet” + “Mem”. These two letters spell the Hebrew word we translate as “blood”. Therefore, combining these meanings, we have the hidden message from God that Adam means “God’s blood”. Wow! That is amazing!

What we have just discovered is that Adam’s spirit originated as a gift from God. Without God there would have been no life in the formed body of the man. Therefore, what kind of life did Adam have in his spirit after creation? It had to be God’s sinless Spirit that held His nature of eternal life, the man being made in the image and likeness of God (Gen 1:26). God is also perfect in purity and holiness (1 Pet 1:16), and this was also transferred to Adam by God’s Spirit breath. This was God’s original design for man and as we know after Adam “sinned” this caused a new problem for God to solve.

We have quickly established the human beginning of the first man was God giving Adam, His own life, spirit, and blood. But let us now look at some verses concerning an angelic beginning point next:

Eze 28:12  Son of man, take up a lamentation upon the king of Tyrus, and say unto him, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Thou sealest up the sum, full of wisdom, and perfect in beauty.

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.

Eze 28:14  Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth; and I have set thee so: thou wast upon the holy mountain of God; thou hast walked up and down in the midst of the stones of fire.

Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

These are an essential set of verses to learn and know. They are written by a prophet of God, that viewed some long past ancient events that transpired before humans were created. These verses are speaking of only one angel in particular named “Lucifer” who is further described in Isaiah 14. This description reveals this being was angelic in nature, being called an anointed “Cherub” in verse 14. This being was certainly created as revealed in verses 13 and 15. We have discovered angels were created. This information teaches us clearly that angels were not in the eternal everlasting past, like God’s Spirit was. But rather that they were also created beings with a very specific beginning point, like the first man Adam. We have confirmed that Adam had a spirit, so now let us confirm angels are also spirit beings:

Heb 1:13  But to which of the angels said he at any time, Sit on my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool?

Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

This verse teaches us that angels were created by God to have “spirits” and that they were designed by God to minister to those that are heirs of salvation. Therefore, these angelic beings have spirits. But what about a physical body like the created man? Are they bodiless or do they have an everlasting physical body housing their spirit? If they have a body, are they everlasting or are they mortal, like man?

This would take a lot to answer these questions completely. But please understand that angels do have physical bodies. We know this because of several stories found in the Bible. For example, please see what Psalms 78:24-25 says. In this verse God claims the manna that He sent down from heaven for the children of Israel to eat in the wilderness was made from heavenly corn that God called angel food. If humans and angels can eat the same bread, this shows us that they are both designed with very similar body types. Therefore, there are important similarities and differences to the bodies of angels and humans and they both were designed as internal “spirit” containers.

Hopefully we will confirm whether these created human and angelic “spirits” have an ending point soon. But for now, the assumption appears to teach us that man and angel spirits have no ending of their spiritual life/existence since their spirits came from God the Eternal Creator Father of spirits (Heb 12:9).

Let us now shift to a very important new subject within our main subject of “spirits”, called “sin” and find its effect upon angels and humans. We will begin with the subject of angel spirits first because they existed before human spirits. If you did not know this fact, it is revealed to us in Job 38:7. In this verse God reveals when the earth and heaven was created, “the morning star sang (Lucifer) and the sons of God (angels) all shouted for joy”. Notice what God writes to us about Lucifer in the account of Ezekiel:

Eze 28:15  Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee.

This verse reveals when Lucifer was created (began to spiritually exist and be alive in a body), he was absolutely created as perfect and without flaws. But then God writes “iniquity” was found and this was a major problem for God, causing God to speak some very profound prophecies.

Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

This is an amazing verse of information concerning Lucifer the created anointed cherub. Notice this verse further names him to be a “sinner” that is filled with violence. But God then begins to reveal His plans for this angel. God says, “I will cast you out as profane out of the “mountain” of God. First understand “mountains are significant symbols for governments, like God’s Heavenly Kingdom”. Therefore, God is prophesying the future removal of Satan (Lucifer turned into God’s adversary named Satan) to be cast down and out from the Kingdom of God.

This is your first clue to the concept of spirit “separation”. This would be defined as God removing a sinner from His Holy presence. Whenever God says He will cast Lucifer out, indicates that this means this will be a coming event, and that it did not happen instantly when Lucifer sinned. This also strongly implies to us that Lucifer has a right to be in God’s presence for him to be forcibly cast out. Why would God allow Lucifer to stay in His presence? Here is one potential good reason:

Eze 28:13  Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald, and the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created

Here we find Lucifer being described to be covered with stones. These 9 stones mentioned can be found on the High Priest’s breastplate that Moses made for God’s earthly tabernacle. This strongly implies Lucifer was the High Priest of the Heavenly temple. If you did not know there was a heavenly temple, please take the time to read the book of Hebrews. God plainly states that Moses’ temple was patterned after the heavenly one.

Just this information alone implies a lot. First there is never a mention of Satan ever being “destroyed” as in our definition of obliterated never to exist. The Hebrew word in Ezekiel 28:16 that is translated as “destroy” is “H6” and this word simply means to be “separated from”. In fact, this Hebrew word is spelled “Alef” + “Beyt” + “Dalet” and placing the ancient Hebrew letter meanings together appear to say to us “God’s House has a “Door”. This door in God’s house swings two ways. One way is for an “Entrance” and the other way is for an “Exit”. Guess which way Satan is headed for in the end?

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

Isa 14:14  I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.

Isa 14:15  Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

Wow! We are seeing the prophecy that was written over 2500 years ago about the soon coming prophesied “end of Satan”. However, pay attention there is no prophesied death ending (as in cease to exist) speaking of this created angel. God is rather only speaking of Lucifer about to “be separated” from the Kingdom of God. When we say “soon” this is potentially a point of confusion because God teaches us this ultimate end won’t happen for at least another 1000+ years. Read about it in Revelation 20:

Rev 20:2  And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

Rev 20:3  And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

As we can observe from these selected verses the “spirit” named “Lucifer”, “Satan”, “the serpent”, “the Dragon”, and “the devil” is eventually and totally going to be separated from the “Kingdom of God” forever and ever. This verse 10 confirms angelic spirits live forever, without any way for God to kill them. Thus, spirits once created, live forever!

This is our first clue to finding the definition to what “spiritual death” is to God. What we are learning is that angel spirits that have sinned will be permanently separated from all other spirits being thrown into a “pit” as God said would happen in Isaiah 14.

Please take notice that according to scripture there are at least 1/3 of the angels that have followed Satan. These are rebellious, evil, and appear unrepentant. Therefore, God needed a way to separate Himself being Holy and Pure. This strongly indicates that there is no salvation for the sins of angels probably because they had and have no “blood”.

Remember Adam was created with “blood” intentionally by God’s planned design and purpose. There is no mention of angels having blood in the Bible that we know of. We also know after Jesus was “resurrected” from the dead, His eternal physical body housed His Spirit which returned His physical life, and this body only had flesh and bone (Lk 24:39) and was absent of blood becoming like the angels (Mat 22:30).

Yet please notice in the Bible that there is also no immediate separation from God mentioned for their vast sins. We could explain why this is in great detail, but it would take too much detailed information for this lesson. However, we need to mention a few things to prove this to help us understand that even fallen angels can approach God’s presence even until today. We know this first because we can read the book of Job:

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Job 1:7  And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD, and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.

We have already seen where the “sons of God” sang for joy when the world was created in Job 38:7. Therefore these beings called the “sons of God” are the created angels. This knowledge helps to understand Job 1:6 much clearer.

Job 1:6 says there was a “day” when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD. The LORD is a governmental authority title for God as the Supreme Judge. Notice that Satan is in this massive presence of angels also and the LORD directs all His words to Satan. This again strongly indicates that Lucifer is the chief or head priest of the heavenly group of living beings.

This is amazing information. Please recall that Lucifer has already committed sins, rebelled against God, and has 1/3 of the angels under his authority. This means all these heavenly angels are in the presence of God as a preplanned event and that after sin, there was no casting down of any of them because they are moving back and forth from the earth as Satan mentions in verse 7 and we can read about in Genesis 28:12 where God describes a ladder that allows movement from heaven to earth.

But let us look at the time after the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus from the dead. It is a fact that Jesus defeated Satan when He was crucified and was raised from the dead. But I have heard a lot of preachers claim that this means Satan no longer has access to go back to heaven for any reason. But this teaching violates and contradicts other verses that teach us differently:

Rev 12:7  And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

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

These are some of the most important verses you can learn about Satan’s soon coming demise and ejection from heaven. These verses have NOT occurred and will not occur until after the rapture. In Revelation 4:1 the voice from heaven told John to come up here, so that he could be shown things that would happen here after. This confirms this chapter 12 happens after chapter 4 and it is happening during the 7-year tribulation.

The first thing in Revelation 12:7 we find a spiritual war taking place between Michael and his angels, and Satan and his angels. Satan is unable to prevail in this war and he and all his angels are cast down. Sound familiar? This is the prophesied removal of Satan being cast down from heaven and the Kingdom of God and in verse 8, God says very clearly “Now was their place and position in heaven ended”.

Verse 10 confirms this by saying “Now has come salvation, and strength, and the Kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ”. Wow, that is an amazing statement about the final defeat of Satan. Do you remember reading in Hebrews 1:13 where God says to Jesus, “sit at my right hand until I make your enemies, your footstool”. Apparently, Jesus while defeating Satan, is still awaiting a coming time while seated in heaven for every enemy to be placed “underfoot”. Guess when this occurs. We are reading about it right now in Revelation 12!

But the main reason we are here is because of how verse 10 ends. This is the final confirmation that Satan has access today in heaven. This ending verse clearly states, “for the accuser of our brethren, is cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night”. This is a literal statement about a spirit being named Lucifer going to heaven to accuse Christian brothers and sisters on a 24-hour basis. This heavenly visitation continues until he is cast down permanently.

Therefore, we have observed a lot essential Bible truths about angel spirits from just these few verses.

  1. Angels are created “spirit” beings having a physical body.
  2. Angelic bodies have no blood, are not mortal and do not die.
  3. Angels and humans can eat the same food.
  4. The angelic spirit also does not die or cease to exist.
  5. Sin had no immediate consequence for removal of angels from heaven. We see this from Satan appearing before God in Job 1, and we see this again in Revelation 12 when Satan is finally cast down to the earth after accusing Christians day and night before God for at least 2000 years.
  6. There is coming a single appointed time of separation from God for all sinful angelic beings.

We have only touched on this subject but have established the basic facts on angel spirits. Therefore, let us analyze the sin effect and consequences upon Adam and all humans next.

What happened when Adam sinned? Let us first go to Genesis 2 and notice what caused Adam to sin and why there were any consequences at all:

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

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

God has just given man a “law” from a spoken commandment to not eat from a tree called “the tree of the knowledge of good and evil”. If this “law” of commandment is broken, God says in the same day you eat you will die. Uh oh! What kind of death is God speaking of? Hopefully, you do understand that there are “two” kinds of death mentioned in the Bible.

But before we go to this part of our lesson, let us discover, what God says happens to the “spirits” of men and women that experience natural death on the earth? Do they cease to exist? Or do they remain eternal like the Spirit of God and angels. We will learn this answer from reading a real story that Jesus taught us about spiritual life after physical death.

Luk 16:19  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:

Luk 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

Luk 16:21  And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.

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

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

Luk 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.

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

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Luk 16:27  Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:

Luk 16:28  For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

Luk 16:29  Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.

Luk 16:30  And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent.

Luk 16:31  And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.

Please do not show your ignorance and be foolish to leave us a comment that this is a “parable” and does not teach us anything about life after death. That is a deception and a lie from Satan to believe that. This is a literal real story of three men that lived upon the earth and died a natural death.

Two of these men have real names. Remember that Jesus never said this was a parable, and if He uses real names in a story and if it is not truthful, this makes Jesus a liar and God does not lie! Therefore, this story literally happened and is a warning to everyone to what could happen to them.

As you can see, the story is about a real man who was a beggar named Lazarus who sat outside another unnamed real rich man’s house. This beggar was in very poor health and appears to be completely disregarded and ignored by the rich man living well inside the house.

Lazarus died and his body was buried, but his spirit departs the earth to go down into an underground area which is called “Abraham’s bosom”. “Abraham” appears to be chief resident in charge in this area before Jesus died on the cross. There are good Bible reasons in Romans 4 and Galatians 3 to name two references that give us clues to why Abraham is of such importance to God and even us, now after Christ died.

However, notice the facts about the rich man after he died physically on the earth. His spirit also descended the surface of the earth, but he was not in Abraham’s realm of temporary existence. He makes the direct claim that he was in a place of fire and torment and even desired for Abraham to send Lazarus to dip his finger into a drop of water to cool his tongue.
Wow, if this story does not scare you into turning your life over to Jesus, there are no other ones in the Bible that are as graphic and plain. What we clearly discover from this real story is that “human” spirits live forever. But there are two direct after-life possibilities of eternal existence. One is a spiritual life after our natural death in an eternal torture in fire, and the other is an eternal life in a place Jesus called “paradise” to the thief that was hanging next to Him on the cross (Lk 23:43).

Also please notice that Abraham claims these two after-life realms of existence, are completely “divided” apart from each other and there is no traveling between them available. This is exactly what we saw was happening in the story of Lucifer and his destined dwelling in a pit. The pit is not the location of the Kingdom of God. These are just some of the basics of human spiritual existence. Let us review:

  1. The human spirit has a spirit origination point.
  2. Despite what some people try to teach, the human spirit is not “reincarnated” from a prior existence.
  3. From God’s description of the first man Adam, this human spirit origination appears to come from God’s Spirit
  4. Also, we have found that human spirits, like angels, have no ending point where they cease to exist or die.

There are many verses that teach us that spirits do not cease consciousness or existence. For example, Paul when speaking of his soon physical death, claimed for him to be absent from his body, is to be present with the risen from the dead eternal Lord Jesus in heaven (2 Corinthians 5:8).

However, we have also seen where human spirits that are alive forever, have two potential destination points for eternal existence after physical death. This appears to be divided into one group figuratively called the “sheep” versus the other opposite group called the “goats” (Mat 25:33).

We have not yet confirmed anything that is called “spiritual death” so far in this lesson. We have only established something called “spiritual separation” after natural death. But this is going to get a lot more interesting as we continue to learn what the Bible says. Let us go and explore the subject of the human spirit’s origination next. This should be very interesting.

Where do Spirits Come From?

This is probably one of the more difficult questions to answer. But God does give us clues in the Bible to help us understand enough to draw a sound conclusion. For example, the Bible strongly indicates by omission, that before the creation of angels and humans, there were no other spirits that were admitted existing, at least that we can find easily in the text. This fact alone points us to God as the source of all “spirits”. Therefore, the first clue given to us by God is that he chooses to write “no clue” about the existence of any other spirits. But there are also other relevant clues.

Clue number two, we can clearly read about the creation of the first man and see plainly that Adam’s spirit originated from the “breath” of God being blown into him. This is another direct reference that spirits come from God’s Spirit. Therefore, we have two witnesses that teach us the source of spirits can only be God. If you can find any contradictory verses that claim otherwise, please feel free to share them and we will look at their truth and application to our subject.

Next, we can read a New Testament verse that also indicates God to be the source of spirits. Let us turn to the book of Hebrews and read this:

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

As you should be able to see and understand, this verse is a contrasting comparison between two father types. The first father mentioned concerns “fathers of our flesh”. This of course the male that contributed the sperm to form a child in the female womb. This father is a totally natural reference, but it is amazing what it says and does not say.

For example, this verse does not give the sperm contributor any involvement in the baby’s spirit existence. In fact, it completely refutes the baby’s spirit coming from the natural father based upon a comparison to God who is a Spirit (John 4:23) and He is being called the “Father of spirits”.  This statement implies “ALL” spirits come from God the Father of spirits.

Therefore, we have two types of “fathers”, one is physical, and the other is spiritual. We can also take note of words that Jesus spoke in John 3:6 when speaking with a natural man about a new birth that has been prophesied. In this verse Jesus said, “That which is born of flesh, is flesh and that which is born of spirit, is spirit”. While this statement does not attribute the spirit origination being from God, it clearly says a spirit can only create a spirit. That sounds important and this confirms that since God was the only known Spirit to exist before any creation takes place, He is the only Father that can point us to their existence. This also helps us understand why angels are called the ‘sons of God” in the Old Testament.

These concepts are confirmed in another reference found in 1 Corinthians:

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.

1Co 15:46  Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.

1Co 15:47  The first man is of the earth, earthy: the second man is the Lord from heaven.

This is a potential new controversy. The Greek word translated as “soul” in verse 45 has a larger scope definition than just a “spirit”. From this Greek word G5590 (psuche) we get the English word “psyche” having the synonyms “spirit”, “soul”, “mind”, “ego”, “essence”, etc. This Greek word has its roots in a word meaning to “blow”, and this simply means exhaling of breath, or to breathe. Therefore, the word “G5590”, figuratively means to have “life” and this goes along with Genesis 2:7, “Adam became a living soul after the breath of God entered the formed earth made body”.

Ok, we are going to quickly give an overview of the triune nature of man for the ever-increasing numbers of new readers and subscribers. Every human is a spirit, has a soul, and lives in a body (1 Ths 5:23). If there is breath in this body, there is physical life and there is access for the unseen internal spirit to communicate with God and the created world simultaneously. If the spirit leaves the physical body, the body is dead and natural communication with physical people ceases and that is not a good situation for those that have not given their lives to God to believe in His Son Jesus Christ. We will get into this more soon because this is what God is calling “spiritual death” as in the process of separation.

What we are learning is the first Adam was a human body created from dirt, and then a spirit was given to him by God, and this caused the combined spirit, soul, and body to be a natural living human able to communicate in two realms. We can see this very clearly in Genesis 2 and 3 when Adam is speaking with and listening to God’s spirit voice, and later he also hears his wife’s natural voice, confirming two realms of communications were taking place simultaneously.

This has only been a quick overview of this part of the subject of where spirits come from. But from all these clues given to us, God appears to be the only viable and powerful enough source to create all spirits, whether human or angelic. This would be a good time to mention that there are no new angels being created that we can easily find in the Bible.  But we know humans are having new babies every day. Therefore, there are still potential new spirits being created today. Let us move into this part of the lesson next and speak about babies that have spirits.

Baby Human Spirits

We need to go and find specific verses concerning naturally born babies on the earth that came out of the loins of the first created man Adam. Here are the basic questions that need answers:

  1. Where do human baby spirits come from?
  2. When is their spirit present? a. before birth or b. after birth?
  3. Are baby spirits alive or dead (separated from God)?
  4. If the Baby physically died before birth, do they go to heaven or hell?
  5. If the Baby physically died after birth, do they go to heaven or hell?

These are a lot of great questions. Does God answer them? The answer is “Yes”. God anticipated every question a human could conceive and places the answers somewhere for us to find in His Word. Are you ready? We will address the questions next.

When is the Spirit Present in a Conceived Baby?

This is a very important part of this topic that Satan does not want you to know about. Satan using cooperating humans living in the darkness of this world, has dehumanized conceptions in the womb, calling them just a blob of tissue and flesh. They have placed upon a real child, the degrading term of calling them just a generic “fetus”. This term causes a desensitized removal of thought that they are a child with an identity and personality that can be named, and that they have no “life” that can be killed.

This plan of Satan facilitates an access way for removing an unwanted pregnancy and makes the decision easier to agree with. This attempts to remove human guilt or regret for eliminating the created growing child and permits a reduction of shame and any temporary pain of conscience. This is where they have killed millions of children in the world convincing people this is not a child, but is this the TRUTH?

This is absolutely, not the TRUTH, and God speaks to this issue over and over and over in His Word. Even modern science is afraid of the TRUTH getting out. They have 3-dimensional sonograms today that show all the details of the new human and their life, a heart that beats, movements of torso, head, arms and legs, feelings, expressions, reactions to sound and pain, and sucking their thumbs and many other things that can be seen easily with modern technology.

Another modern science development has photographed the process of conception and fertilization. This is a truly amazing photo and video to observe. When the “sperm” cell encounters and enters the female egg, there is a significant flash of “light”. Scientists are trying to explain this as only a release of “zinc”, but according to scripture God is Light (1 John 1:4) and this is just a way to explain away God’s involvement in conception and the human spirit creation event at the time of conception.

From a Bible perspective, God is trying to communicate with us that this small light explosion that is clearly visible, appears to be God bringing into the single combined cell a “spirit” that obviously must come from Him (Light). This video is available on the internet when you search “spark of light fertilization”. It is easy to find, and you can judge for yourself.

Let us stop and think about the evidence of just DNA. The mother contributes half of the DNA necessary to conceive. The father of the child contributes the other half of DNA, including the sex determining chromosome either “X” or “Y”. Separated they have no ability to produce a child, but joined together they produce a single cell that is completely alive, and it begins to double itself, over and over until in a very short time, the exponentially increasing number of cells have formed a full featured child. This combined DNA of the egg and the sperm are “Life” and it is alive. Any educated scientist if they found this cell on “Mars” would claim we have found life on Mars. Why is this not considered the same here on earth?

After going through the physical evidence, let us move to the highest authority called the Word of God. God will either contradict the natural claims or agree with them. I believe True Science and the True Word of God Understanding will Always Agree! Let us find out what the Bible says on this subject:

Gen 25:21  And Isaac intreated the LORD for his wife, because she was barren: and the LORD was intreated of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived.

Gen 25:22  And the children struggled together within her; and she said, If it be so, why am I thus? And she went to enquire of the LORD.

Gen 25:23  And the LORD said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger.

Here we have the real story of a promised son of “Abraham” named “Isaac”, who married a wife named “Rebekah”. She was barren and unable to conceive a seed. But Issac seeks the Lord, and she becomes pregnant. Uh oh, what happens next is amazing. Rebekah is pregnant with twins. There are two sons, and they are fighting against each other within her womb already. She also seeks the Lord to find out what is happening to these two womb children inside her.

In verse 23, the LORD God says to her, “Two nations are in your womb”. Let us stop immediately and analyze this statement. God has already placed an identity upon them and said each will create a different nation of people. What would have happened if Rebekah had aborted them? There would be no two nations, and no Jesus Christ since He was in one of the children to be named Jacob.

All this discussion is based upon foreknowledge. We can see that God even knows who will be born first and second, and that the elder firstborn son will serve the younger son that will be named Jacob. God obviously knows all children in the womb, believe it or not. God obviously has a plan for all children in the womb. This literally teaches us that these developing children have a spirit, and a planned life, long before birth.

This story of two brothers in a womb simultaneously teaches they are aware of each other. This is true, because they are already fighting each other, and this war makes their mother very physically aware of what is happening. Therefore, these are confirmed to be living humans that have at least some limited awareness and consciousness. They were not blobs of lifeless flesh. Any woman that has endured pregnancy has experienced this life movement inside. They can kick fairly strong, and this can be irritating, but it proves they are living. If they are living this also means they have a spirit, because the body of Adam had no life or movement until after God places a spirit inside the body.

Let us look at another example:

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

This is one of those amazing hidden verses because a lot of people do not read the Old Covenant prophets. Here in the book of Jeremiah God makes a declaration about the man Jeremiah. God says very plainly that before Jeremiah was even conceived in his mother’s womb God already had a purpose and plan for his life. This is called “foreknowledge” and it is recorded in multiple verses of the Bible. But then notice what else God says.

The next statement is about Jeremiah in the womb. Remember this is a human male that is a descendant of the original human sinner Adam. Therefore, this man should be dead to God according to a lot of preacher beliefs and teachings. Yet God says I have already “sanctified” you while you were in your mother’s womb. This sounds a lot like the twins we just read about again, with God knowing them personally before they were born. This demonstrates God’s awareness and personal involvement in every child that has been conceived.

The Hebrew word H6942 that is translated as “sanctified” is defined as “to pronounce or observe as clean”. This is an amazing concept if you think about it. This is giving us the appearance that God is viewing humans a lot differently than religious minded humans view them. God literally, “knew” this future man, “chose” this future man, and made him “clean” long before he exited the womb of a woman. If God did this only for Jeremiah, He would be a respecter of persons, and the Bibles says God is not this way (Rom 2:11). Let us look at another human conception and birth about another prophet:

Luk 1:13  But the angel said unto him, Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John. 

Luk 1:14  And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth

Luk 1:15  For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb

Luk 1:16  And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God

Luk 1:17  And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord

God sent an angel to a man named Zacharias that ministered as a priest before the Lord. This meant this man was from the tribe of Levi that allowed him to be in the presence of the LORD in the tabernacle. The angel sent from God gives Zacharias a lot of information that only God could provide based upon “foreknowledge”.

The angel tells him that His wife will conceive, so it will be a natural conception and a natural birth process of 9 months of development. It is also amazing that God knows it will be male, since the father determines this by which “sperm cell” reaches the egg, either an “X” or a “Y” Chromosome will determine the sex of the child. Yet God knows exactly which one will arrive.

Now here is where it really gets interesting. The angel informs Zacharias that the developing male child will be “filled with the Holy Ghost” even while in the womb. Wow, if that is not amazing, what is? God is going to fill a developing baby’s body with His own Holy Spirit to be in full fellowship with the already present John’s spirit even before birth. This information shocks people who say abortions are just a lifeless blob of tissue and flesh. God does not view it this way at all and knows the child and their destined plan and purpose for existence long before they are born. Wake up! Let us read further down in this chapter to see what else is happening to the child John while in the womb:

Luk 1:39  And Mary arose in those days, and went into the hill country with haste, into a city of Juda

Luk 1:40  And entered into the house of Zacharias, and saluted Elisabeth

Luk 1:41  And it came to pass, that, when Elisabeth heard the salutation of Mary, the babe leaped in her womb; and Elisabeth was filled with the Holy Ghost: 

Here is another example of the internal womb “life” of a “living” human body that is alive being connected to a living human spirit. Remember what we learned from the story of Adam. There was no life, no movement, no ability to respond or communicate if there was no “spirit” in the natural body. Uh oh?

When Mary, the future mother of Messiah comes to visit her cousin Elisabeth the baby John “leaps” inside of her when sensing the presence of Messiah. This action of a child in the womb proves human life is present and a human spirit must be inside the flesh. These children in the womb can do things, sense things, and know things, much more than you can possibly imagine, and this is exactly why the devil wants to kill them all.

We have fully confirmed based upon scriptural and scientific evidence that developing babies in the womb have life and a spirit. One popular movie called “Unplanned” documented the life of a woman that previously worked at abortion clinics. This woman was asked to help a physician perform a procedure on a woman. She was tasked at holding the sonogram paddles in place so the doctor could see how to dismember the developing child to kill it.

This woman saw the reaction of the baby at each doctor attempt to pull off its legs, arms, and head. The baby could feel the pain and even moved around to try to keep it from happening. This alone proves there is life and a fighting spirit awareness in these developing children. Please do not allow this to continue taking place.

Is a Womb Baby’s Spirit Alive or Dead?

We have already seen strong evidence in the last section that babies have a spirit, and that they can be known by God and even can be filled with the Holy Spirit before birth. These types of interactions lead us to conclude that human baby spirits are alive unto God like the first Adam was before and after sin. Uh oh! What did I say? Please put down your stones until you learn what else the Bible says, first.

We have also already seen some key answers to know about the spirits of babies in the womb entering at the initial fertilization union of the two joining cells that were designed by God to become one new flesh and spirit life. This strongly implies that these babies in the womb are also fully alive and able to fellowship with God as in the case of John the Baptist in the womb of Elisabeth.

Therefore, we are entering some potential new grounds for beliefs that could certainly be controversial or even contradictory with the world, but also with many churches, pastors, and teachers of the Word of God.

In this section we are going to explore some additional scriptures about children that may rock the religious boat and mind of many Christians, especially those that tolerate or are completely passive for allowing abortions to occur.

This is our first clue that God still creates every human spirit at conception. As the reader questioned, if God gives the spirit, then it must be still made in His image (Gen 1:26). This is exactly a very true fact found in scriptures. We are about to go through some new verses that maybe you have never focused upon to see some things that will potentially change your ways of thinking about what some claim is a dead spirit as defined to be completely separated from God by the sin of the first Adam.

In 2 Samuel 12, we find the story of Bathsheba and David who had an affair and she got pregnant from it. We will not focus on all the sins that David committed during this episode. But rather we will only focus on the child that was produced and what David told us about him.

We know when this child of Bathsheba was born, David was told by a prophet that he would die because of the sins of David. David fasted and prayed hoping for mercy from God, but the child still died. After the child’s death, David said the following:

2Sa 12:23  But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

As you can see, David is speaking of two realms of human existence. One is the natural body life of the child and the other is the after-natural-life experience of a continuing eternal spirit life. David could clearly see that the body of the dead child was still present with him, but now the spirit had departed from the body. This was the opposite of Adam’s body being formed dead and then the spirit entering to give life. In this example, the baby was born with a spirit that left the body causing the body to be dead.

David said some amazing things in this experience that is essential to see and understand about human spirits. David says, “I cannot bring him back to me (here in the natural realm), but I will still go to him (in the spirit realm when I die)”. Also note that David is not talking about him or his child going to hell here in this statement, believe it or not.

Despite Davids’ obvious imperfections, let us help to establish his righteousness. In the book of Acts, David is called a man after God’s own heart (Acts 13:22). If you read the Psalms that were written by David, you can find a lot of his repentance and beliefs is an eternal salvation based upon God’s righteousness. We can also see in Psalm 23, that David called God His LORD and Shepherd. Jesus Christ is also called the “Seed of David”, meaning Messiah and we find Jesus comes to the earth being called the Son of David (Mat 21:9). God had a very special relationship with David, and it looks guaranteed in scripture that David will be in Heaven when we get there.

Therefore, we can understand when David is saying “I cannot bring him back”, he is speaking of bringing his son’s spirit back from a place where righteous people are all presently gathered. Let us confirm the reality that unborn babies and even children not of the age of accountability will be taken to heaven if they die a physical death. We will only look at one statement that Paul wrote about himself.

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

If you read the context, you will find Paul writing about the Law. In fact, in verses 1 through 8 Paul is speaking about the binding of the law to people that are under the law and have knowledge of the law. Paul also writes about how “death” separates the human from their bondage from the “law of sin through death”.

Paul makes it very clear in verse 7 of this chapter that he would not have known sin if he had not known the law. Continuing, he says he would not know that “lust” was sinful without first knowing God said “Thou shalt not covet”. Wow, this is more amazing information than you can possibly understand without God enlightening it to your spirit. Your carnal mind is not going to be able to understand this without God’s Spirit helping.

However, this chapter applies to children, and even unborn children. God is saying without the knowledge of “law”, there is not an impartation of guilt, and therefore no sin can be held against a child. Every child in the womb has an almost zero % chance of knowing what is good or evil, right or wrong. This is because they cannot speak or understand these types of complex concepts without maturity and training.

This is why Paul writes in verse 9, “I was alive once without (the knowledge of) the law”. Once Paul grew to the age of accountability, which is normally for Jews at the age of 12, they are considered able to judge right from wrong. But this is because they have all memorized the Torah before this age occurs. It is this knowledge that makes a child accountable for their sins. Once this occurs, they must choose Jesus as Lord to be saved. If this salvation decision is not reached when natural death occurs, the child/adult departs to go to hell.

This is why my wife and I’s miscarried daughter, was seen in a vision being in heaven. This is also why every aborted baby from the womb goes to heaven also. Any death of an unaccountable child will be a transportation into the presence of God automatically. This is because God is loving, just, and must judge righteously about every human the same. If you are still struggling with this information, let us confirm it again with a new set of verses spoken by Jesus:

Mat 24:15  When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) 

Mat 24:16  Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: 

Mat 24:17  Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: 

Mat 24:18  Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. 

Mat 24:19  And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days

These are verses about the rapture of the church to be taken out of the earth by a very sudden departure. These verses are written with warnings to those that have missed the rapture. But will only focus upon verse 19, because this is one about our subject of children and accountability.

In this verse Jesus said, “Woe to those (women) that are “with” child (pregnant), and to those (women) that have breast-feeding children in those days. Why does Jesus warn women about this time? It is not very complicated. This is because these two groups of children in the womb and those born below the age of accountability “WILL be taken up in the rapture”. This again is fair, just, and righteous judgements from God to save them from a certain death. Those humans that were left on earth after the disappearance of children and ready to go Christians, are warned to run away quickly without even taking any food or clothes with them. This means something is about to happen that is at any moment certain destruction.

Wow! Hopefully, this information is convincing you about the truth, that children have spirits, and they are not “dead” or separated from God until they obtain an age that they can know and make a conscious intentional decision to accept or reject Jesus.

This information also brings to question special needs children. What would happen to an autistic child that is not all there mentally? Could they seriously be held accountable to understand everything about what is right or wrong? Many do not believe so. This sounds like an opportunity for a loving God to demonstrate great mercy and compassion. I believe this is God’s heart. You can choose for yourself what you would like to believe.

We have just discovered in two sections the following scriptural facts of truth:

  1. Babies have a spirit at conception.
  2. God knows the baby, plans their destiny and purpose.
  3. God can even speak with the baby in the womb.
  4. All of this means a child’s spirit is viewed as innocent in the eyes of God.
  5. Therefore, baby spirits go to heaven if a death occurs before the age of accountability and sin awareness takes place to give the child the fair right of choice.

This was good news for those that have lost a child. If you have chosen to believe in Jesus’ death, burial and resurrection and you will confess Him as your Lord (Rom 10:9-10), you will be saved to go to heaven and see your child again standing with Jesus’s loving arms around them. Let us shift to the last and another essential subject of how to define “spiritual death”.

Is there Spiritual Death?
What is “Spiritual Death” and
When Does it Occur?

Here is another popular misconception that is preached all over the church. People are widely taught that Adam spiritually died immediately after sinning. But everyone must still acknowledge that Adam lived 930 years until physical death occurred. But when does the Bible say his spirit died? Or does it say? We might be surprised what the Bible says about this subject.

In fact, this belief of spiritual death as it is taught by many pastors and Bible teachers, just does not balance with the rest of scripture when we take the time to study. Remember Paul wrote to us and said, “Study to show yourself approved, a workman, that does not need to be ashamed” (2 Tim 2:15). Therefore, we need to study this subject for ourselves, using a deeper understanding of “all” scriptures on the subject. We will begin this section on spiritual death by using verses that Jesus taught us on the existence of the “spiritually dead”.

Mat 8:21  And another of his disciples said unto him, Lord, suffer me first to go and bury my father. 

Mat 8:22  But Jesus said unto him, Follow me; and let the dead bury their dead.

This is a short but radical conversation between Jesus and a disciple. A certain disciple came to Jesus and asked Him, “Allow me to go bury my father”. Therefore, we have a man that has just died a natural death and his natural son has a desire to bury him, and Jesus’ reaction is more than significant.

Please let us use some spiritual common sense and see that Jesus is speaking of two different states of humans. Or more precisely two types of “death” and the “dead”. The first death type being referred to by the disciple is only “natural” death which is common to all humans after the sin of Adam (Romans 5:12). But the second type of death must be a spiritually viewed type of death because Jesus said let these types of natural people bury their own physically dead.

Jesus is implying to this disciple that he is not a spiritually dead man, therefore, Jesus was telling Him to continue to follow Him. Uh oh! Remember Jesus is speaking to a man that was not yet born again, because Jesus had not died and been resurrected. This means neither were born-again. Not the “dead” that would bury their “dead” (physically) nor the disciple that is following Jesus could be saved. Therefore, Jesus’ definitions of what a living man is, and what a dead man is, is completely different than what we have thought or heard taught before.

What was the difference between these two people types? The disciple that was following Jesus was in face-to-face personal relationship with God in the flesh, and all those not present were not known by God and did not know or speak with God. Could this be what Jesus is referring to? Does a relationship with God make the difference whether we are called living or dead to God?

This is where new controversy begins, that not too many people have ever been taught. What made this disciple spiritually alive, and other humans spiritually dead is something that we need to learn. How can we understand this based upon the fact that we have already seen clear evidence that “spirits” do not ever die or cease to exist?

Remember, we learned this concept from a story Jesus gave to the disciple about a rich man and beggar named Lazarus. In this story, both men died physically and then their spirits were carried away departing to an under the surface of the earth existence in two separated and eternally divided realms of after natural life existence. Do you remember this?

This story is essential to understanding how to differentiate those people who are spiritually alive and dead on the face of the earth while they were both physically alive simultaneously. Then knowing what happens after their natural death where their spirits departed the earth and are then divided apart from each other under the earth. Of course, this was taking place before Jesus was crucified and resurrected from the dead. This means in this story there was not, an access door named Jesus who would facilitate the human access to the Father in heaven.
This is only the beginning to help us understand what is taking place. What we are seeing, are these facts:

  1. Human spirits never die or cease to exist.
  2. However, Jesus labels some living humans on the earth as “dead” even while naturally breathing air in the flesh.
  3. According to scripture these people called dead did not have a relationship with God, speaking with Him and listening to His voice for directions.
  4. Jesus further implies there were some naturally living people on the earth that were already alive in their spirit and we have seen this more than once before in this lesson. These types of people appear to be those in intimate contact with the living God.
  5. From the story of the rich man, he was designated as “unrighteous” type of spiritually dead on the earth that continues to be separated in a lake of fire called the “tormenting” realm. According to Abraham he, must not have read and studied the Torah. Therefore, he did not know God intimately.
  6. But simultaneously the poor beggar named Lazarus is designated by implication to be “righteous” after natural death that departs to be with Abraham in the side of existence called the “comforting” realm. No doubt Lazarus had a lot of time to pray and ask God for help and assistance. There had to be some relationship with God for him to be in the righteous side of the natural dead humans.

That is a lot of new information but let us stop and go back to the beginning and work our way back up to this point of reference with Jesus walking the face of the earth in the flesh.

Please take the time to read Genesis 1, 2, and 3 again. These are all essential basics to understanding life and death both from the spiritual and natural parallel views. Take note in Genesis 1:26 God says, “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness”. Therefore, God is a speaking Spirit that is capable of the highest level of intelligent conversation and speech.

The first mention of God speaking to Adam occurs in Genesis 1:28-29. In these verses God “blessed” them by speaking the first words to them saying “Be fruitful and multiply and replenish the earth”. Then God gives them dominion (authority) over all the works of God’s hands. This is all pre-sin conversations, and there is no mention of Adam responding. There is a presumption that implies that he heard and listened. This is first indicator that God and His man Adam had fellowship and relationship. This appears to be the plan of God for all His humans, and not just the first two.

Man was created in the same pattern of God, with the same features, characteristic, and capabilities as their Creator God. This means man was also a speaking spirit made on a slightly lower order than God (Psalms 8:4-5). Then we find in Genesis 2:15-17 God places the created man Adam in the garden that the Lord has made. Here God commands the man saying it is good to eat from every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shall not surely eat, for in the day you do, you shall surely die”.

Therefore, we have God being seen in the garden and again we see He is talking with Adam and giving Him one law to not eat from one tree that will cause him to die. Notice there is no mention of two deaths. Also notice God does not define death and what that means. Adam had never seen death before; how could he understand what this was? But he obviously asked no questions causing the presumption that he must have understood enough to not ask any questions.

Next in Genesis 2:19 we find God bringing to Adam every beast and bird for him to give a name. God says whatever the man calls them, that will be their name. This proves Adam knows and understands a language, has an intelligent and capable mind to understand and remember what he is doing. Clearly Adam understood the commandment that God had spoken. All of this confirms there was a relationship with Adam before sin entered the world. This according to the words we saw from Jesus meant Adam was not spiritually dead.

Next in Genesis 3:1, we find the introduction to another spirit being other than, God, Adam, and Eve. God describes this being as a symbolic “serpent” which is defined in Revelation 12 to be a representation for Satan. It is this serpent that tempts Eve and deceives her into partaking of the tree that God commanded them not to eat from. Next, we find Adam taking of the same tree being with her during the entire event. Therefore, sin has just entered the world and death by sin. Yet no one is dead. I wonder why? Did God lie or did we just misunderstand? I vote we misunderstood.

Next, we find God coming to the earth again to walk and talk with His creation in Genesis 3:8. Don’t forget who we are dealing with. God is the Creator of the heaven and the earth (omnipotent). He knows everything (omniscient). He sees everything (omnipresent). Therefore, there is nothing God does not see or already knows what has happened. But we find God the Highest and most Holy Spirit in the presence of 3 spirits that have all committed differing sins.

Do you see a problem here? How is it when preachers say that Adam died immediately in the spirit realm, that God is found in the presence of these dead sinners to be even asking questions to each of them and speaking with them all? This reality is a major problem to defining man or Satan as being spirits that were separated from God immediately after they sinned. We have already seen that Satan will not be cast into hell until at least another 1000 years from now at a specific appointed time. Does this concept of an appointed time for Satan’s spiritual death also apply to men? The answer is Yes! Let us continue to learn.

Here is what the Holy Spirit said to me this morning. God said, “Do you remember that I am the Good Shepherd?” What does a good shepherd do to save one lost sheep? He leaves the 99 and goes to find the lost sheep (Lk 15:4). Uh oh! Do you see that the first Adam was now a lost sheep that has chosen by reason of fear to depart from the presence of God and hide himself, covering his nakedness?

When God came down to the garden to talk with His lost sheep God knew exactly what had happened. God could not forgive the sin because Adam had the “blood” of God and there was not a sinless blood that could be offered to eliminate this sin permanently. However, God already had a plan knowing Adam would fail, He preplanned a Son of Adam who was also the Son of God, that could take away with His sinless blood every human sin from Adam downward.

Remember Jesus claimed to be this “God Good Shepherd” in the flesh (John 10:11). He was God (John 1:1-14), and the High Priest of God (Heb 2:17), the Temple of God (John 2:19), and the Sacrificial Lamb of God (John 1:36) in one combined package. Remember the parable of the lost sheep is found in Luke 15:4. And Jesus said He was only sent by God to the lost sheep of Israel in Matthew 15:24.

So, we have a major problem developing with the definition of spiritual death as being an immediate separation from God caused by human or angelic sin. We can find this problem continuing throughout the entire Old Testament. We find God speaking with human after human that is supposedly been separated from God by spiritual death. For example, the next time after Adam, we find God speaking to Cain after killing his brother Abel. Again, we find God dealing intimately with a lost sheep sinner man one on one. Let us look at another man that was truly amazing:

Gen 5:21  And Enoch lived sixty and five years, and begat Methuselah: 

Gen 5:22  And Enoch walked with God after he begat Methuselah three hundred years, and begat sons and daughters: 
Gen 5:23  And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years:

Gen 5:24  And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.

Enoch is one of the most amazing men in the Old Testament. He only has a select number of verses, but these words contradict the belief of immediate separation from God after sin is present. Notice God writes that Enoch walked with Him for 300 years.

This sounds a lot like Adam with God walking in the garden to fellowship. It should be becoming clear that man was created to have fellowship with God, and this continued even after sin.

Therefore, there is no separation from God if man is willing to communicate with God as we are discovering. It appears man is considered alive to God, if they speak to Him and walk with Him following His directions being in relationship with Him.
But here is the most amazing fact about Enoch. Genesis 5:24 says, that Enoch walked with God so closely that God just took him from planet earth in a rapture like event. This means Enoch’s spirit, soul and body were all removed from the earth simultaneously. This fact alone refutes the belief that all humans were eternally lost and separated from God.

What made Enoch so special to God. We are given to clues to this relationship God to man, man to God relationship. Let us look at the first to realize what causes God to be able to fellowship with some sinners and not others.

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

This verse is found in the Hebrews 11 “Hall of Faith”. This literally means Enoch pleased God by walking with God in faith. We know this because the next verse after this one says, “But without faith it is impossible to please God, because he that comes to God, must believe that He is (exists) and that He is a rewarder to those that diligently seek Him”. This is the major reason why Enoch was raptured off the planet long before Jesus ever died to save anyone. This is the most significant reason we have that contradicts why humans are not dead spiritually until the appointed time that we have not yet learned. The only other N.T. reference to Enoch is found in Jude:

Jud 1:14  And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints,

Here we have another amazing statement that Enoch prophesied about the LORD coming with ten thousand of his saints. This proves Enoch walked with God so closely that God gave him future prophetic visions of Jesus coming back to the earth in the 2nd Advent. These examples, show why God was so pleased with a man that He took him without seeing natural death.

There are countless other O.T. opportunities to view God speaking with human sinners that supposedly had dead spirits. There is Noah in Genesis 6:8-13. There is God speaking to Abraham in Genesis 12-17 and beyond. We find God speaking with Jacob in Genesis 35:1. We find God speaking with Moses in Exodus 3:14.  In Numbers 22:12 we find God speaking with “Balaam”.  We find God speaking directly to Solomon in 1 Kings 3:11.

There are other examples of God speaking with David, Joshua, and many other prophets, priests, and kings. These are all problems for defining man to have a dead spirit that is implied to be separated and unable to hear from God! Let us observe one modern definition for their modern view of spiritual death:

Spiritual death: is the separation of the soul from God. In Genesis 2:17 God tells Adam that in the day he eats of the forbidden fruit he will “surely die”. Adam does fall, but his physical death does not occur immediately; Therefore, God must have had another type of death in mind – spiritual death.

This was a very classic and traditional attempt from human reasoning to define what spiritual death is. This definition uses human thinking and terms with complete disregard for God’s definitions and thoughts. Therefore, we need to refocus what was written, what was said, and what happened to a new God definition and viewpoint for spiritual death to remove the carnal human reasoning factors that can only produce error. Here is the verse as spoken by God to Adam:

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

Here is a new way to view this verse that eliminates the erroneous explanation for why Adam did not die the moment he partook of the deadly poisonous fruit. The key word that is being defined wrongly is “day”. This is because to a human we live every 24 hours as one day. This is not how God is defining or applying this word H3117 that was translated as “day”. There are literally several different ways this “word” is used in the Bible. Here is a list of some of them:

  1. A Day = The Sunny Hot 12 Hours of a Day from Sunrise to Sunset, and the opposite would be Night! (Genesis 1:5, called Light Day)
  2. A Day = 24 Hours of Time from One Sunset to the Next Sunset including evening (night) and morning (light) (Genesis 1:5, the First Day).
  3. A Day = Meaning a Single Connected Period of Time describing an event, as in “the Day of the Lord” when God created the heaven and the earth (Gen 2:4).

These are just three examples of the definition of a “day”. But there are others, and the key one that we need to learn from to apply is found in Psalms:

Psa 90:4  For a thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is past, and as a watch in the night.

The Hebrew word translated as “yesterday”, is the same Hebrew word H3117 that is found in Genesis 2:17 used to describe “the Day you eat”. Notice what this verse in Psalm 90:4 says, “A thousand years in your sight, is a day”.

The Hebrew word translated as “sight” is H5869 (Ayin) and this word is normally translated as “eyes”. Therefore, we are getting a new God defined perspective to how He views and sees what a “Day” represents. Instead of us trying to define a “day” to be 12 hours, 24 hours, or the time of an event, let us see if this God view works out better.

Gen 5:5  And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died. 

God writes and informs us that all of Adam’s days that were lived was 930 years. It is interesting how God used the same Hebrew Word H3117 this time translated as “days” in a count of years lived. Let us take out the “plural” form from the verse and say it using the literal “Day” translation:

Gen 5:5  And all the day that Adam lived was nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.

That is amazing when you see it. God has just written to us and said, of the “Day” (1000 Years, Ps 90:4) that God had spoken of in Genesis 2:17, Adam only lived 930 years. Now let us go back and see how this fit in to the words spoken in Genesis 2:17:

Gen 2:17  But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day (1000 years) that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die (930 years).

Here is another nugget of meat to chew on. If we take 1000 years as 1 Day and subtract 930 years of total Adam lifespan, we get the remainder of 70 years. Therefore, 70 years is the remainder of God’s Day definition that Adam live short of fulfilling one day of God’s existence limit for sin. In other words, Adam living short of 1000 years matches God’s Word of warning. It appears that God was speaking of only natural death, so far.

Did you realize that in Psalm 90:4 God used the word Ayin which is the spelled out Hebrew word for the Hebrew letter “Ayin”. This letter and word both mean “eye”. But the Ayin alphabet letter, also has a gematria value of “70”. We are confirming how it was God’s view of a day that was used to define what He spoke when He told Adam when he would die. This Day of death for sinning was within a 1000-year timed maximum God calls 1 Day. God foresaw this happening and now we have eliminated the confusion of the need to define what a spiritual death represents to God also using our own human reasoning.

Therefore, we are still in need of knowing what spiritual death more fully represents to God’s view, omitting our opinions. Do you recall that we found there was an exact time of separation of Satan from God? We found this in Revelation 20. If spiritual death is a separation from God, there appears to be an appointed time when this event begins and then it continues to occur without a course of reversal. Therefore, true spiritual death appears to be a separation from God but only from a timed beginning with a never-ending separation experience apart from God. If this was true for Satan, could it also apply to humans? It appears so, based upon what we learned from reading Luke 16 with the death of the rich man and Lazarus. Let us look at a new scripture that helps us understand this better:

Heb 9:27  And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:

Notice what God says and reveals to us in this verse. This verse plainly states, “man is guaranteed once to die, and after this comes the judgment”. Wow, this sounds important. Please never forget, that God is LOVE (1 Jn 4:8)! Also, we must remember that God is longsuffering, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9).

Can you see where God is taking us? Remember earlier what the Lord said about “Him being the good shepherd that would leave the 99 saved sheep to go out and find the single lost one”. We are discovering that all humans even, those that commit sins like Adam, or differently than Adam have an opportunity for relationship with God. This would include humans submitting to God, as well as fellowshipping with Him. This as we saw in 2 Peter also involves human repentance for sins.

In other words, God has not closed the door for any human to know Him. He desires us all to be saved. He seeks us out and looks for ways to get our attention to cause us to come to Him and want relationship. This was true from Adam to Jesus, and is still true for the church from Jesus, the Last Adam to the end of this age. Those in the O.T. were given opportunity to gain righteous relationship with God and be saved on credit, waiting for the blood payment of all sin by Jesus on the cross. But us after the death, burial and resurrection, can just hear about Jesus, and turn to believe in Him and confess Him as Lord and we are brought in completely by Faith in His works. Let us end this section with God’s definition of “spiritual death”:

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

Here Jesus is speaking to the church a warning. Jesus is very clear that those in the church that overcome, shall not be hurt of the second death. Therefore, there is a second death that occurs after the first natural and physical death.

Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Here is God’s definition of “spiritual death”. It occurs when people and angels are cast into the lake of fire in the heart of the earth. The rich man that died in Luke 16 was thrown there and is still there now. He asked Abraham to send Lazarus to his brothers on the earth so they would not come to this place where he was. But Abraham said, they have the Word of God to read so they may not go there. Uh oh? This appears to say reading and studying God’s Words are a part of having a relationship with God.

Here are some basic rules to help us learn the truth to what spiritual death represents.

  1. Spirits do not ever die or cease to exist. Therefore, once a spirit comes into existence, they are alive for ever.
  2. Spirits of humans can choose to walk with God and live being in relationship with Him causes spiritual life.
  3. A human spirit if it is in a human body can be in relationship with God to be saved.
  4. A human spirit in a human body, without any relationship with God is considered dead already.
  5. It is only the spirit that leaves the body of a human without remaining in relationship with God that will be apart from God eternally in the Lake of Fire, called the 2nd death.

Conclusion

Thank you very much for taking the time to read and study the Bible with us. We love you all more than words can describe. The hundreds, and thousands of hours spent here to provide these Bible study lessons is our complete pleasure to share with the body of Christ as well as anyone else that is willing to read.

Hopefully you have learned a lot today, that you never saw before in the Bible. This subject was significantly shortened because of the amount of information that is given to us by God on these subjects. This subject of Jesus coming to the earth to give us spiritual and physical life to saved us from the everlasting spiritual death separation demonstrates His infinite love. Thank you, Jesus! Hopefully you have learned that every human spirit is spiritually “alive” and capable of being saved as long as they are abiding in their mortal body. Any human on earth has the ability to cry out to the LORD and He will answer them. This can become the beginning of your relationship with God.

Do you remember the parable that Jesus taught on the “Prodigal Son”? In this story of Luke 15, Jesus taught about a young son that left his father’s house after demanding his inheritance. This son went out into the world and had a party with all the money until it was gone. Then the desperate son while feeding pigs, came to himself and deceived to repent and return to his father. The father saw him returning a very far distance off and ran to him and kissed him.

In Luke 15:24, the father in this story told by Jesus confirms what being dead represents. While the son was apart from his father, there was no relationship together between them. The father calls this a son who is dead. But it was when the son returned that the father threw a party to welcome his son back into relationship to the family. This is very profound. I taught us death (spiritually) is being separated from Father God. We choose to do this of our own will. Therefore, to return to father is also our choice. This helps us significantly to understand what spirit life is and what spirit death is. by God’s definition.

If you have had an abortion or have lost a child, they are alive and waiting for you in heaven. They are not mad at you. They actually love you very much. There is hope for an eternal reunion in heaven. If you have not forgiven yourself, God loves you so much that He sent someone to write you a letter to help you get through this life. God has already paid for all sins, but we must humble ourselves and go to Him and receive His forgiveness. It is a free gift, just ask and take it by faith. If you have not ever accepted Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior, to make a relationship with Him, this is a perfect time to do so. Please go to the link at the bottom and click on it to find out how to be saved from hell.

God bless and keep you all, the day of the Lord’s return is closer than ever. Get ready for His return, and stay ready, it could be today!

Are You Saved? Do you Know Jesus? Life is Short! Jesus wants to Know You! Please come and get to Know Him!

Understanding the Sovereignty of God Part 1 – Introduction

(Ver 1.1) This will be “Part 1” in a series, concerning one of the essential subjects in Understanding God’s “Sovereignty”. This is a Bible Basic topic that is needed to be understood so that we as Christians know what is happening to us and why. But this lesson will attempt to teach new Christians and continuing disciples of Jesus that desire to know God’s Word of Truth, the basic concepts of balancing God’s “sovereignty”, with His revealed, integrity, nature, and character written in His Holy Word.

Today’s lesson is specifically and entirely focused on introducing the controversial and massively misunderstood subject of God’s “Sovereignty”. The Bible has a substantial amount of information on this subject. We can find examples of God’s sovereignty from Genesis to Revelation. But many times, people take these concepts as the only truth, ignoring all other truths.

There are numerous beliefs to what this word “sovereignty” means, and many range from one extreme of error even continuing to the opposite realm of extreme error. In today’s lesson will learn a little bit of what God’s sovereignty represents, but mainly focus a lot on what God’s sovereignty is not. Here are two major extreme areas of certain error:

  1. The first extreme area of error is that God is absolutely “sovereign” and is in control of everything that happens in the world down to the smallest detail. This belief states God plans even evil to achieve an ending good result for the goal to win the final game. It is like sacrificing your pawn in chess as a necessary evil, to later gain a more significant advantage over your enemy. This is commonly based upon the Book of Job and an incorrect interpretation of what is revealed to be happening.
  2. The opposite extreme of error is an atheistic viewpoint that there is no God that is helping or doing anything to stop evil and therefore everything that happens is an accidental fate, or chance. Many call this Murphy’s Law, being based upon the humanistic “bad luck” theory of existence. This belief conforms to “Whatever can go wrong, will go wrong” or even saying, “Whatever, will be, will be”, both not involving the existence of a God that created us, loved us, and wants to help us.

Both extremes are ignorant realms of belief that were intentionally designed by Satan, to potentially lead humans to their demise (Hosea 4:6). Too many Christian minds have been vastly influenced to be deceived into believing corrupted meanings of God’s definition of this word “sovereign”. These tricks of deception can cause some people, even the real saved Christians to believe that everything that happens to us in the world, whether it be something good, or evil, it must be a “sovereign” work of God’s powerful, forceful, and controlling hand. But is that what the Bible teaches us when we want to see God’s actual rightly divided and balanced TRUTH?

In this lesson we will be looking at a lot of Bible verses that may not normally be taught on this subject of the Sovereignty of God. Some of these things we will be looking for our answers to how we address the difficult questions asked by too many people in the church and in the world. For example:

  1. Is God only good? Or is God only evil? Or is God both?
  2. Is God’s Will Always Done?
    • If “no”, why not?
    • If “yes”, does anyone else have the free will to choose anything? Does God override the will of others?
  3. Does God intentionally use evil to achieve and ending that is “good”?
  4. Does God use evil to correct or train His creation?
  5. If God is “good” and “sovereign”, why does He permit “evil”?
  6. If Satan is the source of evil, why didn’t God throw him into hell instantly the moment evil was discovered?
  7. Why does God warn us about people who call good evil and evil good, if His will is always done?

These are all great questions, and you may have others that need to be addressed. If this is true, please leave them in a comment.

Always know that there is a real God, who created everything, He is a God who is very concerned with saving people out of going to hell. This is a major fact of scripture. After all, for our God to come to the earth to become an intimate part of His own creation to personally die on a cross to shed His blood to save us, was the ultimate display of Love from anyone! We can also see that the choice to become a human to die is one of the greatest examples of the “sovereignty” of God. But even this choice must be balanced with the motivation of God’s “Love”, as being one of the primary reasons for this divine sovereign choice. Let us begin to go through the Bible to study this subject, to find if God is to blame for all “evil”.

Here are the topics that will be covered today:

  1. Our Most Basic Question. Is God Sovereign?
  2. Knowing and Balancing All of God’s Divine Characteristics
  3. What God’s Sovereignty Is Not
  4. Rightly Dividing God’s Word. Balancing Sovereignty in the Bible.
  5. Human Ways are Not God’s Ways
  6. Another Deception: Is Lucifer the Sovereign God’s Servant
  7. Conclusion

Our Most Basic Question
Is God Sovereign?

No one should ever claim that GOD is not Sovereign. If this is done, this is the first indicator of deception taking place. For example, teaching evolution without the inclusion of God’s intelligent design and hands on involvement is a major extreme lie. Nothing comes into intelligent order as our universe is, without the involvement of a far superior designer.

Therefore, when God created the entire perceivable universe without obtaining our permission or advice to how it should be made, as we know He did (Ps 33:6), this clearly demonstrates His highest ability to do anything that He pleases.

Then for us to know that He adds humans one by one onto the earth today, in certain locations born to very specific parents without asking permission of any of us that are here, this again signifies the sovereign nature of God. We can clearly see that God did not ask any human if they wanted to participate in His creation, to be born into this combination of a good and very evil world.

Not even the first created human that God called Adam, was a willing participant (Gen 2:7). Nor was Adam’s wife called Eve, asked if she wanted to become the mother of all the living on the earth (Gen 2:18). Neither Adam nor Eve participated in how they were created. No human has ever been asked about their opinion if they desired to participate within creation or that they should have a say in God’s callings, giftings and talents that were given to each of us (1 Cor 2:11).

No human was asked how tall they wanted to be. No human was asked what color hair, what shade of skin, what eye color, what sexual gender, etc. These are all visible signposts of God’s sovereign works. These can be easily found everywhere, and in everyone.

Let us go back before humans were created and enquire were any of the angels asked about their participation before they were created to serve God? Were any of the angels of God asked what role they would play in the Kingdom of Heaven? Were they also created without asking for their approval to cooperate or obey their Creator? If you can find a verse in the Bible that says God needed to check with anyone before they were created, please share it with everyone.

All these facts demonstrate that God is sovereign, and He has far superior abilities and knowledge over any of us. Therefore, if everything came from Him, this logically makes Him greater than everything else that was made by His hands.

This would be analogous to a human creating a rocket ship. The created ship would be of no ability to create itself without the maker’s involvement. Therefore, the created rocket ship would be subject to its sovereign human creator because it had no say for its existence or purpose to be created without the creator’s participation to design it.

But there might be some difficulty or challenge for us to be in complete unity and agreement when we are trying to define the word “sovereign” in the created human relationship with our creator God. This is because humans are not inanimate objects like a rocket ship that is void of emotions, memories, mental reasoning abilities, freewill choice rights, strength, power, etc. Humans were created far differently than a rocket ship that is only capable of an artificial intellect.

Humans were made in the “image” and “likeness” of their creator God (Gen 1:26). This means humans are more like God than any other part of His creation. A human is not a monkey, nor a whale, nor a cow, nor a bird, nor an insect, etc., nor like any of those that cannot comprehend, understand, create, speak, love, or believe. Humans were even created on a higher level than angels (Ps 8:4-5). In these verses the word translated as “angels” should have been “God” (Elohim).

God made us to be and to act exactly like Him (Ephesians 5:1). Therefore, whatever God is, we were made to be of the same class and pattern of similarity with Him but on a slightly lower order (Psalm 8:5).

Knowing and Balancing
All of God’s Divine Characteristics

To define and understand God’s “sovereignty”, we must also know that God possesses other major qualities that are as strong and/or equal as being sovereign. Every one of His God revealed qualities must be balanced together with each of the other qualities. In other words, one God quality is not going to conflict, contradict or oppose any other of God’s personality characteristics. Here is a quick list of some of the major reveal characteristics describing God. He is:

  1. Holy
  2. Eternal
  3. Immutable
  4. Omnipotent
  5. Omnipresent
  6. Omniscient
  7. God is LOVE
  8. Reigns as Sovereign

This list represents the basis of absolute “truth” concerning God’s unchanging personality and characteristics. Each of these qualities could be a separate lesson series. Therefore, they will only be mentioned in a very short introduction of each sub-topic of our main subject of “sovereignty”.

First notice that God is said to be “Holy”. This is an essential topic to know about God. Revelation 4:8 describes 4 created beings that surround the throne of God and day and night, they cry “Holy, Holy, Holy” to the “Lord God Almighty”. This verse also says they are crying “to Him that was, is, and is to come”. This verse is amazing because it mentions 3 of God’s qualities at the same time. Did you see them? These were Him being “Holy”, Him being “Almighty”, and Him being “Eternal”.

Notice that these creatures are declaring with the emphasis of saying it three times, God is exceptionally Holy. Holiness appears to be one of God’s most awesome qualities of needed focus and emphasis. Therefore, this word and description can never be omitted when discussing any other divine characteristic like the concept of what is “sovereignty”.

To be “Holy” must include at the minimum, that God is “Pure”, “Sinless” (Morally Blameless), and it certainly implies that God is of the Highest order of “Perfection” apart from “sin”. This simply means God would never desire to do evil, be evil, or be judged as evil. He is clearly so “Pure” that there is no possibility of evil intents or desires to be in Him.

Next, God is eternal with no beginning and no end (Ps 90:2). Placing this together with God’s Holiness that teaches us there is no existence of “sin” or “evil” in Him, in the past, present, or future. This is more important than you know when defining the word “sovereign”. This simply means there are possible “evil” sovereign rulers that people try to imagine God to be like, and this is impossible based upon His Supreme Holiness.

Next, most agree that God is not shifting, variable or ever changing, and this is called being “immutable” (Mal 3:6, James 1:17). This quality of being unchangeable, combined with God’s quality of Holiness means we can depend upon and trust in what God promises us. If God promised us anything in His Word, it is a violation of divine moral character for God to change His mind. This makes it impossible for God to break a promise unlike humans. We confirm this by reading Hebrews 6:18 where it is clearly stated that it is “Impossible for God to Lie”.

Therefore, we just learned another “limitation” to what it means to be “sovereign” when applied to “God”. We have discovered that God will never “Change”, “Sin” or “Lie” even if He could, because it would violate His true unchanging character and moral values.

Next, God is said to be “omnipotent”, meaning He has supreme power (Col 1:16, Ps 19:1-4, Heb 1:3). This simply teaches that with ultimate power, God is certainly capable of doing anything. Again, this supreme power must be confined to the self-imposed limitations that God has placed upon Himself by His sovereign will. This reveals another quality that God possesses. It is called “self-control”. This means God has enough power to not get angry and say and do things that He would regret later.

Next, most agree that God is “omnipresent”, meaning there is no place where we can be, that He is not already there.  Proverbs 15:3 says, “God’s eyes are in every place, beholding the evil and the good”. This simply means there is no location whether the created natural realm or the spiritual eternal realm, where God is not, which brings us to the next quality omniscient.

The next quality is about God being called “omniscient”. This word means there is nothing that God does not already know (Ps 139:1-6). This means, He sees all, hears all, knows all and is the only one that can always judge righteously in all matters. This literally means that God knows all the internal thoughts and intents of the human mind and heart, even if they are not spoken. Wow!

Next, let us consider what 1 John 4:8 teaches us. In this verse of scripture, God claims Himself to be LOVE. This does not say He has Love; it is more direct to be used as a noun and not a verb. Love as a verb denotes a potential emotional state of varying degrees and potential to shift to the opposite extreme of “hate”. But this would contradict with the immutability of God.

Therefore, every other characteristic of God must be defined in relationship to what Love is as defined by God. We can learn this type of divine love by reading 1 Corinthians 13:1-8. These verses describe a supernatural experience of a type of LOVE that few if any humans have fully attained. This type of LOVE is always patient, always kind and that causes most people to fall short immediately.

This type of LOVE only thinks good God thoughts towards every human, again what human has attained to this? But word descriptions like this give us a picture of a much different type of God than most know or understand. Therefore, we must apply all these words in this verse to our definition of the concept of God’s sovereignty.

Finally, God is considered “sovereign”. Meaning He does not answer to any higher authority. But as we have discovered God has implemented self-imposed limitations upon His desires, thoughts, choices, and actions, that will reduce the scope of God’s choices that He is willing to make. Let us talk about this subject more next.

What God’s Sovereignty Is Not

We are about to discover one variation of a wrong type of sovereignty that is being cast upon God to violate His character and nature that we have just learned. Remember whatever our understanding of “sovereignty” is, it cannot corrupt God’s Good character or standards of moral values.

What does it mean to you, for God to be sovereign? How exactly would you define this word? Does this word mean to you that God is making everything that happens to you whether good or evil to happen? Does God’s sovereignty mean that He is making the angels do everything that they do? Does God’s sovereignty mean that He is controlling every moment of your day, your thoughts, your actions, what you say, what you eat, when you sleep, etc., and that He has made you to be an unwilling participant to not be able to choose anything for yourself?

We could not agree with that type of definition of “sovereignty” in any way. That would make God the creator, a maker of mechanical angels and humans that were only made to be game pieces in a complex game for God to sovereignly move around and control. This would further cause us to believe that we were only made to be like mindless robots, and God was the string-pulling puppet master and our programmer, controlling us all through methods of divine robotic programming.

However, this is what many preachers preach. We have heard preachers say something like, “God has everything under control”. This phrase can be heard on many popular Christian television networks and ministry teachings. But is this a true statement as it is believed? Does God have complete control over the thoughts, motives and acts of every human, angel, devil, or demon within His creation? If He does, then God has a severe problem for us to understand His true nature, characteristics, and moral values based upon what we see all His creation doing to each other.

If God has everything under His full powerful control, and He causes everything on the earth that people claim to happen, our God comes across to us as looking to have a shifting an ever-changing set of values based upon favoritism to be good to some and evil to others. Wouldn’t this cause our God to appear to be double minded or to have a schizophrenic personality? The word schizophrenic comes from two Greek words meaning “split” and “mind”. This sounds like the word “double-minded” we have read about in the Bible.

Would God tell us to not be double-minded (James 1:8) and it would be fine for Him to be this way? If this is correct, then this belief contradicts with being made in His image. No scripture when correctly interpreted is in contradiction with any other.  James 1:8 informs us that a human that is double minded is unstable in all their ways. Then take what God says in James 2:1 and learn that if we have any respect of one person over another, we are committing sin.

Apply what God says to us (His creation made in His image) back to Himself as our Creator. Being made in His image and after His likeness, it is logical to conclude that as He is, we should be the same. Therefore, God must not be double minded or show favoritism, since this is what He instructs us to do. If God is double minded, He also would be unstable, unreliable, and we could not depend upon anything that He would ever say or do. If God has one respect for one person over any other, He too would be guilty of the sin that He told us not to do.

Therefore, to kill some people and then to save others clearly is both double minded and a respect of some people over others. This is very troubling to see that this is how some people believe God is. Consequently, if being made in His image, we are instructed to be single minded and no respecter of persons, that must be how God is also.

But this wrong definition of sovereignty to mean controlling everything, is exactly what people claim God is doing, without realizing it, when they say God creates earthquakes, tornados, cyclones, tsunamis, floods, rockslides, avalanches, etc., that can potentially kill thousands of people instantly. What about plane crashes, automobile wrecks, buses going off a bridge into a river, boats being capsized by a storm, trains that derailed, wildfires started by a man or lightning, terrorist bombs, etc. What about wars between nations where there are many deaths of the populations?

If God is creating situations to kill people today, after He personally came to the earth 2000 years ago, to save all these people (Jn 3:16) that are claimed to have died by an act of God, this is the type of behavior of a split personality like a Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type of God. This type of God would cause us all to ask, “Whose personality will manifest today?” If you do not know the story of Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde it is based upon a fictional story about a single man that takes the appearance as being two kinds of men. One appeared evil and the other was good.

Are we not living in the church age of divine Grace and favor? Most educated Bible scholars agree that we are in the “Dispensation of Grace”. If so, can we trust in and depend upon a loving and caring covenant God to continue in this covenant until the end? Or do we need to fear the hand of God to kill us and throw us into hell suddenly and unexpectantly because we have had a bad day or have made a mistake and lack His perfection? Or maybe we were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, where an evil was happening? Were these God’s doings?

In insurance policies and on news programs, they claim many types of natural disasters are “Acts of God” implying sovereign control and intentions. In church funerals some claim that a premature death of a child was for God’s unknown purpose and plan, and it was known by God’s will and purpose to be for good, and it will work out all for our good also eventually. Therefore, God gets the blame for killing innocent children.

Too many preachers claim God’s ways are mysterious and beyond our ability to comprehend so that we are unable to know or understand why our spouse died young. But they claim after we die and go to heaven, we will suddenly be able to understand it. Other preachers just say, “it was just their time to go”. These types of statements imply to us that every death that has occurred on our planet was a “God” designed, planned, and timed event.

We have only begun to see that none of these types of works should be found in the definition of God’s sovereignty. We are only beginning to see what a one sided and perverted definition of “sovereignty” is. Now let us begin to learn what the Bible says about how to rightly divide God’s word.

Rightly Dividing God’s Word
Balancing Sovereignty in the Bible

We have just briefly discussed one area of extreme “sovereignty” where God is accused of doing every evil type of work against His creation. But “Extremism” is just one potential way to bring error into understanding God’s Word. There is a second major popular source for “error” and “misunderstanding” of the Bible called “exalting one truth to be the only truth” of scripture.

Do you know how many truths are given to us by God in the Bible? There are more truths given to us by God than we can know or understand completely. This knowledge teaches us that what we know about a subject is far less than what we need to learn about the subject. It is pride to believe that any of us are experts on any subject. Only God understands it all.

What does it mean to “exalt” one truth. This simply occurs when a person takes a single verse of scripture to be the only truth, in exclusion to every other verse of scripture truth. This practice of “making a truth” the highest “truth”, promotes one limited amount of truth to be the only truth that is needed to understand the subject fully. But this is a major cause of wrong interpretations and understandings.

God’s book of truth is comprised of limitless threads of precisely chosen words containing specifically selected alphabet letters where each word is very exactly placed in what many people would describe as being in random order. But that belief of randomness is wrong. Every single letter, word, sentence, paragraph, and book has infinite wisdom hidden in its design. This book was written by the “All Knowing” God. He knows exactly why every word was chosen and why it was placed at its location in the Bible.

But we still know that any Bible subject can be found anywhere in the Bible, from the beginning to the end. Any word and subject can be defined, explained, and commented upon by God anywhere else in the Bible He chooses. God can describe ending future events in the first chapter of Genesis. God can describe pre-creation events before humans, in Ezekiel and Isiah or anywhere else He selects. Therefore, not everything in the Bible is in “chronological” order. In fact, most things are not in exact timed order.

Also, God can teach a subject, by providing just a living example of it, without ever mentioning the subject being described or taught. For example, Hebrews chapter 11 is what many call the “Hall of Faith”. In this chapter God describes that each of these mentioned people exhibited significant levels of faith yet reading the stories in the Old Testament in isolation, you would never know this was one of the key subjects being taught.

But one of the most essential elements of understanding scriptures is to understand they are “ALL” about Jesus Christ in some way, even if it is hidden from plain view (Jn 5:39, Rev 1:8). These are just some of the examples of God’s “sovereignty” to how He chooses to lay out truth in the Bible. Not everything is obviously stated, God has sovereignly chosen to hide many truths (Prov 25:2).

This simply means when we look at one verse of scripture, in one book of the Bible, and we are not seeing the other threads on the same subject we are omitting some potentially valuable information to understand our desired subject.

However, each thread of truth overlaps other threads of truth to bring even more revelations of truth connections. Always remember that the ultimate big picture of the Bible will reveal and lead us to Jesus, including every alphabet letter, word, sentence, scripture, chapter, and book, will only guide us to the masterfully designed big-picture image of the knowledge of Jesus (Eph 1:17).

The Bible is like an intricate woven fabric of Truths with many of them placed in what appears to be random order of diversely scattered patterns. God can even in one single verse cause an overlap of multiple threads of truth subjects to be discussed and revealed. These threads can tell a natural story on the surface and a hidden prophetical spiritual story in the same words. This is why we need the Author of the Bible to live in us, to help us and guide us into what He wants to teach us about any given subject.

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth

Why is it necessary for us to rightly “divide” God’s Word? This is a great question. It first teaches us that there are many potential ways to wrongly divide it. We can hear many conflicting viewpoints on scriptures concerning the subject of “sovereignty”, but we must realize that only God’s viewpoint will prevail if we accept it.

Does this mean this lesson on sovereignty is the only right one? Absolutely not, every Bible teacher is ignorant of the complete truth that only God knows. This lesson while not perfect will present how God has revealed the subject to one teacher. You are required to study to show yourself approved as we have just read, to verify everything that is taught here is what God shows you to also be true (Acts 17:11).

We have just explored some basics about one extreme position of authority, that many believe is in error, including us. This belief system discounts human responsibility and participation in the plan of God for our lives. There are too many people that are blaming God for something bad that has happened to them, and we are about to further see in this section that it was not God that was doing it. Let us begin to analyze how to rightly divide the subject of God’s sovereignty.

Are words spoken by people blaming God for evil, truthful? Does any of these types of words that are blaming God for evils and deaths, help us to be comforted in our times of grief? No, they do not. This is because they are not based upon the fuller balanced truth. These types of beliefs and descriptions of God committing evil to kill children, men, women, husbands, wives, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, etc., conflict with the real Bible when discovered, rightly divided, balanced, and understood. Look at this Bible verse to learn a set of necessary new subjects that will help us begin to understand God’s truth on “sovereignty”:

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

Uh oh! The concept of “sovereignty” or being “sovereign” is never mentioned in this verse. Therefore, what does it have to do with our subject? This is just one example of how a subject can be hidden within words that never mention a study subject directly.

What we should first know is that this verse came from words spoken by Jesus Christ while on the earth. Therefore, this is the sovereign God manifested in the flesh who is speaking. Knowing this fact alone, it must have something to do with our subject even if it is not directly stated.

Let us begin by asking a basic question. If God is completely sovereign and His will is always done, why is there a thief on God’s created earth who is stealing, killing, and destroying His creation and his created people?  Why doesn’t God do something about this part of His creation while He is encountering him in person?

Based upon what some people believe about God they are claiming God is either the thief or He must be allowing the evil one to do these evil works. Is this “thief”, God’s manifested evil sided personality and mind? If so, this means He is committing evil. But did you ever see Jesus commit any evil acts while on the earth? Jesus very plainly stated, “When you have seen me, you have seen my Father”. Therefore, whatever Jesus did on the earth is a revelation of the true nature of God. Consequently, this teaches us that God is not doing evil from heaven to anyone.

Or is God who is described to be abundant in goodness just allowing evil to occur? If He is allowing evil to exist, why? Does this mean the omnipotent and omniscient God who certainly had the power, ability, and the knowledge to stop all evil has chosen intentionally to ignore evil and just allow it to go uncontrolled?

We also know that God is not this thief because Jesus (God in the flesh) is comparing Himself in John 10:10 to be the life giver, and this is described in direct contrast and opposition to this thief that kills. Therefore, they must be two separate “living beings”, one that is God/Good, and one that is the devil/evil.

It is interesting to see even the words are connected to show what each are. One adds another “o” to “God” to reveal Him as “good”, and the other removes the letter “d” from “devil” to reveal him as evil. Therefore, God “adds”, and the devil “subtracts” and takes away. This is very profound to see. If you apply this knowledge to understanding the book of “Job”, you will figure out who to blame for what.

We must also logically conclude that since God has not fully dealt with this being that is the source of all evil, there must be some reasons why God has not ended this wicked one’s involvement from human life completely. In fact, if you study this out in the Bible, this devil will not be permanently removed until over 1000 years from now. There will be a 1000-year period that he will be confined in the pit, but God releases him for a short time after this to deceive people again (Rev 20:7-8). Wow, there is something going on here that too many Christians are completely ignorant of.

We may get into these reasons later, but the basis of the answer is based upon God’s character that we learned about earlier. God is also the “Righteous Judge” of all His creation, and whatever He does must not violate His standards of “Holiness” or “Righteousness” (Gen 18:25, 2 Pet 2:23). Since many do not understand what this is, they assume incorrectly that God can do anything, anytime, in any way He desires. But as we have seen God has placed self-imposed restrictions based upon His nature and character that limit His “sovereign” involvement.

Let us look at another verse to confirm what we are learning in John 10:10:

Act 10:38  How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.

We also can know from reading here in Acts 10:38 that God anointed Jesus with the Holy Ghost and power so that He could go around doing “Good” to heal all those that were oppressed of the “devil”. This verse is the same contrast given to us in John 10:10 comparing two works of opposition. The one true God is described to be “good”, and the “other” created spirit called the devil is contrasted to be “evil”.

Acts 10:38 further confirms that Jesus the Son of God is “good”. Jesus did good because His heavenly Father anointed Him, with His own Holy Spirit who must also be the source for all “good” (James 1:17). This additionally teaches us a new overlapping truth to why Jesus was not able to do sovereign works as God on the earth. It would not be necessary for Jesus to be anointed if God was manifested in His Son Jesus in His full deity powers, and abilities on the earth.

We learn from reading the book of Philippians that God chose to be manifested on the earth as the man Jesus in the normal likeness of other humans. He was able to do supernatural wonders on the earth only because He was anointed by God to perform these miraculous signs (Acts 10:38).

Philippians 2:7 declares an essential truth to us, about this sovereign God decision. God in Heaven sovereignly chose to become a human on the earth and specifically selected to remove Himself from manifesting His Sovereign powers and abilities while here. He did this to specifically live a life like us, to show us what we would be capable of doing with His anointing upon us.

This was certainly a “Sovereign” right of God to do this, wasn’t it? Please do not try to tell anyone that the “sovereign” God can’t do this if He chooses to do so? No one was asked by God for their permission. No one was consulted about it being ok. Therefore, to try to say that God can’t or won’t do this would violate many people’s definition of what it is to be sovereign, or it would make the Bible a book of fiction to contradict Philippians 2:7. According to many, God can do anything he chooses at any time He chooses, right? If not, God is not sovereign.

What some of us have just discovered is that there are two opposing spiritual forces of; 1) God who is good, and 2) the devil that is evil. No Satan is not a match for the Creator God, but he appears to not know this. Nevertheless, Satan is here on the earth and Paul called him the “god of this world” even after Jesus died (2 Cor 4:4). We can then see that we have a lower case “g” “god” that is opposing the “upper Case “G” “God”. But technically there were no capital letters in the Greek language and the same Greek word G2316, is describing them both.

Therefore, we need to learn more about why the “god” Satan is legally here on the earth, and why God reveals to us that He can’t or won’t do anything about him until a certain time in the soon coming future. Most do not understand how God has sovereignly designed the concept of “time” to work. We may be able to touch on this more later. But for now, let us move to another way people incorrectly define God’s Sovereignty.

Human Ways are Not God’s Ways

God has chosen to sovereignly do some things that appear very foolish to the religiously wise of the earth. 1 Corinthians 1:27 plainly states that, “God has chosen the foolish things of our world in order to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of our world, to confound those that think they are mighty”.

Remember that Acts 10:38 additionally confirmed that Satan, aka the devil was the one and only source of the evil works that made all people on earth to be sick and diseased, which must have been intended to potentially kill these people. But Jesus came into the world to reverse this evil by healing them and restoring them to a life of health (Jn 10:10). But look at this verse and what God reveals about His ways that can appear “foolish” to some.

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.

Notice what God says about the differences between created humans and their creator God. He very plainly says that His thoughts and ways of thinking are not like our natural human ways. Neither are our ways of doing things close to how God chooses to do things. This simply means if we are applying our biased thoughts to the definition of His “sovereign” acts, we are probably very wrong.

We can see many examples, of God doing things in ways that are not normal according to how a human would do them. For God to offer His righteousness, salvation, grace, and mercy to us for free when we have not earned it, causes the religious mind to bend.  Religion wants to earn their salvation, deliverance, and healing, but this would give humans a right to brag and be proud (Eph 2:8-9). God is not going to allow that to happen.

This was only a reminder to not think carnally when attempting to understand how to define “sovereign”. God’s idea of being “sovereign” is very far from a religious mindset. If we attempt to define God’s sovereignty to be like human examples, using human governments standards or religious definitions, we are far from His perfection.

Another Deception: Is Lucifer the Sovereign God’s Servant
who Obeys
Consistently?

There have been some Christians that have believed a slightly differing variation of potential deception. These mostly claim that the John 10:10 “thief”, and the “oppressor” of Acts 10:38, is the devil (aka Lucifer and Satan), but they believe that the devil only performs works “for” God as He sovereignly commands. This type of belief the acts were God initiated and Satan is performing works of evil because of God’s purpose and plan.

Others further believe that Satan desires to do evil to everyone but can only do these evil things to God’s creation, after he can obtain God’s directive, or permission to kill, steal and destroy humans. This type of belief is another variation of extreme “sovereign” control of God over everything that occurs in creation but shifts part of the blame to it being Satan’s desire to ask for permission and God’s agreement that it would work out something for good for His usage also.

However, this type of belief violates the basic laws of correct interpretation of all balanced truth. It has elements of partial truth that are being mixed with untruths, resulting in a drink of potential poisonous belief. Remember that we have already seen verses in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28 that described the beginning of Lucifer. It is revealed plainly that Lucifer revolted by His own freewill choices to cause pride and sin to be formed inside of him. He was created with neither of these characteristics.

Now, let us just use some basic common sense to begin to understand how this belief is false. For example, no thief on earth would ever ask anyone for their permission to steal or rob from anyone. That just violates the known operandi of a thief. Thieves are lawless by nature and will ignore sovereign governments. They are normally self-centered and motivated by greed. They have no value system for the care of other’s lives or property. They love to work under the cover of darkness and God is only light (1 Jn 1:5).

Can you find a verse in the Bible that informs us about Satan asking for permission to revolt against the Kingdom of God? Can you find a verse of scripture in the Bible where God caused the sinful revolt of Satan against Him? This is the downfall of too many people’s belief about what it means that God is “sovereign”. People are ignoring the sovereign design of God to create beings that have their own “freewill” to make independent choices apart from His sovereign will and desires. Don’t believe this? Look at this verse:

Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.

What does it mean to “seek”? This word represents an act of “searching” for something desired. Do we ignore this definition and word choice because God is sovereign and always makes happen what He wants to happen, when He wants it to happen? This logically does not make sense and directly contradicts this truth of the scripture.

This verse in John 4:23 is very clearly stating that God is looking for people (who have a freewill choice), to decide to come after Him with their whole heart (spirit). This is the heart’s desire of our Creator. At the time when Jesus spoke this, there were obviously few to none of these types of people on the earth. In fact, Jesus confirmed this when saying, “This people draw near to me with their mouth, and honor me with their lips, but their heart (spirit) is far from me.” (Mat 15:8). We can very clearly see that God wants people that want Him and is not forcing us to do what He desires us to do. Let us look at another verse in the New Testament concerning the subject of human responsibility:

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

God is warning Christians of providing the devil a point of “access” like an unlocking or the “opening of a door”. This is exactly what 1 Peter 5:8 warns us about. In this verse God says, “Be sober and vigilant, for your adversary the devil, goes about seeking whom he may devour”. The fact that God warns Christians to be sober (not drunk) and awake (not asleep), indicates that we could be living today in a state of unawareness God calls “darkness”, that opens the door for Satan to gain an advantage over us (2 Cor 2:11).

Can we agree that 1 Peter 5:8 is about humans being awake because the devil who rules the darkness is trying to destroy us? Remember normal natural people only sleep in darkness. God appears to be alerting us (the saved spiritually awakened) not to fall back into Satan’s territory of evil within the kingdom of darkness. The Lord is saying that when we leave the Kingdom of God, to drift back into Satan’s domain, we are very easy to be devoured.

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

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

See what God confirms to Christians saying, God has made us able to become saints in the light. This is God’s New Covenant Kingdom in Jesus Christ. We can clearly see this in verse 13 where God says, He has sovereignly delivered us from the authority of darkness and has translated us into the kingdom of His dear Son.

Now we are learning something very essential for us to know. There are two spiritual kingdoms of authority upon the earth. We can see them described in these two verses of Colossians. There is the Kingdom of the dear Son of God which is called “Light” exclusively. Versus the kingdom of evil that has only those that are spiritually asleep or drunk in darkness.

Kingdom of Light heirs are the saved saints, that God has sovereignly translated and moved out of the authority of darkness (Rom 13;12). These are the believers in Jesus. Are you in God’s Kingdom of Light and Day (1 Ths 5:5)? If you are, remain there! Submit yourself to God daily and resist the devil and the devil will flee from you (Jas 4:7).

Did you notice in the last paragraph we had God’s sovereign choices to how we were saved taking place? But did you also notice there was an implied human participation to us being saved? This necessitates us balancing several scriptural truths to obtain a higher truth understanding. We saw this in a previous verse of John 4:23 where God desired true worshippers but needed humans to have the same desire for Him.

There is a very significant sovereign God side to human salvation, but He does not force us to be saved. This means humans are required to choose what they “hear”, and “believe”. We either believe in God and His Word, or we reject it and are lost (Mk 16:16).

But we know that once we choose to believe and receive His sovereign gift of Salvation, this clearly means God (Light) is not our enemy and is not working with or controlling Satan (darkness) to direct him how he is to come against us. Remember what God reveals about Himself in 1 John 1:5. Here God says, “God is Light, and Him is No darkness!”. This clearly states Light (God) does not associate or cooperate with darkness (evil).

Ask yourself, why would God warn His people in the kingdom of light, if He is the one that is sending this enemy of darkness to teach us a lesson? No, this verse 1 Peter 5:8, clearly reveals our adversary the devil, is not sent from God! Therefore, Satan is not working for God. And there can be “no” covenant, cooperation, or agreement between them.

These verses concretely confirm God is not in total “sovereign” control of humans or the devil, or the events that occur on the earth. We have freewill choices that must be made in obedience to determine our outcome of being devoured or not. God has very clearly written to Christians; to “Fight” (1 Tim 6:12), to “Resist” (Jas 4:7), to “Overcome” (Rev 21:7), to “Reign” (Rom 5:17), “Hold Fast” (1 Ths 5:21) and many other commands. Do you see how God is assigning humans responsibility to be saved? In other words, God still desires humans that want to know Him.

Wouldn’t this make sense that the sovereign God has made a sovereign choice to delegate authority and responsibilities to His creation, and if we choose to not do them, He won’t? God would not warn the people about the devil coming before He sent the devil. If He had sent the devil, we would be watching out for God to devour us.

Those that believe Satan works for God to do His evil, attempts to cause us to accept that Satan does this to fulfill God’s hidden evil purpose on the earth to achieve some kind of divinely designed ending “good”. This belief asserts that God created this “thief” and “oppressor” deliberately for His greater unknowable intentional plan and purpose to achieve a culmination of something positive.

It also teaches us another potential lie, that God’s plan of creation for a perfect Lucifer was only a ruse for the intended real plan to cause Lucifer to sin. But is this logical? Does this type of logic adhere to the known character of a good God? Would any human ever make all perfect new auto parts to first destroy them before they then attempt to build a new better car? This would be an example of someone doing something needlessly destructive so that they can construct a better car rather than using parts that were completely flawless to begin with.

What we are needed to ask, is 99% truth mixed with another element of 1% harmful substance, ok to swallow and believe as the whole truth? Not if the 1% is completely deadly poisonous being enough to kill you. A 100 % T-bone steak is what a canine would love to devour. But insert into it or dust it with poisonous strychnine and it is still enticing enough to deceive because it appears good, but ultimately it can be deadly. This is why we need to do our best to seek and know only what God determines is truth, and not a message of poison from any human or devil.

We have already seen where God made angels and humans in a state of “perfection” and “very good”, and it was their bad choices that caused them to fall (fail). Therefore, this logic of using evil to achieve good sounds like a deceptive trick of this thief named Satan to shift the responsibility off himself to help steal the truth away from us to blame God for doing evil. Can you see this?

CONCLUSION

Why do people love the extreme sovereign God false message? When someone believes this way, (that God is causing all the evil in the world with occasional times of goodness), it completely absolves them and makes them not responsible for any participation to do what God has told them to do. Therefore, when the will of God is not done in their life, they can say it is not my fault, God must have had a hidden reason for the apparent evil to occur. However, that is a deception, and not the truth. Their belief that they will not be held responsible because of their ignorance, non-participation and full cooperation for obedience is the plan of the devil to possibly send them to hell. It also causes people to never fight against the devil and allows Satan another victory.

It is Satan’s plan to cause people to believe God is to blame for all the evil in the world. This belief shifts the truthful focus for all anger to be redirected away from him. Have you ever met people in the world like this? One man says, “I hate God, for killing my son”. Another lady says, “Why God did you allow me to be beaten up so badly?” Others say, “Why didn’t God stop that from happening to us?” These are classic thought types given to people by Satan. His words are usually “first person” accusation, like it is the person themselves having the thought about God. This is truly a tricky way to deceive people by playing on their emotions to cause them to have a thought to blame God. But they are so very effective thought strategies that come to place the blame upon God or His people, or anyone that is not their spiritual enemy that was working to cause it to happen.

If you have ever felt this way, hopefully you understand the reason why now. Realizing this was a deception from Satan, is one of the first steps to healing and reconciling with God. By repenting before God, a mind renewal occurs and this changing of thought then opens the door for God to help bring about more healing and help to you.

So why do bad things happen to good people? Who says there are any good people? In Matthew 19:16-17, Jesus is confronted with a rich man saying, “Good Master what must I do to have eternal life?”. But Jesus responded to Him saying, “Why do you call me good? There is none good but one, that is God!”  Jesus just taught us that every human is far from God’s perfection of good. Therefore, we all deserve to die and go to hell. But conversely Jesus also said very plainly that only God is fully and completely “Good”.

When we choose to blame God for evil, we are doing so because we are very ignorant to know who God really is. Remember Jesus also said, “When you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (Jn 14:9). We can never see Jesus ever doing anything but good to people because He was anointed with the Holy Ghost and power (Acts 10:38). Therefore, Jesus never killed anyone. Jesus never made anyone sick, weak, or ill. Jesus never made anyone poor. Jesus didn’t even condemn anyone for being a sinner. Jesus simply offered forgiveness, healing, and blessings to everyone that was willing to receive it.

If Jesus manifested the presence of God in heaven upon the earth as it says He did in Colossians 2:9, then humans for the first time were able to see the actual true character and nature of God personally face to face. This true nature of God was hated by Satan and the religious people of that day. Yet Jesus still offered to them “forgiveness” saying, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do”. What an amazing display of LOVE!

If you do not know God’s love personally, and the Son of God who was sent into the world to make God known, it is a great time to believe in Him and ask Him to be the LORD of your life. There is a link at the bottom of this page to receiving and beginning the salvation process. This will open up a new way for living and knowing God. You will be able to talk to Him personally, and He is more than happy to talk to his new child and help you to grow in spiritual maturity. Please do not let this opportunity pass you by. For those that are not in the Kingdom of God, there is no guarantee of any tomorrow. This could be your last invitation, please do not take it for granted.

Thank you for reading and studying this Bible Essential subject of knowing and understanding the “sovereignty” of God. It is very important to know that after we are saved, God desires us to grow up to be led by His Holy Spirit that is living on the inside of our human body (Rom 8:14). He has come to live inside of us for us to know that He will always be near to us to help us (Heb 13:5-6). Satan may try to attack you a fresh again, and again, but God is our ever-present help to always cause us to “overcome” our spiritual enemy (1 Jn 4:4).

Hopefully this has been a blessing to you and clarified some things taught to us in the Bible. We learned that:

  1. “God is Only Good” (Mat 19:17).
  2. “Satan” is only Evil and is a thief that has come to only kill, steal, and destroy people (Jn 10:10).
  3. God is Sovereign (Ps 115:3).
  4. However, God has sovereignly chosen to place character limitations upon Himself to restrict what and how He can do things.
  5. Angels and humans were created good but were also sovereignly given a freewill by God’s sovereign design, to disobey and to choose to become evil (Eze 28:15, Gen 3:11).

Thank you again for taking the time to study God’s Word. May God continue to richly bless you, knowing that He adds no sorrow with any of His abundant blessings (Prov 10:22). The Lord be willing there will be more lessons coming soon. There is just so very much to learn from God’s Word. Thank you for sharing these lessons with those that you know that will be blessed by them as the Holy Spirit leads you. Thank you again for being led by the Holy Spirit to study with us.

If you would like to continue reading and studying in this series, please go to “Part 2“.

Are You Saved? Do you Know Jesus? Life is Short! Jesus wants to Know You! Please come and get to Know Him!

Jesus in the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet Part 13 – The Lamed

(Ver 1.2) This lesson is “Part 13” in the Bible study series revealing the Lord Jesus Christ, that was being hidden by the Spirit of God in His design of the Ancient Hebrew Alphabet. This is a truly amazing subject of immense revelation. If you have not read this series from the beginning, it is highly recommended that you go and do so with “Part 1” first. There is just too much information that has been given in each lesson that cannot be fully repeated in the others. Please also understand that “advanced spiritual lessons” from the word of God are potentially offensive to the unsaved, immature carnal, or newly born Christian. If you do not feel you are a spiritually growing and mature believer in Christ, please judge yourself and consider if it is your desire not to be hurt no matter what is said. No lesson published here is given to cause any person to stumble away from the LORD. Thank you in advance for your participation in desiring to know more about Jesus today, than you did yesterday.

Today we will be learning only a limited amount of God’s important information about the letter “Lamed”. There are literally volumes of books that could be written on each letter and how it applies to the work of God in Christ Jesus. Here is a quick list of the contents of this lesson’s sections:

  1. Introduction – The Lamed Shepherd Staff
  2. Jesus Found in the Lamed Letter Order of 12
  3. Jesus Found in the Lamed Gematria Value 30
  4. Important Bible Concepts of the Lamed Staff, Rod or Scepter
  5. GOD’S Name Connection with the LAMED
  6. Prophetical Patterns Found in Old Testament Shepherds
  7. Abel the Natural Type for One of Christ’s Main Purposes
  8. Moses Natural Deliverer of Israel from Egypt,
    Jesus Spiritual Deliverer of Church from World
  9. David the Pattern of Christ’s Shepherd’s Authority
  10. Jesus Our New Covenant Shepherd
  11. Jesus – His Shepherd’s Authority
  12. Personal Application of God’s Lamed Authority!
  13. The Conclusion

Let us get started with learning this incredible picture of God’s Lamed Authority in Christ Jesus.

1. Introduction – The Ancient Hebrew Lamed Pictogram

The ancient Hebrew letter “Lamed”, is the 12th letter of the Hebrew alphabet, and has the gematria number value of “30”. We will be talking about these numbers more later. But it is very interesting that we can “first” find Jesus, learning and speaking with the Rabbis in the temple was at the age of 12. The Lamed letter has the sound that is similar, but slightly different to the English letter “L” depending upon the placement in the word. The letter “Lamed” is spelled as a root word with these three letters; “Lamed” + “Mem” + “Dalet”. The Hebrew root word H3925 that is made from these three letters, means to “goad”, and thus to teach or help the one being goaded to learn. This word is sounded as “Lamad” and it is mostly translated a form of “teach” or “learn” in the Old Testament. This is a very clear representation of what the ancient Hebrew letter “Lamed” represents.

Most can view the ancient Hebrew pictogram of the “Lamed” and see the clear image of a wooden “staff”.  This was a very common possession of many people in that time in history. The nomadic traveler that walked from place to place, would carry a staff as an aid for their journey of travel. We can see this in the life of Jesus in Mark 6:8. In this verse Jesus tells the 12 disciples to go cast out devils using the authority that He had given to them and for them to only take their “staff” with them. This staff was clearly a “sign” of their delegated authority, as well as being an aid for their travels.

The basic picture of a “staff” is also a very significant object found in the hand of shepherds in the Bible. This makes this letter Lamed a direct connection to a shepherd that watches over his sheep. This wooden object was constantly carried by a shepherd to help him guide, manage and protect his flock. The shepherd’s staff was generally used for the tasks of “goading”, “guiding”, “protecting”, “correcting”, “comforting”, “controlling”, “teaching”, etc. The shepherd’s “staff” also clearly carried the meaning of “authority”. This symbolism of authority and shepherds will grow increasingly as we connect this object as describing the LORD Jesus Christ.

The clearest symbolic meaning of a Lamed staff is “authority” over sheep. We can understand this by the connection of the shepherd having “sheep” under his authority, that need to be managed. Remember we learned the root word Lamad was spelled Lamed, Mem, Dalet, and it meant to “goad. This is certainly one usage of a staff to help train the animal to move to safety, water or food, or whatever was required to help them learn. A goad is a term, that denotes staff usage and application. The shepherd would need to train his flock by calling to them and potentially by goading them for their benefit.  When the holder of the staff pokes or prods an animal with the pointed end of their staff, they usually did so to encourage them to move forward to something good, or away from something harmful. From this we learn, that the goading by a good shepherd was based upon “love” of the sheep.  Therefore, the Lamed does represent a teacher of words.

If we analyze the letters of the word “Lamad” H3925 we learn the “Lamed” means “shepherd’s authority”, the “Mem” means “moving strong waters”, and the “Dalet” means “a door of entrance into the house”. Placing these together we arrive at “Shepherd with authority, speaking words to move His sheep into His house”. How did we arrive at that conclusion? We know that moving waters is defined by Jesus to be His spoken words in John 7:37-38. In verse 37 Jesus said, “If any man thirst let him come to me, and drink”. Then in verse 38 Jesus said, “He that believes on me, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water”. Finally, in verse 39, the writer reveals this was spoken of the Holy Spirit that those that receive that believed upon Him. This may not yet make sense to why this is words, until we find out how Jesus defined His words in the previous chapter. Jesus said in John 6:63 that His words were Spirit and Life. So, we have confirmed the connections of words to water. We can further confirm this with John 15:3 where Jesus said, “Now are you clean through the word that I have spoken to you”. This is clearly connecting spoken words to the cleaning power of water.

Now for the last letter “Dalet”. We learned in the “Dalet” lesson that this letter represents the picture of a “door”. We further learned that Jesus directly said that He was the “door” of the sheep in John 10:7. Hopefully, you can see the message connection to Jesus in all of these letters. In John 10:7, Jesus is implied to be the target location of entrance into ultimate safety for all sheep to go into. This would imply the Lamed staff of authority was being held by Jesus to help His sheep move towards the door. With the realization that water is words we now can see how authority is implemented in love with words. Therefore, we have “The Shepherd moves with His Words, the sheep into the Door of salvation”.

Let us confirm this with information from the New Covenant. It is very interesting that Jesus when appearing to Saul on the road to Damascus, said to him; “it is hard for you to kick against the prick”. This occurs in Acts 9:5, and the word “prick” (G2759) is defined as someone who is “goading” another. In this statement of Jesus, He is claiming to be the one that is using His Shepherd staff of authority to strongly encourage Saul to change his direction of travel. Jesus uses a stubborn animal analogy that means “those that are resisting His word of training are only kicking against Him personally and He is suggesting very strongly this is useless since Saul is the animal being trained and He is Chief Shepherd”. The order of intelligence, authority, and power was on Christ’s side, and not Saul’s.  

This is one of your first confirmations for Jesus being the Shepherd that is goading Saul with His Lamed “staff” of authority (Words) to change Saul’s direction. That is very amazing to relate to our study of Jesus the ultimate shepherd in authority. Let us continue with some other foundational concepts and connections to Jesus next by looking at the Lamed number values.

2. Jesus Found in the Lamed Letter Order of 12

Most Biblical scholars and diligent students of the Bible, recognize the awesome significance of the number 12. Therefore, we will begin this section of the lesson with a story of Jesus growing up after birth. It is interesting that Joseph and Mary took the child Jesus to the temple 8 days after His birth to be circumcised according to the Law of Moses (Luke 2:27, Lev 12:2-6). We also know from Luke 2:42 that it was the custom of Joseph and Mary to go back to the Jerusalem temple every year specifically to celebrate Passover. But it is not until Jesus was 12 years old that God mentions Him being personally in the temple by name. But something happened on this trip with Jesus at the age of 12 that was significant to God for Him to write about it. Could it be because of Jesus’ Lamed 12th letter connection? It appears that it could be based upon what we are about to learn.

Because God writes specifically about the age of 12 Passover trip of Jesus, we must understand that something had to have changed for God to mention only this one trip. There are no other mentions, that I know of where Jesus is again related to be in the temple, until after He turns 30. Wow, this is very significant since both of these numbers are associated with the letter “Lamed”. Because of these facts, we can connect Jesus directly to the number 12 by God writing about Him specifically to be at the temple in Jerusalem at the age of 12.

As we should know Jesus was present at Jerusalem for Passover like he had been for the past 11 years of His life. What was significant about this trip that made it different than the previous ones? We need to know that at the passing of the age of 12, and entering into the 13th year of life, the Jewish people traditionally considered the young male child to have moved into manhood. In other words, at this age a child has become accountable to the Law of Moses. This is actually very significant. Jesus was stated in Galatians 4:4 to have been born of a woman under the Law. We already know Jesus was circumcised on the 8th day of His natural life, so His parents followed the law very specifically. We also learned that this family’s custom was to present themselves according to the Law every year at Passover. We are observing the Law being followed very faithfully in the first 12 years of the life of Jesus.

But this trip things became radically different than all of the previous years. Jesus made the conscious choice to stay in the temple in Jerusalem when His parents Joseph and Mary left to go back home (Lk 2:43). It is interesting that they never worried about their eldest son for a long time after when they could not find him with any of the people that were traveling with them. It actually took 3 days for them to find Jesus again (Lk 2:46). Finally, Joseph and Mary found Jesus sitting in the temple in Jerusalem and Mary was not very happy.

Finding Jesus at the age of 12 in the Temple, brought the response to His mother, “Didn’t you know that I must be about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49).  This answer to his mother Mary, appears to be a significant meaning to what was happening. Mary must have needed to be reminded who His Father was. With this passage of 12 years of His life, He had to understand that He was now responsible to be fully accountable to what was written about Him in the Law. No doubt Jesus had seen and heard things read about Him in the Law while at the temple for 12 years. The others at the temple were completely amazed at the things Jesus knew and understood in Law.

Jesus appears to be embracing the Father’s authority given to Him by staying to focus upon the Law. Yet it is clear that He still submitted to His mother’s and Joseph’s authority to continue in their house to mature until the age of 30 (Lk 2:51). It was age 30 when we find Jesus being baptized by John to begin His earthly ministry with His full authority power.

The number 12 is a dominate number from Genesis to Revelation. Here is a quick list of some of the most significant mentions of the number 12:

  1. There are 12 months in every year (Est 3:7)
  2. There are 12 hours in every day (Jn 11:9)
  3. There are 12 hours in every night
  4. Ishmael the first son of Abram and Hagar had 12 sons (Gen 25:16)
  5. Jacob had 12 sons (Gen 35:22)
  6. The 12 sons of Jacob become the 12 Tribes of natural Israel (1 Kings 19:31)
  7. Jesus had 12 apostles (Mat 12:10)
  8. Jesus healed a woman that had an issue of blood for 12 years (Mark 5:25)
  9. Jesus raises a daughter of 12 years old from the dead (Luke 8:42)
  10. One of the 12 disciples named Judas betrayed Jesus (Mat 26:14)
  11. Jesus going to the cross said He could call 12 legions of angels to save Him (Mat 26:53)
  12. Jesus fed 5000+ and had 12 baskets of fragments left over (Mat 14:20)
  13. The New Jerusalem has 12 foundations containing the names of the 12 apostles, 12 precious stones found in the walls, 12 gates made from 12 pearls guarded by 12 angels each containing a name of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel, and the size of the city is 12,000 furlongs high, wide and long. All of this is called the Lamb’s wife (Rev 21).

We can certainly see how the number 12 has great significance and application to being a pointer to the works of Jesus. Therefore, let us now briefly look at the number 12 and gematria number 30 of the Lamed to connect us with Jesus.

3. Jesus in the Lamed Gematria Value of 30

It is also most interesting that we are told by the Holy Ghost through Luke in chapter 3 and verse 29, that Jesus began His mortal life’s ministry at the physical age of 30 (Lk 3:23). When this occurred His spiritual Father in Heaven baptized Him with the Holy Spirit, being sent down from heaven in the form of a dove (John 1:32). It is fascinating that the name of the prophet “Jonah” means a “dove”. Jesus connects Himself to this prophet by saying “As Jonah was 3 days and 3 nights in the belly of whale, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth”. During the baptism of Jesus, He goes under the water and the dove comes upon Him, and then Jesus begins His ministry preaching the Kingdom of God is near, repent. And in Jonah, the prophet is spit up out of the mouth of the whale, and he obeys God and goes to Nineveh to deliver the message from God for them to repent. Pretty amazing parallels.

Therefore, we have both number values of the letter “Lamed”, 12 and 30 being connected to Jesus directly. These even connect Jesus to His Heavenly Father. The mortal ministry of Jesus only lasted for 3 ½ years but made more of an impact on us in the world than anyone else in human history. Therefore, we can see the number 30 definitely has application and association to Jesus.

It is also very amazing that Jesus was sold to be crucified for exactly 30 pieces of silver. We can read this very clearly in Matthew 26:15. In this verse we can see how Judas made a covenant with the leaders of natural Israel to betray the Christ. Remember Jesus calls the betrayer the “devil” in John 6:70. This was prophesied to occur in Psalm 41:9. In this verse God says, “My own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me”. This appears to teach us something very deep that we are unable to get into any detail today. Just do not forget these verses.

But also remember that it was this betrayal by the one named “Judah” (aka Greek Transliteration Judas) who was filled with the devil, that brought about the availability of the New Covenant for all humans. These were two covenants, two choices and two eternal consequences. Apply what 1 Corinthians 2:8 says to us about Jesus being betrayed and crucified. In this verse God says “Satan would not have crucified the LORD of glory had he known” what was going to happen to himself. That is also a very deep subject that cannot be taught any further.

In Genesis 41:44 we can read that Joseph was 30 years old when he stood before Pharoah. Joseph was a prophetical type of the Messiah Jesus.  Then according to 2 Samuel 5:4, David was 30 years old when he became the king of Israel. We should also be able to understand how David was a prophetical type of the coming seed of David called the Messiah, Jesus.  Finally, the Jewish priesthood normally never began their works in their priestly office in the temple until the age of 30.  All of these types point us to the work of Jesus, especially with Jesus being called the King of Kings in Revelation, and our “High Priest” of the New Covenant in Hebrews.

There are other cases for Christ as the type of the number 30, but we are trying to keep this lesson shorter.

4. Important New Bible Concept of a Staff Made from a Branch

Before we go further with learning about a “staff” being a representation of Jesus, we need to better understand how God uses the object and symbol in the Old Testament Hebrew writings. Two of these Hebrew words used by the LORD God that have the meaning of a “rod” or a “staff” are H7626. and H4294. These Hebrew words have the following meanings in Bible Lexicons, like Strong, BDB, and others:

  1. A Branch
  2. Staff
  3. Scepter
  4. Spear, Dart
  5. Writing Instrument, Pen(cil)
  6. Measuring Rod
  7. Tribe (figuratively)

These applications of the Hebrew concept of a branch are tremendous. We will begin by remembering that Jesus is called the “Branch” in Isaiah 11:1. And in Jeremiah 23:5 Jesus is called the righteous “Branch”. Therefore, we have two references to Jesus as being related to a “wooden” branch that can be made into many other objects, like a rod, a staff, etc. Never forget the number of uses for pieces of wood from a “tree”, they are practically endless. But also remember the essential fact that Jesus Christ was crucified on wooden posts made from a “tree” (Gal 3:13). God has just connected Jesus to being a figurative “branch” of a tree. Please remember this potentially new concept.

When we study more in-depth the Hebrew word H7626, it is not only used by God to describe a wooden “staff”, but also the descendants of a family. For example, in Genesis 49:28, God lists the names of the 12 sons of Jacob and calls them the 12 “tribes” of Israel. In Genesis 49:10 we find the same word being translated as “scepter” applying to only the royal line of Judah for which Jesus would come. The Hebrew word translated as “tribes” and “scepter” are the exact same word. God binds these two realities into one common word. What we are observing is the confirmation of Romans 1:20, where He reveals the invisible (spiritual) things of God are clearly understood by the natural things that He created, even His eternal Godhead powers.

It is also important to know these descendants that are called “tribes”, are also called “heirs”. An “heir” is simply a family descendant that inherits the family’s possession upon death of the parent(s). Remember Jesus is called the “Heir” of God in Hebrews 1:2. This truth could be a great stumbling block for some. Why would God the Creator, need to make His “Son” named Jesus, His pre-imminent heir? There are clues in the Bible everywhere to answer this question. The bottom-line answer is Lucifer. I apologize that this cannot be expanded any further today in this lesson due to the length of the subject. But, also remember that all saved Christians are called “joint-heirs” of God (Romans 8:17) by us entering into Christ (the Dalet Door).

We have just learned God’s connection of a natural tree branch to be the same as a branch of the family lineage, that God calls a “tribe”. God chose one human “branch” of the first Adam’s family tree. This chosen branch was named Abraham, and God used Him to bring forth His chosen Son. From this man Abraham, came Isaac, and from the Isaac branch, God chose the branch Jacob. From Jacob God selected one family tribe/branch called Judah. There were many branches of the First Adam tree but God only chose the Abraham branch family, to bring forth the Christ. From Christ came a New Creation (Gal 6:15) with the combined family of God from heaven and earth being joined in one united God/man named Jesus. 

Romans chapter 11 has God writing about several new concepts of branches being cut off or being grafted into a tree (family). What God is doing is using natural concepts of trees and branches to teach us about far greater hidden spiritual works that He was doing in His Spiritual family in Jesus Christ. Jesus repeated this process of cutting off branches when He described himself to be like a figurative vine and people being the figurative branches (Jn 15:5). All branches that did not produce fruit were cut off and thrown into the fire (hell). These are things that were happening in Jesus Christ to create a brand-new Kingdom of God.

But God’s New Creation in Christ (2 Cor 5:17) only occurred after Jesus was raised from the dead, to pay the sin penalty for everyone that would receive Him as LORD and produce fruit. Being raised from the dead first, Jesus became the “First born” from all the dead (Col 1:18) and thus a New Beginning for a new creation. This made the risen Lord Jesus the primary heir of God’s previous kingdom with all authority being passed to in heaven and on earth (Mat 28:18). God did this because Jesus was from both dimensions of reality. We are also saved like Him being born again, to become joint-heirs (Rom 8:17) with Him.  Remember Jesus was the firstborn of many brethren (Rom 8:29), and those that were born-again were made these many brothers and sisters of Christ.  Let us now shift our attention to another new concept hidden in the name of God, which contains the letter “Lamed”.

5. GOD’S Name Connections with the LAMED

We are first introduced to one primary name of God in Genesis 1:1. This verse says “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth”. This name of “God” is the Strong’s Hebrew number H430. It can be transliterated into the English language as “Elohym”.  The second letter of this primary name of God is the “Lamed”. What we immediately see is this name is being called our Creator. This name H430 of God also occurs approximately 2600 times in the entire Old Testament.

We should also take notice this Hebrew name H430 is plural by the ending letter “mem”. H430 comes from the singular word “H433” that is transliterated as “Eloahh”. This word means, a “god” singular. This information confirms that God in His chosen revealed form is a “triune” plural being. Another way to possibly say this is, God reveals Himself to be a “complex unity” of three manifestations or divine nature roles, called, “God the Father”, “God the Son”, and “God the Holy Spirit”. This is similar to the human concept that calls one man, a father, a son, and a husband. These are just three roles of one man that has multiple relationship types.

Now we need to realize that the word/name “Elohym” is often shortened to “El” (H410). This name H410 “El” is recorded in the Bible approximately 242 times directly in the text as a name for God. Twelve times this word was translated as other words than “God”, like “mighty”, “power”, “great”, “might”, “strength” and others. What we are learning is very profound to our study of Jesus being the God of all “Power” and “Authority”.

The Hebrew shortened name of God “El” comes from two Hebrew letters. The word begins with the “Alef” which represents God as a strong “OX” head of power and strength.  We learned this represents the “servant” Jesus in the “Alef” lesson. This letter is connected by God to our study subject “Lamed”. We can begin to see that the “Lamed” staff picture represents a symbol of “authority” and “leadership”. Placing these pictures together we arrive at the meaning “Strong Power with Leadership Authority”. That is very interesting because it does describe who God is exactly. We can confirm that even the alphabet letters being placed together by God, tell us the truth.

Now here is another interesting concept found in the Bible. There are well over 100 names of people and places listed in the Bible that have the shortened name of God “El” (H410) imbedded within them. Some of these are very profoundly related to the LORD Jesus Christ. For example, in Isaiah 7:14 where God prophesies about Messiah being named “Immanuel”.  This is one of the most direct confirmations in the Bible, revealing Jesus was God.  This name literally means “God with Us”, and it is repeated in the Greek language as “Emmanuel” in Matthew 1:23

Another interesting name containing “El” is H1008 that is transliterated as “Bethel”. This Hebrew word means “House of God”. It comes by combining a new Hebrew word H1008 meaning “house”, with our H410 the short name of God. Remember, we learned in the “Beyt” letter lesson that this letter also means “house”. We can see the intelligent design of the construction of the Hebrew language. There is the basic building of words by God combining 2 or more root words together to form a new combined word meaning. Then there is the most fundamental building of root words by combining two or more letters together. Adding these letters together to form the root words, are built upon each letter having individual meanings that are being connected to form new combined word definitions. These are such interesting signs of intelligent design of the Hebrew language. This word “Bethel” simply means “the House with God’s Power and Authority”.

We could write book after book about Jesus being found in names with the “El” God name found in them. We will end this section with the name “Israel”.  This Hebrew word H3478, is derived from two other Hebrew root words like the “Bethel” word was. The first word is H8280, and this word means “to have power as a prince”. Isn’t that interesting because Jesus is called the “Prince of Peace” in Isaiah 9:6. This word H8280 is again combined with the H410 “el” short name of God. From this combination we get the fuller meaning, “He will rule as a prince of God”. This is a confirmation of Jesus’ claim in Matthew 28:18 where He said to have received from God all delegated authority within heaven and on the earth.  Some may try to reject this meaning, but it is further confirmed by the Holy Spirit’s writings through Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:27. In this verse it is written “He has put all things under His feet (Jesus)”.

We have just quickly explored the God (Alef) connection to the divine authority (Lamed), that is being given to the Son of God (Jesus) through one name of God “El”. These facts of truth, should cause you to think and ask a lot of questions. For example, why was it necessary for the Supreme Almighty Father God, to delegate all of His heavenly authority to Jesus the Son of God?  This question will need to be answered in a series of lessons all by itself. Let us continue with a short review of Old Testament prophecy patterns of shepherds that point us to Jesus next.

6. Prophetical Patterns Found in Old Testament Shepherds

Hopefully you already know some things about Bible patterns, types and shadows. These are just more of God’s designed tools using natural information that reveals His supernatural intelligent design hidden in His written Word. God uses real historical patterns of real people in real situations, and in real places to disclose greater hidden divine spiritual truth. This is where He uses historical hidden outlined information, like a sewing pattern to create a future dress, shirt, or pair of pants. Most of these were designed by God to teach us about far greater spiritual truths revealing His work to bring about His Son Jesus.

What we will discover by searching in the Old Testament, is that there are repeated types found containing natural shepherds with their “staff”, that represent prophetical patterns for the coming Messiah. Some of them should be very obvious and others have not been seen to be a pattern of Jesus because of their implied implications applying to the spiritual realms.  We will only go through a quick overview of a select few patterns, for the sake of time. Let us get started with Abel.

7. Abel a Natural Type of One of Christ’s Main Purposes

If we go and read the Old Testament, starting at Genesis 4:2, we find the second named son of Adam and Eve to be a son named “Abel”.  In this real historical account, there are two brothers. The elder son or we could also say the “firstborn” son of the first Adam was named “Cain”. This son “Cain’s” name is spelled “Qof”, “Yod”, “Nun” in Hebrew. These are the pictures of “the rising sun” (Qof), “the working hand” (Yod), and the “seed continues” (Nun). This is an interesting name. These letters have the implied meaning of “God’s (who is light) early work of His hand, to create a son (seed)”. This appears to be a hidden reference to Lucifer.

If we go and read Isaiah 14:12, we will discover the created being named Lucifer, is called the “son of the morning”. The Hebrew word H7837 is defined as “dawn” and thus the translation of “morning” meaning the rising of the sun. We know from God’s word that He claims to be “Light” in 1 John 1:5. So if Light (God) is rising in Isaiah 14:12 the implication is given that Lucifer was one of God’s earliest or even a “first” of all of His creation. It also is plainly stated that this created angelic being is called a “son” by the Hebrew H1121. This is the word “ben” formed with a “beyt” house joined with a “nun” seed to mean a son. We already learned in the “Beyt” lesson that this name is used to describe the LORD Jesus as the Son of Man and the Son of God.

Some are probably raising their eyebrows at this information. But it is confirmed in the book of Job, when the angels appear before God in heaven where they are clearly called by the title of the “sons of God” (Job 1:6). The same Hebrew word H1121 (ben) is used by God to describe Lucifer’s and the angelic descriptions as “a son” in both verses of Job and Isaiah. Job states directly the son title of angels is a direct reference to be of “Elohim”, and Isaiah makes Lucifer’s connection to God the Light by indirect symbolic reference. If you struggle with this, don’t let it keep you from continuing to read and see what else we can learn about who Cain could represent.

We have not yet fully covered the letter “Qof”, but this letter contains the meaning of the “gathering” of light at sunrise just as the Hebrew word H7837 means dawn of light. It represents a time of movement from darkness to light. Combining this letter “Qof” with the other two “Yod” and “Nun”, we can also get the meaning the “the early gathering hand of seed”. It is interesting that this is exactly what Cain brought as an offering to the LORD. Genesis 4:2 tells us Cain was a “seed” planter and in verse 3 we are informed Cain brought some of his planted “seed” produced “fruit” as an offering to the LORD. This type of work would involve “metal” tools for sowing the seed, as well as for harvesting the “seed” (Nun).

Another key point is Cain’s offerings of his “fruit” produced from “seed” was rejected by God (Gen 4:5). From this information we can again begin to see how Cain, appears to symbolically represent a pattern of Satan, another spiritual being whose “fruit” (labors) from his “seed” (words) have been rejected by God (Gen 3:15). We can more clearly conclude this by us knowing this man Cain, was the first natural murderer. This natural title for Cain corresponds with Satan being called the ultimate “murderer” by the LORD Jesus. In John 8:44, Jesus calls the “devil” a “murderer” from the beginning. This should be obvious that Jesus is giving us a pointer for us to go back and look at the book of “Beginnings” (Genesis) to find the first “murder”. We will find that we are studying about it right now in Genesis 4.

Abel’s is the name of the “younger” or “second” named son of Adam and Eve. Uh oh! Remember Jesus is called the second man in 1 Corinthians 15:47. If Cain the older son is a type of Satan the murderer from the beginning, then Abel does fit the pattern to be Jesus, since Jesus was not murdered by Satan until almost 4000 years after the death of the pattern type named Abel (1 Cor 2:8). This is still a good fit for Satan being Cain, because we are learning that Satan was created long before even the first man Adam was created. Jesus, the Last Adam (1 Cor 15:45) and Son of Adam (Lk 6:5), was born much later. Remember patterns are only outlines, and all of the details will be filled in by God with more revelations from other verses in the future.

The younger son’s name Abel, is spelled in Hebrew; “Hey”, “Beyt”, “Lamed”.  This name’s meaning becomes much more obvious to us by combining the ancient Hebrew picture language definitions of each letter. Abel’s name could be thought of as saying “Behold (Hey) the Son’s House (Beyt) of the Shepherd’s Authority (Lamed). Please just look up each ancient Hebrew letter’s meanings and you will find this combined application. It is amazing that this name Abel ends with our Bible study letter “Lamed”, meaning authority. It is also amazing the “Beyt” appears as the middle letter the picture of a father’s house where his son and heir is born. Finally, the letter Hey means what is being connected is a revelation to behold and to be amazed with. This is certainly an outlined picture of Jesus, because Jesus was significantly questioned about where He got His authority in the Gospels (Mat 21:23).

We can get a further confirmation about Abel being a type for Jesus by the description of both men’s blood being spilled onto the ground. This is just another parallel between these two individuals. God says to Cain, “the blood of your brother cries to me from the ground” (Gen 4;10).  We know the blood of Jesus certainly flowed onto the ground while hanging on a cross (Tav) (Jn 19:34). Then in Hebrews 12:24, God writes of Jesus “the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than the blood of Abel”. There is no doubt the shepherd Abel was a type of Jesus the “Good Shepherd”. It should become more obvious by how God connected Abel’s blood to Jesus’ blood with both speaking.

It would be great if we could go and study every letter, word, and verse of Genesis 4 to find Jesus in more specifics, but that is not possible in this introduction and overview of the “Lamed”. We should be able to see how one shepherd named Abel is a picture of the great Shepherd named Jesus Christ. Finally, please just realize that we can read in 1 Corinthians 2:8, that Satan would not have crucified the LORD of Glory, if he had known what was going to happen to him, and us in the world. This is truly an amazing application discovering how these will fit with Cain and Abel types found in Genesis 4. We will continue next with the overview and application of Moses as a type of Jesus.

8. Moses Natural Deliverer of Israel from Egypt,
Jesus Spiritual Deliverer of Church from World

The description of Moses being a prophetical pattern of the LORD Jesus is amazingly clear when found and seen in scripture. Moses himself prophesies to natural Israel in Deuteronomy 18:15, that God will raise up a Prophet from among the brothers of Israel, and Him should they hear. This is clearly the coming Jesus Messiah. Then in Hebrews 3:5-6, God compares the servant Moses’ faithfulness over his house, to Jesus the Son of God’s greater service over His own house. These are examples of Moses being type for Christ, and there are so many direct comparisons found in the Bible, that they cannot all be listed in this lesson. We will only touch on a very few.

For example, in Exodus 3:1, Moses is stated to be a servant (Alef) that keeps his father-in-law’s flock. The term flock implies Moses to be a shepherd of sheep. Remember who Moses was. Moses lived in the house of the ruling family of Egypt, before he left to become a shepherd of a “flock” in a wilderness. Moses moved from a life of wealth and luxury to a life of hard work and poverty. This sounds very similar as a type and pattern for the supreme ruling God the ruler in Heaven, coming to the earth as a man to become a “Good Shepherd” of His people. In 2 Corinthians 8:9, we find Jesus being called “a former rich man, but for our sakes He became poor that through His poverty, we might also become rich”. We can further see that this was God’s intent for the people that Moses delivered also. These people were taken out of the slave poverty of Egypt to be given a land flowing with milk and honey (Exo 3:8).

In this verse of Exodus 3:1, we are told that Moses “led” his flock. It just so happens that after the Hebrew word translated as “led” (H5090) there appears the hidden “Alef+Tav” untranslated word H853, which are the two letters that Jesus claimed to be in the book of Revelation. This is just another direct connection that God is prophesying about Jesus in this verse. This information clearly teaches us that Moses was a rich ruler that became a poor shepherd, and he was a pattern of the coming Alpha and Omega Lord Jesus. The parallels to Jesus should be becoming very clear already. Now we need to connect our study subject the “Lamed” staff to Moses as a pattern for Christ.

Then in Exodus 4:2 God asks Moses, “what do you have in your hand”?  The Hebrew word H3027 translated as hand, means “power”. Therefore, we discover another connection to Jesus who was anointed with the “power of God” (Acts 10:38). Moses replies; “A rod”. We already learned the Hebrew word H4294, translated as “rod” is defined by Strong to be a “branch” indicating it comes from the “wood” from a tree. But we can notice this word is also translated as “staff” as it probably should be in the context of “tending a flock”. This symbol of a staff and Moses designates that in the eyes of God, Moses had authority. Not just over sheep, but also in more powerful ways that Moses did not yet understand. This power and authority status of the type Moses is a continuation of prophecy that is only fulfilled in the coming Christ/Messiah. We will be learning more about how this is true as we continue to learn. We are now going to go through the example of David as a type of Christ.

9. David the Pattern of Christ’s Coming Shepherd’s Authority

It is definitely important to know that David was a key shepherd prophetic picture of Christ. This story of David and Goliath found in 1 Samuel 17, has many amazing parallels.  This real story is a battle between two opposing kingdoms, or nations who are enemies. The Philistines have gathered and arrayed themselves against God’s covenant people of Israel. The Philistines are clearly a figure of the kingdom of darkness in the world ruled by Satan. The natural nation of Israel is plainly a pictured type of the New Covenant church. Goliath the giant is called the “champion” of the evil nation without a covenant to God, and this can only represent Satan/Lucifer. The young boy named David was just a simple shepherd that only watched over his father’s sheep as his primary role in life. This image represents the humble servant of God called Jesus Christ who came into the world to help gather His father’s lost sheep back into His Father’s sheepfold (Mat 15:24). Remember Jesus is called God the Father’s Holy Child in Acts 4:30.

This battle takes place between two mountains, representing the two spiritual kingdoms: darkness and light. The area between them is called “Elah”, and this was a valley of potential death. David writes of this location in Psalm 23:4 when He says, “Lo though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil”.  This name “Elah” can be interpreted to mean a “mighty oak”. It is interesting that this is a tree that produces very strong wood. But notice one major root of this name “Elah”, is the name of God’ El” that we looked at earlier. Remember this root is spelled “Alef”, “Lamed”, and means “Strong Authority” or the “God with Authority”. This is because the “Alef” alone represents a picture of “God” who is strong and the “Lamed” alone represents a picture of the “authority” of a shepherd.

The Hebrew word transliterated as “Elah”, combines the name of God El with the letter “Hey”. The letter “Hey” represents an instruction for us to “behold”, “look”, “see” what is being connected and revealed. For example, we learned in previous lessons that the name of Jehovah translated as “LORD”, is spelled “Yod”, “Hey”, “Vav”, “Hey”. These combined letter meanings proclaim, “The hand, behold; the nail, behold”. This was a clear hidden prophecy of who Jesus was, and how he would die on a cross.

This name “Elah” also has the meaning of a “covenant oath” as well as the curses that take place when the oath if violated or broken. Can we think about what this is saying? It would appear that God places a story of two nations in His Word, that takes place in a valley of God’s strong oath of covenant.  But there was only one young boy named David that remembered God’s covenant. The rest of the nation of Israel was cowering in fear of this giant (1 Sam 17:13). This is sounding more like our Christ, when facing Satan and the cross, than many can see at first. Now let us look at some other interesting information concerning the Lamed connections being made by God.

In 1 Samuel 17:7, Goliath had in his hand a great “spear”.  In this verse, the shaft of this spear is called a “staff” in the KJV. It is described to be as great as a “beam”. All of these are symbols of someone who has great power and authority. Clearly this is significant to our discussion of the “Lamed”. God appears to be telling us that Satan has the same kind of ability in the spiritual realm of darkness. We can confirm this in the verse of Colossians 1:13, where we read Jesus has “delivered” us from Satan’s (Lamed) authority (G1849) ruling in the kingdom of darkness. Can we see the parallels being made? David delivered Israel from the authority of the Philistines and Goliath their champion, and Jesus has delivered us from the authority of Satan ruler of the darkness. Thank you, Jesus!

Notice how the battle takes place and see the application into our current times. When David was running to fight Goliath, the giant cursed David saying in 1 Samuel 17:43, “Am I a dog that you come at me with a stave (shepherd’s staff)”. This Hebrew word H4731 means a “stick” and Goliath’s words are a prideful demeaning reference to a weapon called a “staff” held in the hand of the young shepherd “David”. Goliath clearly underestimated David’s power and ability that was backed by God. This was the same for Satan who vastly underestimated God’s plan of deliverance through Jesus Christ.

Here again we see a young boy that tended sheep for his father, who is fighting a huge giant with far greater weapons of war and trained skills. This Goliath is clearly a type of Satan, that has grown in power and size from the earlier little serpent symbol found in Genesis 3:1 where he only defeated one man named Adam and his wife named Eve. It is also very important to see that this same devil has grown into a much larger “great red dragon” in the book of Revelation. This should inform and warn you that his tricks of deception have potentially significantly increased. However, to the Christian, we have still been removed from his authority over us, if we give him no place of entrance into our life.

If you read the entire story of David and Goliath, you will continue to find that David is very courageous and fearless of this great giant. The only weapons that he is running with to fight this giant is the tools of a common poor shepherd. David places 5 stones in his shepherd’s bag (1 Sam 17:40) and five is a number for God’s grace.  With God’s grace, David takes his staff of authority, and his sling, which projects the stone. This sling can be associated to be a symbol of the human mouth that speaks (the mouth representing a word projectile spiritual weapon system, against our spiritual enemy Satan). Notice, we can confirm this from David’s actions, while facing the giant. Count how many times David “speaks” confidently (projecting and releasing faith words) and says exactly what he is about to do, and then does it by God’s participation of grace. David remembered that this enemy giant had no covenant with his God, and he did.

Please go and read this chapter and we will notice, before the physical battle begins, there is a different war of wills and words fought. Goliath curses David with his symbolic spear of authority and power, using the power of his gods (the devil). We can see where Goliath’s trust and confidence was in his god, who was not named JEHOVAH LORD (1 Sam 17:43). Goliath then proclaims his will of intent to feed the flesh of David to the birds of the air and to the beasts of the field. We can clearly see a spiritual battle that is taking place between two kingdoms and two gods.  One is Satan the god of this world, and the other is JEHOVAH, the creator of heaven and earth.

Remember we are learning of God’s Old Testament “shepherds” with “staffs” that are types and pointers to Jesus. One common prophetic thread between Abel, Moses, and David, is they all have brothers that are a problem to them. For example, David’s eldest brother is mentioned in 1 Samuel 17:28. In this verse David has to endure verbal abuse by his elder brother. It is very clear that David was not looked upon as a rightful member of their family. Then we can read in Exodus 32, about Moses’ brother Aaron, that gives in to the children of Israel to make them a false god in the image of a golden calf. This sin caused the wrath of God to fall on many.

All of this is in parallel with the very interesting fact that these correspond with Abel’s abuse and natural death committed by his older brother Cain. Now how are all of these types connected with Jesus? When we see Jesus walking the earth in the flesh, his physical brothers also reject him, abuse Him, and kill Him by nailing Him to a wooden cross by Satan’s leading. Wow, these are pretty amazing parallels between all of these shepherds.

There are many other types and shadows found in these stories of shepherds and others. But we will need to conclude this section for now. Hopefully you can see the comparisons from Abel, Moses, and David to Christ. It is essential that our Christ/Messiah is called the “Son of David” in Matthew 1:1. It is highly recommended that you go and read the 23rd Psalm of David about shepherds now. This Psalm will come to life when seen through the eyes of Jesus and His work to lead us into the path of righteousness, so that we can dwell in His house and family, forever and ever.

10. Jesus the New Covenant Lamed
and Shepherd of the Sheep

Remember the Lamed is a picture of a shepherd’s hook and a staff of authority. Interestingly, the letter picture is of a staff that is pointing down, as if held by someone that is in heaven holding the staff while reaching out to the people of the earth, trying to gather them. That cannot be a coincidence, it is more likely to be a “God Incidence” of prophecy. This picture looks very similar to the English uppercase letter “J”, depending upon the font style.

The essential connections that are implied with God’s selection of this symbol are great and should be obvious, if we know the Bible. We have learned a lot of them today. Let us analyze some of the Bible implied truths about a “staff”.  The “staff” of authority is a useless item without a “shepherd’s” hand to hold it. The main reason for the “shepherd” to have and hold his “staff” in his hand, is for him to guide and protect His sheep. Therefore, without “sheep” the authority symbol of the “staff” is only useful for personal travel. This concept reminds us an old saying “He who leads, without anyone following, only takes a walk”. There is a lot of wisdom in that message.

This section is about Jesus claiming to be the “Good Shepherd” (John 10:14). Jesus by making this faith declaration is claiming to have sheep that will follow Him. Further, by Him making this claim Jesus has just implied that He has come down from heaven to the earth to gather some of His potentially lost “sheep”. In order for Him to accomplish this He had to have been given authority to do so, and this is the symbol of a “Staff” (Lamed). We are all making these connections, right? Let us look at a couple of verses that apply to find His “lost sheep” first:

Jer 50:6  My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away on the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace. 

This verse in Jeremiah is a very obvious definition of who “lost sheep” are in God’s dictionary. This verse plainly says “God’s people” in the Old Covenant have become “lost sheep” and their shepherds have caused them to go astray. That is very profound information. God clearly defines “sheep” to be a symbol of people.  Then God informs us there are others in the world that were called to be “shepherds” with authority. It should be obvious by further implied references that a figurative “shepherd” in the natural world is someone that should lead, guide, and feed God’s people into the path of knowing God.

Jesus, we find in Matthew 9:36 had great compassion upon the people, because He saw them as sheep without a shepherd (G4166). This clearly teaches us that God saw the need for good “shepherds” as a requirement for His people. We can see this concept again repeated in the New Covenant. We will find that God has established “shepherds” in the church. This Greek word G4166 is most often translated as “shepherd” but it is also translated as a “pastor” in Ephesian 4:11. In this verse God writes that He has established some apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some “pastors” and some teachers. That is very interesting information to remember. Let us now focus upon our first verse about Jesus claiming to be a “Shepherd”:

Mat 15:24  But he answered and said, I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 

This verse is very applicable to our subject and contains a vast amount of implied information. This verse begins with Jesus saying He was “sent”. This simply implies He came from somewhere else, and we know from other verses that He came from Heaven (Jn 6:38).  Then Jesus narrows His reasons for His personal appearance to focus only on finding the “lost sheep” from the house of Israel. This clearly says the people of natural Israel were lost people that were apart from God and needed to return to Him. There are multiple parallels found in this statement, to the information we read about in the Old Testament shepherd types and shadows. Even though they were focused upon helping natural sheep, we can relate these to what Jesus was doing with spiritual lost sheep.

Now let us focus upon some other direct claims of Jesus that were spoken from His mouth to confirm His fulfillment of the prophecy of the ancient picture of the “Lamed”.  This should not be a lot of new information for most serious Bible students. We will turn to the book of John and chapter 10 to read some selected verses:

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.
Joh 10:2  But he that entereth in by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. 
Joh 10:3  To him the porter openeth; and the sheep hear his voice: and he calleth his own sheep by name, and leadeth them out. 
Joh 10:4  And when he putteth forth his own sheep, he goeth before them, and the sheep follow him: for they know his voice. 
Joh 10:5  And a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers. 

Reading from verse 1, we find Jesus claiming to be speaking in a “sheepfold”. His claim is that He has entered into the sheepfold by going through the legal doorway. His appearance is contrasted with someone else called a “thief” that entered illegally. We must understand Jesus is speaking of the “world” as the symbolic sheepfold. This is the realm of the earth’s atmosphere, where humans breathe air. Jesus says His entrance into the world was lawful and this was because He was born of a natural woman like every other human since Adam and Eve.  Jesus’ entrance into the world is being compared with someone that was not created here or born here legally. This can only be the devil.

Notice the concept given about a shepherd’s voice being known by his sheep. This is essential to understand. A shepherd is not a “cattle wrangler” forcing or driving his animals to go where he desires. Every sheep has their own freewill choice to follow. Because the good “shepherd” is so caring and loving to his flock, they will willingly learn his voice and follow him happily to the next green pasture to feed.

In these verses we can see Jesus, speaking and comparing His purpose for coming into the world’s sheepfold. This is being compared with someone called the “thief” that is being implied to be significantly evil and harmful to God’s sheep (people). This thief is not someone that a true sheep will want to follow, and they are usually tricked or forced to go where they would not really want to go. This “thief” we must know is Satan, and Jesus speaks more directly about His role as a shepherd versus this thief in verse 10:

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

Joh 10:11  I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. 

We can see this more clearly in John 10:10 where the thief, who is Satan, only came into the world to steal, kill and destroy. But Jesus says His purpose was to give His sheep “life abundantly” and this will be achieved by His personal death. This is the basics of the Gospel being proclaimed. Let us move down to verse 14 next:

Joh 10:14  I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. 

Joh 10:15  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 
Joh 10:15  As the Father knoweth me, even so know I the Father: and I lay down my life for the sheep. 

As you can further see, Jesus is now directly claiming to be the “Good Shepherd” of the sheep. As we saw in Jeremiah earlier, He came to show people the truth and the right way to the Father. Notice the intimate and personal relationship between Jesus and His sheep. The term “know” represents personal close fellowship. Jesus said I “know” my sheep and they will also “know” me. This represents “covenant” relationship, as between a husband and his wife. Let us move down to verse 26 next:

Joh 10:26  But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you. 

Joh 10:27  My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. 

We can clearly read that it is “believing” in Jesus that causes anyone to become a following known sheep of Jesus.  Jesus again in these verses, says all of my sheep can hear His voice and recognize Him as their Good Shepherd. These verses and the others that we did not cover prove Jesus to be a “Shepherd” that had authority to gather all of His believing people to save them. Therefore, let us go analyze the subject of Jesus’ authority to learn more about how this relates to the Lamed.

11. Messiah Jesus – The Shepherd’s Authority

One of the most key aspects of the physical ministry life of Jesus on the earth for three and half years was all of the people that took note of His authority. The fact that we can see Jesus had great authority over the kingdom of darkness, made Him unique above all others on earth.

Mat 7:29  For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes. 

A good shepherd is a guide to the blind, hurt, lame and hurting sheep. Jesus operated with this role by teaching His lost sheep things that had been kept secret since the foundation of the world. Jesus taught them using mostly parables that were on their level of natural understanding. When they came to the saving position of believing in Jesus being raised from the dead, and calling Him LORD, then they would be able to understand the spiritual applications of these natural truths. If they had not believed in Him or did not want to make Him their Messiah, they were unable to understand these truths.

Mat 21:23  And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
Mat 21:27  And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things. 

Here is an example of the religious Jewish leadership demanding to know where Jesus got His authority to teach what He was teaching and to do what he was doing. Clearly, they were clueless to whom they were speaking. They had no idea that this was their God of the Torah in the flesh. Since these were men in authority, they recognized that Jesus was acting with greater authority than they even possessed. They could not go into towns and heal everyone. But Jesus did this more than once.

It is very interesting in this discourse, they asked Jesus one question and Jesus asked them one question back. Jesus said you answer me this question, I will tell you by what authority I do these things. But they refused to answer, because His question would have exposed them and answered their question simultaneously.

Mar 1:27  And they were all amazed, insomuch that they questioned among themselves, saying, What thing is this? what new doctrine is this? for with authority commandeth he even the unclean spirits, and they do obey him. 

Jesus constantly did things of such great authority, that He cast out evil spirits continually. Even when the devils questioned His authority to cast them out, Jesus only said “Shut up and come out of him” (Lk 4:35).

These were just a sampling of verses in the Gospels that declare Jesus was operating with great authority, in His teachings to His lost sheep, and in the casting out of evil spirits that possessed and oppressed the sheep. All of these verses clearly show Jesus was a guiding shepherd teacher and a protecting shepherd from the wolves that wanted to devour His lost sheep.  These facts show that there was a symbolic Lamed “staff” of very great authority present in the spiritual hand of Jesus. Praise the LORD!

12. Personal Application of God’s Lamed Authority!

We need to learn how to personalize each ancient alphabet letter picture.  How do we apply this ancient picture of a shepherd’s staff to us as Christians in these last days?  The first application is do you know Jesus the Great Shepherd? Can you recognize His voice? Do you follow where He is leading you?  If you answered no to any of these questions, it is time to turn your life over to the God who created you and knows everything about you and loves you enough to save you from an eternal existence separated from Him. There is a link at the bottom of this lesson that will help you to be introduced to Him. Please go and click on this and follow the basic instructions. Then leave a message to proclaim you accepted Him as your LORD. If you have already done this, then we need to begin to learn what God has given to us by entering into the LORD Jesus Christ. Here is one verse that will help us:

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

This verse is Jesus telling us to take a new look at how His “staff” of authority applies to us right now. In this declaration from the mouth of Jesus, came His personal authority that was given to Him by His Father. He has delegated the most awesome gifts of righteousness and authority that people could possibly imagine (Rom 5:17). Jesus says “I give unto you power”. This Greek word is G1849 (exousia) and it should be translated as “authority”. The applicable definition of this word comes from Thayer and it is defined as “the power of rule or government” and is further said to be “the power of him whose will and commands must be submitted to by others and obeyed”. Did you know Jesus gave you this ability over the devil?  

But many will say: I don’t feel like this is true! Others will say: “it doesn’t work for me”. But yet God is not a man that He should lie” (Num 23:19). Therefore, it must be true regardless of if we know it or believe it, or it looks like it is working or not. Do you remember the time when a man came to Jesus asking Him to help his lunatic son? This son had a spirit like “epilepsy” that would cause the child to fall on the ground and shake. His father said it oft times made him fall into waters or fires trying to kill him (Mat 17:15).

The disciples were given “authority” to heal this boy. But the disciples tried to cast out this spirit and failed because of the deception of the enemy. Jesus looked at His disciples and was very frustrated at them, calling them “a faithless generation” (Mat 17:17). He further informed them that it was because of their unbelief that they could not cast this spirit out! What caused their unbelief in this case, when their faith was sufficient in many other cases of deliverance? The reason they failed for this child, was because the demon in the boy made it look like it was not working this time, and they gave up.

When Jesus cast out this spirit, the same thing happened that must have happened with the disciples. When Jesus commanded the devil out, the child fell on the ground and looked dead (Mk 9:26). But Jesus just ignored what the devil made it look like, and simply took the boy by the hand and lifted him up totally free (Mk 9:27). This implies that when the disciples tried to cast out the demon, the devil tore the boy the same way and he fell on the ground. The boy could have appeared dead, or he just could have continued to make the child shake and foam at the mouth, and one of these delaying tactics caused their faith to change to unbelief. Do you see the difference?

We have been given this authority regardless of how it looks on the outside world, and in our personal circumstances. God says it will work, if you will not change when it is applied in your life. The devil will try to delay you to change your mind also. He will even try to distract you away from using your spiritual authority. But where is this authority and why have many not known about this before?

We need to give God a chance to reveal a new Hebrew word translated as “heart” in the Old Testament. This word is H3820, and it is only two letters. The first letter is the “Lamed” representing “authority”, and the second letter is the “Beyt”, representing the house where a family resides within. In this application we need to see that a tent must be entered into in order to be experienced. We can all look at the outside of a mansion, but never go inside to experience it. Therefore, the concept being taught by these two letters represents a man’s “Authority is Inside”. Or it can also be expressed as “the authority of the human is inside”.  Did you get what this is saying? Please don’t miss it. What God is expressing is the location of human authority is in our spirit.

When Jesus was physically present upon the earth in His mortal flesh, we saw that He had great authority, even over the demonic spirits. We have also seen how He could delegate this authority to His disciples. But this authority was spiritual and not a natural ability. It required spiritual “faith” to be effective to release God’s power. What is “faith”, or a better question would be “where is our faith”? Everyone has “faith” in something, but do we have any faith in the words of Jesus? God answered this question in many verses but Acts 8:37 is a good one. Here we are told to believe with all of our heart.

According to this Hebrew word, we discover a mystery of where Jesus obtained His authority. Remember the Hebrew word H3820 is normally translated as “heart”. This represents the center of a human being. This location is within the unseen spiritual interior of the physical body. Remember a tent is God’s symbol of the human body where the human spirit resides inside. This human body spirit container is called a tabernacle in the New Testament (2 Peter 1:14), because this is also where God’s Holy Spirit comes to live when we ask Him inside to sup with us. When God is invited into our tent, He joins with us to become one Spirit (1 Cor 6:17). Therefore, we have just learned and confirmed:

  1. Our Body is a Tent/Tabernacle
  2. The temporary tent residence of our human spirit
  3. The tabernacle that we invite God into,
    to be joined with our spirit to be One
  4. And God calls this place “inside” to be our heart (Lamed + Beyt)

Whose spirit did Jesus have on the inside of His physical Tabernacle body? You better answer God’s Holy Spirit, because that was the temporary temple residence of God in person. Jesus confirms this speaking in John 2:19. All of the people believed Jesus was speaking of their stone temple, but we are informed He was speaking of His mortal body, being buried for 3 days and being raised up again to eternal life. This is very amazing information.

But how does that help us? The answer is because Jesus died and was raised from the dead, He obtained all authority in heaven and on the earth (Mat 28:18). He immediately gave this fully obtained authority to everyone that believed on Him. He further sent the Holy Spirit to live inside of us, so that we would have the spiritual power and authority on the spiritual inside to release this on the outside in the physical realm. Do you see how Jesus was a pattern for us today? How He operated with power and authority is how every believer can do the same. Don’t believe this? Jesus said in John 14:12; “Whoever believes on me, the works that I do, shall you do also, and greater works will you do because I go to my Father”. Wow, when was the last time you raised anyone from the dead? Don’t feel bad, because we are all rising to a higher dimension of authority everyday by learning the truth.

Some may still say I don’t believe any of this. You may ask, why don’t I feel like I have any authority? Why doesn’t this authority seem to work over the devil in my life? Just don’t forget what we learned at the beginning of this section. The devil is going to try to make us doubt it is not working, even when it is working, to get us to fail.

Also remember what we have just learned from God’s chosen spelling of the Hebrew word “heart”. God gave us spiritual authority over our spiritual enemy only on the inside of our body, hidden within our spirit. It is NOT normally an external feeling that can be experienced with our five physical senses. God requires us to have “faith” in Him and His Word. This includes us believing in even how He chose to spell the words that have important revelation within them. Do you see the parallels in that last statement? There are hidden messages in letter definitions that were not understood for a long time. These were opened up now so that we could believe in our unseen human heart, about His spiritual works.

Another great Hebrew word that is created with the “Lamed” as the first letter is the Hebrew word H1980. This word has the root word “LK” which consists of the “Lamed” + “Kaf”.  The letter “Kaf” is a picture of a man’s open hand.  It is the letter that directly precedes the “Lamed” staff. Thus, they are already intimately connected by alignment, association, and usage.  It requires a Kaf “hand” to hold the Lamed “staff” of authority. These two letters together have the meaning of in the hand of a man. This certainly applies to Jesus, but it also applies to Christ followers called His sheep.

The word H1980 is most often translated as a form of to “walk”. This is because a man with a staff in his hand implies that he is traveling somewhere to arrive at his destination. In Biblical times, many travelers were the only source of information from other locations of the world. Thus, this word also means to be a “messenger” with a “message”. But this word is also used as a form of “relationship” between two individuals that were “walking together” in unity.

For example, in Genesis 3:8 we find God walking in the garden of Eden to fellowship with His created man and his wife. It is implied that God and Adam did this walk together often, because Adam recognized the sound of God’s voice walking in the garden and ran and hid because of their sin.  However, the second time this word is used it has a different ending result. In Genesis 5, we read of a man named Enoch. This man also walked with God, and their relationship was so very close that God took Enoch off of the planet without him seeing physical death. Wow!

Do you see how us having a staff in our hand has any application to our lives on this earth? God is saying to us, that we need to have close intimate relationship with Him personally daily, minute by minute. We must use our faith to walk with Him to get the messages that we need for our lives. A part of this must be fellowshipping with the Word of God, and the other part fellowshipping with the Spirit of God in prayer, worship and praise. But it does not stop there, because we still live in a natural world right now. We have this staff of authority in our hands to walk to others and bring them the “Good News” from the Kingdom of God. This is exactly what Jesus did personally in the flesh when He was here, and this is the example for us to follow.

Our spiritual authority has been given to us in our spirit, residing in a temporary spirit tent dwelling called our body. God accomplished this by joining our spirit with the Holy Spirit of Christ, and this was all defined by the Hebrew word “labe”, that is translated as “heart”. In or physical body, we have been given the “staff” of authority to walk with God and to bring His message to others.  Christians have been given great gifts from God that contain His authority. This authority is inside the house where the Spirit of God abides forever. We have been given a powerful “staff” of authority and we are told to hold it in our hands and never to turn loose of it. Jesus transferred this staff with His commands (words); “Go into all the world”, and “in my name you will cast out devils”.  God desires for us to continue finding and inviting lost people to become a part of His sheepfold.

13. CONCLUSION

We have been going through a brief study of the ancient Hebrew letter “Lamed”. We have learned that this letter is a picture of a shepherd’s staff. It represents God’s ultimate authority. We should have seen how this authority was given to the Son of God, named Jesus after His resurrection from the dead. This authority was further delegated to His body on the earth with Him being the “Head” (Resh) in heaven. We have not yet learned about the “Resh” letter, but that was your first introduction to Christ being the head of the body, called the church.

We have seen several verses that can help us to see Jesus as the ultimate “Good Shepherd” in this lesson. Every “Good Shepherd” will have a staff in His hand, and Jesus is no different.  Here is just another verse relating to Christians being “sheep” and Jesus being our Shepherd:

1Pe 2:25  For ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls. 

This verse in 1 Peter is an obvious reference to Jesus as the Shepherd that was being prophesied in the ancient Hebrew letter “Lamed”. This is just another confirmation that Jesus is our Shepherd that David wrote and prophesied about in Psalm 23. Remember this verse is a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53:6 where the prophet wrote that we were all like sheep that went astray. We can again confirm those saved in the church body, are the sheep that have returned to their true shepherd. Let us conclude this lesson with another ending prophecy of Jesus in the book of Revelation:

Rev 19:11  And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. 

Rev 19:12  His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. 

Rev 19:13  And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God. 

Rev 19:14  And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. 

Rev 19:15  And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. 

Here is an awesome description of Jesus coming back to the earth to rule for 1000 years with His saints. We know this is Jesus because Jesus claims to be the Faithful and True witness in Revelation 3:14. Then we can confirm Jesus is God, because these identical terms were used to describe the LORD in Jeremiah 42:5.

Notice in these verses that the coming Lord Jesus is clothed in a robe dipped into blood (v13), and is riding a white horse (v11). God further describes a sharp sword in his mouth, which is a representation of His words of authority, eminence and power. We can also clearly see the church riding behind Jesus on more white horses, with clean and white robes, representing purity and righteousness. But it is verse 15, that we need to focus upon.

In verse 15 of Revelation 19, we are told Jesus will rule the nations of the world with a “rod” of iron. Notice the transition that has occurred during this context. Instead of a wooden shepherd’s staff, this one is made of strong iron. This iron rod/staff is for a much different purpose than the wooden staff of the Shepherd Jesus, that managed docile loving sheep that follows Him willingly. No, we are seeing two different rods, and purposes for two different groups of people.

Notice the Greek word G4464 that is translated as “rod” in this passage, means a stick or baton that presents the holder to be royalty in a kingdom. This certainly fits Jesus as the King of kings”. It is normally translated to be a “rod” like we saw in Moses’ hand of authority.  We again see in Revelation 17:14 that Jesus the Lamb of God is called the LORD of lords, and the King of kings. Clearly there are many references to the multiple roles of Jesus within God’s Kingdom.

What we are confirming is the fact that during this current church age of grace, Jesus offers humans a loving Shepherd. Anyone can join His flock by believing and confessing Jesus as their LORD. But when the age of Grace ends and the fulness of the gentiles come in, there is a new transitional time for judgment that will begin.  This time will initiate a 7-year period called the time of Jacob’s trouble. Jacob as you know is the foundational member of the natural nation of Israel. There were 490 years prophesied about these natural people by the prophet Daniel. This is 70 weeks of years. Every week has been fulfilled, except for the last week that many call the 3 ½ year “Tribulation”, followed by the 3 ½ year “Great Tribulation”.

This final week of prophecy to the natural people of the earth will end the ability to be saved during the 6 days (6000 years) of God’s work for humanity. There will be a 7th day of “Rest” called the Millennium, that will follow the “Great Tribulation”. These verses in Revelation 19 describe the ending battle to fully subdue the devil’s kingdoms ruled over the people on the earth. This is why this battle is brought about with the stronger authority of iron. The weapon that will ultimately defeat the devil, will be the sword coming out of the mouth of Jesus. It is this picture that represents His powerful words. We will hopefully talk about these concepts when we arrive at learning the ancient Hebrew letter “Zayin”, the LORD be willing.

Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with us. We are greatly blessed when anyone reads, learns and shares these lessons. It is also a great blessing to receive feedback, questions, comments and positive constructive criticism. If you run across any grammatical or typographical errors, it is greatly appreciated when you let us know. God bless you all. Remember Satan is very angry because he knows that, JESUS IS COMING SO VERY SOON!

Intro Alef Beyt-1 2 Gimel Dalet Hey Vav Zayin Chet Tet Yod Kaf Lamed Mem 1 2 Nun Samekh Avin Pey Tsade Qof Resh Shin Tav Alef-Beyt Chart (Series updated as LORD directs and permits)

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THE TRUE IDENTITY OF THE WOMAN IN REVELATION 12 Pt 9 – Why the Church Pt 2

(Ver 1.0) This is now “Part 9” in the advanced Bible study series of lessons revealing, “The True Identity of the woman in Revelation 12”. But today’s lesson is also “Part 2” of the miniseries within the full series called “Why the Church”. This mini-revealing series is designed to answer a lot of Christian’s deep questions to how this woman could possibly be the church. Many see the words written to indicate this woman could only be the virgin Mary, or the natural nation of Israel. This is based upon the fact that her child will rule with a rod of iron, and this MUST be Jesus in some form. No doubt this is the popular belief, and it logically stands to reason why it is believed to be this way.

What this lesson series is attempting to do, is to help you change your vision from a natural reasoning viewpoint into a heavenly God spiritual viewpoint. God sees things in ways that the carnal human does not even begin to comprehend. Therefore, it is again highly advised that you go and pray the prayer found in Ephesians 1:17-23. This will ask God to give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in knowing HIM who is Christ Jesus. Opening your spiritual eyes to see what has been accomplished by God in and through Jesus Christ. Make this prayer personal and believe God heard and answered you.

Today’s Bible lesson will deal with the Bible interpreting itself on the subject of what the pregnant woman represents and her child represents, from a Holy God perspective, and viewpoint. This should be of interest to a lot of Christians. Because it will answer a lot of questions about how this woman in Revelation 12 can represent the church. Are you excited and expecting to learn? If you really are, then you are ready to begin.

If you have not read the first part of the miniseries or the entire full series, please at least start with “Part 8 – Why the Church”, or “The True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12 PART 1”. There are too many details already covered that are not able to be restated in this lesson.

First, we need to repeat the series warning.  This series was written for spiritually mature Christians. For those that are newly born again, or younger Christians, you may want to go study some more basic Bible foundational subjects before trying to digest some deep eschatological study that may be hard to swallow. This decision could possibly help you not to be offended at what will be a very deep spiritual subject filled with complex spiritual information and application, about a highly controversial topic. Thank you for judging yourself before continuing.

We pray that you love God, and His Word as much as we do. We are infinitely blessed to have the author of the Bible living on the inside of us to help us all understand the mysteries of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. We want to say before you begin, we love you all very much. This lesson series is founded upon divine love and no other motivation is present or hidden. Please know this before you leave any mean or nasty comments.

One of the first things to answer about the woman in Revelation 12, is to determine, if she is natural or spiritual. Is she literal, or a figurative symbol for a greater hidden spiritual message? Answering this question, can only be established based upon the context descriptions of her.

We can remember, that she is seen in heaven in verse 1. This causes us to begin to lean to understand that she is a spiritual reality. But then we see she is clothed with the sun and standing on the moon. Both of these CANNOT be taken literally, and this almost seals the confirmation that she is a spiritual being. The major confirming sign that this chapter is speaking of spiritual realities, is the mention of the dragon and the ancient serpent, who God defines to be Satan and the devil. This being is certainly a spirit being, therefore, the woman can only be interpreted as spiritual also.

Please remember the basics of eschatological hermeneutical principles. Here is a fundamental rule to begin “If the plain sense, makes perfect sense, seek no other sense”. Because the first verse in Revelation 12, does not make plain and perfect sense, this forces us to seek God for the actual true sense. People have tried to answer this problem by searching the Bible for any references to the “sun, moon, and stars”. They have then found one reference in Genesis 37:9 in the dream of Joseph.

This was used rapidly to confirm in their minds that the woman can only be the natural nation of Israel, since that is what the dream was about. But they ignored the placement of these objects on and around the woman because these facts do not make plain sense. Because the placement of these objects is important, and they were defined by Jacob to be clear symbolic references to specific individuals, we should try to apply this information into the Revelation 12 interpretation of the symbolic elements. But few have tried to do this.

We will be exploring a lot of great new hidden secrets of God concerning the church. What we are discovering is that the woman in Revelation 12, represents a victorious church that has overcome the enemy Satan. It must be understood that the two key chapters to understanding Revelation 12, is to first understand Genesis 3 and then understand Galatians 4. These two chapters have direct connections to what God wants us to learn about Revelation 12. But we will also be going over other verses to help us. Let us look at some new insights about what we learned in the last lesson, before we continue to today’s subjects.

NEW REVELATION 12:1 INSIGHTS

In the last lesson we did an overview of some of the key aspects and descriptions found in Revelation 12:1. We all know there was a woman, that appeared in heaven. She is said to be clothed with the sun. We have learned that this means she is clothed with Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2). But there is much more to this sun symbol than just this single great revelation. For example:

Eph 6:11  Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 

Notice what this verse says to us. God says put on His armor. Then we find in the book of Romans:

Rom 13:12  The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light

Ok, now we are gaining important insight into what type of clothing we in the church are supposed to be wearing. Our spiritual armor is called “the armor of light”. Wow, what does the sun do for our world? The sun gives us light by day. Now we are confirming we are in God’s kingdom of Light and the Day (1 Thessalonians 5:5). We are supposed to take off the works of darkness, and put on this (sun) light armor.

By casting off our clothes (works) of darkness, what happens to them? They fall to the floor of course. If they fell, are they under us, or above us?  Uh oh? This is just more confirmation that the moon under our feet in Revelation 12:1, are things that we have put off and thrown down and this allows us to be standing above the moon. Do you see how this truth concerning the church matches the description of the woman so far very well?

This new information about clothing being like works for good or evil, implies that we are supposed to be doing works for God’s Kingdom of His dear Son, and not the works of the enemy. What we must conclude is that wearing the Sun in Revelation 12:1 is the same as wearing Light as an Armor in Romans 13:12, and this must be connected with doing good “works” for the Kingdom of God on the earth. Can we agree so far? This will get much clearer soon as you continue to read.

But also notice in Ephesians 6:11 God says by wearing His full armor, the church (we) will be able to stand against the enemy. Notice the mention of standing. Does this involve the feet? Of course, it does, and we see a woman in Revelation 12:1 with her feet, which are implied to be standing on, and above the moon. We have already determined very clearly; the moon is the representative symbol of the ruler of the darkness who God calls Satan (Ephesians 6:12).

Again, we have this connection being made in Romans 13:12, with the mention of “night” and “darkness”. Being connected with the armor of “light” and the mention of “day” being at hand. The woman in Revelation 12, is certainly standing in the Daylight of the Sun. We are experiencing another confirmation for who the woman in Revelation 12:1 really represents, and how the church is planned by God to overcome the devil, by wearing God’s defensive weapons and by wielding God Spiritual Sword, called the Word of God. Amen.

INTRODUCTION –
SEEING REVELATION 12
FROM GOD’S SPIRITUAL VIEWPOINT

Let us review one of the foundational verses for this miniseries of lessons about WHY the church is the woman in Revelation 12. We should be attempting to rise far above the normal natural human perspective of things that anyone can read in the Bible. We can read in Isaiah 55:8, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, and my ways are not your ways”. It is very clear from this statement that God claims to be smarter than us, and to think and see things different than we do as humans. This is one of the reasons, Jesus came to the earth to help reveal God’s higher thoughts and ways to us, and here is one thing that He said about this subject of perspectives:

John 3:12  If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things? 

Remember again that Jesus gave us this “key to help us in understanding God’s thoughts”. Knowing this will be a huge benefit to understanding a great portion of the book of Revelation. We must begin by understanding that God is a Spirit (John 5:24). If God is a Spirit, and it was Him who designed and authored the book of Revelation (2 Tim 3:16).  God selected a writing technique utilizing many major patterns from natural symbolic objects and realities, that reveal unseen existing higher spiritual truths, entities and realities.

But here is a potentially new revelation for you. God expects you to become a mature Christ follower. He expects His church to grow up spiritually (1 Peter 2:2). This simply means we are not supposed to remain as carnal thinking humans. This should help you to see the necessity to change our thoughts to conform to His. This is essential for understanding the book of Revelation.

Today we will focus on the natural subjects of the process of a physical woman’s pregnancy, labor, and delivery of a child. In this analysis, we will confirm and apply what this natural process represents, in the spiritual birth process that is taught to us in the Word of God. Probably most of you have never thought of this or studied this subject, until now. Is a spiritual woman’s process of giving spiritual birth, the same types of experiences as the natural birthing process? That should sound interesting to a lot of Christians who want to know the truth.

We will be going through additional verses in Revelation 12, starting with verse 2 and possibly continuing to verse 6. What will help you to see these verses differently, is by changing your perspective and expectation for who you may have ignorantly “pre-judged” her to represent. To “pre-determine” who she represents before you see all of the evidence, blocks your ability to see any truth that God really desired you to see. There are a lot of Christians that are closed minded to change any viewpoint. Some have called these types of people, “concrete Christians”, meaning they are thoroughly mixed up and firmly set, and almost impossible to change even with the greatest message of truth. We pray no one reading fits this description. Please, decide to be an Acts 17:11, more noble type of Bible student.

This is a common tactic of the devil, to block God’s revelation from being seen. As long as Satan can get us to seek words that makes this woman to be only natural Israel, then that is what we will see and find. This fact of what we seek for, determines what we find, is based upon the law Jesus spoke to us in Matthew 7:7. Therefore, instead of seeking to find natural Israel, just ask God to help you to seek the truth, and you are promised to find it (John 16:13).

Imagine in your spirit, that the Holy Spirit came to you in an audible voice and said “This woman is the Church”. Would you ignore this personal God visitation to help give you this revelation? Some people do this all the time. But not with an audible voice from God. No, God uses pastors and teachers of the Word of God by giving them the revelation, and then helping them to present it to the rest of the Body of Christ. This method of divine operation is so easy to bypass and ignore as false teaching, simply because a message did not conform to what you believed it said. Uh oh?

Therefore, allow the Holy Spirit that lives in you to bear witness with what you are reading today. If the Holy Spirit, makes you feel very unpeaceful, then please reject and ignore everything that this internal feeling occurs upon. It is possible, that God will give you peace with certain parts of the message and not every part. If that occurs, then be as wise as an old cow feeding in a pasture, eat the good green grass and spit out the bad tasting sticks. But if the Holy Spirit gives you perfect peace in your spirit, then that should be a sign to you, that this should be given your attention. Finally, are we ready to go? Let us turn to Revelation 12:2 and begin our study.

Rev 12:2  And she being with child cried, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered

Rev 12:3  And there appeared another wonder in heaven; and behold a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and seven crowns upon his heads. 

Rev 12:4  And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born

Rev 12:5  And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne
Rev 12:6  And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days

Ok, these are really awesome word selections displaying an intentional intelligent design and designer behind them. God’s intelligence is so far beyond ours, that we easily miss the spiritual truths that He is speaking using a naturally coded message. Remember that it is much easier for us to understand the spiritual truths, by first coming to understand the corresponding natural truths. Let us list some of the major new qualities and descriptions of the woman in Revelation 12 verses 2 through 5:

  1. Verse 1 informed us that there is a woman in heaven who is “with” child in verse 2.
  2. Therefore, she is crying out, while travailing in labor in the spirit realm.
  3. She is experiencing pain while waiting to be delivered.
  4. An evil dragon stood before or against her.
  5. The dragon waits to devour the male child as soon as he is born.
  6. After birth her child was caught up to God and to His throne.
  7. The woman goes into a wilderness prepared by God to be fed for 3 ½ years.

We will not go into tremendous detail, but we will try to take each point, one by one. However, this lesson will not be able to touch on every subject, because of the length of the lesson that this would cause. It is wise to warn you that this will still be a long Bible lesson. It is recommended that you break it into seven separate study sessions, unless you have the time to do it all in one study. Today we will focus our study upon seven sections of information which are:

  1. A Woman with child, which will take us to the next subject.
  2. Can the spiritual church of Jesus Christ, have a spiritual child or children?
  3. Then we will learn about how God reveals the spiritual woman the church has children.
  4. Next, we will review what are the differences between spiritual and physical births.
  5. Next, we will address, the spiritual concept of labor.
  6. Next, we will address the spiritual subject of fruit.
  7. Finally, we will address the spiritual subject of delivery.

If you notice these are all components found, or implied in the natural concepts of birth that were listed within Revelation 12, but instead of looking at them from the physical perspective, we are going to shift into the higher dimension of seeing them from God’s spiritual viewpoint, revealed in the Holy Bible. If you are ready, let us get started.

1. WOMAN WITH CHILD

What do these natural words, descriptions, and symbols teach us? First, we must begin by understanding that everything stated in these verses (1-6) are predominately spiritual truths that are being taught to us with a mixture of both supernatural, and common descriptions of natural realities. Please take notice that the words spoken DO NOT teach a natural how to guide for human pregnancy. No, God is only using concepts that most are already familiar with to help reveal the hidden unknown spiritual message.

Without this foundation, you will be very confused. Let us go over a quick list of what we should be able to see in Revelation 12:1-6:

  1. Remember that a woman (wife) in a relationship with God always represents a covenant partnership. We can learn this in several verses, but research Jeremiah 31:32 (Israel), and Matthew 9:15 (Church) to see two references.
  2. This statement implies that this woman was previously a physical reality upon the earth, before she was taken into heaven. We can confirm her simultaneous existence in both heaven and on the earth, reading verse 6.
  3. Therefore, we can conclude that God/Jesus must have taken this woman up to be with Him at the throne. Does this sound like a type of rapture for those that were ready with oil in their lamps? In this story 5 virgins were not prepared and did not enter into the wedding. These could represent the people that were left on the earth who repented and returned to Christ. We will find more evidence coming to support this view soon.
  4. Also, this verse implies that this woman’s appearance in heaven was because she is considered righteous and not of the kingdom of darkness. We will see this more clearly when we look again at her clothing.

QUESTIONS?

  1. Is the church viewed as a spiritual woman to God?
  2. Can a spiritual woman give birth?
  3. Is a spiritual woman’s child also spiritual?
  4. What does it mean to be spiritually pregnant?

2. DOES THE BIBLE SPEAK OF
SPIRITUAL CHILDREN THAT ARE
BIRTHED BY THE CHURCH?

This is a very major and significant question that must be answered accurately, in order for us to believe, and confirm that this woman in Revelation 12 could represent the church. It is plainly stated in Revelation 12:2, that this woman was pregnant, and she was crying out while travailing with labor pains, waiting to be delivered. Please remember that this Greek word used to describe the pregnant “woman”, is the same word used to describe the Lamb’s “wife” in Revelation 19.

This is a lot of amazing information that we just read. This clearly describes the natural process of birth. But does this information also have spiritual applications for the church? I believe with all of my heart that it ALL DOES. To begin, we will only focus upon answering the question, can the spiritual church body (Romans 12:5), have a spiritual child?

The Greek word G5043 that was translated as “child” twice in Revelation 12, verses 4 and 5, describes the male child that was born to the woman. But this same word is used many times in the New Testament to describe both natural, and spiritual children. A search of this word in the New Testament reveals a lot of valuable information.

Also, it is very interesting to notice that this exact Greek word is never used to describe the baby Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem of the virgin Mary (Israel). It is only used to described the physical child that was born of Elizabeth, whose name was John. But for Jesus, it is NOT used. This appears to be another strike against the child in Revelation 12 being the newborn baby Jesus. Let us go to the first book of the Corinthians next, to see what Paul wrote to the church:

1 Cor 4:14  I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you. 

This is a very interesting verse of truth. Paul writing to the church in Corinth, calls them “his” beloved “sons”. It just so happens the Greek word translated as “sons” is the exact same word G5043 translated as “child” in Revelation 12. Is that a coincidence? I ask that question a lot, to get you to think. There are no coincidences in the Bible. If this is a spiritual parent child relationship, we should begin to ask, is Paul their spiritual father or mother? Uh oh? That sounds like satanic gender confusion.

We all should know the Apostle Paul was a human male. We also should all know that Paul was an unmarried bachelor (1 Cor 7:8). Therefore, it is impossible for Paul to have had natural children in this verse in 1 Corinthians 4:14, and he must be speaking spiritually. Let us read down a few verses and see another usage of this same Greek word:

1Co 4:17  For this cause have I sent unto you Timotheus, who is my beloved son, and faithful in the Lord, who shall bring you into remembrance of my ways which be in Christ, as I teach every where in every church. 

Here, we can confirm again, that a male name Timotheus, is being called a spiritual child of his spiritual parent also a male named Paul. Wow, if that is not amazing, I do not know how to then get you awake. This described parent and child relationship is purely spiritual, and not physical. We should believe that these types of spiritual revelations, are the reason why Satan is bringing up the confusion of natural sexual identity. Satan will attempt to use this evil, to turn people away from the spiritual truth of God’s word.

It is interesting that this same pattern is repeated again in 1 Timothy 1:2, and 2 Timothy 1:2, where Paul calls Timothy his dear son (child) in the faith. This is again repeated in Titus 1:4 where Paul calls Titus, his own son (child) after the common faith. We are seeing a pattern of spiritual truth that must NOT be ignored. God confirms very clearly that there exist spiritual births that come by spiritual parents.

Now who is PAUL? Paul is a male member of the early corporate church body. He is one of the chief spiritual leaders of the Christian faith. He wrote 2/3 of the New Testament, so he definitely knows what he is talking about. Paul should be considered to be a representative of the spiritually mature part of the body of believers, since he was the one that was teaching them how to grow spiritually (1 Cor 3:2). Since Paul is one major member of the entire church, Paul qualifies to be called a spiritual woman bride. Paul is confirming that the church can have spiritual children with some of the body being a mature parent, and new believers of the body being their child (G5043). Can we all agree so far? It only gets more amazing from here.

3. HOW WOULD THE SPIRITUAL CHURCH
BRING FORTH SPIRITUAL CHILDREN?

Please take note that this is the next most significant question for us to answer, in order for us to determine if someone specific in the church, or the church as a combined whole can conceive, bare, and bring forth a spiritual child. Let us take a look at a verse in Philemon:

Phm 1:10  I beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten in my bonds: 

Here is Paul writing to the church and claiming to have given birth to a son while being bound in chains. The Greek word G1080 that is translated as “begotten” literally means to “procreate”. This word procreate can mean, “to multiply by sowing seed”. This word can certainly apply to both the natural methods of procreation, and the spiritual methods of procreation.

It can also be applied to the father as the seed supplier, or the mother as the seed receiver. Therefore, which one is Paul claiming to be? It is entirely possible that Paul is claiming to be both. That is a difficult new question to answer in detail, in this Bible study series, but it is answered in the Bible very clearly.

What is the answer? The answer comes from Genesis 2. This is where God gives us the details of Adam’s creation and how his wife came out of his side. This was the exact pattern that occurred in the Spirit realm when Christ died on the cross and was raised from the dead to become the second man (1 Corinthians 15:47). Jesus is also called the Last Adam in 1 Corinthians 15:45.

To help us confirm that what happened to the first Adam, is what happened to the second Adam (Jesus), we must also know Romans 5:14, where God teaches clearly that the first Adam was a “figure” of Jesus to come. The Greek word translated as “figure” means” a “sample type”, “pattern”, “model”, and “style”. Wow, that is powerful.

This knowledge teaches us that what was recorded to happen to Adam, will be the prophetical “pattern” for what must happen to Jesus during His manifested presence upon the earth. But Jesus will make the right choices and His wife and bride will NOT be deceived. Again, we have the prophesied victory of a woman over Satan spoken from God’s mouth in Genesis 3. God’s Words WILL come to pass, and the time is now for the victory.

But we did not answer the question, how can a natural male in the church be both the spiritual mother and the spiritual father of new spiritual children in the church?  The answer is still found in Genesis 2. Adam was put to sleep, and Jesus was put to sleep on the cross. Adam’s side was opened to remove Eve, Jesus’ side was opened to pour out blood and water to save His church bride. Because the first natural woman was taken out of Adam, the last spiritual woman was taken out of Jesus. But God said in the Law of Covenant Marriage in Genesis 2:24, the “two shall be one flesh”. We learn in 1 Corinthians 6:17, that whoever is joined (married in a covenant) to the LORD is ONE SPIRIT! This teaches the concept of two being called one, as long as one is a male, and the other is the female joined in matrimony.

Please remember Eve, is a prophesied pattern of the spiritual church and not natural Israel. Then recall in Genesis 3:10, Adam calls His wife by the name Eve, because she is the mother of all living. Wow! This is where Christians are missing a major revelation of the church’s role in the kingdom of God immensely. This pattern of Eve being the mother of all the natural living human race teaches us that the church must also be a mother to all the spiritually living born-again believers in Christ. How does this occur? How is this even possible?

If Eve is one pattern of who the church is, and she was a mother the natural living, then this matches the description of the pregnant woman in Revelation 12 being a spiritual mother of the spiritual living. It is possible a lot of people will not be able to comprehend this immediately. Especially spiritually immature Christians. But we will soon see more evidence for what is being taught by the Holy Spirit. Thank you, Jesus.

We do not have time to cover this part in depth. This should be a Bible study series, all by itself. But there are more than enough facts of spiritual truth being given to you to continue to study and confirm more of this with other scriptures. I would suggest that you go and read the Bible study about “How did the church became the body of Christ”.

You might also like to read and study verses like “Romans 12:5”, and “1 Corinthians 12:12, 27”. In these two verses, the church members are called the body of Christ on the earth. This clearly is God calling His female church bride by the male name Christ, also being His body. Therefore, we can confirm how the woman bride is being given the same name as He does (Christ) through the covenant that we have entered into with Him. Wow, this is awesome when you see it. How can spiritually born-again people on the earth be our risen savior’s body, while He is physically seated in heaven? This is how God reveals hidden spiritual mysteries. God reveals this problem and answered it very clearly in Ephesians 5. We need to move on to a new verse that may help people to see what is being taught.

My special reader asked, “How can the woman be the church, since we did not birth the Messiah”. My response should be, “SAYS WHO?” What we are about to confirm using the Bible, is that the church actually does birth the Messiah, but our spiritual child is not the physical Jesus born in the form of a baby, in a manger in Bethlehem. Remember to stop thinking carnally, and look for the spiritual realities of God in scripture.

Gal 4:19  My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, 

This is one of the most amazingly obvious proof texts confirming the church to be the woman in Revelation 12:2. Notice that this is Paul writing to a different church in Galatia. He uses the same terminology “children” to describe his relationship with them. The Greek word G5040 translated as children comes from the Greek word G5043 used in Revelation 12. Therefore, God confirms that we have a direct connection that He is speaking of the same subject.

Then notice the Greek word G5605 that is translated “travail in birth”. Wow, this is the exact same Greek word used to describe the woman in Revelation 12:2. Now we have two direct word connections and this one is overwhelming and irrefutable. It just so happens that Galatians 4 and Revelation 12 are the only times this word is used by the Holy Spirit in the ENTIRE BIBLE. That makes this the ultimate qualified match.

Mary is never described using this word, and certainly not Israel either. This evidence of intelligent divine design, narrows the possibilities of choice that could have been easily changed by God, selecting and using different Greek words in either verse. There are many other possible word selections to describe child birth. This specific identical word choice, simply confirm that the woman in Revelation 12, can be NONE OTHER THAN THE CHURCH!

We must conclude that Paul by travailing the same as the woman in Revelation 12, is proclaiming to be that woman. Whether Paul knew this in his mind or not, it was what the Holy Spirit inspired him to write. Therefore, God is ultimately making the match.

Ok, here is what we MUST notice in this verse. My reader said the church never gave birth to Messiah, but here is the clear evidence proving the church does give birth to Messiah. The Greek word G5547 is translated as Christ. This is the Greek word for the Hebrew word translated as Messiah (H4889). Both words mean “the anointed one”.  Clearly God has just confirmed the Church does give birth to Messiah, but this Messiah is definitely not the natural child in Bethlehem. Are we all awake yet?

What else is important to learn from this verse? Notice that Paul said I travail in birth AGAIN, until Christ be formed in you. This is amazing! Paul is claiming to be a female that gives birth to children. Paul is also claiming this is NOT HIS first-time laboring to give birth. The word “again” clearly implies there have been MANY births, and we can see this from all of the children references that Paul claims to be the birth mother of. Wow, this is amazing if you will receive it.

4. THAT WHICH BORN OF FLESH IS FLESH
AND BORN OF SPIRIT IS SPIRIT

This is a majorly deep spiritual topic today, and our prayer is that it does not escape your understanding of God’s Truth. We have talked more than once in this series of lessons about this subject, that was brought to us by Jesus in John 3:3-6. Jesus taught clearly to Nicodemus and us, revealing that there are two types of “births” possible, and they DO NOT MIX. For humans, the natural comes first, and then and only then does the spiritual re-birth become possible. You should remember that we have already established from John 3 that only a spiritual woman can give birth to a spiritual child. Therefore, Paul as a born-again spiritual participant in the New Covenant, is qualified to give birth to new spiritual children who have the Spirit of Christ. Let us look at an important verse:

Rom 9:8  That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed. 

Here is an essential concept concerning two kinds of children that come from two kinds of seeds, resulting in two kinds of births. The first was the natural human child birth process, and the second is introducing us to the “promised spiritual re-birth” process, that was also mentioned by Jesus in John 3.  God begins by comparing children of the flesh that came from natural Israel, with the children of the promise. Uh oh? What God is doing is informing us, that He promised all humans, that He would have spiritual children. Please go and reread Galatians chapter 4. Because this is a vital chapter needed to understand Revelation 12. Here is just one verse to pay close attention to:

Gal 4:23 – But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. 

In chapter 4 of Galatians, God gave us an allegory using Abraham, Sarah and Hagar to confirm to us an exceedingly important spiritual truth. Sarah and Hagar had two types of children because of who they were naturally. These two symbolic sons that were birthed, by two different symbolic women, represent the concepts of flesh births, versus spirit births. The first son born was Ishmael, and he is called a son of the flesh and the son of the bond (slave) woman because he came by the will of man. But then came Isaac who is referred to as the promised son who came from Sarah, and she is called the “freewoman” who came by the will of God.

We learn in Galatians 4, that this son named Isaac, was a type of the spiritual Christ that the church comes out from. This makes this type of Isaac the promised child, who is the risen from the dead spiritual Jesus Christ (Romans 7:4).  I pray no one is choking on the meat that the Holy Spirit is trying to feed us. I will encourage you that once you see this truth, it is impossible not to see it everywhere in the Bible. Notice what else God said to us in Galatians 4:28:

Gal 4:28  Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise. 

Paul writing to the church (the members of the body of Christ) in Galatia, and he is calling them, both his brothers as well as children, is confirming that they were, as well as we are, the promised spiritual “Christ” child spoken of to Abraham. This is an amazing revelation. But you really need to go back to Galatians 3 and study to see that the promise given to Abraham was the promise of the Spirit that will be birthed in every believer in Christ. Please read this very carefully stated truth in Galatians 3:14. If you are lost with this new information, be patient and do not throw it away. It is the truth. Let us explore this more by explaining how we can be called simultaneous brothers with Christ and other believers, and be called promised children of God, and Christ at the same time.

We are named Christ, because we are the body of “Christ” (1 Corinthian 12:27). Each individual believer represents one spiritual member, in the one spiritual body of CHRIST with every believer being joined to Him and every other believer to form this ingenious new spiritual body (Romans 12:5, 1 Corinthians 5:4). This new growing body of the Spirit of Christ, can also be called the temple of God (1 Corinthians 6:19).

This new spiritual design of joining believers as cells in a human body, or bricks in a temple, is practically identical to the created human body consisting of potentially trillions of individual cells, and all of them being joined together are called by the name that was given to us by our natural parents, when we were born naturally. The human body comes from the union of just two physical cells. But from these two cells, they grow by division, and spread out to every other cell, increasing until full maturity. Even after maturity, cells die and are replaced with new cells in most tissues.

This human natural growth process from two joined cells, is the exact same process that is happening in the spiritual realm for the spiritual body of Christ. Jesus was called the firstborn from the dead in Colossians 1:18. In this same verse Jesus is also called the “head” of the body (of Christ) in order that He might have preeminence.

It is the head that controls the body and not the other way around. This makes HIM LORD and not any other individual spiritual cell joined to Him (in Covenant) in His spiritual body. Are you getting this, because this is an amazing new revelation for many Christians? In His new spiritual body, He is the head, and we are HIS body members (Ephesians 1:22-23), with all of us together being called Christ. There is no sane way to separate a person by naming His head Christ, and His body (the church) something else. They are called by ONE name.

Jas 2:7  Do not they blaspheme that worthy name by the which ye are called? 

In this verse James inspired by the Holy Spirit, writes about Christians being spoken of by other humans wrongfully. God is making the claim that when they do this, they are blaspheming the “worthy name” which they are called. This name has to be “Christ”, because no other human name can be worthy.  There are many spiritual aspects of being one with Christ, and here is another factor for us being called by His name as a born-again believer:

Rom 16:7  Salute Andronicus and Junia, my kinsmen, and my fellowprisoners, who are of note among the apostles, who also were in Christ before me. 

Paul makes a comparison of order and likeness. Paul informs us that Andronicus and Junia were his kinsman. This Greek word G4773 literally means a relative by blood. But you can tell by the names of these people in Rome, they are probably not Jewish. Therefore, Paul is not speaking naturally and this can only be a spiritual relationship by the blood of Jesus. Yes? This was the message of these men were like me.

Then comes the mention of order. Paul is teaching us next how these Christians became members of the same spiritual family, by entering into CHRIST. But we also can notice that Paul said these entered into Christ, before he did. This truth is based upon our natural time line. We are recognizing another parallel, between the natural and the physical birth process of organized order that is noted by God.

Therefore, we are learning of two simultaneous realities that occur at a new spiritual birth into God’s Kingdom. This is a very essential truth to learn. When you are born-again by believing in Jesus being raised from the dead, and confessing Him as your Lord (Romans 10:9-10), you are reborn into a brand-new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17). This means this had never existed before Jesus was raised from the dead. He became the first born from the dead and each of each us after enter into Him in order of believing.

When this happens to you by believing in Him, you enter into Christ, and the Spirit of Christ also enters into you, and you reside in both the natural, and heavenly dimensions simultaneously. WOW! Did you know this already? If you did, do you understand the power that was needed to accomplish this (Ephesians 1:19-20)?

What we are learning today is awesome.  We should now have begun to understand that Jesus seated in heaven right now, is the physical raised from the dead man, named Christ in the spirit realm. He is the mediator of the New Covenant (Hebrews 9:15) that we are in. But simultaneously born-again Christians living on the earth. are also called by His name Christ, because we have His Spirit on the inside of us. We are IN HIM, and HE is in us. This was God’s plan from the beginning and His wisdom is amazing!

If it would help you, please take note of Genesis 5:1 where God describes Himself creating man as a male and a female. God then says He called both of them by the name “Adam”. This matches what God did for Christ Jesus and His Church, by calling us both Christ.

Ok, everyone needs more verses to confirm the truth. God says in the mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses, let every word be established. Notice in 2 Corinthians 6:15, God through Paul writes what fellowship does “Christ” have with “Belial”. The church is very clearly stated to be named “Christ”, and if we join ourself to a devil, we are joining the body of Christ to that same spirit. Paul is writing that this should never be. Do you see this?

Now look at 1 Corinthians 6:15, and see that this is the exact same truth. In this verse, God through Paul says the church as a member of the body of Christ, we must not allow Christ to be joined to a harlot. This is just one of several other places where the church is referred to by the name of Christ.

But how does this work? We learn another important piece of the puzzle in Romans 8:10. In this verse God reveals that it is the Spirit named “Christ” that comes to live on the inside of our human body. Wow, because every born-again Christian has the same Spirit of Christ, we are all of the same name of Christ and represent one living and growing spiritual body of a child on the earth.

This brings up another new point. What happens when a Christian dies? Their spirit departs the earth body of Christ and goes to be with the spiritual body of Christ in heaven (Philippians 1:23). This helps to solve how a spiritual woman in heaven in Revelation 12:1, can still have parts of her same body as a remnant left here on the earth to battle with the dragon in verses 6 and 17. But this is probably a different topic for later.

So, we have learned how the spiritual process of a child growth and development can be understood, by us viewing a natural child’s development process. This will be brought up again in this lesson later, so please do not forget it. But remember this is what we are seeing happen to the woman in Revelation 12 with a growing child in her womb.

God was a genius in transforming one natural seed named Jesus (John 12:24), into a growing corporate spiritual entity consisting of millions and even billions of individual spiritual cell members. He did this in His own one Body and then He calls us by the same name Christ. And this is legal because we all have the same Spirit of Christ abiding on the inside of us. Wow! This truth has a far-reaching application to help us understand, and explain how the church will end up victorious over the devil. It also teaches that God views us (the church) the same as HIM. Let us take a quick side journey to help someone that needs to know how their prayers can be answered:

Joh 15:16  Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you. 

This verse shows us why we can come to The Father in prayer with confidence, and ask Him our request. We can do this boldly because we ask in His name, and the Father in heaven will answer, because of who we are in HIM, and not based upon who we are on the earth, or what we have done. It is also important to notice the mention of bring forth fruit. We will be talking about this concept in a soon coming section in much more detail. Just take note of the connection being made by God’s design.

Now that we are beginning to learn and understand, how the church can be represented to be one body of one spiritual growing child. We need to explain, how new spiritual cell members in this growing body, came to exist. In the natural realm there are a lot of cell divisions that occur and each are just grown into a new body component, but in the spiritual realm it is slightly different. But this helps to explain how we can be both brothers and children of the same cell that birthed us. This is actually very similar to the natural if you think about it.

We are spiritual brothers because we are from the same spiritual Father (Holy Spirit, also known as the Spirit of Christ in Romans 8:9). We are spiritual children of others in the church, because we have God’s Spirit of Christ that was birthed on the inside of us from sowed Word (seeds) into our hearts shared by others in the body of Christ. These spiritual laborers, got each of us born-again spiritually, while they were travailing in birth, to bring us out of the flesh, and into the spiritual Kingdom of God. Praise the LORD!

We can further confirm what was just taught by analyzing Galatians chapter 3 that is directly connected with Galatians 4. In this chapter we learn two very important concepts about Abraham. First, we learn Abraham’s promised seed (son) was CHRIST by reading Galatians 3:16. In this verse the LORD says the seed is singular and not plural that God was speaking. Wow, that truth is ignored by a lot of Bible teachers. The main take away is for you to know God said His promised seed was only CHRIST! Please take note the name JESUS was omitted from this verse, even if we understand this was who came first to be born as the CHRIST.

Galatians 3 continues with a discussion between the promise and the law that was unable to nullify the promise because it occurred over 400 years before the law came. Then notice in Galatians 3:26 where God says we in the church have all become His children through our faith in CHRIST Jesus! Pay attention to the flipping of the order of the names, and take a note that God did not say “Jesus CHRIST”! God is so specific to even the order of words, that reordering them has a meaning about things beyond our imagination.

Now pay close attention to Galatian 3:27. This is another direct connection to Revelation 12 where the woman was clothed with the sun. Here we see how when we now in the church, are baptized into CHRIST, we have put on CHRIST. Again, this is amazing spiritual information that occurred when we were born-again. But it still directs us to Revelation 12 to confirm it is the church that is represented there.

Now for the sake of time we will jump to Galatians 3:29. In this verse God wrote about the church again, and here He says “If you be CHRIST, then are you Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the “promise”. Ok, if you study you will notice that I changed the translated possessive tense word “Christ’s”, to “CHRIST” not being the possessive tense. However, this Greek word 5547, Christos is translated as “Christ” the majority of the times it occurs. In other words, this word occurs 569 times in the New Testament, and it is translated as Christ in 553 of them. It would therefore, be legal to make it fit the majority if it works, and makes plain sense in context. I believe it does.

Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that there are times that it does appear to be correctly translated as “Christ’s”, with something belonging to Him. This is legitimate either way in this verse of Galatians 3:29. Whether we belong to His spiritual body, or are being called by His name Christ, it is the same end result as we have learned.

Notice the mention of a promise again? These are amazing connections being made.  Do you understand what the LORD is saying? I mean really, do you? This is a radical statement of your identity, and who you now are to GOD! God just called you Christ! God just said you are Abraham’s promised seed. Being the promised seed child, you have become a spiritual heir and a joint-heir with CHRIST (Romans 8:17). Let us back up in Galatians 3 and see what you may have missed:

Gal 3:14  That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ; that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 

What may help you in understanding, is go back to Galatians 3:14. Notice again what this verse said. Also notice this time God included the name Jesus before CHRIST. This qualifies the reference of CHRIST, to be only the physical man Jesus who died for our sins. It is by our faith in His finished work for us, that Abraham’s “promised” blessing is able to come upon the entire human race. This we can learn was the promise of the Spirit to live on the inside of us through faith in JESUS CHRIST ALONE! It was only us being born of the Holy Spirit, and being joined with the Holy Spirit, that gives us this opportunity to be named CHRIST. This was the promised GOSPEL that was preached to Abraham (Galatians 3:8), even if he never understood it on the earth (Matthew 13:17).

This potentially new spiritual information may be overwhelming to some. It will take some a lot of prayerful thought and study to come up to a higher dimension of spiritual growth to see it. No one is claiming to be GOD.  No one is claiming to be JESUS. We are just reading what God has done for us and acknowledging this is an amazing gift of sonship being freely given by HIS GRACE and we receive it all by our faith.

Let us move to a new concept that was just introduced to us. This new concept is called “labor” and it is what the woman in Revelation 12 is described to be doing.

5. LABORING TOGETHER WITH AND FOR CHRIST

It is very important to know that when a woman is in travail producing a new child, she is said to be in “labor”. Uh oh? This is just another random coincidence, isn’t it? Absolutely not! There are many verses in the letters written to the church that describe us (the church) working laboriously and painstakingly for our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. Uh oh? Notice what Jesus said about this subject in Matthew:

Mat 9:37  Then saith he unto his disciples, The harvest truly is plenteous, but the labourers are few; 

Here we have Jesus speaking to the foundational church members of the Body of Christ. Jesus was focused upon the great need of so many people that needed to come to know HIM! He is making a prophetical statement concerning a future spiritual harvest of saved human spirits (James 5:7), and their saved souls (James 1:21).

However, He is expressly declaring the need for many “laborers” to accomplish this. Wow, this is amazing when you see how this is connected to Revelation 12, and the woman that is laboring in travail. In fact, you may already can see it, since we have already found where Paul was travailing in labor in Galatians 4, to give birth to Messiah, in the people coming into the church. This work of God is certainly sharing the Gospel good news with other people and sowing spiritual seeds to produce new spiritual fruit. Notice this verse next:

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

Wow, again we see the concept of workers in labor together with God. As a Christian, we were created in CHRIST to do works for God (Ephesians 2:10). We do this with Him, because He lives in us to help. Notice the term husbandry to define the church, because this will come again in the next section. This means we are God’s spiritual garden on the earth.

God further calls us His physical building on the earth. The building corresponds with us being His temple that we saw earlier. The LORD is using multiple natural concepts to help us to understand how the spirit realm was created and is operating today. What we are discovering is the spiritual concept of Christians that perform labor for God is the spiritual realization of the natural description of a woman in Revelation 12 in labor.

This is becoming such an accurate picture of the woman in Revelation 12, that it can’t be denied. Can you begin to see the new spiritual perspective, of how this woman was given to us by the Holy Spirit using natural realities can fit with what we are doing in the church today? Can you understand, how excited I was to hear from God at 3 AM to receive this information?

Women could describe the experience of giving birth so much better than I could. But one noticeable feature of the process is the pain. This can result in loud outcries. Another observable quality of giving birth, is that the woman’s labor pains become more and more frequent, and closer together and they usually increase in intensity as the ending finale birth comes. Did any of this sound like what might happen before Jesus comes to take us out of the world and our labors to get people saved?

Can you potentially see that persecution from the world, has been increasing in intensity and come more frequently? If you have not, then you are not laboring for God’s cause. We need to see what else the Bible says about laboring, to take us into the next phase of the revelation.

1Co 3:5  Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man

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

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

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

Notice these verses are using natural farming concepts. But farming is also an analogous concept to having a natural child in birth. Both of these subjects are parallel natural realities projecting information about the spiritual birth process that Paul was describing in his letter to the church.

The spiritual birth process is based upon the principle of “seed”, “time” and “harvest”. Wow that was a lot to process. But notice the ending statement in 1 Corinthians 3:8 is about each worker in the church receiving a reward for doing their labor. Wow, is that not more than amazing, with us seeing the woman in Revelation 12 being in labor? Connect this back to the Galatians 4 example of the labor with Paul working to get Christ the Messiah formed in the church in Galatia. Please tell me that you are seeing this.  If any of this is registering on your spirit, leave a comment to help encourage others.

Remember in Revelation 12, we had a woman wearing a victorious royal crown. Could this be a part of her reward for enduring her spiritual labors for CHRIST?  I personally believe this is a part of the reward as we can see from 2 Timothy 4:8, to name just one example. We need to move on to the next subject. Now we are going to add a new spiritual dimension to connect us to what is happening to the church and parallel to what is described about the woman in Revelation 12.

6. THE PRECIOUS FRUIT OF THE EARTH

We have been learning new spiritual God perspectives that come from the Word of God to understand the natural descriptions about a woman in Revelation 12. So far, we have discovered that the woman is standing on the devil in a position of victory in Revelation 12:1. We have also seen she is wearing a royal victor crown as a symbol of her reward for victory. We have also learned that she is wearing Jesus, the Sun of Righteousness as her clothing revealing to us her position of authority being IN CHRIST (Romans 5:17). This new information confirms that she is a spiritual being and her identity can only be the church.

But we are now beginning to see in Revelation 12:2, that she is pregnant and travailing to give birth to a spiritual Messiah in the hearts of people that are becoming new-born believers. We have also seen how this process begins to correlate together of her enduring signs of crying, travailing, being pained, waiting for the birthing full process to come to completion. We learned this could certainly be the combined natural and spiritual process of how the church “labors” in the world, for Christ to minister by spreading God’s Word (Seed), into the hearts of unbelievers, to get others saved out of the world of our spiritual enemy. Please realize that this time of completion for laboring for Christ, is soon coming to an end.

But now, let us think about the natural birth process to help us understand what else God could be teaching us from the spiritual process of producing a natural child by receiving His Seed in our hearts. Do you know what this natural and spiritual concept of childbirth, is referred to as, in the Bible? You are about to find out that it is called “producing fruit”. If you did not already know this, please get your spiritual eyes opened to what the Holy Spirit is about to say. Let us begin by reading a verse in James:

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

We were introduced to this topic in the previous sections. Notice this verse is about the coming of the LORD. This coming has to be for the catching away of His church bride. If this is the woman in Revelation 12, it is our hoped for “deliverance” from the world. Notice that this verse is speaking of God being a gardener, who has planted a lot of seed, and is waiting very patiently to produce something that is good for harvesting. Wow, did that turn on any lights in your mind and spirit? If not, Satan must have you very blinded with his darkness (2 Cor 4:4).

This verse in James is speaking of people. This is the only thing that is precious enough to cause God to wait and endure all of the evil of the world. God is looking for “precious fruit” to harvest. This fruit came first from Jesus sowing the Word in our hearts as taught to us in the Parable of the Sower. From God’s perspective, the end outcome of planting any of His good Seed is to produce good fruit, in the hearts of humans.

We confirmed in 1 Corinthians 3:5-8, that it is the church that has been assigned this responsibility to continue the sowing, and watering process to produce fruit in humans. Remember what Paul said in Galatians 4? “My little children, of whom I travail in birth again, until Christ be formed in you”. I believe sincerely that Paul was travailing, and waiting for these carnal Christians to become fruitful and to be on the path of spiritual maturity. Why do I say this? Because this “fruit” is what God is waiting for in James to harvest.

Now, here is another truth that helps to confirm this belief that this pregnant woman in Revelation is pregnant spiritually indicating she has produced a lot of fruit, and is waiting to be delivered. Let us remember Jesus’ natural birth to help us better understand this spiritual birthing process being described in Revelation 12.

Luke 1:42  And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb. 

Do you see how Elizabeth described the unborn natural baby Messiah child, that was in the belly of the virgin Mary? She called her baby inside her physical womb, to be her “fruit”. Wow, this is God revealing an amazing parallel concept between the natural and the spiritual ability to produce “fruit” from planted seed. It is very obvious that a natural child is called a woman’s fruit of her womb. God is again using natural farming concepts to describe the natural birthing process, and this means both of these are teaching us hidden spiritual concepts about fruit, that we cannot see with our natural eyes.

It is very interesting to remember what Jesus said about fruit in Matthew 7:15-16. God in the flesh who we see waiting and wanting to harvest the precious fruit of the earth in James, informs us that we will be able to determine who is real and who is fake by examining their fruits. What is He speaking of? It is NOT apples, cherries, or apricots. God is saying if what they say is a blessing to produce a new-birth in some other human, this will be a sign of their external fruit. By observing their labors to produce fruit, you will know if they are real Christians.

Let us go back to the Parable of the Sower again. In this parable that Jesus taught us, He said He was the Sower and He came to sow the Word of God! The soil in this natural to spiritual parable was the heart/spirit of a human. The parable compares soil (human spirit) types, differentiating between those that produced fruit and those that do not produce any harvestable fruit.

Matching this information with other parables, and the verse we just read in James about God being the ultimate farmer, waiting for fruit, we know that those that produce fruit belong to God, and those that do not produce fruit, must belong to the evil one, Satan. This is revealed more clearly by the parable of the wheat and tares (Matthew 13:24-35). The wheat is harvested into the barns of God, and tares are burned in the fires of hell.

Now we have determined there are two types of people in the world. Those that belong to God and produce fruit to be harvested and those that belong to Satan that are called weeds that are eternally separated from God. But applying this to what we have just learned we know the woman in Revelation 12 has fruit in her womb. We should now understand that the womb is soil of the spiritual heart of a human. The spiritual fruits that are produced in the spirit, represent a human’s good works for the kingdom of God, and the fruits of the spirit (Gal 5:22).

It is very interesting to see how in Galatians 5, this was God’s selected location to discuss and define “fruit” directly after chapter 4. In this chapter 5 spiritual comparison we find the differences between producing good versus evil fruits. This is definitely applicable to what we have been learning. Do you believe this is just a coincidence? It cannot be! This is just a confirming method of God’s intelligent spiritual design.

Finally, notice that a woman that is unable to bear fruit in her womb is called “barren”. This is also discussed in Galatians 4, but we don’t have the time to go into this part of the deeper lesson. Please just notice the fact that the woman being in travail in Revelation 12, has the visible evidence of having produced fruit in her spirit (the spiritual womb and soil) of God’s Garden (Genesis 2:8). This is the location of where His WORD was planted as a seed to produce “fruit”. Wow, that is an amazing new way of viewing the woman in Revelation 12. Can you see it?

7. DELIVERANCE

We need to wrap this lesson up quickly. We have been receiving the “Seed” of God into our spirits, while studying this subject. What we need to remember, is that in the natural process of childbirth, there is usually always a “deliverer” involved to catch the baby. This has occurred this way in every normal natural childbirth since Adam and Eve. This deliver is usually, a mid-wife, doctor, or nurse, or they could be the spouse’s husband. I believe the husband Joseph was the deliverer of Mary. But in the spirit realm this person who delivers the church, is definitely the LORD Jesus Christ.

What we find in Revelation 12, is two connected verses concerning the pregnant woman on this subject of delivery and an implied deliverer. In verse 2 and verse 4 God mentions the woman is waiting to be delivered. This is the Greek word G5088. This word has a very amazing definition that corresponds to what we have been learning about. Let us review the Strong’s definition:

G5088 to produce (from seed, as a mother, a plant, the earth, etc.), literal or figurative: – bear, be born, bring forth, be delivered, be in travail.

This Greek word contains a double wow factor. This only means it applies to the literal natural and to the spiritual by figurative application.  Notice this word applies to natural things being produced from physical seeds. This included a human mother (woman), a tree, a plant, etc. including the earth’s natural soil. All of these are naturally created realities that parallel the spiritual realm. Notice the spiritual woman in Revelation 12, is travailing in labor awaiting to be delivered. How does this apply to anything for the spiritual church? A lot of light bulbs should be illuminating in your spirit all of the sudden from this new description. Please let us read these verses and analyze them in the NEW light of what we are seeing in Revelation 12.

Luk 21:27  And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Luk 21:28  And when these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for your redemption draweth nigh.

These verses are obviously speaking of the physical man Jesus, with Him being referred to as one of His physical human titles the “Son of Adam”. As the risen Jesus departed from the earth in Acts 1 for a cloud to receive Him, He will also be returning in like manner from a cloud. But this return is for the catching away of His bride, as spoken about in the Parable of the 10 virgins (Matthew 25:1).

Jesus was teaching in this context about the signs of the times for His return. Please pay attention to the last command. Jesus speaking to His followers, told them when you see these things, “look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is very near”. Now look up the word “redemption” and see how Strong defines G629 as being a “deliverance”. This is another amazing parallel to the woman in Revelation 12 being pregnant.

Every time a woman experiences pregnancy, she goes from not being outwardly seen as pregnant, to being obviously seen to even be called big or great in her pregnancy. Or another way to look at it, is to say her delivery day is “drawing near”. The Greek word G1448 that was translated as “drawing near” is also defined as “soon approaching”. Consider what this is saying about the potential of a birth in Revelation 12.

If this woman is the spiritual church, and being delivered of this child represents the rapture, by God using naturally coded symbolic terms, this should dramatically change how we are to view what is being revealed. We should be able to see from God’s perspective, that this description of the woman in Revelation 12, could be a detailed view of the end-time church and the rapture event, followed by the mention of the people that have repented and were saved after the rapture.

It is just so essential to see that the Greek word G726, that was translated as “caught up” in Revelation 12:5, speaking of the child after He was delivered, is the word “harpazo”. It is this exact word that is used by God to describe the rapture event in 1 Thessalonians:

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: 

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord

No place in the New Testament, is this Greek word “Harpazo” used to describe the physical risen from the dead man Jesus, being taken up to heaven. The absence of Jesus being taken as man and not as a baby, and the church being “caught up” to heaven to be with the LORD, are two amazing confirmations to the woman in Revelation 12 being the church.

Also, the Greek word G4536 that is translated as “trump” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 announcing the rapture event, is the exact same word used by God to catch John up to heaven in Revelation 4:1. This is just another major connecting force, that cannot be denied. This would teach us that the woman’s labor of the child coming to completion, is the same event of deliverance that is being described in Revelation 4:1, and 1 Thessalonians 4:17.

It is highly recommended that you go search the New Testament and look for all of the verses that has anything to do with deliverance, or a deliverer. We should all know that the deliverer of the Church is Christ. There are also other key Greek words that mean to be delivered, like the woman in Revelation 12 is waiting for. These include “redemption”, “redeem”, “save”, “salvation”, and “savior”. Of course, there are many forms of these words and others that could not be mentioned today. But all of these confirm the spiritual truth, that the Church body of Christ, is a woman waiting to be fully delivered. For example, please remember this one:

Tit 2:13  Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 

As you can read in Titus 2:13, the church is waiting for out savior Jesus Christ. The Greek word G4990 translated as “Savior” literally means a “deliverer”. That is what we could also call a person that is catching up a baby in a hospital. Wow, I don’t know how anyone can deny what the Holy Spirit is teaching today.

But notice again, that this day of deliverance is called a blessed expectation event. Again, we see a woman who is expecting to be delivered. The Greek word G1680 is the word translated as “hope”, and this word means “expectation of something good”. It can also be defined as a feeling of “pleasurable anticipation”. What this is describing occurs when a normal husband sees his wife after a long time of separation, and vice versa, the wife’s feeling for the appearance of her husband after a long separation, like a long trip. WOW!

I believe the woman in Revelation 12 represents the church from what the LORD has shown us. I believe the process of childbirth, represent every person that was, and is being born-again by planting seed in the hearts of unbelievers. I believe the growing child in the spiritual womb of the woman, represents the spiritual body of Christ growing to completion to be taken up to heaven. Therefore, I believe the woman’s final birth of the child is the completion of the church age. This soon coming completion or fulfilment of the 2 day or the 2000-year period of the church (2 Peter 3:8), is where God ends the current ongoing time of GRACE for salvation. After this God will return to the 70th week of Daniel’s prophecy to finalize His dealings, with another woman named natural Israel, for one week of years. If this is correct which I believe the scripture is teaching us, then the rapture is represented by the child’s finale birth in Revelation 12. This is why the child is immediately caught up into heaven and to the throne of God after the final birth has occurred.

In other words, the spiritual growth and birth process of the CHRIST child has been fulfilled and it is time for her to be taken up (Romans 11:25). The laboring has been accomplished. The birthing has been finalized. The woman has been brought to full safety and protection in heaven and the marriage supper of the LAMB can be celebrated. This would help us to understand how the description of the woman in Revelation 12:1, begins with a sight of a woman “appearing” in heaven. These words mean someone in the spiritual realm was looking on with wide open eyes viewing someone in heaven that was called very remarkable. Who else can this be but the body of Christ that the prophets and righteous men desired to see being fulfilled in total completion (Matthew 13:17)?

CONCLUSION

We have covered a lot in this lesson, and it has gone into so much new spiritual information that it is probably good to end now. Hopefully, the Holy Spirit has given you a lot of good spiritual meat to chew on for a long time. What God has taught us, is to look for His ways of understanding natural things so that we can apply them in the spiritual realm and find truth to see what He has prophesied in the book of Revelation. One question comes to mind that will mentioned in this discussion of a woman who is expecting deliverance. When will this occur? We can begin to learn this in this verse:

Rom 11:25  For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in. 

As you can see God is speaking of the natural nation of Israel, and comparing them, to be separated from the largely spiritual Gentile church body of Christ. God calls His church a mystery, but He has been revealing us, with increased intensity in these last days. But notice in the last phrase of the verse. God indicates that there is coming a “fulness” to the Gentiles.

Now notice what the Greek word G4138 that was translated as “fulness” means. This word means “something that is filled as a place, a container, a time period, etc.”. Think of this in the terms of a pregnant woman. There is a limited capacity inside the womb. There is also a set time for delivery where her body just says I’m ready. God says in Matthew 24:36, that no man knows the exact day or hour of this event of Jesus coming to deliver us. But we all can see the signs and seasons, and know how close we are to this happening. I guarantee you, that it is closer than you think!

You should have a lot of take aways from this lesson. We were not able to answer every question, or go into every verse. This would definitely require many lessons to cover it all comprehensively. But remember the natural birth process of a woman, and a seed planted in a garden, should cause us to better understand what is happening in the unseen spiritual realm.

A child represents fruit using natural to spiritual symbolism. But it also represents the Spirit of Christ the Messiah being birthed inside humans to grow the church. Therefore, we have learned how the woman qualifies to be taken up into the spiritual realm of heaven to appear before God in Revelation 12:1 and 4:1.

There are multiple ways to react to what you have just learned? You can reject it completely or partially. You can also accept it partially or completely. If you have heard this taught before, I would love to hear about it and where it was shared. If you have never heard about this before, please share it with every Christian you know, if the Holy Spirit inside of you agrees with it. If not, that is OK, please just share why you feel something was not peaceful. No matter what, thank you for reading the lesson.

If you have any feedback, questions, or comments please leave them. They are greatly appreciated and encouraging. If you need prayer for any need, it is also nice to receive these requests. We will certainly pray if we are able to agree with you scripturally, and the request does not violate the written word of God according to His will for your life. We love you all very much no matter who you believe the Revelation 12 woman is. We hope and pray you will love us also. Love NEVER Fails!

If you would like to continue reading in this Bible study series, please click on “Part 10” now.

Hiding the Truth in Plain Sight – Part 12 – Rightly Dividing Spiritual Truth from Natural Truth

rightly-divide(ver 1.1) This is Part 12 in a very important Bible lesson series on Understanding How God Hides the Spiritual Truth in His Word in Plain Sight within words of Natural Truth. If you have not read the entire series I would recommend that you go back and begin with “Part 1“.  But, this lesson will be a blessing by itself also.  Today we are going to focus in on the specific requirement of “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” in the Bible (2 Tim 2:15). Any serious Bible student must come to understand that there are differences between plain sight natural Bible truths and the hidden spiritual Bible truths written within them. Most Bible readers can easily find the natural truths by simply reading the plain text of the verses.  For example, Abraham was called out of his homeland to live in a land that God would show him.   Jacob had 12 sons from 4 different women.   Moses delivered the children of Israel from the bondage of Egypt after 430 years.   These are all plain literal natural facts of truth.  However, the spiritual truths hidden in the exact same natural true stories are many times not easily connected to allow our human minds to see them much less understand them.

Today we will be focused on the specific subject of “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth”. What it means, why we are told to do it and how it is extremely useful to finding God’s spiritual truth. I pray this peaks your curiosity and interest. We will be moving through this lesson using the follow outline:

  1. Introduction to Rightly Dividing God’s Word of Truth
  2. Analyzing the Details of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
  3. Introduction to the Examples of Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth
  4. Jesus Speaking Spiritual Words – Example 1
  5. Jesus Speaking Spiritual Words – Example 2
  6. Jesus Speaking Spiritual Words – Example 3
  7. Conclusion

I will warn you at the beginning that this is a significantly long and very in-depth Bible teaching. We will go into a lot of scriptural detail about this subject. We also go into how the Holy Spirit teaches me to go through the scripture to learn His truth. This lesson may be a greater benefit if you break it down and study it in smaller sections. But, please study it however is best for the way the LORD teaches you. If you are ready to potentially see a new perspective on a challenging subject, then let’s get started.

 

INTRODUCTION TO
RIGHTLY DIVIDING GOD’S WORD OF TRUTH

This Bible study series has been dedicated to teaching the methods of how God hid spiritual truth in the plain sight of every Bible reader or listener and how that it was and is still so easily misunderstood even today.   God’s Word teaches us a new paradigm that there are varying levels of truth. For example God explains to us how natural truth can be overruled by our knowledge of a greater spiritual truth. For example, 2 Corinthians 5:2 God speaks and commands us “to walk by faith and not by sight”. This is a very clear example of two levels of truth. Walking by faith is a spiritual level of truth that will cause us to triumph over our natural level of facts, truths and circumstances (1 Jn 5:4) if we choose to obey and believe.

Remember back in Genesis 2 when God said to Adam “Don’t eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil for in the day you eat you shall surely die”. As we can read God spoke a truth to Adam that must be followed in order to live. That was one plainly spoken commandment of a warning truth given to Adam. Technically it is called a law in Romans 8:2. In this verse God declares to us “for the law of spirit and life in Christ Jesus sets me/us free from the law of sin and death”. Here we have two laws but one is of a much higher level of truth.

This truth of Romans 8:2 is further confirmed in 1 Corinthians 15:45 where God declares a fact that there are two men named Adam; one a natural man that caused us all to die and one who is Christ Jesus that can cause us all to live. Why are there two Adams? We learn this fact from reading Romans 5:14 that taught us that the first Adam was a type, model and pattern of Jesus the last Adam to come. Again we have the stated reality of a naturally understandable story of truth that contains hidden patterns of a much greater overcoming spiritual reality in the future. What we observe from this dual Adam truth is the fact that Jesus who is named to be the spiritual last Adam implements a spiritual law of life that triumphs over the first natural Adam’s initiation of a lesser natural law of sin and death. Can you begin to see the reality of God creating two simultaneous truths? I believe this is one of the primary introductory reasons why we are commanded to rightly divide the Word of Truth (2 Tim 2:15). We have not been fully introduced to this verse in 2 Timothy 2:15 but we will get into it very soon. Wow, I hope this was not too deep of an introduction to the subject of rightly dividing the Word of Truth and what it means.

We must begin to learn to look for the greater spiritual truths, recognize them, extract them from natural truths and set a goal to understand them. I do not believe this means that we make up a spiritual truth in any way. Because, I believe that this process of finding spiritual truth begins by getting born again through the progress of repenting for our sins, believing in Jesus to be the risen Son of God, confessing Him as our personal Lord and allowing the Spirit of God to come inside us to lead us by His Spirit. The next step is to begin to read and study God’s Word daily with the Holy Spirit’s help. If you are not saved then please stop and pray to ask Jesus to forgive you and be your LORD and Savior. This begins the process of becoming a spirit aware (spiritual awake) human being and it is an essential requirement for understanding anything in the Word of God (Eph 5:14).

If you are already saved, stop right now and pray and ask the Holy Spirit to guide you into all truth (John 16:13) and also pray for God to give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Jesus (Eph 1:17). Pray this every day for the next few months and then open your Bible after each prayer every day and expect His Holy Spirit to begin to teach your spirit. Finally, in this process of learning to “rightly divide the Word of Truth” learn to understand that the Bible is a book with two parallel truth realities. First, know that the Bible is a book of great historical value, relevance and accuracy containing all of human history from the beginning to the prophetical ending that has not yet occurred. Now combine this book of natural truths containing real people, real events occurring in real places and learn that it also reveals to us hidden information of unseen and many times unknown spiritual beings great and small. Learn to know that this Great History Book of Truth is a parallel spiritual Book of Truth written by the Supreme All-Knowing Spirit to us His spiritual children (the church). It is essential to begin thinking this way because a single Bible story can have both natural truths of historical value combined with hidden past, present or future spiritual truths of greater importance like we just read about in the life of two Adams.

I believe very firmly that the Bible was God breathed and then it was written down by Holy Spirit led human men that were directed by Him to record it word for word (2 Tim 3:16). This Most Intelligent God in His merciful love gave us the Bible to read about, learn and understand Him. Yet in His wisdom, the Bible was designed in a manner where it concealed and hid Him and His spiritual truth in order to keep them from Satan and from humans that did not want to know Him. This method of hiding allows Him to reveal Himself and His truth to only His children at the right time when we choose to cooperate, search and find Him and them with ALL OF OUR HEART.

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Please understand Hebrews 11:6 is one of the most important verses in the Bible. Why? You may ask? Because this verse explains that we are required to live by faith in order to please Him. This verse also teaches us that it is a requirement to believe God exists and rewards those that seek Him in order to find Him. Wow, this is one of the main reasons why God and His spiritual truth is hidden in the Bible. If you are an atheist you are never going to find God because you do not believe He exists. That is so very sad to me.

Rom 16:25  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

Gal 1:11  But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man.
Gal 1:12  For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.

 

I received a very concerning comment recently from a reader regarding another spiritual Bible lesson I wrote recently about “The Book of Life”.   This commenter endeavored to inform me that what I was teaching was heretically wrong and inaccurate and that we should NEVER attempt to divide God’s Word. They tried to convince me that it was not necessary or even permitted to divide any of God’s words that were written or spoken in order for us to find and understand the whole truth that they contain. However, this rebuke denies the truths of Romans 16:25, Corinthian 2:7 and Galatians 1:11-12. Paul was claiming in the verses above that the truth that he learned was revealed to him by God and Paul was attempting to teach this mystery to the church. All of this reference to a revelation means there was an uncovering that occurred to understand it. The Greek word G602 translated as “revelation” means to disclose and it comes from the Greek word G601 “to uncover”. This will be repeated again in this lesson, please don’t let it slip from your mind.

I personally believe that this person that left me a comment did not understand the concept of what I believe “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” to represent. My belief of the definition of “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” is searching, finding and discovering the differences between the plain visible natural and the hidden spiritual truths that are found within the exact same words. I have learned from the Spirit of God teaching me that there is the existence of simultaneous truth contained within the same written information. I understand that this may be a completely new concept and may turn off a lot of Christians that are spiritually new. That is a risk I take but, if you will be patient and keep reading, I believe the light will increase and grow brighter and a spiritual awaking will take place and you will say “Why didn’t I see that before now?”

My commenter made it sound like we should either ignore the verse that teaches us to divide God’s word rightly or attempt to explain it away to mean something other than what it literally instructs us to do. They chose to do the later and explain that it means something that it does not literally say. They believed that “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” was a figurative symbolic meaning that meant to teach verses accurately as truth. But, this does not line up with the scriptures that we just read about written from Paul and many other verses that we will read and learn very soon. Let’s read the verse in question and begin to study it for ourselves in this introduction. We will get into the detail of this verse later in the next section. Please read:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

I’ll attempt to give my commenter the benefit of a doubt that they did not fully understand what God meant by “rightly dividing the word of truth”. God is NOT saying for anyone to eliminate any of His words. God is NOT teaching that anyone should change any of the words. God is NOT teaching that we should ignore any of the words either. No, these are not what God is teaching by saying that His Word needs to be rightly divided. What I believe God is saying is that every verse of scripture has the potential for two separate and distinct parallel truths as was just introduced. I believe that one is a natural literal truth also called a human viewpoint and the other was a hidden spiritual truth also called a God or Divine viewpoint. As I have attempted to say before, this hidden spiritual truth can be revealed by the Spirit of God at His will to anyone at any time.

Haven’t you ever read a verse in the Bible that you have read potentially hundreds and hundreds of times and all of a sudden you say “WOW, I never saw that before”?   If you have then you know exactly what I am trying to say about “rightly dividing the Word of Truth”. The unseen truth was always there right in front of your eyes but the Spirit of God all of sudden made the words come alive, pop out and you saw something brand new that you had never imagined before. If you have never had this happen when reading the Bible that is a major problem and I would stop, pray and ask God why this has never happened. Perhaps if you do what I suggested earlier and pray Ephesians 1:17 over yourself then it will begin to happen and you too will see what the LORD can speak and show to those that are searching. I will praise God that He has done this to me more times than I can count. I am reading a verse or listening to the Bible on MP3 and all of sudden something just comes alive and I can even almost fall on the floor in amazement. I pray that you will find this experience very soon. If you will allow God to work this way you will never be the same about reading and studying the Bible. There is by far more in the Bible that we do not know or understand than what we think we do know and understand at this moment.

I believe my commenter was attempting to convince me that Bible teachers and even students should only look up the words found in the verse using a concordance like Strong’s and an original language dictionary like Vine’s to understand what was actually said by God. I will need to stop here and say I agree with this method and I follow it consistently. But, I believe that this commenter was implying by giving me this instruction that there was NO other information sources or methods that God could use to reveal His meanings including His Spirit speaking directly to us to reveal something that is needed at that moment. I just refuse to put God in a limited box of books, rules, resources or methods. I believe we should be open to hear God from whatever method He wants to teach and speak to us, either personally or through someone else that He has already answered the questions that we asked Him to show us. I don’t know how many people that have come to my Bible Teaching Website and told me they prayed and asked God for an answer to their question and they found it on my website and thanked me. That is not me, it was the Holy Spirit and He alone deserves the glory, thanks and praise.

My commenter’s limited method of Bible study assumes that there are no new hidden meanings to any of the Words that God spoken in the Bible that hasn’t already been revealed. They also appear to imply that these men that wrote these limited books (commentaries, concordances and dictionaries) had all of the information that is required to fully understand all of the verses in the whole Bible. This type of attitude denies man’s limitation to fully comprehend and remember everything and God’s omniscient ability to teach us more of what He knows. God has the ability to speak something brand new to us at any moment. Do you believe God is silent today? If yes, why does the Bible say “My Sheep hear my voice”. Are you His sheep? If you believe you are then, ask why aren’t you hearing His voice? Do you believe that God has fully revealed everything about Himself or His Word to anyone yet? If you do then ask why does Jesus say “If you continue in my Word, then you will be my disciple and you will know the truth and the truth will set you free”.

Please allow me to ask some other questions. Do you personally know and understand the entire Bible? Do you know any human that personally knows and understands the entire Bible? I’ll be the first to say that I only know God to be omniscient (all knowing) and He is the only one that I believe knows and understands the entire Bible. I believe that the things that He has taught me personally are few compared to what there is still yet to learn. He is still teaching me new things every day. I believe that there is an infinite amount of information contained in Him and in His Holy Bible. If we studied the Bible continually except when we were sleeping we would still never come close to knowing and understanding everything that God knows about this book. One of my main points is that why would we limit our Bible studying methods to only a few basic reference books created by a few imperfect human men that didn’t know everything? Can’t God give us new revelation of His Truth some other ways? Let’s get into the Bible now and read what God said about our ability to find the truth and His timing to reveal it:

Dan 12:4  But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

This verse can be viewed as one of the foundational verses of the entire lesson series. Please consider this truth that according to Daniel 12:4 God declared that His Words found in this book of the Bible would be “shut up”. God then goes further to say that this entire book would be “sealed” until the time of the end when many humans will go to and fro across the earth. God further describes the timing for the unsealing occurrence to be when there is a noticeable “increase in human knowledge”.   This is an awesome statement. God teaches us a significant amount of information in this verse. First, the Hebrew word H5640 translated as “shut up” means to “keep secret or hidden. Within this Hebrew word definition God informs us that there are potentially many things written here in these words that you can’t see until the prophesied time at the end of the age. Wow, that should shake your foundation of Biblical knowledge. This truth alone confirms that there is coming a time of unveiling and uncovering of hidden words that have been in plain view for everyone to read for thousands of years.

Also note that the prophesied time is clearly given when many will be traveling to and fro and knowledge is dramatically increasing. These are two things that have never happened before until the last 100 years of human history. The invention of space crafts, trains, planes and automobiles fulfills the first requirement and the invention of smart phones, tablets, computers and the internet clearly fulfills the second requirement. Please wake up and see this prophecy is being fulfilled only right now! This verse very clearly states that the previous understanding of these written words must change from what was understood 125 years ago and before.

The Hebrew word H2856 translated as “seal” just further confirms the Hebrew word H5640 translated as “shut up”. Both are synonyms terms meaning “to cover”.   Ask this question “How then is it possible for God to cover by shutting up and sealing words that are clearly written down in a known language that has not changed in thousands of years? “ Were these words written in coded form? Were these words unreadable? Were these words hidden or restricted from anyone reading them? The answer to these questions are all “NO!” Therefore there must be another reasonable and logical explanation to how truths are being hidden by God in plain view words. The answer to this mystery is learning how God implemented Spiritual Truth hiding techniques that allowed Him to open them up and take the coverings off of the natural words that are and were always clearly readable. This is why I call this Bible study series “Hiding the Truth in Plain Sight”.

I wish to make an additional point upfront in this lesson that you may or may not be aware of. The Strong’s Concordance and the Vine’s Dictionary are NOT DIVINELY INSPIRED WRITTEN WORDS! The Strong’s Concordance was first published in 1890 over 125 years ago. Uh oh that was way before the invention of the airplane and the computer. The Vine’s Expository Dictionary of NT Words was first published in 1940 over 75 years ago and this too is before the full emergence of knowledge increase during the end time age fulfillment.

The birth of the early computer was around 1943. The introduction of the personal computer was not to occur until after 1977 when early storage devices were being introduced for everyone to potentially own and use one. I think I bought my first PC with a hard drive in the late 1980’s and it only contained about 20 megabytes of storage. But, again the technology was so early that the power and reliability of these PCs, software and hard drives were very failure prone. Then there was no internet widely available until after 1990 for the average computer geek like me. In fact the internet we see today did not explode until the later years of the 1990’s. If we get closer to the root it was 1998 when Google was founded and began to place large amounts of data for anyone to search, find and read that information and knowledge increase very exponentially to begin to fulfill the Daniel 12:4 requirements. Therefore please understand while I love both the Strong’s and Vine’s books and others like them as helpful Bible study tools, only the original Hebrew and Greek Bible Text Scripture writing was God breathed (2 Tim 3:16) and since neither were written when the Daniel 12:4 prophecy timeline fulfillment there must be new revealed information being given by God that they do not contain.

I’ll go even further to say that there is NO Bible translation that is totally free from errors. Bible translations are books written in an imperfect world, written down and being translated by limited knowledge imperfect humans. I have found what appear to be several glaring mistakes that are based upon religious human opinions that originate widely from manmade religious doctrines of churches. Therefore, all Bible translations, commentaries, concordances and dictionaries contain some imperfect human bias, yet God can still speak to us through any of them.   Therefore, I’m not saying not to use any of them at all, but I am saying not to accept everything that is written in them automatically.  No do what 2 Timothy 2:15 says and choose to work hard and “STUDY” the Bible. And like Acts 17:11 instructs us, become an open minded spiritual Word student that is a diligent, dedicated and thoughtful “WORKMAN” that needs not to be ashamed because we are verifying every word of truth being taught to us.   Let’s read another verse that further helps to confirm that God’s Spiritual Truth was hidden:

Joh 5:39  Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

We should be able to see that these words spoken by the LORD Jesus have tremendous implications attached to them. Jesus was speaking directly to religious men that read the scriptures continually day after day, month after month and year after year. When they read the O.T. they could see that these were scriptures with words that described 1) creation, 2) the stories of all of their natural ancestral history originating with Adam, continuing with Noah and Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, etc. and 3) the laws that were given to them through Moses. I know there are other things in their writings but can we all agree on these basic literal natural truths?

But, it is obvious by reading the Gospels that these religious leaders being spoken to by Jesus never saw Jesus in any of the divinely inspired words after all of their time of reading them and hearing them read! I mean think about it! These natural religious men knew the Hebrew language extensively, spoke the Hebrew language, wrote in the Hebrew language and read the Hebrew language. None of these men had to look up any words in any translation dictionaries, commentaries or other books to learn what they said. Can you see this? Why then was Jesus asking them to search to see something that they had never seen before in their own original Hebrew language divinely inspired writings?

How could there be anything new that they had never seen before in this original Hebrew language?   Are you thinking and attempting to answer the questions that I just asked? What made these written Hebrew Words say something about Jesus that could not be seen easily and had to be searched for? Wow, I think that is amazing truth. There had to be someone (and I believe it was God) that concealed Jesus in the writings by His design in order for Jesus not to be seen easily and which required someone to search for Him! Is Jesus the TRUTH? According to John 14:6 Jesus personally claimed to be the TRUTH. Therefore, Jesus was claiming that THE TRUTH (JESUS) was hidden in their Hebrew writings and in order to find Him (The Truth) they needed to search for Him (The Truth). This is a basic Bible concept and unless you embrace it you can be easily deceived by Satan.

The Greek word translated as “search” is G2045 and it means “to seek” and figuratively to “investigate”. This implies the effort of labor to find something that is also implied to be taken, lost or hidden. We learn from this word to become a “Sherlock Holmes” type of Word detective.  If you have ever misplaced your wallet, purse or your car keys and have had to look, seek and search to find them then you have done exactly what Jesus in this verse is stating. Why was it required to “search” the scriptures again to find Him (The Truth)?   This is truly a mystery to naturally thinking humans who think we can see Him without effort by just looking up word definitions. It did not work for men who actually knew the language of Hebrew so what makes you think it will work for you?   Let’s examine another verse:

Pro 25:2  It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the honour of kings is to search out a matter. 

The verse spoken by Jesus in John 5:39 matches with what we can read here in Proverbs 25:2 perfectly. If you read it closely God says in Proverbs 25:2 “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter and the honor of kings to search the matter out”. What we learn from John 5:39 spoken by Jesus who also spoke and read in Hebrew can literally mean that He was hidden in the stories of real living historical human beings, their true life events and the words of their law. The only way that this is possible is if the natural real words of truth were designed by God the author to cover over a hidden double meaning containing the equal or greater spiritual words of truth about Jesus. If we don’t know that this is true we will never understand the Bible no matter how much we look up definitions in a dictionary.

Let us read and study a view of some of the Proverbs 25:2 details. The Hebrew Words translated as “hide” is H5641 and it literally means “to conceal something by covering” it. Wow, that is an amazingly essential truth concept! Now notice the Hebrew word H2713 that was translated as “search out”. This Hebrew word literally means to “penetrate”. One great definition of the word “penetrate” means to “succeed in understanding or gaining insight into something complex or mysterious”. Wow that is exactly what God is trying to teach us to do today. Remember Paul claimed to be teaching a “mystery” that was “uncovered” to him!  God places covering protections over His words for us to go underneath the covers to discover the intended hidden spiritual truths.

I’m not done yet with this verse in Proverbs. The next Hebrew Word that I want us to focus upon is the one that was translated as “matter” at the end of the verse. By not looking up H1697 we are going to miss the real meaning of what was being concealed for kings to search for. This Hebrew word that was poorly translated literally means “Word”. It is used this way in other O.T. verses where it can say “Behold, the Word (H1697) of the LORD came…” (Gen 15:4). Is the Bible the Word of the LORD? If we do not believe that it is, we have been deceived. God is very plainly stating that He speaks His Words in a covered up form for humans to penetrate and uncover in order to understand.

However, I am still not done yet with this verse. If we go through every Hebrew word we will find the translators made other misleading translations. For example, the English word “thing” that was included in the statement about the glory of God to conceal is the exact same Hebrew word that was translated as “matter” and still means “Word”. This is amazing if you wake up and see the truth being stated.

The next important facts that need to be linked into our study are the two words translated as “glory” and “honor”. These two English words originate from the exact same Hebrew word (H3519). Why they were translated differently is for some unknown illogical reason that I cannot explain fully. I believe things like this are potential major problems found within all Bible translations. Of course I understand subject transition within the context. One usage of the Hebrew word is used in context to describe God and one usage of the same Hebrew word is used to describe God’s creation man. But, why does it make sense in this subject context to change God’s description to “glory” and man’s description to “honor”? Does a man not have a very similar image quality of God his creator? Was not man made in the “image” and “likeness” of God in Genesis?

You see if we study the Hebrew word “H3519” we will find that it occurs in 189 verses. It is first used in the Bible to describe a man named Jacob in Genesis 31:1. Here it is used to describe Jacob taking glory away from Laban. That is interesting since the translators actually translated it this time as “glory” and not as “honor”. In other places in the Bible it was used to describe the “glory” of the LORD. There are around 41 verses where the word was translated as “honor”. If you read in Malachi 1:6 the word “honor” is used as a question from the LORD asking “where is my honor?” Why were translators so very inconsistent when it was translated to describe God or man one way or the other?

If you look up the definitions of the two English words they are very synonymous like terms but they still carry slight differences. Glory is defined as “high renown won by great achievements”. That is certainly a very valid quality describing God. Glory can also mean “magnificence or great beauty” and that too aligns with descriptions of God. But, glory can also be used to describe “praise, worship and thanksgiving offered to God”.     The English word “honor” is defined as giving someone “great respect and esteem”. Well that certainly describes a quality of God also. However, the word honor is used mostly when describing humans and the word “glory” is used mostly to describe God. But, like I said there are exceptions to both of these rules.   This is just a small sampling of why I struggle with many English translations. We could literally spend days on this detail studying every verse where this Hebrew word was selected by God and attempt to clarify why one was translated one way and not the other.

I’m going to go through another problem just to teach another point on Bible study techniques. If you search the Strong’s dictionary with your computer you will find that the word “honor” is found literally in 12 different Hebrew word definitions. Perhaps you didn’t understand what I just said so I’m going to say it again differently. There are12 different Strong Hebrew words that can be translated as the word “honor”. In many of these Hebrew words there is also included the word “glory” in the definition. Why didn’t God use one of these words instead of H3519? I sure would like to understand this more. But, I know I am losing a lot of people with this level of detail so we will move on.

The main point being given here is that by reading only the English translation we may potentially fail to learn God’s intended purpose of His message. God is much smarter than us. If He selects a word in a verse there is a purpose, a design and a meaning behind it. He could have selected a different word if He wanted to say something other than what He said.

My concluding statement for Proverbs 25:2 is that I believe that it should read “It is the Glory of God to conceal (place under the covers) His Words, but the glory of kings (to penetrate the covers) to search out His words”. You are free to disagree if you like but that is what I believe the words say and what the LORD showed me. If you are a greater Hebrew expert I would appreciate learning your wisdom in this translation matter, so please leave me a comment.

That was a very long introduction to the subject of “Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth” and why God’s words must be separated between plainly written natural truths and hidden spiritual truths. Let’s continue our study with learning greater detail of the verse in question.

 

ANALYZING the DETAILS of
RIGHTLY DIVIDING the WORD of TRUTH

Let’s dive much deeper in the Word of God to learn and better understand what “rightly divide” means in 2 Timothy 2:15. We will begin by reading the verse from the KJV Bible:

2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

Get_DetailsI want to begin by focusing in on the key Greek word G3718 that I believe was correctly translated as “rightly divide” when it was connected with “the Word of Truth”. It is very important to understand that this is the only time this Greek word is used in the entire Bible text. This makes a correct interpretation of its usage significantly more challenging. Since we are unable to view other usages and their application and usage.  Therefore, we must dig deeper into other possible connections to better comprehend God’s truth. In order to learn what this Greek word was intended to mean and how God desired us to see it used in the sentence we are going to read the definition first and learn what root words that it was derived from and dig to learn how they are used in other verses. Let us read the actual Strong’s definition:

G3718

From a compound of G3717 and the base of G5114; to make a straight cut, that is, (figuratively) to dissect (expound) correctly (the divine message): – rightly divide.

 

This is our main keyword focused upon in this verse 2 Tim 2:15 and it was translated as “rightly divide”. This is the controversial phrase that some read in definitions to mean “to handle accurately and deliver correctly”. While that can be a figurative meaning according to Strong’s and Vine’s, that is NOT what the literal Greek Word means at all. There is a basic rule of interpretation that I like to apply in many cases of interpreting Bible verses.   I’ll give you the rule, please read it and consider what is stated:

“When the plain sense of Scripture makes common sense, seek no other sense; therefore, take every word at its primary, ordinary, usual, literal meaning unless the facts of the immediate context, studied in the light of related passages and axiomatic and fundamental truths, indicate clearly otherwise.” –Dr. David L. Cooper (1886-1965), founder of The Biblical Research Society

Did you understand this golden rule of correct Bible interpretation? I believe it does apply to our study. This will become clearer as we continue the study of the word definitions given to us by Strong’s. I would like to point out from this stated rule of interpretation we are advised to take the word literally unless we cannot do this based upon 2 mitigating factors that cause our literal interpretation to fail or come short. These determining factors are based upon what does the context say and how was it used in other passages of the Bible. We will probably not be able to fully discuss context but you are welcome to read it and form your own decision.  But, from what I observed every word spoken in this chapter should be taken literally. I also want to point out that this is a Greek word that is only used in this one verse. Therefore there are no other verses of the entire N.T. to compare its usage with.

I want to say that I read many modern translations of this verse. Many modern translations of the Bible depart from literal word meanings to change the message to an interpretative belief of what they think that the message was intended to say. The choice of translation of this Greek Word was about 50/50. Some Bibles translated it in a figurative interpretation as “handling accurately”, “teaching correctly” or similar phrasing and others translated it as the literal Greek meaning of “rightly divide” or one version even said “cutting in a straight line”.

I am a lover of “Literal Bible Translations” if you did not realize this yet. I believe with all of my heart that God chose specific words with direct meanings in every verse by design.   Because of His superior intellect and omniscient all-knowing knowledge of every word and their meanings I believe we should first attempt to believe that He knew what He wanted to say and meant it. Therefore, when the literal word means something specifically then we should do the best to see if that was what He wanted us to know first. Only if that literal definition absolutely does not make sense do we then attempt to look for a “figurative” application from the literal word definition.

I’ll give you a quick example. We have in Revelation 12:1 a pregnant woman clothed with the sun, standing on the moon crowned with a crown containing 12 stars.   That is the literal definition description of the verse, but clearly that cannot be taken literally. It just can’t be understood as being literal because it is physically impossible.  Therefore we are now free to research the figurative symbolic meanings of each of these stated truths 1) a woman, 2) the sun, 3) the moon, 4) a crown and 5) the stars. I pray you understand these very valid rules of interpretations.

Due to the time factor and an ever expanding lesson length, I just can’t go into the full detail of every verse in context. But, I will try to address the preceding verse to address the message content and information direction and flow.

2Ti 2:14  Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

I am also not going to go into great detail on this preceding contextual verse but, we should be able to clearly read that it is about preaching and sharing the Word of God with others. I want to begin with the first and last statements to confirm this is about ministering the Bible to disciples of the Word. It should be obvious that the verse begins with “put them in remembrance”. This indicates two truths that 1) they have heard it before and 2) someone is preaching so that they can be reminded of it again. Therefore what is being referenced is a message from God that is not a new teaching of the Word. The verse then ends with “the subverting of the hearers”. The word translated as “hearers” indicate there is an audience listening to the implied preacher or teacher of the Word of God.   The Greek translated as “subverting” means “to turn upside down”. Clearly this is a warning not to do what is stated in the middle part of the instruction.

What is the middle instruction? The middle is about “they strive not about words to no profit”. This appears to go along with what is stated in the next verse about “rightly divide the Word”.   It also appears to be in harmony with what we will learn shortly  about meaningless carnal non-working spoken words versus words that produce results.   Keep this in mind as you continue to read and we will address this subject in more detail.

I believe this statement requesting us not to strive (fight, argue, debate, etc.) to mean there are right ways and wrong ways to view the exact same Words of God so that if we just argue and debate about what they mean then it is a waste of a lot of our time. If there are words that can be argued and debated then there are at least two different perspective views, definitions or meanings of the words that must be considered and “divided correctly” to be understood. Do you understand my logic here? This is just basic common sense to me. Let’s get back to our detail study on the Greek word G3718 which was translated as “rightly divide” in the KJV Bible.

We have talked about several important things since we last read the definition of G3718 translated as “rightly divide” so please go back up a few paragraphs and reread it again. This is a really good definition with at least one potential challenge that I just introduced you to. Strong begins by providing us the “literal Greek Word meaning” first and this is great. But, then he gives us a potential alternative “figurative meaning” and this is where it becomes more challenging since we have no other scriptures to compare it with. I personally struggle many times with making one word in the entire verse or chapter a “symbolic” or “figurative” representation of truth when every other word appears to be a literal meaning. It seems to me that this type of interpretation may cause the Bible become very independent from God, opinionated and scattered with personal human bias.

The Greek word (G3718) literally means “to make a straight cut”. I believe this is like cutting a loaf of bread into slices using a very sharp knife. I use this analogy because the Word of God is likened to be bread in Matthew 4:4.   Bread cannot be consumed whole if it is as large of a loaf of bread as the Bible is. Therefore, the fact that Jesus compared the Word of God to be like bread implied that it needed to be cut into smaller easier to swallow and digestible pieces in order to enter inside us and do its work. I thought that was a great suggestion that I just tried to make. Please don’t attempt to swallow the entire Bible at once to understand it instantly. Take in the Bible basics one subject at a time and then only after you understand these move to the more challenging subjects. There was no extra charge for that bit of wisdom. Ha ha!

We also learn that this Greek word comes from a combination of two other Greek words G3717 and G5114. So now we need to go through their definitions and occurrences in the Bible to better understand the word G3718 (rightly divide).

G3717

Probably from the base of G3735; right (as rising), that is, (perpendicularly) erect (figuratively honest), or (horizontally) level or direct: – straight, upright.

The first Greek word G3717 is defined to be “right as rising and perpendicularly erect” and it was translated as “upright” or “straight” in the English language. It can mean someone who was previously horizontally reclining and rises to become perpendicularly erect as in standing up straight on their feet.   It is used this exact way in Acts 14:10 where Paul looks at a reclining lame man and commands him to stand upright on his feet and he was healed.   Therefore we learn the idea of someone “rising” to be straight up on their feet.   In Hebrews 12:13 God used this word as “And make straight paths for your feet…”. This Greek word is only used twice in the N.T. and was translated literally as standing up vertically once and figuratively as walking horizontally in a “straight” line the next time.   Therefore it can be literal or figurative in usage and be valid, but I do not believe that this provides us much light to which one it is supposed to be viewed as in 2 Timothy 2:15.

Ok, I want to introduce another potential comparison and likeness here based upon the definition of G3717. Remember the literal definition is to be “right as rising”.  This Greek word comes from the base of another word that means “to rise”.  What does the sun do every morning? We say it rises. At noon day the sun is as high or erect in the sky as it will get and then it begins to descend and set. The rising of the sun is exactly the same concept being related in the Greek word G3717.

I find that concept fascinating based upon my knowledge of other verses in the Bible about the sun. For example, Jesus is described to be the figurative rising sun in Malachi 4:2 and 2 Peter 1:19. I think we should read both of these verses:

Mal 4:2  But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings; and ye shall go forth, and grow up as calves of the stall.

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

Ok, why did I include these verses? Did you notice that these verses apply to Christian people that were awaiting the spiritual rising (dawn) of the spiritual day star (Sun) also known as Jesus in their spiritual heart? Could this play a role in us “rightly dividing the Word of Truth”? I believe with all of my heart that it does. You see in the N.T. we learn that unsaved people live in darkness without the Spirit of Jesus (1 Peter 2:9). By inviting Jesus to come into our hearts (spirits) God is permitted to shine His light of Jesus and this Sun will begin to arise.   We as the real Christians of the LORD that fear the LORD should all now be in the condition of no longer being in darkness (not understanding the Word) and should now all be found in growing stages of hopefully increasing light (understanding God’s Word). Maybe you still don’t see it?

I believe God is teaching us this is how we grow spiritually to become someone that is able to “rightly divide the Word of Truth”. You see no new-born Christian is able to rightly divide very much of the Bible much less the entire Word correctly because the Day Star has just begun to dawn (give light/understanding) in their heart. In other words their spiritual day light of awakening has just begun to be activated. A more mature Christian hopefully knows more of the Bible through study and has a greater rising amount of light (understanding) of God’s word in their hearts and can possibly even explain parts of the Bible to others. I pray this is making sense. You see Paul reveals this concept to us by stating this to the church:

Heb 5:12  For when for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat

Heb 5:13  For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe.

This is a very similar analogy given to us by God of rightly dividing the Word of Truth using a different word analogy description. The author teaches us using a comparison of natural human growth to be like that of spiritual growth. In this analogy we are informed concerning people that should be spiritually mature enough to be teachers but still need to be taught the basics of God’s Word. God informs us that this like babies sucking breast milk that need to grow mature enough to eventually learn to feed them self.

Milk Bible lessons are for the very carnal Bible basics that a spiritual baby and child should be able to begin to understand. Meat Bible lessons are the more advanced spiritual information that only a maturing Christian skilled with the basics is intended to be capable of receiving. Notice the Greek word G552 in this verse translated as “unskillful” It is clear that God is talking about someone who does not understand the Word of righteousness. This Greek word G552 literally means to be “ignorant” of spiritual things and it comes from the combination of the words G1 and G3984. G1 combined with G3984 makes the combined Greek word G552 the negative of the word G3984. But what does G3984 mean? The Greek word G3984 means literally to “pierce”. Uh oh? I think we have talked about this before. So the opposite of “to pierce” means “covered or unable to be pierced”. Do you realize the awesome connections being made here? How do you pierce something? It takes a sharp knife, sword or cutting instrument like a scalpel to get beneath the outer layer cover.

I didn’t create these analogies they were what God said in His Word that we just read. God uses more than one way to describe the same spiritual truth so that we can eventually understand it. God has been using a clear sword analogy that when used correctly pierces to uncover the truth and a rising sun analogy that that begins dimly but then increases in brightness as it continues to arise to find the truth. It amazes me how much of the naturally created universe all around us reveals hidden spiritual principles of hidden spiritual things in God.

The ability to rightly divide is a process that is a process of spiritual growth that is supposed to be learned from continuous study of God’s Word. It is clear to me that no Christian can do this perfectly since no one is fully mature and knows everything. It is also clear to me that we can all get better at rightly dividing the Word of Truth as we continue to learn more of God’s actual spiritual truth.

Do remember what Psalm 119:130 says? God in Psalm 119:130 informs us “the entrance of thy Word brings light”. Also the Hebrew word translated as “entrance” in this verse means “opening”. Do you recall what we learned from Proverbs 25:2? I’ll say it again to connect it with what we are learning now. “It is the glory of God to conceal (cover over) His words and the glory of kings to search (penetrate or pierce the cover of ) His words. Penetrating and piercing are synonymous terms that causes an opening to be produced. Wow, I hope you are getting the connections. How do you get beneath the cover? You allow God to help you find or make the opening.

Let’s go back to our study on G3718 from 2 Tim 2:15 and move on to the second Greek word G5114 that was joined in union with G3717 to form the English translation “rightly dividing”.

G5114

to cut; more comprehensive or decisive than G2875, as if by a single stroke; whereas that implies repeated blows, like hacking); more keen: – sharper.

The Greek Word G5114 that was combined with “rising” or “to stand straight up” word (G3717) literally means “to make a decisive single cut”. It is not the same as the Greek word G2875 mentioned in the definition that also means to “cut” but this word is cutting something utilizing repeated blows as in hacking or chopping a big tree down with an axe. I watched a World War II report of Japanese prisoner of war camp survivors for Memorial Day. On this program a former prisoner of war told of his horrifying experiences of how the prison commandant would randomly select prisoners to be executed. He would tie their hands and make them kneel and then get his very sharp sword out and cut their heads off with one powerful straight swing. This act was demonstrating what this Greek word G5114 meant. It only required one sharp blow to remove the head from the body. Sorry if that was too graphic but that is what the Greek word literally means.

This is a Greek word that is only used one time in the entire N.T. and it is only found in Hebrews 4:12 and was translated there as “sharper” as an implied sword. Clearly in this verse G5114 is being compared with the concept of other “double-edged swords” that are not the Word of God. Let’ us read the verse and dig:

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

This verse contains an amazing amount of spiritual information. Notice the primary subject of the beginning statement is the “Word of God”. Isn’t that a coincident? No, it is not! God’s Word does not contain coincidences of chance occurrences or accidental happenstance.   The Word of God was masterfully and amazingly designed to give us all a chance at learning the deepest spiritual truth without forcing us. In other words the design of the Word of God was to provide enough information to allow us to search and find the greater spiritual truth but consistently allowing/permitting us to reject the truth by our own freewill choice of not believing it.

The following statement going past the introduction subject “Word of God” is a description of what it is. The word that was translated as “quick” simply means “alive” and “living”. This definition implies that there are other types of words in existence that oppose God’s word that are “dead”. Dead or non-living words are what we were born into in this natural world. But, I am not going into that in this lesson, but this is what I was referring to earlier as “non-working spoken words” and we will learn how this fits in with the next Greek word description next.

Then the next Greek word translated as “powerful” is G1756 and it literally means “active”, “effectual” or “operative”. In fact this word comes from two root words of G1722 and G2041. G1722 means “to be moving” and G21722 means to be “working”. Wow, this is really deep and I can’t go into everything. But, this means God’s word is capable of accomplishing what it was sent to do. Perhaps you remember Isaiah 55:11? In this verse God is speaking about His Word “declaring that it will not return to him void but says it will accomplish what it was sent to do”.

Perhaps you also remember Psalm 107:20 where God said “He sent His word and healed them and delivered them from their destruction”. I pray that you receive this for what it is saying. God’s Word works and does what He sent it for. However, this description implies that there are words spoken not from God that are non-working and ineffective. Again this is another way of saying “dead”. We confirm this truth by reading Matthew 12:43 when Jesus says “Every idle word that men shall speak they shall give an account of them in the day of judgment”. Wow, the Greek word translated as “idle” literally means to be a “non-working” word. This could certainly imply “dead”, “non-productive”, “non-active”, etc.

We could probably write a book on just this verse alone. But, one of the main points is that there are at least two types of realities being compared in this verse. One type is an inferior natural reality and one is a greater spiritual reality that overrules the natural. If you question that last statements accuracy just read the rest of the verse. First, is the Word of God coming from His mouth and is named to be “sharper” and is compared to any other double-edged sword (mouth). Next, there is the dividing of the 1) “soul” and “spirit” in conjunction with the 2) “joints” and “marrow”. Notice that the soul and spirit are found in the spiritual realm followed by the lesser “joints” and “marrow” found in the natural realm. This is God’s way of giving us clues to how to rightly divide the Word of Truth. He is saying His word rightly “pierced” will cut away every other opposing non-living word.

It is NOT a coincidence that the LORD GOD placed these words in this verse about His Word. G5114 translated as “sharper” but literally means “to cut”. The Greek word G1338 translated as “piercing” and it literally means “to penetrate”. The Greek word G3311 which was translated as “dividing asunder” and literally means “a separation” and it comes from the root word that means “to make a difference by parting”. Then there is the Greek Word G3162 that was translated as “sword” but literally means “a knife” which represents a cutting instrument. I mean come on and see what God is doing here. God just connected in His word 2 verses with His selection of words chosen to reveal a process of cutting, division, dividing between spiritual things and natural things? Do you think that we need to apply this to 2 Timothy 2:15?   I certainly believe we do.

Here is where we begin to confirm that natural human words are inferior non-working wrongly spoken words. It is these types of words that are at war against the Spirit and Word of God. I pray you are receiving what I am teaching. Read Romans 8:7 and this may help. In Romans 8:7 God says “The carnal mind is enmity against God”. Where do inferior non-working words come from? The answer is from carnal thinking people. I try to tell people this often, not everything that you think should be spoken (Mat 6:31). According to the Bible our minds must be renewed with the Word of God (Rom 12:2). This renewal is a process of transformation that removes carnal natural dominance from our thinking mind that drives our wrong words and actions and replaces it over time with God’s spiritual Word and ways.

If you are not “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” it is because of carnal thinking. This is the main reason why unsaved people don’t get very much of anything from reading the Bible. This is the main reason why newly born baby Christians get very little from the Word of God. The greater the lack of knowledge of the real truth in the Bible permits Satan to keep his blinders on the parts of your mind and thinking that God is trying to teach you.

If you choose to pursue the truth of the Word of God with all of your heart and refuse to premit the plans of the enemy to steal it from you, then you will be on the path to victory. Start reading the Bible daily. But, not just that “speak the word of God as you read”. This verbal sword coming out of your mouth will eventually cut through Satan’s blindness covering your heart. It is the penetration of the Word of God into your spirit that will put God’s Word and power into effect to produce life, health, fruit, blessings, etc.

I have come to the belief that this term translated as “Rightly Dividing” is a literal truth. I have seen enough evidence that supports this belief to understand how important that it is to allow the Spirit of God and the Word of God to be viewed and understood from His viewpoint. We will be moving into Bible examples of this and there are so many that it is impossible to include them all in this lesson.

I probably lost a lot of readers with all of this attention to detail. Many of the carnally minded people reading the lesson have no real clue what I am talking about and why it is important. If you are one of these that believe this is worthless nonsense but you are still hungry to learn the truth, please don’t throw this in the trash. Just keep reading it and studying it over and over and over until it registers (pierces, cuts and penetrates into your heart).

 

INTRODUCTION TO RIGHTLY DIVIDING
GOD’S WORD EXAMPLES

Examples1We are going to be introduced to the fact that there are literally many examples given to us in the Bible that were provided by God to demonstrate the great need for the principles of people hearing the Word of God being spoken and still not understanding it correctly because they did not “rightly divide” what was spoken to them.   Again what I mean by that statement is that they did not attempt to adjust and turn away from their human point of view to see what God’s point of view was for the words that were said. Let’s begin with this section with this verse:

Mat 11:15  He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.

There are at least 11 times in the Gospels where it is recorded that Jesus spoke these exact words or very similar to people on the earth. There are 5 times in Matthew, 4 times in Mark and 2 times in Luke. These words were spoken to mostly to unsaved Jewish people in the Gospels but they are repeated again in Revelation with Jesus speaking directly to the saved people in the churches. This teaches us that the problem still existed even after salvation’s new birth. That was very important what I just said, so please don’t ignore it.

Why would Jesus speak these easily understandable words to people that all obviously had the physical ears to hear Him?  If we take the statement literally Jesus appears to be either ignorant or stupid and I know He is neither. Therefore, we must realize that we are the ones that need enlightenment to understand these words correctly.   Jesus must be speaking of something that is by far of greater value than just having natural ears to hear naturally spoken words. It could be that He is speaking of paying attention, listening closely and trying to understand and I believe these are all applicable ways to interpret the statement. In other words all of that can be true even though it was not directly stated in the message. This would be one human attempt to explain it as a “figurative” interpretation of the words.

It is interesting to note that there are only 3 different Greek words in the entire verse. These are G2192, G3775 and G191. G191 translated as “hear” is twice at the end of the verse.   The first Greek word G2192 is popularly translated as “has, had, hath, have, etc.”. The second Greek word G 3775 literally means “ears” but Strong points out that these ears can be either physical or mental. I’d like to suggest that there is another ear type found or at least implied within the spiritual realm. For example, Luke 16 when Jesus tells us of the rich man that dies and goes to hell where he still speaks and hears the words spoken to him by Abraham and neither had a physical body. Wow, that should change a lot of religious thinking. The last word G191 repeated in succession literally means “to hear” but again Strong adds an alternative word meaning to be a figurative mental capacity to “understand”. Even men like Strong who studied the Bible 125 years ago could understand that one word can mean multiple things simultaneously and it was up to us to determine the correct meaning with the LORD’s help of course.

What I am confirming again is the potential for spiritual word meanings to occur in the Bible simultaneously with natural word meanings. I have found that there is a higher spiritual way to look at most of the statements of Jesus in the Bible. When we shift to think more in line with God then I believe that this is a wiser attempt to view the words spiritually instead of just using our natural human understanding of the words. Please do not misunderstand what I am saying. We can take anything to an extreme position of error including over spiritualizing every verse and every word. That is not what I am teaching you. What I am trying to say is to just be open if the Spirit of God desires to reveal something spiritual that you may not be aware of yet.

When Jesus Christ was the speaker men not knowing who Jesus really was, thought that He was just speaking like they did every day to their friends. We must understand that Jesus was God in the flesh (John 1:1-14). Then we must understand that God is a Spirit (John 4:24). Our Creator the Spirit of God was manifested in the flesh to die for our sins. If we know and believe this then we must understand that He is a much higher spiritual thinker and speaker than we could possibly imagine (Isa 55:9).

I am a very firm believer from many years of Bible study that in the Gospels when Jesus was speaking to people and answering their natural questions that He was normally speaking way over their carnal thinking brain and answering them with a greater spiritual understanding that they could not comprehend fully. Most of the time the disciples heard all of the words but did not take them into their mind or spirit the way they were spoken but rather they heard them the way they were thinking that He was speaking. This is why I believe that Jesus told His disciples repeatedly “He that hath ears to hear, let him hear”. Why was this? Jesus actually told us that this was prophesied to occur:

Mat 13:14  And in them is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

Here is the prophecy given by Isaiah the prophet concerning the people that were alive during the days when Jesus was physically present on the earth. However, I still see this happening everywhere even in churches. How is this possible that Words can be spoken and some perceive and understand and others do not? God seems to give us some clues to understanding what is going on in the Bible. For example read this verse:

Act 28:27  For the heart of this people is waxed gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes, and hear with their ears, and understand with their heart, and should be converted, and I should heal them.

From reading this prophecy it appears that it is a human choice how we want to listen. God declares “Their eyes they have closed”. The Spirit of the LORD is teaching us that humans have a choice. Remember what the LORD said in Deuteronomy 30:19? “I have set before you; life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life that you and your seed may live”.   God has given to men a right to decide and many people have made the wrong choices. I know I did in my life and you probably have also. When we finally come to our senses like the prodigal son and turn back to our loving Father God our life can begin to change and our mind can be renewed. However, Jesus still warned us that many will never turn:

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

We can choose to love the light or the darkness. Those who love the darkness will be unable to see or understand the spiritual light of God’s Word. Psalms affirms this:

Psa 119:130  The entrance of thy words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.

God is giving us some significant clues why the spiritual truth of the light of His word is not able to be seen by many humans and even Christians.   Choose to love Light. Ask God for Light. Ask Him to increase your ability to see and understand His light. Pray and ask Him to help you not close your eyes to His light. It is a choice that we make daily to desire to know the truth.

This is the introduction to the lesson example topic for today. Next I am going to go through some specific Bible examples of why this principle of “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” was required even when Jesus was physically present and is still applicable to us that read the same words today. There are many great examples of this provided in the life of Jesus speaking spiritual things to natural thinking people who could not or more correctly chose incorrectly to not seek to understand Him because they loved darkness and evil more. We are not going to be able to go through every example found in the Gospels. But we will see enough when Jesus spoke spiritual words that were misunderstood by people with natural human ears and eyes to confirm that they are true.

I want you to understand that when Jesus is speaking He does not explain that He is speaking in spiritual terms.  Most of the times He just answers a question like the listeners were supposed to understand the answer. We will be reading more than one great example where Jesus is speaking in far greater hidden spiritual terminology while those that heard what he said were thinking in a much lower state of human natural literal thinking and reasoning and missing the entire vital spiritual message.   I plan to go through enough examples to prove that this is far more common than you can imagine. In doing this I hope that I am able to teach at the least some serious Bible disciples, how to begin to look at scriptures from a higher spiritual dimension.

 

Jesus Speaking Spiritual Words – Example 1

Joh 2:19  Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up. 

Joh 2:20  Then said the Jews, Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt thou rear it up in three days? 

Joh 2:21  But he spake of the temple of his body.

This is an awesome and very obvious example of how Jesus was speaking in spiritual expressions and speaking of unseen spiritual realities while the humans that were listening were only thinking and hearing literal natural truths. This is a very clear example of “Wrongly dividing the Word of Truth”. I pray that you do see it? To me this is so obvious. But, I know to those that originally heard the words they didn’t have a clue what was being said. In this discussion we are given two opposing viewpoints that are not the same levels or dimensions of truth.  However please notice that both viewpoints were true at the same time!

We can clearly see that there was a human definition for a temple that represented a large stone building that took 46 years to build and this natural truth was countered with Jesus’ definition of “His Body” that defined a spiritual temple that He spoke of. The revelation of this statement is more than profound. Jesus was claiming to be the spiritual temple of the Most High God. BY making this statement He professed that He was God. But, if Jesus was speaking of the 46 year stone temple like they thought He was, He would be perceived to them that heard Him to be a foolish crazy man. Verse 41 confirms this truth concept found in the Bible very clearly. This verse informs us that Jesus used a radically different and higher spiritual definition for what a “temple” represented to Him. Wow, wow, wow!!!!

Please notice that verse 21 was NOT spoken by Jesus to the Jewish leaders. They were kept in the dark to what was actually being spoken of. This information of verse 41 was written about Him here in the Book of John many years after Jesus had died, was buried and ascended back into heaven. This is a vital concept of great spiritual significance. This was a personal demonstration of what God had given to these people in all of their Holy Scriptures. God was hiding spiritual information in plain sight to anyone that desired to understand it but they were unable to grasp it because of their love for the darkness.

I love this example. It is a revelation of how God in the flesh (Jesus) thought and spoke in spiritual expressions that were in sharp contrast with natural human thinking and speaking expressions. This is a very direct example of why we should not take every statement recorded in the Bible using literal definitions found in human books and dictionaries. I have taught this repeatedly in so many Bible lessons that there are spiritual truths that are a higher priority than the natural ways of receiving them. God’s definitions of the His chosen Word will always triumph over the human dictionary definition. If you don’t know the divine definition, this is where we must “study to show ourselves approved, not to be ashamed”.

I know these men that were listening to Jesus were not born-again or spirit-filled believers in Him. I know this is a requirement for receiving anything spiritual from the Bible (1 Cor 2:14). But, I have had more negative comments on my spiritual Bible lessons from people who honestly believe that they are saved but do not see the spiritual truth staring them right in the face. These types of people are referred to in the Bible as potential “baby Christians” (1 Cor 3:1). Paul wrote to one church and told them “I could not minister unto you in spiritual word, because you thought carnally as new babes in Christ”. That was my paraphrase of the verse, but it does represent the statement being made very accurately.  Here is the actual KJV Bible translation of 1 Corinthians 3:1:

1Co 3:1  And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.

It is extremely clear to me that the Apostle Paul understood the differences between natural carnal thoughts and words and spiritual thoughts and words. I believe from this verse that Paul demonstrates to us that it was his greatest desire to preach and teach everyone these spiritual things that the LORD Jesus had revealed to him. It is also extremely obvious from this verse that even a saved Christian can still be very naturally thought dominated.

 

Jesus’ Spiritual Word Example 2

Joh 11:1  Now a certain man was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 

Joh 11:2  (It was that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment, and wiped his feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick.) 

Joh 11:3  Therefore his sisters sent unto him, saying, Lord, behold, he whom thou lovest is sick. 

Joh 11:4  When Jesus heard that, he said, This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby

Joh 11:5  Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 

Joh 11:6  When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. Joh 11:5  Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. 

Joh 11:6  When he had heard therefore that he was sick, he abode two days still in the same place where he was. 

Joh 11:7  Then after that saith he to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again. 

Joh 11:8  His disciples say unto him, Master, the Jews of late sought to stone thee; and goest thou thither again? 

Joh 11:9  Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world

Joh 11:10  But if a man walk in the night, he stumbleth, because there is no light in him

Joh 11:11  These things said he: and after that he saith unto them, Our friend Lazarus sleepeth; but I go, that I may awake him out of sleep

Joh 11:12  Then said his disciples, Lord, if he sleep, he shall do well. 

Joh 11:13  Howbeit Jesus spake of his death: but they thought that he had spoken of taking of rest in sleep. 

Joh 11:14  Then said Jesus unto them plainly, Lazarus is dead. 

 

Wow, this is such an amazing example of Jesus thinking and speaking in a very high spiritual dimension and the disciples thinking and speaking in a significantly lower natural dimension.   Did you see it?  I felt like it was extremely obvious. I underlined all of the spiritual words spoken by Jesus and left the natural words spoken without an underline. I’m not going to go through every verse to explain them all, but I will do an overview. Jesus is hiding away from where Lazarus lived because the Jews had desired to stone him near there. Lazarus falls sick and was nearing death when his sisters sent for Jesus to come and help him. But, Jesus stays where he was for two more days and then goes to where Mary, Martha and Lazarus were located. By that time Lazarus had died and had been buried for four days.

Now, review the recorded words of Jesus being spoken and notice that Jesus was predominately focused upon spiritual things. He did not lower himself to a human point of view until verse 14 in order to help them understand what was really happening from their perspective in the natural realm.

Beginning in verse 4 is where we first find a spiritual point of view in the recorded conversation. Jesus speaking to the disciples says “This sickness is not unto death…”. Well either Jesus lied or He was speaking of a different kind of death than what we normally think of, because we find later in verse 21 that Martha said about her brother Lazarus that he is clearly dead. In verse 39 Jesus is told by Martha that he had been dead four days.   Yet in the middle of these two verses Jesus says this:

Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

Ok, you must see it, right? Jesus is clearly not speaking at the same level of understanding with these human people that were listening to Him and certainly Jesus is not a liar. Jesus’ definition view of the word “death” must be dramatically different than what was on everyone else’s mind including Strong.  Strong defines this word translated G2288 as “death”.  To give him credit he does say that this word can be a literal or figurative meaning.  But, he does not attempt to give us the meaning of what a figurative death might represent.  Uh oh?

Go back to verse 11 and see another example. In this statement Jesus tells his disciples that Lazarus is only sleeping and that he will go to awaken him. His disciples’ response was “if he just sleeps he will do well”. But verse 13 explains the communication difficulty that was taking place. Go back and read verse 13 again to see it more clearly. This verse clearly says when Jesus was speaking of “sleep” that it was defined to be “physical death”.

This is so very important to know that Jesus is not a liar (Heb 6:18). Jesus was just speaking about spiritual things using naturally understandable words that had human meanings and because of their spiritual unawareness they totally missed His point of view. Jesus knew that even if Lazarus was physically dead that he would not be spiritually dead. Because Lazarus believed in Jesus he would never die (spiritual definition to be separate from God) like Jesus said later to Martha. So Jesus clearly tells the people to roll away the grave stone so that He could “awaken” him from his “sleep” like he said He would do for the Glory of God.

The spiritual words in all of these underlined words of Jesus are amazing truths spoken from a divine perspective. If you want to know how Jesus thinks and speaks dominated from a God perspective, go and study the words “day”, “light”, “see”, “walk”, “stumble” “night” “dead”, “die”, “sleep”, “awake” to name a few words that have very obvious spiritual meanings with different corresponding natural meanings.   Most of the time the natural meanings are true at the same time as the spiritual meaning and we see this very clearly in verses 9 and 10 when Jesus was speaking of 12 hours, day light and night. These words have great spiritual meanings with parallel natural significance. But, verses 4 and 11 are clearly speaking of only spiritual truth from a spiritual point of view. But, then in verses 7 and 14 these words spoken by Jesus were only valid from a natural human point of view and cannot be taken as spiritual. Wow, we have 3 types of words spoken by the LORD Jesus and knowing what He is speaking of at each requires us to “Rightly Divide His Spoken Word of Truth”..

This chapter of John is another great example of how easy it is for humans and even saved Christians to misunderstand the Word of God. Any person reading the Bible can completely miss the spiritual side of the conversation by thinking completely in terms of their own natural education and experiences.

 

Jesus’ Spiritual Word Example 3

Joh 8:23  And he said unto them, Ye are from beneath; I am from above: ye are of this world; I am not of this world. 

Joh 8:24  I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins.
Joh 8:25  Then said they unto him, Who art thou? And Jesus saith unto them, Even the same that I said unto you from the beginning

Joh 8:26  I have many things to say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world those things which I have heard of him

Joh 8:27  They understood not that he spake to them of the Father.

You should be able to see what is happening by now. Here is another example of a spiritual speaking man named Jesus communicating with naturally thinking humans that could not comprehend the meaning of His words.   Jesus is declaring very significant spiritual truths about spiritual facts that are far greater truths than their natural truths and they could not perceive them. These religious men that were listening are being warned in verse 24 that they were going to die if they did not believe in Him. Remember what we just learned about Lazarus. Jesus is not speaking of a natural death since everyone is going to die naturally if Jesus tarries. No, Jesus was speaking of eternal spiritual death defined as a permanent separation from God in hell if they chose not to believe on the Son of God. They immediately ask him, who are you? But, Jesus continues to answer their natural question using spiritual terms again stating spiritual truths that were not received by their carnal minds.

Please don’t be a hard hearted religious person that refuses to see the truth. This pattern is given to us in the Bible over and over and over so that we can learn from their wrong examples to not follow after them.

 

CONCLUSION

These have been only a very few examples of how natural thinking people wrongly divide the words that were being spoken to them to misunderstand a higher way of learning and knowing the greater spiritual truth of God’s Word. There are many, many other examples of this in the Gospels. For example you can go read a Bible lesson that I wrote a long time ago on “Jesus Heals a Blind Man in John Chapter 9”. The disciples asked Jesus a natural thinking question and Jesus answered and focused on the much higher spiritual truths in His answer. While the disciples focused upon a man’s natural blindness, Jesus was thinking of the man’s spiritual blindness.

What we should have learned today is that there are two types of truth found in the Bible in almost every verse. There is the existence of historical facts of truth, with real people that lived and did things some good and some evil. There are laws given from God and written down by Moses on Mt Sinai. There are prophetical things that are declared to happen before they happen. In all of these things Jesus said He was hidden in order that we could search for Him to see Him. This is where we must begin to allow the Holy Spirit to unveil Him and take the covers off of the natural truths. We are required to penetrate beneath the covers to find the spiritual truth that God wanted us to all to find.

How are you thinking when you read the Bible? Every Christian that I know of can struggle with this same challenge. If you are a completely carnal thinking person, you are probably not saved and didn’t get one thing from this Bible lesson. There are saved Christians that are at many differing levels of spiritual maturity and can see some spiritual things in the Bible from a growing and rising level of spiritual awareness. This is one of the main goals of this website. I desire to help us all to grow into the unity of the faith in Jesus Christ.

I believe that Jesus understood while walking the face of the earth that He was dealing with natural humans that thought wrong. But, I also believe that Jesus desired to teach them to come up to His higher level of spiritual thinking, speaking and living. I pray that this was one of the main points that you took away from reading this Bible lesson. I believe with all of my heart that rightly dividing the Word of Truth is someone that can perceive the spiritual understanding from the natural words that are found within the Word of God. Please don’t be like those that chose to not understand what Jesus was speaking of. If you don’t see it quickly pray and ask God to help you see it.  Ask God questions about what this word, verse or chapter means.  Learn to seek to come up to a greater level of spiritual awareness, understanding and knowledge of Christ Jesus in the Bible. I’ll leave you with another outstanding true spiritual thought:

To be born once you will die twice,
but to be born twice you will only die once.

I thank you for reading and studying the Bible with me and I love you all very much. God Bless you.  Also please leave me a comment and let me know what you think of this Bible lesson.  Thank you.

Understanding Persecution: Beware the Rise of the Spirit of Saul – Part 2

persecution1(Ver 1.1) This is Part 2 in a series of advanced Bible study lessons concerning the increasing growth of the persecution of the church today.  I believe sincerely that this was a message that the Spirit of God spoke to me recently in the middle of the night.  This message of warning I believe was very clearly given.  Therefore, I feel led to pray for every reader to grow in spiritual discernment to be able to perceive this persecution that is already beginning to happen all around us and to stand strong in their faith in the face of it.  If you have not read this series of lessons from the beginning I would highly recommend that you go back and start with “Part 1” first.

Please realize that this Bible study subject is intended and I believe that it was designed by the Lord for mature spiritual Christians primarily. It may potentially address many advanced new spiritual topics that may offend, or cause fear or confuse a new or immature Christian.  It is my greatest heart’s desire above teaching what I believe that the LORD gives me to share, to never intentionally offend or cause fear to occur in any new Christian which cause them to fall away from seeking to learn more.  I believe very sincerely that it is essential for any Bible message being taught to not introduce a spirit of fear into any Christian’s heart (2 Tim 1:7).  I believe this even when the message concerns a coming increased level of hatred towards Christians that may occur.  When reading this message, fear should not be the end result.  If it is then I have failed.  Therefore, please perform a self-evaluation, praying first asking the Lord to lead you if you should continue to read and study this subject before continuing.  Thank you.

 

INTRODUCTION

In the first lesson God introduced the subject matter using a message revealed within the life of a man named “Saul” of Tarsus. Saul of Tarsus was a very religious zealot that believed he was doing well by persecuting and killing Christians when in actuality he was being deceived and used by Satan to do evil.  We can learn this from reading Saul’s own subsequent writings to us in the church where he describes to us that he was just the human flesh and blood game piece being played, influenced and manipulated by the evil unseen spiritual force called Satan.

As you should recall, Part 1 introduced the subject of persecution from the viewpoint of 4 different perspectives. One perspective was that of the human persecutor Saul.  Another perspective was from God’s viewpoint and another was from the observation of the one in the church being persecuted.  Finally, the last perspective was from Satan.  Satan’s viewpoint represented his beliefs based upon his versions of truth and reality.  However, I was only able to touch that part of the discussion very briefly.

Today I want to focus more in-depth on the actual spiritual enemy’s perspective and the reasoning given to us in the Bible behind why Satan is so highly motivated to persecute the church. I believe if we can understand why our enemy desires to hurt us we will better know how to resist, withstand and even overcome the attacks.

But let’s first be reminded of a good definition of what “persecution” is from the dictionary.

Persecution: hostility and ill-treatment, especially because of race or political or religious beliefs.

Persecution is the act of someone causing hurt, harm, injury or even death to another human simply because of a strong disagreement or differences between someone’s appearance, associations or beliefs. Persecution can be physical, mental or emotional and even all of the above at once.  You must also know that the roots of all persecution originate from seeds of evil planted from the kingdom of darkness and we will soon learn why these occur.  That was only a very brief overview of what was covered in Part 1.  Therefore, let’s get started on a new lesson about the subject of “persecution”.

 

SECTION 1: OBTAINING A BETTER UNDERSTANDING OF WHO THE SPIRIT OF SAUL REPRESENTS

It may have been difficult for a few readers to understand the stated concept of the warning that I believe was given to us by the LORD concerning “beware, the rise of the spirit of Saul”. Is it possible that this was a direct reference to the external spiritual being named Satan?  This “spirit of Saul” statement could possibly be a reference to at least three different possible interpretations.  Think with me logically for a moment.  First, this reference could be the actual human spirit of Saul himself returning to the earth as we read about Samuel returning to the earth in 1 Samuel 28 to speak with the first Saul king of Israel.  If you have studied the Bible you should already understand that man was created by God as a tri-part being; 1) man is a spirit that possesses 2) a soul (a mind, will and emotions) and this spirit lives in 3) a physical body (1 Th 5:23).  That is one possible logical interpretation.

Second, a “spirit of Saul” statement could be referring to just the rise of a hostile attitude towards Christians without being related to any one person of direct responsibility. Please review this one dictionary definition of the word “spirit”:

spirit: those qualities regarded as forming the definitive or typical elements in the character of a person, nation, or group or in the thought and attitudes of a particular period.

Using this definition we could take the character, thoughts or attitudes of anyone on the earth similar to the man named Saul and say that is what is returning to the earth today and I believe that would be correct to a great extent. However, we must ask is there something or someone that is driving these things to reoccur today?   Is there anyone that can be identified to be directly responsible for the evil?  I believe the answer is yes.  I based this belief upon two important characteristics 1) the TRUTH OF THE BIBLE and 2) God’s created laws of physics.

I would be foolish to attempt to teach the laws of physics in a Bible lesson on persecution. But you may be wise to extend some effort to study this subject to learn more about the subject of causality. This basic principle of physics teaches us for every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction.  In other words even basic common sense teaches us that nothing good or evil happens without an originating cause.  Simply speaking we should understand that cars do not assemble themselves.  If you can see a car, you must logically assume a designer and creator of that car.

I believe this principle of causality is also the basis for the subject of persecution also. Persecution does not occur by accident or random chance.  It must be directly caused by a being capable to desire it, design it, initiate it and control it for an intended purpose.  This brings us to the third possible interpretation for the “spirit of Saul”.

The third possible interpretation for a “spirit of Saul” statement could be a direct reference to an independent external supernatural spiritual being influencing the natural man Saul. I believe very firmly that this was the way that it is being used by the Holy Spirit in the message.  In fact I believe it was an indirect reference to Satan and can be no other possible spiritual being.  If you also believe this is true then you just might wish to skip the remainder of this section of the lesson because it is going to be designed to provide other Biblical confirmations of that subject matter only.  The section following this confirmation in the Bible lesson will continue to get into new material on the subject of “persecution”.  You are free to move directly down to the next section if you feel led by the Spirit of God to do so now.

I will do my best to provide a couple of quick examples of this type of stated truth for the “spirit of Saul” utilizing additional associated subjects and related references in the Bible. Each new reference type given should help us establish the basic concept that the “spirit of Saul” can legally be referring us to a completely different independent responsible spirit other than the human spirit of the man being directly named.

The Bible contains multiple repeated patterns that can assist us to prove basic spiritual concepts. We can find these and use the occurrence of each Bible reality to support our understanding of possible types and examples which are similar.  For example, please read this next equally patterned verse that I believe was revealed to me by the Lord very carefully and see what God is saying about a spirit and two natural men named Elijah and Elisha:

2Ki 2:15 And when the sons of the prophets which were to view at Jericho saw him, they said, The spirit of Elijah doth rest on Elisha. And they came to meet him, and bowed themselves to the ground before him.

Here in this reference of the “spirit of Elijah” is found the exact same form of the principle and pattern as what was given within the “spirit of Saul” statement. However, in this revealed pattern there is a major difference in the transferred type of spirit that was now resting upon this man Elisha originally resting on Elijah.  The major difference is between good and evil.  Elijah and Elisha were men of God that do things that are good and Saul was a man guilty of doing evil.  This represents an antithesis truth comparison. Both are related patterns upon opposite ends of a truth spectrum.

I believe that this shifted spirit being transferred from Elijah to Elisha must be the good Holy Spirit. I believe very firmly that the Hebrew word H7307 which was translated as “spirit” in this verse should have been translated as the capitalized word “Spirit”. Translators capitalized this word as “Spirit” in over 30 other O.T. verses.  Therefore, it is a very legitimate way to use the word when it is recognized to be referring to God’s divine Holy Spirit.

This lower case translation as “spirit” just causes significant confusion and it conflicts with other verses found in the Bible. For example, I have found no verses in the Bible that reveal that a man’s human spirit can be transferred to or ever exist inside the body of a completely different named human being. We can easily observe this truth from reading a literal true story that Jesus taught to us.  For example go and read in Luke chapter 16 where Jesus tells us of the natural deaths of two actual men, one an unnamed rich man and the other a poor beggar named Lazarus.  Upon the death of each man, both human spirits depart their dead bodies and leave the earth immediately being carried away by the angels to two different locations under the earth’s surface.  Knowing this truth alone makes it impossible for the literal stated “spirit of Elijah” to represent Elijah’s actual human spirit.  The “spirit of Elijah” cannot come back or even stay on the earth to rest upon another human body named Elisha. That would be a very false teaching likened to “reincarnation”.

Also remember a related story found in Luke chapter 9 when Jesus was transfigured on the mountain top and both Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus talking. It is worthy to note that the Bible does not say that this was Elisha’s appearance.  Therefore the spirit of Elijah must be separate from Elisha in 2 Kings and afterwards in Luke 9.  It would be very logical to think that this is the way it was then and still is now.  We can further confirm this truth seeing the departure of Elijah’s body and his spirit when he was taken away from the sight of Elisha being separated by a fiery chariot in 2 King 2:11.

2Ki 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a whirlwind into heaven.

The fact that both Elijah and Elisha appear together in repeated verses found in 1 Kings 19, 2 Kings 2 and 3 prove that both men are human and possess independent human spirits. The fact that Elijah is stated to depart the earth further proves that Elijah is no longer here to rest on Elisha.  Therefore, this referenced “spirit of Elijah” in 2 Kings 2:15 cannot be a literal interpretation for Elijah himself to remain here on the earth.

There are just too many implied controversies and conflicts given to us for us to believe that the human spirit of Elijah could possibly be transferred up and away from the earth but still remain here on the earth to rest upon the human spirit of Elisha. I’ll say it again in a different way, there is just absolutely no way that this belief of a human spirit transfer can fit any type of knowledge or understanding of central truth found in the Bible.  Therefore, God must be speaking of a different spirit that was transferred from Elijah to Elisha and this Spirit must be the Holy Spirit.  Let’s look at another related contextual verse to help us understand this more clearly:

2Ki 2:9 And it came to pass, when they were gone over, that Elijah said unto Elisha, Ask what I shall do for thee, before I be taken away from thee. And Elisha said, I pray thee, let a double portion of thy spirit be upon me.

Here is a great new mini lesson to help verify that the “spirit of Elijah” in 2 Kings 2:15 must be translated as the “Spirit on Elijah” in order to not conflict with contextual Bible truth. First, notice that Elijah says “He is about to be taken away”.  That statement would be a clear lie if his spirit remained on the earth to rest upon Elisha.  Do you understand this?  A man is his spirit and a man is not his physical body.  The physical body is simply the house that the man’s spirit lives within.  Remember what Paul wrote us in 2 Corinthians 5:8 “to be absent from the body is to present with the Lord”.  Wow, I hope you can put this verse together to see the truth with the “spirit of Elijah”.

Also, notice that there is a potential major conflict found on the surface by Elisha’s request to Elijah.   Elisha asks for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit.  Again I believe this word should be capitalized as “Elijah’s Spirit” to be seen correctly as God’s Holy Spirit that was resting upon Elijah.  You see God’s Spirit resting upon Elijah was just the unseen reality that Elijah possessed personally.  Then notice what Elisha asks for more specifically.  Elisha asks for a “double portion” of this spirit and again this can only be a double portion of God’s Spirit.

I have found no Bible references that infer that a man’s human spirit can increase in any measured capacity, quantity or status other than to grow in qualities like faith, strength and wisdom. I believe from years of Bible study that the human child that is formed in the womb of a woman has been given a fully formed and complete human spirit from God.  I believe that this human spirit is in its full presence and measured capacity.  I do believe that this spirit grows in knowledge, understanding and wisdom but I believe that this is not the increased size of the human spirit. Therefore, I believe that any stated increased “double portion” of Elijah’s human spirit presents another major Bible conflict.  However, if we translate and interpret this Old Testament request in this verse using revealed knowledge of the N.T. we will quickly learn the truth.  For example, read this:

Joh 3:34 For he whom God hath sent speaketh the words of God: for God giveth not the Spirit by measure unto him.

As you read the context of this verse you can clearly see that this verse is speaking of Jesus. God declared in His written Holy Word that Jesus had been given the “Spirit of God” in complete fullness without any limitations or reduced amounts of capability to measure.  The Greek word G3358 translated in this verse as “measure” literally means “a limited or reduced portion of the complete or total” and by God placing the negative G3756 translated as “not” before this word it changes the meaning to say to us that there can be no reduced limits to the Spirit that was given to Jesus.  We could literally say God’s Spirit was given to Jesus in the fullest possible measured capacity.  Therefore, Jesus had the total possible amount of God’s Holy Spirit resting upon Him.  I hope and pray that you can see this truth because the unstated implications are also amazing.

This statement of truth about Jesus implies that every other human here on the earth can only possess the Holy Spirit in some much “lesser amount” or “reduced or limited portion” than what Jesus had. This truth teaches us so very much.  For example if you believe that you have all of the Spirit of God that you can possibly have just because you were born-again then you are very deceived.  There is always more of God that is available to come upon you, if you just ask for Him to come and receive Him by faith.

This means when Elisha asks Elijah for a double portion of his “Spirit”, Elisha could only be legally asking for a greater portioned amount of God’s Spirit than what was present on Elijah at that time. The increased amount of double of what Elijah had resting upon him was what was requested.  I hope you understood this basic logical truth.  I believe very clearly that God’s Spirit is the only single spirit that can be given and transferred to and from any human to another in greater amounts.  However, this does get more complicated by the fact found in the Words of Jesus when He declares that a demon can exit out of man and then return with 7 other demons that are more evil than himself (Mat 12:45).

I’ll end this small part of the confirmation by proving the Holy Spirit can “rest” on humans. This will help us further support the claim that the spirit of Elijah must be the Holy Spirit and no other.  And this fact will assistus to better understand how the “spirit of Saul” can also be transferred to rest upon other humans also.  In Acts 2:3 when the Holy Spirit falls upon the 120 in the upper room God declares that His Spirit “Sat” upon each of them.  That term “sat” is simply a synonymous way to say God’s Spirit “rested” on each human spirit present in a limited amount.  This was the exact same spiritual concept being studied in 2 Kings.

Num 11:25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

We can use one of the basic interpretation principles called the “law of first mention” and find that the Spirit of God rested on other people in the O.T.  For example this truth is found in Numbers 11:25-26 where God clearly states using the exact same Hebrew word translated as “rest” as we have been observing in reference to Elisha. In these verses in Numbers God rested upon Moses and this same Spirit was then also transferred and given to rest upon the 70 elders that were called to help Moses govern and manage the people of the LORD.  That makes it very plain to me what God was speaking of in 2 Kings 2:15.

I’ve spent more than enough time on this rabbit trail study proving that the “spirit of Elijah” can only be correctly understood to be “God’s Spirit resting on Elijah” and it could only be His Spirit that can legally be transferred in an increased portion to rest on Elisha. These truths helps to support the claim that the “spirit of Saul” can also legally be understood to be Satan’s spirit upon Saul that is being transferred from one human (Saul) to another.

I will conclude this section of our persecution lesson with one further confirmation to how Satan can use multiple humans to bring persecution upon Christ and Christians. This will help us to see how one spiritual being can be transferred from human to human.  We will read four verses found in the book Luke.  I’m sure you have seen these before but they do teach us plainly about the root “spirit” that is truly behind persecution:

Luk 22:2 And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people.

Luk 22:3 Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve.

Luk 22:4 And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them.

Luk 22:5 And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money.

Please note in verse 2 that God says the religious leaders in Israel sought to kill Jesus. Also note that in John 10:10 Jesus claimed that Satan was the one that came to the earth to kill, steal and destroy.  I find that very interesting, don’t you?  It would appear to me that Satan had already entered into the hearts of these religious men in order for them to want to kill Jesus. Please recall who Jesus claimed was behind these rulers by reading these words spoken in John 8:

Joh 8:44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

You see Jesus informs these religious leaders that they desired to kill Him and that this was the desire give to them from their father. Who did Jesus say was their father?  Was it God?  No it was not!  Jesus was saying they were “of” their father the devil (aka Satan).  Wow, that is very strong language.  The root of murder according to Jesus is of the devil because he is stated to be the murderer from the beginning of the world.

Jesus was warning these religious human men concerning who birthed and controlled their 1) desires, 2) intentions, 3) thoughts and 4) their actions. But, these religious zealots completely ignored His warnings.  I believe that it is quite possible that one of our main subject’s Saul was standing in their presence when these words were spoken.  Wow, can you imagine that?

Go back and reread Luke 22:3 again. It is very clearly stated that Satan entered into Judas before Judas ever betrayed Jesus to the Jews.  Note the important concept being taught to us.  The spirit of Satan was not on or in Judas but then he came from somewhere or someone else to now be found present in Judas.  This statement reveals the very important concept that is being taught about spiritual transference.  The Holy Spirit, demons, devils and even Satan can be transferred from one human to another human as we have clearly observed in scripture.

The religious rulers of Israel were thrilled with this man Judas coming to help them trap, take prisoner, persecute and kill Jesus. This is no different than what Satan did through the man Saul to persecute and kill those in the church later after the death of Judas and the ascension of Jesus.  What I am saying is that the same spirit of Satan that came upon these religious leaders, Judas and Saul must be the same spirit that is now coming upon people in our world today to spread the same evil upon the church.

This is such valuable information to learn from. It teaches us the root cause behind the observed effect of church persecution is spiritual in origin and nature.  Judas went out and killed himself because of his great error in judgement to give into Satan and yet this did not end the persecution of believers.  Therefore, Judas cannot be the root cause of the persecution to Christ or Christians.  Judas was only a simple pawn chess piece that could be used to attack Christ and then be sacrificed and thrown away in a human garbage pile.  Satan could easily find another human to fulfill his further evil work on the earth.  Please see what Paul wrote about this unseen work of Satan:

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:

Paul states very clearly “what is” the root cause source of evil in this world. Paul is a very wise and learned man from things he learned from the Lord Jesus and his personal life experiences.  Paul says there is a prince of the air that has the power and ability to work in men and women on the earth that willfully disobey the Word of God.

1Pe 5:8 Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

We could spend a lot of time just on this verse but I want to point out just a few key points found in this great truth statement. Satan is walking the earth just as we are informed he does in the first chapter of the book of Job.  The Greek word G666 which was translated as “devour” is a very interesting word to study.  This word literally means to swallow up as in gulping down a large glass of a beverage.  This is what Satan is trying to do to everyone in the world today.  Satan is an equal opportunity destroyer and it does not matter if you are saved or not saved.  He is looking for someone to drink in and use.  However this is only possible for people that open the door for him to come in to consume them.

Spiritual transference and influence is still true today in our world. Human terrorists are not our real root problem.  One terrorist blows himself up to kill people and then Satan has many other men, women and children to step into their role to be the next murderer.  I hope and pray that you will embrace these truths and take them to heart to see how persecution and the transfer of spirits work.   Let’s change the focus and learn more about why Satan wants to persecute you.

 

SECTION 2: ONE OF SATAN’S PRIMARY MOTIVATIONS FOR PERSECUTION

At the end of the first lesson in the series, I included a few verses from Revelation 12 that described how as the time of the end shortens, Satan’s fury and hatred increases. I believe this fury is growing exponentially as the end becomes nearer.  I also believe that this rage will continue to rise until after he is thrown down to the earth the final time having lost his soon coming war in heaven with God’s holy angels.  I believe these verses describe to us a spiritual being in tremendous panic mode.  Let’s reread a little to refresh our memory:

Rev 12:7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,

Rev 12:8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Prior to these two verses in Revelation chapter 12, Satan (the symbolic dragon) was stated to have swept down with his dragon’s tail one third of the angels (the symbolic stars). These evil angels have fallen to the earth with Satan from heaven and that is not good news for the people left remaining on the earth.  But, here in verses 7 and 8 we learn some very important information concerning Satan.  First, think with me and ask why would a created being of inferior powers and ability choose to come against his all-knowing and all-powerful creator?  Doesn’t Satan have any fear of God?  I believe sincerely that Satan has tremendous fear of God.  But, I also believe that he considers that he has no choice except to fight against God in order to try to survive what is prophesied to come.  Satan knows so very clearly by reading the end of the Bible that he is going to be cast into hell very soon where he will have to spend all of eternity in punishment, anguish and torment.

Remember that Satan has been in heaven, led worship around the throne of God and has lived the best life and seen such superior things which were far better than anything we could possibly imagine here on the earth. Satan was created a model of perfection, created in a realm of perfection with the perfect association to the creator God who was and is perfect.  Why he chose to willfully and purposely rebel against a good and loving God is certainly an amazing mystery to most of us Christians.  Let’s review Satan’s end:

Rev 20:10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

As you can plainly read in Revelation, Satan has a very dismal prophesied future. This is exactly why I believe Satan is highly motivated to try to find any way possible to not go there.  Do not forget that when Satan was created, he was an example of perfection from God’s best and highest order of His creation.  Satan continued as the model of “perfection” right up until the time that “sin’ was found in him through his pride (Eze 28:15).  I believe that it was Satan’s pride that caused him to think more highly than he ought to think of himself and I believe that it is now his survival instinct that causes him to fight diligently against God and His great power here on earth and in heaven.

I hope that you understand these truths because Satan definitely does. Everything that a Christian is destined for in eternity with the Almighty God, Satan has already experienced and I believe he is not happy to say the least to lose it all.  Let’s take a quick little exploration trip down a new rabbit trail on the subject concerning demons and devils to better understand Satan’s knowledge.  Please, read with me in Matthew 8:

Mat 8:28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way.

Mat 8:29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?

Jesus traveling through the countryside encounters men that were possessed by devils. Please notice what the devils shriek when they see the LORD JESUS coming at them. We can clearly see from their statements that these devils know exactly who Jesus is and even call Him the “Son of God”.  Being the “Son of God” was certainly the truth and one of His primary given names.   Did you know that devils know and can speak the truth at times? Please notice the beginning of the question asked to Jesus “What have we to do with you?”  That was a question displaying their great fear of Jesus.  This statements ends with still another fearful question that begins with “Have you come to torment us before the time?”  Wow, what great fear these devils exhibit!  Can you agree?

Reading the devil’s questions we see that these spirit beings in a human know the truth that there is coming a future “set time” that will begin their eternal never ending torment. They also speak this truth long before the book of Revelation was ever written.  We also learn by their questions that the timing for this torment described in the future written Revelation 20 was not during the first appearing of Jesus the Son of God upon the earth.  This extraordinary knowledge of truth was way beyond that of any human comprehension on the earth at that time except for Jesus’ knowledge.  Jesus never denies these statements of truth nor does He contradict them.  They are completely agreed with due to the silence of Jesus.  Let’s review the facts of truth just given:

  • Devils have a very great fear of being tormented.
  • Demons, devils and evil spirits know that there is an appointed time of eternal torment.
  • The timing of eternal punishment and torment is stated to be in the future.

 

All of these three observed truths declare that every devil possesses a very great fear of God and of the coming time of never ending retribution. Did you know that devils and demons possessed this very tremendous terror of God and His power even back at the appearance of Jesus the first time on the earth?  If the lower levels of devils feared God’s future plans for them way back then how much more do you think their leader Satan and all of them fear these never changing plans right now?  I believe that this fear is even greater today than it ever was back then.

Jas 2:19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.

Notice what the half-brother of Jesus reveals to us in his awesome letter to the church. James commends us in the church for having a holy belief in the one true God.  Then James implies by his adjoining statement that this belief should cause a righteous fear of God to similarly be present in us.  We can conclude this, because, James says that we are doing well to possess this belief in one God since the devils “also” believe and they tremble in fear.  What I am introducing in this section of the Understanding Persecution lesson is what I believe is Satan’s number one reason for persecuting the church and it is called “FEAR”.  Satan fears the omnipotent God more than I can describe in this lesson and it is primarily this great terror that causes his excessive hatred and rage against us in the church today. Please take this summary statement to heart and never forget it:

  • Fear is the driving motivational evil force for everything wicked that Satan does to the church using persecution.

 

 

SECTION 3: INTRODUCTION TO SATAN’S NUMBER ONE GOAL  FOR PERSECUTING THE CHURCH

Wow, if it is true that Satan is primarily motivated by the fear of God to commit persecution, what is his primary goal and objective for persecuting, killing and destroying Christians on the earth for the last 2000 years? What benefits to Satan could this evil work of persecution potentially gain him?   I believe that is a great question to answer and understand.  And I believe the answer has not changed ever since Satan killed Abel in Genesis.

Always, remember that Satan has been in the death business since the world began (Heb 2:14).  He wants us in the church dead and not only us but also the entire nation of Israel.  Why is that?  If Satan is already defeated as we learn in the New Testament, why is he still fighting so hard to kill everyone that God has selected?  Why does the religion of Islam call Christians in America the great Satan and the nation of Israel the little Satan? It sounds to me like Satan is afraid of us both and even our existences here on the earth.  Both of these nations must possess something that Satan fears as much as God.  What could this be?

Again we know from reading the words of Jesus in John 10:10 that Satan came into the world illegally to literally 1) kill, 2) steal and 3) destroy us while Jesus explained that His purpose for coming into the world was the antithesis to give us life and that life more abundantly.  These were and are still two opposing forces that are fighting against each other to prevail.  Satan should be viewed as our enemy trying to bring us to death but Jesus the greater one came as our provider of life more abundant.  Satan is certainly evil and Jesus is so exceedingly good.

We should now know from just reading this lesson that these three evil acts of Satan were and still are “fear of God” motivated. Therefore, I’ll ask again, what possible profit does Satan potentially gain from killing Christians, stealing from Christians and destroying Christian and their works?  This will become the focus of this section and we will let God’s Word answer these very important questions.

There is a really simple answer to the introduction of this section’s questions if we think about it and begin to ask some additional direct questions. Of course asking the right direct questions would certainly help us.  How about beginning by asking this question, “How did you become a Christian?”  I believe that if we can correctly answer that question that we will begin to travel down the right pathway to finding the truth about what is Satan’s primary benefit for the persecution of God’s people.  I’ll start this section with a familiar Bible verse found in 2 Corinthians:

2Co 4:18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.

God contrasts two truths and one is given to be greater than the other. These are seen things verses unseen things and the unseen things must be viewed to take priority over the sense realm things.  The unseen things are clearly spiritual in nature.  If you are really a Christian that has been born again, you possess two very powerful unseen spiritual realities that Satan fears tremendously.  Every real Christian believer has these two unseen internal truths that speak to declare Satan’s greatest fear.  What are these two unseen internal and never ending unseen spiritual qualities that any real Christian possesses? These two unseen realities in us that Satan hates and fears the most are 1) the Spirit of God and 2) the Word of God.

1Co 6:19 What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?

After becoming a Christian the Spirit of God dwells directly in us. That is why Satan fears you and wants to remove you from his worldly domain of darkness.  If there were no Christians in the world today restraining and resisting Satan what would be the moral condition of the world today?  I hate to imagine what would be happening based upon what is happening all around us already.

1Pe 1:23 Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

If you were born again, it happened because you received the Word of God into your spirit. It is the presence of this powerful incorruptible Word (seed) that is one of the major factors that Satan fears you.  This is so important that I can’t say it enough.  The Word of God and the Spirit of God are one and if you are a real Christian you have both in you in some measured portion which can be increased and even grow but I don’t have time to teach that today.  Let’s review a verse very quickly to see why the Word of God in you is so scary to Satan.

Rom 10:8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

Wow, I love this verse of Godly truth. This verse represents a foundation for the second unseen reality that Satan hates about you as a Christian.  The Word of God should be in the mouth of every believer and we should be able to see that it is only this Word of Faith being in our mouth that represents our offensive weapon against Satan according to Ephesians 6:17.  Every time Satan tempted Jesus, Jesus spoke the Word of Faith to him “It is written” and after three attempts to get Jesus to fail Satan left him in defeat.  I believe very sincerely that this removal of the Word of God from your heart and from your mouth is the number one goal for all evil persecution.  If Satan can eliminate the Word of God from your heart with external threats and pressures from this world you will become no threat to Satan.

For the exact same motivation of fear that Satan attacks the all-powerful God in heaven in Revelation 12, he is coming against any real saved born again Christian now in the church. I believe that Satan is highly driven trying to save himself from going to hell as I have previously demonstrated and that this foolish behavior will continue to increase as the time for the end of this age is growing shorter.  I also believe that Satan’s chances for success are zero.  Yet I believe strongly that he will definitely still try to fight to win in order to attempt to change his inevitable outcome in whatever way that he believes he can do to help him the most.  If you do not believe Satan is still fighting to win over you and over God, then you may be very deceived.  Verses like Ephesians 6:11-12, James 4:7, 1 Timothy 6:12, 2 Timothy 4:7, and 1 Peter 5:9 to name a few all prove that every Christian is still in a spiritual battle until Satan is completely removed from this world.

As we learned earlier, Satan is not omnipresent nor is he omniscient. Satan does not come close to knowing what God knows or even understanding why God has done many things the way that He has done them.  God clearly uses seemingly foolish strategies in the eyes of Satan to defeat him (1 Cor 1:27).  Satan never understood why Jesus came down from heaven to the earth to become a human man.  The devils clearly thought it was to torment them before the time appointed.  I believe that Satan and his devils were all in terror when Jesus began to cast them out of people here on the earth using His anointed power. Acts 10:38 says “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and Power who went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed of the devil”.  You see until Jesus came down to the earth, every devil practically had complete free reign to do as they pleased to humans if humans were tricked to open the door to let them in.  Jesus turned the world of the devils upside down so that they didn’t know what to expect next or what to do with Jesus to stop this major change to their long existence on the earth.  God reveals this to us in this truth:

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:

1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

These two verses confirm the reality that Satan and all of his devils don’t know much about God’s ways. These two verses inform us that God had a very secret plan found within sending Jesus to the earth.  This plan literally included the voluntary death of Jesus on the cross and God says if Satan would have known this no devil would have allowed this to occur because I believe it sealed their doomed fate and destiny.

What did I say earlier was one of the things that we possessed now that Satan is in great fear of?   Remember one item was the “Word of God” as it is being mentioned in verse 7 of 2 Corinthians 2.  I believe this is the planned motivating goal of Satan.  He believes that if he can stop us from gaining any more knowledge of God’s Word that this will possibly extend, delay or even end the future plan of God to put them into hell.  However, we still have the Word of God that we can read further and learn more from:

Col 2:14 Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross;

Col 2:15 And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.

We should be able to easily learn from reading these verses that this death that Jesus experienced on the cross caused the triumphant defeat and the downfall of Satan and all of his unseen spiritual rulers of this world. This should be very excellent news for those that are still being persecuted by Satan today and those in the days to come.  It also should raise new questions in your mind.  For example, if Satan is a defeated enemy why does he still exist here on the earth and how is it that he still has any power or ability to persecute anyone?  I wish I had time to try to explain that completely, but I do not in this lesson.  In order to understand Satan’s goal for committing persecution we need to dive much deeper into the subject of the incorruptible word of God’s seed that I just introduced into the lesson.   We will do this by analyzing some familiar verses next.

 

SECTION 4: UNDERSTANDING PERSECUTION IN THE PARABLE OF THE SOWER

In a previous section I said Satan feared two truths, the 1). Spirit of God and the 2) Word of God in the heart of every born again believer. Then I taught that this fear was the primary motivation for all Christian persecution.  Now, I’m going to continue to confirm and expand this fact in this part of the lesson to help us better understand it. We will be turning to the most important parable found in the Gospels in order to better comprehend the reason(s) why the church is being persecuted.  This essential parable that I am referring to is often called the “Parable of the Sower” but we must begin to understand that it contains so much more information than just a simple message of a man coming to plant some seeds in what appears to be random types of ground.

We will soon discover by using a new look that this seed parable also contains our four perspectives concerning persecution. These were, 1) God’s perspective, 2) Satan’s perspective, and both the 3) persecuted church and the 4) persecutor’s viewpoint.  I will not include every verse of this parable in order to attempt to shorten the lesson today, but I would recommend that you go and reread all of the verses for yourself to refresh your memory to confirm what is being taught.

I will inform you upfront in this section that it contains some potentially brand new ideas that I believe the Holy Spirit just gave me concerning this parable. While I was studying the subject I believe that the Lord showed me how this parable fits my life in more ways than I thought.  I believe the Holy Spirit said to me in my spirit that this parable represents the ONLY true pathway to becoming a real saved mature born again believer.  I believe this is described from the beginning of our salvation all the way to the best possible end result of our salvation of producing a 100 fold spiritual fruit return on God’s investment in our hearts.  I will also inform you that this parable teaches us at least 6 things that Satan does to every hearer of the Gospel in order to keep that person from becoming a saved overcoming threat to his kingdom.

Let’s examine a very quick overview of the parable. In this parable a “sower” came to the earth spreading seed on 6 different types of ground (soil, hearts).  Three types of ground (soil, hearts) produced no lasting fruit for a harvest and three types of ground (soil, hearts) produced increasing levels of lasting harvestable fruit.  We should know from the explanation of the parable given by Jesus that the main seed being sown in heart to produce fruit represents the “Word of God”.  That is very important to know since I believe this is what Satan fears.  We should also know that the original man that sowed the good seed was sent down from heaven and His name was Jesus.  We can further understand that the soil represents 6 different distinct states of the internal unseen spiritual human heart.  Now, we should be able to logically deduce from just this amount of basic information alone that the end result of the seed (Word of God) sown is spiritual fruit and without this being found present it is impossible for us to be saved according to the Bible.  I’ll repeat this very important verse for further emphasis:

1Pe 1:23  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.

Jesus declared in John 3:7 “You must be born again” in order to enter the Kingdom of God.  Did you notice what God says about His seed here in this verse of first Peter?  God’s seed is confirmed by the inspired writings of Peter to be God’s Word and it is ONLY this successfully sown incorruptible good seed in a man’s heart that causes him to be born again.  I believe this is a good time for us to get into the divinely created natural birth process in order to better understand this concept of being born again.  God’s process of being “born again” spiritually is a direct parallel concept to the created natural process of being born in the natural human way.

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

God gives us great wisdom in the New Testament concerning how to understand hidden and unseen spiritual truths. God clearly says for us to look at naturally created patterns of things to see and understand hidden spiritual concepts we do not see or understand.  This is why we are going to go briefly through the parallel process of human reproduction.

I will not be excessively graphic in this description because most of you should already know how human babies are made. However, for those few that don’t, the natural process takes two opposite humans to produce one new baby.  These two human requirements are always one male seed provider and one female seed receiver.  The human male always possesses the necessary seed for human conception and must sow it just as the sower of God’s word (a male named Jesus) possessed the spiritual seed that must be planted in a spiritual woman to cause a spiritual birth to potentially occur.  Both seeds (the natural and the spiritual) are implanted internally just in two very different ways for two very different intended destinations and results.  However, both successful seed processes produce the same end result called “fruit”.

Luk 1:42  And she spake out with a loud voice, and said, Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb.

In the natural woman’s womb there is found an “egg” normally produced monthly that can be potentially implanted by the sown male’s seed. This natural sowing process to produce the human baby fruit as we just read in Luke 1:42 is a very real parallel to the parable of the sower that informs us not every seed that was sown takes root or produces fruit.  Both the spiritual seeds and the natural seeds have enemies that can try to prevent the seed sown from bearing any fruit. Some human couples take great lengths of time to produce a child in the natural and so it is with the spiritual re-birth process.  Some humans live all of their lives and get born again on their death beds if they are blessed to hear the gospel and receive it.  Just as having sex does not guarantee human fruit, so it is with hearing the Word of God.  There are so many that hear the truth of the Gospel and simply die and go to hell, not receiving it.

The womb of the woman is a direct parallel representation of the human heart (spirit). The female womb is an ever changing environment that goes in cycles of lesser degrees and greater degrees of fertilization and so it is with the human heart.  A human’s heart may be very tender and fertile to receive the word of God today but tomorrow it may be completely hardened because of life’s ever changing circumstances.

In the natural the male is always the sower of seed and it is only this seed successfully sown at the perfect timing that will potentially produce any fruit of a child. However, even as the parable indicates, there can be problems that cause the termination of the pregnancy and no child/fruit is delivered.  I’m sure some readers know this reality by great trial of experience.

That was only a very rapid overview of a naturally created and inspired process that was designed to be a view into the spiritual birth process. I pray that you will accept this as we continue to learn more and I encourage you to give this process some more thought and write me a good comment at the end of this lesson to share it with others.

As in the parallel of human reproduction, the “Parable of the Sower” reveals much more than just the planned attempt at producing good fruit. There is and always will be an enemy in this realm that will try to prevent the spiritual rebirth from taking place.  Satan does this in at least 6 different ways in the parable of the Sower.  If you allow Satan to steal the seed sown from your heart, there will be no new spiritual birth that will occur to produce any lasting or saving spiritual fruit.  Therefore, it is simple to see if there is no lasting Seed of God in the human heart, there will be no end result of any eternal salvation fruit.

The Holy Spirit reminded me as I was writing this lesson that I have personally been almost every type of the 6 different soil conditions mentioned in this parable by my own freewill choices. I believe that if you are a real born again Christian, then you have chosen to be most of these soil types also and endured to make the necessary changes and adjustments to go further.  I did not say you had to go through every soil type.  I believe you may have been blessed to bypass one or more soil types that do not produce fruit.  However, that does not mean you bypassed the attacks of Satan to try to steal the seed from your heart affecting those soil types.  Please, just begin to understand that it is the human’s choice which soil type that he or she wants to be.

For example, the Holy Spirit reminded me that I was the one that chose to be hard hearted pathway soil that allowed Satan to easily steal the Word of God that was sown in my heart as a very young man. The Holy Spirit then reminded me that it was my choice later in life that allowed the Word of God to come in on my shallow stony heart when I did receive God’s seed with gladness.  However, when Satan came as he does to every seed of God listener I became offended and turned away from God and produced no fruit.  As a result I failed to move into salvation to produce fruit.  God then reminded me of the phase of my life when I chose to receive the Word of God being more tenderhearted but I again allowed Satan’s evil seed to also enter in through the cares of this world to choke out the good seed and again there was still no Godly fruit produced for salvation.

I am now by my own determined choice, in a more lasting “fruitful” stage of my life having made the personal selections to not allow my poor past mistakes to keep me apart from producing any harvestable spiritual fruit. I am not saying that I am perfect now or that I have yet arrived at the one hundred fold return level of fruitful production but I believe that I am on the way to get there.  I hope this short testimony gives you a brand new perspective on what the parable of the sower represents and further helps you to evaluate where you might choose to be in this parable being described today.  I would be very excited to read your testimony of your path to salvation if you would care to share it in a comment.  It would be my great pleasure to read how you overcame the struggles and attacks of the enemy in any soil type.  Let’s start reading the “Parable of the Sower” in Mark chapter 4:

Mar 4:14  The sower soweth the word.

Mar 4:15 And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.

Ok, heart condition 1 was called the “way side soil” and this soil type represents a very hard compacted trampled on heart condition which does not allow the Word of God to even enter into it to take any root. Therefore, there is no salvation that can take place for this type of person.  In this soil type the seed (the Word of God) is very easily stolen away by the enemy of God (Satan) because there can be no understanding of any of the Word that was heard.  I’ll say this again using a few different words.  The reasons given for the ease of seed theft is first, a hard-hearted condition by a personal choice which caused a second condition of no real hearing or understanding of the Word of God to be able to enter into it.  I very firmly believe that this “way side” soil condition represents a person that has never been saved even if they went to church over and over and over. I believe that this soil type is like a man having sexual relations with his wife but the sperm sown never reached anywhere close to the egg inside her because it is blocked by some contraceptive device or substance or even by some physical condition that does not allow the seed to be implanted.

Like I said earlier, this way side soil type represented me in the early years of my life. I was raised in church but I was not really interested in hearing any of the Word of God that was being spoken.  I let the words go in one ear and immediately exit out the other ear being closed minded and uninterested.  I placed no value upon the Word and treated it with disdained unimportance.  There was no priority of importance or value given to the message and therefore the seed being sown was very easily stolen from my hard hearted condition.

Mar 4:16  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

Mar 4:17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

The second soil condition is called “stony ground” and this was me when I was in my teens and early 20’s. My heart had started to have a very small amount of softness on the surface to receive only some basic concepts of the Word of God but, because I lacked any deep understanding and maturity I simply fell away when Satan persecuted or afflicted me with any pressure.   The main difference between the second type of soil and that of the first is that this soil has just a very small amount of loose soil (tenderness) that allows the seed to enter into it slightly.  But, because of no great ability of the seed to go deeper into the heart it simply dries up and dies unborn.  I believe this soil type can represent a woman that has a pregnancy occur but soon experiences a miscarriage because of some unforeseen circumstances from a natural enemy.  Perhaps you have experienced this and if so I am sorry for your loss.

Mar 4:18 And these are they which are sown among thorns; such as hear the word,

Mar 4:19 And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.

The third condition of the soil is called “thorny ground”. I believe that this was me in my late 20’s and 30’s.  I was easily distracted by the cares of this life and the pursuit of worldly things and these personal choices allowed these thorn seeds to also enter in my hear to grow and develop and their presence choked out God’s planted seed in my heart again to produce no fruit.  I believe this can be many, many things.  For example, reading fiction books instead of the Bible allows evil seed to come into the heart.  Watching worldly movies also can bring into a heart evil seeds that choke out God’s Word.  Desiring fame, riches, cars, houses, boats, etc. can all allow evil seeds into a heart that produce no fruit.

I will remind you again that this entire parable concerns the primary subject of human salvation also called being born again. It describes the process entirely from the beginning steps all the way to either a successful completion to produce some spiritual fruit or there is the other side likened to a crop failure where no lasting fruit is produced.  It also reveals there are spiritual enemies and plans to abort the entire process and all of their techniques are intended to terminate God’s designed saving process.  Real spiritual salvation always begins with the impartation of God’s good spiritual seed called the Gospel and ends with at least some real lasting spiritual fruit being produced.  Those that produced no fruit were not saved and those that produce even a little bit of lasting fruit are saved.  Remember that Jesus said “You will know them (saved or unsaved) by their fruits” (Mat 7:16).

According to the interpretation of this natural parable the sower’s goal is to plant spiritual seed that produces spiritual fruit and He does this by speaking the Word of God into all types of human hearts every chance that He has. The seed that is sown is clearly for an intended good return.  Therefore, without hearing the Word of God there is no hope for our salvation and Satan knows this.  Wow, we now are finally beginning to really understand the primary goal for human persecution.  Satan is doing everything in his power to get God’s seed out of our hearts so that there is no fruit produced.

I would like for us to pay close attention to verse 15 of Mark 4 again. Here in this verse Jesus said when the sower’s word falls upon the “way side” type of soil that Satan comes immediately after the word was sown (heard) in order to take away the “Word of God that was planted in their hearts”.  I’ll let you in on another secret.  We must understand that this technique of Satan happens for every type of soil, not just the “way side” soil type.  Jesus was only teaching us how easy it is to successfully steal away the seed that was sown in this soil type.   But, please believe me when I say that Satan will use any and every one of his techniques to attempt to get God’s spiritual crop to fail at anytime.

Please allow me to stop and explain the parable further using some additional depth. We should be able to see that there are only two constants in the parable that never change.  These two unchangeable realities are the “Seed” Word of God and the God that spoke the “Seed”.  Everything else in the parable represents a variable substance or in other words a temporary or changeable reality.  For example, Satan changed from a good being to an evil being. However, based upon the Bible, I do not believe that Satan can change back to be good being again.

Two other major variables given in this parable are the “soil types” and the 1) techniques used to steal away the 2) Word sown from the soil. The sower in this parable certainly has changed from Jesus to you and I, but we are all technically still the body of Christ.  We can also assume that the human “persecutor” being used by Satan can change but a persecutor is just another hard hearted soil type that is clearly stated to potentially change by their own personal human choices.  For example we have already seen the man Saul become converted to become a sower of God’s Seed named Paul.

I’ve already touched on this subject of the changing soil types, but let’s go deeper still into this part of the discussion. Who determines what type of soil that you are?  Does God predetermine your soil type before you were conceived in the womb or maybe during the time you were growing in your mother’s womb?  If you believe yes, that type of faith is very wrong.  This type of false belief is based upon an erroneous extreme sovereign God predestination doctrine that preaches nothing happens expect it be the will, purpose and plan of God.  In this type of extreme belief the human plays absolutely no role in being saved or being lost because that was all prearranged by God’s sovereign choice, power and divine will.  However, that is not the truth but rather a deception of Satan’s design.  I’ll tell you plainly again that it is you and only you that chooses to believe to be saved and you are also the only one that determines what soil type that you are represented to be from your childhood to the right now present time.  Here is just one confirmation to what I just taught:

Luk 10:40 But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.

Luk 10:41 And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things:

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

I inserted these verses to help confirm the soil type is the human’s choice. Jesus clearly places all responsibility for listening and hearing the Word of God that He spoke upon the listener.  Mary made the clear right choice and Martha was distracted and burdened by making the very clear wrong choice.  Mary represented good ground by her wise selection and Martha in this story represents “thorny ground” because she was loaded down with the cares of this world that choked out everything that was being spoken in her house.  Wow, that is very powerful.

You can be as hard hearted as you can possibly be and yet you can also choose to change immediately to become as tender hearted as God wants you to become if you will ask and allow God to help you to change.  This was a perfect description of Saul.  Saul encountered Jesus and from that moment forward he never looked back on who or what he had chosen to be in the past, except to regret his previous bad choices. I would highly recommend that we all choose to become the best “good ground” that produces much fruit by applying God’s Grace and Word through our faith in Him and His Word.  Let’s reread some previous verses from the lips of Jesus again:

Mar 4:16  And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;

Mar 4:17 And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word’s sake, immediately they are offended.

Here again are the very essential verses concerning our primary lesson subject on persecution. As I previously stated this is often called the “Parable of the Sower” but technically remember that it is the story of the successful or unsuccessful salvation process.  God is using an exact matched discussion for the 4 different viewpoints that we have been studying about in this series on persecution.  In this parable there is the “sower” and this viewpoint represents God Almighty’s perspective.  It is God’s Word that is being directly sown into the hearts of all people on the earth by it being spoken to them.  What was God’s objective for sowing His Word?  The Word of God was given to mankind by God in order for them to produce fruit and the existence of this fruit is the primary recognized pattern that proves someone is a true Christian (Mat 7:20).

From God’s perspective He desires to sow His Word into the hearts of all people in order that they might be saved. Notice that I said that they “might” be saved.  Even though God is not willing that anyone perish (2 Peter 3:9), God does not force His Word of truth or salvation upon anyone.   Even though God desires every man, woman and child to be saved it is up to every person to choose to be a Mary type or a Martha type of hearer, deciding what type of soil that they want to be.

Satan is your stated enemy because of God’s sown Word found in your human heart and Satan causes persecution to come because of the Word of God. Maybe you have never realized this before but Satan does not fear you without God’s Seed in your heart.  But, when the Word of God (the Seed) and the Spirit of God is found within your heart Satan has a major problem.  It is the Word of God in your heart that Satan fears because it and it alone has the power to put Satan to flight.  But, only if you know it, understand it and are willing to use it against him by speaking it, does he fear you.   This is still the given number one reason found in the entire N.T. for every demonic attack on Christ followers.  If Satan can take God’s Word from your heart you are “ABSOLUTELY NO THREAT” to him.

There are definitely unstated and implied symbolic human “persecutors” in this parable of the sower as related indirectly in verse 17 of Mark 4. The unstated persecutors are like the man “Saul” we have been learning from.  This type of man was one of the hard hearted types of soil that failed to allow the Seed of God into his heart to produce any fruits of salvation.  Saul definitely qualified as a man that the Word of God fell on by the “way side” and Satan did come into his heart to take the seed immediately upon hearing it by using thoughts, ideas and suggestions of deception to distract him from seeing any truth.  I hope you understand this principle because it will be what Satan does to you also if you are not yet saved reading this lesson.

Just because “persecution” was only mentioned in one type of soil called the “stony ground” please do not get the erroneous idea that you will never be persecuted if you are choosing to be some other type of soil such as the “way side” or “good ground”. That would be very foolish to think that way.  Like I taught before, Jesus was only pointing out when “persecution” could be the most effective on this one type of rocky ground.  But, I believe that if you have heard and choose to continue to hear the Word of God, you should expect “persecution” from Satan to come almost immediately after hearing any new Words of God.  I firmly believe that persecution will be inevitable and will not cease in this age to those that live Godly (2 Tim 3:12).

We have only briefly touched on the subject of persecution using the 4 different revealed perspectives found within the “Parable of the Sower”. God’s perspective in this parable is certainly to save and empower all of humanity by planting within us His Holy Word.  Satan’s perspective was found to be fear motivated and this causes him to try to get the Word of God out of the hearts of all humans to render God’s powerful seed ineffective.  Satan accomplishes this using many given plans and devices including affliction and persecution.  The third perspective given is called the soil and this represents the human where the seed tries to fall to enter in after being heard.  This man has the choice to become saved and fruitful by enduring the enemy’s attack plans or to remain unsaved by allowing the enemy to steal the valuable seed from his heart.  The final indirect perspective was from human people being used to take the word from your heart as a pawn of Satan.  Wow, I hope you are receiving all of this great information because I believe that this section of the lesson was really good and essential information for every Christian.

 

SECTION 6: PERSECUTION TO THE CHURCH IS INEVITABLE

Just living a Godly and Holy lifestyle will bring you the reality of persecution, God guarantees it in His Word. Whenever you do not look like those in the world, talk like them, curse like them, drink like them, party like them, take drugs like them, have sex like them, etc. it make you stand out as being strangely different and even abnormal to them.  It just takes one person of light going against the entire flow of the dark world to get the full focused attention of persecution.

Joh 15:20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.

In the entire life of Jesus, he did absolutely nothing deserving of ridicule, persecution and death, yet all of these happened to him. He was completely sinless in His life on the earth and yet it was this lifestyle that was hated by most of the religious leaders of the nation of Israel.  According to the words of Jesus, we should be no different than Him.   They persecuted Him beyond human comprehension and all of this persecution was unjust. I am definitely not greater than Jesus and therefore, Jesus guarantees me to be persecuted.  He does you also if you are His.

Mat 5:10 Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

According to Jesus, not everyone is qualified to be persecuted because many are not saved even though they say they are a Christian. If you are not being persecuted, I would ask yourself why not?  What am I doing or not doing before a person of the world that makes me fit into their model of normal?  Notice what verse 11 says.  Jesus says you are blessed “WHEN” men persecute you.  He did not say “IF”.

I believe that it could very difficult to feel that you are blessed when someone is beating you, torturing you and putting you into prison for no good reason. It would be completely different if we were guilty of a crime.  The thief hanging on the cross spoke to the other one and declared that they were getting what they deserved but Jesus was not.  However, Jesus is still giving us some real positive encouragement to endure in verse 10.  He is declaring to us that we can stand through it all, if we look at the big eternal picture and can see that this life is a very short insignificant period of time.

Rev 2:10 Fear none of those things which thou shalt suffer: behold, the devil shall cast some of you into prison, that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days: be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.

I’ll end this section with this one verse found in Revelation. This is Jesus speaking again to the church.  He tells them very plainly they will suffer persecution to the extent of jail and even death.  Then Jesus says very clearly if you endure it there is a righteous reward in doing so and this is what we speak of briefly in section 7 of this lesson.  However, in conclusion I want you to see what Jesus said in Revelation 2:10.  Jesus is plainly informing us of the root cause of persecution.  Jesus clearly says it is coming from the devil even though Jesus is speaking indirectly of natural men and natural prison buildings that are used by Satan.  Wow, that is very important confirmation to the root cause of all “persecution”.

 

SECTION 7: THE CORRECT PERSECUTION CHRISTIAN REACTION

A Christian’s reaction to being persecuted could be many different possible personal choices. We could choose to be very angry and to even resist and fight back.  That is what most people in the world would certainly do.  However, that is definitely not what the higher Christian examples in the Bible teach us to do.  I’m going to end today’s lesson with two very quick examples of the correct Christian response to being persecuted.  I believe that if we are able to follow these two great examples, we will be significantly rewarded by the Lord in the life eternal to come as we just read in Revelation 2:10.

Luk 23:34 Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

Jesus was our model of perfection that all Christian standards should be following after. While He hung on the cross He said something that goes against all human logic and reasoning.  Jesus said “Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing”.  This statement proves two incredible things to us.  First it proves that Jesus knew that it was NOT these people that did this to him and second he also knew that they were doing it all unconsciously being led to do it by the unseen spirit of Satan.  This truth completely supports the beginning foundation of the lesson series on persecution.  Remember when we learned that we (Christians) are not wrestling against flesh and blood but against principalities, powers and the rulers of the darkness of this world (Eph 6:12).

Christians often believe so very wrong. Many Christians believe that Jesus lived an unobtainable life example that was far out of their reach to achieve.  However, that is just not the truth.  According to the writings of Paul in Romans 8:11 a Christian has the same Spirit that raised Christ from the dead living on the inside of them.  This was God’s plan of salvation to come on the inside of every Christian to help them to live Christ’s example.  We are not doing it all alone.  We have a helper according to Jesus in John 16:7.  Wow, that is great news.

The second example in today’s lesson is that of a normal man like you and I that we talked about in the first lesson. His name was Stephen.  Hopefully you will recall that it was Stephen that was stoned to death as Saul watched and consented gleefully to his death:

Act 7:60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Stephen was not Jesus. Stephen was not even one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus.  In fact Stephen literally came from the ranks of just basic Christian disciples like most of us.  Sure Acts 6 says Stephen was chosen by the 12 to administer some affairs of the church along with six other men, but that does mean he was better than you or I.

Stephen did absolutely nothing deserving death and here he was being stoned. What was the reaction of Stephen to his unjust violent and painful persecution of death?  Hopefully you can see that it was practically identical to that of Jesus’ reaction?  How was this possible?  How could a Christian disciple possibly ask and pray “Lord, do not hold this sin against these people” while he was being stoned?  This type of reaction defies all human natural thinking.

The first time Stephen is ever mentioned in the entire Bible is Acts 6:15. There is no record that he ever walked with Jesus or even saw Him in the flesh as Jesus ministered personally here on the earth for three and half years.  So who was this unknown man that had the power to follow exactly after the pattern of Jesus’ forgiving example?  Wow, I believe Stephen could just possibly be one of the men that got saved when Peter stood up and preached the Gospel in Acts 2.  It was probably a year or less from Acts 2 when Stephen was filled with the Holy Spirit until he as stoned to death.  That was a very short time of being a Christian to endure such a death.

I firmly believe that God put the example of Stephen in the Bible to prove that if he could respond correctly to persecution then anyone could do it. This includes me, you and anyone else that will get saved from now till Jesus returns for us.  Do you think you will be able to do this same response when you are persecuted?  Can you follow the example of Jesus and Stephen?  The answer is yes, but will you choose to do so?  You will if you are committed to Christ.

What is the number one factor for choosing the correct reaction to persecution? I believe the answer to that question is love.  Jesus certainly had this great love and I believe Stephen had it also.  It takes a great amount of love to forgive someone while they are killing you.  If you don’t have this love, you can get it by asking Jesus to come into your heart, right now.  I believe that this is absolutely the only way to do respond correctly during persecution.  If you are not saved and believe you can die like this, please ask Jesus to be your Lord and Savior right now.  It will be the best decision you have ever made and ever will make.  Please leave me a comment if you have enjoyed this lesson.  God bless you and thank you for reading this Bible lesson.

Understanding Persecution: Part 1 Beware the Rise of the Spirit of Saul

persecution-1

Persecution

(Ver 1.1)  What a strange title for a Bible study? What could this possibly mean to us here in this modern world?  Who was Saul?  What is this spirit of Saul reference?  I was recently awakened in the middle of the night at exactly 3 AM and suddenly these words arose up in my spirit saying “Beware the rise of the spirit of Saul”.  Then Bible verses came to my memory about this actual historical man named Saul and this Bible lesson is the result of my middle of the night awakening.  I believe this message was from God speaking to us all a warning according to His stated works in John 16:13.  I believe God was informing us of a coming resurgence of an old spiritual force that persecuted the early church and I believe it will become as “great as” or even greater than what the early church encountered and endured.  I believe that it is obvious that this is the increasing trend and movement found within the present unsaved world, all those living in darkness (Eph 2:2).

Modern unsaved people living in the world today are identical to all others that came before them. They are all opening a door to allow the repeat of a pattern of ignorance that causes them to not comprehend the difference between that which is called “good” or that which is called “evil”.  In them there is no understanding or acknowledgement of who or what represents the true God of good or who or what represents the false deceiving god of evil (Satan).  That which God called evil in His Word is being tremendously magnified and exalted by the unsaved world to be called normal and good and everything that God called “good” is being called evil at the same time (Isa 5:20). Anyone that speaks against what is called evil by God is being persecuted and called a bigoted intolerant hate monger.  What a sad condition the world has fallen into and I believe by observation that it is getting worse.

Today Christians that are simply speaking the truth in love warning those that are on the way to hell are being labeled as evil. This must break the heart of God greatly and we will see an example of this in the lesson.  If you knew that the highway that you were traveling on had a major bridge on it and that it had just collapsed, would you not try to stop everyone that was about to fall to their death because of the deep drop off?  The drivers of the cars on the road at night are about to die because of their ignorance and inability to see the truth.  Wouldn’t you warn them?  That is what every mature believing Christian is faced with today.  We can shut up and be silent or we can cry out and try to save them.  It is our choice but any warning given may be ridiculed and laughed at by those being warned because probably most will not believe it.

Jesus gave us many warnings about these end times before His return to the earth. One warning to us was very clear when He said “As it was in the days of Noah and of Lot so shall it also be again in the days right before the coming of the Son of Man” (Luke 17:26-30).  I am very sure that this statement describes the exact days that we live in right now.  It is by no chance or accident that Jesus (God in the Flesh) chose these two biblical events to describe the times directly before His return (2 Peter 2:5-6).  However, that is really not what this Bible lesson message is concerning directly.  The message of Noah’s flood and Sodom’s destruction is however an indirect applicable truth to this lesson of warning about the subject of coming persecution.  Noah was laughed at and the angels in Sodom were commanded to come out and have sex with the men.  How appropriate are these two witnesses of truth?

 

Introduction to the Spirit of Saul

Let us now get to God’s basic message concerning the “spirit of Saul” warning spoken to me. The main subject of today’s lesson is concerning the theme of persecution.  We will be looking at this subject from at least three or four different perspectives.  The first perspective is that of the persecutor.  The second perspective is that of the Almighty God.    The third perspective of persecution will be driven from the one being persecuted and these are Christians.   And the final perspective introduced today is that of the enemy Satan..

  1.  The Persecutor’s Perspective
  2. Almighty God’s Perspective
  3. The Persecuted Church’s Perspective
  4. Satan’s Perspective

We will similarly be addressing basic definitions and questions concerning this very important and timely subject. We will also look for scriptural answers in the Bible for why persecution occurs and who is ultimately behind it all.  As part of the study we will briefly introduce why God allows persecution to occur and see what His attitude and response was in the past and could be again today since we know God does not change (Malachi 3:6).  As a final part of the Christian perspective discussion in today’s lesson we will introduce how a Christian’s expectations should already be preset before this persecution occurs to them.  Please don’t be surprise when God warns us that persecution will occur if we are living for God and obeying His Word and boldly declaring His truth in love to the lost and dying world.

2Ti 3:12  Yea, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

God promises us that we will be persecuted if we are living for Him and following after Christ’s example.  It would be wise based upon these words to check if you are being persecuted.  If you are not I would then check to see if you are following Jesus.  In Luke chapter 21 Jesus informs us of the coming end of the age describing wars and rumors of wars, earthquakes and famines that are already occurring and then in verse 12 Jesus said before the end of all these things you will be persecuted.  Jesus’ warning to us in the Gospels is just another witness to the message that I heard from God personally.

Bible basics teach us that humans are designed by our creator God as a triune being made in the image of the Almighty God. A human is a freewill spirit being that possesses a soul (a mind, a will and our emotions) that lives in mortal human body (1 Thes 5:23).  However, this spirit of Saul warning was not a warning that the natural man Saul written about in the Bible will return to the earth because that would violate scriptures and make God a liar (Heb 9:27). Therefore, we need to learn more about what the message could mean by rightly dividing the Word of Truth (2 Tim 2:15). We will however, briefly study the life of Saul to learn from it the persecutor’s perspective and I will begin by reading a verse concerning the stoning death of Stephen in the early church description found in Acts 7.

Act 7:58  And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man’s feet, whose name was Saul.

Please allow me to provide a very quick overview of the context of this verse so we can better understand this part of the message. The context actually begins back in chapter 6 and it is a story concerning a Christian man named Stephen.  He was ministering to people and doing many signs, wonders and miracles the same as Jesus did before him here on the earth.  It is important to know that Stephen was not one of the original 12 disciples of Jesus yet he did the same types of miraculous works as Jesus did.  I find that fact very important and fascinating as many in the church today teach miracles passed away with the death of the 12 disciples.  Oh well?  Oh Lord, please help us all to see the truth.

These supernatural miraculous works done by God through Stephen were not well received because of the accompanying message being preached concerning salvation only through faith in Jesus Christ who was recently condemned to death by a similar type of court with made up evidence that Stephen stood before. Men from the synagogue accused Stephen of blasphemy and soon he was on trial before the leadership of the Jewish synagogue.  It is during this trial that Stephen gives a great overview of the Old Testament and how it applies to the gospel message of Jesus Christ.  However, this message was not well received either.  The Jewish leaders refused to listen and stopped up their ears and then took up stones to kill Stephen.  Stephen sees a vision of heaven while being stoned of Jesus standing at the right hand of God as they hurl their deadly stones.  That brings us now to verse 58 which was just quoted.

This verse 58 is the first time that the name “Saul” is mentioned in the N.T. The Hebrew name Saul occurs approximately 26 times in the book of Acts alone.  This N.T. Saul is the exact same Hebrew name as the first king of the O.T. nation of Israel.  By the number of mentions in the book of Acts we can easily see that the man Saul was a very prominent figure to learn about and learn from.  We learn from reading the N.T. that Saul was a young devout religious man and a very self-righteous zealot man during this time of the birth of the church in the first 8 chapters of Acts.  We can learn more about the background of this man named Saul by reading in his writings because he wrote nearly 2/3 of the N.T.:

Php 3:4  Though I might also have confidence in the flesh. If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more:

Php 3:5 Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;

Php 3:6 Concerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless.

Reading here Saul/Paul claims to be of a very noble stock of the natural nation of Israel. He was circumcised according to Mosaic Law on the 8th day after his birth.  He was by no doubt raised in a very strict home that observed all of the Jewish Holy days, laws and Sabbaths.  He also must have spent a very significant time in reading the Law of Moses growing up in the strict order to become a Pharisee.  I can speculate that Saul must have thought very highly of himself, during this time and he must have been very proud of his learned position of authority.  However, if we read in Proverbs 16:18 we see a verse that Saul appears to have possibly ignored.  This verse says “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall”.

We can learn while studying his life that Saul spent a great amount of his time persecuting, hunting down, imprisoning and even killing any of those that confessed faith in Jesus Christ. However, was this natural man named Saul the actual main source of the problem of the persecution to the church?  Could there have been a greater force of influential power behind this evil man persuading and even controlling his thoughts and actions?  I believe according to the future writings of this man named Saul there was certainly a much greater spiritual force that helped influence him to do all this evil to other people on the earth.  Let’s read one verse to confirm this reality:

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 must glean in the beginning of this lesson is that physical natural people that are persecuting us are not our real problem even though it looks like it on the visible surface. Saul/Paul in this verse teaches us that Christians are not at odds with anyone of the divinely created flesh and blood design order.  However, he does reveal very clearly earlier in this chapter that we are at war and he names the enemy here in verse 12 of Ephesians 6 to be hidden unseen spiritual forces and the evil invisible rulers of this present world that rule the kingdom of darkness.  This truth will become considerably more important as we continue this lesson to learn how we should react to persecution.  This information helps to better comprehend who and what the “spirit of Saul” is referring to in the warning.  I am completely convinced that the “spirit of Saul” reference on the rise in our world is a reference to Satan our adversary and all of his demonic followers.  Let’s review what we should have just learned in this section:

  • People Persecute Other People
  • We Will Be Persecuted if We Live Right
  • We are at War
  • It Appears That Humans are Our Enemies
  • But, Our Actual Enemy is Not a Human
  • We are at War With Unseen Spiritual Beings
  • These Invisible Spiritual Beings Influence Humans To Do Evil

 

 

Persecuting the Church Today is still the same as Personally Persecuting Jesus

If the naturally born Hebrew man named Saul was not the real problem being spoken of by the LORD, why would God say “Beware the return of the spirit of Saul” to us? The answer to that question is because as we should have learned that unseen spirit beings are at the root of every seen evil event occurring in the world.  I am convinced that the natural man Saul was not who the early church was wresting against based upon what he later wrote in Ephesians 6.  However, why would a man do something so evil and suddenly then change and not do it anymore?  That is a really good and important question.  I believe the answer to that is that the natural man Saul was unmistakably a very deceived man who bought into and believed in so many lies given to him from the real enemy Satan.  I believe the natural man Saul was doing what he thought was right in his own blinded mind (2 Cor 4:4) and was performing what he thought was pleasing towards God even though what he was doing against Christians on the earth was very wrong and taken very personally by Jesus.  Let’s continue reading additional truth in the book of Acts about the death of Stephen:

Act 7:56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

These are some of the last recorded words spoken by Stephen the first martyr of the early church to his murderers and they reveal how their wrong actions were being received by the LORD Jesus. Please notice when reading this verse that in Colossians 3:1, Paul teaches us that the LORD Jesus ascended into heaven and is now seated at the right hand of God in heaven but here in this recorded vision of heaven Jesus is intentionally standing up on his feet observing the wrong being done to his servant Stephen.  Wow this verse speaks literal volumes to me.  Jesus showed such great love and concern for what is happening to Stephen that He makes the personal choice to stand up from His seated position of rest and authority to welcome Stephen into His spiritual realm presence.  I believe that this position of Jesus standing teaches us that Jesus wanted to do more to stop it from occurring but did not again by choice.   You might remember that later Paul formerly Saul would teach us “to be absent from the body is to be present with the LORD” (2 Cor 5:8). Therefore, when Stephen was killed, his spirit immediately departed his physical body to be in the presence of Jesus where Jesus was personally standing up to observe and welcome him into heaven.

Since the murder of Stephen there have been countless numbers of other Christ followers that have been killed and have gone to be with the LORD simply because of their beliefs in Jesus. No actual crime was necessary for either Stephen or any other saint to be persecuted with evil acts.  We should learn from “how was Stephen persecuted” in order to know what to expect again today.  If you read the context of the chapter you will find that leaders gathered false witnesses to accuse Stephen (Acts 6:13-14).   These false accusers used the semblance of law and order to justify their evil done to others.  They were clearly disobeying their laws by speaking their lies and perjuring themselves before man and God but in their minds they were justified to do so.  I recently learned this is taking place in people in Islam.  They are taught that it is permitted for them to lie to others in the world in order to promote the greater cause of spreading Islam.  This is clearly of demonic influence since the Bible teaches Christians that “all liars will have their part in the lake of fire” (Rev 21:8).

This is what is coming now to Christians here in this world whether you believe it or not. It is already occurring in many nations of the world right now.  Terrorists kill many people just because they are Christian.  Islamic governments and their extremist religious people of that nation are persecuting, imprisoning, torturing and killing Christians daily.  Communist nations also throw into prisons people who are reading their Bibles and being a Christian that walks in love trying to save others from hell.  Who could have seen all of this coming?  I believe only Jesus and this is why the warning is being given to us today.  Let’s please continue reading in the book of Acts:

Act 8:1 And Saul was consenting unto his death. And at that time there was a great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem; and they were all scattered abroad throughout the regions of Judaea and Samaria, except the apostles.

Act 8:2 And devout men carried Stephen to his burial, and made great lamentation over him.

Act 8:3 As for Saul, he made havock of the church, entering into every house, and haling men and women committed them to prison.

Act 8:4 Therefore they that were scattered abroad went every where preaching the word.

The Greek word G4909 that was translated as “consented” in Acts 8:1 is a word that means Saul was “very pleased” by the murder of Stephen. In fact this Greek word implies that Saul took great pleasure in watching Stephen die.  The zealot Saul after the death of Stephen then takes out after other Christians to do the same with them.   Saul is very intent upon forcing his will and reason upon everyone that is preaching Jesus to be the only way.  This is a very common motivation for persecution.  The demand is frequently made to Christians to deny the Lord Jesus Christ, convert or die.

Look at Acts 8:3 and notice what begins to happen to the Church of Jesus Christ.   Both men and women were taken to prison just for being a professing Christian.  Also notice in this chapter the complete removal of basic human rights of privacy by the people committing these evil acts.   Acts 8:3 tells us clearly that there was a house to house search for Christians done by Saul.  This is exactly what is about to happen and even has started to shine on the horizon here in America.  For example, there have been Christian people who refused to issue marriage licenses to homosexual couples because of their beliefs in God, Jesus, the TRUTH of the Bible and they have spent time in jail.  I believe the house to house search for Christians will also come as the world continues to slip into greater realms of deceived darkness.  It already has taken place in other nations.

Act 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest,

Act 9:2 And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Act 9:3 And as he journeyed, he came near Damascus: and suddenly there shined round about him a light from heaven:

Act 9:4 And he fell to the earth, and heard a voice saying unto him, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?

Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Saul continued speaking his great threats of violence directed at and towards all Christians. He began moving out of the city of Jerusalem to other nearby regions.  Notice that the persecution taking place was with the authority of the law givers and administrators.  Wow, is this not happening now?  Law givers and judges in America are making so many decisions that violate the Truth of the Word of God that it is literally shocking to me.  Evil now is prevailing by the misguided interpretation of the law and the wrong definition of what is good vs. evil.  Watch for laws to continue to come to support this evil behavior.  Watch for the removal of basic human rights that have been guaranteed up until this point in time.

Saul was on the road to a city named Damascus in these verses of chapter 9 of Acts to bring about more evil in the name of good.  However, things this time didn’t go so well for Saul’s way when the LORD interrupted his journey with a very personal touch and a very strong message of truth.  Instantly a great light shown down from heaven and a powerful voice came down clearly saying to Saul alone “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me”.  As in the death of Stephen again we can recognize how Jesus was taking personal notice of what was being done to Christians by this natural man named Saul.  We can learn a very important lesson from these awesome words of truth.  The first thing that we should have just learned from reading these verses is that coming against any Christian for any negative reason is the exact same thing as coming against the risen divine LORD Jesus Christ.  The second thing that we should have just learned from this is that Jesus takes these acts of evil personally. Why does Jesus take persecuting a Christian the same as persecuting Him?  Saul/Paul clearly writes to us later in the New Testament and informs us in 1 Corinthians 12:7 that “Christians here in this world are the body of Christ”.  Natural people who choose to persecute Christians must learn and realize before it is too late that it is not wise to come against Jesus’ body here on the earth.  Jesus Christ is a far greater Spiritual Force than the spiritual force that is tricking them to do this evil (1 Jn 4:4).   Wow, I do not believe that very many people understand this truth yet.

I will go further and also say that this revealed truth is true regardless of your salvation state, being either saved or unsaved. If you are not a Christian and you are persecuting a Christian mentally, physically, emotionally, legally or verbally you are coming against the greatest spiritual force of power which is much greater than you can possibly imagine.  My point is that this same message of warning is true for a Christian that comes against other Christians as it is for an unbeliever to come against a believer.  This is still true even though you may believe that you are totally right and they are totally teaching false doctrines that you do not believe in.  Let’s review a summary of the major points in this section of the lesson:

Persecutor’s Perspective

  1. Persecutors believe they are doing “good” in their own minds.
  2. Persecutors are very pleased when they are victorious over and even cause the death of a Christian.
  3. Persecutors are deceived people that believe they are good and Christians are evil.
  4. Persecutors obviously do not believe, know or understand that they are deceived.
  5. Persecutors will use the law to back their agenda of persecution.
  6. Persecutors love to force their will and beliefs upon others.
  7. Persecutors feel justified to do evil because their rule of law is in agreement with them.
  8. Persecutors will use lies and break laws if there is a greater good for the expansion of their beliefs to occur.
  9. Persecutor’s goals are the complete removal of all Christian freedoms and privacy and eventually the end of all Christians.

God’s Perspective

  1. God takes note and watches all persecution that occurs to the Church.
  2. God takes all human persecution of the church personally.
  3. God says to persecutors coming against the church “Why are you persecuting me?”

Christian Perspective

  1. A Christian is the Body of Christ on the earth.
  2. Anyone persecuting a Christian is persecuting the LORD personally.
  3. A Christian when killed by persecution goes to be with the LORD instantly.
  4. Christians will be persecuted falsely without doing any evil.

 

THE CONVERSION OF SAUL THE PERSECUTOR

God showed the evil man Saul some very great mercy by appearing to him on the road to Damascus. Paul the former Saul will forever be grateful for the exceeding great compassion given to him.  While I believe it is within God’s power and ability for the Lord Jesus to do this with everyone that persecutes His body, I do not believe that He will and I may try to talk about this later but if not you will have to wait for another opportunity for me to try to explain why the Lord may not come down to save you from every evil doer on the planet personally.  We should have learned this truth when reading about the death of Stephen.

Act 9:5  And he said, Who art thou, Lord? And the Lord said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest: it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.

Act 9:6 And he trembling and astonished said, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? And the Lord said unto him, Arise, and go into the city, and it shall be told thee what thou must do.

I personally believe from understanding Romans 10:9-10 that Saul became a Christian falling on his knees on the road to Damascus.  I hope you understand how you and I became a Christian.  To be saved we must believe that Jesus is the Son of God and that God raised the Lord Jesus Christ from the dead after being crucified and buried 3 days and we must then confess Him as our LORD and Saul certainly did both of these while on the road to Damascus.  We can confirm this belief simply by reading Acts 9:17 when God sends a disciple named Ananias to Saul for him to receive his sight and to be filled with the Spirit of God.  Upon entering the house where Saul was waiting, Ananias calls the man Saul his spiritual brother and this is only possible and true if Saul has already received the Spirit of God being born again on the road to Damascus.   Therefore, Saul became exactly what he was fighting against and persecuting and that was very fortunate for him.

1Co 15:8  And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

God gives us another quick confirmation for what was just taught concerning Saul’s salvation on the road to Damascus written directly from the hand of Paul. Here in this chapter and verse Paul tells us about several others seeing Jesus personally  after His resurrection.   Then Saul says that he also saw him providing us an incredible revelation that he was then reborn “abnormally” during this encounter.  Saul was speaking of his spiritual rebirth (John 3:3) but I do not have the time to explain all of this more fully in this lesson.  Please just accept the facts that 1) Jesus appears to Saul, 2) Saul asks who he was, 3) Jesus identifies Himself, and 4) Saul then believes what he heard and acknowledges Him as his LORD and that was the definition of an abnormal spiritual rebirth.

We are extremely blessed to have Saul the former evil persecutor of Christians become a Christ follower.   After his salvation, Saul was given such great revelation from Jesus Christ of the Truth.  Saul would go on in his life of Christian ministry to write approximately 2/3 of the New Testament.  I believe that without Saul’s conversion that we would not have all of the information that we needed for us to be victorious Christians.  I know that this salvation of a persecutor seems to be off the mainline subject but I believe it is very important to know as a Christian. Let’s look at some writings of Saul/Paul and learn from him what he thought of this great transformation that he experienced:

1Ti 1:12  And I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who hath enabled me, for that he counted me faithful, putting me into the ministry;

1Ti 1:13 Who was before a blasphemer, and a persecutor, and injurious: but I obtained mercy, because I did it ignorantly in unbelief.

1Ti 1:14 And the grace of our Lord was exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.

1Ti 1:15 This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.

We can learn the most valuable information concerning a persecutor’s perspective by reading the N.T. since Paul was a former persecutor and he writes about it. As we can read in verse 12, Paul is so very thankful.  Here is a man that has now realized that he was headed for an eternal existence of pain and suffering in hell but now suddenly has been given the free gift of eternal life, a purpose and a new destiny. I can identify with Saul’s heartfelt change.  I know I am also eternally grateful for the free gift of God’s salvation and I know I don’t deserve it and neither did Saul.  We are all sinners (Rom 3:23) and deserve hell but God paid the penalty price for our sins (2 Cor 5:21).  Thank you Jesus!

Paul lists just a few of his guilty sins in verse 13 that he was personally participating in while persecuting Christians. Let’s go through these to better understand the dramatic change that took place in the heart of Saul.  The first sin listed was Saul calling himself a “blasphemer” and this is a Greek word that reveals significant amounts of new information that we should learn from.  According to the Strong’s definition of G989 translated as “blasphemer” it means to be scurrilous towards someone.  This word scurrilous has the following dictionary definition:

 Scurrilous : making or spreading scandalous claims about someone with the intention of damaging their reputation

This is exactly what Saul was doing to the early church. He used the words of his mouth to slander, accuse, condemn and judge the church falsely.  But even though Saul thought he was fighting against evil human people that were deceived, Jesus informed Saul that He was blaspheming against God personally.  This is pretty amazing information and I pray that it will hopefully cause someone to shut their mouth when speaking against Christians.

However, this Greek word G989 has some deeper more specific meanings for sinning against God with the words coming out of our mouths. Remember what Acts 8:1 and Acts 9:1 said that we looked at earlier?  Acts 8:1 used the word that was translated as “consented”.  This implies that Saul consented to words of others spoken against Stephen in addition to the actual murder of Stephen.  Saul did both of these willingly, physically, emotionally, mentally as well as verbally as both a willing direct instigator and participant and as an indirect accessory that watched others cast the stones.  These represent sins of both commission and omission.

Acts 9:1 is much clearer when it informed us that Saul spoke direct “threats” against Jesus and His body and this is a strong example of what blasphemy is defined to be in the Bible. I personally believe that a man or woman on the earth that speaks against a preacher or prophet of God or even just against one of God’s children is risking great consequences and danger if they do not repent like Saul did and change.  Jesus will certainly take all of these words personally either now in this world or later at judgment day.  Words have power and words have consequences.

The second sin that Paul lists is being a “persecutor” of the church, which is the body of Christ. This Greek word translated as “persecutor” means someone who is in pursuit of another.  However, this type of pursuit can not be for the good of the individual(s) being pursued as revealed to us by God in the passages we read about Saul in Acts chapters 7, 8 and 9.  Let’s quickly examine some synonyms for the word “persecute”.  Persecute is the same as words like “oppress”, “abuse”, “accuse”, “condemn”, “ill-treatment”, “torment”, “torture”, “martyr” and others could be added and we get this idea of truth because these are exactly what Saul did to the Christian members in the early church.   It is very important to note that Saul thought that what he was doing was what was right and good in the eyes of God and the government leadership of that day.

The third sin listed by Paul in verse 13 is “injurious” and this again is synonymous with the word persecute. Being injurious was a further explanation for what great evil sin he was guilty of.  I believe this word literally means physical injuries were taking place upon men and women in the name of good.  However, this word can also mean a verbal assault as well as a physical assault.  I am convinced that doing any Christian hurt and harm physically, mentally or emotionally is equivalent to the abuse and persecution of Jesus Christ that the Jews did to Him personally when they crucified Him on the cross in the eyes of God.

If we continue to read past Saul’s list of sins in verse 13 we will observe Saul’s stated appreciation for the Lord’s mercy being provided to him. Saul informs us that he received mercy instead of what he should have been given.  Wow, that is the amazing love of God being displayed to a very deceived and evil man.

Did you also notice in this written passage that Saul declared why he was given this great mercy from God? Why was this unthinkable mercy available to Saul even after all he had done?  Why was the judgment of the Almighty God not immediately given to Saul?  Why instead was mercy given? Paul tells us the answers in verse 13 that God’s mercy was available to him because of his own great “ignorance” of the truth.

This revelation of mercy based upon ignorance reveals so very much to us about God, people who persecute the church and about the Christian people who are being persecuted. According to God’s inspired Holy Word written through Paul, his ignorance and his unbelief were two of the main reasons that the church was then being persecuted and I believe these are the two main reasons the church is still going to be persecuted today.

Even though Saul was a very learned and educated man, he was extremely ignorant of the truth that really mattered. Yet Saul did not know how ignorant he was while he was sinning killing Stephen.  Please understand that no one that is ever deceived believes that they are deceived.  This is impossible simply because of the existence of their ignorance of the truth.  That is everyone’s problem “we simply don’t know what we don’t know yet”.   That is the mysterious advantage of the deceiver Satan.  Satan uses the weapon of human ignorance to destroy us (Hosea 4:6).  Satan can present enough lies with some basic mixed truth to allow a human to think that they are doing good for God when they are actually doing the evil plan that Satan desires them to do.  Satan is a revealed master deceiver (Rev 12:9)

Persecutors justify their evil actions in their minds overruling the evidence for clear evil acts with the belief that they are doing a greater good for a higher power of authority. Recently here in North Carolina, USA we have been in the news around the world because our state passed a law that disallowed men from going into women’s restrooms and women from going into men’s restrooms.  This law was designed to protect innocent children from predators. Yet, North Carolina has been accused of being biased, prejudiced, intolerant, discriminatory, bigoted and even hate filled towards a select few people who demand the right to go into any restroom that they sexually currently “identify” with.  Wow, where has truth gone?  Absolute truth, reason and morality have certainly passed highly over the minds of everyone that has been protesting against the law.  All of these deceived people are extremely ignorant of God’s truth.  We should ask ourselves a simple basic question, if truth is based simply upon how someone thinks and feels today; how and when will truth all change when they think and feel differently tomorrow?  Where do we ever draw the line of absolute?  It sounds like a constant moving target.  If we change the line of truth drawn today that was established then tomorrow it will become even more distant away from the standard of truth tomorrow.  I could teach an entire series on this but this is not the subject and I will not go there today.

Saul did such significant evil and justified it because he believed he was knowledgeable, correct and backed by the law. Saul was greatly deceived into believing in their popular religious human traditions. Satan filled the mind of Saul with replacement knowledge that sounded good to him.  However, it was still Saul’s ignorance of the actual truth that caused him to carry out the will and plan of Satan.  Once Saul came to the saving knowledge of the truth, suddenly the thoughts he had as a persecutor were gone.  Wow, that is good news for persecutor’s today.  There remains hope for everyone to be saved.

Just as Satan influenced and controlled the unsaved people like Saul nearly two thousand years ago to persecute the church, this is the same warning being given to us today. The spirit of Saul (Satan) is still at work in people today and these deceived people will rise up and begin to persecute the church with increasing enthusiasm before Jesus returns.  It has already started and we can clearly learn this from the Spirit of God’s message of warning or we can remain an ostrich Christian and bury our heads in the sand and choose to ignore it pretending it is not happening. I would recommend that we do not ignore it or pretend that it is not happening already.

I personally expect some very negative comments for the truth that I published today. You will receive the same soon if you are speaking the truth to anyone in the world today concerning their life style personal choices.  The spirit of Saul is alive and well on the planet.

Hos 4:6  My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

Did you know that God allows people to be ignorant, wrong and to even do evil and sin? This truth has always been an extreme mystery in the minds of many Christians “Why doesn’t God stop all of this evil?”  This would take another series of lesson’s to explain this to you today.  Therefore, I will leave that to another day also.  But we must at least first begin to understand that God does allow evil to occur in the world and is not the one that is causing it to occur and we can simply learn this truth by reading the story of the stoning of Stephen in Acts.  Jesus was found standing at the right hand of God observing the evil being done and did nothing to cause it or to stop it.  Wow, that boggles the mind of many religious people in the world.  I believe that God’s passive observation made it appear to Saul that he was doing what God desires and that He is for them and it temporarily reinforces their wrong behavior.  However, the wages of their sin will still overcome them and they will be judged for what they have done on the earth according to the truth found in the Bible.  The main point in this paragraph is that God will allow this persecution to continue so we better learn it is coming.

I have talked briefly about the persecutor’s reasoning and justification for persecuting the church as well as the superior divine perspective on the persecution situation to allow it to occur. Now in conclusion I want to speak to the church’s reaction to this coming persecution.  What was the reaction to this evil in the early church and what will probably happen in these end times?  I believe that the early church’s reaction was both natural and supernatural.

Act 8:4  Therefore they that were scattered abroad went everywhere preaching the word.

Reread Acts 8:4. God reveals to us all the two fold reaction to the great havoc being perpetrated upon the church.  First notice the fact that it did not stop the Gospel from being preached.  It did however cause the people to scatter.  What does scatter mean?  This Greek word is a based upon a farming concept of “sowing” seed.  This is a great revelation since it is concerning the “Word” of God being spread to the entire world.  Remember when Jesus taught the parable of the Sower in Mark 4?  The sower sowed the Word of God.  The seed being sown was God’s Word and this is the only thing possible today in the world that can save people and turn them from hell.

The end result of persecution in the early church was a greater spread of the Word of God, an explosion of salvations in many new locations and this is exactly what will happen today in the end of the church age.

The Greek word translated as “preaching” in this verse is a word that means “to announce good news” to someone. What kind of person would still be trying their best to preach the good news of God’s salvation to anyone that was or still is trying to imprison and kill them?  The normal human tendency or reaction against persecution is for us to fight back, or to defend oneself or even to run away and hide in a cave to not be found.  I have seen people plan and do all of these in this modern world.  Which would you do?  Wow, that is a very great question to consider.  If you are a Christian would you be able to do nothing but be forgiving and loving to the persecutor and turn your other cheek? Consider the warning and then make a good choice now before being faced with it.

Persecutor’s Perspective

  • Persecutors believe they are doing what pleases God and their lawgivers.
  • Persecutors don’t believe they are sinning.
  • Persecutors believe their words spoken against Christians are good.
  • Persecutor’s goals are to damage the reputation of God and Christians.
  • Persecutors believe causing physical injury to Christians is good.
  • Persecutors believe they know the truth and are not ignorant.
  • Persecutors believe others are deceived and they are not.
  • Persecutors believe there is no God to answer to or Satan influencing them.

 

God’s Perspective

  • God sees all of the sins of everyone including persecutors.
  • A persecutor can be saved and change their evil ways.
  • God says speaking against a Christian is equivalent to “blasphemy”.
  • God says killing a Christian is the same as nailing Jesus to the cross.
  • God will show mercy to any sinner including murderous persecutors.
  • God tells us that persecutors are extremely ignorant of the truth.

 

Christian Perspective

  • A Christian has gained saving knowledge of the truth.
  • A Christian was shown great mercy by God and is thankful for it.
  • A Christian desires to share this saving knowledge of Jesus with others even though it costs them their own life.
  • A real and maturing Christian begins seeing things happening in the world from God’s perspective.

 

 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion I want us to see a future prophecy concerning the coming persecution of the church. Revelation chapter 4 and verse 1 God calls for John to come up to heaven so that he can be shown things that will happen in the future and this includes this prophetic chapter of Revelation 12.  Let’s read just verse 12 and 13 concerning our main subject study to learn Satan’s motivating factor for increasing persecution upon the church during the end time.

Rev 12:12  Therefore rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.

Rev 12:13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child.

This chapter in Revelation 12 totally fascinates me. I could spend a long time trying to convince you who the woman in this chapter symbolically represents but I have already tried to do this in another lesson series.  I will summarize briefly that lesson series by saying this woman being described can only fit the pattern of the church that is being persecuted by Satan.  We learn this easily by the symbolism that she is clothed with at the beginning of the chapter and by the statements within the chapter.  For example read verse 11:

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

This is the immediate preceding contextual verse and it can only apply to those that are in the church. I have heard this verse quoted in many church services and they are applying these words to themselves and their struggles in this life with the devil.  It is the Word of God and the Blood of Jesus that were given to us by Jesus in the church to insure us we will overcome Satan.  If you have not read the Revelation 12 series of lessons I would strongly recommend that you do so.   I do not have the time to repeat every detailed verse.

Let’s go back quickly to verse 12 and review the message from God. This is clearly a warning from God given to the inhabitants of the earth through the apostle John.  In this verse Satan has been cast down from heaven after a great spiritual warfare and according to this prophecy he is in a furious way committing murder on the earth.  If you look up and study the Greek word that is translated as “wrath” it comes from a root word that can mean to slaughter, kill or sacrifice someone.  This sounds a lot like what Saul was doing doesn’t it?  This simply confirms what we learned earlier.  It was the spirit of Satan influencing and controlling Saul through his ignorance that caused the persecution of the church to begin on the earth.

As it was in the beginning of the church age so shall it also be at the end of the church age. Persecution is the key word found in verse 13 of Revelation 12.  Satan in this verse is still persecuting the same woman that he was persecuting using Saul that we read about in Acts.  We in the church are not a different woman; we just have newly grown members within the same body of Christ. If you are confused about what I just said I would strongly recommend you read the Bible lesson that I wrote a long time ago about “How the Church Became the Body of Christ”.

During this end-time persecution it will also be Satan using new ignorant people with the exact same spirit behind it all. If you look up the Greek word in verse 13 translated as “persecute” it is G1377 which was also the word spoken to Saul while on the road to Damascus by Jesus “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”   God connects the two verses with His word selection and the message is very plain to me that God is speaking of the same subject being done to the same church body.

Today’s lesson was just a basic introduction to the broad subject of “persecution” and the spirit of Saul that is behind it. I believe God awakened me in the night to bring this message of warning to those that would receive it and learn from it.  There is a rising of evil on the earth taking place.  The enemy’s rage is increasing as the end of the age draws closer.  How you react to it may just determine where you spend eternity.  A Christian that withdraws and conforms to the world view may be greatly disappointed with their choice.  However, standing up for the truth of God’s Word and proclaiming it boldly will certainly cause us to be persecuted.   I will conclude today’s Bible message with these words from my Lord Jesus:

Mat 5:10  Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Mat 5:11 Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Mat 5:12 Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you.

I wanted to talk more about Satan’s perspective for persecution today but I will try my best (the LORD willing) to cover this part of the topic in the next lesson Part 2.

Thank you for reading and studying the Bible with me. I hope this word of warning given by the Lord Jesus will be taken to heart and it will help you to prepare for what is certainly coming.   God bless you all very much and thank you for your prayers for me as I will continue to pray for you also.

If you would like to continue to read the next lesson in this series please click here “PART 2

Understanding Bible Division — Introduction to Division a Divine Hidden Plan — Part 1

House Divided(Ver 1.3)  This is Part 1 of a brand new advanced Bible study series concerning the seldom mentioned or taught Bible subject entitled “Biblical Division”.  I have personally never heard anyone teach on this subject in the church but this is what God is directing me to share today on the internet to all those that are willing to receive the message.  However, I will warn everyone upfront like in many of my other Bible studies that this is a very advanced Bible Study series and it is intended primarily for only spiritually mature Christians to attempt to learn from.  This lesson series represents a very unconventional spiritual meat topic presentation and it may not easily be chewed (be received) well by many of my milk drinking younger or spiritually new born Christian brothers and sisters in Christ.  I do so hope and pray that you understand what I mean.

Biblical division is definitely a brand new topic to most Christians which has rarely been studied, known or understood.  Therefore this subject could be potentially judged controversial or even easily offensive and rejected by a non-serious Christian disciple.  People in general are usually closed minded to an unknown or a first heard Bible topic never encountered before.  For example, men like Martin Luther brought forth radical new teachings that departed from the normal traditional dominate Church doctrines of the 1500’s.  His thoughts and views were fundamentally fresh to most and very dissimilar to anything at that time period that was popularly taught and accepted.  Martin Luther was a Bible professor in Germany and he condemned the Catholic Church for their corrupt practices of selling indulgences (forgiveness of sins).  His writings were viewed as the catalyst for the Protestant church.  However, these seemingly new views have been determined to be very sound theological scriptural teachings and they have now been widely adopted to conform more to what Jesus and the early church actually taught.  Martin Luther was still branded a heretic by the religious church leadership and excommunicated from their church.  We can clearly learn from this example that religious deception in the church can occur even as it did in the popular church of Martin Luther’s day.

Even today, we must know that not everything that is taught by a modern church is always completely accurate.  The only way to prove any subject’s truthfulness is to let the Bible and the Holy Spirit on the inside of us; become our final authority.  That is exactly what I want you to do today as you read these lessons.  Please get your Bible out and then pray and ask God to open the eyes of your understanding to see what He wants you to see.  Prove everything that is stated with your own Bible research and personal relationship with Almighty God.  Never and I do mean never believe me or anything that I teach or anyone else teaches unless you can see it in the Bible with sufficient evidence and the Holy Spirit on the inside of you confirming that it is true.  The Word of God and the Spirit of God will always agree.  Please learn to verify everything and assume or accept nothing just because someone teaches it.  Don’t be a David Koresh or Jim Jones type of blind faith follower.  Let God be your guide and not any man.  It could be a matter of life or death.

While this subject of Biblical Division is a new revelation to most of you today it is actually a very old concept that existed with God from the beginning.  It is only becoming new to us today because God is revealing something that has seldom been studied much less noticed or mentioned in any modern church.  Of course the reason why it has not been mentioned is probably one of two reasons.  First, some Bible teachers have not made the subject of division a real priority to search for or search out to discover it in the Bible.  Second, some Bible teachers may have seen the subject while reading in the Bible before but did not consider it important enough to spend time on and therefore made no effort to understand what it could mean.  Either way the root cause for “Biblical Division” not being taught is human ignorance.   No one can teach what they do not yet know and have learned.  I hope that this Bible lesson on the internet will spur interest to learn what God has done.

Therefore I ask that each of you judge yourself before continuing to read in these advanced Bible study lessons.  I certainly do not want to offend anyone with any spiritual meaty lesson that I publish.  But, I do wish to help everyone grow and mature spiritually in the faith of Jesus Christ.  Thank you in advance for using your own sound judgment to being led by His Spirit to know how to proceed.  Let’s get started with the subject of Biblical Division.

INTRODUCTION TO DIVISION

bread_slicing1What is division?   Division is defined in one dictionary as the “action of separating something into two or more parts”.  In other words division is a deliberate and intentional act of taking one item that represents a whole and complete named entity and changing it by the thoughtful application of power, force and effort into 2 or more separate and distinct disjointed pieces. This would be very much like a baker slicing their whole and complete freshly baked loaf of bread and cutting it into separate and smaller edible slices.   Or division could be viewed like the cook taking their whole baked fresh apple pie and cutting and serving it in 8 individual slices for their guests to eat.  Therefore we learn from these examples that division always represents the creation of new individual pieces consisting of a reduced size or nature where each is less than the original greater whole portion before it was split.  It is also very important to note that each new divided part is of the same substance as before but just in a reduced portion.  Do you see and understand this?  This is exactly what division represents in the Bible.   There is absolutely no difference.  Here are four main points that you should have just learned from this basic definition:

  1. Division of One Substance
  2. Separation into New Individual Parts
  3. Reduction of Size from the Original Whole
  4. All New Parts are of Like Substance

Does this subject of division, separation and reduction have anything to do with anything found in the Bible, you might be asking?  That is a very excellent question to consider.  But God’s answer to that question will always include “division plays a very main role in the Bible even if we do not yet understand how it fits into God’s overall designed plan”.  That answer is very incomplete and just begs us to ask more questions.  We will soon discover that the subject of division has a very significant and strategic role while also being potentially hidden within the Bible.  However we must learn that the subject of division is covered by God from the beginning book cover to the ending book cover and we just have not always seen it very clearly.  I will tell you at the beginning of this lesson that God’s plan from the start of creation was not only to save man but also to divide man.  Also know that God will divide other spiritual and natural entities in the Bible that we will discuss later.

Perhaps you may not believe me when I claim that the subject of division plays a very major role throughout the Bible.  That is very wise of you to follow what I asked you before to do.  Remember I said don’t follow blindly.  So I’ll introduce you to this Bible subject using the Bible interpretation law of first mention.  Where, is the subject of division first mentioned in the Bible?  If you initiate your reading from the very beginning of the Bible you will only need to go forward three verses in order to find the subject. The very first verse containing a directly revealed, intentional and deliberate act of division by God occurs within the recorded creation event of the Day 1 creation of our world and you will find it in Genesis 1:4.  This first named division in verse 4 represents a divine sovereign display of His power and His will and it further embodies an act of God’s supreme intelligence, wisdom and ability.  Let’s take a quick look at this in case you have never seen this concept being mentioned so early before in the Bible:

Gen 1:3  And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

Gen 1:4  And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.

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

These three verses describe Day 1 of the 7 day creation event of our present world.  Six days God worked and the seventh day He rested (Gen 2:1-2).  How do we define work? Work represents an activity of mental or physical energy or power designed to achieve a specific purpose for a positive end result.  This is entirely what God was doing during the Genesis Day 1 description.  Did you notice what type of “work” God performed on this given Day 1?  God speaks “Light Be” and then “Light was”.  At this time of declaration darkness had already covered the earth in verse 2 so we know that God did not create any darkness on this day.  We know from Genesis 1:2 that darkness pre-existed Day 1 of the creation work thus stating the need for light’s existence in the earth’s current situation.  I need you to pay attention to what I am trying to say because this will become more important later in the series.  Darkness existed prior to Day 1 and God uses His power to make the light to shine on the earth in Day 1 to counter the pre-existing presence of darkness.

God then declares in verse 5 the reason for the introduction of light to our planet.  God had spoken the light to shine on the earth in order to “divide” the light from the existing darkness.  Next in verse 5, God gives each of these division results a new and separate distinct name calling them “day” and “night”.  Wow, this could really get very spiritually deep if I was going to attempt to teach all of the given implications found in these verses but I will save it for another lesson later.  Remember what we just learned, that the act of “dividing” light from darkness by God and naming the day and night was all called His own work by His own definition.  This divine work was the exact same concept as the baker cutting his loaf of bread or pie into new separate pieces.  There is no conceptual difference in the type of work being described by God here in Genesis.

What did God accomplish on Day 1?   Without the introduction of light on the earth there could have been no concept of time here.   In fact until God named Day and Night the earth had no way to measure time.  A day (the period of light) consists of 12 hours and a night (the period of darkness) consists of 12 hours which when combined represent one 24 hour period of time also called a day.  One day as you should know is a 24 hour period of time corresponding to one rotation of the earth.  This represents a single cycle of what God created to occur repeatedly.   It is very interesting to note we would have no concept or understanding of God’s work if He had not named the Day and Night and then called it Day 1.

While all of this is what I believe a literal reality, I believe God did this to teach us a greater symbolic spiritual truth.  But I do not have the time to go into this.  All I need you to do is to grasp that God’s Day 1 work was something that represents a constructive progress step to accomplish God’s plan for a good outcome for us.

Have we not just learned that even God’s “dividing” work can achieve a positive purpose and end-result?  Keep this in your mind that this divine work of dividing introduced to us by God here in Genesis 1 is good.  Then think of it as being like a parallel when a baker slices their loaf of bread to eat.  Isn’t the slice of bread much better than the entire loaf when you just want a sandwich?  Can we begin to now learn a little bit about the impact, value and positive purpose of God’s designed work to divide light from darkness from just this one single Day 1 creation reference?  Division appears to me to be very important just based upon this limited understanding so far.  Ask yourself “Why was it so important for God to divide at the very beginning of His 6 days of creative work?”    We will learn more about this as we progress to understand this subject better.

I just want us to begin to realize how much we potentially do not yet know or understand about the subject of division in the Bible.  Before I proceed deeper let’s at least examine the Hebrew word that was translated as “divided” in verse 4 of Genesis 1.  This word is H914 and it represents a base Hebrew root word that has the following Strong’s definition:

H914

A primitive root; to divide (in various senses literally or figuratively, separatedistinguishdifferselect, etc.): – (make, put) difference, divide (asunder), (make) separate (self, -ation), sever (out), X utterly.

This Hebrew word’s definition is in tremendous harmonious alignment with the English dictionary definition of “division’ that we examined earlier.  As you can read, this Hebrew word means “to divide asunder”, “make separate” and I also want you to see the phrase “sever out”.  All of these phrases are valid parts of our Bible subject study today even if we don’t yet fully understand them all right now.  However, even if we do not yet understand them completely, please do not let them slip from your minds.  Let me give you the list of important points from this Hebrew word definition:

  1. Divide Asunder
  2. Make Separate
  3. Sever Out

To conclude this short subject introduction I will tell you that there are actually at the very minimum 5 major named “divisions” that take place within the very first two chapters of the book of Beginnings also called Genesis and we will look at these in greater detail later in the lesson series.   What we just need to understand right now is that these divisions took place during God’s work within creation and therefore each of these divisions must have had a positive divine purpose for us to learn from.  Let’s review some of the major things that you should have learned about division:

  1. Division concerns one Substance Being Cut Apart
  2. After Division Occurs there are New Individual Pieces
  3. That which was Divided is a Smaller Portion of the Original Whole
  4. All New Parts are of Like Original Substance
  5. Division is Work
  6. God’s Work on Day 1 was to Divide by Speaking
  7. New Divided Parts can be Named

Since we have covered the basic introductions to division and its definition let’s start building a foundation for the subject now.

BUILDING THE DIVISION FOUNDATION

?????????????????????????A foundation represents the part of a building process that all of the other following parts are raised or built upon.  A foundation is the underpinning of the structure and the groundwork of the entire rest of the building process.  Nothing can be created structurally sound without a very firm foundation and so it is with Bible study subjects.  In the first section of the lesson I already gave you basic foundation definitions and those were very important.    But, let me stop right here and provide the main foundation Bible verse that these definitions apply to for the entire series of Bible lessons on this subject of Bible division.  Let’s turn to the book of Luke and chapter 12 to begin our construction process to read the foundational verse for the subject of Bible division spoken directly from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ:

Luk 12:51  Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division:

This is my LORD Jesus speaking to me and He literally makes a very shocking and a very controversial statement here in this verse.  We must first understand who is speaking.  Jesus was literally God incarnate.   He is called by the Hebrew name “Emanuel” which meant “God with us”.  Whatever Jesus said were words that God spoke personally and directly to all of mankind.  Therefore God was teaching us about one of the key reasons for His personal appearance upon the earth and it is a very outrageous declaration to say the least.  He tells us in this verse “to bring peace on earth” was never His appearance objective but rather He had come into this world to divide it.  This announcement from the Lord is a potential major conflict to several other Bible verses and this should raise new questions in our minds.  For example let’s review some of the potential conflicts:

Luk 2:14  Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

We should be able to begin to see from this angelic announcement the rising conflict.  At the birth of the Lord Jesus in the city of David called Bethlehem the angels appear to shepherds tending their flocks and they bring them the great news of God’s appearance on the earth.  As part of this announcement they declare that there should be peace on earth because of His appearance.  However, that is definitely not what Jesus said He came to bring.  Both verses contain the same Greek word G1515 that is translated as “peace”.  So they both are related by God’s word selection.  But there is still the problem of an apparent conflict.  Let’s read another verse:

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.

There are several Bible verses that appear to conflict with the Lord’s statement in Luke, but especially this one verse found in Isaiah 9:6 where Jesus is clearly called the coming “Prince of Peace”.  Isaiah informs us of a prophesied future “Prince of Peace” that will come to the earth and this was certainly an important title describing Jesus.  However, Jesus who was this Prince of Peace claimed that to bring peace on earth was not His objective at His initial appearance on earth in Luke 12:51.   Whoops I just gave you an important clue in that last statement.  I hope you did not miss it.

At least 5 times in the New Testament (Rom 15:33, Rom 16:20, Php 4:9, 1 Th 5:23, Heb 13:20) our God is called the “God of Peace”.  Wow, how should we even begin to understand how to resolve these statements of God being peace and Him saying I did not come to the earth to bring any peace?  How can the Prince of Peace and the God of Peace not appear here physically on the earth to bring us peace?  How do we resolve this conflict?

I think I have already given you the clue if you were paying attention for the resolution of the conflict of peace.  The answer that will become more prevalent is based upon timing.  Everything that occurs in the plan of God has a set time of appearance.  At the first coming of Jesus on the earth there can be no hope for any peace based upon the statement made by Him in Luke 12:51.  However, that does not mean that He cannot bring peace later to the earth at a future time and I don’t have the space in this lesson to go into any great detail to when this coming peace will occur.  But I want us to understand that when Jesus came to the earth the people of the city of Jerusalem were expecting a natural King but they only saw a spiritual King that did not come to rule them at that time on the earth.  It was not God’s timing to rule on the earth during His first appearance.  This truth of reality teaches us how to learn more about God’s timing for peace and I hope this will help us all to understand how to resolve what Jesus was saying in Luke 12:51 more clearly.  Here are the main three points that you should have learned in this foundation:

  1. Jesus Came to the Earth to Divide
  2. And Not to Bring Peace
  3. But No Peace Now Does Not Mean There Can Be No Peace Ever

Luke 12:51 is my foundational Bible division verse concerning the complete subject of Bible division.  Jesus very clearly teaches us that to divide was one of the main purposes for His arrival on the earth.   We will now continue this lesson by attempting to understand what Jesus said He did not come to do.  Jesus said He did not come to bring peace.  So what is peace?  I think we need to know more about what Jesus said He did not come to bring us.  So let’s find out.

WHAT IS PEACE?

peaceful-still-watersAs we continue learning we need to understand as much as we can about what Jesus said that He did not come to do during His initial earthly appearance.  Jesus informs us very clearly in Luke 12:51 that He did not come to bring peace during this specified time.  Therefore, we need to ask the question “What is peace?”  Peace in one English dictionary means “cessation from war”.  A cessation of war means there is no longer any aggression, no fighting, no conflict, and no longer any hostilities one towards another.  Peace can also mean “a place or state without any disturbance”.  Some synonyms of peacefulness could be calmness, tranquility, serenity or quietness and Jesus told us that these were not the purpose for His arrival.  We can learn what peace represents in order to better comprehend why Jesus came to the earth.   It should become apparent that if Jesus did not come to bring us peace then the opposite of peace was His goal.  Can we agree?  Let’s review the quick list of what peace represented:

  1. PEACE = No Wars, No Conflicts, No Fighting, No Hostility
  2. PEACE = Calmness
  3. PEACE = Tranquility
  4. PEACE = Quietness

If Jesus did not come to bring peace then I believe very firmly that He must have come to do the opposite.  What is the opposite of peace based upon just these 4 definitions?   Jesus must have come to bring a war, a storm of agitation or even a raging wave and force of noise to the earth.  I believe all of those that I just stated are true.  However, we also need to understand that according to Jesus the opposite of peace appears to be the stated purpose of “division”.  Division by the definition of the Lord Jesus is the opposite of peace.  Once we consider what division represents it becomes very clear that it is truly the antithesis of any state of undisturbed peace.  Please keep thinking on these concepts of what peace “is” and “is not” as we continue to learn why Jesus said He appeared on the earth.  Based upon the definitions of peace we can begin to see Jesus came to bring us the opposite and these would be:

  1. War
  2. Agitation
  3. Turbulence
  4. Noise

I’ll say this again; Jesus speaking in Luke clearly claims that one of His chief purposes for being here on the earth was not to bring anyone or anything peace, calm, quiet or tranquility during His first appearance.  Then Jesus claims that one of His actual purposes for being here was to “divide” or bring “division” to something or even someone unnamed here on the earth.  What exactly was this on the earth that Jesus came to disturb, to bring unrest to, to disquiet it and to interrupt it with a wave of force of noise and power to cause or effect a division to occur?

war-3We have just briefly covered the subject of peace exploring some synonyms and some antonyms in this section of the lesson.  But I believe that I introduced you to some new things to consider.  We should have learned that God came to disrupt whatever was considered normal here on the earth.  We should have learned that God came to divide the status quo and cause what God desired to occur.  We know this because we learned division is a positive work of God and God’s work will always bring about positive results with a purpose.  So we should have learned God’s appearance was to bring war on the earth and not any peace.  Any war is an act of force between enemies against each other.  War is a very clear separation by force and power and a strong division between factions and it will always result in a reduction of the former whole.  We should be able to see that war fits very well into the definition of “division”.

  1. Who is Jesus at war with?
  2. What does Jesus intend to divide with His appearance on the earth?
  3. What will be the positive result for this division after it has occurred?

Learning how to answer these questions will be what this lesson series will now be focused upon.  However we still need to increase our foundational understanding for the subject of division and we will do that by looking at the subject of “disunion”.

WHAT IS DISUNION?

Let’ review the Greek word translated as “division” that was used by God in Luke 12:51.  This Greek word was translated as “division” in this verse.  This is a very unique Geek word.  In fact this Greek word is only found one time in the entire Bible here in Luke 12:51.  This Greek word is G1267 and here is the Strong’s definition:

G1267 – From G1266; disunion (of opinion and conduct): – division.

The Greek word G1267 translated as “division” in this verse in Luke 12:51 literally means something has been divided.  It also literally means “disunion” (of opinion and conduct).  Wow, that is a new amazing and very essential declaration that Jesus is trying to teach us concerning His positive purpose to divide here on the earth.  A state of “disunion” is clearly the opposite of a state of “union”.  A union is a representation of two or more entities becoming one single entity with unified authority.  Therefore disunion is like the one loaf of bread becoming many individual slices of bread that was mentioned earlier.   Disunion conforms to what we have learned about division up until this point of the lesson.

Disunion is a word that literally means the breaking up of a federation or union.  Disunion comes from a lack of unity and agreement.  Whenever even one person in a group is not in full agreement there can result a state of disharmony, discord and conflict.  Disagreement is the root cause for much disunion.  I wish to introduce you to two new potential reasons for Jesus appearance on the earth to divide using Strong’s definition.  First, Jesus was saying I came to divide the opinions or “beliefs” of men on the earth.  Second He was further saying that He came to divide the conduct of men here on the earth.  Either of these acts of God would bring about a war like state of disunity.  That is so very important what I just said.  We will definitely be talking about that a lot more in this lesson later.  But we need to look more into the subject of “disunions” first.

Let’s talk about the concept of “disunions”.  The word “disunion” means to break up something that was a whole or complete named entity into smaller distinct separate pieces.  For example the disunion of an earthly sovereign federation will result in the division of that nation into smaller nations.   Take for instance the disunion of the U.S.S.R. that took place back in 1991. Do you remember what U.S.S.R. stood for?  The U.S.S.R. stood for the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. The U.S.S.R was one sovereign named union containing states that were broken apart to form the new D.S.S.R = “Disunion of Soviet Socialist Republic”.   Of course that was just a joke but what resulted from the disunion were several new separate smaller sovereign states.   The united nation of the U.S.S.R. clearly qualified to be a candidate for division and disunion.  Down throughout human history there have been many nations, empires and kingdoms that have risen to only become divided, conquered and fall.  Nation and kingdom partitioning is a very constant and prevalent example of divisions and disunions. Could this concept be related to something that Jesus was referring to that He came to do?  We will soon find out that it is exactly what He came to do but let us look at another prevalent type of natural disunion first.

The natural case of divorce from the divinely created institution of marriage also represents a form of very prevalent natural disharmony, disruption and disunion occurring in our world too frequently.  A divorce is the dividing into individual pieces and the separation from God’s defined condition of being in the state that God called a “One Flesh” union (Gen 2:24).  Marriage represents the “union” of two individuals (1 male and 1 female) into one new family unit but divorce is the clear antithesis state called disunion.  Divorce occurs when the one named married family entity becomes two separated, partitioned and disjointed individuals that can no longer be considered a sovereign family covenant union.  If Bob and Sally Jones get a divorce the Jones Household and family has become disjointed in disunity and can no longer even exist.  This will always result in two lesser named entities lacking completeness and wholeness.

I have only briefly introduced you to two types of “disunions” and “divisions” so far in this section.  One is that of a natural sovereign nation being divided and the other is the concept of a natural sovereign family being divided up by acts of force or power.   Both are differing levels of sovereign authority.  Both can be divided by force and power.  Viewing them to be a positive work is another dilemma since neither sound like positive end results and I would definitely agree with that for now looking only at things from a purely natural perspective.  But there are other ways that we need to consider and I will talk about them soon enough.

Let’s continue our Greek word study and move down a level to the root word.  The Greek word G1267 that means “disunion” comes from another Greek root word G1266 which means “to partition thoroughly”.  This just keeps getting better and better, deeper and deeper and more and more complex doesn’t it?  To partition means “to divide something”, “to split apart something” or “to break up something” using a stated or implied wall of separation.  Partitioning is an understood act of constructive building through a display of intelligence combined with a force of power to create the divide.  This concept of partitioning is further based upon a rule of authority hierarchy.  Those which are building the partition are of much greater authority than that which is being affected by the division.  What I just said was so important I want you to see it again:

PARTITIONING = an Understood Act of Constructive Building through a Display of Intelligence Combined with the Application of Force or Power to Create A Divide.

For example, a criminal after conviction is divided or partitioned from the mainstream population by a greater force of authority and placed behind a separating barrier which can be named or labeled as partitions or the prison walls of separation.  Within our society the greater government authority created these partitioning walls of separation.  The separating walls of the prison will keep the prisoners in but also will keep all others in the general population out.  We can certainly see some potential positive aspects of division in this example.  Therefore, we should learn that division is defined as an act of separating one whole and greater item (the general population) into smaller or lesser items (prisoners and free people).  Using my quick example, our population is being separated by an act of law and authority into those that are free and those that are incarcerated. This is just a natural concept that helps us in understanding the spiritual Bible concept more clearly and God’s stated plan of division.

What was Jesus partitioning through His physical appearance here on the earth?  What walls were being constructed by His appearance on the earth?   I’ll begin to answer these questions in the next section.  The information covered in this section  should begin to give you some major clues to why Jesus came to earth.  Jesus has built a dividing wall partition with His appearance on the earth.  Let’s review the list of points we learned in this section:

  1. Disunion is a Force of Disagreement Dividing Two or More Groups
  2. Disunion is the Division of a Single Kingdom
  3. Disunion is like the Division of a Whole Family
  4. Division is the Separation of Two Entities using a Partition or Wall of Separation

There were other good points made in this section but these are the ones that need to be carried forward into the next section.  We will now take a look at God’s plan of division and how it was prophesied to be implemented by the coming Lord of Glory.

GOD’S PLAN OF DISUNION/DIVISION

In the last section I talked about the disunion of a natural nation, empire or a kingdom as well as well as the disunion of a natural family.  Both of these types of disunion that were going to be implemented by God’s design and plan in order to protect the righteous from the unrighteous.  God came to the earth in the form of a man in order to divide His kingdom and to divide His family.  God does this primarily to separate and partition that which was good from that which was judged as evil.   I believe this is an excellent time to introduce you to a prophecy that applies directly to what God was doing in Jesus.  Please turn to the book of Malachi and read what the LORD says:

Mal 3:16  Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his name.

Mal 3:17  And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him.

Mal 3:18  Then shall ye return, and discern between the righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him not.

These are verses prophesying a coming division.  Did you see it?  These are the works of the LORD that were coming through Christ Jesus.  God is going to separate the righteous from the wicked.  He is going to make it known (able to discern between) those that serve Him and those that do not.   The Hebrew word H996 that was translated “between” in verse 18 reveals to us this story.   This word means to make a “distinction” between two or more things.  It is a comparative stipulation that is used as a preposition to describe those that are named after the statement.  This Hebrew word H996 comes from the root word H995 which means “to separate” mentally.  To separate mentally is just another synonymous phrase of division that means God will divide them with a partition of thought so we can understand that there is a difference between them in our minds.  The ability to distinguish between good and evil and right and wrong is a mental partitioning process.   God actually warns us about this in the Bible:

Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

We can clearly see these happening even in the world today if we observe the actions of people closely.  It has become increasingly difficult for people to “discern” between good and evil.  The lines have shifted to allow what we use to believe was evil to become good and vice-versa. God is warning all those on the earth that cannot discern between two opposites in this verse.   God says you are in trouble if you call good evil or evil good.  That is exactly what is transpiring in our world today.  It is everywhere on TV, in movies and on the internet.  Good is being called evil and evil is clearly being promoted to be good and normal.  God is teaching us about one of the walls of separation that will and is dividing us all.

The blurring of distinct lines of good and evil today is the devil’s plan to undo what God has already accomplished in Christ Jesus.  Satan wants us to not be able to recognize between good and evil and that is what is happening in this world.  Satan would like to get Christians to regress and become passive to accept sin, evil and etc.  I still believe that God’s plan will prevail in those that desire to follow Him as Malachi predicts.  Real Christians will know what is right and good and what is wrong and evil even if the world does not.

light-vs-dark (1)I want to stop here and teach you why things are named by God.  God gives things, people and places names to show that they are different.  Giving objects and people names are a form of the process of division.   When your child is born you name your son or daughter to give them distinction.  This new name separates them from the other children and makes them unique.  Do you remember what God did in Genesis 1:3-5 on day 1 of creation?  God spoke to introduce the light into the world which was then separated from the darkness and after God did this He named the light “day” and the darkness He called “night”.  Did you notice that in the verse in Isaiah 5:20  God also mentioned light and darkness?   Is that a coincidence?   No, it certainly is not.  Light represents good and darkness represents evil symbolically throughout the Bible.  This is God’s way of connecting the dots for us to learn His plan.  God was going to separate good from evil from the very beginning of creation.  Can you begin to see this?

This concept is exactly what God was doing here in these Malachi verses also.  God says there will be one separate group called the “Righteous” and another group called the “Wicked”.  Those are the names of distinction and separation given by divine appointment and purpose.  These represent the dividing lines between two groups of beings.  This certainly includes mankind but it also must include angelic heavenly beings also.

Wow, I just introduced so much potentially new information to you so fast that I pray that you understood it all.   We could go through other prophecies of division but I am trying to keep this lesson as concise as possible to not overwhelm anyone with too much information.  I hope to cover this subject in much more detail as the series continues.  So please be patient and kind and believe with me that God will say everything that needs to be said in His right timing.  Let’s recap what we should have learned from this section quickly.

God is going to build:

  1. A Mental Wall of Partition for Discernment in People
  2. A Wall Between the Righteous and the Unrighteous
  3. A Wall Between the Good and the Evil
  4. A Wall to Perceive Between Right and Wrong
  5. A Wall of Separation Between the Light and the Darkness

We could literally talk for many hours on these subjects but I just want you to begin learning the basics for and of division now.  I think today I am going to only go into one more introductory topic to help point us to future lessons.

CONFIRMING JESUS’ PURPOSE FOR DIVISION

I have already introduced you to the concept that God came to earth to divide His kingdom and to divide His family but we need further scriptural confirmation to assist in these statements and beliefs.  Both a nation and a family dissolution are very clear examples of types of extremely prevalent earthly natural disunions.  However, both of these natural examples of disunion have direct application to what Jesus said that He came to do here on the earth believe it or not.   Let’s look at a new verse that Jesus spoke about this direct subject of division to help us to confirm the reality of one of God’s primary purposes for sending Jesus into our world was to divide His kingdom and family.

Jesus actually talks about this subject of division much more than many realize.  It is very clear to me from learning this subject now that Jesus understood His reason for coming into the world far better than anyone else at that time including Satan and all his angels and demons.  We will now turn back to the book of Luke again and read a verse found in close context with our initial foundation division verse found in Luke 12:51.  Please, turn back to chapter 11 and begin to read in verse 17:

Luk 11:17  But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house divided against a house falleth.

Jesus begins the statement with the word “Every”.  “Every” is the Greek word G3956 that literally means “every”.  I am just being funny with that last statement but that is exactly what the Greek word means.  The Greek word G3956 means “every”, “any”, “all” and “the whole”.  Therefore, G3956 is an all-inclusive adjective describing the noun “kingdom” that leaves no kingdom out of the statement.  Do you understand that?  There cannot be any “kingdom” in existence either past, present or future that is omitted from this statement of truth given to us by the Lord Jesus.  I cannot say that more plainly and this is such a very important concept to learn.  Jesus is not a liar and He would have phrased the statement differently if there were any kingdoms that could be excluded from being mentioned.  I do hope you understand what God is saying by His selective use of the word “EVERY”.

So we learn immediately from the mouth of Jesus that “any” or “every” kingdom named or unnamed directly or indirectly will fall if it is divided against itself.  Therefore we learn from the Bible what we already know from human history that any kingdom can be divided into two or more smaller pieces and even cease to exist completely.  For example the Roman Empire ceased to exist.  The Persian Empire has ceased to exist.  The Babylonian Empire has ceased to exist, and etc.   Today division of nations is still a very prevalent topic with the nation of Israel.  Peace talks are dominated with the division of Israel into two nations giving their land to a new nation called Palestine.   Satan is using God’s law of division to try to eliminate Israel and you should know that.

Did you know that this statement from Jesus absolutely must include the “Kingdom of God” and the “Kingdom of Heaven”?  You probably never thought of that, did you?  Does that sound offensive to you for me to imply that the omnipotent God’s kingdom can be divided, fall and possibly cease to exist? Please understand that I did not say it.  I just gained that knowledge from what Jesus said because He included these two kingdom references in the statement by selecting and speaking the word “EVERY” in union with the noun “KINGDOM”.  Wow, I think there could be a lot of upset religious people not very happy with this lesson after reading that but this statement is still true.

Do you remember that I talked about a whole pie being cut into pieces?  Let’s change the pie to a Kingdom and ask if it can be divided in the same way?  Jesus is speaking about a whole kingdom pie that will be divided if it is fighting against itself and He tells us that it will become desolate (a dry empty place) if it is experiencing any condition of discord, disharmony or even disagreement.  What happens to a pie after it has been cut and divided against itself?  It is usually dished out and served and the pie dish has been left an empty dry mess of crumbs.  That is what Jesus is describing that will happen to any kingdom that is divided also.  There is an old proverb that says “United we stand but divided we fall” and that is an accurate phrasing of what Jesus just taught us about God’s Kingdom.

These truths are precisely the reason that I mentioned the U.S.S.R. previously.  The U.S.S.R. was a very good example of a modern kingdom that has been divided against itself.  This whole nation was split into several smaller nations even now which are still fighting among themselves.  There was even recently reported heavy fighting in the Ukraine and Russia was blamed to be fueling the discord.  Note the fact what Jesus said again.  Jesus said “Do you think that I came to bring peace?  I say No but rather division”.  That was my paraphrase of the original key verse statement but it does represent an accurate message of the original.  No nation or kingdom that experiences division can or will experience any peace after it has been divided.  Now ask yourself what Kingdom is Jesus from?  Where did Jesus come down from to enter into the earth?  These are basic fundamental questions that you should be able to answer in your sleep.  Jesus came down from the Kingdom of God and from the Kingdom of Heaven in order that He might divide them with war and I believe this very firmly.

Now consider the second part of the statement made by Jesus concerning division in Luke 11:17.  Jesus declares that a house divided will also fall.  This Greek word translated as “house” means a dwelling where a family resides.  This is why I talked about the concept of divorce earlier also.   A divorce represents the destruction of a sovereign family unit.  The result of the family division is a whole entity that no longer exists or we could say a family unit that has been brought to the state of non-existence.  This is exactly why Jesus was making this statement in Luke because it concerns His purpose for coming to the earth.

We should be able to find out by close Bible study that Jesus has come down from the Kingdom of Heaven directly from the spiritual family of God to bring about a division to both realities.   We can begin to learn this truth simply by reading verses like John 6:50-51 where He describes His flesh as the bread that came down from heaven.   In these words are found the concept of the loaf of freshly baked bread that I presented earlier.  His body was broken and we must eat of it in order to live.  All those that do not eat of this bread will die.  That is a very clear division of separation being inferred.  There are many other verses but I will help you with one about the family of God next for you to know that God has a family that can be divided.

If you study the Bible by searching for the word “house” you will find more than enough verses that will confirm what we need to know about the existence of God’s spiritual family.  For example, in John 14:2 you will find Jesus talking about His Father’s house.  He claims there are many mansions in this location.  The Greek word in this verse is G3613 and it comes directly from the Greek word G3624 that Jesus spoke of in Luke 11:17 about a house divided.  Both words were translated as house and both words mean a literal family dwelling place.   I can give many other references but I do not want to take the time in this lesson introduction.  Just begin to realize that God has a spiritual family and this family can and has been divided by the plan, will and the work of God through Jesus Christ.

If this is true what Jesus is teaching us then the implication of both of these divisions will dictate God’s need for a new spiritual family and a new spiritual kingdom since both will be brought to the level of non-existence as Jesus has prophesied.  I hope you realize that Jesus was a prophet also and spoke what would come to pass in many of His recorded statements in the Gospels.  I warned you that this Bible lesson would take us into some really deep waters which may go over the heads of some weaker carnal Christians.  If this describes you please just stop reading and go to a different Bible lesson.  So let’s review the main points from this section of the lesson.  We learned these Bible facts:

  1. Every Divided Kingdom Will Be Made Desolate
  2. Every Divided Family Will Fall
  3. God Has a Kingdom Which Can Be Divided
  4. God Has a Family that Can Also Fall

All of these Bible facts of Truth point us in the direction for God’s personal appearance on the earth to divide.   These help us tremendously to understand a very complex hidden Bible subject.

CONCLUSION

I hope and pray that you have learned at least a little more on this subject of Biblical Division than you ever knew before.  I know there was a lot of new information given but I also know that there is a whole lot more to learn.  I would recommend that you go back and at least reread the main points from each section of the lesson. This will help us put the pieces of the division puzzle together correctly.  I will be continuing in this series with more confirming scriptures to help us believe in God’s Word.  Thank you for taking your time to read and study the Bible with me.  I do value your time greatly and I do not wish to waste any of it.  If you would care to leave me a comment or question I would appreciate it.  Also please share this website with your friends and relatives so everyone can learn more about the Lord and the soon coming King Jesus Christ.  God Bless you.

Click now if you would like to continue reading “Part 2“.

Bible Basics: Jesus Asks “Who Do You Say That I Am?” Part 2 – Believing in the Name of Jesus is a Requirement NOW!

whoami2(Ver 1.2)  This is Part 2 of a very fundamental and rudimentary but essential Bible Subject for every Christian to study, learn, understand and be able to share in an instant with all others in the world!  What is that vital subject you ask?  The subject that I am referring to is “Who is Jesus to you?”   If you did not read from the beginning I would strongly recommend that you go back to “Part 1” to begin reading the series because all of that information will not be repeated again and it was very important for your understanding of who Jesus should be to you.   The first lesson was a focused approach to understanding the significance of some of the most important revealed “Names” of Jesus in the Bible.  If you read the first lesson you know that I introduced you to 3 of these primary names of Jesus found in the New Testament.  There are of course several other revealed names and titles of Jesus that I did not mention.  Later in the series we will explore more of these names but I will mention at least two other direct names today in this lesson.

I hope after reading Part 1 that you at least have a better comprehension for the importance of these 3 Bible names of Jesus that were covered.  These names were 1) Jesus, 2) Emmanuel and 3) The Word of God.  All three names connected us directly to a personal divine appearance on the earth of the creator Lord God coming from heaven in the form of a man like us.  In today’s lesson we will expand the subject of these 3 names by adding two new names “Lord” and “King” and we will begin to address the question of what benefit is there for believing in these names of Jesus?  Were there any benefits in the early Church?  Are there any benefits to these names in the modern church?  Why is it important for us to even believe in the names of Jesus?  What occurs if we do not believe in Jesus being God in the flesh or in His revealed names?  We will soon be learning what the Bible says about what will happen if we believe in His name and what will happen if we do not.  Wow that sounds imperative to know.

In many of my Bible studies I place an added emphasis upon how to study the Bible.  Today’s lesson will be more of this type of double teaching effort.  I want to provide the reader with valuable spiritual information but at the same time I desire to teach a few of the rules and methods for how the information was obtained.  In this way I am teaching the reader more about “how to fish for information” than simply just offering them a “onetime fish meal of information”.  Of course the number one rule for every Bible study method is for us to be led by the Spirit of God and listen for His guidance as we study the Bible by faith.  Following this rule will insure that we are on the right path to not deviate from the way of finding the truth.  The Spirit of God is Truth (John 14:17) and we are told that He will guide us into all Truth (John 16:13).

INTRODUCTION TO THE NAME OF THE LORD

Let’s begin this Bible study using the important Bible study technique called “The Law of First Mention.  Today’s Bible study’s primary focus is upon the importance of knowing, understanding and believing in the name of Jesus.  So we will go back into the O.T. to find the name of God that is found within this name Jesus.  Perhaps you do not understand what the law of first mention represents.  I found through years of Bible study that the law of first mention is a very useful study technique to learn from and use.  This study law introduces us to the subject where God first mentions what we are interested in learning.  I have found consistently that God places key information in every initial subject reference that is critical to understanding almost every other subject reference in the rest of the Bible.  Since we learned in lesson 1 that the original language Hebrew name of Jesus was comprised of two Hebrew root words “Jehovah and Saves” we will focus in on the O.T. references to the name of God, Jehovah.  The first time this name Jehovah is used by God in the O.T. is found in Genesis 2.  Let us read the verse and learn what God introduces us to in this first subject mention:

Gen 2:4  These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens,

Did you notice that this verse connects the name Jehovah directly to the God of creation and the creation event itself?  In Genesis 1 the name of God primarily mentioned is H430 Elohim which is normally translated as “God”.  However in this verse in Genesis 2 Jehovah and Elohim are joined and used in conjunction together as a connecting force for equality, for clarification and for further definition.  I believe this simply teaches us that Jehovah is Elohim and Elohim is Jehovah.  Why is this important?  It is only important because in the New Testament in John 1 we saw another direct reference to GOD and to the creation event that must be included with Genesis 2:4 in order to be understood more thoroughly.  Let’s review the first three verses of John 1:

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

Joh 1:2  The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

John 1:1 and Genesis 1:1 are parallel creation event verses connected together by God’s design.  God in the book of John further clarifies and bring newly defined light and revelation to the subject of creation and the Creator.   God is being declared equivalent to the Word in these verses and we are clearly informed that the Word created everything that was made.  We can now go back and reread Genesis 1 and find that this is exactly what happened.  God spoke His Word and the created things came forth and produce life.

In these verses in John the name of God is the Greek word “Theos” and this is the equivalent of the Hebrew name of God “Elohim” by direct association.  Notice, in Genesis 1:1 God says “In the beginning God (Elohim)…” and in John 1:1 God says “In the beginning God (Theos)…”.   I know technically it says “In the Beginning was the Word” but later in the verse God tells us the Word was God (Theos) and that is a basic Algebraic law at work that says if A = B and B = C then A = C.  Therefore I hope you understand why it is legal to say Elohim and Theos are equivalent but I will offer additional evidence as I continue in the lesson and probably repeat what I have said for the benefit of everyone.

One of the things that I want to teach in this lesson is that anytime God quotes even a portion of a verse from the O.T. in the N.T., He is connecting the words across a language boundary.   I hope you understand the importance of knowing this.  This technique of word structure, definition and equivalency is part of God’s internal technical design of the entire Bible.  God used this technique of quotation to help us and teach us the way through the complexity introduced by His usage between two main separations of languages found within the original Bible manuscripts.  The O.T. was written in predominately Hebrew and the N.T. was written in exclusively the Greek language.  So how do we resolve this major language separation when studying any subject in both the Old and the New Testaments?  We do it by finding and using God’s laws designed for us to follow.  Following God’s laws of how to cross language boundaries provide us very specific rules and boundary limits to avoid an “anything goes approach to Bible interpretation”.  Without following God’s established rules there is only a random unstructured chaos approach to interpretation taking place based upon human reasoning and that will usually fail us 100 times out of 100 attempts.  That is exactly why there are thousands of different Christian denominations in the world today.  Too many people are ignoring God’s rules and inventing their own ways to understand the Bible.

What we learn from this divinely designed language connection technique is that the Greek word Theos (G2316) is the equivalent word found within the Hebrew as the word Elohim (H430).  Do you understand this?  What I am saying is, if we were translating the O.T. original Hebrew language into the Greek language we would make the Hebrew word Elohim read as “Theos” because this is exactly what God did in the Bible and we should follow His example.  Conversely if we were translating the N.T. into Hebrew the Greek word “Theos” would be translated into “Elohim” because of God’s choice and not mine.  This is not that complicated but it is still a very essential concept to learn for correct Bible understanding and interpretation.    We can further confirm this truth of the word equivalence between the Hebrew Elohim and the Greek Theos by looking at several verses but I will give only one other verse to keep the lesson shorter:

Mat 4:7  Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.

This is an excellent verse to expand our knowledge from.  Jesus is quoting a commonly known O.T. verse in this statement within the Gospel account.  Here in Matthew God directly connects two very key Greek words together that we need to know.  The first Greek word is G2316 (Theos) which was translated as God and is the same word found in John 1:1 that we just looked at.  But now we can also see the second Greek word being connected to God (Theos) is G2962 (Kurios) which is translated as Lord in this verse.  This is the exact same word and name connection that God made in Genesis 2:4 if you recall.  The “Lord God” is in fact the name that I am looking for to further understand.  Now let’s go and review the original Hebrew statement being quoted by Jesus to learn the original Hebrew language words:

Deu 6:16  Ye shall not tempt the LORD your God, as ye tempted him in Massah.

Here again are the two key words LORD and God that are being researched having been connected by God’s design to the New Testament in the Matthew 4:7 quotation.  The Hebrew word H430 that was translated into English as “God” is Elohim and the Hebrew word H3068 that was translated as “LORD” in English is Jehovah.  We now have a very direct confirmation that the Hebrew word Jehovah is directly linked and is equivalent to the Greek word Kurios and the Hebrew word Elohim is directly linked and is equivalent to the Greek word Theos in all of scripture.  Do you understand why I could just say this?  If not there are more than enough verses quoted in the N.T. that you could go through to prove this statement if you want to do the work.  This is a very critical part of correct Bible study to find these types of details.  This should leave no room for doubt that we are on the right track learning about who is named LORD in both the O.T. and the N.T.  I do hope that you are beginning to understand where I am going.

Now let’s go back to John 1 and review again.  In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God (Theos = Elohim) and the Word was God (Theos = Elohim).  I just inserted the Greek and Hebrew equivalent words in this verse to help bring clarification to what God is speaking of.  John 1:1 is very clearly telling us that the Word is God (Theos = Elohim) and it further teaches us in verse 2 that the Word was with God in the beginning.   The terms “with God” and “is God” sound like conflicting statements but these are only possible because of the triune nature of God Almighty (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).

Then in verse 3 God (Theos = Elohim) speaks clearly that all things that were made by God (Theos = Elohim) and everything that was made was made by the Word.  Wow that is awesome information to teach us something very new and profound.  Go back and review Genesis 2:4 again to make the connection.  Genesis 2:4 said “Jehovah Elohim” created the heavens and the earth.  Do you see the direct connection being made to who Jehovah was?   Can you see that the “Word = God” in John 1 is the exact same God as the “Jehovah = God” in Genesis 2:4?  Both are speaking of who created our world.  I believe overwhelmingly that the LORD GOD is the same as the WORD GOD and they are equivalent and I will prove that statement further as I continue in the lesson.

Let’s review some of the basic mathematical laws again to help us understand the Bible more clearly.  The Bible was authored by the same God that created math so it just makes logical sense for us to apply the same laws of God’s math design to God’s application of His Word.  Do you remember what I said earlier?   I said that God Theos = God Elohin by God’s usage of quoted O.T. verses found in the N.T.  I then said LORD Kurios = LORD Jehovah using the same type God’s N.T. quoted examples.  Now using John 1 we learn how God connects the “Word” was equal to “God” which was equal to “Theos” which was equal to “Elohim”.  I think this may be going over the head of many of my readers but that does not mean that I should not be teaching it.  Now using the divinely connected verses of Deuteronomy 6:17 and Matthew 4:7 we learned that Jehovah Elohim (Hebrew) = LORD God (English) = Kurios Theos (Greek).  I think I need to say this again because it is so very important for you to embrace, using O.T. quoted verse words in the New Testament we now know that Jehovah Elohim = Kurious Theos = LORD God.  I am just laying a very important foundation for more knowledge that is coming.

Ok if I haven’t left you behind so far I want to go a bit deeper.  Recall from lesson 1 that Joshua was the original Hebrew name of Jesus.  Never, never forget that Jesus was born a Jew and spoke the Hebrew language and not the Greek language.  Jesus said very plainly that He was only sent to the lost sheep of Israel (Mat 15:24).  When people met Jesus on the road they called Him “Yeshua” (Hebrew) = Joshua (English transliteration) = Jesus (Greek to English transliteration).  This Hebrew name came down from heaven and was given to Him by an angel of the LORD GOD.  As I have stated more than once we should know that the name Joshua was the Hebrew word H3091 and this meant “Jehovah Saved” which comes from two root words H3068 Jehovah and H3467 yasha being joined together.  We have just learned that Jehovah (Hebrew) = Kurios (Greek).  Therefore we can by the mathematical law of equivalency say Jesus’ name was the same as Kurios Saved because that would be the legal name using the Greek language equivalent.  Why is this important?  We will soon find out very quickly as we continue.   I hope and pray that you are interested in learning because this is only going to get better.

I have already established who the Word of God was stated to be in Lesson 1 of this series.  The Word of God was a given name for Jesus revealed by God to us in the N.T. (Revelation 19:3). I have just emphasized that the name of Jesus was a Hebrew name originally and it is comprised of two key words Jehovah Saves.  We are discovering further confirmation that Jesus was Jehovah come to save His people just as He was prophesied to do.  So let’s now move on to further study that subject in the next section of the lesson to go even deeper.

CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD

Psa 20:9  Save, LORD: let the king hear us when we call.

This is my opening key verse to this entire section of the lesson.  Please, notice what God says.  The verse begins with “Save Lord”.  Uh oh do you remember what that means in Hebrew?  Opening in this verse are found the two key Hebrew root words that comprise the name of Joshua and Jesus.  These words that were translated correctly as “save” and “LORD” are H3467 and H3068.  Wow this is pretty good stuff if you are paying attention.  I’ll say it again “these are the exact two Hebrew words that make up the name of Jesus” and this verse in the Bible calls Him the King that saves the people that call upon Him.  Save us Lord (JEHOVAH) is the cry being made by the people in this verse.  These were people on the earth crying out for the LORD to save them.   So let me ask you who came to save them?  Who is your savior today?  Is it not Jesus?  I know Jesus saved me for sure, but I cannot speak for you.

We are told that they are crying out and calling for a king to save them.  I’ll ask you again, “Who is this king that will save them”?  Wow again, because if you know the N.T. just a little bit you know that Jesus is called the “King of kings” in Revelation 19:16 another divinely appointed name and title.  I told you earlier that we were going to learn a new Name of Jesus today and that was it.  Jesus is the KING of kings which clearly qualifies Him to be called upon according to this verse.  Now know and believe that Jesus is this King and make the connection being made to Jesus our Savior and Lord in Psalms 20:9.  Jehovah Saves = Joshua/Jesus and the people are calling upon this King named Jehovah for their salvation.  Could it really be that Jesus is this prophesied King that will come to save us who call upon the Lord/JEHOVAH?  I believe beyond a shadow of doubt that it is Him and we will certainly see many more verses in this lesson that will affirm that this King is Jesus.

What I am trying to teach over and over in this lesson until we all get it is that Jehovah is Jesus and Jesus is the Jehovah God that has saved us when we believe in Him and call upon His name.  Now let’s shift our focus slightly to a different first mention in the O.T. concerning those that “called on the name of JEHOVAH”.  In this part of the section we will look at when men first began to call on the name of the Lord in the Old Testament.  This is accomplished by a simple Bible text search within a good Bible search software program like “eSword”.  If you do the search you will find the first mention of the words “name of the Lord” to be in Gen 4:26:

Gen 4:26  And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.

Seth is the third named son of Adam and Eve.  Seth has a son and names him Enos.  Enos is the same as the Hebrew word H582 that means “mortal” and I find that fact very interesting when observed by what God connects within the context of this verse to this name Enos being given.  Enos was born approximately 235 years after Adam’s creation.  You may recall by reading earlier in the context of Genesis 4 that Adam and Eve had a son named “Cain” first and then they had another son named “Abel”.  The older brother Cain murders his younger brother Abel and this is the first direct mention of any natural human death occurring in our world in the Bible.  I’ll say it again that this natural death of Abel entering into the world was the first recorded occurrence of human mortality to actually be observed by any other human on the earth.  God plainly prophesied and warned Adam that death would come if he sinned and disobeyed God’s command.   It was truly the sinful disobedience of Adam that allowed death to enter into the world according to Romans 5:12.  I personally believe that it was the observed death of Abel the first human’s blood to be shed upon the earth that caused this verse in Genesis 4:26 to come to pass.

I believe that as soon as men and women on the earth began to realize the great impact and consequences of human sin they began to call upon the name of the Lord/Jehovah.  Why do you think that people would feel the need to call on the name of the Lord in Genesis 4:26?  What were they calling Him for? That is a very great question to ponder.  What benefit was there to calling on the name Jehovah at this time or anytime?  Was there actually any profit for doing this?  I firmly believe that there was then and still is now.  Let’s look at an example of one O.T. stated benefit for calling upon the name of the Lord:

Psa 99:6  Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among them that call upon his name; they called upon the LORD, and he answered them.

Notice that Moses, Aaron and Samuel all called on the God named Jehovah.   Let me ask you this question, if you are calling on the name of Buddha will the LORD God named Jehovah answer?  If you are calling on the name of Hare Krishna will the LORD Jehovah answer?  What about the name of the sun god Ra or the mythological god named Zeus?  What if you called upon the name Allah?  Will the LORD Jehovah answer to any of these names?  Let’s look at a great Bible example of why it is so very important to call upon the right name and the right God:

1Ki 18:24  And call ye on the name of your gods, and I will call on the name of the LORD: and the God that answereth by fire, let him be God. And all the people answered and said, It is well spoken.

Wow this verse is pretty awesome.   Elijah challenges the priests of the false gods and tells them to call upon the name of their gods and he would call upon the name of Jehovah the true living God just like Moses, Aaron and Samuel did and the God that answered by fire would be God.  That was an overwhelming display of faith in the name of Jehovah by Elijah.  If you read the rest of the chapter you will find who heard, who answered and who prevailed in this challenge and it was the God named Jehovah.  Was there any advantage gained by Elijah for him to call upon Jehovah?  It is very self-evident that there was a great benefit found in this example for Elijah’s faith and wise choice to call upon Jehovah.

This is just a very basic fact of truth being taught.  If you called me by the name of John when my real name was Ron, please understand that I will probably not answer you.  If you want a response from anyone you should probably know their name. If you want someone to answer you, it is wise to call them by their name.  These are very simple truths yet extremely important to know.  We could say that this “call on the right name and He will answer knowledge” is just “common sense” but yet this human quality seems to be an escaping virtue to possess these days for so many.  God gives us examples in Psalms 99:6 of a few select men that called upon His name.  These men were Moses, Aaron and Samuel and they are said to have all called upon the name of Jehovah and it tells us clearly that they received a response from Him.  That is the first astounding benefit revealed by God in this lesson for believing in His name and calling upon the name of the Lord.  God teaches us that if we call upon His name then He will hear us and He will answer because He is no respecter of persons.  Therefore, if your LORD is Jesus then call upon Jesus and see if He hears and answers the same as Jehovah did in these examples.  I believe that we have already established with scripture that Jesus was Jehovah in the flesh in lesson 1 but we re exploring more evidence in this lesson to remove all doubt.

CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD BENEFITS

I introduced you to just one of the benefits to calling upon the name of the Lord in the previous section. This section will continue the lesson with more of the stated benefits for believing in the name of the correct Lord and calling upon His name.  I want to begin this section of the lesson with a verse for you to read and then ask you a question to why it is important.  Please read over this verse carefully noting what is stated and then you begin to ask yourself questions from what you believe that God has given to you to know:

Act 4:18  And they called them, and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus.

Notice the Apostles were teaching others about Jesus and this made the Jews very angry.  But more specifically notice that the apostles were teaching directly about the “name of Jesus”.  Wow that sounds important to me.  Why would it even be necessary for the apostles to teach in the name of Jesus?  Could there have been any directly stated or even implied benefits that were attached to this name that needed to be made known to the others that heard?  Could the others that heard the name of Jesus being taught also gain any benefits from hearing about His name?  Why would Satan not want the “name of Jesus” to be spread to others? According to this verse there must be some great significance for teaching in the name of Jesus that the enemy wants to silence.  This name of Jesus sounds very important to me and I hope you will agree.  This is exactly why I am spending so much time teaching on the name of Jesus.

We are studying the reasons why the belief in the name of Jesus and calling on His name is very essential.  We have discovered that when we call upon the name of the Lord, He says that He hears us and that He will answer.   We can learn some very key facts to know about the name of the Lord Jesus if we open our spiritual eyes to see and receive them.  The word benefit is defined as “an advantage or a profit gained from something given or obtained”.  The something in this case given is for us “to believe in the name of Jesus” and then “to call upon this name of Jesus”.  The profit and advantage gained from doing these two simple things may be far greater than you can possibly imagine right now.  Before I go further I’ll state the antithesis truth of what I just said.  The opposite truth states that the losses and disadvantages that are faced by not believing in the name of the Lord and not calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus could be infinitely consequential to your life.  Let’s get started with learning some of the essential benefits and advantages for learning the name of the LORD:

Psa 116:12  What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?

Psa 116:13  I will take the cup of salvation, and call upon the name of the LORD.

Here are two great subject verses.  The Hebrew word in verse 12 translated as benefits means to “bestow on” or to “deal bountifully” with someone.  That reveals to us that God by His freewill and sovereign choice has placed His infinite divine grace and favor upon those that call upon His name.  But many will try to say that these verses are not about Jesus so why are you including it here?  However that is really not true.  Almost everything in the Old Testament points us to Jesus even if you do not see it at first.  I teach that Jesus is the central themed subject of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.

Verse 12 teaches us that we cannot earn or repay what God is prophesied to do for us in this verse or now has done for us after Christ has come.  However, this undeserved gift is truly a New Testament Grace concept.  What is God talking about here that cannot be repaid?  Verse 13 gives us a glimpse into what one of these coming benefits is.  Salvation is the stated primary subject benefit for believing and calling on the name of the LORD.  However, this “cup of salvation” must be taken by the one that it is being offered to.  God does not force anyone to drink from this saving cup. This cup is what God has offered to every man, woman and child on the earth.  God has extended the cup of salvation to each of us in this life.  If we choose to take it we will be saved.  How does this work?  God tells you in the last part of verse 13.   We must call upon the name of the LORD.  Again that sounds critical to know.   Could that be the reason why the Apostles in Acts were teaching the people about the name of Jesus?

The key name of God found in verses 12 and 13 are translated as LORD which is the Hebrew word H3068 again referred to in English transliteration as “Jehovah”.  The Hebrew word Jehovah is included by God in over 5500 verses of the O.T.   Jehovah is also a root word of the name of the English transliterated name of Jesus as I have previously taught several times now.  What we need to do is to learn if there are any other supporting God given connections of Jesus being Jehovah.  So let’s establish truth using the Bible and the Spirit of God to guide us.  Consider this important subject verse next:

Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Here in this chapter’s context is found the primary subjects of human salvation in conjunction with the belief and placing our faith in the name of Jesus in order to be saved.  Did you notice what this verse said?  God tells us that whoever shall choose to make a decision and call on the name of the LORD they and they alone will be saved.  Who is this LORD?  I believe if you are intelligent you will know that this LORD is speaking of only Jesus Christ.

Now please know and understand that this verse in Romans 10:13 is a direct quotation of another Old Testament verse about Jehovah found in Joel 2:32.  Wow, that is just an amazing coincidence that God through the inspired writer Paul would use an obscure O.T. verse to teach us that the N.T. man named Jesus is the same LORD as O.T. named Jehovah.  You see the Hebrew word that is translated as LORD in Joel 2:32 is Jehovah (H3068) the exact word found in over 5500 verses of the Old Testament and the Greek word in Romans 10:13 that is translated as Lord is Kurios (G2932) the same word we have been learning is the equivalent language match.  Again these two verses in Romans and Joel further establish that the Greek word G2932 and the Hebrew word H3068 are equivalent words about the same subject just across a language division boundary.  Are you getting it yet?  I hope so.

I hope and pray that you are beginning to learn why this is so important.  God is teaching us that the O.T. Jehovah (LORD) is the same as the N.T. Lord Jesus using the direct law of inspired quotation.  They must both be the same person called by one name “LORD” in two different languages.  God is teaching us that it was Him, the Jehovah/Lord God that became Jesus and walked among us to save us.  Why can’t people see this?  People do not see the truth because the Bible says in 2 Corinthians 4:4 their minds have been blinded by the god of this world (Satan).  Satan is still trying to stop people like me from teaching on the name of Jesus and who He is.  There is truly nothing new under the sun.

There are so very many people who call themselves saved Christians and ignore the Bible.  They do not believe that Jesus was God come in the flesh and I believe this endangers their salvation tremendously.  These types of people take their selective verses and attempt to prove Jesus was just a man, just a prophet or even just an angel sent down from heaven.  This type of belief leaves God’s direct participation and contribution in our salvation process completely out of the picture.  It would further make Jesus an impersonal created unwilling participant and would certainly deny His deity.  In other words some believe that God sent or created someone else instead of coming Himself to save us.  That type of belief denies the name of Jesus to be meaningful.  Wow that is such a huge deception being pulled over the spiritual eyes of people.  Let’s move to two other verse witnesses that Jesus Himself spoke:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Joh 13:13  You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am.

In the first verse Jesus asks “Why do you call me Lord (Kurios) and do not do what I say?”  In the second verse Jesus says “You call me teacher and Lord (Kurios) and you speak well because I am (He)”.  However, remember again the basic fact that Jesus was a Jew and spoke Hebrew, so He was not speaking the Greek language when He said these statements even though it was recorded in the Greek language for us to read.  This means from our previous study that Jesus said Luke 6:46 “Why call you me “Jehovah” “Jehovah” and do not do what I say?” and in John 13:13 He said “You call me teacher and JEHOVAH and You are correct I am”.  Wow, Wow and Wow!  Are you receiving who Jesus claimed to be?  Get what Jesus is saying.  Think like a Hebrew for a few moments!  Put yourself in the audience when Jesus made these statements and you will soon understand why many picked up stones to kill Him.

Jesus is directly claiming to be God Almighty in the flesh with both of these statements.  Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus ever dispute being the Jehovah LORD.  Nowhere does Jesus ever deny being God Jehovah incarnate.  In fact the completely opposite is actually found true.  Jesus repeatedly alluded to the fact that He had come down from heaven and that He and His Father were ONE (John 10:30).  Yet so many people refuse to see the truth and they choose to buy into a lie of Satan so easily.  Here is another additional witness to insure the accuracy of Jesus being Jehovah:

Act 2:21  And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Let every word of truth be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses the Bible teaches.  God again quotes the prophet Joel here in this verse in Acts.  This verse is a duplication of Roman’s 10:13 statement.  The Apostle Peter after being filled with the Holy Ghost stands up and preaches to the multitude that was found present to hear him.  If you read the context you will find that He is speaking directly of Jesus as being this “Lord” that Joel prophesied about coming.  Wow again, is that not just a little bit crazy?  I’m being humorous by asking that question.  No, Peter was not crazy.  Peter was a Jewish man also and he was quoting a Hebrew verse about Jehovah claiming that it was written about Jesus.  Therefore, Peter claimed that Jesus was Jehovah come down to the earth and was teaching this to anyone that hears it.

We just read that Jesus Himself claimed to be Jehovah.  Then if men like Peter believed Jesus was Jehovah and Paul believed Jesus was Jehovah why don’t you?   We would have to follow a completely different and false Gospel in order to believe in a salvation process that did not come from the God Jehovah personally being present on the earth to die for our sins.   I would strongly suggest that you go and reread Roman 10 and Acts 2 again and again to see how God used the Joel prophecy to describe Jesus as being LORD (Jehovah).  This is exactly what was being proclaimed by the early church believe it or not.  I am going to take this divine message even deeper to help you to learn the truth.  You are probably familiar with this verse but hopefully new light will shine upon it so that you will see it differently:

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

Paul a Jew writes that “if you will confess (call, speak, say) with your mouth the LORD Jesus….you will be saved”.  The Greek word translated as “LORD” in this verse is the same G2962 Kurios that we have learned is the equivalent to the Hebrew Jehovah.  Now change this one word Lord in the sentence and reread the verse:

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth JEHOVAH is Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

I made three minor but legitimate changes to the KJV Bible verse.  I took away “the”, added “is” and change Lord to the Equivalent Hebrew word “JEHOVAH”.  All of this was legal.  I will confirm this with using the amplified translation:

Rom 10:9  Because if you acknowledge and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord (JEHOVAH) and in your heart believe (adhere to, trust in, and rely on the truth) that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

Notice how the amplified translated the original Greek.  I added the word (JEHOVAH) to bring clarity because this was the original Hebrew equivalent word.  The amplified Bible said for us to say “Jesus is LORD” and by the law of Algebraic equivalence we know that we can or should say “Jesus is Jehovah”.  BY believing who Jesus was and making this statement we are declaring Jesus to be Jehovah our God and this verse says when we do that we will be saved.  This harmonizes precisely with the verses we just looked at in Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13 and Acts 2:21.

What we are learning is that our New Covenant salvation is found in believing that Jesus is the God Jehovah.  Before we end this section we will observe an additional essential reference for this part of the benefits to the name of Jesus subject study:

Act 4:10  Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole.

Act 4:11  This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner.

Act 4:12  Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

Here in these verses we find the primary reason for believing in the name of Jesus and calling upon His name.  Peter very clearly teaches us that there is no other name under heaven given among men where we can even think to be saved.  Wow, wow and wow!!!    Here we again get confirmation that the name of Jesus is an absolute necessity for being saved.  This implies that we must know who this name was given to and what He represents.  What makes this name different than anyone else’s name on the earth?  Why would Satan want us to not teach about this name, learn or know this name?  Anyone telling you that Jesus was not God is from Satan and you have a choice to believe them or not.  I am telling you plainly that Jesus was God using more than enough verses from the Bible to establish the truth and you have the same choice to believe what I say from the Bible or not.

We should learn that salvation is the primary need to learn, know and believe in the name of Jesus, but there is also another quick reference given to us in verse 10 that should be mentioned.  If you read the context you will find why Peter is speaking about Jesus and His name.  Peter had just used his faith in the name of Jesus to cause a lame man at the temple gate to walk.  It was this name of Jesus that Peter said made the man whole.  The Greek word translated as whole means to be healed and made complete.  That teaches us that salvation is much more than just God taking our spirits to heaven after we die.  No the Greek word translated as salvation is “sozo” and it means to be made whole spiritually, mentally and physically.   Go back in Acts and read verse 9 where Peter is telling the elders “by what means this man was made whole”.  The Greek word “whole” in this verse is G4928 “sozo” and it means “to save, deliver or protect”.  This word is used in the N.T. in a varied and wide all-inclusive process.  The name of Jesus saves us in so many ways that most of us have not yet realized or believed.  I’m really not going to get into this part of the meaning of salvation any further in this lesson.  I have other lessons that will expand upon this if you are interested.

What we must conclude from just these few verses that I have gone through so far today is that Jesus was Jehovah come down to save, deliver and protect us by our faith in His name and saying He is our Jehovah (LORD).  That is what the name Jesus means and that was what has occurred and is offered to you if you choose to believe it and receive it.  Therefore, our salvation is the most important reason for believing in and calling upon the name of the Lord Jesus.  This truth was clearly established in Romans 10:13 and Acts 2:21.  We are commanded to call upon His name and God says we will be saved.  Satan will fight you over this and try with all his power to get you not to believe this because this will take you out of his kingdom of darkness and he will no longer be your lord.  I seriously hope and pray that you understand what is being said here because the antithesis truth not directly stated is that if you do not believe or call upon the name of Jesus you will not be saved and go to hell.

DIVINE SIGNIFICANCE FOR THE NAME OF JESUS

I am going to conclude this name of Jesus Bible lesson with a final message of warning.  This warning comes directly from God’s Word and not from my imagination.  I am just the messenger that is delivering the warning.  Paul is writing to the church in these next few verses and we should take special heed to what is stated especially in the light of what we have learned so far about Jesus is Lord/Jehovah.  Turn to Philippians chapter 2 and read with me:

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:

Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:

Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Php 2:9  Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:

Php 2:10  That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;

Php 2:11  And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

According to God people can bow their knees to the name of the LORD Jesus right now by their choice or they will be forced to bow later without a choice.  There are no other options given to us.  It is and always will be a right now decision by an act of freewill humble submission and surrender or later by an act of superior force.  You need to spend a lot of time reading these verses and understanding what is being revealed about Jesus conforms to everything that I have taught up until this point and then realize who God claimed Himself to be in His written Holy Word.  Verses 5 through 8 teach us about God coming down from heaven and taking on the form of a human male.  He humbles Himself to be a servant in order to die on a cross for our sins.  Verse 9 is referring to God raising Jesus from the dead to ascend back into heaven being given a much superior name above every other name.

Read down to verse 11 and notice who Jesus is written by God’s design to be again.  God tells us in this verse that every tongue will confess that “Jesus is LORD”.  Who is this LORD?  Always remember that the Greek word translated as “LORD” is G2962 Kurios the exact same word that we learned earlier that was equivalent to the Hebrew word H3068 JEHOVAH by God’s definition?  If God inspired the writer Paul to write this message in his native Hebrew language instead of the Greek, what would it have said?  Remember the writer Paul was a native Jew by his own admission.   Paul would have thought thoughts primarily in the Hebrew language.  Therefore, reread the statement inserting the Hebrew word equivalent, “every tongue will confess that JESUS CHRIST IS JEHOVAH”.  Wow that is a very strong word of warning for us to believe in right now.  I really do not understand why people do not think when they read the Bible.  The truth is staring them right in the face but it is hidden from their view by wrong thinking.  Please confess that Jesus is Jehovah right now because later you will be forced to say it but it will be too late.

CONCLUSION

We have only begun to touch on this very major subject of believing that Jesus is Jehovah and calling upon the name of Jesus to be saved.  I have only introduced you to a very small portion of the importance of the name of Jesus. However, we have seen more than enough reasons and evidence to confirm the significance of why it is vitally essential to know Jesus by name and who He was as Jehovah incarnate.   I have also taught on why we all need to believe and call upon this name in order to be saved using multiple verse confirmations.  We have learned a few reasons to know what is gained from believing in the name of Jesus and by calling upon Him by name.  It is very clear from Bible research that the early church taught on this subject of the name of Jesus everywhere they encountered people that needed to be saved. If the early church placed such great emphasis on Jesus being Jehovah why should we not do the exact same?   I will list a few benefits for doing this now again for a quick synopsis overview:

  1. When we believe on Him we will call and when we do not believe we will not call.
  2. When we call upon Him, He will hear us.
  3. When He hears us, God says that He will answer.
  4. All who believe and call on the name of the LORD Jesus will be saved.
  5. Salvation is found in absolutely no other name but the name of Jesus.
  6. I’ll say it again, there is no other name given to men whereby we may be saved.
  7. Never forget to tell people that Jesus is Jehovah.

I appreciate you taking the time to read this Bible lesson.  I do pray that it opened your eyes to see some things that you have never considered before about Jesus and God’s Word.  I hope and pray that this lesson will give sufficient evidence to convince any doubters to confess Jesus is Jehovah now.  If you have the opportunity to share my website with your friends and family I would be so grateful for your help spread the Word of God to others.  Thank you all and God Bless you until next time.

Understanding Bible Faith! Part 18 –- Righteous Faith Speaks

faith speaks2(Ver 1.1) This is now Part 18 in the advanced study series of Bible lessons on the very valuable subject of “Understanding Bible Faith”.  This is one of my favorite Bible subjects to learn, to study and to teach from the entire Bible.  If you know anything about this subject then you should already understand why this is such an important focus to learn intimately.  I want to stop and reemphasize the opening statement that this is an advanced Bible study series about one of the most important subjects concerning believing God’s spoken and written Holy Word and how to receive whatever He has promised or given to us by His sovereign grace either spiritually, mentally or physically.  I have already covered a lot of information on this subject in this series that will not be repeated.  Therefore, if you have not read this entire series from the beginning I would strongly suggest that you begin at “Part 1” and then read through the series in the order presented for the greatest level of understanding and retention of this complex Bible subject.  It would also be recommended that you reread the entire series more than once.  The more you study a Bible subject the more you will grow in spiritual maturity in that area of God’s given knowledge.  Let’s get started with learning a few new things about the subject Bible Faith.

INTRODUCTION TO SPEAKING THE WORD OF FAITH

Today my subject concerns “Righteous Faith Speaks” and “Speaking the Word of Faith”.  What is Righteous Faith and why does it speak?  What is the “Word of Faith” and why do we need to hear it, know it, understand it or even to speak it?  We will be attempting to learn some fresh verses on faith as well as reviewing some standard faith verses that we have previously seen in this Bible study series.  However, I will hopefully be providing you some new perspectives to any of these repeated verses.  Some statements that I make today may be a review of what I have referred to before but I will place a new angle upon them because God wants to remind us of what He has already said.  Often times we read a Bible verse and think that we have it completely understood knowing everything about it but yet God can bring out something brand new that we have never seen before because all of His words are layered so deeply with both natural and supernatural knowledge much like an onion is designed to be peeled layer by layer and used in each succeeding deepening cover.  If you have studied the Bible very long you know exactly what I am saying.  Let’s read three verses to begin in Romans the 10th chapter to get us familiarized with the foundation scriptures for today’s entire lesson:

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

Rom 10:7  Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

Rom 10:8  But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

The end of verse 8 introduces us to one of today’s focused concepts called the “word of faith”.  There are many churches in the world today that have taken this name and there are equally as many people in the world that consider all these word of faith churches to present a less than an accurate representation of the Bible.  However this modern church title did not originate from a contemporary false idea.  The Word of Faith title was only adopted today because of verses like this one.  Paul claimed to be one of the first preachers of the “Word of Faith” and I strongly believe that we should all be following Paul’s example at doing exactly what Paul did, can you agree?

If you do not yet understand what the “Word of Faith” is, I will tell you plainly up front that this Word of Faith mentioned in Romans 10:8 is the written and spoken Word of God.  To help confirm this statement we will begin this study by looking up the definitions of the Greek words translated as “the Word of Faith”.  We will first focus on the Greek word translated as “faith”.  This Greek word is G4102 and it is used by God 244 times in 228 N.T. verses.  In my view this Greek word is one of the most important subjects found in the N.T. Bible.  Let’s review the Strong’s definition to help build and refresh our understanding of this word again.

G4102

From G3982; persuasion, that is, credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly constancy in such profession; by extension the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself: – assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.

The Greek word translated as faith is defined by Strong’s to be a “persuasion”.  The English word “persuasion” represents “the act of convincing someone to believe”.  Your beliefs are the basis for your faith, good, bad, right or wrong.   This Greekword also means “credence” which is defined as “the belief in or acceptance that something is true”.  These are exactly what God is teaching us through Paul in Romans 10:8.  Real Bible faith is accepting, being fully persuaded and convinced of what God has said, promised or spoken to us in His Word is the truth.   This process of accepting, believing and being persuaded is done without proof or evidence of it being true other than knowing the revealed character of God that it is impossible for Him to lie (Heb 6:18).

Before I move to the next Greek word translated as “word” let’s talk briefly about the English word “of”.  Sometimes it is very beneficial to go over the basics to enforce what God was speaking to us.  The word “of” is a very basic concept in the English language and it is often ignored.  The word “of” directly connects the word “faith” with the Greek word translated as “word” in Romans 10:8.  “Of” is a preposition.  In the application usage within this phrase “of” is used by God to indicate that the source of our words come from our faith (beliefs) as well as it meaning the source of our faith can come from our words.  Both of these are true statements.  Remember what Jesus said to us in Matthew.  Let’s review these words quickly:

Mat 12:34  O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.

Jesus very clearly tells us that out of the abundance of the heart the mouth will speak.  Jesus in this case is speaking of evil words coming from the heart that is filled with evil.  But the antithesis truth is also true that good words will come from the same source of good being in the heart.  Now consider and ask yourself where the source of “good” comes from?  If you do not understand that it is from God then I would suggest that you go read some more basic concepts of good versus evil in the Bible.  God is always the source of good words because His heart is filled with Love.  Satan is the source of evil words because his heart is filled with evil intents, thoughts and ways.  Now if God is the source of good as He certainly is, then His spoken and written words should also be for our good and be good for us.  We will see more of this truth as we continue.

The second Greek word that I wanted to focus upon was translated as “Word” in this Romans 10:8.  This Greek word translated as the English word “word” is G4487.  This Greek word literally means an “utterance”.  An utterance carries the definition of a spoken word, phrase or literally an audible vocal sound.  This Greek word is the word “rhema” and this is a very specific type of “word” that means someone has spoken, said or declared.  This Greek word “rhema” comes from the Greek word G4483 which is defined as “pour forth” also meaning to utter, to speak or to say.  Consider this root Greek word G4483 definition to be like a natural pitcher of water that is poured out into a glass for someone to drink.  This pouring out of this water pitcher is the symbolic representation of God or us speaking words of faith.  This is a very important Bible concept that needs to be grasped by Christians.   Do you remember again what Jesus said to us?  Look at this verse and consider the implications:

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

What an outstanding and easily misunderstood statement being made by the Creator of the universe.  Do you believe on Jesus?  If you do then Jesus said you should be pouring out from your internal belly, rivers of life producing water.  Is this literal or figurative speaking?  Of course it has to be figurative symbolic information.  Jesus is teaching us spiritual concepts by using naturally created concepts.  Jesus says that we are living pitchers that pour forth waters of life if we believe on Him, do you understand this? But, what are these rivers of living waters being spoken of?  This river of life that pours out of us must originates from the “Rhema” spoken Word of God.  God is the source of all good, and life is good.  I will give you a couple of quick verses to confirm this:

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

2Co 4:7  But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.

Here we have two verifications to what I just taught.  We are very clearly called “vessels” with treasure in it in verse 7.   This earthen vessel is our created human body.  The body is the container of our spirit as well as for God’s Word as inferred in verse 6.  God has shined his “knowledge” inside of us and this is clearly His Word.  It is these words of light inside that will be poured out of us (the earthen vessels) to help others to see and receive the same internal light and eternal life being mentioned in John 7:38.  Let’s see another quick statement that helps to confirm for us that the internal waters of life that must come from our mouths cannot be anything but the spoken Words of God:

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

Again Jesus is talking about symbolic waters that quench our spiritual thirst and bring us life and this water can only come from what God gives to us by His spoken Word.  The location of this life source of water we are expressly told must be “in us” and this also corresponds to what Jesus was talking of in John 7:38.  “In us” and “our belly” are synonymous positions for the location of our spirit.  Jesus directly says that out of this internal spirit location will come a well of water (river) that will spring up (flow out, stream out, be poured out). Jesus is teaching us a concept of pouring water out from one vessel to another  Jesus was clearly a vessel used to speak words of life producing waters to others that would receive them.  These waters could then be inside of them and are able to flow from their vessel to still another.  Why don’t Christians take this seriously?  I really think it is because they have not been taught it.  However, Jesus was not teaching any new ideas to us but rather He was teaching concepts found in the O.T.   He is then applying them to us in the N.T.  Let’s review some of these O.T. verses quickly that Jesus is referring to:

Pro 18:4  The words of a man’s mouth are as deep waters, and the wellspring of wisdom as a flowing brook.

Pro 10:11  The mouth of a righteous man is a well of life: but violence covereth the mouth of the wicked.

The words of a man’s mouth are defined by God to be symbolic deep waters in the first mentioned verse found in Proverbs 18.  In this verse the human mouth is also called a “wellspring”.   A wellspring is a place that is dug into the ground as a source of fresh pure drinking water.   Drinking water is a basic necessity for natural life.  This is the symbolic nature of the human mouth by God’s design.  You should be clever enough to understand the human body was made from the dust of the ground.  And it is in this ground that God put a spiritual well of life.  It is a very simple concept but hut yet not widely taught.  Then in Proverbs 10 the mouth of the righteous man is again called a “well of life”.  Here we again have an implied source of life coming from our mouths.  Both of these verses directly correspond to the teachings of Jesus found in John.   The wells of life will spring from the mouth of the righteous and this is the critical nature leads us to ask what is this water that must come from our mouth to give us life?

INTRODUCTION TO THE RHEMA WORD OF GOD

The first section was a simple and quick introduction to speaking the rhema words of life and faith.  But I believe that we still need to learn more about what God is trying to say to us by telling us to speak the word (rhema) of faith in Romans chapter 10 and verse 8?  The answer to our questions was certainly implied in that verse in Romans but it was indirectly mentioned so this makes it easily mistaken for something else.  Paul says that he preached (proclaimed, spoke and said) the Word (rhema) of Faith.  Through this implied statement Paul was stating indirectly that he preached the spoken and written Words of God.  Paul was also indirectly claiming that he preached words that produced faith.   What are these faith producing words being preached?  Perhaps you can remember this answer to where our faith originates from a previous faith lesson on how Bible faith comes and this was where we should have learned that Bible faith comes ONLY by us hearing the Bible preached.  Let’s review the key verse from that Bible lesson:

Rom 10:17  So then faith (G4102) cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word (G4487) of God.

God says in Romans 10:17 that “Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God”.  There is a very specific connection found with our lesson’s focused verse of Roman 10:8 by direct contextual association and by God’s direct word selection by using the exact same Greek words G4102 and G4487 which were translated as “faith” and “word” respectfully in both verses.  I hope and pray that you know that valid interpretation of God’s word is always based upon rules.  Two of these rules are 1) direct verse to verse context and 2) by finding other verse word usages of the word(s) being studied.  In Romans 10:17 the Spirit of God through Paul is explaining and defining what the “Word (Rhema) of Faith” represents.  We can logically correlate by the laws of mathematics that the “Word of Faith” is equivalent to “the Word of God” and I will give further verse confirmation for this as I continue.

There are generally two different noun types used in the N.T. to describe God’s spoken word.  “Logos” G3056 generally refers to the spoken words of God written in book form and is what I will call reference type 1 and then “Rhema” G4487 is also a type of the spoken word of God referring to God directly speaking His word to anyone by audible sound. But this type of word (rhema) can also refer to God’s spoken word being spoken by an angel or even by us as believers speaking His written word (logos). The “Rhema” word is what I will call reference type 2.  Both Logos and Rhema are used by God in reference to God’s spoken word.  I am only going to focus on type 2 Rhema since this is the key word selected and used by God in Romans 10:8 and 10:17 to describe the substance that produces faith that was being preached by Paul.

You should be familiar with this verse in Romans 10:17 already.  God gives us a direct formula for how Bible faith comes through hearing God’s spoken Word.  God very clearly says that it is this Rhema word of God that must be heard in order to produce faith.  Therefore we must have those that speak God’s Word and those that hear God’s word for any faith to be produced.  It is also interesting to note that these words pour forth from one spirit (heart) to enter into another heart and that is the process of the pitcher and water vessel giving drink to the thirsty empty man vessel we looked at earlier.  I’ll give you another couple of verses quickly to help us confirm “Rhema” is the Word of God being spoken:

1Pe 1:25  But the word (rhema) of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word (Rhema) which by the gospel is preached unto you.

Rhema (word) is associated to be both the spoken words of Jesus as well as the Gospel that was preached verbally to the people.  After the people heard this spoken word it was the same as if they had heard it directly from the lips of Jesus.  There is really no difference between me preaching the Word of God and the Words of Jesus as if Jesus was here personally preaching to you in the flesh.  We are both proclaiming the same “Rhema” words of God.  It is this same Rhema Word of God that will produce the faith in the dry hearts of the people to believe and to receive salvation.   What did I just say?  Some will probably call me a heretic for comparing my spoken words preached with the spoken Words of Jesus but if I say what God says then you need to see how this changes things dramatically.  I’m simply a pitcher of water container and representative of God on this planet.  I am called by God to teach His Word.  I am anointed by God to teach His Word.  Therefore it is technically not me teaching but rather the anointing of God in me that speaks using His Words not mine.  Do you understand what I’m saying?  It is not me that has the power to produce faith or save you, it is the Word in me that has this power.  I do nothing but pour it out and if you drink from it the water of the Word of God will be what causes anything good to happen.  This same principle applies to many other water pitcher vessels and not just to me.  It applies to anyone else that is called by God and anointed by God and is filled with His Word to preach.  It can apply to you if you fill your pitcher with His water.  God uses so many people in this way and I do not want you to think that I am saying I am anybody special because I am not.  I’m going to end this section with another verse that Peter wrote by the inspiration of God:

2Pe 3:2  That ye may be mindful of the words (Rhema) which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the Lord and Saviour:

Here is another confirmation that people can legally speak the Words of God and that these words carry the same effect if God said them to each of the people that heard them personally.  Here Peter is speaking of men in the Old Testament saying they gave them Rhema from God.  In other words God gave Rhema to the Prophet and the prophet in turn passed this Rhema to the people and now the people were held responsible for the message give to them by God as if they heard it from God directly with their own ears.    What we are seeing is that when we speak the Word (Rhema) of God we are representing God with the same power and authority.  But I know that will not be easily received by many of my readers because of their feelings of their own weaknesses, insecurity and inadequacies. I guess we still have a lot to learn to overcome these incorrect feelings.

RIGHTEOUS FAITH SPEAKS

Before we go further into this subject of speaking the Word (Rhema) of Faith let’s back up and study the first two foundational verses of Romans 10:6-7 in some depth.  I know that we read them but then we had no discussion on them since I jumped into verse 8 and taught for a long time on the subject “the Word of Faith” being preached.  Because it has been a little while since we read these verses please reread them again to refresh your memory:

Rom 10:6  But the righteousness which is of faith speaketh on this wise, Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

Rom 10:7  Or, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

There are at least 5 central themes found in the 10th chapter of Romans. These central themes are 1) the Lord Jesus, 2) faith, 3) righteousness, 4) salvation and 5) speaking.  For right now I only want you to focus in on three of the lesser primary themes found in these two verses to see how they relate to the most important primary themed subject as being the Lord Jesus.  These three lesser themes needing our attention concern our “righteousness, our “spoken words” and our “faith” in Christ.  These three subjects were directly joined together in these verses and in this chapter by divine providence.   “Divine Providence” simply means that they were given to us by the caring plan of a guiding and loving intelligent God for our benefit and for His purpose.  God begins the discourse in verse 6 by saying there is a “righteousness” which comes only through faith and this is a very important description found in the New Testament for learning how we become “right” in the eyes of God.  Being right in the eyes of God only means that you are now converted from being a stranger to God (Eph 2:19) to being in the household of faith (Gal 6:10) also called the family of God (Eph 3:15).  We will see other verses in this lesson that will help confirm this but begin to agree that it is only by your faith in Jesus Christ that makes you righteous (right) to God and not your good works.

Now that we know the intended target audience was stated to be those that have been “made righteous by and through faith in Jesus” we are then informed what they (the righteous) should be doing.  Did you see it?  First let me ask you “Are you one of these righteous ones that these verses were written to?”  I know they were written to me personally but only you and God can determine if you qualify.  Satan would like you to think that you are unworthy to qualify but it was because of what Jesus did and not our works that have made us righteous by believing in Him (Rom 3:22).  If you are not taking the Bible personally like it was a love letter written directly from God to you then you really do not understand God or the Bible very much.  If you can say you are one of the righteous ones being described because of your faith then please continue reading otherwise you may be wasting your time continuing to read this lesson.  Let’s see what “we” (the righteous) were told to do next.

Continuing in verse 6 of Romans 10 God says that the righteous (anyone that has believed in Christ Jesus and confessed Him as Lord according Romans 10:9-10) are told to “speak”.  In fact I believe that we were directly commanded to speak.  This means it is not a recommended suggestion but rather an instruction and expectation from the Lord.  Then following this command to speak we are told very clearly exactly what NOT to say first.  Uh oh?  This is the introduction to the hotly debated subject of right and wrong speaking.  Many Christians do not understand that there is such a thing as wrong speaking.  Too many Christians think that it is OK for anything to come out of their mouths but this is clearly not what the Bible teaches us.  Sure most Christians believe that profanity and cursing is a wrong type of speaking.  But that is not all that God declares to be wrong words spoken.

God describes right and wrong speaking to us plainly in Romans 10:6-8 by teaching us examples of what not to say first.  The command of right speaking is a part of faith that many Christians ignore or simply do not understand exists because of a lack of teaching in this area.  This will be a potentially controversial subject and I may lose some readers simply because they are not mature enough spiritually to receive it. I hope and pray that you will do your best to accept what God is saying today and we will soon see and learn what is right to say/speak and what is wrong to say/speak as we continue through the study with the rest of the faith study verses.   But before we move on let me establish a new rule for having effective faith.  God clearly says that the “righteousness which is of faith speaks”.  I will reemphasize this more than once in this lesson and it would benefit you if you just went ahead and write it down as a note for future reference.

In order to understand this command found in Romans 10:6 to speak more clearly we need to examine the Greek word G3004 translated as “speaketh”.  This Greek word is very interesting.  It means to “break silence and say something verbally and audibly” that can be heard by someone/anyone directly listening. Wow, that is some really good information for those of us with righteous faith to learn.  Not only is it wrong to speak wrong words as we will soon see, but it is also very wrong to stay silent and say nothing when you are in faith.  I hope you will take hold of this and believe what God just said and please don’t throw any stones at me because it was not me that said it or wrote in the Bible.  I’m just a messenger delivery service sent from God to teach.  You can accept it or reject it but it is only God’s Word that you are rejecting.  Just please read and study all of the verses that I’m giving to you for yourself.  I want to give you some additional confirming verses for what God wants you to know about faith speaking and we will continue with Galatians the 4th chapter:

Gal 4:1  Now I say, That the heir, as long as he is a child, differeth nothing from a servant, though he be lord of all;

Gal 4:2  But is under tutors and governors until the time appointed of the father.

Gal 4:3  Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world:

After reading these verses you may just ask me “What do these verses have to do with us speaking?”  You may not see it yet because you have not studied the original Greek words spoken by God but they do apply directly to our subject study.  It is so easy to miss the deep things of God by reading the verses only.  I want you to understand that the deep things of God are never found by just reading the Bible.   According to 1 Timothy 2:15, God tells us to “study” in order to be approved.  The Greek word translated as study means to labor and to extend great effort.  This is an essential part of growing spiritually.  Learn to move beyond surface reading to enter the realm of deep study.

To speak to Galatians 4, I will start with the question “Are you an heir?”  Those that think that they are not righteous will also generally think and believe that they are not an heir of God either but this verse is speaking of you and I, if we are born again by our faith in Jesus Christ.  Let’ verify this reality of being an heir of God by God’s Word using a new verse:

Rom 4:13  For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.

Here is a quick verse to help us learn more about the “righteousness of faith”.  God directly connects Romans 4:13 with Romans 10:6 by using the exact same Greek words G1343 and G4102 which were translated as “righteousness” and “faith”.  These two words were also joined together in proper sequence.   Here in Romans 4 we are told that those that were made righteous by their faith were also made an heir.  An heir means we have an inheritance after someone has died.  The person that died to give us this inheritance was “Jesus Christ” on the cross (Romans 5:8) but He was also the first one to be raised from the dead in order to become the chief heir of God (Col 1:18).  You see in the Bible the first born was supposed to obtain the greater blessing from their father.  You can find that Jesus was called the “first-born” from the dead in Hebrews 12:23 and Revelation 1:5.  Please understand that Jesus was the only one that could die to give us an eternal inheritance and be capable of being raised from the dead to enforce the inheritance.

I don’t have time to explain all of these verses that I just passed on to you in those last paragraph statements fully but you can find more information on these subjects in other lessons that I have published.  Just please understand what God says in Romans 8:17 that we are called and made the “joint-heirs” with Jesus Christ meaning we have obtained the same level of benefits from God through the death of Jesus as Jesus obtained for Himself.  Right now, you should be saying that you are “righteous” and an “heir” of God because of your faith in Jesus.  I’ve given you more than sufficient scriptural evidence to establish this belief foundation.

Let’s get back to Galatians 4:1 to discover the hidden reference to us speaking.  The Greek word G3516 which was translated as “child” in Galatians 4 verse 1 and “children” in verse 3 contains the secret hidden message that I am referring to.   This Greek word means not only a general child but more specifically an “infant” baby.  To be even more specific this Greek word literally means a “non-speaking human baby”.  Every natural child born into this world must acquire the skill of speech over the course of time through physical and mental growth and experiences.  No one is born with this magnificent gift of speaking automatically.  A new born child produces only audible cries.  A one year old is beginning to understand very simple words and may begin to form very simple words like “mama” or “dada”.  But this ability to grasp words and speaking them increases more and more as the months and years progress.  By the time a child reaches the age of 3 to 4 years the words, phrases and sentences usually become better formed, structured and more complete.  Even though the comprehension of what all the words mean can still be incomplete at this early childhood age.

The process of learning to speak is quite miraculous.  But, new born infants obtain this gift through a maturing process of hearing and listening to their parents speaking to them and from mimicking the sounds observed from others around them.  This process of learning to speak is exactly what God is teaching us in the beginning of this chapter 4 found in Galatians.  God is saying to us that this natural process reoccurs in the spiritual realm after we are spiritually new born (born again) into the Kingdom of God.   God is teaching us that even an infant heir to the throne of rule is not able to take control of it and exercise their given authority until they first learn to speak intelligently and confidently learning wisdom from their teachers.

Do you now understand that when a Christian is born again in the spiritual realm that this same natural infant growth and maturing process of learning to speak correctly is repeated in this spiritual realm by God’s design?   If you analyze the first 3 verses in Galatians 4 you should find an analogy comparison being given between two realms of existence with the first being the natural and the greater being the spiritual application of the natural.  The Greek word being used to speak to us of an immature non-speaking child implies someone that is very simple minded or unlearned in the spiritual realm.  God is teaching us that we all start out by not knowing or understanding how spiritual things work like the significance of speaking right words but that He expects us to learn these.  If you are still reading this Bible lesson then you are potentially growing and maturing spiritually by learning these concepts.  More pastors and teachers should teach their people this subject of right and wrong speaking because it is a very important and true reality based upon the proper understanding of scripture.  God expects His spiritually new born infant children to grow up and learn how to speak appropriately in order to rule over their spiritual enemies.

I do not really have the time to teach the importance of the spoken word subject fully today but I do have a much longer series of Bible lessons on the significance of your spoken words on my website and you can go and read those to help you learn more on this critical subject.  If you are interested in learning you can start with “Part 1 – Speak to your Rock”.  This Bible lesson has been the most prevalent viewed lesson of all the Bible lessons on this website.

We could spend a lot more time on studying Galatians 4 about growing out of an immature spiritual state of spiritual babbling but we really need to get back to Romans 10.  Do you remember where we were in verse 6? We had just been introduced to the commandment that “righteous faith speaks”.  I’m going to say this at least one more time for even greater emphasis because this is the foundation for this faith lesson given to us by God and it was directly stated by God that “Righteous Faith Speaks”.  We should begin to understand that Christians should be at the very least learning to speak correctly and that they should also not stay silent after they mature spiritually.  Let’s move to what is found next in verse 6 concerning God’s specific instructions.  After the initial statement in Romans 10:6 God then informs us exactly what not to say/speak in verses 6 and 7 followed by what to say in verse 8.   This is some very essential and valuable information and instructions for learning how God’s divinely designed force of faith should be operating and working in us and through us.

I am going to stop here and make a strong suggestion to you before we look at the sub-category study of wrong words.  Please create a big sign on a piece of plain white paper and in big bold letters write what you have just learned.  Print in large letters “Righteous Faith Speaks” and place this sign on your refrigerator or your bathroom mirror or on any other place where you can see it more than once a day.  This sign will help us all to learn and remind us to put God’s Word into practice.  God has designed and established a law of faith (Rom 3:27) to live in our everyday Christian lives.  But God is not going to make you do it.  You must be the one that applies what you learn.  Hopefully you remember that faith is a law based upon the Word of God given from the previous faith lessons.  Reading this printed note daily will cause this lesson to remain fresh in your mind and help you to become a doer of the Word of God and not a hearer only (James 1:22).  Doing this for at least 30 days will help to build a brand new spiritual habit for living life in a new way as a mature spiritual Christian and I will be talking about this even more as we continue through the rest of the lesson.

LEARNING WHAT NOT TO SAY FIRST

….Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to bring Christ down from above:)

Let’s talk briefly about what real mature Christians are not supposed to pray or say.  God only gives us two short examples in Romans 10:6-7 of wrong words but this should provide enough of a pattern that we can extend those two to other areas of words that should not be spoken if we can understand why they are not wise to speak.  The first statement of what not to speak tells us not to say “who will go up to heaven to bring Christ down”.  Why would anyone want to say this?  What kind of wrong thinking would cause someone to speak this way?  Someone could be thinking that if Jesus was only here on the earth that they would not be going through what they are going through right here in this natural realm.  In other words they could be thinking very naturally and not spiritually.  Someone could be thinking that if they could just bring the Lord Jesus who is sitting on the throne in the spiritual realm back to this natural realm that all of their natural problems would be solved.  But that type of thinking is very simple minded and is certainly not of faith.  We must realize that God’s power extends beyond His present location in Jesus Christ.  We must consider that the Spirit of God is already here right now living and abiding in us having been poured out from heaven to be our comforter (John 14:16), our helper (Heb 13:6) and our guide (John 16:13).

Therefore we do not need for Jesus to come back to the earth to fix anything.  The Holy Spirit is here and He is God omnipresent, omniscient and omnipotent to solve whatever we are facing.  What God is trying to say is that simple naturally thinking people generally gravitate towards natural solutions without considering the spiritual presence and ability of God that is ever present and all-knowing and all powerful.

….Or say, Who shall descend into the deep? (that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)

Now consider the second statement of what not to say and this will help us understand the first statement much clearer.  In verse 7 God says for us not say “Who will descend into the lower parts of the earth to raise Christ again from the dead.  Why would God recommend that we not say this?   Perhaps you will recall reading the Gospels that after Jesus was resurrected from the dead He walked the face of the earth for 40 days.  During this time He met with many men and women followers.  Since they had all seen Jesus personally there was no need for any of them to have faith in His resurrection.  However, do you think that any of these eyewitness followers would dare say what God said not to say in Romans 10:7?  I personally do not believe they would.  Remember they were told by angels in Acts 1 that this same Jesus that went up into the clouds out of their sight would come back in the exact same way.  So this promise from God required their faith if they believed the message and I think they believed.

There is something so very profound found in this statement that was not directly stated.  God is saying that “we do not need to think or say that Jesus should die again or be raised again from the dead”; but rather we only need to understand that He did do these and then find out what was accomplished by these finished and completed acts of God.  I am a firm believer that not knowing what was given to us by His shed blood in His death, burial and resurrection of Christ Jesus is why we pray and say some very ignorant things like this.  If we would only come to understand that Christ gave to us His authority (Luke 10:19) on the earth we would not need to ask Jesus to come back to the earth or to be raised again to solve anything.

What God is teaching us is not to say things that are contradictory to His written report in the Bible. In other words have faith and believe and then have confidence in what He has spoken to you.  Both of these stated examples of what not to say were spoken words not based upon scripture or faith in God’s Word.  They are literally the opposite of what someone who had faith in God’s Word would say.   Do you understand this?  I know that some people will not comprehend what God just said.  God says the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14).  But these concepts should help many that will receive it and apply it to other things that they like to say.  I believe that we should think before we speak.  Think about what God’s Word says and then see if what you are going to say aligns with His Words.  This will become clearer as we continue learning.  Let’s move to what we should say next to see the contrasted difference from what we should not be saying.

CONFIRMING AND LEARNING WHAT TO SAY

But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach;

I began the lesson talking about the last part of this verse.  But now we will back up to the first part of God’s statement to confirm what God is trying to teach us.  I have started and ended with the most important verse to learn today.  Paul starts writing “But what does it say” (NKJV).  Paul is of course talking about God’s word.  The “it” in this statement represents the spoken recorded words of the living God.  If you have not realized it yet these three verses of Romans 6, 7 and 8 contain partial quotations of verses found in the Old Testament.  In Romans 10:6-8, God is quoting in a paraphrased form, portions of some very obscure verses found in Deuteronomy 30:11-14.  We could learn a tremendous amount of information if I had the time to go talk about these original verses.  But I do not have the time today to talk about them.

However, I still want to emphasize that “it” was the recorded words (Rhema) of God and Paul takes these words that did not directly mention Christ and teaches us that they directly apply to Christ.  Wow, that is a powerful degree of knowledge if you want to do the study for yourself.  You go and read Deuteronomy and you see if you can find Christ plainly?  He is there but only if you see the commentary of the New Testament to help you explain them.  That is just how the Bible was written by God.  I call it “Hiding the Truth in Plain Sight” and if you have not read that series of Bible lessons I would strongly recommend that you do that soon.

Now we should realize from the opening statement that the next coming statement was given from God through His prophet Moses and it was written down in the Old Testament for all of us in the here and now in the New Covenant.  God’s next statement says “The Word is near you, even in your mouth and in your heart”.  The Word is referring to the Word of God.  This Greek word is again “Rhema” and that is important. Where is the “Word” (Rhema) of God supposed to be?  There are two place mentioned directly by God, one is a natural external location that God referred to earlier as the wellspring of life and the other is the origination point from where these words spring up from in the internal spiritual location figuratively called the heart of man.  God is teaching us how spiritual things are supposed to operate.   Hear and get the Word in your heart and then learn to speak it out of your mouth.  This is the reason why we do not need Christ to be raised from the dead or come back to earth from heaven.  The word of God is the power of God (Heb 1:3).  This power should be resident in your heart.  You should place the Word of God in your heart daily to reinforce its firm foundation.  Otherwise Satan can come and steal this Word (seed) from your life if you let him.

The Word of God represents the “what” that is “right” or “correct” to speak as a mature Christian.  A new born Christian is incapable of speaking the Word of God because they haven’t heard it, don’t know it, don’t believe it or don’t understand it.  All of these conditions will cause the Word of God to be unfruitful in their lives.

CONCLUSION

Is the Word of God coming out of your mouth?  If it is then you are probably in faith and if it is not then you are probably not in faith.  I could give you many Bible examples of this but in conclusion I will tell you of one when God had instructed Joshua how to have good success in this life.  Are you interested in being a winner?  Are you interested in being victorious?  Are you interested in being an overcomer?  God told Joshua how to do it and Joshua did it and possessed the land that God gave to them.   Here is the key verse:

Jos 1:8  This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Wow, what an awesome set of instructions for our success in this life.  God told Joshua to put the Word of God in his mouth and then to meditate on it day and night.  This would build the Words of God into his heart.  God was telling Joshua what He said through Moses, “My Word is very near you, even in your heart and in your mouth”.  Joshua became the leader of the people of God after the passing of Moses and He was responsible for the law passed down from Moses to the nation.  Joshua had this Word and filled his mouth with it.  Filling his mouth with God’s Word gave Joshua faith in God.  We learned this from Romans 10:17.  Remember?  It is almost impossible for anyone to say the Word of God if they understand it and not have faith and success in this life.

Well we could talk for hours and hours on this subject of faith speaks but that is the end of this Bible lesson.  We were told by Jesus that out of our bellies would flow rivers of life producing water and this symbolic water can only be the Word of God.  We are told to speak the Rhema Word of God and this was just the words that were spoken from the mouth of God and recorded in His Precious Holy Word.   It is only the Word of God that will produce life.  Speaking the word of God are the right words to be speaking in every adversarial situation and circumstance.  I’ll just give you a couple more verse to help you see more right things to say:

Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, Whom He has redeemed from the hand of the enemy,

Joe 3:10  Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears; Let the weak say, ‘I am strong.’ “

These were just two verses that teach us God wants us to say positive things from His Word.  How can anyone say things that are not overwhelming real and apparent in the 5 physical sense realm?  This type of logic will contradict normal human reasoning, doesn’t it?  When faced with great weakness in your life how can we say “I’m strong”?  When faced with negative circumstances from and in the world, how can we say “I’m redeemed?”  These types of positive words are only possible if you believe God’s Word instead of your circumstances that you are facing.   So infant baby Christians stay silent or cry for their milk but mature Christians will speak to their mountain and cause it to flee before them (Mk 11:23).

This was an advanced Bible lesson on righteous faith speaks.   I hope you enjoyed this Bible lesson and learned a great deal.  But I desire more that you start applying what you learned to your life.  Make a sign like I said to do earlier and read the sign on the wall daily multiple times out loud saying “Righteous Faith Speaks” and don’t let this truth slip from the forefront of your mind.  Share the Gospel with your friends and recommend that they go read and study the Bible with me.  I appreciate your time extended to read and study the Bible and for any comments or testimonies of how God is working in your life that you would care to share with me.  Until next time may God continue to bless you with everything that you require to grow in spiritual maturity.

If you would like to continue reading and studying in this Bible Study Series you may now click here on “Part 19“.

Bible Basics: Would You Rather Be Rejected by Men or Rejected by God? Mastering Rejection!

rejection1(Ver 1.1)  This is a Basic Bible Study requesting an answer from every reader to a very serious question.  If you have read all of my Bible lessons you should already know that I occasionally teach a Bible Basic Subject for those that are new to Christianity or just in need of learning the simpler milk truths of God’s Word.  However, for those more mature Christians or those Christians going through a struggle that could use a refreshing reminder of the Word of God this lesson just might be a great blessing to you also.  Today’s Bible lesson is intended and designed for those types of readers but everyone can still benefit from what God will share about the subject of rejection.    Let’s begin by asking the important question “Would you rather be rejected by your friends, your family, your peers, your co-workers, your bosses and the people of the world or would you rather be rejected by God?”  Wow, how do we begin to answer or respond to that question?

INTRODUCTION TO REJECTION

Rejection from anyone should usually never be viewed as a positive experience from a natural or spiritual perspective.  No one that I know of that is vaguely or remotely “normal” will ever feel excited, happy or good about being rejected by anyone for whatever reason.  I can personally identify with this subject directly in my own private life.  I have been personally rejected by my family, my friends and people of great importance to me in this last year that has caused me great pain, suffering and hurt.  How do we deal with this?  Has God provided a divine coping mechanism for rejection? This is what we will be talking about today from a God and Bible perspective on the subject of being rejected and handling rejection.

rejection3We have all been at the cross roads of rejection and hurt, haven’t we?  I know I have.  As I have stated I have been ignored and rejected by close family, friends and acquaintances for one reason or the other.  These acts of rejection can cause significant emotional distress, hurts and pains that can make us feel very insufficient, inadequate, second-rate and inferior.  Rejection is nothing new to me.  I am frequently rejected by some of my Bible Study readers.  These people who reject me online usually provide critical reviews through unloving negative comments that can be very painful and upsetting if I allowed them inside me.   If you did not realize it rejection is a spiritual force.  Just like love, hate and fear are spiritual forces.  Each of us can become overwhelmed by the undesirable force of rejection.  If we do not learn how to deal with this force it can easily overwhelm us into a pit of despair.  Please read this initial definition for “reject”:

REJECT: dismiss as inadequate, inappropriate, or not to one’s taste

Let’s stop and review this definition of “reject”. As you should be able to see when someone or something is rejected then that which was rejected is stated to not fit within the positive expectations of the observer for any unstated reason.  What we find from this definition is that there are either implied or unstated rules of acceptance and not meeting these will result in rejection of the person or the item being observed.  Rejection can obviously become very subjective if you know what that means.  Rejection is based upon subjective human reasoning and this simply means that there is a direct level of personal opinion, bias or preference to most forms of rejection.  One’s personal opinion will usually drive their acceptance or rejection of someone else.  However there are also other types of rejection based upon a stricter standard of rules.

For example a shirt being manufactured for sale in a store will undergo an inspection by a trained observant inspector.  Each inspector is given a set of established standards to determine if the shirt meets expectations.  If a flaw is determined to be present in the garment then the garment is rejected and cannot be sold as a new quality garment matching the established standards.  It does not matter if there are over 100 things right about the garment because if there is found one minor flaw the garment is rejected.  This is exactly what happens with people rejecting people also if you did not realize it.  However the established set of rules is usually very loose and not well defined.  Many fault finding people look for flaws and overlook any good qualities found within a person and will simply reject them as being imperfect.  This is basic human nature and you need to know this in order to understand rejection more completely and why it occurs.

Some of the synonyms for reject are “castoff”, “throwaway” or “discard”.  All of these are negative observer reactions from failing the perceived observation acceptance standards directed at the person or object being rejected.  As I have stated previously rejection of anything is clearly a subjective personal decision based upon the observer’s own personal preferences, experiences, rules, likes or dislikes. rejected_broccoli   Let’s review another quick example of a type of rejection.  A person can reject eating broccoli simply because they do not like the observable smell, shape, appearance, color or even the texture.  Many people reject eating broccoli having never even tasting it.    Therefore rejection by the casual observer will usually be done by someone based upon a very limited set of superficial information void of all of the facts.  The observer would not consider the taste or the vitamin content or nutritional value of broccoli but would rather pass a quick judgment based upon superficial and insufficient observation.   Always remember this and this may help you tremendously with dealing with rejection.  Many decisions of rejection are performed based upon pure human ignorance.  Let’s consider a set of verses very quickly to get this subject started:

Mat 7:3  And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother’s eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:4  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?

Mat 7:5  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother’s eye.

These verses do not mention rejection but this represents the same action of rejection that happens when someone is rejected by an observer.  Did you see the principles that Jesus was teaching the man doing the observation and trying to pass judgment upon the other man?  Jesus asks how can you perceive correctly the flaws in your brother’s life if you have not seen the flaws in your own life first?  This is such a profound warning from God about how we act almost every day.   Too often people are rejecting others simply because of a minor flaw when they are the ones that should be rejected from their own self-examination.   However since they are not examining themselves Jesus calls them a hypocrite for seeing something so minor in another person.

Ok did you observe the process of rejection taking place in these verses?  There is both an observer (rejecter) and someone that is being observed (one being rejected).  The observer is looking specifically for faults and ignoring all the good qualities of the person.  The observer passes a hasty independent judgment without attempting to find or see all of the facts.  The observer’s actions are stated to be WRONG.  The observer is judged by God to be a hypocrite for not looking at himself first before passing judgment upon anyone else.  Uh oh!  What do we do with all of this great information?

I am starting out the lesson on how to handle rejection by saying, don’t become like a hypocrite.   If you are rejecting people because of some insufficient information then you will be making the same mistake that others will be doing by rejecting you.  This is a very good time to interject the golden rule.  We should all do to others as we would have them to do to us.  In other words don’t reject people even if you are the one being constantly rejected.  As you learn this subject of rejection all of this will become more real to you.  Are you ready to learn more about rejection?  I think we will begin the lesson with a further discussion of ignorance.

# 1 – REJECTION IS NORMALLY DONE FROM IGNORANCE

Rejection (passing judgments) can be caused by many reasons but one of the main factors is human ignorance.  Every human is born into the world an empty vessel waiting to be filled with some knowledge.  Therefore we are all in varying states of ignorance no matter how much we have learned.  This is good knowledge for dealing with personal rejection.  We need to understand that the person doing the rejecting usually does it from their own pure unawareness or lack of understanding of you or your situation, experiences or even your circumstances.  Wow, this is much truer than you may understand right now.   I once heard a preacher responding to the rejection by a man that heard the message that he preached.  This preacher said to the man “If you knew me you would really like me”.   Do you understand why he said that?  The preacher understood that his rejection was based upon the man’s insufficient information.  He knew that the man had rejected him based upon very limited evidence from only one sermon.  This should help teach you a new way to handle someone’s rejection of you.  Don’t call them ignorant to their face but rather walk in love towards them because this is the way you should react to rejection as we will soon find by a living example in the Bible.

Did you know that Jesus was rejected?  Yes Jesus was definitely rejected by many of the people that He encountered here on the earth.  I’m not going to go into every verse example of rejection concerning Jesus but I will give you some very quick verses to consider about the subject of rejection and how to treat those that are rejecting you.

Luk 20:17  And he beheld them, and said, What is this then that is written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner?

Here is Jesus speaking directly of Himself from a verse of prophecy found in Psalms 118:22.  Jesus is speaking of Himself as the “Stone” that the builders rejected.  This stone is a figurative symbolic representation of the foundation within a new spiritual temple that would be coming to fruition by the design and plan of God.  I do not have the time to explain this statement in full in this lesson.  It would take much too long to understand what these builders were supposed to be building and why Jesus is called the major Stone in that building project.  Just understand that this is a spiritual house being foretold by the prophets of God and it is not a physical natural house or temple.  I will also tell you that it was the natural nation of Israel that represented the initial builders of this house.  Jesus by His own admission claims to be the rejected Stone.  It was natural Israel that was rejecting the Stone.  Ignorance of God’s purpose and plan is probably the key reason why the nation of Israel rejected Jesus, their Messiah.  They were thinking temporarily and naturally and Jesus was thinking and speaking eternally and spiritually.  Wow again, that was a very important concept for understanding how to handle rejection.   Did you get it?  I’ll try to emphasize this again later in the lesson to help you.   However I will give you another verse witness to the fact that Jesus was the living Stone:

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

Jesus is being called a spiritual Rock and this is just a synonymous term for “Living Stone”.  Spirits are living beings that cannot die or cease to exist.  This is one of the keys to understanding what God is doing within the New Covenant.  The Old Testament types and shadows were just a foretelling of a coming greater spiritual reality.  Ok we have just established that Jesus was rejected as a living stone by the nation of natural Israel.  Let’s review a very specific verse example of this rejection and the reaction of Jesus to this as the Living Stone.  Please read this verse carefully.

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

If you read the context you will find that this is Jesus stripped naked and then being nailed through His flesh to a wooden cross.   Jesus is in great pain and dealing with extraordinary levels of human suffering that had all been imposed upon Him through the rejection of His own people.  This rejection arose from the root cause of their ignorance.  None of these people knew or understood what they were doing as you can clearly see from the statement being made by Jesus Himself “They know not what they do”.  None of these people recognized or understood that this man hanging on this tree was God come to the earth in the flesh.  None of these people knew or understood their actions for why they were rejecting Him.  None of these people cared about the pain that they were inflicting upon Jesus by their rejection.   All of these people were extremely ignorant of the facts and very far from any knowledge of the truth.   Jesus could have been like the preacher man and said to them all “If you knew me you would really like me” but He did not say this.  However the reaction of Jesus to this personal rejection is quite the opposite of what most people would have done or said.   Let’s talk about His reaction next.

# 2 – LOVE & PROACTIVE FORGIVENESS WILL OVERCOME REJECTION

We just quickly reviewed the example of Jesus hanging on the cross.  Jesus had asked His Father to forgive them even while being hurt extensively from the pain caused by their ignorant human rejection.   Jesus offered them all forgiveness as He endured unimaginable agony from their dismissal.   None of those that rejected Him asked for this forgiveness so this was a proactive outreach from His love and mercy.  Why was Jesus asking God to forgive them?  It is primarily because walking in love will always forgive others proactively.  If we wait for someone to ask for forgiveness before we extend it, I believe this can cause ill feelings to be harbored in our inner being that can build up and harden our hearts.

What is forgiveness?   Forgiveness is a personal act of the freewill to extend mercy to someone that does not deserve to receive mercy.  Wow, is that a tough concept for new Christians and for even many mature ones to grasp?   It has been rare for me to see people with any mercy much less any forgiveness on the internet.  Yes, I am talking about people who call themselves Christians.    We can either decide to act like Jesus and proactively forgive everyone before they ask for it or we can become the judging condemner and stay in bitter un-forgiveness.   What do you think we should do when people reject us?  There are only two real options to choose from and I think I will follow Christ’s example.

# 3 – HANDLING REJECTION CORRECTLY WILL BE EASIER IF YOU KNOW THE TRUTH

If the people doing the rejection are acting out of ignorance of the truth then it stands to reason that we can best deal with this rejection by knowing the truth.  Therefore the third thing to know about handling rejection is we better learn the truth.  I personally believe that we are on the right path by studying this subject.   We want to replace our lack of knowledge by filling our hearts and minds with God’s truth.  God’s Word is the only source for spiritual and eternal truth.  We should claim by faith that we are always in the right place at the right time studying the right subjects so God’s Word will prevail over all rejection and its evil intent from the enemy.  Let’s go back and reconsider Luke 23:34.  Jesus is in a process of extreme rejection yet He prays to God for their forgiveness instead of calling down fire or angels from heaven to destroy them all.  You see Jesus had the power and authority to destroy them but chose not to.   Human reaction would have been to get revenge or to set forth a process for justice at minimum.  But Jesus did none of these.  Why is that?  Jesus could look beyond the current rejection to a greater and more significant purpose for His existence.   Jesus knew that He knew the truth and that His rejecters did not.   This should teach us that there is a right way to handle rejection and if there is a right way there is also a wrong way.    I believe that one of the right ways of dealing with rejection will always be based upon us acquiring right knowledge.  Jesus did this from an early age always being in the temple to hear the Words of God being read.  Jesus gained right knowledge and understanding and this was a key factor for His correct handling of rejection.  So what am I saying?  I am saying ignorant people will reject you but you can overcome this by learning the truth and using this to overcome the rejection.

Life is full of choices.  Making any right choice will always be based upon correct and sufficient knowledge.  Jesus made a right choice while being rejected through an act of His own freewill.   This act was made possible because of the knowledge that He possessed from the Word of God.    I believe that we can do the same if we come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ to grow and increase in the understanding of His precious Holy Word.  This knowledge of God will be what helps us deal with any human rejection.  Therefore the third key to dealing with rejection is to get God’s understanding built within our hearts and minds.  Put God’s Word first in every situation and leave the thoughts and ways of the natural world behind.  It was the Jews that were thinking naturally and missed their Messiah.  Wrong thinking and wrong believing based upon ignorance will be one of the primary causes for people rejecting right things and the right people.  But it is right knowledge that will cause the rejected one to not be affected by the rejection.

Pro 4:7  Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding.

God directs us more than once in the Bible that we need to obtain understanding.   Understanding the reasons for rejection will help us handle it when it comes to us and it will come to you.  There are people in the world today that are being rejected and do not know how to handle it and this allows Satan to convince them that they should take their own lives or withdraw from normal human interaction.  God says in Hosea 4:6 that “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge”.   Therefore what you do not know about any subject can be used against you by Satan to destroy you.  Learn to overcome rejection by obtaining the knowledge of God.

I hope you are learning something because I know I am.  All my Bible lessons are for me from God and if you can benefit from them then that is just an added blessing from God.  Also if you don’t like what I teach I would just tell you “You would really like me if you knew me”.  Let’s move on to the next point in dealing with rejection.

# 4 – UNDERSTANDING REJECTION CAUSES PAIN

painLet’ go back again to Luke 23 where Jesus was hanging on the cross and asking God to forgive them.  In the case of the Lord Jesus, His rejection caused Him extreme physical and even emotional pain because of all the things that He endured for us.   So the fourth key to understanding how to handle rejection is for us to understand that there will always be pain that follows the initial rejection.  Just learn to expect it because it will occur.  Perhaps you do not understand me yet.  I do not mean to imply that the pain of rejection will always be the same as Jesus’ physical pain.  However that is still a reality even in this world today.  People are killed, tortured and physically hurt by rejection today.  Just look on the news or the internet and you should be able to find this easily.  Even in the days of the early church the leaders, teachers and the followers of Christ were rejected by many people.   Many of those in the early church were martyred.  Many of them suffered greatly because of their faith.  Many of them died horrific deaths of all sorts and types of slow demise.   Such great suffering occurred simply because of human rejection influenced and conceived by Satan.

Can we agree that pain is not a positive feeling?  Only a perverted and twisted mind will delight in pain.  However there is a positive factor that pain can alert us to something harmful occurring.  For example if something is hot and you touch it accidently the natural reaction is to withdraw your touch very fast because of the pain caused by the heat.  This is an example of how pain can alert us to trouble.  God built us with the capability of feeling all types of sensations including pain and pleasure.  I personally would rather experience a good feeling rather than the negative feeling of pain but yet both still exist for a reason.  Since pain exists in the world and we will probably feel it, learning how to react correctly to pain might be something good for us to learn about.  If not in this lesson then maybe in a follow up lesson on this subject.

There are certainly many types of pain that rejection can cause other than physical suffering.   The factor of emotional pain is significantly as great as physical pain to most people.   Emotional pain could cause us the same type of reaction as a physical pain.  Many will withdraw from a person after they are hurt by them.   If you have ever been rejected by the love of your life then you know exactly the kind of pain that I am talking about.  I believe that physical pain can always feel the greatest when it is happening but emotional feelings can linger for a while.  When a woman is in labor about to deliver her baby I am told that the pain is practically unbearable at those moments.   But after the baby arrives the pain suddenly is considered to be worth it all.  At least the rewards now appear to be worth the cost of endurance because of the joy felt by the presence of the baby.  This is a concept that is taught to us by God in the New Testament.  For example read this verse found in the book of Romans:

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

The Greek word translated as “sufferings” can mean “emotional or physical” types of pain.   God warns us that we will experience this here in this world.  But God then tells us how to endure it.  Wow, again and again.  Here we are told to get back to thinking spiritually and eternally.  God tells us very clearly in 2 Corinthians 4:18 that the things in this world are very temporary.  God then instructs us to focus upon the things that are not seen because these are those things that are eternal.  God is simply saying that spiritual things are greater and more important than any sufferings or pains being endured right now.   God tells us that there is coming a glory to be revealed in us. These coming glorious things will make the current pains seem very insignificant.  This is exactly the attitude of the woman that brought a new child into the world.  It will be worth the pains when God shows us what is waiting for us.  I hope you accept this because I know the current pain is very difficult to ignore.  I can speak from experience from the tears that I have shed before because of the pains and hurts and I’m sure that your pain is not any less significant to you that you are going through either.

Jesus endured His natural pain because of His great Love for us and His knowledge of a greater spiritual purpose and plan for our eternity.  He knew this pain endured in the natural would benefit Him and us and it was this love, knowledge and spiritual insight that kept Him on the cross. Thank you Jesus!  Let’s begin to learn to follow Jesus’ example of looking into the future.  I know that seeing into the future is not natural for us.  It is very difficult to focus on anything beyond the current level of pain being experienced.  I keep emphasizing this because this is a reality we have all shared in common at some time in our life and our Christian walk.   Here is another verse of future glory to be revealed:

1Co 2:9  But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.

I like this verse.  It is an excellent commentary on the future.   Because we cannot fully comprehend the power of God or what God could do for us we do not yet understand what He could have planned for us.  However, we can still begin to think of His goodness and expect some pretty marvelous things that await us.  This should help each of us endure human rejection for a short time.  Begin to think eternally.  While doing this think spiritually and get out of the natural perspective of your rejection.  Ask God to forgive those that are rejecting you.  Ask Him to send laborers across their paths to help them see and know the truth.

We should now start to understand that this type of observer offense called “rejection” causes people pain and these pains can create great feelings of worthlessness, inadequacy, loneliness and inferiority to the one being rejected.  The pain is real but this is definitely a temporary feeling.  Even if they killed you dead, you would pass into eternity to be with Christ and the pain would not be remembered.

# 5 – CHRIST’S INSTRUCTIONS – EXPECTING REJECTION

???????????????????????????????????????????I have implied this subject briefly in previous topics but this will be a more direct emphasis to teach us all to expect rejection to occur.   When we expect something to happen we will be better prepared to handle it.  If we do not expect something to happen then we will usually be taken by surprise when it does happen and this will usually result in our failure.  There is an old saying from my work history that says “Fail to plan then you should plan to fail”.   Do you understand this?   This is only teaching us that we need to come up with a plan before we are rejected just in case it happens and this will give us the greater advantage when it does.  Let’s examine a principle found in the book of Proverbs to help us:

Pro 24:27[Put first things first.] Prepare your work outside and get it ready for yourself in the field; and afterward build your house and establish a home.  (AMP)

This is a very interesting verse that says nothing about rejection but does teach us to make a plan and follow the process.  God gives us instructions to do things in a specific order.  This is generally called “common sense” but this quality is  sometimes a feature lacking in the modern age of people doing things without thinking of the consequences.  The Hebrew word translated as “Prepare” is H3559 and it means “to set upright or erect”.   It is clearly implying a correct process to accomplish this.  In other words a plan is expected and it must be followed.  This is what I am attempting to give you in this lesson.  This lesson is talking about making a plan for rejection.  Preparing for something negative is not a lack of faith but is rather a common sense approach to balancing the scriptures.  We need to learn to expect what God said would happen to happen.   Let’s see what God said would happen:

Mat 10:24The disciple is not above his master, nor the servant above his lord.

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

Jesus declares we are no better than He was.  He says very clearly that how He has been treated by people in this world will be how we will be treated by the same.  This is a foundational doctrine being established and applied by the Lord Jesus Christ to all Christians.  If Jesus was unjustly labeled, accused and rejected by people we should not expect anything differently.  We need to know this because this type of persecution will certainly increase as the time nears for Christ’s return.  Do you understand the connection between persecution and rejection?  These two are directly linked together like Siamese twins.   I can see this persecution happening now even in the media very clearly.  Anyone standing up for God will be tried and torn down by those who do not want to hear it in a court of public opinion.  We will be labeled intolerant hate mongers by those that hate us.  That is a very hypocritical attitude isn’t it?   They can criticize us but we can say nothing about their sin.  I did say their sin and not them.  I try to never talk about anyone specifically by name ever.

We should know from reading the Gospels that Jesus was heavily and frequently rejected for one reason or the other.  There was the time once when the people wanted to stone Him (John 8:59) or throw Him off a cliff (Luke 4:29).  Many others simply walked away mocking His teachings about eating His flesh and drinking His blood for example (John 6:66).  The religious leaders of that day rejected Jesus and planned to kill him and they eventually succeeded (John 5:18, John 7:1).  Rejection was a very significant part of the life of Jesus.  You need to know this and then apply what Jesus just said to you in Matthew 10:25.

Therefore the fifth factor in this lesson for dealing with human rejection is for us to begin to expect for it to occur.  However this only applies if you are anything like Jesus and doing what He was doing, saying what He was saying and acting the same way to people in this world.  Just don’t be surprised when someone rejects you, your message, your witness, your testimony or your life style choices and this will help you deal with it in a healthy manner without striking back from emotional anger or hurt.  Striking back in anger or from the pain or other emotional hurts will usually only cause greater problems of strife as well as give other Christians a bad reputation.  The same as Jesus walked in love to those that rejected Him, is how we should respond to the same types of denunciation.

I will also say this quickly about Christians not being rejected by worldly people.  If you are currently accepted by the vast majority of the people in the world then you are not preaching, teaching or telling people what Jesus told them.  It is impossible not to offend the world with the truth of the Word of God.  Wow, that was a very strong statement but it is a well-known fact.   Always expect the world to reject you and then learn to walk in proactive forgiveness towards them just like Jesus did hanging on the cross when He said “Father forgive them for they know not what they do”.  This is the beginning of handling rejection and I hope you are learning something today that will help you in your walk with Jesus Christ.  I will just give one more witness to this truth for this lesson today:

Rom 8:17  And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

We are warned that we will all suffer with Jesus by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost given to Paul.    In other words the same rejection that He endured we should expect to happen to us.  Do you see it in this verse?  Perhaps it will help to study the Greek Word that was translated as “suffer with” in this verse and it could help us to see what God was trying to say.

G4841From G4862 and G3958 (including its alternate); to experience pain jointly or of the same kind (specifically persecution; to “sympathize”): – suffer with.

It should become significantly clearer by reading this definition from Strong’s Concordance that our rejection will be the same as Christ’s rejection.   “To experience pain jointly or of the same kind” is the primary definition of this word.  I do not know how to make it more clear than this.  After reading this you should now be expecting the same level of rejection and persecution to come to you as what Jesus experienced in this world.

# 6 – UNDERSTAND CHRIST’S EXAMPLE – BECOMING ACCEPTED BY GOD

AcceptedI believe that I have at the very least implied this point briefly in the previous sections but it should be emphasized again more directly for a greater clarification and retention.  I firmly believe that Jesus lived a pattern of life on the earth that we should expect to reoccur in our lives and I further believe that His life was an intentionally designed example for us to follow after.  That does not mean that we will die on the cross like He did but some Christians have experienced that.  What I am trying to say is that we should walk, talk and live the way that He did towards other people in love.

Was Jesus rejected?  I think we have more than confirmed that He was rejected repeatedly.  Did Jesus ever feel the pain of rejection?  I think we have seen this evidence also.  I think I will give you another witness for the emotional pain that Jesus felt about being rejected.  Please read this next verse and see beyond the words to feel the emotions behind them.

Mat 23:37  O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!

Jesus starts out with a heartfelt cry “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem”.  Depending upon the voice tone it could be any emotion between anger and extreme sadness.  But I believe that these words were spoken in pain and disappointment.    You can see this by the further statement “How often would I have gathered your children…”.   This part of the statement is God longing to accept these people into His arms just like a mother hen covers her little young ones.  This is a very powerful statement that the children were refusing this love and nurturing.   They were rejecting the love of the only true God.  This broke the heart of God and He cries for them.  Feel the tears and experience the pain of being rejected.  God is clearly weeping over His people.

How did Jesus deal with all of this rejection?  I would think that we should follow after His example.  We have already talked about many of the things that Jesus did to counter rejection.  I mentioned learning and knowing the truth, walking in love, seeing things spiritually, emphasizing eternal realities and proactively forgiving the rejecters.  Let’s now read my lesson’s foundational verse and consider what God is saying.  This verse will be the central theme for my entire subject today.

1Pe 2:4  And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God,

This verse is the applied basis for my question that I asked you in the title today.  This verse is speaking directly of Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ set us a living example for us to follow after.  He was very clearly rejected by the vast majority of the people present in the region of the earth where He was born.  He did nothing except teach them, heal them and work miracles in their sight and they rejected all the good that He represented and killed Him.  These people took an innocent man guilty of no crimes and killed Him like a murderer.  Did Jesus deserve this rejection?  Did Jesus sow any discord, disharmony or anything else to cause this rejection?  I don’t really believe that He did.   No Jesus simply presented the truth and this truth was rejected out of their human ignorance.

This teaches us that human rejection may not be justified, earned or merited and that it could happen to anyone doing what Jesus did.  However, did you notice the antithesis preference found within this verse found in 1 Peter 2:4?  Doesn’t God say here in this verse that Jesus even after being rejected by men was still plainly accepted by God?  In fact wasn’t Jesus already accepted by God even before he was ever rejected by anyone?   Let’s look at a verse that confirms this:

Luk 3:22  And the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased.

God in a spiritual form of a dove descended from heaven upon Jesus.  The voice of God in heaven spoke and declared the Son of God Jesus to be pleasing to the Father.  To be pleasing in the eyes of the observer is clearly acceptance by the Father God.  At this time in the life and ministry of Jesus, He had not done one miracle yet nor started to teach or preach any Word from God.  Therefore human rejection had not taken place.  Here is a secret for surviving human rejection.  We must make sure that we are first accepted by God.  Wow this really sounds like something that we need to learn about.  How do we become accepted by God when people can reject us?  I guess I should clarify this question.  You see I believe that we are primarily rejected by men simply because we have previously been accepted by God.   I am attempting to talk to Christians in this lesson but I do know we all can still be rejected before we become Christians.  So this lesson can even help a non-Christian if they will join in a do what the Bible teaches about dealing with rejection.

# 7 – UNDERSTANDING HOW TO BECOME REJECTED BY GOD

Mat 10:33  “But whoever denies Me before men, I will also deny him before My Father who is in heaven.

There are at least two antithesis truths that can be gleaned from this verse.  The key word being found in this verse is “deny”.  This Greek word is G720 and it means to “reject”, “renounce” or “abnegate”.  The English word “abnegate” means to reject something valuable.  God says to us if we “reject” (deny) Christ (that which should be valuable to us) verbally to other people that He will reject (deny) us (that which is valuable to Him) before these same people.  Wow, wow, wow!!   That is something that many people have not considered.   Have you given this verse much thought?  It would be good for all of us to meditate on this verse for a long time to get it built into our hearts.

What are the implied unstated or indirect truths found within this verse?  This verse teaches us by the law of antithesis truth that if we “accept” and “proclaim” Christ before men that God will accept and proclaim us in the exact same way.  This fact declares plainly that we control our acceptance or our rejection from God by our own freewill choices and actions.  This truth contradicts the erroneous teaching of extreme predestination where people are appointed for salvation or for hell based upon God’s sovereign plan.  It is very clear to me that we have a great role to play in being accepted or rejected by God.  Let’s obtain another witness to this truth of being rejected by God:

2Ti 2:12  If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:

Again God declares that the rejection (denial) of Christ will be His rejection (denial) of us.   These are established truths which places all of the responsibility of what happens to us upon our personal will, choices, decisions and actions.  I keep saying that because this was how God designed salvation to work.  Salvation is totally dependent upon what you believe and what you say.  If you don’t believe me then let’s believe God’s Word and read this verse to confirm it:

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.

I am going to say something very controversial about this verse that I have said before in other posts.  I get more religious people’s negative comments trying to convince me that salvation is based upon works and not completely on our faith than any other subject that I teach on.  What are the key words found in this verse?  They are “believe” and “confess”.   God says if we do these two we will be saved.  Now place this verse in harmony with the previous two verses about denying Jesus?  You should be able to see that “denying” Jesus is implied to be a public declaration.  Would it not stand to reason that confessing Jesus is the same?  I do not want to get religious or legal minded about salvation being only one certain way because I do believe a person can get saved all alone in any private setting by calling on Jesus.  However, the public confession of Jesus factor is still implied even after the initial salvation.  Who said we have to stop confessing Jesus after the one time public or private confession of Jesus?

Do you understand what I was saying?  I believe if we confess Jesus in private but deny him in public we could be in serious trouble.   God says salvation is dependent upon us confessing Jesus and believing in His resurrection from the dead.  This would simply imply that our continued salvation hinges upon us continuing to believe and continuing to confess Him as our Lord and Savior in public or in private.   This is what I believe whether you choose to believe it or not.  Please do not write me comments about eternal security and once saved always saved philosophies that do not balance with the whole word of God and ignore so many scriptures that contradict it.  I am probably causing offense to so many readers by attempting to teach the truth as I have been shown it by God but that is the risk of any teaching from the Bible.  Someone will always be offended and I will be rejected by some.

What does all of this teach us?   This means that we should not be ashamed of Jesus Christ to talk about Him and tell others about what He has done for us.  We should not be bashful but rather bold enough to proclaim Him in a public setting.  Uh oh I can feel the readers shutting me off as they just read something that is potentially controversial about doing something potentially offensive to others in the world.    This verse is very strong to say that God will reject some people on the earth.  It seems to me that it would be very wise for me to determine how to not become one of these being rejected.  We are talking about being accepted or being rejected by God.  We have just determined that it is possible to be in either category of mathematical sets.   The set of God’s accepted versus the set of God’s rejected.  Which are you in?  Are you one of His sheep or one of the goats that will be turned away?

# 8 – UNDERSTANDING THE SPIRITUAL SOURCE FOR HUMAN REJECTION

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

I have been doing a very basic Bible lesson on the subject of rejection and how to deal with it.  We have already learned some very valuable information on this subject.  Let’s think some more about the implied truths found in Matthew 10:25.  Did you notice what Jesus was further suggesting in this statement?  Jesus was saying if we are accepted by God then we will probably be rejected by men.  This is just basic logic derived from analyzing the stated truths and the unstated antithesis truths that must also be true.  If we are God’s disciples then we must have been accepted by God.  If we are God’s servants then again this implies God’s approval has taken place.  Now learn how the world will treat those that are accepted and approved into the household of Christ Jesus.  Jesus said that they will be called names and rejected.  Therefore it is one or the other and not both.  What this teaches us again is that if we are accepted by God we will be rejected by the vast unsaved world.  And if we are rejected by God then we are more likely to be accepted by the same lost world. Therefore we should have learned to expect rejection after our acceptance from Jesus Christ.

As I have continued to teach we need to expect this rejection of men to occur in order to not be taken by surprise. Please understand that it is ultimately Satan that is using these people to come against Christians.  Satan will be directing the assaults by providing thoughts that blind their minds to receive the truth.   It is essential to know what Ephesians 6:12 says in this discussion of rejection.

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.

Why did I include this verse in a discussion concerning handling rejection?  It is primarily because we need to know who is behind the rejection from the people in the world.  God very clearly teaches in the Bible in more than one scripture that we are in a spiritual battle with the rulers of the darkness of this this world.  Every unsaved person is a puppet in this dark world.  Most of them do not have a clue what they are doing and why they are doing it.  This is why Jesus could hang on the cross and ask God to forgiven them all because of their ignorant allegiance and obedience to the devil.   Jesus knew the ultimate enemy and it was not people.  People were who He came to the earth to save.   Jesus was clearly thinking spiritually and not naturally.  Wow, we really need to get a hold of this concept.  When a person comes and rejects us and calls us names we must realize that it is Satan inspired.  This is why we don’t ever retaliate with a person that is rejecting us.  You can however learn to speak to the spirits that are working in those people.  I would not normally do this to their face unless God instructed me to do so.  We can also pray to God and ask God to open the eyes of understanding for the person doing the rejecting.  These are two things that we can do when being rejected.  Remember that and this will further help you to overcome the rejection.   We can talk more about these in another lesson someday.

# 9 – OVERCOMING THE REJECTION OF MEN WITH THE ACCEPTANCE OF GOD

 What God declares in Matthew 10:25 is that rejection by Satan and the world is inevitable if we are Christians.  We will either be rejected by men or we will rejected by God.  That makes it extraordinarily clear to me who I don’t want to be rejected by.  I want to definitely be accepted by God.  We have already talked about denying Christ or confessing Christ as primary factors for rejection or acceptance but there are other factors that are stated in the Bible. This will be the next tot he last section in this lesson discussion to further expand out knowledge on becoming fully accepted by God.  We will need to learn as much as we can about this subject in a short overview format.

Rejection by men and women in the world will always hurt us emotionally and possibly physically.  I would love to be accepted by everyone that I teach or meet but I know this will never happen.  Also I do not wish to become a “man pleaser” just to have the friendship with the world.  It would be foolish of me to water down the teaching of God to just not to try to offend anyone.  These principles are clearly taught to us in the Bible.  Let’s review some N.T. verses about rejection and acceptance by God:

2Co 6:17  Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,

We are told by God to come out from among them and be separate.  This Greek word translated as “separate” means to set a boundary between two things.  In other words God tells us to be very different from the world.  Being different from the world alone will cause many people in the world to reject us as fools.     We will be called names like intolerant hate mongers or even a boring unexciting person just because we don’t party, drink alcohol, smoke or take drugs like them.  We will be accused of propagating a message of exclusion and preaching a message of hatred simply for speaking of Christ’s love being the only way for their salvation.  What people in the world do not realize is that in their present condition they are far apart from God and on their way to hell.  We are instructed by God to tell them about a remedy for this condition that God has given to them freely.  If they will listen to this message then Christ said they will be saved from the rejection of God.

Go back and reread 2 Corinthians 6:17 again.   The verse ends with the declaration that we will be received by God “IF” we come out from among the world.  This Greek word translated as receive is G1523 and it means “to take into one’s favor” or in other words to “be accepted” and “approved”.  Wow, this is great information to learn.  God is telling you how to be accepted by Him.  This is clearly us rejecting the world’s ways and walking in God’s ways.  The reverse antithesis truth found in this verse is that if we accept the world’s ways we will be rejected by God and that will definitely be an unsatisfactory result for eternity.  What God is teaching us in the Bible is that there exist conditional promises.  Acceptance by God is conditional and never guaranteed unless we learn to follow the instructions that He has given to us in order to qualify.

We have just learned a basic principle for achieving God’s acceptance and avoiding His rejection.  We must proclaim Jesus before men and we must come out from among the world.  It sounds like a contradiction but this is the way of God.  We can tell the world about Jesus without looking like them, acting like them or sounding like them.  Being accepted by God is a partnership between God’s Grace and man’s faith.  We cannot earn this favorable position with God by our works.  Our works of labor will never make us accepted by God.  This is truly a paradox being presented to us.  If right works do not save us yet the wrong works could cause us to be rejected how do we deal with this?  Let’s view a perspective from the Lord Jesus on this part of the discussion:

Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

We are called the lights shining to the world in this verse.  As a light we are told to do good works in order to give glory to God for saving us.   You see our good works certainly do not save us but yet they can be viewed by the world clearly to be seen as a different and new way of life.   There is a tremendous deception contained within the ways of the world.  The life of sin is very attractive at first but the consequence of sin will always come upon them suddenly and then this is when people might wish they had made better choices.   Let me give you a quick Bible verse that relates to this subject of enjoying pleasure for a short time and an eternity in hell for making that wrong choice:

Heb 11:25  Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;

This verse is speaking of Moses if you read the context you will see this clearly.  Notice what God says about Moses.  God says Moses made a wise choice.  Moses chose to live in persecution and affliction rather than live the good life with the Egyptians for a season.  It is self-evident that we should not choose a short life of pleasure just to hang around the popular people, the aristocrats and the wealthy.   This is what God is trying to say to us all.  Come out and be separate from the world and this will cause you to be accepted by God but rejected by them.  However, this will result in far greater rewards than you can possibly imagine.

#10 – THE WITNESS OF GOD IS GREATER THAN THE WITNESS OF MAN

Now let me end this lesson with one more key verse when learning to deal with rejection found in the book of 1st John.   I am going to emphasize one more time that the acceptance of God should be our focused desire.  This goal will help us to deal with the certain rejection of people in this world:

1Jn 5:9  If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son.

I think this will be my last verse in this very important Bible lesson.  Here is God comparing two possible realities that I started out asking you in the lesson title.  Did you see them?  One is a natural reality and the other is a spiritual reality?  Which one is greater?   Can you comprehend the connection to the subject of “rejection”?   Let’s look up the Greek word G3144 which was translated as “witness”.  Witness is defined to be someone that gives evidence for or against you in a court of law.  Now do you begin to see the connection?  What happens when someone rejects you?  They usually will verbally speak something negative about you.  What happens when someone accepts you?  They usually will verbally speak something positive about you.  So how does this information apply to being rejected by men?

If a man rejects you God informs us very clearly that His acceptance will be greater and far more important to us in the end.  In other words the temporary acceptance of men will not be worth the eternal separation and rejection of God.  God is just confirming that His divine spiritual acceptance outweighs any natural rejection every time.  I think this will be very helpful to everyone that will learn to receive it.

After reading this Bible lesson on rejection let me ask the titled question again. Would you now rather be rejected by men or rejected by God?  This is a test just like in school growing up.  However, God’s tests are always open book tests with the answer found right after you search for them with your whole heart.  What does God recommend for this question?  God recommends that you make wise choices and become accepted by Him.  Then don’t worry about the rejection that the world will bring you because the acceptance of God will triumph over this dismissal by the world giving you great eternal rewards.

There is so much more on this subject of rejection in the Bible but it will have to wait for a follow up lesson.  I would recommend that you go back and reread this lesson more than once.  Print it out and take notes.  Share it with others so that they too will know how to deal with rejection.  I thank you so much for taking the time to read these Bible lessons.  I pray that the seeds planted in your heart from these lessons will sprout and bring forth much fruit in your life.  Until next time may God richly bless you and keep you in the paths that He would lead you in.  God Bless you!!!

More Things That Satan DOES NOT Want You To Know About! Part 2 The Kingdom of Darkness! Learn God’s Word Applying the 5 W’s of Bible Study.

darkness2light(ver 1.1) This is now Part 2 in the series of Bible study lessons concerning our unseen spiritual enemy Satan. These lessons contain some of the most significant things that Satan does not want us to learn or know about him.   If you did not read “Part 1” I would recommend that you start with that lesson before you continue with this one. However, if you do not have the time to do that, the truths found here in this lesson should still stand alone and be helpful to your Christian walk in this life. Today’s lesson contains basic Bible truths that every Christian needs to know. If you are a very mature Christian you might already know many of the things that will be taught in this lesson. Please just allow the Holy Spirit to speak to your heart as you read with an open mind.  I will warn you up front that this lesson will be long.  But you can read it one section at a time and this will help break it down for you.  Thank you before we begin for your dedication to study the Bible.

INTRODUCTION

I recently read a comment that someone made and I could not disagree more with what they said. They said that we should not be concerned about learning anything regarding Satan since he was defeated by the Lord Jesus Christ. However, they ignored the fact that Satan still exists, is still present here in this world and that he is stated by God to still be our adversary that we must exercise our authority over in order to keep Satan from running or controlling our lives. Consider this warning from God when asking this basic question if should we learn about Satan:

2Co 2:11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.

To be intentionally ignorant of Satan means someone does not know that Satan is their opponent or does not consider him as a formidable adversary. But, God clearly tells us in this verse that Satan has implied power which he can utilize to gain an advantage over us if we allow him to. Paul then wrote to the church in this verse that we “should not be ignorant”, unlearned or uninformed about Satan’s devices. This statement of God written by Paul contradicts directly with my reader’s comment. I firmly believe that the more we know about our enemy the least likely we are to permit him to take this advantage over of us. These truths go a long with what God said to us in Hosea 4:6 which is one of my favorite Bible verses. God says in Hosea 4:6 that His people are destroyed because of their ignorance a word meaning “no knowledge of” or “insufficient knowledge of”. I hope that you can see these are very good reasons to learn everything that you can learn about this enemy.

In the first lesson we quickly went through 6 important things that God has shown us in the Bible about the spiritual adversary named Satan. Satan has tried to stop these things from being preached and taught to the body of Christ.   Perhaps you have noticed this reality if you have observed the lack of meaningful spiritual lessons that should have been taught in all churches. It is obvious to me that Paul taught about this adversary based upon what we just read in 2 Corinthians 2:11. What we must begin to realize is that we have a spiritual foe that is trying to kill, steal and destroy us (John 10:10).

These days there are too many Christians that want to look only at natural flesh and blood as the source of all of their problems in this world but this is not what the Bible teaches us that we are fighting against.   If you read in Ephesians 6:12 you should be able to plainly see a spiritual opponent truth being stated.   Not knowing that Christians are in a spiritual battle with an unseen spiritual force causes many of them to be easily distracted by the natural world and then to be easily defeated by the spiritual world. Not understanding how their spiritual enemy operates causes another portion of Christians to be easily attacked and overwhelmed.   Then not knowing how to fight against this spiritual adversary will cause others to be effortlessly beaten. What we do not know is Satan’s greatest advantage over us.   The goal of this lesson series is to inform Christians about their enemy and give them as much good Biblical information to help overcome Satan’s many assaults.

In this Bible lesson today I will be teaching something new that was not covered in detail in the first lesson about Satan. This new truth will be a complementary important fact that Satan is trying to stop you from learning about. I have taught on today’s subject in other lesson series but this one will be a little different with some new verses to consider.

If you recall in the first lesson I taught that one method of deception that Satan uses is distraction to keep people away from seeing God’s truth. Satan does not want the truth of the Word of God to be planted firmly and unmovably in our hearts. When the Word of God is confidently implanted in our hearts with solid deep roots it will produce spiritual fruit that causes Satan’s hold on our lives to be greatly diminished.   The more truth you know from God’s Word the less likely you are to ever be deceived or overcome by Satan’s schemes. This knowledge of the truth is exactly what God wants you to achieve and it will become a great threat to the kingdom of darkness. The kingdom of darkness happens to be my key subject today. Satan will do everything in his power to keep you from knowing about this subject. One of the primary reasons for Satan wanting us not to know this is because no one will ever try to escape from a prison if they do not first know that they are in one.

As a final note for the introduction I will mention that in this Bible lesson I will be using at least 9 or 10 different basic Bible study laws to help us understand what God teaches us. Here is a quick list overview of these essential Bible Study techniques and rules. We will be using:

  • the Law of Self-Interpretation
  • the Law of Spiritual Definitions
  • the Law of First Mention
  • the Law of Contextual Application
  • the Law of Antithesis Truth
  • the Law of Synonymous Association or Relation
  • the Law of Mathematical Equality (If A=B & B=C, then A=C)
  • the Law of truth building upon truth
  • the Law of Truth never contradicting Truth
  • the Law of 2 or 3 Witnesses

 

I have covered these Laws of Understanding the Bible in more depth in other Bible lessons but I will emphasize them again today for anyone that is new to my website that has not yet read every Bible lesson.  Today I will be going over a lesson using a specific style of Bible study that I call the 5 W’s study method. This method will focus on answering the questions of “Who”, “What”, “When”, “Where” and “Why”. In this study we will focus on the following questions:

  • Who is the main subject about?
  • Who does the main subject affect?
  • What is the main subject about?
  • What does the main subject mean to a Christian?
  • What does the main subject mean to a non-Christian?
  • When did the main subject come into existence?
  • When does the main subject end or cease to exist, if ever?
  • Where does the main subject take place or exist?
  • Why is the main subject even in the Bible?
  • Why is the main subject important to learn, understand and know?

We will be studying the Bible to answer these questions concerning the main subject of the “kingdom of darkness” today. We will also be touching on the related antithesis subject of the kingdom of light. I hope you will take the time to continue and read the entire lesson. Let’s get started.

NUMBER 7

7. Satan DOES NOT want you to know that he still rules a kingdom and you might be in it.

This is the seventh truth that Satan would rather you not learn. Since Jesus defeated Satan as we all should now know, does Satan still have a rule of authority over anything or anyone in the “here and now” present world? The answer to that question is a resounding yes. There are at the very minimum 4 different spiritual kingdoms mentioned to us in the Bible and you may not be able to name them all right now. Understanding spiritual kingdoms is a difficult seldom taught Bible subject but yet a rewarding subject to study nonetheless. There are a number of confusing factors that challenge us when we study about spiritual kingdoms. One spiritual kingdom in the Bible can be called by several different names, symbols or titles but these are still the same kingdom. Another spiritual kingdom can be a similar name or type or even have a similar appearance but God can be speaking of a completely different kingdom within a different time or even a different realm with an entirely different spiritual ruler of that kingdom. The Bible is much more complex than many Christians understand. However, today I am only writing about one specific spiritual kingdom in this lesson and this kingdom is called the “kingdom of darkness”. The kingdom of darkness is Satan’s independent empire. Satan is the sovereign ruler of this dark empire. This kingdom is not a part of any other kingdom. It is also not a sub-kingdom of God’s spiritual empire.   This kingdom of darkness is vast and has many subordinate individuals that are within it right now.

Understanding the Kingdom of Darkness – WHO!

I’ll explain this section title later in the Bible lesson. Also I will say at the beginning of this section that I believe after the death of Jesus and His resurrection that Satan’s kingdom was greatly diminished from where it was at one time but we will still learn in this lesson that Satan has significant rule and power. For example in Revelation we learn that Satan potentially rules over 1/3 of an innumerable number of angels that appear to follow him (Rev 12:4, Heb 12:22). Then in other scriptures that I am going to get into in this section we learn that Satan rules over many millions and even billions of unsaved people in this world. Let’s begin this study by looking at a N.T. verse that informs Christians that they were once within this same vast kingdom of darkness to help us establish its manifestation, presence and existence:

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

There are two separate and very distinctly different spiritual kingdoms being referred to concurrently in this verse.   One kingdom is directly mentioned and the other kingdom is indirectly described by God. First the indirect kingdom is being associated with the “power of darkness”. This is of course Satan’s kingdom of darkness. But, God then informs us that we have been translated from out of this darkness into the directly named “Kingdom of His dear Son”, Jesus Christ. The Son’s Kingdom was the establishment of a new spiritual kingdom that never existed before that I alluded to earlier. You may not understand that last statement right now but please don’t throw it away because you don’t understand because it is an advanced Bible truth that I do not have the time to teach fully today in this lesson. This “Kingdom of His dear Son” is also known by other names called the “Kingdom of God”, “the Kingdom of Light”, “ the Kingdom of the Day”, “the Kingdom of David” as well as by several other descriptions. This verse clearly teaches us that we (the Christians) have been “taken out of” and “removed from” the kingdom of darkness that belongs to Satan who is the implied unstated power of this realm. Christians now reside within a new spiritual Kingdom founded, established and confirmed by the Lord Jesus Christ. I think I will give you another verse to help settle this:

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

These words in Acts 26:18 were written in red ink in my Bible and this means Jesus is speaking again.   Notice that there are two antithesis spiritual kingdoms being mentioned directly in this verse. These kingdoms are called “Darkness” versus “Light”. There are also two opposing rules of authority established in this verse being called the “power of Satan” versus the power of God. Satan is directly associated to be the power of darkness that was indirectly mentioned in the previous verse and God is only called the Power of Light.   Both of these two previous verses directly mentioned the very important hidden kingdom subject keyword “power”. God will often talk about a subject using a related keyword and you need to become aware how to connect it to the current subject that you are studying.

This Greek word is G1849 that was translated as “power” holds the meaning of “delegated influence, authority, jurisdiction, power and strength”. Notice the implications from this definition. It means this individual that holds this “power” has the ability to make independent rules of law over those that are under them. This literally means that one power does not exist together with the other power or there would be no delegated power that was given to them. Nor can this power being mentioned be ruled or controlled by the other power. Think about this in terms of the United States and another country like Russia. The Russian government cannot pass a law to imprison the citizens of the United States and this is true for the United States not being able to imprison the people of Russia. Both are independent sovereign rules of law.

In fact the mere names of the kingdoms light and darkness denote a clear separation of powers. Wherever light exists darkness is not found and wherever darkness exists light is never found to be present. These are just basic natural laws that were created by God to teach us how these spiritual realities work. In the natural we can walk into a very dark room and be overwhelmed with the darkness until we turn the light on and then suddenly there is no more darkness. It is just amazing how that works, isn’t it. Now consider another N.T. verse that is relevant to teach on this subject:

1Jn 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

God is clearly declared to be light in 1 John 1:5 and in this verse it further says that “IN HIM” there is no darkness found in this Light. This reality of God being called light without any darkness denotes an implied antithesis truth that within the darkness of Satan there is no Light of God found. However this becomes greatly complicated when we consider the “omnipresence” of God. I do not believe that there exists a place where God cannot be found present.   Psalms 139:7 teaches us this truth using the voice of a man asking, where can I go that you are not found?

However this verse in 1 John still teaches us that there must be a huge separation of one from the other using an implied dividing partition. Light and darkness cannot coexist in the same room without a partition to block the light. I personally believe that God is teaching us that He is not evil. We will begin to learn more of this as we continue to study that evil exists in Satan and goodness and mercy comes from God. We need to know this and never forget it when reading and studying the rest of the Bible or else we will become confused how to understand what is being stated by God.

I am not going to teach anything else found in this verse of Acts 26:18, because that would take too long. You can take the time to meditate and think on this verse to see what else God reveals to you about it if you wish. Please just begin to embrace and believe in the basic concepts of the powers of light versus darkness being separated, detached, divided, disconnected and disjointed from each other. Both kingdoms will not stand or coexist together. Clearly the Kingdom of Light is superior to the kingdom of darkness. Darkness can never prevail over light or drive out the light. But God still declares the kingdom of darkness to exist with power and this teaches us that God is not present there. These verses also teach us that Christians were once found to be a part of the darkness and have now been removed from it. But yet this truth implies those that are not Christians right now are still residents within the power of darkness. I know there will be some Christians that do not believe me.   But normally this is because they have never studied to find these truths in the Bible. I’m not able to give you every verse that exists on this subject but I will mention a few more that apply. I have taught on this subject in other Bible lessons. Let’s read the words of the Lord Jesus again to continue with learning about this spiritual kingdom of darkness truth:

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

Jesus makes an amazing statement here that should not be discarded, thrown away or ignored because you don’t believe it. Jesus Christ is God in the flesh and the creator of everything seen and unseen that was created (John 1:1-3, 14) and He declares that Satan is not fighting or even working against himself.   Jesus also teaches us very clearly that Satan has his own independent kingdom apart from the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven mentioned repeatedly in the Gospels.   There is a very basic truth established and confirmed with this message that there exists another spiritual kingdom that is separate from God’s domain. This would have been a great opportunity for the Lord Jesus to tell us how this kingdom of darkness was sovereignly ruled by God but He does not even imply this to be true. In fact Jesus in describing this kingdom referred to Satan using the third-person pronoun “his” which means that this kingdom is possessed, owned and controlled by him. This clearly denotes separate ownership of this kingdom being mentioned which must be different from the Kingdom of God that I just mentioned. In other words Jesus did not say “my” kingdom He said “his” kingdom and we need to see this.  Jesus is not Satan and Satan is not Jesus.  Therefore whatever Jesus rules over was not what Satan ruled over.  Let’s go into another New Testament verse revealing who rules this kingdom of darkness:

Eph 6:11 Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.

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.

God starts in verse 11 by revealing that we are in a spiritual war and have need of His spiritual armor. This spiritual opponent is called the devil. This is just another title for our enemy Satan. If we look up the meaning to this Greek word G1228 translated as “devil” we will find that it means a person who is a traducer.   Do you know what that is? This is literally someone who tells lies about another person. This is very revealing information about what type of battle we are in. The battle is raging in a spiritual court and we are the defendants that are being accused by the devil. It is a clear battle between what is truth versus the words of lies being thrown at us. We need to know this because it will become very important due to our fleshly sin nature.

Please observe our primary subject related “keyword” in this verse translated as “rulers”. Remember the primary subject is concerning the “kingdom of darkness” and this kingdom certainly must have a “ruler” in control of it. This Greek word is G2888 and it literally means a “world ruler”. Any natural kingdom of the world has a leader that reigns over it. This is normally like a royal family that inherits the throne from their parent after they die.  Much like King David’s son inherited the kingdom when David died.  These natural concepts will apply to the subject of spiritual kingdoms also.  But that is a different Bible lesson.  What we should be learning is that the ruler of the spiritual darkness is Satan.

Please allow me to give you a couple of further confirming witnesses to the reality that unsaved people and fallen angels are revealed subjects of this dark empire of Satan.   We will look at some additional words of Jesus to see who He claimed to be and why He came into the world and this is vital spiritual information and truth to know:

Joh 12:46  I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

What is Jesus claiming to be here? Jesus asserts to be the “Light”. This statement literally means Jesus has called Himself “God” using the symbolic title “Light”. Do you remember that we read previously in 1 John 1:5 that God is stated to be “Light” and in Him is no darkness at all? This verse in 1 John was a spiritual definition for the Greek word translated as “light” and we need this information in order to understand what Jesus just said in John 12:46. Since Jesus was not speaking literally He must have been speaking figuratively. Therefore in order to understand figurative light we need a God given definition for the word. This is the correct way of “Rightly dividing the Word of Truth” and “Letting the Bible Interpret itself”. Both of these verses use the exact same Greek word G5457. Therefore they are linked by God’s direct word selection design to teach us about the subject of spiritual light. Light is the antithesis for darkness and this further confirms that God does not dwell in darkness here in John 12:46. Perhaps you do not understand the divinely created laws of mathematics. I have made mention of this law in other Bible lessons, but I will review it briefly for the new readers on my website. In 1 John 1:5 God = Light. Then in John 12:46 Jesus = Light. Therefore by the laws of mathematics “Jesus = God”. This is just a very basic Bible study principles and I hope you learn how this works today.

Now notice what Jesus claimed for one of the reasons why He has appeared in the flesh here in this world. Jesus claims to be the spiritual  light to show us the way out of the darkness that we were stated to be in.   Most unsaved people still do not realize that they are in this darkness because they do not see it. I will emphasize once more that Jesus is not claiming to be a natural light. He is claiming to be a spiritual light and that will become greatly significant as we continue on in this study.

What we have been learning only concerns the subsidiary subject of “who”. The “who” subject study is nothing but a sub-category study within my primary subject of the “kingdom of darkness” study. We have discovered the existence of two spiritual kingdoms in this section. One was called “Light” and the other was called “darkness”.   We have discovered that Satan rules the kingdom of darkness and God in Jesus Christ rules the Kingdom of Light. We have discovered the implied existence of a separation of powers and a partition of division between these two kingdoms. We have also further understood the existence of subordinates within both kingdoms. As Christians we were told that we were once in the kingdom of darkness but have been removed from it by the Grace of God and taken into the kingdom of light by Christ Jesus. This literally means that those who have NOT been saved remain in the darkness and there are several other verses in the N.T. that we can find to confirm this. Let’s move on to the sub-category study of “what” now.

Understanding the Kingdom of Darkness – WHAT!

What is the Kingdom of Darkness? What does God reveal to us about this kingdom realm? Is it spiritual or is physical or is it both? We should have established in the first section the beginning basic truths of “who” is in the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light. We found the ruler of this kingdom of darkness to be Satan. Satan was directly linked to the possession, ownership and control of this kingdom of darkness. I should have told you that no created being like Satan is capable of establishing their own kingdom of authority without it being given to them by God. We can learn this simple truth from a statement that Jesus made to Pilate in the book of John:

Joh 19:11  Jesus answered, Thou couldest have no power at all against me, except it were given thee from above: therefore he that delivered me unto thee hath the greater sin.

The Greek word G1849 translated as “power” in this verse means a literal “right of authority”.   Jesus speaking to one ruler named Pilate was telling him there is no power/authority except it came from God. Jesus was declaring the sovereignty of God as well as the important fact that He is omnipotent and without God willingly giving us anything we would be completely unable to take or possess anything like power from Him. No human ruler on the earth is able to have any authority unless it was given to them from God.   This is certainly true of Satan as well as for us. Satan’s kingdom of darkness and authority had to have been given to him from God. God has a reason and a purpose for whatever He does even if we do not yet understand it.

Then we further learned that the citizens in this kingdom of darkness were the unsaved people of the world. In addition to the unsaved people of the world there are also the fallen angels that reside in this realm. I could have given you Jude 1:6 to read concerning the angels that have fallen which are now held in the realm of darkness but I did not give you this verse in the previous section. There are just so many Bible verses to be found but we must search for them. Now we need to learn what this kingdom of darkness represents. What exactly is it? Why is it called “darkness”? Is this darkness symbolic of something else? What could this symbolic darkness represent?

If the kingdom of darkness consists of both fallen angels and unsaved people this kingdom has the potential to be both physical/natural and spiritual. This is because unsaved people live within a natural domain and fallen angels exist within a spiritual domain. It does become a bit distorted when we learn that unsaved people are really just spirits that reside in a natural body. When the unsaved person dies it is just like the saved person when they die. The spirit of the dead body departs the earth at the time of natural death. The saved person goes up to heaven and the unsaved person descends to be in hell. So far I have concluded that the kingdom of darkness can only be spiritual but we still need more evidence to draw a conclusion.

Hopefully you already understand about what was taught earlier that darkness represents the absence of light. Since God was called Light, the kingdom of darkness represents a realm of domain apart from God. In other words the name darkness implies that there is no God (Light) within the kingdom of darkness. However that is a difficult concept to embrace because it conflicts with the known divine quality called the “omnipresence” attribute of God stating that He is everywhere at every time. We will hopefully come to a conclusion as we continue how these two truths can co-exist where both can be true simultaneously. Let’s begin our study of what darkness is using the information found in the book of John to help establish what occurs in the domain that Satan rules and how this differs from a realm where God is in full control like in heaven currently.

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

I indicated the fact in the previous section that whatever God (Light) is the darkness is definitely not. That type of subject study for what God represents would take many, many days to complete so I will not attempt to write an entire book about what God represents including His revealed personality, His revealed character, His reveal moral values and even His revealed names. I will keep this type of complete subject study for another series of lessons in the future. However we must understand a few of the simple and basic principles about God in order to comprehend what the kingdom of darkness represents and how it is different from the Kingdom of Light.

Jesus said here in John 10:10 that the thief (Satan) came to primarily do three things and these were to kill, steal and to destroy but then Jesus reveals His antithesis purpose for coming to the earth saying “I have come that you may have life and that life more abundantly”. This single verse confirms the contrasting reality between the kingdoms of darkness verses light. Jesus clearly reveals to us that the kingdom of darkness brings to us death and the kingdom of light brings to us life. Then Jesus said the kingdom of darkness takes away from us and the kingdom of Light does the opposite.   Finally Jesus said the kingdom of darkness “destroys” and the opposite of that would be to create something good and worthwhile that has a positive purpose.   I think that is very plain and self-evident which kingdom realm that we should desire to be in and remain a part of, don’t you? Just ask yourself would you rather die or live life fully and abundantly? This is not a difficult question.   Let’s take these truths found in John 10:10 further into a new confirming dimension of study, reading in Ephesians:

Eph 2:1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;

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:

Eph 2:3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.

Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,

Eph 2:5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

These verses are teaching us the clear separation points between two opposing kingdoms. These principles contain the rules of basic opposition between hate versus love, evil versus good, condemnation versus mercy and death versus life again. Life and death are simply a repeat of John 10:10 but the subjects of steal and destroy are also found in the term doing evil. These are strong and distinct negatives versus positives. Such straightforward truths are presented to us by God in the Bible and these should be known and believed by every Christian.   We need to know these simple truths in order to conclusively apply this knowledge to what we read in the many other verses found in the Bible and in our life situations. God will not contradict these uttered truths in any other part of the Bible. If we think there is a contradiction then it is simply our misunderstanding or our misinterpretation that needs to change. God’s Word will not ever change.

In this section we have just barely started to touch on this sub-category study of the “what” found within the “kingdom of darkness” study. I could have taught for many pages on this subject but I am trying to move through the more complete study of the basics for how to study the kingdom of darkness subject. We should by now at least understand what the kingdom of darkness represents. Darkness represents symbolically whatever is evil in the world.   We should also know that the kingdom of darkness represents whatever is contained within the realm of the dead and death. We should further comprehend that the kingdom of darkness represents whatever is of condemnation. We should have just learned that the kingdom of darkness represents whatever the concept of “hate” represents. These were all opposites of what God’s kingdom of light represents and offers to everyone. Knowing these basics should help motivate us to tell others about this and help them to come out of this satanically controlled kingdom of darkness. You should not want your worst natural enemy in this kingdom. I hope you will agree and tell them how to get saved. Let’s move quickly into the sub-category of “when” next and learn when the kingdom of Satan came into existence.

Understanding the Kingdom of Darkness – WHEN!

In order to understand the kingdom of darkness more clearly we now should investigate when this kingdom originated and when Satan obtained the official rule of this kingdom. These are two different dates within time past as we should be able to learn as the lesson continues. Ask God, did the kingdom of darkness always exist or did the kingdom of darkness have a beginning? We should remember from studying previous sections that Jesus declared in the Gospels that Satan possessed this kingdom at the time of His appearing on the earth. Jesus was born of the virgin approximately 4000 years after Adam’s creation and this has occurred approximately 2000 years from the present date for a total of nearly 6000 years.   These numbers will become more significant in learning about the kingdom of darkness when I tell you about what God reveals in certain verses on this subject. I will warn you up front that in this section there are potentially controversial hidden Bible realities presented. These can be complex and intended for more mature Christians. I did not expect for this lesson to become advanced but this part of the topic will cause a transition from milk to meat to occur. This sub-topic study will be much more unconventional in nature than any of the previous sections. It will require more thought and study and potentially a deeper understanding of other Bible basic truths that will not be taught here. Therefore, if you are reading this lesson being a new Christian, you might want to skip this section for now. Thank you for judging yourself in your ability to eat more meat than milk.

Many times in the Bible, God does not present all of the information in plain viewed terms for everyone to automatically see and understand and this part of the study will certainly be an example of one of these. The time of the origin of the kingdom of darkness is not directly stated and can only be found by searching and studying the hidden clues that are concealed by God using natural symbolism and metaphorical terminology. We must find these hidden clues with the Holy Spirit’s help and then allow Him to teach us what they exactly mean for our subject study. I will probably get several negative comments about how my Bible study methods do not fit within all of the rigid set of man’s created exegesis standards, methods and steps. However, I cannot help how or where God shows me what He wants to say and if you wish to ignore what He is saying then I have no problem with that. Just please don’t leave me any negative comments if you do not see it or agree with it. My salvation and your salvation does not hinge upon when the kingdom of darkness came into existence. Therefore this is not a subject that is needed for our initial or continued salvation.

Let’s begin our study of “when” the kingdom of darkness came into existence with some strange verses that you may not directly associate with this spiritual kingdom of darkness subject study:

Isa 45:7  I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

This is a very controversial and easily misunderstood verse of the Old Testament.   Many Christian people believe that it tends to say on the surface that God created both darkness and evil for an implied purpose. In other words people use the extreme sovereignty of God teaching to believe that God designed darkness and evil to fulfill a divine purpose to intentionally accomplish something wicked in our world. However, this type of belief would violate and contradict other revealed truths that God is good and in Him is no darkness (evil). So how can evil come from a God that is only good?   “Create” in this verse is the Hebrew word H1254 and it certainly means “to create” something. But, were these words “I create darkness and evil” what God intended for us to emphasize from this verse? Even I will admit that it does say that God created darkness and evil in half of the phrases in this verse but that is not the entire phrase statement and taking a small part or even half of a statement out of context will normally produce an erroneous interpretation and understanding. Here is another rule for sound Bible interpretation, “Study the context and apply the surrounding word meanings to understand the meanings of the words being focused upon”. I hope you understand this rule. This is exactly what we are about to do.

The term “create” is H1254 and it is used by God to describe His verb action that was placed upon the noun “darkness”. This term is used by God repeatedly in this way in the O.T. including in the first verse of Genesis 1 where God says “In the beginning God created (H1254) the heavens and the earth”. Therefore I do not deny that “darkness” appears to be a created substance from God. However we must realize that there is more than one way to create something. Wow, I’m not sure if you understood that last statement yet. It was a very deep statement. A process of creating is so diverse and can be accomplished in so many ways that it boggles the mind to comprehend them and place them together as acts of creation. For example, to create can be any of the following:

  • To Make
  • To Generate
  • To Produce
  • To Manufacture
  • To Assemble
  • To Form
  • To Fabricate
  • To Craft
  • To Build
  • To Construct

 

Most of these terms represent someone taking one or more existing substances to produce a newly designed substance or article. For instance a cotton shirt is created first by a farmer picking the cotton from the field. The cotton is then cleaned, processed and dyed and becomes thread. The threads are loomed together to make fabrics. The fabrics are then shaped, cut and assembled to create the shirt. These are all creative steps of a more complete process and this is something you need to consider when reading anything about creation or creating in the Bible. Determine what was created and then back up to see what was used to create it.   There is also another challenge to consider about creation of objects.

You see darkness is not technically a created substance. We cannot package and sell a substance of darkness to anyone like it was gold, silver, oil or whatever. If we could sell darkness, the person buying it could open our package and see that there was nothing present because any light would cause the darkness to vanish. I also want to say that there is a satanic line of thought going on that claims darkness is the greater substance and light only exists because the darkness is not present and that is stupid. As we continue please remember that darkness is nothing but the absence or the removal of Light and this is so critical to understand.

Let’s go back to the beginning phrase and study this initial statement for the contextual application to the secondary verse statements. Reread the entire verses statement all together. Did you notice the antithesis of two opposing realities in this verse? Both light and darkness are being mentioned as they have been in many other verses that we have been studying. Now ask God “Why didn’t you say “I create the Light” here in this verse anywhere? Did you notice that God used a different Hebrew word (H3335) for the verb action that He applied to the noun light?   Why is that? You are going to have to get into the details if you ever want to understand the Word of God. If you are not asking God deep questions when you read His Word you will never find any deep answers. Do you understand this? Now let’s allow God to show us the deep answers.

We have previously seen that God declares Himself to be Light in 1 John. Remember God equals Light by the stated law of spiritual definitions and the laws of mathematical equivalency. In other words whatever qualities exist for God these must also exist for Light and this is basic applied logic and math. Was God created? If God was not created then Light was not created either. Because God always existed, Light always existed. God did not ever change from darkness to light at any time and does not change from light to darkness at any time. This comes from the Bible truth found in Malachi 3:6 where God declares to us His never changing consistent nature.

God did not use the term “create” for Light in Isaiah because Light always was in God. The Hebrew term (H3335) translated as “formed” is a new word that means to form or shape an existing substance and that is totally different than creating any brand new substance. Forming a substance would be like molding clay as a potter. In other words God is saying the clay (light) existed but that He applied the pressure to the existing substance (light) to direct it into a new form for a very specific shaped purpose.   Did you hear what God just said? Did you understand it? What happens to light when it is focused? Think of a dark theater with a man singing on the stage. A light appears at the back of the theater but this light does not usually light the entire room. Why because it is highly focused. This is called a spotlight or spotlighting and it is used to direct focused illumination upon the person that needs your attention and in this way it will cause our vision to only see him and this is basically what God is saying in this verse in Isaiah. Now are you beginning to understand who this focused attention represents? Who is the majority of the book of Isaiah about? Is it not Jesus Christ? God just said that by Him directing or focusing the light the darkness was created so that we could see Jesus Christ. Wow, I think that was pretty awesome if you understood it.

Think in terms of created natural light concepts because these contain hidden spiritual light concepts. The sun produces our main source of natural light. The earth turns and one side of the planet has the light visible and the other side has only the presence of darkness visible. This is exactly the process of focused light occurring. It is also the process of an object blocking the light from shining to create a dark place and this must also be considered. What I want you to learn here from this verse in Isaiah is that Light always existed and darkness is nothing but the absence of light because the light was either blocked by an object or was focused (formed) by God to direct us to a new focus. I do not have the time to go into this verse in any more depth today so let’s move on in this study to a new set of controversial verses:

Psa 136:8 The sun to rule by day: for his mercy endureth for ever:

Psa 136:9 The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever.

These are either some of the strangest verses in the Bible or they mean something that we do not yet comprehend. Why would God mention two antithesis realms of natural reality using kingdom terms in direct succession? There are also two opposing kingdom rulers mentioned here in these verses.  Did you notice that?  If you will observe there are at least 5 important keywords in these verses that are critical to link to our spiritual kingdom study. When studying a Bible subject we need to look for hidden verses that are about our subject but do not mention the subject directly and these verses are hidden examples of this principle. I call this the law of synonymous association or relation. God will often hide information for us to find anywhere in the Bible using natural symbolic phrases that are directly related to a subject like darkness but never mention the word darkness anywhere in the verse. He will hide the connection to darkness by selecting a word like “night” instead which is dominated by darkness. These types of verses are little concealed clues that present information that we may not relate without His guidance and direction. If you will observe closely in this verse God is speaking of two opposing realities again. One is called “day” and the other is called “night”. Of course day is where sunlight prevails and night is where there is no sunlight and darkness prevails. Did you notice how this information conforms to what I taught earlier? Day is not night and night is not day. They do occur simultaneously together but rather night becomes day as we have been learning about from verses in the New Testament.

sunrise1Do you remember this concept of Christians being brought out of the spiritual darkness into the spiritual light? This is the exact same natural concept of night becoming day when the sun rises. I hope you have read all of my other Bible lessons on this subject. According to the N.T. salvation is the rising of the Sun of Jesus Christ in our hearts as revealed by God in 2 Peter 1:19. In this verse God describes the spiritual Day Star (Sun) to be rising in the spiritual hearts of all those that believe in Jesus Christ. This was taken from the concept of the natural sun dawning or breaking forth and becoming brighter and brighter at the beginning of every day. This daily natural concept occurs in the Spiritual realm and it has not been widely taught or understood by Christians. However this was hidden within creation and revealed by God for us to learn from. What we have just learned is that light and darkness can be synonymous terms for day and night.

Now notice in these verses that there is a Hebrew word, Strong’s number H4475 which was translated as “rule” in the English language. This Hebrew word is very important. It is a word that means “to rule”, “to govern”, “to have power over” and “to have dominion over”.   These are clearly “kingdom” terms where a kingdom potentate like the king oversees his subjects. Why is this relevant? Do you already see the connection to the kingdom of darkness and the kingdom of light that we have been learning about in the New Testament?   God simply uses the approach of applying new synonyms for calling what is light and darkness by different names or titles in order to hide this information in these verses for us to find.

This Hebrew word H4475 was first used by God in the book of Genesis. This is called using the law of first mention where God takes us to a subject introduction to teach us overall important subject principles. The first mention of “rule” occurs in the very first chapter of Genesis during God’s description of day 4 of creation. If you have read my other Bible lessons on Genesis and creation you already know and understand that each day of creation represents a “day” period of natural human history. God created our world in 6 days and then rests on the seventh day. Each of these creation days represent a 1000 year “day” period of time and I came to this conclusion by using what God revealed to Peter in 2 Peter 3:8. In this verse Peter quotes an O.T. verse from Psalms 90:4 and this verse informed us that to God a spiritual day can represent a 1000 year period of time. This is again called God’s spiritual definition of a day and it helps us to understand how certain verses within creation can be interpreted to be understood from both a spiritual and a natural perspective concurrently. Please do not misapply what I just said.   I believe that almost every verse has a natural literal interpretation and that God uses this natural information to give us a view into something else within the spiritual realm.   However, this is a very advanced spiritual topic. So I will move on. Let’s review some spiritual explanations of day and night using the New Testament briefly:

1Th 5:4 But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.

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.

1Th 5:6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.

1Th 5:7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.

1Th 5:9 For God hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ,

We could go over a lot of detailed information in these verses but I will give you the quick overview only. God is teaching Christians that they abide in the day and are walking in the HIS light. God just connected day to be equivalent with light and this light is the Word of God and His voice that leads us. Then God teaches us that those that are not saved are sleeping in the night and living in darkness. God just connected night to be equivalent with darkness and this is why I could find those verses about night and day in the Old Testament and they related to my subject study. All of these are very clear descriptions of two opposing kingdom realms. Christians should be living and acting differently than those that are not saved because of the presence of Light (God). God further declares that those in the light will obtain mercy and those in the darkness will obtain wrath and this is so important to know. It saddens my heart tremendously to think of people who do not want to know the truth.

We should be beginning to see how these subjects of “day” and “night” apply to our study of the kingdom of darkness. Let’s go back and read the first chapter of Genesis from the beginning to end. As I said day 4 is when God sets the Greater light (sun) to rule the day and the lesser light (moon and stars) to rule the night. Again these are opposing spiritual kingdom symbolic representations with opposing symbolic rulers. What God is telling us is that after 4000 years of human history He will separate and establish a rule of the spiritual light/day which is different from the rule of the spiritual darkness/night and this occurred when Jesus came to the earth to save us. Please take note that I did not say that the kingdom of darkness came into existence on day 4 during this 4000 year time after Adam when Jesus came to die for our sins. I only said that Satan was given the rule of this kingdom of darkness and night which God called different from the rule of Jesus over the kingdom of Light and Day.

Now if we go back and refer to light and darkness in Genesis chapter 1 to find the initial references to our subjects, we can apply God’s law of first mention again to discover these two entities were to be separated by God on day 1 of creation.  In this verse God says He called the light day and He called the darkness night further connecting the two together forever.  Therefore whatever night is darkness is by the law of mathematical equivalency.  However you will still find in Genesis that prior to the beginning of day 1 that darkness already existed in verse 2. God appears to give us this fact when declaring that darkness covered the earth at the beginning and I believe that this was a hidden way to say that the earth was already dominated by the kingdom of darkness when the earth had been destroyed completely. Remember what John 10:10 said? Jesus said that Satan (the ruler of darkness) only came to kill, steal and destroy and this is clearly the status of the earth before Day 1 of creation begins. It is safe to conclude that Satan had destroyed the earth.

However, we should then begin to see how from Days 1 through day 6 that God continues to give life one day at a time and this further matched what Jesus taught us in John 10:10 where He said I came to give life and give you that life more abundantly. We can clearly see after 6 days of creation that now life dominated the earth without the introduction of any death into this new world.   Let me say this again a little differently. The world began in darkness and then notice on Day 1 of creation God says “Light Be” and then light was. God was symbolically giving us more clues that He was coming to the earth to create a new kingdom of light separate from darkness in order to give us life. Go back and review day 1 closely. In verse 4 of Genesis 1 you should see where light is separated from darkness and in verse 5 God calls the darkness night and the light He calls the day. These are all symbolic representations of two opposing spiritual kingdoms moving through transitions during the 6000 years of human history.

I know this will not be received by all Christians. But that is OK, your salvation and my salvation does not depend upon when Satan’s kingdom came into existence so please do not call me a false teacher that leads people to hell simply because you don’t agree with me. Perhaps if you knew what I knew you would see why I believe this way. I also think if you continue to study the Bible deeply that you will find that there are other Bible verses that give us more clues of clarity to this being a reality. I am just not going to try to explain this in any detail in this lesson. The details of these truths are found in other lessons on this website.   Find them and read about what God has hidden.

What I have done in this section is to review in a very quick format the timing of when the kingdom of darkness was established. The moon in this verse in Psalms 136:9 and Genesis 1:16 is a symbolic representation for Satan. Night is a symbolic representation for the kingdom of darkness and this is ruled by Satan according to Ephesians 6:12. The sun in Psalms 136:8 and Genesis 1:16 is a symbolic representation for the Lord Jesus Christ who is called the Sun of Righteousness (Malachi 4:2). The kingdom of Light is found within our spirits according to 2 Peter 1:19.   God is establishing a separate Kingdom of Day through Jesus Christ apart from Satan’s kingdom of night. If this was not important I would not be teaching this repeatedly in several lessons. We need to understand when God does things, why God does things, who it affects and even how God accomplished them.   I will recall that I call this the “Who, What, When, Where and Why method of Bible study. So far I have answered the first three questions of who, what and when by studying what God has revealed and given to us to know in His Word. I will now move on to the subject of “where” is the kingdom of darkness?

Understanding the Kingdom of Darkness – WHERE!

darkness5Where is the kingdom of darkness at this very moment? Has it always been there? Is it in one location or in multiple locations? Will the location ever change? Is it within a physical location or within a spiritual location or even both? These are the basic questions we will focus upon using the Bible in this section. We have already learned from the Bible that the kingdom of darkness exists and that Satan a created spiritual being is in control of this realm but, how do we define its present location? If someone asked you to describe where the kingdom of darkness is right now, what would you tell them? I have already given a brief introduction to this subject of where earlier. In that introduction to the subject we talked about that the kingdom of darkness could be spiritual, natural or even both at the same time. Hopefully we will learn more about how to resolve these questions as we continue in this section.

This will probably be the last of the “W” questions that I will answer in this 5 W Bible study because I am running very long. In order to find where the kingdom of darkness exists today we will need to search the Bible for scriptures about darkness and see if any of these hold direct clues for us to learn from about this location. However, there is also another technique for searching the Bible to find where the kingdom of darkness is located and this is by us searching where the Kingdom of Light is located and knowing wherever light is located the darkness is not there by God’s created laws of antithesis truth. Perhaps you have never heard of this law either but it is a very basic rule of understanding created by God. For many subjects that we study in the Bible we can easily find the opposing subject which can be of greater, equal or even lesser magnitude to learn what our subject is not. The opposite of good is evil, the opposite of alive is dead, the opposite of being present is being absent and on and on we could go. There is always more than one way to learn about any given subject so we must be open to however God wants to teach us. We will begin this section with the words in red spoken from Jesus Christ.

Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

I know this verse does not mention light or darkness but it does mention “kingdom” and “God” and since we have determined in this lesson that Jesus is God and He rules the kingdom of Light then this verse fits with what we need to know and apply to the location of the kingdom of darkness. Jesus is talking to the Pharisees answering a direct question about when the kingdom of God is coming to the earth and Jesus answers this question with a mysterious response. Jesus does not say when but rather He says where and this answer probably just confused the hearers. The natural Jews were looking for a physical natural kingdom of God led by a great physical messiah to establish this kingdom here on the earth. But Jesus shakes the foundation of Judaism by saying stop looking on the outside in the natural because the kingdom of God will be on the inside in the spiritual. Wow, that is a very tough concept to understand for natural minds. How is it even possible for a kingdom to be internal and not seen by the physical eye? You can clearly read in the context in verse 20 that Jesus says it will not be found in any visible place. Jesus was teaching them and us about spiritual kingdoms and this is a key to understanding the kingdom of darkness also. We must begin to realize that the kingdom of darkness is not a natural kingdom nor can it be seen either.

This is where correct Bible study becomes a little trickier. We need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to correctly be led how and when to apply the laws of interpretation. Also learning when and how laws apply to interpretation will become clearer as you continue to learn more Bible subjects. Truth will always build upon truth and will fit together rightly without conflict. Truth will never contradict truth and these rules always apply to whatever you study. If the kingdom of light is spiritual and not natural as Jesus implied does that mean that the kingdom of darkness is natural by the law of antithesis? After all natural is the opposite of spiritual in many viewpoints. We could easily make that wrong assumption but still we would need confirming witnesses to determine what we believe no matter what laws we apply. One law of interpretation that is always in effect is the law of 2 or 3 witnesses that God says we must follow to establish any truth. Therefore if the kingdom of darkness is a natural location we should be able to find at least 2 scriptures to point us to that conclusion.

I’m going to take a brief bunny trail side trip journey on another unrelated subject for a moment just for the benefit of my serious students and readers. I received an ignorant comment from someone that I will not identify and he said most of my Bible lessons violate my own rules of interpretation. He failed to ask any questions assuming his own ability to perceive what I knew and in his pride and arrogance made himself unwise. I do not always give 2 or 3 witnesses in every Bible study on every subject that I mention. If I did this I would probably have to double the size of every Bible lesson and would publish far fewer lessons and less frequently. I must balance all of the words that I could say with your time and ability to study them. Just because I don’t show 2 or 3 witnesses to every statement made does not mean there are NO OTHERS that are available. Before you criticize someone it would be extremely wise to find out what they know and what you don’t know by asking basic questions instead of assuming you know everything that God has taught me. Let’s go back to the kingdom of darkness study.

We should have learned from this that one primary location of the kingdom of light is inside the human spirit. But is the kingdom of darkness the same? Let’s look at a new verse that we have not covered to see what God said to us on this subject of location.

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

If Christians have now been called out of the darkness into the Light of Day Kingdom then this could change the antithesis truth focus to a brand new perspective. If you are a Christian let me ask you this question, were you previously in a physical dark kingdom or a spiritual dark kingdom? I believe it is obvious that I was in a spiritual dark kingdom.   I hope that you believe that you are now in a spiritual light kingdom because the kingdoms of this world are those that Jesus said for us to not look at. However the concept of light and darkness sounds like the cycle of day and night when the sun rises every morning.

What I am attempting to do is to cause you to think in a brand new way from a different spiritual perspective. A natural kingdom in the natural world can be in darkness for approximately 12 hours and then it would transition into the natural light of the sun for another 12 yours. This day and night concept teaches us a central or single point of change reality. In other words the physical location did not change because it was only the entrance of the light on the location that changed to bring it into the day to leave the night. Wow, I don’t know if you got that or not but this is exactly what we need to know.

This new information about one physical location being changed should cause us to begin to think differently about spiritual kingdoms. The Kingdom of light should be viewed to be the same location as the kingdom of darkness but now with the entrance of light. This means we need to know what light represents in the Bible and that becomes an entire study in itself. If you have read the other Bible lessons that are on my website you should have already learned that God’s light is us knowing his word. We can learn this simple truth by reading Psalms 119:130 for example.

Therefore, the kingdom of light and darkness must be a spiritual condition within the same internal unseen part of the human spirit where God’s word is now present where it did not exist in the darkness before. What I am saying is that the kingdom of darkness are those people that do not have the light of God’s word and the kingdom of light are those that have the light of God’s Word.   Did you understand what I just said? What God is saying is that if Christians have now been transformed into the kingdom of light then it was the same internal region that had previously been darkened until the light arose. Therefore it is only the non-Christians or the unsaved people of the world that are those that are in the kingdom of darkness right now because they have not let God’s light inside their hearts.  Here is a new verse to help us further understand this reality:

Eph 5:8  For ye were sometimes darkness, but now are ye light in the Lord: walk as children of light: (KJV)

Eph 5:8 for you were formerly darkness, but now you are Light in the Lord; walk as children of Light (NASB)

I included two different translation versions to help us understand it more clearly. The KJV translation seems confusing and contradictory that we can flip between light and dark at almost any time. But the NASB states it differently to say that we have changed once from darkness to light and the light is now present so we must choose to believe it and walk like the light is present by faith since we do not see any literal light. Practically everything that we have received from God in the N.T. is faith based and you should already know that. I am going to provide a new verse that regresses to the subject study of what the kingdom of darkness is to help us learn where the kingdom of darkness is located. Read this next verse very carefully:

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

Notice that God links the Genesis 1 symbolic topics of speaking light into the darkness in this verse and this information directed us to learn about the subjects of day and night during the creation event. God just gave us a huge clue that the Genesis account meant more than just the natural appearance of our world. Now notice the spiritual application of this creation event where the Light is commanded to shine in the New Testament. The light is shining in our hearts (spirits). Wow, Wow, Wow!!!   This is called symbolic typology where God uses naturally created things in the seen world to teach us about unseen spiritual things in the N.T.   Again this is all a “where” reality but now notice the inclusion of the “what” reality being connected directly to the subject of “where”. Spiritual Light is defined by God to be the “knowledge of Jesus Christ”. Knowledge is a very deep subject that I do not have the time to fully cover in this study. However this knowledge can only be the knowledge of the Word of God. So we have a second witness to what I just said before. I get really excited about the Word of God and how it comes together.

I have really only introduced this subject of where the spiritual kingdom of darkness is located but I just can’t teach the entire subject in a sub-section of a bigger lesson topic. Let’s further confirm the internal location of darkness with a new verse that has not been mentioned so far. We will turn our Bibles to Ephesians chapter 4 and start reading with verse 17:

Eph 4:17 This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye henceforth walk not as other Gentiles walk, in the vanity of their mind,

Eph 4:18 Having the understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart:

What is natural blindness? Natural blindness is the inability to see natural light. What is spiritual blindness? Spiritual blindness is the inability to see spiritual light. What was spiritual light according to the definition we just observed in 2 Cor 4:6? Spiritual light is God’s Word and this means spiritual blindness is not being able to see God’s Word. These are just more spiritual basics that every Christian must become aware and learn. What we have seen is a spiritual way to think about two kingdoms that were in the same location but do not exist at the same time in that location. This location is the human spirit and we are all either in one kingdom or the other based upon if we have received the Word of God or not to bring us light.

Now let’s end this section with a new and different perspective on where the kingdom of darkness is located. We should have just learned that the kingdom of darkness resides in the spiritual realm from the several verses that we have encountered on this subject. However, have you ever considered that even spirits have limits to their realm of travel?   There are many Christians that believe spirits can go wherever they like but that is not what the Bible teaches.   We will be going through a few of these verses to demonstrate the limits that God has imposed upon spirits.

Rev 5:13  And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honour, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever.

Have you ever read this verse and observed what was stated? In this verse there are several domains or realms of existence mentioned. Within these realms there are specific “creatures” that exist in each realm.   The three main realms given to us by God in this verse is first heaven, second on the earth and third under the earth. It is implied that the creatures of these realms do not normally travel from one place to the other places. It is interesting to note that the land and sea of the earth are mentioned and these are also two realms that do not normally cross over into each other. People can go underwater for a limited time with proper breathing equipment but normally fish and other sea life cannot live upon the dry land and I think this is an interesting natural concept that relates to the spiritual realms mentioned.

Let’ talk about the realms of heaven and earth to begin. We should know from reading several Bible verses that angels do come from heaven to enter into the earth realm and then can return back to the heavenly realm. We can see this for example in Daniel 10:13 where God sends Gabriel and Michael from heaven with a message to answer a prayer that Daniel prayed. We can also read in Job chapter 1 where Satan and his angels can even go back to heaven from the earth. Maybe you will remember that this reality was expressed by God in Genesis 28:

Gen 28:12 And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

Hopefully you can see that God tells us the angels are capable of traveling or moving between heaven and earth with what appears to be a staircase like access portal of transportation. The Hebrew word used for ladder can mean something like a “stair case”. This verse implies that there is a way for God to remove the ladder and close this method of transportation between the two realms, but I do not have a direct verse for that right now so that is just my opinion. Now let’s briefly talk about the realms of earth and under the earth mentioned in Revelation 5:13.

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

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

Here is an example of the realms of earth and under the earth and their participation to how the two interact with each other. Two men on the earth die in this story and Jesus said Lazarus went to Abraham’s bosom and the rich man goes down to hell after their death. This is direct information from Jesus about how the people of the earth traveled after death to below the earth’s surface before the resurrection of Jesus. Both went below the earth but to two different locations.  However after the resurrection of Jesus the Christian people no longer go down to Abraham’s bosom but rather go up to be with the Lord in heaven as described by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:8. But there is more information found here in this story concerning the rich man and Lazarus that should be considered. For example the rich man if you read down in the chapter asks Abraham to send someone back to the earth to warn his brothers not to come to this place of torment. This literally means that the rich man was unable to return to the earth to do this even desiring to return and that is very important to know. It appears from this that people in hell are limited to that location indefinitely. But, we can also learn clearly that people in the realm of Abraham’s bosom can return to the earth if God permits based upon reading the account of the Mount of Transfiguration where Elijah and Moses show up on the earth to talk with Jesus in the flesh (Mark 9:2). The disciples witness this event and want to build a tabernacle to honor the occurrence but Jesus ignores them.

If you have not yet figured out what I am doing I am going through the recorded interactions between three different realms of stated reality in the Bible. We can find where heaven participants can come to the earth. We can find where earthly participants can go up to heaven. We can find where under the earth participant from Abraham’s bosom can come up from there to the earth and we can find where earthly participants can die and go down to under the earth. We have pretty much covered the general terms of interactions between these realms. However, we still need to notice something else found in Luke 16 to help confirm what I taught on spiritual limitations and boundaries being found present. Read this verse very carefully notice what God says through Abraham:

Luk 16:26  And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.

Wow, this verse claims that spirit beings can be limited to one place never able to go to the other place. Abraham very clearly states there is a great gulf fixed between us. What this verse claims is that God can put up an implied partition that prevents even spiritual beings from traveling from that place that is being referred to or even to that place. Do you understand the implications of that statement? It is implying that those in hell will not be getting out.   It also implies that those that are saved will not be able to visit hell to see their relatives, friends, spouse or even children in hell. What this further implies is that even with a glorified body, people will not be able to go wherever they think they want to go. Now let’s move into a new realm of thought concerning these three different dimensions of existence. Read this next verse very carefully and determine what is missing and not included:

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

One of the three stated realities is missing from this statement that Jesus spoke of. Why was the realm of under the earth omitted from the rule of Jesus’ authority?   Why didn’t God give Jesus authority over the underworld? I guess I should have explained that the Greek word translated as “power” means authority. This word translated as “power” denotes delegated control over both on the earth’s surface and in heaven.   What this statement implies is that the location for the kingdom of darkness is not in either of these two realms of existence called in heaven or on the earth. The kingdom of darkness cannot be anywhere that the kingdom of light exists and the kingdom of light is definitely all of the realms of Jesus’ authority. What we are learning is the final location of the kingdom of darkness.   God is teaching us by indirect reference that wherever Jesus does not rule, Satan will rule. We have already seen that Satan controls the hearts of unsaved people. Now we are seeing that these unsaved people will reside in hell and this is where they will be ruled for an eternity.   Let’s look at another Bible verse about this truth found in 2 Peter.

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

Hell is described to be a place that exists under the earth. I have another series on the reality of hell so I will not repeat all of those verses in this study. This verse contains more confirmation and further information of the inability to come out of the realm of hell. The angels that sinned are those that have fallen with Satan and these are further reduced to mean that those that had sex with the daughters of men in Genesis 5. These were the angels that have been bound in a realm of darkness using a symbolic representation of chains keeping them from leaving that realm. We have just observed God’s ability to limit even angels from moving place to place. These were angels that previously walked in heaven but now have left their place there to be cast into hell.

I have just introduced you to the subject of where is the kingdom of darkness. It is presently in the hearts of men and women that have not heard the Gospel or did not believe the Gospel because of the blindness of their hearts. These people have the chance of leaving that kingdom of darkness to enter into the kingdom of light if they receive the knowledge of Jesus by faith before they die and then as we have observed there is no second chance given to them.

CONCLUSION

We have been going through the 5 W’s (Who, What, When, Where and Why) of the kingdom of darkness. We did not cover the subject of why the kingdom of darkness exists. That is a very complex deep and controversial subject and would probably take more than what I wrote here to describe it. This could be your homework if you want to extend the effort and if you are brave I would like to hear about what you find in the Bible. Please do the homework and share your answer with everyone to “why the kingdom of darkness” exists.

I thank you so very much for being a faithful reader and serious Bible student.   If you have enjoyed learning from these lessons please tell your friends about the website so more can come and see what God is doing.   Until the next lesson may God continue to bless you and keep you strong spiritually, mentally and physically as you grow in His marvelous grace! God Bless.

Bible Answers: When did Satan Fall from Heaven?

Lightning194(Ver 1.2)  This lesson will be a detailed advanced Bible answer addressing a very difficult question.  I received this question from someone after they read the Revelation 12 series of lessons.  I will warn you that this is an advanced Bible study designed for only for spiritually mature Christians.  Spiritually mature is defined as anyone that has been born again and Spirit filled more than 5 years that has studied the Bible continually during this time.  It also means a Christian with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and daily fellowship with Him.  These positive qualities will allow spiritual growth of the fruits of the Spirit to occur.  You may or may not agree with that definition but this is generally how God has taught me to view it.  This Bible lesson will go over some very technical concepts even though I will attempt to describe them as simply as I can.  This Bible lesson will introduce some new concepts you may have never heard before and thus it will be controversial in nature.  I ask you to be the judge of your spiritual maturity.  If you feel that you do not qualify to meet the criteria for an advanced Bible study, I would recommend that you go study a different Bible lesson on my website.  I try to warn new Christians of this at the beginning of many of my advanced Bible lessons so that I do not offend anyone with a meat lesson when they are in need of a milk lesson like Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 3:2.

The root of my reader’s question was “When did Satan fall from heaven?”  The reader’s question arose from the specific part of the Revelation 12 lesson that taught us everything after chapter 4 of Revelation is future tense and has not yet occurred.  This part of the Revelation 12 teaching was established upon a literal interpretation of God’s statement to John from the voice speaking from heaven in Revelation 4:1.  This voice told John to come up to heaven so that he could be shown things that would soon happen after being taken up to heaven.  The clear conclusion drawn from this statement is that nothing that is recorded by John after Revelation 4:1 has yet occurred or the voice from heaven would have been made a liar.  Since the Bible declares that it is impossible for God to lie, w should just choose to believe what He said literally.

Why was this question asked about when Satan fell?   There is a potential conflict brewing with two different verses of the New Testament.  First, reading in Revelation 12:9 we can see that Satan is finally cast down to the earth never to have a place found in heaven again.  This occurred after an intense war  in heaven that takes place between Michael and his angels and Satan and his angels.  It was further revealed in Revelation 12:4 describing the dragon’s tail to have swept 1/3 of the stars out of the heaven.  This teaches us that 1/3 of the angels were fighting with Satan and 2/3 remained on God’s said and fought with Michael.

This war occurring in heaven in Revelation 12 would indicate that the casting down of Satan from heaven is a future event and has not transpired based upon Revelation 4:1 and 12:9.  But my reader was prompt to point out that in Luke 10:18 Jesus claimed to have seen (translated as beheld a past tense English word) Satan fall from heaven like lightning and this would cause a major conflict with what I taught in the Revelation 12 series if they are speaking of the same fall of Satan event.

falling_star_to_earthThe statement that Jesus makes in Luke appears to indicate that Satan has already been cast down from heaven.  So which one is it?  1) Did Satan already fall from heaven as stated by Jesus in the KJV or 2) will Satan’s fall occur in the future as indicated by Revelation 12?  Or 3) did Satan first fall in the past and then the final fall will occur in the tribulation when he will fall from heaven again for the last time?  There are just so many possibilities and difficult questions to answer and learn about.

IS EVERYTHING AFTER REVELATION 4:1 IN THE FUTURE?

This section will be a review of what God said in the previous lessons on the “True Identity of the Woman in Revelation 12”.  If you have read that and do not dispute what was taught then you could skip this section of the timeframe prophetical review.  However if you would like to learn some new things concerning this and how we resolve this significant Bible conflict please continue to read.  A potential scripture conflict is the reason for the rest of this Bible lesson today.  I have discovered that whenever scripture appears to contradict other verses in the Bible, God is presenting us an opportunity to think in a new higher spiritual way.  This is usually us seeing things from His perspective above rather than from our natural human perspective below.

One key to understanding the Bible is to come to this realization.  It is impossible for the Bible to be in direct opposition or contradiction to itself when every verse is interpreted correctly.  Therefore, I hope this resolution to the conflict has peaked your interest and curiosity to learn how to resolve future conflicts that you may encounter in your Bible studies.  Therefore, if you want to learn when Satan was thrown down from heaven please continue reading.  Let us review the verse in Revelation 4:1 to begin our study to resolve another Bible controversy on whether Revelation 12 is future tense or past tense or both:

Rev 4:1  After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me; which said, Come up hither, and I will shew thee things which must be hereafter.

The Greek word G3326 which was translated as “hereafter” is also many times translated as “after” or “afterward”.  If you are observant you will notice that the verse begins with this word and ends with this word.  In this usage it indicates a specific position within the dimension of time beyond the previous timeframe of events that had just been described.  This is God describing events using a logical order of expressed or implied events in their properly arranged sequence.  I hope that did not sound too technical.  I’ll try to explain.  For example if event A occurs first, followed by event B next and these are followed finally by event C, then B would only come “after” A and C would only occur “after” both A first and B second in this collated sequence.  It is basic step 1, step 2 and step 3 in this order only.  No other randomization or variation can occur because of the laws of created time sequence.  I pray that we all understand the concept of ordered arrangement and sequence?  These are God created patterns and models and they represent His intelligent design of our world.  Time only moves forward for us.  We can potentially move to the future, but we are never able to move backwards to return in our past to fix any of our previous mistakes.

Keep in mind that this same Greek word is used several times in this exact manner to state a preceding event followed by another subsequent stated event like in “after (G3326) 6 days Jesus takes them up” (Mat 17:1).  Using this definition that I just gave you it is very plain that at the conclusion of a 6 day period of time event, Jesus is said to initiate a new event of going up.

Now take this information back to what was given to us by God in Revelation 4:1.  God’s usage of this word in Revelation 4:1 means after the events conclude in Revelation chapter 3 concerning the church, John was taken up to heaven where he will be shown more events that will come in the future and this is actually a very important concept for the rest of this lesson.  This is not rocket science but there are people that still refuse to believe what God just literally said.  Let me give you the sequence of events given to us in Revelation 4:1:

  1. After all of the things recorded in the first 3 chapters
  2. John is taken to heaven
  3. John is shown the future
  4. The future is given in ordered logical sequence

There were four ordered steps given by God in this verse.  I have concluded in step 4 that the future is given to John by God in mostly sequential order because of the establishment of order from the preceding steps.  In other words the revealed future events are simply an extension of the previous steps given.  Therefore, nothing in the future could be random, unordered or chaotic when shown to John to be written down.  Knowing these facts, any attempt to interpret any recorded event of Revelation chapters 4 through 22 as a “past tense” historical event renders God as a liar.  Was God incapable of understanding the difference between future tense events and past tense events?  I personally do think so and just choose to believe what God says literally.

Now let me quickly to get into a new point about Revelation 4:1.  The apostle John was a prophet of God, yes?  Wasn’t John just shown the future before it had occurred?   Could this have been given to him by a divine spiritual vision from God?  I believe firmly that it was a divine vision of the future.  After this vision of the future what would John’s description of these events have been to those that he would be speaking to in the physical natural realm?   Do you understand what I am asking you?   Could John have said in talking about the woman in Revelation 12:1  “I beheld (saw) this woman clothed with the sun and the moon under her feet and it was amazing”. I know this was not what is written in the Bible but ask could John had said this while talking with one of his co-workers in the faith after returning from the vision?  Could this future vision description have been a past tense statement even though it had not yet occurred.   Now do you see it?   John the prophet could speak like it had already happened even though it was still yet to come.   I want you to keep this in mind as we study what Jesus said about having seen (past tense) Satan’s fall from heaven like lightning.

The fact that Revelation 4:1 states that the things following are future events causes many Bible teachers great turmoil and confusion simply because they cannot or do not yet understand how some of these recorded events in Revelation can be events that have not already occurred.  For example the vast majority of Bible teachers teach that the pregnant woman of Revelation 12 is the historical account of the birth of Jesus.  These Bible teachers simply believe that some events like this one in Revelation 12 concerning the pregnant woman were recorded by John “out of sequence and order” from the stated timeline of reference given to us clearly by God.  However, just because someone does not understand how an event can happen in the future does not mean that it will not happen and we need to know that.   One natural woman giving birth to a natural male child named Jesus in the Gospels does not mean that this same type of event can not or will not spiritually occur again in the future!  I probably just lost a lot of readers making that statement.  You see the woman in Revelation 12 is a spiritual woman and not a natural woman as I have already taught you in that lesson series on this chapter.  She is symbolic by definition because she is wearing symbolic clothing and standing on a symbolic figure of Satan.  This symbolic woman cannot be Mary.  This symbolic woman cannot be natural Israel either.  I’m not going to teach this again so if you do not understand it please go and read those lessons and believe God will help you to see it.

There are just so many Christian people who are not thinking spiritually in this world.  I wish people would quit pretending that they understand the whole Bible because only God knows it all and the rest of us are still learning.  Please stop making assumptions in your mind that limit what God is capable of doing.  If you did not just comprehend what I said, I will say it again using different words to help everyone realize that I believe firmly that everything after Revelation 4:1 happens in literal and basic chronological order and has not yet occurred because the beginning of the 7 year tribulation period has not yet begun.   Chronological means time sequenced events, it is a word that defines a series of situations where one event comes after another event and they do not and cannot occur out of the ordered sequence of time.  But, please also realize that the Book of Revelation does have chapters that describe multiple subject viewpoints of these future sequenced events.  For example, Revelation chapters 11 and 12 are totally overlapping with 4-10.  Chapters 11 and 12 both describe events that span the first 42 months of the tribulation.  Therefore, they overlap in the future and describe concurrent events taking place simultaneously.  God does this to provide us multiple event descriptions concerning different subjects.  I just want to mention this to help you in your future study of the this book.

Here is the problem with many teachers’ interpretation of the book of Revelation.  They are viewing things from a narrowed perspective of traditional theological teachings filled with error and not thinking or taking into account the facts provided by God.  Also they do not rightly divide between which verses are literal statements and which are symbolic or figurative statements.  Further they do may not discern correctly between spiritual realities and natural realities.  Many Bible teachers must ignore Revelation 4:1 in order to teach an out of sequence series of events.   They are very creative in doing this and it often appears legitimate until we read the verse in Revelation 4:1 and actually begin to believe what God literally said.   One of the number one rules of correct Bible interpretation will be for us to take the Bible literally when it makes sense to do so.  Revelation 4:1 is an example of this type of verse that states a literal truth that needs to be properly incorporated and balanced with the rest of the book of Revelation.

I will point out that I have heard Bible teachers revert back to the first chapter of Revelation in order to explain how things later in the book occur out of sequence.  They use a statement made by Jesus to help justify what they teach about Revelation 12 being out of timed sequence.  I will give you this statement by the Lord Jesus to help you better judge this attempt at believing an out of sequence book of Revelation:

Rev 1:19  Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;

It is clear that Jesus tells John to write about three things for us to read.  Therefore the entire book of Revelation is a revealing of God’s wisdom from the lips of Jesus Christ.  You need to understand that “revelation” in the Greek language means “uncovering” or “to take off the cover”.  Therefore, God has placed information in this book that is very important for us to understand the rest of the Bible.   But, then Jesus divides these written things into three separate categories of timed events or references within an age.  These three age categories were 1) the things that were “past”, 2) the things that are “present” and 3) the things that shall be hereafter in the “future”.  However did you just notice that these three timings were listed by God in the chronological order that they occur and they were not given to us out of sequence?   That is the first very important thing that needs to be understood about the book of Revelation.

Jesus is giving us a direct clue to how things are ordered and arranged in the book of Revelation.  Jesus confirms with this statement that the entire book is in chronological ordered sequence.   Then notice that the Greek word for the future events (G3326; hereafter) is the same Greek word used by God in Revelation 4:1 for the same coming future events.  In other words God is very consistent in the definition of this Greek word for “hereafter” in the book of Revelation when it is used in this manner.

I have heard at least one Bible teacher try to take this verse in chapter 1 and attempt to use it to explain how the book of Revelation contains “past”, “present” and “future” events, which is a true statement.  However they take that truth and add an error, when they say these past, present and future events occur in an integrated or combined mention in the same context in the book of Revelation.  There is an attempt to misapply Revelation 1:19 to explain why certain chapters appear to contain past historical information that they believe are not in chronological order.  The claim is stated that since Jesus said this book contains every category of timed information that it may legally display these in any random order without making Revelation 4:1 untruthful.  However, that would be an erroneous assumption based upon ignorance and it would still contradict with what God said literally in Revelation 4:1.  Which is true?  Is Jesus speaking in Revelation 1:19 the truth or is the voice coming from heaven in Revelation 4:1 truth?  I will tell you plainly that both statements are correct and truthful.  There is no contradiction between them both when rightly applied. The statement of Jesus is true for the book of Revelation and the statement spoken by God in Genesis 4 is also true concurrently.  The only way they can both be simultaneously true is for everything after chapter 4 to be the future 7 year tribulation that has not yet occurred.  This is not that complicated.  Let us please pray together and ask God to open our spiritual eyes so that we can see His truth and not our private interpretations.

ASKING JESUS WHEN SATAN FELL

The previous part of the lesson was just the introduction for the answer to the real study question topic.  The question asked by the reader was based upon the fact that if the later chapters after chapter 4 of Revelation are future tense “how could Jesus’ have stated in Luke 10:18 that He saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven” and also be true?   I think we have already seen one potential answer to this problem but we will verify that answer using the Bible to help us to be more assenting of the truth.  Perhaps it would be wise to review the exact verse in question that appears to contradict with the statement of Revelation 12:7 to help us understand the apparent predicament:

Luk 10:18  And he said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.

Here is Jesus making the bold statement that He personally “beheld” (past tense) Satan falling from heaven.  If this is a correct translation then it causes us major problems to determine when this occurred.  Since Jesus spoke these words prior to the implementation of the New Covenant it is logical to conclude that this must have occurred somewhere in the Old Testament.  However, I looked and I could not find any verses that said this.  But, perhaps you have seen a verse somewhere in the Old Testament that I have not seen.  Perhaps you can share it with us so that we might all learn.  Are there any past recorded Bible events prior to the Gospels where Satan is stated to have fallen from heaven?  Do you know of any?  I believe that I found some O.T. prophecies of this occurring in the future but that is not the same as a recorded historical event.  I believe us not finding any verses prior to this statement that Satan has been cast down from heaven makes me think it has not occurred and thus we need to resolve why this verse Luke was translated as past tense like the casting down had already happened.

What my reader was asking was how could Jesus have already seen this event describing that it appeared that it had previously transpired when Revelation 12 had not yet occurred?  This was an absolutely great question.  I pray that more serious Bible students would not be afraid to ask hard questions to God or anyone.  I know God knows the answers and He is willing to share these answers to anyone that seeks to find them.

This is where we must learn the correct way to study the Bible.  God gives us many hidden clues to find truths if we can locate them and use this information to correctly join and fit them together correctly. Every normal Christian would really like to see the truth easily without any extended effort to work and study and that is not how we find the truth by God’s design (2 Tim 2:15).  It is my goal to help teach people some of the many keys to understanding and resolving Bible conflicts.  Please, continue reading with an open mind and allow the Holy Spirit to help us.

Personally I have only found a limited number of scriptures concerning Satan falling from heaven.  One prophecy is found in Revelation 12 that points us to this future event occurring during the first half of the tribulation.  Then you can also find this prophecy of Satan falling in the book of Ezekiel if you read Ezekiel 28:16.   I think I will give you this prophecy so that you can review what God says about it:

Eze 28:16  By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.

The covering cherub being referenced in this verse is believed to be Satan.  God declares that he will be cast out of the mountain of God.  If you do not understand that this is a reference to God’s heavenly kingdom and the Holy mountain Zion in heaven, I’m sorry but I don’t have the time to try to explain it in depth today.   Notice in this verse, that the translators clearly state this to be a future tense prophetic statement and I firmly believe this to be very accurate.  If we study we will find that the book of Ezekiel was written close to 600 years before Christ’s first physical appearance on the earth.  Now using Ezekiel’s prophecy we must logically determine that this casting down event has not yet occurred before Ezekiel wrote this book.  We are definitely narrowing the scope of time when this event could have possibly occurred.  I hope we can agree that Satan could not have fallen or been cast out of heaven prior to the writing of the book of Ezekiel, but still you could have seen something that I have not.  Let me give you another verse of prophecy concerning Satan’s fall:

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Here is another verse that is probably mistranslated.  Again the translators changed the Hebrew word H5307 to “fallen” a past tense variation of the word.  However, this Hebrew word is defined as “to fall” by Strong.  That sounds future tense to me.  There are over 400 times that this Hebrew word  occurs in the O.T. and it was translated as “fall”, “fell”, or “falling” to name just three examples.  Therefore, it is possible that the word might could be viewed as past, present or future tense.  But, it is most often translated 151 times as “fall” present tense.

Perhaps if we read the context of this statement we will find more information about the timing of the event.  For example in verse 15 God says “You shall be brought down to hell, the sides of the pit” and this was translated as future tense.  Then in verse 24 God makes a further confirming statement of future tense that is very profound and important to note about what has just been spoken of previously through the Prophet Isaiah:

Isa 14:24  The LORD of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand:

God tells us clearly these are His thoughts spoken and that these will come to pass in the future.  Therefore I am still a firm believer that Satan has not yet been cast out of heaven but will be soon as established by the Word of God.  We could spend a lot more time going through O.T. prophecies but I think I will move on.  Let’s go back to Luke 10:18 and look into this verse in some more detail.  We need to ask, did Jesus really say this casting down of Satan had already occurred in the Greek language?  Let’s review the Greek word translated as “beheld” to learn its definition in the Strong’s:

G2334

From a derivative of G2300 (perhaps by adverb of G3708); to be a spectator of, that is, discern, (literally, figuratively [experience] or intensively [acknowledge]): – behold, consider, look on, perceive, see. Compare G3700.

If we can read and understand the definition it should become evident that this word is normally a present tense view of something that is currently happening right now.  The person performing this verb is stated to be a current observer.  This Greek word occurs in around 55 verses of the New Testament.  In 40 of these verses it is clearly translated in the present tense version of “see”, “seeing”, “seeth”, “beholding”, “looking on”, “behold”, “beholding” and etc.   However I will agree that it can also be legally translated as a past tense observation and either way it could potentially be correct.   But, this determination is also more complicated than this as we will soon learn.  What we need to determine, is Jesus seeing the event as He is speaking or has He seen the even at some time previously in the past?   Both are technically possible since Jesus Christ is God in the flesh.  But just because Jesus has seen the event does not still necessarily mean that it has transpired just like John saw the future in Revelation before it had occurred and he could then speak to seeing future things that have not happened in from a past tense point of view .

Please understand that God is omniscient and has seen everything even before it occurs (Isa 46:10).  God has the knowledge and the ability to show a human the future before it occurs and it is in God’s sovereign control to do so.  “GOD DOES NOT LIVE WITHIN THE CONSTRAINTS AND LIMIATIONS OF TIME”.  Uh oh, now we can begin to see where I’m going.  Let’s review another statement that Jesus declared about this potential event:

Joh 12:31  Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.

I believe that there are at least three events that can be confused as one event within prophecies.  These three separate events are 1). the rebellion of Satan, 2). the casting out of Satan from heaven and 3). the casting out of Satan from the earth into hell.   This statement here in John could be either of the last two.   Confusing or combining multiple prophetic events into the same event is a very common cause of error.  We can see this in multiple instances.  For example, the rapture of the church is often confused with the second advent of Christ but these events must also be viewed as separate or confusion will abound.

Here in John 12:31 Jesus is talking about Satan calling him the prince or ruler of this world that will be cast out.  This statement does not appear to be translated as past tense and should be regarded as a future tense prophecy.  It is not stated directly when Satan is to be cast out from this verse.  It also does not state directly where Satan will be cast out from.  It could be taken as the world that is being referenced or it could be heaven or even both.  I personally believe that this prophecy could be the same prophecy as we have already observed in Ezekiel or it could also be a reference to the prophecy in Isaiah 14:15 where Satan is cast into hell.  This is why studying prophecy is so potentially complicated.  Let us look quickly at another verse that is interesting and many teachers attribute this verse to Satan falling from heaven:

Rev 9:1  And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

we must begin by understanding “stars” normally represent “angels” in the Bible.  We know that stars represent angels by reading in Isaiah 14:13, Revelation 1:20 and Revelation 12:4 to name just three witnesses to this fact.  This verse in Revelation 9 is describing an angel coming down from heaven at an implied fast rate of speed as if being thrown down.  However, this angel cannot be Satan because this angel holds the key to the bottomless pit where Satan will be cast later in Revelation 20:3.  It is logical to deduce if Satan is thrown into this pit by force later in Revelation that it cannot be him that holds the keys to it coming down from heaven.  It is possible that this angel coming down represents Satan because of his name given to us in Revelation 9:11 as the Hebrew “Abaddon” and the Greek “Apollyon” which both mean “destroyer”.  Since we know from John 10:10 that Satan has only come to the earth to “kill, steal and destroy” it would appear that this is a reference to Satan being cast down to the earth where he releases some nasty demonic powers to torment humans.  Let us examine Revelation 12:9 to one of the main verses that is in our question.

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

My reader made a valid interesting point that Luke 10:18 appear to contradict with what Revelation 4:1 and Revelation 12:9 appear to say.  But perhaps we have not considered all of the facts before assuming there is a controversy.  You see it is impossible for the Bible to contradict the Bible if both verses are accurately interpreted and accurately translated.  Also if Jesus had already seen Satan fall from heaven then it must have happened sometime after the books of Ezekiel and Isaiah and before Jesus was born in the manger.  But we must understand there exists other verses in the O.T. that state that Satan has direct access to heaven.   For example, Satan is clearly seen to be in heaven in the book of Job.

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

Here is a great example that Satan and his angels come to present themselves before God’s throne in heaven as they will.  This verse in Job is referring to a spiritual location and not a physical or natural one.  If God allowed Satan to present himself in heaven before His throne, then this teaches us that the final fall of Satan from heaven has not yet occurred when Job lived on the earth.  Can we agree with this?  If Satan has access to heaven in the Old Testament can we ask if he still has access in the New Testament?  Let’s go and read Revelation 12:8 next to see what is stated by God about Satan:

 Rev 12:8  And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.

Didn’t God just declare that Satan’s place is now no longer found in heaven after this war with Michael?  That statement literally means that Satan had a place in heaven right up until this war event concluded, doesn’t it?  Can we agree that Satan had a rightful place to be in heaven before this end of war statement and being thrown down?  Perhaps you don’t see it yet, but that is what God just said.  I think we need to read down to the next verse 9 to help confirm what God has revealed to us in this verse 8 statement:

Rev 12:9  And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. 

Ok, notice who God is speaking of.  The Great Dragon who is also called the “old serpent”.  Wow, this is profound revelation.  This is informing us that the previous verse is both the “serpent” in the garden” and the “dragon in the tribulation” and his name is Satan.  Wow, this information confirms that Satan in Genesis was not already cast down nor was the dragon in Revelation at the beginning of the tribulation already cast down permanently either.  These two facts of truth declare the same Satan in between these two bookends of the has not been cast down either.  Now, observe the ending statement, Satan was cast down to the earth “with” his angels.  This means they both had a place in heaven until this war occurred.  Let us read the next verse in Revelation 12:

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

Please read this verse very carefully and consider what God just said.   Notice the phrase “Now is come..”.  This is a future tense prophetic proclamation. Then notice that this is being spoken from heaven.  This verse indicates multiple time periods with “past, present and future” implications occurring.  God is stating something that use to be that has changed at this stated present time in the future and this will cause something different to occur from the past accesses.  Pay particular attention to the last part of the statement.  God says “for the accuser of our brethren is cast down which did accuse them before our God day and night”.  The accuser of our brethren is another reference to Satan.  The brethren are those saved people in the church.  Now do you see it?

This verse said that Satan was in heaven standing before God to accuse Christians, doesn’t it?   Uh oh, I thought Jesus said that Satan had been cast down from heaven like lightning? How then could Satan still have access in heaven to accuse Christians before God both day and night (continually)?  A little light bulb should be coming on in our brain right about now.   This verse claims that Satan continued to do what he did with the man Job in the book of Job going before God to accuse God’s righteous ones all the way through to the tribulation.

If this is true and it is, then it is impossible for the statement of Jesus in Luke 10:18 to be fully interpreted or understood in the way that my reader with the question wanted to understand it.  In other words Jesus was telling us of an event in Luke that had not fully occurred even though He had already been given a vision of it occurring by God.  I believe from Jesus’ point of view it had occurred in the spiritual eye viewpoint but from the physical timeline perspective it was still yet to occur.  Let me prove to you that Jesus claimed to be a prophet of God:

Mar 6:4  But Jesus said unto them, A prophet is not without honour, but in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house.

Here is Jesus speaking about the people of his own hometown where he was raised as a child.  Jesus claims in this statement to be a prophet of God and He says no prophet is given any honor by those that knew him.  If Jesus is a prophet what is that?   How do we define what a prophet is and what they do?  I will give you the fast definition.  A prophet is called a “seer”.  A seer is someone who sees and can foretell the future before it occurs in the physical time dimension.  This literally means that Jesus’ statements must be judged correctly to whether they are past, present or future references.  Jesus is certainly capable of speaking of the past in many verses and He does.  Jesus is also certainly capable of speaking about His present time on the earth in many other verses.  Finally, Jesus can also speak of things that have not occurred in many verses and He does this many times also.  I have become a firm believer that the statement of Jesus in Luke 10:18 is a vision of a future account of an event that has not officially transpired.  But our salvation is not dependent upon believing this therefore believe what you like if you disagree or see it differently.  I would be very happy to read your comments on this subject.

CONCLUSION

God is a self-existent being with no stated beginning and no stated ending.  God lives inside the spiritual dimension of eternal existence and outside of the created dimension of time.  The Bible very clearly states that God makes known the end from the beginning (Isa 46:10).  If God knows what the future holds then God can and does tell us of it before it occurs as proven by the Bible consistently.  Reading Luke 4:24 Jesus claimed to be a prophet.  A real prophet will always tell us of the future before the future occurs and it will never fail.  A prophet is also called God’s seer and voice.  A prophet will see things in visions before they literally occur in our reality and write them down for us to learn from.  This is exactly what Jesus is saying in this verse:

Joh 13:19  Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

Did you see what Jesus declared?  Jesus teaches us that He will tell us of things to come so that when they occur people will believe in Him.  All of the evidence that I have found in the Bible about Satan being cast out of heaven points us to an event that has not occurred.  This event will take place after the war in heaven during the 70th week of years found in Daniel. This prophesied war will be between Michael and his angels and Satan and his angels.  Satan will continue to accuse Christians until this war has been completed and he has been cast down to the earth.  Satan will continue to dispute our righteousness because Christians are imperfect people that still fail but have been saved by the divine grace and mercy of God.

Remember what God says in 1 Peter 5:8.  God said to the church that “Our adversary the devil goes about as a roaring lion seeking whom him who he may devour”.  The Greek word translated as adversary literally means our legal opponent in a court of law.  God is warning Christians that e can be taken to the High Courts of Heaven to be accused by Satan.  There wuld be no need for any warning if we could not found guilty and Satan given access to devour us.  Please understand this access into heaven is what is being terminated during the tribulation.

I thank you for taking the time to read this Bible lesson.  I hope and pray that you received some new knowledge that you did not know before on this subject.  If you have any questions or comments you are free to leave them with us and I will do my best to get to them all.  God Bless you until next time.

Understanding Isaiah 53 The Savior Jesus Christ Described in Extraordinary Detail – Part 2

Isaiah-Bible-Series(ver 1.1)  This is Part 2 in the Isaiah 53 Bible lesson series designed to help discover, learn and understand the prophesied coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.   In this series we will see who Jesus was stated to be, what He was stated to accomplish and how we are to be affected by these prophesied divine works.   If you have not read “Part 1” I would recommend that you go and start with the introduction to this subject in order to understand the foundation for the rest of the Chapter.  In the first lesson I focused mainly upon verse 1 and gave several verses found in the N.T. to help explain why this chapter is so important for us to understand.  We will now continue to go through verse 2 in Isaiah 53 to see what was described for the concealed unnamed individual that was foretold to come.  The book of Isaiah was written approximately 700 years before Jesus Christ was physically born on the earth.  That gives us a perspective that these written words were a distant prediction and we will soon see additional confirmation within the New Testament that this person being spoken of was definitely Jesus Christ.  In the first lesson I believe I clearly showed you that this chapter was used to preach the saving Gospel in the book of Acts even to get a Gentile man from Africa saved and baptized.  This man from Africa came to Jerusalem searching for truth and God sent to him a preacher to explain the words of God that he was reading directly from Isaiah 53.  That was a very important Bible lesson to help us to begin to see who this chapter was designed to be about and the chapter’s primary subject theme to be salvation of all mankind.

So often people want to read the chapters and verses found in the Old Testament and believe that they can understand all of the words without first understanding the God given words that explain them in the New Testament.   That is an example of complete foolish human pride to think that way.   Why would God give us a New Testament full of divine revelations, explanations and definitions if they were not all important for us learn from and apply to what was hidden in the Old Testament?   Did you know that the Old Testament is quoted in almost one in every 22 verses of the New Testament?   That means that God took what was previously written before and brought everyone brand new light to it for us to understand something that no one knew before.  I hope that if you learn nothing else from this Bible series that you will learn to study the Old Testament using the vital information revealed within the New Testament.  If you are reading the Old Testament in complete isolation then you are exactly like the Ethiopian man who was sitting reading while wondering what the words meant because he needed a New Testament preacher to explain them to him.   Wow, I hope and pray that you understood what I just said.

In this Bible lesson today one of my primary goals will be to show how Isaiah 53:2 was fulfilled in the New Testament writings to further demonstrate to us that Jesus was the focused subject of this chapter.  One of the other goals of this study will be to teach you how much detail you can derive from just a single O.T. verse.  In this series I will be going over what the verses in Isaiah say and then will be reviewing N.T. verses that will show us the hidden Jesus of Isaiah. But before I do this since it has been so long from the first lesson I will do some brief review of the first lesson concerning the message of salvation.   In the first lesson I explained to you that these saving works of God recorded in Isaiah 53 were received by men and women using their faith.  We also connected faith to believing from Isaiah 53:1.  We learn from God’s Word in Roman 10:17 that faith can only come by hearing the Gospel preached by a preacher.    Many Christians do not put the puzzle pieces together correctly.   God teaches us so much in a distributed manner and we are required to join each of them together correctly to understand how they all work together.  For example let me give you the verse that goes along with what I just said and how it was necessary for a preacher to come to the Ethiopian man in Acts for him to receive Christ:

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?

This verse describes precisely how the Ethiopian man in Acts was saved.  Did you understand the connection between the three essential elements of preaching, hearing and believing?   This was a divinely created design given to us by the wisdom of God almighty for salvation.  We must begin to understand this in order to comprehend why people cannot normally read the O.T. in isolation and know what it means.   It would be good for you go back and reread Isaiah 53:1 again.  God is clearly talking about humans believing the Gospel here in Romans 10 and He tells us that we need to hear a preacher with the Gospel of Jesus in order to believe it.   Remember “Who will believe our report?”

This is so important that I believe I need to say it again.  You see from this lesson in Acts we learned that reading the Old Testament is not always the answer for our salvation unless the reader comes to understand the words on the pages correctly.  How did the Ethiopian man come to understand them?  He was told them by a God sent preacher and that required him to hear and believe.  That is what faith represents.  The Ethiopian had no new words to read and could only believe the report that was told to him about Jesus.  That is called believing without any evidence and that is exactly what faith is.  You see in Hebrews 11: 6 it clearly says that without faith it is impossible to please Him.  How then can a man be saved without having any God pleasing faith?   Do you understand the necessity for a preacher now?  I hope that you understand that God will usually only explain the O.T. words by teaching them to people through a N.T. preacher.   That is the system that was planned by God and we are to follow it.   Trying to do it some other way is clearly a pathway to deception.

In the first verse I showed you how it was quoted in the New Testament to bring out a new way of existence for the people on the earth to learn to live by, to follow in and to walk accordingly.   This radical new way of existence is revealed to be the human transition or transformation from walking by our sight into a life based upon us walking by faith and believing in God’s Word (2 Cor 5:7).  This life of faith is based only upon us believing as it was clearly stated in verse 1 “Who has believed our report?”   When a person hears a preacher speak the Word of God, the listener has the immediate opportunity and responsibility to believe it and accept it or doubt it and reject it.   Hearing and believing is the essential foundation for possessing faith as I stated earlier.   I would also like to emphasize that the Bible in Romans 10:10 teaches us that believing is of the heart (spirit) of man.  This makes faith and believing a spiritual reality and not a physical one or even a mental one.  Therefore, heart faith in His Word is found present in the spirit of man by God even though that person possesses no physical evidence to prove to others that God exists.   Nevertheless God declares that they are saved by believing the report through His Grace (Rom 10:10, Eph 2:8).   Faith is a vital lesson to learn in the Bible.  I hope that you all have studied the series of lessons on this website about this subject.

We have therefore concluded that Isaiah 53 must contain the basic essential Gospel message that was necessary for every human salvation to occur and I taught that this is the foundation for understanding the rest of the chapter.   We still desire to learn more about the descriptions concerning Jesus spoken of in this chapter and how they apply to Him.   We additionally want to learn about what was prophesied to transpire as well as how these subjects, relationships and applications of each prophecy apply to us in the church today.  How do these ancient words written so long ago affect us in the right here and now?   Why are they important to learn?   Are they still relevant and rich with any spiritual content for us to grow with?    We will soon find out as we continue to study in this series.  In the first lesson I primarily focused on the first verse of Isaiah 53.  In today’s lesson I will be mainly concentrating on the second verse in the chapter.  Let’s read the second verse carefully and see what God says.

ISAIAH 53:2

Isa 53:2  For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.

Read this verse wisely and observe the very unusual words and descriptions given to us concerning two unnamed or anonymous men.  At first glance it almost appears to be a brand new subject entirely from verse 1 but that is only because we do not understand the application and significance.  God uses a very unusual way of hiding the truth in plain sight that I call the “anonymous third person” writing style.   By referring to Himself using this style of anonymity it appears it could refer to anyone.  However I have discovered that the primary focus of the entire Old Testament is the Lord Jesus and that is what this verse is clearly about.  Just notice that this second verse of Isaiah 53 is speaking about two uniquely different men (males).   One is an observer and the other is the participant of the observation.  Those are opposite roles being described.  This is the first significant fact to write down and remember from this verse.

As you can read this verse says “He (man 2) will grow up before Him (man 1)” and that is plainly speaking concerning someone who grows and someone who observes the growth.   I labeled the second man mentioned the first man and the first man mentioned the second man for a logical reason.  There is no reference for the observer as needing any growth so the observer must already be grown and mature.  There is direct stated basic logical need for the first mentioned man to grow and mature.  Therefore the order of implied age dictates that the observer is older than the one implied younger man that will grow up.  Nothing else makes good sense for the correct interpretation of this verse.

Please do not get too distracted by this divine mystery of anonymity because these two men are simply symbolic references for the Spirit of God called the Father in heaven and Jesus the Son who was born on the earth to grow up to be seen by His Father in heaven.  I do not have the time to teach the full subject of “The Trinity of God” in this lesson.  God is described as being only one God in the Bible but He is also revealed to humans as three separate personalities (1 Jn 5:7).  So if you do not understand this or believe it you need to go read and study the Bible lessons on my website about this subject.   We need to understand this fact of the Father and Son relationship in Isaiah 53:2.   When my son was a growing child I clearly observed his growth and development.  That is exactly what is being spoken of in this verse even though it was not directly mentioned.   But in order to know this we next need to understand what type of “growth” is being spoken of concerning this coming individual.  We will begin to focus on the meaning of growth next.  But before we go there also notice that this statement being made by God is very clearly presented to be a future tense event.  In other words the verse did not say “He is growing (present tense) or he has grown (past tense) but rather “shall grow” (future tense).  That truth comes from just basic observation and represents the nature of prophecy.  Before we proceed to the meaning of “grow” let’s take a moment to speak about literal Bible statements versus figurative Bible statements.

There are actually several symbolic or figurative (non-literal) descriptions being used by God in the verse in Isaiah 53:2.  Any symbolic statement needs to be correctly interpreted in order to discover their meaning and application to this coming described man 2.   Too often people want to make the Bible entirely literal or entirely figurative and both are extremes of error that will cause only confusion.  Being able to recognize what is literal and what is a figurative or symbolic statement sounds simple but it is not consistently agreed upon by many Bible teachers much less their Bible students.   However this is what God called “rightly dividing the Word of Truth” (2 Tim 2:15).   Learning how to do this is an essential part of correct Bible study.  I wish I had a magic formula for how to do this.  But most of the time it is the Holy Spirit inside that will guide us into which is literal and which is figurative.   Being open to God’s leading will cause you to see it correctly if you are studying the Bible using your faith.   Bible study performed by faith is the only way to please God.  This simply means that you read a verse without completely understanding everything immediately but believe that God will show you everything that you need to know about it as you continue to study it.  Having confidence and trusting God to show you is part of a “faith study”. Never go into studying any verse thinking that you fully know and understand it all.  Be open and ask God to teach you and then expect for Him to do it.  God can show you something brand new from any single verse that you have read a thousand times.  Believe and expect God to unfold it to you and He will.  Let’s start breaking down the second verse in Isaiah 53.

HE SHALL GROW UP BEFORE HIM

We will divide the second verse of Isaiah 53 into at least three or four distinct phrases.  I’ll select the initial study phrase as “He shall grow up before him” to be analyzed first.   The primary verb in this phrase is “grow up” (H5927).  The English dictionary defines “growth” as the process of increasing in physical size.   We should be able to understand that any type of growth represents a process of becoming more mature.   Therefore the observer in this phrase is seeing the other man developing, increasing and maturing and this will be the visible signs of his growth.   We can conclude several different potential meanings and applications from this single statement concerning the normal development, growth or maturing process.  There is always the natural human application of a child’s physical development when born into the world.  Every new born baby has the potential to grow to be a man or a woman over the course of time by God’s design.   Therefore, physical or natural growth is certainly a prime application for this described process found in Isaiah 53:2.  There is also the mental application where every human baby must grow and increase in knowledge, understanding and wisdom which none of us are born with automatically from birth.  Finally there is the spiritual application which must be applied to a Christian as they gain spiritual maturity.   Spiritual maturity is covered in other Bible lessons on this website so I will not be getting into that part of the subject fully today.  What I want you to understand is that there at least 3 realms of potential maturity present in every human and these were physical, mental and spiritual growths.

The Hebrew word H5927 which was translated as “grow up” literally means “to ascend”.  It is very similar to a person climbing a very tall mountain like Mt Everest.  This Hebrew word presents to us the image of the initial human status to be a state of lowliness which needs to be increased or raised to a much higher level in altitude, stature, importance or it can also be used for the recognition of increased power, knowledge or ability.   Those definitions actually describe Jesus in many distinct ways.   What we learn from this one statement is a view into a sensitive subject that is widely debated in the modern church.  Was Jesus fully divine or fully human at His birth?   And I must begin to tell you clearly that He was both simultaneously to some extent.   What many Christians try to teach us is that Jesus was born here on the earth in His full deity power but that is clearly not what the Bible just taught you.   If Jesus was God in His full deity power there would be no need for him to ascend higher to grow or increase because this would be impossible for God to do in a full power manifestation.  The simple fact that Jesus must grow and increase is evidence to the fact that He was here on the earth in a predominately human capacity in order to fulfill a divine purpose that will be further confirmed as we continue to study this chapter.  Are you with me so far?

What we will discover as we continue to study the Bible is that the supreme God of heaven lowered Himself by divine choice to come to the earth in the form of a created human baby to grow in order to become a man that could die for the sins of the entire world.   Again it would be impossible to kill Jesus if He was God in His full deity power.   I really hope and pray that you can agree with those statements because they are very relevant to understanding the rest of the New Testament.   It was only after the death and resurrection of Jesus that He was raised back up into heaven and again exalted to be Supreme (Mat 28:18).  This as I have just stated is a highly controversial topic.  Whenever God is described to lower Himself from His supreme position of authority to become a human as it was clearly indicated in the fact that He must grow (ascend) people recoil and think God must have misspoken or not meant what He said.  There has been so many false teaching and false gospels written by devil inspired men.  These writings claim the child Jesus did many miracles of a nature to prove his divinity.  That is not what the real Bible says so please do not be easily misled by these lies.

I can see how this information is potentially offensive to many Christians but please bear with me until you see how this part of the prophecy was actually fulfilled in the New Testament.  I’ll begin with these verses found in Luke about the very young child Jesus.

Luk 2:5  To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.

Luk 2:6  And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

Luk 2:7  And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Here is a partial description of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.   We can clearly read in verse 5 concerning the natural human child development process taking place within the body of Mary.  The Greek word G1471 that was translated as “great with child” means to swell.  That is a self-evident growth statement.  Mary is described to now be “great” or “swollen” because of the child inside.  This simply means it has been nearly 9 months of development in earth’s time and this child that has come from the union of her physical egg and God’s Word has now grown and developed into a boy child that is about to be delivered in verse 7.   Clearly this is an example of the natural human growth process that occurs every day on the earth which was designed and created by God.   We must understand that God the Spirit has taken upon Himself human flesh and come to the earth in the form of a developing embryo within the physical womb of Mary (John 1:14).   Now please consider the implied meanings of this act of God.  This reality would make the developing baby child in her womb a non-speaking human which is totally unable to defend himself.  What did I just say?   I can see the religious people picking up their stones to throw at me right now.  What I just said was that Jesus while in the womb had taken the form of extreme vulnerability and lowliness.    If you do not believe me then you are living in a fantasy reality that ignores the millions and millions of abortions that take place on this planet.  Truly if any baby child in the womb was able to defend itself there would be no abortions but since they occur so frequently this was the same situation that Jesus found himself to be in.  Even after a child’s birth they are unable to take care of themselves and must be fed and cared for.  Jesus did not come out of the womb speaking so that is stupid to believe He was fully divine in full power manifestation.

You should be able to understand that before Jesus was born on the earth this child that was definitely God in the flesh was primarily protected by first and foremost the element of surprise since no other human except for Mary and Joseph understood the exact timing of the event even though God had predicted the birth to occur in amazing hidden ways in the Old Testament.   Do you remember when Mary delivered the child in Bethlehem?  The angels announced the child to shepherds (Luke 2:8).  That was the first time that anyone else on the earth during this specific time period found out who had just come into the world.   Later the wise men were guided to the house of Joseph and on their journey there they went through Herod first and that caused every child to be killed that was in or near the country around Bethlehem.    If Jesus would have remained in Bethlehem he too would have been killed.  What we see is divine protection taking place, yet this was certainly not initiated or requested by the little non-speaking child.  Do you understand this?

There were also other recorded interventions by God using angels to help the child to be safe on the earth.  For example in Matthew 2:13 you will find Joseph having a dream where an angel appears to him and tells him to take the child to Egypt.   However, even this intervention just further proves that Jesus was not God on the earth in His full deity power if angels were required to help protect Him.  I hope that you are thinking clearly with me about this subject of growth and seeing what is being taught to us in the Word of God.  What I am attempting to do is demonstrate how Isaiah 53:2 was fulfilled by Jesus in the Gospels.  The first phrase that “He will grow” is clearly being fulfilled here in Luke 2:5-7.  Jesus grows physically and that is the basis of one part of the description that is necessary to accomplish that portion of the prophecy.   Let’s go see some more applications of the spiritual and mental growth process being described to us in this same chapter of Luke:

Luk 2:40  And the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.

As you should be able to see in this verse Jesus is literally described to be in a state of “growth” within the natural physical realm.   The first part of the verse describes Jesus as being a literal “child” in the normal development cycle and this certainly has direct application to the physical body of our savior.   The Greek word G837 that was translated as “grew” means to “increase”.  That is again a transitional passing or ascension from a lesser form to a more advanced or mature form.   The Greek word for “child” is G3813 and it means “a half grown or young person”.   If you go back to verse 12 in this chapter to compare when the angels tell the shepherds in the field about the birth of Jesus, He is called a “babe” which is a completely different Greek word G1025.   This Greek word G1025 means a literal “infant”.  What we have just witnessed in less than 40 verses is the physical change of Jesus from conception to becoming a twelve year old boy.   This is a big part of the normal child growth process and this was the direct fulfilment of this first phrase of Isaiah 53:2 very precisely.

However, verse 40 also describes Jesus as growing strong in spirit.   Have you ever asked yourself how an omnipotent God could grow any stronger in spirit?  Uh oh?  Obviously this verse contradicts with the modern belief that God was here in His full deity power.   Then notice that this verse says that Jesus was being filled with wisdom.   How could the omniscient God obtain any more wisdom?   Both of these descriptions imply a transitional state from a much lower position of lesser spiritual strength and either no wisdom or less wisdom to a much higher degree of both.  This is clearly a statement used to define His intellectual and spiritual ascent from an inferior childish state.   There are three Greek words in this verse that you should study.   The first Greek word is G837 and it means to increase or enlarge in proportions.   That is a very accurate description of what is occurring.  The next Greek word is translated as “wax strong” and this word is G2901 and it also means “to increase”.   The third Greek word in this description is G4137 and this word means “to fill to overflowing”.  All three of these words teach a transitional phase of increasing from the lesser form to a greater full capacity.  This is absolutely impossible for a God in His full deity power to accomplish.

What I am teaching you from the Bible is that no one can grow in physical size, spiritual power or intellectual wisdom if they already have ALL physical size, ALL spiritual power and ALL wisdom.  This is just a very plain and simple way that God teaches us that Jesus was born as a natural human without His full divine power, knowledge or abilities.   So many people want to say God was here on the earth in His full deity power being fully omniscient, omnipresent and omnipotent but that belief would contradict so many verses just like this one.   We must realize that God chose to become a man just like one of us so that we could be raised to be made like Him.  I call this the great exchange where God gives us everything and we get all of the benefits since we have nothing worthy to offer in exchange.  What I wanted you to see in this chapter of Luke was that Jesus was fulfilling Isaiah 53:2 by just growing up in this world physically, mentally and spiritually.   I’ll give you one more verse that helps us to see how the Lord grows or ascends up to fulfill Isaiah 53:2:

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

I mentioned this verse earlier but it is so important that I felt led to reemphasize God’s message again. Here we observe a statement that confounds religious human comprehension.   Why was it necessary for the Lord Jesus to be given ALL power both in heaven and on the earth after His resurrection?   We are still talking about God in the flesh here, aren’t we?   You see Jesus makes a claim that He did not yet possess ALL of this power before this occurred and that confuses many Christians.   But we must consider that either Jesus was a liar or we need to hear and learn about what He just said.   Why was it necessary for this power to be given to Him after His resurrection and why didn’t He possess it before the resurrection while He walked the earth in His ministry to natural Israel?   I really do not have time to go into this fully.   Just notice the implied statement of ascent from a lower position which corresponds to what we read in Isaiah 53:2.  It is just very clear to me if Jesus was given all authority on the earth and in heaven that He did not possess it before that time.   This would go with so many other verses in the New Testament and I can’t get into them all today.   Let’s go the next phrase found in Isaiah 53:2 and see what else God is saying.

AS A TENDER PLANT

tender_plant3In the next phrase of Isaiah 53:2 man 2 is described to be like something that is totally crazy.  God called him a “tender plant”.  A “tender plant” cannot be literal and must be a description of a purely symbolic nature using a common component found within creation.   What is the intended message and purpose from God’s usage of this figurative expression?   You should already understand that in any symbolic figurative expressions the object being selected represents attributes that are applied to the subject being described.  For example the symbolic great dragon found in Revelation 12 is not literal but displays the attributes of the unseen spiritual being that a human can visually or mentally relate to.   I sure hope you understand the concepts of symbolism because you should then be able to ask yourself why Satan was described as a great dragon using a symbol of power for his appearing on the earth and then ask yourself why the omnipotent God was calling himself a “tender plant” for His appearing on the earth.  Do you see what God is doing?

Therefore, what are the natural attributes of a “tender plant”?   A “tender plant” represents any new growth implying the need to mature.  A “tender plant” also represents an object of extreme vulnerability.  There are many enemies and forces within nature that can kill a “tender plant”.  We should be able to learn from this symbolic information that this coming man was designed to die.  We should also learn from this description that this coming man is not here in His full deity power so that He cannot be killed by enemies.  Any tender plant can be killed by too much water, not enough water, too much heat or temperatures that are too cold, insects, animals, etc.  Usually when God selects a figurative expression of a natural object almost everything applies within the natural having a meaning and an application to the person being described.  This is the way God designed creation.  He said very clearly that there are things that were created that show us God plainly (Rom 1:20).

This title “tender plant” just cannot be taken literally and must be considered to be a symbolic figurative expression.    Can we agree with that?   Figurative representations and descriptions are simply symbolic terminologies used to tell a greater hidden or unstated message about the subject being spoken of and knowing this will become essential in order for us to understand their meanings.   People use figurative expressions to describe other people almost every day.   Take for example the expression “Joe is a real teddy bear”.  This expression should not be taken literally but rather it projects an image of Joe of great significance using few words.  The expression “teddy bear” can represent someone that is cute, loveable, and easy to hug.  This is exactly what God is doing in this expression of Jesus being a “tender plant”.

What does the term a “tender plant”, represent in a figurative language application?  The Hebrew word H3126 translated here as “tender plant” is only found in this verse in the entire O.T.  Therefore we will not be able to use other verses to help us define this phrase.   Since Isaiah 53:2 is the only time that this Hebrew word occurs and it was translated correctly in this form of the word phrase “tender plant” we will need to look at the context first to find the definition and implied meaning.  If you look up the definition of the word in Strong’s you should be able to see that this word would also be correctly translated as a “tender shoot” as in a type of brand new plant growth.  If you examine the context beginning statement this matches what we observed in the created process of natural growth.  God is simply using the new plant shoot symbolism to teach us how Jesus will need to grow and increase in maturity over the course of time.

It is interesting to note that the meaning of this Hebrew word can also mean “a sucker”.  The term “sucker” can be applied more than one way.  For example in the plant world “a sucker” plant can be used for plant propagation.  But this term can also mean a young child and both are correct.  Consider the application of propagation because this fascinates me.  I can see this as God’s plan.  In the process a brand new sucker plant can be generated from the roots of another plant to produce a new plant.  I believe that this is exactly what God is doing in Jesus.  Keep this in mind as I continue through the verse.

This term “tender plant” informs us that whoever is being spoken of in Isaiah 53 will come into the world like a child that sucks his mother’s breast.   This is actually a very accurate description of Jesus from the natural perspective that we have just witnessed in Luke but it also has certain spiritual application.  Spiritually speaking Jesus being born into the natural world needed the written Words of God to grow in knowledge, understanding and wisdom as we previously read about Him in Luke 2:40.  So Jesus obtained His physical natural growth food (milk) from His mother’s breast as well as His spiritual food (milk) to grow from words previously given to natural Israel through the prophets by His Father.  Perhaps you missed what I just said.   Remember what Peter writes the church by the inspiration of God in 1 Peter 2:2 asking the church to desire the “sincere milk of the Word” that you may grow thereby?   God is teaching us that there was both a physical supply of food (natural milk) and a spiritual supply of food (milk from God’s Word) that caused Jesus to grow in both areas.   What we observe from this is an intelligent design scenario that was initiated from God’s original thoughts.  God planned this out from the beginning and it was fully carried out by God until it was completed.

AS A ROOT OUT OF DRY GROUND

root_in_dry_ground1Man 2 is then described to be a “root” that springs forth from “dry ground”.   This is certainly more symbolic descriptions being used by God to convey a much greater set of spiritual truths.  Consider what a root and dry ground represents in the natural and then apply this figurative information to the spiritual message being taught about Jesus.   Dry ground provides humans a place to live and walk on the earth.   However, where there is no rain or water present on or near the ground it is called a desert place.  Any desert place is not normally an inhabitable piece of the earth.   Since wet ground is the antithesis of dry ground we need to learn the differences between dry ground and watered ground.   Water is definitely a factor in this description.  This phrase is again God using a natural plant life description to describe the coming Jesus.

Everyone should know that the concept of water is essential for any life to exist here.   People need to eat and to drink in order to survive.  The presence of pure water is absolutely critical for natural growth.  What is God saying in this part of the verses?   How can a man like Jesus be compared with a root that comes out of a figurative piece of dry ground?  We need to begin to think spiritually and consider the meanings of these phrases by asking some basic questions.  What is a root symbolically speaking and how does it relate to the concept of dry ground symbolically?  Let’s analyze the meaning of “root” first.  The Hebrew word translated as “root” is H8328.   It has both a literal and a figurative meaning attached to it.   Literally speaking every tree is basically 4 parts.   These four parts are three parts above the ground and one main unseen part below ground.  That right there should give you a clue to where I’m going next.  Clearly Jesus is called the root and that is the unseen part of the tree analogy.  A root is the source and supply for life for the other three parts of the tree.  Without roots there is no tree.  The other three parts are representative of us physically here on the earth.   We the people of God are the figurative trunk, branches and limbs and we are dependent upon our food and water source coming from the root in order to live, grow and produce any fruit.  Wow, I just said so much in one sentence.  You see Jesus clearly told us without Him we can do nothing (John 15:5).  Jesus further tells us in John 10:10 that He is our source of life.  What He was saying was I am the root that supplies all of your life.

Let’s take the root, tree and tender plant analogy introduced by God a bit further.   Consider the term “family tree”.  A family tree is nothing but a figurative symbolic representation for a family using a known natural entity.  We should be able to understand that within any family the “roots” represent those that produced all of the family that came after (trunk and branches).   The branches in the family are those that were produced from progressive generations from those family roots.   I believe that these are also basic figurative descriptions of what God is teaching us in Isaiah 53:2.   Jesus being called the root is informing us of His preeminent existence which produced us and gives us life.  Let’s find the fulfillment of Jesus being the root in the New Testament.  He is clearly called the root of Jesse in Isaiah 11:10.  Later in Romans 15:12 Paul confirms that Jesus is the root of Jesse.   Now let me give you another verse in the New Testament that is directly related to the topic that confirms that this root being spoken of is Jesus:

Rev 22:16  I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

You can clearly read that Jesus is claiming to be both the root of David and the offspring that comes from David.   That is a very perplexing dilemma, a major paradox and a very significant puzzle to resolve.  From a natural perspective this is entirely impossible but from a spiritual divine perspective this is completely within the capability of an ALL POWERFUL GOD!   What we are observing from this information is that Jesus claimed to be the root that produced both of these men Jesse and David as well as He claimed to be a certain branch descendant that came from both of them.   You can clearly go and read back in Isaiah 11:1 again where Jesus is called the Branch of Jesse and then later in verse 10 He is called the root of this same man named Jesse.  These concepts boggle the minds of carnal people who do not wish to learn about who God is and what He is capable of doing.   What God was saying was that He was the creator of Jesse and that He then came from Jesse or through Jesus to be here on the earth.   I hope that you are beginning to understand the differences between a root and a branch and how that Jesus could still be both simultaneously.  I’ll give you another O.T. verse about a root that you should know about next:

Pro 12:3  A man shall not be established by wickedness: but the root of the righteous shall not be moved.

I technically do not have the time to explain this verse entirely.  As Christians we have been given the righteousness of Christ.  This verse in Proverbs is speaking of the ones that are called righteous and we are those people by the Grace of God.  However the primary subject of this last statement is the root that shall not be moved.  I think you can see where this must be Jesus again.   Only God’s Word will never change and Jesus was this Word.

We next need to understand the association of water or the lack of it if Jesus is declared to be the symbolic root supplier of this symbolic water and He is then described to be growing out of the dry ground that lacked this water supply.  What can the water represent within this context?  Do you understand the unstated significance of water in this part of the verse?  Roots definitely carry water to the rest of the tree or plant.  Yet dry ground does not allow or permit plants to grow there.  That is just another major predicament of contradiction to solve.  Notice that the last part of the phrase “root out of a dry ground” presents a comparison.   Jesus being called the root is coming out from a place where they lacked any water.  How would we explain this?  What could that possibly mean? I think we need to look at the definition of the Hebrew word H6723 translated as “dry” next.  This word literally means a parched arid place.   This is accurately describing a desert wilderness where water does not exist.  This definition confirms the absence of water where Jesus was raised up in.  I hope that gives you a bit of a clue to what the water represents.

Symbolically “water” in the Bible widely represents the Word of God.   Water also has other symbolic applications which may also apply and be useful for this discussion but I will probably not get into these other symbolic references in this lesson extensively. I thought I would at least mention that others exist.  I can give you many verses of the Bible to help us confirm what is being spoken about in this verse in Isaiah.  Let me give you a few verses to help confirm that water represents Words from God:

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

Here is a hidden reference to the word of God coming out of the mouths of humans.   God’s words in your mouth will produce life for yourself as well as for others that choose to hear it.   This verse also has application to speaking in tongues but I’m not going to go there to try to explain that since it will take more time than I want to spend in this lesson.  Just understand that words spoken will exit the human mouth coming from the inner spirit and these must be the Words of God in order to produce any life.   I have other Bible lessons that address this part of the meaning if you are interested in reading about them.   What I wanted to demonstrate from this verse was the symbolic meaning of water to be words.   Let’s move on to another verse that helps to explain how life giving water originates from God’s spoken word:

Joh 15:3  Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

How do we get clean in the natural?  Normally we wash with natural water and this process removes the dirt from our body.  Jesus is clearly using this natural water washing concept to apply to a spiritual washing parallel process.   Jesus was very clearly saying that the words that were coming from His mouth had the power to make them clean.   Natural things were designed and created by God to teach us about spiritual things and this is so plain.  The Words of God has to be comparable to water for this cleaning process to occur in the unseen spiritual realm.   As the Word of God is the type of water that gives us life, I believe that this statement that Jesus just made is also applicable to Jesus being called the “root” that supplies the water for all human life.  Did you see it?  Jesus said he spoke and out of His belly was flowing rivers of living water to wash his followers.   I think the root analogy is one that is very profound and I pray that you are seeing how it still applies to us in the church today.  I’ll give you one other verse for this part of the lesson about water:

Eph 5:26  That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,

Hopefully you can again see the explanation of becoming clean with God washing us with His Word.  The word of God is not literal water but it is certainly called figurative water.  Without this Water of the Word of God we would all die spiritually.  There would be no possibility of spiritual life without this source of spiritual living water.  Now let’s consider what it means to be in a dry ground.  We can find a very good explanation of this in the writings of David:

Psa 63:1  A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;

Wow, what an awesome verse concerning spiritual water that can come only from God.  David is stating his thirst but it is not a lack of natural water.   This is just David saying “I need you God and I need your Word” to quench my soul.  Did you see it?  Physical water can never quench a soul.  Only spiritual water from the mouth of God can fulfill this type of thirst.  I think we need to observe one more verse to confirm this very important reality:

Psa 1:2  But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night.

Psa 1:3  And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.

tree-and-riverA man that is meditating on the Word of God is compared to be like a tree that is planted by rivers of life giving water.   This type of abundant water supply is what causes this symbolic tree to grow and increase in might and strength.  The lack of this type of spiritual water supply is what is being spoken of in Isaiah 53:2 where there is dry ground.  This dry ground represents a person that does not mediate on God’s Word.  These are types of people that do not value the life that is found from God’s mouth.  These were people that were dying of thirst and did nothing to drink from the well of life.   Do you remember what Jesus said to the Samarian woman at the well?  Jesus said “If you knew who was speaking you would ask of me to give you a drink”.  How was Jesus going to do this?  He was going to speak to her and tell her the Words of God.

Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

There are literally many applications and lessons that can be taught from the root supply of life giving water to the symbolic plant concept.  This verse in John is a prime example of the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:2 where Jesus the root would supply the waters of life to anyone that was a thirst.   I do not wish to go into all of these in this lesson but I will mention this one more for reapplication to Jesus being our present day root supply.   We all know that Jesus is not physically present on the earth today except in the form of the church body who is the only visible representatives of His outward presence here on the earth.   However, the unseen root is still spiritually present because Jesus is on the inside of every true believer and if they are led by the Spirit of God then Jesus can still be seen in manifestation right now.    Consider yourself to be God’s plant, His branches that are here to bear fruit for the world to observe.   There is a popular saying that is applicable to what you do today and it says “The only Jesus some people will ever know is the one that you show them in your actions, words and daily life”.   I think that is an important thought to embrace and remember.  I believe that is enough of an introduction to Jesus being described as the root source of water so let’s move on to the last part of the phrase description found in Isaiah 53:2.

HE HATH NO FORM NOR COMELINESS

Jesus-Face-Painting-Gray-Eyes-WallpaperThe last phrase that I will address today is “He hath no form nor comeliness, and when we shall see him there is no beauty that we should desire him”.  Often in artist paintings of Jesus, He is portrayed as a highly desirable handsome male figure and even has extremely movie star or rock star like characteristics.  Many times this type of Jesus is even pictured with a divine halo or a radiant glow that many believe would attract people to Him like moths to a flame.  You will discover from reading and studying Isaiah 53:2 that Jesus was not prophesied to come into the world in an attractive looking manner and in fact the opposite of this reality is stated.  We will need to read how this was fulfilled in the N.T. and this time it may become more difficult because there is barely any mention of the physical appearance of Jesus in the Gospels that I have found.  If you know of any verses that I have not encountered on this subject, I would welcome your comment giving us the verses.

What any serious Bible student must realize is that they can learn at the very least in two different ways from God, we can learn from what is directly stated by God and/or we can also learn from what was never stated by God.  Do you understand this advanced concept?  If there are no direct references of the physical appearance of the Lord Jesus by God in the Gospels why would this information not possibly be important enough to mention in God’s Word?  Before we research the N.T. we will first review the definitions for the phrase keywords found in Isaiah 53:2.

The first Hebrew word is H3303 that was translated as “form” in this verse and this word should have been translated as “beautiful” as it was correctly translated this way to describe Rachael in Genesis 29:17.  Rachael is described to be the opposite of what Jesus is said to be.  It was Rachael’s outward beauty that attracted her future husband Jacob to her.   The first time this Hebrew word was used in Genesis it was used for another beautiful woman named Sarah in Genesis 12:11.  You might remember that Sarah was so beautiful that Abraham did not want to tell anyone that she was his wife because he was concerned with being killed so that they could take her from him because of her attractiveness.  That is two examples of what this word H3303 means.  The Holy Spirit inspired Isaiah to teach us that Jesus did not possess any physical beauty by the inclusion of the Hebrew negative word H3808 that was connected directly to this other Hebrew word meaning beauty.   The Hebrew word H3808 is a negative antithesis of the positive beauty and it means “No”, “Not” or “Without” beauty.  God was clearly saying that Jesus had no beauty that could be observed using these two Hebrew words.

According to this Hebrew word combination whoever being spoken of in this verse could not called extraordinarily good looking, striking, handsome or even attractive.  The absence of beauty does not necessarily mean that Jesus was completely born ugly but at the minimum it meant that He was very ordinary in appearance like most humans and certainly did not possess any looked-for qualities of many popular people today.   Take for example Obama.  I have heard people tell me that they voted for him because he was so good looking.  One was a woman speaking to me about her reasons why she voted for him.  Being attracted to someone like Obama because of their looks will get you into serious levels of deception and that is not what God came into the world as.  You cannot find anywhere in the Gospels where it says people were attracted to Jesus because of His physical appearance.

The next key word in the verse confirms this with the description of there being no “comeliness” to His appearance.  This Hebrew word translated as “comeliness” is H1926 and it literally means “magnificence” or “splendor”.   This is shocking information that the supremely magnificent God would humble himself to take on the common form of a plain and ordinary human.  When I read this I was so impressed at the humility of God’s character to think this way and to do this.  I think this is one of the key factors for why natural Israel missed the coming of their Messiah.  They expected a radiant powerful looking King and got a plain nobody from what they thought was from the city of Nazareth.   They of course ignored the fact that He was born in the city of David the king as a direct descended from David’s seed but their ignorance of the facts was caused by their own downfall because they did not ask the right questions to find the truth.

Now let’s review the Hebrew word H4758 that was translated as “beauty” in Isaiah 53:2.  This word is different than the Hebrew word H3303 that was translated as “form” but should have been translated as “beauty”.   This Hebrew word H4758 means “to view”.  It confirms that God is speaking of the outward physical appearance of the Lord Jesus.  It can also mean “good or pleasant to look at”.  However this Hebrew word H4758 is again joined to the Hebrew negative H3808 to change the definition into the opposite again.  God is again saying that Jesus was not a movie star type of looker that you wanted to watch.  I believe this is very important descriptive terms being given by God and every Christian would benefit from knowing them.

I challenge you to go through the Gospels and read about the life of Jesus on the earth very closely.   Notice for the first thirty years of His life there is very little description given about Him.   Barely a mention of Him is revealed.  Only at His birth and at the age of 12 are we given a brief glimpse of His life.  At 12 years old His family left Him at the temple as they were returning home.   Technically speaking only His mother and Joseph her husband understood how He came to be on this earth.   Every other human on the earth believed Him to be a normal child growing up looking like everyone else.   If you go and read about Him in later life when He had returned to His hometown the people were in amazement of Him.   Start reading in Matthew 13:54 through the end of the chapter.  You will find out that they were impressed with His wisdom but did not believe that He was a prophet sent from God because they had watched Him grow up normally before them.  Jesus marveled at their unbelief and was unable to do any miracles among them.  You should be able to clearly see how normal that Jesus’ appearance was to these people that knew Him so closely for the longest time.

I want you to fully understand that this final statement in Isaiah 53:2 represents the outward physical appearance of the prophesied growing man 2.  This part of the verse literally means “God” was found in their presence using a non-majestic appearance that no one expected Him to use.  No one was looking for a Messiah to rule them that looked ordinary at best.  As you can read very clearly because of God’s choice to appear on the earth normally like a very ordinary human, the people had no desire to automatically follow Him.  Do not misunderstand what I just said.  There were great numbers of people following Jesus in the Gospels.  But you need to ask the question why were they following?  There are no references to it being because of His looks but you can find references for their desire to be healed.  Healing was the primary reason for people flocking to Jesus.  You can read about this in Matthew 4:23-25 to see why they followed was because of His healing power.  Because Jesus healed people the word about Him quickly spread to everyone and this is also important information to understand correctly.

Have you ever asked yourself what would have happened if God appeared like God in a superior state of class and being?    The people on earth would have had no choice but to receive Him as their King and Lord and they would have never hung Him on a cross.   Do you see the wisdom of God in His actions?   God desired to save us, so He chose to become one of us to die for us.   We have never yet fully realized or fully comprehended the extreme love of God to do this for us.

I want you to understand the significance of this description and why it is meaningful or even mentioned in the prophecy.   This prophecy in Isaiah 53:2 is only different from my birth appearing because of the implied appearance of who this is speaking of.  Please understand that the vast majority of the people born on this earth are very normal looking individuals just like this description.   Based upon this, I must ask the question “Why is this description of a normal person’s appearance different than mine” and then I must answer that it is not.  I certainly do not have the appearance of great magnificence so that people desire to flock to me.  There are people like rock stars today that have this ability but that is clearly not who Jesus represented and it is not who you should represent either.   No, you begin to finally realize why this was written based upon your new knowledge now to who these words were written about.   The supreme God of all splendor, power and amazement would come and appear to be at the best ordinary.

Before I get away from this subject I want to prove that Jesus did not walk around with a glow coming from His appearance.  We can learn this simple fact by observing what God wrote about Him in the book of Matthew.  Read this verse carefully and notice the detailed description of the appearance change that occurred in this verse:

Mat 17:2  And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.

If you read the context you will find that Jesus took three disciples up on a high mountain.  While there Moses and Elijah appeared before them with Jesus.  This verse also states that the physical appearance of Jesus was “transfigured”.   This Greek word G3339 is the word that we get “metamorphosis” from.  Do you understand the concept of “metamorphosis”?  This is the process that occurs when an ugly caterpillar is transformed to become a beautiful butterfly.  That is exactly the process that is being described about Jesus here in this verse.  Jesus was transformed from the very ordinary looking man that He was on the earth into a radiant glowing man that exemplified great splendor having magnificent qualities here in this verse.   What this verse does is confirm the fulfillment of Isaiah 53:2 for you.  It clearly implies that He was not the way that He was just transformed into.

CONCLLUSION

I have covered a lot of new significant information about Jesus found in Isaiah 53:2.  You may have never heard this message or even understood that it existed in the Bible but I hope that you learned to see how it applied to the one that came from heaven to save you.  This prophecy is so amazing when you see it clearly.  It becomes much more understandable why everyone in the world did not automatically flock to God in the flesh.  It also become more understandable why He could be easily killed and lose all of his followers.  If you go and read in the book of Revelation you will again see that Jesus appears like He did on the mountain with the three disciples in the presence of Moses and Elijah.  Jesus when raised back to heaven was again exalted to His supreme position.  But you should know now that this was not the way that He came to us in the world to save us.   I thank you all for taking the time to read and study te Bible with me.  I appreciate you all very much.  In the next lesson in this series we will plan to go through the next verse in sequence to find what is furthered described about Jesus if the Lord chooses to lead me that way.  Leave me a comment if you like this lesson.  Learn to be a blessing to others and God will make sure you are blessed to do this.  God Bless you!

BIBLE ANSWERS: Was Jesus the ONE and ONLY Son of God?

One and Only Son of God(Ver 1.3)  There is a popular false teaching going around in many churches that claims that Jesus was the one and only son of God and that is NOT what the Bible says.  However, I do not want you to throw stones at me yet.  I do want to say up front that I believe in the Triune Godhead.  God is comprised of three unique personalities called 1) God the Father, 2) God the Son and 3) God the Holy Spirit. Therefore, Jesus is the only Son within the trinity of God.  But that does not mean there are not other sons of God in His family.  In fact preaching one son of God only is not even close to what God says in the His Word.  Are you ready to learn the truth and see what God actually wrote us in the Bible? This false belief that Jesus was the one and only son of God has even crept into several modern Bible translations and thus it appears to become more legitimate than it truly is.  Many Christians will read an erroneous modern Bible translation and think this is what God really said but they have to ignore the details of the correct writings of God in the original language word meanings to believe this way.  This false teaching is destroying the truth to project an image that there are no other children of God except for Jesus.  This leaves Christians with the impression that we are “a nothing” and “a nobody” and this is exactly what Satan wants us to believe so that he can condemn and accuse us.

Please understand this very basic truth, only the original scriptures in the original languages were God inspired (breathed) and at no time were any of the TRANSLATIONS that were created by men ever inspired by God.  Every translation produced by a human introduces some new version of the personal opinions of the translators that must be weeded through in order to find God’s intended accurate truth.    I literally mean that we can find many translation errors in the KJV Bible, the NIV Bible, the NASB Bible and every other translation if we go back and study to find the truth from the original Greek and Hebrew.  This of course becomes highly controversial in many Christian circles.  This Bible study will be potentially discarded simply because people do not seek to learn, know or understand what God says.  Being a “concrete” or “firmly set, dry and hard” Christian will cause many to miss the truth and I hope and pray this is not you today.

I am a detailed oriented type of person.  I was a computer programmer for over 25 years.  You cannot write a computer program without paying attention to all of the little details or it will not work.  Using this same detailed oriented approach is how God taught me to study the Bible.  Please learn to pay attention to the details found in the Bible and this will help to see the scriptures more from God’s perspective who spoke them.

I’m going to repeat this again, please do not read this lesson and believe that I am saying there is more than one Son in the Trinity!  I am not claiming this and do not intend for the message to be understood this way.  I know this Bible lesson will be offensive to some and I know that some people will potentially take the message wrong.  People become so narrow minded  when hearing something new.  People like to take hold of one truth and abandon all others.  I have said this more than once; there is more than one truth in the Bible.  Jesus is the primary truth and the greatest reason to study the entire Bible but God teaches us other things like this lesson that should also be made known to be His truth.  This Bible lesson is not taking away from the message of Jesus Christ being the only begotten Son of God within the Trinity.  Do not read this and believe that at all!  I teach the Trinity of God very strongly.  I teach the fact that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God very strongly.   I teach the fact that God came to the earth personally in the flesh and died for our sins to give us His gift of righteousness to save us.  Before you criticize me on one Bible lesson go read everything and then ask questions.

INTRODUCTION TO SONS

The main focused scripture today in this Bible study is one that we have all heard at some time in our Christian life.  This verse is one of the most popular verses learned and memorized by many children at an early age in Sunday school.  This verse is one that Satan would like to remove from the Bible and this is the reason for his attack to pervert it.  Here is the main verse in question that will be answered:

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV)

John 3:16 is the focused controversial verse that I will be talking about in this lesson today.  I started with the basic KJV translation of the verse since I believe it to be one of the most accurate.  However, this verse was translated by men in several different conflicting ways in other translations.  For example the WNT, CEV, ESV, BBE and NIV Bible translations all get parts of the original language meanings very wrong changing the original Greek language into “Only Son of God” or “One and Only Son of God”.  The KJV, NKJV, NASB, Webster, YLT, AMP, ASV, Darby, LITV and the MKJV translations all translated it correctly saying “only begotten Son”.  While “Only Begotten Son” is more accurate, this English word “begotten” is not well understood to what the term means.  This of course was not a complete list of all the available Bible translations but it gives us a clear view of why there is a controversy and asks the question who is correct?    For your review comparison here is the NIV translation of John 3:16.  Please note the differences given:

John 3:16  For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (NIV)

Both the KJV and the NIV translations cannot be correct since they simply mean two completely different things.   “One and Only Son of God” and “Only Begotten Son of God” cannot be considered identical because one set of modern translations completely left out one of the most important words “begotten” when the other set included it.  The NIV further convolutes the truth to add the word “One” before Son and this just brings further confusion since the word “one” does not even appear anywhere in the original Greek language.

Now consider the English grammar found within John 3:16.  What does the term “only begotten” represent and how does it relate to the noun “Son”?  You should begin to understand that the term “only begotten” represents an adjective modifier to the noun “Son”.  An adjective is only required to limit the scope of the discussion of the types of the noun being referenced.  In other words if there is only one sun in the sky then there is no need to modify that noun to qualify which one you are speaking of.  The same is true of the moon in our sky.  When only one exists the need for qualification is eliminated.  Now what would happen if there were two moons in our night sky?  Then we would need to qualify which one we are referring to.  This is exactly what God is doing in John 3:16 with the adjective “only begotten”.

Now what does “begotten” mean and why is it found in so many translations?  Why was “begotten” omitted from many other translations to change the meaning?  What changes when the word “begotten” is eliminated?  We need to learn the facts in order to determine the truth and this is what we will attempt to do in this lesson.

Someone might try to ask if it is even important for us to believe the Bible correctly.   Why am I being so nitpicky to think that it makes a difference how we believe what John 3:16 actually says?   I would answer that question with this reply; does it matter if you believe the Koran is the truth or the Bible is the truth?  Does it matter if I believe they both are the truth?  They certainly contradict each other.  Therefore, they both can’t be the truth so does it matter which path you chose to be on?

Of course it does matter what we believe is the truth more than we can imagine.  Jesus very clearly said that He was the only way to be saved (John 14:6).   So now take that truth to the next level.  Does it matter if you believe that Jesus was just a man like those in Islam because according to the Koran He was just a prophet of Allah when He died or should we believe what God says in the Bible that He personally came down in the flesh to save us?  I hope you are getting the point.  If it does not matter greatly what we believe then God would not have given us His Word to study and learn.

Therefore, if a Koran or a Bible belief matters then it must also matter if Jesus was the “One and Only Son of God” or the “Only begotten Son of God”.  We just can’t omit one word that God included and think that it does not matter.  This is exactly what I was referring to with computer programming.  The omission of just one single letter, number or symbol can cause the entire design of the entire software to fail.  What I am getting at is that we need to learn as much accurate Bible as we can so that we are not deceived by someone that comes along with a message of one small lie mixed with good several truths.  How can we recognize the truth if we ignore the details of God’s Word?

I will warn you that this is an advanced Bible subject intended for spiritually mature Christians only.  It is not a rudimentary lesson that is designed to feed baby or young Christians the milk of the Word of God.  This lesson is definitely a meat subject that can cause immature Christians to choke.  If you do not feel like you are very spiritually mature then please just go read another lesson so that I do not offend you with something that you are unable to receive.  I will also warn you up front that this is another long Bible lessons with a lot of spiritual scriptural content.  Some subjects tend to grow lengthy because there is so much that needs to be taught from the Bible on any given subject.  I usually do this using a series of shorter Bible lessons, but these Bible Answer responses to reader questions are usually stand alone.  I hope you understand and will continue to read to the end.

In this lesson I will be using a minimum of 3 primary rules of sound Bible interpretation to verify the truth.  I will also introduce you to a concept that you have probably never been taught before.  This concept found in the Bible will teach us that there are at least 4 unique types of individuals that are called “sons of God” in the Bible.  I can already hear the gasps being loudly raised by that last statement.   People might be resistant to anything new simply because they have never heard it taught before.  But please do not reject the message without first reading what is taught with an open mind.  Then only after reading what is taught here do I ask that you become an Acts 17:11 type of more noble Christian and verify everything that is being taught using your own Bible study.   This is the only correct method to confirm what the Spirit of God wants us to know.  Work within God’s methods and grow or work apart from them and fail to see the truth.  It is each of our own personal choice.

CORRECT RULES OF INTERPRETATION

driving-in-manilaI am going to begin this Bible lesson by introducing some of the basic rules of valid Bible interpretation.  I will not be covering every rule that exists but these three will be used in this lesson for us to find the truth to what was written by God in the John 3:16 verse.  Can we begin by agreeing that rules are good?  What would be the outcome if driving on the road was a freeform chaotic madness with no rules to govern the actions of all of the drivers?  How many drivers would still be alive after a few days if driving was based upon a chaos random approach of  actions that allowed people to go however they wanted, where ever they wanted, how fast they wanted and whenever they wanted type of driving style?  If governments permitted unstructured driving methods to how fast they could go or where they could drive it would be an extremely dangerous environment.  This same principle of a no rules approach to Bible interpretation represents the same level of dangers except restricted to a mental or spiritual environment.  I hope that you can agree in this introduction with the need for good Bible interpretation rules.

I will use three rules of Bible Interpretation that the Holy Spirit taught me to use.  I did not learn these rules in any seminary so they may not adhere to your version of hermeneutics.  But I would rather attempt to follow God’s spiritual guidance than man’s rules because only God’s will give us the correct truth.  Please read these rules and then I will try to explain each briefly to help us learn how they work and why they are important to follow:

  1. Find and Use Hebrew and Greek Original Word Definitions
  2. Compare an Original Word’s Usage with Other Occurrences in the Bible
  3. Search for Direct Bible Contradictions to Balance each Scripture in Harmony

ORIGINAL WORD DEFINITIONS

One of the keys to correctly understanding any translated Bible verse is to judge each translated word using the comprehensive definitions of the words found in the original transcripts of the Bible.  Without studying the original word definitions we must trust and rely on an imperfect translator that was not inspired by the Spirit of God in what they wrote.  Also many translated English words like other languages transform or mutate into new or different applications and meanings as the world changes around us.   For example in the KJV Bible the Greek word that was often translated as “charity” would be almost always misunderstood by the majority of modern Bible readers.  The modern application of “Charity” is not what the word means in the original Greek.  This word was “agape” which represents the unique God kind of love.

These original word definitions are critical to discover.  Without them the original meanings were often lost in many of the modern translations.  I have heard some claim that the KJV Bible was God inspired and that no other Bible translation should ever be read.  These types of proponents often claim there is no need to study the original Greek or Hebrew words.  This is entirely a wrong belief based upon ignorance.  These types of people have been so deceived that they may never know or see the truth of God unless they learn to dig deep and study to find it.  I have discovered so many errors in the KJV Bible that leaves me no doubt that the original language study is indispensable to knowing the real truth.  You are free to disagree with me, but by you ignoring the original language this will help us to resolve why we differ on what any one verse means.  Let’s move on to another rule of correct understanding of the Bible.

OTHER BIBLE OCCURRENCES OF THE WORD

Another key to understanding specific original words is to go and look for God’s usage of the same Greek or Hebrew word in the rest of the Bible.  To do this we need to use our computer devices, smart phones or tablets to search in our Bible for all of the places where God uses only the exact same Greek or Hebrew word that we are trying to learn.  In doing this we obtain a more complete understanding of  this one word that we wish to study.  I need to emphasize that we do not search the Bible for the English translated word because more than one Greek or Hebrew word can be translated to the same English word.  For example the Greek language has at least 3 different words that mean a type of “love”.  But only God’s selection of the one can be compared correctly to learn how each verse usage is related.  If we attempted to mix the Greek word “philedelphia” (G5360) and the Greek word “agape” (G26) we would be mixing apples with oranges and only causing confusion.

This rule of interpretation allows us to see how one word in one verse relates to the other occurrences of the same word in other found verses.   This type of study method is what I call doing a “word study”.  There is also a type of study that I call a “subject” study that goes into considerably more detail but also take more effort to perform.  There are at least two different ways of doing a word study or a subject study.  First in a word study you can restrict your search to only using the direct Greek or Hebrew word in question.  This will shorten and limit the study considerably.  The Subject study would need to include the matching Hebrew word for the Greek word in question as well as include every other word that is a synonym of the word in question and this can take significantly more time but can also give great benefits to new truths.  Today I will only be performing a very basic word study for “only begotten”.

This word study technique of understanding the Bible introduces us to the concept of consistency and uniformity.  I have found through many years of Bible study that God is normally very consistent in His selection of words, their usage, their application and what they mean.  In other words if God wanted to say something differently in one verse from another verse, He would have used a different word.  I call this God’s “Intelligent Design” of His Words.  God knows every word and what they each mean better than you do, so do not attempt to change a word’s definition based upon some random human speculation or reasoning.   Keeping a Greek word’s definition consistent will help bring stability and balance to our understanding of every word being selected by God.  In review this step of correct Bible interpretation involves at minimum finding every occurrence of the Greek or Hebrew word being studied and reading each verse closely to see how it was used by God.  We then compare each verse to every other verse to understand how they are related attempting to understand why God chose this single word in each.  In doing this we attempt to balance every word’s usage into a single definition and application.  This can be simple or it can be complex based upon the number of times any word is used by God.  Some words are used less than 10 times (simple) and other times they are used many, many hundreds of time (complex).  Let’s move on to the next guideline for correct Bible understanding.

NO VERSE CONTRADICTS ANY OTHER VERSE

The next method of understanding correct Bible interpretation is for us to utilize the basic fact of truth that NO one Bible verse when correctly interpreted will EVER conflict or contradict with any other Bible verse when both are correctly interpreted.  Do you understand this rule?  This is another essential part of understanding absolutely anything in the Bible.  Realize that God is not stupid.  Then understand that God does not change or flip flop on truths, word definitions, thoughts, concepts or ideas.  God is not here today on this word’s definition and then there tomorrow on the same word.  God is not a Dr. Jekyll or a Mr. Hyde type of God.  God is a God of never changing goodness, purpose, character and qualities.  What God says today will never change tomorrow.   What God said in the beginning will remain true at the end and what was said will not reverse, disqualify or eliminate anything else that was spoken by God in between.  I do not know how to explain this rule more clearly.   If one verse says God has only one son and another verse says God has many other sons then one verse is clearly NOT TRANSLATED CORRECTLY.   There can be no conflicts within the Bible when understood correctly.  The only time a conflict exists is when a human does not correctly comprehend the truth of what was spoken by God.

I am going to apply these three basic rules of correct Bible interpretation and understanding to answer the question “Was Jesus the One and Only Son of God”.   After you see what God and the Bible actually says about this subject you must agree that Jesus was not the one and only son of God.   I will begin with the rule of searching for the original word definitions to find what God meant by them and then this will help guide us to what the word means in the verse that we are questioning.

G3439 ORIGINAL WORD DEFINITION

Joh 3:16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten (G3439) Son (G5207), that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (KJV)

This verse has become very controversial by Satan’s design. This verse was previously held up in football games like the Super Bowl until it was banned by the NFL again by Satan’s design.   It has been cried loudly on street corners to passing people that walked by indifferently and ignored the message.   It has been preached on TV and in many churches by countless preachers.  It is one of the first verses that a child learns and memorizes in Sunday school.  However this verse has stirred up a modern dilemma and debate asking was Jesus the One and Only Son of God as the NIV and many churches claim?   The translation that I opened with was the KJV Bible and it is stated to say “only begotten”.  However you already observed in the NIV how it was changed to say something almost completely different.

While the NIV change on the surface seems to be insignificant to many, the underlying application of the subtle difference is very profound.  If Jesus was the one and only Son as the NIV Bible states then this verse translation invalidates a great number of scriptures in the rest of the Bible.  This NIV translation purposefully causes a direct conflict within God’ Word and that teaches us that we need to determine the resolution to the conflict in order to correctly understand this part of the Bible.  We will do this by beginning to see what the original Greek word means as defined in the original language using the Strong’s dictionary:

G3439

From G3441 and G1096; only born, that is, sole: – only (begotten, child).

The Greek word translated into English as “only begotten” in the KJV Bible is “G3439” and it is a single Greek word that is created from the combination of two other Greek root words.   The first Greek root word designates the single or solitary occurrence of something, someone or somewhere.  This Greek word is where the translators got the application of the English word “only” which is correct so far.  However, the second Greek word designates something that was made or caused to be.   Let’s stop there and consider what is stated when something was caused to be or made?  Anything made was not in existence previously and that only means that Jesus was a new type of Son and nothing else can be assumed from this definition or it would be adding to it or changing what was given by God.  These two Greek words literally mean that Jesus was uniquely made and did not compare with anyone previously created or anyone that was subsequently created.  However it does not mean that there are no other types of sons that came into existence in some other way.  Do you understand this so far?

Let me use an analogy of an automobile.  There are many types of automobiles, but yet someone can also create or make one unique auto that was created as a special custom model that is unlike all the others.  People do this all the time.  This new custom car could be called this type of “only made” (G3439) model of cars.  That is exactly what Jesus is being called in this definition.  This definition does not mean that there are no other sons of God; it only means that this one named Jesus was made especially unique unlike every other son.   Think about it before you reject it.  Was Jesus uniquely made?  I personally do not know of another human that came from a virgin woman, do you?  I think that makes Jesus especially different than me and you.

The Strong’s dictionary further defines this Greek word as “only born”.  What does this mean?  I think this part of the definition also applies to Jesus very well.  Were there any other naturally born sons of God?  Not according to the Bible as we will soon learn.  The New Testament is very explicit in declaring Jesus to be the only naturally born Son of God.  This is the literal definition for “only begotten’ in John 3:16.  To be called the “only begotten” means that Jesus was God’s only naturally born child.  Again this does not disqualify other sons or children of God from existing using this correct definition.  Did you know that God is all powerful?  God being “omniscient” and “omnipotent” simply means that God is able and knows how to make a new unique child if He so desires to do it.  This was God’s design of Jesus.

In the Thayer dictionary he makes the point that this Greek word G3439 is only used to describe a son or a daughter when viewed within their relationship to the stated parent(s).  That is a very important part of the meaning and we will discover this as we continue through the other rules of interpretation.  When using the Thayer consideration we must now deliberate who the parents of Jesus Christ were.  Any serious Bible student will say that Jesus was both the Son of God and the son of a natural virgin woman named Mary.  But we must eliminate Mary from this “only begotten” participation since in John 3:16 it is only speaking of God the Father who gave His Son to save the world with no mention of Mary.  We should also know from further Bible study that Mary had other natural children born from the union with her husband Joseph.  Therefore, Jesus was not the “only begotten” son of Mary.  Nowhere in the Bible is Jesus called the only begotten of Mary and there are a lot of people that need to learn that fact.  What I am introducing you to is what this Greek G3439 word means.  Jesus was the only naturally born son of God and this is the only way that this can be correctly interpreted based upon the definition and the contextual subject matter.  Uh oh I just introduced another important rule of correct Bible interpretation that was not one of the 3 that I was going to use today. This new rule states that no one can take any verse out of context to make it say what it was not intended to say within the context.

You see in John the 3rd chapter Jesus is speaking to a natural man named Nicodemus that asks Jesus how to be saved.  Jesus tells this man that he must be “born again” in order to enter into the kingdom of God.  Clearly Jesus was teaching Nicodemus about birth types in this chapter.  Jesus is using two contrasting types of birth to explain salvation.  Jesus was saying to Nicodemus that there is a coming spiritual birth that must occur after the natural birth occurs.  We will soon discover in this Bible lesson that there are many spiritual births that have occurred since Jesus was raised from the dead.  However, please note that up until this point in John 3 that no man was ever born again because the sacrifice for their sins had not yet taken place on the cross.  It is within this context of the subject of births that we find this Greek word G3439 that was translated as “only begotten”.   It makes logical sense to conclude “only begotten” son of God is related to the contextual subject of birth types.

Therefore, the “only begotten” son of God could only represent Jesus coming into the world through a natural birth experience and could not be related to this coming spiritual birth that Jesus described.  This again is what this “only begotten” Greek word means.  God only had one Son that was naturally born and His name was Jesus Christ.  God’s usage of this Greek word to describe Jesus teaches us that only He could be called the naturally made, created or born Son of God.   However, that still does not mean that there are no other types of sons of God that were spiritually born or created by some other methods.  I hope you understand this but if not it should become clearer as we continue through the other verses found in the Bible on this subject.

OTHER VERSES WITH THE GREEK WORD G3439

If you search the New Testament you will find this Greek word G3439 that was translated as “only begotten” in John 3:16 is only found in 8 other verses.  Five times it is used to describe Jesus in relation to His Father God but 4 times it is used to describe other naturally born children that were the only begotten son in direct relation to his earthly mother.  For example, in Luke 7:12 God describes a man being carried out at a funeral and he is called by this name G3439 as being this mother’s only born son.   What this means is that this dead man was her only child that she actually conceived inside her and gave birth to.  Notice that only the mother is mentioned in this verse because of her presence.  I would also like to point out that the KJV translators made the same mistake as the NIV translators did in John 3:16.  In the KJV, Luke 7:12 says that this man was her “only (G3439) son (G5207)” but they intentionally leave out “begotten” part of the definition and that makes it an error.  This woman could have had other adopted sons but that would be ignored by the translators from what God intended it to say.

What I want you to begin to see is that an “only born son” is always given using the relationship to only the specific parent being mentioned and does not necessarily apply to the other parent involved.  There is no mention of the father in Luke 7:12 and he could have had many children through other women like Jacob did in the O.T. before he died.  People like to put God into an oversimplified human box of limitations.  However the Bible says very clearly that what is impossible with men is possible with God (Mat 19:26).   So while a natural woman may have had only one naturally born son it is entirely possible for God to have other types of children that were not naturally born even though Jesus is still called His only begotten.  Do you understand this?

I am certainly not teaching you that God had other naturally born children other than Jesus.  Jesus by definition from the dictionary and word use application was the only naturally born Son of God that ever existed.   Just please do not limit God to say this is the only way that He can produce children.  That would be very foolish if someone believes their limits placed upon God effects what God is able to do.  If we continue to look through the book of Luke we will find two other examples of this Greek word G3439.  In Luke 8:42 a ruler of the synagogue came to Jesus asking Him to come and heal his “only born” daughter.  I will just tell you that this is the same type of translation error example as seen before in the NIV.  The daughter being described is not the only daughter in the nation born but she was this man named Jairus’ only born daughter.   Again the KJV translators get it very wrong and leave out the word begotten.  In fact the KJV translators in this verse added the word one to further confuse people.  Instead of being consistent and making the word “only begotten” they changed it to “one only”.  This just proves that there are errors in the KJV Bible the same as other translations.  Now let’s look at the next word occurrence also found in a verse in Luke:

Luk 9:38  And, behold, a man of the company cried out, saying, Master, I beseech thee, look upon my son: for he is mine only child.

Here again is an example of a very wrong translation.  It should not say “only child” it should rather say “only begotten” or “only born”.  The word child is not found in the original Greek word.  If God would have wanted the word child to be included in this verse He would have added the Greek word G5043 that is normally translated as “child” in several other N.T. verses, for example:

Luk 1:7  And they had no child (G5043), because that Elisabeth was barren, and they both were now well stricken in years.

Here in this verse God is saying that this couple does not have a child.  The woman Elisabeth is said to have been barren.  What we can learn from this truth is that God has other words in the Greek language that literally means a child.  So if God wanted to say “only child” in Luke 9:32 it could have been accomplished using other specific Greek words that actually mean that.  The translators thought they were making a good assumption but this simply produces inconsistences that were not stated by God.  God selected by His choice to say “only begotten” or “only born” and this was the correct original meaning.  It is just so obvious to me that if God wanted to say “only child” that He would have said G3441 (only) followed by G5043 (child) and this would have matched what the KJV translators thought.  However since God did not say this why did the translator not understand what they were doing was changing God’s word into something that was not stated causing a potential confusion to occur.

The last occurrence of G3439 not being used to describe Jesus is found in the book of Hebrews.  In this verse God is describing Abraham and his “only begotten” son named Isaac.  Let’s examine this verse and consider the implications given by God on this subject of Jesus:

Heb 11:17  By faith Abraham, when he was tried, offered up Isaac: and he that had received the promises offered up his only begotten son,

Notice that God calls Isaac the “only begotten” of Abraham.  Uh oh, that is a major problem since Abraham had several other children.  The first born of Abraham was a child named Ishmael and this child was born from Hagar.  God does not consider this child to be an heir of promise.  Also if you read in and study in Genesis I believe that you will discover that Abraham had other children later after Isaac.  Yet God still calls Isaac the “only begotten”.  What this teaches us is that God could have had other children before Jesus Christ as well as other children after Jesus Christ and that the existence of these other children still cannot disqualify Jesus to be called the “only begotten”.  I know that this is potentially complex information but Abraham is a type pattern that was given by God in the Old Testament to teach us about spiritual truths.  You see if you read in Galatians 4 carefully you will discover that God teaches us that the life of Abraham represents an allegory of spiritual truth that is much deeper than the natural story.  I am not going to go into this allegory in depth today because that will take too much time.  You should go and read my other Bible lessons to discover what this allegory represents.

I believe we need to be consistent when viewing this Greek G3439.  I believe we can clearly see that every time it is selected by God in the New Testament that it is in reference to an “only born” child in reference to a single parent.  You can go through every reference in Luke and see this very clearly.  You can find this pattern again in Hebrews when God only speaks about Abraham and his only begotten son Isaac.  Consistency is an important factor.

ARE THERE ANY “ONLY SON OF GOD” CONFLICTS IN THE BIBLE?

The next rule of correct Bible interpretation involves researching for potential conflicts to any given statement.  If the NIV Bible translation is correct claiming that Jesus is the ONE AND ONY SON OF GOD then there better not be any other verses found in the Bible that contradict with that statement.  If only one verse is found that can be shown to disagree directly then there is a major problem with one of the verses being read.  So here we go with discovering the conflicts of the statement “One and Only Son of God”.  We will begin with Genesis 6:2:

Gen 6:2  That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose.

Here is another potentially ontroversial verse.  Many have tried to explain away this verse as not saying what God describes.  There are two separate types of individuals being described by God in this verse.  There are the “sons of God” and the “daughters of Adam”.  If the father of the sons of God is God then the father of the daughters of men must clearly be Adam.  Perhaps you do not see it so clearly.  If you research the Hebrew word translated as “men” in this verse you will discover that it is the Hebrew word H120 and this is the exact same Hebrew word as H121 that was translated as “Adam”.  Therefore these women originated from Adam and these other beings had to originate from the spiritual creator God and they cannot be the same because of the two different associated fathers being described.  Perhaps I need to tell you that this Hebrew word translated as “God” in this verse is one of the most popular names for God in the O.T. Bible.  This Hebrew word H430 is found in over 2200 verses in the Old Testament.  Nine times out of ten it was translated as “God” starting in Genesis 1:1 where it was first used to describe the creator.  The other Hebrew word used in conjunction with this name of God is H1121 which was used to describe a “son” is defined to be a male builder of the specified family name.  The family name here is God and the sons are clearly his spiritual children within His personal family.  In order to confirm who these “sons of God” represent in Genesis 6, we need to look for other examples of these same word combinations in the Bible just as we did with our search for the “only begotten” Greek word.  If you do the search you will find some important verses that help to reveal who these sons of God are:

Job 1:6  Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD, and Satan came also among them.

In the book of Job, God again describes the “sons (H1121) of God (H430)” but this time using some new contextual realities.  The previous Genesis 6 setting was definitely set upon the earth with human female interaction but this time in Job this same group of beings are found to be in the very presence of God in heaven.   What type of beings can be found both here on the earth and up in heaven in the presence of God?  If you do not understand that these are angels then you will need to go study the subject of angels in more depth before continuing.  I will give you a verse from a dream that God gave to Jacob and this will help establish that angels can travel between these two separate dimensions:

Gen 28:12  And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it.

These sons of God must be angels based upon the logical facts given.  There are other verses that we could explore but I need to move on.  Please notice that Satan appears with the “sons of God” in Job 1:6.  This is actually a very interesting concept given by God and implies a great deal of hidden information.  The Hebrew word H8432 that was translated as “among” in Job 1:6 literally means that Satan was in the center of them.  This Hebrew word represents a bisection of the group of “sons of God” with one half being on the left side of Satan and the other half being on the right side of Satan standing before God.  This places Satan as the implied leader of the “sons of God”.   We know from reading in Ezekiel and Isaiah that Satan was one of the chief angels if not the chief leader of them all.  Also notice that the position of Satan being in the center of the “sons of God” means that Satan was also one of this group of sons by association.  Did you know that Satan and the angels were called “sons of God”?  Let me give you some additional proof:

Isa 14:12  How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!

Here in this verse the individual named Lucifer is called a literal “son” of the morning.  The morning is actually a poor translation because this Hebrew Word H7837 means “dayspring” or more literally “early light” or even “first light”.   The emphasize detail in this definition is the light and the timing of its appearing. Who is called The Light in the New Testament?  God is clearly called “Light” in 1 John 1:5.  Also Jesus claimed to be the light in John 8:12, John 9:5 and John 12:46.  But since Jesus was God in the flesh both are equally the Light.  I think I need to give you another key verse to this puzzle:

Luk 1:78  Through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us,

You can clearly see from this verse that Jesus was called the “dayspring” from on high.  This literally means that Jesus was God but it also confirms who Satan was as a revealed son of God in Isaiah 14:12.  If you look up the definition of “dayspring” you will see plainly that this Greek word in Luke 1:78 has the meaning of the early light of dawn and it is a perfect match for the Hebrew word definition of “morning” or “dayspring”.   What God is revealing to us in these verses is that Lucifer was one of the first created beings that God produced.  Early light in the context that God is Light simply means the preceding order of time which is a difficult concept for us to grasp about a God who lives outside the dimension of time.  God is clearly indicating to us that Lucifer was His son before Jesus became His son.  I know that is hard to grasp for many people because it is new information.  Just keep in mind that Jesus was God who created everything and that He had children called angels before He ever had a Son name Jesus.  All of this will become clearer as we continue to discover who are represented as the other “sons of God” in the Bible.

I want you to notice in Isaiah 14:12 that the Hebrew word H1121 translated as “son” is repeated in this verse the same as in Job 1 and Genesis 6 for the “sons of God”.  God claims that Satan is a builder of His family name.  The name of God is His family and God of course is the head of the family being the Father of all spirits.  Perhaps this is a good time to introduce a New Testament confirmation verse that is related to this subject of sons and fathers:

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?

Here is a very revealing verse for the discussion of spiritual fathers and spiritual sons.   God is being named the spiritual Father of all spiritual beings.  Is Satan a spiritual being?  Is every angel a spiritual being?  You must understand that created Satan and every created angel are both eternal and spiritual beings before you continue to learn more complex Bible truths.  I try not to teach anything without at least giving you a reference for what is being stated so I will give one about angels being spirits to help you see it:

Heb 1:14  Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?

Reading this verse in context you will discover God speaking of angels.  God declares His angels to be ministering spirits sent to minister for those that are heirs of salvation.  I know this is talking about me because I’m an heir of salvation.  Therefore God’s ministering spirits (angels) will be there for me to help in this world.  What I have just done is establish a basic truth of angels being called “sons”.  Since God is clearly called the Father of every spirit in the Bible.  I hope you are beginning to learn how poorly translated the NIV Bible was in John 3:16.  We have just witnessed the reality that every spiritual being is called a child of the spiritual God who is called Father.  This literally means that we should find this father and son theme in the Bible in other places.

I have only introduced you to the second type of a son of God found in the Bible.  Jesus was my first type called the “Only Begotten” but before Jesus we found that angels were previously called God’s sons as the second revealed type of a son.  Technically speaking angels existed first as sons before God became His own Son in the natural form of Jesus.  Did you notice what I just said?  God created everything and everyone and He clearly self-existed eternally.  However, the eternal God chose to become His own son before the foundation of the world to redeem us from our sins as well as accomplish many other things that I can’t get into in this lesson.  God becoming a Son being born 4000 years after the creation of Adam was clearly a mystery that took Satan by complete surprise.  However the wisdom of God prevailed and we find that truly “All things are possible with God”.  I hope you understand this truth of the eternal Spirit of God manifesting as a human Son because this defeated Satan and set you free from Satan’s rule.

What I have just given to you is the realization that before Jesus physically existed that there were other spiritual beings called angels that are referred to by God as His spiritual children.   This is enough of a conflict to cause us to reconsider the NIV translation of the verse in John 3:16.  But there are many other verses that also cause additional conflict.  Let’s look at another important verse:

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

Here is an additional verse that was written to the church (me and you if you are a Christian) that conflicts with the belief of “one and only son” of God.  This verse indicates that those that are led by God’s Spirit will also be called God’s children.  Are you a spirit?   Do you remember that God is called the Father of spirits?  God has made you a son when you were previously not His son.  How did these people being led become God’s children?  We have to do further research in order to answer that question and this answer is found here in this verse:

Joh 1:12  But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

Do you believe in the name of Jesus?  Have you received Jesus Christ?  If you have done both of these then you qualify to be called a son/child of God.  Now consider what else this verse says.  This verse clearly indicates that we were once not His child but have become this son by God’s plan of salvation.  Uh oh!  That raises too many questions that just cannot be answered fully in this Bible lesson.  You see you were a spirit being before being saved but yet you had to become saved in order to become this new son of God status.  If God created our spirit and He was previously our Father then how did we lose this son status in order to need this again?   The Bible is a highly complex book of spiritual information and this is just one mystery of the many that God solves by His extreme wisdom.  I will not answer this question in this lesson so if you want to know this you will have to leave a comment and ask for the answer or go find it for yourself.  However, I will give you this verse since it is found in the context of my main subject of John 3:16 to help confirm what I have just said:

Joh 3:3  Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.

In the context of John 3:16 we find Jesus telling a man that he must be “born again”.  Uh oh again!  What does this mean?   Nicodemus thought that it meat that he needed to reenter his mother’s womb and be born naturally and that was not what Jesus was teaching.  Jesus was teaching a spiritual birth and not a natural birth.  Notice what Jesus confirms here.  Unless you are born again spiritually you will not enter into the kingdom of God.  That means before we were born again we were not in God’s family and needed to be saved (born again) to become a member of His family.  Being a son/child of God is essential to being saved.  We were once not His children but now being born of the Spirit of God have become His children and this is the new third type of son being described in the Bible.  This son type differs from every other son type previously mentioned and yet there is still a fourth type of son that has not yet been mentioned.  Let’s discover the fourth type of son of God that was not like the only begotten Jesus, the angels or the born again church.  Here is where I will start next:

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.

This is another controversial verse that is ignored by most non-serious Bible students.  This is the genealogy of Jesus Christ recorded by the author Luke given to us by the inspiration of God.  This genealogy proceeds in reverse order all the way from Jesus back to Adam and then finally concluding with God the Father of every spiritual being.  Every named pair represents a father and his son relationship however the Greek word for “son” is not included so many believe that this was omitted to allow God not to be called the Father of Adam.  However that is just the deception of Satan trying to keep you from learning the truth to what is stated in this genealogy.  Let me go back to the top of the list and show you the beginning:

Luk 3:23  And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli,

Notice what God says here.  God says Jesus was SUPPOSEDLY the son of Joseph.   Any learned Bible student knows that God is correct to state it this way since God was His Father and not Joseph.  Now consider the end of the list of names using the light of the beginning.  If Adam was not the Son of God then God would have said “SUPPOSELY” again and since He did not do that we know that Adam was a created fourth type of a son of God.   Now to confirm this we need to go back to read Genesis 2 where God created the man named Adam.  Read this chapter in full if you like.  I will not quote it all because I want you to focus on verse 26 primarily:

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.

This verse was written about Adam leaving his Father to be joined to his wife.  Who then was his father that he left if not God?  It has to be God that was the spiritual Father of Adam.  I know this because of what we read previously in Hebrews 12:9 where God is declared to be the Father of every spirit.  If you go back up in the chapter at Genesis 2:7 you will read where God breathes the breath of life into Adam.  This Hebrew word translated as breath is the same word that means “spirit” and this word teaches us when and where Adam received his spirit directly from God his spiritual Father.

We have now discovered 4 types of sons of God and there is at least one other type but that is sufficient overwhelming evidence that John 3:16 cannot be correctly translated as “ONE AND ONLY SON”.  This erroneous translation simply conflicts with too many other verses in the Bible that teaches us about other “sons of God” that existed before Jesus came to the earth and after Jesus returned to heaven.  I received one additional question that I will end with in this lesson.  I received a question about Jesus having brothers and who these brothers were.  I have alluded to this truth in some of my other Bible lessons but never fully explained it.  I may not be able still to fully explain it here but I will at least introduce the subject for your consideration.

If there are multiple types of sons of God as I have demonstrated and God is the Father of them all, then  it makes good logical sense that Jesus has brothers/siblings.  If Jesus is a Son of God which He clearly is then every other son of God must also be His brother.   In many of the parables taught to us by Jesus there is more than one son given.  Even within Old Testament typology there are many examples of multiple sons. For example, Isaac was a half-brother of Ishmael.   Isaac was accepted and the older brother Ishmael was cast out.  This is a common pattern found in the Old Testament types.  For example, there was Cain and Abel the first two sons of Adam mentioned by God.  Abel was killed by his older brother Cain.  Abel’s offering was accepted by God but Cain’s was not.  Then there was Jacob and his older brother Esau.  Again Esau the firstborn was rejected but the younger Jacob was chosen by God.  Abel, Isaac and Jacob are all clearly types of Jesus Christ.  Yet who are these brothers a type of?  I personally believe that they are types of Satan.  I have other Bible lessons where I address these subjects so I will not repeat it here.

What I am doing is teaching you that Jesus had spiritual brothers.  We now know that Adam was a brother of Jesus since God was both of their direct spiritual Fathers.  We should also now know that Satan was a brother of Jesus since he was called a son of the early light in Isaiah.  We also know from reading that we Christians are also called spiritual brothers/sisters of Jesus if we have become “born again” by the Spirit of God and being led by His Spirit.  How do we know this?  Well we know this because Jesus was called the “firstborn” from the dead in Colossians 1:18.   That verse teaches us that this means Jesus was given preeminence by God’s design being the first to be born again from the dead.  Wow God teaches us some pretty hard things for us to grasp.  Who understood that Jesus was talking about Himself being born again in John 3?    If Jesus was the first then there are others that followed Him being called second, third, fourth and etc.   There are many other verses that teach us that we are called brothers and sisters of Christ.  For example we are called “joint heirs” with Christ Jesus in Romans 8:17.  What is an heir?  An heir is normally a child that inherits what is left after the Father/Parent dies.  Who died to make us an heir with Jesus?  It was Jesus who died to allow us to become an heir.  This is just another divine mystery.  God died and became the first heir and this act of God allows us to become the same in subsequent numbered positions.  This is a very complex spiritual subject that is not known or understood by many Christians.

Today in this Bible lesson I want to reemphasize the fact that I am not taking away from the deity of Jesus Christ nor am I reducing His most significant Son of God status with the existence of other created sons of God.  I always capitalize Jesus as the Son of God and any other being like Lucifer was but a mere son of God.   I fully acknowledge Jesus Christ as being Supreme.  Just because I taught you that there are other types of sons of God that exist in the Bible that does not disqualify the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit within the trinity.  These three are the One True God.  If you perceived any other message from this Bible lesson than what I just stated here then you need to go back and reread this lesson again and again.

My website is called “Advanced Bible Study”.  This is one of those types of lessons that have been designed for spiritually mature Christians.  I went over many things that will be rejected by a lot of immature people who call themselves Christians but yet that is the nature of teaching advanced subjects to students who are only capable of understanding simple basic subjects. I used 3 to 4 basic rules of good Bible interpretation to confirm the truth in this lesson.  You should have learned these rules so that you can apply them in your Bible study.  If you disagree with this lesson please do not leave me any nasty comments.  I really am not going to change what I teach if you are incapable of understanding spiritual truths.  I thank those that can see the truth and understand why it is important to learn.  I could not include everything in this lesson so if you have questions I am willing to hear them and see if I can help you to understand anything that was not covered sufficiently.  In conclusion I will give you the list of 4 types of sons of God:

  1. Only Begotten (natural born) Son (Jesus Christ)
  2. The angelic beings are called the sons of God created before the world existed
  3. The born again church are called sons of God if they are led by the Spirit of God
  4. Adam created as a son of God who left his Father to be joined to his wife

I hope that you enjoyed this advanced Bible lesson and will leave me a positive comment or question if you learned anything that you can share with others please do that also.  Also please point others to this website to help the Word of God to be spread to the entire world.  Post links to my Bible lessons on Facebook, Twitter or any other social media site where people can learn about Jesus. I thank you and may God continue to bless you as you are led by His Spirit with me.  God Bless!

Understanding the Book of Job. Did Job Ever Have Faith in God? Part 4

job-theodicy_on_trial(ver 1.1)  This is now Part 4 in the series of advanced spiritual Bible study lessons on Understanding the Old Testament Book of Job.  I have not taught on this subject in a very long time but I received a question that needed to be answered.   I believed that there are many that can benefit from this response and I hope that you will receive this message with an open heart and mind.   If you have not read the entire series of lessons from the beginning then I would highly recommend that you go back and start with Part 1 since I cannot repeat everything about a subject in every lesson.  I have covered a lot of new information in this series that is often ignored or overlooked when studying the Book of Job.   Too often Christians study a book, chapter or even a verse of the Old Testament without any consideration for the commentary, definitions and explanations of God given to us in the New Testament and that is a tremendous mistake.   God in the New Testament revealed so many hidden concepts and these new revelations will shed a significant amount of light upon the story of Job but only if we understand how they fit into these Old Testament descriptions.  For example in one of my last Bible lesson I taught on the subject of Biblical Typology.  Typology is such a deep subject that it sometimes goes way beyond the comprehension of many Christians.   But, today I believe that I will introduce you to Job as being an Old Testament type for us in the church to learn from.  Let’s allow the Spirit of God to teach us through His Word about what the Bible means.   This principle of using the Bible to interpret and understand the Bible is what I have been trying to teach people to do in almost every Old Testament Bible study that I have ever published.  I hope that many are at least beginning to familiarize themself with how this is achieved and then they will be able to incorporate these ideas into how to study the Bible.

The question that I received about Job was concerning if Job ever possessed any faith in God.   Faith is a central theme subject dominating the entire New Testament.  But was faith ever a factor for these people of the Old Testament like Job?   We know from reading in Hebrews 11:6 that without faith it is absolutely impossible to even try to please God.  We also know from reading in Malachi 3:6 that the Lord God does not vary or change in any way at any time.  Therefore we know that if the Lord required faith in the New Testament then the same requirement is necessary in the Old Testament in order to be pleasing to Him or Malachi 3:6 would become a lie.  We should be able to recognize from reading in the first chapter of Job that it appears that God is very pleased with His man named Job.   In fact if you read verse 8 God declares to Satan that there is no other man like His servant Job on the earth.  Therefore, we must conclude that God was very well pleased with Job in chapter 1 and that this means that Job had to have had a measure of faith in God that was pleasing to Him.  This is just basic logic established upon reading the New Testament and asking the right questions and then finding the right answers.  We have just established a basis for Job’s faith and now in the rest of the lesson we will confirm this reality using other Bible verses found in the Old and New Testaments.

If Job possessed faith this raises the valid new question of how Job could have fallen into fear, speaking wrong words and having no inner peace simultaneously with having this unstated faith that pleased God in chapter 1?   If you understand much about the concepts of faith there appears to be a major contradiction between all of these concepts being present within anyone at the same time.   That was actually a very wise and excellent question to ask about Job by the commenter.  The person that asked this question if Job had any faith certainly understood a lot about the subject of faith and the partners of faith that must be found present in order to be pleasing to God.  We will now attempt to explore this new subject of Job’s faith by using more of the New Testament to help us understand what God says about Job and this subject of faith.  We will also verify the fact that this faith existed using the Old Testament descriptions found in the book of Job and in other verses where Job is mentioned.   Are you ready to learn some more new things about the mysterious story of Job?  I will warn you at the beginning that this will be a long lesson on Job and the subject of faith.

DID JOB HAVE FAITH?

We still need to confirm the fact that Job had unstated faith in the Old Testament.  movie_film_art_2014But, it might also help us if we begin to realize that the book of Job represents only a short film clip of his entire life movie.   Did you understand what I just said?   Have you ever considered or studied the implied timing and duration of this short Job story event written down for us by God?  Job is reported to be a very mature man that has already had 10 mature children by the time the story begins in chapter 1.  How long of time does it normally take to have 10 children and allow them to mature?   How old would Job be after this has occurred?   We are not technically told but Job could have been at least 25 to 30 years old before he got married and ever started having any children with his wife.  It then could have taken up to 20 years to have given birth to these 10 children.  If all of Job’s children were now grown the duration of time for the youngest to grow up might have been at least another 20+ years from the time of their birth.  All of this would mean that Job could be at least 70 to 80 years old minimum in the beginning of chapter 1.  This could make his oldest son close to 40 years old and his youngest son around 20 years old.  The first seventy to eighty years of Job’s life is a lot of time that is not being reported on in the Bible by God.  What we learn from this quick analysis of Job is that not every detail of the early life was given to us by God.  We do know that in Chapter one that Job is successful, prosperous and is very blessed by God.  But we do not know how or why Job obtained this blessing from God at first glance from the material being given.   This will be why we need to study the Bible in more depth to learn more about the fine details to what pleases God.

We are not technically provided how long of a period of time that the story of Job takes place from chapter 1 to chapter 42.  I have heard some say as long as 7 years (84 months) and others only a few weeks or months.   Either way the story time period was relatively short compared to the human range of life spans found during the book of Genesis.  I personally place the story of Job somewhere after Noah but before Abraham.   For Job to occur before the flood would raise the question of how the book survived the flood to be given to us on the earth today to read.  Next we find by reading Job that there is no direct mention of God’s covenant with Abraham or the Law of Moses in the book of Job.  So this would lead us to believe that Job lived in the time period before Abraham.   Using this logic, this would place the story of Job somewhere after chapter 10 of Genesis and before the middle of chapter 11 of Genesis.   Many people during this time period of chapter 11 in Genesis lived from 200 to 300 years and even that is a long time compared to just 84 months or 7 years at the most of the story of Job.   In fact if you read the end of Job in chapter 42 and verse 16 you will find that after God restored to Job more than he had at the beginning of the story that Job still produced another 10 children and lived another 140 years.  Using this information we can say that Job was probably at least 70 to 100 years old when chapter 1 begins.   What I am teaching in this part of the introduction is that this book of Job like most of the rest of the Bible is incomplete but God gives us this specific part of the complete story for a purpose to teach us.

We will endeavor to determine the purpose of Job by using the revelations given to us by God in the New Testament.   Like I said before, I will always use the New Testament to explain the Old Testament because this was a part of God’s design and I have learned to follow it.   Without the New Testament the Old Testament is a very confusing book of historical information as proven by all of the crazy opinions found on the internet to what it all means.   To begin this study we need to search the New Testament to find if Job is ever mentioned directly by God.  Doing this search, you should find that the man Job is only directly mentioned one time in one verse in the whole New Testament.   However this single reference point will begin to open the door for us to see how to understand if Job ever had any faith.   I have talked about this verse in the very first lesson briefly but I did not go into it in any detail.  What we will soon discover in the New Testament is that Job’s virtue of patience was revealed by God to be the main emphasis (purpose) of the entire book of Job.  Let me give you the verse again so that you can review what is stated within God’s critical commentary on the story of Job:

Jas 5:11  Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.

I am not going to attempt to teach everything that this verse says but I will again emphasize that it was only Job’s patience and endurance that was being highlighted by God as the main subjects found in the O.T. book.   Have you ever considered why so many pastors today teach only negative things from the book of Job and God only speaks of positive qualities?  I mean think about how many funerals quote Job as saying “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord”.  Why isn’t this statement ever quoted by the apostles in the New Testament anywhere but yet it is overemphasized by Bible teachers in the church constantly?  I think those are all excellent questions to think about.  Let’s talk about what patience is briefly to help us better understand this new subject.  We will do this by asking some very basic questions.  Why is patience a virtue?   When does a human ever have need of any patience?  What exactly is patience?   What is the opposite of having patience?   If you can begin to answer these questions then you are far ahead of many other Christians.  Let’s look up the definition of the Greek translated as “patience” in the Strong’s:

G5281: From G5278; cheerful (or hopeful) endurance, constancy: – enduring, patience, patient continuance (waiting).

The Strong’s dictionary defines the Greek word G5281 which is translated as “patience” to be “cheerful” or “hopeful” endurance.  Wow, that is an amazingly important definition for a word that is so neglected and misunderstood by Christians.   By the inclusion of the words “cheerful” and “hopeful” within the definition this denotes the characteristic of someone choosing to have a positive attitude  in spite of the implied presence of adverse circumstances that are being faced by the person being described.  Do you understand this?  Being hopeful is not required when you are at a pleasurable event of good circumstances.   In other words if you have millions of dollars in the bank you do not need to have any cheerful hope that your bills will be met because they have already been met.   Let me give you a quick definition for the word hope.  Hope is the confident expectation or desire for a certain good thing or event to occur.   Does that help?   We do not need to hope for what we already possess.   This is actually a very good quality and relates to having faith tremendously.  Let’s briefly move on to the quality of being cheerful next.

Making a willful and purposeful decision to be cheerful is not necessary during a time of great pleasure, prosperity or positive experiences either.   Almost everyone can be happy and cheerful during a party celebration. I do not believe that is what is being defined here in this definition of patience.   The definition for the word “cheerful” is someone who is noticeably happy and optimistic.  Being cheerful, happy and optimistic is easy when everything is going great.   However, the presence of choosing to be cheerful within the definition of being patient can only be correctly understood as occurring during a set of very negative circumstances.   We can see this by Strong placing the adjective “cheerful” joined with the noun “endurance” which changes the word’s application to a completely different set of negative circumstances and we will discover this as we continue through the lesson.

I hope that you understand what all of this means so far.  We will next look at the word endurance but before we go there let’s look at another part of the patience definition that teaches us an additional important concept concerning why patience is necessary.  You should have observed that the definition of patience includes a direct companionship with the term “waiting”.  To “wait” can be defined as “to stay in a certain place until a very specific anticipated event occurs”.   Any time that a person “waits” for something to transpire or to be given to them this means they do not yet have it or can even see it coming.  This would mean that there must be a time delay or an extended interval of duration that occurs before what is desired can be proven to exist.   I hope that you understood that time is an essential part of the word’s meaning because it was very relevant.  Now let’s talk about “endurance”.   Notice in the definition of G5281 that was translated as patience is found the term “endurance” and “enduring”.  How is endurance a factor with waiting?  What is “endurance” and when or why is this quality ever required?    Let’s find the definition of endurance in a dictionary:

Endurance:  the fact or power of enduring an unpleasant or difficult process or situation without giving way

Endurance is defined to be going through an extended unpleasant situation which again denotes the passage of time through a set of negative circumstances.  This is a very good description of the short story of Job, isn’t it?  Endurance is only required when someone is in an event of significant length when not quitting or giving up is required to remain in it.   For example a runner in any long distance marathon event needs to possess the quality of endurance.  No runner in any 100 meter sprint requires endurance because the end of the race is always in the view of the runner.   Did you see the difference?   In other words hopeful endurance is only necessary if the person participating does not or cannot see the end of the race for a very long elapsed period of time but yet they know the end is coming so they optimistically expect to get through the whole race to finish at the end.  Wow, again!   Did you know that every Christian after being saved is in an extended endurance race not able to perceive the end of their course?   Let me prove this to you using your Bible:

Heb 12:1  Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

There is an amazingly complex figurative explanation of the newborn Christian life found in this verse.   Too many Christians want to take everything in the Bible literally and this verse if taken this way will only confuse the reader.   There can be no logical application that God is describing a literal physical race in this verse.  Therefore this described race must be taken as a symbolic, figurative or metaphorical account of an unseen spiritual event.   Do you understand this?   This symbolic description is often missed or ignored by many modern extreme Grace Bible teachers.   Let’s determine who the runners are for this race to begin.  The key to understanding any verse begins with seeing what is actually stated.   There are two plural pronouns given that will point us to who the runners represent.  These pronouns are “we” and “us”.   Both of these words are statements written by Paul that included himself as one of the runners.  The remainder of this runner group has to be the church which he is writing the letter to.  Therefore only the church body as a whole can be the target runners.  Now let’s determine what makes a person a runner in the race.   Since the reason for the race is not directly given to us in this verse I will tell you that being a runner in the race occurs when we are born again.    This was inferred by the statement of us laying aside every weight and sin that does beset us.   I am a firm believer that repentance is a forerunner to accepting salvation.  Repentance occurs when one realizes that they are a sinner and have need of salvation.  Normally when this occurs, the person realizes their need to turn away from their sins and this would again match with what was stated here in Hebrews.  I really do not have the time to explain this in detail in this lesson.  I hope that you can agree with the Spirit of God and we can continue.

Since this verse was written to the church and we are the runners being described we must now determine what kind of race this applies to.  Let’s analyze the Greek word translated as “race” to learn what God meant by selecting this word.   The Greek word translated as “race” is G73 (AGON).    This word from the Strong’s dictionary has the meaning of a contest where people are gathered together to compete.  This Greek word is found in only 6 verses that were all written to the church in Paul’s letters.  It is only translated as “race” in Hebrews 12:1.  In other verses it was translated as “conflict”, “contention” or “fight”.  In every case this word designates a human struggle to overcome or win in the contest.   In any designated opportunity to win there is always an antithesis opportunity to fail, quit or to be defeated.  This is such an important concept that I can’t stop teaching it.  If you do not believe that you can ever be deceived then you are already deceived.    If you do not believe that you can ever quit your salvation and walk away then you are in serious trouble.  Knowing that you are in a conflict is the beginning to overcoming it to win.  I think I am getting off topic here so please allow me to move on.

Let’s continue to define the race.  In Philippians 1:30 Paul tells the church that they are in the same conflict (race) as he is.  Within the context of this statement Paul refers to the persecution that they are enduring for preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   In 1 Thessalonians 2:2 Paul again speaks of preaching the Gospel in the middle of great violence that was being done against it.  What we are observing is a pattern for defining what the contest represents.  The contest being described appears to be a Christian life of preaching to others to get them saved while enduring persecution, ridicule and even up to death as many in the early church endured.   In preaching the Gospel the Christian will encounter persecution and many evils that are sent to silence them.   This gives us a pretty clear definition for what the race represents.  This race must be the Christian life of following Jesus’ example to reach the world.   I hope that you can agree with this conclusion.

God describes the Christian way of life to be as a long race of endurance that requires the noble quality of patience to get through it.  This literally means that we all have the same opportunity to quit or give up before the end of the race is achieved.  Consider the fact that every natural race has a starting gun that begins the event and an ending finish line that terminates the event.  The race being described here in Hebrews 12:1 begins when the sinner repents, believes and accepts Jesus as their Lord and Savior.  That is the individual’s starting point to begin to run and the end of that race is certainly not seen or known.   The duration of the race is our life span on the earth where we must endure things that try to make us quit preaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ.   What God calls every Christian to do is to witness and preach to help get others into the race.  This is the ministry that we all share together.  So far do you understand God’s description of the Christian life race?

AAA 400Notice that this race is being witnessed by an audience which observes as the runners run.   Then think and consider that these witnesses are not in the race.  There is only two possible interpretations for these race witnesses.   They can be those that we are trying to get into the race.  Or they could also be those that have already finished the race.  Now remember that it is the spiritual church which is racing here within this natural world which is bringing the opposition to them.  This seems to indicate that those that are bringing the opposition to those of us who are running to win the race are already a part of the field where the competition is occurring and therefore cannot be in the grandstands as witnesses to the event.   We can confirm this by observing the stated figurative position of the cheering audience members.  The audience is described to be compassed about the event and that is clearly a figurative stadium setting but it is also a circular reference like the shape of our globe.   This helps to confirm that the earth is the symbolic stadium and the observers are not here on the earth.  These witnesses that encircle the earth’s view cannot be earthly participants or natural observers but rather these must be heavenly witnesses and that will certainly include God, the angels and those that have already finished running their race and gone to be with the Lord.   Again the race being described here represents the human events, struggles, challenges within our human life on the earth.    The main point that I wanted to get to in this verse is the fact God says we must run life’s race with patience.  That simply means that we are running the race with hopeful endurance until the end of the race comes.  There are only three exits from this race that can be possible.  The first exit is the rapture of the church, the second exit can be the natural death of the runner and the third exit from the race can only be the resignation of the runner from the race.   Even when we do not see the end we know the end is coming and that will be when we will receive the prize being spoken of in the N.T. (1 Cor 9:2).  I’m not going to go into any more of the details of this race concept in this lesson because I believe that you can get the main points from what has just been described.

I reached this verse in Hebrews 12:1 by searching for the keyword “patience” being used to describe Job in James.  Do you remember how we got here so far?   The next thing that I want you to understand is that this verse in Hebrews 12:1 is directly preceded by Hebrews chapter 11 which is entirely dominated by the subject of faith listing many of the Old Testament faith heroes.   This again is a critical part of the lesson for us to begin to learn the direct association between the subjects of having faith in Chapter 11 which is immediately followed by the subject of patience in chapter 12.  The book of Hebrews was not written with chapter and verse separations.  Therefore these two subjects flow together in harmony and must be taken to be related topics.   We will confirm this truth by using other scriptures, but this is a very important beginning view of these two subjects.  Why do I say that?  It is because my subject today is about Job and Job is certainly an Old Testament man.   Hebrews 11 confirms to us today that faith was a factor for even the men and women named in the Old Testament.  God names over 10 individuals and Paul then writes that there are too many others to name them all.  What we must conclude from this information is that Job could have had faith.   I would suggest that you go and read chapter 11 of Hebrews every chance you get.  There is so much information given to us here that it astounds me.  I have concluded that while Job’s name is not directly mentioned in Hebrews 11, it can be indirectly associated within the group of unnamed O.T. saints by God’ selection of the word G5281 translated as “patience” that follows having faith in Hebrews 12:1.   I would also like to make this point that there is an implied association with those names listed in chapter 11 as Old Testament faith heroes as being the chapter 12 witnesses that have gone on before us.   I hope you understand this logic.  Let’s examine another verse found in James that goes along with the one that I previously used about Job.

Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Here is a very important verse to apply to Job.  It appears that patience is mentioned more than once in the book of James.  In this verse is found the exact same Greek word that we previously looked at as being used by God to describe Job.  But this time this Greek word is connected directly to the factor of having human faith.    This is the first verse that we have looked at that has made this direct connection.  It will certainly not be the last verse.   What we will discover in this study is that patience is a direct partner to faith and they both must be present or neither is necessary.  I would like to introduce you to the keyword that is translated as “trying” in this verse.  This Greek word is G1383 and it means “to test”.  This would be a very accurate description of what is occurring in the book of Job.  Job is being tested and we learn from this verse in James why these tests occur.   Also do not erroneously conclude that God is doing the testing because that belief contradicts other New Testament verses that I have already covered.  Therefore the tester is Satan as we can clearly see being named in the first chapter of Job.  From this verse in James we begin to see why Job endured and survived these tests and this is because of his faith and patience.   This is the second verse that helps to establish the faith of Job as being a present factor in the story.

WHO IS JOB ASSOCIATED WITH?

I think this is a good time to learn the associations of Job in the Bible.  By seeing who God groups Job with in the Bible it will help us determine if he is qualified to be called a faith man.   I think it is fairly obvious that Job is not directly grouped with anyone in the book of Job.  There are no other mentioned men of God in this book.  In fact if it were not for Job praying for his friends, his friends would be in serious trouble with God.   I hope you understand the importance of association.  This will become increasingly more important as you study the Bible in depth on many other subjects.  In the last section I talked about the Hebrews 11 Faith Hall of Fame list that God gives to us.  These were all faith men and women that achieved notoriety by God to an elite level of association.  We learn from this list that God does associate like people together.  We can use this now to learn who God associated Job with.  In order to do this I’m going to give you the preceding verse to the one in James that mentioned Job:

Jas 5:10  Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.

Ok, this verse is really very informative.  By God placing this information within the direct context of the next statement, Job is being placed within some very elite company.   I personally believe that Job was a prophet of God.  I derive that from the fact that I believe Job wrote the book of Job.  But I also derive that from this verse that speaks of prophets and their examples of suffering affliction and their patience.   That is a very excellent description of the book of Job.   Here in this verse is the introduction of Job being an example for the church to follow.  God’s usage of the Greek word G5262 teaches us this fact.   This Greek word literally means these men were given to us by God as a pattern for us to learn from.  That is the classic definition of what a Biblical type is.  If Job was a type of man with patience being associated with so many other great prophets that we can read about then we need to learn this in order to understand the book of Job more clearly.

One of the greatest prophets of God was Moses.  Moses wrote down the Law of God.   He was used by God to deliver the children of God out of Egypt.  This is the kind of company that Job is being placed within by this verse statement in James 5:10.  Moses was also directly mentioned in the Faith Hall of Fame and that helps to determine where Job potentially belongs by direct association.   What we will do is see if we can find further confirmation for this in the Bible.  We will do this again by searching for the name of Job to determine if God places him with anyone else by association.  We already know that Job is not found anywhere else in the New Testament but we did not previously look for him in the Old Testament and that is our next place to search.

If you did the search you should have found one more reference to Job outside of the book of Job.  The name of Job is only mentioned in the Old Testament in the book of Job and in the writings of one major O.T. prophet.   You will find the name of Job mentioned in Ezekiel 14 twice.  These verses are Ezekiel 14:14 and 14:20.  Here in both of these verses Job’s name is directly mentioned in unison with Noah and Daniel.  Both of these men were also prophets of God.  This information helps us to confirm where Job fits within God’s associations.   If you read the context of these two verses you should see that God is speaking to the house of Israel and He tells them to turn from their idols or be destroyed.  God clearly calls men like Noah, Daniel and Job to be righteous examples and these are the types of men that will be saved while the others in Israel that do not repent will be destroyed.   This is actually essential information to learn from about the story of Job.  It gives us such a profound reference point to who God viewed Job to be like that it helps us settle why this book even exists in the Bible.   You see Noah was directly mentioned in Hebrews 11:7 as having faith.  Daniel was indirectly mentioned in the same chapter as having stopped the mouths of lions in Hebrews 11:33.  Therefore we have Job being included with some pretty amazing company that would seem to indicate that Job’s righteousness was also obtained by the same level of faith in God that these other two men possessed.  I would recommend that you take the time to go and read Ezekiel 14 to insure that this is what God is saying.  I believe that you will be able to see it now that I have pointed you to this information.  This information will help confirm the presence of faith in the life of Job but we will continue to find other witnesses to the truth as we study further.

FAITH AND PATIENCE

As we have observed in Hebrews 11 and 12 there appears to be a partnership between faith and patience which is tied together by God’s design.   What relationship does faith have with patience?  Are there any other direct connections between these two factors given to us in the New Testament?    This is where we will begin to get into the subject of why faith is joined to its partner called patience.   I can’t teach the entire subject here but I will give you a quick overview of how they are linked together.  But first we will continue by reading another verse found within the context of Hebrews 11 and 12 that directly applies to our lesson:

Heb 10:36  For ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.

Did you just see what God did?   God just made us a faith sandwich placing the meat of faith (Heb. 11) between two slices of patience (Heb 10:36, Heb 12:1).   Uh oh, I hope that I didn’t offend anyone with my faith sandwich analogy.  Let’s consider the book of Job when reading this N.T. verse.  Did Job end up better than when he started?   Through all of the hardships that Job experienced in 41 chapters was the end of his life blessed more than the beginning of his life by God?   I hope that you will read and see that Job’s end was greater than Job’s younger years and certainly was better than his life during the book of Job.  Would it not stand to reason that Job “received the promise” of God in the end?   Maybe you do not understand that receiving anything from God requires human faith.  I do not have the time to teach or prove this in this lesson so you will need to go and study the subject of faith in my Understanding Bible Faith series.   I will definitely tell you that everything that comes from God’s Grace is received by a man’s faith and obedience.   This includes salvation, healing, deliverance, God’s blessings and on and on I could go.   I’ll say it one more time for those that do not yet understand that nothing positive is received from God without their faith being present.    Let me give you another verse that certainly applies to the subject of Job:

Jas 1:12  Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.

God makes a statement here that could be talking about Job directly.  Did you see it?  There is a direct mention of endurance and this applies to having patience.  Now do you see it? The Greek word that was translated as “temptation” is a poor choice of English words by the translators.  This Greek word G3986 literally means “an experience of evil”.   While this definition could mean a temptation it goes way beyond that to include many other things.   This Greek word could apply to any adversity brought against someone by an enemy.   Let me ask you this, was Satan Job’s enemy or was Satan Job’s friend?   It would very stupid not to call Satan the adversary of Job since he was clearly trying to kill him.   Do you know what the Hebrew name “Job” means?   This name means “hated”.  Who hated Job?  If God was pleased with Job then it stands to reason that God’s enemy Satan would hate Job.   Therefore Job was hated by Satan.   This helps us put into perspective who is responsible for which actions in the book of Job.

Now go back to James 1:12 and go further with what is spoken by God.  God says that after a time of endurance through an attack that this person being attacked will receive that which God had promised them.   Why does God allow Satan to test His people?  It is certainly not for God’s benefit so it must be for our benefit or to provide evidence to Satan that those being tested will be true and faithful.  Both factors derive benefits for us in the future.   Adversity builds human character.  It teaches a person that they can overcome it and be victorious.  Isn’t all of this what happened to Job?   Job endured such a major attack of Satan that it almost wiped him out and yet God’s blessings still prevailed because why?  Do you know what receiving is?   I need to do an entire faith lesson on this important faith word.  Jesus would frequently tell the sick and diseased to “receive” their miracle.  What was Jesus saying to them?   Jesus was saying you better take it if you want it because the ball is now in your court.  I just used a tennis analogy to help you see how grace and faith works together.  God’s grace will serve the promise but it is man’s faith that is required to receive it.   If Job was mentioned with Noah and Daniel then he certainly obtained a crown of life that was mentioned in James 1:12.  I believe someday soon we will be able to walk and talk with Job and find out what else we did not learn from this book.

All of this initial information that I have just given to you is on the subjects of faith and patience and they teach us that Job had to have had unstated faith at least to some degree that allowed his end of life to be better than his beginning.  God very clearly told us that Job had patience in James.  Why then would Job need this patience if he had no hope for anything better to come?  I want you to chew on that for a while.   I’ll give you another N.T. verse that helps us to connect faith and patience together:

2Th 1:4  So that we ourselves glory in you in the churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that ye endure:

We are back to the subject of endurance working with our faith and patience.   Here is Paul writing to the church and this verse could very easily be talking about Job’s tribulations equally.  Both the early church and Job endured great adversity and troubles within a stated time of duration here in this life.   Both of these troubles were certainly brought upon them each by their enemy Satan.  Job appears to me to be a O.T. type of the church using Biblical typology.   You have probably never heard anyone teach this but it makes very good Biblical sense based upon the comparison of common features.  Both of these examples of the early church and the O.T. life of Job persevered and endured through great tribulations, trials and tests.  Both certainly needed patience to possess the blessings of God’s promises.  But also notice what God says that they both also needed faith.   I personally do not believe that God would have included the story of Job in the Bible as a positive role model for the church if this man did not possess any faith.  God would have omitted his life story or the end result of Job’s life would have been entirely different than being fully restored apparently victorious over Satan’s attempts to kill, steal and destroy him (John 10:10).  All of this evidence that I have presented you so far raises a new question that must be answered, if Job had faith why didn’t God talk about it in the book of Job?   The answer to this question can only be found by asking why didn’t God talk about Job’s patience in the book if that was the clear emphasis that was being taught to us in the New Testament?   Do you understand that there were hidden Bible subjects in the Old Testament?  Let me help to prove this to you:

Gal 3:23  But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed.

Actually you will find out very soon that God did talk about Job’s faith in great detail in the book of Job but we normally do not understand it or it is easily mistaken for something else since it was never directly referenced by name.   This was the same for Job’s patience.  God tells us a story of part of Job’s life that demonstrates the qualities of patience being found present but yet never mentions these directly by name either.  We will discover that Job’s connections to faith were hidden within other descriptive words found in the book of Job.   Did you see what God said in this verse in Galatians?   I used this verse in the first lesson of my faith series because it is critical to understand when and where faith originates.   Faith is definitely not a brand new N.T. invention.   Faith is a divine central theme of the entire Bible from Genesis to Revelation.   However God says here in Galatians that the hidden subject of faith was only revealed to us in the church after Jesus had come tot he earth.  To be revealed means that the subject of faith was previously hidden from view for natural Israel.   Once you learn what faith is then you will begin to see faith or the lack of faith in almost every story found in the Old Testament.  I really hope and pray that you are learning this subject because it will be essential in your life.

FINDING JOB’S FAITH IN THE BOOK OF JOB

Reading in the book of Job initially, God appear to give the impression that He is well pleased with His man Job at least in the first chapter.   How can God ever be pleased with a man that has no faith?  Is that even possible?   It is not possible according to the New Testament as I have already alluded to previously.   I think I need to give you this verse to confirm that faith is a requirement in order to be pleasing to God:

Heb 11:6  But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Did you see what this verse says?   If our faith is required and is not optional in order to be pleasing to God then we need to conclude that Job had to have had the same faith at least initially in the book.    However, there is another part of this verse that also applies to the story of Job that must be applied equally.   Read the last part of the verse again and see that God says “to those that believe in God’s existence” that He will reward them if they seek after Him diligently.  This is another portion of the requirement for having faith that must be met.  Did Job believe in God?  I believe you can clearly see in the story of Job that he believed in God very strongly.  Had Job ever seen God?  God says in John 1:18, “no man has ever seen God”.  Therefore Job had to believe in God without any evidence of His existence like you and I today.   Now ask yourself did Job diligently seek for God?  That becomes a little more difficult to see but you can find that in the first chapter that Job was offering sacrifices to God.   That sounds like a person that was diligently seeking the face of God to me.   Did Job receive any rewards for believing in God and seeking after God?   Let’s think about the rewards that Job obtained at the end of the book again.   At the end of the book of Job, he is blessed more than at the beginning and let’s review these verses:

Job 42:12  So the LORD blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.

Job 42:13  He had also seven sons and three daughters.

If God rewarded Job at the end of the book with more than he had at the beginning of the book and this teaches me that faith was found to be present of God’s blessings would not have been received.   I do not see how anyone can receive God’s blessings without possessing any faith.  If you know of anyone in the Bible that was ever blessed by God without having faith please tell me about them because if you can find me one man or one woman without faith that is blessed by God then you have just made God a liar.   Since it is impossible for God to lie, I will stand by my statement with confidence that you cannot find one person present in the Bible without faith that is rewarded by God.

I’m going to go through the first verse of Job to begin to show you God’s hidden descriptions of Job’s faith being present.  I hope that after you have studied this section of the lesson with me that you will understand that faith was always present in the life of Job.   Please read verse 1 very slowly and carefully not missing any of the words selected by God to describe His righteous man Job:

Job 1:1 There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job; and that man was perfect and upright, and one that feared God, and eschewed evil.

In this first verse Job is described by God using four very flattering positive key descriptive words that were selected by God’s inspired choice.   These words will help us to understand God’s perspective and viewpoint of this man and why Job was so pleasing to God.  We must understand when reading the Bible that God could have selected any description that was true to use to teach us.  But when God selects only four specific words then those words must have a meaning that is needed to be understood.  Start by asking the question why were these 4 words selected and why were they used together in a list?  Please allow me to identify these key words for you in a list:

  1. Perfect (H8535)
  2. Upright (H3477)
  3. Feared God (H3373)
  4. Eschewed Evil  (H5493)

Those are four qualities that demonstrate God’s pleasure because they prove the implied presence of faith in God.    All of these qualities could be used to describe a Christian today that pleased God.  These qualities help to establish the fact that Job is a model for the church to follow.  Let’s research these words one at time beginning with the first called someone who is  “perfect”.  That is a very strange word for God to use to describe a human, isn’t it?

BEING PERFECT

To be “perfect” does not mean that someone never makes a mistake or sins.   Only God can be perfect and no human has ever achieved this.  Therefore to be perfect is not what you think it is using modern definitions.  A perfect diamond is one that is defined to be flawless and this cannot be a human since God says “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Rom 3:23).  Since being perfect is unachievable we need to discover what God meant by this word.  By looking in Strong’s dictionary for the meaning of the word we should find that to be perfect is a term that means someone is “complete” or “lacking no good quality” in the eyes of God.   Was faith a good quality to possess according to Hebrews 11:6?   If you answered yes, then faith is part of the complete package that God is looking for in any human.   This Hebrew word translated as “perfect” is H8535 and it is not used in very many verses of the O.T.   However, I will point you to one key verse that is important to note on what perfect represents to God:

Gen 25:27  And the boys grew: and Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; and Jacob was a plain man, dwelling in tents.

Here is a verse that is easily overlooked and ignored because most of us do not read in Hebrew.  This verse has the same Hebrew word that was translated as “perfect” in Job 1:1 but this time it is used to describe Jacob as being a “plain” man.   I do not believe that people always understand the confusion that translators present them by changing a word’s definition but this is a major problem with correctly understanding the Bible.  The main point here is that both Jacob and Job were both described to be “perfect” men and they were connected together by God’s choice of word descriptions.  Therefore if you understand how typology works then what one man has the other should also have to some degree of comparison.  Why is this important?   Well it is important because Jacob was also mentioned by name in Hebrews 11 as having faith.   Therefore we can logically conclude that if Jacob had faith and he was called perfect by God then Job had faith because he was also called perfect by God.   This is very basic applied logic which surrounds the members in the common set of human called “perfect” defined by God.  Let’s continue to the next word description of Job in verse 1.

BEING UPRIGHT

“Upright” simply means someone that is standing straight up not leaning to the left or to the right.   This is a figurative expression that teaches us the condition of Job’s human thoughts within his mind as being level headed or in other words as thinking decently, right, honest, pure and not wavering back and forth from the left or to the right.   Being upright expresses Job’s moral compass on the inside that was directing his ways and his actions.   Do you recall what God said to the prophet Samuel?  When God sent Samuel to anoint the next king of Israel the sons of Jesse came before him one by one.  God told Samuel not to look on the outward appearance in 1 Samuel 16:7 because He looks on the heart of the man.  What this teaches us is that God declares what is on the inside to be more significant than what we see on the outside of a person.   What this teaches us is that Job had to be pleasing to God on the inside in order for him to walk the walk that was pleasing to God on the outside.   Again to be a good person outwardly is pleasing to God but yet a good person without any faith on the inside can still never please Him.  Also too many Christians today are doing good things without having good and right intentions in their heart.  That is a major problem to God.   Let me take you to a New Testament verse that mentions the word upright to help define what this word means:

Gal 2:14  But when I saw that they walked not uprightly according to the truth of the gospel, I said unto Peter before them all, If thou, being a Jew, livest after the manner of Gentiles, and not as do the Jews, why compellest thou the Gentiles to live as do the Jews?

This is going to be a lesson using stated antithesis or opposites.  Sometimes to learn what something is you must learn what it is not!   Here in Galatians Paul is writing about people that were being the opposite of what Job was in verse 1.  These were Christians that were being inconsistent.   Paul was speaking of the Jews living like Gentiles but simultaneously wanting the Gentiles to live like Jews.   That represents a conflicting mindset of inconsistencies.   What Paul was telling us, is that the Gentiles did not need to get circumcised in their flesh in order to be saved like many of the Jews were trying to teach them.  Knowing the truth and being consistent applying the truth is what God was trying to say that Job was doing.   That according to God’s definition is what being upright is.   We should be able to learn how to apply this to what God says about Job.   It clearly meant that Job did not try to live like others while requiring them to live like him.  That would actually be a good Bible study to do but I will not spend the time today to do that.  Perhaps it will help if I give you the Greek word definition for upright here:

G3716

From a compound of G3717 and G4228; to be straight footed, that is, (figuratively) to go directly forward: – walk uprightly.

This word literally means to walk a straight line.  But, as you can see this word can be applied figuratively to mean moving directly forward as in not wavering from your purpose.   To move directly forward means not to move to the left or to the right as I have tried to teach you about the Hebrew word found in Job 1:1.  What is the opposite description of walking upright?   The opposite would be to walk staggering or swaying from side to side.   Do you understand this?  Have ever heard the modern expression he walked the line?  To walk the line figuratively meant that a person did not change their mind frequently to vary what they do.   There is an old Johnny Cash song that is called “Walk the line”.  In this song Johnny sings “Because you’re mine, I walk the line”.  That only meant that when he sang this song to his wife that he was not cheating on her with other women.   It is very much like the figurative phrase “walking the straight and narrow”.   Being upright is simply a person that is well balanced not changing their mind frequently between two opposing extremes like between being good today and evil tomorrow.  So what does being upright, have to do with if Job had any faith?   Well the application of truth will teach us the answer if we go and read the book of James in the New Testament:

Jas 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

Jas 1:6  But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed.

Did you see what God just said here about faith and wavering?   If man does not walk upright or in a straight line then he is wavering from one position to another.   God in this chapter calls this a double minded man with more than one thought process taking place simultaneously.   I hope and pray that you understood this very quick overview of the subject of walking uprightly.   I simply cannot teach every subject encountered in a Bible study in the depth that I would like or it would take me 100 times as many words to teach any subject.  What I wanted to show you here in James was the connection of not wavering (called walking upright) to having faith that receives from God.   It is still clear to me that since Job did receive a greater blessing from God in the end that he was at the very least back to not wavering like he was at the beginning of the story.  Let’s move on to the description of quality 3 called the fear of God next.

THE FEAR OF GOD

The next term that God used to describe Job in verse 1 was that he “feared God” and this is another critical positive human characteristic that is critical for anyone before they can ever possess any faith.  No one is going to believe God or even in God if they do not believe in His omnipotent power or if they have any great fear (respect) for His great abilities.   What I am going to do is give you another Hebrews 11 example of an Old Testament man that was directly compared to be like Job:

Heb 11:7  By faith Noah, being warned of God of things not seen as yet, moved with fear, prepared an ark to the saving of his house; by the which he condemned the world, and became heir of the righteousness which is by faith.

We of course understand that Noah had faith, but before Noah could believe God to have this faith it is said that he also had to fear God first.   It would have been very stupid for Noah not to fear God but yet this was still his right of free choice.   This becomes very self-evident that the fear of God is required before anyone will believe God’s spoken word.  This is in fact the number one reason why atheists do not believe in the Bible or in God.   Atheists do not possess any fear of the living God that created them and can kill them just as easily.   These people are called fools by God and I will concur.  Where there is no fear of God their can be no faith in God.  The fear of God is a necessary precursor for having faith.  Since God describes Job to possess this fear this description qualifies him to possess faith.   We could talk about this subject for a long time but that was a quick introduction and we will move on the quality four called “eschewed evil” used to describe Job.

TURN FROM EVIL

The last quality of Job was “eschewed evil”.  This Hebrew word translated as “eschewed” literally means to turn away from following after or doing any evil.   To turn away from evil is an indicator of a repentant heart that desires to do right and good.   Again this word indicates that faith is found present in the life of Job because the N.T. says anything that is not of faith is sin (Rom 14:23).  Did you know that the lack of faith was evil?  Did you know that having no faith was sin?   Many Christians do not have a clue about either of these concepts.   Let’s quickly establish that sin is evil in the eyes of the Lord:

1Ki 15:26  And he did evil in the sight of the LORD, and walked in the way of his father, and in his sin wherewith he made Israel to sin.

Here is a man being given as a negative example for the people of God not to follow and this man sinned before God and God called his actions evil.   This Hebrew word translated as “evil” is H7451 and this is the exact same word used in Job 1:1 to describe what Job was not in the eyes of the Lord.  Therefore Job lived a life of choosing to steer away from what was sin in the eyes of God.   This is really very amazing since the period of Job occurs before there was any written Law of Moses to describe what sin was.  Somehow Job was so in tune with the Spirit of God and His ways that he knew what sin was and avoided it.  Perhaps we need to connect the dots more clearly between turning from sin and having faith, patience and walking upright before God:

Mat 3:8  Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance:

Here is John preaching to the Jews and he tells them directly to produce fruit for repentance.   Repentance is simply the human turning from their sins and the fruit is a reference to coming fruits of the spirit that are described by God in Galatians:

Gal 5:22  But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,

Gal 5:23  Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

The KJV Bible is not as well stated as some of the other translations.  I want you to focus on just two of the nine fruits mentioned.  The first is translated as “long-suffering” and this is certainly applicable to what Job went through.  This Greek word literally means to be “patient”.   It is the opposite of being demanding and wanting everything right now like fast food.   Any quality restaurant will serve food far beyond fast food but it requires patience in order to receive it.   The second Greek word in this is translated as “faith” and that again is the word that we are exploring in the life of Job.   Since we got here by the subject of “eschewing evil” let’s see where this is used in the New Testament:

Act 26:20  But shewed first unto them of Damascus, and at Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of Judaea, and then to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, and do works meet for repentance.

Here is an excellent verse that demonstrates the message that Paul preached to the Gentiles.   Paul told them to repent and then to turn to God.   This is clearly what Job had already done as a Gentile.  There are many other example verses that teach similar concepts for salvation in accordance with repentance occurring first.   This simply means that the human heart must be turned away from evil in order to allow the goodness of God to take its place.

FAITH CONCLUSIONS

These four positive qualities presented to us in verse one of Job were used by God to help us to understand the characteristics that allowed Job to have faith in God to receive  the blessing in his early years.   Every quality named can be associated with faith directly or indirectly using the New Testament. These same qualities also helped sustain Job during the tough times of Satan’s attacks to propel him to overcome the adversity.  Job’s faithfulness and patient endurance during the negative times causes him to be blessed even greater by God at the end of his life.  Keep in mind the four qualities being described by God they were 1) being complete, 2) walking upright, 3) fearing God and 4) turning from evil.  No one is going to have faith without first having any reverential fear of God!  No one is going to fear a God who they do not believe in.  No one is going to have faith without turning and departing from doing evil!  Sin will always be a moral distraction from receiving the blessings of God.   As far as being called upright by God I again believe this to mean that Job was not double minded trying to decide between good and evil.  I also believe that Job’s confidence in God was not shaken or swayed just because negative things were occurring.  Finally to be called perfect (complete) by God implies that faith had to have been found present or Job would have been lacking the one essential God pleasing quality.   It is just so obvious to me by the way that God describes Job in verse 1 that Job was pleasing to God.  This absolutely requires faith to be present.

We have explored briefly the association of faith and patience using several verses of the New Testament.   I believe that I presented sufficient evidence to confirm when one quality of faith is present the other quality of patience should also be found and vice versa.   One without the other makes the other irrelevant.  But, working together I believe that faith and patience will cause the blessing of God to be made manifest here in the natural realm.   Always remember what patience is and why it is necessary.   Patience is only required when you expect better things to come than what you are experiencing right now.   This is clearly what Job came to realize.  If you can’t see yourself as a type of Job then you have not been a Christian for very long.   If you remain in the faith, Satan will come to you eventually to test your faith in God and that is exactly what occurred in the book of Job.    When Satan approached the throne of God to accuse Job God said “Have you considered my servant Job?”.   This did not mean that God turned Job over to Satan.  This only meant that God knew why Satan was present and brought up the subject before Satan could mention it.   God is not stupid people; God had placed a hedge of protection around Job to keep Satan from attacking.  It was Job’s ignorance that caused the hedge to come down and this was the reason for the initiation of the satanic attack.  I really do not have the time to explain all of this in this lesson.  I have talked about a lot of this already in previous subject lessons.  Let’s change back to the New Testament and end with this verse:

Heb 6:12  That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises.

Faith and patience will receive the promises of God.   The promises of God are found in the Word of God.   Every Old Testament positive example given to us by God went through this.   There are no examples of people in the Old Testament that did not have major times of tests and trials.  This included the greatest prophets of God.   Moses was tested in the wilderness.   Elijah was tested and asked God to kill him.  Noah went through tremendous persecution for preaching about the coming end.  David was hunted and had to hide not to be killed.  We could name them all but you get the point.  All of these examples were like Job who endured but they also had faith in God with corresponding acts of patience to see the deliverance of God’s hand.

Can you see now how faith was indirectly taught by God while never being mentioned by name?   This is an extremely clever method used by God of hiding the truth in plain sight in the Old Testament.  God teaches us what faith is and how it receives His blessings while never mentioning the concept directly.  The wisdom of God is way beyond normal or natural human comprehension.  I hope that you learned something new about the positive life examples of Job and how they might help you even today as a type for your walk with God to follow during your test and trial of Satan.   We have been given very significant evidence that we should believe in God and believe in His ability to bless us in spite of the negative circumstances being presented to us by Satan.   Believe me I know this for sure since I have been going through a time of tests and trials like never before in my life.

I will say in conclusion that Job made certain mistakes at the beginning of the book and certainly in the middle of the book that were corrected by the end of the book in order for God to restore his life back to more than he had at the first.  This teaches us that even Christians can open the door for Satan to attack them.  These tests and trials will cause you to have to demonstrate faith and patience in order to receive the promise of God that will also cause you to be blessed.    I went through some pretty new radical concepts for many people today.  I hope and pray that you understood them.  If not please go back and reread this lesson so that they are built into your spirit and how you live before God.   The book of Job is a great lesson to learn from.  However it matters that what you learn is in alignment with the New Testament revelation of the Lord God.  Thank you for reading and if you enjoyed this please leave me a comment.  God Bless!

BIBLE ANSWERS: Understanding Biblical Typology! Does God Use O. T. Typology to Explain Spiritual Things in the New Testament?

seeing_Jesus

(ver 1.1)  I received a very disturbing comment from a potentially confused reader concerning the latest Bible study lesson given to me by the Holy Spirit.  This lesson was regarding the subject of the Rapture that has been hidden by God within O.T. Typology.   While I generally ignore critics, I felt led by the Spirit of God to answer this comment publically in order to potentially help someone else that this person might teach these untruths to.   A few of my critics are some of the unsaved people of the world but the majority of them are very carnal Christians that do not understand the spiritual meat found in the Bible.   Anyone with a growing level of spiritual maturity should be able to see the truths of the deep spiritual knowledge that God is sharing.  I certainly realize that there are still many milk drinking Christians that are not capable of receiving meat.  That is why I try to regress into milk subjects occasionally to help everyone grow.

According to this commenter’s beliefs the use of “Typology” is not an established, valid or sound method of Exegesis or Hermeneutics.   I would have laughed at their comment if it was not so saddening.  There is a major problem occurring within the body of Christ today where people who think more highly of their personal knowledge and abilities come to correct others before attempting to learn what was stated.  This is happening constantly on Facebook and on many other internet websites.  People that come to teach others without asking ANY questions to the teacher is a display of their human pride in their own knowledge and understanding of every verse in the Bible.   People just might discover their ignorance if they would only open up their minds to think and learn to find answers to a few simple questions in order to understand why what was stated was taught.  By the nature of this man’s comment I understood that he was un-teachable and I did not reply to him.  If they read this article that was their response I would be shocked.

I have said this before but it is worthy of repetition.   My favorite non-Bible quote is by Will Rogers when he said “We are all ignorant, just about different things”.   That was so profound and accurate that I cannot say it enough.  I am a Bible teacher not because I know everything or because I agree and teach what you want me to say.  I’m called by God and only accountable to Him and I will be judged for the content of my message according to if I have heard from Him correctly.  Therefore I take this responsibility with great concern and respect.  I do not publish free Advanced Bible lessons because that is what I wanted to do.  If the Spirit of God does not lead me to teach a subject then I am silent on that subject.   Why then does anyone judge me or anyone else to correct us using their own limited knowledge (Romans 14:10-13)?  Have they appointed themselves to be my judge (1 Cor 6:6)?  Of the gifts of the Spirit listed in the New Testament, I do not recall any that are referred as the judge’s anointing.  Don’t you realize that the world is watching your arguments and laughing at them?   Christian arguments are placing stumbling blocks before those that do not believe but still need to be saved.     I personally believe these argument stumbling block people will be judged very severely for not helping others to come into the kingdom.   If you do not like my Bible lessons, just go somewhere else and find someone you like.   I’m not going to argue with you or debate you on any subject!  Let’s let God be true and every man a liar.

Today I am going to teach those that want to know the truth that God believes in O.T. Typology, Types and Shadows and He calls them clear and valid methods for exegesis (aka Bible interpretation).  God also believes in symbolism, symbolic representations, parables and metaphorical interpretation.  God further believes in allegory, spiritual names and the other methods of sound exegesis that have been placed in the Bible by God’s design.  These are just some of the revealed truths found in the New Testament that God used to teach the hidden spiritual message from the Old Testament to Christians in the early church continuing to us today.  These methods were clearly taught to Paul by the Holy Spirit and by Paul to the early church through the direction of the Holy Spirit.  We in the church today can still benefit from this knowledge by learning to observe it in what God wrote through Paul and the other Apostles.  Therefore my commenter must not believe the New Testament since it is founded on these principles.  This Bible study will prove beyond any reasonable doubt that God created the method of Typology and that I have done nothing in my Bible lessons but observe their presence.  After I learned about these truths in the Bible I believe that it would be totally foolish of me to deny they exist just because someone from seminary says they are not valid.  I pray that you will also do the same.  In this Bible lesson we will seek the answers to the following questions from the N.T.:

  1. What is Typology?
  2. Why is the use of Typology a valid form of correct Bible Interpretation?
  3. How did God conceal Typology in the Old Testament?
  4. How is Typology revealed by God in the New Testament?
  5. Why did God use Typology in the Bible?

I will definitely warn you at the beginning that this Bible lesson will be one of the most advanced complex deep spiritual subjects that is found on my website.  The title on my website is “Advanced Bible Study” and this will be one that qualifies for this category of lessons.   If you are a brand new Christian or not a very mature spiritual Christians then I really do not recommend that you try to study this subject.  I am going to need to go over some very advanced concepts and some very technical definitions.  This is just a word of warning of what will come next.

WHAT IS EXEGESIS AND HERMENEUTICS?

Before I begin today in this Bible lesson to teach that Typology is a divinely created reality found and taught to us by God in the New Testament, I would like to go through some foundational basics on the subject.  I will go into sufficient detail to what the Bible says on this subject of typology but I first want to show everyone an explanation of what Wikipedia says about the word “exegesis” to help establish the correct understanding and definition of what this potentially unknown theological term represents.   This was the complaint of my commenter that typology does not conform to sound exegesis and I believe that there are at least some Christians that actually know very little about what this word means.   Don’t allow an unfamiliar word to sway you to one side of belief or the other until you at least find out what it is defined to be:

  • The terms exegesis and hermeneutics have been used interchangeably.  However, hermeneutics is a more widely defined discipline of interpretation theory: hermeneutics includes the entire framework of the interpretive process, encompassing all forms of communication: written, verbal and nonverbal, while exegesis focuses primarily on the written text

As you can read both words exegesis and hermeneutics deal with Bible interpretation methods.   But the most important word in this description that must be observed is the given term “THEORY”.   Does God have any theories?  I do not believe that He does since He knows everything.  Is the Bible a book of theories? Again I do not believe it is simply because the God of infinite knowledge and wisdom is the author.   Therefore, if God is not the source of human theories then we need to ask “Why do humans resort to theories?”  Let me give you a definition of a theory.  A theory should be defined as any subject being discussed which is based entirely upon human ignorance of all of the known true facts of the subject.  In other words if we knew and correctly understood all of the true facts of any given subject we would have no need for any further theories or theoretical discussions.  Do you understand what I am teaching?   A theory is completely derived from the lack of sufficient evidence or proof to support it.   A theory is also totally originated from human speculation, rumor, assumption, conjecture and guesswork.   All of these are synonyms for what a theory represents.   People today often believe theories to be science and that is not accurate.  The theory of evolution lacks any sufficient proof for its existence to be taught but yet is widely accepted by ignorant students to be a fact.   Just because a subject is widely accepted does not make it a truth. This is the same that is true for man’s theories of exegesis.

Human theories are always based upon inadequate fallible human reasoning and thought which attempts to teach or explain something that is not completely known or understood by the speaker.  Therefore according to Wikipedia “exegesis” and “hermeneutics” are both human attempts at theories for interpretation based upon the lack of sufficient known facts to prove or verify their accuracy.   That is the primary purpose of the rest of this Bible lesson today.   I am here to relieve your ignorance and present you with the God given Bible facts on this very important subject of Typology so that you can depart from your exegesis theories and believe the truth of God.   The main point in this part of the lesson is that man’s theories of exegesis are always trumped and overruled by God’s facts every time.  I seriously hope that you believe what God says in His Word and will choose to ignore what ignorant men say in order to not be led astray.

What I have been attempting to introduce you to is the fact that human theories of exegesis are only necessary today because people have not yet discovered or do not completely understand ALL of the true facts for the subject of correct Bible interpretation revealed by God in the Bible.   God gives us an amazing set of lessons in His word concerning correct Bible interpretation.  He defines very specific rules for interpretation.  He defines very sound methods for correct Bible interpretation.  He even gives us many great examples of each type of interpretation for us to learn from and apply to our study.  This will be the focus for the rest of the Bible lesson.  But before we do that let’s talk briefly about hermeneutics.

According to Wikipedia, the subject of hermeneutics is a more inclusive discipline for interpretation including the entire framework of the interpretative process.  I found that statement to be very oxymoronic and contradictory to their previous statement of it being a theory of human work.   This statement of the “entire framework” clearly “assumes” in error that they know and understand the complete process.  To state that a discipline includes everything means that they know and understand it all and that is clearly not the case.   What is being stated here is the fact that they just said it was a theory and then they changed positions attempting to define it to be all-inclusive and all knowing.  There is absolutely no way that is possible.  You need to be careful when you read human explanations for what words mean.  If there are contradictions then there are problems.

But here is another very interesting point to consider about the subject of Hermeneutics.  This word is derived from a pagan Greek name of a mythological god called “Hermes” which was their false messenger god.      It would stand to reason from knowing this fact that anything to do with Hermeneutics is potentially a demonically inspired distraction from obtaining the real truth of God in His Word.  What did I just say?   I said if Hermes was a Satan inspired distraction from the true and living God then “Hermeneutics” could be the same.   What we should observer by the review of Hermeneutics and Exegesis is that they are both man’s attempt at creating rules to define how to understand a God that they clearly do not understand.  This is one of the main reasons that I avoid any manmade rules and theories of Bible interpretation.  I long to only know what God says on the subject of interpretation and I will follow only Him completely and whole heartedly.    I could have talked a lot more about those two words but this was a brief overview and certainly not a detailed book discussion of the subjects.

BUILDING THE TYPOLOGY FOUNDATION

We began by exploring the words of exegesis and hermeneutics in order to establish their origins and definitions.   We clearly saw them to be theoretical works of men that conform to their own incomplete understanding of the subject of Bible interpretation presented to us in the Bible.  Please allow me to do the same type of research for the word “typology” as a comparison.   Is Typology based upon human guesswork, reasoning or speculation?   Is Typology a manmade theory?  We need to answer these in order to see how typology fits into correct Bible study.  I believe you will quickly discover as we research this subject that typology is the opposite from what exegesis was defined to be.  Both exegesis and typology are based upon rules but the origin of these rules will become apparently different.   Let’s start this part of the subject study with a dictionary definition of the word “typology”:

  • TYPOLOGY
  • 1. The study or systematic classification of types that have characteristics or traits in common.

I thought this was an excellent definition.   Can you see any differences between this and exegesis with your first review of the word typology?  First understand that typology is NOT defined to be a theory.   It is not based upon indeterminate human speculation.  There is no reference to it being a theoretical effort of work like we saw in the definition of exegesis.  Next, I would like to emphasize what this word means.  Begin with the initial part of the definition to see that Typology represents a “STUDY” or a “CLASSIFICATION”.   Right there this teaches us the fact that it is a clear effort of human labor which is predominately based upon observation.  Study implies that someone is attempting to discover, learn and understand the known facts from either God or from any human subject teacher.   Bible Study should be defined as the “acquisition of Bible knowledge” and Bible knowledge should be defined as “any established facts of truth found within the Bible context”.  Therefore we have no theories involved in true Bible study.  Did you understand what I just said?  Typology is not a theory, but rather it is a study method and that is extremely insightful.   If a person studies the subject of how automobile engines work they are seeking to learn the established facts of these machines and there should be no desire to learn from any speculative theories or opinions from people who have never built one, worked on one, repaired one or learned how they work or can even operate one personally from experience.  Did you understand that automotive analogy?   What I was attempting to say is that any serious Bible student should not need to learn from any man that teaches on the basis of theories because the true facts can only found in God’s Word.

Let’s shift into a Biblical spiritual discussion about “study” for a moment.  What does God teach about the subject of “Study” in the Bible?  Are we required to study the Bible?  In other words is it necessary to study the Bible to understand it?  Is typology a part of God’s study method?   If you do not remember the answers to those questions I will show you the key verse that God gives to answer them:

  • 2Ti 2:15  Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.

According to God “study” is a personal effort of labor.    The Greek word that was translated as “workman” in this verse is G2040 and it literally means “a toiler”, “a worker” and “a laborer”.  This Greek word comes from a root word that means “to work”.  I believe that it is now self-evident that study is a level of extended effort way beyond just reading the text on the pages.   Reading has never been studying, but studying does involve reading.   God very clearly says here in this verse that if we do not study the Bible that we may fall into a negative state of shame someday.   Therefore Bible study is a requirement given from God by N.T. command.    This is very good and important information to consider.

I could spend a lot of time talking about study, how to study and how study works and the application to the spiritual man but that is not my main subject here in this lesson.   I will briefly teach an overview of spiritual study to help you get started.  The human spirit is incapable of any Bible study without the engagement of the human mind’s comprehensive application.  Why is this mind and spirit interaction a necessity?  It is because of the divinely created triune state of a human.  The triune nature of a human is first the visible exterior body layer, the next layer of the human makeup is the invisible interior middle layer called the mind or soul and the final unseen layer is the innermost center of the living being called the spirit or heart.  In Matthew 9:4 Jesus said to the people “Why do you think evil in your hearts”.   The heart of man is the spirit of man and Jesus was connecting the two interior human realms together to teach how they work in unison.   From that statement in Mathew Jesus just revealed that the heart of man can be in one of two states, either evil or good.   All humans by nature are evil from the age of accountability which came from the works of their father Adam being passed down to his every descendant.  How then do we get the evil out and allow the good to enter to replace it?  Romans 12:2 will provide a clue to this answer by God commanding us to “be transformed by the renewing of our minds”.  I personally believe this is like computers and the old computer programmer saying that went “Put Garbage In, Get Garbage Out”.    In other words what you allow to be placed into your heart through your mind’s eye is what will be produced outwardly.    Like I said this is a very deep subject to even try to mention here in a paragraph so please read some of my other lessons or ask questions if you do not understand the nature of a human and how the parts work together.

Now let’s research the term “classification” found within the “typology” definition.  According to the dictionary this word means “the act or process of classifying things based upon common qualities or characteristics”.  Again we are not concerned with any theories simply because classification is only dealing with the observable facts between two or more objects.   What we are witnessing is that classification is a formalized approach to organization.  Did you notice God’s inclusion of classification within the verse we just read in 1Timothy 2:15 about study?  What does it mean to “rightly divide” the Word of Truth?  Rightly dividing is a synonymous work of classification.  God is literally saying that we need to organize the truth into proper like groups in order to understand it and that is called typology whether you believe it or not.  This means when we study a subject in the Bible we may need to correctly observe the facts and then organize these facts in order to understand any of them.  Perhaps, it will help if we first understand the definition for the term “classifying”.   This word means “the systematic arrangement in groups or categories according to fixed established criteria”.   Again this is a form of division and organization.  To organize anything you must divide it up within known like categories.   This is exactly what God was saying in 1Timothy 2:15 when he said to rightly divide the word of truth.   To rightly divide God’s truth it must be classified into like categories.   The antithesis truth to rightly dividing is wrongly dividing and this simply means that people can easily put truths in improper groups or categories of organization.  I really hope that you are grasping these deep complex concepts found in God’s Word.

Organization is just a bad word to many people because it involves work again.  Clearly we learned from God in 1Timothy 2:15 that work is involved in correct Bible study.  This literally teaches us that organization must be a part of the same effort.  Therefore if you are a lazy Christian you will never study the Bible.   What I have observed from my Bible study is the fact that God is a highly organized being.  There is no unorganized chaos found within God or His creation.  Look around you and you will observe order everywhere you look.  Order and organization do not originate from or appear from disordered chaos.   It only stands to reason that if God operates in the realm of order and has created order then His Word must also be organized in some manner that would reflect His own divine qualities.  This is one of the main reasons why I believe in Typology so strongly and we are about to learn many other great reasons soon.

What we are doing here is discovering the basics to what typology represents to God and man.   Placing like items or objects together is the study of the arrangement, classification, grouping or organization of similar forms, kinds, types, etc.  This method of classifying is based upon observing each object’s participation in a well-known and well-defined common set of like features, patterns, characteristics, qualities, abilities, etc.  So far knowing these definitions we can make the claim that typology is the study of the “systematic” classification of types that have the same traits or characteristics.  Wow, that is still a potential mouth full, isn’t it?    Do you really understand what this typology means?  Have you ever worked at filing in the days of the old file cabinets?  Every old office paper filing system was organized by a defined rules based system to enable organized storage and facilitate the fast retrieval of the filed information.  In a large stack of office papers it could take someone days to find the right paper if there was no organization applied to it.  But with proper planned organization it is found in a few minutes.  This old style manual filing organization was normally done by placing documents in alphabetical order based upon the name of a company or an individual’s last name.  A paper filing method was always a “rules based” system of defined storage and retrieval and this is actually directly related to what God has done in the Bible using typology and rightly dividing the Word of Truth.   I guess we need to look up the definition of “systematic” next.  I know we are going through some really basic technical information in this part of the lesson, but I believe this will help you understand why God uses typology:

  • Systematic:
  • Done or acting according to a fixed plan or system; methodical.

Systematic represents anything that is created, performed, established or done according to a defined set of never changing rules, standards and methods.  Systematic also represents a repeatable discovery or process by continuing to follow the same rules.  In other words a systematic discovery is one that is not accidental or unknown to how it was achieved.  Thomas Edison went through a systematic process in discovering the light bulb.   Every time that he discovered a light burning filament process that didn’t work that one was thrown out until the one that did work could be repeated consistently.  The discovery of the defined process for creating light bulbs created a new systematic process that remained for many, many years of reliable service.    If you understand this definition then you need to ask, does God have a plan before He does something?  Does God follow any set methods of design before doing something?   Does God use any set patterns when creating?  Because people are so uninformed, they usually do not know to ask these questions and they certainly do know the answers to these very important questions.     Let me repeat the definition of classification because this is just essential:

  • CLASSIFICATION:
  • The action or process of classifying something according to shared qualities or characteristics.

Like I have tried to say before,” classification” represents the human work of organizing and grouping like objects together based upon observable common features, characteristics, patterns, or any other standard observable qualities of similarity.  Is classification a good or an evil system or method of work?  Surely you can see that it is all good.   Where did classification originate from man or God?   I am firm believer that if you can see that classification is good and not evil then it had to have originated from God based upon what God said in James 1:17.  Go read that verse and you should see what I mean.

I have talked about this concept of classification in several of my Bible studies on this website.   Classifying like objects together is based upon basic mathematical set rules.   Every object of a like nature can be grouped together in a common set and can be referenced by the superior group label or title.  Each object in the set is unique but they are capable of being organized together because of the common feature being associated together.   For example, the mammal classification or set of created beings will have in common certain observable facts that they are all 1) warm blooded 2) vertebrate 3) animals.  Therefore any animal that fits this rule based description can be included in the set called mammals.  That is what classification represents.   Is this too complicated for a Bible study?

Concluding this part of the technical discussion we have learned that typology is the study of the systematic (rules based unchanging well defined methods) of classifying (organizing and grouping together) like or related individual objects (people, places, events and things) sharing common features or common characteristics.  What this teaches us is that by learning about one object in the defined set we can apply this knowledge to learn about every other object in the set in some limited degree of defined classification.    I might be going over the heads of many of my readers with this technical discussion about how types work but we need to learn this or remain ignorant.   We need to learn these are God given facts and that in order to understand many things found in the New Testament correctly it requires us to obtain correct knowledge of the given Old Testament types.  God’s use of Typology contains very specific classifications of like subjects, actions, individuals, groups, people, created objects, etc. that help us to understand spiritual things that we have never seen before.  Are you beginning to grasp the significance of this subject?   Let’s start an introduction to the subject of types found in the Bible.

BEGINNING TO SEE HEAVENLY TYPES IN THE OLD TESTAMENT

Gods Image BearersLet me take you into the classification of created man to help you understand that God declared the existence of types all the way back in Genesis 1.  In Genesis 1:26 God says “Let us make man in our image and after our likeness…”.    Man being the literal image and likeness of Almighty God is a mind blowing concept that is ignored by many Christians.  The angels of God could look at created man and immediately see the features and characteristics of God being demonstrated and repeated.   Man being made in God’s image is the definition of the word found within types and typology.  The created man possessed the common qualities and features of God by God’s design and purpose.  This Bible fact makes created man a literal “type” of the God class of beings using these common observable characteristics.  I know that is not very religious sounding but it is what the Bible says.

By observing the original created design in man we can perceive the unseen qualities of God and learn about Him in so many ways.   I do not have time to go into this subject fully today but I will give a quick overview of it.  For example God is described in the Bible to be a triune being.  Man was also created as a triune being consisting of three distinct and separate parts that comprise the whole as I mentioned earlier in this lesson.  God is described with a mind and man was created with the same likeness of mental capacity with reasoning and thought.  God speaks words audibly and man was created after this same pattern as a speaking individual.  I hope that you will do more research or even ask questions if you do not understand how that God can be observed in a created being called man.   Also do not misunderstand what I was saying about man being in the God class of beings.  I was not declaring man to be equal to God so put down your stones.  What I am beginning to teach is that spiritual things existed before there were any natural things and these naturally created things came from existing spiritual patterns, types and objects that were found present in the spiritual realm.   I could teach this subject for a long time but I will not do a comprehensive inclusion of every characteristic of man as a type of God in the Bible.  The primary point from Genesis 1:26 was that God existed eternally before man existed but yet when God created man He placed Himself as the pattern within the man.  One of the main points from Genesis 1:26 is the fact that anything with like characteristics represents a type and fits within the typology definition.  We will learn a lot more about this from the New Testament as we continue to study so do not yet give up or despair that you are not grasping it fully yet.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAI will now go over another O.T. prevalent subject quickly that God revealed to me about the existence of types.  This subject is mentioned in many of my other Bible studies because of the importance of this typology revealed by God.   If you search the Bible for the name of the city called “Jerusalem” you should find that it occurs in over 700 verses directly.  This city is also indirectly labeled and named by many other titles of a symbolic nature and the total verse count is actually much greater than 700.  Are all of these verses about the same city here on the earth?  You may be surprised to discover that they are not.  Have you ever considered that there may have been a heavenly version of this city named Jerusalem before the earthly city was ever conceived by God?  I know that I have, especially after reading what God wrote to us in the New Testament.  If you go and read in Galatians 4:26 you will find where God declared that there exists a city called “Jerusalem Above” which is a totally different city than the one that is now presently here on the earth.   Let me give you two main verses to consider concerning these two different cities both named Jerusalem:

  • 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.
  • Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

There are just not very many Christians that understand this truth because it was a new revelation from God sent to Paul for us to learn from in the last days.   This city “Jerusalem Above” is called the spiritual mother of the church and I do not have time to explain that either.  Notice in the verse before that God speaks of the earthly city of Jerusalem as a separate physical entity.   It is very obvious to me that these two cities named Jerusalem are types of each other.  It might not be as obvious to you but I have studied this subject for over 16 years and it becomes very apparent when you dig into it and allow God to open it up to your spiritual understanding.  If you need to learn about this city in more depth, it is covered in several other Bible lessons on my website.  What God has just revealed to you, is called hidden typology within the Bible.   God implies that the earthly city Jerusalem here in the Middle East has been patterned from a city that already existed in the spiritual heaven.  This is called typology where two cities are grouped together based upon common features and characteristics.  God has just demonstrated a superior classification called “Jerusalem” where exists more than one individual types of the city in the set.    Ok, God says for us to let every word be established in the mouth of two or three witnesses and I will give you another N.T. verse about this heavenly spiritual city:

  • Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

This is another extremely important verse to learn.   It directly teaches us that there is another city in heaven named Jerusalem where the angels of God reside.   When were angels created?   That is a very difficult question to answer since we are never directly informed of this event in the Bible that I know of.  There are several verses that indicate to us that angels were created long before man existed.  I do not have time to teach them in this lesson but they are in some of my other Bible lessons on angels and creation.   What we are observing is the realization that spiritual things existed before natural things but they can also both exist concurrently at the same time.   We are also beginning to understand that some of these natural things have been modeled after the original spiritual things and even named the same.   The Jerusalem that is on the earth is certainly not the Jerusalem just mentioned that was found in heaven.   But by God calling them by the same name this teaches us the valid existence of typology.   Also if you go and read back in Galatians 4:24 you will discover that both of these cities represent covenants with God.    That gives them common features causing a likeness that can be grouped or classified together.   Wow, I am hoping that you can understand and apply the typology concepts here to this information given to us by God.

What I am trying to say is that both of these cities belong to the classification called “Jerusalem cities”.  Therefore we can learn about one of them and this knowledge will teach us many things about the other one and vice versa.   If the Jerusalem below had a temple then the city above has the same type of feature.  If the Jerusalem below has a high priest then the city above will contain the same type of feature.   If the Jerusalem below was the home of a nation of God’s people then the city above will have the same characteristics.   We could just go on and on with this subject of Jerusalem for a very long time but that was enough to get you started thinking.  I will end this part of the introduction to this O.T. Bible typology discussion by trying to emphasize again that the naturally created things here on the earth will always point us back to the unseen spiritual things that existed before (Rom 1:20).   This is what God reveals to us in the New Testament and we will now explore more examples of this divine use of typology in the next section.

DISCOVERING MORE OF GOD’S DUPLICATION OF EXISTING HEAVENLY PATTERNS

I have been going through the introduction of two hidden examples of Old Testament natural patterns that were concealed projections of existing heavenly spiritual patterns.  Both the natural and the spiritual shared common features and characteristics allowing them to be legally grouped together within our typology study.  This was the nature of typology by definition.  As we continue to learn more about what has existed in the spiritual heaven has now been repeated by God here on the earth as types of heaven we will be able to learn about spiritual things that were never conceived within our human minds before.  In fact it would be impossible for us to know of the existence of these spiritual things without God giving us the natural things to observe.  We will also learn that these natural types on the earth will return back to the spiritual realm as in a full circle.  All of this was a hidden concept taught by God in the Bible.  Paul obtained the revelation of these truths and God is now making them known to us in the church in these last of the last days.  What I want to do is to help confirm what I just introduced you to by using what God says in the Bible about these subjects.   What will be doing is confirming that these O.T. things came from existing heavenly spiritual objects.   Let’s start with a verse in Acts:

  • Act 7:44  Our fathers had the tabernacle of witness in the wilderness, as he had appointed, speaking unto Moses, that he should make it according to the fashion that he had seen.

Have you ever considered the information given by God in this verse?  God is informing us that Moses had a spiritual vision of heaven in order to see this preexisting pattern that he was to build.    God was telling Moses to make the articles of the temple on the earth after the pattern design that was found in heaven.  I know this verse can be taken other ways.  For example God could have shown Moses what to build and these could have been completely new designs.  However that interpretation does not match with what else God says in the N.T. and we must take into account every scripture that is given to us about this subject.  If what I said about these earthly temple articles being heavenly patterns is true, this literally teaches us that the design of the temple in heaven was transferred to the earth through Moses and everything that was found here was a man made duplication of the divinely created spiritual realm.   Obviously this means that the natural objects were not spiritual object but the resemblance could be seen if you knew both like the angels of God did.    I will give you another verse that explains this more clearly next:

  • Heb 8:5  Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.

Please read this verse very carefully.  There are three key Greek words that need to be defined in order to understand that this is God using Typology to teach the people.  The three Greek words are G5262, G4639 and G5179 translated in this verse as “example”, “shadow” and “pattern” respectively.   But before we explore these Greek words let’s observe that this verse in Hebrews is a partial quotation of an Old Testament verse from Exodus and go and read it:

  • Exo 25:40  “See that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.

God again tells Moses directly that the objects of the temple will be made after the “pattern” that was given to him on the mountain.   If you do not understand the concept of patterns in creation you will never correctly understand the Bible.  A pattern is a creation technique and/or a device that causes duplicates to occur.  A pattern is used to recreate any original work of creation.   This is used in manufacturing, the garment creation industry, construction, automotive manufacturing and many other human work efforts.   Man did not invent this method of work, God did!   Please take a look at the definition for the Hebrew word H8403 translated as “pattern”.

  • H8403
  • From H1129; structure; by implication a model, resemblance: – figure, form, likeness, pattern, similitude.

Does any of this definition sound familiar to what we have been covering in this Bible lesson?  Take what I taught first in the previous section about Adam being made in the likeness of God.   That was a different Hebrew word in Genesis 1:26 but the meanings are very synonymous.  Both Hebrew words mean a resemblance or a model from a pattern.    Strong even places the word “pattern” as a legal definition and that is what was translated in KJV Bible.  Let’s go back to Hebrew 8:5 and look up the three Greek words that I was telling you were important to this subject.   The first word is G5262 that was translated as “example”.  What is an example?  According to the dictionary an example is “a thing characteristic of its kind or illustrating a general rule”.   Wow, that is the definition of a type within typology if I ever heard of one.   God is teaching you some very profound truths located in the Bible and I pray that you are not letting them slip away from your mind.   Again in the Strong’s definition we see concretely the words “likeness”, “model”, “resemblance” and “pattern”.  Learn these words and remember them.   See how they apply to Adam and God and then we will continue to learn how they apply to other types to come.

The next Greek word that I would like to point out is G4639 which is translated as “shadow” in this verse of Hebrews.   This Greek word being included within this verse context is one of the main reasons why many teach that “types and shadows” are synonymous terms referring to the same concept within Typology.   What is a shadow?   A shadow is usually a place where the light does not fully reach, right?   This means a shadow is where there is some level of darkness found to be present.  In other words there is something that is blocking the light from being seen directly on that spot.   I find that concept extremely informative to why people do not see or understand typology.   It also implies that God withheld certain levels of detailed information within typology so that he could reveal them later.   When Jesus came into the world in the flesh, He declared himself to be the light of the world (John 9:5).   Jesus literally taught many new things that were hidden from the foundation of the world.  This was Jesus being a light to the world explaining things that were never revealed before to man.  If you have ever seen a television studio you know that it has a lot of lights in it.   Bright lights cause shadows and that is not good for TV so they add more bright lights to eliminate the shadows.  That is exactly what Jesus was doing taking the shadows of the Old Testament and bringing more light to them.   Let’s review the Strong’s definition of this word:

  • G4639
  • Apparently a primary word; shade or a shadow (literally or figuratively [darkness of error or an adumbration]): – shadow.

This Greek word is defined to be a “shade or a shadow” literally or figuratively and in this case in Hebrews 8:5 it is certainly a figurative usage.  The word in this definition that I found the most interesting is probably a word that you have never heard of.  Do you know what an “adumbration” is?   This word means to “give a sketchy outline of something”.   It literally means to provide “a sketchy, imperfect, incomplete or even a faint representation” of something else that is not given directly by reference.  In other words it means that you can only know what is being stated if you understand the complete subject but otherwise you will not have a clue what the vague outline is about.  This is a good description of a shadow on the ground.  Unless you know who or what is casting the shadow the sketchy outline will be useless information to you.  An adumbration also means the “vague foreshadowing” of a plan, event or a person.   All of this information that we have discovered is completely relevant to the subject of Typology and God’s purpose for using it.  Please tell me that you understand these vital concepts?  The last Greek word that must be understood for this subject in Hebrew 8:5 is the Greek word G5179:

  • G5179
  • From G5180; a die (as struck), that is, (by implication) a stamp or scar; by analogy a shape, that is, a statue, (figuratively) style or resemblance; specifically a sampler (type), that is, a model (for imitation) or instance (for warning): – en- (ex-) ample, fashion, figure, form, manner, pattern, print.

duplicatedThis Greek word is also one of the most important found in the verse and is the best description yet of typology.  Please observe the concepts given in the definition.  Do you know what a “die” is?   This device is used in the manufacturing process to create duplicate objects.  It is usually made of metal and hollow on the inside where other metal or plastic can be poured into it to harden and become a new identical piece.   There are other types of these tools that are also used as stamps to leave an impression of an identical image.  This is a common type of tool used in leather work.   The idea that the one tool leaves a repeatable image in something represents another description of what Typology is to God as you can observe by continuing to read the rest of the definition.    The key word in this definition is the word “TYPE”.  It means that you can look at the thing being spoken of as a model of something else that is not normally revealed.   Patterns are also found in this definition.   We now have three different Greek words to search for in our Bible to learn how God uses them.   These are essential elements to understanding Bible Typology.  We have just covered the foundational basics for the subject and will now begin to explore the dynamics of some of the other aspects found within the New Testament.

GOD’S DETAILED USAGE OF O.T. TYPES AND SHADOWS IN THE N.T.

I have presented Biblical evidence that the naturally created things on the earth were patterned after unseen heavenly spiritual realities that pre-existed before the natural.  We are now going to discover that the next step to this designed process is to see exactly how God has placed in the Old Testament very specific natural patterns, types and shadows that point us again to unseen New Testament spiritual types.   God has taken this reality of patterns in a full circle from the spiritual to the natural then back to the spiritual again.  What you will begin to discover are some of the reasons that God did this but probably not in total coverage in this Bible lesson.   There are literally a great number of very specific natural types and shadows found in the O.T and these were designed to teach the church about the coming complex unseen spiritual truths found in the New Covenant.   Without the existence of the natural realm the church would have no comprehension of the spiritual realm.  As I have stated God created the natural world as a hidden reflecting window into the spiritual world.   God very clearly said in Romans 1:20 that “The invisible things of God even His godhead and power are clearly viewed in the things that He has created so that men are without excuse”.   I believe this verse teaches us something so very profound about the existence of typology.  I believe God was saying that which has been in the past is that which is seen now and that which is seen now is that which shall be again in the future.  If that doesn’t sound familiar you need to read Ecclesiastes to discover what God has said to us about this subject:

  • Ecc 1:9  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

Hopefully you can read and understand that God says there is NOTHING NEW under the sun.  Nothing is a very comprehensive word and does not omit anything that can be observed in the natural.  What does that teach us?   That literally means everything that we see here right now in this world was modeled after what existed previously in the spiritual world.   I am totally convinced that this is the concept of types and shadows used by God as repetitious patterns.  These patterns found in the Old Testament bring us light to know what is occurring in the spiritual New Covenant.  Let’s explore some more of the specific types revealed by God to us in the New Testament that were hidden by God in the Old Testament.  I’ll begin this section of the lesson with a verse that is found in Romans 5:

  • 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.

This is God’s commentary on the creation of Adam in Genesis 1 and 2.  In this N.T. explanation God very specifically reveals that Adam was a “TYPE” of the coming Lord Jesus.  We can further confirm this truth by observing how God called Jesus the “Last Adam” in 1 Corinthians 15:45.  What we are learning here in these two verses is further confirmation that God can use duplicate names like Adam or Jerusalem to establish a valid type set comparison and relationship.  This concept was exactly what I taught you previously about the name of the city of Jerusalem.  God will often repeat the name of an O.T. reality calling it HEAVENLY, NEW, LAST or by using some other adjective modified form to cause it to be known that it is not the same object as the one mentioned previously but is rather a new type of that one.   If you continue to study this subject of typology you will soon discover that God will use a natural named reality found in the Old Testament to teach us about a spiritual reality again and again.  The Greek word that was translated as “figure” in this verse in Romans is the repeated key word that was covered in the last section concerning the temple that Moses built in Hebrews 8:5.  Do you remember the Greek word G5179 that meant a “die” or a “stamp”?    How can Adam be called a stamped pattern of Jesus?   By not understanding this word and how to apply it to Jesus will cause you to totally miss the very important message being taught by God concerning the legitimacy of typology.   Can we agree to at least try to learn and understand what God wants us to know about this subject?

If you recall from the definition of G5179 it was based upon an engraving process, a printing press process, or even a modern “model” building process.  When I was a kid I use to like to build models.  I would buy them and then put them together trying to follow the instructions with glue and the finished model would “resemble” a real airplane that could be flown in the Air Force.  It was such a great lesson of what is happening in this God example given to us in Romans 5:14.  God is saying Adam is not Jesus but the resemblance and characteristics that he possessed clearly point us to Jesus using typology.   It is exactly the same as the model airplane is not the greater real airplane but it teaches us and points us to what the real airplane looks like.  That is obviously one of the greatest values for the existence of typology in the Bible.  God says by us using typology that we can learn about Jesus from reading about a naturally created man named Adam.   Wow, I wonder, how this Adam truth of Biblical typology fits into your theoretical rules of correct hermeneutics and exegesis.   According to some believers and Bible teachers today God is incorrectly interpreting His own scriptures by using typology.   Who among us believes that God knows what He is doing here?  I choose to believe this very strongly and that is why you cannot talk me out of it with your manmade exegesis rules.

I can still hear many questioning how this reality is possible that Adam was a type of Jesus.   I really do not have time to teach that in depth in this lesson today since that is not the main subject of this study.   I will tell you that if Adam had a wife that came out of his side then Jesus will also have a wife that will come out of His side.  That is one of the most profound hidden truths concerning the Adam typology.  I will tell you that the law of marriage given to natural Israel in Genesis 2:24 is quoted in Ephesians 5 where God is talking about husbands and wives.  In this chapter of Ephesians, God clearly reveals the wife of Christ Jesus to be the church.  If you do not understand how this typology is possible either, ask questions or go read some more Bible lessons where I talk about this very important subject.  I hope that I can challenge you do a study of Adam now with a new set of Jesus spiritual viewers on.   God has just concretely confirmed the existence of O.T. types and shadows.

Jesus revealed in John 5:39 that the natural Jews needed to search their scriptures because these were the words that testified concerning Him.   Jesus was teaching them that He was the predominate subject of their Holy Law.   If they had to search in order to find Him, then He was not found plainly or easily in the surface text of the words written on the pages or scrolls.    It was not until God reveals to us in the New Testament how Jesus could be found there that anyone could possibly know that Adam represented a “TYPE” or “PATTERN” of the coming Jesus.   This single fact alone teaches the validity of using TYPOLOGY in correct Bible interpretation.   Are you receiving this?  I’m not done teaching so that is not all that I have to say on this subject but I have already given you very significant Bible evidence that should help you to begin to learn the truth about Typology.   Let’s examine another type of Jesus found in the New Testament that confirms the reality of Typology:

  • Heb 7:15  And it is yet far more evident: for that after the similitude of Melchisedec there ariseth another priest,

Here we have a new and different Greek word but yet it means the exact same things as the ones that we have looked at previously.  All of these Greek words G3665, G5179 and G8403 are very synonymous in their definitions.   Here in Hebrews 7:15 God declares that Jesus is a priest “like” Melchisdec.   The Greek word G3665 that is translated as “similitude” is the key word from this verse that must be understood.   If you read the context of this verse you will discover that God relates the story of Abraham meeting the priest Melchisdec and how he gave to him a tenth of the spoils.  What God is doing in this verse is teaching us that Jesus is again a spiritual type of the natural O.T. high priest Melchisdec.  In doing this Jesus has become our high priest for the people in the church today.  Perhaps we need to review the Strong’s definition for this Greek word in order to comprehend the typology connection completely:

  • G3665
  • From G3664; resemblance: – like as, similitude.

This Greek word comes from a root word that means “similar in appearance or character”.   Again we see the definition of what typology represents.  This is the exact same concept as I gave you concerning the creation of man in Genesis 1:26.   Man being made in the likeness and image of God is what God is saying about Jesus being made in the likeness and image of Melchisdec.   Do you need me to repeat the definition of typology?   Remember that typology was defined to be the systematic classification of similar objects based upon common characteristics.  There are a lot more types of Jesus found in the Old Testament than these two witnesses that God just gave to you.   What you will discover is that God has left many more types of Jesus for us to discover by teaching us of their existence using the examples of Adam and Melchisdec.   I’ll give you one more N.T. example of typology which is more difficult to find but was written to the Hebrews who clearly knew the Law of Moses:

  • Heb 3:1  Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus;
  • Heb 3:2  Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house.
  • Heb 3:3  For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house.
  • Heb 3:4  For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God.
  • Heb 3:5  And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after;
  • 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.

Nowhere in these verses does it say specifically that Moses is a type of Jesus by using the 4 key Greek words that we have already found, but yet the description given to us is exactly within the context of the Typology subject discussion.   Both men are said to be faithful.  Both men are said to be “servants”.  Both men are said to be builders of houses.   Those few characteristics give them commonality that can be classified together.   This is the definition of typology again.  Can you see it?  Of the two being referred to Jesus is clearly called the greater.  This again is the repeated pattern of creation coming full circle.  The greater God created the lesser man named Adam and then the greater God became like a lesser man Adam who died and has now been raised up to life again and exalted back into the realm of greatness.   I am trying to teach the effectiveness and validity of Typology using as many examples as possible in this limited format lesson.  I hope that you can seeing these for what they really are and learn how to apply them to your Bible Study going forward.  Let’s talk about another aspect of Moses being a type of Jesus before we leave this part of the study.

If you recall the story of Moses he was chosen by God and deemed to be the “deliverer” of the natural nation of Israel.  Again these were all types that pointed us to what Jesus did.  Jesus was chosen by God and He was the “deliverer” of the whole world from Satan’s kingdom of darkness.   The whole O.T. story of the deliverance of the people of natural Israel from Egypt is an extremely important lesson using Typology of how God brought the N.T. people out of the realm of control from Satan.  Natural Israel was captive for 430 years in Egypt and the people of the earth were held captive to Satan for 4030 years.   The natural story occurs in Exodus as a type but the greater story of deliverance was given to us by God in the Gospels and then revealed in the letters written to the church.   If you still can’t understand these concepts after all of this I am beginning to think that I can’t help you.   I would suggest that you go to Ephesians 1:16 and pray the prayer that Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus for God to open the eyes of their spiritual understanding to see the wisdom and revelation of Christ Jesus.  If you pray this for yourself I know God will answer it because that is what He did for me.

Always remember that before these N.T. church letters were written there were only the Old Testament scriptures to find Jesus in.  Acts 17:11 teaches us about a part of the church that was found by God to be more noble than others.  These church members were open to what Paul was preaching but then they used their Old Testament scriptures to verify everything that was spoken was actually written in the Holy Book.   The letters written to the church simply taught the people how to find Jesus and explain the many techniques that were used to conceal Him there.  I write about this frequently because this is one of the number one problems that I face on my website.   The only way that I have figured out how to get people to overcome not seeing the truth is by teaching it frequently over and over.  Eventually people will either get tired of me saying the same thing and leave or finally get it into their spirit to believe.

We could talk about typology for a very long time since it is so dominate within the Old Testament.   I will not even attempt to give you every possible type found in the Old Testament but I will quickly provide an overview of some that I found very interesting.  We have already looked at Adam but the first two sons of Adam were Cain and Abel.  Notice the fact that Abel was the younger brother because that will become a pattern within itself in many of the types found in the O.T.   Cain’s offering is rejected by God and Abel’s offering is accepted.  Cain gets angry and kills his younger brother.   Abel is a type of Christ in this story.  Christ came to the earth and was killed by Satan on the cross.   God certainly accepted the Lamb’s sacrifice that was shed on the cross and God had already rejected Satan’s offerings.  The blood of Abel was “like” the blood of Christ.  Perhaps you struggle with my conclusions but what I say is based upon scriptures and not my own reasoning.  Take a look at this verse and see the typology being mentioned between Jesus and Abel:

  • Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Why would God even mention Jesus and Abel in the same verse if they were not in some related classification together?  Both were killed and both had their blood poured out on the ground during the commission of the act.  God is giving you a clue about how typology works in this verse.  God does not tell you everything that the type reveals so that you can still go and read it and discover more.  This is called TYPOLOGY people and it is right in front of your face if you will just read it and see what it says.

Let’s consider the O.T. man Isaac next.  This was the promised son that God told Abraham would come.  However Abraham got impatient and listened to his wife and they had an Ishmael through a maid servant.   God specifically told Abraham that this Ishmael was not his heir.   Years later the promised son was given and Isaac was born.  The maidservant and her son were cast out of the family and God reveals in the New Testament that this is an allegory of a far greater spiritual truth.   Remember when I talked about Jerusalem above versus Jerusalem below?   These were revealed using a form of typology called allegory.  Allegory is simply a real natural story that reveals a hidden spiritual story of greater importance.   If you go and read Galatians 4 you will find that Sarah was a type of the city Jerusalem that was above.  Hagar was a type of the Jerusalem that now is here on the earth.   I’m not going to teach this lesson again here so I do not have to explain it over again.   Just try to conceive what God has done in the Bible using typology.  The promised son Isaac is a very specific type of the Lord Jesus Christ the promise made to the whole world.   When Abraham took his son to sacrifice him a ram was conveniently caught by the horns nearby.  The Ram is symbolic of God coming to the earth in the flesh take the place of Isaac.  The typology within this story is rich and very deep with spiritual content.  Every player in the story of Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Ishmael and Isaac has a role in the greater spiritual story.  God the father is the type of Abraham.  Isaac was a type of Jesus Christ.  As we have seen the city of Jerusalem in heaven a type of Sarah and the city of Jerusalem in the middle east a type of Hagar.  I’m not here to teach this whole allegory, so we will move on.

The subject of typology is found throughout the New Testament but let’s go back to chapter 7 of the book Acts.  Earlier I gave you one verse from this chapter that was about Moses being given the heavenly patterns from God on the mountain.  The rest of this chapter is also about hidden typologies found within the Old Testament.   The man Stephen is speaking to the leaders of the synagogue and Stephen uses much of their law to try to explain why Jesus had to come to the earth.   These are clearly all typology comparisons that were inspired by the Holy Spirit to teach them they were not seeing their scriptures correctly.   These words are still true today for those that use private exegesis rules that disallow the use of Typology.   If Typology is an invalid interpretation method then chapter 7 of Acts is from the devil.  Please read this chapter carefully and learn what is being stated.   Solomon is being stated by God to be a type of the coming Jesus in verse 47 who builds God a new spiritual house like Solomon did in the Old Testament.   Also King David in the preceding verse is used to represent a type of God the Father in heaven.  I’m just not going to spend the time to go through this whole chapter.  You can do that for yourself.

I hope and pray that you are beginning to understand typology’s significance in the correct interpretation of the Old Testament.   I could have told you about many other types of Jesus found in the Old Testament but I gave you enough to prove the reality that it should make you change your perspective to how you read the Old Testament.   Learn from early church Bible teachers like Peter, Stephen, Paul and John who write and taught initially from only the Old Testament foundational verses about Jesus.   Try to understand how they applied the O.T. scriptures to mean what they were revealed to them by the Spirit of God to mean in the New Testament.   When you read the Old Testament if you are not looking for Jesus primarily then you are probably missing the main reason that the words were written.  Then when you find a type of Jesus if you are not looking at the other named individuals that interact with the type of Jesus then you are missing another of the main reasons that they were also included in the text.   God’s intelligence is way beyond what you can comprehend.   God will take words within natural stories and teach you such profound spiritual knowledge and wisdom that it is staggering to the human mind.   If you learned anything from this lesson I would enjoy hearing about it.  These positive comments will counter the negative comments that will also surely come.   God Bless you and if you keep studying the Bible to find the truth, Jesus said that it will be found (John 8:32).  Thank you!

Bible Answers: Was the Eye of the Needle in Mark 10:25 a Literal or Figurative description and what does it mean?

Ver 2.0)  I recently received a question about what Jesus meant concerning the “camel” going through the “eye of a needle” spoken to us in Mark 10:25.   This is a commonly misunderstood verse in the Bible that is often misused and misapplied to mean many things that was not truly stated.   If we read the surrounding verses we might discover that there were two primary subjects being spoken of.    One subject was salvation and the other was physical money or possessions.  Jesus actually taught more on the subject of money than practically any other subject found in the Gospels.   It is very obvious to me that this makes money a very important subject to learn and understand correctly.   It further teaches us if money was discussed in the same context as salvation that we are required to learn how they fit and work together to have any confidence that we are following the words and teachings of Jesus accurately.   This is a potentially controversial topic to teach.  There are so many strong opinions on this subject of money and they go from one extreme on the far left to the opposite extreme on the far right.  This subject will be difficult for some to receive but please do not get offended by anything that I say just because you disagreed.  To become offended at your brother for saying something is a childish carnal reaction.  If you want to grow spiritually and discuss it in a mature Christian way, I will be happy to hear what you have to say if you have Bible verses that back up what you believe.

There is a significant challenge being presented by God with studying a prolific subject like money.  The more abundantly any subject is presented in the Bible the more difficult it becomes to learn completely because every verse on the subject must be balanced with every other verse about the same subject in order to come to the correct interpretation of what is being taught as a whole.   If we go and do some study we should find that there are over 2000 verses in the Bible that directly or indirectly relate to the subject of money.   That is a lot of verses to study and to understand.  If you know and understand them all, please feel free to share that with me so that I may learn from you.   If not, then please do not condemn what I teach by the guidance of the Holy Spirit.   Since no one knows or understands every verse on any prolific subject except for God we need to trust God to speak what we need to learn about today and trust that He will guide us into more knowledge and a greater understanding tomorrow.  What I have learned from studying this subject is that if we take any single verse on a broad subject like money in Mark 10:25 and study it in isolation it will cause only confusion and misunderstanding because we lack sufficient knowledge to make any correct assessment.   We will begin with the primary verse in question and then continue to understand what is being said by Jesus using certain basic Bible interpretation rules:

  •  Mar 10:25  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

The question being answered today “Is Jesus talking about a literal sewing needle in this verse or one that is figurative representing something else?”   I guess that also implies, is Jesus talking about a literal camel in this verse or is the camel also a symbolic representation for something else?    If one is symbolic the other by direct association must also be symbolic and the antithesis to that truth is if one is literal then the other reference must also be literal.   Because the camel is stated to pass through the eye of the needle both objects must interact directly with the other.  It is usually wisdom to be consistent in the interpretation of objects of such close proximity in the scriptures especially if they interact with each other.   Determining whether or not these objects are literal or figurative will be a difficult question to answer so we need to use the defined rules of Bible interpretation to come to the proper conclusion.  We will start with the rule of God’s Selected Word Usage in the other parts of the Bible to determine if God sets any pattern of usage or if God has presented us with any redefinitions for any of the words being questioned.  This is actually one of the most significant Bible interpretation rules that is often ignored, not known or not applied.   I hope that you at least understand the principle behind why this rule is beneficial.  I’m not here today to teach rules for interpretation, but I will always use them whether I tell you about them or not.

GOD’S SELECTED WORD USAGE

The Greek word G4476 translated as “needle” is only used in three verses in the entire N.T. and these all quote this same statement (Mat 19:26, Mark 10:25, Luke 18:25).  This Greek word literally means a sewing instrument also known as a sewing needle according to the Strong’s dictionary.   The Greek word G5168 translated as “eye” is also only found in these three same quoted statements in the same three verses in the N.T.   The meaning of the “eye” is literally an opening like an orifice in the human body.  Clearly this is a description of a literal natural sewing needle.  Therefore, we have no other word usage convention in the N.T. to help us compare God’s selection of the terms to be either literal or figurative.  That means we need to move to the next Greek word and learn what it teaches us.

The Greek word G2574 that was translated as “camel” is used in the same exact three quoted verses but this word is also found in three additional N.T. verses where two times (Mat 3:4, Mar 1:6) it is definitely used by God to describe an actual literal created camel.  In these two verses John the Baptist is described wearing a coat of “camel’s” hair and since John is literal the camel-hair coat must also be literal by the rule of direct interaction that I mentioned previously.  There is only one other verse (Mar 23:24) in the N.T. where this Greek word for camel is used and this time it is clearly selected by Jesus to be a figurative statement where it cannot be taken literally.   In this verse Jesus is talking to the scribes and the Pharisees and He tells them “You strain a gnat and swallow a camel”.   These were “figures of speech” with deeper meanings that could be understood by the hearer.  The gnat and the camel were not to be taken as literal statements where they were literally straining gnats and literally swallowing a whole camel.  I do not have time to explain figures of speech but they are found in the Bible in several places by God’s design.

What we have discovered so far is that it is not going to be easy to learn what these words really mean by observing only the usage of the Greek words in the rest of the Bible.  There are no definitions for the words given in the rest of the Bible that I have found.  There were no other occurrences of the words “eye” or “needle” in the New Testament.   The Greek word for “camel” could be taken literally or as a figure of speech and that only means the verse in Mark 10:25 is one of the two and we need to continue to study to determine which it is.   That was only one rule of Bible interpretation and there are others to follow so let’s go to the next and find how that applies.

Before I apply the next interpretation rule, let’s expand the reader’s question using the implied unstated meaning behind the question.  What I have discovered is that the reason for one asking a question is equally as important as the question itself.  I understood my reader’s question to imply “If this verse is a literal camel going through a literal needle’s eye, then Jesus was teaching that we shouldn’t become rich, own any possessions or live outside of the realm of absolute poverty”.   But was that what Jesus was actually teaching us?   I have seen where many believe this to be true and go and live in a commune owning nothing.   I have even heard preachers teach that this verse in Mark 10 is a proclamation that having wealth and riches in this world is a direct pathway to hell.   I do not know for sure if that was the reason for the question, but that will be the focus for my answer to the question nonetheless.   Is having money a negative in the eyes of God?  If we own nothing is that a positive thing in the eyes of God?   If having money, wealth and possessions in this world is a negative then I believe hell is full of a lot of Old Testament saints that were rich like, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, David, Solomon, Job and I could name others that possessed great wealth in the Bible.   If the possession of wealth causes one to be evil, I would begin to ask God, why did you create it?   I would then ask an even better question next to God saying “why are the streets of heaven paved in gold”?   It would appear to me that the Bible contradicts the teaching that having wealth is an evil by giving us so many examples to the contrary.  This is where we need to learn the application of balance.   Let’s balance every verse about money in the Bible and not just focus on this one alone in Mark 10.   We still need to overcome the apparent contradiction to the presumed statement made by Jesus in Mark 10:25 about a rich man not being able to enter into the Kingdom of God.

STUDYING THE CONTEXT OF MARK 10:25

One of the key Bible interpretation rules is to interpret the verse in question using the surrounding context of the statement.  Ignoring the context or taking the verse out of context will usually result in a false meaning of the information given within the verse.  This is normally true except when a verse contains information of a universal truth nature.   A universal truth is a statement made by God that is true regardless of the context or application.  This verse in Mark 10:25 is NOT a divine universal statement of truth and therefore the context is valuable and even essential to understanding the meaning.  A context type of study would include what is being described directly around the statement in the chapter and if you want to expand the search to go beyond the chapter context you can also include what was spoken in the entire book about the subjects presented.   But context study also includes the search to find the answers for three additional questions which are:

  1. Who is speaking?
  2. Who is being spoken to?
  3. Who is being spoken about?

This verse is a prime example of the necessity for this rule’s application.  We cannot read this verse in Mark 10:25 alone and attempt to understand it because it is a small part of a much larger story that is being used to teach a far greater principle.   Therefore, we really must consider the surrounding context in order to better understand what is being stated by Jesus in verse 25.   It is very similar to what I said in a previous paragraph.  The reason for Jesus speaking this statement in Mark 10:25, is equally as important as what was said by Jesus in the statement alone.   Without understanding the purpose behind it, you will never understand the statement being made.  Please read all of these context verses together starting with verse 17 where the lesson begins:

  •  Mar 10:17  And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?

  • Mar 10:18  And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God.

  • Mar 10:19  Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Defraud not, Honour thy father and mother.

  • Mar 10:20  And he answered and said unto him, Master, all these have I observed from my youth.

  • Mar 10:21  Then Jesus beholding him loved him, and said unto him, One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come, take up the cross, and follow me.

  • Mar 10:22  And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.

  • Mar 10:23  And Jesus looked round about, and saith unto his disciples, How hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!

  • Mar 10:24  And the disciples were astonished at his words. But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches to enter into the kingdom of God!

  • Mar 10:25  It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God.

  • Mar 10:26  And they were astonished out of measure, saying among themselves, Who then can be saved?

 

I gave you several verses before verse 25 and one after because they all go together in a single lesson.   Jesus is the primary speaker with the majority of the spoken words being in red ink.   However, there are secondary statements being made by a rich man at first and later the disciples of Jesus.   Actually it is important to note that the rich man initiates the conversation and that causes Jesus to begin to respond to his question.   Therefore the conversation was not initiated by Jesus.  It is always important to notice if Jesus initiates something or if it is simply Jesus responding to what another has initiated.  One reason for this distinction is to know if Jesus is teaching generally to everyone or if Jesus is teaching directly to just one person.   This fact will have direct bearing upon how we view the context.  What we have is Jesus as the main speaker answering a question from a solitary rich man not about money but about his salvation.  Therefore the lesson within the conversation begins with a personal response to one man and not a general discussion to everyone about how to be saved.  Do you understand this?   I’ll try to say it again differently; Jesus is speaking to only this one rich man at first with the disciples in observance of the conversation not being direct participants but rather simply observant students of the Master who was giving a lesson to an isolated rich man about his personal salvation.

As you can read in verse 17 the primary subject of this discussion is concerning only salvation.  One of the secondary subjects of the conversation that later comes out is about the subject of the rich man’s money in verse 21.   We know from reading verse 22, that Jesus was approached by a very wealthy man asking what he could do to inherit eternal life.  Jesus names several of the commandments of God in verse 19 and the rich man claims to have followed all of these since his age of accountability in verse 20.  Many today would think that obeying God’s law would be enough to be saved but that is not what the New Testament teaches us.   In Romans 4:13-14, God says that the promise to be an heir of salvation was not given to any man through the obedience of the law but rather it came by faith in Jesus Christ alone who was doing the speaking in this lesson.  In Galatians 2:16 God says “No flesh will be justified by the works of the law”.   This knowledge of the law makes the initial answer that Jesus gave to the rich man almost irrelevant.  So there must be another reason for Jesus making the statement.

Why then does Jesus tell him that he should have obeyed the law if this obedience was not required for New Covenant salvation?   Well first we need to remember that the New Covenant was not yet implemented and thus they were still under the jurisdiction and the concluding timeline of the Old Covenant.  The Law was the only Words of God available to follow, so that is clearly the emphasis being given at first.   However, Jesus was not done talking and continues with some personal spiritual realities on things this rich man would need to fix in order to be saved after the New Covenant was implemented.   I am not sure if you understood fully what I just said, but it will become clearer as we go forward.

What I observe here in this lesson to the rich man so far is that Jesus was dealing with his core spiritual heart issues and not just his perceived loyalty to obey God’s commands.  Jesus appears to be confirming the existence of the rich man’s pride by offering him a chance to admit to just one law that he has not followed completely in his entire mature life.   You see the law was created by God to show man that it was impossible to keep the entire law consistently and by coming to this revelation of the truth teach man the need for a savior.   Romans 3:20 teaches us that it is by law that the knowledge of sin was given to man.   In Romans 2 Paul talks a lot in this chapter about those under the law attempting to keep the law but then breaking it in some way.  Then in Roman 5:20 Paul wrote that the law entered so that the transgression of the law might abound.  I’m not sure if you understood that last statement either that God made through Paul.  You see here in the U.S., the 5 largest cities with the strictest and most prolific gun  control laws are where the majority of gun murders occur.   If you want more deaths by guns to occur God just said you should pass more laws against them and this will cause the violation of the law to increase.   Wow, that was good to learn!  I wish more of our government would learn that.

This rich man’s claim to have followed the law completely is a virtual impossibility since only Jesus fulfilled the law to the full extent.  One problem that Jesus consistently encountered in the Gospels was religious people who believed that they were superior to Him because of their self-righteous good works.   These Pharisee types looked at their ability to obey the law as the true way to God.  They created manmade traditional rules on top of God’s laws to insure that they never even came close to violating God’s law.   However, Jesus would look at them and say that they were like whitewashed tombs that looked pretty on the outside but were full of unclean dead men’s bones on the inside (Mat 23:27).  This rich man’s response was much like those of the Pharisee types.  Therefore the rich man was clearly in pride not admitting to the truth of his own faults and shortcomings in need of a savior.  This is when Jesus begins to dig deeper into the man’s inner heart condition to show him that there were more profound root issues that needed correction in order for him to receive this “eternal life” that he was seeking.

Jesus says to go and sell his possessions and give to the poor and that is when the rich man turns away from his only hope named Jesus in a state of grief.  That was the end of that personal conversation with the rich man about his salvation and that is very important to note.   Jesus then looking around about at his surroundings said out loud “how hard it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God”.  This new statement to a totally different audience appears to be the beginning of a major controversy for the disciples of Jesus and it was totally unexpected to them because they did not understand the reason for what had just happened to the rich man.

What we must observe is that a significant target audience transition has just occurred.   Jesus has just moved from answering a rich man’s personal question on what he needed to do to be saved to teaching a different valuable lesson to His disciples and us in the church.  This new lesson is about a greater previously unmentioned subject.   What that should potentially mean to us is that the primary subject has moved from a conversation about the salvation of a single natural rich man to a conversation about spiritual internal conditions that were never discussed.   Here is a good time for us to ask, why did Jesus ask the rich man to sell his possessions and give to the poor.   The reason behind the request is actually again more important than the request itself.

This is where the Bible reader who desires to know the truth needs to become a Sherlock Holmes type of serious Bible student to observe the details to what is really being taught to the church and not to an unsaved rich carnal man.   Why were the disciples so astonished at this saying of Jesus in verse 23?   Why were His disciples so surprised by this statement about the rich of this world being so hard to save?   Think about it.  If the disciples were all poor men that had nothing and owned nothing they should be rejoicing because they could now be easily saved on their way into the Kingdom of God, but that was not their reaction at all, was it?  Can you read?   Can you see what their reaction was?  This was clearly the reaction of men that were NOT poor.  Being shocked that a rich man is almost impossible to save makes no logical sense for anyone but men with money.   I believe if you study the Bible you might agree that these men selected by Jesus were not poor men who owned nothing.  In fact, the majority of the disciples described came from successful businesses that were making them money.   Many were fishermen like Simon Peter and Andrew who caught and sold fish for money (Mat 4:18).   James and John are described to also be fishermen with possessions (Mat 4:21).   Clearly fishermen owned large boats, fishing gear, nets, as well as owned houses and worked and made money in the markets.  One disciple named Matthew was definitely a tax collector (Mat 9:9) and years later when Luke wrote about this story he was described to be a doctor (Col 4:4).  None of these followers were poor men begging for money to exist.   That is why they are so very concerned with this statement that Jesus just made.  Do you understand this?

Jesus then continues the lesson saying “It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to be saved”.  Again all of the disciples that heard Jesus were flabbergasted and confused and that confirms that they all have money. This saying of Jesus was making them think about asking if they could even be saved.   What I have discovered being taught within the Bible is that the Bible is not opposed to people having money.   Jesus was not teaching poverty in this example.   Jesus was not even teaching that we need to sell or give away everything in order to be saved.   That would be very unintelligent religious thinking that is drawn from wrong conclusions and interpretation that would teach this is found in the Bible.

What Jesus was teaching, is that rich people MUST NOT trust in their money more than they trust in God.  This further says that rich people must not love their money and their possessions more than they love their God.  Jesus was making a point to the rich man that he needed to learn to trust in God and His Grace rather than to place all of his confidence in what he had done and what he had obtained.  Any rich person who is self-reliant, self-made, and self-sufficient in their own eyes will find it very hard to be saved because they are full of pride in their own accomplishments and abilities.   The Bible says that God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).   The rich man that came to Jesus was asking how to be saved but he was too heavily bound to and by his money and his possessions for him to let go of them to make Jesus his Lord.  The rich man therefore does not qualify to receive grace.  His money was in effect his god.   He was joined to his money and he was unable to part with any of these temporary things of this world simply because he valued them more than he valued the eternal rewards of God and that was the major problem that Jesus was addressing in this personal lesson to the rich man.

Jesus was dealing with a heart issue and not a money issue.   What we value will be what we place our trust and confidence in.   A man with great wealth has learned that money will buy him practically anything and he has placed a false trust in it.  Jesus actually spoke of this in Matthew 6:2 when he said “Where you treasure is there will also be your heart”.  Jesus clearly says what a man values in this world is what he will be focused on in his heart.  Jesus is not going to share first place in your heart with your money or your possessions.   Everyone is going to have to choose between Jesus and money or whatever it is that they value to determine which will be of more lasting worth and benefit and then make only one of these their priority in this life.

In the first part of the lesson to the rich man Jesus was trying to get him to see that he needed to change.  In the last part of the lesson to the church Jesus was teaching a lesson about how people can still possess money but that this money must not possess them or they will never see the kingdom of God.  This lesson being taught goes along with other statements that Jesus made on the subject of money that are parallel examples to what is being taught in Mark 10:25:

  •  Mat 6:24  No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.

You see when a person becomes a Christian they are required by the design of God in Romans 10:9-10 to make Jesus their personal Lord and Savior.   You cannot make Jesus your Savior without also making Him your simultaneous Lord.   If Jesus is your Lord then your money or your possessions or whatever cannot be your Lord.   Jesus states this very clearly using money in Matthew 6:24.   When someone tries to serve two masters they are distracted by the one to not fully serve either.  Jesus requires your undivided attention when you make Him your Lord.   He is not going to share His Lordship with your business or your money.   That was the major problem with the rich man that came to Jesus in Mark 10:25.   Jesus was attempting to get a commitment from the rich man to make Jesus His Lord, but the rich man turned away to continue to serve his wealth.   Does this make sense to you now?

Jesus was teaching the rich man about his problem without ever stating that he had a problem.   When the rich man heard this he should have become humble and asked a few more questions instead of going away without knowing the rest of the truth for the reason to why Jesus asked what He did.   What did I say earlier?  I said the reason for the statement is as important as the statement itself.   This man heard the request but did not desire to know the reason behind the statement.  That was one of his greatest failures.   It is not offensive to God if you ask Him questions.  People are generally like two year old children to God’s level of thinking.  God understands that people are in need of knowledge and understanding to grow.

Asking questions is an excellent way to learn more about your situation.   Don’t believe me?   When the angel of God comes to Mary and tells her that she will have a child, she doesn’t walk away in grief saying, “yea right”.  No she was wiser than this rich man and she asked “how shall this be seeing that I have never known a man?’  God was not angry at the question and gave her the straight answer and this was to her benefit because now she understood more about how this was possible to occur.   Do you ever ask God questions?   I ask God questions very often, it is the easiest way to learn the truth.

 

 WHAT DOES THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT GIVING TO THE POOR?

Now for some more potentially controversial parts of the lesson.  I have already shown briefly what the N.T. says about Jesus’ instructions concerning obeying the law so we should move to the next statement made by Jesus and learn more about this subject.  Since the rich man was next instructed by Jesus to release his possessions and then to “give” to the poor it might be helpful if we understood how this relates in order to understand what would have happened to the rich man if he would have been obedient to the LORD’s request.  I will confirm that his disobedience to Jesus’ request to sell and give to the poor cost him his salvation but then I will also say that it would not have been his poverty that saved him either.   I’ll repeat this again, it was Jesus working on the man’s heart issues that caused the request to sell and give.  I know I repeat myself, but these are important facts that need to be understood.

One key to understanding a subject is to find related verses in the Bible that speak about the subject.   We did this with the key words “camel”, “eye” and “needle” and found very little to help us, but that is not all of the word subjects within the context of the verse in question.   We know before Jesus spoke these words about the camel going through the eye of the needle that Jesus asked the rich man to go and sell his possessions and to “give” to the poor”.   I tried to teach you that this rich man was not valuing the correct things and placing them in the correct order of priority.   He was clearly placing his trust in his money and possessions and that will never please God.   Still there is a need to understand what “giving” has to do with God’s proposed solution to change this man’s heart around to learn to trust Him!  Wow, that sounds like an awesome thing to learn for every Christian.  So let’s get started.

Jesus literally taught many other things in the Gospels about money.   Because the rich man did not know these other sayings he walked away from obtaining a blessing and he didn’t even know it.   God says in His Word “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).  I just taught you that we need to learn to ask God questions if we want to learn more from Him.   I really meant that!   So let’s ask God the question “what would have happened if the rich man gave away all of his possessions to the poor”?  What would be the end result of such obedience?  Would this rich man have remained in poverty from then on?  Could this rich man never work or earn anymore money ever again?   Or should this rich man go to work but then continue to give everything that he makes away?  In order to begin to learn how to answer these questions from God’s word I believe that we need to learn what God said about giving.  I’ll start with a verse that is certainly important and directly related about this subject of giving:

  •  Act 20:35  “In everything I showed you that by working hard in this manner you must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He Himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.‘”

Whaacts_20_35t is being repeated here in this verse?  I want you to first observe that this statement says the writer is working hard as an example to those that he was writing to.   Therefore we just answered a part of the question about should a Christian continue to work after becoming a Christian!  Did you know that the writer of the book of Acts was Luke?   Can you agree  that Luke heard and learned the same rich man’s lesson from eye witnesses?    Did Luke learn anything from their experience?   Apparently he did!   Luke is saying that we should help the weak.   This Greek word translated as weak means the sick, the diseased, and the feeble which implies those that are poor because they are unable to work.   Everyone in a weak condition is not able to work and therefore is in need of assistance.   Can we agree that this statement applies to the poor?

Then Luke by the inspiration of the Holy Ghost quotes something that Jesus taught us directly.   Luke said that Jesus said “It is more blessed to give (to the poor) than to receive (from the poor).   I put the poor in the statement because that was the associated meaning based upon context.   Do you understand that?  Please tell me that you do.  Why is God asking His people to help the poor, the sick and the weak by giving to them?   It is primarily because the poor need the help, but God also says whoever gives will be blessed more than those that received the gift.   Oh, that doesn’t make any sense does it?   How is a rich man the one that is blessed by him giving away all of his money?   That is a divine mystery that is being ignored in much of the church body today.  What I would like you do to is to start believing that there is a blessing associated with giving to the poor.  Now we just need to determine if this blessing is here in this life or is only found in the eternal rewards to come?

I’ll try to answer when this giving blessing occurs by observing more about what Jesus taught us on the subject of giving in the Gospels.   However I do need to review an observation of where Jesus placed the emphasis when He told the rich man in Mark 10:21 to go and sell and give.  I did not go over the last part of the verse previously.   If you go back and read this verse again you will notice that Jesus after telling the rich man to give to the poor Jesus then promised him that he would have treasure in heaven for doing this.  That is very self-evident that there is a stated eternal blessing from God that will be given to him if he would have been obedient and had given to the poor.  Jesus places the primary emphasis upon eternal rewards and that makes total logical sense to me.

An eternity of blessings and treasures is far more significant than a natural 100 years of existence on earth with riches.   But do not assume too much here.  Just because Jesus did not emphasize any earthly benefits to the rich man does not mean that they do not exist.   That would be foolish presumption to take one verse as the complete truth on the subject of giving to the poor.  Therefore we need to study and find additional Bible information in order to come to a balanced conclusion.  Can we at least agree that God will bless us also, if He comes to us and asks us to give to the poor?   If you understand that God shows no favoritism (Acts 10:34) and what He promised to one is the same that is available to any other in the same circumstances then you should be able to agree with that belief.

Let’s turn to the book of Luke and read a verse that many of you may already be familiar with.  Read this verse very carefully and observe that the same Greek word translated for “Give” in Mark 10:21 is used in this verse connecting the lessons together by God’s direct word selection and subject connection.   Then notice what Jesus teaches about giving in this verse.   This verse must also apply to the rich man’s giving or God becomes a liar:

  •  Luk 6:38  Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom. For with the same measure that ye mete withal it shall be measured to you again.

According to Jesus (God in the flesh), If the rich man would have only understood that what he gave to others, this verse states that God would have caused those gifts to be returned back to him multiplied.  This knowledge has the potential to cause the rich to see the giving away of his riches in a much different light.   Of course the rich man did not give Jesus the opportunity to teach this part of the lesson about money and giving nor did the rich man ask Jesus any questions about it.  Jesus also did not voluntarily offer this information up either since Jesus wanted the rich man to learn faith and trust in God first.  I’m not sure if you understood what I just said or not?

The rich man trusted in his money to be his supplier and God’s word says “My God shall supply all of your needs according to His riches in glory” (Php 4:19).  There is a promised supply by God in the N.T. By the rich man having to learn to look to God instead of his own money and this rich man would have learned a more valuable lesson about trusting God and walking by faith.  However, it still does not mean that the rich man could never have any money again.  I believe that the rich man assumed too much just like many Bible readers today assume too much when they read this lesson.  Remember what God says in the Old Testament?   Let me remind you:

  •  Jer 29:11  For I know the thoughts and plans that I have for you, says the Lord, thoughts and plans for welfare and peace and not for evil, to give you hope in your final outcome. (AMP)

God says very clearly when He asks you to do something it is for your good and not to harm, hurt you, ruin you, or even to make life hard for you.   Failure to believe or understand this is one of the key reasons why people today will resist God’s instructions.  This rich man in Mark 10 was not asked by God to do something that was not going to benefit him in the long run if he would have just been willing and compliant God would have rewarded him greatly for his obedience.  If you believe that God is going to take something away from you without knowing the purpose behind the request then you are not trusting God’s wisdom, knowledge and plan for your life.   It is usually at this point where I emphasize that you need to learn if God is directing you to turn away from anything then there is a greater purpose behind that request and if you ask for Him for the reason why, God might just show you or you can just trust Him and learn it when it happens which is usually wiser.

But, it is also important to understand if Satan is trying to steal anything from you (John 10:10) you need to fight against that and resist him.   If you do not know how it works yet, God will ask you usually to give something up voluntarily, but if you refuse this can open the door for Satan just to come and take it from you without asking.  It is pretty simple to learn which is which.  Let’s go back and talk some more about Luke 6:38 and Mark 10:21.

There is a stated law of reciprocity that is placed in effect with God when a human in faith participates voluntarily and willingly with the requests of God.  God is not going to ask anyone to give away something without observing the obedience and blessing them in return.  We clearly saw this stated in Mark 10:21 when Jesus informed the rich man that there would be treasure in heaven awaiting him for his giving.   Then again in Luke 6:38 God says if you give to men, men will also give back to you.   Reciprocity is also found in the established decree of God called the Law of Sowing and Reaping (Gen 8:22).  Sowing is the stated release of a seed from your hand into the ground that is believed to be given back to you multiplied over time.

I believe that if the rich man would have viewed the release of his money into the poor as a seed sown that it would have been returned back to him multiplied based upon what Luke 6:38 taught us.  God states this clearly in Luke 6:38 when He says that others will return to you what you have given away as multiplied.  This is a very basic farming concept where any seed planter sows their valuable seeds that are returned back as a greater and more valuable return after time has passed.   This multiplication principle is implied in Luke 6:38 in the phrase “good measure, pressed down and shaken together and running over”.    That certainly makes it sound like giving to others is a benefit and not a liability to me.    If you don’t understand the concept of seeds in the Bible I would recommend that you go read that lesson series (Understanding Seeds in the Bible).

We should still understand that in Mark 10 that Jesus was not emphasizing this sowing and reaping part of the lesson simply because He was dealing with the man’s love for his money and possessions.  Do you understand the motivation for Jesus telling the rich man to get rid of his possessions and give to the poor, now?

Whenever God asks you to give away something it will normally be because it controls you and gets in the way of His relationship with you.   After a time of learning that God is more important to pursue than the item that is given, many times God will see that you get back what you were asked to give up.   This of course is not true if it is drugs, alcohol or some other substance that controlled you and will do physical harm to you and this is even true for money and possessions if they return to being your gods.  I’ve been going longer than I expected in this lesson so let me see if the Holy Spirit will allow me to wrap it up by giving you one more O.T. verse on this subject about giving to the poor:

  •  Pro 19:17  He that hath pity upon the poor lendeth unto the LORD; and that which he hath given will he pay him again.

If the rich man would have just considered this old fact written by Solomon probably one of the richest men ever in the Bible, I believe that it could have made a tremendous difference in his attitude towards giving to the poor.  You see this verse literally says that when we give to the poor the Lord observes it and takes over the responsibility for the debt.   Therefore we do not expect the one that we gave something to, to give back to us anything in return even in the future.  This is simply because God says “I owe the debt” and I believe God is faithful to repay it.   If God takes the responsibility for the debt, then we must ask is this repayment now in this life or is this in the next life to come?   I believe that we could get correct answers for both beliefs, by saying all of the above.

I do not place any limitations upon what God wants to bless me with or when God wants the blessing to arrive.   Since I’m not God He can sovereignly do as He pleases.    I definitely believe that there are eternal rewards based upon what Jesus taught in Matthew 6:20 when He taught that we should be laying up treasures in heaven where moth and rust will never corrupt them.   But the balanced counter to that statement was given to us in Luke 6:38 that claims if we give to men (here and now) that men will give back to us (here and now).  Luke 6:38 is clearly talking about receiving a return for giving here in this life.   I’m not going to teach this part of giving anymore in today’s lesson.   I really do not know how many I have offended by even mentioning it.   Christians often ignore vast parts of scripture thinking they are not applicable for today.   However to those like me that believe in them they still work just fine.  I will end this section about giving by saying that there are definitely heavenly rewards laid up for us for everything that we give here on the earth so the eternal benefits will by far outweigh any temporary benefits that we can enjoy for a short time here on this earth.    You should always keep your focus on the eternal rather than the carnal temporary, as I try to do.

 

CONCLUSION

In conclusion I will say that there are certain Bible teachers who teach that the “eye of the needle” was a figurative type for a city gate designed to be very narrow to limit passage into the city.   This was done in Bible days as a safety measure to keep large foreign armies and enemies from invading the city in mass numbers.  This narrow gate was like a funnel that kept the inflow and outflow of traffic to a very few with limited size of restrictions that were easily controlled.  This city opening was so narrow that many times a fully loaded camel would not be able to even enter it.   The merchant or traveler would usually have to unload the camel and squeeze it through the gate and then carry the loads by hand into the city.   So many teachers today believe that this was what Jesus was talking about in this verse in Mark 10:25.

However, that is still a private interpretation of the verse since it is not mentioned in the Bible anywhere and therefore I do not agree with it.  It also mixes one noun found in Luke 10:25 “the eye of the needle” as a figurative object and the other noun (camel) as a literal object and I do not agree with that type of interpretation.  I take scriptures literally when I can and then I apply what is stated spiritually based upon what is specified or being taught following the rules of interpretation of which I only mentioned two or three today in this lesson.   In conclusion I will give you two more verses to consider:

 

  •  1Co 5:9  I wrote unto you in an epistle not to company with fornicators:

  • 1Co 5:10  Yet not altogether with the fornicators of this world, or with the covetous, or extortioners, or with idolaters; for then must ye needs go out of the world.

We have more directions being given to the church in these passages.   God is speaking to the church and telling them not to associate with those that are in the world.   Uh oh?  That sounds serious to me!   Then God lists a few types that fit that description.   Read these again and tell me if you see the rich man being described?    I’ll help you by pointing you to two key words.  The first word is “covetous”.  This Greek word means a human with a desire for more of something.   This type of person has a very difficult time at releasing anything.  I believe that description fits the unsaved lost rich man.  Since the rich man was unwilling to give away any of his possession that implied that he loved them greatly and possibly desired (coveted) to even have more of them.   It was like he was a collector of natural things.  Any collector that I have ever observed is never satisfied with their collection.  Most collectors are looking for more of the same whether it be coins, stamps or baseball cards.    This “covetous” word is a problem if you are wanting more natural possession and not more of God.   Again remember that Jesus said you cannot serve two masters.   The second Greek word in this sentence describing the rich man is “idolater”.    What is an idolater?   This is a person that worships a manmade object.   Uh oh again for our rich man!   It is very clear to me that this rich man placed too much emphasis upon his possessions.  They had become his focus and they are clearly manmade objects of temporary status.  Do you understand why Jesus asked him to sell them now?  I could give you many more Bible verses on this subject but I have gone long enough today.

What I believe about Mark 10:25, is that Jesus was speaking of a literal camel and the literal eye of a needle with a human trying to pass this large beast through it.  That would be a nearly impossible task and that was the message being communicated to the church, but not to the rich man since he was not present to hear it.  Therefore, we should take this verse literally and see that the salvation of a rich man is a nearly impossible task.  However, we also need to balance that message with the fact that it was not the money that caused the problem but rather the love of the money that was at issue.

Jesus was clearly motivated by the heart condition of the rich man and tried to show him that the money and possession were his lord.   Know that Jesus deals with individual heart conditions differently.   Only man looks at the outward and sees a rich man and believes that he should be poor to be saved.   God looks at the man’s heart motivation for being rich and if it is for his love of these objects it will become the area that God will attempt to correct in our lives.

Each person is unique to God and only God knows what is taking priority over your relationship to Him.   What God tells me to get rid of will almost always be different than what God will tell you to get rid of.   And if you believe that God will never instruct you to get rid of anything then you are either deceived or a perfect person in need of no savior.

Jesus was teaching that it was impossible for anyone here on the earth that was rich to be saved if they did not put aside their love for their money to make Him their Lord.   While this is impossible for most men to do, we know from reading the Bible that with God all things are possible if we believe (Mat 10:27).   So a rich man can be saved if they want to learn how to enter through Jesus who is called the narrow gate in Mat 7:14.   Remember what Jesus said there in Matthew 7?   Jesus declared there were only two paths to choose from.   One narrow way was describing the selection as Jesus to be your Lord.   The other choice was a wide gate and a broad path and many there are that will choose it to their destruction (Mat 7:13).   This was a description of worldly lusts and desires that take the place of Jesus.  Please don’t allow something so temporary like money or possession be the reason for selecting the wrong path as this rich man in this lesson did today.   Thank you for your time reading and studying the Bible and until next time may you continue to grow in the knowledge of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.

Understanding Isaiah 53 the Good News of God’s Substitutionary Saving Grace! Part 1

Isaiah-Bible-Series(ver 1.1)   This is Part 1 in a lesson series on understanding the prophesied saving work of Jesus predicted to come in Isaiah 53.  I recently received a valid important question concerning the prophecies found in Isaiah 53.   The basis for the question was who this chapter was about, who are the players and characters being described and is this God pouring out His judgment upon someone and why was it necessary?  As part of this question I surmised that this also included the implied question of, “Was all of this prophecy fulfilled and if yes, what was accomplished by the fulfillment of this prophecy?”    I will not be attempting to answer every part of all these questions in this single Bible lesson today.   In order to understand the deep subjects of any chapter in the Bible we must first regress to understand the very basic subjects that establish the foundation for the deep.   Therefore today’s lesson is a teaching of the basic concepts found in Isaiah 53 to lay the foundation for the coming more complex subjects being mentioned.   I pray that you understand why I teach in this manner.  Paul said “I fed you milk and not with meat because you were not able to bear it” (1 Cor 3:2).  God teaches us very clearly that we should not get the cart before the horse and expect the passage to be successful while striving for deeper knowledge and understanding.   Therefore I am going to leave the meat parts of this subject to a future lesson in the series and focus upon the more important subjects in today’s lesson.

This chapter of the Old Testament is actually vital to understand as a Christian.  God places certain facts here that apply to us today and these help us understand why some people are saved and some are not.   In the English King James Version of the Bible there are several Hebrew words that were poorly translated by the translators.   These mistranslated Hebrew words cause serious doubts and even confusion when read in isolation ignoring the New Testament explanations and descriptions.  Without studying and researching what these original Hebrew words really mean people are left wondering what was actually prophesied by God to occur and who these words were really written about.   Also when we find the Hebrew scripture being quoted in the New Testament many of the Greek language translations were done with greater degree of accuracy.  Why the translators were not smart enough to be consistent I cannot explain but I have learned that I must find the answers from the New Testament in order to understand the writings of the Old Testament.

There is an essential basic concept found on the pages of the Old Testament that is absolutely crucial to understanding any of it.  Every word found on the pages of the Old Testament is completely true from a natural perspective but the spiritual meanings of the words have been hidden from the natural human viewpoint being veiled from their carnal minds.   I know of very few Bible teachers that teach or try to explain this spiritual veiled writing technique.  I have learned this fact simply because the Holy Spirit taught it to me personally and I did not learn it from any human teacher.   That is exactly why I teach this over and over to allow more people to understand the importance of this truth.   Every unsaved person will never be able to read the O.T. in isolation and figure out what it is all about.  Even carnal baby Christians do not have a clear perspective to what the O.T. was written about.  In today’s lesson whatever I say about the chapter of Isaiah 53 will come directly from the New Testament and this is the proper way to understand any verse written in the O.T.  In doing this we allow the Holy Spirit to interpret and define the O.T. words that are presented.     I am going to focus only on the first verse in this lesson on Isaiah 53.   I believe that Isaiah 53:1 contains the key to unlock the rest of the chapter.  In other words if you do not understand Isaiah 53:1 completely you will not understand the verses that follow. We will discover this fact by continuing to read and learn what the Holy Spirit has to say about it.

IS ISAIAH 53 EASILY UNDERSTOOD?

What I am going to do to begin this lesson is to turn to a story in the New Testament and go through a good portion of it to help confirm what I have just introduced you to in the first few paragraphs concerning the hidden spiritual information found in the O.T.   I want you to ask God to open the spiritual eyes of your understanding and allow you to see what He has to say in His Holy Word!  God gives us a very clear example of the O.T. hidden spiritual truth fact in the book of Acts.   If you go to Acts chapter 8 you will find this story and I ask that you read it over carefully and consider what was just revealed to you by God and how it applies to your understanding of the same passage:

  • Act 8:26  And the angel of the Lord spake unto Philip, saying, Arise, and go toward the south unto the way that goeth down from Jerusalem unto Gaza, which is desert.
  • Act 8:27  And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
  • Act 8:28  Was returning, and sitting in his chariot read Esaias the prophet.
  • Act 8:29  Then the Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.
  • Act 8:30  And Philip ran thither to him, and heard him read the prophet Esaias, and said, Understandest thou what thou readest?
  • Act 8:31  And he said, How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
  • Act 8:32  The place of the scripture which he read was this, He was led as a sheep to the slaughter; and like a lamb dumb before his shearer, so opened he not his mouth:
  • Act 8:33  In his humiliation his judgment was taken away: and who shall declare his generation? for his life is taken from the earth.
  • Act 8:34  And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
  • Act 8:35  Then Philip opened his mouth, and began at the same scripture, and preached unto him Jesus.

This God inspired story is pretty awesome.  You can clearly see from reading verse 34 that the man did not understand what he was reading.  Here is a Gentile man from Ethiopia and he was sitting and reading the book of Isaiah and wondering what these words meant.  If you note from the context this man was a seeker of God coming to Jerusalem to worship and that is very important for what happens next and why.  Hebrews 11:6 tells us that God rewards those that diligently seek Him and this story is a prime example of that basic truth.   The Ethiopian man was struggling greatly with the understanding of the words that he could clearly read on the scroll before him but he still desired earnestly to know their meaning.  If you are observant you will find that this man was reading the words found in Isaiah 53.   God sent to him a preacher man to help explain the words and this man was named Philip an evangelist of God.    Well as you can clearly read in verse 35, Philip preached the hidden Christ in Isaiah 53 and as a result of this explanation this man was saved.    We have just learned something very important.

I have personally learned a lot from this story.  The primary take away is to understand that Isaiah 53 is predominately about Jesus the Messiah/Christ.  The second most important thing to understand from this chapter of Isaiah is the primary theme concerning Jesus pertains to human salvation since the Ethiopian was saved after hearing and understanding just these words.  The initial verse that Philip preached from was Isaiah 53:7.  This was where the Ethiopian was focused on so Phillip used it to teach the man about Jesus our silent sacrificed lamb.   It is important to note that when Acts 8 occurred there was no New Testament to read or share with others.  So the early church had to use only the Old Testament to preach and get people saved.    Do you understand this?   Why couldn’t this Ethiopian man just read the text, figure it out and get saved without anyone preaching and teaching him what the words meant?   Did the words on the page suddenly change when someone preached them?  I really do not think they did, but something happened to change the man’s perspective who was listening to a new way of seeing them.   A wrong thinking within the human mind is the greatest reason why the words are not known to the spirit of the man.   Once the mind is opened and cleared to see the words they are passed into the spirit of man to be believed.   I’ll definitely be talking more about his as we go forward.

God designed a system based upon divine grace and human faith where salvation is the common desired end result for both.  The fact that someone must preach the Gospel and the hearer must believe the Gospel is just a part of God’s design for salvation.  There is something about a man speaking with authority and preaching the Gospel with boldness that makes the words on the page come alive to many people that want to know them.  This Ethiopian man clearly desired to know them, was open to learning about them and God sent the preacher to open the words up from their concealed original state to be seen through preaching and teaching.

So far we have looked at only one reference of Isaiah 53 found in Acts 8 and have discovered the central theme to be salvation and the theme giver to be Jesus Christ.  That is the foundation for the rest of this lesson.   I might point out to you that the name “Isaiah” does not appear in the New Testament.  However that does not mean his written words are not found there.   The problem is that the New Testament was written in the Greek language and the name Isaiah was transliterated from Hebrew into Greek and then into English.   The Old Testament was transliterated directly from Hebrew omitting the Greek transition and thus we have two different spellings for the same name.   In the KJV New Testament the name “Isaiah” is written as “Esaias”.   This Greek word that was changed to “Esaias” is G2268 and it is derived from the Hebrew name H3470 written as “Isaiah” in the English.  Just understand that they are both the exact same name.  Then learn what the name means in the Hebrew.  “Isaiah” literally means “Jah saves”.   “Jah” is a short form of the Hebrew “Jehovah” (H3050) a primary name of God in the Old Testament.  The name of the prophet designates further hidden confirmation of the book’s main subject content.   Isaiah the prophet wrote about God’s plan of salvation for man so we need to learn how this applies and what it entails.

ISAIAH 53:1

I’m only going to go through the first verse in Isaiah 53 to keep the lesson shorter.  Then I will move to the New Testament to understand this verse.   What we will be looking for is the New Testament explanations and applications for what Isaiah recorded for God.   It is absolutely essential that you understand these words written to the natural nation of Israel are applicable to us and for us in the church.  If you do not know this you will discount them as being irrelevant and unimportant.  The reason I know they apply to the church is because these verses in Isaiah 53 are quoted in the New Testament repeatedly and explained there.  So we will begin reading with verse 1 of Isaiah 53 and then find the references to it in the New Testament:

  • Isa 53:1  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed?

Isaiah 53 begins with one of the most incredible O.T. hidden secrets that was only revealed to us in the New Testament writings after Jesus was raised from the dead.  Isaiah 53:1 is about the subject of faith.  Nowhere in this verse is that subject described, named, or defined and that is the reason very few understand it.  Galatians 3:23 describes a principle that faith was revealed (uncovered, made clear, opened for view) by God in the New Testament.  In order for any subject to be uncovered for view it had to be previously covered from view.  That is further confirmation for what I have taught.    However, if you do not understand the subject of faith then you will not understand this verse is about faith.   I would strongly suggest that you go and read my lesson series on “Understanding Bible Faith” if you have not read them.  This will build a foundation for understanding what is written here in Isaiah 53:1.   I will attempt to give you a brief overview of the subject of faith but I cannot repeat the lessons in any detail.  What is the number one question being asked here in Isaiah 53:1?   God very clearly says “Do you believe the report”?   What is a report?   A report is a spoken account of a given event by a witness or an expert qualified to speak about it.   Remember what we just read about in Acts 8 concerning the Ethiopian man?   Didn’t God send the report of a witness to the man from Ethiopia so that he could hear and believe it?   Did the Ethiopian believe the report sent by the Lord?  Evidently the Ethiopian man was saved because he did believe what was reported to him by Phillip.  Wow, that is pretty amazing!

Let’s analyze the last part of the verse, before we move on to the New Testament references.   What does it mean if something must be revealed?   As I previously stated anything that is revealed must first be concealed.  No one on their birthday ever knows for sure what present they have been given until it is opened and revealed to them.  What does the arm of the Lord represent in this verse?  These are both key determining factors for what I am teaching.   God reveals what was previously hidden from plain view was something unexpected.   In this case the subject being revealed is connected directly to the “arm of the Lord”.  The Hebrew word H2220 that was translated as “arm” can have either a literal or figurative application.   God’s “arm” in this verse is a reference to the figurative and not the literal.   This figurative Hebrew word will apply to God’s strength and power being revealed.   But, since we are limiting the discussion to Jesus and the salvation of man by definition of context discovered from reading the Acts 8 application, we will need to search and find what God says concerning the power of God that has saved men today.   Do you recall any verses like this in the New Testament?   One comes to my mind very quickly and I ask you to read and learn the reason why I say this:

  • Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.

I need you to see what God has just plainly stated.   The Gospel is defined to be the power of God for our salvation.  We also have a direct connection to Isaiah 53:1 with God’s usage of the word “believe”.   Since we have previously seen a clear example of Phillip preaching the Isaiah 53 verses to an Ethiopian Gentile man and him being saved from it because he believed the spoken report, we know concretely that Isaiah 53 is the Gospel that contains the power of God for salvation.   Therefore God declared Isaiah 53 to be His arm of power that saves if you will see what it says.  Let’s move on and look at the direct quotes of Isaiah 53:1.

Isaiah 53:1 is quoted specifically in the New Testament twice.  We will look at both of them.   I believe to fully understand this verse we must go and discover how God used it in the New Testament, how it was applied and why it was selected.  The first occurrence of Isaiah 53:1 is found in the book of John.   Jesus is the primary speaker within the context and His words are followed by God’s connection to Isaiah 53:1.  Therefore these words of Jesus must contain some very important information directly from the author of the entire book.   Read these verses very slowly and carefully:

  • Joh 12:35  Then Jesus said unto them, Yet a little while is the light with you. Walk while ye have the light, lest darkness come upon you: for he that walketh in darkness knoweth not whither he goeth.
  • Joh 12:36  While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light. These things spake Jesus, and departed, and did hide himself from them.
  • Joh 12:37  But though he had done so many miracles before them, yet they believed not on him:
  • Joh 12:38  That the saying of Esaias the prophet might be fulfilled, which he spake, Lord, who hath believed our report? and to whom hath the arm of the Lord been revealed?

These are actually very relevant words to learn.   Jesus claims to be the light of the world.  But this is a spiritual light and not a physical one.   Then Jesus says to them “to believe in the light”.   What is God in the flesh saying?    He is saying I’m here to fulfill Isaiah 53 and you can see this very clearly reading the context in verses 37 and38 where John also quotes from Isaiah 53:1.   What God is doing is teaching us that people have a very significant role to play in the process of salvation.   Jesus was God in the flesh walking like every other man before them and they chose not to believe in Him of their own freewill.  These Jews were NOT saved because they failed to believe and not because Jesus failed to save them.   If you don’t understand this you need to regress to even more basic Bible subjects.

Isaiah asks who has believed the report and Jesus said “Believe in me” and then goes away and hides himself from the people so that they can see what it would be like without Him being found.   John tells us that they saw great miracles but still did not believe in Him.    That is not good news for them because there are no second chances after death occurs.   I do not have time to teach everything that is found in these verses.  Just understand the statement that Jesus was sent to fulfill Isaiah 53 and this further confirms the chapter was about Him and His saving work for man to believe in.  Let’s move on to read the second critical N.T. reference of Isaiah 53:1 which is found in the book of Romans:

  • Rom 10:16  But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord, who hath believed our report?
  • Rom 10:17  So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.

Here in this chapter’s context is found invaluable information concerning God’s saving power extended to man.    God quotes Isaiah 53:1 in verse 16 after He tells how to be saved in verses 9 and 10 of this chapter.    How are you saved according to Romans 10:9-10?  You must start by believing in Him and this includes believing that God raised Him from the dead.  Then you must confess with your mouth Him to be your Lord.   This is the basic requirement for salvation and it starts with believing the report since you were not there to witness the resurrection for yourself.  That is how faith works, you believe and you say.  This is a very basic reality but one that is ignored by many Christians.

It is very interesting to note that Paul quotes 12 different O.T. verses from Deuteronomy, Psalms, Isaiah, Proverbs, Nahum and Joel in this chapter context including the last verse of chapter 9.   I find that fact off the charts fascinating and significant to learn.  This knowledge helps to prove what I call the law of related distributed truths.   I am a firm believer that God has placed many connected clues in the Old Testament being spread out like random seeds in a field as perceived by the casual reader.   To put these random verses all together correctly without the Lord’s assistance is like trying to solve a large complex double sided puzzle without any pictures on any of the pieces.  If you do not understand the significance of this distributed factual information being combined together as an integrated lesson then I would suggest that you go and read the context of every O.T. quoted verse found here in Romans 10 and then try to figure out for yourself how God did this and why.   How is it possible that 12 different verses from several different books of the Old Testament were combined into a single unified subject lesson taught to the church?  I wish people would begin to learn the complexity of the Bible instead of ignoring these types of important factual details.

I believe that this information which I have just given to you is confirmation that the entire O.T. contains hidden references about Jesus, the church and salvation and we should quickly begin to realize that Jesus is the central theme of the entire book.   God teaches us how that the writings of 5 or 6 different prophets can all be tied together to teach a single cohesive lesson about Jesus and human salvation.   I’ll give you a list of the verses so that you can do some more research on your on:

QUOTE

O.T. REFERENCE

Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14
Romans 10:6 Deuteronomy 30:12
Romans 10:7 Deuteronomy 30:13
Romans 10:8 Deuteronomy 30:14
Romans 10:11 Isaiah 28:16
Romans 10:13 Joel 2:32
Romans 10:15 Isaiah 52:7; Nahum 1:15
Romans 10:16 Isaiah 53:1
Romans 10:18 Psalm 19:4
Romans 10:19 Deuteronomy 32:21
Romans 10:20 Isaiah 65:1
Romans 10:21 Proverbs 1:24; Isaiah 65:2

I want you to understand God’s usage of the Isaiah 53:1’s reference in the context of Roman’s 10 more clearly.  If you back up and read the end of chapter 9 you will clearly see that Paul was writing about the natural Jews that Jesus was speaking directly to in John 12 and this connection carries forward into chapter 10 with Paul’s statement “I pray that they all will be saved” in verse 1 of chapter 10.  Paul then goes into a comparative writing between two diverse types of people; those saved by faith and those that were attempting to save themselves by their individual works of righteousness.   Paul as you can observe says these people of natural Israel have rejected the gift of God’s righteousness through faith because they have failed to believe the report.   Now let me emphasize two other verses found in Romans 10:

  • 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?
  • Rom 10:15  And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

These words contain some of the keys to understanding Isaiah 53.  We need to learn that God has directed some to preach the Good News Report.  This is a required design from God.   Jesus came to the earth to preach and teach as well as to save.  We have already seen the fact that Isaiah 53:1 was used by John to inform natural Israel that Jesus had brought them light and Jesus said for them to follow the light.  Follow the light is just another way to say “Believe”!    I have also previously shown you in Acts 8 where Phillip preached Isaiah 53 to get the Ethiopian to believe and get saved.  Now we can see Paul using Isaiah 53 and all of these references have to do with the existence of a preacher with a message sent to those that can hear and have faith to believe the report to be saved.    We have just achieved 3 witnesses in the New Testament that Isaiah 53 is the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST!   Gospel literally means good news.   What was the good news that Jesus provided to us from Isaiah 53?  I guess that is what everyone needs to know next.  But let’s focus in on one more verse in Romans 10:13:

  • Rom 10:13  For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whosoever means me!   This is a verse written to me since I am clearly a “whosoever” by qualified application.   Whoever calls upon the name of the LORD, will be saved.   I want you to review one key word in this verse found in the original Greek language.    The Greek word G4982 which is translated as “saved” is the word “SOZO” and I have made mention of this word before.  But I want you to learn a new association.  We can clearly see the primary subject is salvation and God connects salvation back to the verses found in Isaiah 53:1 by His choice and intelligent design.  Therefore we must understand what Isaiah 53 was written about by understanding how God uses it here in the N.T.    The Greek word SOZO literally means to be made whole and complete.  The antithesis of wholeness is incompleteness.  Incompleteness is a state of lack or a deficit in entirety.  This word has broad application.  This Greek word crosses over into three realms of reality simultaneously.   God’s plan of salvation included your spiritual salvation (wholeness), your mental salvation (wholeness) and your physical salvation (wholeness) in one act of His divine saving Grace.  This teaches us literally what Isaiah 53 must contain and it MUST include all of these subjects or God does not remain consistent with the N.T. message of salvation.   We now should better understand what to be looking for when reading Isaiah 53.   We must search and look for the salvation of our spirit, soul and body.

I think this is a good place to end this lesson today.   We have learned a lot of good basic information from searching the New Testament and finding God’s explanations for what was written in Isaiah 53.  We should now know that the 53rd chapter of Isaiah is God’s power (arm) to save, heal and deliver us.   We should also  know that Isaiah 53 is only made effective in a human’s life if they choose to hear it proclaimed and believe the report.  I thank you for your time reading the Bible and studying God’s Words.  Please come back and tell others about what you have learned.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading in this series of lesson you may continue to “Part 2” now.

BIBLE ANSWERS: What Does the Bible say About Church Governance and the Proper Structure of Authority?

Question-marks(Ver 1.1)  I recently received this question and felt led to respond to it publically.  The question was asked, what is the correct organized structure of authority for church government?  My answer from the Bible may or may not conform to what you believe is true or the way that your church does things.   But, my answer will definitely be spiritually Word of God based and that will automatically cause many to reject it.  You are welcome to give me any specific Bible verses that teach what you believe represents the truth for this answer.  What I will not accept is your denomination’s doctrinal statement created by ignorant men that does not conform to any Biblical truth.   If that is what you want to give me don’t waste your time or mine.  I only base my beliefs on the Bible and I leave out the opinions of all others.   You would probably be wise to do the same.

Too often Christians want to read the Bible and find all of the rules for life, the church and for being a real Christian in a neat set of itemized instructions.  People like to over simplify everything and live by a list of prioritized “do this” and “do not do this” in order to believe that they are on the correct path to pleasing God.   They often feel like their good works permits them to be worthy to be in God’s presence.  Possessing any feelings that you are pleasing to God because you have satisfied a very small part of what you think you know about the Bible is a very foolish attempt at exalting yourself to match God’s established standards and know everything that God knows.  If this approach did not work for Lucifer it will never work for us either.  What I am attempting to do is to point us to a new spiritual way to think about church government.    Quit thinking like mere men and consider the thoughts and ways of God and make these your priority in the church.  Today I’m going to list at least 3 key factors for establishing correct church government and structure.  Without all of these three spiritual factors being involved nothing that we do will work.

#1: BEING LED BY THE SPIRIT

What I have noticed about God in the Bible is that He rarely does the same thing twice exactly as He did before with anyone.  One time in the wilderness when the people desperately needed a drink of water God told Moses to hit the rock with his staff and the water would come.  The next time this exact same event occurred God said “speak to the rock” and the water will come.  If God addresses the same problem in two different ways why do people want to make every church organization look exactly the same?  That mindset does not make any sense to me!   A one solution fits all approach to Christian life and church government is not how I have ever viewed that anything really works successfully.  What works well in one church may not be what God wants to happen in another church at another time and another place.

There is a very profound statement made to ALL Christians in the New Testament that is sometimes rarely followed in many church organizational structure designs.   This essential concept is found in Roman 8:14 where God says “Those that are led by His Spirit, they are the sons of God”.   This verse is very clear to me and it says for us to seek God’s direction and He will guide our steps into the correct paths when organizing our church governments.  God knows how it should be setup and who should be in every position.  Ignore God’s leading and you will get what you will get and that is your best effort to satisfy God in your ignorance.   I believe Romans 8:14 applies directly to us right here and right now in establishing and organizing any church.   Therefore what God might lead for one church might not match exactly for another church.  There are just too many variables and  factors that are involved in creating and managing a church.  The location can be different, the culture can be different, the people can be different, the leadership can be different, the community outreach can be different and all of these play a role in God’s decision on how to direct.  Of course the Spirit of God is never going to contradict His written Holy Word.  Whatever God directs us to do with His Spirit will align perfectly with the Words in the Bible that apply to this subject.   But we need to be careful with following the traditions of men who thought they knew the answer while possibly ignoring the leading of the Spirit of God for what He desires will work best.    Consider the fact that God knows more than you do.  Then realize we need to ask for this wisdom or we will potentially fail.  Therefore the number one factor for establishing correct church government is to be led by the Spirit of God.  Can I get a witness?

GOD IS A GOD OF ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURED AUTHORITY

I saw in my Bible studies that angels are a highly organized group of spiritual beings separated into tiered levels of organization with varying levels of authority.   Angels appear to be organized like a large military body.   Jesus said that He could call down 12 legions of angels in Matthew 26:53.  That statement implies a high degree of organization with a precise arrangement containing a direct hierarchical structure of authority.   Therefore if God has structure and established levels of authority in heaven it makes perfect sense for the same to be present here on the earth in the church.  Do you agree with this?  What I also observe from reading and studying the Bible is that God is a very detail oriented being.  He pays attention to the least little details to even number the hairs on our head (Mat 10:30).   I use this information to confirm that every church needs to be organized and have the same great attention to every detail within the church.

In the ministry of Jesus on the earth you can clearly observe an organized structure of authority.  Jesus was the leader and the next group under His authority were the 12 disciples that I call His inner circle followers.   Jesus would spend extra time and effort with those of the inner circle to explain the plan of God and what He taught to others in parables only.  Within the group of 12 not everyone has the exact same role of responsibility.  Peter, James and John would go with Jesus when the other 9 did not always go.   Judas held the money bag and acted as the treasurer for the group.  Therefore the other 11 came to Judas for financial matters.  Clearly there were roles of designated responsibility to each follower.  Underneath the second tier of12 within the Jesus ministry organization came the 70 (Luke 10:1).  This is now the third tiered level of authority with new responsibilities and roles.   These 70 were assigned the task to go ahead of Jesus and the twelve and prepare other cities for their coming.

It is just very clear based upon just these two examples given to us by God that every church requires at least the same basic organization, structure, designed roles, responsibilities and varying levels of authority and accountability.  This should be very basic common sense and I pray that you see the need for such to exist.

#2: JESUS THE HEAD OF THE CHURCH

I do not agree with the Catholic Church philosophy of church government.  The Catholic Church is the largest group of people that call themselves Christians on the earth and they are extremely organized with varying degrees of authority rising to their ultimate leader called the Pope.  Nowhere in the Bible is one man designated to be the head of the church other than JESUS CHRIST.   Ephesians 5:23 leaves no room for misinterpretation clearly stating that Christ is the Head of the whole Church.  This truth represents the church past, present and future and there can never be any other head than He.  The church is clearly called the body of Christ and Jesus is clearly called our head (Col 1:18).   How then can any individual body part of the church claim to the leader of the body?  I think we need to learn the truth and stick with only that.  When we are led by the Spirit of God we are being led by the Head of the Church.  The Spirit of God will not speak of Himself but what He hears that will He speak (John 16:13).    I just paraphrased a portion of that last verse in John to make a point that the Holy Spirit speaks to us and directs us into things to come.  Go read the verse for yourself and see how it applies to setting up church governments and being led by His Spirit.  Recognizing the Head of the church to be Jesus Christ is the number two factor for establishing correct church government.   Ignoring the Head of the church will just result in man’s attempts to please a God that they do not know.

CHURCH ORGANIZATION, STRUCTURE AND AUTHORITY

There are certain and specific church offices of differing roles and responsibilities mentioned in the Bible.   For example, in Ephesians 4:11 God lists what many call the “5 fold ministry”.   These five are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers.   I personally believe that those are listed in the order of church authority.   It is essential to know and understand that not everyone is called to be in these offices.  In fact in the body of Christ there are mostly disciples and they can later be promoted to one of these 5 specialized callings by God’s choice.  When a person is called by God to stand in one of these offices they are anointed by God to fulfill that role.  Therefore God enables them with gifts to do the role.  Each role of office is important and necessary and we as Christians need to give proper respect to those in these offices.  I am not going to go through what every role entails in detail.  But I will give a quick overview.  An Apostle is one that is sent by God for a specific purpose.  The 12 Apostles were clearly given leadership roles that others under their authority should revere.  Apostles are clearly called by God.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:1 that he was a called apostle.

The Prophet is also another major role within the church body today.  God calls certain individuals to be His voice on the earth.  These people hear directly from God and speak His words to the people of God.  They are often given revelation knowledge and can even hear from God about coming events on the earth.   Paul stood in the office of both an Apostle and Prophet since Paul was given special revelation from God and Paul wrote about things to come as direct prophecy in his letters to the church.

The third ministry office is called the Evangelist.  The primary role of the Evangelist is to preach the Gospel to the lost world to turn them to receive Christ as their Savior.   While every Christian has this basic role, some are called by God to do this as their service for God.  Phillip was an evangelist in the early church and this office still exists today.  The Evangelist is not so much a teacher as he is an exhorter to call people to repentance.  John the Baptist held a role very much like this found in a modern day Evangelist.  John called people to the kingdom of God pointing them to one that was greater than he was.

In a local body congregation the leader of that body is always a Pastor.  A pastor is the designated shepherd of the flock.  Peter was a shepherd and an apostle.  Jesus asked Peter to feed His sheep (John 21:17).  Feeding the sheep is the primary role of the pastor.  They take the Word of God and feed it into the spirits of their congregation.   Every Pastor shepherd is usually always a teacher also.  They go hand in hand to some extent.   Peter was a teacher as well as an Apostle.  Paul was a teacher as well as an apostle and a prophet.  One person can be in multiple offices but rarely is it more than 2 or 3 offices at the most and then not every office is in continuous manifestation in everyone full-time.  One person might be a teacher on occasion and an Apostle full time.  Another person might be an Apostle full time and part time prophet.  One person can be a pastor full time and a part time evangelist.  All of these offices can teach on occasions but not all may be called to teach full time.  Again this is called Jesus is the Head of the church and you are not!  If the Spirit of God leads someone to do a specific task then they just do it because God desires it and not because they asked to do it.

Jesus was the only person that I know of that held every office role concurrently.  Jesus is called an Apostle and a Prophet in the Bible.  Jesus said He was the Great Shepherd meaning a pastor of all.  He also demonstrated that He was a teacher and an evangelist.  Therefore, Jesus clearly showed us that He could fulfill multiple roles being the head of the church.   It is essential for you to learn what your role is in the body of Christ.  Everyone has a purpose and a place.   God has a planned reason why you are here no matter what you think about it.  It does not have to be a role where you stand in front of thousands to teach the Bible.  No it could be simply a behind the scenes ministry position that supports the pastor’s role.

Churches as they grow need increased levels of support to oversee the work of God.  A pastor in a small church can do several roles but in a large church that becomes unmanageable.  One pastor in a large church should have an inner circle of associate shepherds to help lead the flock in manageable numbers.   There are needs for many other leadership positions and roles especially in large congregations.  One Pastor or Shepherd cannot adequately maintain a flock of 5000.  Even Jesus taught this when He designated the inner circle 12 to have the authority to go and feed the flock of 5000 the 5 loaves and the 2 fishes.   Jesus stood back and watched while the under shepherds did the feeding.  Don’t misunderstand what I am saying we all know that Jesus taught the whole group but when it came time He appointed others certain  roles to play.  You can clearly see that Jesus did not even try to do it all Himself.  Let’s talk briefly about the other Biblical roles in a local church’s government.

Correct church organization for leadership should include what the Bible calls “elders”.  Church Elders are not just mature looking people on the outside.  It is more important to be a mature spiritual Christian inside regardless of what your appearance is on the outside.  A spiritually new born baby that has an appearance of maturity externally is not fit to be called an elder of the church.  God very clearly tells us that He does not look at the outward appearance of humans but rather He judges them and calls them according to their hearts (1 Sam 16:7).  People tend to judge how the person looks externally in order to determine if they should become their leader.   But that is certainly not being led by the Spirit.  That practice is walking by your sight or by the appearance of others and that is clearly not a spiritual way to do anything in the church.

I personally believe that a spiritual elder is someone born again and spirit filled for at least 10-20 years.  These people should also display the fruits of the spirit in observable clear ways even under pressure.  An elder of the church should have wisdom that is needed to fulfill their role of responsibility.  God can give people anointed gifts in certain areas of church administration that are needed to wisely manage the church’s affairs.   It is very clear that elders played a role in the early church’s organization.  However, in the spiritual food chain of authority they are always under the authority of the other 5 church offices.   Elders do not hire or fire the pastor, God calls the pastor to be the pastor.  This makes God the head of the church and not the elders.

The other major church role mentioned in the Bible is often referred to as the “deacon”.  This is a very interesting term because it denotes someone called to serve another.  That clearly means they are not in the top command of authority or it could mean that they purposefully lowered themselves in order to serve someone that is in need regardless of their called position.   Jesus demonstrated this concept when He set the disciples down and washed their feet.   He lowered His position to become the least among them even though He was the greatest one present.  Any church office within the Body of Christ is called to be a servant of God.  In the church we all serve Christ first and others second.  If people would gather this knowledge and implement it the church would become a great place to be a part of.

RESOLVING CHURCH CONFLICTS CORRECTLY

Within any large church congregation there will always be potential conflicts.  Most of the time these are human carnal jealousy based factors.  People see what others get from God and think this should just automatically apply to them.  I am not going to address every church problem and the reason for them.  I am only going to give one quick example of God establishing a structure of church administration in the early church.  These verses are found in the book of Acts chapter 6:

  • Act 6:1  And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration.
  • Act 6:2  Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not reason that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables.
  • Act 6:3  Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.
  • Act 6:4  But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word.
  • Act 6:5  And the saying pleased the whole multitude: and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, and Philip, and Prochorus, and Nicanor, and Timon, and Parmenas, and Nicolas a proselyte of Antioch:
  • Act 6:6  Whom they set before the apostles: and when they had prayed, they laid their hands on them.

I am not going to go into everything these verses say in great detail.   I underlined most of the key words that need to be understood on this matter.  In verse 1 we see the problem being stated between two carnal groups of disciples.  Disciples in the church organization are the lowest in the church authority so this is why I called them carnal thinkers in need of spiritual growth.   The twelve represents the apostle group that holds the ultimate responsibility and authority for church administration.  Did you notice what they said?  They acknowledge the need but said it was not their responsibility to leaven teaching the Word of God to feed the body of Christ with natural food.  In a small church they could do this, but in a large growing church it becomes impossible for even 12 to do everything.   Therefore they said that there should be a selection of 7 men with wisdom that were honest.  But foremost they must be filled with the Spirit of God and that goes back to them being led by the Spirit of God.

This is just an excellent story for how church government should work and be established.  We do not create positions just to create positions.  We only create new positions when new needs arise to solve problems.   As soon as any new need becomes a distraction to the pastor in a church so that he is unable to spend adequate time in prayer and study to preach the Word of God that is when new areas of church government needs to be expanded.   As the church grows and more needs arise, more roles of responsibility can be established.  It is also important to note how this was done.  After they have been selected, the hands of the leadership are placed upon them and this is done for what reason?   You see this represents a transfer of authority and anointing.  What the leader was anointed to do is passed down to the next level for them to perform as the representative of the pastor.  God teaches us so much in this example and I hope that you will take the time to study it and see how God wants things to work and grow in church governments today.

#3:  THE NEW TESTAMENT LAW OF LOVE

I’m going to end this Bible study lesson talking about the third spiritual factor for establishing correct church government.  What is your motivation for creating this church government?   There is only one commandment given directly by Law from the Head of the church to the church in the New Testament and this is the God established Law of Divine Love.   The Law of Love governs every action of every church member from the disciple to the apostle.   Jesus very clearly said a NEW COMMANDMENT I give thee (John 13:34).   If a church’s government is not founded, established and ruled by the law of love then they are not within the church’s prime directive and will fall short.   Therefore we must permit love to govern our motivations and our actions.   God is defined to be LOVE in 1 John 4:8.  Therefore when we are led by the Spirit of Love we are being led by God.    Do you see how all of these three factors for correct church government establishment are connected together?   Christ is the head of the church, Christ is Love personified and we all answer to follow His desired directions of love.

Love rules the church!  Love governs the church!   Love leads the church!  Love teaches the church!   Love preaches to the lost!  Whatever is not done in love is not by the leadership of God.   This is just the spiritual basics for what we do as Christians.   I have said this before but it will apply here again.  I like to teach WWLD.  If you have heard this before then take it as a courteous reminder.  Before doing anything in this life, ask What Would Love Do?   When reflecting on God’s love in order to make a decision this will help guide you into a closer relationship with the Head of the church.  Are you love dominated and love controlled?   If not then you are in serious trouble.

I have just given you three directives for establishing correct church government.   I will recap them one more time for those that need it.   When creating a church government do the following:

  1. Recognize that Jesus is the Head of the Church and no one else takes His place.
  2. Be led by the Spirit of God who is the Head of the Church when creating your government.
  3. Be led by the Spirit of Love in Love extended towards all others.

Only those that will submit to authority correctly can understand how to be in authority correctly.   All others not submitted to the Lordship of Jesus Christ will be establishing their own church to benefit themselves.  Run from these people quickly or be consumed with their selfish motivations.  My subject today was not authority and what it is defined to be by God, but it does apply and you need to learn this subject.   Being faithfully submitted to God’s authority will give God the privilege to promote you to higher authority levels.    Thank you for reading my Bible studies.  May God continue to lead and guide you into higher spiritual levels of understanding His Precious Holy Word!

Bible Answers: What is the Human Soul? Is the Soul the Same as the Spirit?

theSoulMan_final_logo#8DB3F2(Ver 1.1)  This Bible lesson is a response to a good question that I received from a reader.   This is a very easily misunderstood topic in the Bible and I have addressed it at least in part in several other Bible lessons but this is a more direct topic discussion on the subject.   When I first started writing this response I thought it would be a quick and easy Bible lesson to do.  I very soon realized the broad scope of information on this subject in the Bible and it quickly grew way beyond what I could feasibly address in one lesson. This question is also potentially complex because of the very common misunderstanding that surrounds it.  I am going to have to overcome all of the false teachings that have already gone out on this topic and that is going to be challenging.  The subject of the human soul is mentioned directly or indirectly in literally thousands of different verses.  The Bible is covered with parts of this subject throughout and there are so many verses that I cannot even begin to list them all.   I will attempt to list the verses that I feel are important to help introduce the subject and focus on those.  I will learn based upon the follow-up questions and comments that I receive, if there are other lessons that need to be added.   Please feel free to leave your questions and comments and I will address them as I am led.  I’ll start by giving you a dictionary definition of the word soul.  I do not agree with this definition but it is at least a starting point:

soul  –  Noun

  1. The spiritual or immaterial part of a human being or animal, regarded as immortal.
  2. A person’s moral or emotional nature or sense of identity.

This definition of the soul is a result of the confusion behind the word’s popular usage.  It is literally a muddled attempt to define something that they know nothing about.   Let me start by saying that I agree with parts of the definition but certainly not the entire wording or the connection of the stated phrases.  The soul is definitely an immaterial part of a human; however it is not the spirit of a human as it is commonly assumed.  Both people and animals have souls but animals do not have spirits as we will observe from the Bible shortly.  The soul of the human is not the immortal spirit of the human and we will see scriptures that will confirm that also.  The soul of a man or a woman is related to their identity from a non-physical aspect or perspective.  We could call the human soul their personality and that becomes a much closer definition to what God reveals of the soul in His Word.  This dictionary definition also leaves out many other parts of the soul that are not mentioned, unknown or just ignored.   We will soon see some of these as I continue to go through the Bible lesson.

Even Bible translators struggled to know and understand how to accurately translate many of the original language words on this subject in the Bible.  For example the Hebrew word H5315 which is commonly translated into “soul” is found in 682 verses of the Old Testament.  If you study the original language translation closely you will find this same Hebrew word H5315 is translated into several different English words because of the pre-established confusion.  Here is a list of some of the popular ways that this Hebrew word was translated in the O.T. 1) soul, 2) souls, 3) creature, 4) life, 5) one 6) yourself, 7) body, 8) beast, 9) person, 10) mind, 11) heart, 12) breath, 13) will, 14) ghost, 15) appetite, 16) pleasure, and 17) desire to name some of the basic words used by translators.  That was not a complete list but we should be able to see from this diverse set of definitions this Hebrew word could be potentially all over the board.  We need to learn which words being used to describe the soul are correct and apply to the subject and which words do not?  Technically I will tell you that each English word in this list has a linked association to the subject and thus the reason for the wide misunderstanding.   I personally believe that many of the translated verses use very inadequate choices of English words to describe what is being communicated by God and perhaps I will attempt to go through a few of these examples to demonstrate what I mean.  This subject is a Bible basic truth that is essential to correctly know and understand.  You may already think that you know everything about this subject but I would challenge you to read the whole lesson to ensure that what you think you know agrees with what the Bible actually says.  In this Bible lesson I will attempt to answer the following reader questions on the subject of souls:

  1. WILL YOU DO A MESSAGE ON THE MEANING OF SOULS?
  2. WHAT THEY ARE?
  3. WHAT HAPPENS TO THEM AFTER DEATH?
  4. AND CAN A SOUL BE EATEN UP AND DESTROYED WHILE ALIVE?

In addition to these questions I will also address what the soul of man is not.  I will begin this lesson by stating the subject of the soul of man is popularly confused with the subject of the spirit of man and we saw this in man’s dictionary definition of the word.  People want to take a dictionary definition for a word that God defines to be something else and that is a foolish approach to trying to understand the God of the Bible.   Often in churches and on the internet the term soul of man is used in error interchangeably for the term spirit of man causing a general misunderstanding for the body of Christ.  What I have observed is that many people because of this confusion believe that they are the exact same things just called by two different names.  Every time the soul is used instead of the correct term spirit or vice versa, it just makes it that much harder to understand which is which.  For example, have you ever heard anyone speak of God saving 6 souls in church last Sunday?  I will guess that you have.  Do you know exactly what they were talking about?  Did you also know that Jesus did not come to die to save your soul?  Uh oh, I think I just put some people into shock.   But that is the problem because people do not know what a soul really is.  This will become much clearer after you know what a soul is defined by God to be.  Let me give you a New Testament verse to help prove my introductory point:

    • Jas 1:21  Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.

What does God say in this verse?  Does God say your soul is already saved?  If you can read you will find that is not what is stated.  God tells the church to receive the engrafted word which is ABLE to save your soul.  That is a future tense conditional promise.  If you receive the Word meekly the Word is able to make your soul whole again.   Once you begin to learn what a soul is verses like this will make so much more sense.  Knowing the basics of truths just opens the door for knowing the more complex truths of God’s Word.  I hope you can see my point from this verse.  God states your soul is not saved yet, but it can be if you continue in the Word.

GOD”S CREATION OF THE TRIUNE MAN

I never switch these two terms soul and spirit casually since I try to be a very detailed oriented person that likes to call things by their specific correct titles for clarification to what I am saying.  If I speak of the soul then I am speaking of only a soul and if I speak of a spirit then I am only talking about a spirit and they are definitely not the same thing.  Also I would like to say that my reader asking a specific question about “souls” may have intended the question to be about spirits but did not know the difference.   I run into this frequently and I will touch on both subjects in this lesson to help everyone learn the differences between spirit and soul.  In order to understand the human soul we need to understand the full created human composition and structure in the correct order of importance.  In order to understand this original human composition we need to back up to the account given by God concerning creation and see what He has to say on the subjects.   I do this to establish the foundation for the pattern transition that took place between the triune Creator God creating the triune man in His own image and likeness.  I pray that you already know what a triune being is.  If you do not understand that God is a triune being go to my Bible study on that subject and read it, I’m not going to prove the trinity of God fully in this lesson.  We will start with Genesis 1 and read concerning the revealed creation of man at the end of day 6:

  • Gen 1:26  Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”

Notice this verse begins with the title of God and this is the Hebrew word H430 that is used in over 2000 verses in the Old Testament as His divine name.  From the frequency of usage you can tell that it is a very common Hebrew name for God but what you need to know about this name is that it is also a plural name for God.  Hebrew words can either be singular or plural and this name is definitely a plural form of the Hebrew word H433.   Next, notice what the plural God says “Let US”.  God speaks of Himself in another plural pronoun form through the word “US”.  These are just two clues to the trinity of God.  But I said I wasn’t going to fully teach that part of the subject, but I just did an introduction to challenge you to think.   God then says “let us make man”.   So God is speaking of man as being a new part of creation that did not previously exist.  The next part of the verse is the main part that I wanted you to see.

The Hebrew term in this verse translated as the English word image means “a figure of”.   Michelangelos-Statue-of-DavidA figure of something else would be like a created statue or a sculpture that represents something else which is greater.  For example, the artist Michelangelo created a sculpture of David and while the sculpture was great it was not as great as the original David.  I personally believe that what God was saying is that the original man was a precise representation of the greater God.   I believe the angels in heaven could look at the created man and see a lesser view of the Supreme God.  This clearly states that Adam was not God but yet had the image of his Creator upon him.  Now take the Hebrew word translated as “likeness” and know that this word means Adam was a similar instance, example, illustration, pattern, design or a model of the Supreme God who created him.   In other words what God was, the man must also be in a lesser form.   You see man is definitely not omnipotent, omniscient, or omnipresent as God clearly is, however what was present in Adam had to resemble the pattern of God or he was definitely not made in His image or His likeness.   I believe that God was a triune being and that this means man would also have to be a triune being.  I believe that whatever qualities that God possessed the  man must also have a lesser version of that feature.  Therefore we need to understand who and what this Creator God is, what qualities He has revealed to us, in order to know who and what the created man is and what he centrally consists of.

  • Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

We know from reading scriptures that God is a Spirit first and foremost.  At least 31 times in the Bible God is referred to as the “Spirit of the Lord”.  At least 22 times in the Bible God is called “Spirit of God”.  At least 7 times in the KJV Bible God is called “Holy Spirit”.  At least 89 times in the KJV Bible God is called “Holy Ghost” and that is just a common mistranslated way to say “Holy Spirit”.  God is conclusively revealed to be a Spirit by the overwhelming evidence of scripture.  Therefore man must also be a spirit being or man was not made in the similar image or likeness of God.  This is where most people begin to struggle to understand the basic human composition.  You see I previously stated that Michelangelo created an image of David and we all know that the created image was stone and the other was flesh.  So clearly a created image does not have to be made from the exact same materials to be a good representation.  That is true, but we just need to learn some more facts instead of isolating one truth in the Bible thinking that is everything that we need to know.   It is also clear from simple observation that humans are outwardly flesh based carbon creatures because this is what we can see and touch.  However, God also called man a likeness of God and that additional word changed man to be a pattern of God.   Since we cannot verify the existence of the human spirit with our senses there is no evidence from a natural perspective in this world to support its existence.  But, we should also know from reading the Bible that God is not a man (Num 23:19).  Therefore, God is not a flesh based carbon unit.  How then can man be made in the likeness and the image of God if God is a Spirit and man is only a created human body?  Those are excellent question to consider and to find the answers in the Bible.

Here is another interesting point about God.  God is described to be invisible in Colossians 1:15, 1 Timothy 1:17, and Hebrews 11:27.  If God a Spirit is invisible are there any components of the human man which are also hidden and invisible?  I believe that there is and we will find out why very soon.  People in the world seek to know the external temporary body and neglect to seek to find the truth about the more real eternal internal invisible spirit.  The majority of the unsaved world believes a human is only a physical body, a soul and nothing else.  In thinking in these terms they believe man does not differ from all of the created animals of our planet in any way.  In fact they have been deceived to believe that man simply evolved from these lower forms of animal species and that is not supported scientifically, by DNA evidence, any missing fossil linkage, the Bible or any other evidence but people still believe a fool’s theory.  There is no evidence supporting this deception of evolution.   Creative fiction taught with authority causes the majority of the acceptance of lies.

  • Gen 1:20  And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.

Here is where I think it might be good to introduce you to a concept that is important to know about humans and animals.  You see if you do a deep study of the original Hebrew word (H5315) that was translated into “soul” and the many other various words, you will find that this word has application to both man and animals equally.  Why is that?  For example here in the first chapter of Genesis is the first mention of the Hebrew word but it was translated as “life” instead of soul in this verse.   God is definitely teaching us that created animals have life or AKA souls.  I believe that this is an example where the translators would have been more accurate if they used the word soul instead of the word “life” but they both do apply.  Since created animals breathe air and have a similar form of life as men on the earth they both must possess the same type of “soul life”.  However, there is another truth in the Bible that is also very important to know about the difference between human souls and animal souls.   In several verses in the O.T. the term soul is joined together with another Hebrew word that means “dumb”.   In these verses a “dumb soul” or “dumb life” is referring to animals as being non-speaking living beings on the earth.   This fact distinguishes created man to be a completely separate class of being and a different type of soul than the created animals simply because of the existence of “speech”.   This significance or dissimilarity will become more evident as we continue to dig deeper into the truth.  Men speak words, words have power and authority and this feature reveals man to be like God where the created animals are not.  We may get into this more later, but if not just remember what I said.   Let me take you to a very important verse to study about this subject of the soul of man:

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

This Bible verse clearly identifies all of the key parts of the basic created human composition.  The three main components are listed in their proper order of sequenced priority.  This order is from the greatest or most important human feature descending to the least important part of every human.   Not very many Christians put humans into this order but that is what God says, learn it.    This verse declares every human is to be first, a spirit that second has a soul and third lives in a physical body.  Spirit, soul and body represent three different realms of human existence that require our attention and God’s attention according to this statement.   Consider the declaration being made by God closely.  God says He desires that your whole being be made holy and then He lists three separate areas for this act to take place.  Did you see what God just said?  God just told you that you were designed to be a triune being and that you definitely have a spirit using the exact same Greek word that was proclaimed as God’s Holy Spirit in many other verses.  The fact that God chooses to use the same word for spirit to describe Himself and man makes man the likeness of God.   Do you understand that point?

Right here in this single verse we have just confirmed the existence of two unseen features for the created man being made in the image and likeness of God.   Using this foundational information we understand that the human spirit is not the human soul, the human soul is not the human body, the human spirit is not the physical body and all of these in the vice versa.   To emphasize this point again I’ll restate it using basic math terms.  The human spirit is not equal to the human soul, the human spirit is not equal to the human body, and the human soul is not equal to the human body.  These are very simple truths and this is very profound information for us all to learn.  Each component is a separate and distinct part of the whole man and that is why I never use the terms soul and spirit interchangeably.  This triune pattern revealed as a whole man is the repeated design from the trinity nature of God.  Like I said before I’m not going to teach the subject of the trinity of God in this lesson; I have other lessons on that subject.  Therefore, if you still do not understand that God declares Himself as One God in the form of three unique titled personalities then you are in need of knowing the truth.

Perhaps this will be a good time to introduce confirmation for the location of the human soul.  I just stated that the soul and spirit are the unseen parts of humans and we will need to find Bible verses to help establish this or we should change to believe what the Bible does say.   Even though we do not yet fully know what the soul is, we can still learn where it is located to help us understand the subject.   I’ll give you a verse that helps to point us to the location of the human soul.

  • 1Pe 3:4  But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.

Here we have the Apostle Peter writing about a part of the human that is reported to be of greater importance than the outward human body mentioned in the preceding context verse.   God through Peter says that this internal part of the human composition is hidden from natural view.   This simply means it is not perceivable with the five physical human senses.   Clearly there is a part of humans that is invisible which is very similar to the Spirit of God.    What part of man do you believe this is speaking?  I believe it is speaking literally of the human soul and the human spirit.   In this verse it points us to the core of a man called his heart.  But we will need additional verses to confirm this belief.   Let’s go back to the Old Testament and review a verse that might help clarify this location for the soul.  Please read this next verse and if you would like, look up the Hebrew word definitions to expand your knowledge and understanding of what is being communicated:

  • Psa 103:1  A Psalm of David. Bless the LORD, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless his holy name.

Begin by understanding the Hebrew word (H5315) translated as “soul” is the same word that we previously defined to be at the least 16 different English words.   We should be able to then look at the next most important Hebrew word and find H7130 which is translated as “within” means the center of something.  In other words the center of an apple is the core.  The center of something means something else surrounds it.  In my apple example, the skin of the apple surrounds or covers the internal parts.  That is the concept being communicated by the Spirit of God in this verse in Psalms.   Therefore the soul of man is an internal component and not an external quantity.  This again points us to the center heart.  Do you understand that?  Perhaps you do and perhaps you don’t.   Using the list of 1 Thessalonians 5:23 human components we can see that the human soul was mentioned second.   I also said that this list was given to us in the order of importance.   Either way the soul being in the middle of the other two words means it is surrounded by something else.   However that is not exactly the best description of the three components of man.

spirit_soul_bodyDo you understand what a bull’s-eye target is?  This target is a series of concentric circles with a center circle usually given the highest point achievement to hit.  This type of target is popular in shooting sports, darts, archery and other types of recreational activities.   Don’t let the word concentric cause you difficulty.  Concentric only means every circle has the same center point.   I personally believe the human composition of man is like this target design.   For example, in 1 Thessalonians 5:23 God lists the center circle of man first called his spirit, I believe this represents the bull’s-eye.   The bulls-eye is the ultimate goal that God and Satan are after.  The spirit center circle is followed by the next circle called the soul and finally the outermost circle would be last, called the human body.   You will find this concept throughout the Bible and it is important for us to understand.  Let’s go back to Genesis again and see another reference commentary to the creation of man:

  • 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.

In this single verse is found all of the three stated created triune components of man revealed for us in 1 Thessalonians 5:23.  Every part of the specified composition of a man is mentioned here in this verse but they are easily confused or missed.  By contrast, in this verse God shifts the order of the mentioned priority to reveal more essential information concerning creation.  Understand that God’s order of mention always teaches something, reveals something, or states the sequence of importance, precedence, priority or authority.   You see in many secular schools there has always been the classic debate held about which came first the chicken or the egg?  The debate begins with a conclusion that a chicken always comes from an egg therefore the egg must have existed before the chicken.  However, the opposing side of the debates begins with this counter argument and states where did the egg come from?  Since the egg comes from a chicken the chicken must have existed first in order to produce the egg.  Thus we have a classic circular reasoning debate without end and without any clear winner.  However, God reveals by His phrasing exactly which came first here in His Word and ends the debate.  I guess people want to debate because they do not desire to believe in the Bible or the existence of a great creator God and thus they produce man made logic to explain away the truth.

This verse in Genesis starts with the revealed fact that God first created the complete mature body of the man from the dust of the earth.  What was the first created part of the man?  By definition it is the body.  Without a physical body there are no humans, man or woman.   When the body of a human baby is formed from the union of the female egg and the male sperm cells that action produces the body for the human spirit and before this occurs there is no human spirit and if you can read you will see that is what this verse in Genesis is teaching.   After the man’s formed body was produced by the work of God’s hand, what happened next?   The Bible says God “breathed” into his nostrils (body).  Let’s stop there and interpret this verse based upon what we have previously learned about God.  In John 4:24 we learned that God is an invisible Spirit and therefore God does not breathe air like a natural human being takes in the oxygen based atmosphere into the lungs and then exhales the carbon dioxide mixture back out.  In fact, have you ever read any verse that says air exists in heaven?  I personally believe air is a created substance and therefore the creator existed before air.   Therefore God did not need air to exist.   Surely you can see that spirits do not need air to be a spirit or to have life.  If God does not breathe air what then is God saying to us here to us in Genesis 2:7 that he breathed into Adam?

This is the introduction to the potentially complex part of the discussion on the human composition.   We learned from reading in the New Testament in 1 Thessalonians 5:3 that man is definitely a spirit first and foremost.  But here in Genesis 2:7 God creates the man’s body first and so far there is no mention of any direct spirit either God’s or man’s.  Where then did this spirit mentioned in 1Thessalonians 5:3 come from?  Are spirits created by God from nothing or do spirits originate from another spiritual being?   Did you ever ask yourself why God a Spirit is called by the direct title of “Father” repeatedly in the Bible?   In fact over 200 times in the Bible God is revealed by this title.  In order for any being natural or spiritual to be labeled a father they must procreate to produce a child.  What is the basis of procreation?  Naturally speaking it is sex, but how is that related to a spirit like God?  How does God procreate?   According to Genesis 2:7, God breathed and man became.  Analyze what natural human breath is.  Breathing is a process of inhaling or the intake of air followed by exhaling, outtake or exit of the air?  That process of breathing represents air flow or more specifically air movement.  So if God created natural things to give us pictures into spiritual things what does God breathing into the nostrils of the man represent symbolically and spiritually?  I believe that God breathing out from His Spirit and into the body of the man was God’s Spirit moving from God into the body of His creation to become Adam’s spirit.  What else can it be?   This would answer the question where the spirit of man came from.  Let’s look at a verse that Jesus spoke when teaching His disciples to pray:

  • Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Here Jesus says to pray “Our Father”.  This does not say “My Father”.  The term “Our” is a statement of inclusion not leaving the disciples out.  If God was their Father as well as the Father of the Lord Jesus then this is important information to remember.   This verse in Genesis 2:7 that I have been using to teach specifically says that God blows something out from His Spirit that enters into the body through the nasal air passage of the man to cause life to be first observed.   The nasal air passage is just one human gate to the body of man.  Gates can be two ways or one way.   In the case of the nose and mouth these are two way gates that allow air in and out.   Please allow me tell you briefly about a testimony of a man that I knew.  This man died as a teenager and went to hell.  This man was about to enter into hell when a voice spoke from heaven and he ascended back to the earth.  When his spirit came back into the room where his body had died, he remembers his spirit entering back into his body through his mouth.   It seems that there is a direct connection between the air passages and the internal invisible spirit of the human that resides in the body.   I haven’t proved that yet, but maybe I will get to that part later.  If not and you want to know where this is in the Bible you can ask a question.

Here is a basic simple question, was the body of the man Adam living or alive before God breathed?  If you are smart you must agree that Adam’s body had no life before God breathed.   If it was not alive then it was technically dead.   Isn’t dead the antithesis to being alive?  I am simply using the term dead to mean there was no life present until God breathed.  Here is another very interesting point to observe from the creation account in Genesis; ask yourself, why didn’t God breathe into any of the nostrils of any of the other created animals to cause them to become alive?  Have you ever thought about that?  Actually I should ask did you notice that God did not breathe into the animals.   What this proves is a basic fact that man was not created as an animal and did not originate from the animal class of species.   It conclusively proves that man’s life came directly from God’s Spirit and that makes man a very unique and a very special created being.

What does the Bible say is the reason for the life of the flesh or the body of a man?   Realistically there is more than one answer to that question but I’m going to focus in on only one part of the answer for now.   We are going to interpret the Bible using the Bible so that we can understand what God is saying in Genesis 2.  Read this verse and tell me what it says and why it applies to what we just read about in Genesis 2:7:

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

This verse clearly says that when the human body dies, the spirit of that man departs, exits, or leaves the body.   To be more precise this verse says if there is no human spirit, then there is no human life!  This verse is the stated antithesis of what occurred in Genesis 2:7 and it teaches us what happened to the man in that verse to cause life to enter his body.   The man’s spirit had to have come from the Spirit of God in order for the man’s body to become a living being.   Are you getting the connection?   Where did the spirit of man come from?  The spirit of man could only come from the Spirit of God and this is not that complicated and it must be this way for every human.  Spirits come from the Father of Spirits and this is told to us by the verse in Hebrews 12:9.  Go read it and see what it says.  I’m spending a lot of time on the spirit of man component because this is the most important part of every human being.  The spirit of man is the eternal part that never dies, never ceases to exist and will be judged someday standing before the throne of God.   The human spirit is the part of the man that was made in the direct image and likeness of the Creator.

Earlier I told you that the human soul is not saved yet and that God has given us His Word to save our souls.  Therefore, the human spirit is the only  component of God’s salvation that was reconciled back into relationship with God’s plan of salvation.  You see at the point of salvation your physical body does not change one bit.  You have the exact same body before receiving salvation as you do after salvation.   Remember the order of priority given to us by God?   God thinks about you internally to externally in that precise order.   When God offered you salvation He did it through a preacher proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  This Gospel message should have included the message of the identity of Jesus as being God in the flesh and His voluntary sacrifice to die for our sins.  But it did not end there, Jesus was then raised from the dead and that act was the key difference between every other human death and when we believe on all of this that Jesus accomplished that saved our spirit and God’s Spirit enters into our body to witness that we are now again His children.

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

To be joined with the Lord is a marriage covenant phrase first given to us by God in Genesis 2:24.   After receiving the Lord Jesus as savior the Spirit of God becomes one spirit with your spirit and you are conclusively saved by His Grace through your faith (Eph 2:8).  Therefore, God’s Spirit joined with your spirit is the result of salvation.  The rest of you still needs to be saved and I’ll show you why next when I begin to describe the human soul.

INTRODUCTION TO THE SOUL OF MAN

I needed to spend considerable time upfront emphasizing the spirit of man because that is not the soul part of the human composition.   The spirit of man comes from the Spirit of God, but the soul of man does not.   Ok, I probably just confused most of you with that statement.  Let’s spend time analyzing what the soul of man represents.   I do not currently know of one verse that accurately describes all of the parts of the human soul.  If you know of one, share it.  I will go through and give you some verses that list specific parts of the human soul and then we will need to put the pieces together to define the whole

  • Pro 2:10  When wisdom entereth into thine heart, and knowledge is pleasant unto thy soul;

Here we have two references to two different parts of the human composition.  The heart of man can normally be viewed as the spirit of the man and the soul is the Hebrew word H5315 that I have been focusing upon in this lesson.   Wisdom goes into the spirit (heart) of man.  Let’s define wisdom as being, knowing what to do when you don’t know what to do.  I believe we could also define wisdom as being, saying the right thing when you think you don’t know what to say.  Wisdom directs good words and good actions to come forth from a man, but the lack of wisdom causes a man’s acts and words to appear foolish.  According to God wisdom is what we all should be trying to obtain.  But, God also says knowledge is a positive ingredient for our soul.  Therefore, ask yourself how do you get knowledge and where do you retain this knowledge?  Do you believe that knowledge is tied to your mind and your memory?  If you agree with me that getting knowledge is a part of your mind’s function, then the soul of man contains your mind.   Let’s consider another verse that brings in a new aspect of the soul:

  • Pro 14:10  The heart knoweth his own bitterness; and a stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy.

This verse is easily missed because of the translation error.  The term “own” here is the Hebrew word H5315 that should have been made “soul”.   This is one of those poor examples of Bible translations that I referred to earlier.   Change the word to soul and reread it.  The heart (spirit) knows his soul’s bitterness”.   What is bitterness?   If you look at the entire verse you will hopefully see bitterness is being defined as the antithesis of joy.  What is joy?  Joy is a human emotional state.  It represents a very happy moment in life.  Therefore, bitterness could be the opposite the sad, discouraged, disappointed times of life.  What we are observing is the inclusion of the human emotions into the soul realm.  So far we have found the mind and the emotions to be two parts of the soul.

  • Pro 15:32  He that refuseth instruction despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.

Here is another interesting verse about your soul.  What is the main subject of this verse?  If you did not know God is focused on the human soul in this verse.   We can see from the last word in the verse that God is talking about us getting understanding?  How do you understand anything?   Isn’t that with your mind again?  People get knowledge and then they can grow to understand what they know with their minds and that is an intricate part of the human soul.  However, God introduces us to a new aspect of the human soul called choice.  The right of human choice that we all possess is called our human freewill.   If we refuse to take instructions we have made a negative choice and God says we despise our souls.   This is an act of a vile person, an ignorant person and it is not a positive description to be associated.  What we have learned from this verse is that the human soul is comprised of their will or right to choose.    We could go through many more confirming verses but that was a quick introduction to the three main human soul sub-components.

WHERE DOES MAN GET HIS SOUL?

The human soul is one sub-realm in the triune whole design of man (spirit, soul & body).  We previously looked at God as being the source for man’s spirit, but where did man get his soul?  The soul of man is comprised of three main specific entities called 1) the mind, 2) the will and 3) the emotions.  These soul items were created patterns, models and qualities that God possessed but they were not God’s personal mind, God’s personal will, or God’ personal emotions present in man.  In other words man was an independent spirit possessing an independent soul, an independent mind, an independent will and an independent set of emotions all being separated from God’s soul.  Did you know that God had a soul?  Ask yourself does God have a mind?  If yes, then ask does God have a will?  If yes, then ask yourself has God ever displayed any emotions?  If yes, then God has a soul and man’s soul was modeled after God’s.  However, the created man did not come preloaded with all of the knowledge of God, the understanding or the wisdom of God after creation.  The created man was not fully packed with all of the memories of God.   The created man was not told anything specifically about the will of God except “do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil or you will surely die”.  This was one of the only details of knowledge revealing the will of God that the man possessed.  Therefore the man was not pre-conditioned or pre-programmed to do the will of God.  How would the man even know what death was?  There is no way that he had ever seen death or experienced death because God created everything very good.  Adam did not find out what death was until after he sinned and his son Cain killed his other son Abel and that was the first recorded natural death that occurred in the Bible.

Soul_Empty_containe2rWhat I am attempting to teach is that the created man did not auto-magically possess the full knowledge of God, the thoughts of God, the ways of God or the emotions of God.  He could learn these from walking with and listening to God but they were certainly not automatically transferred to his soul when he was given God’s spirit life.   I view the human soul to be an empty large container in need of filling.  A human learning something is their empty mind being filled with knowledge.   Consider a new born natural child.  Does this new born baby possess all of the knowledge of their parents directly from birth?   Can they speak intelligently about the facts of life or the experiences of their parents?  Obviously a child is an empty container in need of an education and individual and personal experiences of their own in order to grow up and mature.   Why would you think that Adam and Eve were different than any new born babies in need of the same?   Let me let you in on another Bible pattern.   The Bible teaches us that Adam was made in the image and likeness of God in Genesis 1:24 but these two same exact words were used to describe Adam’s new born son named “Seth” in Genesis 5:3.  What I am attempting to say is if one pattern is not identical to the other pattern then God just must be confused to use the same words.  No what God is teaching us is that the same image and likeness that Adam was created with was also transferred down the life chain to every human descendent that came from Adam.  Let’s move on and talk more about the soul.

Consider the human mind to continue our soul analysis.  The human mind is comprised of both mental reasoning facilities for thought processing and knowledge retention capabilities also called our memory.  Memory is used for human learning and for experience and information storage, which demands there is also recall capabilities later for these memories to be reused for other decision making or expression.  Perhaps I need to stop and verify the existence of God’s soul using scriptures.  Start by looking at Jeremiah 5:9 and Jeremiah 9:9 to see the Lord speaking directly of His personal soul.  This is the same Hebrew word used for man’s soul an animal’s soul, etc.  I think verses like these confirm that God is in possession of a soul.  Let’s consider what God says about the “mind of Christ” in 1 Corinthians 2:16 and we will certainly verify from this verse that the Lord God also has a mind.  Now consider the prayer that Jesus taught to his disciples to pray in Matthew 6:10.  Jesus said to pray “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven”.  Therefore, God definitely has a will.  We really haven’t fully defined what a will is, but this is the inward desire part of the spirit being.   I also said that the will was the part of a being that possessed “the right of choice”.  The inner desires usually help to determine the choices that a person makes.  Therefore, the will is another factor for decisions.  We are just going through a few of the key components of the soul to verify their existence in God.   Now consider the mind’s thought process for thinking and read Isaiah 55:8 and you will see a direct connection being made by God where He says “My thoughts are not your thoughts”.   God basically declares we both have minds that think but you are not thinking like I think.  If you continue to read in Isaiah God says “Your ways are not my ways”.  This again states the will of God to be separate from the will of man.   God was clearly saying the choices that you make are not the same as the choices that I would have made.   Are you learning anything about the related and connected parts of man’s soul to be like God’s soul?  Let’s move on to the emotional part of the soul of God.  Does God have emotions?  What are emotions?   Sadness, anger, joy, disgust, fear and surprise are all common emotional qualities found in normal humans and I did not attempt to give the complete list.  Does God ever display any of these qualities?   Read Exodus 4:14 to begin and you should quickly see that “the anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses”.   It appears that God does possess emotions.  Nehemiah 8:10 states the “joy of the Lord is our strength”.   Clearly God displays joy and anger to name two emotions.   I could give you other verses but that is enough to confirm that God has a soul and that man’s soul was modeled after it.

We can read in Genesis 2 that the created man definitely had extreme thought and reasoning capabilities and he must have possessed incredible memory abilities in order to name all of God’s created animals.  Modern scientists still do not know exactly how many species exist on the planet but it is estimated to be between 9,000 and 10,000 different types.  Let’s see how long it takes you to come up with original names for each one of these groups and then remember them all.  Where did Adam get these names?   Notice in this chapter that God brings the animals to Adam and says “whatever the man calls it that is what it will be called” (Gen 2:19).  This statement implies that it was an independent man only naming operation that transpired.  God would direct the animals across Adam’s path and Adam would use his independent reasoning abilities to name them all.  This teaches me that Adam used his own personal mind, thoughts and reasoning abilities to name all of the animals and God did not contribute His abilities or thoughts into Adam’s mental thought process.  There is no stated time for how long this took Adam but the fact that it happened is good enough for me.  I want you to see that it is clear that Adam must have had a desire to name the animals or he would not have done it.  This displays the unique quality of drive, initiative, curiosity and desire; in other words Adam’s human will was a contributing factor in this Animal naming process.  Therefore the second part of the triune soul called the human will was a confirmed factor that Adam had to possess.  The fact that Adam did something without being told to do it demonstrates not only intelligence but also his freewill choice and the right to make a decision.

Consider all of the mentioned components of the soul of man; each component of the human soul has some significance in the story of Adam in Genesis 2.   God says in Genesis 2:6 that he formed the body of the man from the dust of the ground and then breathed a spirit into his body and Adam became a living soul.  This confirms that the soul of man exists only after the spirit is introduced.  This makes man the unique part of God’s creation.  You can see that every animal has a soul but without any spirit.  The fact that Adam shows interest in God’s creatures demonstrates a unique human quality that is unlike any creature that was displayed before Adam.   No other animal looked at Adam to attempt to name him.  What God was teaching Adam by parading His creation before Adam was the fact that there was no one else like him on the planet.  God showed him the whole of his work in this world and nothing that God created on the planet was Adam’s equal.  That is why God created the woman because God says it was not good for the man to be alone.  That statement by God proves Adam was an independent being separate from God.    Adam has demonstrated the three qualities of the human soul in this chapter.  This was just a quick introduction to the topic of where did Adam get his soul.  I tried to show you that Adam’s soul came as a designed pattern for God’s soul but it came void of God’s divine soul fullness.  I hope you understand these quick points, I just don’t have the time to explain them in greater detail right now.

SOUL VS. SPIRIT BEFORE AND AFTER DEATH

I am now going to provide further confirmation that the soul is not the spirit and the spirit is not the soul and give you evidence that they both still exist after death.   You may have heard me say this before but it is always a good practice to find at least 2 verses in the Bible that impart the same truth.  When we locate two verses in two different books of the Bible that demonstrate the same truth, we know this is a truth that God has firmly established by the mouth of 2 witnesses.   I think we have covered this fairly well but there is more to it that needs to be studied.  Previously I believe I stated the soul and the spirit to be hidden unseen qualities of a man.  I linked the soul and spirit to internal parts of the human not connected to the physical body and that is potentially a controversial statement since everyone knows the human brain is the container for the mind.  Or at least that is what people think in error and we will talk more about this soon.   Let’s go to the New Testament and see what God reveals on the subjects of soul and spirit:

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

We are going to continue with the mind part of the soul.  In this verse God declares His word to be a sword of division capable of dividing the human soul from the human spirit.  Spirit, soul and body are all technically mentioned in some form in this verse.   Joints and marrow are body sub-components just as thoughts and intents are soul sub-components.   The spirit is directly mentioned in this verse to be separate from the soul.  But why then does God mention the heart at the end of the verse and not the spirit?  What is the difference between heart and spirit?   Here is where we get into more potentially complex discussions.  The Body as you recall is the outer layer component to the inner concentric circles of man.  The body layer is followed by the middle circle layer of the soul ending with the center circle layer of the spirit.  So the heart of a man is that which lies underneath the outer layer.  I believe the heart of a man normally refers to both his spirit and his soul together and I will try to explain this as I go.

Many people confuse the spirit and the soul to be like Siamese twins joined together at the “S”.  This verse appears to imply this relationship but it also clearly says that they can be separated, detached, parted, or divided revealing them to be unique separate human qualities.   Consider what is not directly stated here.  If the word of God says the soul can be separated from the spirit, this would tend to show that they are normally always linked together.  In other words where the spirit goes, the soul will surely follow.  I then want you to consider why it takes the Word of God to separate the soul from the spirit?  Is there anything more powerful than the Word of God?   I do not know of anything that exists that is more powerful than the Word of God.   God spoke the world into existence and that is enough proof for me but I’ll give you Hebrews 1:3 for you to research.  You may not understand that the soul and spirit are normally linked but this is actually a very true statement and I will show you verses that confirm this belief shortly.

Earlier I stated the soul is a triune structure consisting of the “mind”, the “will” and the “emotions”.  This verse in Hebrews lists two of these three parts leaving out the emotions.  The “thoughts” of man are linked to the human mind’s functionality.  You think and therefore you are.   The “intents’ of the soul mentioned in Hebrews 4:12 are the parts of you that produce purpose, drive and ability and these give you choice.   You mind is a very complex designed part of your being.  I could spend a lot of time on this subject but that would be a better separate lesson.   Know the soul is the location for your thoughts, your memories, your reasoning, your desires, your emotions, etc.   Also understand that God says that your thoughts and intents are for your spirit and not for your body.  This brings me to the next part of the lesson question.  What happens to the human soul after the death of the human body?   I’ve already shown you Bible evidence that states the spirit departs when the death of the human body occurs.  Therefore, that leaves us to decide does the human mind just cease to exist after death?  That is what some ignorant Bible teachers claim; they call this belief the doctrine of “Soul Sleep”.   They define the state of soul sleep to be an unconscious state of existence that is experienced by the spirit until the judgment day and suddenly they are all awakened by God and are back to normal.  This belief practically denies the existence of heaven and hell and ignores a lot of the truth in the Bible that counters this belief.   It is a very foolish belief that cannot be fully confirmed with all the scripture.  For example let me give you something that Jesus taught on the subject of the soul and spirit:

  • Luk 16:19  There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day:
  • Luk 16:20  And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores,

Read this story told by Jesus very carefully and give it vigilant consideration.  This information is a real literal historical story known by Jesus and not a parable as many fools claim it to be.   If it was a parable Jesus is going to state two obvious lies and one of them is found here in this 20th verse.  Jesus called the beggar directly by the name of Lazarus.  If this was not a real man named Lazarus then the story has become a work of fiction, a make believe account, and a fabrication of unimportant information.   If Lazarus does not literally exist Jesus would not have given us his name to make himself a liar.  What I am doing is countering a false teaching that attempts to explain away this real life story to make it a parable.  These soul sleep teachers have to do this in order to support the rest of their false doctrines.   You see the popular approach to discrediting any conflicting verses in the Bible that disagree with your belief is to explain them away using human reasoning.  This is a very common technique for deception.  They will take the truth and change it into a lie to help support the other lies that they claim are also the truth.   Ok, let’s continue with the information from Jesus.

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

Notice that both men are stated to die a physical death and that their physical bodies are buried in the earth.   Then notice the wording that is used here to tell what happens to them.  What was carried away by the angels?  Did you happen to notice that the body in the ground was not them?  It was the real man that was being carried away and it was their bodies that were being buried.  Here we have the separation of the spirit from the body.    We have a very clear separation of the internal unseen man from his seen body.  Are you making any connections here?   Since the body of man was separated from the spirit of man at the time of death what happened to the soul?  Does the soul cease to exist?  That is the problem with what is being taught in many ignorant churches, they are ignoring what the Bible says on the subject to believe more untruths.   We are about to find out from words spoken out of the mouth of the creator God what happens to their souls so pay attention to what God says:

  • Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
  • Luk 16:24  And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
  • Luk 16:25  But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.

Use basic logic observing what is literally stated for us to learn from.    We can understand easily that everyone mentioned here is dead, right?    Abraham is dead from reading Genesis 25:8.  Lazarus we just read has died and is with Abraham.  Finally the rich man in hell was also a dead man from the same story that Jesus was using as an example warning.  These are three dead individuals that have all departed leaving their bodies on the earth.  Notice that Jesus mentions Abraham another real man and this is the second lie that Jesus told if this story is not a literal account that actually happened to Abraham.  We cannot hear a story of a real named man and conclude it to be anything but a lie if it did not actually happen.  No this is all an actual account given by Jesus stating the literal truth.  Then notice everyone that is mentioned can see, think, feel and talk.  We can easily understand from what is stated the rich man in hell literally feels the torment of the flames.  He sees Abraham and Lazarus a far distance away from the flames and asks for a drop of water to cool his tongue.  The key word that I want you to focus on is found in verse 25.  Abraham looks at the rich man and tells him to “remember”.    A memory is nothing but the recollection of real past events that were personally experienced.  I can’t remember what you did yesterday because I don’t know what you did.  We all have memories either good or bad and these are an intimate part of our mind and our soul.  Therefore, the soul of man is definitely present with the spirits of all of the men after death.    The rich man was still able to remember, to think, to reason, and to see and speak.  Without the soul and the mind none of this would have been possible.  There are many other things to learn from this story but that was the key points that I needed you to see in order to understand the existence and location of the soul after death.   Let’s look into another Bible story that is applicable to learn about the soul of man.

  • Mar 9:2  And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
  • Mar 9:3  And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
  • Mar 9:4  And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus.

Here we have another literal story that happens while Jesus was physically present on the earth.   Jesus takes three disciple witnesses with Him for them to tell us what was about to occur.  These disciples observe Jesus being transfigured and suddenly two men appear with Him.  Notice, who these men are that join Jesus on the mountain.  Elijah did not die and was raptured up but Moses certainly died by reading Deuteronomy 34:7.  Did you know that the O.T. law of God prohibits talking to the dead?  Uh oh!  That is a problem until you realize Jesus was actually speaking to two living men and not dead ones.  The fact that Moses’ body had died does not make Moses a dead man.  The spirit of Moses is alive and present hundreds of years after his physical death.  Then notice the mind of Moses is still intact with his spirit since he is clearly able to hold an intelligent conversation with the Lord.   That is so important to learn what is being taught in the Word of God.  Spirits still have souls and these reside with their spirits after the body has died.  Let’s look at another verse that will assist us with this truth:

  • Rev 21:4  And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

Let’s shift our focus to a prophetical verse about the future.   Here in this verse God declares that He will wipe away every tear.   Who is this that God is wiping away their tears?  Probably a better question would be “Why do they have tears to wipe away”?  If you read the preceding context you will discover that God is wiping the tears from people.  Not just any people, because these are the people of God that God lives in eternity with.  That means two things that are very relevant to answer the soul questions.  First the presence of the soul is confirmed in the future tense because the tears that are flowing represent the presence of their emotions.   Tears normally flow as a result of hurt, pain, sorrow, sadness or other related emotional conditions.  There is also the term “tears of joy” and that might also apply to what is being stated here.  Remember that I told you the soul was comprised of the mind the will and the emotions.   Every one of these subjects is implied to exist in the eternal man.   Why do people cry at funerals?  They cry simply because they can, but not only that they cry because they love and remember their friend, spouse, child, parent or other relative that has departed.   Therefore, memories play an important role in why tears are present.   Emotions play a role in the existence of tears.   Finally the human will plays a role in shedding tears because I have seen many choke them back to keep them from flowing.   What this does is to help confirm that the soul of man will never cease to exist.

I have just given you three great examples of man after death on the earth that still possess their souls with their memories, thoughts, wills and emotions all being implied present with their spirits.   The soul of man is an eternal part of the human composition and it will never cease to exist.  That brings us to the last part of the question; what about the soul here in this life?   You see there is another popular lie from Satan that is taught even in modern medical universities that when a human brain flat lines with no activity that the body is clinically dead and the plug should be pulled.  Is that what Jesus said?  Is that what the Bible teaches?  How does that belief line up with the truth found in God’s Word?  Didn’t the spirit of man still possess the mind even after his spirit left his body?   What I am saying is that your mind and your memory have nothing to do with your physical brain cells.  None of the dead men in Luke 16 had any physical brain cells and every one of them could still see, speak, think and remember like they were in their bodies and probably better.   I didn’t give you the full story in this lesson but you can go back and read it to see that the rich man in hell remembered his brothers that were left behind on the earth and he desired (used his will) that they be warned not to come to the same place of torment with him.  If this man remembered his life here on the earth, then every man after death can still remember his life in the past.  Here is another ending point for the rich man, not only did he remember his brothers on the earth he knew who Abraham was and Abraham had died long before he did.  You are going to know a lot of people after you die that you have never seen before.  This is just very basic knowledge based upon the Bible.  I pray that you will see it.

WHY DOES MENTAL ILLNESS EXIST?

How then do we resolve life’s soul issues?   What are the source causes for mind problems?   The existence of emotional and mental issues in this life is certainly present.  Why are there lapses in memory such as amnesia or Alzheimer’s disease where the recollection is lost?   Why are their mental hospitals and physiatrists to try to help people with unstable normal thought patterns and emotions?  I’m not going to spend a lot of time addressing this subject because it could potentially be very long and very complex.  I will however point you to a few Bible stories that will help begin the understanding process for why these types of things occur in the natural realm even when the soul is not literally tied to the physical brain cells.   Let’s start this part of the lesson with this scripture verse:

  • 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.

Did you see who God claims to be the source for mind issues?  The god of this world is a title given by God to the devil and Satan.  He rules the night and the kingdom of darkness of this world.   Darkness is nothing but the absence of light.  Since God is light, the loss of God represents darkness.   Now consider what blindness represents?  Can you see in the dark?  Have you ever been in a cave and they turned the lights off?  The darkness is so thick there that you feel like it engulfs you.   Naturally speaking, blindness is the inability to see illuminated objects clearly or at all.  Since the mind is an internal human component, how does Satan blind a person’s mind?  Did you even know that the human mind had vision?  Perhaps you have heard of the mind’s eye?  This concept is the visualization of concepts, ideas, knowledge so that they are clearly understood.   What God is saying is when a person has been blinded in their minds by Satan, the information enters their ears, but does not pass deeply enough to remain planted.  It is very much like the parable of the sower where Jesus said the birds of the air come quickly to devour the Word of God that was planted in their hearts.   You really need to give this information serious thought.  I’m not going to talk about this in great depth because I am running very long in this lesson already.  Just understand that if Satan can blind your mind then that is an area of the soul that is open for attack by a foreign spiritual being.    Let’s see if we can verify some of these concepts using other verses in the Bible.  I will continue this part of the lesson with the confirmation that the process of thinking within our minds is linked to the spirit of man and not the natural body or brain:

  • Mat 9:4  And Jesus knowing their thoughts said, Wherefore think ye evil in your hearts?

Jesus looking at some people knew their internal unseen thoughts and asked them a question that was very revealing to what we are studying.  Jesus clearly is speaking of the soul thought realm and he leads us to these thoughts being attached to their spirits and never mentions their physical brain activity.  Do you think the creator God knew what He was talking about here?  There is no reference to the body anywhere in the context.   Little clues like this are hidden in the Bible in some of the most unlikely settings.  Truth is concealed so well in the Bible that it is easily overlooked by the casual reader.  Everyone is focusing on what Jesus is doing while ignoring what He just said.

  • Pro 23:7  For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee.

Again God connects the location of the thought process to be within the center of the man called his soul and spirit and not within the physical body, the brain or the external natural realm.  The heart of man is not the physical blood pump organ, it is the center or core of the human like the heart of an apple is the center of the piece of fruit.  I’ve said this before but for those that need to hear it again that was for you.   This is the basics of God’s truth found in the scripture and that is what is needed for your understanding of the subject of the soul.  Now let’s observe what the Bible says about the cause of human mental issues:

  • Luk 8:26  And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, which is over against Galilee.
  • Luk 8:27  And when he went forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain man, which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, neither abode in any house, but in the tombs.

Let us perceive what is happening in this Bible account of the Lord Jesus.  They are passing through a part of the country to a town called Gadara.    They encounter a man that is far from normal.  Physically speaking he has issues, but mentally speaking he is off the charts and can be labeled crazy or a mad man.   He wore no clothes and lived in tombs.  These are clear signs of a deep mental illness but they are attributed to the presence of devils.  What we are going to discover by study of the Bible is that demons, devils, or unclean spirits cause the majority of the mental issues found in the people that Jesus encountered.

  • Luk 8:28  When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God most high? I beseech thee, torment me not.

You can see from this statement that the man is unaware of the presence of the devils.  He does not ask to be delivered from them and is directed by the demons to ask Jesus not to torment them.  The reference is to the man, but the thought for the spoken words surely originates from the demons.   Clearly this man is possessed of devils.   These devils can manifest vocally and take over the voice of a human speaking through his body.  This is normally not an ordinary human voice and can be easily identified to those that are spiritually aware.

  • Luk 8:29  (For he had commanded the unclean spirit to come out of the man. For oftentimes it had caught him: and he was kept bound with chains and in fetters; and he brake the bands, and was driven of the devil into the wilderness.)
  • Luk 8:30  And Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name? And he said, Legion: because many devils were entered into him.
  • Luk 8:31  And they besought him that he would not command them to go out into the deep.

You can see that Jesus understood that the devils were present and He had commanded them to come out of the man, but that was not the end of the conversation.  It is obvious that the demons did not depart on the first command and asked more questions.  Jesus then asked for their name.  The man replied “legion” because there were many devils in his body tormenting his mind.   It would be like having a thousand voices in your head and each one driving you into a state of madness and that is what was happening to this man.  I’m going to skip down to the end of the story since that is the important part to understand about the subject of mental illness.  After Jesus cast the tormenting spirits out of the madman this is what occurred:

  • Luk 8:38  Now the man out of whom the devils were departed besought him that he might be with him: but Jesus sent him away, saying,
  • Luk 8:39  Return to thine own house, and shew how great things God hath done unto thee. And he went his way, and published throughout the whole city how great things Jesus had done unto him.

Here we can see with the absence of the devil influence being present the man had returned to a sound and stable mental state and wearing clothes.   The new normal man wanted to follow Jesus, but Jesus instructed him to go back to his former house and live like a normal man like he did before he went crazy.  We have just witnessed a full circle of mental illness that went through the stages of first being normal, then becoming crazy and finally a full recovery with spiritual deliverance to again being normal.   The fact that the devils were present during the crazy times proves that they were the cause for the mental illness. The man starts out as normal, but does something that allows the devils access to enter him to take over and control his mind, he then goes crazy until Jesus comes by and delivers him.  This deliverance only occurred because of the power and the authority that Jesus used to solve this man’s abnormal situation.   Let’s move to another story found in the Bible that is also related to mental and physical instability:

  • Mar 9:17  And one of the multitude answered and said, Master, I have brought unto thee my son, which hath a dumb spirit;

Again we see the presence of a spirit being related as the cause of an abnormal human conditions.  This stated dumb spirit is not the human child’s spirit even though that is also certainly present since the boy is physically alive.   Read the next verse to see what this spirit causes to happen in this boy’s body and mind:

  • Mar 9:18  And wheresoever he taketh him, he teareth him: and he foameth, and gnasheth with his teeth, and pineth away: and I spake to thy disciples that they should cast him out; and they could not.

Is any of this description normal human behavior for a child?  I seriously do not think we can call any of this foaming at the mouth, seizures, gnashing of the teeth, and shriveling or shrinking away normal human behavior.   If you took this description to a physiatrist without explaining where you got the information from the Bible they would probably request an immediate meeting with this person very fast.  I believe it is a clear account of a mentally unstable individual.   I’m not going to go through the entire story because you can do that for yourself.  What you will find is that Jesus casts the devil out and the child returns again to normal human behavior.

What we learn from these two simple stories is that mental issues are largely originated from evil spirits being present in the bodies of the humans.    When the evil spirits depart or more specifically are cast out, normalcy returns and humans can resume their lives.  What we discover is that the human actions of an individual can be controlled by or at least certainly influenced by the existence of evil spirits.  That was a very quick overview of soul issues and deliverance.  Deliverance is possible still today because Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and forever.

CONCLUSION

I believe this has been an incomplete discussion of the full subject of the soul given to us by God in the Bible.  However, in this lesson, I have demonstrated to you from the Bible that the soul is not the spirit and the spirit is not the soul of a human.  A human being is a spirit that has a soul and lives in a body here in the natural realm.  I have also shown you that man was created in the image of God and that God is a Spirit and that He has a soul and these were the patterns for man’s spirit and soul.  I have given you more than adequate evidence from the Bible that states the soul of man does not cease to exist after death and the separation of the human spirit from the body.  We have seen more than enough verses that teach us the soul and the spirit exist separate from the body.   Finally, at the end of this lesson I showed you how the soul realm was within the realm of influence of evil spirits.  I believe I gave sufficient evidences to prove that mental illness is caused by demonic possession.   There are probably another thousand verses in the Bible on this subject.  It would be good for you to go and see if you can find them if you truly desire to know more about this subject from the true authority.   If you run across verses that you do not understand you are welcome to ask me questions and if I know anything I will share it.   I hope and pray that you learned something that you did not know before on the human soul and triune composition of man.  I thank you for your time to study the Bible and may God bless you with the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Christ Jesus (Eph 1:16).

Is it Possible to be Both a Democrat and a Christian in the U.S.?

Gal 4:16  Am I therefore become your enemy, because I tell you the truth?

(Ver 1.1)  Here in the U.S. we have been living through a very nasty election process costing billions of dollars.  This Bible lesson is intended for my U.S. readers, but the application of the Bible principles taught will apply to any nation where you are permitted to vote.  This of course will be a potentially controversial subject to talk about.  Who knows I may lose some readers by offending them with the truth as Paul did in Galatians 4:16.   But like Paul, I still want to speak the truth on my website, because this is what is needed at this critical time in America.  Can a person be a Christian, be saved, be born-again, go to heaven and still ignore the truth, the Bible and the God of the Bible doing whatever they like?  Whoops I thought this subject was about being a Democrat?  Yes, you are right the main subject is about people claiming to be a Democrat and a Christian and that goes with my preceding statement precisely.  Isn’t choosing to be called a Democrat a human freewill choice of the man or woman?  Am I saying being a Democrat is someone that is ignorant of the Bible?  Well you are going to have to read the entire lesson and decide for yourself.   Let me give you my opening scripture verse for this subject:

Rom 8:14  For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

God declares that His children are led by His Spirit!  Are you His child?  Not if you are not being led by the Spirit of God you are not!    If you claim to be a saved child of God you better learn how to be led by the Spirit of God very fast.   Nowhere in this verse or in any other verse will God contradict this truth!  This verse strongly implies that those that are not led by the Spirit of God are not the children of God. The Spirit of God is never going to lead you into sin.  The Spirit of God is never going to lead you to violate the Word of God.  The Spirit of God will never lead you into hell.  The Spirit of God will only say things to you that agree with the Written Holy Word of God.  If you do not understand this you are free to call yourself a Democrat and choose to make God a liar.  So the question remains, will the Spirit of God ever lead a person to be a Democrat?  Not if it violates the Word of God.  You better find out if being a Democrat is either in agreement or discourse with the Word of God and then decide personally which path you want to follow in.

First, I strongly believe that there are no perfect people in the world; Republican, Democrat, Independent or Christian.  However, does that fact mean that that every Christian should not strive for perfection?  I seriously do not believe that is the case.  Perfection should be the goal of every Christian in order to conform to the image of Christ Jesus’ example.  If you do not want to be like Christ you are definitely reading the wrong website.  Can you find a scripture in the Bible that says that we are free to ignore what God says in His Word and still be saved?  Are we saved independently from the Word of God? I have not found any verses that say we can be saved or remain saved apart from the Bible.  I have found some verses that appear to say the opposite is true.  Jesus was speaking in the Gospels and was quoted to say the following statement that should be strongly considered if you want to call yourself a follower of Christ:

Luk 6:46  And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?

Who was the Lord Jesus talking to?  Notice that this statement was not made to anyone that is not a Christian or at the least thought they were a Christian.  No one is going to call Jesus Lord if they do not believe that Jesus saved them.  Did you notice that?  People came to Jesus saying “Lord, Lord!” and they did this with the forethought He was their Lord.  You see according to the Bible, in order to be saved, an individual must believe that God has raised Jesus from the dead and then must also confess Jesus to be their “Lord” with their mouth (Rom 10:9-10).  Therefore, Jesus makes this statement but, only to people that have called Him their Lord.  No unsaved person has done this nor can they.  What significance does the Lord Jesus place upon His spoken word in this statement directed at Christians?  Is the Lord Jesus a casual, unconcerned or non-caring speaker of random unimportant words like people are?  Do you think that it matters to God if you actually do anything that He says or not?  Is God simply speaking words to hear the sound?  I believe that you can clearly see in this verse that Jesus strongly implies that it matters a great deal what you do in this life concerning what God has spoken.

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:

What has God spoken?  This verse informs us that God spoke the words of the Bible and that every one of them is here for the purpose of righteousness.  The Greek word translated as “inspiration of God” literally means “God Breathed”.  If God’s breath produced them they came from the Spirit of God and these are the Words that you are directed to follow by Jesus own admission.  Why call me Lord, Lord and do not what I say in my written Holy Book of Words?

Whose responsibility is it to get you to do what God says?  Who is going to make you read and learn what is written in the Bible?  Is it not your choice what you do every day?   Seriously pay attention to what the Bible is saying to you, learn it and begin to follow God’s instructions.  It will matter more on judgment day than you can possibly think at this time.  Let’s get another witness of the truth spoken from God about what you need to do:

Jas 1:22  But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves.

God speaking through the apostle James says directly to the church in a letter, that they need to do the Word of God and not just hear it only or they will deceive themself.   That is an amazing statement.  Self-deceived people are abundantly found in the church today.  These are people that go to church but still vote for a Democrat.  Of course I understand that many churches are not teaching the Bible and that is even a greater problem.    God says very clearly “My people are destroyed for a lack of knowledge” (Hosea 4:6).  Not being taught the actual Word of God will cause people to be deceived equally.  I believe that it is abundantly clear that the God of the Bible was warning Christians that we better learn what He has said and then do what He has said or we will be destroyed.  Let’s then figure out what God says in the Bible and then see if any of this Godly information disagrees with Christians being a modern Democrat.

Today I’m going to give you at least 4 sound Bible reasons why you cannot be both a Democrat and a Christian.  You are free to disagree with me, but I would suggest that you do not disagree with God and His Word.  What I will say today are not my words but His.

#1 THE MAJORITY OF THE DEMOCRATS AT THE DNC CURSED GOD

Anyone can clearly observe the Democratic official platform.  The Democratic National Convention (DNC) was held here in Charlotte NC and I heard about this event for months before it happened and every day that it was here it dominated the news.  Anyone can easily verify what I am about to say by searching the internet to find the DNC position.  There are documents, videos, news reports and other evidence to the truth if you are unaware of what I am about to tell you.  First, consider at the DNC that Democrats removed the mention of “God” completely from their official position platform.  They further removed all mention of Israel and Jerusalem as their capital.   Both of these should have been clear warning signs to those that call themselves Christians and Democrats.  If you watched the DNC on TV you would have seen one man stand up and attempt to put God and Jerusalem back into the Democratic platform and he was required by rule to get a majority of the delegates to raise their voice and vote “Yes” in order to pass this position.  He called for the vote once, twice and even three times and each time the NO’s clearly won the voice level vote.  At the end of the third time he simply decided on his own that the “YES” votes won and that ended the voting session.  Many of the delegates in the audience quickly booed the decision and that is a major problem with being a Democrat.  How can you as a Christian associate with any people that are so far apart from the truth?  I do not know how you can, based upon what God says to do in His word:

Pro 14:27  The fear of the LORD is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death.

Did the great majority of the delegates representing the U.S. Democratic Party from every state have any fear of God?  If you believe that you can boo God and be a Christian you are a fool!  If you think you can stand with people that boo God and still be a Christian you are still a fool.   To “fear” God is a Hebrew word that means a human position of humility giving God great honor and respect as He clearly deserves.  What kind of respect is it for Democrats to say to God we don’t want you God mentioned in our platform anymore?   Wow, I do not even know how to begin to justify someone saying I’m a Christian and still calling themselves a Democrat.  What did God say in this verse in Proverbs?  Did He not just say if you fear me you are on the path to life and if you do not fear me you are headed on the path towards death?  You better think a long time about what is being said here.  Let’s look at another verse that applies to this situation of the DNC vote.  Here we had a man that must have thought he was a Christian who wanted God put back into the platform and the majority of his fellow delegates blasted him down and said “NO”.  What does the God of the Bible say about this?

2Co 6:14  Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?

Can you read?  To be yoked to something is to be joined with them.  To be joined means to be united in purpose, plans and action.  To be yoked to anything is a clear personal choice unless you are their slave?  Are you the slave to other Democrats or the DNC?  If you are not their slave then you had a choice to be there and to call yourself one of them.  Consider the legal ramification of being present at the DNC?  If someone in the car that you are riding in commits a crime the legal system considers you an accessory even if you knew nothing about what was going to happen.  The guilt by association is a very important topic in the court of heaven.  Because you were voluntarily present at the conference you have become guilty of cursing the God of the Bible even if you did not commit the act.  Just because you are a registered Democrat you are further guilty by association with the group.  Now, shift to what it means to be unequally yoked as this statement is declaring.  I take this to mean you are out-numbered.  It is like a balance scale with you on one side and the rest of the God cursing people on the other side.  If they have tipped the scale in their favor then God says you better not be linked with them.

This is a major problem again from the scriptural standpoint of being called a Democrat.  To be in an organization that does not even desire to have any relationship with God is more than an awkward situation for you.  This man that took the vote should have shook off the dust from his feet and walked away from the cursers instead of doing what he did and continuing to be one of them.  Look at what Jesus said to His disciples:

Mat 10:14  And whosoever shall not receive you, nor hear your words, when ye depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust of your feet.

Does this not still apply to us today?  Are you not a disciple of Christ?  I know I am!  Of course this applies to you and I.  If we go and tell someone about Jesus and they reject it, Jesus said that we can walk away free in conscious that we did our job.  I feel like this would have made a much stronger statement than pretending that the “YES” vote won and add God back into the platform.  How long do you think that the DNC will keep God in?  Do you think that God will survive another vote?  I personally do not believe He will.  God and the Bible is being pushed out of the Democratic platform, it is just a matter of time before it happens.

The term “yoked” is a position of servitude whether you accept it or not.  If you desire to be a servant accessory of a people with a position that curses God then you are not a wise man or woman.  Take note with what these verses just said.  What fellowship does a righteous man have with an unrighteous man?  What communion does the light of God have with the darkness of Satan?  I know a lot of people do not understand the differences between what is being stated in 2 Corinthians 6:14 so they believe it is permissible to be labeled a Democrat.  That is exactly why I am writing and teaching this message today.

#2 OBAMA AND THE DNC EMBRACED HOMOSEXUAL MARRIAGE

Let’s consider point number two that was added to the official Democratic platform this year by Obama’s sudden change of position from the last election position.  In the last election Obama was clearly asked about gay marriage and he clearly stated that marriage should be between a man and a woman.  Now suddenly, the DNC and Obama openly embraced and joined themselves to the godless gay agenda by adding a gay marriage stance legitimizing the marriage between two men or two women as being normal and acceptable.  In doing this they have snubbed the Bible and the God of the Bible and they have departed to establish a new independent truth separate from both.  Here is the primary problem with the gay agenda; you cannot find it as a valid doctrine in the Bible anywhere.  In fact if you study the subject closely you will find a lot written about it in the Bible that says it is an abomination to God when people live this way (Lev 18:22).  I know that was an Old Testament verse reference and people are so quick to say that does not apply in the modern world.  Let me quickly show you a N.T. verse that is also equally very clear:

1Co 6:9  Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, (NASB)

God tells the church plainly in this text that homosexuals will never enter into the kingdom of God.  If people cannot be gay and be saved, what makes you think that you can be a Democrat supporting gays and the gay agenda and be saved either?  Perhaps you need a new perspective to the importance of being in agreement with God.  What is agreement?  Agreement occurs when two people make a pact to walk in harmony.  Disagreement is the antithesis and this simply occurs when two people are in opposite sides of any discussion.   If you look up possible synonyms for the term “agreement” you will find one term “covenant” is present.  That truth of covenant raises a new perspective and asks “Are you in covenant agreement with God?” or “Are you in covenant agreement with homosexuality?”.   Technically speaking if you are not in covenant agreement with God then you are not saved.  If yes, then God says you better agree with Him and what He says:

Amo 3:3  Can two walk together, except they be agreed?

You are being forced to make a choice today by reading the truth of God.  If you read what God says and still choose to be a Democrat and support Democrats and the DNC platform then you are not walking in agreement with God but with your godless political party.  That is an extremely poor choice in life to make yet people do it every day.  What God has just clearly stated is that you better agree with what He has spoken or you will not be walking with God.

People who do not make an effort to know what the Bible says are those that have chosen to ignore God’s Word.  Any non-decision to seek the truth is a conscious decision for ignorance of the truth.  Ignorant people will find themselves apart from God based upon what Jesus said to you at the beginning of this lesson.  You are not going to be able to call Jesus your Lord and then ignore what He has said about the subjects like homosexuality.  The two positions are mutually exclusive and incompatible.  If you do not know what the Bible says on the subject of homosexuality you need to find out very quickly.  No, the word is not officially found in the KJV Bible, but that does not mean that God does not give you what He thinks on the subject very clearly using other words.  I have a Bible lesson series on the subject called “What does God think about Homosexuality”.   If after you read this lesson series and choose to still be a Democrat then your blood is not on my hands any longer.

#3 OBAMA AND THE DNC KILL INNOCENT HUMAN BABIES

The discussion of abortion is a modern controversial subject that Democrats like to dance around by speaking about it using irrelevant oxymoronic terms like “Women’s Rights” or “Planned Parenthood” and others that twist the reality of child homicide into something legitimate sounding.  They have even gone so far as to call the unborn baby a “fetus” and not a human child even though that is clearly a lie.  The child in the womb is a new complete being after the egg is fertilized.  All of the future DNA of the complete human being is present at conception.  Cells continue to grow in the womb and develop but this same process occurs after birth also.  No human is born a completed mature work.  Therefore, the process before birth continues after birth and finally the child becomes an adult.  The baby developing in the internal water realm is no different than the external baby continuing to develop in the air realm.  If after birth the same attitude of reckless disregard is given as to the unborn life of the water realm baby and care was removed from them the child would not live in the external air realm either.  Developing cells that grow is the definition for life.  If a scientist found cells like this on Mars they would take extreme measures to preserve them.  Why then have ignorant deceived humans chosen not to value this life before birth the same as after birth?  Nothing was added or taken away from the process other than the taking of the baby’s life.  Things have gotten so bad in this area that many abortion procedures done by doctors today are to babies that could easily live outside of the womb with any proper modern care.  These procedures are called partial birth abortions and the baby is partly birthed and then deliberately killed before they can take a breath.   That is a totally insane ungodly behavior for any person to agree with but Democrats like Obama vote for it constantly to continue.

Today the determining factor for whether any baby lives or dies has been given into the hands of the woman carrying the baby.  That right there is another ignorant presupposition of the truth.  Who died and made this woman a god who decides who lives and dies?  Did the woman get pregnant by herself?   Here is where creative deceived people introduce a new argument of justification for the existence of abortions.  They say “what about incest and rape”.  They then use these minority cases to justify the existence of every abortion regardless if the woman consented to the sex or not.   God states in Genesis 2 that the two shall become one and this is a law of God’s created design.  Just because Satan has perverted it by enticing men to rape does not mean the whole result is evil.  One evil act never justifies another evil act.  The formed baby in the womb was not a participant in the evil so why is another evil taken out on them?  That just does not make logical or Biblical sense.  I recall no Bible verses that say if a man commits evil we need to kill an innocent child for retribution.

Take for example the young lady that had been kidnapped as a child by an evil man and forced to live with him for years and years until she finally escaped.  She was repeatedly raped and even got pregnant and had a child.  This child was still important and loved by God regardless of how it was conceived.  After the woman escaped the captor went to jail but she and her baby went home.  Perhaps in this case you believe we should kill the baby immediately after saving it from captivity?  What then is the difference between now and before in the womb?  Were they not both created through evil?  Surely this justifies us killing born healthy babies if they are conceived by evil acts.  If we kill evilly conceived babies after birth what stops any baby from being killed if they cry too much, are the wrong sex or whatever.  When is it murder and when is it allowable or permitted?  I do not see any lines that should ever be crossed personally.

When a woman determines that she does not desire to carry the baby to term, she chooses to commit murder and she terminates the life that God had placed inside of her by going to a clinic or by taking a pill these days.  You may quickly respond and ask who did you say put the life in her?  According to the Bible God says He put the life of the child inside of the woman.  Here is a verse that is about abortion but does not directly name the term:

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

You can clearly see that God reveals that what the Democrats and liberals call the “fetus” in the woman was already known by God.  God clearly says “I formed you there inside of your mother”.  God also clearly says that I called you to be a prophet before you were ever born into this world.  What if Jeremiah’s mother chose to have an abortion today?  Would the prophet have been born?  Would God have stopped her from being so foolish?  I seriously do not understand why people cannot see that God will not override a woman’s will to murder her own child.   The woman’s body is the woman’s body but the child in her was not placed there by the woman so she has no right to remove it.  The child’s body is never a part of the woman’s body.  The child’s body is an independent new being awaiting arrival into this world.

In making these uninformed decisions the woman has engaged accomplices that help her.  The doctor is the instrument of murder that she uses to kill the life in the baby and I find that fact incredibly ironic.  The doctor takes a Hippocratic oath to save life and instead for money has chosen to ignore that oath and kill their own kind because an activist  judge somewhere said it was a legal act to perform.  Everyone involved in this act is a willing guilty participant or accessory and they are all ignoring God, the truth and the Bible in making this decision or even allowing this decision to be made.  That is just stupid if you ask me, but stupid is as stupid does.

In the United States alone there have been millions of abortions performed since it was legalized by a minority.  That is an awful lot of blood that is on the hands of women, doctors, judges, voters and politicians.  WHAT did I just say?  I said the blood of the murdered babies will be held on the account of all those that voted to allow this practice to continue.  If you do not think so, I would not want to be you on judgment day.  I did not do a complete teaching on this subject and I have other lessons that will expand it in more detail.  If you go and read “What does God think about Abortion” it will address more Bible verses that teach us about this very important subject.

#4 OBAMA IS AN OPEN LIAR AND DECEIVER

What is the definition of a liar?  When a man says one thing and then does something else does that make him a liar?  In my Bible I believe that is a very good definition for a liar.  What is the definition of a deceiver?  A very good definition of a deceiver is anyone that causes someone else to believe what is not true.  One good synonym for a deceiver is a “con artist”.  A “con artist” is anyone that tells you what you want to hear in order to get what they want from you.  A “con man” uses words to entice human behavior for their own personal gain.  Technically speaking a liar is a deceiver and a deceiver is a liar by definition.   Let me show you a verse that Jesus spoke to us all and you then tell me what it says on these subjects:

Rev 21:8  But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.

So tell me what your God just said?  Is God a liar?  I strongly believe that God is not a liar and in this statement I believe it to be an accurate and literal announcement of truth.   If after reading this verse you still believe that it is permissible to be an abortionist murderer or a liar then I think that you are already deceived into believing a lie.  There is a missing message in many churches today called “Holiness”.   This old holiness message was previously taught strongly by many preachers but it is widely ignored in the modern Grace dominated church.  Because people believe that being holy is no longer a factor or a requirement for being a Christian they can justify being a Democrat and believe a man like Obama when he stood up in 2007 and said “I’m a Christian”.  Nothing done by Obama in the last four years has proven that statement true.   In fact his actions have proven the opposite.  Jesus very clearly taught us that we will know them by their fruits (Mat 7:16).   Jesus was speaking spiritually but said this spiritual fruit would be displayed externally in this natural realm in order for us to observe it and even possess the ability to judge it.  If you do not know what the fruits of the Spirit are perhaps you need to go study the subject closely because Obama has none of these that I can observe.  Let’s establish if Christians need holiness:

Eph 1:4  According as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before him in love:

1Pe 2:9  But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:

1Pe 1:15  But as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation;

1Pe 1:16  Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.

Both Peter and Paul were led by the Spirit of God to teach on the subject holiness.  Essentially God declared Himself to be Holy and commands that we are also to be the same Holy type.  This gets back to the goal of perfection.  If you are not striving to be perfect like God then you have already admitted defeat.  The Bible clearly says that God is a Holy God!.  The Bible also says that God does not lie (Heb 6:18).  Therefore anyone intentionally lying is not of God and will have their part in the lake of fire as Jesus clearly says.  I could spend a lot of time listing every lie publically spoken by Obama but that is a waste of my time and yours.    Other websites have done a good job at documenting many of these, just go and search the web and you will find more statements than you care to hear about.  If you have time to watch a video on YouTube I would suggest that you go watch these examples of lies spoken by Obama.  This video is by far not a complete list.  For example, Obama declared marriage to be between a man and a woman before being elected in 2008 but yet he has done everything in his power to reverse that even now making the clear position statement that marriage is beyond God’s definition.  Make sure you understand the definition again for a liar.  A liar is someone that says he will do one thing and then does something else.  I will expand the definition of a liar to be anyone that speaks anything that is not the Truth of God and that is a much broader definition.  Here is the video of lies, go check it out for a starter course:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg9m1F8B2_c&feature=player_detailpage

VOTING WARNING EXAMPLES FOUND IN THE BIBLE

Exo 32:1  And when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down out of the mount, the people gathered themselves together unto Aaron, and said unto him, Up, make us gods, which shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we wot not what is become of him.

The concept of voting is found in the Bible if you actually look for it.  The word vote does not need to appear for the message to be revealed.  For example here in this story we have a nation of people in a desperate state of circumstances much like the United States today.  Their Godly leader Moses has left them, they think and now we see them making a cry for a change.  You do realize that voting is nothing but you asking for a desired outcome?   Do you remember what these people have been through?  They had just been delivered by God from a very oppressive harsh nation and a people that oppressed them greatly.  The power of God was displayed over and over until Pharaoh finally bowed to the overwhelming display of God.  The Israelites all had witnessed this deliverance but now in the wilderness when things were again tough they voted for change in gods and leaders.  Was this the right decision?  Was this the right choice?  If you continue to read down in the chapter you will find that it clearly was not!

Here is my point for this entire lesson.  Can you vote against God and expect a good outcome?   Whenever the Democrats voted to throw God out of their platform were they not repeating the historic act that was given to us by God to learn from?  Do you not understand what God says here about Israel?  God tells us in the New Testament that these things were written as examples but not examples to follow but for examples not to follow (1 Cor 10:11).  When a nation departs from God, the Bible and His ways they have also abandoned His hand of protection, His blessings and His favor.  When the people vote against God they open the door for judgment to follow.   Seriously do you feel the need to be judged?  Continue to vote against God and His Word and you will be.  Stop and read this next Bible example of a popular vote recorded in the Bible for us to learn from:

Mat 27:17  Therefore when they were gathered together, Pilate said unto them, Whom will ye that I release unto you? Barabbas, or Jesus which is called Christ?

Mat 27:18  For he knew that for envy they had delivered him.

Mat 27:19  When he was set down on the judgment seat, his wife sent unto him, saying, Have thou nothing to do with that just man: for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.

Mat 27:20  But the chief priests and elders persuaded the multitude that they should ask Barabbas, and destroy Jesus.

Mat 27:21  The governor answered and said unto them, Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you? They said, Barabbas.

Mat 27:22  Pilate saith unto them, What shall I do then with Jesus which is called Christ? They all say unto him, Let him be crucified.

Mat 27:23  And the governor said, Why, what evil hath he done? But they cried out the more, saying, Let him be crucified.

If you read this story with your spiritual eyes wide open, you will see another popular vote being manipulated by the elders of Israel and their priests.  Pilate clearly saw that it was because of envy that they were moved to do this thing to Jesus so he after being warned by his wife created a choice to vote on between two men.  One man Jesus was entirely good and one man named Barabbas was entirely evil.  Who do you think these men represent in our election?  Well, let me ask you who is in favor of murdering babies and allowing gays to marry?   Both of these are evil in the eyes of God.  Well Barabbas was elected to live and Jesus was condemned to die and this was the outcome of a popular vote of the people.  What does God say about this in the Bible?  You probably don’t know this either but this is God’s opinion of that kind of vote and voters:

Isa 5:20  Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!

Wow, I do not understand how anyone can be a Democrat today knowing what I know from the Bible.  God warns people if they call evil as good and good as evil that there are consequences for these types of votes.  If America elects this evil Obama president again, there will be consequences and heaven help us all.  If you read down in this chapter you will find what God says will happen:

Isa 5:24  Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away the law of the LORD of hosts, and despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.

These curses are because the people have abandoned the God of Israel and His Holy Word.  Major parts of the U.S. have just gone through a long drought that left the farmer’s crops and ranch industries decimated.   Do you think this is a chance accidental happenstance?  When a nation kills millions of babies and promotes gay life styles as the new normal I believe this opens the door for these types of events to occur.  Let’s end this Bible lesson with the conclusion of the Jesus vs. Barabbas vote:

Mat 27:24  When Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person: see ye to it.

Mat 27:25  Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children.

Pilate washes his hands of the matter and says this man’s blood is not on me.  The people of Israel declare let his murder and blood be upon us and our children.  In their minds they totally believed they were doing something good but their actions were not based upon any common sense or the truth of God.  Pilate could see it, do you see it?  I completely understand that God’s purpose was for Him to come to the earth and die.  I totally agree that God accomplished exactly His plan to the very detail.   However, if you believe that God manipulated the people and forced them to kill Him you are one of those confused people that believe God is a giant puppet master controller of our every move and that people lack any ability of choice.  God can use human nature without causing it to happen.  God knew what would happen before it happened so this is foreknowledge and not forced manipulation.  Unsaved people today have not really changed much have they?  They are still calling good evil and evil good.   Still killing good babies and letting murders walk free.  What was the outcome of this vote for Israel?  Did you realize that there was a consequence for their actions?

If you did not know it Israel was completely destroyed and leveled shortly after this event in history.  In the year 70 AD the entire city was decimated.  The natural nation of Israel ceased to exist for almost 1900 years after this.  The people of Israel were scattered broadly throughout the world and were continually oppressed and persecuted.  The curse that they placed upon themselves followed them from generation to generation.  It was not until the near extermination of the entire Jewish race under Hitler that prophecy began to come back into focus for this natural nation of people.  Do you think that rejecting the Word of God had anything to do with what happened to them in history?  Are there any parallels to what happened to the nation of Israel and what is happening here in the United States today?  I believe very strongly that there are many direct parallels and if we do not change quickly and embrace God and His Word as a nation again we will experience the same outcome.

So can you be a Christian and still vote for evil?  Can you be saved and ignore the Bible?  Can you vote against God and still be for God?  Seriously if you do not understand that this is not possible then your blood is not on my hands as I have already stated.  No not everything a Democrat does is evil and that is not my point here at all.  What you need to see is that it only takes a little bit of poison to kill an animal if it is mixed with a lot of good desirable food.   If Democrats were entirely evil people there would be no contest in this election, no one would vote for them.  But, since they lace their good deeds with poisonous intentions people are deceived in eating it all.  I have warned you, and I have sounded the alarm.   I am just one man on the wall willing to take the risk to blow an alarm sound of warning to the people of this nation.  You can do whatever you like going forward but the consequences will come for your vote for evil sooner than you realize.  This was the message that the Holy Spirit placed on my heart and I was just the messenger.  I pray that your eyes were opened and that I saved at least one person from deception.  If only one person was helped then it was worth all of my time and effort.  God bless and we will get back to the other Bible subjects as the Lord leads.

Is the Rapture of the Church Really Found in the Bible? Rapture Basics in Intelligent Design – Part 3

(Ver 1.4)  This is Part 3 in a series of advanced spiritual Bible lessons on the important subject of “Is the Rapture of the Church a Bible Truth”.  If you have not read from the first lesson I would highly recommend that you go and start your study review with “Part 1” and then continue in succession until today’s lesson.  I have been going through the steps for building a firm doctrinal foundation for the Biblical subject of rapture.  In the last lesson we explored 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 to begin our discovery process to what God was teaching the early church on the subject of being “caught up”.  The Greek word “harpazo” was correctly and clearly translated as “caught up” in this verse and this Greek word is just a synonymous term for the modern English word “rapture”.  We further explored at least 6 historical rapture events recorded in the Bible to verify that being “caught up” was not a fictional or manmade concept but it was given to us by God as a standard pattern in the Bible starting in Genesis and going all the way to Revelation.

As we have discovered, not every historical rapture event reported in the Bible was both physical and spiritual but still every example fulfilled the pattern for the sovereign display of the power of God to take a man suddenly out of the world.  Each of these recorded rapture events that I mentioned from the Bible were the divine intervention of a sovereign God that interrupted the normal course of human events for the selected few that were affected.   We learned several important lessons from these examples.  For example, we can clearly observe that when these events transpired, that the man selected by God was removed from the earth while all others remained on the earth to be left behind.  We can further learn from the study of these men taken up that each was considered to be righteous and not evil in the sight of God.  Every person recorded in the Bible that has already been raptured was a righteous man in good relationship with the almighty God.  I could not find where God takes up an unrighteous man from off of the face of the earth as a historical pattern.  If you know of one that I missed you are free to tell me about it.  From what I have seen all those that were taken up by God had the normal course of their life suddenly and instantly translated by divine designed interruption.  These are all very important patterns to apply and remember.  God will not take everyone in the next scheduled rapture event either and God will only be focused upon the righteous people as is revealed in these great Bible patterns.

From the six recorded historical rapture events we have found in the Bible, three were very clear examples of living breathing men leaving the earth in complete unified body and spirit form.  These three men were Enoch, Elijah and the risen from the dead Lord Jesus Christ.   We of course know that Jesus going up was different from Enoch and Elijah since Jesus had tasted death first but was then resurrected back to life before He went up to heaven in Acts 1.  It is important to distinguish this difference since Enoch and Elijah never tasted physical natural death and they were both taken up by God as they were walking with God like we who believe in rapture soon will be also.  We further know that neither Enoch nor Elijah had any power or control over what transpired.  However the Lord Jesus Christ went up under His own control and power at His own timing, but He was also God.    Enoch and Elijah establish a pattern that teaches us that every living being does not necessarily have to experience natural death to be taken into the presence of God.  These three divine transportations from the face of the earth prove the concept of rapture is absolutely true and more than possible beyond any doubt in my mind.   We further saw two examples of spiritual transportation to heaven to view things never seen by human men and these two described experiences were Paul and Isaiah.  Finally, we also saw another human man named Phillip in Acts that was transported physically and spiritually from one natural location to another natural location on the earth.  All of these clear examples prove that another event just like those can occur by God’s selected design.  We have not talked about the book of Revelation or any future rapture events yet but we will get there as the Bible study continues.

A FRESH LOOK AT 1 THESSALONIANS 4:16-17

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Today in this Bible lesson I am going to do a few things very different than in the majority of my other Bible lessons.  I am going to attempt to go into more technical depth with the basic Bible rapture information found in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  I plan to give you a brand new approach for Bible study.  This method will help you to see how I think about the subjects found within a Bible study.  I realize that not everyone is like me and I understand that completely.  We are all unique beings with differing life experiences, training, education and personalities.  So while I describe to you how I study the Bible I am not saying that you must be like me or you are wrong.  I hope that you keep this in mind as you read the rest of the lesson.  I will not attempt to promote my Bible Study method as being superior to anything that you do.  In fact after you read this lesson, please be brave to share how you study the Bible, I would love to hear about it in a comment.  My primary point here is that we all just need to study the Bible and if anyone can use anything from my methods and learn from them that is really great, but if you have another method that works for you then you be led by the Spirit of God and do it that way.

I believe that many people do not generally spend enough time when studying specific verses in the Bible.  I am going to focus today on 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 again to help some to learn that there is always more that we can get from reading the same verses over.  In fact, most of the greatest revelations that I have received from the Spirit of God has come only after I spent significant time reading the verses over and over and over again.  Sometimes after the 30th repetition of reading it slowly again, the Words on the page would suddenly come to life in my spirit and I would see something new that I had never seen before.   Even as I continue to meditate upon the verses and reread them I would again see something new that I had not seen before.  I have learned that God just works like this because humans are generally spiritual dull people requiring their minds to be renewed with the truth before being able to see what God is saying in the Bible.  It is also noteworthy to consider that because of the extreme intelligence of God, He is able to say significantly more in a few words than any human can say writing an entire book.  Usually this mind renewal process is not a onetime read it and we got it type of miracle.  Even if someone has a photographic memory and can immediately quote the verse that they just read does not mean that they understand what it said completely in their spirit.  You can even teach a parrot to quote the Bible but that bird will not understand what he is saying   I hope you understand these principles because they were very important points that I have learned from experience.

Let’s examine these Bible verses in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 and extract the primary stated nouns, verbs and adjectives.  This is actually a very good first step in any Bible study.  If you have never done this I would suggest that you put this into your study habits.  It will help us to be more detailed oriented when reading and it helps us stop at each word and consider why God has placed this word within the text.  Also, in doing this it will help explain how these words selected by God fit into a new way to study the Bible that I use constantly and I’ll talk more about this later.  A noun is a person, place or thing and is usually tangible in nature, recognizable within the 5 sense realm, but not always.  There certainly exist many intangible nouns beyond the 5 sense realm of the natural senses.  A verb is a part of speech that expresses existence, action, or occurrence and it is usually connected in relationship to the stated noun part of the sentence.  Finally, an adjective is a word or phrase of descriptive quality that modifies any given noun in the sentence.  An adjective almost always limits the qualified scope of the noun definition by providing us with specific descriptions, attributes or qualities of the specified noun.  I am going to give you a list of what I found in these two verses and I would like it if you would see if you can agree with me on these.  I certainly realize that I am not a perfect man and that I do not know everything so I am open to correction if you have very strong sound evidence for your belief and understanding of the these subjects.

 VERSE 

  ADJECTIVE 

  NOUN 

  VERB 

16   Lord Descend
16   Heaven  
16   Shout  
16   Voice  
16   Archangel  
16   Trump  
16   God  
16 Dead In Christ Rise
17   We  
17 Alive   (In Christ) implied    Caught Up 
17   Them  
17   Clouds  
17   Lord Meet
17   Air  
17   We Be With
17   Lord  

This list is certainly not every word identified in the verses, but I believe that they represent the major subjects, actions and descriptions being communicated.  Being a detailed person I like to consider the words like “the”, “and”, “with”, “in” and etc., but including all of these in this study would make the lesson considerably longer.   Correct Bible study involves much deeper digging beyond a simplistic one time surface reading and this is what I am attempting to demonstrate to you today.  I personally believe that one of the next steps to correct Bible study is for us to look up each original language word definition in a good dictionary like “Strong”, “Thayer” or others.  I have found from experience that Strong appears to be a good word definition source however I do not consider it a perfect book without errors or at least certain human bias.  For example, Strong names the natural land of Israel “Palestine” in many of its definitions and I disagree with that.  There has never been a nation of “Palestine” that I know of.  Strong may have had a good reason for doing this, but I have not found it yet and it seems to promote the modern Palestinian view that the land of Israel does not belong to the nation of Israel.  I will point out that when Dr. Strong published this book back in 1890 the nation of Israel did not technically exist until 1948 when they were again given parts of this land area and reestablished as a nation.   Therefore when the concordance was published he could have viewed this land as the land of Palestine even though that nation did not exist either.

I have found 16 major nouns and some of them are used more than once like “Lord” and “we”.  I have found at least 5 distinct verbs of described accomplishment or action.  The adjectives are mainly two words that are describing two different types of Christians, the physically dead and the physically alive.  To study this completely we would need to look up the definitions of every word in the original Greek language to insure our understanding is complete on the word’s usage and translation into English.  I do this to protect the accuracy of the translation and in doing this I have discovered many mistakes that the translators have made.  If you have not ever looked up the definitions of these words in a dictionary like Strong’s, I would strongly suggest that you spend the time and do it before continuing to read. I simply will not go into that level of detail on every word to keep this lesson from growing into a longer book form.

I will point out a few key words that are important in verse 16.  The Greek word G2962 translated as “Lord” means the supreme one in authority and can only be a reference to Jesus Christ.  Therefore Jesus is at the beginning of this described future event.  The Greek word G2597 translated as “descend” means to come down and we are told the originating location for the descent by the Greek word G3772 translated as “heaven” the abode of God as one possible rendition.  So far in this event we have the risen spiritual Jesus from spiritual heaven descending down towards the physical natural earth.  That represents two realms of existence and a transition between them taking place.  I’ll skip the “trump“, the “archangel”, the “voice” and the “shout” for now.  Let’s go down to the Greek word G3498 translated as “dead” and you will find that this Greek word G3498 means a literal corpse.  The next primary verb is the Greek word G450 translated as “rise” literally means to stand upright again.  Thus we have Jesus coming down and the corpses arising up.  These are very descriptive words and I do not understand how or why people explain them away but they do.

Let’s quickly review some of the other key words found in verse 17.  The Greek word G2249 translated as “we” is just a plural form of the personal pronoun “I”.  Therefore God’s usage of this word “we” represents a group of more than one.  We of course are not given a number of people in this group and it could be an open ended quantity anywhere from 2 to more than we could count.  Did you ever think about the term “we”?  What is it that allows many separate individual people to be grouped into a single named pronoun entity?  The answer to that question is they all must have something in common together or they are not a “we”.  Also notice that the writer’s usage of the term “we” includes “me” the author of the letter.  Paul was clearly including himself in the category by using “we” or “us” and not “them” or “they” which would have excluded Paul.  Who are all of these “we” people and what is it that all these individuals in this “we” group have in common in this verse with Paul the writer?  The answers to those questions are found in the adjective that follows the pronoun.

The next key word G2198 is used as an adjective description for the preceding pronoun “we” and it was translated as “alive”.  G2198 literally means “to live”.  Clearly we are observing the stated contrast of verse 16 the dead corpses from the living bodies of those that are described to “live” here on the earth in verse 17.  Always attempt to place what you are reading in any verse within the context of the surrounding verses.  This is just a general rule of sound Bible interpretation.   Then notice that Paul was obviously alive when he wrote this letter, so he was including himself in this group of living and excluding himself from the group of corpses previously mentioned.  However, that is still not sufficient information for us to conclude who Paul was referring to as the “we” in this sentence because of the “and” word that connects the additional point to the description.  This next connected subject was the word “remain”.   Who remains, who left and what does that mean?  The Greek word G4035 translated as “remain” literally means those “left behind”.  However this “remain” can only be clearly understood correctly within the context statement of the preceding verse. Verse 16 clearly speaks of the antithesis of those alive in verse 17.  In verse 16 Paul writes about those that were not only “dead” rising but then speaks why they rise because they were also “Dead-In-Christ”.  The “Dead-In-Christ” must have already departed the earth to be present with Christ Jesus or the inclusion of the word “remain” would not make any sense to have been present in the sentence.  Can you begin to see how God says so much using so few words?  The wisdom of God is way beyond human ability to have written this text.  Notice that both verse 16 and 17 are clearly talking about two types of contrasting Christians.  One Christian group has physically died and spiritually departed earth and the other Christian group is alive and remains behind on the earth.

Finally the next key verb found in verse 17 after the stated adjective and noun is the Greek verb “harpazo” that we have already looked at before and it just means in context “to be taken up by force or external divine power”.  This is just not that complicated until you listen to deceived people that are trying to explain it all away using satanically inspired human reasoning.  Satan attempts to use people to help others see things that are not being communicated in the verses, but the Holy Spirit will always point us to Jesus and the truth.  We have just spent a very short time reviewing some of the key words found in the text, but certainly not everyone.  I hope and pray that you are getting the idea of how to do this for yourself.  I would much rather teach you how to fish than just give you a fish to eat in my lesson.  I know I have said that before, but not everyone has read every lesson that I have published.

What should the next step in the process of correct Bible study?  All of these steps are open to debate, but my next step is usually to explore the Bible for where else each word is used in the Bible? I would recommend that we need to exert effort to discover God’s usage of each of these selected words in the verses we are studying to insure that God does not redefine the word in any other verse of the Bible.  I have discovered that God’s definitions are always true and man’s definitions are always wrong.  Also by examining the word usage we can have a greater confidence and a more complete understanding of the entire subject being discussed.  Only by examining every word usage can we be assured that what we are teaching and believing is correct.  Simply by ignoring just one key verse on any subject from the Bible, that lack of information can leave us void of the complete truth omitting the key elements of the topic.  I pray that you realize that many times a partial or incomplete truth is more deceptive than a complete or total lie.  Not balancing every scripture on a subject will cause someone to think they believe the entire truth when they do not.

I certainly understand that the number of times any given word is used by God can make the research of the subject more complex if there are a great number of references found.  For example, the Greek word G2962 which is translated as “Lord” is found in well over 600 verses of the N.T. alone. That is a bunch of verses to read for any study.  However, if you have any doubts to who this “Lord” represents in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 then you need to do that study to resolve any conflicts in your mind that it can be no one else but the God/Man Jesus Christ.  If after reading all 600+ verses and still not being able to confirm that this word references Jesus, then I would suggest that you get saved and get to know Him personally for yourself before you come back and study the Bible.

Some words in the Bible are used very frequently and that truly makes them challenging for us to go and read every occurrence.  I suggest that if the word usage is less than 100 verses that you take the time and read them all.  If it is used many more than 100 times then that is probably more time than you have to spend.  I guess it depends upon your effort that you wish to devote.  I have found the harder I work the more I am rewarded with finding good things that I did not know before.  Take the Greek word G2597 translated as “descend” in verse 16.  It is found in 80 verses of the N.T.  Many times it is translated as “come down”, “came down”, “descended”, “and descending”, etc.  In reading all of these verses it seems very consistent what it means and it helps us to understand the word in relation to the Lord noun being described coming down from heaven.  Perhaps you do not know where heaven is stated to be in the Bible?  That would be an excellent question for you to answer in your word search.  You are probably not going to find the answer directly in the N.T. but it is stated clearly in the O.T. in Isaiah for example:

Isa 14:13  For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north:

We should be able to see that Satan is being revealed to make a statement about the placement of the throne of God in a realm called heaven.  Satan is obviously on the earth looking up and telling God what he will do to ascend up to raise himself above all the other angels (symbolic stars).  I also take it that the direction given is very relative to the direction of this throne and heaven.  North is the only stated reference to a physical direction, but even this is relative to the position of the earth during the earth’s tilt and cycle around the sun.  I personally believe that this is just a general direction of where heaven is revealed to be, since I have no proof for this location other than what the Bible says.  Therefore, I am not going to fight over it, if you choose to disagree with what I just said.  I will give you one other verse that appears to confirm what I just said about the location of heaven:

Psa 75:6  For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south.

As you can read every direction given is where “promotion” does not originate from.  Which direction is therefore implied to be the source for a human’s promotion?  It is obviously from the north again.  If you read the context of this verse it is clearly speaking about God’s location being the one that raises up one man and lowers another man’s position on the earth.  Therefore God the judge is stated to be seated in the North.  We could go into other verses, but that is not a primary part of the rapture message even though it helps to establish which direction He will be coming from.

Take the Greek word G3498 translated as “dead” in verse 16.  Here is a fascinating word that can teach us a lot that is found in 123 verses of the N.T.   But, interestingly enough this Greek word is consistently translated as the same English word “dead” in every single one of them.  That is a tremendous rarity to find in so many translated verses.  Normally a Greek word can be translated into several different English synonymous words and some of them might be a stretched application for the given verse.  However, in this Greek word translation example, we can be more confident that “dead” literally means “dead”.  By reading all of those other verses, you will discover that this Greek word is almost consistently used to describe the physical death of the natural body.  However, that is not actually true in every word usage found in the entire New Testament.  This becomes a clear example of why it is so important to read every verse to expand what this word can apply to.  Take for example Matthew 8:22 where Jesus is speaking to a young man and tells him “let the dead bury their dead” when asked if it was permissible for him to go and bury his own dead father.  Here we have an important revelation of two kinds of dead being described in a single verse.  Since it is impossible for physically dead people to bury physically dead people Jesus had to be speaking of a new type of death and I call this the spiritually dead people in the city burying the physically dead people that have died naturally.  I know this presents some brand new challenging information for you to deal with in all of your Bible study verses.  However, that is what is necessary to learn when studying the Bible.  What we have just observed is a very basic Bible fact that the same Greek or Hebrew word can be used to describe both a spiritual truth and a physical truth and we need to be able to determine which it is or we will be confused.  That becomes a great challenge for us in rightly dividing the Word of Truth to determine which realm is being referenced in any one verse (2 Tim 2:15).  We can normally do this by examining the source statement closely within the context of the surrounding verses.  I hope you understand this point that I just taught you.  It is a major stumbling block to many carnal Christians when they read the Bible seeing all of the words as being natural references only.

It is a good basic rule of interpretation to take the Bible literally first and then seek to understand it as being non-literal only if there is a major conflict for a literal revealed truth.  Since Jesus was literally speaking about a real funeral service of a literal dead natural man, these are easy to accept as being literal interpretations and not symbolic references.  However, when Jesus tells the young man to let the dead bury his father, this departs from natural logic and can only be a symbolic spiritual reference to people that are clearly implied not to be like Jesus or the disciple.  This is one of those types of verses that one needs to see what is implied but not directly stated.  Jesus did not volunteer to go and help bury the dead father, Jesus is implying that he is not dead physically or spiritually.  Since Jesus did not tell the young disciple to go bury his father, Jesus was implying this man was not dead physically or spiritually.  These are just very basic ways to look at scriptures correctly dividing spiritual things from natural things to understand what was being stated.  I truly hope that you understand this concept because this will be repeated in so many other verses and subjects of the Bible.

I’m not going to go through every word in these two verses, but I will go through one more as an example of what we should be looking for.  The Greek word G3507 translated as clouds in verse 17 is only found in only 22 other N.T. scriptures.  That is a very manageable number of verses to go and read them all slowly and in-depth.  I have discovered that sometimes the fewer the verses a word is used in the more likely they are to all be linked together for a greater divine purpose.  This Greek word literally means cloudiness or a cloud and it is translated this way consistently in every example verse that contains it.  It can be either singular or plural but that is really not that important.  I personally believe that almost every one of these verses has something to do with the rapture but I do not have the time in this lesson to expand upon them.  We will get to as many of them as we can in future lessons as I am led.

If you have not done this research with all of these words, I would suggest that you stop reading now and using your Bible search program go look up and read every verse with every word being used in these verses.  It would take me a great deal of writing to do that, so I will allow you to do it on your own and if you have any questions or comments with what you find, you are more than welcome to add them at the end of this lesson as a comment or question and I will attempt to respond as quickly as possible.  Keep in mind my list of nouns, verbs and adjectives because I will be referring to these as I continue with a new perspective on Bible study.  Let me quickly review a list of my basic Bible study steps.

  1. List every significant word and designate it to be a Noun, Verb, or Adjective.
  2. Using a dictionary look up the words found in the original languages to insure your understanding.
  3. Search for every occurrence of every word in a verse and read and study them to see how they fit into the entire subject being studied.

BASIC BIBLE RAPTURE CONCEPTS FOUND IN INTELLIGENT DESIGN

I am going to attempt to reveal how a former computer programmer logically thinks in simple black and white terms while observing the intelligent design found within the complex system of information found within the written Word of God.  I believe that God is the author of the entire Bible and that it was written down in 66 different books in a period of time over 1500+ years by 4o different prophets of God.  I further believe that God is supreme in all wisdom, knowledge and understanding.  I also believe that God is an omnipotent eternal Spirit.  Therefore I believe that the Bible contains the superior thoughts, actions, words and descriptions spoken by the superior knowledge, wisdom and understanding of the supreme Spirit of God.  Perhaps you have never thought of the Bible as being a very large complex system of divinely designed information.  However the existence today of hundreds and even thousands of church denominations in the world prove that few in the church agree with God on what the truth actually is in the Bible.  Did you notice how I phrased that last statement?  I did not say many do not agree with me or you or any other human opinion.  I said many do not agree with God.  Only God is true and everyone else is just potentially ignorant or confused.

The Bible is a book containing easily read natural plain text word data but still not very many can agree with what these simple words actually mean.  Why is that?  I believe that this failure to agree is largely based upon man’s introduction of their own “Human Opinion” or as it is referred to in the Bible, man’s “Private Interpretations” (2 Peter 1:20).  Private interpretations are defined as “Self” defined meanings completely separate from God’s intended purpose.  Ever since the Bible was created this has been man’s greatest weakness of not knowing the truth.  What Christians do not realize is that within the plain text words of historical accounts, genealogies, laws, commandments and instructions are found hidden threads of complex spiritual truths about a spiritual world that we have never seen or experienced fully yet.  The Bible contains such great detailed hidden spiritual information about this reality, but the carnal mind will never be able to see it or understand it while reading the Bible.  Most of the spiritual meaning is cloaked or covered beneath layers of parables, symbolism, allegorical content, Biblical typologies and many other methods that God uses to hide the information from plain natural view. Becoming spiritually “born-again” is the beginning to the process of obtaining the spiritual eyes to grow in mature spiritual “understanding” of the truth of God.

I want to ask you, do you believe that the Bible is a divinely created “Complex System” of information?  I guess the answer to that question should rest upon the definition of what a complex system represents.  So I’ll change the question to, what exactly is a “Complex System” and how should it be defined?  I believe that if you live in this world you are surrounded by a countless number of manmade and God created “complex systems”.  Whether God created or man created the complex system each has the same patterned characteristics.  Perhaps you have never thought about these concepts before and how they relate to the Bible.   We are surrounded by complex systems still there are a wide number of varying opinions to what a complex system represents and how it should be defined.  Rather than give you all of those varying opinions, I’m going to just stick with my viewpoint and tell you what I think about the subject based upon my experience and observation as a former computer professional.  I normally do not give out my opinion on things but I am going to make an exception for this discussion today.  You see by me giving you my opinion I am violating one of the main rules of Bible interpretation that teaches us we should not “privately interpret” anything.  I do hope that you understand that every opinion is nothing but a personal theory which is just another phrase for a private interpretation based upon ignorance of the subject under discussion.  However, since I have had vast experience with large scale computer system design and construction since the 1970’s, I feel that I am a bit more qualified to give an expert opinion on the subject than many others.  Please extend me some patience as I attempt to expound through a complicated subject.

Let’s start by looking up the antonym for the word complex.  If you do this you will find that the opposite of “complex” is the term “simple”.  By far the Bible is not a simple book.  Yes, the Bible has some simple statements in it, but I would strongly suggest that you go and read the books of Revelation and Daniel and find out how many mysteries you encounter on every page that cause you to scratch your head.  I find nothing simple about either one of these books.  There are so many Bible teachers teaching a completely different message from them that it is truly ridiculous.  I have concluded that the Bible cannot be considered a simple book and if you have read all of my other Bible lessons you should easily agree with me.  Let’s then examine the synonyms of the term “complex” and learn from those.  According to the thesaurus the term “complex” has some of the following synonyms:

  1. Multifaceted
  2. Compound
  3. Composite
  4. Multipart
  5. Intricate
  6. Multilayered
  7. Many-sided

Wow, I really believe these words describe the Bible very accurately.  Think about what they say and then attempt to apply them to what you know about the Bible.  Now permit me to define the term “system”:

sys·tem/ˈsistəm/

Noun:
  1. A set of connected things or parts forming a complex whole,     in particular.
  2. A set of things     working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network.

We can learn a lot by reviewing word definitions.  The term “system” implies something that is complex by definition.  The term “system” means that which is found to be in multi-parts.  Is that the Bible? The Bible is 66 separate books written by 40 different humans.  Therefore this information alone causes the Bible to be a system of information.  A system is a set of connected things and the Bible is definitely a set of connected books.  A system is a set of lesser components that comprise a more complex whole purpose and this also describes the Bible precisely.  For example how many subjects are mentioned in this book?  There are so many different subjects that it would be very challenging and complex to attempt to list them all. .  That makes this book a clear complex system of different components of information designed designed by an intelligent author to teach us. I really pray that you are beginning to see this already, but I’m going to go into it in more detail to help you..

Based upon my personal experience as a computer system operator, programmer and designer, I believe that a complex system is first any observable set of components that were created by an external intelligent source of thought, design and construction.  I further see that every complex system is created for a very specific given purpose.  No useful complex system exists today in the world apart from external intelligent interaction and purpose.  Did you hear what I said?  I will probably get some disagreement from some potentially deceived individuals, but since they cannot provide any proof for spontaneous intelligent design construction by random chance, I will stick with what the Bible says about God creating everything that we can see.  You see “spontaneous design construction” or as some ignorant people call it “evolution” cannot possibly occur.  Evolution is increased complexity that had to come from a much less-complex set of random components without any intelligent design to assist.  This belief in evolution violates the second known law of Thermodynamics.  This law teaches us that everything around us is in a state of decay which is the reverse or antithesis of the addition of a force and intelligence necessary to form it, cause it to be or make it become complex.  The second law of thermodynamics is a study of entropy.  Entropy is the measure of the degree of randomness or disorder of a given system.  What that teaches is that a complex system is anything that is more ordered than it is random.  We could also say that a complex system is anything with a much greater degree of non-randomness by external intelligent design influence.

Ok, so the laws of thermodynamics just gave us a pretty good introduction to what a complex system represents.  From that I believe I will give you my definition for a system in the relationship to a book like the Bible.  The Bible would represent a complex system because it contains a collection of intelligent non-random words with organized designed purpose for every part to contribute to the greater complex whole.  In other words since the Bible is not random word patterns on a page and can be used easily by any person with a basic education, it is a system of related parts of information and by definition a system.  Let me give you these points one more time:

  1. The Bible exists only because of externally influenced higher intelligence
  2. The Bible is not a random collection of unrelated words
  3. The Bible was written in distinct parts
  4. Every Word of the Bible has a specific designed purpose
  5. Within the books of the Bible is contained many multiple layers, parts, subjects, etc.

The substance, laws and organizational non-random structure found in our own universe did not suddenly appear from nothing as many ignorant college professors and school teaches would like us to believe.  The organization of a system from chaos or randomness would violate the laws of thermodynamics.  Just the existence of a vast expanding universe proves beyond any reasonable doubt that someone of greater ability external to this known system caused it to exist here.  This simply states that a designed system with rules and laws cannot create itself nor could any force within the system have created the system.  Randomness never creates non-randomness.  Dis-order never creates order.  This is really not that complicated, but so many get it easily mixed up with people’s words that are trying to deceive you.  The existence of a complex system simply means someone external to the system was the source of origination.

The universe is very much like a modern computer system.  A computer system is a complex machine with many organized laws, components and structured building blocks that all work together to fulfill a greater plan and purpose.  The existence of a working computer system proves the existence of an external computer designer, a computer builder and a computer programmer that cannot be found to be physically present within the computer system.  No one with any intelligence would look at a computer and believe that it just evolved into being present on the earth.  Therefore, since I believe that the universe was created by God and if the Bible was also originated from this same God as is declared (2 Tim 3:16), then I believe that the Bible qualifies to potentially be another complex system of recorded information created by the same external greater intelligence.  The existence of one complex universe system pattern helps to establish the existence of another complex Bible system pattern.

I believe that the size of a system plays a major role in the complexity of the system.  From what I have observed the larger the system is, usually the greater the complexity of the system.  Let’s go back to the universe system example created by God.  The universe is such a vast complex system that it can only be imagined to its total size, its full content, its type of individual components, its understood composition, its total mass and its actual past point of origination.  Scientists are still today constantly discovering new facts concerning the known parts of the universe surrounding us.  In my humble opinion based upon just the size of our universe alone we all need to open our eyes to embrace the existence of a much greater intelligent creator being.  Many agnostics and atheists will reason against me, but I still stand with that belief since I have personally come to know Him for myself.

I think I will expand the definition of size and help you to see that not all created systems need to be light years in expanse in order to be complex.  The system can still be considered complex depending upon the number of components and sub-systems discovered in the system.  You see I view the human body to be a very complex system within itself.  Within this one system of very measurable size and weight are smaller immeasurable components called cells.  There can be millions, billions and even trillions of cells within the many parts of the human body.  Many have estimated somewhere between 5 and 50 trillion cells in the human body.  Wow, that makes our bodies a very complex system all by our self.  Take the human body system and underneath this main system there are many sub-components containing subordinate systems and objects with each being made from individual cells.  For example we have the neurological sub-system object, the respiration sub-system object, the digestive sub-system object, the circulatory sub-system object and on and on I could go.  Each sub-system can have further divisions of several layers of individual object components, like the heart, lung, kidney, stomach, etc.  The level of complexity can get very great.  We could transverse the entire human body system all the way down to the individual cell level, molecular level and even add in the very complex DNA system object components that are a complex system by themselves.   The existence of the human body system objects with so many interacting sub-object components working together for the single greater purpose and good of the whole object represents external intelligent design.  Truly the human body system is an ordered arrangement of functioning designed components and systems.  Any complex system lacking non-randomness or chaos is a very strong indicator of intelligent design and this proves the existence of a greater intelligent designer.  Of course I am referring to God as the design engineer and creator for the human body object.

I have just introduced you to another factor for the definition of a complex system.  A complex system has other dependent subordinate complex systems within it.  Systems within systems, systems depending upon other systems and all working together for a greater purpose, how can we even get our minds around all of this?  Maybe you do not understand this statement yet.  Let’s examine the created universe system again.   If the universe is a complete complex system as I believe it is, how many other systems also exist within this system and would our universe still exist in the same form without every single one of these being present?  I told you I was going to get really deep in this Bible study to cause you to think today.  One basic rule of intelligent system design is that the designer never adds anything that is unnecessary for the completion of the whole given purpose.  In other words what I am teaching is that in any well designed system every given observable component has a specific purpose even if that purpose is not fully disclosed or known.  The universe system can be divided into a multitude of galaxy systems and the galaxy systems can be further divided into a multitude of solar systems.  The earth resides within the Milky Way Galaxy system.  The sun that the earth revolves around is just one star of around 20 billion others in our galaxy alone.  Therefore, scientists generally do not have a clue to how many galaxies exist in our universe since they do not even know how many total stars there are in our single galaxy.  Wow, is that cool or what?  God created such a great place for us to exist in.

Our planet’s solar system is just one complex sub-system found within the greater universe system.  Let me ask you this question and I want you to really think about it.  If our solar system did not exist would the universe still exist in the same form and for the same purpose?  I do not believe that it would.  Let’s shift back to the computer system example that I was talking about previously.  Any large scale modern computer system is comprised of many designed dependent sub-system components.  Every sub-system component is essential to the entire process or it would not have been included in the design.  Many of these sub-system components are so critical to the whole process that the designers have built in a factor called redundancy.  Redundancy just means if one critical part of the sub-system fails another part of the sub-system takes over until the whole sub-system can be repaired to full working redundant capacity.  The existence of redundancy within many critical computer systems proves that the omission of any single sub-system causes the design of the whole system to fail.  Thus the failure or elimination of even one sub-system without redundancy will be catastrophic for the working of the whole greater process of the system.  If you think a manmade computer system is different than a God designed complex system of the universe you are a very deceived individual.  Man was created in the image and likeness of God (Genesis 1:26) and what God does a man can only do on a smaller scale.  There is nothing new under the sun.

In any complex system in order to begin to understand it, one must be able to break down the whole information into lesser manageable components and sub-components.  Many times people get the complex Bible truths mixed up because they are missing the basic spiritual fundamental details that are spread out in specialized hidden designed formats in the Bible.  Any complex system with intelligent design should contain the ability to be analyzed and broken down into smaller manageable pieces that first need to be understood.  By understanding the smaller core pieces and parts we can more quickly learn about the more complex interactive purposes and parts of the entire system.  What I am trying to teach is that there are methods to learning the Bible and that these methods conform to known modern intelligent design procedures.  I am talking about a basic of life concept found all around us.

For example in order to correctly fix an automobile you better understand how it was built.  An automobile is a complex system with many dependent lesser complex systems working together to get the user to a desired location.  The automobile system has a cooling system, a power system, an electrical system, a transmission system, a braking system, an air conditioning system and many others.  In the car example the failure of the AC system will not stop the car from functioning.  This is a bit of a departure from what I said earlier.  However without an AC system the driver might die if they are going through a desert in the summer.  If any system of a car fails, someone needs to know what they are doing and how it works in order to fix it.  If you don’t believe me go and take apart your car’s transmission and see if it will ever work again.  God wrote the Bible using defined intelligent design principles and if we are to understand these words we must approach studying the Bible with the same level of intelligent analysis methods.

I am going to conclude this Bible lesson with a very deep application of mathematics and computer concepts and how they relate to the Bible.  If you are not into either one of these subjects this discussion might be less interesting to you because of the new level of complexity that I am introducing into an already complex subject.   I believe that God created these concepts such as math and computers for us to learn, use and to apply.  Every part of creation has a purpose just as every word of God has purpose.  Math and computers are certainly a part of God’s creation so they have a purpose whether you understand them right now or not.  Even if you have never studied these subjects you might just derive some added benefits if you attempt to learn some of the basics concepts for what they mean.

In 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, I introduced you to a new concept based upon the laws of mathematical sets but I never revealed to you why I was giving it any significant emphasis.  I am going to continue to reveal my behind the scene logical thought process for what I was teaching in the first two lessons.  Let me give you a quick definition for a mathematical set.  A mathematical set is a grouping of related well-defined but distinct individual objects with common characteristics or features.  A set is a very similar concept to the definition of a system in many regards.  An object is either an abstract or tangible “noun” that can be practically anything that is perceivable or observable.  If you noticed, I just connected us back into the discussion the subject of “nouns” that we listed at the beginning of this lesson.  A tangible object noun is like a man, a city, a tree, an animal, a fork, a car, or whatever.  An abstract object noun is like an idea, a thought, a spirit, or an emotion, etc.  An intangible object is anything that is not perceived by the five natural senses and this is why I included the noun spirit.  However, a spirit can also manifest and be seen or felt within the natural realm as is recorded in the Bible.  In those instances the intangible spirit becomes a tangible object.

From my list of nouns in 1 Thessalonians most can be considered tangible objects.  God and Lord of course are generally intangible since no one can prove His existence with their physical senses.  Of this list of given nouns, how many are qualified to be sets or groups of related individuals or things?   That is probably a new complex question to think about?  Hopefully you can see that “we”, “them”, “the dead in Christ”, “the alive in Christ” and the “clouds” are all words that have both plurality and commonality.  Thus these nouns being more than one yet can be referenced with a single noun, qualifies the group to be a mathematical set by definition.  Do worry, not every Bible study that I do will contain this level of detail.  So do not get discouraged if you are having any trouble following it.  Do the best you can and learn what you can and more understanding will eventually come.

Both intangible and tangible objects can be grouped together into a single named defined set based upon any known and well-defined relationship or characteristic.   For example, a group or set of related objects would be like a set of universal cars or automobiles.  This universal set might include every automobile ever created if so defined.  Each automobile in the set can be a unique object (noun) alone but they can also be grouped together into a new greater set because they share many common characteristics and features becoming a new named object (noun) maybe called “Universal Automobiles”.  That brings up a new set consideration called sub-sets.   A sub-set is just a smaller more well defined set of the larger more general set of car objects.  That brings us into the world of “adjectives”, doesn’t it?  An adjective is nothing but a further subset limitation (division) of a larger defined noun set.  For example we can have a “Universal Automobile” subset of just “Toyota Automobiles” because all of the cars in this subgroup were manufactured by Toyota and share that common trait.   What if we created a subset called “Red Automobiles”?  Uh oh that brings a new wrinkle into the discussion that gets more complex.  Red Automobiles now cross over into every car manufacturer including “Toyota Automobiles”.  Therefore a Red Toyota Automobile is a common member of both sets.  This is where multiple subsets can potentially overlap each other and share common objects.  A single named object just might be found in common with multiple subsets and we need to at least be aware of this possibility when we read and study the Bible.    Do you understand sets yet?  Many have learned this in school and probably just consider this a minor review.  But, it gets more complicated than that simplistic introduction.

Let me review a few of these set laws that I have been going over very rapidly.  Each unique member object in a defined set will either be a totally separate noun object or another new subordinate subset object.  Every member object in a set or a subset is joined by the selected well-defined noun description or adjective qualifier commonality.  As long as this is true each member object can be legally included and named as one object in the set or subset.  However it is very important to note that one defined object does not exist multiple times in any one single set.  Also one member object does not exist in two different opposing separate sets.  For example, being in the “In-Christ” set is one of the common bonds that join every Christian that is saved together by God’s set definition.  Perhaps I did not give you enough scriptural information on Christians being in God’s set called “In-Christ”.  There are repeated scriptures written to the church that clearly state this fact.  This phrase “In-Christ” occurs around 27 times in the book of Ephesians alone.  But I will give you a few good examples to help establish the truth in your mind:

Rom 8:2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

Rom 12:5  So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.

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.

Gal 3:28  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

I am not going to go through every verse and explain them.  Nor am I going to attempt to give you every verse that says we (the church) are all in this mathematical set called those “In-Christ”.  However, I just listed some key verses that I felt were applicable to the topic discussion.  For example, look at the first verse found in Romans 8:2.  This verse declares a new spiritual law of life that opposes the old law of sin and death.  In effect God is revealing two sets of opposition.  I believe that these are those in Christ verses those out of Christ.  Then notice how in Romans 12:5 and Galatians 3:28 that Paul is clearly stating that we as many separate individuals are now referenced to be one “In-Christ”.  Those were mathematical set laws being stated whether you presently understand them or not.  Many times in the Bible God will say some of the most profound things in passing without any given explanation to what was just said.  I hope that you can see the stated fact that all Christians today are in the God defined set called “IN-CHRIST”.

Let us consider that there are multiple defined sets in existence in the Bible.  I personally believe that any plural noun reference in the Bible is a defined set.  We certainly all know that the O.T. nation of Israel is a predominate set of people described intimately in the Bible.  This set of people excludes every other person not of this natural nation.  Therefore the people not in this natural nation of Israel were another set called “Gentile”.  One set was in covenant with God and the other set was not.   If the saved church is now defined by God to be in the “In-Christ” set, where were we found to be before we were added to this new group?  Uh oh, maybe you have never thought this way before?  Theoretically we could have been in no other set but I rather believe that we were in either the set called “Gentile” or “Israel” which included everyone.  I personally believe that everyone in the world is in a defined set found within the Bible.  Determining the set is another new complex study.   However, I just alluded to this fact in the last paragraph when I reviewed Romans 8:2.  I believe that those now found “In-Christ” came from an unstated set of those that were “Out-Christ”.  Don’t start picking up any stones to throw at me yet, I’m not done.

You must understand that if God can name and define one set that there is no limit to the number of defined sets that God can use for His purpose. Please allow me to introduce you to a new important concept.  There is a very popular law of Bible interpretation that I call the “Law of Antithesis”.  This law states for every directly named truth in the Bible there exists an opposite truth position by unstated implied antithesis.  It is very much like reading about the subject of light and knowing that the opposite of light is the absence of light and that this is called darkness even if it was never directly mentioned or referenced in the verse it still exists somewhere.  In other words what was stated as truth for light in the verse, the opposite is implied to be truth for the unstated antithesis darkness.  Do you understand opposites?   In our current world there will always be opposing forces; evil opposing good, death opposing life, darkness opposing light, drought opposing rain, storms opposing calm and we could go on and on.  This antithesis fact came as a result of the choice that Adam made in Genesis 3 when he allowed the evil to enter the world after God had created everything in a state of being called “very good” and warned Adam not to do it.  Notice what God created as a set of “very good” and from what Adam chose a new set called ‘evil” entered into the world of good.

Antithesis truths are a very common binary computer concept.  Every computer in the world is a binary machine.  What is a binary machine?   A binary machine is one where the basic most simplistic unit of definition can only be one of two states of opposite.  The lowest and simplest form of every computer device is called a “bit” unit.  A bit is the rudimentary binary computer element that is assigned either one of two opposing force settings.  A bit is either defined as a 1 (one) or as a 0 (zero) thus a computer is called a binary machine.  However, modern computers are comprised of millions, billions and even trillions of these single bit binary units. These simple single bits can be combined and grouped together to form larger and more complex number concepts and objects such as bytes, words, double words, etc.  However the basis of every computer is still a simple solitary unit of either one or zero.  Combining multiple bits only facilitates larger binary numbers to be formed.  For example, an 8 bit binary number can be anywhere from 0000000 to 11111111.  These represent the numbers from 0 to 255.  In order to make larger numbers you must add more bits for more 1’s and 0’s.  This binary concept corresponds to a simple toggle switch that can be turned on or shut off.  Therefore, a bit is nothing but a binary electronic switch.   The laws of antithesis and computer binary concepts are very prominently featured within God’s intelligent Bible design.  Keep this information in your mind as we continue to study the subject.

In this discussion a mathematical set consisting of many individual objects can also be considered a complete self-contained object within itself as I alluded to earlier when discussing the set “In-Christ”.  Therefore using mathematical set concepts we have an important idea of many individuals being viewed as a collective named one.  The many being named as a one is another very popular concept found throughout the Bible and I pray that you are beginning to understand it.  The nation of Israel was many people but only one named wife to God in the Old Covenant.  The church of the risen Jesus Christ is also many people but still one named bride in the New Covenant.

I am taking these well-known mathematical facts and transferring them into my Bible study.  For example I taught you about the existence of the mathematical set of saved believers that God called those “IN-CHRIST”.  Every individual believer when they believed and accepted Jesus into their hearts to make Him their personal Lord and Savior enters into this common single object group having left their previous unnamed antithesis object group.  This set transformation is a single individual exiting or departing from a former set of many entering into as a new individual a new many set called “In-Christ”.   What I just described is God’s definition of marriage if you did not put that together yet.   When a man marries a woman, they both leave their former family sets to be joined together to become a new family set that never existed before and God defined them to be a new one (Genesis 2:24).  It is critical that you understand this simple but profound information.  Do you recall that I gave you 2 Corinthians 5:7 in my list of “In-Christ” verses?  What did that verse say?  It said if any man be “In-Christ” he is a new creature and the old things have passed away.  That verse teaches us set transition is possible with God.  We can leave the old set and become a member of a new set that never existed before called “In-Christ”.

By the defined existence of the saved group called those “IN-CHRIST” God has indirectly implied the presence of another unstated antithesis group of unsaved people in the world that we could call those “NOT-IN-CHRIST” or the “OUT-CHRIST” object group or set.  I hope you understand the concept for Biblical antithesis truths by now.  God teaches us by using a named noun set that there is a limitation to the scope of the objects in the named set.  If it was as the Universal Salvationist’s try to teach us that all will be saved, God would not have needed to create a named set called those “In-Christ” that excludes those that do not qualify.  No, I’m going to say this one more time that the existence of those that are “IN-CHRIST” clearly reveal the existence of those that are “NOT-IN-CHRIST”.   Jesus taught us these unstated concepts of set truths repeatedly in the Gospels using the wide path and narrow path example, the sheep and goat example and the wheat and the tare example.  All of these were single named symbolic sets with two opposing sets of many individual member objects.  Every parable mentioned was a binary teaching concept where only two states of existence persist.   Therefore sets and binary concepts are a prevalent themed subject in the Bible even if you never thought of them in these terms before.

I taught you previously that underneath this common set called those “IN-CHRIST” are two separate divinely defined sub-sets that I will call the “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” and the “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST”.   As you recall any set of collected objects can be sub-divided into further defined object groupings based upon selected and further defined commonalities.  In this case being dead or alive physically determines which sub-set you are currently in and if you are reading this lesson I will tell you that you are in the “alive” sub-set.  This is a major component to what God is teaching in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.   Try to understand how I arrived at the existence of these sets and then consider the existence of the antithesis set “OUT-CHRIST”.  Logically speaking, if the “ALIVE” and “DEAD” subsets exist within the “IN-CHRIST” set then the same must also exist in the “OUT-CHRIST” set.  These are all new concepts for you to grasp today.  All of these concepts conform to the mathematical laws created by God and are easily recognizable when you apply the laws logically to the scriptures.  If you do not understand basic Algebra, Geometry and math concepts you probably do not understand much about how I arrived at these conclusions.  Let me give you a quick picture diagram of these concepts that I have just given to you.

I probably do not have many readers that really understand computers and especially object oriented programming (OOP) concepts but I do know that I have a few that read my lessons that do.  This diagram shows a hierarchy of related objects.  OOP is not something that is required to understand the Bible but I have found that it is a good subject to know if you can grasp the complex ideas.  You see in modern computer programming there is a similar concept like math sets and sub-sets called objects.  An object in computer programming is a thing that performs a related set of defined tasks for the greater purpose of the system.  We’re back to talking about systems again.  I am still linking together all of the concepts using related titles and named entities to teach how these concepts overlap.  You see we are again speaking about one complex system within another greater complex system.  The computer that a program is running on is just one greater complex system and the application sub-system designed to do the corporate accounting runs beneath the computer system.

If you were programming a banking system in OOP, an object might be a single customer of the bank, or even one account of the customer of the bank or any other related defined banking noun.  Generally speaking programming objects are always nouns that have verb activities associated with them called methods or actions.  For example any customer object can change their address, create a new account, make a deposit, make a withdrawal, make a payment or perform any other normal banking activity. These are all verb actions performed by a banking object noun.  An object can also possess defined attributes.  A defined attribute is just like a descriptive adjective.  It is interesting to note than almost any adjective can also be a noun.  For example, a banking customer object will probably contain their name and address information as well as their date of birth, sex, tax ID and other pertinent personal identifying information.  Attributes of an object clearly identify the object and make it unique from other types of the same object.   I just tied into the discussion OOP the round trip with the beginning noun, verbs and adjectives from 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  Can you see how all of these concepts are coming together yet?  We have gone from systems, to sets and now to objects and each possess the same characteristics and basic features.

So with every associated programming object we have a unique noun named entity that can perform specific things and be described with details that cause them to be unique from all other similar noun objects in the set.  I’m not sure how detailed I should get with this but I will teach you about another OOP concept called a class.  Every computer object is created from a class that is used to define the object its features and its designed actions.  While every object of the same type can be unique they are generally all created from the same class definition.  Therefore a “class” is nothing but a blue-print pattern used to create the unique noun object.  Wow, that is a God kind of realization if I’ve ever heard of one.  Patterns are a basic truth found in every part of the Bible.  Objects being created from class patterns are another basic reality found in every part of the Bible.  What I am doing is teaching you of the existence of God’s intelligent design concepts found in His Word using naturally created patterns found all around us.

One more complex concept found In OOP is that one object can inherit characteristics and features from another object’s class.  For example, a cell is a common human body object that is shared within almost every human component or object.  Therefore in the human body system we could have a basic cell object that every other system objects inherits from.  The complexity of object definition, object commonalities and object interaction can get very complex especially in a very large system like the human body.  Why am I teaching computer programming concepts and methods?  It is primarily because I see these complex concepts repeated by God in the Bible.  I am praying that you can see how your Bible is a very large complex system containing both antithesis and related word objects that I will call God’s Bible subjects.  These subjects have defined attributes, characteristics and limitations that I call “adjectives”.  These God given defined Bible subjects also can perform certain designed actions that I will call “verbs”.  All of these interact together with each other in a highly complex intelligent designed manner to achieve the greater message purpose revealed in the Holy Bible.  This is one of the central features of the Bible that makes it unlike any other created book ever conceived or written by a human.  It clearly demonstrates the characteristics of extreme intelligent design beyond the human capability to produce or even fully understand and when you see it, it proves the existence of a very intelligent author.

Let’s talk about the Bible object (subject) called man (Hebrew word H120 in the Strong’s).  I of course am using this term man to include both natural males and females in a generic object I could call “Mankind”.  Under this object type we could sub divide it into two specialized object types called the male and the female objects using the naturalistic perspective view.  Here is where I want to emphasize a change in your Bible perspective to include the spiritual viewpoint.   When you read the Bible looking at only the words from a natural perspective you will find only natural truths being communicated.  The spiritual truths are generally found within the same verses but deeper within the text than on the surface.   Perhaps you do not understand how one verse can project multiple or simultaneous messages.  If you do not understand this then you have probably not read and studied the Bible for very long.  I can read a verse that I have read for hundreds of times and suddenly in my spirit I see something that I had never observed before and the meaning is suddenly very clear now.  Explaining how you missed it before is a total mystery to most Christians.  What happened to cause this?  How can one person see something in a verse that the other person reading the same words cannot see? The answer to those questions is called God’s revelation or revealing of the words so that someone can finally see what was written there on the page from the beginning.   This fact is the main reason why God had to “reveal” the Old Testament to Paul and the other disciples even though they had read or heard the words all of their lives.   The New Testament has many, many quoted Old Testament verses with God’s explanations of what they finally mean.  One of my greatest frustrations is when people quote me Old Testament verses and they have not researched the New Testament information that explains them.  I run into this more often than I would like to admit.  When I try to tell them what the New Testament says, they close their spiritual eyes and refuse to be open to what God is saying.  The only thing that I can do after that is pray for them like Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus in chapter 1 of Ephesians.  Paul prayed for God to open their spiritual eyes of their understanding.  Go read this prayer and find out that Paul asked God to give them the revelation of Jesus Christ.  “Revelation” is God uncovering the words on the page so that they can be finally clearly understood.  If you have not prayed that for yourself, then do it!

Instead of a natural viewpoint let’s change the human object type “Mankind” into defined spiritual sub-divisions like I did in the previous diagram.  When confronted with Bible subjects I prefer to look at things from a spiritual God perspective first rather than from a natural human perspective.  We should understand that God is a Spirit and that God is the author.  When we try to look at the words from the perspective of how God looks at the words I believe that we come closer to seeing the truth.  There are probably not very many Bible teachers that would agree with me since so many are carnally minded.  One spiritual sub-division or object type of man would be the “IN-CHRIST” saved type of man.  We can clearly see from the Bible that not every human is in this defined object noun set.  This only leaves those that are not saved in the “NOT-IN-CHRIST” object type category.  Both the “IN-CHRIST” and the “NOT-IN-CHRIST” objects can inherit common characteristics and features from the greater “Mankind” object or class pattern.  However each new object type can also implement new individual characteristics or properties that are only common and in effect with the other named object types that are derived from this same object class pattern.  For example the “IN-CHRIST” object will be defined with a “SAVED” property and the “OUT-CHRIST” object will be defined to have a “LOST” property.  You just never know what you might learn when you read my Bible studies.  I try not to get this deep in most of my lessons but sometimes I believe that is just good for me to make you think outside of your box.

If we take this object lesson up the ladder from the “Mankind” object this human object that was created by God will inherit all of their spiritual characteristics from their creator class according to Genesis 1:26.  Mankind made in the image and likeness of God causes the man object class to inherit from the greater spiritual God object class but the spiritual God object class inherits from no one else being supreme.  That is until the Jesus Object class comes along and He inherited from both the God object class and the Adam/Man object class equally to become a new God Man.  I really believe I shock people sometimes because they do not think when they read the Bible.  Only Jesus was 100% God and 100% man.  Only Jesus called himself the Son of God and the Son of Man.  Only Jesus was a unique product of the naturally created and the divinely spiritual.  Only Jesus was qualified to save us by inheriting from two separate opposing natures.  If you disagree with what I have said you are free to be wrong and I will not argue with you.

Ok let’s move down below the “IN-CHRIST” object in the linked diagram.  We learned in 1 Thessalonians 14 that the IN-CHRIST object has been sub-divided by God into 2 binary antithesis subsets. These two were the “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” and the “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST” and both of these are unique qualifications that allow each to be treated differently by God at the rapture event.  Both of these object groups inherit common characteristics from the greater “IN-CHRIST” saved object type which inherits from the greater “Man” object class which inherits from the greatest “God” object class.   Understand the basic quality of the two groups of “DEAD” or “ALIVE” are speaking of the physical natural death or life respectively and not a spiritual feature.  The “In-Christ” object must contain the quality of spiritual eternal life already based upon what Jesus taught in John 3:15 that whosoever believes upon Him would not perish but have eternal life.  Right there Jesus is speaking about all those that are either physically alive or physically dead that believe in Him will have spiritual eternal life.  Therefore placing the verse in the proper context will align the words with those found in the saved “In-Christ” class.  It further goes on in John 3:15 and states that those that do not believe are those that “perish” and again this is a universal quality reserved for the “OUT-CHRIST” class of objects beings.   This is not good news for these people.

Let’s discuss in more detail the differences between the “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” and the “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST” objects.  The “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” objects must have a change of classification with the departure or the separation from their natural physical bodies.  The “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST” objects are still physically here on the earth and they remain present in their physical bodies.  The “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” objects have experienced natural death while the “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST” object types have not.  Once the naturally dead Christian departs they cannot die physically again.  Also both subsets are spiritually alive but one is in the body while the other is not in their body.  Using basic logic I have concluded that these two object types must also exist under the “OUT-CHRIST” object.  This is not rocket science we know saved and unsaved people both physically die by the story that Jesus taught in Luke 16.  However the departure from the body of the unsaved object will result in a much different location change to that of hell and not heaven like the “DEAD-IN-CHRIST”.  It is also interesting to note that the “ALIVE-OUT-CHRSIT” object types still can get saved and be changed to become an “IN-CHRIST” object and this results in a different future destiny completely.  The “DEAD-OUT-CHRIST” objects do not have any further opportunity to be saved once present in hell.  Maybe you can see why I like computer programming and why I can see things like this in the Bible.  If not don’t get upset at me, just keep learning whatever you can accept.  There are many other more complex things built into object oriented programming but I will not get into any of this in any more depth so that I do not totally bore anyone else that does not understand the importance.

Why have I spent so much time describing noun, verbs, adjectives, systems, sets and objects?  I use these complex realities whenever I study the Bible.  I read a verse and I analyze the words and then ask what are the objects given by God in this verse?  I then think why does this object exist?  Where did this object come from?  What does this object represent?  Does this object inherit any characteristics or features from any other Bible object?  Is this object a set or sub-set?  Does this object fit any known patterns in other verses of the Bible?  How does this Bible object differ from other Bible objects?  What features are presently in common and which features are unique?  Also remember that an object is just one member in a set.  How did the set get created?   How do members come to exist in that set and what are the benefits or pitfalls of being a member of that set?  We could finally determine, does this object have an antithesis related object?  So many questions to ask and I just really broke the surface of them all.

According to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17, rapture is a select activity performed by God which is reserved for a well-defined subset of objects within the greater set of all human beings.  In order to qualify for rapture described in these verses the individual must be found in the given set that will meet the requirements.  This teaches us that those not raptured are excluded from the event being described.   From the 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17 information we are given only one very specific set that qualifies for rapture in the description.  This set that qualified for the rapture was the “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST” believers and it excluded everyone else.  Everyone else not raptured were in the sets called the “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” and all members in the “OUT-CHRIST” set.  The “DEAD-IN-CHRIST” did rise bodily but since their spirits were already present in heaven they do not qualify for rapture (harpazo).  Please notice in these verses that there is no mention of those outside of the set of “ALIVE-IN-CHRIST” being taken up and off of the earth at this timed scheduled event.  That is a very important detail to consider.  Learn from what the Bible says and then apply correctly what it does not say also.  Selective and exclusionary rapture is a pre-established pattern found in the Bible found in the lives of Enoch, Elijah and Jesus.  These were all taken up and all of the others on the earth were left behind to remain.  This is a very key point to distinguish.  Not everyone is going up in this prophesied event being described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.

I totally believe that I have blown the minds of many of my readers.  I will conclude this lesson here so that I can allow you to think about the many facets of the information that I have presented.  If you like this style of detail you are free to tell me, but more than likely I will not go into this level of detail in the future on this subject of rapture.  In the next lesson I will attempt to get back to more of the standard types of Bible lessons that I have been doing for several years.  I just wanted you learn how I think and by doing this it might just help you to see why I write things in the style that I do.  Thank you for your time in reading and I greatly appreciate it if you would help point someone else to my website.  God Bless you until the next time I can get a lesson out.

If you would like to continue the study in this series on Rapture please go to “Part 4“.

Is the Rapture of the Church Really Found in the Bible? Introduction to the Basics – Part 2

(ver 1.2) This is Part 2 in a series of advanced spiritual Bible lessons on the subject of “Is the Rapture of the Church a Bible Truth”.  If you have not read the first lesson I would highly recommend that you go and start the study with “Part 1” and then continue with today’s lesson.  During lesson 1, I took you through a brief explanation of what Rapture is using the dictionary.  From this word definition I derived a list of synonymous terms that can be interchanged with the word “rapture” to convey the same thought or message.  Some of the words were “caught up”, “taken away”, “removed”, and “to depart”, etc.   Seeking to learn the basics we looked at three to four messages taught by Jesus using different symbolic representations to teach very similar rapture concepts.  Of course none of these lessons contained the word “rapture” and that is why they are often ignored when studying the subject.  We examined the “Pathway Analogy”, the parallels given to us in the “Sheep and Goat Analogy” and the “Wheat and Tare Analogy” and finally we looked at the “Ten Virgin Parable”.  You should have easily observed that each lesson contained a central theme of the concept of division.  Division is nothing but the separation of two distinct groups.  One group can be separated from another group for many distinct reasons.  In the world today criminals are sent to prison to separate them from hurting others outside of prison.  Therefore, we can potentially call rapture the separation of the righteous from the unrighteous.  In today’s lesson I will continue to expand on the basic concepts using Bible patterns of rapture to confirm the basic concepts.  Here are some of the items that we will be covering today:

  1. Rapture is a separation of one person or one group of people from the others.
  2. Rapture is a change in location either physically or spiritually or both from one previous location to another new location.
  3. Rapture is usually the forced removal without scheduled notice and without any human consent.
  4. Rapture demonstrates the sovereign divine Power of God to transport a person or a people from one location to the new location.
  5. Rapture event timings are always determined by God and nothing you do or believe can change that.
  6. Rapture can be the exclusionary act of God upon the unrighteous that were not taken (not saved, left behind, those to be destroyed) separated from the righteous that were taken, saved and removed.

We have read several basic verses and have so far not officially determined the timing for any potential rapture event.    Many get distracted by the intimate details and miss the more important basic concepts.  I want to firmly establish the basics and then work towards the details in their proper order.  You might recall that in the first lesson I implied that there are at least 3 future raptures that must still take place and eventually we will readdress what those can be.  I also said that I can clearly see that there have already been around 6 previous raptures that have previously occurred in the Bible and we cannot ignore them.  These examples will conform to the basic factual rules that I just listed above.  I plan on exploring many of these historical rapture accounts in this lesson today to help further the establishment of the valid patterns for the future rapture concepts being taught in the Bible.

GOD REVEALING TRUTH

Too many people want to read the Bible and believe that God placed all of the truth in obvious plain view for anyone to easily find, see, read and understand.  However that is just not how God wrote the Bible and it is not how you should approach learning anything from the Bible.  We must all learn to see the true concealed nature of God in His Word and in the world around us.  Let me ask you, have you ever seen God personally?  Can you prove to anyone that God exists?  What evidence for God’s existence do you possess?  Obviously you have never seen God and cannot prove that there is a God to anyone here on the earth.  Yet God says in Romans 1:20 that the invisible things of God are clearly seen being made known in the things that God created.  Wow, there are some amazing parallels in that verse to what I am teaching you about the Bible.   How can the invisible God who has not been seen with our natural eyes, or made known or displayed to our physical senses, His presence being improvable in a court of law, lacking any clear evidence of existence still be found by searching and studying the things that were created?  It is simply because God in His wisdom hid clues throughout creation that clearly allow people to see the existence of a creator if they want to know Him.  If anyone does not desire to know God they will never see the truth that is plainly right in front of their eyes.  That is just how God designed everything.

Now ask yourself how many educated scientists today after studying the facts of creation have concluded and found that there is a God and a creator because of the overwhelming evidence found from what they are studying?  Not very many are there?  The majority of the scientists today are either agnostic or atheist in their beliefs of God.  Yet God still says I can be seen everywhere if you are looking for me.  What make you think that the truth in His written Holy Word will not also be recorded in the same type of secreted format?   You see I completely believe that the truth in the Bible can be easily seen, but only after you want to know it, are saved, then know what to look for and then extend the effort to look for it with great diligence allowing the Spirit of God to help you see it.   There is a principle discovered especially in the New Testament that is very important called “revelation”.  Revelation is God illuminating His Word to humans so that it can finally be understood.  Revelation is never man suddenly discovering what God has said using their individual human reasoning to figure it out.  Every human requires God’s revelation in order to understand the spiritual things that were written inside of the natural words and stories.

Rom 16:25  Now to him that is of power to stablish you according to my gospel, and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery, which was kept secret since the world began,

You see Paul tells you that the previously hidden Christ has now been uncovered and revealed by God.  He states that this was a formerly hidden mystery of God.  Paul gives us a better explanation of this revealing process in Ephesians 3:1-5 if you would like to go and read how the mystery was not revealed to men prior to the Apostles but has now been given to us by the Spirit of God’s choice.  Wow, that concept seems to pass over the head of many Christians today and it teaches us so much about the nature of God.  The rapture of the church is just another one of those mysteries hidden by God in His Word.  Look up the definition for the Greek word translated as “revelation” here.  It means a “disclosure”, an “appearing”, an “enlightenment”, or “something that was previously hidden but has now suddenly been revealed”.  This Greek word G602 comes from another root word G601 that literally means to “uncover” or “take the cover off”.  It is like someone in the natural taking the lid off of a box to discover what was previously hidden inside of it.  That uncovering concept teaches us that we can look at the outside cover words all day long and still never understand what is underneath the surface until the cover has been removed.  Only God can remove the cover from His Word.  However, that is exactly what the Spirit of God is doing in the church today to those that want to know the truth.  There are literally hundreds of mysteries in the Bible and most of them you probably do not know or have any understanding of their existence because you are still looking at the covered text and not seeing the hidden spiritual meanings beneath.  Do not throw away the rapture teaching simply because it is not easy to find on the surface.  Wait until you at least ask God to reveal it to you and show you if it is true.  God is no respecter of persons.  If He revealed it to me, He will also reveal it to you so that you can see it also.

I read a couple of the internet lessons on the no-rapture theory just to see how they were explaining the verses that God showed me about rapture.  Nothing that they said swayed me in the least little bit since what they said conflicted with the voice of the Spirit of God and the real meaning of the verses in the Bible.  Their arguments were very cleverly written with many supposedly supporting Bible verses but they were totally blinded to what the scriptures said and how to apply them correctly.  These were nothing but examples of how natural men can “wrongly divide” the word of truth to produce a message that can be accepted easily by other carnal men.  What I say in my Bible lessons is generally not accepted by carnal minds because it is so spiritually based.  Natural people tend to be attracted by natural words and spiritual people tend to be attracted by spiritual words.  It is very much like the law of Genesis being restated everything producing after its kind.

You see I am certain to run into the same problem that Paul ran into with what I am teaching.  Paul was confronted with both natural thinkers and spiritual thinkers.  God gave Paul certain spiritual revelation and understanding that no other man knew in his day (Gal 1:12).  Paul then went about trying to teach this God given revelation to the others in the church with the only confirmation evidence that the hearers in the church possessed was from them listening to the Spirit of God that resided in them and the previously written Old Testament Words of God.  If they could hear and see spiritual things they were accepting, but if they were carnal thinkers, then they were rejecting the truth.  Here is what God says about the people in the early church that were faced with this great decision:

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.

God says that the people in Berea were nobler than the people in Thessalonica.  God informs us that the Bereans were first open to hearing something brand new from Paul implying the Thessalonians were not.  However, God then says that the Bereans did not just automatically accept the new teaching of Paul, but that they were rather wise enough to go and search their scriptures to find if what Paul was preaching was actually the truth that God had declared in His Word.  So regardless of which rapture category your beliefs fall into today at least be open to hear a new perspective on the subject and then to go to your own Bible to search for yourself to see if it is true or not.  Do not believe anything that I say because you do not even know me.  Who I am, is of no significance to you also what I say is only important if it is what God says.  If you do not see what I say in your own Bible then toss it away and believe what you do see.  You will not offend me if you reject what I teach.

BUILDING A STRONG RAPTURE FOUNDATION ON THE BASICS

We are going to continue in this Bible lesson with some of the basic foundational verses for the existence of the legitimate doctrine of the rapture.  We need to go to the letters written directly to the church and see what God records for us there and make sure that we clearly understand what God is saying to us correctly.  Every teacher that preaches a “no rapture” philosophy must explain away all of these verses that we will be looking at today or they must totally ignore them to teach what they teach.  They can be very creative in their attempts to explain them away and many people believe what they say without doing the necessary study to prove it in their own spirit which will result in deception.  Therefore you need to follow along with me in your Bible using your heart to see if God is giving you internal spiritual peace about what is written here and then verify it using the Bible.

We will go to the book of 1 Thessalonians chapter 4 and verse 16.  You may recall that this verse was mentioned in Wikipedia as a foundational scripture for rapture.  This is certainly not the only verse found in the Bible on the subject, but it is clearly one of the most prominent and important verses on the subject.  People want to discount one prominent scripture in the Bible and explain it away because they think one verse is not important without many other confirming verse witnesses.  That is very true that one verse cannot be taken as a complete doctrine of theological belief, but it is also true that it is still found in the Bible and that there are other confirming witnesses that can be found if you look and search for them.

I also want you to understand that the books of the N.T. Bible were not necessarily placed into the Bible in their chronological written order.  First Thessalonians was probably the very first letter written by Paul to any church.  Therefore, God saw fit to teach the church about rapture from the very establishment of the church.  Many today try to say that rapture is a modern creation of man not taught by the early church founding fathers.  But simple minded people clearly do not choose to see what the Bible says and must ignore what Paul taught and wrote to remain in their ignorance.  You do understand that what Paul wrote about in the Epistles to the churches were also the things that he taught to everyone in the church when he was physically present with them, don’t you?   Can you separate the two?  I cannot do that.  Let’s read what Paul taught about the rapture:

1Th 4:16  For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:

1Th 4:17  Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

Verse 16 begins with the description of the Lord descending from heaven.  Who was this Lord and why is it necessary for Him to descend?  What is the stated purpose for the descent?   This Lord was the God of heaven come to the earth in the flesh that died for all of our sins on a wooden cross and He is named Jesus in the English tongue.   We should remember from reading in Acts 1:9 that after Jesus died and was raised from the dead, He ascended back up into heaven where He has been seated for the past nearly 2000 years (Heb 8:1).  This statement of descent being described is simply the reversal of the preceding ascent that visibly took place on the earth with the early church disciples being witnesses.   I will also say that what was seen by a few in the church of Jesus going up will be seen by those in the church that He is descending to come back for.  Let’s start by just listing the basic facts given in the order of mention to us in these verses and then talk about them in more depth:

  1. Jesus descends from heaven with a shout.
  2. The voice of the archangel is the next observed mention.
  3. Immediately followed by the trump of God.
  4. The next mention is the dead in Christ that will rise.
  5. Then followed by those that are alive in Christ on the earth being caught up.
  6. Those alive on the earth are stated to be elevated to the level of the clouds in order to meet with the Lord.
  7. At the culmination of this event both the dead and alive in Christ will forever be with the Lord.

Those were the very basics from what I just read in the Bible.  What did you read?  Can you agree with them or is that why you don’t believe in rapture because that is just not what God says here?   I believe that there are both direct and indirect implied statements being made in these verses.  I just listed the direct statements of facts only.  First it directly says that the Lord descends from heaven to initiate the event with a shout.  We must determine the definition of heaven based upon the context of the statement being made and using the other facts of the Bible to correctly interpret the term.  For example, the Hebrew word translated as heaven in the O.T. is H8064.  This same Hebrew word can refer to up to three different locations and that same statement is true about the N.T. Greek word G3772.  Heaven is defined in the Bible in three different ways.  There is the immediate atmosphere surrounding the earth and this is often spoken of as what I will call the first heaven (Deu 11:11).  There is the universe of stars and solar systems in space and this is often what I will call the second heaven (Gen 1:17).  But Paul we will soon learn spoke of a “third heaven” (2 Cor 12:2) and this is the literal location of the spiritual throne of God.  The first two heavens are natural and the third heaven is completely spiritual. This heaven being described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16 is clearly the reference to the unseen third spiritual heaven.  We will get more confirmation for that as we continue.  Therefore I see two dimensions of existence being stated in these two verses.  Jesus is descending from heaven and is coming out of the spiritual dimension to re-enter back into the natural dimension to accomplish the rest of what is stated.

Surely you can see Christ’s descent from the spiritual heaven in parallel with a shout, the voice of the archangel and the trump of God are the beginning of something else about to occur.  I view verse 16 as starting in the spiritual realm and ending in the natural realm.  I then see verse 17 as starting in the natural realm and ending in the spiritual realm to complete the cycle and we will see this more clearly as we go.  But notice in verse 16 there is no mention of anything natural or physical until the end of the verse and then it speaks of death which is clearly natural only.  Every noun mentioned is a spiritual being or place until the last mention of the dead rising.  Therefore the archangel’s location is also implied to be in heaven being mentioned following Jesus descending from heaven.  Immediately following the archangel is the trump of God and this is also implied to originate from the location of spiritual heaven.

I believe that both the shout and the trump are announcements from the spiritual heaven for the coming event to occur upon the physical earth.  The Greek word translated as “shout’ is only used in this verse in the entire N.T.  However this Greek word G2752 comes from another Greek root word G2753 that means “to command”.  The source Greek word is less of an event announcement than it is the shout of an ordered command expecting some subsequent action to take place.  The root Greek word means a direct command has been ordered from heaven for the next expected action to occur.  I take this command to be given by God Himself personally.  Angels generally do not have the authority to give commands apart from God’s will.   It is interesting how this verse is phrased and worded, because the shouted command could be taken as being from the Lord or it could be a command given by the archangel.   However, based upon supremacy of rule, I teach it as originating from God and going through the archangel like the chain of command in a military hierarchy.

Let’ reconsider what we learned about from the earlier messages of Jesus on the separation of the sheep from the goats or the wheat from the tares.  Both of these lessons contained commanded symbolic servant workers (aka angels) that were given orders and instructions to separate the one group from another group.  I believe that we can see some distinct parallels being taught by the usage of this Greek word when the Lord commands and the voice of the chief angel in heaven is heard to possibly repeat the shouted order.  I believe that you need to resolve in your mind who is doing the original shouting and who the shout is directed towards.  I do not believe that the command order from heaven is directed to those that are about to be taken from the earth, do you?   Clearly the order is directed to those that are doing the taking and those can only be the angels of God.  This is clearly a chain of command type of military order being described.  The commander in chief God has given a direct order to gather and the order is shouted to every ranking member of the staff to be carried out.  If you have never been in the military you may not understand chain of command but most things in life work this way.  Every large or small corporation has a chain of command from the ranking CEO going down the chain.  Any way that is how I view the shout mentioned in this discourse and you can disagree and believe what you like if you see something different.

Let’s move on to the trump of God mentioned next.  The Greek word G4536 translated many times as trumpet or trump occurs in only 11 verses in the N.T. and it is a word that means a “vibration”, a “quavering” or a “reverberation” all descriptive synonymous terms for a loud audible sound.  Because the Greek word is only found in 11 N.T. verses it is easy to determine if any of these other verses play a role in describing the same type of rapture either directly or indirectly.  Also take note from reviewing these verses that they do not necessarily have to mean that a physical horn type of instrument is blown.  Many have the idea that the ram’s horn called a shofar is used for this event announcement.  I do not have a problem with that interpretation or belief but that is not technically what is stated in this verse or several other verses in the New Testament (1 Cor 14:8, Rev 1:10, Rev 4:1).  In these verses it describes voices being like a trumpet but, in other verses like in Revelation 8:2, 8:6, 8:13 and 9:14 it appears to be an actual literal trumpet.  However if you notice anything when reading the book of Revelation, you should immediately recognize that the majority of the book is cloaked in symbolism.  Therefore the trumptes mentioned in Revelation can possibly be a symbolic representation for a greater spiritual truth.  At least that is what I believe at this point in time with my current level of knowledge on the subject.

Let me reemphasize the initiator of the event in 1 Thessalonians 4.  Understand that Jesus is described as the originator of this unique event.  Clearly Jesus coming down with a shout starts the entire process.  Therefore this affair is a divinely initiated occasion that I believe is describing the bridegroom coming down to fetch His bride that we learned about in lesson 1.  How does this description in 1 Thessalonians 4 correspond or compare to the information given to us in the parable of the 10 virgins?  If you recall in Matthew 25:6 the bridegroom is implied to start His return at midnight when all of the virgins were asleep and an outcry or shout announces His coming before they ever see Him and the virgins are told to “Go Out” to meet Him in the parable.  There was the stated coming of the bridegroom first and then there was the subsequent shouted cry that followed to trigger the virgins to go out and meet their bridegroom.  That sounds very amazingly accurate to what we are reading about here in these verses in 1 Thessalonians 4 to me.  I know it does not match word for word but the similarities are too close for it not to be God telling the same story using different types and symbols in one and more literal references and descriptions in the other.  These types of writing styles of God make the Bible very complex to the casual reader.   I take them to be the same event because of the match of all of the recorded characters and actions mentioned occurring in the exact same order.  I also know that Jesus is the bridegroom and that we are the bride (virgin) in the Bible.  Do you see it?  Don’t you think that there could be some direct similarities between the description of 1Thessalonians 4 and the Parable of the 10 virgins?  I can see a very distinct pattern of resemblance.

Do not confuse this event description in 1 Thessalonians 4 with the Second Advent event when Jesus literally sets foot back upon the earth to rule for 1000 years with the saints.  There is no mention of Jesus coming that close to the earth in 1 Thessalonians 4 anywhere in this description.   In fact the way that I read it I can never find Jesus descending below the normal cloud level anywhere in this discourse.  In verse 17 it is clearly stated that those that are still alive on the earth surface of the earth go up to the clouds in the air to meet Jesus.   How far up are the clouds from the surface of the earth?  We might also consider the height of the earth’s atmosphere as being a stated factor.  We obviously can learn easily that these are known facts discovered during modern space exploration.  The reentry of a space craft from the realm of space first encounters resistance of the earth’s atmosphere at around 120 km (75 mi).  At this altitude above the earth, the air is extremely thin and there are no clouds.  The air continues to thicken as the craft descends and clouds eventually are able to form.

In order to determine where clouds normally reside in the atmosphere we need a deeper study of meteorological facts.  Clouds come in three general categories of high cloud layers, mid-cloud layers and low-cloud layers.  If you search the internet you will find that low clouds can range in altitude from surface level to upwards of 2 km.  Mid-clouds can range from 2 to 4 km in height.  Finally, high clouds can range from 4 to 8 km in height.  Therefore Jesus can legally meet us in the atmosphere depending upon if it is a foggy day or a normal day anywhere from 0 to 8 km up in the atmosphere.  I can personally see that if you do further study on the internet that NASA has spent time averaging maximum cloud heights over the course of the last 10 years and they have in their data found that clouds normally occur at a maximum average height of between 3 and 4 km and that is a long way up.  People in the “no rapture” belief camp have tried to explain this verse away stating that the Greek word translated as “air” is a sea-level only point of view in the Bible.  They completely have to ignore the “cloud” reference and overlook the term “caught up” to be in the clouds.  They must be assuming a foggy day for the return of the Lord back to the earth’s surface.  They have purposely closed their eyes to what the Bible is saying not using any factual evidence to support their beliefs scripturally or scientifically.

Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

The Greek word translated as “clouds” in 1 Thessalonians 4:17 only occurs in 22 verses of the N.T. so that is a very manageable number to go and read every occurrence.  What you will find in your search is God’s exact same usage of this Greek word here in Acts 1:9 where Jesus was described as ascending up and then the clouds are said to receive Him out of their view.  Have you ever watched an airplane take off?  How long can you view it until it disappears from your view?  I guess it depends on the clouds, doesn’t it?   But, that sounds like a very high altitude up in the sky to me.  What God is doing is describing two separate related events and He is connecting them together with the usage of the same Greek word G3507 translated as “clouds”.  Five times in the Gospels Jesus is found speaking of Himself and says that He will be coming in the clouds (Mat 24:30, Mat 26:64, Mark 13:26, Mark 14:62, Luke 21:27).  However every mention of this may not be all describing the same event or times.  For example, Matthew 24:30 could be speaking of the second advent after the tribulation or of another specific time.  In Matthew 24:3 the disciples asked Jesus 3 different questions and in this chapter Jesus answers them all but does not always tell you which answer is to which question.  Maybe we will talk about these in a future lesson.  In Matthew 26:64 the time frame is not directly given.  Mark 13:26 can also be considered a description of the same three questions that the disciples asked in Matthew 24.  Again in Mark 14:62 there is no time reference given other than it is after the ascent into heaven in Acts 1:9.  That leaves us with Luke 21:27 and this is a very interesting set of verses that appear to be a different timing than the Second Advent.  I believe from reading these verses that Jesus could very well be describing the rapture before the tribulation revealed by the wording of the statements.  We will get to those verses in more detail later in the series.

What is stated to happen on the earth first in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17?  We can see that there is a very clear reference to those that have already died (IN CHRIST) a physical death on the earth “rising” first.  Here is a good time to learn a basic truth.  Every Christian that has been born again by the Spirit of God is now in the universal group set called “IN CHRIST”.  However, God makes a new distinction in this discourse to differentiate between two sub-groups found within the global set of IN-CHRIST.   God says here in these two verses that one subset group called the DEAD IN-CHRIST is a little bit different than those that are still ALIVE IN-CHRIST.  One group is dead and one group is alive and this has been stated from the physical natural human perspective.  Why is that important?  Why does one group of DEAD “rise” and why are the others in the ALIVE GROUP “Caught UP”?  You really need to ask these types of detailed questions when you read and study the Bible.

This is the first mention of the natural realm and it represents a transition from the heavenly realm that initiated the event.  These dead bodies are identified to rise first because of their former experiences with natural death that has caused their old physical bodies to be left here in the dust of the earth.  If you examine the context of chapter 4 you will see that one of the primary subjects being discussed is about those that have died believing in Christ and how that they can still have hope of a certain resurrection like Christ’s.  When Jesus was resurrected from the dead, did He take His physical body or leave it here on the earth?  I think you know that Jesus took His body with Him.  There is no tomb with the body of Jesus on the earth.  Therefore, Jesus was fully resurrected from the dead physically and spiritually.  This is the hope that is given to all of those that have died in Christ.  These verses about resurrection were written to the church.  These dead people are the saved righteous believers in Christ Jesus.  They have died a physical natural death but when this occurred their spirits then departed the earth and went to heaven to be with the Lord Jesus (2 Cor 5:8).  Thus the reason for the unique wording of the dead “rising” versus the alive being “caught up”.  I’m really not sure if you are getting where I’m going here or if you understand yet what I am attempting to say.

The Greek word translated as “rise” in verse 16 literally means to “stand up” or “arise”.  This rising can be from any non-standing position seated, reclining or lying flat.  Since God is discussing the dead in Christ rising we can conclude logically that the original unstated position of those arising are normally found in a lying flat position like most dead bodies at a funeral.  This description is given to us from the human natural perspective and not the spiritual divine perspective.  Death in the Bible is many times described as what looks like natural sleep of the physical body and this is stated from the casual human viewer’s perspective.   People here in the natural world generally view things from the natural human standpoint.  That is what we see when we look at a dead body.  But the spirit of that person has departed their body and is either with Christ or is in hell right now according the Luke 16.

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

Here in James is a statement of universal natural truth concerning natural death.  When the physical body dies, the spirit of the man or the woman that died has departed and is no longer present in the body.  Or we could say when the spirit departs the physical body, the body dies.  Both statements are accurate representations of the truth.  However also take note that if the spirit of the human departs the dead body, the spirit always remains alive.  Do you know the difference between natural things and spiritual things?  Natural things die, but spiritual things never die or cease to exist.  Humans are spiritual beings that live in a temporary natural body.

All of this information is just my attempt to explain why God’s distinction between the dead “rising” and the alive “departing” references that are given.  In verse 16 of 1 Thessalonians 4 it ends with the natural perspective of the human body that possessed the appearance of sleeping being resurrected or raised to stand up again in order to be joined back to the departed human spirit.  This resurrected body will be rejoined back with the human spirits of those that were already in heaven and this new eternal resurrected body will be their personal living place and the dwelling residence for God’s Spirit forever.   Then in verse 17 we see a contrasting difference being stated with those that remain here on the earth and are described to be alive being “caught up” to meet Christ in the air.  Can you seriously see the difference being stated here yet?  Why aren’t both groups “caught up”?  Why don’t both groups “rise”?  This is actually very important information.  When all of the puzzle pieces are put together correctly it makes such clear logical sense. God is in effect saying that when this event occurs the dead in Christ will descend with Christ from heaven to be joined with their risen resurrected bodies, but the living Christians on the earth will be personally “caught up” to be with Christ with a resurrected body in the clouds.  Now do you see it?  Do you now understand why the difference between the two stated experiences and why God describes it as two sub-events beneath the one greater event?  What God is doing is giving you a lot of unstated information by using distinct unique word selection.

Verse 16 was only the dead bodies rising and not the spirits of the dead people being “caught up” since the spirits were already present with Christ in heaven.  Verse 17 makes the radical transition from what happens to the dead bodies to those that are still living in a body.  Two separate verbs are selected by God to describe what happens to each group.  Verse 17 starts out by saying those that are “alive” and these are a clear reference to the people with a natural life existence on the earth given to us from the human perspective.  This Greek word G2198 literally means to possess life or those that live.  Again this viewpoint can only be from the natural perspective and not a spiritual or divine perspective since it is impossible to kill a spirit being.  Both the dead in Christ and the living in Christ on the earth are spiritually alive unto God.  If God was using His spiritual viewpoint in these verses He would have stated it differently.  What God is teaching is the difference of the locations of the living spirits affected during the event.  The dead in Christ were already in heaven and those living in Christ remained here on the earth during the start of this event.  At the end of the event they are all together with Christ in the clouds with their new resurrected bodies.

UNDERSTANDING BEING “CAUGHT UP”

These verses are simply comparing two types of believers. These two groups of believer types represent two new sub-sets of the whole set group called those “in Christ”.  We really need to understand basic math set theory when studying the Bible on many subjects.  God created math and mathematical laws which are used in the Bible repeatedly to teach us concepts that only could have come from Him.  Let’s stop here and define that Greek word translated as “caught up” and then dig much deeper to find out why God states it differently from the bodies that “rise”.

G726

From a derivative of G138; to seize (in various applications): – catch (away, up), pluck, pull, take (by force).

The Greek word “harpazo” (G726) literally means to seize or take someone or something by force.  It is only found in 13 verses of the New Testament and many of these are very significant connected verses to explore about the subject of rapture.  Begin by understanding that the definition of the word represents a divine orchestrated demonstration of power.   In other words this event in 1 Thessalonians 14:17 being described can only take place because there was a great external force of power behind it that causes it to occur.   This description of force corresponds to the direct controlled information given by Jesus of the angel reapers taking out from the earth the wheat and the tares as well as the separation of the sheep from the goats.  There are distinct parallels of external power being enforced in common in all of this imagery.  In these lessons the wheat, the tares, the sheep nor the goats have an influence or contribution on the separation that occurs.  In each instance the force of control is external to those that are affected.

No natural exertion of resistance, human effort, human force or any human power from the participants on the earth being raised or caught up was necessary or even mentioned during this event.  I probably did not state that last information exactly correct.  You see I believe that every human is required to have faith and believe in the rapture in order to participate in the event.  I cannot see where the Bible says that anyone that does not believe is still rewarded with the same prize of those that do believe.  Crowns of salvation are not handed out to everyone like Universal Salvationists like to teach.  I believe that rapture is exactly like salvation.  No one that has not already placed their faith and beliefs in Jesus Christ will be saved or can be saved.  Everything that God gives to His people through His divine sovereign Grace must be received by the people through their faith.  I don’t have the time to teach you faith, if you have not read my lessons on Understanding Bible Faith then do that to help clear up any conflict.  Let’s quickly review one dictionary definition for the word “rapture” to recall how it was defined:

RAPTURE: the carrying of a person to another place or sphere of existence.

To me this definition of the word rapture fits precisely with the Greek word definition of “harpazo”.  To carry someone away from one realm to another is clearly a display of power and force that must be present to move them.  The English term “rapture” is derived from the Latin term “raptus” also meaning to carry away or carry off.  I have concluded that “raptus” was a synonymous Latin term for the Greek word G726 “harpazo” that was translated as “caught up”.  This is one of the primary reasons for the legitimacy of the doctrine of the “rapture”.  The modern term was developed to help Bible teachers teach the subject using a simple one word title.  Do you understand “harpazo”?   It is a very well defined word that teaches a lot on the subject.  Harpazo is a show of external force and power.  It is a convention beyond the power of human resistance.  Even if you did not want to go the Bible teaches us that you are going.  No debate is offered.  No options are given.  Those being taken are simply gone being removed from existence upon the earth physically and spiritually.

All of this discussion so far today was just an introduction to the basic foundational concepts proving that the catching away of believers is a valid truth taught by God, Paul and the early church in the Bible.  The timing of the event has still not been fully developed or established and we will eventually get to that part of the subject as we progress.

HISTORICAL RAPTURE EVENTS IN THE BIBLE

Before we go into future rapture events and other verses about the subject, let’s prove to all of the skeptics that this harpazo or “catching away” by force has already occurred multiple times in the Bible.  In proving historical event occurrence, this will help us to define and confirm the possibility for potential repeated future event occurrences.  God simply says in the Bible “There is nothing new under the sun”.  He continues in this discourse to teach us “that which has been is that which shall be again” (Ecc 1:9).  Verses like this teach us that there are established patterns found in the Bible and that we need to learn them in order to see what might occur in the near future.  Discarding the past will cause you to not know the future.   You see for any doctrine to be legitimate it must be an established pattern throughout the Bible with more than one witness to the truth being stated.  God required for every word to be established in the mouths of two or three witnesses so that they all can be verified to be in agreement with the other witnesses.  This truth disallows the taking of any single verse out of context to prove one’s erroneous point.  Let’s go to the book of Acts and see one type of rapture example and a direct type and shadow of the coming rapture being described in 1 Thessalonians 14:

Act 8:39  And when they were come up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip, that the eunuch saw him no more: and he went on his way rejoicing.

Was Phillip just raptured away so that immediately the eunuch after being baptized saw him no more?  Why did God take Phillip away?  Why didn’t God take the eunuch also?  You see this does not say that Phillip walked away or swam away under his own physical power.  The power of God literally takes Phillip away from the place that he was previously seen and places him physically and spiritually in a completely new location.  I mean if this description is not a type of rapture of a man from one physical point to another physical point you tell me what it is.  You see someone being raptured does not always have to mean that this someone was taken directly to heaven.  It can mean they were just physically transported from one part of the earth to another.   Rapture is nothing except a real divine encounter of a fictional Star Trek type of teleport or transport.  This rapture of Phillip is simply a change in his physical location and it is a valid pattern for what will happen to the church very soon.  Patterns can simply be natural events that will correspond to coming spiritual events.  Notice that Phillip had nothing to do with what just happened to him.  Phillip did not pray to be taken, Phillip did not ask God to take him and this is again a pattern of the coming church rapture.  Also note that one man was taken and one man was not and this again is a pattern for rapture.  Rapture includes the separation of one or more people from another group of people.

Notice that God brings this verse into the subject discussion by the inclusion of the Greek word G726 harpazo.  I understand that Phillip was not given a supernatural resurrected body during this event.  I also understand that Phillip did not leave the earth to go to heaven and then return in a new earthly location.  While that was certainly possible that is not what just happened to Phillip.  We need to learn not to put God in our box of human narrow minded limitations.  We need to see that almost anything is possible when God is involved.  I said almost anything is possible, because God is not going to do anything that violates His written word or causes Him to lie.  Keep that in mind as you study the Bible.  I am simply viewing the “catching away” of Phillip by the Spirit of God to be a natural pattern for the coming greater spiritual event.  If God can do this event to a man in the church then God can also take the whole church in a future event.  Let me show you another type of rapture event recorded in the Bible that is often ignored by rapture skeptics.

2Co 12:2  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

I mentioned this verse earlier but I feel this is important enough to look at again.  This event is in a position of greater alignment with the normal concept of what most people believe is the primary type of rapture.  Here we have Paul describing an event about himself and saying that he was “caught up” to the third heaven.  “Caught up” is again the Greek word G726 harpazo.  So Paul was taken by force in this experience by the Spirit of God. He says he does not know if he was in his body or outside of his body and that is not the important point to take away.  However notice that Paul says that he was taken and this means his spirit went to heaven at the minimum.  What you must observe is that Paul’s spirit was literally transported from the physical earth to a spiritual heaven location and then you can read that he saw things that he could not even describe to us.    Clearly this is another example of rapture in the Bible.  The spirit of Paul was taken up by force to see things in heaven that he had never seen before.  This was another divine sovereign choice act of God.  Paul did not ask to be taken but it still occurred to teach Paul and the rest of us that it can occur.  Do you still not believe in rapture?  I seriously do not know how you can still be on the unbelief side of the fence after studying all of the events that have already occurred.  But, I’m not done yet and there are more.   Let’s go back and reflect on a story from the Old Testament of a rapture event and possibly the first rapture event recorded in the Bible:

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

Wow, so Star Trek really did not invent the “Transporter”, God did.   God clearly transports the living natural man Enoch wholly, completely and directly from this earth to an undisclosed, unnamed new location in this verse.  We are never informed of where Enoch went; we are just told that he vanished off of the face of the earth.  Did you notice that Enoch did not have to die naturally first?  There are only two men in the O.T. that did not taste of natural death that I know of and Enoch was one of them.  Enoch is a clear O.T. pattern for the church members that will be “caught away” alive in 1 Thessalonians 4:17.  Clearly Enoch was raptured from this world alive to the eternal spiritual realm being taken bodily so that there is no grave here on the earth containing his body.  How can anyone teach that rapture is not a valid Bible concept and truth?  Look up the Greek word translated as “translated” in this verse. It literally means to “transfer” or “transport” as in an exchange of physical locations.  This is so significant that I do not know how people miss it or why they choose to ignore it.  I’m beginning to see a Bible concept that I really like here, and I’ll call it the “Beam me up Jesus” method of spiritual travel.  I really believe that this is going to be an awesome experience when it occurs.  There is only one other man in the O.T. that was taken up by divine force without seeing death and this was the prophet Elijah.

2Ki 2:1  And it came to pass, when the LORD would take up Elijah into heaven by a whirlwind, that Elijah went with Elisha from Gilgal.

The Hebrew word in the verse translated as “take up” literally means to ascend.  This is not rocket science so everyone should be able to recognize another obvious pattern for human translation or transportation out of this world while still naturally alive by divine sovereign power.  If you study the context of this event you will also see that God reveals what is going to happen to Elijah before it happens.  That is also significant since God repeats that pattern by revealing to the church that rapture will occur before it occurs.  Elijah is again a pattern for the living church members remaining on the earth today.  They do not know the exact timing of the “taking up” but he knew it would occur before it occurred and he even knew that it would even occur very soon.  Clearly Enoch and Elijah are valid “harpazo” patterns.  These are two direct witnesses for the future.

Let’s talk about Isaiah chapter 6 briefly.  This chapter describes an event that took place that clearly resembles what Paul experienced of being caught up to the third heaven.  I’m not going to quote any of the verses or review them in any detail.  You can do that research for yourself.  I will say that what Isaiah describes is clearly not of this world in any form or fashion.  In verse 1 there is mention of a throne but then following this is the mention of winged creatures that are a special type of angel.  This creature had 3 sets of wings.  One set covered his face and one set covered his feet and with the final set he flew around.  That is pretty amazing stuff.  This experience is no doubt a type of rapture where Isaiah is taken to the throne of God to view and record some things that we need to see.   It does not say that Isaiah was there bodily, but he had to be there spiritually in order to come back to write what he saw.  I find that very interesting and also very relevant to our discussion of rapture.  I will not address this experience any further in this lesson other than to give it to you as fifth potential pattern reference for a type of rapture.

Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.

We could talk a lot about Jesus ascending into heaven in Acts 1.   I have already mentioned this example previously in this lesson in a direct reference connection to 1 Thessalonians 4:16-17.  Here we have Jesus ascending up into the clouds and disappearing and this is another pattern of what is described will happen to the living on the earth when Jesus comes back to the clouds to take us up.  I will point out one distinct difference in this verse.  This ascent is not “harpazo”.  In other words Jesus was not seized out of the earth by force or caught up by the Spirit of God or any angel.  No this Greek word is very different because this is the divine God himself going up under His own power.  This Greek word is always used in conjunction with self-control and personal extended effort of self-power.  This is clearly an example of rapture because God is controlling the ascension event.  However it is done indecently from external power and is the internal power of God within Jesus that causes Him to go up.  The first five examples of people being raptured were clearly events independent from human human power and they can only be displays of the power of God.   I really pray that you are receiving these parallel examples and seeing the possibilities that can occur from them?

Satan fights the teaching of the true rapture because he will be forced to present an explanation to what happened to the millions of righteous people in the world that simply vanish without a trace prior to the tribulation.  He will come up with an ingenious twist of the truth.  He will probably claim that the wicked people on the earth have now been taken out for judgment and now only the righteous remain to rule with him.  You see this explanation fits with the pattern of what is transpiring in the media today.  The media is blasting Christians as hate mongers of an intolerant message of God’s love.  The homosexual agenda is the most intolerant group of people that exists in the world and they are in direct opposition to God and what the Bible says on the subject.   However, they claim that Christians are intolerant ones for claiming the truth in the Bible and not embracing their sin as normal.  What we see developing is a dividing line between those that are on God’s side and those that are opposed to God.  I would think that it would be wise to remain on God’s side, but they have had their minds blinded to the truth so that they are unable to see it.

I think I will wrap up this lesson for now.  I have given you a lot of information to examine and to consider.  I thank you for your time in reading and studying the Bible.  There is so much more in the Bible on this subject and I will continue on it in a future lesson.  God Bless!

If you would like to continue reading in this series you may proceed to “Part 3” now.