“Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God”.
Whom Is Your Mother?
Old Covenant Slave Mother vs New Covenant Free Woman
Galatians 4:21-31
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar.
25 For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
Comparatively, the son of Abraham by the free woman (Isaac) is likened to those seeking to be justified by faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as the promised Messiah, without becoming Jewish first or seeking a Zionist national identity.
When reading Paul’s words, the son of Abraham by the slave woman (his son Ishmael) was likened to those seeking to be justified by human means, by the works of the Law, by circumcision, by legal Jewish identity.
Paul confronted those who wanted to enforce the Jewish Law covenant upon the newly formed Christian congregation. The Christian congregation and the covenant it was formed upon was comprised of not just natural Jews, but of people of other nations who were not bound to obey the Law of Moses.
Yet there was a constant insistence then and also today by Zionist Jews to enforce an old terminated covenant centered on one physical nation, Israel.
In addition, ‘Christian Zionist:’ have become a powerful international force and their support of the State of Israel is uncritical no matter what actions the State may take. They applaud the genocide of the Palestinian people while settling in stolen land.
Zionist seek to be right with God by continuing the things of the past while ignoring His will in the matter. They want to recreate biblical Israel.
Paul speaks about two opposing covenants in his letter to the disciples in Galatians. He drew an illustration using (unnamed) Sarah, and (named) Hagar. Paul emphasized a competition between two covenants. One is legitimate and the other is not.
Paul also wanted disciples of Jesus to understand that attempts to have a righteous standing with God according to the flesh, according to Jewish social status, and a physical national identity is to be identified with a covenant of slavery, the covenant with Hagar and her offspring.
Zionist and so-called Christian-Zionist possess this slave mentality by insisted on creating an earthly nation with Jerusalem as it capital. This is exactly what Paul is warning against.
The original old covenant with a single nation is the covenant with Hagar and her offspring. It relates to the Law Covenant wherein God covenantally “married” as it were, his bride Israel.
By the time Paul wrote this letter, earthly Jerusalem certainly was not free. The Roman government had a choke-hold on the complete region. It could not have been the “Jerusalem above” Paul refers to.
What he does say specifically is that the Jerusalem above is “free”, in opposition to the slave-city earthly Jerusalem. He tells us that this heavenly Jerusalem is our mother; not earthly Jerusalem. Christian Zionist ignore this fact and insist on establishing a kingdom on Earth.
However, these verses are proof positive that the Old Covenant stemming from Mount Sinai represents slavery and had to be replaced by the ‘New Covenant’ which is based on a heavenly Jerusalem that offers freedom.
The present Zionist movement are the efforts of those attempting to defy God and continue under a yoke of slavery.
Paul further tells us that Ishmael was born when Abraham succumbed to his flesh. Or in other words, in the normal way ordinary human beings produce and bear children during their age of childbearing.
On the other hand, the son of the free woman Sarah (Isaac) was born, not according to human effort, but by the Divine power of God and after Abraham and Sarah were in reality too old to physically copulate for the sake of producing children.
Galatians 4:26 King James Version (KJV)
“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all”.
The efforts of Zionist, be they of Jewish descent or non Jewish, is in opposition to the kingdom of Heaven and to its ruler, Jesus Christ. It is therefore antichrist in its nature.
Why is this so vitally important for us to understand and appreciate?
For the answer to this question, we must read what Paul wrote to the disciples in Thessaloniki.
2 Thessalonians 2:1-13
1 Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, and by our gathering together unto him,
2 That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the day of Christ is at hand.
3 Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition;
4 Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
5 Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things?
6 And now ye know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
7 For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way.
8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:
9 Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
10 And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie:
12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.
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:
This “man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition” is the antichrist.
Paul told us that the Lord’s return would not occur until the “antichrist”, the “man of lawlessness”, the “son of perdition” would be “revealed”.
Paul gives us an idea of what we should be looking for in order to identify the antichrist.
2 Thessalonians 2:4
Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.
The antichrist is a substitution for Jesus Christ as it speaks of ‘him’ attempting to occupy a place in God’s temple. The Zionist’ aim is to reestablish biblical Israel and rebuild an earthly temple in Jerusalem. This too, is in opposition to Christ.
A true Christian disciple of Jesus, will reject Zionism in what ever form it presents itself in.
“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.”
Revelation 19:15
“I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him”
The Promised Chosen Heir
For the true believer and disciple of Christ the circumstances we are facing today, should move us to look into God’s word the Bible to get a full understanding for the reasons why things are the way they are. It requires looking back into the past when a long period of time was set by God during which He allowed the nations to rule the Earth with no sovereignty expressed on His part in the kingdom of mankind. God promised that at the end of this period of time, He would raise a King whose rulership would never end. Further, God promised that his rulership would put an end to all other rulerships. The Bible tells us that in the Day of his rulership, he would “shepherd the nations with an iron rod”.
But when was all of this to occur and in what way has the King of Kings and Lord of Lords been shepherding the kingdoms of the Earth with an “iron rod”? Who is responsible for the tribulation that we are faced with today?
We will begin with the prophecy that foretold the Messiah’s coming and what was going on in terms of punishment that God was delivering on His chosen nation at the time, Judah (the two-tribe kingdom) and Israel (the ten-tribe kingdom).
If you open your Bible to the Book of Daniel to chapter 3, you will find these words of prophecy given to the prophet Daniel in a vision inspired by God:
Daniel 7:13,14
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed”.
History clearly indicates that this prophecy has yet to be realized. It is not possible for mortal humans to achieved within human power an everlasting kingdom nor an everlasting king. Because we are mortal human beings, no one has the capacity to establish an “everlasting dominion.
The verses cited from the Bible book of Daniel are part of a record that begins with king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon besieging Jerusalem during the reign of king Josiah’s son Jehoiakim and making him a vassal of the gentile nation.
According to Daniel, this happened in the third year of Jehoiakim’s reign.
Daniel 1:1,2
In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem and besieged it.
And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.
This event, when God gave the king of Judah into the hand of king Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, marked the beginning of a 2,520 year-long period of time during which God removed His sanction of any king or rulership within the dominion of man. This period was to last until such time that the Everlasting Heir would be given rulership.
Historians date the death of Jehoiakim’s father Josiah at about 609 B.C.E. This means that Nebuchadnezzar besieged Jerusalem in about 606 B.C.E. The city, Jerusalem, was not destroyed until some twenty years later in about 587 B.C.E.
The city’s destruction is not the significant factor. The terms ‘appointed times of the nations’ and ‘the gentile times’ are used interchangeably. They both infer the same meaning that points to loss of sovereignty and domination.
It was the loss of national sovereignty the marked the beginning of gentile domination ie the gentile times.
The city was rebuilt quickly after the captives and exiles returned in about 537 B.C. This to the neglect of the rebuilding of the Temple. After the Temple was rebuilt, God lifted the curse He had placed on the land and it became productive again. This was about 517 B.C.
What did not return is a matter of both ‘sovereignty’ and ‘kingship’.
As stated previously, these events began a 2,520-year absence of any Divinely sanctioned sovereignty within the kingdoms of mankind.
“Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him”. Ezekiel 21:26,27
Although the Bible’s historical record tells us that God restored the people of Israel to their homeland (537 B.C.E.) and God lifted His curse on the land returning it to productivity (517 B.C.E.), independent sovereignty did not return. This is not an ordinary sovereignty. The sovereignty of Judah was an expression of Elohim’s sovereignty in the kingdom of man.
This ‘expression’ or ‘intervention’ into the kingdom of man by a King that God sanctioned as His Anointed, would not commence again until the Messiah began to exercise his kingly power. This would not begin until the expiration of the gentile times period.
Ezekiel was another of Elohim’s prophets at that time and he also prophesied about the removal of Divine sovereignty until the rightful, eternal King would be given rulership.
Ezekiel 21:
25 And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end,
26 Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
The Lord after his death and resurrection, sat at God’s right hand as ‘King-designated’ until the “appointed times of the nations expired”.
This is why the apostle Peter at Pentecost made the statement he made found in the Book of Acts at chapter 2.:32-35
32 “God has raised this very Jesus from death, and we are all witnesses to this fact.
33 He has been raised to the right side of God, his Father, and has received from him the Holy Spirit, as he had promised. What you now see and hear is his gift that he has poured out on us.
34 For it was not David who went up into heaven; rather he said, ‘The Lord said to my Lord: Sit here at my right side
35 until I put your enemies as a footstool under your feet.'”
At the end of that period that is referred to as the “appointed times of the nations” and the “gentile time period”, Christ began to exercise his kingly rulership from Heaven in fulfillment of the prophecy Yahuah Elohim gave through His angel to the prophet’s Daniel and Ezekiel.
Christ’ beginning to exercise kingly authority marked the beginning of what the Book of Revelation calls “the Lord’s Day”. (See Revelation 1:10)
His return is not set to occur until the final part near the conclusion of the Lord’s Day. “Lord’s Day” runs concurrently with what is referred to as the “Last Days“. The Lord’s Day is the last days of Satan, his rulership, his empire, and all else that corrupts Creation.
Concerning the “last days”, what the apostle Paul told the disciple Timothy reiterates much of what Jesus told his disciples that we read about in Luke chapter 21. Paul spoke of the godless spirit the would be pervasive among humankind during that “last days” i.e. the Lord’s Day.
2 Timothy 3:1-7:
1 THIS know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.
2 For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
3 Without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good,
4 For Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of Elohiym;
5 Having a form of holiness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.
6 For of this sort are they which creep into houses, and lead captive silly women laden with sins, led away with diverse lusts,
7 For Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the Truth.
These traits of thinking and behavior dominate many societies, groups, and families today. They reflect the godlessness Jesus described in Luke chapter 21 and in the Book of Revelation. That make sense since all three citings are referring to the same time period.
The visions recorded in the Book of Revelation, are stated by John as being a vision of and pertaining to the Lord’s Day:
Revelation 1:10, 19
10 “I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day, and heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet,”
19 “Write the things which thou hast seen, and the things which are, and the things which shall be hereafter;”
Let us examine what is written in the Book of Revelation about what is to take place on the Lord’s Day.
The Book of Revelation details Christ’ exercise of his power and authority both as High Priest and as King. When the Messiah returned to Heaven after his resurrection, he immediately began his role as High Priest. This discussion focuses on exercising his kingly power and how he rules the nations with an “iron rod” during the Day of the Lord.
What is fundamentally important to understand and appreciate is that everything that happens in what we read in the Book of Revelation is a result of acts initiated in Heaven. In other words, everything that occurs is a result of God’s will and direction.
Revelation 5:19 “Then I saw in the right hand of the one who sits on the throne a scroll written on the inside and on the outside, sealed with seven seals”.
We read in the Book of Revelation that Christ entered the sanctuary and passed through into the Holy of Holy. He took a scroll from the hand of Yahuah Elohim who is Almighty God and returned to his station in the Sanctuary:
Revelation 5:5-8
5 Then one of the elders said to me, “Don’t cry. Look! The Lion from Judah’s tribe, the great descendant of David, has won the victory, and he can break the seven seals and open the scroll.”
6 Then I saw a Lamb standing in the center of the throne, surrounded by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb appeared to have been killed. It had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God that have been sent through the whole earth.
7 The Lamb went and took the scroll from the right hand of the one who sits on the throne.
8 As he did so, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each had a harp and gold bowls filled with incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.
When Christ breaks the seven seals on the scroll, the events described in the Revelation prophecy begin to occur.
What transpires thereafter, begins to occur with the opening of the first four seals which calls forth of the 4 horsemen described at Revelation 6:1-8:
1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
2 And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.
3 And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see.
4 And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.
5 And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand.
6 And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
7 And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see.
8 And I looked and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
But it is the opening of the 3 remaining seals that details the events mankind would experience as a result of mankind’s resistance to the King of Kings who is God’s Anointed One.
As King, Christ wages war against those in opposition to God’s kingdom. This is where his “ruling the nations with an iron rod” can be examined for what that means for the nations of the Earth.
This should make us particular to the rise of antichrist whose ambition is to reestablish a man-made physical kingdom and temple in opposition to Christ and the Kingdom of God.
At the conclusion of the “appointed times of the nations” or the period of domination of the earth by gentile nations in the absence of the presence of Divine rulership among the kingdoms of men, according to Elohim’s words to the prophet Daniel, He would install a King whose rulership will never end. As was mentioned previously, the Lord was the Chosen One but sat at God’s right hand until the appointed times of the nations expired.
Also referred to previously, the prophecy Elohim gave Daniel mark a period of time during which Divine sovereignty would be withdrawn from the kingdoms of mankind. This began when sovereignty was removed from Judah by King Nebuchadnezzar when he besieged Jerusalem, took Judah’s King captive, and thus made Judah a vassal State. The Israelites were restored to their land in 537 B.C.E. when King Cyrus overthrew the Babylonian empire. The desolation of the land occurred about 517 B.C.E. after the completion of the Temple rebuild. But again, what did not return was the nation’s independence and sovereignty.
This is the meaning of Elohim’s words we read at Ezekiel 21:26 and 27:
26 Thus saith the Lord God; Remove the diadem and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high.
27 I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him.
It is concerning this one “who has the right” that Daniel saw a vision of coming from Heaven at the conclusion of the appointed time of the nations:
Daniel 7:13,14
“I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him.
And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed”.
Although Yeshua the Chosen One received all authority in Heaven and on Earth upon his return to Heaven after his resurrection, he would await exercising his kingly power in the realm of mankind until the expiration of the appointed times of the nations. (Psalm 110:1)
This brings us into modern day events as we live near the conclusion of the Day of the Lord and the period of time called the Last Days. Christ is exercising his kingly power from his station in Heaven now and has been since the end of the appointed times of the nations ended. The Lord’s Day was not to bring peace to the kingdoms of mankind. Since we have no evidence that Jesus in any way promoted any act of violence during his human lifetime, he must have been speaking of a future time when he told his disciples this:
Matthew 10:43-36
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother
Matthew 10:43-36
34 Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword.
35 For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother-in-law.
36 And a man’s foes shall be they of his own household.
The Day of the Lord was prophesied to bring woe to the Earth.
Revelation 8:13:
13 And I beheld, and heard an angel flying through the midst of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound! KJV
It has been and still is a misconception of many believers that Christ exercising influence in the affairs of the kingdoms of the Earth requires his return. In reading the Book of Revelation we see Christ stationed in the Sanctuary of the heavenly temple. From there he is opening the seals on the scroll he has received from God. It is from there that he carries out the will of God. His coming as he told his disciples would be at final part of the Lord’s Day. His coming is at the final part of the Day for the execution-phase of Divine Judgment.
When you think about it, why would it be any more necessary for the Lord to come to Earth to influence what happens here anymore than it is necessary for God our Father to do so? It is not. Keep in mind where Jesus is when he opens the seals on the Scroll.
The events connected to the Lord’s exercising his Kingly rulership and power and his Second Coming are not connected. In other words, Christ taking power to exercise his kingly authority is not the time at which point he prophesied according to what we read in Scriptures, was to be the time of his return. While on Earth, Jesus prophesied many things that had to occur before he returned. (Luke 21)
After foretelling these things destined to occur in the final days of this system, Jesus told them that all of the things he prophesied must take before his return. It is evident that the expectation that the end of the “gentile times” would bring the immediate return of the Lord and Armageddon had no biblical basis.
Beyond this misunderstanding that is, what to expect at the end of the appointed times of the nations, a failure pay close attention to mathematical differences in attempting to calculate the end of the 2,520-year time period according to the present-day calendar we currently use.
Miscalculations as to When the “Gentile Times’ Ended
For over 130 years, a specific date in terms of years has been declared as the date the “appointed times of the nations” ended. That date is 1914 C.E.
It is very important to briefly take time to consider what would be necessary to accurately calculate the approximate end of the gentile times. This calculation being based on starting in 607 B.C.E. and ending 2,520 years later.
I hope you will allow yourself to continue to read and to think about it. It has to do with the number 1914 and the year 1914 C.E The fact is that no matter what date or number of years you attempt to use in finding an end date of the gentile times according to our present-day calendar, if you do not consider the factors that follow you will not arrive at a correct answer.
A quote from a Watchtower publication: From October 607 B.C.E. to October 1 B.C.E. is 606 years. Since there is no zero year, from October 1 B.C.E. to October 1914 C.E. is 1,914 years. By adding 606 years and 1,914 years, we get 2,520 years. For information on Jerusalem’s fall in 607 B.C.E., see the article “Chronology” in Insight on the Scriptures, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses. jw.org/en/library/books/bible-teach/1914-significant-year-bible-prophecy
Any accurate attempt to approximate the end of the appointed times of the end must factor into it the difference between the length of a biblical year in which the prophecy was given in, and the length of our present-day year. Please look closely at the illustration above that is provided by the Watchtower Organization and take note of how they reckoned that 1914 C.E. was the end of the gentile time period. Can you see the flaw?
The conclusion that the time period is a total of 2,520 years is arrived at by multiplying 7 times 360 per the number of days per calendar year according to the Hebrew system. 1914 of these years in terms of their days is equal to 1914 times 360. That equals 689,040 days.
Now use this same method to calculate the number of days that are in 1914 of our present-day calendar years. 1914 times 365 equals a total number of698,610 days.
There is a differential of 9,570 days between the two calendar systems. To express these days in terms of our present-day years, we simply divide the number of days by 365. This equals 26.21 common-era years.
1914 C.E. is therefore 26.21 years off of the actual end date when this is factored in.
This brings the actual end of the appointed times of the nations to approximately 1940.21 C.E.
The following is an excerpt from the Watchtower Library that explains how the Watchtower teachers arrive at the year 1914 C.E. You will note that they simply count up the 1914 years with no accounting for the fact that they have changed from counting in lunar (360 day-years) to counting in common-era (365-day years).
“From October 607 B.C.E. to October 1 B.C.E. is 606 years. Since there is no zero year, from October 1 B.C.E. to October 1914 C.E. is 1,914 years. By adding 606 years and 1,914 years, we get 2,520 years. For information on Jerusalem’s fall in 607 B.C.E., see the article “Chronology” in Insight on the Scriptures, published by Jehovah’s Witnesses.
This is a correct mathematical plot of the gentile times period from the time the common era began. The answer is found at T-1. The area under the curve is measured along the x axis and is represented by two reference vectors: (-1914 C.E.) and (-26.21 C.E.). These two numbers add together. The result is 1940.21 C.E.
L
They also conflate the end of the gentile times with an immediate return of Christ by teaching that he returned invisibly to all mankind and selectively chose them as his ‘appointed faithful slave’. For this to be true, would not that also mean that what we read in the Book of Revelation chapter 1 verse 7 would then be Jesus’ third coming?
Revelation 1:7
“Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen”.
Since we have yet to experience the fulfillment of Jesus’ words quoted above, The Second Coming the Lord and others whose prophecies are recorded in the Bible. There is no proof of any invisible return of Jesus then nor any other time.
Please reflect on the events that were occurring during the period of 1940 A.D. The events of this time period propelled mankind into a whole new era that has given fruit to the current state of human affairs both geopolitically and continuing factional strife. These and other things foretold by Christ began when he began to loosen the seals that bound the scroll he received from his Father. Praised be our Father and our Lord forever.
All of the information we are given in the Holy Bible is for the purpose of understanding. That includes the prophecies concerning this time period, both its beginning and its end. So, it is wrong to completely dismiss them as if they have no value. But it is as equally wrong to attempt to pinpoint specific dates relying on the accuracy of calculations made by imperfect men who often lack the necessary skills needed to solve the problem accurately.
Christ gave us a sign to pay close attention to. (Matthew 24 -Luke 21- the Book Revelation) Theses should be our primary indicators of the time that would mark the beginning of the Lord’s Day’ and all things destined to occur during it.
By looking closely and honestly at the teachings of C.T. Russell and the beliefs of the Bible Student’s that followed him we can see the confusion they had as to what the end of the gentile times would bring. We find that he had many obvious misunderstandings about what it really meant and what it did not mean. Their concept left no time for the Lord’s Day nor the Last Days. They were expecting the immediate return of Christ at the end of the gentile times not appreciating that they were wrong about the year the gentile time period ended.
Was the End of the Appointed Times of the Nations to Mark the Return of Christ?
The belief of Charles Taze Russell as well as those associated with him was that at the end of the “gentile times” or “appointed times of the nations” that are based on the prophecy in the Book of Daniel, would bring the immediate coming of Christ.
As is evidenced in their own publications, they believed at the time that within a short number of years after the conclusion of the gentile times, Christ would return, gather the remaining elect, and Armageddon would occur. All this immediately. Their concept left no time for the “Day of the Lord” nor the “last days”.
As this consideration of how Christ is ruling the nations from Heaven with an “iron rod” prior to his Second Coming let’s examine what is in Gospel of Luke, chapter 21.
Within the context of these verses, it is quite clear that the Lord is speaking about the “last days” in terms of his Second Coming. This was the nature of the question that his disciples had posed to him. It was this question Yeshua was answering.
He foretold of many events that would occur within the last days that would happen prior to his return. In fact, he said all these things he mentions must occur “first”.
Luke 21:7-9
“Teacher,” they asked, “when will this be? And what will happen in order to show that the time has come for it to take place?”
Jesus said, “Watch out; don’t be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t follow them.
Don’t be afraid when you hear of wars and revolutions; such things must happen first, but they do not mean that the end is near.”
But the specific intent of their question is perhaps made clearer to us in the Matthew’s gospel recollection of what was said:
Matthew 24:3
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?
Although the Lord not not answer them by giving them a specific date, he did not leave the approximate time span of the last days leading up to his coming unclear. While he did not reveal a specific hour, day, or year he revealed a“season” of events which would occur during the lifespan of a single generation. He assured that the generation alive at the beginning of his sign, would still have a remnant alive when he returned”.
Luke 21:29-33
29 And he told them a parable: “Look at the fig tree, and all the trees.
30 As soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near.
31 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.
32 Truly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all has taken place.
33 Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away”.
Given the context of Yeshua’s statement, this has to refer to the generation in the times during which he would return. Remember, that is the question the disciples posed to him. So, the belief that Yeshua was referring to events that occurred in the first century does not reconcile with the Lord’s return in kingly glory. Remember what question his disciples asked him?
The biblically based interpretation excludes any notion that the last day time period was of quick duration. Otherwise, why would the Lord speak in terms of the life span of a human generation (V 32)? Or why would he caution not to be quick to conclude the end had come by the fearful things happening upon the Earth (V 9)?
Yet, many believers who followed C.T. Russell, International Bible Students, Seventh Days Adventist, and Millerite s believed somehow that Christ would return immediately at the supposed end of the gentile times with no serious time period for the “Day of the Lord” nor the “last days’ to occur. The present teachings of the Watchtower Organization continue to teach that Jesus returned in 1914 A.D. invisibly.
They either consciously or unconsciously play a role in fulfilling a negative role in Yeshua’s prophecy. He warned against following teachers who prematurely announced his return.
Luke 21:8
“Jesus said, “Watch out; don’t be fooled. Many men, claiming to speak for me, will come and say, ‘I am he!’ and, ‘The time has come!’ But don’t follow them”.
Since nothing happened in 1874 nor in 1914 nor any other date until present that in any way fulfilled the expected return of the Lord, the gathering of the remaining members of the body of Christ, nor Armageddon, these are clearly false beliefs. False beliefs that became the basis for creating even more false teachings to support and reinforce the false doctrine of an ‘invisible’ return of Christ in 1914 A.D. Because he didn’t show up when they claimed he would, their leaders fabricated one false interpretation after another for the last century. For example, the 1990’s “overlapping generations: teaching in an attempt to by more time. It is the year 2024 now.
The correct expectation was and still is that the end of the gentile times marked the beginning of the Lord’s Day exercising control from Heaven. Their end marked the beginning of the Day of the Lord. The end of the gentile tie period also marked the beginning of “last days”. That is the last days of Satan and his kingdom. It was incorrect to expect that the Lord would return immediately at the end of the gentile times period.
Remember what Jesus told his disciples:
Luke 21:29-30
29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:
30 And then shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
Jesus plainly stated that he would not return until after the “tribulation”. This would be near the very end of the Lord’s Day.
Nothing Learned and No Repentance
“And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see”.
Certainly, as the thing we read happening in the Book of Revelation occur, we expect to see dramatic events reflecting these things. The history of humankind experienced human life due to warfare on a scale never having been witnessed nor that has been witnessed since the period of World War II. The decade previous had visited widespread poverty and conditions of famine among many in the world.
The post war period of the late 1949 to mid 1950’s saw a high rise in various infectious diseases such as mumps, measles, chicken pox, polio, and others.
We have seen the near total collapse of cultures that were thought could endure for centuries. We have seen a shifting away from a biblically-based moral code to others that judge what is morally acceptable on whatever is popular at the moment. They speak of a “rules based order” that doesn’t even exist in any codified form that someone can examine. While a godless spirit dominates the world, Christians and Christian values have come increasingly under assault.
Nothing of real value was learned by the nations in general from the World War II experience. The imperialistic powers have circled back to the same point as before. Rather than rejecting the ideologies that led to the crisis we call World War II, they have embraced them as their own. They have embraced the powers of evil to achieve a long-term vision and ambition. A vision that is in diametrical opposition to the kingdom of Heaven. Look at the historical record of the decline of human civilization, the constant wars, and the hardening of the hearts of many who now lack any of the natural affection toward their own family members much less to those not connected to them in the flesh.
The stiff opposition of wicked opposers of God and Christ, causes them to reject any direction from God and by our Messiah.
This being so, when they are given a sound command that will benefit them from God, they by nature recoil and refuse to conform. This response works against their interest and actually aids their demise.
An analogy would be like two people facing off at each other. One is facing a cliff and there is another man facing toward him standing at the edge of the cliff.
The man with the cliff behind him is adamant that whatever the other man suggests, he will do the opposite.
Suppose it is the desire of the man facing the man on the cliff for him to go off the cliff?
He could control the situation by suggestion. Since the man with the cliff behind him is dead set to do the opposite, the other man could demand, “Take a step toward me!” The man on the edge would by his nature rebel and take a step back in defiance. With set command and opposing reaction, it moves the man at the edge one more step toward the objective of the man he is resisting. So too, God has used the resistance of Satan and his seed to maneuver them into the position they find themselves in today. Some call this reverse-psychology.
Revelation 15:5 & 16:2
5 “After this I saw the temple in heaven open, with the Sacred Tent in it. 6 The seven angels who had the seven plagues came out of the temple, dressed in clean shining linen and with gold bands tied around their chests. 7 Then one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven gold bowls full of the anger of God, who lives forever and ever. 8 The temple was filled with smoke from the glory and power of God, and no one could go into the temple until the seven plagues brought by the seven angels had come to an end”. Revelation 16: 2 “Then I heard a loud voice speaking from the temple to the seven angels: “Go and pour out the seven bowls of God’s anger on the earth!”
Christ is using the resistant nature of those who bear the mark of the beast against them as the bowls containing the plagues that torment them are poured out from Heaven according to what is written in the scroll.
Notice what is written at Revelation 9:20,21
20 The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repentof the works of their handsnor give up worshipingdemons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,
21nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Instead of repenting, the wicked double-down in their defiance against the King of Kings, they make their situation worse and worse in terms of the calamities they confront. Their resistance helps lead to their downfall.
The ‘Lord’s Day’ and the ‘Last Days’
The coming of the kingdom of God, will bring about the end of the present human system of things. In exercising his kingly power and authority during the last days before his return, Yeshua told his disciples it would be a time of meting out punishment.
Luke 21:22
“For those will be ‘The Days of Punishment,’ to make come true all that the Scriptures say”.
All prophecy indicates that this would is Yeshua Hamashiach exercising kingly intervention in the affairs of the kingdom of man according to the will of Elohim. These are the “last days” of rulership opposed to the rulership of Yeshua Hamashiach and the Kingdom of Heaven.
“You will break them with an iron rod; you will shatter them in pieces like a clay pot”. Psalm 2:9
To get an accurate understanding of the biblical usage of the term “rod of iron” we need to look for it. The first mention of a king wielding an “iron rod” is recorded in the Book of Psalms. This Bible book also provides the context of why the Lord is punishing the nations.
By examining the historical record of what happened to nations who warred against God’s anointed King and God’s kingdom at that time, we will learn how their falls largely was a result of their ending up being pitted one against the other. At that time wars broke out among the hostile neighboring nations and as a result kingdoms fell. Not by human might but by the orchestration of Elohim from Heaven. God turned them on one another. So, it is similar at present.
Let’s begin our consideration of the Messiah’s rulership of the nations in these last days by reading Psalm 2 in historical context to understand rulership with an iron rod from the biblical perspective. By doing this, we can establish the biblical usage of the phrase, “rule with an iron rod” as it applied to God’s anointed King at that time. After, we will see how this is unfolding now in real time.
The leaders of these nations surrounding David, fought among themselves, but they were united in their opposition to Elohim and His anointed.
These leaders “took their stand” against Him and conspired together against His anointed king. In David’s day, it was he who was the anointed one (in Hebrew, messiah). The conspiracy was against David because he stood for God.
Elohim by using His great power, had established His earthly kingdom above all the kingdoms of the known world.
Psalm 2:6
6 “On Zion, my sacred hill,” he says, “I have installed my king.”
The anointed King of God is whom they plot against. In resentment they said,
Psalm 2:3
3 “Let us free ourselves from their rule” they say; “let us throw off their control.”
It is in this context that Elohim mocks their plots to overthrow His anointed King. It is in these circumstances that an “iron rod” would be used to punish those nations. Elohim tells us that His anointed King uses this iron rod to punish those nations who stand opposed to God’s kingdom.
Psalm 2:9
9 You will break them with an iron rod; you will shatter them in pieces like a clay pot.’ “
The situation confronting King David at the time
In Psalm 2:5–6, David said that God rebukes the conspirators in His anger and terrifies them in His wrath, proclaiming that He has installed His holy king over them all.
David knew that his strength and protection came from the power of God. He knew that Elohim is ever present, and He can force His will like a hardened rod of iron to force his enemies in any direction. David in his own words praises and thanks Elohim for fighting his enemies. He also gives us an idea of what his enemies have against him. By his words it is apparent David has no desire like his enemies to “cast off” the rules and commandments of God. It is clear that David wants to lead a God-fearing obedient life and for his good characteristics and behaviors, he became despised.
David understood through personal experience what it felt like to be the object of hatred. When we read David’s expressions found in the Psalms, we should also think about how, the Messiah was attacked and mistreated for no just cause. It was because he was the Anointed of God and was righteous. Listen as well to David’s strong outcry for God’s intervention:
Psalm 109:2-18
2 For the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful are opened against me: they have spoken against me with a lying tongue.
3 They compassed me about also with words of hatred; and fought against me without a cause.
4 For my love they are my adversaries: but I give myself unto prayer.
5 And they have rewarded me evil for good, and hatred for my love.
6 Set thou a wicked man over him: and let Satan stand at his right hand.
7 When he shall be judged, let him be condemned: and let his prayer become sin.
8 Let his days be few; and let another take his office.
9 Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow.
10 Let his children be continually vagabonds and beg: let them seek their bread also out of their desolate places.
11 Let the extortioner catch all that he hath; and let the strangers spoil his labor.
12 Let there be none to extend mercy unto him: neither let there be any to favor his fatherless children.
13 Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following let their name be blotted out.
14 Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the LORD; and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out.
15 Let them be before the LORD continually, that he may cut off the memory of them from the earth.
16 Because that he remembered not to shew mercy, but persecuted the poor and needy man, that he might even slay the broken in heart.
17 As he loved cursing, so let it come unto him: as he delighted not in blessing, so let it be far from him.
18 As he clothed himself with cursing like as with his garment, so let it come into his bowels like water, and like oil into his bones.
David understood well that his ability to conquer his enemies was due to the power of God.
Psalm 23:2-6
2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.
3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.
5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.
6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.
Looking at the experience of Christ, those that pursued Yeshua knew by the prophecies fulfilled in him and that he was truly the anointed of God. But that did not stop them, because they had a plan to kill off the Messiah, thereby “cast off” Elohim’s bands, and install a counterfeit earthly kingdom in its place a kingdom in which they determined law, morality, and right versus wrong. They thought that they would “rule as kings”.
After examining the original biblical usage of the term ‘iron rod’, let see how it applies to the rulership of Christ. In the Revelation given to John, Christ is described as “ruling with an iron rod”. But, there is another feature of the Lord that is also worthy of taking note of that is mentioned here and that is a “sharp sword” that came “Out of his mouth…”. From our perspective we know that the Bible writers used the word ‘sword’ is symbolically in regard to speaking the truth of God.
We need also to reflect on Jesus’ prehuman existence as “The Word” of God. This exclusive title bears witness to Jesus being the ‘mouthpiece’ or “spokesperson’ for God prior to his human existence.
Revelation 19:15
“Out of his mouth came a sharp sword, with which he will defeat the nations. He will rule over them with a rod of iron, and he will trample out the wine in the wine press of the furious anger of the Almighty God”.
The Word of God
“Out of his mouth came a sharp sword”
The Messiah or Hamashiach is the “Word of God. The Word of God is an exclusive designation of the Son of God. Even in his prehuman existence our Lord was known as “The Word”. The Hebrew Cepher Bible translates the biblical passage found in Ezekiel 1:3 in terms that convey that it is Jesus in his prehuman existence that came to Ezekiel and that we are not to interpret the text is referring to say a ‘voice’ from God.
“The Word of Yahuah came expressly unto El־Yechezq’el the priest, the son of Buziy, in the land of the Kasdiym by the river Kevar; and the hand of Yahuah was there upon him”. (Cepher)
“Yahuah” is the Hebrew translate for “Yahweh” or Elohim. Do you note that “Word” is capitalized in the rendering of the text? In the original Hebrew/Aramaic, the term for “word” is דְבַר which is masculine in gender. This capitalization infers that a person came to Ezekiel who spoke the word of God to Ezekiel. This was Christ acting as spoken person for God prior to his human life.
Jesus is the faithful and true witness of God and has been since prior to being born of man. In the Book of John in chapter one, John refers to Jesus as the “Word”. And in his writing of the vision given by Christ recorded in the Book of Revelation, John declares Jesus’ name to be “the Word of God”. When reading in the Book of Revelation about “Out of his came a sharp sword”, we need to remember that from the beginning Christ has been the mouthpiece of God.
Rev 19:11-16
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.
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.
13 And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.
14 And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.
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.
16 And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.
Verse fifth teen above states that the “King of Kings and Lord of Lords” would “smite the nations” with a sharp sword that goes “out from his mouth“.
As the Word of God, the Messiah is the mouthpiece of God the Father so therefore the power of God carries forth in his word because it is God’s will.
That is why the Lord could make the statement to his disciples we read in specifically verses 32 and 33 of the passage cited below:
Luke 21:29-33
29 And he spake to them a parable; Behold the fig tree, and all the trees;
30 When they now shoot forth, ye see and know of your own selves that summer is now nigh at hand.
31 So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand.
32 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass away, till all be fulfilled.
33 Heaven and earth shall pass away: but my words shall not pass away.
Although some interpret Jesus’ statement to infer that the ‘generation’ he spoke about in verse thirty two, was in reference to that current generation of that time, history doesn’t prove it so.
The Lord did not return during the lifetime of those disciples. It is almost 2,000 years later and we are still waiting for the Messiah to return.
Let us go back a reread the question Jesus’ disciples asked him, but read what was asked according to the Gospel of Matthew:
Matthew 34:3
As Jesus sat on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him in private. “Tell us when all this will be,” they asked, “and what will happen to show that it is the time for your coming and the end of the age.”
His disciples were specifically asking him about his return. So, the generation he spoke of must be a generation that would be alive at the beginning and during of the Lord’s Day. This is when the events foretold in the Book of Revelation take place. The “end of the age” is the equivalent to the “last days”.
The events Jesus foretold of while on Earth that we read in the Book of Matthew chapter 24 and the Book of Luke chapter 21, need to be remembered when we examine the context of the Book of Revelation. It is no coincidence that the same plagues mentioned are mentioned previously by the Lord during his earthly ministry. War, plague, famine, social upheaval, etc.
While what we are living through currently reflects severe instability and uncertainty, the situation is only reflective of human ability to address much less solve the global threats to humanity. The plagues described in the Book of Revelation chapter 9 that occur as a result of trumpets blowing and bowls being poured out upon the Earth, continue as a result of the failure of those who practice wickedness to repent from their godless behaviors.
Revelation 9:20
“The rest of the human race, all those who had not been killed by these plagues, did not turn away from what they themselves had made. They did not stop worshiping demons, nor the idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone, and wood, which cannot see, hear, or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic, their sexual immorality, or their stealing”.
“Now the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to blow them”. Revelation 8:6
We must also keep in mind that everything that happens that we read in the Book of Revelation, are results of the opening of the scroll the Lamb receives from Elohim Yahuah who is the One seated on the throne. From the first seal being opened and the riders on the four horses are summoned forth by the four living creatures to the “star” falling from Heaven making the waters poisonous to the angel of the abyss being granted to open it and released imprisoned demons to what befalls the great harlot, the false prophet, and the wild beast, all occur as a result of the opening of the seals on the scroll Christ received from the hand of God. What is happening is according to the will and plan of God.
Elohim our Father by means of Christ, is bringing an end to the devil’s empire. What we are experiencing are not random events that are totally out of control. It is true that they are out of the control of the fallen angels and man. But our Father and our Lord are in absolute control and have been since the beginning. We have considered prophecy given long ago that are being revealed in startling detail and accuracy.
Since the beginning of the Lord’s Day, Christ has exerted his power as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is subduing his enemies by shepherding all those opposed to him and the Kingdom of God by force as if with an “iron rod” to their eventual destruction.
Summary and Conclusion
The same Jesus who spoke the words recorded in the twenty first chapter of Luke who is the standing in the Sanctuary in the vision given to John in what John tells us is a vision of “the Lord’s Day”.
The Lord’s prophecy he gave to his disciples while still alive as a human, reflects many of the plagues poured out as a result of him opening the seals in the Lord’s Day.
The Lord’s Day began when he started exercising his authority by direct influence in the kingdom of man.
There was a period of time after the Lord’s resurrection that he sat as it where, ‘King Designate’ at his Father’s side until the “appointed time of the nations” would be fulfilled.
This is alluded to in what we read in the Book of Acts in the teaching of the apostles.
Acts 2:34–35
34 For David did not ascend into the heavens, but he himself says, “‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand,
35 until I make your enemies your footstool.”’
When that period of time expired, the Lord’s Day commenced; which is also the “Last Days” of Satan and his corrupt system of things.
What has been happening since the beginning of the Lord’s Day is a direct result of him opening the seals of the scroll he received from Elohim the Father. Armageddon thusly too, is a result of opening the seals.
The plagues released by the opening of the seals including Armageddon are the will of God contained in the scroll. The plagues unleashed by the opening of the seal are a precursor to Armageddon.
The Lord made this clear when he told them that these things must take place first:
Mat 24:4-6
4 And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.
5 For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.
6 And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.
The time of tribulation is Jesus’ sign that the time of his return is eminent.
This was his disciple’s question according to the Gospel written by Matthew:
Mat 24:3
“And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, ‘Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world‘”?
They asked for a sign of his return or coming and of the “end of the world”.
Armageddon is the culmination of the things that will bring about the end of the world opposed to the kingdom of God. That will occur when Christ returns to execute Divine judgment.
What is most important for us as disciples of Christ is to pay attention to his teaching. He gave us this sign for a purpose. So, he tells us to pay attention less we be deceived by false prophets and teachers.
Mat 24:22-27
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.
23 Then if any man shall say unto you, Lo, here is Christ, or there; believe it not.
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.
25 Behold, I have told you before.
26 Wherefore if they shall say unto you, Behold, he is in the desert; go not forth: behold, he is in the secret chambers; believe it not.
27 For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
His last words of verse 27 are echoed by him again in the vision he gave to John concerning the faith that it would be manifested to all alive on Earth.
Rev 1:7
Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen.
Until such time, we wait in eager expectation.
When Christ does return, we will enter the execution phase of the Judgment during which all rewards will be rendered. Whether that be the blessing or the malediction.
Luke 21:28,32,33 28 When these things begin to happen, stand up and raise your heads, because your salvation is near.” 32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: 33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors. KJV
For the true believer and disciple of Christ the circumstances we are facing today, should move us to look into God’s word the Bible to get a full understanding for the reasons why things are the way they are. God set a period of time during which He allowed the nations to rule the Earth with no sovereignty expressed on His part in the kingdom on mankind. Through His prophets Daniel and Ezekiel among others, God promised that at the end of this period of time, He would raise a King whose rulership would never end. This one we have come to know as the Christ or the Hamashiach which means Messiah. God promised that his rulership would never end and that it would put an end to all other rulerships in opposition to him and the Kingdom of God. The Bible tells us that in the Day of his rulership, he would “shepherd the nations with an iron rod“.
True believers like everyone else living today are experiencing extreme tribulation and extreme threat to their very existence. While we have read the prophecies concerning the times we live, the Bible tells us that this would be a time of hardship for everyone on Earth. Our being disciples of Christ and attempting to lead a God-fearing obedient life does not make us immune to suffering. And what should be of paramount importance to us individually is what will be our standing in the eyes of the Lord when he arrives.
Listen to how bad Jesus described conditions would be:
Luke 21:21,22
21 For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be.
22 And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short.
A notice the effect that these ongoing tribulations are bound to have on most people as they continue and amplify in their intensity:
Revelation 21:25 and 27
25 “There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea.
26 People will be fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.
It is definitely true that many fear-inspiring things are happening and that there does indeed exist palpable fear among many people of many nations as they watch their ruler send things spiraling further and further out of control. They either do not have the desire to turn back or they lack the necessary skills to create answers to the critical problems mankind is confronted with.
However, these events we are experiencing should bring us comfort in the realization that the things we hope for are not far off from becoming reality. I have to believe that this is what the Lord meant when he said:
Luke 21:31;
“So likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye that the kingdom of God is nigh at hand”. (KJV)
Galatians 1:6-9 6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ to a different “good news”; 7 and there is not another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ. 8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed. 9 As we have said before, so I now say again: if anyone preaches to you a “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed.
2 Corinthians 11:4
“For if he who comes preaches another Jesus, whom we did not preach, or if you receive a different spirit, which you did not receive, or a different “good news”, which you did not accept, you put up with that well enough”.
The current world crisis is over moral values as much as anything else.
East versus West Spiritual War
“American Orthodox ‘Archbishop (OCA) says Morality is an Evolutionary Construct”
Deposed Deacon Puhalo, who masquerades as an “archbishop” with the blessing and implicit consent of the OCA Synod, continues to spread heretical and false teaching, using the authority granted to him by the same Synod, to directly contradict the truth, the Scriptures, and the teaching of the Orthodox Church.
On October 26 on his Facebook page, Lazar Puhalo made several outrageous and categorically false statements about morality and virtue. These are a sampling of his latest non-Orthodox and non-Christian declarations:
“Morality is an evolutionary construct, it is not a product of religion.”
“Basic moral concepts are practiced to one degree or another throughout the animal kingdom and not just among primates.”
“Moral concepts evolve the same as the organism that has and develops those concepts. The argument that we would not have morality without religion is simply fraudulent and completely untrue.”
“Both morality and concepts of virtue are evolutionary constructs”
Here are some excerpts from Puhalo’s entire Facebook post from October 23, 2023:
“We do not need to tell lies and use misinformation to defend our Faith(sic)”.
“Morality is an evolutionary construct, it is not a product of religion. Basic moral concepts are practised to one degree or another throughout the animal kingdom and not just among primates”.
“Generally, actions that unify and enhance any social organism’s survival and prosperity will be labelled as “moral.”
“The radical juridicalism of Western theology results from it being tied to Roman civil law and the literal understanding of the Old Testament. This resulted in the idea that God required a human sacrifice to cover the sins of human beings”.
“The notion that Jesus Christ was punished on our behalf for our sins is grossly immoral and has no connection with the concept of love. In fact, it negates any concept of forgiveness because punishment and forgiveness are mutually exclusive”.
“If Jesus Christ was punished on behalf of mankind, then mankind is never forgiven; rather, punishment has been had, which means that the idea of forgiveness is a mere legal fiction, defining most Western theology”.
Puhalo brazenly teaches falsehoods that undermine the truth and directly contradict the right theology and teaching of the Holy Orthodox Church. He has done so repeatedly in the past without any consequence from the OCA Synod. Many of his teachings are not only not Orthodox, they’re not even Christian!
___________
Puhalo uses no passages from the Holy Scriptures to support his assertions. He seems more knowledgeable about anthropology and evolution theories.
Puhalo denies almost all of the teachings in the gospel of the New Testament. Yet, he postures himself as a “Christian Orthodox” priest. There’s not one orthodox thing related to his teachings.
This man denies the ransom sacrifice of Christ! Christ’ sacrifice is the very basis for Christian faith.
We must never forget the counsel we have been given:
Galatians 1:6-9
6 I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who called you by the grace of Christ to a different “good news”;
7 and there is not another “good news.” Only there are some who trouble you, and want to pervert the Good News of Christ.
8 But even though we, or an angel from heaven, should proclaim to you a “good news” other than that which we preached to you, let him be cursed.
9 As we have said before, so I now say again: if anyone preaches to you a “good news” other than that which you received, let him be cursed.
The so-called Christian church in the West has embraced a “new gospel” and is at war morally with all other nations that wisely reject it.
The Roman Catholic pope is no better than this perverter of the faith.
Are these promises by God yet to be fulfilled, or were they fulfilled long ago?
The Grand Antichrist Deception
This post will examine the restoration promises made by Elohim through His prophets that are recorded in the Old Testament, the time period the prophesies were made, and finally when they were fulfilled.
The Restoration Promises To Israel
Important in understanding the restoration prophesies found in the Old Testament, is their dating as regard to when they were written and also the circumstances that existed when they were written.
There are many who teach and believe that the prophecies concerning restoration that are written in the Old Testament are being fulfilled now or are yet to be fulfilled. But, is this true?
Below is a list of Bible Books that contain restoration promises God made and when they were written:
The Book Of Deuteronomy written between 15th and 7th centuries B.C.E.
The Book of Psalms written between the 10th and 9th centuries B.C.E.
The Book of Isaiah written 740-701 B.C.E.
The Book of Lamentations written 587-575 B.C.E.
The Book of Ezekiel written 593-573 B.C.E.
The Book of Jeremiah written 630-580 B.C.E.
The book of Amos written 788-743 B.C.E.
Please note the time periods in which these Books were written. The dates are very important in understanding the fulfillment of the restoration promises.
The prophetic writings in these Books detail two things:
(1) God promises that He would both free the Israelites from captive bondage and
(2) that He would restore the land of Israel.
These two events are the basis for the restoration promises mentioned in all of the Bible Books that were listed above.
At that time, the Israelites were CURRENTLY in captivity in Babylon or in exile. They indeed lamented the state they were in.
A brief historical review
The Israelites were taken into bondage by the gentile King Nebuchadnezzar. The bondage officially began when faithful king Josiah’s unfaithful son Jehoiakim was dethroned and taken into captivity around 606 B.C.E. This began the 70 year long captivity God had promised due to the nations transgressions.
The captivity ended precisely 70 years after in 537 B.C.E, when the Persian king Cyrus overthrew the Babylonian Empire in a daring night raid.
The foretold 70 years of desolation began at the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 B.C.E. The desolation was then set to end according to prophecy approximately in the year 517 B.C.E. The Temple rebuild was completed in about that year and God lifted His curse from the land.
It is clear that God fulfilled the promises he made to restore the nation of Israel when he brought the Israelites out of Babylonian bondage in 537 B.C.E. and when He restored the land to productivity in 517 B.C.E.
There was no need at that point for a restoration hope because they were living in their own homeland.
Approximately 587 years later in 70 C.E. due to the nations apostasy, Elohim allowed the Romans to destroy Jerusalem and the Israelites were dispersed from Palestine.
There is no biblical prophecy about restoration from this diaspora. Therefore, there is no commitment from Elohim to a future restoration of a physical Jewish nation despite the teaching by many that the Bible promises one.
Certainly, Jewish historians are aware of the timing of the writing of these biblical Books and at what time their writers lived. But, it is useful for Zionist among Jews not to reveal the truth of matters because their largest support is among biblically uneducated so-called ‘Christian Zionist supporters around the world.
They support a kingdom in opposition to the Heavenly kingdom of God with Christ as Lord. Zionist deny that Yeshua is the Messiah.
1 John 2:22
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ? He is antichrist, that denieth the Father and the Son”.
Galatians 4:23 “So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free”.
Christian Zionism is an oxymoronic phrase. The two religious beliefs are diametrically opposed to one another.
Many have been deliberately misled into believing that the restoration promises written in the Old Testament are about the future, when they were fulfilled by God in the past.
If such believers would open the Bible and read, they would know that since Zionist deny Jesus Christ they are part of the antichrist.
What true Christians have read from the Bible and Believe
Old Covenant Slave Mother vs New Covenant Free Woman
Galatians 4:21-31
21 Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, do ye not hear the law?
22 For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman.
23 But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise.
24 Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar.
25 For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children.
26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.
27 For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband.
28 Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise.
29 But as then he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit, even so it is now.
30 Nevertheless what saith the scripture? Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.
31 So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, but of the free.
Comparatively, the son of Abraham by the free woman (Isaac) is likened to those seeking to be justified by faith in Yeshua (Jesus) as the promised Messiah, without becoming Jewish first or seeking a Zionist national identity.
When reading Paul’s words, the son of Abraham by the slave woman (his son Ishmael) was likened to those seeking to be justified by human means, by the works of the Law, by circumcision, by legal Jewish identity.
Paul confronted those who wanted to enforce the Jewish Law covenant upon the newly formed Christian congregation. The Christian congregation and the covenant it was formed upon was comprised of not just natural Jews, but of people of other nations who were not bound to obey the Law of Moses.
Yet there was a constant insistence then and also now by natural Jews to enforce an old, terminated covenant centered on one physical nation, Israel. They sought to be right with God by continuing the things of the past while ignoring His will in the matter.
Paul explains that he is referring to two opposing covenants, illustrated using (unnamed) Sarah, and (named) Hagar.
Paul’s words emphasize a competition between two covenants. One is legitimate and the other is not.
Paul also wanted his readers to understand that to expect right standing with God according to the flesh, according to Jewish social status, and a physical national identity is to be identified with a covenant of slavery, the covenant with Hagar and her offspring.
Zionist and so-called Christian-Zionist possess this slave mentality by insisting on creating an earthly nation with Jerusalem as its capital. This is exactly what Paul is warning against.
The original old covenant with a single nation is the covenant with Hagar and her offspring. It relates to the Torah of Moses because that is where practicers of Judaisms in Paul’s day looked for the origins of the Nation of Isra’el as a people, because with the Law, God covenantally “married” as it were, his bride Isra’el.
At the time Paul wrote this letter, earthly Jerusalem certainly was not free. The Roman government had a choke hold on the complete region. It could not have been the Jerusalem above Paul refers to.
What he does say specifically is that the Jerusalem that is above is free (in opposition to the slave-city earthly Jerusalem), and that this heavenly Jerusalem is our mother.
One Should understand these verses as proof positive that the Old Covenant stemming from Mount Sinai represents slavery and must be replaced by the New Covenant stemming from the Heavenly Jerusalem that offers freedom, and this would be true only if we interpret the terms “old covenant” as “old nature” and “new covenant” as “new nature.”
The present Zionist movement are the efforts of those attempting to defy God and continue under a yoke of slavery.
Paul mentions that Ishmael was born when Abraham succumbed to his flesh. Or in other words, in the normal way ordinary human beings produce and bear children.
On the other hand, the son of the free woman Sarah (Isaac) was born, not according to human effort, but by the Divine power of God and after Abraham and Sarah were in reality too old to physically copulate for the sake of producing children.
Galatians 4:26 King James Version (KJV)
“But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all”.
When were God’s restoration promises we read about in the Old Testament fulfilled?
A Fact About Charles Taze Russell That Will Surprise “Jehovah’s Witnesses”
Would it surprise you to know that C.T. Russell, the founder of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society rejected the idea of being known by any other title than ‘Christian’?
In Russell’s own words, he let it be known that he rejected the idea of of adopting a name for the Bible Students as the group was called at that time, viewing doing so as ”sectarian”.
He, according to his own written statements, only wanted to be simply known as a Christian.
That’s right. Charles Taze Russell , the first president of the Watch Tower Society, opposed the adoption of a distinctive name.
In the Watch Tower publication of April 1882 pages 7,8 Russell said:
“Since you would like to know by what name I would like to distinguish myself from others, I tell you that I would like to be and hope to be a Christian; and I choose, if God finds me worthy, to be called a Christian, a believer, or any other name approved by the Holy Spirit.
And regarding these factional titles (or sects) such as Anabaptist, Presbyterian, Independent or the like, I conclude that they did not come from Antioch or Jerusalem, but from Hell and Babylon, as they tend to cause divisions; you can know them by their fruits.”
In addition, he wrote this in the Watch Tower of March 1883 page 6:
“We always refuse to be called by a name other than that of our head—Christians—and we continually proclaim that there can be no division among those who are continually led by his Spirit and example made known through of His word.”
C.T. Russell would not have approved of the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses”!
Joseph F. Rutherford the second president of the Watch Tower thought differently. And, in a short time he adopted the name “Jehovah’s Witnesses”. Refer to the the Watchtower publication “Proclaimers of God’s Kingdom” chapter 7 pages 79-82 with the theme: “You are my witnesses”.
This idea was based on the scriptural text found at Isaiah 43:10:
“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me”.
He seemed to ignore the obvious fact that these words were directed to the NATURAL ISRAELITE nation in specific, and that this was at a time when God was expecting the nation to be “a kingdom of priest” who were to act in behalf of the rest of mankind.
Exodus 19:6
“And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel”.
The nation of Israel failed in that regard and a new arrangement took its place.
Who really is God’s Witness?
Revelation 3:14 gives us the answer:
14 “To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: “The Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Head of God’s creation, says these things:
High Priest Jesus Christ is God’s Witness. Notice that Jesus spoke in singular and not plural.
It is only the High Priest who can bear witness in behalf of God. It is only to the High Preist, God has granted access into the Holy of Holies to receive the word of God and then relate God’s word to all others.
On this, C.T. Russell had the correct viewpoint. He understood what a Christian is.
Well then, whose ‘witnesses’ are Christian disciples to be?
Consider the following Bible verses:
Lord Jesus said:
Acts 1:8
“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto ME both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”.
Whose witness did Peter identfy himself as?
Acts 5:30-32
30 The God of our fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree.
31 Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.
32 And we are HIS witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey him.
What Charles T. Russell thought on the matter is in agreement with what the 1st century disciple of Jesus took as a name.
Acts 11:26
“And when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch. And it came to pass, that a whole year they assembled themselves with the church, and taught much people. And the disciples were called CHRISTIANS first in Antioch”.
As Christians we are called to be witnesses of Jesus Christ, sharing the message of goods news that he received from the Father, his life, death, and his resurrection.
It was the high priest and he alone that was granted access into the Most Holy compartment of the Temple in order to receive instruction from God.
He served as God’s spokesman (witness) in that what he was told from God and then he imparted what he was told to all others. It was the high priest who bore witness in God’s behalf. He was the “Amen” in that arrangement.
Christ being the Eternal High Priest is the “Amen” of God and serves as God’s Witness. So, it is improper for anyone else to ascribe to themselves the title “Jehovah’s Witness”. (Revelation 3:14)
It appears that Russell’s guidance was rejected here.
For anyone to call themselves a direct witness of Jehovah God, is a blatant disrespect of Jesus Christ. And, an attempt to usurp his unique role in God’s arrangement.
It is something God will not approve.
Note:
I am not in any way endorsing C.T. Russell.
Much of what Russell taught was not based on Scripture but on things he believed based on spiritistic signs ie the Giza pyramids, masonic seeking, and from teaching he chose to believe from his contemporaries. Men who went on to form other religions like William Miller.
I have written many post on my website about the mixed and false teachings of Russell.
My comment about rejecting this particular belief was made because it seems odd when considering they have deified almost everything else he said, like they worship the man.
Neither Russell nor Rutherford were faithful to Christ. They both taught wormwood doctrines.
14 I have given them your word. The world hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that you would take them from the world, but that you would keep them from the evil one.
16 They are not of the world even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them in the truth. Your word is truth.
“Jehovah’s Witnesses” as they call themselves, are conditioned to equate their organization to the truth. They even refer to it internally as the Truth. They are so indoctrined in this practice that, even years after leaving the organization they will slip and call it the “Truth”.
But Jesus clearly states that Elohim’s (almighty God’s) word is the truth. No one should attempt to equate anything else to it.
When we place our belief solely on the written word of God, it is then we can say that we are, “in the truth”.
First, let us consider what is NOT evidence of being holy.
Some confuse ‘holiness’ with a superficial piousness or with a sanctimonious behavior of superiority above others.
Some synonyms for pious are: sanctimonious · self-righteous · holier-than-thou · pietistic · churchy · religiose · Pharisaic.
You note that “pharisaic’ is often used instead of the term ‘pious’.
The Pharisees were religious bullies known for self-righteous behavior and a condemning attitude toward those who would not follow their notion of what ‘holiness’ is.
This behavior is not scriptural holiness.
You may have also noticed the term ‘churchy’ which describes a person who conforms or adheres rigorously to the practices or creeds of a particular denomination group while condemning everyone else who doesn’t. This too is not a mark of true holiness.
False piety makes a person think they are better than other people according to their own set of rules; therefore, they believe, ‘God loves and accepts us while rejecting anyone who doesn’t agree with or obey our set of rules’.
This is nothing more than self-righteousness. A case of a person having declared themselves righteous.
This is often accompanied by grandiose acts like holding one’s head aloof or perhaps even the way a person may walk along; gliding with an air of regality (high and mighty).
An air of superiority is not holiness. Real holiness is not a performance!
So what did God mean when he said concerning His chosen nation, “You are to be holy to Me because I, Yahuah, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine”? (Leviticus 20:26)
In three words: separate, pure, and clean. The next logical question would be “How”?
We get an idea from the words of Peter found at 1Peter 1:15,16:
“But as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conduct; for it is written, Be holy, because I am holy.”
What did Peter mean?
Holiness is not merely a spiritual state. The fact of the matter is that often spirituality can be rooted in un-holiness. As you continue to read, you will find examples of un-holy spirituality among God’s chosen people.
Holiness Involves Keeping Separate
Holiness is to keep ones self separate and morally clean in order to serve in behalf of others. It was God’s plan that the nation of Israel was to be a “kingdom of priest” separated from the rest of the nations.
Exodus 19:5,6
5 Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,
6 a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests.”
Further, God told Moses to give this instruction to the people of Israel:
Leviticus 19:2
“Speak to the whole Israelite community and say to them: You shall be holy, for I, the LORD your God, am holy”.
In the Law, God gave the command not to intermingle with foreign nations and even told them why.
Deuteronomy 7:2-4
2 When the Lord your God places these people in your power and you defeat them, you must put them all to death. Do not make an alliance with them or show them any mercy.
3 Do not marry any of them, and do not let your children marry any of them,
4 because then they would lead your children away from the Lord to worship other gods. If that happens, the Lord will be angry with you and destroy you at once.
History shows that they did not keep God’s commandment and kept mixing with the nations God had told them they must not mix with.
As a result, they kept making themselves unclean with the corruption of foreign nations.
They assimilated these foreign nation’s practices; often which involved immorality and pagan worship.
Over the history of ancient Israel, they would never keep clean. Yet, they kept up a superficial pretense that they were holy (a ritualistic outward appearance of devotion). God stated this was the case to the prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 29:13
13 The Lord said, “These people claim to worship me, but their words are meaningless, and their hearts are somewhere else. Their religion is nothing but human rules and traditions, which they have simply memorized”.
This was the behavior in the days of the reign of King Josiah. While there was a priesthood going about the daily ritual duties of the Temple, they and the majority of the Judean two-tribe kingdom were in no sense keeping themselves clean and holy.
It was in this time of idolatry and spiritual adultery with other gods when Josiah came to power in Judah.
The split away ten tribe kingdom to the north had already had fallen into captivity due to its sins against Almighty God. God had used mighty Assyria as an instrument of correction to punish Israel and they already had been taken into captivity.
This is how the prophet Jeremiah described the situation:
Jeremiah 3:8-10
8 “observed that it was because unfaithful Israel had committed adultery that I had sent her away and had given her a certificate of divorce. Nevertheless, her treacherous sister Judah was not afraid but also went and prostituted herself.
9 Indifferent to her prostitution, she defiled the land and committed adultery with stones and trees.
10 Yet in spite of all this, her treacherous sister Judah didn’t return to Me with all her heart—only in pretense.”
They only maintained a pretense of faithfulness and holiness, Again true holiness is not an act.
King Josiah- An Example of Holy Conduct
2 Kings 22:1, 2 tells us:
1 Josiah was eight years old when he became king of Judah, and he ruled in Jerusalem for thirty-one years. His mother was Jedidah, the daughter of Adaiah from the town of Bozkath.
2 Josiah did what was pleasing to the Lord; he followed the example of his ancestor King David, strictly obeying all the laws of God.
King Josiah did not follow the course of disobedience that previous kings had followed. His father, King Amon and his grandfather King Manasseh both committed evil sins.
Manasseh was responsible for rebuilding the pagan high places that King Hezekiah had torn down. Amon worshiped and offered sacrifices to all the idols Manasseh had made. Manasseh and Amon did not follow the instructions God gave concerning the king:
Deuteronomy 17:18-20
18 When he becomes king, he is to have a copy of the book of God’s laws and teachings made from the original copy kept by the Levitical priests.
19 He is to keep this book near him and read from it all his life, so that he will learn to honor the Lord and to obey faithfully everything that is commanded in it.
20 This will keep him from thinking that he is better than other Israelites and from disobeying the Lord’s commands in any way. Then he will reign for many years, and his descendants will rule Israel for many generations.
Deuteronomy 17:20 talks about the ideal king: “that his heart may not be lifted up above his brothers, and that he may not turn aside from the commandment, either to the right hand or to the left, so that he may continue long in his kingdom, he and his children, in Israel.”
King Josiah met God’s righteous standards.
The Second Book of Kings informs us that he went on a campaign to restore pure worship and make the nation holy again.
2Kings 23:1-9
1 King Josiah summoned all the leaders of Judah and Jerusalem,
2 and together they went to the Temple, accompanied by the priests and the prophets and all the rest of the people, rich and poor alike. Before them all the king read aloud the whole book of the covenant which had been found in the Temple.
3 He stood by the royal column and made a covenant with the Lord to obey him, to keep his laws and commands with all his heart and soul, and to put into practice the demands attached to the covenant, as written in the book. And all the people promised to keep the covenant.
4 Then Josiah ordered the High Priest Hilkiah, his assistant priests, and the guards on duty at the entrance to the Temple to bring out of the Temple all the objects used in the worship of Baal, of the goddess Asherah, and of the stars. The king burned all these objects outside the city near Kidron Valley and then had the ashes taken to Bethel.
5 He removed from office the priests that the kings of Judah had ordained to offer sacrifices on the pagan altars in the cities of Judah and in places near Jerusalem—all the priests who offered sacrifices to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the planets, and the stars.
6 He removed from the Temple the symbol of the goddess Asherah, took it out of the city to Kidron Valley, burned it, pounded its ashes to dust, and scattered it over the public burying ground.
7 He destroyed the living quarters in the Temple occupied by the temple prostitutes. (It was there that women wove robes used in the worship of Asherah.)
8 He brought to Jerusalem the priests who were in the cities of Judah, and throughout the whole country he desecrated the altars where they had offered sacrifices. He also tore down the altars dedicated to the goat demons near the gate built by Joshua, the city governor, which was to the left of the main gate as one enters the city.
9 Those priests were not allowed to serve in the Temple, but they could eat the unleavened bread provided for their fellow priests.
King Josiah’s example is a fine example for us to follow because it is an example of true holy conduct. Do you feel as Josiah felt?
Separation of the Servants of the House of God
2 Corinthians 6:14-15 14 Do not be mismatched with unbelievers. For what partnership is there between righteousness and lawlessness? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? 15 What agreement does Christ have with Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
Within the nation itself, the priest’ were to further separate themselves as a group from those Israelites who were not of the priesthood.
The separation and standard of cleanliness of the priesthood is perhaps the best example to examine what is required to keep clean and holy in God’s sight.
Throughout the Old Testament, the term priest (kōhēn) is commonly used to refer to an official who was set apart from the rest of the community in order to carry out certain duties associated with worship and sacrifice.
The fact that they served in the Holy Temple of God, their sacred duties, and the fact that they were responsible for handling the Temple utensils which were considered “holy vessels” made cleanliness on the part of the priesthood extremely important.
They were required to obey certain restriction and were required to perform certain acts that the common people were not required to do.
While serving in the Temple, priest’ were required to literally wash themselves before coming near the alter or the Tabernacle.
Exodus 30:17-21
17 The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,
18 “You shall also make a basin of bronze, and its base of bronze, in which to wash. You shall put it between the Tent of Meeting and the altar, and you shall put water in it.
19 Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet in it.
20 When they go into the Tent of Meeting, they shall wash with water, that they not die; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn an offering made by fire to the LORD.
21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they not die: and it shall be a statute forever to them, even to him and to his descendants throughout their generations.”
As “ministers of the LORD” (Joel 1:9; 2:17), priests functioned as mediators in God’s presence and were responsible for the day-to-day operation in the Temple.
The priests had to be ritually clean (tahor) in order to serve at the Temple, and if he had somehow become ritually unclean (tamay), he would have restored himself with the passing of time and by bathing his whole body in fresh, ritually clean (tahor) water, according to Leviticus 15.
From the physical standpoint, a priest was considered clean when any obvious indications of dirt or similar defilement have been removed.
A clean priest was also one who habitually maintains a pattern of personal cleanliness and hygiene, while at the same time taking care to ensure that his habitat was in a clean condition.
Most important however were matters concerning moral cleanness.
For the Hebrews, holiness demanded that they should reflect in their living and thinking the exalted moral and spiritual qualities of God had revealed in His laws.
Cleanness was fundamental to the establishing and preservation of holiness in the Israelite community.
As distinct from any other nation, the Hebrews were provided with specific instructions concerning cleanness and how to recover it when it had been lost through carelessness or disobedience.
The Hebrew people were to manifest their moral cleanness by demonstrating it in daily life, giving proof that they were living by God’s high moral standards and His high ethical qualities of absolute purity, mercy, justice, and grace.
Not being perfect, they had to avail themselves to God’s provisions for them to be cleansed and to remain clean.
One provision to remain clean has was mentioned previously and that was the commandment not to mix with foreign nations.
These nations did not worship Yahuah. They did follow His commandments. They could only serve to corrupt His people.
Jesus Unique and Separate-How?
Christ is uniquely set apart and separate from all other creation as the only begotten child of God. He, like God his Father is peerless. He was individually singled out and remained separate from the angels whom he is not one of.
A reading of Revelation chapter 5 indicates that the angels were not familiar with the Lord until he was introduced to them at the time he was led in and entered the Sanctuary.
If you reason on the matter, why would the “strong angel” spoken of in Revelation 5:2 ask, “Who is worthy” to enter the Most Holy and receive the scroll”, if everyone present knew of Christ the son of God?
There was silence and a search was made of all creation. But no one worthy could be found. John wept. But then the Lord is led in.
Revelation 5:1-7
5 And I saw in the right hand of him that sat on the throne a book written within and on the backside, sealed with seven seals.
2 And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice, “Who is worthy to open the book, and to loose the seals thereof”?
3 And no man in heaven, nor in earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither to look thereon.
4 And I wept much, because no man was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to look thereon.
5 And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof.
6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.
7 And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne.
Jesus had lived a separate existence until that time. He was also separate and unique as his Father, and he is unique being the only begotten son of God.
This separation is part of the Biblical view of what holiness is. This is why the opposite of something being ‘holy’ is something that is said to be ‘mundane’ or ‘profane’ or ‘ordinary’.
To be holy is to be removed from the realm of the ordinary.
The Hebrews lived lives separately, according to the Torah’s commandments, precisely because God is separate.
The highest form of worship is to imitate what is the one being worshiped. Elohim lives separate and they were to keep separate as a people from all other nations.
Man must strive to be a reflection of his Creator and His holiness.
Following the example of the past, if Christian life is to be holy for the assembly, then the elect brothers of Christ must take care to be especially holy.
They have been distinctively sanctified by the Creator Himself and singled out for a life dedicated to Him. Elohim draws them to His son.
They remain sanctified by remaining clean. They remain clean by their obedience to the commandments found in His word the Bible.
As Christian disciples of Christ, we have been given a similar command that was given to the ancient Hebrew nation.
2 Corinthians 6:14-18
14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?
15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever?
16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the LORD. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
18 And, “I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.”
We are given this commandment for all the same reasons God gave this commandment to the ancient Hebrews.
If we disregard it, we become unclean by being corrupted by practices which unbelievers consider to be acceptable, but the Bible condemns.
As a Christian brotherhood, we are not curtained off like the Hebrew nation was, living in one central places within designated geographical boundaries.
No, we are mixed among all types of people and spread throughout the whole world. All the more so, we must be just as careful about whom we have association with.
This is particularly true within the professed Christian body because that is the most likely place one may be corrupted. Note Paul’s words of counsel:
1 Corinthians 5:9-10:
9 In the letter that I wrote you I told you not to associate with immoral people.
10 Now I did not mean pagans who are immoral or greedy or are thieves, or who worship idols. To avoid them you would have to get out of the world completely.
Because of the world we live in, where we live, where we work or go to school, or where we shop it is impossible not to have some contact with immoral people.
But that is not true when it comes to association with those who professed be Christian disciples.
If we are true Christian believer, we have an obligation to God and Christ to avoid people with unclean practices.
We must be holy
Paul also gave this admonition:
2 Corinthians 6:17
17 Therefore, “Come out from them and be separate, says the LORD. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”
If we unintentionally become unclean, we must avail ourselves to God’s means to be cleansed.
There was such a provision for the Hebrews with the Law given to Moses by God.
Leviticus 5:2-3, 5
2 “‘If anyone becomes aware that they are guilty-if they unwittingly touch anything ceremonially unclean (whether the carcass of an unclean animal, wild or domestic, or of any unclean creature that moves along the ground) and they are unaware that they have become unclean, but then they come to realize their guilt;
3 or if they touch human uncleanness (anything that would make them unclean) even though they are unaware of it, but then they learn of it and realize their guilt;
5 When you are guilty, you must confess the sin,
Just as it was necessary to appear before the high priest and confess their sin to be forgiven and then be prescribe the necessary course of action to be cleansed, it is also true today.
Otherwise, we will remain unclean. Today, the High Priest exist in the Heavenly temple, and we must confess our sins to him.
If we sincerely are repentant, he will forgive us an prescribe the necessary course we need to submit ourselves to in order to be cleansed.
John wrote:
1 John 2:1
1 My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.
But we will never receive that help if we do not present ourselves before the High Priest.
Review
God has commanded His people, “You are to be holy to Me because I, Yahweh, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be Mine”. (Leviticus 20:26)
God himself is called holy, because He is completely separate; unique and unequaled, as is His son our Lord and High Priest Jesus Christ.
Nothing thing nor no one can be compared to Him because He is peerless.
He is the Creator of the universe and all existence and is uniquely different from anything or anyone else that exists.
It is in this sense that His obedient children can be collectively called a “holy nation”.
We are to be a nation set apart from all others, completely different from any other, whose Divinely mandated lifestyle serves as living proof that God is walking in our in its midst.
For us to remain holy, we must reject all ungodly thinking and behavior. We cannot allow ourselves to socially mix with those who defy God and His commandments. Their thinking and behaviors will eventually corrupt us.
We must reject all apostasy against God, even by those in positions of leadership like those we considered that included kings and priests.
We learn what is means to be holy and how to conduct ourselves in holiness by examining God’s written word just as faithful King Josiah did.
Holiness is not self-righteous piety like that the Pharisees demonstrated. It is not churchy, holier-than-thou behavior. It is not a false front.
Jesus described people like this best:
Matthew 23:27
27 “How terrible for you, teachers of the Law and Pharisees! You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs, which look fine on the outside but are full of bones and decaying corpses on the inside”.
We do not want to be like the Pharisees and their disciples.
In order to be holy, God has command that we listen to and follow His son, the Christ as our Master (Matthew 17:5). We do not exist in a holy state if we reject Christ.
Jesus serves as High Priest in the Heavenly Temple. And now as in the past, when we somehow become unclean, we must present ourselves before the High Priest in order to be forgiven our sins and to be cleansed in order to stay holy.
Holiness is pure worship of God on His terms and according to His commandments.
If we worship God in this way, we will keep ourselves holy in His sight.
(This post was originally published August 3, 2021)
Does the Holy Bible Teach Jesus was God on Earth? Were the Israelites expecting Elohim Almighty himself to descend from Heaven to Earth as Messiah? Is the trinity belief simply a version of pagan polytheism?
Matt3 18:6
but whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him that a huge millstone should be hung around his neck, and that he should be sunk in the depths of the sea. shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about
In the Hebrew Bible, the term for “stumbling block” is Biblical Hebrew miḵšōl (מִכְשׁוֹל). In the Septuagint, miḵšōl is translated into Koine Greek skandalon (σκανδαλον), a word which occurs only in Hellenistic literature, in the sense “snare for an enemy; cause of moral stumbling”.
In Judaism, the idea of God as a duality or trinity is heretical and rightfully so— it is even considered by some polytheistic. According to Judaic beliefs, the Torah rules out a trinitarian God in Deuteronomy (6:4): “Hear Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.”
The trinity teaching immediately turns orthodox Jews away from the gospel message of Christ. It is a deliberate stumbling block set in place to confuse would-be believers and particularly prospective Jewish converts.
Trinitarians know that this false teaching will shut the minds of those who know there is but one Elohim. (Deuteronomy 6:4)
This video was produced by a Jewish convert to Christianity who offers a Biblically based, sound argument as to why Yeshua (Jesus) was NOT God on Earth.
If you are uncertain about this topic, you will find this video very enlightening.
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”Acts4:12
Who Is Your Savior? On Whom Does Your Salvation Depend?
Do you look at your pastor as your savior? Do you look to your religious group or organization for salvation?
If you do, you are not following the instruction found in the Holy Bible and Jesus Christ is not your Savior.
Efforts to exalt fellow human beings instead of the Lord, Jesus Christ as Savior are not a new phenomenon. There were many who were doing this very thing in the first century at the formation of the Christian assembly.
So much was the case that the apostle Paul had to write a sternly worded letter about this subject to the Body members who resided in Corinth.
He had to remind them that they were not baptized in his nor any other man’s name that ministers as a servant to Christ.
He had to remind them whom it was that died in their behalf in order that the door to salvation would be opened to them.
The apostle pointed out to the Corinthians that what they were doing when they claimed to be followers of a specific minister of Christ, was actually attempting to divide Christ.
In 1 Corinthian 1:29, Paul tells them and us, that God purposed things in the way He did so that no human had cause to be boasting in themselves. But rather, that the glory be to God and Christ.
In Chapter 3 verse one, Paul said that their behavior was “self-directed” according to their “fleshly nature” and he said that their actions were based on jealousy.
Lastly, Paul makes clear that it is not the minister that spiritual growth is dependent upon, but that growth is dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God.
Please read the text of the first of letter Paul wrote to the congregation of Corinthian and then ask yourself “Am I looking to Jesus Christ as my Savior, or someone or something else”?
1 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, called as an apostle of Christ Jesus by God’s will, and Sosthenes our brother:
2 To God’s church at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus and called as saints, with all those in every place who call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord—both their Lord and ours.
3 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
4 I always thank my God for you because of God’s grace given to you in Christ Jesus,
5 that by Him you were enriched in everything—in all speech and all knowledge.
6 In this way, the testimony about Christ was confirmed among you,
7 so that you do not lack any spiritual gift as you eagerly wait for the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.
8 He will also strengthen you to the end, so that you will be blameless in the day of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 God is faithful; you were called by Him into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
10 Now I urge you, brothers, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree in what you say, that there be no divisions among you, and that you be united with the same understanding and the same conviction.
11 For it has been reported to me about you, my brothers, by members of Chloe’s household, that there is rivalry among you.
12 What I am saying is this: Each of you says, “I’m with Paul,” or “I’m with Apollos,” or “I’m with Cephas,” or “I’m with Christ.”
13 Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?
14 I thank God that I baptized none of you except Crispus and Gaius,
15 so that no one can say you were baptized in my name.
16 I did, in fact, baptize the household of Stephanas; beyond that, I don’t know if I baptized anyone else.
17 For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to evangelize—not with clever words, so that the cross of Christ will not be emptied of its effect.
18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but it is God’s power to us who are being saved.
19 For it is written: I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and I will set aside the understanding of the experts.
20 Where is the philosopher? Where is the scholar? Where is the debater of this age? Hasn’t God made the world’s wisdom foolish?
21 For since, in God’s wisdom, the world did not know God through wisdom, God was pleased to save those who believe through the foolishness of the message preached.
22 For the Jews ask for signs and the Greeks seek wisdom,
23 but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to the Jews and foolishness to the Gentiles.
24 Yet to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ is God’s power and God’s wisdom,
25 because God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.
26 Brothers, consider your calling: Not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth.
27 Instead, God has chosen what is foolish in the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen what is weak in the world to shame the strong.
28 God has chosen what is insignificant and despised in the world—what is viewed as nothing—to bring to nothing what is viewed as something,
29 so that no one can boast in His presence.
30 But it is from Him that you are in Christ Jesus, who became God-given wisdom for us—our righteousness, sanctification, and redemption,
31 in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord.
1 Corinthians 3
1 My fellow believers, when I was with you previously, I was not able to teach you as I would teach people who are controlled by the Holy Spirit. Instead, I had to teach you as I would teach people whom their fleshly nature controls. I taught very simple concepts to you who had recently believed in Christ, as a parent would speak very simple words to a baby.
2 I did not teach you things that were difficult for you to understand, just like a woman does not give her baby solid food that the baby cannot chew and digest. And just like a woman gives her baby milk, I taught you simple spiritual concepts, because at that time you were not able to understand difficult things. And you are still not able to understand difficult concepts,
3 because you are still controlled by your self-directed, fleshly nature. Some of you are jealous and quarreling. Does not that prove your self-directed nature is controlling you? It shows that you are acting like unbelievers act.
4 By some of you saying, “I am loyal to Paul,” and others saying, “I am loyal to Apollos,” does not it show that you are acting like unbelievers?
5 So what you really ought to think about Apollos and me is that we are merely men who serve God. As a result of our telling you the message about Christ, you trusted in him. Both of us are merely doing the work that the Lord appointed us to do.
6 I was the first one who preached God’s message to you. I was like someone who plants seeds. Later, Apollos taught you more of God’s message. That was like someone who waters plants after they start to grow. But it is God who enables people to grow spiritually, just like he is the one who causes plants to grow.
7 So the person who first preaches God’s message to people is not important, and the person who later teaches people more of God’s message is not important, just like it is not the person who plants the seeds or the person who waters the plants who is important. Instead, it is God, who causes plants to grow and who causes people to grow spiritually, who is important.
8 The person who first preaches God’s message to people and the one who later teaches them more of God’s message both are trying to reach the same goal. And God will reward each of them according to how they served Him.
9 Remember that Apollos and I are both working together for God. You do not belong to us. Just like a field belongs to its owner, not to those who work in it, you belong to God, not to us who work for him.
Also, a house belongs to its owner. It does not belong to the man who built it. Similarly, God is the one to whom you belong.
10 Just like a skilled person puts a foundation in the ground before he builds a house, as a result of God kindly helping me, I was the first one who declared the message about Christ to you. And, just like others build a house on its foundation, there were others who later taught you more about Christ. But just like each person who builds a house must be careful about what materials he uses to build it, each person who teaches God’s truth must be careful about what he teaches.
11 Just like people can put in only one foundation for a house, there is only one message that we can give to people. That message is about Jesus Christ. (Translation for Translators)
There is no doubt that a true disciple of Jesus only looks at him as their Savior and only look at him as God’s means of salvation.
Preachers and religious organization that teach that you must be their follower to gain salvation, are lying to you and leading you away from the true Savior, Jesus Christ.
At 1 Corinthian 1:13, the apostle Paul mentions an all-important fact that many professed believers have either overlooked or have chose to disregard.
1 Corinthian 1:13
“Is Christ divided? Was it Paul who was crucified for you? Or were you baptized in Paul’s name?”
A Christian disciple is to make their vow to God at their baptism according to the instructions that Jesus himself left to follow.
Matthew 28:19, 20
19 Go, then, to all peoples everywhere and make them my disciples: baptize them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
20 and teach them to obey everything I have commanded you. And I will be with you always, to the end of the age.”
Did your baptismal vow include more than the “name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit”? Did it also include the name of a religious denomination? Then was it really a valid baptism in God’s eyes?
Please consider these questions by reviewing the post entitled “Is a Denominational Baptism Scriptural? Is it Valid? Is it a Sin?
“Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?
Luke 18:7-8
7 Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
8 I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
These are the words of Jesus Christ. The Lord’s question should cause a professed disciple of his to wonder why he would ask such a question.
Jesus’ statement does not imply that he himself felt that true faith would be abundant among humankind when he returned. In fact, he questioned whether there would be any at all.
Yet, according to the Pew Research Center, in 2015, there were 2.3 billion Christians of all ages living in the world. The Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, reported that the number of Christians in the world edged past 2.5 billion in 2019. This represents almost one third of the Earth’s population.
Given Jesus’ question, something doesn’t add up does it?
Note also what he is quoted as saying found in the gospel of Matthew:
Matthew 7:13-14
13 “Enter in by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are those who enter in by it.
14 How narrow is the gate, and difficult is the way that leads to life. Few are those who find it.
Here he says that “few” are those who truly find and who truly travel the pathway of righteousness.
Paul spoke prophetically about this phenomenon in his first letter to Timothy:
1 Timothy 4:1-2
1 But the Spirit says expressly that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons,
2 through the hypocrisy of liars, branded in their own conscience as with a hot iron;
He is saying that many in the last days would succumb to teachings that do not equate with true Christian discipleship and that their conduct would not demonstrate true faith.
In his second letter to Timothy, Paul specifically described one of two contributing factors that would result in a scarcity of true faith.
2 Timothy 4:3-4
3 For the time will come when people will not tolerate healthy doctrine, but with itching ears will surround themselves with teachers who cater to their people’s own desires.
4 They will refuse to listen to the truth and will turn to myths.
The second main contributor is the infiltration of false teachers into the church brotherhood.
The apostle Peter warned about them:
2 Peter 2:1-2, 12, 17-19
1 Now there were false prophets among the people, just as there also will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves.
2 Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned.
12 These people, like irrational animals, are mere creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. They insult what they don’t understand, and like animals they, too, will be destroyed,
17 These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them.
18 By talking high-sounding nonsense and using sinful cravings of the flesh, they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error.
19 Promising them freedom, they themselves are slaves to depravity, for a person is a slave to whatever conquers him.
These false teachers have a confusing and a divisive effect that stumbles many seeking true faith.
1Timothy 6:3-5
3 If anyone teaches false doctrine and refuses to agree with the sound words of our Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and godly teaching,
4 he is a conceited person and does not understand anything. He has an unhealthy craving for arguments and debates. This produces jealousy, rivalry, slander, evil suspicions,
5 and incessant conflict between people who are depraved in mind and deprived of truth. They think that godliness is a way to make a profit.
Even though many profess to be Christ’ disciples, the reality is that few truly are. They have not heeded the apostle Peter’s warning found in 2 Peter 2:1.
The apostle Peter pointed out that it is the one who earnestly seeks God that is manifesting true faith.
Hebrews 11:6:
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.
Jesus’ question regarding the presence of true faith when he returns, emphasized how scarce it would be and how hard it would be to maintain it.
Will you fight to be one of the few?
What Is Godly Fear?
Godly fear
What does it mean to fear God?
Does the Bible contradict itself on this matter?
Ecclesiastes 12:13 exhorts:
Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. KJVlite
Over and over in the Bible we are exhorted to fear God, to have the fear of the Lord, to live in godly fear.
Deuteronomy 6:24
So the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival, as it is today.
Deuteronomy 10:12
And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul
Psalm 31:19
How great is Your goodness,
Which You have stored up for those who fear You,
Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You,
Before the sons of men!
Psalm 147:11
The Lord favors those who fear Him,
Those who wait for His lovingkindness.
Proverbs 19:23
The fear of the LORD leads to life, then contentment; he rests and will not be touched by trouble.
But why should we fear God? Isn’t God love?
1 John 4:18 clearly tells us that: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.”
Is this a contradiction?
Godly fear isn’t the same as fear of a tyrant, or a dictator. We don’t need to fear His anger, unless we fear punishment due to a bad conscience and an unrepentant heart because of sin. (Romans 2:5-9)
To fear God is absolute reverence and awe for Almighty God, the Creator of all things, including we ourselves individually.
This causes us to fear to sin against Him, because we want nothing else in this world than to be pleasing to Him, and to bring honor to His name. We fear to cause Him sorrow or grief, knowing how incredibly wicked willful sin is, how much God hates it, and how much it hurts Him when we sin.
Please re-read the passage above from Deuteronomy 10:12.
Proverbs 8:13 states very succinctly what the fear of God means:
The fear of the LORD is to hate evil. I hate pride, arrogance, the evil way, and the perverse mouth.
Some attempt to pit Ecclesiastes 10:12 and 1 John 4:18 against each other and claim the Bible contradicts itself. There is no contradiction.
1 John 4:18 is stated to a specific group who obediently accept Jesus as Messiah. Refer to verse two of the same chapter:
1 John 4:2
By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God,
These words are specifically spoken to those truly in union with Christ by accepting him. It is not a general statement to all humankind.
These words are directed toward those who love God and keep His commandment out of love for Him. They have no reason to fear.
That cannot be said of all people. There are those who should properly be in fear because they do not obey him out of love.
For them, Paul's words found in Romans 2:5-9 apply:
5 But according to your hardness and unrepentant heart you are storing up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
6 who “will pay back to everyone according to their works:”
7 to those who by perseverance in good works seek glory and honor and immortality -- everlasting life.
8 But to those who are self-seeking, and do not obey the truth, but obey wickedness -- wrath and anger,
9 affliction and distress, on every human being who does evil, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
The Bible does not contradict itself on this matter nor any other matter.
Watch Your Footsteps Carefully
Watch Your Footsteps Carefully…Watch How You Walk
The word ‘Christian’ does not mean an admirer of Christ, nor recipient of Christ’s blessings, nor even one who simply believes in Christ. It means much more than that.
‘Christian’ means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. A Christian is a disciple of Christ.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, this is the definition of what a disciple is:
“a person who believes the ideas and principles of someone famous and tries to live the way that person does or did”.
Jesus came as a man and left us an example to follow in our conduct of how we are to think and behave.
1 Peter 2:21
For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
Sin has a grip on all people, and we have all fallen short of God’s will in our lives at some time.
Even those of us who attempt to lead a godly life must be honest with ourselves and admit that we are imperfect sinners and must therefore pay constant attention to our behavior.
Consider our thoughts. Are they always so pure and noble, loving and forgiving as we make ourselves out to be? Or do we harbor hatred in our heart?
Consider our words. Are all our words a blessing? Do we offer blessings and yet curse with the same tongue?
Consider our conduct. Are all our deeds unselfish? Do we do things for God’s glory or our own? Are we really following in Jesus’ footsteps?
Because of the perversion of real Christianity you may never have heard of this kind of Christianity, but God’s Word speaks of no other kind. Pick up your Bible today, and rather than reading what Jesus did in your place, read how you can follow in Jesus’ footsteps to become like Him!
Ask yourself, “Am I really a Christian, according to the Bible?” If this is the life you want, don’t hesitate. Pray that God will give you His Spirit, and then start following in Jesus’ footsteps in the way you behave.
We have this Scriptural admonition as a reminder and as a warning:
Hebrews 3:12-14
12 Beware, brothers, lest perhaps there be in any one of you an evil heart of unbelief, in falling away from the living God;
13 but exhort one another day by day, so long as it is called “today;” lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
14 For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence firm to the end:
The Holy Scriptures long ago counseled worshipers of the living and only true God to watch their steps in order to maintain pure worship and good standing before Him:
Ecclesiastes 5:1
Walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.
Proverbs 4:26
26 Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established.
Proverbs 4:12-17
12 When you walk, your steps will be sure. And when you run, you will not fall.
13 Always remember what you have learnt. Do not forget it. The things that you have learnt will give you life. So keep them well.
14 Do not go where bad people go. Do not follow the ways of bad people.
15 Do not do it! Keep away from every bad thing! Refuse it and go on your way.
16 Bad people cannot sleep unless they have done something wrong. They lie awake unless they have caused someone to fall.
17 To do bad things is like food and drink to bad men.
The apostle Paul also offered similar counsel to the 1st century Christian congregation:
Ephesians 5:15-18
15 So, you must be very careful how you live. Live like people who understand what is right and good. Do not live like people who do not understand anything.
16 These are bad times, so use every moment well.
17 Do not be fools. But instead, understand what the Lord wants.
18 Do not drink too much wine, because that will cause bad things. It will stop you ruling yourself properly. But instead, let God’s Spirit fill you.
Everyone is a follower of someone or something. Some people follow in the footsteps of their family and tradition. Others follow their own instincts, drawing from a variety of philosophies, religion, friends, and family. They do whatever they feel is right in their gut. That is doing according to one’s own will.
However, true Christians do not follow any of these paths, but rather the path of Christ as his footstep followers. A true Christian listens to the complete teachings of Jesus and obey all of his commandments. They do not cherry-pick through his teachings and commandments selecting to believe and obey only the ones that appeal to their personal will and desires.
A well known entertainment figure who promoted many different so-called ‘spiritual’ belief systems, would often speak of Jesus Christ in personal perception terms. She would say, “My Jesus is like…”.
Jesus was a real historical person and not some mythological character. There is no my Jesus, your Jesus, or his/her Jesus. There is but the one Jesus and we either choose to accept him or not. We can’t make him into something according to our personal preferences.
We can tell if we’re Jesus’ followers if we live out His truth and walk in the light as He is in the light.
We cannot think and behave like those alienated from God and please Him. There is no fellowship between “light” and “darkness”. There is no fellowship between Christ and the devil.
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;” Colossians 3:23
Whose Approval Should We Be Seeking?
Whose Approval Are You Seeking?
“And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men”
Colossians 3
1 If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God.
2 Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.
3 For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.
4 When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
7 In the which ye also walked some time, when ye lived in them.
8 But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth.
9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;
10 And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him:
11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all.
12 Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering;
13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.
14 And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.
15 And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.
16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.
17 And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.
18 Wives, submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord.
19 Husbands, love your wives, and be not bitter against them.
20 Children, obey your parents in all things: for this is well pleasing unto the Lord.
21 Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.
22 Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eye-service, as men pleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:
23 And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;
24 Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ.
25 But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons.
Often, humans have a propensity to seek praise of their fellow human beings. They judge their good standing based on how much praise they garner from other people. But quite often, they find themselves seeking the approval of men above the approval of God.
Lord Jesus warned against coveting the praise of other people. He said this:
Luke 6:26
“How terrible when all people speak well of you; their ancestors said the very same things about the false prophets”.
But why would people heap praise on a false prophet? The reason can be found in the Books of Isaiah and Jeremiah:
Isaiah 30:10
They tell the seers, “Stop seeing visions!” They tell the prophets, “Don’t tell us what is right. Tell us nice things. Tell us lies. (NLT)
Jeremiah 5:31
The prophets give false prophecies, and the priests rule with an iron hand. Worse yet, my people like it that way! But what will you do when the end comes? (NLT)
Much of the time, what gets the approval of other human beings isn’t a matter of right and wrong but, is a matter of doing what pleases them. So there have been many who corrupted themselves and their teachings in order to appease ungodly people.
The gospel writer John made this comment primarily concerning the chief rulers of the Jews, many of whom believed that Jesus was the hoped-for Messiah, but were afraid to confess him for fear that they would incur ostracism and shame from the Pharisees.
John 12:43
“They loved human approval rather than the approval of God”.
This was not only true of those leaders, but it was also true of many of the common people. In essence, they were more concerned with being approved by other human beings rather than whether or not they had God’s approval. Their concern was driven by fear.
While it is true that often we are taught through a system that uses praise as an incentive for good behavior but uses criticism and often disapproval as a disincentive of bad behavior, getting praise is not the end objective. The end objective is the production of good behavior. To seek praise for praise’s sake alone is wrong.
Whose Approval Should We Be Seeking?
The answer to that question is a simple one. On whom does our existence and life depend upon? God.
The apostle Paul who was the writer of the Letter to the Colossian church, also wrote these words to the brothers in Rome:
Romans 12:1
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.
And Paul wrote this in his second letter to Timothy:
2 Timothy 2:15
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.
Of the fact that it is pleasing to God that we obediently follow His son Jesus, there can be no doubt. God himself spoke from Heaven and said so.
Recall the transfiguration experience that Peter, James, and John were witnesses of?
Matthew 17:1-5
1 Six days later Jesus took with him Peter and the brothers James and John and led them up a high mountain where they were alone.
2 As they looked on, a change came over Jesus: his face was shining like the sun, and his clothes were dazzling white.
3 Then the three disciples saw Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus.
4 So Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “Lord, how good it is that we are here! If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was talking, a shining cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my own dear Son, with whom I am pleased—listen to him!”
God said both that He was pleased with (approved of) His son Jesus and that we should “listen to him”.
It is God’s approval as disciples of Christ we should always seek and many times that will mean the disapproval of other humans.
We cannot become more concerned with the approval of men than we are with living a godly life and seeking the approval of God.
"Your gold and silver are worthless, as though they were corroded". "Remember that when farmers plant a field, they wait for their valuable crops to grow".
Retribution and Reward
James 5:1-8
1 Now I have something to say to the rich people who do not believe in Christ and who oppress and cause others to suffer. Listen to me, you rich people! You should weep and wail loudly because you will experience terrible troubles!
2 Your wealth of various kinds is worthless, as though it were rotted. Your fine clothes are worthless, as though termites had ruined them.
3 Your gold and silver are worthless, as though they were corroded. When God judges you, this worthless wealth of yours will be evidence that you are guilty of being greedy, and as rust and fire destroy things, God will severely punish you. You have in vain stored up and accumulated wealth at a time when God is about to judge you.
4 Think about what you have done! You have not paid wages to the workmen who have harvested your fields for you, with the result that those reapers are crying out to God for him to help them. And God, the all-powerful Lord, has heard their loud cries.
5 You have lived luxuriously, just to have pleasure here on earth. Just like cattle fatten themselves, not realizing that they will be slaughtered, you have lived just for pleasure, not realizing that God will severely punish you.
6 You have arranged for judges to condemn innocent people. You have arranged for others to kill people. And even though those people had not done anything wrong, they were not able to defend themselves against you. My fellow believers, that is what I say to the rich people who oppress you and cause you to suffer.
7 So, my fellow believers, although rich people cause you to suffer, be patient until the Lord Jesus Christ comes back. Remember that when farmers plant a field, they wait for their valuable crops to grow. They must wait patiently for the rain that comes at the planting season and for more rain that comes just before the harvest season. They wait for the crops to grow and mature before they can harvest them.
8 Similarly, you also should wait patiently and trust the Lord Jesus firmly, because he is coming back soon and will judge all people fairly.
“And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not”.
What Does Mark 5:7 Prove?
Mark 5:7
“And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not”.
These are the words of a group of demons called “Legion”. These demons uttered these words just before Jesus called them out of the man they possessed.
While the demons were pleading with Jesus not to send them to their final destination, these wicked spirits acknowledged what many stubbornly deny. The fallen angels clearly called Jesus “Son of the Most High God”.
These demons knew Jesus was not God on Earth in flesh.
This is further proven in the next words by the one speaking in their behalf:
” I adjure (beseech) thee by God, that thou torment me not.”
He did not ask Jesus to withhold from tormenting him in Jesus’ own name, but rather by or in the name of “God”.
Clearly as all the fallen angels know, Legion knew that Jesus isn’t God Almighty, but rather the Son of God.
While lying preachers teach the false doctrine a Trinity Godhead and that Jesus was God on Earth in the flesh, the demons confess knowledge of the real truth that these professed ministers of Christ refuse to accept.
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Hot, Cold, and Lukewarm
“I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other!" “But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth!"
Fully Understanding What Jesus Meant
In Revelation 3:15-17, Jesus is talking to the church in Laodicea. Laodicea was a city in Asia Minor, which is now the location of modern-day Turkey. (See map)
In these verses, the Lord uses the terms “hot,” “cold,” and
“lukewarm" (tepid).
He says this:
“I know what you have done; I know that you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were either one or the other!"
“But because you are lukewarm, neither hot nor cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth!"
"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:" (GNT)
To fully understand what Jesus meant when making these statements, it is necessary to examine this text in its original, historic context. Whether or not you get the full understanding of biblical text depends largely on how you read the Bible. There are two ways to read the Bible to develop an interpretation of what you are reading.
One is called ‘exegesis’ interpretation. The other is called ‘eisegesis’ interpretation.
Basically, exegesis relies on the original context of a biblical passage to determine what that passage means, while eisegesis relies on things other than the original context of a biblical passage to determine that passage’s meaning.
Using an exegesis approach to understanding Revelation 3:15 and 16 brings a more in-depth and accurate understanding of what Jesus was referring to and meant. Let’s examine these verses in their historical context. But first let’s examine the conclusions that have been drawn by those not examining the historical context.
In many religious circles, it might be said that someone is “on fire” for the Lord. So, someone might understand “hot” to mean “on fire,” religiously zealous, or completely committed to God.
In many religious circles, it may also be said that someone is spiritually “cold” when they are not religious, or not committed to God at all. So, someone might understand “cold” in Revelation 3:15-16 to mean a non-believer, or someone who is not committed to God.
Lastly, since lukewarm is neither hot nor cold, we might understand “lukewarm” to mean someone who is religious but who is not fully committed to God, or who does not display the outward signs of religious zeal that we associate with someone who is on fire or “hot” for the Lord.
All of this makes sense, in English. It takes contemporary connotations of modern, English expressions for “hot,” “cold,” and “lukewarm,” and brings those connotations to Revelation 3:15-16. It brings meaning to the text, without asking whether this meaning is coming from the original, historical context or not. This is an example of eisegesis. An eisegetical method would use a modern understanding of those terms in a religious context to understand what that passage means.
Exegetical methodology, on the other hand, looks to the original context of these verses. This approach will examine the original Greek words for “hot”, “cold”, and “lukewarm” and then explores how these words would have been understood by the original author (Jesus) and audience of this passage of Scripture.
In this case, references to “hot”, “cold”, and “lukewarm” are probably referring to water temperature, using the water situation at Laodicea as a metaphor for the people’s behavior in the church at Laodicea.
Laodicea was a rich city with many industries thriving in it. For all of its wealth and prestige, however, it also had hard, unpleasant water (Strabo, Geog,). Two neighboring cities, Hierapolis and Colossae, had much better water.
These three cities, Laodicea, Hierapolis, and Colossae, were so close to one another that they are mentioned together by Paul when he wrote the congregation in Colossae:
Colossians 4:12, 13
12 Greetings from Epaphras, another member of your group and a servant of Christ Jesus. He always prays fervently for you, asking God to make you stand firm, as mature and fully convinced Christians, in complete obedience to God's will.
13 I can personally testify to his hard work for you and for the people in Laodicea and Hierapolis.
Archaeological studies of the ancient world tell us that Hierapolis was known for its hot springs. The hot water (zestos) of Hierapolis was used by the Romans as a health spa, similar to the way natural hot springs are used today. The warm water was invigorating.
Archeological studies on the other hand, reveals that Colossae had cold (psuchros), refreshing water. In the intense heat of the summertime, one can appreciate the value of cold water.
Laodicea, unfortunately, did not have enough water for its population. It had to pipe water into the city, and when the water got there it was neither hot nor cold but was lukewarm. It wasn’t useful, hot water for healing, and it wasn’t useful, cold water for refreshing. So, for all their wealth and prestige in the ancient world (v 17), Laodicea had an embarrassing situation with their water. And Jesus as recorded in Revelation 3:15-17, uses that embarrassing situation to make a point about the Christians in Laodicea.
Revelation 3:17
"Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:"
When it says, “I wish you were either one or the other,” Jesus is saying that he wishes they were useful, that they were either healing or refreshing to people. Apparently, based on the rest of this section in Revelation, this rich city of Laodicea was content to be blessed, but they were not doing anything with it. They weren’t being good witnesses on behalf of the Lord. They were not helping other people. They weren’t even looking to Jesus for their provision, but instead boasted in their own capabilities. In other words, they were lukewarm Christians who talked big, but were not producing Christian fruit.
This examination of Revelation 3:15-16 is an example of exegesis. We looked into the original historical context of the passage, and how this passage would have been understood in its original context.
Beware!
The Letter of Jude
The Letter of Jude
1 I am Jude. I serve Jesus Christ like a voluntary slave. I am a younger brother of James, the leader of all the congregations. I am writing to you whom God has chosen to belong to him. You are loved by God our Father and protected by Jesus Christ.
2 I pray that you will continue to experience very much God acting mercifully toward you, causing you to have inner peace, and loving you.
3 You whom I love, I was very eager and very much wanted to write to you about that which we all share and have in common, which is how God through Jesus Christ has saved us. But now I realize that it is necessary for me to write to you in order to exhort you to defend the truth about Christ that we believe. Jesus and his apostles gave that truth once and for all to us who belong to God, and we must not let it be changed by anyone nor revise or change by anyone.
4 Some people falsely teach that because God kindly does for us what we do not deserve, it does not matter and is all right if we continue to sin. Those people show by the way that they conduct their lives that they do not want to admit and accept that Jesus Christ is our only Master and Lord. It was written long ago that God would condemn such ungodly people and people whose lives are displeasing to him. But some of those people have entered like crawling snakes into your congregations and oppose the truth about Christ, so you must resist and oppose them.
5 Although you previously knew all these things, there are certain things about which I desire to remind you. Do not forget that although the Lord rescued His people from Egypt, He later destroyed most of those same people, ones who did not believe in Him.
6 And there were many angels to whom God assigned positions of authority in Heaven. But many did not continue to rule with authority in those positions. Instead, they abandoned the place that God gave them to live in Heaven. So, God has put those angels in chains forever in the darkness. They will stay there until the great day when God will judge and punish them.
7 Similarly, the people who lived in Sodom and Gomorrah and the nearby cities committed sexual immorality. They sought all kinds of sexual relations that differ from what God permits. So, God destroyed their cities. What happened to those people and those angels shows that God will punish people, such as the ones who teach false doctrine, in the eternal fire of Hell.
8 Similarly, these ungodly people in your midst also defile their own bodies by living immorally, because they claim and say that God revealed in visions that they should act that way. They refuse to allow anyone to have authority over them, and they speak evil about God's glorious, wonderful angels.
9 When the devil (Satan) argued with the chief angel Michael about who would take away the body of the prophet Moses to bury it, Michael did not do as these teachers of false doctrine do. Even though Michael has much more authority than they do, he did not disrespectfully, revile, or say evil things to Satan nor accuse or condemn him. Instead, he only said, “I desire that the Lord God will rebuke you!”
10 But the ones in your midst who teach false doctrine revile and speak evil against the spiritual beings that they do not understand. They also do the evil things that they desire. Things that they know about naturally and without needing to think. Things that they just do without considering the consequences like animals. So, they destroy themselves. But they will also be punished by God.
11 God will do terrible things to those who teach false doctrine! They conduct their lives wickedly like Cain, who murdered his brother because he was jealous and angry because God accepted his brother's sacrifice and did not accept his. These false teachers devote themselves to doing wrong things like Balaam, who tried to induce God's people to sin in order to get the money that was offered to him. They will perish like Korah, who rebelled against the authority that God gave to Moses.
12 Those teachers of false doctrine are as dangerous to you as hidden rocks on a reef, like rocks underneath the surface of the ocean are to a boat. When you gather together to eat the meals that help you believers to love each other more and have a closer relationship with each other, they join you and carouse shamelessly, caring only for themselves and not for others. Because they do not do anything to help others, they are as useless as clouds that are blown along by the wind but that do not produce any rain. They are as disappointing as trees that do not produce fruit in the autumn as we expect them to. They are not only spiritually dead themselves, but they are not able to cause others to be alive spiritually, just like trees that have been uprooted and as a result are unable to produce any fruit.
13 They are restless, like the pounding waves of the ocean. Just like waves produce foul-smelling foam on the shore, those teachers of false doctrine do shameful deeds. We cannot depend or rely on them to show us how to conduct our lives, just like we cannot depend or rely on falling stars to show us the way when we travel. God has reserved intense darkness for them forever in Hell.
14 Enoch, the sixth person in the line of people who descended from Adam, prophesied this about those teachers of false doctrine: “Listen carefully to this: The Lord will certainly come with a countless number of his holy angels in order
15 to judge everyone, and to punish all wicked and ungodly people, those whose lives are displeasing to God for all the ungodly things that displease God that they did in an ungodly way, and for all the harsh things that ungodly sinful people have spoken against him.”
16 Those teachers of false doctrine grumble about the things that God does. They complain about what happens to them. They do the sinful things that their bodies desire. They talk boastfully. They flatter and say nice things to people, only in order to get those people to give them the things that they want.
17 But you people whom I love need to remember the things that were predicted by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, the things that the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ said would happen.
18 They told you, “In the final period of time in which we are now living there will be people who will laugh at the truths that God has revealed. They will do the ungodly things that are displeasing to God that their bodies desire.”
19 That describes the teachers of false doctrine well, because they are the ones who cause divisions among believers. They do what their own minds tell them to do. The Spirit of God does not live within them.
20 But you people whom I love, hold and continue to trust firmly the very sacred truths that you believe. Pray letting the Holy Spirit enable and empower you.
21 Keep conducting your lives in a way that is appropriate for those whom God loves. Keep constantly expecting that our Lord Jesus Christ will act mercifully toward you. Keep expecting that until the time when we begin living eternally with him.
22 Mercifully help those who are not certain what teaching they should believe.
23 Rescue others from the influence of those who teach what is false, as you would rescue things by snatching them from a fire. Pity those whom the teachers of false doctrine have completely convinced but beware that they do not influence you. Detest doing or even thinking about the sins that those people commit, just like you would detest touching not only filthy things but the clothes that were stained by those things.
24 God is able to keep you from ceasing to trust in him and from sinning, and he is able to bring you into his glorious presence. As you stand before Him, there will be nothing for which you will be condemned, and you will be rejoicing greatly.
25 He is the only true God. He has saved us as a result of what Jesus Christ our Lord did for us. God was glorious and great and mighty, and He ruled with great authority before time began. He is still like that, and he will remain like that forever! Amen! That is true!
Jude wrote this letter to warn its readers against false teachers. These were teachers who claimed to be Christians but were not as evidenced by their ungodliness. They posed a great danger to the faith of anyone who listened to them.
Jude said they were “as dangerous to you as hidden rocks on a reef, like rocks underneath the surface of the ocean are to a boat”. These false Christian teachers want to shipwreck you and your faith.
He also likened them to uprooted trees saying, “just like trees that have been uprooted and as a result are unable to produce any fruit”. In verse 19 he states, “The Spirit of God does not live within them”.
In this same verse, Jude describes the division they cause because they teach things contrary to the Word of God. “They do what their own minds tell them to do”.
How can one keep from being misled by false teachers?
Verses 20 and 21
20 But you people whom I love, hold and continue to trust firmly the very sacred truths that you believe. Pray letting the Holy Spirit enable and empower you.
21 Keep conducting your lives in a way that is appropriate for those whom God loves. Keep constantly expecting that our Lord Jesus Christ will act mercifully toward you. Keep expecting that until the time when we begin living eternally with him.
Humble Leadership
Following the Example Set By The Apostle Paul
“And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another”.
1 Corinthians 4
1 Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.
2 Moreover it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.
3 But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged of you, or of man’s judgment: yea, I judge not mine own self.
4 For I know nothing by myself; yet am I not hereby justified: but he that judgeth me is the Lord.
5 Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: and then shall every man have praise of God.
6 And these things, brethren, I have in a figure transferred to myself and to Apollos for your sakes; that ye might learn in us not to think of men above that which is written, that no one of you be puffed up for one against another.
7 For who maketh thee to differ from another? and what hast thou that thou didst not receive? now if thou didst receive it, why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it?
8 Now ye are full, now ye are rich, ye have reigned as kings without us: and I would to God ye did reign, that we also might reign with you.
9 For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men.
10 We are fools for Christ’s sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised.
11 Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace;
12 And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it:
13 Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day.
14 I write not these things to shame you, but as my beloved sons I warn you.
15 For though ye have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet have ye not many fathers: for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel.
16 Wherefore I beseech you, be ye followers of me.
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.
18 Now some are puffed up, as though I would not come to you.
19 But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord will, and will know, not the speech of them which are puffed up, but the power.
20 For the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power.
21 What will ye? shall I come unto you with a rod, or in love, and in the spirit of meekness?
Resist those who want you to follow them instead of helping you become a better follower of Christ.
Is Belief Alone Enough?
“What must I do to be saved?” Is belief alone enough?
We find these words in the Book of Acts Chapter 16:
30 and brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?”
31 They said, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” (NHEB)
Some point to the above verses and believe and preach to others that belief is all that is required.
However that idea is not born out in a thorough examination of the Holy Scriptures.
Two men are mentioned in the Book of Acts Chapter 8. Both came to believe in Christ.
Acts 8:9-24
9 But there was a certain man, Simon by name, who used to practice sorcery in the city, and amazed the people of Samaria, making himself out to be some great one,
10 to whom they all listened, from the least to the greatest, saying, “This man is that power of God which is called Great.”
11 They listened to him, because for a long time he had amazed them with his sorceries.
12 But when they believed Philip as he preached good news concerning the kingdom of God and the name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both men and women.
13 Simon himself also believed. Being baptized, he continued with Philip. Seeing signs and great miracles occurring, he was amazed.
14 Now when the apostles who were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them,
15 who, when they had come down, prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Spirit;
16 for he had not yet fallen upon any of them. They had only been baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.
17 Then they laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.
18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was given through the laying on of the apostles’ hands, he offered them money,
19 saying, “Give me also this power, that whomever I lay my hands on may receive the Holy Spirit.”
20 But Peter said to him, “May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money.
21 You have neither part nor lot in this matter, for your heart is not right before God.
22 Repent therefore of this, your wickedness, and ask the Lord if perhaps the thought of your heart may be forgiven you.
23 For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.”
24 Simon answered, “Pray for me to the Lord, that none of the things which you have spoken happen to me”. (NHEB)
The account does not recount what reply, if any, Peter gave to Simon. However, after this Phillip had an encounter with an Ethiopian man who came to understand that Jesus was the Messiah and then desired to be baptized.
Acts 8:36, 37
36 And as they went on their way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, here is water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
37 And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (KJV)
Both of these men believed; and yet they displayed contrasting behavior in how their belief effected them.
Simon believed yet his heart and his motives were not pure. He thought he could purchase the Holy Spirit.
Concerning belief in God, the Book of Hebrews has this to say:
Hebrews 11:6
6 Now without faith it is impossible to be well pleasing to him, for he who comes to God must believe that he exists, and that he is a rewarder of those who seek him.
And since God has established his resurrected only-begotten son Jesus as High Preist, he is the only means of approach and reconciliation with Him. We must first believe this to be so.
But is belief sufficient?
The Bible tells us that the fallen angels “believe”.
James 2:19
19 You believe that God is one. You do well. The demons also believe, and shudder. (NHEB)
Clearly their belief is not a saving belief because it does not cause them to obey the Lord.
And in speaking of the “rulers” among the Jews, John 12:42 says:
“Nevertheless even among the rulers many believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they did not confess Him”.
More than belief was necessary. Confession is required to be saved and yet confession is something in addition to belief.
Belief in itself is not an end. Rather it is the beginning. It is prerequisite.
The Bible writer James tells us that there must be deeds or “works” consistent with our faith.
We can do things—or can refuse to do things—that disqualify us from receiving the free gift of salvation from God.
We can offer others a ‘free’ gift for example a meal, clothing, or shelter. But even though it is offered without charge, isn’t it true that the recipient has to avail themselves appropriately to take advantage of the opportunity? Consider Matthew 22:1-14.
The fact is, that the Bible shows us that God sets certain conditions for determining whether or not we receive the free gift of salvation. Some conditions enable us to receive that gift, and other conditions disqualify us from receiving it.
Jesus made this clear:
Matthew 7:31:
“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.”
Jesus has already told us that merely acknowledging Him as Lord and Master—saying “Lord, Lord”—is not sufficient.
The Bible in the Book of Acts, tells us about a group of people the Apostles had witnessed to concerning Christ and who believed. Note what question they asked the Apostles and what reply was given to them:
Acts 2:37, 38
37 Now when they heard this, they were cut to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, “Brothers, what should we do?”
38 Peter said to them, “Repent, and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.
We must live a life reflective of our faith. We must live a life of obedience to God’s commandments and submission to His anointed High Preist.
We must repent from our former way of life and become obedient “doers of the word” as the Bible writer James admonished us to be.
James 1:22-25
22 But be doers of the word, and not only hearers, deluding your own selves.
23 For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like someone looking at his natural face in a mirror;
24 for he sees himself, and goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of person he was.
25 But he who looks into the perfect Law of freedom, and continues, not being a hearer who forgets, but a doer of the work, this person will be blessed in what he does.
If we believe that belief in Jesus alone is sufficient, we deceive ourselves and those who listen to us.
The wicked powers that rule of this world are very active mixing (also known as pairing) everything they can into a confusing mess hoping to befuddle people, so they won't be able to think clearly or know the truth.
Their hope is to have a similar effect of what God achieved when he confused the language of the Babylonians in Nimrod's lifetime. Because He did so, they were not able to complete their project. It turned out to be a failure.
In a copycat reversal in these last days, Satan is causing general confusion by tainting the knowledge and information bases with misleading information. Also, by mixing things that have nothing in common. For one example, oxymoronic expressions like "wicked good". Wicked and good are opposite to one another. What goes on in the mind when you pair them together? It causes mental angst/frustration.
Also, sources of disinformation rule the media sources. While decrying the dissemination of misleading disinformation and propaganda on the part of their adversaries, news sources then hypocritically proceed to do the same thing based on their own social and political agendas. In the course of doing so, they cause more and more confusion. What’s right and what is wrong?
If you observe, virtually every knowledge base has been corrupted from unbiased knowledge to the biased, skewed information one finds on television, radio, and in print today. There is no such thing as “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth”. It is extremely difficult to get any kind of untainted information.
If you do happen to find what seems a reliable news source, it won’t stay that way for long. They all use ‘bait and switch’ tactics to gain your trust. Once you are confident in their coverage, they will turn at some point to steering your thoughts in a specific direction.
Tainting the sources of knowledge is what is described in the Book of Revelation as poisoning the streams and rivers with "wormwood". Many died from drinking from those polluted springs.
Revelation 8:10, 11
10 The third angel sounded, and a great star fell from the sky, burning like a torch, and it fell on one third of the rivers, and on the springs of the waters.
11 The name of the star is called “Wormwood.” One third of the waters became wormwood. Many people died from the waters, because they were made bitter.
Wormwood is highly toxic. High doses of wormwood may result in digestive upset, kidney failure, nausea, vomiting, seizures, and can ultimately be fatal.
Lies and disinformation are toxic too and can also be fatal. This is what the devil is counting on.
The devil believes that if he mixes everything together, no one will be able to separate real from false, truth from lie, fact from fiction, or right from wrong.
Satan is the father of the lie. That is what Jesus said. And his intent from the Garden of Eden until this day is to murder as many humans as he possibly can.
John 8:44
44 You are of your father the devil, and your will is to do your father's desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies.
Satan, the devil, is the mastermind behind the present campaign of the dissemination of false narratives and outright lies. Don’t allow yourself to be deceived. Satan is being successful among the apathetic and those who see it as too much hard work to search for the truth.
It’s high time to start thinking outside the mind controlling box the wicked powers that have created for you. Fact-find to verify what you read and hear.
“Rejoice In Our Afflictions”?
Hebrews 5:3-5 3 And not only that, but we also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, 4 endurance produces proven character, and proven character produces hope.
No one normal finds happiness in pain, suffering, and persecution. And the Holy Scriptures do not imply that a disciple of Christ feels pleasure from experiencing pain.
What then is meant by the expression "We rejoice in our afflictions?
The Apostle Paul explains:
We also rejoice in our afflictions, because we know that affliction produces endurance, endurance products proven character, and proven character produces hope. This hope will not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.
Romans 5:3-5
Rejoicing in the midst of suffering focuses our attention on the knowledge of what the Spirit produces in us through that suffering. The result is threefold: suffering produces endurance, endurance produces character, and character produces hope.
A mother birthing a child often suffers agonizing pain. But the remembrance and joy in what is about to be produced, keeps her from being overcome by the birth pangs she experiences.
So too as disciples of Christ, we understand why we suffer, the cause of our sufferings, and know what will be produced if we endure these various trials and sufferings faithfully.
What are the distinguishing differences between a “sheep-like” disciple and the “goat-like” disciple?
Matthew 25:31-33: “the Son of Man … will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left,”
In several prophecies written in the Old Testament, the coming Messiah is referred to as a ‘Shepherd’:
Genesis 49:24
Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
Isaiah 40:11
He protects His flock like a shepherd; He gathers the lambs in His arms and carries them in the fold of His garment. He gently leads those that are nursing.
Ezekiel 34:23
I will appoint over them a single shepherd, My servant David, and he will shepherd them. He will tend them himself and will be their shepherd.
Ezekiel 37:24
My servant David will be king over them, and there will be one shepherd for all of them. They will follow My ordinances and keep My statutes and obey them.
Jesus identified himself as the foretold of “shepherd” that would guide God’s obedient children to salvation.
John 10:11,14:
11 I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.
14 I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and my own know Me,
A drove of sheep is led by its shepherd, whereas a goatherd is led by a lead goat.
A flock doesn’t lead each other. A flock of sheep look towards the guidance of its shepherd to not only lead them, but also to protect them from dangers such as predators or dangerous environments. Quite opposite, goats lead a goatherd wherever THEY wish to go, while destroying the environment around them along the way.
The male goat represents strong-mindedness, singleness of purpose, and leadership rather than following. Goats follow their own will. The Scripture contrast these two distinct character traits found in sheep and goats in order to show the proper disposition of a true disciple of Jesus.
Perhaps this is so because people who exercise these characteristics are frequently offensive to their fellow brothers and sisters by tending to go off in their own direction in their drive to achieve their own will and goals. Unfortunately, often a great deal of self-pride accompanies the desire to lead others.
The goat-like disciple’s thinking and behavior is very different from that of the obedient disciple.
They have little sympathy for God’s way and remain indifferent to their brothers and sisters. Jesus spoke about this sort of indifference when he chastised the church in Laodicea:
Revelation 3:
15 I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish that you were cold or hot.
16 So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of My mouth.
If you continue reading the following verses, the Laodiceans were doing just fine according to their own judgment, but not according to the judgment of the Shepard, Christ.
Revelation 3:17-18
17 Because you say, ‘I’m rich; I have become wealthy and need nothing,’ and you don’t know that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked,
18 I advise you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire so that you may be rich, white clothes so that you may be dressed, and your shameful nakedness not be exposed, and ointment to spread on your eyes so that you may see
In reading the context of Jesus’ statements found at Matthew chapter 25, you will see that the goat-like disciples are condemned because of their sins of omission. They are condemned for what they didn’t do.
Matthew 25:41-46:
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Away from me, you that are under God’s curse! Away to the eternal fire which has been prepared for the Devil and his angels!
42 I was hungry, but you would not feed me, thirsty but you would not give me a drink;
43 I was a stranger, but you would not welcome me in your homes, naked but you would not clothe me; I was sick and in prison, but you would not take care of me.’
44 Then they will answer him, ‘When, Lord, did we ever see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and we would not help you?’
45 The King will reply, ‘I tell you, whenever you refused to help one of these least important ones, you refused to help me.’
46 These, then, will be sent off to eternal punishment, but the righteous will go to eternal life.”
There are sins of commission which are things we do: and there are sins of omission….sins of failing to act and do what is right in God’s eyes.
Why did Jesus label such people as goats? What characteristics possessed by a goat caused Jesus to use them in such a negative light?
Goats are ‘capricious’. Here are some synonyms for that term:
Goats are impulsive and unpredictable, devious and contrary. When they are not poking their heads through fences, they may be standing on their hind legs, stretching for those tender leaves just out of reach. Goats are never content with what they have.
They are clever in opening gates and squirming through small gaps because they hate to be limited and confined. While a fence will usually handle sheep, cattle, and horses; it will not hold goats. They will work tirelessly to spring themselves from any situation they deem inhibiting.
Consequently, goats are not very good followers. Sheep are ‘gregarious’ in their behavior. This word describes the nature of a flock or herd and is an instinct which is found strongly in sheep, cattle, and horses. Again, this quality is rather weak in goats; they prefer leading or going off on their own.
Goats may have some admirable qualities such as intelligence, sensitivity, playfulness, they are quick to respond to individual attention and affection. While all of that sounds good, they also so have many negative bad traits that will not allow them to be good followers.
Goats possess a stubborn streak. If you attempt to move a goat in a certain direction, say by grabbing its horns or by pushing and tugging, a goat will resist you. While Christ doesn’t force anyone, a goat-like disciple is rarely moved even if force is applied.
Goats are not very good followers; nor are many ‘professed’ Christian disciples of Christ. That is why Jesus compared his disobedient, self-willed followers to goats. Goats seem to want to forge their own way almost as if they are saying, “I don’t need the shepherd! I will do it all by myself”.
What would we call a Christian who is unpredictable? A goat! Or one who thinks he is above it all? A goat! Or one who independently does his own thing? A goat! What would we call a Christian who wants to take over, has trouble functioning in a group, and does not want to be led? A goat!
In contrast, sheep tend to be more cooperative and inclined to stay with the herd while goats tend to be more independent. Sheep tend to be dependent on the shepherd and more inclined to stay with him and near him.
Christ is separating the “sheep” from the “goats” now.
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