Continuing: today again battling back the false teaching of the church eschatologists, the false prophets who in their error blind the church to the condition of the moment, and keep it from fully comprehending the atmosphere that has by this same power taken control of the world.
We have in the past, many times, discussed the words used in Genesis 1:2 and appearing only two other times in the word of God, all describing the condition of the world when, as in its current condition, it has “become without form, and void.” We’ve seen and discussed the other time the words are translated exactly the same, in Jeremiah 4:23, where it is used to describe God’s people’s condition, after having been led away from Him and His truth, into foolishness and without understanding. We’ve seen these words used in Isaiah 34:11 to speak to the entire world, and of the things that come forth from it, and it having become the dwelling place that was measured out by a line of “confusion,” and build with stones of “emptiness.” We know the same words translates in the other two places as “without form, and void,” are here translated “confusion” and “emptiness,” in describing the “palaces,” speaking of all the places which rule over the world.
This brings us to our recent discussion and again telling of the LORD coming in the “air” meaning His coming and snatching us (even if we are unwilling to brought their) into a new condition, where in dwells right judgment and life. It in an environment where we have been awakened from the power of deception, and brought into the new, wherein abides righteousness, and once made aware of the methods used to take us into darkness, never to return to its resulting state of death (stupefied minds), and there shall we even be with the LORD.
When bringing this truth to the light, all those who have been taught the false doctrine of the false prophets, come out to fight against this truth, and in doing testify against themselves and their teachers. This is the battle we engage in, as we show them self-sacrificial love, withstanding and fighting through their attacks, to free them from the power of the devil (subtle deception), which causes them to even deny this is the LORD, in us and through us, coming for the salvation of the world.
We know the atmosphere is changed and all are changed with it, but yet none are forced to come to its light, and there are many who choose to stay in the darkness, choosing their errors instead of receiving the love of the truth, and again, by their choice become witnesses against themselves.
As pointed out in response to one such assault against this truth, coming as a comment to a previous post, I wrote the following: “To those arguing the word “air” doesn’t mean atmosphere, as we have learned through our studies and then again mentioned in this post: the Greek word is aer, and is only used 7 times in the word of God. It means the unseen atmosphere we unconsciously take in and respire. In 1 Thessalonians 4:17 it is speaking of waking from a sleep like state and into a new atmosphere – now taking in the life of the LORD and breathing that out to the world – as an unconscious action. The best example is when the word is used in Ephesians 2:2 where it is used describing the power of the “air,” the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience, and describes the new spirit that is in us (as the new air).”
Ephesians 2
1 And you has he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins;
2 Wherein in time past you walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works in the children of disobedience:
3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
5 Even when we were dead in sins, has quickened us together with Christ, (by grace you are saved;)
6 And has raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus:
7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.
Now, this change of atmosphere is what Paul speaks of when he, in 1 Corinthians 15, first in verse 34, calls on us to awaken to righteousness, then tells of us being sown into this corrupted world, and ends telling of all being changed. He plainly speaks of this being our rising in victory over death, and having put on incorruption put on new life and immortality. He tells of this change being a “mystery” and as something that comes upon all, in a twinkling of the eye, as we are raised incorruptible.
The Greek word here translated “twinkling” is rhipe, a one-time used derivative of the seven times used word rhipto, meaning to cast something away. It is used twice, in Acts 27:19 & 29, to tell of things cast out of the ship, in an attempt to save it from the storm. The ship represents the corrupted institution that have created and maintain the current condition of ignorance and its resulting agitation, which are not going to make it through this storm. The engineered nuance here is seen when we recall our understanding of the LORD’s words about good judgment, coming when those judging first cast the beam out of their own eye, so they can see clearly to pull the spec out of their brother’s eye. This in context speaks of casting away the corruption that has clouded our judgment. This condition is what is spoken of above in Ephesians 2, it is in the air this current culture breathes (zeitgeist), and it is into this atmosphere the LORD comes, snatching us into His new world, awakening us, and there shall we ever remain with the LORD.
1 Thessalonians 4
1 Furthermore then we beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by the LORD Jesus, that as you have received of us how you ought to walk and to please God, so you would abound more and more.
2 For you know what commandments we gave you by the LORD Jesus.
3 For this is the will of God, even your sanctification, that you should abstain from fornication:
4 That every one of you should know how to possess his vessel in sanctification and honor [separated from the corrupted world];
5 Not in the lust of concupiscence [craving the things which are out of bounds and corrupt good judgment], even as the Gentiles which know not God:
6 That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the LORD is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.
7 For God has not called us unto uncleanness, but unto holiness.
8 He therefore that despises, despises not man, but God, who has also given unto us his holy Spirit.
9 But as touching brotherly love you need not that I write unto you: for you yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
10 And indeed you do it toward all the brethren which are in all Macedonia: but we beseech you, brethren, that you increase more and more;
11 And that you study to be quiet, and to do your own business, and to work with your own hands [instead of defrauding your brother – reaching into his things, which are out of bounds for you], as we commanded you;
12 That you may walk honestly toward them that are without, and that you may have lack of nothing.
13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, Concerning Them Which Are Asleep, that you sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.
14 For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him.
15 For this we say unto you by the word of the LORD, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the LORD shall not prevent them which are asleep [shall not be raised until they are awakened].
16 For the LORD himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first:
17 Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together [all together] with them in the clouds, to meet the LORD in the air: and so shall we ever be with the LORD.
18 Wherefore comfort one another with these words.
When Genesis 1 speaks of the waters being divided, by the firmament, which we are told is heaven, where are the waters that are above the earth? In the form of clouds, they wait to be showed on the earth in need, in the latter rain. These are the water that bring life to the earth, springing forth from a dry ground as water and light cause the seed to awaken.
1 Corinthians 15
34 Awake to righteousness, and sin not; for some have not the knowledge of God: I speak this to your shame.
35 But some man will say, How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?
36 You fool, that which you sow is not quickened, except it die:
37 And that which you sow, you sow not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain:
38 But God giveth it a body as it has pleased him, and to every seed his own body.
39 All flesh is not the same flesh: but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of beasts, another of fishes, and another of birds.
40 There are also celestial bodies, and bodies terrestrial: but the glory of the celestial is one, and the glory of the terrestrial is another.
41 There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars: for one star differs from another star in glory.
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
46 Howbeit that was not first which is spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual.
47 The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the LORD from heaven.
48 As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly.
49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.
54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
55 O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory?
56 The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law.
57 But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.
The latter rain is spoken of in Hosea 6:3, the chapter then going on to describe it as the judgment of LORD, as the light that goes forth, and His word hewing down what has grown in these latter days. He speaks of the whoredom (unfaithfulness and idolatry) of Ephraim and of all the house of Israel being defiled. We know this as speaking to the posterity, the latter generation of the people under God’s promise.
Hosea 6
1 Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he has torn, and he will heal us; he has smitten, and he will bind us up.
2 After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight.
3 Then shall we know, if we follow on to know the LORD: his going forth is prepared as the morning; and he shall come unto us as the rain, as the latter and former rain unto the earth.
4 O Ephraim, what shall I do unto you? O Judah, what shall I do unto you? for your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the early dew it goes away [clouds without rain, dew that disappears in the light, both nourishing not].
5 Therefore have I hewed them by the prophets; I have slain them by the words of my mouth: and your judgments are as the light that goes forth.
6 For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice; and the Knowledge Of GOD More than burnt offerings.
7 But they like men have transgressed the covenant: there have they dealt treacherously against me.
8 Gilead [the city in ruin, which ruin testifies against itself] is a city of them that work iniquity, and is polluted with blood.
9 And as troops of robbers wait for a man, so the company of priests murder in the way by consent: for they commit lewdness.
10 I have seen a horrible thing in the house of Israel: there is the whoredom of Ephraim, Israel is defiled.
11 Also, O Judah [the leaders], he has set a harvest for you, when I returned the captivity of my people.
Hosea 7
1 When I would have healed Israel, then the iniquity of Ephraim was discovered, and the wickedness of Samaria: for they commit falsehood; and the thief comes in, and the troop of robbers spoils without.
2 And they consider not in their hearts that I remember all their wickedness: now their own doings have beset them about; they are before my face.
3 They make the king glad with their wickedness, and the princes with their lies.
4 They are all adulterers, as an oven heated by the baker, who ceases from raising after he has kneaded the dough, until it be leavened.
5 In the day of our king the princes have made him sick with bottles of wine; he stretched out his hand with scorners.
6 For they have made ready their heart like an oven, whiles they lie in wait: their baker sleeps all the night; in the morning it burns as a flaming fire.
7 They are all hot as an oven, and have devoured their judges; all their kings are fallen: there is none among them that calls unto me.
8 Ephraim, he has mixed himself among the people; Ephraim is a cake not turned.
9 Strangers have devoured his strength, and he knows it not: yea, gray hairs are here and there upon him, yet he knows not.
10 And the pride of Israel testifies to his face: and they do not return to the LORD their God, nor seek him for all this.
This the context in which James addresses those who have become rich by defrauding their neighbors, and this being a witness against them. They have chosen their end, and self-destruction the way they’ve chosen for themselves.
James 5
1 Go to now, you rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon you.
2 Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are moth-eaten.
3 Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. You have heaped treasure together for the last days.
4 Behold, the hire of the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, cries: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the LORD of Sabaoth [LORD of the armies of heaven].
5 You have lived in pleasure on the earth, and been wanton; you have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.
6 You have condemned and killed the just; and he does not resist you.
7 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the LORD. Behold, the husbandman waits for the precious fruit of the earth, and has long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.
8 Be you also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the LORD draws nigh.
9 Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest you be condemned: behold, the judge stands before the door.
10 Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the LORD, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience.
11 Behold, we count them happy which endure. You have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the LORD; that the LORD is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.
12 But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest you fall into condemnation.
13 Is any among you afflicted? let him pray. Is any merry? let him sing psalms.
14 Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the church; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the LORD:
15 And the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the LORD shall raise him up; and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him.
16 Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that you may be healed. The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
17 Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
18 And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, and the earth brought forth her fruit.
19 Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him;
20 Let him know, that he which converts the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins.
Psalms 124
1 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, now may Israel say;
2 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us:
3 Then they had swallowed us up quick, when their wrath was kindled against us:
4 Then the waters had overwhelmed us, the stream had gone over our soul:
5 Then the proud waters had gone over our soul.
6 Blessed be the LORD, who has not given us as a prey to their teeth.
7 Our soul is escaped as a bird out of the snare of the fowlers: the snare is broken, and we are escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the LORD, who made heaven and earth.
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