They Sing the Song of Moses, and the Song of the Lamb

A6W64R Reflections in the flooded salt desert Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia. Sunset

 

Continuing: In the previous post we discussed those killing others sent by God to correct their straying and bring them back to Him. As we saw in ending the post, the vials poured out, written of in the latter chapters of Revelation, vindicate the message of these martyrs, as blood poured out in witness to their truth. We saw the response of these men being plagued and scourged by the LORD’s correction, rather than accept the correction they vilify this work of His Holy Spirit and refuse to repent while continuing their blasphemy.

This brings up one of many major departures from truth found in the interpretations of the false prophets in our time. The book of Revelation has the theme of departure and correction; the destruction resulting from a continued fall into the bottomless pit of confusion (Babylon) and the LORD correcting and reconciling those who will receive it. Revelation 15 thru 19 speak of the testimony that accomplishes this correction, ends the confusion, and this process produces the final reconciliation of man to God.

Revelation 15 begins by telling of the seven last plagues, and in them is found the wrath of God. The Greek word rendered here “plagues” is plege, meaning a stroke, or a wound; from the word plesso, meaning to pound flat; both words from the root plasso, meaning to mold, shape or fabricate, and translated – form.

In this one word we are faced with the first choice in understanding; how would the LORD have us understand this? Should we define it by its worst, or by His correct best?

Luke 11:42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.

The word plasso is only used twice in the word of God and both times it is used to tell of God forming man in creating him. We know [because we listen and understand] this creation process is ongoing and not complete until we have been fully formed in the image and likeness of God.

The first use of plasso is in Romans 9:20 speaking to those questioning and disputing the LORD’s methods of shaping what He has and is creating. It tells of those He hardens and those He chooses to have mercy upon. This is what we also see in Revelation when we are told of those who make the choice not to repent, and continually harden themselves in their confusion and its resulting blasphemy. They refuse to accept what is written in Romans 9 telling of all being guilty: they think themselves righteous, because they compare themselves to other men, when they should be listening to the LORD and comparing themselves to his standard.

Romans 9
18 Therefore has he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
19 You will say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who has resisted his will?
20 Nay but, O man, who are you that replies against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?
21 Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God, willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,
24 Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

Revelation 15 tells of those who have gotten the victory over the beast that still exists (that was, is not, and yet is). We saw is the previous post this beast is the corrupted and disfigured governments of church and state, and the victorious are the elect remnant who have overcome its defiled ideas and its works of confusion (the mark in their head and their hand). We see these elect standing on the sea claimed as smooth as glass by their receiving the clarity of thought offered to all by the LORD. The mingled fire tells of the fires still burning in the world caused by the confused and corrupted reasoning those in control choose to retain.

These elect sing the songs of Moses and the song of the Lamb, and pronounce their agreement with the LORD God Almighty as His judgments are manifested. In the following verses we see the testimony revealed as what is in the vials then given to the angels by the Holy Spirit, seen here as one of the four beasts we are told of in Revelation 4:6. There in context we are first told of the sea of glass being before the throne of God. In the final verse of Revelation 15 we see the purpose being to chase (smoke) the vermin out of God’s house as it is filled by smoke from the glory (presence) of God.

Revelation 15
1 And I saw another sign in heaven, great and marvelous, seven angels having the seven last plagues; for in them is filled up the wrath of God.
2 And I saw as it were a sea of glass mingled with fire: and them that had gotten the victory over the beast, and over his image, and over his mark, and over the number of his name, stand on the sea of glass, having the harps of God.
3 And they sing the song of Moses the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, Great and marvelous are your works, LORD God Almighty; just and true are your ways, you King of saints.
4 Who shall not fear you, O LORD, and glorify your name? for you only are holy: for all nations shall come and worship before you; for your judgments are made manifest.
5 And after that I looked, and, behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened:
6 And the seven angels came out of the temple, having the seven plagues, clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles.
7 And one of the four beasts gave unto the seven angels seven golden vials full of the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever.
8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power; and no man was able to enter into the temple, till the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.

Revelation 16 then tells of the plagues poured out of these vials, and (again) we are told in verse 6 this is the wrath of God being poured out validating and vindicating the testimony of the martyrs, poured upon those who have killed them for their testimony. As we discussed in the previous post, these are those the LORD speaks to and of in Matthew 23 when he says the blood of all those killed by the corrupted religious leaders for faithfully delivering God’s correction, will “be required” of this generation. We saw the word here translated “be required” is the Greek word ekzeteo, meaning diligently investigate, and thereby we understand the vials as being truth poured out that exposes these misleaders, their false doctrines, and their violence and blasphemy in covering and protecting their errors/sins. We see it in Revelation 16 as their waters (words) turned to death; in this we see the contrast of the life offered by the LORD’s correction, and it rejected and vilified by what is now seen as unclean spirits coming from their mouths.

Revelation 16
1 And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
2 And the first went, and poured out his vial upon the earth; and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image.
3 And the second angel poured out his vial upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.
4 And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters; and they became blood.
5 And I heard the angel of the waters say, You are righteous, O LORD, which are, and was, and shall be, because you have judged thus.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.
7 And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, LORD God Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.
8 And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire.
9 And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which has power over these plagues: and they repented not to give him glory.
10 And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain,
11 And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.
12 And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
17 And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.
18 And there were voices, and thunders, and lightning; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.
19 And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
20 And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found.
21 And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.

This is what I know: I know many hear this message and are coming out from among the confusion. I just as surely know the message is being rejected and vilified, and this is occurring to its most extreme at the highest ranks of the most established orders of church and national governments. Those accepting correction have become as if they never strayed from the Father. Those rejecting it will by choice go the axiomatic way of Pharaoh and Esau.

The following is where the LORD directed me in starting this discussion. It is to Acts 22 where Paul describes his former state while he was protecting what the LORD said was ended. He tells of his persecuting the true church, at that time seemingly merely a disjointed band of zealots following a thought to be dead leader. It tells of his seeing the light, and of being forgiven. I offer this as the example of what the LORD will do with those allowing themselves to be reformed, and of His mercy which endures forever.

Acts 22
3 I am verily a man which am a Jew, born in Tarsus, a city in Cilicia, yet brought up in this city at the feet of Gamaliel, and taught according to the perfect manner of the law of the fathers, and was zealous toward God, as you all are this day.
4 And I persecuted this way unto the death, binding and delivering into prisons both men and women.
5 As also the high priest doth bear me witness, and all the estate of the elders: from whom also I received letters unto the brethren, and went to Damascus, to bring them which were there bound unto Jerusalem, for to be punished.
6 And it came to pass, that, as I made my journey, and was come nigh unto Damascus about noon, suddenly there shone from heaven a great light round about me.
7 And I fell unto the ground, and heard a voice saying unto me, Saul, Saul, why persecute you me?
8 And I answered, Who are you, LORD? And he said unto me, I am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you persecute.
9 And they that were with me saw indeed the light, and were afraid; but they heard not the voice of him that spoke to me.
10 And I said, What shall I do, LORD? And the LORD said unto me, Arise, and go into Damascus; and there it shall be told you of all things which are appointed for you to do.
11 And when I could not see for the glory of that light, being led by the hand of them that were with me, I came into Damascus.
12 And one Ananias, a devout man according to the law, having a good report of all the Jews which dwelt there,
13 Came unto me, and stood, and said unto me, Brother Saul, receive your sight. And the same hour I looked up upon him.
14 And he said, The God of our fathers has chosen you, that you should know his will, and see that Just One, and should hear the voice of his mouth.
15 For you shall be his witness unto all men of what you have seen and heard.
16 And now why tarry you? arise, and be baptized, and wash away your sins, calling on the name of the LORD.

2 Peter 3
1 This second epistle, beloved, I now write unto you; in both which I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance:
2 That you may be mindful of the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of us the apostles of the LORD and Savior:
3 Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts,
4 And saying, Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.
5 For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
6 Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished:
7 But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
8 But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the LORD as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
9 The LORD is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
10 But the day of the LORD will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in all holy conversation and godliness,
12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
13 Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness.
14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that you look for such things, be diligent that you may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
15 And account that the longsuffering of our LORD is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him has written unto you;
16 As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.
17 You therefore, beloved, seeing you know these things before, beware lest you also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness.
18 But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our LORD and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and for ever. Amen.

Hebrews 12
1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses [martus – martyrs], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,
2 Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.
3 For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest you be wearied and faint in your minds.
4 You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.
5 And you have forgotten the exhortation which speak unto you as unto children, My son, despise not you the chastening of the LORD, nor faint when you are rebuked of him:
6 For whom the LORD loves he corrects, and scourges [mastigoo, from mastix, also translated as plague] every son whom he receives.
7 If you endure correcting, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father corrects not?
8 But if you be without correction, whereof all are partakers, then are you illegitimate, and not sons.
9 Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?
10 For they verily for a few days correct us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.
11 Now no correction for the present seems to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby.
12 Wherefore lift up the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees;
13 And make straight paths for your feet, lest that which is lame be turned out of the way; but let it rather be healed.
14 Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the LORD:
15 Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled;
16 Lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
17 For you know how that afterward, when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected: for he found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears.
18 For you are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
19 And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard demanded that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
22 But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Smoking Out the Vermin, Still – Anyone Understand?

Pieter_Bruegel_the_Elder_-_The_Fall_of_the_Rebel_Angels_-_RMFAB_584_(derivative_work)

Today an exposition about the consummation of the age, and the apocalypse (uncovering) of the truth of the Judgment of God. These will be a compilation of all we’ve learned (heard and understood) while also being a conspicuous demonstration of things foreign, beyond our understanding, come into clear view. The ideas are those borne along by the Holy Spirit, delivered to us and their meaning loosed in the LORD’s time.

We will begin with the Greek word ekzeteo, literally meaning to search out. It is the word translated “diligently seek” in our recent discussion of it as a necessary trait in understanding the LORD, and to prove to ourselves He is God. This is written in Hebrews 11:6 to tell of finding understanding as the reward of our faith, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that “diligently seek” him.”

This statement is actually telling of the conclusion (consummation) of our faith, which is finding the LORD after seeking him with a pure heart (a conscience purified). This take us to another of the seven uses of the word ekzeteo, in Romans 3:11 translated as “seeking after” God. It is there used to tell of all the world in sin and there being none that seek after God, and therefore logically none finding Him. We are told the reason for none seeking Him is they don’t understand, and the reason they don’t understand is given just after.

Romans 3
9 What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin;
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:
11 There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God.
12 They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that does good, no, not one.
13 Their throat is an open sepulcher; with their tongues they have used deceit; the poison of asps is under their lips:
14 Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness:
15 Their feet are swift to shed blood:
16 Destruction and misery are in their ways:
17 And the way of peace have they not known:
18 There is no fear of God before their eyes.

If we read on we understand the only way this is overcome is through faith, and faith is defined as believing in the Jesus Christ, and this forbearance (not imposing punishment) of God is in effect until we come to believe He is God. “To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.”

Romans 3
19 Now we know that what things so-ever the law says, it says to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and ALL THE WORLD may become guilty before God.
20 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
21 But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets;
22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:
23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;
24 Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:
25 Whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood [sacrifice to bring this message], to declare his righteousness [truth and equity] for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God;
26 To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus.

We understand the full meaning again by Paul quoting from Isaiah 59: 7 & 8 to tell of why there is no understanding, and why there are none who diligently seek God, and therefore why none find Him.

Isaiah 59
7 Their feet run to evil, and they make haste to shed innocent blood: their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; wasting and destruction are in their paths.
8 The way of peace they know not; and there is no judgment in their goings: they have made them crooked paths: whosoever goes therein shall not know peace.
9 Therefore is judgment far from us, neither doth justice overtake us: we wait for light, but behold obscurity; for brightness, but we walk in darkness.
10 We grope for the wall like the blind, and we grope as if we had no eyes: we stumble at noon day as in the night; we are in desolate places as dead men.
11 We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.
12 For our transgressions are multiplied before you, and our sins testify against us: for our transgressions are with us; and as for our iniquities, we know them;
13 In transgressing and lying against the LORD, and departing away from our God, speaking oppression and revolt, conceiving and uttering from the heart words of falsehood.
14 And judgment is turned away backward, and justice stands afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter.
15 Yea, truth fails; and he that departs from evil makes himself a prey: and the LORD saw it, and it displeased him that there was no judgment.
16 And he saw that there was no man, and wondered that there was no intercessor: therefore his arm brought salvation unto him; and his righteousness, it sustained him.
17 For he put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.
18 According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompense to his enemies; to the islands he will repay recompense.

This last part of the Isaiah 59 passage above is also specified in more detail in another of Paul’s quotes specifically speaking of those not understanding. The quote appears in Romans 3:11 and is from Psalms 14:2. Therein we read of those not understanding what they are being told, why they aren’t understanding it, and of their not seeking their God. In these above passages we understand they are stumbling at the stumbling stone (the flesh), and as we read they fail to call upon the LORD, and to understand God is in the generation of the righteous – those whose names are written in the book of life from the foundation of the world.

Psalms 14
1 The fool has said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that does good.
2 The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
3 They are ALL gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that does good, no, not one.
4 Have all the workers of iniquity no knowledge? who eat up my people as they eat bread, and call not upon the LORD.
5 There were they in great fear: for God is in the generation of the righteous.
6 You have shamed the counsel of the poor, because the LORD is his refuge.
7 Oh that the salvation of Israel were come out of Zion! when the LORD brings back the captivity of his people, Jacob shall rejoice, and Israel shall be glad.

We then look at two other times the word ekzeteo is used, Luke 11:50 & 51 and it telling of the end of the age (the generational circle/circuit). In these two verse it is translated “shall be required” and “will be required” of this generation.

Luke 11
42 But woe unto you, Pharisees! for you tithe mint and rue and all manner of herbs, and pass over judgment and the love of God: these ought you to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
43 Woe unto you, Pharisees! for you love the uppermost seats in the synagogues, and greetings in the markets.
44 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for you are as graves which appear not, and the men that walk over them are not aware of them.
45 Then answered one of the lawyers, and said unto him, Master, thus saying you reproach us also.
46 And he said, Woe unto you also, you lawyers! for you lade men with burdens grievous to be borne, and you yourselves touch not the burdens with one of your fingers.
47 Woe unto you! for you build the sepulchers of the prophets, and your fathers killed them.
48 Truly you bear witness that you allow the deeds of your fathers: for they indeed killed them, and you build their sepulchers.
49 Therefore also said the wisdom of God, I will send them prophets and apostles, and some of them they shall slay and persecute:
50 That the blood of all the prophets, which was shed from the foundation of the world, may be required of this generation;
51 From the blood of Abel unto the blood of Zacharias which perished between the altar and the temple: truly I say unto you, It shall be required of this generation.
52 Woe unto you, lawyers! for you have taken away the key of knowledge: you entered not in yourselves, and them that were entering in you hindered.
53 And as he said these things unto them, the scribes and the Pharisees began to urge him vehemently, and to provoke him to speak of many things:
54 Laying wait for him, and seeking to catch something out of his mouth, that they might accuse him.

These scribes and Pharisees are the modern writers and religious rulers; they and the lawyers are the modern makers of laws who have corrupted the age by their lust for controlling every aspect of religion and nation. They are the death that lurks in the ground under the feet of all who now walk the earth in the way they’ve prescribed.

This is where the next example of ekzeteo comes into light as it is used in Acts 15:17 as we are told of our now need to exclude the ordinances that contradict our liberty: their only meant as the swaddling bands for a people still in child stage. In previous posts we looked at Job 38:9 as it told of the cloud and the thick darkness, as swaddling-bands for humanity (the sea) as it was being born, to restrict until fully prepared; and of 1 Corinthians 13:11 saying, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I “understood” as a child, I thought [reasoned] as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”

Acts 15
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees which believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them, and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
6 And the apostles and elders came together for to consider of this matter.
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up, and said unto them, Men and brethren, you know how that a good while ago God made choice among us, that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel, and believe.
8 And God, which knows the hearts, bare them witness, giving them the Holy Ghost, even as he did unto us;
9 And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore why tempt you God, to put a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 But we believe that through the grace of the LORD Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
12 Then all the multitude kept silence, and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
13 And after they had held their peace, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
14 Simeon has declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
16 After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will build again the ruins thereof, and I will set it up:
17 That the residue of men might seek after the LORD, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, says the LORD, who does all these things.
18 Known unto God are all His works from the beginning of the world.

We see the common reference to removing the restriction of the old (former state) allowing the new to pour forth, when we read further in Amos 9, where verse 16 above is quoted from. There we read of the plowman overtaking the reaper, of the treader of grapes him that sows seed, and the high places of the earth shall pour out new wine. The word translated as “drop” telling of the mountains pouring new wine, is the Hebrew word nataph, meaning to drip down, and therefore is figuratively also translated as prophesy.

Amos 9
11 In that day will I raise up the tabernacle of David that is fallen, and close up the breaches thereof; and I will raise up his ruins, and I will build it as in the days of old:
12 That they may possess the remnant of Edom, and of all the heathen, which are called by my name, says the LORD that does this.
13 Behold, the days come, says the LORD, that the plowman shall overtake the reaper, and the treader of grapes him that sows seed; and the mountains shall drop sweet wine, and all the hills shall melt.
14 And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them.
15 And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be pulled up out of their land which I have given them, says the LORD your God.

At this point we must go back to look at Luke 11:50 and what we are told there by the LORD of all blood of the prophets shed, and it being required of this generation. The LORD is saying that all the blood poured out by the prophets since the foundation of the world, the messages they brought and were therefore killed for, shall be diligently looked into by this generation. This meaning and understanding are found when we diligently examine the word here translated “be required” being ekzeteo, meaning to diligently seek, and the word translated “shed” is the Greek word ekcheo, meaning to pour out.

Ekcheo is the word the LORD uses in Matthew 9:17 speaking of the need to put new wine in new bottles, and if not the new wine will burst the old vessels and the wine “runs out.” This is also the word the LORD uses in Matthew 26:28 to tell of the cup of new testament, which is his blood “shed” (poured out) for many for the remission of sins. It is also used multiple times in Act 2 to tell of the speaking with understanding what had been previously incomprehensible (tongues), and this being the “pouring out” in the latter days told of by Joel. In Acts 2:28 we are told this is the Holy Spirit baptism [poured out] for the remission of sins. It is the Holy Spirit giving the understanding to what the LORD had said earlier in the upper room. This is the gift of the Holy Spirit, understanding.

Joel 2 speaks of many things telling us of this time, and only fully understood by those reading along here and receiving (hearing and understanding) what the LORD’s Holy Spirit has poured out upon us. There we read of the great army arrayed against us, and before them the land was as Eden, and after them total desolation. We read of the this desolate wilderness also as the sun, moon and stars not giving any light, meaning the church and national government, and the people of God no longer possessing or shining the LORD’s enlightening counsel on the earth. The LORD then tells us to rend our hearts, and not our garments, meaning we need to abandon our corrupted reasoning and return to His eternal wisdom.

Joel 2:17 says to the priests and ministers, “weep between the porch and the altar.” This is what the LORD is referring to in Luke 11:51 when He speaks of where the prophets had been killed, between the house (Solomon’s – porch as part) and the altar. This is what we are told in Joel 1:8 & 9 of the cup being cut off as the vine is wasted, and new wine being dried up. The lamenting of the priest and the minsters is said to be as a virgin lamenting for the husband of her youth. The meaning is the new wine is the word of the LORD coming from the prophets, no longer coming because the leaders and the people have killed them off, because their prophesying is the LORD speaking against their corrupted ways. They are therefor as a vine cut off from their roots, as if a strange people in their own land not knowing or understanding the tongue of their nativity. Their wilderness is confusion – and I beheld the earth and because of this it had become without form (confused), and void of understanding.

Joel 1
5 Awake, you drunkards, and weep; and howl, all you drinkers of wine, because of the new wine; for it is cut off from your mouth.
6 For a nation is come up upon my land, strong, and without number, whose teeth are the teeth of a lion, and he has the cheek teeth of a great lion.
7 He has laid my vine waste, and barked my fig tree: he has made it clean bare, and cast it away; the branches thereof are made white.
8 Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth for the husband of her youth.
9 The meat offering and the drink offering is cut off from the house of the LORD; the priests, the LORD’s ministers, mourn.
10 The field is wasted, the land mourns; for the corn is wasted: the new wine is dried up, the oil languishes.
11 Be you ashamed, O you husbandmen; howl, O you vinedressers, for the wheat and for the barley; because the harvest of the field is perished.
12 The vine is dried up, and the fig tree languishes; the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree, even all the trees of the field, are withered: because joy is withered away from the sons of men.
13 Gird yourselves, and lament, you priests: howl, you ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, you ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withheld from the house of your God.
14 Sanctify you a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
15 Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.
16 Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God?

Joel 2
1 Blow you the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in my holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD comes, for it is nigh at hand;
2 A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there has not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations.
3 A fire devours before them; and behind them a flame burns: the land is as the garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; yea, and nothing shall escape them.
4 The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devours the stubble, as a strong people set in battle array.
6 Before their face the people shall be much pained: all faces shall gather blackness.
7 They shall run like mighty men; they shall climb the wall like men of war; and they shall march every one on his ways, and they shall not break their ranks:
8 Neither shall one thrust another; they shall walk every one in his path: and when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded.
9 They shall run to and fro in the city; they shall run upon the wall, they shall climb up upon the houses; they shall enter in at the windows like a thief.
10 The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining:
11 And the LORD shall utter his voice before his army: for his camp is very great: for he is strong that executes his word: for the day of the LORD is great and very terrible; and who can abide it?
12 Therefore also now, says the LORD, turn you even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:
13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repent him of the evil.
14 Who knows if he will return and repent, and leave a blessing behind him; even a meat offering and a drink offering unto the LORD your God?
15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly:
16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.
17 Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare your people, O LORD, and give not your heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
18 Then will the LORD be jealous for his land, and pity his people.
19 Yea, the LORD will answer and say unto his people, Behold, I will send you corn, and wine, and oil, and you shall be satisfied therewith: and I will no more make you a reproach among the heathen:
20 But I will remove far off from you the northern army, and will drive him into a land barren and desolate, with his face toward the east sea, and his hinder part toward the utmost sea, and his stink shall come up, and his ill savour shall come up, because he has done great things.
21 Fear not, O land; be glad and rejoice: for the LORD will do great things.
22 Be not afraid, you beasts of the field: for the pastures of the wilderness do spring, for the tree bears her fruit, the fig tree and the vine do yield their strength.
23 Be glad then, you children of Zion, and rejoice in the LORD your God: for he has given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.
24 And the floors shall be full of wheat, and the vats shall overflow with wine and oil.
25 And I will restore to you the years that the locust has eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpillar, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
26 And you shall eat in plenty, and be satisfied, and praise the name of the LORD your God, that has dealt wondrously with you: and my people shall never be ashamed.
27 And you shall know that I am in the midst of Israel, and that I am the LORD your God, and none else: and my people shall never be ashamed.
28 And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions:
29 And also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.
30 And I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of smoke.
31 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and terrible day of the LORD come.
32 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be delivered: for in mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance, as the LORD has said, and in the remnant whom the LORD shall call.

I would suggest reading Revelation 15 thru 19 and understand the vials “poured out” in chapter 16 are poured out against those who, as verse 6 says, have killed the saints and prophets, and this is the LORD giving them blood to drink in repayment. We read on that these are those who refuse to repent for their vilification (blasphemy) of God and His work. In the following chapter we read of the woman, as Babylon, who is as a women drunken with the blood of these same martyrs. We are told of the beast with seven heads that carries her: these are the same seven churches of chapters 2 & 3, and the ten horns are the civil governments.

We are told of this beast coming up out of the bottomless pit: logically meaning the pit where there is a never ending fall (falling away), no bottom to its degeneration. We are also told of this beast that was, and is not, and yet is. This is telling of them becoming what they were meant to be, then falling from this state, and now existing in a degenerate form.

I know very few will read to this point, and among them that do and don’t there will be those who will attack this understanding with the same delusional confusion that proves it correct. The educated elites in church and state, those in control of the confusion, will of course defend their error and their attacks by once again attempting the kill the truth, and will in doing validate the LORD’s message and work. These also demonstrate the reasons why the new wine must be in new vessels. Why would anyone look to the dead for life and the living?

Revelation 18
1 And after these things I saw another angel come down from heaven, having great power; and the earth was lightened with his glory.
2 And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
3 For all nations have drunk of the wine of the wrath of her fornication, and the kings of the earth have committed fornication with her, and the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.
4 And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that you be not partakers of her sins, and that you receive not of her plagues.
5 For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God has remembered her iniquities.
6 Reward her even as she rewarded you, and double unto her double according to her works: in the cup which she has filled fill to her double.
7 How much she has glorified herself, and lived deliciously, so much torment and sorrow give her: for she says in her heart, I sit a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow.
8 Therefore shall her plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine; and she shall be utterly burned with fire: for strong is the LORD God who judges her.
9 And the kings of the earth, who have committed fornication and lived deliciously with her, shall bewail her, and lament for her, when they shall see the smoke of her burning,
10 Standing afar off for the fear of her torment, saying, Alas, alas that great city Babylon, that mighty city! for in one hour is your judgment come.

The Unknown Tongue Understood In God’s Time

capitol-building-dome-e-pluribus-unum-photo-by-john-ecker-pantheon-photography

Continuing: speaking the unknown mysteries of God are both the LORD eventually in His time making them known as His presence is comprehended through diligent search in faith and patience, and while it is manifesting, testing and demonstrating (making full proof) the character of the speaker and the hearer.

1 Corinthians 13
1 Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.
3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profits me nothing.
4 Charity suffers long, and is kind; charity envies not; charity vaunts not itself, is not puffed up,
5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeks not her own, is not easily provoked, thinks no evil;
6 Rejoices not in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth;
7 Bears all things, believeth all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Charity never fails: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
9 For we know in part, and we prophesy in part.
10 But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
12 For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.
13 And now abides faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.

Verses 4 thru 7 above tell of all character qualities governing and perfecting the actions mentioned before. Examining them we understand charity is in doing these things, without self-centered conflict, and freely dispersing them to the truly needy. Lacking this charity is also seen as possessing these childish attitudes, and those becoming perfected do so putting them off as they become by the process fully-grown. These negatives are therefore seen as those held onto by the godless and the willfully ignorant, and as what disrupts peace and civilization among those adhering to them by understanding, and virtually impossible for those who don’t (adhere).

Here again we should look deeper at the Greek word agape, translated “charity.” The word is said to mean affection and benevolence; in this we see the superficial meaning of giving of what one possesses, even of one’s self. In its deeper unstated origin we see this definition even more clearly specified. It appears to be compounded from the words age, meaning to lead, and the word haplous, meaning folded together, as becoming single, and figuratively meaning clear. This is what we see Paul alluding to as he ends 1 Corinthians 13 above. It also speaks of the idea of reciprocal security being what produces rest, peace as if one (E Pluribus Unum).

Paul then follows by telling of this giving of one’s self being in prophesying, meaning to disperse to others what God has made known (our better ideas understood). It is first made know to a person, and seems as if an unknown tongue to others hearing him speak it. When the Holy Spirit looses it, as we have studied being defined in ending 2 Peter 1, to holy men of God, they being defined by parameters mention above, we then prophesy, meaning make known the mysteries of God in the pure form he has delivered them (the understanding/ideas) to us.

1 Corinthians 14
1 Follow after charity, and desire spiritual gifts, but rather that you may prophesy.
2 For he that speaks in an unknown tongue speaks not unto men, but unto God: for no man understands him; howbeit in the spirit he speaks mysteries.
3 But he that prophesies speaks unto men to edification [educate], and exhortation, and comfort.
4 He that speaks in an unknown tongue edifies himself [tells what he himself has learned]; but he that prophesies edifies the church [is able to coherently explain what he has been taught, because God gives him the words they will be able to hear/understand].
5 I would that you all spoke with tongues but rather that you prophesied: for greater is he that prophesies than he that speaks with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying.
6 Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine?
7 And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?
8 For if the trumpet gives an uncertain sound, who shall prepare himself to the battle?
9 So likewise you, except you utter by the tongue words easy to be understood, how shall it be known what is spoken? for you shall speak into the air.
10 There are, it may be, so many kinds of voices in the world, and none of them is without signification.
11 Therefore if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaks a barbarian, and he that speaks shall be a barbarian unto me.
12 Even so you, forasmuch as you are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that you may excel to the edifying of the church.
13 Wherefore let him that speaks in an unknown tongue pray that he may interpret.
14 For if I pray in an unknown tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.
15 What is it then? I will pray with the spirit, and I will pray with the understanding also: I will sing with the spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.
16 Else when you shall bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupies the room of the unlearned say Amen at your giving of thanks, seeing he understands not what you say?
17 For you truly give thanks well, but the other is not edified.
18 I thank my God, I speak with tongues more than you all:
19 Yet in the church I had rather speak five words with my understanding, that by my voice I might teach others also, than ten thousand words in an unknown tongue.
20 Brethren, be not children in understanding: howbeit in malice be you children, but in understanding be men [see 1 Corinthians 13:11 above: the child putting away childish things and becoming a man].
21 In the law it is written, With men of other tongues and other lips will I speak unto this people; and yet for all that will they not hear me, says the LORD [this again, as in our recent study refers to Isaiah 28:11 & 12].
22 Wherefore tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serves not for them that believe not, but for them which believe.
23 If therefore the whole church be come together into one place, and all speak with tongues, and there come in those that are unlearned, or unbelievers, will they not say that you are mad?
24 But if all prophesy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one unlearned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all:
25 And thus are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling down on his face he will worship God, and report that God is in you of a truth.
26 How is it then, brethren? when you come together, every one of you has a psalm, has a doctrine, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying.
27 If any man speak in an unknown tongue, let it be by two, or at the most by three, and that by course; and let one interpret.
28 But if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God.
29 Let the prophets speak two or three, and let the other judge.
30 If any thing be revealed to another that sits by, let the first hold his peace.
31 For you may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted.
32 And the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets.
33 For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.
34 Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience as also says the law.
35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.
36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only?
37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the LORD.
38 But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.
39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.
40 Let all things be done decently and in order.

The Greek word for woman is gune; the word written in the original text of verse 34 above is gunaikes, meaning feminine, and is translated wife. The context of this is telling of those who the word hadn’t been delivered to, and verse 34 thru 36 are directly referring to Genesis 3 where Eve listed to the corrupted teaching of someone other than her husband. As we read, it is telling of those who, as Adam did, hear directly from God; and of those who, as Eve, haven’t heard from God, instead listening to those who also haven’t, and in doing are led astray.

This again is what Peter in 2 Peter 2 follows his definition with, telling of the false teachers that will be among us, who shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD (the true Husband) that brought them. (And now we have churches so filled with the effeminized led astray after these other men who have crept in, and none of them having heard anything from the LORD, even thought they say often and full of ignorance, “Thus says the LORD.”)

Here is 2 Peter 2 again, and part of 2 Timothy 4 to read in this context.

2 Peter 1
1 But there were false prophets also among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among you, who privily [their own imaginations] shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the LORD that bought them, and bring upon themselves swift destruction.
2 And many shall follow their pernicious ways; by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken of.
3 And through covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose judgment now of a long time lingers not, and their damnation slumbers not.
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
7 And delivered just Lot, vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked:
8 (For that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds;)
9 The LORD knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished:
10 But chiefly them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government [despise being governed by Godly order]. Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities.
11 Whereas angels, which are greater in power and might, bring not railing accusation against them before the LORD.
12 But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, speak evil of the things that they understand not; and shall utterly perish in their own corruption;
13 And shall receive the reward of unrighteousness, as they that count it pleasure to riot in the day time. Spots they are and blemishes, sporting themselves with their own deceiving while they feast with you;
14 Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: an heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children:
15 Which have forsaken the right way, and are gone astray, following the way of Balaam the son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness;
16 But was rebuked for his iniquity: the dumb ass speaking with man’s voice forbad the madness of the prophet.
17 These are wells without water, clouds that are carried with a tempest; to whom the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.
18 For when they speak great swelling words of vanity, they allure through the lusts of the flesh, through much wantonness, those that were clean escaped from them who live in error.
19 While they promise them liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.
20 For if after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the LORD and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter end is worse with them than the beginning.
21 For it had been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after they have known it, to turn from the holy commandment delivered unto them.
22 But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.

2 Timothy 4
1 I charge you therefore before God, and the LORD Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom;
2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.
3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;
4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
5 But watch you in all things, endure afflictions, do the work of an evangelist, make full proof of your ministry.

This takes us to 1 Corinthians 15 wherein we read of the same two men, the before and the after, and of the resurrection to life: the same rest and refreshing mentioned in Isaiah 28. The man before doesn’t hear it until he realizes he is as a child and must listen and learn. When he does learn he puts away childish things and becomes a man as God intended him, in the image and likeness of his God.

Isaiah 28
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with hell shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.

1 Corinthians 15
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
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 gives 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 doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show 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 gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.

Seeing Potential Waiting To Be Ignited

tumblr_ncya27oh5x1thk6vpo1_1280I am in awe of the depth of the wisdom and knowledge the LORD has chosen to deliver to us in/by His revelation. Thank you Father! I am equally amazed, while also grieved, that the vast majority remains totally unaware of it. In this I understand the proverbial dog returning to its own vomit, and swine to wallowing in self-agitated mire.

Today’s message is both a response to those who have seen as I have seen, rejoicing and thankful to the LORD for showing us His Glory/glorious light, and a reminder of our responsibility.

Matthew 11
25 At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank you, O Father, LORD of heaven and earth, because you have hid these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes.
26 Even so, Father: for so it seemed good in your sight.
27 All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knows the Son, but the Father; neither knows any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him.
28 Come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest unto your souls.
30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.

2 Corinthians 1
1 Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, unto the church of God which is at Corinth [from the Hebrew word kor, meaning to measure], with all the saints which are in all Achaia:
2 Grace be to you and peace from God our Father, and from the LORD Jesus Christ.
3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
4 Who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.
5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds by Christ.
6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation.
7 And our hope of you is steadfast, knowing, that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so shall you be also of the consolation.
8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life:
9 But we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raises the dead:
10 Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us;
11 You also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our behalf.
12 For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world, and more abundantly to you-ward.
13 For we write none other things unto you, that what you read or acknowledge; and I trust you shall acknowledge even to the end;
14 As also you have acknowledged us in part, that we are your rejoicing, even as you also are ours in the day of the LORD Jesus.
15 And in this confidence I was minded to come unto you before, that you might have a second benefit;
16 And to pass by you into Macedonia, and to come again out of Macedonia unto you, and of you to be brought on my way toward Judaea.
17 When I therefore was thus minded, did I use lightness? or the things that I purpose, do I purpose according to the flesh, that with me there should be yea yea, and nay nay?
18 But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay [neither naive, terse, ashamed nor prideful answers].
19 For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timothy, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea [all things made possible – to understand].
20 For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.
21 Now he which established us with you in Christ, and has anointed us, is God;
22 Who has also sealed us, and given the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.
23 Moreover I call God for a record upon my soul, that to spare you I came not as yet unto Corinth.
24 Not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy: for by faith you stand.

2 Corinthians 2
1 But I determined this with myself, that I would not come again to you in heaviness.
2 For if I make you sorry, who is he then that makes me glad, but the same which is made sorry by me?
3 And I wrote this same unto you, lest, when I came, I should have sorrow from them of whom I ought to rejoice; having confidence in you all, that my joy is the joy of you all.
4 For out of much affliction and anguish of heart I wrote unto you with many tears; not that you should be grieved, but that you might know the love which I have more abundantly unto you.
5 But if any have caused grief, he has not grieved me, but in part: that I may not overcharge you all.
6 Sufficient to such a man is this punishment, which was inflicted of many.
7 So that contrariwise you ought rather to forgive him, and comfort him, lest perhaps such a one should be swallowed up with overmuch sorrow.
8 Wherefore I beseech you that you would confirm your love toward him.
9 For to this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of you, whether you be obedient in all things.
10 To whom you forgive any thing, I forgive also: for if I forgave any thing, to whom I forgave it, for your sakes forgave I it in the person of Christ;
11 Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices.
12 Furthermore, when I came to Troas to preach Christ’s gospel, and a door was opened unto me of the LORD,
13 I had no rest in my spirit, because I found not Titus my brother: but taking my leave of them, I went from thence into Macedonia.
14 Now thanks be unto God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ, and makes manifest the savor of his knowledge by us in every place.
15 For we are unto God a sweet savor of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish:
16 To the one we are the savor of death unto death; and to the other the savor of life unto life. And who is sufficient for these things?
17 For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ.

I would encourage you to read on at least to 2 Corinthians 6 were we read of our responsibility, if we have in truth as verse 2 says, heard the LORD say He has heard us. And if we have truly heard Him we must not any longer be partakers in the vain ways of those who have rejected His good news. They stumble at the stumbling stone and have chosen to continue on in darkness.

Romans 9
32 Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone;
33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offence: and whosoever believes on him shall not be ashamed.

2 Corinthians 6
1 We then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain.
2 (For he says, I have heard you in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succored you: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)
3 Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed:
4 But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses,
5 In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in watching, in fasting;
6 By pureness, by knowledge, by long suffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned,
7 By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armor of righteousness on the right hand and on the left,
8 By honor and dishonor, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true;
9 As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed;
10 As sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.
11 O you Corinthians, our mouth is open unto you, our heart is enlarged.
12 You are not straitened in us, but you are straitened in your own bowels.
13 Now for a recompense in the same, (I speak as unto my children,) be you also enlarged.
14 Be you not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship has righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion has light with darkness?
15 And what concord has Christ with Belial? or what part has he that believeth with an infidel?
16 And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? for you are the temple of the living God; as God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
17 Wherefore come out from among them, and be you separate, says the LORD, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
18 And will be a Father unto you, and you shall be my sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.

When verse 2 above parenthetically tells of those they LORD says He has heard agreeing with Him, that this is the time of the salvation (rest and refreshing), it is a quote from Isaiah 49:8. The chapter begins by speaking to the isles, meaning the dry lands where the living waters have yet to take effect. This is quickly followed by calling them to harken, and in hearing rise up to become part with those the LORD is calling to His mission. And I will give you as a light to the unbelieving: we are those they will hear, and know it is the acceptable time of salvation.

Isaiah 8
18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD has given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwells in mount Zion.
19 And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that peep, and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? ([or should they continue to look] for the living to [among] the dead?)
20 To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them.
21 And they shall pass through it, hardly bestead and hungry: and it shall come to pass, that when they shall be hungry, they shall fret themselves, and curse their king and their God, and look upward.
22 And they shall look unto the earth; and behold trouble and darkness, dimness of anguish; and they shall be driven to darkness.

Isaiah 49
1 Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, you people, from far; The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother has he made mention of my name.
2 And he has made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver has he hid me;
3 And said unto me, You are my servant, O Israel, in whom I will be glorified.
4 Then I said, I have labored in vain, I have spent my strength for naught, and in vain: yet surely my judgment is with the LORD, and my work with my God.
5 And now, says the LORD that formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob again to him, Though Israel be not gathered, yet shall I be glorious in the eyes of the LORD, and my God shall be my strength.
6 And he said, It is a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my salvation unto the end of the earth.
7 Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers, Kings shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall choose you.
8 Thus says the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve you, and give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
9 That you may say to the prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun smite them: for he that has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the springs of water shall he guide them.
11 And I will make all my mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted.
12 Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.
13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.
14 But Zion said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my LORD has forgotten me.
15 Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget you.
16 Behold, I have graven you upon the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me.
17 Your children shall make haste; your destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth of you.
18 Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves together, and come to you. As I live, says the LORD, you shall surely clothe you with them all, as with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does.
19 For your waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that swallowed you up shall be far away.
20 The children which you shall have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell.
21 Then shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro? and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had they been?
22 Thus says the LORD God, Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard [the sign of Isaiah 8:18 above, who speak according to this word] to the people: and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders.
23 And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their face toward the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.
24 Shall the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered?
25 But thus says the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children.
26 And I will feed them that oppress you with their own flesh; and they shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty One of Jacob.

Psalms 120
1 In my distress I cried unto the LORD, and he heard me.
2 Deliver my soul, O LORD, from lying lips, and from a deceitful tongue.
3 What shall be given unto you? or what shall be done unto you, you false tongue?
4 Sharp arrows of the mighty, with coals of juniper.
5 Woe is me, that I sojourn in Mesech, that I dwell in the tents of Kedar (those sowing darkness and sorrow)!
6 My soul has long dwelt with him that hates peace.
7 I am for peace: but when I speak, they are for war.

All See What Few Comprehend

banner_light_bulb_jpg_format_1500w

Continuing: after reading the previous post at some point their should have been an epiphany wherein many other recently discussed ideas were seen in association with it. The discussion was about tongues actually being unknown doctrinal explanations, when never heard before are seemingly foreign language. As we saw yesterday these strange ideas are loosed to our understanding by the Holy Spirit as He, as if igniting a fires in our mind, enlightens us to the meaning as we have never seen it before. We saw this from Isaiah 28 where the LORD tells us of His teaching, through men of His choosing, that will be precept upon precept, line upon line, that it would cause us to fall backward (to where we had fallen from), as we are snared and caught by it. There we read of the LORD telling us this is His leading us into rest, and our refreshing, but we refused to hear. The reason He explains is the rulers (those crowned with pride, priests, and prophets) over God’s people, and over humanity, led and leading all astray by their errors, specifically their lack of knowledge and their false teaching (corrupted by their own inventions). The LORD says there in verse 19, “From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.”

In a prior post titled, “The Wise Will See and Understand,” we discussed the LORD’s words telling us of things kept silent since the foundation of the world, and of His making them known. In the post prior to it titled, “Immortality, Rising Up On Wings As Eagles,” and others before it we examined things manifested as part of process of the unseen becoming seen. We saw this as the means by which the LORD causes His presence and glory to be seen by those who diligently seek Him.

I suggest reading the full posts if you haven’t.

In context of all above we need to read the following again, and believe the Father is in me, and I in Him, and We are in you, and you in Us (one mind). You hear the language I speak because you are of the Father, and His Holy Spirit has ignited His light in our mind. He has led us into all truth.

John 15
1 I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman.
2 Every branch in me that bears not fruit he takes away: and every branch that bears fruit, he purges it, that it may bring forth more fruit.
3 Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.
4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can you, except you abide in me.
5 I am the vine, you are the branches: He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit: for without me you can do nothing.
6 If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned.
7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you.
8 Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; so shall you be my disciples.
9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: continue you in my love.
10 If you keep my commandments, you shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
11 These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12 This is my commandment, That you love one another, as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
14 You are my friends, if you do whatsoever I command you.
15 Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knows not what his LORD does: but I have called you friends; for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you.
16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.
17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
18 If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you.
19 If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.
20 Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than his LORD. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you; if they have kept my saying, they will keep yours also.
21 But all these things will they do unto you for my name’s sake, because they know not him that sent me.
22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin.
23 He that hates me hates my Father also.
24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father.
25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.
26 But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceed from the Father, he shall testify of me:
27 And you also shall bear witness, because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16
1 These things have I spoken unto you, that you should not be offended.
2 They shall put you out of the synagogues: yea, the time cometh, that whosoever kill you will think that he does God service.
3 And these things will they do unto you, because they have not known the Father, nor me.
4 But these things have I told you, that when the time shall come, you may remember that I told you of them. And these things I said not unto you at the beginning, because I was with you.
5 But now I go my way to him that sent me; and none of you ask me, Where go you?
6 But because I have said these things unto you, sorrow have filled your heart.
7 Nevertheless I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.
8 And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:
9 Of sin, because they believe not on me;
10 Of righteousness, because I go to my Father, and you see me no more;
11 Of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.
12 I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot bear them now.
13 Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will show you things to come.
14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto you.
15 All things that the Father have are mine: therefore said I, that he shall take of mine, and shall show it unto you.
16 A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me, because I go to the Father.
17 Then said some of his disciples among themselves, What is this that he said unto us, A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me: and, Because I go to the Father?
18 They said therefore, What is this that he said, A little while? we cannot tell what he said.
19 Now Jesus knew that they were desirous to ask him, and said unto them, Do you enquire among yourselves of that I said, A little while, and you shall not see me: and again, a little while, and you shall see me?
20 Truly, truly, I say unto you, That you shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and you shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy.
21 A woman when she is in travail have sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.
22 And you now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man takes from you.
23 And in that day you shall ask me nothing. Truly, truly, I say unto you, Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name, he will give it you.
24 Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name: ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.
25 These things have I spoken unto you in proverbs: but the time cometh, when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs, but I shall show you plainly of the Father.
26 At that day you shall ask in my name: and I say not unto you, that I will pray the Father for you:
27 For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.
28 I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world: again, I leave the world, and go to the Father.
29 His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speak you plainly, and speak no proverb.
30 Now are we sure that you know all things, and need not that any man should ask you: by this we believe that you came forth from God.
31 Jesus answered them, Do you now believe?
32 Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that you shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me.
33 These things I have spoken unto you, that in me you might have peace. In the world you shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.

John 17
1 These words spoke Jesus, and lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, Father, the hour is come; glorify your Son, that your Son also may glorify you:
2 As you have given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as you have given him.
3 And this is life eternal, that they might know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
4 I have glorified you on the earth: I have finished the work which you gave me to do.
5 And now, O Father, glorify you me with your own self with the glory which I had with you before the world was.
6 I have manifested your name unto the men which you gave me out of the world: yours they were, and you gave them me; and they have kept your word.
7 Now they have known that all things whatsoever you have given me are of you.
8 For I have given unto them the words which you gave me; and they have received them, and have known surely that I came out from you, and they have believed that you didst send me.
9 I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which you have given me; for they are yours.
10 And all mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I am glorified in them.
11 And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to you. Holy Father, keep through your own name those whom you have given me, that they may be one, as we are.
12 While I was with them in the world, I kept them in your name: those that you gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled.
13 And now come I to you; and these things I speak in the world, that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.
14 I have given them your word; and the world has hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
15 I pray not that you should take them out of the world, but that you should keep them from the evil.
16 They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
17 Sanctify them through your truth: your word is truth.
18 As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world.
19 And for their sakes I sanctify myself, that they also might be sanctified through the truth.
20 Neither pray I for these alone, but for them also which shall believe on me through their word;
21 That they all may be one; as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that you have sent me.
22 And the glory which you gave me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one:
23 I in them, and you in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that you have sent me, and have loved them, as you have loved me.
24 Father, I will that they also, whom you have given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which you have given me: for you loved me before the foundation of the world.
25 O righteous Father, the world have not known you: but I have known you, and these have known that you have sent me.
26 And I have declared unto them your name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.

John 15:22 – 25 tells of the reason why the current rulers in church (preachers, teachers, and all other false prophets) and nation/state hate both the Father and we that have His light. “22 If I had not come and spoken unto them, they had not had sin: but now they have no cloak for their sin. 23 He that hates me hates my Father also. 24 If I had not done among them the works which none other man did, they had not had sin: but now have they both seen and hated both me and my Father. 25 But this cometh to pass, that the word might be fulfilled that is written in their law, They hated me without a cause.”

“They hated me without a cause,” is a quote from Psalms 35:19. The Psalm tells of those who choose the status quo, knowing it is corrupted and therefore ineffective in its intended mission, preferring it over the uncorrupted truth, the rest and refreshing of Isaiah 28:12, because they would rather have darkness if it means they keep their seats and control. This is their choice and they have their wish – they will continue to rule over their own torment for as long as they choose to hate what will bring rest and refresing.

Daniel 12
1 And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which stands for the children of your people: and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time your people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.
2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever.

Psalms 35
1 Plead my cause, O LORD, with them that strive with me: fight against them that fight against me.
2 Take hold of shield and buckler, and stand up for mine help.
3 Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am your salvation.
4 Let them be confounded and put to shame that seek after my soul: let them be turned back and brought to confusion that devise my hurt.
5 Let them be as chaff before the wind: and let the angel of the LORD chase them.
6 Let their way be dark and slippery: and let the angel of the LORD persecute them.
7 For without cause have they hid for me their net in a pit, which without cause they have digged for my soul.
8 Let destruction come upon him at unawares; and let his net that he have hid catch himself: into that very destruction let him fall.
9 And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation.
10 All my bones shall say, LORD, who is like unto you, which delivers the poor from him that is too strong for him, yea, the poor and the needy from him that spoils him?
11 False witnesses did rise up; they laid to my charge things that I knew not.
12 They rewarded me evil for good to the spoiling of my soul.
13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.
14 I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourns for his mother.
15 But in mine adversity they rejoiced, and gathered themselves together: yea, the abjects gathered themselves together against me, and I knew it not; they did tear me, and ceased not:
16 With hypocritical mockers in feasts, they gnashed upon me with their teeth.
17 LORD, how long will you look on? rescue my soul from their destructions, my darling from the lions.
18 I will give you thanks in the great congregation: I will praise you among much people.
19 Let not them that are mine enemies wrongfully rejoice over me: neither let them wink with the eye that hate me without a cause.
20 For they speak not peace: but they devise deceitful matters against them that are quiet in the land.
21 Yea, they opened their mouth wide against me, and said, Aha, aha, our eye have seen it.
22 This you have seen, O LORD: keep not silence: O LORD, be not far from me.
23 Stir up thyself, and awake to my judgment, even unto my cause, my God and my LORD.
24 Judge me, O LORD my God, according to your righteousness; and let them not rejoice over me.
25 Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.
26 Let them be ashamed and brought to confusion together that rejoice at mine hurt: let them be clothed with shame and dishonor that magnify themselves against me.
27 Let them shout for joy, and be glad, that favor my righteous cause: yea, let them say continually, Let the LORD be magnified, which have pleasure in the prosperity of his servant.
28 And my tongue shall speak of your righteousness and of your praise all the day long.

Our God is a Consuming Fire Never Consumed

moses-and-the-burning-bush

Changing the subject as the LORD directs it; today a discussion of the subject of “tongues.” I surmise this is more for me than anyone else as I have become reluctant to discuss the topic due to it seemingly producing an almost demonic opposition come from otherwise rational people (my not wanting to provoke them into opposing themselves). I will start out with the point already made apparent to me: tongues are in fact the opposite of the unintelligible babbling the ignorant have reduced it to. It is in fact doctrine, unknown to those hearing it and therefore not understood. In this context we understand the uses of the term in the Word of God, and we understand the necessary repetition and exposition until the Holy Spirit is ignited in the hearer and the word is then clearly understood – and those then understanding cannot prevent themselves from willingly becoming part of the church of the firstborn.

This above description is what we read of first happening in Acts 2 where every man heard and understood. The so-called “tongue” being understood is the key and most relevant aspect. This is the context that makes what seem to be contradictory statements in 1 Corinthians 14 understandable, and this aspect itself is exemplified in this exposition. This is why we are first told of tongues being for the unbelieving, not the believing. The believing (should) already understand, and the unbelieving of logical course don’t comprehend what is being said.

As always, we find the full understand of the intended context and boundaries of what is said in 1 Corinthians 14 when in verse 21 Paul quotes from Isaiah 28:11. The quote is telling of the LORD saying He will speak to us in these other tongues. It is defined in Isaiah by the verses before and after telling of the LORD teaching us by laying out a systematic discourse to this end of our understanding. He, the LORD, is the one that tells us it will seem to us as some new doctrine, while in fact a precept upon precept, line upon line, that they might be snared, fall backward and be caught (taken). In Isaiah 28:12 the LORD tells of this lack of comprehending as a refusal to hear what is being taught, as His telling us, “This is the rest wherein you may cause the weary to rest, and this is the refreshing,” and our rejecting it. These verses are specifically directed at those ruling and teaching God’s people into this state of ignorance. (God is not the author of confusion, and never has anyone ever interpreted or understood one word of the babbling that now ignorantly passes for “tongues.” And if we would understand this one thing we might understand all things.)

The “precepts” and the “lines” spoken of are the element that are being taught as what should replace the foundational elements (principles – stoicheion) we have discussed many times. These are those causing the fires that now burn in the world, and the same principles melting away as they have failed (again, and ever time) before our eyes. In Isaiah 28:15 we read of this being as those who have ruled us and taught us having made a covenant with death (the dead can’t hear or understand anything); it then define their ways as making lies their refuge, and under falsehood hid themselves.

In the next verse we read of the LORD laying the new foundation, and they that believe on him shall not be ashamed or flee away. This is followed by the LORD telling of this being His judgment, and seen by His right and equitable measurement; and by this He will sweep away the lies, and overflow their hiding places.

The chapter begins by addressing the “crown of pride,” the “drunkard of Ephraim.” These are the same rulers and teachers, so proud they think they know everything, and drunken (by the same sleep and death) in the night just as we are told of in 1 Thessalonian 5, not knowing the season or the time of their judgment. We know Ephraim is used to tell of the latter generation of the household of God in our time. In verse 2 we read of the same “mighty one” we are told of in verse 16 as the “foundation stone,” and in verse 2 we see he is the same who sweeps away lies and uncovers the hidden. We are told of these rulers and teachers as fading flowers, as the drunkard of Ephraim is trodden under foot. This lead up to the LORD telling He will be our crown of glory, and the prophets and priests that have caused the people to err into drunkenness will be replace with those the LORD teaches knowledge. The only thing needed will be to understand what the tongue is speaking, “19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.”

Isaiah 28
1 Woe to the crown of pride, to the drunkards of Ephraim, whose glorious beauty is a fading flower, which are on the head of the fat valleys of them that are overcome with wine!
2 Behold, the LORD has a mighty and strong one, which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand.
3 The crown of pride, the drunkards of Ephraim, shall be trodden under feet:
4 And the glorious beauty, which is on the head of the fat valley, shall be a fading flower, and as the hasty fruit before the summer; which when he that looks upon it sees, while it is yet in his hand he eats it up.
5 In that day shall the LORD of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people,
6 And for a spirit of judgment to him that sits in judgment, and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate.
7 But they also have erred through wine, and through strong drink are out of the way; the priest and the prophet have erred through strong drink, they are swallowed up of wine, they are out of the way through strong drink; they err in vision, they stumble in judgment.
8 For all tables are full of vomit and filthiness, so that there is no place clean.
9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith you may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.
14 Wherefore hear the word of the LORD, you scornful men, that rule this people which is in Jerusalem.
15 Because you have said, We have made a covenant with death, and with h*ll are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us: for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves:
16 Therefore thus says the LORD God, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste.
17 Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the plummet: and the hail shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and the waters shall overflow the hiding place.
18 And your covenant with death shall be disannulled, and your agreement with h*ll shall not stand; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, then you shall be trodden down by it.
19 From the time that it goes forth it shall take you: for morning by morning shall it pass over, by day and by night: and it shall be a vexation only to understand the report.
20 For the bed is shorter than that a man can stretch himself on it: and the covering narrower than that he can wrap himself in it.
21 For the LORD shall rise up as in mount Perazim, he shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act.
22 Now therefore be you not mockers, lest your bands be made strong: for I have heard from the LORD God of hosts a consumption, even determined upon the whole earth.
23 Give you ear, and hear my voice; hearken, and hear my speech.
24 Does the plowman plow all day to sow? does he open and break the clods of his ground?
25 When he has made plain the face thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the cummin, and cast in the principal wheat and the appointed barley and the rie in their place?
26 For his God does instruct him to discretion, and does teach him.
27 For the fitches are not threshed with a threshing instrument, neither is a cart wheel turned about upon the cummin; but the fitches are beaten out with a staff, and the cummin with a rod.
28 Bread corn is bruised; because he will not ever be threshing it, nor break it with the wheel of his cart, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
29 This also cometh forth from the LORD of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel, and excellent in working.

1 Thessalonians 5
1 But of the times and the seasons, brethren, you have no need that I write unto you.
2 For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the LORD so cometh as a thief in the night.
3 For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape.
4 But you, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief.
5 You are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness.
6 Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober.
7 For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.
8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
9 For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by our LORD Jesus Christ,
10 Who died for us, that, whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with him.
11 Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also you do.
12 And we beseech you, brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over you in the LORD, and admonish you;
13 And to esteem them very highly in love for their work’s sake. And be at peace among yourselves.
14 Now we exhort you, brethren, warn them that are unruly, comfort the feebleminded, support the weak, be patient toward all men.
15 See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.
16 Rejoice evermore.
17 Pray without ceasing.
18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.
19 Quench not the Spirit.
20 Despise not prophesying.
21 Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.
22 Abstain from all appearance of evil.
23 And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ.
24 Faithful is he that calls you, who also will do it.
25 Brethren, pray for us.
26 Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss.
27 I charge you by the LORD that this epistle be read unto all the holy brethren.
28 The grace of our LORD Jesus Christ be with you. Amen.

It is worth noting that before Paul gives His Mars’ Hill discourse, the philosophers (the keepers of knowledge), call him a babbler (Acts 17:18), because he seems to be setting forth some unknown God, because he preached Jesus and the resurrection. The unique word used by Luke (the physician writer of Acts) and translated “babbler” is the one time used Greek spermologos, literally meaning seed, as in the first principles, and lego, meaning as systematic discourse – laying out a seemingly unknown doctrine. This is what Paul then goes on to demonstrate in his discourse.

Acts 17
21 (For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else, but either to tell, or to hear some new thing.)
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, You men of Athens, I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is LORD of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he giveth to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the LORD, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man’s device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:
31 Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.
32 And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked: and others said, We will hear you again of this matter.

The words for drunkenness used in 1 Thessalonians 5 are best understood by looking the word translated “sober,” used as their opposite. It is the Greek word nepho, meaning to abstain, and also to be vigilant and watchful. This is contrasted against those who are methusko, intoxicated, and therefore not vigilant or watchful (for errors nor the coming of the LORD in judgment). Therefore we understand this thinking everything is fine, and in this pride filled ignorance the Day of Judgment comes upon them as a thief invading their darkness and drunkenness. This tells of the true drunkenness, as opposed to those watching and understanding the systematic discourse they see and hear, and these others not understanding hear as if an unknown language and therefore reject it. But to as many as receive it gave He power to become the children of God.

Acts 2
12 And they were all amazed, and were in doubt, saying one to another, What means this?
13 Others mocking said, These men are full of new wine.
14 But Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice, and said unto them, You men of Judaea, and all you that dwell at Jerusalem, be this known unto you, and hearken to my words:
15 For these are not drunken, as you suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
16 But this is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel;
17 And it shall come to pass in the last days, says God, I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh: and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams:
18 And on my servants and on my handmaidens I will pour out in those days of my Spirit; and they shall prophesy:
19 And I will show wonders in heaven above, and signs in the earth beneath; blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke:
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the great and notable day of the LORD come:
21 And it shall come to pass, that whosoever shall call on the name of the LORD shall be saved.
22 You men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as you yourselves also know:
23 Him, being delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, you have taken, and by wicked hands have crucified and slain:
24 Whom God has raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be held of it.
25 For David speaks concerning him, I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved:
26 Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope:
27 Because you will not leave my soul in h*ll, neither will you suffer your Holy One to see corruption.
28 You have made known to me the ways of life; you shall make me full of joy with your countenance.
29 Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
30 Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him, that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne;
31 He seeing this before spoke of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was not left in h*ll, neither his flesh did see corruption.
32 This Jesus has God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
33 Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he has shed forth this, which you now see and hear.
34 For David is not ascended into the heavens: but he said himself, The LORD said unto my LORD, Sit you on my right hand,
35 Until I make your foes your footstool.
36 Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God has made the same Jesus, whom you have crucified, both LORD and Christ.
37 Now when they heard this, they were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do?
38 Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.
39 For the promise is unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar off, even as many as the LORD our God shall call.
40 And with many other words did he testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves from this untoward generation.

The Wise Will See and Understand

bfanyyr

Let’s spend today looking into Paul’s first letter to Timothy, which we discussed in the previous post as mentioning the process of immortality and it only understood in/by the manifestation of the LORD. What is there mentioned in 1 Timothy 6:16 and surrounding verse are the things no man has seen, or is able to see, and therefore their only being revealed by the LORD. We are told of this revelation being to show whom He approves of, as their works of faith appear as the work of the LORD’s hand and His power reproduced in man of His choosing.

We saw this in the context of our recent discussion of the Hebrew word hayah, and it used telling of the LORD, saying, I will become whomever I will to become (hayah ‘asher hayah [‘ehyeh ‘asher ‘ehyeh], translated “I Am That I Am,” in Exodus 3:14). We also saw it as the pattern of what the LORD tells us many times: to obey His voice (exalt His advice above all other’s), and He “will be” our God, and we “shall be” His people. The words in quotation marks are most often from the word hayah, and therefore can be seen again telling of this as a process of becoming. It begins with our faith, as we have seen it defined in this context in Hebrews 11:6, “But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

We saw this as what the LORD tells us in John 14 of His manifesting himself to us when we love the word, diligently seek Him through understanding only found their, and only released to man by Him in this way. In this we understand the reward as we are told of it in 1 Timothy 6; first as diligence materializing into a confession witnessing to the power of the LORD, even of it as able to negate the law of death, and then the reward being the LORD bringing the realization into existence as His truth manifested in the flesh. I am become what I am become!

John 14
20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.

1 Timothy 6
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.

We have seen this reward, not as worldly gain, but the true riches of the thing the LORD has kept hidden since the foundation of the world. We have seen them as what the LORD says by quoting from Psalms 78:4 speaking of parables He will bring to light: out from under the darkness created by man’s falling away from teaching them.

Matthew 13
34 All these things spoke Jesus unto the multitude in parables; and without a parable spoke he not unto them:
35 That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, I will open my mouth in parables; I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.

These are this unseen things the LORD reserves to Himself, as we have seen here in 1 Timothy 6:16, and previously in 2 Peter 1, as things that can’t be loosed by men at their will, but are rather things borne by the Hold Spirit and released by the LORD to men of His choosing, in His times.

2 Peter 1
16 For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our LORD Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty.
17 For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.
18 And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount.
19 We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto you do well that you take heed, as unto a light that shines in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:
20 Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
21 For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved [as these things were released to them] by the Holy Ghost.

We know Peter tells us in the next chapter of the false teachers that shall be among us speaking things that hadn’t been released to them by the Holy Spirit, and shall from their own imagination invent “damnable heresies,” even denying the LORD that bought them. This is what 1 Timothy is centered on, the manifestation that overcomes the corrupted doctrine invented in the imaginations of these men. These are the men we are told of who for the love of money invent great stories of imaginary events, and then claim validation by/in these tales having brought them great worldly gain.

1 Timothy 6
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you are also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That you keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.

In 1 Timothy 1 Paul tells Timothy to, by the prophecies that have gone before specifically pertaining to him, war a good warfare. These are the things held in repose since the foundation of the world, to be released by the LORD now – for the purpose of what is written above in 1 Timothy 6.

These are again what we see written in Job 38 in telling of this time. The chapter begins with the LORD asking questions of these same men, those who have darkened counsel by words without knowledge. The chapters goes on to tell of the many facets of the deep, held for use as the weapons of this warfare, and meant to bring man to the realization of His limits. These are what Paul is telling Timothy of, as the Holy Spirit’s way to preposition these ideas for me to use now in this ignorance ending war.

Job 38
1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
2 Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
3 Gird up now your loins like a man; for I will demand of you, and answer you me.
4 Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if you have understanding.
5 Who has laid the measures thereof, if you know? or who has stretched the line upon it?
6 Whereupon are the foundations thereof fastened? or who laid the corner stone thereof;
7 When the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
8 Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?
9 When I made the cloud the garment thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it [the wrappings to restrict the movement and protect the infant],
10 And broke up for it my decreed place, and set bars and doors,
11 And said, Hitherto shall you come, but no further: and here shall your proud waves be stayed?
12 Have you commanded the morning since your days; and caused the dayspring to know his place;
13 That it might take hold of the ends of the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it?
14 It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a garment.
15 And from the wicked their light is withheld, and the high arm shall be broken.
16 Have you entered into the springs of the sea? or have you walked in the search of the depth?
17 Have the gates of death been opened unto you? or have you seen the doors of the shadow of death?
18 Have you perceived the breadth of the earth? declare if you know it all.
19 Where is the way where light dwells? and as for darkness, where is the place thereof,
20 That you should take it to the bound thereof, and that you should know the paths to the house thereof?
21 Know you it, because you were then born? or because the number of your days is great?
22 Have you entered into the treasures of the snow? or have you seen the treasures of the hail,
23 Which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?
24 By what way is the light parted, which scatters the east wind upon the earth?
25 Who has divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder;
26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man;
27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth?
28 Has the rain a father? or who has begotten the drops of dew?
29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who has gendered it?
30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen.
31 Canst you bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion?
32 Canst you bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst you guide Arcturus with his sons?
33 Know you the ordinances of heaven? canst you set the dominion thereof in the earth?
34 Canst you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?
35 Canst you send lightning, that they may go and say unto you, Here we are?
36 Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? or who has given understanding to the heart?
37 Who can number the clouds in wisdom? or who can stay the bottles of heaven,
38 When the dust grows into hardness, and the clods cleave fast together?
39 Will you hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions,
40 When they couch in their dens, and abide in the covert to lie in wait?
41 Who provides for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

We now ask the same recalcitrant group sitting in the seats of power, “Why persecute you me? It is hard for you to kick against the pricks.” (The Greek words here actually ask: Why are you recalcitrant toward My Divine will?)

Acts 17
22 Then Paul stood in the midst of Mars’ hill, and said, You men of Athens [men who have darkened counsel by words without knowledge], I perceive that in all things you are too superstitious.
23 For as I passed by, and beheld your devotions, I found an altar with this inscription, To The Unknown God. Whom therefore you ignorantly worship, him declare I unto you.
24 God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is LORD of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands;
25 Neither is worshipped with men’s hands, as though he needed any thing, seeing he gives to all life, and breath, and all things;
26 And has made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;
27 That they should seek the LORD, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
28 For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.
29 Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by are and man’s device.
30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commands all men every where to repent:
31 Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead.

Psalm 102
1 Hear my prayer, O LORD, and let my cry come unto you.
2 Hide not your face from me in the day when I am in trouble; incline your ear unto me: in the day when I call answer me speedily.
3 For my days are consumed like smoke, and my bones are burned as an hearth.
4 My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
5 By reason of the voice of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin.
6 I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.
7 I watch, and am as a sparrow alone upon the house top.
8 Mine enemies reproach me all the day; and they that are mad against me are sworn against me.
9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping.
10 Because of your indignation and your wrath: for you have lifted me up, and cast me down.
11 My days are like a shadow that declines; and I am withered like grass.
12 But you, O LORD, shall endure for ever; and your remembrance unto all generations.
13 You shall arise, and have mercy upon Zion: for the time to favor her, yea, the set time, is come.
14 For your servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof.
15 So the heathen shall fear the name of the LORD, and all the kings of the earth your glory.
16 When the LORD shall build up Zion, he shall appear in his glory.
17 He will regard the prayer of the destitute, and not despise their prayer.
18 This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.
19 For he has looked down from the height of his sanctuary; from heaven did the LORD behold the earth;
20 To hear the groaning of the prisoner; to loose those that are appointed to death;
21 To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and his praise in Jerusalem;
22 When the people are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
23 He weakened my strength in the way; he shortened my days.
24 I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: your years are throughout all generations.
25 Of old have you laid the foundation of the earth: and the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They shall perish, but you shall endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shall you change them, and they shall be changed:
27 But you are the same, and your years shall have no end.
28 The children of your servants shall continue, and their seed shall be established before you.

Immortality, Rising Up On Wings As Eagles

eagle-pictures-free

Continuing: in previous posts we have discussed the idea of things becoming something as a product of a process. We have looked at the Hebrew word hayah telling of those things that come into existence; used of the LORD’s self-effecting His manifesting Himself unseen, and this as Him coinciding with our diligence and faith into the seen reality of the promised end.

Today a look at the contrast: the process and manifestation of death, and in doing we understand immortality as reality’s end mentioned above.

In the previous post and many earlier we have discussed the ideas of resurrection as explained in 1 Corinthians 15, wherein verse 53 & 54 we are told of death being overcome, swallowed up in victory, when corrupted thinking has been replaced with the uncorrupted, and as a result this mortal shall have put on an immortal perspective of our existence.

Here is where we lose most people, and why the LORD says in John 3, “If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?”

I only know what I have heard (in the Word of God) and then experienced in my own life. I know the spirit that came alive in me is the exact same Jesus that I call my LORD. This is the confirmation of His life and resurrection more real than His coming to me in any other ways. The more I allow Him to live and the former carnal me to remain dead: thereby not impeding His will and way, the more His will and way are lived out in my life. Jesus is Jehovah in us working His salvation out into reality in the world. He is my Father, as I am His, and He is in me, and I in Him. I know the body is different but the spirit, the family relationship, is the exact same.

John 14
10 Believe you not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwells in me, he does the works.
11 Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works’ sake.
12 Truly, truly, I say unto you, He that believes on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
13 And whatsoever you shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
14 If you shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.
15 If you love me, keep my commandments.
16 And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever;
17 Even the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it sees him not, neither knows him: but you know him; for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.
18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
19 Yet a little while, and the world sees me no more; but you see me: because I live, you shall live also.
20 At that day you shall know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
21 He that has my commandments, and keeps them, he it is that loves me: and he that loves me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
22 Judas said unto him, not Iscariot, LORD, how is it that you will manifest yourself unto us, and not unto the world?
23 Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.
24 He that loves me not keeps not my sayings: and the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father’s which sent me.
25 These things have I spoken unto you, being yet present with you.
26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world gives, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
28 You have heard how I said unto you, I go away, and come again unto you. If you loved me, you would rejoice, because I said, I go unto the Father: for my Father is greater than I.
29 And now I have told you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, you might believe.

John 3
11 Truly, Truly, I say unto you, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and you receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and you believe not, how shall you believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13 And no man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14 And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15 That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17 For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.
18 He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For every one that does evil hates the light, neither comes to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.
21 But he that does truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.

The Greek word used in 1 Corinthians 15:53 & 54, translated “immortality,” is athanasia. It is a word only used these two times and once more, and is the negative of the word thanatos, meaning the end product (death) of the word thano, which is the process (die). The word is actually telling of not being subject to the end product (death), even if we are subjected to the process of dying.

Here is a deep analogy of this (negating) as the quickening. You may or may not know I own and operate a small fleet of airplanes, all used for skydiving and military free fall. I am also a pilot and have many thousands of skydives (and military free falls). The modern ram-air (wing shaped) parachute, and the airplane wing, both work based on the same principle to generate lift. It is simply they move through air separating it above and below (firmament) the wing. The (bow) shape of the wing causes the air to move further and therefor faster over the top of the wing compared to the bottom. This creates a lower pressure over and higher pressure under the wing, and produces a lifting effect on the wing. The faster the speed of the wing through the air the more lift is produced. The quickening of the spirit is the same if you are able to (or will) understand the similarities.

I use this analogy to explain how a natural law once thought unconquerable was eventually solved as being able to be overcome by another (quickened) natural effect. It is the law of gravity overcome by what is known as Bernoulli’s Law.

You may or may not know I also own a wind tunnel, used for the same reasons as our aircraft. It works on a similar but different principle of flow dynamics. It takes a large volume of air moving at a slow speed through a large space, and then forces it through a much smaller space (narrow is the way) called the flight chamber. This condensing of the volume causes it to move proportionally faster, as in – air moving at 30 MPH through a space is then forced through a space 5 times smaller in volume, the air will increase in speed by 5 times (150 mph). This is also the quickening.

Those knowing the word of God will understand the analogy. You may or may not see this large volume of information being condensed here into these many posts is part of the process that will cause any who receive it to rise up on its wind, as if on wings of eagles.

The third time the word athanasia is used is in 1 Timothy 6:16. There in verse 13 we are told, it is God who quickens all things, and Christ, who understanding these principles, before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession, knowing He was not bound by death as the product of dying, as He knew he would by doing so. The verses that follow tell of His being the one who has immortality dwelling in His light which no man can approach, or see, or has seen. It is Paul telling Timothy that the LORD will in this quickening from death, the revelation of His self-identifying truth, show who is the King of kings, and LORD of lords.

1 Timothy 6
1 Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, that the name of God and his doctrine be not blasphemed.
2 And they that have believing masters, let them not despise them, because they are brethren; but rather do them service, because they are faithful and beloved, partakers of the benefit. These things teach and exhort.
3 If any man teach otherwise, and consent not to wholesome words, even the words of our LORD Jesus Christ, and to the doctrine which is according to godliness;
4 He is proud, knowing nothing, but doting about questions and strife of words, whereof comes envy, strife, railings, evil surmising,
5 Perverse disputing of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of the truth, supposing that gain is godliness: from such withdraw thyself.
6 But godliness with contentment is great gain.
7 For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.
8 And having food and raiment let us be therewith content.
9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
11 But you, O man of God, flee these things; and follow after righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, meekness.
12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto you art also called, and have professed a good profession before many witnesses.
13 I give you charge in the sight of God, who quickens all things, and before Christ Jesus, who before Pontius Pilate witnessed a good confession;
14 That you keep this commandment without spot, blameless, until the appearing of our LORD Jesus Christ:
15 Which in his times he shall show, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and LORD of lords;
16 Who only has immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen.
17 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy;
18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate;
19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life.
20 O Timothy, keep that which is committed to your trust, avoiding profane and vain babblings, and oppositions of science falsely so called:
21 Which some professing have erred concerning the faith. Grace be with you. Amen.

Revelation 19 tells of the King and LORD at His coming, after it tells of those having strayed from God, then prepared (quickened), and seen as the bride who has made herself ready.

Revelation 19
1 And after these things I heard a great voice of much people in heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honor, and power, unto the LORD our God:
2 For true and righteous are his judgments: for he has judged the woman [bride] strayed from God, which did corrupt the earth with her fornication [her love of money, saying gain is godliness], and has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.
3 And again they said, Alleluia And her smoke rose up for ever and ever.
4 And the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down and worshipped God that sat on the throne, saying, Amen; Alleluia.
5 And a voice came out of the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and you that fear him, both small and great.
6 And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia: for the LORD God omnipotent reigns.
7 Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready.
8 And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.
9 And he said unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are the true sayings of God.
10 And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See you do it not: I am your fellow-servant, and of your brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
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 goes a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.
16 And he has on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King Of Kings, And LORD Of Lords.
17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;
18 That you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.
19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.
20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

The fowls here are the eagles of Isaiah 40, which begins by telling of the same preparation of the women who has strayed. The ending tells of her waiting on the LORD and rising up on wings as eagles.

Isaiah 40
1 Comfort you, comfort you my people, says your God.
2 Speak you comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she has received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
3 The voice of him that cried in the wilderness, Prepare you the way of the LORD, make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain and hill shall be made low: and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough places plain:
5 And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
6 The voice said, Cry. And he said, What shall I cry? All flesh is grass, and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower of the field:
7 The grass withers, the flower fades: because the spirit of the LORD blows upon it: surely the people is grass.
8 The grass withers, the flower fades: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.
9 O Zion, that brings good tidings, get you up into the high mountain; O Jerusalem, that brings good tidings, lift up your voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold your God!
10 Behold, the LORD God will come with strong hand, and his arm shall rule for him: behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
11 He shall feed his flock like a shepherd: he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young.
12 Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?
13 Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or being his counselor has taught him?
14 With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him, and taught him in the path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, and showed to him the way of understanding?
15 Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he takes up the isles as a very little thing.
16 And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering.
17 All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity.
18 To whom then will you liken God? or what likeness will you compare unto him?
19 The workman melts a graven image, and the goldsmith spreads it over with gold, and casts silver chains.
20 He that is so impoverished that he has no oblation chooses a tree that will not rot; he seeks unto him a cunning workman to prepare a graven image, that shall not be moved.
21 Have you not known? have you not heard? has it not been told you from the beginning? have you not understood from the foundations of the earth?
22 It is he that sits upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers; that stretches out the heavens as a curtain, and spreads them out as a tent to dwell in:
23 That brings the princes to nothing; he makes the judges of the earth as vanity.
24 Yea, they shall not be planted; yea, they shall not be sown: yea, their stock shall not take root in the earth: and he shall also blow upon them, and they shall wither, and the whirlwind shall take them away as stubble.
25 To whom then will you liken me, or shall I be equal? says the Holy One.
26 Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who has created these things, that brings out their host by number: he calls them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one fails.
27 Why say you, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, My way is hid from the LORD, and my judgment is passed over from my God?
28 Have you not known? have you not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.
29 He gives power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increases strength.
30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
31 But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

Entering the Unseen Reality, Strangers and Pilgrims Crossing Over (Seeing What We Knew By Faith Was There)

golden_gate_bridge_timelapse_hd_stock_video

Continuing with the idea of the Hebrew word hayah indicating a process of things coming into being. The process is first hearing and understanding what can’t be touched or felt with our natural senses, and in doing make a conscious decision to believe in their truth by what is perceived in the deeper centers of our mind. This is faith and by it is produced reality as these unseen perceptions appear as deep reality in their coinciding with our minds eye and contradict the natural thoughts of our worldly nature. The ultimate level of this understanding is what we are told in 1 Corinthians 15:54 of our accepting our immortal inner being; in doing live knowing there is no death and our lives are hid in being Christ (God’s mission and message) in our time – in the present day we now pass through.

Most people, if they have even gotten this far reading, will not read on past the mention of 1 Corinthians 15 (pasted below). In doing they will never read what follows and thereby will by choice miss the understanding there elaborated. The level of diligence in seeking the LORD determines the reward, not as the worldly understand reward: in earthly riches, but rather the rewards of the LORD are the true riches of deep conception. These are the riches the LORD has left as an inheritance for His children.

It is also self-evident that those exercising authority as lords over God’s children have removed these keys of knowledge. This is what Paul says in 2 Thessalonians 2:7 when he tells of the mystery of iniquity that was already at work, and would be there restraining God’s house, His children, until the LORD comes (becomes one) with His truth and removes them. “I will utter things which have been kept secret from the foundation of the world.”

The sleep spoken of in 1 Corinthians 15:20 is the same sleep spoken of in 1 Thessalonians 4 & 5. We know when we read on into chapter 5 they are sleeping and dead here walking as those drunken in the darkness of night on the earth, and awakened here.

Daniel 12:2 And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

1 Corinthians 15
1 Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand;
2 By which also you are saved, if you keep in memory what I preached unto you, unless you have believed in vain.
3 For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
4 And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures:
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
6 After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.
7 After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostles.
8 And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.
9 For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.
10 But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I labored more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.
11 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
12 Now if Christ be preached that he rose from the dead, how say some among you that there is no resurrection of the dead?
13 But if there be no resurrection of the dead, then is Christ not risen:
14 And if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain, and your faith is also vain.
15 Yea, and we are found false witnesses of God; because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ: whom he raised not up, if so be that the dead rise not.
16 For if the dead rise not, then is not Christ raised:
17 And if Christ be not raised, your faith is vain; you are yet in your sins.
18 Then they also which are fallen asleep in Christ are perished.
19 If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.
20 But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the first-fruits of them that slept.
21 For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
23 But every man in his own order: Christ the first-fruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
24 Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
25 For he must reign, till he has put all enemies under his feet.
26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.
27 For he has put all things under his feet. But when he says all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is excepted, which did put all things under him.
28 And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all.
29 Else what shall they do which are baptized for the dead, if the dead rise not at all? why are they then baptized for the dead?
30 And why stand we in jeopardy every hour?
31 I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our LORD, I die daily.
32 If after the manner of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus, what advantages it me, if the dead rise not? let us eat and drink; for to morrow we die.
33 Be not deceived: evil communications corrupt good manners.
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 gives 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 doth corruption inherit incorruption.
51 Behold, I show 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 gives us the victory through our LORD Jesus Christ.
58 Therefore, my beloved brethren, be you steadfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the LORD, forasmuch as you know that your labor is not in vain in the LORD.

Hebrews 11:6 tells us the reason for our faith, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.”

The chapter then goes on to give many examples of those who understood their actions in their day related not merely to their time but also were part of bringing about the greater will of God’s plan in the future. Verse 13 quotes Abraham from Genesis 23:4 telling of his confessing we are, “strangers and pilgrims in the earth.” The Greek word translated “pilgrims” is parepidemos, literally meaning, apart from and above the culture of the day. This is what we read in 1 Peter 2:11 when Peter uses the same quote to tell of our actions being with this greater perspective.

1 Peter 2
1 Wherefore laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking,
2 As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that you may grow thereby:
3 If so be you have tasted that the LORD is gracious.
4 To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious,
5 You also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
6 Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded.
7 Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner,
8 And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that you should show forth the praises of him who has called you out of darkness into his marvelous light;
10 Which in time past were not a people, but are now the people of God: which had not obtained mercy, but now have obtained mercy.
11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul;
12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by your good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.

Hebrew 11 closes with verses 39 & 40 telling of all the people mentioned as great examples having this good report but not receiving the promise, and of God having some better thing for us, that they without our part would not be made perfect. “39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: 40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.”

This is immediately followed by chapter 12 saying we being compassed about with this same (tosoutos) cloud of witness, should set aside all the thing of the popular culture and with patience run the race set before us. We well know the chapter goes on to tell us of the LORD correcting us and receiving us as His children, and then describing the destination of those who receive Him as being mount Zion and heavenly Jerusalem. There we are told of this gathered group being the church of the firstborn [from the dead]. We know the chapter ends by speaking of all these worldly creation [ideas as foundational principles] of the popular culture being shaken out of a world, wherein all things are shaken by a reliance on these same now failing elements. The warning found there is against rejecting what is being heard spoken from the one (company of angels – messengers) speaking from this heavenly gathering. We are the Church of the Firstborn.

Hebrew 12
22 But you are come unto mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,
23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,
24 And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things than that of Abel.
25 See that you refuse not him that speaks. For if they escaped not who refused him that spoke on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaks from heaven:
26 Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he has promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.
27 And this word, Yet once more, signifies the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.
28 Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:
29 For our God is a consuming fire.

Verse 26 above is quoting Haggai 2:6 where the chapter is speaking to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, Joshua the son of Josedech, and to the remnant of the people. Zerubbabel means the one born in confusion, Shealtiel tells of his being born according to the remnant’s request made to God. Joshua is Jehovah’s salvation, and Josedech is Jehovah’s righteousness. The remnant are those who remain faithful during the captivity in confusion (Babylon). Zerubbabel and Joshua are the Church of the Firstborn, leading as kings and priests as God intended them: shining and reflecting His Righteousness (truth and equity) on the earth by government as He intended it: under the law of nature and nature’s God. This is the end, of the process of understanding the need, and why it must be passed on, by teaching it to every generation. Do you see where this is going – or has gone (was, is, and is to come – all one)?

Haggai 2
1 In the seventh month, in the one and twentieth day of the month, came the word of the LORD by the prophet Haggai, saying,
2 Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying,
3 Who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? and how do you see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the LORD; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong, all you people of the land, says the LORD, and work: for I am with you, says the LORD of hosts:
5 According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so my spirit remains among you: fear you not.
6 For thus says the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land;
7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.
8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, says the LORD of hosts.
9 The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, says the LORD of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, says the LORD of hosts.
10 In the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, in the second year of Darius, came the word of the LORD by Haggai the prophet, saying,
11 Thus says the LORD of hosts; Ask now the priests concerning the law, saying,
12 If one bear holy flesh in the skirt of his garment, and with his skirt do touch bread, or pottage, or wine, or oil, or any meat, shall it be holy? And the priests answered and said, No.
13 Then said Haggai, If one that is unclean by a dead body touch any of these, shall it be unclean? And the priests answered and said, It shall be unclean.
14 Then answered Haggai, and said, So is this people, and so is this nation before me, says the LORD; and so is every work of their hands; and that which they offer there is unclean.
15 And now, I pray you, consider from this day and upward, from before a stone was laid upon a stone in the temple of the LORD:
16 Since those days were, when one came to an heap of twenty measures, there were but ten: when one came to the press-fat for to draw out fifty vessels out of the press, there were but twenty.
17 I smote you with blasting and with mildew and with hail in all the labors of your hands; yet you turned not to me, says the LORD.
18 Consider now from this day and upward, from the four and twentieth day of the ninth month, even from the day that the foundation of the LORD’s temple was laid, consider it.
19 Is the seed yet in the barn? yea, as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree, has not brought forth: from this day will I bless you.
20 And again the word of the LORD came unto Haggai in the four and twentieth day of the month, saying,
21 Speak to Zerubbabel, governor of Judah, saying, I will shake the heavens and the earth;
22 And I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother.
23 In that day, says the LORD of hosts, will I take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, says the LORD, and will make you as a signet: for I have chosen you, says the LORD of hosts.

Psalms 78
1 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
2 I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
3 Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
4 We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he has done.
5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
6 That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
7 That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
8 And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
9 The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
10 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
11 And forgot his works, and his wonders that he had showed them.

Foundation Fastened, the Corner Stone Laid (Job 38)

06

Continuing on in our discussion of the Hebrew word hayah. In the previous discussion we saw it used twice consecutively describing the word of the LORD incarnated in Ezekiel, written as, the word of the LORD “came expressly” to Ezekiel the priest. We saw it then used a third time in the verse to tell of this as the hand of the LORD that “was” upon Ezekiel. We saw its translation as “was” as incorrectly conveying the intended meaning, and a more appropriate rendering is as the word “became.” In understanding this this we see the fuller context. We saw this written in Ezekiel 1:3 followed by the new creation description pictorialized in word and describing the glory of the LORD being manifested as His presence, and this as a model of the salvation now become available to all humanity, preached to all the world.

Ezekiel 1:3 The word of the LORD came expressly [hayah hayah] unto Ezekiel the priest, the son of Buzi, in the land of the Chaldeans by the river Chebar; and the hand of the LORD was [hayah] there upon him.

The improper rendering of the word hayah and completely transforming the intended meaning is first found in its most prominent appearance in Genesis 1:2 where we read of the earth as without form, and void. The word translates in this description as “was” is hayah, and should be correctly rendered “became” (as we have studied and discussed in many previous posts).

The difference in the words, “was” and “became,” is, “was” insinuates a state as abiding in an inert form; “became” tells of the state being produced by something actively effecting it. This is again found in the other example we saw when hayah ‘asher hayah is rendered in Exodus 3:14 as “I Am that I Am.” This rendering is without alluding to the process of the manifestation; and would more properly be rendered as “I will become (hayah) whom (‘asher) I will become (hayah).” This is, as we saw it in Ezekiel 1, the LORD telling of his revealing His presence through and in a man who He has chosen and prepared. As with Ezekiel 1, the LORD tells of this in Exodus 3:12 where we see the improper rendering of hayah into “I will be” as the LORD tells of His being “with” Moses.

The much deeper meaning is found in the Hebrew words used in the LORD telling this to Moses. “I will be” is hayay, and “with” is ‘im. The word ‘im means to join with in some action (first used in Genesis 3:6 when Adam joined “with” Eve, and left (separated from) God’s will in the first falling away to corrupted advice). The ‘im as a suffix is what transforms words into plural, as in Elohiym, the name translated “God.”

Exodus 3
12 And he said, Certainly I will be with you; and this shall be a token unto you, that I have sent you: When you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain.
13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers has sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? what shall I say unto them?
14 And God said unto Moses, I Am That I Am: and he said, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, I Am has sent me unto you.
15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shall you say unto the children of Israel, the LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me unto you: this is my name for ever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

This is in example foretelling what we know now as our being joined to the LORD, His Spirit igniting in us making us a permanent part of His being, as His children.

There is a notable proper translation of hayah and of its equivalent, the Greek word ginomai. It is the word properly rendered in Matthew 21:42 to quote Psalms 118:22 to tell of the Stone that is become the Head of the corner – the corner meaning the turning to a different people who have accepted Him as their salvation. And unto them He gave power to become the children of God.

Psalm 118
1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: because his mercy endures for ever.
2 Let Israel now say, that his mercy endures for ever.
3 Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endures for ever.
4 Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endures for ever.
5 I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.
6 The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?
7 The LORD takes my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me.
8 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.
9 It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.
10 All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.
11 They compassed me about; yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
12 They compassed me about like bees: they are quenched as the fire of thorns: for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.
13 You have thrust sore at me that I might fall: but the LORD helped me.
14 The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation.
15 The voice of rejoicing and salvation is in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
16 The right hand of the LORD is exalted: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly.
17 I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the LORD.
18 The LORD has chastened me sore: but he has not given me over unto death.
19 Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD:
20 This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.
21 I will praise you: for you have heard me, and are become my salvation.
22 The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner.
23 This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes.
24 This is the day which the LORD has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.
25 Save now, I beseech you, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech you, send now prosperity.
26 Blessed be he that comes in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD.
27 God is the LORD, which has showed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.
28 You are my God, and I will praise you: you are my God, I will exalt you.
29 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endures for ever.

Matthew 21
1 And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples,
2 Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway you shall find an donkey tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them unto me.
3 And if any man say ought unto you, you shall say, The LORD has need of them; and straightway he will send them.
4 All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying,
5 Tell you the daughter of Zion, Behold, your King cometh unto you, meek, and sitting upon an donkey, and a colt the foal of an donkey.
6 And the disciples went, and did as Jesus commanded them,
7 And brought the donkey, and the colt, and put on them their clothes, and they set him thereon.
8 And a very great multitude spread their garments in the way; others cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them in the way.
9 And the multitudes that went before, and that followed, cried, saying, Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the LORD; Hosanna in the highest.
10 And when he was come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, Who is this?
11 And the multitude said, This is Jesus the prophet of Nazareth of Galilee.
12 And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,
13 And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but you have made it a den of thieves.
14 And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
15 And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the son of David; they were sore displeased,
16 And said unto him, Hear you what these say? And Jesus said unto them, Yea; have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings you have perfected praise?
17 And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany; and he lodged there.
18 Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.
19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on you henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered away!
21 Jesus answered and said unto them, Truly I say unto you, If you have faith, and doubt not, you shall not only do this which is done to the fig tree, but also if you shall say unto this mountain, Be you removed, and be you cast into the sea; it shall be done.
22 And all things, whatsoever you shall ask in prayer, believing, you shall receive.
23 And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority do you these things? and who gave you this authority?
24 And Jesus answered and said unto them, I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell me, I in like wise will tell you by what authority I do these things.
25 The baptism of John, whence was it? from heaven, or of men? And they reasoned with themselves, saying, If we shall say, From heaven; he will say unto us, Why did you not then believe him?
26 But if we shall say, Of men; we fear the people; for all hold John as a prophet.
27 And they answered Jesus, and said, We cannot tell. And he said unto them, Neither tell I you by what authority I do these things.
28 But what think you? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
29 He answered and said, I will not: but afterward he repented, and went.
30 And he came to the second, and said likewise. And he answered and said, I go, sir: and went not.
31 Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Truly I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
32 For John came unto you in the way of righteousness, and you believed him not: but the publicans and the harlots believed him: and you, when you had seen it, repented not afterward, that you might believe him.
33 Hear another parable: There was a certain householder, which planted a vineyard, and hedged it round about, and digged a winepress in it, and built a tower, and let it out to husbandmen, and went into a far country:
34 And when the time of the fruit drew near, he sent his servants to the husbandmen, that they might receive the fruits of it.
35 And the husbandmen took his servants, and beat one, and killed another, and stoned another.
36 Again, he sent other servants more than the first: and they did unto them likewise.
37 But last of all he sent unto them his son, saying, They will reverence my son.
38 But when the husbandmen saw the son, they said among themselves, This is the heir; come, let us kill him, and let us seize on his inheritance.
39 And they caught him, and cast him out of the vineyard, and slew him.
40 When the LORD therefore of the vineyard cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen?
41 They say unto him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits in their seasons.
42 Jesus said unto them, Did you never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the LORD’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?
43 Therefore say I unto you, The kingdom of God shall be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.
44 And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to powder.
45 And when the chief priests and Pharisees had heard his parables, they perceived that he spoke of them.
46 But when they sought to lay hands on him, they feared the multitude, because they took him for a prophet.

There is an improper translation of ginomai into “was” where it should be “became,” to again indicate the process. The improper rendering is in Romans 15:8 and the process, it by ignorance eliminates, is the preparation we are told of in Philippians 2.

Our preparation seen by example is what is actually told of in both these places.

Philippians 2
3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.
4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
9 Wherefore God also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name:
10 That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth;
11 And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father.
12 Wherefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
13 For it is God which works in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
14 Do all things without murmurings and disputing:
15 That you may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom you shine as lights in the world;
16 Holding forth the word of life; that I may rejoice in the day of Christ, that I have not run in vain, neither labored in vain.
17 Yea, and if I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I joy, and rejoice with you all.
18 For the same cause also do you joy, and rejoice with me.
19 But I trust in the LORD Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
20 For I have no man likeminded, who will naturally care for your state.
21 For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.
22 But you know the proof of him, that, as a son with the father, he has served with me in the gospel.

Romans 15
1 We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.
2 Let every one of us please his neighbor for his good to edification.
3 For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached you fell on me.
4 For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope.
5 Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus:
6 That you may with one mind and one mouth glorify God, even the Father of our LORD Jesus Christ.
7 Wherefore receive you one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God.
8 Now I say that Jesus Christ was [became] a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm [by example] the promises made unto the fathers:
9 And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to you among the Gentiles, and sing unto your name.
10 And again he says, Rejoice, you Gentiles, with his people.
11 And again, Praise the LORD, all you Gentiles; and laud him, all you people.
12 And again, Isaiah says, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust.
13 Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope, through the power of the Holy Ghost.
14 And I myself also am persuaded of you, my brethren, that you also are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge, able also to admonish one another.
15 Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God,
16 That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.
17 I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God.
18 For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed,
19 Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ.
20 Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation:
21 But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand.
22 For which cause also I have been much hindered from coming to you.

Visit Us On TwitterVisit Us On FacebookCheck Our Feed