The Hebrew word translated sign means "mark" or "evidence." The Sabbath day is the mark God gave His people to identify them as His own. By it, the folk of Israel would know the Source of their sanctification.
To sanctify is "to set apart for holy service," or more basically, "to make holy." God's purpose for Israel from the start was to set it apart from other peoples by giving it His laws and His statutes. God has a special relationship with Israel. Speaking through the prophet Amos to "the whole family [i.e., all the tribes] which I brought up from the land of Egypt" (Amos 3:1), God reminds the people that, "you only have I known of all the families of the earth" (verse 2). God revealed His law only to Israel. When He did so, He made it clear that Israel would "be a special treasure to Me above all people, . . . a holy [sanctified, set apart] nation" (Exodus 19:5-6), if the people "obey My voice and keep My covenant" (verse 5). The theme is repeated in Deuteronomy 7:6: "For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, . . . [who] has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth." (See also Deuteronomy 14:2.) God prefaces the "Holiness Code" of Leviticus 18 and 19 by commanding Israel to be separate from other nations. This meant acting in a way different from that of the Gentiles, not walking "in their ordinances." Leviticus 18:3-4: According to the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ordinances. You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances. . . .In Leviticus 19:2, He makes His purpose clear: "You shall be holy [set apart], for I the LORD your God am holy." God's purpose, the intent behind all His laws, is to create a people like Himself (Genesis 1:26), a people sharing and reflecting His most salient attribute: holiness. Sanctification is also the purpose behind God's often-denigrated physical laws. Consider, for example, the reason why God imposed the dietary law, as stated in Leviticus 11. God does not cite the maintenance of health as a reason to obey the dietary laws; the Scriptures do not specify that obedience of these laws will cause good health or prevent disease (though this is a secondary, albeit unmentioned, benefit). Rather, God concludes His dietary laws with a statement of His holiness and a command for His people to be like Him. Leviticus 11:44-45: For I am the LORD your God. You shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and shall be holy; for I am holy. Neither shall you defile yourselves with any creeping thing that creeps on the earth. For I am the LORD who brings you up out of the land of Egypt, to be your God. You shall therefore be holy, for I am holy.Obedience to God's law plays a crucial role in bringing about this sanctification. It is not that a people become sanctified (somehow, by God's grace) and, as a result, start obeying God's law. God's Word does not support the Protestant concept that sanctification imputed by God's grace mysteriously empowers one to obey His commandments. They have it backwards. Rather, obedience to the law causes sanctification. Law-keeping and sanctification become intrinsically connected: To obey God's law is to be sanctified. By its nature, law-keeping brings about sanctification. In a national context, God states that obeying His laws creates a people unlike others on the earth, a people set apart from others, a holy nation. National sanctification produces what Balaam saw in Israel: "A people dwelling alone, not reckoning itself among the nations" (Numbers 23:9). If commandment-keeping separates people from the nations while connecting them to God, disobedience of God's law has exactly the opposite effect. Commandment-breaking separates a people from God, and connects them to the ways of the nations. Individuals who disobey God's law become like the "world," the kosmos of the New Testament (I John 2:15). (http://www.theberean.org/, http://www.theberean.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/About.website, Charles Whitaker) |
Thursday, February 9, 2017
OBEDIENCE OF GOD'S LAW IS WHAT "CAUSES" SANCTIFICATION.
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
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Monday, March 21, 2016
This Easter Week Christians Need to Remember....
Jesus Christ’s Promise; He said, “I will come again”!
“I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I
will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be
also.” (John 14:2-3).
“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the
holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:” “Then
shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:”
(Matthew 25:31,34).
“So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many; and
unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto
salvation.” (Hebrews 9:28).
“For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a
shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead
in Christ shall rise first: Then we
which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds,
to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.” (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17).
“Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up
into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so
come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11).
“For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth
even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be... And then
shall appear the sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of man coming in the
clouds of heaven with power and great glory.
And he shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to
the other.” (Matthew 24:27-31).
“Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing
of the great God and our Savior Jesus Christ;” (Titus 2:13).
Just remember what the Easter season is all about. It is about Jesus saying, “I will come again,
and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” (John
14:3).
Salvation at The Cross of Calvary.
"It is Finished"!
The act of Christ dying on the cross for our salvation and
access to heaven justified us to God and God and His Son in dealing with the
rebellion of Satan. It is seen that for
the salvation of a fallen race, the Ruler of the universe had made the greatest
sacrifice which love could make.
One of the most solemn and yet most glorious truths revealed
in the Bible is that of Christ’s second coming to complete the work of redemption. To God’s people, a precious, joy inspiring
hope is in His promise of His appearing again to take His people to their home
in heaven.
Christ’s second coming is the very keynote of the
scriptures. From the day when Adam and
Eve turned away from Eden, we have waited for the coming of Jesus to break
Satan’s power on the human race and bring back Paradise. The coming of Christ to usher in the reign of
righteousness has inspired and impassioned writers from all levels from poets
to prophets, the Bible’s words have dwelt upon the hearts of those who seek
redemption.
The assurance that Jesus Christ will come a second time
finds a large place in the Scriptures and in the hearts of those who believe in
Him and is the keynote of prophecy throughout the Bible. Those who truly love Jesus can rejoice and be
assured that His promise will be fulfilled and eternal life is in the reach of
all those who receive Him.
It will be at that great day in time which this world will
come to an end and an eternity with Christ will begin. Christ will deliver all who gloriously and
truly love and obey Him. He will be
coming back as King of kings and Lord of Lords!
The Crucifixion and The Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Then certain of
the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign
from thee. But he answered and said unto
them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall
no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: For as Jonas was three days and three nights
in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in
the heart of the earth. (Matthew 12:38).
Jesus told them
that the only sign He would give was that of the prophet Jonah: “For as Jonah
was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son
of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matthew 12:40). Jesus told them point blank that He was going
to be in the tomb for three days and for three nights.
We now come to
the week Jesus was crucified. “And it
came to pass, when Jesus had finished all these sayings, he said unto his
disciples, Ye know that after two days is the feast of the Passover, and the
Son of man is betrayed to be crucified. Then assembled together the chief priests,
and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest,
who was called Caiaphas, and consulted that they might take Jesus by subtlety,
and kill him. But they said, not on the
feast day, lest there be an uproar among the people.” (Matthew 26:1-5).
“Now the first
day of the feast of unleavened bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying unto
him, where wilt thou that we prepare for thee to eat the Passover? And he said, go into the city to such a man,
and say unto him, The Master said, My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover
at thy house with my disciples. And the
disciples did as Jesus had appointed them; and they made ready the Passover. Now when the even was come, he sat down with
the twelve.” (Matthew 26:17-20).
Since it was
against Jewish law to do anything on a Sabbath Day, this preparation had to
take place the day before and it did because the scripture said that they sat
down to eat, “when the even was come”.
It was after sunset, night time now, Tuesday night into Wednesday morning
when they are celebrating the Passover meal and then leave to go to Mount
Olives.
“And as they were
eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed it, and broke it, and gave it to the
disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. And he took the cup, and gave thanks, and
gave it to them, saying, drink you all of it; For this is my blood of the new
testament, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.” (Matthew 26:26-28).
After the meal
they left the room where they were and went to Mount Olives where Jesus prayed. It would have been Tuesday night into
Wednesday morning when this transpired.
It was during this time period that Jesus was betrayed by Judas,
captured, tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The scriptures indicate this all happened
during the night into the next morning when it was that day that they executed
Him. That would place the crucifixion on
Wednesday, during the daylight hours of that week when Jesus dies on the cross.
(Matthew 26:30 thru Matthew 27:55).
“And about the
ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, Eli, Eli, lama
sabachthani? That is to say, My God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? Some of
them that stood there, when they heard that, said, this man calls for
Elias. And straightway one of them ran,
and took a sponge, and filled it with vinegar, and put it on a reed, and gave
him to drink. The rest said, let be, let
us see whether Elias will come to save him.
Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost.” (Matthew 27:46-50)
“When the even
was come, there came a rich man of Arimathaea, named Joseph, who also himself
was Jesus’ disciple: He went to Pilate,
and begged the body of Jesus. Then Pilate commanded the body to be
delivered. And when Joseph had taken the
body, he wrapped it in a clean linen cloth, and laid it in his own new tomb,
which he had hewn out in the rock: and he rolled a great stone to the door of
the sepulcher, and departed. (Matthew 27:57-60)
Notice the next events
outlined in Luke 23. Jesus’ moment of death, as well as His hasty burial
because of the oncoming Sabbath that was going to begin at sundown. This is also narrated in Luke 23:46-53.
John also writes,
“The Jews therefore, because it was the preparation, that the bodies should not
remain on the cross on the Sabbath day, (for that Sabbath day was a high day,)
sought Pilate that their legs might be broken, and that they might be taken
away. (John 19:31)
Luke 23:54 also states,
“That day was the Preparation, and the Sabbath drew near.” Could that day they are talking about here be
the Saturday Sabbath? If He was placed
in the tomb at sunset of the day He was crucified, that means the first full
day He was in the tomb would have been Saturday. But the scriptures, thru Jonas told us that
Jesus was going to be the tomb for three days.
That day could not possibly be the Saturday Sabbath.
Many assume that
it is the weekly Sabbath mentioned here, and that Jesus was therefore crucified
on a Friday. But John 19:31 shows that this approaching Sabbath “was a high
day”—not the weekly Sabbath (Friday sunset to Saturday sunset) but the first
day of Unleavened Bread, which is one of God’s annual high, or Sabbath, days. John wrote; “The Jews therefore, because it
was the preparation, that the bodies should not remain upon the cross on the Sabbath
day, (for that Sabbath day was a high day,).” (John 19:31).
These feasts are
explained in the Old Testament. “These
are the feasts of the LORD, even holy convocations, which you shall proclaim in
their seasons. In the fourteenth day of
the first month at even is the LORD’s Passover.
And on the fifteenth day of the same month is the feast of unleavened
bread to the LORD: seven days you must eat unleavened bread. In the first day you shall have a holy
convocation: you shall do no servile work therein. (Leviticus 23:4-7)
The weekly
Sabbath is not a Jewish “High Day”, therefore the next day did not necessarily
have to be Saturday, it could have been another day of the week. Exodus 12:16-17 and Leviticus 23:6-7 describe
Jewish High Days. These annual Holy Days could—and usually did—fall on days of
the week other than the regular weekly Sabbath day.
If we use the
sign from the prophet Jonah as a benchmark for identifying the day of the week
Jesus was crucified, three days before a Sunday resurrection would place the
crucifixion on Wednesday. This high-day Sabbath would have to have been
Wednesday during the night and Thursday during the day.
Luke 23:56 says
that the women, after seeing Christ’s body being laid in the tomb just before
sunset, “returned and prepared spices and fragrant oils” for the final
preparation of the body. They could not
have done this work on a Saturday Sabbath or a High Day Sabbath since it would
have been considered a violation of the Sabbath.
The day that they
prepared the spices would have been the next day, making it now Friday, since
they celebrated the High Day on Thursday. This is verified by Mark’s account,
which states, “Now when the Sabbath was past (Thursday), Mary Magdalene, Mary
the mother of James, and Salome bought spices, (Friday [which they would not
have purchased on the high-day Sabbath {Thursday}, or a Saturday Sabbath]),
that they might come and anoint Him” (Mark 16:1). This they were planning to do on Sunday
morning, the first day of the week.
The women waited
until the annual “high day” Sabbath was over before they bought and prepared
the spices to be used to anoint Jesus’ body. Then, after purchasing and
preparing the spices and oils on Friday, “they rested on the Saturday Sabbath
according to the commandment” (Luke 23:56). This second Sabbath mentioned in
the Gospel accounts is the regular weekly Sabbath, observed from Friday sunset
to Saturday sunset.
By comparing
details in both Gospels—where Mark tells us the women bought spices after the
Sabbath and Luke relates that they prepared the spices before resting on the
Sabbath—we can clearly see that two different Sabbaths are mentioned. The
first, as John 19:31 tells us, was a “high day”—the first day of the Feast of
Unleavened Bread—which, in A.D. 31, fell on a Thursday. The second was the
weekly seventh-day Sabbath.
After the women
rested on the regular weekly Saturday Sabbath, they went to Jesus’ tomb early
on the first day of the week, which would have been Sunday, “while it was still
dark” (John 20:1), and found that He had already been resurrected (Matthew
28:1-6; Luke 24:1-3). Jesus was actually
resurrected before daylight which would mean that the resurrection occurred sometime
during the night.
“And very early
in the morning the first day of the week, they came to the sepulcher at the
rising of the sun. And they said among
themselves, who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the
sepulcher? And when they looked, they
saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great. And entering into the sepulcher, they saw a
young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they
were affrighted. And he said to them, be
not affrighted: You seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen;
he is not here: behold the place where they laid him. (Mark 16:2-6)
The details in
all four Gospel accounts indicate that the picture is that Jesus was crucified
and entombed late on Wednesday afternoon at dusk, just before a Sabbath began
at sunset. Because of the sign given by
Jonah, that day could not have been Friday.
It had to be another day of the week, the scriptures indicate it was
probably an annual High Day that fell that year on Thursday. It was a high-day
Sabbath, lasting from Wednesday sunset to Thursday sunset that week, rather
than the regular weekly Sabbath, lasting from Friday sunset to Saturday sunset.
He remained in
the tomb from Wednesday at sunset until Saturday at sunset, when He rose from
the dead. While no one witnessed His resurrection (which took place inside a
sealed tomb), it had to have happened near sunset on Saturday, exactly three
days and three nights after His body was entombed. It could not have happened
on Sunday morning, because when Mary Magdalene came to the tomb that morning
before sunrise, “while it was still dark,” she found the stone already had been
rolled away and the tomb empty.
We can be assured
that the length of His entombment that Jesus gave as proof He was the Messiah
was exactly as long as He foretold, which is proof that He is the Son of God. To ignore this would disprove His claim that
He was the Messiah. Jesus rose precisely
three days and three nights after He was placed in the tomb.
Because most
people do not understand the biblical high days Jesus Christ and His followers
kept, they fail to understand the chronological details so accurately preserved
for us in the Gospels.
Sunday, March 20, 2016
Does It Really Matter What You Believe?
The simple answer to this question is, yes it does. To clarify the answer, it matters if you want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ and receive the gift of immortality and salvation to eternal life. Immortality and salvation is a gift from God, given to us freely. We cannot earn it. But, there is one important thing that people forget. God does not force us to take this gift. We can accept the gift or we can refuse the gift. If you do not care about this gift, then the answer to the question is that it really doesn’t matter what you believe. You can believe whatever your heart desires.
Using the Bible as a basis for
this discussion, it tells us that that those who want to know and have a
relationship with God should hold on to beliefs that are based on His laws and
not compromise. “Now by this we know
that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, 'I know Him,'
and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1
John 2:3-4, emphasis added).
Why should what we believe be
important to us? It is because what we
do in life and what decisions we make are ultimately based in a large part on
what we believe. If our decisions are
based on God's laws, then we can resist the pressures to conform to the
standards and values the world imposes on us. We can live in the world, yet not
take part in its sins. We can avoid the breaking of God's laws that so often
takes place in society.
“But he answered and said, it is
written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of God.” (Matthew 4:4, KJV).
Jesus is saying that what we believe, and ultimately what we do is
determined by what we think. What we
think should come from the words that “proceed out of God’s mouth”.
There is a thought process that
supports the idea that there is no absolute truth when believing in Jesus
Christ, thus, the act of believing is all there is. The theory is that "there is no
objective standard by which truth may be determined, so that truth varies with
individuals and circumstances" (David Elton Trueblood, Philosophy of
Religion, p. 348).
So, does it really matter what
we believe? The idea of finding the
truth or real meaning to life escapes some people’s minds. People spend their lives developing their idea
of truth. It does not matter if you are
sixteen years old or sixty years old. Up
until that point in time you have spent 100% of your life developing your idea
of truth and put up walls resisting any thought that would change that idea. As you get older, most people spend what they
feel is a lot of time, energy, and, (for some), money in formulating their
thoughts and ideas on truth and it is only natural to defend what you developed
over the years.
People have always valued their
act of belief more than the object of their belief. William James lived from January 11, 1842
until August 26, 1910 and was an American philosopher and psychologist who was
also trained as a physician. He was the first educator to offer a psychology
course in the United States. He stated, "Be
not afraid of life. Believe that life is worth living, and your belief will
help create the fact”. (https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/ William
James”).
Is this statement true,
especially when we are discussing Biblical truths? The belief in something will not make it
true. You can believe that an object is
something that it is not. You can
believe it with all your heart and soul, but that will not make your belief
fact, outside of your own mind.
The truth of a belief is
determined by all of the facts supporting that belief or disproving that
belief. The only alternative to this is
closing your mind to ideas that are new to you and this could ultimately lead
to your eternal destruction.
Belief is not determined by the
strength of one’s faith. There are many
who get seriously injured and/or die every year because of their faith in
something. Teenagers are prime examples
of the support for this idea. They
develop a belief or an idea to do something.
Their parents, because of their experiences in life, tell them it is
wrong and could get them in trouble or in some cases injured, or even killed. Teens commonly think they know everything and
therefore what they believe overrides any warnings or threats that their
parents give them. When things go
horribly wrong, which they usually do, the teenagers and, or friends and family
in the case of a death, now try to answer the question, “Why?”.
The Bible also emphasizes the
fact that it is vital what one believes.
Jesus says that we “... are from beneath” but He is “...from above: (we)
are of this world; (but He is) not of this world.” (John 8:23, KJV). Jesus went on to say, “I have many things to
say and to judge of you: but he that sent me is true; and I speak to the world
those things which I have heard of him.” (John 8:26, KJV).
Jesus said in chapter three of
the gospel of John that “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life:
and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God
abideth on him.” (John 3:36, KJV). Most
Bible translations interpret the first half of the verse and the second half of
the verse to mean the same thing, but they do not.
In the first part of the verse,
the phrase “He that believeth” deals strictly with “belief” alone. It means “to think, to be true, to be
persuaded of, to credit or to place confidence in” something. The phrase in the second part of the
scripture comes from a different Greek word which carries the meaning of refusing
belief and obedience and not to complying with something. That is, not obeying and complying with everything
that Jesus testified to. A person is not
allowed to pick and choose what they want to or do not want to believe.
The scriptures do not place the
weight on the act of belief. It places
it on the object of the belief. It is
not your act of faith but who and what your faith is based on. Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me" (John 14:6,
NLT).
“People today believe whatever
they wish to believe, but this will lead to their ultimate destruction. Let's
look at an example from biblical history. One of the darkest periods in the
history of Israel occurred in the time of the kings. During this time, there
was a contest between the Lord God and Baal, a highly regarded cult deity. An
altar of wood was built, with pieces of an oxen laid upon it as a sacrifice.
The god who answered by fire and consumed the sacrifice would be acknowledged
as the true god in Israel. Baal went first.
If anyone could start a fire
from the sky, it was Baal – the great nature god who controlled the weather
(i.e., rain, thunderstorms, lightning). The priests of Baal paraded around the
altar all morning and until late afternoon, beseeching Baal to respond. These
false priests jumped all over the altar, cut themselves with swords, danced
into a frenzy, raved and pleaded all day. No one can say they were not sincere,
or did not believe. Yet, nothing happened.
After they were finished and the
altar was rebuilt, the Lord God answered with fire from heaven and consumed the
altar and sacrifice. The false prophets of Baal were then slain.
If sincerity and belief saved,
then these prophets should have been spared. But sincerity and belief are not
enough. These prophets had their trust in the wrong object. They
had never chosen to investigate the truth. (emphasis added). God requires man to put his faith in Jesus
Christ; nothing less will satisfy either them or Him.” (http://www.bethinking.org/is-christianity-the-only-way/q-does-it-really-matter-what-i-believe).
There are many people who go to
their deaths believing something that had overwhelming facts that go against
that belief. History is full of people
who died needlessly because of this. The
reason this is brought up here is because of the topic of this article
concerning Biblical truths.
This statement is a two edged
sword. All but one of the apostles were
put to death because of what they believed.
In the context of this discussion then, it matters which edge of the
sword you are cutting with. Are you
cutting with the edge of the sword based largely on what comes out of the
mouths of men? I am talking about beliefs
taken out context and not supported by other scriptures, or are disproved by
other scriptures in the Bible.
Or; do you base your beliefs on what comes out of the mouth of
God? The word of God is the Bible, plain
and simple. The facts that you base your
beliefs on need to be supported by “every word of God”, every
word found in the Bible. Your belief
when it comes to God can be based on no more nor no less.
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
A LOOK AT LIFE AFTER DEATH.
Read the two following passages:
"So we are always confident, knowing that while we are at home in the body we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord." (2 Corinthians 5:6‑8)
and
"I am torn between the two: I desire
to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; (Philippians 1:23)
But
man dies and is laid away;
Indeed,
he breathes his last
And
where is he?
As
water disappears from the seas
And
a river becomes parched and dries up,
So
man lies down and does not rise.
Till
the heavens are no more,
They
will not awake
Nor
be roused from their sleep.
"Oh,
that You would hide me in the grave,
That
You would conceal me until Your wrath is past,
That
You would appoint me a set time, and remember me!
If
a man dies, shall he live again?
All
the days of my hard service I will wait,
Till
my change comes.
You
shall call, and I will answer You;
You
shall desire the work of Your hands.
(Job 14:10‑15)
Job, the writer of the second passage, was lamenting his life and basically wishing that God would let him die. Job knew that in death he would be unconscious and would not feel any of the pain he was feeling in his present life. This passage is interesting because it doesn't say anything about Job going to heaven or to the hell.
Job, through the inspiration of God, was talking about what happens when a person dies. In fact, the passage tells us that Job knew
about a future resurrection. Job clearly says that a
". . . man dies and is laid away . . . he breathes his last . . . As the
water disappears from the sea, And the river becomes parched and dries up, so
man lies down and does not rise."
Job goes on to tell us that it will be at the resurrection when he, along
with others ". . . would be roused from their sleep." Job asks God to ". . . hide [him] in the
grave, That You would conceal me until Your wrath is past . . .". Job wanted God to hide him in the grave or,
"sheol" as the ancient Hebrews called it. Job is simply asking God to let him die and
that God ". . . would appoint . . . [him] . . . a set time . . ."
when Job would be resurrected from his grave.
". . . You shall call, and I will answer you . . .".
Job knew that his resurrection would be sometime in the future. Job knew that when he died, "As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up." [Job 7:9]. He likens his death to a cloud that ". . . disappears and vanishes away . . .", just as man does when he dies and goes to the grave, he is no more. When man dies he is not off someplace else, he very simply just ". . .. disappears and vanishes away. . .".
Job likens death to sleep. He says “. . . man dies and is laid away . . . (t)hey will not awake(n) or be roused from their sleep.” When a person is asleep they are not aware of anything around them.
Job knew that his resurrection would be sometime in the future. Job knew that when he died, "As the cloud disappears and vanishes away, so he who goes down to the grave does not come up." [Job 7:9]. He likens his death to a cloud that ". . . disappears and vanishes away . . .", just as man does when he dies and goes to the grave, he is no more. When man dies he is not off someplace else, he very simply just ". . .. disappears and vanishes away. . .".
Job likens death to sleep. He says “. . . man dies and is laid away . . . (t)hey will not awake(n) or be roused from their sleep.” When a person is asleep they are not aware of anything around them.
This passage is an indication of man’s state of being after he dies.
Monday, March 14, 2016
What Will Heaven Be Like?
There will
come a time when we who are alive and remain shall be caught up in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air. When this
happens, a paranormal event will occur.
It will be a supernatural event where our bodies will be transformed
from mortal physical bodies into glorified spiritual bodies. We will have ghostlike attributes with all
the power associated with the spirit world.
We will be transformed and when this happens we will be under the
protection of the Lord forever.
When we are finally in heaven, in
the paradise Jesus referred to while hanging from the cross, the Bible promises
that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes and there won’t be any more
death. Pain and sorrow will be a thing
of the past so there will be no more crying. The pain we feel physically,
mentally, emotionally and spiritually will be gone forever because the Bible
says that former things will have passed away.
The cowardly, unbelieving, abominable,
murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars will be put to
death and God’s preferred method of execution is the use of fire. The wicked will be gone forever because they
will be burned up into ashes in God’s ‘Lake of Fire”.
God’s eternal city will be the
seat of the “Kingdom of the World” present on the earth at that time. It will have a great, high wall with twelve
gates, and twelve angels will be posted at each gate. On the gates will be written the names of the
twelve tribes of the children of Israel as a reminder to all who remain of how
God does keep His promise to all people.
The wall of the city will have twelve foundations, and on them will be the names of
the twelve apostles of the Lamb. This
will signify to everyone exactly what God’s government is now and will be based on.
No one will enter the city that
defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie.
This will include the likes of a lot of people on the earth today. Only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book
of Life will be allowed to enter this Holy city. There shall
be no more curse, the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in this city, and
His servants will serve Him, ruling the entire earth from there.
[1 Thessalonians 4:17; 1 Corinthians 15:35-39; Philippians 3:21; Revelation 21:3,4,12,14; Revelation 22:3,5; John 14:2-3 ]
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- 1 Corinthians 1:26
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- 1 Jesus Christ Admonishes Those Who Blindly Follow Teachings Of Their Religious Leaders
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